#Mike adopts Gregory

[cryptid-called-ash]

‘Because Burning Down your Father’s Legacy is Way More Fun with a (Boy)friend’ AU characters as unhinged pins I found

Michael/Fritz

Jeremey

Vanessa/Vanny

Lolbit

Gregory

William

Philip

[doombum]

I've been having an idea for an AU lately. With us finding out that burntrap was in fact the Mimic and not William like a lot of us might have thought at first, it would be nice to have Mike have a similar thought process.

Like, he survived the fnaf 6 fire and when the pizzaplex is built, he ends up going to work as a night guard or engineer there, because he is scared his and Henry's plan failed and William somehow escaped his personal hell.

And when children started to go missing he obviously thinks his fears came true because it's just like the other locations all over again, so he sets off to fight him off again and get rid of him, again. Only to find out that it's not his father but the Mimic, which could end up making him even more desperate because he realises that even when he finally succeeded in getting rid of William some unknown copycat takes his place and starts the process all over again.

[afton-family-askblog]

Did Micheal have any kids? Are you a grandpa Willy

I'm 18.. -Michael

[connectionterminated13]

Death swap William is the best. Like imagine completely fucking up all 3 of your children's life and then later just reappearing dressed in an unholy matrimony of A Free love era 20 something and 18th century vampire Whining about where your grandchildren are.

[soniccrazygal]

The "Adoption"

Mike gets ambushed by Gregory when he starts poking around the Pizzaplex and ends up with a stabby little barnacle. Gregory is so confused when his would-be victim doesn't seem to be angry about the repeated stabbing and even starts offering to get him food and asking if he has a place to stay.

[pixlokita]

I think my ask got eaten by tumblr so I'm gonna try again:

Since Michael was largely unable to talk and Gregory and CC were asleep, is Henry at all aware of who Gregory is? Does he think that Michael kidnapped a child? Does he think William straight up hid CC's twin from him? Heck, does he think William figured out cloning technology?

(Also, speaking of Gregory and Michael: What exactly is their relation in your AU? I've seen some posts referring to Michael as Gregory's dad, but I am unclear on if that's in a protecting adoptive father figure way, or if Michael is actually biologically his dad.)

Henry is gonna ask Gregory directly about stuff

He won’t get a lot of information tho :C but that’s ok :>

Mike is going to be Gregory’s adoptive father figure like glamrock freddy is :0c as much as I love the theory of him being his actual son it’d make more sense that he’s his grandfather instead TTwTT and I want them to be father and son so found family it is !

[mrmcflowers]

Having the intense urge

To draw Old!Mike and Old!Ness who haven't seen each other in years upon years reuniting during the security breach era of fnaf. Ness is a chronic child adopter and sees gregory as a feral cat and he's one of those white women (\ref \pos) And Mike found Cassie in the Elevator shoot and fixes her up (They're both alive because I said so.) because she reminds him of young Abby. Cassie is like "I gotta find gregory" AND IT MAKES IT SO NESS AND MIKE MEET AND IT'S AWKWARD AND FULL OF YEARNING AND SO SAD BUT SO HAPPY. "I thought you were dead." - Ness "So did I." -Mike Type shit. "It's good to see you... I missed you." -Ness "Yeah. Me too." -Mike Mike has to explain to Gregory and Cass that that's his ex-boyfriend who he had to break up with to hunt down his father and lowkey go on a suicide mission. Everything about it would be so awkward. Two old men with A LOT of feelings. My heart can't take it. Friends to lovers to divorced to friends to awkward boyfriends. Imagine Mike was just dead for a little bit lookin all fucked up and grimey until his brain rebooted and he came back to see his boyfriend that would be so embarrassing.

[simplegenius042]

Music Monday, Fallout OC Sheet & Enemies Meme

Tagging @imogenkol @inafieldofdaisies @voidika @cloudofbutterflies92 @josephseedismyfather @direwombat @noodlecupcakes @socially-awkward-skeleton @adelaidedrubman @raresvtm @derelictheretic @cassietrn @aceghosts @davrinsgriffons @shallow-gravy @strangefable @statichvm @carlosoliveiraa @g0dspeeed @wrathfulrook @starsandskies @ladyoriza @la-grosse-patate @thewanderer-000 @omen-speaker @alypink @shellibisshe @josephslittledeputy @skoll-sun-eater @afarcryfrommymain @strafethesesinners @turbo-virgins @florbelles @minilev @justasmolbard @softtidesworld-deactivated20241 @yokobai and @seedsplease + anyone else who want to join.

Alright last two Five Nights at Freddy's songs for this little spout of FNAF resurgence. Anyway, music for The UnTitledverse and The Silver Chronicles with templates for OCs from A Radioactive Calamity Of Love, Bombs & Gore and An Old Ballad Of Chance And Ember Hearts Trilogy. You can listen and view these below the cut:

First song is for my FNAF WIP More Than Bargained For? and it is a remix song for the Ruin DLC of Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach made by my one of my favorite artists The Stupendium (who previously made a FNAF: SB song). Anywho, plot relevance. Unless the next game(s) come out, the Security Breach and Ruin DLC (plus FNAF VR: HW2) are intended to be the last section of the "Lena finally destroys the Mimic and takes down Fazbear Entertainment" arc, and after that will be the "let's all get healthy coping mechanisms and therapy" epilogue. At this point, Lena's done with this shit, like, this is the culmination of everything she's had to do and go through just to finally put a final end to this tragedy, just like Henry and Mike would have wanted. For her efforts at the Pizzeria Megaplex, she gets a little brother in Gregory, a little sister in Cassie, new animatronic friends rocking their aesthetics and gives Vanessa a sapphic awakening. Her girlfriend Cassandra's going to be thrilled. [Cassandra be like: "Ah yes, just me, my girlfriend, her new gremlin brother and sister that she adopted, the alien shapeshifter she befriended with his android girlfriends, the queer mall cop she saved from the serial-killing bunny-looking malware, an animatronic daycare attendant struggling with self-identity, and the 2,000 pound bear, chicken, wolf and alligator animatronics that slay the 80s vibe... truly winning in life."] Anyway song below:

"So you're trapped after dark in the park and you're tasked with surviving the night So your ma and your pa have departed the party and left you to fight So hang tight, to the tickets you've won And your toy laser gun Set your Faz-watch to 'fun' 'Cause it's hide and seek hunted By musical monsters Ain't that what you wanted? You came for some games and a bite The doors have all been closed but the stage has been set So on with the show, no escaping it yet The night is still young and the fun's just begun You've been played like your grave of arcade cabinets

When you've gates stormed by gators and wolves at the door When the power is down, you can't bear any more When each tick of the clock has you checking your watch And the chicken is watching you hungry for gore Oh, the fun that's in store! (Oh, the fun that's in store!)

Come get a pizza the action You want a pizza the action A tasty pizza the action You want a pizza the action

So come pick your destiny off of the menu (Fate won't wait 'til the sun comes up) Or be laid to rest in your favorite venue (Arcade to arcade, crust to crust) In this amusement park you are the Super Star We know that you'll go far but you must choose your path Those neon tubes cast shadows on a truth so dark It's up to you to battle its putrid heart So savor the taste of your last pepperoni (You've got a party pass to a backstage tour) 'Cause you're taking the stage for one night only (But will dawn chorus be your encore?)

Perhaps it's your birthday? Or your graduation? We're always the first place for a celebration Now maybe you've heard say, of some violations But it's not since Thursday we've had strangulations The go-karts are revved and the ball pit's been cleaned Montgomery's ready to tear up the scene Roxy's got the rock that's just got to be seen Just as soon as Chica's cleaned out the canteen Hear the cry of the fans as we strike up the band Now the time is at hand for the tightest of jams 'Cause it's tiny and cramped where you're hiding but Vanny Won't find you when crammed inside our leading man

When you've gates stormed by gators and wolves at the door When the power is down, you can't bear any more When the sun's gone away but the moon's come to play A more punishing game till the break of the dawn Oh, the fun that's in store! (Oh, the fun that's in store!)

Come get a pizza the action You want a pizza the action A tasty pizza the action You want a pizza the action

Darkness falls across the mall And metal mascots stalk the halls More murderous with each defect And out to prowl the pizzaplex And whomsoever shall be found By S.T.A.F.F Bot hoards that roll around Must then escape the bunny's wrath Or rot inside a stomach hatch The air is filled with pungent reek Of robots oiled in pizza grease And terror's bathed in neon light Are on the hunt to grab a bite For no amount of birthday cake Piñatas, games or fanfare Will help a lonely child survive The night at Freddy Fazbear's..."

Okay, the final(ish) FNAF song for this FNAF song streak I decided to do. Straight up, with The Living Tombstone's "This Comes From Inside", it's my favorite FNAF based song of all time. And I'm likely going to make 100 essays of why this song fits each of my stories, characters and the fandoms I'm in despite it being made for one fandom, and I will be really annoying about it. However, for now, I'll start with my Unnamed Elden Ring WIP. There are three main Tarnished OCs (with more on the side) that this WIP follows; Logan the Vagabond of No Renown (you can guess what his class is), Selke the All-Seeing Mage (she already knows of the horrors before she even experiences them), and lastly... Chiwa (...the Formless Mother favors this one). Let's focus on Logan. The Land's Between is stuck in a stalemate of a forever war, with nothing really proceeding and with no Demigods gaining the title of Elden Lord and achieving the Elden Ring, Queen Marika's Grace awakens the Tarnished that were previously exiled beyond the Fog, to call them back and do what Marika's children failed to do. Logan is amongst the earliest Tarnished to be revived (perhaps even a bit too early) and through no fault of his own, becomes one of the oldest Tarnished through process of waiting and living throughout the decades. Where he is at fault is his ambition (and his tendency to just... be a piece of shit, in general). In his youth, he was no better than the Demigods in his own hungry quest for power, glory, and reaching for riches and respect he'll never actually receive... given all the bridges he burns and the mistakes he refuses to learn from until it's way too late. Speaking of which, in his elder years, his ambition becomes... lackluster, to say the least. Considering what he learns from this whole thing, he becomes as bad as Morgott; he doesn't believe there can be anyway to proceed, so he just leaves the Lands in this state of a slow decay. The main theme of this WIP (as is the main theme of the series it comes from; The Silver Chronicles) is change. Change of self, change of system, change of environment, change of eras, change of ideologies and much, much more. With Logan, "This Comes From Inside" acknowledges what he comes to learn in his final years; nothing is going to change. With the way him and many others try (or tried) to satisfy their lust for power, they're just gonna remain in this stagnate state of despair and suffering to the expense of everyone else. If he wants to succeed, he needs to change his own inner-corruption... and if not? Things will only get worse. But the thing is, Logan won't do that, because he has no reason, no incentive, no purpose to do so in the present. He has died so many times for something he no longer believes in nor cares to do so, to the point his Grace is becoming more difficult to see every day. And when that's gone... he too will succumb to death. And even if he could get past his apathy, bitterness and selfishness, he's far from his prime nor can he do anything remotely closely impactful for anyone else. His use of Grace grows thinner too, so he only has a number of revivals before he's dead for good. So he can do nothing... unless he finds a drive to change. And he does; discovering it locked away in the darkest chasms that only the Eternal Queen Marika knew of... and sets out on a new quest with only two new goals in mind; to tempt an Outer God in a binding contract to give a fighting chance to become Elden Lord, and to ensure ownership over the Great Rune of the Unborn, no matter what it takes. I'm sure I'll expand more in either the notes or a more refined essay of ramblings. Enjoy listening below:

"How we could have known That we're stuck in a system? There was a pre-existing dictum, programmed to do nothing else Why feel so alone When we share so much wisdom? But you set fire to the kingdom, burn it all until it melts Or else

Now this comes from inside, how long do we have to try? Now this comes from inside, and stays there until you die Now this comes from inside, how long do we have to try? No this comes from inside, and stays there until you die

Long time ago, it was all for a show Fill out wounds with a pound of salt And your reason to justify scars You can't quantify, lock us inside a vault

Now this is your fault Everything is a problem There was a poison in the air, despair is an eternal blight You're losing it all You've been blinded by stardom You think that you're alone, but we are waiting for you every night You're mine

Now this comes from inside, how long do we have to try? Now this comes from inside, and stays there until you die Now this comes from inside, what you have, I want, it's mine Now this comes from inside, and stays there until you die!"

Here is a Fallout OC Sheet Template for my Vault Dweller OC Elrand Brandt from my UnTitled Fallout WIP from my A Radioactive Calamity Of Love, Bombs & Gore series. You can find a blank template at the end too:

And finally an Enemies Meme for two characters from my An Old Ballad Of Chance And Ember Hearts Trilogy WIPs, specifically two characters named Tyche (the God of Luck) and Rouske (pronounced ROSS-SH):

And the Empty Templates are all here:

[pikablob]

Random hot take/s on FNAF mayhaps? <3

I've already been clear about how I don't get the dislike for Gregory after Security Breach, so instead I'll say something else; I don't want the SB cast to have any big twists about their identities. Stuff like Gregory or Vanessa being an Afton, Freddy having Michael's soul/memories, or Gregory being a robot for some reason??

Just for once, it would be nice if in this new era of the series, we actually got proper new characters stumbling into the mythos instead of retreading old ground. A beta tester who got sucked in because she just happened to play a cursed game and a homeless kid who may have noticed the disappearances or just have been looking for a place to sleep are both more interesting characters than "oh it's William's offspring/cousin/latest creation".

I think Freddy being Mike is the one I like the least (which is annoying as it's the one with the most potential evidence which is just more proof that bringing back the FNAF 6 location was a huge mistake IMO). I love him because he gained self-awareness, that's the whole point to me; he's a children's entertainer designed to make kids happy who becomes so determined to do that even when his world is falling apart that he adopts this sarcastic little runaway and grows himself a soul. That's more interesting to me than any of the old hidden lore stuff and it's such a shame if that's sullied with "actually he's just possessed too".

Name a fandom or franchise in an ask, and I’ll give you a random hot take I have for it

[doombum]

How does Michael feel about Gregory

He basically adopted him the moment he met the kid, which would be around the Ruin timeline, when they ran into each other in search of Cassie. He sees him as a small gremlin child that gets into way too much trouble for his age but he has a lot of fondness for him. He cares very deeply for him, Gregory pretends he doesn't care, but he quickly grows to see Mike as a dad.

He kind of reminds him of himself when he was younger, before he became a sad angry teenager, and he's a bit scared of Gregory growing older, though he doesn't have anything to worry about there, the kid might be a troublemaker but he always stands up against bully instead of becoming one (Mike is so proud of this)

[paigelts05]

The Second Chip [FNAF, Renegade AU]

https://www.deviantart.com/paigelts05/art/The-Second-Chip-FNAF-Renegade-AU-1056313210

Renegade File Server Location: https://archiveofourown.org/works/36911932/chapters/142713592

Published: May 19 2024

It had been a few days since the Ruins incident and whilst Cassie is physically recovering alongside Sylvia, Gregory, and Ness, and the gas is finally wearing off, so she can see the real world clearly again, her mental state is still on the decline as uncertainty takes hold. What was the chip other than a kill switch and way for Faz Ent to manipulate what she sees, what did Faz Ent really want with Ness, Gregory, Sylvia, and herself, and would she ever be safe?

=°•.🌹 Story 🌹.•°=

°°•°°•°°•°°•°°•°°•🌹•°°•°°•°°•°°•°°•°°

It had been a few days since the incident dubbed 'the Ruins Incident', or 'Ruins' for short.

Cassie had managed to explain everything she knew so far. Her information combined with what Sylvia knew resulted in quite the full picture, yet questions remained, as they so often did. Cassie had noticed that the distortion she had seen around her dad's forehead, as well as some other objects, had vanished; a sign that the Component V gas and the residue the chip pumped into her head to try and kill her was out of her system now and she was seeing the real world. The real real world.

She hadn't been kept up to date on the mask and chip situation though. She figured things were being investigated and they'd get back to her once they had the full picture as to not worry her. Sylvia had been told that the control module that had been jammed onto her chest was 'the same as the one Adelaide used on Luis in the Raid', which probably meant more to Sylvia than it seemed on the surface, as Sylvia had no further questions and she actually seemed to start giving answers instead of questions.

Cassie was recovering though at least. She was no longer bedridden despite her fractured ankle, and only her eye and the old implant site were causing issues. Mostly pain and inflammation, but issues nonetheless.

As she got up to stretch her legs, Mike walked in. The paranormal officer had been a familiar sight, but had been more for small talk than saying anything actually useful, likely due to the chip situation and not wanting to cause unnecessary panic. She had leaned enough about him to know that he probably blamed himself for her passing out over learning about the kill switch, and didn't want that kind of shock to happen again.

"Any information or just small talk?" Cassie asked.

"I actually have information today!" Mike beamed as he handed Cassie the mask and an eyepiece, "we removed the chipping system from the mask, so it can read them but not stab another into you. And the eyepiece should act as your chip. I've ran extensive tests, so it should be safe."

"Well the only unsafe thing was the kill switch chip," Cassie said as she held the mask at arm's length in front of her face. "Can we get Gregory and my dad in the room? I promised myself the first thing I'd get through is seeing what they look like in the AR system."

"Alright," Mike replied with a nod, "I'll fetch them. I might be a while though."

Cassie returned to her hospital bed to examine the mask and eyepiece.

In the days since the Ruins Incident, Cassie had learned that Gregory had been adopted by Sylvia's sister, and that as soon as everything in this state had been sorted, they were heading back home across the country. Cassie hadn't been home often between the Riot and Raid due to the attempt on her dad's life during the former incident. She'd spent most of her time searching, hiding, and observing whilst her dad tried to make ends meet as he was extorted by his former employer, Fazbear Entertainment. Asside from the some changes of clothes, a few tools, and some trinkets, Cassie and her dad didn't have much, so the decision to start fresh and live with Sylvia in a state far away from Faz Ent's main HQ was a no-brainer.

Cassie knew that everyone who wasn't local to the Pizzaplex who was involved in the Raid was currently in temporary accommodation, so that's where Mike was heading. She also knew her dad had been moved there too for safety reasons. She regretted not talking to her dad about being contacted by 'Gregory', but who could blame her for not wanting to put an even bigger target on her dad's back when Faz Ent were already after his head.

After all, the only conditions Gregory was supposed to contact her under were total safety or if his life was currently on the line, no in-between. If she had heard his original pleas for help when Faz Ent had actually had their hands on him and were trying to use his deduction and memory lock skills to wreck his mind, she'd have been dragging her dad into a death trap had she told him about it.

Even though she heard those prerecorded pleas thirty eight hours after Gregory and Ness escaped the megaplex and Sylvia set off the main round of demolition explosives, there had still been execs in the building running amok, and she just knew that if they had caught scent of her dad, they'd have killed him on the spot.

Before she could worry herself more about how much Faz Ent wanted her dad dead, Mike returned. "I've got everyone you asked for," he said, "let's hope everything works out."

Desmond Anadem, Cassie's dad, sat at the foot of his daughter's hospital bed, whilst Gregory stood nearby. Ness stood off to the side and Sylvia pulled up a chair just out of her immediate line of sight.

After lifting the mask to her face, Cassie kept her gaze fixed on the sheets. A message poped up on screen.

"Welcome back returning user! It's a good thing too as we are fresh out of implants. Sadly, your chip is just a data storage chip and does not support RW AR, so you'll just have to deal with an un-upgraded reality. The data that your chip has saved is your inventory and technician ID.

Call this number for more implant chips and AR mask maintenance to regain access to the more advanced features only accessable to AR chipped users:"

Cassie didn't care for the phone number.

"Returning user, hu?" She mumbled to herself as she checked the inventory on the mask. All her collectables she found in the 'AR world' (also known as whenever she was wearing the mask) were there. "Wow, you guys managed to save more data from that dead chip than I expected."

She finally sucked up the courage to look up.

And she understood why the doctors didn't want her seeing her dad so soon after the Ruins incident.

Droplets of red flowed down Desmond's face. A small hole, no wider in diameter than five millimetres was bored into his forehead.

He looked as if he had been shot in the head.

Cassie felt herself hyperventilating and tore off the mask. She received worried looks from everyone.

"You weren't wearing the eyepiece," Mike pointed to Cassie's hand as he spoke, "it was in your hand the whole time."

Cassie stared at the eyepiece in her hand.

"There's a second chip," Cassie stated, her voice shaking, "it's not an AR chip, but it did communicate with the AR chip that day."

Mike nodded, and with a deep breath, he pulled out the sort of microchip scanner that'd look right at home in a veterinarian's office. "Can I scan for it?" He asked.

"Go ahead," Cassie replied.

A scan of her face showed nothing. Neither did a scan of the arms. As Mike put the scanner to the back of her neck to start scanning her back, it beeped.

"It's in the back of your neck. It seems to just be a microchip that someone would put in a pet, but with a little bit of extra rewritable data," Mike said as he read the chip's data from the scanner.

As Mike passed the scanner to Cassie so she could read it, he asked, "so what should we do about it?"

As Cassie read the data, she figured that she should probably be the one asking that question, but she did have an answer.

"I don't think we can do anything. It's in the back of my neck," Cassie replied, "it's probably been there since I was synthesized."

Desmond winced at what Cassie said, and both Mike and Cassie picked up on his reaction.

Mike was about to speak, but let Cassie ask the question.

"What is it?" She asked.

"When Alistair handed you to me on your sixth birthday, she told me that no matter where I went, Faz Ent would be able to track us down," Desmond said, "I think I now know what she meant."

Cassie nodded. It made sense that Faz Ent would chip her. It was scary, but not what she had been worried about; at least this one didn't have a kill switch, or the capacity to be one.

Cassie took a deep breath and tried out the eyepiece. Certain parts of the hospital room had strange effects, the same glitchy effects that the AR chip or AR chip residue combined with the Compound V gas had created.

She put the mask to her face and gave the room a better look around.

Gregory looked the most normal. The VANNI network didn't seem to change how he looked at a glance, though patches of blood had been projected onto his clothes and he held a blank stare.

Sylvia's clothes had been altered to be a security guard's uniform.

Ness looked like the rabbit lady she saw on the screen back in the daycare theatre.

Her dad still looked like a dead man.

"Talk about the nickname 'spite network'," she mumbled as she looked over to Mike, who had the most confusing change of all. The man in a white blouse and black cardigan was replaced by a woman in a similar white blouse, but with a thin tan trenchcoat instead of the cardigan, and his hair had been changed from a light brown to a darker shade.

She tried to pay close attention to the mumblings she heard as she looked at everyone again, as she knew the mask replayed snippets of data it collected.

'Morgan Smith! Interpol!', 'It's alright.', 'Are you OK?' spoken in the voice of an unfamiliar woman. From this alone Cassie knew Mike had been 'the other individual who infiltrated the VR environment'.

She could just hear a cacophony of screams interlaced with a gunshot and the sound of metal being torn apart as she looked at her dad. Audio from the Riot, recontextualised to make it sound as if he had been killed, but he'd told her enough to know that the bullet hit a wall, and that THAT was the exact moment when the staff and STAFF truly turned on one another.

She heard laughter as she looked at Ness. Deranged laughter that wasn't like the woman at all. She could also faintly hear muffled sobbing.

As she looked at Gregory, she heard the same echoes she had heard at the Pizzaplex, but this time, they were interlaced with anguished screams. Likely some 'cut content' from Adelaide's 'recording session' with her poor half brother. Cassie shuddered thinking about what Adelaide might have done to him.

She expected to hear typical security guard talk as she looked at Sylvia, but instead, she heard the mumbles say things she didn't expect to hear. 'Freddy, if management finds out, we're both dead', 'Let me guess, you've only just started processing again', 'Is Freddy the only one controlled tonight or is he the only one in safe mode. How the hell am I supposed to find that out and live?', a shrieking 'NO!', and assorted screams.

She was certain Gregory never heard her say any of that. If he did, he'd have probably trusted her during the Breach.

And Sylvia was lucky to be alive.

She turned and looked at a peice of medical equipment that had a screen, and she saw Alistair. Instinctively, she reached out, but a deep dark blue hand grabbed her wrist. Her gaze followed up the entity's arm, and she saw that M.X.E.S was now where Alistair was once shown. She screamed and tried to pull off her mask, but she found herself frozen to the spot.

A pop-up appeared in her peripheral vision.

'It seems that something is stressing you out. Let me help'

As the world around her became an open field, she screamed "No no no NO NO NO NO NO NO!"

Everyone in the hospital room watched in shock horror as Cassie froze up entirely after she had reached out for the screen of a peice of medical equipment, screamed in pure visceral fear, and then went completely limp.

Before she pulled herself up again.

"We saw M.X.E.S, panicked, and the mask trapped Civ in some kind of grassy daydream to try and 'help' us. If you remove the mask, we might die. I don't have long before it traps me too. Don't panic, and don't blame yourselves. At least this is happening now and not when we're in danger, and think of a way to get us out of -"

Sleeper was cut off as Cassie went limp once more.

"She's right," Gregory said, "it's better this happened now than later."

"Ness, see if you can find out anything about the M.X.E.S system, and if you could use J.A.C.X to pull her out of it. I'll fetch Fritz to run diagnostics on the mask and see if we can figure out what state she's in," Mike said, sounding slightly different, feeling as if this was his mess again.

First the construction crew died at the old manager's hands.

Second, he could only wait outside during the Breach due to the megaplex's 12 till 6 lockdown.

Third, not being able to save Ness from getting kidnapped in the first place, and after saving Luis from the critical state that Faz Ent had left him in, he wasn't able to provide much help to Sylvia from the outside as he, unlike Sylvia who had the demolition contract, could not legally step foot inside the megaplex unless someone inside called the police, and he couldn't run that risk.

Fourth, he couldn't stop Cassie from entering the megaplex.

Fifth, this.

Mike was about to lose it. He hated feeling like he was just organising who cleans the mess up instead of fixing it himself. But he wouldn't lose his composure. He couldn't.

Mike felt someone punch his arm.

"Pull yourself together! My daughter said to not blame anyone, so quit blaming yourself!" Sylvia put her foot down: she knew just how much of a failure Mike had felt these past five plus weeks. She wasn't about to let him lose himself to his despair. "I'm not some kid you need to protect either. When Ness got kidnapped, I was acting as an extension of you to save her. And thanks to your suggestion to stick around inside the megaplex in case Cassie falls for Faz Ent's ploy, I was able to back her up and prevent William from feeding her any lies about Gregory by getting Bill to own up to his bullshit before that point. It's thanks to you that she's still on our side. And due to Sleepers seeming obsession with the mask, it IS better that we deal with this flawed 'protection' protocol now rather than later, because she was going to trip it sooner or later."

Mike looked at Sylvia with a bewildered smile.

"Alright," he replied before heading off to find Fritz.

Sylvia begun setting up and starting diagnostics on the mask's current processes for Fritz to decipher later, whilst Ness tried to contact the J.A.C.X system. It was suspicious that it hadn't pinged anything after she had saved Gregory from Adelaide about thirty nine hours prior to the incident.

No data in the time it took them to escape, no data after.

"Did someone take Jacx offline?" Ness asked herself out loud as she pinged it repeatedly, yet received no reply.

"Do you think M.X.E.S might have done it?" Sylvia asked as she did what she could for the diagnostics, deciphering what she could. "William did say he repurposed J.A.C.X to make the thing after all, and he's not the sort to like competition."

As Ness found some of M.X.E.S's code and read through it, she replied "No… No way."

"What?" Sylvia tilted her head and squinted to try and see what her sister was seeing.

"William didn't make M.X.E.S. Jacx IS M.X.E.S!" Ness exclaimed as tears pricked the corners of her eyes. "LOOK!"

Sylvia hadn't seen M.X.E.S, or it's code, but it bore an uncanny resemblance to J.A.C.X, whose code she had seen.

But the important things were the code comments; left in M.X.E.S's files were code comments signed by Ness herself.

William didn't repurpose the code and network as she thought. William had only said that he used the starts of what Ness and Gregory set up during the raid. Sylvia had almost absentmindedly solved it herself when she had summarised M.X.E.S's creation as William repurposing J.A.C.X into M.X.E.S, not once, but twice now. Oh if only she knew how right she had been.

Ness swiftly tweaked her J.A.C.X interface and begun to send ping requests.

She was now getting responses, and a little more than a response too.

A hare so blue it was almost black filled the screen, it's arms looked as if they had been torn from their sockets, and the waist down tapered into a point; she could only imagine what had happened to it.

"He's missing is his uniform… And…" Sylvia remarked with a horrified hiss and shook her head before she could vocalise that second thought. There was far more things wrong than Jacx just missing his uniform, but she didn't want to think about how much pain he was in right now.

"Poor Jacx," Ness murmured into her screen, "what happened to you?"

The hare tried to speak, but no noise came out. Ness and Sylvia checked the speakers, yet nothing was amiss.

"Can you speak?" Ness's tone was fearful and her eyes were teary. She already knew the answer.

The hare shook his head, confirming it.

"Are you Jacx, or are you Mxes?" Ness then asked.

The hare imitated scales with its hands in a shrug, before holding up one finger.

"Jacx?" Ness asked to confirm.

Jacx nodded.

"Do you have any way of communicating long answers to us?" Ness asked.

Jacx nodded and pulled up a text document, and seemed to write on it like a chalk board.

It wrote "I am J.A.C.X. William found me when he was trying to contain the mimic. He tore me apart, took away my uniform and voice, and turned your sensor nodes into security nodes. I'm sorry I couldn't stop it. I tried to tell Cassie that Gregory was not down there, but I couldn't speak and all my actions did - all being in the presence of her did was call animatronics to where she was. I'm sorry I couldn't do anything."

"Stop blaming yourself!" Ness exclaimed.

"Can people PLEASE stop tripping over eachother to blame themselves for everything that happened since Ness got kidnapped post-raid? Please and thank you," Sylvia huffed before she asked Jacx a question: "Can you do anything for Cassie now."

As Jacx wrote "I think so…" on his text document, Fritz had sat down to read the diagnostics.

"Well he's probably our best shot," Fritz grimaced as he looked at the diagnostics, "it doesn't look good…"

"What's wrong?" Sylvia asked, her voice laced with concern.

"Is she going to be ok?" Desmond chimed in, equally concerned.

"We need something already inside the network to get her out of the network." Fritz put it plain and simple.

"The thing is, will she be able to trust Jacx enough for it to pull her out…" Fritz grimaced as he glared at the diagnostics screen.

This has been the first time in a long time that Sleeper and Civ were experiencing things as 'one'. Sleeper was grateful it was only the present that they were currently sharing, as there were still plenty of things in the past that she didn't want Civ to be burdened with the knowledge of.

"Where am I?" She mumbled to herself.

"Safe, of course."

Cassie screamed in fear in response to the unidentified voice who had replied to her, and she whipped around to try and locate who said that.

"Where are you?" She asked, certain she'd scoured every inch of her line of sight.

"Right here," the voice replied, seemingly from behind her.

Cassie spun around, and saw what looked like Gregory; sitting, smiling, and waving a Freddy ice cream around in a loop. He didn't look real. He looked like a hologram.

"Who are you," Cassie asked, "WHAT are you?"

"I'm Gregory."

"Where have I heard that one before," Cassie shot back, "who are you really. Unless you threw yourself into the VANNI network to try and pull me out, I know you're not Gregory."

'Gregory' paused for a moment before replying.

"But I AM Gregory. Although, you probably know me by a different name. Clone 46."

Clone 46.

"You're…" Cassie could hardly bring herself to speak.

"Part of the mimic?" 'Gregory' finished Cassie's question for her. "Yeah, I was. But you already know I didn't start out that way."

"Are … you going to kill me?" Cassie all but colapsed. Facing the entity she saved Gregory from becoming, the entity that was downloaded onto an endoskeleton only to be slain at her hands after only twenty eight hours of being in the physical world.

She had killed Clone 46 twice. Once in the VR environment, and once in the real world. She wouldn't be surprised if it wanted to kill her now.

"No!" 'Gregory' replied, "Your Gregory and I were technically one person back in the VR environment. Whilst I was carrying out kill orders, I could also detect his memories. I know your Gregory, and I know that him and I only spent a short period of time as one being in the VR environment, but… He's your best friend. So you're also my best friend. Even after everything."

"So why did you try to kill me back then?" Cassie asked, shaking.

"Because I'm clone 46," Gregory replied, "I was built to be a killer first, and a person as an afterthought. Even though I was the body and code of the character Gregory was stuck playing as in the VR environment, and even though we shared our memories, meaning we each have two sets of memories: the real world memories from your Gregory, and the VR environment memories from me, clone 46 was ultimately an experiment to make a child assassin who would kill on command. As soon as the other half of the Mimic's codebase even suggested I should attack you, only one of us was going to get out of there alive. I'm glad it was you."

Cassie tried to reply, but all she could do was choke back tears.

"And you're really as strong as they say," 'Gregory' continued, "If Sleeper had found me and not Civ, it'd have been a brawl for the ages! She fought me when she could though, just like how you kept fighting any animatronics that got too close to you, like the first time you saw Monty."

Cassie's memories had been patchy at best, and she knew things weren't as consistent as they seemed. The fact she'd had a bare knuckle brawl against some of the animatronics was a given. What surprised her though was that the mimic was on her brawled roster.

"Don't cry," 'Gregory' smiled, "besides, did you order any 'help' before you joined me here?"

Cassie looked up and saw M.X.E.S poking his head through a rip in the terrain. It didn't look malicious like it did back at the megaplex. It flipped between trying to keep the 'rift' it created open, and reaching a hand out to Cassie, but the reach wasn't a desperate grab.

"Why am I not panicking?" Cassie asked herself, not realising she spoke out loud.

"Because you know it's true nature. It was meant to keep the mimic at bay," 'Gregory' replied.

"I was playing a villain's game that day," Cassie shrugged as she stepped towards M.X.E.S and grabbed it's paw, "Bye Gregory!" She smiled.

"Bye Cassie! Say hi to real world me for me!" 'Gregory' replied as Cassie took the entity's hand.

After getting pulled through the rift, Cassie found herself flat on her back in a hospital bed. Back in her hospital bed. She'd become very familiar with that patch of ceiling, and it hadn't changed with the introduction of the VANNI network.

Slowly, she pulled herself upright and saw M.X.E.S hovering over Ness's shoulder. It turned to her and gestured for her to take the mask off, so she did.

"Cassie! You're ok!"

"Cassie!"

"You're alive!"

Cassie couldn't pinpoint who cried what, but three people pulled Cassie into a group hug.

She wanted to remain calm, but she bawled her eyes out.

Only after what felt like hours, or was it only minutes, Cassie stopped crying.

"How do I know this isn't a dream," Cassie asked herself. She'd been asking herself this a lot recently.

Her cheek was grabbed in a vice grip and her face was pulled about in a rough and tumble manner for a good ten seconds.

"Does that answer your question?" Gregory asked.

"Oww… I mean yes," Cassie replied, rubbing her definitely bruised cheek. "Gregory, clone 46 says hi. Also I need to tell you something later."

"Who's in charge right now, so I know who to remind," Gregory asked.

"Both," Cassie replied. She was surprised that she was both Civ and Sleeper for a change, and Gregory seemed even more surprised, but he was quickly back to normal.

"So I guess you can't blame the other one for forgetting this time," he grinned.

"Nope," Cassie replied, "it is kinda important."

As the adults discussed what happened with the mask as they let Cassie process what had happened herself, Cassie said, "actually, this is the perfect time. Before we split back to normal."

Cassie slipped away from her hospital bed and sat behind an unoccupied bed at the end of the ward. Gregory joined her on the floor.

"Gregory?" Cassie asked.

"What is it?" Gregory felt slightly uneasy.

"If you're EVER in a situation where you don't know if me or a homicidal animatronic is on the other end of an elevator, and there's no way to verify it's me without risking lives, cut the elevator." Cassie said.

"I didn't even cut the cable… Why are you asking me to do this?" Gregory asked, now fearful.

"I know it wasn't you, but even if it was, I'd forgive you. After all, Virtual Gregory, Clone 46, forgave me for scooping him. And if he can forgive me for ending his physical existence," Cassie choked back tears, "I know I'll be able to forgive you if you're ever put in the situation that Bill Blake staged. Because if you were up there instead of him…"

"You'd have had me write you off as dead the moment the mimic was released," Gregory finished Cassie's statement, "and you'd do the same for me."

Cassie couldn't stop herself from bawling her eyes out into her half brother's shoulder.

Gregory didn't know what to say. There really wasn't anything that he could say.

He knew what she really meant in all of this too. She was terrified that Faz Ent would one day kidnap her and mess with her memories via either the VR environment, or forcing Gregory to lock her memories, or otherwise, and that she'd be made to believe that Gregory had dropped the elevator as a result.

The worst part was that her worries weren't even far fetched. Everything she feared was entirely possible to the point where it could happen tomorrow if Faz Ent could be bothered.

"You two alright down there? Getting away from the crowd to cry like I always do?" Sylvia stood over the siblings with a sympathetic smile; Sylvia had a habit of finding places away from others to cry herself too: it had become a habit long before the riot, and it remained a habit even now.

Cassie and Gregory nodded.

"Cool," Sylvia replied to the nod, "y'know, I don't know why I didn't say this sooner, but the first few days after dealing with incidents like this are always super surreal. After the Riot, one of my former colleagues would always stop me for a chat on my way home from work and remind me about the gash on my chest I got from fighting Monty, and it always grounded me back in reality. And after the Breach, protocol for 'Sylvia is slipping' was 'poke rib'. And it still kinda is. It helps remind me that what happened was real and that I'm still alive."

"You have a broken rib?!" Cassie yelled.

"It's mostly healed now. I was fine during the Raid, and well enough to go rescue my sister in the incident after." Sylvia shrugged, "Say, when we got you to the hospital, they found your ankle was fractured."

"Yeah, I'm surprised I was walking on it for that long," Cassie replied, looking at her bandaged ankle and the splint that held it straight. The only reason she could walk on it was because of the splint taking all the pressure.

"Press it!" Sylvia grinned.

"What?" Cassie heard what Sylvia said: she just couldn't believe her ears.

"Press it. If it hurts, you're alive," Sylvia replied.

"Ok…. OW!" Cassie poked her fractured ankle, and it didn't take much for it to hurt. And it hurt a lot. Her splint was definitely pulling so much weight whenever she walked.

"See, the pain tells you that everything is OK!" Sylvia grinned.

"Yeah… Ow… There's definitely pain…" Cassie winced as her ankle felt as if it was on fire. "How do you live like this."

"I went to work the day after the raid with a concussion and minimal medical attention for the gash in my chest. I sucked up a broken rib for three hours during the Breach by chugging possibly out of date Faz Ent own brand painkillers and only got necessary treatment so I wouldn't be hospital bound for the Raid," Sylvia replied, "I survive. It's not pretty, but I survive."

"Does anyone have any other coping mechanisms?" Cassie asked.

"Nope," Gregory replied, "Mum and Dad - Ness and Luis, in case I haven't filled you in that they adopted me - have the same strategy as Sylvia. That all three of them learned from Mike and his friends."

"It really is just a vicious circle of lick your wounds and realise you're alive, and teaching the next generation to do the same," Sylvia added with a laugh, "it's probably the worst strategy, but it still works as a grounding strategy at least!"

"Speaking of Luis, I don't think I've seen much of him," Cassie said, still wincing from the self inflicted pain in her ankle from poking it.

"He's in the other Faz Ent victim ward. He got shot during the Riot, had a control module attached to his chest and spine during the Raid, and was shot when Faz Ent kidnapped Ness a few nights after that, which I think qualifies as the start of the Ruins incident," Sylvia replied.

"Yeah," Gregory confirmed, "you and Auntie Sylvia were placed in the empty ward - well, empty bar me and Ness at the time: we were moved to the general Faz Victims ward as you were wheeled in - just in case you had an adverse reaction to new people. Can't be too careful where the control modules are concerned."

"Too right. Can't be too careful with familiar faces either," Sylvia said, "I guess the contents of the control module that goes on the chest is the same as what was in the masks during the Adelaide incident… Which explains why they're so bulky. Seeing as everyone masked at the Adelaide Incident was rendered completely controlled, and Luis's memory of being controlled during the raid is a hazy blur at best, I guess it WAS my high blood-remnant concentration that let me act on my own. That or I wasn't issued any orders. I want to get Carl in to check, but how do we check these things… Sorry I'm rambling now. Gotta get this down."

Sylvia contunued her tangent as she walked off and grabbed a notebook and pen and begun to scribble everything down.

"So… what are your injuries?" Cassie asked Gregory, wanting some kind of topic of conversation to keep her mind off things.

"Mostly psychological," Gregory shrugged, "Ness's wounds are pretty surgical in nature, so she's just had a few surgeries to properly clean and close those injuries, and she'll likely be fine soon. I have a lot of surface wounds which are already mostly patched up bar the new cut on my cheek that took stitches to close and is under observation for strange reactions, but I'm more mentally scared than physically injured from that to be honest anyway."

"Wow, I guess my stay here is going to be really long because of the chip and broken bone if that's all you're here for," Cassie laughed.

"Yeah, and Sylvia's finally getting all her injuries properly seen to as well, so she'll be here even longer," Gregory added, "it's about time too."

"How did she break a rib anyway?" Cassie asked, "She didn't say how."

"Vanny pushed her down the trapdoor  of the garbage compactor whilst the chute was still open after the compactor crushed Chica," Gregory replied, "I'm surprised I didn't break any bones when Chica dragged me down that trapdoor…"

Cassie was locked in stunned silence.

"Yeah, sorry. I'd have told you about what happened to the animatronics sooner, but I was neither in mortal peril or completely safe, so contacting you about it all would have been too big of a risk," Gregory sighed.

"You fell down the garbage compactor trapdoor, and then she got pushed in?! When?!" Cassie was more shocked at the fact he got dragged down the trash compactor's trap door than the fact that he had implied that he crushed Chica in there. "And Vanny is Ness when William is possessing her and in control, right?"

"During the Breach. And yeah," Gregory nodded but then was taken aback by the specific lack of something that Cassie said, "you're not mad at me for crushing Chica?"

"You only implied it, and with most exits behind lock and key, and Chica's voicebox being part of some of those keys, I don't really blame you," Cassie replied with a half truth. She didn't blame him, that was true, but it wasn't because Chica's beak may have helped him find an exit.

No.

It was because she still felt guilt over what the mimic made her do to Roxy.

By the time she had made it to the party garages, it was almost entirely clear that the 'Gregory' that had been calling her was using spliced audio, yet she had pressed on anyway. She had shut down Roxy even though she knew deep down that it wasn't going to be Gregory who she found in the end.

Gregory had more justification for decommissioning the animatronics. Yet in what had been a good turn for Cassie but a bad turn for Gregory, the animatronics never stayed down for long.

If she had to place her bets, she'd say that Chica and Monty were still staggering or crawling about the Megaplex, despite their apparent deactivation.

"You… Really don't blame me?" Gregory asked, slightly taken aback.

"No. I get it. If our roles were reversed, I'd have probably given the other animatronics upgrades to Roxy," Cassie replied, "I really don't blame you at all."

Gregory nodded and the two sat in mutual silence for a while. There wasn't much more to say on the matter. If roles had been reversed, Gregory would have probably been dealing with a shattered Glamrock Freddy constantly shouting for Cassie to give him his battery upgrade back or something.

On that note, "Where is Roxy?" Cassie asked, "I've not seen her since I escaped the megaplex."

"Hospital employees parking garage," Gregory replied, "I've heard talk about a mini raid to get Monty and Chica's heads so they can be rebuilt."

"I've seen Chica, and she definitely needs a new everything…" Cassie grimaced at the memory of Chica, how Sleeper had a full blown brawl against the robotic chicken several times, and how she seemed to always be in so much pain.

She wanted to move on from this conversation.

Now.

"Also, when and why did Ness adopt you? Wasn't she completely under William's control during the Breach?" Cassie asked, hoping to permanently alter the trajectory of this conversation.

Gregory was taken aback by the conversation shifting from the animatronics to his new home life, but he didn't mind or really even think twice about it. "Yeah, she was. But we both had known of eachother before that night. She knew about Alistair and how clone 46 was marked as a failed experiment due to her 'situation', and I knew about her 'situation' too due to being the subject of the clone 46 experiments. Faz Ent couldn't talk about one of us without talking about the other, so it didn't take us long to figure eachother out." Gregory gazed off into the middle distance as he spoke, trying to remain calm. "William was trying to kill me because clone 46's memories are my memories from my time in the VR environment. I think he might have been able to go through my real world memories too… Clone 46, GGY, is just what I was in the VR environment. I was a liability, so had to go."

"I didn't think Faz Ent wanted you dead. I don't think virtual clone 46 knew that either." Cassie grimaced. If she'd have known, she'd have come up with a better plan, but with how things panned out, maybe getting Gregory to hide inside Freddy's stomach hatch was the better plan after all, and she was glad that things panned out the way they did.

Gregory shrugged, "Guess I just ran out of use to them." Gregory took a brief pause then sighed. "But why me? Why use me for the clone 46 experiments?"

"Alistair was a Faz Ent scientist by choice you know," Cassie replied, "I know I shouldn't have assumed that you knew that when we met back in the silo. At least you learned it from someone…" Cassie started to shake. Ever since she started the Breach by freeing Gregory from the VR environment, she'd always wondered if things would have gone smoother if she told him about Alistair and he didn't have to learn tidbits from a traumatised kidnapping victim barely able to stay in control of her own body. "Is the original patient 46 anything like you expected?"

Gregory shrugged. "I never actually listened to the CDs." He opened his mouth to speak, but shut it as the images of what he had witnessed after Cassie had saved him from the VR environment flashed through his head.

It was blurry, yet so vivid at the same time.

A woman who he had seen before, also hiding in the walls of the Megaplex, but unlike him she was not here by choice. Her choked sobs and her begging him and Cassie to 'please run, before he takes control again' still rang in his ears whenever he saw her. The sight of someone who was supposed to be trying to kill him stabbing herself in order to buy him and Cassie time to escape. Cassie hiding him inside of Freddy and hearing the rabbit lady hunt him down from his hiding spot. Not knowing if Cassie had made it out. Not being able to see or know when the rabbit lady left. Not being able to know whether the person who then begun searching for him was that woman's sister, or the woman herself.

The sight and sounds would never leave his mind.

Even knowing now that the rabbit lady was Ness and that the security guard lady was Sylvia, knowing what happened didn't make it better. It made it worse. Ever since he had freed Ness and she had adopted him, he couldn't help but see a part of himself in Sylvia's predicament and see a part of Cassie in Ness's predicament. He couldn't help but worry if one day, Sleeper would be forced to kill like Ness had killed. He didn't know if he would be able to have the tenacity that Sylvia had had in hunting down the other arcades that would make Princess Quest 3 work, one ones that had stopped Luis from freeing Ness a week prior to the Breach.

He didn't know if Cassie would survive trying to prevent whatever would make her kill from harming others like Ness had prevented William from harming others for so long. He didn't know if she'd be able to cope with some of those attempts being in vain.

"So she's exactly like what I expected," Gregory glanced over at Ness, who was busy talking to Mike, "kind, scared, and just trying to survive whilst containing William.

She kinda reminds me of you."

He didn't mean to say that last part out loud.

"Figures," Cassie hummed as she went over her own recollection of events. Sleeper was used to all the terror and bloodshed. Her encounter with Ness staving off William was just a drop in the bucket to Sleeper. Civ, on the other hand, didn't know much of the horrors until recently. If it wasn't for Bill accidentally causing her to switch from Civ to Sleeper, and if it wasn't for Roxy and Sylvia managing to reach her first, … Civ could have been manipulated into becoming a horrifyingly brutal and efficient agent of William Afton, or worse, the mimic.

And with what Adelaide did to Gregory to get the voice clips to lure her into the Megaplex, Cassie knew that being tricked again or having her memories messed with was still a grim possibility that she'd have to prepare for.

This was the second time since J.A.C.X had rescued her from Helpi's safety system that she'd forced herself to confront that possibility. And it wouldn't be the last.

"I still might wind up being forced into the role of a Faz Ent agent yet," Cassie gazed off into space, "I just wonder if it'll be Sleeper, Civ, or the both of us."

"I won't let that happen!" Gregory instantly proclaimed, "You saved me from becoming Clone 46, I'll save you from becoming Vanny 3.0!"

"Promise?"

"I'll do what I can. And when you're ready, I want to test if I can run deductions using your mask, and I want to see if I can pull you into them with me. There are some things I want to see for myself."

°°•°°•°°•°°•°°•°°•🌹•°°•°°•°°•°°•°°•°°

[copperbadge]

Hey Sam, I have a weird question for you! So Michaelis adopted Noah, and then Gregory and Eddie, excuse me, Theophile adopted Joan. The whole family adopted Caleb and Buck... So when are Gerald and Alanna going to find some random person to adopt? Will it be a kid at the Maritime Academy making the adults around them crazy in their own, wildly neurotypical way? A young adult disaster doing the best they can until Gregory says "wait a minute kid, have you been tested for ADHD? No? let me get you a referral." Maybe its just some nerdy preteen who writes to Gerald in his capacity as Grand (Evil) Vizier with questions/comments on some aspect of governance that he's involved in. I have my headcanon that it's the third option, which morphs into the first when Gerald gets all Fairy Godfather about them.

"Look Greg, I'm just saying, Uncle Mike has his Minion, you have a minion, and I don't have one yet. I'm going to have to get one just for self defense. And fairness!" Greg looks wearily at Alanna who just says "I'm ok with it as long as some one else provides the adult supervision here."

Anyhoo, love the Shivadh verse, thanks for writing it!

Oh, I think Gerald went pretty hardcore on adopting Caleb. Friend To Drag Royalty and ADHD-haver Duke Gerald saw Caleb onstage at the National Final and went "Oh, neurodivergent genderfucker? Same hat. That one's mine," and immediately began Brothering at him. The whole family did take Caleb in, to an extent, and certainly Michaelis also added Caleb (and Buck) to his collection of Tavats, but it's Gerald's job to make sure he's looked after. Caleb's a full adult but he's also still quite young to be as famous as he is, so someone's got to make sure nobody tramples him. And Al is there to make sure Gerald doesn't exuberantly also trample Caleb by accident. :D

Although this is an interesting thought you've put before me, because in the football novel, presumably the next in the series (I'm doing some date-juggling) Gerald is a more present force than the rest of the royals -- he's the main character's friend from their party days, and tends to be the link between the football program and the palace. He's also the one who brings Caleb in for a cameo, to mentor a young trans man in the program.

Now, possibly not in the football novel since there's no real narrative space for it there, but possibly in a future novel, it would absolutely be in line with Gerald and Alanna's arc to semi-adopt a kid or kids from the football program. Gerald's starting to open up more publicly about his ADHD, and I can see one of the kids sidling up to him to ask about it; I can see there being a significant number of kids with ADHD in the program, since it's a lot of running around and yelling. Also the program's academic side is pretty lenient with the kids, making it a more welcoming space for a child who can't learn traditionally (a lot of the more intensive program kids do half-day study at Maritime, too). I'm making a note, that's a fun idea.

[connectionterminated13]

We haven’t talked in a bit soooooo

Any new Elizabeth headcanons that you want to share?

Yes it has been a while. And I do have a couple.

Inferno au-

Liz cannot do ballet to save her life. Like she's extraordinarily bad at that.

Elizabeth used to try to take her toys apart and put them back together again the way her dad does with robots because she hoped that maybe he'd pay more attention to her if she did so.

Every Friday her and Michael would have movie night! Mike would make a big bowl of popcorn and they watched like soap opera movies And adventure films.

Elizabeth used to bake cookies with her mom on Sundays, For church. They used to sing together while they worked it was a lot of fun

Elizabeth tried to "run away" after Susie disappeared to go and find her, William stopped her, Saying that Susie would be back in like a week and that her disappearance was nothing to worry about.

Elizabeth after you're the missing kid's incident Started sitting on the far side of Freddy's as far away from chica as she could get. She doesn't like the way Chika looks at her. It makes her want to cry for some reason.

Elizabeth would never admit it but she was a little bit scared of Evan when he was alive. There was just something different about him she used to actually make fun of him a little bit for being "slow" And stirring off into space. She'd even join Michael in spooking him occasionally.

One of her first thoughts win stealing Michael skin as Ennard Is now she could kiss women!! Since now she was Michael she was technically a man so she didn't Need that plausible deniability thing her dad told her about. She ended up kissing no women though because turns out Mike didn't have a girlfriend sad :(

She went through and was going through in emo phase as scrap baby. Like she's listening to My Chemical Romance on repeand being like "it's just like me for real for real"

As scrap baby she hidden in alley drink a pride parade once

Elizabeth liked to sing and run around her room really really fast when she was bored or grounded.

Elizabeth was going to go to visit her family on her mom's side, The year her mom got sick and later died.

Death swap-

Elizabeth and Susie are semi open with their status as a couple. Like they hold hands and hug outside but they rarely if ever kiss. It's hard being lesbians in the 1990s in Utah....

Elizabeth is a little bit scared of ghosts after getting her organs ripped out by one. Like she tries to be brave but FNAF one is fucking scary for her. Doesn't help that she doesn't like working and hates doing sitting in a chair nothing work more than she hates normal working.

Susie Wants to have kids when they're older like 30-40, Elizabeth kind of does too but She doesn't think she could be a good mom and also gay marriage wasn't legalized yet let alone gay adoption.

Even though Mike Scares her a little bit after the whole scoop thing she still accepts him as her brother and eventually charlie's partner once they get there. Even though it is hard for her to look at him without Illusion disks or human suit on.

Elizabeth cannot do taxes this nearly leads to her death more than once drank fnaf 6.

Lizzie is terrified of the idea that 1 day Suzie will die and she won't. Sure Elizabeth loves her brother and Charlie and their other friends but life without Susie doesn't feel right at least the way she imagines it.

Elizabeth is the professional cool aunt to Michael and charlie's son Gregory. He thinks she's awesome :)

Lizzie and Millie au-

Liz will never admit it but she prefers to spend time with Jen As opposed to her own Step mom.

Liz isolated herself from like having real friends for a long time since she feared that if anyone got too close she'd hurt them the way Her dad hurts Henry.

Elizabeth tries to reason with any horrible monster things her parents have made before like getting rid of them since she genuinely believes that at least most of them don't want to be horrible murder Creatures.

She thinks no one knows that she's a lesbian everybody does.

She knows how to fence! You see William and Abigail put Her and Evan in a lot of extracurricular activities because they didn't want either of them around.

She can and will sit through a horror movie with a completely blank face. She's just not scared easily. For the majority of her life she's been surrounded by glimpses of monsters so movie ones don't really freak her out.

She has a distinct disdain for Evan's friend Andrew because he's annoying and evan start springing him around the house like often just to annoy her .

Elizabeth envies Millie a lot since she comes from a relatively normal home and Can Express herself more

I imagine that Elizabeth and Millie au, Is like a mystery of the book kind of thing. Like you know it's formatted like a book series of maybe 10 books and each 1 there's 1 big overworking spooky monster that they need to fight/figure out the weakness of. (Not really a head cannon just wanted to add that in here)

[soniccrazygal]

Adopted Rabbit AU So I just had the funny idea of a zombie Mike coming across a Gregory that's been brainwashed by Glitchtrap and "adopting" him, figuring that while he might not be the best parent it's not like he could screw up Gregory even more than he already is. Besides, it's not like the kid can hurt him.

[pixlokita]

I bet if Cassie ended up in into the pit AU once Michael made bear shaped pancakes and also wolf shaped pancakes (because Cassie said Roxy is her favorite) she would say to Gregory "Can your dad adopt me"

She already has a dad tho 😭 she seems to love him sm too and as much as i love found fam i can’t steal Cassie from her small dad :’v Mike Can be her cool uncle ✨💖