Dont Forget What Happened To Icarus

UNSEEN

One last thought about the mindbreak AU before bed:

It's a normal day in Vee Tower. Velvette's in her quarters, trying to livestream, when Valentino bursts in, bitching that he can't find Vox and that he's not answering his calls. Velvette pauses the stream to yell at Val for interrupting her work with something so petty— Vox is probably ignoring him on purpose because of shit like this. They go on like that for a bit until suddenly, the tower experiences a brownout. Velvette's laptop starts glitching out— not only is the internet down, but the computer itself seems to be corrupting. This is all highly unusual; the tower never loses power, since they're the ones producing most of the damn stuff. And then Alastor's voice starts emanating from every speaker in the building.

He welcomes everyone back to his show, saying that tonight's broadcast will be a very special one– a throwback to his older work. This week's guest is a powerful overlord from the entertainment district and one-time close personal friend of his: Vox, the Media Demon! Vox's voice is heard, cursing at Alastor in response, followed by the sound of shattering glass. Don't touch that dial, Al says, for tonight's show will be very entertaining, indeed.

Valentino and Velvette are frozen for a moment, rooted to the spot in terror. Then, before Velvette can even process what's happening, Val tears off down the hallway to his quarters, scrambling for every gun and angelic weapon he owns. Velvette goes after him, yelling to slow down, that this might be a trap and that there are ways to fake someone's voice. And then the screaming starts. Velvette may not have ever experienced one of Alastor's broadcasts before, but she can tell on an instinctual, animal level that the sounds coming out of the tower's speakers are not AI.

Val tears off to the roof, barely able to contain his demonic form as Velvette runs behind him. He almost takes off without her, but grabs her at the last moment when she shouts to take her with him. In his full demon form, Val makes a beeline for Alastor's radio tower, with Velvette dangling off of him. She tries to make calls and check social media for more information, but her phone is completely non-functional, along with every other piece of modern technology in Pentagram City. The only things that seem to be working are the speakers, all of which are playing Alastor's broadcast, city-wide.

When they reach Alastor's tower, Val immediately starts tearing through everything he can, but to Velvette's horror, no matter how much of the tower they search, they don't find anyone: Alastor and Vox aren't there. Vox's screams are echoing throughout the city and Val is yelling and crying and smashing things in vain and she's just stuck there, useless, unable to do anything about it.

Eventually, the broadcast comes to an end. Alastor thanks Vox and the audience for a delightful show and signs off. The power and cell service suddenly come back on. Val and Velvette only have a few moments to try and wrap their minds around at the fact that they didn't make it in time before Velvette's phone starts blowing up. She gets a call from her secretary: Alastor just dumped Vox's mangled body in the middle of the lobby before vanishing into thin air. The two of them race back to the tower.

Everyone is astounded to learn that, when they scan his systems, Vox is still alive, although completely non-functional at the moment. VoxTek employees scramble to repair his mutilated body, all while Val screams at them to work faster, to fix him. Velvette is approached by one of her employees; they've looked over the security footage and it turns out that Vox and Alastor were actually in the basement of the tower, in one of Val's studios no less. They don't have footage of the actual event, but they do have the aftermath, with Alastor (in pretty rough shape himself) dragging Vox's body back upstairs. Velvette goes numb at the news. They were in the same building the whole time. All she can manage to say to the employee is to not, under any circumstances, tell Valentino.

the way i immediatly thought of them

Something just occured to me. Circling through each beautiful moment in the campaign, I noticed a pattern. Gillion never initiates hugs. Every time, no matter if he is the one consoling or the one being consoled, he never is the first person to offer an embrace. And I think it says something.

When Jay wants to hug Gill, she always asks first. She opens her arms as an invitation and always gives him a clear sign that she wants to be close to him. And any time she offers, anytime Gillion gets permission, any time he feels like he is allowed one, he clings to her desperately and fully, starved for it, finding himself unable to let go too quickly, savoring it like he isn't sure when he is going to be allowed to have another.

Chip's hugs are unprompted and usually done with just as much desperation. They are completely controlled by emotion, and are a form of a language that Chip uses when love and appreciation cannot be expressed by words anymore. Chip never asks for hugs, he takes them. He needs them, so he is scared to ask like Jay does, cause asking means risking to be denied. It is safer to steal it. In contrast Jay is still asking cause she is still afraid of taking love for granted.

But they both, in the end, ask for hugs and comfort in their own ways. Gillion doesn't. He wants it, he needs it so often, but he never dares to ask for it. Cause he still treats love as a reward that he needs to earn, that he is not allowed to ask for, that can't be had, unless he does something that makes him worthy of being loved. Affection and love is a currency and Gill was taught that he needs to fight for it. That it's something he should never dare to request on his own.

How many times on their journey did he need to feel someone else's body close to his, but his lips were sealed, suffering in silence, thinking he Has not done well enough to be given the privalage of being comforted? How many aches and worries did he swallow down and burried deep inside? How many old wounds is he trying to fill with every single hug he receives, when someone else offers it to him? When he dares to take it, when he grips their clothes in an iron grip, trying to make the best out of it before it's gone? Cause who knows when someone allows him to have that again?

The only person Gill ever hugged first was Edyn, the first time in Allport. It was done with the same ferocity of a hurt child, of a little boy who Has been going through hell and his sister is his only remedy. The only person that always lets him have love for free. The only one he knows he can hug for sure. One who for so many years has been the only source of comfort.

The rest of the world is uncertain and even with Chip and Jay, Gill still strives to fulfill the unsaid cryteria of when he is worthy of their affection.

But I know that with enough reassurance and care, he will be able to ask for love himself and start treating his crew as people he can fall back on. And just so you know, the moment in which Gillion is the first one to hug Chip or Jay is going to make me cry like a little baby.

_______

Edit: more thoughts occured

Did you notice that Jay always seems to match Gill and Chip when it comes to hugging? She never asks Chip for hugs and takes them the same way Chip does, no matter if she is the one seeking or offering comfort. And the same goes with Gill. Regardless of whether she is the one in the need of comfort or she is the one comforting, she always verbally communicates a desire to hug first. Like she kinda feels that this is what Gillion needs from her to accept it.

So maybe Jay is actually always trying to search for the most effective way to get a hug, to increase her chances. She believes she has to, cause she cannot take love for granted anymore, not after Ava's death. She took her for granted and now she is gone. So now Jay struggles to freely express her own desires and instead clings to all the ways that she thinks guarantee her the affection she needs, an act of desperation in its own right. A silent plea for acceptance.

Each Captain on this ship treats each embrace as a treasure to savor and protect. It's a result of their past and their fears, but also a proof of unyielding love they have for each other. It's beautiful and one day the same love that they still dread to take, will heal them.

don't do it

HAPPY BDAY ANGEL DUST

Gillion is making FAR too many excuses to grab or hold Chip for me to disregard it as a casual thing. THE ALLEGATIONS ARE REAL I TELL YOU!!!

im gonna blog more

I have caught up with Malevolent and I needed to meme