#on her own and for herself in order to finally get closure

[cloysterbell]

Pete, I need you to stay here.

[eeldritchblast]

Wyll Ravengard Deserves Healing Too

Every origin companion in Baldur’s Gate 3 is traumatized in some form or another, and they all deal with it in different ways. That is only realistic. But let’s take a deeper look at the inequality between how these stories of trauma are written and presented to the player. Because when we do that, it is extremely noticeable that there is one character who never receives the same level of catharsis bestowed upon everyone else: Wyll.

Shadowheart was abducted as a child to be raised in an abusive cult. When this is brought to light, the player is able to help her confront her abuser and find her parents again. Even if her parents die, Shadowheart is at least given closure; she has a whole scene in which we see her finally break down into tears, and the player can comfort her.

Gale ended up with an orb of Netherese magic inside him, ready to explode and destroy not just him but everything in his radius. He went into a deep depression and relied on Tara to keep him alive, pre-game. His goddess/ex-lover then tasked him with a suicidal mission. But Gale is able to confront Mystra and either regain her compassion or reject her and forge his own godhood. Either way, Gale is able to heal physically and emotionally.

Lae’zel, much like Shadowheart, was also raised in a torturous environment, only to realize that her Queen Vlaakith is nothing but an abuser and a user. She is able to ally herself with a rebellious faction rising against Vlaakith, not just freeing herself but potentially her entire People.

Karlach was betrayed by Gortash and sold to Zariel, who replaced her heart with an infernal engine, making it impossible for Karlach to keep living outside of the Hells. Even if she doesn’t end up with a cure, the player can at least help her confront Gortash, and like Shadowheart, she gets a whole special scene for her to finally work through her bottled up emotions.

Astarion was enslaved and tortured by Cazador for over two-hundred years, who would have used him in a ritual that resulted in his death. The player can help Astarion confront Cazador and potentially kill him, which leads to Astarion getting a small scene where he cries out in a mixture of emotions.

But what of Wyll? At just age seventeen he was given the choice of either selling his soul to Mizora, or see Baldur’s Gate fall to a dragon cult. The terms of his pact prevented him from telling the truth about the situation, resulting in his idolized father banishing him. Ever since, he was bound to Mizora, and we see how she treats him in game as if he’s a dog. Wyll is just as traumatized as his companions, and yet, where is the ability to comfort him? Where is his closure? It’s all disregarded, in favour of more content with Mizora.

Wyll’s personal quest at the start of Act Three has him forced to choose between giving up his soul to save his father, or freeing himself and seeing his father die. Now, it is possible – though difficult – for the player to rescue Duke Ravengard themselves even if Wyll breaks his pact with Mizora. But even if this is so, reading Mizora’s mind results in the player hearing her admit she will never stop trying to harm Wyll’s father.

The reason you can read Mizora’s mind is because she is just there, hanging out at your camp! There is even a sex scene between her and the player available! Just imagine for a second, if that was Cazador or Viconia in Mizora’s place. Mizora is nothing but Wyll’s tormentor, just like Cazador for Astarion and Viconia for Shadowheart, and yet she is permanently there, giving witty one-liners and trying to seduce the player. Attack her, and she only disappears to reappear again, unharmed. You cannot get rid of her, and it’s played for laughs.

Wyll deserves comfort. Wyll deserves a chance to show his emotions, too. Yes, I’m aware that part of his character is that he tries to downplay his concerns in order to maintain his heroic persona, but that just means it would have been even more powerful to finally gain his trust enough for him to share how he feels with the player, truly.

Wyll is the only Black companion – and only one of two visible characters of colour, period. (The other being Karlach, who while yes is a tiefling, based on her facial features in the full release of the game is East Asian.) It is hard to believe it is all just coincidence that it is the only Black companion was given no opportunity by the writers to receive any significant emotional support or show any significant relief from his trauma. Statistically, African Americans who need mental health treatments receive less than 50% of treatments that white Americans receive. This is despite African Americans having 20% more likeliness to undergo serious psychological distress than white Americans. [X]

No, Wyll Ravengard is not a real person, and I am not attempting to equate a fictional character to real life struggles. My point here, is that the way in which Wyll was written mirrors the way in which the mental health of Black men and boys in real life is systematically ignored and downplayed, with the belief that they can and must “tough it out”. My point here, is that I have a hard time believing the prejudices and stereotypes against Black people did not contribute to Wyll’s lack of content. Specifically, the lack of content related to his healing.

[cerastes]

I’m thinking of how, in OpRec 2, Laurentina knows she has very limited time as herself before her brain deteriorates and she loses her reason again and becomes the “Specter” again. She has few precious hours as herself after years of being trapped in her own mind due to the experiments and the insane amount of pure liquid Originium Amaia and Quintus injected directly into her spinal cord.

She uses a bit of this time to spend it fighting a battle alongside Misery (who insisted she doesn’t need to help him but definitely welcomed the aid since apparently the situation was pretty bad), because in fighting, she can remain useful, in her own words. Skadi insists she hurry back to Rhodes Island, to which Specter says it’s pointless, because equipment on the surface simply cannot help her, only keep her alive, so she takes her sweet time fighting alongside Misery, and Skadi and Gladiia (the latter reluctantly) join.

She allots some more of her time to having a proper talk with Closure, answering as many questions as she can, both about herself and about Closure, but mainly, what she wanted to say was “do not change the way I’m treated. You know me as Specter, you have protocols around the Operator Specter. Retain them. I have to go.”

She talks with a very concerned Skadi and an unflinching but still upset Gladiia, but she already had time with them on the way back. The final person she wanted to talk to before her brain gave out again? Doctor. Explicitly because she predicted Closure and Doctor may take more care on her handling, maybe remove her from combat operations in order to more closely monitor her condition. This is exactly what she didn’t want.

Because end of the day, Laurentina is a Hunter. She finds it difficult to speak as surface dwellers do, she finds it almost nonsensical, and so, she demands, “Keep me in the fight, Doctor. We do not need words, we need only you having a clear objective and me, my orders. If you put me in a bed and out of the battlefield, you are denying me the last shred of identity I can cling on”.

Because she couldn’t sculpt, she couldn’t sing, she couldn’t even control her own body, if she was even conscious. The only thing that she could do to cling to being who she was...

...Is to at the very least be pointed towards an enemy to fight them, and pointed towards an ally to protect them.

Skadi believed Laurentina had died prior to the events of the game because this isn’t the first time she had done this: In order for the 3rd Squadron to advance towards Ishar’mla, the 2nd Squadron, Gladiia and Laurentina’s, practically sacrificed themselves covering for the 3rd. 

She never blamed Skadi, and makes sure she knows it. She didn’t mind doing it again now, either. “Point me at the one I have to cut, put the ones I need to keep safe behind me, and give the order. Even if am completely lost in the darkness of my mind and madness of my heart, that, that will never leave me. That’s proof that I am Specter, that I am Shark, and that I am Laurentina. I, namely, I.”

As far as she knew, these were the last words she’d ever get out as herself. She used to make it very clear: “Do not deny me the only bit of purpose and identity I have left, because even if I am but a shell of myself, I’m still me.”

Of course, we now know that this was not to be her final fate, and she did manage to regain control, decisively, eventually, but... As far as she and Skadi and Doctor knew, at this point, this was really, really it. The briefest of encounters with the real Specter, on borrowed time. And her intent? To make sure she’s not left to rot in a medical room where she’s useless, gathering dust: “Put even more danger upon my share”. You know you are dealing with a seriously terrifying and strong person when they can confidently tell you (and have verifiably, so far, done as much) that even if it’s just a shell of her former self out there, she can and will never stop doing exactly what she’s good at, because otherwise, at that point, she truly has left the world.

[maxphilippa]

okay actual last post about act 2 and yeah it is going to be about mic. i don't care if you disagree or not, this is purely a personal post, and also me grieving over how her character got completely assasinated. keep in mind that i've been constantly making content of her for almost 3 years so this is just me having feelings and being disappointed with how she was handled. you can have her opinions of her or anything it doesn't really matter to the point of this post. i'm putting my thoughts in place.

mic forgiving taco doesn't make sense. it still won't make sense ever, no matter how much you actually try to look at it. mic is a forgiving person, yes, but only when people try to genuinely change and when they give an actual apology to her, showing that they're sorry. taco hasn't even tried to change as she was only planning to apologize to pickle, not mic, to begin with. the sorry also just felt hollow regarding that. mic would not act like that ever. like i'm sorry but. before s2 came back, her last appearance was her quite literally leaving the game because she couldn't even bring herself to look or be around at taco anymore, because taco hurted her a lot. a by a lot i mean to the point where mic didn't even know who she was anymore once she eliminated herself.

mic's whole... arc was thrown away. her whole story about growing and changing, and leaving behind an abusive/toxic friendship to then find people who actually love you did not matter. act 2 did a complete disservice to her relationships with knife and pickle, too. are you really telling me that knife protecting mic from taco was for nothing? that mic would've just forgiven taco either way? what about pickle? are you GENUINELY telling me that mic would forgive someone who didn't only hurt her, but also her friends? are you genuinely telling me that it didn't matter if she went away and gained actual healthy relationships, she would've still forgiven taco? that doesn't make ANY sense.

because everything they did before just. said otherwise. why even bother to show the fact that mic and taco were never close to then say that "they were closer than anyone else". no that messes up with both of their arcs completely. taco never let mic get close to her and they never had an actual genuine connection. taco apologizing on ep 13 was even forced, and wasn't sincere. she only did it because knife called her out and mic going "aw taco" is just. her showing that her standars are SO SO LOW thanks to taco that she considers a terrible apology a good thing.

why even bother writing about mic calling out taco and how she treated her the same way she treated pickle? why even bother making mic say that she gained nothing out of taco? why even bother making knife and her friends? no, genuinely, do you have any idea of how much that ruins their friendship? knife literally broke all of his own rules in order to make sure mic was okay. and mic just. does that. and it's not even played with respect or seriousness.

it was for laughs. for laughs. what's funny out of that. how her character got completely ruined. how everything about her closure was genuinely unsatisfying and frustrating. how this is very clearly not what ae had in mind for her, but ae listening to the fans only on what they want, and how that completely just managed to ruin the BEST character written in ii.

and this hurts me a lot genuinely. mic was a character that i've felt connected to the most when i fully got what was her deal. i felt connected and seen in the way she acted, in the way she healed, everything. essentially she helped me to finally recognize that i was worthy of love, and that i shouldn't be ashamed to speak up against my abusers. that i shouldn't be ashamed for being myself. that i found people who actually loved me and motivatedme to let go of toxic relationships that didn't do anything but hurt me. she did genuinely so much for me on a personal level and i'll always adore her for that.

i'm. especially heartbroken at how her character was treated on ACT 2. especially the way on how brian just completely ruined the character arc he worked on the most. it felt bad, unnatural and just like a very poor attempt at a closure. they didn't even NEED a closure to begin with. for a guy that said "i don't think everyone needs closure", you sure did ruin a character with it. this genuinely feels like fanservice because that's what most fans wanted but well. her character is now ruined. i lost everything yesterday. i lost her and. i still don't know how to feel about it.

It's funny, really. You get invested in a show because it was about love, finding yourself, change and growth. And the character that matters the most to you has all of those four traits in their story. You look deeply into the backstory, their behaviour and relationships and you think that hey. It wouldn't make sense if the writers decided to throw all of that away, especially since. She's the best character written in all of the show. There's not a singular flaw on her story, nothing, she's the most humane character in a sense. She means the world to you and all you wish for her is to have a good closure. And it is hinted that she will.

But. She didn't.

And now. You don't know what to do. Everything I did, I did it for her. She helped me improve in many aspects of my life. And I'm still grieving. I just got her back and then I lost her in a terrible way.

so much for being invested in a show for almost 3 years

[blues-valentine]

HSMTMTS Final Season Spoilers:

Ricky and Gina’s first relationships (Nini/EJ) prepared them for their own trials this season.

The thing about Ricky and Gina going thought similar situations as PW and Rini is to showcase not just why they’re different but that they’ve learned from their previous relationships too.

Because that’s the whole point.

Ricky’s relationship with Nini failed not just because they outgrew each other but because Nini wanted bigger things for herself and didn’t feel like she needed Ricky to get that anymore. She herself said on the pilot that being away from Ricky actually made her come out of her shell and pursue leading roles. And Ricky wasn’t ready to accept that change so in order to protect that relationship he started to become too attached and making Nini feel pressured about balancing YAC and Ricky. He thought he had to put Nini’s dream on hold only to realize not only did it made him selfish but not a version of himself he wanted to be. This is why he corrected all of those mistakes with Gina when presented with the same issues. Not just this final season but last season as well. (X)

It was stablished last season, Ricky’s love for Gina changed what he thought he knew about love. Gina is the representation of change.

For Ricky, the idea of Gina and him growing apart and walking different directions terrified him — he has seen this before and it didn’t end with people choosing him. But he wasn’t going to be the old Ricky that would delete Instagram posts and be like “I want you to leave the movie and stay here with me” and that’s because he now knows that’s not how you love. And he isn’t going to make Gina feel guilty about living her dreams. And that’s why he was the most supportive and attentive boyfriend she could’ve asked for. And Ricky knows it could cost him losing Gina but he is ready to deal with that as long as Gina is doing what she’s meant to do.

For Gina, she was living her dreams but Ricky is also part of her dreams. Gina’s arc has never been just about finding success but finding a place to belong and she found that (with Ricky, with East High). By holding the whole movie offer from Ricky, she understood why EJ did what he did last season and I think it was a very good learning experience for her and closure for the two of them. Gina was very naive and new in her relationship with EJ and going thought that allowed her to understand other points. I feel like if she hadn’t been in a relationship with EJ first she wouldn’t have known how to handle this issue with Ricky. But as opposed to Nini, who basically told Ricky she didn’t come back for him. Gina would fight for Ricky. Because she wants both the fame and him and I’m glad they didn’t have her compromise on either of those.

The contrasts and differences in all of those relationships needed to happen. It would’ve been too easy if Ricky and Gina were just in a perfectly honey moon stage even with all of those circumstances. And I would say they handled it gracefully and better than others would have (including PW and Nini). The thing about Ricky and Gina is not just that they both give the other something they need (stability, propose, ambition, understanding) is that PW and Rini gave up on each other too easy. Maybe because they just weren’t the right person. And if anything the season shows is that whatever happens next Ricky and Gina will find a way to make it work together and unlike Troyella (“who are not a real couple”) Ricky and Gina are.

[thetypedwriter]

Children of Anguish and Anarchy Book Review

Children of Anguish and Anarchy Book Review by Tomi Adeyemi

This book was so horrible. 

No one is more disappointed than me to say that. 

I’ve gone to two of Tomi Adeyemi’s book signings, including a recent one for Children of Anguish and Anarchy.

Tomi Adeyemi herself is absolutely wonderful. She’s so intelligent, hilarious, addictively charming, and can work a room like no other. The book signing was fantastic. Too bad the book couldn’t hold up to the event itself. 

Children of Anguish and Anarchy follows as the third and last installment of the Legacy of Orisha trilogy, but doesn’t read like that at all.

Other than having the same four main characters of Tzain, Zelie, Amari, and Inan, nothing about the book concludes any issue, plot story, or character development from the previous two novels. 

A completely new villain is introduced, someone we haven't heard about as a reader in the last two books whatsoever, and obliterates any of the conflict and tension that Adeyemi worked so hard to build in her previous stories. 

Gone is the tension and literally hundreds of years of in-fighting between the Maji and the monarchy, gone is the civil war and its repercussions on Orisha, gone is even one of the main characters from the last novel, Roen, who was a significant love interest for Zelie and who has been completely disappeared in this new book all together (like, what???). 

It was incredibly lazy writing to wipe away everything the first two books created in order to “unite” against this new enemy. The sentiment is nice, but it’s not the finale we wanted or needed. 

I desired answers to Amari and Zelie’s broken friendship, closure to the Inan and Roen love triangle, a verdict on how Orisha would rebuild and who would rule. 

We get none of that. 

Instead Zelie and the others spend half their time in the book on a ship with very strong slavery parallels, and the other half in the introduced land of New Gaia.

While I thought the descriptions of New Gaia were beautiful (albeit very similar to Avatar), I was dissatisfied because the whole series at this point has been focused on Orisha and Orisha’s problems, not New Gaia and not the Skulls. 

While the plot was bad and aggrieving, the characters were even worse. 

None of the characters were interesting. They were carbon copies of each other in which all they talked about was avenging their fallen Orishan people, killing the Skulls, and protecting loved ones.

Rinse and repeat. It was boring as hell to delve into four different characters’ minds only to find that they all sounded exactly the same. 

I often had to go back to the start of the chapter to tell whose internal thoughts I was reading because they were so interchangeable and self-righteous and dull.  It is never a good sign when you can’t automatically tell who’s POV you’re reading based on their internal dialogue and tone. 

Lastly, the pacing of the book was atrocious. Everything happened so goddamn fast that I felt like I never had the chance to properly digest or internalize anything.

Oh they’re on a ship? Moving on from that. Zelie got some sort of medallion shoved into her chest?? Moving on. Wait, Maji and Titans and the monarchy are all working together after two full books of them killing each other??? Five pages and it’s done with. 

It was outrageous and insulting. 

The pacing made everything feel shallow, unimportant, and unnecessary. More than most of the plot were action scenes, while difficult to write and interesting in their own right, in this book it was so repetitive that characters killing other characters 90% of the time became egregiously tedious. 

And speaking of the action, I also found it incredibly violent and graphic for a YA book. As someone who is not a fan of gore and blood, this book had so many explicit details for no reason other than being gratuitous.

For example, at one point Zelie shoves a chicken bone through someone’s cheek. I found it repulsive and it was also incessant. 

I know some people can handle brutality, but I can’t, and found it a huge turn off and made me dislike the book so much more, especially as this was a majority of the book to boot. 

Disappointment can’t even contain my full feelings for this story. For such a wonderful trilogy to succumb to such a terrible end is a tragedy. I wish the best for Tomi Adeyemi and success for her future, but I will not read another book by her again. 

Score: 2/10

Recommendation: Read Children of Blood and Bone, a magical story that will inspire and entertain you. Read Children of Virtue and Vengeance if you really need something else, but even this book I wouldn’t recommend picking up.

Do not, I repeat, do not read Children of Anguish and Anarchy. It will leave you feeling dismayed and disheartened beyond redemption.

Bonus: Here's me, my fiance, and Tomi Adeyemi at her book signing!

[helgafolk618]

Hilda and Jo: Together Again

(aka another fanfic idea i had even though i should be working on erikafolk)

"Everything's changed, hasn't it?"

"Yes. But it's the way of the world for things to change. It wasn't for nothing. We'll always have our memories of this place."

"But that's all it is! Memories. Our house is gone. The mountain's gone. Our life here's gone. And now... Now you're gone too."

...

Rewatching the episode "Together Again" in Adventure Time: Distant Lands and finding out about the scrapped storyline for Hilda E2E8 "The Fifty-Year Night," I had a tearjerking idea for a Hilda fanfic.

Johanna dies during Hilda's late teens. What caused her death? Who knows! One thing is certain though: Hilda will never see life the same way again.

Sure, she still was the same fearless, adventure-loving girl; but her motivations for her love for adventures changed. She kept adventuring more than ever in order to distract herself from having the time to even think about Johanna. She still had David, Frida, Alfur, Twig, and all of her wonderful friends, but often she wonders how long will she live for until she dies and gets to join her mother.

It didn't help that Johanna's body disappeared. Her own daughter couldn't even meet her as a ghost.

More information:

In her adult life, Hilda became a naturalist and explorer, authoring several books about her exploits around the world. She's becoming to come to terms with her mother's death. She thought, this is what Johanna would want her to do.

Until one day, she discovered strange, magical creatures, "Skuggers" she called them. Bearing a striking resemblance to a certain fae entity, these creatures have immensely powerful illusion magic. Also a very peculiar oddity with them: they're always sighted with seemingly random individuals who just died. Hilda found out the pattern: Skuggers always look for the remains of fairy-human hybrids. Just when Hilda was getting over Johanna, she saw this as an opportunity to finally get closure about her mother's whereabouts.

She said goodbye to her friends and acquiantances back in Trolberg, only bringing Twig along for her quest to find out more about Skuggers. Although, all her attempts failed because, well, hard to fool a being capable of supernaturally fooling your very senses. After weeks of failure, she was gonna head back to Trolberg when she finally spotted a Skugger, not too far from the wall, bringing a bag of bones; it seemed like it was going somewhere. Hilda and Twig followed it discreetly and discovered a fairy circle in the mountains that was hidden by the Skuggers' magic. Unfortunately, at this point, they were found out and the Skugger sprinted along the mountainside, with Hilda and Twig chasing it. Who did those bones belong to? It seemed like she was finally gonna figure out where they stash all those fairy-hybrid remains. She's gonna see her mother again.

And then she fell.

Very high.

She landed with a thud.

And then she died.

In her final moments, she saw shadowy silhouttes, and then a very strange, colorful, yet familiar environment, before blacking out.

.

.

.

Years has passed. Hilda rose up from the ground and saw that she was transparent and skeletal. She was a ghost! Her tombstone was even there! She thought she was buried at St. Guglows, but a quick turnaround revealed gigantic mushrooms, jade-colored rocks, and a flock of white woffs in the air. She was in Fairy Country!

Turns out, Phinium and Lydia saw Hilda dying and "abducted" her with the watchtower, but it was too late to save her. They hid her body in a very remote place in the isle, where no one but them could find it.

Hilda saw that the entire island is in darkness. Shouldn't the sun never set in Fairy Country? To be honest, she also didn't expect a lot of jury-rigged radiotowers, skyscrapers, and roads. What happened to the fairies?

Yeah, Fairy Country as we know it has been transformed by years of mad science and old magic, thanks to Victoria Van Gale. She assumes de facto control over all of Fairy Country and dubbed them the territory of the "Republic of Van Galea". The Skuggers were her personal inventions, meant to exploit the island's properties where what you see is what people want to believe they are.

Those remains? Skuggers use the ghostly forms of fairy-human hybrids in order to power their illusion magic. They're locked up somewhere in the watchtowers.

Try guessing who else is a certain half-fairy ghost there... ;)

And you know how Hilda reacted to all of this? The fact she died prematurely, the fact that her friends thought of her as missing for years, the fact that Victoria Van Gale has messed up the Fairy Isles beyond belief?

She simply lit up with joy and thought, "I get to see Mum again!"

:D

(The burden of those questions will come to her later).

[princess-pathetic-112898]

Major Spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Just got out of GotG3 and I’m really happy there didn’t end up being any major character deaths. The Guardians trilogy is about trauma; Childhood trauma, parental trauma, trauma from loss, trauma from abuse, building walls in response to trauma, and learning to slowly tear down those walls. In order for those themes to stick the landing, it’s crucial that life goes on. Each of the guardians got a satisfying conclusion to their arcs. Peter is finally emotionally mature enough to actively seek closure for his mother’s death and is ready to reconnect with his family on Earth. Gamora may not be the same person they once knew, but she can acknowledge that the others knew and loved a version of her, while they can acknowledge that this Gamora can’t be someone else for them, and she’s thriving in a new life she made for herself. Drax gets to be a father again. Mantis is learning to value herself and be her own person. Kraglin finally sees in himself what Yondu saw in him, and is able to keep a part of Yondu with him. Nebula has found a place where she is valued and loved unconditionally, and can be a force for good. Rocket has confronted his abusers, overcome them, and learned to let himself love and be loved by friends again. Groot’s vocabulary is expanding. Cosmo is a good dog. An incredibly emotional and satisfying ending can also be a happy ending.

[simazinblr]

Spring Break - Meeting “Eric” (Part 8)

Plumbite Inn

Kodi gave Malaysia all the details about her conversation on the pier with Eric. She told her everything, including how Eric felt, his lies, his past, his fears, and his secrets. How he apologized and asked for another chance to be together.

Malaysia: Wait, so he lied about his looks, age, job, and was actually at the restaurant and coffee shop while you were waiting for him? Kodi: (nodding) Yep, that last part, I had no words. There I was, freaking out, sending him texts and calls, and dude was just there, watching me stress the whole fckn time. Malaysia: Unbelievable. So, now what? Kodi: (looking at the floor) I forgave him, but I can't be with him. I can’t trust him. The only reason I forgave him is because he’s been through some shit. He needs to work on himself, therapy. I did tell him that I'd check on him from time to time. Malaysia: You're too nice but did you get the closure you wanted? Kodi: Not sure it’s closure, but I’m glad I know the truth now. I can move on with Jamar. He’s ready for more, and I was stuck on this. Malaysia: Off topic but, was it weird seeing Erin? Kodi: OMG YES! I was so uncomfortable. Hearing a different voice come from that face was weird.

Malaysia and Kodi spent the rest of the night ordering room service and watching reality tv shows. She was happy Kodi finally stood up for herself and thought about her own feelings this time.

[kerryweaverlesbian]

[imagine there have been a series of vignettes where Ruby died pre-Apocalypse, and Hell and Heaven have conspired to get her back on Earth in order to start the Apocalypse, so while all that paperwork goes through she and Billie who was assigned as her reaper have been hanging out and getting closer, despite them both knowing exactly when Ruby is going to die for real. Billie made them wait for confirmation every time, because she's a stickler for the rules, and neither of them said it but they were both glad for a little time where nobody expected anything of them. Finally it happened - the church, the betrayal, the start of the Apocalypse, the end of Ruby's life:]

One more miracle, Ruby asked for, when she lead her to the edge of darkness, one more miracle so I can meet my father. So I can know it was all worth it. Please, Billie.

It was never a miracle, Billie had to reply, it was never a gift. It was a sentence, and now you have come to the end of it. The Book Of Ruby: The End. You knew that.

I thought it would be more satisfying.

Everybody does.

So, what, I'm just part of everybody now? Not so special?

You are part of everybody. You are special. This had always felt true, but there it felt less true, more like a platitude, like Billie was afraid of the depth of her own emotion, and Billie would not allow herself to lie like that, so she added: And you are a part of me.

Yeah? It had Ruby smiling, however bittersweet it was. The annoying part?

Yes. The annoying part that wants to ask for a miracle.

But you won't.

But I won't. It wouldn't be given. And if you got it, it wouldn't be what you asked for. It never is.

It is for some people.

But not for us.

Ruby looked away. She didn't like it, Billie knew, but she knew she understood. They both did. Billie was always honest, with herself and with others, even when that truth hurt. She wished, for the first time, that she didn't know so quite much of what is true.

Can I ask for something that isn't a miracle? Ruby asked, and Billie gestured for her to go on. Ruby's essence had started to pull into the Empty, dethreading from the ether like cotton being tugged apart. Will you let me be selfish one last time?

You've never asked for permission before.

Yeah, well. Maybe I wanted to surprise you.

Ruby put her fading fingers to her own fading lips, then placed them on Billie's, a phantom kiss. Billie touched the place where Ruby's fingers had landed, delicate with herself. None of the times she and Ruby had touched had ever been physical, but all of them had been real. All of them had made Billie part of the present, part of the feeling, part of life. None of them were important and all of them mattered.

Look at that. I made you smile.

That wasn't selfish, Billie said, but too late. She had missed the final moment, for once. Ruby took that from her. Ruby gave that to her.

She stood by the Empty for a long time, rather than fading back into the timeless space reapers inhabit together between calls. She knew what she was hoping for: another miracle, given and not asked for. Some reward for the loyalty and dedication she and Ruby had put into the universe. Some consolation prize for being written off at the climax. Some happy ending to their part of the story. But it didn't happen. And she knew it wouldn't. The Book Of Ruby: The End. The Book Of Billie: To Be Continued. No ending, no completion, no closure; happy or otherwise.

[nightwonder7]

the thought of a Ghost AU hug pile after Alice finally opens up to them and starts coming to with her own hard past with their help has me in shambles ;u;

another note though...how would the double identities work? would it be kind of like the ghosts can change forms or one personality takes over the other? Two separate ghosts who need to do different things before being put to rest?

and another question(s) that popped into my mind while writing this was: What is the requirement for releasing a ghost? What if said thing is really hard to do, like burning something precious? Or what if the first time it happens by accident and Alice & ghost Co don't even get to really say goodbye? 😭

HHHHHHHhhhHHHhhhh that is so wholesome! ;O; I can see the ghosts starting to notice that she becomes overly diligent in her work. To the point it is concerning, for she is staying up late for many nights studying the files and becomes too upset at every set-back. It's no longer about emptying the manor of ghosts so she can have her peaceful home back.

The ghosts doing some sort of intervention and want to know why she is wearing herself down like that (over the time they had known each other, they have started to care more for each other). Alice then tells them that she feels that it is her responsibility to help them and shares some of her past. For if she fails to help them, then she breaks the promise she made to herself that she would help others no matter what. All stemming from the emotional baggage of her parents' demise. The ghosts are the first ones she openly talks about her troubled past with. Que the group hug and words of reassurance ;u; Even though they can't really touch her fdghsjfks it'll be like an air hug XD A cold one...

----

I'm glad you asked! So the hunter form of those with double identities is actually a sort of corrupted form of their spirit, facilitated by the curse. Some are more susceptible than others to the mysterious power that veils the manor, and thus their unresolved trauma manifest in peculiar ways. This comes to play especially during events of strong emotions, such as when they start remembering their trauma. In these forms the ghosts are dangerously strong and can cause actual physical harm and destruction; much more so than the ghosts who don't possess this form.

In order to quell a ghost that has been corrupted, one must try and anchor them back down to earth. They are in a state of chaos and pain, and the only way to anchor them down is to first get their attention and make them listen. Then have them focus on something and slowly pull them out of chaos little by little with words. One thing that can help here is to use an item that holds significance to the ghost; something that is associated to a good or peaceful memory. Or something sentimental. For Joker; perhaps Margaretha's music box or a daisy? For Luchino; something related to his research like his papers or specimens? For Orpheus; something related to his childhood such as the stories he used to write and the doll. For Norton; the coin he carries around. For Mike; a piece of the circus.

It is a dangerous task, but once they calm down, they are able to get out of their corrupted form. This ghosts are still able to slip back into these forms again if they don't resolve their unfinished business.

----

So the curse is multilayered, protected by each of the ghosts' personal bindings. All of them need to be broken individually before the curse can be lifted. Once that is done, all the ghosts will be released simultaneously. So fortunately, none of them will slip away spontaneously ;u; Aaaahhhh but the thought though! 😭

The key to each binding is a little different from one another. All of them need to remember how they died and the trauma that first brought them to the manor and come to terms with it. Some of them also require tending to unfinished businesses in order to get closure. It can be to find out what happened to a loved one, finishing a piece of work, or, as you said, destroy something. It is for Alice and the ghosts to figure out what needs to be done. Pff imagine in order to break Matthias' binding, Alice needs to destroy Louis, but no matter what she does to that puppet, it just comes back again in mint condition XD

[paigelts05]

Vanessa Sylvia Blake [FNAF, Renegade AU]

https://www.deviantart.com/paigelts05/art/1098936262

Published: Sep 15, 2024

Her sister being freed from William's control and the closure of the megaplex should have signalled a calm in Sylvia's life, but chaos loves company.

Daughter of Joy Diego and Bill Blake, she was born in 1993, and always preferred to be called Sylvia, as that was the name her mom chose for her.

Joy wanted to call her 'Sylvia [middle name of husband's choice] Blake'. Bill, however, messed with the paperwork and had her named Vanessa Sylvia Blake. Joy was not made aware, and due to being blind, had no way of finding this out for herself.

At four years old, her mom and father went through a messy divorce, with her father, Bill Blake, threatening Sylvia, the judge, and his own attorney in order to get his way in the custody hearing. Just before the judgements was passed, Sylvia broke her silence and revealed that she was threatened into lying about her mom, and cried that everyone else was more of a coward for not calling out the obvious contradictions in her statements. This caused the attorney to break down and reveal that he had also been threatened with murder if he didn't get Bill full custody. The judge, whilst having also been threatened, gave custody to Bill anyway even with everything stacked against him.

A few days later, the balcony of Joy Diego's apartment broke whilst she was standing on it, and in true Joy Diego fashion, she's perfectly OK aside from a sprained ankle, but the mainstream papers reported her as dead. Bill used this mainstream report to make Sylvia believe that her mom had died, and that it hadn't been an accident, and by the next day when a fairly well known paranormal investigative journalist released an article correcting the mistakes of the mainstream papers, showing that Joy was alive, Bill had already isolated Sylvia from being able to find any contradictory information, so the article never reached her.

Throughout her childhood, Bill had Sylvia subjected to electroshock 'therapy' due to her 'rebellious' behaviour. Due to this, she was in and out of various hospitals and mental hospitals for a long time, as once the doctors realised that Sylvia didn't have anything wrong with her, making the treatment unnecessary, Bill would take Sylvia and skip town.

She begun to plan her escape after meeting a woman who shared a part of her name, a lady called Vanessa Shelly who was currently recovering from a stab wound in the hospital. After sharing stories about shit fathers, Sylvia felt inspired to escape.

She made a handful of attempts, but she managed to finally run away from home for good at 16 (year 2009) and joined the CPD Paranormal Department as a paranormal responder so she could make rent whilst taking coding classes. Even though Mike tried to deter her, she insisted on joining, so in order to keep her from doing anything remotely more dangerous whilst she was still a kid, he did let her join as a junior paranormal responder, where she'd just be helping keep any kids involved with the cases entertained and happy, so she could play like a kid with other kids whilst feeling useful. Her choice to join the paranormal department was in part due to Joy having put Location C's Mike Schmidt down as Sylvia's legal guardian and Mike running that department, and in part due to the paranormal department effectively being social workers who use the fact that they are technically a police department in order to be the first at a scene and to keep the rest of the police force out of any of their cases.

Whilst she did see her mom quite frequently now as Joy was a good friend of Mike's, it took a while for Sylvia to realise that the blind woman she saw so often was actually her mom because Sylvia couldn't remember her face, in part due to the electroshock 'therapy' that Bill had subjected her to. Sylvia also realised that she had a little sister now.

After getting promoted to a full-time member of the paranormal department, Sylvia realised that Mike had essentially tricked her into being able to get paid for being a kid playing with other kids back in her junior role, and honestly, she was glad for it. Especially after hearing the stories of what Mike had done when he was her age (and his aversion to anything remotely tight around his neck now made sense to her. Sylvia was honestly surprised he could still wear shirts that had collars after all that he had gone through).

Sylvia was especially glad seeing as she completely flubbed her first assignment as she got knocked out whilst investigating an old Faz Ent HQ and woke up in a Faz-infirmary with the tell tale wounds of a Faz Ent style bone marrow extraction.

Several years later, whilst her and her sister were in college, they and a few mutual friends formed a small gaming company called Silver Parasol. They made a bunch of high quality mobile games and small PC titles over the course of a good few years, and whilst they were planning thier next mobile RPG, they received a contract from Faz Ent to work on a VR game. The pay seemed good, and the opportunity to snoop in on Faz Ent's plans were even better. Jeremy B and Cass sorted out the paperwork, and things seemed to be going OK until Faz Ent started trying to treat it like a buyout.

Upon reviewing the contract, it was clear that Faz Ent signed Silver Parasol's contract, so everything that Faz Ent was doing, all the way down to assigning Dale as a 'manager' to the troupe, was a breach of contract. After bringing it up to a solicitor, their solicitor told them to keep gathering evidence of breach of contract, then strike as soon as Faz Ent thinks the 'buy out' is done: after all, the troupe still needed to get that month's paycheque to survive.

In the meantime, Jeremy had survived cutting his face off, Sylvia had wound up with something in her head and had been saved by Cass fragmenting it back into the game. The same thing then got Cass, who got a PI that shared Jeremy's forename to help her drive it into the tapes, but Cass still wound up losing an eye to get the last bit of it out of her head, and then when they all thought they'd won and were making sure it was gone, Ness got posessed, and it didn't let her go.

This incident wound up with Silver Parasol temporarily 'disbanding' and becoming a ska band for a while in order to keep their company name and identity, as their case against Faz Ent was in a deadlock due to Faz Ent's nightmare lawyer's going 'well you're still in business'. Becoming a ska band also let them take a break from game Dev as they couldn't even look at a screen without seeing some hallucination of William's new form. Sylvia then managed to get Cass and Jeremy to become paranormal responders in order to better help Ness deal with her new problem and better share the truth of what happened, as whilst Ness was going into a new job to stay away as she felt as if she was a danger to her friends and sister thanks to a case of William Afton living rent free in her brain, Sylvia felt that she could best help by being on standby to be there for her in case something went wrong.

A few years after that, Faz Ent grabbed her whilst she was on an investigation mission; instead of extracting bone marrow like they had done ten years ago, they seemed to have injected something into her arm. Whilst she was officially out of commission on medical leave, she had noticed these past months that William had been getting more desperate to get Nessie somewhere, and Sylvia figured that this 'somewhere' was the megaplex, so she used the dirt she had on Bill to get a letter of recommendation out of him so that she could more easily snag the role of head of security. Shortly after this, William managed to whisk Ness away to the megaplex.

Sylvia met many colourful characters whilst working at the megaplex, some new and some familiar faces. She trained the night guards to handle the animatronics better than ever, and by the time Faz Ent tried to turn a mass layoff into a mass murderer, Sylvia was ready to give her life to protect her cohort of colleagues. She tackled an exec who was holding the head technician at gunpoint to the ground and wound up suffering some moderate injuries whilst protecting some of her colleagues whilst holding the daycare attendant in the daycare, but she survived it all.

About a week later, an incident known as the breach occured, and Sylvia almost died many times whilst balancing trying to save her sister and trying to keep Gregory safe, but it ultimately wound up being some sigils left by Desmond that allowed Sylvia's progress on the secondary arcades to be combined with Gregory's PQ progress that permitted Gregory to play PQ3 and free Ness.

About a week later, Sylvia took part in the Raid on the megaplex, and whilst she wound up in peril many times, she managed to figure out a 'reverse control theory' that wound up being used in order to get William to activate the burners in his rooms himself, as the pipes and cables had been damaged so they couldn't be activated in the way that Gregory had predicted.

At this point, everything should be wrapping up, with the only thing left to do being carrying out the court ordered demolition of the megaplex, but as soon as Sylvia's on the demolition crew, Faz Ent kidnaps her sister, again. So she headed to the megaplex, wound up getting followed in by Gregory and Freddy, and they were all immediately attacked and knocked out by Cheryl with an army of staffbots. They were able to escape and find Ness, whom Freddy's head had been delivered to, before Cheryl came back. When attempting to get out again, Cheryl came back with Todd C and Charles Ramirez and because the execs had guns, they managed to recapture Sylvia and co, but due to Charles R's plan with Syivia being 'attach Adelaide's control device to Sylvia', and said control device not working, Sylvia was able to bust out again, meet up with Ness, and save Gregory. Ness and Gregory left the megaplex, but Sylvia stayed behind to finish demolitions, but also keep an eye out because she had a hunch that Gregory had been initially kept in the sinkhole by Cheryl to lure someone else in.

Sylvia ended up being right and found that Cassie, Desmond's daughter, had been the target after finally finding her in a crashed elevator. Due to a different exec, tech exec Burrows, bringing the scapegoat mimic AI into a physical endo, and with that endo having hijacked Faz Ent's original plans with Cassie, Cassie and Syivia made an unlikely alliance with William, Adelaide, Bill, and Cheryl to destroy the mimic.

After operation kill mimic was a success, William was a man of his word: Adelaide helped Cassie, Roxy, and Syivia out of the sinkhole, and Cheryl and Bill cooperated in getting out of the megaplex.

When trying to find a way to the nearest hospital, the duo collapsed, and Roxy was able to find Cassie's dad, Desmond, who managed to get the now unconscious Cassie and very delirious Syivia to the hospital. There, Sylvia told Desmond that they'd figured out that the mystery stem cell donner that Desmond's sister used to create Cassie was in fact Sylvia: Sylvia was Bill Blake's 'mystery daughter' that Des and Cassie had been trying to find.

After being discharged from the hospital, Sylvia invited Desmond and Cassie to stay with her, and whilst it was a long move, far away from where Cassie and Desmond once called home, Desmond was glad to bid Hurricane good riddance. Cassie was initially reluctant, but became quick to warm up to the idea of moving after being informed that Gregory was moving in with Ness and Luis (who live near Sylvia's real home), and Tory, Elijah, and Rachel were all relocating to a place not far from where she would be moving to due to the remains of Faz Ent and the Megaplex posing a serious threat to theirs and their parents lives if they stuck around.

Shortly after moving in, Sylvia worked with Ness and Cassie to devise a plan to permanently contain William. A plan whose delivery of the console, game, and headset unfortunately have Desmond a panic attack, but that seemed to be his sister Alistair's plan in order to temporarily possess him in order to relay some important information in the most secure way. Once William had been contained, Sylvia would be the bridge connecting Ness and Cassey's efforts to contain William with the new efforts to hunt down and eliminate the mimic. Not to mention the constant efforts from Mike and Carl to keep Faz Ent from expanding.

Just her luck that Cassie and Desmond are being targeted by William and Faz Ent as well as the mimic. So if she wanted to make sure that Desmond and Cassie would remain safe whilst living with her, she'd have to remain vigilant. For their sakes.

[bonni]

Closing thoughts on The Traitor Baru Cormorant

I love when a book is good enough to make me passionate about reading again.

First, the ending. When I was at around chapter 20 I made a post that was like "oh I think Baru will probably betray the rebellion but I'm not sure" but honestly if I was a more careful reader I would have already been sure at that point, and within another 2 or 3 chapters I understood that there was no alternative, nothing else that the narrative could be implying with the constant references to some great guarded secret and Baru's nervous fixation on red hair. The foreshadowing is certainly not subtle, but it doesn’t need to be. I don't think that Seth Dickinson set out with the intention of surprising the reader with Baru's betrayal, instead it's supposed to be something that we're constantly aware of, that we know is coming, but that only becomes obvious in the briefest moments, because the narration reflects Baru's own mental state. It's not that her betrayal is a shock, the signs are everywhere, but she only openly acknowledges them in moments of internal strife, and never states her intentions outright, because in order to deceive others, she must also deceive herself. It's a really clever narrative tactic and it's rewarding to careful readers.

The epilogue, on the other hand, was a bit surprising to me (in a good way). I guess it shouldn't have been, but I kind of figured Tain Hu and Xate Olake would stay missing and come back at a climactic moment in a later book to punish Baru for the mercy she showed them and stir turmoil in her heart. Instead, it seems her turmoil will be entirely self-inflicted. I really like the choice to give Baru hemianopsia, it's a condition that we don't see a lot in fiction and the way it's used to represent the divide in her heart is really interesting.

Onto more general praise, this book is incredibly gripping. Combat scenes in books are often boring, but the imagery in these ones are so rich. Tain Hu's duel against Cattlson, the bombing of the tax ships, the final battle at the Inirein, all fantastic.

Tain Hu's death is cathartic. It works really well. It's devastating, of course, but that's what makes character death meaningful. Muire Lo's death was also necessary for Baru's character, but in a way that made me a lot more depressed. Tain Hu got closure, but Muire Lo didn't, which makes his death infinitely sadder. I'm not criticizing the writing choice, it just kind of bums me out. I liked him a lot as a character.

Xate Yawa was evidently too interesting as a foil to Baru to get rid of. I'm excited to see more of her, she's such an interesting character in that she's utterly despicable which says a lot about our protagonist considering how blatantly similar they are.

Baru's closing letter emphasizes Xate Olake's death, but... this guy has faked his death what, 3 times now? It would be cool to see him return at some point, but perhaps that's just wishful thinking. He had become one of my favorite characters by the end of the book.

[artstar1997]

Viva’s past may have caused her trauma and the fear of airplanes since she survived a plane crash at the age of five, but Rose’s trauma is triggered by betrayal and the fire incident that caught Rose in an explosion of chemicals that bleached her hair to platinum blonde.

Rose was in Camp WildPaws when she first met Velvet and Veneer, who were sent to a summer school nearby. They were bullied by a group of children for being talentless and Rose took them under her wing to help them learn how to sing and dance. Veneer became attached to Rose, who became widely known for her performance but Velvet grew to be jealous of the attention that Rose was getting, however, it didn't affect their friendship until Velvet attempted to cheat in a talent show that caused the whole summer school to burn. Amongst the ruins, Veneer saw a now-heavily injured Rose, who was trying to save everybody, including the other campers. In a panic, Veneer left them behind in order to find help, but his help seemed to have been in vain while Velvet escaped on her own.

Veneer attempted to visit Rose after the fire but Velvet told him that Rose didn't want to see her and Veneer never told Rose that he tried to visit, leading them to not speak to or see each other again for years, which soured their relationship and Rose held a grudge against them for so long.

When they finally see each other again, Veneer and a vengeful Rose began talking about the incident prior that made Rose lose her black hair, and Veneer apologizes for it, thus the misunderstanding between them was cleared up, However. Rose tells Veneer that is is still going to be hard to forgive him for the accident, but admits that her life is not so bad now, thanks to her relationship with her bandmates, labelmates, friends, and her current boyfriend, Billy Reverb. Veneer was able to repair his relationship with Rose when he admitted being frauds and confessed the wrongdoings that he and Velvet did by injecting anyone’s DNA, including Floyd’s into their veins to gain talents the easy way.

Rose’s relationship with Velvet is full of hatred because of Velvet’s selfishness and jealousy towards her, mixed with sorrow and revenge because of the past grudge she carried inside her heart that whenever she heard their song, which Velvet stole from her, or see their pictures or their videos, she would go ballistic. Throughout the Band Together Reunion Tour, Rose struggled to keep her past grudge within until she revealed her trauma to Viva that the worst thing that can trigger a trauma is being betrayed by loved ones, especially those who used to be friends with her. Rose was driven with vengeance that she would beat up Velvet twice, the first was when she rapped “Barbie World” onstage while using martial arts punches and kicks on Velvet, and the second was a catfight, where Crimp revealed herself to be an insider for Sam “Zircon” Cartier and was able to arrest them. The arrest made Rose relieved of her desire for revenge and gave her the closure to move on from the trauma caused by the betrayal twelve years ago.

The Veneer and Rose artwork is inspired by this picture:

[dramioneasks]

Hello love. Was wondering if there is any fic you can recommend me where draco and hermione had a secret relationship and broke up cause of the war and all and meet again years later (where theyre both in a good place and mature) ?

Destined to Collide Again - morallygreylover5557 - E, WIP - They had something unspoken, the lengths that they would go to each other were far. Draco Malfoy fell in love with Hermione Granger during 5th year. After everything during 6th year, the war and being torn to opposite sides to protect those they love, they finally have their chance. So why were the two still fated to never be together? Why was Draco engaged to be married just 3 months after? Why had Hermione moved on with Ron? What led to the downfall of Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy, and will 8th year be the closure they need, or the second chance they both so desperately want.

Where We Belong - cleotheo - T, 19 chapters - A tragedy robbed Hermione of the wizard she loved during the war, but she managed to move on with her life with some help from her friends. But what happens when Hermione starts seeing a face from the past? Is she imagining her dead boyfriend, or is there something more sinister at work? Is Draco really alive, or is Hermione just losing her mind?

Amor Vincit Omnia - The Beginning by Twin_Flame_Blues - M, 7 chapters - All of the flashbacks (plus a few new ones!) from the original AVO, organized in chronological order. This is essentially the prequel fic to AVO, telling the story of how Draco and Hermione got together at Hogwarts, how they kept their relationship a secret, and what they went through in the lead up to, during, and immediately after the war. I really wanted to compile all of the flashbacks from AVO into their own story so you could read it all the way through in order for a different experience than you get in AVO. The story begins during 4th year and continues through the end of Draco’s trial after the war. You can read this either if you have or have not read the original AVO, it will make sense either way, and the backstory built in this fic will remain consistent for all other works in the AVO universe, including alternate timeline fics that will pick up where this story ends. Enjoy these two idiots falling in love!

A Past Erased By: Ariel Riddle - M, 9 chapters - “His face contorted with a mixture of rage, indecision, and determination. Hermione did not care, she ran all the way up to him before flinging herself in his arms, wrapping her arms and legs tightly around him—she would never let go.” A Hermione get’s obliviated, Draco defects story.

Between the Sheets - ThedreamerandTheDance - M, 47 chapters, Words: 182,405 - ***COMPLETED***Voldemort is in control, the Golden Trio has been separated for protection, and Hermione Granger’s memory is as shaky as the tremors in her hands.But one day when a gray eyed Death Eater follows her through a local market, she quickly realizes she knows him – she just can’t recall how. But it doesn’t matter because in a matter of hours – those gray eyes change everything.

Divine Artifice By: jessiy - M, 25 chapters, Words: 162,391 - The story of how Draco Malfoy found redemption, his heart, and reclaimed his family’s honor. All thanks to a mislabeled bottle of Experimental Amortentia. Hermione/Draco

-Lisa

[icarusignite]

The Darkest Hour Before Dawn

Pairing: Spencer Reid x OC! Althea Devereaux

Chapters: 0 / Prologue / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

AO3    | Wattpad

Synopsis

Althea has always been the overlooked middle child, never quite standing out despite her best efforts. But, when a series of tragic events strikes her family, she is forced to step up and prove herself in ways she had never envisioned. With unwavering resolve, she sets her sights on joining the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI, driven by a deep desire to find answers to the biggest mystery of her childhood. It is the one thing that kept her going, the thought that if she could just join the team, she could finally solve the case that has haunted her for years.

Althea's opportunity to join the BAU comes in the form of an unexpected surprise and she finally achieves her goal, acquiring a place on the team she has both admired and resented. Her relentlessness in the pursuit of justice earns her the respect of her colleagues and even the attention of the brilliant Spencer Reid. As she delves deeper into the world of criminal profiling, she discovers that her own personal experiences have given her a unique insight into the minds of criminals. However, she realizes that the truth may be more complicated and dangerous than she could have ever imagined and some secrets are best left buried.

In a world where tragedy and triumph go hand in hand, Althea remains determined to succeed where others have failed her, to make a difference in the world and finally bring closure to her family's long-standing tragedy.

❝And in the end, all that remains is the echo of your name .❞

Althea Devereaux

❝I may have started off as the mediocre middle child, but I refuse to end as anything less than extraordinary.❞

Spencer Reid

❝Well, statistically speaking, you have a better chance of being struck by lightning than finding a date on a Friday night...but hey, that's just the law of averages.❞

Kaitlyn Devereaux

❝I don't need a medical degree to tell you that a broken heart can hurt just as much as a broken bone.❞

Sebastien Devereaux

❝I guess being the baby of the family doesn't protect you from getting sick. Should've asked for a refund on my birth order.❞

"Nyx"

❝You can't just come in here, with your FBI team and your big guns, acting like you're the hero.❞

Ayaan Ahmed

❝I didn't think it was possible to feel this hot after exiting a burning building, but I guess that's just the effect you have on me, Doc.❞

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Young Althea Devereaux: Mckenna Grace Young Elinor Devereaux: Violet McGraw Older Elinor Devereaux: *** Sarah Devereaux: Carla Gugino Michael Devereaux: Ralph Fiennes

The rest of the criminal minds cast as themselves. More characters will be added as the story progresses.

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Trigger Warnings and Disclaimer

This is set in the criminal minds world so it will contain quite a bit of violence, abuse, murder, assault, etc. There will also be portrayals of self-harm, self-destructive behaviour, mental health issues, etc. so if that makes you uncomfortable, please be warned. I will put in additional warnings at the beginning of particular chapters that contain specifically triggering content but just an overall warning that it is going to be quite dark.

Also, it goes without saying, sadly I don't own any of the original criminal minds story/characters (I would very much like to own Spencer and Emily). I only own my original characters and the plotlines I give them.

A/N:

Heyyo, in honour of binging like 4 seasons of criminal minds during peak exam season, I thought I'd write a story for it. This OC has been living in my head rent-free for quite a while and I finally found a place to put her so yay. Get ready for heaps of tragedy and angst lol. I am looking forward to this story and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. The story will be set starting season 1 and onwards.

I was gonna have a ships collage chapter but then I realized that may be a bit spoilery so I guess I'll just say that in addition to our main ship, we'll have Hotchniss (I adore them with all my heart), a very badass sapphic couple, and a few others. Hope you enjoy :)

Also, I would absolutely love to hear yall's thoughts on the story as we go along, it really motivates me to write and I get a sense of what yall might wanna see more/less of. I suck at writing summaries but hopefully, the synopsis wasn't too bad lol.

Cheers.

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