#I know I kiiinda killed her in this one but it wasn't real

[yardsards]

Forever mourning that we would’ve had a scene in the finale where the protagonists apparently reach a resolution with Odalia on some level??? It got cut so Camila could take her place and hell yeah more for Camila, never gonna apologize for that. But man it’d have been nice to have both. The Odalia-Collector storyline set up in CotH was evidently going somewhere there but in the end the finale was already extended ten minutes past the usual mark.

Also yes plsss on the twins! Emira my dearrrrr you were molded into the new Odalia into the next showman matriarch while your sister was meant to become the next Alador the next moneymaker!!! What are your thoughts what if we had a storyline about you being your own person!!! I have to acknowledge that there’s always someone who’s going to have to take the fall for another character to shine at this point in the story but man.

i'm actually mostly happy with how things ended with odalia. i really like that amity never forgives her and continues to go no-contact with her. far too often, media does a "but they're your PARENT, it would be wrong to cut them out of your life" message, and having that be the dominant cultural narrative can be really harmful to victims of parental abuse. so it was VERY refreshing to see a story that said "this character going no contact with her abusive parent was the right choice"

that said, i think there could have been a way to give odalia's storyline more of a resolution without tossing that down message down the drain.

see, you know how i've complained before about how making odalia a full-on villain really undercut her storyline as just an abusive mother. how it accidentally kiiinda had the implication of like "the abuse on its own wasn't enough to cut her off. she had to be willing to kill literally her entire race in order to earn that." which i don't think was intentional.

i think it would have been cool if the resolution to her arc was like. she's no longer a full on villain. she helps our protagonists and makes up for her involvement in the big plot. she's technically on our side now... but that still doesn't make up for the abuse, and amity still is better off without her in her life.

i'm imagining a scene of like, after odalia helps the gang with the collector in some way, she talks to amity. says something like "i will admit that you were right, for once. helping with the day of unity was a poor business decision on my part." and maybe even a "these months with the collector have shown me you weren't such a bad daughter" perhaps followed by a pompous "so i will forgive your little outburst at the factory and accept you as a member of my family again" (despite, y'know, being the one who got cut off)

so amity goes off on her. says it wasn't about the day of unity. or, at least, wasn't JUST about the day of unity. that it was about the years of being treated like a puppet rather than a person (cue some kind of clever shot of the collector's puppets). she says that he friends have shown her what real love is supposed to look like, and her time with camila has shown her how mothers are supposed to treat children, and that none of odalia's actions have matched that. so she says that no, she will not be allowing odalia to be her family anymore.

and odalia doesn't understand, just keeps arguing that she only did these things because she wanted what was best for her family. and so amity leaves.

-

AND YESSS THE TWINS. like. i get it. the show had a lot going on and not a lot of time, of course the protagonist's girlfriend's siblings aren't gonna get that much time dedicated to them. but man. i love me a fucked up family and i want to know more about those two so bad. emira especially. like her twin brother (who, up to that point, had exactly as much relevance as her) got his own episode subplot and she got nothing! and like she interests me for all the reasons you said AND like. she seems to be odalia's favorite (perhaps tied with edric, perhaps even above him) but she seems even more cynical about BOTH of their parents than amity does. AND LIKE she's got eldest daughter syndrome despite being a TWIN! she seems to feel responsibility for looking after her brother who is the exact same age as her! i need to know what's the deal with that dynamic! god the fic ideas and headcanons i have about her that i never got around to writing/finishing

[finding-jericho-blog]

I’m Still Me

characters: Connor (dbh) x OC (Ollie), others play a minor role.

warning(s): Angst, injury, character death... and then some comfort and fluff

word count: 2,447 words

A/N: @deviantramblings and I were talking the other day about this idea and I told her not to touch it and this is why! Sorry I got a little carried away, I think it’s just my personality at this point. >_>

Can I have Bree back now???? :D Ollie belongs to Lauren! I just puppeteer her when I get the chance. <3

It was over; after all this time, all of the desperate fighting and the fear that they would never make it out of this in one piece, they were finally at the end of it all. Together, they had won the freedom of the androids, and Ollie watched the snow fall around them with a brimming sense of pride. Not pride for what she had done; in her opinion, what she had done was very little in the grand scheme of things, but she was.. proud of them. Proud of the androids for reaching out and taking the freedom she knew they deserved, proud of Markus for having the tenacity to lead them.. and proud of Connor, for choosing for himself who he wanted to be.

Bree stood at Markus’ side, and even as Markus addressed his people, his hand rested at the small of her back; the small gesture was enough to make Ollie smile fondly to herself. They were so in love. Of course, she had known that when she had first met Bree; the way she had talked about him with stars in her eyes, and the absolutely vicious desperation in which he had fought to reach her and rescue her from the hands of their enemies. They were perfect for each other, and merely thinking about the way they loved one another prompted Ollie to peer up towards the android at her side that she, herself, had fallen so deeply in love with.

When her amber eyes flitted over to Connor’s features, she was surprised to find that his eyes were already on her, a small smile gracing the corners of his lips in a way that never failed to make her heart race; her face, suddenly too hot, and the sudden spike in her heart-rate must have revealed her embarrassment, because his smile widened just a fraction as he reached for her hand, intertwining their fingers together and giving a gentle squeeze; a silent ‘I love you’. Pursing her lips in some attempt to suppress the full blown grin threatening to overtake her features, the ginger turned back to the crowd, her eyes flitting across the seemingly endless sea of androids, all listening with rapt attention as Markus spoke to them, telling them that it was time for them that the time had come to let the humans know who they really were.

A sudden tightening of Connor’s hand around hers prompted her to glance up at him once more, but he.. wasn’t looking at her. His attention was trained straight ahead of him, but he wasn’t really looking at anything in particular. Brows knitting together in concern, Ollie tried to slip her hand out of Connor’s grip, but it held steadfast, and.. it kind of hurt, to be frank. A wave of fear washed over her as she attempted to discretely draw his attention. “Connor,” she whispered breathlessly. “is everything okay?”

There was no response.

Markus called for a future based on tolerance and respect, and no sooner had the words had left his lips, the gun she hadn’t even realized that Connor even had was lifted, the barrel pointed directly at the back of Markus’ cranium. And Ollie, frozen in her shock, wasn’t the only one to notice; North uttered Markus’ name in warning, but not soon enough.

The gunshot rang so loudly in her ears that any sound that came after it was muffled and distorted; Markus’s body fell lifelessly by the wayside, and before Bree even had a chance, a second bullet exited the chamber and she followed him to the ground, still, silent.. dead. A pool of cobalt and a pool of crimson began to form underneath them, and Ollie’s hand was suddenly released. Still in shock, Ollie crumpled to the floor, her eyes unable to tear away from the unmoving forms of her friends, even as Connor continued his onslaught; North, Simon, Josh..

Connor was dead too, wasn’t he?

How naive she had been to hope that they would finally get their happy ending. This wasn’t a fairy tale, this was a war, and it was a war that CyberLife was keen to win by any means necessary. And they had done it; what left was there to fight for, now that the figureheads of the rebellion were all dead? What hope could any of them possibly have to fight against the perfect machine that CyberLife had created, when he had so effortless wiped out their entire leadership in one fell swoop? Ollie knew she had no hope in hell; she had been helpless to him from the moment they had met.

When the shock of it all had finally wore off, if only just a little, her russet eyes slowly drifted up the form of CyberLife’s most perfect prototype to find that his eyes were already on her. But they were cold, and dark, and held not an ounce of the light and love that she once found there; he was a hollow shell, an empty vessel possessed by his creators.

What a cruel thing to do, Ollie thought, staring down the barrel of the gun. to cloak death itself in such a sweet looking face.

The final gunshot startled her awake, so much so that she shot upwards with a horrified shriek, and quite nearly banged her head against Connor’s, who had been leaning over her with an expression of absolute terror, his LED circling a bright, crimson red. “Ollie!” He reached out for her, and was startled when she smacked his hands away with a cry of fear and scrambled sideways, off the edge of the bed. She hit the floor with an audible gasp, clambering backwards when Connor followed after her, and held her hands out when her back met the wall of their bedroom.

“Stay back!” she sobbed, and Connor immediately froze; his dove brown eyes were wide, unblinking as he tried to make sense of what was happening. Tears streamed hot trails down her freckled cheeks as a sob wracked her body, and Connor so desperately wanted to comfort her, to draw her up into his arms and tell her that everything was alright, but.. she told him to stay back, and if that’s what she really wanted, that’s what he would do.

Slowly, he lowered himself onto his knees, and held his hands up where she could see them. He couldn’t possibly know what she thought he was going to do, but he wanted her to see that he meant her no harm; he never meant her any harm. “Ollie..” he breathed her name once more; the tone of his voice combined with the heartbroken expression he wore seemed to draw Ollie out of whatever state of panic she had been in, realization washing over her as she came to realize… she hadn’t really just watched him murder her friends. He hadn’t just shot her. She was home, safe, and Connor was here, and he was.. himself. It’d all been a horrible, twisted nightmare conjured up by her terrified mind.

Without warning, she threw herself towards the android, quite nearly tackling him to the floor. He remained upright, however, and wrapped his arms around her without hesitation as she buried her face into the crook of his neck, sobbing so uncontrollably that he feared that if he did not calm her, she may begin hyperventilating. “It’s alright, now..” he whispered into her hair, his soft hands caressing the tense muscles of her back as she wept, soaking the collar of his shirt with salty tears. “It was just.. a bad dream, it’s over now.” He could never understand what it was like to wake up from a dream, or a nightmare for that matter. The way Ollie had described dreams to him, it was like, slipping into another reality for just a short time. Sometimes, that reality was nice, sometimes it was really strange, sometimes it was sad, and sometimes.. it was terrifying.

What had brought on this night terror? It didn’t take long for Connor to piece together what had potentially caused it; earlier that evening, he had explained what he had been too afraid to admit to her before; how CyberLife had nearly reclaimed him just moments after they had assumed their victory, how they would have had him kill Markus and everyone else had he not remembered Elijah Kamski’s warning that he always left a back door in his programming.

“I was so afraid!” Ollie sobbed into his shoulder, her voice muffled, but still crystal clear to him. Every faux muscle in his body went as still as a statue, and he wondered vaguely how he could have wrought her so much suffering when he claimed that he loved her; he had felt so much guilt about hiding what had happened from her that he finally had broken down and told her, and because of his selfish desire to ease his conscience, Ollie was plagued with terror, and it was his fault. Connor didn’t voice these concerns; instead, his jaw clenched and held her tighter, whispering comforting words to her over and over in hopes of soothing her grief. It took time, but soon, the sobs gave way to quiet hiccups and sniffles, and her body relaxed against his, molding into his chest in a way that felt too perfect, too right to have been merely happenstance that they met. The RK800 patiently waited for some sign that she was ready to talk about what had happened, and that moment came when she pulled back just a fraction so that she could see his face, her swollen lips parting to speak.

“I… I’m so sorry, Connor, I didn’t mean to-- to hit you like that…” Ollie’s voice was weak, and he supposed he shouldn’t be surprised that the first thing she would do was apologize for that, even though she knew she couldn’t possibly have hurt him. Before he could inevitably tell her that it was alright, she quickly continued. “That nightmare was so.. vivid.”

“You have nothing to apologize for,” Connor lifted a hand, brushing away the remaining tears that still clung to her rosy cheeks with the pad of his thumb. “I should be the one apologizing. I should have never told you about what CyberLife tried to do.. It doesn’t matter what they tried to do, it failed, and I’m.. still me. I would never…”

Ollie’s amber eyes blinked a couple of times as she processed what he said; at this point, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he was able to so easily work out what was bothering her, but it still shocked her at times when he was able to pin-point it with such ease. Sometimes, she felt that he knew her better than she even really knew herself. Shaking her head, Ollie’s hands lifted upwards to rest on either side of his face, forcing him to look at her. “Hey..” she breathed. “I don’t want you ever holding back from telling me something that’s bothering you because you think I’ll have a bad reaction.” Ollie knew her words were contrary to what had just happened; he’d told her something that had been bothering him, and.. well, she had a bad reaction. But that didn’t mean she wanted him bottling things up for fear of that. “I know… that.. you don’t want to upset me, but your own feelings and fears are just as important and valid, and I want you to be able to talk about them, even if I… overreact a little.”

“You’re not overreacting.” Connor said this firmly, his arm around her waist tightening, if only a fraction. “Your fears are valid too, Ollie. I know the implications of what I told you are disconcerting. We.. should have talked about it more, I should have put your mind at ease.. I-”

“Connor, this wasn’t your fault, you hear me?” Although her voice was still gentle, she, too, spoke with a rare firmness that demanded his attention, and she clearly had it. “Sometimes the human brain just blows things out of proportion, especially when we sleep. I know that… you’re still you.. and you would never hurt me. And that CyberLife can’t control you anymore. It was just.. a really, really bad dream.” Ollie could still see the blood pooling on the platform, red and blue alike, the cold, lifeless stare of Connor as he pointed the gun at her-

His lips tenderly planting a warm kiss to her forehead drew her mind away from those dark thoughts, and she sighed in relief; her very physical reaction urged Connor to kiss her cheek next, and then her other; finally, he kissed her lips, finding his own solace in the way her heart had finally slowed to its natural pace. Ollie closed her eyes, now, and rested her forehead against Connor’s, concentrating on the way his arms felt around her, and how.. safe she felt there in his embrace; she loved him. She trusted him. And as terrifying as that nightmare had been, that’s all it had been; a nightmare.

After a moment of silence, Connor reluctantly pulled back a fraction, those umber eyes she loved so much flitting across her features. “Are you going to try and go back to sleep?” He inquired gently; almost immediately, Ollie shook her head.

“No, I don’t think so. I need a little bit to.. try and get it all out of my head.” she uttered, averting her gaze somewhat sheepishly. Without another word, Connor scooped her up into his arms and stood up, prompting a pleasantly surprised squeak from the red-head as she peered up at him inquisitively.

“Then, I think I’ll make you some tea. You should put on that weird old crime comedy you and Hank like so much.”

“Excuse you,” Ollie started, pointing a finger at him in an accusatory manner, as though she were deeply offended by what he had said. “Castle is the crowning achievement of television, and you’re weird for not liking it.”

“I like that you enjoy it,” Connor replied easily, smiling down at the ginger in his arms playfully. Ollie felt her cheeks warm at this answer, and stuck her tongue out at him playfully, earning her a quick kiss on the temple as he carried her out of their bedroom; she closed her eyes and laid her head on his chest, and for a moment, she wondered how her brain could have ever imagined something so terrible happening when she felt so completely safe and adored with him. She loved him, she trusted him. And he loved her and trusted her, too.