#like yes he probably had more friends and there were more people at the facility but like… bergstorm literally ‘dissapearing’ for him | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

clanwarrior-tumbly · 5 months

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Could you do a scenario about Nemona, Penny and Arven with a real who has type null please? Maybe something about it transforming in Silvally?

YES NULL/SILVALLY TIME

I have one in Sword who I call "Bestie", and it's carried me through the Crown Tundra DLC. I want it in Violet so badly aaaa

Also this just reminded me of my fic that I wrote prior to Sun/Moon's release. Ya'll can give it a read if you so desire <3

That being said, this scenario will be like a sequel of sorts

........

Revealing Type: Null--or "Nully" as you've affectionately called it--to your friends was something you were initially nervous about...

But today was finally the day.

Moving away from Alola to attend school here in Paldea was quite the stressful journey, especially for your masked companion who had never know any place besides stark white labs and sandy beaches.

People kept warning you about how dangerous it was, but you never listened...and now your bond with the mysterious normal type has never been stronger.

Ever since you rescued it from an Aether Foundation facility that exploded due to its rampage, it put its trust in you and loved you unconditionally.

Learning the truth behind that supposedly "good" organization and its leader broke your heart. Although nothing devastated you more than realizing Nully had been held captive there as both experiment and prisoner.

You've tried researching its species, checking for notes and hacking into secret files the foundation kept under lock and key--and you discovered that Type: Nulls were basically created as "tamer" versions of Arceus, even having memory discs similar to the plates manufactured. They were meant to kill the Ultra Beasts should they invade Alola.

Instead, they went on a rampage (of course, that's what happens when humans try replicating a god's powers) and were confined to masks and put into cryogenic stasis. The whole project was deemed a failure.

As tragic as it was...you were relieved to have found Nully when you did and get it away from that horrible place.

Even so the mask still made it feel absolutely miserable, but unfortunately you couldn't find any further information on how to remove it without causing your precious Pokémon serious injury. There were no visible clamps to unlock, pulling it off would only cause it great pain, and cutting seemed too risky.

The only benefit was that it made Nully immune to critical hits, but the cons definitely outweighed the pros.

Maybe one of your friends knew more about the Type: Null species, and so you decided to call them all over for a picnic if they had free time.

All you could do was pray that they didn't lose their cool and scare your companion.

That's the last thing either of you needed.

Arven was the first to arrive, with Mabosstiff at his heels as usual, but he stopped dead in his tracks upon seeing the bizarre-looking Pokémon standing by your side. You could tell he was trying not to look too worried, considering the poor thing was hiding behind you now.

Still, it's obvious that he didn't have the slightest clue what he was looking at, so you explained everything to him: where you found Nully, why it looked like a rejected Arceus, and the memory discs you kept in a small folder.

So far, you haven't figured out how to utilize them in-battle. But despite the space they took up in your bag, you refused to throw them away.

"Are you sure there isn't a slot for these somewhere on its mask?" He stared at one of the floppy discs, before glancing back up at Nully, squinting. "It looks like there should be one."

"We've been pals for nearly three years, Arven..I'm pretty sure I would've found the slot by now if there was one." Shaking your head, you took it from him, sighing. "My only option is to get that thing off. The slot's probably on its body somewhere."

"Right...maybe there's a stomach hatch or-"

"¡Mira! You were right, Penny! They do exist!!"

"Nemona, slow down!! They're not going anywhere!!"

Hearing the shouts of two certain ladies from afar, you and Arven looked to see both Nemona and Penny coming over the horizon. The student council president was dragging the poor girl by the arm, with her stumbling to keep up and not lose her glasses.

When they arrived, Penny was dazed and annoyed as she scowled at Nemona, tearing her arm free of her iron grasp. But her attention was quickly set on the peculiar Pokémon who was cowering behind you yet again.

"Wow...I..never thought I'd see one up close before.." Adjusting her glasses, she gazed at Nully with interest.

"You've heard about them before?" You asked.

"Back in Galar, I found some top-secret stuff about Macro Cosmos trying to make their own instances. They literally stole the blueprints from the Aether Foundation."

"...yikes." Nemona remarked, tilting her head as she tried getting a better look at Nully herself. "It seems shy. Maybe a battle will help it-!"

"No battles, at least not right now." You smiled apologetically, patting it on the head as you looked at each other. "I know you're nervous, Nully..but it's okay. They're nothing like the jerks back in Alola who used to pick on us. They're my friends. You can trust them, I promise."

Nodding its head, it relaxed its haunches as it cautiously stepped away from your side, gazing at the trio and seeing their smiles, too.

They weren't looks of pity.

They seemed genuinely thrilled to meet it.

It stood there for some time, taking in everything you've said to it and thinking about how far it's come since you rescued it that fateful day.

Somehow, it knew it was always meant to be your companion--from the very moment you held it as it cried in the Pokémon Center, reassuring it that it's not a monster, but a sweet creature worthy of love and care.

Ever since then, your friendship has grew...and now it feels stronger, willing to put its life on the line for you if need be. Even though most of its powers have been concealed, it didn't feel like some weak and helpless lab experiment.

Oh no.

It was far from that now.

Thanks to your bond, it felt unbelievably strong.

So much so that....the normal-type realized an extraordinary change was imminent.

And you were about to witness it.

"Look! Nully's glowing, [y/n]!" Nemona pointed, her eyes widening as your companion was basked in a familiar light. "Is it evolving???"

"Oh my god...I think so." You gasped, never realizing the possibility of it evolving, but you're now certain that friendship is what triggered it at last.

The most noticeable thing were the cracks that started appearing all over its helmet, pieces of what you assumed was indestructible alien material falling apart. Nully shook its head vigorously, trying to get rid of it as much as possible.

Then it turned its attention to a nearby boulder, letting out a cry before performing a move similar to a Headbutt, ramming into it and letting the rock shatter the helmet completely.

At last, it was free.

When the glow faded, you and your friends gazed in awe as Nully looked back at all of you.

With its mask finally gone, what lied underneath it was a beautiful creature made of both nature and machine, with a beaklike mouth that smiled proudly.

"Nully...?" You murmured, stepping closer.

"Ally." It chirped, walking up to greet you.

Tears began forming in your eyes as your grin widened. "I can't believe it...friendship was all it took to-"

Suddenly, your rotomphone decided to ruin the sweet moment by flying out of your pocket.

It displayed a new entry in your Pokedex, and you grabbed it to read what it had to say, while Arven, Penny, and Nemona checked their own phones.

"I see, you're Silvally now." You gazed back up at Null--Silvally, watching it bow its head respectfully. With a small laugh, you mimicked the gesture, before petting it lovingly as you sighed. "Wow..."

You noticed one of the metal bolts on its face open up like a CD player, indicating that something had to go in there-

"Wait.." Remembering the memory discs, you took one out and held it up. "Do you want me to use this?"

Silvally nodded, although before you could do anything, Arven interjected.

"Hold on, which memory is that?"

"The Dark Memory. It probably just changes its type, but I believe this represents all the pain Silvally had to endure while being trapped in that mask, not knowing what it did wrong or why people shunned it for simply existing." You placed a gentle hand under your companion's jaw. "But now I think it's ready to turn that painful memory into power. So let's see what happens.."

"Silllllv!"

Carefully inserting the disc into the open slot, you watched as it closed up. Then you stepped back, seeing the colors and spikes on its body turn smoky black.

Even its eyes changed, and when they opened they looked even more menacing than ever.

And they stared directly at you.

With a low growl, it crept closer to you, while your friends held back..tense and worried that the pokedex entries were correct: this wasn't something you could so easily control.

There was probably a very good reason for the mask-

Yet any hostility Silvally seemingly expressed disappeared, as it smiled and licked your cheek affectionately, causing you to laugh once more. "Hey, that tickles! C'mere you!"

Hugging its neck, you grinned as you received even more kisses, hearing it purr with happiness. You petted its feathery crest, relieved that it completely trusted you now.

"Wow..it's way cooler than Arceus!" Nemona laughed. "Do you think I can battle it-??"

Silvally just shot her a wary look, and she immediately fell silent, a nervous smile on her face. "Haha, you're right. Not yet. But I swear we're gonna have an epic battle one day!"

"Yeah, one day. But for now, I have something special for this big guy."

"Sill?"

You managed to regain its full attention with a simple yet supereffective move of your very own:

It's called "chin scritches", something that none of your other Pokémon could resist receiving.

The mask obviously made it difficult for Silvally to receive proper affection back then...and you vowed to find a way to break it so you can do just that.

Now it was free of that awful and heavy thing, having a brand new life to look forward to: battles, friendships with other Pokémon, and more.

Even better?

Your three closest friends in all of Paldea were here to witness its evolution--a sign that despite all the odds...your bond was unbreakable.

#clanask #anonymous #pokemon x reader #pokemon scarvi x reader #pokemon scarlet x reader #pokemon violet x reader #pokemon nemona #pokemon nemona x reader #pokemon penny #pokemon penny x reader #pokemon arven #pokemon arven x reader #nemona x reader #penny x reader #arven x reader #type null #silvally

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luna-rainbow · 12 days

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Allow me to present the defense case for Peggy Carter.

I don't mean the PC who is in What If BTW. I don't know who she is, but she's not Peggy. I mean the original version from 2011-2014, especially from recently re-watching The First Avenger.

Peggy comes off as being very aloof, detached and rather condascending at times. I argue that's because she had to be. Its very hard for women in the armed forces even today- but back in the 1940s it would have been even more difficult for a woman to hold her own in a male dominated context like the army. She'd have had to worked many times harder to prove herself and to gain the respect which her male counterparts took for granted purely by virtue of their gender and rank. If she showed any kind of emotional vulnerability or it seemed like she didn't know what she was doing, the men would have pounced on it and taken it as "evidence" she was just a weak and feeble woman who didn't belong in "thier" world. Even then... we still see people being insubordinate and talking down to her. When she punched that soldier who was making lewd remarks (can't remember his name) I don't see her being a bully. I see a woman having to deal with the type of casual sexism she probably experienced on a daily basis. When men who were far below her in rank treated her with contempt or just saw her as a sex object. No way that soldier would *ever* have spoken to a senior ranking male like that... She was also dealing with it in a very masculine way. Like another soldier would. In regards to Steve: again I don't think Peggy is ever intentionally mean or cruel to him. Yes, she's sassy and snarky, but I think she had to learn to be like that to hold her own among men. Her interactions with him in the movie are actually quite positive overall: she smiles when he uses his ingenuity and jumps on a dummy grenade, she doesn't talk about how weak he was she views him as a proper soldier when a lot of others don't: including Colonel Phillips. Even after the Serum Philips just sees him as some glorified performer whereas she trusts his judgement: reluctantly at first but willingly afterwards.

For his own part, Steve never talks down to her or views her as inferior. He was probably one of first men who did that only after Howard Stark perhaps.

When she said that Bucky was probably dead: again I don't think she was being uncaring. That line came after just after saying the 107th had been through "more than most" upon seeing an ambulance bringing an injured soldier back from the front. It seems to me she didn't want to see *another* man die in what she had every reason to think was a suicide mission. I mean, its very likely she'd lost friends before, maybe even had family members killed. Besides of which, she ended up helping Steve go on that rescue mission by persauding Howard to drop him near the HYDRA facility on his plane. Then didn't apologize for her actions afterwards even though Colonel Philipps basically threatened to basically demote her.

Finally, that scene where she fires her gun at Steve's shield: again I don't see that as bullying. When he kissed that other woman (*who did it very deliberately in front of Peggy*) it was quite obviously an attempt to make her jealous. (Not on Steve's part, but the other woman). I think in that moment she felt betrayed, because she believed Steve was different to the other men she encountered. Men who just saw her as a conquest or an airhead. She thought he was behaving "just like the other soldiers"- i.e treating women as objects, and she had an emotional reaction. She was actually wrong, but that proves she's flawed. She's human after all!

So yeah, Peggy in The First Avenger is great. She's sassy and snarky but she does seem to genuinely care for Steve as well. I see them as having a lot in common: both people who struggle to be accepted by others but find their place eventually.

Okay, before I start, I want to say that I did like her mannerisms when I first saw CATFA, because I like no-nonsense female characters. However, movies!Peggy was not a fully formed character — just as movies!Bucky wasn’t. One was the token love interest, the other was the token best friend. Hence, there are specific traits embedded in Peggy’s characterisation, or rather her story roles, that are factors of a male author writing a female love interest for a genre about macho superhero men. Which in itself is a product of the misogynistic nature of 2010 MCU.

Firstly, she’s never actually had her rank or her professional role specified. She introduced herself as an “agent supervising all operations of this division”, but all she does is hover around Howard and Philips in their offices. She’s not on the battlefield with Steve (no matter how her own series tried to rewrite it). She’s not in the field acting as a spy/agent. We are told she’s important, because somehow as an agent she’s giving orders to military trainees — a weird role but we can give her that suspension of disbelief — but we are never shown her doing anything important to contribute to war efforts. More than this being Peggy is a useless person, it’s a symptom of the writer not knowing how to handle a female professional in WW2, to the point of calling her an agent but having her both being in the science division and giving military trainee orders but hanging around looking like a secretary. And why exactly could Philips threaten to demote her? Who does she even work for? He could demote her if she’s military but she’s not. So it’s never clear that those soldiers are her subordinates, because they’re not. She’s not in the chain of command! And so why should they respect someone who’s not in their chain of command telling them that she’s going to give orders? She does have to earn it.

You and I remember that kissing scene very differently. Firstly, Lorraine pulled him into a kiss, Steve didn’t kiss her. We need to get the instigator clear here. We can debate how much of a willing participant Steve was, because that scene can be read anywhere from “Steve was unsure at first but then started to enjoy it” to “Steve was in shock the whole time and his hands came up to push her away”. Secondly, there’s no suggestion that either Lorraine or Steve knew Peggy was within watching distance, so I don’t agree with the interpretation that anyone did it to make Peggy jealous. Thirdly, Peggy and Steve were not an item at that stage, so it’s rather presumptuous of her to “feel betrayed”. What did he betray? He said he was waiting for the right partner, he didn’t say the right partner was her. She’s the one who’s taken it upon herself to demand his faithfulness. He never indicated he was happy to enter into that social contract. Fourthly, you’ve acknowledged that her emotional response to another woman kissing Steve was “flawed”, but object to that violent retaliation being called “bullying”. So let’s call it for what it is: unprofessional, unethical, unromantic, and bloody unhinged.

I’m sorry, there is no possible justification for discharging a gun at a man (and specifically in this case a man who is not in a relationship with you) over a kiss in an enclosed space at work where other bystanders could get injured.

But you know what? That scene is another symptom of male writers not knowing how to write a strong female love interest. In 2010 everyone knew it would be bad form if a man hit a woman for being kissed by another man, but violent anger from a woman directed at a man? That was seen as cute and funny and sweet. And that view exists because of the infantilisation of women. Female anger is seen as “not that hurtful” and “not that important”, dismissed as a momentary “emotional outburst” because women are prone to emotional outbursts, it’s a womanly thing to suddenly lose grip on logic over a jilted love. Where in a man that emotional volatility and violence would be a major character flaw that would turn him into a villain, in a woman that’s…cute and harmless.

So you know, Peggy was at the same level of neglect that Bucky-with-two-birthdates was. She was not a character they cared enough about to even give her a proper professional role in the army. She’s there because the movie needed a love interest. She’s there to show how unwanted Steve was before the serum, and how desirable he became after the serum. She appears, every now and then, to remind the audience she exists, but never in a way that directly affects the plot. @amarriageoftrueminds has multiple excellent metas explaining why the story could have proceeded without Peggy being present. She’s a character we are continuously told is important, but the narrative gives her only counselling type dialogues, and while those conversations are placed at narratively important milestones, none of her suggestions make any sway on Steve’s original plans before he started talking to her, making her someone who has minimal impact on Steve’s arc and on the story as a whole.

#anti peggy carter #asks

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madisonwritesstuff · 8 months

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Hi!!! This is my first time ever requesting here on tumblr lol and I managed to stumble across your fic about Hannibal and Muslim reader! It was nice to read a fic about it since there’s so little fics with Muslim readers 😭😭 anyway, I was wondering if you could write another one with Muslim reader, but this time she DOES wear the hijab and how Hannibal and maybe Will might react to her being a doctor and agent while being maybe 28 or so. (You don’t have to separate it into two, maybe jsut one about them being friends (like a trio) and if they’d be curious about her religion and what not)

Thank you so much and hope your having an amazing week 🤧🤧

★ ; she deserves it. -------------------

Hannibal Lecter x Fem! Reader x Will Graham.

I hope this is an accurate representation of muslims! lmk if smth is off and have fun reading :3

Tags ; Fluff, besties with will n hanni, trio goals, islamophobia tw, platonically protective hannibal n will :3, subtle hints at hannibal being the chesapeake ripper, yandere-ish will and hanni, but mostly it's supposed to be platonic 💀.

You fixed your hijab and made sure your hair was neatly tucked underneath, before exiting the women's bathroom and making your way to your patients ward.

He had called you there earlier with a few other people to interrogate one of the rippers victims, and one of your patients. Somehow she had survived, while on the brink of death you were able to resuscitate her.

You walked into the ward, it was a private ward specialised for Jessie herself, which was your patients name.

Will and Hannibal seemed to turn around at the same time at the sound of the door opening, you gave them both a faint smile as you walked up to them both. “How is she?”

“Unconscious.” Hannibal spoke up. “But didn't one of the nurses say she woke up from her coma over a week ago?” Will spoke up, looking between Hannibal and you.

“Yeah no, she did wake up. She's probably just asleep. Which is also weird since that's not up to her sleep schedule. I've been documenting.” You mentioned, right then she started stirring awake.

“Speak of the devil.” Hannibal mumbled as you three watched her open her eyes and blink a few times before sitting up and staring at you three. “Who...?” She spoke up. “Jessie Freeman, right? I'm Y/N L/N, your assigned doctor. This is Will Graham, an FBI agent. And Hannibal Lecter.” I spoke up, motioning to them. Will gave a little wave while Hannibal nodded his head in acknowledgement.

“You're... My assigned doctor?” She spoke up scanning you up and down. “Yes, I assure you I'm the most skilled doctor in the facility.“ You smiled, trying to ease her worries. “No I'm not worried about that it's just... You're...” She trailed off, staring at you.

You were confused as to what she was talking about, but Will caught on, looking over at Hannibal who gave him a look which said „Did she really just say that?„ And Will shrugged back, raising an eyebrow as he stared at Jessie.

“I'm what? I'm sorry if you could clarify it would be a great help.” You smiled politely, trying to be as kind and understanding as possible. “You're a Muslim, aren't you? Look, I don't mean to be rude but I'm really uncomfortable around your kind of people and would just appreciate it if you could assign me a new doctor?”

You stared at her in shock and Hannibal almost regretted not finishing her off earlier. But he'd have more of a reason to now.

You were silent for a second. “Excuse me?” You raised an eyebrow. “You heard me clearly Dr. L/N. I don't like that thing you wear on your head either, it makes you look stupid.” You stared at her with wide eyes, not expecting her to insult you that far. “If you want to be a true woman at least take that stupid towel off your head.”

You walked up to her in fury. “Listen to me, you have no right to speak to me like that. If I wanted to I literally could cut off your life support. You're an incompetent being that has no brain and thoughts other than to insult people who have done NOTHING to you!” You yelled at her in anger, she was surprised to see you arguing back. “Well- I-i Fuck you! You're a terrorist! You're arguing like one too! How dare you threaten to kill me! You murderer!” She screamed and lunged at you, ripping your hijab off.

“Alright, that's enough.” Will spoke up before punching her square in the face, hard enough to knock her out. You were too horrified by the fact this woman just took your hijab off infront of two men to even think about yelling at Will about what he just did. You felt tears swell up as you hurriedly grabbed the scarf from the ground and covered your head, sniffling. Hannibal and Will immediately noticed and turned around, simultaneously.

After you were done you let out a sob. “I... I can't believe she did that.” You whispered, which prompted Hannibal to walk over to you and hug you, letting you sob into his shoulder as he pat your back in a soothing motion. “It's alright. It wasn't your fault. Some people are just born to be... Rude. Rude people get dealt with sooner or later.” He spoke as he stared at the blood seeping from Jessie's nose.

“Hey, if it makes you feel any better I promise I didn't see anything, but I wasn't expecting that either.” Will spoke up tried to comfort you while you sniffled. “Sniff, thanks for um, turning around when I was fixing my hijab. I'm- I'm sorry about crying I just-”

“Hey hey hey, there's no need to apologize, if anyone has to apologize it should be her, not you. Alright? None of this was your fault, you can't blame yourself for crying.” Will retorted, and now it was his turn to hug you.

“I think you should go home now.” Hannibal spoke up from behind. “Will, take her home, I need to stay behind.” He spoke as he glanced at Jessie's unconscious body.

“Alright, you alright now Y/N?” Will asked with a worried expression. “Yeah I'm- I'm alright now, I just wanna go home.” You spoke up with a faint smile. Will escorted you outside the ward.

———

“-Jessie Freeman, found dead in her hospital bed. Investigators say she was cut open while still conscious and burned to death whie still being conscious.”

You stared at the news on the TV in shock, you couldn't save a ripper victim after all. But was it such a bad thing? She deserved it.

No, what are you even thinking about? She was still a living being. Going through that was worse than what you went. Was it? It doesn't matter.

What matters is that she's gone, whether she leaves alive or dead.

But are you happy with that outcome?

#platonic relationships #hannibal nbc #nbc hannibal #fem reader #female reader #will graham x reader #hannibal lecter #hannibal lecter x reader #will graham #will graham x fem reader #hannibal lecter x fem reader #hannibal lecter x reader x will graham #will graham x reader x hannibal lecter #hannibal x reader x will #will x reader x hannibal

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trans-luis-serra-navarro · 3 months

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I remember there was a headcanon about Luis attending a school that had secret connections with Umbrella. Now I can't help but think if Leon and Luis have a kid, they would do extensive background checks on schools their kid would attend, because they'll want to make sure none of those schools were associated with Umbrella/have ties to corrupt companies/organizations.

Thank you so much for sending in an ask!!!!!!! But yesyesyesyesyes I know the headcannon you’re talking about!!!!!! From memory I think either @geddy-leesbian or @hamartia-grander made some pretty extensive posts going into this idea??? Either way its really fascinating to think about!!!!

For those of you who don’t know, the headcannon/theory basically revolves around the fact that Luis was able to graduate school seemingly pretty quickly/was considered a ‘child prodigy’, and that in-universe theres a few characters who attended schools created specifically by Umbrella to essentially indoctrinate them; one of the most notable being the Umbrella Executive Training School that William and Wesker attended.

Umbrella has a few random facilities like this (like the Rockford Prison) And considering the fact that Europe seemed to be a relatively big hub for Umbrella, it DEFINITELY wouldn’t be much of a stretch to say that they’d have a similar school with the intent of training/indoctrinating ‘child prodigies’ to work for them in the future, and it’d be even less pf a stretch to assume that Luis, who came from a VERY sheltered religious background, would be a very easy subject to pick (cuz! yippee!! capitalist grooming am i right or am i right!!) It’d also absolutely lend a hand to why Luis grabbed as many items as he could and just BOOKED IT immediately after finding out what their plans for Nemesis REALLY were (I could talk about that part of his life/that realisation for HOURS oh my GOD)

EDIT I FORGOT TO ADD: Umbrella on some level does work quite like a cult. I’ll link a post that does a MUCH better job explaining it than I could in the replies of this post, but creating facilities for the sole purpose of indoctrinating already vulnerable young people into being on board with your project and isolating them from friends and family is like. Cult behaviour 101 BFNEHENDJDJ which is VERY painful to think about how Luis got roped into cults THREE times. Valdelobos before Saddler showed up wasn’t EXPLICITLY a cult, but considering it was isolated from modern society and heavily Catholic theres a strong argument to be made- then of course theres Umbrella- then of course he was blackmailed into working with Los Illuminados. I’ll make a post going deeper into that SOMEDAY, but like,,,, just the tragedy of his life being one big cycle he cant break is just. So devastating man are you KIDDING ME

I’m not like. SUUUUUPER knowledgeable on super obscure lore stuff like locations/facilities etc, so if you have a question about that specifically @highball66 would probably be a better person to ask!!!!

But again we know like. NOTHING about the inbetween time between Luis running away from Valdelobos as a child and him popping up as one of Umbrella’s top scientists other than the fact that he was a child prodigy and he excelled in college- hell even the dates/ages get kinda wonky at times BHFNEHENEUDNSIS but also this is Resident Evil where things get wonky a lot of the time so!!! Eh!!!!!!!

I have my own personal theory on what he did during that time inbetween I would be SO MORE THAN HAPPY to ramble about HDNEHENDJDN

BUT TO THE POINT OF YOUR QUESTION!!! YES!!!!!!!! ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!!!!! Plus just in general with Leon having a lot more enemies than friends, doing background checks on teachers or whatever would probably seem like paranoia to an outsider but to them?????? Nah you can NEVER be safe. Plus Leon’s like, a government agent- he obviously doesn’t have a TON of autonomy but I can imagine he at least has SOME power to dig up information on people. AND, the both of them literally went through hell and back to save Ashley, who was kidnapped right under the presidents nose- So like!! Hell yeah they’d be paranoid abt where their kids going man!!!!!!!! Rightfully so I think!!!

#again thank you so much for the ask!!!!!! sorry if its all over the show FHENHDDNCJX #and if ive gotten any facts wrong please feel free to correct me!!#luisposting #asks #ask #serennedy #luis serra #luis serra navarro #luis sera #leon kennedy #leon s kennedy

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stevenbasic · 10 months

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GITJ Post 332: A Saturday at Melissa's, p7 (5pm, Shanette)

”So,” I started, after an early hug hello in the middle of the mall, like, center-hallway-thing, “tell me about the TV station. You were there a long time.” Melissa of course looked great, all gussied-up and professional in a short purple dress.

“Omigod yes Shanette,” Missy agreed, stepping back and throwing her long dark hair over her shoulder as we started walking. We were headed first to Hera’s, where she wanted to pick up some new clothes for Dr. J. “After I thought I was done they got a call, and they needed to do more photos.”

“Huh well that’s cool,” I said, feeling myself fall naturally into the hot-girl strut I always used in public, “it’s kinda like you being a model again.”

“Yeah kinda,” she replied, glancing over at some guy trying to be sneaky and snapping a picture of us. It was weird, now, sometimes, being out in crowds like this. I mean, me and my boobs always got looks. I get it. I’m tall, I’ve been big up top since high school, I’ve got the legs. Missy the same, even more - people were always looking at her, ‘cuz she was so pretty and built, and tall too. But now, crap. I’m 6’1” now - 6’5” in these heels - and she was like a fucking giant. We, the two of us, walking side by side down the mall, like, hallway thing, towered over everybody. I get it, we stuck out. But these people - well, the guys - they fucking stared. They stopped what they were doing to just look. It was like a hush came over wherever we walked and though we pretended to ignore it it’s like, wow. Some guys followed us, some trying not to be noticed, some not caring at all. Things are different these days, for sure. Guys were different. And that’s why we’re here…

So, anyway. Missy continued to tell me about her day, as the crowd around us just kinda parted and let us walk, like I said the heads were all turning. I knew the Channel 5 people - which, I hear, is like all girls-in-charge now - wanted to do a story about the grand opening of the new wings in the office. That was coming soon; I was just there today in the new clinic for guys and it’s wow so beautiful. And they wanted my help! In setting up some stuff in the new clinic where I’ll be working. But I guess they also wanted to do a whole profile thing about her. They want to talk to her about her career, film her in the gym. Yeah, it was all timed for when some of the new products came out. Some marketing thing, probably. She was like the ideal woman for this new, like, age.

“I’m so proud of you!” I told her as we got to the department store. I was! I was proud of her! We’d been friends forever. We were even roommates for a while until the doctors at Evolution wanted her to move out of our rented brownstone in the city and into the facility with them - that was a couple years ago, now. It had been a nice enough little place they set up, part of the clinic there, deep in the building I guess. It looked like a real apartment if you didn’t look too hard, she’d said. But I’d never been there; she hadn’t been allowed to have visitors. They kept close tabs on her, and I knew they were, like, studying her. She never really complained, at least to me, until recently. Since she started dating Dr. J she began to get frustrated, like they were looking over her shoulder all the time. She wanted some more freedom, some more privacy, and when her mom left the house for some travels she took the chance to tell them she was moving out, into her mom’s place. They didn’t like that, I guess, but good for her! Missy has been too nice in the past, always doing what other people told her. It’s good she put her foot down, and when the new apartments for us were ready over the office we’d all move in there like one big, happy, big-boobie family.

“You’re so beautiful…” someone said, a medium, nervous guy with an old fishing hat, as we passed him on the escalator. He was looking at Missy, of course.

“Oh thank you!” she sang, flashing him a brilliant smile over her shoulder as we rose up above him, him on the moving stairs going down. She didn’t seem to pay it much mind - we went right back to chatting - but it was, like, a reminder of just how simpy men were getting. It’d only been a few days since the election-thing, but everyone was saying it’s different already, even just since then. Guys just seemed, I dunno…smaller. Sillier. Less important. And more, like…timid and scared but also more, I dunno…eager. To show how much they liked us. I don’t know if Missy even realized it but if she called out, right here in the mall, and wanted them all to, like, do something - sing her name, give her money, maybe even haha get on their knees - I’m pretty sure a lot of them would do it. In fact I said something to one guy that was really staring at us, once we got to the top of the escalator and into the “Young Men’s” section, where we were headed. I told him to ‘get out of the way of your goddess’ and he actually said ‘yes ma’am’ back to me.

So freakin’ funny.

Anyway, Melissa had been telling me about her feelings for Dr. J. She was really in love, but she worried about him. “I mean,” she’d said, “I really, really like being the dominant one in the relationship, and I am...”

I agreed with her, she was. For sure. She was a stronger personality, and absolutely she was physically stronger than him. By like, a lot haha. I’ve seen this girl lift up a couch recently.

“...but more than just being his, like, what do you call it..?”

“Superior?”

“Yeah…more than that, I want to be his protector. The world’s getting weird for men, and he’s…needy.”

“Yeah he is,” I agreed, “and things might get tough for guys like him.”

“And I mean, of course I want to be the boss,” she giggled, “but I also want to be, like…”

“Like a superhero for him?”

“Omigod yes,” she said, as we started browsing the racks. We we’re like that; we knew what one another were thinking, lots of times. Like sisters.

“Here check these out,” I offered, showing her a section of decent choices. She was looking for grey khakis for him, some that would fit. He’d probably need a size 12, she said.

“Yeah it’s funny you say that,” she said, “We’ve been talking about it recently, him and me, him needing me, and already I can feel my body changing. In different ways than before…”

Ok. Let me tell you a little bit about Missy. Some of this you probably already know. She has a way - she always had, ever since I met her when she moved into town in high school - of getting what she needs. Of becoming what she needs. Math classes were tough? No problem, bigger boobs help get better grades. Needed to move up at that job, when the boss was an ass-man? Easy. Boom. Ten more pounds where it counts. Wanted your friends to be as hot as you so you could all hang out and torture boys? Done, bingo. I tell you, maybe it was just luck but it seemed like she had a way of changing herself and everything around her so she would succeed and get what she wanted. “The Missy Effect” we called it. She’d just laugh when we asked her about it, lament that she still couldn’t spell, but I swear to god it was real.

“How do you like these?” she asked, holding up a pair of pants for me to approve.

“They look like little boy pants,” I giggled, making her giggle too.

“Maybe I should get a couple, in a few colors?”

“Hm maybe but you don’t want to get too many, in case he, y’know…”

…keeps getting smaller, we both knew. Like sisters.

“Yeah maybe these and just one more, in tan.”

But anyway, she kept telling me about Dr. J.

“So we had our date night, last night,” she continued, two pairs over her arm as we moved over towards the sweaters. The girls had been calling it ‘Boob Night’ once they heard her plans, which also made her laugh. “And it kinda showed me that I want to move our relationship to, like, the next phase…”

And that’s where I come in. Shanette Stevens: ‘Professional MommyGF’ haha.

She looked at me, and I chuckled. “Let me tell you how it’s going with Scottie,” I said, as we started circling the mannequins with their cute little sweaters. It was getting chilly, being November, and the winter stuff was all out. There were two guys watching us from behind some racks but we just pretended they weren’t there.

“I’m so happy you two are dating..!” she said, smiling, those brilliant green eyes of her sparkling. I love her so much.

“Yeah yeah, yeah…” I agreed. Scottie…Scott Hempsted, Scottie-Two-Times…was a guy, a guy friend of ours, mine and Missy’s, since way back in high school. I always thought he was cute in a goofy yellow-lab kinda way, and I knew he had the hots for Missy (like everybody else). Anyway years, now, out of high school we still all hung out once in a while, and he and I had finally started dating. I had a few conditions for him, haha, of course. For one, he couldn’t just use me to try to get to Missy. It wouldn’t work and I’d kill him. And second, I wanted him to be my baby.

“Oooo this one’s nice,” Missy exclaimed, finding the perfect blue-and-white-striped crewneck, in a boys’ large.

“That is nice,” I agreed.

The feelings had been strong, for a while, and since I started working again with Missy they’d suddenly gotten stronger still. I wanted a man to spoil and dwarf with affection, I wanted a boy to baby. These were getting common, these urges, in a lot of girls, and these big boobs of mine wanted to be put to good use…and as they got bigger they got harder to ignore. It sounds funny maybe but overwhelming a guy with cooking and cleaning and putting his head in your lap when he’s tired or sad or scared was just damn hot. I told Scottie I wanted to be his Mommy Girlfriend, and haha I can still see his face when his jaw dropped. He started shaking and nearly passed out. Boys liked that idea too, these days. A lot.

Missy knew what we’d been doing, together, mostly, Scottie and me. She and I shared that sort of thing. She knew that our favorite sex toy as a couple, for real, was a baby bottle.

And now I think she was looking for advice.

”Okay, so,” I started again, after Missy added the blue sweater to the pile. I’d dropped my voice a bit, so those guys who were still staring at us couldn’t hear. “I spent the whole day with Katarina,” I said, “She told me some crazy shit. Did you know there are places, not here in America but like in the world, like colonies, new colonies, where the guys are all, like, small.”

“Small?” Missy asked, maybe a little confused. She was looking through some sweater vests that, yes, would have been adorable on him.

“Like, made small. Smaller,” I clarified, “Shrunk. Like almost made into babies. Ooo - get that argyle one!” Missy smiled as she’d already decided on it. Blue argyle - so cute! Anyway, I continued with what Katarina had told me. “And the women, the women in these places are all, like, their moms. Or, like, become their moms, their mommies. They all live together in these, like, yeah…little colonies.”

“omigod,” Missy said, eyes wide, picturing it.

I paused for a second, making sure for sure that we weren’t being overheard: “Katarina asked if I wanted to visit one,” I whispered, “That maybe I could take Scottie…”

“Omigod Shanettttttte I can’t even,” she said, not worrying about lowering her voice in the least, “I’m going to soak through my panties for you.”

Just then, a crash from behind a nearby rack. The guys had been listening, or trying to. One of them was now, their cover blown, running away. The other stood frozen.

“That’s right, run, little man,” I called out, after the one who’d bolted. Then I turned to his friend. “And you too, twerpo. Or we might just sit on you.”

That got Missy laughing, and I laughed too as they now both fled away from the big, mean ladies.

“So your first step,” I started again, as we got back to our conversation and started looking for socks for him, “is to show him how nice it can be to be with a girl with, like, strong maternal instincts. With a maternal woman.”

“I think I can do that,” Melissa giggled, pressing out her twin KK (or whatever they were today) cannons. They seriously looked huger every day, and threatened to burst out of the simple, conservative, wine-colored dress she’d worn to her interview. “These are just full of maternal instincts..!”

“Haha yeah those’ll definitely help,” I laughed, seeing that we maybe had another admirer over by the shoes, another pimply, sweaty-faced stalker. “But even more than the boobs, there’s other stuff. And not just doing his laundry or arranging his drawers.”

“Such as..?” Missy lead, picking out some black dress socks, and then thinking again. The ones with stripes were cuter, I agreed.

“Do things for him. Like, you should be the one that calls in to order, like, pizza,” I said, taking the pants and the sweaters off her hands so she could grab more socks, “and any other thing that, like, implies someone making the call or taking care of a decision. Speak up for everything he´s too shy to say. He’ll appreciate it, and eventually he’ll come to depend on you for it.”

“Ooo I like that,” Missy agreed, eyes wide, “and I like these socks, too. How ‘bout you?”

“Ha, maybe a little much, at this point,” I said. Even Scottie wouldn’t agree to Sesame Street socks. Well, yet haha.

“What else?” she pressed.

“Well, how ‘bout…driving,” I started, “You do all the driving, right?”

“He doesn’t have a car, anymore,” she said, knowing I knew that of course.

“But does he ever, like, offer to drive you guys around, in your car, ask for the keys? Does he even want to drive anymore?”

“I dunno,” she answered, nodding, and moving over to the belts. She was considering the idea, for sure. “He doesn’t really ask…”

“He doesn’t ask to drive because the truth is he doesn’t want to drive,” I said, “He wants you to do it. Because he’s getting afraid of it.” I helped her pick out a nice brown belt for little waists. Reversible, too. “And soon, he won’t be able to do it anymore.”

“Yeah,” Missy agreed, biting her lower lip and staying quiet. But the sparkle in her eye when she glanced at me told me everything. She liked the idea, I could tell.

“And when you drive him, do you make sure he’s buckled in, all nice and safe?” I asked.

“I…I should, huh?”

“Well of course,” I smiled, “and buckle him in yourself, make sure it’s done right.” My own eyes were sparkling now, I could feel it, and I could see Missy picturing smooshing her boobs into him the way I do into Scottie when I buckle him in. I also kiss him on the forehead, and wrinkle my nose when I tell him he’s cute.

“He does like the tender stuff,” she said, “and he likes it when I take care of the things he knows he can´t. The mommy-girlfriend stuff.” There were some shoes that caught Missy’s eye, and we drifted that way. “But I know he also likes the bigger displays of my, like, power. How strong I am. When we’re, like, alone.”

I giggled, thinking of it, imagining what it must be like to be as strong as her and toss a guy around in the bedroom. She’d told me about the table, and pinning him to the wall, lifting and carrying him. “That’s okay,” I finally said, “you can do both. You can be his, like, Super Mommy.”

That made her laugh, but when she bent over to check out some little sneakers on a lower rack I saw our greasy little admirer from before glance her way. Her ass was way in the air, and he was staring.

“Getting a good look?” I snapped, immediately grabbing the guy's attention. His eyes went wide and as Missy stood up…and up…and up…now peering down at him, realizing what he’d been doing, he started to back away. He was maybe fifteen feet down the aisle, retreating.

“Yeah you’d better run,” she said, her voice suddenly bigger and deeper than I’d ever heard it, eyes on the squirrely little man as he kept taking steps backwards. I saw Melissa’s eyes flash, darkening, and then in a big voice which I swear to god made the overhead lights flicker and the whole room shake she boomed “RUN!” and the guy was literally knocked off his feet, blown backwards by the sonic power of her voice. Whether it was from him falling or just the strength of her, the racks rattled, shoes fell, and a “30% off boy’s shoes” sign across the aisle was blown clean over.

We both watched as the little man clambered to his feet, panicked, and ran away like a scared rabbit. A mannequin toppled over.

“Oh my god, Missy,” I breathed, finally able to speak, looking at her with new eyes. Did I see that right? What had she just done??

“Haha wow…” she said, her voice suddenly back to normal, but her smile with a weird curl, “…that’s new.”

==================================

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#growing into the job

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crystalninjaphoenix · 5 months

Text

The Infiltration

Switch AU

A JSE Fanfic

Totally forgot to queue this last night, but an hour late isn't too bad XD Anyway, it's time. Schneep and JJ try to infiltrate IRIS to find Jackie, along with some help from Rama. And yeah. They find him, but does everything go well? I don't know. You'll have to read to find out :)c This is 7000 words of stuff happening, so have fun!

More of This AU | | First Chapter | Previous Chapter

“I am still surprised Marvin didn’t want to come,” Schneep muttered, staring out the car window at the fields passing by.

JJ turned around in the passenger seat so he could sign for Schneep in the back. I know. He was so insistent on being included when we thought we’d need to rescue Anti. But I think he’s discovered something new with his cards.

“Ah. That is probably a good thing to explore then. Besides, his leg is still broken, yes?”

JJ grinned. It wasn’t going to stop him before.

“I’m going off-road now,” Rama said. Even though it was JJ’s car, they were driving so Jameson could concentrate on the tracking spell. “There is a chance IRIS will have people on the road, it is better to deal with the grass.”

If my tires get popped I’m billing you, JJ said jokingly.

Rama laughed, and then turned off the small road and onto the grass. The shift was immediate, from mostly-smooth to increasingly bumpy.

“We should probably stop out of view of the facility,” Schneep suggested. “One person walking up is much less noticeable than a car.”

Jameson nodded slowly. Are you sure about going in alone? I can help, and I’m sure Rama would like to, as well.

“I very much would like to help, but I know that I probably won’t be able to,” Rama admitted. “You two have magic and weird electricity powers. Meanwhile, I don’t remember the last time I picked up anything heavier than Michelle’s backpack. The most I can do is wait out here to drive you away once you’ve found Jackie. But I still think Jameson should go in, too.”

Schneep shook his head. “We need to be fast. I know what to expect, and Jameson does not. That little bit of delay could be deadly.”

If you insist, JJ said. But I do have something that might help. I’ll wait until we park to get it out.

It didn’t take long. Sparse trees were starting to show up on the fields, getting closer together. Until the car dipped over the crest of a slight hill and the IRIS facility came into view, right on the edge of a larger forest. Schneep leaned forward to get a better look at it. All he could really see from this distance was the high wall, stone brick with a couple guard towers. “Looks like a prison,” Rama muttered.

I think it was, once, JJ said. IRIS must have repurposed it.

“Alright, what is the thing you wanted to show me?” Schneep asked.

JJ reached into his pocket and pulled out a small glass ball. Not his black crystal ball, this one was clear, and a bit smaller than his fist. He passed it back to Schneep, who turned it over in his hands. When I went to the Magic Circle for help finding the facility, Persephone gave me this, JJ explained.

“What is it?” Schneep asked, examining it. There was some masking tape on its surface, with black marker reading BREAK ME. “I am supposed to break it? That will be difficult.”

It breaks easier than it should, JJ said. Magic and all that. This is a signal glass. Magician groups use them a lot, especially the Circle and the ABIM. When you break it, it sends out a pulse of magic attuned to one magician, telling them your location. Persephone helped me attune it to my magic. So if you get into trouble, smash the glass and I’ll be able to teleport right to you.

Rama raised an eyebrow. “You can teleport?”

JJ grimaced. I haven’t had too much practice... but if I know your location, it’ll help.

“Why did this friend of yours give it to you?” Schneep asked.

She knew what we were planning. JJ looked at Rama. If I teleport away, you need to drive right up to the wall. Save time on the escape.

Rama nodded. “We should agree on a place to break in, then.”

“Around the back,” Schneep said, pointing. “It is not blocked off by trees, so the car can get there easily. And there is bound to be a back entrance of some sort.”

“Well, I suppose that’s the best we can do from this distance,” Rama said. They turned back to look at Schneep. “And you’re sure about being on your own?”

“Yes, I am completely sure,” Schneep said, irritated. He looked down at the signal glass and softened a bit. “But... if I need help, I will call you. Please come quickly.”

Of course, JJ said, nodding firmly. Good luck. Try finding an office area. I... think he might be there...

“Bring Jackie back to us,” Rama added.

“I will.” Schneep opened the car door and stepped out. He closed it behind him and started towards the facility.

It was a fairly long walk. Gave him plenty of time to think about what to expect. Though he’d already been thinking about that on the drive out. Really, it just gave him more time to wonder what the hell he was doing. He was walking straight into the lions’ den! And the lions inside probably knew that he’d escaped once before and would be all too eager to pounce the second they noticed him. The fear of that had been driving him crazy all morning, a sick, jittery feeling in every one of his nerves. But he wasn’t about to leave someone else to the lions. Especially not his friend, and especially not when his friend didn’t even know they were lions in the first place.

He circled around the facility through the forest, getting a good look at the wall. It really did look like something out of the prison. The facility up north was the same way. Maybe JJ was right and they’d been converted from abandoned prisons. That probably meant it would be hard getting in or out.

But, as he expected, IRIS had a back way in. They were too careful to have only one entrance to a place. It was on the corner of the back wall, sort of near the forest but not close enough that the trees would be a problem. It looked like a simple metal door in the stone wall. But Schneep knew better. There would be cameras everywhere. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any defense against said cameras. So speed was key here. Get in, find Jackie, and get out before IRIS could mobilize. This was a big facility, surely it would take a while for them to coordinate all the guards they surely had.

There wasn’t much cover to speak of, so Schneep took a deep breath and ran right up to the metal door. Locked, of course. But Schneep was familiar with IRIS’s locks—and their fatal flaw. Though it was a flaw that only he could exploit. He reached up past the top of the doorframe and pushed his hand against the stone above the middle of the door. It felt like normal stone. Schneep took a deep breath and sent a shock into the cold surface. Instantly, the surface warmed, and a light above the door’s handle went from red to green.

Electronic locks—and the batteries were always above the door. Disconnected from the main power grid so they could still lock in case of a breach. A good idea... if the intruder trying to breach the facility didn’t control electricity. Schneep grinned a bit as he slipped through the door. Funny that IRIS had created something that could exploit this weakness of theirs.

Through the door was a short hallway—with two people inside. They wore black uniforms with the IRIS logo on the sleeve in white. Guards. They were relaxed until they noticed them. “Hey!” One shouted, while the other reached for their belt.

Schneep leapt forward, grabbing each of their arms. He sent an electric shock through their systems. Both of them cried out and then fell to the ground.

He continued down the short hallway and out a door, arriving in an open green space. The wall wasn’t right up against the actual buildings. He glanced around, seeing no one, and then bolted, sprinting across the grass for the nearest door. It was about 20 meters of stress, and then he was there. He did the same unlocking trick and hurried inside the building.

Inside was... surprisingly normal. It looked like any other office building out there, with undecorated white walls and cheap carpet. The fluorescent lights in the ceiling were a bit dim, but that was all, really.

Office building... Offices. JJ said that Jackie might be in the office area. Well, looked like he lucked out, then. Schneep’s eyes darted around—then dropped as he noticed a camera dangling from the ceiling.

They knew.

He made sure that his cloth mask was sure, and then ran down the hall.

There were doors on either side of the corridor. Most of them were locked, and Schneep didn’t have the time to try and open them. Some of them were labeled with little plaques on the door—boring stuff, like ‘Janitor’ or ‘Computer Storage’—but most of them simply had a little black number stamped on the wood. As Schneep ran, turning corners at random, going deeper and deeper into the facility, the numbers decreased. They’d been in the 120s back near the entrance. Now he was seeing 116, 115, 114, etc. Some of these were unlocked. And through each of the numbered doors was an identical office space. This was what he was looking for.

He kept going, luckily not seeing any guards as he ran. That did make him a bit uneasy. But that feeling changed when he tried door 107. It was unlocked. But unlike the other unlocked doors, it was not empty.

The office was dark, but Schneep could see inside well enough. Filing cabinets lined the wall, and there was a trash bin in the corner overflowing with crumpled paper, but the main furniture was the desk with the computer. The only light in the room came from the pair of monitors on its surface. Their blue and orange glow lit up the face of the man sitting there. A face that Schneep almost didn’t recognize. Until the man looked up from the monitors and saw him. He blinked. “Wh... what the hell?”

“Jackie,” Schneep breathed. He couldn’t say anything else; the wave of relief he felt was too overwhelming. So he simply hurried over.

“H-hey.” Jackie stood up—causing some more crumpled paper to fall to the floor—and reached into his pocket. “Don’t come any closer.”

Schneep stopped, taken aback. Was it the mask? He quickly pulled it down. “Jackie, i-it is me. I’m here to—”

“Is it really you?” Jackie’s eyes narrowed behind his glasses. His hair was a bit longer than it had been when Schneep last saw him, but not quite as long as it was before his disappearance. It just reached his chin, and was pulled into a half-up bun style.

“O-of course it is.” Schneep glanced back through the open doorway into the hallway. He quickly walked back over and started to close the door.

“Leave it,” Jackie said.

Schneep stopped. “Sorry.” He stepped away from the half-closed door. Jackie didn’t ask him to close it further. “I... I think I understand. The others—I-I was not there, of course, a-and I am so sorry for that, but the others said... you were worried about Distorter. Jackie, I promise you this is no trick. I am really here.”

“Why?” Jackie demanded. “If you’re really here, then why? A-and I can tell if you’re lying.”

Schneep didn’t doubt that. IRIS probably had that technology. He glanced around the room uneasily. There were no cameras in sight. But that didn’t make him feel better. “I... I came to see you,” he said slowly. “To... convince you to come back home.”

Jackie stared at him for a moment. He looked down. Schneep saw him take something out of his pocket and fiddle with it. He was tempted to step closer—the less time he spent here, the better—but he didn’t want to upset Jackie. After a moment, Jackie took a deep breath and looked back up at him. “Okay,” he said, nodding. “I believe you. And... you’re not Distorter?”

“No, I promise you, I am not,” Schneep said.

Jackie glanced down again. Back up. “What are you doing here?”

“I—Jackie, I just told you.” Schneep glanced back at the door. He really didn’t like being in sight of it, so he walked up to the desk. Jackie tensed but didn’t move away. “I need you to leave this place. W-we need to go now. There is not much time before they realize I am here—”

“Wait, did you break in?” Jackie laughed. “Why did I expect anything different? You know you can apply for a visitor’s pass, right? Or you could’ve called me. Anyone could have—”

“No, we could not,” Schneep interrupted. “Again, I was not there for this, but the others have been trying to reach you since you left. Rama has been trying to reach you!”

Jackie blinked. His faint smile disappeared. “They... have?”

“Of course they have!” Schneep said, exasperated. “You mean to say you haven’t heard from your friends—from your spouse—in weeks? And you did not think that was odd? Rama and Jameson are outside right now! They are so worried about you!”

“I’ve been busy...” Jackie said slowly. He put the item in his hands on the desk and started digging in the pockets of his coat. A white coat, with IRIS’s logo on the sleeve. It made Schneep sick to see his friend wearing the same uniform as the people who’d tormented him. He walked a bit closer, circling around the desk. “Hang on,” Jackie said, holding up his hand. Schneep stopped, waiting, as Jackie took out his cell phone and started looking through things. “I don’t see any missed calls or texts. Huh. Weird. Y’know, I’ve been wondering if we’re in a bit of a dead zone out here, the WiFi is surprisingly bad—”

“Jackie, can you shut the fuck up?!” Schneep suddenly snapped. “Why are you—Y-you are being so—Do you not realize—”

Jackie took a step back from Schneep, looking at him with both concern and wariness. “Calm down, Volt. It was a mistake. A misunderstanding. I’m fine, see?” He gave him a reassuring smile. “These guys are alright. They’re a bit intense with their security, but it’s understandable, really.” The smile disappeared. “I... should’ve tried to call everyone earlier. But when I got here, I wasn’t... good, mentally, not really in a state to even think about that. And the longer this has gone on the more I’ve wondered what I could even say. They made me sign this pretty intense NDA a-and I didn’t want to slip up and...” He let out a breath. “I was just scared. I... didn’t want anyone to think I was... abandoning them.”

“That... deserves a conversation,” Schneep said, “but this is not the time for one! Jackie, their cameras here are—They will know I’m here soon! If they don’t already! We have to go!”

“What? No!” Jackie shook his head. “Look, I’ll call C&C and explain everything to them, you’re not going to be in trouble—”

Schneep laughed hysterically. “Oh, Jackie, you do not even know!”

“What the fuck do you mean? Did you assault someone getting in here?”

“No, and that is not what I am speaking about!” Schneep walked closer to Jackie, who once again tensed but didn’t move away. His hand drifted to one of his pockets. “Jackie! Jackie, you say these people are ‘alright.’ They are not. They are the farthest thing from ‘alright.’ If you get security in here, it will not end well. Definitely not for me, and maybe not for you, either.”

Jackie didn’t say anything. He glanced at the computer monitors. Schneep followed his gaze, hoping that there wasn’t some ‘Call Security’ option on the screen. There wasn’t. Instead, both of the monitors displayed a strange, shifting spiral of blue, orange, and yellow light, an angular tunnel constantly coming closer to the screen. Some sort of screen saver, maybe. Jackie looked away from it and back at Schneep. “I... don’t know what you—”

“They are evil, Jackie,” Schneep said vehemently.

“Jeez. Schneep, no corporation is gonna be truly good, per se, but IRIS isn’t evil.” Jackie reached out slowly, gently pushing Schneep away from him.

“They are, Jackie.” Schneep grabbed Jackie’s wrist. Jackie’s eyes widened and he tried to tug his arm free. Only then did Schneep realize how tight he was squeezing. He immediately let go. “I-I am sorry. Did that... hurt?”

“Not too much,” Jackie said, flexing his hand. “Heh. Were you always that strong?”

“No.” Schneep took a deep breath. “And it is because of IRIS.”

Jackie looked at him, confused. “What? Wait, have you been here, too? But didn’t you break in—”

“I did not want to be here, Jackie!” Schneep grabbed Jackie by the shoulders—then backed away, remembering what just happened. “Jackie, I—They have done things to me, Jackie, things that cannot be undone.”

“I... what?” Jackie whispered. “Schneep, I’m sorry, I... don’t understand. IRIS wasn’t even in the area until a couple weeks ago, how could you have—”

“Jackie,” Schneep interrupted. He was shaking slightly, but he forced himself to be still. “Do you know about their office in Henshilling?”

“Huh? They don’t have a—”

“Of course you don’t.” Schneep laughed. “They would not tell you. Not too long after I left the city, I went there. I found them. People were going in that building, they were not coming out. I watched. Until I noticed two of their soldiers—because that is what they are, really—carrying out a long black bag in the dead of night, moving it to the incinerator. I knew I had to go in, then. So I did. A-and they saw me, Jackie. They saw me right away. They knew who I was. They said I-I had seen ALTR 53815, I did not know what that was, but they did not care.”

“What? No, you’ve never been in the house,” Jackie said. “They wouldn’t—even if this is true, they wouldn’t—”

“‘Even if this is true’?!” Schneep repeated incredulously. “Jackie, are you saying I am lying to you?!”

“No, I just—”

“I have never lied to you once, Jackie, you were the first I told about Von Voltage, you know I would tell you everything. And I assure you, I was on my medication.”

“I didn’t mean to say you weren’t,” Jackie said. “I just—If you were trespassing, of course they would interrogate you, and—and now that I’m thinking about it, with how much Distorter’s fucked with you, they would probably pick up traces of 53815 on you. But... you must’ve misunderstood what you saw. It probably looked like a body bag, but I bet it was something el—”

“You don’t know what they’ve done to me, Jackie!” Schneep screamed. He grabbed Jackie by the coat, pulling him closer. “Don’t you understand?! They cut me open, Jackie! They put things in there! I-I don’t even know what they were! I don’t know what is inside me, Jackie, a-and it’s—it’s fucking—I-I am sick just thinking about it! In my brain, Jackie! My hands, they—I-I could not control it for so long, I was hurting myself, and then they put something else in there and it no longer hurt at all.” Schneep gripped Jackie tighter. His vision was starting to blur as hot tears filled his eyes. “I-I do not—I remember it happening, once. Do you know what it is to lie there, when you cannot move, you cannot speak, you can only breathe and try to endure it a-as strangers tear the flesh above your spine and go poking around in there? No! Of course you don’t! A-and no one should, but I know—I know I was not the only one, there were other rooms down there, Jackie, a-and I had to leave them o-or I wouldn’t get out at all—Jackie, Jackie. Please, you cannot be one of them.” His knees felt weak. He let them collapse, falling to the floor, clinging tight to Jackie. “Please. Y-you are still my friend, right? You... I know you would not... do this. Right?”

Jackie was silent. Schneep didn’t look up at his face. Partly because he didn’t want to see his expression, partly because he didn’t want Jackie to see the tears flowing down his face. He closed his eyes, trying and failing to stifle the sobs that shook his body.

“...Henrik.” Jackie’s voice was quiet. He gently pulled Schneep’s hands away from him and knelt down so the two of them were level. “Are... you... okay?”

Schneep finally looked up. Jackie was... horrified. There was no other word for it. “No,” he whispered. “And it is because of IRIS. Please, Jackie, I-I am not lying to you. This is not a trick, this is not a mistake. They have made me into something else. They could do the same to you. Even if you think you are safe now.”

Jackie stared at him. He wrapped Schneep’s hands in both of his. “Can you... show me?”

“H-huh?”

“I believe you,” Jackie said gently. “But... i-it’s hard for me to... IRIS has been so... helpful. I can’t imagine... but I believe you. I just... I can’t... Those two things don’t work in my brain. So... can you show me?”

Schneep took a breath, slow and shuddering. “This may hurt.”

“Wha—ow!” Jackie jumped, instinctively yanking his hands away from Schneep’s. “You—oh.” He realized it quickly. Schneep was not wearing his gloves. That shock came from his bare hands. “Oh. Oh.” He covered his mouth, eyes wide, face pale. “Oh god. I—They—f-fucking hell, I—oh, god. Oh god.”

Schneep wiped his eyes. “Th-there is no time,” he said. And, unfortunately, he was right. As much as he wanted to sit on the floor and break down, he couldn’t. Somehow he knew they were coming. “Jackie, will you leave with me?”

“Y-yeah. Yeah, holy shit, o-of course!” Jackie scrambled to his feet. He reached down and pulled Schneep up, too.

“Good. Let’s—”

“Hang on, i-if I’m leaving—I’m probably not going to be allowed back here anyway, so—” Jackie began picking up things from the desk surface—mostly pieces of paper, but there was also that thing that was in his pocket earlier—and shoving them into the various pockets on his coat. “Volt, open this bottom drawer and grab the headsets inside.” He kicked the side of the desk, indicating a drawer.

“Okay.” This was no time to ask what Jackie meant. Schneep pulled open the heavy drawer. It was one of those large drawers meant for files, but inside this one there were only two things. He first thought they were a pair of sleeping masks—one white, the other black—but then realized they were more like VR headsets. Just much smaller and thinner than the ones he’d seen before. The part that went over the eyes was no thicker than a phone case, curved to fit the average shape of someone’s face. Schneep stopped only long enough to take in these basic details before scooping them up. “What are these?”

“They’re—uh—it’s like—So you know how sometimes in scifi movies or shows there are things that can view other people’s memories?”

Before Schneep could respond to that, the half-closed door to the office swung open, slamming against the opposite wall. A figure in a black uniform stood there, the IRIS logo in white on their sleeve, their face hidden by a helmet with a reflective visor. They raised their hand to the side of their head. “Intruder found in—”

“No!” Schneep lunged forward, vaulting straight over the desk, knocking down one of the monitors, and was in front of the figure in seconds. He grabbed their wrist in one hand and their shoulder in the other. An electric snap! sounded off and the person dropped to the floor.

“Holy shit!” Jackie stared at Schneep, mouth open in shock. “What just—Are they—”

“They’re fine,” Schneep said curtly, pulling his mask up again. He was experienced with electricity by now and knew how much would stun a person. “But they’re not alone.” Outside the room were two other black-uniformed security guards. They were turning towards the sound. “Let’s go!”

Jackie nodded. He scooped up the headsets from where Schneep dropped them and ran after him. “Guess we’re doing this now, then!”

“Of course we are,” Schneep said. “Stay behind me!”

“Hey!” The two guards ran towards Schneep and Jackie the moment they entered the hallway.

Schneep pushed Jackie back a little and ran right at the guards. Each of them took something from their belt, a long baton-like object, but Schneep wasn’t worried. He jumped out of the way as one swung a baton and then ducked as the other did the same. Then he grabbed their hand as it flew past him and shocked them. That guard dropped immediately. The other one smacked him in the shoulder, causing a similar snap! sound as Schneep’s electricity. It hurt, but didn’t do much else. Schneep grabbed the guard’s arm and stunned them as well.

“Holy shit,” Jackie breathed. “Th-that was—How did you—fast???”

“No time to talk,” Schneep said. “Remember that I am different. Now let’s go!”

“R-right.” Jackie nodded.

The two of them broke into a run. Schneep had to force himself from blazing down the hallway so that Jackie wouldn’t be left behind. He’d been athletic before, but now, it was so easy to move quickly, to lift and push heavy things. No, this wasn’t the time to reflect on this! He had to be sure he wasn’t losing Jackie!

The two of them ran down the halls of IRIS. Schneep remembered the way he’d come in and was heading back there. Jackie didn’t question his sense of direction, just following. As they turned a corner, they ran right into a group of more of those guards—C&C, as Jackie had called them. There were four. “Here!” one of them barked, pulling out another baton.

Jackie slowed down. Good. Schneep didn’t want him to get caught up in the fight. He kept running right at the guards, throwing a punch at the nearest one and knocking them down. Two others hit him with those batons, causing more electric snap!s, but he simply kept moving. He ducked down and swept one’s legs, stunning them after they landed. Then he rolled out of the way of the other three attacking and yanked one of them down to the ground. Another stun. He quickly stood before the last two could hit him while he was down and briefly backed up before jumping forward again, launching himself at the last two. As soon as they made contact, he stunned them.

“Holy shit,” Jackie whispered. He crouched down and checked on one of the stunned guards. Then, reluctantly, he took their baton. “I should probably take this, just in case, right?”

“Good idea.” Schneep nodded. “But do not stop!”

They continued to run. Two more squads of guards tried to stop them—five people, then seven—but neither of the fights lasted longer than a minute. Schneep wondered if he should be worried about that. If he should take a moment and see if he was killing any of them, like how Jackie was doing. But there was no time. They had to get out. There would be so many more guards in a facility of this size. If he had to fight twenty people, or even ten people... well, he doubted those odds. The frantic fear of thinking about what would happen if they got caught spurred him onward. He wasn’t going to go back, and he wasn’t going to drag Jackie down with him.

They were almost to the door where Schneep had broken in, when another group of guards came out of a door on the side of the hallway. Only three, but one of them was wearing a slightly different uniform, with white highlights against the black, and the two others were holding strange guns with long, square barrels. Almost like a taser. “The EX subject is taking a staff member with him,” said the one in the different uniform, putting his hand to the side of his head. “Permissions?”

Schneep growled. “Get out of our way!” He jumped at the two guards. One of them fired their strange gun, but Schneep dodged the projectile and went for the other one, stunning them. It looked as though these strange guns were similar to tasers in what they fired, too. A long, thin metal string trailed from the end of the projectile, connecting it back to the barrel of the gun. But unlike tasers, the projectile more resembled some sort of thin dart. The guard who’d fired the gun pressed a different button and the string disconnected from the barrel.

“Understood,” the man in the different uniform said, and reached for his belt.

Schneep glanced at him, but then noticed the remaining guard’s posture tense. He whirled back around and darted forward, wrapping his hand around their wrist and shocking them just as they fired the gun again. They gasped and dropped to the floor. Schneep turned back to the remaining guard and—

AAIIEEEAAIIEEEAAIIEEE!

—he screamed, clapping his hands over his ears. What was that sound?! Where was it—AAIIEEE!—coming from?! It sounded like it was right next to—AAIIEEE!—him. He could feel it in his teeth, in his eyes, in—AAIIEEE!—his very bones.

“Schneep!” Jackie gasped.

“Ja—” AAIIEEE! Schneep cried out, staggering backwards. He soon lost his balance and collapsed to—AAIIEEE!—the floor, feeling suddenly weak and shivery. Tears came to—AAIIEEE!—his eyes. He couldn’t think! He couldn’t move! That sound was—AAIIEEE!

“Don’t worry, sir,” the guard said, clearly looking at Jackie. “He’s not going to hurt you.”

“I-I-I didn’t think he—”

AAIIEEE! Schneep twitched, wanting to scream. The sound was still going. A continuous screech. He wanted to shout—AAIIEEE!—at the guard, demand to know what happened, but he couldn’t move. All—AAIIEEE!—he could manage was a weak whimper.

“Schneep, are you okay?!” Jackie started for Schneep, but the guard stepped in front of him, stopping him. “What—What did you do?”

“It’s a disabling signal.” The guard held up the device he’d taken from his belt. Schneep could only catch a glance of it from here, and bizarrely, he was reminded of a Gameboy. “All of the EX subjects are built with them.”

Schneep tried to get to his hands and knee—AAIIEEE!—s, but collapsed. ‘Built’? He wasn’t built. Fuck these g—AAIIEEE!—uys. The guard was still saying som—AAIIEEE!—ething to Jackie,, but Schneep couldn’t focus enough to hear it. It—AAIIEEE!—... it hurt... It hurt... so much...

Jackie’s eyes kept darting between Schneep and the guard. The guard finished talking, and he stood there, looking unsure. Then he slowly nodded. The guard relaxed slightly, saying something more as he turned around—and Jackie immediately shoved the point of the baton he’d grabbed into the guard’s back. SNAP! The guard instantly collapsed, a soot-black circle on the white of his uniform. Jackie let go of the baton and grabbed the strange device from the floor where the guard dropped it. He fumbled with it for a moment.

AAIIEEEAAIIEEEAAIIEEEAAIIEEEAAIIEEEAAI—The sound wasn’t stopping. The only thought passing through Schneep’s head was a directionless plea for it to stop hurting.

“Shit!” Jackie cursed. These buttons weren’t labeled! For all he knew, he was making it worse for Schneep, who was still lying on the ground. His eyes were rolling back in his head, tears flowing down his face. His body twitched occasionally, but other than that he was completely still. “Schneep, d-don’t worry, I-I’ll get you out of here!” Jackie stood up, grabbing Schneep. If he had to drag him out of here, he would!

Something rolled out of Schneep’s pocket and onto the floor. Jackie glanced down and saw a glass orb bump into his foot. He hesitated, then reached down and picked it up. There was some tape across its surface with black marker writing: BREAK ME.

...worth a shot, right?

Jackie threw the orb to the ground. It smashed immediately, even the tape disappearing, and a wave of bright blue light rippled out from the spot of impact. He’d know that shade of blue anywhere. Magic.

Suddenly, the hall was filled with blue smoke. Jackie coughed—more out of surprise than anything. And when the smoke disappeared, he saw JJ standing there, wearing his stage mask and looking ready to fight anything. He saw Jackie and Schneep immediately. His eyes flicked around the hall really fast to be sure no one was coming, then signed, What happened?

“I-I don’t—Sch-Schneep collapsed, they—there was a—something about a disabling signal?” Jackie stammered, just as shocked to see JJ as he was to see Schneep. But, thankfully, a lot more trusting. “Th-there’s this thing to control it, but I don’t—I don’t know how to—”

JJ nodded. You work on that, he signed, hands moving almost too fast to interpret. I’ll carry him. If we run into anyone I’m sure I can take care of them.

“Okay.” Jackie passed Schneep to JJ. He was still twitching slightly, breathing shakily. “Can you—how did you—”

Been practicing teleporting, JJ signed awkwardly. Don’t know if I can do it with others. So run!

“Right!” Jackie nodded. “I-I think Schneep was taking me to the side entrance. This way!” He started to run, trying to fumble with the device as he did.

They sprinted down the halls. Jackie knew them well by this point, so he didn’t need to fully concentrate on navigating them. What the hell was this device? Why was there a screen that wasn’t working? Why weren’t any of the buttons labeled? He was so focused on it that he almost didn’t notice when they turned the corner to the side entrance hallway. Almost.

The small space was absolutely crowded with C&C members. Most of them wore the standard black uniform, though Jackie could see a handful with that white-highlight outfit that the guard with the disabling signal had been wearing. He’d never seen that uniform before. Had there been people here with those outfits all this time? Why had he never seen them?

One of these new-uniformed guards raised a hand. “You are outnumbered,” she said. “Surrender peacefully and no harm will come to you.”

“Bullshit,” JJ spat, and Jackie’s head snapped to look at him. He’d never heard Jameson so angry before. He rarely heard JJ be angry at all, but the rage in his voice now... was only outmatched by the increasingly bright glow coming from his eyes.

Jackie’s own eyes widened and he scrambled backwards, giving Jameson space. Just in time, too. Jameson whistled sharply, and a flurry of bright blue magic burst outwards, shards of power flying forward. The C&C guards shouted, some of them aimed weapons, but they were too slow. The magical storm only lasted for a few seconds, but by the time it was done, every single guard was covered in a thin layer of crystalline blue magic. “Jesus fucking christ,” Jackie whispered. “Since when could you do that?”

Jameson shook his head, the glow from his eyes slowly fading. His hands were full, carrying Schneep, so he whispered in his hoarse voice, “Since... now, apparently. Move! It won’t last long.”

“Right!” Jackie nodded, and the two of them edged around the frozen C&C squads to the side entrance. Jackie reached into his pocket and pulled out a keycard in a plastic sleeve. He pressed it against the sensor... but nothing happened. Confused, he tried the door. It opened. Right, Schneep had broken in. Those efforts must’ve included breaking the door somehow. “Let’s go,” he said.

They stepped out into the courtyard and were immediately met by more C&C guards. So many more of them. A few raised gun-like objects and fired, but a crystalline shield weakly flickered into being just in time to stop the various projectiles. Jameson blinked. He was swaying a bit on his feet.

“What now?” Jackie whispered. They were completely surrounded! There had to be at least fifty guards between them and the outside wall. He didn’t know there were so many C&C members in this facility!

“...Run when I say run,” JJ rasped.

Jackie nodded slowly.

JJ took a deep breath. The shield expanded, surrounding the two of them and Schneep in a dome. Outside of their small safe haven, the guards were reloading weapons. One of them was shouting on a megaphone, but the magic shield muffled the sound. “Run!” JJ shouted.

They both broke into a sprint. And the magical dome came with them. Some of the C&C guards instinctively leapt out of the way of the rapidly-approaching glowing sphere. The ones that didn’t were forcibly pushed to the side. Jackie couldn’t help but be a bit worried... until he noticed that they were all recovering quickly and immediately attacking the dome with weapons. Mostly dart-like projectiles, but as they dashed towards the wall, a few real bullets ricocheted against the dome, causing small, inch-long cracks. Then, as they got closer, the darts stopped, leaving just the bullets.

Jameson was showing no sign of stopping as they approached the solid stone wall. Jackie glanced at him, concerned, but didn’t stop either. The wall was ten feet away—five feet—Jackie stumbled for a bit, balking, but then closed his eyes and forced himself to trust Jameson. He braced himself to smack against the wall in a most painful way—but he didn’t. Instead, everything went dark for a moment. He felt pressure in his ears, like elevation changing in the mountains—and then everything was light again. He opened his eyes and saw them on the other side of the wall.

Parked on the grass nearby was a car. Jameson’s car. They ran for it. The passenger side door was thrown open, and Jackie looked inside and saw Rama had leaned over to open it. The two of them held eye contact for a silent moment. And then Jameson’s shield died and he stumbled to the side, falling against Jackie for a second before righting himself. Rama looked at Jackie. “Open the door for them, corazon.”

Jackie’s heart leapt. He nodded, and opened the door for the back seat. JJ climbed in, taking Schneep with him, and Jackie got into the passenger seat.

As soon as everyone was inside Rama hit the gas, not even waiting for the doors to close. The tires skidded on the grass and then the car was off, the ground jolting beneath them.

Nobody said a word until they were back to the main road. While they were driving, Jackie continued trying to figure out the device, but it was like it wasn’t on at all. In frustration, he flipped the device over, found the battery compartment on the back, and opened it. IRIS didn’t use regular batteries, but the device still died when Jackie pulled out the power source: a pair of flat squares made out of green metal. They were glowing very slightly, angular patterns shifting on their surface. Jackie put them in his pocket.

In the backseat, Schneep gasped, bolting upright.

“Schneep!” Jackie gasped. “I-I’m sorry, I couldn’t figure it out! I-it might’ve been Locked, I’m—How do you feel?”

He didn’t answer. His wide eyes darted around the car. JJ, concerned, asked, Do you need any healing? I know some spells.

“N... nein, I mean no, I-I...” Schneep’s voice was quiet. “I think... it was just... in my head...”

“In your head? Y-you were clearly in pain,” Jackie said. “Is it... do you still feel?”

“No, i-it’s stopped,” he said. “J-Jamie, do not worry about me. You must be low on magic after all that you just did.”

Jameson nodded slowly. I think I’m just about out, he admitted. Once I’m sure we’re not being pursued... I’m going to sleep the rest of the way.

Schneep laughed.

“You are all safe, then?” Rama asked. “Besides... that?”

“Safe, yes.” Schneep nodded. “It did hurt, whatever that was, but it stopped the moment you broke that thing, Jackie. Thank you.” He paused. “And... thank you for coming with me.”

Jackie gave him and Jamie a nervous smile. Then he turned to look at Rama. They couldn’t fully look at him, needing their eyes on the road, but they were glancing at him as often as they could. “R... Rama, I...”

Rama shook their head. “Not now. They may be coming after us. We should wait until we are safe.” They paused. “But... know that I don’t blame you, Jackieboy. For anything.”

Jackie blinked. That felt like more than he deserved, honestly. But he nodded. “Alright. We can wait. A-are we going to meet up with the others?”

If by that you mean Marvin and Anti... you’re half right, JJ said.

“Huh?” Jackie blinked. “Wh-what do you mean? What happened?! Does Distorter still have Marvin?!” He shouldn’t have run out like that! He never should have—what the fuck was he thinking?! Well, he wasn’t thinking much, to be honest, but that wasn’t a fucking excuse—

“Calm down, Jackieboy,” Rama said. “Don’t panic. Things are... not good, but they’re not as bad as you’re thinking.”

Schneep sighed. “I suppose we must explain, Jamie. No nap for you yet.”

That’s fine, this is more important, JJ said, sitting up straight. Hold tight, Jackie. This is a long story.

#jacksepticeye #jacksepticeye fanfiction #jacksepticegos #septic egos #septic egos au #jacksepticeye au #dr schneeplestein #jameson jackson #von voltage #the jaunty jackson #jackieboy man #dr jackie parker #brigid writes fanfiction #septicswitchau

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electrasev5nwrites · 1 year

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ITA/SAKU ministory: Partners in Crime prompt for ItaSaku week

"Try to be less flashy," Danzo ordered. The old hawk sneered as he looked over Itachi. "You must be as unremarkable as possible. Try not to leave a trail of heartbroken acquaintances." His lips thinned to nearly nothing. "It's memorable."

"My apologies," Itachi said. He had no idea what Danzo wanted him to do differently. He certainly wasn't flirting with people while undercover. All of his mental capacity went into subverting the governance of their neighboring country. He worked against the peace every day to ensure that in comparison their country was unified and strong. "Do you have any suggestions?"

The old man eyed him. His face turned sour. "...it would help if you were seen to be unavailable," he said finally. "Find a partner or wife. It would also provide an excuse to leave various situations- you can cite pre existing plans." He seemed to warm to the idea as he spoke. Danzo hummed to himself. He narrowed his eyes. "I will send Sai with you," he decided. "He could be your wife."

Itachi suddenly discovered that he did in fact have an opinion.

"There is no need," Itachi said a little too quickly. He ducked his head. "Thank you for your guidance."

"The fate of our nation depends on you," Danzo said, because he had no consideration for other people's ability to sleep at night.

Itachi bowed again.

As he left headquarters, he ran through a mental list of people he knew in an appropriate age category who possessed some subtlety and might also be desperate enough to do it. They also could have no commitments of real importance such as a child or meaningful work.

Who did he know who was emotionally vulnerable and led a life of little meaning?

Itachi knew about 8 people who were not related to him, so there really was only one acquaintance who might be desperate enough to marry him on short notice.

"Haruno," he said. Sasuke's boyfriend's childhood friend startled and dropped her to go coffee. He had caught her on the way home from her shift work at a bleak medical teaching facility. He swooped forward to catch it for her before it could drop on the sidewalk. The other pedestrians moved around them like an uncaring school of fish. "Do you have a moment to talk?" He extended his hand to offer her drink back. The scent of black coffee wafted back to him.

A flush appeared on her cheeks. Her hands were artificially warm from her coffee when she touched his hands. "Ah- yes," she blushed. Haruno blinked rapidly. "Here?"

"It's fine," Itachi said. No one was paying attention. "Do you know anything about my work?"

She didn't, of course.

"Uh…" she bit her lip. "International business?" she ventured. "Sales, right?"

"I suppose that you could say marketing," Itachi said, thinking of his most recent posting. He had convinced a government employee to pass information through him. "I have a posting overseas scheduled soon."

Haruno looked extremely interested.

'No, Sakura,' he decided internally. 'If I'm going to ask her a favor I should be on first name terms with her.'

"Where are you going?" Sakura asked politely. He could tell by the glint in her eyes that she was more than casually interested. That made sense with what he'd noticed of her. She was a talented girl with no social advantages who had done her level best to marry up. She had failed in that, and settled for an average career because she could not finance the education for a better one. She had probably never left the country.

"I can't tell you," Itachi said. Her face fell. "Unless you agree to come with me. I must disclose that there is risk involved."

She perked up and her lips dropped open.

…Was that a draw?

"I am going into a sensitive situation," Itachi prevaricated delicately. He was going to pretend to be a wealthy local's errant son and infiltrate a gentleman's club that a politician was in. So that he could blackmail the man. "It is a rather conservative environment."

"Okay," Sakura said, clearly not understanding where he was going.

"I need someone to be my spouse for the duration of the trip," he said bluntly.

She jumped.

He waited.

Sakura simply looked at him. "... And why did you think to come to me?" Her hair blew around her face, unrestrained despite the wind.

"You are hungry for external validation," Itachi said. Sakura looked offended by this analysis. "If you marry me, you'll enjoy elevated social status."

"It's not real," Sakura flatly rejected. She crossed her arms. He tried not to notice the way her biceps flexed, displayed in her yellow sundress. "Being your cover wouldn't do anything for me."

Itachi hesitated only a moment before offering, "I will make it real." He felt an odd swooping sensation in his stomach. He set it aside. It wasn't such a sacrifice. Most people did get married eventually. It would make him less remarkable. Perhaps it would comfort his mother as well.

She was glaring at him. Why?

He blinked at her.

"What's the joke?"

It was impressive, he thought, that such a small woman's voice could drop into a growl.

"It would be very plausible," Itachi said. "I would have had many chances to meet and interact with you in the period of your one-sided attraction to my brother. Therefore, no one would know that the relationship was falsified."

Sakura eyed him as he spoke. Gradually, her hostility began to taper off. He had worried that she might be offended by the mention of her unsuccessful seduction, but she was encouragingly resilient. That was good. It would definitely come up as a topic when his parents learned about their relationship.

Yes, Itachi thought. He could make this work.

"You're desperate," she said. Itachi suddenly discovered that he did not enjoy that word being applied to himself. Sakura snickered. "You'll fund my career," she said, a challenge.

He blinked. "I wasn't aware that you had one," he told her. The muscles around her eye twitched. "Aren't you a care assistant of some sort? No," he corrected himself. "You do makeup. I recall you discussing it with Uzumaki."

The look she gave him was incredibly judgmental. "You don't need to understand in order to sign checks."

That was true, so he inclined his head.

"Great!" Sakura flashed him a bright smile. She latched onto his arm as if they were old friends. Bemused, he let her. "I need a house," she informed him. She began walking and Itachi moved with her. He didn't know where they were going, but she was compelling.

"What?"

"My own funeral home," she clarified. He might have faltered if she wasn't dragging him along. "I don't want to get a loan."

Hmm. That was a lie. "You can't get a loan," Itachi said slowly.

Context clues began to fall into place. She was… a mortician?

His fiancee gave him a dirty look. Then she rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She tossed her hair. "So, you're in the mafia or something?" Her grip on his arm tightened. "There's no way you're not involved in crime and need a fake wife at short notice."

"I am not," Itachi denied, peeved. What he did was not legal, but it was government work. Yes, he'd possibly be interrogated and executed if he was caught, but did that make him a criminal per se? He had a pension. He was not a criminal.

The girl shrugged. "I'm not judging," she said airily. "I'd work with worse for my funding."

That was for the best. Danzo was probably worse than most of the mafia.

He hesitated. "....While we are overseas, you will play the role of a housewife," he said cautiously. "It would be extremely memorable if I had an undertaker for a spouse."

"Sounds like someone is offering to buy me coffins when we get back," she said gleefully.

Disconcerting.

Itachi reminded himself that he would be in much more danger of being discovered and arrested if he was memorable. He would simply have to ask her to speak a lot less.

#itasakuweek2022 #itachi #sakura haruno

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cleosven · 1 year

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Re: having more to say.

Yes please. Continue. I would love to hear it :)

And I agree. I think whatever Tyler and his friends did to Xavier was really, really bad but that he withheld a lot of the details so it seems like it was just vandalizing the mural and beating him up. Which makes you wonder exactly what they did to him which I do hope they take the time to explore or touch on in season 2.

Lol, ok! Continuing! Remember, you asked for it, and you can take a water break at any time!

Way Too Many Theories Loosely Related to the Mural: In 6 Random Parts

Timeline:

So if I haven't mentioned this already, I'm pretty sure that Laurel didn't fake her own death at the age of 9. I think she had help from a big-bag-3rd-party group. So I don't think she was working alone in her plan to take down Nevermore, and I think the greater goal of this group is to take down (or use) all outcasts.

She bought the gates house before she became a teacher at Nevermore (which of course was probably funded by this secret evil group). Laurel said she'd been working at Nevermore for a year and a half when she met Wednesday in the library, so she was there at least from the start of the beginning of the previous year, which would have been Tyler's 10th-grade year.

So she had at least two months of that year to get close to Tyler. But again, that is a very short time period to come up with a whole plan, seek out Tyler's history, make the chemicals, use the chemicals, and then control him to destroy the mural. ESPECIALLY if she didn't have any other hyde information before she found out he was a hyde.

Why would she even be looking into using Tyler, or using a Hyde in the first place??

So again, I think she had help planning this. Help from someone who knew about Hydes.

WilowHill:

My current theory is that the WillowHill mental health facility is a cover for normies to experiment on outcasts, or at least Hydes in particular. And I think that they aren't the only places that does this. I think they are part of a larger group of anti-outcast normies that use a combination of science and the "supernatural" arts Laurel mentioned. This is who helped her fake her death, and who helped her plan to take down Nevermore, and it was the plan all along to use Tyler, because they knew about his mother, because she was one of the hydes (or maybe even the only one, we don't know) who was experimented on, and gave them all their knowledge about how to train Hydes.

But again, she was just the middleman to take down one piece of the puzzle. She was in charge of taking down Nevermore on her own time, and I bet there are others out there who were being manipulated to take down other outcast groups. Like the Morningsong group, perhaps. But I'll get more into that later.

If this idea about Willowhill is true, then Tyler's mother could still be out there, under their control. They faked Laurel's death, why not Fran's? They had some control over the coroner it seemed, and they took him out as well. They don't seem to care much about the lives of these lower-level people. So they probably won't try to save Laurel if they have a choice, because she's been exposed. It depends a bit on if they think Tyler is a huge threat to their group. If he is, then they might want to keep her around to control him.

Bad Guy's Plans:

However, I don't think they particularly need Tyler. If he's not a danger to them, he's also useless. And if he's running around, making normies hate outcasts (even if he's killing normies) then they will probably just leave him be, and let the fear in the town build.

I also think they have a lot of backup plans to take down Nevermore. I think that it's also possible that there are many secret types of outcasts living amongst the normies that they plan to use. Nevermore apparently has a strict policy of what types of outcasts are allowed (ex: banned hydes) and also doesn't let everyone in (ex: Bianca had to siren her way in).

So where do all these other outcasts go? My theory again is that there has to be other outcast schools. There could be a hyde specific school, or they could also be regional, or maybe good/bad moral philosophy based.

But, if you can't get there, or don't get in, or don't have the money, etc. I think a lot of outcasts would just pretend to be normies. As shown, some parents even lie to their kids about who they are, making them even easier to use.

Back to the mural again:

So maybe Tyler just destroyed the mural himself, with no manipulation. But Laurel was just on the hunt for one of the many people in town (who had some secret power) to give her a hint that they hated Nevermore too. And then she pounced.

She was able to use him more easily because that hate already had a seed. I think if Tyler absolutely loved outcasts and had no trauma whatsoever, it would have been maybe too difficult to use him against Nevermore. They'd try using someone else. But they didn't. So he had to have some initial dislike for outcasts, in my opinion.

The next middle man bad guy:

But now that Laurel is 'gone' or at least exposed, the Willowhill group will need another middleman, and they might not go after Tyler now that he's escaped. Maybe they'd want to kill him to get him out of the way, but they might not bother putting in the effort to try to use him again. They might just take someone else in the town and use them instead. Either a single person or a set, or even a whole group (hive mind, gang, group sirening, or mob style maybe).

I think that at least one of the people they are going to use is likely already in town and that they are the stalker. Laurel's music box had hidden pictures in it, that seemed just like the stalker images she got. I'm guessing that they've been helping Laurel all along, maybe as another barrier between Laurel and the real people in charge.

This is another person who could have manipulated Tyler, or any of his friends into destroying the mural. Maybe they're a siren or another mind-controlling outcast, or maybe hydes can have multiple masters, or maybe it's Tyler's mom and Hyde parents have a bond over their children automatically, or she built up a bond before he 'died'. So many possibilities.

And this stalker person who may have the ability to control others seems at least a bit tech-savvy. They got Wednesday's phone number somehow and used a bit-moji type thing. Getting the number was either hacking or maybe they are just a student who's sneaky. Or a student who can control Xaiver, and wouldn't look suspicious talking to Xaiver. Such as Bianca.

The sirens:

This is another, very out-there idea, but maybe Bianca sirened Tyler into destroying Xavier's mural. Maybe they were in a fight and she wanted to get back at him, or maybe she hates Nevermore for not accepting her (and 'forcing' her to use her siren powers to get in) or maybe her mother blackmailed her and said if she didn't, she'd expose Bianca to Nevermore.

Or maybe Bianca's mother sirened Bianca to siren Tyler. We don't know the extent of Siren's powers, but if one can siren another, that would make them infinitely more powerful. Just like how the Siren's at the end of s1 sirened the teachers to tell the kids what to do (which would be lovely foreshadowing). But maybe that kind of power takes more effort, and maybe that's why her mom's power is running out.

Summary of who could be 'behind' him destroying the mural: Laurel, Tyler's grief, Tyler's friends, Tyler's mom, Bianca, Bianca's mom, the stalker, the big bag 3rd party group, or maybe a rival outcast school that is all hydes, sirens, from another region of the US or another country

Closing statements:

So yeahhhhh, I've got endless ideas at all times about all things. And I love rambling on. I'm a ramblin' man-child-boy-girl-person. This had been said before

And this is just me building up into talking about and around the mural lol.

If you got this far, I apologize, and I thank you for your time <3

#wednesday theories #wednesday netflix #wednesday questions #wednesday mural #xavier thorpe #tyler galpin #laurel gates #bianca barclay #wednesday willowhill #wednesday morning song #wednesday hyde #wednesday rival outcast school #wednesday essay

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seroothincs · 1 year

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Well now I gotta see your Louie headcanons

Awh, yes the sweet baby boy. He's honestly such a favorite of mine, he's just soo.. Mmm Baby. An Absolute dork who tries to put on his best tough face but ends up being more cuter. I don't have that many headcanons of him since we already know a lot about him as a character, he has a lot of voice lines and is therefore the most involved mafia member in the show. Rather than Legs or even Johnny, but Johnny never says anything so it's obvious why we don't know a lot bout him. Headcanons: Now he's the bit more timid and friendly mobster in comparison from examples like Legs or Johnny, of course he isn't afraid to kill someone that gets into his way but he certainly is the more chatty type of guy you'd meet in college. Of course he's all around the place and eager to follow out Tony's every order, he isn't shown to be bothered when needing to kill someone. Though he does show concern for other people's well being like when he called out Homer's reckless use of a gun in "The Cartridge family", saying that homer could have seriously injured someone. Another example is in the famous scene from "Insane Clown poppy" where Johnny got shot. Paints him as a more sensitive mobster, which is what makes him all the more cuter.

He's usually shown to be the shortest member of the gang, shorter than both Legs and Tony. Johnny as well but I'm not so sure about Frankie in comparison with him. Maybe they're the same height, maybe Frankie is taller maybe Louie is. Anyways, there could be a reason for that, maybe a history of shortness in his family -- or maybe not. OR MAYBE it has to do with his past. Look he's a pretty thin and short dude, has a bit of belly chub but that's normal for a dude like him in an old age. He was extremely thin since his childhood, likely because he was raised by a single mother and back then they struggled to maintain a proper income to care for themselves. Causing for him to grow up a bit malnourished, which both caused his baby face, his short height and why he looked so thin. So you could imagine the confusion and worry when Legs and Tony grew more and more while Louie only grew half of their previous heights as teens.

Possibly and this is just one of my many filled in plot points regarding his backstory. When he was a young adult, so say early 20s, He got his first and only real job, after Anna Maria's death and after he quit college, in an Equestrian facility.

He had been spiraling into a deep depression after the terrible news of Anna's passing, so much so that he didn't see a point in continuing his studies to become a chef and gave up on his dream. Instead he wanted to try a new thing and that was caring for animals, he thought if he was under the presence of them he could feel more at ease and escape from the busy life he had once lived.

The job, working as a cleaner, paid enough of a salary to live off it, though he still was miserable. Tony eventually found him and it took some convincing to do once he got him to join the mafia again.

I should probably mention at this point that Anna Maria (Fat tony's deceased wife if anyone isn't familiar with her) and Louie were really tight best friends in the younger years. They have been ever since their teenage years and even went to college together, I don't wanna get into this too much as I will write a separate post to how the young mafia only consisting of three rose up out of Springfield's slumps into the most feared organization that ever appeared in the country.

This guy will search for anything to function as a lighter for his cigarette. Doesn't matter if it's a grill, gas stove or even a iron. He sort of got an addiction back in his early 20s and now he's trying his best to cut back.

He had much, much, much, much more curlier and luscious hair when he was young. He kind of misses it but that's just what happens with old age, he's also kind of glad that he doesn't have to deal with the thickness of it anymore. So many combs broke when he just wanted to brush through it, so many.

It's no surprise horses are his favorite animals, it's weird for a boy to like them but he got the love for them from his father. His dad was a jockey back in Italy and before he died he had promised Louie he would take him with him one day to the ranch where he used to work at and train at. This promise obviously fell through and Louie only remembered that place after he quit college.

Frankie and Louie are sharing one single braincell and it's almost dead.

Louie and Tommy "The face-shooter" are really close and I think that's because Tommy is just like Louie, both were and are young when they joined. (but I think it's also because Louie is no longer the youngest in the whole mafia and relieved that a 19 year old joined)

Louie and Michael are good friends for two reasons. One: They both are excellent cooks and occasionally when they meet up they cook together. Two: Both are children.

Louie, as mentioned in earlier episodes, is a good dancer. He was shown to be good at tap-dancing in "Mayored to the Mob" so I feel like he had dance class as an after school activity. Yeah sure the others laughed at him because of it but he really liked going to that place, wasn't a big fan of the ballet they did but he loved tap-dancing, he still does it to this day.

Besides his love for dancing, he also has a love for instruments. He has been seen attending the Rolling stones Rock N' Roll Fantasy camp and later in the episode he even dragged Tony and Legs along with him to the concert. A total Stones fanboy. But this makes me think that he started playing guitar when he was a young teen, his idols being Keith Richards and Brian May.

He is, so god damn accident-prone it's not even funny. He has been already through so many tragedies in his life and he continues to be put under them. He always manages to get shot in some way shape or form during gang wars, trips when there's nothing even there for him to trip over, fell out of a three story building that one time and he has so many scars on his bodies to show where he was stabbed. I don't even know how he continues to live after so many things happened to him, guess he and Frankie are really immortal.

What was that? You said your favorite band are the Rolling stones? Bad move, buddy. Now you're caught by an ecstatic Louie. He is such a huge fanboy for the stones and once you mention even the slightest of references at the band he turns into a blabber-mouth. It's cute at times, though his music choice sometimes gets in the way of Legs's when they are driving in the car and want to put on some music. (His favorite album of course is Sticky fingers)

Louie plus Frankie and all of the kids from their mobster colleagues (Including Michael) are loyal fans for the Muppet Show and watch it all the time when they're together. Oh and they of course watch Itchy & Scratchy together.

He loves tiramisu over everything, it's the one dessert he always orders at La Coffee nostra. He also a sweet tooth, both Legs and Tony tell him to cut back since Louie has been through so many dentist's already, so many holes.

He doesn't like to admit it at times but he's forced to when Legs gets on his back. He can be disorganized and messy, his apartment looks like a war zone and I don't think anyone would want to step in his bedroom if they already saw the state of his living room.

And that was it for the headcanons, I at least Think these are all of them. I can never make enough because of the cute boy.

#Springfield Mafia #Louie #Legs #Fat tony #Headcanons #just for fun #The Mob's origins

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donnietheterrapin · 11 months

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Splintskirt lore

this will probably be edited and added onto a LOT

its also very disorganized so you can read as many or few paragraphs you want in whatever order

CW for mentions of death and seizure, as well as general themes of prejuduce

So the kraang dropped mutagen bombs on Earth a few decades ago (60-ish years). It was a series of mutagen bombs similar to those in the mutant apocalypse but a LOT smaller. Like instead of the whole world, it was parts of cities being glossed in mutagen ooze, causing people to mutate and evacuate.

This mutagen was cleaned up pretty quickly, and stored in facilities around the world, that way nobody could get all the mutagen in bulk, and scientists could experiment and work on anti-mutagen. Of course, capitalism, so the anti-mutagen is super expensive. This means that only the richest mutants can get their hands on it, which means Splinter cannot.

Mutants are fairly normalized, but there is a lot of prejudice against them for being "different", "feral", etc. They are part of society, but they are highly underprivileged and not on a level playing field in work and school scenarios.

Splinter is a descendant of a rat mutant. (Yes this means im retconning my lore but stay with me here it makes more sense to me this way). He had a long-time girlfriend named Tang Shen, who was a turtle mutant. She had 4 kids from a previous marriage, all being turtles with a bit of human dna sprinkled in. She dieded though. Tang shen was already struggling with health issues, but she died from a seizure that caused a heart attack. thankfully the turtles were way too young to remember their mother's death, but it struck splinter HARD. Now, he had to support a family of 5 on one income, deal with the traumatic death of his girlfriend (basically wife), AND navigate his children's lives with them being mutants and just children in general.

Splinter met Kirby O'neil after their mail kept getting mixed up. Soon after tang shen's passing, kirby stepped up as the kid's uncle in a way. He is the embodiment of "he's confused but he's got the spirit!" because he is supportive of splinter, even if he doesnt understand everything. This is how the turtles also met april :> in splintskirt, mutants are known of. They are a huge minority in society instead of a secret from the world. They can do everything normal people can do, they just get a lot of hate for no goddamn reason.

Splinter is genderqueer. He uses he/she/they pronouns. He still has her turtle kids, but they are raised in a small apartment complex's basement rather than the sewers.

Splinter gets his money by working as a dish cleaner for a nearby pizza restaurant, but he also gets money by visiting clubs and seducing drunken people, and pickpocketing them. It never goes any farther than kissing, as Splinter is not interested in that. Splinter is demi-aro-ace, and just uses kissing people as a distraction. This is the main reason Splinter is so interested in skirts and dresses. Soon after the turtles were in his care and Splinter was desperate for money (which they were already struggling with), splinter realized that he got more money at clubs if people thought he was a girl. Her appearance is pretty androgynous other than her beard, so he shaved it off and started wearing skirts and dresses to clubs to seem more feminine. This kickstarted a gender crisis, and now Splinter is genderqueer.

Splintskirt's timeline takes place pretty early in the turtle's life. They are about 10-13 years old, so too young to be on their own, but still old enough to have decently developed personalities.

The biggest change is that none of them are ninjas. Splinter is still Asian, and the turtles were raised with cultural influence no doubt, but they have no need to learn how to fight, as the kraang and shredder are not huge plot points. Its more of a realistic setting imo, where shredder is like a mega toxic clingy ex-friend instead of a murder machine

#tmnt #tmnt 2k12 #tmnt 2012 #mmmmm tortl #teenage mutant ninja turtles #splinter #2012 splinter #splinter tmnt #splintskirt #donnie drabbles

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raelynnteam · 11 months

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Jaina has been separated from the people who help keep her safe and emotionally stable for over a week now. The following are some messages she has sent to friends, documenting the experiences.

6/9/23

"This morning CC3 Forbis asked me if I was being threatened. I told him I'm hiding in my cell as much as possible is because I don't know anyone, and I don't feel comfortable in this day room. I mean the CUS herself told us when we first got to this unit that she put us in A-pod because there were lots of predators in B-pob, and I don't know who they are.

I am becoming an antisocial nervous wreck. CUS Wakefield is saying she can't move me back to A-side till her boss the Associate Superintendent of Programs (Arnold) signs off on her investigation report. She turned in the report yesterday morning, I don't understand how it can take more than 24 hours to review an investigation report when the investigation only took 3 days.

I am scared and uncomfortable. I did nothing wrong, and neither did Ashley. CUS Wakefield told us that to our faces. I do not understand why they were so quick to separate us, yet they are dragging their feet to correct what they now know was a false statement by another inmate, an inmate who probably filed that report knowing that I would be separated from the people who keep me safe, so that they themselves could attempt to take advantage of me. I can't eat, I can't sleep, my heart is constantly pounding, I have tingling feelings in my hands, I have cold sweats, and for days now I feel like I haven't been able to catch my breath. I am scared to leave my cell, except to rush out the door to meet up with Ashley for yard.:"

6/8/23

"The witch hunt is endless. Tonight at yard, Ashley and I were laying in the grass, and I was describing the clouds and their different types and how they can be used to predict the weather.

The CO managing the yard came up to us and said "how about you two move a little further apart" to which Ashley sat up and had a lot of things to say, most importantly "NO, we aren't going to do that", and "we aren't even touching each other", to which the CO responded "I didn't say you were touching each other" and Ashley started going on at him about it. She was getting a little heated, so I held up my hand at her and said, "relax, calm down, he's wrong, you're right, he knows it, you know it, there's no point in arguing about it".

She lay back down next to me and the CO (saying nothing else) walked away. We continued our conversation about the clouds

Interactions like this are all too common. You may notice the CO in this incident didn't even actually give us a directive, he phrased it as a question or suggestion, but we may still be getting infracted for refusing to follow a directive anyway. That doesn't matter, because we were not in violation of any policy.

Yeah, men don't typically lie in the grass that close to each other watching the clouds. It might look a little strange if we were men (though it still wouldn't be a policy violation). Our proximity was an expression of our gender identity, which we are allowed, as long as it doesn't violate policy.

In the past, I have had CO's comment on the amount of eye makeup I used to wear (it was not excessive by any stretch). I even had a CO tell me to take it off before.

"I'm gonna have to ask you to take that off your eyes" "

uh, why, and no?"

"because it's not real eyeliner"

"yes it is"

"show it to me"

I fetched the pencil.

"do you have a receipt?"

I sighed and went to fetch the receipt, the officer kept the pencil at the desk (this was the officer station in my unit at the time). When I returned with the receipt, another CO was there, and they both examined my pencil and receipt incredulously, then returned them to me.

This was early in my transition, and at the time only transwomen were allowed to purchase makeup at "male facilities", the obvious implication of their actions being: they didn't think I looked like a woman.

The experience was very disheartening and it massively triggered my dysphoria. I was not given any sort of search report.

This has always been the attitude of the majority of DOC Staff. They usually overlook my gender expression because it suits them just fine to mis-gender me, and when they do take note of indications of femininity, they call into question its legitimacy.

I know if you are incarcerated at this facility you were assigned male at birth, and I'm not convinced you're a woman. Could you please produce documentation to prove your gender?

When Ashley and I first got snood scarves, I was wearing mine, walking into medical when a sergeant shouted at me

"hey, you, what is that on your head!?"

"it's called a snood, it's religious"

"it doesn't look religious!"

"Jewish women wear them"

"Come with me!"

she went into medical and I followed her

she took my ID and went to a computer

When she returned she said

"I don't see it on your matrix so I'm going to confiscate it"

"I just picked it up from property today, I have a receipt back at my unit if you'd like to come check it."

"I'm going to confiscate it and give you a search report and I will give it to your unit sergeant for review."

I sighed and took it off and put it in the bad she held out.

When I got back to my unit, Ashley talked to the pod officer and showed her my receipt and search report. The pod officer made some phonecalls. An hour or so later my property (and accompanying paperwork) was returned to me.

I still have the search report. Under reason for search: suspicion. I still don't know of what she was suspicious. Suspicion lying to staff? or Suspicion of impersonating a woman?

We had problems with another CO for nearly a month after that, because he tried to tell us we had to take them off in the dining hall. (Mind you this was after he too had seen the receipt, and been told they are religious.) Meanwhile I didn't see him checking receipts or matrices for the numerous men who wear religious headwear. Eventually Ashley was able to get our unit Sergeant and several others involved to get that stubborn CO off our backs about it. We were never in violation of any policy in this case either.

The harassment is endless, and so much worse when it comes from staff trying to excessively exercise their authority and power over us."

#prison abolition #trans woman #harassment cw

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my-makeshift-masquerade · 11 months

Text

It All Comes Back to Haunt You (Part 3)

@glitchysquidd

(I am sorry, but the next chapter of Into the Breach will come next I swear… This will highlight some obvious plot-holes, include more characters, and other things… Aight let’s make shit hit the fucking fan.)

It was the first shift for her since Tim and Samantha hired her on. Rebecca was too worried to focus on work right now. Henry and Micheal had been…too okay…with the concept of her father being here. They were quiet. They were planning something, but what? Obviously the fire thing never happened, because she pointed out other innocent people were probably going to be in the building, but what else could they be thinking—

“Hey, kid, can I talk to you for a sec?”

The employee she had become fast friends with snapped her out of her thoughts.

“Sure, uh…” The teen mumbled, “Where’s Dave?”

“Uh. Fucking around somewhere, I dunno.”

“Okay…? W-what do you want to tal—“

“So… You are Rebecca Afton, right?”

She was taken aback by the question, but nodded slowly. It was a bad idea to trust this person with such information, but after keeping quiet for so long, Rebecca’s need for connection outweighed her sense of self preservation by a hair.

“I was up last night thinking, reviewing the true crime podcast… It just doesn’t line up.” Her coworker paused, “Not that I think you’re lying or anything since you look just like the kid they showed but…”

“Y-Yes…?” She was becoming more fearful with every second of silence.

“Your dad tried to kill you in like…1986… It’s 2023…” They stopped for a moment to double check their head math, “Forget calculating your actual age. You should be way older. How the hell do you look so…so…young?”

That was a very fair question, and she was honestly surprised how long it took even her father to do the fucking math here. He clearly knew what year it was, yet he didn’t comment on her supernaturally youthful appearance at all. Rebecca figured it wasn’t a detail he was analyzing right now. She realized she could only shrug in response to the inquiry…

“Yeah, I…I have no idea why I seem to be aging so…slowly…” The young looking woman admitted, “I was hoping to ask Charlie, but it is taking me a while to fix—“

“Who?”

“Oh, uh… Charlotte. She’s Henry Emily’s daughter… like the ring leader of the ghosts.” Rebecca said this far too casually, mixing flavoring into her water, “Yeah, she’s chill… Just—understandably protective of the others…”

“Sure, right… Then also… What happened to your dad? Do you even know?” Her coworker frowned, “Dave is in the springlock suit now so clearly whatever happened on the night he tried to off you didn’t like—kill him—“

Damn. They really are “balls deep in denial” as Micheal put it. Yet they seemed head over heels for her dad. She guessed pining for a serial killer grants amazing cognitive dissonance…

“Yeah…” Her voice trailed off, “Not sure on that one… Just glad it was over…”

“Sorry. Am I prying too much?”

“No, no… You aren’t the first. My whole upteenth highschool class found out and none of those idiots did the math… Those who did just think I’m a liar.” She laughed nervously, “I’m just… thinking about something myself…”

“Wait wait wait. How many times have you had to go through highschool?! That sounds like hell—“

“It is. Still look too young for college… But if we don’t want to be investigated I have to keep acting at the age I look…” She rolled her eyes, “Though the state aren’t competent enough to notice the same person going through their school system every other four years…”

“What if you stop faking and tell—“

“I end up in a government facility most likely…” She answered bluntly.

Her coworker snorted.

“It is a genuine fear of mine, really. It’s why Michael and I have to come back whenever a new thing related to the franchise pops up. If people knew the full truth…” She paused, “I bet even the ghosts in the suits would be in the same boat as me then…”

“…Oh.”

“Man… I’ve never told anyone this shit before… This feels…like a weight is off my shoulders…”

“You’ve been that isolated… Unable to tell the truth to anyone…For 30 years…?!”

“Yep. Just myself, Micheal, and…”

Rebecca stopped herself. Mikey was already pissed about the amount of information they had to disclose to this person due to the sheer fact “Dave” was in the equation. As much as she wanted to let it out, she’d get in trouble for mentioning another huge name for the brand.

“Sorry, I’m prone to oversharing…”

———

“Ms.Clair, I know you’re about to leave, but have you seen Mi—“

Rebecca grabbed from behind, making her panic on reflex, letting out a very childlike noise despite her biting her lips.

“Jason!” Clair scolded.

“What? I needed to get through the doorway.” Jason smirked at her, “Are you gonna come around here often or—“

“Yes… I-I work here?” Rebecca was autistic and oblivious to any sort of flirting. It seemed Jason was taking that as a bit of a challenge.

“Well, you like making it difficult, huh?”

“Making what difficult?” She was more confused than offended or creeped out, “W-was I really that much in the way? S-sorry—“

“It’s so easy to make you apologize.” Jason snickered, “It’s really cute how you get all flustered…”

The sound of inexplicable metal hitting the door made Jason jump.

“SHITSHITSHIT—“

He turned around, sighing in relief when Springtrap wasn’t standing behind him. It was just that guy with the weird skin condition holding a spare part.

“Man, don’t fucking scare me like that.” The shorter man growled, “Can’t you see we’re having a conversation?!”

“Oh? Want to try doing something about it?” Micheal asked with a threateningly casual tone that was eerily identical to Springtrap’s.

“Whatever. I’m fucking out of here.” Jason huffed, giving the younger figure one last concerned glance. “Good luck with that thing.”

“Bye…I guess?” Rebecca blinked as Jason and Clair left, before turning to her brother, “Mike, where have you been? It’s been an hour.”

“Oh, I was just on the phone.”

“For an hour?!”

“Had to deal with some things after the call.”

“What things?”

“Things.”

“Ugh! Stop being difficult—“

“No.” Her brother chuckled, messing up her hair, “You do realize that man was hitting on you, right?”

“Hold on. He was WHAT?!”

“There you two are.” Their coworker smiled, “I finally found Dave in his room, and I see you found—“

Rebecca punched her brother in the chest repeatedly, as he started horse-playing with her, leading her to giggle, “H-hey! Let go—“

“Nope… Sibling privilege.” Micheal had her in a headlock, finally letting her go as she managed to get a good hit on him, “Fuck—!”

“Ha!”

“Below the belt? Really?” He smirked.

“It’s not like you have anything valuable down there!” She snapped back, getting too caught up in playing with her brother to notice who just entered the establishment.

“Oh jeez… Would you crazy kids stop wrestling each other on the clock?”

Rebecca lost all of the color in her face hearing that voice. No. No no no. Henry was here?! But her father was here?! Oh shit… This was going to end so…so badly. What was Michael thinking?!

“Your hair’s all over the place, kiddo.” The man walked over and fixed it for her, as well as straightening her shirt, “There! Now if only your brother would stop messing it all up…”

“Heh… No promises.”

Unseen by everyone, Springtrap watched from the farthest end of the hallway Micheal had come from. He was absolutely seething. William had no idea that Rebecca ended up being taken in by Henry after his death. Seeing his former business partner fix his daughter’s hair in such a fatherly manner while she clearly seemed embarrassed by it was enough to make him want to strangle him. That bastard, that hypocrite.

Taking in his child after banishing him from his own company, stealing his work, and leaving him without a way to feed that same child and her older siblings back in the 80’s? Just who did Henry think he was?! Some savior?!

“Uh… Who is this?”

His daughter looked terrified as her coworker spoke up, but her expression turned to one of horrific dread as she noticed her father’s figure lurking at the end of the other hall.

“Oh, where are my manners?” The old man chuckled, patting Michael on the shoulder, “My name is Henry Emily. It’s a pleasure to—“

Rebecca couldn’t leave fast enough, passing her father on the way and dodging his attempt to stop her. Nope. No way. Not today. Not ever. She locked herself in the back room, prepared for all hell to break lose.

“My dad’s here isn’t he?” Charlie’s spirit asked, frowning sympathetically as the woman curled up against the wall just nodded.

“Stay in here… The others and I can try to scare him out…”

#frighteningly intriguing #bound to imagination #drabbles

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skye-huntress · 1 year

Text

The Witch from Mercury Season 2 Reaction

Episode 16: “Cycle of Sin”

So, Prospera apparently transferred Eri into the Lfrith in order to save her. This actually makes a lot more sense to me than what I saw most people assume. And her goal is to achieve a Permit Score of 8 to grant Eri “freedom”. By the sounds of it, she wants to turn Eri into some kind of machine god using Quiet Zero. I’ve had a growing suspicion that Eri may be the final boss of this series, but it’s hardly definitive yet.

Belmeria really tried to pull the ethics card and Prospera responded with an UNO reverse

The cat’s out of the bag. Easy to cover up what happens at a restricted facility, but not at a school during in an Open Campus period.

And now the Benerit Group’s under pressure after trying to take matters into their own hands. Now they’re such a mess that they need a new President to weather the shitstorm they are currently in

Suletta really did email Miorine three times a day, even though they went unread

Looks like a lot of students are either leaving or getting pulled out of school. I did notice one of the text on Secelia’s notebook say something about not being able to sit in a cockpit again after the incident. I couldn’t help thinking, what did they think they were learning to pilot for? After all that target practice, what did they think they were learning to shoot?

Of course, Earth House is copping all the suspicion and harassment. Never mind the fact that if there was evidence they were actually found guilty of something they’d probably be thrown in a cell immediately and indefinitely, that’s not enough for their prejudiced classmates.

Yes, their friend died and that is a tragedy, but let’s not pretend that he didn’t die while piloting a machine of war, designed to kill. Well, war finally found you and if that upsets you all so much, you should probably stay as far away from a mobile suit as possible.

She’s finally back!

Earlier Chuchu was ready to go on a rampage to find Nika but when Miorine comes with some info and says to wait for more, Chuchu agrees. The girl who wakes up everyday and chooses violence is now listening to her Spacian friend/boss and taking the wait and see approach.

Everyone trying to get Miorine’s attention while Suletta kind of shrinks in the background, so leave it to the quietest person in the room to get Miorine’s attention on her behalf

The way Miorine’s mood changed when Prospera showed up is so relatable.

Guel returns and causes his brother to faint on the spot. Does this count as yet another L? He really can’t catch a break, and now it seems he’s about to do something dramatic, again.

When No. 5 was tasked with stealing Aerial, I already knew exactly how this was going to go and I couldn’t wait to see it. I was not disappointed. Suck it, 5!

Is Eri more powerful now, or did she just not see No. 4 as a threat?

Belmeria, it’s a bit late in the game to have a crisis of conscience, especially in the presence of one of your Enhanced Persons.

We have a number of different factions and schemes at play, but I’m not sure how big a role Peil will play. They are after Aerial, but now it’s clear they can’t just steal it, and No. 5 hasn’t done too well at trying to win over Suletta. After hitting another dead end, what new approach will they take?

So now we’re having that conversation. It started out well, but… It is unfortunate that that was necessary in order to save Miorine, however the problem is that it is not framed as a tragedy in Suletta’s mind but as yet another instance where her mother was right.

Suletta’s complete faith in her mother’s judgment is truly unnerving. She’d give up her dreams if her mother told her, too, and we already know she’d kill if she was told to. That’s not to say there isn’t a line, but Prospera is probably clever enough not to cross it.

I will say though, this might actually contradict the mantra that Suletta has been living by. Run and you gain one, move forward and you gain two. Allowing someone else to make the decisions for you instead standing by your own judgments is just another form of running away. Suletta will only ever truly be able to move forward if she learns to stand on her own and live true to her own principles

I expected the confrontation, but I never expected that Prospera would flat out tell Miorine she wants revenge against her father for the mass murder of her husband and colleagues. Of course, Miorine’s priority is protecting Suletta, if their parents want to kill each other they should leave their children out of it.

For a moment, I’d forgotten that Prospera was actually trying to recruit Miorine for her cause, to take over Quiet Zero. It makes a certain sense that the best way to ensure the Suletta survives what is to come is for Miorine to take over that project. It’s not like she can trust any of the other power players to leave Suletta alone, especially if they discover Prospera’s true identity and intent.

It seems we’ll be focusing on the election for the next President and Miorine has to win for Suletta’s sake

#the witch from mercury #g witch #g witch spoilers

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eldritchlittleblackdragon · 1 year

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Tagging: @possiblythreefourthspeahen, @curiousobsession101

Images were made with this and this picrew. The left is intended to be an approximation of her Officer's Academy appearance, while the right is intended to represent her post-timeskip appearance.

Warnings: Discussions of PTSD, Being Experimented on Against One's Will, Fear of Intimacy, Ableism?, Fodlan Racism and Xenophoba, Arranged Marriages

Euphemia von Lehr

Also Known as: Mia (preferred nickname)

Age: Varies Across Story (But most notably, she is 19-20 in the Academy Phase of the Main plot of Three Houses and 25-26 after the five year timeskip)

Gender: Cis Female (She/Her pronouns)

Sexuality: Hasn't really thought about it, but would probably identify as demiheterosexual if she gave it some thought.

Neurotype: Autistic

Ethnicity: Adrestian (her family was originally from the Adrestian Empire before joining the Alliance when it formed)

Nationality: Leicester Alliance

Crest?: Yes [Major Crest of Riegan- Artificial]

Languages Spoken: Fodlanish, Almyran (eventually taught to her first by Khalid (Claude von Riegan) and later continued upon with an instructor when returning with her husband to Almyra)

Height: 5'1"

Build: Petite, a little fat

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Black, with a few stray white strands, especially in back (not pictured)

Complexion: Fair and freckled

Other Physical Characteristics: Left-handed, has a small scar on her nose from overdoing it and having a minor accident during weapon training (prior to attending the Officer's Academy), is very prone to getting injured and is more vulnerable to exposure to pathogens that cause illness, but her crest offsets some of this by speeding up her rate of recovery for injury and illness.

Combats Strengths: Flying, Riding, Lances, Reason

Combat Weaknesses: Authority, Brawling, Heavy Armor

Hidden Talent: Swords

Hobbies: Observing/Caring for Winged Animals, Keeping an Observation Notebook (for places she's been/things she's seen, especially since she was very isolated for so long), Poetry, Reading (prefers nonfiction)

Likes: Flying Mounts (Pegasi, Wyverns), Horses, Poetry, Observational/Descriptive Writing (scientific reports, biographies, travel journals, etc.), Board Games, Stuffed Animals, Having a Good Laugh, Good Food, Helping People

Dislikes: Especially Bright Lights, Most Types of Alcohol, Sour Tastes, Doing Nothing, Being Talked Down to, Inequity, Being in Medical Facilities (as a patient only), Sleeping

Relatives (non-canon characters):

Baron Rollo von Lehr - Father - allowed Those Who Slither in the Dark to Experiment on his children in hopes at least one would bear a crest and save his family from decline, perhaps even eventually being cast out of the nobility. Obsessed with tradition and past glory.

Baroness Giselle von Lehr - Mother - is unaware of what truly transpired with her children and refused to listen when Euphemia tried to tell her the truth, excusing it as a grief induced delusion on her part. Very fussy and overbearing.

Irene von Lehr - Older sister, now deceased. She was seven years older than Euphemia (17 at the time of her death). She had attended the Officer's Academy the year prior to her death and was a very bright and quick-witted girl. She was very close with her younger siblings.

Myron von Lehr - Fraternal twin brother. He was quiet like Euphemia (and he was also autistic like her as well), but unlike her, he seemed to have an easier time navigating certain difficulties his neurotype has. He was calm and easy going. Very close with Euphemia and Irene.

Friends/Associates (non-canon characters):

Joanna von Albrecht - a commoner who became the adopted daughter of Lord von Albrecht when she was discovered to have a crest. In an interesting twist, she is biologically the daughter of his lordship's ex-wife, and through her is the biological half-sister of canon character Balthus von Albrecht. She holds a resentment towards Balthus because her mother held him up as the favorite child while disparaging her daughter. She is intelligent, meticulous, and kind hearted, but prone to resentment. Balthus, on the other hand has adored his baby sister from afar and always wanted to meet her (and has a very different experience of their mother from her). She is 21-22 prior to the timeskip and 26-27 after the timeskip and winds up in a relationship with Balthus' 'boss', Yuri Leclerc.

Fiene Valeria Hirsch - another commoner adoptee of a noble family. In Fiene's case, she was an orphan from Duscur who was taken in by a noble family she attempted to steal from (out of a need for survival) when she was discovered she possessed a crest of Ernest. She was originally betrothed to Christophe Gaspard, but after his death, it was arranged for her instead to marry Lord Lonato Gildas Gaspard's adoptive son, Ashe. She was taken into the Gaspard household early as it was discovered she was being mistreated by her adoptive family, on the excuse that Lord Lonato thought she would benefit from time spent in the Gaspard region prior to her marriage to Ashe. She is a sensitive, creative-minded young woman who loves animals (especially cats). She is treated with suspicions by a number of Faerghus nobility on account of being from Duscur, but pushes back against their prejudice, especially with the backing of the likes of Prince Dimitri, whom she counts among her friends. She is 17-18 prior to time timeskip and 23-24 after.

Personality: Euphemia is a very sincere and honest person with a generous, accepting, and compassionate nature on the whole. She is also intelligent and observant, but the fact she hardly ever speaks if at all to a majority of people and seems to simply allow other people to lead interactions with her has given her a reputation that belies that fact. In fact, this is due to Euphemia feeling a high amount of anxiety when interacting with her fellow Fodlan nobles, particularly her elders, although it also surfaces when interacting with medical personnel/servants or persons in charge of medical care. In the case of the latter, she does not want to be left alone in an infirmary or her personal quarters with only a medical specialist present. Both are the result of PTSD associated with her experiences as a child and young adolescent.

Euphemia has preferred the company of commoners (or nobles who were born/raised as commoners) to other established nobles in the past as a result, but since joining the Officer's Academy has come to count more nobles among those she likes, trusts, and can interact with. She particularly finds an accord with Marianne von Edmund and Bernadetta von Varley, whom she considers similar to herself, and Balthus von Albrecht, who she befriended as a little kid (but doesn't remember very well).

She finds herself most at odds with the likes of Ferdinand, Linhardt, and (initially) Lorenz, Hilda, and Sylvain.

The person she is closest to at the Officer's Academy is Claude von Riegan (Khalid). Both of them were bound together into a betrothal with each other at the behest of Claude's grandfather prior to their enrollment, but those who watch their interactions can tell there is a trust between them and that the two bring out the best in each other. Euphemia is at her most verbal/talkative when talking to Claude, but also at her most vulnerable around him.

Pre-Canon Backstory:

Euphemia spent the first ten years or so of life living on her parent's estate in their territory in the central Leicester Alliance. She spent much of her time with her siblings and the household servants. She wasn't taken to meet other nobles very often, and when she was, she was very shy and awkward. Though she remembers being treated very kindly by Godfrey von Riegan, and an older boy she doesn't remember very well (who later turns out to be Balthus von Albrecht).

Her older sister left for a year at the age of sixteen to attend the Officer's Academy, and returned upon graduation.

Shortly after her sister's return however, when she and her twin brother were both ten and her sister seventeen, all three were visited in the night by the family nanny (and her nursemaids) and subjected to strange torturous operations (including being punctured by a needle at the end of a vial that appeared to be filled with a blood colored substance) in a room none of them recognized. During the day, all three were violently ill, terrifying their mother and the other servants. Their father was strangely calm about the affair, but seemed no less concerned about his children's wellbeing.

All three tried to tell their parents about the goings on at night, but were not believed and the nanny even attempted to gaslight them into believing it was a nightmare they had in the throws of their illness.

All three grew sicker and sicker. But only Euphemia managed to struggle through the worst of it and recover from her 'illness'. Her older sister and twin brother didn't make it.

Euphemia again tried to tell her parents what was happening, and she was dismissed as still recovering while simultaneously being stricken by grief at the loss of her siblings and having delusions as a result. Eventually, she was well enough to resume normal activities, but the bout with the 'illness' left her more frail in some respects - she was more prone to injury and illness than before. But strangely enough, she turned out to have a knack for bouncing back.

In order to help her cope and recover from the lost of her siblings, Euphemia was given a pegasus to befriend and care for, whom she named Fatmir.

Her speedy recovery rate was not noted as anything unusual until she had an accident at the age of 12 that resulted in a serious wound (she and her family were visiting the Riegan estate in Deirdru at the time to discuss a trade deal). As if by magic however, her injury began quickly knitting itself closed. This aroused the suspicion of not only her parents, but Duke Riegan, and an expert on Crests was sent for. Professor Hanneman arrived from Garreg Mach Monastery and, after running tests, declared she indeed had a crest, most likely a Major one. Further investigation revealed she in fact possessed a Major Crest of Riegan, much to everyone's shock.

While House Riegan was cordial with House Lehr, there was no record of a marriage or a child born who was descended from both houses. House Lehr once had the crest of Lamine in its blood, but the crest has since been considered to have passed out of the family line. The thought was offered that the connection may be so old or so far back no record exists or the record was lost. Either way, her parents were overjoyed at the discovery of a child bearing a crest, and attributed the survival of her illness to it. With no crest bearer for generations, the family was losing power, and was at threat to be cast from noble standing if a crest didn't come into the family or surface in the line within the next generation.

With no heir due to the death of his son Godfrey and the disappearance of his daughter Tiana some years earlier, Duke Oswald von Riegan made a proposal to House Lehr - to take their daughter in as his ward and raise her to be his heir. Even if House Riegan may perish, a crest bearer of Riegan would still hold power as Grand Duchess of the Alliance.

They agreed, but had some reservations given Euphemia's development and behavior since her illness.

Euphemia didn't have an easy time living as Duke Riegan's ward. She was kept on the estate much of the time, and subjected to strict and rigorous study and training when she wasn't ill. He wasn't unkind to her, but it was always apparent that the Duke had his own position and the future of the Alliance in mind above personal concerns Euphemia had.

When she was discovered to have a Major crest and was taken in as the Duke's ward, Euphemia was targeted by a number of politically minded nobles who sought to take her for a bride in order not only gain the crest of Riegan in their bloodline, but also perhaps inherit the position of leading the Alliance (if not directly, than indirectly by controlling Euphemia).

Euphemia's most persistent suitor was Lorenz Hellman Gloucester. Prior to her being declared Duke Riegan's heir, it was thought House Gloucester would be most likely to inherit leadership of the Alliance with the decline of House Riegan (and in fact, unbeknownst to everyone including Lorenz, it was Lorenz's father Lord Gloucester who arranged for Godfrey von Riegan, Duke Riegan's original heir to be killed). Euphemia becoming heir meant they couldn't directly take over after the death of the Duke. But, her ascension wasn't seen as an obstacle in the slightest. In fact, in the eyes of House Gloucester's head, her reputation as a quiet and unassertive sort meant she could be controlled, manipulated. And what easier way to do so than to have her marry House Gloucester's heir apparent. A marriage would add legitimacy and additional leverage to their claim to the leadership of the Alliance. Not only that, but House Gloucester would gain prestige from adding the crest of Riegan to their bloodline.

Lorenz thought it his duty and destiny to lead the Alliance, and thus, he must eventually marry and care for Euphemia von Lehr. But Euphemia didn't like Lorenz very much to begin with, and felt immense anxiety around him (and thus hardly if ever spoke to him as a result). Lorenz made some unflattering assumptions about Euphemia, and truth be told, in the beginning he had lukewarm feelings about her. But he pursued her out of duty and pressure from his family.

Eventually he was proven wrong about his assumptions about Euphemia and felt great remorse. He even started to feel genuine interest towards her when he learned about her inner life. She accepted his remorse and was willing to associate with him on more friendly terms, but she still resisted his attempts to court her and any romantic overtures, as she still had no interest in him in that regard, and knew he was acting in part because of family pressure.

(Duke Riegan supported her resistance, but couldn't refuse Lorenz seeing her out of rules of societal politeness.)

About a year before she would eventually be enrolled at the Officer's Academy, a stranger appeared at the Riegan estate - a boy only a little younger than Euphemia by the name of Khalid. Euphemia took an instant liking to him, and eventually discovered she had an easier time speaking to him than most people. Later, she was called into a meeting with the Duke, and it was revealed that he had managed to trace his missing daughter back to Almyra, and that Khalid was in fact her son.

Euphemia questioned if his appearance meant that he would be heir instead (she didn't mind the idea, but didn't want to be sent back to her family estate because of her association with the place). Oswald said for now Khalid was simply staying with them, nothing of the sort had been decided yet (in truth, the Duke wanted to observe Khalid and Euphemia together to see if they could work as a potential marriage match).

Khalid and Euphemia got along well, but she noticed he was treated badly by others. She was aware of the history between Almyra and the Alliance, but didn't see it as a reason to hold it against any one person from that country. It's the people in power who decide on invasions or wars. Khalid confessed to her when she told him that that he wished he could make it so there would be no more hostility between the Alliance and Almyra. It causes people to hate each other for things they can't control, like where they were born or who they are born to.

Euphemia tried to stand up for him, but her degree of success in that regard was varied. Khalid for the most part was able to stand up for himself, but her support was appreciated. She was upfront about wanting her new friend to be treated well, and he was grateful for that. (Also both consider each other friends. Although Khalid is holding back a little from trusting her too much at first. But by the time they get to the Academy he trusts her quite a bit.)

After some time passed, Duke Riegan revealed his intentions. He is very ill, and things are even more dire than he has let on. He thinks with time Euphemia will be a fine Duchess, but he worries for her well-being and worries that even with her in charge there will still be a power grab upon his death because people see her as weak.

After hearing this, Euphemia concluded that Khalid will replace her as heir as he will be a stronger leader, but she expresses concern that the nobility will be vicious to him on account of his heritage.

Khalid said in response he plans to partially hide his heritage with a Fodlan name ('Claude') and claim he is from an 'offshoot' of House Riegan that brought him to the estate when his crest manifested.

This didn't entirely dissuade Euphemia's worries, as it would mean he would have to hide part of himself in order to be more accepted. It surely must be hard on him, she said. He admited that it is. But it's what he has to do for now to make his way, he will.

Duke Riegan then replied that in fact, Euphemia will not be replaced by Khalid. Rather, the new situation will be a joint effort. Both Khalid and Euphemia are surprised by this, and both start to realize what may be happening. Duke Riegan intends to betroth Khalid and Euphemia and have them wed, either shortly after his death or Khalid's 20th birthday, whichever comes sooner.

At first both of them refused, saying that while they care for each other as friends, they can't possible subject one another to a forced marriage. Duke Riegan argued back that the stability of the Alliance is more important than personal feelings, but says he will give them time to consider it.

After a heavy conversation alone, they decide to accept Duke Riegan's plan. However, they have a plan of their own. If Duke Riegan dies before Khalid's 20th birthday, they will simply break the engagement. Khalid will inherit the Alliance, and allow Euphemia to stay in Deirdru somehow rather than return to her family (since she doesn't desire to return to them). If however, the Duke lives to Khalid's 20th birthday, they will attempt to stage some kind of divorce or break up.

However, those plans may yet go awry, as romantic affection and later amorous feelings begin to blossom between the two of them. Being betrothed to one another makes it incredibly easy for them to have the object of their affection and desire, but is it right for them to be together when they are opposed to the circumstances of their betrothal? Can they have each other in spite of those circumstances? Or must they keep to the course they originally set out of principle?

#ocs #oc: euphemia von lehr #fe16 oc #fe3h oc #claude von riegan #khalid von riegan #claude/oc #khalid/oc

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