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beautifulsnake2162020 · 3 years ago

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Ikevamp headcanons after watching Hamilton

Quick disclaimer: Yes I know this is a show about people who had owned slaves and slavery is bad. Having said that there's a reason why we suspend disbelief for a couple of hours and just allow ourselves to be swept into the story. I also love Phantom of the Opera but I also am aware that this is a story that involves an abusive and toxic relationship. The point is that I am aware that there are problems that needs to be discussed, but I still love the music, the story and the shows okay. This is just fan content not meant to be taken seriously and is just for fun. Okay? Now let's proceed.

I'll be doing Will and Arthur first since I'm currently doing Shakespeare's route and was inspired to do this after MC watches Romeo and Juliet with Vincent and I was wondering how Will would react to watching Hamilton. And Arthur is here because he is my husband/main lover. I might do Mozart and Napoleon next.

SPOILER ALERT: For anyone who hasn't seen the Disney Plus version of Hamilton, there might be some spoilers here (unless you already saw the show or know the story that is).

General Scenario:

You don't know how but Le Comte was able to get the filmed version of Hamilton, a musical which you've told Sebastian that you've been dying to see but was never able to because tickets were always sold out and entering the lottery was going to be a little too expensive for someone who lives in Japan and who doesn't exactly have the money or the time to simply fly to New York if in case she won. You were also excited because apparently Le Comte was able to modify the 21st century tech room that you use for your online classes and was able to get a wide screen and high quality surround sound which made you appreciate his efforts. A part of you was also curious as to how the other residents would react. You were scared that some of them might take offense, especially Napoleon who knew one of the characters in the show in real life. Would they react weirdly for seeing people different from them portray people that they knew? You were also wondering if they might even appreciate some of the 21st century slang that you and Sebastian would sometimes slip back into whenever it was just the two of you alone. After talking it out with everyone and explaining a few more things (like how its probably going to be different since it is a series of captured pictures-or at least that's your closest analogy- being played super fast with the synchronized sound of the actors- or what you were almost tempted to call "Techno Magic") during a dinner in which Shakespeare had decided to be present in, they were actually interested in what this show is about. Napoleon convinced you that he's fine and actually someone else playing Lafayette might even help with the suspension of disbelief since its been awhile since he has last met him anyway. Will even mentioned that while he has read and heard about stories from America, this is probably going to be the first story or production he's going to see from it. The only one who showed any hesitation - to no one's surprise - was Mozart, since he is attached to the kind of music he is familiar with (aren't we all?). But after prodding from both Jean, Le Comte and you giving him the puppy eyes, he finally relents. The day comes when everyone was once again free and for practicality everyone decided to have a meal first so that they won't be hungry during the show and also for you, Le Comte, and Sebastian to explain a few things everyone else may need to know to truly appreciate the show (like how the Presidential system and elections worked during the setting, what the word "Rewind" means, what is beatboxing, etc). So finally everyone gathered into the tech room after the meal, the lights were dimmed and once everyone was settled, you hit play. And as self-predicted of you, you find yourself crying in the end.

William Shakespeare (I'm still doing his route so please don't hate me if I get him wrong. Also no spoilers please).

- He was a bit shocked at first by how exactly up close you could see the facial expressions of the actors as well as the various ways it would cut to another person. He could now understand why you struggled with trying to explain how its played in a theatre but not exactly like the theatrical experience. But as you saw in your periphery, by the time Philippa Soo sings her first line, Will had already adjusted and allowed himself to be an audience and shut off his director and actor mindset (for the most part at least).

- While he didn't specialize in musicals, he found himself paying attention to the story of "the ten dollar founding father without a father." He knows how music could help both the actors and the audience in succumbing to their emotions in a scene and to suspend disbelief from reality. In his productions the words are not overwhelmed by any score but rather complemented to bring out the emotion he wants to evoke and for actors to show. Since many parts of the show has been influenced by the spoken word style without completely removing it from being sung, he has become enlightened with how powerful a show can be when it is done right.

- He not only enjoyed the story (especially the flow of it) and the production (especially some of the more technical details that the other residents hadn't noticed as far as a stage production is concerned), he loved that even the ensemble members had good acting and some of the onstage humor. One of the meta things he enjoyed was the obvious reference to his most superstitious work.

- Once you've seen how he loves analyzing the technical details of the production, you excitedly tell him about a special member of the ensemble who is known as "The bullet" among fans of the show. You could see him being enlightened as he watches the show with you again (this time with just the two of you) and he now sees "the bullet" and the way she interacts with the characters in a whole different light. He was so impressed with this idea that he may have adapted it into one of his new original plays (its not a copy paste of Hamilton's "bullet" but he definitely adapted assigning a member of the ensemble to have a special role that may not be significant at first, but he heavily notes that this member would have to be unique in interacting with any of the other characters).

- He didn't know what to expect from a 21st Century production but he found himself impressed with the prose and writing of various raps and songs. His favorite from Act 1 in terms of rhyme schemes was "Right Hand Man" and from Act 2 it was Jefferson's rap in "Washington by your side". And after settling down a bit his favorite emotional parts were "History has its eyes on you", "Hurricane", and "It's quiet uptown".

- He was impressed with how the double roles was given and how it actually is true for both of their roles in both acts. Ambiguity is one of his favorite things to have in a work, and he gives props to Lin for all the ambiguity he later realizes was in several parts of the show. If he and Arthur had been a little bit more closer, they probably would have bonded over the ambiguity Hamilton's comma in his letter to Angelica (see kids, grammar matters).

- A part of his brain wonders how the real life Hamilton would react to this and if him and Burr would still be enemies. But after some thinking he decides its not worth his efforts of asking anyone to bring them back since a wonderful production of their life has already been made even if it may not necessarily reflect who they truly are. He of all people knew what it's like to be inspired by great figures, it was fortunate that Lin Manuel Miranda decided to make a show about them before he had the chance to.

- You explain that in America Hamilton is one of the lesser known founding fathers of their nation and how it may be because his political opponents later on became Presidents and therefore was able to form the narrative. He becomes inspired by it and begins to search out people or stories who are hidden gems who may not be historically famous but had much more interesting stories than some of the ones he has heard of.

- Afterwards once you are sure that he has gotten comfortable enough with the genre you show him various videos of people rapping to his works and his reactions range from impressed to amused to "that's not what I mean when I wrote that" and you had to calm him down and explain that they can't hear him anyway after he started giving serious critiques on what the text means.

Arthur Conan Doyle

- While he was knowledgeable about many things, America's founding fathers was not one of them. He along with the other residents have gotten used to any rumors or exaggerated accounts of their lives and you and Sebastian have already warned that this is just a fictionalized production of the real person. As a writer of some historical fiction books he argued that he of all people was aware that any work based on history will speak more about the creators rather than the actual people they are writing about most of the time. He was nevertheless interested as to why you have become fascinated with the treasury secretary (and maybe it was with a twinge of jealousy that you began to expressly show admiration to another man even if he wasn't among the residents in the mansion). After all unlike many other residents of the mansion, on the surface it seemed that Hamilton was similar to Theo who mainly played a supporting but crucial role to his brother. He was thankful that you didn't hold it against him and was comforted that you were in a similar place. You even told him that the only thing you really knew about Hamilton before listening to the soundtrack and watching "Animatics" was that he was in the ten dollar American bill.

- And as someone who has delved into writing historical fictions, this was probably one of the most entertaining productions about a historical figure he has seen. He's going to be honest with you in that at first he was wondering if revealing Burr shot Hamilton in the opening was going to hinder him from enjoying the show; but he was pleasantly surprised that this was not the case at all. As a matter of fact it now made him want to find out who the real Hamilton was (although a part of him doubts if the real Hamilton had any regrets at all). According to him, this is why as a fictionalized historical work, the show is a success because it makes you want to find out more about the events and figures of the story (even if it means looking at darker realities that they did). And while the real Hamilton may be a lot different from what was shown, with all the things he went through and all the things he has done (for better or worse), he now wonders why exactly Le Comte hadn't approached him since he seems to be no better or worse than the average resident ("He and Newt could probably discuss mathematics all day."). You then explained that his political rivals (Jefferson and Madison from the show, and Monroe who wasn't shown in the musical) had later on become Presidents and was able to shape the narrative away from Hamilton. "Ron Chernow made Hamilton's biography because he was the lesser known founding father who was fading into obscurity among Americans and Lin read the book and recognized the story of someone who has risen through his writings. And to Lin that was also the story of hiphop." While he wasn't involved in politics as much as Hamilton was, Arthur had enough experience to know what it feels like to have those kinds of people in power. He also knows just how powerful it is to be in "the room where it happened" and how sometimes the real decisions weren't being made in an office but rather in either a private party or the right bar when people in power had their guard down and were more susceptible to being influenced.

- He could relate a lot with Hamilton on many things that he's only comfortable allowing either you or Theo to see. From being just so much more aware of death's inevitability coming for every living thing to survivor's guilt even though a part of him knows its irrational (but sometimes the emotional nonsense just overtakes our perspectives and actions). It's why he could understand Hamilton's need to write as much as he can before he dies. It's why for a time in his human life he had deviated from writing about Holmes and ventured into other genres. He could also relate to the need to prove what type of person he was, and how to go beyond his tragedies to serve people in their own ways. Hamilton did it as a soldier and the creator of America's financial system. And he is doing it as an informally practicing doctor and as a writer. It's a need that he's trying to mitigate since you've repeatedly told him that he doesn't need to prove anything to you or to anyone and to write whatever he pleases. But he also can't deny that it's still somewhere lodged in the back of his head.

- Just like William Shakespeare, in terms of the wordplay found in rap and the ambiguity present in the show and how those things were executed made him amazed and momentarily speechless. He was especially fanboying about "The comma after dearest" and how this essentially shows how important grammar was. It went to the extent that afterwards whenever he would write to you he would address you either as "My dearest, Y/N" or "My darling, Y/N" with special emphasis on the comma (sometimes you could see how there's more ink in the comma than some of the actual words. That's how much he wants to emphasize that you hold the title of dearest or darling). And you excitedly share with him some of the trivia knowledge of the show (like how in real life it was Angelica who originally made the comma mistake by writing to Hamilton as "My dear, sir" in one of her letters and it was Hamilton who was asking her what the comma means and even replied with "Ma chere, soeur") and how Angelica really did reference the Icarus metaphor in one of her letters to Eliza. And even though he wasn't a major musical nerd (he sang for fun), he would now join you in watching Howard Ho's Hamilton videos musically analyzing Hamilton (and would probably try to find a way to use this knowledge to annoy Mozart in some way).

- Speaking of music: Maybe it's because he's biased in his love for you but aside from Sebastian he's probably the one who has no qualms about the hiphop genre and was immediately into the various wordplays that rapping allowed. And because of this his favorite characters in terms of rapping are the ones played by Daveed Diggs (probably more than Hamilton himself even though you've explained that Lin is the one who wrote the whole thing). He even adapts to how Daveed as Jefferson would say Isaac's third law and incorporated it into his "let's tease Newton" kit. That's when you know he really loves Daveed Diggs ("Every action has an equal opposite -" "WILL YOU PLEASE STOP SAYING IT THAT WAY?! I didn't mind the first few times but this is ridiculous Arthur" "It must be nice, it must be nice to have a Newton on your side"). And his favorite character emotionally was Angelica (her raps in Schuyler Sisters and Satisfied may have helped).

- Speaking of the Schuyler Sisters, after watching it with you another time (this time with just the two of you) one of his favorite things to say is that you've got the best of all three sisters within you (Angelica's wittiness and intelligence, Eliza's cares for the more important things in life, and Peggy's humor) with the sexiness of Maria Reynolds. But because he sees all 4 of them in you he has the benefit of not needing to choose among them. Having said that there will be a period wherein he teases you if he makes you "Helpless" or "Satisfied" (and you respond either by kissing him or singing "That would be enough").

- Whenever you would sing as one of the Schuyler sisters he will join you as any of the male characters the moment he masters the soundtrack and could even sing it without the music. His favorite rap songs are "Guns and Ships", "Washington on your side", and of course "Satisfied". He also really loves "Non-stop", "the 10 duel commandments", and "The room where it happened". But his favorite sequence is from "the Winter's Ball" all the way to "Wait for it". Since it has romance, a shocking revelation, and gives insight to the perspective of the antagonist. He's also one of the first people to attempt to learn the choreography whenever he's in one of his mental blocks in writing. Of course he makes sure not to injure himself.

- He posts song lyrics to keep himself motivated in his times of mental block "There's a million things I haven't done. But just you wait" and "I'm not throwing away my shot" frequently appear around his desk.

-And whenever he's feeling low or insecure, just like Eliza you remind him to "Look around, Look around, how lucky we are to be alive right now."

#Ikemen Vampire #Headcanons #ikemen william #ikevamp #Hamilton #William Shakespeare #Arthur Conan Doyle #Ikemen Arthur #Lin Manuel Miranda #Daveed Diggs #Philippa Soo #Ron Chernow

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softschnappi · 5 years ago

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Welcome to Derry!

Word count: 2.6k

Warnings: swearing?

Based off of this headcanon of mine!

A/N: AAIIEEEEEE this is FINALLY done after a whole YEAR! I am so proud of this idea and I think it’s the best one I’ve come up with and I don’t even know where I came up with it like I just randomly pulled it out of my ass and it kinda blew up?? And BRUH I think it - unfortunately - fits perfectly with the canon ending in ST3 so I did end up changing some stuff from the original plan…hope you enjoy!

“Shit,“ Jonathan muttered under his breath.

Will sighed in response and leaned his head against the car window. It was pitch black outside and their car was the only one on the road which was surrounded by tall, ominous, swaying trees and bushes.

Jonathan had been driving his car with Will accompanying him in the passenger seat across the country to Maine, following behind his mother and El in a big Uhaul truck that held all of their belongings for the new house. They had been on the road for a few days, stopping at restaurants and drive-thrus along the way. All was going well and they were almost at the new house until a car cut in front of Jonathan on the highway and he couldn’t see what exit his mother took. All he knew was that the truck was nowhere to be seen.

After an hour of driving around it started to get dark and Will started to worry that they were really lost. They had no way of contacting Joyce other than to ask for a phone at a gas station and call the new house, but they weren’t even sure if she and El had even arrived yet. They were both equally horrible at reading maps. The one thing they were sure of was that they were definitely in Maine since they passed the Welcome to Maine! sign a while ago. So they tried their hardest to read the state map of Maine and of some of the towns they passed, but Will knew they were lost after neither of them could figure out the map and he tried to get Jonathan to admit it but he wouldn’t. However, after driving around in the dark in the middle of nowhere for twenty more minutes, he caved.

“I told you we were lost,” Will rolled his eyes and continued to stare out of the window. It was really dark on the road. Too dark. Way too dark.

Jonathan sighed and put his hand on Will’s shoulder. “Fine, we’re lost. We tried everything we could, but don’t worry-”

“Don’t worry?” Will scoffed and glared at his older brother. “We’re lost in a state we’ve never been to in the middle of nowhere at night and we have no way of contacting mom. Even El couldn’t get a clue of where we are because she lost her powers.” He turned away and looked back out the window, hiking his feet up onto the seat and pulling his knees to his chest.

“Will, calm down. I’m sure there’s like a gas station around here somewhere,” Jonathan assured him. “We can get directions there and everything will be fine.” He desperately hoped that what he was saying would be true.

They kept driving along the road for fifteen more minutes before they saw the first building with bright lights since the sun went down hours ago. Will and Jonathan noticed the gas pumps at the same time and cheered in unison. After four hours of being lost, they were finally going to be on their way home!

“Okay,” Jonathan started as he pulled up to a pump. “While I fill up the gas, you go in and ask for directions. They’ll have to have a map of where we are. I’m counting on you to remember what they say, okay?

Will nodded and opened the door, climbing out. Just as he was about to shut it he turned to Jonathan with a grin. “Let’s just hope they don’t lead us to Florida. Although, haven’t we always wanted to go to Disney?”

“The more time you waste talking the longer we’re stuck here,” Jonathan chuckled and put the gas pump into the car. “Now go.”

The store had all its lights on and Will could hear the faint music playing when he approached the door. He looked through the glass and saw a man with a yellow and black gas station looking uniform sitting at the cash, looking down and writing something. Perfect!

The man looked up at the sound of the chimes clanging when Will opened the door and stepped inside. He had short brown hair that was longer on one side, swooping down and almost covering his right eye. He was tall, lanky, and looked about Will’s age.

“Hi,” The man whose name tag read Bill greeted.

Will shuffled to the counter and looked up at him. “Hi there. Um, my brother and I are kinda lost and I was wondering if you could tell us where we are? Oh, and I’m also going to pay for the gas.”

“Well, you-you’re in D-D-Derry, Maine,” Bill stuttered, looking back down at Will and tapping his fingers on the glass that held all of the lottery tickets underneath him. He watched Will silently look away and cheer in victory.

“Great!” Will smiled at him. “So, I was wondering if you know how to get to-”

“I’m sorry, I d-don’t do well w-w-with directions,” Bill apologized, looking down and scratching the back of his head.

Well, shit. They were so fucked now. Will and Jonathan were going to have to stay the night in the car somewhere and their mom is probably worried to death about them-

Bill must have noticed how deflated Will became after he told him that he wasn’t good with directions because he immediately tried to tell Will that he knew someone else who could help him. He stumbled into the back room and Will heard some bickering between him and another person.

A few moments later, a taller, much more annoyed man appeared behind Bill. Will’s eyes widened and his mouth went dry at the sight of him: curly dark brown hair, brown eyes, big square glasses, soft-looking lips…He almost looked like Mike. Almost. Oh, how he already missed Mike.

But Will quickly forgot about his best friend as he felt his heart racing and his cheeks heat up as the very attractive man’s expression turned from agitated to…interested after he looked Will up and down.

“Scratch that, Big Bill,” The man said with a smile on his face, “No need to pay me. I would be honoured to spend my precious time helping out this lost eye candy.”

Eye candy? Will almost choked on his own spit at that one. He couldn’t believe that this random hot stranger at the gas station just implied that…no. That couldn’t have been what he meant. No way. No guy ever just hits on another guy like that, especially a stranger in public. Not possible. But regardless, it made Will’s face heat up even more.

The man stood beside Bill and leaned his elbows on the desk, holding out his arm for Will to shake. “Richie Tozier, at your service,” He greeted Will with a wink.

Will gulped and tried to calm his nerves as he shook Richie’s hand. Holy fuck, his hands were so soft and his own were so clammy from being so nervous.

It was kind of embarrassing for Will to be this much of a mess and have been turned into complete mush ever since he laid eyes on Richie. He tried to snap out of it. It wasn’t every day he got an opportunity to speak with a hot guy and he wanted to make the most out of it.

“I’m Will Byers. And my brother and I are lost. The end of our trip is Derry so thank God we’re here, but we need to get to Palmer Lane,” He explained after taking a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. “And we have no idea how to get there.”

Richie reached underneath the desk, much to Bill’s displeasure who kicked him for getting too close. Will now noticed that Bill wasn’t actually writing anything but instead he was drawing. A bunch of birds, specifically, and it was looking really good. But his gaze was torn when Richie stood up and slammed a map on the counter and reached for a highlighter. With a yellow cap between his teeth, he drew three lines on the map and turned it around for Will to see.

“I don’t know what was so difficult about telling him where Palmer Lane is, you fucking wet end,” Richie turned to Bill and said. “Derry is the size of a penny.”

Bill rolled his eyes. “I thought h-he would w-want directions for o-out of town. And watch your language at wuh-work.”

Shaking his head, Richie mumbled something under his breath before turning back to Will. “So.” He started, pointing to a highlighted road on the town map. “This gas station is located on this road, which you need to take,” His finger slid down to the other road. “Until you get to Main Street. You turn onto that and then,” He pointed to a street right of Main Street. “You turn right onto Palmer Lane. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.”

Will and Richie smiled at each other and Will thanked him. He noticed that Richie had become closer to him than he was before he pulled out the map. Will’s heart was beating fast in his chest as he looked into Richie’s chocolate brown eyes, swearing he saw stars in them, but he looked away quickly in fear of the other noticing that his cheeks were turning pink again.

“Say, I’ve never seen ye ‘round here, bucko,” Richie said to him, his voice suddenly very Irish. “What’re ye doin in a shighthole like Derry?”

Will chuckled softly at his attempt to speak in an Irish accent. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t perfectly on point, either. “I think you need to work on that accent a bit more before it’s perfect,” Will encouraged Richie with a smile. “And I just moved here. Trying to find the new house.”

Richie’s face lit up and a joyous smile spread across his face. “Well, I’ll be,” He said, switching to a Southern accent. “We get a first look at the fresh meat before errybody else!”

“I’m sorry about him,” Bill apologized while shaking his head. He looked just about ready to stab Richie with the pencil in his hand.

Will waved his hand. “No, it’s okay! I mean,” He looked to Richie, shyly. “You’re funny.”

“You bet your fur I am!” Richie stuck his tongue out at Bill, who rolled his eyes.

Will blinked. “You…bet your fur?”

“Derry slang, my friend. You’ll be hearing plenty more soon enough.”

Will hummed in response before he remembered the other reason why he was in the store. “Oh! I almost forgot to pay for the gas,” Will said as he put fifteen dollars on the counter. “It’s pump-”

“Five,” Bill finished as he entered the money into the register. “Yeah, you’re the o-only one hu-here.”

Will looked down, feeling embarrassed. “Right.”

“So, are you going to Derry High in the fall?” Richie asked in his normal voice, pushing his glasses up on his face.

“Yeah, going into grade eleven.” Will picked up the change and put it into his pocket. When he looked back at Richie, he was still leaning over the counter but now had his elbow on it and his face resting on his hand. Watching as Richie quickly looked him up and down again, Will gulped as he began to rock back and forth on his feet. Richie didn’t even wait until a time when Will wasn’t looking to openly stare at him. Fuck.

“Cool! Me and Bill go there, and all of our friends. The same grade, too,” Richie smiled at Will, tapping his fingers on the counter. “Speaking of which, our friend Mike lives on Palmer Lane. So I’ll probably see you around before school starts!”

Will one hundred and ten per cent wanted to see Richie again before school started. There was no way he could go a whole month without seeing Richie’s handsome face. Will’s heart started to beat faster in his chest because Richie seemed like he really wanted to see him again. If he went to see his friend Mike then he could drop by the new house and hang out and- oh fuck, Will was already falling for him.

“Yeah!” Will smiled at him. “My place is the one with the moving van outside.” His eyebrows furrowed as he blinked a few times before opening his mouth again. “I just realized I don’t know what my own house even looks like yet,” He laughed.

Richie chuckled and looked back down at the map displayed in front of them. “Well, speaking of home, you better get on your way, buttercup. It’s almost 1am, and you don’t want ol’ Bob Gray coming to eat your toes and take your money.”

Will didn’t hear anything he said past “Buttercup.” His eyes were wide and his mouth was suddenly dry. Richie just…called him…Buttercup. Buttercup. Although he didn’t want to get ahead of himself, his brain automatically registered everything that had happened ever since he walked in the store as flirting. Richie, a super handsome guy he just met, was flirting with him. Him. Will could feel his whole face heating up again, getting hotter than it’s ever been before and he probably looked like a tomato.

Richie was scribbling something down on the map with a pen before he closed it up and handed it to Will.

“Did you just call me buttercup?” He wanted to make sure he had heard him right.

Richie blinked. “Yes. Because, y’ know, your hair. You look like a Reece’s cup. I didn’t mean for it to be insulting-”

“You didn’t insult me,” Will shook his head. “It’s just nobody’s ever called me that before,” He smiled up at Richie and took the map. “Do you call all your customers candy-related names?” He asked, remembering how Richie had called him eye candy at the beginning.

“Nope,” Richie said, popping the p. “Just you, buttercup.”

“Oh,” Will whispered, beaming. Then he did something he’d never done before: he put his hair behind his ear. Isn’t that something girls did when they talked to a guy? Will had no idea why he did that, but there was no time to worry over it. He’d just remembered that Jonathan was waiting for him in the car and they needed to get to the new house.

“Well I think you’re right, I better be on my way home,” Will said as he stepped away from the counter. He didn’t want to leave, but he knew he had to. “It was nice to meet both of you! Thanks for the directions, Richie.”

Richie waved at him and even Bill looked up from his drawing to tell Will to come back again.

“See you soon, Will,” Richie smiled at him. “Twas nice chatting with you! Watch out fur the hobos!” He added in his Irish accent.

Chuckling, Will walked over to the door. “Have a good night!” He shouted as he walked out of the store, looking at the ground and trying to hide the huge grin on his face. He hadn’t even got to the new house yet and he already made a friend. He thanked whatever Gods there were that he was able to run into such a handsome guy like Richie and have him - maybe - take some sort of interest in him. Oh, he was so handsome. Will kept thinking about Richie’s curls, the freckles on his face, and his chocolate brown eyes as he made his way to the car.

“Got the directions?” Jonathan asked as Will climbed into the passenger seat of the car.

Will opened the map and was drawn to the writing in the top right corner:

Derry Gas: 207-396-7289

Richie Tozier: 207-826-2591

☺

“Yeah,” Will smiled as he felt his heart rate speed up once again. “I got them.”

Maybe Derry wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

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littlemisssquiggles · 6 years ago

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Pinehead Headcanons: Oscar’s Other Rose II: Defining Rose Fox

Hey there fellow FNDM fam members. It’s your friendly neighbourhood squiggle meister here. Since some of you kindred folk showed interest, as promised I’ve put together this post sharing more info on Rose Fox.

Who is Rose Fox?

Rose Fox, full name---Rosaline Fox, is a RWBY-inspired original character of yours truly conceived from a Pinehead headcanon I previously shared about Oscar Pine formerly having a childhood friend whose character was based off of the Fox and the Rose from The Little Prince fairy-tale.

The Meaning of the Rose Fox Character

As most of us Rosegardening Pineheads have interpreted, aspects of The Little Prince story is being used to influence Oscar’s story. In the Little Prince, the Prince was in love with a Rose; a single red rose that had blossomed on his home planet. The Rose was very vain and made the Prince believe that she was the only rose in existence but to the Prince’s disappointment, he learns that the Rose had lied to him when he discovered other roses during his travels off-world. This revelation greatly upsets the Prince. However the Prince soon meets a wise red Fox. The Prince befriends this fox and it is through its teachings that the Prince ultimately learns that his rose was his one true love. The only rose that mattered to him because he loved her.

Rolling with this thought, I wanted to create a character that embodied the Fox from the Little Prince along with the lasting message he left on the Prince. But then I decided to take that concept a step further by also having this character draw inspiration from the Rose from the story as well. As Pineheads, we all know that the Rose in Oscar’s story---the one he is meant to fall in love with and be his one true Rose is of course going to be our silver eyed protagonist: Ruby Rose. As established by the series, Ruby and Oscar have grown close within the span of two seasons with their relationship destined to blossom further going into the Atlas Arc. Whether that means a very trusting close friendship or a beautiful romance is at the call of the CRWBY Writers.

That being said, this squiggle meister wanted to toy with the idea of … what if …Oscar had another Rose in his life who he shared a strong connection with. It is this Rose who ends up challenging Ruby on her relationship and feelings toward Oscar.

As the other Rose, this character provokes Ruby as she is another person that Oscar is very close to, who he could potentially be love in love with even given their bond. However as the Fox, this character will not only help Oscar to see his true feelings but also Ruby as well. As a matter of fact, the true purpose of Rose Fox character is to aid both our Rosebuds in realizing what they truly mean to one another. And thus, this is how the character of Rosaline Fox was born. At least, my version of her based on my Pinehead headcanon.

As some of you might be aware of there, there are now three more interpretations of the Rose Fox character. There is Rosaline Hood (by @lythecreatorart), Rosalind Fox (by @che1sea-xiao-long) and now Ianthe Regem (by @miki-13). I’ll talk more about my stance on the other Rose Foxes later in this post. The meat of all this is to mainly discuss my own version.

Rosaline Fox is my adaptation of the Rose Fox character based on my ‘Oscar’s Other Rose’ Pinehead headcanon.

In my interpretation, Rosaline secretly has feelings for Oscar and there is a bit of an unsubtle love triangle between Oscar and his two Roses. Rose loves Oscar but is also fully aware of his feelings for Ruby. It is very clear to Rosaline which rose has already tamed the young barn prince’s heart and as his friend; Rose is contented with Oscar being in love with someone else. His happiness matters more to her after all. However where Rose isn’t sure of is where Ruby stands with Oscar. Rose knows Oscar’s heart belongs to Ruby but what she wants to know is whether or not Ruby feels the same way.

In the story I’ve concocted, Ruby and Oscar have grown much closer during their time in Atlas. Ruby knows she likes Oscar very much and she would do anything for him. But lately, her feelings for him have felt strange. In the beginning, Ruby only saw Oscar as another dear friend she would give her life to protect. However the more Ruby spent time with Oscar getting to learn more about him as a person, the more her thoughts about him grew and changed to the point where she begins to question whether or not friendship is all there is to how she feels toward him. All of a sudden, Ruby finds herself conflicted on how she views Oscar. Does he mean more to her than she realized?

He’s just her friend, right? She only likes him as a friend…right? There isn’t anything…more, is there? Those are thoughts that race through Ruby’s mind whenever the subject of how she sees Oscar is brought into question. And the introduction of Rose Fox and her romantically-charges advances toward Oscar doesn’t help Ruby’s confliction.

By my headcanon, Rose is there to both challenge and help Ruby to realize her true feelings. She is the other Rose and the Fox together so that’s the dynamic I can see her having with Ruby. She’s meant to be perceived as a rival however at the same time, that isn’t all there is to her character.

Rose might seem antagonistic toward Ruby at times but she doesn’t hate her or her relationship with Oscar. Rose acknowledges Ruby as someone very important to Oscar and gives her that respect. However; that doesn’t mean that Rose is going to stand idly by and watch Ruby play games with Oscar’s feelings. Nor will she ever forgive her should she break Oscar’s heart. As the other Rose, Rose is meant to be a opponent to Ruby. She is meant to represent everything that Ruby is and isn’t (if that makes sense) and is meant to be someone who awakens a surprisingly insecure side to Ruby that she seldom shows (at least from my point of view).

Rose is young (closer to Oscar’s age than Ruby) but she is also drop dead gorgeous. Rosaline Fox is very beautiful and knows that she is. She’s almost rather conceited about it, even. To Ruby, it’s not so much that Rose is better than her in terms of skill. It’s that she is, admittedly, more beautiful compared to Ruby---at least in her eyes.

I’ve gone with this idea because it ties into a small hunch I have about Ruby. We all know that Ruby is very cute and pretty herself but what we don’t know is how Ruby perceives her appearance. Does she see herself as beautiful and confident in her looks or is she one of those types who feigns ignorance about their appearance; channelling their self-esteem into other aspects of their character while their true deep-seeded insecurity remains at the core of their personalities.

Throughout their interactions, Rose is an opponent who tests Ruby’s relationship with Oscar. Ruby; who is conflicted about her feelings for Oscar finds herself becoming uncharacteristically jealous of her Rose’s bond with Oscar especially knowing that lovely vixen has feelings for him. It’s a type of resentful sentiment that Ruby has never experienced before and she finds herself disgusted with it along with her confliction over how she truly feels.

In a nutshell, I created Rosaline around the idea of their being another Rose close to Oscar to test how Ruby feels toward Oscar while simultaneously helping her realize what those feelings are and what they mean. That is the character of Rosaline Fox.

What Does Rose Fox Look Like?

As you can tell from my sketches of her, Rosaline is a red Fox Faunus with dark skin and hair that is a gradient of dark brown mixed with orange before turning white at the tips like a fox tail. As a Faunus, Rose’s animal traits are her red fox ears and her prominent fangs and claws. Although her claws only erect whenever she’s angered to the point of feral rage. Beyond that, Rose’s key defining feature is her blue-grey eyes which could be mistaken for silver eyes at first glance. I know I definitely wanted Rose to have an eye colour similar to Ruby’s trademark silver eyes without being silver, if you know what I mean? Blue-grey definitely fit the bill.

In terms of height, I pictured Rose being as tall as Ruby Rose to further their similarities. Rose is meant to be about 15 going on 16. She’s meant to always be one year older than Oscar but still one year younger than Ruby planting her right in the middle of these two. Plus I’m finding the mental image of Oscar still being shorter than his two roses and sort of sandwiched between the two of them rather comical in my head. Another noteworthy feature about Rose is that she’s rather top-heavy for her age.

At only 15, Rose is a busty vixen which is another trait about her looks that often gathers a lot of unwanted attention from the boys. Picture her having the bust size of Yang Xiao Long but at age 15 (the same age Ruby Rose started the series at). As a matter of fact, I can even picture Rosaline and Yang kind of bonding on this experience, sharing a laugh over all the boldfaced gentlemen callers they had to put in their place when they came barking up the wrong tree.

I’m mainly making mention of this mostly in reference to Ly’s Rosaline Hood. For her design, when Ly mentioned that her girl’s got a smaller chest which gives her an advantage while performing her duties as her other alias, I couldn’t help but laugh since…well…my girl---Rosaline Fox is the farthest thing from flat. But don’t worry, like her Hood counterpart, Rosaline has something else about her that plays a very important part in her own secondary persona as well. Her semblance.

What is Rose Fox’s Semblance?

Okay. I’ve thought long and hard about this and I know the perfect power I want Rose Fox to have. Her semblance is Shapeshifting---she can alter her physical appearance to become a near-perfect replica of another. It doesn’t matter if the other person is young or old, tall or short, fat or skinny, male or female, human or Faunus ---Rose can become that person and is able to successfully impersonate them even down to their voice.

Though a very strong semblance, there are limits to this ability. For starters, unlike other known shapeshifters in RWBY such as Neopolitan, Rose can only replicate a form she’s already seen. The same goes for the mimicry characteristic of her shapeshifting semblance. Rose can only imitate a voice she’s already heard. Fortunately she’s trained her semblance well enough that all she needs is to hear a voice once and she’s able to imitate them perfectly from memory.

Another limit is that should Rose need to retain a form for an extended period, she can only hold it up to 9 hours total before her transformation gives out and she changes back to her normal form. In the past she was only able to hold a form a few minutes at best but she’s trained herself well enough over the years to master her power up to decent limit she can work with, especially on missions as a huntress.

The way how Rose’s semblance works (or at least how I’m going to describe it) is that it’s NOT an illusion-based power. Rose isn’t using mental mind tricks or cloaking herself in a haze that tricks the human eye into seeing her as someone else.

Think of Rose’s semblance working like Ditto from Pokémon or the Polyjuice potion from the Harry Potter series or even like how the Crystal Gems shapeshift in Steven Universe. When using her semblance, Rose’s body becomes like clay which she can then physically morph, contorting and shaping it to match the likeness of another being. It takes a great deal of discipline for Rose to maintain a consistent hold on her replicated form before her mask starts to crack and she slowly changes back to true self.

Fortunately, even before she began her huntress-training at Atlas, Rose has possessed her shapeshifting abilities from since she unlocked her semblance at a young age and through years of her own rigorous training, Rose has now reached a level where she has perfected control of her powers. It’s definitely enough for her to be seen as a threat on the battlefield to any poor unsuspecting foe; being a girl who can become anyone.

However there is one noticeable imperfection in Rose’s semblance. Though she’s perfected morphing herself even down to changing her skin colour at whim, for some odd reason Rose can never shake the one glaring flaw in her replications. Her eyes. No matter what form she takes, her eye colour stays the same and sticks out like a sore thumb. For example; Rose can shift into a perfect doppelganger of Oscar Pine and even talk like him but unless you know Oscar or at least know that his eyes are not blue-grey then you wouldn’t see right through Rose’s disguise.

This is actually a common prank that Rose and Oscar used to play as kids. Let say’s Rose unlocked her semblance when she was still a young kit at age five and one time she shifted into Oscar and tried to fool his mother---Dorothy while the real Oscar hid somewhere else laughing. Unfortunately for the young Rose, her trick didn’t work. It might’ve fooled their neighbours but not Dorothy Pine who knew fully well that her son had big bright hazel eyes (just like hers) and not blue-grey eyes like a certain Rose Fox she knew.

I’m actually kind of still contemplating whether or not to keep this flaw in Rose’s semblance. For now I’m going to keep it because there is a story reason as to why it’s there in relation to something I’ll discuss later in this post.

I know when I first mentioned Rose’s semblance, I described it as being a rather unorthodox power. In a way, it still feels that way to me in the context of the RWBY universe. The only canon shapeshifter in the series is Neo and even then her powers make sense within the show since her power is based on illusions that she manifests. Rose Fox, on the other hand, is literally human playdo. Well Faunus playdo. No one in RWBY has this kind of semblance so it made me wonder if it would work.

Doubts aside, I think shapeshifting is an ability that suits a character like Rose Fox perfectly. I can certainly see Rose’s genuineness as a person constantly being called into question by judgmental folks around her especially given the type of semblance she has. Now I’m picturing a small scene where some snobbish Atlesian students, jealous of Rose and her beauty whisper mean things about her behind her back. However, Rose being a Faunus with great hearing overhears every word these girls say about her and boldly puts them in their place for daring to disrespect her. Pick a small exchange of dialogue like this:

Snooty Female Altas Student #1: Hey look, it’s that Rose Fox girl.

Snooty Female Altas Student #2: *in disgust* Yuck! I hate her! She’s such a stuck up bitch. Thinks she’s all that just because she’s pretty. I mean, my dog has a pretty face too but even she knows her place unlike some animals.

Snooty Female Altas Student #1: Right? The only reason people like her so much is because she’s got big boobs. It’s not like she has anything else going for her.

Snooty Female Altas Student #2: Speaking of, did you know? Her semblance is like…some kind of shapeshifting or something.

Snooty Female Altas Student #1:Oh my gosh! Now it all makes sense. The perfect power for such a fake Rose.

Snooty Female Altas Student #2: *laughing haughtily* So fake! Hey do you think she morphs her boobs to look that big?

This curious question is only answered by Rose Fox interrupting the conversation by suddenly slamming her hands on the wall between the two other Atlas students. She did it so abruptly that both girls nearly jumped out of their skins as they edged away from a seething Rose who only smiled at them. Sweet but venomous.

Rose: *cheekily* I dunno ladies. Wanna test that theory of yours? You’re both welcome to cop a feel if you like?

Snooty Female Altas Student #1 and #2: …

Rose: What? No takers? Two seconds ago you were perfectly fine mouthing me off behind my back. Now all of a sudden you got nothing to say?

Snooty Female Altas Student #1: …Uh…we…

Snooty Female Altas Student #2: …We---We were only just---

Rose raised one clawed finger to silence the girls.

Rose: Tell you what? If neither of you got the balls to talk to me to my face then quit talking about me behind my back before you embarrass yourselves or…I embarrass you myself. Whichever wipes the smug looks off your ugly faces the fastest.

With that, Rose struts away, long hair swishing behind her back. But; not before getting one last shot in.

Rose: Oh and to answer your question. I may be a fake Rose but at least my girls are realer than the two of you combined. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it. Kisses ladies.*winks*

I take great pride in my Rosaline being the confident lovely flower not afraid to firmly remind rumour-spreading turds, especially the ones at Atlas Academy, to be mindful of her thorns.

In the beginning, I was going to make Rose’s semblance her being able to turn into a man. This idea was inspired by the manga series Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden where one of the main male characters---Uruki---one of the Seven Celestial Warriors of Genbu could change into a female version of himself and it was his female form that possessed control over the element of wind. This also makes me think of Ramna ½ where the lead guy turns into a girl if he gets splashed with water or something like that, I think.

Anyways I was going to originally make Rose’s semblance something like that. But then I figured why not just make shapeshifting it; one and done. As I’ve pointed out, this kind of power works perfectly for a character like Rose Fox since in East Asian folklore, foxes are depicted as familiar spirits possessed by magical powers and they are known to be shapeshifters.

“…The fox spirit is an especially prolific shapeshifter, known variously as the huli jing (fox spirit) in China, the kitsune (fox) in Japanese and the kumiho (nine-tailed fox) in Korea. Although the specifics of the tales vary, these fox spirits usually shapeshift, often taking the form of a beautiful young women who attempt to seduce men, whether for mere mischief or to consume their bodies or spirits…”

So yeah, Rose is a shapeshifter. That’s her power and as you’ll learn soon, it plays an important role in her backstory.

What is Rose Fox’s Signature Weapon?

Every aspiring huntress needs a weapon, right? Thanks to Ly’s brilliant idea, I’ve joined the bandwagon for Rose’s huntsmen attire and fighting style drawing inspiration from Robin Hood. I really love this idea a lot.

While I’m admittedly still working out the finer details of this, I know for a definite fact that I want Rose’s signature weapon to be dubbed: Artemis Rose; named after the Ancient Greek goddess of virginity, the wilderness, hunting, wild animals and protector of young children and women

So in keeping with that concept, I’m picturing Artemis Rose being a hybrid between a mechanized broad sword which transforms into a bow that arrows that are dust-infused bullets that Rose loads into her weapon via cartridges. Or something like that. Still working out the kinks on that one and weapon design isn’t exactly my forte.

However when I imagine Artemis Rose, I picture it being similar in design to Starseeker---the trademark bowsword used by Serah Farron in Final Fantasy XIII-2 but having the same functionality as Chatareus----the bladed compound sniper bow used by Vella Moisia in the RWBY Fan-made SLVR ‘Viridan’ Trailer created by Mark Zhang.

When is Rose Fox’s Birthday?

Ah yes, the penultimate question. One that I wish the CRWBY would give us for Oscar Pine but…no dice. Although the CRWBY haven’t (and may never really) confirmed Oscar's birthday, I'm still sticking to my Pinehead headcanon of Oscar being a Spring-born Easter baby with his birthday falling between either April or May making him a Taurus-born. My picks for Oscar's birthday were either April 21st or May 21st. I'm more leaning toward Oscar's birthday being April 21st. I was going to originally pick May as my fanon interpretation of Oscar's birth month since May is the fifth month in the year. This for me correlates well with October being the tenth month in the year which has been confirmed as Ruby's birth month.

However, April is usually an Easter-related month. Case in point, April 21st was Easter Sunday this year. I really want Oscar to be an Easter baby. So therefore, I’m sticking to my guns on that Pinehead headcanon. Another headcanon of mine is that whether or not his birthday falls in April or May, Oscar’s birthdate is the 21st. Why the 21st, you might ask? Because it draws a parallel to Princess Ozma from the Wizard of Oz. According to research, Princess Ozma was born August 21st making her a Leo. While I find the Taurus personality fits Oscar a lot better, I like the idea of his birthdate definitely being the 21st.

Unless the CRWBY tells me otherwise, from henceforth, this squiggle meister is going to treat April 21st as Oscar’s birthday. That's my headcanon and I'm gonna indulge in it. Leave me be, dagnabbit. By my stance, Oscar is a Taurus. He’s not my character but that’s how I see him.

But since Rosaline Fox is my character, I'm confirming her to be a Sagittarius born (the Archer sign) born in the Christmas month of December on the day of the winter solstice: December 21st. That’s her official birthday Rose Fox-fans.

I quite dig the concept of Oscar and Rose both sharing the 21st as their birthdates. It fits for me and my headcanon since they are meant to be close childhood best friends who grew up being thicker than thieves. So by the power invested in my theories, Oscar Pine is Easter, Ruby Rose is Halloween and Rosaline Fox is Christmas. I dig it.

What is Rose Fox’s Story?

Born December 21st, Rosaline Fox is the only child of Robyn and Marian Fox. Unlike most Faunus we've seen introduced in RWBY, my idea for Rose is that she is technically a half-breed by Faunus standards. In spite of World of Remnant claiming that Faunus and Man are compatible from a biological standpoint and are able to breed successfully, there haven’t been much examples of Faunus characters with human parents.

So with Rose, I decided to make one of her parents human. Her father, Robyn Fox was a red fox Faunus who chose a human to be his wife. Robyn and Marian lived a seemingly happy love and marriage raising their daughter. Despite them being two different species, Rose shares a close bond with her mother and Marian Fox loves her daughter unconditionally in spite of all the weird whispers and rather impolite, discriminatory glances she'd received from others learning that she, a human women, married a Faunus and had Faunus child. Though raising a Faunus child has been a different experience, that hasn’t stopped Marian from raising her daughter right.

Although Rose had a good relationship with her mother, her closest parental bond was with her father. Not just because he was a Faunus like her but mainly because, in Rose’s eyes, her father was her hero . A great man who was an even greater father. Emphasis on was---will get to that later.

Physically, Rose gets most of her lovely looks from her mother. Marian has always been a very beautiful woman able to grab the attention of any man who crosses her path and her vivacious rose of a daughter didn’t blossom too far from that garden. From Robyn, Rose of course inherited his Faunus traits as well as his grey-blue eyes.

Before Rose eventually went off to Atlas Academy as teenager, she would often train with her father. Although Robyn was no huntsman, he did know a thing or two about combat and wasted no time in arming his little rose with the knowledge to defend herself. This type of knowledge came in handy when Rose was a kid. She was quite the scrappy little kit back then.

In her old neighbourhood in Mistral, Rose would often be bullied by the neighbouring kids for being a Faunus. One or two times it even got physical. But luckily, Rose Fox could more than take care of herself. Even as a kit. In fact most of her fighting skills went into protecting the one friend she had back in Mistral: a young farm boy named Oscar Pine.

Just like Rose, Oscar was the only child to a single mother named Dorothy Pine. Oscar and Dorothy used to live right next door to Rose and her family. The two families were good friends with each other since Dorothy and Marian were childhood friends themselves and thus the two mothers raised their children to be great friends as well.

Rose and Oscar have known each other since they were in diapers and grew up together. And as friends, they were practically inseparable. The Fox and the Farm Boy .By my imagination, Rose and Oscar are one year apart with Rose being the older between the two.

When they were kids, Rose and Oscar figured they would be friends forever. However all that changed when Rose and her parents left Mistral. She was eight years old when this happened.

Robyn Fox had grown tired of slaving away in the mines of Anima for little to nothing and wanted to take his family to a place where he believed they could prosper better. So being the ambitiously zealous man that he was, Robyn abandoned his mining job in Mistral; uprooting his family and moving them all the way to the colder climate of Solitas in hopes of making it all the way up to Atlas.

This, of course, meant Rose leaving Oscar behind and the two young friends were forced to part ways on a childish yet wishful promise to hopefully meet each other again someday when they were older. A promise that wouldn’t be achieved for another eight years year when the two childhood friends are finally reunited in the hallways of Atlas Academy.

During the years since she moved from Anima, Rose and her family lived way down in the Barracks---a sector of Mantle designated to housing all immigrants; humans and Faunus alike (mostly Faunus) who came from other kingdoms to live the, quote, unquote, Atlesian Fantasy.

Living in the Barracks was a rather uncomfortable experience for Rose and her family for their first two years in Solitas. The cold winter climate was a first for Rose, having only been accustomed to living in the warm countryside of Anima. Fortunately Rose had much friendlier neighbours this time within the Barracks and her family were well-acquainted with their fellow Faunus families. After all, they all came to Solitas chasing after the same pipe dream. All they had to depend on was help from each other so getting along seemed like the better attitude to adapt in order to survive the cold winters. For better or worse, Rose remembered meeting some very nice Faunus folk, young and old, in the Barracks for her first part of her life as a citizen of Mantle.

However these ties would not last long. Eventually, luck came knocking at Robyn Fox’s doorstep when he was able to land a job with the Schnee Dust Company through a connection from another Faunus he worked with in Mantle. Through this new career, Robyn was finally able to move his family out of the Barracks and for a second time in her life, Rose was forced to leave the bonds she had made in the Barracks as her family migrated upward to the Atlas Kingdom.

By Faunus standards living within the upper Kingdom of Atlas, Rose were often looked down upon as some kind of pampered animal by her more human colleagues. To Rose’s astonishment, not a lot of Faunus make it to the top. The more common ones are the fraction of the Atlesian Faunus population who were fortunate enough to be born within the upper kingdom walls. The more common ones are those who were brought up on the backbones of past generations of Faunus who worked hard so that their descendants could be born citizens of Upper Atlas and thus never have to struggle from where where their ancestors had to start off.

For example, Neon Katt of Team FNKI--a Faunus, who by my theories, was born and raised in Upper Atlas but had ancestors who came from Mantle. Rose Fox was part of the fortunate few whose families got lucky enough to catch a break. The rest---the greater percentage of the Faunus population are forced to toil away in the lower kingdom.

As a matter of fact, the humans of Upper Atlas Kingdom were a lot less humble than the few Rose befriended in the Barracks. On the contrary, there were humans of Atlas who believef that Faunus like Rose shouldn’t even be allowed within the upper kingdom. To them, their place in society should be down toiling away in the Barracks or any other part of the decrepit Mantle population.

This was an offensive terminology and assumption of her character that Rose despised with a passion. No one knew of the struggles that her and her parents had to endure just to get where they were in the present. No one knew of her father’s sacrifice. All those long days and nights he used to slave back in the dust mines of the Anima countryside just so he could provide enough food on the table to get his family through the month. No one knew of all those lonely cold nights her and her mother would sit up waiting for her father to come home safely from working double while they were stationed in the Barracks. All those times she spent comforting her distressed crying mother who was often very concerned for her father’s safety knowing the dangers of working within the much colder and less stable dust mines of Mantle.

No one knew anything about her at all so who were they to judge her as a whole based soley on her status as a Faunus? As far as Rose knew, she was blessed. Not pampered. As far she knew, her father had found his calling working for the Schnee Dust Company. If it weren’t for the SDC then her father wouldn’t have achieved the chance to finally provide the life he’s always dreamed for his family. Her father was making more than enough money to spoil Rose and her mother with everything they’ve ever wanted. As far as she knew, everything was as it should be. Everything was perfect, right?

Little did Rose know at the time, nothing is ever truly perfect or as it seems on the surface. And like any classic superhero origin events, these are the events that led to one Faunus girl becoming one of the most notorious vigilantes known to Atlas.

Rise of the Rose Hood

I’m going to dedicate to this section to Ly (@lythecreatorart.). I owe a lot of the ideas that went into crafting this side of Rose’s story to her brilliance and her Rose Fox variation: Rosaline Hood.

Here’s what I’m thinking: I have this small squiggly theory where part of the Faunus abuse and exploitation by the SDC is the higher ups (like Jacques Schnee) secretly blackmailing the Faunus employed under their company to take down their enemies for them. I couldn’t come up with a better name for this organized Faunus cabal so for the sake of this concept, I’m just going to dub them the Cerberus Triad for now.

The Cerberus Triad are a crime syndicate of Faunus secretly organized by the SDC to forcefully scope out and enlist vulnerable Faunus employed under their fine establishment to perform odd jobs on behalf of the company. And by odd jobs I mean crimes ranging from vandalism and burglary and even kidnapping, battery and in worse cases--- murder. All for the SDC.

Since World of Remnant mentioned that the SDC take pride in using shady tactics to out their competitors, my concept is through the use of their organized Cerberus Triad who are devoted to serving them, whether it’s their choice or not.

Basically think of Cerberus Triad as being the opposite of the White Fang. While the White Fang were more of a radical terrorist group who fought the humans proclaiming peace and equality for the Faunus race, the Cerberus Triad were Faunus who worked with the humans in charge of the SDC and profited from basically being their pawns at the expense of their freedom.

To the most Faunus involved with the Triad, at least the more dedicated members who’ve been so exposed to the lifestyle that they can’t afford to quit, they didn’t care if they were being used by the SDC. To the more third class Faunus who resided in the slums of Atlas and Mantle, the Triad was their one way of surviving. It was either that or death to them and their starving families. To those Faunus, they had nothing to lose. Why bother fighting against the humans when you can just as easily let their richest spoil you. All it took was just selling your soul to the SDC and getting your hands dirty taking care of their dirty laundry. That’s pretty much the concept I have for the Triad.

The Cerberus Triad are the property of the SDC and comprise mostly of poor Faunus---particularly the ones struggling to care for their families, who are at the complete mercy of the company. These Faunus are drafted to perform the SDC’s crimes for them under the promise of a better life.

A handful of these Faunus are roped by fellow Faunus who the Triad send to pull them in. The rest are threatened with the death of their families if they didn’t submit to the joining the Triad. The Cerberus Triad are the hellhounds who guard their masters’ identities and wait dutifully to be deployed against their masters’ foes. They are even willing to take the fall for their masters’ crimes (or worse), all the while the rest of the world remains oblivious to what the SDC has really been up to.

Though the hellhounds are indeed compensated handsomely for their services--- after all, the SDC is led by masterminds who know how to keep their pets in line; it doesn’t change the fact that these Faunus are forced into doing despicable things for the the SDC just for sake of keeping their families safe and cared for.

In reality, the hellhounds of the Cerberus Triad are no better than a pack of tamed animals who the SDC have by the throat and aren’t afraid to exploit their slaves as they please. The worse of the all are the Triple Threats--the proclaimed Heads of the Cerberus Triad.

In the Triad hierarchy, the Triple Treats are three alpha dogs---the ones entrusted by their masters to keep their identities a secret while additionally luring in and groom their fellow hellhounds. And should any of the pups lose their way, the Triple Threats are the top dogs the SDC deploy to ‘take care’ of them.

The Triple Threats are the prime examples of Faunus who have been so inbred in the culture of the Triad that they dare not betray their masters---willing to even kill their fellow Faunus brethren if it meant keeping their riches. To these particular Faunus, any life is better than having to rot away in the cold of Solitas. Even a life of crime.

I know these are all just ideas I’m spouting here but…admittedly this could be a pretty cool concept if done canonically. The White Fang are now a thing of the past as of the V5 and replacing them are the Faunus Militia Makes me wonder if there is a chance we might see the Belladonnas and Ilia Amitola returning at some point during the Atlas Trilogy as part of the subplot involving the Crimes of the SDC as teased by Adam Taurus in V6.

Through the White Fang, we’ve seen an example of Faunus willing to fight the humans for equality and freedom. Now imagine if things are different over in Atlas and Mantle where the Faunus who are slaves to humans being forced to do crimes for them. A concept similar to the Cerberus Triad could potentially be a nice contrast from the White Fang while still continuing the subplot of Faunus abuse. Who knows?

Resuming Rosaline’s story, Robyn Fox---her father, was secretly a hellhound for the Cerberus Triad. That was how he was able to acquire the income to get his family out of the Barracks up to Atlas. Like any hellhound, Robyn was rewarded with more money than he could ever dream off. Enough to provide his girls with the liverish lifestyle they deserved. Unfortunately, this also meant Robyn living a double life---lying to Marian and Rose about all the ‘good work’ he was doing for the SDC when the truth was that he was at the complete beck and call of the Cerberus Triad.

Through the Triad, Robyn would do things that he’d never be able to forgive himself for. Things that made him feel a tremendous amount of shame especially to his baby Rose who idolized him. One time Rose even told Robyn that she hoped she could do great work as a huntress someday just like what her father was doing with the SDC.

It was with this statement that Robyn Fox made a choice. For his daughter’s sake and his dignity as a father, he needed to quit his criminal ways. He needed to leave the Triad once and for all and let the world know the truth about the SDC.

Unfortunately for Robyn Fox, one does not simply walk away from the iron fist of the Cerberus Triad. It was a mistake he paid for with his life. At some point, Robyn threatened to quit the Triad with plans to rat them out to the Atlesian law enforcements. Without the Triad’s knowledge, Robyn had secretly been gathering evidence he had planned to use to expose the identities of masterminds within the SDC behind the Cerberus Triad. He had put together a list---the names of SDC members who Robyn suspected to be the Masters or at least accomplices as he gathered his proof. Among the names of the expected Masters was Jacques Schnee---the CEO.

Robyn had disclosed this plan to a dear friend---a fellow disgruntled hellhound who shared Robyn’s same sentiments about leaving the Triad for good. Robyn figured he could trust said friend. He was wrong.

As one might expect, Robyn’s so-called ally backstabbed him and ratted him out to the Triple Threats who then executed his death. Robyn Fox wasn’t just killed. He was murdered---corned like prey in the wilderness, beaten brutally to death before being shot through the head and left for dead bleeding out in the cold.

All the while this was happening; a petrified Rose Fox---too scared to move, hid somewhere else where the attackers couldn’t detect her. Rose had been out with her father when the Hellhounds came for him. Worried that they might hurt Rose too, Robyn stowed Rose away somewhere safe and told her that no matter what she heard, she must not move. Don’t move. Don’t make a sound. Stay perfectly still.

So Rose stood still. She stayed as stagnant as a statue made of clay as masked assailants---at least five of them---took their shots at murdering her father while she did nothing. She couldn’t make out their faces from where she stood; not like she looked.

But she never forgot their scent. Their scent would haunt Rose in her nightmares for many days to come; particularly one person. The face of the last person her father saw before he was shot dead. In the name of the SDC, the culprit boldly announced before pulling the trigger.

As a fox Faunus, Rose has excellent hearing and sense of smell. Her sense of smell is strong enough for her to identity someone based on how they smell alone. This is ironically how she and Oscar reunited. She never forgot her best friend’s scent so she immediately recognized him after catching a whiff of his trail when Oscar and Ruby were exploring the Atlas school compound before Oscar’s first day at the academy. Let’s just say, to Rose Fox, Oscar has a rather strong odour to him that she can smell from a mile away.

This plays into the fun fact is that pine trees are known for their nice smell so now I’m imagining Rose Fox constantly trying to sniff Oscar because she really likes his scent; all the while encouraging others to smell Oscar too which embarrasses the poor farm boy.

Getting back on track here---following her father’s murder, Rose was never the same again. On the surface, she tried to be her old chipper self for the sake of her mother who was completely devastated by what happened to her husband. But at her core, Rose was hiding an insatiable taste for revenge. She wanted to hunt down the people who took her father away from her. She wanted justice and it was a justice she sought out for herself.

This is the part that I owe Ly for inspiring with her Rosaline Hood. In Rosaline’s Hood story, she is the Robbing Hood.

However in my Rose’s story; to make a long elaborate story short, her father’s murder inspired Rose Fox to become the Rose Hood.

Using an old photo of her father when he was a young adult, Rose used his likeness to create an alternate persona of the Rose Hood to live out her vendetta. No one would ever suspect that a mysterious male Faunus vigilante is in fact a teenage Faunus girl with a shapeshifting semblance, correct?

Initially, Rose had only meant to use the Red Hood to hunt down her father’s assailants---donning the face of a Deadman to bring the men who killed him to justice by his---well her hands. However the further Rose went down the rabbit hole, the more she realized that the problem was far bigger than she imagined.

Eventually Rose found her father’s list and started unravelling the truth about the Cerberus Triad and their Masters. It was something that ultimately opened her eyes to what the Faunus of her kingdom had to go through just to survive. It opened her eyes to what her father had to do just for them to survive.

That’s when Rose made a change. She decided to turn her newfound persona into a vigilante hero who fought the Cerberus Triad.

Since the Cerberus Triad would pillage on behalf of the SDC, the Rose Hood would arrive to actively thwart their crimes. At the time, all Rose wanted to do was stop the Cerberus Triad from hurting anyone else. But that objective changed for a second time when word of Rose’s adventures as the elusive Rose Hood became the talk of the town.

Before Rose knew it, the Rose Hood became a household name; especially within the Faunus community. A feat which humbled honoured Rose but still she maintained her cover. By day she was Rose Fox---your average 15-year-old first year Atlas student attending huntsmen academy. But by night, she was the Rose Hood fighting to stop the Cerberus Triad in hopes that her escapades would bring her closer to her real target. Rose had planned to finish what her father started---to bring down the SDC by uncovering the identities of the Masters and bring them to justice for all their crimes against the Faunus community.

Not before long, as the Rood Hood’s popularity continued to grow, he ultimately attracted the attention of a particular group of Faunus who would ultimately become his followers. Tired of being used by both the Triad and the SDC, this band of merry men formed the Robbing Roses, a cult of thieves formally bred by the Triad who now swore their allegiance to the Red Hood.

The Robbing Roses tracked Rose’s movements as the Rose Hood and one night, one of their founding members found him and begged the Hood to be their leader against the Cerberus Triad.

And so, Rose became their fearless leader. Under the guise of the Rose Hood, Rose secretly leads the Robbing Roses in her crusade against the Cerberus Triad and the SDC.

The Robbing Roses

The Robbing Roses were once Faunus who once worked under the tirade of the Cerberus Triad and now work with the Red Hood to bring down them down and the SDC. Whatever profits they managed to score from their escapades is then used to help these men take care of their families particularly the ones who still have family they were trying to take out of the Barracks and Mantle. Most of these Faunus are husbands and fathers who the Triad were easily able to manipulate before. Now under the Rose Hood’s leadership, they are free to fight against their original oppressors by thwarting their crimes and stealing back from them.

Since the SDC use the Faunus to create the Cerberus Triad to take out their competitors then the Robbing Roses fight to stop the Cerberus Triad while targeting the SDC. Since the SDC seems to be built on the blood, sweat and tears of the Faunus they exploit for their own selfish desires under the kingdom’s nose then it would only be fair that their fortunes should go to the Faunus, correct?

The Robbing Roses work to reveal the truth of the SDC’s true colours to the world, all the while stealing from these very rich Masters to give back to the poor they viciously exploited.

So in addition to stopping the Triad, the Robbing Roses plunder the various SDC establishments scattered throughout Atlas; taking what they can to help the families of the Faunus who are trying desperately to get out of the Barracks; particularly the one’s of those working among the Robbing Roses.

That’s the concept that I have for these guys. Imagine basically the Phantom Thieves from Persona 5 but with a Robin Hood spin on it. If Rosaline as the Rose Hood is meant to embody Robin Hood then Robin Hood isn’t complete without his merry men, right? I’m not sure what the Merry Men of Robin Hood’s story looked like however for the Robbing Roses, I’m seeing a full group of men sporting hooded capes; red like roses and full face masks to hide their true identities.

Dissimilar to the masks worn by the White Fang, the Robbing Roses wear masks depicting the very animals the Faunus of the Robbing Roses embody. The mask is white with intricate red detailing that resembles rose petals and thorns. Remember the Anbu from the Naruto anime series? Picture something like that for their masks designs.

And since we’re talking about Robin Hood and the Merry Men, then obviously there needs to be a Little John character too.

Here’s my idea: Though loyal to the Rose Hood, none of the Robbing Roses know of his true identity as the teenage Rosaline Fox. None except for one man. A bear Faunus--- who the others called Jahn Little. I’ll dub him that for the sake of this idea I’m going with.

Basically Jahn served as the right hand and second in command to Rose when she was the Rose Hood. Jahn was also the man who formed the Robbing Roses when they were just a few struggling members and was the person who sought out the Rose Hood in the first place.

When Rose decided to ultimately abandon the mantle of the Red Hood, Jahn nobly gave up himself to the authorities claiming himself to be the Rose Hood. When asked by Rose why he would take the fall for her, Jahn revealed it was because he owed a great debt to Robyn.

Remember that dear friend I mentioned before who ratted Robyn out to the Triple Threats?

It was Jahn but it wasn’t as it seemed. Jahn was forced into ratting out his friend since the Triads intimidated him into do it. He gave up his one trusted friend in the Triad to save his own skin. Jahn was actually there that night when the Triad murdered Robyn. He was the man who tried to warn Robyn of his hit but arrived too late to save him. He did however see Rose. It was the first time Jaune saw the daughter Robyn spoke so highly of; although the two would not officially meet until the Robbing Roses form.

As for Jahn’s motive for working against the Triad and going to jail for Rose---well let’s say it was done as a final act of selflessness because Jaune had nothing else he could lose. He had already lost his family. Wife left him when he failed to provide. Jahn only joined the Triad because he had hoped he could make enough to win back his wife and son. When Jahn wanted to quit, the Hellhounds had his only family---his wife and son murdered to prove a point.

Similar to Robyn, the loss of his family was Jahn’s eye opening moment. The moment that made him realize the Cerberus Triad and the SDC needed to be stopped once and for all before other innocent lives were endangered; Faunus and humans alike. It was the moment that made him cling to the image of the Red Hood as a symbol of hope. And what was ultimately his motive for taking the fall for the young Rosaline after learning her secret.

Rose was the one who gave Jahm hope when he needed it most so giving himself up in her place was his way for repaying the kindness that her and Robyn gave to him. Jahn may have acted in his own self-interest toward Robyn but he wasn’t about to do the same with his daughter. That’s the idea.

Final Thoughts| Garden of Roses

And…that’s it!

Phew! Alrighty, I think I’m about ready to wrap up this long meta. I was going to include another section to discuss more about what a Rose Fox Character could potentially mean for Oscar’s story arc. Buuuut…I believe it would be best if that’s yet another Pinehead Headcanon saved for a next day. Oscar’s Other Rose Part III, ya’ll!

Anywhozzits, as I’m closing off, I just would like to take this moment to personally thank Ly, Chelsea and Miki. You’ve seen me mention their names a lot throughout this post and I really do owe these three cool cats a lot for their encouragement and influence.

Lately this squiggle meister has been feeling kind of as if folks might be getting bored of reading my RWBY content. Not saying it’s true. It’s just a lingering concern of mine with each post I make to Tumblr. So when I first shared my Oscar’s Other Rose Pinehead headcanon, like any idea I wasn’t sure how fellow FNDM fam might respond to it; especially the Pineheads.

But when I saw Ly create Rosaline Hood, as I told her, I was floored man! Then after Ly came Chelsea with her adorable Rosalind Hood and now Miki with Ianthe Regim. As someone who generally tends to talk a lot in her posts, words are not enough to describe just how genuinely happy I felt seeing all three of these beautiful Roses.

It’s because of this why I am completely open to their being multiple interpretations of the Rose Fox Character. When Ly first shared her Rosaline Hood, I didn’t want to be like “Her Rose isn’t the real Rose because she doesn’t look like my Rose”, y’know what I mean? HELL to the NAH! I was over the freaking moon seeing her first character design for Rosaline Hood the first time as well as her adorkable storyboards of Oscar and Rose’s friendship. I love seeing those. Maybe this post might’ve even inspired a few of those drawings. Who knows?

The same is to be said for Chelsea’s Rosalind Hood and Miki’s Ianthe Regim. Speaking of Miki, love, love, LOVE your drawings of all the Roses together interacting. Beautiful!

I welcome ALL incarnations of the Rose Fox Character. Even though Rosaline Fox is my version, I am more than happy with anyone else creating their own Rose Fox-inspired character. It’d be lovely to see this garden grow. It’s actually really cool when ideas inspire more ideas. My original headcanon may have helped inspire Rosaline Hood from Ly but it was Ly’s Rosaline Hood who helped inspire Rosaline, Rosalind and Ianthe too. It’s freaking crazy and I love it.

So yeah, if anyone is interested in making their own Rose Fox characters, you’re more than free to do so. The one thing I ask is that you share them with yours truly once you’re done since I’d love to see them. Just…uhm…no rule 34 level of inappropriateness please. I am open to more Roses but respectfully keep that kind of stuff out of the garden, please and thank you mighty kindly.

What would actually be beyond awesome is if the Concept of the Rose Fox Character becomes so popular that even the CRWBY Writers pick up the idea and actually decide to add their own version to the canon of RWBY. Yes, yes, I know that’s mega wishful thinking here but a squiggle meister could dream, can I?

For now, it just gets me excited seeing art of all the Roses that blossomed so far. What’s left for me to do now is to finish up my design of Rosaline so that I can join Ly and Miki on drawing all the Roses together.

I planted one tiny seed of a Pinehead headcanon and from it blossomed not just one but now four Roses, all lovely and rich in their own unique way. That’s enough for a huntsmen team.

Even though I shared all of this ideas for Rosaline Fox and her story, that doesn’t necessarily mean that my concepts are set in stone for other versions. To my fellow Rose Fox parents, you guys are more than free to use elements from Rosaline’s story for your Roses or create your own if you’d like.

Speaking of:

What’d you think of Rosaline Fox now after reading her story?

@miki-13, @lythecreatorart and @che1sea-xiao-long, you guys asked me for my thoughts on your Roses and your ideas for their respective stories; now I’d like to know your thoughts on Rosaline’s if you don’t mind.

And if anymore Roses are to spawn, they are welcome in the garden as well. As I told Chelsea and Miki, this squiggle meister is fully on board with this Garden of Roses: A Rose Fox Multiverse that’s happening here.

I love that Rosaline now has three fellow Rose Fox sisters whose stories she helped shape and who’s own stories helped shape hers. I don’t usually indulge in creating content from my RWBY theories and headcanons but your contributions have made this so much fun and for what it’s worth, I hope we can keep having more fun with our Roses.

Who knows? Maybe from this I can get the nudge to create more RWBY Squiggle OCs inspired by other Pinehead headcanons I’ve made. Like Tippetarius from this Pinehead headcanon right here. I guess we shall see. For now, let’s keep the fun going guys. Thanks for reading!

More Squiggles’ RWBY Content

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

#rwby #oscar pine #rosaline fox #rwby rosegarden #rwby theories #pinehead headcanons #squiggles pinehead headcanons #rwby: garden of roses #rwby: defining rose fox

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dalekofchaos · 6 years ago

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My Harry Potter headcanons

Harry Potter is Bi

Harry’s scar was growing every year. Grows from a tiny lightning bolt, to a storm overtaking his face. Only after Voldemort is defeated does it recede to just his forehead.

Hermione is Autistic

Sirius Black is pan and in love with Remus Lupin

Remus Lupin is Demiromantic and in love with Sirius Black

Tonks is nonbinary and pan and in love with Tulip Karasu

Charlie Weasley is Asexual

Luna Lovegood is Asexual

Bill Weasley is Bisexual and in a poly relationship with Fleur Delacour and Viktor Krum

Severus Snape is Trans

In Year 4 Harry was an absolute Bi disaster and was crushing on Cedric and Cho and asked both of them out at the same time

Harry has hit on every Weasley sibling just to fuck with Ron

America has two major Wizarding Schools. Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and The Salem Institute of Extraordinary Magic. I chose what we all thought would be the American Wizarding School because it would be important and honestly better than cultural appropriating a culture without their permission and not allowing Indigenous Tribes to found Ilvermorny. The Salem Witches Institute is important because it will show that what happened in Salem can never happen again. An Intersectional Academy for Witches and Wizards everywhere. Taught to defend themselves, taught never to be defenseless, taught to fight and taught that what happened in Salem can never happen again. First it was known as The Salem Witches Institute, but became The Salem Institute Of Extraordinary Magic over time and accepted Wizards into their school.

Ilvermorny was founded by Native Americans. It was their school and culture. It wasn’t until the European settlers invaded and raided Ilvermorny and erased the Native Americans and stole everything and made Ilvermorny their own. Basically history was written by the victors. It wasn’t till the late 1980′s that this was brought to light and the real history was made public.(Fuck your cultural appropriative ass JK)

The Hogwarts Founders are witchcraft and wizardry masters from all around the world. Godric Gryffindor is African, Salazar Slytherin is Muslim, Rowena Ravenclaw is Chinese and Helga Hufflepuff is French Indian. To erase their diverse founders image from history, a bunch of racist headmasters used magic to keep the illusion that the founders were white. It wasn’t until the late 90′s where the truth was finally revealed.

Salazar Slytherin didn’t want muggle-born kids to come to Hogwarts because It was in a period of time during which muggles were, murdering anyone they suspecting of having magical abilities. And when Professor Binns talks about it, what he specifically says is that Salazar “[believed] them to be untrustworthy.” Which it’s easy to interpret as, “they might give us away to their muggle families and get us and all of our students killed.”And if you look at it that way, it’s not hard to imagine that the Chamber of Secrets was actually built as a defense for the school – maybe arguably a misguided one, but still a defense – the same way the enchanted statues are. And that the original intent of it and Salazar’s requirements for sorting were twisted over the centuries, becoming less of an effort to protect the school from a group who, at the time, were potential threats to them, and more of a powertrip, especially once the magical community separated itself from the muggle community.I mean, Binns does also specify that the bit about “purging the school of people unworthy of practicing magic” is part of the legend and not the factual history of the school. And it was Riddle/Voldemort who first used the basilisk.

Newt Scamander created the Werewolf Registry in a way to introduce laws that would protect and help werewolves, but the Ministry twisted it into its own bigoted laws. It’d make Newt likeable without having to ignore the whole Werewolf Registry thing, and it’d be another chance to show just how fucking awful the Ministry is. Doing that would make Newt’s likeability skyrocket, instead of what we’ve got right now, which is him being very likeable, but the shadow of what happens is something you have to ignore in order to like him.

The Knights Of��Walpurgis were the only ones who Voldemort considered to be his true friends, the rest of the Death Eaters were just followers to him.

Lily had a witch squad with Marlene McKinnon, Mary MacDonald, Dorcas Meadowes, Molly Prewett and Alice Lightwood

Because of Snape and Lily’s close friendship, Lily developed feelings for Snape, but when he called her a mudblood and seeing him with the Slytherins who would become Death Eaters, all Lily felt for Snape was disgust

When James and Lily started dating and Lily became friends with The Marauders, Lily became a registered Animagus to help Remus. Lily’s Animagus is a Doe and her Marauder name is Fawna

Walburga and Orion were abusive towards Sirius and Regulus

Harry celebrates Father’s Day by celebrating with Hagrid and celebrates Mother’s day by celebrating with The Weasleys for Molly and honoring Professor McGonagall

Lucius and Narcissa were loving parents towards Draco. Despite what the Draco stans do to demonize them just to woobify Draco

Despite JK’s claims, Draco does have happy enough memories to produce a patronus. He grew up in a stable home with loving parents. Draco’s patronus is a Thestral.

Pansy Parkinson’s patronus is a King Cobra and Blasie Zabini’s patronus is a Fox

During Snape’s Legilimency lessons with Harry, Snape saw how abusive the Dursleys were towards him and it gave Snape flashbacks to how Tobias treated him and both Snape and McGonagall protested to Dumbledore about how fucked up it is that Harry has to live in an abusive house.

After Cornelius Fudge was dismissed from office, he was tried for the murder of Barty Crouch Jr

Sirius Black was convicted without a trial and a proper investigation was just cruel and unfair. His fellow OOTP members who became Aurors who knew him best were not allowed to investigate Sirius. They knew Sirius was not capable of doing what he did but were silenced. The Ministry needed a scapegoat and Dumbledore did not want Sirius to raise Harry. Dumbledore gave second chances to people who he could use. He gave Snape a chance because Snape was of use to him. He used Harry because Harry was the key to defeating Voldemort and for the greater good. Dumbledore randomly helped Remus when he was a boy by going out of his way to let Remus come to Hogwarts and Remus himself once admitted that he will forever be grateful to Dumbledore and Remus was a member of the Order. Dumbledore sends Remus to live with werewolves and try to convince them to join the Order. Dumbledore manipulated Remus for the greater good. Dumbledore had no use for Sirius. Dumbledore could have spoken up and fought on behalf of Sirius, Wizengamot but he didn’t and Sirius was forced to be in Azkaban for 12 years. Dumbledore manipulated Sirius’ death. He didn’t have a use for Sirius, didn’t care for him and having Harry go live with Sirius at 12 Grimmauld Place would take away the protection spell placed upon The Dursleys which went against Dumbledore’s plans, so I fully believe Albus manipulated Sirius’ death so Harry would stay with the Dursleys.

The Fudge administration was investigated for corruption and the unjust imprisonment of Sirius Black

Neville acknowledging that, while Snape was most definitely more consistently awful, McGonagall was actually pretty goddamn terrible to him in third year with the whole "You don't deserve unrestricted access to your bed when a murderer was loose on Hogwarts grounds" punishment for a mistake, and McGonagall owning up to that and apologizing.

When Sirius returned to 12 Grimmauld Place and was confronted by the portrait of Walburga and told him she can finally say she is “proud of him” for being convicted of betraying The Potters and killing the Muggles and Sirius has never been so disgusted in his entire life

Dumbledore was raising Harry to be an Obscurus

When Harry, Ron and Hermione came back to Hogwarts looking for the Horcruxes. Hermione apologized to Cho and Marietta and undid the jinx.

After the Battle Of Hogwarts, Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione went to Godric Hollow to fix up The Potter cottage together. Harry and Ginny live at Godric’s Hollow with their children and they are one big happy family.

After sometime of self-reflection Draco and Pansy do end up together, but realize the way they acted in Hogwarts was awful and eventually make amends to everyone. First they break away and distanced themselves from their families. Draco and Pansy reaches out seek to make amends with everyone involved with the DA. So one day as they gather at Hogsmeade, they properly apologize for everything. It takes some time, but eventually they are forgiven. Draco even got that handshake with Harry! Draco and Pansy raise their son Scorpius together and raises him right and never to be prejudiced. They are healers together.

Luna and Neville end up together(this is my canon, so shut up) they fall in love shortly after the Battle Of Hogwarts. Neville teaches Herbology. Luna is a Magizoologist. They have two kids. Alice and Lysander

Harry and Ginny had a 4th child. Ruby Molly Weasley, named after Hagrid and Molly

After the war. Hagrid goes back to Hogwarts and finally finishes his education. Harry takes him to Diagon Alley to return the favor.

After the war, Harry turns 12 Grimmauld Place into a children’s home for Hogwarts students who can’t or shouldn’t or don’t want to go back home for the summer or holidays. And Harry renames it the R.J. Lupin House Inspiration

When their time at the Ministry was finished. The Big Seven returned to Hogwarts as Professors. Harry became the Professor Defense Against The Dark Arts, Ron would be the Charms Professor, Hermione would become the Transfiguration professor, Neville would remain as Herbology Professor, Luna would be the Care For Magical Creatures Professor, Ginny would be the Flying Instructor, and Draco would be the Potions Master

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cursedfaulkners · 6 years ago

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I apologize in advance for how long this is going to be. I have so many ideas and headcanons about this character. She is quickly becoming one of my favourite and most fleshed out characters of all time. I just love her and I could honestly go on for hours!

DAY 1: MC for the Hogwarts Mystery Event 2018

Facts: (with comments in italics)

Name: Annie Jane Faulkner (Never uses her middle name. In fact she only really hears it when her parents are really pissed, the whole “first middle last name how dare you...” etc. that parents love doing)

D.O.B: 21.April 1973

Blood status: Pureblood (While the Faulkners are not counted as one of the sacred twenty eight(for many reasons of which I’m too lazy to think of), her mothers family the MacMillans are. Neither are typically concerned with the whole blood purity shit and are thus considered blood traitors, though not to the extent of say the Weasleys.)

House: Ravenclaw (Was almost a hatstall, but not quite. The hat was stuck between Ravenclaw or Gryffindor but settled on the former. Interestingly enough, Jacob was also in the same situation. But in his case it was a toss up between Ravenclaw and Slytherin.)

Wand: Maple, Unicorn hair, 12 1/2″, Slightly yielding (Almost the exact same as her brothers who had a maple, dragon heartstring, 10″. “Curious indeed” - Ollivander. Maple wands choose those who are “by nature travelers and explorers; they are not stay-at-home wands, and prefer ambition in their witch or wizard.”)

Pet: A barn owl named Nunzio (Of latin origin meaning messenger. Derived from the element ‘nuntio’ which means to announce or to report. A rather fitting name if Annie does say so herself.)

Patronus: Hawk

Best class: Charms (Her favourite class as well. Besides care for magical creatures which comes in at a very close second)

Worst class: Potions (For no real reasons other than Snape despising every fiber of her being. Honestly, if not for Penny she would be failing big time.)

Boggart: Jacob’s dead body (This one really destroyed her. She first encountered boggarts in DADA as a third year and was not prepared to see her dead brother. For a moment she forgot it was just a boggart, it was the first time she really realized the very likelihood that she might not find her brother alive, if at all. She never managed to cast the Riddikulus charm that class, it being all too real for her. Instead she ended up having to sit that one out, pale, dizzy, crying and at the verge of throwing up. It was also an eye-opener to her fellow classmates and even Merula won’t go as far as to bring up the boggart incident. She has since then cast the charm successfully and reminds herself in almost a ritual chant each time “It’s not real. It’s not real. It’s not real.”)

More info under the read more(Turned out to be a lot more than I first anticipated)

- She is honestly such a little shit sometimes. Sarcastic and blunt. But we all love her.

- 2nd year, after an incident that we do not speak of, Felix had caught her and rather pissed, dropped her off to Chester. His bloody problem and “Keep a @%& eye on your house Davies!” -.-” After being not so gently escorted back to the commonroom, one earful and a few overwhelmed tears later; they had come to find a new understanding. From there on out, Chester took on a sort of brother role that lasted until his graduation. Annie did appreciate having someone to talk to. Especially someone who knew her brother at Hogwarts, or at the very least someone who had overlapping years with him. (My version of Jacob would have been a 3rd year when the prefects started Hogwarts)

- Has a habit of sneaking out of her dorm and wandering around the castle at night. Usually on days she really misses Jacob and needs the fresh air as well as to stretch her legs.(Or so she claims at least the odd time she gets caught.) It doesn’t happen too often but more so around the holidays. Night to Christmas morning, 2nd year, she was wandering around and happened upon the room of requirement and thus the mirror of Erised. She did get caught by Dumbledore(who had been alerted by a nearby painting), but in his Dumbledore way her let her off the hook “this one time”(one time my arse). But that is a story for another time

- Grew up thinking she would become a magizoologist, but through everything that has happened, she became a curse-breaker instead. Worked for Gringotts for a year or two before starting her own firm with Jacob. #TeamFaulknerSiblings

- Has grown suspicious of Ben lately. He seems to know more than he’s letting on. But she has yet to confront him.

- Not as close with Rowan as they used to be. A lot of stuff is happening and they are simply starting to drift apart. She doesn’t confide in her as much as before. But who knows what might still happen.

- Penny is absolute bae and Tonks is a mood. Her two best hufflepuffs in the world! Annie loves these two and would honestly die for them.(Except no she didn’t, but the battle of hogwarts is a whole other can of worms that will not be opened this day)

- Annie and Tulip and still getting to know and trust each other. Annie still doesn’t like the fact that Tulip withheld information about Jacob from her though.

- The Weasleys! Good Godric the Weasleys.. Where do I even start.. it almost deserves a post of its own. Annie did grow close to Bill from the get-go. He quickly turned into that big brother she so desperately needed. He was the go to guy to invite on everything cursed vault related. While they did have a brother-sister sort of relationship, she did find herself fancying him a small bit for a short while. It was a small crush that eventually ended. There was an incident between them in her 3rd year but that is between Annie and Bill, agreed upon to be never spoken of again. Charlie on the other hand. Annie had definitely fancied him for a long time. The feeling was mutual but being so awkward both of them, it went unsaid for quite some time. They grew closer during their 4th year and started officially dating not two weeks into their 5th year. They would end up marrying many many years later.

- Barnaby is precious and we must protect him!

- Merula is a bitch. Annie is just fed up at this point. Sure it was fun to push her buttons(and merlin knows she has enough of those) and she almost enjoyed being snarky back at her. It was a nice distraction but they are 4th years now. It is getting old. She just doesn’t care anymore. You’d swear “Piss off Snyde” had become a signature catchphrase. Hell, maybe it has?

___________________

Ok.. I could honestly go on and on and on all night but I will draw a line here. If you are interested in my version of either my MC or Jacob or anything, please don’t be a stranger! I would love to explore and work out more about her. Asks of any kind are honestly welcome! My inbox has been empty for the entire 6+(?) years I’ve been on tumblr.(Not even an exaggeration.. it’s sad). This is probably a little too late but I’m sure it’s still the 22nd somewhere in the world so I’m going to count it ;)

#hogwarts mystery #hogwarts mystery event 2018 #MC #Annie Faulkner #I know the art is kind of shit but a lot of the detail went missing between drawing it on paper and transferring and colouring on computer #I swear my art is better on a good day #this was not a good day #I am honestly so tired #Its 4am #Ive been up for hours working on this #appreciate me xD

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okiedokievariantloki · 3 years ago

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On Continuity, Plot, and Story: Each Thor Movie (including Loki on Disney+) Is Telling A Different Story...Part 1: Thor (2011)

One of the things I hear a lot in fandom is how a lot of characterization in the MCU is inconsistent throughout the movies. This goes especially for a lot of the earlier Marvel movies (Iron Man, X-Men, 2000′s Spiderman) before MCU was even a thing, but all of the films to some extent fall prey to this.

First off, this is not going to be a ship-centric post, so please don’t take it as invalidating or supporting any relationship/romance/pairing. That’s not the point, so if you’re looking for that kind of content, I suggest you look elsewhere.

Secondly, I’m not a hardcore fan of the MCU. I’ve watched all the movies and shows I will be talking about today. In fact, I have watched them in order of release because my beloved is a big comic book fan and I support them even though I’m more of a fan of silver age DC comics, weird science, indie comics, and seinen manga.

Third, I’m not a *huge* fan of how a lot of superhero comic books have characters literally vomit paragraphs of extrapolation in speech bubbles, but I understand the reason for it, and I grew up in the 90′s, when a lot of superhero comics basically decided to fanboy all over Frank Miller’s Sin City aesthetic and so a lot of superhero comics were both super grimdark and really violent, which was not the kind of stories I preferred to read. Add that to the time I watched that truly horrible Captain America movie from the 80′s or something on afternoon broadcast TV where he wears a motorcycle helmet and The Red Skull gave me nightmares for a week because their interpretation of the character is a guy whose face was just...glistening muscles and it was horrifying, and you can see why I might be a bit skeptical of the whole spandex-and-punching-baddies thing.

Anyway, let’s get started or this is going to be a rogue thesis paper.

You might laugh when I say this, but when I first heard about the Thor movies, it was on the back of Dr. Pepper cans. They had cans with images of all the Thor characters on it, and I remember looking at Anthony Hopkins as Odin and wondering why he was such a round butterball. The outfits *were* kind of ridiculous, but they also felt oddly overly shiny if that makes any sense. Like they weren’t wearing clothing that actually made a lot of sense for battle. It felt like they were trying to pull from the comics (which, to be fair, looks like someone decided to combine Conan The Barbarian with psychedelia, so I am fairly certain the costume department was doing their best), but also from the late 2000′s aesthetics popular at the time. I remember there were short “making of” shows on TV, including interviews with the cast, and I was familiar with the director (he also made a film version of Hamlet that he starred as Hamlet in) so from that information alone, I could pretty much guarantee that this movie was going to be like Shakespeare on steroids with a good hint of self-congratulatory auteur nonsense.

And I was not disappointed! The parts on Earth clashed terribly with the parts on Asgard, and I found it really funny because it was kind of like that meme where the detailed horse drawing gets more and more sketchy and terrible.

Like so:

You could really tell that the director just wanted to make an entire movie on Asgard without Thor going to Earth at all. The Earth parts were cringey and made me flash back to the early Iraq War Bush years (if you don’t know what I’m talking about it, it was a Whole Imperialistic Jingoistic Patriotic Bullshit Thing that I don’t want to go into).

The fight scenes were...ok...but they were also just...exhausting. I find this to be pretty much the case in most early to mid 00′s superhero movie. They are so obsessed with having The Big Fight To Make The Hero Look Really Powerful that the destruction ends up going on for so long that I get physically tired (I think I legitimately dozed off when Superman and Zod were fighting in the reboot film). The character development was ok, but once again, every character wasn’t really a character, they were an archetype.

And so, I wanted to stop here for just a second and go into that a bit more.

Thor 1 wasn’t really written as a Thor movie. Remember, the guy who had his fingers in this thing from day 1 is a Big Shakespeare Guy, and it shows. In plays like Hamlet, we don’t look at Hamlet and go “wow, I wanna headcanon Hamlet’s favorite breakfast and what he wears on Tuesdays.” (Though, of course, you are welcome to do so if you like- friendly reminder that Hamlet is in the public domain so go out there and write about him all you want!).

Hamlet isn’t really a “person” so much as an assortment of plot archetypes (prince, coming home after time away, depressed, vengeful, intelligent, calculating) wearing funny shorts. Nobody watches Hamlet because they want to know what Denmark was Like Back Then just like nobody thinks that Romeo And Juliet is a Very Accurate Depiction of Verona in Its Time, Actually. (Also, as an aside, for some reason, I always had this sneaking feeling that Shakespeare “borrowed” tropes from Oedipus and put it into Hamlet, but that’s an essay for another day).

In the movie, Thor isn’t meant to be a person. He’s a list of tropes because he is the Heroic Protagonist Archetype. In a lot of ways Thor’s personality and character (his pride and hubris) are part of the traditional heroic storyline. The hero has to have a fall before he can pick himself back up and reach the climax and resolution of the Hero’s Journey. Having him thrown out of his element and humbled by making him “mortal” (I’m still not sure what that means, but it doesn’t matter! It’s a plot point that serves the story, not the other way around!)

I do think that one of the reasons Loki is set up as a brother instead of as an uncle or older character is because Loki is known in the comics, and the whole “neglected brother who backstabs his golden boy brother to take the throne” thing is definitely a plot point in Hamlet.

I could see where the director and his team were stymied by the rules thrust upon them by the property they were trying to use. The story itself is a pretty standard heroic journey with other stuff sprinkled in. Loki has to be at least slightly villain coded for most of the film to serve the story, and the audience must unquestioningly believe he is “sneaky and devious” because it serves the story of Thor going through the growth he needs in order to be a hero.

BUT ALSO, Loki can’t be made into an irredeemable villain because in the comics as well as movies, these characters have to be allowed to have enough open-ended characterization to allow for them to be slotted into other stories. If Loki is a complete black-hearted monster, then the only part he can play in any heroic journey story is to die definitively at the end. By pulling back before making him go too far, it does weaken the archetype a bit (as absolute evil is a lot more cathartic to dispatch once and for all), but it serves a specific narrative purpose.

Which brings me to character design and how the audience takes it.

I remember when LOTR was first coming out in theaters. You had all the macho dudes going off when Gimley and Aragorn came on screen hacking and slashing, and then Legolas would show up and you’d hear a ton of screams from the teen girls in the audience. Feminine coded male characters are often really popular with with AFAB people, but they’re also popular with queer folks, especially villains due to queer-coding (villains often dress better and there’s a history of effeminate and queer Othering in media and society), so that’s definitely a Thing).

One of the main reasons I think this might be is that most films with a main male lead tend to be really man-character-heavy in general. If there’s a female character, she’s usually cast as the “cis-white-generically attractive love interest archetype” which literally exists specifically because the sausage fest of male friendships with close connection (in spandex) is very, very easy to turn into a gay romance. There is a reason one of the first and enduring fanfic pairings is Spock/Kirk.

A few more archetypes:

Thor’s three friends are basically versions of god Thor:

- A glutton who likes to boast/tell stories

- A battle-lusting solder who refuses to speak while he’s killing.

- A womanizer/narcissist

There’s also Lady Sif, who plays the roll of The Girl, No Homo on Asgard.

Thor’s parents, who are supposed to be incredibly powerful and capable, are basically kneecapped for story purposes as well.

If you want to ask yourself “why is Thor 2011 so irritating” it’s because it’s trying to tell a story despite the characters.

Well, actually...I lied.

It’s trying to tell TWO stories.

Oh yeah, that’s right. This is where the plot thickens.

You see, when this movie came out, people were highly derisive because it was an unknown property. Most people are familiar with Captain America (even if it was only the nightmare fuel movie from the 80′s) and they know who Iron Man is. Even the Hulk is pretty ubiquitous, though the main issues with Hulk are tied to the fact that pretty every superhero film that came out in the early ‘00′s appeared to be contractually obligated to include an hour long origin story because apparently nobody in the history of anyone is familiar with comic books other than a handful of [insert comic book nerd stereotype here] and in order to make a cash cow, the superhero genre needed to be attractive to South-Park-and-Jackass-watching-teens in the mainstream. If I can remember the movie posters and commercials correctly, most of it was being billed as a pure-action flick with clips of the fight scenes and manly men punching faces, because that’s basically the male power fantasy right there.

No think, just rage and beat because he good guy self insert, and that bad guy.

So basically, the whole Asgard part of the movie is a movie in and of itself that’s being rushed through to hit specific plot points- it’s an origin story, telling you who Thor and the Asgardians are so that when they tell the story about Thor on Earth, the entire theater of (and let’s not kid ourselves, this is for an America-centric audience) macho suburbanite young adults who take one look at Thor in his weird costume and weird speech don’t then start making up emasculating terms to refer to him and then walk right out of the theater because the movie is too lame and genuinely nerdy to be comprehended by the apparent dude-bro majority.

This was yet again another example of “We need to make this popular with the wrong demographic for money purposes so we need to spoon-feed them non-threatening hyper masculine narratives so that they don’t take one look at a property that is in effect a magic buff dude with long fabulous hair wearing very little and flying around with a hammer over a rainbow bridge and talking like Errol Flynn while he does it.“

I mean, they tried (insert gold star meme here) by making Jane a scientist (with all the PhDs, because more degree is more smart amirite guyz?), and the meet cutes where she keeps running him over with the car is funny enough, but in the end, she is still falls into the “OMG LOVE INTEREST AFTER LESS THAN 24 HOURS MY HERO” category and that is...annoying.

I mean, it’s better than Lady Sif, who...let’s face it, we don’t care about because she doesn’t matter and I literally had to look up those other guys’ names up on Wikipedia after watching them all get merked in the first five minutes of Ragnarok.

In any case, the movie doesn’t really even end in a satisfying manner because it’s trying to tell two different stories, and the stories themselves don’t really work well with one another. The whole Frost Giant/Loki part of the movie is largely just meant to be a hamfisted way to villain-code him from the beginning (if the blatant feminine coding doesn’t give that away). And the part at the end where he dies is, as far as I can tell, supposed to be a tragic end for Loki.

Of course, though, we all know Loki comes back, and characters in comic books are quite well known for dying and coming back from the dead when conveniently needed for a plot anyway, but you could definitely feel a huge tonal shift from the begining (Asgard/Jotunheim) to the middle (Earth) to the end (Asgard). It’s almost worse than having an Asgard origin story with a focus there and then moving to the superhero story and ending there, but they needed to have an excuse for Thor to be in the Avengers, so...there ya go.

Watching this movie is like watching one movie on one channel, flipping over to find another movie you like better, and then flipping back at the end of the second movie to find yourself in the last fifteen minutes of the first film. It’s jarring and the tonal change reduces the impact of the climax of the film.

In the end, the stories being told here are warring with themselves, which means that there are way too many unanswered questions, and a lot of the characters you’re supposed to hate/dislike (from a dudebro spoonfed perspective) end up becoming interesting and easy to fill in the blanks for. Loki is a prime example of this. His character does have a fair amount of screentime and his backstory has to be at least somewhat developed because it’s a driving force for the story of Thor’s hero journey. Loki provides some of the conflict that keeps the story from stagnating, and his character contrasts well with the hyper-macho, entitled Thor character by having more feminine characteristics, being thoughtful, cunning, and making plans. In a lot of ways, the intense love/hate (but still love one another) relationship between the two (and the “it’s not incest because my sibling’s adopted” porn trope) is one reason why people ship them so hard.

Loki is popular with a lot of AFAB folks because he represents a lot of common AFAB experiences- being smart, trying hard, yet still treated condescendingly and less than worthy by authority figures, and never good enough as The Dude Who Just Showed Up. A lot of people deeply identify with the casually abusive and dismissive way that Loki is treated, as though he is a monster, despite him trying so hard to be accepted. He falls into the abusive family trope under the Scapegoat archetype, but in the movie, there are explicit plot points that try to explain why he “deserves” to be scapegoated (thanks mainstream dude bro movie focus groups!). His character is often treated as sinister and suspicious long before he actually behaves in an antagonistic manner, which doesn’t help things. A lot of how Loki is treated in the film follows very closely to how a misogynist society treats AFAB folks.

Even if we discount the comic books and mythological lore, the bottom line is that this movie is designed to tell a certain story, and in this story, a certain type of person is lauded and shown as the example of Who To Be, and a certain type of person is reviled and minimized and shown as an example of Be Afraid Of This And Don’t Be This Or You Are Evil Garbage. This mirrors how marginalized people are treated in society so heavily that it makes a lot of sense why Loki is so beloved by fandom despite not being the focal character of this film, and why people have often deeply identified with Loki or associated deeply personal things with his character in fanart, fanfiction, and headcanons. A lot of people see his character as an excellent place to do introspective work and to work through personal traumas. I have also seen a fair amount of people look at Loki as a Sad Pale White Boi Who Needs to be Saved, which isn’t exactly true from a canon point of view, but I can see how there’s plenty of reasons to write or imagine the character that way, or to place him in situations where he can be validated or find romantic fulfillment.

Beyond Loki’s role in this film, you can definitely see that most of the characters are victims of the story they find themselves in, and this story is a Shakesperian tragedy coupled with easily digestible Hit Bad Guys With Hammer action segments. In a way, I would almost consider something like the Asgardian parts to have been better suited to a mini series, while the actual superhero movie part would be Thor being sent to Earth and then doing a Thing there. But that wasn’t really a thing back in 2011.

Thor is a very, very long, convoluted film because of the two stories that it is trying to tell while pretending that it’s only one. It’s so long that the novelization actually ends during the fight in the desert on Earth. And, speaking of long, this post is too, so I think I’ll post this now and if there’s interest, I’ll talk about Dark World and Ragnarok in subsequent posts.

Feedback, as always, is appreciated.

#Thor #Thor 2011 #meta #thoughts #loki #characterization #story versus plot #stories can be consistent but characterization is a bitch #characterization is inconstant if the story you're telling serves a different purpose

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derryhawkins · 7 years ago

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pleaSe write headcanons for the losers club’s kids im in Love with the idea of them as parents!!!

I wrote this with everyone in the same town even tho that’s very unrealistic but oh fucking well, I’m not gonna change a fucking thing. this is more just the kids & their friendship with each other?? if you want me to do one with the Losers as parents, I will! I loved writing this out omg

also i got so invested in this, i gave them names oh my god-

ok this is definitely going to get long lmao so sorry in advance!

their kids would be as close as their parents. lets be real, they probably didn’t have a choice

but they all didn’t like each other at first-

wait ok lets get this straight: Benverly has 1 kid, a girl. she’s got red hair like Bev & blue eyes, but her personality is more like Ben’s & she’s poetic but also other kids are intimidated by her (no one knows why tho she’s just a sweet little thing? maybe it was time she punched a guy in the middle of a soccer game for another girl). her name’s Allison but everyone calls her Ally

Mike & his wife would have 3 kids. 2 boys, 1 girl who’s the middle child. oldest’s name is Mark, the girl’s name is Tiana, and the youngest’s is Ryan. They’re all super caring and make sure their friends smile at least once and they’re the closest bunch of siblings anyones ever seen? Everyone likes them too & they get popular in high school bc of that & they’re all athletic in some way.

Tiana & Ally are same age so they’re bffs instantly and Mark and Ryan by default become Ally’s friends too bc the Hanlon kids are very close. if people wanna go with the ‘original group’ stuff they would be it tbh

then comes in Stenbrough’s kids! 2 boys, Peter and Thomas. Bill & Stan adopted Peter, a Vietnamese boy, around the age of 3 & he’s very shy and anxious and not that sociable. They adopted Tom when he was 13 (Peter’s just one year younger). He’s half-black half-white, biological parents gave him up, and people would think he’s sensitive about it but…he’s not? he doesn’t mind, Stan and Bill are the best parents tbh and he gloats about it. He’s a very outgoing kid but secretly awkward

finally Reddie! they have one boy, one girl. Blake and Kelly. Blake’s the oldest by 2 years, same age as Mark & Tom, and they adopted him when he was a literal baby. growing up he acquired more of Eddie’s personality. when Blake was like …6 they adopted Kelly when she was 4, same age as Tiana & Ally. she acts more like Richie. she’s almost the exact female replica of Richie but she doesn’t have ADHD.

ok now we can back to the kids’ friendship

the 3 Hanlons and Ally were fuckin close. they became friends around ages 6-8 and stuck together ever since. they tried to get Peter to join their friend group but the shy, anti-social, kid he was never really did until loud, obnoxious and loud, but kind Blake and Kelly brought them under their slightly chaotic wings

don’t worry they were nice about it

but Peter didn’t like either of them at first

Kelly teased him a l o t but out of kindness ofc & never stopped calling him Peter Pan or Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Blake was calmer but still loud and sometimes was too idk nice (wow who knew that was a thing). Peter just thought something was up bc he’s used to kids doing mean af things to him after being extremely nice so Peter’s just like a constant state of expecting hurtful shit from both of them

they’re offended bc he tells them out right one day during the summer, around age 10 & K&B are just like… “dude it’s been 3 years wtf”

that’s when Peter finally actually considers them friends bc they explained they care a shit load about him & by the start of the next school year, Ally’s friends with them too and that just brings Tiana, Mark, and Ryan as well

2 years later Tom is in the picture & Peter is once again like “i do not trust the boy where did he come from, he’s gonna shit in my bed or soMETHING”

turns out they get along GREAT & Peter is once again “i hated you” but Tom’s like “same I thought you were a snob bc you’d never talk” “…is this how Kelly & Blake felt” “probably”

all the teachers loathed the group bc even with cute Ally, nice Tiana, shy Peter, and sweet Ryan & Mark, they were all so fucking…wild

hallway fight in high school? probably 5′1′’ Kelly Tozier-Kaspbrak not backing down when she’s in a situation to fight someone both verbally & physically ok. she & Ally are literally the 2 smallests but pack a good punch and/or kick

after school detention? regular attenders are Kelly, Tom, Mark, and Ally. Peter got it once bc someone said the n-word to Ryan and he went off. that’s the first time anyone saw shy Pete red in the face. Blake got it a couple of times for getting into fist fights after someone talked shit about his friends. Ryan got it defending Peter & for spray painting something about the government on some lockers. Tiana get’s it AT LEAST once a month bc she back talks whatever teacher gives her shit

i’m gonna say it, Tiana and Kelly fucking date

Kelly and Ally are like Bev & Rich 2.0 as best friends ok? ok

idk about the others, if I think about it too much I’ll get even more too invested so lets just leave it at that, you guys can figure out the rest of the dating stuff

Pete has his first panic attack in freshman year of high school in front of the class but Mark, Tom, & Blake are a year above him & the girls and Ryan were still in middle school so he literally had no one & that made him panic more? poor kid :’(

he tries to hide it, as in he tries to not let the others know and lie about how the presentation went

Blake sees through his bullshit instantly, so does Tom ok they’re brothers. Mark doesn’t at first but then he’s like…what’s up with our shy boi after Peter snaps at him for the 1st time

its not until when they’re hanging out that weekend & Peter just starts crying after Kelly asks about it

cue confused and worried Kelly but Peter eventually tells what happened

cue a giant group hug and caring words and a few more tears

the boys are all protective of the girls + Ryan bc they’re the youngest. even Ryan’s protective of the girls too & vice versa. the girls & Ryan are also super protective of the older boys

they just don’t want anything happening to one another bc they’re group is like…a target for bullies. 3 of them are black, one’s Vietnamese, one’s mixed, a few are Not Straight At All

the bullying stops tho somewhat when the Hanlons get recognized for their athletic abilities & when Blake and Tom are deemed as the two hottest guys in school & when Ally is said to be the sweet but slightly scary girl with her cheerleader bff Kelly who you cannot piss off ever or else you’re screwed (& Ally’s secret gf Tiana who’s good af at soccer). Peter’s the cute nerd everyone giggles about – that just makes Kelly call him Peter Parker/Spider-Man more

i need to end this soon & go to bed omg

….but no..

random but they’ve all kissed at one point

whether it be bc of dares or they started dating or hook ups (when they’re of age ofc) or what, they’ve all kissed

they all deny it but everyone sobbed when Mark, Tom, and Blake left for college

and when Peter went the next year

and then the girls

and then small Ryan, ‘The Baby’/’Baby’ ended up being his nickname for them all over the years & he loathes it (but loves it bc..yeah he’s the baby)

their parents call them the losers 2.0 bc they’re all so fucking close

Stan totally got onto Richie & Eddie bc their kids taught Stenbrough’s kids curse words

Ally already knew & taught Mark, Tiana, and Ryan & that ensued with Mike going over to Benverly where Ben just smiles sheepishly and Bev doesn’t really care lmao

Bill & Richie help with any prank the kids wanna do

i wanna write more but I can’t let this get out of hand so

a giant thank you for requesting this!!!!

peace, hope ya liked it

ONE MORE THING: (holiday bonus) Tom & Peter grow up Jewish bc of Stan so the others do their best to learn about Jewish culture & Hanukkah & other things like that so they can participate in their friends�� traditions & not be confused when either boy starts talking about it

ok now i’m done (sorry for any spelling mistakes or something)

#answered #h writes #this was so fun to write #kinda already wanna do a 2nd part #ooop #reddie #stenbrough #it #benverly #mike hanlon

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dear-wormwoods · 7 years ago

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Same Hogwarts anon from before! Thank you so much for the answer. I actually really loved how long and in depth your analysis for Richie was haha. You definitely have me as a believer for Gryffindor!Eddie and Slytherin!Richie now. If you ever felt like doing any of the other Losers, that’d be pretty great. :D

Ahhh! Thank you so much! It honestly makes my day when anyone takes the time to not only read one of my longass posts, but also to leave me a message about it! I love you, anon. And I’m glad you’re a believer!!

I don’t know if I’ll ever do anything that intense for the other Losers, simply because I just don’t have the same level of emotional connection with them as I do with Eddie (and sort of by extension, Richie). But maybe shorter versions, someday haha.

For now, these are my remaining sorting headcanons:

Bill: Gryffindor. I think an argument can be made for Adult Bill as a Slytherin, but I attribute that character shift more to him not having the moral guidance and expectation of leadership and bravery that the Losers placed on him. As a kid, I think Bill’s very brave and protective, particularly when it comes to Eddie (the parallels between Eddie and Georgie and how that relates to Bill’s guilt could be its own post). Bill is brave in almost a destructive way… he doesn’t think at all about his own safety and he honestly doesn’t think TOO much about anyone else’s safety, either, aside from a sort of grim acceptance that he’d be responsible if they all died, since pursuing IT was his idea. He is very quick to run off and try to be The Hero, in order to go it alone and save his friends, but this usually backfires and puts everyone in more danger by separating the group. He’s a textbook Gryffindor, particularly in regard to the recklessness. As an adult he becomes more selfish, but we don’t talk about Adult Bill here…

Ben: Hufflepuff. I know this seems obvious because Ben is so sweet, but here’s the thing about Hufflepuffs… They’re loyal - but not to a fault like Gryffindors are. They’re loyal to those who are kind, hard-working, truly good, and loyal in return. They have a strong work ethic and they’re super trustworthy. These traits are obviously very Ben. Buuuuut!!!! Hufflepuffs are NOT people to cross. Hufflepuffs are the most kind and honest people, but if you hurt or betray them or someone they love, they can turn fierce in an instant. I think this is probably the reason Ben is a TRUE Hufflepuff and the reason that is often overlooked when sorting Ben. Ben has an incredible work ethic, he’s super focused, he’s super helpful, he’s encouraging and patient when teaching and explaining. He’s kind, helpful, trustworthy, comforting, and loyal to his friends and his mom. But if you cross Ben?? If you push his buttons or hurt someone he loves? Ben will go OFF. Ben is a BEAST when he has to be. And that’s the sort of emotional intensity that really defines Hufflepuff. Don’t fuck with ‘em.

Bev: Slytherin?? I should preface this explanation by saying that I’m really only going off the book when I’m making these decisions, because some characters are fairly different in the movie… and also, that I’m not a fan of book Bev, for a number of reasons (mostly Stephen King’s fault for being so bad at writing girls/women). So I’m biased, and unlike Richie, I don’t see Bev as really displaying the Slytherin traits in a positive way very often. That all being said, I put Bev in Slytherin because she’s a clever, ambitious girl who goes after what she wants when she decides she wants something. That would be a positive quality if it weren’t for the fact that she very much uses subtle manipulation tactics (namely, using her sexuality) to achieve those goals. But hey, Slytherins use any means to achieve their ends! She can be deceptive, and she can be selfish, and she really doesn’t hold much regard for other people’s feelings… how much of that is Bev the Character and how much is SK being bad at writing women… it’s hard to tell. The most positive Slytherin quality Bev possesses is the self-preservation aspect. Bev is a survivor, above anything else. She has dealt with a lifetime of abuse, but even in those situations she learns to navigate through them as painlessly as possible. It’s complicated. Bev’s personality is NOT as fleshed out as the other characters, so it’s hard to sort her confidently.

Mike: Ravenclaw. I can get behind Gryffindor Mike or even Hufflepuff Mike, because I think in the movie he is portrayed that way more. But book Mike falls firmly in the Ravenclaw category for me, due to how much he values exploring, learning, and listening. He absorbs information more than any of the other Losers. His father (also a Ravenclaw!!) instilled in him a value for knowledge and the SEEKING of knowledge at an early age, and Mike continues down that path for the rest of his life. He painstakingly records Derry’s history, not just out of obligation but out of genuine interest. Mike thinks well on his feet, but he’s not foolish - he’s very practical. But that doesn’t mean he’s close-minded. His willingness to learn, accept, and believe is VERY Ravenclaw. I think he was one of the last ones standing in the smoke house because he was most interested in learning/experiencing the potential visions - he stuck it out due to a desire to learn (Richie, on the other hand, stuck it out because he wanted to prove something to himself and the others). Mike’s main Ravenclaw traits are his intelligence, his wisdom, and his open and accepting mind. Which brings us to…

Stan: Ravenclaw. But for very different reasons than Mike! Stan embodies the Ravenclaw traits of originality, wit, and individuality. Stan is a weird kid. He’s fastidious and meticulous and focused on order and what he perceives as the laws of the universe. He’s not a mystical guy, he’s not a religious guy. However, he IS weird. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of birds, he has a very unique and often not understood sense of humor and dry wit, and his priorities in life are very adult well before he’s actually an adult. He also may or may not be sort of psychic. The problem with Stan is that he is also close minded. He doesn’t have the open mind that Mike has, so he has the most trouble understanding and accepting IT’s existence. But… despite that, I still think his intelligence and quirkiness qualifies him as a Ravenclaw.

(For anyone just seeing this… I made separate posts for Eddie and Richie!)

#stephen king's it #stanley uris #mike hanlon #beverly marsh #bill denbrough #ben hanscom #it novel #meta #asks #anonymous #crossovers #it meta #my meta #hogwarts au

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snowbellewells · 7 years ago

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“Do-Si-Dos and Tagalongs”

~ Okay folks, here is my first attempt at participating in the CS Halloweek event; I hope to do some of the other prompts over the course of the next week, but we’ll see how the time goes. This one – in honor of the first day’s Mysteries (Cozy, Noir, Thriller) theme – is just a playful, fluffy little caper where Emma catches the thief who has been pilfering her spare cash and discovers what the culprit has been doing with it as well. Sorry it was not posted on Day 1, but I didn’t want it to go completely unpublished, so better late than never, I guess! It allowed me the chance to finally do something with a prompt/headcanon I saw on Tumblr AGES ago, and I hope its originator (I believe it was @ripplestitchskein, to give credit where it’s due) will not be upset that I tried my own little version of it. Mostly just for fun, but I hope someone finds it cute and enjoys it. The “mystery” may be a bit of a stretch, but here goes…

“Do-Si-Dos & Tagalongs”

By: snowbellewells (or TutorGirlml on ff.net)

It all began with little Robyn, as it often does, and her wisps of untamed auburn hair framing her face, with that mischievous, gap-toothed six-year-old child’s grin and twinkle in her bright, beguiling eyes – both features that never failed to remind those who had known him of her late father and the bit of roguish bandit his smile never quite lost, even after settling in modern day Storybrooke. She had come to the two-story house Emma, Killian, and Henry had called home for some five years, with a platter full of cookies and tarts, nearly three months past, beaming and incredibly proud of herself as she presented the whole thing to the Savior, her pirate husband, and their Author son, whom she merely called “Auntie Emma”, “Uncle Killy”, and “Cousin Henry”, as a ‘thank you’ to the three of them for helping her to corral and coax her erstwhile little black cat Mac back home when he’d gotten out of the house and made a beeline for trouble, just as his young mistress often did. Regina and Zelena both trailed after her, doing their best to look bored and unconcerned with the proceedings, hands in pockets of tailored coats and matching sisterly arched brows challenging anyone to assume otherwise.

It was Regina who had shrugged sardonically when Killian exclaimed over the deliciousness of the crisp, chocolate Thin Mints, “No need to get so excited, Pirate! We just over-ordered from the Girl Scouts.”

There had been a whole, long explanation required of Emma from her inquisitive Captain once the Mills sisters and their pint size charge had gone. ‘What were Girl Scouts? Why did they sell cookies? How does one procure such delicacies? Which flavors were the best?’ and so on. For the moment, however, Emma had not been able to do more than giggle to herself at her dumbstruck husband smiling affectionately at the little girl and her gift, crow’s feet crinkling adorably beside his eyes – not to mention Robyn beaming back at him. She had sneakily managed to snap a couple pictures of the whole thing with her iPhone before Killian realized, and though Henry had seen what she was up to and smirked knowingly, he had refrained from giving her away.

Emma hadn’t thought much more about the little episode since. As was always true of Girl Scout cookies (and homemade Enchanted Forest-style apple and cherry tarts too, she was quickly learning) the plate of goodies hadn’t lasted long. Henry, fully a teenager and having recently taken up track at Violet, Grace, and Nicholas and Ava’s urging, (‘His own little crew!’, the perpetual loner Emma had been all through her own school years kept crowing happily inside) ate enough for the three of them combined, Killian had the most ridiculous sweet tooth she had ever seen, and she was rapidly discovering her own weakness for warmed up baked goods of all kinds on a chilly Fall evening. Never in her life had Emma been so settled and comfortable in one place for so long, and she couldn’t deny that she was savoring it. So when her favorites, the Do-Si-Dos, Henry’s preferred Samoas, and Killian’s Thin Mints all vanished by the end of that week, she was disappointed to find their surprise treats gone, but not at all shocked. Nothing seemed strange in fact, until she went to dig through her purse where she always kept five or ten bucks worth of dollar bills tucked away for impulsive buys, and instead found nothing but empty space.

The first time, she merely shook her head at herself; confused, but figuring that she must have snagged something at the gas station counter the last time she filled the Bug and then forgotten to replenish her stash. But it kept happening – a second, third, fourth, and even fifth, time. The radar which used to serve her well as a bail bondsperson tracking down skips in Boston had been set off and her suspicious nature engaged. A strange little mystery had presented itself in her house by the sea – and Emma Swan was determined to get to the bottom of it.

Henry was her first suspect, as she thought he might have just figured he was getting a quick advance on his allowance to take his friends for Cokes and cheese fries at Granny’s after practice or something like that. Yet, after watching her son for just a couple of days – and his allowance payout coming and going without him offering to pay her back – Emma ruled him out as the culprit. That only left her sneakily playful pirate husband, and honestly she should have known it was him without even having to test her findings.

Emma wasn’t sure how Killian was managing to swipe his loot right out from under her nose without her being able to catch him at it, and she was even more puzzled by what he could possibly be buying so often that she never saw a trace of, but then, she had never doubted how slick he was, and he’d had centuries to perfect his skills.

The whole little intrigue has been going on almost another month before Emma finally got the lucky break that spoiled Killian’s secret. She came home early from the station one afternoon; her dad having arrived a couple hours ahead of his own shift to give her a break, and as she turned the corner onto their street – though theirs was really the only house on it as the land began to roll down toward the harbor – she saw Killian closing the door behind him as he disappeared back inside, while Robyn with one of her little Girl Scout buddies in tow hopped down the front steps and out through the white picket fence onto the sidewalk, the two of them giggling together conspiratorially as they did.

Pulling up beside them, Emma parked her car at the curb quickly and hopped out to catch them before they could get far. She met the girls at the sidewalk, and for a moment wasn’t sure whether to crouch down at their level playfully, or to cross her arms and give them her ‘Mom’ look to get the answers she suddenly sensed she had found at last. She went with arms crossed authoritatively over her chest, eyebrow cocked expectantly, not wanting to consider the fact that she must look like some sort of blonde cross between her own schoolteacher-princess mother and Robyn’s Aunt Regina when she meant business. All she said was, “What brings you two here?” with a hint of a jest in her words, even though her stance clearly expected an answer.

Robyn had the decency to flush and look a bit nervous, her eyes falling to study the squeaky-clean saddle shoes she always wore with her Girl Scout uniform, before snapping her eyes back up to the Savior’s with a smile that would have done both her snarky mother and her charming outlaw father proud. ‘Oh yeah,’ Emma thought, she was definitely seeing a bit of Zelena’s formerly conniving streak now. “Nothing really,” the girl tried brightly. “Laney had just never met Captain Hook before, and so I told her it was no big deal, we were tight, and brought her over.”

The other little girl said nothing to confirm or deny Robyn’s claim, though her awkward shifting from side-to-side easily spoke for itself. Not that Emma would have mistaken her for the ringleader of whatever shenanigan was playing out here anyway; that had her unofficial niece’s fingerprints all over it. “That’s all, huh?” Emma questioned, making her tone clearly convey her doubt.

Zelena’s little troublemaker she might be, but Robyn had a penchant for stepping into mischief that was all her own and everyone knew it. When Emma didn’t budge, it only took a few more awkward seconds of stare down on the sidewalk before the little schemer cracked. When she spoke again, it was with the sincere tone of Robin Hood, legend of Sherwood Forest, which she confessed. “Oh alright, fine! You caught us! But it was just too easy not to try!”

“Wait…what was too easy?” Emma questioned, momentarily more confused than she had been, tapping her foot on the concrete and giving the youngster an even more searching look. “What are you talking about?!?” she pressed in near exasperation.

It was at this juncture that Robyn’s little pal lost her nerve and deserted the cause, clearly not having signed on to face questioning by the Sheriff-Savior. She blurted out an excuse about her mom waiting for her, blushing and stammering as she did, and then turned tail and ran.

“Fraidy cat,” Robyn muttered in disgust, the curled lip and glower she adopted as she crossed her own little arms in annoyance reminding Emma so strongly of the now reformed Wicked Witch in her heyday that for a moment she almost burst out laughing at the expression on such a tiny face, completely ruining the serious stance she was trying to hold.

“Okay, Robyn,” Emma sighed, once it was just the two of them. With a guiding hand on the little girl’s shoulder, she walked them back toward the front porch, taking a seat on the steps with her. “Let’s have it – the truth this time. Whatever you’ve been up to, it can’t be that terrible. I’m not really mad, just ready to get to the bottom of this little mystery.”

Robyn heaved a large sigh, dramatically aggrieved as only a little girl could be, and then finally started talking. “I just wanted our troop to sell the most cookies – and your husband’s such an easy target. You know that, right? I mean, I figured it out weeks ago when we brought you guys those ‘Thank You’ treats – Mom, Aunt Regina, and I… remember?”

Emma nodded, thinking back over evening meals since then, when Killian hadn’t eaten much and she had questioned if he felt alright, only to have him say he wasn’t very hungry; occasions where she had offered to make cookies and he had evasively insisted she needn’t trouble herself on his account, and again to the odd disappearance of her random bits of spending money. She was putting the pieces together even before Robyn finished coming clean.

“Your pirate just can’t resist us,” the kid shrugged, looking only a little bit sheepish now that she was caught, but not really sorry. “I don’t know if it’s the outfits, or little girls with big pleading eyes needing help, or if he just really likes our cookies, but every time I bring a new member of the troop by with boxes to sell, no matter how often we show up, he buys some more. It’s like he can’t help himself. And hey, who am I to complain?”

Emma snorted indelicately, struck by Robyn’s cunning and ingenuity, along with the sheer ridiculousness of the entire situation. Shaking her head in both disbelief and begrudging affection that wouldn’t have him any other way, Emma wondered mildly for a few seconds how she hadn’t known this was the case from the start. ‘Fearsome pirate of the seas,’ she mocked in her head, ‘bested by a bunch of cute six-year-olds with baked goods.’

Knowing that she shouldn’t simply let Robyn off with being so opportunistic and sneaky, yet not really sure what to do about it either, Emma merely gave the little girl a wry smile and light one-armed squeeze to her side with a gentle remonstrance. “Well, it’s not like you’ve really done much harm – except to my pocketbook.” She did frown just a bit there, and Robyn looked genuinely contrite. “But no more, okay? I don’t know where my pirate has been stashing his loot, but he has to be almost out of room. We’ve made our contribution to the Girl Scouts for the year. Got it?”

Robyn nodded dutifully, and though there was no judging the mischief that her hurricane “niece” could get into, Emma sensed that she understood the game was up.

Ruffling Robyn’s hair, Emma felt a momentary pang in her chest, picturing Henry at that age and wondering what he had been like and if he had been as playfully ornery as well. Having her son with her now, the relationship they had forged, and the family they have become is incredible – so much more than she had ever thought she would have – but things happened occasionally, striking her at the oddest times and there would be a melancholy moment or two of wishing she could take a portal back in time to re-live what she had lost with her son, who would be grown up and ready to leave them all too soon.

As if sensing her change in mood, Robyn reached out her little hand to lay it on Emma’s arm. “Aunt Emma?” she asked softly, her voice as hesitant and concerned as it ever got. “Are you alright? Your eyes got kinda funny and far away.”

Shaking the bittersweet reflections from her mind, Emma gave Robyn another gentle smile. “Yep, Trouble, I’m fine. Just got sidetracked for a minute.” She stood and pulled Robyn up playfully beside her. “Now, you’d better go home before it starts getting dark. We’re good, okay? Don’t worry. I am gonna have to call your Mom and talk to her about this, but I imagine if you don’t pull any more get-rich-quick schemes, we’ll all just put this behind us.”

“Okay, Aunt Emma,” Robyn agreed, bouncing back to her usual chipper self and past the anxious moment with a child’s usual resilience. She gave her honorary auntie a hug around the waist, which Emma gladly returned, and then set off toward Zelena’s little house a block over.

“Go straight home and get there safe!” Emma called after her in parting, to which she saw Robyn nod smartly and wave back over her shoulder. Emma watched her until the little girl rounded the corner at the end of the street and out of sight.

Turning, Emma opened their heavy oak front door and slipped into their home soundlessly, hoping if her luck held, that she just might catch Killian unawares with his prize. What she got as she stood in the entryway, flabbergasted and mouth hanging open, was not quite what she had expected at all. Standing almost directly across from her, frozen before the door into the cellar that until now they had both skirted around and almost never opened – demons purged, but still not eager to loose painful memories – looking both startled at patently guilty, was her husband. Caught red handed, Emma’s inner voice supplied smugly.

“Why, hello there, Love,” Killian finally greeted, trying for suave and “turning on the smolder” as Emma has often teased him in calling it since showing her pirate Tangled and delighting in his resounding approval of Flynn Rider. He would have succeeded too, if she hadn’t known him as well as she did. “You’re home early.”

“Yep,” she stated simply, popping the ‘p’ sound as he often did in his own speech and immediately causing a change in his demeanor, alerted that she was onto his subterfuge. Emma pushed away from the door and stalked toward him slowly, the heels of her boots on hardwood the only sound in the quiet foyer as her gaze pinned him in place – turning all of his usual methods back on him and loving it.

“Would you like to tell me what you’ve been up to?” she queries, her voice practically a purr as she reached out a finger to run lightly through the chest hair peeking out of his overly undone shirt collar and batting her lashes seductively at him, as if she really were some blushing damsel in his original realm.

“Why – uh – whatever do you mean, Swan?” he tried, an equally over-the-top stab at guileless innocence on his face and in those stunning blue eyes, even as she also saw him swallow hard and scratch nervously behind his ear, the one tic he couldn’t seem to rid himself of, no matter how much a dead giveaway it was.

“I mean,” Emma murmured silkily, eyes narrowing as she leaned in even closer to him, nose almost brushing against his and her breath hot along his collarbone as she practically licked her lips while studying her quarry. Granted, her own pulse had skyrocketed at his close proximity, but she was more pleased to revel in the way her husband squirmed nervously under her hungry gaze. “You’ve been discovered, Pirate. Your supplier ratted you out.”

At that, Killian huffed out a low breath, eyes falling as he gave a slight chuckle and shook his head, having known his wife would eventually get to the bottom of what he had been doing, and almost relieved to have the secret out in the open. He truly had not meant to gather such and collection of the things anyway, but he simply could not bring himself to say no to the adorable miniature females in their sharp skirt and vest ensembles, and by this point, he was pretty sure they knew it and kept arriving at his doorstep on purpose. At any rate, Emma might have his head at the amount of money he had pilfered from her and spent needlessly, but surely they would enjoy the spoils, if nothing else. At length, with a short dip of his head in a resigned nod, Killian answered, “Aye, I figured she might at some point.”

Emma couldn’t help cracking the tiniest smile, the whole thing so silly, so domestic, so normal, and nothing like the trials they had faced ever since meeting one another and the secrets they once held back for fear of losing the other they had fought so hard to find. She shook her head, leaning in to rest her forehead against his, simply enjoying the warm comfort of his skin on hers and the soft texture of his hair where her fingers had delved in at his nape. “You’re hopeless, Babe… You know that, don’t you?”

“As you say, Wife,” he agreed good naturedly, his voice low and mumbled against the shell of her ear, making her tremble helplessly to the point of being weak-kneed, the stern composure she’d been trying to hold long gone.

“Well, let’s see this stash of booty you’ve stored up,” she prodded, curious now just how many boxes of Girl Scout cookies he had managed to amass, and anxious to tease him just a little bit more about how he had been so taken in.

Sighing with mostly pretended reluctance, Killian took her hand and led her back down the cellar steps behind him, into the once dark room she had not ventured to for some time. Once there, to her amused shock and surprise, right up against the bars she had once, while possessed by the Darkness, bound Gold as a prisoner, were stacked boxes and boxes of every type cookie the Scouts sold, nearly reaching up to the ceiling. Honestly, there was not much else to do but burst into a fit of helpless giggles, and when she did, leaning into her husband’s side to stay upright, Emma felt his shoulders shaking as he joined in.

Never again would she had to look at this space and see nothing but lonely dark and a depth of despair and hate. Unintentional though it might have been, Killian had placed and whole new memory front and center.

They ended up bagging the cookie in half dozens and giving them out to very happy trick-or-treaters the next week on Halloween night.

And if they enjoy feeding the remnants of the last couple of boxes to each other in bed… well, that’s their own delicious secret no one else need know.

@lenfaz @nothingimpossibleonlyimprobable @kmomof4 @bromfieldhall @drowned-dreamer @flslp87 @spartanguard

#cs halloweek #day one theme #two days late #cs ff #cs fluff #a bit of a mystery

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skeletorific · 7 years ago

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Underswap Headcanons

So I’ve been thinking a lot lately about Underswap and how I differentiate it from Undertale. I’ve never really had the words to it before, but something I’ve come to understand is that I think while the characters maintain the external personality and appearance of the person they’ve been swapped with, their dark side, their insecurities, the lines they’ll cross, the parts only close friends and family know...they are retained from their Tale selves. This underside, however, expresses itself through the lens of the externals, creating a fusion that at times can resemble both but allows the personality to become its own. I’ll be writing some basic profiles of the major characters, including some of those that I don’t write for often. I will be leaving out Chara and Frisk though. Not because I don’t have headcanons for them, but because in order to understand my swaps for them, you’d have to understand my Tale headcanons for them, which is a post in its own right.

(may do this for Swapfell, but then I’d have to get into the whole Fellswap Swapfell thing and that’s a whoooole can of worms)

Asgore: Alright, in fairness, Asgore and Toriel have always been pretty similar. Maybe its because they spent so much time as a couple. Still, there are some differences. In Underswap, Asgore has UT!Toriel’s caretaking instincts for lost souls as well as her more stringent ethics (there is right and wrong and very little in between). He also inherits the love of puns. From his original self, however, he gained a certain unacknowledged resignation. While he has a stronger sense of right and wrong than his Tale self, he shares a similar sense of doom, and that no matter what he desires, in the end, what will happen is what will happen. He will not fight as hard to keep the human there, nor does he connect as strongly, because he seems burdened by an understanding that he cannot save them. All of his children leave, and rather than trying to cloister them, as Tale!Toriel did, he in the end builds more walls around himself, tries to provide for them without getting his heart broken. He returns in the True Pacifist ending ultimately because he decides he is tired of trying to protect himself. That this is not what his son and Frisk would’ve wanted. He also resents Toriel less than Tale!Toriel resents her ex. While he still finds her actions despicable, there is a subconscious part of him that envies the fact that she still had the strength to care for their people while he shut down.

Sans: (special thanks to @nighttimepixels for putting my thinking on this track)Externally, he’s identical to Tale!Papyrus almost to the point of caricature. Bouncy, enthusiastic, optimistic, the Underground’s ray of sunshine who seems like he’s never had a bad thought in his life.....but the truth is, no one’s that perfect. Blue is pretty naturally upbeat. He prefers to see the best in people and though he’s often let down he finds that when that trust is rewarded its worth it. But in many cases his reputation outpaces his actuality. Still, the largest thing he inherited his Tale!Sans? The desire to keep secrets. To protect himself, to avoid problems by just hiding it all under a more digestible front. Even Papyrus doesn’t totally know how low he can get. How garbage his self-esteem can be. How isolated he can feel from others. Because the lower he gets the higher in gear he kicks it. More bounce! More pizazz! More magnificence! He’s Sans the Skeleton, everyone’s support system! He...he doesn’t get low days. Honest! From a more positive perspective, Blue is a little less dependent on the opinion’s of others than Papyrus. As long as they aren’t upset, then honestly they can have whatever opinion of him that they want. To clarify, he of course wants to be seen as impressive, kind, and a force to be reckoned with, but he copes a bit better with his lack of popularity that Tale!Papyrus, and is less desperate to please. While both have a strong code of ethics, Blue is more likely to burn a bridge over a violation of it (though of course hoping they will come around), while Papyrus has a harder time doing that.

Papyrus: The first time he meets Tale Sans, Sans can’t help but feel a strange rush of envy. Stretch is lazy, sure, lives like garbage and can’t commit to much. But he’s so damn charming. He seems to have retained Original Papyrus’ showmanship instincts just enough to talk his way into anything, leave just as much of an impression as he wants, or go ignored if that’s what he desired. And while in general he’s as directionless as Tale, when he wants something he rarely has trouble getting it. Motivation isn’t his default but it is a reservoir he has immense capacity to draw on. Still, there’s a lot (a LOT) Stretch doesn’t show. That dependency on people’s opinion that Blue missed? Guess who inherited it. Because yeah, he walks around like he doesn’t give a damn what anyone thinks of him, like he’s got it all figured out and could talk circles around you if he wanted. But Stretch is CONSTANTLY assessing himself and other people’s perception of him. Even if he doesn’t want to be adored, he wants to be remembered, thought of as funny, clever, or hell, even annoying, just as long as its the impression he wants to give off. He walks a fine line of wanting no one to see the real him while wanting someone to just see him for who he is and VALIDATE it. His self-confidence struggles are tangentially related to Tale Sans, but while Tale tends to just shrug and write himself off as a lost cause, Stretch can’t stop himself from trying to micromanage his own personality. He has a fixation on controlling himself. In light of the RESETs, its one of the last things he can control. Even the smoking habit was intentional. He wanted a coping mechanism, as well as a good reason to be alone when he wanted to be. It sounds cliche, but if Stretch really wanted to quit he could’ve done it no problem years ago. He struggles with anxiety as opposed to Tale’s depression, and is quite a bit more extroverted.

Muffet: Muffet’s similarities to her Tale self largely relate to motivations. She works her bakery/bar to provide money for her spider family members in Hotland. As the strongest of her kind only she could bear Snowdin’s cold, and it allowed her a business opportunity (given that Swap Grillby has a stranglehold on the Hotland food market only barely broken by Napstaton’s resort) to provide for her family. Outwardly, she is near identical to Tale Grillby. Quiet, responsible, with an unexpected humor only a select few regulars are privy to. Still, she kept her Tale self’s cutthroat side. While she’s a decent person and generally is willing to help others, if the choice came between an innocent and any member of her family, she would give up the innocent practically instantaneously. She’s also a tightfist and can be extremely unreasonable about money. Stretch doesn’t talk about it much but there was an incident where she came to him about his tab and he treated the matter a little too light-heartedly.....she apologized afterwards but he’s never let the bill stand that long since. To her, nothing is more important than her ability to provide and protect for her people.

Alphys: She’s got all of Tale Undyne’s rough and tumble, “FIGHT ME” intensity, as well as her softer, gentler desire to help all monsterkind. But this dinosaur doesn’t have nearly the same confidence. Not that she’d ever admit to it. But Alph struggles with her belief in herself. She believes in Blue, in Toriel, in Undyne, in all of her friends, really. But rarely in herself. Toriel never needed to correct her during training, Alphys berated herself, often way past what was necessary. She can do a hundred perfect moves, trip once, and that’s the only thing she’ll remember. Still, she covers that lack of confidence with quite a bit of aggression. Though Tale!Undyne had her angry moments, Alphys can come off as downright cranky. She also retained a tactical brilliance from Tale!Alphys, and a secret nerd side that she represses. No one is allowed in her room because that’s where she keeps all the....*whispers* books. Part of what drew her to Undyne was that she’s allowed to openly love what Alphys feels she must keep to herself. After all, warriors don’t READ! Right?!?!?!

Undyne: Awkward, shy, nerdy, stammering......and full of PASSION! Seriously, she keeps it on the DL, but she is almost as intense as her Tale self. Pencils she chews on end up bitten in half before she knows what she’s doing. She’s thrown laptops across the room in her excitement over new breakthroughs. And that’s not counting all the broken mugs. She definitely does not know her own strength. She also has Tale!Undyne’s tendency to make swift judgments (like with Frisk and Papyrus to an extent) and stick to them until she has no choice but to reassess. A prime example? Mettablook. Once she determined that their cousin was a better candidate for the robotics project....well, she wasn’t exactly rude, but she could be a bit callous. Frankly, she didn’t have much use for them, and could be unreasonable about their requests for her to make them a body, saying curtly that she didn’t have the resources to spare for such a secondary project. On the more positive side, while she’s definitely awkward, she doesn’t struggle as much with confidence as Tale!Alphys. Her isolation is more incidental to her focus on her job (and, well, the internet). Socializing isn’t nearly as agonizing for her. She keeps in touch with Stretch despite them not working together. She simply doesn’t let people get too close so they don’t find out about the little surprise in her basement....

And speaking of Mettablook....

Mettablook (Hapstablook?): (sidenote, I’ll be using he/him pronouns since that’s what Mettaton uses in-game) When it comes to Napsta and Metta, I see their Swap being more role than personality focused. Like, Metta definitely got more of Napstablook’s shyness, but in general he is very close to how I imagine pre-robo Mettaton. He has a flair for performance, a love for anything that sparkles, and a fierce loyalty to his circle of friends. With one major difference. He wasn’t the one who met Undyne first. That was his cousin. As a result, Napsta was the one chosen for the robot program. While Metta....was stuck with the farm. As opposed to Napstablook’s crushed self-esteem, though, his route to coping with being....well, abandoned by one of the few people he thought would stick around for ever, is active denial that it hurt even a little. No, really, he’s very happy for his cousin. No big that they never call or write or visit....really, he’s sure they’re busy or something. He honestly can’t be bothered to think about it with all his responsibilities. Really. Its total bullshit and everyone knows it, but he’ll hold fast to that exterior. And while his confidence isn’t quite as shattered, he’s not nearly the performer he used to be when Chara finds him. He’s trying to rationalize why his cousin wouldn’t take him with them. Was....was this their way of letting them down easy? Are they trying to tell him that he was never as good as he thought? He still practices, but he’s far more private about it. The way you would know he’s ready for MERCY is if he shows you one of his poses, actually.

Napstaton (they/them pronouns) There’s two sides to this DJ. Their on stage persona is actually very laid back, something of a very optimistic surfer dude. They’re go-with-the flow, has tousled robo hair (okay, its been engineered to look tousled) and in general just happy to meet you. While Tale Mettaton’s emphasis is on performance, Napstaton’s first and foremost concern is the music they play and write. They don’t do television shows, but concerts and music specials. Underneath the cool exterior, though, this bot is a HOT MESS. All Napstas, regardless of universe, struggle with low self-esteem and the fear that everyone secretly hates them. When they got their chance at celebrity they had hoped this would be less of an issue. But its not. If anything, its worse, because they’re worried every minute that they’ll mess it up, that the penny will drop and everyone will see them for the garbage heap that they are. They can’t let that happen. So they focus on everything to do with their career. They hole up for days agonizing over their music. They spend hours choosing outfits carefully so they don’t look like they took hours to choose. They never see their cousin anymore, and visits with Undyne are rare and usually as short as they can make them. It makes them something of a selfish person, focused entirely on their image and how they interact with the world. Still, they have a very sweet nature that comes out especially after Chara gives them their wake up call, and they really do love their friends.

Toriel: Gracious, wise, powerful, and in charge. She has all the qualities the Underground seems to require. Along with Tale!Toriel’s impressive dedication to those she cares about and her maternal instincts she combines UT!Asgore’s utter devotion to their people. The killing of children is not something she takes any pleasure in. But she tries to bury her it in the hope of her people. With each SOUL they get closer and closer to freedom. Surely that has to be enough. She also commands a lot more respect than UT!Asgore does, and you are not likely to hear her referred to as “Queen Fluffybuns” anytime soon. Still, she didnt just carry over Toriel’s good qualities. While UT!Asgore mostly wrestled with his own guilt, Swap Toriel is overwhelmingly lonely. Which seems odd. After all, she’s surrounded by people. But there is a certain distance that she has to maintain as a ruler, that prevents many from getting close. With Asgore’s desparture, she’s lost the last person that she felt she could emotionally connect with. Its turned her....a little desperate. And a lot overprotective. Alphys had to fight for years to get her permission to join the Guard, simply because she didn’t want her hurt. Undyne has a tough time of it keeping the Amalgams hidden because Toriel is always visiting and sticking her snout in every direction. Even when they hit the Surface she has a tendency to hover over Chara’s activites and make up reasons to show up at Asgore’s house. Someone give this woman a hug and let her know everyone’s gonna be okay.

#you have no fucking clue #how long this took #its been in my drafts forEVER #i just have too many underswap thoughts #and will probably want to edit this like fifteen more times after publishing #underswap #us!asgore #us!sans #us!papyrus #us!muffet #us!alphys #us!undyne #us!toriel #us!mettablook #us!hapstablook #us!napstaton #headcanon #sort of

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crowned-ladybug · 7 years ago

Text

Once Upon A Dream

Hey I’m back with my shitty titles

About three months and 10k words later here’s the fic I wrote out of that one dream I had once...kind of a self-indulgent pile of headcanons and feelings.

NOTE: I started writing this in the beggining of May and I didn’t want to keep changing it, so it ignores every piece of canon from after that. “Google gets an upgrade” is probably the first big thing I didn’t end up involving.

Please, if you don’t like this fic, or the ideas behind it, or the fact that it’s quite possibly very OOC, please just leave me alone about it. This story has become really, really important to me.

Special thanks to @lum1natrix for letting me submit the original dream to her (which ended up being ~2k words of this and the rest of me is trying to fix it), @sunkistjello for being genuinely interested in my headcanons and the story itself, and @bajszi-s-secret-life for letting me ramble on about my story ideas to her even if she probably can’t understand half of them

Word count: 9.7k words

Warnings: mentions of blood, injury and death, possible character death

Having a pocket dimension as your primary residence isn’t the worst thing in the world, really, even if it comes with a whole pack of rather...interesting roommates. It definitely has its charm, at least.

Said roommates are all interdimensional and, in certain cases demonic beings tied to living, breathing people’s life force, none quite like the other.

There’s Dark, demeanour and looks just like his name would suggest. He’s tall and wiry, his skin is pale as chalk and he’s always wearing a suit. Looking at him makes anyone feel dizzy, because he looks like a glitch dragged out from the deepest depths of an old VHS tape. He’s bossy, strict, and he denies ever having smiled in his existence. Some of the other beings are legitimately scared of him – or at least they’re really wary.

There’s Wilford, who’s the sickening mixture of cotton candy and murder compressed into a human shape. He wears a mysterious pink moustache, which gets its mysteriousness from no one knowing whether it’s dyed, fake or if it’s always just been pink since the dawn of time. He seems friendly from afar, smells like a candy store and talks weirdly. In a strange way, he could be called brave, or maybe he’s just too reckless for his own good – but either way he’s one of the only known beings to have teased Dark in the face and lived to tell the tale. He also seems to have an unhealthy obsession with trying to interview everybody and making it big on TV.

There’s Anti, the wild kid who might not be a kid, but he’s definitely wild. He’s like the lovechild of a computer glitch and a murder-happy demon, dangerous and unpredictable. Just like the person his life force is tied to, Sean, he’s loud and full of energy, trotting everywhere he goes, white noise sizzling in his path, excited at any chance to cause mayhem. He can be terrifying, but mostly he’s more of a friend to everyone else in the little pocket dimension. One day he decided he likes Dark and started following him around – and to everyone’s surprise, Dark, heartless, terrifying Dark, grew fond of him. Now the two of them are friends and definitely a force to be reckoned with.

There’s Google, who’s just like how you’d expect: punctual, emotionless and fast. His hands are always cold and he claims his heart is too, but everyone here has at least a little humanity stuck in them. He plans and does the logical thing and goes about everything the most optimal way, which sometimes only gains him glares from the group of ragtag hectic demon spawns he’s living with. For the most part he’s helpful and calm, but one time Anti tried to dump a bucket of water on him and he started swearing in every language available to his translate function – all at once.

There’s the Host, the observant one who knows more than anyone else around who has eyes to see. He’s a mystery in itself, with a bloodied blindfold he’s never seen without and a soft voice that always narrates what’s going on instead of speaking like everyone else, and so he sometimes stays silent and gestures instead of talking. He’s a pleasant company, as surprising as it is. He holds small talk, helps out where he can and sees others’ distress with sightless eyes. He sees what once was and what only will be, and somehow that has made him almost kind.

There’s Chase, who isn’t magical or mysterious or terrifying. He just wishes to have fun and for everyone to get along, and he dreams of his old life before it all crashed. He had lived thinking himself a human for long, building himself a human life because he forgot the one he had had before. Anti found him once things had gone bad and Chase was alone, and brought him back to their own little dimension. In a way, Chase is even more different than the rest of them. He just wants to play with his toy guns and look cool while doing so, and he sees friends in all the bloody-handed demons around him. Anti considers him a brother, and while Chase is grateful, he can’t help missing his other family.

There’s many others who come and go, some stay long and some only pass through, some good and some bad, some powerful and some...not so much. There’s too many of them to count.

In a strange way, they’re like a family.

The pocket dimension changes at its own will and today it’s nothing but a labyrinth of shadowy corridors with no windows, and rooms to match. There’s long desks and uncomfortable chairs in some of the rooms, but everything just looks the same. The air feels dry yet it seems foggy, for it’s grey and details get lost way before you’d expect them to. Everything is grey, just grey.

Chase doesn’t like it. It reminds him of bureaucracy, cold buildings and offices with strict people telling you to sign papers and thinking you’re nothing but a string of numbers and a handful of bills. His feet make almost no sound as he walks and he can’t tell what the floor’s made out of. He searches from room to room, hoping to stumble upon a coffee machine, but he gives up after the twentieth failed attempt.

He fixes his belt that has a loaded Nerf gun hanging from it and makes his way down the next corridor, hoping to at least run into a friend. Hell, at this point he would take Dr Iplier and his constant predictions of painful death, because wandering alone in such a creepy place is starting to make the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

He barely turns the corner when his luck comes into play and he hears a distorted cheer that changes pitch at least twice in the middle. Turning around with a genuine smile he finds Anti running towards him, glitching back a few steps every now and again. But aside from that, he’s barely messing with reality, no changes of hue or contrast surround him, and even the cut on his neck is closed up into a thin red line. He must be having an unusually great day.

Anti catches up to him and flings an arm around his shoulder, shouting as he greets his friend. Chase laughs and leans into him, grabbing the back of his shirt and cheering a half-mocking “Suh, dude!” with enthusiasm.

Anti laughs too and squeezes him around the shoulder, guiding him the opposite way. “Come on, man, I gotta show you something!”

Chase silently hopes it’s not a dead body.

They wobble down the corridor because they’re both yet to figure out how to walk properly while hanging onto each other like this. They run into corners a few times and trip on each other’s legs, but it makes their walk all that much more fun. Chase thinks about how much they must look like they’re drunk, but he doesn’t mind. Anti shoves him to the side and he shoves back and their heads knock together.

It flashes through Chase’s mind that Anti considers him a brother, and he finally decides that he likes that. He likes – loves – his glitchy, demonic, occasionally murderous brother.

“...and then he tells me, me, that he always keeps his files neat and organised!” Anti is fully immersed in the story he’s telling about his human host with much more emotion than necessary. He nudges Chase playfully as he continues. “Me, who’s slept in his computer like a dozen times at least!”

“...and is known to have eaten an equal amount of files,” Chase teases, and it earns him an exasperated groan.

“That was one time! And it was an accident!”

Chase laughs. “Alright, bro, alright.”

He would keep walking, but Anti suddenly forgets about his wounded pride and lets out a really choppy-sounding “whoop, whoop!”. Chase almost trips over his own legs when his friend grabs his arm and drags him into one of the rooms he almost passed.

“We’re here!” Anti exclaims, and as he waves his free arm around it displays the magenta of missing textures for a second. Chase is about to ask “Where?” when his eyes adjust enough that he doesn’t feel the need to.

Well, he’s still not sure where exactly they are, but it’s very much a here. The room is dark and pretty vast he assumes, as he can’t even seem to make out the walls. The only light source is a combination of multiple screens across the room, attached in a curved line and giving the impression of equipment at a spy hideout. Chase guesses there must be something displayed on the screens, but for now he can only see their unpleasantly bright light. He can make out a few silhouettes, and as his eyes adjust, enough details to recognise them as his friends and acquaintances, fellow beings he shares this pocket dimension with. Almost everyone who’s usually present is there. Chase’s heart swells – he’s found them, finally.

In front of the screens are a few chairs, and he can see Dark sitting in one of them, reading a book in the piercing light – though Chase can’t help but wonder if he even needs the light.

To his right are several more chairs and a few tables, one of which is covered in papers. Wilford is standing next to the desk, organising the papers, reading through them, making corrections with a pen that he then absent-mindedly tries to put back into his shirt pocket, failing a handful of times before succeeding. Finally he waves enthusiastically towards the other end of the room, pride shining in his eyes, and in response another being appears in Chase’s sight. Bim Trimmer, resident gameshow host who’s both somewhat human like Chase and kind of bonkers like Wilford makes his way over to the tables, and as he passes he flashes an award winning smile towards Chase and Anti as a greeting. Chase assumes him and Wilford must be discussing plans to try to make it big on TV – again.

On one of the spare chairs sits the Host. Google is standing nearby, silent and unmoving, his eyes shut, probably on energy saving mode. As the two newcomers watch, the Host reaches out to touch his arm and get his attention. Google comes to life immediately, the logo on his chest lighting up and his now open eyes flashing for a second before they focus on the blindfolded man next to him. He asks in a slightly robotic voice how he could be of help, and the Host responds in sign language.

It isn’t exactly an unusual sight. The Host isn’t the most thrilled about his constant narrating whenever he speaks, his inability to converse like anyone else. So, when he can’t take his own voice any longer, he goes silent and instead, he signs.

Google responds without hesitation, speaking because while he can sign too, the Host is still blind. The conversation continues and Chase stops staring, but he sees the grin spreading on the Host’s lips and the way his movements gain more momentum. He only recognises one sign (he’s started learning recently, but he’s only making slow progress), flat fingers against the lips, then moving outward as if blowing a kiss – thank you.

When he looks away, he sees Anti already beckoning him deeper into the room. He follows good-naturedly, curious as to what else is there to see. He thought finding the rest of the entities was the big thing to show, but apparently he was very wrong.

Anti leads him straight to the screens. As Dark notices them approaching, he stands, putting his book back on the chair he had previously occupied. Chase bites the inside of his cheek – Dark is intimidating, even if he isn’t particularly trying to be at the moment. He only relaxes when he sees that his gaze is fully fixed on Anti.

“Look, Chase!” Anti gestures at the screens. Being this close, Chase can make out what they’re displaying: a scene equally as grey as where they are, but this one is of thin streets veiled in fog, and there’s a figure walking along who looks like but a silhouette against the faded background.

As Anti’s fingers hover closer, tiny glitches start sparking to life on the screen and he withdraws his hand quickly, flashing Chase an almost apologetic smile.

“That’s Sean,” he announces without lingering. Chase would have never recognised his - their - human counterpart on his own, but he chooses to believe Anti. “We somehow managed to track him!”

Now that makes it sound like Sean is some elusive target, when in reality both Chase and Anti could easily find him in his world. But having a window to said world, solely focused on him as well, that is…impressive. Chase doesn’t know what to think.

“That’s…cool?” he shrugs meekly, but it is good enough for Anti, who turns back towards the screens and watches his host go harmlessly about his walk.

Chase allows him a few minutes of that, partly because it feels polite to do, partly because he still has to digest the situation…and partly because he feels like if he did anything slightly out of line, Dark would murder him (which would be quite impressive considering they’re both beings immortal as long as their current host is alive, so killing Chase would only be manageable by inadvertently killing Anti as well).

“So…” he starts after his thought process comes to a halt at “What do we do now?”.

Anti takes his time before answering. He grabs one of the nearby chairs, sits down, makes sure to arrange his legs comfortably and lean back before the clever gaze of his eyes finds Chase again.

“I feel like this would be the perfect opportunity to prank him a little,” he speaks with eloquence that is very unlike him. But his painted mask of seriousness crumbles just the next second, his signature grin taking over his lips. “Let’s scare the shit out of him!”

Chase swallows, hard. His eyes wander to look at Dark instead, because right now he feels like a much bigger threat. He’s leaning on the back of Anti’s chair, lazily eyeing Chase like some black cat that’s too smart for its own good. Except this cat has more than just tiny fangs to bite with and more cruelty than any feline. Chase feels like if he makes but a single wrong move, Dark will pounce and he will be nothing more than a memory.

Usually Chase feels glad that Anti has found friends amongst all these other beings, but right now he isn’t the happiest about one of those friends being a fiercely protective and sadistic demon.

He slowly looks back to Anti, who is waiting patiently for a response. Patiently. That’s quite unusual of him. Chase decides to thank their brotherly relationship for his luck.

“That’s...not a very nice thing to do,” he responds finally. He might be soft, but his heart is in the right place and he has probably the strongest sense of right and wrong out of everyone present. Right now that sense is telling him that scaring Sean, a harmless human on his way home on the foggy streets who has never done anything to hurt any of them wouldn’t be the nicest thing to do.

Dark blinks slowly, but he’s no cat and Chase knows not to take it as a sign of contentment. He’s still looking Chase up and down as if not knowing what to make of him in the current situation.

“Maybe,” Anti shrugs, and suddenly Chase gets the feeling that he might be getting some pleasure out of playing authority like this. Playing king is definitely not Anti’s style, but for now he seems to be enjoying just sitting back and watching Chase be uncertain with his words. “But it would be fun.”

“Eh, let’s just...have some fun that doesn’t hurt anybody, okay?” Chase tries with a half-hearted shrug, and he silently prays that he can somehow convince his demonic brother to lay off his idea. Even if they don’t end up giving Sean a heart attack, two guys materialising out of nowhere in the middle of a town street could possibly get some unwanted publicity with the humans. The last thing they should want is for Sean to get into trouble.

Anti is about to respond as he absently glances over to the glowing screens – and the words get lost in his throat. Instead, he’s jumping up, his chair falling back from the force and startling Dark enough to make him blend into the shadows for a moment. Chase flinches back from the sudden noise as the chair hits the ground.

Anti remains staring at the screen for another moment, his whole body tense and ready to spring, eyes turned pitch black and his fangs pulling at his lips. Chase follows his stare to the screen and his blood runs cold in his veins when he sees what got his friend so wound up.

The uneventful scene of Sean walking home in the fog has turned unsettling. Chase can no longer make out details and he can barely tell which way the street is going. There are dark figures, tall and sinister, getting closer and forming as if they’ve come to be from the fog itself. It’s impossible to tell what they are, but Chase doesn’t even think to because it doesn’t matter. They’re making their way towards Sean and they don’t seem friendly.

Before Chase could say a word or Dark could hold him down, Anti launches himself forward, right into the screens and through them. The image keeps glitching for a moment after he’s gone through, but once it clears out, Chase and Dark can see him standing beside Sean.

Anti can feel the rush of adrenaline in a way that feels almost a little too human, and he pulls strength from it on top of his already superhuman abilities. He glances to the side, giving a reassuring, friendly grin to a visibly shocked Sean. He doesn’t realise that maybe it’s not the easiest to muster “friendly” when his pupils are nothing but thin slits against red eyes and his fangs are long and sharp enough to put dragons to shame. He feels blood trickle down his neck, and knowing that his cut has opened up more with his rushing blood, he wipes at it absently.

He jumps into combat without a second thought, swinging his hand with his fingers curling into talons. For a moment he regrets not having his favourite knife on him, but it’s not like he’s helpless without it. He finishes one dark figure after the other without caring to look what they are and definitely without them even realising what’s coming for them. Why would he care, anyway? All he cares about for the moment is that these...these whatever they are had clearly had ill-intentions towards Sean, and Anti just won’t stand for that. He completely forgets the fact that just a few minutes ago he was planning to pull a possibly cruel prank on the man, because in his mind it would have been all in good fun. But these creatures, they weren’t here for fun. They were here to hurt his friend, and Anti would have to be dragged all the way to the Underworld and chained to the biggest poplar tree before he let that happen.

He only turns back towards Sean when he has torn off the last head he could see. The fog is thick and a monochrome grey again, and Anti can’t tell whether the figures had melted back into it or if it’s simply too dense to see through.

Sean still looks just as shocked as when Anti appeared beside him out of nothingness, but the tension in his eyes slowly starts to let up when he looks at him demonic friend. Anti looks really proud of himself. No, proud sounds like too plain a word to describe it. His eyes look almost human, and they sparkle with pride and some warm kind of joy Sean has never seen on him before. He wears a smile to match, a wide grin that’s soft and friendly and excited all at the same time.

No words are spoken, but Sean reads them from Anti’s face. I did it, you see? I did it, I defeated them, I protected you. I protected you! Just like a good friend, a real friend!

The fleeting thought crosses Anti’s mind that he hopes his friends on the other side are seeing this, seeing him being victorious and protecting his friend. He hopes Chase is grinning like a madman, maybe throwing his fists in the air because look at that, look at his bother – his brother! - kicking ass. He hopes Dark cracks a small smile, nods his head a little in the way that is like a whole speech of praise coming from him.

A smile spreads on Sean’s lips, and he’s about to laugh or walk up to Anti and pat him on the shoulder, maybe even hug him, thank him for what he’s done or ask what just happened, anything that’s just very nice and very human and very Sean. He never gets to do any of that.

Abruptly, Anti lurches forward, his eyes widening as his joyful expression melts into one of shock. Sean jumps forward to cross the distance between them, but there’s nothing he can do as Anti tumbles to the ground.

On the other side of the screen things seem frozen. Dark is the only one who moves, letting out a pained scream of his friend’s name that sounds almost more like the roar of a wounded beast, then he launches forward and through the screen, not entirely unlike how Anti had done so only a few minutes prior. Chase remains standing in the same spot, paralysed, feeling and looking like a terrified child.

Dark collapses to his knees next to Anti’s body. He couldn’t care less that the ground is wet and he’s probably ruining his expensive clothes. Sean hovers nearby, shocked and unsure of what to do, but Dark doesn’t spare him a single glance. His eyes are focused on the growing red stain in the middle of Anti’s chest. He presses his hand to it, clumsily trying to stop the bleeding as if he were a human and as if Anti were one as well, but the blood bubbles past his fingers and he feels helpless.

No one had heard the gunshot. No one can tell who even fired, there’s no one else around, no one they can see at least, and right now it’s not important either. For once, Dark is not hellbent on taking revenge, he’s instead clutching his friend’s body in his arms as if he could just keep him together and make him okay again if he just holds him tight enough.

He doesn’t know what snaps him out of his trance, but he suddenly stands, still clutching Anti’s limp body in his arms. He doesn’t look at him anymore, he just can’t. Poor guy’s eyes are rolled back into his head, his mouth is half open and he’s barely breathing. His hands are ashy black and Dark doesn’t want to question why, but aside from that and the cut on his neck, he looks almost human and all too vulnerable. But if Dark doesn’t look, maybe he can convince himself that Anti’s just asleep, he’s fallen asleep on him again, how annoying, right? He just fell asleep again and Dark is simply carrying him over to somewhere he can sleep without ruining his back, because Dark cares, even if he does so in secret.

He orders Sean to follow but doesn’t look his way to confirm he’s heard. He just takes a step forward, slipping through the fabric of this dimension and into another as if he was just walking through a curtain. Even he’s surprised he manages so easily when he’s so unfocused.

Dark never registers the small tug at the back of his coat as Sean grabs onto him the last second, allowing himself to be pulled along.

They arrive back in the dark room with the screens, and Sean immediately lets go of Dark. He steps to the side, looking around and still unable to shake his shock. He’s just hopped into another world, just like that.

Chase is still standing in the same spot, staring at Dark and Anti now, but no one knows if he actually sees them. He’s trembling slightly and his eyes are wide and empty, and Sean listens to his good heart when it tells him to comfort him. He walks over and wraps an arm around the poor guy’s shoulder, who almost collapses immediately. Sean bites his lip as he holds him up until Chase finds his balance again, and then they just stand there. Sean really wishes he knew what to say, how to help at least one person – being, whatever – in this room, but he just doesn’t. They’re both confused and terrified.

Wilford comes closer, casting curious glances at Anti’s limp form and waiting for an explanation with unhidden curiosity. He doesn’t seem concerned in the slightest, but then again maybe he doesn’t realise the weight of the situation yet. Google follows with a neutral expression, but his eyes are flashing wildly and Dark would know if he had the time to think about such things that he must already be searching for solutions to the current situation, trying to come up with anything that could help. The Host stays where he is and doesn’t come closer, which seems like a very Host thing to do. Sean briefly wonders if he already knows what Anti’s fate will be, or if he had already known before Anti decided to jump over into the human world. Bim is nowhere to be seen.

Dark’s eyes find Wilford’s, the only being’s who might be able to help. He might be missing a few marbles, but no one could ever deny that somehow, Wil knows a lot.

“He’s been shot,” informs Dark coldly.

Wilford nods to signal he understood and hums quietly, thinking. He doesn’t speak for long enough that Dark deems it too long, and when he tries to get closer, Dark’s immediate response is to clutch Anti closer to his chest, growling in the back of his throat.

Google doesn’t seem to see, probably too deep into searching for answers, so Sean deems himself the most competent being in the room after Dark and Wilford. It puts a bitter taste in his mouth, but his shoulders tense knowing that he might have to separate the aforementioned two before they get into a fight over Anti’s (possibly dead) body.

“Lemme see, will ya?” Wilford asks friendlily, and Dark glares daggers at him but loosens his hold on Anti nonetheless. “We shouldn’t need to worry,” he adds, staring at the wound on Anti’s chest. “He’s immortal here like the rest of us are, he’s probably gonna be fine.”

Dark’s teeth grown into fangs for a moment (no one’s seen him do that before, it’s normally Anti’s thing) as he snaps at Wilford. “Well, he’s supposed to be immortal out there too and it sure as Hell doesn’t feel like it now!”

Sean swallows hard and Chase looks at him expectantly. He has a feeling they’re both thinking the exact same thing. Anti’s only immortal as long as Sean is alive – but he’s alive, right? Fear stirs in his chest just when he’s thought there’s no way for him to be even more scared, and he’s definitely not a fan. But before he can voice his doubts, Wilford speaks again.

“Listen, my friend, Sean is doing just fine, probably more alive than ever from what I can tell,” as he says that, Sean lets out a silent sigh of relief in the background. “And as long as he’s fine, Anti should be too. Simple as that.”

Dark doesn’t respond. His eyes narrow, but instead of having a long stare-down with Wilford, he pushes past him without wasting another word. As he walks away, still clutching Anti in his arms, Wilford shouts after him.

“You can sulk all you want, Darky, but that won’t change the fact that I’m right!”

Sean doesn’t know what to think, but he’s pretty sure the pink man isn’t right. He silently grabs Chase’s sleeve (God, the guy is still shaking like a leaf) and drags him along as he follows Dark out of the room.

Once they’re outside and Sean sadly notes that the corridors are just as grey as the streets in his world are right now, he turns to Dark, not even intimidated by the fact that he’s a good head taller than him and, well, very dark looking. “What now?”

Dark takes a deep breath before responding. He looks at Anti, who’s out cold and still completely limp, but at least the red has stopped spreading on his chest and his neck wound has closed up again, too. He’s not sure if that’s a good sign.

“I don’t know,” he admits, and Sean can feel Chase sway beside him, though that could still be the effect of his panic. When Dark looks up, Sean thinks he can see helplessness in his eyes. “Do you think Mark could help?”

Mark – he’s another mere human, Dark’s human counterpart, and Wilford’s and Google’s and the Host’s and Bim’s, and Sean’s friend.

Sean lowers his gaze for a moment before answering. “I don’t think so,” he knows that’s not the answer Dark was hoping for. “No human could, I don’t think. Anti’s not human, we can’t just...bring him to a hospital,” and silently he adds, only to himself that maybe if Anti was human, he wouldn’t even be alive anymore.

“Dr. Iplier? Dr. Schneeplestein?” Chase asks hopefully, but Dark’s expression doesn’t light up like he hoped it would.

“They’re almost never around. I’m not sure if they’re even actual doctors, either. Maybe they would just do more harm than good.”

Sean wants to cut in that there’s not much worse than being shot in the back and bleeding out with no help, but he keeps his mouth shut. Even if he’s not feeling like himself at all at the moment, Dark is still a powerful demon and who knows what he’s capable of – especially in a dimension Sean is not familiar with.

So, he tries the next worst thing.

“But, he’s immortal, right? So what if-”

“Immortal means he can’t die unless you do or if severe your bond, not that he heals magically,” Dark cuts in bitterly, but without any anger. “In which case the best thing than can happen is he stays like this. In a coma, if you will,” he looks at Sean with something in his eyes that makes him seem human for a moment, and he draws his arms tighter around Anti’s frail frame. “Do you really think I’d want to do that to him?”

“No, of course not,” Sean sighs, and he can see Chase nod out of the corner of his eye. “Let’s just...figure something out. Quick.”

Dark starts walking down one of the corridors without another word, and Chase and Sean follow without a question. Chase catches up to Dark, looking at Anti the whole time with worry in his wide eyes. He wants so desperately to help. Anti is his family. But after a few steps, his shoulders shake, and he falls into step behind Dark again. Sean can’t bring himself to comment on the fresh tears running down Chase’s face.

Time feels strange and Sean can’t keep track of it well. It gives him a sliver of hope, that maybe Anti can hold on longer this way, but he isn’t sure how much he actually believes that, how much trust he is willing to put into the physics of a strange pocket dimension. He can’t tell how long they have been walking when they wind up in another room, almost as dark as the previous one.

There is a bed, a wardrobe and a few cabinets, and a single window with nothing but darkness on the other side. Sean makes a mental note to not go near it.

While Sean looks around, Dark walks over to the bed and lays Anti down carefully. Chase immediately crawls onto the mattress, sitting as close to Anti’s unmoving body as he possibly can. He lowers his head, staring at his brother and looking every bit as still as him.

“Why are we here?” Sean asks Dark after he averts his eyes from the heartwrenching scene. He’s scared for Anti, he really is, and he feels sorry for Chase, but he can’t let that take over him right now.

“We’re closer to the centre here,” Dark states as if expecting Sean to know what he means by that. He realises his mistake as he walks over to the wardrobe, so he explains. “The dimension has a centre, where its energy is more dense and powerful than towards the edges. The room where we arrived was near the edge. I’m hoping that maybe here Anti can...stay alive easier.”

“I see,” Sean says, staring at Dark’s back absently. He doesn’t question all the talk about Anti dying if he’s immortal, because no one knows enough about his kind, about these beings in general to be sure about anything. No one knows if they’re truly immortal or just very hard to kill, no one knows how fragile Anti is on his own or what it would take for the bond between him and Sean to shatter. No one wants to find out, either.

“Good. Go, be near him. He’s tied to you, maybe you being near will help,” Dark adds, digging into the wardrobe and visibly relieved that he doesn’t have to keep explaining something even he doesn’t fully understand.

Sean goes to sit down on the bed, his eyes travelling to the wound on Anti’s chest without meaning to. The room falls into silence.

...and silence is exactly what Sean doesn’t want. It allows his thoughts to gain his attention, and he doesn’t want to think right now. He barely knows what is happening or where he is, a literal interdimensional being tied to his soul (though he had come to accept that part a long time ago) is possibly dying right in front of him for protecting him from Lord knows what...When will he even get home? And how the Hell can he explain all of this to Signe? “Oh, yeah, sorry I’m late for dinner, I got dragged into another dimension trying to save Anti’s life.” Doesn’t sound likely.

He smooths his hand over the covers absent-mindedly, watching as the fabric creases under his fingers. Funny, he could have sworn it was black, but now it looks more like dark red. He doesn’t think much of it. Instead, he turns his head to stare at Dark’s back. Anything but his own thoughts, anything but dozens of unanswered questions that only lead in circles and make him anxious.

He’s thinking about how he’s glad that these beings, Dark and Anti and Chase and all the others, just look similar to their hosts and not exactly like them. He’s glad that when he looks at Dark, it’s Dark looking back at him, not Mark. Because Dark is tall, taller than Sean and definitely taller than Mark, he’s lean and his face is thin, and there’s no kindness in his eyes. And similarly, if you asked Sean he would say that Anti looks nothing like him either, because Anti’s a lot more angular and pointy looking, he’s thinner and his eyes can get so sharp their gaze could pierce skin.

“What do we do?” he asks quietly, not looking up from his hands as he bunches the sheets between his fingers.

Dark stands beside the bed, apparently having found nothing of use in the wardrobe. He watches Anti for a moment before speaking, a humourless chuckle in his voice. “You’re too human even for this strange world.”

“I don’t-” Sean’s voice drowns out when he follows Dark’s indifferent gaze down to his hand. He feels Chase’s silent stare, too. Suddenly he understands why the red sheets had seemed black at first.

“This place has been grey all day,” Chase says, his voice so fragile that Sean has trouble believing it’s actually him. “But it’s not, not around you.”

An idea strikes Sean, and without thinking he hovers his hand over Anti’s arm (his heart jumps when he sees his skin as a more lively colour and how the ashy tint of his clawed hands seems to fade), then places is on his chest. The blood under his hand is warm and wet, and he recoils immediately. Why did he do that?

As he draws his hand away, Anti lets out a tiny groan, and they all freeze in shock, watching if he’s waking up. But he goes still again just like that, like he’s never stirred in the first place.

Sean stares regretfully at his bloody hand. He doesn’t know if he’s done a good or a bad thing, and he also has no idea where to wipe all the blood off now.

“There should be towels in the wardrobe,” Dark says as if he’s reading Sean’s thoughts. He’s staring intently at Anti still, like he believes if he looked away, Anti would disappear.

There’s a whole shelf of towels, and Sean makes quick work of wiping the blood off his hand. He stares at the stained towel in disgust. That blood is the blood of a friend of his.

Before he could throw the towel away and reclaim his spot on the bed, he hears the door on the other side of the room open. From the corner of his eye he can see Dark self-consciously straighten his back, and he turns to see who the visitor is.

It’s Google. He’s wrapped up in his usual artificial glow, and the quiet ticking that imitates his breathing seems awfully loud in the silent room. He looks around with more emotion in his eyes than Sean thought an android could ever muster.

“Anything new?” Google asks. No one speaks, but he gets his answer as Dark turns away to keep staring at Anti instead, looking about as old as he must be – a couple thousand years, probably.

Eventually Sean makes his way back to the bed and sits again, and Google stands near Anti’s head. The minutes that pass seem like hours.

“Sean, you’re turning this world human around you...maybe you could turn him human, too,” Chase speaks hoarsely after a long bit of silence. “I’d rather have him be mortal than to keep him like this forever...” his voice rises near the end of his sentence, then he chokes up. He fails to notice Dark’s pointed stare.

“And risk him dying to his wound?” Dark retorts before Sean has a chance to speak, but there’s barely an edge to his voice. “Chase, even you should know better than that...”

And that’s when Chase breaks. Dark bites his tongue, eyes flashing with instant regret as if he’d just made a child cry, but it’s not his fault. Yet another thought of helplessness was just the final bit needed before Chase couldn’t hold himself together any longer.

The room goes still, and no one knows what to do, and Chase buries his face in his hands and he sobs and whimpers and shakes. He just feels so helpless. In that moment, he’s not a father of two, he’s not a demon who never unlocked his full potential, he’s not some mysterious being in a mysterious dimension. He’s just a normal guy, the most average of bros, who’s losing the only family he still has, and he cannot do anything to stop it. It’s heartbreaking.

Sean doesn’t know what to do with himself. He wants to help, so much, but there are no words of comfort in a situation like this. He can’t bring himself to lie that everything would be alright.

There’s a faint whirring coming from Google’s direction, almost drowned out by Chase’s crying. His eyes are flashing white and his body is rigid as he’s trying harder than ever to find solutions. It’s the only form of sympathy he has to offer.

Slowly, over time, Chase’s crying subsides. He keeps his hands in front of his face and his breaths come in little hiccups that make his shoulders quake, but he’s just a tiny bit calmer. Sean gives him a small smile even if he can’t see it.

In the meantime, Sean has taken to resting his hand on Anti’s arm. It doesn’t appear to have any effect at all aside from bringing back some colour, but that small detail is comforting just the tiniest bit. The black patches of skin are fully gone now, and Anti’s hands look like normal human hands again. Even his nails are trimmed nicely, and they aren’t painted black like they were the last time Sean had seen them, only a few days ago.

It’s a while before anything happens again. The door opens, and once more Dark and Sean are the only ones to react. They both watch as one person after the other files into the room.

The Host is first, looking downright dejected and guilty as if this was all his fault. He blames himself for not seeing what would happen to Anti. Next is Bim, following the Host closely, eyes red and cheeks puffy. It’s obvious that he’s been crying, and it looks like he still might. Lastly, there’s Wilford.

Sean doesn’t need to look to know that Dark isn’t happy. Wilford knows too, and he directs his words at Dark immediately after politely closing the door behind himself.

“Look, my friend,” Dark’s frown deepens a that word, but Wil doesn’t seem fazed. “I may be an a-hole, but even I don’t want him to die!”

After another moment of staring, Dark gives a small nod and turns back to the bed. He has more important issues to deal with right now than playing one-on-one turf wars with Wilford.

Wilford considers that good enough, and makes his way deeper into the room. Everyone gathers around Anti silently.

The Host, his shoulders slumped in defeat, raises his hand and signs towards Dark, Sean and Chase, moving his fist against his chest in a circle. Sorry. Then his frown deepens, and it takes him another moment before he speaks.

“The Host wishes, with all his heart, for Anti to wake up and be okay,” that’s all he can do. Wish. Hope. Because he can’t see.

Dark nods silently, and he’s grateful for those words even if he doesn’t show it. Sean mutters a tired “Me too, buddy”.

Bim finally gathers the courage to sit next to Chase, who still hasn’t recovered from his crying. He glances up curiously as he feels the mattress dip beside him, and he doesn’t pull away when Bim hugs him from the side and presses his head into his shoulder. Bim starts crying again, and soon the two of them, the most human ones out of the group, are weeping silently together. Sean doesn’t notice, but there’s tears rolling down his face, too.

Google still hasn’t moved, but he looks more and more hopeless as he just searches and searches...the internet knows nothing about saving demon lives.

Wilford places a hand on Dark’s shoulder, but he doesn’t look particularly offended when it gets shaken off immediately.

“Y’know, gotta admit,” he sighs, more quiet than he’s ever been. “I am kinda fond of this kid,” he decides he doesn’t want to risk an all-out war with Dark right now, so he doesn’t add the last thought – it’d be a shame if he didn’t make it.

Sean just can’t bear the silence anymore, the silence and those stray sentences that float away without anyone grasping them, and decides that if no one else is going to talk properly, then so be it, he will.

“He came out there to save me,” his throat feels tight, but he swallows and continues. “He saved me from...Lord knows what those things were, and he, he looked so happy in the end.”

Bim raises his head to listen properly, Chase wipes at his eyes, and Google’s whirring slowly stops as he finally gives up the search. They listen.

“He looked so happy with himself once he was done fighting. He just...looked at me and,” he smiles shakily. “he was proud of himself. He did the right thing! He helped me, he saved me...” he swallows again. “I think he really just...wanted to be a good friend, y’know?”

Chase nods along silently, and Dark lowers his head. The Host absent-mindedly signs “friend”.

“Is he...” Bim says, but he cuts himself off like he’s scared of his own voice. He takes a breath and tries again. “Is he going to stay like this forever now?”

“No.”

Everyone’s heads snap to look at Dark, and even Wilford looks genuinely surprised.

“Why?” Bim asks again, because if he’s the one who’s started this conversation, he has to be the one to carry it out. “How do you-”

“Because he’s my best friend,” Dark says, and he does so with so much certainty that no one dares pry after that.

Silence, again. Chase hiccups another sob and wipes at his face.

Then, Anti stirs.

Everyone goes still and just watches, because what if they just imagined that – or what if they didn’t, is it good or bad? Anti’s head rolls to the side and he frowns, and Sean’s fingers twitch with the need to grab him, shake him to wake him up and know if he’s okay. Chase reaches out tentatively, but the moment his hand would touch Anti’s arm Anti jerks and curls up on his side. As he tries to push himself up, his arms shake and he starts coughing, and still no one knows what to do.

Anti retches and keeps coughing, and then there’s blood splattering on the sheets. Chase panics, because that’s so much blood, too much, it’s pooling on the sheets and dripping on the floor and it terrifies him because that’s Anti’s blood. He reaches over, grabbing the back of Anti’s torn, bloody shirt, and he finally manages to pull him up to sit. The fabric rips further under his fingers and he doesn’t think he’ll ever forget the feel of dried blood against his skin.

There’s blood running down the sides of Anti’s mouth and dripping down his chin, and he coughs another one or two times after sitting up. His eyes are glassy and he doesn’t seem to recognise anyone around him.

He takes two deep breaths and shuts his eyes tight for a moment, and just for good measure, wipes the blood off his face and cleans his hand on the already ruined covers. Then he opens his eyes again quickly, too quickly, and looks down at his chest – and more importantly at his bloody shirt, black fabric soaked with dark crimson. He visibly freaks out and takes it off as fast as he can, ripping it even further. He tosses it to the other end of the bed in terror.

He has new scars. Star shaped ones, thin lines running into a single spot without leaving a dent, shiny and white. One on his back and a smaller one on his chest to match. Demons scar differently from humans, but it’s all too clear what left those.

Anti takes a few more shaky breaths, trying to calm down as if waking from a nightmare. He blinks rapidly a few times, shuts his eyes tight, then chokes a small sob. A few tears roll down his cheeks and he whimpers in the back of his throat. Then he wipes at his face again, opens his eyes. His gaze slowly focuses on Dark as he comes to his senses.

Everyone is silent and still. They don’t know what to make of the situation, what to do, what to say. Then…a chuckle. Shaky, weak, but undeniably alive.

“So...best friend, huh?” Anti’s lips draw into a small grin, not quite the usual one but getting there, because damn him if he’s not going to try and hide his pain and fear with humour.

Dark looks aside and shrugs. He doesn’t exactly know what else to do.

Anti lets out a little laugh. “I always knew you were sappy deep down, you old fart.”

He would probably say something else too, but before he knows it Dark is sitting on the bed and hugging him tight. Anti doesn’t know what to do for a moment, because Dark is not a hugging kinda guy and now he’s holding onto him like his life depends on it. Then he feels Dark gently knocking him upside the head without letting go.

“Shut up.”

Anti chuckles again, then he finally hugs Dark back as tight as he can, and he’s glad his nails aren’t sharp right now because they would be tearing holes into the perfect Armani suit. He tucks his face into Dark’s neck and smiles against his skin because Dark is his best friend.

When Dark sits back, he has an unusually soft expression on his face. Anti smiles at him, but then his eyes drift to the side and he sees Chase. Poor guy looks even more shaken than Anti, with eyes red and tears still running down his face.

Anti offers him a small smile, too. “Hey, bro.”

The next thing he knows, he’s on his back, Chase on top of him hugging the life out of him. He laughs, loud and joyful and very much alive, and he hugs his brother back. Chase is crying again, full on crying into Anti’s shoulder and his whole body shakes with it.

“I...I almost...almost lost you...” Chase stutters, and suddenly Anti feels really bad. “You idiot...No, don’t you...don’t you dare...say sorry.”

Anti stays silent and just holds onto him until he can sit up again. When he does, Anti’s sitting up as well, and he grins at Chase before taking the snapback that had somehow stayed on his head all this time. Chase lets him, and Anti looks really proud of himself with his brother’s favourite hat on his head.

It seems Anti’s only realising bit by bit how many people are present, because he looks absolutely delighted when he notices Sean sitting on the bed too. Sean smiles at him – everyone seems to be smiling now – and waves, saying a soft “hey”.

Anti wobbles over to him on his knees and pulls him into a hug, because he doesn’t care, he’s so happy and he wants to hug everyone now. Sean doesn’t object.

“Thank you for saving me back there,” Sean mutters, and Anti’s rarely heard him this serious.

“Anytime, man.”

Sean sighs and pats him on the back. “You’re my favourite dumbass demon.”

Anti pulls away laughing and he playfully punches Sean’s shoulder. He feels so happy to be alive, he thinks he’s going to burst.

Wilford seems to be resenting the fact that he’s not in focus, because he loudly claims that “this calls for a group hug”. Bim cheers loudly at that, and the Host smiles.

They all pile onto the bed, clumsy as it gets, and they all but suffocate Anti in one giant hug. For once Dark doesn’t mind physical contact, Bim fights the urge to cry again and Google smiles softly as he props his chin on the Host’s shoulder. And Anti’s in the middle, smile huge enough to reveal his fangs, just radiating joy. Things were scary, he’s pretty sure he almost died, but now everything feels better than ever. He’s just so happy.

After a while they all pull apart, but most of them remain sitting on the bed. Anti’s in the middle, grin wide and his hat knocked to the side. Dark comes back from the wardrobe with a towel in his hands and wraps it around Anti’s shoulders to make up for his ruined shirt for now before he sits down behind him. Anti thanks him and pulls the towel tight around his shoulders.

“So...what happened?” Anti asks. No one responds. “The last thing I remember is that I was fighting to protect Sean from those things, but after that it’s just...nothing.”

Everyone remains silent. The wounds are still fresh, thinking, let alone talking about the hours when they thought they would lose Anti would just hurt too much. Bim suddenly finds his cuffs very interesting. Chase shifts a little bit closer to Anti.

The other reason no one is speaking up is because they actually have no idea.

Google starts whirring, and everyone watches as it gets louder and louder until he slaps himself on the forehead. Anti and Sean are very amused by that ending.

“We’re all idiots,” Google says, and Dark is already opening his mouth because he’s not willing to accept that as fact. Google doesn’t pay him any mind and continues. “We already know that Anti gains his power from attention, and more importantly love, right? I think because we were all here, worrying about him, not wanting to lose him, loving him...that was enough to bring him back from the brink of death.”

A stunned silence settles between them. It makes so much sense. Anti sniffles a little, but everyone pretends not to notice, and Chase pulls him into a hug again to comfort them both.

Dark is the first one to speak. “Now, regardless of that,” he semi-seriously scolds Anti. “don’t you dare pull a stunt like that ever again.”

Anti agrees to try.

“The Host wishes to say that he could not be happier with the outcome,” the Host smiles, and Bim nods along enthusiastically.

“I think we can all agree on that, my friend,” adds Wilford. He earns a rare smile from Dark, but no one dares mention it.

They talk about nothings for a while, because no one wants to mention today’s events but being in each other’s company is comforting. At some point Chase gets his hat back and they get rid of the ruined covers to make sure no one sits in blood. Sean doesn’t mention it, but he notices the whole room seems to be gaining colour.

“Guys, I’m sorry, but...I think I should probably get going,” Sean says after a while. It earns him some disapproving whines. “I don’t know how late it is in my world, but if it really is late, I don’t want Signe to worry. Plus I do want to tell her about what happened to day, and man, I’m exhausted.”

No one really argues aside from Anti’s tentative “five more minutes?”. Sean only laughs and hugs him and Chase goodbye.

“I’ll escort you back,” Dark offers. Anti immediately bounces to get up, but Dark shoots him a glare. “You stay here and don’t get yourself into any more deadly situations.”

“But I’m-”

“Don’t say that you’re fine, I won’t believe you anyway,” and while Dark looks really strict saying that, there’s genuine worry in his eyes. That alone convinces Anti to stay put.

Sean bids goodbye to everyone and jokingly tells them to be good and stay out of trouble before he takes ahold of Dark’s arm and the two of them disappear into thin air.

It’s evening in the human world, and the sun is just setting. They appear near where Anti got shot and leave the scene as quickly as possible. Neither of them want to remember right now.

Dark walks Sean all the way to his house. It’s a bit of a walk and, naturally, Sean won’t stay silent during it.

“Best friend, huh?” he teases, but he’s genuinely curious.

“I might be a bitter old demon,” Dark says without looking his way. “but even I have a heart too.”

“...and Anti stole it?” there’s a small smile forming on his lips. He can’t help it.

“Yeah,” Dark chuckles in a way that makes Sean think “fond”. “that glitchy rascal. Plus,” he shrugs. “that Chase kid needs his brother.”

Sean finishes quietly like he’s able to read Dark’s thoughts. “...and we all need our friend.”

Dark nods. They agree on that.

Sean is long used to having these beings in his life – so is Signe, so is Mark, so are some of Mark’s friends. They came out of nowhere, no one really understands how or why, they’re strange, sometimes scary or funny or cunning or very, very human. Sean is glad he decided to make friends with them. After all, they had just waltzed into his life, first Anti, then all the rest of them, and he could do nothing about it other than make the best of it. He’s happy he did. They’re a strange gang of curiosities, an ever growing family of demons and entities, and damn would he miss them if one day they just up and disappeared. He really hopes that day will never come.

Street lights flicker on as they walk and Dark regards them with mild interest. He looks almost human in the evening light – or maybe it’s just his peaceful mood making him appear so, Sean isn’t exactly sure.

They arrive at Sean’s house in comfortable silence. He walks up to the door and Dark waits a few steps away before he turns back to say goodbye.

“Well,” Sean smiles lightly. “It was nice seeing you again, Dark.”

Dark nods his head with respect, and it’s clear that he’s bidding farewell to a friend. He disappears into thin air the moment Sean closes the door behind himself.

“You too, Sean.”

#jacksepticeye #antisepticeye #darkiplier #chase brody #googleplier #fanfiction #writing #wilford warfstache #bim trimmer #the host #another warning: i'm my own beta #so i apoligise for the possibly endless list of mistakes in this #also this is the longest thing i've ever written and it's almost twice as long as the previous record holder #if anything doesn't make sense it's bc it's all based on a dumb dream #you can find said dream on my or lumi's blog but i won't link it bc posts with links don't show up in tags #i really....love this fic #so please be gentle #also i think after this i'm gonna get back to writing fanfiction #for these fandoms at least #bc even if no one really likes it i know krista likes my ideas and that's probably the most important #and i have a lot of ideas in my head now #trust me if i had started this after google gets an upgrade it'd 100% have bing in it and now i gotta make up for that

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