#this idea is partially what inspired me to make a jake and rachel playlist

[natcat5]

Headcanon about the Ellimist’s ‘Stacked Deck’

I’ve been thinking about Crayak and the Berensons. 

Mostly, I’ve been thinking about Drode’s accusation that the Ellimist ‘stacked the deck’ with Marco, Cassie, Tobias, and Ax, with both Rachel and Jake left out of the equation. And from there, I think it’s interesting that it’s Rachel and Jake that are targeted by Crayak.

I mean, most probably, they’re targeted because they’re the supposed ‘outliers’ to the Ellimist’s greater machinations. Allegedly, Crayak might target them because the Ellimist didn’t handpick them, meaning they’re less likely to be fixed points, more likely to go astray from any carefully laid Ellimist plans. That makes the most sense.

But I also sort of like the idea that Jake and Rachel, and actually, the Berensons as a whole, are cards in Crayak’s deck. 

I won’t pretend it’s not a little far-fetched, but it’s just interesting the way they’re all such central players. Rachel, Jake, Tom. Saddler, not so much, but enough to make it an interesting coincidence. 

I think for me it’s that...each of the Berensons embodied potential turning points. Jake as the leader, each and every one of his decisions could have made or broke the war. Tom is both Jake’s reason to fight, and the reason they’re able to defeat the Visser at the end, and Rachel saves them all at the end of the war. She’s also a key fighter, and probably turns the tides of many battles the Animorphs otherwise would have lost. The fact that Tom and Jake live in the same house, meaning one wrong move from Jake could tip Tom’s Yeerk off and give him and the entire team away? That tightrope walk should have fallen apart within a year and I bet Crayak tosses back whiskey wondering how the hell putting a Controller and an Animorph in the same house worked out in the Ellimist’s favour. 

Saddler, for me, represents a potential turning point, in that if David had succeeded in impersonating him, things would have gone a LOT differently, and it could very well have been an entirely new turning point in the war. 

So...for me, I’m toying with the idea that the Berensons are cards in Crayak’s deck, in that they each represent potential points where the Ellimist’s plans could fall apart. They’re almost like extra gears that Crayak threw into the Ellimist’s machine, hoping he’d be able to get them to stick and jam the mechanisms, but instead, they slid in perfectly and made the Ellimists’ machine run smoother. The Berensons were supposed to be cards in Crayak’s deck, and while they did serve their function as orchestrators of turning points, they just consistently did it in the Ellimists’ favor. It’s no wonder Crayak is so, well, obsessed with them. Constantly trying to push them into decisions and actions that would undo the Ellimist’s plans. 

Far-fetched? Yes. Tragically fun to consider? Also yes! 

This was partially inspired by Happy is What Happens by mademoisellePlume, specifically the phrase ‘Crayak’s creatures’ in reference to Rachel and Jake. 

#animorphs #the animorphs #natchat5 #jake berenson #rachel berenson #tom berenson #nat avoids writing a fanfiction idea by making it a tumblr headcanon post #this idea is partially what inspired me to make a jake and rachel playlist #arguably why the playlist is so dark