#Ethan doesn’t know shit about Mia

[rallamajoop]

Resident Evil 7 and Mia's secrets

(Oh, did you think I was done talking about Mia? Not even close! >D)

Coming into this fandom late, I was surprised that popular fanon has it that Mia never does come clean to Ethan, post-RE7. Sure, RE8 depends on Mia not having told Ethan he died in Dulvey, but that has nothing to do with her own past with the Connections (and far more to do with Ethan's own denial, but that's a whole other thing).

Myself, I’d taken it as given that the scene where Ethan learns the truth must have just happened off-screen. Because, disappointing as that omission is, the whole damn game is leading up to it.

And having replayed RE7 lately, I realised there'd be no better way to explain my take than to catalog every time the game spells out to us that Ethan knows Mia’s keeping secrets and wants answers, and that Mia herself wants to come clean.

Heck, it’s just about the very first thing we learn about them.

“Ethan... You were right. I did lie to you. I shouldn’t have, but…”

Ethan's not actually stupid, and Mia's secrecy has obviously strained their marriage for some time. And as soon as Ethan finds her, he’s asking questions.

Here, he’s mostly asking who did this to you; it's way too early for real answers. But then Eveline takes control, shit goes down, and next we see her, it’s in her recorded message from the “Mia” video tape.

“There’s so much you need to know.”

When Ethan finds Mia again under the old house, he’s angry and has every right to be, and he doesn’t pull any punches.

“I always wanted to tell you…”

But Mia’s memory’s still a mess, and Lucas interrupts. Ethan’s next chance to ask questions comes in the boat, and he wastes no time.

“You had something to do with this, didn’t you?”

Mia’s a little more defensive here, but she’s not lying about the holes in her memory. The game’s gearing up for the big reveal anyway, and the writers aren’t about to let her spoil it early.

If you choose Zoe instead of Mia, Ethan spends the boat ride asking all the same questions, only louder.

“I knew Mia was hiding something.”

But in the end, what do we get?

Whoever you choose, Ethan only gets a few brief moments with Mia after she frees him from Eveline’s mould, and no explanations are offered. But if you do pick Mia, then we end with Ethan flying away with her in the helicopter, saying only, “Mia's back and she wants to start over,” and I’m left going, wait, what? Haven’t we skipped something here?

In defence of the fanon consensus that Ethan never finds out the truth, that does seem to be the ‘canonical’ intent ‒ at least inasmuch as there's this one throwaway bit about Mia not wanting Ethan to know buried in a bonus text file only available with this one overpriced DLC for RE8. That’s it, that’s as much explicit recognition as this thing ever gets, one way or the other. And fucking hell, but that's a let down.

Even if we assume that Mia’s desire to come clean goes away once her memory comes back, why would Ethan just stop asking? He’s been asking questions the whole damn game – was clearly asking questions long before the game began! Knowing that Eveline was controlling people doesn’t explain what Mia had to do with it all. Now he’s suddenly all, ‘killed the bad guy, saved the girl, everything’s fine’? Was all that ‘a door closed’ bullshit supposed to be him accepting he’d never get answers? Why?

There are workable ways to spin Ethan never finding out. You could suggest he just accepts that Mia’s memory is gone (hell, for all we actually see of the ending, Mia genuinely might have lost her memory again after Eveline sucked her back into the mould). After all the trauma Ethan’s been through, you could also suggest he’s gone directly into denial, refusing to face anything that might threaten his ‘happy ending’ with Mia. You could even suggest that that bit with Eveline saying 'I can make him love you' is her actively wiping Ethan's suspicions away. There's some lovely, subtle horror in any of these possibilities ‒ I would genuinely love to see all of them explored in fic! But none of them actually come through in the ending we get, and that omission is the single biggest issue that makes that conclusion to RE7 unsatisfying to me.

The whole damn game has been building up to the big confrontation where Ethan finds out the truth and (eventually, if not immediately) finds a way to forgive Mia, so we can still have our happy ending. As much OTT hate as Mia gets, the game is consistent in portraying her as someone who is painfully aware of how bad she’s fucked up, regrets it, and is committed to doing everything she can to protect the man she loves from the fallout of her mistakes.

I cannot overstate how willing Mia is to die to save Ethan, from the very moment she realises she's infected. She does die to save him if you choose Zoe over her. It's so much of why I ship them do hard.

But most frustrating of all, denying Mia the chance to come clean denies her any chance to explain herself. How did she get involved with the Connections? Did she know from the outset who she was working for? Did she genuinely buy into the idea they were finding ways to win wars without losing soldiers on battlefield, that the human casualties of all their work was worth it? If not, why did she keep working there? Was she slowly frog-boiled down to the deep end, did they have dirt on her, did she fear they might kill her if she tried to leave? What excuses did she make to herself as the months or years went on?

It's possible Mia’s the kind of hypocrite who doesn’t care about the human casualties of her employer, just as long as she and hers are okay, but nothing we see from her sells me on that interpretation. And even if she ever was, it's even harder to believe she's still that person after all she's been through.

It aggravates me that the games never gave us answers, not just because I want explanations that cast Mia in a sympathetic light, but because not giving us answers leaves this huge hole in her character. I'd even take explanations that cast her in an unsympathetic light, as long as it all ties together.

It irritates me even more because, even if Capcom wasn’t up for giving Ethan and Mia the big emotional confrontation they deserved, the solution was so simple: let Ethan find Mia’s diary on his way out of the ship. The whole goddamn franchise is filled with diaries and documents where characters lay out their backstories and motivations in ludicrous detail – why does Mia never get one? Just give us a handful of entries dated over the years, laying out her own feelings and anxieties about the job she’s doing. It would’ve been so easy!

It irritates me nearly as much that, even in the few corners of this fandom sympathetic to Mia, no-one seems to be very interested in answering these questions in fic or shared headcanons (and if there are examples out there I don't know about, please do link me to them!) How much did Mia know about what she was getting into when she started working for the Connections? Was it the job she kept telling herself was just until she could find something better, only for that ‘something better’ to never come along? Did she have stains on her record that made it hard to find another job? How much of her lying was a misguided attempt to protect Ethan, and how much was simply about protecting herself? There's so much to explore here!

This is also where I mention that I've already put my money where my mouth on this one, and written up my own take on Mia's backstory, and how Ethan might have found out the truth. You don't have to agree with my version, of course ‒ I mean it when I say I'd love to see other people's ideas too. Heck, I'd even be up for versions where Ethan ultimately can't forgive her, just as long as people come at it from the angle of looking at Mia as a character, not just a one-dimensional-villain.

But of course, I'd still prefer to think about versions where these two do find a way to make it work. It takes a lot to make me ship het this hard, but these two stealth-badasses have pulled it off with style.

#Mia Winters #Ethan Winters #mithan #Resident Evil 7 #Resident Evil Village #Resident Evil #Mia Winters week #RE lore #meta

[diorsluv]

casual , part 2

“ ‘cause i’m still hanging around ”

series m. list previous chapter next chapter

vivianliu

liked by yourusername, adamfantilli, and 66,824 others

vivianliu spending time w my girlfriend while she’s still my girlfriend 🫶

tagged: yourusername

view all comments

yourusername what’s that supposed to mean 😰

→ vivianliu you know exactly what i mean.

→ yourusername NO YOU’RE STILL MY WIFE I PROMISE

→ vivianliu SAY THAT IN FRONT OF THE MAN WHOSE BED YOU SLEEP IN

→ yourusername VIVI PLEASE

→ rutgermcgroarty whats going on 🙉

→ lhughes_06 ARE YOU THE MAN WHOSE BED SHE SLEEPS IN?? rutgermcgroarty

→ rutgermcgroarty no stupid (i wish)

→ yourusername HUH? EXPLAIN URSELF RUT

→ _quinnhughes oh hell no

→ jackhughes wtf

→ edwards.73 oh

username33 YOU’RE SO GORGEOUS

rutgermcgroarty baguette 🥖

→ vivianliu those are french dumbass

→ rutgermcgroarty mamma mia! 🕺

→ yourusername THAT WAS IN GREECE 😭😭

→ rutgermcgroarty goddammit you two never let me win

username7 OKAY GODDESSES???

luca.fantilli i love italy 🇮🇹

→ vivianliu i love taiwan 🇹🇼

→ edwards.73 i love canada 🇨🇦

→ markestapa i love america 🇺🇸

→ rutgermcgroarty i love nebraska

→ adamfantilli stop speaking right now rutgermcgroarty

→ rutgermcgroarty i thought we were naming our native countries????

→ mackie.samo but nebraska isn’t a fucking country?????

_quinnhughes okay i know my sister asked what the caption meant but actually what does the caption mean 😥

→ vivianliu figure it out

→ yourusername no quinny don’t figure it out

→ _quinnhughes just because i’m in vancouver doesn’t mean you can run around doing crazy shit

→ yourusername BUT IM NOT THOUGH??? 😭

→ _quinnhughes i’m going to figure it out and once i do you’ll have no choice but to tell me everything

→ yourusername you’re so nosy wtf

→ jackhughes what about me 😓😓

dylanduke25 why didn’t you take me with you

→ vivianliu because we didn’t want to 🤗

→ dylanduke25 oh 😕

→ adamfantilli LEAVE MY DUDE ALONE

username94 what i’m hearing is rosie’s cheating on vivian with ethan

username45 everyone’s so obvious abt this shit 😭

username21 the dresses are so prettyyy!

username30 best friend goals 🗣️

username28 correct me if i’m wrong but isn’t that the bag ethan posted himself buying on his story a few weeks ago??

→ username76 this sum detective shit 😭😭

trevorzegras i know

→ vivianliu know what?

→ trevorzegras I KNOW.

→ yourusername and how do you know

→ trevorzegras a little birdie told me

→ yourusername a little BITCH*** by the name of rutger mcgroarty?!????

→ trevorzegras snitches get stitches 🤫

→ rutgermcgroarty i plead innocent

→ vivianliu since when are you ever innocent???

username53 trevor knowing before her brothers is insane

jamie.drysdale bring back souvenirs 🙏

→ vivianliu she spent an HOUR at a gift shop today

→ yourusername i’m thorough with my purchases 😈😈

markestapa your girlfriend’s boyfriend is jealous

→ vivianliu my girlfriend doesn’t have a boyfriend 😒

→ mackie.samo THEY’RE DATING

→ vivianliu they’re “casual” 🙄🙄

→ luca.fantilli exactly they’re casually dating

→ vivianliu we all know he doesn’t like labels

edwards.73 pretty

→ vivianliu stfu 🤬🤬

→ edwards.73 was talkin bout the view but ok

→ yourusername the view is very pretty

→ edwards.73 so pretty i couldn’t take my eyes off it

→ dylanduke25 GET A ROOM

username21 ethan flirting every chance he gets 😭

→ vivianliu i’m against it but majority rules ig 😞

username60 the sunset is STUNNING

_alexturcotte what’s your opinion about it

→ vivianliu i’m definitely a neutral supporter but i’m kiiiiiiiiiinda leaning towards NO. NEIN. NAY. ABSOLUTELY NOT.

→ colecaufield agreed

→ edwards.73 yall gotta stop hating on my boy

→ _alexturcotte 🫤

→ vivianliu 😐

→ colecaufield 😑

edwards.73

liked by adamfantilli, mackie.samo, and 94,168 others

edwards.73 shi was fogging up 😵‍💫

view all comments

username6 wait. waiiiiiiiiiiiit.

rutgermcgroarty HOLD TF UP IS THAT HER CAR

→ edwards.73 🚗💨

→ rutgermcgroarty wtf bro i was sitting in there like 15 mins ago

→ edwards.73 you never sit in the back anyways you’re fine

→ markestapa I WAS SITTING IN THE BACK WHAT THE FUCK

→ edwards.73 😱

→ markestapa i’m gonna shower for a week what the hell

username47 IS THAT THE LAKE????

username33 bro really dropped the biggest bomb on us like we wouldn’t notice tf?

luca.fantilli notice how the clock says 4 am. I COULDN’T SLEEP FOR 4 FUCKING HOURS

→ edwards.73 STOP EXAGGERATING it wasn’t even that bad

→ luca.fantilli it wasn’t that bad MY ASS

→ edwards.73 we were quiet 😪

→ luca.fantilli yeah when you two were finally passed out 😒😒

dylanduke25 ethan i have two very important words for you

→ edwards.73 go ahead say it

→ dylanduke25 thin. walls. THIN. FUCKING. WALLS.

→ edwards.73 that’s 5 words duker

→ dylanduke25 fuck you

→ edwards.73 there we go now we’re at 2

→ dylanduke25 😒😒

username57 that is a hughes if i’ve ever seen one

vivianliu 🤬

→ edwards.73 why r u beefing w me 🙄

→ vivianliu is this supposed to be a soft launch

→ edwards.73 you could call it that yeah

→ vivianliu then tf r u launching bc it sure as hell isn’t a relationship last time i checked mr “i don’t do labels”

yourusername nice very nice

→ edwards.73 whats nice?? im gonna need u to specify

→ yourusername the heart it’s nicely drawn 🤗

→ edwards.73 mhmm cuz the windows got foggy af

→ yourusername oh really? doing what?

→ edwards.73 that’s a good question maybe we should test shit out to see what gets the windows so fogged up like that

username26 it’s a whole hughes-a-palooza up in here

username80 sunset 😁😁

lhughes_06 eddy since when did you get a girl??

→ edwards.73 since before u left 🙄

→ lhughes_06 AND YOU DIDN’T TELL ME??

→ edwards.73 my girl wanted to keep it a secret so we kept it on the dl 🙏

→ lhughes_06 but everyone else knows.

→ edwards.73 we’ll tell you eventually!

→ lhughes_06 😓

username24 tell me this aint the girl he’s been flirting w for the past three months

→ username5 i think it’s been longer than three months 😭😭

username78 name drop rn

mackie.samo 🥀

→ edwards.73 🥴

→ vivianliu is this the boy verson of code names

→ rutgermcgroarty fuck no

→ adamfantilli we use initials cuz we’re not weird???

→ colecaufield this shit is too obvious

jackhughes 🤨🤨

→ edwards.73 😰😰

→ jackhughes ur a little risky for that one

username66 does jack know or is everyone clueless

username32 are we just gonna ignore the fact that ethan called her his girl in one of the threads??

username87 this shit freaky asf 😭

trevorzegras oh 👀

→ edwards.73 yes

→ _alexturcotte z stop acting like you know more than we do

→ trevorzegras I DO

→ luca.fantilli go ahead keep lying to yourself

adamfantilli 😲

→ edwards.73 🫣

→ vivianliu 🤫

→ colecaufield 🫠

→ rutgermcgroarty 😏

→ markestapa 😫

→ yourusername 🤭

→ jackhughes 😧

→ dylanduke25 🫢

→ trevorzegras 🤪

→ luca.fantilli 😃

→ _alexturcotte 🙃

→ mackie.samo 🤓

→ _quinnhughes all of you are like the definition of brainrot

next chapter notes ) like stated in the description under the au on the main masterlist… EXTREMELY SUGGESTIVE so let this be your warning 😭 yall r freaky bitches tho bc I REMEMBER THAT ONE CHAPTER IN FEATHER 🤨🤨 the influx of notes i had on that chap was insane also this chap’s a short girlie butttttt hell week is incoming so im either gonna have more short chaps or less longer chaps 😓😓

tags: @dancerbailey3 @hughesfein @loveforaugust

#ethan edwards #ethan edwards fanfic #ethan edwards fic #ethan edwards x reader #ethan edwards x y/n #quinn hughes #jack hughes #trevor zegras #cole caufield #alex turcotte #luke hughes #mackie samoskevich #mark estapa #dylan duke #rutger mcgroarty #luca fantilli #adam fantilli

[i-cant-sing]

What if teen reader was blind? Like her eyes are just crystal clear, BUT she’s blind. And shitty father Ethan probably doesn’t notice or refuses to acknowledge that his daughter is LITERALLY stumbling, tripping, bumping into shit and at one point, falls into the lake and he’s like “qUiT sCrEWinG AroUnD wE hAvE tO FiNd rOsE”

Now with uncle Chris, he probably has some kind of leash around her wrist for him to either gently pull her along, hold her hand, or she just stays behind with uncle Leon while he talks about his days as a cop to her to keep her mind occupied from her shitty father and Rose

You know what? You're so right. Because Ethan would 100% tell reader off for "fucking around" and Mia keeps telling him that this is just your way "seeking their attention" so poor reader is just getting gaslight her whole life.

When she comes to the village, and Ethan abandons her to look for Rose, reader is just so very scared as she stumbles with -100 vision, all while sniffling and trying not to break down. Since she heavily relies on her hearing, sometimes reader will just run straight into a tree if she hears something. Fortunately, she has Handsome now to save her.

Chris is just punching air as he looks at you through his binoculars, telling his team to keep their eyes on you as he decides to go and fetch you himself because at this rate, you're gonna be dinner for those monsters.

I can also imagine the Lords looking at reader with sympathy as she aimlessly swings a tree trunk around to fend monsters off. Heisenberg probably just grumbles under his breath before grabbing you by the scruff of your neck and telling you to "calm down. I'll help you find your sister." before dragging you towards his factory to give you some food and a bed to sleep (and maybe his jacket, poor thing has just been one shiver from hypothermia)

I can also see Lady Dimitrescu just taking one look at you and going "this. This is my child now." Before picking you up from your armpits and carrying you to her castle, softly hushing you as you try to break free.

In general, I think they would all treat you like a frail kitten they found abandoned in the rain rather than an actual human being. And as much as you deny it, you do enjoy the warmth and care they give you.

I don't think Chris would put a leash on you. Maybe a tracker or just holds your hand as he guides you through the woods, but not a leash. That's more of Ethan's thing, especially when he becomes a yandere for you and realises you weren't actually faking any of it.

Now he's got those kiddy backpack leashes you for you, plus Mia put a tracker INSIDE your body surgically (yes, you were not willing so she knocked you out). Now they know where you are 24/7.

Be happy they don't make you wear bell around the house. (They just might in the not so distant future)

#yandere ethan winters #yandere resident evil #yandere chris redfield #yandere re8 #yandere heisenberg #yandere lady dimitrescu #yandere Dimitrescu #yandere alcina Dimitrescu #yandere lady alcina #resident evil x reader #resident evil village #re8 village #re8 lady dimitrescu #re8 x reader #re 8 #re 8 village #yandere mia #yandere mia winters #ethan winters #chris redfield x reader

[leonsennedykennedy]

sometimes i think about what would happen if we got leon in re8

i feel like he would’ve worked alongside chris, the DSO or whoever prolly sent him along with the hound wolf squad just in case. i mean, leon is essentially their prize fighter and if anyone can handle cult shit like the village, it’s him.

so he’s moseying around with chris and the hws and they come across ethan in the reservoir. ethan, who’s been battered by the elements and lycans and the lords and honestly just deserves a break. he accuses chris of killing mia, insisting he finish the job. chris doesn’t answer.

leon knows the truth. as does the rest of the hws, the mia living with ethan had been mother miranda. they didn’t kill mia, mia is missing. so why isn’t chris telling ethan?

does he see himself in ethan? does he see luis in chris? does he see ethan being kept in the dark about miranda and mia, and think about himself being kept in the dark regarding los illuminados and umbrella?

when moreau sweeps the squad away, wherever they end up, they need time to recuperate. leon confronts chris. what use is keeping ethan in the dark? clearly if he can handle two of the four lords, he’d be far more valuable being kept in the loop. chris states that ethan is a civilian, that he’d cause more trouble than anything - a last-ditch effort to keep the poor guy safe.

leon reminds chris of raccoon city. leon may as well have been a civilian during the first outbreak. claire was.

maybe leon would’ve left. maybe leon seeks ethan out, offers to help. leon knows what it’s like to be in this position. he won’t let it happen to anyone else.

(excuse my leonposting i’m going insane)

#resident evil #leon kennedy #chris redfield #ethan winters #re8 #re8 village #leonposting #we should’ve gotten him in village #i miss him #could’ve had old man chreon #old man yaoi #shaking the bars of my cage

[ctitan98official]

Donna Beneviento long lost child au

I have gotten a ton of requests for a long lost child au for Donna… Here it is! Let’s get into it!

You had been having a rough time recently. You were lonely and needed something, but… You couldn’t quite figure out what that was.

That was until it came to you in a dream.

You were lying curled up on a comfy couch as someone whispered softly to you and ran their fingers through your hair. It was so relaxing. You felt completely comforted. You weren’t sure how, but you knew in your dream that this was your mother. The only problem was… You had never even met her.

You confided in a close friend, Mia Winters, about your dream and what it could mean.

At first, Mia was unsure how she could help, but… She pulled a few strings at the organization she worked for to get information. She’d do anything for you. Her search to find your birth mom actually led her to someone she already knew that had inside knowledge… Her project lead, Miranda.

Miranda informed Mia that she was from the exact same village as your mom and had even remembered when she had to give you up. Talk about coincidences…

Today, you were currently waking up with a huge hangover on Mia’s couch… You had also taken to getting blackout drunk to numb the pain of abandonment.

You sit up and rub your bleary eyes, yawning loudly.

Mia walks in and crinkles her nose at your unkempt form. “Y/N, this can’t keep going on. Ethan’s started complaining about me letting you stay over so much.” She says and sits next to you.

You feel guilty. “I’m sorry, Mia. All this shit about my birth mom is fucking with me…” You confess. “There’s no way to fix that. Drinking takes the edge off… For a bit.” You say sourly.

Mia gives you a sympathetic look and bites her lip, deciding if she should divulge the information about your mom that she has just received. The last thing she wants is for this news to send you into a tailspin. “Y/N… If you were able to figure out where to find your mom… Would it truly make you happy?” She asks.

Your eyes snap to hers. “Of course, Mia! Even if it doesn’t go well… I think I’d feel better if I knew where I came from.” You tell her.

Mia internally curses herself before biting the bullet. “Well… I’ve done some digging, with the help of The Connections.” She begins.

Your eyes widen at this. “What?” You ask incredulously.

Mia looks down but nods her head. “My supervisor, Miranda, is… From the same village as your mom. She even… Knows her quite well.” Mia says carefully.

Your eyes widen. How could this even be possible? “I don’t… How…?” You try to ask.

Mia laughs nervously. “Small world.” She murmurs. She doesn’t know if she’s done the right thing by telling you, but you surprise her and give her a big hug.

“Thank you, Mia.” You say with tears in your eyes. “This is everything that I wanted.” You slowly pull away and wipe your eyes, suddenly feeling very anxious. “Um, what do we do now?” You ask her.

Mia remembers that she has Miranda’s number. “We could give Miranda a call?” She offers, holding up her phone.

You swallow hard but quickly nod your head. It’s now or never.

The phone call with Miranda goes pleasantly enough, considering what you’re calling about. Miranda even offers to be your personal guide. She said that she had some business to attend to in the village and would be heading back soon, as a matter of fact.

You eagerly accept Miranda’s offer and the two of you make plans to meet at the airport tomorrow morning. Romania or bust.

——————————————————————————

Miranda is definitely a hugger. She throws her arms around you the second you introduce yourself. “Wow… Just as stunning as your sweet mother.” She compliments, which makes you blush.

You find yourself growing fond of this eccentric, but kind, scientist.

During the plane ride, Miranda tells you about the village and its unusual but quaint traditions. She’s apparently some kind of priestess? To a… Mold god or something? You might have tuned out some of her chatter. It was an early flight, after all…

When you two land in Bucharest, Miranda easily hails a cab and you both head deep into the mountains. Either Miranda is 100% correct about what she had told you… Or she is a serial killer. There is no in-between.

The tiny town that you’re dropped off in looks like its stuck decades in the past.

You and Miranda start to walk further in and she tells you that she will take you to her house first before going by herself to speak to your mom… She just wants to give her a heads up.

You eagerly agree, thankful to have a little bit of time to work up your nerve once again.

Miranda’s cottage is cozy and warm… It does have a metric fuck-ton of crow statues and artwork, though… What could that be about?

Soon, only a couple of minutes after Miranda leaves, you hear her voice from outside, frantically begging someone to stop.

You furrow your brows and go to look out the living room window.

You see a graceful figure, dressed all in mourning garb, purposefully marching through the ice and slush. It seems they are making their way here. Odd.

You look behind the mysterious person and almost bust out laughing. You see Miranda hurriedly waddling behind the person in black. Her shoes, while stylish, do not hold up to the bitter temperatures of Romanian winters, it seems.

Your enjoyment of this scene is cut short as you hear the front door open.

You turn to look at the veiled visitor, curious to see who they are.

A choked gasp leaves the person’s mouth as they bring their hands to cup their face.

You are petrified. Did you violate one of the village’s customs and offend them?

The person takes the facial covering off and you are met with a gorgeous and striking woman. She’s one of the prettiest people you’ve ever seen. But… She’s crying. Why is she so sad? You unconsciously go over to her to ask what’s wrong, but she surprises you by reaching out to gently hold your face.

“Il mio bambino…” She whispers as she takes in your features. You are even better than she could have imagined.

“U-umm!” You stammer nervously, and are weirdly really enjoying the warmth and softness of the woman’s hands on your face.

Just then, Miranda comes barreling in. “I can explain!” She shouts, not even sure who she’s speaking to at the moment.

The two of you kind of ignore Miranda. You are lost in each other’s gaze. There’s something special about this woman… But, what?

“Y/N…” The dark-haired woman rasps in her beautiful, low voice.

Your eyes widen at hearing your name. Have you two met??

“Y/N… I’m your mama.” She says as tears roll down her cheeks.

You feel your heart flutter and speed up. Wait… This is your mother? That’s not possible. She’s too perfect!

You look over to Miranda for confirmation and she silently nods.

You gasp. Wow… Fuck… You were feeling a lot of emotions and your head was spinning. You needed to sit down… Unfortunately, you took two steps towards the couch and ended up blacking out from the complete shock of the situation.

Later on, you would blame this on jet lag.

Note: I’ve gotta expand this into a second part! In the next installment, we’ll learn why Donna gave Y/N up. Hope you liked this one!

Masterlist

#donna beneviento #re8 #re8 village #donna beneviento x reader #donna beneviento x y/n #angie beneviento #resident evil village #resident evil imagines #resident evil 8 #resident evil #mother miranda #mia winters

[phoenixkaptain]

One of the things I just can’t get over about Resident Evil games, specifically later ones, is the swearing.

I don’t know why, I cannot explain my reasoning, but I giggle every time Ethan swears beCAUSE!!! He does it so often!!! Every other sentence out of this man’s mouth is him cussing and it’s so funny?? He’s this relatively mild-mannered guy who goes absolutely fucking apeshit on the swearing, straight up starts swearing like a middle schooler who learned what swear words were yesterday!!

And it’s the other characters too!! It isn’t just Ethan!!

Leon in RE4 swears like he thinks he’s going to be in trouble for it??? Like, his voice is just very gentle and quiet and I can’t get over his “Well I don’t give a damn” All of his swearing reads to me like a little boy who doesn’t want his mommy hearing him say bad words and it’s so fucking funny???

Mia swearing is also funny. And Chris. Just, all of them. The actors sound so uncertain when they swear, like they just don’t know if they’re reading the script right, and it’s honestly amazing, I love it so much.

It’s also extremely funny because RE1 and RE2 both didn’t have a lot of swearing in them (that I recall) so it comes across as all the characters going through some tough shit and deciding “I am no longer PG-13.” But Ethan starts cussing like a sailor the very same game he’s introduced. So it’s like you have these hardened officers of the law who only started swearing after difficult times and you also have this mild-mannered computer engineer who swears up a fucking storm whenever the fuck he feels like it.

Very funny.

On the topic of voice lines that I like, one of my all-time favourites is RE2, when Claire and Leon are in the squad car at the very beginning of the game and Leon tells Claire to look in the glove box and she does and I will never in my life be able to start giggling at the deadpan line delivery of “This is a gun.” Why does she say it the way she does? I don’t even know how to describe the way she says it, like it’s kind of chiding or kind of “Leon what the fuck” in the calmest possible voice and dear Whoever-Voiced-Claire-in-RE2 please marry me I love your voice so much

#the inane ramblings of a madman #resident evil #ethan winters #claire redfield #chris redfield #leon kennedy #mia winters #tw swearing #listen i swear all the time #because there are certain jokes that hit harder with swearing #but i just love these lines so much #why do they sound so uncertain??? #why is leon’s voice in RE4 so gentle??? #have you heard his voice?? #it is so sweet i can’t explain #anyway #adding these to the list #of voices i have a crush on #RE4 leon ur voice is wonderous #RE2 claire ur voice is just fucking perfect

[2dmenenthusiast]

Last Night on Earth Pt. 3

(Ethan Winters x Gn!Reader)

Me? Finally posting a chapter? Why, it couldn't be! I hope ya'll enjoy!

Also, lemme know if anyone would like to be tagged in this series!

Warnings/other info: references to injury, grief

Pt. 1 Pt. 2 Pt. 3 Pt. 4 Pt. 5 Pt. 6 Pt. 7 Pt. 8 Pt. 9

It was cold. The frigid air seeped in through the windows and circulated around the large room. You laid curled up on your bed, knees to your chest. You’d be warmer if you got under the covers, but you didn’t feel like moving. Didn’t feel like showing weakness, which was all you felt the past three days. Weak and helpless.

“Do you know why you’re being punished?”

You turned away from Sister Jude, arms crossed tight against your chest.

“You can be silent all you want. It won’t change the outcome.”

With a huff, you sat up, a glare aimed at the older woman. How could she treat you like this? When it wasn’t even your fault!

You could feel your nose start bleeding again, and you quickly wiped at it. Sister Jude sat on the bed next to you and reached out with a tissue. You slapped her hand away, and she sighed.

“Why must you be so stubborn?”

“I don’t know. Why can’t you punish the jerk that smashed my guitar?”

“Well, maybe it has to do with the fact that he’s currently getting a cast on his arm! Why didn’t you come to me? To any of us?”

You scoffed and stood from the bed, pacing around and throwing your arms out in frustration. “Like you would’ve done anything! All I’d get is another rant from Father O’Neil about ‘being patient’ and ‘forgiveness.’ Screw that!”

“So that means you can just go ahead and start breaking limbs whenever someone upsets you?”

“Like they haven’t done worse to me,” you mumbled under your breath.

She remained for a moment, her eyes searching your face before she sighed and stood from your bed.

“I’ll expect you at confession. If this behavior doesn’t change, you know what will happen.”

When she turned her back, you raised both middle fingers at her and resisted the urge to scream, teeth painfully clenched together. Your eyes stung as you laid back down, hissing in pain and clutching your ribs.

No, you couldn’t tell her about how the other kids dragged you into the bathroom and kicked you until you were bleeding. You couldn’t tell her about the vile and awful things they called you, the notes they stuck on your back when you weren’t looking. Because it would only get worse if you did.

***

“Well, that’s mildly disturbing.”

You’ve seen more than your fair share of disconcerting things while being trapped in your family home. The occasional decapitated limb, the entrails of the hopeless victims your mother stored in the fridge like it was last night's leftovers. Oh, and not to forget the seven foot tall mold monsters brambling around the property.

Surprised to say, “mummified child corpse” was a new one on the ever growing list.

“That’s underselling it I think,” Ethan muttered, and you took a close look at the paper stapled to the lid.

D-Series cranial nerve

D-series peripheral nerve

“What kind of freaky shit is this?

For how long you’ve been trapped, you feel as if you know about as much now as you did when this all first started. You were completely left in the dark, scrambling for answers like a blind, helpless child. The only clue you had was Mia’s hastily scribbled note she left you before she passed out. But she could barely remember her own name most days, let alone what Evie and her minions were all about or where they came from. Was she even a good person if she was involved in all this from the beginning? Did Ethan really know the woman he was married to?

And what the fuck did she bring to your home? Your family?!

The lid slammed with a loud BANG!, shaking the table underneath and the candles meticulously placed around it. You would’ve picked it up and thrown it through the window if the phone hadn’t interrupted your rage induced fit.

You gripped the phone and put the receiver to your ear. “Zoe, I swear on this god given green earth, if you’re not back inside the fucking trailer—”

“Jesus Christ, would you cool it? I’m back. I’m safe.” She sighed on the other end. You could tell she was exhausted. “You found a serum?”

“No. But we found out how to make one. Had to get through Momma and her bugs to fuckin’ get to it.”

“Yeah, could’ve warned me,” Ethan said, raising his voice so Zoe could hear him.

Your sister chuckled as you raised your hand and pushed Ethan back, stilling him with your stare. He raised his hands and shrugged, turning his back.

“We need a D-series head and an arm. Which the creepy factor in this case isn’t surprising at all.”

“A head? I think I got one around here somewhere.”

Your eyes closed, and you pinched the bridge of your nose. “That’s such a comforting and normal thing to say, Zo. Thank you,”

She laughed, and the sound made your lips twitch. It’s been a while since you heard her actually laugh. It was a comfort to know she was still able to.

“Meet me at the trailer once you get it, alright? And don’t get yourself killed.”

You told her to do the same and hung up, relieved to know that your sister was safe. At least for now. With a huff, your back thumped against the wall, and your eyes met Ethan’s. How long has it been since he first got here? Four hours? Five? It felt like an eternity if you were being honest. Time going by at a snail's pace as you both fought tooth and nail to try and stay alive. 

This serum better fucking work!

“You alright?”

Your chest heaved with a breath, and you watched Ethan’s hand twitch at his side, like he wanted to reach out to you just to make sure.

“I will be.”

You moved to step away from the wall, but Ethan was in front of you in an instant, the intense concern in his eyes freezing you to your spot. His hand raised, and you instinctively flinched away. You knew rationally that he would never hurt you. He didn’t seem like the type. But that lingering paranoia, that smidgen of fear that remained, it lurked like a cold shadow over your shoulder. A constant presence and reminder of things that once plagued you so many years ago.

Your tensed shoulders slowly fell, a small indication that Ethan could continue,  and his fingers gently brushed against the base of your neck. A dull pain throbbed where he touched, and you grimaced at the quick reminder of your mother’s hands around your throat.

Squeezing.

Choking.

Killing.

“Does it look bad?”

His hand came to rest on your shoulder, thumb gently sweeping over your collar bone and catching the chain of your tags. The cool metal dragged against your chest, goosebumps rising on your skin. His touch was so careful. Considerate. Something you haven’t experienced in a long, long time. And maybe you shouldn’t be craving more of it, because by god, this was a married man and you certainly were not some fucking homewrecker. But a part of you ached when he pulled his hand away, missing his warmth and the comfort that accompanied it.

“I think you’ll survive.”

A smirk tugged at his lips, and you tore your eyes away from him before any other intrusive thoughts were planted in your brain. Your hand rubbed at the back of your neck once Ethan stepped away, smothering the heat that spread over your skin.

You hate that you react like this. It makes you want to claw at your skin. To scrub at it until it’s raw and bleeding. You don’t want to feel like you need anything from Ethan, especially something he couldn’t give you.

Shaking your head, you immediately attempt to disperse any remaining inappropriate thought, steeling your expression and turning towards the small set of stairs leading towards an unsearched part of the house. 

The cluttered room you step into is almost comforting, homey even. If it weren't for the rotting rat stuffed in the basket at your feet.

Your lips curled downwards in a grimace, casting the sight out of your mind as you gently ran your fingers over the piano keys. They moved into a familiar position, gently pressing down until a few gentle notes clinked through. The sound immediately sent you back to a time more pleasant than what you were facing now. A time of gentleness and care.

"You play?" Ethan wondered from behind you.

You shrugged, turning to him. "Momma did. Taught me how to play a few songs. I don't remember much."

He didn't say anything after that, but he could see the heartache in your eyes at the mention of the person your mother used to be.

You quickly moved on, turning the corner and coming across another lantern and another locked door. You experimentally pushed on it, the solid weight under your palms not even giving an inch. You glanced at the lantern on the uneven scale when it hit you.

Son of a-

"We have to find her."

Ethan's eyes were wide, silently asking you what the hell you were implying. "What?"

"It's the only way to get through. Take the light and find the ingredients. You got me?"

“She’s going to slaughter us!”

“Do you wanna get the serum or not?!”

Ethan sighed in defeat, fingers pressing into his eyes. It wasn’t the smartest option, but it was the only one you could see. That, or stay here for the insects to burrow into your skin and fester.

“I’m not gonna go back to the trailer and lick my wounds when we’ve come this far. You told me we could do this, right?” 

Ethan finally looked at you, brows pinched and jaw clenched. You reached out, placing a hand on his arm and squeezing.

“Then let’s get it done.”

There was a monstrously heavy and bleak presence that loomed over you once you made your way back to the hole in the floor. You could feel it clawing at your back, breathing down your neck. It sent your blood pressure spiking, the hairs on the back of your neck standing up as you looked down into the soggy pit. The water had drained, leaving mud and squiggling bugs in its wake, and Ethan reluctantly descended the creaky ladder.

You followed once he made it all the way down and cursed when your foot slipped against the wet wood, fingers tightening their grip. But, Ethan was already there before you could fall, hands on your legs to stabilize you.

“You alright?”

Gulping, you nodded. The warmth of his palms through your jeans seared your skin, and his touch only left you once your feet hit solid ground. Muttering a soft ‘thanks,’ you gingerly pulled away and looked down the muddy cavern beside you.

What you saw forced a breath out of your lungs from shock. Your mother was scuttling ahead on all fours, her limbs an abnormally long length like a gangly spider.

“Huh. Well that’s special.”

You glanced at Ethan with raised brows and shook your head. At least he could find humor in the situation.

With your gun raised, you took the lead, Ethan right on your heels with his shotgun clutched tight in his hands. Sweat dripped down your forehead, the thick and musty air clogging your lungs and sticking your shirt to your skin. Once you finally made it out through the manhole, you greedily sucked in the fresh air, your sore throat and burning skin grateful.

“Fucking—” You shoved your pistol aside and gripped one sleeve of your shirt, pulling until you heard the satisfying rip of fabric. Doing the same to the other, your muscles tensed and flexed under the cool air, a pleasant shiver running up your spine as goosebumps covered your skin. Ethan looked on with curious eyes, but you soon had the solid weight of your weapon back in your hands and were already moving on.

The crushing reality that you might just have to kill your mother was finally starting to seep in, and it felt like a cement brick had been dropped right on your chest. You had accepted the reality long ago that your mom died the day Evie infected her, and she was too far along for any cure to work on her. But… this thing. This fucking monster, it wore her face, spoke in her voice.

But she wasn’t your momma. Not anymore.

The decrepit house she took shelter in felt like it was going to collapse any minute, the wooden beams holding it up practically chewed through and the foundation sliding.

“Try not to fall through the floor again, yeah?” you said, ascending the rotten steps.

Ethan spoke up, but he was interrupted when the window in front of you shattered and long limbs stretched out towards you.

“Come on now with me! We’re gonna settle this!” Marguerite screeched.

Ethan reacted faster than you would’ve given him credit for, firing off his shotgun as you pulled the trigger on your pistol. She screamed and crawled back through the window whilst you scrambled to your feet and raced up the rest of the stairs, Ethan hot on your tail. 

Boots skidding across the floor, Ethan’s body practically slammed into yours as he tried to dodge your mother’s oncoming attacks. Her hand seized through the floor and gripped his ankle, his gun going flying as she yanked him down.

“Fuck!” He scrambled for you, and your gun went off in your mother’s face.

“Agh! You son of a bitch! I’ll fuckin’ kill you, you hear me?! 

“Let. Him. Go!”

You shot again, and she finally released her hold with a scream, crawling off to somewhere you couldn’t see. Ethan pulled his foot out of the floor with a pained hiss, blood soaking his pants and large splinters of wood piercing his skin.

“Are you okay?”

He nodded, limping over to his shotgun, “Let’s go kill that fucking bitch.”

You could make out your mother’s yelling and cursing from the floor below, and you attempted to maneuver the upstairs without falling through the huge gaps in the floor. The smell of gunpowder and smoke was heavy in the air, shots booming and Marguerite’s screams ear piercing. Ethan tried to stay close to you the entire time, whether that be because he was scared or he was trying to protect you, you didn’t know. But you weren’t complaining, either.

The vile cracking and shifting of your mother’s limbs caught your attention, and you watched with horror as she jumped all the way from the bottom floor up to where you stood. She swiped an arm out and caught your side, and your body slammed into the wall before you slumped down against it. Ethan cried out your name, making a beeline for you when Marguerite snatched the back of his shirt and threw him towards the opposite side of the house. He crashed through the wall and landed harshly on the ground, rolling onto his back.

“Ethan! No!”

He wasn’t responsive, lying prone as your mother stomped towards you. Fear gripped at your spine, chest heaving with stuttering breaths and your body so tense it felt like you were made of ice. The monster in front of you breathed heavily, her limbs dangling at her sides and her disgusting, slimy belly peeking through her dress. She looked like something out of your nightmares. A horror story the kids in foster homes would use to torment you.

You tried to stand, bracing your hand against the wall, but your leg and side screamed in pain. She got closer with every long stride, and soon, she was right in front of you, a boney hand clutching your neck and lifting. She dangled you over the giant hole in the second level, your hand coming up to grip at her arm as she bared her disgusting teeth.

“You fucking good for nothing, bitch. I wish I never became your mother!”

She screamed the words, spit landing on your face and mixing with the tears that rolled down your cheeks. There was a quiet click, and cool metal pressed against her forehead.

“My mother—” you gasp for breath, finger squeezing down on the trigger, “is dead!”

BANG!

You were floating. Falling. And then the ground meets your back like a speeding train. Your mouth opens, but you can’t gasp for breath because it’s being forced out of you. Your ears ring, and you can’t hear. Not even when Ethan is by your side, grabbing your shoulders and mouthing something you guess is your name.

Finally, your back arches with a deep intake of air, coughing on it violently before you can manage to breathe again. Ethan is there the whole time, his hands gently holding you and trying to talk you through it. When your head lolls to the side, you see your dead mother’s face right next to you. White crawls over her skin until her whole body is calcified and frozen.

And then she breaks and falls apart.

You can hear her crumbling, her face falling away until you can no longer recognize her. It hurts. More than you thought it would. 

She was so beautiful once.

“Hey! Hey, can you hear me?”

Ethan shakes you and you groan out in pain. He immediately apologizes and brushes your hair out of your face.

“Come on, you gotta get up. You’re okay. You’ll be okay.”

There’s desperation in his voice you’ve only heard once before. When he begged you to help him find his wife. And you don’t bother to question why it fills you with a bit of warmth.

You're pretty sure you fractured a rib, and it’s still incredibly hard to breathe, but you sit up anyway with his help, gripping his arm when the pain makes you seize up.

“I’ve got you. You’re alright.”

He’s got you.

Once you feel like you can deal with the pain, you shift onto your knees with a bit of difficulty, and look down at the pile of dust that was once your mom. Your hand slowly sifted through it, grabbing a handful and letting the dust fall between your fingers until a golden band rests in your palm.

She’s gone.

She’s really gone this time.

Your fingers curl around the ring and you hold it to your chest, body wracking with violent sobs. Ethan is next to you in a heartbeat, his arms carefully wrapping around you and tugging until you fall back into him. He mutters apologies and comforts into your ear, and all the while you’re screaming at yourself in your head for you to stop.

Get a grip! She was a monster!

Then why does it hurt so much?

“Hey. I know, okay? But we gotta go,” Ethan muttered, his hand gently rubbing your shoulder.

You knew he was right. You had to leave before something else came looking for you. With a sniffle, Ethan helped you stand to your feet and grabbed the lantern with his other hand, gently shaking the dust off of it. You never felt more hopeless than in that moment, injured and practically falling over if it weren’t for the man next to you. And while you’d normally detest at the idea of someone practically carrying you to safety, you wouldn’t put up much of a fight this time.

Still, you tried not to put all your weight on him, knowing he was hurt too. You leaned away a bit, but the second he felt your weight slightly lean off him, he pulled you right back against his side.

“Ethan, I can—”

“Don’t. I got you.”

“You’re hurt too, asshole. I’m not— Agh! I’m not lettin’ you do all the heavy lifting.”

Ethan chuckled and relented, letting you take a bit of his struggle. “You’re so damn stubborn, you know that?”

You smiled, and it was less painful than you thought it would be. “Is that what you were gonna tell me earlier? Back at the old house?”

“Something along those lines. Maybe a bit meaner.”

“You’ll break my heart by the end o’ this, Winters.”

The hand on your side gave you a light squeeze. 

“I’ll make it up to you.”

#Ethan winters x reader #ethan winters #resident evil 7 #resident evil biohazard #ethan winters imagine #resident evil fanfiction #resident evil #re7

[mishwanders]

The four ocs ( yeah like four lords ) of BbF and their love languages ヽ⁠༼⁠⁰⁠o⁠⁰⁠；⁠༽⁠ノ

I had to rewrite this because tumblr deleted my shit again. Im going to start setting fire to this app istg

ANY WAY 😂 MY FOUR OCS ARE MY FOUR LORDS (and then there Miles Wesker - their guard dog lmao!) we know I’m about to ramble again so everything’s going under the cut

How They Love/What They Need

Sorina Spencer

Acts of Service/Words of Affirmation

Okay starting off with a tricky one because honestly she shows her love in a few ways, but acts of service is her #1. In the story she allows Oswell to stay in her home when he’s in the village, she takes over teaching the children in the training facility, she helps out Albert and Alex who were attempting to make chocolate covered strawberries as a surprise for her, takes it upon herself to drive herself and Oswell to a picnic in Arklay, and even puts her safety of hiding on the line to save Ethan, Mia, and Elena Winters.

But, the woman feels as if she hasn’t done enough because of the foul words other people have said (look at you James Marcus), so she needs words to constantly reminder that she is loved and that she’s doing what she can with the situations she’s been thrown into. Also means she fits well with Oswell, because he can talk, monologue even if he truly wanted to lol.

Matilda Costache

Gift Giving/Quality Time

Matilda enjoys making things in their free time for the ones they love - Heisenberg has a blanket that he refuses to get dirty UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE because it’s that special to him, Matilda even makes a nice little memorial piece for Eva using her old doll, photo, and trinkets, so Miranda can look at it in peace in her cave. Ricardo and Hunk even get gifts - a handmade sweater and knife, a plethora of meals which the men help out with. Matilda likes to make practical gifts that they know will be looked at your used for a long time.

Matilda needs quality time - they crave it. It doesn’t even have to be something elaborate, even just sitting in the room working on their respective projects together means the world to Mat. They fit well with Miranda in that way, because they spend long hours together in the cave - Matilda trying to find Eva in the megamycete and Miranda working up plans to on how to bring the girl out. They also work out well with Heisenberg in that regard too - because they’re both working on the same project (dead cyborg army) so they get to spend a lot of time together doing that.

Ricardo Luis Santos

Physical Touch/Physical Touch

Touched starved gay man finally gets to hold hands with the man he’s fallen for - more news at 11.

But fr, the only person who ever showed him the affection he needed growing up was his grandmother and that increased after he almost died as a child. When he gets to Rockfort Island things get a little difficult for him because there’s no way for him to show that on the island without getting into a physical fight with the others. In Raccoon City things change a bit because Sorina and Hunk are the two who recognize it. Sorina treats him like a mother figure would, gently placing her hand on his shoulder, cheek, or top of his hand (until they get to the village and she’s throws her arms around him in a hug) and Hunk does so by placing his hand on his shoulder or arm in public. In private though, Hunk is more touchy (it is the 90s after all, they can’t be open about their relationship) but when they get out of the US and are in the confines of Matilda’s cabin, touchiness increases. Both of the men always have a hand or arm over the other, whether it be thigh, back pocket, over the shoulder - Matilda has already made it clear that they love them and don’t want them to feel like they need to hide in Mat’s presence, which actually takes a huge weight off of their shoulders there. Matilda uses Ricardo to lean on a lot, one because their balance sucks after breaking their leg, but also because he’s makes them feel comfortable enough to do so - just like they do with Heisenberg.

Elena Winters

Acts of Service/Acts of Service

Elena is a very devoted and loyal person to those she loves - she will do ANYTHING in order to show that, even if it means having to go into a murder house to save them. She also does it by trying to take off the weight of responsibility on other shoulders, adopting Ethan as a teenager so they wouldn’t be separated after their fathers death, helping Ethan and Mia out with Rosemary, staying with Ethan after Mia’s disappearance so he would have to worry about taking care of the apartment but instead focus on himself, helping Sorina out with her own place, her car, etc. helping Chris out with his needs like with the nightmares, taking over some of his duties with protecting the family while they’re in witness protection, etc.

Since the very beginning of her story in Sorina’s - acts of service has always been a part of Elena’s life. Heisenberg accidentally brings her back to life, takes care of her for a month until Edgar Winters shows up and brings her home. Both of his kids knew how much he sacrificed for them and he’s truly where Elena learned it from. Also considering she’s a trans woman living in Texas - not the safest place for her to be - Ethan has become very protective of his older sister and hearing Eveline and Lucas dead name her as a means to get at him made him want to sucker punch both of them lmao.

Sorina also comes through for her many times - calling the cops and the BSAA when Elena and Ethan were in trouble at the Baker House, taking over when Elenas feeling clueless on what’s going to happen next with their lives, and defending her against Miranda. Chris does so as well by stepping up for her with the BSAA and vouching for her ability to help them, he and Jill even do her training together so she’s getting the best of the best, doing things around their apartment when she’s having flare ups from the infections, etc etc. Mia also helps out and Elena comes to trusting her again after everything comes out and Mia is they one Elena goes to (outside of Sorina) when it comes to needing help with her mold infection and what it all means in the end for her.

And since I can, I’m doing one for my newest baby boy - my guard dog -

Miles Wesker

Physical Touch/Acts of Service

Now my new son’s love languages come from a very messed up sense. He’s only ever been used for other peoples gain and the way he was shown to gain other peoples trust is through physical touch - it’s the only way that has ever truly worked for him, unlike his siblings which would be more words based. But he’s much less likely to put much stock into words - he’s been lied to enough. The way he shows it with his older siblings is through basic means, hand on the shoulder, on their arm, he likes to sling his arm over Alberts - which irritates the older man but he doesn’t always shove him off, he realizes it’s just how he shows he likes him. With Claire, much more touchy, likes to have a hand somewhere whether it be holding hers, around her waist, on her belt loop - SOMETHING TO MAKE SURE SHES THERE.

He needs people to prove to them that they’re going to be there and the only way he can truly verify that is through peoples actions. Umbrella had sullied him enough on words with their lies, Alberts the one who really instilled in him his actions speak louder than words for him. It never mattered what his older brother said, he always knew the man cared when he tossed him some extra food in the cafeteria, helped him keep his hiding place in Raccoon City etc. and even Alex funneled cash in his direction to make sure he’d be able to eat at least.

Even with Claire, no matter how many times she threatens to turn him in, she never does and in fact makes it a point to defend him when he needs it. He makes it a point to help her as well, dropping hints or a bread crumb trail to lead her to the next story to undo his own enemies on the black market. They’re enemies, they’re lovers, but he’s also gaming the system for his benefit. A nasty feral man - we love to see it lmao.

Putting this down here at the bottom - if tumblr fucks me in the ass again and doesn’t put this under the cut someone PLEASE tell me so I can attempt to fix it because GOD THATS A LOT OF WORDS UP THERE AND I DONT WANT YALL GO SUFFER MT RAMBLING IF YOU DONT WANNA SEE IT LMAO

#oc: miles wesker #oc: sorina spencer #oc: matilda costache #oc: elena winters #oc: ricardo luis santos

[ragingstillness]

A continuation of my casually feral Ethan post because ppl liked it so much. Note, my previous take was mostly canon-based, this is more headcanons:

So Chris does indeed get approval to bring Ethan into the BSAA, at least for assessment. He disguises it as wanting to take a statement from Ethan and Ethan, with amazing survival skills but zero social awareness skills, agrees.

Chris brings Ethan in through a back door so he doesn’t have to go through the front scanners which would immediately have identified him as a BOW and activated remote defenses to try and kill him. After what he’s seen Chris is not entirely sure who would win, the guns or Ethan.

Ethan is, as any middle-management office drone would be, very impressed with how sleek and technologically advanced the BSAA HQ is. He gawks around like a tourist. Claire walks out of a conference room and scans Ethan up and down then gives her brother a look like “this guy? Really?”

Chris gets Ethan settled into a reinforced conference room and sits him down. BSAA staff are standing by and all officers are viewing the meeting room remotely.

Chris sighs and sets his hands on the table. Ethan looks a bit confused at the lack of any writing equipment. Best to just rip off the bandaid. “Ethan, I’m sorry to be the one to have to tell you this but you are indeed infected.”

There’s silence. Ethan lifts one of his arms and stares at his skin for a moment then says, “but I’m not black and goopy?”

“You’re not, and as far as I can tell you don’t seem to be manifesting any visual signs of the virus but the scanners and your blood samples don’t lie. You are not only the most whole infected person we’ve ever seen, you’re also the most infected person we’ve ever seen.”

“Dammit.” Ethan puts his head in his hands. Chris braces for everything from sobbing to sudden mutations. But Ethan just whines, “I fell unconscious after Mr. Baker hit me in the head with that shovel but I was hoping nothing happened to me while I was out.” He peeks up at Chris. “Was that naive of me?”

Yes! Chris wants to scream. No shit! “Also, while you did not ingest the fungus while you were conscious, you came into pretty much every other kind of contact possible.”

The tech team had managed to salvage some of the footage from Lucas Baker’s cameras and Chris still couldn’t tell if Ethan was crazy brave or just didn’t feel fear.

“Um.” Chris refocused. Ethan was scratching his head. “I’m not gonna turn into one of those things am I? Like I don’t really want my brain growing out of the side of my head.”

Chris didn’t ask. It was far from the strangest mutation he’d seen in his day. “To be perfectly honest we don’t know. The fact that you haven’t mutated yet is a good sign. You’ll have to stay away from your wife though.”

Chris felt a little shitty for including this stipulation. The man had walked through hell and worse to see his wife again and now they were being separated. The true reason behind the separation was to keep an eye on Ethan and to allow the BSAA to build the case that Mia was a Connections scientist. Hopefully some more distance would help Ethan take the news better when she was officially arrested.

“Can i video call her?”

“Yes you may. As often as you want.” Chris himself had argued for this, unwilling to hurt Ethan more than they had to.

“So I guess you’re not going to kill me then.”

Chris startled. “What?”

Ethan laughed. “I’m not an idiot. This is the BSAA. You brought me here then told me I’m a BOW. The BSAA literally exists to kill them. I was expecting you to pull a gun any moment now.”

Well he had seemed remarkably relaxed for someone expecting his imminent death. Or was he so confident he wouldn’t die? Chris leaned back in his chair. “And what would you have done if I had?”

Ethan thought about it. “Well I suppose I would have tried to get away. Natural instinct, the desire to survive, but I’d probably end up running to somewhere remote where I could hide and not hurt anyone.”

This told Chris two things: one, Ethan was confident he would be able to make it out of the building, consciously or otherwise, and two, that Ethan’s primary drive was to protect not to kill. That was good, they could use that.

“As our first sane,” that might have been a bit of a stretch, “BOW, you are in a unique position. Your biology is integrated with the infection in a way we’ve never seen before. The science team has been chomping at the bit to get a look at you. Also, while your supernatural abilities are somewhat unclear, the one we can pin down is accelerated durability to injuries that would kill regular humans. We could use someone with that ability on one of our squads.”

“You mean, I could work here?” Ethan’s jaw had dropped open.

“You could. You’d be under strict supervision, have to be cautious, you understand, but yes you could work for us. Our mission is remarkably simple, you’ve probably even heard it already, to destroy all sources of the infections we can find, including BOWs, black market auctions, science labs making new virus strains, criminal organizations trying to use BOWs as soldiers, etc. We’d train you on the weapons we use so you won’t have to improvise with ancient guns again. In return you’d get room and board, a job, and have to submit to various tests.”

“It sounds too good to be true.”

“Time will tell if it is.”

Ethan rubbed his upper lip. “It’s not safe for me to be in regular society anymore is it?”

Chris shook his head. “No Ethan. We wouldn’t let you go out there anyway.”

Ethan deflated like a sad beach ball. “So I’m a prisoner.”

“You have to be. We can’t take the risk. I’ve lost too many friends and the world at large has lost too many lives to BOWs. I wish we could afford to treat you like any other human, but we can’t.”

Ethan nodded. “I’ll do it, on one condition.”

“What?”

“If I ever do start to mutate, kill me.” Chris’ eyes widened. “Kill me, kill me immediately. Don’t try to pull me in for experimentation or try to cure the virus. Just kill me. I’ve had enough of experiments and viruses and foreign substances invading my body. I claim that autonomy, if I can claim nothing else.”

His expression was fierce. Chris was reminded of Claire and Jill. He held out his hand to Ethan. “Done.” They shook on it.

#ethan winters #re7 #re7 fic #chris redfield #resident evil #resident evil biohazard

[rallamajoop]

On Mia Winters, misogyny, and abuse

As should be pretty obvious by now, I love Mia Winters. I honestly think she’s one of the most compelling characters in this whole damn franchise.

But let me make clear: you don’t have to love her. Mia’s canonically done a lot of shady shit in her time, and her relationship with Ethan has real problems. There are perfectly viable interpretations where the only thing really holding it together is his own denial. Only I never seem to get to read any of those takes, because the most common characterisations Mia gets in fic are an irredeemable monster, or a cardboard cutout who exists only to be written out as quickly as possible. And to write Mia out to that degree doesn’t just do her character a disservice, it does Ethan a disservice, and a big one.

The amount of Mia-bashing I see out there in this fandom turns my stomach. It’s not just the slash fans who’d rather ship Ethan with another dude. I have seen Mia loudly bashed in tags on het or gen fic in which she does not even appear. I have seen male fans reviewing these games on youtube who treat her the exact same way. But it’s never more frustrating than when that hate comes from the same fans who’ll turn around and talk about characters like Chris or even Lady Dimitrescu (she who canonically abuses her and murders her servants, and, y’know, eats people without a shred of remorse) like they’re perfectly forgivable and have done no real wrong. And don’t get me wrong: I love Lady D, but I love her because she’s magnificently evil. Mia? Mia’s a whole lot more complicated.

But to really explain why this hate makes me so uncomfortable, I’m going to have to start with the start of Resident Evil 7, and Mia’s very first scenes in this whole franchise.

Let me quickly summarise the opening of that game. A man whose wife disappeared without explanation suddenly gets a message about her whereabouts. He travels to an isolated location, breaks in, and finds her. She denies ever sending him that message, and seems incredibly distressed that he’s there at all. They fight. It ends with him sinking an axe into her neck and shooting her several times with a handgun. But see, he didn’t do anything wrong! It was all self-defence! She started it! She was acting crazy!

If you didn’t spot it, the whole opening of RE7 reads uncomfortably like a story about a woman escaping an abusive relationship, then being tracked down and murdered by her ex.

Obviously, I am not here to tell you Ethan’s abusive. He’s not, we’ve got no reason to imagine he is. He was legitimately acting in self-defence.

But the fact the first thing Ethan has to do in this game is find the balls to kill his own wife ‒ that a whole new era of Resi games has opened with a sequence so easily read as a sympathetic justification for how a man might perfectly innocently track down his missing spouse and "have" to kill her – that made those opening minutes into by far the most uncomfortable part of this whole franchise for me. Shit like this really happens. I mean it, I will track down the fucking statistics on women who are murdered after trying to leave an abusive partner if I have to.

What happens to ‘Mia’ in the opening to RE8 isn’t much better: it's as textbook a fridging as any I’ve ever seen. Yes, it’s a fridging that gets retconned away later when she turns up alive, but the fact that’s even possible speaks to just how awful and confusing her death is. The game opens with Mia’s violent murder at the hands of this series’ longest running ‘hero’, and the event is framed entirely in terms of how awful it is for her husband. That's as frigid as a fridging gets.

The eventual reveal that the real Mia was just trapped alone in a cell being experimented on by a madwoman for god knows how long doesn’t actually make it better. The horror Mia goes through in both these games is a footnote, barely explored.

I bring these events up not to condemn the RE franchise, not to say that including these sequences was unconscionable, or that violence against women can never be shown in a horror title. A quick glance at my tumblr should demonstrate how much I adore these games. Tropes like fridging become problems only because they’re so ubiquitous they can come to define almost the only roles women get to play, not because any individual example is necessarily grounds for outrage. If anything, there’s just as much to analyse in all the hate thrown at characters like Ethan Winters (or his predecessor, Jonathan Harker) as a archtypical examples of sexism against men – backlash against the very idea of a male character in the disempowered role of horror victim, usually reserved for women.

But with this context in mind, my god is it uncomfortable to see people talk about Mia as irredeemable monster who deserves to suffer more. People who will valorise the likes of Chris Redfield, who didn’t even bother to stop to tell Ethan that’s not Mia, yet talk about Mia like being shot to death in her own living room was only what she deserved. That is just a whole load of yikes.

And given that both games open with Mia being violently killed by a male protagonist (twice in RE7, with the player in control), it sure is convenient how so many people have managed to ‘find’ the evidence that proves she’s the real villain. You don’t have to think too hard about Chris Redfield as a violent maniac or Ethan Winters being forced to kill his own wife if it’s okay to inflict violence on this woman. “Yes, but she shouldn’t have done [X]…” or even “But what if she’s the real abuser” is a narrative that gets thrown at real women in abusive relationships all the time – especially when the man is a friend of whoever’s casting judgement, or even a celebrity. Real world examples of this shit in the wild run the gamut from wild fan-takes on The Shining ‘proving’ that actually the abused wife was the ‘real’ abuser all along, right up to the ongoing hate campaign against Amber Heard. People don’t want to have to think badly of someone they admire, and will take any excuse to shift the blame. The stakes are infinitely lower when we’re talking about fictional characters, but the same pattern plays out.

And look, I do get it. It’s easy to go into these games and come out with a negative opinion of Mia. She’s the one who lures you into danger in RE7, acts all innocent, and then comes at Ethan with a chainsaw – and when you finally find out her big secret at the end, it turns out she was working for the people who created Eveline from the start! You’re really not given a lot of reasons to invest in Ethan and Mia’s relationship before she’s suddenly coming at him with a knife, and the fact she never does get to come clean to him in canon leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

It’s really easy to go into RE8, note all the glaring signs that Ethan’s relationship with Mia isn’t healthy, and draw your own conclusions about a woman we don’t hardly even see again for most of the runtime of the game. Half this goddamn fandom still seems to think Heisenberg is actually a lycan, ffs – most of what people think they know about Mia is more meme than fact, and the rest is pretty surface level. Basic media literacy is not exactly high out there in the tumblrweeds (let alone the rest of the internet).

But as for the idea that Mia’s responsible for all the horrors Ethan went through, people seem to forget that Mia herself went through so much worse. Ethan spent a day in the Bakers’ property, and a day in the village. Mia spent years trapped in the Bakers’ property, and days at least imprisoned in Miranda’s lab, knowing exactly how much danger her family were in, helpless to save them. She’s no innocent herself, but ye gods has she already suffered for her crimes.

So with all that out of the way, well, what’s the actual ‘evidence’ that Mia herself was abusive? No-one's coming into this one without some bias, but let’s at least give it a fair shake.

Right upfront, I want to recognise that in both fiction and reality, women can be abusers, and men can be victims. Abuse in heterosexual relationships is far more likely to occur with the man as the abuser, but the reverse does happen, and the fact culture at large can be so eager to cast the woman as the villain doesn’t make it any easier for the real male victims of abuse to get recognition and help. Society as a whole is still just really shitty about enabling or excusing real abuse.

But the idea that Mia was abusive has very little to back it up. Whatever you make of “her” interactions with Ethan at the start of the game, the fact remains: that’s not Mia, and the fact she’s acting so strangely is meant to be our clue that something much bigger than a little marital strife is going on here. Knowing all this doesn’t really make the scene where she’s violently executed less disturbing, but you can’t miss the hints we don’t yet know the full story.

So the question becomes, is there any evidence that the real Mia was abusive? I’ve dug into this one a bit before in my post about trying to figure out the timeline of exactly when Mia was replaced, but there are no definitive answers as to how long Miranda's been living in their house. To summarise a long post (and a surprisingly lively timeline of events from the days before the game begins): the most likely intent seems to be that Miranda’s been posing as Mia for less than a week, though a lot of the vibes of the scene give me the impression it’s been several weeks at least. Ultimately, that’s going to come down to your own interpretation.

The Mia mentioned in Ethan’s diary who blew up at him at the hospital could be the real Mia, but more likely isn’t: you can’t really use her to argue anything definitive, one way or another. The Mia from the flashback where Ethan gets the call from Rose’s doctor is the real Mia, but if you think getting upset when your husband brushes off your obvious distress over your daughter’s health makes you abusive, then nothing I say here is going to convince you otherwise.

The only ‘real’ evidence that Mia might be a problem is one line you might hear from Ethan while taking Rose to bed, and it is admittedly a red flag: your mother’s scary when she’s angry.

And to anyone whose whole hatred of Mia has been built backwards from this one line – especially anyone who’s grown up in a dysfunctional household themselves – hell, I get it. It is one really yikes thing for Ethan to say about his wife.

But in Mia’s defence, I can only point out that, well, yes, canonically, she is scary when she’s angry.

Oh, did I say angry? I meant fucking possessed.

And if Ethan’s bringing up the spectre of that time, even subconsciously, maybe that should be an even bigger clue that the Mia in this house right now isn’t Mia.

But what really shows this line for what it is is that we’ve seen the real Mia angry. We’ve seen her cold fury at Eveline, daring to go right back to asking ‘can we be a family now?’ within hours forcing Mia to assault her own husband with a chainsaw. We’ve seen her frustration at Ethan’s own denial, and we’ve seen her stalk out of the room when he blows off an important conversation for a call from work. We’ve seen her advance on Chris after he shut her down, demanding, Where is my husband? Where is my daughter?!

We have never seen her angry without real justification. Her anger is neither violent nor disproportionate. It’s consistently purposeful, focused, and contained. There is nothing scary about the real Mia’s anger, unless you’re threatened by the very idea she might have something valid to be angry about.

There is evidence of tension in the Winters’ marriage from before Miranda’s arrival, but it takes a very different form – most evident in the flashback scene where Ethan receives the call from Rose’s doctor. Far from Miranda’s brusque, dismissive copy of her, the real Mia is anxious and depressed, scared of what Rose’s results might reveal. Here, Ethan’s the one brushing her concerns aside (“We talked about this […] Rose is fine!”) He recognises there seems to be something Mia’s not telling him, says they should talk about it, but then immediately brushes the conversation off when he gets a call from work, while Mia storms out of the room.

You can certainly read Mia as a hypocrite here, getting angry at Ethan for not knowing things she’s deliberately kept from him. But it’s Ethan who decides a call from work is more important than a conversation with his wife – someone who is obviously distressed, canonically still on a regime of drugs after the traumatic events of RE7, very likely suffering PTSD along with Ethan, and maybe even some form of postpartum depression. We don’t know anything about Ethan’s work, so there’s no point in speculating about how much he ‘needs’ to take that call. Mia’s no clear villain here – quite the opposite.

Personally, I tend towards taking this scene as evidence that Mia has tried to talk to Ethan about what really happened to him, but hasn’t managed to get him to face the truth. For all that Ethan supposedly wants to talk about the past, it’s a defining plot point that he’s badly in denial himself.

Or they could both be at some fault here: Ethan unwilling to face the truth, while Mia is reluctant to force him to face something she knows will hurt him and bring him distress. Even when Mia says outright that she ‘tried to keep this a secret, but…’ to Chris at the end of the game, the implication is as much that she’s tried to keep it a secret from people like Chris, who might decide Ethan is dangerous. She’s lied to protect him before, and if she’s still lying to him about her past with the Connections, then the fact that knowing the truth will hurt Ethan is obviously among her reasons. Protecting Ethan has always been among Mia’s top priorities ‒ even at her own expense.

The only other real hints we get about Mia’s inner life come from the glimpses of her we get in Donna’s domain. But I’m hesitant to read too much into these, given how unclear it is how much is just a manifestation of Ethan’s own anxieties. If anything, the ‘Mia’ in these scenes almost seems to have some far worse secret than simply having not told Ethan something he really ought to have put together on his own, and I’d kind of love to see that explored too – at least as long as that goes somewhere more interesting than round umpteen of ‘and that’s why Mia sucks’.

But my point here isn’t that you have to read any of these scenes the same way I do. I do think it’s important to recognise that nothing written for a game like RE is truly character-driven; scenes exist to serve the plot far more than to reflect consistent character motivations or hold up to fridge logic (which, let’s face it, is the real reason for most of Chris’ horrific behaviour in this game, let alone anyone else’s). The result is rarely super consistent, and leaves ample space for multiple interpretations of anyone’s motivations. Regardless, the idea there’s any hard evidence that Ethan and Mia’s relationship is dysfunctional, or that whatever’s wrong is Mia’s fault alone, is going to be incredibly hard to justify.

Any assertion that Ethan and Mia are somehow on the verge of divorce also needs to be weighed against the masses of evidence of how much they love each other – the number of times Mia has said she loves Ethan, up to and including (yes, I’m bringing this up again) how ready she is to die for him in RE7. Her speech to Chris at the end of RE8 states explicitly that being together with Ethan and Rose is the only thing that matters to her. “Mia, I’m sorry, I love you,” are some of the last words Ethan ever speaks – and I can’t help but read into how the moment he finally pushes Rose into Chris’ arms so they can get away with him weighing them down is right after he learns that Mia is alive, and thus implicitly that Rose won’t be alone if Ethan doesn’t make it. And good god does that scene break my heart every time.

It’s worth recognising that the fact Ethan and Mia love each other doesn’t inherently mean their relationship is healthy, or that you have to love them together as much as I do. Like I said up top, you don’t have to like Mia, and you don’t have to justify not liking her if you don’t. I would genuinely like to see fics where Mia and Ethan’s supposedly-necessary break up feels in character. Where Ethan loves her but just can’t deal with the resentment and the fallout over all the lies she told him, where he's been clinging to his 'happy ending' with Mia after surviving the Bakers so hard he can't face the fact things just aren't working, or where he’s having to face that their relationship only ever really worked because she was away so much. It will break my heart, but fiction is allowed to do that.

But god, it would be nice if people could just take the bashing below an eleven around this place. The number of times I’ve had to sigh and back-button out of reading something, because yet another author has decided to project their own hatred for Mia onto the husband who’s still reeling from watching her being violently murdered in front of him… it gets fucking old, y’know?

I would really like to think that in the year of our lord 2024, fandom would be a bit past this thing where they bash the canonical female love interest in the name of shipping the hero with another dude. People will bend over backwards to try and cast Heisenberg and Chris as guys who really care about consent and worry about Ethan getting hurt, because heaven forbid anyone be caught shipping something slightly problematic. And yet misogyny still somehow gets a pass.

You do not have to love Mia. You don’t even have to like her. But ye gods, the hate she gets is baseless and absurd.

Hasn't this poor woman suffered enough?

(And on that note, I promise I am finally done soapboxing in defence of Mia Winters, thank you for bearing with me for this long.)

#Mia Winters #Ethan Winters #mithan #Resident Evil Village #Resident Evil #Resident Evil 7 #RE lore #meta #Mia Winters week

[thestayathomedragon]

Another Winterberg Fic Idea I will probably never write...

Ethan and Karl work tech support in a call center.

Ethan is a software guy and Karl is a hardware guy.

They sit right in front of each other because they’re respective teams sit next to each other and Karl is one of the agents who sits on the boarder.

I might include other RE Village folks.

Chris is definitely a supervisor and so is Alcina. Miranda is a manager: Chris and Alcina’s direct supervisor.

Alcina has never worked the phones here. She’s got management experience and that’s all that matters.

Chris has been on the phones but it’s been years and you know how tech changes quickly, he’s got the basics but not the nuances of the new tech, etc. He’s perpetually tired, drinks way too much coffee and pretty much lets his team do what they want as long as their numbers are good. They are.

Alcina is a stickler for customer care. She is always on Ethan’s ass because he is a honey badger and gives no fucks but somehow still excellent at his job. The only reason he still has a job though is because he doesn’t really talk to customers he talks to field techs. And well as long as they get the answers they need field techs don’t really complain. They don’t want to bring any attention to themselves of course.

Karl unfortunately talks to customers, he is one of those techs that has to walk customers through troubleshooting steps and he’s very good at it, customers really like his voice, he’s gotten hit on so many times he’d be rich if he had a dime for each time. Male and Female, all ages.

Ethan’s got a pretty good voice if he didn’t sound so dead inside all the time. Karl thinks it’s cute. He loves hearing Ethan give the techs shit for being lazy and/or dumb. He can’t believe he gets away with some of the shit he says to them.

Ethan eventually warms up to Karl. They have the same shift, go to lunch at the same time. Ethan is recently divorced from his college sweetheart, Mia.

“Yeah I went to college and this is the job I ended up with.”

He has an infant daughter. EX is a liar and cheat, but the daughter, Rosemary, is his. Paternity test plus she looks just like him. Karl never finished college, ran out of money.

Ethan dresses business casual. Wears jeans only on Fridays but always with a nice button up and oxfords. Karl dresses just rolled out of bed casual. He has been known to wear his pjs to work. He always smells nice though. Ethan doesn’t know how he manages it. No one can really tell the difference between Karl’s pjs and his regular clothes though honestly. The man wears sweatpants to work, gray ones, so no one really complains. And flip flops. Sneakers sometimes. But he’s been seen in flip flops in the winter and rain. The man will wear shorts to work. With boots. The season also doesn’t matter.

Alcina hates him based off his fashion sense alone. It annoys Chris but since there is no dress code he can’t really do anything about it. Miranda is trying to get a dress code enacted but as of yet it’s still not on the books.

Ethan thinks it’s funny. He’s always commenting on Karl’s t-shirts. He has quite the collection of novelty shirts. If a shirt says something inappropriate, he just tapes over it.

Karl frequently forgets his badge and tailgates all the time. Ethan always gives him shit every time it’s him.

“I have a kid to feed, Karl. I can’t lose my job because you can’t be bothered to keep up with a piece of plastic on a lanyard. Seriously, you can literally hang it around your neck if it’s that difficult to keep up with it.”

“My dog ate it.”

“Well, get another one. They’re free.”

“I don’t need to the boss lady finding out how irresponsible I am now do I?”

“I pretty sure that ship has sailed, Karl.”

I want to write this so bad.

Imagine the interteam pot luck. LMAO.

If anyone wants to steal the idea or even add to this feel free!

#wintersberg #karl heisenberg #ethan winters #alcina dimitrescu #chris redfield #mother miranda #alternate universe #resident evil village #my fan fiction

[eliaswoodt]

Raccoon City Survivors, Two Ex-Cops and the Baker’s Estate, and finally Cultish Mold Family Pt2: Electric Boogaloo

Take my ideas and run please I beg of thee (do tell me if you make something out of this bullshit though)

AU where Leon and Ethan are both cops who were going to work in Raccoon City but then the zombie bullshit happened. They meet at that police department and survive it together; becoming really good friends because of shared trauma and also they just work well together. That’s it that’s the first book, just resident evil 2 but Ethan is there so naturally there’ll be changes. (I have not played that game yet so oof. At the moment I’ve only gotten a little into 7 and after that I wanna play 8 and after that I definitely am playing 2)

After that maybe Ethan joins Leon in his line of work or maybe he just drops all that shit to become an engineer instead because he’s seen too much bloodshed and honestly Does Not Want To Do That Again (Leon respects this choice). Engineer!Ethan still definitely keeps up with working out and making sure he doesn’t become rusty because that type of paranoia doesn’t really leave that easily. I assume so anyways.

I imagine that Mia is kinda jealous of Leon and doesn’t like him because he and Ethan have this type of closeness and trust that she and Ethan don’t have despite being married but Eeff is his own person so he still hangs out with Leon whenever he can and she Can’t Do Shit about it. Leon isn’t the biggest fan of hers, (something about her is just Fishy to him) but Eeff loves her so he don’t say shit. Sometimes he wishes he did though.

A couple years later Mia just fuckin disappears and during the first year Ethan still holds onto hope that she’s not dead, but on the second year he mostly accepts it and tries to move on. Leon helps him through all of this of course. Maybe Ethan moves in with Leon because he doesn’t like to be alone (not after Raccoon City) and the fuckos become roomies. I just imagine that another year passes, no Mia, and then Out Of No-Fucking-Where Mia texts him and he just gets the fuck up wakes Leon up and shows him the text; cue them arguing about whether or not that is Mia, and whether or not Ethan can and or should help and go looking for her. In the end of course, because Leon has a soft spot for him, Ethan’s stubbornness wins and the two fuck off to Louisiana with the support of Chris.

Which does mean that this will go pretty fucking differently. For one, Ethan has training in combat and knows how to use a gun properly, and second he is far from alone. Now this could go two different ways (that I can think of), Leon could also be killed by Jack and get infected just like Ethan, or they somehow get separated and Ethan is killed and becomes Moldy while Leon doesn’t. Either way if we want book three, Cultish Mold Family Pt2: Electric Boogaloo to happen my man’s Ethan Winters gotta get Moldy sorry to inform.

So that shit happens my man’s Eeffen becomes Moldy and Leon really needs a fucking vacation. Not away from Eeffen but just life as a whole at this point. Oh, and I would imagine Ethan would be aware of his Mold Situation and the fact that he doesn’t get cured because Leon is not a liar who keeps important shit from him. (Can you tell how much I dislike Mia? Like, I get why she did some of the shit she did, and I don’t think she’s The Absolute Worst Person Alive but like, I don’t exactly like Canon!Mia.)

Now, the question of Does Ethan Stay With The Person Who Told a Big Fucking Lie? I am leaning towards No and Leon would too I imagine but even this could end two ways; Ethan doesn’t want to and can’t work it out with her because she Literally Abused A Child and told a Big Fat Fucking Lie and probably committed other atrocities, (but that does beg the question of how Rose would come to be if they ain’t together and definitely don’t want to see each other at all.) or Ethan still tries to Work It Out with her because he’s a loyal man n shit but because of the Actual Child Abuse she committed and the lying, attempted murder, not wanting to talk about Anything—just all of that wonderful terrible shit it just Did Not work out but during that time Mia got preggantey with Rosemary.

Now when it comes to custody either Ethan gets full rights to Rose or it’s split between Mia and Eeffen and they co-parent. I can see it going both ways but I would think Eef would be a bit wary of her being around a child n shit. Also Ethan lives with Leon because after all of That trauma again, why would he want to be alone? Especially with a child, if he is having a panic attack he wouldn’t be able to tend to Rose so yeah no he’s not living alone. At least not full time and it’s not like Leon minds. Leon probably also doesn’t want to live alone after everything.

So, how does Cultish Mold Family Pt2: Electric Boogaloo happen? Well, three ways I can see this logically go since Ethan and Mia are divorced; with Co-Parent!Mia version Miranda still impersonates her to try and get the baby that night but Chris had already warned them beforehand so instead of betrayal Miranda gets taken down (but not really ofc) and Ethan, Rosemary and Leon evacuate to the car but of course something goes wrong because Miranda Really Wants That Baby and the two wake up after the crash. Or, with Single-Parent!Ethan Miranda tries to impersonate Leon while he was on a mission or something and then it goes down how it did in canon (minus Mia impersonation) except Leon is there to be like That Isn’t Me so Eef doesn’t have to be Knocked The Fuck Out like in canon.

Now, I don’t know how much would change in Resi Village. With the Co-Parent version Chris is probably working with Ethan and Leon while the Single-Parent version maybe Leon is just as in the dark about this shit as Ethan is, or maybe not idfk. But for all the Karl Heisenberg enjoyers I am sorry to inform you that Ethan would most likely not team up with Karl even more so because Leon would prolly be against that shit. Also Ethan would be aware of His Moldy-Self so he probs have some control over it which would be pretty fuckin cool. And if Leon is also infected it would be even more Interesting n shit cuz he Mold.

And preferably Ethan, Rosemary and Leon survive because They Deserve It.

Also if it has to be shippy (I’m not against it, all in all I just like the idea of Ethan and Leon interacting from the few fanart and fanfiction of the two. However I do wish that people wrote about friendship a lot more. Not everything has to be a ship, yk? You can just like two characters interacting because you like their dynamic. It doesn't make that relationship any less valuable because they are friends and not lovers.) I think it’d be funny if it was

Book 1, Raccoon City Survivors: Strangers to Best Friends

Book 2, Two Ex-Cops and the Baker’s Estate: Best Friends to Pinning Idiots

Book 3, Cultish Mold Family Pt2: Electric Boogaloo: Pinning Idiots to Lovers.

So it’d be a pretty long slow burn. Ofc I’m leaning towards platonic but you do you yk

#resident evil #resident evil 2 #resident evil 7 #resident evil 8 #ethan winters #leon s kennedy #leon kennedy #raccoon city survivor ethan winters #re #my posts #text posts #resident evil 8 spoilers #leon scott kennedy #leon meeting ethan #my resident evil posts #re7 spoilers #re8 spoilers #re2 spoilers #2-7-8 au #blonde boys duo #my text posts

[cresta-waves]

The Cresta Family

(At least in the context of my upcoming fanfic Salt Air, Rust On Your Door) From oldest to youngest:

Chet Cresta is a firm, soft spoken man, with dark red hair and light eyes. Many people from Fisherman’s Wharf often say that the capital owns the water, the capital owns the fish, but the Cresta’s own the docks. He was prone to panic attacks when he was younger and even sometimes now, but he doesn’t like taling about it. 

Magdalena Cresta nee Seabrooke was the mayors daughter before she married the owner of the dock. Small, thin, with dark curls tumbling down her shoulders, she’s a harsh woman. Once upon a time she had a deep, intimate friendship with Mia O’Connell, a young woman who would go on to marry Chet Odair. Now days, she runs the finical aspect of the docks. 

Jonah Cresta, the eldest son. He wants to take over the dock when he’s old enough. He’s hard headed and can’t stand people who he sees as ‘cod’ - bottom feeders. A career, but he knows he falls middle of the pack and would never be chosen to go to the games and represent the district. Eighteen at the start of the fic. His birthday is two days after reaping day. He’s protective of all his younger siblings and feels guilty which often translates to him doing dumb shit 

Marilla Cresta, eldest daughter. Much like her mother but takes after her father in looks and in mental state. She’s calm and composed most of the time but teds to go into dissociative states when she’s upset and stressed. Really wants to take care of Hyacinth and Annie because she’s terrified of the games and refuses to be a career like the rest of her family because of it. Sixteen at the start of the fic. 

Liam Cresta, the eldest twin. Much more carefree than his eldest brother and sister, with a lot of love for the world around him. He also doesn’t like ‘bottom feeders’ but he does have a huge crush on Brooke Odair- not that he’d tell his sister that. Him and Hyacinth are twins, both age fifteen at the start of the fic. He’s a career that everyone says shows a lot of promise and he’s talked about volunteering when he turns eighteen. 

Hyacinth Cresta, youngest twin. Average fifteen year old girl. She likes her boyfriend, Ethan, and reading. Her real talent lies in numbers so her mother has been training her on how to do the book keeping for the docks. Doesn’t care that much about the games, but also doesn’t really approve of Liam’s plan to volunteer. She’s popular at the academy and is widely regarded throughout their part of the Wharf as really beautiful. She’s not, however, more beautiful than Brooke Odair and it fills her with envy.

Annie cresta, youngest child. Eleven years old at the start of the fic Annie is firmly the baby of the family. She was born premature which makes both Jonah and Marilla protective of her and her parents almost over protective. Due to some lingering health problems she didn’t join the academy at ten with the other kids in the district, but she will join when she’s twelve. 

#The Cresta family #Annie Cresta #Annie cresta fanfic #odesta fanfic #thg #the hunger games #the hunger games fanfic

[screechthemighty]

No time to say anything clever!! More Resident Evil fanfic! Sorry for the delay!! *throws this at you, runs to reblog so I can put the AO3 link in there*

catch me floating circles in my fish bowl - part two:

April 2, 2021:

“Would you let me push myself if I had both hands?”

Carlos glanced around before saying aloud, “Only with approval from your doctor.” The quick wink he shot Ethan said it was a CYA answer. “Ready to sleep without being hooked up to everything?”

“Yes,” Ethan said, the word coming out in a relieved groan. It wasn’t quite the same as going home (you don’t have a home to go to), but it was something. Really, anything would be better than the hospital room he’d been stuck in through the past month. He was also consistently stable enough that they could let him sleep through the night without being hooked up to multiple machines. No more needles poking in his arm. He could sleep on his side if he wanted to. “Did they say when I can start PT?”

“They talked to Mia about it, but I wasn’t there. Sorry.” Carlos kept the chair going at a decent speed walk. It was a brisk enough pace that Ethan was almost—almost—glad for the chair. He would’ve had a hard time keeping up when he was in full fighting form, forget now. “Chris needed me for something.”

“Anything fun?”

“Basic dead drop, so not really.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I can’t picture you doing spy shit.”

Carlos laughed. “No offense taken. I don’t have the right kind of smarts for that cloak and dagger bull. Just point me at the bad guys and say when.” The comment was punctuated by a few hopping steps, Ethan’s chair darting forward slightly faster before slowing back to brisk. “Speaking of, BSAA still doesn’t know you’re alive, or if they do, they’re leaving it alone.”

That was a relief. Ethan still didn’t have a grasp on how bad the situation was—brain fog scrambled a lot of what the others had told him—but he remembered enough to know it wasn’t great. I might’ve been used as an unwilling science experiment kind of bad. “Hey, I know this might be a lot to ask, but if you have some spare time...” Ethan hesitated. “...do you think it’d be possible to check in on someone? Zoe Baker. She was involved in Dulvey. I just want to know if she’s been dragged back into this or not.”

“Yeah, I can look into it. Discreet?”

“Please? I just want to be sure they’re not bothering her, but...also don’t want to bother her.”

“I get it. You’ll have to introduce me sometime if she’s comfortable with it.  She really sounds like something.”

“Yeah,” Ethan agreed. “Hell of a girl.”

Did she know? He hadn’t been able to speak to her in person since that phone call, and hadn’t had any contact with her since they moved to Europe. Rose should get to know her, he thought. She wouldn’t exist if Zoe hadn’t helped Mia and I get out of that hell hole.

And besides that, Ethan wanted to talk to her. He hated to admit it, but...

She may understand. She may understand and be willing to talk about it.

He felt guilty for thinking it, but then again, with how little Mia had wanted to speak about Dulvey before...there really was no one else. Not even Chris would really get the specifics of it. Sure, he’d been there, but he hadn’t lived it the same way Ethan had. The way Zoe had.

“I know you’ve probably already answered this, but...it’s really gone, right? At least...”

Gone as anything could be in this sick world they were living in. Ethan accepted that there were probably a few samples in a lab somewhere, like the last remnants of smallpox that governments insisted on holding onto for some awful reason. He just wanted to know the bulk of it was gone. That those places where he’d suffered so much couldn’t hurt him or anyone else ever again.

“Europe site is clean,” Carlos said. If he had been asked this before, he didn’t sound annoyed by having to answer again. “Dulvey site still clean, far as we know. Granted, by clean I mean no bad guys and no mold...”

“But still a BSAA site?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

It was interesting; pretty much everyone else sounded frustrated or angry when they brought up the BSAA, but Carlos just sounded...kind of resigned. Like this wasn’t the first time he’d been stabbed in the back and he figured it wouldn’t be the last. What the hell happened with Jill? Ethan wondered, not for the first time. It could’ve been something else, but his gut told him it was Jill-related.

Maybe one day he’d be loopy enough to actually ask. For right now, he sat somewhat impatiently as they moved through the facility. “This is where Jill and I have been staying, for the record,” Carlos said, indicating a door they walked past, “just in case you ever need anything.”

That took Ethan off-guard. “You guys have been staying here?”

“Yeah,” Carlos said, as if it were a totally reasonable thing. “Most nights, anyway. Sometimes Chris stays overnight, but it was easier than commuting to and from the place. Besides, all the dangerous subterfuge bullshit happens at night.”

He had a point, but... “Thank you,” Ethan said. “It’s...it’s really meant a lot that you’ve been helping us. You and Jill.” He knew they were probably doing it for Chris’s benefit more than theirs, but it was still above and beyond, even for that. “It’s nice to know some people who really give a shit.”

“Hey, trust me. I know what it’s like to deserve a break. I’m glad I can help.” He stopped at a door to push it open. “And here we are.”

The sight of the hospital room decked out with familiar items was...a bit jarring, to be sure, but it was a much more welcome sight than the old room. “Oh, great news,” Carlos added as he pushed Ethan through the door and stopped. “Rose has worked out that she can throw things. New favorite hobby, I think.” He had to stop to pick up a few baby toys and toss them into Rose’s crib. “Might want to keep an eye out when you’re wheeling around.”

“She’s just trying to protect the room,” Ethan joked. “Y’know. Home Alone-ing it.”

“...I get the joke, but...are you going to lose your mind if I tell you I’ve never seen Home Alone?”

“None of them?”

“Nah. I didn’t have the attention span for most movies when I was a kid.” Once he was confident the path was clear, Carlos wheeled Ethan closer to the bed. “Do you want to try standing?”

Ethan was surprised how excited that question made him. “Yeah...” The brace had finally come off his leg. It was intact. X-rays confirmed it. He should be fine, right? “Just don’t let me fall down.”

“I’ve got you.”

Ethan took a deep breath, braced his arms (his arm and 3/4 stump, really) against the armrests, and set his feet on the ground. He stood as carefully as possible. It was a little alarming how much he trembled as he did. Putting all his support on the right arm, sure, that’d do it, but why were his legs shaking that badly? I haven’t lost that much muscle, have I?

“Easy...” Carlos’s hands carefully hovered around Ethan’s torso. He didn’t move to grab him until Ethan started to fall forward, his legs finally giving out and starting to pitch him forward. “Hey, that wasn’t bad!"

Compared to being so weak that he could barely sit up, sure. But it was also a sign he wasn’t completely better. He had a long way to go.

And yet, despite that, Ethan wasn’t discouraged. The fact that he was standing at all was nothing short of miraculous. He’d cheated death. Getting strong enough to walk again would be easy in comparison.

Another thought occurred to him as Carlos helped him back into bed. It was April. He and Mia’s anniversary was in May. The date was embedded in his brain, especially after Donna had mocked him with it. For a moment, it no longer felt like just an anniversary. It felt like something no one had been able to give him yet: a solid date. A deadline for himself. If he could get strong again by then...

It wasn’t the most rational thought in the world, but if he could walk by his tenth anniversary, even if it was only a few steps, maybe that would be a sign that everything was okay. Or, at least, that it was going to be.

Can I do that? Can I walk unassisted by May?

He didn’t know for sure. But after everything he’d survived so far, it seemed pretty plausible.

Maybe.

Ethan kept the thought to himself for now. He didn’t want to jinx it. But he was definitely thinking about it.

.

Ethan fell asleep before she did. That left Mia to sit on the edge of the bed, staring at him.

She should have felt relieved. He looked peaceful and much healthier than he had in a while: color in his cheeks, regular and steady breathing, seemingly peaceful sleep. He was back with her, in a bed they could share (even if it wasn’t theirs).

But that was part of the problem. She wasn’t sure she should be there, sharing the bed with him as if nothing were wrong. As if there weren’t mountains of secrets there, too.

Mia took a deep breath and reached over to smooth down his hair. He didn’t stir. His hair had grown a lot since the village. It seemed to grow faster than usual, even as the rest of his body struggled. It felt soft, too. Healthy.

Her hand rested on his cheek. That he responded to, leaning slightly into the touch without opening his eyes or waking up. It would’ve been so easy to just lie down next to him, rest her cheek against his back, sleep like they always had.

You don’t deserve it. You shouldn’t get to be normal after what you’ve done.

Mia flinched at the thought. It wasn’t the first time her mind had gone to that place; she’d been dealing with it on and off since Dulvey. She’dbeen bracing herself for it to get worse.

She still wasn’t ready.

It’s not about what I deserve, she told herself. Ethan needs normal right now. At least until he’s better.

And then what, Mia?

She didn’t want to think about that. She couldn’t. She would have to and she knew it, but...

Just take it one day at a time. Ethan needs you right now. Focus on that.

Getting into bed still felt wrong, but she powered through. Mia compromised by not immediately curling up next to him. After a few minutes, he rolled over, moving a bit closer without touching her.

His face wound had healed well since Europe, but in that moment, it looked as raw and painful as when he’d first been recovered from the village.

She hadn’t realized how difficult having him back would be.

...

April 7, 2021:

In Carlos’s defense, he hadn’t forgotten to check in on Zoe Baker. It was more that checking in on her required a lot more steps than just making a quick phone call. (Not that Carlos was any good at even a quick phone call, but regardless.)

First, he had to figure out where she was. The BSAA had been keeping tabs on her, but that was intel they didn’t have access to anymore. All he had was Chris’s memories of where she’d been last and any aliases she’d been assigned. Once they confirmed the info was still accurate, he had to figure out the best way to check in on her without being too obtrusive.  Then he needed to call in a favor with any buddies of his near the area. And all of it needed to be covert, just in case the BSAA had eyes on them. That was the hardest part. Mission planning he could do if he was given enough time. This spy shit just made an already complicated process harder.

Thankfully, he was married to a supercop. That had a lot of benefits, including regular access to someone with spy mission planning expertise.

“I don’t think she’ll have moved since this was taken,” Jill mused. “This place is pretty defensible. I wouldn’t go anywhere if it were me.”

“Me either,” Carlos agreed. The satellite photos on Jill’s tablet showed an isolated house out in the bayou. Dense swamp left only two reliable entry points: the road and the river. Both gave the occupants a chance to see someone coming. Put up the right cameras or motion sensors, and you had a nice little fortress. “Don’t suppose there’s much traffic along that river? Tourists and shit?”

“Never say never, but if there is, it’s low enough that it’d attract attention. It’d probably be better to catch her in public, especially if we’re just getting visual confirmation she’s okay.” Jill took the tablet back and started poking around a maps app. “There’s got to be a grocery store she goes to.”

“Or a three. Rotate between them,” Carlos said. His mind was only half on the problem at hand, though. He couldn’t help staring at Jill as she worked. How long had they been married? Half his life at this point? And that intense look she got still took his breath away sometimes. Same way it had when they’d met in Raccoon City. Dangerous woman, he’d realized back then, but damn.

“I still can’t believe Winn Dixie is a real chain, not something they made up for that book,” Jill said. Then, after a quick glance at Carlos, “We’re helping Ethan here. Focus.”

He didn’t even bother trying to deny it. “Stop being so hot, then.”

“Can’t. My burden to bear.” Her brief smirk made it worth getting caught. “Where would you go more often? The grocery store, or the convenience store attached to the shitty gas station?”

“Shitty gas station store. People mind their own business at those things.” He glanced up from their work and called, “Hey, looking strong, Winters!”

Ethan was actually leaning against the support rails and wheezing like he’d run a marathon. But he was standing. “Five steps,” Ethan called back weakly. “Fuck you, Miranda.”

“That’s the spirit!” To Jill, he added, “Love this guy.”

Jill chucked quietly, but her gaze lingered just a bit too long on Ethan. “Can you remember what it was like?” she asked. “Before Raccoon City?”

“...yeah, kinda.” It had been a while, but he hadn’t entirely forgotten. Shame most of what he remembered were the parts he wanted most to forget. “Crazy what you can get used to, huh?”

“Yeah.” Jill sighed and turned back to her tablet. “Not sure how used to it I really am.”

Carlos gently squeezed her knee. “I know what you mean.”

You could get used to a lot, but some things still left him feeling cold. Seeing people he loved in danger. Seeing how all of this affected people like the Winters—just a random family who didn’t ask to be in this mess.

He didn’t think anything would get him used to that.

...

April 13, 2021:

“Ow?!”

Ethan froze. Despite how indignant his initial exclamation had been, he grinned. “I felt it that time!”

He never thought he’d be so happy to feel pain, but any real sensation in his arm stump was a relief. It still felt things sometimes, but only dully. Pain like that meant the nerves were healing and if the nerves were healing, that meant a prosthetic was around the corner. One that he could actually use like a hand, too.

“Can I ask a weird question?” Ethan said. “Why so much research into prosthetics?”

The nurse, who  insisted Ethan  call her Sarah, shook her head. “Not weird at all. We’ve found a lot of infections can be stopped by removing the tissue around the bite—or, in some cases, the entire limb. It doesn’t happen all the time, but it’s happened enough. And limb loss due to other non-infectious reasons has occurred among our military allies, so only seems fair we have a backup.”

“Oh.” That made...some kind of sense. A slightly eerie kind of sense. “So the limb loss is the normal part of what I’m going through?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Sarah checked the readouts on her computer. “You’re showing a lot of progress. The good news is that once the wound has healed a bit more, we can get you into a standard prosthetic. You won’t be able to do as much with it, but you’ll attract a little less attention when you’re out and about.”

When. Ethan was grateful they said when in here. It helped him feel like he was making progress, which could be incredibly hit or miss these days. Walking was a lot harder than he thought it’d be. He could only manage a few steps at a time with support before he had to sit back down, and that was on the days when they were okay with him walking at all. He was still too weak to do it every time.

“Do you guys have makeup strong enough to cover up my kind of facial scars?” he asked, only half-joking.

“I wish. Though for what it’s worth, I don’t think it’s as bad as you might think.”

That was another nice thing to hear, though Ethan wasn’t sure he believed that. Any kind of facial scar was going to get attention. His was right front and center, across his nose, in between his eyes. Seeing it gave him a queasy mixture of relief and annoyance. Annoyance because everyone was going to know he’d been through some shit. Relief because he finally looked as shitty as he’d felt after Dulvey. It had been disconcerting before, knowing how badly he’d been hurt but looking in the mirror and seeing a perfectly whole face.

“Oh, I was supposed to tell you...” Sarah checked a note on Ethan’s chart. “Doctor Marshall wanted to talk to you about some examinations for Rose. Nothing...invasive, but...”

“...right.” Ethan’s gut twisted at the mention. So far they’d been good to him, and he had no reason to assume it would be different with Rose. He couldn’t explain why it felt different, especially when he knew that Rose would likely need some specialized care.

But it did. It made him nervous. He didn’t want Rose to grow up feeling like some kind of freak who needed to be poked and prodded the rest of her life.

It’s for her own good. You can pull the plug any time you want.

"Is anything wrong, or is this just preventative?"

"She seems fine to me, for whatever that's worth. Starting to warm up to the staff and everything."

"Mostly preventative." Ethan rubbed his eyes. "I'll talk to him, though."

He couldn't run from it forever.

...

April 25, 2021:

Mia had taken to fiddling with her wedding ring. She was a bit worried she was going to start rubbing the skin away, but she couldn't stop herself.

She thought about taking it off–she definitely didn't deserve to wear it–but that felt worse. It might give something away to Ethan. Besides, he still couldn't wear his. Both of them missing a wedding ring would feel like it was over.

She wasn't ready to face that possibility yet.

"Can I ask you something?" Mia asked.

"Oh, always," Carlos said casually.

"You and Jill were married while you were in the BSAA, right?"

"For a little while. Stupid amount of paperwork, but worth it. Why?"

"How did you handle…" She gestured towards his left hand. "That?"

"Oh, the ring. Yeah, we didn't have them for a while. Too risky, with the kind of people we were pissing off." He glanced down at his wedding ring and smiled slightly. It wasn’t metal–it was one of the silicon ones, black, plain. "We got them after we retired. And I got this one because I’d lose my head if it wasn’t attached.” He paused, then added a bit hesitantly, “He can wear it on his right hand, I think.”

Mia nodded in agreement. “He’s waiting until some more mobility comes back. He doesn’t want jewelry getting in the way for a while.” She didn’t blame him for that. She was just doubtful there would be a future where he did put it back on. Because she’d have to tell him the truth one day, and when she did that, he’d leave her, and…

Stop. Stop, don’t think like that. You don’t know that. And she didn’t want to risk crying in front of Carlos again.

“How’s his hand doing, by the way?” Carlos asked. She couldn’t tell if he was trying to jar her out of her thoughts or not, but she was grateful regardless.

“Better. He only gets the shakes if he has to hold onto something for a long time.” And that long time was getting longer. That still didn’t stop her from worrying that his wrist would snap along an old fault line.

Both hands. He’s had to reattach both hands. And the scar along the right wrist was so tidy. Same with the stitched-up slice through his jacket sleeve. It still made her skin crawl to think about it. Claws shouldn’t have made a cut that clean.

You weren’t missing anything with Dimitrescu. That was just Marguerite but fancier. And a dragon. I’m going to need phobia treatment for bugs after this, I think. She hadn’t been able to tell if he was joking about the last part.

“It’s mostly nerve regrowth at this point. Bit above my pay grade,” Mia said, trying to shake the thought off. “Can I ask you a favor? It might be superfluous, but…well, they’re going to start doing examinations on Rose, and I want a second set of eyes on everything.”

I don’t trust myself anymore. I let her down once, I can’t do it again.

“Yeah, absolutely,” Carlos said without hesitation. “Is everything okay with her?”

“She’s doing fine, all things considered. It’s just preemptive.” They didn’t know what the long-term effects of the mutamycete would be on a, for lack of a better phrase, naturally produced baby. They couldn’t really use Eveline as a baseline; she’d been micromanaged on a genetic level from birth, grown in a vat and artificially aged up for a specific purpose. No surprises, no risk of anything going wrong in her physical development. Rose wasn’t like that. She was the result of reproductive cells from two different people, subject to the influence of environmental factors and epigenetics and all the random factors of life that would’ve made those scientists at the Connections have an aneurysm.

Who knew what it was going to do?

“I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Carlos said suddenly. He had a look, like he was trying to cover for something while also reassuring her. He and Jill seemed to have a lot of experience in this area; sometimes Mia wondered if it was personal. “Y’know, she seems like a resilient kid.”

Mia could’ve pried. She decided to just accept the attempt at comforting her. “Yeah,” she said. “She is.”

She just hoped it would be enough.

...

April 29, 2021:

“I’m fine, really…”

He wasn’t, but he was fine enough. Yes, his entire body hurt, yes, he was exhausted, yes, he’d just needed another shot. But he didn’t want everyone looking at him like he wasn’t fine.

This isn’t even the worst thing to happen to me and you all know it. Are we forgetting about my arm stump? A part of him wanted to say it–he might’ve if it were Chris in the room–but Mia was there, checking his vitals, so he kept his mouth shut.

“It looks like you’re leveling out,” Mia said reassuringly. She was trying to be reassuring, anyway. He could hear the tremor in her voice. Now he felt guilty, furious at his own stupid body for betraying him like this. I bounce back from limb loss but I can’t bounce back from this? “I still think we should get Doctor Marshal.”

“Doctor Marshal’s just going to say the same thing you are.” Ethan took a deep breath and carefully tested gripping the armrest of his wheelchair. His fingers were numb, sluggish, slow.

Damn it. He couldn’t get a real grip. He’d definitely topple over if he tried to stand. Assuming any of them let him stand.

You don’t understand. This is important. I have to…

“I’m fine, just give me a minute,” he said weakly. It probably wouldn’t work–it definitely wouldn’t work–but he wanted to at least try. Maybe if I can just rest a bit, I’ll recover enough that I can start over. But that would be out the window if they wheeled him out of that room.

Please, please, just let me try.

“I want to see if I can bounce back,” Ethan said. “We should see if I can, right? That’s…a benchmark. Or something.”

Mia exchanged a glance with one of his doctors. “Okay,” Mia said. “We’ll try five, okay?”

That was better than he’d been expecting. He’d take it, even if he couldn’t shake the feeling that they were just humoring him.

You know what? I can live with that.

He tried to focus on his breathing and the sound of his heartbeat. It was a tough balancing act. The sound could help him focus. It could also send him spiraling if he thought too hard about it, making him analyze every hiccup and strange stutter, real or imagined. He’d convinced himself that something was wrong more than once, despite his best efforts. But even if something was wrong…

You’re alive. You’re alive, that’s something. You’re alive and that means you’re getting better.

Ethan opened his eyes and glanced Mia’s way. She had that look again; she wasn’t begging him to stop, not yet, but that was usually the look that preceded the argument about stopping. About taking it easier.

It felt familiar, fighting like that.

The thought took what little fight was left in him away. Ethan sighed heavily and leaned back in his chair. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “Yeah, I think I’m done for today.”

Just for today. Tomorrow, you’ll start over.

Tomorrow, you’ll keep getting better.

#resident evil #resident evil village #ethan winters #fic: catch me floating circles in my fish bowl

[piracytheorist]

There’s still some discussion going around about how Ethan Winters “had” to die and how death was a natural conclusion to his story and I’m like. What.

Like I’m even going down video essays about killing characters, especially main characters, to make sure I’m not making shit up just because he’s blorbo. The one, single one most important reason I can find behind an author’s decision to kill their main character is tragedy; giving your story a big impact for the audience, and showing how high the stakes are. And Resident Evil is a franchise very fitting for super tragic stories, therefore important characters dying is par for the course.

There’s no way a character’s arc can benefit from their own death. Yes it can be a conclusion, ONE way to end their story, but if it’s something that builds their character, then you’ve made a big writing mistake. It’s their entire character and their decisions that should result in their death, not the opposite. Their character should be complete by the moment they die, so that their death makes sense as a possible writing choice and has an impact.

The only things Ethan’s death provides are irrelevant to his development:

1) Tragedy, a sad ending, a big emotional impact for the audience. It makes his sacrifice tragic and painful, not glorious and prideful. It’s not a “hero” full of pride and relief that his loved ones are safe. It’s a young father who should have lived on to watch his daughter that he fought through pain and terror for grow up. He is a hero, but he is not a HeroTM with medals and shiny trophies. He is Just a Guy who got thrown into shit and fought and fought and fought. And the way his death is directed, with melancholy music, his last words being a tearful goodbye to his daughter, him stumbling to his ending, crying as he raises the detonator to blow up the source of evil and himself with it... it’s all about the impact, not character. It re-instates what we already know about Ethan. Author’s Intent is making us not want him to die. And that’s why his death is so much more impactful.

It’s not like his death was that surprising, genre-wise. Ethan can die pretty much at any point in the game, it’s something that he consciously risks the moment he decides to go towards the castle to find Rose instead of running the fuck off. The fact that he accepts the possibility of being killed and yet he keeps going is what shows his character. His eventual death is one (1) result of that, not vice versa.

Ethan didn’t need to die. It was a conscious choice to have him die; they could have let him live even as a moldy man, and stay by Rose’s side and keep her safe. But the writers chose to kill him, and chose to give him a death fitting his “Just a Dude” character. Just because the presentation of his death is fitting doesn’t mean that said death was the only reasonable choice they could have taken for him, and I’m not sure some people understand that.

I’m not sure some people, regardless of fandom, understand the logical reasons behind killing main characters, too. There’s not really much Ethan could have provided as a main character in a third game in a row. But there’s character death and there’s simply sidelining them. Which the RE franchise is more than willing to do with other, more beloved and much more complex characters, so why is it suddenly that Ethan’s only “interesting” development is to die?

The only answer is, it’s an “interesting” development, but not for him.

2) It’s a hook for Rosemary’s story. Ethan’s sacrifice makes us interested in Rose; we connected to Ethan’s wish to save his daughter, and he did it, and then he died for it. So as we see baby Rose in a crying Mia’s arms we wonder, how did she end up like? How has her father’s devotion, sacrifice and death impacted her?

We are graciously given the post-credits scene, where Rose visits Ethan’s grave, with the implication that she visits often, and she talks to him, telling him she loves him. She trusts Chris with knowledge of (most of) her powers, and we trust Chris, so we know that for the most part she’s on the good side. She’s happy to be told she has taken after her father.

That’s enough to set up her character as a sequel hook, but none of it would matter as much if we hadn’t witnessed Ethan’s tragic death; his death benefits Rose’s story, not his. If the writers weren’t interested in planting the seeds for Rose as a future character in a RE game, they wouldn’t have made her a superhuman, and Ethan’s death would provide absolutely nothing. Her powers can provide external conflict, and her father’s loss can provide internal conflict.

So again, it’s not about Ethan’s narrative. His character, plain and simple as it was, was complete the moment he dragged himself back to life to go fight Miranda. It was his “resurrection” if anything, that provided to his narrative, not any of the three times he died.

You could say that character-wise, he died to save his daughter, and narrative-wise, he died to provide her with an interesting backstory and to make the audience cry. But when it comes to Ethan himself, it’s far from the most satisfying and rational conclusion to his story.

#Ethan Winters #Resident Evil #Resident Evil 8 #re meta

[oathofpromises]

always remembering can be as dangerous as always forgetting (for Jill)

𝕵𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝖈𝖑𝖔𝖘𝖊𝖉 𝖍𝖊𝖗 𝖊𝖞𝖊𝖘, 𝕸𝖎𝖆 𝖜𝖔𝖗𝖉𝖘 𝖜𝖊𝖗𝖊 𝖙𝖗𝖚𝖊. 𝕾𝖔𝖒𝖊𝖙𝖎𝖒𝖊𝖘 𝖍𝖔𝖑𝖉𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖔𝖓 𝖙𝖔 𝖒𝖊𝖒𝖔𝖗𝖎𝖊𝖘 𝖍𝖚𝖗𝖙𝖘 𝖜𝖔𝖗𝖘𝖊 𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖓 𝖙𝖗𝖞𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖔 𝖋𝖔𝖗𝖌𝖊𝖙 𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖒.The agony she felt recalling the day this nightmare began made it more difficult to push them aside over time. The brunette felt that forgetting would be worse, that it would be disrespectful to the memory of her fallen comrades. 

"I know...but there are times when I need to remember. Even if the mere memory hurts..I owe it to the people who fought beside me and died to hold onto everything. To try to keep their names engraved in time.” 

The agent reached into her holster and pulled out her Samurai Edge, the blue symbol shining in the pale moonlight. Fingers traced over the weapon, as Jill looked up at Mia. She had heard about the Baker incident. The hell they had faced here, and to some degree Jill could understand why they wanted nothing more than to move on from it. To forget the things they had to witness or were forced to take part in. Jill could relate to this a little, remembering how she was literally brainwashed into obeying orders she didn't want to follow. It didn’t stop the nightmares, though, no matter how many people seemed to forgive her. There was always a voice in the back of her head telling her that things wouldn’t have progressed this far if she had been stronger. That always seemed to be the case with Jill Valentine. A strong woman, but one filled with so much guilt and regret. 

“Mia, I don’t claim to know the pain you and Ethan went through. I only know what I read in reports sent to me by Chris. Couldn’t really be there myself, thanks to events that happened before. However, I do empathize with wanting nothing more than to move on from it. To forget everything that happened and try to live a normal life. Something we don’t really get to have lately. I know you don’t know me well, but, I do know the feeling of wanting to push those feelings away. Perhaps it doesn’t seem like I do, but I tend to keep most emotions bottled up. A coping mechanism I learned over the years. Can blame my parents for that one..” 

Jill cast a glance over at Mia, sensing the latter was still dealing with the aftereffects of what she had been through. Dark circles under the other's eyes was a huge sign that the other hadn’t been sleeping at all. It would take a while to fully move past everything, and sometimes things would still linger. All she knew was this whole thing started with the events in Raccoon city, which should’ve been easily stopped. However, the company had power that exceed one team capabilities. Which is why the agent was happy Chris, her, and others founded the BSAA. A group to handle threats like this, but over time she started to notice suspicious activity from the group. Working with companies like Tri-cell and even resorting to using bioweapons themselves. Which meant they would resort to pretty much any lengths. 

“Sorry,  I shouldn’t talk about such things. You are still healing from everything yourself.” The last thing the brunette wanted to do was stir up any trauma the other had gone through. However, the question still hanging on Jill’s mind was how corrupt the BSAA had gotten over the years. They had covered up the Baker incident. It was almost as if the family never existed, which infuriated the agent endlessly. 

“I know we just met recently thanks to Chris but I am here for you.” whispered Jill, as she got up and walked over to Mia. Slowly, she reached out her hand and placed it on the other's shoulder. It was a lot to deal with, and this entire thing wasn’t anything Ethan or Mia had asked to be involved in. Seemed like it was a pattern, people getting pulled into shit that had nothing to do with them. 

#I'll give you S.T.A.R.S(Jill Valentine) #Mold Memories(Mia Winters/terrorgone) #Raccoon City's ashes will be Umbrella's(Main verse) #ooc: I am sorry about the wait I do hope this is okay starter to work with