#clive dove parents

[izzaa13]

Clive’s family

[nebulousboops]

Meet Willow Dove, my own take on a "Future Flora!"

I propose that, perhaps, Clive was not the only child Constance Dove had taken in. Perhaps she had a grand daughter who was orphaned very young, before she could clearly remember having parents at all. It was just her, her grandma, and their servants in their big, beautiful manor, lonely for reasons she couldn't articulate. That is until, when Willow is ten years old, her grandma brings home a small boy. Naturally, she latches onto him immediately.

She's told this boy is three years her senior, but he still seems so... small. Scared. Something about him, whether it was how he struggled to speak above a whisper, or how he'd shudder whenever he heard something loud, or how she'd hear him crying to himself in the dead of night, made her think "Something's left you terrified. I'll make sure nothing does ever again."

So, years later, when her baby brother wants justice to rain down on the monsters that ruined his life, she's more than eager to play her part and get him the vindications he so rightly deserves.

This was in no way inspired by Franziska von Karma nor tumblr user musashi's video essay on her that I've listened to five times what are you talking about.

[ailius-suffers-through-art]

nap time 💤💤

[beezonia]

Nina, I will gladly think of this with you.

a chance (almost) encounter

adorable commission for Flower @rosescarves - always fun to do some pencil crayon work

[smile-files]

a huge theme in azran legacy (and much of the professor layton series, it seems) is that being driven by a purpose that consumes every action and every decision can make you inhuman, preventing you from forming genuine human connections with those you might otherwise be the closest with. true friends cannot be made on pretenses. only by relinquishing those external forces you've placed on yourself, thus reinventing yourself as an individual, can you truly recognize the humanity within yourself and others.

hershel recognizes how events have drawn him and bronev apart before they could ever be family: bronev has been drowning in his own cultish brainwashing and acquired ambition for too long for him to ever be hershel's father... yet hershel knows what they still have in common, and that at the end of the day, bronev can be a human like any other if he chooses to be. if bronev lets go of his purpose with targent, and perhaps even his failed purpose as a father, he might just be able to be friends with hershel.

notes below about how this theme appears throughout the series...

curious village:

the purpose of the townspeople of st mystere is to care for flora; in pursuing this purpose, they fail to truly provide her the care she needs, as she is locked away from the rest of the world with no genuine human connection

diabolical box

the purpose of anton herzen is to maintain the property and legacy of the herzen family as duke; in pursuing this purpose, anton traps himself in a poisoned prison, condemning himself to 50 years of delusion, misplaced anger, loss of identity, and utter loneliness

unwound future

the purpose of dmitri allen is to avenge claire foley; in pursuing this purpose, he lets the world be put in the same danger he was so keen on saving claire from

the purpose of clive dove is to avenge his parents; in pursuing this purpose, he completely loses sight of the love that drove him to anger, instead becoming engulfed by mindless hatred even he began to fear

last specter

the purpose of luke triton is to be the oracle, to save his town from the specter threat he feels his father complicit in; in pursuing this purpose, he isolates himself from everyone, including his father, forcing himself to be mature and self-sufficient

the purpose of tony barde is to protect his sister; in pursuing this purpose, he creates a thorny shield around her, making her believe she is hated and worthy of that hatred

the purpose of arianna barde is to quarantine herself, the calamity witch; in pursuing this purpose, she locks herself away within her illness-induced isolation, accusing those who care for her most of despising her

the new purpose of luke triton is to help professor layton, to be his apprentice; in pursuing this purpose, he casts himself as mature and daring, eager to endanger himself for the man he secretly hopes will keep him safe

miracle mask

the purpose of randall ascot is to fulfill his destiny of love and glory, discovering the secret of the mask of chaos and marrying his dear angela; in pursuing this purpose, he's willing to risk everything, and in apparently failing this purpose, he gives up on his own life and hopes hershel will take up the mantle he leaves

the purpose of henry ledore is to serve randall, the first person to ever treat him with love and humanity; in pursuing this purpose, henry becomes obsessive, mechanical, and self-destructive in searching and waiting for randall

the new purpose of randall ascot is to avenge his original purpose, which he feels was stolen by henry; in pursuing this purpose, he completely fails to recognize the undying loyalty his friends, especially henry, have for him

azran legacy

the purpose of leon bronev is to lead targent to the secrets of the azran; in pursuing this purpose, he blinds himself to the potential dangers of this discovery, a veritable apocalypse, and abandons all hope of being with his family

the purpose of descole is to get revenge on targent and the azran for destroying his family; in pursuing this purpose, he searches for the azran treasures destructively and obsessively, hurting countless people in the process

the purpose of emmy altava is to assist her uncle leon; in pursuing this purpose, she threatens and endangers the people she cares for most, and helps almost bring about the end of humanity

the purpose of aurora azran is to be the key to the azran legacy; in pursuing this purpose, she nearly brings about human extinction as a punishment she herself did not think deserved

katrielle and the millionaire's conspiracy

the purpose of ernest greeves is to avenge the apparent destruction of his family by the seven dragons; in pursuing this goal, he fails to understand this fury to be unfounded, his mother only encouraging it such that he should learn to be independent

note how for many of these, the characters are either literally inhuman (the robotic townsfolk of st mystere, the golem aurora), call themselves something inhuman (anton as vampire, luke as oracle, arianna as witch), or otherwise deem themselves inhuman (henry as servant/robot). if you think you only live for a single purpose, you lose your sense of humanity...

...and in general, these characters feel themselves isolated for this purpose, and in relinquishing it, feel the relief of finally being able to love and be loved again. that is the joy of being human! of not being born with a reason, only with the capacity to love!

[fictional-orphan-smackdown]

ROUND 4, MATCH 4!

All propaganda and what each competitor is from under the cut

Clive Dove (Professor Layton)

Lost not one, not two, but three (3) parental figures. Proceeded to grieve in the healthiest of ways, which is to say he built a full-scale replica of London underground with the ultimate goal of destroying the actual city. Also, lured a fourth parental figure in to save him from his own madness. Iconic. 💙🕊️

CLIVE DOVE CLIVE DOVE CLIVE DOVE… He’s amazing to me and I love him a lot. he tried to blow up London because his parents died. He lost his adoptive parent to old age 5 years after his parents died and used the inheritance to build an entire fake London under real London. all so he could destroy real London. he could have just shot Bill Hawks with a Gun.

I was obsessed with him as a kid, my poor little meow meow

Utena Tenjou (Revolutionary Girl Utena)

The series begins with both of her parents already having passed away, tragically, and young Utena being so filled with despair that she initially just wants to drop dead and join them. But the memory of a dashing prince figure and an important promise inspires her to keep on living, and to become a prince herself. So she proceeds to grow up, become a lesbian icon and kick the patriarchy's ass!

[101flavoursofweird]

Ernest Greeves is the complete inverse of Clive Dove

The parallels between Ernest Greeves and Clive Dove. The PARALLELS—

Clive lost his (presumably not super rich) parents and his home during the explosion at the institute.

Young Clive got adopted by Constance Dove. After Constance’s death, Clive inherited her huge fortune, along with her servants. 

Clive became obsessed with extracting revenge on those who had wronged him and murdered his unnamed parents. After high school, Clive started working for a newspaper and eventually hunted down the men responsible for the explosion. 

Clive befriended Dimitri and convinced him to resume his research on the time machine— giving Dimitri the riches, the resources (Future London, mainly) and the hope he thought he needed to save Claire. With Dimitri, he kidnapped scientists who would help construct the time machine… and Clive’s moving castle Mobile Fortress. As for Bill Hawks (who had actually profited from the deaths of Clive’s parents and went on to become Prime Minister)… Bill was kidnapped, moved to Future London, and his heart was hooked up to the Mobile Fortress. Quite ironic, as Clive doubted Bill even has a heart.

But getting revenge against the scientists wasn’t enough for Clive. He believed that the only way to enact change— to make those fools in power take notice— was through large-scale havoc. He seems to sympathise with the ‘little people’, whose lives have been ruined in the name of progress, but he was happy to stamp out even more lives if it meant rooting out the corruption and rebuilding London from the ground up.

Clive’s goal to bring the Mobile Fortress to fruition— to the surface of London— actually kind of succeeded, but he didn’t succeed in destroying corruption as a whole in London. Bill Hawks was still prime minister by the end of the game. (Hopefully NwoS will rectify this by announcing Bill’s resignation!)

Deep down inside, Clive wanted Professor Layton to save him from his madness (as Layton did ten years ago). While he was playing the part of Future Luke— Layton’s bright and faithful apprentice— Clive  even started enjoying their time together in Future London. 

Still, Clive was arrested by the police at the end of PL3. He may have been a victim of a ruthless political agenda ten years ago, but Clive himself no doubt made a lot of victims with his Mobile Fortress. PL3 knows this. The game is so well written (outside of Flora) and Clive is such a well-written, sympathetic villain. 

LMJ and the anime’s more serious plotlines are… not so well written, but that doesn’t mean it’s all bad! I bring Ernest Greeves to the stand!

Ernest Greeves wanted so badly to be like Clive Dove. It’s kind of hilarious when you put them side by side. You have this scheming, devilish manipulator— the true mastermind of PL3, who flattened a good chunk of London— and then you have… Katrielle Layton’s besotted, hapless assistant.

Miles Richmond (RICHMOND - LMJ is not subtle) came from a ridiculously wealthy family. He, his unnamed mother and his grandfather (MAXIMILIAN RICHMOND) lived in a freaking CASTLE and the family might have owned a mining company(?), as his grandfather discovered a mountain full of diamonds. However, Grandpa Richmond had lots of debts. Rather than pay off his personal debts— as Bill Hawks no doubt would have done— Grandpa Richmond decided that the money from the diamonds should go towards (re)developing London following the destruction left by the Mobile Fortress over ten years ago. Yes that’s a headcanon. Please take my headcanons connecting LMJ to the wider PL universe.

Grandpa Richmond left his wealth in the hands of the Seven Dragons of London. They spent the money on important things for the public like entertainment, finance, transport, mayoral duties, education, justice and mansions animal welfare.

This was a noble, generous decision from Grandpa Richmond that benefited London as a whole… but it sucked for his family! After Grandpa died, Miles and his mother were left destitute. After Miles’ mother also died of illness, Miles was left with nothing in the world. No family, no money, no servants. He went from a young heir, to a struggling orphan— Ernest Greeves. 

Ernest was able to get into university with his favourite professor as a mentor… only to be accused of a crime he didn’t commit by said-mentor. Thankfully, Katrielle Layton confirmed Ernest’s innocence. Following that, Ernest decided to become her assistant*, whether Kat needed him or not.

For years, Miles researched the legend surrounding his family’s missing diamonds. Finally— some time after meeting Kat and the Seven Dragons— Ernest discovered the truth about his family’s missing diamonds. 

*As it’s established in the anime, Ernest recognised the Dragons after working on their cases as Kat’s assistant. I don’t believe Ernest became close with Kat just so he could get revenge against them. While he did involve Kat in his ‘game’ at Richmond Court, Ernest didn’t manipulate Kat from their first meeting as part of his revenge plot. Maybe, secretly, Ernest hoped she or her father could help uncover the conspiracy surrounding his family, but other than that, vengeance wasn’t Ernest’s driving motive in becoming Kat’s assistant or her friend. 

It’s not like how Clive donned his Future Luke disguise to trick Professor Layton and Co. Ernest just… genuinely likes Kat. He adores her. Yes, he can go overboard with his affections, but after he’s had such a lonely, unlucky life, it’s not surprising. He’s grateful that Kat cleared his name and he wants to repay her as much as he can.

Unfortunately, this coincided with Ernest’s need to get revenge against the Dragons, but Kat saw right through his plot. Ernest is really, really bad at being a manipulative villain.

Sure, Ernest threatened the ruin the Dragons finally. Sure, he imprisoned them in a room at Richmond Court and threatened to flatten them unless they revealed the truth about the diamonds, but Ernest put himself in that same room. They came very close to being flattened— to the point where they were all lying on the floor— but do you really think Ernest would have flattened himself along with them? REALLY? The same boy who cries at the wedding of his university professor’s daughter? IDK The professor who almost got him arrested? Nah.

When Kat reveals Ernest’s true identity and his plan, he doesn’t run off with a hostage like Clive did. He doesn’t unleash a giant robot from under the castle. Ernest gives Kat a resigned smiles and says: ‘You never disappoint, Miss Layton’. He’s not disappointed that Kat found him out. He knows how foolish his whole plan was… but he did it because he wanted to keep the promise to his mother. He promised his mother he would investigate their family’s missing diamonds and get revenge if someone had stolen them. He wanted the diamond thieves to admit this for themselves.

Turns out… it all one big misunderstanding in the end. Grandpa Richmond was the one who told the Dragons to take the diamonds for the betterment of London. (Again, why Grandpa couldn’t have saved a little money for his poor family, I don’t know—)

In the LMJ game, Madame Doublee says that they’ve been looking for Miles for years, but in the anime, the Dragons apologise for keeping quiet and not telling him when he was younger… because that’s what his mother wanted? Ernest’s mother chose to keep the truth from her weak son— even when she was dying… because that would give Ernest the determination to keep on living…? I don’t entirely understand her motivations, but then again, I also don’t understand Arthur Cantabella or Baron Reinhold’s motivations, so I’ll let Ernest’s mother off. It’s a silly anime and Ernest is kind silly character… but I do think he’s one of the best written characters.

And honestly? In a series where a lot of the male characters (yes, even HERSHEL and LUKE) just do not respect the wishes of female characters, it’s nice how much Ernest respects Kat. Yes, ok, he lied to her about who he was… but in the end, when he’s all set to leave, Kat clearly wants him to stay. So he stays as her assistant.

[couldinfinitytrainhavesavedthem]

[crazycuties]

PROPAGANDA BELOW THE CUT

Pinky: One of two lab rats, Pinky is certainly not the brightest bulb in the box. He acts rather silly, which annoys his fellow lab rat, The Brain (Not much was submitted for him, sorry)

Clive Dove: His parents were killed by an explosion due to a failed time machine when he was younger. He, reasonably, decides to build a large, fake future London underneath real London to confuse a local archeology professor and his apprentice (who he pretends to be from the future) and kidnaps the prime minister of London (who worked on the time machine) to get revenge on him. After he was discovered, he tries to destroy London (Not a lot was submitted for him, sorry)

[nebulousboops]

@ tod stands for "at time of death" I just didn't wanna write it out

Various headcanons about Clive's family. I think that they didn't want Clive to feel excluded from his peers like they did so they gave him the most british name imaginable

[ailius-suffers-through-art]

ehehehe ok so hear me out.... Penpals AU featuring Concerned Parental Figure™ Clive and Luke "I'm 11 and have watched my friend die in front of my eyes" Triton ( drawn in-game on the memo-pad for extra ✨flair✨)

(captions:)

Luke writing a letter: Dear Clive, Idk who you are but here's something cool!

Clive reacting to the letter: ?? Why did I get this

((pictured: recap of curious village events and diabolical box feat. Luke screaming in the background))

Luke writing: But it's fine since he (Anton) ended up turning into a Grandpa

((pictured: Anton and Katia hugging with caption "FAM HUG!" above))

So it all ended up alright in the end!

The best, your friend Luke.

Clive reacting to the letter: Jesus, kid.... Be careful

At least he's ok..

(end)

[alto-tenure]

Clive for the hc ask game??👀👉👈

Headcanon A:  realistic

Clive, while he appreciates Constance, never actually called her Mum or anything -- she was always "Lady Dove" to him. He loved her, but he was also thirteen, and she never really insisted that he call her Mum, so it never happened.

Headcanon B: while it may not be realistic it is hilarious

Clive has a secret love of "trashy" romance novels. You know the type.

Headcanon C: heart-crushing and awful, but fun to inflict on friends

Clive lost a lot of his friends after The Incident. He was a different person in his grief, and that pushed a lot of the friends he had made at school and such away.

Headcanon D: unrealistic, but I will disregard canon about it because I reject canon reality and substitute my own.

While canon says that Chinatown was built because actual-Layton is fond of Chinese architecture and would theoretically set up a base in a Chinatown, I choose to say that it wasn't the only reason -- underground London is partially a memorial for Clive's parents. He's 3/4 Chinese. Besides adding Chinatown to his underground London, he also learned Mandarin Chinese, and is fairly fluent in it.

[ragecndybars]

Top five poor little meow meows, any medium but limit it to one per series or you're just gonna talk about Akihiko five times

this ask is a landmine. and i'm about to step on it.

Anthy Himemiya. Hashtag Anthy Did Nothing Wrong. Everything she did is retroactively morally correct purely because it was her who did it. True, she has a bodycount of, at an absolute minimum, 100 students who burned to death + Mikage himself + Kanae, but have you considered: she is terminally in middle school. Using magic illusions and or hallucinations to drive Mikage to mass murder and eventual death? They hate to see a girlboss winning. That last episode and her whole, uh, thing with Utena? God forbid women do anything. The way she fucks with Nanami, too, simply because of the Recognition of the Self through the Other (derogatory). ALSO IS SHE MIKI AND KOZUE'S STEP MOTHER OR WAS THAT A METAPHOR. ANSWER ME IKUHARA. Not that it actually matters bc she was just having a category five girl moment. Get your princess witch dichotomy out of here she's my special little meow meow and she deserves to travel the world with Chuchu and Utena while Akio rots underground <3

Edelgard von Hresvelg. Sorry but nothing need be said here. Other ppl have said it all already. Black Eagles 4 Lyfe.

Chidori Yoshino. Yes, she was party to multiple murders. No, there was no real goal or justification beyond money. Yes, she was utterly indifferent to the blood on her hands. No, she never really changed her mind about that or ever came to understand why standing idly by and letting Takaya murder people who she helped track down was bad, nor did anyone ever really try to explain it to her. Yes, she kind of just said "whatever man" and went off to have her own character arc completely divorced from the murder. No, I do not care. She is my precious little angel she didn't deserve anything that happened to her she needs all the love and understanding in the world.

Clive Dove. MFW I'm traumatized and orphaned as a child and the man responsible not only faces no consequences but even becomes Prime Minister and so I build an entire fake future London underground beneath the real London and conspire with a man who created an actual real functional time machine to trick some people and kidnap the prime minister and smuggle him away and make a fake evil future version of the guy who comforted me after my parents died and then pose as the future version of his apprentice to get close to him and kidnap his daughter also at one point and really just let everything get out of hand up until the point I get caught and hop into an enormous mechanical fortress and pop out through the ground slash ceiling of my fake future london to start smashing the shit out of the real london all the while the woman who literally travelled through time is like damn i'm dying and now my bf and i cant even have a nice last date. Anyway Clive is peak and he should have faced zero consequences for this. But Bill Hawks needs to die ASAP.

Leonard Church. The misogynist of all time. He loved his wife who he constantly referred to as a horrid bitch so much. He loved his daughter who he neglected and emotionally abused by comparing her to the impossible standard of her dead mother soooo much. He loved himself so fucking little that he tortured himself to create an AI out of himself and then he tortured the AI to try to create a new version of his wife out of his own memories. The neglect and emotional abuse of his daughter is continuing in a big way throughout this tbh. Then he accidentally tortures his AI self too much to the point where AI him loses his memory and his fake-ass AI wife who despises him now for what he did has to kidnap him from himself and now he's just back to being a huge asshole who calls his wife a horrid bitch all the time. And then he can eventually develop a conscience and start to remember more and more (and cause irreversible trauma and brain damage to wash at one point in there oops) and then even though he still doesn't remember her, he can team up with his daughter to track down his original, human self to stop him from continuously committing war crimes and human rights violations in his efforts to resurrect his wife. and he can finally put his wife who he calls a bitch to rest. I'm not gonna say I love you... I'm gonna say... I forget you. I'm letting you go. And then he can die pathetically as a human while his better AI version sticks around with his daughter who he still doesn't really remember for a while until he eventually has to sacrifice himself as well. And ain't that just a bitch.

[smile-files]

obviously, clive resembles luke, which is why he was able to pretend to be his older self... but golly, the parallels are crazy...

i recall layton saying that the explosion happened before luke was even born, and that it was 10 years before the present, and here you have clive pretending to be luke 10 years after the present, making clive almost directly "future luke". and clive, given how much he looks like luke now, must've looked even more like luke when he was a child, when he'd been clutching onto layton in the streets looking for his parents - and given that 10-year divergence, clive must've been around 10 at the time, the same age as luke when layton met him. and i forget the details of the last specter (when layton met luke), but wasn't luke's father missing for part of that game, similar to clive's parents? (i don't remember what's up with his mother lol.) it's like deja vu... same age, same face, same outfit, same problem... two little boys in blue missing their parents... clive was adopted by the kindly constance dove, who became his mother, only for time to separate them - while luke has been under the care of the kindly hershel layton, who effectively serves as his father, and time is going to separate them too...

and as it is, despite neither dimitri nor clive truly being the future layton or luke respectively, dimitri at the very least represents a dark path layton could've gone down: out of grief over claire, he could've gone to extreme, terrible lengths. so what of luke? is clive his dark path? perhaps, though i don't know (and/or remember) enough about luke's backstory to say how...

[fictional-orphan-smackdown]

ROUND 3, MATCH 7!

All propaganda and what each competitor is from under the cut

Oliver (Oliver & Company)

I feel like I might have propagandized in the prev question a bit. I don't have much to say other than I still cry during that opening scene, seeing him be abandoned and then no one rescuing him?? Like come ON, look at himmmmmm! I would have in a heartbeat. (I also had a beloved orange cat, Rosie, at the time, so ofc I would have lol) Anyway, I still haven't read Oliver Twist, where I believe OG Oliver might be the more qualified orphan? But I grew up with O&C, it's a beloved favorite of mine, I still love the soundtrack to this day, idc if other people didn't care for it or outright hated it. The nostalgia is inescapable. I am the Rosa Diaz B99 meme: "I've only had [Oliver (& Co)] for a day and a half, but if anything happened to him, I would kill everyone in this room and then myself." He's my silly lil guy, he's an orphan, he deserves to be in at least round one lol.

Clive Dove (Professor Layton)

Lost not one, not two, but three (3) parental figures. Proceeded to grieve in the healthiest of ways, which is to say he built a full-scale replica of London underground with the ultimate goal of destroying the actual city. Also, lured a fourth parental figure in to save him from his own madness. Iconic. 💙🕊️

CLIVE DOVE CLIVE DOVE CLIVE DOVE… He’s amazing to me and I love him a lot. he tried to blow up London because his parents died. He lost his adoptive parent to old age 5 years after his parents died and used the inheritance to build an entire fake London under real London. all so he could destroy real London. he could have just shot Bill Hawks with a Gun.

I was obsessed with him as a kid, my poor little meow meow

[honey-0tu]

Brits Against Hawks AU

ALRIGHT!! SO!!!!!

I’ve talked off @theminiartblog ’s ear about this au (pls pls check out her amazing Flora AU pls) and I have three drabbles and an 80+ page fic in my google docs about this au but I have only explained it in scattered discord dms to one person who knows layton and two people who have the misfortune of being great listeners despite knowing jack about lost/unwound future

Also this is very much an AU rather than, like, my opinion on what actually happened in canon.

OKAY NOW TO GET INTO IT, major lost/unwound future spoilers under the cut!

I always found it. odd. how there were all these people in the Underground London yet we don't get an explanation for the presence of anyone other than the scientists and organizers? I like to believe that Hawks’ actions pissed off way more people than just Clive and during his time as a reporter, he found more and more people who had been wronged by him in one way or another. There were 10 people killed in that explosion, if we take off Claire and Clive’s parents, that still leaves 7 other people whose deaths were covered up. Layton was hospitalized for his investigation, I would hazard a guess that not everyone who has investigated Hawks managed to do so and walk away with their lives. Not every future London resident was connected to that accident but it’s hardly a stretch to think that Hawks pissed off people in other ways. He was backed by a corporate sponsor so I could see him sabotaging businesses so his corporate sponsor could add new branches to their businesses and so on.

Now, it would be significantly harder to find a bunch of people who were super chill with the idea of tearing up London from the ground upwards. But with more people comes more money and connections so I believe the group as a whole bought up the area which was above the cavern where future London sat so no civilians would be harmed by the mobile fortress. Dimitri still didn’t know anything about it since he was one of the people who they were getting revenge on, Clive had planned to have Dimitri take the fall for the possession of weapons in the research lab but Clive always planned to take responsibility for his side of things as he is the only one in the group with the resources for the consequences of it, he didn’t want that falling on an average civilian.

Now it gets a little tricky because since I handwaved casualties and added accomplices, it starts to look like Clive is acting as a martyr but. well. no. He still destroyed an area of London which will be hell to rebuild and he kidnapped the prime minister, throwing the country into turmoil. He’s well aware of what he’s doing even if he believes it to be right, he knows there’s no 110% guarantee the evacuation will go perfectly, he knows there’s a chance people will die and the blood will be on his hands.

Now, going back to the residents of future London, Becky was my favorite as a kid and still is my favorite NPC so I put her in the role of Clive’s actual partner and accomplice since Dimitri was just a pawn both in this AU and in canon tbh. I think her levels of refusing to take nonsense and getting straight to the point would balance out Clive well, keep him from going a bit too self-sacrificial or elaborate. She wants to get revenge on Hawks originally for ruining her family’s business of several generations but that motivation grows stronger when she discovers people have died because of him. However, she wants everyone to get out of this as unscathed as possible.

Besides some of the people around his age who could be old classmates and former Dove family staff, he found most of the residents during his time as a reporter. He tried to use his position to find other victims of Hawks so they could work together to pool their evidence together but it kept failing. These repeated wasted efforts to hold Hawks accountable in a legal manner are what led to the desperation which fueled the construction of Future London.

Ok so they’re getting ready for the big 'show', maybe half a year before Lost Future happens, and Clive starts to wonder if he’s going too far. Cue Dimitri’s plan to bring Hershel into the story. There’s no great way to write this but basically Clive starts to wonder if he can gaslight Hershel into realizing what’s going on and helping him and the residents find another way to hold Hawks accountable publicly without causing mass panic. The Thames Arm reveal happens and Clive gives up on hoping the professor will help. Ending of Lost Future ensues.

After the events of Lost Future, Hawks is first arrested on embezzlement or something along those lines while Chelmey and Barton search for evidence from 10 years ago. The professor and Clive were a great help with that, as the professor remembered enough that he could fill in blanks from Clive’s gathered evidence and corroborate it.

Dimitri is arrested along with Clive, they’re the only people from Future London who are arrested, Clive always intended to make sure the rest of the group weren’t caught or found out. A handful of them came forward to lighten Clive’s sentence and Clive’s lawyer was able to keep them from receiving any sentences because their involvement was limited to stuff which weren’t crimes. The rest of the residents worked on assisting the professor with gathering evidence on Hawks. 

Now Clive’s mask is gone, he cannot be left in a room with Dimitri without them arguing and bickering lol Clive always thought Dimitri’s motivation was stupid and hated the idea of a time machine but he had to pretend Dimitri was valid but now he gets to complain at him so now he’s a pain in Dimitri’s butt

Now there’s a gaping hole in London, Clive (under unpaid community service during his prison sentence) and a handful of other construction workers from Future London (under actual paid employment from the city) build an area called Undertown in the space where Future London was (there’s an underground city in the Wandering Castle book so there’s some other canon precedent for the idea!)

That’s all I’ve got for this post but I’ll make a tag to compile future posts under for this!