DextrousFox

AO3 fanfic author with bad time management - currently Mafia II AU / happily obsessive about video games, movies, arts, series, the works... / Adhd / not native English speaker / pan / she/her

[dextrousfox]

Chapter 12:

"Boom, Boom"

of

"What It Takes"

is finally out!

(on AO3)

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

[dextrousfox]

Phyre sure is one messy eater...

Or: me when there's pizza and I think nobody's watching

[tgc26]

i love the subtitles so much in this game xd

[fishik]

[dextrousfox]

I just know they do not have many Kindred guests.

[dextrousfox]

I'm not trying to be mean, but he reminds me so much of a ventriloquist's dummy sitting at his piano like that...

[fishik]

Partners

[dextrousfox]

***spoilers***

A Star of Cold Aspect:

While hunting down rogue Sheriff Benny Muldoon, Phyre meets Max Webber for the first time.

Gotta say, I really like Max as he's refreshingly not serving typical Brujah clichés and also seems to be a really nice guy. Opposed to his childe...

In my opinion, him and Benny have similar low self esteem, but deal with that very differently. Max is shy and tries very hard not to get noticed or involved in anything, believing himself to be a failure while Benny tries very hard to seem like the biggest and baddest beast in the kennel, barking at anything that moves. After his Embrace he revels in his strength and power and uses it to end those he thinks lesser than him. As soon as his leash is torn along with Campbell's head he fucks over both the Camarilla and the Sabbat and goes on a rampage.

I'm very interested to see what more context the DLC will offer in terms of Max' and Benny's dynamic/relationship.

Also, Phyre can be very patient even with insolent brats (I'm looking at you, Lou 😅), but looses their composure with gentle Max of all people, after being shown Benny's ring depicting the Mark.

And as soon as Fabien protests, they reign themselves in, though. Loved that.

[dextrousfox]

Ummm...

Aren't we gonna talk about the crime scene in the alley next to Dale's apartment? Somebody forgot to hide a body there...

[dextrousfox]

***heavy spoilers!!!***

So here's some thoughts I had during my second playthrough concerning the present day rebar killings. Feel free to correct me, if I'm wrong.

Though not proven (to my knowledge), I assume Safia executed the newest killings. But I'm unsure whether or not she did the deed herself or sent a minion (maybe Piotr?).

Pandora: Quite obvious, I guess, but I presume her name wasn't really Pandora, but was chosen by Safia for the sake of symbolism. With Fabien rooting around in her mind, he opened the metaphorical Pandora's box and her killing was supposed to kickstart Fabien's memory and is also the first in a number of murders.

Since Safia is privy to the workings of Fabien's mind and a Malkavian's powers, she knew what to plant in Pandora's mind to feed him the information she wanted him to have.

When prodded, Pandora will reveal that she knows Fabien suffered the loss of someone important to him. She is, of course, talking about his sire Gideon here, who was also Safia's partner/lover.

How they managed to kill her that quickly and without alerting anyone is beyond me though. 🤷🏽

Also, why is Fabien leaving footprints, but not the killer?

Sidenote: When you're listening in on Campbell's heartbeat in the memory of the 1925 murder in the Makom Bar, you notice it's actually pretty accelerated. About 120 bpm. For an average man it should be somewhere around 60 bpm standing idly like that. The fucker is either very excited by his deed or terrified of being found out.

[some-lasombra-bullshit]

my theory with the modern rebar killings was safia was behind it but got the sabbat pack to the deeds (ysabelle for ravenna, Willem for Dale and Benny for the guy at the autoshop) which was why Fabien coudlnt smell the killer, their scent was already part of the place. Pandora though im not sure about becuase the makom isnt linked to any of the pack memebers , she seems to know the most about fabien and honestly i cant see Safia sharing that kind of information with the others (i really hope the DLC's go into more detail about how she was running this thing) but i also cant see her risking exposure to do the killing herself. but as you say it could have been Piot? she trusted him enough to deliver phyre. Then again would Piotr have the strength , Campbell was unusually strong even for a ghoul and his domitor has a very impressive brawl stat, Safia doesnt. oooh maybe thinblood potions?

[dextrousfox]

Oh, you're right. That makes total sense. I forgot about the scent thing. I really have to play a game more than once to catch all of the details... And I was so enamored with Safia on my first playthrough that I ignored a lot of hints.

Since Safia seems to have been involved with Anarchs too, the Thinblood potions are a possibility.

I normally don't enjoy cliché villains narrating their whole stick during the finale but Safia could have been a bit more forthcoming with the facts. 😅

[dextrousfox]

***heavy spoilers!!!***

So here's some thoughts I had during my second playthrough concerning the present day rebar killings. Feel free to correct me, if I'm wrong.

Though not proven (to my knowledge), I assume Safia executed the newest killings. But I'm unsure whether or not she did the deed herself or sent a minion (maybe Piotr?).

Pandora: Quite obvious, I guess, but I presume her name wasn't really Pandora, but was chosen by Safia for the sake of symbolism. With Fabien rooting around in her mind, he opened the metaphorical Pandora's box and her killing was supposed to kickstart Fabien's memory and is also the first in a number of murders.

Since Safia is privy to the workings of Fabien's mind and a Malkavian's powers, she knew what to plant in Pandora's mind to feed him the information she wanted him to have.

When prodded, Pandora will reveal that she knows Fabien suffered the loss of someone important to him. She is, of course, talking about his sire Gideon here, who was also Safia's partner/lover.

How they managed to kill her that quickly and without alerting anyone is beyond me though. 🤷🏽

Also, why is Fabien leaving footprints, but not the killer?

Sidenote: When you're listening in on Campbell's heartbeat in the memory of the 1925 murder in the Makom Bar, you notice it's actually pretty accelerated. About 120 bpm. For an average man it should be somewhere around 60 bpm standing idly like that. The fucker is either very excited by his deed or terrified of being found out.

[fishik]

[dextrousfox]

Playing polite Phyre is so much fun. We're all dancing around the fact that this elder vampire could walk right through everyone if they so pleased.

[dextrousfox]

This scene hits different on the second playthrough...

They're both so gorgeous though. *sigh

[dextrousfox]

I like to imagine Safia was actually contemplating here how Phyre managed to get all dolled up in 21st century fashion (including a new hairstyle, piercings and moody nail polish) in the two days since their escape.

[fishik]

[dextrousfox]

This scene hits different on the second playthrough...

They're both so gorgeous though. *sigh

[dextrousfox]

The lighting in this scene is 🤌

I'm only now realising how every location/scene is sort of color-coded differently.