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#going into timelines and manipulating them to spell vision and the life she wants into existence
worstloki · 3 years
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loki, looking at steve, who thinks returning the stones will seal the timelines and fix everything: im about to end this man’s whole career
loki, looking at doctor strange who is multiverseless and doesn’t have enough timelines for a sequel film: im about to start this mans whole career 
#The Avengers: we just return the stones all the timelines seal themselves reality doesn’t collapse everyone goes home happy#Loki: jokes on you im never happy *messes with the timelines*#yes i know Doctor Strange 1 had a reference to the multiverse BUT I'm assuming if Loki messes the timeline up that's why#wanda will also mess with the timelines but she's probably gonna do it unintentionally#actually now that im thinking about it#their roles should've been reversed#LOKI should've ended up in a little happy bubble of his earlier life in Asgard where everything is alright... but isn't...#that way they could deal with the jotun/adoption realization#with the cool glitchy effects#i can already imagine the world breaking down around him and suddenly he's still in the same perfect golden city#but his reflection has jotun cracks and his hands are shifting between blue and white#and the family sit-com horror genre would've been perfect#considering his coping mechanisms and the way he plays things off and a laugh track?? loki could pull it off so well with one-liners#meanwhile WANDA who is ESTABLISHED as a character that will willingly go to unethical lengths to get what they want...#she could be intentionally messing with reality and building the world she wants around her#she could be living it up in a timeline and when things start going sideways leave it in chaos and jump to another#going into timelines and manipulating them to spell vision and the life she wants into existence#it'd be a crime-thriller and there could be a multiverse parasite of some sort too that she's trying to run from#and the thing tracking her and ruining the artificial life she keeps building could end up being Dr Strange trying to get to her#that'd be a seamless connection honestly#meanwhile Loki who is KNOWN FOR PLAYING ROLES and has a habit of putting others first could be living in utopia asgard#where he's accepted as his pre-thor-1 self and he's happy and THATS the thing that keeps tipping him off and realizing it's not right#the place could start turning against him as self-hate and the abrupt revelations to the others about being jotun/adopted/tortured happen#it'd be a huge metaphor for his internalized mindscape INCLUDING the racism and past torture
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mandowh0re · 3 years
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Remember Me
Chapter 1
Summary: While cleaning up the timelines that he broke, Loki meets and inevitably loses the one person that's understood him in life. But he's not losing you without a fight
A/N: Beta'd by @edgyvege
Warnings: Mentions of death
Word Count: 1619
Happy reading!
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It’s a quiet evening, and the Avengers that lived in the compound decided to take advantage of the rainy evening and have a movie night. Steve had called Tony over, who had brought Peter with him. The father and son duo has stopped on the way from the city to pick up a plethora of unhealthy snacks, including everyone’s favorite chips and candies.
They’re currently all settled in the common room watching She-Ra. Peter’s head is resing on Tony’s shoulder, Thor is snuggled up to Bruce, Natasha and Clint are sitting in the same recliner, Wanda and Vision are on one side of the love seat, Steve on the other side of Tony, Bucky and Sam sitting on the floor behind the coffee table.
They’re at the part where Adora is being stalked by Shadow Weaver in Mystacor, when the TV suddenly flickers, the audio warping. There’s a buzzing sound behind them closer to the kitchenette.
Everyone straightens in their seats, suddenly on alert.
“Friday,” Tony barks, pushing Peter behind him, “Lights.”
The lights cut on and everyone in the room watches as the air seems to distort and glow, similarly to when the sun beats down on the pavement, before a blonde man walks out with a cuffed and collared Loki behind him.
Every person in the room jumps into a defensive stance, some already with weapons that are always stashed and hidden throughout the compound, and each ready to fight at a moment’s notice.
Thor leaps over the couch and calls his hammer to him in one swift movement, but he doesn’t look frightened or angry.
He just looks… Mournful.
“Loki?” He says with apprehension, tilting his head.
It looks like Loki, and he’s certainly bound the way Loki should be if he were up to no good. But he watched Loki die. He watched Thanos crush the life out of him and toss him to the floor of that ship as if he were a worthless piece of balled up paper.
The blonde man holds up his hands in front of himself, as if to signal that they’re not here to cause any harm.
“Please, allow me to explain why we are here before this turns ugly.” The stranger pleads.
Thor looks back to his team, making eye contact with Tony and Steve.
They look apprehensive, and Tony has an iron grip on his kid, but Steve nods carefully.
Thor turns back to the stranger and nods, but his focus is mainly on Loki, “Go ahead.”
The man drops his hands and pockets them before beginning his story, “Okay. My name is Mobius, and I am a Timekeeper. My job, like Thor is probably aware, is to keep the timelines safe, intact, and to keep them from ever intersecting. When the Avengers used the Pym Particles to go back in time and retrieve the Infinity Stones; Stark, Rogers, Banner, and Lang went back to the Battle of New York in 2012. When they infiltrated the 2012 Avengers to get a hold of the tesseract, they made an error that caused the tesseract to fall into the hands of that Loki.”
Thor’s brows shot up to his hairline and he whipped around to look at Tony, “What? Why was I not informed of this?”
Now it’s Tony’s turn to hold his hands up, “Okay, hey. We didn’t have time to focus on that, and you were still grieving your brother. It would not have done anyone any good to bring it up while we were still in the fight of our lives.”
“And what about after?” He barks.
“While I agree this is something you all should discuss, I respectfully ask that you do that later,” Mobius interrupts, “I have places to be.”
Thor huffs and gives Tony one last glare before he turns back to the two other men.
“Right, anyways. When Loki took the tesseract and escaped, he broke that timeline. It caused multiple branches off of it,” He starts to take a step forward to the group, but decides against it when Thor’s nostrils flare, “We tracked him down, arrested him, and brought him into custody. He was given the option of life in prison or parole if he agreed to help us fix the timeline and erase the others. And I’m sure you can imagine what he chose.”
“I mean, there wasn’t much of a choice, was there?” Loki mumbles.
“Do you mind?” Mobius mumbles back, then turns to finish his story, “Through several months of helping us, Loki has proved himself to be, well, no longer a universal threat.”
“How do we know you aren’t under some spell of his?” Natasha asks, “Or working with him?”
“You don’t,” Mobius shrugs, “But he does know everything that has happened to him and those around him up until his final death. He was given the choice of choosing where he wanted to go at his time of being released, and I believe it says something for him to choose here.”
“Not much, actually. He’s manipulative.” Steve chimes in.
Mobius holds a finger up, “That he is. But unlike before, he has a lot more to lose this time.”
Thor crosses his arms, “And what would that be?”
***
You hum as you stock the shelves with the new shipment of books you just received.
It’s a nice day out. Mid April, the trees and flowers are blooming, and it’s finally nice enough outside to leave windows open. The mini fan is running on the counter where the register is, and the music is flowing quietly throughout your shop.
A very pleasant day, indeed.
You hear the windchimes attached to the shop door tinkle brightly, and you call over your shoulder as you finish placing the last few books, “Welcome! I’ll be right with you!”
When you’re finished, you grab the now empty cardboard box and use your pocket knife to break it down as you walk back to the front of the small store.
When you look up, a tall man with dark hair and a black suit is standing by the register, hands in his pockets. He’s incredibly handsome and as your eyes scan his features, you can’t help but feel like you have seen him before.
“Hi! How can I help you?” You ask, tossing the now flattened box onto a pile of others before walking behind the counter.
The man looks at you, tearing his gaze from a picture you had behind the counter, and his eyes meet yours. For the briefest of moments, you think you see grief flash across his emerald eyes. But as quick as you think you saw it, it's gone.
“Hello,” He greets, his voice satiny smooth, “A friend of mine recommended a book, and I was wondering if you could help me get my hands on a copy.”
“Sure!” You lean against the counter and fold your hands, “What’s it called?”
“I believe it’s called Norse Mythology, written by a Neil Gaiman.”
Your eyes light up and you push off your elbows to stand, “That’s my favorite book! Your friend must have amazing taste!” You wink.
He nods, eyes never leaving you, “I like to think so.”
“I definitely have it! Can’t really consider myself a good bookstore owner if I don’t keep my favorite books in stock, follow me.” You walk out from behind the counter and wave the handsome man to follow you. You know exactly where to go, and weave expertly between the shelves of your small shop. You finally come to a halt and reach down to grab the book, handing it to him, “Here you are.”
He takes the book from you and offers a kind smile and he turns it over in his hands, reading the back, “Thank you.”
“Of course, let’s go get you checked out,” You smile, staring at the handsome stranger before you realize what you’re doing.
The two of you walk back to the front of the store, and he lays the book down for you to scan it.
You take another look at him, and you’re not sure what possesses you to say it. You later account it to having been alone for so long.
“Actually- Here...” You lean down under the counter where you have your own stash of books, and grab your own copy of Norse Mythology. You stand back up and place it in front of him, “Why don’t you borrow my copy? I know it’s not as pretty as a new one, but if you don’t like it, you won’t have wasted the money. If you do like it, we can talk about it. Either way, you’ll have to return it,” You look down to the countertop before bringing your eyes to meet him once more, “And I can see you again.”
A beautifully sweet smile spreads across the man’s face. His eyes flicker down, noticing that you’re picking at your nails; it’s your nervous habit. He places a hand on the worn paperback book, “Lovely. Sounds like a plan to me. Shall we say next week, this time?”
Your smile brightens considerably, and you feel butterflies come to life in your belly, “See you then.”
He bends at the waist, bowing slightly, and turns to leave. You watch as his slender hand grabs the door knob, when a thought occurs to you.
“Wait!” You shout, reaching out your hand.
He stops dead in his tracks and turns back to you, an eyebrow quirked.
“What’s your name?”
He stiffens slightly. It’s so subtle that you barely notice it, but you do. Finally, a soft look adorns the man’s handsome features, and he looks a little sad. But he still answers.
“Loki.”
***
Remember Me Taglist: @idunnomayn
Permanent Taglist: @a-place-to-blog-marvel-stuff @yes-iamironman-blog @paradoxicalblueberry @the-regal-warrior @transparentparadiseglitterzombie @marvelgem @propertyofmarvel @avngrsinitiative @my-leg-is-not-a-chew-toy @lyricalstella-blog @just-the-daydreamer @hufflely-puffly
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Slayer of Slayers
Warnings:I do not own, nor do I claim to own any of the copyright or characters within the Buffyverse which includes but not limited to the television shows Buffy and Angel, as well as the Darkhorse comics series’ continuation.
15+ Strong to moderate violence, Graphic to mild descriptions of gore, and torture, sexually charged scenes, sexual innuendos, mild to strong language, and practices of witchcraft.
M/M, F/F, M/F, GEN, OTHER +
PART EIGHT LINK HERE
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Part Nine: One of Us
As the story goes there was but one and only one, one born into every generation, one chosen to fight against the evils of the world, only one, and she was called the vampire slayer. Buffy Summers was the slayer that with the help of her bewitching best friend Willow Rosenberg changed those rules forever as one became two, then two became many, as slayers all over the world were activated to join the fight against evil but before those rules were broken, before everything changed forever, the world was changed once before by the birth of the first slayer known as the primeval one. Sineya was the first woman to become the slayer creating a legacy that would be added to by many but although those who came after her were vampire slayers too none quite had the power which she held due to the first slayer having a direct link with the shadow demon which had formed with her human body causing her to lose her humanity as she became the first slayer making her far stronger than any other slayer in history. It was that power, the power of the first slayer, that the unhinged vampire Drusilla sought out to recreate knowing that if the witch Willow was able to adjust the slayer spell to aid her in turning all potentials into slayers, then she too could adjust the magic, altering it somehow for her own liking…
Drusilla’s plans were many years in the making formed within a vision she had of a child, a son of the slayer she despised more than any other slayer, and so she waited patiently for the perfect time to her plans into action knowing she needed Theo Frey, Buffy’s son, to have lived a human life before she introduced herself to him, and that she would need an inexperienced witch that she could manipulate into doing her bidding as she educated that witch, Ruby Moon, in all things related to the dark arts, knowing its allure would make the witch a willing accomplish in anything she wanted her to be, and after much waiting it was finally time to take both Theo and Ruby into her undead family. It took Drusilla roughly about two years of training Ruby in the magics as well as her right-hand vamp Tobias taking the ropes with training Theo into becoming ready to be the first male slayer in history, as she chose to turn the eye as she witnessed a relationship forming between Tobias and Theo, believing it would make Theo more loyal to their cause if he was in love with her number one vampire, until Ruby had found a way of both educating herself on the infamous slayer spell as well as learning a way to manipulate the magics in order to send Theo back in time, to the time of the first slayer, placing him in the same place as the primeval one, to witness her creation, as well as his own.
Prehistoric Times
Theo was surprised at first to find himself suddenly transported from the abandoned insane asylum that Drusilla called her home to be deep within the deserts of a prehistoric Africa, not knowing the logistics of the spell that Ruby had cast, only knowing that the outcome would conclude with him becoming a slayer but as he adjusted himself to his new surroundings and saw only endless miles of nothing but the scorching hot desert he wondered just what exactly he would find in a seemingly non inhabited desert, other than a serious case of sunburn and possible heatstroke. And so with no other choice other than to stay put, Theo decided to begin walking through the seemingly never-ending desert determined to find some resemblance of life or anything which would hint to him why he had been sent to this unforgivingly hot place but with no answers and the lack of water beginning to take its toll on his mostly human body, it was not long before Theo could not go on any longer as he found his body dropping into the sandy grounds before passing out for what felt like mere moments. However, those supposed mere moments were long enough for his body to be dragged into a cave by three powerful mages known as the shadow men, and for his body to be tied in chains like the woman next to him, the woman in question being none other than Sineya, something Theo was quick to realize when he reawakened to find himself tied next to the primeval one, as he quickly stood up and tried to break free of his chains only to quickly realize there was no escape. Theo had wanted to know how the slayers were created and now he knew the cold harsh truth, that the first slayer was nothing more than a human victim of three powerful men who sacrificed her innocence to make her a super-powered soldier against all things supernatural, and it was then he realized that Sineya was nothing more than a girl, a girl that nobody saved, and now just like her, he was about to go through the same process that would change them both forever…
The shadow men, one by one, walked into the cave where Theo and Sineya were stood chained to chains attached to the stone-hard ground as they quickly began chanting in a prehistoric language that Theo couldn’t even begin to try and comprehend, as a dark shadow-like fog began forming in front of his eyes before it slowly began making its way towards Sineya, surging into her body causing the woman great pain as she screamed out in the agony of this shadow demon entering and violating her body as it attempted to bond itself with her, lasting for what felt like a lifetime for both her and Theo, as Theo watched the prehistoric woman continuously scream out in pain as her body shook voraciously as if the demon itself was torturing from inside her own body forcing Theo to learn the cold hard truth of the creation of the slayer as he now began to fear he would be the shadow men’s next victim, no longer willing to pay the price of becoming a slayer himself. But much to Theo’s dismay he had no choice in the matter, he was chained and unable to escape, and the only allies he had were the very people who sent him there for this very reason and so he just stood there in chains knowing once the shadow men were done with the primeval one that he would be their next victim. However, once Sineya fell to the ground seemingly unconscious the three shadow men quickly began chanting another spell in their long-dead language, one that Theo quickly noticed was ever so slightly differently worded than the one they had just chanted. Instead of summoning another shadow demon as they had done for Sineya, a thick ruby red smoke appeared in front of Theo, its essence giving off something greatly different than the shadow demon before it, as this red smoke wasted no time in forcing itself inside of Theo’s body entering him through his eyes, nose, and mouth, causing him to choke on the mystical smoke as it filled up his body before he fell to his knees, his entire body began to feel like it was burning up, as he felt an incredible heat, unlike anything he had ever felt before until the pain from it made the son of the slayer passed out completely.
Theo had no clue what entity had formed itself with him only that it was a creature different from the primeval slayer’s creation but he knew that whatever it was had bonded with his very soul-changing forever as he felt stronger than ever before, faster, and wiser, as a rage had inside of him began burning up what little humanity was there and yet he still found himself more human, weaker, and slower than the original slayer herself Sineya. For some reason whatever the difference between the shadow demon which had former itself with the first slayer was vastly different from whatever demon had formed itself with Theo and although it bothered him that he was nowhere near as strong as the slayer herself he decided to, while still remaining in the past, to learn from Sineya, understand her in a way nobody else would get the chance to, and use this very knowledge to one day return to his current timeline ready to become the slayer of slayers that Drusilla had told him was his destiny. But as he quickly learned during his time in prehistoric Africa, nothing was going to go the way he had expected them to go, and before long he found himself bonding with Sineya, learning far more than he ever expected to from her and joining her on her many hunts, all this while the first slayer never so much as uttered a single word towards him. Theo watched her in action, learned her ways, and before long began cheering her triumphs which he began to equally share himself as he unknowingly began to feel what it was like to truly be a slayer and as her own king rejected Sineya, claiming her to be the very evil she hunted, Theo couldn’t help but feel sympathetic towards her, as the two became unlikely friends during a time when both were at their least human. After spending what felt like forever in the prehistoric past Theo suddenly found himself being pulled through the very fabrics of space and time for the second time as he was taken from the past and soon to find himself returned to the current timeline in which the spell Ruby had cast had originally taken place, returning to the abandoned insane asylum that the vampire Drusilla had made her home and he just stood there in a state of shock, he was left questioning his entire existence, his sinister schemes, and the path which Drusilla and Tobias had led him towards, only to find out that to Drusilla, Tobias, and Ruby, he had only been gone for a few minutes, a few minutes which had changed everything for the soon to be the slayer of slayers…
Modern Day
Theo Frey just stood there in the caves of a long-forgotten island while his army of vampires got to work on destroying the wall between them and the Hellmouth, using their bare hands to punch into the solid wall until their hands were red raw, and bloody only to continue to tear at the walls with their hands, refusing to stop until there was nothing in between them and the Hellmouth itself, and as he stood there watching the undead women and men hard at work to achieve their shared goal, Theo couldn’t help but reminisce about the simpler times he spent in a world that mostly consisted of him and the first slayer, having previously seen her spirit which forced him to reconsider everything just like it had done once before. Theo couldn’t help but remember the joy he felt alongside Sineya at helping her protect the innocent, the pride he felt at destroying evil, and the simple black and white view of good and evil he had once shared until he allowed vengeance to lead him down the dark path he was now on, vengeance which was aimed at the wrong party, or rather partly on the wrong ones, as he could not help but wonder if what he was doing now was more something that Drusilla would want him to do than himself as he began questioning just how much control Drusilla and Tobias still had over him. Before long Theo’s vampires had all but destroyed the wall standing before the slayer of slayers and the Hellmouth which he was prophesized to open, bring forth the apocalypse, and become the rightful king of an army of vampires, and all Theo had to do was pour his blood to open said Hellmouth, as he was surrounded by undead minions cheering the vampire/slayer hybrid, ready to follow him into the apocalyptic war, and yet he found himself hesitant as he realized that this was the choice he had to make, he could bring about the end of days, possibly killing the few people he reluctantly still cared for, or he could do the rare heroic thing and make sure nobody could open this Hellmouth.
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kainetestament · 3 years
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Pietro, no Fietro could still possibly be Peter from X-Men Universe… Maybe?
So as revealed in Episode 9 of WandaVision, the identity of Fietro is none other than Ralph Bohner, the husband Agness always mention, and a possible real resident of Westview. WV director Matt Shakman already clarified that the “Bohner” is actually a reference to his 80’s sitcom Growing Pains. But for many fans of Evan Peters, this “Bohner” joke didn’t play well and at the same time, let us breakdown everything that is wrong with this identity of Ralph Bohner and why he’s suspicious despite the claim of WandaVision writers/director that Evan Peters has nothing to do with the mutants or X-Men Universe, after all they always deny everything. They even mentioned that they had no idea that Evan Peters appearance will cause so many theories and everything, which I highly doubt, I mean come on, they made him play QuickSilver in WandaVision when he is QuickSilver himself only of another universe. I don’t dissed ATJ, I love this guy too from his Kickass, Godzilla movie (this is where I first encounter ATJ before his QS role in Avengers), but as a QS, Evan Peters top him, on my opinion at least, he even has his own QS commercials. Also, Evan Peters have more cool QS moments, the Kitchen scene VS the Age of Ultron overall, at least for me, I prefer the kitchen scene and the whiplash part. Anyhow, let us begin:
 Note: I edited this post to make this article more easier to read and added additional info.
1. Speculations roaming around that Ralph Bohner could be an aspiring actor because the picture is actually his headshot (which actually looks like his earlier AHS photos). I’m not going to debunk this possibility, but I do not believe it’s a headshot nor he’s an aspiring actor. Although true enough, the image does looks like of Evan Peters early AHS photos (kind of like Tate Langdon) – which is probably a reference to that, who knows.
2. The pile of papers on the side table. It is questionable why would your papers, a bill (a very old bill even - not folded or inside one of those envelopes) and your photos in plain sight where Monica – an outsider can see it? Almost as if you planned it all along and he wanted Monica to see it.
3. Necromancy vs Crystallum Possession. Necromancy is a dark arts of when the person (the Necromancer) can manipulate the dead body of the person, or summoning their spirit. Crystallum Possession however is also part of the dark arts but this time you are using an object (like crystals, gems, stones etc) that is embodied with the user’s spells to manipulate the wearer.
Agatha had told Wanda that what she does is a crystallum possession since necromancy is a no-no due to his brother’s body is on another continent, and since this Pietro died in 2014, it should now be bones, I think the “full of holes” remark is nothing more than a mocking remark, because if it’s not, then Marvel will probably have their own interpretation of Necromancy and Crystallum Possession, and this could probably go darker. And Ralph is wearing a bead necklace that is embedded with Agatha’s power. But is Agatha really in full control of Ralph? Honestly, I don’t think so. Why? Because in Episode 6, Peter said about Wanda’s costume “Worse than the costume mom made us the year we got typhus”, then she reminisced “that year”, and told him  “That’s not exactly how I remember it.” because in her universe, she isn’t wearing Halloween costume she thinks is worse and she didn’t deny about them getting typhus, so what are the odds of Agatha/Fietro getting that info if he is not Peter? Also, we don’t know how MARVEL will tell the story multiverse/alternate timelines (the Russo Brothers already claimed that they have their own way of telling this story), but if we are looking for a one generic rule, major life events will occur but will be told uniquely as per their universe, on this case Peter and Wanda did had a typhus, but in Peter’s world, his Wanda and him are probably wearing whatever cosplay outfit their mom made and in Wanda and Pietro are just wearing something simple, or it could be that Peter really just have a weird sense of style.
4. The WATER BILL. Now, this is a real bill, it is not part of Wanda’s illusion, this is Ralph’s actual water bill, because Ralph’s house was under Agatha’s spell, which makes it exempted from Wanda’s spell.  Also, if you go frame by frame, you can actually see the word “Water”, “PAST DUE” on the right column part of the bill, before it totally goes out of focus and you can only read the left side part, that also says “YOUR MONTHLY USAGE (1,000 GAL INCREMENTS)”, which further validates it’s a water bill, not a phone bill nor electricity bill as others actually claim. And here is the tricky part, the bill’s date. On the right side under the STATEMENT is the Account Information (using Arial font), it’s a bit hard to make out of it, but it’s actually an old bill. Before it becomes totally blurry, you can read the right part of the bill that says:
STATEMENT
ACCOUNT INFORMATION
ACCOUNT:                      09-3476-12
SERVICE ADDRESS:     2804 SHERWOOD DRIVE
BILL DATE:                     10/01/2020
DUE DATE:                     10/31/2020
If we go back to Infinity War, it takes place in June 2018. So that means that this Ralph Bohner survived the SNAP, but what could happen to him in year 2019-2020? Who knows, I don’t even know if I should care or not.
If we check on the usage chart – which is “not blurred” (it’s also in increments of 12 – 12/24/36/48/60), and I’ll just speculate on the numbers on the meter chart, so don’t take my word for it. Also, I don’t know what Marvel is planning or hinting by showing this insignificant 2020 bill, which also has confusing usage. (I’ll just use term like pcm – per cubic meter, so that it won’t just be plain numbers beside the month).
January - 6 pcm
February – 18 pcm
March – 6 pcm
April – 6 pcm
June – 6 pcm
July – 9 pcm
August – 13 pcm
September – 22 pcm
October – 34 pcm
(November and December have gray shade - similar to the one in month of Jan-May).
Again, I don’t know what’s the significance of not blurring this part of the bill while the right side column is properly blurred. And the confusing part of this bill, is the bill date is of 10/01/2020 – meaning Ralph had received this bill during the first week of October, but why is there already a usage for the full month of October, when usage should be only show up to the month of September? After the Account Information, there’s the
METER INFORMATION (WATER)
USAGE   PREVIOUS   DATE      CURRENT       DATE
4             1963 (?)        09/01/20      *- - - -*          *- - - -*
The PREVIOUS actually looks like either 1063 or 1963, and oddly enough the first Avengers Comics was published on September 1, 1963, I don’t know if that’s a reference to that, but from my pov, it shouldn’t be because this series is inspired of House of M and a bit touch of West Coast Avengers, which was already reference by the SUV plate number in Episode 7. The CURRENT and DATE are both unreadable, I can only identify _ _ _ 2 in CURRENT and 0_/_ _/20 for the DATE after.
And let’s also not forget that outside the HEX, it is August 2023 and as per Episode 8, inside the HEX is currently year 2013 as shown in the auditorium behind the lighting after it explained how Wanda created Vision. I don’t know if this is a reference to something from the past MCU projects (X-Men even) or future franchise like Falcon and Winter Soldier, who knows, really. I just find it weird why they didn’t blurry the meter chart while the rest are. But why year 2020? Why isn’t this bill thrown out yet? Didn’t Monica notice that billing date of the bill?
5. The man-cave. The staff really transformed Fietro’s man-cave into very, very Peter-like (if he really is not Peter). I will list thing that are present and similar to what Peter of X-Men Universe room have. I’ll reference * (single asterisk) for Days of Future Past, ** (double asterisk) for Apocalypse, and *** (triple asterisk) for both films.
❀ comfortable couch***
❀ guitar*** 
❀ headphones***
❀ balls*
❀ lots of posters***
❀ bike***
❀ a bar**
❀ shoes on the floor**
❀ different types of drinks (non alcoholic)***
Also, lots of silver/metallic items such as:
❀ silver lamp**
❀ silver TV
❀ silver house ventilation tubes
❀ silver pillowcases (looks gray on other angles)
❀ silver mini fridge
❀ silver microwave oven
❀ silver rack (where TV and speaker stands)    
❀ silver wristwatch*
❀ video games*** (both PS & XBox)
and even something that looks like a stolen goods like the Tiki Bar plaque, Tiger head.
This Fietro is basically just missing the goggles, I did my best to look for it (like on those detective games that instructs you to find this and that *lol*), but there’s really none *laugh*. Also, I just noticed the arrangement of his man-cave – single-seat couch** > small side table with a lamp** > 3-seater couch (the Apocalypse has an L-shape couch though) > a middle coffee table**, this arrangement is similar to Peter’s man-cave in Apocalypse which can be slightly seen when his mom came down saying “Just checking on you” (you can watch it at starting point 1:02:55, at least on my copy), you just need to look for proper timing because a few of those shots are out of focus probably due to her obviously looking somewhere reading her lines that are raised besides the camera, which became even more obvious  when she did a close up shot when she told him “But trust me, this won’t end well. Nothing does with him.” 
Also, in Episode 5, when Peter first made an appearance, the leather jacket he’s wearing is eerily similar to the one he’s wearing in his cameo appearance in Deadpool 2 (we only got the glimpse of the front of the jacket in Deadpool but the front side of his jacket in WandaVision is identical). Though I find it weird too that his hair color switch from silver to light ash blonde.
6. Ralph is the guy under witness protection? I doubt it, although honestly at first I considered maybe he is, but after a few thinking, it doesn’t lead to it, because if he’s in witness protection, and the person who is managing him forgets him because of Wanda, FBI database should still at least have a photo of him to be able to identify him, and Jimmy in episode 7 saw Peter and never commented about him being their missing guy. As we all know, the house is under the name Ralph Bohner, who we can assume survived the SNAP and possibly left that house in September 2020. If he had left the house way back in 2020, why does Agent Woo or FBI rather only checked it now? Also, if Ralph Boner is indeed the guy under witness protection, it is the FBI that pays off their bill, on this case, the Water Bill was past due even if it was an old bill, so I don’t think he is.
7. Does Ralph Boner really exist? This is actually something that I have given some thought. Because if we think of QuickSilver, one of his abilities as per comics is his Quick Intelligence. His mind process a lot of things much faster than an average person. Peter spying on everyone and pretending to be someone else in an unknown world is not surprising, let alone using everything he can take advantage of. It can be that the bill is fake and there is really no Ralph Bohner, or just like what I mentioned in #7, he could’ve possibly left in September 2020 and hasn’t returned yet, and Peter assumes this identity to avoid suspicion.
If we are to assume he really is Peter Maximoff of X-Men Universe (Earth-TRN414) and crossed over to Earth-616, I did consider this could also be the house where he lives as per his universe and just so happens that Ralph Bohner is the current owner of the house in this MCU. Also, Xavier Institute is located in NY and in Days of Future Past, they only drove from NY to his house via rental car, which we can assume that he doesn’t live that far from NY, after all NY and NJ are neighbors.
8. Also this has nothing to do with Ralph/Fietro, but something I noticed, that the outside anomaly or outside of Westview – about the selective amnesia has yet to be answered. It only explained that Wanda is manipulating the people INSIDE, but not the ones outside the HEX. What actually come to mind when I think about it is that it can be a work by a TELEPATH which can be either Charles Xavier or Emma Frost (no Jean Grey? Yes I excluded her). What I am actually thinking is that the person under witness protection is a spy sent by Charles or possibly working with him. He could have implanted false memory to the so called “family and friends”, so when the HEX was established, the strings got cut off hence no one could remember this “missing person” anymore, and Jimmy who has nothing to do with this “missing person” is not affected by the selective amnesia and assumes the responsibility of looking for him. And assuming Charles is the telepath who altered their memories of the people outside of Westview, he probably has done it as a precaution since he couldn’t contact his spy or “missing person” and wouldn’t take the risk of endangering the resident who were happened to be outside the HEX when Wanda establishes it.
These are just some of the things I find that doesn’t make sense with Ralph’s identity. But we’ll just leave it at that. I still really want James McAvoy back as Charles Xavier and Michael Fassbender as Magneto, since both Sir Ian McKKellen and Sir Patrick Stewart did mention they’re done with their role. And I feel that it’s too risky to use them since they are in their 80’s now, I don’t know them personally but it gives me some sorts of paranoia *laughs* thinking they might get injured.
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kathyprior4200 · 4 years
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“Murder on the Air!” Human Alastor complete timeline
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https://altried.tumblr.com/post/190010451473/my-take-on-human-alastor-i-like-to-think-he-is
Character profile
Name: Alastor (meaning Greek spirit of vengeance/tormentor)
Birth: January 24th 1896, New Orleans, Louisiana (VA Edward Bosco’s birthday is January 24, 1986)
Human name:  Alastor Roscoe Duvalier Cajun (Roscoe means deer forest and is also an old term for a handgun. Duvalier is last name of Voodoo genocidal dictator of Haiti.)
Race: Part White (French-American from his father) part Creole (Native American and African-American from his mother).
Hair color: Brown (red and black in Hell) usually short, sometimes in a small ponytail or brown ends reaching slightly past his ears
Eye color: Brown (red in Hell)
Skin color: Light brown (pale gray in Hell) thin pointed chin, lanky agile body
Clothing: brown/white nice shirts with bow ties, dress coats, hunting boots, wine colored pants, the occasional top hat with voodoo pins sticking from the top.
Items: Hunting rifle given to him by his father, sharp knives, a staff with a microphone on it decorated with small golden antlers curved near the top. (The staff became a red vintage microphone with an eye and magic powers in Hell that became part of him as per the deal he took)
Date of death: 1933
 Cause of death: Bitten by dog with rabies, experienced hallucinations, inflamed brain, strange excitement and paranoia. When he sees water, it’s nothing but alligators, leeches and the darkness of an ocean. He ran from police and into the woods at night. The police sent several police dogs after him, appearing to Alastor as werewolves. He encounters Hustle, a deer hunter, yelling in agony, almost caught by police. Hustle alerts the police to his location, saying “Target criminal’s over here!” Alastor grabs the gun from the hunter and shoots himself between the eyes. His body is mauled by the police dogs and the hunter sinks down to his knees in shock and fear.
 Demonic life: deer demon, overlord, radio host. His deer-like shadow has a mind of its own and reveals his true feelings.
 Likes: cooking, singing, dancing, electro swing, Rosie, Mimzy, Charlie (as a friend), his mother, hunting and skinning deer, being out in nature, people failing, dark coffee, the Picture Show, the Stock Market Crash of 1929, theater, liquor, dad jokes, Jambalaya, epicurean food, making voodoo dolls of the Hazbin characters
 Dislikes: being touched, strawberries, post 30’s technology, dogs, anything sweet, frowning, Vox, his father, Angel’s sexual remarks, tea, spray can foods, ketchup
 Abilities: supernatural powers, voodoo, radio broadcasting, shadow manipulation, warping space, singing, charm
 Kalfu is Alastor’s main voodoo deity, as both are destroyers and dark sorcerers.
   Mother:
Loretta Marie Duvalier (last name became Cajun): (named after Loretta Petit, real life American radio personality born in New Orleans. Duvalier is last name of Voodoo genocidal dictator of Haiti.)  
Loretta has several siblings, Joseph, and a royal lady who is the mother of Dr. Facilier (he kept her shrunken head).
Speaks French. As a human, she had dark skin, thick black short hair and often wore bonnets, dresses, and on occasion, charms around her neck. She went to Heaven for her selfless actions in comforting Alastor when he was bullied and abused. She was the only source of light in his life before he snapped.
Her voodoo deity is Erzulie, the goddess of beauty, love, femininity and motherhood.
Alastor secretly cuddles with a voodoo doll of his mother every night.
 In the “regular” fanmade timeline, Loretta goes to Heaven, where Alastor meets her decades later after his redemption.
 In Hell, his mother becomes a powerful Voodoo priestess and she helps Alastor with his magic. She is an acquaintance to Rosie and Mimzy. She looks similar to Alastor: red eyes, darker gray face, red and black hair in a bun, sharp yellow teeth, deer tufts, and a long red and black dress with frilly sleeves. Her eyes most often appear like Alastor’s red eyes with circular lines in them…her eyes can also glow. She has a light red undershirt with a similar black upside down cross design. Etched onto her dress are voodoo symbols and flowers that appear faint to the eye but can glow in the dark. Sometimes, Loretta will wear a fancy round red ladies hat. Loretta keeps her hair in a bun. She keeps a pair of reading glasses and also has four claws. She has doe traits and a small fluffy tail. Loretta has similar powers as Alastor, though she cannot control radios to the same extent. She can make dolls and sew anything just by moving her fingers. Loretta can withstand Alastor’s deals and spells. In her full demon form, she can turn into a shadow version of herself and create portals and objects. In her demon form, her eyes turn black with red pupils shaped like skulls.
 In an AU of an AU when Alastor meets his parents at the Hazbin Hotel, Alastor and his mother share an embrace and sing together while making Jambalaya. Loretta doesn’t hesitate to share stories and a photo album of Alastor’s childhood to the others, much to his embarrassment. Loretta and Charlie hit it off right away, sharing their love of singing, dancing, and seeing good in people. Loretta mistakenly believes that her son and Charlie are dating but then remembers he is asexual and aromantic and apologizes with a blush. Charlie smiles and says that she is a hundred plus years older than him, to which Angel’s mouth drops. When Angel tries to flirt and touch Alastor, his mother tells him to stop. Alastor only accepts hugs, kisses, and touch from his mother.
 Father:
Louis Francois Cajun: White man and Christian French immigrant, descendant of two French Canadians. He fell in love with Loretta, but bi-racial marriage was frowned upon, so they held it in secret. He is a skilled hunter and taught Alastor to hunt deer and game at a young age. When Alastor was younger, he told him to “beware the gators” in the nearby swamp. As Alastor grew older, he became more abusive to him, even molested him after sleeping with another woman on a Friday the 13th. He died brutally by Alastor in the 1920s/30s.
Louis became an oppressive black deer overlord but was defeated by Alastor a second time.
In Alastor’s vision, Louis is represented by Ogun, god associated with dogs, warriors, hunters, conflict. He’s symbolized by an iron knife and has fondness for pretty women and rum.
 AU of an AU: In Hell, Louis becomes a powerful overlord called Seraph (one that Alastor defeats, but he still goes around.) He has large black antlers arching from his head, and often wears a top hat with a skull on it. He wears a similar suit to Alastor’s, along with a large bowtie and regular tie, though it’s darker in color. The undershirt is black with a red cross design on it. His teeth are sharp and yellow. He has deer ears and a tail, plus four claws on each hand. He has the same black mustache he had as a human, plus glowing red eyes. In demon form, his face turns into a skeletal male deer head (with black fur in some areas) and he grows larger. He controls a small cult of shadow spirits and demons that worship him as a god. He drinks, smokes, and hooks up with women demons, despite knowing he can’t reproduce. He hunts Hell’s creatures with a gun like he did as a human hunter. He carries a whip and a long black staff shaped like a Christian Cross with antlers branching out over the extended sides of the cross. In the center of it is a red gem shaped like a glowing red eye.
 Louis and Loretta agree to visit the Hazbin Hotel…only to meet Alastor in shock. Alastor briefly shrinks back when he sees him, remembering the times he was abused by him. His mother, more confident as a demon, makes sure her son goes through the day unharmed. His mother embraces her son and they make jambalaya while singing together. They sing “Jambalaya on the Bayou” and “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile.”  Even Louis smiles and hums along. The three of them later dance to music on the radio as everyone watches in happiness (except Husk). The shadow spirits join in. Loretta tells Charlie and the others about Alastor’s life as a human, much to his embarrassment. Both Alastor’s parents became serial killers and cannibals themselves just like their son once they arrived in Hell. Like Charlie, Alastor’s mother believes that her son can be redeemed and hopes that someday the three of them can go to Heaven together. Alastor awkwardly shares a hug with his father, though he wasn’t very nice, Alastor still loved him.
 Louis/Seraph is critical of Charlie’s plan to rehabilitate demons, as he believes it is God’s will to keep sinners in eternal torment. He was the one who told Alastor as a human: “Inside of every sinner is a lost cause.” Alastor briefly goes demonic when he tries to touch Charlie inappropriately. Loretta says she wants a final divorce and helps Alastor kick him out of the hotel. But she also begs Alastor not to kill him and he reluctantly obeys.
Louis and Loretta soon go back to their ways of killing people and questioning their afterlives.
 Adelle Cajun – Alastor’s paternal aunt, sister of Louis. She is objective and doesn’t like getting into conflicts. She taught Alastor how to play the piano but Alastor hardly ever saw her much as she was busy being a French teacher.
 Joseph Duvalier – Alastor’s maternal uncle, brother of Alastor’s mother Loretta. Mean and cruel like Alastor’s father, likes rum, weapons, sacrifices and causing trouble. He eventually went to Hell after being run over with a deer in the headlights look…by none other than Alastor.
 Eddy Ory Duvalier – Alastor’s Creole/French cousin, son of Joseph, Alastor’s maternal uncle and a French working class white lady. Named after Edward Ory, a Creole jazz bandleader. Rebelled against his troublesome father and became a jazz band leader.
 Clementine Duvalier – Alastor’s cousin, relative of his mother. Daughter of Alastor’s uncle, Joseph. Named after Clementine Barnabet - real life Louisiana voodoo priestess and serial killer, killed families with an axe. She tried to be a better priestess than Loretta. At one point, she and Alastor killed people together in the woods. But Alastor ran off to save his own skin, leaving her to be caught and arrested by police.
  Alastor’s ancestor from his father’s side: Marie LaLaurie, (1787-1849) real life New Orleans serial killer, cruel to Creole slaves
 Dr. Facilier: Voodoo villain from Princess and the Frog. Became Alastor’s slave after he was pulled into the underworld. Alastor stole his powers and methods, leaving Facilier a shadow. He is Alastor’s cousin.
 Samuel Cajun – white paternal Grandfather. Lived an ordinary life as a car mechanic in Canada before going off to fight in the war. He was healed by a white woman nurse Abigail and the two fell in love.
 Abigail Cajun – Alastor’s paternal Grandmother
Roscoe Duvalier – Alastor’s maternal Grandfather, related to Dr. Facilier
 Antoinette Duvalier – dark skinned maternal Grandmother – Voodoo Priestess and Hoodoo oral practitioner.
                                                               Racheil: Alastor’s friend and love interest (though he doesn’t want sex or serious romance.) She has short blonde hair and looks similar to Charlie in dapper clothes. She, like Charlie, is nice to him and loves to dance and sing. She tries to help him become a better person but after he snapped, she broke up with him and left him to solve his own problems. She almost got stabbed b him but managed to escape with her wife Agatha (whom she had married in private).
In Alastor’s dream, she appears as Oshun, a goddess connected to beauty, sexuality, wealth, pleasure, and rivers.
Alastor later makes a voodoo doll of Racheil’s similar counterpart, Charlie along with dolls representing the other characters.
   Mimzy: Alastor’s friend and temporary love interest (Alastor liked to flirt with her but didn’t want to get intimate nor be tied down). Mimzy likes singing, jazz, desserts and doughnuts. She doesn’t like rock. Confident in her singing, she is the owner of a jazz club, both on Earth and in Hell. She is a short, chubby woman who wears pink/purple flapper dresses, a headband with pink feathers and short blonde hair. Her eyes were blue and her skin white as a human, in Hell her eyes were black with hot pink pupils.
Mimzy and Alastor sing several duets together on stage in both realms and even share a kiss much to the disgust of a jealous (human) Husk. As time went on however, Mimzy started falling head over heels for him, while Alastor wanted to stay friends. (She heard about his radio shows but didn’t suspect he was the killer until later). One night, a love crazed Mimzy (who had also had several drinks) tried to undress him and even reached for his private parts. He shoved her off and threatened to kill her if she assaulted him again. Then she realized in shock that he was the serial killer when he defended himself with a bloodstained knife. She tried to call for help, but he choked her with an insane look in his eyes.
Alastor keeps a voodoo doll of Mimzy in his lair with the straw arms missing.
 Rosie: Alastor’s friend, fellow overlord, and associate. Rosie wears dark pink dresses, and a large pink hat with skulls, pink feathers, and black flowers on it in Hell. She has black eyes and sharp teeth. She is the owner of her emporium, after Franklin got eaten by demons.
As a human, Rosie looked similar to Mary Poppins: black hair, white skin, elegant dresses and an umbrella in her hands. She owned an emporium on Earth. Alastor used to sing with her and help her out like a gentleman. However, this was before he became insane. Rosie went to Hell after forcing her employees to work long hours with hardly any breaks (It was during a time where people worked their lives away). Like in Hell, she was self-centered and didn’t hesitate to overpower others to fulfill her ends. Hence, she became an overlord due to the impact of her evil actions.
According to Vivziepop, their relationship is similar to Jack and Mary’s relationship from Mary Poppins: both Jack and Alastor help out their lady friends and are polite to them. Like Mary, Rosie is stern, sophisticated, elegant, and a perfectionist. She’s “practically perfect in every way” at least in her opinion. Both Rosie and Alastor love singing, dancing, performing, and killing people. The three of them met up with Mimzy and all sang together.
Alastor keeps a voodoo doll of Rosie in his lair.
However, Rosie, like nearly everyone in Hell, has an agenda of her own: using Alastor to further her status. In fact, she often views those around her as mere friends and servants who purpose is to make her life easy and orderly. She, along with Vox, Valentino, Katie, and Sir Pentious are listed as antagonists.
 Niffty: A small cyclops demon with a hot pink skirt and short pink hair with a yellow undertone. She is the maid for the Hazbin Hotel: she cleans the rooms, cooks meals and likes to sew, read and write. She is obsessed with men and was summoned by Alastor. She died in the 1950s as a Japanese-American woman at age 22. She is hyperactive and fast…and also a hopeless romantic who indulges in her own fantasies. Niffty isn’t afraid to use manipulation to get her way. Alastor summoned her from the fireplace but before that, he had charmed her into making a deal with him shortly after she arrived in Hell.
Alastor keeps a voodoo doll of Niffty in his lair.
 Husk: A black and white cat demon with red wings with card suits on them. He has long red eyebrows, wears a black hat and wears a large red bow tie. Husk loves drinking, gambling, cards and magic shows. As a human, Husk interacted with Alastor as a broad man with short black hair. He went off to serve in the Vietnam War, gambling and drinking his problems away. He died in the 1970s.
In Hell, Alastor summons the grumpy bad-mouthed Husk to help man the front desk of the hotel for “charity work” and transports him there. Alastor got Husk to make a deal with him by promising him booze, cigars, and drinks spiked with catnip. Husk can speak many languages and is good with children.
Alastor keeps a voodoo doll of Husk in his lair.
 Other people:
Real life Axeman of New Orleans serial killer 1918-1919
Killed women and primarily used an axe. Spared those who played jazz in their homes
 Albert Fish: serial killer, child rapist and cannibal 1924-1932 crimes, died in 1936
  Mary LaLaurie (ancestor)
Samuel Cajun = Abigail Cajun                    Roscoe Duvalier =Antoinette Duvalier
                    |                                                           |    
Adelle |   Louis =   Loretta     |         Queen          |     Joseph = Jane
                         |                            |                 |
                    Alastor                       Dr. Facilier          Eddy Ory  | Clementine
  Alastor "Hazbin" Roscoe Cajun/Duvalier born January 24th, 1896 (Edward Bosco's b day Jan 24th 1986) to Francois and Loretta Cajun, born at 3:00AM; Loretta gave birth in the woods on the way to the hospital (born 3 weeks early). Light brown skin, brown eyes, round glasses, short brown hair with reddish tint, pointed chin, thin agile body
1897: Age 1 Things start off normal in New Orleans, infant Alastor plays in his crib and loves the music on the radio.
1898: Age 2 Alastor meets his uncle and aunt and discovers the marvelous outside world
1899: Age 3 Alastor watches musicals on the picture show and falls in love with them. His mother makes him Jambalaya, his favorite food of comfort
1900: Age 4 Reading and preschool, Sunday church goings which Alastor finds boring
1901: Age 5 Kindergarten: Alastor is teased for his freckles and whenever his hair glows a reddish tint in the sunlight
1902: Age 6 First grade: Alastor learns reading, writing, math, and art. He hates gym and loves music and art.
1903: Age 7 Second grade: Alastor's parents get into a fight for the first time in a while; Alastor is sent to his room whenever it happens. After he comes back upset, both his parents say that frowning is weakness. Loretta says "Remember to smile, Alastor, it shows dominance and confidence. You're never fully dressed without one." He takes that lesson to heart for the rest of his life.
Vision 1: Alastor dreams he is a young red deer who performs onstage and receives a standing ovation, representing childhood innocence.
1904: Age 8 Third grade: Alastor discovers his love of theater. He finds joy in attending and watching Mardi Gras parades and the costumes. He says 'Throw me something, mista!" during the parade but the other kids got to get the prizes thrown from the parade instead.
1905: Age 9 Fourth grade: A group of boys start to bully him and even punch him badly. Alastor smiles through it all. He tells his father and mother. While his mother comforts him, his father scolds him for not fighting back.
1906: Age 10 Fifth grade: Alastor gets his brutal revenge by daring the boys to enter into a nearby swamp. One of the bullies gets eaten by a crocodile while Alastor just watches. Alastor gets nicknamed by his father and bullies as "Alastor Hazbin."
1907: Age 11 Sixth grade: Alastor goes hunting with his father and his father shows him how to hunt and skin deer and other game. He becomes skilled over time and loves the meat. He also learns how to cook from his mother...Jambalaya being his favorite to make.
1908: Age 12 Seventh grade: Alastor gets slapped by his father for not participating in sports. Other kids make fun of him for being of mixed race. Loretta begins teaching him about Voodoo and Hoodoo. Alastor connects with Kalfu the deity and learns of his heritage as part French and part Creole. His grandmother was a powerful priestess and was believed to orally pass on stories and display feats of magic. His Grandmother was born in Haiti, moved to France and then to the U.S. His Uncle, Father, and Grandfather were Canadian/French Christians. His aunt was conflict avoidant, unlike his uncle and father. Loretta tells him (though he soon doesn't listen) that Voodoo is not to be used for evil, sacrifices, nor cannibalism and to only resort to cannibalism for survival.
1909: Age 13 Eighth grade: Alastor's father yells at him for not showing interest in girls. One fateful night, his father sleeps with another woman and Alastor notices. A helpless Loretta watches as Francois whips, humiliates and molests him in his room, warning him not to tell or "he'd kill (them) both." Loretta comforts him with hugs and Jambalaya. As he eats, Alastor imagines eating off his father's fingers.
Alastor is diagnosed with anxiety, narcissism and psychopathic tendencies. He is bullied in middle school and is not interested in sex and girls like the other boys. He finds it gross and pointless.
Loretta's Jambalaya nearly kills her when a drunk Loretta (too much Scottish Comfort) puts gunpowder and wasabi into it. Alastor's father makes him memorize Bible passages.
1910: Age 14 Ninth grade: Many girls both in school and outside fall in love, but Alastor isn't interested. A Satanic Ritual book appears after it was dropped by accident by imps. He looks through it with great interest and makes a deal with dark Loas: gain near unlimited power in the afterlife in exchange for his soul and the soul of a loved one.
1911: Age 15 Tenth grade: High school was a nightmare. The bullying was worse and Alastor became more and more withdrawn. During this time, Alastor becomes interested in being a radio host and also reads books on weapons and cannibalism.
Vision 2: Alastor dreams he is a red buck, who runs from hunters representing the elite white people. He evades a crocodile, resembling his father and his mother appears as the Voodoo goddess of beauty and motherhood.
1912: Age 16 Eleventh grade: Alastor applies to be an apprentice for a local radio station several times, but doesn't get in. His father and uncle berate him everyday and his mother is busy at secretary work, and Voodoo rituals every month.
1913: Age 17 Grade 12 Alastor graduates and applies again. He starts at the bottom, but rapidly moves his way up. He starts by telling dad jokes, then wants to talk about murder and crimes "far more interesting than the weather and social events."
1914: Age 18 After experiencing harsh critiques from mainstream stations, Alastor is fired. However, he soon decides to pursue his goals on his own. His makes radios from scratch and starts his own shows, with a few private listeners at first.
World War One begins! Alastor uses this opportunity to broadcast on a private station news of deaths in the war in graphic detail. More people start listening and his soon starts making money. Alastor makes his first kill when a man assaulted him and beat him up for him being "Black and outspoken." He was able to get away and he wondered what it'd be like to do it again on the ignorant folks.
1915: Age 19 Alastor promotes war efforts through announcements and songs, including his ending song "You're Never Fully Dressed." However, he still describes brutal murders for the sinister folks.
1916: Age 20 Alastor meets Husk and Mimzy at a jazz bar and club for the first time. He dances and sings with Mimzy, loving her confidence and sexy looks. (Though he doesn't like to be touched by anyone other than his mother, due to fatherly past trauma).
1917: Age 21 Alastor meets Racheil (alternate form of Charlie) and they become fast friends. He learns of the Axeman, a fellow serial killer and learns to be careful.
1918: Age 22 Spanish Flu Pandemic occurs! Sadly, Alastor's mother becomes gravely ill and passes away. Alastor smiles even as he cries. Alastor's father doesn't seem to care. Alastor gets raped again and his father abandons him. Alastor's mother goes to Heaven and Alastor, not knowing what else to do, eats her remains.
1919: Age 23 Alastor becomes depressed (and even suicidal for a while). He doesn't eat much. Alastor eventually snaps and begins his life as a serial killer. After his mother’s death, Alastor lost his remaining traits of humanity…succumbing to his demonic nature. At that point, he didn’t care who he ate and/or killed…it was the last think he could do to keep himself sane along with drinking liquor, coffee, sewing voodoo dolls, and broadcasting the murders by himself.
1920: Age 24 Roaring Twenties and Jazz Age. Alastor becomes known (though no one suspected it was him) by several names "Bayou Butcher," "Deer Devil" "Louisiana Lunatic" among others. Alastor revels in his fame and becomes richer and more materialistic. He buys himself suits, and a cane with deer antlers on it. One of his disturbing hobbies was using his gentleman charm to lure women into his home where he would lie them in the basement and kill them while broadcasting their screams.
Alastor plays in a jazz band and enjoys watching musicians play while smoking and drinking liquor. He often cries in private and makes straw dolls. He drinks dark coffee every morning.
1921: Age 25 Mimzy falls in love with Alastor and touches him inappropriately. He threatens her with a knife and she discovers he's the serial killer. She rushes to call for help but Alastor takes her into an alleyway and stabs and chokes her to death. Feeling slight remorse, he takes her home for his meal.
1922: Age 26 Racheil breaks up with him after being concerned about his sanity. Worried he might be caught, Alastor lays low for a while before starting up again. After Alastor's father comes back, he decides to get his revenge. He ties him to a tree and tortures him during the night. The predator becomes the prey. Alastor tracks him down to a local bar. (Although he usually doesn’t stalk or chase his victims as it breaks his moral code, but his dad is an exception. Also following others/sneaking toward them are often required to kill others.) His father had been secretly afraid that Alastor would be stronger and would want to kill him, thus proving his son more dominant than himself. He had weapons ready, but Alastor had set up several traps in advance. Though Alastor was physically weaker than his father, he was very clever. He had packed a backpack of all his weapons, rope and essential tools. His father says “You and your heathen mother deserve to die” only for Alastor to respond, “Nobody talks about my mama that way.” Seeing his father knocked out, Alastor raises his knife to kill him but stops. That would merely be too easy. He supports him by the shoulders, pretending to be concerned for him as onlookers watched in shock, “It’s okay sir, you just fainted from the heat. Let’s go for a walk in the woods.” He takes him deep in the forest and chuckles darkly.
Alastor knocks him out and ties him to a tree in a forest, waiting until he wakes up. He starts (smiling the whole time) by slicing off his father’s dick among his father’s cussing (“when you screwed me once”), inserting a hot knife inside his father’s privates (“when you screwed me again”) then slicing off his ears (“this is for all the times when you wouldn’t listen to me”), shoving his own severed penis down his throat (“When you shoved your macho beliefs down my throat”) he whips him, then slowly cuts deep down his chest with a chainsaw, organs revealed (“this is for mama”) and finally shots him in the heart (“and this is for me, you heartless bastard.”) He eats his father’s flesh over jambalaya and it’s the best meal he’s ever had.
 1923: Age 27 He kills his victims in various ways: some hanging from trees with their organs spilled out, some buttered and eaten, others buried alive, some people shot and stabbed when he doesn’t feel like dragging it out. He’ll often poison other’s food/drinks and watch their reactions with a grin on his face. He enjoys tricking others into corners/tight spots so he doesn’t have to run after them. He’s found of pranks, especially deadly ones done on others. He saves brutal killings for racist men and women and those who think ill of him and his show. He becomes known as the “Deer Devil Dealer of New Orleans.” He only started killing people and animals at random after his mother died and he lost his mind.
1924: Age 28 Vision 3: : He has nightmares about a demonic skeletal deer covered with maggots and sores with chunks of meat over bone and one eye hanging loose running after him. He finds himself in a dark snowy forest, a fierce biting wind. After it seemed like he had been defeated by the monster, Alastor looks into a puddle and sees another, far worse monster, a demonic wendigo reflection staring back at him…Alastor sees a horned face and malnourished skeletal body, ripped red pinstriped dress coat, four clawed hands, red and black hair and red eyes, sharp teeth, large black antlers…the wendigo form resembling his current demonic form in Hell. After killing the alligator representing his father, the wendigo Alastor look-alike shadow appears and says “This is who you really are,” before Alastor wakes up.
1925: Age 29
1926: Age 30
1927: Age 31
1928: Age 32
1929: Age 33 Alastor enjoys the Stock Market Crash and uses the opportunity to enjoy watching orphans suffer. It helps remind him that he's far better off than many, besides the fact that kids were annoying to him. Alastor makes an "Axeman letter:"
 "Hell, 1929 Stock Market Crash Esteemed Mortal of New Orleans: The Deer Devil/Bayous Butcher/Louisiana Lunatic/Hazbin of Hell
They have never caught me and they never will. They have never seen me, for I am invisible, even as the sound waves that surround your earth. I am not a human being, but a demon and overlord from the hottest hell. I am what you Orleanians call the Deer Devil. Down here, I’m the inevitable Radio Demon.
When I see fit, I shall appear and claim other victims as I see fit. I alone know whom they shall be. No clues will be left behind, save for what you might hear on the next broadcast. Tell the police and the racist, elite scum of the world to beware. Let them try not to discover who I am, for it’d be better for them not to have been born than to incur the wrath of the Deer Devil. You’ll have a deer in the headlights look and won’t have any idea what hit you until after it’s too late. Undoubtedly, you Orleanians think of me as a monster and murderer. But if I wanted to hurt anyone else here, I would have done so already. If I wished, I could pay a visit to your city every night. I could kill every one of your best and worst citizens, for I am in a close relationship with the Shadows of the Other Side. At 6:06 pm next Friday night, I am going to pass over New Orleans and then visit those in Hell. I am going to make a little proposition to you people. Here it is: I am very fond of jazz music, electro swing, and jambalaya. I swear by all the Loas and deities that I will spare those who can provide me with some great entertainment when I visit. Word of warning, I can read you people like a book, and see into your very souls. Anyone foolish enough to challenge me will have their corpses consumed and their screams muffled by the lovely sound of jazz bands jamming the night away. I have been, am, and will be, the worst spirit that ever existed in fact, fantasy, or realm of Hazbins. Smile and stay tuned! ~Deer Devil (Alastor)"
 1930: Age 34 Great Depression occurs!
The event hits Alastor and many others hard...he runs low on food so he eats others and hunts more and more to survive. Now Alastor kills at random instead of focusing on the racist mean people.
1931: Age 35
1932: Age 36
1933: Age 37 Alastor's Death
The police eventually track Alastor down with the help of Racheil and Chasseur, a fellow deer hunter whose daughter had been killed by Alastor. Not too long before the police discover where he is, Alastor gets bitten by a rabies infested dog. For the next several hours, Alastor experiences hallucinations, paranoia, brain inflammation and a fear of water. In water, all he sees is leeches and alligators. In his hallucinations, he is being watched by a wendigo. The police chase Alastor though the dark woods, police dogs hot on the trail. A local deer hunter, Hustle, joins in on the chase. Alastor navigates the woods, trying to find a place to hide. The hunter accidentally shoots him in the back as he ran, thinking Alastor was a deer.
Alastor experiences extreme agony when the deer hunter spots him, pointing a rifle at him. The hunter announces his location to the police. Seeing no other way out other than pain and imprisonment, Alastor takes the gun from the hunter and shoots himself between his eyes. The police dogs maul his dead body and the hunter sinks to his knees in shock and terror. Strangely enough, Alastor dies with a creepy smile on his face, the mark of Kalfu appearing behind his cold neck, unnoticed by anyone.
1933: After death: Alastor's old body falls away as the deal with the Loas takes fruit. The shadows give him his immense powers in the shadow world and he transforms into his demon form in Hell. He gets his microphone staff, which enables him to broadcast his murders and victories. He is known as the Radio Demon. He conquers several areas of Hell, eventually getting the attention of the overlords who know to stay wary of him.
Alastor befriends Mimzy and overlord Rosie and they sing, dance, talk and murder other demons for fun. Alastor treats them both with respect and knows not to piss off Rosie as she's stern, violent, and "practically perfect in every way."
Every year when the Exterminators appear, Alastor broadcasts the chaos during the 24 hour period, and will go out and kill the angels too.
1950s: Alastor makes a deal with Niffty who becomes obsessed with him and men. She becomes his servant/slave/associate and cooks and cleans for him.
1970s: Alastor makes a deal with Husk and Husk becomes his servant/slave/associate after Alastor promised him a better life with money and booze and the promise of " finding love."
2019: Alastor sees Charlie on TV and decides to help her with the hotel (for his own enjoyment, of course.) He dances and befriends Charlie, forming plans to use her to dig deeper into the royal family and eventually take the throne and rule Hell. He hopes that with a shadow army and more possessed members, he can invade Hell, Heaven and even Earth to spread his chaos. He defeats Sir Pentious and changes the name to Hazbin Hotel, his formerly mocking nickname he embraced.
Future: Alastor helps Charlie and the others protect the hotel from Sir Pentious, Vox, Valentino, Velvet and other villains.
  Other non canon versions of Alastor:
Stalaros (commonly known as 2p Alastor). Alastor with opposite colors and personality: he wears white and blue and cries a lot. He is one of the clients at the Haven Hotel run by Caoline Egnam, Heaven's princess. Stalaros is gay and horny like Angel Dust.
Lavender/Purple Alastor: Peaceful and confident, an OC made by fans.
 Radiodust Alastor: An Alastor that loves Angel Dust. Popular with fans.
Charlastor Alastor: An Alastor that loves Charlie romantically. Popular with fans.
Redeemed Alastor: Appears as a man with a deer head and human-like traits in Heaven. In this universe, he reunites with his mother.
FHE Alastor: Alastor in his truly evil form: he takes over all of Hell and possesses the demons. His shadow can turn into a monster wendigo. This Alastor has a hole between his eyes from a bullet wound, and antlers stained with blood.
    Chapter 1: “Down in New Orleans”
 Alastor’s mother gives birth to him at 3:00am. It was an early birth and she almost died in the process. He was also born premature (3 weeks early) via C-section. Everything else starts off perfectly normal, with baby and kid Alastor loving his parents and enjoying music at every turn. During this time, Alastor is oblivious to discrimination.
 Both his father and mother tell him “you’re never fully dressed without a smile,” a message that would impact him for the rest of his life. “Frowning shows weakness,” according to his father and his mother says that “be happy and people will like you more.”
One of his favorite memories was listening to music on the radio in the car with his parents.
Family members and friends say “Mais cher!” (Glad to see you).
Alastor and his mother carry gris-gris amulets for good luck.
  Chapter 2: “Theatrical Geek”
1900: age 5
Alastor discovers his love of theater at school and his mother’s jambalaya.  He discovers his intense love of cooking and learns how to make jambalaya and other Creole foods. He brags that his mother’s cooking is the best and hopes that he can do an even better job. The elementary school kids pick on him for being awkward, bi racial, thin looking and a nerd. (The bullying gets worse when he goes into middle and high school, when he doesn’t display an interest in girls.) His dad slaps him for the first time for not getting into sports and bringing mud from his shoes into the house.
 Francois: “You can’t kick a ball, you do bad at school, I bet you couldn’t even lift up an axe with those puny muscles.”
 When Alastor’s father watches football in person, he yells “Who tat!” after the team scores, while a young Alastor is bored.
Alastor says “I hate noodle juice!” after trying tea.
 Alastor is considered black based on the one drop rule. Alastor has light brown skin but not as dark as his mother’s nor pale white like his father’s.
Alastor’s favorite classes are music, theater, and French. (he never was much of a math person).
Alastor and several kids go into a swamp on a dare. Alastor’s dad told him to “beware the gators.” They got separated and one of the kids got eaten by one. The other kid screamed but Alastor, though shocked at first, just watched in fascination. “So that’s what happens when people are eaten, they scream and flail, and a whole bunch of blood squirts everywhere. How painful would it be to have those teeth tear through your flesh and fell yourself getting swallowed…glad that’s not me.” It was akin to him watching an animal documentary on an old TV.
Dream 1: Alastor frequently dreams he is an innocent carefree light red young deer who dresses in extravagant costumes and sings while everyone cheers him on. They call him “The Radio Deerman.”
Dream 2: Alastor evades an alligator who represents his dad, but soon gets eaten and wakes up.
  Chapter 3: “Deer Hunting and Mardi Gras”
1903: age 8
Alastor’s father takes him deer hunting and teaches him how to skin a deer for venison and fur. The young boy is sacred at first, but soon finds the process fascinating.
Alastor gets beaten up by his drunken father, while his mother is too sacred to do anything.
Alastor is also introduced to Voodoo via his mother, and he finds the concept of animal sacrifices both horrifying and interesting. But his mother also tells him to not listen to the negative stereotypes placed on the Creole and to decide for himself what’s good or bad. His Christian father brushes it off as nonsense.
The family also celebrates Mardi Gras and goes to Antonnie’s Restaurant. At Mardi Gras, Alastor finds joy in singing, dancing, and the elaborate costumes and music…letting out his theatrical side. However, the other kids from school are mean to Alastor, not even letting him near the front of the Mardi Gras float. They yell “Throw me something, Mista!” and manage to catch beads, cups and fake gems, leaving Alastor catching nothing.
 Alastor and his family frequently chant “laissez les bon temps rouler” (let the good times roll”
 After being bullied and beaten by two mean brothers, Alastor sneaks into their yard and kills their dog using his gun. He is grounded for several weeks by his mother and made to read/memorize Bible passages by his father.
  Chapter 4: “Freak Show”
1907: age 12
Alastor is diagnosed with anxiety, narcissism and psychopathic tendencies. He is bullied in middle school and is not interested in sex and girls like the other boys. He finds it gross and pointless.
 Francois: “Why did I ever agree to raise such a sissy? That boy’s probably running off with other boys like a deranged faggot! I’ve told you before, Loretta, that he’s been influenced by the Devil from the start…”
Loretta: “Tell it to Sweeney! Bushwa! That be foolish nonsense! He’s our son, let ‘im live his life! You call ‘im a “pussy” but I bet he’d be more of a man than you, sometimes!”
 Francois: (lands a bruise on her shoulder) “Don’t you forget who the head of this house is. My house, my rules to follow.”
Loretta: “You be drinkin’ too much again. I’m not gonna make life easy for you if you keep badmouthing about Alastor!”
Francois: “He’s not normal. He’s weak, antisocial, and a mixed creep. I don’t know how you put up with him.”
Loretta: “Despite his…quirks, I know he’s an independent, and amazing young man. Despite being busy, I’ve been blessed to watch Alastor grow up. Heh, he’s an even better cook than I am now.”
Francois: “No. There’s something wrong with him. You’ve been lecturing him about hoodoo and voodoo too much. He’s obsessed with the supernatural and Satanism. I don’t know why I was briefly curious about voodoo when I was a young adult.”
Loretta: “You wouldn’t have met me, otherwise. You say somethin’ wrong with ‘im?  (points at his chest) Who might be da influence of that?”
 Francois: “Lo, we have to put a stop to his erratic behavior. If religious training won’t work…”
Loretta: “…then just waitin’ and letting life take its course, will.”
 Alastor has fun with his parents at a circus. A fortune teller reveals his Tarot cards to him: the Fool for his childhood (innocence and exploration) Hermit for his teenage years (isolation) Justice for his adulthood (adding to karma) and the Devil for his years past 30.
 One traumatic day, Alastor’s father sleeps with other women behind his wife’s back, and Alastor witnesses the act, terrified. His father finds out and proceeds to kick him, to molest him and rape him from behind, penis shoved in and out of him, Alastor feeling helpless. The father even calls him a homosexual bitch and to “teach him a lesson.” After it’s too late, his mother runs in to comfort him after his father leaves.
It is at this point that Alastor wonders what it’d feel like to kill/eat a human being. Because of his father, he hates sex and being touched.
      Chapter 5: “Deal with the Other Side”
1910: age 15
Alastor finds a Satanic ritual book that a group of imps called K.I.L.L. accidentally left behind. He makes a deal with some evil Loas: gain unlimited power in the afterlife at the cost of a loved one’s life and his own.
Unbeknownst to him, a wendigo shadow version of himself is conceived inside his head after he reads a spell, later manifesting itself as his darkest thoughts and primitive urges…furthering his decent into madness.
He practices using a gun, ax, and knife, quickly mastering them. He also creates voodoo dolls in secret.
Alastor kills his first human with a knife after a white man insults him for being Creole and of mixed race (part white from his European father, part Creole/African/Native American from his brown-skinned mother).
For the first time, Alastor feels powerful as well as shocked. He was worried that he would get caught. When he didn’t…he wondered what it’d be like to do it again.
Though Alastor’s mother let’s Alastor do what he wants, she also warns him to be careful with the dark Loas. Both his parents encourage Alastor to continue hunting and defending himself. (Though both aren’t aware of the murder).
  Chapter 6: “Radio Host”
1911: age 16
Alastor starts his job as a radio host and DJ, earning more money to support his family. (Though his father still verbally insults him every day and his mother is often working.) He discovers dad jokes and electro swing, getting back into his love of theater and dance. He loved dark coffee and drank liquor at Mardi Gras, where he danced with Mimzy at a jazz club and met Racheil.
 “Hello sheba!” Alastor and Husk think when they see Mimzy, a sexually desirable woman.
 Mimzy is short and plump, with a feathered hat, large thighs, white skin and short white hair. Her dress is magenta and she wears a headband with a large magenta feather. She also wears a necklace with a round pink gem. She and Alastor share several kisses. Husk gets jealous and tries to flirt with Mimzy, to no avail.
 Mimzy orders sinkers (doughnuts) every day “I’d like three sinkers, por favor!” she says.
 Racheil, Husk, Mimzy and Alastor greet each other with “Mais cher!”
 Husk drinks “giggle water” (liquor) and is “dissafied” (drunk)
 Alastor calls Mimzy a “doll” and “dame” (both mean beautiful women
   Chapter 7: “Radio Career”
1920: age 25
Alastor now has his own radio show and studio. Alastor meets Mimzy (owner of a jazz club) and they sing several duets at a jazz concert. Both his parents slightly suspect that he’s the Deer Devil serial killer but, of course, don’t say anything. He meets Husk as well (and later makes a deal with him in Hell). He also does dad jokes and sometimes performs in a band, much to the delight of Mimzy and Rachiel. Mimzy, Husk, and Racheil become his only three friends.
Dream 2: Alastor dreams he is a grown red buck, enjoying life but running from hunters, who represent the elite, and a demonic alligator, representing his father. His mother appears as an angelic Voodoo priestess with eagle wings creating Thunder.
Racheil asks Alastor to marry her, while Mimzy falls deeper in love with him. Alastor is affectionate with them, but doesn’t want to be tied down in marriage. Racheil orders a snowball (snowcone) and becomes suspicious of her lover/best friend.
Alastor refers to Mimzy (and sometimes Racheil) as “bearcats”: women with fiery streaks. Both Mimzy and Alastor are swanky (use their wealth/knowledge/skill to impress others) while performing.
   Chapter 8: “Stock Market Crash”
1929: age 34
 Hell, March 13, 1919 1929 Stock Market Crash
Esteemed Mortal of New Orleans: The Axeman The Deer Devil
 They have never caught me and they never will. They have never seen me, for I am invisible, even as the sound waves that surround your earth. I am not a human being, but a demon and overlord from the hottest hell. I am what you Orleanians call the Deer Devil. Down here, I’m the inevitable Radio Demon.
 When I see fit, I shall appear and claim other victims as I see fit. I alone know whom they shall be. No clues will be left behind, save for what you might hear on the next broadcast.
Tell the police and the racist, elite scum of the world to beware. Let them try not to discover who I am, for it’d be better for them not to have been born than to incur the wrath of the Deer Devil. You’ll have a deer in the headlights look and won’t have any idea what hit you until after it’s too late.
Undoubtedly, you Orleanians think of me as a monster and murderer. But if I wanted to hurt anyone else here, I would have done so already. If I wished, I could pay a visit to your city every night. I could kill every one of your best and worst citizens, for I am in a close relationship with the Shadows of the Other Side.
At 6:06 pm next Friday night, I am going to pass over New Orleans and then visit those in Hell. I am going to make a little proposition to you people. Here it is:
I am very fond of jazz music, electro swing, and jambalaya. I swear by all the Loas and deities that I will spare those who can provide me with some great entertainment when I visit. Word of warning, I can read you people like a book, and see into your very souls. Anyone foolish enough to challenge me will have their corpses consumed and their screams muffled by the lovely sound of jazz bands jamming the night away.
I have been, am, and will be, the worst spirit that ever existed in fact, fantasy, or realm of Hazbins.
Smile and stay tuned!
~Deer Devil (Alastor)
 Racheil breaks up with him after growing tired of Alastor being self-centered and hungry for money, and his indifference to the murders. She thought he could be a good person, but left and told him he had to redeem himself on his own. She calls him a “grifter” (con man) after discovering he sometimes made deals.
Husk remarks to others that Alastor got the “icy mitt” (meaning he got rejected.) He tries to flirt with Racheil but she claims she has to go. Fortunately, Alastor doesn’t hear him or pay attention.
 At this point, Mimzy grows suspicious of Alastor and soon finds out that he’s the serial killer. He sees her and dances with her one last time. He describes how joyful it is to kill cruel racist people. Mimzy says she’s worried about him and reaches toward the old rotary phone on a counter. Thinking that she’d call the police, Alastor chokes and kills her in a frenzy before sadly holding her dead body.
Alastor was sad after her death but once in Hell (1933), he met up with her again at her jazz club, singing and dancing with her, even giving her a hug during the time of his conquests. He made deals with Niffty, Husk, Mimzy, and Rosie, with only Husk and Niffty being under his control to an extent.
 Alastor becomes the most well-known radio show-host in New Orleans. He thrives in money and material things (good food, wine, radios, cigarettes, a new staff with a circular microphone and miniature antlers made from gold around it. and outfits) But no one else except his parents knows that he is the infamous “Deer Devil” serial killer. Now he enjoys seeing orphans and children in misery, reminding him that he was better off than many. He makes shady deals, announcements on various murders and tells dad jokes as electro swing music plays.
Alastor also eats pig meat, deer meat and human meat, along with jambalaya and a jorum of skee (hard liquor) that he stole from Husk. He announces the murders on the air in detail, all with a cheerful tone.
He kills his victims in various ways: some hanging from trees with their organs spilled out, some buttered and eaten, others buried alive, some people shot and stabbed when he doesn’t feel like dragging it out. He’ll often poison other’s food/drinks and watch their reactions with a grin on his face. He enjoys tricking others into corners/tight spots so he doesn’t have to run after them. He’s found of pranks, especially deadly ones done on others. He saves brutal killings for racist men and women and those who think ill of him and his show. He becomes known as the “Deer Devil Dealer of New Orleans.” He only started killing people and animals at random after his mother died and he lost his mind.
 Both his parents eventually figure out that Alastor is a serial killer and practices Voodoo (though his mother knew about him doing Voodoo all along but was upset that he turned to the dark side). His father threatens to kill him or send him away to jail but his mother looks at him sadly, still loving him. “Go to Hell!” his father says, “…and may the Devil have no mercy on your already tainted soul.” Alastor is kicked out of the house by his father, but Alastor promises to visit his mother in secret.
      Chapter 9: “A Great Depression”
1930: age 35
The event hits the family hard, and Alastor’s mother is out of a job. Only cans of food and the occasional game are enough to sustain them. Alastor kills and eats people, those who were racist, rich, or looked upon him in disgust. He then saw others as nothing more than prey to be played with.
His family is mocked by others as dewdroppers (lazy and unemployed)
Husk and Alastor part ways, both sharing their troubles (Husk going to the Vietnam War in the future, gambling and drinking his life away.)
 Alastor’s father drinks alcohol, does drugs and sleeps with other women. When Alastor visits again, he gets whipped by his father and raped yet again for “being a pussy and not being a proper man.” Again, Alastor’s mother doesn’t do anything to stop him because she’s too scared.
Worse, yet, Alastor’s mother falls gravely ill due to the flu and stress and the family can’t afford medication to help her. (or more accurately, medications aren’t being offered to families of color/mixed race. Francois considers this God’s punishment on Loretta and Alastor for their occupations (ignoring his own sins).
Alastor’s mother gets badly beaten and shot in the stomach by her husband. The father is later arrested outside (due to a neighbor calling the police). Alastor cries in agony as his mother dies in front of him. He later says grace over dinner and eats her remains on top of jambalaya. He cries hard for the rest of the day, cuts himself, and doesn’t eat anything for days…spiraling into a great depression.
 After his mother’s death, Alastor lost his remaining traits of humanity…succumbing to his demonic nature. At that point, he didn’t care who he ate and/or killed…it was the last think he could do to keep himself sane along with drinking liquor, coffee, sewing voodoo dolls, and broadcasting the murders by himself.
 Dream 3: He has nightmares about a demonic skeletal deer covered with maggots and sores with chunks of meat over bone and one eye hanging loose running after him. He finds himself in a dark snowy forest, a fierce biting wind. After it seemed like he had been defeated by the monster, Alastor looks into a puddle and sees another, far worse monster, a demonic wendigo reflection staring back at him…Alastor sees a horned face and malnourished skeletal body, ripped red pinstriped dress coat, four clawed hands, red and black hair and red eyes, sharp teeth, large black antlers…the wendigo form resembling his current demonic form in Hell. After killing the alligator representing his father, the wendigo Alastor look-alike shadow appears and says “This is who you really are,” before Alastor wakes up.  
 Two days later, his father is set free with only a slap on the wrist. Alastor tracks him down to a local bar. (Although he usually doesn’t stalk or chase his victims as it breaks his moral code, but his dad is an exception. Also following others/sneaking toward them are often required to kill others.) His father had been secretly afraid that Alastor would be stronger and would want to kill him, thus proving his son more dominant than himself. He had weapons ready, but Alastor had set up several traps in advance. Though Alastor was physically weaker than his father, he was very clever. He had packed a backpack of all his weapons, rope and essential tools. His father says “You and your heathen mother deserve to die” only for Alastor to respond, “Nobody talks about my mama that way.” Seeing his father knocked out, Alastor raises his knife to kill him but stops. That would merely be too easy. He supports him by the shoulders, pretending to be concerned for him as onlookers watched in shock, “It’s okay sir, you just fainted from the heat. Let’s go for a walk in the woods.” He takes him deep in the forest and chuckles darkly.
Alastor knocks him out and ties him to a tree in a forest, waiting until he wakes up.  He starts (smiling the whole time) by slicing off his father’s dick among his father’s cussing (“when you screwed me once”), inserting a hot knife inside his father’s privates (“when you screwed me again”) then slicing off his ears (“this is for all the times when you wouldn’t listen to me”), shoving his own severed penis down his throat (“When you shoved your macho beliefs down my throat”) he whips him, then slowly cuts deep down his chest with a chainsaw, organs revealed (“this is for mama”) and finally shots him in the heart (“and this is for me, you heartless bastard.”) He eats his father’s flesh over jambalaya and it’s the best meal he’s ever had.
   Chapter 10: “Death by Dogs”
1933 age 38.
Alastor is eventually tracked down when he accidentally laughs too much when describing his father’s death on the radio.
Additionally, Racheil finds out about Alastor’s killings back at his house, as she walked with her new wife Agatha. Seeing stuffed deer around the house and Alastor holding a bloody knife, she knew at that moment he was the Deer Devil. She screams for help, alerting the neighbors who call the police. Agatha kicks Alastor in the groin, allowing her and Racheil to escape. Knowing that he had finally been discovered, Alastor fled.
 Death:
 Not too long before the police discover where he is, Alastor gets bitten by a rabies infested dog. For the next several hours, Alastor experiences hallucinations, paranoia, brain inflammation and a fear of water. In water, all he sees is leeches and alligators. In his hallucinations, he is being watched by a wendigo. The police chase Alastor though the dark woods, police dogs hot on the trail. A local deer hunter, Hustle, joins in on the chase. Alastor navigates the woods, trying to find a place to hide. The hunter accidently shoots him in the back as he ran, thinking Alastor was a deer.
 Alastor experiences extreme agony when the deer hunter spots him, pointing a rifle at him. The hunter announces his location to the police. Seeing no other way out other than pain and imprisonment, Alastor takes the gun from the hunter and shoots himself between his eyes. The police dogs maul his dead body and the hunter sinks to his knees in shock and terror. Strangely enough, Alastor dies with a creepy smile on his face, the mark of Kalfu appearing behind his cold neck, unnoticed by anyone.
 Alastor "Hazbin" Roscoe Cajun born January 24th, 1896 (Edward Bosco's b day Jan 24th 1986) to Francois and Loretta Cajun, born at 3:00AM; Loretta gave birth in the woods on the way to the hospital (born 3 weeks early). Light brown skin, brown eyes, round glasses, short brown hair with reddish tint, pointed chin, thin agile body
 1897: Age 1 Things start off normal in New Orleans, infant Alastor plays in his crib and loves the music on the radio.
 1898: Age 2 Alastor meets his uncle and aunt and discovers the marvelous outside world
 1899: Age 3 Alastor watches musicals on the picture show and falls in love with them. His mother makes him Jambalaya, his favorite food of comfort
 1900: Age 4 Reading and preschool, Sunday church goings which Alastor finds boring
 1901: Age 5 Kindergarten: Alastor is teased for his freckles and whenever his hair glows a reddish tint in the sunlight
 1902: Age 6 First grade: Alastor learns reading, writing, math, and art. He hates gym and loves music and art.
 1903: Age 7 Second grade: Alastor's parents get into a fight for the first time in a while; Alastor is sent to his room whenever it happens. After he comes back upset, both his parents say that frowning is weakness. Loretta says "Remember to smile, Alastor, it shows dominance and confidence. You're never fully dressed without one." He takes that lesson to heart for the rest of his life.
 Vision 1: Alastor dreams he is a young red deer who performs onstage and receives a standing ovation, representing childhood innocence.
 1904: Age 8 Third grade: Alastor discovers his love of theater. He finds joy in attending and watching Mardi Gras parades and the costumes. He says 'Throw me something, mista!" during the parade but the other kids got to get the prizes thrown from the parade instead.
 1905: Age 9 Fourth grade: A group of boys start to bully him and even punch him badly. Alastor smiles through it all. He tells his father and mother. While his mother comforts him, his father scolds him for not fighting back.
 1906: Age 10 Fifth grade: Alastor gets his brutal revenge by daring the boys to enter into a nearby swamp. One of the bullies gets eaten by a crocodile while Alastor just watches. Alastor gets nicknamed by his father and bullies as "Alastor Hazbin."
 1907: Age 11 Sixth grade: Alastor goes hunting with his father and his father shows him how to hunt and skin deer and other game. He becomes skilled over time and loves the meat. He also learns how to cook from his mother...Jambalaya being his favorite to make.
 1908: Age 12 Seventh grade: Alastor gets slapped by his father for not participating in sports. Other kids make fun of him for being of mixed race. Loretta begins teaching him about Voodoo and Hoodoo. Alastor connects with Kalfu the deity and learns of his heritage as part French and part Creole. His grandmother was a powerful priestess and was believed to orally pass on stories and display feats of magic. His Grandmother was born in Haiti, moved to France and then to the U.S. His Uncle, Father, and Grandfather were Canadian/French Christians. His aunt was conflict avoidant, unlike his uncle and father. Loretta tells him (though he soon doesn't listen) that Voodoo is not to be used for evil, sacrifices, nor cannibalism and to only resort to cannibalism for survival.
 1909: Age 13 Eighth grade: Alastor's father yells at him for not showing interest in girls. One fateful night, his father sleeps with another woman and Alastor notices. A helpless Loretta watches as Francois whips, humiliates and molests him in his room, warning him not to tell or "he'd kill (them) both." Loretta comforts him with hugs and Jambalaya. As he eats, Alastor imagines eating off his father's fingers.
 Alastor is diagnosed with anxiety, narcissism and psychopathic tendencies. He is bullied in middle school and is not interested in sex and girls like the other boys. He finds it gross and pointless.
 Loretta's Jambalaya nearly kills her when a drunk Loretta (too much Scottish Comfort) puts gunpowder and wasabi into it. Alastor's father makes him memorize Bible passages.
 1910: Age 14 Ninth grade: Many girls both in school and outside fall in love, but Alastor isn't interested. A Satanic Ritual book appears after it was dropped by accident by imps. He looks through it with great interest and makes a deal with dark Loas: gain near unlimited power in the afterlife in exchange for his soul and the soul of a loved one.
 1911: Age 15 Tenth grade: High school was a nightmare. The bullying was worse and Alastor became more and more withdrawn. During this time, Alastor becomes interested in being a radio host and also reads books on weapons and cannibalism.
 Vision 2: Alastor dreams he is a red buck, who runs from hunters representing the elite white people. He evades a crocodile, resembling his father and his mother appears as the Voodoo goddess of beauty and motherhood.
 1912: Age 16 Eleventh grade: Alastor applies to be an apprentice for a local radio station several times, but doesn't get in. His father and uncle berate him everyday and his mother is busy at secretary work, and Voodoo rituals every month.
 1913: Age 17 Grade 12 Alastor graduates and applies again. He starts at the bottom, but rapidly moves his way up. He starts by telling dad jokes, then wants to talk about murder and crimes "far more interesting than the weather and social events."
 1914: Age 18 After experiencing harsh critiques from mainstream stations, Alastor is fired. However, he soon decides to pursue his goals on his own. His makes radios from scratch and starts his own shows, with a few private listeners at first.
 World War One begins! Alastor uses this opportunity to broadcast on a private station news of deaths in the war in graphic detail. More people start listening and his soon starts making money. Alastor makes his first kill when a man assaulted him and beat him up for him being "Black and outspoken." He was able to get away and he wondered what it'd be like to do it again on the ignorant folks.
 1915: Age 19 Alastor promotes war efforts through announcements and songs, including his ending song "You're Never Fully Dressed." However, he still describes brutal murders for the sinister folks.
 1916: Age 20 Alastor meets Husk and Mimzy at a jazz bar and club for the first time. He dances and sings with Mimzy, loving her confidence and sexy looks. (Though he doesn't like to be touched by anyone other than his mother, due to fatherly past trauma).
 1917: Age 21 Alastor meets Racheil (alternate form of Charlie) and they become fast friends. He learns of the Axeman, a fellow serial killer and learns to be careful.
 1918: Age 22
Spanish Flu Pandemic occurs!
Sadly, Alastor's mother becomes gravely ill and passes away. Alastor smiles even as he cries. Alastor's father doesn't seem to care. Alastor gets raped again and his father abandons him. Alastor's mother goes to Heaven and Alastor, not knowing what else to do, eats her remains.
 1919: Age 23 Alastor becomes depressed (and even suicidal for a while). He doesn't eat much.
Alastor eventually snaps and begins his life as a serial killer. After his mother’s death, Alastor lost his remaining traits of humanity…succumbing to his demonic nature. At that point, he didn’t care who he ate and/or killed…it was the last think he could do to keep himself sane along with drinking liquor, coffee, sewing voodoo dolls, and broadcasting the murders by himself.
 1920: Age 24
Roaring Twenties and Jazz Age. Alastor becomes known (though no one suspected it was him) by several names "Bayou Butcher," "Deer Devil" "Louisiana Lunatic" among others. Alastor revels in his fame and becomes richer and more materialistic. He buys himself suits, and a cane with deer antlers on it. One of his disturbing hobbies was using his gentleman charm to lure women into his home where he would lie them in the basement and kill them while broadcasting their screams.
 Alastor plays in a jazz band and enjoys watching musicians play while smoking and drinking liquor. He often cries in private and makes straw dolls. He drinks dark coffee every morning.
 1921: Age 25 Mimzy falls in love with Alastor and touches him inappropriately. He threatens her with a knife and she discovers he's the serial killer. She rushes to call for help but Alastor takes her into an alleyway and stabs and chokes her to death. Feeling slight remorse, he takes her home for his meal.
 1922: Age 26 Racheil breaks up with him after being concerned about his sanity. Worried he might be caught, Alastor lays low for a while before starting up again. After Alastor's father comes back, he decides to get his revenge. He ties him to a tree and tortures him during the night. The predator becomes the prey. Alastor tracks him down to a local bar. (Although he usually doesn’t stalk or chase his victims as it breaks his moral code, but his dad is an exception. Also following others/sneaking toward them are often required to kill others.) His father had been secretly afraid that Alastor would be stronger and would want to kill him, thus proving his son more dominant than himself. He had weapons ready, but Alastor had set up several traps in advance. Though Alastor was physically weaker than his father, he was very clever. He had packed a backpack of all his weapons, rope and essential tools. His father says “You and your heathen mother deserve to die” only for Alastor to respond, “Nobody talks about my mama that way.” Seeing his father knocked out, Alastor raises his knife to kill him but stops. That would merely be too easy. He supports him by the shoulders, pretending to be concerned for him as onlookers watched in shock, “It’s okay sir, you just fainted from the heat. Let’s go for a walk in the woods.” He takes him deep in the forest and chuckles darkly.
  Alastor knocks him out and ties him to a tree in a forest, waiting until he wakes up.  He starts (smiling the whole time) by slicing off his father’s dick among his father’s cussing (“when you screwed me once”), inserting a hot knife inside his father’s privates (“when you screwed me again”) then slicing off his ears (“this is for all the times when you wouldn’t listen to me”), shoving his own severed penis down his throat (“When you shoved your macho beliefs down my throat”) he whips him, then slowly cuts deep down his chest with a chainsaw, organs revealed (“this is for mama”) and finally shots him in the heart (“and this is for me, you heartless bastard.”) He eats his father’s flesh over jambalaya and it’s the best meal he’s ever had.
  1923: Age 27 He kills his victims in various ways: some hanging from trees with their organs spilled out, some buttered and eaten, others buried alive, some people shot and stabbed when he doesn’t feel like dragging it out. He’ll often poison other’s food/drinks and watch their reactions with a grin on his face. He enjoys tricking others into corners/tight spots so he doesn’t have to run after them. He’s found of pranks, especially deadly ones done on others. He saves brutal killings for racist men and women and those who think ill of him and his show. He becomes known as the “Deer Devil Dealer of New Orleans.” He only started killing people and animals at random after his mother died and he lost his mind.
 1924: Age 28
Vision 3: : He has nightmares about a demonic skeletal deer covered with maggots and sores with chunks of meat over bone and one eye hanging loose running after him. He finds himself in a dark snowy forest, a fierce biting wind. After it seemed like he had been defeated by the monster, Alastor looks into a puddle and sees another, far worse monster, a demonic wendigo reflection staring back at him…Alastor sees a horned face and malnourished skeletal body, ripped red pinstriped dress coat, four clawed hands, red and black hair and red eyes, sharp teeth, large black antlers…the wendigo form resembling his current demonic form in Hell. After killing the alligator representing his father, the wendigo Alastor look-alike shadow appears and says “This is who you really are,” before Alastor wakes up.  
 1925: Age 29
 1926: Age 30
 1927: Age 31
 1928: Age 32
 1929: Age 33 Alastor enjoys the Stock Market Crash and uses the opportunity to enjoy watching orphans suffer. It helps remind him that he's far better off than many, besides the fact that kids were annoying to him. Alastor makes an
"Axeman letter:"
  "Hell, 1929 Stock Market Crash
Esteemed Mortal of New Orleans: The Deer Devil/Bayous Butcher/Louisiana Lunatic/Hazbin of Hell
 They have never caught me and they never will. They have never seen me, for I am invisible, even as the sound waves that surround your earth. I am not a human being, but a demon and overlord from the hottest hell. I am what you Orleanians call the Deer Devil. Down here, I’m the inevitable Radio Demon.
 When I see fit, I shall appear and claim other victims as I see fit. I alone know whom they shall be. No clues will be left behind, save for what you might hear on the next broadcast.
Tell the police and the racist, elite scum of the world to beware. Let them try not to discover who I am, for it’d be better for them not to have been born than to incur the wrath of the Deer Devil. You’ll have a deer in the headlights look and won’t have any idea what hit you until after it’s too late.
Undoubtedly, you Orleanians think of me as a monster and murderer. But if I wanted to hurt anyone else here, I would have done so already. If I wished, I could pay a visit to your city every night. I could kill every one of your best and worst citizens, for I am in a close relationship with the Shadows of the Other Side.
At 6:06 pm next Friday night, I am going to pass over New Orleans and then visit those in Hell. I am going to make a little proposition to you people. Here it is:
I am very fond of jazz music, electro swing, and jambalaya. I swear by all the Loas and deities that I will spare those who can provide me with some great entertainment when I visit. Word of warning, I can read you people like a book, and see into your very souls. Anyone foolish enough to challenge me will have their corpses consumed and their screams muffled by the lovely sound of jazz bands jamming the night away.
I have been, am, and will be, the worst spirit that ever existed in fact, fantasy, or realm of Hazbins.
Smile and stay tuned!
~Deer Devil (Alastor)"
  1930:
Great Depression occurs!
 The event hits Alastor and many others hard...he runs low on food so he eats others and hunts more and more to survive. Now Alastor kills at random instead of focusing on the racist mean people.
 1931:
 1932:
 1933:
Alastor's Death
 The police eventually track Alastor down with the help of Racheil and Chasseur, a fellow deer hunter whose daughter had been killed by Alastor. Not too long before the police discover where he is, Alastor gets bitten by a rabies infested dog. For the next several hours, Alastor experiences hallucinations, paranoia, brain inflammation and a fear of water. In water, all he sees is leeches and alligators. In his hallucinations, he is being watched by a wendigo. The police chase Alastor though the dark woods, police dogs hot on the trail. A local deer hunter, Hustle, joins in on the chase. Alastor navigates the woods, trying to find a place to hide. The hunter accidentally shoots him in the back as he ran, thinking Alastor was a deer.
 Alastor experiences extreme agony when the deer hunter spots him, pointing a rifle at him. The hunter announces his location to the police. Seeing no other way out other than pain and imprisonment, Alastor takes the gun from the hunter and shoots himself between his eyes. The police dogs maul his dead body and the hunter sinks to his knees in shock and terror. Strangely enough, Alastor dies with a creepy smile on his face, the mark of Kalfu appearing behind his cold neck, unnoticed by anyone.
 1933: After death: Alastor's old body falls away as the deal with the Loas takes fruit. The shadows give him his immense powers in the shadow world and he transforms into his demon form in Hell. He gets his microphone staff, which enables him to broadcast his murders and victories. He is known as the Radio Demon. He conquers several areas of Hell, eventually getting the attention of the overlords who know to stay wary of him.
 Alastor befriends Mimzy and overlord Rosie and they sing, dance, talk and murder other demons for fun. Alastor treats them both with respect and knows not to piss off Rosie as she's stern, violent, and "practically perfect in every way."
 1950s: Alastor makes a deal with Niffty who becomes obsessed with him and men. She becomes his servant/slave/associate and cooks and cleans for him.
 1970s: Alastor makes a deal with Husk and Husk becomes his servant/slave/associate after Alastor promised him a better life with money and booze and the promise of " finding love."
 2019: Alastor sees Charlie on TV and decides to help her with the hotel (for his own enjoyment, of course.) He dances and befriends Charlie, forming plans to use her to dig deeper into the royal family and eventually take the throne and rule Hell. He hopes that with a shadow army and more possessed members, he can invade Hell, Heaven and even Earth to spread his chaos.
 Future: Alastor helps Charlie and the others protect the hotel from Sir Pentious, Vox, Valentino, Velvet and other villains.
       Hazbin Hotel and characters belong to Vivziepop, no copyright intended
 List of references and artists who inspired this work
 “A Beginning” by DrowningInFandoms208
https://archiveofourown.org/works/21713248/chapters/51792883
(44,737 word fanfiction that goes into detail on Alastor’s past, his hunter father, and his abusive behavior)
 “Alastor’s Despair” by AwkwardKaminari
https://archiveofourown.org/works/22240174/chapters/53104108 (symptoms and Alastor’s diagnosis)
 “Dressed” by Escarno
https://archiveofourown.org/works/21555379
(Alastor’s mother’s advice)
 “He’s A Mama’s Boy” by Legally bi 20
https://archiveofourown.org/works/22568032 (French language and Alastor’s mothers’ similar appearance in Hell descriptions)
 “It’s Never Enough” by SydneyArtstuff https://www.instagram.com/sydney_artstuff/ (final Mimzy scene)
 “Life and Afterlife of the Radio Demon” by littledemon66
(Alastor human life tidbits and his powers in Hell)
https://archiveofourown.org/works/23656960/chapters/56785624
 “Making Jambalaya With Your Father” by MajorMasterD
https://archiveofourown.org/works/22949809 (mother dying and cannibalism)
 “Momma’s Boy” by Dear Husker
https://archiveofourown.org/works/21782773/chapters/51976258
(Alastor’s father killing the mother and list of the years)
 “One for the Devil Inside Me” by SordidJay
(Alastor’s mother as voodoo practitioner)
https://archiveofourown.org/works/22918165/chapters/54781354
 “Remembrance” by ornithia
https://archiveofourown.org/works/21787732
(Alastor losing humanity after his mother’s death)
 “Sewing” by another–athena
https://archiveofourown.org/works/21800410
(Alastor’s love of sewing voodoo dolls of Hazbin characters. Ideas from this later used in an Alastor fic: “Hidden Hazbin Sins”)
 “The Devil of New Orleans” by WritingAndSmiting
https://archiveofourown.org/works/23003890/chapters/55000696 (language, Alastor’s similar name that other’s call him, and a few cultural aspects)
  “This is for all that you put me through, you piece of shit”
by VillanousBakugou13
https://archiveofourown.org/works/22874986?view_full_work=true
(Alastor getting raped by his father and then getting his revenge)
  BlueRaven666 Alastor rabies death theory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE27sNOcDMk
39 notes · View notes
pyresided · 4 years
Text
[absolutely, perfectly comprehensive, chronological and perfectly explained shindrift timeline for all ur shindrift needs]
          side note ; this is heavily canon divergent and works to take into account @notpetals‘ au where yor has a throne world and didn’t die the first time shin/the renegade ‘killed’ him - also fuck canon
          - the renegade and drifter meet ‘by chance’ and talk, drifter shows the renegade his gets and the ascendant plane
          -  knowing he’s in danger and being keen to keep the renegade out of his business, drifter lays a trap and gives him the name callum sol (dredgen cull) and waits to see if he takes the bait. neither of them really understand the other and shin sees drifter as nothing more than an annoyance to his plans - but he lets the rogue continue, the both of them planning on playing the long game
          - drifter is a difficult man to work with. the renegade is a difficult man to read. the two of them end up clashing in more ways than one - their tempers and stress and everything else boiling over during an altercation that leaves them engaging in a way neither saw coming. drifter has the renegade retreating to lick his wounds in private, it’s a routine that soon repeats itself more often than not when they organise meetings to pass along information
          - the renegade ‘oversees’ drifter setting up gambit as part of their ‘deal’ - almost killing drifter when he finds out about the primevals
          - drifter finds out that callum has been killed and in the process figures out that the renegade is shin malphur, the man with the golden gun and uses a list of dredgen names as leverage to direct him going forward - revelling in his new context for the man that would kill him for even the slightest slip up
          - neither of them will admit it or even consider what it could mean, but their extra curricular activities become more of a habit and less of a fight. their edges blunting ever so slightly, they start sharing a bed after the fact, start organising meetings purely to feel each other again and again
          - drifter sees shin’s face for the first time, shin lets him
         - shin starts to help drifter with testing weapons for gambit prime, helping him perfect his craft while they both get to keep an eye on one another. sometimes they go as far as to test the weapons on shin when there’s no other option thanks to shaxx not allowing gambit weapons in the crucible and drifter wanting to keep a low profile between themselves
          - shortly after drifter is moved into the annex by the vanguard, the nine start to send him visions and anour become an issue. shin is made aware of anour bugging the annex and decides to stay neutral to watch how things play out. somewhere around this time, they’re forced to find comfort in one another when shin finds drifter after a vision sent from the nine and drifter is given no choice but to allow shin to be the one to help him with the aftermath
          - drifter starts gambit prime. shin watches
          - shin meets ghost for the first time after killing drifter while finding out about the two guardians who died permanently during drifter’s first tests of gambit prime, shin is polite and ghost is confused
          - drifter gives shin a jade coin, shin keeps it
         - they carry on with their own ‘lives’, shin following the dredgen names that drifter is feeding him and drifter further earning his spot and reputation in the tower, their relationship at this point is still tense and unsteady but neither of them is dead yet so... y’know
          - having returned to the tower and found out about umbral engrams and the modified banks used in contact events, shin - believing that drifter has gone against their fragile deal - confronted drifter about it. eventually, drifter agrees to show shin one of the pyramids on io. when placed in front of the first pyramid on io, shin has an adverse reaction to the presence of such oppressive darkness, drifter takes him back to the derelict - that’s the turning point
          - having hit a dry spell on the flow of names coming from drifter, shin finds himself face to face with dredgen yor leaving the annex. (duh duh duuuuhhh) not thinking, shin threatens yor - warning him to leave drifter alone and stay out of it. things go sour. the confrontation leaves shin on his knees and drifter with eight rounds from the last word in his stomach. yor leaves with a threat aimed at shin - drifter is healed by ghost when the coast is clear and shin retreats to the wilds
          - overwhelmed and confused by his own reaction to seeing someone who was seemingly, up until recent events, his enemy dying on the ground in front of him - shin takes his frustrations out on whatever he can find. multiple fallen settlements are reported to the vanguard as having been wiped out by huge surges of solar light. drifter searches for him for a week before giving up, deciding that shin didn’t want to be found and that he wasn’t coming back. still haunted by yor’s last words to him, shin continues on his rampage for two weeks before his ghost takes matters into her own hands
          - celia drops shin in the derelict and leaves him to drifter, drifter is angry with shin and punches him - telling him that if he wants to help, he can’t just leave like that. he tends to shin’s injuries (solar burns over half of his torso and left arm) and discovers that he’s light fatigued in the process - the decision is made for shin that he’s to stay on the derelict while he recovers, the both of them deeming it to be the safest place for him
          - drifter makes a deal with yor. he’ll keep shin on a short leash and in return yor will stay away from shin. shin doesn’t take the idea well at first but isn’t given much choice but to trust the rogue when it’s revealed to him that drifter is planning to find a way to kill yor in his throne world if he can just get close enough
         - drifter starts to see more and more of shin malphur without the oppressive covering of light that follows him everywhere. shin starts to understand the dark age drifter more and more, realising that what he knew about the light and the dark wasn’t right, starting to see why he sees the world the way he does and begins to understand the grey area between the two through the one person who would be able to show him
          - cooped up and stuck with each other for far longer periods of time than they’ve been used to, drifter discovers that shin can’t read confidently or write. during his recovery, drifter starts to teach shin to read and write whenever he gets the free time between gambit matches and writing reports for the vanguard
          - shin goes on his first ever date, and it’s with drifter
          - drifter gives shin unspoken truth, a handcannon designed to feel and work similar to the last word but without the infamous appearance - allowing shin to go undetected among the guardians and the tower
          - coming to the realisation that they’re both in deeper than they thought and becoming closer - starting to genuinely rely on each other more and more... the two of them make a promise - a promise to stay 
          - shin starts to wear one of drifter’s jade coins around his neck
          - shin starts playing gambit during his recovery, discovers that he can’t pick up or touch motes due to the high concentration and purity of the light he carries with him and instead focuses on invading - firmly planting himself as a formidable opponent in the new game mode
          - shin’s recovery takes four months in total
          - shin trusts drifter to help him mend his cloak, in the process, drifter learns of the real story behind shin malphur, the man with the golden gun. it’s in that moment that shin realises he wants to rid himself of the renegade once and for all
          - after meeting the emissary of the nine, shin is given the prophecy - drifter eventually relents and they go through the prophecy dungeon together, shin learning more about the nine and and shin sees drifter use his light for the first time
          - shin records ‘vale’
          - fully recovered from their first encounter and not being able to get yor out of his head or understand why he is where he is, shin leaves the derelict without telling drifter and searches yor out. he plans to talk, to ask the questions he’s never had answers for and hopes that the knowledge between them that shin can’t kill yor permanently anymore is enough to stay any bullets. it isn’t. shin draws and his light doesn’t react, he’s shot by thorn in the stomach and yor leaves him there to die - taking the last word with him when he leaves
          - celia sends drifter ‘vale’ prematurely, leaving drifter to assume the worst 
          - half dead and dying fast, shin manages to get back to the derelict before collapsing and drifter is there to pick up the pieces, saving shin’s life and removing the bullet before giving shin his bed to recover in. shin’s light capacity is permanently shrunk between his encounter with thorn and his light fatigue
          - the whispers tell shin his dredgen name while the bullet is being removed
          - drifter learns of celia’s manipulations and underhanded tactics that started the renegade in the first place and kept it going for far longer than it should have. his suspicions of ghosts are only confirmed when celia tells him that she wanted drifter to leave shin and give him back to her. the two of them have a heated conversation before celia eventually backs down - not understanding how drifter can want to keep a light such as shin’s to himself
          - drifter ghosts shin for two weeks, resulting in a heated argument the first time they talk after shin wakes up from his injuries. it’s revealed that shin hadn’t wanted to come to blows with yor, that he had only wanted to shed himself of the renegade persona once and for all in one final attempt to rid himself of yor when it becomes clear that he can’t kill his living nightmare
          - the renegade is retired
          - shin is left to recover on the derelict when it becomes clear that it’s the only safe place for him - essentially moving in living with drifter after that point, finding his first home since palamon
          - drifter give shin another coin, one to flip when he finds himself having to make a decision that he doesn’t have an answer to, a hundred years without thinking about what he actually wants rather than what he’s meant to be killing next becomes obvious when he loses his sole purpose in life up until a week ago
          - trying to find his way in a real life rather than one with a sole purpose like the renegade gave him, shin discovers the crucible. becoming infamous within the rings of regular players, he’s well known but still manages to keep his true identity a secret from the wider reaches of guardians - only a select few know exactly who he is and why he’s so good
          - whilst running what should have been a simple job between the two of them, drifter is shot in a darkness zone, during an ambush aimed at shin. if it wasn’t for shin managing to cauterise the wound with whatever they could find lying about, drifter would have died permanently. shin manages to get drifter back to the derelict without help and drifter is healed as far as his ghost can manage 
          - drifter is bedridden for two weeks, leaving shin to look after him during this time - the both of them realising just how much they need each other now. though this time neither of them try to run away or get out of it. they decide that they’re going to stay like this and that they wouldn’t mind staying together now that they’ve gotten this far
          - two months later, drifter gets the call from elsie bray - he leaves for europa the same day after getting shin to understand that he can’t follow with the high concentration of darkness that they’re going to be dealing with in europa. drifter leaves shin with a list of things to keep him busy and moving while he’s gone
          - shin is left alone and they communicate on and off throughout the time drifter is learning stasis, losing contact when the darkness proves challenging for drifter to control and work his way around
          - shin discovers drifter’s collection of star charts and navigational materials of years past, he decides that he doesn’t want to be involved in this war anymore
          - drifter gets back without having told shin about his learning stasis, their initial meeting doesn’t go to plan at all with shin reacting badly to the darkness surrounding drifter. it takes a week before they can be in the same room again comfortably and another week before things are back to almost normal again between them
          - shin poses that they leave the system once it becomes clear that a stasis filled earth isn’t somewhere he can exist in anymore. drifter obliges
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h-sleepingirl · 5 years
Text
Scenes from a Hypnotic (Thirteenth) Date Feat. MrDream (with GleefulAbandon)
I am not even sure where to begin here. This writing is done while I am in trance. Keep that in mind.
I went to visit him for four days.
I am changed in ways that I can’t express. Writing feels fully futile. There are things I don’t share about our dates for various reasons. I have talked about this before. I do not want every writing to start the same way, but it is complex.
The frustration is nearly bringing me to tears.
But I thrive on discomfort and intensity.
We will see where this goes. He changed the way that I process memories sometimes.
(Writing that, realizing the casualness of it, made me cry.)
--
Thursday.
I love the sense that I know what I’m doing with the trains. I feel like an adult, I feel knowledgable and strong, even though I’m so scared of really stupid things -- will I trip over the gap between the train and the platform trying to get out, am I going to hold people up with my luggage. But I know where I’m going, I know how to get there, I know how to buy the tickets, and he is meeting me at the station.
I don’t trip over the gaps, and it is New York, so if I am holding people up, they just push past me. I arrive on time, and I haul myself up the stairs.
There he is.
That’s it.
I’m here.
Grand Central Station is a massive building, and it looks like a photograph, and I know I could get lost in the architecture for a long long time but he is distracting me, telling me facts about it, dazzling me with his knowledge as he always does.
It is two subway rides more and a short walk before we get to his place. I am exhausted; I didn’t get nearly enough sleep the night before. The whole day is a blur -- we get burgers for lunch in his neighborhood, we trance, we talk. Another of his partners is coming over later -- I play with her too, and we’re excited to see each other.
When she gets there, he cooks dinner for us -- stir fry with seitan, which I’ve never tried before and end up really liking -- and we chat a bit, and then it is like, well, we are all here, and we are all hot for each other, and we want to do stuff, so we should probably actually talk about it.
We have done very very little with all three of us together despite all permutations having some experience. I sort of feel like I can’t trust myself to be super toppy after he starts fucking with me, so we decide that I will do a little scene with her first, and then we can do something with the three of us.
She and I do our thing, and it is hot and connective and really really good, but that’s a story for another time.
Afterwards, the energy in the room is thick and heavy with a sort of anticipation and anxiety. We don’t know how this will go. All I know is that he is in control and that is the anchor that I will have.
He has me watch her go into trance, and it is like a palpable spell that has been cast; I can sense it like a physical force coming over her, tangible to me, drawing me in. His hands moving in front of her face so familiar to me, seeing it from another perspective, and the way her eyes flutter and roll as she’s taken by it…
I can’t help but start to fall.
He has her watch me, and I can feel her attention as this sort of unknown, featherlike touch and presence -- she’s seen it before, she loves watching, but I know it’s complicated to see someone who hypnotizes you go so deep into trance. A part of me stays there to try to feel it out, see what it’s like, so I am deep, but not fully gone.
I dissociate fully when we are both sitting there in trance, having this sense of watching us from outside of us, on edge, still unsure.
It is this ginger play back and forth, we are all testing the waters in this delicate way, little tricks here and there, so unlike what I know that we all do when we are alone. It is heating up and I wonder if I’m out of my element here -- not fully uncomfortable, fractionated, but not committed.
He pointedly looks at me and starts sucking on one of his fingers, and then, then my body responds -- I gasp at the easy metaphor, heat rushing through me and body starting to grind into the couch --
Then, popping it out of his mouth, he shows me his finger again, shining with spit, and pushes it between her lips. Her eyes roll back and her cheeks hollow automatically as her breathing picks up, and I just stare, transfixed by this girl who is thinking about sucking my cock, who is doing her very best to make me feel good while she is deeply hypnotized.
We are both so shaken when he pulls it out of her mouth. I can’t even look at either of them for very long. But we’re all breathing a little ragged and something has come over us.
He drops me deep into trance and I am even more easily sucked into it, feeling like I want to escape into his control. He pulls my shirt up to expose my tits while my limp body can’t resist, and starts idly tweaking my nipples. My body responds immediately, weak to his touch, weak to the sparks of heat through my body, weak and losing intelligence, becoming more animalistic...
“So much easier to just be a dumb cow, isn’t it?” he says.
“Mmm…” I moan. “Mmmmooo…”
“That’s right.”
And I fall deeply into it, losing my brain, immersing myself fully in the sensation of being milked, all tits and grinding hips and inhuman noises.
Through the thin, rolled up line of my vision, I can dimly make the two of them out, how his attention is shifting from me to her, and her, oh her, shaking almost violently, staring, so wide-eyed.
“That's the hottest thing I've ever seen in my life,” she says, quietly, in total disbelief, the voice of a broken person. I don’t fully comprehend it, but I also don’t fully NOT comprehend it.
I just want attention. My tits just want attention. It’s all I can think about. I want -- I want --
He snaps and wakes me up, and I’m faced with the two of them, and I can’t hide anymore, I can’t hide the way I look, how fucked up I am. None of us can hide. We are just here.
She is grinding and shivering, still open-mouthed. He is dark-eyed. I am trying to cover my face as he turns to me.
“I have to ask,” he says, seriously, but it is wild, almost bent out of shape. I know what he’s asking intuitively, I start nodding; yes, let her, I want it... “Is it OK if she --” I nod more vigorously. Her mouth, her fingers, I want them; she is a total open-mouthed wreck from watching me like that, I want her to be brainlessly milking me; my tits are greedy for it.
“OK,” he says, and he starts playing with my nipples again and my brain slips back, easy, hungry.
I am so so fucking turned on, and I don’t know if he’s guiding her hands or not but she touches me, tentatively, and her fingers feel so good, I must push my tits forward, encouraging -- yes, do that, keep going, such simple thoughts, just wanting to chase the pleasure.
I lose time, easy as that, all moaning and mooing and wet thoughts until he snaps us both out of it. I look at her immediately.
She looks so horny.
We try to settle down, processing what just happened, checking in with all of us -- are we OK, fuck, that was hot, validating.
“It’s not how I imagined that to go,” I say. “Her touching my tits, I mean. I feel like we just jumped into another timeline.”
“You knew what I was going to say before I said it,” he says to me.
“Of course I did. I wanted it. Although…”
They both look at me. I think about saying what I want to say, and decide to go for it.
“I was thinking, she does have a mouth...”
She gasps, and he stops breathing and moving for a moment as they both stare at me.
--
It is a line, a boundary crossed, a step into another world. Her mouth is hot and slick and I can’t even focus enough to feel exactly what her tongue is doing besides giving me throbbing, hot pleasure, overwhelming me. I am struck totally brainless by it as I sink and slip further into it and there is this sense of her totally mindlessly sucking my tits, sucking me mindless, sucking her mindless, all the while he controls both of us, we are like dolls he is playing with, and it is so much, it is so much.
I feel trapped and I don’t care. We could be doing this for a long long time.
--
Friday.
My nipples are so unbelievably sensitive again, the way that they get with him, careful manipulation of my tits bringing me to the edge of cumming, over and over. I am completely helpless to the pleasure, just as I was the night before, losing all sense of everything, all motivation the moment he touches.
It’s a horrible thing to feel like you’d give up who you are just to have your nipples played with, but I just can’t care.
Pressed against him, flipping over desperately so that I can grind on top of him, fully clothed, like we are teenagers as he squeezes and tweaks at my tits. All the while he is murmuring about me turning into a fairy, a honey-brained, perfect little sex pet, sensitive and mind obfuscated by the haze of eroticism.
He slides a finger into my mouth and it shuts me off as I just keep shuddering against him.
“All your holes filled,” he whispers. “Your mouth, your pussy, your ass…” And it is just immediately so true and real as he keeps pinching and rolling my nipples with his free hand. Completely overstimulated, having a jolt of a thought -- oh my god, oh my god I actually might cum --
“Fairy orgasms are different than normal orgasms,” he says urgently, as though he knows. “They are the blossoming of flowers, the feeling of thunder. They hurt.”
I whimper through my nose, sliding my lips up and down his finger as I feel whatever otherworldly cock inside me start to hit just the right spot, oh my god --
“If you cum like this, you lose your brain,” he warns, and that threat just pushes me closer, the risk so sweet...
“It gets replaced with a magic spell that takes you over and controls you forever, no more brain, just magic replacing all that electricity, never the same --”
I feel magic crackle through my fairy head, all through my body desperately trying to fuck itself like it was made for it, closer, closer, closer as he keeps talking until I fucking cum, losing everything, feeling myself taken over by his supernatural control, shaking, wringing the last of it out of me until I collapse on top of him, brainless.
--
We don’t do hypnotic orgasms. We don’t really even do physical orgasms except when I get desperate and masturbate sometimes.
It is a big, big first for us.
He puts my brain back in my head but he tells me that the spell is still there, trapping it, encasing it. I can’t function without it. It’s a part of me, now.
I look around the room, where I sat almost a year ago with fairy eyes, New York magic, seeing the streets and colors differently and vividly. I remember how deeply I wanted to keep those eyes forever, a need for something persistent.
Now there is permanent fairy magic in my brain, subtle and sparkling.
“Fairy brains process memories differently,” he tells me, and it’s just as simple as that. “They’re thrown into them, completely immersed, almost reliving them entirely…”
I relive cumming on top of him.
I also start to relive other things.
--
I can’t really look at him without trancing out. He represents the very concept of hypnosis to me. There are so many times where I will look at him and just feel it so immediately, just the tiniest shift from him, or no shift at all, just being around him is the hypnotic anchor for me.
He always notices.
I tend to feel guilty about it.
“I’m sorry,” I say when it happens once, and that’s all it takes for him to get a glint in his eye and go and elaborately make that a part of me -- worrying, guilty, embarrassed, emotionally masochistic about it but still helpless to it.
--
Saturday.
So many moments where we are entwined with each other on the couch, he is running his hands over my shoulders and I am gingerly touching his chest.
He will trance me, and I will be gone, and then he will wake me up and I will be shaken by it. Over and over.
I am so worked up. I am shaking and shifting helplessly, needing to touch him, needing him to see how fucked up he makes me. It is not just sexuality. It is something else, something more base and breaking. I need to be close. Closer.
“Please,” I say, desperately.
“‘Please,’” he repeats. “What are you begging for?”
“I don’t know,” I say, thinly, frustrated. “Control. More. Please… I don’t know…”
“You want to be more controlled, but you don't know how to be more controlled,” he says, darkly, and I know this voice and tone, the problem solving, the focus, his favorite thing. The gears turning.
It spins us into a place where I lose more, give more, let him take, beg him to take.
And he does. He takes.
We make it to the bed and I am completely broken down to a shell of myself, nonverbal and totally raw, totally fucked up.
He solves the problem.
I am more controlled. Permanently.
Gasping, mouth an ‘O’, looking at him totally incredulously -- how could he do this, how could he make me feel this good, how could he take away so much?
“You can thank me,” he breathes with a grin, and it is totally malevolent; I am the damsel captured, I am the defeated prize.
“Thank you,” I whisper fervently, over and over and over.
--
I had told him a few days before that so much of my sexuality revolves around not wanting to be a person -- being an object, being otherworldly is where I am whole and true.
“You don’t want to be a person unless you can be brainwashed,” he murmurs to me.
“Yes,” I whisper desperately, reeling.
“You know that feeling you get when I say just the right thing? You know how your brain has that moment when I’ve really fucked you up?”
“Yes, yes, yes…” I can’t express anything else.
“It’s almost like an orgasm, right?” His hands, smoothing down my sides as I writhe. “An orgasm in your head that wipes out everything except how good it is? How much that can connect to your body, feeling it throughout all of you when I say that thing that just gets you, moments where you are totally fucked up?”
As he talks I feel it take over me, my magic spell brain completely overwhelming me at his whim, cumming inside my head to be so thoroughly manipulated, knowing that this is what I will feel now, forever, whenever he says the smallest thing, body spasming from the darkness that I need so deeply, perfectly fucked by his control and his words.
--
I will never forget this night. I will never forget the feeling of complete bliss to lay there with him, in the dim, colored lights, feeling exactly where I want to be, content and happy in a way that feels better than any drug, anything I’ve ever felt; so enamored, so controlled. I am totally sober but I am totally altered.
The exact sense of it fades over time, but the images, the fleeting thoughts, and the fractured memories are burned into me.
I am changed. Something has changed. True change. The kind of change I maybe still didn’t believe was possible to force on a person. Proven fucking wrong.
“I have never seen you like this,” he says, comfortable, a little awed.
I nod with a small smile and nestle my head into his chest.
--
Sunday.
Another lazy morning. Our third lazy morning.
We are so lucky.
I feel just as changed as I did the night before. It’s persistent.
He tells me that I’ll probably have moments when I go back home where I’ll find myself brainwashed doing day to day things, in the shower, putting on my makeup, just going through automatically, controlled.
“And you can take a little selfie afterwards,” he says, “like capturing that moment of being brainwashed and showing it.”
I can imagine it vividly and feel it spilling into my life in a way that I’ve been craving and needing and didn’t know how to express.
“You are the most brainwashed you’ve ever been,” he says, looking at me seriously. “Like, you’re at a peak. Obviously you’re going to get more brainwashed, this isn’t an end, but it’s such a high point. Every trance is a reminder of the control I have over you. You’re not doing it anymore. I’m doing it to you.”
It is the most beautiful truth, and he hypnotizes me to prove it.
--
“Cover me, so I don't look like a tourist,” I say, wanting to take a picture of the gorgeous ceiling in the station.
“Everyone here is a tourist,” he says.
He’s right -- I see the diversity all around us, so many others with their phones out, taking photos, looking for directions.
We make our way downstairs so I can grab a bite before I get on the train, sit in the little tables so I can eat a little bit.
I still can’t look at him without trancing as we sit across from each other.
He always knows.
(I remember asking, “How do you always know?” And his response, lengthy and detailed about how I look when I’m in trance, all the different permutations, how it would be impossible for him to not see the smallest detail, how it’s so incredibly clear to him, how could he not see it…)
Fuzzing out right there in Grand Central. Just like I did on the subway. Just like I did at his house. Hours of it. Hours and hours of this trance with him, for days.
“You can have all these kinds of responses really inconspicuously,” he says, low, just for me. “It's all about control. Control, and knowing. And it just gets better and better and better and better…”
My cunt gets hotter and hotter and hotter as he talks, wondering if I would build up to something. But the moment is quickly over -- we’re on a schedule.
As we walk down the platform to my train, I see a couple hugging and giving their goodbyes and I realize that this is what we look like -- we are just one couple of many who had meetings with their loved ones, who are all saying goodbye.
“Alright,” he says, walking me on, carrying my bag for me. “I’m not gonna stick around too much. Travel safe.”
“You too,” I say.
We embrace, and I feel him one last time before I watch him leave.
--
I am very used to being in trance, especially now. I am used to this sort of “up” trance that we’ve explored over the last year or so. It does not feel up but I don’t know how else to say it. He said to me recently, when I was in trance for probably eight hours just going about my day, “You will get more used to being in trance; you are brainwashed.” What a thing to say. What a reality to live.
It is weird to write this in trance because it doesn’t feel as flowery and I just want to keep telling you about how he controls me. I wish I could tell you. I wish I could express it. This feels incomplete. Even a total exact transcription would be incomplete.
In trance, I don’t have the same ability or energy to spend on the writing capabilities that I feel like I normally have. I can’t connect things the same way. Things connect but it is different and I can’t tell if I’m saying them correctly.
I’m sorry I can’t give you more. I’m sorry I can’t tell you more. If you only knew. If you only knew.
But sometimes it is the simplest statements which have the most truth behind them.
I am brainwashed.
I am changed.
He controls me.
I can’t explain it any further than that. You just have to take my word for it.
--
@hypnokinkwithmrdream
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quicksilversquared · 5 years
Text
Lost Heart: Chapter 4
Gabriel: Part 2
Magic can be a dangerous thing to play around with, particularly when that magic is tangled up in a curse. When Nathalie Sancoeur experiments with magic that she doesn’t fully understand, it sends her on a path to become Paris’ most dangerous supervillain and tips the balance between superheroes and supervillain.
But which way will the balance fall?
links in the reblog
–0-0-0-0–0–
Everything was not all right.
After only a couple more transformations, Nathalie was pushing to become the real driving force behind the akumas. She became a backseat director, following the battles on her computer and barking directions to Gabriel, the tone of her voice making it clear that she expected her directions to be followed. In an attempt to cooperate with her and bring Nathalie back under his direction, he followed her instructions as much as he could (or as much as he was willing), pushing the akumas to get the Miraculous before they went off and did their revenge or whatever it was that they wanted to do.
It had backfired. Badly. By now, every single akuma knew that the ones before them had been defeated and had lost their powers, so they wanted to get their revenge first and then deal with the superhero duo later. They argued with Hawkmoth, insisting that they should at least be able to do their own thing for long enough to get a handle on their powers before they plunged into battle- which, okay, that was a fair enough point. Hawkmoth tried to compromise with them, trying to tell the akumas to withhold some of their powers as a surprise once Ladybug and Chat Noir showed up, but… well, it didn't always happen. Add in the fact that some of the akumas only ever had one power- he was getting better at coming up with more than one power for his akumas to have on the spot, but it didn't always happen- and sometimes there wasn't an option for them to hide their powers, and that particular strategy fell flat really fast.
(One time, he and the akuma had been so focused on their argument that Ladybug and Chat Noir were able to sneak up on the akuma, snatch the possessed item, break it, and purify the butterfly before the akuma even had time to react. Which was a tragedy, really, because that akuma had had so much potential.)
Once he got a repeat akuma, he could think back to the files he had discussed with Nathalie and throw in a few new powers, powers that could stay hidden until Ladybug and Chat Noir showed up. But repeats weren't that common (Pigeon Man aside, of course), and Gabriel was always put on the spot and scrambling when his akumas were actually transforming. If he came up blank, then Nooroo's powers would fill in and give the akuma some basic powers.
Basic powers weren't cutting it anymore. They hadn't been cutting it for a while. They needed to grow and improve to get ahead of Ladybug and Chat Noir, or else they would be seriously outpaced.
It was a pity that he couldn't recall powers mid-fight and re-issue them with power-ups once he came up with more ideas. Once a target was deakumaized, unless they knowingly and willingly accepted the akuma again, they were done. There was no second chance for him.
Unless the target wanted to be akumatized again. Which wouldn't happen unless they had started the whole thing wanting to be akumatized. Which- well, there were only two people who thought like that, really. Nathalie and that one girl from Adrien's class, the one who hated Ladybug.
Perhaps Gabriel would have to consult with Nathalie and see if she could come up with power-ups for Volpina, or think of other ways that the girl could be akumatized. Ladybug and Chat Noir had gone up against her visions several times now and knew how to defeat them. If she could be given a power up, somehow- if one of her illusions could actually be reality without giving away which one….
Well, it was something to think about. He could try it, at least. It was entirely possible that Gabriel was reaching the limits of Nooroo's easily accessible powers and that he wouldn't be able to overextend his kwami further. He would have to look at the book again and see if he could decipher anything more.
Not that he had really been able to decipher anything in the first place. All of the spells that he had- they were things that Emilie had figured out and that he had just happened to find half-translated in what few notes she hadn't hidden.
"Give me an akuma. I'll decipher the book."
Gabriel stared at Nathalie, startled. Why hadn't he thought of that? It was obvious. "That's a great idea, Nathalie! We should have thought of it ages ago-"
"Spare me the flattery and platitudes. An akuma, Gabriel."
Needless to say, the plan to get firmly into Nathalie's good graces and manipulate her from there was going less than well.
"Of course! Let's move upstairs first, since I believe Adrien is meant to be coming home soon-"
"He has fencing today and will be coming home in two and a half hours."
Gabriel swallowed and nodded. Nathalie had been efficient before, when she still had her heart. Now she was absolutely terrifying. Meetings and schedules were memorized fully, and could be recited off at a moment's notice. "All right. But there's still the household staff, and we don't know how long the translation will take."
Nooroo popped out of the drawer that Gabriel had stashed him in. "Translation? What translation?"
"The books and the scrolls, of course. What else would we be translating?" Gabriel started gathering them up, along with a blank notebook for Nathalie to record the translations. "Come, Nooroo. Nathalie, meet us up there in three minutes."
Nathalie nodded. Gabriel tucked the book and three scrolls under his arm and hit the buttons to head up to his lair. Nooroo hastily flew after him.
"Master, are you sure-"
"Don't try to talk me out of this, Nooroo. It's an obvious solution to a large problem. I learn what's written on these pages, I write it down, I can use the power-ups that Ladybug and Chat Noir already have access to! I'll win at last, and my wish will revive Emilie and give Nathalie her heart back."
"Master, for every wish-"
"I know what I'm doing, Nooroo."
Nooroo tried one more time as Gabriel ascended into the lair. "Master, there's something-"
"Enough, Nooroo. Transform me!"
Butterflies swirled around him as his suit materialized. Hawkmoth brushed some imaginary dust off of the lapel before stepping off of the elevator so that Nathalie could use it. Seconds later, it descended back into the house.
"All right, my little akuma," Hawkmoth muttered, reaching out and capturing one of the fluttering butterflies. "Let's get you ready to corrupt her!"
The elevator hummed as it returned. Hawkmoth ignored the dread in his gut that had started appearing every time he and Nathalie had to be together. There was no reason for him to be worried this time. Nathalie had made a suggestion that was reasonable- no deaths or maiming involved- and he was acting on it immediately. She would be pleased.
As pleased as Nathalie ever got anymore, at least, which really wasn't much.
Maybe they would be distracted enough by the translations in the book that she could take a week off from transforming and actually make a small bit of a recovery, or at the very least stop getting more heartless.
"I'm ready," Nathalie announced as soon as she came into view. She held out her wrist, where she had tied a small bracelet. "Put it in there."
Hawkmoth tipped the akuma onto Nathalie's wrist and watched as the cloud of darkness enveloped her. A moment later, it cleared, leaving Nathalie- Decrypter, now- in a sharp suit with a very techno-looking headset. She reached an impatient hand out, gesturing for the book. Hawkmoth handed it over eagerly, ready to at long last access the secrets of the Miraculous.
He could just taste victory now. With a few power-ups at once, he should be able to defeat Ladybug and Chat Noir in no time at all, and then he could do his wish and get Emilie and his normal life back. Hawkmoth wondered how much of this timeline he would be able to remember. He would be fine with forgetting it entirely, honestly, but somehow he suspected that as the wish-caster, he would remember it. Still, it could be pushed aside and forgotten as a bad dream, one that held no importance at all.
Gabriel wasn't going to tell Emilie what he had done to break the curse and get her back. She didn't need to know. It wasn't as though it would make a difference. All it would accomplish would be making her furious with him.
"I- I can't read it."
Hawkmoth was suddenly pulled from his daydreams of vacationing with his wife and thrown back into cruel reality. He frowned at Decrypter. "What?"
"It looks exactly the same as before." Decrypter pulled her goggles off and frowned at them. There weren't any dials or buttons for her to push to change the settings or anything like that. "My powers are broken."
"Should we try using another code?" Hawkmoth suggested warily. "Maybe we- maybe I didn't focus hard enough on what powers I wanted. Uh, maybe I can pull something up on my cane..?"
Decrypter frowned. "Or on my tablet. I brought it up."
Hawkmoth looked. Sure enough, she had done just that. He picked it up, pulling up a page with sentences in an assortment of codes. He turned it towards Decrypter and waited.
"That's simple. Child's play. It looks like normal sentences."
Now completely confused, Hawkmoth released his transformation. He scowled at Nooroo as soon as he was free. "What do you think you're doing? Why can't Nathalie read the book or the scrolls?"
"I tried to tell you!" Nooroo protested. "The book is spelled so that we kwamis can't read it, and that ban extends to using our powers to read it! It's a safety measure."
Gabriel scowled, and he could see Decrypter doing the same. "That's convenient."
Nooroo held firm. "That was what the Guardians did. It was not our choice."
Gabriel growled, and Decrypter released her akuma with a swirl of dark purple smoke. Nathalie was scowling. "We'll find a way around that yet."
"We're not going to give up on cracking the code," Gabriel added, gathering up the grimoire and the scrolls. "Maybe I pushed that to the side because I thought that it wouldn't be useful, but now- we will push to translate it. And then when we do-"
"We'll be unstoppable," Nathalie finished, eyes glittering. "All of Paris will cower before us. And we will win."
 ----0-0-0----
 Whatever code the grimoire's authors used was impossible to crack. Gabriel set aside an hour of time every day to try to make a dent in it, but so far all that he had accomplished was making himself frustrated and angry.
And making Nathalie frustrated and angry, which was- well, that was worse. It made her want to transform more, to actually be able to control something.
Since Nathalie wasn't the one with the Butterfly Miraculous, that something that she was controlling was Gabriel. He could see her trying to extend her control onto Adrien, but. Well.
Gabriel might have made a lot of missteps lately, but he was not going to let Adrien pick up on the fact that something was wrong with Nathalie. He had to draw the line in the sand somewhere, and he could tell that sooner or later, Nathalie would be dangerous to be around.
He could handle it. After all, Gabriel had superpowers at his beck and call. Adrien didn't.
So Gabriel put the Gorilla in charge of fetching Adrien for his various activities whenever he could, and when he couldn't- when the Gorilla was ill or busy or gone home for the day- Gabriel stepped in.
He tried not to feel bad about the way Adrien lit up when Gabriel fetched him for dinner, or popped his head in to announce the arrival of his piano or Mandarin teachers, or interrupted Adrien's breakfast to tell him about changes to his schedule. The change wasn't for any of the reasons that Gabriel knew that Adrien was thinking of, but simply because the other option- allowing Nathalie to continue coming in contact with Adrien- was too dangerous, and Adrien would only ask questions if he hired another person to update Adrien on his assorted activities.
(Besides, one more person around the house meant one more person who could potentially find out about him and go to the police, and they- they couldn't have that. No, it was better to use the people already around the house.)
Still, it was good that Adrien was happy. If he were upset- well, Gabriel had ignored Adrien's perfectly akumatizeable emotions before, simply because he knew that Emilie would have had his head for it. But with Nathalie keeping an eye on his every move, Gabriel knew that she would insist that he not miss any potential opportunities.
She wouldn't even comment on the symmetry of Adrien coming together with his father- well, with Gabriel's powers, at least- to bring his mom back. No, by now Nathalie would simply see Adrien as another potential tool.
And despite everything- despite all of his questionable actions and perhaps less-than-stellar behavior- that, Gabriel wouldn't be able to stand.
Nathalie was concerned with other things. With the grimoire looking like a dead end, she turned her attention to the extra powers they did have.
"We should do Catalyst and Scarlet Moth again," she announced one morning, striding into the office with purpose in her step. "That was a serious power-up, and you didn't need any spells to get it to work."
"Nooroo was wiped out for over a week after that last time," Gabriel protested automatically, and then his mind caught up to what he was saying. For a week. If Nathalie was transformed as Catalyst, then she wouldn't be Mayura. And no transformations and no akumas for a week meant more time for some of her humanity to return.
Well. If that was even an option anymore, that was. Maybe she had gone too far for a week to make any real difference. She had transformed far more times than Emilie had, after all.
"When we win, there won't be any need to transform again," Nathalie said sharply. "You talk as though it's inevitable that we will lose. You came close to winning before- if we go through what mistakes were made and where we can improve, a second run-through could come up differently."
Gabriel frowned. "Such as?"
"Announcing to the world where you were. Stealth would help you." Nathalie pulled out a pad of paper and started scribbling as she talked. "Specifically targeting a few people so that they have more than their base powers. Using Volpina to cause confusion by making you appear where you are not."
"I did that already."
"Only on a very small scale. I'm talking across the city." Nathalie slapped down a map of Paris, covering all of Gabriel's drawings on his desk. "They wouldn't expect it. They would know to watch their backs when they're approaching what might be a illusion of you, so we can't do that again right away, but there's no reason why we can't change it up."
Gabriel thought about that. It was true, they had come very close to succeeding with Catalyst and Scarlet Moth. With a few new tricks in their book, they should win. "Okay. But we're going to have to come up with another plan to scare everyone in the city. Too many people saw through the last attempt, and even more would see through it if we do it again."
"We do something that isn't Miraculous-related, then. Or doesn't appear to be Miraculous-related, if you're too weak-hearted to actually blow anything up." Nathalie pulled out a pen and a small notepad and Gabriel tried his best to ignore the last part of her comment. "We might need more than one akuma to do that and make it believable, though. Or an akuma… and an updated Catalyst."
Gabriel frowned. He wasn't liking the sound of this. "What do you mean, not Miraculous-related?"
"A mysterious explosion in a large building. A collapse. Something that would plunge people into confusion and panic." The smile on Nathalie's face was cold. "It would be an illusion, of course. And then Catalyst could have some powers to make people in the building fall asleep, so they wouldn't be able to break the illusion."
Gabriel frowned. If it was just an illusion, maybe that would be okay. "And that would be enough to throw Paris into a panic?"
"If there were several buildings to go, minutes after each other. People would think that there had been an attack." Nathalie bent over her map, circling several large buildings. The City Hall, the Louvre, several office buildings. "Famous places and lesser-known buildings. People would worry about their loved ones, and if they would be next."
"I- okay," Gabriel agreed. "As long as it's all illusion." He paused. "You seem certain that we'll be able to get Volpina again."
Nathalie rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. That girl's been akumatized how many times now? Put an akuma in the room that she's in and it'll be an hour at most before she accepts it. She likes being an akuma and she hates Ladybug."
"Very well, we'll try it," Gabriel agreed, trying to ignore the nagging feeling in his gut that Emilie would be furious about him essentially replicating terrorist attacks in the city to instill fear in everyone. But she wouldn't find out, after all, and he had to act soon. "Anything else that we want to change?"
And with a triumphant smirk, Nathalie told him.
                        ---------
 Catalyst transformed first. She powered up Hawkmoth, who sent a scarlet butterfly out to tail Lila Rossi. It took all of five minutes before she noticed it and eagerly accepted it, proving that she was a very willing accomplice.
Odd, but Hawkmoth wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
The first building 'collapsed' mid-afternoon, shaking the ground and sending red flames into the sky. Confusion and terror started spreading.
Hawkmoth waited.
The second building went five minutes later, the rounded rooftops of City Hall appearing to crash to the ground. Another office building went right after it.
Paris was terrified.
"One more," Catalyst announced over their connection. "One more, and then we can act."
"Any sign of Ladybug and Chat Noir?" Hawkmoth asked.
"None. No one has figured out that it's an akuma attack yet." He could hear her smirk over the connection. "And when they do appear, they aren't going to be on guard at all."
"Don't engage them," Hawkmoth instructed. "If they take you out, the scarlet butterflies will vanish."
Catalyst scoffed. "You think that I don't know that? Who, exactly, is in charge of this entire fight?"
Hawkmoth gulped, realizing with a start that Nathalie really could not be considered a supervillain sidekick anymore, nor had she been the sidekick for a while. She was the one directing this battle. He was just the one with the butterflies. "You. I was just thinking aloud."
"Think aloud with more sense, then. And it's time for you to move out into position."
Hawkmoth nodded, tapping the tablet in his hand so that he could see the feed from the cameras outside. The streets were empty. "All right. Good luck."
By the time Hawkmoth reached a good vantage point, Pairs was gripped in terror. The smell of smoke hung in the air- and adding that particular power-up to Volpina's set had been a genius idea from Nathalie, really- and the sirens from fire trucks were starting to sound.
Their illusions would likely break soon enough, so Hawkmoth had to act fast. With a sweeping gesture, he released hundreds of scarlet butterflies on Paris.
By the time people realized what was going on, it would be too late.
Nooroo's powers stretched thinner as more and more people were akumatized across the city. Akumas new and old formed, blasting holes in the roads and pulling those who hadn't been akumatized under their mind control. Hawkmoth grinned as he spotted Stormy Weather rising above the rest, twirling her umbrella in one hand as storm clouds gathered above Paris and the wind started to pick up.
She wasn't going to be the new, insanely powered Stormy Weather, but she had been a difficult opponent for the superheroes both times when she had been akumatized. If he paid special attention to where she was and pulled her into being on the offensive instead of letting her roam free, she could make or break the whole battle.
Fear was giving way to panic and anger all across Paris as people realized that Hawkmoth was taking advantage of the situation. People were helpless to stop it, though, which was exactly where he wanted them.
This time, his army was bigger than ever, and it was still growing.
"Control Stormy Weather!" Catalyst snapped in his ear. "She's going to make it rain or hail, and that will break the illusions. We're already having enough trouble keeping the fire trucks from reaching the illusions without one of your akuma coming along and spoiling it all."
Hawkmoth nodded, searching among his many connections to reach Stormy Weather. "Stormy Weather! Hold on to your rain and hail for now. Later on, you can storm as much as you want."
He could practically feel the pout through the connection. "Then what am I meant to do? Just blow air around?"
"Lightning is fine. Gusts of wind are fine. If you wanted to whip up a tornado, I wouldn't stop you. Just no rain. Let it build. Actually!" Hawkmoth exclaimed, realizing that he could take out two birds with one stone. "Use your weather to keep the fire trucks from reaching the collapsed buildings!"
"I will, Hawkmoth!"
"Ladybug and Chat Noir sighted," Catalyst reported. "I'm moving back to safety. Don't let them take out your cane this time."
"Of course."
Over the next few minutes, swarms of butterflies found their marks. Hordes of akumas- Hawkmoth cringed at a couple, because they did not look good in red- swarmed over Paris. Then they hit the first hurdle.
Nooroo's power was straining. Akumas were getting increasingly less powerful and less connected to him, which meant that he might have some turn against him if he continued. After a second's consideration, Hawkmoth pulled back the remaining unclaimed butterflies, leaving them to hover above the city as a threat, one that he wouldn't actually carry out but no one else knew that.
Minutes later, a gust of wind from Stormy Weather accidentally blew a branch into the first of the illusions, shattering it. There was a spike of confusion, and then fury.
Hawkmoth winced. Yeah, it was a good thing that his butterflies had been recalled. That was concentrated fury at him, and it wouldn't have gone well for him if they got powers.
The other illusions fell quickly after that. Hawkmoth ignored it- they had served their purpose, after all- and focused on relocating Volpina's link. It wasn't hard to find.
"Volpina, I need you to make an illusion of me on the Notre-Dame," he instructed her. "We need to lure in Ladybug and Chat Noir. And if you see Stormy Weather, tell her she's free to storm, as long as she stays away from the illusion."
"I'll do that, Hawkmoth."
In the streets, the akuma army milled. Hawkmoth watched them for a bit, smirking.
Maybe not all of them had great powers, but there was strength in numbers. They would wear down Ladybug and Chat Noir eventually. Hawkmoth was feeling hopeful.
And then his connection to Catalyst opened back up.
"These akuma are useless!" Catalyst seethed, anger obvious in her tone. "The superheroes are out, and they've already taken out over a dozen of the akumas!"
"Just Ladybug and Chat Noir?" Hawkmoth asked, but he had a feeling that he already knew the answer. "Or all of them?"
"Three of them. Queen Bee got akumatized already, as we hoped, and Rena Rouge hasn't shown up."
"Three is better than five. More manageable."
"Except they probably have the other Miraculous on them, ready to give out. And Ladybug and Chat Noir are plowing through the akuma, taking their butterflies while Carapace keeps the other akuma back." Catalyst sounded displeased. "Send Stormy Weather in!"
"Right, and I'm going to go over there, too. They'll be distracted." Hawkmoth smirked at the thought. Distracted heroes would be easy targets.
Or maybe not. Besides playing shield, Carapace was also keeping a sharp eye out for danger. By the time Hawkmoth had made his way over, Rena Rouge had also managed to join the fight, straight-up knocking out akumas with her flute and tossing their possessed items over to Ladybug to purify. Some citizens had even joined in, wrestling the weaker akumas to the ground and grabbing the possessed items for Ladybug.
They had definitely made a dent in Hawkmoth's underpowered akumas, but he wouldn't let himself get too discouraged by that. There were still plenty of good akumas around, he just had to call them in. No sane person would get anywhere close to Stormy Weather or Stoneheart- if Stoneheart was even still around, Hawkmoth wasn't certain- and there were other akuma, too, ones with real powers at their fingertips.
"Stormy Weather, call up some fog so that the superheroes can't see," Hawkmoth ordered. "Make it thick down on the street. If you want to call down some lightning as well..."
"I'll brew up the perfect storm!"
The view on the street started getting misty right away. Hawkmoth circled overhead on the rooftops, eyes narrowed as he watched for an opening. Ladybug's yo-yo was going so fast that it was letting out a high-pitched whirr, sounding almost lethal. Chat Noir's baton was extending and shrinking back faster than his eye could track as he lashed out at akumas and swung his baton around, keeping it from hitting the sidewalk or his teammates almost instinctively. Carapace and Rena Rouge were clearly nowhere as experienced- they would be easier targets- but they were holding their own as they tussled with akumas, one after another. Besides, those were the Miraculous that he didn't care about as much. They would be easier to get, but he didn't want to spoil his surprise attack on lesser Miraculous.
Once upon a time, Hawkmoth would have said that Ladybug would be the easier target. She was a long-distance fighter, and small enough that he could knock her aside. But she had clearly been training, and could use her yo-yo as a short-range weapon as well as a long-range one, and she was a fierce opponent. Chat Noir wasn't an easy target, either- Hawkmoth wouldn't be surprised if he had gone into the hero thing with a decent amount of training- but he sometimes fell back into the same fighting patterns.
But he had been breaking out of those patterns as of late, too. Hawkmoth hesitated, trying to figure out who to go after first. Ladybug or Chat Noir?
"I think Ladybug," he decided after a minute. After all, he had seen Ladybug hold down fights on her own before. If he fought Chat Noir and got his Miraculous, she might go after him and get her partner's Miraculous back. If he got hers first, then Chat Noir would have a harder time on his own, probably-
He never got a chance to test that theory. Something hit him hard from behind, knocking Hawkmoth out of hiding spot. He felt a stab in his side, and suddenly he couldn't move a muscle as he bounced from the rooftops down to the street below.
Paralyzed.
His mind whirred. That could only mean one thing- somehow, even though he thought that Chloe had been taken out, removing the Bee Miraculous from the fight- somehow, somehow, it was active. And now he was going to get delivered to the superheroes in one frozen package.
No. No. He couldn't lose. Not now. Hawkmoth's mind raced, and then the obvious came to mind. Mayura- well, Catalyst- probably couldn't save him now, but he had akumas aplenty at his beck and call.
"Stormy Weather!" Hawkmoth pushed through the connection desperately, hoping that she could hear him. "Come rescue me from the street and then blast the superheroes away! I've been taken down!"
"On it, Hawkmoth!"
Hawkmoth breathed a sigh of relief- or he would have, if he could have- as Stormy Weather grabbed him around the waist and hauled him (thankfully with his cane still in hand) away from the superheroes, knocking them back with a blast of rain-heavy air and a bit of hail. She flew across the city, then paused, confused. "Uh, where do you want me to go?"
Hawkmoth had to consider that. "We'll find a hiding spot until this darn Venom wears off."
"Okay, Hawkmoth!"
Using his connection was wearing him out, but he had to keep an eye on the fight and his remaining akuma. Hawkmoth did a quick check of his number of connections, and... they were dropping. Fast.
Too fast. His advantage was shrinking. By the time the Venom wore off- surely it would only take five minutes, hopefully it would only take five minutes- there would only be the strongest akuma left.
"Stormy Weather, tangle up the city with your weather!" Hawkmoth commanded. Then he searched out his other big connection. "Volpina, keep shoveling on the chaos. And stay out of sight."
There was no answer from Volpina. Hawkmoth frowned, then scrambled to try to find her connection.
It was gone.
No! How had they taken Volpina out? She was smart and crafty. She had to have been taken out by an attack from behind, like he had-
Which meant that none of his akumas were safe. If Queen Bee was detransforming and re-charging after each sting, then she could keep out of the majority of the fight and none of the akumas would think of watching out for her. It was a smart move, he had to admit, and not one that he would have thought Chloe Bourgeois would be able to think up.
No doubt that was Ladybug's idea.
By the time Gabriel was finally able to move his arms again, there were only a few lingering connections. As he pushed himself up, another one went, then another. Once there was only one left- well, one besides Catalyst- Hawkmoth let out a disgusted sigh and instructed the final akuma to create a messy diversion while he dashed back to the mansion, being careful not to get spotted as he slipped back inside. Once there, he released his transformation with a groan. Nooroo spiraled out of the brooch, promptly collapsing in Gabriel's hands. Gabriel passed him a snack and then headed back downstairs.
Not surprisingly, Nathalie was waiting for Gabriel in the office. She had released her akuma, and she looked rather like a thundercloud about to explode.
And explode she did.
"That should have been an opportunity that even you couldn't screw up!" Nathalie snarled, jabbing a finger at Gabriel's face. "Had you played your cards right, the superheroes should have been taken down in no time at all. They should have been blown aside by Stormy Weather, then captured by the Mime or Rodgercop or literally any of the akumas as soon as they fell to the ground so they couldn't fight! They could have been blown to completely separate parts of the city, divided and conquered! Literally anything other than what you just did would have been more effective!"
Gabriel opened his mouth to argue, but couldn't find any words. After all, he knew that they should have won. It should have been a certainty. But he hadn't expected the attack from behind, and his panic after that had meant that what had been a carefully coordinated akuma effort had immediately fallen apart.
"If you had reflexes that were any faster than an arthritic ninety-year-old, you could have dodged the hit, then wrestled Queen Bee down and taken her Miraculous," Nathalie continued. "It would have been a useful tool to have on our side. And you wouldn't have needed to use a perfectly good akuma to haul you across town."
"I didn't even see her before she hit," Gabriel argued, feeling a bit insulted. He could move fast, and normally he did. He had been the one to face off with Ladybug and Chat Noir on Heroes Day, and he had moved super fast then. His main problem after that- the reason why he hadn't won then and there- was that he had been too smug about knocking the superheroes off of their feet and so hadn't moved fast enough to end the battle on his terms. "If I had, I could have dodged. I didn't even know that she was out. None of my akumas had said anything."
"You were oblivious to your surroundings," Nathalie continued, as though she hadn't heard him. "Too focused on what was in front of you to catch what was going on behind. It was a dumb mistake, and it was one that you shouldn't be making at this point. Now we've wasted a perfectly good opportunity. It will be hard to use Catalyst again. Paris will not fall for another trick like they did today." She sent him a thoroughly displeased look, and Gabriel felt a icy shiver run down his spine. There was nothing human left in that look. "Mistake after mistake, Gabriel. I'm getting fed up."
Gabriel gulped. "I- yes-"
"From now on, I'm calling all of the shots. Otherwise, we'll never get anywhere."
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momestuck · 5 years
Text
Epilogues: Candy, Ch 16-21 [Epilogue 4]
So we’ve lost (spoilers will remain below the cut). This section starts progressing a lot faster, as the couples we’ve established all very rapidly start adopting kids. Jane’s whole eugenic vision, and fucked up relationships, starts coming much more to the forefront.
I call this the “we live in a society” chapter. Or perhaps the “edelman” chapter.
Chapter 16
At this point we get a six month time skip. Or for Terezi, a single day timeskip, because apparently there’s heavy time dilation between Earth C and the Furthest Ring.
The wedding itself is handled by recap, emphasising anecdotes. Of note is that Terezi is continuing to ghost basically the entire cast apart from John, which she claims is because he’s the most annoying.
In fact this entire chapter is text convos between John and Terezi, which is a nice return to early Homestuck when typing quirks were actually, well, typing quirks lol. Jane, it turns out, is now dating both Gamzee and Jake, which, well, ok.
ok.
ok.
anyway, there’s some wonderful dialogue on kismesis relationships at least:
TEREZI: Resentment can be fine in a short term black affair if the gaol is just to fill pails and avoid culling.
TEREZI: But in a sustained romantic rivalry it will always spell ruin.
TEREZI: Just like in a caliginous relationship, how it’s important for you to be able to communicate with your kismesis.
The rest of Terezi’s dialogue, talking a bit about Vriska, is a joy to read. I miss Terezi.
Oh yeah and Roxy’s pregnant. That’s important! Their wedding was 6 months prior, though it’s not clear from the narration when their baby was conceived.
Chapter 17
Another three month timeskip. That means nine months from the wedding - just about long enough for John and Roxy’s baby to be born.
Rose and Kanaya have outright named their child Vriska, which is... ok she may be a clone but that’s one hell of a thing to put on a kid, fucking hell.
Like, just wow. Imagine knowing Vriska and deciding to not just adopt her clone but name her clone after her! I take back whatever dumb shit I was saying about Rose and Kanaya being well adjusted. Poor kid.
There’s an amusing conversation in which Kanaya has misconceptions about how human children are born - from Karkat, via Dave. This is really going hard on the whole reproductive futurism angle huh.
The question of Vriska’s name comes up. Rose says that Vriska defeated Lord English - apparently having entirely forgotten all the things she said before, about how that whole plot point of how he was ultimately defeated was unresolved.
JOHN: rose, no one knows what happened to lord english.
ROSE: Of course we do. Vriska used the juju and her accompanying ghost army to defeat him.
ROSE: Why else would we be here?
JOHN: i don’t think that’s what actually happened though!
KANAYA: Then What Did Happen John
JOHN: i... i JUST said! JOHN: no one knows!
So uh... it’s like there’s some all-encompassing force, pushing the kids towards a “happy ending” defined in terms of pairing up and raising kids, editing their memories to leave nothing unresolved... and only John seems to be immune?
And moreover, whatever this force is, it seems to have robbed Roxy of her independent will. She’s going along with whatever John wants - much to his consternation.
Everyone is contorting themselves into a standardised template of “adulthood”, focused on reproduction above all, telling themselves it will make them happy... even the lesbians!
(Is this all one massive attack against the Harry Potter epilogue lol)
Chapter 18
In this chapter, Jane explains the need for eugenics to Gamzee. She insists that, if trolls were allowed to outbreed humans, the ‘natural’ Alternian social order might assert itself. It’s not racism! Some of her best friends are trolls!
Gamzee suggests this might get her ‘cancelled’, and she calls him ‘a literal insect in clownface’. Because she’s totally not xenophobic or anything. They have kismesis-hatesex, which includes...
In spite of Jane’s protests, Gamzee makes a desperate play for a lusty squeeze. Jane puts up a valiant show of resistance, but Gamzee knows she has no real intent of fighting him off—it’s all part of the kismetic dance. He has his big clown mitts right on her busty bags, honking away.
...what feels to me like a dangerous blurring of consent lines. Bottom line: this relationship is all kinds of fucked up...
Also why did I have to see the words “busty bags” with my actual eyes.
Not sure what the story is going for with this troll eugenics plotline. Jane explicitly tries to draw a line between this and actual racism insofar as there are, she says, actual biological differences between humans and trolls such as birth rate, unlike human ‘races’ (the story does not deviate from the idea that the kids are ‘aracial’, incidentally, though it’s hard to take Jane as anything other than white the way she acts). But why does the narrative feel the need to go there? I guess it’s about Jane’s character specifically; the not-so-subtle fascism in her whole image as a ‘proper’ businesswoman. She’s just doing what needs to be done!
I recall that ‘prison camps’ was up there in the content warnings list.
The latest Homestuck Baby is named Tavros. Naming babies after your dead friends is all the rage these days!
The narration stays with Jake as he leaves the room, but we still hear more than we’d like of Jane and Gamzee fucking.
The subject of kids - the REPRODUCTIVE IMPERATIVE - comes up. Jade explains that merging with Beq has done something to her bits, so she won’t be getting pregnant. And nobody’s really feeling ectobiology. Though that’s probably not the biggest issue with her and Dave...
She says she’s discussed surrogacy with Rose, and neither Dave nor Karkat would be ‘the father’ in this scenario. Ah, I think I see where this might be going. Beq was a male dog, as I recall.
(so this is basically... V Homestuck, apopros of nothing: do you know i think jade probably has a dick)
Chapter 19
In accordance with our headlong rush into families and reproduction, John has started working on becoming his dad I guess? He has a moustache, and even carries a briefcase.
New world, new social order... or not, I guess.
Anyway, the troll racism/eugenics metaphor is really speeding up:
KARKAT: JADE, DON’T YOU READ THE NEWSPAPERS?
KARKAT: THE NEW ADMINISTRATION IS CRACKING DOWN ON CERTAIN KINDS OF INTERSPECIES ADOPTION LAWS.
KARKAT: IF YOU’RE SO INTENT ON IT BEING “THE THREE OF US,” WE LITERALLY WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ADOPT A HUMAN CHILD BECAUSE THE HUMAN ADMINISTRATION IS AFRAID THAT I’D...
KARKAT: I DON’T KNOW.
KARKAT: TEAR INTO IT, AND FEAST ON ITS ORGANS.
KARKAT: AND IN THAT KIND OF POLITICAL CLIMATE? WELL, I’M NOT SURE IT’S A WORLD I WOULD WANT TO RAISE A TROLL CHILD IN RIGHT NOW.
Later on they outright call Jane a fascist. Not beating about the bush here. And John has apparently described Jane’s treatment of Jake as outright rape, which his friends generally assent to.
Thinking I should have picked up more of that dynamic when I read the earlier Jane/Jake scenes. There was a line...
It’s not the most rousing speech Jake has ever given, but it seems satisfactory enough for Jane. He releases a tremendously relieved sigh when Jane breaks into a smile.
JANE: Oh, Jake!
He flails when she kisses him. But this time, there’s no doubt he hasn’t said no.
Yeah that pretty much made it clear didn’t it. Jane has absolutely no regard for Jake’s will; and Jake is in no way in this situation able to assert how much this dynamic is harming him, without Jane pulling out the same manipulative tricks, playing hard on his ridiculous ‘old-timey gentleman’ thing.
Anyway, any discussion of their own relationship is forestalled when a dead body of Jade falls from the sky! Apparently it’s a much younger version of Jade - the origin is utterly unclear. (Perhaps we’ll find out in the Meat storyline?)
Whatever the cause, it prompts Jade to go to Jane - whose Life powers could bring the dead Jade back, in theory.
Chapter 20
But Jane’s powers... don’t work at all. (Also her relationships are pretty dire and she’s exerting fascist influence behind the scenes). Apparently whatever’s afflicting this Jade is more fundamental than poison: a ‘metaphysical’ rot. Meanwhile, it’s heavily implied (as was more or less said outright earlier) that Rose’s Seer powers don’t work anymore.
Jade wonders if her presence in Earth C implies the other selves across other timelines can no longer exist. But this is maybe only brought up to dismiss it.
Instead, Roxy brings up the whole fascism thing - as a political divide pushing them apart (metaphor ahoy). Which prompts an impassioned - and justified - rant from Karkat. Gamzee steps in, and Karkat has a go at him too, and the way he’s exploiting his claimed ‘redemption’:
KARKAT: NO.
KARKAT: NEVER IN THE WILDEST DREAMS OF YOUR SOPOR SOAKED PEABRAIN WILL WE BE “MOTHERFUCKING GOOD,” GAMZEE.
KARKAT: BECAUSE YOU’RE SLEEPING WITH THE GODDAMN ENEMY.
KARKAT: BECAUSE I STILL HAVE NIGHTMARES ABOUT WHAT YOU DID.
KARKAT: AND BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE FUCK YOU EVEN DID WRONG IN THE FIRST PLACE!
In the framing this story has developed, he’s not wrong, obviously. The words ‘redemption arc’ are thrown out again by Roxy and Jane in Gamzee’s defense, and Karkat storms out.
Karkat is good in the role of moral authority, directly confronting cruelty and hypocrisy that his more ‘polite’ friends would rather sweep under the rug in the name of unity. We see their reactions:
Karkat leaves a stunned silence in his wake. Jane fuming silently to herself, Kanaya and Rose exchanging a knowing look about World Politics, John chewing his lip and mulling about how Karkat is probably right, and how if he were braver, he would have backed him up.
Kanaya and Rose - on the ‘right side’, but in many ways, the middle class, above-it-all. John, the coward. Jane, put on the spot, soon falls back on her ideals of propriety...
Karkat’s ancestor was the Signless/Sufferer, who led a rebellion against the Condesce. Perhaps he’s stepping up to fill a similar role...
Chapter 21
As was discussed in the prior chapter, Roxy insists on holding a funeral for the dead alternate-universe Jade... for the sake of unity, or something. This works about as well as you might expect.
Oh, and, on the subject of Jake and Jane, well.
You gave it the old college try chap, Jake said to him earlier as he waxed his mustache in the mirror. But its better for a man to just let his wife do whatever she wants. I promise youll experience less pain that way old boy.
yeesh
Also Calliope is here! She gives a little speech about death, and shares a tender moment with Roxy... so... still playing into that ambiguity huh.
Then Aradia and Sollux show up?? I guess they were, technically, still alive! They have not, indeed, been absorbed by the big black hole... and they certainly liven things up.
Honestly, the massive pileup of characters leads to them playing off each other in ways I’ve really missed. It’s like a good old classic homestuck group chat feel.
Roxy gives a speech that’s ultimately all about Dirk - about the ways things might have been different, whether it’s even meaningfully possible to compare. Good old Homestuck themes. Then she has her actual baby because why not.
As if this isn’t enough melodrama for one chapter, Jade’s ‘corpse’ gets up, and reveals it’s not actually Jade in there at all, but... someone who speaks in red text, and is known to Calliope. Alt-Calliope perhaps..?
Sure enough, it is... the Calliope who predominated over Caliborn in an alternative branch of that timeline, who created the big black hole, and who has now arrived ‘to protect your world’.
Phew.
Epilogue 4 as a whole
Bloody hell that was something.
So Jane’s gone full fash. For significant chunks of the comic she was mind-controlled by the Condesce, but I guess within this story she’s capable of going fash on her own devices.
The awful relationship between Jade and Jake is well-realised, I think, for all its awfulness. It comes across as a believable, ugly dynamic.
The whole redemption arc thing, that keeps coming up - it’s about fiction, but perhaps also more broadly about transformative and restorative justice; the kind of difficult conversations that I struggle with a lot, of how we collectively and individually respond to instances of cruelty, abuse and violence, and how these things arise in the first place.
At its best, this story is challenging a perspective that people who have been hurt in terrible ways should be obliged to grant forgiveness and absolution; a ‘too easy’ story where all pain disappears and everyone can just be friends again. But we must avoid two failure modes: one is a model of the world which takes it that some people are just bad, justifying any extent of “retributive” violence, and systemising that in a way that can and will inevitably be directed as a further weapon against those who are vulnerable to it, rather than in any way that prevents harm. All expansions of prisons are justified by appealing to the worse “predators”, but they do basically nothing to prevent sexual violence (rather, they concentrate it) and instead conveniently provide slave labour.
But there is still an obvious danger in the presumption that someone who has learned to be abusive and controlling has ‘reformed’; of refusing to act when someone needs help. Any system can be exploited.
Note that, of course, there is a considerable gap between imprisoning Gamzee in a fridge, and welcoming him as part of the friendship circle. When practised on a community scale, exile is an instrument of violence, but no individual person or small friendship group is obliged to maintain a relationship with a particular person...
So that’s what it’s dealing with. Only with ‘lol this clown is gross’ jokes; Gamzee, as presented here, is a repulsive person in every way possible, and those who defend him are painted as idiots.
The whole thing with the clowns in Homestuck has always been a bit of a weird one. The cultural markers invoked are heavily associated with class: they’re dirty, they drink a lot, they’re literally juggalos. But they’re also declared to be the ruling class, relating to other trolls as oppressors. And of course, haha, it’s only jokes, right...
(That’s not to get into the extent that clown imagery is racialised in the US, because hoooo boy that’s a complicated one. Discussions of ‘coding’ in media can get horribly oversimplified, and I think I’ve put my foot in that elsewhere. Coding is never just one thing)
Anyway I’m probably like, going on too much about this. Tell me I’m full of shit lol.
Alt-Calliope is hopefully finally going to explain wtf is going on as a result of John’s dubious decision at the start.
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real-life-pine-tree · 6 years
Text
Leo Will Never Know: The Sinister Serpent (7/?)
In an alternate timeline, Yugi indirectly prevented the events of Arc-V from ever happening. But how could this small change have an impact on a few selected people? A spin-off of the Arc-V Aftermath series. Based on the hilarious comic by @justanotherotakuandartist​​​​. Co-written with @violetganache42​​​​.
Ray, Jaden, and Jesse remained in the room where the duel against Trapper was held, sitting against the wall and next to the room’s opened doorway. Jesse wanted to find Viper, but Jaden was concerned about his friends. With Ray’s help, they all agreed to stay put so that Jesse could regain some energy and everyone can all confront Viper as a group. Within a few moments, Syrus, Hassleberry, Jim, and Alexis arrived after going on a rather worrisome search for them. Their biggest clue that led them on the right path was the scattered cards that once belonged to Mr. Stein. With everyone converged back into one group, all seven Duelists prepared their confrontation with the mastermind behind the sinister Survival Duels.
Speaking of him, Viper was keeping an eye on the tank that contained the orange liquid-like blob. He stopped watching the cameras earlier because one of them was destroyed by Axel, who was finding a way to escape the trap door and dug a hole from the floor and landed into the artificial jungle. At the same time, Viper knew that the blob needed a bit more energy in order for it to revive, which was why he anticipated Jaden’s upcoming arrival not only because of that, but because it also wanted to see him suffer. Before he could meet up with him, he was interrupted by the presence of Adrian, who was seeking to claim an important card for the Gecko family.
"My apologies, Adrian," Viper said. "I don't know of this card you speak of. Now if you excuse me, I have to prepare for a duel."
"Don't think so," Adrian said. "It's just me and you now. Cancel all your appointments for the day."
Attention. Quarantine procedures have been initiated. Please evacuate the facility immediately. Anyone remaining will be terminated. Have a nice day.
The seven Duelists picked up the pace and started to run a little down the hall as the doors were being sealed behind them. Back in the main office, Viper grew frustrated at what Adrian did. The latter explained how the duel against Jaden will be postponed and he will be dueling against the former. This time, it won’t be an ordinary duel since the Bio-Bands aren’t involved. He took off his headphones and Viper knew what they’ll be doing: fighting. He unbuttoned his jacket and removed his shirt to reveal his muscular figure and Adrian did the similar thing, undoing his belt, unlatching his holster, and taking off his shirt.
With the two now shirtless, they engaged in a fistfight that was reminiscent of a popular shonen martial arts anime, albeit the usage of energy blasts. Viper grabbed Adrian’s leg that was used to kick him and spun him around before throwing him to a nearby wall. Right as he was about to step on his opponent, Adrian dodged the attack, which was enough to give off the impression that he was an elite operative from the Gecko Financial Group. Adrian scowled because Viper was right about that.
Back with Jaden and his friends, they continued running down the hall and only had 30 seconds to evacuate. They made it to a large circular room, but across from them was a closing door, meaning they won’t have enough time to get through. Just then, Axel smashed through the glass ceiling and landed on the bridge; he then threw his grapples to keep the door open with enough space for everyone to get through this one and the next and final door. However, Axel himself ended up trapped in the room he entered through, meaning he might have to find a way out again.
Viper and Adrian continued with their fight, unleashes blows and dodges with the operative’s sole purpose of obtaining that card…or so he thought. The tank housing the blob glowed a bright orange twice: once to materialize a demonic left hand onto Viper that blocked Adrian’s punch and another that pushed the opponent back onto the wall with brute strength. Viper knew that his defeated adversary’s true mission was to find out about the power of the orange blob that was contained inside the tank. He then put on his shirt and jacket and then departed his office to finally face off against Jaden, leaving behind a pinned Adrian and the tank as he walked out with an evil laugh.
Back in the room, Jim detected what could be considered the most powerful electromagnetic wave he received thus far, and before anyone knew it, they all saw an elevator rising up to the top floor. Everyone knew Viper was in there based on the notorious look on his face. He buckled up what looked like equipment and began to laugh evilly again, louder than he did earlier.
"Hello Jaden Yuki," Viper said.
However, Ray stood in front of Jaden. "Don't worry, Jaden," she said, readying her Duel Disk. "I got this."
"How bold of you to make such a move," Viper said. "But I want to duel Jaden, not you."
"Jaden is in no condition to duel," Ray said. "So if you want a duel, you'll have to duel me instead!"
"But Ray..." Jaden started to say.
"Trust me," Ray only said.
The gang had already arrived on the top of the helicopter tower by running as fast as they could on top of a nearby staircase where they caught up with Viper, who was patiently waiting for this duel to occur. Ray wasn’t going let him take on Jaden because she was going to be his opponent. Her companions were initially unsure of why she stepped in, but her stubbornness gave them an idea of what she was going to do in order to thwart Viper’s plan.
"If I remember correctly, you never received a Bio-Band, Ms. Akaba," Viper commented.
"I know," Ray said. "I figured you wanted to use Jaden to activate his Bio-Band for whatever your plan is. But I won't let that happen. So here's my deal: duel me, or you won't get a duel."
"Very well," Viper said, activating his Duel Disk. "I accept your request."
Ray activated her Duel Disk as well while everyone else started to recall on why she was the only one without a Bio-Band. They all remembered her panic attack when she forcibly grabbed by the wrist, which was a trigger linked to her PTSD because she tried really hard to forget about the trauma of getting electrocuted, manipulated, and abused into becoming Sartorius’ vision of “the perfect Duelist”. If anything, what happened during the start of this year actually paid off because neither Ray nor Jaden would lose any of their energy and whatever Viper is doing will be vanquished.
With the starting 4000 life points set up, the duel began. "Ladies first," Viper said.
"Very well," Ray said. "I'll start things of by summoning Hope Dragon Bird!"
A flash of light lit up in one of the monster zones as Bird soared out from it and positioned herself onto the field in attack position. "No one shall bring harm to my mistress!" she exclaimed, even though everyone else could only hear a soft, melodic roar. Upon being summoned, one of Viper's monster zones was rendered unusable, giving Ray an extra 100 life points.
"But it seems my dragon is a bit lonely," Ray added. "So I'll use the Spell card Double Summon to bring out Lord of Dragons."
"Alright!" Jesse cheered. "Just like with Trapper!"
Ray glanced back at her hand. "I'll conclude my turn with some face down cards," she said, setting two cards on her field.
“You’re going down,” Viper proclaimed as he drew a card from his deck. “To start…” He analyzed the six cards in his and picked one to play on the field. “…I’ll summon Venom Snake!”
Venom Snake is a Level 3 EARTH Reptile-Type monster with 1200 ATK, 600 DEF, and an effect that is considered to be poisonous among other monsters.
“Careful of his bite,” Viper stated. “You see, once per round, my snake can strike one of your monsters directly.”
Venom Snake ejected what looked like a blue liquefied version of itself as it lunged forward towards Hope Dragon Bird and dug through her feather-like scales with his fangs. She let out a pained scream. "Help me, mistress!" she exclaimed.
"What did you do to Hope Dragon Bird?" Ray asked, sounding deeply concerned.
"Oh you'll find out soon enough," Viper answered.
Soon enough? What does he even mean? Ray couldn’t stop staring worryingly at Hope Dragon Bird and this weird liquid snake that was implanted on her. Viper’s turn continued as he played two face-downs and activated a Field Spell called Venom Swamp, where a Venom Counter is placed on non-Venom monsters and they will lose 500 ATK for each player’s End Phase; if the ATK reaches 0, that monster is destroyed.
There was no coincidence on how the rest of his turn would play out. Right as his turn ended, another Venom Counter jumped out from the Field Spell’s lake and attached itself onto Hope Dragon Bird. Two Venom Counters meant a 1000 ATK decrease as dark purple venom started to show and spread from where she was bitten, causing her to feel weak.
"I feel...so sleepy..." Hope Dragon Bird muttered.
"Don't you dare fall asleep on me!" Ray exclaimed as she drew a card. "I counter Venom Swamp with my own Field Spell: Hope Sanctuary! And since there can only be one Field Spell out at a time..."
“Not so fast,” Viper interrupted. “I chain your Field Spell card with my Counter Trap: Dark Bribe!” One of his two face-down cards flipped up to reveal the Trap he activated. “The activation of your Hope Sanctuary is now negated and destroyed, meaning you and your Hope Dragon Bird are still stuck in my Venom Swamp.”
Right as the Field Spell was about to change, the Hope Sanctuary card was electrocuted and shattered into pieces, indicating it was sent to the Graveyard, much to Ray’s frustrated dismay.
“But don’t fret,” Viper said. “Due to your Field Spell’s destruction, you get to draw one card from your deck.”
Ray slightly scowled as she drew a card and added it to her hand. That was quite a move Viper made. Was he really that determined to make sure her monsters will suffer the poison of his Venom monsters and his swamp? She looked back at the poisoned Hope Dragon Bird and then back at her hand, trying to figure out the best course of action; if she ends her turn, her monster will lose 500 more ATK, bringing her closer to the Graveyard, but she has to think of something.
"Then it's a good thing I drew the right card," Ray said. "I activate the Equip Spell Lovely Veil! Not only does it protect Hope Dragon Bird from all card effects, but it lets me add one of her sisters from my deck to my hand!"
A white veil materialized onto the field and soared onto Hope Dragon Bird, destroying the Venom Counters and increasing her ATK back to its original amount. At the same time, the veil glowed a bright white light and one of the cards in Ray’s deck started to resonate the same light. Knowing it was one of the other three Hope Dragons, the card slid out so that she could draw it and add it to her hand. Sure enough, it was Hope Dragon Moon.
"Alright Hope Dragon Bird, get rid of that snake!" Ray declared. "Elegant Wind Gust!"
Hope Dragon Bird skyrocketed up in the air and stopped in front of Venom Snake while in the air. She immediately flapped her wings as hard as she could and blasted a breath of a beautiful, dark purple energy from her mouth, creating a powerful gale that wiped Venom Snake off the field and lowering Viper’s Life Points to 3300. Everyone else was thrilled to see Ray getting herself out of this rut with barely any trouble; it was a fine example of how her stubbornness can be a virtue in the face of battle.
"But wait, I'm not done," Ray continued. "Now your field is open for a direct attack! Get him, Lord of Dragons!"
Since Lord of Dragon has a skeletal structure, his skull abruptly burst into flames, promoting him to take it off his body and chuck it towards Viper. The damaging burn to him resulted in 1200 points of damage, leaving him with 2100 Life Points, a little over half of what he originally started with.
"I can see why you are one of the two strongest Duelists in your class," Viper remarked. "You're quite skilled with your deck."
"That's the power of the Hope Dragons," Ray said. "But I'm not quite done. I activate the Continuous Trap card Songbird Assault! As long as I have Hope Dragon Bird on my field, the top card of your deck is removed from play every time I end my turn, which I'll do now!"
The image on the Trap card illuminated white as a songbird appeared out of it and on the field, who then flew to the other side and landed on top of Viper’s deck. It then proceeded to peck at the top card, causing it to disintegrate into the Banished Card Zone. This left him a little frustrated; he figured Ray was a strong Duelist, but he never expected her to counter against his deck, let alone cripple it through banishment and negation. Regardless, he may have a way to get back into the game.
“I play my Snake Whistle!” Viper declared as one of his face-down cards flipped up. “When you attack and destroy a Reptile monster, guess what? This card lets me call upon another on, but I’m not done. Next, I reveal the face-down Trap, Damage = Reptile.” Right as he continued speaking, his second face-down was revealed. “With this in play, I can summon any monster I choose to the field. Of course, its ATK must total the damage I took from Hope Dragon Bird and Lord of Dragons’ attacks.”
“What?” Ray asked.
“That’s right,” Viper responded. “That’s two monsters you have to face. Here’s one: Venom Boa!”
The Continuous Trap’s description states that the special summoned monster must have ATK less than or equal to the battle damage, which was perfect for Viper since he received 1900 damage points. The Field Spell’s pond of venom splashed up to reveal Venom Boa, a Level 5 EARTH Reptile-Type monster with 1600 ATK, 1200 DEF, and an effect that unleashes two Venom Counters at the cost of not attacking the turn it was activated.
“And now the second: Venom Serpent!” Viper continued.
Another portion of venom repeated exactly what it did earlier, only this time it was Venom Serpent. It was a Level 4 DARK Reptile-Type monster with 1000 ATK, 800 DEF, and can place a Venom Counter on one of its opponent’s monsters.
Suddenly, a flash of light appeared briefly next to Viper. Ray's eyes widened. "Michael?" she asked aloud.
"You alright, Ray?" Jaden asked.
"Don't you see it?" Ray asked. She glared at Viper. "What did you do to Michael?!"
"The Magician and Sorcerer Duelist?" Viper asked in response. "I did nothing to that student."
"But it looks like you're holding his spirit hostage!" Ray pointed out.
She wasn’t sure why that flash of light was there, but through her eyes, she could see an orange entity resembling Michael. Why was his spirit forcibly with Viper in the first place? Could that be the reason why he was too exhausted to get out of bed and join the gang? If so, then how did he manage to obtain it so easily? Everyone else was concerned about why Ray was suddenly infuriated with Viper; does he really have Michael’s spirit and has kept it a secret all this time?
"But I'm telling the truth," Viper insisted.
"Then why does that spirit next to you have the same hairstyle he has?!" Ray asked, her angry eyes brimming with tears.
Same hairstyle as Michael’s? What does she mean? Viper knew exactly what Michael’s hair looked like: gray with upward spikes and three divided sections with green streaks in the bangs. Then, his eyes widened and it suddenly started to come together for him as to why Ray would accuse him of capturing Michael’s spirit: he used to have a relative with a similarly matching hairstyle.
"You see Pierce?" Viper asked.
That calmed down Ray a bit. "Who?" she asked.
"My son," Viper explained. "He's the reason why I'm doing all of this. He died from a fatal disease years ago, but I made a deal with an alien demon so he could be revived."
Ray wasn’t certain on how to respond to this revelation, but she knew she couldn’t help but feel bad for Viper. Pierce must have meant everything to him and learning about his mission to bring him back to life proves how strong their familial bond as father and son is. But why specifically use Bio-Bands and Survival Duels? Weren’t there any supernatural ways to try and revive him? Like possibly discovering and searching for seven magical orbs that can grant any wish? Although it was for a good purpose, there was clear evidence about the negative consequences it was having.
"But that's why I have to defeat you," Ray said.
"I beg your pardon?" Viper asked.
"You clearly have a noble reason for your actions," Ray continued. "But it's hurting my friends! So in response to you special summoning your monsters, I activate the Quick-Play Spell Hope's Wish! It'll allow me to summon one of my own monsters: Hope Dragon Moon!"
The monster zone next to Hope Dragon Bird lit up as her lunar sister integrated from below and soared onto the field, getting ready to aid her owner towards victory. With her 2400 ATK, 2000 DEF, and effects to only gain 100 Life Points for blocking a monster zone on the opponent’s field, attack twice during the Battle Phase, and special summon a DARK Beast-Warrior-Type monster, this Level 7 DARK Dragon-Type monster was ready to combat anything that comes in her way.
"Be careful, sister," Hope Dragon Bird told Hope Dragon Moon. "Viper's cards can weaken you and wipe you out in an instant once you lose all of your attack points."
"So that's why Ray equipped you with Lovely Veil," Hope Dragon Moon noted. She glanced over at Ray. "But she only has two other copies of that card. One of us is going to have to sit out."
"It will have to be our sister of wind," Hope Dragon Bird decided. "Our sister of flowers is immune to getting destroyed by card effects. She'll have a better chance of winning."
"Good call, girls," Ray said. "You hear that, Viper? I've got a plan, starting with Hope Dragon Moon using her special ability to block one of your monster zones and give me a life point boost of 100!"
"No matter," Viper said. "Your second dragon is unprotected against Venom Counters."
With Ray’s turn about to end, Venom Swamp splashed out a Venom Counter that lunged itself onto Hope Dragon Moon, draining 500 ATK from her and causing her to wince from the poison. Viper drew a card to signal the start of his turn and began his first Main Phase by activating Venom Boa and Serpent’s effect to place a total of three more Venom Counters on Hope Dragon Moon at the cost of Boa not attacking this turn. The three counters were ejected from the monsters’ mouths and lunged themselves forward and penetrated through her three other legs, leaving her barely hanging on with 400 ATK. Ray and her companions stood and watched the counters inject venom through Hope Dragon Moon’s veins, wondering if this plan the Hope Dragons have will work.
After the effects were done activating, Viper proceeded to send Venom Boa and Venom Serpent to the Graveyard in order to tribute summon Vennominion the King of Poisonous Snakes. He is a Level 8 DARK Reptile-Type monster with 0 ATK and DEF; despite the lack of any strength, everyone knows a monster with no ATK means it has a useful effect. In this case, he gains 500 ATK for every Reptile-Type monster in the Graveyard. He can also be special summoned from the Graveyard after being destroyed by battle by banishing one other destroyed Reptile-Type monster, but he cannot be special summoned by another effect monster's effect. Additionally, he is immune to Venom Swamp’s effects.
There are currently three Reptile-Type monsters in Viper’s Graveyard, so that means Vennominion’s ATK raises up to 1500, which was more than enough to destroy Hope Dragon Moon. He initiated his Battle Phase by declaring his attack on Ray’s lunar dragon.
"Not so fast!" Ray exclaimed. "By attacking a Hope Dragon, you activate my hand trap: Kurihope! This little guy will protect Hope Dragon Moon from harm!"
A flash of light illuminated in front of Hope Dragon Moon and a flower bud rose up from it. The petals opened up and bloomed with arms and legs popping out, revealing the adorable, floral Kurihope, a Level 1 LIGHT Fairy-Type monster with 0 ATK and DEF. Thanks to his effect, he protected Moon by having his card getting discarded, which was represented by forming a force field to block Vennominion’s attack at the expense of getting himself sent to the Graveyard. Everyone witnessing the duel was astonished at this sacrificial yet amazing retaliation, especially Jaden, but that was mainly because he and Yugi aren’t the only ones who use Kuriboh variants.
"But there's more," Ray continued. "Hope Dragon Moon is also immune to getting destroyed by card effects until my turn."
Viper wasn't happy to hear that. "Very well," he said. "You survive for now."
Ray began her turn by drawing a card. "Are you sure this is the right thing to do?" she asked her dragons.
"It's alright," Hope Dragon Moon reassured. "It's the only way to win this duel."
"Very well," Ray said. "I tribute Hope Dragon Moon to bring out her sister! So say hello to Hope Dragon Flower!"
Hope Dragon Moon disintegrated away from the field and made her way to the Graveyard along with the four attached Venom Counters. In her place blossomed her floral sister, Hope Dragon Flower. Harboring 2000 ATK, 1000 DEF, and the ability to gain 100 Life Points when she blocks a monster zone, this Level 6 LIGHT Fairy-Type monster is immune to card effects and attacks, can reduce battle damage to 0 if targeted for an attack, and can special summon a LIGHT Fairy-Type monster from Ray’s deck or hand. Whatever her dragons have planned out, she hoped it’ll work out because it was now time to execute it.
"That's the best you can do?" Viper asked. "That dragon has fewer attack points than your previous one!"
"True, but Hope Dragon Flower has a special ability," Ray said. "She can cast a floral shield on herself to prevent your Venom Counters from reaching her!"
"What?!" Viper asked.
"That's right!" Hope Dragon Flower chimed in. "I'm Ray's strongest defense! Your monsters have no chance against me, and I'll start off by blocking a monster zone to give my mistress 100 life points!"
She blasted a beam of flower petals that covered the chosen monster zone, raising Ray’s Life Points by 100. She then began to cast herself in a shield of the same petals to protect her from damage and card effects; now if a Venom Counter tries to poison her and drain her of her ATK, they’ll instead be destroyed by the energy these flowers possess.
"But there's more," Ray continued. "Thanks to Hope Dragon Bird's special ability, you lose 200 life points for every monster you have on the field. Draining Winds!"
Hope Dragon Bird ascended into the air until she was within a good distance away from Viper. She flapped her wings only once, but it produce an intense gust of wind that brought his Life Points down to 1900.
"And that's enough to take you out," Ray said. "Hope Dragons Bird and Flower, end this duel once and for all!"
The two dragons skyrocketed from their zones and towards the opposite side of the field, with Hope Dragon Flower flapping her wings and opening her mouth to breathe out a energetic blast of flower petals that penetrated through Vennominion and destroying it. Before Viper had time to react, Hope Dragon Bird flew forward and used her wings to bring forth a powerful gale to help deplete his Life Points down to 0. Jaden and his friends all cheered for Ray and her dragons for their victory, knowing having her duel Viper was a smart choice.
"It's over, Viper," Ray said. "Now turn off these Bio-Bands!"
However, Viper actually seemed happy. In fact, he started...glowing? "Thank you, Ms. Akaba," he said.
"For what?" Ray asked.
"For this!" Viper exclaimed, revealing a Bio-Band pendant around his neck. "Thanks to you, I was able to use my own dueling energy!"
Ray immediately took a step back while everyone else stopped celebrating when they heard this sudden twist. Their plan was to have her duel Viper so that Jaden wouldn’t fall victim to the Bio-Band again, even if it meant preventing Pierce’s revival. It had worked like a charm up until this point when he unveiled his Bio-Band pendant, meaning a Duelist was going to lose their energy one way or another, even if that Duelist happened to be the orchestrator of the Survival Duels.
Suddenly, a ghostly image of a young boy with blonde hair appeared. "Pierce?" Viper asked, approaching the ghostly boy.
Pierce's expression twisted into a sinister smirk. "Not quite," he said, revealing a demonic hand.
Pierce opened up the hand and reached it towards Viper’s face, with the fingers getting a firm grip on his skull. Black electricity volted all over the hand and flowed through his victim to shock him, but this was no ordinary electrocution. His entire body suddenly started to glow white, and as it kept expanding, his pained screams grew fainter until they were completely silent. Everyone else saw Viper vanishing from existence and found it hard to believe that “Pierce” most likely killed him; just when things couldn’t get worse, they all saw the same glow enveloping the pillar they were standing on.
Inside the main office, bolts of electricity coated the now malfunctioning tank that once housed the demon and gusts of wind blew both inside and outside of SAL. The strength of the wind and the brightness of the light was becoming too much for the gang to handle. This peculiar oddity even managed to catch the attention of a few members from the Gecko Financial Group.
“Where’s that stream of light coming from?” one of the two soldiers asked.
As the two stared on, a woman joined them to get a look at the light herself. “This can’t be good,” she stated.
She was definitely right about that. The light continued gaining more and more power, brightening the luminescence and blowing the wind at higher gusts. It got to a point where it began to expand even farther than it initially did and it caught the attention of everyone in the Academy, including Bonaparte, Crowler, Dorothy, Jasmine, and Mindy. Back outside, the light was overwhelming Ray, Jaden, and their friends, who were all yelling because of it. The demonic spirit simply stayed put in front of them, hovering a couple inches off the ground as it spoke.
“The power is flowing freely,” the demon said. “Now Jaden will feel my full wrath. Let’s go on a little trip.”
The light grew brighter and brighter as it swallowed all of Duel Academy in its path until everything went white. Were they trapped in a blank slate or in a void where nothing exists? Surprisingly, the answer was neither, which was what everyone would quickly find out when they adjusted their bearings of the unfolding situation.
Meanwhile, back in the Obelisk Blue girls' dorm, Michael had finally woke up. "Morning RayRay," he sleepily muttered. "Did you sleep well?"
However, Michael realized Ray was absent. He chuckled to himself. "She's probably eating breakfast," he guessed. "I'll join her once I freshen up from last night."
He got out of Ray’s bed and grabbed his clothes that were tossed on the floor to wear later. He remembered he brought his Duel Academy-issued gym clothes with him, so he got changed into them so that he would at least have something on in order to head to the bathroom to shower. As he walked down the hallways, part of him had the strangest feeling that it was unusually quiet since there we no female Obelisk Blue students roaming around. He initially assumed not everyone was awake at the moment, so he figured now would be a perfect opportunity to freshen up while he still has the chance.
A few minutes later, he was surprised to see the bathroom wasn’t crowded with the female students because some of them go there to get ready for the day. It was more peculiar about how it was empty, but it didn’t damage the fact he has it all to himself for today and he didn’t want to waste any second of it. He undressed his gym clothes and stepped into what resembled a hot spring; he remembered Ray telling him a few years ago about the hot springs her dorm building has. Being in one for himself was refreshing and relaxing for him, making his experience in here all the worth while.
What isn’t as relaxing is what happened after his bath regimen. Michael had finished getting cleaned up, gotten dressed back into his usual Obelisk Blue uniform, and was heading downstairs to the cafeteria for breakfast. The more he walked, the more he realized something was definitely off. Never in his life has he encountered a silent and empty dorm building other than the Abandoned Dorm. Why is no one around? Where did they all go? Were they already attending classes at the Academy?
However, one look at a nearly clock made Michael realized he overslept waaaaaay too much. "Oh crud!" he exclaimed. He proceeded to rush out of the dorm. "I hope Dr. Crowler doesn't-"
He immediately stopped running to see a sight he never thought he would stumble upon. There was a gigantic crater on the island, located next to the volcano and exactly where Duel Academy was. What happened while he was asleep? Where was everyone? Did something terrible occur to them? …Is Ray okay? Michael called out “RayRay” a couple times, only for the silence to respond to his pleas as he looked around to see if anyone heard him. Unfortunately, no was around to hear him at all. Fearing the worst, he tightly shut his eyes, clenched his hands into fists, and screamed out Ray’s name into the starry night sky.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!"
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