#Hate it more when I feel like I'm made to be a moral monster bc I remember how I once said a thing abt misty I no longer agree with

[frostbite-the-bat]

Read 2 ttcc opinions and kinda wanna put my head under a train Jesus christ I hate fandom discourse I hate everyone please shut up (I don't mean this everyone entitled 2 their own opinions I'm just a possibly undiagnosed tryna figure out what's wrong with me ocs bitch who sees 1 opinion I may not think and be totally convinced people are out to get me for thinking it or not actively showing how smart I am or my opinions or smthn)

I will be biting my arm off now and cooking soup with it forever eve.

Christ this fandom has no chill honestly I think I'll shut up about opinions on anything including the lore issues and only speak on it with like 2 of my close friends I'm so done j hate this fanbase seriously you guys need to chill oh my god

[sangrefae]

mithrun! for the ask game

rubbing my little hands together

How I feel about this character: this guy was specially crafted in a lab to hit all of my favorite character tropes i think. i mean, you've got the tragic backstory, you've got the fixation on revenge, you've got the dubious morals, you've got the "asshole but, like, in a funny way", PLUS when i saw his tallman form i was like GERARD WAY????? which i think solidified my enjoyment of him. hes so interesting and complicated and every time i reread the manga i notice something else about him that i didn't before. i love how Messy he is and how unapologetic he is about his whole deal, he works fantastically well for an antagonist who we want to stop but we don't hate. also the end of his arc is definitely one of the highlights of the manga's ending, i can't wait to see how his VA does for the scraps scene ouuuuuuu

All the people I ship romantically with this character: teehee 😚 cithis.... cithrun..... i can write an entire post about them and ive already written half of a fic, but my tl;dr is that i was hooked as soon as i read the extra that explained how mithrun is one of the few people cithis actually respects. i think their dynamic is so interesting, mithrun seems to actually appreciate cithis for her role and actively seeks out her help and advice beyond what she's useful for, and we always see her show care for him. yes, she's his primary caretaker, but she also genuinely likes + respects him, i'm always thinking about the fact that her character profile in the adventurer's bible said that when he became her guard she "settled down"..... im adding this panel bc its really cute

i DO also enjoy him and lycion to an extent, i think lycion's little crush on him is so cute, but i have worms for brains irt cithrun so that's the primary one

My non-romantic OTP for this character: him and pattadol!!! that girl is determined to stay alive as his partner and i think he grows to appreciate her. the post-canon extra where he tells marcille that they're lucky to have people who love them, and pattadol is the one shown.... plus they stay in melini together as ambassador and monster-hunter guy so im sure they become besties

My unpopular opinion about this character: .....im sure ive made my dislike of his most popular ship known so i'll avoid that for now, i made a post about it but i maintain that i think people use his disability as a shield to fend off criticisms of his character and his actions + how they affect other characters. hell, they p much use it as a defense against anything they don't like, whether it be jokes in poor taste or people not enjoying his character/his ships, which just.... really takes away from him bc he's so much more than his disability.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: confirm he fucked his snake wife honestly i think everything we see of him in canon is perfect, and any additions might have thrown off the entire story, but i DO wish we could have seen more interactions with him and other characters, particularly him and laios + him and falin

[catholic-character-tournament]

Round 1 - Resurrect Bracket (Losers Bracket) Side B

ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to [make it to the finals]

Propaganda below ⬇️

Amon

Being catholic is literally the only thing he allowed himself to keep that he got from his father (who was a priest who turned out to be cannibal feasting on children in the orphanage he built). Anyone else would go 'the person who taught me this never lived by this and was using it as a cover, there is no reason for me to believe in it anymore' but this madlad decided it's go big or go home (and he just lost his home ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) and hold to it as if his life depended on it (which totaly doesn't represent how conflicted he really feels about his father despite the superficial hate, no sir, not at all, why would you even think that). His cross necklace was a plot point at other character's moral turnabout, his weapon takes a form of a cross, he talks about God when fighting etc. On a lighter note, he once spent all night doing pushups to stop feeling horny about his coworker. What a loser <3

Literally so catholic he cannot fuck he was in the same room as a woman and felt so guilty about being attracted to her he did push ups all night

He's such a catholic himbo he did push ups for 9 hours to distract himself because had a singular horny thought. I'm not even joking, that's canon

He's like if the antichrist made him catholic and he didn't find out until later

This idiot has the general disposition of a communion wafer.

Orphan raised by a serial killer catholic priest that I'll submit in a second. The priest killed and ate (he's a ghoul) the kids in the orphanage and it's even implied he fed the other kids the flesh of the killed kids like hello eucharistic parallel??? He did not kill Koutarou tho bc he loved him like a real son. 15 years after his father's been caught and thrown in ghoul prison and Amon's become a ghoul cop, Amon still wears the cross he had when in the orphanage *puppy eye emoji* also!! His weapon's ultimate form was a giant cross sword made from a part of himself (he became a ghoul at some point in the story). He used it to kill his dad (he failed bc it wasn't his dad's real body but kudos for trying)

I mean homie was raised by a potentially *censored* human eating priest so that’s. Something.

Justin

he's soo. idk how to describe him. he never takes out his earbuds (which are constantly blasting music), he's killed at least 99 (probably more) monsters by the age of 17, he thinks his boss is god, he dresses like a catholic priest. the autistic homophobic gay guy ever

He is a priest who can turn into a guillotine. Has killed at least a hundred people. He constantly wears headphones that play non stop death metal music at max volume claiming that doing so helps him hear the voice of God causing him to shout when talking so he can hear what he's saying and people have to repeteadly signal him to take them off so they can talk to him and when that inevitably fails knock the off. He eventually betrays the good guys after going crazy and allies himself with a demon who wants to take over the world. After beign damaged by a magic sun ray the left half of his faces becomes perpetually engulfed in flames.

[your--isgayrights]

Holy shit are you the one that wrote that really good orv soulmates au? You're killing it! Also do you ever think about Kim Namwoon? I do. I think it's cool how he's introduced as a chuuni with no moral code, but as the story progresses he somehow develops into this odd character that represents the lack of a divide between good and evil. At first, his actions in the train are shown as cruel and evil, but then you realize that in some ways, he's actually kind of right? Ima write an essay (1/??)

Ok so im back- so I can't put images in an ask, but Kim namwoon's monologue about killing that woman is actually really interesting. He talks about how they HAVE to kill her- If they don't, they're all going to die. And that's wrong (but only because of the grasshoppers- is Gilyoung wasn't there, He'd actually be in the right here) So, in the context of the first scenario, Kim Namwoon is 'evil'. but as you read more, you realize a lot of stuff which retroactively redeems him (2/??) For example, Everyone outside of car 3807 who survives is a murder, just like Kim Namwoon. And they aren't evil for it- there's a distinction made between murderers and monsters. There's a lot of this- The scene in the theatre dungeon on the boats (live no matter what), etc etc. and we see that Kim Dokja isn't opposed to them either. The main reason he let Kim namwoon die is because he hates him. which is cool! especially because it leads the way for future character development (3/??) Regarding their relationship- Kim Dokja has to come to terms with the fact that Namwoon wasn't actually all that bad, both by working with him in the underworld and meeting the ''him' from alternate regressions. This arc works for two purposes- 1) It relates to the theme of evil versus good- Kim Namwoon is neither, so it's unfair to treat him as one or the other. But the second is my favorite- Kim Dokja's opinion of Namwoon serves as a kind of metaphor for his opinion on himself. (4/5) We know from the text that He sees Kim namwoon as similar to him, and so it's interesting to see him stop hating him as he comes to terms with stuff.

Always cool to hear from someone who's read wall fic :). You reminded me that there's a few Kim Namwoon scenes in the next chapter I'm excited to write... but my writing anxiety has been acting up again on the end of chapter four and I have to finish sewing a l/eech be/anie b/aby from scratch this week, so it'll probably be a bit til we get there.

I think that your analysis is really interesting, mostly because going at it from the angle of "morality" of omniscient reader is a perspective i kind of lack on my own. Like good vs evil is one of The themes of ORV that they hand out to you in their list of themes they have written on some literal walls, but honestly its not something i really think about on my own. For me, like you mention, the big emphasis of KNW's character is what he represents to Kim Dokja, bc i think one of my favorite themes is the relationship of him as a reader to the WoS characters and the "impossible communication" theme.

I think that one of my favorite aspects of Kim Dokja is the way that he was able to empathize and see himself in the different characters in WoS and give them the specific comforts they needed at different times in the story (reaching out to LJY, SYS, YJH, etc) and fundamentally giving them someone who is on their side and their for them when everything is lost and they are alone, because that's something that he didn't have. All throughout reading ways of survival, the only thing by his side was this story. He sort of knows what the solutions to their problems are just cause he knows what he needed back then... so this really positive trait is coming out of his projection of his own thoughts and feelings from the past to these characters he loves. It's great that we have Kim Namwoon as an inversion of that, a character onto whom he's projected not the struggles he faced, but rather the traits that embarrass him.

This is mostly my interpretation but I really feel that there are similarities in the ways KDJ talks about himself as a child idolizing Yoo Joonghyuk and going through a chuuni phase and the way that he talks about KNW, and I think him being unkind to KNW is an extension of him being unkind to himself. Like at the beginning of ORV KDJ is in this place where his hero worship of YJH is at this crossroads with his view of his own self that he expects YJH to just treat him like a bug he has to exterminate unless he proves some other value. This perspective is interesting when you take into account that KDJ of the past would imagine being friends with the WoS characters and even used to pretend he was YJH, and that in fact the entirety of ORV was something he had continuously planned out since childhood when he wrote stats in his school notebook because it paints this picture of his daydreaming just being brutally beat down as he grows up and starts thinking about what would be really "realistic" with the kind of person that he believes himself to be... And then as that process is happening, Kim Dokja reads over and over again YJH just, at the start of every regression, picking up this annoying younger guy who's so desperate to impress him and somehow manages to get his attention while being embarrassingly chuuni and seeming to revel in the chance to kill someone... I think what you say is interesting about whether or not KNW was "right" to murder someone on the train, but honestly I don't think it matters as much whether or not he was right or wrong, just that Kim Dokja thought he was being an asshole about it, lmao. The whole thing of him killing Kim Namwoon is really interesting to me becaus it's a mix of a lot of great things. On one hand it's a big asset for the theme of a reader in the world of his favorite story because the premise of "My favorite book is real so I finally get to kill that character I've always hated," which is hilarious in its own right, gets turned into "wow I killed a 19 year old" when he's slowly starting to realize WoS characters are Real People, but it's also honestly a big piece of forshadowing for the end of orv before the epilogues and Kim Dokja's true character. Kim Namwoon's type of character is the kind that in most apocalypse stories is setting the tone of the edgey new reality, introducing the fact that people will die. He also represents the very idea of being forced into a situation where you must become a murderer or die; the jumping off point of WoS that Kim Dokja as a character fundamentally connects to. As a kid, he was forced to defend himself from his abusive father, and ultimately killed him. This is a central, scarring event of his childhood, and even though he represses and warps this memory into his mother's version of events, the concept is still something real to him and something that shapes his way of thinking. Obviously sometimes killing is necessary, but to enjoy it too much or brag about it on some level is associated with KDJ's past with his mother who wrote a book about murder and himself who once had to kill someone... It's obvious why Kim Dokja would hate a character representing this kind of narrative, that someone must be killed and because of that those involved are blameless, because Kim Dokja always pushes the blame of others' deaths onto himself... because in the world where everything is as Kim Dokja imagines and dreams it to be, KNW comes back as a spirit of vengeance to temporarily stall him on the bridge, there's an idea that KDJ deserves some retribution that he avoids to pursue his goals, which is consistent with what happens at the end right before the epilogues -

(quick digression: I've said this before and I'll say it again; I think that KDJ killing KNW is the reason that YJH tried to kill him in the beginning of ORV. KDJ dismisses it as YJH being an asshole for no reason, but I really believe that on some level YJH saw that KDJ just killed his chuuni little mentee and was like okay i want this guy to die. also getting into orv ending spoilers here ok)

-where KDJ tries to kill the kid version of himself by using disconnected film theory and stabbing himself. Like I genuinely think that KDJ avoids thinking about morality with the efficacy of "I know that I'm in the wrong, but I'm always wrong and terrible and regardless of what ever I am I have to get to the end of the story" and then after that whether or not he feels that he deserves salvation or damnation because to him the story that he loves is both...

gah, that was a tangent. I just mean that I think that part of killing KNW is Kim Dokja trying to kill a part of himself, the part of himself that dared to have the dreams that he had about the WoS characters being his family, just like he tries to kill the OD who still has those dreams... and is utterly baffled that those dreams could actually be realized in any universe. Additionally, the turn around KDJ has with KNW reminds of this in that he sees KNW in this constructive environment where he kind of just gets to be a kid and build gundams and realizes that these things that he hated about himself and KNW were just like... things that kids do. Like being chuuni about murder and the dark truth of the world is just a phase that teenagers go through sometimes just like building gundams... /hj... and like being cringey and having unrealistic ideas and desires isn't inherently malicious, like how we see KNW in the alternate dimension is just sort of a little brother character who has a crush on LJY and fools around with his mentor's stuff... It's similar to the kind of realization you want KDJ to have at the end towards himself when he sees the OD going with SP and crew to be a family lmao.

i wrote a bit lmk if i misphrased something or lost a train of thought somewhere

[istherewifiinhell]

reading process: chapter 196 (damn)

reading highlights: now with new and improved features

178 Yjh hesitating to fast ball special this weird little dude: pls dont die. kdj: look at me. bitch

179 Gah. can an author make a story so big even their monster cant eat it

180 I knew the 4th wall was gonna eat but i forgot IT HAS TEETH

shaking the no no can at 4th wall

gah okay yeah jesus lee sookyung [song accompaniment love run by the amazing devil]

the narrative will make you apart of it (threat)

181 '4th wall also isolated me from myself' DING DING DING

overall evaluation ⬛⬛... -> mood

gonna twach the sentient dangerous trauma response some... morals? interpersonal skills?

↳cant handle direct interaction, eats and sleeps. yea

↳im gonna take a nap right here

LJH: arent you and kdj.... yjh grimacing as being ask about his love life by his teenage ward

kdj funeral -> song accompaniment welly boots by the amazing devil (just because I left doesnt mean I'm not still there)

YJH sponsor -> praying for his fate eh?

182 [sponsors lhs 100 head pats]

SYS is literally your daughter 🥺. kdj dad who hates dads moment

183 lhs wants to be on kdj team :((((

I WOULD LIKE TO SEE LHS IN THE DRESS

(did hades make it??)

184 feeling differently after talking to 4th wall yeah pretty sure you had a break thru about dissociating there

yjh: looking with eyes not seen in TWOS -> kdj facial expression blindness trutherism

185 YJH: cause you know me sooo well kdj: starting to think i dont know this you that well

yjh thoughts: there have never been so many ppl who made it to here

"continue to live kim dokja now you have to save this world"

kdj u cant take your own medicine (yjh scheming)

LSK contemplating abt what shit is up with her son

Something lives IN THE WALL

186 other people feel pain with no wall. YES!

"I told him there is no such development [yjh death] in the ending i want"

'yjh desperate face' thats crushing to even read

187 hsy type cast as murder friend sorry bestie

god some classic kdj asshole moments -> guilting lhs and everything

"see the sight of a bearish man weeping" i would like to

jhw T.T oh my murder woman

188 making sys and lgy do this. your KIDS! -> generational Something or other

kdj to yjh: you cant change whats already happened -> this may be an unauthorized use of radical acceptance

your stigma is Literally self sacrifice based... DUDE

get killed by the narrative. your loved ones but also the story... for the story. AH

yjh im so sorry... this is devasting

Uriel... lol shes sweet ig

Demon king of salvation. so juicy (unionize hell lol)

189 LHS LGY YJH boy grief party

yjh widower era

min jiwon and han donghoon! yay

yoohan bonding?

190 Bihyung aw!

[I will pull all of you down from that fucking heaven]

191 a soul can't belong to anyone!

"I will destroy the world of the fucking dokkaebis"

192 ur still a jerk kdj. drama kid

193 yeah fuck the state jhw

do they all share a house 🥺

LHS is back with the army... okay putting a pin in that

yjh stayed in his room like a broken person... bruh

jhw was a bartender? did i know that? it makes so much sense tho

kdj ur story is told bc they love you!!

194 idk i was the only person reading this 1000 chapter work and when i left a comment some stuff changed

syswitz industrial complex... run that by me one more time

damn human life is just like hell, ive been saying this

195 demon trains? i know all about those

complete ur scheme. say somthing cool. pass out. kdj ur self parody at this point

rotation: recency bias is a hell of a thing. i want to partially tie up the parenting stuff with noting how often the constellation incarnation relationship was considered parental, how kdj views them (and indeed how weve seen quite a few be) really cruel, or exploitative, and well thats fitting for him to see that as parental isnt it. but then also. he has kids in his own care, and one is literally his incarnation. frankly im interested in both how attacking and dethroning gods is gonna impact his own godhood deal, his own parenting, and his view of his mothers job of parenting him

im not sure if i have any particular takes here but let it be know kdj is a bastard and a scoundrel and i shall not miss him. not from this distance. no but god that was a classic really jerk move level manipulation. need to re-calibrate the dials. whats worse is at this point i think he can fully understand how much emotional damage hes putting his loved ones through.

Also did you know we live in a society. this one is pretty nascent so far but the breaking of the Seoul dome is reminding us of normal human society, and its flaws, and with the demonic realm, blatantly stated, we live in hell on earth.

[spencstan]

Six of Crows re-read

(i also did this for the shadow and bone trilogy so read that if you want to)

spoiler alert obiously

i'm SO EXCITED FOR THIS this is my comfort book (with crooked kingdom of course)

JOOST HI

oo fun fact this was my first grishaverse book and i read it with no context whatsoever except that the mc is an emo boy and morally grey

so IMAGINE my pure confusion when JOOST appeared

i was like ?????? weird take on morally grey character but ok

joost trying to figure out how to flirt with a girl is a mood

anyone wanna teach us how to???

i kinda wanna skip this part so i can see the crows..

but i won't don't worry

(won't I?

"I think Yuri may be quarantined"

aaaand?

so are we you are not special

i feel like it's very important for me to mention that i read this book in spanish first

and then i got into the fandom and i was like who the fuck is the wraith? i only know El Espectro

Heartender who??? ooo you mean Cardio

Tidemakers? nope, i only know Maremotores

for real i was so confused i had to re-read it in english (not that i mind tho)

say whatever you want about the spanish version but we have to agree that this design is pretty af

another one yay: "Retvenko was a Squaller" vs. "Retvenk era un Impulsor"

(should i also say that in my pfd english version the book is 294 pages long and in my pdf spanish version its 532????) (i think it's because in the english one the speces are way less like the lines are so close together wtf

i've decided that i'm bored so i'll be skiping this chapter

anya is super badass tho

skdgfalsdgfliaysvfascvhjl yesssssss inej

Kaz Brekker didn't need a reason.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

KAZ

INEJ

I MISSED THEM

omg now i can picture amita and freddy SDJGKASKGLASG THIS IS AMAZING

we interrupt our regularly scheduled program to watch the shadow and bone trailer once again to hear freddy's beautiful voice

ok moving on!

now hear me out i'm giving you all permission to make fun of kaz for this one: Dirtyhands = Manos Sucias

hello i am Kaz Manos Sucias. nice to meet you!

AAAAA

AAAAAAAAAA

JESPER FAHEY

JESPER LOVE HI

SJDGHFKAHSGDLAJSDFSJ,AHFLHDSGF

I MISSED HIM OMG

OMG NOW I CAN PICTURE HIM AS KIT

can you tell jesper is one of my favourite characters?

i really love the fact that kaz is pissed about the murder of that ambassador ONLY because he can´t figure out how it happen

he´s such a nerd

i can't believe one of the firts things we hear jesper say is threathen to kill someone by writing "forgive me" with bullets

AND HE CALLS HIS GUNS "BABIES" OMG

picture saying hi baby and wylan thinkin he's talking to him but actually jesper's talking to one of his guns

Jesper rolled his eyes. "It's about sending a message. What's the point of a dead guy with forg written on his chest?."

"Compromise," Kaz said. "I'm sorry does the trick and uses fewer bullets."

ooo thank god we have kaz to come up with creative solutions /j /s

honestly i love how they talk about kaz's cane like it's the scariest weapon ever (which it kind of is)

nothing will ever disappoint me more than finding out that in english their gang name is "the Dregs". like i don't even know for sure what that means

in spanish is "Los Indeseables" (the undesirables?) which sounds a lot more badass

no hate tho i like the dregs

but i was confused af bc i expected it to be sometihng like "the undesirables" or"the unwanted" or whatever

and it said "the dregs"

which in the translator means something like shit or something

anways moving on:

If he'd (kaz) ever been a little boy

i love how lowkey all the crows think he was just born exactly like he is now

imagine a baby kaz all dressed in black and threatening people

cute

"No mourners," Jesper said as he tossed his rifle to Rotty

"No funerals," the rest of the Dregs murmured in reply. Among them, it passed for "good luck".

YES

YESSS

i wonder what wylan's doing right now :))

i can't wait for the next book where he has a pov

the first time i read this book i literally looked at the title of every chapter to see if he ever got one (i was disappointed to say the least :((((

Besides, she was the Wraith - the only law that applied to her was gravity, and some days she defied that, too.

ma'am

marry me please

i'm gonna cry so hard once the show is out and we get to see inej omg

me simp

That Kaz had chosen Jesper to be one of his seconds was no surprise. Twitchy as Jepser was, with or without his revolvers, he was at his best in a fight, and she knew he'd do anything for Kaz.

idk why but i just love it every time kaz implies or shows that he cares or trusts jesper

it makes me soft

But every one of Inej's senses told her that was not how this was going to play out. Her father would have said the shadows were about their business tonight. Something bad was going to happen here.

underrated saying from Inej's father right there

"I'm a business man," he told her."No more, no less"

"You're a thief, Kaz."

"Isn't that what I just said?"

i-

i see no lies here

not to be annoying but i hc jesper as adhd (i mean is pretty much as canon as wylan's dyslexia) so i'm gonna write here every time i see evidence :)

jesper with adhd part 1: impulsivity

Jesper snorted. "Stomach, spine. What's next, spleen?"

"Shut it" Oomen snarled. The rules of parley dictated that only the lieutenants could speak once negotiations had begun. Jesper mouthed "sorry" and elaboratedly pantomimed locking his lips shut.

he know he couldn't speak but couldn't stop himself from making a comment (i relate way too much to that lmao)

hoestly poor jesper he had to watch hid friend get shot and kaz do nothing about it

i would've been mad too

"I like it when men beg," she said. "But this isn't the time for it"

KAHGFAHLGSFGASFLGSAFS

this is one of the best quotes in the book by far

YASSS KAZ POV

Kaz could have tol Jesper that he knew he wasn't dirty, reminded him that he'd trusted him eough to make him his only real second in a fight that could have gone badly wrong tonight.

cute

but kaz is petty af

he didn't even have a reason not to tell jesper that!

i love that kaz knows inej is following him but doesn't say anything because he wants to wait until she's ready

i LOVE the scene where kaz in in the van eck mantion /srs

idk why but it's so good

And, of course, there was the mystery of Van Eck's son.

wonder what that could be!!! /s

He grinned at her (...)

"Hmm." she said noncommittally, pretending to examine one of her knives, determined to ignore that grin.

KANEJ YESS

HE'S BASICALLY SHOWERING IN FRONT OF HER OMG

this is so funny poor inej is getting flustered

"And I'll need Wylan waiting at the Crow Club tomorrow night."

YES WYLAN OMG

One minute he made her blush and the next he made her want to commit murder

happens to the best of us :/

"Please, my darling Inej. treasure of my heart won't you do me the honor of acquiring me a new hat?"

if kaz doesn't say this on the show we riot

agreed?

it's so amazing how nina found a way to use her powers to get money instead of having to like steal and murder like the rest in the gang

NINA'S POV YESSS HIII

nina and inej omg

their friendship is just perfect

POOR MATTHIAS HE HAS TO FIGHT THE WOLVES

i would straight up cry

Matthias was dreaming again. Dreaming of her

i'm gonna cry damn it

this is the enemies-to-lovers we all needed

jesper has adhd part 2:

"Jesper was supposed to wait until three bells." said the pale boy

"It is three bells, Kaz." replied a small girl (...)

"Since when is Jesper punctual?" the boy complained with a glance at his watch

the time blindness come one

(btw i love the fact that kaz plans around jesper's time blindness instead of like threatening him to be on time)

i really love how every one feels the need to take the time to say/think that the masks are ugly

its so unnecessary lmao

yessss inej is a badass that kills monster we stan

and matthias is lowkey impressed lmao

as he should

"Thank you, Jesper," said Nina

"You're very welcome, gorgeous. See, Kaz? That's how the civilised folk do"

THESE TWO OMG

JESPER IS THE LOML

INEJ OMG LOOK:

She stepped aside as if she's known he was coming, languidly hooking her heel behind his ankle. Matthias let out a loud grunt as he landed on the stones

(...) "Clumsy, this one," the bronze girl said impassively.

i-

that's what happen when you underestimate her bitch

AAAAAAA

PEOPLE

PEOPLE

TIME TO FREAK OUT

WYLAN IS HERE

AND HE'S DOODLING STOP IT'S SO CUTE

ok jesper has adhd part 3 i think:

"Just how crazy is he?" asked Jesper, fingers drumming on the pearl handles of his revolvers.

ok first of all: stimming

second of all: hyperactivity

i rest my case

ok 2 or 3 things here

"I believe you know Nina," Brekker continued. "The lovely girl freeing you is Inej. (...) and this is Wylan, the best demolitions expert in the Barrel"

"Raske is better," Inej said

The boy looked up, ruddy gold hair flopping in his eyes, and spoke for the first time. "He's not better. He's reckless"

"He knows his trade"

"So do I"

ok 1: kaz calling inej lovely omg kanej

2: YES WYLAN STANDING UP FOR HIMSELF

2.5: kaz calling him the best cute af

3: honestly why do people think wylan is like an innocent soft boy or whatever. he's in a room full of murderers and thieves and the first thing he does is correct them and stand up for himself

like i wish i could do that

i would be crying like a bitch

AAAAAAAA

"Meet Wylan Van Eck"

KHDSGFALSGFIASGFAL

HI WYLAN BABY

YESSS JESPER'S POV NOW

I'M SO HAPPY also look at this it's the first thing in his pov

Jesper stared at Wylan

do i sense some wesper?????

ok everyone is being so mean to him right now

they are aclling him useless and an idiot and other shit

poor boy honestly he had to deal with this + taking part of a heist he is definetly not ready for + he has to hide the fact that he can't write or read

it so distrubing that kaz is literally the nicest one to wylan right now

"See that? Hidden depths." (...)"He's good enough at demo, and he's got a fine hand for sketching, thanks to all those pricey tutors."

(...)

"There you have it," Kaz said to Jesper. "Marketable skills. Wylan is watching you, Helvar"

GET READY

ARE Y'ALL READY?

OK THEN:

"Scheming face," Jesper whispered to Inej.

She nodded. "Definetly."

THEIR FRIENDSHIP OMG

AND THIS QUOTE

I NEED IT ON THE SHOW THEY BETTER GIVE IT TO US

"Who's Mark" damn wylan (but pretty good comeback to jesper tho)

"What's the easiest way to steal a man's wallet?

"Knife to the throat?" asked Inej.

"Gun to the back?" said Jesper.

"Poison in his cup?" suggested Nina.

"You're all horrible," said Matthias.

tag yourself i'm jesper

KJSFGAL kaz just told wylan to tell him everything he know about his dad's company

and he said he doesn't know and kaz was like "and you never looked trough his documents????

AND THEN HE GOT SAD AND SAID HE HADN'T (and kaz believed him this is sad)

AND NOW JESPER CALLED HIIM USELESS

ok you know i love you jes but if you keep this up

idk i can't do anything you're a sharpshooter

but stiiiiiil

LMAO MATTHIAS ACTUALLY THOUGHT HE COULD BEAT KAZ

nice try

demjin

*insert spongebob voice* demjin

WE'RE GONNA TAKE A MOMENT NOW TO APPRECIATE INEJ GAHFA

BECAUSE KAZ DOESN'T

The heart is an arrow. It demands aim to land true.

*ugly crying*

Many boys will bring you flowers. But some day you'll meet a boy who will learn your favourite flower, your favourite song, your favourite sweet. And even if he is too poor to give you any of them, it won't matter because he will have taken the time to know you as no one else does. Only that boy earns your heart.

*uglier crying*

TANTE HELLEN IF YOU DON'T GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE

SOMEONE PLEASE STAB HER FOR ME

jesper has adhd part ?? (i have dyscalculia you can't expect me to remember the number):

That sound - the swift, shocking report of gunfire - called the scattered, irascible, permanently seeking part of his mind into focus like nothing else.

do i really need to explain this?

ok just in case.. an adhd brain doesn't actually have a deficit of attention(the name just sucks) it's problem with controling that attention. the brain is always looking for new sources of dopamine which is why it shifts its focus so much

i love that jes thinks of matthias as "tha giant"

like sir

have you seen yourself?

you're tall af

HE GOT SHOT

WHY DID I FORGET JESPER GETS SHOT IN THE LEG HERE

"Close your eyes!"

"You can't kiss me from down there, Wylan"

"Just do it!"

i love the energy BUT NOW IT'S NOT THE TIME JES

YESS WYLAN SHOW THEM THEY WERE WRONG CALLING YOU USELESS

inej just stabed some guy int the d

good for her!

KAZ YESSSS HI

AWWW SHE'S WORRIED HE DOESN'T HAVE HIS CANE

KANEJ FOR LIFE

oh no wylan got shot too???? (just barely but stilllll por baby)

my Wraith omggg

ok 3 things about this:

Without another word, he tipped Oomen into the sea.

"No!" Wylan shouted, leaning over the railing, his face pale, stunned eyes tracking Oomen in the waves. (...)

Jesper set his hand on Wylan's shoulder. "Let it go."

"It's not right-"

"Wylan," Jesper said, giving him a little shake."Maybe your tutors didn't cover this lesson, but you do not argue with a man covered in blook and a knife up his sleeve"

1. wesper yasssss

2. wylan just argued with a mant hat had just tacken the eye out of someone. he literally called him out for being an asshole. like damn wylan is brave af i love him

3. do you think seeing kaz trow the guy out of the boat reminded wylan of when the same thing happened to him???? this makes me sad

he's brave and a good person and i just-

"Man with a knife, remember?" he said over his shoulder.

"Man with a gun!" Jesper called after him

this had no right being so funny

AND THEN KAZ GAVE HIM THE MIDDLE FINGER STOP I CAN'T

nina is the biggest kanej shiper no one can tell me i'm wrong

unrelated but if jesper had gone to the Little Palace and had studied there with nina they 100% would've had a crush on Zoya and bonded over it

like you can't tell me those two bisexual disaster wouldn't be absolutely in love with Zoya

jesper has adhd part ??:

Jesper scrubbed the back of his neck, touched his hands to his gunds, returned to his neck. He always seemed to be in motions

hyperactivity right there

and restlessness

"Do you know the best way to find Grisha who don't want to be found?" (...)

"Seems to be if they don't want to be found, you should just let them be" (jesper says this)

this conversation must be so stressful to him omg

LMAO JESPER CUT MATTHIAS HAIR THIS IS SO FUNNY

AND HE SHAVED HIM

ok you all know i love all of them but they can be sooo stupid

like wylan wrote no names on the drawing and he's excuse is that he doesn't know fjerdan?

AND THAT'S NOT EVEN TRUE he literally said he learned school fjerdan which means he should know how to write it too (we know why he can't but the tohers don't)

and even then like the excuse doesn't make any sense. why would having the original name be usefull if no one can fucking read it????

the worst part tho? NO ONE QUESTIONED HIM

THEY WERE LIKE "yup makes sense" AND WENT ON WITH THEIR DAY

i wondered how they didn't figure wylan's secret sooner but now i now

it's because theya re idiots

"I'm just doing my job. Stop glaring at me"

wylan baby let's not make the gigant mad

Jesper knocked his head against the hull and cast his eyes heavenward. "Fine. But if Pekka Rollins kills us all, I'm going to get Wylan's ghost to teach my ghost how to play the flute just so that I can annoy the hell out of your ghost."

Brekker's lips quirked. "I'll just hire Matthias ghost to kick your ghost's ass."

"My ghost won't associate with your ghost," Matthias said primply, and then wondered if the sea air was rotting his brain.

i had to put this here i don't want to get murdered by the fandom

jesper, inej and nina have the BEST friendship

I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE JES AND INEJ TOGETHER ON NETFLIX

"I know some people don't understand, but Kaz told me ... he said it was my choice, that he wouldn't be the one to mark me again."

i love this because it happen when they had just met

he did it because he understands her trauma and he respects her not because he loves her (i doubt he did at the time)

Kaz had been impressed with the sketches. (...)

"Just learn to take a compliment. Kaz doesn't hand them out often."

I'M SO PROUD OF WYLAN

and yess kaz only compliments wylan (and inej but that's sarcastic so it doesn't count) because he's a proud dad

"And you don't belong here, either."

"I beg your pardon, merchiling?"

"We don't need a sharpshooter for Kaz's plan, so what's your job - other than stalking around making everyone angsty?"

He shrugged. "Kaz trusts me."

Wylan snorted and picked up his pen. "Sure about that?"

DAMN WYLAN DESTROYED HIM

also

"If you aren't born with every advantage, you learn to take your chances."

"I wasn't-" Wylan left off and set down his pen. (...)

aww cute neurodivergent boyfriends bonding

Wylan had turned back to his work, his disappointment obvious. For some reason, Jesper felt disappointed, too.

ajgflasjgfjagslfiuusgflgdfsgdflasdgfsd

wesper

aww jes checks on inej every morning and every night i love him

"Thank you for keeping me in this world when fate seemed determined to drag me to the next. I owe you a life debt."

Nina blushed deeply. "I was teasing, Inej"

LJFGALKGFALGA another cute friendship right there

(and i can see why people ship them romantically)

STOP INEJ AND JES ARE BONDING SO MUCH (page 127 so i can go back and read it lmao)

Van Eck writes to Wylan every week, and Wylan doesn't even open the letters

"They just said the same thing again and again: If you're reading this, the you know how much I wish to have you home. Or I pray that you read these words and think of all you've left behind."

should i kill him? anyone want to join me?

Inej bumped her shoulder against his."Then at least we're both the same kind of stupid." (...)

"You're too good for him, you know?"

"I know. So are you"

jes and her bonding over their stupid crush on a white boy

Because I've been looking for an excuse to talk to you for two days.

jfsfdajdhmgkfutdjrgsg ok i can't blame them for having a crush on him anymore

this chapter is full of kanej i love it

"What do you want, then"

You, Inej. You forever.

jksdgfoagsdfgsdgfklasgdflaghsldfgksdgfkahgsdfghjlkf

kaz's backstory makes me sad

"When we get our money, you can burn kruge to keep you warm," said Kaz. (...)

"I´m gonna pay someone to burn my kruge for me."

Kaz fell into step beside him. "Why don't you pay someone else to pay someone to burn your kruge for you? That's what big players do."

"You know what the really big bosses do? They pay someone to pay someone ...". Their voices trailed off as they tomped ahead, and Matthias and the others followed.

JES AND KAZ HAVE THE BEST CONVERSATIONS

i can't believe we get to see nina and matthias meet and their whole backstory in less than a month omg

"It's not natural for women to fight."

"It's not natural for someone to be as stupid as he is tall, and yet there you stand."

QUEEN

YOU TELL HIM

oh no the dead grisha

this part breaks my heart every time

"Do you have a different name for killing when you wear a uniform to do it?"

.....i'm just gonna leave this quote right here

anyways acab

stop nina tried to kill the survivor so they wouldn't suffer but she couldn't do it

and jesper did it for her without hesitation i wanna cry

and inej didn't want to do it either i want to hug them

"Because our crime is existing. Our crime is what we are"

..........

i'm gonna leave this here again

do with it what you will

"Don't mock what you don't understand."

"My mockery offends you? My people would welcome you laughter in place of this barbarity"

i- this conversation is so important

AAAAA JES AND WY ARE A GREAT TEAM I LOVE THEM

WYLAN TROWS BOMBS TOGIVE JESPER TIME TO GET READY TO SHOOT

INEJ AND KAZ ARE A GREAT TEAM TOO

THEY LITERALLY DID THE SCENE LIKE IN THE AVENGERS (but without the shield WHICH MAKES IT BETTER)

Jesper shouldered his rifle. "Wylan earned his keep."

Wylan gave a little jump at the sound of his name. "I did?"

YES BABY YOU DID GREAT

kaz getting self-conscious for his hair is pure comedy

but nina how can you say that have you see his hair on the show???? it's perfect

"Remeber our friend Mark?"

HELP I CAN'T

"Any other impossible feats you'd like us to accomplish?"

The bearest smile flikered over Kaz's lips. "I'll make you a list."

once again jesper and kaz being besties

unrelated but nikolai and jesper would love each other

the amount of sass they have between them it's unparalleled

"Mmm," Inej murmured, taking a sip from her mug. "Maybe you're just not enough."

DAMN

ma'am marry me please

kaz fainted damn poor boy

unrelated unce again but this is so much betetr than shadow and bone

like you can tell leigh improved so much

her characters are better and their arcs are better developed

the writing itself it's better

or maybe i'm just biased because i love soc so much but i think she definetly improved

INEJ IS TRYING TO GIVE HIM SPACE EVEN WHEN SHE'S TRAPPED AND LOCKED ON THE WAGON

I JUST - THEY KNOW EACH OTHER SO MUCH

Though he'd trusted her with his life countless times, it felt much more frightening to trust her with his shame.

Inej had once offered to teach him how to fall. "The trick is not getting knocked down," he'd told her with a laugh. "No, Kaz," she's said, "the trick is in getting back up"

inej is smart af

Kaz was usually unshakeable during a job, but now he was on edge, and Jesper didn't know why. Part of him wanted to ask, though he knew that was the stupid part, the hopeful farmboy who picked the worst possible person to care about, who searched for signs in things that he knew deep down meant nothing - when kaz chose him for a job, when Kaz played along with one of his jokes. He could have kicked himself. He's finally seen the infamous Kaz Brekker without a stich of clothing, and he'd been too worried about ending up on a pike to pay proper attention.

ok i got a couple of things to say about this part

first of all it makes me so sad that jes cares so much for someone who dosn't deserve him. because no hate to kaz but they would never work as a couple and kaz already treats him like shit most of the time

i think this part shows who a lot about who jesper really is. a boy that grew up having to hide parts of himself, who thinks he's worth nothing but it's smart and capable, who's loyal and brave and caring but doesn't even know it himself. he's someone who feels he doesn't deserve good things and thinks he's not good enough, and that's why he unds up in all the wrong places with the wrong people. he left uni bc he fell in with the gangs, because he didn't think he was smart enough or even prepared to be in studying in the university. jesper is constantly hiding behind a mask or running from things because he's scared of not being enough

an kaz is everything jes in a way wishes he could be. kaz is secure in himself (at least on the outside), he's stable, he's smart, he's "unshakeable". and most of all, he doesn't care about others (we know that's not true but that's how he presents himself)

and that's the thing that causes jesper all his problems. because he's insecure because he thinks he's not good enough for the poeple or things he cares about. and he's always trying to do what's best for his loved ones: he went to the ice court to pay his debt for his father, he follows kaz everywhere beacause he cares about him, he offered to read to wylan (knowing it wouldn't be easy for him to be still that long).

and yeah it often doesn't work out becuase he's messy and he has problems but he tries. and he hates that. he hates that he cares so much about people because at the end of the day, that's what makes him feel like he's not good enough

one more thing and i'm done i promise

unpopular opinion but i love that leigh made jesper have a crush on kaz. 1 beacuse it's refreshing to see someone not get otgether with his first crush. and 2 because i love that it shows that we sometimes get attached to people that are not good for us, but that we can learn to move on. jesper ended with wylan who respects him and values him, unlike kaz

ok i'm sorry that was probably all bs

oo one more thing, jesper definetly has rsd (rejection sensitive disphoria), which is something most poeple with adhd have

"My father used to take me everywhere with him"

this is so sad. bc they probably had a good relationship when he was little. and then they figured he coudln't read and now his father treats him like shit

it's even worse than if he haf been horrible from the beginning because wylan knows he can be a good father. and so he thinks it's his fault and he deserves to be treated like that. i hate van eck

"You're cuter when you're smart"

(...)

"Definitely cuter when you're smart"

wesper yesssss

i love them so much

ok but why do people think jesper is stupid. like the boy just made a bunch of criminals pass out by mixing some chemicals

and he was going to the university at like 15

AAAAND NOW THEY KNOW HE'S A FABRIKATOR

amazing plot twist

also:

Wylan coughed. Flirting with him might actually be more fun that annoying him, but it was a close call.

oooo come on jesper we all know you just love getitng him to blush

and you love him

who said that? definitely not me, nope

awwww jesper misses being around animals that's cute

imagine him coming home to wylan one day with a puppy because he just couldn't resist

cute

Better terrible truths than kind lies

just leaving here more of inej's wisdom

ok this may be a reach but jesper has adhd part ???

Yellow Protocol? Red Protocol? He couldn't remember which was which. (...)

"The alarm was Yellow Protocol, a sector disturbance."

Jesper pushed at his temples. "I don't remember what that means"

a bad working memory? sounds familiar

kaz loves puzzles

it's canon

"I love puzzles. Trickery is just my native tongue."

this part where wylan and jesper see the banner made with grisha's kefta kills me every time

I would have worn purple, Jesper thought, if I'd joined the Second Army. (...) He'd beenwilling, even eager to risk capture and execution as a thief and hired gun. Why was it worse to think about being hunted as a Grisha?

this makes me want to cry so much

another thing super sad: the fact that since his father is Kaelish and had some supersititons towards grisha, jesper grew up wondering if his own father was scared of him. he had to hide his powers and he was almost taught to be afraid of them

"Is it safe to leave them, you know-"

"Alive? I'm not big on killing unconscious men."

"We could wake them up"

WYLAN

NO

damn the boy needs therapy

it's amazing how nothing went like they planned

not a single thing

PEOPLE GET READY

ARE YOU READY?

NEITHER AM I BUT WHO CARES

"What do you like?"

"Music. Numbers. Equations. They are not like words. They...they don't get mixed up."

ok dude the clues are right there he's basically saying it

"If only you could talk to girls in equations."

There was a long silence, and then, eyes trained on the notch they'd created in the link, Wylan said, "Just girls?"

Jesper restrained a grin. "No. Not just girls." It really was a shame they were all probably going to die tonight.

wylan really said a straight man?? couldn't be me

this is the definition of bi panic "jesper restrained a grin" bitch we saw that

btw i love the slow burn

like they hint something here but they don't actually start liking each other until much later and they don't get together until almost the end of ck

i also love that the fact that they both like guys is like out in the open now. bc i'm not a fan of when queer characters have a crush and there's the whole thing of "are they queer too or not?"

like they both know htey are queer. but they don't get together right away bc they have to start liking each other before. they don't get together bc they are the only queer mlm characters

matthias fake betrayal killed me

i tought it was real

I have been made to protect you. Only in death will I be kept fom this oath.

this is just-

also foreshadowing?

YAYY KUWEI HI

There was no part of him that was not broken, that had not healed wrong, and there was no part of him that was not stronger for having been broken.

She's laughed, and if he could have bottled the sound and got drunk on it every night, he would have. It terrified him.

if i ever have a s/o and they don't tell me this at least once i don't want it

He needed to tell her... what? That she was lovely and brave and better than anything he deserved. That he was twisted, crooked, wrong, but not so broken that he couldn't pull himslef together into some smeblance of a man for her

THIS

THIS IS LOVE RIGHT THERE

they are the only straight couple that matters

everyone else go home

Wylan had scratches all over his cheeks and neck. He was beaming. Inej grabbed his hands and sqeezed.

so cute omg

"You can explain why our illustrious Shu scientist looks like one of Wylan's school pals along the way"

KAZ

i mean it's true but you didn't have to say it

KAZ IS SMILING OMG

EVERYONE FREAK OUT WITH ME

HE'S "grinning like and idiot" STOP I LOVE HIM

"We are all someone's mosnter, Nina"

"I will have you without armour, Kaz Brekker. Or I will not have you at all"

this part breaks my heart and i love it

"Stay," she oanted. Tears leaked from her eyes. "Stay till the end"

"And after," he said. "And always."

i just- helnik is perfect

AWWW JESPER MISSES WYLAN

my daily dosis of wesper :)

ok but in like 2 pages jesper tought of wylan like 10 times bc he's sad wy isn't with him

Jesper scanned the empty deck. He's assumed Wylan would come up to see them off. (...)

Jesper knew he was being selfish and stupid, but some petty part of him wondered if Wylan had deliberately kept away from him on the journey back. Maybe now that the job was complete and he was on his way to his share of the haul, Wylan was done slumming with criminals.

*charles boyle's insinuating voice* and why do you care so much???

btw YOU ARE WRONG. HE'S LITERALLY GOING OUT OF HIS WAY TO BE WITH YOU EVEN THOUGH HE CAN'T SPEAK

this scene where we find out the truth about wylan hurts so much but it's one of my favourites idk why

I LOVE THAT EVERYONE IS AS MAD AS I AM ABOUT THE LETTERS NOW

"Your're a fool," Jesper snarled. "He smarter than most of us put together, and he deserves a better father than you."

YES TELL HIM

the fact that wylan just heard him say that omg

"Deserved" amended Van Eck. He blew the whislte twice.

SOMEONE BETTER GRAB ME BEFORE I KILL HIM MYSLEF

THAT IDIOT

I HATE HIM SO MUCH

I'M GONNA CRY CAN SOMEONE KILL HIM FOR ME

Jesper screamed in rage and raised his guns.

YES EXACLTY WHAT I MEANT

JUST KILL HIM RIGHT NOW

"I'm not big on bludding, am I Inej?"

"Not as a rule"

Van Eck's lip curled. "And why is that?"

"Because he'd rather cheat," said the boy who was not Kuwei Yul-Bo in perfect, unaccented Kerch.

THIS WAS PERFECT

THE BEST WAY TO REVEAL THAT

(...), and Jesper flinched

baby he recognized wylan's voice

The Shu boy held out a hand. "Pay up, Kaz"

BITCH THIS IS AMAZING

THIS BOY MADE A BET WITH A CRIMINAL THAT HIS OWN FATHER WAS GOING TO TRY TO KILL HIM

AND HE WON THE BET

A nearly perfect replica of Kuwei Yul-Bo stood before them, but he had Wylan's voice, his mannerisms, and - though Kaz could see the fear and hurt in his golden eyes - Wylan's surprising courage, too.

i love it when they compliment him

my boy deserves all the compliments ever

AND KAZ IS PROUD OF HIS SON WE ALL KNOW THIS

Wylan cuold draw a perfectt elevation. He's made a drill that could cut throu Grisha glass from parts of a gate and scavenged bits of jewellery. So what if he couldn't read

this is taking me to some real places

i may cry you've been warned

WYLAN DIDN'T CARE THAT HE MAY BE STUCKED LOOKING LIKE KUWEI

this is making me cry

"A fool would have been waiting to be smashed to bits on that ship. And as for "traitor", you've called me worse in the last few minutes alone."

EXACTLY

YOU TELL HIM WYLAN

Instead, in that moment of threat, when he should have thought only of the fight, he looked at Inej.

BABY

i would've done the same tho she's pretty

amita is sooo pretty i'm gonna die when the show comes out

Jesper was staring at Wylan, his eyes roving over the black hair, the golden eyes. "Why?" he said at last. "Why would you do this?"

nothing to say here except: wesper

You... how many times was it you standing beside me on the deck at night when I tought it was Kuwei?"

"Every time."

i want to cry so bad

"Why does it matter?"

"I don't know!" Jesper said angrily. "Maybe I liked your stupid face."

a very staright and platonic thing to say of course

i know jes we all liked his stupid face

"Jesper made a mistake," said Wylan. "A stupid mistake, but he didn't set out to betray anyone."

YES WYLAN DEFEND YOUR BOYFRIEND

And maybe he'd kept him in the dark about Wyllan because he wanted to punish him a little

even kaz know they like each other come on

Jesper sat with elbows on knees, head in hands. Wylan deside him wearing th face of a stranger.

wylan give him a hug fro me please

he needs it

"Scheming face," murmured Jesper.

"Definitely," agreed Wylan.

i miss inej already

And I'm going to get my girl. Inej could never be his, not really, but he would find a way to give her the freedom he´d promised her so long ago.

i'm ugly crying and so what?

and now we're done....

i want to read this book again omg this is unhealthy

[heiterbroward]

You know what? I am gonna make a post...

Ok so a lot of people are saying this ep was good, but I have a few gripes w it. Like Jughead's whole story was weird, and everyone was portrayed ooc. Betty was portrayed as this ultra-logical and unaffected strategic mastermind meanwhile when she, Archie, and Veronica were going through a similar situation after Jughead's "death," she was actually pretty emotional and freaking out despite trying to keep it together. She was also the one throwing up at school after Alice made her hide a body, and she was in constant emotional distress over the Black Hood. Meanwhile, Veronica was the one who was generally more logical, calm, and strategic during the Jughead thing, but in his story, he reversed how they would react. On the one hand, he could just think it's cool for Betty to act like that and for them to be this troubled, emo murder couple like Violate but it's also weird that he portrayed Veronica of all people as the moral compass not once but twice; she was the one who was speaking out against killing Reggie while Dark Betty said "stfu V!" And she was also the one who wanted to call the police in his rewritten version and the one (w Archie) going on about how wrong it was for them to be wanting people dead. Even in that scene, Betty was still rolling her eyes and getting mad, talking about saving their own futures. Idk but I think Betty would be the last one to react that selfishly and if I were Betty, I'd be confused why my boyfriend portrayed me as so rotten in his story while seemingly having a lot of subconscious admiration for Veronica...especially bc in the one episode about the Farm, Betty was like "I'm not a monster, right?" or something, so I guess the answer is yes, or at least that's how Alice and Polly see you and how Jughead fantasizes you are like in his story. It's like Jughead thinks the idea of Dark Betty is hot or something, but that's a part of herself she has actively tried not to succumb to and that makes her hate herselfie. But then every time she read the story, she said it was good...right. I mean, maybe she actually thought it was good for some reason, but it also seems like she's afraid to say anything to make him mad, like their whole relationship is her propping him up bc hail the garlic. Like she shouldn't have to always be exerting herself to prove to him that she really cares about him. She babies him too like she had to say "i'll watch the tapes while u write your story" bc she knew if she didn't, then he would procrastinate writing to go watch the tapes. Meanwhile writing is supposedly his biggest passion?

Archie was also portrayed weird like a big, rude brute, and Cheryl cried over Reggie for why? She would be one of the least emotional ones imo; she sure didn't cry or feel guilty about Toni killing her uncle or whoever that was. In fact, she talked Toni out of feeling guilty about it. Also Reggie? If I were him, I'd be like "did I give u permission to write in your story about how my dad hits me?" Also, he was the only one feeling guilty or acting like a huge idiot trying to get them all caught. Like does Jug have some kind of vendetta against Reggie or something? Lmao. And why was Veronica rude to him that one time, saying "Who would be stupid enough to work w you?" or something like that. If I were Reggie, I'd be like "...ok? Weren't u the one who dumped me? Why are u out here throwing shade?" But I guess Veronica's not allowed to have friends, so they have to make her act snarky toward people for no reason like she did w Cheryl at the beginning of Season 2.

Anyway, it was also so annoying how Betty had to think of the whole premise for the story along w everyone else contributing...except Jughead. And yet, he'll take their idea and write a story from it. If he plans to go to one of the best writing programs in the country, shouldn't he try to think of his own original idea? Also pretty sure those types of programs favor literary fiction, not genre fiction aka true crime/horror. Like maybe he should become a detective or a journalist since he seems to enjoy solving cases and writing about them (he's practically a true crime nonfiction writer) than actually thinking of an original fiction piece and writing about that. Plus is his life really so boring that he has to keep exploiting the traumas of Cheryl, Betty, and even Reggie for his stories? Like write about your own experiences, Forsythe! Also interesting how Betty was acting robotic and weird all season from the FBI plot through her involvement w the Stonewall plot, then started showing some heart again the past few episodes only to go back into robotic "my morals are blinded by my obsession w this case" mode again this ep. But yeah, getting fixated on these cases w Jughead really brings out the best in both of them!

Don't even get me started on the parents! They were so smugly that one scene in the hallway. If I were Mr. Honey I'd be like "who are ya'll? U care about your kids all of a sudden? And it's bc of prom being cancelled that you all finally decided to crawl out of your caves and care about what goes on at the school...figures." And the part at Pop's when they were like "we all have ur best interests at heart even if it doesn't seem like it" it's like...cool? U still all suck. And actions speak louder than words, so don't try to make it like your kids should just forgive everything you do bc "we love u! We' just don't know how to be parents lol. Oh well!" Like wow, that totally doesn't sound like an excuse to not only have a pity party but also to avoid putting in effort toward self-growth. And who does Mary think she is? Archie had to go through that whole thing w Fred about Fred wanting him to do construction when he wanted to do music before Fred finally decided to let Archie make up his own mind, but now Archie has to go through it all over again w Mary trying to come and pressure him into joining the Naval Academy. Like she's so out of touch w his life and will try to show up at the last minute when he's almost an adult and act like she knows what's going on. Dookie. At least she's dating the Navy lady tho. Werk!

Ugh and Mr. Honey isn't an angel now just bc the secretary said he did whatever for the school. Like are they really all so black and white that they assumed he did absolutely nothing good ever? People can be morally gray, but not on this show I guess. Meanwhile, if I were Betty I'd be like to Jughead "hmm, so Mr. Honey blamed me for cheating which I didn't do (she's the only one who actually didn't do what she got banned from prom for btw. Idk why the others were mad when they literally did stupid things worthy of being punished)...he also made me put together a whole yearbook singlehandedly at the last min just to cancel it. But bc he sent u a letter of rec, that's enough for u to change your whole opinion of him. Like forget everything he did to your gf right?" Kinda selfish.

Also that one part where Archiekins was like "we need a strategy. What should we do, Betty?" If I were Veronica, I'd be like "fuck my drag, right?" Like wasn't she the one who constructed a big, elaborate plan to help Archie escape juvie? Meanwhile, Betty constructed a plan that would've gotten them all caught if half the town didn't end up being in on Jughead faking his death. Guess she's just a walking wallet to these people at this point.

The cliffhanger was also a snorgasm so...yeah. What ever happened to Josie's mom? Or Mad Dog? Jk I hope he leaves and goes to college far away from these hoes. Ugh remember how Cheryl called her mom a monster again this ep? Aka she only conveniently didn't hate Penelope for one episode bc she needed a reason to quit Veronica's business. K. Also didn't Toni specifically not want Cheryl to find out the tickle plot bc Cheryl would get mad that she used the Vixens behind her back? But now she knows and is just ok w it for some reason bc the show will make either of Choni act ooc to avoid them having a conflict. Sounds like a normal and mutually healthy relationship. Can't wait for their wedding at prom! And for the new principal to be Alice or sumn. Ugh this episode gave my dog a tummy ache. Also Kevin got cut from Jug's story even tho he had one of the biggest feuds w Mr. Honey? How hetero. And now Mr. Honey will croak for real, and they'll all be under suspicion bc of the story...bc he just had to write about that instead of actually making up something not related to his life. Smelly dribble.

P. S. Even w everything else wrong w this episode, the worst crime by far was that grodacious yellow sweater w a zipper thing Betty was wearing! Somebody call the police!

[firelxdykatara]

I've read your thoughts on the noncon kiss between K/ataang (and I agree 100%), so I was wondering what your thoughts were on when Damon kept on trying to kiss Elena even after she rejected him?? (Also, I'm genuinely asking! I actually ship Delena, but this has just always bothered me.)

I suppose the simplest answer to this question is ‘I hold vampires with dodgy morals who began the show as villains to a different standard than I hold the heroic protagonist of a kid’s show’--because the fact of the matter is, Damon began the show as a villain. (And, not that it makes much of a difference, but I genuinely do not remember Damon trying to kiss Elena again after finding out that she was wearing vervain in the third episode--with the exception of the first episode of season 2, which was absolutely a horrible moment and I’ve never denied that. So where did he ‘[keep] on trying’? Genuine question, bc it’s been a while since I saw the early seasons of the show so I could be forgetting something.) Damon was unequivocally a villain and a monster in the beginning of the show, and his road to become a good man was long and not at all linear, and he was never going to be the Hero, because that’s just not who he is. (Which is ok, because not all good people have to be.)

The way the EIP kiss is presented, with absolutely nothing bridging the gap between that and Katara making out with Aang in the finale, it makes it seem like she figured out her feelings for him because he crossed her boundaries, rather than coming to that conclusion because she actually had romantic feelings for him and had worked through them on her own time. Aang makes his feelings her problem, without even asking her how she actually feels about him, and reveals that he assumed they would be in a relationship by now (because of the last time he kissed her without her consent, something that he phrases as mutual when it very much was not). This is especially an issue because it’s a children’s show, and this could very well be some of the target demographic’s first concept of consent in a romantic relationship--so the fact that there wasn’t even an attempt to point out that what Aang did was wrong and why, nevermind allow Katara to actually work through her feelings on screen, is a big problem, and when this gets brushed under the rug by Aang/Kataang fans it seriously bothers me.

By contrast, Elena was able to work through her feelings for Damon on her own time. He killed her brother at the beginning of season 2, unquestionably one of his worst actions in the entire show, and he had an arc where he began to realize that he actually cared about what he’d done--he actually cared about her, and was in love with her--and did everything he could to make it up to her. Crucially, though, he never actually made his feelings her problem, once he came to terms with them. He told her that he was in love with her, but then he compelled her to forget it so that she wouldn’t be burdened with that knowledge--and he backed the hell off. He didn’t even ask for her to forgive him until he was literally dying. And he accepted when she said that she still needed time--time he didn’t have--and didn’t actually push the issue until he was so delirious from the werewolf venom and in the middle of vivid hallucinations that he couldn’t control himself.

Elena kissed Damon at the end of season 2, thinking he was going to die--this was 100% initiated by her and unprompted by him, and it was her saying both ‘I forgive you’ and ‘goodbye’, because she thought he was about to die. (And he would have if Katherine hadn’t shown up with Klaus’ blood.) The next time they kissed, you could actually compare it to the Kataang surprise kisses--because when Damon kissed Elena in 3x10 it was unprompted (though she held the kiss and did not react negatively to it, unlike Katara who looked upset at the pre-invasion kiss and got angry at the EIP one)--but the important difference here is that Elena herself phrases it as a mutual kiss later on when she is talking to Stefan and wants to be open with him.

And the real crux of the matter here is, Elena’s feelings are always front and center in her relationship with Damon. She initiates most of their pre-relationship kisses--2x22, 3x19 (where she nearly fucking jumped his bones lmfao), 4x7--and the one where she didn’t is a kiss a kiss she describes as mutual, and as something she needs to confess to her ex-boyfriend to keep all her cards on the table. (Actually, I just went back to refresh my memory, and she doesn’t just say ‘we kissed’, like Damon said to Bonnie the next day. She says ‘There’s something I have to tell you. And it’s not because I feel guilty that it happened, it’s because I feel guilty that you don’t know. I kissed Damon.’ And then Stefan goes on to punch Damon because of it, because that doesn’t have any gross implications at all, but I’m not gonna go into that bc this isn’t an ‘I hate Stefan Salvatore’ rant. Yet.)

Elena chooses who she wants to say goodbye to in the season 3 finale. Elena chooses who she wants to be with in the beginning of season 4 (because, whatever she felt for Damon [and she owns those feelings and admits to them multiple times without prompting], she never had closure with Stefan, and she needed that before she was able to truly move on), and she chooses who she wants to spend the rest of her existence with after that.

Elena’s choice is crucial in her relationship with Damon, in a way that Katara’s never is with Aang. And I’m not trying to pretend that there aren’t a lot of elements to Damon and Elena’s relationship that aren’t questionable (he’s a 172-year-old vampire with a lot of murders in his past and a history of being a monster pre-redemption, and she’s an 18-year-old girl when they start dating), but again the difference there is that I have different standards for a) enemies-to-lovers relationships vs friends-to-lovers where they are on the same side from the start, and b) vampires vs Kid Heroes, so I’m going to have different expectations going in, and am probably going to react with more distaste to actions in one that might be comparatively tame, but still read very differently in different contexts.

It’s 100% understandable to have a line in the sand re: sexual violence/rape, but there are still vast differences in what is considered ‘par for the course’ in a show like TVD vs one like ATLA. In TVD, compelling humans is normal, and almost every vampire has had sex with humans under compulsion, so when this is brought out as some mark against Damon and only Damon, it makes me wonder why some fans hold him to a completely different standard than literally every other vampire on the show (possible exceptions being the ones who get turned during the show--although Caroline compelled Matt to forget she was a vampire and then continued her relationship with him sooooooo). Not liking TVD because it has issues with sexual violence/how consent is addressed when half the cast can take away the other half’s free will? Very valid. Not liking Damon, specifically, for these reasons when stanning characters like Stefan, Katherine, or.... p much any other vampire on the show???? Not so valid. 

Annnnd I’ll get off my soapbox now lmfao. I still have A Lot To Say apparently, and some day I’m gonna get into why the TVD fandom has such a weird relationship w the show’s issues with consent (like why Stefan and Katherine stans will call Damon a rapist while ignoring that their faves are also rapists by the very same metric), but I think that’s a bit beyond the scope of this ask.

[samwinchesterappreciation]

I'm so tired of seeing people blame Sam for not looking for Dean when he was in purgatory but then turning around and saying Sam is stupid for having hope that Mary is alive. WELL WHICH IS IT?

I’ve gotten so many questions about this, I’m going to consolidate my answer here because I’m tired of rehashing the same arguments against s8!Sam every damn season. Not even because it was 5 seasons ago and objectively worse grievances have been perpetrated against Sam since without even an ounce of the same outcry as s8 warrants from fandom, but because it’s so obvious in canon that Sam is not at fault for thinking Dean was dead at the end of season 7. So one last time with feeling, here we go.

Even if you take out the factor of where Sam was mentally at the end of s7, it is absurd to think Sam’s a horrible brother for not thinking to look for Dean in Purgatory. Or hell, for not thinking to look for Dean at all because Sam had no reason to think Dean was alive. Sam plainly stated in 8.01 that he thought Dean was dead, which should have ended the blame game then and there, but instead it’s brought up seasons later as something Sam still needs to ~atone~ to Dean for.

Think about it logically for a minute. Chuck created Purgatory to contain the leviathan, and it later became the final resting place for monsters when they die. In 7.23, Dean stabbed Dick Roman in the neck with that bone thing, effectively killing him when he exploded into black goo. It makes sense that Dick went back to Purgatory. If the explosion killed Castiel, logistically we know now that he’d end up in the Empty, the final resting place for angels and demons (a concept which did not exist until s11). If the explosion killed Dean, it would make sense to think he was in Heaven. Unless Dean was a monster, why would Sam think he was there? Same goes for Castiel.

There is no precedence for Sam to think “Dick died in an explosion of black goo, clearly that means he took my brother and my friend with him back to Purgatory.” Killing ghosts, or werewolves, or poltergeists, or Azazel, or vampires, or hellhounds, or gods, or Lilith, or angels, or Abaddon never resulted in also sucking any persons in the vicinity at the time to whatever realm the creature got sent back to. Saying Sam should have known that Dean was alive in a different realm is like saying Sam & Dean should have known Bobby was trapped in Hell ever since he walked into the light, or that Cas was really living as a married amnesiac healer after Leviastiel in Jimmy Novak’s rapidly deteriorating vessel walked into a lake, or that Purgatory is a backdoor to Hell. These plot points aren’t known to the boys or the audience until the narrative chooses to make them clear bc lazy writing.

Even if by some chance Sam had a logical reason to think Dean was in Purgatory, he would still have had numerous ethical reasons for not pursuing that lead:

1. Sam just saw the after-effects of his friend opening up the portal to Purgatory. Aside from the whole power-hungry-wrathful-godstiel-that-broke-Sam’s-brain-as-a-diversion thing, it unleashed creatures onto the earth that Death said in 7.01 that Chuck was afraid would “chomp the entire Petri dish,” the entire reason he locked them up in the first place. These are the same monsters that already killed two of the only people in the world Sam had after his brother: Bobby and (albeit temporarily) Cas.

2. After what Sam has been put through both in-show and in-fandom for breaking the last seal of the Apocalypse by killing Lilith, something Dean & Bobby both also wanted to do and didn’t know the true effects of until Cas came clean to them at the last minute, it is frankly fucking hypocritical to claim that Sam should have thrown reason & morality to the wind and risked the fate of the world to get Dean back. Historically, things don’t go well when the brothers go to any lengths to bring each other back. Especially considering the deal Sam and Dean made to prevent them from repeating history. A deal it’s unfair to expect Sam to go back on, especially since Sam does not want Dean to go back on his word when Sam dies. [It’s not OOC for Sam not to renege on the deal either because while Sam will put himself on the line, he never intentionally puts Dean’s autonomy on the line against Dean’s wishes. Sam backed off with his zombie solution in 3.15 and he said he wouldn’t let Dean be possessed against his will in 9.13. Unselfishly respecting his brother’s wishes doesn’t mean Sam doesn’t love Dean or is a bad brother. Just the opposite, in fact.]

3. I hate thinking of it this way as much as the next person, but if Sam even had reason to think Dean was in Purgatory with all the monsters that ever died, it makes sense that eventually Dean would die there and go on to Heaven, the final resting place Joshua promised Sam and Dean in 5.16 they would end up in once they died. So it would be painful for Sam to know Dean was there, but the best solution would have been to let him be. Similar to when Sam jumped in the Cage to stop Lucifer and Michael. It was painful for Dean, but the best solution for the good of everyone was to let Sam be.

I’m going to skip right over the fact that Dean knew/repressed the fact that Cas was still alive in Purgatory when he told Sam that there was no chance he wasn’t dead (are you seeing a parallel here? because you should be) and move right on to the Mary situation. Here’s what Sam, Dean, and the audience know at the start of season 13:

1. Mary pushed Lucifer back into the rift to the alternate universe, but he dragged her with him in 12.23.

2. The brothers saw neither their mother nor Lucifer die or explode into black goo or get stabbed in the neck with a bone. They saw 2 resourceful people get sucked into an alternate universe.

3. Lucifer has had multiple opportunities to kill Dean, Sam, and Castiel since mid-season 11. But he didn’t, even when he has threatened to do so. Hell, Lucifer was even allied with Team Chuck and lived in the bunker with the brothers for a period and Sam was actively terrified of him with good reason, but Lucifer still didn’t physically try to kill any of them when he needed or wanted something from them.

4. Lucifer wants Jack and knows the brothers have him. The boys want Mary and know she was with Lucifer the last time they saw her.

To conclude, Sam and Dean have more reason to believe that Mary is alive somewhere in the alternate universe than Sam ever did to believe that Dean was alive in Purgatory. And if Dean’s mental state is an excuse for him thinking Mary was dead, please consider Sam’s as well at the end of both seasons 7 and 12. Sam’s grief and trauma is, outside of rare occasions, never as explicitly shone as Dean’s is, but that doesn’t mean it canonically doesn’t exist. Dean has always been the emotional lens of the show, but that does not make him a reliable narrator. His feelings of betrayal or hurt aren’t the word of God, and they don’t mean you can’t discern Sam’s from what we are shown in canon. I say this as someone who would give a kidney to see more of Sam’s emotional POV, you can discern where Sam is coming from in season 8, you just have to pay attention. 

That’s not to say Dean deserves blame for thinking Mary is dead because 1) I’m not trying to assign blame, just defend Sam and 2) there is certainly a chance that she could have been! But I assure you that when the brothers are reunited with her, Mary (and the fandom) will not blame Dean for believing she was dead and trying to move on rather than look for her. All I’m asking is that the same courtesy be afforded to Sam post-season 7.