#and of course all of this centers or ends up centering around henry

[smeagol-on-my-deagol]

the fact that richard sees/wants us to see judy poovey as sort of dumb, while also seeing/wanting us to see julian morrow as some revolutionary mind when they're having the same damn thoughts is crazy to me

like near the end of the first chapter when we hear some about the class discussion, one of the points julian discusses (in simple terms lol) is how people who tend to bottle things up and stay composed all the time end up causing greater amounts of destruction when they "lose control" than people who allow themselves to lose control on occasion, but he does it with many words and references

and richard is like "wow this is awesome how sick is this guy"

then at the beginning of chapter two, judy poovey is telling richard about the time henry beat the fuck out of spike romney and she says something about how when uptight people lose it they REALLY lose it, but in terms just as simple as those

and richard just goes "yeah, i guess"

which there for sure is something to be said about the way people use words and the difference that use of language has on the way people feel about certain concepts, but you know

[cxrrodedcoffin]

Don’t Call Me Kid - Aaron Hotchner

“don’t call me kid, don’t call me baby, look at this godforsaken mess that you made me.”

——

Likes are always appreciated but reblogs and feedback keep artists going!

Summary: Reader confesses their feelings for Hotch, they have an angsty yet adult conversation about it.

Word Count: 2.5k

A/N: I was originally not going to give this a happy ending but I got too sad writing it and changed my mind, also yes i’ve been writing a lot don’t criticize me lol

TW: alcohol mention, angst, age gap, slight physical touch (all respectful, nothing sexual), slight implied daddy issues, fem reader

Rating: G

——

Aaron Hotchner was not a man one could approach without a level head. He was rational, always thinking of the most reasonable course of action, weighing every outcome before making any decision. He had to be, as hasty decision-making had cost him more than he cared to discuss.

You knew that, you’d worked under him for two years now and although he didn’t discuss his private life all that frequently at work, these weekly team meetups at the local bar taught you more than enough about him as a person. The usual stoic head of the team was kind, funny, encouraging, albeit a bit quiet until he knew you a bit better.

About a year into your time with the team you let slip that you’d never explored the city, and Rossi wasted no time letting Aaron know about it. A week later he was driving you around, explaining the history behind the popular monuments you had requested a visit to, then spending an hour at the Folger Shakespeare Library to admire the historic architecture and impressive selection of literature, and ending the day at the Moongate Garden, watching the sunset on a bench surrounded by cherry blossoms.

From that day you knew if there was anything you needed, all you had to do was ask. He’d shown you your favorite restaurant, the coffee shop you sat in every free morning you had, reading books he’d suggested you read. You didn’t want to admit it, but you had fallen hard for him, and over the last year those feelings became harder and harder to push down.

It was 2 a.m. and the bartender had announced last call, earning a disappointed groan from Penelope.

“We were just getting started!” She whined, her speech slightly slurred.

“You’ve had more than enough for tonight Babygirl, let’s get you home.” Derek caught her waist, steadying her as she rose from the booth the team had been sitting in.

“I better get going too, Will has to work early so I have to take Henry to school in the morning.” JJ added, playfully rolling her eyes.

The rest of the group finished up their drinks, wrapping up the current conversation before shuffling out of the bar. You said your goodbyes, giving parting hugs before pulling out your phone, ready to order yourself a rideshare home. Your cell service was almost non-existent and the app was taking forever to load, the chill in the air causing goosebumps to form on your bare legs. You raised your phone in the air, trying to gain a better signal as you walked back and forth in front of the bar, growing increasingly frustrated.

Aaron exited the bar as you made another pass by the entrance, tripping as your ankle wobbled in your heels. He was quick to catch you, helping you find your footing once more.

“Do you have a ride home?” He asked, offering you his suit jacket for warmth.

“I’m trying to order a taxi but the app won’t load.” Your frustration was evident, each tap of your finger against the glass of your smartphone just a little too firm.

“You don’t live far, correct? I can walk you home.” He offered, his hand still lingering on the small of your back to steady you. You weren’t drunk, not by a long shot, but you didn’t handle your liquor the best and although you were mostly there mentally, your center of gravity had been better.

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to go out of your way for me.” You countered, always raised to decline at least once when offered anything to remain polite.

“I want to make sure you get home safe, it’s really no trouble.” You knew he was earnest, always such a father figure to every member of the team. You put your phone in your bag, throwing it over your shoulder before turning to walk down the street that led to your apartment building.

You walked in silence for a while, his hand hovering behind you just in case your clumsiness kicked in along your walk. His suit jacket was surprisingly warm, the stiff fabric shielding your bare arms from the cold. You weren’t sure why you’d chosen to wear a short sleeved blouse when it was nearing the end of fall, but you suspected it subconsciously had something to do with how well the v-neck showed off your cleavage. You felt a bit pathetic sometimes, finding any way you could to attempt to pull his attention. It never worked, Aaron respected you too much to stare at your figure no matter how provocatively you dressed.

After a few blocks your heel caught on a storm grate, making you stumble forward. His reflexes were impressive as ever, his arm reaching out to catch your waist.

“I swear I’m not usually this clumsy.” You joked, straightening your skirt as you started again on your journey home. He didn’t say anything, but the slight smile his lips formed told you he found your try at humor in an awkward moment amusing.

“It’s just around this corner, I’ll be fine from here.” You tried to wave him off, dying to disappear into your apartment to prevent further embarrassing yourself.

“I’m walking you up to your apartment, I need to see you home safe.” He stated, turning the corner with you. Butterflies fluttered in your stomach, his domineering yet caring tone making your heart race. This was all becoming too much, the protectiveness, the slight touches, you could feel something burning in your chest, the urge to spill your guts growing stronger by the minute.

He waited for you to punch in the code to the front door of your apartment building before holding it open for you, following you to the elevator up to your floor. You took the quiet ride up, him continuing to follow you down the hallway to your apartment when the doors opened. You opened your bag, fiddling around for your keys for a moment before finding them, your hand shaking as you tried to unlock the door. You finally got it, pushing open the front door and stepping into your messy living room.

“How are you getting home?” You asked, setting your bag on the small table next to the door.

“I’ll order a taxi, I’m just glad you’re home safe.” He began to pull out his phone, and the liquid courage coursing through your veins told you to invite him in.

“Do you want to come in while you wait?” You offered, handing his suit coat back to him. He stepped inside, shutting the door behind him and making sure to lock it, never too cautious.

He laid his suit coat over the back of your coach, taking a seat before taking out his phone again to order his ride.

“It won’t be ready for another 30 minutes, I hope I’m not overstaying my welcome.” He was far too courteous, and all you wanted to do was tell him how badly you wanted him to stay forever.

“You could never.” You told him, kicking off your heels before sitting next to him on the couch. You took a deep breath, trying to settle yourself as you picked up the book that was resting on your coffee table. You watched over the top of the pages to see him glancing around the room, scanning the contents until he stopped on the media console across the room. He stood from his place next to you and walked over to it, taking a knee to get down to the same level as your record collection.

“You have impressive taste.” He stated matter-of-factly, his long fingers brushing across the spines of each album. You gave a quiet ‘thank you’ as he began to pull a record out, and you placed your book down again to see what had caught his eye.

“I didn’t know you listened to The Beatles.” He held up the jacket of the band’s white album, looking to you in slight disbelief.

“Of course, The White Album is one of the greatest of all time.” You were excited to talk music with him, it was a topic you’d never discussed before and you were always eager to learn more about him. That may have been to your own detriment, because the more you learned about him, the harder you seemed to fall.

You knew a relationship between the two of you could never happen, he was your superior, not to mention twenty years your senior, but something felt like it was pulling you to him no matter how many guys you tried to distract yourself with.

“You never fail to surprise me.” He smiled, the outer corners of his eyes crinkling just so. You could’ve died right there, content to collapse into a puddle of yearning. You didn’t know what came over you, but you found yourself clearing your throat as a rush of adrenaline coursed through you.

“Aaron, I have to tell you something.” Your voice shook, but you remained strong in your conviction.

His faint smile turned to a look of concern, quickly rising from his knee to join you on the couch again.

“What is it?” He questioned, brow furrowed as he angled his body toward you.

“I-It’s, nevermind.” That burst of adrenaline quickly faded, his eyes on you feeling like a cigarette burn.

“Y/N, whatever it is, you can trust me. I understand if you’re not comfortable telling me, but don’t let fear hold you back on my account.” He reassured you, resting his hand on your knee sympathetically. You had to do it, there was no way you could face him every day if you brushed him off without an explanation.

“I’m in love with you.” You blurted out, hanging your head, too afraid of what his reaction would be to dare look him in the eye. The silence that sat between you two felt like it carried on forever, tension thick enough to cut with a knife. After what felt like an eternity he cleared his throat, still holding his hand on your knee.

“Why do you feel that way?” He asked, trying to understand where this was coming from. He couldn’t deny that he had felt chemistry between you, but it wasn’t something he could ever entertain acting on.

“Over the last year I’ve gotten to know you in ways I never dreamed I would, I’ve never felt this way for anyone before, even those I once thought I loved in the past. You’ve been so kind, Aaron, you’re an incredible friend, father, leader, how could I be anything but amazed by you?” You felt as though you were rambling, but he seemed so invested in your answer that you didn’t care if what you said was rational.

“I understand.” He confirmed, turning silent as the gears turned in his mind. You could tell he was fighting something internally, the look of concentration on his face seeming almost painful.

You pulled your knee out from under his hand, your nerves convinced that he was looking for a way to fire you without creating an HR nightmare. As quickly as you pulled away he had moved closer to you, his hand finding its place on your knee once more.

“Look at me.” He said, thumb rubbing soothing circles against your skin. You did as you were told, tears threatening your waterline as you did your best to hold his gaze.

“I’m not going to lie to you, you are a very charming young woman and I’d be honored to pursue something more intimate with you, but we can’t. I’m your superior, and you’re young enough to be my daughter.” He explained, the pain in his expression serving to break your heart in two.

“I don’t care.” You were not thinking rationally in that moment, your heart speaking for you instead of your head.

“You should, this is your future.” His tone held frustration this time, finding your childish response disappointing.

“I am not a child Aaron, I can make my own decisions.” You told him, a tear slipping down your cheek as you grew increasingly frustrated with his stonewalling.

“I know that, but you’re young, you have so much to experience and you shouldn’t put that on hold for me, or anyone else for that matter.” Even through his anger he was just trying to steer you in the responsible direction, thinking more about your future than whatever desires he held.

“I have all I’ve ever wanted, my dream has always been to work for the FBI. I don’t have any delusions of grandeur, I never have. I want a job where I’m doing good and a family to come home to when all is said and done.” You explained, and it wasn’t a lie. It’s not that you weren’t driven, you clearly had to be to even make it to the bureau, but that was as far as you wanted your drive to take you.

“For this to work, I can not be your boss, and I won’t ask you to step down.” He continued evaluating each possible risk in your dynamic, and for once you were one step ahead of him.

“You don’t have to, I put in for a transfer to the financial crime unit last week.” You finally let the other secret you’d been keeping slip, and you watched his face drop in disappointment.

“The team is going to miss you more than you know.” He told you, wishing he had known so he could have convinced you otherwise.

“I know, but I couldn’t bare the thought of being around you every day while I feel like this, and I was fascinated by the way their team handled the case we partnered with them on last month. The timing felt right.” You explained, needing him to know that it was not his fault, but a conscious decision you made.

“I just want to try.” You pleaded one last time, hoping he’d let his walls down just this once.

“If this is really what you want, I’ll take you out next weekend. If we’re going to do this, I’m going to do it the right way, you deserve that much.” He gave in, letting himself do something personally risky for the first time in years.

“I would love that.” You agreed, all of the anger and frustration that had been building up over the last year finally starting to dissipate ever so slightly.

How it would pay off, only time would tell, but for now, you were content to just get to know him more and show him who you are the best you can.

——

Part 2 can be found here

Tag List: @pleasantwitchgarden @lover-of-books-and-tea

DM me or send me an ask if you’d like to be added to my general or Aaron Hotchner taglist :)

[serv0z]

cant remember if i posted these here yet but !! huzzah !! the refs I made for and before the Phony pmv yapping about it under the cut!!

All of this is based on how I view them and the timeline. Personally I think its: Fredbears opens sometime in the mid-to-late 70s, during this time the fnaf 2 location opens up within a year or two of Fredbears debut. Somewhere between 1982-1983 (pre-bite) Circus Babys opens up and then closes that very same day (Elizabeth dies). Following this is FNaF 4 at Fredbears where the place lasts about another year or 2 before closing in 1985. (Charlie dies in this period of time and the missing childrens incident takes place.) Little note is after SB shuts down the rental reopens !! Thats why its open by the time Michael goes there. FNaF 2 location shuts down 2 years after in 1987 due to the bite + the tampering of the animatronics. Shortly after the FNaF 1 location is properly opened up and deemed 'safer' since they aren't allowed free-roam in the day. Of course everything goes to hell here and the place begins to shut down in 1993 (during which the game takes place). Then SL happens at an unknown time between here (maybe 2 years after? in 1995? not sure) followed by FNaF 3 in 2023 (i do NOT believe ffps takes place in 2023 it doesnt fit at ALL). I think FFPS takes place about 2 or 3 years after in 2025 or 2026. I dont have anything for SB or HW bc it wasnt the focus so nfkjfn hopefully this all makes sense, at some point i may do refs of the missing children but because this was michael centric I mainly drew refs for him. I figured Michael looks more like his dad (especially by SL bc. yk.) and Elizabeth looks more like their mom,, Evan is somewhere inbetween. Michael and Elizabeth got their moms freckles, Evan didn't!! All of them got her darker skin though since Williams a fucking ghost. I am all for the hc of Michael tanning in fnaf 4 its so stupid and def smth a 14 year old boy trying to fit in would do I know I posted some of my Michael ideas like 2 years ago? Specifically post-SL. I feel the scooper wasnt completely centered, aiming more to his left side rather than completely centered. The damage was done, shattering his ribs and spine and really that arm was unsalvagable. I think hes replaced parts of himself with metal, like using it to connect to whats left of his spine to be able to stand properly, making a new arm either alone or with help from Henry or smth as well as needing a cane and/or leg braces to keep himself balanced. It's not farfetched since William in the books literally does something similar and it would help him look "normal". I also made the outfit bright and colorful to help sell the act. FFPS has some pretty bright colors for their front and to tie it in I added pink to his design and made it more fun and interesting, especially since he'd be around and children would be running past him and adults keepig an eye and such and the mask would probably be pretty intimidating if he didnt make it a bit more cute. Yes, that is the bow he was wearing during FNaF 1 btw!! Michaels necklace in fnaf 4 was a gift from his mom. Cant decide if i want her to leave or she passed. I think maybe if she left michael went with her? after 87 i mean. some point during those years she died and he was living on his own before returning to figure out the things his father left behind and try to find him, returnning for fnaf 1 and forward. Michael living with his mother is WHY he never noticed anything with William, he was still grieving his siblings and William would be too focused on his work to support him at all. His mom helped him work through some things, got him into therapy which he promptly dropped a bit after she died because he just. didnt have the motivation. He was alone before ending up back in Hurricane and looking for his father and learning all the atrocities committed.

I feel like Elizabeth being the youngest just. makes sense in my mind? Maybe its a personal preference but. Evan gives me middle child vibes more than youngest. Not to play into stereotypes but; older sibling having to be the 'responsible' one (and then rebelling this idea), the middle child being overlooked or ignored (nobody stopped the bullying.) and the youngest being given her very own animatronic (implimented with things she enjoyed.) side note if u call elizabeth a brat or spoiled im legally allowed to shoot u!!!!!1 Elizabeth also just. sounds very young to me with her voice and how she acts. It all gives off 'young child' rather than 'spoiled brat who gets anything she wants' yk? Her dying first ALSO just makes sense, especially witht he idea Evan saw it. She dies, he witnesses it and nobody believes him and shes just declared missing. the place goes down and its declared a 'gas leak' rather than 'my sister got eaten by an animatronic'. (I figure mrs afton is grieving and thats why she doesnt notice the bullying often.) It also works with the fnaf 4 scenario. William being fed up with him whining, not wanting to be given away by his own child so a plushie he can talk through and monitor him through, as well as setting up the illusion disks inside the room. The nightmares weren't just bad dreams, they are implied (at least from what i recall from the trilogy and ucn lines) to be real. it ties into his fear; animatronics with stomach mouths that have come to swallow him whole for what he saw. tormenting him. Its not just a bad dream to him, these are either based on how he percieves them or how he explained what he saw and William used this against him. The test with illusion disks began here. (it could also explain michael knowing abt them later in via security log book!!! the disks didt just vanish!!) This also curb stomps the idea william only began killing due to the 'loss of his children'. Not even possible. Look at the blueprints of the funtimes and compare. Those things were designed to lure, trap and kill from the very beginning. Circus babys was one of the VERY FIRST buildings to open, it just became a rental cental solely after shutting down where they were tortured and experimented on. He made these LONG before 85. anyways thats just my interpretation of the whole thing up to ffps. I dont remember everything from AR, hw, hw2, sb and ruin enough to make my own opinions on its timeline (i do have strong opinions on whats happened during it and right before but nothing leading up the opening or years and such) I mainly grew up heavily fixated on the base games, nothing really past ffps. as for Henry, he was briefly as bad as William with his work I think. If i picked up anything from the books and even the games, he was heavily focused on his work that he didn't notice his daughter die and had an animatronic watching over her instead of himself or family. i dont know if Sammy would exist in gameverse. If he did I imagine he either died/went missing very early on causing mrs. emily to leave, mrs emily left WITH him or he simply didnt exist bc Henry only focuses on Charlie here so either his son odesnt exist in this world or hes gone in some way shape or form. Henrys design is pulled from the books a bit. I wanted to make him bigger? William is slim and maybe a bit offputting but hes charming enough to get out of things. and Henry is more enthusiastic and rounder, having a loud and happy voice. I think he truly enjoyed making Fredbears happen. Cant decide if I wanna say he was in the Fredbear suit when Charlie died (giving cake) or if he was in a backroom working on things. Whatever it is I also think William tried to pin things on him. Errmm!! thats all i hve to say rn :3 its 8am im so tired so if this makes no sense. mb gang

[gffa]

Hi Lumi. This year I’ve watched The Clone Wars, Rebels, Mandalorian, Book of Boba Fett, and Tales of the Jedi and I’m watching Ahsoka as episodes are released. But I feel like I’m missing some context as to why people are wary of Filoni. What things should I know so I’m caught up, so to speak, in the fandom discussions?

Hi! That's a lot of Star Wars to watch in a year, I hope you're having fun with it all! And I will gently remind everyone that Filoni is not the be-all-end-all of Star Wars creators--Henry Gilroy was there for TCW and Rebels, too. George Lucas was holding writers' meetings years after the show started (at least into 2010!). The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett are far more Jon Favreau's shows. The Bad Batch is Brad Rau and Jennifer Corbett. Resistance was developed by him, but was run by other producers. It's just that Filoni tends to get the most camera time and has become the face of Star Wars creators. That said, the issue with Filoni is kind of two-pronged, though, they overlap. 1. He's done a lot of interviews where he's said a lot of anti-Jedi things that have drifted from reasonable critiques in the beginning to eventually "Qui-Gon Jinn was the only true Jedi. [blatantly wrong citations]" This has put a lot of people off him as a creator, because we love the Jedi Order that Lucas talks about and established, which Filoni has actively contradicted over the years, despite being promoted as someone who follows Lucas' themes. And it's hard not to be aware of his interviews when watching his shows and it's hard to enjoy shows that do your faves dirty, you know? 2. His writing has become weaker over the years for a lot of us--Rebels is a show most of us love and found to be incredible. Many of us really love The Clone Wars, which he was heavily involved in/was probably the central voice after Lucas started phasing out. But his biggest story told over the course of those series--basically, the story of Mandalore's history and fall to the Empire--has been extremely thin for a lot of us. And a lot of us get frustrated at his inability to be objective when it comes to Ahsoka's character, that we love her as a character very much, but it hasn't felt like Filoni really knows what to do with her character arc and yet almost everything he writes is centered around her. His final season of The Clone Wars? Gave her the walkabout arc and the Siege of Mandalore arc, both of which often did not hold up well under scrutiny. His episode of The Book of Boba Fett? I actually really loved it, but it absolutely just stopped the pacing of that show to focus a lot on her. More on Luke, but he couldn't resist putting her in there, either. Tales of the Jedi was half devoted to Ahsoka and so much of it wasn't even about her time as a Jedi! We're frustrated because he doesn't set things up well anymore--Morgan Elsbeth is a Nightsister?? Why wasn't that established in The Mandalorian instead of pulling out randomly in Ahsoka? Why does Sabine Wren suddenly so badly want Jedi training, when they barely even had a conversation in Rebels?? There's a lot of good that Filoni has given to Star Wars, I think he genuinely cares about the Force and what it means--he's very consistent on how it's not easy and how it takes discipline and control, that he has been consistent on how anger and fear are paths to the dark side, even his episode of TBOBF had Ahsoka saying, yeah, attachment is a path to the dark side, because the Jedi mean "attachment" in a more Buddhist-aligned way. A lot of his writing for the character of Ahsoka is actually pretty good, like I've been enjoying her being a prickly, traumatized hot mess in the show! It's just that I kind of hate all the interviews he gives and I think he's a lot less objective than a lot of fans and media coverage that would hold him up as a perfect writer/interviewee about all things Star Wars, and it all comes together to make him kind of a hot-button topic.

So, a lot of people LOVE Filoni's work, a lot of people are frustrated by it, a lot of people are casually fine about it, a lot of people HATE Filoni's work and it can be a fun mix of any of the above or even other issues that come up. (And that's all fine! I have my views on Filoni's work, but it's fine if others hate it more than I do or love it more than I do, there's room for us all, all of it is valid.)

But I think if you want to understand some of the roots of this corner of fandom's frustration, two (admittedly long as heck) homework assignment reads would be:

- My own rebuttal to Dave's behind the scenes Mandalorian Gallery talk (this is jokingly referred to as "Davegate" because I refused to take it too seriously) - @david-talks-sw's collection of comparisons between Lucas' commentary on the Jedi and Filoni's commentary on the Jedi

This response itself is more focused on laying out the problems a lot of people have with Filoni's writing, but also honestly I still have my giant collection of Jedi source material citations that quotes his commentary, I still bring up Filoni's quotes in current meta a lot, I still talk positively about the things I enjoy from his shows, so overall there's equal amounts of both praise and criticism here. So, as short as I can make it (which isn't very, shut up, I know! XD), that's basically what people mean when they say they're wary of Filoni.

[henrysglock]

I was seeing people on twitter saying how season 3 ruined the shows reputation and I'm curious, why do you think season 3 is the way it is? I think you already talked about it but I can't recall

I have talked about ST3, specifically in how the team has capitalized on its "out of place" vibe. ST3 sets up basically every arc of ST4 while also being a blatant criticism of both the US and the USSR.

Mike complains about things being too expensive and the fact that he can't buy anything on the money he's given—not like he used to. The mall, in tandem, is portrayed as a money-sucking community-crushing behemoth that's putting local folks out of business behind a veneer of trendy fun. Criticism of capitalism on small and large scale, front and center.

Then we have the Russian lab, which exists to show us that the "other side" (often glorified by less-knowledgeable haters of capitalism) is no better. Their lab is doing the same thing HNL did! HNL isn't unique. The Russian lab is kidnapping, drugging, and torturing kids—a preview of NINA and of Sullivans torturing Wallace for information—and they're trying to force open a gate without actually having anyone with abilities—a preview of Vecna and the Shadow cobbling together their own non-Eleven method of opening gates.

The Russian lab arc also serves to set up the Russian prison arc, which takes Joyce and Hopper out of the US entirely just in time to reveal that woah! Vecna is Henry Creel? And he's someone Joyce and Hopper both would have known? Gotta get them entirely out of the picture so nothing goes wrong with Vecna's plan in Hawkins. Can't have anyone questioning whether or not that's actually Henry.

From there, the Russian prison arc also sets up future reveals for ST5, specifically regarding HNL's 1979 massacre, that would have been harder to work with if the entire arc had stayed within the CIA. Putting it in the KGB, the "enemy" of the US, also allowed for paralleling in storytelling about where Hopper ended up vs where Henry ended up and how the situation in Dimension X all went down. It also allowed for some hinting on making assumptions (see: the Jamie-lookalike "Evil Russian" who ends up being a harmless Jazzercise teacher), on people using variations of Henry as a fake name to break someone out of prison (see: Enzo's connections to the NINA arc), AND on people putting on acts to get a desired result (see: Jim putting on an act to antagonize Dmitri to escape the pit with a lighter and booze, as compared to TFS Brenner putting on an act to antagonize Henry into showing him the true extent of the Mindflayer vs Jim putting on an act to scare "Victor" into spilling truth about the attack on Mr. Newby, etc).

None of that ^^ would have been possible without the much-hated ST3 Russian arc. It's called foreshadowing and plot scaffolding, aka "secret tools that will help us later". They're laying breadcrumbs and hoping the viewer is dumb enough to go "UGH evil Russians? Of course 🙄" until ST5 comes around and blow it all out of the water. It's the same as the people who shit on 2.07 as a whole, saying it drags and feels out of place. That may be so, but there's a reason why it's there and a message it's there to deliver (setting up Jane fuckery and laying the bricks for "NINA isn't real/it's influenced by El's prior memories").

Also, has anyone stopped to think that maybe the vibe of ST3 is off because it's the starting point for all the relationships deteriorating? The Party growing up and drifting apart? It feels weird because everything is weird?

And people bitch about not getting fun/"beach" episodes anymore, but then ST gives you a summer fun + horror season and suddenly y'all don't want it?????? ST3 is fun! It's bright and colorful like summer! Idk. Sometimes I think people are just inventing guys to get mad at.

[sugarywishes]

How did the Aftons react to Evan's death via the bite?

About time I get an angsty question, let's dive right in!!

The Afton Family (we'll get into specifics in a minute)

- Well, it was a death in a established/popular entertainment location. Not to mention a gruesome death, so obviously everyone and their mother not only made several tabloids and news reports, they also interviewed/interrogated EVERYONE AT THE PARTY

- so what a joy it was to not only have the company's name slandered, but your family was constantly harrassed about the whole situation too!!

- Michael and Elizabeth's classmates would always ask them about the incident, to the point where William pulled them out of school for a while

- Their neighbors became extremely nosy abt it as well (asking about funeral plans, if they were gonna have Michael arrested etc) and the family itself was already pretty isolated, so they basically became antisocial afterwards and avoided talking to people

- I briefly mentioned this in the Charlie post, but William was kicked out of the company shortly afterwards (my version of Henry was originally kind of a self-centered, prideful man before Charlie...yk ☹) bc of the bad publicity towards him and the fact it was fucking up the business now (I'll list more reasons in a bit) so now the only friend the Aftons had was giving them the cold shoulder and cutting ties with them to avoid affiliations

Okay specifics time!! (This might be a long post so grab some 🍿)

Michael Afton (not the Michael color, I know, there's no gray!!)

- All Mikey wanted to do was just prank Evan, teach him a lesson for getting him in trouble more than usual.

- Nice going, Michael.

- Oh boy. This guy went to a literal state of shock (I'm talking HE FROZE IN FEAR KINDA SHOCK) as soon as Fredbear's jaw closed

- He didn't even manage to 'wake up' until they were already in the hospital (Lizzie dragged him there)

- and of course Mike was scared and remorseful, his prank was quite literally meant to be a funny haha moment which ended up as him technically becoming a murderer 😭😭

- He nearly vomited and passed out as soon as he heard Evan died

- When Michael returned to school, best believe he lost all his popularity, now everyone knew him as the guy who killed his brother (the other kids involved in the prank distanced themselves as far away from it as possible) and so he became a friendless outcast :(

- Even Jeremy stopped talking to him, mostly because of what Jeremy's mom said about them for clout

- which totally didn't help his now declining mental health

Elizabeth Afton

- Lizzie was actually hanging around the bathroom area talking with Charlie when the bite happened, she would've been too late to stop it anyway

- She literally lost her twin. It's not the best feeling in the world.

- Of course she felt terrible about the whole situation but also,,,a sense of liberation??

- like, the one person who stood in the way of her gaining her father's love is dead. Mike doesn't give 2 shits about Will, and Clara is already in a loveless relationship with him. So now it leaves her as his new favorite

- she surprisingly was able to move on faster than the rest of her family (at least on the outside, as I said she did lose her baby brother)

- but it's not a fun life afterwards, considering she no longer had friends at school now since Will pulled her out quickly (and plus, Henry started cutting ties with the Aftons so now she couldn't hang out with Charlie!!) And again, she started losing her mind just like the rest of the family

Clara Afton

- Girly was just tryna to find a camera in the car outside, she didn't see or hear the bite thankfully (she did have to see the image of her bleeding son being carried out by his father though)

- Evan's death is truly what got her motivated enough to actually start fighting against Will's constant mistreatment of her and the kids

- but of course that doesn't last long. (Guess who ends up in Ballora?)

- because of the news (and more specifically, one particular news article made by a Mrs. Helen Fitzgerald, mother of Jeremy Fitzgerald,,,👀) she was now labeled a neglectful, hosebag mom who was probably in it for those Afton bucks 💸 which ruined her relationship with her neighbors and friends

- Remember, EVERYONES reputation was terribly slandered by the bite (and by the media wanting to cause more drama)

- She was already a stressed out, meek person because of her marriage with William, she got a lot worse after her baby died

William Afton (his is the LONGEST sorry for the text walls)

- He was just about ready to carry out Evan's birthday cake as soon as he heard the screams of terror

- He reacted almost instantly. William is not a very physically strong looking man, but he is powerful enough to break a robot's jaw open.

- He pulled Evan's body out (as best as he could, he was rushing to save him so who knows if some...chunks were still left inside 🤢🤢 sorry for the mental image)

- He didn't acknowledge ANYONE else in the room. And he didn't even have the rest of his family get into the car, he placed Evan in the back with a blanket wrapped tightly around his head and drove off, leaving the rest of the family to find another way to the hospital

- but of course his efforts were all for nothing.

- Everyone kinda expected him to become deranged and violently (publicly) abusive but for a while he was just...numb. and detached from everyone and everything. He wouldn't talk to a single person and would isolate himself in his workshop/basement to grieve

- (he didn't even bother punishing Michael for the accident, which set off a lot of red flags for Mikey who knew that something would snap inside his father soon)

- His already inconsistent sanity started cracking when his name and family were considered pariahs now (thanks a lot Helen for further spreading rumors about them)

- it became even worse when Henry kicked him out (According to Henry's excuses, he knew Will was likely never going to recover from the bite so he might as well give him an 'early retirement')

- (Basically, Will wasn't coming to work at all and wasn't making them money, his damaged reputation would ruin the now shitty rep of the diner more, and bc of the Aftons now being associated with the words 'horrible' 'neglectful' and 'irresponsible' , Henry just decided to tie up loose ends and get rid of him to save face) (Remember that Henry was an asshole and only got to his redemption journey once his daughter died)

- So, great. But what's this?? The closed Fredbear's Family Diner Fredbear animatronic is acting?? Off?? Sort of seems...alive??? You bet it is!!

- And of course, we all know what happens from there.

Thanks for asking! If you want more just ask!!

[aemiron-main]

Father And Son: TFS, Brenner, Cat Stevens, The Cycles, Cat’s Cradle, 8:15gate, Radiationgate and Cat’s In The Cradle

So, during TFS, Brenner says the following to Henry, specifically saying “father and son” to him at the end:

Which, that made me think of the 1970 Cat Stevens song, Father and Son, because Brenner’s dialogue is worded the EXACT same same way as the song title:

And you might be thinking “this is a stretch, Brenner just saying ‘Father and Son’ doesn’t mean it’s connected to the Cat Stevens song, ‘father and son,’ is a common phrase, right?” and usually, I’d agree- however, Cat Stevens, and specifically, the EXACT ALBUM that Father and Son is on has ALREADY BEEN REFERENCED in ST specifically in the context of Brenner.

Where?

In the newspaper (because of COURSE it’s the newspapers again)- look at Brenner’s crossword here:

It says “tillerman’s beverage,” as one of the hints- and the answer is tea. As in Tea for the Tillerman. As in the exact album by Cat Stevens that Father and Son is on:

And not only does it appear in Brenner’s crossword, but they specifically showing him crossing that one off:

And there’s him having written the answer in, down vertically from 60- “tea”:

And what is the song “Father and Son” about? Well, it’s basically about what the title says- a father and his son. But specifically, it's about a the difference in perspective between father and son re: his son leaving/it's about the generational divide between father and son, and was written about the idea of a son wanting to leave to join the Russian Revolution.

This is also all interesting regarding the idea of anachronistic song references in TFS, specifically, songs from the 70s, such as Chuck E’s In Love being referenced in TFS versus Father and Son being from 1970:

And while I don’t think Brenner himself was necessarily referencing the song (although it’s possible because as evidenced by him knowing the answer to that crossword, he’s clearly aware of the album Tea for the Tillerman), it’s still yet another reference to a 70s song in TFS.

And speaking of TFS, Father and Son was originally supposed to be a musical (and of COURSE there's an Edward involved LMAO):

Versus the musical number in the church in TFS and the musical Oklahoma being reference repeatedly in TFS/Ted Wheeler sings a song from it.

However, there’s also more to this whole ST referencing Cat Stevens thing- because it’s something I talked about on discord quite awhile ago-

-but basically, summarizing those screenshots, this all connects to “I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight,” playing over a scene of Karen in s3, because that song has these lyrics:

And that “curtains are closed, cat’s in the cradle,” lyric is interesting for the following reasons:

a.) the whole “behind the curtain” thing in ST plus the whole TFS play/curtain thing

B.) “Cat’s in the cradle,” versus the book Cat’s Cradle from 1963 by Kurt Vonnegut- which has some VERY interesting connections to ST.

So, in Cat’s Cradle, the narrator is a writer that introduces himself as Jonah (but his name is really John and he’s never named again), and he sets up the plot as a flashback. The plot centers around when Jonah was planning to write a book called The Day the World Ended about what people were doing on the day of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

Which, the connection to Hiroshima is interesting considering what I talked about in this post regarding how 8:15 gate connects to Hiroshima & to James’ radiationgate posts.

And in the book, John also includes snippets from religious texts called The Books of Bokonon. Most of the events of the novel occur before the narrator was converted to his current religion, Bokononism.

And while researching for his book, Jonah heads to Ilium, New York, the hometown of the late Felix Hoenikker, who was a co-creator of the atomic bomb, because Jonah wants to interview Hoenikker's children, coworkers etc.

When he gets there, Jonah finds out about a substance called ice-nine, created for military use by Hoenikker and now likely in the possession of his three adult children. Ice-nine is an alternative structure of water that is solid at room temperature and acts as a seed crystal upon contact with ordinary liquid water, causing that liquid water to instantly freeze and transform into more ice-nine. Among several odd unfoldings in Ilium, the narrator meets Hoenniker's younger son, Newt, who recounts that his father was doing nothing more than playing the string game "cat's cradle" when the first bomb was dropped.

Which, all of the ice-nine stuff has me staring at the lack of water in the UD, and the song “Cold As Ice” playing during S3, during a scene where Mike has a Lynx behind his head (which, the Lynx thing is something I’ll come back to in this post bc it ties into all of the “cat’s in the cradle,” stuff, esp being in the same season/possibly the same ep as that Karen “cat’s in the cradle scene” and Victor’s burning cradle scene vs the taxidermy lynx in the Creel house).

And also, the book even has its own Papa- the dictator called “Papa” Monzano, who is introduced when Jonah goes to the fictional Caribbean island San Lorenzo, which is also where Jonah gets introduced to Bokononism.

Bokononism was founded by Bokonon, who was a former leader of the island, and who created Bokononism as part of a project to give people hope and community in the face of the island's poverty. As a deliberate attempt to give Bokononism an alluring sense of forbidden glamor, the religion is outlawed, which forced Bokonon to live in "hiding" in the jungle.

Which, Bokonon hiding in the jungle reminds me of all of the stuff re: Henry supposedly hiding in the darkness versus Will hiding in S1.

And also, Papa Monzano, threatens all Bokononists with impalement on a large hook (despite the fact that Monzano himself secretly practices the religion, and the hook punishment doesnt really get used)- which this makes me think of all of the impalement imagery in ST, such as Billy being impaled by the fleshflayer-

(which is extra interesting considering the visual parallels between this shot of Billy’s impalement pose versus Vecna’s attic pose & how Vecna also gets impaled by the tentacles when they plug into him)

-plus Phineas Gage having been impaled by a rod-

(which is ALSO extra interesting considering how the Phineas Gage scene/“No Longer Gage” ties into TFS with Alice saying that “Henry” is “Not Henry,” and how right before that Alice-Henry exchange, Henry had these weird appendages grow out of his back, which is extremely visually similar to the Vecna attic scene I just mentioned, and therefore also ties all of this back to Billy’s impalement, especially considering the parallels between Billy and Max versus Henry and Alice, although Henry doesn’t treat Alice the way Billy treats Max, there’s still parallels + Max has unending Henry parallels, especially re: sibling death & Billy’s death vs Alice’s death)

And also, Monzano has an adopted daughter, Mona- which, that immediately makes me think of Patty being Mr Newby’s adopted daughter, especially considering Mr Newby’s Brenner parallels, such as Mr Newby having stolen Patty versus Brenner stealing kids-

-AND Mr Newby being very authoritarian/dictator-esque when it comes to how he runs the school & how he runs his family.

And also, Monzano is ill from cancer- which, as we know, there’s SO many references to cancer in ST, considering what I’ve talked about re: the connections between regen healing and cancer plus the idea that Peter Owens may have had cancer.

And also, Monzano wants his successor to be Frank Hoenikker, who was both Monzano's personal bodyguard and, coincidentally, Felix Hoenikker's other son. Frank achieved this position by giving "Papa" Monzano a piece of ice-nine.

However, Frank doesnt want to be the new leaser and somewhat randomly offers Jonah the presidency. Although Jonah is surprised at at first, he accepts after he finds out that this means he’ll get go marry Monah. Soon after, the bedridden "Papa" Monzano commits suicide by swallowing ice-nine, whereupon his corpse instantly turns into solid ice-nine.

Papa Monzano being bedridden has me staring directly at Brenner Sr (who Brenner Jr also calls Papa), who was bedridden and dying after his return from Dimension X.

Frank Hoenikker admits to giving Monzano ice-nine, and the Hoenikkers explain that when they were young their father would give them hints about the existence of ice-nine while experimenting with it in the kitchen. After their father's death, they gathered chunks of the substance into thermos flasks and have kept them ever since.

Which, this has me staring at the scene of the Bingham kids in the kitchen, and how Peter Bingham puts in “too much salt,” versus the salt and ice used for sensory deprivation tanks, versus ice-nine, PLUS “Peter” Bingham versus what I mentioned earlier about Peter Owens and cancer, PLUS what I mentioned about Mr Newby versus all of the parallels between Mr Bingham and Mr Newby and Suzie versus Patty etc etc.

And after Monzano dies, celebrations for Jonah’s presidential inauguration begin, but during an air show performed by fighter planes, one of the planes malfunctions and crashes into the seaside palace, causing Monzano's still-frozen body to fall into the sea.

Instantly, all the water in the world's seas, rivers, and groundwater transforms into solid ice-nine. The freezing of the oceans immediately makes tornadoes ravage the earth, but Jonah manages to escape with Mona to a secret bunker beneath the palace. When the initial storms subside, they emerge and search the island for survivors, and discover a mass grave where all the surviving San Lorenzans committed suicide by touching ice-nine. Grieving for her people, Mona follows suit and dies.

This makes me think of a.) the complete lack of water and complete lack of people in the UD, and b.) all of the bunker stuff in ST, specifically, the NINA bunker + Murray’s bunker, and how Murray has a bunch of Creel references in his bunker, like his his Billie Holiday record + his WW2 posters which then also connect to the Peter Pan and Skull Rock and Eddie-Edward stuff but that’s a post on its own- but that also makes me think of what I said earlier re: Phineas Gage getting impaled because Scott uses that skull graphic that reminds me a lot of Murray's poster:

I also now have to wonder- if the UD was once a normal timeline that got devastated in some apocalyptic manner, could there still be PEOPLE there?? In bunkers?? After all, we’ve only seen UD Hawkins, but if the UD extends to other parts of the world, then what if there’s an UD NINA bunkers that still has living people inside of it??? Or hell, what about Murray’s bunker in the UD?? They’ve never shown it to us, but for all we know, there could be living people/alternate timeline versions of people in there, having survived however long it’s been since the disaster.

And at the end of the book, Jonah lives with some other survivors in a cave- versus TFS Henry having ended up lost in a cave in Nevada, and ending up contracting the shadow as a result, and Brenner says that Henry “changed, like my Papa,” due to Henry’s time in the cave, which brings us back to what I said earlier about Brenner Sr.

And anyway, setting all that aside and going back to the other reason why that “cat’s in the cradle,” line fron I Just Died In Your Wems Tonight is interesting, there’s also C.) “cat’s in the cradle,” versus the song Cat’s Cradle by Harry Chapin.

Which, “Cat’s in the Cradle" by Harry Chapin is about a father not being able to find time for his son and then his son growing up without him and not being able to find time for his father- basically, the son becomes just like his father, ironically, as a result of his lack of interaction with his father, which, the whole “becoming his father,” thing has me staring DIRECTLY at the lines in TFS re: “you have to BE your dad”:

And the “Cat’s In The Cradle,” thing is extra interesting because that song CONSTANTLY gets misattributed to Cat Stevens, who has an album called Cats Cradle:

Which, that reminds of all of the mistaken identity stuff in ST, especially regarding Brenner and Richard vs Martin/the identity mixups there and Eddie Munson delivering subtext for Edward & Eddie Munson being wrongfully accused of murder & Victor also being wrongfully accused by Wayne versus “the man who did this,” and how that connects to Brenner.

And speaking of “cat’s in the cradle,” there’s also all of the cradle imagery with Victor:

And there’s also all of the cat imagery in ST, specifically the silver cat/lynx stuff in S3 versus the stuffed silver cat/lynx in the Creel house and Victor talking about a wildcat:

Not to mention that again, that lyric is from “I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight,” versus Henry literally “dying” in Victor’s arms:

And it’s also interesting that this seems to be a REALLY specific song choice for S3/they really wanted “I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight,” because the use of this song is anachronistic, as S3 is set in 1985, and I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight was released in 1986- which is also interesting considering what I talked about earlier re: TFS and song anachronisms.

Point is, I think that Brenner’s TFS dialogue re: “father and son,” is meant to reference the Cat Stevens song “Father and Son,” and that there’s a bunch of other connections re: “cat’s in the cradle ,” and Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle,” and Harry Chapin’s “Cat’s In The Cradle,” and all of Victor’s cat and cradle imagery.

And I also won’t be surprised if we get the song Father and Son on the s5 soundtrack.

[angevinyaoiz]

The Devil’s Crown (1978)

Not news to anyone who follows me lol, but for the folks who are now doing their seasonal The Lion in Winter watching and going “Wow I’m getting some real Succession Vibes from this weirdo family” Are you all aware that there is, indeed, a miniseries about the Plantagenets where Brian Cox indeed plays Henry II and does his own take on the famous bombastic patriarch dealing with Heir Drama…in 1978…

He’s so toxic and unhinged with lots of artistic license of course but there’s a lot of cool details from various texts included into his characterization, which I love. I especially appreciate the approach to stuff oike the Thomas Becket drama, which places it more in the historical context while still keeping in line with the homoerotic precedent. Jane Lapotaire’s Eleanor is brilliant too, and it’s great to see her as kind of the center of the story as it covers and develops over several years.

It’s available (in french) on Madelen but not really available officially on english platforms which is a shame, but you can find uploads various places if you dig around (or u can ask me… hehe)

The “style” of the show is very artistic and stylized stage-play esque, lots of not hiding the Artifice of the costumes and set, kind of in the vein of I, Claudius but kind of inspired by medieval manuscripts. Which isn’t everyone’s thing but i personally ADORE. A lot to nerd out about!

Also the toxic Dadson (x3) in it is unreal. As one of the only adaptions ever (besides Becket i think? And that one Dan Jones Goofy documentary with the reenactors) To feature Henry the Young King as a major character, they incorporate that kind of weird political/personal emotional dependency that ends up being a huge instigator of the conflict. they even do the cute dadson bed sharing at Chinon…(right before the BETRAYAL)

Anyways, I always feel like I should share… it’s tough for what’s practically a lost media bc its literally only in this Potato Quality, but for me the design and the strength of the actors and loving attention to lots of detail in the decisions made visually and storywise makes it really special to me, it’s just really neat to see! I love TLIW, but it’s also cool to see the longer version of the “story” of these figures and how it develops and changes over time, and also explores I think some of the more abuse and relational consequences over the years. It is a bit dated in its historical positions at times, like any media, but it holds together as a story well. Very strange show, very made with love, very problematically gay (for real)and incestuous (as we like it). Highly recommended to people who want a medieval experience that is both colorful and strange but also familiar…

[fideidefenswhore]

So Anne Boleyn didn't want her nephew Henry Carey at court cause he was supposedly disabled? Just like Gregory, Borman turned a good thing Anne did for her sister into a nasty thing? What evidence does she shows for Henry being disabled, or Anne not wanting him around? And for goodness' sake, isn't it strange that some historians and fiction writers seem to hate Anne (like Borman or Weir) but can't help to end up writing about her, because, let's face it, ANNE BOLEYN SELLS! They must feel so bad for always having to return return to this woman they are so eager to portray as the Worst Human Being Ever.

Literally none, and I'm not even joking. There's no citation, no additional information or details, she doesn't even name this nephew so I don't even know if it's Henry Carey to whom she's referring, or one of the Stafford children (whose existence/survival remains disputed), or even the later Elizabethan priest, George Boleyn, dean of Lichfield, who has been erroneously labeled as the son of Viscount Rochford, George Boleyn(illegitimate at times, by marriage other times), Julia Fox has argued for the likelihood he was some distant Boleyn cousin, and I'm inclined to agree. The claim is dropped into a paragraph about the perils of childbirth to contextualize Anne's own potential fears as if from the sky:

Worse still, Anne's closest female relations had suffered an unfortunate history in this respect. Her mother had lost several babies in infancy and her sister, Mary, had borne a son with mental disabilities whom Anne would not suffer to be at court. But in her favour was the fact that her health was generally considered good, and as one observer remarked, she seemed 'likely enough to bear children.' --Elizabeth's Women, Tracy Borman

So...yeah, if who she meant here was Henry Carey, I have no idea what she's talking about, A, and B, this is the sole* "factoid" she chose to mention about their relationship? Not that she had wardship of him, not that she arranged for him to receive his education from the scholar she patronized, Nicholas Bourbon, alongside Henry Norris (the younger), Henry Dudley, and the son of Nicholas Harvey, her 'strong partisan' and the husband of her great friend, Bridget Wingfield...all signs which point to Carey being in Anne's favour. I have no idea if he was ever at court, but if there's no record of him at court while Anne was queen, does it not seem more plausible to attribute this to A) how brief that time was and/or B) that his mother was banished from court due to the marriage she had made without royal permission?

I just don't...know, with Borman, really? It'd be interesting to have the unedited interview footage from BSR because I was surprised how overall sympathetic she was towards the subject, honestly. And I can't speak to the new book, I haven't read it, but the PR push for it has centered around praise of AB as an individual, as to her character.

For Weir, I mean, she received the deal to do that fictionalized serial on the six Queens of Henry VIII, of course AB had to be included. If I'm being perfectly honest, I feel like everything she has done since Lady in the Tower has had this weird self-animus pushing behind it, guilt over having further popularized a figure she hates so implacably. Her original view ("a total bitch...she alienated so many people that that must be true") has been evident in all her subsequent works and interviews; from claiming in one in 2017 that there exists a letter extant in AB's own handwriting where she orders Lady Shelton to beat her stepdaughter (there isn't), to depicting AB in her latest novel as having been so ugly and "painfully thin" naked that it was an instant boner-killer for her poorest little meow-meow.

*I believe other sections of this book are dedicated to the Careys so hopefully she expands later...I can't remember if she does. So far in my current read she has not mentioned the wardship and it was in 1528 and the book is now in 1533, so....

[believingispowerfulmagic]

Fic Advent Calendar - Day 8: Sleigh Ride

A sequel to my story from Day 4.

The festival was a success.

Pride and happiness filled Regina as she stood in the center of the park, watching as the people of Storybrooke moved around the festival. Several businesses from town had set up stations there and all were crowded - especially Granny's booth, which was selling food and other treats. Children participated in different games as did the adults, while others again skated around the rink.

It was almost perfect.

There was just one thing missing.

Her boyfriend.

Of course, the festival fell under his purview as the director of the parks and rec department. Even with his staff and the volunteers, Robin was still pulled in several different directions. She had seen him briefly when she opened the festival. He had kissed her before rushing off to check on something.

She hadn't seen him since.

"Here," Mary Margaret said, holding out a cup. "You look like you could use some hot chocolate."

"Is it spiked?" Regina asked, taking the cup. "Because I could use whiskey more."

Mary Margaret chuckled before shaking her head. "Unfortunately, no whiskey. Just chocolate and whipped cream."

Regina sighed. "I guess it will have to do for now."

"Missing Robin?" Mary Margaret asked. "I've barely seen him."

"He's running this show," Regina said. "I knew I wouldn't see him."

Mary Margaret nodded before saying: "But this is still something you want to experience with the person you love, right?"

"Yeah," Regina admitted with a sigh. She then turned to Mary Margaret. "So why aren't you with the person you love?"

"I was," Mary Margaret replied. "He's now manning the animal shelter booth for an hour and then we're going to meet up again."

Regina took a sip of the hot chocolate before asking: "So you're going to keep me company?"

Mary Margaret nodded. "We can keep each other company."

"Alright," Regina said, looping her arm with Mary Margaret's. "Let's go."

"Okay," Mary Margaret replied, laughing. "There's a vendor with some cute scarves I want to look at."

Regina nodded. "Sounds good. We can start there and make our way around."

They walked off, sipping their hot chocolate. If Regina couldn't be with Robin, at least she could enjoy the festival with her best friend.

***********************************************************************

"I think I'm going to go home," Regina said, standing from the table where she had enjoyed dinner with Mary Margaret and her husband David. "Henry is spending the night with a friend and I'm sure Robin will be here late. So I think I'll go enjoy some quiet."

"Oh," Mary Margaret said, sharing a look with David. "Are you sure about that?"

Regina nodded. "I am."

Honestly, she wasn't. She had really hoped to spend at least some time with Robin at the festival but she had to admit that wasn't happening. And so she decided a hot bath and maybe a face mask before curling under the blankets was the next best thing.

"Okay," Mary Margaret said as David looked at something on his phone. She hugged Regina. "Have a good night."

"You too," Regina replied. "See you soon."

She walked away from the food area and down the center aisle created by the placement of the vendor booths. It led right to the parking lot. And since she was the mayor, she had a VIP parking spot right at the entrance to the park. She would be on her way home soon.

As she neared the end of the vendors, she heard bells jingling nearby. They grew louder and were joined with the clip-clop of hooves. Regina stopped as a beautiful brown horse trotted past her, pulling a red sleigh with black trimmings. Sitting inside, holding the reins, was Robin.

He stopped the horses and stood, holding out his hand to her. "Milady."

"Robin," she said, surprised and wondering if she was dreaming. "What is this?"

"A sleigh," he replied. "I thought we could go for a ride."

Her mind processed that as she blinked a couple times. "A ride?"

Robin nodded. "I have a surprise for you."

"A surprise?" she asked, certain her brain had stopped working.

"Yes," he replied. "Come on. You'll love it."

She took a deep breath before grabbing his hand. He helped her into the sleigh and guided her to sit down next to him. Robin covered their legs with a blanket before smiling at her. "Here we go," he said.

He cracked the reins and the horse moved forward, following the path that would circle the festival area. Regina cuddled against Robin's side as she asked: "Where are we going?"

"You'll see," he said. "Trust me."

"Alright," she replied, resting her head on his shoulder. "I can do that."

He kissed the top of her head. "Thank you."

The horse followed the path toward a small group of trees as the sky darkened overhead. Robin whispered: "How about a little Christmas magic? Snap your fingers."

"Really?" she asked, amused.

"Yes," he said. "Go ahead."

She sighed but took off her glove. Raising her hand, she snapped her fingers.

And an enchanted Christmas forest appeared before her.

Every tree had lights on them. One tree was covered in red lights, another in blue, a third in yellow and so on. Stars rested on the very top, shining down on them as the horse walked through the enchanted grove. Fake presents rested under the trees and she spied illuminated deer decorations there as well. Instrumental Christmas music played around them, though she wasn't sure if the speaker was hidden in the trees or in the sleigh.

Or maybe it was just Christmas magic.

"This is beautiful," she whispered.

"Thank you," he said. "My team and I were able to put this together last minute. We thought people would like some sleigh rides through a winter wonderland."

She nodded, noticing two angels with horns glowing as they left the enchanted grove. "This is going to be a big hit."

He chuckled. "If your reaction is any indication, I have to agree."

"This is amazing, Robin," she told him, looking at him again. "No wonder you've been busy all day."

"Yeah," he said, sighing. "I'm sorry I haven't been around. I really hoped I could spend more time with you."

She wrapped her arm around his, leaning against him. "Me too but I understood. Doesn't mean I didn't miss you."

He rested his cheek against her head. "I missed you too."

"I wish this sleigh ride would never end," she said, noticing that they were approaching the ice skating rink at the edge of the festival. Their time together was almost over.

For now, at least.

He kissed the top of her head. "It's not over just yet," he said.

"What do you mean?" she asked, lifting her head as confusion filled her. "We're almost at the festival."

"I know," he said, guiding the horse down another path. "But we're going to take a little detour."

She frowned. "A detour?"

He nodded. "You'll see."

"Alright," she said, deciding to trust him yet again.

Robin slowed the horse to a stop by a gazebo. Its top was covered in white lights while the rest was draped in evergreen boughs and red bows. He set down the reins before standing, climbing down from the sleigh. She watched as he came around to her side, holding out his hand to her. "Milady?"

She took his hand and stepped down onto the path as she asked: "What's going on?"

"You'll see," he said, leading her to the gazebo.

"Alright," she replied, carefully walking up the steps into the main part of the gazebo.

A small table was set up in the middle. Three candles resting inside glass holders sat on the table. Roses surrounded them and her heart skipped a beat as she took in how romantic the whole scene was. She slowly turned toward Robin, tears filling her eyes when she saw him on one knee.

He took her hand, smiling. "Regina, I love you," he said.

"I love you too," she replied.

"Good to know," he replied cheekily before his expression softened. "I didn't know an offer to ice skate with you would change my life. This past year has been one of the best of my life. I can't imagine my life without you or Henry in it."

Robin put his hand in his coat pocket before pulling out a black velvet box. He opened it to reveal a ruby flanked by two small diamonds on a silver band. "Regina Mills, will you marry me?" he asked.

She nodded, swallowing as she pulled off the glove on her left hand. Regina held it out again as she said: "Yes."

"Then let's get this ring on before your hand freezes," Robin said, removing the ring and sliding it onto her ring finger. He kissed her hand before saying: "There."

"It's beautiful, Robin," she said, admiring her ring even as the cold nipped at her fingers. "I love it."

He stood, pulling her closer to him. "Henry helped pick it out."

She felt her insides melt as she imagined Robin and Henry in the jewelry store together, inspecting every ring and working together to find the perfect one for her. "That's so sweet," she said.

"I know how important he is to you," Robin said. "And we're going to become a family. It felt only right to include him.

"So, can I kiss my fiancée now?" he asked, grinning.

Her heart skipped a beat as she nodded. "Please do."

Robin leaned in, capturing her lips. Her eyes fluttered closed as she treasured the moment. She was engaged to the love of her life, her soulmate.

She couldn't ask for a better Christmas gift.

[rongrii]

*Post may update over time.

"...You all have been called here with a purpose to end everything, end to an immortality. You remained alive and dead for a while, haven't you?..."

This post is a detailed information shout my FNAF AU - Immortal Remains!

It's completely centered around remnant and ghost concept along with immorality. All actions occur in FNAF 6 pizzeria, where Henry Emily reunited people directly related to the events in the pizzerias in order to finally put an end to everything.

He couldn't just burn everything down right as everyone came, because that wouldn't fix the problems left at Freddy's. So, with all characters back, they go on different missions together, "forgetting" about grievances for the sake of a common goal.

Every character of course have their own goals and secrets they hide from each other. Even the most honest looking people hide many skeletons in their closets..

All main characters have some relation to remnant in some way.

Like William, Elizabeth and Evan being souls(ghosts if you please), and Henry and Michael immortalised by remnant.

More about the plot:

Michael found Elizabeth at sister location and recognised her quickly, so they got out from Circus Baby's pizza together. After they've reached the surface Michael found a way to free Elizabeth by destroying Circus Baby. Remnant spilled and Elizabeth was finally free in a form of a soul. Michael kept in touch with Henry, so after Mike decided to work with Emily.

Henry at this time decided to check the old Afton house for his own purposes. In the house he found Evan, left alone with nightmares. Emily took the poor child with her, and they began to live together in Henry's house. They have become close, and Evan already considers Henry part of his family.

William was locked in a safe room for 30 years and had no contact with his family. As soon as his body was transferred to the horror attraction, he woke up. As Springtrap, he lost part of his memory, but all this time he was thinking about the past, trying to remember it. When it was clear that a living animatronic was wandering around the attraction, they tried to close it, and by coincidence, William was able to get out. Being on the loose, he was found by Henry and brought into the building.

Henry needed to be brought together in such a way that everyone had the opportunity to help with Emily's goals. For this, Henry even burned Springtrap body so that he would be freed and take the form of a soul.

After the reunion, main objective for characters is to clean up after all the events in Freddy's. Free the restless souls, fix anomalies and other things characters will do together - even if they may have conflicts with each other along the way.

And here is lineup of Aftons icons!

(Still working of full character references)

This au is still in progress, and this is one of my first FNAF projects I want to continue for a long time. I will be happy to receive feedback and any suggestions you may have!

Thank you for attention!!

[merrock]

CHARACTER INFORMATION

face claim: Mason Gooding

full name: Jacob Kyrie Fields

nickname(s) / goes by: Jake

pronouns & gender: He/Him

sexuality: Bisexual

birth date: January 31, 1992

birth place: Merrock, ME

arrival to merrock: 1992 born and raised. Left 2010. (Back for holidays etc) Returned fully end of 2024.

housing: The Suburbs

occupation: Musician/Unemployed

work place: NA.

family: JD Fields, and Jasmine Fields; son, Mateo

relationship status: single

PERSONALITY

Jake is a lot of things, a blend of independence, passion, and intensity. He likes to think he has a unique, forward-thinking perspective, huge on his freedom (to a fault), and rebellious is in nature. He has an emotional intensity and impulsive energy, driving him to pursue his desires above all else. He is quite competitive, even if that's in a much more internal understanding of what it means to be competitive. Jake knows how to push the charm switch while simultaneously keeping even the closest people in his life at an arms length. He does crave deeper connection but finds that particularly hard to break into. Coupled with his need for personal freedom, that can be extra tricky. Jake's got an intensity to his aura that attracts those around him, and he can make one feel like they are the only person in the room - but just as quick, it could be like you never met at all. traits: independent, eccentric, passionate, impulsive, energetic, protective, charismatic, open-minded, detached.

WRITTEN BY: Blake (she/her), CST.

BACKGROUND / BIO

Jake was born in Merrock on January 31st, 1992. The second child to Robin and Henry Fields. Apropos there happened to be a blizzard that day, forcing an at home water birth. The joke now being fetus Jake wouldn't come kicking in this world the 'normal' way. Mother Nature playing her part right out the gate.

Growing up (until the twins of course) Jake more or less walked to the beat of his own drum — a social kid with a bit of an arrogance that hasn't gone away — never found it hard making friends, one minute wanting the center of attention the next content with sitting in a corner nose deep in a comic book. More than content when more attention was divided between all the siblings. Actually sort of a picturesque upbringing, Robin and Henry supportive in whichever avenue their kids chose. Jake played sports, soccer, football, baseball — sticking only with football (because most his friends ended up on the team) in high school.

There though, Junior year Jake found theater. And the music room where he could hone in on what really excited him. Having picked up the piano at a younger age, he found interest in learning other instruments. (Favorite being the drums) He learned guitar, bass, how to write music. Jake joined a band in high school — Henry and Robin allowing them practice out their garage in the burbs. They played all over town, for dances, festivals you name it.

Highschool is where he met and fell head over heels— to a bit of a toxic degree- lots of romantic teens first and ups and downs with Ximena Serreno. Fellow party girl, someone who indulged fully along side him in wreaking havoc around Merrock. When graduation hit in 2010— Jake was out. Truly like a movie, he was going to make it big. (Full support from the fam) Or something like it in the big city. He broke it off with Mena, grabbed his guitar and bandmates and were Manhattan bound.

Jake dove head first into the music scene, joining a new band, the og's leaving or finding new passions, he landed with a steady three eventually. Even getting a little New York indie famous. Even embarking on small tours over the years. With age comes different responsibilities and the core 3 auditioning new members over the years - making ends meet all kinds of ways. On one of his many trips back home to Merrock, as usual, had a meet up with his ex and things ensue and by April 2019 Jake had a son, Mateo.

Jake wasn't there for his birth and by the fifth year of Mateo's life he'd still never met his son. Of course a lot of discourse around this within all parties involved. And up until present day, when it was more and more clear the dreams he'd held so close and deep were no longer in the cards, life pointed him back to Merrock. For now, back in his old bedroom — Jake is finally learning to accept failure and accept responsibility.

[handeaux]

Cincinnati Barbers Of Old: Shave And A Haircut, Plus Dentistry, Surgery & Leeches

There are not many old-time barbers left in Cincinnati, probably none at all. Before you start pointing out some venerable tonsorial establishment boasting a marble counter, leather chairs, a stack of vintage magazines and a painted barber pole out front, ask just one question: Is there a jar of leeches in the front window?

Back in the day, your barber did a heck of a lot more than shaves and haircuts. Barber shops were very much like urgent care centers. The inimitable Edwin Henderson, who wrote under the penname “Conteur,” described [Enquirer, 10 July 1919] the experience of a German immigrant barber named Peter Muschler:

“In those days, many of the white barbers cupped and leeched and pulled teeth in addition to shaving and hair dressing. Muschler used as many as 6,000 leeches in a year. For several years after their arrival the broils of rival fire companies of the old schools of volunteers and of the contending factions of the ‘Brighton,’ ‘Mohawk’ and ‘Texas’ districts, and the use of fists generally in all sorts of personal differences were so frequent that leeches were in general demand all over the city.”

A generation raised on the belief that the best cure for a black eye is a bag of frozen peas probably can’t understand that paragraph. To clarify: Leeches were applied to black eyes and other bruises to drain the accumulated blood and to reduce swelling. Cupping, popular today as an alternative therapy, was practiced by barbers as a cure for fevers and general aches and pains. Minor surgical tasks such as these provided solid income at a time when, as the old knocking rhyme has it, a shave and a haircut cost two bits, or just twenty-five cents. An old-time barber told the Enquirer [19 August 1900]:

“The revenue derived from this work also provided quite a substantial amount in our pockets at the end of each week during those days. I remember that frequently I made not less than $25 cupping, bleeding and leeching while the proceeds from teeth extracted also provided a nice little sum.”

Conteur reports that barber Peter Muschler also did a fair amount of tooth pulling. When Muschler moved his shop in 1865, he disposed of a peck (about two gallons) of extracted teeth by tossing them into the furnace.

So closely were barbers associated with surgery that, according to the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine [October 2001], it was Henry VIII of England who in 1540 recognized the Worshipful Company of Barbers and Surgeons, affirming the right of barbers to perform bloodletting and tooth extraction, while prohibiting surgeons from cutting hair or trimming beards.

Of course, dealing with rowdy patients fresh from barroom brawls must have tried the patience of many a barber, no matter how royally worshipped. A Cincinnati barber named Christopher Eberle discovered this one fateful night. According to the Cincinnati Gazette [25 January 1879]:

“Wm. Nielis, a hostler living on Boal street, and James Toale, living at 434 Sycamore street, came into Dr. C.C. Eberle’s barber shop, No. 388 Broadway, about 9 o’clock last night. Toale was in a pitiable condition. Both of his eyes were closed, his face cut up and bloody, and his lips swollen so big as to prevent the man from speaking. They asked for some leeches, but when Eberle asked for his pay the couple assaulted him and made trouble all around. Eberle called in the police, who took the men to the Bremen Street Station. They fought the officers all the way to the lockup. The charges against the men are disorderly conduct, personal violence, and assault and battery.”

The connection between barbering and blood is memorialized in the traditional barber pole with its red, white and blue stripes. According to lore, the red symbolizes arteries and the blue represent veins, while the white indicates skin. It’s more likely that the stripes are a sanitized version of the ancient barber signs that showed a realistically bleeding arm. Some really old barber signs were topped by a golden bowl of the type once sued to collect blood.

Eventually, barbers got out of the surgical line. The Cincinnati Post [1 December 1927] reported on an emergency appeal for leeches to save the life of a sleeping-sickness victim in Somerville, Ohio. The physician treating the patient believed that applying leeches would keep the patient’s blood circulating until the effects of the disease had subsided. Boy Scouts in Cincinnati took up the cause and sloshed through every creek and river around the city in a fruitless quest for blood-sucking annelids. Having exhausted the natural habitats of the creatures, the scouts turned to their urban haunts.

“In Cincinnati Scouts scoured local drug stores for leeches. Late Saturday ‘ran down’ some in a small downtown barber shop, where they were kept as reminiscences of the old days when barbers also were physicians, and are still used occasionally for blackened eyes. The leeches were sent by special delivery to Somerville.”

The patient’s condition improved remarkably.

Some barbers extended their services into less bloody ministrations, according to William C. Smith in his delightful 1959 memoir, “Queen City Yesterdays”:

“Barber shops of the better class provided another service in addition to their regular vocation of shaving and haircutting. These shops displayed signs in the window reading ‘Baths Twenty-five Cents.’ The regular price for shaving was fifteen cents; for hair cutting, twenty-five cents; and tips were unknown.”

There were certainly a lot of barbers in old Cincinnati. An article in The Penny Paper (later to be known as the Cincinnati Post) [5 July 1882] provided a census broken down by the ancestry of each proprietor. According to that article, Cincinnati had 1,000 barbers, of which 795 were of German extraction, 91 were African American, 50 were Irish, 46 were “Americans by blood and birth,” five English, four Jews, four Italians, three Scots, and two Frenchmen. The city population that year was just over 225,000.

Some of these tonsorial practitioners were very curious indeed. An old-timer told the Penny Paper that he knew of an excellent barber who was totally blind but had learned his trade as his sight was failing and was renowned for his skill. There was a one-armed barber working in Covington who also had a sterling reputation.

[lilliad-dreams]

Heavy tw for child abuse, drowning, and alcohol abuse.

Writing under the cut! I've been working on this scene in my head for a long while, and while I'm unsure if I'm happy with the end product, and will probably end up rewriting this as it's just sort of the first draft, I wanted to post my first version!

Sitting in his studio, Henry was plagued by the whisper of nightmares. He couldn’t sleep, and why would he? It wasn’t like he had anything meaningful to rest up for. He could waste away around the comfort of his paintings, let the migraine settle in his head as he tried to fight the thoughts swirling in his mind.

Perhaps it was the mere ghost of it all- The distant memory that had Henry clenching his fists at his hips and his head pounding like the sound of hooves against gravel. He didn’t want to remember the horrors of that night, the humanity he’d lost in the span of hours. Did anyone apart from Henry know how the event carved at his very being?

Even with the headache- Henry found himself leaning into the softness of his own arms, slouched over on his desk, his eyes fluttering closed under the dim candlelight.. And a dream overtook him in his sleep.

“Henry! Look!” She’d yelp, pointing excitedly to the hopping amphibians on the surface of the water. Henry’s foolish naivety as it was, he hadn’t thought to do anything but shout at her. She was too close to the edge, her feet tapering at the foot of the water, her silky pink slippers anything but suited for the terrain.

“Mother told us to stay away from the water, Clara!” Henry had yelled back, boyish as he was, sitting at the center of the clearing. It was dark at this hour, and Clara had wanted to hear the frogs croak. Henry sat, bored, sitting against a insect infected log. Clouds floated overhead in the sky, and Henry could tell rain was upon them, should they remain outside.

"You haven't even looked yet, brother. Please?" The whine was shrill, and the teen stood with a groan. Look at the frogs, he told himself, and make the little one hush. Father would want them home soon, and the old man would surely bugger him straight for not keeping her away from the water.

"Clara, so help me god- If you've gotten wet," Henry bit his inner lip, stifling his anger. Clara was always being shoved into his arms. Henry adored his little sister, of course. Normally, Henry wouldn't be so sour. But he'd already had a row with his father, and it had gotten him bitter. Very bitter, indeed.

"No, Henry. I'm fine!" The eight year old fledgling crooned, extending a pale arm to him, beckoning him closer to see her precious frogs. "See them hop? See them, see them, see them?" She said hurriedly, pointing out to the lillipads. One of the little slimy things danced to it with agile precision, the motion spreading little ripples through the calm water. Henry wasn't impressed, but he watched, if only for his sister's delight. He did, after all, care about her.

He watched, if only momentarily, but his eyes were drawn to the flowers growing from the bushes by the lake. Beautiful petals, they had, as they sprung up in the ligrusht of day. Now, their colors were darkened, only illuminated by the light of the moon. Henry thought they thrived in the day, but they had another beauty to them in the night.

It was his slight distraction that led him astray, not noticing when Clara's footing slipped and she tripped into the water. Only when he heard the splash did he, panicked, look over to her. "Clara!" He'd shout, watching her in horror, but he did not move- Something within him stilled his body, and he could not bring himself to move. He willed himself to jump in after her, but he could not swim, he would only cause more trouble- Trouble, yes, is all his father thought of him. The son he didn't want, the accident. Henry gritted his teeth in his anguish, his panic overwhelming him, and he stifled the tears as he called out to his sister. "Clara! You must float!" He shouted. But she could not, her dismay overtook her, and she thrashed in the water, unable to find herself at the surface. The water was too deep for her to set foot on the ground, and she was weighed down by her clothes- She would drown.

Henry fell to his knees, watching in horror as his sister's cries were muted by the water, her head going underneath the horizon of the lake. She did not reemerge.

He did the only thing he could think to do, and he ran to his parents aid. He crashed into the house, akin to a rolling boulder with the intensity of which he ran inside, and gripped his father's arm by the cuff of his sleeve. "Father, father-"

His father held up his palm. "Calm yourself. It is unbecoming of a Granville." He would snap, peeling Henry's fingers from his cuff. "What is it, boy." His voice dripped with malice, as if he could not stand to even be near his second son.

Henry shook with the mixture of panic and unease. "Clara and I- We were by the lake- She fell in!"

His father's expression soured beyond the point of return. "You are not meant to go near the lake, Henry." He barked, a hand clasping over Henry's shoulder with a bruising grip.

"I know- I told her to stay away!" Henry retorted, and he was met with a growl.

"Do not back talk me, boy! You allowed her to fall in?" It was like a scene in a play, the way rain suddenly rammed against the windows, the way thunder pounded in the sky. It was theatrical, and dramatic- And terrifying. Henry could hear his mother creep behind his father, her hand sliding up his back, horror evident in her face. She did not stop her husband's abuse. His father took him by the collar, the rage pumping a blood vessel between his brows. Henry's brother crept from the hallway, watching silently, if for just a moment. "You allowed her to die?"

He was released, but his father's hands did not go still, and Henry was met with the harsh crack of his father's backhand against his cheek. Henry fell to the ground in a heap, the tears he'd been carefully stifling starting to fall. The boy, a mere five and ten, convulsed on the ground with his sobs, and his brother rushed to his side.

"Father! Stop this!" Randolph, ever perfect Randolph, cried out.

The old man had the audacity to rub his knuckles, as if he was the one truly plagued by the action. "Take him away, Dolph. Get him out of my sight." Yes- His father felt he was the one injured, while his son lay crouched on the ground, hiccuping and sobbing.

Randolph swallowed his pride and helped Henry to his room. "It wasn't your fault, Hen. It wasn't- Really-" Henry shook his head. As he collapsed in his bed, he could only hear his sister's cries.

He woke up then, every night, like clockwork. He'd hear the subtle click of the door closing, the sign that Randolph had left, and he'd wake- Adult in his time spent alive, but only in time, for his soul was still that scared little boy. So when he awoke, it was not the touch of Benedict's lips he felt or longed for, but the mighty backhand of his father.

He trudged along, his exhaustion akin to drunkenness, which was entirely suiting for a man who was rummaging through liquor bottles, searching for whatever was strongest. He popped the cork and took a mighty swig, the liquid gold burning on its way down. He seldom ever drank this way, it was ungentlemanlike- But when a man was at his wit's end, he did not care much about what wasn't gentlemanlike. Perhaps his eagerness to the alcohol was because he meant to drown his own guilt, because it was the truth he hid from.

That night was his fault.

He took another hefty swallow.

[awkwardsizeshifter]

Dug up more of the AU bs feat. Eve's ref since she's the main character in this AU

Anyways, the puppets in this AU are part of a now cancelled children's show (cancellation was due to supernatural things happening on the stage, film crew members getting mysteriously injured/winding up dead) which the public/showrunners collectively blamed on the puppets (although it was directly the alternates looking to cause as much death/harm as possible)

Speaking of the puppets, the puppets were created by Gabriel and O'Brien (unlike canon, these two are different people. their dynamic works like William Afton and Henry Emily from FNAF, Gabriel being William and O'Brien being Henry), though Gabriel decided the puppets had little 'soul' and...well. sent alternates to kill 4 specific victims. Rather than "replacing" their victims, however, they take the victims life force (well, in layman's terms, souls)

Cue the puppets ending up possessed by all four victims

Onto Evelin, she was hired to watch over the puppets and make sure no ill-intentioned burglars found their way into the warehouse the puppets are stored in. Of course, a few nights in and she begins to feel watched by the 14'0 ft puppets looming in the center of the warehouse. Which, come morning, has her making a mad dash to her shitty little Toyota Corolla and peeling out of there

Which only serves to make the puppets more curious about her, she's small and cute (in a platonic sense), so on the 5th night, poor girl damn near has a heart attack when there's a puppet staring at her while she's reorganizing the shelves in the warehouse, practically hovering over her

Safe to say, she leaves early, throws her flashlight at said puppet (Jonah) and dips.

She does eventually befriend the puppets, specifically Jonah and Adam. They're immediately protective of her and growly (rarely even allowing Mark and Cesar to hold her).

A few small side notes, to finish off this lengthy post

This AU takes place during 2009-2010. a little after Volume 3 and 4 but post Catalyst

Thatcher, Dave, Ruth and Sarah are the only other humans in this AU, Thatcher's the oldest at 37, Dave's 36, Ruth's 34 and Sarah's 20 in that order (all ages are just speculation, since Alex is vague as hell/lh)

The puppets are eldritch in some form, though it only really shows up if alternates are around/Evelin's being threatened

Evelin has a bastard of a supervisor, who's a one off OC named Stanley Clark. The puppets dislike him a lot and have put the fear of god into him so he'd leave Eve the hell alone

Small addition I forgot to add: Evelin's a foster kid in this AU, though she was kicked to the curb by her foster family at the time. Thankfully Dave found her, unfortunately it was a year after Mark disappeared ;w;

[henrysglock]

Something about Vecna's Left Hand 🤔

This post centers around the patterns of handedness in the NINA sequence and Creel flashbacks as it relates to Henward's bloodstains.

Honest to God, though, I'm trying my damnedest to find a good way to organize all the pictures I've annotated about this guy. I decided it was best to just go by jumpsuit, so I'm using Em's current naming system (JA-JE) for cohesion between sources. I also decided to try to narrow the main shots down to ones that include hand use, since that's what I really care about in this post (even though some others will be included for speculation purposes). I'm not diving into injuries or bodies, even if there are annotations about those topics, because those aren't super applicable in regard to this analysis.

Also, Em just posted his big jumpsuit bloodstain comparison analysis:

HERE!!!

You can find all the details about this stuff on that post.

Here are the background posts for this analysis:

Changing Vecnas

Comparison Of MF And Vecna Suits

Comparison Of Vecna/MF Suits To The 5 Known Massacre Suits

Lefty and Righty vs Henry Creel

First, a TL;DR recap:

Righty (Henry):

Righty (Suspected Henry):

Lefty (Suspected Edward):

Good? Okay, let's get started.

JA.

He's not the Vecna we see in the transformation sequence from 4.07, nor is he the one we see in the Mindflayer shaping sequence.

He's a lefty, though:

JA is associated with El's initial eye blood pattern:

But not with her second eye blood pattern:

He also seems to be the gauntest of our Henwards, especially in comparison to JC:

Which...lots to think about there, considering this:

I won't rule out the possibility of him being a Vecna, of course. He's just not the thicker one we're shown concretely by the transformation sequence in 4.07.

Anyway. Moving on.

JC.

This is our guy. This is the jumpsuit that we're told goes with our main Vecna via the transformation sequence in 4.07.

He's a lefty.

JC is also the only bloody Henward we see doing hands-free moves, interestingly enough.

His Jumpsuit matches Vec-Ward's, as seen here:

JD.

JD's only appearance is at the very end. He does not appear before El slams him through the mirror.

He isn't shown using his hands, but his jumpsuit matches the guy who shaped the Mindflayer (as seen here):

Which means we can say he is also a lefty:

JD is associated only with El's second eye blood pattern:

A Quick Recap:

JA, JC, and JD are all lefties. We have seen no right-handed Massacre-Henwards so far.

The only bloody Henward I have questions about is JE, and that is solely because his sequence is shot through a mirror, presenting a lefty as a righty.

He's holding her chin in his left hand, but the camera choice presents it as his right hand. I can't, of course, rule anything out (especially given all the "mirror/holding up a mirror" stuff with him).

At the end of the day...it is meant to be recognized as his left hand, otherwise they wouldn't show us the mirror at all. They would just cut to him using his right hand normally. So, unless I have reason to think otherwise, I'm assigning him working-lefty.

I also can't concretely assign the bloodless JB suit.

This is because his only move is the hands-free one that we see JC do in the previous shot:

For now, though, I'm also assigning him working-lefty. This is based on the direction of his head tilt, which is the same as our other known lefty:

In conclusion:

Concrete Lefties: 3

Working-Lefties: 2

Concrete Righties: 0

I won't say that we don't have Henries in this sequence, because of course I can't say that. If he is shown on screen, though...he's either JB or JE, one of our two inconclusive lefties.

However: As it stands, we do not have any concrete righties, which would be an indisputable indicator of Henry's status as a mass murderer. If they wanted it to be indisputable, they would have made it that way.