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wickmitz · 3 months ago

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I decided to start talking about Wick and Rocky's relationship because I like their dynamics too, I like seeing Wick scared of Rocky and Rocky being aggressive with him, which is unusual because Rocky is rarely aggressive with anyone, but of course Wick is an exception to rule

Also my mini opinion about their possible relationship, I think that if Rocky didn't have to fight for his place, then he and Wick could become friends, or at least tolerate each other a little, I also see some superficial similarities, their gentlemanly and romantic natures, and their common love for explosions (remembering the quarrymen chapter), but this is my assumption, I think that I don't understand the characters' personalities well, so I can be wrong in this assumption, something like that. So, what do you think about their relationship?

for starters, i cannot thank you enough for this ask! as i’ve said previously, i have many thoughts on these two, so it’s nice to finally be able to share some of them. although given the extent to which i think about them, i apologize in advance if this is sloppy and sort of everywhere … while i’ll try to structure things the best i can, i cannot promise i’ll succeed! but hopefully this is an enjoyable reply nonetheless.

one of my favorite things about rocky and wick’s relationship is absolutely how aggressive rocky is towards the aristocrat ; he is prone to glares and cruel jokes and borderline hissing whenever the man is within his line of sight, or can be brought to a wailing-fit over the mere mention of his name from miss m’s mouth. there is a childishness to it, but a very prominent threat as well in spite of rocky’s usual incompetence. so he goes out of his way to posture around wick, readily lying and adorning himself with the gangster drapes he so badly wants to wear, in the hopes that it intimidates … will even badmouth wick’s family and make fun of his name and rock related obsession to mitzi, and so on so forth! yet all of this is very reminiscent of schoolyard bullying rather than anything too severe, though we as the audience understand rather quickly that rocky would bash wick’s head in with a tire iron if he could. ( translation : if it wouldn’t earn the tears or hate of a certain beloved mitzi may ) and it’s all very intense despite the absence of actual violence! and i understand why many fans see this as unusual for rocky and believe that it’s only wick who makes him act so aggressively, but i’d argue it isn’t really wick at all that prompts such scary reactions from him … and that rocky is a deeply angry character who’s a.) been boiling quietly for a long, long time and b.) has turned wick into a punching bag of sorts for this inner world of resentment and hurt. basically, when he’s judging the well-to-do or poking fun, his eyes don’t look at wick and actually acknowledge him as sedgewick sable ; instead this is a being, something vague and metaphorical, who threatens to upseat rocky’s permanence in the lackadaisy and steal away his savior, and he’s had a hand in the violinist’s misfortune for a long time.

obviously, rocky doesn’t think wick robbed him of his family twice over and made him homeless, but he is channeling the fear and anguish of those events into his loathing for wick, if that makes sense? it’s easier that way -- to finally have an outlet for everything bleeding inside of you, to be able to bite and claw at something without feeling conflicted or having to take personal accountability for your own mistakes … which is something that i think rocky does struggle with to a degree. he is sort of a finger pointer! his pain has to be worth something, it has to be for someone else ; spending years homeless and losing his last bit of family was for freckle, and the scrambling of his literal brain was for mitzi, and that means he can’t ever be angry with them! well, except that he is, somewhat, but he buries it deep down instead of feeling it. with freckle there is a sense of strain between them -- an air of ‘you owe me’ from rocky to freckle as he uses freckle to appease miss m, and he constantly pokes fun at his cousin too. it’s lighter than his jabs at wick, but there’s a constant pestering, a reminder of how good freckle has it : how he’s got the mom and the house and the job and the girl most notably. i don’t think rocky is intending to come across as mean, and to his credit he hardly does! but it’s rather clear to me that some part of him, some hidden and deeply hurt part, is rather indignant about taking the fall for freckle all those years ago. which he can’t understand, because how could he? he made that choice, he decided to take accountability for something he didn’t do because he loves freckle and knows it’d be so easy to believe this family tragedy was roark’s fault ; the devilish child he was, all troublesome and too broken to properly fit anywhere. so there is a disconnect born here, where rocky can’t comprehend that he’d be angry at freckle, so instead these not so great feelings are placed elsewhere and silently boil over time. and with mitzi … i don’t think he’s angry at her per se, but there is a frustrated and desperate chorus of : why him and why not me, when i’m the one out here dying for you? which is certainly unpleasant. of course, rather than allowing those feelings to be more aimed at miss m, whom he feels unloved by, he ( again! ) represses these emotions and allows them to fester into his greatest fears and fantastical complexes. i think there is a lot of other miscellaneous anger he could have towards others too … perhaps some part of him is sore upon seeing ivy’s normal lifestyle, watching her go to university and knowing that’s been taken from him. or an ache felt when hearing stories from zib and the band and how they used to travel successfully, living as nomads, and rocky is all too reminded of his similar lifestyle and how he couldn’t make it work as effortlessly. people with immense trauma are more prone to irrational anger and jealousy, to viewing everything around them as unfair and believing it’s even more unjust that so many people get to live comfortably while they’ve suffered. a situation that gets more messy when you’re someone like rocky, a man who’s willingly made choices that have harmed himself and wants to continue on with his smiling, bumbling fool of an act. he does not want to be angry, does not want to see it within himself, i think, which leads to an accidental increase of it.

all of this is to reiterate that wick is a scapegoat for rocky and nothing more. it’s why he’s rather hypocritical whenever it concerns the man. for example, it was stated by tracy that he looks down upon wick for his excessive presence at the bar, yet he appears to enjoy hanging out with zib -- who drinks just as often! he makes fun of how all wick ever talks about is rocks, when he himself is prone to poetry rambles that people find irritating or boring, and etc etc. this is also just a human nature thing, to critique someone you heavily dislike and even going as far as to belittle things you love or do in your own day to day because you just hate them that bad! but given rocky’s willingness to befriend anyone, it more so reeks of a dehumanization element. wick is every obstacle in his way, every divine force that threatens to send him packing again, so he is equal parts unnerved by wick’s presence and angry about it. it is mostly a fear response we are seeing, an emotion that’s morphed into long held resentment and anger. so his actions are extremely defensive, with him trying to push wick far away and keep him and mitzi separate, like some sort of animal attempting to ward off a threat that’s come too close to their home. despite the loaded animosity there, this hate has hardly reached its peak … but it shall only grow more intense as things continue onward i’m afraid, since as it stands ( in the comic at least ) rocky is at an all time low … and is ten times more desperate. i’d honestly say wick has become so warped in his mind’s eye that he can only strive towards ‘winning’ over the other man, because that’s all he can see anymore. i think mitzi implying that wick willingly helped her out, the intense head injury, and rocky’s fragile emotional state is exactly what pushes him towards premeditated murder in look-see. i don’t know how people perceive that arc, but to me it’s very clear that rocky actively sought to see the deaths of wes and fish that night. going as far as to lament that he’d be, “very disappointed if ( he ) dreamed them,” and purposefully luring the marigold duo away to have freckle pick them off. while you could argue that this was a smart move, in a gangster sort of sense, there’s still no denying that rocky is oddly chipper about the whole thing and is now seeking death out ; whereas before his methods of vengeance were just, well, ruining people’s livelihood but ultimately leaving them alive. this isn’t to discredit the fact that rocky is going through something! he is in a very muddled and dark place, mentally and physically, but even tracy has said that the head injury hasn’t changed rocky’s personality -- it’s only brought things to the surface.

source : q&a with tracy .

which, yeah! makes sense! head trauma can cause a person to become a wreck emotionally ( think mood swings, irritability, etc ) but it doesn’t completely morph someone either. personality changes may occur, but it’s not like you’re being rewritten entirely, you know? and given tracy’s old statement, it’s clear that ‘personality changes’ aren’t a side effect he’s suffering from. something that adds to my beginning statement, which is that rocky is a deeply angry and troubled person, more so than fans give him any credit for.

however, to touch upon your mini opinion about these two, i actually wholeheartedly agree that rocky and wick could become friends if circumstances were different. they do in fact have many superficial similarities, but one of the more prominent things they deeply share is never really belonging in the groups they frequent. this is more overt with rocky’s character, yet wick faces it too in subtle ways. the well-to-do crowd, seen through the investors, find the gentleman to be lacking in about every place imaginable ; to them he is an obsessive freak who cares too deeply for meager rocks, something they constantly mock him for, while he’s also being noticeably set apart from the rest of them … he seems younger than the investors, more excitable, passionate, and a little less experienced, and doesn’t seem to care for money or reputation as much as them either. there is a constant rubbing between him and them, where what he enjoys is seen as wrong, such as his love for the lackadaisy and his choice in paramor, a grieving widow with extremely dangerous ties. we also know that wick doesn’t have many friends at all, with the only two he has being lacy and church ( church is listed as such on his character profile, in a sort of tongue-in-cheek way ), both of whom work for or with him. they are obliged to hang around, and while they care in varying ways, they are prone to judging him just as much. honestly, it’s not shocking that wick seeks refuge at his chosen speakeasy! but even there he is rather distant from everyone else. he doesn’t speak to zib ever in the comics, nor seems all too close with viktor, ivy, or horatio … it is merely mitzi he is close to, even if he knows of the other people who work there. and, once again, wick very obviously doesn’t fit in. he is not gangster material, could never be an atlas may replacement, much less someone who could get his paws dirty in such an active way. so he has his feet in two different worlds and doesn’t know how to fit into either of them, or which one he actually wants to fit into more. i think in many ways rocky could relate -- these are two very lonely people who wish to belong somewhere and be accepted by some group or another but go about it in all the wrong ways. wick, who is too hesitant to fully commit to what he wants and is worse off for it, and then rocky, who obsessively throws himself against what he wants until he breaks every bone in his body. they also have explosives to bond over, lol, and other miscellaneous things like their taste in women i suppose … but this potential bond adds to the tragedy of lackadaisy, where we see two people who on every level should get along but we’re burdened with the knowledge that it’s an impossibility anyway, because there’s no removing the circumstance of which they’re in.

though i like to believe that despite wick’s fear of rocky, he maintains a kindness towards him regardless. i think his worries about rocky are rather surface level … he doesn’t know the boy at all, really, and thus can’t make heads or tails of him, hence him believing the lie in balderdash. so when i’m feeling particularly self indulgent, i like imagining a world where they’re forced together and sort of ‘stuck’ together ; to which rocky finally breaks and exposes his wounds to wick, in every sense of the word, and wick finally gets him. the aggression, the possessiveness of mitzi … it is all fear and desperation and a profound sadness, things he’d sympathize with. if rocky was able to explain that he loathes wick because if he saves the lackadaisy then mitzi won’t need him anymore and that it’s not fair that wick gets to so easily fix things when rocky would give his soul for his home, for her, and how wick could render every sacrifice he’s already made for naught by smoothing things over with some greenbacks and he can’t lose this, he just can’t --! … which, well, wick is too kind of a man to be able to do anything except feel awful, even though it’s not his fault at all. here we have two people who could coexist! and they should, since rocky logically can’t do every speakeasy job ( band member, rumrunner, mitzi’s shadow, also the guy who gets the money for the hooch ) by himself, just like how wick can’t save the lackadaisy with only his cash and limited booze stash. it’d be a joint cooperation, a collaboration between them, both equally important in the grand scheme of crime’s every turning wheel … but rocky’s rage and fear won’t let him see that, and likely never will. still, in scenarios where everything ends up alright for the lackadaisy and the people involved in it ( which is not how canon will go, by the way ), i fancy wick and rocky getting better within their relationship. rocky will always be prickly and quick to upset around the other man sadly, but perhaps he could see wick in a softer kind of light. or at least understand vaguely enough that he isn’t out to get rocky, so to speak. and then maybe wick learns that pancakes soothe rocky’s ire and poorly makes them anytime he wishes to talk to the man, and other fun things like that! but you should have more confidence in your character analysis skills, because you were spot on ( at least in my eyes ) about them potentially getting along if things were different. it’s certainly a fun aspect to play around with, and is important to note when discussing their relationship so you can fully understand just how warped rocky’s perspective on things are. and how unstable and traumatized he is too, of course </3 sidenote, but i also hope that throughout everything i’ve said here, or anything i’ve said before on my blog, that my love for rocky and my own sympathy for him comes across well enough. while he’s deeply flawed and i have no qualms discussing said flaws in depth, i also don’t think of him as some insane freak who’s evil at his core or anything like that. honestly, i adore analyzing him so much as a character because of how far down his issues go! he’s very well written, i’ll say, as is wick and many of the other characters, but i digress.

once more, thank you for the ask! i’ll end this here because i fear if i don’t i’ll start going in circles, since their relationship is so vast and very important for rocky in a character sense. hopefully i shed some more light on it though! i love these two to bits and pieces and i wouldn’t be half as invested in lackadaisy if their dynamic wasn’t so monumental -- at least to me.

#my asks.#lackadaisy analysis.#lackadaisy #rocky rickaby #sedgewick sable #tracy j butler #i also think rocky’s sudden taste for marigold blood is him making marigold his other scapegoat #he isn’t dealing with anything in a healthy manner and is so traumatized it’s starting to spill out of him … which is. uh. not good!!#but it sure is what’s currently happening regardless #cannot stress enough that rock is a very ill and traumatized individual who hasn’t had a single break in his life #he is constantly in stressful situations that are dangerous … and like.#when you’re constantly put in those situations you become numb. and angry. and it becomes hard to heal #or to truly connect to others … etc #i could talk in depth about rocky’s traumas and why they’ve caused this anger issue and this inner disharmony inside #because frankly there’s a lot there! and i hate to say it but people who are hurt normally show their hurt in ugly ways #especially if mentally ill … which rocky is imo #it’s just the reality of things! this isn’t me demonizing mental illness or the effects of trauma. i’m just being realistic here #someone as deeply troubled as rocky ( someone with NO outlet and whom hides his feelings from others and himself )#is bound to be. well. troubled!! his smiling facade is merely another mask he wears to cope and to be good for the people he loves #it is not … really rocky rickaby … rocky rickaby is that and the wrath and the self destruction and more #AHEM but i digress. how rocky treats wick and all that has really done wonders for understanding his character #and i truly love the wick / rocky / mitzi trio so bad. their relationships with each other is what drew me into this world #like. i am shaking them so much. the overlap!! the complexities inherit in their bonds and what that says about the individual characters!#it’s amazing truly lol like … i have had such fun thinking about them twenty four seven for the past three-ish months #anyway. anyway! i love analyzing these bitches. they can fit so much into them #and i’m rooting for wickmitzi endgame and for wick to desperately try to bond with rocky … while his bloodshot eye is twitching as we speak #lots of fun!!! lots of pain and agony too … rocky is nothing but a painful character alas. that is his nature. but that is also his appeal #and ooops i’ll shut up in the tags now i just. have a lot to say. and a lotta love to give to these two!! but uh. yeah <3 loved writing thi

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safyresky · 24 days ago

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Scrimbly Jacqueline 44/52: Halloween scrimbly! Jack and Jacqueline are gonna kill it at the Legend-Legate Halloween Party because yes, Jacqueline did indeed get Jack on board...

All he had to do was dare her to cut her hair for it! It went a little like this...

🎃👻🍷🥳✨

It started, (as most things did for her, weirdly enough) with a sprite sleep.

It wasn’t out of the ordinary. Especially this close to Spring’s approach. Work ramped up for Jacqueline and like, nine out of ten times Dite would be startled by a large thump out in the atrium, only to see her girlfriend COVERED in snow laying face down by the pond.

“Long day?”

“SO long and I am SO tired. I can’t even make it to the bedroom. What EVER will a cute LIGHT AS A FEATHER sprite like me do~”

Apparently, roll over, throw the back of her hand over her forehead and pout with really big cute eyes right at Dite.

“Well it’s a GOOD THING your fluffy, tall, and VERY strong girlfriend is here to rescue you.” She knelt down, picked her up bridal style and flew the pair of them right to her rarely used bed.

“Boop!”

“Hehe. Boop.”

A finger came up, booped her nose, and in seconds Jacqueline was passed out, a welcome chilly presence against Dite’s side.

They stayed cuddled like that for a while. Dite amused herself in the meantime. Stole Jacqueline's phone and scrolled through the tag she had for stuff to show Dite later. Let her brother know where she was, threatening him under pain of death should he try to wake his sister up and bring her back out into the field (he promised he wouldn’t and said he, too, was in hiding and Winter was who they had to watch out for). Checked in with Elle, since, y’know, Jacqueline’s phone was RIGHT THERE and Dite knew her url. Napped for a bit.

But when it became apparent that Jacqueline’s sprite sleep was just that, and would last more than half a day, Dite wriggled her way out and shifted to watch mode.

It was quite fun, really. Keep up with her notifications, place sweets on the bedside tables to see if they’d rouse the sprite (and they did but Dite always missed it by THAT MUCH, only knowing Jacqueline had eaten the treats based on crumb distribution), re-tuck her in every so often, cuddle when Dite decided sure, why not, she could totally sleep for a bit! You know, that sort of thing.

And while keeping vigil at her side, Dite booted up her PS4 and played her very favourite game possibly ever: Hades.

She lost count of how many runs she did. But she got a fair way along in the storyline by the time Jacqueline woke up. So much so that she didn’t even notice the sprite rouse and slowly make her way to the edge of the bed. And she must’ve been there for a hot minute because it wasn’t until Dite had dealt the final punch onto Learnie that she realized her girlfriend was awake and watching, and NOT because she had noticed calmly while button smashing. No.

It was because the moment Learnie exploded, Jacqueline made a noise that may have been a purr? And said, “Mm. That's hot.”

Right in Dite’s ear.

Needless to say, Dite was startled. So much so her flight and fight response kicked in and she shot into the air, longbow drawn, arrows ALREADY LAUNCHED before she realized what had happened.

“Oh! Oh no! Jacqueline! I’m so sorry!”

“It’s okay, it’s okay!” Jacqueline pulled an arrow out of the bed, feathers flying about. “It’s fine! I scared you! My bad. I knew you were in the zone but didn’t realize how in the zone you really were—hhh.”

The breath escaped the sprite as Dite grabbed her in a very tight hug. Emphasis on the tight.

“Dite. Dite. I need to breath—” the top of her head was wet. Why was it wet? Was Dite—

“I’m s-s-sorry!”

“Oh, sweetheart, you don't have to cry about it!” Wiggling out of Dite’s grip (a challenge in itself), Jacqueline managed to throw her arms around the goddess’s neck and squish her nice and tight. “I’m okay! Really.”

She pulled back and held onto Dite’s face, wiping the wet off her cheeks and immediately booping noses.

“Boop!”

Dite laughed. “You’re so cute.” sniffling, she wiped the rest of the wet away, fanning her face. “Whew. Okay. Okay. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Positive! It’s just a couple arrows.” She pulled another one out of the bed. “And I’m slippy.”

Laughing, Dite pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. “Okay! If you insist.”

“Which I do. You’re playing Hades? That game you've been telling me about for like. GOD. Two years at this point?”

“Yep!” Chipper, Dite floated back down to the bottom of the bed, picking up the controller and popping Zagreus up to the next level. “It was a fun way to spend the time while you slept. How long have you been watching?”

“I woke up to a you died screen. Very disorienting. But then I got to watch you go through the underworld! Nyx is hot. So is Achilles. Like, everyone in that house was pretty hot.”

“If you think that, just wait! There’re a bunch of characters that weren’t in the house during that run! Wait until you see Thanatos. You’re gonna think he’s so hot”

Grabbing the blanket and wrapping it around herself like a cloak, Jacqueline picked up her phone, plopping down to sit beside Dite as she continued her run.

“It’s been a while since you played it.”

“It has! I got busy and I’d beaten the main plot. Now I’m doing the epilogue plot! And I’ve added some heat to make it harder, which is why I died so soon! One of the bosses was given a chariot and a MACHINE GUN. I think. And I was NOT ready for it.”

“Why did you pick it back up again? Had the urge?”

“All MONTH actually! They announced a sequel.”

“They did?”

“Yeah! It looks super cool! Here, let me show you the trailer.”

Pausing the game, she pried Jacqueline’s phone out of her hand, pulling up the Hades 2 sneak peek. Jacqueline watched with rapt interest, eyes going big.

“Woah. That looks dope.”

“Right? And it looks like it has a LOT more gameplay and I am SO EXCITED! I can’t wait until it goes into beta! I’m hoping I can play it during pre-release. I think you’ll really like it, too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah! The protagonist uses MAGIC! AND she’s trying to rescue her family! She’s Zagreus’s little sister.”

“Oh, cute! Maybe I’ll keep tabs on it then, if you think I’ll like it. And also, magical little sister. LOVE that.”

Dite giggled. “I thought you would. Wanna try playing the first one?”

“Maybe later. For now, I am perfectly content sitting right here and watching you play.” Pecking Dite’s cheek, she grabbed her phone back and opened it up, catching up on messages.

“What did you do to my recent emojis?”

“Don’t worry about it!”

🎃👻🍷🥳✨

It had also started small.

After their brief chat, Jacqueline didn’t really show any more interest in the game, though she was happy to start her own save and do a run or two or five. Which Dite had expected, of course! Jacqueline always liked up close combat and was a big fan of button smashing (you had to be when you played Super Smash Bros with her younger siblings. They were FAST—but Jacqueline was faster and Dite, even faster!) and Hades was full of button smashing.

And incredibly hot characters, according to Jacqueline. Dite took her word for it.

At any rate, Dite was not prepared for the ensuing love the sprite ended up having for the game’s sequel. Not until she got back from work to...WAY too many missed texts from Jacqueline.

DITE IT ENTERED EARLY ACCESS

I gotta pay for it? WHACK.

GUESS WHAT I JUST DID

OH GIRL IT’S DOWNLOADING

I can't find my ding dang controller

I STOLE YOUR BLUE ONE! SORRY BABE XOXO

Oh girl. GIRL. It’s so cool

Oh it’s so FUN

Okay. Just got my ass whooped.

OKAY WOW YEAH super different mechanics but like, really fun. She has this cool thing that I think replaces Zag’s cast basically? But it’s like a big sigil looking thing and it KEEPS THE LIL GUYS FROM MOVING ABOUT! I love it

NEW GODS

THEY’RE HOT

SOME OF THEM LITERALLY

I don't wanna give you too many spoilers but lmk if you’re free tonight? I’ll bring my laptop! And return your controller. Maybe. Idk it’s my favourite shade of blue, so...😈😈😈

There was a brief gap, according to the timestamps. Enough for a couple of runs, Dite guessed. The messages continued after, borderline unintelligible (Dite thanking the gods for small miracles like autocorrect as she read on).

Oh NO

DITE

DITE SHE NEVER GOT TO MEET HE R BROTHER

SJVHUHVUI

VUUEAKCJWNE

ASDFGHJKL

I’M SO SAD AND HEARTBROKEN OMG

SHE DIDNT GET TO MEET HER BROTHER? NOW SHE HAS TO GO SAVE HIM? SHE’S NEVER GOTTEN TO MEET ZAG?? I THOUGHT THEY HAD LIKE SOME TIME TOGETHER BEFORE CHRONOS BUT APPARENTLY NOT???

OH SHE’S SO CUTE WHEN SHE’S LITTLE I’M 🥺😭🤯

Another bout of silence before the final string of texts.

...girl I'm hooked.

I'm OBSESSED

I need the full game SO BAD

MELINOË 😭🥺😭🤩🤩🌨😭🧜🏻‍♂️

That seemed to be the end of it. Dite giggled to herself, quickly typing a few replies.

Well the good news is now, you own the full game! Yay💕💕💕! We should share Steam libraries if we haven’t already! 😘😘

So sorry for the late replies, blue eyes! 💙💙 It's high season for me! But I'm home now and yes, absolutely free.

What do you want for dinner? I can grab something or make something and we can hole up here for the night! Just you, me, and the sequel to critically acclaimed god-like, rogue-like dungeon crawler game Hades 2! 💙💖⚔

Also the controller is your favourite shade of blue because I got it for you, silly! 😘💕

The replies were instantaneous.

Is for me? YAY! 😁😁😁

I’ll be right over!

Can we do Za from that place by the tower of Pisa? 🥺🥺🥺

🍕🍕🍕🍕

Dite laughed.

Sure! I’ll grab it and meet you back here?

😎🆒

And that was Jacqueline for yes.

🎃👻🍷🥳✨

It was obvious once she’d returned with the pizza that Jacqueline was absolutely ENAMOURED with the game. The love radiated off of her in waves as she talked about it!

And talk about it she did. The pair of them spent the entire evening and well into the morning taking turns doing runs, guessing story beats, and trying to see who could make it farther out in the runs each in-game night.

By the time the sun rose down below them, Jacqueline had unlocked the path up to Olympus, and BOTH girls had squealed in excitement (enough to upset several cherubs as they flew away angrily. One even hissed).

They’d called it there, then. Angry cherubs made for a bad time.

But that certainly didn’t stop Jacqueline.

🎃👻🍷🥳✨

Whether with Dite or on her own, Jacqueline could not get enough of the game. It was like Dite said; she was enamoured with it. She loved it on its own, and she loved how much fun she had when playing it alongside Dite.

And maybe, just maybe, she felt a bit for Melinoë.

Whatever the case, it fast became one of her favourite games and was very much on the mind when talk of the Legend-Legate Halloween party came up once more.

For the last almost fifteen years running, Santa had been joining the festivities given that he now had a Legate of his own.

And for the last near fifteen years running, Santa and Charlie had won the costume contest every. Single. Time.

So when July came around and Halloween hit the shelves, talk of the costume party came up once more amongst Jacqueline and her Legend, the Big Bother himself.

It’d become a regular lament around this time of year.

See, she and Jack had won the contest since their first year both attending post reunion. They had held onto the trophy for a couple of sweet, sweet years when Charlie got his Legate status and he and Santa swooped in and managed to steal the trophy every goddess damned year.

“And I am tired of it, Jacqueline! I mean, the only reason they’re winning is because they have SEVERAL departments FILLED with costume experts, I mean, come on. It simply isn’t fair!”

And sure, maybe Jack had a point. But like, they were using the resources they had at their disposal so like. You know. Why not.

Jacqueline had said as much, only for Jack to grumble and glower and tell her to stop defending the enemy.

“In fact, you should stop fraternizing with the enemy, too! No Charlie hangouts until after Halloween.”

Jacqueline had bit her tongue. Swallowing her laughter, she cleared her throat.

“Okay, but like, if I do that…how will we know our enemy? We can’t defeat them if we don’t know them, you know?”

“No, I don’t know! Good point! Okay, fine. Keep fraternizing. We’ll see who fraternizes last.”

Jacqueline snorted. “What the frost does that mean?!”

“I’m having a moment, Jacqueline! You think I know what the things I say mean when I’m having a moment?!?! Honestly. Where’s the support!”

He’d gone on for another good twenty minutes, much to Jacqueline’s amusement. Finally, though, he had eased off, and chit chat returned to the regular gossiping and bitching as they made sure to keep the snowcapped mountains…well. Capped with snow.

Of course, before finishing for the night Jack had once again reminded her to start thinking of a costume that would beat the Calvin-Claus duo once and for all.

It was distracting her something fierce that evening. She’d already lost two death defies to Chronos! TWO! And that hadn’t happened in like, the last ten Underworld runs. Goddess above, the costume thing shouldn’t be bothering her that much.

Finally getting the last hit in on Chronos, Jacqueline sighed. She piloted Melinoë around the decrepit House of Hades, really wishing the game was fully out. She was dying to see how gameplay would work re: saving the rest of Melinoë’s family. She also really, really wanted to reunite her with Zag! She couldn’t WAIT to see the plotlines and the arcs and the—

Oh. Now there’s a thought.

Sending Melinoë back to the Crossroads, Jacqueline sat up straight.

She knew exactly what costumes would give them the trophy this year.

🎃👻🍷🥳✨

“DITE!”

“JACQUELINE!”

“I JUST HAD A BRILLIANT IDEA.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah! I can trust you, right?”

Dite laughed. “We are literally dating, Jacqueline. Of course you can trust me! Why wouldn’t you be able to?”

“Because this isn’t your run of the mill Jacquie brand idea. This is serious stuff, Dite. This is...Halloween related.”

“Oh! You’ve thought of a costume for you and Jack? For the Legend-Legate party?”

“YES! And I think it’ll have a really good chance at winning the whole thing.”

Dite’s wings fluttered. “That’s wonderful! What’s the catch?”

“For this to work, there are two big things I have to do. The first one: use what I have at my disposal which is a literal goddess of a girlfriend.”

Dite flicked her ponytail. “Hedone is at your service!”

“I like that you added the sparkles.”

“You don’t think that was too much?”

“No! Not at all! I loved it!”

Dite grinned, hovering. “Yay! So what do you need from me?”

“Access to godly forages and godly resources.”

“Done! We’ll check in with Mom’s side of the family, they’ll probably let us do more nonsense than Dad’s side. So what’s number two?”

“I need to convince Jack to do it.”

“Why is that?”

“I think we should go as Mel and Zag.”

Dite brightened. “Oh! Oh, I love that idea! That’s so cute! We can make the weapons HERE and we’ve got TONS of reference material to get the fits JUST RIGHT and I can find some laurels for you both that’ll REALLY make the look proper godly, ou, it’s going to be SO FUN. I bet Jack’ll go for it!”

“I know if worse comes to worse I can guilt him about it but that’s not really how I want to go about doing it, you know? At least, not seriously.”

“Well, how about a PowerPoint?”

Jacqueline blinked. “Oh, shit! That is a great idea! I fucking love PowerPoints!”

🎃👻🍷🥳✨

And that’s how, months later, Jack found himself at Jacqueline’s recently-restored-forgotten-about-house, seated on the huge sofa and watching as Jacqueline set up a PowerPoint presentation on the TV, Dite grinning like a maniac beside him.

“And…there we go! Open up!”

The PowerPoint loaded.

“Why Jack and Jacqueline Should Attend the Legend-Legate Party as Zagreus and Melinoë from critically acclaimed, god-like, rogue-like game Hades and its sequel, Hades 2. That’s a bit of a mouthful, don’t you think?”

“But it gets the point across, right?”

“Jacqueline, I don’t even know who these characters are.”

“Well good news for you: The first half of this PowerPoint will make sure you know just that. We’ll start with the first game, because that’s where your character comes from: Zagreus, Prince of the Underworld!”

By some miracle, Jack actually sat through the entire slideshow, paying rapt attention and interrupting a minimal amount and learning quite a bit. Dite was more than happy to compare the game to both sides of her family in real life, much to Jack’s amusement. By the time Jacqueline made her way through the Hades 2 portion, Jack had a pretty good working knowledge of the characters and the game. Games, that is.

“So! In conclusion! Here’s why we should go as these two. One: they’re siblings, so are we! Two: they’re MAGICAL siblings. So are we! Three. They are INSANELY hot. Four: LOOK at how BADASS their fits are! Five: the big ass weapons are DOPE and WILL get us bunny votes. Six: I’ve gone ahead and pulled a Santa and Charlie and used the resources I have at my disposal.”

“Which are?”

“Ta-da!” Jacqueline grinned, presenting Dite. “Celestial girlfriend!”

“That’s me! AND I’ve gone ahead and gotten everything we need to get this going!”

“You know, Dite, technically you’re the enemy here too.”

“Hey! Jack! Be nice!”

“No, it’s okay babe! He’s right. But here's the thing. I love Jacqueline very very much and,” she leaned closer to Jack, her cheery disposition falling, determination taking its place, “I want to see Santa and Charlie go down just as bad as you two do.”

Jack looked surprised. Pleasantly so. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Alright then.”

“So? What do you say?! Please? Please Jack? Pretty please?”

Jack looked thoughtful for a moment, rubbing his chin and hemming and hawing.

“Need I remind you about the time you accidentally stabbed me and then left for fourteen hundred years?”

“You do not, thanks.”

“Okay, good. Just checking. So? What’s the answer?”

“Tell you what, little flurry. I’ll do this costume with you. But! If and only if you cut your hair as short as Melinoë’s for the thing. You know, authenticity’s sake and such.”

Jacqueline patted her hair which was, presently, very, very, very long. “My hair?”

Jack nodded. “Yep! Off it goes. Right up past your shoulders.”

“...done.”

Jack sat up in shock. “Really?”

“Yeah! I’ll cut my hair for this. But you HAVE to go as Zagreus. No take-back-sies, especially after my hair cut.”

Jack smirked. “Done.”

🎃👻🍷🥳✨

About a week before Halloween, Jack popped by to visit the fam only to find Jacqueline with very, very, very short hair.

“Wow,” he said, pulling out his seat and helping himself to the coffee time spread. “You really went and did it.”

“Yep! I told you I would! And also, you dared me to."

"Ah yes! Right. I did, didn't I?"

"Yep. And Jacqueline Frost does NOT go back on a dare."

"Evidently."

Dite brought the costumes by earlier, by the way. They’re done and just about ready to go! We’ll need to try them on and make sure they fit well and all that jazz but then we’re good to go!”

“Weapons, too?”

Jacqueline grinned. “Yep! Actual, FUNCTIONING weapons! I was playing with Lim and Oros earlier, holy heck. If that’d been my loadout during the piracy? I’d have conquered the piratical world, Jack.”

“Well it’s a good thing it wasn’t! There’s be no living with you then, King of the Pirates.”

🎃👻🍷🥳✨

Halloween week rolled around and with it, the Legend-Legate Costume party.

Jacqueline stood in her room, all dressed up, admiring the freeze job on her left arm. The ice was thick enough to give her arm an almost ghostly look about it underneath; close enough to Melinoë’s ghostly prosthetic of sorts to work for her.

Grabbing Lim and Oros and taking a few practise swipes, she tumbled out of her room,

“JACK! You ready? We gotta GO!”

“Chill out, would you?”

Across the hall, Jack’s door opened. Out he walked, in his Zagreus costume—huge sword and all.

“AH! You actually DID IT!”

“Of course! You actually cut your hair, and I am a man of my word.”

“Woo! Yes Jack!” In her excitement, the sprite was hovering a bit, the north winds filling the halls. “We’re gonna kill it today! That trophy is as good as ours.” Landing, she swiped through the air with Oros.

“Yes, just one little detail we need to fix.”

“What?” Jacqueline landed. “What detail?”

“Eyes. Quite literally. I have a little spell that may work, but it won’t do eye colours we don’t have in our genes.”

“So instead of one red, one green, it’ll be one blue, one gold-ish?”

“Bingo. I thought we may be able to do the red what with our favourite uncle and all,” (Jacqueline snorted), “But wen I asked Dad, he told me that the only reason his eyes were that dark was because of all the negative magic and whatnot that he used. Something like that.”

“Really? I always thought they were identical except for the eyes and hair.”

“Nope! Same eye colour too!”

“Damn. I do NOT envy Gran.”

“Nor do I. Anyway, hold still, would you?”

“You remember which side is which, right?”

“How could I not? With how informative your presentation was and how you haven’t stopped talking about the game?” He sniffed. “Please.”

There was a pull of magic in the air. Jacqueline looked down at the ice on her arm—yep! Two-toned eyes.

“Ou, that’s banging.”

“Banging?”

“You know darn well what I meant to say. Let’s bounce so I can go swear.”

“And so we can win that trophy! The look on Santa’s face when we take it from him will make my Christmas. I won't even ask for anything else! Except for maybe a framed picture of the exact moment we're announced as the winners.”

“And if we don’t get it, we have WEAPONS. We can take it,” Jacqueline smirked rather devilishly, stabbing the air with the dagger. She spun on her bare foot and ran down the stairs, weapons trailing magically behind her.

🎃👻🍷🥳✨

It was Cupid and Dite who were hosting this year.

Their villa was done up, lights flashing, the smell of good food wafting down their way. Decorations were put up, and it looked like some of the other gods were hanging around as well.

They made their way into the atrium, the party in full swing as they looked for this year’s hosts.

“Jacqueline!”

“Dite!”

“Ou it looks so GOOD ON YOU!!”

“And look at YOU!?!?!? Are you NEMISIS?!”

Dite giggled, flaunting the armour and standing very tall. “Sure am, Princess.”

“Oh, I love it! Why Nem, though? She’s so rough and tough with Meli and you for SURE can’t do that with me, your cute and lovable girlfriend!” Tilting her head and smiling sweetly, she folded her hands under her chin, Lim and Oros in her grasp.

“Dad was inspired by you two and had this great idea—”

“I sure was! I'll take it from here, kiddo." Cupid finally appeared, floating towards them. "Hey! Jack! Ya made it! And Jacqueline, look at you two! Lookin’ good.”

“You have got to be joking me. Really Cupid? Really? THESEUS?”

Cupid laughed, doing a loop-de-loop on the way over. “Yeah! Did it with you in mind! I’ve played my fair share of Hades, so when Hedone told me you and Jacqueline were doing Zag and Mel, I thought, hey! You know who annoys the shit out of Zag? THESEUS! And so, ta-da!”

He floated back, arms outstretched, lights catching onto the costume.

“I can’t even be mad anymore, Cupes. I’m simply impressed.”

“Ha! That’s the spirit, Jack. Anyway, c’mon in! Mind the crowd. Some of the more laid back family members are here—and some of our Greek cousins, too. Dionysus and Bacchus are in the house. It’s gonna be a PARTY TONIGHT! HAHA!”

“I saved you some treats! C’mon!”

Dite pulled Jacqueline away, the sprite grinning up at her as they disappeared in the direction of the food. Jack smiled, watching them go, content.

“I gotta say, Jack. I’m surprised you agreed to this.”

Jack quirked an eyebrow as Cupid floated closer to him, at eye level with his fellow Legendary Figure.

“Oh?”

“Yeah! I never thought you’d go for something like this,” he gestured to Jack’s Zag outfit, “for a costume.”

“Jacqueline was very excited about. She insists it’ll knock Santa and Charlie right off their pedestal.”

“Oh, I think it will. You’ll never guess who they’re here as.”

“Mario and Luigi?”

“Nope.”

“Scooby and Shaggy?”

“Ha! That’d be funny to see. Nope! Wanna guess again?”

“Not particularly.”

“Buzz Lightyear and Woody. From Toy Story.”

Jack laughed. Out loud. “Really? THAT’S the costume they went with?!”

“Oh yeah! So ah, between you and me, Jack…” the god floated closer. “I think you and your sister got this.”

“You and Dite have a good shot too.”

“Ha! Are you kidding? We don’t enter that shit.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Hedone gets a little too competitive so I ah, try to avoid competitions as much as possible. Seriously, it’s terrifying. You should see her playing board games. Risk? Monopoly? Yikes. She brings even the greatest strategists to tears. Minerva hasn’t been the same since the last board game night. It’s bad, Jack.”

“It’s funny you mention that. When Jacqueline gave me her presentation on the world of Hades—or at least, this iteration of it—” he gestured to himself. “She got very…intense when I asked why she was helping.”

“Yeah. You’d think love was enough, right? Nah. That coupled with beating someone at a competition? Yeesh. You’re lucky you made it out alive, let me tell ya.”

Jack snorted. “The night is still young and this sword is very, very real. Or so I’ve been told. It’s lighter than I expected.”

“I think Heph did that on purpose.”

“I’m not sure whether to be thankful or offended.”

“Eh, when it comes to these guys, it's usually a bit of column A, column B. Regardless, I think you guys have a good chance at winning tonight! Helps that I’m hosting too. We gods are a vain bunch. And I don’t think I could stop them from voting even if I tried.”

“Ou. Then I can tell Scott that I got the godly vote.”

“Ha! You’re gonna be insufferable all year! More so than usual.”

“Only if you’re Scott.”

“Is that why you agreed to the costume?”

“Cupid, please. You know damn well why I agreed to it.”

Cupid smiled. “I do, yeah. I just wanna hear you say it.”

Jack tried very hard to look annoyed but it did not work. He bit back his smile.

“Well, you know how it is. You do very silly things for the people you love.”

“Ha! There it is! You betchya!”

“And you know…there’s no big, huge, grand gesture I can do to make up for everything I did to her,” Jack continued, finding himself watching their Legates in the distance.

Jacqueline already had chocolate on her face, Dite fawning beside her as they helped themselves to some drinks, talking animatedly with Tinkerbell and Peter Pan—ah. Roy’s kids, Jack realized. Olivia and Myles. The pair of Legates were admiring Jacqueline's weapons while she shoved an entire cupcake into her mouth, Dite showing them how to wield the set.

Jack smiled softly. “And while there may not be some grand gesture I can make, there’s all sorts of little things I can do to make up for it all. And this is one of them.”

Cupid chuckled, clapping Jack’s back. “Attaboy! C’mon, let’s get you a drink.”

#dani speaks #scrimbly jacquelines #halloween scrimbly #cs posting #crystal springs #tsc #cuz jack's in this one lol!!!#i was originally gonna have them have the eyes too! but it'd be blaise's eye colour instead lol #alas! i forgot last minute but HEY! they still look pretty darn good :3 #i was referencing kscribbs's jack art and it SHOWS lol #he's lookin a lil blaisey there lmao #and yes jacqueline DID cut her hair for the bit #we'll see if i remember that for the next present day scrimble lmao #SHORT HAIR JACQUELINE ERA NOW #i am projecting. my hair is so fucking long rn i need to get it cut and am thinking of going above the shoulders #smile shots #AND YEAH. IT CAME WITH A SMILE SHOT???#wrote it up on halloween night. then got distracted by hocus pocus marathon #and now it's november 3rd #BONNE APETITE LMAO #dani writes #dani doodles #diteline #and some fun jack and cupid chats #idk why but putting those two together is fun #i think out of all the council members they like to antagonize the most #bunny too but i think bunny makes jack want to commit crime so they don't trio this shit #and also. their legates are an item so you know. there's a bit more relationship there lol #i imagine at some point they both went to talk to the other like IF YOUR KID HURTS MY KID SO HELP ME and it devolved into a fight #and then drinks

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