#( it's very specifically anger directed towards people who condescend to her about it )

[clochanamarc]

aisling gets very passionate when people say "the south of ireland". like to the extent that stanley and richard have to intervene because it starts with "oh, my family is from the south too!" "...it's the republic, but don't--" "no, i'm pretty sure it's the south. there's the north, right? so there's gotta be a south--" "there IS a south. but there's the south of northern ireland and the south of the REPUBLIC--" "i know what i'm--" "I'M LITERALLY IRISH--" and then she has to go to the staff room and drink tea while rani shows her photos of the cliffs of moher.

[bonnini]

Well I promised you a post about my bi Geoffrey Martewall headcanons so here it is guys <3

So…as I previously mentioned in a tag under one of @agapantoblu's posts, I've been half-seriously headcanoning Geoffrey Martewall a.k.a. the best character in the Hypervesum series as a clueless bisexual for... well, for some time. Let's say a year and a half. I've never bothered actually sharing these headcanons online because I didn't really have a clear idea for an actual argument in support of this claim of mine, but now I’m finally ready to put the all the reasons why I get extra-strong bisexual vibes from Geoffrey Martewall into words. Beware…it’s a lot of words :’’)

Exhibit A: Geoffrey and women

1.1. Geoffrey’s taste in women is just too good

Listen. LISTEN. Our man’s taste in women is IMPECCABLE: he could, as Brianna said herself, have chosen to take any young noble maiden as his wife, but he decided to go for a woman that 1) is a couple years older than him 2) is not noble at all and, you know, used to be just a poor paesant before coming to Châtel-Argent 3) already has a son who was fathered by a French knight to whom she was never married and that she had to raise as a teen single mom 4) at the time of their first meeting had a crush on his current worst enemy. LISTEN!!!!!!!! Geoffrey’s taste in women is suspiciously good, way too good, in fact, to be that of a medieval straight guy. I mean…Ian, a man who comes from the 21st century, fell for the textbook angelic maiden, while Geoffrey literally did not even bother looking around for some young blushing bride and just decided that the hot milf who threatened him with a pitchfork in book 2 was his first and best choice. What an Absolute Fucking King. This choice of his is, in my opinion, very telling of the kind of view he has of romance and women in general.

Which brings me to the next point, namely:

1.2. Geoffrey appears to have an attitude towards women and a view of womanhood that are significantly more modern than those of an average knight of his time

Is it just me or is Geoffrey actually the one with the most… modern mindset out of all the knights starring in the saga? There are a couple of specific scenes that kind of make me think of him as an outlier among his peers, and although some of those are definitely there for the purpose of showing us that Martewall is indeed a rather peculiar knight, others contribute to creating the picture of a character that is almost… out of place in the 13th century? 

Allow me to expand a bit further on the “Geoffrey and women” topic: we saw how chivalrous and respectful Geoffrey was towards an unconscious and injured Brianna. First he made sure her son was comfortable with him warming her up using his own body, and reassured him he meant no disrespect by removing her clothes; then, he proceeded to strip her in the most methodical and detached way possible, which let us know Geoffrey respects a woman’s body and modesty the way any proper, courteous medieval man would. But then there’s another, and in my opinion far more interesting, instance in which Geoffrey is seen interacting with a woman: I’m talking about his brief conversation with Blanche of Castile in book 3. Here we see 1) how Geoffrey treats women he is not attracted to (“not attracted to” as in: women he has no interest in romancing), and 2) to what degree he actually respects female authority. 

Our first introduction to Blanche is the scene in which Guillaume, Ian and Henri de Bar are talking about her right before the audience in Paris, during which we learn that the vast majority of noblemen do not take her opinions seriously and do not appreciate seeing her talk during political debates. Even Henri de Bar, although he does not mean to be insolent, raises an eyebrow at the thought of a woman participating in conversations that concern military strategy, while Guillaume seems almost amused at Ian’s heartfelt defence of her speeches. Which is why Geoffrey’s brief interaction with her stands out so much: when she starts talking about the war in England with him, he carefully listens to her as if she were just another male superior officer: he does not appear even slightly surprised by her competence, he does not try to dumb down the topic of discussion, he listens carefully to what she is saying, he offers his opinion only when she asks for it and he answers her questions in the most straightforward way possible. At no point during the conversation does he ever attempt to pull the condescending “with all due respect, madame…” to correct or contradict her statements. He is not in courteous knight mode, he is in soldier mode, and is unfazed by the fact that the one he is discussing logistics and war strategy with is a delicate looking princess.  Once again, the author is fleshing out Geoffrey’s character by having the protagonist and point of view character draw a direct comparison between him and other men. Martewall does not simply respect women as in “oh I’m a proper knight and I use my blade to protect defenceless maidens”, he actually, genuinely respects women. 

Which in my opinion is such an interesting facet of his values and personality: in the second half of book 2, Ian notices how thoroughly Harald Martewall managed to drill the code of chivalry into his son’s head, and remarks on the fact that the Martewalls are all perfect examples of the True Old School Knights. Both Harald and Geoffrey are the embodiment of the honourable, unyielding, upright warrior trope, and they perfectly fit the image we modern people conjure in our minds when we think of a knight of the Middle Ages. This specific aspect of Geoffrey’s set of values gives his character a strong, let’s say “old-fashioned” connotation, and yet said set of values seems to come from an internal source rather than rely on tradition and external rules. He, for example, got rid of his helm and shield when he saw his adversary in combat was not fully equipped, but he also willingly assisted the Dauphin in taking over England despite having previously sworn an oath of loyalty to John Plantagenet, since his sense of honour compelled him to aid the man who provided him with the help he needed to get his home back. Geoffrey is way more likely to base his choices on what his own moral compass compels him to do rather than resort to convention and tradition to tell right from wrong. This makes Geoffrey a perfect blend of both old and modern qualities, and in the context of his relationship with women he tends to lean quite heavily on his more modern side.  

Let’s go back to discussing his first introduction to Brianna for a second: he witnesses Brianna express her unrequited attraction to Ian, flirt with him and even mock-kiss him straight on the lips, and yet not only does that not make Geoffrey respect her any less, it also does not concern him at all later in book 3 when the story hints at the fact that he might have an interest in taking her as his wife. This is a rather unusual attitude! I mean, even the exuberant Etienne de Sancerre, who has shown an overt preference for feisty and confident women, grumbles and protests in jealousy when his wife Donna and Daniel greet each other with a hug while out in public, deeming the gesture to be inappropriate. What I’m trying to say here is that this is a man who is waaaaay ahead of his peers in regards to his view of women and womanhood, and who also appears to be very confident in his masculinity (so confident, in fact, that the thought of having to “put women in their place” never once crosses his mind), hence why I keep sensing the most excellent kind of bisexual vibes coming from him.

Exhibit B: Geoffrey and men

2.1 Jerome and Geoffrey’s friendship makes NO sense

And I mean it. Yes, we do read about Ian wondering how two people with such different sets of core values (ok maybe Jerome lacked core values all together lol) could have ever been friends, which means that yes, readers are in fact meant to notice how misguided Geoffrey is in his commitment to honour this bond of friendship and avenge Jerome’s death, but the more I think about this, the more I convince myself that this whole situation is, in fact…really weird.

Let’s start from the beginning: so, Geoffrey’s anger over Jerome’s death is the main source of conflict between him and Ian, and it puts the plot of book 2 in motion. Now, we never actually saw Geoffrey and Jerome talk to each other in book 1 (because at the time of its drafting the author had not yet planned on writing a sequel for it) so all the available details about their relationship (mind you, there aren’t that many) have to be gleaned from Geoffrey’s recollections present in book 2 and pieced back together in order to get a clearer picture. Another fact that should be noted is that we also never saw Jerome talk about Geoffrey (again, because Geoffrey wasn’t really that relevant to the plot of book 1): Geoffrey’s words are the only source available when it comes to trying to reconstruct what their interactions might have been like, which means that our perspective on their friendship is going to be inevitably, extremely one-sided. 

So here we go, book 2, chapter 5: Geoffrey has decided to abduct Ian and Daniel and drag them to his home in England to get some answers and avenge Jerome’s death and he currently has Ian at his mercy, so he immediately starts asking questions. He asks why he currently is not home, he asks why his brother has no knowledge of his whereabouts, he asks if his name really is Jean Marc de Ponthieu, and these are all very dangerous questions: they pose a real threat to Ian’s credibility. But then, when Geoffrey asks why Jerome was so certain he was an imposter, Ian breathes in relief, because that means Geoffrey knows nothing about the ambush in Couronne.

But. Wait a second.

How could Geoffrey possibly not know about Couronne? That’s how Derangale KNEW without a shadow of a doubt that Ian and Jean de Ponthieu were never the same person! Dude was busy forging incriminating letters left and right with Ponthieu’s help??? He was the one who helped Ponthieu and Renaud De Dammartin set Isabeau up to be assaulted by Claude de Dammartin??? Geoffrey explicitly says Jerome was obsessed with Ian, so Derangale must have talked his ear OFF with all his incessant rambling about him being an imposter…and Geoffrey did not bother asking him about the details of this weird doppelganger theory of his ONCE? We know how sharp and observant Geoffrey is. We know he is perceptive, and straightforward in voicing his opinions, and not easy to fool. We know he is the type of guy who likes to ask direct questions and get believable, clear answers in return, so he MUST have asked Jerome why he was so sure about the illegitimacy of Ian’s identity. How did Jerome answer? Did he make up a lie on the spot? Geoffrey is equipped with a very functional built-in anti-nonsense super-sensor (the one that allowed him to immediately spot all the places in which Ian’s deception and intentional gaslighting were coming off at their seams even after Ian had managed to convince Geoffrey’s own father that he was Jean de Ponthieu’s second-born son), so if that was the case – if Jerome had indeed tried to make up some story about why he knew who the real Jean de Ponthieu was – Geoffrey (in theory) would have easily been able to tell that he was being lied to. 

Do we then have to assume Jerome simply replied with “I just know”? Well…the text implies that this is the most plausible option: as Ian and Geoffrey’s heated conversation goes on, we realize that the only reason Geoffrey believes Ian to be an imposter is…because Jerome said so. And this, in my opinion, says a lot about both Geoffrey’s relationship with Derangale and his current emotional state. Let’s really think about what this little kidnapping stunt of his must look like from an outside perspective: Geoffrey just decided to abduct a man whose identity has been publicly confirmed by Guillaume de Ponthieu, one of the most powerful men on French soil, who also happens to be a relative of king Philippe Auguste (which means Ian has ties to the royal family as well lol???), who ALSO confirmed that Ian is the youngest Ponthieu brother and PERSONALLY BESTOWED the title of Faucon du Roi upon him. Geoffrey does not (currently) have a shred of proof against Ian: he just chose to believe that Ian is some random foreigner who has been allowed to pretend to be a nobleman and marry Isabeau de Montmayeur by the count of Ponthieu and the king of France because that’s what Jerome believed. Jerome stood alone in front of the entire French court, subjecting himself to ridicule, to denounce Ian as an imposter and Guillaume as a liar (and readers know he is 100% right, but look at this from the perspective of one of the characters who are not involved in this intrigue), which are such far-fetched, absurd, ludicrous accusations, even the closest of Jerome’s friends would have demanded at least some evidence in order to give his version of the story some credit. And yet Geoffrey, who has not been given even one crumb of information on the real Jean de Ponthieu’s actual political alignment, simply decided to stand with him against the rest of the world. 

And then, Ian starts answering Geoffrey’s questions by telling him all the vile things Jerome did to him, his family and his friends (while still carefully avoiding the Couronne topic): he tells him of his sadism, villany and criminal actions, and Geoffrey does not believe a single word of what he’s saying. He straight up calls all these accusations lies, and he urges Ian to stop insulting a knight of England his peer and a man of honour deserving of respect. Geoffrey refuses to listen to any negative remark Ian has to make and threatens him with violence when he insists on calling Jerome an unworthy man. “Jerome wasn’t a liar”, he says; “he was my friend, and you killed him”. This is exactly what I meant when I said their friendship strikes me as extremely weird: I mean come on, really? Derangale was a textbook piece of shit. He was violent, vengeful, and arrogant, and yet Geoffrey describes him as a “man of honour”??? It almost seems as if he and Ian are not even talking about the same person??? The sadistic felon Ian met in Cairs is nothing like the friend Geoffrey has such a high opinion of. Which can only mean one thing, namely that when he was with Geoffrey, Jerome was on his best behaviour. And in order to have adapted his behaviour to fit Geoffrey’s expectations of a good and honourable friend, Derangale must have had a very clear picture of the kind of person his “friend” was. Jerome knew Geoffrey would never have allowed all that malicious shit to happen under his watch, so he decided to keep all his plotting a secret from him. Geoffrey never was Jerome’s accomplice in aiding Renaud de Dammartin, Ferrand de Flandre and Jean de Ponthieu steal the Montmayeur fief for king John, and therefore has no reason to believe Ian’s words. 

There are two things about this situation that strike me as particularly weird. First of all: Derangale wasn’t just witholding information from Geoffrey, he was also hiding his true nature from him. And Geoffrey…never noticed? Geoffrey, who can usually smell bullshit and deception from a mile away, who has no difficulty in telling a man of honour from a felon, who normally would not bother wasting his time being friends with such an insufferable prick, never managed to guess the true nature of Jerome’s character? Huh??? And secondly: why exactly did Derangale ask for help from a guy he was so sure he would never have been able to turn into one of his accomplices he had to actively keep parts of himself and his plans hidden for months up to the battle in Bouvines? What we know, thanks to Harald Martewall, is that Jerome was the first to reach out to Geoffrey back in book 1: apparently, the two of them used to be friends as young boys, then stopped seeing each other for a couple of years until Derangale decided to pick up the phone and give him a call. Geoffrey was in England, minding his own business, when Jerome contacted him to ask if he was willing to join him in Béarne. He, as sir Harald recalls, “was busy raising a cavalry troop for Ferrand De Flandre, and wanted my last-born as champion in a tournament”. It is not difficult to guess why Derangale asked specifically for Geoffrey to join his faction. Martewall is, simply put, the baddest bitch in the area: he is easily the scariest and most skilled warrior out of all the knights we get to meet in the saga, and an experienced tournament champion is precisely what Jerome needs for the little show he has in plan for Béarne. What I really want to know here is: couldn’t Derangale have called for literally any other English knight to help him win? Why did he risk enrolling a guy he knew would never have approved of his schemes and totally could have kicked his ass if he ever found out about his misconduct? Couldn’t he have called for a couple more champions who would have been overjoyed at the opportunity of beating the shit out of all those French knights? Why did it have to be just him and Geoffrey against the ENTIRETY of Philippe Auguste’s lineup? Why was he so confident in his ability to manipulate Geoffrey? Oh AND. This is an information that is nowhere to be found in the actual books but it is something I asked the author to confirm because I was just too curious: Geoffrey…did not have fun in Béarne, like at all. He did not care for the show Jerome wanted to put on, he did not enjoy participating in that display of strength and superiority, and he was grumpier than usual during the whole ordeal. So our man Jerome basically decided to rely exclusively on Geoffrey’s excellence and made him travel all the way to Béarne instead of putting together a slightly larger faction of fellows who could have maybe shared his immoral cause (like hello?????? it’s literally JUST the two of them against ALL the French nobles competing at the tournament lmfao??? I mean ok girl!!! give us drama! give us spectacle!) despite knowing that 1) he would have had to completely alter his behaviour around him 2) he could never have explained to him why he knew with absolute certainty Ian was an imposter and 3) Geoffrey would have intensely disliked being at the centre of theatrics. Like…I get that Geoffrey is your most skilled friend when it comes to the art of jousting, but… his presence is also a bit too inconvenient in this context? I mean really? You didn’t know any other knights in the area who could have been available as champions? You had to call for Geoffrey? Specifically for him? Haha girl ok! (oh and you also saved some of the custom higher quality blades you had made for your squadron to arm Geoffrey? Ok! Oh and you decided to pick Geoffrey as the other leader of your special squadron? Girl Ok!!! The guy would leave your ass in less than a second if he ever found out about your awful crimes so keeping him at your side is quite the risky move, but you do you I guess).

And another thing is, not only did Geoffrey hate every second of that charade, he (and this is also information that I got directly from the author) was downright shocked at Derangale’s unprompted act of violence against the young count of Grandpré… that was something that caught him completely off guard and that left a bitter taste in his mouth. It makes total sense for Geoffrey to feel this way, that’s very in character for him. What actually, really surprises me is Geoffrey’s reaction at hearing Ian mention this particular incident. You were there, says Ian, you saw Derangale attempt to kill a friend of mine with your own two eyes, and yet you insist on threatening me for calling him a criminal and an assassin. And that’s what finally prompts Geoffrey to lay hands on him. He silences him with a slap so violent it almost makes him fall on the ground. Geoffrey reacted with anger and disbelief when Ian was describing him heinous crimes that he never witnessed and did not believe to be true, but only resorted to physical violence when Ian forced him to acknowledge and condemn an action he actually saw Jerome commit. This brief scene alone is enough for me to confidently conclude that Geoffrey is, there are no other words fit to describe his current emotional state, deep in DENIAL. He hears an uncomfortable truth he has no way of denying, he lets that send him into a violent rage, he acts that violence out and then he ends the whole conversation there. He just. Leaves. And he repeats the same exact pattern of behaviour a second time! Book 2, chapter 12: Martewall starts to interrogate Daniel, who tells him about Derangale’s first attempt at kidnapping Isabeau AND manages to have one of his own men confirm his story. Then Geoffrey becomes visibly agitated, to the point he inadvertently breaks the rod he brought to beat information out of his prisoner in fucking two, CHANGES THE TOPIC OF DISCUSSION ON PURPOSE, and then when Daniel insists on bringing the conversation back to Derangale’s crimes he draws his sword, points it at him in another fit of anger and then! He LEAVES!! AGAIN!!! Bro???????????? You keep saying you “want the truth” and yet when you finally get it you cut the conversation off because you don’t like what you’re hearing? Hello???

“You insist on defending him only because you do not want to admit you have been lied to and manipulated by him”, this is what Daniel says to Martewall’s face, and the most articulate rebuttal he is able to come up with on the spot is “that is not true”. He absolutely did not expect to be confronted with such merciless answers, and he has no idea how to cope with Ian and Daniel ripping into the image of the good and honourable Jerome that only exists in his mind, so he just rejects anything negative they have to say and breaks things like a moody teenager.

His behaviour is extremely erratic. For the entirety of the first half of book 2, Geoffrey is clearly not his usual self. His own father tells him he does not recognize him anymore. And when Sir Harald confronts him and makes an attempt at urging him to release Daniel, Geoffrey reacts with something I would almost describe as a…temper tantrum? Sir Harald’s request for an explanation from his son is more than legit: after all, he just learned from Daniel that Geoffrey decided to kidnap a renowned nobleman on a whim, without any evidence of his supposed crimes, WITHIN THE BORDERS OF HIS FIEF IN FRENCH LANDS. That could get them in SERIOUS trouble with both his brother Guillaume de Ponthieu and Philippe Auguste himself, as Salisbury will later remark on. I mean, this action is not only dishonourable, as Sir Harald will be very quick to point out, but also extremely stupid. And Geoffrey is not stupid. Like, at all. He knows when to shut up, his rage is usually under check, he is not prone to acting out in anger or taking rash decisions. But here, Geoffrey is letting his emotions run rampant. His father is being perfectly reasonable, and he replies quite disrespectfully by stating that he is not a young boy anymore and that he will not allow for any reproach o interference on his part.

It should be noted that Geoffrey’s troubled state of mind is not solely the result of Jerome’s death. In fact, in chapter 12, Geoffrey makes it clear why he is so angry and frustrated. He lays out all of his reasons to his father:

“I’ve always done my duty and I lost my honour because of those to whom I owed my loyalty. I fought loyally until the very end, I paid my defeat with imprisonment, only to discover at my release that my name is associated to those of a friend deemed a felon and a king judged a coward; I return to my homeland and I end up on a list of traitors because of you! I am forced to be subject to the last two accusations, but the first…that one I intend to acquit myself from with any means necessary. At this point, I have already lost my dignity as a knight and you are the last person who can reproach me for it, since you are the one who dealt me the final blow”.

Geoffrey’s words reveal that he is also doing all of this for himself. He is now more desperate than ever to prove Jerome was always in the right, since this seems to be the only means of coping with the loss of his precious honour. The thought of having been friends with a felon of this magnitude is something Geoffrey could never, ever tolerate, because what would this say about him as a person? This explains the state of denial he currently is in: he has done something he would normally see as despicable by kidnapping Ian in his own lands, but he could excuse acting like a vulgar bandit if only he managed to force a confession out of Ian and avenge Jerome’s death (have I already mentioned Geoffrey has NO business being mad about Jerome meeting his demise at Ian’s hands? Dude was killed in fair combat. On a battlefield. Ian did not assassinate him or anything of that sort, there simply are NO good reasons as for why Geoffrey could ever want to “avenge” his friend’s death?? like there’s literally nothing to avenge here??? Lol???). And although Geoffrey is indeed defending Jerome’s honour because he feels that his crimes, if proven true, could reflect badly on himself, Geoffrey’s words still betray real attachment and a genuine feeling of affection for Jerome. Ian himself will later recognize their bond as valid by directly comparing it to the sentiment of friendship he shares with Daniel. At the time of Ian’s abduction, Geoffrey did not yet know that he would eventually be forced to fight yet another war once he’d finally reach his home: at that point in the story, Geoffrey’s motives for taking Ian and Daniel as prisoners had little to do with him wanting to gain back the honour he now feels his father tore from him by ordering him to side with him against their king. The primary motivation for his disreputable conduct in chapters 4 to 10 was, in my opinion, grief.

Another thing that I find extremely interesting and that in a way contradicts what I mentioned above about Geoffrey not being able to tolerate the thought of having been friends with a criminal, is that once he starts to come to terms with the proof of Jerome’s misconduct…he never disavows their friendship. What he says once he finally accepts Ian as his friend and lets go of Jerome’s obsession is: “I did everything in my power to honour our friendship, going even beyond common sense”. He never tries to claim they were never really friends or proclaim he wants to cut all ties with such a man. And towards the end of book 3, when Geoffrey and Ian are discussing what Ian’s exile really implicates and Ian is finally forced to admit he never was Jean de Ponthieu, Geoffrey all of a sudden brings Derangale into their conversation to reflect on how Jerome was right all along and how happy he is to learn that he at least did not lie to him about this one specific thing. Well, maybe I’m reading too much into this, but I was expecting him to focus on the sheer amount of lies he had been fed by…you know, Ian, the friend who happens to be alive and whom he is currently confronting. He does not even seem interested in asking Ian to explain himself, it is Ian who apologises to him, completely unprompted. They were having a conversation about Philippe Auguste and Guillaume de Ponthieu wielding the power to destroy his life, and after several beats of silence and intense consideration, what Geoffrey decided to say out loud was “I’m happy Jerome didn’t lie to me about you”? Ummmmmmm ok??????????? Lying to him certainly was not the worst thing Jerome has ever done? What about the many crimes he committed against Ian, his friends and his family? What I’m trying to say here is that Daniel’s argument about Geoffrey having been manipulated by Jerome must have cut deep, since here he is, bringing this up again. Derangale died more than two years ago, and Geoffrey already gave up on trying to redeem his honour and reputation, but he appears to be still in the middle of the process of learning to truly let him go. Dealing with the idea of having been deceived in such a cold way by a close friend to whom he though he owed unwavering loyalty is proving to be challenging. I might be delusional but I can only make sense of the fact Geoffrey brought Jerome into their conversation about Ian only to briefly touch on a strictly personal matter that concerned his own feelings and his private relationship with Ian’s old archenemy if I assume Geoffrey was, at this point in time, still dealing with some very intense and complicated feelings (….furthermore…………it doesn’t…really…make sense…for Geoffrey to be happy about Jerome telling him that Ian’s identity was a hoax…since the whole point of telling him that…was getting his help in destroying Ian and not really “being honest” with him…like…Geoffrey, love, why are you so desperately hanging on to these miniscule scraps of “““honest and genuine interactions”””, why do you still treasure this literal MICROSCOPIC CRUMB of “““sincerity””” on Jerome’s part…hello…………………???). Sorry but this whole Jerome/Geoffrey mess just exudes one-sided, unfulfilled and unacknowledged tenderness in copious amounts once you really start to read into it. My personal interpretation of the situation is that Geoffrey is having such a hard time trying to make sense of the extent of Derangale’s manipulation and condemning him as someone who was always undeserving of his friendship and devotion because he completely lacks the tools to properly analyse and interpret his own feelings on the matter.

2.2 Geoffrey and Ian vs Geoffrey and Jerome

I’m touching briefly on Ian and Geoffrey’s friendship dynamics in book 3 mainly because I think that their relationship will provide me with some good clues and parallels that could be of help in determining what Geoffrey was like when he was in Jerome’s company, since the third instalment in the series gives us such a wonderful and complete picture of the kind of friend Geoffrey is. Remember how Geoffrey immediately sided with Ian against Gant without asking for evidence against him and came to Ian’s rescue twice despite having very important businesses to attend to? Geoffrey has repeatedly shown that he has a tendency to be aggressively protective of his closest friends, to the point he has no problem resorting to extreme violence to ensure their safety (Ian, bleeding on the floor, gripping Geoffrey’s arm: “please tell me you took at least one of my assailants alive I’m going to need a witness???????” Geoffrey: “…” Ian: “…” The pile of corpses right behind them: “…” Geoffrey: “…sorry lol I kinda dealt with them in a bit of a heavy handed way” Ian: whimpers and collapses in his arms). Geoffrey’s attitude in regards to Ian’s enemies perfectly explains why he never had any qualms siding with Jerome against Ian despite the fact Derangale wasn’t telling him shit about the supposed evidence behind his outlandish claims. This is actually part of his regular pattern of behaviour: Geoffrey has consistently shown a thorough commitment towards undying trust and unconditional support through direct action. He might seem cold and aloof since he is never seen behave in an overtly friendly or approachable way when he is out in public (he also does not smile ONCE throughout the whole trilogy), but this right here is, in my opinion, a very affectionate man who is capable of forming true and intimate bonds with a handful of hand-picked men whose company he deeply treasures. Let’s talk about how Geoffrey U-turned at the speed of light to go back and help Ian corner Gant even though he was in the middle of carrying out an extremely important mission for Blanche of Castile. Let’s talk about how Derangale did not even have the time to fall to the ground after Ian delivered him the finishing blow, because Geoffrey literally teleported behind him to catch him, hoist him on his horse and take him to safety (let’s also talk about how Ian later found Derangale’s corpse among those of all the abandoned fallen soldiers the imperial army was not able to retrieve, and saw that his dead body had been laid on a shield with care, which means Geoffrey probably was the one responsible for preserving his dignity in death since we know for a fact he was there to hear Derangale’s last words and witness him die – I am literally about to start screaming please send help :)))))))). Do not let his grumpiness and harsh words fool you, Geoffrey is the most dedicated best friend another knight could ever ask for.

HOWEVER, the main difference between the two relationships I am comparing is that Geoffrey’s support of Ian is always unconditional, but never irrational in the same way his pursuit of revenge on Jerome’s behalf was, and at no point in the story does Geoffrey fail in evaluating Ian’s character or intentions. Furthermore, Ian’s gaslighting game was ON POINT in book 2, he was warping reality around Geoffrey like a damn magician, but Geoffrey never fully bought into his carefully crafted lies. And yet I am expected to believe that Derangale was such a skilled master manipulator he was able to conceal his true nature and agenda from Geoffrey for months? Hello??? PLEASE! Make it make sense!!! The ease with which Derangale was able to withold crucial information from him is extremely suspicious. Really? You mean to tell me Jerome Derangale had one of the least gullible people in the saga wrapped around his finger for years and never once slipped and misbehaved in front of him? Sorry I know at this point I must sound extremely redundant but Geoffrey’s selective blindness towards anything that concerns Derangale really is the weirdest thing ever, like, uh oh! Are you sure you didn’t catch any overly soft feelings for your bestie? So…I’m gonna say it: my theory on why Geoffrey’s behaviour was all over the place in the first chapters of book 2 is that he has always been completely unaware of the true nature and extent of his emotional attachment to Derangale, and this cluelessness of his contributed to worsening his already frustrated state. Furthermore, I also think Derangale must have noticed something was going on with Geoffrey and decided to use it to his advantage. Dude was a bit too confident, suspiciously confident in his ability to keep Geoffrey at his side without having to disclose any kind of compromising information.

In conclusion:

What I’m trying to say here is that I’m pretty convinced Geoffrey Martewall is not one of the straights. To sum all of this up, he:

-drinks astronomical amounts of his own extra strong brew of respect women juice on a daily basis

-has a tendency to get very attached to a few selected male friends who he then proceeds to protect with everything he has

-never noticed his old friend (👀) was lying to him, acted in a very out of character and erratic way for a while after his old friend’s (👀👀) death and was ready to commit actual crimes in an attempt to honour his old friend’s (👀👀👀) memory.

So. Yeah. The bi vibes are there. I would rather die than give up my Clueless Bisexual King Geoffrey Martewall headcanons! Sorry but a straight Geoffrey would make zero sense to me. Your honour can’t you see!!! this guy is WAY too cool not to be bi!!!

I rest my case.

P.S. I cannot BELIEVE I’m actually posting this monster on the day of the anniversary of the battle of Bouvines??? I swear I didn’t do it on purpose, at first I was really annoyed at the fact that putting this together was taking me weeks but then yesterday while I was editing I realized I would eventually be able to publish this on the very day Derangale died and Geoffrey was taken prisoner :’’) Perfect timing am I right?

[baodurs]

i want someone besides me and the 2 friends who know all the lore to meet my detective, but i’m too impatient to let you get to know her via fic so i filled out this questionnaire instead. she is veronica and she is so important, here is some stuff about her if you are interested :’)

QUICK READ OF YOUR DETECTIVE

Name: veronica langford

Pronouns: she/her

Sexuality: bi

Love interest: adam

Best friend: morgan

Main skill: science/technology

Secondary skill: combat/physical

Main personality trait: impulsive

Secondary personality trait: sarcastic

Why did they join the Wayhaven PD?: best use of her science skills

Relationship with Rebecca: not great

Relationship with Bobby: ex, finds it hard to be around him

Verda or Tina?: both! but she’s on verda’s branch

Murphy bite?: wrist

Murphy's fate?: captured

Rescue LI or Rescue Sanja?: sanja

GENERAL

Name: veronica “it’s been 3 years and i never gave her a middle name” langford

Nickname: just veronica. people around wayhaven called her ronny growing up, and a few still do despite her trying to grow out of it. maybe a few people from college and sometimes tina call her v or vee or something.

Birthday: please you all know i am so scared of concrete dates

Age: 26

Pronouns: she/her

Sexuality: bi

Hair color: brown

Eye color: dark brown

Height: 5′10 (178 cm)

Piercings: just one in each ear

Tattoos: something retro sci-fi on her shoulder. not a reference to anything specific, but like a little planetary landscape with a UFO in the background or something.

Clothing Style: casual. lots of tank tops and muscle tees (weather- and occasion-permitting), concert t-shirts, warm colors. flannels and leather jackets. jeans, sneakers, combat boots. think like rocker chick vibes, but cozier and more colorful.

Apartment Style: basic. she really did not plan on living there long and kept putting off decorating because it’d be a waste if she was just going to move out. this rationalization went on so long but since the end of book 1 she has slowly bought a few things to push it towards “cozy,” still pretty sparse though.

STATS

Personality:

Charming | Intimidating

Impulsive | Cautious

Sarcastic | Genuine

Friendly | Stoic

Easygoing | Stubborn

Traits:

Heart | Mind

Optimist | Pessimist

Team Player | Independent

Skills:

Main Skill: science/technology (but mostly science)

Second Skill: combat/physical

By the Book | Bend the Rules

KEY DECISIONS

Reason for joining the Wayhaven PD: best use of her science skills

Murphy bite:  Wrist | Neck | None

Murphy’s Fate: Captured | Escaped

Rescued: Love Interest | Sanja

ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP

Love Interest: adam

Why them?: for veronica it’s kind of retroactive. the way i imagine their True Canon, they don’t have any real romantic moments in book 1, so she doesn’t seriously consider that adam might have feelings for her until well into book 2. (the training scene is when she’s like “oh. ok. i get it now.”) even then it takes a few more chapters for her to really process that, figure out how she feels, and recontextualize everything. like realizing that he loves her and then thinking back on their relationship, knowing that, makes her feel so held (sorry i have no better way to say it) in a way that just makes her want to cry.

to give some actual specific reasons, it’s his dedication and his constancy and hidden care/softness. and his very specific brand of... selflessness might be just left of the word i’m looking for, but hopefully you get me.

Bold, shy, or mixed?: neither! in theory it’s closer to bold, but it’s more just earnest.

What were their first impressions of each other?: disastrous. on top of finding him condescending and unpleasant, there are also a few moments where veronica genuinely wonders whether he’s even a good person. or, like, cares about people. but once she learns the truth of things, a lot of her initial anger gets transferred to rebecca.

adam, with the benefit of knowing what’s actually happening, has a slightly more favorable impression of veronica. yes he thinks she’s difficult and reckless and too emotionally driven, yes she’s making his job absolutely miserable, but he does begrudgingly respect that her accusations are always on the right track and she’s good at her job.

What do they find attractive about each other, mentally or physically?:

for veronica: she loooves his sense of humor. and how much faith he has in the people he cares about. physically, dimples <3. but everything about his smile really. and his nose!

for adam: veronica has a very blunt, unadorned sense of kindness to her that he really loves. the way she is kind before she is nice and values directness. physically, her eyes, they’re deep brown and so expressive.

What do they do to spend time together?: they’re both competitive so anything where they can compete on the same team is fun. (competing against each other is fun too, but also like. exhausting. for them and everyone.) maybe puzzles or other things where it feels like they’re “winning” or solving something together. i have spent an embarrassing amount of thought on veronica and overw*tch esp*rts and she would absolutely make adam learn how to play main tank so they could queue as a tank duo. but most of the time i think they don’t Do specific things together; they just hang out. just talk with each other. perhaps snuggle.

What is their favorite memory together?: in current canon... lol. veronica really just treasures any time adam relaxes around her but those moments always get Ruined. even once they’re well into a relationship, i think veronica’s favorite memory would still be something small like a random time he said something funny and they both laughed together and they were outside and the sky was pretty.

What are their love languages?: acts of service for both of them, but especially adam. veronica... probably lots of words of affirmation and physical touch. they’re both bad at blocking out time for themselves in the first place, so quality time can get neglected especially at first.

How do they handle being apart from one another?: pretty well i think! once they’re in an established relationship at least, before that it’s probably harder. but adam can distract himself with work, and veronica is good at focusing on whatever’s in front of her (whether that’s work or she’s away on vacation or something). if neither of them is too busy, veronica calls every night and they stay on a while, half talking and half just keeping each other company.

Do they argue? How do they handle arguments and disagreements? How do they make up?: i think arguments are fairly rare! yes they’re both insanely stubborn, but they also understand each other pretty well (especially once in a relationship) and are very sympathetic to where the other is coming from. unless both of them are extremely stressed, one of them crumbles when they start genuinely arguing like "i don't want to fight ok, let's take a second."

What does their future look like?: who knows! i haven’t decided whether veronica will turn. i think she probably will, just because i do not want my main pairing for this IF to make me very sad all the time, but like. i’m not fully committing until i see a reason pop up in canon. as of book 3′s final demo, it’s not on her radar at all; she knows she loves adam and wishes they could Talk, but ultimately doesn’t expect or even want a relationship right now (because she doesn’t want to deal with dating one of rebecca’s agents OR with the logistics of being in a committed relationship with an immortal being). it’s just all so foreign to her current state of mind that it’s really hard to say!

Anything else you'd like to share: do you know how hard it was to answer some of these considering veronica wasn’t sure they were even, like, on decent terms for such a large portion of the canon content

BEST FRIEND RELATIONSHIP

Best friend: morgan and farah are essentially joint besties but i’ll go with M

Why them?: i think they appreciate each other’s no bullshit attitude. morgan likes that veronica doesn’t take herself too seriously and respects/relates to the way she tackles problems (quickly, head-on, and without complaint but also without pretending that it doesn’t suck?). veronica appreciates morgan’s bluntness, likes bantering with her, and in general just likes being around people that have quiet/steady presences.

What were their first impressions of each other?: neither of them had much of a first impression honestly. morgan barely thought of veronica at all beyond “she’s annoying,” and kept to herself so much that any dislike veronica had of morgan took a backseat to her dealing with the rest of unit bravo.

What do they do to spend time together?: lots of just sitting in the same room and listening to (low volume) music, veronica spends a lot of time hunting for songs morgan might like. morgan is also her go-to sparring/training buddy. and there are semi-frequent movie nights where veronica shows farah her favorite old shitty B movies, and sometimes morgan will tag along just to sit in the room with them or affectionately talk shit.

Anything else you'd like to share: i’ll talk a little about N! obviously veronica and nate respect, trust, and like each other, but she finds him the hardest of UB to connect with. they’re both people who wear their compassion on their sleeves but keep a lot of their hearts/themselves held back, so they just kind of circle each other, especially since like... nate values politeness and is very sweet in how he relates to people, while veronica values directness and is more jokey/lighthearted to put people at ease. idk how well i’m communicating this; as of the book 3 demo it’s getting easier, but their friendship is still newer/more... nebulous? than the others.

OTHER RELATIONSHIPS (Feel free to go in depth!)

Relationship with Rebecca: so strained. veronica has come to terms with rebecca’s absences throughout her childhood, but there’s newer resentment over... a lot of things, but how she handled the murphy case especially. veronica hates being kept in the dark, and even more than that she hates being rebecca’s priority. it’s difficult to reconcile her childhood and present images of rebecca, and she’s angry that rebecca is so freely and recklessly choosing her, now, to the point of endangering others if she has to, especially when she never felt like rebecca’s choice before. and incredibly frustrated/confused by how often the lines between their professional and familial relationships are blurred and what rebecca actually wants from her.

Relationship with Rook: veronica takes after rook a lot. in stat terms, the only trait they don’t share is stoic, and even then that’s veronica’s least extreme stat. people always told her how like her father she was growing up, and it’s a comparison she took/takes a lot of pride in! she looks up to him based on the stories, but more recently is uncomfortable with the comparisons. veronica would never have even come back to wayhaven if her life panned out as planned, let alone become a detective or joined the agency. that makes her doubt herself, and she feels like that doubt is letting rook down somehow.

rook is also part of the reason her relationship with rebecca isn’t as bad as it could be. she knows that rook loved her, and that he would want his family to be there for each other, so she feels obligated to at least try to make things better. but it’s really hard for her to move past everything to connect with rebecca (which also makes her feel like she’s disappointing rook).

Relationship with Bobby: they were together for a long time and veronica thought she loved him a lot! it was her first relationship, so she wasn’t sure a) what a “bad partner” looked like, or b) how to even be in a relationship or rely on someone in that way. so they spent a lot of time together and had great superficial chemistry, but veronica didn’t have enough experience with not feeling neglected to realize how shallow it was, or notice the red flags when she did occasionally open up. the plagiarism fiasco was a slap in the face, especially because it cost her internships/grad school apps/whatever, i don’t have the details, and forced her to move back to wayhaven after school. she’s still very hurt by it and finds it hard to be around bobby.

Relationship with Verda: due to the above plagiarism fiasco, veronica was pretty depressed when she moved back home, and disliking her job didn’t help. she was extremely jealous when verda was hired and wanted to hate him. but it did not take long for that to crumble into respect/admiration, and eventually into close friendship! verda is a role model for her; they bond over science; they joke easily and have good chill fun. she was really excited to see him piecing together the truth about the supernatural and then devastated to see how he reacted. she feels insanely guilty and thinks it was selfish of her to let him figure it out, but is also cautiously optimistic about making it up to him as of the book 3 demo.

Relationship with Tina: very close! veronica isolated herself when she came back to wayhaven after school, and she is so grateful to tina for being her closest friend and link to the rest of the world during that time. hates keeping the supernatural from her, though. she didn’t like lying to tina to begin with, but she feels even worse about it now that verda knows, and now that tina has clearly picked up on something being wrong but she still can’t say anything.

Relationship with the Mayor: cannot stand him. hates the way he talks about rook, hates the way he talks to rebecca. she cooperates as necessary but doesn’t bother hiding her lack of patience/respect for him.

Relationship with Capt. Sung: basically fine. i think veronica might be a little too casual for him in the way she works, but she always gets the job done so he’s not too bothered by it. (she is ���bend the rules,’ but more ‘strict rules aren’t important as long as you’re still doing good work’ than the ‘boooo fuck paperwork’ variety. so it’s mostly fine.) she also appreciates him as a minor link to rook.

Relationship with Haley: very friendly, but not super close. they get along great and could make pleasant conversation for hours, but ultimately don’t know each other super well despite the familiarity of growing up together.

Relationship with Elidor: such a comforting presence for veronica during her recovery! she is so grateful, so fond.

Relationship with Tapeesa/Vieno: veronica loves vieno’s cranky-yet-friendly vibe and they get along well! not close, but will stop to chat whenever they pass each other.

Relationship with Unit Alpha: loves their energy. always looks forward to the next opportunity to chat with them, and fully supports any harmless dunking on UB even if she rarely joins in.

Relationship with the Maa-alused: going through the house of mirrors and then coming home for them to appear in her apartment and infect bobby was one of thee worst experiences of her life, and it’s hard for her to get past that + the illness in general. sympathizes with them, and got them to sign the treaty, but is still kind of unsettled by everything that happened and by falk.

Do they have any other important relationships, past or present? (Relatives, friends, etc.?): some vague figures i have in mind but no one i’ve really developed. a couple friends from college, and maybe an elderly couple that lives on her childhood street and used to check in her.

PERSONAL BIO

Describe their personality: her usual demeanor is very warm and casual. sincere but private--she’s pretty blunt and likes to be direct with people, but steers conversations away from personal topics. likes to joke around and doesn’t take herself that seriously. but behind all this, she’s extremely stubborn and won’t shy away from conflict if she thinks you’re in the wrong (which is why she seems like a different person in the first half of book 1. UB is surprised by how like... chill and nice she is once they clear the air). a workaholic, self-reliant and secure but still pretty hard on herself, takes a lot of responsibility for the people around her.

Strengths: so dedicated. honest and trustworthy, has a strong moral compass and can always be counted on to do her absolute best. flexible and intuitive, her brain works really fast.

Weaknesses: cannot compartmentalize or separate herself from a case, throws herself so recklessly into everything (in terms of both physical danger and emotional burnout). doesn’t necessarily hold grudges but has a hard time letting go of hurt, still can’t think objectively about bobby or rebecca.

Where in the world is their Wayhaven?: somewhere on the US east coast idk what to tell you. perhaps a carolina or a virginia.

What is their personal history?: veronica was pretty social and well-liked around wayhaven growing up. she was known as just a really good kid; she was an overachiever and got along with almost anyone. in college, she felt like she was free of something and took a very work hard/play hard approach to life. always doing or going, whether it was for school or work or fun. she really enjoyed life during this time but crashed and burned pretty hard when she and bobby broke up; a lot of her plans were delayed until the plagiarism incident was resolved and she didn’t really have the heart to pursue them afterwards.

a year or so after graduating, she returned to wayhaven with the intention of taking one more year to regroup, and she has been stuck there longer than she meant to be and has kind of hit a wall when book 1 starts.

If they weren't a detective, what would their dream job be?: she was on track to become a biochemist and it was her dream job but then the main plot happened to her.

Anything else you'd like to share: i don’t really know enough to fully explain this, but no OC i love is a cop so like. i think maybe the job she took when she got back to wayhaven was a douglas-esque receptionist role for detective reele’s private office. then reele retired and small town politics + veronica’s history of useful contributions to cases in her downtime at work led to her being pressured to take up the mantle. it’s hard to explain why she’s a detective when she so deeply does not want to be one but i am Trying (or maybe she would have jumped at the chance to do something marginally closer to forensics?? who knows)

RANDOM FACTS

Zodiac sign: aries is what i assigned her when i first made her and i think it suits her! plus it’d be fun for her and M to be twins. this goes hand-in-hand with my birthday commitment issues though

Hobbies: music (she plays guitar and bass and sings a little), running, gaming unfortunately. i could also see her having been into boxing or some martial art but idk what exactly!

Likes: early morning stillness, DIY projects, t-shirts with inexplicable slogans and other weird thrift store finds

Dislikes: overly sweet food or drink, when cold weather lasts too long, being lied to or “protected” from the truth

Drink of choice: something with gin maybe. also feels a great fondness and gratitude for cheap wine.

Starbucks order: i truly know nothing about coffee. is it weird to order black coffee at starbucks

Favorite food: variations on spicy chicken soup! she eats a lot of crockpot meals for convenience and they’ve grown on her, and she has a few different recipes based on whatever she has on hand.

Favorite color: maybe like a rusty orange

Favorite music: she will listen to anything, but her favorite is probably folk rock, or sometimes stuff with soul or old school country vibes. big thief is a good example of an artist she’d be into i think! also was very into the indie music scene in her college town and still follows some of those bands.

Favorite genre (and favorite movie/book/etc): loves old, campy, unselfconsciously optimistic sci-fi. loves star trek tos. also a fan of documentaries of all kinds.

Favorite season: summer

Anything else you'd like to share: a kiss for you reading this mwah

[ravenhilarious]

sometimes I fear that Logan is becoming the Hermione of this fandom

elaboration under the cut. this will discuss the Harry Potter fandom, the sanders sides fandom, and some comparisons of my personal issues within them. there are some mentions of violence, abuse, bigotry, and death, and it is very long.

that’s what they said

disclaimer: I love Harry Potter even if jk is a bigot, I love Hermione, I love sanders sides which fortunately is not created by a bigot, I love Logan, so there’s no intended negativity about any of these

now, back to the point. I repeat: I fear that Logan is becoming the Hermione of this fandom

which should be a good thing, because I love Logan and I love Hermione. being “the Hermione” shouldn’t be seen as something negative, but the reason I'm referring to it as that is:

there was a time where Fanon Hermione basically became, for a lack of a better term, a Mary Sue (I know this term can have problematic and misogynistic elements but I couldn’t find a better way to describe it)

lots of it was based on the movie adaption’s version of her. lots of her flaws were either stripped away or justified – she became more fearless and confident, her condescending attitude towards mainly Harry and (especially) Ron was exaggerated, and, again, seemed more justified here. and of course, it didn’t help that she was played by the gorgeous Emma Watson. 

then came the fandom portrayal of her. while her movie counterpart was definitely more “perfectilized” (is that a word? now it is) than her book counterpart, she still had elements of being a teenager, and, well, a human. but on the internet, there were so many claims of her being the sole reason that Harry was alive, and that she was way out of Ron’s league, and lots of other stuff. if you’re in any way familiar with the Harry Potter fandom around... well, anywhere before like 2016, really, you probably know what I'm talking about. she was basically this “perfect does everything right keeps saying everyone the best at everything” kind of character. that was kinda annoying, both to people who didn’t care that much for Hermione as a character in the first place, and for the people who enjoyed her (more flawed and realistic) book counterpart

and don’t even get me started on the dr4m10ne shippers who claimed that “she deserves better than Ron (or Harry, or Neville, [heteronormativity was still a big thing back then] or really anyone who treated her with respect) and dr4c0 would be so much better for her!” 

and oof, the “Hermione joins the dark side” au’s where her actions were still justified by the narratives (why would a muggleborn join the people that discriminate against her lol)

during the last few years, she’s gotten some backlash because of this. more potter heads started realizing her flaws, or stopped justifying them. the shocking realization that the fan favorite was not perfect made a large part of the fandom go in the opposite direction. which I understand.

now, I am still able to enjoy the (canon) character Hermione Granger, despite the sue-ification she went through (maybe it’s the autism that helps me not to get so affected by public opinion, idk), but not everyone is that lucky. so many potter heads had gotten a very good character ruined for them, which is sad.

I don’t want the same thing to happen to Logan Sanders. 

Now, he wasn’t always one of the faves – in an early episode, he literally gets told that he’s the least popular character in the series (which does get played off as a joke, but I assume – I wasn’t in the fandom back then, so please correct me if I'm wrong – that for many fanders back then, that was very much the case) and I wouldn’t say he’s a “fan favorite” the same way that Hermione used to be. 

however, he has by now gained quite a large fanbase here on Tumblr. which is great! I, myself, really enjoy Logan, and most of his fans are really cool.

but there are some stans who, in my opinion, have started to give him The Hermione Treatment. who claim that he is the one constantly helping Thomas. who feel the need to bash some of the other sides in order to prove that Logan is the best. the main complaint being that “they ignore/silence him too much”. and yes, they definitely don’t listen to him nearly as much as they could and should. I agree with that.

what I don’t agree with is when fanders start wishing for him to “snap” at the others. I'm putting “snap” in quotation marks, because what they usually mean is just him straight up verbally abusing them, sometimes being physically violent toward them. all because they... didn’t pay enough attention to him? 

it gives me the same vibes as when Hermione’s acts of violence (I'm talking about, like, the bird attack toward Ron or the acne scars she forced on Marietta Edgecombe [another thing that got removed in the movie adaption], not the “fighting death eaters” parts) were considered “girl power” or something by the internet. 

now, I'm not saying that Logan in canon is super aggressive and violent, but he definitely has his moments – and that’s fine. a character does not have to be nice 24/7. but the fandom seems to, idk, romanticize (for lack of a better word) these moments, his outbursts of anger and violence, both the canon and Fanon ones. 

furthermore, there seems to be a double standard, in that lots of the things he’s praised for or that gets ignored about him, are the exact same things that would (or do) get criticized when other sides do it.

Patton gets flack for being controlling and guilt-tripping the others, which, yes, that is true, but Logan can also be controlling (Growing Up, Why Do We Get Out Of Bed In The Morning, arguably in Moving On too) and guilt-tripping (”not that any of you care, but I am unharmed” in Putting Others First)

Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that fanders have started seeing the less perfect aspects of morality. Even cinnamon rolls can do not so nice things at times.

Roman is considered to be too proud and condescending, and yeah, he is, he is literally Thomas’ ego. But Logan? “I know I'm smarter than everyone else”? nuff said.

Virgil gets criticized for being too aggressive, and boy is that true, but again, you can not bash one character for a trait that you praise (or even wish more of) in another character.

now, I know that there are fanders who also give Virgil a free pass for violence etc. (he was the ultimate Fan Favorite for a very long time), but they seem to be fewer today than they used to be – which is great! it’s just sad that instead of disappearing completely, this character treatment has now moved towards Logan.

(funnily enough, these certain Logan Stans tend to be less critical of Janus’ and Remus’ flaws too, which I will cover later on)

no, I do not want Logan to be flawless, just like I don’t want Hermione to be. I just wish this double standard wasn’t so common in the fandom.

unlike with Hermione, however, the narrative (and the writers) doesn’t seem to favor him over the others – the sides get a relatively equal treatment in that way. but the biggest problem with Hermione was not the writing, or even the movie adaption (though that definitely played a factor too), but rather the fandom. the fandom was the one who claimed Hermione to be some perfect goddess, talented in every way, too good for this world, etc. And I really don’t want this to happen with Logan!

another parallel I'll bring up is the “going dark” thing, more specifically, “going dark because the light is not good enough for me”. I mentioned dr4m10ne earlier, and Hermione joining the death eaters because Harry and Ron and the rest of the “good guys” weren’t good enough. not smart or talented enough. didn’t appreciate her enough. because Ron would at times make fun of her nerdiness, because they sometimes bickered. 

but for some reason, these dr4m10ne shippers and dark!Hermione Stans would gloss over the fact that Dr4c0 made fun of her heritage and that the death eaters literally fought for genocide of people like her (which, imo, is a bit more serious than “haha ur a nerd”)

similarly, it’s become common to head canon Logan “becoming a dark side”. now, I am in no way trying to imply that “the dark sides” are in any way similar to death eaters, or that Janus and Remus are anything like Dr4c0.

but there seems to be, yet again, a double standard. Patton, Roman, and Virgil ignore or silence or under appreciate Logan? oh yes, they definitely do. 

but so do Janus and Remus. I see so many au’s of Logan joining the “dark sides” because they are more likely to listen to and appreciate him, which, if we go by canon... is not true? Janus literally excluded Logan from the courtroom, and Remus has repeatedly threatened and physically harmed Logan because he didn’t like what he was saying. but people gloss over that because ????? 

I don’t really have a conclusion or anything, I just wanted to get this out

[liquidstar]

If you have time can you talk a bit about Heather's character? She seems like a typical mean girl but I'm really curious about what kind of person she becomes down the line? Is there anything specific that happens that has an impact on her? (sorry if that's a lot i'm just so curious!)

Sure I can talk about Heather for a bit! Artfight hasn’t been working for me for like the past 9 hours so I don’t have anything else to do LOL. Also please don’t be sorry I love stuff like this!!!

In a sense she does fill that mean girl stereotype, in addition to the flower it should be pretty obvious what movie her name is referencing (She’s got the shoulder pads!). But rather than the “Catty popular mean girl” she’s more like the “Straight-A-student who tries to control and domineer everyone around her”. She just wants things to always be her way, she needs them to be perfect, and the idea of needing yourself to be “perfect” is hardly a new concept for these characters. Carnation wants herself to perfect, Holly wants to be perceived as perfect, Geran and Amary need to be perfect heirs… And Heather takes all that a step further, by trying to push everyone else to fit this standard, but the H.A. students are hardly a well oiled machine, and they rarely take her or her orders seriously, aside from a few members of her group. She’s a threat they take lightly, they mostly just consider her an annoyance. Sometimes they go along with it just to make her shut up.

All this stems from her idea of leaderhood and strength, again this is another theme that repeats itself. Her mother used to be a bigshot wizard that commanded her own team, Heather idolized that powerful leadership, and she tries to force herself to have it too, but there’s a lot she lacks. Compassion, for one, because she’s generally a pretty mean person. The thing is... Heather hates her mother. She idolized her leadership as a child, and she still wants to emulate that, but eventually her mother got stuck in a very bad marriage and started to fall apart, and Heather considers her a coward for this, or she thinks she does. It’s more like… Heather felt betrayed by her mother when the illusion of a perfect hero was shattered, and she felt even more hurt by how she didn’t stick up for herself. She doesn’t REALLY hate her mom or think she’s a coward for things out of her control, she just doesn’t fully understand everything, including her own complicated feelings on the matter, because she’s still a kid. Part of her obsession with control stems from that, especially after seeing her mother lose control over herself. 

Heather doesn’t wear any of this on her sleeve, she doesn’t want people to think she’s weak or a coward, like how she sees her mom. She likes to project an image of herself that’s confident and condescending, put-together and in control. But just like so many of the other characters, deep down inside she’s just a little kid who wants her mom. That’s another common theme. Heirship and parenthood, and what it’s like to be a kid dealing with these things while you’re only now growing up. Sometimes you end up not being a very nice person because of it, but luckily another constant theme is growth and healing from all this, finding your own place in the world away from what you were expected to be. Heather is not nice, she’s a mean bossy girl who can and has taken things too far at times, but she isn’t doomed to be a bad person, she just has to try to be a good one. That can be easier said than done sometimes, but when she opens up she’ll make some real friends that can help. 

She doesn’t really become less bossy, but she sort of learns how to do it right. As in, she learns how to be a better leader, and not to try to lead by control but by giving directions. She learns to let go of all the misdirected anger she had towards her mother and forms a much better relationship with her. She can drop the confident persona for some real actual confidence, but the catch is that it has to be in other people as well as herself. She never really loses the attitude though, that’ll be there to stay, but at least it’s coming from a warmer place now. 

[ronbegleyformayor]

Sammy, Ben, Troy, her podcast team/crew, the town as a whole. Sometimes even the way she treats Emily rubs me the wrong way, though I love when she's just as in love with Emily Potter as the rest of us.

(I’m assuming this is the same anon who said that they don’t like the way she talks about other people in town)okay so this is a really good point and if you’ll give me a chance I want to talk about this

I think her relationship with sammy is pretty well-established. the two of them are pretty similar people, and when the fact that they are essentially siblings is thrown in we get them acting like children in front of each other.

she honestly isn’t super kind to ben, especially when we first meet her, but I think it’s worth it to talk about the specifics here. except for the short jokes (which let’s be honest everyone dunks on ben when it comes to his height), just about all of lily’s negative comments about ben are really about jack. when she calls in during ep 66, she repeatedly refers to ben as “jack’s replacement”. it’s not particularly fair to him or to sammy, but this isn’t coming from a place of being mean to ben for meanness’ sake. it’s because she’s still hurting over jack’s disappearance and feels like sammy is betraying jack’s memory by “moving on” to a new town and new producer. that being said, it’s also worth it to mention that the more she has gotten to know ben, the less she is comparing him to jack. the snark is still there, but she’s doing things like calling him the tiniest boy in radio instead of implying that he’s a hack. the way that she talks about ben was one of the things about her character that had rubbed me the wrong way initially, but the show doesn’t like,, excuse her actions. if it’s not sammy calling her out, it’s emily, and I’d also like to point out that since the last christmas episode (when emily told her point blank to tone it down) she’s changed the way she talks about and to ben especially.

if I’m being honest, I don’t know what you mean about troy. he’s the first person she meets in the first king falls chronicles episode, and one of the very first thing she points out is that despite his cheerful demeanor he comes across as very intelligent (I know she also calls him a sucker, but I’ll get to that in a second). I’m guessing you are also referring to what happened in blackbird, but I would also like to point out there that lily was blackout drunk. she also doesn’t start talking shit to troy until after he says the word “jack” and she thinks he’s talking about her brother. I’m not trying to make excuses for her, but the honest truth is that’s what alcohol does to people, especially if you’re getting sad drunk.

the way she talks to and about her team and the town is connected, in my opinion.let’s put ourselves in lily’s shoes for a moment here. you’re a journalist, and your entire career is built on the concept of getting to the truth. your life is a world of black and white, of what is true and what is not. however you have a little brother who has the same journalistic instincts as you, but he has what you’d probably call a weird side–he’s into conspiracy theories. he believes in ghosts and ufos and cryptids without any evidence that they actually exist. his main obsession is this small mountain town you’ve never heard of, a town that claims to have resident ghosts and their own version of the loch ness monster. you’ve had limited contact with him in the last few years, but then one day you hear from his boyfriend that he’s suddenly gone missing, that he thinks jack has gone to this town. you file a missing person’s report and wait. but nothing. eventually you concede to the fact that he’s dead, that somewhere in between his home on the west coast and this side show of a small town something happened to him. you try to move on with your life, but after intense pressure from your boss, you are forced to do a piece on this same small town. to your absolute horror, you realize that everyone in the town believes the same nonsense that jack did, that got jack killed in the first place. worse even, it seems like your team, the poeple you thought you could be reliant on to be level headed and rational, seems to be believing the same nonsense the town is trying to push on you. you release an episode of your podcast, and the three most powerful in men kidnap you and threaten you and your team for digging into the truths of the town, further validating your belief that the supernatural claims in the town aren’t legitimate but a control tactic. a control tactic that got your brother killed. 

what I’m trying to say is in lily’s mind, the town of king falls took jack wright. king falls’ collective belief in the paranormal took her brother away from her, and no one even seems to care. lily is a reporter. she works in absolutes, in actions and consequences, and I think the fact that there is no real person or thing to blame for jack’s disappearance (at least a non-supernatural thing) has eaten away at her. so what does she do? she pushes her anger on the town itself, because it’s easier to dismiss the entire town as crazy than to believe that maybe jack was right.I’m not excusing her actions. her anger is misplaced, for sure. but lily very, very strongly does not believe in the supernatural, so in her mind the town is a breeding ground for false facts and ill-held beliefs, and because of it impressionable people like jack have fallen victim.

I’d like to add one more thing, though, which is that lily doesn’t always have a tendency to just be outright mean to the residents of king falls themselves.she gets unhappy with people that make what she would call false claims (like olivia dupont), but she also shows a lot of empathy towards people to whom she can relate. she’s incredibly empathetic to mary jensen (which makes sense considering that she and mary have undergone similar experiences), even saying that despite her skepticism about ufos, she 100% believes what mary and tim are telling her.in the second king falls chronicles episode, she has honest and level conversations with both ron begley and hershel baumbgardner. hell she even manages to commiserate with riley bevins over the both of them having obnoxious brothers. lily’s ill will towards the town is pretty nebulous, and this is really evidenced in the fact that when she’s talking to individual citizens of the town, she’s much less dismissive and condescending. I think the issue is that sometimes she conflates anger over the town’s conspiracies and its citizens themselves, but she also gets called out over this. emily tells her very directly that the way she talks to people has an effect on them, and to her credit lily doesn’t really fight emily over it. she admits that she uses anger as a defense mechanism and that it isn’t a great thing to do. she says she should be better about directing her anger and in my opinion, so far she has followed through.

[conoscenze]

self-esteem // part two.

As the title says, this is a continuation of this post, in which are featured five out of the ten muses of this blog. (Number may grow in the future.) Not much else to say!

POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING FOR MENTIONS OF MENTAL ILLNESS, EMOTIONAL & MENTAL ABUSE, AND IN GENERAL COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF SELF-LOATHING. Nothing except the latter goes much in detail. Enjoy!

Fujunko, I’d say, has a very normal situation. While she did grow up bullied and isolated from others due to her family situation, she has always been a strong child because of her grandmother’s support. She thinks of herself as pretty okay, average even, and truth be told she lacks a proper conception and opinion of herself because she is always more focused on what she does, rather than who she is. Fujunko is modest and humble, and is aware of her faults and that she should fix them. The prospect of that doesn’t weigh for her, it instead fuels her determination further because she knows she’ll be an even better person once she might succeed. Perhaps the only thing she is a little self-conscious about is her sexuality, or more specifically the fact that she has always lived in an environment that is full of sexualization as well as other things related to sex. For example, not many people know she lives in Kabukicho because she is well aware of that district’s reputation. Along with that, even without having visitors coming over, she prepared a special spot where to hide her hentai manga and porn magazines. Fujunko is conscious of her sexuality and how active her libido is, and she’s not truly ashamed of it---perhaps it’s more of a situation where she would rather not risk looking like a complete pervert. Being degraded to just that would be greatly inconveniencing.

Min-Seo defines her self-worth based on others’ opinions. Ever since she was young, she has always been influenced by the judgement of others, the prime example being her own parents. Self-made people that base one’s worth through what they can achieve and how they can handle business: from the very start Min-Seo was expected to fit in that archetype as well, she was pampered and educated to retain that mindset much like her father and her mother. The moment Min-Seo decided to direct herself towards something less academic, but rather more artistic (cooking isn’t exactly seen as something material, in her family) they turned their backs on her. Maybe she could’ve been able to pass not too unscathed had they just done that. Instead they decided to stick their fingers and salt into the wounds, considering Min-Seo is not a hard read: it’s obvious how she constantly craves approval from others, no matter about what. Her parents were disappointed, and decided to make her understand to what extent they felt hurt. Victims of a crime she never committed in first place. She thinks that acting according to her own personality and morals is wrong in itself. A lot of times Min-Seo doubts her actions, questions her worth, wonders about her existence in itself. The weight that her parents’ expectations have on her back is far too much for her to handle without breaking. Min-Seo can persevere, but one thing is for sure: she will forever be scarred by her own lack of assertiveness. This is her conviction. The way she constantly puts herself down for every little thing may come across as attention-seeking, and it wouldn’t be wrong to think so. In a way, she is craving of attention and validation, even though she constantly denies so if directly asked. She wants to be looked at for who she is, but she is too scared to disappoint others in doing it. Thus, she is content with superficial reassurances and compliments---they satisfy, even if a little, her need for that bit of positivity while not digging in too deep. Because who likes a loser that’s constantly fretting over the future and her own identity?

Marzanna is another complex case, mostly due to the fact that her ego made, for the most part, an incredible shift. Its timeline can be divided very neatly: pre-Nev, the time previous to her “punishment”; and post-Nev, the time spent living in the human world with her reborn appearance, which she dons to this day. It wasn’t exactly a drastic change, as it came gradually with its own time, but the differences between before and after are rather striking. Impressive as they are quite scary. However, as a deity, Marzanna will always retain a sense of superiority. Obviously, pre-Nev she was much more cruel, merciless, violent---a goddess of Death and Winter true to her name. But going along with the myths, even then she possessed a very intricate personality due to her double-nature as a goddess of Harvest and Rebirth. You could say she played “both parts”, even if her nature was still prevalently more inclined to be the vicious Marzanna all humans worshipping her cult feared. That respect and terror in her regards constantly fuelled her ego and pride, hence why she rarely took kindly to those who critiqued her ways and manners (which were basically non-existent). After all the whereabouts in the Underworld, there was a change. Marzanna, the first time she came out of her “cocoon”, did not seem like Marzanna at all. Though it took her time to settle comfortably in her new body and her new life amongst humans, she managed to prove not only to Veles and Perun, but also to herself, that she was capable of being better. Of real emotions other than bitterness, anger, and spite. Marzanna became humble, she felt humble, and wanted to be kind to others without expecting anything in return. This doesn’t mean that she forgot who she was and what she did---Marzanna remembers everything very clearly. And, an important note, is that her “rebirth” did not erase the being she was before. Marzanna is gentle---but she still is prideful, she still can be fearsome, she, of her own will, can hurt others to her liking. The difference is that now her patience is much broader and more difficult to abuse of, seeing as she has learned how to properly control herself. If you bring into discussion the matter of self-worth, though, Marzanna will state with confidence that she doesn’t think of herself as neither too worthless, nor worthy. She is right in the middle. She would be telling the truth. There are certain things she is especially self-deprecating about, such as Jarilo and Vesna and her past wrongdoings, but they don’t feel so heavy that she needs to chastise herself because of them. Rather, she believes acknowledging them will help in avoiding further mistakes that may bring to those very same terrible choices. So, in short, Marzanna has decent self-esteem, and considers herself not exactly the best person, whilst not belittling her own efforts. She strongly believes in self-improvement, and despite not liking enjoying the memories about the things she has done and said, she doesn’t deny having acted upon them out of her own free will. While she is kind around humans, she still retains a bit of sense of condescending superiority, as perhaps remnant of her once-fiery pride. She’s not the kind to abuse of her nature, however, preferring to conceal it.

Annaliese is confident, it’s not difficult to tell. Although her past is rather bizarre---between neglectful, bigoted parents, a difficult life in the orphanage and a quite null life before the one in the convent---she seems to have come unscathed out of most of her experiences. In fact, one could even dare say that no matter how bad a thing could be, she will make the best of it and treasure the good part of her experience. Annaliese is a simple woman with a rather picky mind, because while she does not necessarily forget the horrible things said and done to her, they don’t affect her. They literally wash off as easily as rain. Is it in her nature to be so simply careless? Most’s insecurities (at least in the case of this blog) stem from the fear of other’s judgement and opinions, and they can augment following more events worth of a great shock or a trauma. For some reason, this does not apply to Annaliese---she has a stable view of herself, which is nor exceedingly high nor stratospherically low. It could be her airheadness playing a part as well, considering she’s not too aware of her own flaws and faults: but when met with confrontation about them, as long as it’s reasonable, she is willing to listen (hoping the other party will be kind enough as to explain properly what they mean). Annaliese considers hostile approaches annoying and useless to deal with, and perhaps this way of “shrugging them off” came with the stern teachings of the orphanage she grew up in, which was handled by the clergy. It is very stereotypical, and mostly true, for religious people to be obstinately stubborn about their beliefs. This could apply to Annaliese, who is outright unwilling to communicate with someone who is not able to take on a calmer attitude. Annaliese thinks of herself as decent, and doesn’t really take to mind her flaws nor her merits. She almost only acts on instinct, meaning she doesn’t use her head all that much. This means any ill judgement is typically rejected without batting an eye, and without giving thought to it---almost as if it was never heard in first place. This also means that if she feels unjustly attacked, she will act upon personal pride to try and defend herself.

Momoko is... complex. That, in itself, is not the correct word to describe her situation with self-esteem. Let’s start with the fact that Momoko has a very distorted view on many things, varying from common knowledge to specific psychological matters such as love, affection. She also has a very hard time dealing with what’s real and what’s not, as she constantly lives in a hazy and confused status that’s constantly oscillating between reality and hallucinations. It’s enough of an example to mention how her dreams, as described by her, almost exactly resemble her daily life. Sometimes, her brain---high on medications---creates hallucinations out of nowhere, be it auditory, sensory, or visual. Momoko lives her life constantly on edge because of this. To understand exactly why she ended up living in this perpetual state of uncertainty about what’s real and what not, you’d have to know what happened in her past. Considering that, as of now, it’s for the most part concealed and vague, we’ll try to explain without having to necessarily explore that specific aspect. As a first, Momoko thinks mostly two things about herself: “I’m a miserable piece of shit” and “But at least I’m better than the cockroaches”. She considers herself a despicable, lowly being, without a doubt. But at the same time she contradicts her own belief, by stating that she is superior in comparison to what she calls “cockroaches”. It’s a rather interesting paradox, as well as huge. She hates herself whilst not truly hating herself---confused as her own perception of reality is. Momoko judges others for anything simply because she can, and because she doesn’t feel the need to repress hostile and rude thoughts. It took her some time, and a lot of pressure from her medics, to understand that it’d be best if she kept comments to herself---but when she’s alone, or in a scarcely populated area, she doesn’t refrain from commenting under her breath any and all evil things she can think of. It’s efficient for distancing others from approaching her, is her conscious thought. Subconsciously, she is feeding her own ego, which is dramatically starving for some sort of validation. Momoko feeds her own self-esteem however she can, and since only anger runs through her veins, she will fuel her confidence with hatred towards others. Acting out based on her impulses and pleasures (such as hurting small living beings and being a disturbingly active member of the darknet community) doesn’t truly feed into this illusion of hers, it’s useful to fulfill a sense of utility. Momoko is conscious and makes use of her own intelligence, despite the fact that it doesn’t make her feel good about herself. Her own self-worth isn’t based on her skills. Then if her pride is based on her hatred towards others---the “cockroaches”, as she calls them (though it’s not exclusive to other people); what is her self-loathing based on? A very good question. The most clear-cut answer is her unveiled past, of course, and the events that occurred in her middle-school years. But since we cannot explore that part of her timeline yet, a possible answer could be... her self-consciousness. Momoko has never been particularly subject to bullying---nor to others’ judgement. In fact, while she was often picked on, she just as perpetually fought back with teeth and nails. Momoko always had a strong confidence regarding herself ever since she was a kid. So, one would be curious as to why she would grow up to resent herself to the point which she literally can reach starving points of two full days, one would be dying to understand what is pushing her to risk her (so far) untainted criminal record with all the illegal actions she follows on her own accord. Momoko is conscious of her actions. She knows what she does is horrible. And she doesn’t feel an ounce of guilt. Time and time again she’s bared strong self-fulfilled conviction in her own actions, and rarely does she feel like she is in the wrong. Even when presented with proof, it’s hard to convince her that she might be the one at fault. Then what is it? What is the cause of her self-hatred, if not aforementioned self-consciousness? Could it be something rooted in that so-mysterious event that caused her whole life to go downhill? Honestly? Momoko does not know. She hates herself---because she is human, that much is obvious. She doesn’t feel remorse when she acts vile, and that’s when she feels good about herself. Having emotions is the bane of her. She hates feeling. Perhaps this could be the reason. It’s her own nature as an emotional human being that she despises the most.

[entelexcheia]

(( ‘AU!’‘AU!’‘AU!’ Gimme all the AUs you can throw at me! Or maybe just one; don't want you burning out. ; w ;

send me ‘AU!’ and i will ramble about an AU i want to use more, develop and have thread in, or one i just don’t get to enthuse about enough on my blog. ( x )

One will do. I’m afraid I’ll burn out if I try to ramble about all of my AUs in one post so thank you for the consideration, hahaha. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about the Noir AU we came up with though, so I’ll be discussing that one. I’ll be including Yuli in this, if you don’t mind.

I’m honestly not familiar with the noir genre so chances are I’ll be taking plenty of creative liberties, drawing inspiration from many different sources which may or may not even be relevant to noir. If anything, I’d say this is just crime fiction, generally speaking. 

Disclaimer: I’m very bad at world building, especially with AUs that pertain to a specific genre, so please bear with me. 

I’m not going to base this entirely in reality. Loosely, but that’s about it. I’d rather refrain from using real-life locations and real-life events, just out of personal preference. Yes, I know I use real-life stuff in my regular headcanons but give me a break.

So, we’ll start off with an urban setting. My mind goes to New York City, namely Manhattan around the early to mid 1900s. Probably leaning towards the mid 1900s, considering that film noir is associated with the 40s and 50s. 

Overall, the mood/tone is very pessimistic, because that’s more or less what the film noir genre seems to encompass. Corruption and organized crime are prominent in the city and it seems as if those groups, particularly the criminal organizations, have the most power and influence.

And now a very basic run-down of the characters involved in this AU. Not every detail is fleshed out, as I’m still developing them. Details are subject to and likely to change at any time. Feel free to contribute any ideas, if you’d like, especially for Yuli’s involvement in the AU or any of your other muses for that matter. 

Wilhelm

Private investigator. Probably a war veteran, given that post-war themes are common in film noir, so he’s struggling with some form of post-traumatic stress disorder. Smokes and drinks to alleviate the stress from his line of work and generally to cope emotionally and mentally. 

Has a dead wife, because of course he does, and an estranged son, because of course he does. Has a dead personal assistant/best friend too. Otherwise, he doesn’t have any close relatives or even anyone he can really call a close friend, for that matter. Not much emotional support there, unfortunately.

But all in all, he’s really not a bad guy. He may be a crestfallen, pessmistic man struggling with substance abuse but he genuinely wants to expose the corruption in the city and restore some semblance of peace and stability. He’s willing to put in the work and effort to do so, since the city needs that more than anything, more than ever before. 

Charlotte

Popular singer and dancer who performed at various venues. She was well-liked for her voice but she was adored for her beauty and personality. Most of her songs were very hopeful and uplifting in nature, since she performed with the intention of bolstering people’s spirits in mind. She was very much a philanthropic, passionate woman. 

Charlotte and Wilhelm were married and had a child, though Charlotte died under mysterious circumstances. Wilhelm’s still trying to figure out how she died but he fears that it’s because she was a prominent public figure but she was involved with Wilhelm, who was in turn involved in the criminal activity of the city. 

Despite being deceased, she still serves as a primary inspiration for Wilhelm. Her ideals are what motivated Wilhelm to do his line of work in the first place. It’s safe to say that she was his ‘light’ in the midst of a such a bleak, dark world. I know the entire ‘deceased wife’ trope is overdone but look, I don’t care. 

Zizz

A relative of Charlotte’s, though I don’t really know what the exact relation is. Heck, maybe he’s just a close friend. He’s several years older than her, however, and was very protective of her. When she died, he was devastated and blamed Wilhelm for her death. He never liked Wilhelm to begin with, so this just gave him another reason to hate him. He’s very condescending and constantly belittles Wilhelm out of spite, all while reminding him of his failures. 

While he’s a manipulative bastard, Zizz does hate corruption as much as Wilhelm does. He’d be more willing to cooperate with Wilhelm if it weren’t for the fact that he hates Wilhelm. However, he does occasionally, very reluctantly, offer Wilhelm valuable leads and information. Of course, he’ll do it in a very condescending manner but he’ll swallow his pride, even for a moment, to ensure that Wilhelm does his job instead of wallowing in self-pity and self-loathing. 

Yuli

Wilhelm and Charlotte’s son, though he’s currently living with Zizz, who is more or less his guardian after Zizz pulled some strings (hue) to take custody of him from Wilhelm. Zizz loves him dearly, though he cannot stand the fact that he bears a strong resemblance to not only Charlotte, but Wilhelm. As such, Zizz often makes him wear a mask at home. 

He’s also a performer, as talented of a singer as his mother was. As such, he’s regarded as her successor and is well-liked by the audiences. However, because of his sheltered lifestyle, Yuli is only somewhat aware of the corruption in the city. Zizz would rather keep Yuli safe and out of harm’s way, since he believes that Charlotte met her demise because of her association with Wilhelm.

It doesn’t stop Yuli from being curious and wanting to look into it, however. He may be biting (hue) off more than he can chew… but even if he’s estranged from his father and was raised to loathe him, he’ll always be under Wilhelm’s watchful eye, even if he doesn’t realize this. 

Parado

Wilhelm’s assistant and best friend. A pleasant, easy-going fellow. He was very competent as Wilhelm’s assistant not only in detective work, but in many other fields and subjects in general. Had a bit of a gambling addiction, but he’d often go to gambling establishments with the purpose of exposing criminal activity while undercover. 

However, he was very much a risk-taker and had a lot of confidence in himself, perhaps a little too much, which ultimately led to his demise. 

Met a grisly death at the hands of unknown perpetrators but it was at least obvious that he had been killed by the very criminal organizations he sought to expose. His corpse was left (somewhat) intact as an subliminal warning but ended up going missing after a period of time.

Trifoli

Parado’s girlfriend, who works as a pharmacist. A very bitter individual, especially following Parado’s death. While she directs some of her anger and resentment towards Wilhelm, she cannot bring herself to blame him and assists him however way she can. One of the few people Wilhelm trusts and receives support from. 

However, Trifoli is paranoid that she’ll be targeted by the criminal organizations because of her practice with medicine and association with Parado and Wilhelm. She’s already had unfortunate run-ins with thugs who may or may not be affiliated with the crime families.

She won’t sit idly for any longer, however. She has a personal score to settle with the criminal organizations, beyond just exacting revenge for Parado’s death…

Rche

The next-in-line successor of one of the criminal families. Despite his age, he’s proven to be a competent, capable crime boss and quickly overtook his own parents in gaining recognition and notoriety. He’s very cruel and manipulative, enjoying his control over all sorts of criminal establishments in the city. He seeks to assert his dominance, ensuring that everything goes exactly as he plans. 

And because he has a very capable bodyguard (Saruis) and personal maid (Beridzebeth), he’s practically untouchable.

Furthermore, there’s been talk of an immortality elixir that Rche has shown great interest in…

[madeonmarket]

Ellis &

4.7.17 1:20pm

“I’m struggling with a constant state of apathy--there’s so much plaguing the world, and at times I feel helpless...”

Uninterrupted.

The sky was bleak. The steady rush of the Yerba Buena fountains crashed against the concrete and the grassy knoll was damp and leafy. We emerged from the alleyway adjacent the Contemporary Jewish Museum between 3rd and 4th, and approached the steps.

She was seated at a slant, resting her elbow with that casual-cool type edge that only comes with naturally-exuded confidence. She was uninterrupted--snacking and podcasting, posted with her head cocked in every which way. She was stunning in observation--her hair swept to the left side of her thick, black peacoat; her features strong, but softened by a gentle, blushed complexion.

Her name was Kassia, originally from Venice Beach. College brought her North. “I came up here because it was the cheapest school furthest from home.” I laughed at the immediate similarity. Her smirk was hidden, but noticeable. It wasn’t a condescending one, but more of a cautious, thoughtful one. The kind that comes with a busy mind.

Kassia graduated in 2012 with a degree in International Relations. For some reason, I didn’t ask what she did for a living, and even now I still don’t know. I didn’t feel like the conversation was going in that direction. I wanted to tap into to the unspoken madness that was invisibly plastered in her mind and on her face. What’s changed since you’ve been up here? Tell me about it, and how you feel. “Well, where do we start? We could start with the tech giants having become more and more parasitic to cities like this one, plaguing neighborhoods… that’ll come back to bite them when the tech bubble bursts. But I actually think we’ll see the student loan bubble implode before anything.” The eloquence in Kassia’s voice was effortless; it flowed like sharp, bubbling water. Her inflections were carefully placed but suave. “Or we could talk about the widened marginalization of people of color in the city. That’s an entirely different subject. So yeah, it’s changed, and only getting worse.” Her words were moving too fast for me to capture them all on paper, but I knew that I’d never want to be on an opposing debate team.

We moved onto hip-hop, and Kassia expressed that different sounds move in and out of her heavy rotation. “Right now I’m into Dom Kennedy.” What about Kendrick? You ready for DAMN.? “Absolutely.” So was I. We locked eyes and I sought more of her internal flame.

What is it that you’re passionate about? Where would you like to be one day? “Well, in a perfect world where Trump doesn’t exacerbate the current issues destroying this country, I’d like to have a lasting effect on our proliferation of races by getting my Master’s in Public Policy advocating for, well, I could name them all.” Her fire was rampant. Now I had wished I’d asked what she’s currently doing professionally.

On the subject of race... You’re very unique looking. Mind telling me about your ethnic background? And she was. Her hair was long and dark, cascading perfectly alongside her profound bone structure and deep undertones. “I’m Mexican, Native American, and white.” I nodded towards Bryan and continued. So we’re all mixed babies. Do you think that eventually, maybe outside of our lifetimes, that the world will look like all of us? She paused and chuckled, “Kind of like the Broad City episode where they say ‘eventually we’ll all be caramel and queer.’ I definitely think it’s possible.”

You’re very aware of what’s going on around you--around us. What in particular angers you, or makes you sad? “I’m struggling with a constant state of apathy--there’s so much plaguing the world, and at times I feel helpless, no matter how conscious or active I choose to be. It’s a hard battle.” She talked about what was currently peeving her--something she referred to as the Orwellian character of the U.S. government. “Gorsuch. The dude is a total racist.” Her literary allusions were so coy and well-versed. Her brow scrunched like anyone’s would in the constant struggle with impassioned apathy. I shifted.

Tell me about what makes you happy. She looked up. Her eyes shot towards St. Patrick’s Catholic Church. Its architecture was bold, rustic, and antiquated. I had noticed it slammed against the backdrop of 21st century skyscrapers right before we approached her. Kassia spoke. “Well, little things. I’ve been gazing at this church for the past twenty minutes, specifically at the juxtaposition between the forgotten brick and the gleaming, worthless corporate buildings behind it.” I got chills and basically told her that we were connected. This stranger thing isn’t so hard, after all.

We talked about a few other things--religion, podcasts, cultural appropriation… but what got me was who she cared about most. The question stung her. She shifted, paused, and shifted again. “My dad.” She was silent. Like she didn’t want me to go any further, but I did. And why your dad? Can you tell me more about him? “I’m a daddy’s girl. He raised me as a single parent. He’s everything.”

I ended there, because there was nothing else to be said. My eyes shot up at the old brick church. Bryan knelt for some lasting shots. Kassia was elegant. Then we left her, uninterrupted.

Ellis & Market

[ariasune]

Long Post

lance is definitely immature bc he’s a teen and he has selfish moments but arguably the whole team does so giving specifically him shit for it is annoying. everyone’s desires are amplified by being away from home and having a huge responsibility that makes it hard for them to act on it, so I think that intensifies really selfish moments when you just want what you want, just One thing out of everything else they’re going through. but none of that is more selfish than not considering allura’s trauma even once because you’re half galra so all of a sudden you’re sensitive to them being hated. none of that is more selfish than prioritizing the fact that you’re a good person over survivors. but keep pegging lance as the self-centered one. l m a o

Honestly, stepping in here to say that Keith doesn’t– not consider Allura’s trauma? Prior to the half-Galra reveal he prods at her views on the Galra after Ulaz’s sacrifice - for Ulaz’s sake, and Allura very very justifiably and accurately points out that Ulaz’s secret society has had 10k years to get their shit together so fuck ‘em, and Keith accepts that (because she’s right, js, fuck ‘em).

But, after the reveal? Keith- doesn’t rise to ANY of Allura’s reactions to him. He looks away, he takes it, quietly. The most he does is tell Hunk to knock it off, and states that it’s bad enough Allura hates him– but Keith doesn’t? Demand? Anything? Of? Her?

When she’s telling him about her trauma, he’s hurt, but he doesn’t interrupt, he doesn’t talk over her, he doesn’t– like I’m sorry but I don’t think Keith is being selfish regarding Allura’s trauma? He’s sensitive to her hating him over something he can’t help, but like, he still has issues with Galra himself (see his reaction to the Galra soldier he meets)– he doesn’t even react to Hunk reminding Allura that Keith was involved with a mission too. Keith ducks his head, and does his part, for the team, as always.

Like Lance isn’t self-centered, but- uh- neither is Keith? He’s not prioritizing his feelings over Allura’s trauma?

he didn’t really accept what allura said in episode 6, he just stopped talking and it cut to another scene. his only comment being it’s bad enough that allura hates him is again focusing on his feelings. you’re giving him way too much credit based on ~speculation~ from body language rather than what was said, which was either defenses for ulaz or his own sensitivity. he’s said absolutely nothing re how allura must feel. we’ve seen way more emotion from him about ulaz than about allura losing her people because of the galra. sorry but he was whack in s2 and the most selfish. all of them are corny for not giving allura’s trauma a thought but he was the most sensitive for obvious reasons. silence toward allura when he’s been more vocal about the marmora is not fighting for her and it is prioritizing his feelings

Regarding E6, it cut to another scene, thus implying the discussion they were involved in is over, and that therefore, Keith has ceased arguing and pushing a counterpoint, which he as a character has never been shy to do and is even a defining character trait - he’s very clear in his expression of disagreement whether verbally, or via expressions (see: most discussions with Lance). There is then a prolonged considering silence that follows. It’s acceptance of her point, and absorption of her logic. From a narrative perspective, Allura concludes the conversation because she’s right: there may be good Galra, but they have failed to counteract for 10, 000 of expansion, annexing, exploitation and oppression.

Post that scene, Keith’s pro-Galran commentary with all characters - including post-reveal - stops. Before it, he’s supportive of Ulaz, and after, he leaves Shiro out to dry. Keith’s suspicious with the Blade of Marmora (as-is most of the team), ranging to flat-out aggressive when he meets with them. He’s prepared to rescue a Galra Soldier, verbally implicating that they - the Paladins of Voltron - are morally better than the Galra by doing so, but also to disarm and threaten the person he rescues on sight. I’d say that Keith pretty clearly accepts what Allura says at the time, and rapidly practices her viewpoint, even after e8.

He’s simply not vocal about the Marmora. He doesn’t defend them- Shiro does. He doesn’t even parley with them to their faces- he’s aggressive, demanding, and suspicious from e8 until after his conversation with Allura. Even when taking over Thace’s role in the mission, Keith is angry, condescending and disrespectful to the Blade of Marmora, which is prominent given they are under the impression that both as a Galra, and specifically as a Blade Galra, they should be able to command and order Keith around. Except Keith is not Galra, nor sees himself as Galra.

With Hunk, who pushes the discussion the most, Keith denies and detaches himself from Galra heritage. Understandable, given Keith’s views on the Galra, and how removed they are from Keith’s identity: he’s raised human, he’s human-passing, he has no idea he has any Galra heritage for a long time, and upon reveal, does not know how, or how much, he benefits in no way from the Empire’s exploitation, and in fact, is at a disadvantage for it as a human and Paladin. It’s hardly unusual for biraciality to exist under oppressive regimes, often for distasteful reasons but not always, and not uncommon for people to detach themselves from that heritage under similar circumstances.

Keith also does explicitly discuss how Allura must feel, which is that she hates him, for the reasons Hunk reiterates (Hunk realizes midtalk that Keith has accurately read the situation, Keith waits patiently for Hunk to empathize with Allura) – that they massacred her people, and destroyed her family. His frustration with that is solidly directed at the fact that Keith does not feel Galra (contextually, the discussion is Keith denying being Galra, and Hunk insisting that he is, in fact, part Galra), and is upset with both Hunk - and Allura - for seeing him as Galra, asking Hunk to knock it off, but does not remotely do the same with Allura, undoubtedly because of the trauma he is clearly aware of. Which again, this all fits with the fact that Keith is raised human, human-passing, has never been raised Galra, and the only benefit he gains FROM being Galra is being able to log into the racist Galra computer system, something he explicitly uses to attack the Galran Empire…which by the by, is the one time Keith remotely accepts himself as biracial Galra.

And again, in any case, his reaction to her being silence, and withdrawal is not giving him too much credit. Again, it’s indicative of acceptance, and Keith’s subsequent practicing of anti-Galra behaviour (his detachment from his Galran blood, his aggression and prejudice towards the rescued Galran Soldier, his aggression towards The Blade of Marmora) is agreement. He’s not walking up to her, and empathizing with her openly, something I’m very sure she doesn’t want either given her current feelings towards him, but he is detached and disconnected from Hunk fairly neutrally defending him (again, it’s pretty neutral, because Keith was there on the mission).

Otherwise, during Allura’s confrontation, Keith’s expression is hurt, but he still doesn’t react defensively. He agrees with her. The Galra are terrible people, and Keith is a terrible person. Keith’s biracial, and he freakin’ hates himself for it.

I think you’re overspeculating from Keith’s body language, reading it out of context from his actions, biracial-coding and autistic-coding. He’s minimizing himself physically, disengaging, being non-intrusive, non-threatening, not defending himself or the Blade of Marmora, and practices anti-Galra prejudice himself, both on his own, and in front of Allura. From all accounts, post E6, Keith agrees with Allura, and supports her feelings, albeit from the complex position of his friends identifying him as Galra, against both his history, social status in the universe, and preferences.

Also, again whilst Allura’s feelings are understandable, they are not justifiable. She’s being prejudiced, and it arises from intense trauma, and the Galran Empire being a lethally oppressive, exploitative, racially-identified organization– and she is more than reasonable in her feelings of distrust and anger towards Galran allies like Ulaz, and the Blade of Marmora, but she is still not correct in how she treats a biracial friend for something both outside his control, and outside his experiences, history and knowledge.

like if it’s to the point where you have to analyze keith’s facial expressions because he didn’t say jack shit about allura or stand up for / think about her feelings even once I think we can conclude his priorities aren’t where they should be and that’s been the case ever since he saw ulaz’s blade. once his personal feelings & character became involved he hesitates, he gets vocal over it, and he’s not sticking up for his teammate

I’m not speculating from body language, you are? you wrote entire paragraphs from keith going silent and glancing downward lmao. him being autistic is a headcanon, so don’t bring that into this. it also doesn’t matter that he’s biracial - people who are mixed with white still have to analyze how close they are to whiteness, colorism, and acknowledge if they’re white-passing or not. so that’s not a get out of jail free card. also being passing doesn’t invalidate any identities you have, that’s harmful rhetoric

your whole response is bullshit. allura is not prejudiced. you clearly do not know how prejudice or racism works. throw out as many identities as you want - biracial, maybe autistic - but using that to shield people from their wrongdoings is identity politics and flawed representation politics

I do not care how horrible keith feels about being galra, just like I don’t care when white people throw themselves a pity party about how sad they are to be white and have ancestors that are slave drivers. I do not and will not ever care. it may be outside of his control, but it is not outside of his history especially with his mom being a part of galra resistance. it’s not outside of his knowledge anymore. it may be outside of his experience, but even later generations must always remain aware and accountable of how they benefit from violent history. otherwise you have situations like evolved racism because white people were never held responsible for our slavery or genocide

when your people do violent shit, you carry that weight with you just like its survivors always will. we will never, ever be free from that weight. why the fuck should you be? get off of my post with your ignorant ass

I use Keith's actions, words, facial expressions, and the narrative editing to construct a full context, which concludes he gives Allura space, understanding and even agreement. He empathizes with her feelings, and supports her opinion of the Galra both when he's around her, and to others, whilst performing his duties as a Paladin. I think therefore we can conclude his priorities are precisely where they should be: supporting Allura, and fighting the war against the Galra.

You speculate from the silence and body language that Keith is failing to support her, but fail to contextualize any other part of it. You're overspeculating in one area, and pushing a narrative. Further, he is autistic encoded, and lack of canon confirmation does not deny that he is written in such a way that he behaves and thinks and communicates like a person with autism. I am bringing that into it, because how his support of Allura is expressed is done so through that encoding. It's relevant, because autistic communication styles are vilified frequently, particularly as selfish, malicious or insufficiently empathetic.

Your reading of Keith’s body language has everything to do with autism, and ableism.

Now, he doesn't defend himself personally, either in regard to his feelings or character, but instead validly denies that he is Galra. Which is fair. As said, he is biracial but not Galra-passing, not Galra-raised, not of Galra-culture, not a beneficiary in anyway to the oppression of the Alteans, or privilege of the Galra, and not aligned in anyway politically, ideologically, or racially with the Galra.

This isn't identity politics. Keith's communication of support ties into autism, and your rejection of it ties into the treatment of autistic people as less human. Keith's biraciality ties into this because Allura's prejudice is a statement of Galra being biologically oppressive and treacherous, rather than culturally oppressive and treacherous.

Her feelings towards the Blade of Marmora are deeply valid. The members of The Blade of Marmora are full Galra, or at minimum, Galra-passing, they benefit from Galra privilege as members of the Empire, and ruling class, they have thought a great deal about how Zarkon is a tyrant, but were involved in the expansion of the Empire through at least tacit agreement. Their first known act of rebellion was freeing Shiro, then rescuing the Paladins in s1, then helping with the final battle in s2. They are piss-poor allies, both ideologically and practically.

Allura can and does point this out, but when she constructs a biological argument around it, which shows with how she deals with Keith, who is not Galra-passing, not privileged, not culturally, historically, politically or ideologically Galra… she's being blinded by her feelings of loss, and anger, and irrationally prejudiced.

This isn't identity politics. This is called context, and analysis.

See, the thing is, Keith isn't Galra. That's the whole thing. In the analogue you have, he is not a white person having a pity-party, he is a PoC, who is being laterally aggressed by Allura for not being PoC enough, and non-laterally aggressed by the Galra, including the Blade of Marmora for not being Galra.

And again, let's remember, Keith does not benefit from the violent history of the Galra. They aren't his people, even the Blade of Marmora aren't his people — if Keith had agreed to their hierarchy, been treated fairly or even humanely by them, argued on their behalf, accepted them as his people, defended himself against Allura’s biologically driven prejudice… if any of that had taken place, there would be some argument that Keith is not supporting Allura.

Plus the fact he allows Allura her anger and grief is as much accountability as can be expected from Keith — he accepts, indefinitely, and permanently, that she sees him as Galra, and that the Galra destroyed Altea.

Your argument is flawed because your projecting the fandom's colourism against Allura, and favouritism towards Keith onto Keith as a character. As requested, I have moved my reply off your post.

[compassrose-tekkit]

Compass Rose: Chapter 4

Juan watched as more students steadily filed into the briefing room, which was just an old classroom on the Academy's ground floor. The student's eyes kept drifting back to Ahiga, an almost unnaturally tall, slender student, and leader of the infamous team Epsilon. He quickly snapped his eyes away, instead deciding to peer around the mostly filled room, easily identifying Delta, the all human team, then Omicron by its two human members. He knew Lambda had left early, which just left the all inhuman team, luckily Kyros and Jarlath were somewhat identifiable, and with the other two sitting beside them, that meant Gamma was also accounted for. "Maaan! Keuxa's late AGAIN!" Jasmine loudly proclaimed, before being met with annoyed grumbles and sighs, "He's always behind his own schedule, this isn't exactly a new development." Jarlath pointed out in a disgruntled manner. "Ha! I'm just hopin' we get more than one measly mission this week, jobs are runnin' dry." Juan heard the sleazy man from Delta start to his team, "W-well, maybe we'd get more missions if we didn't argue with all the other teams, Jerry." Amy hesitantly guessed, looking down at her hands as her team's harsh silence pursued. "Who cares about all that!? 'Just send us on more solo missions' is what I say!" Jerry shouted, looming over the smaller high schooler, before the large leader tugged him back into his seat, "The recent surge in fairy activity's making solo missions almost completely inviable-" "Pfft, 'cept for Lambda!" Samuel cut off Cassidy, scowling around the room, as if physically looking for someone to blame. "G'yaah!! Sorry I'm late!" Keuxa suddenly bursted into the room, toppling over himself as he swung the door open, "'Bout time, professor!" Jasmine jokingly mocked, getting a flustered giggle out of the bewildered man as he secured his large, circular glasses to his face. "This should be a pretty quiet week, all things considered." Keuxa started as he placed a single piece of paper onto a rickety, wooden podium at the front of the room, causing the several lax teams to steadily sit at attention, except for Epsilon. "First off, the remains of the fallen dragon on the ridge, while I never wish to disturb the resting places of the Glamour's mighty creators, the recent increase of adolescent hikers DOES worry me, so Gamma and Lambda with be removing SOME of the remains, more information on that will be given to your teams later." Juan watched as the two Delta men stared over at their rival team in anger. "Next up, I'd like a particular part of the lower west valley searched for possible fairy activity, there have been numerous car crashes this month in that area, and I just like to be on the safe side. As Lambda will have their hands full, I'll be entrusting this investigation to... Epsilon." Samuel let out an aggravated huff, causing the meek girl beside him to let out a sweet giggle. "Oh! Delta- or more specifically, Cassidy... the, uh, the coffee making machine in the teacher's lounge isn't working again." The taller female of the team let out a quiet sigh, staring flatly at the nervous professor. "Are you trying to use the bigger carafe again? If the water catcher isn't connected to the machine, it isn't going to brew your drinks." Cassidy explained, causing Keuxa's expression to widen in realization. "Ooooh... my bad, my bad! Alright... finally, Theta." Terry suddenly perked up in surprise as the team was called, "There's a simple noise complaint in a quiet neighborhood not too far from here, usually Lambda handles these, but it shouldn't be too bad. You'll leave as soon as Omicron-" "Whoa, we didn't really expect to-" "You'll do fine I'm sure, Toran." Keuxa cut the tall student off. "Omicron, I'll send your team the information that needs to be distributed around, and that's all for missions this week." The professor ended, before hastily leaving the room. "That sucks!!" Samuel suddenly shouted as he pounded his fist on a table, "Another week without a mission? Poor you." One of the Epsilon sisters mocked, further riling up the already agitated man. "Calantha, just leave the guy, we have work to do." Ahiga's words were painfully drawn out, and his wide smirk gave him a condescending feel as he stared down on all of the other teams, waltzing by them as Epsilon left the room. "That guy- NO! That MONSTER!!" Jarlath let out a small chuckle, "For once, we can agree; that team's bad news." Samuel stared at the other team leader, before silently nodding, and leaving with his team, followed by Gamma, then Omicron. "So..." Jasmine started once the other teams were gone, "Guess we have a mission." Greg stated, getting out of his seat, "It's just a noise complaint, though, why would Keuxa even care?" Juan asked, clearly confused. "The professor has good intuition, if there's something out of the ordinary, he can usually tell, but we aren't ready to take on a fairy, or any sort of dangerous situation." Terry explained, shaking his head. "Oh!" Greg suddenly perked up, "We should get our compasses if we're going on a mission soon." he pointed out, gesturing toward the door. "Juan. You need to get your compass?" Terry asked, looking over his shoulder at the human, "Where is it, I'll just-" "I'll accompany you; it's in the office.". ●●● "Out of all our ways to travel, we're going by car?" Juan repeated once again, "Heh, sure harpies can carry people, but only one at a time, and it wouldn't be very pleasant for the passenger." Greg remarked, again, adjusting his cap. Since the four were driving out to a residential area, Omicron insisted that the team wear their clothes over their uniforms, the others seemed used to it, but Juan found it surprisingly uncomfortable, and he couldn't think of any good conversation topics to get his mind off it. "Okay. Wait here." Terry suddenly spoke up as he parked in front of someone's driveway, Juan looked around the dark suburbs, noticing that only a few still had their indoor lights on. "May I go over the notes?" Jasmine expectantly outstretched her hand toward the well dressed man, "Oh. Yes." he pointed down to his phone, which was laying next to his car's emergency brake. The woman in the passenger seat waited for the tall driver to shut his door, "Nice! Let's see what we got!" she suddenly announced in excitement, " Ehh, Toran always forgets to give us the mission details when he gets them." Greg quickly explained as Juan's confused expression was noticed. "A woman reported seeing a strange, catlike animal hopping her fence, a few minutes later, an elderly man called in complaining about a very noisy wild animal in the dark corner of his yard; when attempting to approach, it stood upright, and began growling, startling the man. There were two more reports of this strange creature, all reports are from this neighborhood, and most state that it was either bald on its torso, or wearing a bizarre, dull blue outfit, and something metal around its neck." Jasmine read out the email on Terry's phone. "A student?" Juan asked, peering out of the windshield, "Maybe, but not likely. All of the 007 kobolds fully understand the importance of protecting the Glamour's existence, not even team Epsilon would play around with that." Jasmine explained. "Alright, the homeowners haven't seen anything out of the ordinary, but they have heard weird noises coming from further up." Terry announced once he got back in the car, "I asked about a missing family pet." he informed the others as he slowed to a stop at another house, this time nodding to Jasmine. After waiting a few minutes while watching the woman talk to another homeowner, Jasmine eventually came back, "Haha, that was the woman who originally called in! I told her it was probably just a friend's cat, but she refused to hear it, luckily, her husband calmed her down and pointed me in the direction she said it went." she explained once seated. "If it's as loud as the witnesses are saying,-" {Witnesses?} "-then we should be able to hear when we're close." Terry stated as he drove further into the dark neighborhood, "Kobold speech can easily be mistaken for simple animal sounds, so maybe they've been trying to talk to someone?" Jasmine guessed. Juan continued to watch out the windshield for a few minutes as the well dressed student calmly drove around the neighborhood, before barely noticing the headlights reflect off of a small, metallic object as it ducked behind a tool shed. The student suddenly pushed himself out of the slow moving vehicle, dashing around the hood, and straight at the short, crouched silhouette behind the separate building, "Juan!?" Terry called out in irritation as he quickly chased after him. "You!" Juan shouted as he attempted to grab the dark reddish brown animal by its hind leg, but it easily evaded his grasp, causing the student to crash into the ground as he overextended his reach. "Clumsy... at best..." The kobold muttered in a light stupor, before casually stumbling off into the shadow of the main house, "Didn't get it, but it couldn't have gotten far!" Juan hastily reported to Terry as he approached, before attempting to run off after it. "No." The rash student's arm was suddenly caught in a firm hold by Terry, "What are you doing!? It's getting-" "HEY!!!" a woman's booming voice pierced the night air as the house's front door violently thrusted open. "What are yeh DOIN'!?!?" The large woman roared, "Oh. Sorry, we are out looking for my lost pet, but-" "Get OFF meh property, AND SHUT UUUP!!!" the woman harshly slammed her door, signaling for the two students to leave. Terry let out a drawn out sigh as the two returned to the car, "Do NOT... run off during a mission." he firmly stated, before beginning to drive again, "It was a kobold, I wasn't able to get a thorough look at it, but it was DEFINITELY a kobold." Juan glared at Terry through the rear view mirror as he stated his findings. "What did they look like?" Jasmine prodded, "Similar to one of the Lambda kobolds, but darker brown." "...Did he insult you and reek of whisky?" Juan gave the female student a confused look, but continued along. "I didn't get the chance to SMELL him, but he did insult me when I failed to grab him... Why would he smell like-" "I know who it is." Jasmine wore an amused, cocky grin, "I also know where he's going to be... we can wait for him there.". ●●● Juan stared at his compass, which Jasmine helped readjust to fit as a necklace, the four were quietly waiting in Terry's unlit car, staking out a smaller house across the street, which still had a few of its lights on. "...There..." Jasmine slowly pointed out their staggering kobold friend as he struggled to get across the front lawn, Juan quickly reached for his door, only to have it lock suddenly. "What is he doing at this place?" Terry inquired, giving the overeager student a stern side eye, "Are you familiar with Keuxa's friend, Albern?" Jasmine started, and while the well dressed student nodded, Juan exchanged a look of confusion with Greg. "Albern has a bit of an obsession with his ex wife, occasionally, when he's in the area, he gets so drunk, that he decides to go through her trash, looking for a sign that shows her mutual affection." "And he does this as a kobold? The professor hasn't stopped this?" Terry looked shocked, before a loud crash caught the team's attention. "One more thing... the wife doesn't know about the Glamour, so we should probably hurry." Jasmine stated as she opened her door, motioning for the others to follow. Terry and Greg quickly followed suit, but Juan had to first fumble around the car door for the lock, then steadily go around the vehicle to catch up to the others, who were slowly surrounding the drunken kobold as he sifted through a toppled trashcan in front of the house's garage. "Oh goody... you brought the klutz along." The groggy kobold flatly mocked as he continued to rustle through the pile of spilled trash, "Albern, right?" Jasmine started as she very carefully drew closer, "Yup... Now leave me alone.". Juan suddenly bolted forward, taking several steps before slipping on the slick, lush grass, and falling backwards, "Ha! Called it." Albern mocked as he unscrewed a metal hip flask, taking a long swig as he swished his long tail around. "Uhh, hey Juan? Ever think you'd see a fairytale creature downing whisky?" Greg jokingly asked as he helped him up, "Maybe in an R rated movie, but... no, not in a place like this." Juan admitted, staring down at the sticky, reeking mammal as he screwed the flask cap back on, and continued digging. "...Wh-..." All five of the trespassers froze as someone walked around the corner of the house, the younger high school girl's slippers lightly clapped against the pavement as she rounded the corner of the garage. As her eyes slowly opened, her face abruptly lit up in fiery anger as she saw the scene before her, "You..." she stormed forward, passing by team Theta before looming over the wasted kobold. "Heeey, sweety... you-" The girl reached down and aggressively grabbed a handful of the kobold's ear, forcefully pulling him off of the mound of spilled trash, and around a darker corner of the house, motioning with her free hand for the Academy students to follow. "H-honey, please... let me-eehh-" "You're lucky I don't call animal control to take you away!" The girl shouted, looking up at the students as they cautiously paced closer, "Take my STUPID father to Keuxa, before I give him to the men in black." she demanded, shoving him over to the others with her foot. "B-but Karleen-" "Don't call me by my Academy name!" She shot one last furious glare down at the small mammal, before storming around the corner again, and rustling with the trash. "Let's take him in." Terry strongly suggested as he looked down on the adult kobold, "Aww, don't sweat it. Keuxa'll let me off easy, always does." the creature boasted as he practically led the team back to their car.