The Gone Series ♡

25

[monster-bringer]

So, I recently did some research on mental illnesses for a character I'm working on and halfway through I had an epiphany.

Caine.

He's not a sociopath. He has histrionic personality disorder. Like, it fits so well.

I just diagnosed him guys, we can all go home now. 😭

[monster-bringer]

Sooo, the DNA of Sam and Caine's father was used to create the Gaiaphage, right? And then Caine and Diana's daughter inhabited the Gaiaphage. So Gaia is, in a way, both Caine’s dad and child.

LOL

[monster-bringer]

So I'm just gonna admit that yesterday I channeled my inner Computer Jack and asked ChatGPT to talk to me like Drake Merwin.

ChatGPT aka Drake: What do you want? If it's something weak, don't waste my time. If it's about chaos, power or watching the world squirm? Then we can talk. Just remember: I'm not here for your feelings. I'm here for pain. So make it good or step aside. What's your game?

[monster-bringer]

Oh boy 🥺😍 my fingers already hurt from all that crossing

Can't wait

[monster-bringer]

Just realized Gone is only rated with 3.8 stars on Goodreads?

I kinda feel personally attacked lol.

[gone-series-orchid]

If Caine never had his power, do you think Drake would have been the boss of the Coates kids?

hmm...i'm not sure! that's an interesting question. on one hand, i can see caine successfully being elected leader of the coates kids if he plays his cards right and acts the charismatic smooth-talker he pretends to be in the first book. i think drake would prefer to lurk behind the scenes as long as caine listens to him and he's in some position of authority where he can get away with being sadistic without consequence.

but i can also see caine and drake being at odds with one another if the former starts treating the latter badly--which, given caine's narcissistic tendencies, is probably inevitable given how power goes to his head seemingly the minute he gets it. drake and caine having to resolve their conflict without caine having his telekinesis could be interesting!

thank you for the ask! feel free to send more!

[monster-bringer]

Throwback to when I was 12 and made these.

[verdigrie-deactivated20230921]

It’s not about who’s got powers, morons. It’s about who’s not afraid. And who’s going to do what has to be done.

[goneseriesanalysis]

Well, here she is: Astrid Ellison as Pride

This one took forever because I wanted to get her perfect, but I couldn’t decide how to do it. I feel like Astrid’s pride and superiority complex is less a result of her truly believing that she is better than others, and more of a defence mechanism built to protect herself because she knows that she will never truly fit in. She’s called the ice queen - too cold and mechanical for most, and yet the one person she loves most in the world, the person who she would do anything to protect, finds her too present. She can’t win. And so she distances herself from people, often resulting in her being blinded by her ideals of morality, as she can’t really see how her actions affect those around her.

I chose blue and black for Astrid’s colour scheme - paired with some chromatic aberration, to appear almost like she’s short-circuiting. I wanted to keep close to her original colour scheme but, as this is a series based on the sins , I decided to switch her white to black.

Hope you enjoy :)

[gone-series-orchid]

The concept of FAYZ survivor drake being like. Just Some Guy is so funny to me. Imagine him working in retail.

i know right?! i just imagine him becoming a complete prep to bolster his “innocent” image...imagine he’s doing an interview, he’s just like “i was changed by the fayz...it made me do Bad Things i’d never do in my normal life...i went insane for a bit” meanwhile the minute the reporters turn away he shoots sam and astrid and co. listening to his spiel from the sidelines a huge shit-eating grin

plus drake working retail is so funny. he’s just a normal guy now. sam and astrid run into him while he’s on his shift at the gap and are just like 😳

[kingofthefayz]

me: i kind of like caine! i think he’s a pretty good (as in well-written) character and his relationships with other characters were interesting.

the rest of the gone fandom:

(this is a joke, obviously everyone has their own opinions and as long as we’re not being really mean to others about them it’s all good!)

[monster-bringer]

not to ask more questions about orc and astrid (so sorry, i hope it's not too annoying, lol), but what did you think of their coates scene in "plague?" what was your reaction to it? what do you think it conveys about orc's feelings for astrid? do you think it's written well?

Oh don`t worry, it`s not annoying at all!

Funfact: When I first read the books, I read them in another language and I noticed a lot of the more intense scenes where completely cut out; I think that’s super interesting, because if you’re gonna translate a book, then why change it in such fundamental ways?

Then a year later I reread them in English, and was kinda shocked, because there was so much more gore than in the translated version.

For example, the scene where Diana cut of Drakes arm? Sam and Astrid forcing Mary to eat? Not a single word of that.

Anyways, sorry for the ramble, but that was one of the scenes that got „softened“ a little and I think that only shows how intense and shocking that scene really was.

One of the many sad things about that scene is Orc slowly turning into a version of his father, drunk, abusive, agressive, dangerous; which was so heartbreaking to see, because his father already brought so much pain into his life.

It was a big climax scene for Astrid as well- „Wouldn’t she want to die if she were Orc? Didn’t she want to die herself?“- which is such an unlikely thing for her to think, since the bible and faith have always been one of her main guides in life, really showing how big her fear and dispair really were.

She could feel Orc’s pain- but at the same time she knew that if she would stay, he would eventually lose his fight with alcohol and let agression take over him. (Though she does come back later, her initial instict was to leave, leaving LP behind and saving herself).

„They would come to understand what monsters they were: grown as ugly inside as Orc was outside.“

Another great line- because isn’t that so unlikely for Astrid as well? Judging others based on their appearance like that, calling another human being ugly? I feel like she’s not the kind of person to do such a thing, under normal circumstances.

(Might be I’m reading too much into that line though, but I just find that interesting)

„She was just the only one who had ever helped him. She was the only one who had ever seen him as Charles Merriman and not just Orc. She should feel his pain.“

He knows that what he’s about to do is wrong, yet he cannot stop himself.

I think we all want the people we love the most to empathize with us, to understand what we’re feeling in hard times, but he wants her to feel his pain on a physical level.

I guess it’s good that Drake showed up, because Astrid couldn’t have known that he was there, so if she would have come back to just Orc- well, he probably would have done what he was thinking about, causing irreparable damage (even more than he already did).

So yes, I think it’s written very well! It really shows if you stare into the Abyss, the Abyss stares back at you. (Getting a little philosophical here.)

My initial reaction to that scene was shock, cause I really didn’t see that coming, Orc bringing her to Coates, her big protector, knight in shining armor, only to have the same thoughts about her as the guy he wanted to protect her from.

A really thought provoking question, thank you!

[monster-bringer]

Thinking about how my friends in middle school used to call Drake sock-hand-guy.

Whip hand who? Beware of sock-hand-guy.

[mewhiphand]

may i present this badly edited meme-

[monster-bringer]

Does anyone here remember gaiaphage.com and the fact that it got 404d all of a sudden?

So many great fanfics, GONE. No poof, no flash of light, no explosion.

[monster-bringer]

what do you think about orc's relationship with astrid?

I think they are a great example of how opposites attract!

Their relationship started long before the FAYZ, what with Astrid helping him with math. That’s how his respect for her built, since she is one of the only people treating him like a human being.

He trusted her with not telling anyone about her helping him (and though she later broke that promise), she didn’t tell anyone about teaching him math, so that he could maintain his reputation as a bully without people taunting him.

I think that fact that she even helped him in the first place shows what a nice person she is at heart, what with her being scared of physical violence and Orc being one of the main bullies in PB at that time and yet she’s still willing to spend her time with to help him become better in school.

Though his respect for her is not really shown until later on in the series, since he initially helped Caine and Drake with capturing her and Sam. (The gym scene)

I think she is one of the reasons he redeemed and eventually became one of the good guys, finding faith etc.

There are some really intense scenes between these two (like the scene at Coates in Plague? That was tough).

That seemed to be some kind of turnaround point for him, maybe this was even the reason in gave up drinking in Fear (I don’t remember if that was ever stated explicitly, but I definitely think that he was so shocked by Drakes statement- something along the lines of: That’s the only way to get her, it’s my way and I see that’s what you’ve been thinking about as well.)

So to stop himself from ever losing control over himself like that again and eventually become like his father, he turned away from alcohol and put his energy in reading the bible (something that Astrid used to do as well.)

She was some kind of role model for him, believing in him, trusting in him, even though he didn’t really deserve that trust, since he had horrible thoughts about her at Coates and yet he was one of her main protectors throughout the entire series, showing how complex their relationship really was.

Thanks for the ask!

[swordpenguin]

is there anyone actually in the gone fandom??? i feel like i’m by myself lmao

[monster-bringer]

Still here!

[monster-bringer]

Thinking about how my friends in middle school used to call Drake sock-hand-guy.

Whip hand who? Beware of sock-hand-guy.