#alexander simmons

[daisysmalia]

Twitter and TikTok try not to misinterpret and twist everything Lou says about BuckTommy to fuel your anti BuckTommy agenda challenge failed!!

[antaxzantax]

Umbrella Pharmaceuticals - Chapter 60

Summary:

Alfred Ashford descends into madness. Alexia Ashford and William Birkin attack in Raccoon City.

1

The two members of the Jacob’s Circle descended the stone staircase to a double door of wood and steel. One of the two leaves had been ajar to allow passage, and they entered the meeting chamber.

The chamber resembled a parliament. On the central dais sat the heads of both secret societies. On the right, the heads of The Family, Derek and Wallace Simmons, and, on the left, the princes of the Jacob’s Circle, Alexander Ashford and Anthony Campbell. In the last seat next to the dais sat Freemason Robert Graham, a friend of the Ashfords.

The two members of the Jacob’s Circle sat next to Robert Graham to listen to the princes’ conversation with the pair of American oligarchs.

“Do you really wish me not to help you in your search for Alexia?” Derek said to Alexander.

“I’m sure I do. Thank you for your goodwill, but it's a matter I need to resolve alone,” said Alexander.

“Don’t feel indebted to us, young Derek,” Anthony pointed out.

“There are debts that cannot be repaid,” Wallace commented.

Derek looked at Alexander. He saw him as absent, remorseful and regretful. His mournful expression moved him as much as that of a martyr.

“Have you come up with any clues?” asked Robert from his seat.

“The mother superior of a monastery in Quebec took in my daughter and her companion for a few days. She called me because there was a recent massacre in a town called Silent Hill in which she may have been involved,” Alexander explained.

“How can she be so sure?” Derek asked.

“She’s not, but she was the one who recommended Silent Hill to my daughter on her way back to Raccoon City.”

“That town is outside our area of influence,” Anthony pointed out.

“You think your daughter was responsible...” Derek muttered to Alexander.

Alexander didn’t respond, and Derek noticed that his eyes had watered.

2

They were on their way from the palace to the prison infirmary. Peter was setting up the instruments. Sergei Vladimir was selecting the victims. The commander-in-chief of the U.B.C.S. also enjoyed pain, but more so self-inflicted pain.

Alfred led the ritual.

Throats ripped out. Broken bones. Muscles torn. Organs crushed. Dismembered limbs. Clotted blood.

With Sergei occupying his chair, Alfred lay on the floor and smoked.

He felt he was flying beyond the veil of space-time, and then, suddenly, he would fall into the abyss, and the abyss would suck him back into the stark reality: sweat and decomposition.

And Alfred, without witnessing the end of the ritual, returned to the palace.

The staff of the facility moved out of his way as if he were a soul in pain, cursing at his mere presence. U.B.C.S. mercenaries would salute and whisper as he passed, but avoided attracting the attention of the commander's protégé and son of the president and CEO of Umbrella.

And he would lock himself in his room.

Auguste returned to Scotland. Peter moved into the prison infirmary. Alexia was missing. Alexander was looking for Alexia.

Alone.

Alone like at school.

But his strategy to alleviate the loneliness was no longer working.

He felt strange and incomplete.

Sometimes he didn't recognise himself in the mirror. He saw a blond-haired, blue-eyed, slim, soft-featured man, but he didn't know who he was.

At first, he had distrusted Sergei Vladimir as a Bolshevik scum. Now he treated him as a friend to remind himself who he was.

The portrait of Lenin hanging in his office did not lie: Sergei knew who he was, and he understood what Alfred wanted to do and why Alfred wanted to do what he wanted to do.

He had been brought up for the social reproduction of his class, and maybe he was right.

Alfred wanted the best for himself and his dynasty. Why else should he exist?

Sergei poured him a glass of wine. The Bolshevik knew what it was like to fight for a lost cause.

The glass of wine became a bottle. One bottle into two. Two bottles into three.

Alfred accused Sergei of manipulating him with his communist schemes to kill his family and resurrect the Soviet Union. Sergei lectured on geopolitics and Marxism-Leninism. His patriotic rhetoric got on Alfred's nerves, and he fought back with a harangue attributed to ancient Celtic warriors.

Finally, they shared a bottle of vodka distilled by Russian mercenaries.

Alfred and Sergei competed for the most drinks.

Sergei won three to two. Alfred threw up and fell asleep.

He woke up naked on a stretcher with the base doctor, a Bulgarian quack doctor who nicknamed him Fred after the Scooby-Doo character, stroking his penis.

Peter took care of the doctor.

Nothing was working.

He was falling into the abyss again and again, and the days went by one after the other, one after the other, one after the other.

In the mirror: a man with a stubble, emaciated, dark circles under his eyes and empty blue eyes.

He severed his hand after punching the mirror.

My name is Alfred Robert Willem Edward Malcolm Ashford-Campbell-Douglas-Stuart, he typed into the typewriter.

My name is Alfred Edward Malcolm Ashford-Douglas-Stuart.

My name is Alfred Ashford-Stuart.

My name is Alfred Ashford.

My name is Alfred.

My name is Alf.

My name is A.

My name is ....

Sergei ordered the domestic staff to serve him food with plastic cutlery.

The stranger in the mirror.

To forget about him, he went to Peter. Peter understood, but they were different. Peter was born with a demon inside him, but ... had learned to be Lucifer, and Lucifer had to return to his family because the destiny of the fallen angel was to return to Paradise for salvation. Peter, on the other hand, had no salvation.

Peter belonged in Hell.

… dreamt of a boy covered in a grotesque rabbit mask.

Unable to describe his dreams to Sergei, … began to draw.

Sergei framed and hung the illustrations on the wall because he loved them. The rest of the staff found them horrifying.

… produced several works a day.

Sergei had to go up to the attic and force him to dress, eat, bathe and sleep on a mattress. If … resisted, Sergei was assisted by his comrades Nikolai and Mikhail.

Nikolai and Mikhail would tie him to a chair, open his mouth and Sergei would shove a spoon or fork with food down his esophagus.

… would throw back half of what … swallowed.

Sergei read him a bedtime story.

The Fall of the House of Usher.[1]

Once upon a time there was an aristocrat named Roderick Usher who, mad with loneliness after the loss of his beloved twin sister, consoled himself by playing the guitar and reciting poetry. But one fine day, a stranger dared to enter his mansion. By the stranger's coming or by chance, Roderick's twin sister was resurrected and took him with her to the grave. With Roderick's death, the family mansion collapsed, and the Usher lineage thus became extinct.

The next morning, ... exchanged painting for music, and the pencil for the piano.

He sang a lullaby:

There was a friendly but naive King

who wed a very nasty queen.

The king was loved but

the queen was feared.

Till one day strolling in his court,

an arrow pierced the kind king's heart.

He lost his life and

his lady love.

His melancholy singing enchanted Sergei, his only audience.

At times, … lost himself in his inner world, slipping into a state of drowsiness bordering on catatonia.

Sometimes, … wandered off to nowhere.

Sergei received a call.

A bearded man appeared the day after the call.

The bearded man screamed and burst into tears when he saw him.

“My son... My life... My treasure... What have I done to you!” sobbed the bearded man as he hugged him. “My God, forgive me! Forgive me for what I have done!” The bearded man kissed him many times. Sergei watched the scene in silence. “Father... Mother... Forgive me... Alfred, my son, I'm sorry...”

“Dad... I only want you to love me...”

The two shared tears.

Sergei closed the door on them.

He had done his duty.

3

William tripped on the curb and twisted his ankle.

He crawled onto the porch of his Raccoon City home and rang the doorbell several times.

Annette opened the door armed with a gun.

“Who...”

“Annette! It's me: William!” William rushed at Annette. Annette hugged him in shock. “Go away! Go to Sherry!”

Annette grabbed her husband by the head to reassure him.

“Will, what's wrong with you? Where the hell have you been?”

“You need to leave. Go! Go! Go!”

William limped into the kitchen and grabbed a knife. Annette reflexively pointed the gun at him.

“William, drop the knife. What's happened to you?”

But William did not drop the knife. On the contrary, he held its edge to his throat.

“William!” Annette shrieked and nearly pulled the trigger.

William dropped the knife and sat on the floor, crying.

“She's going to do it... She's going to do it...” William scrunched his hair as he swayed in place. “And I've helped her, Annette, I've helped her...”

Annette picked up the knife and knelt beside William.

“What are you going to do what? William, what's wrong?” She spoke to him in the sweetest voice she knew how to use.

William smiled as he swayed.

“She's going to conclude our conversation.”

“What conversation and who is she?”

William looked at Annette with desperate eyes pregnant with despair.

“Alexia.”

“And what does she want to do?”

William chuckled.

“What we said in our conversation.”

“What?”

“Destroy.”

4

The bombs would detonate at five locations: city hall, the city's two tallest skyscrapers, the busiest underground line, and the power plant. In all, five napalm devices powered by a formula they invented to cause around 10,000 casualties.

All she had to do was press the button on the remote control and the denotation would be immediate. To ensure its success, it used the T-Veronica computer virus to infiltrate the city's communications network and electrical system. However, it would not do so until William joined her. The visualisation of her destruction was to be shared, and she always kept her promises.

But where was he?

5

William put the last bag in the boot and closed. Sherry didn't understand what was happening, so she began to cry. William hugged her lovingly, but then put her in the car. Annette grabbed the steering wheel.

“Promise me you'll go to Chicago with your sister and never look back. Promise me!” William whimpered with tension and nervousness.

“I promise...” Annette began to cry, too. “Will we see each other again?”

“Anne... I don't know... Promise me you'll take care of our daughter. I'm sorry.”

William walked away from the car. Annette started up. The car pulled out onto the road.

William blew an affectionate kiss to his daughter.

6

“Go away! Get out of here! Get out!!!”

William pushed the passers-by out of the underground entrance.

“Get out! Get out!”

But they ignored him.

The station security guard ran to where he was.

William slipped through the crowd to flee the premises.

7

Twilight bathed the horizon. It was the last rush hour, and William was nowhere to be seen.

But she would keep her promise, even if the casualties turned out to be fewer than expected.

She missed her brother.

She would have liked to share that moment with him.

8

“Get out of town! Run away! She's going to kill us all! She's going to kill us!”

William shouted at the top of his lungs in front of the two tallest skyscrapers in Raccoon City.

People walked past him with strange, paternalistic compassion.

Assholes.

Asshole assholes assholes assholes.

Indifference.

William gave up.

“I helped her...” he spoke. “I helped her because I hate you; because I enjoyed killing you in the lab. Because I am superior to you. Because you ruined my life. Because I had to crawl like vermin to be somebody in life. Because... Because...”

William looked up at the sky.

Twilight.

“I don't want to die a nobody. I don't want to die a nobody. I don't want to die a nobody. Bitch. Bitch. Alexia, you're a bitch. Why is the world so unfair? I should have been born into a multi-millionaire family. Me! Me! Me!”

William pounded his chest hard.

A woman stared at him with a disgusted look on her face.

“You're born with your life sorted out and then you complain because your dad's an asshole, and then you're mentally ill. Bitch. I fucking hate you. I hate you.”

A man stood in front of him.

“Are you all right?”

William stood up.

“Asshole,” he said.

9

Two minutes to midnight.

10

William got up from the couch.

He grabbed the gun used by Annette and left his house.

He drove to the meeting point.

11

He stepped out of the lift into an open, glassed-in room.

Alexia was sitting on the couch.

William unlocked the safety on the gun.

When he was next to the couch, he pointed the gun at Alexia.

William fired.

The bullet hit the floor, three feet away from Alexia's head.

He couldn't kill her.

William fell to his knees on the floor.

Alexia pressed the button.

The bombs they had planted themselves in the two Raccoon City skyscrapers exploded.

The two buildings burned.

The T-Veronica was activated. The local power plant exploded.

The city shut down.

The underground and city hall may had been on fire as well.

“We've done it. The end of the world,” said Alexia.

William stuck the barrel of the gun in his mouth. Alexia took the gun from him and knelt beside him.

She hugged him.

William hugged her back.

They hugged each other.

The embrace was sincere and unnaturally warm.

“I want my brother.”

“I want my family.”

The fire lit up the midnight.

12

Alexia sent an SMS to an unknown number.

The Jacob's Circle found them lying on the attic floor, semi-conscious. They had not eaten or drunk since the catastrophe began a couple of days ago. Nor had they been discovered because they had broken the lift motor and sealed the access door with several pieces of furniture.

The Jacob's Circle climbed up the stairs and beat their way in.

The helicopter was called in and they were taken out of the building through the roof.

They picked up the gun, the computer and the rest of the evidence.

The T-Veronica spread through cyberspace and its remnants were visible in the source code of the few functional computers found in the power plant, but the origin of the name and who gave it that name was never known.

Who planned and executed the attacks was never known.

13

Alexander helped William into bed once he had woken up.

“Where have you locked me up this time?” said William.

“You are a free man, William. But you need help, just like my daughter.”

“What are you saying?”

“I forced you to swear allegiance to me because I feared you would harm my daughter, or betray her, but you have not. You have not left her side and you have cared for her.”

“So... so what?”

“I offer you my protection and assistance as chief of the clans and head of the family.”

“And what does that mean...”

“It means that I take you under my guidance as if you were my putative kinsman, son of another blood, but our equal; granting you the right to claim your membership in our clans according to the custom of my ancestors. Bitheadh e mar sin.”[2]

“I know not what you say.”

“May the grace of God be with you.”

“Are you going to kill me or not?”

“Have you ever talked to your daughter about things... emotional things?”

“I don't know. My daughter is 8 years old.”

“At that age Alexia started to feel bad. When did you start?”

“I don't understand you.”

“Uhm... My father protected me too much... My mother tried to warn me, but I could never see it because I was blinded by how good my father made me feel. In reality, he was afraid of losing me like he lost his little brother. He didn't want me to become something I wasn't meant to be. But we all make mistakes sometimes. He was wrong about what I proposed to him, and I was wrong about my children... I retreated into myself and my memories, but I only hurt my family. I want to make it right.”

“Better late than never, I guess...”

“I've brought you to a special place. A place of retreat for us. They'll look after you here and help you.”

“Help me what?”

“Tame the voices. Alfred and Alexia are here too.”

“And if I don't want to control the voices?”

“You'll die.”

William shuddered.

“I don't want to die,” he whispered.

Alexander stroked his back.

“We give death without dying, but you must be tempered to prevail.”

William didn't understand but nodded. He just wanted to know if his family was all right.

Notes:

[1] By Edgar Allan Poe. [2] Scottish Gaelic for "So Be It".

[babyphatsisters]

Ming lee simmons for Alexander wang bodywear.

[gryfflepuffinthetardis]

Zoe's Timeline (SPOILERS! DO NOT READ IF YOU WANT TO AVOID SPOILERS FOR MY VALENTÍA)

*I tried to keep certain things vague; Some years are different.*

*Some characters' birthdays are their actors' birthday just to establish it. A Tumblr post says that they mention Garcia was born in 1977 but in earlier seasons, she talks to Spencer in Tabula Rasa, saying "You're young. The eighties left a lot of people confused." She's referring to a gothy picture of high school Prentiss but that's not the point, the point is Garcia is implying to be a bit older than four years older than Spencer, and Morgan was born in 1974 which makes you think that she's around his age, so I just changed it to 1975 plus that's the same year that Adam Rodriguez was born.*

I am working my way back to the season twelve finale, I had finished only the first episode of the two parter but I went on vacation for my mom's birthday and when I tried to finish the second part, my car DVD player stopped working and I'm the sort of person who will avoid big change in TV shows, it took me a full year to even start the final season of Parks and Recreation and I don't want to see how Spencer changes so I procrastonate my procrastination (watching Criminal Minds instead of doing other things) Anyways, but I tried to keep major characters involved. You know Alex Blake, Kate Callahan, Stephen Walker, Tara Lewis and I know in season thirteen Matt Simmons joins the team. I'm hesitant to watch Evolution because Spencer's not in it but there's still hope he'll come back, though last year I did meet Matthew Gray Gubler in New York in that car he was driving with a giant green hand and we chased him down to a stop light and he gave me a free copy of his book that we later saw at the New York bookstore we always go to as being thirty bucks.*

Warning: Spoilers, Mention of a character being dishonorably discharged from Chemical Corps which implies darker things, Stillborn baby; Pregnant woman in distress; Woman dies while pregnant (baby survives though); Baby is diagnosed with heart defect; Four-year-old has heart difficulties after being abused; Child death; Teenager commits suicide; Twelve-year-old is kidnapped and attacked by a serial killer; Serial killer has fascination with twelve-year-old; Teenagers get kidnapped)

This may be under constant construction and dates may slip and slide. (There should be a larger time gap between Zoe's rescue in early 2005 and her hiring of the BAU but this was so time-consuming, and then I changed Zarah's name from Callie and I had already had it in my drafts, so I had to redo it, and there are things in here that I'm not all too confident about and I feel that the hinting at a big reveal is too on the nose and obvious.)

1940 — Max Ryan is born

1942 — Cain Noble is born

1945 — Alastriona Ophelia Kenzie is born in Scotland

June 1, 1955 — Jason Gideon is born

May 9, 1956 — David Stephen Rossi is born

August 19, 1962 — Zelena Valdez is born

1963 — Alastriona Kenzie comes to America, Virginia

Before September 29. 1964 — Alastronia Kenzie married Cain Noble and Cain Noble goes off to fight in the Vietnam War in the Chemical Corps soon to be dishonorably discharged for desertion.

Before September 29. 1964 — Cain Noble goes off to fight in the Vietnam War in the Chemical Corps soon to be dishonorably discharged for desertion.

September 29, 1964 — Alexander Noble is born to American Veteran Cain Noble and Scottish (technical immigrant) Alastriona Ophelia Noble

November 2, 1967 — Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner is born

1968 — Alex Blake is born.

June 10, 1968 — Alex Blake (formerly Miller) is born to Damon Miller and an unnamed mother

1968 — Cain Noble is dishonorably discharged for desertion.

Sometime 1970 — David Rossi illegally enlisted into the Vietnam War at age thirteen to fourteen. (Rossi doesn't really like to play by the rules, I guess? 🙄)

September 18, 1970 — Tara Elizabeth Lewis is born to Albert Lewis and her unnamed mother.

October 12, 1970 — Emily Prentiss is born to U.S. Ambassador, Elizabeth Katherine Prentiss and an unknown father

May 29, 1971 — Isobel Noble is born to American dishonorably discharged veteran Cain Noble and Scottish Alastriona Noble, younger sister to Alexander Noble

1972 — Gabriel Anthony Lewis is born to Albert Lewis and an unnamed mother, as the younger brother to Tara Lewis.

January 4, 1973 — Stephen Walker is born to unknown parents

January 25, 1973 — Mazikeen "Maze" Valdez is born

1974 — Rosalyn Jareau is born in East Allegheny, Pennsylvania to Sandy Jareau and an unnamed father

June 6, 1974 — Derek Morgan is born to Hank and Fran Morgan in Chicago

1975 — Penelope Garcia is born in San Francisco, California

April 2, 1975 — Luke Alvez is born in the Bronx borough of New York City, New York to unnamed parents

July 31, 1975 — Kalypso Valdez is born in Las Vegas, Nevada

June 24, 1977 — Elle Greenaway is born in Manhattan, New York to presumably American Robert Greenaway and an unnamed mother of Cuban descent

Sometime prior to 1978/1979 — Alastriona Noble (Alexander and Isobel's mother) dies

1978/1979 — Alexander Noble is forcably escorted to Somerville Military Academy due to his "fits" (Manic-Depression/Bipolar episodes)

1979 — Alexander Noble escapes from Somerville Military Academy and shortly after he and Isobel run away from Cain Noble.

February 21, 1979 — Kate Callahan is born to unknown parents with a presumably older sister named Liz

November 28, 1979 — Matthew "Matt" Simmons is born in Carson City, Michigan to an unnamed Caucasian father and a Korean mother named Mi Young Simmons; however, due to his mixed ethnicity he was ostracized by his grandparents on his father's side.

1979 — Ciara Valdez is born to Elena Valdez and an unnamed man.

September 17, 1980 — William LaMontagne Junior is born to William LaMontagne Senior and an unnamed mother in New Orleans, Louisianna

November 22, 1980 — Jennifer “JJ” Jareau is born in East Allegheny, Pennsylvania to Sandy Jareau and an unnamed father as the younger sister to Rosalyn Jareau.

September 21, 1981 — Maeve Donovan is born to Mary and Joe Donovan

October 12, 1981 — Spencer Reid is born to Diana and William Reid in Vegas, Nevada

1983 — BAU is founded by David Rossi, Jason Gideon, Zelena Valdez, and Alexander Noble

1984 — Stephen Gideon is born to Jason Gideon named after Rossi's middle name; Carolyn and David Rossi’s son, James David Rossi dies during childbirth

Unspecified Date, 1985 — Robert Greenaway has a fight with his eight-year-old daughter, Elle Greenaway which ends with her telling him she hates him before he is called away and is killed in the line of duty.

Early 1985 — Some point in January, February, or March, Zelena Valdez realizes she’s pregnant and is required to go off her sleep apnea and PTSD medication to avoid any more risks of her babies being born with birth defects. Some point later, she started using a sleep apnea machine.

Around September and/or October — Zelena Valdez is ordered to stay at the BAU headquarters due to being so far into her pregnancy and she gets the case about a man killing pregnant women and their unborn babies in Virginia.

October 28, 1985 — Zarah Carina Noble-Valdez is born in Quantico, Virgina; Zelena, still in labor and the unborn Zoe are kidnapped by the same psychotic axe murderer Zelena had been chasing.

October 31, 1985 — Alexander finds Zelena and Zoe; Zelena dies from multiple axe wounds to the chest while the UnSub gets away; Xiomara "Zoe" Noble-Valdez is born due to a post-mortem C-section in Quantico, Virginia, initially as a stillborn due to the conditions but is successfully resuscitated but quickly diagnosed with a heart defect.

November 1, 1985 — Zoe is diagnosed with having transportation of the great arteries (TGA) A serious, rare heart problem in which the two main arteries carrying blood out of the heart are reversed, at most giving her a year to live without correction surgery.

November 7, 1985 — In Quantico, Virginia, At one week old, Zoe receives open-heart surgery for transposition of the great arteries (TGA) and survives to live a relatively “normal” life, although with possible heart failure problems later in life

November 7, 1985 — In Chicago, Derek Morgan's father, Hank Morgan is killed by a would-be robber in front of eleven-year-old Derek Morgan

1986 — David Rossi meets diplomat, Hayden Montgomery and after six months they get married.

1987 — Around late February to early-to-mid March of 1987. David Rossi and Hayden Montgomery get divorced, shortly after Hayden finds out she's pregnant with David Rossi's second child (see the year 1984 for first child). Hayden only relays this information to Alexander Noble which is overheard and understood by his one-year-old daughter Zoe Noble-Valdez who had by now developed the cognitive understanding of an eight-year-old with her high IQ and exceptional memory.

December 12, 1987 — Joy Montgomery is born and only Zoe and Alexander remain aware of her true father’s identity.

October 13, 1988 — Riley Jenkins is found dead in Las Vegas; Zoe and Zarah go to spend some time with Kalypso Valdez (who suffers from Schyzotypal Personality Disorder) and her family in Las Vegas; Two-year-old Zoe goes missing in park, presumably kidnapped, causing seven-year-old Kalypso to have a Schyzotypal psychotic break due to the immediate stress and fear during this traumatic experience; late that Zoe is found by Las Vegas local.

1989 — Alexander has no choice but to leave Zoe with his father for a month while Zarah gets treatments from the hospital; he returns to find his four-year-old daughter severely injured with her ribs broken and not breathing due to a heart failure and Cain is forbidden from ever being near her again.

1990 — Zoe and Zarah Noble-Valdez take the ACTs due to their high intelligence, Zoe additionally takes the CLT.

1991 — William Reid leaves Diana and Spencer Reid; Zoe meets Emily Prentiss through Maze Valdez and Alexander Noble; Zoe and Zarah start advanced dual college classes along with elementary.

1992 — Zoe and Zarah receive Criminology degrees at age seven

1992 — Seventeen-year-old Rosalyn Jareau gives eleven-year-old JJ her necklace; Eleven-year-old JJ finds seventeen-year-old Rosalyn Jareau in the bathtub, having committed suicide with her father’s razors, JJ freezes up for about ten minutes, unable or unwilling to comprehend what she’s seeing.

1992 — Alex Blake joins the FBI

1993 — Spencer Reid graduates from high school at age twelve

1993 — Zoe and Zarah receive Psychology degrees at age eight

1993 — Penelope Garcia sneaks out and her parents go out looking for her and they are hit and killed by a drunk driver.

1994 — Ethan Blake is born to Alex and James Blake

1995 — Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner joins the BAU; Hotch meets ten-year-old Zoe and Zarah

1995 — Zoe and Zarah receive Criminal Justice degrees at age ten

1996 — Zoe and Zarah receive forensic science and psychology science degrees at age eleven.

1997 — David Rossi retires; Zoe and Zarah receive abnormal psychology and sociology degrees at age twelve.

Late January to Early February 1998 — Hotch’s first case as Senior Agent in Boston

February 13, 1998 — Hotch’s serial killer intends for twelve-year-old Zoe to be his twenty-first kill but finds that she has no fear in her eyes which (disgustingly) fascinates and intrigues him. (Yeah, I know, gross, but if you know who I’m talking about he’s a sick guy, basically it's an even creepier meeting of Crazy Jane and Frank, only illegal, disgusting, and one-sided; Also I think he only killed twenty before making the deal.)

February 13-18, 1998 — Twelve-year-old Zoe is held captive by the serial killer, her five-day absense is relatively unnoticed by the BAU on account of Alexander lying for the safety of his daughter’s return. Zoe is found outside of a Boston hospital with deep knife wounds (not stab wounds), bruises, broken bones, and drugs in her system. Alexander somehow manages to keep her injuries secret from the BAU.

March 1998 (Six weeks after the “deal with the devil” was made) — Zoe Noble-Valdez has weekly therapy sessions with Karl Arnold who she sasses and profiles constantly before deciding she doesn’t like the vibe she gets off of Karl Arnold.

1998 — Zoe and Zarah receive physical science and counseling degrees at age thirteen; Zoe also receives a nursing degree, intending to be the medical doctor on the team.

November 1998 — Zoe Noble-Valdez makes her first kill in self-defense for her sister.

December 15, 1998 — Tracy Belle is born in Texas

1999 — Zoe receives computer science and physics degrees at age fourteen. Zarah receives human services and arts and humanities degrees at age fourteen.

2000 — Zoe receives toxicology, pharmacology, and chemistry degree.  Zarah receives an anthropology degree at age fifteen.

Sometime after October 12, 2000 — Now eighteen and eligible to pursue his career in the FBI, Spencer Reid, knowing that without him his mother, Diana Reid wouldn't be able to take care of herself, admits her to a mental institution, Bennington Sanitarium.

October 28, 2000 — Zarah Noble-Valdez has her Quinceañera (Fifteenth Birthday)

October 31, 2000 — Zoe Noble-Valdez has her Quinceañera (Fifteenth Birthday)

Autumn, 2000 — Zoe starts Harvard Medical School and meets fellow schoolmate, Maeve Donovan, working to get her PhD in genetics.

February 13, 2001 — Zoe and Zarah Noble-Valdez are kidnapped.

February 14, 2001 — Zoe and Zarah Noble-Valdez are separated.

October 15, 2001 — Zoe Noble-Valdez manages to escape with no memory of how. Zoe is reunited with Alexander Noble but refuses to go to the BAU .

Late 2001/Early 2002 — Derek Morgan is recruited by the BAU (Doesn't meet Zoe due to her being busy getting her degrees, finishing school, and medical school and by request is not named to avoid later accusations of nepotism)

March, 2002 — Zoe gets a biology, biochemistry, chemistry, and neurobiology degrees.

June 3, 2002 — Zoe finishes high school, has a psychotic break due to grief, guilt, and  seven months of rumors about what happened to Zarah and bullying; Zoe gets degrees in computer science, behavioral science, philosophy, and pharmacology degrees, starting to over-over achieve to distract herself, all at age sixteen

September 1, 2002 — Zoe starts medical school

Before September 11, 2001 — Meg Callahan is born to Kate Callahan’s sister, Liz and her brother-in-law.

September 11, 2001 — Kate Callahan's sister and brother-in-law, Liz and Joe tragically die among hundreds of others during 9/11

2002 — Spencer Reid joins the FBI at age twenty (three years before the normal age qualification)

2003 — Ethan Blake is diagnosed with an unknown illness and tragically dies

April, 2003 — Zoe gets toxicology, neuroscience, engineering, and neurology degrees

June 5, 2003 — Zoe finishes medical school

August 5, 2003 �� Zoe starts FBI training

September 16, 2003 — Zoe completes FBI training fourteen weeks early.

October 1, 2003 — Zoe starts working with various mentors (before finally landing a year and a half mentorship with her own cousin, Makenzie "Maze" Valdez, mostly in Europe and the  U.K.; occasionally in Italy where Zoe is reunited with Emily Prentiss under the alias of Lauren Reynolds.

2004 — Penelope Garcia is recruited by the BAU for her coding skills as an alternative to jail time for hacking; Spencer Reid is recruited to the BAU at the age of twenty-two/twenty-three.

2004 — The Blue Ridge Killer plummets off a roof and hits his head, somehow surviving but in a coma. (Also, you’d think Gideon would be there or they could’ve placed it during Gideon’s six month medical leave)

August 14, 2004 — Zoe is kidnapped by terrorists and tortured by a prison front for terrorists.

2004-2005 — JJ is recruited as the media liaison for the BAU

February 13, 2005 — Zoe is rescued from corrupt prison by Maze resulting in most of the corrupt guards/terrorists being brutally murdered

April 3, 2005 — Jason Gideon goes on medical leave; Hotch is promoted to unit chief

April 13, 2005 — Zoe interviews for the BAU by Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner, newly promoted to Unit Chief after Gideon's medical leave of absence; Zoe meets Spencer Reid and impresses him with her intellect

April 3, 2005 — Jason Gideon goes on medical leave for six months; Hotch is promoted to unit chief.

April 13, 2005 — Zoe Noble-Valdez interviews for the BAU with Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner.

May 1, 2005 — Zoe's first day at the BAU; Zoe meets Spencer Reid for the first time a second time.

September 2005 — Jason Gideon returns from medical leave, now as Senior Supervisory Special Agent

—————————————————————————

Edited October 7, 2024

Notes (Colored merely to show they're different notes from the ones before): Alexander Noble’s birthday — September 29 — It's been a while since I wrote this down so I googled David Tennant september 29 and what came up was that the first episode of Season two of the revival of Doctor Who, called "New Earth" aired which was the first episdoe where David Tennant could really be the Doctor for the full episode as he was in a coma for most of "Christmas Invasion". Isobel Noble's birthday — May 29 — The day Karen Gillan was announced by portray Amelia “Amy” Pond in Doctor Who Mazikeen “Maze” Valdez's birthday — January 25 — In the season three episode of Lucifer, The City of Angels? It takes place on January 25, 2011 and it’s about Lucifer’s first days on Earth of his “vacation” of eternity of ruling Hell (or at least according to the Lucifer Timeline page on Lucifer Wikia (too lazy to watch the full episode and keep an eye out to see if the date is mentioned and I multitask too much to) For Will LaMontagne's birthday, I wanted to be a bit more original than just using the actor, Josh Stewart's birthday, plus he was born in 1977 which would make him several years older than JJ, I wanted their ages to be more similar but, since Will was introduced in "Jones" with an Unsub copying Jack the Ripper, I used the alleged date that sources claim a letter first used the term "Jack the Ripper" I feel like it's worse that Emily and Spencer have the same birthday—October twelfth—yet they still forget his thirtieth birthday and it's not like they had never celebrated it before. They celebrated it in the fourth episode of the whole series! If I were them, I would just feel like the worst friends because presumably Spencer's mother who often didn't know what day of the week it was, dismissed her doctor's suggestions (because "he's a Neanderthal"), and once had a schizophrenic episode so bad she didn't notice her son had been missing for a whole night when he was tied to the school field due to some horrible bullies, you can assume he didn't get to celebrate his birthday too much after his dad left when he was ten. I would just fee like the worst friend ever.

Maeve Donovan's birthday — September 21 — Maeve's birthday is the date that psychologist and behavior geneticist, Kathryn Paige Harden's book, The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters For Social Equality was published, plus September was the month that "The Narrative of John Smith" was published. (I was going to use July 19 after the birthdate of Nancy Wexler who learned a Ph.D. in Psychology but chose to instead work in the field of genetics. I don't really know who either of these women are though, I don't really understand genetics like I do psychology—Ironic since just last semester I took a class called "Developmental psychology" or not ironic at all (Developmental psychology is pretty much about psychology as we grow and the psychological concepts that we go through and the bonds we form) but I tried to find a woman who had work in both fields of genetics and psychology. I did find a geneticist and psychologist named Robert Joseph Plomin and Gregor Mendel who I KNOW was in my developmental psychology class, despite him seeming to be firmly in the world of genetics with some overlap in psychology but I don't want to sign into my school account, it's whole ordeal and they make it so overly complicated (for privacy reasons but still, it's annoying. I can appreciate something and still find it annoying) but I wanted a female geneticist and I wanted some more options than just Nancy Wexler, I find birthdays that are like after August easier to keep track of, maybe because my birthday is in October which is in that range and I have a math learning disorder and I overthink things because I am terrified of accidentally offending someone. But I chose the publication date because I couldn’t find Kathyrn Paige Haden’s birthday

[vanlegion]

I think at this point I have to pretty much regard season 19 as the truest form of 'Crack Taken Seriously' which. . . huwa, I could do (but damn it would be a struggle...)

But only if you believe in the narrative *NOT* shown.

There's an After for these guys. But I think that's kind of up to us? (. . . Yeah I'm already writing the AFTER fic. Fuck me.) So unless some miracle happens and either the IP gets bought up and the crew gets to do some little shorts like what the Crwby is doing ... Or Geoff and Gus ever pull off what Alexander Siddig and Andrew Robinson did for the Star Trek DS9 Bashir/Garak community. I guess we just make our own canon at this point.

[lcthalwcapon]

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ⌖ ― starter / @missionfocusedaj

"you are a hard man to find." aliyah teased as she entered the room. the huntress immediately made herself comfortable as she pulled her bag off her shoulder, dropping it down in one of the chairs in the room and then dropping her ass down in the one next to it. "i'm aliyah simmons, and i do believe we haven't met yet." she grinned at him after introducing herself.

[jazzdailyblog]

Norman Simmons: The Unsung Maestro of Jazz Accompaniment

Introduction: Norman Simmons, born ninety-five years ago today on October 6, 1929, in Chicago, Illinois, and passing away on May 13, 2021, led a storied career spanning over six decades. Though often overshadowed by the towering figures of jazz vocalists and instrumentalists he accompanied, Simmons was a genius in his own right—a pianist, arranger, composer, and educator whose nuanced touch…

[fragmcntedsouls]

Of all the faces that Asher didn't need to see right now, Alexander was possibly one above his father. His weary gaze lifted, brow creasing for the state that the other was in. Stomach twisting, swallowing the bile that threatened to rise in the back of his throat. 

As Alexander approached with concern, Asher’s heart plummeted into his stomach. Evidently he didn’t know of Asher's role in this. The hunters, the attempt on his fathers life. His allegiance with Briggs.

Yet.

“I just –” inhaling a sharp, stammering breath Asher could feel his heart hammering mercilessly against his ribcage “you should go. Probably ... to a hospital.”

He looked and felt like shit. He was tired and suppose to be laid up in the hospital but chose not to. The beating from Klaus was no worse than the ones from his father so he knew he would be fine. He should have taken a cab home but instead he chose to walk. Alexander tried not to let his mind wonder too much as he walked not wanting the carnage of last night to get to him.

The shortcut to his place was through the park so he decided to cut through it. As he walked he noticed Asher sitting by the lake and the kid looked to be mid panic attack. Confusion and concern formed on his face since he wasn't sure why Asher would be reacting that way. Instead of ignoring him Alexander walked over to him. "Try taking a few breaths."

[ponkothepenguin]

tierlist of all polar books I've read in 2024!

big year for polar exploration. I will elaborate on any of these

Sorry for image quality- titles under the cut!

5 stars, perfection, no notes, etc: In the Kingdom of Ice by Hampton Sides, Endurance by Alfred Lansing, Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard

Very good, would recommend: Worst Journey in the World graphic novel by Sarah Airriess, The Great White South by Herbert Ponting, Cherry by Sarah Wheeler, The Coldest March by Susan Solomon, Labyrinth of Ice by Buddy Levy, The Ship Beneath the Ice by Mensun Bound, Madhouse at the End of the Earth by Julian Sancton, Erebus by Michael Palin

Average: Endurance by Caroline Alexander, Shackleton’s Forgotten Men by Lennard Bickel, At the Mountains of Madness by H.P Lovecraft

Not my favorite: Alone on the Ice by David Roberts

Jail for 1000 years: The Terror by Dan Simmons (ew)

[silv-paru]

in the real franklin expedition alexander macdonald was supposedly one the last survivors with crozier, if they were not the last two men standing at all

i understand why the show killed him off way earlier for narrative purpose (guilting hickey for doing something horrible he actually didn't intend to for once, making room for goodsir and bridgens' story arcs, raising the stakes by having only one doctor left) and dan simmons did the same in the book but STILL :(

that's the only complaint i have against the show i think, although i'm totally biased because i love charles edwards

[antaxzantax]

Umbrella Pharmaceuticals - Chapter 57

Summary:

Alfred Ashford and his cousin Auguste torture vagrants in an abandoned factory with the help of Peter.

1

Amelia poured her five o'clock tea. Her cousin Alexia had sat on the carpet with her back against the sofa to draw strange spiral shapes on the Etch-A-Sketch. Groundhog Day: Alexia was engrossed in her hobbies and Amelia was agonisingly bored by Alexia's lack of interest in going outside. She had travelled to Raccoon City to help her father Anthony with some real estate investments suggested by cousin Alexander, and wanted to take advantage of the stay to have fun with her cousins and older brother. However, Alfred and Auguste were away for most of the day, and Alexia returned from being locked in an underground laboratory to lock herself at home. Exciting.

“Lexia, what are you drawing?”

Alexia shook the toy and the figure disappeared.

“Nothing special.” She turned the dials again.

“Wouldn't you like to go out for dinner? Shall we go to Dorsia? On Friday night they serve a special menu.”

“Are you forcing me to be a normie, Alma[1]?” Alexia whispered, concentrating on her new drawing.

“A girls' night out!”

Amelia grabbed her cousin's hands to pull her up. In the manner of passive resistance, Alexia made no effort to lift herself an inch off the floor. The Etch-A-Sketch fell to the carpet.

“Alexia, please, let's go.” Amelia begged her with moist eyes. “I won't stand another day locked up at home doing nothing. We don't even need to call for a reservation. The owner of the restaurant is a friend of your father.”

2

The Dorsia occupied the top two floors of the tallest skyscraper in Raccoon City. The owner, a gay friend of Alexander's who always dressed in a tacky leopard suit, greeted them at the restaurant's main entrance with a bottle of champagne. Alexander's friend seated them in a VIP penthouse booth overlooking the Arklay Mountains. Amelia and Alexia asked for a bottle of water to drink, but Alexander's friend brought them a bottle of vintage wine that only served Amelia two years shy of her twenty-first birthday. For lunch, they selected the most expensive food without reading the contents of the plates.

“It's delicious. Do you like it?” Amelia peeled the second prawn with a knife and fork. Alexia nodded. “By the way, how's work? Any news?”

Alexia shrugged her shoulders.

“Oh, Sasha tells me you're working with another chief researcher. What's his name? William Birkin?” Amelia sipped from her glass of wine.

“Yes. William Birkin.”

“Have you ever worked with another chief researcher before?”

“No.”

“And what is the man like? Is he worth it?”

“He's competent. And he tried to kill me a few months ago.”

Amelia's knife slipped from her hand. Alexia cut a piece of steak.

“Kill you? Is that what you said?”

“Suffocate me.” Alexia pricked the piece and ate it.

“Why... Why...”

“I destroyed his life's work before his eyes. My father slammed him against the metal table. He was in a coma for a couple of days, but he suffered no brain damage. He grabbed my neck and squeezed hard.”

Amelia choked on the peeled shrimp. She coughed and ran to drink from the cup to pull herself together. Alexia cut a second piece of the steak and ate it.

“Oh, my God... Alexia.”

“I'm very selective about who I work with,” Alexia concluded impartially.

“Why are you not normal?”

Alexia skewered the last piece of meat.

“Normal,” she muttered.

“Yes, normal. Am I the only one in this family who wants to be normal!”

Amelia's rhetorical question clashed with Alexia's accusatory silence.

“Normal,” Alexia repeated mockingly. “You're normal.”

“Jesus...” Amelia removed the cutlery because her stomach had closed up.

Alexia finished her main course. Dessert was next.

3

The coffee machine had broken down again. William kicked the machine. From the force of the impact, the plastic cup popped off the spring and fell to the floor. William stomped on the cup several times until it was pressed and unrecognisable. A female investigator caught William in a rage. William saw her and repositioned his tie. He then fled down the corridor without throwing the glass in the bin.

The genesis of his neurosis was identified by several first and last names: Alexia Mary Veronica Elizabeth Anne Ashford-Campbell-Douglas-Stuart. In the week leading up to his reinstatement, William immersed himself in a detective investigation into the life, work and miracles of Alexia Ashford. He uncovered news of her graduation from Harvard at the age of ten and her hiring by Umbrella Pharmaceuticals. But where the fuck had she worked? Not a single reference. Then he read the note about her doctorate at Utrecht University: ‘The youngest doctor in the world.’ Bullshit. ‘Alexander Ashford: nominee for best businessman of the year 1985.’ ‘The Ashfords: the most powerful family in the North of England.’ ‘The Ashfords: a dynasty of Highlanders in the North of England.’ ‘One of the richest families in the world is Scottish and, yes, they wear kilt.’ ‘The Stuarts: the dethroned heirs to the kings of Scotland and England.’ For Alexia Mary Veronica Elizabeth Anne Ashford-Campbell-Douglas-Stuart had been born rich and Queen of Scots. He felt nauseous. What was the daughter of a maharajah doing at a clandestine lab in a crappy Midwestern American city? Were there no laboratories in Scotland?

William walked into the main laboratory. Alexia was not there. He hadn't spoken to her about anything other than exchanging information about the research. They didn't greet each other on the way in and they didn't say goodbye on the way out. They never helped each other and never interfered with each other. If there was a reason for William to hold on to the job, it was to find out the cause of the destruction of the G-virus. William approached Alexia's desk. On the table was a notebook open to a couple of pages written in a flowery cursive handwriting, the capital letters in the illum-illustrated letters of a medieval manuscript. He didn't understand any of the writing.

“It's Scottish Gaelic.”

William hurried back to his desk. Alexia walked over to the desk and closed the notebook.

“It’s poetry.”

Alexia specified the type of text without being asked, ignoring William's inappropriateness. The reason behind this behaviour distressed him - why was she blurting out these comments out of the blue? Why was she ignoring his intrusions in this way? Why had he never seen her father again? He was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

4

“Annie, where's the aspirin? God, my head hurts.”

“In the medicine cabinet.”

The sound was emitted with slight interference. The cassette stopped. He put on the next one. An undercover agent was enough to tap their phones and bug the Birkin residence. Through the eavesdropping, Alexander learned their opinion on a recurring theme: Alexia Ashford. Alexia infuriated William and unsettled Annette. William called Alexander a gorilla, an asshole and violent. He became convinced that the destruction of the G-virus was the result of an orchestrated conspiracy against him, but swore to Annette that he would retrieve the G-virus from the grave if the woman was still alive at Spencer mansion.

He found William's soliloquies pitiful, as well as his nonsense about Alexia. William Birkin was a pathetic, immature, imbecilic being. A freak who accused him of violence for protecting his daughter.

Alexander wanted it destroyed. He wanted him to be torn to pieces by a gang of Hunters. He wanted to wrap him in duct tape and use him as a punching bag. He wanted to cut him up and devour his corpse in the manner of his grandfather Thomas. He wanted to trepan him like his other grandfather Arthur taught him. He wanted to kill him. Kill him.

But Alexia defended him. Why did she defend him? Why did she want to work with him after he tried to kill her?

Alexander played the third cassette. What was so special about that piece of shit.

5

“Dr Birkin.”

Alexia called him from the lab's mainframe. William walked over to see what she wanted. Alexia pointed to a formula on the screen. The formula was an extension of the T-virus's effectiveness in infecting a living organism. William clenched his fists and began to sweat. While he was bemoaning his situation, Alexia had begun to produce results at full speed. The unusual last month had caused him to let his guard down and he would end up paying the consequences if he didn't get his act together. Alexia was literally overcoming him, he could see it with his own eyes. William was furious with himself and the world. He needed to break things.

“Would it be all right if we supplemented it with your study? Have you completed it?”

Wait, what? Alexia looked at William with her usual expressionlessness. William didn't know what to answer. Alexia was waiting for an answer.

“No... Yes,” said William, pressed by a hypothetical premature job loss.

“Can I have the report?”

William obeyed. Driven by inertia, he picked up his last report and handed it to Alexia with trembling lips. He kept his hands in the pocket of his dressing gown so that the pallor they had acquired from the contortion of his fingers clenched into a fist would not show. Alexia read the report carefully and then entered the data into the computer. The result was positive.

“The first phase of the project has been completed. Congratulations, Dr Birkin.”

Alexia handed the report back to him. William took it in distress - what was she playing at?

6

Tom took a seat on his section of the pavement. The cold was piercing his bones and hunger was pressing. The drug no longer worked as a method of self-deception. Late at night, he would sleep until dawn, when he would break camp to seek shelter around the Circular River, hidden from the sight of police and other undesirables. He wrapped himself in the thick blanket and closed his eyes.

The beeping of a horn woke him up. A black car, a BMW, had parked next to him. The co-driver had rolled down the window and saw a red-haired boy motioning for him to come over. Tom was wary of him and prepared to ignore him.

“Hey, are you looking for a dose?” said the red-haired man. “Come with us. We're the taxi service.”

He had not ordered a taxi.

“Get out,” he shouted at the top of his lungs, but the car didn't go.

The red-haired man did something in his seat that he couldn't make out and then threw a hundred-dollar note at him.

“Are you coming or not?”

“Out.”

“Don't you want to see Miranda?”

Miranda was the name of his youngest daughter, the one who had started college after he ended up on the street. Tom disrobed and walked to the car.

“What do you know about my daughter?” Tom threatened alertly.

“She's with us right now. We are your taxi. Why don't you get in?”

Tom spotted the driver of the vehicle. A blond man with half his face hidden by a scarf.

“Go,” said the red-haired man.

Tom got into the vehicle.

The BMW started.

7

Leviathan, the god of Flesh, blessed the ritual that his best aspiring cenobite orchestrated for his latest sacrifice, a beggar who was rescued from the street thanks to a tip-off from his beloved daughter. As in the previous seven rituals, Alfred devised the ceremonies, Auguste fabricated the means inspired by his career as an aerospace engineer, and Peter, a medical student, executed them. So it was decided with the first ritual, when the rapport between the three parties became so evident that none of the three objected or objected to the determination of the roles.

The triad was flowing.

Peter threw himself headlong into the open arms of his macabre reverie. He was doing what he had always wanted to do, and with no limitations. His professionalism was exemplary. His discretion was to be admired. His temperament unheard of. Perhaps Peter had achieved a truce with the voices, or it was because he had been taken in by Lucifer and this had overridden the voices; for there was clarity in his thinking and precision in his actions.

There was lighting.

Lucifer always congratulated him on his good work at the end of the ritual. Lucifer worshipped Leviathan, the god of the Flesh, but the worship of other divinities was a private matter for the Fallen Angel. Peter, as a mortal being, had no right to understand the designs of the Prince of Darkness. The important thing was that Peter had transcended grace into the divine embrace of Lucifer and his hosts, for Auguste was also a Fallen Angel and Lucifer's lieutenant. He wondered if he could become a Fallen Angel and join the Morning Star in his struggle to reclaim Heaven from the hands of God and his angelic minions; for that was the reason he tortured and tore apart, because that was Lucifer's command in preparation for Armageddon.

In this way, Peter did not kill innocent people, but sent mutilated soldiers to Hell to be recomposed as demons. A mission for which he had been chosen. The Chosen One of the Goat. The Ambassador of the Enemy. The Enforcer of the Liar. Peter played an essential role in the recovery of the lost paradise and so he proposed to Auguste to increase the number of sacrifices, but Lucifer's lieutenant refused. The sacrifices they were collecting were enough, for the time being.

“Don't be impatient, Pete. This is only the beginning,” said the lieutenant.

Lucifer's lieutenant manufactured, modified and adjusted the tools Peter used to accomplish his task. Indisputable was his knack for creating ingenuities from all sorts of everyday artefacts, as well as his passion for innovating each one of them. Infinite possibilities, infinite combinations, infinite afflictions. However, unlike Lucifer, Auguste did not torture for pleasure. He did it out of a mixture of curiosity and power. Curiosity to explore the limits of the human body and exploit its limitations. And power to feel what his ancestors felt, those who once sat on a throne and ruled over the will of millions of souls. He wanted to experience the subjugation, the cowardly resentment that bubbled up from their blood, the pleading shrieks they emitted like pigs in a slaughterhouse, the prayers they threw at the Vicar of God on Earth to spare their lives. He imagined himself as the Leviathan flying over the battlefield where his subjects had been slaughtered for him. The chants and harangues that echoed beyond the hills; and the crimson rain that washed over the earth, dissolving the flesh and bones of the fallen in battle, poor spirits forgotten and condemned to wander in the rubble they erected in honour of the Ruin.

Such was his will, and the satisfaction it procured far surpassed that provided by any of the foulest carnal pleasures. But the pleasure of the flesh was qualitatively different from the pleasure of Craving.

Longing gushed from the mire of the spirit. The Craving gushed from the heart like a torrent of primordial desire, like a drive for the possession of Desire in its clearest expression, the god of Flesh being its perfect spawn. The god of the Flesh was that which had nestled in Alfred's mind for as long as he could remember, and which had now matured. Men were born free and good until they were corrupted by society. He may have been born free and good, but God, chance or fate determined that his path should veer towards its own kind of corruption; a corruption that found its expression in the mutilation of flesh and the cries of the afflicted. God had led him to the god of the Flesh as a manifestation of ecstasy.

He learned this when he happened to see the film Hellraiser in 1986. Unfamiliar with popular cinema due to his confinement in a boarding school, Hellraiser appeared as a sign. For the first time, he felt represented by a character: Pinhead. However, he was never able to act as Pinhead, because when the film was released in cinemas he was in college, and in college he lacked impunity. So the lack of a chance to impersonate Pinhead turned into an obsessive fixation on horror films, literature and even video games. Michael Myers, Jason, Splatterhouse, Dracula, Swamp Thing... It didn't matter the format or the quality as long as the work provided him with violence and domination. The same violence and domination he infused into Jacob II; when he himself was the god of Flesh.

That was the point of the rituals in the factory, to revive oneself as the god of the Flesh. But these rituals did not have the same effect as the ceremonies in the attic. He needed to become a child again to experience anew the feelings he captured in illustrations, as he was never able to put them into words. Illustrations that ended up in the hands of shrinks, who mumbled about him as an evildoer, a lunatic and antisocial.

With the second Hellraiser film, his mental universe expanded to Leviathan, which he adopted as the name, image and symbol of the Craving. Leviathan, god of the Flesh, was the Craving and Alfred his best soldier. Just as he served God in the Vatican, he set out to serve Leviathan with the collaboration of Auguste and Peter. Or were God and Leviathan the same thing? The Leviathan he projected in his head had little to do with the Leviathan of Hellraiser. His Leviathan was constituted as a magnanimous and all-powerful being, inhabitant of Heaven, Earth and Hell, existing in collusion with Alfred. Leviathan understood his thoughts and feelings, just as Alfred knew how to act to satisfy Leviathan.

After the first four rituals, Alfred learned a new way to correspond to Leviathan. Auguste smoked marijuana during the rituals. Alfred went for acid. First he bought a dose from a dealer at the university. The DMT sent him into a hallucinatory state of anguish from which he vomited a couple of times in the bathroom and cried inconsolably in Auguste's arms. She had seen Hell. Then he acquired a dose of LSD. The LSD plunged him into a heavy stupor from which he awoke when Peter accidentally hit him on the head with the hand of one of the sacrifices. He experienced a state of dissociation in which he assumed the identity of the shadow he himself was casting on the floor. LSD suited him better than DMT, the former opened fewer doors in his mind, so it became his drug of choice for rituals. But, for that last ritual, Alfred discovered that he had no pills left.

“I have no material left,” said Alfred to Auguste.

“So what? Are you going to go for more?”

“Yes, I'll be right back.”

“Are you sober? Don't you want me to come with you?”

“Of course I am. I'll go alone.”

“Be careful.”

8

Alfred accelerated the BMW above the speed limit on the last stretch to Raccoon City University. He felt terribly agitated even though he hadn't consumed anything in hours. If it wasn't the withdrawal, then why was it: the Craving, perhaps.

He ran a red light.

Sirens. A police car? He thought about running away, but the police car was too close. He pulled over to the side of the road. One distraction and he was off. Two men got out of the police car.

One of them stood at his window and shone a torch at him.

“Identification, please.”

The second one stood in front of him, probably inspecting the vehicle's number plate. Alfred rolled down the window and presented him with his passport and driving licence.

“Hey, Marvin, come take a look at this.”

The second policeman responded to his partner's call. Alfred controlled the impulse to start up and drive off.

“Alfred Robert Willem Edward Malcolm Ashford-Campbell-Douglas-Stuart. Fuck, you've got more surnames than me ex-girlfriends.”

“Alfred Robert Willem Edward Malcolm. Is it possible to fit so many names in one passport?”

“United Kingdom of the Great Britain. You know they don't drive in America like they do in England, right?”

“Hey, Kevin, relax. Why were you driving so fast? Do you know that at night you are more likely to have an accident and hit a pedestrian?”

Alfred squeezed the steering wheel with all his might.

“I'm in a hurry,” he said, gritting his teeth.

“Yeah, and I'm in a hurry too,” Kevin replied. “There's a Spurs game tonight that I'm going to miss if I don't hurry up chasing youngsters like you. Is this the car daddy bought you?”

“Cunt.” Alfred insulted the policeman named Kevin.

“Get out of the car immediately!”

Alfred went to turn the key in the ignition, but Kevin grabbed him by the collar of his shirt with such force and speed that his escape attempt was instantly thwarted. Marvin pulled him until he ended up lying on the tarmac.

“Get up and put your hands on the vehicle, and where I can see them.”

Kevin frisked him while Marvin shone the torch in his face.

“Have you used drugs?”

“No.” Alfred clenched his fists. He was going to explode.

“Alcohol?”

“No.”

Kevin took a wad of a thousand dollars out of his pocket and his wallet. The wallet contained only cards.

Kevin whistled.

“Platinum cards. Your daddy must have a lot of money. Enough to pay your fines.”

Alfred headbutted Kevin backwards. Kevin responded with a scream and Marvin with surprise. Alfred took advantage of the confusion to get into the car, but Marvin slammed the door on him and Kevin grabbed him from behind. Alfred struggled, but Marvin and Kevin had the upper hand.

“Fucking asshole! The son of a bitch almost broke my nose!”

Marvin handcuffed him and put him in the police car.

“Kevin, call the impound. Let them take the damn car away.”

9

Kevin and Marvin dragged Alfred into the police station.

“What's up, Edward? We've got a punk who thinks we're in American Graffiti.” Kevin waved to the receptionist.

Alfred kicked the desk, so Marvin, Kevin and Edward rushed over to restrain him.

“Leave me alone! Get out of the way! Get out! Get out!” Alfred shouted as if he was in the middle of a psychotic attack.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Marvin held Alfred's arms tightly. “Are you sure you didn't take drugs?!”

“We put him in the interrogation room and test him,” suggested Edward.

“Come on!” Kevin exhorted.

Kevin and Marvin lifted Alfred off the ground. Alfred had stopped complaining, but was still resisting.

10

Alfred was handcuffed to the table in an interrogation room.

“Positive for cocaine and marijuana, with traces of LSD and DMT.”

“What's his name?”

Marvin passed him the passport. Irons blanched.

“Chief Irons? Any problems?”

“No, no problem. I'm going to make a call. Don't take him out of the interrogation room until I tell you.”

“Shouldn't we take him to the cell?”

“No! No. Not yet. I have to make an urgent call. I'll be right back.”

11

“Mr Ashford, I am sorry to disturb you, but there is an urgent problem with your son Alfred.”

“What happened, Mr. Irons?”

“You see, a couple of my officers stopped him a few hours ago for speeding. But Alfred resisted and my officers, following protocol, pulled him over. Right now he's in an interrogation room with a positive drug test for cocaine and marijuana.”

“My son has committed no crime, Mr. Irons.”

“No, of course not, Mr Ashford. I was calling you to let you know the situation and if you could come for your son.”

“Release my son immediately. I am going to get him.”

12

Brian Irons ordered Marvin and Kevin to continue the beat. Alexander Ashford arrived at the police station with his bodyguard shortly after the call.

“Mr. Ashford, come into my office. Your son Alfred is waiting for you there.”

Irons led Alexander and his bodyguard around the police station. In the office, Alfred was sitting with his back to the door and his head lowered.

“Mr Irons, you can leave us alone.”

Irons nodded and left. The bodyguard stood in the hallway watching the door. Alexander sat in the spare chair next to his son. Alfred folded his arms and buried his head in his chest.

“Irons told me why you were arrested. Why did you react like that?” said Alexander in Dutch.

Alfred increased the closeness of his embrace.

“Alfred.” Alexander approached him. “Where were you going? What were you going to do?”

“To university,” said Alfred.

“To what?”

“To... To buy LSD.”

“Do you consume alone or in company?”

Alfred bit his lip.

“Accompanied. With Ogie.”

Alexander scratched his beard.

“Uhm. And where do you consume?”

Alfred covered his face with his hands.

“In a factory... abandoned...”

“Alfred, do you need to tell me something?”

Alfred put his hands behind his head and began to hammer his right leg.

“Alfred, trust me. When I was your age, I was on acid and worse. I know how it feels. Do you have an addiction problem?”

“No... It's not addiction.”

“So?”

Alfred raised his head.

“You remember what I told you in therapy about what I was doing in the attic of Jacob II.”

“Yes.”

“It is back.”

Alexander instantly understood what he meant and stroked his head.

“What did it tell you to do?”

“We kidnapped eight vagrants. We tortured them in the factory. Ogie accompanies me. There is a third... Peter... He is my executioner. I am the master of ceremonies.”

Alexander sighed.

“Are they dead?”

“We incinerate the corpses and dissolve the ashes.”

“Do you only kill vagrants?”

“Yes. Dad.”

“Uhm?”

“Great-grandfather Thomas was right. You can't control it. I have seen Hell.”

“What is Hell like?”

“It's our house.”

“It's a hallucination. I've had strange dreams too.”

“Dad, should I become a priest?”

Alexander stroked his son's hands.

“Your destiny is to be by my side. God does not want us to be separated, just as I was never separated from my father. We were born to protect and continue our lineage and heritage. To become a priest would take you away from the family, my love and my protection. Besides, great-grandfather Thomas failed in his vocation for the ministry. Do not repeat his mistake.”

Alfred relaxed.

“Feed the Craving until it subsides, Alfred. I will not allow you to overreach. Not in a foreign country.”

“Can we pray for a moment?”

Alexander and Alfred knelt on the carpet in Chief Irons' office and recited the Lord's Prayer in unison:

“Ar n-Athair a tha air nèamh, Gu naomhaichear d'ainm. Thigeadh do rìoghachd. Dèanar do thoil air an talamh, mar a nìthear air nèamh. Tabhair dhuinn an-diugh ar n-aran làitheil. Agus maith dhuinn ar fiachan, amhail a mhaitheas sinne dar luchd-fiach. Agus na leig ann am buaireadh sinn; ach saor sinn o olc: oir is leatsa an rìoghachd, agus an cumhachd, agus a' glòir, gu sìorraidh. Amen.”[2]

13

“Annie.” William whispered in Annette's ear.

“What's going on...”

“Alexia.”

Annette sighed.

“Will, please, sleep.”

“She is getting closer to me. She wants to possess me.”

“Will, darling, rest.”

“She spoke to me this morning.”

Annette settled back on the pillow.

“She spoke to me about melancholy. And I answered her. We talked to each other and she was not hostile. She wants to use me.”

“What would I use you for?”

“I don't know.”

“Sleep, Will.”

14

Alfred and Alexia sat on the far left of the back row of the classroom. That had been their favourite seat since they both first attended the same educational institution when Alfred started university at the age of sixteen and Alexia decided to pursue her second doctorate. Alfred amused himself by watching the students and Alexia wrote poetry in her notebook. It was the first time they had seen each other after the previous day's detention. Alfred wanted to tell her what had happened, but he felt physically and mentally exhausted. His father recommended that he visit the university to consolidate his alibi, and Alexia willingly accompanied him.

He didn't know where to start. Too many words and none precise enough.

“Alexia, can you hand me a piece of paper and a pen?”

Alexia tore a sheet of paper from her notebook and held out a blue ink pen. Alfred recreated the scene in his imagination before putting it down on the page. However, he stopped at the first few strokes because he could think of a better way to narrate what had happened. He divided the sheet into panels and set about sketching a comic.

The professor ended the class by requesting a rehearsal for the next day. Alfred and Alexia, who were neither students, left the classroom to go to the library, where they reserved a study room. Alexia bought a bottle of water and Alfred a packet of cigarettes. In the study room, Alfred gave his sister the sheet with the comic on it and sat down by the window, which he half-opened to smoke. A tongue of cold spring air drifted into the room. Alexia checked the panels several times.

“Are you going back to the factory?” Alexia put the sheet away.

“No... Not at the moment. I don't know. Should I go back to Scotland?”

Alexia folded her arms and stretched her legs out on the seat, staring at the sheet.

“What's the difference?” said Alexia.

“In Scotland I feel better... I'm in a place I like.”

“What's the difference?” Alexia reiterated.

Alfred threw his cigarette out of the window and lit another with visible discomfort.

“I don't know... Which one do you think it is?”

“Would you have killed the Jacob II boys?”

Alfred was always open with Alexia, she was his confidant.

“Yes, I would have killed them.”

“What is the difference?”

“That I had absolute impunity there and that there were no fucking cunt policemen jumping on my neck. They hurt me, those sons of bitches, and all because of an acceleration. Motherfuckers. I wish I had them in front of me to...”

“What's the difference, then?”

“Our father is supposed to bribe Irons for it... I'm not going to jail... Jail is for riffraff. I haven't done anything wrong. In fact, I've done the council a favour. I've taken out their rubbish without asking for anything in return.”

“There is a death penalty here.”

Alfred blanched.

“What do you mean? We are above that.”

Alfred threw the second cigarette out of the window and sat down opposite Alexia.

“It doesn't matter how high the risk is, does it, Alfred? There will be no one to convince you otherwise,” whispered Alexia.

Alfred ducked his head.

“The cycle repeats itself over and over again. It is inevitable. I can't control it. It is part of me.”

“Do you give up?”

“I don't... I don't want to. But neither therapy, medication nor a self-help book is going to solve it. I'm just walking along and suddenly I run into Peter and Ogie gets involved. I'm not a monster. I punished those kids for survival. It was wrong for me to torture those kids with the prefects, but it wasn't wrong for the teachers to beat and humiliate me? Those bums were going to die anyway. If not us, others would have killed them or set them on fire, and I'm the monster?”

“I think you're trying too hard to deceive yourself. You're going back to that factory and you're going to put yourself at risk again because you still haven't got over father abandoning you at boarding school. You're not over the fact that he never loved you until we ran away from home.”

Alexia's words stuck like needles in Alfred's heart. They ran away from home in the summer of '83, after the incident at the Antarctic base. Alfred, unaware of what had happened, returned to a broken home. Elizabeth blamed Alexander and Alexander blamed everyone. Alexia had just returned from the asylum for stabbing her psychologist. Alfred didn't understand what was going on, but he did understand that Alexia was catatonic and that Alexander looked at him with hatred whenever they passed each other. Elizabeth tried to comfort him, but her hugs were insufficient. In reality, Elizabeth's goal had always been to keep the family she had built with her husband afloat. Losing her son and grandchildren meant losing her husband's memory and her own. That's why Elizabeth's hugs seemed so fake to her.

So, fed up with the hatred and falsehood, he took his twin sister by the hand and they slipped out of the mansion and headed for nowhere. For two full days, they wandered through the Cheviot Hills towards the Scottish border. Hikers caught them as they were about to cross a grove of trees. They were disoriented, malnourished and exhausted. A police patrol picked them up and took them to the nearest hospital. Later that afternoon, Alexander and Elizabeth showed up at the hospital. Alfred heard Alexander shouting in the corridor. He had never heard him shout like that before. Elizabeth answered him in kind, as if they were engaged in a fight. They were just talking about him. Alexander said it was Alfred's fault and that he had endangered his sister. Elizabeth blamed Alexander for his lack of attention to the boy; for ignoring him in such a critical situation. Alexander insisted that it was Alfred's fault. It was always Alfred's fault.

Alexander stepped into the room. He had clenched his fists and his eyes radiated hatred. Alfred was transported back to his first year at Jacob II, when one of the teachers whipped him with a cane. The teacher had beaten him for his bad behaviour, but he was a teacher. Alexander was his father, who was supposed to love and protect him. Finally, Alexander hugged him warmly. He never knew why, but he wondered what would have happened if those fists had never opened to hug him. Alexander could have killed him with one blow. So he interpreted it as his father's first sincere act of love for him. However, it was during the years that followed, when he and Alexander began therapy to improve their relationship, that he felt the emotional weight of abandonment, amplified by his experience at boarding school. It was at that moment that the god of the Flesh emerged.

“Am I going back to the factory?”

“Yes.”

Alfred put his hand on the table and Alexia put hers on top of it. Alfred squeezed hard.

15

“Sasha!”

Alexander Ashford and Robert Graham embraced each other warmly.

“We have so much to talk about!”

Robert bought him a drink and showed him his new office. He had moved into a modern Beverly Hills mansion after the birth of his daughter Ashley.

“How is Ashley?”

“Good. School has just started. We're a bit scared,” he joked.

“And how is your political career?”

“Better than ever! My election as senator from California is assured. From there to the vice-presidency and then to the presidency it's a step.”

“You know you can count on my support.”

“And I thank you from the bottom of my heart, Sasha. My family is indebted to yours for the invaluable support your father gave mine. You see, my father was a newspaper salesman who went to college because Edward gave him a personal scholarship and from there to governor of California. Honestly, there are coincidences in this world that are supernatural.”

“My father was a good man. Unlike others, he never shied away from looking for diamonds in the mud.”

“You flatter me, even if your metaphor is a little offensive.” Robert chipped a bottle of Californian wine. “Although... We're here for a different reason today, aren't we?”

“I have accepted Derek C. Simmons as my personal secretary and adviser. He starts working with me at Umbrella next week. I owe it to his father.”

“Simmons' father is still alive? I thought he had passed away.”

“He is on the verge, but continues as chief of The Family.”

“What we agreed about donations is still in force?”

“100,000 for the Democratic Party and $20,000 for the Republican Party.”

“I've started to mobilise my contacts to get the new pharmaceutical law passed. Wouldn't you advise me to invest in Umbrella shares? You and Spencer are doing a spectacular job, how do you manage it?”

“We only agree on the fundamentals. Now is a good time to invest. Stocks are going to stay high because of the humanitarian crises caused by the invasion of Kuwait.”

“Cool. So tell me, is there going to be a call?”

“Yes, Jacob's Circle has been called to a meeting with The Family at Tall Oaks. You will attend as a guest because of your affiliation with Freemasonry.”

“Do you know the date?”

“Invitations will be sent out from spring onwards.”

“Great. Do you still do boxing?”

“I never stopped practising it.”

“Shall we try?”

“I'll have you know that I haven't lost the muscle either.”

“Oh, you're still a macho man?”

“More or less.”

16

Amelia received the last couple of guests. She had arranged a small party in a rented house with the children of the parents with whom the Campbells were doing business in Arklay County. In all, there were no more than seven of them, and all between the ages of eighteen and thirty.

“Welcome. Come into the main hall.” Amelia led the last two guests into the house for their meeting with the rest of the group. Counting the two hostesses, there were three men and six women. Amelia excused the absence of the two older brothers, Alfred and Auguste, and announced that her own partner, Daniel, could not make it from Switzerland.

Amelia loved to host parties because she enjoyed being surrounded by people more ordinary than her own family members, without extravagance, craziness or bad blood. As soon as she introduced the last two guests, Amelia joined the group, almost completely oblivious to the ghostly presence of Alexia, who, as usual, had retreated to a corner to isolate herself in disguise. Amelia wouldn't bother to integrate her cousin, that was her problem, and she didn't want to break the pleasant harmony that had developed. She didn't want Alexia to spoil the good feeling.

“I told Greg not to bet on the winning horse, as if it were reverse psychology, and then the jerk goes and does it. He lost in the end!”

The group burst out laughing. Alexia watched them in the distance like gorillas in the mist. She was bored. Amelia saw her first get up from the couch and go to the bathroom. John followed behind her.

“Is there a problem, darling? I'm sorry to see such a beautiful woman marginalised in a corner.” John blocked Alexia's path as she went to open the bathroom door.

“What do you want?” Alexia gripped the knob with an exaggeratedly erect back and a hardened voice.

“I want you.”

Alexia opened the door, but John grabbed her hand. Immediately, Alexia pulled her hand away forcefully, but did not go into the bathroom. John's eyes radiated lasciviousness.

“Wait here. I'll let you know,” said Alexia and locked herself in the bathroom.

Alexia plugged the sink drain and turned on the tap with lukewarm water. She rummaged through the drawers for a tool she could use as a screwdriver and carefully unhooked the lamp from the wall, taking care not to make any noise.

“May I come in?” asked John on the other side of the door.

“Wait. Not yet.”

She pulled out the wires and extend them into the stagnant water in the sink. She dipped the copper and covered the wires with a large towel. She turned off the tap.

“Come in.”

John went into the bathroom.

“And that?” He pointed to the lamp.

“It's being repaired. Would you mind helping me? The drain plug got stuck while I was getting it fixed.”

John smiled smugly at Alexia and stood in front of the sink. He took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves.

“Women.” He dipped both hands in the water.

Darkness.

“What's wrong? Has the power gone out?”

The guests panicked. Amelia stood up and bumped into one of the guests on her way to the light switch. She pressed the switch, but the light did not return.

“Where are you?” The guests shouted to find each other.

“Who are we in the room?” Amelia asked.

The guests raised their voices, except for two. Alexia and John. Where the hell was Alexia? Anxiety gripped Amelia. Where the fuck was her cousin.

“I'm going to look for them. Stay here.”

Amelia went out into the hall.

“Alexia?! John?!”

A door opened. Someone grabbed his hand.

“Alma. I'm going to re-establish the electrical connection. Say goodbye to the guests. Then go to the bathroom.”

“What...”

“I've killed John.”

Amelia was petrified and tears welled up in her eyes. Why couldn't they just be a normal fucking family. Alexia slipped into the bottom of the stairwell and managed to restore the power from the panel. The power came on. Alexia ran back to the bathroom and closed the door. Amelia reappeared in the living room crying.

“My grandfather is dead. Alexia told me before the lights went out.”

The guests expressed their condolences to Amelia and left with a promise to organise a second party. One of the guests asked for John and Amelia said she was chatting with Alexia, who would be leaving later. The guest winked at Amelia and drove off in his own car. Amelia closed the door behind her. Her eye make-up had smudged, smearing her cheeks.

A lump fell to the floor. Alexia appeared down the corridor dragging John's corpse.

“Cardiac arrest,” he informed Amelia. “I'm going to cremate the body and set fire to the house to remove the evidence.”

Amelia looked at John's corpse. His tongue was hanging out and his eyes were blank. Alexia had killed him.

Amelia went to the kitchen and sat on a stool. Alexia mixed several cleaning products in a bucket, which she dumped on John. She lit a match. Amelia covered her eyes with her hands.

The fire devoured the wood like a plague of termites. Alexia pulled and dragged it out of the house. Amelia went down to the grass, while Alexia fanned the flames with solvent and bleach. Amelia nearly fainted from the smell. Alexia went down the porch steps and pulled Amelia to the car. They sat in the vehicle and Alexia started up. The burning house was lost on the horizon.

Alexia drove down a road that Amelia was unfamiliar with. At the end of the path, there was a metal gate and ahead was what looked like an abandoned factory. Alexia opened the gate with a wireless remote and entered the compound. She walked to one of the loading and unloading shutters. She pressed a button and the shutter rose. Alexia drove the car onto the platform. She dismounted and walked to a control panel. The platform disengaged and lowered.

Alexia got into the car. The platform came down through the hole drilled in the ground, and Umbrella? A discreet Umbrella logo attached to a steel hatch.

“The underground laboratory. We will stay here until the situation is sorted out.”

Amelia collapsed.

Notes:

[1] Amelia Campbell penname. [2] Scottish Gaelic version.

[fragmcntedsouls]

If Alexander hated the twins’ father, then they had that in common at least. His was a hatred that festered beneath the surface, threatening to explode at any given moment. “I guess the same could be said for a lot of cities.” Asher nodded, momentarily silenced by the memories that threatened to surge; but he fought to suppress them. The others talk of theories caused for a stark chill to run through his frame, fearing for a second that the gig was up. “Theories?” his voice was steady as he repeated Alexander before inhaling a subtle breath “I trained with them. They were always more interested in collecting trophies than they were about making any real change for the cause." He shrugged. "They lacked focus. You know how dangerous that can be out in the field."

Alexander had met the twins father and in all honesty, he hated the man. But it took a lot of finessing to get to the position he was in now which meant having to put up with men like that. "It is a nice place. Very musically inclined. It can be better though." Hearing Asher's question he frowned. "No, not yet. It's hard to get any information from the bodies. We'll figure it out though." He sighed some. "There are theories though. Got any you want to throw in the mix?"

[babyphatsisters]

Ming lee simmons behind the scenes.

[medievalandfantasymelee]

THE HOT MEDIEVAL & FANTASY MEN MELEE

FIRST ROUND: 27th Tilt

Cesare Borgia, The Borgias (2011-2013) VS. Prince Hamlet, Hamlet (1948)

Propaganda

Cesare Borgia, The Borgias (2011-2013) Portrayed by: Francois Arnaud Defeated Opponents: - Ancelyn ap Gwalchmai [Marcus Gilbert], Doctor Who: “Battlefield” (1989)

“How do I even begin to explain Cesare Borgia? - Cesare Borgia is flawless. - He has one duchy and two cardinalates. - I hear his hair is insured for 10,000 ducates. - I hear he does Church speeches… in Spain. - His favorite painter is Pinturicchio - One time, he met Caterina Sforza in Forlì. And she told him he was pretty. - One time, he threatened to kill me… it was awesome! This man.... this man, this man. He is the complete package: a perfect case of competent kink, a ruthless bastard (ie sexy) AND he's so irredeemably fucked up you also get the "I could fix him" complex. This is the man who could had it all and yet he wasn't enough (again, sexy).

Prince Hamlet, Hamlet (1948) Portrayed by: Laurence Olivier Defeated Opponents: - Björn Ironside [Alexander Ludwig], Vikings (2013)

“1) That slutty thing he does with his leg in the character-intro shot. I see those calf muscles in those customary suits of solemn black. Unf. 2) The EYES. Haunted. Enormous. Intense. 3) The way his hand hovers millimeters above Jean Simmons' hair in the "Get thee to a nunnery!" scene. Not over it, never over it. 4) Vulnerability is hot, especially when it's transgressive/unexpected, and this Hamlet has that in spades. 5) "Lady, may I lie in your lap?" The sincerity of desire under the veneer of everything else just undoes me.”

Additional Propaganda Under the Cut

Additional Propaganda

For Cesare Borgia:

(Excerpted from above propaganda) "He's serving cunt at ALL times. In Cardinal clothes? Serving cunt. In "civil" clothes? Serving cunt. In armor? Serving cunt. He had one of the most competent thinkers and do I say philosopher of his time (Machiavelli) *fawning* over him. Was he a tyrant? Possibly, but it's one we LOVE. The man [Machiavelli] literally BASED A BOOK on him.... (Cont. under the cut)

"He has a personal assassin of ...unmatched abilities and YET he's even better than the man himself!!! He tries to kill his own would be killer in like the pilot episode and the man was ready to swear absolute fealty to him. As would I, to be honest. As would anyone and everyone. SO much cunt is Cesare Borgia serving at all times!!!

"We love him and loathe him and love to loathe him. His father loves and hates him bc they're too similar. His brother wishes he were him (he's not) His sister doesn't see anyone else. Lucrezia... yes: the incest is fucked up. Also that's why we love it- it's so unhinged, as anything Borgia should be!!! Their relationship... perfect. She's the only one that can possibly understand him, she's the only one he truly loves. She loves him and always has - only a Borgia can truly love a Borgia amirite?

This is a man who is clearly Not Okay and you want so much for him to Be Okay but at the same time not, because it's so much more entertaining when he's not and also we love a hopeless case. I rest my case only bc I lose any trace of coherence when talking about him so I dont know what more to add.”

For Hamlet:

[lcthalwcapon]

"oh. okay." she commented, letting a breathy laugh pass her lips. those on the other side of this were expected to not be amicable to the gala but it was not hard to see that alexander wasn't delighted to be here as well. "you know, sulking in the corner was discouraged. we're supposed to be, at the very least, conversing with those that were invited."

It hadn't even been a full hour and Alexander was already annoyed. He wanted nothing then to go back to his hotel room and hide but unfortunately her was stuck here. He had just walked away from the bar with his second drink hoping for a bit of peace, instead Aliyah walked over to him. "Of course. Who doesn't love dressing up and being in a room full of people."

[wouldadepressedpersonmakethis]

HARRY and NICOLE ACKERMAN lived together after NICOLE'S divorce, but never married

COLIN ADAMS and ANNIE SIMMONS married and divorced; COLIN remarried CARRIE FINCHER

SETH CONNORS married REBECCA THOMPSON

TOM DARCY married JANE ADAMS

WARD EASTWOOD married ELAINE BURROWS

SAM IRWIN married RILEY SHARPE

KARA LARSSON as a single mom in a mama mia!situation -- does not know who the father of her kid is! #whoops

NICK MCLAIN married LIZ KANE

IAN PORTER was engaged to LIZ KANE. They broke it off and he never married.

LEX PORTER married and divorced NICOLE ACKERMAN. For a long time they were estranged and NICOLE half lived with HARRY. Their divorce wasn’t finalized until the death of LEX’s father, two years ago.

AIDAN QUINN married KAREN REID

JAMES SHAW married NATALIE CONNORS

WILL SELZNICK married VALERIE CONNORS

OWEN SELZNICK and CASSIE LLOYD had a one night stand and Cassie got pregnant as a result. Owen didn't believe that he was good enough for Cassie and ghosted her. Cassie found out she was pregnant and kept the child, but never told Owen that he was the father.

DREW WEISMAN married GINNY MONROE

current character list.

--- ACKERMAN (Timothee Chalamet) - son of Harry and Nicole

LILY ADAMS (Billie Lourd) - daughter of Colin and Annie

—— ADAMS (Sophie Turner) daughter of Colin and Carrie

--- ADAMS (KJ Apa) - son of Colin and carrie

--- ADAMS (Emily Carey) - daughter of Colin and Carrie

---- CONNORS (Suki Waterhouse) - daughter of Seth and Becca

---- CONNORS (Tom Holland) - son of Seth and Becca

---- DARCY (MILO VENTIMIGLIA) - Son of Tom and Jane

--- DARCY (NATALIA DYER) - daughter of Tom and Jane

--- EASTWOOD (Joe Keery) - son of Ward and Elaine

--- IRWIN (Jacob Elodi) - son of Sam and Riley

--- IRWIN (Mary Mouser) - daughter of Sam and Riley

--- LARRSON ( Sam Claflin) - son of Kara and ??

AARON LLOYD (Tanner Buchannon) - son of Owen and Cassie

--- MCCLAIN (Bill Skarsgard) - son of Nick and Liz

--- MCCLAIN (Willa Holland) - daughter of Nick and Liz

EDMUND ALEXANDER PORTER VI (Douglas Booth) - son of Lex and Nicole

ANNE PORTER (Phoebe Dynevor) - daughter of Lex and Nicole

SARAH PORTER (Hannah Dodd) - daughter of Lex and Nicole

SEBASTIAN "SEB" PORTER (Harry Styles) - son of Lex and Nicole

CHARLES "CHARLIE" SELZNICK (Jeremy Irvine) son of Will and Valerie (in a secret relationship with Hannah Dodd?)

— QUINN (Ansel Elgort) son of Aidan and Karen

—— QUINN (Taissa Farmiga) daughter of Aidan and Karen

--- SELZNICK (Maya Hawke) - daughter of Will and Valerie

--- SELZNICK (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) - son of Will and Valerie

---- SHAW (Liam Hemsworth) - son of James and Natalie

---- SHAW (Freya Mavor) - daughter of James and Natalie

--- WEISMAN (Florence Pugh) - daughter of Drew and Ginny

--- WEISMAN (Peyton List) - daughter of Drew and Ginny