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victorluvsalice · 16 days ago

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AU Thursday: Valicer In The Dark -- Score & Story Ideas Inspired By Other Sources!

Hey, remember this surprisingly-long post of score & story ideas I had for the Valicer In The Dark universe? And how, at the end, I mentioned I still had loads of ideas, these based off other stuff I enjoy or find intriguing in some way? Well, it's taken me longer than anticipated, but here is my surprsingly-long follow-up list of some of those stories! Because you know me and my crossovers -- if I can, I will. :p

-->First up, here's a score idea based off of something unexpected -- the summary of what would have been Alice: Asylum! Now, if you know me, you know that I was never really into this weird prequel/sequel/whatever-the-hell-it-turned-into-before-EA-said-"Nope" entry into the Alice series (justice for Alice Otherlands), and I actually don't know that much about it. But I do know two key things that were apparently part of the final draft, thanks to the wiki:

1. That Wilton Radcliffe, Alice's family's lawyer and that dickhead keeping her rabbit from her in Alice: Madness Returns, was apparently helping Bumby with his activities

2. That Radcliffe, while he was off-screen, somehow sired a daughter, named Angela

That coupled with the fact that I still needed to establish where Alice's beloved toy rabbit (Mr. Bunny, as per my own headcanon) had got to in the VITD universe inspired me to create a score where, after getting a little more settled into their lair and establishing a name for themselves as the Three Pillars, the trio decide to go after Radcliffe to see if they can get Mr. Bunny and whatever's left of Alice's inheritance back. However, when they get to his house, they find it recently abandoned. Searching the place reveals a diary where Radcliffe's role in Bumby's activities is revealed, and his plans to flee the city before the Bluecoats discover he was a collaborator. Specifically, he notes down that he has a meeting with a former "client" on the very day the trio has broken into his house --

Where he intends to hand over his daughter for enough money to get a ticket on a ship heading to Skovlan (a neighboring country, not doing so great after a war with Akoros, where Duskwall is). After Alice recovers from the "when the fuck did he have a child" shock, the trio immediately rush off to the Docks to save Angela and take Radcliffe down, at which aim they of course succeed because fuck Radcliffe. In the process, Alice discovers that Angela has taken Mr. Bunny as her own (renaming him "Rabbity"). Angela, upon realizing that Rabbity is in fact Alice's old toy, offers to give him back, but Alice is content to let him stay with Angela (though she does take the opportunity to give him a big hug first). The trio thus drop Angela off at the new, better Houndsditch run by June, and she quickly becomes fast friends with Charlie. :) Better ending for her than being stuck in eternal limbo, right?

-->I'd already decided a while ago that I wanted to incorporate stuff from Fallout 4 into my personal Duskwall -- "A Murdered Shared Is A Murdered Thirded" is going to have Smiler's parents mention sending Bumby's ledger off to "Miss Wright at Publick Occurrences; she'll make sure everyone knows what he was doing before next Embers," in the final chapter, for example. As for actual scores for the Three Pillars to get involved in, I have two quests so far that I would like to adapt to fit my universe:

Unlikely Valentine -- AKA the quest to save Nick from Skinny Malone! I imagine in this universe the Three Pillars are hired directly by either Ellie or Piper to try and figure out where Nick went while investigating a possible kidnapping by the "Triggermen" -- a new gang on the scene (consisting of a lot of Hounds, since that's the playbook that specializes in guns) that operate out of some half-completed vault some old rich dude once tried to have constructed to protect him and his from another cataclysm. Of course, the twist is that the "kidnappee," a woman named Darla, is actually leader Skinny's new girlfriend and was not keen on going back to her parents, so Nick ended up locked up while the gang tried to decide what to do with him, and the trio have to rescue him AND make sure Skinny and Darla don't decide to just kill them all. And, like in the main game, the other twist is that the trio were expecting Nick to be human, but discover during the rescue that he's a mechanical being -- specifically, that he's a Hull, a steampunk robot animated by a ghost! You see, what happened to this version is Nick is that he died in a scrap with Eddie Winter's gang shortly after the death of his fiancee, Jenny, but the Bluecoat squad he was working with didn't want to lose him and his brilliant detective skills, so they paid off the Spirit Wardens to trap his ghost but NOT dispose of it, and commissioned a human-like robot body for him. Hulls are GENERALLY created with some sort of magical device in them that blunts the mind and free will of the spirit inside so it can be trusted to do tasks, but the Bluecoats were certain they could rely on Nick's loyalty to the department and didn't bother with that. Not like he'd try to escape, right?

...Nick escaped and set up shop on his own in Charhollow the minute he could. XD He's still wrestling with some identity issues (these stemming from the fact that he's now a ghost in a mechanical body that doesn't quite feel like his, but that he doesn't dare leave for fear of losing his mind and becoming a Specter), but he's doing his best to help those who need help in Duskwall, and he is much loved by his community. They just all also happen to be so used to him that nobody thought to tell Victor, Alice, and Smiler what his whole deal is. XD Fortunately the three recover quickly from discovering what he is and manage to get him out without anybody getting killed, and Nick probably becomes one of their contacts from that point on. Nothing like a private detective to help you gather information! (And yes, it would be nice if they could help him finally take down Eddie Winter in a variant of the "Winter's End" quest, but I haven't figured that one out yet...)

When Freedom Calls -- AKA the quest to help Preston take out these damn raiders threatening his group of Quincy survivors! This one is much less fleshed out at the moment, but I know it involves the trio accidentally walking into Preston, holed up in some ruined building in Six Towers (I want to make it a museum, I'm jut not sure of what yet -- one commemorating the Emperor's actions during the Cataclysm?), fighting back against a gang trying to kidnap one of a group of people he's protecting for her mystical powers (much like Jared of the Corvega group of raiders wanted Mama Murphy for her Sight). They end up joining the fight on Preston's side to try and find a way to get his civilians safely out of there...a task somewhat complicated by the arrival of a deathclaw-like Horror (a strange electroplasmic entity that can do Bad Things to people) on the scene. Mainly this score is to establish Preston as a character in my version of Duskwall -- a former Bluecoat who, after his squad was betrayed by a colleague and murdered trying to do their duty, decided to found the vigilante squad the Minutemen to help those whom the Bluecoats won't and take down some of the more unsavory sorts in Duskwall. He considers the Three Pillars "honorary" members after they rescue him and his little group, and I'd imagine they and his Minutemen end up on pretty friendly terms, since the Three Pillars are FAR from the worst criminals in the city. Hell, Preston might even be able to provide a score or two in the future, much like how he's a quest-giver in the game. Wouldn't be THAT hard to adapt some of the named Minutemen-related quests, like the ones for Abernathy or Finch Farm, to the world of Duskwall!

-->Somewhat in-keeping with the Bethesda theme, here's a story that would be loosely based on that one Skyrim quest "A Night To Remember" and The Hangover movies -- "A Hangover To Remember!" Admittedly, I've never played Skyrim nor watched any of the Hangover movies, but I have read quest write-ups and movie plot summaries, and I think I can make this work regardless. XD Basically, what happens is that the Three Pillars are at The Ball & Socket one Names (aka night, since there's no proper "day" in Duskwall), when Smiler ends up challenged to a drinking contest by a demon. Victor is like "Smiler, I don't know," but the demon makes a solemn vow not to tamper with any of the drinks during the contest, and Smiler seems game, so the contest happens. They apparently win, and everybody gets a round of drinks to celebrate...

And the next equivalent-of-morning, the trio wake up with raging hangovers in one of the guest bedrooms of none other than Lord Governor Powerwallet's mansion in Whitecrown, with an Iruvian wildcat hanging out in the en-suite bathroom, a kidnapped Bob Wickerman of the Beornen cult (the cult based on the Wickerman ride at Alton Towers, which has a pretty nasty rivalry with the Advocates -- Bob in particular loathes Smiler, and the feeling is mutual) stuffed in the wardrobe, Victor sporting a new tattoo, and all three of them wearing rings that look like wedding bands. The trio thus have to retrace their steps and figure out what the fuck they did and how to fix any chaos they caused. And while I haven't quite figured out the story behind everything they did (the cat in particular is a mystery), I do know that the reason they're all wearing rings is because they got drunken-group-married at the Ministry of Joy...and while telling them this, the Advocates also reveal that, if they'd been sober enough to sign some paperwork, they could have gotten actually group married because of an interesting loophole in Duskwall's laws (basically, the government will recognize "unusual" marriages if they happen under the purview of a god that could be reasonably seen to back the marriage up -- and as Mar-Mal just wants all their Advocates to be happy, they'll back up pretty much ANY marriage). The trio are like "...why weren't we informed of this before?!" XD Anyway, they eventually get back to the pub, where they find the demon, deeply amused by everything -- as you might imagine, what happened is they tampered with the victory drink, as technically that drink was not part of the contest. XD They are delighted by the chaos though, and tell the group that they have earned themselves a boon for giving them a most entertaining night, no strings attached. And after confirming there are truly no strings, the trio tell them, "Okay, we just learned that we can actually get married if we do it under Mar-Mal -- we want you to do whatever is in your power to make sure our actual wedding goes well." The demon agrees, and there's a follow-up story about the trio getting properly group-married. :)

-->Speaking of stories based off of things I know mainly from pop-cultural osmosis, here's a tale that I would currently describe as a mixture of The Usual Suspects and the tropes "Rashomon"-Style and Once More With Clarity! This one has the trio at a Bluecoat station, having been arrested for a robbery that occurred the previous Names. The captain there doesn't think such a small crew could have pulled off the heist (which happened at a fancy house in Brightstone known for its security), but interrogates them anyway. All three cop to the theft, but tell contradicting stories about how they did it -- Alice says she stole the item by successfully fighting off the guards; Victor says he stole the item by using magic and distracting people with ghosts; and Smiler says they stole the item by talking their way past the guards and using their alchemicals against anyone who couldn't be charmed. The disgusted captain says that he doesn't believe any of them, that they're all just lying to try to get credit for a bigger score than they could pull off, and releases them. The trio reunite outside the station and talk about what they told the guy, and laughingly admit that the captain probably wouldn't have believed what really happened either -- cue a flashback to the actual time of the "robbery," which reveals that the couple being "robbed" were actually having a hell of a fight, and the wife threw the item that was "stolen" out the window -- nearly beaning poor Victor as the trio passed by (having just completed a different job). And when they objected to him nearly getting concussed by the item, she screamed "OH JUST TAKE IT" before going back to yelling at her husband. So they just took it and promptly pawned it. XD What can I say, I think I'm funny.

-->Back to things that I have actually personally experienced, here's a score that was inspired by an episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver -- specifically, the episode on freight trains and how miserable the safety standards around them are getting (you know, the one with a faux Thomas The Tank Engine episode at the very end narrated by Matt Berry). The story stuck with me, and resulted in me coming up with a score where the Three Pillars (now known as a group that will help unions and workers, not the factory owners and elites) get hired by two Rail Jacks named John Last and Oliver Weeks to help expose the lax safety standards the owners of the rail lines at Gaddoc Station are enforcing (not entirely sure HOW they would do that yet, but it's definitely something I want them to do). As an added twist, while skulking around the station, they end up encountering some Beornen trying to sabotage a train, which they have to prevent because it puts their own mission at risk. Might be a good way to introduce the whole "Advocates vs Beornen" dynamic, in fact!

-->Okay, so -- back in the very first post I made about various score and story ideas, I mentioned wanting to do one that is kicked off by Smiler overindulging their Pleasure vice at the Golden Plum restaurant, causing the owner and head chef, Chef Roselle (who, incidentally, I've discovered I've referred to by both "he" and "she" pronouns in previous write-ups, so now he's genderfluid and changes pronouns and presentation depending on how he wakes up feeling. Most people think she's a brother-sister team; the trio are one of the few who know the truth thanks to this score), to recognize them as an up-and-coming scoundrel and indulge in a little light blackmail to get the Three Pillars' assistance in getting rare ingredients for new dishes. Which the Three Pillars are reasonably happy to do, with the caveat that Smiler gets first taste of what results (which Chef Roselle is happy to agree to). Now, I'd already decided that the dish that Roselle is so keen to make would be the local equivalent of pineapple pizza (for the LOLs, and to give Smiler a chance to eat one of their favorite foods from the more modern AUs), so all I had to do was justify the pineapple's existence in Duskwall --

And then I came across a certain tumblr post showing off how pineapple skin is weirdly fire- and heat-resistant. Which contained within itself a link to another post about how 18th Century Europeans considered pineapples major status symbols (given they were new and exotic fruits from far-off lands and thus were worth up to $10,000 in modern money, so only the rich could really get their hands on them), and thus a whole business of allowing people to rent them to show off their wealth and make a splash at dinner parties and suchlike popped up. Cue me deciding that, okay, the local equivalent of pineapples in this universe is the Dragon's Bane fruit, named for its incredibly heat-resistant skin, which comes from the tropical Dagger Isles and is extremely hard to cultivate in Akoros's much colder climate. As a result, it's pretty damn expensive and considered a major status symbol by the rich, and some enterprising Dagger Isles merchants have set up a business allowing the upper classes to rent the fruit to show off to their buddies. Those merchants are not about to sell any fruit to Chef Roselle to be cooked, not without some proof that people will like the dish she's trying to make -- which puts her in a bit of a Catch-22 situation, as she can't prove people will like the dish without Dragon's Bane fruit to make it. So he turns to the Three Pillars, hiring them to get their hands on a Dragon's Bane however they can --

And oh, look at that, one Lord Rowan just rented one to show off at one of his parties. XD Cue the trio infiltrating the party and stealing the fruit, and Rowan being furious that they managed to get one over on him yet again. XD We do love humiliating the landlord of all of Six Towers over here!

-->Now, if you guys know anything about me, you know that, in addition to being the Queen of Valice and Valicer, I'm also a big Back To The Future fan -- that trilogy was my life for ages, and I still have a fondness for it and some of the related media (the Telltale Game in particular was freaking great -- the final episode of that was literally the only thing that could lure me away from Alice: Madness Returns when I first played it). So naturally I wanted to put Doc and Marty into my version of Duskwall! And while I was coming up with how they'd fit into the wider world (Doc in this universe is a Leech who travels around the city doing repairs in his motorized cart when he isn't working on his own inventions, with Marty as his assistant who aspires to be a great musician), I had a thought about doing a score with them. Not a time travel-related score, though -- rather, I wanted to explore the consequences of a rather poor decision Doc makes at the beginning of the first movie. You know, the whole "partnering with a Libyan terrorist group to steal plutonium, pretending to make them a bomb, and then giving them a dud made out of pinball machine parts while he took the plutonium to power his time machine" thing? The thing that nearly got him killed until Marty was able to use his accidental time travel to warn him? Yeah, that. I thought it might make for an interesting score if the Duskwall Doc had done something similar and wanted the Three Pillars' help in getting the gang he ripped off to leave him alone --

And then I thought, "Hey, wait a minute -- I was already planning on making the gang Doc ripped off Iruvian because that felt like the closest equivalent to Libyan in the setting...but the book already HAS a major Iruvian gang in there as one of the factions -- the Red Sashes! Why not make it so they're the ones Doc ripped off, and now the Three Pillars -- who have been desperately trying to avoid getting involved in that whole war between the Sashes and the Lampblacks in Crow's Foot -- have to help them in some way?"

And so I did! I haven't got the whole score planned out yet, but the gist of it is that Doc made a deal with the Red Sashes to get some parts he needed for an experiment in exchange for a bomb, only to give them a fake because he didn't want them to actually blow up anything and possibly kill people. The Red Sashes of course now want his blood, so Doc hires the Three Pillars to help him negotiate a deal that will keep him alive and poor Marty out of the line of fire. The Three Pillars are annoyed but take the job (Doc's offering them a decent amount of dosh, or possibly to build them something useful), and the Red Sashes task them with sabotaging the Lampblacks in some way. Maybe THEY'VE got their hands on a bomb, and the Sashes figure that, if Doc gave them a fake bomb to use against the Lampblacks, the least he can do is make sure the Lampblacks don't blow them up in turn? *shrug* I'm sure I'll figure it out when the time comes! Probably going to be a very tense score, that's for sure!

-->In contrast to the above, here's a fun, much more low-stakes score inspired by one of my favorite British TV shows -- Taskmaster! If you're unfamiliar with it, this is a comedy game show run by Greg Davies and Alex Horne, where each season five comedians go spend time in the Taskmaster house doing utterly ridiculous tasks. Greg watches back the footage of how they did and gives them points, and whoever gets the most points by the end of the season gets to take home a fake gold replica of his head. Oh, and each episode starts with an in-studio prize task, where contestants donate objects to win according to a certain theme, and whoever wins that particular episode gets to take all the objects home with them (if they so choose/are able to -- one contestant once offered HIMSELF as a prize. And then lost the episode. XD Phil Wang, I sincerely do hope you did end up spending a few days at James Acaster's place!). It's an incredibly funny show that I thoroughly recommend you check out -- and even better, it has its own YouTube channel, meaning even us Americans have an easy way to watch it! :D

Anyway -- how did I adapt this weirdness to Duskwall? Why, by making Greg and Alex the owners of a traveling Taskmaster carnival of sorts! They go around to various cities in the Imperium, find a place to set up, get the local gentry to donate some silly, moderately-valuable prizes according whatever theme they come up with, then get the local citizens to compete for them by doing a bunch of goofy tasks -- five people competing against each other per go. My idea for this was that the trio would come across Alex while he was scouting for contestants, learn about the whole thing, and go "you know what, sounds like fun" and sign up, competing against each other and two other citizens (who, like in my "Tasksaw" story, may in fact be the local equivalents of Josh Widdicombe and James Acaster XD). I was just wondering how best to do it, as of course if you're doing Taskmaster, you need a Taskmaster House to set the tasks in and around --

And then I was like, "hang on -- the trio live in Six Towers, a neighborhood that is known for having abandoned houses all over the shop. Maybe Greg and Alex take over one of those temporarily for their games?"

And then I was like, "Ooooh -- if they're doing that, then they'll have to get permission from Lord Rowan...who might see an opportunity to try and use them to get rid of the Three Pillars..."

So yes -- currently, things start out with the Taskmaster and his assistant arriving in town and going to Lord Rowan to get permission to use a house in Six Towers for their games. Lord Rowan grants permission (perhaps even contributes to the "prize task"), but lets them know that, if a certain trio come to compete, that he want them to "take care of them." Alex makes a note, and indeed Victor, Alice, and Smiler end up in the games --

And find that Alex is weirdly nice to them, in particular making sure they always have snacks and tea. Turns out Alex chose to interpret "take care of them" as "make sure they're having a good time," because the OTHER interpretation is against the spirit of the game, as the Taskmaster himself lets Lord Rowan know when the guy comes to complain that they're still alive. Greg is more than happy to MOCK contestants, sure, but MURDERING them? Come on, mate. Lord Rowan is VERY annoyed, as you can imagine. XD Of course, he may get some small consolation in that I can't guarantee that any of the trio are going to win their round, but I'm hoping not. XD The real fun of this one is going to be setting my three against some of the weirdest, best tasks from the show -- and there are a LOT of them, trust me. Gonna have to take some time and refresh my memory before writing this one!

-->While we're on the topic of scores and stories inspired by fun and silly stuff, how about one inspired by 2023's The Smiler Takeover at Alton Towers? This was an event that celebrated The Smiler coaster's tenth anniversary by having all the other rides get a bit of Smiler-related theming and setting up some fun stage shows around the coaster in X-Sector -- the Fear Test with Dr. Gladwell and Agent Joytide; Meet the Ministry with a contortionist and a magician; and The Celebration of Happiness with Felix E. Lated! Who, as you may recall, happens to be my Smiler's uncle. However, the thing about Felix is, while I was looking up stuff on the Takeover on YouTube, I discovered he had two very distinct looks during the event -- a brunet Felix with no glasses, and a blond one with glasses. The brunet Felix is the one who is Smiler's uncle (I saw him first, and he looks a bit more like the guy from the Smiler Shop TV video that serves as Smiler's adoptive dad, Matt), but while trying to come up with story ideas for the VITD verse, I thought I might be able to do something with the fact that there were two Felixes...

And cue the creation of a score where the trio are hired by some angry people who paid someone to entertain at their party, only for the guy to never show up. That someone being, apparently, Felix E. Lated. Causing the conversation to go like so:

Smiler: [nervous grin] Oh, uh -- sorry, there's a conflict of interest here. That's my uncle. Client: You're related to that blond bastard?! Smiler: ... [suddenly much more serious] My uncle has brown hair; can you describe this guy you hired?

Yup -- turns out there's a con man in town who is impersonating Felix despite not actually looking much like him, taking people's money for shows and then just never doing them. Smiler is of course like "well, this just became personal" and the trio get the help of the actual Felix to track this guy down and get the money back. I'm not sure how the actual tracking him down goes, but I do know that the score ends with Real Felix and Fake Felix having a sing-off --

And it turning out that Fake Felix can sing. Like, he's pretty much on-par with Real Felix. Smiler is immediately like "why don't you go legit and actually do the shows, you're good!" XD I don't know if Fake Felix will be convinced yet, but I wouldn't be opposed to the score ending with there being officially two Felix E. Lateds in town. XD

-->Time to return to "scores inspired by various video games I've played" -- now, you guys already know that when my friend Squid first got me into Baldur's Gate 3, my VITD trio immediately went "free real estate" and inspired me to come up with a crossover where they end up in the BG3 world thanks to Nautiloid Shenanigans, get infected, and have to find a way to get themselves and their new companions cured and get home (complete with Not-Incorrect Quote collection). However, I also came up with a much more standard score (aka no getting yanked into another universe necessary) inspired by the opening tutorial missions on the Nautiloid! This story starts with the trio being hired by a woodworker named Larian (known for his high-quality craftsmanship), who has been recently hired to make boxes for a group that he considers kind of shady. He wants the Three Pillars to look into what they're doing so he can figure out if he wants to keep working for them or not. The trio agrees and investigates, and finds that the boxes are being used to transport unconscious people for unknown purposes --

But partway through their investigation, they get separated, and Smiler is discovered, knocked out, and boxed up. Victor and Alice realize that they've been kidnapped and hide in some supply crates, and the trio all are transported to the bad guys' base. Smiler wakes up in the storage room for the people, manages to free themselves thanks to the lid not being nailed on correctly, and wanders around until they find some unfortunate dead guy sprawled in a chair with his brain exposed --

And the brain calling for help. And if you're thinking, "wait a minute, is this entire score an excuse to get Us into the canon Duskwall timeline," well, you're not entirely wrong. XD Anyway, Smiler successfully frees Us from their skull prison, and shortly thereafter reunites with Victor and Alice (who are somewhat concerned about the brain creature following Smiler around, but Smiler assures them it's friendly, and not their own brain, so...) Anyway, they find more experiments in their travels, and deduce that the bad guys are attempting to turn people into various Horrors, though they're not entirely sure why yet. They do agree that the group needs to be exposed, though, and start looking for a way off what they assume to be a regular boat --

And then suddenly the side of the vessel is clawed off by some demonic hands, and the trio abruptly realize they're in an airship hundreds of feet above the Void Sea. Well, that makes things more difficult. D: They flee to the helm as more devils start attacking, and find the leader of the bad guys fighting a large air demon -- apparently this guy made a deal with said demon to get this airship afloat and start making his Horrors (haven't actually DECIDED on the reason why, maybe it's just standard 'I want to take over the city mwahaha' bullshit), but has not appropriately satisfied the demon's dark desire in return. And when you fail to satisfy a demon's dark desire, they get to work toward your destruction, so... The trio quickly realize that the bad guys are going to be hoist by their own petard very shortly and resuming looking for an escape. Fortunately, the airship does have lifeboats on the side in case of emergency, and the trio and Us are able to scramble into one --

But, unfortunately, as they start lowering themselves down, the demons attacking the airship notice them and decide to start harassing them too, trying to knock them out of the boat just for fun. Leading to what I think is one of the more badass scenes I've come up with for the trio: Victor -- who, at this point, has figured out the Meta word to make things levitate, but has only levitated light stuff, like books -- clamping his hands onto the sides of the boat as Smiler holds Us safely on their lap, then looking at Alice and saying "Do it" --

And Alice, a la that moment in the Jules Verne Otherlands short, using her Vorpal Blade to slice all the ropes holding them up. Cue the boat plummeting toward the Void Sea below, and Victor desperately pushing himself as hard as he can to make the spell affect the boat so the drop isn't fucking fatal. He does succeed, but it takes a lot out of him --

And oh, I imagine this taking place after he's picked up his "Phobia" trauma of the Void Sea and everything in it, so the minute they land, he's also fighting off a panic attack. ...At least until Us starts eating his fear, leading him to be like "wtf why am I calm now." (Us: Spicy!) He actually appreciates it once they figure out what's going on (though Alice gently scolds Us to "ask first next time"), and they manage to get themselves back to shore as the airship crashes into the water. Cue the gang insisting Larian pay them more (which he is happy to do when they explain what they just went through), and getting a new "pet"/companion in Us, who -- as per their home canon -- uses their powers to disguise themselves as a kitty to the rest of the city. :) Because brain kitty is best kitty.

-->Like scores based on CRPGs that everyone agrees are some of the best games ever? Well, here's one based on everyone's favorite vampire game, Vampire: The Masquerade -- Bloodlines! Or, rather, the Unofficial Patch version of that game, as the score in question is based on one of the cut quests that the Unofficial Patch restores -- "Night At The Library!" If you're unfamiliar with it, this is a quest you get via e-mail from Beckett (after meeting Gary Golden and completing the "More Fun With Pestilence" sidequest Downtown), where he asks you to meet with an associate of his, Scott, in Santa Monica. Which leads you on a wander all around Santa Monica tracking down the notes Scott left behind, and then infiltrating the library Downtown to rescue him from a Sabbat ritual and kill the Lasombra overseeing it. It's a fun little quest, and I thought it might be amusing to inflict it on my crime trio. XD

So! The Duskwallian version of this nonsense (perhaps called "Eternal Night At The Library" because, well, Duskwall does have eternal night) starts with the trio meeting the visiting Beckett, who in this reality is one of the contacts for the Advocates -- they occasionally work together to help Beckett learn more about the history of the world and its forgotten gods. Beckett is still a vampire in this verse, but he's a BITD-style one, meaning he feeds on life essence instead of blood -- he's still got the classic cat-like red eyes and claws though, since I've decided he's from Tycheros, a land where everyone has demonic ancestry and thus demonic "tells" on their body. Anyway, the group is introduced, and Beckett asks if they'd be willing to go meet with his friend Scott in a smoke shop in Silkshore about a cult they've been investigating recently while he attends to business somewhere else in the city. The trio are game, and go to the shop --

Only to find Scott isn't there -- but he did leave a note. Which leads them to a coffee shop at the edge of Crow's Foot, where another note leads them to a particular pier on The Docks -- where Victor's ability to sense supernatural creatures helps them avoid an ambush by another vampire. They manage to defeat it (I'm thinking by knocking it into the water, as vampires are pretty damn tough opponents) and find a hastily-scrawled note stained with blood directing them to a library in Charterhall -- which, fortunately, was where Beckett was going anyway. So they catch up with him and bring him up to speed, and together they infiltrate the library and find a secret passage into a basement, where they discover poor Scott's life essence being used to fuel some dark ritual by a couple of members of the cult he was investigating. The gang and Beckett stop the ritual, and a fight ensues with the leader of the cult, who has control over a demon that lets him manipulate Shadows. It's a tough battle, but the trio and Beckett prevail, and Scott is saved. Beckett and Scott thank the trio for their help, and perhaps in addition to some Coin, the trio also get a Duskwallian version of one of the occult powerup items from the game -- Beckett may not actually hand any of them over in canon, but I'm sure he could get his hands on one of them!

-->And now a brief return to scores based on things I have not directly experienced but have read about, with a major story based on an episode of Leverage! Which, as I understand it, is an excellent show about people using their crime skills to help the helpless and take down corrupt rich bastards that I should be watching, but finding time for new things is unfortunately difficult. *sigh* Anyway -- one of the reasons that I'm aware of Leverage is that it has its own OT3 of Alec Hardison/Parker/Eliot Spencer, and thus I keep running into it when I look up OT3/polyamory stuff (memorably, finding someone's Leverage OT3 video for the song "Parachute" led to it becoming one of my favorite songs for my Valicer trio -- and hilariously, I do specifically associate it with the VITD version XD). And looking up where a particular awesome gif set of the trio disarming a bomb came from led to me learning about the episode "The Rundown Job," where Hardison, Eliot, and Parker all have to stop someone from releasing a horrifying biological weapon on D.C. in a twisted attempt to prove that the United States is not equipped to deal with such an attack. I was like, "well, that's dark and I'd love to do something with that for VITD," but the idea wasn't quite gelling in my head as a disease-based threat --

And then I remembered Duskwall is a city full of ghosts and horrors, turned my thoughts toward the trio taking on a supernatural threat instead, and -- well. The story as it currently stands in my head starts with the trio having been arrested again (perhaps by the same guy from the "Rashomon"-style story, who now knows not to underestimate them) -- but while they're waiting interrogation, a Spirit Warden arrives and asks to talk to them. The request is granted, and the Warden proceeds to tell the three that one of their own has gone rogue and decided to solve the Shattered Isle's ghost problem once and for all --

By summoning a soul-devouring Horror to lay waste to the city. His fellow Wardens tried to tell him that the damn thing wouldn't stop with just eating the souls of the dead, it would consume every soul in the Shattered Isles, but he wouldn't listen, and now he's locked himself up in his house, preparing the ritual. The Spirit Wardens can't get inside because the guy has naturally warded his house against them, and this has happened so fast that they haven't been able to get any other factions to help (not to mention, they're not sure how effective the local Bluecoats really would BE against this thing). Plus they don't want to cause a panic by spreading the word around willy-nilly. And at this point, not only do the trio have a bit of a reputation as "freaking unkillable," the Spirit Wardens are well aware that they can do things like take down a Jabberwock in the Deathlands, so... The Warden gives Alice a special knife that can kill the Horror so long as it's still in the book that it's currently trapped in, draws them a quick map to the house from the police station, and helps them escape. The trio naturally BOOK it to the house and manage to work their way past traps both mundane (I of COURSE have to have my own version of the bomb defusing scene) and mystical, and make it to the basement to stop the guy --

But while they reach him in time to prevent him completing the ritual, he's managed to do enough of it that the Horror is partially free of the book and trying to claw its way out on its own. And with Alice and Smiler locked up in making sure the guy can't finish what he started, Victor does the only thing he can think of --

Throws himself on the book to keep it closed, sacrificing his soul to save Duskwall. Alice manages to finally knock the guy out not long thereafter and stabs the book, murdering the half-summoned Horror, but for a moment it looks like Victor's been Hollowed in his attempt to save the city...

Then he slumps to the floor, calling for Alice and Smiler in a weak voice. Turns out his soul wasn't entirely eaten (though he very much is suffering Level 3 "Soul Mostly Devoured" harm), and Alice and Smiler are able to get him home so Elder Gutknecht can have a look at him. Gutknecht tells them that it was a near thing, but there's enough of Victor's soul left to slowly regenerate, though it will take some time. Alice and Smiler are very grateful, though they do wonder why Victor's entire soul wasn't eaten --

Cue Victor whispering, "It couldn't...get past...the glass." Which Alice and Smiler realize in shock refers to the "unbreakable bell jar" they had Victor imagine around the core of himself back when they first started playing with hypnosis as a new polycule. AKA, their post-hypnotic suggestion (designed to make sure their games couldn't mess with his core personality) straight up saved his soul. As you might imagine, they have a lot of feelings about this, as do I. End of the score involves Alice and Smiler collecting their payment from the Spirit Wardens (which fortunately includes things like a vial of pure life essence that they can use to speed up Victor's recovery) and a lot of cuddling.

-->And finally, let's end with a story based on, and titled after, a song -- "Used To Be Young." I've talked before about how this particular Miley Cyrus song makes me think about the trio in their older years -- specifically, when they choose to retire -- so I figured, why not turn the music video into my head into an actual story? As per the linked post, the plot would focus around the trio's very last score as the Three Pillars, stealing something random from some rich toffs...and having a harder time than they expected thanks to not being as young as they used to be -- Victor nearly falls while climbing something and it takes him longer to recover; Alice isn't as fast on her feet while fighting some guards and gets hurt; Smiler -- actually, I'm not entirely sure how Smiler is affected yet, since they're the charming alchemist of the group, but I'll figure it out. XD Point is, while they pull off the job, it's more work than they expected, and a few injuries are suffered...

And while Smiler is patching them up back at their lair, Victor admits that he's not sure he can do this anymore. Some discussion reveals that it's been like 30 years since they first met and became the Three Pillars (putting them in their late 40s), and they all decide that that's MORE than enough time spent as career criminals. So they deliver the item to the client and ask them to please spread the word that the Three Pillars have officially retired. From there, they decide to check in on the greenhouse to see how that's going, and we get some major indications of how long it's been and how much they've affected the world around them. The specific ones I have in mind are:

a) The greenhouse being bigger than it used to be and absolutely FLOURISHING, with a whole staff of people tending to it

b) Six Towers in general being in much better shape, with working streetlamps, well-paved roads, and houses in much better repair

c) Smiler maybe encountering their now-elderly parents and letting them know that they're actually free to take over the shop they run for the Advocates now, giving them a happy retirement in Mar-Mal's grace

d) Alice DEFINITELY encountering the grown-up Angela and Charlie, who are now married and have at least one child, a baby girl named Beth -- who, yes, has a familiar rabbit doll

And after all that, the gang gets to go home, have supper, and head to bed, reminiscing on the good times and looking forward to the years ahead. :) Just a nice little epilogue showing that things have turned out very well for our favorite trio.

...yeah, that really went longer than I expected. XD But I hope that all impresses upon you just how much I love this universe and how much I want to write all the things for it. Hopefully you're with me in wanting to see what adventures the trio gets up to going forward! Now I just have to get this all into a rough timeline...

#valicer in the dark au #valicer #corpse bride #alice madness returns #the smiler #blades in the dark #worldbuilding #storybuilding #ARE YOU CONVINCED YET THAT I LOVE THIS UNIVERSE #honestly the amount of 'let's throw things that I love in here' probably makes this some sort of mirror to Secundus #arguably there's fewer characters from different properties living in my Duskwall #but even still #look I just really love coming up with ideas for scores and stories for these three #and there's a surprising number of things from other stuff I found I could adapt #hell even some of these surprised me #wasn't expecting to do anything with Alice: Asylum but inspiration struck #(if you're wondering so far only VITD's Radcliffe was working with Bumby #all the other Radcliffes in my other universes are more garden-variety jerks #which is bad but not NEARLY as bad as that yikes)#and the pineapple one was quite the happy accident #really looking forward to that one #looking forward to ALL of them honestly #I can't wait to shove more of these stories on all of you XD #queued

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braveclementine · 6 months ago

Text

Volterra and Volturi

Warnings: None

Copyright: I do not own any Twilight characters or locations. I do own Davina Mikelson and Marcel. I also own the backstory for my OC. I do not condone any copying of this.

Davina P.O.V.

As Alice drove, she chatted about what the rest of the family had been doing. I found that they had moved to New York. Carlisle was teaching at Cornell part time which was, you know, just fantastic. So glad he was enjoying himself.

Emse was doing some historical reconstruction of some seventeenth century building. Emmett and Rosalie had gone to Europe for a honeymoon. Jasper was learning philosophy at Cornell. Alice meanwhile, had been doing some digging about her own past.

"My name was Mary Alice Brandon. I had a little sister named Cynthia. Her daughter- my niece- is still alive in Biloxi."

Mississippi.

"Did you find out why they put you in. . . that place? What would drive parents to that extreme? Even if their daughter saw visions of the future. . ." Bella asked.

"I couldn't find much about them. I went through all the old newspapers on microfiche. My family wasn't mentioned often; they weren't part of the social circle that made the papers. My parents' engagement was there, and Cynthia's. My birth was announced. . . and my death. I found my grave. I also filched my admissions sheet from the old asylum archives. The date on the admission and the date on my tombstones are the same."

The Cullens had been completely together- Edward was not with them- and they had been spending Spring Break in Denali with Tanya's family.

'Maybe Carlisle and Tanya are together' I thought blandly and was glad that I hadn't dragged Sam up there when I'd wanted to. That would've meant running into Carlisle and Sam probably would've tried killing him.

I sighed, peering out the window.

Once we got to the airport, I quickly made sure that my wig was in place before getting out of the car. Alice quickly bought three tickets to Italy. We would have to make a stop in New York and then board another plane through a connection to Italy.

There were no problems in the airport. People barely looked at me, which was such a relief I could laugh. My passport wasn't even looked at twice. Soon, we were on the plane. Bella's leg was bouncing up and down and Alice muttered, "It's faster than running."

Bella simply nodded.

I pulled out the book I'd brought with me. Yes, I know, I brought a book to save Edward from his demise. But really, if we were going to die, then I wanted to be enjoying a book.

I was reading The Necromancer: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel. It was the fourth book in a series of six. It truly was a shame that I might not have the chance to finish the series off.

Alice lifted the phone off the back of the seat as the plane rose into the sky while Bella eyed the stewardress. I listened in to see who Alice was talking to. ". . . changing his mind. . . a killing spree through the city, attacking the guard, lifting a car over his head in the main square. . . mostly things that would expose them- he knows that's the fastest way to force a reaction. . . No, you can't! Tell Emmett no. . . Well, go after Emmett and Rosalie and bring them back. . . Think about it, Jasper. If he sees any of us, what do you think he will do?"

Pause.

She nodded, "Exactly. I think Bella and mom are the only chance- if there is a chance. . . I'll do everything that can be done, but prepare Carlisle-" His name sent shocks through my heart, "- the odds aren't good."

She laughed with a catch in her throat, "I've thought of that. . . Yes, I promise. Don't follow me. I promise, Jasper. One way or another, I'll get out. . .And I love you."

My heart caught in my throat. I felt so bad for her.

She hung up and closed her eyes, leaning back in her seat, "I hate lying to him."

I nodded. I hated lying to Sam. There was definitely a chance none of us were getting out of this.

Not that it mattered to me. My parents- dead. My brother Kol- dead. There was Sam and my werewolf sons. . . but they could get along without me. They'd be okay without me. They could survive. Sam had Emily. They had each other.

I rubbed the tattoo on my wrist. I loved them. I truly loved them. They were my family now. I wish I didn't have to leave them.

"Tell me everything, Alice. I don't understand. Why did you tell Jasper to stop Emmett, why can't they come help us?" Bella asked.

"Two reasons. The first I told him. We could try to stop Edward ourselves- if Emmett could get his hands on him, we might be able to stop him long enough to convince him, you're alive. But we can't sneak up on Edward. And if he sees us coming for him, he'll just act that much faster. He'll throw a Buick through a wall or something, and the Volturi will take him down."

She paused, thinking deeply and then added, "That's the second reason of course, the reason I couldn't say to Jasper. Because if they're there and the Volturi kill Edward, they'll fight them. Bella. If there was any chance we could win. . . if there was a way that the four of us could save my brother by fighting for him, maybe it would be different. But we can't, and, Bella, I can't lose Jasper like that."

Especially since he'd spent so much of his life fighting.

"Couldn't Edward hear you, though? Wouldn't he know, as soon as he heard your thoughts, that I was alive, that there was no point to this?" Bella asked in confusion.

"You can lie with your thoughts." I answered quietly.

"Exactly." Alice said sadly. "If you had died, I would still try to stop him. And I would be thinking 'she's alive, she's alive' as hard as I could. He knows that."

Bella gritted her teeth in frustration. I could only imagine her anger. If Carlisle had tried pulling this crap I would be angry too. After all, they didn't want us anymore. They had casted us aside like an unwanted dog that bit to much. Carlisle hadn't even bothered to say good-bye to me.

"If there was any way to do this without you, Bella, mom, I wouldn't be endangering you two like this. It's very wrong of me."

"Don't be stupid. I'm the last thing you should be worrying about. Tell me what you meant, about hating to lie to Jasper." Bella said, shaking her head.

She smiled grimly. "I promised him I would get out before they killed me, too. It's not something I can guarantee- not by a long shot."

"Who are these Volturi?" Bella asked. "What makes them so much more dangerous than Emmett, Jasper, Rosalie, and you?"

I mostly stopped listening at this point. I knew they were dangerous. Aro could hear every thought in your head with one touch of your body. Marcus could test familial bonds, test and see where they were weak, gauge how strong they are.

There was Jane who could cause pain by looking at you. And then her opposite twin Alec who would cause no feelings at all. Then there was Demetri who could track you down knowing nothing but your name. Felix was as strong as Emmett, maybe stronger. Chelsea keeps the guard together with bonds and can also break bonds. Renata was Aro's shield. Santiago who also possessed great strength. Heidi was a bit of a fisher, able to lure the humans into Volterra for the others to eat.

I shivered, pulling out my earbuds. I drowned myself in babymetal so that I couldn't hear anything else.

I let the heavy metal with cute Japanese little girl voices sing in my head until I felt a jarring motion and realized we had landed in New York. Huh, it had felt rather short.

I pulled out my earbuds as Bella made Alice get up. We ran to get to our connection, but it was worth it as the plane took off almost immediately. I immediately set myself back into Baby metal, trying to fall asleep.

A few minutes- hours really- Alice motioned to both Bella and I excitedly. I groggily extracted my earbuds from my ears, wondering what she was so excited about. Night had fallen outside the windows.

"What's wrong?" Bella muttered.

"It's not wrong. It's right. They're deliberating, but they've decided to tell him no." Alice said with a smile.

That was good?

"The Volturi?" Bella muttered again.

"Of course, Bella, keep up. I can see what they're going to say."

"Tell me."

"Can I get you ladies a pillow?" A male flight attendant asked. I knew my wig was slightly loose so I didn't dare look at him.

"No, thank you." Alice said.

"Tell me." Bella said again.

"They're interested in him- they think his talent could be useful. They're going to offer him a place with them."

"What will he say?" Bella asked curiously while I gingerly fixed the hairline on the red wig. The bun was starting to give me a headache. I would be able to take it off once we were in Italy.

"I can't see that yet, but I'll be it's colourful. This is the first good news- the first break. They're intrigued; they truly don't want to destroy him- 'wasteful,' that's the word Aro will use- and that may be enough to force him to get creative. The longer he spends on his plans, the better for us."

Okay so it was good news. Good.

"Alice?"

"What?"

"I'm confused. How are you seeing this so clearly? And then other times, you see things far away- things that don't happen?" Bella asked curiously.

"It's clear because it's immediate and close, and I'm really concentrating. The faraway things that come on their own- those are just glimpses, faint maybes. Plus, I see my kind more easily than yours. Edward is even easier because I'm so attuned to him."

"You see me sometimes." Bella added.

"Not as clearly." Alice said.

"Clear enough you saw her cliff diving." I grunted.

Bella sighed, "I really wish you could have been right about me. In the beginning, when you first saw things about me, before we even met. . ."

"What do you mean?" Alice asked curiously.

"You saw me become one of you." Bella muttered so quietly I almost missed it. I almost sighed aloud.

Alice did sigh. "It was a possibility at the time."

"At the time." Bella repeated dully.

"Actually, Bella. . . Honestly, I think it's all gotten beyond ridiculous. I'm debating whether to just change you myself." Alice finally said.

I froze and so did Bella.

"Did I scare you? I thought that's what you wanted." Alice asked, confused, staring between the two of us.

"I do! Oh, Alice, do it now! I could help you so much- and I wouldn't slow you down. Bite me!"

"Jesus Bella." I hissed. "Shut up."

"Try to be reasonable." Alice said. "We don't have enough time. We have to get into Volterra tomorrow. You'd be writhing in pain for days. And I don't think the other passengers would react well."

"If you don't do it now, you'll change your mind."

"No. I don't think I will. He'll be furious, but what will he be able to do about it?"

"Nothing at all."

She laughed quietly and then added as an afterthought, "You have to much faith in me, Bella. I'm not sure that I can. I'll probably just end up killing you."

"I'll take my chances." Bella said stupidly.

"You are so bizarre, even for a human." Alice pointed out.

"Thanks." Bella said.

"Oh well, this is purely hypothetical at this point, anyway. First we have to live through tomorrow."

"Good point." Bella sounded excited. She looked sideways at me, "Will you be a vampire?"

I shook my head, "There's no point. Instead of a life time of sickness and suffering, it would just be endless forever suffering. No thanks."

"When you're a vampire, you might capture Carlisle's attention." Bella pointed out. "He wouldn't need distractions."

I scoffed, "Why would I chase a man who doesn't want me? If he doesn't love me as a human then he's not going to love me as a vampire. I shouldn't have to change myself to permanently to get his attention. Besides, Vampires aren't allowed on the Quileute rez so I'd much rather stay human thank you very much."

Bella was silent for a moment, probably lost in her own world again.

I fell back asleep and didn't wake again until the sky was turning pink and orange. I noticed Alice's late night enthusiasm was gone as we started to touch down in Florence, Italy. She was already talking to Bella and I listened in as I stretched, getting ready to exit the plane.

". . .got very close. He changed his mind at the last minute."

"He wouldn't want to disappoint Carlisle. Not at the end." Bella murmured.

"Probably."

"Will there be enough time?" Bella questioned.

"I'm hoping so- if he sticks to his latest decision, maybe." Alice said, but she didn't sound particularly hopeful.

"What is that?" Bella and I asked together.

"He's going to keep it simple. He's just going to walk out into the sun."

I didn't know if it would be enough. There were a lot of things that could be say. Reflective surfaces taped to his skin, glitter, sparkles, diamonds imbedded in his skin- hey rappers did weird things like that all the time- etc. There could be a very good reason for why his skin was sparkling. Grand effects for whatever.

". . . wants the biggest audience possible, so he'll choose the main plaza, under the clock tower. The walls are high there. He'll wait till the sun is exactly overhead."

"So we have till noon?" Bella asked.

"If we're lucky. If he sticks with this decision."

"How far is it from Florence to Volterra?"

"That depends on how fast you drive. . . Bella? Davina?"

"Yes?" We asked together, looking at her. I pulled on my leather jacket, fixing my wig slightly when no one was looking.

"How strongly are you opposed to grand theft auto?"

I grinned.

---------------

We careened down the road in a bright yellow Porsche. Honestly, I was having the time of my life, beaming, the wind down just slightly to feel the heavy breeze rolling through.

"There's Volterra." Alice announced after about fifteen or so minutes of driving. We'd been weaving in and out of traffic which had been terrifying at first, but I knew Alice wouldn't crash. I wasn't even wearing my seat belt.

I looked over to the see the city that looked like it was built on a mountain. It was all the same tan colour and it looked like a maze of walls and roads and buildings. The main plaza was probably smack dab in the middle, making it a literal maze. The surrounding area was forest of green trees and luscious fields.

We were so totally dead.

Alice drove through the roads, showing me that there were indeed layers to the city. She beeped as she tried not running people over. Everyone jumped out of the way, everyone was also wearing red which was really, really weird.

"Why are they all in red?" Bella asked as Alice moved through a large crowd of people.

"Saint Marcos Day festival." Alice replied with complete indifference, "They're commemorating the expulsion of vampires from the city. It's the perfect setting."

I snorted from the irony.

"The Volturi will never let him reveal himself."

"We have five minutes." Bella was practically crying in the front seat. I could feel my heart beating faster as my stomach churned at the deadline.

"Bella, just breathe." Alice said.

Police officers stopped us at the next check point. "Let's go." I muttered to Bella, throwing my door open. Bella threw her door open as well and we started to run.

"Where are we going?" Bella shouted after me.

"The clocktower of course." I shouted behind me.

Bella and I ran, pushing past people in red as much as we could. We ran up stairs, down alleyways as we searched for the clocktower.

The sun was beating down on us and I stripped off the leather jacket, wishing I'd brought something different so I could just tie it around my waist. Instead, I just held it under my arm as I sprinted, pushing past more people.

Me and Bella came to a stop as we reached a wall of people that were watching a parade go by.

"Come on." I muttered, starting to push through people. If I had to cross the parade to get to my son, I would.

Me and Bella dashed through an opening in the parade, continuing to cut through people. I could see the clock tower in front of us.

Pushing through the crowd of people, we suddenly found ourselves in front of a fountain. 'Well damn' I thought.

The clock hit twelve.

"Fuck." I cursed aloud, jumping up on the fountain, running along the edge of it like a balance beam, except it was wider than a beam.

I could see Edward walking out of the door and I could hear Bella screaming Edward's name behind me.

"Damn you Eddie." I muttered, sprinting towards him. I could hear splashing in the fountain and I knew that Bella was running across the fountain. I leapt off the stone fountain edge as he finished unbuttoning his shirt. Bella suddenly tore past me, water flying off her shoes as he stepped out into the light, tackling him backwards into the church.

Bella and I shoved him together into the clock tower, the doors slamming behind me. "Bella? Mom?"

I huffed, furious now that Edward was alive and in my sights, "You complete arsehole Edward Cullen!"

Edward looked slightly abashed, but he couldn't keep his attention on me for long, turning to Bella instead. I rolled my eyes, leaning against the stone wall. We'd probably have to stay here until night set. I hoped Alice could find us.

Was Bella really going to forgive Edward so quickly? Oh yep, they were kissing. Well damn.

I really hoped we took planes straight back to Forks and then they could go to Alaska to see the others. The last thing I wanted to do was see Carlisle again. The others- fine. My kids- fantastic, Esme- wonderful. Carlisle- fuck me.

Wrong choice of words.

Screw him.

No, wait.

Shit.

Suddenly, there was a noise like an elevator and I looked over to see two pale, male figures making their way over to us.

One was slightly smaller with blond hair while the other was bigger, hulk like, with dark hair.

"I won't be needing your services after all, gentlemen." Edward said, holding Bella close.

"Aro wants to speak with you again." The bigger folk said.

"No rules were broken." Edward protested.

"Nonetheless, we should take this conversation to a more appropriate venue." The smaller man said, looking at me and winking. I raised an eyebrow. Now that he was closer, I saw the blond was more of a dirty brown blond.

"Fine." Edward said. "Bella, Davina, why don't you two go and enjoy the rest of the festival?"

"The girls come with us." The bigger man said.

"Ooh lovely." I snarked under my breath.

"No. You can go to hell." Edward said.

"Eddie." I said sharply, raising an eyebrow.

Alice stepped in at that second, lowering the head scarf she had been wearing. "Come on guys. It's a festival. You wouldn't want to make a scene."

"We wouldn't." The dark haired man said when a third figure appeared. She was mostly definitely blond with large red eyes.

"Enough." She announced, tossing her hood back.

"Jane." Edward whispered.

"Aro sent me to see what was taking so long." Jane said, looking up at the darker haired man, then the lighter, looking at the other three, then me, before turning and going back the way she came. There was a no nonsense air about her and it made Edward follow after, Bella's hand tightly in his own. Alice followed after and I went with them.

The other two vampires waited till I passed by to bring up the rear.

The bigger man held out a red robe for Edward to put on, which he did.

"Go ahead." Jane said as she reached the part where the stairs turned downwards. We walked past and now the three of them were bringing up the rear.

Now that Edward was safe, I truly wasn't scared. We would meet Aro. We would either live or die. Personally, I preferred life, but it truly wasn't the biggest worry if I died. Although, admittedly, I hadn't redeemed myself yet and would probably be going to hell.

Eternal hell.

Lovely.

We finally filed into an elevator. While the others stood upright and stiff, I leaned against the wall. The better looking man, the small one who had winked, was staring at me. I looked back.

"Don't touch. I bite." I said, raising my eyebrows.

He grinned, "Oh, I like you."

I titled my head a little in acknowledgement. Jane snorted up front. The elevator music was horrible.

"Opera. Terrible." I muttered as the doors opened. The man snorted in laughter. The bigger man rolled his eyes.

We stepped into a lobby of sorts, a human woman behind the desk. I was surprised, but perhaps I shouldn't have been.

"Is she human?" Bella asked up front. I was walking between the man that seemed to like me- or at least I amused him- and Alice.

"Yes." Edward said.

"Does she know?" Bella asked after a few seconds.

"Yes." Edward was being quiet, like he didn't want anyone else to hear, which was ridiculous because I could hear which meant the vampires around us certainly could.

"Then why would. . .She wants to be." Bella answered her own question.

"And so she will be." The man next to me said.

"Or dessert." Jane said calmly ahead of us.

I rolled my eyes.

Jane opened up two double doors in front of us and revealed a large room that looked like a dome. In fact, it probably was. There were quite a few windows, but not enough for the light to fully reach the ground and make the vampires around us sparkle.

There weren't many vampires at all, two guards near the door, a young man in the middle of the floor, and three sitting upon thrones up on an altar.

"Sister, they send you out to get one and you come back with two." The vampire who must be Alec said. "And two halves making three. Such a clever girl."

I bit my tongue to keep from making a sarcastic remark.

The vampire sitting upon the middle throne- most likely Aro- stood, throwing his arms out wide. What a happy surprise! Bella is alive after all!" He stepped down the steps as we stopped.

He clapped his hands together, walking with normal speed towards us. Honestly, he wasn't that bad looking. His long black hair was pulled back in a ponytail and despite his three thousand year old age, he didn't look a day over thirty. His eyes of course, were red and I liked to image what they would look like if they were golden.

"Isn't that wonderful!" He finished. He reached out for Edwards' hand, "I love a happy ending. They are so rare."

I agreed. They were pretty much nonexistent.

He said something in Italian that I didn't bother understand because- I didn't know Italian. But whatever it was made Aro turn to look at Bella and he said, "Her blood appeals to you so much. . . it makes me thirsty."

I nearly snorted, but kept my attitude. Pretty sure a royal vampire king wasn't the kind of vampire I wanted to piss off.

"How can you stand to be so close to her?"

"It's not without difficulty." Edward responded.

"Yes, I can see that." Aro laughed, still holding Edward's hand. I had thought he only needed to briefly touch it, not hold it for extended periods of time.

I shifted my attention to the two vampires on the other thrones. Caius was even more handsome than in the painting. Not as good as Lucius Malfoy, of course, but still, rather decent. Marcus on the other hand looked like he had never gotten over the English days of King George.

I had clearly missed conversation as Aro turned his eyes to Bella and said, "Fascinating. I would love to see if. . ." He finally dropped Edward's hand, stepping back, "you are an exception to my gifts, as well." He held out his hand. Bella, after some hesitation, stepped forward and gave Aro her hand. "Would you do me the honor?"

I let my gaze wander until it landed on the other vampire again who winked. I smirked and then turned my attention back to Aro who was looking rather perturbed.

"Interesting. I see nothing. I wonder. . ." He turned his back, walking slightly back to his throne, "Let us see if she is immune to all our powers. Shall we, Jane?"

I hesitated for a fraction of an inch. Jane, of course, created pain with her mind. I did not want that to be used on Bella, but at the same time. . . I did not think that it would.

"No!" Edward protested, going to move in front of Bella when I stepped in front of Edward.

"Don't." I warned him. "Edward, stay calm and stay here."

Edward hesitated under my stern gaze and I raised an eyebrow. Jane turned her attention on Bella. Edward went to move and I put my hand on his shoulder. "Don't."

We waited, watching as Jane continued to gaze at Bella. Bella gazed back and nothing happened.

Aro started to laugh. I took it back. It was terribly creepy and I was really starting to dislike him. I let go of Edward's shoulder, moving back into the background.

"Remarkable." Aro said, clapping his hands together. Jane stared at him. "She confounds us all."

Aro turned to me, "And who are you?"

"Davina Michaelson." I replied.

"Ah yes, the Cullen mother." Aro said softly. "Carlisle's mate."

I rolled my eyes. "Not really, but sure."

"And does Edward have difficulty reading your mind?" Aro asked.

"No." I replied.

"Might I?" Aro asked, holding out his hand.

"I quite like my privacy, thank you."

"Mom." Edward hissed under his breath.

I wavered, glancing at him and then at Aro who looked intrigued.

If I was going to tell someone all of my deepest, darkest secrets, this vampire was the last person I wanted to know. Not to mention, Edward would be able to see everything as it flashed through Aro's mind.

It was uncomfortable feeling. Aro would know every moment of my life from the moment I was born to now. He would know about my relationship with Carlisle, what happened with my parents, and how I had nearly killed three different vampires using wooden stakes and a lighter.

"Edward, stay out of his head and mine." I said, holding out my hand.

Aro ignored it, stepping forward, his hands on either side of my face, pressing his lips to mine. I was shocked and froze. Memories flooded my mind. My first step, my fourth birthday party, playing in the ocean with Sam, my Uncle Josh greeting us at Fort Knox, Azim, my first kiss, the bombs, the death, the screaming, and everything else up until this moment.

Aro didn't let go of my hand for a very long time. It was cold, like all vampires hands, and there was a smoothness to it that suggested age. Almost soft.

We stared into each others' eyes before he finally let go. "You have one of the most traumatic lives I have ever seen." Aro whispered. "How do you handle it at such a young age?"

"I'm Davina Michaelson. I survive." I stated flatly.

"Strange, and your blood does not appeal to me, nor anyone else in this room." Aro murmured, almost to himself.

"Pretty sure that's a good thing." I said and I saw the man smile out of the corner of my eye. Felix on the other hand rolled his eyes.

"Indeed, although you were Carlisle's blood singer. . ." Aro said slowly.

"He has a theory that I'm one side of the spectrum for every vampire. Either the side that does crave my blood period or the side where I'm the blood singer. It's just lovely." I said sarcastically.

Aro smiled, bemused, "So what are we going to do with you now?"

"You already know what you are going to do, Aro." Marcus said from his throne, slouching like he didn't know what good posture was.

"They know to much. They are a liability." Caius said.

Well, so much for thinking he was good looking. I'd stick with the guy who seemed to like me.

"That's true." Aro said.

"Okay so, we're liabilities now." I stated, "But when we become vampires, that makes us not liabilities, right?"

Aro looked at me, "I did not realize you planned on becoming a vampire."

"Alice promised Bella to change her after we saved Edward from trying to die." I replied.

Edward shot me a look.

"And yourself?" Aro asked, raising an eyebrow.

I titled my head, thinking. "I told Carlisle to give me a few years. I wanted to be at least twenty five or older."

"And you're twenty now?"

"Almost twenty-one." I responded. "Coming April."

Aro tilted his head to the side, judging me. I looked at Alice, "You could show him."

Alice nodded, taking off her glove, extending her hand to Aro who took it in almost delight. I watched as Aro and Alice stared at each other. "Mesmerizing." Aro responded in an almost breathless whisper, "To see what you have seen. . . before it has happened." Aro moved in front of Bella, "Your gifts will make for an intriguing immortal." He caressed her cheek. I pursed my lips. I wondered what her gift was going to be.

"Go now." Aro said, backing away from us. "Make your preparations."

"Let us be done with this." Marcus said from his throne. "Heidi will arrive any moment." He stood up.

"Right, time to go." I said, hooking my arm through Alice's.

"Thank you for your visit." Marcus said to us.

Right, well at least he was polite.

"We will return the favor. I would advise that you follow through on your promise soon." Caius said, not rising from his throne. "We do not offer second chances."

Wow, just a ray of sunshine.

"Goodbye, my young friends." Aro said in delight to our backs as we exited the room.

"Nice fishing Heidi." The young man said as we passed by a tall vampire wearing a red dress and black gloves with heels. I felt sick, watching the people file past, especially when I saw that there were two children in the group.

"You have children in the group!" I protested as Edward and Alice led me and Bella faster and farther from the group.

The man looked at me, at first amused, and then almost apologetic. "It happens."

I swallowed hard as I heard the screams. Edward and Alice pushed us through the doors, blocking out the screams.

We went up the elevator.

"Which one are you?" I asked the man. "Santiago or Demetri?"

He looked just the faintest surprised that I knew the names and he said, "Demetri."

"Ah, the tracker." I said with a nod.

He smirked. "Indeed I am. And I think you would make a lovely vampire."

"I'm sure." I smirked.

He brushed my cheek lightly as the doors opened.

"Careful," I warned lightly. "I still bite."

He laughed lightly as I exited the elevator.

"Mom, you shouldn't flirt with him." Edward muttered.

"Yes, well as I am single and not seeing anyone, I have every right to flirt with whoever I feel like." I muttered.

Technically, the Volturi weren't bad people. I supposed if I did become a vampire, I could always come back here. I could see a life as part of the guard, specifically alongside Demetri. But then again, I don't think that would help with my attempts at redemption.

I knew all three of them would be curious about what Aro had meant about my life, but it wasn't any of their business. Edward was safe. Him and Alice would go back to Denali with their family, leaving us alone again.

I wondered if the wolves had caught Victoria yet, or if when we disappeared, she went too.

We caught another plane out of Florence- I had redone my red wig as I had taken it off once we'd landed in Florence the first time.

We landed in Rome and I called Sam.

Emily was the one who picked up, "Davina? Are you alright? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything is fine. I'm on my way home. I need Sam to pick me up at the airport. Or any of the boys for that matter. We land early in the morning, I have no idea what time it is there right now. I just thought you should know."

"Okay, I'll pass along the message." Emily said, sounding exhausted.

"Thanks Em."

I hung up, leaving the bathroom and rejoining Edward, Alice, and Bella as we got ready to board the long flight from Rome to Atlanta.

I fell asleep during the flight as I was exhausted, dreaming about bombs, running, screaming, and vampires.

I woke up with a headache, feeling sicker than I had in days. I drank a sprite to keep it down. Once we landed in Atlanta, I hurried to the bathroom to throw up and once the plane from Atlanta to Seattle was ready to leave, I felt better.

I fell asleep on this flight as well, feeling well rested when I woke up as the flight landed.

Edward, Alice, and Bella were the first off the flight and then Jasper was there, standing in front of Alice.

Aw shit, the family was here.

I looked around quickly, ignoring the blond and red head in the corner. I couldn't deal with Carlisle right now.

"Davina!" I heard a familiar young voice call.

I broke out in a grin, seeing Seth, Jared, and Sam there. I ran over to them, hugging them all fiercely. "Hey guys."

"Why are you wearing a red wig?" Seth asked in confusion. I took it off, stuffing it in my bag along with my fake passport.

"No reason." I lied. "Are you ready to go home?"

"Sure." Sam said, glaring over my shoulder.

"Sam, ignore them." I muttered.

"Are you alright?" Jared asked in concern.

"Yep, just flirted with a few vampires, saved Edward's life, no big deal."

"Alright, well come on mom." Jared said.

"Wait," I paused, really taking in the fact that Seth was here with Sam. I looked from Seth to Sam and then poked Seth's right arm. "Do you have a tattoo there?"

"Oh yeah." Seth grinned, "It's honestly so awesome."

"What colour wolf are you?" I asked.

"Grey." Seth said excitedly. "Leah's one too."

"What!" I exclaimed.

Sam slung an arm around my shoulder, "You smell terrible."

"Thank you ugly." I muttered. "Come on, let's go."

Carlisle P.O.V.

My anxiety swelled as Davina stepped off the plane, looking more beautiful than ever. I felt better than I had in months and I took a moment to see just how sick she was. She was thin, the unhealthy kind of thin, and she didn't give us the time of day, heading straight for the wolves when she landed.

Alice and Edward hesitated, noting my reaction.

"She thinks you hate her." Alice said, sounding apologetic, glancing between Edward and myself. "I think. . . I think you have some things you need to tell both of them Edward."

Edward looked completely ashamed of himself, but was more focused on Bella than anything else, "Yeah, I will."

That wasn't comforting at all.

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readnburied · 1 year ago

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A Favorite Book by My Favorite Authors

Okay, so it took a long time for me to finally decide and write this post because I really want to bring a variety of posts to this blog. Though I have a lot of favorite authors, I’ve selected my top few and my favorite book from their works. So here’s a list of my favorite book from my favorite authors.

Insanity by Cameron Jace

This is book 1 in the series of the same name and follows Alice Wonder who is stationed in an asylum after killing her classmates. Little does Alice know that there’s a world beyond hers where fantasies become a reality and monsters lurk, ready to invade and kill the people of her world. Monsters, only she can slay.

Though I’m obsessed with the entire series, since I’m only supposed to talk about one book, I chose this one because this is where it all started and I love the setting of Oxford University.

Zodiac by Romina Russell

This is book 1 in the series of the same name and follows Roma who’s trying to save her planet Cancer from being destroyed. The entire zodiac constellation is in danger and if Roma doesn’t step up and confronts the monster then the entire Zodiac will be on the verge of extinction.

This is another series I’m obsessed with because of the world that the author created. I love the setting of this book as I’m an astrology and astronomy fan and this series fulfills that need of mine.

Escape by Nenia Campbell

This is book 4 in the Horrorscape series and follows Gavin and Valerian as they embark on one final game and decide who will be the winner. Who will be the one in control. Rules are broken and people are killed and in the end it’s the prey with the predator.

Obsession is a small word for what I feel for this series but this is my favorite book in the entire series because I’m in love with the characters and Gavin’s family is just insane. I love how it all ends and I just wish I could read this book for the first time all the time.

Scorpia Rising by Anthony Horowitz

This is book 9 in the Alex Rider series and revolves around the life of Alex who is on the lookout for the greatest criminal organization Scorpia for the sole motive of revenge. But when old friends reach out and death threatens to take hold, Alex Rider must do whatever he can to protect the ones he love even if he has to sacrifice himself in the process.

Though these books are meant for younger readers I personally think these books are timeless and can be enjoyed by any age group. And this is my favorite book in the entire series and so this book is on this list.

All’s Well by Mona Awad

This is a standalone and revolves around the life of Miranda Fitch who is a drama professor in a college but is envious of practically everyone around her due to all the difficulties she’s facing in terms of her health. When the time comes for the annual play her students want to perform Macbeth while she wants them to perform All’s Well. And when she comes across three generous men who make her an offer she can’t refuse, Miranda’s life takes a turn for the better. She thought her life couldn’t get any better until she realizes that there’s always a price to pay.

I have yet to read the author’s latest works but of the books I’ve read so far this has been my favorite and I loved the ending and the climax within the story.

Babel by R. F. Kuang

This is a standalone book and follows the life of Robin and his friends who get admission in the prestigious Oxford University in the translation department. However, they soon encounter problems in terms of racism and competition and Robin needs to figure out what’s important to him and what he’s willing to do to get it.

This book is so intelligently written that I can’t help but fall in love with it. I loved the writing style and the whole academia setting and I really want everybody to read this book.

Digital Fortress by Dan Brown

This is a standalone book and revolves around Susan Fletcher who is a mathematician working with the National Security Agency. But when the Agency comes across a code they cannot break, it is up to Susan to solve the problem. However, when she discovers the danger that threatens to destroy the agency, Susan is caught up in a roller coaster of secrets and betrayal and getting out of it might just kill her and the man she loves.

I read this book a really long time ago but I remember it to this day. And most importantly, I remember the emotions it invoked within me and I absolutely love a book that can do that.

Phantom Heart by Kelly Creagh

This is book 1 in the series of the same name and follows the life of Stephanie Armond who has just moved into a new house with her family. She soon comes across rumors regarding the house and she soon realizes that the rumors carry a heavy dose of truth in them. But when she meets Lucas who holds a lot of interest in her house, she has no choice but to accept that the house is haunted, and the man haunting her house is the same one who takes her breath away in her dreams.

I love this author and all the books by them. And I was having a tough time deciding between this book and Enshadowed, which is book 2 of the Nevermore series. But in the end Erik and his many beautiful masks won my heart and I ended up putting this book on this list.

And that’s it. These are my favorite books from some of my favorite authors. Let me know if you’ve read any of these books and what you think of them. Do you love them as much as I do or not?

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asphyxiatedredherring · 1 year ago

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This is my gift for @fourdollarwords in the Leverage Gift Exchange! ( @leveragegiftexchange )

I decided to make a playlist of songs I felt fit the show in general, the thiefsome, and as well as each character!

It is quite a weird mix of music

I tried to keep it short, and some characters were easier to come up with more songs than others, but everyone got at least one.

Under the cut, I'll list each song and why I chose it. (It's sorted in categories as well as the order they appear on the spotify playlist, which I recommend listening to it in).

I hope you like it!

Nate:

Another Shot of Whiskey by The Gits - it's about drowning your problems in alcohol, I think we can all see the connection.

Behind Blue Eyes by The Who - the villain theme for the rock opera that never happened. The villain doesn't want to be the villain though, he was forced into that role and no one can see the grief that caused. It really lines up with Nate's story line.

Renegade by Styx - This is a song about a criminal who has been caught and is about to be executed. This song makes me think of The Maltese Falcon Job.

Well Respected Man by The Kinks - I think this represents the life Nate wanted for himself, Maggie, and their son where they are all happy and healthy but in reality Nate knows this is not how his life went and he is not this well respected man.

Breaking the Law by Judas Priest - the song seems to be about a man who was fired from his job so he started breaking the law. I'll let you draw those connections.

Alcohol by The Dropkick Murphys- he's an alcoholic from Boston what more can I say?

Sophie:

Who Do You Want to Be? by Oingo Boingo - its the art of the grift. Sophie makes herself into different people, deciding who she wants to be each day, everything is an act, a character maybe even losing herself along the way

What's Behind the Mask by The Cramps - as a grifter Sophie is always wearing a mask, Sophie isn't even her name. Her family wants to know what's behind her mask, let her know that she is safe to be herself.

Hardison:

Maneater by Hall & Oats - we know Hardison loves Hall & Oats. Best if listened to while Parker autism bites him.

Shout by Tears for Fears - I headcanon that Hardison loves synthpop and this song is a perfect example of that

Rebels With a Cause by The Dropkick Murphys - This song reminds me of the line where Nate calls Hardison "a 24 year old genius with a smartphone and problem with authority." He may have been ignored as a kid, but he's making a difference now. "Don't be angry with the kids Be angry with the greed."

Parker:

Runaway Train by Soul Asylum - I feel like this song really represents Parker's childhood

Never Go Hungry by Hole - I think Parker would have started with stealing food and this is like her internal monolog rationalizing it because stealing became a key part of her personality

Been Caught Stealing by Jane's Addition - Stealing, simple as that. She's a thief. If she wants something she simply takes it. I think it's just a fun catchy song she'd like.

Eliot:

The Boxer by Simon & Garfunkel - Despite their wishes, Eliot left his family and became a fighter just like the protagonist of the song. No matter how hard he tries to escape, the fighter remains. I could write an entire essay about how the story of this song and Eliot's story line up.

Guilt Within Your Head by The Gits - Eliot has so much guilt built up in his head over his past, being unable to forgive himself he created his own hell but he can escape it through forgiveness and redemption.

Bullet With Butterfly Wings by Smashing Pumpkins - I feel like this song fits Eliot because like the song says Eliot still feels like he can not be saved and is trapped in a cage, despite how angry he is.

Rooster by Alice in Chains - Even though it's a song about the Vietnam War I feel like it can still represent Eliot's life, joining the military and his career as a hitter in which people are constantly coming to kill him, yet he won't die.

Harry:

Ironic by Alanis Morissette - I think Harry would love Alanis Morissette. Hands down. No further notes.

Breanna:

Just a Girl by No Doubt - People frequently underestimate Breanna and I think this feminist anthem conveys her anger with that.

Seasore by The Regrettes - "You're talkin to me like a child Hey I've got news, I'm not a little girl" So much of Breanna's character is wanting to prove herself, that she is capable and not just someone's kid sister and I think this song conveys the anger that comes with being underestimated and judged for your age or gender.

Youth Gone Wild by Skid Row - Breanna isn't interested in conforming to society's idea of what she should be. She has been called a problem child, but she doesn't care because she will stand tall and be herself.

The Thiefsome:

Love in an Elevator by Aerosmith - Hardison would think it's funny but Parker would latch on to it. I'll be citing the first episode for this one.

What I Like About You by The Romantics - I may be stretching this one but the parts of this song can be applied to aspects of the ot3 and them expressing their love for eachother. "Keep on whispering in my ear" fits Hardison talking to Eliot and Parker through the coms, "you really know how to dance" represents Parker's acrobatics and thief skills, and "you keep me warm at night" Eliot is a grounding presence for them at night and they love eachother.

Iris by The Goo Goo Dolls - they are all broken in their own way and it doesn't matter what the world thinks, just that they have eachother.

The Crew in General:

Head Like a Hole by Nine Inch Nails - the people with power have the money and they aren't using it properly. But Leverage won't bow down despite what the mark wants. I just think this song encapsulates the anger they have with each mark and their desire to give the mark what they deserve.

And Justice for All by Metallica - I debated putting this song under Hardison but I think it could fit the whole crew. It's about how money has corrupted the justice system. The truth is gone but the crew is working to bring it to light and reinstall justice (in their own way).

Ain't No Rest for the Wicked by Cage the Elephant - there is no rest for the wicked and no shortness of evil in the world which makes Leverage necessary. "The rich and powerful take what we want. We steal it back for you."

We're Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister - I think this song does well to represent how Leverage is fighting the system and the people that abuse it.

Take Back The Power by The Interrupters - I could also write an essay about this song and its correlation with Leverage but to boil it down, Leverage is working to fight the corruption of the world and fix what they can. They are taking back the power.

Hunger Strike by Temple of the Dog - this is practically the Leverage theme song. "I don't mind stealin bread from the mouths of decadence But I can't feel on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled" It's a song about stealing from the rich, class divides, and how the rich get richer but the narrator refused to join them and would rather starve than be like the rich and feed on the poor.

The Men Who Rule The World by Garbage - a song about corruption, money, and violators, the very thing Leverage aims to destroy.

#Spotify #LeverageExchange2023 #leverage gift exchange #leverage #leverage redemption #spotify playlist

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nicascurls · 2 years ago

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Strangeness and Charm - Part Three

Word Count: 2.2K

Summary: Season 1 AU where Andy and Kyle arrive at Charles Lee Ray’s old house before Tiffany leaves with Junior and Nica and ultimately save them. Set in 2017, two weeks after Cult since that's when the show was originally mentioned to be set and in my opinion, makes the most sense.

Notes: Yay! Nica’s awake, I love her and I loved exploring her thought process in this part as well as Kyle and Andy’s since someone *cough cough* Don Mancini *cough cough* seems to neglect their feelings. Also I’m a complete sucker for BarclayPierce, so there are hints in this part and finally, happy birthday once again to Alex Vincent.

Tags: @streets-in-paradise @losersclubisms @silvershewolf247 @cornerofhell

The first thing Nica was aware of was a feeling of comfort. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt that, it must have been what? Four years? Closer to five, actually.

But, oh God what does that mean? She let out a soft whimper as she tried to remember what happened before she passed out. She just hoped that this was her waking up and not her regaining control.

That's when fear struck her, after the first time she regained control she knew there was nothing she was safe from. She slowly began to open her eyes against the sun rays on her face, dreading the sight of the blonde psychopath she expected to be greeted with.

"Andy, Kyle! It looks like Nica is waking up."

Andy? Kyle? And that voice definitely wasn't Tiffany's but Nica couldn't bring herself to get her hopes up.

She fully opened her eyes, squinting against the light and began to push herself up to sit. That's when she met eyes with the 6 people in front of her, four teens, two she could remember from before, the others she didn't recognise. And then two adults, a blonde woman, but not Tiffany. Definitely not her and a man, close to her age. Possibly a few years older and something about him seemed familiar, she couldn't quite place what.

Wait.

Andy, Andy Barclay?

She supposed it could be possible but she knew the dangers of getting her hopes up. The last time she did that she was faced with Tiffany telling her that Alice was gone before gleefully dumping her killer in her lap.

"Where am I?" Nica asked, doing her best to keep her voice steady. She couldn't afford to show weakness, not when she was already at a disadvantage.

"Uh, Hackensack. We brought-" Junior started, taking a step forward before stopping when he saw Nica flinch. "I'm sorry, I should have thought about that."

Nica remained tense, eyes darting from one person to the next. Andy was becoming more alert now and slowly moved closer to the sofa bed.

"Look, we're not going to hurt you, you're safe. Okay, Nica?"

She made no attempt to move again but kept her eyes fixed on the man in front of her. She was doing her best to read his emotions, to find some form of malicious intent that she had grown so used to seeing in people but she couldn't find it.

"How do you know who I am?"

"It's kind of a long story but I'm Andy-"

"Andy Barclay?"

"Yeah..."

At this point Kyle put her guard up, Andy had said they needed to be cautious, that Chucky could trick them and she already had to get her brother out of a padded cell because of this one.

"You hear that from Chucky?" She asked sternly, if it was Nica she didn't want to scare her but she just couldn't risk it.

"Wha- No. I did some research the night he killed my family. I had been suspicious about where the doll came from and came across an article from '88. But, you know what he did don't you?"

"You mean possessing you in an asylum?" Jake responded.

"Yeah, that."

"Look, I'm sorry about this," the blonde woman. Kyle? Began, " but how do we know this isn't Chucky talking now?"

"Believe me, if it was Chucky he'd be up and moving by now. The most I can do is drag myself around." Nica responded bitterly, that was one of the facts she resented the most. That he could walk in her body when she had always been considered as less by people because he took that from her.

"How did I get here?"

"Oh um, Andy found both of us in Tiffany's car and him and Kyle got us out before she came back." Junior started, he made sure to stay where he was and kept his hands in plain sight. He had never wanted to hurt Nica in that house but he knew Nica really had no way of knowing that, the last thing he wanted to do was scare her again. "Look, what happened at the house. I, I didn’t, wasn't going to hurt you. I just didn't know what to do or what they would do."

Nica looked at the boy, she could see the same nervousness in his face as she did in that house. She was still hesitant but she knew she couldn't hold what happened against, Junior? As far as she knew, he could have ended up just like Alice if it hadn't been for Andy and Kyle.

"It, it's okay," Nica began, "believe me I know how manipulative Chucky can be."

"We've got pizza if you're hungry, it's pretty cold now but-" Jake then cut Lexy off, "Or we have other food in the kitchen."

"The pizza will be fine." Nica responded quickly, she couldn't remember the last time she ate and she imagined Chucky isn't one to take care of himself, especially in her body.

"Here, take your pick." Devon passed her a pizza box containing all of the leftover slices.

"Thank you." Without further discussion Nica took the first piece she saw, without even acknowledging the toppings. She couldn't remember the last time she had a meal that wasn't God awful hospital food, let alone pizza.

"I'm guessing you still have a lot of questions."

Nica, looked up at Andy and slowly nodded. She finished off the slice of pizza before responding.

"Uh, yeah. Honestly, I'm not really sure where to start."

"How about we tell you what we know and then you do the same for us?" Kyle suggested as she entered the room again with a glass of water, "I thought you might be thirsty."

"Thanks." Nica responded, reaching for the glass with a small smile.

The others proceeded to explain everything they knew about the current situation as Nica finished off the pizza, grateful to have anything close to a decent meal.

"Well that explains why Chucky wanted me to kill, I knew there had to be something in it for that bastard."

"Chucky tried to make you kill? When?"

"Just before he possessed me at Harrogate, one of the doctors."

"Foley?" Andy asked hesitantly. The mention of that man's name made Nica shudder before turning to Andy.

"How'd you know that?"

"It's kind of a long story but I had spoken to him a few times."

"Why?"

"To, um, to try and visit you or prove you innocent I guess."

Andy's eyes kept flickering down to the floor, too shy to watch Nica's reaction to what he just told her. He made the mistake of taking a quick glance at the others only to be met with Junior with a much bigger smirk on his face than before, almost identical to the one Kyle was pulling next to him. The same one she pulls when she thinks she knows better, or when he says he's not a bad driver. Which he isn't.

Meanwhile, Nica wasn't sure what to do. She was still trying to comprehend what Andy said, and why would he do that? Genuine kindness had been such a rare thing for her since Chucky, it felt alien to her. She wanted to ask more about it, but she could see Andy nervously looking at the floor and decided it was best to ask them with less of an audience.

"Sorry," Kyle began, "but going back to the subject of possession, I guess we should ask how often you've been in control."

"Um, about two or three times I think. I think there have been some moments where I'm slightly aware of what was going on but I didn't have control."

"Well, when were the times you were in control?"

Nica hid her face in her hands for a second, trying desperately to fight the headache that began whenever she tried to think about past moments she was in control over Chucky.

"The first time I remember was November 8th so that was, what's the date today?"

"November 13th" Jake pitched in.

"Right. 5 days ago, okay. Then it happened again, I think a day or two later? Then again when you two were there." Nica gestured over to Junior and Devon before directing her next question to the latter. "Actually, I hope you don't mind me asking, but how did you get to that house?"

"Oh, I had gone to investigate." Devon responded quickly, anxious to go into further detail after seeing the confusion Nica had faced since being possessed. Although, the attempt was in vain. Nica could tell something was wrong and then it hit her.

"Oh God!" She began, "I was the one that hurt you, wasn't I? I'm so sorry, are you okay n-"

Devon immediately cut off her apologetic rambling, "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine now. Honestly, it's alright. I know it was Chucky, it's not your fault."

Nica, looked over at the boy and gave him a smile and a small nod of thanks.

“So, do you have any idea what makes you change?” Lexy questioned.

“Um,”

“Tiffany slapped her when we were there,” Junior cut in, “that’s what made her switch back to herself. Don’t know how much that helps though.”

“Actually, it might. When I woke up the first time there was a guy that was tied up, I tried to free him but he ended up hitting me, which makes sense I guess but that’s the last thing I remember from that.”

“What about the other time? Is there anything else that could have an effect?” Kyle pitched in, leaning closer.

“Uh, Tiffany hit me in the back of the head with something, that’s the last thing I remember from the second time. As for other things, blood maybe? That always seems to be near Chucky and Tiffany, I’m not sure if that affects anything though.”

“We could always test it!” With that Junior got up and made a move for the kitchen, Andy jumped up in response. “Woah, Kid what are you doing?!”

“Getting a knife.” Junior then clocked the concerned expressions of the others in the room. “Not like that. Just a small one, you know? To make a little cut and see if the blood works. No big deal.”

“Hang on,” Nica responded, looking around the room. “Someone tie my legs first, that will at least stop Chucky a little, if this does work.”

Kyle swiftly picked up the rope on the ground that had bound Nica’s hands previously before moving towards Nica, who moved the blanket to one side. Kyle made quick work of tying Nica’s ankles together, double and triple knotting the rope just to be sure. That was when Junior returned to the room with a small vegetable knife, the sight of it caused the nerves to begin to sink in for Nica and she turned to her right to see Andy giving her a small reassuring smile.

“You ready?” Kyle asked, taking the knife from Junior and putting her own gun on the table next to her as Andy held his own, suddenly avoiding all eye contact with Nica. Nica took a deep breath, “Yeah.”

Kyle made a small cut on the palm of her hand before turning it to Nica, her gun now in the other hand. It only took a second of looking at the blood before the dreaded sinking feeling washed over her again and she let out a small whimper of fear before falling back.

The others kept their eyes fixed on her form, a gun in each of the adults’ hands. That was when Chucky let out a groan, pushing himself up and clicking his neck.

“Kids, stand back.” Andy warned them, they didn’t need to be told twice, Devon had already begun to move back, grabbing Jake's hand to make sure he followed. Next to them, Lexy and Junior did the same.

Chucky opened his eyes, legs struggling against the binds and looked around before he landed on Andy pointing the gun at Nica’s body. Chucky let out a smug chuckle before speaking, “Well, this is familiar. Ain’t it, Andy?” All of them remained silent, Andy seemingly frozen in place, refusing to take his eyes off of Chucky. “What? Ya not gonna shoot this time? No, of course ya won’t, not now you know she’s still in here.”

“Shut it, fucker.”

“Wouldn’t want to shoot a pretty girl, r- agh!” Chucky was cut off as Kyle fist collided with Nica’s face, causing Chucky to fall back once again. Nica let out a gasp as she regained control before slowly sitting up again. “I’m guessing it worked.” she said weakly as she raised a hand up to her jaw.

“Uh huh,” Lexy responded, slightly bewildered. “At least we know how to get you back now.” Nica smiled at that, it was nice feeling as if she had some form of control again, and it seemed the others were reassured by that as well. Well, all except Andy, who seemed to be avoiding looking at her at all costs.

Kyle decided to take over before things got awkward, “Right, so now that theory has been proven right, What’s the plan?”

#chucky #chucky 2021 #child's play #chucky syfy #andy barclay #nica pierce #kyle simpson #junior wheeler #jake wheeler #devon evans #lexy cross #charles lee ray #tiffany valentine #barclaypierce #chucky fanfiction #Strangeness and Charm

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alicesought · 2 years ago

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{{ Okay my melancholy is mildy improved we're rambling again immediately I have recently been informed that in cut content for the first game, Jervis was originally going to appear ( They were thinking of my boy since the beginning! I swear someone on that team earnestly liked Jervis Tetch ) and make a maze to entertain the children's side of the asylum and also a death trap for batman, taking the player through a creepy children's asylum themed level.

I am....... forever mourning that that didn't happen now. But I will absolutely incorporate that into my Jervis' main verse canon, oh boy howdy let me talk about this--

For one-- the thought that there is a children's side of a hospital that dangerous is just.... mwah. Gothic, campy medical incompetence at its finest.

And secondly, I earnestly and sincerely have just enough, if only just enough, faith in the creators of the Arkham series and their portrayal of Jervis to believe that they honestly intended to depict him not doing any harm to the mentally ill children. In fact, it sounds like his very presence there, and the fact he chose to set up base in that location right away, may have actively protected them from the danger of the other escaped inmates and kept them busy while their caretakers were undoubtedly unable to be there. He probably turned the place into a playground of bad behavior and gremlin chaos, but still, technically someone was overseeing them.

Because based on the wording, he had two distinct intentions here: One, to make a deadly riddle box for Batman if he showed up to end the fun, and two... to entertain the hospital children. Just... have fun with them. And so I can only imagine Jervis caught wind, like the other rogues, that Joker was up to The Big Plan, knew the asylum was about to become a warzone, and said " I'm going straight to the children's infirmary to play with the children " and that is just

He's such a teddy bear...

And I feel that their intent was definitely to depict him as being fond of them because there's a few lines, even in other games, that implies he has an innocent respect for children and childhood, he thinks childhood should be a happy thing. Which of course stands out, due to how easy it would be to play up the edgier depiction and make him a very gross character without much of an ideology. But uniquely, despite his disheveled and dirty appearance, his edgiest humor comes from gay jokes which.... read more like gay subtext in modern day lmao. Even during the Alice rescue mission in origin, they never depict him making inappropriate comments and mostly let him just explain why he thinks he needs to save Alice. And later games always depict him as a very sad and sympathetic figure with a nuanced perspective, never a gross and simple one. And by no account were they under obligation to do that other than someone on the writing team respected his character enough to try. It warms my heart. I think I really love Jervis in the arkham series, and I appreciate them repeatedly trying to squeeze him in wherever they could fit him, even if they couldn't quite write in as much as they wanted. ( I think, even the DLC mission was nearly cut content but they persisted and put it in as post game hooray- )

I'm getting off topic-- but yes, I think I will definitely be adding " Jervis is kind to the inpatient children " to the list of things I rotate in my brain about him. }}

#🐇 ◆◇◆ || ᵢ cₐₙ’ₜ ₑₓₚₗₐᵢₙ ₘyₛₑₗf ᵢ’ₘ ₐfᵣₐᵢd ₛᵢᵣ... || { headcanons. }#🐇 ◆◇◆ || ₙₒ ᵣₒₒₘ₋ ₙₒ ᵣₒₒₘ! || { o.o.c. }

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tuulikannel · 2 years ago

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Fran Bow & Chekhov's gun

(The title is a joke and at the same time it isn't ^^;;)

Spoilers for the very end of the game (and a pretty sad theory about it.)

When I first played the game (and the second and the third time too), I had totally forgotten about the gun Fran found in the very beginning in the nurse's desk. She thought then something like, "why does the nurse have this, she's going to kill us all!" And then, at the very end, we see Dr. Oswald shooting Fran with what I'm now sure has to be the very same gun.

Now, here's the sad theory: Fran really is crazy. Everything (and I mean absolutely everything) is her imagination. Little Fran in ch. 5 is a memory from the past, and she is already then at the asylum. When Fran thinks she's been chained to her bed, she in fact being restrained in the asylum. When she's freed, she's perhaps being taken to see the doctor... or maybe to the dreadful basement. Maybe when she descends into Mabuka's heart, maybe that's when she's taken to the downstairs.

And then, because of her hallucinations she attacks someone (probably not Aunt Grace but a nurse), and the old nurse shoots her to stop her. And so she dies... and at the very end imagines all her friends coming to save her.

I think her hallucinations are based on things she has heard in the asylum (for example, rumors about the twins and their fate). Also, she surely knows the story of Alice in Wonderland, and that probably had an effect on her too. We saw in ch. 5 a photo of her and her friend Alice (even though she earlier said her cat was her only friend!) And this Alice supposedly liked coming up with stories about a wonderland she could visit. Maybe she too was an imaginary friend? Or another insane girl in the asylum who thought she was the Alice of the story...

I wonder if Mr. Midnight even existed. The little Fran didn't know anything about him. And in that photo of Fran and Alice (if it is real), she has something that looks like stuffed toy cat.

What was behind Fran's madness, then? Perhaps she was crazy from birth. (I'm still wondering if she didn't have a stillborn twin. There are references to stillbirth in the game.) Or perhaps her relationship with her parents wasn't quite that good (I've talked about this before, but that "daddy wasn't there, mommy would not care" really hints at that), and maybe she did kill her parents, or at least attacked them. The way she says "everything is fine" makes me think the opposite might be true.

I wonder if her parents were killed the way it's shown in the beginning. After Fran wakes up from the hypnotism, the nurse asks the doctor if there was anything new, and he replies, "same visions as before." Perhaps they are only that. Visions. Delusions. Who knows?

In any case, Fran has some kind of a trauma, that is for sure. The nurse's book in the beginning had a mention that children with trauma might find it hard to trust people. Perhaps this is why Fran thought Aunt Grace had betrayed her (after all, Grace didn't get her out of the asylum).

Well... I don't know. And of course, it's impossible to claim that any theory would be the only true one. I think this is what I believe at the moment though... that sadly, none of it is real, she spent the whole time in the "House of Madness" and in the end died there.

...the first chapter was called "My Sober Day." That was the only chapter where we saw her in the real asylum. Perhaps that was the only time in the game when she was sober... that is, clear-headed at all. And from then on, she just went downhill. Maybe she did steal some pills that fed her hallucinations.

Any thoughts, anyone?

#fran bow #ending theory #why am I writing this stuff at 1:44 am

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cielsosinfel · 2 years ago

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After 20 years, I beat American McGee's Alice...

This PC game originally released in 2000, and I played it in 2002 or 2003, when I was 8~9. I couldn't get very far in it back then because 1) the controls were atrocious (moreso now), 2) I did not have the patience even for video games with decent controls 3) It freaked me out way too much (Coming back to it now, it's a wonder it was ever considered the height of dark gritty edgy gorefest horror. There's barely any blood.) But the character was very meaningful for me as a young child who was dealing with a lot. Also it was very rare to find female characters who were the main, playable character in action games, let alone darker-themed ones.

But I beat it! Finally!!! Two decades later! And while the gameplay is beyond frustrating (I used godmode cheats for 80% of this playthrough), I think I appreciate it even more now since I can more fully read into what's there in the story; reading MORE into it than what is actually there, more like, but. Alice is a character wholly subsumed in her survivor's guilt, her depression, her desire to no longer be alive. All of these feelings festering corrupt and pollute the dreamland that was her safe space, her source of comfort, for her whole childhood; she loses her parents, and then when at the breaking point of mental turmoil, she goes to her Wonderland, she realizes she's lost all of her friends there as well. She has to watch them each die one by one as she fails to make it in time to save them. She is continuously taunted that she will always be insane, always have blood on her hands, never be strong enough or stable enough to save others or herself, and there's nothing she can do about it.

But then she reaches the Red Queen, who was always herself and her trauma writ in a simulacrum of flesh. She cuts her trauma and all of her ugly, self-loathing thoughts into (literal) bloody chunks. She's been chewed up and utterly devoured by the worst of her emotions and fears and suicidal self-hatred, and tears through it with her knife, accepts it for what it is and decides she no longer wants to be afraid of it, and comes out the other side with Wonderland and herself whole and shining.

She starts the game in an asylum, and walks out of it of her own accord with a smile on her face looking brightly into her future.

I think there are still issues with the portrayal of mental health and institutionalization in this, as there will always be in media of this nature and of this era especially, but at the same time, I appreciate the ending of her walking out of the asylum of her own free will with a smile on her face.

I have a lot I could talk about this... But look how long this is... its almost 5am... And there's too much that's way too personal that I don't want to get into here. But, for all of its faults and pitfalls, I still appreciate the skeleton of a story this game constructed. Even if I think it could have gone way deeper and think that the writing is actually pretty sparse on a replay.

#alice #mine poste #reading log #i guess. i need a game log #i dont really recommend this game more because the controls and platforming aged very poorly

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ficsforgaza · 7 months ago

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˗ˏˋ CREATOR MASTERLIST ˎˊ˗

You may use our tags #Sponsor a WIP and #Open Requests to show you all creators who have WIPs to sponsor or who are taking requests!

Creators organized by fandom:

↳ Fandoms A and B

Ace Attorney, Across the Spider-Verse, Alice in Borderland, Alien Stage, Arcane, Armello, Assassination Classroom, Attack on Titan, Ayakashi: Romance Reborn, Baldur’s Gate 3, Banana Fish, Beastars, Black Butler, Bleach, Blue Exorcist, Blue Lock, Bocchi the Rock, Buddy Daddies, Bungo Stray Dogs,

↳ Fandoms C and D

The Case Study of Jeweler Richard, The Case Study of Vanitas, Castlevania, Chainsaw Man, Code Geass, Cowboy Bebop, Court of Darkness, Cyberpunk 2077, Daiya no Ace, Danganronpa, A Date with Death, Dead by Daylight, Death Note, Death Parade, Degrees of Lewdity, Demon Slayer, Detroit: Become Human, Diabolik Lovers, The Disastrous Life of Saiki K., Disco Elysium, Doki Doki Literature Club!, Dragon Age, Dungeon Meshi

↳ Fandoms E through G

End Roll, Ensemble Stars, Erased, Fairy Tail, Faith: The Unholy Trinity, Fallout, Far Cry, Final Fantasy, Find Love or Die Trying, Fire Emblem, Friday Night Funkin’, Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Fruits Basket, Fullmetal Alchemist, Gachiakuta, Gangsta, Genshin Impact, Gintama, Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (MDZS), The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

↳ Fandoms H and I

Hades I & II, Haikyuu!!, Heaven Official’s Blessing (TGCF), Hell’s Paradise, Hetalia, Hitman, Honkai Star Rail, Howl’s Moving Castle, Hypnosis Mic, Ib, Identity V, Ikemen Prince, Ikemen Villains, Imaginary Friend Asylum, Inuyasha

↳ Fandoms J through L

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Jujutsu Kaisen, Kaiju No. 8, Kamisama Kiss, Kingdom Hearts, K Project, Kuroko’s Basketball, League of Legends, The Legend of Zelda, Life is Strange, Link Click, Little Nightmares, Long Live the Queen, Love & Deepspace

↳ Fandoms M and N

Madoka Magica, Mahoyaku, Mass Effect, Metal Gear, Miraculous Ladybug, Mob Psycho 100, Moriarty the Patriot, My Hero Academia, Mystic Messenger, Naruto, Night in the Woods, Noragami

↳ Fandoms O through R

Obey Me, Obscura, Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, Omori, One Piece, One Punch Man, Osomatsu-san, Ouran High School Host Club, Our Life, Outer Worlds, Overwatch, Palia, Persona 4, Persona 5, Pokémon, Portal, Princess Tutu, Project SEKAI, The Promised Neverland, Psycho Pass, Rainbow Six Siege, Record of Ragnarok, Red Dead Redemption, Resident Evil, Revolutionary Girl Utena

↳ Fandoms S through Z

Saints Row, Sally Face, Scum Villain’s Self Saving System, Sk8 the Infinity, Skyrim, Soul Eater, Splinter Cell, Spy x Family, The Stanley Parable, Stardew Valley, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Super Mario Bros, Tears of Themis, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Tokyo Ghoul, Tokyo Revengers, Touchstarved, Tougen Anki: Dark Demon of Paradise, Tower of God, Trigun Stampede, Twisted Wonderland, The Uncle Who Works for Nintendo, Undertale, Valorant, Vinland Saga, Voltron: Legendary Defender, Watch Dogs, What in the Hell is Bad?, Wind Breaker, The Witcher, Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop, Wuthering Waves, Xenoblade Chronicles, Yona of the Dawn, Your Turn to Die, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yuri!!! on Ice, YuYu Hakusho, Zombie Land Saga, 18Trip

#masterlists #navigation

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raubtierfuetterung · 8 months ago

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Howl‘s Moving Castle the Book is even better than Howl‘s Moving Castle the Anime. I have been enchanted. It’s wise and magical and witty and I fully believe in it as a true story. (I don’t mind if I get branded mad, I think those who understand what I’m on about are the ones who truly matter!) The book has been written with blood from my wrung out heart I feel. It’s like it’s been a part of me even before I read it.

It has all the good stuff I liked in the anime and none of the unironic kitschiness. It forms a Holy trinity with Harry Potter and Krabat. And maybe Alice in Wonderland too. OH AND FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST BROTHERHOOD!!! But I think Howl’s my favourite 😭😭 I want to become a great wizard more than anything. And I will! (Mental Asylum calling, I know I know, but do I care….? I want to be a weird uncle like Howl…) (yes, I know that the Psychologists call this schizotypy, I do see that to the average prosaic surface level mind I present just a girl prone to insanity. But you do realise that science is just inventing names and vague descriptions of empirical evidence? Whilst magic is the transgression of the Laws of Nature, breaking free from the physical form and human nature? Magic is the deconstruction of everything that has been witnessed by science. Wizardry, the transgression of organic matter, is the only freedom there is. Scientific work, with all it’s microscopes, engines, spacecrafts, power lines and explosives, is like vermins constructing their burrows. (Most people don’t think that a vermin has free will. But miraculously they do think that an enlightened homo sapiens sapiens lab scientist does. They are dumbly proud that they are a bunch of dull, unfree vermins IN OUTER SPACE. How great, this is so shameful ) It might be considered beautiful and kind of cute and it might come in handy for the species doing it. But it is not magical. It is caged in itself. It is slaves of the flesh admiring their own chains as a wondrous, mystical exhibit. Meticulously describing the way they drag across the paved-to-death-street. Giving names to the metal components it’s made of in Latin. And religion is the same. All about the flesh. Science and religion are both so far from magic - truth and freedom that is. The being of everything possible that is. Creation just for the beauty, just for the mind that is. Borderless, shapeless One-ness. Pure intellect, none of the flesh. I really wonder how science has ever been associated with coldness, intellect and magic when it is so obviously about the flesh, about carnality…when they build explosives and drive cars, develop medical equipment and artificial fabrics to satisfying their lust for revenge, their disdain and desire for the flesh, penetrating only their greed and human emotional-bodily needs, when they employ science to kill their enemies in the masses and save their dirty pathetic worthless human vermin lives. I think a life is not worth a dime. And a dime is not worth anything. Worth is not a category to think in! Political power is carnal and lowly. Emotions are the primitive rage of the flesh. And science serves it’s primitive madness, it serves the fear for life and the hate of the enemy equally. It serves primitive violence and hunger for power and want for domination. A vain, power-hungry and cruelly arrogant seeking of knowledge on matter. Seeking to answer the question: How can we kill this [thing]? And when will [thing] kill us?

Oh oh oh I’d rather be eaten by lions than be hit by a car, I’d rather be eaten by the lions. The arrogance of the human species ashames me, because oh there is only ever arrogance paired with violently primitive ignorance. Fear of death makes us despicable )

The most magical thing there is is death. Death is the most magical and beautiful thing there is. Dying, and being pleased to die: this is the most significant act of wizardry. The hour of my death will mark the threshold of my journey to wizardry, freedom!

I think I shall be one of the few who truly grow to love death. I shall know and befriend death, the withering and the tides, the winds and the dunes, the shooting stars and the continental plates

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characternerdocs · 1 year ago

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🎮 — favorite video game(s)?

munday asks ||| @icybreaths

Some of my favorite games, first has to be Alice: Madness Returns. Not only do the game and the games version of Alice sort of inspire Heather and Vincent’s characters. (Vincent I feel has grow into the male verison of Alice Liddell as he has emerged from his cocoon of villian and had turned into a beautiful anti-hero moth. While Alice’s impromptu trips into Wonderland she makes through the game and her “powers” were inspirational to Heather’s creation. I believe from day one I was pulling from Madness Returns for Heather’s character.)

ANYWAY, besides that. I love this game’s story, it actually the sequel to American McGee’s Alice, but I really like Madness Returns because the story of the game is just *Cheif’s Kiss* fantastic in my mind. I feel like there are a lot of dark retellings of Alice in Wonderland which can either be a hit or miss, but this one does it so well. In the first game, Alice is fighting to save Wonderland from the Jabberwock and the Queen of Hearts, personifications of Alice’s survivor’s guilt and all of the negative emotions and thoughts respectively. After defeating them, saving Wonderland, all a metaphor for her mental health, Alice is release from Rutledge Asylum, where she had been since the fire that claimed the lives of her parents and sister. A fine story, but Madness Return's is so much better. Come to find out after years of thinking she is to blame for the fire, and once again Alice must save Wonderland as a train (of all thing?) is destroying the land by reclaiming her memories from the night she lost her family, and remember that really cause their family’s death. And the truth is REALLY fucked up. At least it was to a little middle school aged me when I first encouraged it.

I also really like Hades, and am excited for the second one. Prolly should try to finish the first game though. But I like Hades cause I’m not good at video games, but Hades does reward you for failing. To level yourself up you have to die. and I like Greek Mythology so it’s fun.

I also like a weird phone game called Simulacra. I know there were two other games that came out after it, Simulacra 2 and Simulacra: Pipe Dreams, but the first one is the best cause of what you don’t know until the very end of the game. Which the other two have a very similar forum but with the same “twist” that the player already knows is coming because of the first game. But the first Simulacra is great. it’s an interesting commentary on the different persona we create for our online presence vs our offline self. I wrote a paper on it in college for one of my digital media classes.

Finally my friend at work has got me hooked on Skyrim. I’m like ten years late to this game it would seem, but I’m having a romp through this fantasy game. I have little idea what’s happening to be honest as I am basically a murder hobo, walking from city to city, but somehow I have like 30000 gold now. I know there is a plot, but my ADHD brain just distracted by all the caves with bandits, undead, and vampire to fight that I forget the quest I set off to do. I think I got like 70 hours into the game until I actually did something for the main quest killed a dragon and got the shouty powers.

Thanks for that ask @icybreaths

#Icybreaths #Video games #about ME

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floral-sacrifice · 7 months ago

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shoutout to american mcgee’s alice for giving us a game protagonist that speaks up for herself !! she not only asks why she’s supposed to do xyz, but also asks why her . (incoming yap under the cut)

it’s been a minute since i played the first game, but when she comes back to wonderland , cheshire cat is like “girl ur mental instability is destroying wonderland. chill” and she’s like “no i WONT chill. i’m gonna go on this adventure for my OWN benefit.”

in the second game (which i’m way more familiar with) the duchess is like “go get my pepper grinder and pepper these pig snouts” and alice is like “pepper them urself bitch…” and moves to leave. then the duchess says “no wait i have a reward if u do this” so ofc alice does it to get those teeth n pepper grinder weapon. the citizens of the mysterious east are like “omg it’s the chosen one she’s here to save us” and alice is like “i’m literally only here because 1) i fainted again oops and 2) i’m trying to find the caterpillar” but she ends up helping anyway !! bc she gets it !!! she sees their suffering and sees how it reflects her own (it’s literally her own mind) and she helps them !!

i mean the game opens with alice literally losing her sanity and screaming over wonderland’s destruction. when alice gets to chapter 5, she obviously helps the insane children in order to destroy the train, but she also feels for them. they accuse her of ignoring their plight (mirroring the children in her real life) and choosing to look the other way in an attempt to save her own psyche, and they point out how it’s not helping. alice admits that she’s afraid to see the truth. but when she finds out what the extent of the truth is in the factory?? she’s pissed. she comes up to the dollmaker swinging like “you piece of shit murderer , abuser, disgusting waste of space, you’ll pay for what you’ve done” she had that sense of righteousness that solidifies her personality as a protagonist. she does the work not because she’s a push over, but because it’s the right thing to do. she doesn’t give a fuck if it’s hard or not. she’s warned countless times through her journey by the cat that the way forward is extremely difficult and it may take even more of her mind from her. her response? “you don’t scare me, get another job” as she walks forward into the burning reminds of her childhood retreat. she’s already dealt with the queen in the first game, she’s withstood her psychological attacks, she’s seen her own face staring back at her through the mouths of someone she once trusted.

and when alice finds out who the doll maker really is ? she knows nobody would believe her. so she KILLS HIM. by pushing him INTO A TRAIN. the same train that he made to destroy wonderland, to destroy her mind, with the end goal of turning her into a lifeless doll that he can pimp out w the rest of the children.

the point is that throughout american mcgee’s alice, she acknowledges the danger, but she adapts to the situation. she shows tremendous fortitude as her world LITERALLY falls apart, as she faces abuse in the asylum, and later abuse under her employer who she TRUSTED to help her. as her world and mind are literally destroyed, she doesn’t break, doesn’t crumble. she’s seen shit. she’s just killed a man. but she knows it was the right thing to do. she doesn’t allow it to destroy her. she moves through this constantly changing landscape of her own mind, if not very happy about it, at least accepting and doing what she can to fix it. she doesn’t let anyone boss her around. whenever she’s faced with injustice, she IMMEDIATELY calls it out (carpenter, wasps, rabbit, game one queen, etc) she’s not afraid of consequences because she knows that she can deal with them. her skull is literally opened and her brains played with in the asylum, and she’s like “i’m not gonna let you win” and she Gets OUT. she CURES HER OWN CATATONIA. none of the treatments are working, so she enters her own self to find the root of the problem (red queen) and kills her. then she packs up and leaves at the end of the first game. she’s like “ok bye time to enter the workforce as a very young woman, i’m gonna be employed by who i think is a good person working to help kids” (she doesn’t know the truth yet obviously but intention matters)

i’m literally just like. ahhh i love alice. in any iteration. books, movies, games, she’s so cool and badass. aauuuughhh

in almost every other children's book where the main heroine is swept away to a land of whimsy she's shown having a lovely time; braving dangers occasionally, trying to find her way home, sure, but ultimately delighting in the magic around her. meanwhile alice spends her entire time in wonderland like

#alice in wonderland #alice's adventures in wonderland #nonsense #blorbos #i love you american mcgee’s alice #alice madness returns #alice liddell #american mcgee's alice #horror games

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haveamagicalday · 2 years ago

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My 2022 Reading List

Here are my ratings and reviews of the books I read in 2022. You can read my top ten reads of the year here.

Five Stars

Shine Your Icy Crown by Amanda Lovelace

Another great book of poetry by Amanda Lovelace!

Working on a Song by Anais Mitchell

A must read for any Hadestown fans!

Four Stars

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

Alice Feeny writes what I have dubbed, Fast Food Thrillers. They are quick, you enjoy them but they don't hold as much value as a three course meal at a 5 star restaurant (or a 5 star critically acclaimed book). Often predictable with outlandish circumstances, these fast food thrillers are purely entertainment and much more enjoyable if you take it for what it is and try not to think too hard about it. With that said, this book surprised me! It went in a way different direction than what her other books do and I was pleasantly surprised by the twist.

The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon

I think this was the first book I read in 2022 so I don’t remember all of it but I remember I liked it! It’s a slow novel with not a lot of thrills or chills but it was an engaging read nonetheless

The Counselors by Jessica Goodman

Goldie is a camp counselor with a dark secret. When a body turns up at the camp, she discovers that she isn’t the only one with secrets. This took more risks than a YA thriller usually does and I really appreciated that about it!

A Forgery of Roses by Jessica S. Olson

I got this in an Owlcrate and probably wouldn’t have picked it up otherwise but I’m glad I read it. I was really interested in the world of this book where some people are able to alter other’s appearances by painting them. Myra is one of these people and she finds herself in the middle of a gothic murder mystery when she is asked to paint a portrait of the governor's son. The mystery was intriguing and the world building fantastic.

The Mad Women’s Ball by Victoria Mas

This was a quick little read that focused on an interesting time in history. Asylums would sometimes throw their patients balls where the wealthy could come and gawk at them. Eugenie‘s bourgeois family sends her to the asylum for her ability to speak to the dead. She is determined to escape and sees the ball as her chance to freedom.

Nothing More to Tell by Karen M. McManus

Karen M. McManus’s books have been hit or miss for me. This was a hit in my opinion! Brynn’s favorite teacher was murdered four years prior to the start of the story and Brynn’s ex best friend, Tripp, was one of three students who found the body. Now Brynn is interning with a true crime show and she is determined to solve the case of her school’s infamous murder.

These Deadly Games by Diana Urban

Crystal gets a mysterious message one day that says she must play a game in order to save her little sister’s life. The dares start off innocent enough but slowly Crystal realizes that these tasks are meant to hurt her friends. This is definitely a book you have to suspend your disbelief for and just enjoy what it is.

Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young

I’m not going to lie, I don’t really remember this book all that well but I liked it enough to give it 4 stars.

Son of the Shadows by Juliet Marillier

This is a sequel to Daughter of the Forest. This time we follow the daughter of our heroine from the first book. Daughter of the Forest is a retelling of The Six Swans but this and the other sequels are not based on fairytales.

The Swell (Also known as The Bay) by Allie Reynolds

Kenna is a surf boarder that gave up the sport after her boyfriend drowned. Now Kenna is visiting her best friend Mikki in Australia after she announces a sudden engagement. Mikki brings Kenna with her to a secluded beach where a cult-like group of surfers live for months on end. Kenna is intrigued by the place but other surfers have gone missing and Kenna can’t help but look to the others in suspicsion. I was on board for most of this but what was kind of bizarre was half way through it is revealed through another character’s point of view who was making the others disappear. So basically the twist was revealed to the audience halfway through but not the heroine until the end which made for a weird reading experience.

Unlock Your Storybook Heart by Amanda Lovelace

I didn’t love this one as much as Shine Your Icy Crown but still another fantastic read!

The Wicked Remain by Laura Pohl

This is a sequel to The Grimrose Girls which I freaking loved! Unfortunately, I did not like this one as much but it was still a solid read. What I liked about the first one was missing here and there was a lot of time spent figuring out what to do next with the plot not really going anywhere.

Three Stars

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

This book confused me. It’s based on the Island of Doctor Moreau but this time around, he has a daughter. My biggest issue with this book is I don’t know what it was meant to be. It is described as historical sci-fi. If you know the original story then you know there are animal mutants. They are here in this book but they act completely normal. It’s almost mundane and not the focus so I wouldn’t even classify this as sci-fi. Then with certain plot points, I figured it was about the romance. Wrong again! That went nowhere. Was it a coming of age story? Maybe, but I didn’t think there was enough of that either. This book just felt so random and I was pretty disappointed as I love this author’s other work.

His and Hers by Alice Feeney

This was a fast food thriller through and through. TW: animal cruelty

I’ll be You by Janelle Brown

I loved Janelle Brown’s debut novel but this one fell a little flat for me. Sam and Elli were twin child stars that often shared the same role. Now as adults, Elli has made herself the perfect homemaker while Sam struggles with addiction. But when Elli goes on a mysterious spa trip leaving behind an adopted two year old daughter, Sam is determined to get to the bottom of things. I really liked the flashbacks in the book to the twins' life as tv stars and found that the most interesting part of the book.

The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke

If you are expecting witches that live in a lighthouse, this ain’t it. This is told from 3 different povs. One of them is Liv, a single mother of three who is commissioned to paint a mural for a lighthouse. Liv and two of the daughters go missing and the third daughter, Luna, is left on her own for twenty two years. But then Luna is informed that her sister Clover was found. She is thrilled until she goes to pick her up and discovers that Clover hasn’t aged since she’s gone missing. A third pov takes the form of an old manuscript found and read by the eldest daughter that gives some insight into the lighthouse’s past. All three storylines eventually collide in a somewhat underwhelming conclusion.

Verity by Colleen Hoover

This was my first and last Colleen Hoover. Was this book good? No. Was it entertaining? Yes! And that’s why I put it in the middle because it did keep my attention and I wanted to know how it was all going to end. Was it worth it? Eh, you’d have to read it for yourself.

The Witch in the Well by Camilla Bruce

Two former friends reunite as adults but not as friends this time around. The two have a shared fascination with the town’s legend of the witch in the well. Honestly, this book was just underwhelming to me. I thought there’d be more witchy goodness but it really wasn’t and it left me wondering what the point of the story was.

Two Stars

The Maid by Nita Prose

This was a very popular novel and I’m honestly not sure why. A clueless maid finds a dead body while cleaning and gets sucked into the investigation. Right from the start, it is pretty obvious what happened and who did it but our main character has no idea so the rest of the novel is spent being angry at her for not figuring it out. I’m still not sure if the mystery was supposed to be so obvious to the reader but it clearly is. Now, the thing about this book is that the maid, Molly, while never outright stated, is portrayed as having stereotypical traits of autism. I can’t speak to whether or not it’s a good portrayal but looking at other reviews, the consensus is no. This whole read was just frustrating and surprisingly slow for a short book.

Unrated- I have come to the decision as a 29 year old, that I will no longer be rating YA books unless it is a 4 or 5 star rating. My reasoning for this is that I am not the target audience. If I don’t fully enjoy a YA book, that’s on me for picking it up in the first place. I don’t need to bring the rating down for a book that was never intended for me in the first place. Some of the other books in this category I just couldn’t decide on a rating.

Dead End Girls by Wendy Heard

Maude is a teenage girl that is determined to fake her own death and escape to Europe. Her plan almost goes off without a hitch until her step cousin catches. Surprisingly, she demands that Maude take her with her and the two embark on an adventure to escape their unhappy lives. I picked this up because I liked the author’s first book but this one just came off as a little silly and non plausible. I think you can enjoy it if you suspend your disbelief but this just wasn’t for me.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Participated in Dracula Daily this year. I really liked the first third with Jonathan stuck in the castle but everything else was underwhelming for me. I found myself skimming a lot towards the end but I’m glad that I read.

Even if We Break by Marieke Nijkamp

I was kinda onboard with this until the end where it turned into a goofy cartoon-esque murder mystery. The twist was really just not well done.

Gone to See the River Man by Kristopher Triana

I read this book in one sitting. Found it on reddit and was being described as one of the most disturbing books of the year. It was disturbing but it was also kind of ridiculous. We find out that our main character did some pretty horrific things in the past but she comes off as very normal in the present. Even her reasoning for the bad things she did felt very mundane and out of left field. For those that are curious I will save you time and provide spoilers under the cut. TW: Rape, incest, gore

Lakesedge by Lyndall Clipstone

Described as gothic, this was more of a fantasy about our main character having special powers and using them to defeat a big bad. I felt that the majority of this book was just dedicated to training for the big fight and ending on a cliffhanger. Nothing wrong with this book, it just wasn’t for me.

Long Live the Pumpkin Queen by Shea Ernshaw

A sequel to Nightmare Before Christmas from Sally’s pov. It was cute and I probably would have loved it in middle school. My only problem was Jack (and the rest of Halloweentown) are in a cursed sleep for most of it so we don’t get to see much interaction between the two.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

I love the concept of this book but I found it weird how these kids reacted to be shipwrecked. They were so nonchalant about it. It felt weird and the escalation into them being wild felt very off to me.

Not Good for Maidens by Tori Bovalino

A modern retelling of Goblin Market. One of the POV was May who is a witch that must dedicate her life protecting mortals from the goblin market. For some reason she falls in love with one of the goblins who are portrayed more like the fae. This ends poorly and her and her sister must move to New York. The second POV is her niece, Lou, who has no knowledge of her heritage but must venture back to England to help save her other aunt from the Goblin Market. I found May’s story much more interesting than Lou’s. Lou’s story almost felt unnecessary. I felt like May’s story could have just been fleshed out more and made the main storyline. Like I said, she falls in love with a goblin but the two barely share any time together and there’s no reasoning behind them being in love other than the story demands it.

The Witch Haven by Sasha Peyton Smith

Frances is a poor seamstress in 1911 who due to an unfortunate accident, is whisked away to a school for witches. Here Frances learns about her past and how to control her magic. I don’t think this was a bad book and I might have enjoyed it more when I was younger. There was an annoying love triangle and an annoying twist villain that I saw coming. This wraps up in the end but hints at a sequel (which has since come out) but I didn’t like it enough to read it.

You’ll be the Death of Me by Karen M. McManus

This was a miss. Again, not bad, just not for me.

Gone to See the River Man spoilers

Lori is in love with a serial killer and sends him letters. Why? I don’t know, she just does. One day the killer gives her a task to go see the river man. Lori does so eagerly and brings along her sister who suffers from brain damage. This is portrayed (poorly) as her sister acting like a child. Via flashbacks we find out that her sister was once very popular and that she started to date the boy that Lori had a crush on. She sees them having sex on day and this inspires her to start raping their little brother. Yes, you read that right. How did we get from point A to point B? No idea. That’s just what she decided to do. Her little brother doesn’t want this and his increasing desperation and depression is hard to read about. One day the sister catches them doing the deed and Lori pushes her down a cliff to stop her from telling their parents causing the brain damage. And then the little brother commits suicide. How does this all affect Lori? I don’t know and neither does the author apparently. And that’s the problem because the Lori we know and the Lori in the past don’t match up. Lori is too normal despite all this and she really has no motivations for anything she does. The rest of the book is a bizarre journey down the river (complete with a racist portrayal of a boatman that helps for a time) and ends with an encounter with the river man. Is it supernatural or is Lori just insane? Doesn't matter, the book is almost over. She sacrifices her sister to the river man and then goes back home to find the serial killer had broken out of jail and is in her apartment (with the decapitated head of some random girl he murdered on the way). She happily goes to him as he prepares to kill her. The end. Do with this synopsis what you will.

#books #book recomendation #books recommendations #book reviews #my post

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