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ways_back_room2013-10-21 05:32 am
bjornwilde) wrote in ways_back_room2013-10-21 05:32 am
Entry tags:
DE: Get your AU on
From seat_five_girl :
AU time! How does a change in your pups backstory change the rest of the universe?
Example: Young Bruce Wayne's parents died in a tragic accident involving falling masonry. As a result, Gotham has the highest building standards in the world and absolutely no gargoyles looming anywhere.
Higher points for small changes with dramatic alterations.
seat_five_girl :AU time! How does a change in your pups backstory change the rest of the universe?
Example: Young Bruce Wayne's parents died in a tragic accident involving falling masonry. As a result, Gotham has the highest building standards in the world and absolutely no gargoyles looming anywhere.
Higher points for small changes with dramatic alterations.
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For pups I actually play in the bar:
I had an AU fic started for Nicholas Angel at one point, but it was years ago, before I even started playing him. He and Janine never broke up, and they just went on with their vaguely-grumpy relationship like nothing was wrong. Which means Nick never goes to Sandford. Which means Frank goes on, merrily ordering the deaths of half the village for all time. Whoops. Sorry for your heartache, Nicholas, but it's necessary for your entire canon.
Tim Bisley's got a similar deal. If Sarah never cheated on him, there's no canon. He never has cause to move out, he never meets Daisy, no end to skip to.
For John Watson, the obvious answer is that he never gets shot in Afghanistan, and canon just never happens. Or, if his sister didn't have marriage problems stemming from her alcoholism, canon would never happen, since he'd have probably just moved in with her and Clara.
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And then Frigga comes in and damn nearly twists his ear off for being a little butthead. Fun times.
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For Joshua, the most obvious one for me, at least, is if he hadn't used the Compass, and let Artie take it. As a result, he would have been there for Claudia's entire childhood, and his sister would possibly not be as... out there as she is. The Warehouse would possibly have still found them, but not in the same way. The World wouldn't change that much, but the Donovans would. He'd likely not be as close to his sister as they are now, as well.
Helena's is one that's been bopping around my head for a while. Helena was supposed to be Caretaker instead of being bronzed. Whoops. As a result of that, she would have been more involved in the daily Warehouse operations, and might have kept Joshua from using the Compass herself instead of sending Artie, and then see #1.
If Fantine hadn't died, she would have found a way to go and reclaime Cosette for herself, possibly with the help of Valjean. And then she would have been a part of Cosette's life. Not a huge far-reaching change, but one nonetheless.
And finally, I did write an AU once where Valentine was deemed a suitable risk for Battleschool instead of requisitioning Ender. She told the IF to fuck off, and actually opened communications with the Formics and convinced them to back off instead of fighting them, helping them to find a planet to colonize that wasn't already occupied. She came home a hero, and the IF fell into ruin. Oh, and Peter wasn't hegemon.
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Didn't fall to be swept into that man's face - it'd fallen a minute earlier. Clara Oswald's parents never met, Clara was never born, Oswin Oswald (and all of the other echos) never existed, and no one knows about the Doctor.
Haymitch: The Capitol representative's hand drifted a half-inch to the right before picking the second male name for the Second Quarter Quell. Instead of Haymitch Abernathy, he picked up Bill Everdeen. A Career kid won that year, some girl with an axe. Haymitch grew up, became a miner like most other men in town, married Hazel, had two kids, and had them both go to the arena in the 74th Hunger Games when he was caught hunting deer beyond the boundary fence.
Balthazar: His horse picked up a rock in its hoof half way to the castle where Merlin resided - he had to stop to fix the damage, and Veronica went on alone. Merlin died before he could pass on the ring and the instructions, Veronica died in pitched battle with Morgana, and Balthazar died in the resulting later battle with all of those long-dead reanimated Morganians. Earth is ruled by dark magic, where all those who aren't sorcerers are slaves.
William: He was standing a half-step to the right when the cannon ball flew by. Instead of piercing his arm, the shards from the damaged mast ran him through. Peter didn't put a stitch through the nose.
Ace: Got caught using explosives on the ice planet, and was sentenced to ten years hard labor. She never met a odd little man in a panama hat.
Bones: Stayed in surgery to treat one more patient rather than letting someone else do it when he was supposed to go on rounds, never met a young Lt. Kirk, and was never requested to serve on board the USS Enterprise.
Glorfindel: Turned back when given a last chance to not defy the Valar. Lived an unremarkable life.
Katya: Used that first bit of energy the first time she fell into the Gloom for self-preservation, was picked up by the Day Watch the same day and became a long-standing member of their ranks.
re: Haymitch
Re: Haymitch
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Sunshine: Was kept by her father when her mother divorced him. She grew up as Raven Blaise, daughter of sorcerer Onyx Blaise, knowing of her heritage and power, but never developing her love of cooking. She is not a vegetarian. Assuming she and her family survives and don't disappear right before the Wars, she comes into the knowledge of her abilities with vampires much earlier than she would have otherwise, and chooses to covertly aids in the War effort. She fights alone, however, and never meets Constantine. She has an awareness of her power's limitations given to her by her apprenticeship, and so, when during a battle she finds herself caught in the Otherspace no human should travel in, instead of assuming she can get through (and thereby successfully finding her way through), she knows it's impossible (because her teaching tells her so), and is lost. The world continues to darken, and vampires eventually become the dominant species.
Charlie's Coffeehouse does not gain the popularity it should. There are no cinnamon rolls as big as your head. :(
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More later after I've had my tea.
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And Ben ends up being Flash Thompson's favorite instead of Spidey.
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ETA: And of course Ben would hang out and help his old buddy, becoming very much like Wyatt Wingfoot in the 80s.
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Sherlock: In this quiet little AU in my head, Irene never collaborated with Moriarty, instead choosing to side with the Holmes' brothers. There are many shenanigans, including her eventually getting fed up of his shit and putting a bullet in Moriarty's brain. And then having a huge row with Sherlock about it, that ends in him talking her out of taking up the role of consulting villain.
Earl: I often wonder what Earl's life would be like if he'd never been an angel. He drove an 18-wheeler for many years, but eventually decided to settle down in a small town in South Carolina, and open a diner. People come to him for advice. Sometimes has to use a tire iron, but when it gets out that he can and he will, the need never seems to arise again.
John Silver: John Silver, never gets pressed. And with two legs, he grows up and becomes the manager of a travelling theatre company. (Blood is compulsory.)
Olga: Olga uses the Chalk Of Fate to change her own Otherness. Oh, who are we kidding? She knows how that always shakes out and it's never good.
Vert: She's just a girl. Just a girl. The girl you want. (Tiny French girl wears too much green and some how ends up driving a tank. Idek.)
Vlad: Elizaveta reads the note on the arrow, calls bullshit, and five hundred years of bloody tragedy evaporate. They have many sons and many daughters, and Vlad lives to see his grandson decide to scrap it all and travel first to Venice, and eventually, Paris. Where he meets up with a strange company of actors.
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'Course, it's a slow end, so that may lose me a few drama points.
For Fluttershy, the obvious moment to change is the flight camp race. Easiest change there would be to have her not get knocked off the starting cloud. As for the result... narratively, she'd have to get her cutie mark from the rainboom, so... maybe her talent is now race-starting? Which means either she doesn't meet Twilight so easily or Ponyville now has a sufficiently major racecourse... Some very interesting potentials here...
Kain, in canon, went into the Dragoon Corps despite pressure from the king to take up the Dark Sword. So, in this AU, he'd bow to that pressure and become another dark knight. I don't imagine this would make him less susceptible to Golbez' brainwashing, but probably not a lot would change overall. Except... Valvalis (or Barbariccia, but I prefer the old translation). Without a wind-rider to oppose her, the party stands no chance. Which means they'd die, and no one would be able to protect the remaining Crystals from Golbez and Zemus. It might take them a little longer to gather them, but once they do...
Maan, why do so many of mine result in ends of the world, unless I go for more profound AUs?
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Hooray for absentmindedness!
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The Zarosian Empire would most likely have friendly relations with Pandemonium, the rest of the Infernal Realms, and Vampyrium. They might of eventually come in conflict with the Universal Union/Combine due to the exile of Mother Mallum to Gielinor *headcanon* or because they bump into each other in Abyssal Space.
Now that would be a neat game. Demon Magic versus Combine Technology versus insurrectionists lead by obvious angel analogues. Holes ripped in reality everywhere. It would be called
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Catherine Park lives.
James and Madison continue work on Project Purity while Catherine recovers, but the situation is difficult. They're having trouble achieving results and the mutant attacks in the area are giving their Brotherhood of Steel support system a hard time. When his daughter is a few months old, James persuades Senior Paladin Cross to let him have a look at some of the Brotherhood's archives despite being a civilian. One of the terminals he uses has access to Vault-Tec records.
Catherine receives a message from James stating that the only way to make the Project work is to incorporate Garden of Eden Creation Kit technology into it, and that he's going to go and find one. He'll be all right and she shouldn't worry, he's taken Senior Paladin Cross with him. Catherine is very much less than pleased with this, but James has a habit of presenting faits accomplis; this is pretty standard behavior for him. She does her best to resume work while he's gone, keeping the baby close at hand at all times.
James never goes to Vault 112, though. The terminal in the Citadel indicates that Vault 87 is in possession of a GECK. He and Cross set out for Vault 87 based on Brotherhood maps and records only to find the area is too dangerous to approach, being overrun with mutants and flooded with radiation. Cross wisely refuses to attempt an assault on the place; James calls for a trip to Vault-Tec Corporate Headquarters in the hopes of finding records that can show them a safer way in, or barring that, information on how to find and get into Vault 112 to look for Stanislaus Braun's notes. Unfortunately Vault-Tec HQ's defenses are still very much active and under central control, and more than capable of holding off hordes of supermutants- and Cross is only one soldier. She's badly wounded, and while James is trying to tend to her injuries, he himself is attacked by one of the robots and killed. Cross manages to fend off the remaining defenses and returns to the Citadel with James' ashes for burial.
Catherine, left with a project to run and a daughter to attempt to raise, calls the Project Purity scientists together and has an extended discussion with them. If they can't get proper results without a GECK, and there's no GECK to be found anywhere but Vault 87, they're going to have to shut down the Project for a while until they can find what they need in order to get that GECK. There is no point to spending resources and lives on something they can't make work until they have the vital elements; better to seal the place up and retreat while they marshal their resources. She and her daughter and the other scientists head to Rivet City; the Brotherhood withdraws to the Citadel, where plans are being made for scouting the area around Vault 87 and establishing some kind of patrol or surveillance to determine just how many mutants there are in the region, and why...
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Claudia: See Joshua.
Imp gets sponsored for Unseen University by a wizard who passes through Llamedos and notices how much raw power the kid has, and figures he needs a channel for it. He becomes one of the High Energy Magic group, mostly loses his accent and ends up studying music with rocks in it when it crops up rather than being its conduit (though I'm not sure who the conduit is, which is all that's ever stopped me from writing this).
Regulus... I'm working on it. And the wizarding world will be a better place for it.
Red's grandmother actually bothers to tell her why the cloak is necessary. She doesn't eat Peter... but doesn't learn how to truly live with the wolf, and isn't as strong of an ally to Snow, if they meet at all. Sorry, Red, but I think canon served you better, overall.
Woolly isn't scooped up by the Warehouse. He has a much less satisfying life.
Alternately: Helena doesn't zap him forward in time and consequently believe she killed him. She's made Caretaker instead of being bronzed, and the two of them set up shop in America when the Warehouse moves. He'd probably hang on in Artie's approximate position until the '30s or '40s out of sheer cussedness (his, Helena's or the Warehouse's is up for debate).
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And in 2012, her children and grandchildren have to live with the Chitauri invasion being at least initially successful.
Charcter AUs -- butterfly effect version
Urquhart: Just before he's due to leave on crusade, his sister introduces him to a red-headed friend who is not quite suitable, but whom he likes and marries anyway. He doesn't go on crusade, never becomes a paid murderer, the master builder of Cologne cathedral lives to work for another decade, the cathedral gets finished much earlier, one of the common cultural causes for German unification in the 19th century has thus evaporated, and German nationalism never becomes quite the monster it has shown itself in actual history, instead being no worse than French chauvinism, British jingoism, and the like. Additionally, the Urquharts of Loch Ness don't die out, Castle Urquhart is not a ruin today, and when those silly journalists invent a monster in the 1930s in order to take the mickey out of some stupid Englishmen, the Lairds of Monadhliath immediately put paid to that nonsense and expose it as a fraud because they want to live in peace.
Teja: King Theodoric comes down hard on the bishop of Florentia and his own cousin Theodahad in favour of Count Tagila, church law be damned; Teja grows up happy and marries a nice Gothic girl and lives an ordinary life, Theodahad never becomes the worst king the Ostrogoths ever had as he's fallen in disgrace before that, Witichis never becomes king and Byzantium never takes the chance of attacking the Ostrogoths (as they still have that Persian mess on their hand anyway), instead they hire Ostrogoth mercenaries for their Persian campaign, the Ostrogoth kingdom in Italy flourishes and when the Langobards arrive, they're simply given available land to settle in. Italy nowadays is split into a German-speaking north that might still be part of Austria and follows an Arrian version of the Protestant faith, and an Italian-speaking Catholic/Orthodox south. The entire European history is subtly bent out of shape around that. Alternatively, Byzantium attacks the Ostrogoth kingdom ruled by Mataswintha and whoever is her husband regardless, and without Teja, they win decades earlier, enslave all the women and children, and send the men to die at the Persian front. Some small details in Italian, Swedish and Icelandic history are altered as a consequence.
Poins: Poins doesn't vanish when Hal becomes king but instead stays on as his friend and companion and whatever, and with the practical knowledge about campaigning and warfare he's learned from his late father, the archer, makes sure that the water gets properly boiled before it is drunk, at least when the army is camping in place for a while; as a result, King Henry IV. doesn't die young of dysentery, he has many children with his wife Catherine, the subsequent strife and dissent around the English succession either doesn't happen or takes on a completely different shape, Henry VIII. doesn't happen, the Anglican church doesn't happen, Bloody Mary and Elizabeth I. don't happen, and the entire history of the world is once more bent slightly out of shape from that point.
Margolotta: Havelock Vetinari gets executed by the mad patrician before he can go on his Grand Sneer journey and meet Margolotta, who remains a conventional storybook vampire, and as a result, the Discworld stays exactly as it was during the earlier books -- all the amazing changes and discoveries we see happening during the later books simply never occur. Eventually, the universe runs out of puns to make and simply gives up around 'Interesting Times'.
Hannibal: Hannibal's parents don't get in trouble with the Soviets in some way, he grows up happily in Lithuania, becomes a famous pianist and is actually helpful with the post-Soviet development of his country in the 1990s, and privately is treasured by his friends for the wonderful food he cooks, which however never contains people.
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When Stiles meets Lydia Martin, he admires her intelligence and thinks she's really pretty, but he's not really looking for a female figure to cling to, so her never worships her in the same way. Heather still goes to private school, but he keeps seeing her over the years because their mom's are best friends, so they kind of can't help it. She plays video games with Scott and Stiles and schools them in Mario Kart.
Sheriff Stilinski is as busy as ever, but with a second parent at home, it's awfully hard for Stiles to pull stunts like sneaking out in the middle of the night to hunt for dead bodies. Scott and Stiles are forced (*sigh* thanks, Mom) to go searching the Hale property in the middle of the day. They meet Derek, still grumpy and leathery, but not Peter, so Scott doesn't get bitten. When Stiles tells her about it, Claudia makes Stiles invite Derek over for dinner. She makes lasagna.
Mary: James and Patrick Crawley never board the Titanic. They travel to New York on a different vessel, and upon their return, despite Mary's misgiving, her engagement to Patrick is officially announced. Mary and Patrick care about each other, and both care deeply about the family's legacy, but their marriage is decidedly lacking in passion. Mary knows she's done her duty for her family, but still has doubts whether it was truly what she wants.
Matthew Crawley is a solicitor in Manchester. He sees the announcement of his distant cousins' marriage in the papers, but doesn't have much to say about it. After all, he's never met either of them. They may share a name, but they're not really the same sort of people, are they?
Mary is only 21 when her first child, a daughter, is born, just before England enters the Great War in 1914. Patrick goes to war. There are some close scrapes, but he returns home to his family in one piece. He and Mary have their second child, Patrick's heir, in 1920. After the War, Mary spends an increasing amount of time in London with her Aunt, Lady Rosamund. Her children adore Auntie Sybil, but find their own mother fond but cold.
Carol: Joseph Danvers has doubts about sending his daughter to college, but of all his children, Carol has always put the most work into her studies, so she's earned it. She's in the Air Force ROTC at UMass, accepts a commission as a Second Lieutenant when she graduates, and quickly rises through the ranks. She still ends up stationed with the 412th Test Wing at Edwards AFB in California.
Carol still has a great love of danger and adventure, but less of a chip on her shoulder. She's got a great career, but she's not trying to prove anything to anyone... herself, her parents, whoever. When she's recruited by NASA, she accepts eagerly, but because she didn't enlist right out of high school, the timing's off for her to cross paths with Marvel. That means both no superpowers, but also keeping her job at NASA.
Later, Fury recruits her to SHIELD. She may not have powers, but she's refuses to take any shit from Fury, and she's the best at flying whatever weird sort of ship SHIELD wants to throw at her today. She and Jess meet through SHIELD and form an instant bond. The other Avengers know better than to cross her.
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Taken in by SHIELD, she grew to continue her parents work and now helps develop equipment for agents, specializing in chemical applications. Her parents still live though they are both in deep comas. Up until she met fellow agent Carol Danvers, she was content to work in the lab. Now she trains for field work, with an eye to getting back at HYRDA in a more direct method.
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If something happened to her in Outworld and she was unable to go back home to Earthrealm:
One, the Earthwarriors would've been short of one defender and their numbers reduced.
two..it's my belief that Sonya's experience in Outworld helped fuel the Outerworld investigation agency-think the Mortal Kombat's version of stargate. Without that, Earth's military would be unable to defend itself against future realm invasions.
Even worse, if the Outworlders managed to succeed in brainwashing her, she would've been able to give the enemy vast information against the military.
In other words, if SOnya wasn't freed from Outworld, Earth would've inevitably been screwed.
For Matilda-
If she wasn't able to reach Ms. Honey in time at the end of the book either she would've been left at home and faced abandonment, or she would've been forced to move to Spain with her parents.
Either way, I see her as having serious psychological issues with them because of it-maybe using her brain power to get them arrested, or find a way to show her parents as the frauds they are and publicly humiliate them.
She very well could if she put her mind to it.
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Bean dies when the 'organ farm' closes down, along with the other 23 babies there.
The lack of a back up plan for Ender means the IF push him too hard too soon, as well as being more complacent.
Ender loses that 'final exam', because he just gives up, rather than throwing in the towel completely. 50, maybe only 40 years later, the earth is razed and teraformed (well, buggerformed) by the formics.
End of Human history.
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Jack: Judah treats Horus with respect. Therefore, Jack doesn't steal her from him. Jack probably dies some time before canon. At the latest, he dies along with Lily in the chamber of the head of the Colossus. No one makes the intellectual leap needed to find the Hanging Gardens. That piece of the capstone is lost for ever. Earth is destroyed in March 2008.
Max: Max stays at Sandia Labs for longer. He never forms a coalition of countries to seek the capstone. See above.
Alfred declines Thomas Wayne's offer, preferring to stay in Britain. Thomas and the butler fail to keep Bruce's nightmares a secret from Martha, and she, knowing the plot of Mefistofele, doesn't suggest they go see it. They don't meet Joe Chill, Thomas and Martha don't die (at that time), Gotham dies a death of corruption in accordance with the plans of the league of shadows, just as Bruce comes of age. The Waynes have nothing left and are left bankrupt...
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Septimus Lives: What it says on the tin. Septimus and Octavian go on to be fantastic First Lords. Octavian grows up without learning to be extra-clever or developing interest in non-crafting techniques. Father and son make some progress, but not like in canon. On the other hand, the Vord don't happen.
Academy: Tavi gets to the Academy on his own before Second Calderon can happen. Sextus notices him, gives him patronage and starts training him. Second Calderon may or may not happen; it would take a lot of excuses to get Tavi into place to save it and not have it turn into a slaughter. If it happens and he's not there, his family dies and later Alera is may be screwed; on the other hand, the Vord don't happen.
Alera Needs More Badass Women: I actually have plans to write this one! By happenstance Isana's sister Alia lives and takes an action which results in Sextus' first wife hanging in there. Alia manages to save Bernard's two daughter though not his first wife: four extra badass women! With Alia around, Tavi is openly Isana's son and may at least have been told by his aunt if no one else that no, really, his parents were married and his dad was a soldier who died at First Calderon. Tavi ends up hugely protective of his cousins(/sisters). Of those two girls, the younger is a metal and woodcrafter (aka combat munchkin) and the older is left blind... but is a watercrafter and earthcrafter, AKA is Toph with extra. Alia realizes what Isana's doing to Tavi with suppressing his crafting and tries to undo some of the damage.
After Second Calderon, Alia moves to the capital to work as a healer and stay close to Tavi. She makes friends with Septimus' still living mother, who has to try very hard to hide her squees over grandbaby. In Academ's, sadly this kills the single funniest scene in the series because Sextus' wife will know about his health and, er, no need for the thing with Max and Caria to happen. It's so sad, but I will endeavor to replace it with something similarly funny. Due to Alia and Isana's fight over Tavi's crafting, it surfaces a year after Academ's, so his crafting's at about Captain's level during Cursor's.
This leaves two years in which he probably finally manages to manifest, and by the time of Captain's Fury is getting pretty good and strong in everything. However, he's trying to do this without telling anyone; Alia helps him. Eventually his grandmother finds out and reluctantly helps him behind Sextus' back, which was useless anyway because he'd found out from Alera herself what was happening. As a result, Tavi's a lot further along/possibly almost fully trained by Captain's and it's a lot harder for him to be in denial about who he is, what with knowing his mother and that his parents were married and, oh, that the First Lady is helping him and he's near the equal of a High Lord. Not to mention at some point Sextus steps in to put the finer points on his training ('how to do veils properly' etc).
There are other myriad changes, of course. This one can possibly be mixed with the Academy one, too. I have thought of some details of how.
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Andrew Wells left Sunnydale after high school. Warren Meers recruited his brother Tucker instead, along with Jonathan Levinson. After Warren's death, Tucker and Jonathan fled in different directions; neither ever returned to Sunnydale. Very little else about Season 7 changed, sadly. (On the plus side, there's a good chance that both Jonathan and Anya are still alive.)
Simon Tam took a different ship off Persephone with his secret cargo. Neither he nor his sister was ever heard from again; that may be their good fortune, or not. The Miranda broadwave never went out. Mal Reynolds and his crew are still flying.
Charlie McGee's parents, Andy McGee and Vicky Tomlinson, broke up after the first rocky year of their marriage. They're still friends, and occasionally exchange letters.
Nepeta stayed hidden when Equius told her to, and is still alive.
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The Resistance did not find out about the Combine's terraforming Synths and their other forces until Gordon Freeman and Barney Calhoun managed to push their way into the North American dead zone, and were largely forced to rely on Manny Redondo for their piloting. Rowlesburg did not make contact with the White Forest group because nobody listening in on the radio reports heard about anyone who might have been their lost sibling. Barney wound up bonding with PIaDOS; when the Combine wiped out White Forest the ship made an emergency teleport to a random location off the coast of Norway.
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Clearly the good Lord did not want him to fly.