Some old Changeling AU art I made for @dying-sun-light wayyyy back when it was her birthday. Aiden’s body might’ve changed, but the light still reaches him.
(For those of you who missed it back then: the changeling AU is an epic lil story Sunny made about Aiden experiencing…CHANGES…. From being Infected. Absolutely check out her amazing art for it!!!)
why is explaining a villains sad backstory always taken as an effort toward excusing their actions. why does the conversation need to involve the question of excusing anything rather than just making their present behavior way more interesting by complicating their feelings or their motivations. why is acknowledging complicated feelings or motivations taken as apologism in and of itself. why is everyone so incredibly boring
Aiden Caldwell: * roided up monster of a man that could snap ur neck with his pinkie toe, has no control over when he goes absolutely apeshit & murders everyone within a mile radius *
AKA: I have a VERY long and convoluted explanation for how Kyle Crane could be a father-figure to Aiden that I shared with my two buddies, and I am now deeply entrenched in + committed to the bit. So I made father-son content, naturally. It’s mostly senseless gjfkdg
For this story, imagine that we open with Crane’s backstory. His perspective—this whole deal traces his life from Harran and upwards, his various fights and how terribly lonely he is as he travels through the slowly deteriorating world, searching half-heartedly for some half-baked cure for what he’s been reduced to. Like every other man on earth, buddy.
All the while, yes, he’s a Volatile that goes into a fit of what can only be described as insistent monkey brain at nighttime, but he’s still a man, dammit. He craves human connection, and as he always has, he wants to protect + help people. Unfortunately, he can only achieve the latter half. It’s a half-rate substitute for the foremost desire, but that doesn’t change that it’s better than nothing.
As we go over his backstory, we view as he tries―and fails― to save a settlement. They didn’t listen to his warning about approaching Volatiles, and as a consequence, they get slaughtered, with many dying entirely and a solid third becoming infected. The lot of the survivors become Virals. He sorta leaves them alone after that, counseling the Virals as they, over time, begin to lose their human minds to the virus (there’s some INTERESTING world building where human facilities don’t fully shut down til at least a couple weeks into the virus, and Crane gets to talk people through the transition and watch them OFFICIALLY die.)
Well. Some days later a kid comes LITERALLY falling into the settlement, provoking all 21 Virals, and Crane has to put them all down prematurely as they wail at him to just kill them so they don’t hurt this kid.
Aiden initially tries to run from Crane and actually gives him a run for his money, but Jesus, this kid can’t be older than 14, so when Aiden finally thinks he’s lost this ‘weird infected motherfucker’, that’s when Crane springs at him, lifts him by the scruff of his shirt, and--immediately uses his weird telepathy to essentially strip Aiden the fuck down for being completely fucking unattended in the wastes at ‘his age’ and demand that he goes back to his Settlement IMMEDIATELY.
(” Listen, kid--stop screaming, dammit, I get it, I know--LISTEN. Jesus Christ. I know I’m some monster to you but the real problem is the reason why your sorry ass is out here ALONE! What the hell are you doing, kid!?”
“...What the fuck are you????”)
Just imagine Aiden hanging there, mid-air, goggling at this fucking Volatile-adjacent man who is standing in broad daylight and chastising him after chasing him several hundred meters.
“I don’t know what fucking girl you were sweet on here, but I guarantee she’s dead now, and I guarantee that going to have a fucking booty call with her in this day and age is NOT worth your goddamn death. Go HOME.”
Eventually Aiden scrambles together some brain cells thru the shock and he ends up squawking, the picture of baffled indignance, “What the hell are you--I don’t fucking BELONG ANYWHERE, let GO of me, asshole!”
Yeah. Crane initially finds that very hard to believe, but eventually as their conversation continues, he’s forced to accept that, no, Aiden’s fucking serious. He sorta…bluescreens over it. What the hell, he thinks. This 13 year old kid only comes up to my fucking elbow, and he’s out here alone??? Trying to ‘find his sister??’ You must be joking. No way in hell am I leaving this little guy to his own devices.
So, obviously, Crane wants to take Aiden to a settlement to settle in and not be in the wastes anymore, because he knows trying to find anyone in this day and age is a Fool’s Errand, especially someone you haven’t seen in a solid decade.
He feels a bit bad about it, but mostly has zero qualms about telling Aiden so, to which Aiden is like “fuck you no” but either way, Crane eventually “succeeds” in cajoling Aiden into talking to a Settlement. Problem is--Crane didn’t actually succeed. Aiden KNOWS this Settlement is Hostile to Pilgrims. Crane didn’t accept Aiden’s claim that they’d be mean to him because he’s not REALLY a pilgrim (yes he is—Crane doesn’t believe it! The fucking nerve!) and like…”wHoS gOiNg To Be CrUeL tO a KiD, AiDeN??”
Yeah, I’m sure we can guess Aiden’s plan, here. Crane, however, is blissfully unaware of the can of bullshit Aiden’s about to open. This is not going to be softened at all by the fact that, during the travel to the settlement, Aiden and Crane kinda become grudging pals (grudging in that Aiden is softening to Crane over time and VERY angry about it, and Crane is endlessly exasperated by Aiden’s teenagism but also unwillingly(!!) amused by it.)
Soon enough, we’ve got our day of Reckoning. They reach the bigger Settlement. As we and Aiden both expect, they are immediately hostile to Aiden when he reveals he’s a pilgrim—and our poor, previously unaware Crane, in turn, immediately realizes Aiden wasn’t being dramatic, actually, and tries very hard to get Aiden to get the hell out of there and come back over to him without revealing himself to the settlers, because showing himself would cause a panic. Guess who isn’t aware of that because he’s a dumb thirteen year old and the novelty of Crane wore off, like, a week ago? Ding ding ding. It’s Aiden.
Yeah, so, with rising hysteria Crane is trying to get Aiden to bail. Alas, the teenager in Aiden is coming out HARD and, wanting to REALLY prove his point to Crane, who has NOT been listening to his judgment at ALL, Aiden is very showy about calling out to the settlement guards and basically begs for a crossbow bolt between the eyes while Crane literally screams at him mentally.
Right, so. Consequences, here we come. Aiden is so busy being a jerkoff thirteen year old that he’s completely blindsided when one of the Settlers does, indeed ACTUALLY shoot Aiden, right in the front of the shoulder.
A stunned silence. The Settlers look amongst each other, wide-eyed and quiet, but then--as one--almost immediately they decide to commit to the bit. Ohhhh FUCK.
Crane doesn’t even hesitate once that group-decision becomes clear— with some unholy shriek, he leaps into action, and not only swipes the guards off the wall, but flings himself off the wall and seizes Aiden by the middle, loping both of them off into the distance while Aiden screams and shouts for multiple reasons, kicking his dumb little feet.
They have an argument as Crane runs from the Infected he’s accidentally sent into a frenzy between his sudden energy and the smell of Aiden’s blood, and Crane doubles down—he’s like, kid, some people are just assholes, not everyone is like that and no one’ll turn away a KID--especially not one who’s bleeding profusely from the shoulder, now, Jesus Christ, we got to sit down and take care of that soon--and Aiden tells him once more, this time with incredulous insistence, that no, he hadn’t been kidding before and wasn’t kidding now, EVERY fucking settlement this way is hostile as hell to Pilgrims, and after the scene HE made, they were probably going to be on the lookout!
Crane doesn’t want to believe it, but now that truth is starting to actually dawn on him, and he’s just not ready for it. Instead, they eventually lose the Chase and Crane props up Aiden on a car to help him clumsily patch up as best as he can with the materials he’s got on hand from previous finds in hospitals and clinics along the road.
Obviously, it’s a pretty hackneyed job―especially since Aiden botches the fuck out of pulling out the arrow and he can’t give himself stitches. Unnoticed, while Aiden thrashed in pain over the arrow removal, he scrapes the fuck out of his shoulders on the rusty ass car door and gets some minor abrasions—IMPORTANT LATER.
Story marches on. Crane tries to prove Aiden wrong about people being jerks to teenage pilgrims, but it’s pretty obviously a doomed venture when they reach settlement after settlement, and one by one, all of them box Aiden out. Crane gets increasingly frustrated, which comes to a head when he comes raring out and YELLING at the guards who won’t take Aiden in despite his injuries after the twelfth turn-away, which results in a BIG conflict that ends with Crane breaking in, wrecking some shit, and carting Aiden away over his shoulder.
Well, Crane’s meltdown is just the precursor to Aiden blowing up on him, because Crane has only JUST understood what Aiden’s been telling him the whole fucking time! Listen--Aiden’s not sure WHY Crane has been so obstinate about getting him into a settlement, but what he DOES know is that he’s in pain, he’s thirsty, his shoulder and head are killing him, he hasn’t eaten in days, and he’s VERY pissed at Crane. So. While Crane tries to find them a place to hole up for the night and check in on Aiden’s shoulder, they get INTO IT.
This is The Fight. Where Aiden hammers home his goals, and how Crane can’t change his mind. This is the broad strokes of how it goes—this is NOT the dialogue, but essentially what is said:
“It’s not my fault you think it’s stupid, and it’s not my fault you don’t have a Fucking goal.”
“You don't think I have a goal? What do you think I’ve been doing this whole time!? Fuck, kid—I’ve been traveling with you for over a month, you think I’ve just been doing that for the hell of it? I want you to be SAFE!”
“and I’m TELLING you that I REFUSE to be safe until I see this through, and there’s JACK SHIT you can do about it! Either you’re with me, or against me, and there is zero fucking in between. So save yourself the trouble and just LEAVE already! I know you’ve been dying to get rid of me anyway! (stroke of abandonment issue—Crane trying to foist Aiden upon settlements has come across, to him, as an adult he grudgingly trusts trying to abandon him. He thinks Crane is eager to get rid of him)”
“I’m not—what?! Aiden, I’m NOT fucking leaving you, you’re injured and I happen to give a shit about you! You think I want to up and fucking dump you somewhere, that I’d just leave you for dead like this?! Are you joking?! (Crane has misunderstood, a little, but he sounds so earnest here that it throws Aiden off)”
“Well—! If you really gave a shit the way I NEED you to, you’d know just how fucking important Mia is to me, and you wouldn’t tell me over and over again that my one goal in life, my one reason for LIVING, is STUPID. You’ve been nothing but an asshole about this the entire Fucking time and I’m sick of it!”
“… (Crane, being the adult, realizes Aiden is right and accepts ownership of his relentless, though inadvertent assholery) …You’re right, kid. I HAVE been an asshole about this. But fuck, man, look around you. EVERYONE is dead. I have lost so many people, people that meant the world to me, and if that’s pain I can get you to avoid—especially when pursuing it might KILL YOU, I just…I wanted to try.”
“And I want to know what happened.”
“(Crane realizes getting Aiden to give up on this is going to take a lot more time than a single month, and uneasily settles into ‘agreeing’ to help him, because this is stupid but he cares enough about this punk ass kid to want to stick around.) Okay. Alright. Fine. Then I’ll help you find her. For real, this time.”
With that cleared, they finally chill the fuck out. Crane awkwardly leaves Aiden to mope it out while he goes and gets them dinner, because Aiden hasn’t eaten in awhile and he needs sustenance. He goes and manages to take down a couple rabbits, raids a nearby settlement for veggies bcus they pissed him off, and Crane goes back to Aiden to find the kid miserably dozing in the big master’s bed, smelling like he’s in pain. He clumsily makes a rabbit stew and brings it to Aiden, who says in a surly tone, “I’m not hungry.”
Initially Crane assumes Aiden’s doing that classic teenager thing and—since he’s still feeling like an asshole about earlier—he’s gentle with it. He’s like, “Aiden, listen, dude. I know you’re probably pissed off. I would be pissed, hell, I’d be fucking livid if I were you. But even if that’s true, in this day and age, it’s never a good idea to refuse hot food. You can glare daggers at me the whole time, but please just eat something.”
To which Aiden says, with appropriate shame and a much softer face, “Yeah, you got me, I’ve done that before, but I’m not being a hardass for funsies right now.” He sounds a little troubled as he admits, “I’m actually not hungry.”
“Aiden, you’ve barely eaten these last couple days. I want to believe you, kid, but you’re a teenager--there’s no way in hell you’re not hungry, unless somethings wrong.” The rising anxiousness in Crane’s tone prevents Aiden’s hackles from going up entirely, so he just snips,
“Didn’t we just argue about you not fucking listening to me? I’m serious, I really don’t want to eat right now.”
Crane’s heart hammers a bit, “…Do you think something might be wrong?”
“My head just hurts, and my stomach’s in knots, probably over the argument.” Crane feels a distinctly hard twinge of guilt. “I just don’t like fighting. This is probably nothing special. I’m sure I’ll be fine in the morning.”
Crane eventually cajoles Aiden into eating—he pushes the stew around and manages to get down like half of it, which just worries Crane more. He puts it up in the miraculously still-working fridge and goes to settle for the night. Well. Some hours later—when it’s 2am and Crane’s still in stupid-mode (remember: that’s how he is as a Sentient Volatile—he doesn’t get bloodlust. Stupid Insistent Monkey Brain because I can’t handle violent Crane), he’s woken by the sound of his kid hurling over the side of the bed.
He lopes into the room in a hurry like “!!! What ! The fuck ! hurt?!” and Aiden tries to wave him off like “I just don’t think the rabbit sat well with me.” But he’s trembling, sweating, listing a little bit, and pale as fuck. Crane immediately feels his face—he’s sodden with sweat, and boiling. Oh fuck, he’s feverish. He goes to manhandle Aiden out of the blankets and curls his hand carefully around Aiden’s injured shoulder, avoiding the front—but when he grabs the back of Aiden’s shoulder, the kid nearly Fucking convulses.
Oh fuck.
Remember that scrape he got on his back from the rusty car door when he pulled the arrow out of the front of the shoulder?
Yeah. Turns out one of the scrapes was a proper cut, and it got infected with bacteria. Aiden missed it because he doesn’t have eyes back there and, yknow, the front of his shoulder was in such overwhelming pain, and Crane missed it because he was so fixated on the front too. But now there’s visible pus in it and even though Crane is still in stupid-mode, he’s still got the faculties to think to himself a very emphatic, “Fuck.”
He’s like “we need! Pills! Medicine!” and Aiden’s like “so long as it’s not penicillin it’s fine” and Cranes like “?!?!? WHAT.” to which Aiden explains that, for some godforsaken reason, he’s allergic as hell to the one (1) antibiotic that is still around in abundance—penicillin. Cranes like “where! The fuck!! Am I gonna find an antibiotic that’s NOT ! Penicillin! Fuck!”
They start with the first Crane finds—Doxycycline hyclate. It was manufactured in 2022 — it’s 2032. Unfortunately, they don’t really do shit. They went over the expiry for them, and though SOME might still be effective, ultimately they just barely make a dent in the infection. Things are starting to look dire, and the area is starting to clog up with migrating infected and bandits, so they gotta move.
Crane ends up rigging together, basically, a baby carrier for his back to keep Aiden hoisted securely on him using bungee cords and other materials he raids from a hiking store in a Volatile Hive mall. By this point, Aiden is so feverish he can barely speak, much less travel. So he gets Aiden secured, grabs their shit, and in a last ditch effort makes it to a Very large hospital-turned-hive, and basically sets Aiden up in a room, secures it, and fucking destroys all of the Infected in there while staying in tune with Aiden’s struggling heartbeats and deteriorating mind.
Eventually the hospital is secure, Crane reboots the UV lights to keep the nasties out, and rifles through what remains. Blessedly, he finds not only proper I.V needles and fluid, but ALSO Ciprofloxacin, which can last 142 months after expiry before it really is dangerous. It was made in June 2024– it’s February 2032. Only 92 months, well within the limit.
He sets Aiden up with the IV, and with the antibiotics―which he very carefully coaxes the boy into swallowing. By the time Aiden takes these, he’s dangerously close to death’s door, and not altogether there. So at some point he wakes in a hospital room, with shit shoved in his arm, very disoriented, woozy, and hot.
So. Very understandably he loses his absolute fucking shit. Which gives me the opportunity for some VERY heart-wrenching whumpy bullshit wherein Crane gets to cradle a very-nearly wailing Aiden and calm him down from, essentially, a post-traumatic meltdown. Just like I wish my parents woulda done with me, hahaha.
Jesus Christ.
Well. Anyway. Between the IV keeping him hydrated, the antibiotics finally working to fight the infection and compounding on the mild effect the previous ones had, and the comfortable bed, Aiden’s condition does rapidly improve. By the time two days go by, the fever finally diminishes enough for Aiden to be fully coherent. He’s still absolutely miserable, but at least he’s back with it, right? Mmn. It would be nice if he didn’t have to contend with Crane’s deep and almost frantic doting concern, which was exponentially worsened by his flip-out over simply being in a hospital bed.
Eventually: “So you, uh…I didn’t want to bring it up too fast, but I don’t know if you remember―you had a pretty strong reaction to being in a hospital bed, buddy. What uh. What’s going on there?”
Aiden puts down his comic book and squeezes his eyes shut. Fuuuck.
So they’re having this conversation. Awesome. Well. Crane just saved his absolute dick and ass, and went above and beyond to care for him. And like…the guy’s alright. He’s clearly in this for the long haul, so Aiden guesses he sorta owes the dude the full explanation. So he gets into it. Talking about the experiments Waltz was running on the GRE’s dime for some fucking reason, and all the awful shit he was put through.
Crane is.
AGHAST.
...I’m not even going to comment on,, all of THAT, because there’s jack shit I can say to--well. Y’know. Just, holy fuck. Holy fuck. But uh. Make no mistake kid―not your fault, I don’t judge you for that―I mean, look at me, how am I gonna judge someone?--and--and those people fucking suck. I hope you know you’re getting babied forever now though. Fuck, dude.”
“...”
“ᴺᵃᶦˡᵉᵈ ᶦᵗ”
“Ur not my fucking dad, Crane.”
“Yeah, I’m glad! I got a bone to pick with that dude.”
“Jesus. Whatever, look―is babying me going to involve that weird baby carrier thing you were doing the other day?”
“...Holy shit, you remember that?”
It does, indeed, entail the baby carrier thing, though admittedly it’s more for the hell of it. They both come to realize that Crane can travel a helluva lot faster than Aiden can, and if they can trade off on who’s leading, they can travel way farther and waste less time. So they develop a routine―during the day, Crane helps Aiden scavenge―goes where Aiden cannot―while Aiden works on gathering info on his sister and Waltz, does errands, and basically does life maintenance.
By the time sunset rolls around, Aiden and Crane pack up, strap Aiden to his back, pad him a lil bit, and essentially just let Stupid Brain Crane jettison through the night and get his zoomies out with Aiden secured to him. Aiden comes to sleep exceptionally well whilst having the Fuck shook out of him, and only really sleep good when Crane’s there.
Aiden pretends to hate the baby carrier--he tries real hard. Crane figures out pretty quick that he's full of shit. He lets it alone tho lol
Wintering is kinda cute―they make, essentially, a gigantic soft nest to appeal to Crane, and they essentially hibernate together. Just like that, Crane acquires the human connection he craves and like, a weird quirked-up whiteboy of a son. And Aiden gets an adult who protects him and loves him like their own, giving him a parent. So cute. Wow. Love it.
So obviously this gets a little fucked up once they get to Villedor almost nine years later. Aiden’s 21 now, going on 22.
Crane has to make a very tough call―he’s not…going into the city with Aiden. At first, Aiden’s really betrayed―he came this far, just to leave him behind here? What the fuck? Crane quickly explains that he’d love to stay with Aiden, but this is a city full of people. There’s no way in hell Crane can fly under the radar here, and…Aiden has finally found where Mia is. But he won’t find her without acceptance from the locals. And the thought that Crane could fuck that up for him without even trying? Hell no. Crane couldn’t bear it.
And, well…Aiden can’t really argue with that. He wants to, desperately, because Crane’s been by his side for like, a third of his life! The thought of being apart from him after all this time feels weird, wrong, and anxiety-inducing. For BOTH of them. So Crane’s quick to assure―
“Don’t worry, kid. I’m not going to up and lope off into the fucking sunset. You know this radio station we’re in, right now? I’ll just roost here. Make a nice nest and everything. And when you find her, and when you’re ready to either leave or stay, you can just come visit whenever. I’ll work on clearing the metro and putting in UV lights if you leave me any, just so your path out stays open, alright?”
“...And you’ll stay on the radio?” Aiden asks in this small voice.
“Kid… you know I can’t actually talk, right? All I’ve got is this weird mind-link shit, and once you’re out of range, well…”
“But I can talk to YOU. And you―you can do clicks and stuff, yeah? I’ll just ask yes or no questions―two clicks for yes, one for no.”
And hey, that works. They get Crane set up, and while Aiden sets up the bed and gets ready to sleep for the night, Crane scopes out the metro at sunset and goes apeshit on the Volatiles in there. Sets up some UV lights and secures the area, if only so his boy doesn’t get his ass handed to him. Heads back. Now they usually share the bed―Crane’ll be a warm wall of flesh behind Aiden, cover his back and all. They usually reserve the Whole Ticket for winter when it's too damn cold.
For this last night, they indulge in the winter cuddle. Aiden curls up straight in Crane’s lap, head tucked into his neck, and basically sleeps sprawled across the guy’s chest.
As Aiden sleeps, Crane actually cries a little. Softly, with tear ducts that don’t work anyway. He’s really going to miss this kid, and the reality of not seeing him for awhile―possibly not ever again, if Aiden’s unlucky enough―is really starting to hit the dude.
It’s hard to let him go the next day, but he knows this means the world to Aiden, so he doesn’t say a word to stop him. He watches Aiden head towards Villedor the next morning after one last hug. His slowly heaving heart fills with dread.
---
I'm not quite sure how I want to approach Villedor in this one: I DO want Aiden to go thru the story and all that, but I'm not sure how or when I want him to get Infected, nor how often I want Crane to come into play.
I DO want there to be a consistent subplot of Crane befriending a shitload of feral cats and becoming the ultimate catdad whilst he mopes about missing his kid.
I do also really want Aiden to employ diplomacy and get the PK to retreat from Old Villedor without extensive bloodshed since being around Crane has given him the (in Dodger’s words, coconut-sized) balls to defy authority (especially because not being able to try diplomacy in the canon game makes me very sad--so many human lives wasted!)
And I DO want Crane to swoop in and save Aiden from Waltz at the electric car factory and basically scream something to the effect of, "GET THE FUCK OFF MY SON YOU FUCKING ANIMAL." @ Waltz before bailing and forcibly seizing Lawan in one arm, Aiden in the other, as Crane jettisons them to the Central Loop.
(Lawan flips the fuck out over this random Infected, and it is utterly, comically side-burnered by Aiden reuniting with his 'dad', Crane, despite the objective insanity of the happenstance)
Aiden, sobbing: so much terrible shit has happened, a random man broke my heart, I fucking hate this city, I missed you so much, this sucks
Crane, soothingly: If you want to bail for now, it's okay, you can come home with me and the cats for awhile and try again later. We have time.
Aiden: Wait, cats? Cats, plural?
Lawan:
Last but not least I ALSO know that I want Crane to eventually give up on totally behaving himself and instead venture into Villedor regularly--initially 'just to find cat food' but eventually just to sweep the Infected off the streets, throw useful shit into strongholds, and save as many people as possible.
An urban legend starts to thrum thru all of the city--there is a talking Volatile man who eats other Infected, throws antibiotics at people, and gives absolutely fuckall 0 shits about UV light. Apparently he is usually toting around cat products--toys, litter, kibble, nip, etc--and is very friendly. People are terrified out of their wits at first, but the more he talks about his alleged four cats and doesn't rip people into ribbons, the more the fear fades.
Aiden hears about this and, with a very amused nose-exhale, thinks to himself, 'oh man, wonder who that could be. what a mystery. so intriguing. Ah, good on you, old man.'
1. You are responsible for your own media experience.
2. There is such a thing as a healthy level of avoidance towards topics that make you feel unwell or even (in a real-life clinical definition of the term) trigger you - but you are the one to actively take care of what you view.
3. Avoiding does not mean policing others.
4. You have no right to tell artists to censor themselves - you may criticize what others do, you may dislike it, that’s fine - but actively asking for censorship when you could easily unfollow or block a person just makes you look incompetent in your use of the internet.
5. Do not give people on tumblr or /any/ website the responsibility for your emotional well-being. Because these people do not even know you so no, you have no right to ask them to take care of you.
6. Content creators are not your parents and owe you nothing, not even a breakdown on why their content isn’t problematic. You don’t get to demand a dissertation denouncing any and everything unhealthy in a piece you don’t like. Move on.
7. Tagging is a nicety but not an obligation. You can message people, politely, and ask them to tag things, and many people will, but understand that it’s their blog and they aren’t obliged to say yes. Unfollow and block when you need to. Circling back to number 1, you are responsible for curating your own experience.
8. Don’t be a jerk. Remember at the end of the day, there are actual living, breathing people behind each screen name. Don’t say anything you wouldn’t say to someone’s face in real life.
TECHLAND WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THE BOY. MY BOY. FUCK YOU. WHY DOES HIS HAIR LOOK SO CRUSTY??? HE LOOKS LIKE A FUCKING CRINGEASS FRAT BOY. IM FINNA PHYSICALLY FIGHT YOU. SQUARE THE FUCK UP CUZ IM COMING FOR YOUR KNEECAPS
being a horror fan that experiences panic inducing paranoia fucking sucks like ill just be like wow i cant wait to go watch scary shadow creature video number 74 and then spend the rest of the night clutching my phone with the flashlight on and playing five nights at freddys 4 in real life
like im aware that watching horror stuff at like 3am is going to make me think that slenderman is in my kitchen but also im a dumb bitch who sees scary video thinks yay i love scary video :) and immediately watches it
It’s actually very normal for writers to want recognition for their work. It’s okay to wish for it.
It is also important to remember that your worth can’t be measured by the amount of comments or kudos you receive, but you’re not wrong for wanting people to interact with your work.
Logistics of Chickens in The Tower: AKA Kyle Crane Torturing Himself (Again)
In the first Dying Light game, there’s a mini side-quest where you can find this dude Khaliq his glasses. Attached to this quest is an objective to find a gardening book.
Once you give him those things, the Tower'll gain a goofy little rooftop garden that looks like it flourishes. Which is totally bitching because then folks get fresh produce. Hell yeah! So fun. No scurvy or whatever for these guys.
But I got to thinkin’. Rooftop garden is all well and good. Love produce. Lettuce??? So here for that shit. But you know what makes produce even BETTER?????? Protein! Which must DECIDELY be in short supply, countless human bodies not-withstanding since I doubt the survivors would have any interest in cannibalism. Yes, they’ve got what looks like canned ham, but canned meat is fucking gross. And given that live animals seem like a rare commodity, I was like:
"The Tower would probably LOVE to have a couple chickens since eggs are multi-use and they don't need TOO much to eat (compared to humans) and they do well with produce. Which the Tower is sure to have an excess of. I mean, fuck, I grew cucumbers in AZ heat, dead of summer, and I still had fucking WAGONS full of cucumbers in a matter of weeks. Like, a genuinely unconscionable amount. And as it turns out, you get real sick of those after a hot min. If I know humans, there’s like a 100% chance that after five straight weeks of eating cucumbers for their fresh produce of the day, people would be fucking beside themselves. But chickens wouldn't be."
But then I thought of the logistics of trying to get chickens from bumfuck middle of nowhere all the way over to the Tower, and then up the Tower without anyone being seriously maimed, and I was like, "There's no way they would though. Too much work."
Then I was like.
“Oh. I forgot about Sir Masochist Kyle "I climbed to the top of Infamy Bridge at ass o'clock for fucking lightbulbs" Crane" and I was like “...He totally would."
So now I have this truly Kyle-torturous idea where he finds a couple bedraggled chickens scampering around a backyard on the outskirts of the slums--near the ocean, past Infamy bridge, past the Ferry station, nearby the Railroad station safe zone where Rais' men were with the dynamite. A VERY specific area.
Here’s how it goes. So he finds these chickens, right. And obviously he radios Brecken like "Hey Harris. Uh. I found some chickens. Live ones. We have shittons of cucumbers and I’m pretty sure these lil guys eat those. Do you think we have a place we can put em? Bcus like, eggs are good. And stuff."
and Brecken's like "You found fucking what"
"Chickens."
"LIVE chickens."
"...Yeah."
Brecken sounds like he cannot fucking believe their luck. He's like "If you don't bring those little bastards back, I will actually stab you. Where are you? Alfie's friends helped fix up a car and I could send em over if it's an accessible location" and it is decidedly Not an accessible location so Kyle, resident try-hard, is like "Nah don't worry about it. It's just a couple hungry chickens. I got this."
",,,You HAVE dealt with chickens before, yeah?"
"Well,,,no, but they're just chickens. I can hold one in a single hand. How hard could it be?"
He doesn't understand why Brecken laughs and laughs and laughs at him. Brecken's just like "No, I'd love to see you try, really, but seriously, just stay there. I'll send some Runners over to help."
Kyle's mildly offended. Yes, he's a city boy. Yes, he's never really encountered chickens in his life. But he is a grown ass man. These are just a bunch of sleepy-looking feathery fucks. They're cute, even! It's gonna be fine. He'll just....meet the Runners halfway, alright? So he tries to pick up a chicken.
Dude.
This is where this chicken goes fucking ballistic. With unadulterated rage held at an intensity that does not, at ALL, seem like it should fit into that itty bitty feather body, this chicken kicks the shit out of Kyle. It takes him thirty minutes to wrestle--LITERALLY WRESTLE--five hollering chickens--two roosters and three hens--into a busted ass cage. He is yelling the ENTIRE time.
By the time he’s done, I’d imagine he could hear several Virals pounding the shit out of the barb wire fence and is Praying that it holds. Once these asshole chickens are securely locked in, they are still hissing and spitting at him, Virals are spitting and hissing at him in equal measure, he is covered in a multitude of cuts, he is just a little faint from mild blood loss and heat exhaustion, and he is embarrassingly close to frustrated tears.
He stabs the Virals through the fence with mute, rage-filled precision, grabs the chickens, throws a couple bags of their heavy-ass feed into his backpack, and off he trots, moving down to the coast and following it to just before the Ferry station (less Infected near the water--fuck that tunnel by the gas station hide-out), hugging it all the way under Infamy Bridge, up the road and all the way to the Fisherman's village, then up the road, up to the cell tower(?) safe house, and then down towards some of the slums, and then towards Zere's research trailer.
By the time he nears the Tower, the chickens are making such a ruckus that he's been relentlessly swinging his sword one-handed at encroaching zombies and he is YELLING at the chickens to just shut the fuck up.
So obviously, Spike is drawn outside by the noise. He comes to a scene of Kyle Crane, covered in blood, holding a writhing crate of chickens in one arm, and battling back easily 20 zombies with a sword one-handed. The guards are frozen, watching the spectacle, so he kicks em into motion and in seconds, the zombies are decimated by bullets.
Crane turns to look at him with a look of SUCH despair and he says, distraught, as Virals immediately start shrieking from somewhere scarily nearby, "Why. Why would you shoot guns?" and Spike feels really bad.
So Kyle books it back to the Tower, makes it up all those stairs in less that two minutes as Virals just start to get their eyes on him, and he all but throws the chickens at Blake, one of the dudes who guards the entrance. Kyle crawls up the wall to the Tower landing. Flops on his back. Does not move. Blake peers down at him, concerned.
"You alright?"
Blake looks warily at the extremely angry chickens in the crate. Kyle just shoots him a look of utter despair. Blake nods, and wanders off to find bandages. Eventually Kyle hauls himself up, and radios Brecken. "The chickens are at the fucking Tower. Tell me where I'm putting these little bastards or so help me GOD, Harris."
Brecken's like "Holy SHIT, Kyle. My runner's have been looking for you for ages. Let me radio em back--we set up a coop for them on the roof."
Kyle scrubs his face. "FINE." and he picks up the chickens. Trudges to the elevator. Goes up to the top, climbs the stairs to the roof, and finds Khaliq, who looks like he's trying VERY hard not to laugh at the look on Kyle's face.
"Let me take those from you, friend." Khaliq says consolingly. "You'll be the first to get some scrambled eggs, I'll make sure of it."
Kyle goes into the fenced in "coop" himself. Puts the crate of chickens in the coop. Stares at it, heaving. "I don't even fucking like eggs. They're gross. They're so gross." One of the chickens does not appear to appreciate this honesty and lets out a particularly loud caw. "Shut UP." Kyle goes, and kicks the side of the crate because he apparently, at this point, has the rage-impulse-control of a twelve year old.
Unfortunately, God shows yet again that He does not like twelve year olds and the crate busts open. Not only do the chickens gang up on Kyle for one last hurrah in beating the living shit out of him, not only is this the scene that Brecken comes to the roof just in time to see, but Kyle ALSO gets to onlook in utter despair as all five chickens make a break for the open coop door, haul ass to the edge of the roof, and fucking jump off.
He just. He just lays there on the ground, face pressed to the top of the roof, while Brecken and Khaliq lose it.
Thankfully, the chickens are aerodynamic and take awhile to fall. And they fall right into the arms of the runners who'd been called back from looking for Kyle, and--since the chickens are now paralyzed with terror--they are very cooperative all the way back up, and they make it safe and sound into the coop after all.
Now. We are not done YET. Bcus recall.
There is a recurrent easter egg in the Dying Light games where chickens are aliens.
So there is one night. Where Crane is on the roof of the tower, enjoying the air, because he had this awful nightmare of chickens eating his organs and crawling out of his ribcage. He goes over to go angrily pelt them with cucumber chunks because it IS helpful--it feeds them--and he gets some satisfaction out of nailing them on the heads with the cucumbers chunks since it doesn't hurt them--just startles them
But as he rounds the corner to see the chickens, all five of them are crowded around a mysterious looking device and speaking into it.
"Yes, we tested him. His perseverance was most admirable. Anger control leaves a bit to be desired, but he was ruthlessly effective. He may be a good candidate for our blessing."
He stares. Rubs his eyes.
"What the fuck are you guys doing?" He says, shaking his head in utter disbelief. He prays to God that he is hallucinating. God does not answer.
Instead, one of the chickens turns to him, real slow. Crawls onto the side of the coop with very un-chickenlike crawling skills. Looks him directly in the eyes.
"No one will ever believe you." The chicken says. "Ba-cawk!" and it falls backwards into the coop, alongside the others, which are now acting remarkably more chicken-like.
The mysterious device is now gone, having disappeared while Kyle was distracted by the chicken looking into his eyes.
Kyle stares at the chickens for awhile. He wishes he could say he was thinking, pondering, even. But there are literally no fucking thoughts in his head. He has a big capacity for bullshit--his fuckbudget is massive. But somehow. Finally. He has finally encountered something that does not fit into it.
He goes to bed. He never fucking tells ANYONE.
(And when he wakes up one morning with a chicken stood on his chest, face inches from his, he just goes back to sleep. He does not get paid enough for this, or enough to ponder WHY he's a little more aerodynamic after that. No, sir.)
The people who have sticks up their asses on this website about ✨paying attention in 10th grade english class✨ have the barest and most basic understanding of literary analysis though
No, the point of reading isn't exclusively to decipher the meaning an author is conveying to you, there are many many critical lenses for interpreting a text, some don't give all that much of a shit what the author meant.
Yes, a story isn't necessarily approving of an evil action by depicting it, but it's also not necessarily "showing" that it's evil either. Those aren't the options. Stories don't just exist to teach moral lessons.
To understand and enjoy SO MANY stories, you must disconnect yourself from the framework that a story is always, in some way, teaching you how to behave morally or what "right" behavior is, and particularly that a "likable" character is a morally correct one that you're supposed to empathize with.
Sometimes, a character is supposed to be reprehensible and YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO EMPATHIZE WITH THEM.
But even more importantly, sometimes a story simply is not necessarily designating a character's actions as "right" or "wrong." That just isn't what is being communicated.
Sometimes a story is asking "What if this happened? Wouldn't that be fucked up?" And this is in no way less "deep" or meaningful or worthy of analysis.
Well, I Can't Tell You, It's Classified @malimangle - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
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