"The chest opened with a loud creak, speaking of years of dust and neglect"
If you want!! I'm excited to see what you'll come up with :>
Thank you for the ask Sophie!! I hope you like what I came up with :)
Fandom: TMBS
The chest opened with a loud creak, speaking of years of dust and neglect. SQ coughed as the dust kicked up, realizing that if this chest had sat here for so long undisturbed, he must be the first person to have entered this room in quite a long time. Peering cautiously in at the contents, SQ saw no clear pattern among the gathered objects: an old pair of mismatched gloves, a small toy ball which seemed in too good condition for its age, suggesting it had rarely ever been used, a small patch of torn plaid fabric that oddly appeared more used than the toy had ever been, an old book with some kind of poorly handwritten title on the front, and an old polaroid photograph depicting two boys who seemed to be slightly younger than he was.
SQ turned the photograph over in his hands, finding writing on the back that read: “Nicholas and Nathaniel Benedict, 10th birthday.” It was the same writing that appeared on the front of the book, which SQ now realized was a journal of sorts. SQ opened up the old and worn pages, too curious to feel guilty, and began to read.
Whoa I didn’t expect myself to love the idea of SQ accidentally stumbling upon his adoptive father’s chest of Old Orphanage Things to Never Be Spoken Of Again until right now. Thanks for the prompt Sophie, I had fun with it! I might have to turn this into a real fic once I finish my many current projects.
If you want to participate in the game, send me an ask with the first line of a fic and I’ll write the next five!
Hello! You mentioned enjoying well-written science fiction and fantasy books in the 5 things that make you happy. What are some of your favorite books in those genres?
That's a great question! The sad answer is that while I love sci fi and fantasy, I haven't had the opportunity to actually sit down and read any in the past few years (due to life things), but hopefully I can get back into it soon (I say as I casually take on a million other things).
However, I can talk about some of the books that I've read in the past that have left the biggest impression on me, and as I was thinking about it-
-I realized that one of these books perfectly leads me into an unhinged rant about one of my MBS theories involving Nicholas, Nathaniel, and SQ. Which I thought you might enjoy.
The book in question is "Double Identity" by Margaret Peterson Haddix. (I'll try to talk about the plot while being as spoiler free as possible).
The premise of the book is that a 12-year-old girl named Bethany discovers that she is a clone, created by her scientist/doctor parents, Hillary and Walter (I forget if one or both of them was a scientist or doctor, it might have just been her dad). They created Bethany when their older daughter, Elizabeth, died in a car accident at the age of 13. Basically, they were sad that their daughter died, so they decided to create a clone to replace her. Bethany, however, does not find out until age 12 that she's a clone or that she ever had an older sister. There's a lot of other stuff in the background involving other family members, this other guy, and some shady financial stuff (creating human clones is expensive), but what I've told you is the basis of it, and I won't spoil anything extra in case someone wants to read it.
Now, I read this book a long time ago, and I mean like over 10 years ago, and yet it has really stuck with me. Not only because of the cloning premise, though that is interesting, but also because of how the book shows just how far the grieving parents go to "recreate" the daughter they lost. For example, when Bethany is around three years old, her parents take her to the pool and "accidently" dunk her under water. Bethany happens to instinctively take a breath of air before going under, opens her eyes underwater, and loves it, later going on to swim competitively. However, Bethany's parents seem very unhappy about this. It's later revealed that Bethany's sister, Elizabeth, the sister she was cloned from, was also taken to the swimming pool by their parents and accidently dunked under water around the same age. Since that day, Elizabeth refused to go near water and devoted her athletic talents towards gymnastics instead. There's more examples, but it becomes creepily clear that Bethany's parents were trying to copy Elizabeth not just in her DNA, but in her life experiences, trauma included, and were very unhappy when things didn't work the same way they did the "first time around" (which. Being doctors, you'd think they'd understand that's not how it works, but they are also portrayed as being really unstable and in grief, especially the mom). The book also raises interesting ethical questions around the idea of "designer babies" and how selecting what genetic "traits" we want in our children can turn from good things like preventing fatal diseases to things like eugenics, capitalism/commercialism, and at its core, just another way of projecting our own values, ideas, wishes, and goals onto our children before they are even born and deciding a future for them that their environment and life experiences might steer them away from, possibly for very good reason.
Now, what does this have to do with an unhinged MBS rant?
If I was a normal sane person, absolutely nothing, but my brain is broken, so I find unhinged MBS rants everywhere. And this book leads me to a theory about SQ that I ultimately abandoned but will share here in case anyone is interested: That SQ is a clone of Curtain (and by extension, Nicholas, since they are identical twins, and as Miss Perumal points out in Season 1 "share the same DNA").
This theory does have some evidence supporting it and there are a few cool things they could do with it.
For example, we know that Curtain misses Nicholas and has always wanted a family, so it would make sense for him to either make a clone of himself as a "mini me" to be his own family since he believes no one else could ever love him (which is actually similar to one of "Double Identity's" subplots, spoilers again sorry), OR if he wanted to make a clone of Nicholas- a clone that "wouldn't leave him this time" - he could use his own DNA since he and Nicholas are identical twins.
Some more evidence supporting this theory are the fact that the actor who plays SQ kinda looks like the actor who plays Curtain/Benedict and the fact that the show states that SQ's birth dad was a neuroscientist who used to work with Curtain, but says nothing about SQ's birth mom (this would be a clever hint at Curtain making a clone to replace Nicholas- since he and Nicholas used to be close and Rhonda and Number 2 mention Nicholas giving neuroscience lectures). Further evidence is the fact that Milligan leaves Curtain's employ because as Curtain states "his conscience" wouldn't allow him to keep working there. So it's possible Milligan found out about Curtain's plans to clone himself a kid, deemed it unethical, and that's why he was brain swept.
There's some cool stuff the show could do with this theory/AU. For example, we see SQ as a teenager and the twins as kids (through flashback), but we don't see the twins as teenagers and we don't see SQ as a child. So, after doing a reveal where we the audience discover SQ is a clone of the twin's DNA, the show could show flashbacks of the twins as teenagers using the actor who plays SQ (Ricardo Ortiz) as the actor for both Nathaniel/Curtain and Nicholas. They could also show flashbacks of child SQ using the actor who plays the twins when they are children (Luke Roessler), or an actor who resembles him (since child actors do age and they might need to recast depending on the season they wanted to do the flashbacks). This could be a really fun opportunity not only to show the versatility of some of the young actors in the cast, but also to establish more connections between Nicholas/Nathaniel/SQ and convey the message that even though SQ is like the twins in a lot of ways, he is also his own person, who isn't an exact copy of either one of them.
However, I ultimately decided to drop this theory and ended up never posting about it because it seems very unlikely.
Despite the previous evidence I presented, I don't believe there is enough to support it. First of all, SQ is older than Kate, and Kate was three when Milligan was brain swept, which means that if Milligan ethically objected to Curtain cloning himself SQ and raising him to be a copy of himself or Nicholas, Milligan wouldn't have found out about this until SQ was older. Which is technically possible, but seems less likely (and also how would Milligan have randomly found out that his boss's elementary school aged kid is a clone?) Furthermore, they mention Milligan being an chemist, Garrison being an engineer, and SQ's birth dad being a neuroscientist, but there is no mention of Curtain or anyone in his employ working in biology or genetics specifically, which casts doubt on the cloning theory. We don't see anything in Garrison's lab that would suggest that or that she or Curtain have done any research involving cloning or genetics in the past. Also, if SQ was a clone of the twins, he would likely have narcolepsy, and yet this is never suggested or even hinted at in season 1 (I suppose it's technically possible they were saving that for season 2 but just couldn't get the actor back, but we have no way of knowing).
Anyway, sorry for ranting. I hope you like the book rant as well as this crazy unhinged AU!
MBS Crack AU that just came to me: SQ Sneaks Off to Stonetown, and, Through a Series of Mishaps, Accidentally Joins the Society (hear me out):
(And apologies as always for spelling/grammar mistakes, I typed this up on my phone pretty late at night, but I hope you still enjoy it).
One day, SQ, tired of being stuck on the island and beginning to get into his "teen rebel" phase decides to sneak off the island to spend the day in Stonetown. He waits for a time when his father needs space, says he’s going to the woods, and sneaks out and back on the supply boat. SQ does this a few times, gets comfortable with it, and eventually make a habit of it.
On one of these occasions, he's looking for something to do and sees a news article advertising to give a scholarship to students looking for special opportunities. SQ figures, "hey, maybe if I get this fancy scholarship, dad will see how capable I am, and maybe he'll give me some more freedom." So he goes to take the tests, and when they ask him to write in his parent's names or family information, he doesn't want to write down his father's name (then they'll call his father and get him in trouble), so he just says that his birth parents are dead (which is true).
SQ passes the exams and is brought in to meet Mr. Benedict. At first, he's like, "oh a guy that looks kinda like my Dad. Weird." because Mr. Benedict looks and acts so different that there's no way it's his dad's twin. Then Mr. Benedict says his name is Nicholas, and SQ's like "WAIT... no, no, it can't be, my dad has a different last name, probably just a… really weird coincidence… yeah that’s it” (deep down he knows the truth, but doesn’t want to admit to actually kinda liking the man who betrayed his father).
Then Mr. Benedict shows them his fancy gadgets, talks about the Emergency, and they are attacked by some people that SQ recognizes as his Dad's security team, after which Mr. Benedict explains that he is certain that the messages are coming from the island where his Dad runs his school and that humanity's last hope is to send in a team of children to stop him.
SQ is internally panicking, obviously, because on the one hand, he can't believe his dad is actually doing anything evil, his father is a good man, surely, he wouldn't, but the evidence is right in front of him.
Then the other kids start dropping their backstories and SQ's like "oh...yeah...my birth parents died too...and uh, yeah that's all there is to that story..." but inside he’s totally freaking out because his dad is the man they are trying to stop, but he can’t tell the society what he knows without telling them who his dad is, and he can’t tell his dad about the society without confessing to sneaking out, and SQ isn’t sure who he wants to tell what to because he is still in denial about his dad being evil (but the evidence is pretty compelling).
Eventually realizing that he has to get back home or his dad is gonna worry, SQ reluctantly tells Mr. Benedict that he can't be part of the team. Mr. Benedict is understanding, tells SQ that he doesn't owe him or anyone else an explanation, and says he'll always be there if SQ needs anything, which makes SQ feel even more guilty. He sneaks back home, and when the other children get to the island, he acts as if he simply changed his mind and decided to come on the mission anyway (and the other children assume Mr. Benedict must have sent in paperwork to get him admitted after them because why else would he be here on a dangerous mission?).
SQ finds being an unwilling double agent isn't as hard as one might think. Curtain doesn't use SQ as a messenger or executive and the fact that he's Dr. Curtain's son isn't widely talked about because SQ never had any friends to being with. And he’s older than the society, so he just tells them he’s in other classes with other older students (that the society is not a part of which is why they don’t see him in class).
So occasionally SQ has to come up with excuses for his dad (saying he has homework to do when he's really going to meet up with the society), and excuses for the society (saying he needs to get to bed early because he's sick, when really he's going to have dinner and work on a project with his dad). Although Constance in particular (due to her psychic powers) regards SQ with suspicion, SQ proves himself useful as he seems to have an intimate knowledge of the island, the executive's schedules, how to sneak into the forest, etc. which the other children chalk up to him just having a natural gift for spying (which must be why he was chosen for the team).
Meanwhile, what SQ really wants is to figure out the truth. He's doing all this double agent stuff and still doesn't know what side he's on. He doesn't want to betray his family or his friends, and he never asked for this.
However, when other children start freaking out like: "oh my gosh: Dr. Curtain is totally Mr. Benedict's twin!", it confirms SQ's suspicions, and at this point, he starts asking his dad more questions about Nicholas. His dad finds this odd, but figures, okay, SQ is getting older, he's curious about his family, so was I at that age, makes sense. So Curtain tells him all about the betrayal, and how (from his perspective) Nicholas broke his promise, spat in his face, and declared his brother dead to him. SQ struggles to believe someone as kind as Mr. Benedict could have ever done that, but he wants to believe his father because he still loves him.
The real turning point comes when SQ overhears his father's conversation with Garrison and sees that they are brain sweeping people (he's hiding with Kate and Constance in the cabinet in Garrison’s lab). At this point, SQ starts really freaking out, because there is no denying his dad is evil now, but he doesn’t know what to do and he can’t go to his friends for emotional support without telling them the truth.
Then, later, when Reynie is freaking out because Constance is hearing voices, Sticky is brainwashed, and Kate is running off the scale the tower alone, he somehow also finds out that SQ is Dr. Curtain’s son. So instead of SQ feeling betrayed by Reynie when he finds Miss Perumal’s letter that Madge drops, the feeling of betrayal is in reverse and Reynie feels betrayed by SQ for lying to them and not telling them that Dr. Curtain is his father.
SQ, when confronted, tells Reynie the truth: that he didn’t know about his dad’s plans, and he wasn’t trying to infiltrate the society, he just wanted to see if he could get a scholarship or something to impress his dad. Reynie asks him what he’s going to do now that he knows the truth and SQ, after some hesitation says that he can’t fight against his own father… but that he’s not going to stop them.
Then SQ goes alone to confront his dad and Curtain once again dodges his questions, which makes SQ lose the little respect he had for him. SQ then overhears the society talking about the narcolepsy thing, and realizes having never seen his dad have a seizure, there is only one emotion his trigger could be (the one emotion SQ has never seen).
SQ tells them about the vulnerability thing, and Reynie gives him one last chance to come with them, but SQ still decides to stay with his dad saying that he wishes he could be their friend, but he can’t abandon his family (and that despite everything is father has done, he doesn’t deserve to be abandoned again). Reynie asks him if that’s what SQ really wants, and SQ affirms it, but doesn’t sound entirely sure.
Then SQ hides and watches the drama between his dad and the society go down from security cameras. He feels awful when he sees how sad and hurt his dad really his, he feels happy when Reynie confirms that his dad does love him, and he feels guilty when Nicholas talks about loving Curtain but needing to leave him (because that’s how SQ feels, but he also sees how much Nicholas leaving has hurt and damaged his father and he doesn’t want to do that).
Once his dad knocks out Nicholas, SQ watches in horror, worried that his dad is gonna like. End him or something, and confirm that he is truly fully evil, but Curtain just leaves Nicholas on the floor and begins the evacuation procedure. SQ, to minimize suspicion, follows the procedure and leaves with his dad and Garrison, playing dumb to everything. SQ also figures that if this is about his dad feeling hurt, maybe he can find a way to make his dad feel better and convince his dad to be a better person too.
Unfortunately, at some point, Curtain realized or guessed that his son was semi-working with the society (and possibly knew all along about SQ's little trips to Stonetown and was monitoring him). He admonishes his son for it, but says that he’s proud of SQ for doing the right thing by choosing to come with him, because what Curtain is doing is for the good of the world and the society would only betray him in the end.
SQ then hesitantly clarifies that he loves his dad, but that he disagrees with his dad and thinks that what he and Dr. Garrison are doing is wrong. He reveals that he found out about the brain sweeping, and begs his dad to promise that he’ll stop doing stuff like that, because it’s wrong and he’ll get arrested, and all SQ wants is for them to be together and be a family. Curtain replies that he loves SQ and wants them to be a family and to be together too. Curtain also acknowledges that the brain sweeping might have been an unpleasant discovery, but that SQ has to trust that it is for the best. SQ says that he isn’t sure he's able to do that, to which Curtain replies that he will be able to soon enough (cue SQ getting gently knocked out and Curtain sweeping him).
Meanwhile, the kids tell Nicholas that SQ is with Curtain and Nicholas’ initial reaction is “I thought he said he couldn’t come! He must have felt guilty and somehow got to the island anyway and now Nathaniel has kidnapped him to get leverage over me and this is all my fault! That poor boy!” and he passes out, only to wake up to be informed that no, actually, that SQ has been Curtain’s adopted son all along and Nicholas’ nephew, and he chose to stay with his father, which again causes Nicholas to pass out. When Nicholas finally calms down and wakes up, he’s more determined than ever to find his family, stating that there must be some good in Nathaniel if he raised such a wonderful son, and that his nephew and his brother need him.
However, SQ at this point, has no memory of his uncle or his friends, and Curtain is determined to keep Nicholas from “stealing” his family again.
Okay listen: I know Show!Curtain adopting SQ leaves us with enough to talk about, but hear me out:
AU where all of the executives (Jackson, Jillson, Martina, and SQ) are Curtain’s adopted kids.
Because the way their characters act would fit perfectly in that context.
✨ Unhinged Rant Below: ✨
I think that you’d actually change very little about the show characters, and they would fit perfectly into the dynamic that would develop if Curtain adopted all of them:
SQ: SQ would be the favorite (because he reminds Curtain of Nicholas) and yet, this causes his siblings to resent him and SQ still feels inferior for not being as good as the rest of them at things he’s been taught to value (e.g., being strong, good at exams, emotionally invulnerable, etc.). It also makes his special moments with his dad (when they do art together) feel less special, because he wishes it didn’t come at the expense of his siblings. Curtain, because of his relationship and experience with Nicholas, tries to cultivate separate relationships with his children individually and does nothing to encourage them to bond with each other (because in his messed up worldview, Curtain actually believes that this is doing them a favor). This leaves SQ feeling even more guilty, misunderstood, and isolated. And yes, as a little kid, he did draw pictures for everyone in his family, and everyone (Curtain included) still has the crayon drawings little SQ made of the five of them together looking happy (though no one, Martina especially, would ever admit to saving the drawing or wishing that it could be their family’s dynamic in reality).
Martina: Martina, as the youngest, would constantly fight to be the best, be the favorite, and win her dad’s approval. Unfortunately for Martina, she’s the one Curtain relates to the most, so he unconsciously projects himself onto her, except Curtain hates himself, so he’s both proud of and disappointed in Martina but can’t articulate why (and he can’t tell Martina how proud he is of her without being vulnerable, so he never does). Martina is super jealous that SQ is clearly the favorite, and although she’s not as good at art, makes sure she’s better than him at everything else. Curtain recognizes her talent and has her in mind to be his successor, but ends up putting more pressure on her instead of giving positive feedback, which makes Martina more desperate to win his approval, and all the more devastated when she fails. Plus, Martina never gets the chance to question whether being Curtain’s successor and following in his footsteps is really what she wants, she just feels like it’s what her dad values her for so she’s afraid to let it go. So naturally, when Kate, Reynie, and Sticky get to the institute and start showing her up academically and athletically, she does not take it well (and might even actively try to sabotage SQ’s friendships with them, and have a very “I told you so” attitude when they are all revealed to be spies).
Jackson and Jillson: Jackson and Jillson don’t get projected on quite as strongly as Martina and SQ (although the fact that they are so close sometimes reminds Curtain of himself and Nicholas). They’re the oldest and technically adults at this point, so while they still try to win Curtain’s approval, they aren’t as desperate, plus they learned a long time ago that competing to be better than Martina or more beloved than SQ is a losing game, and there are benefits to staying out of the spotlight. They also have a close relationship because once Martina and SQ were adopted, Curtain started viewing Martina as the one best suited to be his successor, and SQ as his favorite, so they both got kinda ignored, but at least they had each other. Curtain’s not thrilled about how close Jackson and Jillson are because he assumes one will eventually betray the other, but he allows their dynamic to develop because it happened naturally, and he’s too focused on his other children to do anything about it. Plus, since they are older and not under so much pressure, Jackson and Jillson try to be good and encouraging older siblings to Martina and SQ, but it’s hard when Curtain has such a strong hold over them, and Jackson and Jillson themselves are still loyal to their father.
Now how did Curtain end up adopting not just one but FOUR children? Because he has the same adoptive instincts that Nicholas has, ESPECIALLY when it comes to children labeled as “unwanted” or “undesirable” or when they remind him of himself or Nicholas (but Curtain would never openly acknowledge that). So he sees Jackson and Jillson, and how all they have in the world is each other (just like him and Nicky once), he sees SQ, who is so sweet and kindhearted (like Nicky), and Martina, who insists on being the strongest and best at everything (like baby Nathaniel), and Curtain’s like: “hm. Yes. I see. These orphans are my children now.”
But even though it comes from a place of love, terribly misguided love as it is, Curtain still struggles to be a good dad. He obviously hasn’t gotten over his own past, and unlike Nicholas, who has Number Two, Rhonda, Milligan, and Miss. Perumal, all Curtain has for help is Garrison, who would probably feel too guilty to even want to get near those kids, and Jeffers, who I’m pretty sure would lose them all after five minutes of babysitting (which would result in Curtain screaming at him over the phone because there are four of them, how do you lose all four of them on an island, SQ is a wanderer, sure, but he can’t run that fast, and Jackson and Jillson are always together, so surely you could have just kept track of one of them? Ok, Martina is a troublemaker, but still, it’s an island, how can you not find her? And then I imagine Jeffers mumbling something about a game of hide-and-seek that got “out of hand”).
Now, of course, there would be a plot line where the siblings come together and actually start acting like a loving family (and Martina and SQ would parallel the twins FOR SURE if that wasn’t obvious already). And Jackson and Jillson, when push came to shove, would finally stand up to Curtain if it meant protecting their younger siblings. And Curtain, after some therapy and hard work (and a stern talking to from his brother) would realize that the way he treated his children was toxic for all of them, apologize, and work towards developing a healthier family dynamic with them.
I apologize for all spelling and grammar mistakes. I typed this up very late at night. But I hope you enjoy my incoherent thoughts.
@oflightningandstars Thank you for asking for a quote from my WIP!
🎨 - SQ’s Art
Clearly his father wasn’t in the mood for a conversation. Busy as usual, or at least, what had become the new usual. SQ supposed it was understandable, but it was extremely inconvenient. Especially when he’d been waiting for the perfect opportunity to talk to his father about something.
He walked back to his room, sat down on his bed, and took the documents he’d been carrying around for weeks out of his bag. They were college and scholarship applications to various art schools around the country, all filled out months in advance.
SQ had rehearsed his speech in his head a thousand times. That yes, the Emergency was dangerous, and SQ knew that meant it was safer for him to stay here on Harbor Island, but, there was no end in sight for the Emergency, and SQ was going to be eighteen in about a year, so hopefully, maybe, his father would trust him enough to let him go. Not that his father would be able to stop him; SQ would be a legal adult and his birth parents left him everything they had and set up a college fund, so SQ didn’t need his dad to pay for college or support his decision.
But he still wanted his father's approval. For as long as SQ could remember, he and his father had always had each other. Since SQ’s birth parents died and his father’s brother decided he wanted nothing to do with him, SQ and Curtain were the only family each other had. And SQ wanted his father to see this as a good thing, to be proud of his accomplishments.
My apologies to everyone who followed me for non-fan fic related content, because I've been on a writing kick recently...
...and yes. Yes I did just post another chapter of S.O.S. and I do plan on having periods where I take weeks or even months to update the fic and then post like 3 insanely long chapters at a time like some sort of mad man. But I hope that doesn't stop you from enjoying it!
Chapter 6 Summary: When Garrison and Milligan discover Curtain's plans for their inventions, they disagree on how to best deal with the situation, which creates a rift in their friendship. Meanwhile, eight-year-old SQ and three-year-old Kate attempt to plan a play date.
Click Here to Read the Chapter
Well, @serial-serializednovelreader @myfairkatiecat @oflightningandstars @sophieswundergarten @kneeslapworthy @mvshortcut most of you said you wanted another chapter soon so... here it is! (No pressure to read until you have time, I just realized this thing is already insanely long and will probably end up being the longest thing I've ever written so oops, but I look forward to reading your comments and hope you enjoy it!)
Update: I wrote another short chapter of "S.O.S" (and plan to write more soon!)
Click Here to Read the Fic
Chapter 5 Summary: Five years after the deaths of SQ's parents, Garrison struggles to adjust when she returns from rehab and discovers things at the Institute have changed, and the Wetherall family receives some shocking news. Curtain battles his inner demons and five-year-old SQ faces his father's wrath after he injures himself and breaks the rules in an attempt to save a friend. Meanwhile, when he fails to secure the perimeter, Jeffers vows to get revenge on his workplace nemesis.
I'll tag people who were interested in the fic/updates for this one, I apologize if I miss anyone. @myfairkatiecat @oflightningandstars @serial-serializednovelreader @kneeslapworthy
(Oh and @mvshortcut this is the Milligan/Jeffers one sided rivalry I was talking about earlier...)
On a personal note, I recently was talking to someone who told me that it was okay to like sci-fi and fantasy as long as you weren't a "cringy person who wrote fan fics about it" (yes this person is neurotypical and no, they were not aware that I started doing this to practice writing and get my ideas/hyper fixations out).
So I briefly considered not writing anymore, but then I re-read this post by @sophieswundergarten and decided that if my writing can bring someone that much joy, then cringy or not, it's worth at least trying to see it through to completion, so I hope you continue to enjoy it because I have a couple potential plot twists planned...
