#it feels like each of these changes could support their own fic. AUGH

[meat-loving-meat]

Sometimes I’ll start feeling self-conscious about all the changes to canon events that I’m making in my nuclear weapons AU and then I

[gumnut-logic]

When the World Goes Boom (Part 8B)

Here is the rest of Part 8. This fic definitely has a life of its own. I was seriously stuck this morning but with a pile of help from Bri, I managed to get writing again. So much for a quick fic for Alan’s birthday on 12 March. It is a matter of an hour before 12 April at the moment and every brother has his finger in the pie now ::sigh:: I hope you enjoy whatever this is ::hugs::

Spoilers & Warnings: Spoilers for season three, angst, hurt/comfort, brothers and family, 4007 words.

Many thanks to @scribbles97​​ @onereyofstarlight​​​ and @i-am-chidorixblossom​​ for putting up with my crazy and reading this at random moments. Also the extra plot help from @onereyofstarlight​ when I was all wibbly and stuck earlier today ::hugs you all::

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six | Part 7A | Part 7B | Part 7C | Part 8A | Part 8B

-o-o-o-

Jeff continued to stroke his eldest son’s back, ever aware of the tense muscles there. Those shoulders supported so much. So much he should have been here for.

Scott’s head rested on the edge of Virgil’s bed. His breathing was quiet, but his face held a frown, even in sleep. Jeff hadn’t missed the grey hairs at Scott’s temples, or the worry lines faintly creasing his forehead. The last eight years had been the worst in Jeff’s life, but the worst of it was what he had done to his sons.

Scott’s fingers lay intertwined with Virgil’s.

He couldn’t think too hard about Virgil. Dark hair, pale bruised skin, white sheets.

Life support machinery.

If he thought too hard, he would lose it.

From the moment he had stepped foot on Thunderbird Two in the depths of space, Virgil had been there, hovering and worrying.

His engineer, medic, musical and artistic son.

One hand on Scott’s back, Jeff reached out his other and lay it gently on Virgil’s leg.

Please.

He closed his eyes.

Only to fling them open again as the door was thrown open. A doctor and nurse burst into the room, urgency in their expressions. Jeremy and Brie followed them in.

The room was suddenly crowded.

Jeff pushed himself to his feet, both hands suddenly signalling quiet. Scott’s sleep was precious.

Both of the medical professionals eyed the sleeping pilot. The doctor’s lips thinned, but her voice was quiet as she spoke. “Mr Tracy, we’ve identified the drug that your son was attacked with. We have an antidote. We would like your permission to administer it.”

The woman was virtually bouncing.

Jeff’s eyes darted to Jeremy. The security guard nodded just once.

Oh, thank god.

He turned back to the doctor. “You have it.”

“Thank you.” The woman moved over to Virgil and began running a series of obs. “Mr Tracy, according to your son’s medical records, he has a medication sensitivity.”

Jeff nodded.

The doctor fiddled with Virgil’s IV. “The dosage currently in his blood stream is a large dose, but a man of his size should not have reacted in the way he has. Consequently, we have minimised the antidote and will increase the dose if necessary. The last thing we want to do is overdose him on another drug.”

Jeff nodded again mutely.

Scott shifted where he sat and Jeff reached out to resume the circles on his son’s back. The nurse glanced at their interaction, but Jeff ignored her.

The doctor administered a hypodermic to the IV and took a step back.

The room fell silent and the tension climbed.

“How soon?” The words fell from his lips unbidden.

“Response times vary, but we should see a change very soon.”

As she said it, the heart monitor beeped quietly several times in a row and he watched as his son’s heart beat flickered a moment before switching from stimulated to self-sustained.

He sucked in a breath.

Virgil’s heart rhythm held strong, the pattern regular and a wonderful sight.

Oh, thank god.

It wasn’t everything, but it was a step in the right direction. Jeff’s sight blurred.

“Mr Tracy?” The doctor’s voice was gentle. “We will be monitoring Virgil’s progress closely, but you should know that the prognosis is good. The antidote is a proven foil for the drug your son was attacked with and your son received excellent first aid.” A glance in Jeremy’s direction. “The prognosis is good.” Her lips curved in a small encouraging smile.

Jeff straightened his spine. “Yes, yes, thank you, Doctor Harris.”

She held his eyes a moment longer before backing up a little and gathering her equipment. A glance and the two medical professionals slipped out of the room.

Jeremy stayed.

Jeff’s eyes flickered to the man.

A worried frown as he stared down at his gravely ill charge.

“Thank you, Jeremy.” Jeff’s voice was rough. “You saved his life.”

The man swallowed and continued to stare at Virgil. “Shouldn’t have had to.”

Jeff had no answer to that. His soul was baked dry. He had no comfort left.

Instead he sat down again beside Scott, a hand falling gently to each of his sons.

He would call his mother shortly. His sons.

The heart monitor’s quiet beep echoed his own heart as if it was keeping him alive.

He waited.

-o-o-o-

Gordon found John on the roof exactly as Eos had told him, Tane standing beside him. What she hadn’t told him was what his astronaut brother was doing.

Still wearing his tan-coloured gravity support shirt...and people claimed Gordon had a bad taste in clothing, John took the cake...his red-haired brother’s head was buried in guts of the hospital’s communication satellite dish.

“John, what are you doing?”

His tall brother startled and whacked his head on an overhead metal bar. “Ah! Gordon?”

“Sorry.” But Gordon wasn’t feeling too gracious at the moment. “What are you doing?”

“Tracing communications.” He pulled out his tablet and tapped it repeatedly. “Eos needs a little more bandwidth than this ancient piece of tech can provide. I’m providing it.” Red brows frowned at his tablet screen. “I haven’t been able to identify how our suspect was receiving information.”

“You reckon this will help.”

More taps of his fingers. “Definitely.”

The big question. “Authorised?”

Turquoise flickered in his direction. Hmm, obviously not.

“Scott?”

“With Virgil...injured...command is left to me.”

“What about Dad?” It was a question that had to be asked.

John didn’t look at him, continuing to stab his tablet. “Dad authorised GDF access to our files. Virgil was almost killed within hours. I don’t believe he has the knowledge required in this instance.”

“It was Dad?” Gordon’s shoulders tensed.

With that John did straighten up. A sigh. “My fault. I didn’t give him the information he needed to make the correct decision.”

“But he knows of our history with the GDF, the spy?”

John turned away, but shook his head.

“What? Johnny, he needs to know.”

“I told him and he didn’t give it the credit it was due.”

Gordon frowned. “When?”

“The day Virgil was injured.”

“What? That recently?”

“It was just...he isn’t long out of recovery and we thought a gradual re-introduction to International Rescue was warranted. I was forced to tell him without preparation and I didn’t have time to follow it up with a situational report. Aunt Val was demanding information and Dad made the decision.” His brother turned back to the dish and dove in head first again.

“So, what are we going to do?” Gordon was sure he knew the answer. John wasn’t one to beat around the bush. The astronaut, if anything, was direct and to the point.

“We…” His brother emerged and grabbed his tablet again. “…are going to find who did this to our family and…prevent…them from hurting us any further.”

Gordon held his brother’s gaze. There was so much unsaid in those eyes. Calm though John appeared, he was anything but, and while Gordon might scream at the nearest target, John would simply act.

Lips thinned, Gordon straightened his shoulders. “Count me in.”

-o-o-o-

Someone was stroking his cheek.

Sensation.

Followed by pain.

He groaned.

His throat screamed at him.

“C’mon, honey, I know you’re in there.” The stroking continued and he became vaguely aware of someone holding his hand.

“Virgil, c’mon, bro, you can do it.”

He frowned and found his face aching almost as much as his chest and throat.

Another groan.

Ow, shit.

“Virgil?”

Dad. That was Dad. They had found Dad and he was safe and home and, thank, god.

“Open your eyes, Virgil.”

Scott.

His big brother.

Augh, his face hurt.

“Hurts.”

Shit, that was his voice? He coughed and everything flared up in pain.

The hand on his cheek moved to his hair, fingers combing through it. “Virgil, dear, let us see those gorgeous eyes of yours.”

Hurts.

But he was always one to do what his grandmother asked of him.

He found his eyelids and forced them open.

They dropped immediately, the blur and the glare, harsh and painful.

“Shut off the lights, please Jeff.”

His eyelids grew dark and he relaxed a little. Sleep would be nice.

“No, Virgil, you need to wake up, dear.”

Don’t want to. Tired.

“I know it is hard, but open your eyes for us.”

He gave it another go and the darkness became a dim blur. He blinked and the blur sharpened into his family.

Grandma stood beside his head and was the one responsible for the hand in his hair. Scott sat beside her and was holding Virgil’s hand. Allie was on his own bed and at an angle to the bed Virgil was lying on so he could see clearly. Blue eyes sparkled and grinned at him. “Virgil!”

Allie.

Allie was being attacked.

“Al-an!”

“No, you stay put, young man.” His grandmother was holding his shoulder. “Alan is safe. You saved him. He is safe.”

Safe.

Allie was safe.

Oh, thank god. Memories flickered in and out and his right hand clenched.

And screamed at him.

The sound that issued from his throat wasn’t remotely English, but it said everything he felt.

And there was Dad, worried grey eyes staring down at him. “Dad…”

A hand gripped his leg gently. “You’re safe, Virgil.”

“Alan…”

“I’m here, bro, thanks to you.”

Thanks to him. Memories swirled again as his arm throbbed in complaint at the movement. His eyes closed involuntarily and he found he had no strength to open them again.

-o-o-o-

Scott’s vision blurred as Virgil slipped back into sleep and he had to blink his eyes to clear it. His fingers spasmed just a little tighter around his brother’s hand, ever grateful for the warmth there.

“He needs his rest.” Grandma reached an arm around Scott’s shoulders and squeezed gently. “He’s going to be okay, Scotty.”

All eyes in the room immediately turned to him and he swallowed. His voice failed him, but he sat straighter.

“Now I want you back in bed. You’ve been sitting here for hours and you have your own recovery to consider.”

“Yes, Grandma.” He didn’t have the energy to protest. Virgil was going to get better.

His eyes didn’t leave the bruises on his brother’s pale face.

“C’mon, honey.” She helped him to his feet and he stumbled, turning and reaching for his bed. “You need rest almost as much as Virgil. Sleep is the only thing that is going to fix your head, so give it all it needs.”

“Yes, Grandma.” The bed felt lovely to roll into as gravity took its pressure off his weary body. Sitting hunched in a chair for hours wasn’t good for anything.

He rolled onto his side so he could see Virgil.

But he wanted to see Alan as well. His little brother was having a rather intense discussion with their father as to whether he needed more sleep.

“But Dad, I’ve been asleep for ages.”

“You need rest, Alan.”

“I am resting!”

“Alan.” Scott’s voice cut across the room. “Do as you are told.”

Blue eyes glared at him for a moment before dissolving into a more familiar pout.

Their father frowned at Scott.

“Dad? Can we leave Alan over there? Allie, can you stay there?” He wanted to keep his two injured brothers in sight.

Alan’s eyes narrowed. “So, you can keep an eye on me.”

“Yes, for that very reason. Do as you are told, Alan.” But the message was there, he could see the vulnerability in his little brother’s eyes.

“Fine. But only because I want to be able to see Virgil as well and if I’m stuck in the corner, I can’t see beyond your big head.”

“Alan.” Their father’s voice was full of warning.

“He’s bossing me around, Dad!”

“Because apparently you need it. Now, I’ve asked you to rest and so has Scott. Do I need to wake up Virgil and get him to nag you as well or should your grandmother come over here?”

Alan opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

Wow, Dad. Scott just stared.

Alan may be an adult, but he was still technically a teenager and every now and again he regressed.

Said teenager glared and with an exaggerated pout, curled up in the bed on his uninjured side. Their father reached over and squeezed an ankle. “Rest, son. You’ll feel better for it.”

Alan’s expression just grew grumpier.

“Virgil is getting better.”

And that hit the nail on the head. Alan relaxed just a little bit more and the frown lessened. Another squeeze of his son’s ankle and their father pushed the bed gently into dock on the other side of the room, opposite from Virgil’s bed. Alan stared at his sleeping brother, still attached to monitors and multiple IVs.

“He’s getting better.”

Dad’s voice was reassurance itself.

Grandma, who had obviously elected to stay out of it, brushed Scott’s hair off his face. “Go to sleep, Scotty. You need it.”

A sudden thought. “What about John and Gordon?”

She snorted. “You let your father and I worry about the vigilante brothers. You worry about yourself.”

Vigilante? “What?”

His grandmother sighed. “Relax, Scott.” She began stroking his hair.

He couldn’t remember the last time he combed his hair. He probably looked awful.

But that one word stuck in his head.

Vigilante.

What the hell were his brothers up to?

-o-o-o-

Gordon had to admit that having Eos on the team was a great advantage despite the situations that resulted.

He could almost hear Virgil’s snort at that comment, followed by the inevitable ‘situations you create, Gordon’.

God, he missed his brother.

But Virgil was improving. His dad had been adamant and Gordon clung to that. Apparently, he had even woken briefly. He wished he had been there, but this was important.

Tin walked beside him, her pace one he had to keep up with. She was not happy. But then neither was Gordon.

Using the wider bandwidth John had jimmied into the system, Eos had been able to swoop into the network and gather information much faster. She dove straight through protected systems like a phantom. Or so John described the process. How she did it, Gordon did not have a clue, but he was ever so grateful she could.

She was able to crunch all the communications data that had occurred in and around the building for the entire time the Tracys had been resident. It had been a massive task, but one she was uniquely suited to. The majority was civilian comms traffic hooking into the hospital network due to the communications restrictions around medical equipment, but there was a small portion that was GDF flagged. None of that had appeared suspicious, but John as particularly interested in the traffic around the time Aunt Val had been in the building.

One anomaly had been found.

Aunt Val entered the hospital with Foster and two aides.

She left with Foster and only one aide.

Tracking down what had become of the second aide had proven difficult. Hallway security cameras located Foster speaking to the missing aide and that aide leaving the corridor outside the Tracys’ hospital room, but from there the aide vanished.

She did not exist the building.

Both John and Gordon agreed that it was likely this person was the person who attacked Alan and Virgil.

The question was did Aunt Val know?

“I’ve called in Jack Dunning. We may need a lawyer to keep Virgil’s attacker out of the hands of the GDF.” Tin’s voice was matter of fact, but underneath he could hear the boiling pot of anger she was keeping under control.

Gordon grunted. His anger was much closer to the surface. It was cold and it made him sharper. The perpetrator – his mind spat the word – was currently being held by New Zealand police, but Aunt Val was moving for global extradition due to the Tracys being the Tracys.

They couldn’t let that happen.

John had called the elevator down and taken off for Five. He wanted to be hands on hunting down the details of the explosion, even if that called for shifting Five into an orbital path contradictory to GDF directives.

If there was a way to discover what had actually happened up there to injure their brothers, John would find it.

Ignoring the GDF was quite liberating.

Until they found out.

Jack Dunning was good. Gordon hoped they didn’t have to find out how good.

Aunt Val had retreated to the local GDF base after his ‘words’. So, this time he had to go to her for a meeting.

Iz hovered as they crossed the gardens at the entrance to the building.

It was always amusing to flip out his International Rescue ID. The expressions on the face of security was always worth it and these guys were no different. Yep, there was the surprise, followed by the starstruck expression.

“Thank you for your service, sir.”

Gordon blinked. Wow, a devotee. He nodded once. “You’re welcome. We’re here to see Colonel Casey.”

The guard was still staring at his ID. “Gordon Tracy…so you fly Thunderbird Two?”

Blink. “Sometimes.” He wasn’t in the mood to elaborate.

“Aw, great. Thunderbird Two is the coolest Thunderbird.”

Gordon’s flat-eyed stare at that comment got a confused reaction.

“Excuse me, we are in a hurry.” Tin’s cold voice cut across the silent conversation. “Colonel Casey’s office?”

The guard jumped and hurried to lead them where they needed to go.

The colonel lacked her usual smile when they entered and Gordon wondered how many bridges he had permanently burnt.

At this point he didn’t care.

“Kayo, Gordon, what can I do for you?” Her tone was cool and curt and she eyed Iz as she slunk in behind them.

Tin didn’t waste one moment, deploying an electronic security net with one hand. The subtle hum was unnerving, but it created a bubble around them that secured all transmissions in and out of the room and blocked all audio-visual equipment.

Casey eyed the gadget, but didn’t comment as Tin slapped it down on her desk.

“Colonel, we would like your assistance in identifying this person.” Tin’s phone flickered up a hologram of the missing aide.

They had already identified the woman as Brede Williams, a New Zealand born GDF administrative aide. John had even located her address in Auckland. Eos had infiltrated the apartment block and found her room’s electronics undisturbed, including the locks, for several days.

John feared for her safety.

The perpetrator in custody was definitely not Brede Williams.

The colonel eyed the hologram with an arched eyebrow. “That is Corporal Brede Williams, one of my executive assistants.”

Tin didn’t react. “When did you last see her?”

“She called in ill a few days ago and has been on personal leave since.”

Tin took a step forward, her entire body whip sharp with potential energy. “Colonel, when was the last time you saw her.”

Aunt Val blinked and frowned. “She was with me at the hospital, but had to leave due to a family…what are you implying?”

Tin switched the view to the incriminating scene where Captain Foster spoke to the woman outside the Tracy’s hospital room. They watched as she walked off.

“She never left the hospital.”

Aunt Val’s mouth was open but nothing was coming out.

Gordon took the opportunity to state the obvious. “We believe she wasn’t who she appeared to be. That she was in fact the person who attacked Alan and Virgil.” He drew in a breath. “You brought a killer into the hospital and Virgil nearly died.”

The strict military officer he expected to turn around and rip him a new one melted in front of him. Aunt Val sat down hard on her desk chair, shock on her face.

Still nothing came out of her mouth.

Gordon was caught between distress at the devastation in her expression and anger that she had been so easily fooled.

“We advised you that you had a spy in your ranks quite some time ago. What has been done to identify the person or persons responsible?” Tin was sharp and no nonsense.

Aunt Val found her voice, but it was uncharacteristically uncertain. “I reported the issue to my superiors. There was some shuffling of staff and I was assured the problem had been negated.”

“Assured.” The word fell from Gordon’s lips with a snarl.

Dark eyes glared up at Gordon. “I had no reason to disbelieve the assertion.”

“Colonel, you were once disposed by those superiors and an infiltrator replaced you. The result of those actions nearly cost us Thunderbird Two and several innocent lives at Saad Madina. Yet you’re telling me that you trust them?”

She stared up at Gordon and some of the more familiar steel returned to her expression. “Not all of us have the luxury of complete trust, Lieutenant. As you should well know.”

His eyes narrowed at the barb obviously referring to his past in WASP and the end of that career. He ignored it. “You can trust family, Colonel.”

She stood up slowly. “Easy when you have choice.”

“There is always a choice.” A huff of exasperation. “C’mon, Aunt Val, dump this outfit and come work with us.”

Brown eyes flickered with the briefest of fondness and his heart clenched.

“You know I can’t do that, Gordon.”

“Why not?”

“I can do more here.”

“The system is corrupt!”

“And it is one person less corrupt as long as I’m here to fight it! Do you think International Rescue would last very long without me here, Lieutenant? I stay for Lucille, for her family, for you and for the smallest chance that I can do some good and prevent this damned organisation from taking the world with it!”

It was Gordon’s turn to have his mouth drop open and nothing come out of it.

The anguish returned to his aunt’s face. “I’m sorry Virgil…I didn’t think we were that vulnerable. I thought my office was secure. Please, I would never want to hurt any of you. How is he?” The plea was an honest one.

It was Tin who answered. “An antidote has been found and he is recovering slowly.”

“Oh, thank god.” The woman wilted. “Scott and Alan?”

“Also recovering.”

Alan might have nightmares for the rest of his life, but Gordon kept that to himself.

Tin straightened. “We believe Alan was the target of the attack. Virgil got in the way.”

Aunt Val frowned. “They think he remembers something.”

A single nod was all Tin was willing to give her.

“So, if you find who was responsible for the explosion, you’ll find who ordered the attack.”

“That is the plan.” A considered gaze. “We need everything you have on the incident.” Tin threw a drive onto the desk.

The colonel eyed them a moment before reaching down and picking up the drive with the IR logo wrapped around its edges and plugging it into her terminal. A flick of her fingers, a breath, and she unplugged it again. “It’s not much, but if there is a mole in my staff, the data may not be comprehensive.”

“We are aware of that.” Tin slipped the drive back into her pocket. “Thank you for your assistance.” She turned to leave and Gordon took a step to follow.

“Gordon. Kayo. Be careful.” She knew they weren’t going to play by the rules, he could see it in her eyes. “And give my love to your family…and my sincerest apologies.”

Gordon found he couldn’t answer. The Colonel he could yell at, but Aunt Val had always been a part of his life, a cherished reminder of the mother they had lost.

Tin answered for him. “Yes, Colonel.”

The use of her rank struck hard and her shoulders bowed just a little.

Gordon said nothing. He grabbed the electronic net and turning, followed Tin out the door.

It hurt, but GDF and International Rescue relations could never be the same.

-o-o-o-

End Part Eight

[the-canine-king]

i answered all 50 questions in that oc question post

note: i'm only talking about the ones i made lol i was gonna link them all the character’s names to their profiles but that shit’s way too much work so: https://toyhou.se/CanineKing/characters/folder:all/tags:1/tagged:Original

1. Your first OC ever? hmm, there's probably two answers 1) an unnamed character who was basically a fantasy dressed fox kemono boy. do you remember playing a game as a kid where you look out the window in a car and you imagine someone doing sick parkour beside your car? he was the character i imagined (there was also a whole other story i dreamt up where i was some long lost princess from other world and he was gonna save me from this one but that's a whole other thing) he's technically a character i thought of but never thought of anything beyond that, i don't think i ever drew him either 2) 4 (maybe 5) characters i made in middle school where it was about these characters that come from families that can bend one particular element, and they're all friends on school trying to get used to their passed down powers and also be basically kid superheroes. i drew them out and gave them names, but i never wrote anything beyond that, but they were definitely ones that i would call my first actual written ocs 2. Do you have a personal favourite among your OCs? -looks at ace, eliott, and mel- no 3. Have you ever adopted a character or gotten a character from someone else? yup! before i wasn't so big on the adopt thing, but i turned into a fan w/ collecting designs and writing a lil story for them! i adopted 38 characters, and one other that's currently still in the process of trade :P (and unfortunately trying to purge some away) 4. A character you rarely talk about? unfortunately that'd be a lot of characters bc i'm super focused on drawing ace/ mel smooching for the 548787th time 5. If you could make only one of your OCs popular/known, who would it be? i'd probably make it eliott bc who else doesn't love a cute, shy, goat boy on the internet 6. Two OCs of yours that look alike despite not being related? ...... i can't think of any lmao 7. Are your OCs part of any story or stories? i literally only make ocs to make stories so 8. Do you RP as any of your OCs? If you do, introduce one of your RP OCs here! nah i can't do rp stuff :'D 9. Would you ever be willing to give any of your OCs to someone else? honestly, not really if i made them lol but i guess i can if i'm not attatched to them and such, so if i just made a design and offered them up then yeah i can trade them (unless i love their design lol) 10. Introduce an OC with a complicated design? even thought i haven't fully drawn my plans for his outfit, azazel would be the most complicated in my standards 11. Is there any OC of yours you could describe as a “sunshine”? me personally, i'd say eliott bc that baby boy is trying his best story wise, either thorne or lucas (but totally lucas since thorne is a liar at heart) 12. Name an OC that isn’t yours but who you like a lot TOO MANY AUGH the very first oc i fell in love with but was forever homes was like a fantasy setting character that was an adventurer and had eagle legs/ other features w/ banging colours but other than that too many others 13. Do you have any troublemaker OCs? again, a lot, i guess. bc they mostly fall into that trope? aiden (even though he's trying to be a better person), damien, eve, hugh (in a way), jack, ollie, ricky, roman, and wyatt 14. Introduce an OC with a tragic backstory uhhhh, hard to choose, i don't have any more bc i haven't written their backstories yet lol - growing up as a theif his whole life to support him and his mother, accidentally kills someone after an awakening of powers and is had to run from his hometown - growing up being shadowed over and forced to be someone that they're not, only to get their hubris get to them, causing themselves and others get hurt and can't even remember the person they loved - growing up w/ betrayal after betrayal she closed herself off, but they met someone and slowly opened up and accidentally fell in love w/ them, only later getting caught and fell from grce, then only to find the person they trusted before not remember them - after being caught on what seemed to be a fatal accident, gets rescured from a miraculous surgery, but he's slowly forgetting what he looks like and who he was every passing second - two people close to each other, only to end up w/ betrayal and lies 15. Do you like to talk about your OCs with other people? absolutely but if they ask me something i haven't planned yet i'm just "UHHH" 16. Which one of your OCs would be the best at biology (school subject)? 17. Any OC OTPs? nah ace/ mel is my notp :/ anyways if it's couples in general then: - ace/ mel - lucas/ darla - kaiko/ caspian - + a bunch of the parents in the monster family story - damon/ ollie (okay i'm really not planning for them to be together, but they cute u.u) - jebediah/ demon boyfriend - gunther/ harem - nadiya/ her girlfriend which i still haven't decided if i want her to be like a princess or a traveling swordsman of sorts) - the chimera girl i designed/ her human girlfriend - the fallen god/ mercenary 18. Any OC crackships? uhh i actually don't know :V anyone of the people listed  being w/ someone else would be a crackship? idk every other pairing i know i wouldn't like lol 19. Introduce an OC that means a lot to you (and explain why) i guess eliott! i guess also catherine, ricky, comet, and/ or captain since they were my fist group of ocs i wrote a bit about, but i think eliott means a lot more bc he was the one that got me thinking more about ocs  :> 20. Do any of your OCs sing? If they sing, care to share more details (headcanon voice, what kind of songs they like etc)? for some reason i feel like rosa would be a singer? va hc would be someone w/ a strong husky voice and she would probably sing really well in kind of old slow songs you hear in old bars i also thought maybe lillie could sing too, but they’d usually be softer songs or lullabies to calm herself down it’d be nice/ cool to write for fallen god to be able to sing as well, and maybe the mercenary too so they can have nights signing together. maybe fallen god can sing songs that are in their own god language or whatever, and mercenary can watch in awe there may be others but i can’t think of them rn/ they might be charas i haven’t fully made yet 21. Your most artistic OC lmao it’s a bunch of ocs that i haven’t developed my ocs enough for me to know so let’s skip i guess 22. Is there any OC of yours people tend to mischaracterize? If yes, how? i mean, people get some stuff wrong about my ocs sometimes but they’re usually so small that i really don’t care about it lol 23. Introduce OC that has changed from your first idea concerning what the character would be like? hmm they relatively stayed the same personality wise but i assure you everyone’s changed from their initial drawing of them 24. If you could meet one OC of yours, who would it be and why? that's. a really hard choice actually lol bc i wanna be hugged by one of the parents in the monster family story i made, but i also wanna hang out w/ the characters that i can comfortably hang out w/ lol 25. The OC that resembles you the most (same hobby, height, shared like/dislike for something etc?) everyone’s got a bit of shared piece of themselves w/ their ocs don’t they? 26. Have you ever had to change your OC’s design or something else about them against your will? against my will? i can’t think of anything that i changed against my will so no :V 27. Any OCs that were inspired by a certain song? the only two i can come up rn are: alistair (devil wears a suit and tie) and rosa (o, raven) 28. Your most dangerous OC? i guess the chimera girl i made since she’s trying to fit in the modern life? i mean i still haven’t thought of her story yet but i know she Angery 29. Which one of your OCs would go investigate an abandoned house at night without telling anyone they’re going? ace, aiden, maybe keaton 30. Which one of your OCs would most likely have a secret stuffed animal collection? mel, eva, roy 31. Pick one OC of yours and explain what their tumblr blog would be like (what they reblog, layout, anything really) eliott: landscape stuff, muted colours, mystical content here and there ace: default theme, memes, probably has a side blog that’s more of an aesthetic blog mel: super aesthetic blog, romance themed 32. Which one of your OCs would be the most suitable horror game protagonist and why? literally anyone in the renegade group i could’ve said anyone in the hunters group but they’re all fucking idiots (lee would be more closer to the renegade’s level tho) 33. Your shyest OC? eliott, roy, audrey, fallen god 34. Do you have any twin characters? i literally want to design twin ocs just to have twin ocs jdshfkjsdf 35. Any sibling characters? audrey, dylan, and elle + eve and juno + ace and jack 36. Do you have OC pairs where the other part belongs to someone else (siblings, lovers, friends etc)? nah not really lol 37. Introduce an OC who is not quite human ?? i barely have human characters in the first place, unless this one means humanoid :V 38. Which one of your OCs would be the best dancer? iiiii can’t think of anyone other than the two parents i thought of that i’m planning to be dance teachers lmao 39. Introduce any character you want i haven’t drawn them yet but fallen god and mercenary are two unnamed characters that i recently started thinking of where fallen god falls from the heavens and looses their sight, and the merc runs from their past meet and they team up together w/ the merc being fallen god’s eyes and the fallen go being their protector 40. Any fond memories linked to your characters? Feel free to share! i guess it;s just sentimental ones like, first ocs, first compliments, first art/ fic of them, etc. 41. Has anyone drawn fanart of your OCs? If yes, maybe show a picture or two here (remember sources & permissions!) YEAH AND EVERYONE DRAWS THEM CUTER THAN I DO (well i mean these were from freebies, art trades/ games, and gifts but still) please check out ace’s other’s art gallery and eliott’s other’s art gallery, bc they have the most of them (bc i ask for them a lot lol) 42. Which one of your OCs would be the most interested in Greek gods? whoever in middle school age i guess 43. Do you have any certain type when you create your OCs? Do you tend to favour some certain traits or looks? It’s time to confess big n beefy, jokesters, heart of gold 44. Something you like about your OCs in general that i made them all (well of course not the adopted kids) 45. A character you no longer use? everyone every time i don’t focus on their story anymore than i used to ;;;; 46. Has anyone ever told you that you treat your OCs badly? fortunately no, and i hope no one does and it’d stop to others bc wow that’s rude as hell 47. Has anyone ever (friendly) claimed any of your OCs as their child? okay literally the first time i made eliott, everyone i knew wanted to adopt him as their kid lol 48. OC who is a perfect cinnamon roll, too good for this world, too pure eliott, parker, elle (i love all of them tho :’D) 49. Which one of your OCs would most likely enjoy memes ace, roman, ricky, aiden, dylan, eva, ollie 50. Give me the good ol’ OC talk here. Talk about anything you want i love all of my babes okay good night

[scarlettlawyer]

Part 7 of my reaction/commentary to the Phantoms & Mirages fanfic series by @renegadewangs

(Chasing Phantoms): Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 

(Haunted Specters): Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

Going into Vanquishing Mirages, I’d first like to comment on the title. To the uninitiated, those unfamiliar with the story and the characters, the title can seem pretty vague. Indeed, I’d taken the title to be akin to referring to/describing an abstract concept at first glance when I was not in-the-know, and it’s only upon getting up to the fic that it’s suddenly like “Oh. It’s literal. It’s meant to be taken literally.” The same can be said for the title of the overall series, “Phantoms and Mirages”, which I have already commented on. I’d always thought it was a nice play wherein there are two similar words, but one is referring to a concrete, actual character whereas the other is only for the abstract concept. Only to find out, no, they’re BOTH words that refer to concrete, actual characters. It feels kinda cool how suddenly the title fully “reveals” itself like this and takes shape, but only once you’re far enough into the story.

The transition from Chasing Phantoms to Haunted Specters is one wherein it absolutely feels like you’re starting a brand new story in a series after finishing the first one, not least because of the timeskip. Things are also mostly wrapped up by the end of Chasing Phantoms except for some loose ends. But they stand out as two very separate stories, or separated stories, albeit of course still existing within the same series with many running threads between the two. But as I finished Haunted Specters and began Vanquishing Mirages, I barely took note that I was finishing one fic and starting a new one, as the transition and connection from one to the next felt so seamless. It simply felt like I was continuing to read an ongoing story. This is also aided by how well and truly hooked and onboard I was at that point – I barely took note that the transition was one fic to another as opposed to one chapter to another, because my primary priority was just clicking through to keep on reading! I don’t think I really paused reading at all. I just headed straight from one into the next.

Vanquishing Mirages, Chapter 1

Oh, it’s already so good. It’s already so good. Hitting the ground running.

The way you connect/contrast flashbacks/scenes taking place at different points is. Masterful. For some reason, I hadn’t actually remembered the first two scenes of the fic as being shown one after the other. More phantom hypocrisy, more phantom hypocrisy! Augh. I feel bad for Mirage.

Vanquishing Mirages, Chapter 2

“Hey… Will you still recognize me? After they change my face? After they change it a hundred times over and we run into each other in the street, but you won’t know what I look like… Will you still know it’s me?”

HER SAYING THIS ACTUALLY MAKES ME SO SAD IN A SENTIMENTAL WAY.

Okay, I also love the narrative noting how Mirage’s laugh ALSO stirs Gumshoe somewhat. Because of COURSE it would. Aaaaah.

His mission as Bobby Fulbright was on a need to know basis and the only one who needed to know was he himself.

HMMM! Interesting. I hate that Dual Destinies is kinda… A little unclear on this front. Also. It was so great to see a flashback to the phantom as Bobby in the Dual Destinies timeframe, too.

Okay. Okay. And the thing about these flashbacks is just. The phantom making Mirage laugh. As a consistent running thread. He can always make her laugh. And that’s a consistent running thread that’s shown for good reason! I mean, granted, making Mirage laugh is really, really easy, so it’s no surprise that she basically laughs in pretty much every scene she’s shown in – and these are phantom flashbacks. But STILLLL

PHOENIX’S REACTION TO KNOWING FRANZISKA IS PROSECUTING IS SO GREAT

“You know what’ll help? Running a quick lap around the block!” An excited grin washed over Athena’s face. She slammed a hand down on the table and pushed herself to her feet. “Here, I’ll come with you for support! Vámonos!”

“Hang on, what about dinner?” Phoenix asked. “How long do we have until it’s done?” “Three, maybe four minutes.” “That’s plenty of time! C’mon, Bobby! I’ll race you!”

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH BECAUSE THIS IS JUST, PEAK ATHENA. How is this not a canon exchange. PLUS I just love the mental image of Bobby and Athena racing around the block together because it just feels so them? I never knew I needed this before!! But yesss just let them run together ahaah! The image of it just makes me so inexplicably happy.

HOHOHO PHOENIX PICKING UP LOCKS ON THE MAGATAMA IS SO SO GOOD AHAAAA. GOTTEM

And this scene was intriguing for me simply because the narrative, as it has done so very consistently throughout the course of the series, follows Simon’s POV perspective. Of COURSE it does. Phoenix is a marginal character at best in this series. But it’s just really cool to read because Phoenix is just about the most central character in the ace attorney series, the one whose perspective we see from the most. And yet here, in this scene where the magatama reacts, we are seeing it – him – from the outside. Simon, naturally, is sceptical of the magatama whereas we, the readers, already know that it’s dead-on. As I read through the exchange that Simon and Phoenix have with each other over it… it was so easy to imagine myself holding the DS in my hands, playing through this scene in an ace attorney game AS Phoenix, being on the other side of the exchange and watching Simon deny it and say that the magatama was faulty, and knowing just as much as Phoenix does that he’s wrong. Things like this almost feel like a Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead type deal, where the “plot” and the “main characters” – at least if you are going from how the main games classify it – casually wander in on and interact with the “other characters” every now and then before wandering out of the picture again and leaving them to it – the “other characters” being, in this series, the ones whose perspectives we have been sticking with the entire time, when it almost feels like Phoenix should still be at the centre simply because of how normalised that is in the game series.

It makes me think that if you were to construct an Ace Attorney game (or rather, case?) around the plot of Vanquishing Mirages, it would – obviously – just look so dramatically different, even if the exact same stuff is happening, we’d be Phoenix interacting with the others. Instead of actually getting Simon’s POV as the narrative gives us, the player would have to rely on Phoenix’s interactions with characters like Bobby and Simon to piece together what is going on with them. You could still set up the main kind of plot and demonstrate the, for example, internal conflicts Simon is having, but you’d be getting the information much more “secondhand” – through Phoenix, as is usually the case in the games. It goes to show that you can tell the same story from so many different perspectives, and even in main ace attorney games there is so much else going on that the player obviously never gets to see. You can take a marginal character and just show how much is going on behind the scenes when Phoenix’s plot isn’t intersecting with theirs. But yes, this scene truly made me feel like we were in the midst of an ongoing Ace Attorney game, yet as an outsider – only getting the “side-character” POV through Simon.

Vanquishing Mirages, Chapter 3

yet he was willing to put that paranoia aside for the sake of Bobby’s emotional health. Why was that not the same as caring?

I’m STILL thinking real deep about this whole scene, daaaaamn. You really have the ability to inspire – to make someone really think with your writing.

THE ENTIRE SCENE WHERE SIMON AND FRANZISKA MEET IS

Perfection.

AND I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S… WE’RE ONLY ON CHAPTER THREE??? WE’RE ONLY ON CHAPTER 3 AND EVERY CHAPTER SO FAR ALREADY FEELS ICONIC IN ITS OWN RIGHT. I guess this is a result of me not paying too much attention that this was a separate fic because SOMEHOW this scene just felt like it came later on. Probably because it’s just so damn good it feels like it gets “built up” to or we have to “wait” a bit for it, but no, no, we are only on chapter 3 and already the blessed readers get to receive such an absolute TREAT.

Vanquishing Mirages, Chapter 4

“Ahh, Fräulein von Karma. How nice to see you again. Or perhaps I should say… Es tut mir gut Ihren süsses lächeln wieder zu sehen.” “Halt deine freche schnauze!” Von Karma barked. There was another loud whip crack and a cry of pain before she stormed off.

I love this exchange very, very much because it still works and adds something to the moment regardless of whether the reader understands German or not.

For those who don’t understand German like myself, the brevity of the exchange and the contextual clues are enough to give a clear picture of the gist of what the exchange contained even though we don’t know exactly what it was, so the overall understanding of the scene is not impacted in any way – and it’s not difficult to make use of the internet to find out an exact translation if we want to.

However, this exchange also kinda feels like it says, “if you don’t know German, stuff you. Get good. Deal with it.” And like… as a non-German speaker I 100% respect that. German speakers can read through this seamlessly. But if I want to know the exact translation, I need to interrupt the reading experience however briefly to look it up for myself. Otherwise, it’s just like standing in the scene in reality, wherein whether or not you understand exactly what gets said depends on the reader, personally. It feels so natural that this – language switch/exchange would happen as it does.

There’s many details I enjoy of the Prosecutor Lobby scene that I won’t go into them all. But wow, everything, with the introduction of Franziska and all these other characters brought into the margins of the narrative, makes the narrative feel like it’s seriously ramped up a notch in build-up to the trial.

Vanquishing Mirages, Chapter 5

The brunet looked irritable and kept sending frowns towards his two colleagues, who were both stubbornly ignoring him. Simon suspected it had to do with them being unable to tell Apollo about the true nature of the trial, leaving him to believe that they would genuinely wish to defend the Phantom.

I can’t imagine how the conversation would have gone when Apollo initially found out…

“Anyway…” The judge slammed his gavel down once to call for everyone’s attention. “Court is now in session for the trial of the international spy known as the Ghost.”

AHAHAHA LOVE THIS. A+ Judge. He Would

“Objection!” called a hoarse voice.

PHANTOM OBJECTING PHANTOM OBJECTING PHANTOM OBJ

Okay. In all honesty. I absolutely love the phantom’s objection just getting steamrolled over. Him being so very patronised. By EVERYONE. Yesssss.

It was Lang who interjected next. Lang, who placed a firm hand on the defendant’s shoulder to shove him back into his seat. “I’m afraid so, Your Honor. Like a starving, dehydrated mutt, he could almost be called delirious at this point. Why, just earlier this morning, he attempted to take responsibility for the death of Mr. Presley, also known as The King. He claimed it was a political assassination.” “That is a lie,” the Phantom snarled loudly. He was ignored.

THIS is so unbelievably fun/funny to me, I’m sorry. I don’t know how much we’re SUPPOSED to be amused by it, but I just take way too much enjoyment from the phantom’s situation in this particular scene ahahaha.

Prior to this, through Bobby, the narrative sets up the whole “it’s not right to use the phantom against his will like this.” He had given his consent for it previously. That consent has clearly been revoked. And there is that sense of “:/” about the situation prior to this that Bobby is feeling. BUT. That’s isn’t the primary lens I viewed this particular scene through. I was instead moreso inclined to just cackle evilly at my fave. THE ELECTROCUTION THAT HAPPENS AFTER IS SUPER HARSH THOUGH.

Lang’s words and behaviour just refuse to take him seriously – intentionally set up to strip the phantom from the ability to be taken seriously by anyone else. ROBBING him further of any power he could possibly still have at this point.

Haunted Specters essentially saying “the phantom = Bobby and Simon’s child” is patronising in the best way. This is also patronising, in-universe this time! And it’s just the best!!! Yes!!!!

The phantom just being shut down at every opportunity is something I love way too much. get rekt

The phantom: I AM A DANGEROUS CRIMINAL I AM GUILTY-

Just about everyone else/the narrative to an extent: aww sure you are, sure you are hon. How cute. Little darling simply doesn’t know what he’s saying. Must be a little cranky. You know how little ones can be sometimes.

It’s a sucky and harsh situation but. I guess I’m kinda awful in just wanting to see him suffer up to a certain point.

Apollo Justice looked almost satisfied.

YES YES YEEEEES I LOVED THIS LITTLE LINE, this detail thrown in. HAHA YES. AND THE CONTRAST OF HIS REACTION WITH EVERYONE ELSE’S TOO.

Because there’s actually at least one more line to this effect: love all the references to Apollo NOT being happy with this situation.

By her side, Ambassador Palaeno looked shaken. He kept wringing his hands in a nervous manner. Even more behavior that struck Simon as odd. Why did this turn of events bother the man so?

OKAY FIRST OF ALL, the CONSTANT references to Palaeno’s suspiciousness through Simon’s POV were SO great, and I was like, “Hahahah Simon it’s ok, he’s just Like That. It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

BUT THEN THE NARRATIVE SEEMED TO FOCUS ON HIM SO MUCH??? To a suspicious extent. More than necessary beyond merely highlighting “haha he’s so unnecessarily suspicious to Simon.” And YES it’s because it’s Simon’s POV and Simon would be taking note a lot of this Very Odd Fellow but the constant references back to Palaeno’s shiftiness had me narrowing my eyes and going, “Okay, okay, hold up. WHAT’S going on here. There might actually be something to this. Simon possibly might be onto something.”

The suggestion that Palaeno is perhaps “stricken by guilt over something” made me think that, obviously he is not TRULY guilty of anything serious, and is obviously a nice and well-meaning man, but perhaps through his well-meaningness he might have had a hand in accidentally causing something bad and it’s just beginning to fully dawn on him. I was thinking perhaps the narrative wanted to pull a deliberate doubletwist on us – Simon thinks the man is obviously suspicious and perhaps guilty of something. The reader knows that Simon’s suspicions aren’t true, and knowing Palaeno better see him as completely innocent and as Simon just misreading him. But the narrative could totally dupe the audience very effectively, if it wanted, if Simon on some level turned out to be right. But in such a manner that still manages to preserve Palaeno’s true character. Or hey. It’s fanfiction. If it really wanted there could be a sudden “LOL Palaeno turns out to actually be bad” twist snkldsnlsdlnj

Vanquishing Mirages, Chapter 6

“Yes! Yes, that is exactly what happened!” the Phantom called, seemingly awakened from his stupor. Lang silenced him with another electric jolt- if one could call that silencing. It caused another hoarse cry of pain, after which the Phantom fell from his chair with a bang that resounded through the courtroom.

BOOOI U DESPERATE…

“No!” The spy jumped to his feet, slamming his hands down on the wooden rail before him. His eyes were wide, but even so, they twitched. He looked absolutely frantic. Whatever was inside that envelope, it was enough to rouse him from his state of defeat and send him hurtling into alarm. “As you can see, the defendant recognizes this piece of evidence. I ask that the court keeps this in consideration,” Selestia remarked. “I… No, I…” The Phantom seemed disoriented for a moment. As if he wasn’t sure what to say or do. It didn’t matter. He’d already betrayed himself by raising his voice.

CONGRATULATIONS YOU PLAYED YOURSELF PHANTOM

Lang and Fulbright both grabbed him to push him back into his seat, but he continued to stare up at Belvedere with wide eyes.

AAAAAAH MIRAGE… LOOK AT HIM JUST LOOK… YOU’RE REALLY ABOUT TO DO THIS TO HIM HUH

“You’re in no position to offer any sort of advice, Phantom. You’re in no position to do anything but follow the orders I give you. Now be a good boy and stand still for a moment.”

NOW BE A GOOD BOY AND- AAAAH

“You need to understand your place in this world. You aren’t a human being, you’re a heartless monster who needs to be locked away for everyone’s good.”

AAAAAAAAAH. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH. SO NEEDLESS TO SAY – AS THIS IS JUST PRIOR TO THE REVEAL – I DIDN’T PICK UP ON THE DOUBLEMEANING OF THIS THE FIRST TIME AROUND?

The Phantom leaned forward, once again placing both hands on the rail before him. His head was bowed, a curtain of jagged blond hiding part of his face. “Don’t. If you have even the slightest shred of decency… The slightest shred of honor… Don’t give that to them.” “Please let it also be noted that the defendant is pleading for me not to show this piece of evidence, adding further truth to the notion that the results indeed involve him, thereby further increasing their relevancy,” Selestia remarked in a rather dry tone of voice.

KINDA HATE MIRAGE. KINDA HATE MIRAGE. WHICH IS, WHEW. I LOVED HER SO MUCH I THOUGHT SHE WAS SO GREAT AND THEN SHE JUST.

AND THE DSKJHF PHANTOM APPEALING TO DECENCY AND HONOUR I just. He’s got nothing left he’s desperately appealing to senses that he does not possess. That everyone knows he does not possess. That he KNOWS everyone knows he does not possess. BUT HE’S DOING IT ANYWAY.

“I will repeat my earlier warning. Once you divulge the information regarding this sociopath’s DNA results, he will attempt to silence you, as well as everyone else who hears it,” Selestia said. She brushed her hair aside one last time and this time, Simon could see it. The trace of a smile, hidden just behind her hand.

MIRAGE WHY ARE YOU MAKING ME KINDA HATE YOU RIGHT NOW. I KNOW it’s fun to watch & make the phantom squirm but aaaaaaaa

All eyes were on him, now. Even Franziska leaned sideways to glance over his shoulder as he tore the envelope open. He could hear the Phantom calling out to him. His voice was desperate, almost hysterical, leaving no doubt that these DNA results were genuine.

Wh- h-

Simon: ok cool [just casually rips it open like this]

“… As per your request, I can hereby confirm it without a doubt. The DNA of the sample provided was proven to be a match with that of Alexander Luster and the late Zerene Luster-Palaeno.”

The characters:

Me, for the most part:

HONIN’ IN ON THAT LITTLE DETAIL LIKE HELLO WHAT

Amazing. Amazing. The – Palaeno and the phantom both have blonde hair. And… And…

Palaeno seems incredibly guilty, but is innocent. The phantom IS incredibly guilty, but in Dual Destinies, “Bobby” is just about the last person you’d suspect.

Vanquishing Mirages, Chapter 7

“You gave me your WORD, Simon Blackquill! You gave me your word that you would DESTROY IT! I’ll get you for this! I’ll make you PAY!”

Buddy. If I were Simon Blackquill in this moment. Chains, interpol agents detaining him, EVERYTHING aside. I would fear for my life to some extent.

Six degrees of separation. A theory that any two individuals could be connected through at most five acquaintances. That everyone was intertwined in one way or another. After all that’d occurred, Simon found that theory must have some basis of truth in it.

Love this phrasing, of bringing the “six degrees of separation” into this… Despite how far-out any of this seemed, this, through the prose and Simon processing it like this, once again just made it feel so grounded.

I was reeling so much… ya made the phantom related to Palaeno… A minor ace attorney character in a totally separate game… You did it… You did that.

Oh gosh, and as the paragraphs outline just how interconnected everyone is… it’s beautiful. I adore it. Well and truly demonstrating the delicately intertwined nature of everyone. Combining both the canon of the games and the canon of this fic series wonderfully to form these intricate webs.

I feel that it was a bold choice to make the phantom’s real name “Lex Luster”. The very same name that we’ve already been applying to the other character. You could have easily given the phantom a distinct name to keep some kind of a distinction there, but you decided to stick to the same one. This “bold choice” aspect moreso comes into play for me during Lifting Spirits, as at first it caused quite a bit of whiplash for me to start associating the name “Lex Luster” with this newly EXTREMELY emotional man as opposed to the super dislikable villain Lex Luster Sr that got killed off. We’re not up to there in the story yet though hahaha.

LANG’S COMMENT WITH THE VOUCHERS IS SO AWESOMELY CRUDE AHAHA. The reactions of the others just absolutely make it.

Indeed, after what happened in the courtroom, Simon was sure their presence would be quite unwanted. Unwanted, yet unavoidable. It was time to see him again and hear his side of the story.

I GUESS I’M JUST MUCH MORE OF A COWARD THAN SIMON IS but once again, if I were Simon, those death threats would still be fresh on my mind and I just. Would not want to be anywhere near the phantom, no matter how securely he was being contained. D:

Vanquishing Mirages, Chapter 8

Okay can I just, I love it. I love everything. The level of uncooperativeness and defeat. The phantom clinging to denial. Just. All of the little things and details.

Palaeno shifted in his seat and wrung his hands together in his lap. He looked rather disheartened. “… Lex…”

OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD. PALAENO, NO. NO. I WOULDN’T IF I WERE YOU. I WOULD ADVISE AGAINST IT GOOD SIR. AHAHAHA oh my goodness. Oh my GOODNESS. The level of… THE SHEER LEVEL OF MISGUIDEDNESS HERE. I’m choking.

“What did you just say?” the Phantom demanded in response.

HE DOESN’T LIKE THAT HE DOESN’T LIKE THAT AT AAAAAALL AHAHAAA SUFFER.

I ALMOST KIND OF??? EXPECTED THE PHANTOM TO JUST BREAK AGAIN OVER THIS. Someone actually applying a NAME to him. LABELLING him with a REAL, ACTUAL, PROPER NAME, with a connection to a past, a history, it’s HUGE. He hates it. He hates it. It’s everything he’s fought against. The sheer size of the breakdown he had in court over the revelation – and now – now an alleged relative using it in this context is just - !!! I expected this to be way too much for him to take and he’d just lose again it in anger/denial or what have you, but he did more than enough in court. Aww, little baby tired himself out. Kudos to him for not losing it once again.

I’d also expected the phantom to react in immediate anger & semi-lose it when he saw Simon BUT! Once again, more than enough of that happened in court. There’s only so much that someone – especially a guy with limited emotions like him – can keep that up before basically becoming despondent. Seems he’s basically fallen back into a state of SOMEWHAT calm and the emotions have subsided enough for him to chat and return to his more “normal” state. Even though he’s clearly not fully returned to normal and constantly on the edge like you don’t wanna push this guy ahahaha. SUFFERRR, PHANTOM. Just BARELY keeping it together.

“Leave it to foolishly foolish fools to pretend that everything revolves around their own foolishly foolish problems.” Franziska wagged a dismissive finger at the Phantom.

THIS SENTENCE IS SUCH A BLESSING, YES FRANZISKA PUT HIM IN HIS PLACE. Haaaah! “Franziska wagged a dismissive finger at the Phantom” is such a good sentence. Patronise to him. Condescend. DISMISS. Yeah, yeah!

They made their way to the door. However, just before passing through it, Palaeno stopped in his tracks. He turned and flashed one last grin at the Phantom. One last desperate attempt to make peace. “We’ll see you at the trial tomorrow, Lex.”

SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP THIS POOR MISGUIDED MAN… Palaeno buddy… I understand but… you’re not gonna win this one.

Bobby paused for a moment, then replied with a suggestive hand gesture of his own. Simon immediately made a grab for his wrists to lower them. “Don’t indulge him!”

BOBBY I LOVE YOU.

Vanquishing Mirages, Chapter 9

Simon headed back out the front door, Fulbright by his side, to see that Wright and his two assistants were attempting to get to the steps. Luster’s followers were blocking their path, shouting and spitting at the ground. Some of them were uttering their insults in Cohdopian, others managed to speak English.

This is SO unfair on Apollo to also cop flack like this, considering. Apollo must be so, so done with everything.

“Go back to retirement, Wright!”

OUCH.

“Court will now reconvene for the trial of the international spy known as…” the judge hesitated for a moment and cast a quick glance down at his papers. “The Phantom.”

SDFKBJSDFNLSDKJN that moment of hesitation and needing to confirm for sure is THE BEST

They couldn’t bear the thought that the spy shared his name with the great Lex Luster.

!

All her emotions were exactly as they should be if she were the real Selestia Belvedere. She was tricking the Mood Matrix. Many years ago, the Phantom had trained Mirage to control her emotions. He’d trained her a bit too well.

I really like this? I really liked this on the first readthrough because whoa, roadblock! They finally, after struggling so hard, got her right where they needed her and it doesn’t work. I’d expected her to slip up slightly but for it to still be an uphill battle to expose her. But not so, not so at all. She’s covered her tracks. I hadn’t been expecting the cast to just run straight into a “dead end” like this! :D And it makes you so keen to read on because HOW are they going to make it out of this one?!

Vanquishing Mirages, Chapter 10

He’d suffered through quite a few ‘jokes’ at her hand already. He’d seen her supposed humor in action. From worms in his sandwich to having his shoelaces tied together, he’d witnessed it all.

WORMS IN HIS S- Okay Mirage you are the best. Thank you. Thank you so much for putting the spy boi thru so many pranks in your youth. What a blessing.

The next day, they were involved in a raid. One unfortunate sap had gotten his hands on the prank gun and as a result, two members of the smuggling ring had died. Nobody had laughed. He’d decided it was in his best interest not to confess to the prank. He’d also decided not to make another attempt at comedy- Not in the way he currently was.

THIS IS. A REVERSE-ENGINEERED JOKE. By that I mean, this would be the snappy, short & seemingly humorous statement that you would extract from this paragraph, or rather, that this paragraph could stem from:

“The phantom tried to pull a prank once.

Two people died.”

Those two sentences put together have a comedic effect about them on the reader.

It’s as if the story instead took the above two statements – a throwaway joke - and spun them into an actual, serious incident that happened and PUT IT INTO THE STORY. THAT’S WHAT IT IS IT’S A REAL THING THAT HAPPENED IN THE STORY I--- Oh my gosh. This is a reverse-engineered joke taken seriously I can’t believe it. I love it.

Okay, so we have a demonstration that the young phantom takes things in a painfully literal manner (consistent with other young phantom flashbacks) and that he flatly lacks a sense of humour…

It makes me wonder… Would a lack of emotions be inherently linked to being very literal? Would it mean one was not able to understand jokes? Even if one would not laugh or truly enjoy jokes, couldn’t one still be able to understand them on some level or learn to understand? The same goes for literal vs being able to understand rhetorical questions and figure of speech. Obviously this phantom had trouble with all of that when young, but I am unsure if there would necessarily be an inherent link among these things. Interesting to ponder.

Also… For all his struggles to understand jokes and humour in his youth, I certainly think that the phantom manages to develop his own sense of humour over time, and that there is evidence of them possessing a sense of humour both in Dual Destinies itself and earlier on in your fic series.

It is albeit a very dry sense of humour. Kind of twisted. BARELY there. But there nonetheless.

I think that the phantom, even if they cannot appreciate jokes, needs to know how to at the very least fake a sense of humour in order to properly impersonate people. Does being able to fake a sense of humour not mean that one would be required to at least possess some sliver of one themselves? The same goes for being able to understand figures of speech. Certainly something that can be picked up and learned, and is a necessity for the phantom to have a firm grasp on to impersonate properly. And of course, he must have become adept at both, given the amount of time he’s had to do so, the sheer amount of people he has impersonated, and how deep into the roles he tends to get.

OKAY THEN WE GET TH

THE PHANTOM TELLING JOKES AND I

I tell you what. On the first readthrough I just… yes, I lost it and I… really loved it. Too much? To the extent that, my “willing suspension of disbelief” wavered purely because of how great it was and how much I enjoyed it. “S-so good… So… fanservicey…!” The issues were not “believability” or “how this fits in the context of this story” but rather, “oh, this is SO good that it feels too good to be true” and my WSOD threatened to crack under the sheer weight of it alone. BECAUSE IT’S AS IF I FEEL LIKE I CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS I GUESS?

When reading a fanfic I suppose Willing Suspension of Disbelief, or what’s deemed “canon” or “out of character" is mapped onto two fronts: the canon of the source material and the canon of the fanfic itself. Some fanfictions of course, readily wave the source material’s canon aside in favour of setting up its own canon, wherein everyone acknowledges the canon of the source material in such cases is secondary and/or does not matter. Other fanfics, such as your fic series, map directly onto the source material (as well as having its own consistent canon) and therefore must appease “canon”, “willing suspension of disbelief”, etc. on both fronts, sometimes/usually keeping the two completely aligned.

And for me it wavered in both realms, which is preposterous. There is no basis whatsoever on which to consider this “OOC” because I cannot claim to know more than the author who wrote it, and I knew this. And besides, I wanted this anyway. I wanted to take this and add it to the canon of the series but because it was just SO good… Too good…! I couldn’t help questioning it like, “can I… can I really have this? Can I take this? This super awesome moment it’s… Can I really? There must be some kind of mistake, it’s way too good, I…!”

And then I pulled myself in line and told myself, You Know What? This is an awesome moment and I refuse to question it. I refuse to ruin my own fun. I’m taking it. I’m taking it because it’s fun. I’m taking it and running with it BECAUSE it’s so good and I love it and I shall not let it be cast aside. And I Shall relax and enjoy this for all it’s worth. Crush Thy Inner Killjoy.

I’M JUST. Not used to letting myself accept & enjoy things like this to this extent I guess, and that’s why…!

Sometimes I think about this scene and just lose it and oh my gosh. The phantom really did that. Awesome. Thank you.

Me: [regains composure after typing all that, continues reading when…]

TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT HIM STICKING HIS TONGUE OUT OK I’M GONE AGAIN BYE AHAH

I’ve written up some stuff already for the next chapters too, but I’ll leave em for the next post~!