#some thoughts post chapter 2

[v5hadow]

So Master Detectives Archive: Rain Code. Like the mysteries generally. There keep being a few alternative things I'd almost prefer were the solutions and would mostly work based in the framework already existing. but it is at least being mostly fair. Certain parts I wish were a little less qte but generally fair fine we got plenty of ability to make mistakes based on how the mechanics work. They are normally also telegraphing the intended answer pretty well.

But...

I'm not done, I just finished chapter 2 but man do I hate portions of this chapter from the culprit answer to statements about the truth. There is also Desuhiko regularly dressing a woman but neither having some kind of nuanced take on harassment or just seeming to get it at all? Even though he probably has had to deal with it as dressed as a woman. But we shall see if that develops but back on things before. There being one truth specifically irks me. God I hate that. I want more complex on that specific subject. Objective vs subjective and all that. A thing with two parties has at least 3 versions of the truth, you know not dumbing things down. It still might go that route because I'm assuming I still have somewhere between 2 and 4 chapters left and this company tends to put more interesting things in their ultimate (and penultimate) chapters. But between Desuhiko, shinigami, and kurumi I very much am not thrilled right now.

More spoilery bits for chapter 2: why isn't kurumi part of the labyrinth herself besides role in the larger story? I honestly wanted her to be the mastermind of the case. She brings the trainee detective; intentionally? With the stalking/potential to be working with Amaterasu/Peacekeepers, she should be targeting either Yuma or Yokou. Gets nervous that Yuma brings desuhiko(a real Master Detective, beyond his prevy nature), has Yuma be a form of albi by "why would I bring a Master Detective to my crime I'm about to commit/orchestrate?" "Oh no, I need to go help my club! I'll be potentially difficult to pin where I will be for the entire time the play is going on!" Since when you weren't part of rehearsals before a dress rehearsal (generally one of the last before opening the show), it's either you being told what to do when or not having anyone know where you are supposed to be at any time since they have their own things to do. I mean yeah keep each of the girls doing their part but then not entirely be sure how much each other know about what the others are doing besides Kurumi. Isn't Aiko supposed to be, like, Kurumi's best friend? Why isn't she in the killer pact in some manner besides not having done theater until recently? In school, I was definitely aware of most of my friends non-mutual friends, especially close ones. I knew which ones, while not being on great terms together, you could convince to do their part in a crime if they cared that much if I had so desire. Give each plausible deniability by not telling who all is involved and how. Just it felt like we were missing something here, a little spark of some sort. Chapter 0 and 1 had some interesting takes and mutations on their formula mysteries (0 being a good cross of several Agatha Christie's works, 1 having some okay locked room vibes and murderer shenanigans). This was almost too simple honestly. Only reason I was having problems in the game play part was trying to piece together how the game wanted me to answer. I kinda knew immediately how the murder was committed and why.

[beaulesbian]

I was once again thinking about this goofy Luffy moment after his Lucci punch™ and i had to see it frame by frame.

first the force of it throws them both away, and while Lucci is seen on screen tumbling for a long moment, Luffy is just away in a blink of an eye.

and then his funny scene - his legs are like jelly that he tries to get under control,

he stumbles, falls, rolls into a mix of all his limbs and eyes,

and then only the cloud behind him cushions his fall

- which would be interesting if he can subconsciously control that while he tries to regain the control over his movements - that the environment around him still adapts to his awakened Devil Fruit abilities and morphs to help him. Where others would probably fall through that cloud, for Luffy that cloud backs him up like a trampoline.

It's just fascinating!

[captainkirkk]

When I started writing 'lessons in tea making', I set out to make it a longfic that following ATLA Book 2 and 3 in its entirety but now its been almost 5 years and I'm realising that I'm probably never going to get around to finishing this monster of a wip

HOWEVER, I do have around 15k of chapter 2 collecting dust in my google drive so.... what's everyone's opinion on authors uploading (signposted) unfinished chapters....

[lancerious]

thank you for being #1 lancer fan the world needs more lancer fans

Ho ho ho, of course!! Lancer is CRIMINALLY underrated I tell you, kid deserves WAY more attention than he currently gets

Glad to see another Lancer fan pop in <3!

[potatobugz]

do you think the mess in oshiros hotel is meant to signify that hes been letting his problems pile up until its become too overwhelming to handle.

im thinking about the fact that he's definitely the one who's been making the mess but he doesn't even realize it. he ignores the clutter until it becomes too hard to ignore you know? like when it starts actively blocking the way to the presidential suite. he insists that he and his staff will handle it and that madeline shouldn't clean up his own mess, but he still doesn't do anything about it. does he know that the staff is gone? that it's just him there?

mr oshiro is so hell bent on impressing madeline so that she'll stay in his hotel. he's so in denial of everything. he doesn't even realize he's dead, he still thinks his hotel never got shut down. I think his insistence on her staying is bc he really wants to believe that the hotel is open, and a costumer would affirm that belief. it could also maybe be a mixture of loneliness too. (also, him treating her as a costumer even after she says no is absolutely him being in denial. that man is very unhealthily attached to this hotel,)

and even though it was nice of madeline to clean it up, there's still parts of the hotel she can't fix. the plumbing. the windows. the, hole in the ceiling (oops.) she's not qualified to help him, and that's why I think the chapter ends on a bit of a sour note. madeline is of course not a bad person for wanting to help, the point is that she can't. it is unfortunate but true

anyways mr oshiro is a very good character i like him a regular amount. im normal about that old man

[acourtofquestions]

Rowaelin Chapter 41 Kingdom of Ash:

She'd rebuild it—what she had been.

Perhaps one last time, perhaps only for a little while, but she'd do it. If only for Terrasen.

Rowan swooped from the mast, shifting as he reached her side at the rail. He surveyed the night-black sea beyond them. "You should rest." She slid him a glance. "I'm not tired." Not a lie, not in some regards. "Want to spar?" He frowned. "Training can start tomorrow."

"Or tonight." She held his piercing stare, matched his dominance with her own.

"It can wait a few hours, Aelin."

"Every day counts." Against Erawan, even a day of training would count.

Rowan's jaw tightened. "True," he said at last. "But it can still wait. There are ... there are things we need to discuss." The silent words rose in his animal-bright eyes. About you and me.

Her mouth went dry. But Aelin nodded In silence, they strode into their spacious quarters, its only decoration the wall of windows that overlooked the churning sea behind them. A far cry from a queen's chamber, or any she might have purchased as Adarlan's assassin.

At least the bed built into the wall looked clean enough, the sheets crisp and stainless. But Aelin headed for the oak desk anchored to the floor, and leaned against it while Rowan shut the door.

In the dim lantern light, they stared at each other.

She'd endured Maeve and Cairn; she'd endured Endovier and countless other horrors and losses. She could have this conversation with him. The first step toward rebuilding herself.

Aelin knew Rowan could hear her thundering heart as the space between them went taut. She swallowed once. "Elide and Lorcan told you... told you everything that was said on that beach."

A curt nod, wariness flooding his eyes. "Everything that Maeve said." Another nod.

She braced herself. "That I'm-we're mates."

Understanding and something like relief replaced that wariness. "Yes."

"I'm your mate," she said, needing to voice it. "And you are mine."

Rowan crossed the room, but halted a few feet from the desk on which she leaned. "What of it, Aelin?" His question was low, rough.

"Don't you..." She scrubbed at her face. "You know what she did to you, to ..." She couldn't say her name. Lyria. "Because of it."

"I do know."

"And?"

"And what do you wish me to say?"

She pushed off the desk. "I wish you to tell me how you feel about it. If…"

"If what?"

"If you wish it wasn't so."

His brows narrowed. "Why would I ever wish that?"

She shook her head, unable to answer, and stared over her shoulder toward the sea.

It seemed like he would close the distance between them, but he remained where he was.

"Aelin." His voice turned hoarse. "Aelin."

She looked at him then, at the pain in his words.

"Do you know what I wish?" He exposed his palms, one tattooed, the other unmarked. "I wish that you had told me. When you realized it. I wish you had told me then."

She swallowed against the ache in her throat. "I didn't want to hurt you."

"Why would it ever hurt me to know the truth that was already in my heart? The truth I hoped for?"

"I didn't understand it. I didn't understand how it was possible. I thought maybe ... maybe you might be able to have two mates within a lifetime, but even then, I just ….." She blew out a breath. "I didn't want you to be distressed." His eyes softened. "Do I regret that Lyria was dragged into this, that the cost of Maeve's game was her life, and the life of the child we might have had? Yes. I regret that, and I wish it had never happened." He would bear the tattoo to remember it for the rest of his days. "But none of that was your fault. I will always carry some of the burden of it, always know I chose to leave her for war and glory, and that I played right into Maeve's hands."

"Maeve wanted to ensnare you to get to me, though."

"Then it is her choice, not yours."

Aelin ran a hand over the worn wood of the desk. "In those illusions she spun for me, she showed me variations on one more than all the others." The words were strained, but she forced them out. Forced herself to look at him. "She spun me one dreamscape that felt so real I could smell the wind off the Staghorns."

"What did she show you?" A breathless question.

Aelin had to swallow before she could answer. "She showed me what might have been—if there had been no Erawan, if Elena had dealt with him properly and banished him. If there had been no Lyria, none of that pain or despair you endured. She showed me Terrasen as it would have been today, with my father as king, and my childhood happy, and..." Her lips wobbled. "When I turned twenty, you came with a delegation of Fae to Terrasen, to make amends for the rift between my mother and Maeve. And you and I took one look at each other in my father's throne room, and we knew."

She didn't fight the stinging in her eyes. "I wanted to believe that was the true world. That this was the nightmare from which I'd awaken. I wanted to believe that there was a place where you and I had never known this suffering and loss, where we'd take one look at each other and know we were mates. Maeve told me she could make it so. If I gave her the keys, she'd make it all possible." She wiped at her cheek, at the tear that escaped down it. "She spun me realities where you were dead, where you'd been killed by Erawan and only in handing over the keys to her would I be able to avenge you. But those realities made me ... I stopped being useful to her when she told me you were gone. She couldn't get me to talk, to think. Yet in the ones where you and I met, where things were as they should have been ... that was when I came the closest."

His swallow was audible. "What stopped you?"

She wiped at her face again. "The male I fell in love with was you. It was you, who knew pain as I did, and who walked with me through it, back to the light. Maeve didn't understand that. That even if she could create that perfect world, it wouldn't be you with me. And I'd never trade that, trade this. Not for anything." He extended his hand. An offer and invitation.

Aelin laid hers atop his, and his callused fingers squeezed gently. "I wanted it to be you," he breathed, closing his eyes. "For months and months, even in Wendlyn, I wondered why you weren't my mate instead. It tore me up, wondering it, but I still did." He opened his eyes, and they burned like green fire. "All this time, I wanted it to be you."

She lowered her gaze, but he hooked a thumb and forefinger around her chin and lifted her face.

"I know you are tired, Fireheart. I know that the burden on your shoulders is more than anyone should endure." He took their joined hands and laid them on his heart. "But we'll face this together. Erawan, the Lock, all of it.

"We'll face it together. And when we are done, when you Settle, we will have a thousand years together. Longer."

A small sound came out of her. "Elena said the Lock requires—"

"We'll face it together," he swore again.

"And if the cost of it truly is you, then we'll pay it together. As one soul in two bodies.

Her heart strained to the point of cleaving. "Terrasen needs a king."

"I have no intention of ruling Terrasen without you. Aedion can have the job."

She scanned his face. He meant every word He brushed the hair from her face, his other hand still clasping hers to his chest, where his heart pounded a steady, unfaltering rhythm.

"Even if I had my choice of any dream-realities, any perfect illusions, I would still choose you, too."

She felt the truth of his words echo into the unbreakable thing that bound their very souls, and tilted her face up toward his. But he made no move beyond it.

She frowned. "Why aren't you kissing me?"

"I thought you might want to be asked first."

"That never stopped you before."

"This first time, I wanted to make sure you were ... ready." After Cairn and Maeve. After months of having no choices whatsoever.

She smiled despite that truth. "I'm ready to be kissed again, Prince."

He let out a dark chuckle and muttered, "Thank the gods," before he lowered his mouth to hers.

"You're my mate." Her words were a breathless rush. "And I am yours."

The world might have been burning around them for all she cared, all he cared, too.

"Together, Aelin," he promised, and she heard the rest of the words in every place their bodies joined. Together they would face this, together they would find a way.

Together we'll find a way, their mingling breaths, the crashing sea, seemed to echo.

Together.

[little-de-vil]

Saying Your Stones

The concept of religion is nonexistent in Panem, so much so that when Katniss sees cherubs in the frescoed walls of District 11, she calls them “fat children with wings.” Religious Christian imagery that Katniss notices is seen as only decoration because religion of any sort is so against the norm. Only cultural, district related traditions.

"Designs of fruit and flowers are carved into the molding and small, fat children with wings look down at us from every angle." (CF, 64) 

The concept of prayer is reduced to hope or telepathic wishes of safety, like Finnick when Annie is in The Capitol. No gods of any kind, but not pure hopelessness. There is community without religion in Panem; with the struggle of survival and the knowledge of the district trade. The need to live for others betterment rather than individualistic whims. 

Enter an old tradition of the Cutters. As old as their district, and just as tangible as their older traditions. It’s not a prayer in the actual sense of asking some higher power to intervene in for the betterment of one or another’s life, but a symbolic journey of growth tied to their birthstones.

Each stone has some sort of symbolic significance tied to that persons birth month, and is believed to be how they act or who they will become. Say someone’s birthstone is travertine, a stone that signifies confidence, stability and durability. If that person is generally shy and unsure in their way of life, others around them will say that they will slowly become like their stone. 

Birthstones are defined as markers of character for the community, but not stereotypes because they know that stones have the propensity for change depending on the force given to it. Too little and nothing changes, much and they crumble to dust. But there’s always an opportunity for change, to become one’s true self.

The tradition itself is — in our eyes — like a late night prayer. Each night, the birthstone is taken in their hands and the symbolic meaning of the stone is murmured in continuum for however long the person wishes, with a certain meaning repeated more than the others as a wish for what they hope to become. 

This tradition has shifted from being done in private at one’s own time to a family evening ritual where the whole family gathers and says their words over and over, regardless of the other people and their “conflicting” stones. This change was made shortly after the war in an effort to not only continue the traditions, but to make it a ritual within the family and tie it to their community.

Every night, the oldest Sophro child takes his travertine stone that lives on his nightstand and murmurs “confidence” until his voice nearly gives out. The middle Sophro child has only recently returned to the tradition after her Games, realizing how much she has become like her own stone, carnelian. The youngest Sophro child has a faint idea of the tradition, but has very rarely done it herself since her family hasn’t openly practiced it in years. Nonetheless, she still takes her stone, a shinning topaz like her Home Name and wishes not for who she will become, but for what she would like to impart onto her family. 

Hawk Sophro has not practiced Saying his Stone since his daughter won her Games. He still keeps his marble stone on his nightstand, spinning it in his palm and asking for the strength of his stone. 

I also wanted to continue this idea of the culture becoming weaker with each new generation becoming more and more assimilated to Capitol Culture. Madon has continually been doing that tradition, Harlow has recently returned to it after a traumatic event like The Games (in a sort of “She found religion” kind of thing) & Topaz has had very little interaction with it, so much so that when she goes back to it, she misunderstands the purpose and asks for the best for others, not herself.

[just-sp-in-inginthevoid]

Imagine reading a new manga and joking about it being homoerotic and then it gets explicitly stated that one of the protags is gay

If I don't see any weird romance blossom between those two istg-

[deus-ex-mona]

renren chapter let’s goooooooooooooo

[crystaleevee4]

wip :) very very rough draft for now but i'm workin' on... a thing

(no this is not ao3. this is google docs with the ao3 font)

[askamnesiamoonjumper]

me after editing the aau prologue for the bajillionth time

[perexcri]

happy one year to her and one of my better opening lines for a fic <3

now, because i'm curious:

[hyuuukais]

what if i dropped the next chapter of lutts cause math homework is killing me inside lowkey

[maskofenigma]

another fallen london essay ramble whoo boy (i dont plan these btw) (spoilers for firmament and light fingers in particular plus general spoilers)

ok so do yall remember that one line in Firmament Chapter three where Summer drinks moon milk and looks directly at the player character and nothing happens? if not i get it, that section was pretty hard to follow and it was ultimately inconsequential and also optional so here it is

(from the fallen london wiki - Suggest Summer do it instead)

anyone whos played Light Fingers or is familiar with that plotline knows that this makes zero sense. even normal moon milk has extreme effect if ingested. and unless we're going to have some kind of toxic romance arc with Summer (which would be great but given the lack of foreshadowing and other aforementioned reasons is highly unlikely) we can chalk this up to sloppy writing and unfamiliarity with that ambition on whoever wrote this. such frustration seems to be the consensus on this chapter, at least on here

But! ive been following some liveblogging of early Light Fingers, reminiscing etc etc, when i remembered one other odd tie in to moon milk, in the cave of the nadir. now analyzing the nadir is similarly difficult to zenith because its very vauge and theres a lot of disconnected elements in there all in service of making a place thats confusing and dangerous and unknowable and whatever so take this with a grain of zalt. im sure theres some juicy deeplore in there but what i want to focus on is this

(from the fallen london wiki - "It was the milk... it was the milk, wasn't it?")

this is a weird callout, right? afaik thats one of the very few connections to an ambition in the nadir, alongside whatever the frost moth does in nemesis (havent gotten there yet). so like what gives? its not an especially rewarding action, and it doesnt progress the ambition or anything. its possible, given this comes after the orphanage section, that these two are like escapees of the orphanage after the fire / riot, but it could also be some disconnected memory its all very difficult to discern. and even if that is the case it doesnt really tell us much except maybe foreshadowing for Hephesta's situation. the best i can say is that, taken in context with the other options on that card, maybe its a parallel to Clarabelle's situation, with the references to eggs? there has to be some reason behind this reference, and if there isnt one, than at least let me headcanon this

i think the two instances above tell us very little on their own, but taken in together have fascinating implications. irrigo and violant are thematically opposed colors, forgetting vs remembering, and zenith / the nadir are explicitly connected both textually and in their names (zenith means the highest point of a space or object, nadir means the lowest), so that they both reference moon milk is interesting to say the least. I think this could be telling us that moon milk has different effects when under these two neathbow colors. Moon milk induced obsession seems to be resistant to the psyche destroying affects of the nadir, persisting for the two people in a place where memory is actively unravelled. the woman, even as she tells her companion to forget her, still clearly recalls the affect of the moon milk and her newfound obsessions. maybe this is somehow due to the milk's affect of overwhelming the victims previous life, in essence forcing them to forget what was previously important to them. or maybe, given irrigo's connection with lack of perception and drawing inward, the idea is that when the victim has nothing else to cling to in the nadir, the love instilled by the moon milk persists as a sort of internal source of comfort. in zenith, the violant light seems to dull or entirely nullify the milk's effects if that moment with Summer is to be believed. its stated that the violant forces the player character to be aware of every detail at once, able to perceive even distant objects with total clarity, splitting your attention everywhere at once. the way moon milk works is just an extreme version of a classic love potion: a victim falls deeply in love specifically with the first thing they see. maybe, because one perceives everything at the same time, the moon milk cannot properly take effect. or maybe the violant is just too oppressive, preventing the milk from occupying a victims thoughts as they are overwhelmed by the light.

whatever the case may be this is a very odd pairing. for a section so filled with moon misers, firmament has very little by way of references to Light Fingers, odd given thats one of the main places one would encounter a moon miser. no comment. and that moment in the nadir has always struck me as peculiar, if only for it being seemingly out of nowhere and disconnected to everything else. but moon misers are linked to apocyanic light with some degree of regularity, so i dont think its too great a stretch to connect them to other neathbow colors as well. one wonders how everyones favorite roof beetles might be affected by the other colors of the neath. even if im totally off base and disproven by some text in the high sancta or sunless skies or whatever there has to be something here im sure of it. or maybe ive lost it who knows certainly not me okay bye

[sushisocks]

Hey there! I believe you said in another post that the final confrontation would be unlikely to happen if lenny and sean were alive, so i'd like to ask if you could expand on that pls(if u havent already and i just didnt see it lol)

Btw on a side note im actually super invested in your sean content😭😭the fandom seems to only talk ab him to label as an idiot, so as a fellow sean lover the way you characterize him has me so in love❤️❤️❤️❤️

Oh Anon you are SO LOVELY!!! Thank you not only in giving me the opportunity to rant more about Sean and Lenny (which I am always so willing to do), but also for your super kind words!! Sean is very dear to me, and I'm glad my reading into him as much as I do strikes a chord with other people ;;u;;

The way the general fandom often characterizes him isn't very surprising to me, given his personality & the surface level impressions he gives, but maybe for now I'll save THAT rant for another time, else we stay here forever lmaoo

So, to start answering your question, I believe you're talking about my post from a few months ago, where I talk about how I believe Sean & Lenny would've sided with Arthur & John if they'd lived to see the final confrontation. In it I mention how I find that final confrontation a lot more unlikely were Lenny & Sean to survive that far and stick around for the entire thing.

Now, WHY do I believe this? I touch on it briefly in that original post, but let's really get into it here!!

Okay to start off, there's a LOT of ways I see things going, in regards to Sean and Lenny, were they both to survive, because it adds SO MANY variables, but let's start at the very top.

At a meta level, it is important to recognize that RDR2 is a prequel to RDR1. This meant from the get that RDR2, as it is canonically, was bound to a certain outcome, to set up for RDR1. This ALSO means, that every step from the start of RDR2 was very much there not only to lay the groundwork for the end of RDR2 but also add another emotional layer to RDR1. This is all certainly things we are aware of already, but I think it's important to have that context in mind while we talk about alternative outcomes.

Because, see, Sean and Lenny HAD to die for the outcome in RDR2 to be the one it is. Not only them, but Hosea, Kieran, Molly, and Susan's deaths are ALL integral and important to the story, they ALL make a difference and contribute in pushing the story a certain way, and in reinforcing the steadily increasing hopelessness which infest the gang from Sean's death and out.

So if we're like "what if none of them died?" there are suddenly a LOT of new variables for every mission and every scenario we know from the game, which need to be considered. This is true EVEN if the change in survival count is only reduced to Lenny & Sean.

How different do you not think Shady Belle would have felt, initially, without Sean's death hanging over it? What about the bank job -- would Lenny & Sean end up on the boat to Guarma? What would've happened to them there, then? Would either of them be caught by the Pinkertons instead, with John or in his stead maybe? What other options would there have been, where would they end up at the end of that?

And already here we have to consider how those experiences might've impacted them psychologically, because of who they are.

In the post I mentioned earlier, I talk about how Lenny is new to the gang and probably isn't as stuck in it mentally as Arthur and John, nor do Sean and Lenny have the same emotional attachment/baggage in regards to Dutch. They're loyal of course, because they feel a sense of obligation to the gang, because it provides them with safety, friends, and allies, in an otherwise unkind world.

But what then happens when that changes?

How do you expect Sean and Lenny to respond when the gang starts turning on itself? When Dutch visibly starts losing it? When people start snapping at each other and threatening one another in the middle of camp?

(I have a half-formed thought here about how people would ABSOLUTELY be snapping and talking down to Sean in a way more cruel way towards the end of the game, for trying to keep things light and easy, yknow, fulfilling his role in the gang. I can only imagine what that'd end up doing to him, tbh.)

And, I'll be repeating myself from other posts here, but how do you think Lenny, a young black man painfully aware of the social structure as it exists in America at that point in time, would react to realizing what Dutch's plan with the Wapiti is? Same goes for Sean, who has SEVERAL instances through the game showing him just as politically aware as Lenny - certainly moreso than Arthur.

Would the outcome for the Wapiti tribe be the same, do you think, if Charles had more people than a very sick and tired Arthur to lean on, willing to help? Would Lenny in particular want to stick around to see Dutch attempt to drive the tribe into the ground for his own gain?

Also, I'm sorry but like, Lenny has a camp interaction with Dutch where he disagrees with him (about Miller, Dutch's favorite author) and explains why in a very well-articulated manner. In one instance, Dutch gets straight up offended by it, bcz Lenny can argue very well (and is RIGHT mind you lol).

I do absolutely believe that Lenny would not just sit around quietly in Beaver Hollow. I'd expect him to be among the most vocal in their discontent with the situation, and probably the best at arguing against Dutch.

That is, up until a certain point. Lenny is a young black boy, and Dutch is a white authority figure. Watch Dutch snap and yell at him, like he does John in Ch6 for example, and see how much longer Lenny sticks around fr. The trade is loyalty for safety and the same in kind. Why do you think members start leaving when things start looking their worst? And don't you think Lenny would be among the first to see the writing on the wall?

Though that is hinging on that very specific vibe in Beaver Hollow, where they're all scattered and losing their ties to one another. Add then in Sean, who is VITAL as social glue, and for making conversations easier. If he, and Lenny, and Mary-Beth, Tilly, Arthur, Charles, etc etc, insert your favorites here, managed to retain some of that community feeling, despite it all, then I absolutely see Lenny sticking around for them.

Same goes for Sean, tbh. I can see him leaving earlier, bcz the trade stops being equal and bcz he's not being taken seriously, and I can see him staying, for his friends.

There IS also a version of things where things are similar and I do see Sean siding with Dutch; but that is a very sad and lonely Sean, who is VERY different from where he's at in Clemens Point, and I think that's an unfair perspective to take for him in general.

Okay so, now we're back to that final confrontation, after I said I found it unlikely, why is that? Because, with every question I've posed thus far, about what Lenny & Sean's reactions might've been to canon events after their deaths, I have essentially presented a variable that comes with their survival to those points. Them being there for it, HAS to mean a change, has to mean something different happens, because their deaths are direct contributors to the path we already know the story takes WITHOUT their presences.

Now, what are those differences and changes? I honestly can't answer; something being different earlier or later can butterfly-effect into something completely new or remarkably similar to what we already know. I could sit here all day and wax poetic about all the different options and possibilities for where things could go, were ANY character to survive past their death point, BUT thankfully, that is what fanfiction is for, lol.

I hope this satisfied some of your curiosity, dear anon!! It was a lot of fun for me to write and think about, so thank you very much for asking!!!

[cascigarette]

title: kiss with a fist is better than none

rating: mature

fandom: supernatural

pairing: castiel/dean winchester

summary: Dean and Cas have been together for close to a decade, ever since their little stint in Purgatory. With Chuck taking control of their lives and Mary and Jack dead, they fight and break up. Nothing seems to be able to fix it for them until it's too late.

An alternate season 15 where Dean and Cas were in an established relationship and they get the ending they deserve.