#and Amanda he neglects

[sistemshock]

Literally kills me that Hoffman, Amanda and Lawrence straight up have the oldest/middle/youngest child dynamic.

[msfbgraves]

It's so wild to me on a CK rewatch that the writers gave Daniel a son with insane psychological insight who knew:

-His sister was a wanted child and he was an accident;

-His parents demonstrably favoured his sister over him (he's not in the family photos beside their bed for chrissake)

-His parents don't care he knows as he never gets a reaction when he points this out to their face, not even one of reassurance (seriously the heart next to his baby photos in the scrapbook says "gotta love me" - a duty then, not a joy)

-Knew his father has a violent streak he hides even from himself;

-Knew his attention is entirely conditional: you either do what he likes (eating or karate), or he'll ignore you completely unless you act out (case in point: he replaced him with some random kid he moved into the house who did do karate)

-Had "friends" whose love was also entirely conditional, but was so terrified of being alone he was willing to be a bully rather than friendless

-Resented all of this so much he has stopped trying to work for anything, what's the point

-"Anthony you make everything worse"

-Had both an eating disorder and a screen addiction about this at like 12 ("Anthony, stop drinking the butter!")

And then CK went: "Whatever, we only created this kid to show Daniel is a loser who can't parent a Real Man" and promptly forgot about him for the rest of the show

Anthony LaRusso may not be an entirely fun person, but neither is Tory but at least we as the audience get to comiserate with her

The only one we can see give Anthony any positive attention before S5 is his grandma

I bet you Lucille LaRusso is the tech savviest grandma in her whole neighbourhood because she will have shown an interest in him and now she knows how to hack the smartfridges of people she hates

Will someone please make some actual time for this boy....! Even if Daniel was consumed with mad worry and grief over Miyagi right when Anthony was born we've seen Amanda spend more time with Tory than with him and that's his mother!

Yes, he's just some gremlin but under these circumstances, who wouldn't be??

[shittysawtraps]

post your saw nightmare blunt rotations. mine is SAMF jeff denlon, officer boz, and william schenk.

[shrinkthisviolet]

Daniel and Amanda's conflict in season 2 over Daniel being so caught up in running Miyagi-Do that he is neglecting the dealership feels like an avoidable conflict. As in, they could've sat down and worked out a schedule to allow Daniel to do both things.

Yeah I’ve always felt that too. But that required Daniel to recognize it as an issue, which he didn’t until Amanda pointed it out to him.

[hydrus101]

It’s so fascinating to me about how much of Malevolent centers around bad or misguided fathers.

We spend ample amounts of time with Arthur’s grief and his faults, his fear of fatherhood, his failings of Faroe and the ensuing spiral afterwards. We hear of Bella’s strict upbringing, of Daniel’s controlling nature, the desire to shape his daughter into what he expected her to be, and even admitting to Arthur’s face that he intended to mold him as well, into what he thought his daughter’s husband should be. We learn of Larson’s betrayals, the sacrifices of his children: the monsters he made of those he should’ve loved, all in the pursuit of power and legacy. There’s an argument to be made even, of fragments and reflections and daughter and sons, that the King - that initial version of him now dead in all respects - was a sort of father, with John and Yellow as his residuals, his sons, his heirs, in a way. Finding their own identities now, free from the shadow of a predecessor, free to chose their own destinies, wether that is to separate themselves entirely, to scream defiantly of humanity and hope and self, or to try and reshape the visage of that dead malevolent god in desperate pursuit of love that wasn’t given, driven by a hate that was shared. What other analogy so seamlessly fits with the relationship between Arthur and Yellow than that of a neglectful father? The one who was supposed to be patient, be caring, be kind, the one who was supposed to teach this new being, this new child, about what life could be like? What love and kindness it could hold? But Arthur was too unsteady then. Too unstable to give Yellow the upbringing that he deserved. His nature was shared with John, and we’ve seen the depths of love he’s embraced. Yellow was simply nurtured wrong, encouraged down that spiral by a foster father who embraced and even venerated his rage. And similarly, in the basement in New York, we are reminded of nature and nurture, of animals and babes. Briefly, quick as a glance, we learn of the Butcher’s father, both a seething livewire and a subtle undercurrent in his motivations, manifested, perhaps, in his tumultuous relationship with failure, his self inflicted violence. Roland and Amanda receive less of the spotlight, but the foundations of everything are built upon their relationship. And now, with the Unclean, we know more of Arthur’s own father—who’s fate is known and the same as his mother’s—and his envy towards his friend, his childish jealousy and vindictive actions, of which he now condemns, having learned better, having known better. Every aspect of the narrative is seeped in fatherhood, in parenting, in children. Malam says as much by the fire: “They are our betters, our futures, our learned mistakes.” Malevolent is, at its core, about parents and children and hope.

And now, Arthur and John are on the run from a mother, on a mission given to them by a father, who’s daughter is largely a mystery, or perhaps, more familiar than we might think.

[write-or-run]

Danny Phantom in YJ but its ALL of team phantom

so this idea assumes DP is set in the DC verse and Danny's identity is revealed to the town during Reign Storm. His parents accept him like in the series finale, and the town, grateful for being saved from Pariah Dark, has an unspoken rule not to sell out Danny's secret identity to outsiders (mainly the GIW).

All the Amity Park vigilantes are working together at this point, but the public dosent really know it. Now that they're no longer hunting their son's alter ego the Fenton parents continue doing their thing, but now they make gear specifically for their ghost son to use without it backfiring on him (mostly). Jazz gets some of the ghosts to do interviews and eventually branches out into ghost psychology, something that her parents had neglected to study before now.

Danny, Sam, and Tucker continue ghost wrangling, but the supervision of the Fentons proves to be surprisingly helpful and the trio finds that they have more time to pursue other things (space, eco-witchcraft, and tech respectively). Tucker and Sam's parents are on the fence about their friendship with Danny. Angela and Maurice Foley are talked down from their worries after Tucker points out that the dangerous ghost stuff will happen regardless, so he might as well have the local vigilante on speed dial. Jeremy and Pamela Manson are harder to convince. They're used to having to pick their battles when it comes to Sam's goth, ultra recyclo vegetarian lifestyle, but on this they're not budging. They try to restrict Sam's contact with her friends and even go so far as to get a restraining order. Sam is increasingly fed up with their controlling behavior and, inspired by the Infi-Map, Sam breaks into the ghost zone in search of an artifact that would give her power so that she would never be trapped. Obviously Danny goes in after her, but then Sam's parents storm the Fenton house to take back their daughter and accidentally fall into the ghost portal, so Tucker takes the Specter Speeder and goes in after them. By the time the Fenton Parents return home everyone is back and the Manson's have given in to Sam's determination.

Valerie Gray initially continues to operate on her own. She maintains a frenemy status with Team Phantom due to her mixed feelings on Danny's civilian and ghostly personas, between that and the revelation of Vlad's villainous career Valerie's worldview is really shaken. She throws herself into vigilantism and hers dad gets really concerned when Valerie starts running herself ragged. In a last ditch effort to make her stop Damon Grey goes to the towns ghost hunting experts and begs them for an intervention. The Fenton parents agree and the three of them sit down with her for a talk about safe ghost hunting practices. This fails to stop her, but the Fentons refuse to give up on the 'Junior Ghost Hunter' and start inviting themselves on her patrols .Things come to a head when Dark Danny travels back in time to ensure his creation. Seeing how desperate Danny is to avoid becoming evil, and fighting alongside the Fentons convinces Valerie that its okay to count on others and slow down and take care of herself. (and also the Fentons are low-key inescapable)

Pariah Dark's incursion through Amity Park was the last straw needed for the Infinity Realms to start really breaking into reality. There was already some leakage (see lazarus pits) but this was the last straw for a problem that has been brewing for thousands of years now. Life in Amity Park continues normally, because to them ghost stuff is normal, but for the rest of the world its a different matter.

The Justice League is going around dealing with the sudden influx of supernatural nonsense. The ghost attacks range from minor nuisance to city-wide threat. The magic leaugers are trying to find the source, but it's Batman who identifies Amity Park as 'Ground Zero' for ghostly nonsense.

also something something Amanda Waller and the GIW either team up or become rivals.

I'm literally writing this while waiting to board my flight so I'll try and flesh out this AU later

[fredbydawn]

Was thinking about how I headcanon David as Amanda pre transition, then remembered that some people headcanon David as Adam’s twin brother, AND THEN I remembered Shawnee saying that she felt like Leigh was her brother when they filmed the suffocation scene

Now thinking about how Amanda’s backstory was that she was abused and neglected as a kid, and how in the script, Adam had a bad relationship with his parents and seems to not even be on speaking terms with his father. Thinking about what if he’s angry at them for kicking out/ostracizing his “brother” who he still hasn’t seen or talked to for years. Thinking about what if the reason Amanda’s so nervous about running into Adam at his apartment is that because even though he hasn’t seen her since she transitioned, she’s worried he’ll recognize her. What if the reason she felt so guilty about leaving him to rot in the bathroom because THATS HER BROTHERRRR

[calmcoldevening]

Reader persuade slashers to go to sleep

Michael Myers

• This person is devilishly stingy with actions and emotions when it comes to his human needs. Have you seen this car? He can easily wander for several days without food and water, until his stomach starts eating itself from the inside or something. Michael will hunt without sleep until he simply passes out due to lack of sleep.

• But here you are in his life! That's... Good.

• At first, this would not have been particularly reflected in his lifestyle, but now he would have somewhere to return to.

• When he really got used to you, his human side came out. Damn, did he really fall asleep on your couch?

• Living with you, he will basically stop ignoring his needs, it just won't work.

• Are you asking him to go to bed? But... Okay, good. But on the condition that you sleep next to him. Michael may not admit his weakness in front of you, but he values you. It will be much easier for a man to fall asleep knowing that you are near and safe.

• Sleeps in a corpse pose or on his side, throwing his arm around your waist and squeezing your soft flesh with his iron grip to guarantee your position next to him.

• This is probably the first time when, instead of terrible nightmares, he will see a melancholic dream about a quiet life with you.

Vincent Sinclair

• Vince spends all his time in his basement behind paintings or sculptures. Honey, you really need to show him what a daily routine and a normal full-fledged sleep are.

• Of course, he is not Michael and will not bring himself to unconsciousness, but he can also neglect sleep for the sake of the "mom's museum".

• Go up to him and gently hug his shoulders. His tense flesh will instinctively cling to your cool skin, given the heat from boiling cauldrons in the basement.

• "Will Vinnie go to bed? I miss you."

• God, your needy voice and the tenderness and awe with which you pronounce his name, this is all that Vincent needs to feel all the accumulated fatigue and stress over the past hours.

• He may hesitate slightly, but the man will immediately get up, pick up your hands in a wedding style and lead you towards the exit from the basement. It will be a long walk through the museum, the night air is useful before going to bed, right?

• Vincent will sleep snuggled up to your chest like a lost kitten. The man will enjoy purring while you caress his long hair. Your presence is all that is needed for a sound and long sleep.

John Kramer

• John is too devoted to his desire to teach people to value their lives. And yet he often forgets about his own, completely giving himself up to the process of creating new traps.

• In addition, his health leaves much to be desired. Against the background of such a downed regime and short sleep, cancer is progressing significantly, you can see it by its even more painful condition. Red eyes, pale skin and more frequent coughing attacks.

• You find John in the workshop. He was completely alone. Apparently, today he decided to give the guys a day off, which can not be said about himself. If Amanda had been here, she would certainly have quarreled with John. The man was hunched over the table and collecting some details. You didn't betray much importance to this and just came closer. Now your hands gently massaged his tense shoulders, and after a moment a sigh of relief escapes from John's chest. He was really tired.

• "John, it's late."

• "Go to bed. I'll join you soon."

• His words are cut short by another bout of severe coughing. Your face visibly darkens, and you lightly put your arm around the man's back.

• "I can't without you."

• John thinks for just a moment before returning to his work. Did your words sound so unconvincing?

• "Lawrence told you to take better care of yourself, John. You will only get worse if you continue in the same spirit."

• Your voice goes almost to a whisper. Finally, John sighs in defeat, pushing his chair away from the table and grabbing your hand with his palm, stroking the skin with his thumb.

• "It's only for an hour."

• You're visibly cheering up, your face is shining. Helping John to get up from his chair, you gently grab him and lead him towards the bedroom. God, your smile is the only thing that makes him really happy.

Brahms Heelshire

• This is a big baby.

• It's really hard to persuade him to go to bed.

• First, you will make a few laps around the house during the catch-up, after which Brahms will hide in some closet and sit there with his hand over his mouth until you give up and ask him to come out.

• Maybe then he will listen.

• You'd better start from afar. For example, with a warm relaxing bath. Brahms will melt under your touch while you lovingly wash his curly hair. He's literally like plasticine.

• Then you can offer him warm milk or herbal tea to calm his raging energy.

• Read him a book. God, Brahms loves your sweet angelic voice so much. This is already one of the ways to make him fall asleep.

• And, of course, your hugs. Lie down next to him, hugging him to yourself. A man will purr contentedly, rubbing against your chest. You're so sweet, warm and pleasant. He'll fall asleep right away.

• Don't forget about the night kiss.

[mirroredmemoriez]

John Kramer and The Denlon's

Cracks everything in my body. It's time to yap. I keep going on in many posts about the fact John is just as flawed as those he tries to ''better'', so I want to go over one of my main comparisons in a tad more depth than I have before. John Kramer and Jeff Denlon honestly are very similar when it comes to their backstory and need for revenge due to grief. Even though John always states that he tests people so they become grateful for being alive- It's very obvious in some cases, he's doing it for his own type of gratification too. For example, Cecil Adams who caused Jill Tuck to miscarry and then Cecilia Pederson who scammed John. He didn't put these people in traps just because of his philosophy, but because they were also very ''close to home'' for him.

The loss of a child is very integral to both John and Jeff's character. Both of these men crave justice.... However, the way they want it and how they achieve it isn't exactly the most healthy thing. It leads both of them to neglect their partners, Jill and Lynn. (Just took a break to eat leftover spaghetti I am legit lost in the sauce- I don't plan out these little rants I do, so I just go where rambling takes me.) When it comes to the major differences between them, Jeff is more rage fuelled, at least in how he carries himself. His anger manifests more verbally and physically than John- Which is his downfall, alongside him not listening or acting when needed. This is a bit of a reach, but another thought nonetheless and nothing I say needs to be something I'm 100% on anyway. Danica Scott, the only other witness to Dylan's death didn't cause Jeff's son's demise, however her lack of action and fleeing the scene made her someone Jeff would want to take revenge upon anyway.

Amanda, although she had more involvement with Gideon's death, seeing as she was the one to convince Cecil to rob the clinic, didn't take physical action either. However, outside of her just being a drug addict- It is debated whether or not John always knew about her role in Jill Tuck's miscarriage, another reason for her to be tested.

We've also got basic comparisons such as the fact Jill and Lynn are both in the medical field and having mentioned Lynn again? Her demeanour is more like John than anybody else I have brought up in this post I'd say- I can't really word well why I think that, but it's there anyway. (Another thing to add is how in Saw 3, John in his delirious state starts getting confused and thinking Lynn is Jill.)

Might as well slip some others thoughts in here too whilst I'm fucking rambling this much- I don't have too many complex thoughts on Jeff Denlon I guess, I basically seem him as an example within the Saw universe about a person who cannot let go enough that it results in his trauma and vengeance taking over his life and ending it too. He's not a evil or terrible man, just very flawed. He had some of the physically easiest traps in the franchise to complete, but because he never made an effort to heal and instead remained stagnant within his grief... He takes too long to take action and morally flip flops all over the place when it comes to what decision he'll make- It's that or he doesn't assess the long term consequences of things such as never forgiving. I personally don't think he ever has to forgive someone like Timothy Young- However, I do believe he let's it impact his life and those around him too much. Corbett didn't deserve the neglect she faced and she herself is a child grieving her sibling. Grief and forgiveness are very hard topics to navigate, but I honestly as a viewer felt the most bad for Corbett more so than Jeff or even Lynn. Coming back to Lynn, I believe she ''learnt'' the most or at least came to terms with things faster within her trap than Jeff. She didn't have time to dwell or not be fast paced with her choices, because her life was connected to John's. She was doing her best not only to stay alive, but to get back to her family even if it was dysfunctional. (Me when I come back to this in my drafts weeks later, time to attempt to find the wave length I was on whilst doing this before.) It's an interesting though to picture different people in other traps. For example, if Lynn was going through Jeff's test. Would she have reacted faster than him and made clear cut decisions? Could she forgive? Jeff is no medical professional and his rage wouldn't let him care for John to the best of his ability so we know he'd fumble that, which is why I'm more so focused on Lynn in his test. Lynn's grief is more ''subtle'' compared to Jeff's and as an audience it's hard to pinpoint what her thoughts and opinions of those involved with her sons death would've been. She turned to antidepressants and her fractured marriage led her to having an affair, not to mention the child neglect. But when it comes down to it, we don't see as much as a drive for revenge and justice within Lynn as we do Jeff. This would mainly come down to screen time, setting and general context but it's an interesting thought of how she'd handle someone like Danica or Timothy if they were right in front of her.

This is why I say she learnt the most from her test compared to Jeff in his? After everything she went through with Amanda constantly up her ass and power drilling through a guys skull- All Lynn wanted was to reunite with her family. Like, the only time we see Lynn exert full physical violence is in a deleted scene where she attacks Amanda.... And even then that is because she wants the key for her collar more so than a drive to murder the other woman. On all accounts, she actually won that scuffle as well.

But then for example Jeff when he finally encounters John? He just can't help himself! Lynn literally is on the floor bleeding out, reaching for him not to leave and this man just can't NOT go and fulfil his need for vengeance. He'd literally just acted upon it before too by shooting Amanda, though that is more understandable giving the context of the fact she shot Lynn..... I think overall this is why so many people dislike Jeff but they just can't word it? Like he's been dubbed ''slow ass motherfucking Jeff''- But it's not really the speed of execution, it's either the lack of long term critical thinking and or the fact he's indecisive? Jeff doesn't have the weight of a contraption around his neck and or his life truly on the line like his wife.... However, somehow Lynn is still managing her test better than him with a freaky little lesbian on her ass and doing backhouse brain surgery on some random old dude with a fucking power drill. I'll also bring up the fact that like John and Jeff, Mark Hoffman has a pretty similar drive and motive to the both of these men. Just like how Jeff saw his sons death, Mark saw the aftermath of his sisters murder for example. All three of them feel justified in their actions against those who have wronged them and etc....

And as I always bring up in character studies like these, the perceptions from the audience are so interesting- Especially when you start comparing characters. It will come as no surprise when I say, I am a pretty active Tumblr user... Through this? The interactions with media and popularity of characters from Saw on this platform are decently clear. First I'll get it out the way that screen time plays a big role in making characters fan favourites. Although, Adam is a subversion to this as he's only in one movie (alive) and likely the most popular Saw character- Anyway! Using John, Jeff and Mark as examples here still... As previously stated, these three men can be considered quite alike in some aspects! But our perceptions of them are quite different due to how they're presented and what we know about them. John is an older sickly man, his life being cut short by the fact he has terminal cancer. His wife miscarries and later on then becomes ex-wife and then also somewhere down the line he gets scammed by a fake cancer treatment....All in all? Dude's kinda got fucked over. But what I haven't mentioned yet in this brief is the fact that whilst most of this is going on, peepaw is designing elaborate death traps and testing people in them slash indoctrinating some into his fuckass ideology! He as a character get's quite a neutral response and or a 50/50 split? He's Jigsaw, the face of the franchise.... There is a decent amount to discuss in regards to him. However, when it all comes down to it it I wouldn’t say he’s favoured as much as other characters.

Moving to Jeff, he witnessed his own son get killed in a hit and run and the grief and injustice of that basically made him spiral into neglecting himself but also his family. He cannot move forward from the loss of Dylan and this is why during his test he is so slow to act- I think one thing to mention here too, is this is something John likely accounted for. Jeff’s test is designed for him and the challenge isn’t that of " OH CUT YOU ARM” it’s for him to overcome his grief and to choose whether to forgive or let those involved with Dylan’s passing die. It’s easy for us as viewers behind the screen to think that he could’ve done almost everything faster. But we’re not Jeff. It’s shown time and time again mentally he just cannot move on and the only reason he is making progress though the test is due to its nature, average therapy? Jeff just wouldn’t go because he refuses to confront HIMSELF in regards to his own grief and would rather wallow in fantasies of revenge.

Mark Hoffman? Obviously the case I’ll bring up with him is that of his sister's murder. Angelina is his only close relative, with no other mention of Mark’s family in the franchise really. So, when she is killed in a case of domestic violence and he also sees her dead body? Yeah, that’s certainly the kind of thing to fuck someone up mentally. Which is why Mark then developed a drinking problem to cope and started to display more erratic behaviour such as shooting a man three times who’d actually surrendered beforehand…. By the time Seth Baxter his sister's killer is released from prison via a technicality- Mark has no quarrels with taking his revenge via abducting him and placing him in a Jigsaw like trap. However, as we all know, this trap is by no means escapable and is only being used by Mark as a scapegoat to get away with murdering Seth. This act then kickstarts his life as an apprentice for John when he himself is abducted.

(I legit forgot this was in my drafts- Months later. I’ll post this now even if it’s not really complete…)

[horrorvillaintourney]

HORROR'S NEXT TOP GENDER, ROUND THREE MATCH NINE: Amanda Young (Saw) vs. Adam/The Monster (Frankenstein)

PROPAGANDA FOR AMANDA:

"my girlboything with horrible haircuts, patron saint of merciless forgiveness, she's my boyfriend and my wife and her voice makes me see angels. she's butchfemme ("what, both at once?" yes.) and hates men. she's killed at least three cops."

"She's so very trans girl coded imo. she also managed to pull off that dubious haircut in saw X, and that alone is a powerful feat of gender. I get gender envy from her and I'm not even remotely a girl thats how gender she is"

PROPAGANDA FOR ADAM:

"Isn't their whole story about being brought into this world anew, fully formed, and then near immediately scorned by his creator because of one minute detail within, that he couldn't change? Isn't there something to be said about having to go out into the wilderness, only because of the consequences of your birth? I mean, i could go on about the inherent transgenderism of making a body in the first place but DAMN there is something to be said about the OG "making a body" story."

"While Frankenstein uses male pronouns for the creature, viewing the creature as a reflection of himself, the creature does not and the authors note from mary shelley refers to the creature with it/its. In addition, the creature is repeatedly paralleled with the female characters. Justine and the creature share similar experiences of having a same-sex creator who rejects them, neglects them, and insults them, but while Justine is able to find a home and recover the creature never is. They’re additionally tied together through Justine being blamed for William’s murder despite the creature being the real killer. Then later, the creature parallels itself to Safie. We call it the creature because that’s how it refers to itself, and while he refers to other people as “humans” to place distance between it and them, it takes a special liking to Safie and refers to it as a “creature” aswell. It takes this fascination to mean its attracted to women and should have a female companion and while that may be true i think theres a level of identification through the other it doesnt realize. Also something something base theme of the creature wants love and acceptance but cant get it because its society and creator are intolerant of it and view it as being agaisnt both nature and god. [...] TLDR I think if you brought Frankensteins monster into modern day it would choose to be some flavor of transfem or demigirl because it naturally relates to women while its masculine identity was forced upon it by its creator"

[ostendird-oddie]

Hoffrig: the guide to an underutilized ship

Hoffrig has a wierd placement in the fandom. Despite the pair getting pretty much a whole movie dedicated to their relationship, the ship stays relatively obscure, so it is my task today to bring it to light:

*History and Prelude*

These two have known eachother for some time now, most likely since the beginning. Mark is shown to care about Daniel, moreso than most people. He is worried about Rigg getting hurt. Even if his concern is a little backhanded, he sticks up for Rigg more than once and even attempts to comfort him somewhat (poorly of course, it's still Hoffman we're talking about)

*Compatibility*

Rigg is a much better person than Hoffman, no doubt, but Rigg was chosen for his game for a reason. He has a strong saviour complex (which they share with Mark, tho Mark's saviour complex takes on a much more horrifying form). Rigg is not afraid of getting his hands dirty when he believes the other person was let off too lightly (wife beater, Ivan, when Eric is beating up John etc). Mark sees that in him and believes that they are alike, so he tries to radicalise Rigg the only way he knows how to

*The wife shaped elephant in the room (and Eric Matthews)*

Daniel wouldn't cheat on Tracy. That's out of the question. He loves his wife, tho she suffers from saw typical hysterical unreasonable lady disease, where she has a valid point but delivers it in the worst way possible. Rigg takes his job very seriously. He truly believes himself to be a good cop. A man that helps people. Therefore he's moreso married to his job, then his actual wife. And being a SWAT guy... He probably doesn't have much time to have relationships outside of his job, so when he looses all his friends one by one his job wins the tug-of-war and tracy can't stand this anymore. I think user fate-motif put it best "i tend not to rock with rigg cheating on his wife but i think something people rarely discuss is that he's totally neglecting her emotionally already and even though he loves her the man is dropping the ball on his relationship and hoffman is the perfect embodiment of that neglect (he is both the missing cop he has to rescue and he is jigsaw)"

Rigg cares about Eric Matthews more than about Hoffman and arguably more than even about his wife. They are best friends so Hoffman kept him around as a sort of leverage over Dan. If he's not coming to save Hoffman, he's coming to save Matthews. And even before that Hoffman took up on the mission of filling the eric shaped hole in Daniels life to... Well. Mediocre success. Matthews for all his brooding and bad deeds is not an antisocial wierdo. He actually has friends and relationships outside of Rigg. There's a lot to explore in that dynamic but I won't be dipping into headcanons in this post (at least I'll try)

*Trial*

In order to become a jigsaw apprentice one must be tested. Amanda had the bear trap and arguably the uh... well we've all seen Saw 2 (the ammounts of anguish this poor gal had to go through) and Lawrence with his foot. Both were left in shambles and John put them back together haphazardly. But not Mark. Mark's trial was very milktoast. John basically let him go with a slap on the wrist. So he decided he could be more lenient towards Rigg. At least in terms of physical torment. There were no people who could put Rigg in any significant danger as a buff experienced SWAT guy. An argument could be made for the first woman but she was already bleeding out and in too much pain to think straight to think straight. Providing her with a knife was just to futher emphasize the point that she deserved what happened to her. Ivan is an obese bumbling coward. He didn't even try to fight back. I wont even explain the last pair because duh. Also a thing to note is that all of these games had something to do with sex or relationships in them. Very smooth Hoffman 😒

Ultimately Rigg not listening to Hoffman's earlier advise is what lead to his demise. And Mark put the gun in the hands of Matthews to absolve himself of the blame for Rigg's pain. Rigg wasn't indoctrinated and obedient at the end, so Mark left him to die. To be the fall guy. That leads me into my next bullet point-

*Peter Straham*

Ok im not a coffinshipper. At least not as of now and not a true one. I see hoffstraham as a logical continuation of hoffrig. Hoffman pulls almost the same tactics on Peter but instead of "reassurance" he uses intimidation and brute force. Straham is the manifestation of "Keep your friends close but your enemies closer. Mark settles for him as plan B because everyone he cared about are dead now. I don't believe mark tried to pull Straham into his murder cult out of any sense of affection or admiration for the guy. It all comes down to control again, something he is constantly fighting for. He doesn't like Straham but if he can't kill the bastard he'll find another way to shut him up.

I believe the glass coffin was originally intended for Rigg, in case he survived his trial, but Hoffman reused it for Peter in a last ditch effort to flex on the guy.

So uh ... I don't know how to end this post other than PLEASE ASK ME ABOUT THEM OMG I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS THAT I DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO FIT IN HERE 😭

[fate-motif]

here's the character traits i think predisposes characters in the jigsaw franchise to get brainwashed by jigsaw and become a jigsaw killer themselves:

they have to believe that they did something wrong, and that they atoned for it when jigsaw tested them

they have to be already somewhat comfortable making life or death decisions for other people

we all know pee-paw's self-help seminar from hell isn't just an alleged self-help seminar, but doubles as retributive justice in case the person fails (in his eyes). so whoever is offered to join up with jigsaw has to be comfortable with both sides of the ideological operation in play. it's not enough that they were severely traumatized and have a hole in their lives that they could fill by being part of this cult, though those things really predisposes them for the brainwashing. multiple characters were targeted to join the jigsaw movement and did not feel the vibe, so i think i have it isolated to these two traits.

further thoughts under the cut

how we see this in the apprentices

this puts all three main character mainline franchise jigsaw apprentices in a very clear light, really. amanda thinks john helped her overcome her addiction and redeemed her for the things she did as an addict. lawrence acknowledges how he neglected his family and took them for granted so hard that he cut off his foot for them even though there was no guarantee they would be alive when he got out. hoffman is perhaps the one that feels he owes john the least (since he at least partially came in on the scheme purely through blackmail) but considering his intense passion for brutally punishing the guilty i think it's safe to say john testing him jolted him out of the apathetic, drunken stupor he had been living in since his sister was killed, and that he thinks that's a good thing.

(your mileage may vary as to whether logan nelson blamed himself for john's cancer going undetected, but as a coroner he seems to take his job extremely seriously. if john sparing his life caused him to take action in appreciating his life in any way, i think it's fair to say that it got him to give his everything when at work.)

and as for the life or death decision making for others, it's crystal clear at least to me why the people that joined up did. two are doctors and one is a cop. these are professions where making life or death decisions for others is required, even if you're doing everything you can to save someone's life. amanda isn't either a cop or a doctor but having been an ex-con i think it's safe to say the high risk environment may have predisposed her to feel more comfortable taking decisions that may lead to someone's death.

and it's not really a coincidence that it's cops and doctors, either. both policing and healthcare are embedded in the themes of the saw franchise. john kramer thinks jigsaw is a doctor that doubles as a cop; healing a sickness if the patient is worthy, killing them if they aren't. that's why i think a lot of traps that people like to claim 'don't work' because the players aren't being tested for a flaw or misdeed still suit the jigsaw ethos perfectly. because pee-paw may act high and mighty but what matters most to him is the retributive justice aspect of the traps. and this is the same for all his apprentices as well.

except for brad and ryan, really, but they're more than anything victims of saw 3d's rushed writing. they're only there to help lawrence stop hoffman, since a disabled oncologist might struggle to take down the armed and dangerous cop turned serial killer. even then i can sort of squint and see those two as thanking jigsaw for intervening on letting this one woman ruin their friendship and make them commit crimes when she didn't value them. the atoning aspect, weak as it is, may be complimented by the fact that jigsaw just netted himself a couple of honest-to-god psychopaths because they didn't look even a little remorseful to have to kill their girlfriend when they reached their truce. oh, well.

but what i like about my conclusions is that they really explain why the victims who were set up to be brainwashed failed

not every jigsaw game victim would make a good apprentice

yes, up front: john kramer has lost his mind when he thinks anyone would ever want to join his sick little crusade. most people do not want to kill and can't find killing in most capacities to be vile. also most people's reactions after being tortured would be to immediately try and attack their torturer. and yet the madman actually netted three people to help him out. it's such an insanely lucky number, really, proven by the fact that hoffman tries to recruit two cops and fails.

two cops. one of them had engaged in police brutality, let a colleague cover for him, and respected and defended colleagues that engaged in it. the other one may have been a little too classy to punch suspects in the face, but the way he treats jill tuck speaks to the opposite of any respect for people's dignity. both of them are fine murdering jigsaw game victims who were only attacking under the extreme circumstanced they were in! and yet they didn't even hesitate when hoffman tried to sell them on the life of being jigsaw, the ultimate policeman!

because neither of them thought they had anything to atone for.

while rigg has an entire library of things to atone for, what hoffman wants him to regret and feel bad for is letting his desire to save people affect the people around him. maybe if hoffman had any kind of emotional intelligence he could have pitched his traps to make him consider his actions on others, but instead all his arguments came down to 'look at these weak, pathetic people. they're sick, deep down, so it doesn't matter if they die when we torture them'. which rigg was never going to believe. he saw his desire to save people as innately good and unchangeable, which is correct, of course. it's just that the actions he takes are absolutely hopeless to actually save anyone in hoffman's eyes, because that desire makes him careless but in mine because policing saves no one. so of course he could never have become a jigsaw killer, because his traps did not make him think he had something to atone for.

as for strahm, hoffman didn't even bother brainwashing him, and that's why obviously he was never going to get in that coffin. the water cube trap was a straightforward execution. strahm had already seen a jigsaw trap mutilate perez for no reason other than to get them off his trail. by the time he reaches the coffin there was nothing in the world that could have convinced strahm to join hoffman.

it really speaks to how far gone and twisted hoffman is that in either of these cases, especially strahm's, hoffman thought there would be a chance either of them would even think about joining forces with him.

could any other jigsaw victims have made good apprentices?

i have a couple of ideas.

before we get to the candidates i'm going to address the apprentice adam angle, because it's a common au and everyone loves adam and wants him to be alive. also because it's a fun angle for chainshipping. this is your opening to send me chainshipping fanworks where larry tries to brainwash adam into joining him! but as it stands in canon i don't think adam would have found it in him to join the serial killers because he's not the kind of guy with a developed killer instinct. yes, he's depressed and suicidal in the original script. yes, the bathroom game makes him say out loud he wants to stop taking his family for granted. but he killed zepp in the very urgent scenario of trying to stop zepp from shooting lawrence, and i don't think he has it in him to deliberately put people in torture games where it's very likely they'll die. especially since, before jigsaw, adam had never met anyone he would actually find it in him to kill on purpose. though neither had lawrence, so i will give the adam apprentice girlies a point there.

the writers of the first movie say that zepp was having a blast when he kidnapped gordon’s family so he’s clearly he’s got the killer instinct needed for the job. the problem is that even john would be able to tell by a glance that zepp wouldn’t be able to stop himself from indiscriminately harming people as opposed to using violence for their ideological leanings. there’s a reason he was poisoned instead of merely asked to join. so while a rare find in that he might have already been primed to be a serial killer already, we all know john loves his delusion of doing violence for a higher purpose and zepp would ruin that illusion very quickly.

the only candidates i think would have been perfect otherwise would be brit and mallick from the fatal five. i've mentioned this before but they feel like they've atoned for their crimes through their game and were delusionally euphoric by the end of it. and so long as the victims chosen were on the scummier end of things, i could see both of them prompted into villainy.

you know who else got prompted into villainy? brett abbott. which is kind of insane to say considering he's a kid and i feel for him even though he did literally murder a man. it's just very hard for me to hate a kid suffering under institutional injustices even though he let that suffering out through murder. but all i'm saying is that under the right trap brett and the fatal five survivors were the more ideal candidates for apprenticeship... if only john was there.

yeah. hoffman doesn't have it in him to coax anyone into anything. he's a homemade nail bomb, not a leader. he would probably even dismiss brit and mallick right off the bat over their now missing hands, and you can't tell me he would have the patience to groom a teenager like brett. amanda and lawrence are also not exactly winning in the charm department. so really once the cult's charismatic leader kicked the bucket their way of life was doomed to eat itself from the inside out.

which is exactly what happened.

... don't ask me to think very hard about anyone in jigsaw because i've forgotten 95% of that movie

[narrans]

My Borrowed Son | 4 | The Morning After

The next eight hours were the most restless hours of Amanda’s life. Not only did she find herself restless while she slept, but she also found herself awake every hour just to check on the minuscule boy.

A million worries consumed her mind.

Was he breathing okay?

Was he asleep?

Did he need to eat more frequently than a normal human?

What even was he?

Sprite?

Fairy?

Figment of her imagination? She hadn’t quite ruled that one out yet.

Had he been abandoned? If so, was his size because of a condition, and that was why he was left alone?

Or was he lost?

Where was his family?

And were they looking for him?

Worried, Amanda would push herself up onto her elbow, reach over, uncover the small boy, and watch with baited breath to make sure he was breathing.

Looking at the boy, she was awed by his features. Everything was proportional and indistinguishable from that of a human. The way his nose scrunched as he rolled over to how his little hands curled up to grasp the blanket by his face. Beneath the bruises and the thinned features was a handsome little boy.

All Amanda could think was how could anyone just leave him behind. He had to have gotten lost or, much to her dismay, something might have happened to his parents for him to be in such a state.

Heart aching at the thought of someone leaving him or losing him, Amanda decided to get up out of bed and stop wallowing in her thoughts. They were keeping her awake and she needed to keep her mind preoccupied if she was going to stay focused for the rest of the day. Besides, there was no point in tossing and turning any more than what she was doing already. She shoved the sheets and comforters over and shuffled to the kitchen for her morning ritual.

She brewed her coffee in what felt like record time and washed her face in the kitchen sink since her toiletries hadn’t been unpacked just yet. Amanda padded through her new home and quietly gathered her things in the stillness of the morning including her laptop and her meager breakfast. She brought them into her room and curled back into her bed before she began typing away on a report she had neglected to complete the day before.

She pulled the box over at one point once she got settled and kept an eye on the sleeping boy, which lasted for maybe two hours before the toddler rousted himself. It was his cough followed by a subtle whimper that pulled Amanda’s focus to the little boy.

Seeing his tousled light sandy brown hair now sitting upright, free from grime and dirt, Amanda pushed her laptop away and looked down into the box. The boy reached up and rubbed his eyes with his tiny fists and yawned. Those soft brown eyes, now free of sleepers, gazed up at Amanda.

Perhaps it was because she was hyper focused on the little boy’s eyes, but Amanda thought she glimpsed confusion, sadness, and the slightest apprehension as he met her gaze.

“Hey there. Good morning,” said Amanda sweetly, keeping her voice down as she lowered her hand into the cardboard shoe box. “Did you sleep so good?”

The little boy surveyed his surroundings, whimpering and huffing as if he were about to start crying, before taking two deep breaths and looking up at Amanda and, for the first time, acknowledged her questions with a nod.

Her jaw dropped. It wasn’t just her imagination. She saw him nod. It was a conscious effort, which only fascinated her more about the thumb sized boy. His little eyes stayed focused on Amanda as she processed what she just witnessed. Then, realizing she was gawking, shook herself from her spiraling thoughts and smiled at the little boy.

“Yeah? You slept good?” she repeated, as if stuck in a loop. The little boy nodded again after stifling yet another yawn.

So, it wasn’t a fluke.

” Good! That’s so good. You’re so good,” encouraged Amanda. The boy glanced around and squirmed uncomfortably as he tugged at his waist. Amanda, not sure what he was doing, went through a quick mental checklist of what this gesture could mean and quickly realized what he was silently asking for. After all, grabbing by his hips and private areas could only really mean one thing.

“Do you need to go potty?” She asked, still painfully aware of the size difference between her and the hand sized boy. With a little nod, the boy expressed his need.

Amanda was mostly at a loss of how to help the little boy, but decided taking him to the bathroom would be best and, thankfully, the experience went off without a hitch. Evidently, the boy had been trained which, for Amanda, confirmed her suspicion that the minuscule boy was between three and five years old.

After washing up, which the little boy didn’t quite understand, she brought him to the kitchen and started making a very simple breakfast. He listened timidly to her instincts as he sat by the backsplash with his legs crossed in a little pretzel. Her mind was in a tizzy about what to give him but settled on toast and jam and then a little bit of apple slice for some fruit.

“Take little bites, okay?” Instructed Amanda as she pinched off just a little piece of toast for the boy, who nodded and began to eat.

The more Amanda thought about the boy and watched his movement, the more like a very small human child he seemed to become. He was too real to be some stress dream or hallucination.

Still, how could someone so small exist?

One thing was for certain – he needed to be looked after, and while Amanda wasn’t sure if she was ready to rise to the occasion, she was ready to try.

First things first was to get him checked out, and Amanda had just the person for the job. One of her friends from college was a pediatrician, meaning she would know more about what the little boy needed in order to get back to full health. Phone in hand, she debated only for a moment with herself about how her friend would react to seeing a boy no bigger than her index finger. It was the little boy’s soft cough that reinforced her resolve. Amanda sifted through her contacts, muttering how tech was so inconvenient nowadays, before clicking on the familiar name of her friend – Melissa Hargrove.

Amanda listened to the dial tone and, as luck would have it, Melissa picked up.

Must be on break to answer my call right off the bat. She never bothers with her phone when working. Amanda thought as her friend cleared her throat, as she always did, before answering.

“Hey there Mandy! Long time no call. How’ve you been girlfriend?” Amanda wasn’t quite sure how to answer that question. So many memories and emotions were up in the air mere days ago. All of those wicked words only made her heart twist. Thoughts beginning to overwhelm her, Amanda took a breath and glanced over at the minuscule boy whose soft brown eyes were on her, watching intently.

“Mandy?”

Choked up and focusing on the little boy’s eyes, Amanda nodded and forced out the words.

“Yeah, not the best. I… um…” she cleared her throat and wiped away some of the stinging salty tears from her eyes before summoning more words. “It’s been a while since I updated you. I… could you come over after work? I have a lot to catch you up on and… well… I’ve got a bit of a situation.”

“Situation? What? Are you pregnant?” asked Melissa.

“Mel? Please? It’s just simpler if you come over. I’ll text you the address, and bring your little t-go med kit if you can,” said Amanda.

“Wait, address? Not the old place? Mandy, what happened? You and Brandyn having trouble? And did you say med kit? I swear if this fool laid hands on you…”

“It’s not that. Mel, just…” Amanda interrupted, sighing with the weight of the world obviously entwined in her breath. At this, Melissa seemed to withdraw.

“Okay, but I’d better get a full explanation when I get there. I get off at five thirty. How long will this… you know what? Never mind. I’m rain checking it. I’ll be over pronto. Chat soon! Bye!” said Mel as she abruptly hung up. Amanda knew her friend would be on her way, though guilt did build in the back of her mind at the thought of Mel canceling her plans.

Why did this always happen? Why was she always inconveniencing others?

Amanda’s insides swirled with nausea, and she leaned heavily against the counter. Eyes closed, she took deep, choked breaths as the flood gates threatened to burst from emotional strain. Just as she felt herself spiraling, she felt something against her finger. It was an odd tapping followed by a brushing sensation.

Amanda opened her eyes and instantly felt her anxious emotions melt away as she saw the little boy standing by her hand. His infinitesimal hand was on hers, petting and stroking her finger as if to make her feel better. The concern in his altruistic brown gaze held the wisdom and empathy of someone much older than him. He continued repeating the motion until he paused just long enough to smile up at Amanda.

Biting her lip and awed at this tiny life offering her comfort, she returned the smile and let her tears fade.

“Thank you, sweetie. You’re so kind,” mumbled Amanda as she reached her other hand over and carefully inched it toward the little boy until she could rub his back with the tip of her finger. For a moment, he almost looked like he was going to shy away from her approaching finger, but he held his ground and even leaned into the touch. The little boy smiled bashfully before repeating his little patting and stroking motion.

When Amanda felt the tightness in her chest dissipating, she turned over her palm and offered it to the little boy.

“Want to go play?” she asked. The minuscule features furrowed in confusion.

Did he not know what playing was? Did he not know any games?

As Amanda wondered this, the little boy reached up and rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hand as Amanda saw him give the biggest yawn he was capable of. It was probably the cutest thing she had ever seen in her life. She stifled a round of coos and rubbed his little back instead.

“That’s okay,” said Amanda. “We can snuggle instead. How about it? Want to sleep a little more?”

The boy nodded groggily and, after a hesitant moment, pulled himself onto Amanda’s hand and curled up by her fingers. Evidently, he still needed sleep and eating a little something had exhausted him. At least this was what Amanda hoped was going on.

She lifted the boy up and carried him back to her room where she informed her boss she needed to take a half-day due to a doctor’s appointment she forgot about and curled back into bed, laying the boy on her chest as she stayed propped up. Fingers resting over him to keep him from rolling off, Amanda watched as he curled up once more and fell back asleep. Hopefully, Mel would have some answers about this little guy. Amanda decided, until then, that resting her eyes with the boy wouldn’t be a bad idea.

~~~~~^*^*^*^*^~~~~~

Continue

Previous

Beginning

[parznite]

DETROIT BECOME DCA

I FINALLY FINISHED MY DETROIT BECOME HUMAN DCA AU DESIGNS! More information about the AU will be under the cut.

TW: MENTIONS OF ABUSE / NEGLECT / VIOLENCE / DEATH - Similar to the original game. They can be found under the tags "detroit become DCA" or "detroit become daycare attendant"

MAIN CAST

Moondrop; who is a detective prototype similar to Connor in the original games. He is an android created to work on all deviant and missing children cases. He works closely with Lieutenant Vanessa, who despite his best efforts to work with, never really seems to like him due to her own personal reasons with Androids. They work together with the idea that Deviant Androids are the reasons Children are missing. Moondrop eventually turns to deviancy after seeing the impact humans have on them and how neglect affects others. (After Moondrop met Sunny and Y/N)

Sundrop or just "Sunny" as Y/N has called him ; who is a caretaker similar to Kara in the original games. He is a caretaker who was purchased by Y/N's parents to take care of Y/N where they lacked. However, things turned to the worst and Sunny did what he thought was best. Run away with Y/N and take Y/N to a safe place, away from the neglectful hands of Y/N's parents.

Y/N or "YOUR NAME"; who is in place of Alice from the original games. However Y/N is a full human. A child who enjoyed the simple things in life, now on the run with the only companion they have left in the world. Terrified and scared as the revolution begins, never turning their back on Androids. Knowing that Sunny has only ever done stuff that was best for them, even if that meant saying goodbye to those who hurt them.

SECONDARY CAST

Freddy; who is a caretaker similar to Markus, taking care of Gregory a child set under his care. In an accident due to the neglect of Gregory's parents, he unfortunately dies. As the authorities arrive, the parents turn the story on Freddy having him decommissioned. However, Freddy returns with a new lease on life and is ready to show that Androids were never the problem. Wanting justice for all androids and wanting those who hurt children to be brought to justice.

Lieutenant Vanessa; who is a police officer with the DPD, similar to Hank in the games. She is assigned the deviant and missing children cases. Forced to work with Moondrop, she despites it but only looks forward as he makes her job easier. Vanessa never seems to fully bond with Moondrop, only really seeing him as a colleauge.

Trap "Glitch" ; who is similar to Amanda from the games. Trap is the inner mentor for Moondrop, who has more ill intentions, looking to resume the deviants programing at the perfect time. To solve the deviancy case and the missing children cases once and for all. However, despite his name being also known as "Glitch" - He is known to abuse the fragile code of Moondrop so he can get better outcomes that will favour Cyberlife.

[mikeynf]

To go off of my “if Adam was chained up by the neck like a dog” post from a few days ago, it would change the plot a LOT. Like the unavoidable death of either rotting in the bathroom, getting shot, or cutting your own head off. Adam’s death was already completely unfair due to Amanda accidentally letting the key flush down the drain of the bathtub, so if he literally had absolutely no choice other than death, it just makes it worse. Chained up like a dog in the backyard of a house containing neglectful owners. The unknowing. The small, little clues given to him by John on how to escape(which was impossible). John(the owner) watching him die knowing he was helpless. Lawrence(the people walking by the gate promising to save him but never coming back) petting Adam’s head and telling him everything was going to be okay, that he would be right back.

I don’t wanna write anymore LMFAO

[kkarateboy]

Daniel wasn’t drunk. No, not drunk at all. Drunk was such an ugly word with so many negative connotations. He was tipsy. Yes, that was it. Very, very, very tipsy. And whenever he got "tipsy," as he liked to call it, he was more... open.

He had been working at the dojo for the past five months now, and thanks to his skill and persistence, he had begun to attract the attention of some of the Sekai tekai higher-ups. They started to place more responsibility on him, but without any actual power. For the past month, he had been getting paid the same amount as an car dealer, had no one working for him or helping him with the situation , and had four times as much work as anyone else, including Sensei Kreese himself. Which, based on the neglect of his students, was saying something.

On a Friday night, after 16 hours straight of teaching and training, Daniel had collapsed on his couch and cracked open a bottle of expensive whiskey that Johnny had gifted him at Christmas. And oh lord, it was good stuff.

And now he was very drunk. Sorry, tipsy. As Amanda would know, a tipsy Daniel was quite the loose cannon. They actually had a rule in place: if Daniel had any alcohol, ANY at all, then he was not allowed to text anyone, call anyone (especially Johnny!), and would have to stay the night, supervised, with Amanda.

But Amandawasn’t here tonight. And so, in Daniel's barely functioning brain, he decided it would be an absolutely GREAT idea to go to the dojo for some fresh air. As he stumbled over there, he wondered why the cool breeze never felt this good against his face. And why did camels have two humps? Why not three? Or four? Or none? What were the humps made of? What did camels even eat? That was the moment that he tripped and nearly fell off a stairway leading to the dojo roof. (Like a balcony ; ishhh?)

Instead of simply grabbing the railing to catch himself, he just watched as he nearly fell. The city was quite beautiful from this view. The lights were beautiful. Heck, even the ground below was beautiful. It almost looked soft. As he closed his eyes and waited for impact, he felt strong arms catching him and pulling him up. Very strong arms. With nice muscles. He inhaled the scent of his savior. No other thought came into his mind other than "yummy Twink."

Luckily for Daniel, Johnny hadn’t been able to fall asleep that night. He had laid in bed for hours to no avail before hoping that some exercise would do the trick. What he hadn’t counted on, however, was seeing Daniel out in the wee hours. And he especially didn’t expect him to be stumbling around the dojo roof with a glass bottle clutched to his chest like a treasured item. So he followed behind him for a couple of blocks, not trusting him in this intoxicated state. And for good reason.

That was the moment when Daniel did a spectacular dive off the edge of the roof. Johnny leaped to catch him in his arms while he extended his karate gear to stop both of them from plummeting to the ground. As he carried him in his arms, he glanced down and saw a faint smile on Daniel’s face as he heard something that resembled "Twink."

He carried Daniel onto the other side of the roof (that had a rail, of course; he wasn’t THAT stupid) out of the view of potential onlookers. He gently set him down, which Daniel took advantage of to drunkenly flop down on his butt. "Johnny" he said with a lopsided grin. "Oh hi my prettyyy-boyy" Daniel slurred in a semi-surprised voice, as if he had thought Johnny was someone else. "What’re you doing on this fine evening?" "Larusso, you know you shouldn’t be out here drunk. It isn’t safe for you or for anyone else," Johnny said, scowling at him. "I’m not drunk, I’m just a tad bit tipsy," Daniel smiled up at him.

Johnny snorted. Daniel was completely and utterly wasted. He doubted Daniel would remember any of this conversation by the time morning came. "If you are just a bit tipsy, then I'm in miyagi-do and my name is Mr. Miyagi. " Daniel stared blankly at him for thirty seconds straight before his one remaining brain cell fired and he snorted. "OHHHHH because you aren't Mr. Miyagi! and I am drunk! You are a funny kitty kitty," he said in his ridiculously happy voice.

Dear god, this was going to be a long night. What on Earth was Johnny supposed to do with Daniel? He didn’t exactly know where Daniel lived by heart, so he couldn’t take him home. And he couldn’t take him to his place for obvious reasons. Based on his apparent state of drunkenness, Johnny was fairly certain Daniel would not make it home alive. And so he concluded that he was stuck babysitting a wasted Daniel.

"How much have you had to drink, Larusso?" Johnny asked. Daniel held up one of his fingers. "One what?" Johnny asked. "One shot, one glass, one what?" Daniel then held up the 3/4 empty bottle of whiskey. Ah, one entire bottle of whiskey. Great. And with Daniel’s weight (not that Johnny would ever judge, he just happened to carry him on quite a few occasions!), he wasn’t sobering up anytime soon. Great.

Johnny picked up the bottle and looked at the label. It was actually his preferred brand of whiskey, so his buddy at least had good taste. Except he hadn’t exactly tried chugging most of the bottle after not eating or drinking all day like some unnamed people in his direct vicinity. But what the hell. He had nothing else to do other than sit here on the rooftop. A couple of sips couldn’t hurt him that much. Could it?

Which was the exact line of reasoning that led to Johnny and Daniel breaking into a liquor store at three in the morning and demanding that they be paid in alcohol for their services to the valley. Which the worker actually seemed to agree with.

And so they stumbled across rooftops together as a team, each with hands full of stolen (well, technically it was given to them) alcohol. They stopped, at what they considered to be a far enough distance from the store, and struggled for a minute to open a bottle of gin. They sat down on the edge of the roof with their legs dangling over and watched the valley at night as they passed the bottle between them.

"IM NOT DRUNK, YOU'RE DRUNK!?" Daniel exclaimed, poking his finger right at Johnny’s chest. "DANIEL, YOU ARE MOST CERTAINLY DRUNK," Johnny shouted back. "Wait," Daniel told him, "If I think you are drunk and you think I am drunk, then either you are lying or I am lying." "WOW, DANIEL, YOU ARE SO SMART," Johnny said, gleeful at having cracked the case. "But how do we know who is lying?" he asked. This question stumped them both as they returned to silence with confused looks on their faces.

About ten minutes later, Daniel suddenly jumped up and exclaimed, "I HAVE AN IDEA!" Johnny asked, "Could it be that we are both drunk, Daniel!?" Daniel scoffed at the ridiculous idea, "No Lawrence, my idea is that we should make out together." Johnny pondered his proposition for a bit before responding, "YeeHAw."

And so Johnny climbed onto Daniel's lap, straddling him and started kissing him. After they broke apart for air, Daniel said, "Ha, you taste like alcohol. You are the drunk one here!" "But you taste like alcohol, my buggy boo. A combination of whiskey and gin actually," Johnny responded cheekily. Daniel went back to kissing him, deeper and more forcefully than before, occasionally nibbling on his lip. When they broke apart again, Daniel announced triumphantly, "WE ARE BOTH DRUNK!"