#I mean I could relate to A Secret History a little bit with having had to learn the Lingua Latina in school

[godofthestupid]

started reading 'If We Were Villains' by M.L.Rio

I honestly just picked it up because I had heard that it is similar in vibe to 'The Secret History' by Donna Tartt but more theater*:･ﾟ✧ and more drama*:･ﾟ✧

[littleeyesofpallas]

So, with the new legends there's a neat way we can take a guess at some of the time frame. Although it's largely aesthetic and hard to gauge the intended historical parallels of, the not-Eiffel Tower at the center of the city could presumably have been completed in the late 1880s like the real thing. Interestingly that places it pretty concurrent to the construction of the Hokkaido Government building in the 1870s that served as the basis of the Galaxy Team HQ in the first Legends game.

But with the keywords being "urban redevelopment" the setting could only possibly be Haussman's renovation of Paris that took place from the 1850s-1920s. So given that the tower is already standing, that places Legends Z-A between 1889 and 1927.

And I doubt it would play into the setting of a Pokemon game but I think it's neat that it would mean taking place firmly in the 3rd French Republic, as that's not typically the most romanticized period of French history. (Kind of shocking given just how much Japanese pop culture loves to fixate on the Ancien Regime and Rococco architecture.) It's right at the height of the French Colonial empire and their rivalry with the British... Even if they don't address the history directly, certainly not the darker bits, I wonder if we'll see an ancestor of Rose* and some mention of Kalos and Galar's relation as a hint at the Pokemon world's equivalent of India. (Elephant, what elephant...)

*put a pin in that... Well come back to Rose later...

Also I know a lot of the stupid "leaks" that were just running with any/every rumor they could find had been talking about Celebi, despite there being no signs of it in the direct, but it's possible that the Z-A title and the fadethru of the sort of sci-fi looking city diagram into a pencil and parchment one is indicating going back in time --backwards, from Z to A, end to start.

and just so long as I'm just picking at edges of things...

The unknown are an anagram of, "POKEMON PRESENTS"(oh and the SOEYUE one at the end is just "SEE YOU") and the ""confidential"" stamp on the documents likely reads "Gokuhi" as in gokuhi[極秘]: "Top Secret," but the rest of the text doesn't seem to match either Japanese, French, or English,

Hito to POKEMON no kyouzon o yumemite[人と ポケモンの共存を夢���て]: "Dreaming of people and Pokemon's coexistence" Toshisaikaibatsu hassou MIARE CITY[都市再開発発想ミアレシティ]: "Urban Redevelopment Concept Miare City"

The obvious exception being that redacted text is clearly the romanized MIARE from the Japanese MIARE[ミアレ] and the English CITY, which is the Japanese name for what was localized as "Lumiose."

Curiously the word "Pokemon" is very clearly missing from the passage, and also in both cases there are too few "Galarian" characters for how long the phrases are in any actual language.

and finally, given some of the existing examples of handwritten Galarian in SwSh, I'm guessing the text on the big logo is as i've transcribed into the more standard Galar font, although I'm really uncertain about that second one, and a bit iffy about the big "X"s, but the little cyclone O, the V with the underbar, and the E seem certain enough.

Also there's a logo I know I remember seeing that looks like this one but I can't remember where it is or what it's associated with.... It's the logo on the Macro Cosmos power plant. Not Rose's personal logo with the stylized rose, and not the Cosmos business logo with the big star system orbital ring Cs, but the power plant in Hammerlock where you go to fight Eternatus specifically.

It would be really neat if whatever this organization is was tied back to an ancestor of Rose and Peony and the origins of Macro Cosmos somehow.

[coraniaid]

I wish that Professor Maggie Walsh had been the true Big Bad of Season 4. And I wish that she hadn't been unceremoniously killed off halfway through the season. And I wish that -- over the whole history of the show -- she wasn't one of only three human women aged over 25 who were allowed more speaking time than the creepy sex robot Warren Mears builds in Season 5 [and note, by the way, that neither of the other two are alive at the end of the show either].

But most of all I wish -- I really, really wish -- that I could persuade myself that Maggie Walsh was even the slightest bit interesting. Because I'm sorry, but she's just not.

Is there any villainous character on the show where the difference between how compelling they could have been and how boring they actually are in canon is this stark? The show has had some pretty underwhelming arc villains, sure, but Adam is about as interesting as a rejected Doctor Who villian with a floppy disk drive in his chest could ever have been and the First Evil was originally created to be a disposable monster of the week to begin with so it's hardly a surprise she doesn't manage to transcend this and Caleb very obviously only exists at all because the writers panicked when they realized the First coudn't offer any sort of personal physical threat.

But Professor Walsh should have been different! This was the start of the post-high school seasons; a start to establish the tone of the whole show going forward. She would have been the first antagonist fully grounded in the world of the real; not a vampire or an immortal man who sold his soul to become a big snake, but a fully human villain who never stops being human. She could have been written as a juxtaposition of Principal Snyder and the Mayor and Gwendolyn Post; or as a more explicit foil of Joyce Summers or Rupert Giles. She could have been a villain who could challenge Buffy in both the supernatural and regular worlds. She was a successful woman in her fifties in academia in the 1990s! Wouldn't a show whose "feminism" was anything but surface deep be even a little bit interested in exploring what that meant?

Professor Walsh could have related to Buffy and her friends in ways no previous villain ever did. What does it mean for Buffy -- who we've seen worry so much about her own future prospects, and her fear of ending up like her mother -- to have a possible role model who managed to combine a sucessful career with knowledge of the supernatural? What if Walsh's attempts to win Buffy over to her side lasted for more than half an episode? Or, failing that, what sort of threat could a smart and capable human who knew about Buffy's secret identity as a Slayer have posed her, given her own pronounced reluctance about hurting ordinary humans? What would it have meant for Buffy's fears of not being fully human if an expert in the supernatural had looked at her and seen a monster? And why is Willow suddenly interested in studying pyschology all of a sudden, and does it have anything to do with the fact her own parents are both succesful academics who work in this field?

The writers aren't interested in even pretending to address any of these questions. [Did they even remember what career they gave Willow's parents?]

Depressingly, the only reason Professor Walsh is actually here is to answer the question "what if your new boyfriend's stuck-up mom didn't like you because she was a jealous bitch and then she immediately got herself killed anticlimatically because she was also really fundamentally stupid about it?".

What a waste. And they hired Lindsay Crouse for this?

(Also: if they were going to make Professor Walsh a "world renowned" pyschologist the writers should maybe have bothered to look into how seriously the field took the ideas of Sigmund Freud in 1999. Although her character's second career of experimenting on and cutting up demonic creatures for fun and profit would have made a lot more sense if they'd set her up as some kind of biologist, right? Or just make her an English literature teacher, if her teaching career is meant to be a front anyway and you want her to deliver themtically relevant monologues about Freud and Jung. At least I'd believe Buffy and Willow wanting to go to her class then.)

[cressidagrey]

AO3 Masterlist

All of these link to my AO3, mostly because that's my personal favorite site to read fan fiction on, and it's much easier to make multiple stories into a series!

Unless otherwise noted, all my series/stories are ongoing, which means…if you have a prompt for any of them, shoot them my way. 

The Court of Gold and Shadows*

you'll be made of ashes too

Elain Archeron makes the most beautiful bride.

Azriel copes.

for the first time, what's past is past

Of all the ways, Azriel expected to meet his mate, this wasn't it. 

something good and right and real

Azriel had spent centuries believing that he of all people didn't deserve a mate. And if anything, the last three years had just galvinised that particular belief. And then he meets her.

The first time Oriana met Azriel, she thought that he reminded her of a skittish cat. Shy and a little bit broken. Good for him that she absolutely excelled in fixing the things around her.

Romance is not dead if you keep it just yours

5 Times Cassian thought that Azriel had feelings for somebody and then the 1 time he finally met the girl his brother was in love with. 

I breathe flames each time I talk

The story of how Oriana Fireborn Belmont, Third Daughter of the First Daughter, met her mate's family.

Also the story of how Rhysand, High Lord of the Night Court finally recognises that by the cauldron, there is no fury like that of a female scorned.

Meanwhile, Azriel would just like everybody to get along.

The Unexpected Series*

“If you need to fuck someone, go to a pleasure hall and pay for it, but stay away from her.”

What if… Azriel actually takes Rhys at his word? And does exactly what his High Lord ordered? With unexpected consequences.

Unafraid

Azriel does exactly what his High Lord ordered him to do. (Well, kinda.)

Unprecedented

This is Azriel finding out about said unexpected consequences

Unknowing

This is the Inner Circle finding out about said consequences. Azriel is very good at keeping secrets

Indelible*

Indelible Scars

Azriel knew pain. So did Galena.

Also known as: Azriel’s mate is a healer and the first time they meet, he nearly dies on her.

Glorious Sunrise

So what happens after the mating bond snaps?

Well-meaning interfering family members, deep conversations and nights spent brooding on the roof like some kind of gargoyle…this one has it all.

(The Smutty Sequel y’all asked for ;) )

A Pocketful of Stars*

New Pursuits

The shadows decide that Azriel needs a hobby.

5 times when said hobby-related shenanigans didn’t end so well…and the one time where it may end up better than Azriel could ever have imagined.

Welcome to the World 

The quickest turnaround time between finding your mate and having a kid anybody in the history of Prythian has ever managed

The Starlight Princess*

The Starlight Princess

There is a Pool of Starlight in the Spring Court. A piece of the Night Court that has no business being in the land of Eternal Spring. So how did it come to be?

Or: How the Spymaster of the Night Court starts hearing a voice, realises that no, he is not insane after all, frees a princess, kills a High Lord…and finds his mate all at the same time.

The Prophecy

Lightning in a Bottle

Eira Archeron was neither a Valkyrie, nor a Seer, nor the High Lady of the Night Court. She was actually pretty much useless. The only thing she wanted was to be somebody's first choice for once in her life.

Also known as: Azriel's shadows decide that if he doesn't treat his mate right... they'll just do it for him.

Looked to the Sky

Eira Archeron was neither a Valkyrie, nor a Seer, nor the High Lady of the Night Court. She was, however, Azriel‘s mate with her own mysterious, untrained powers.

Also known as: Azriel tries to court his mate the human way.

Recipe for Love

Peach Cobbler

Azriel finds a bakery and creates his very own reward system.

Honey Cakes

The Beehive Bakery is out of Peach Cobbler. This leads Azriel to make some very impulsive decisions. 

Don't wait for the Sky to Clear

The Fourth Archeron sister makes herself a life in the Dawn Court.

dust of your highest hopes

Eavesdroppers never hear anything good about themselves, goes the idiom.

When Solana hears an admission from the High Lord of Day, she’s ill-prepared for it. She doesn’t believe in fairytales any longer, but maybe there was a happily ever after for Solana and Helion somewhere

The Ties that Bind

Shadowsingers were made, not born. Made out of trauma and loneliness and desperation.

So when Cilla and Azriel meet and their shadows entwine, they both meet the only other person that could understand these particular childhood scars.

The last thing Azriel had ever expected from his mate, however, was for her to have a surprising connection to his brother.

The Witching Hour

5 Times members of the Inner Circle get absolutely terrified by Azriel's...whatever she is, and 1 (of many) times Azriel thinks that his witch was the best thing that ever happened to him.

Bound by Blood

Azriel's witch has some very smutty plans for Samhain.

Tear the World Apart

Eris’ mate decides to get rid of her father-in-law. Also known as: If Eris Vanserra married a very bloodthirsty Margaery Tyrell.

Brighten Up the Sky

A Mating Bond between her younger sister and the Night Court’s shadowsinger was the last thing Feyre had expected to spring up…but then, maybe it did make sense.

Stars all aligned

If there was one thing that both Azriel and Zahra Archeron had in common, it was that they were both very good at blending into the background.

It's a Love Story

Azriel's shadows find their master a wife.

Azriel would just really like his heart not to get broken again.

And Sky...well, she's just really surprised that that far too handsome male is interested in her at all.

(Super pretty dividers thanks to @tsunami-of-tears !)

[syndrossi]

resonant ch27 dvd commentary

Favorite line:

The red priestess had thought Jon’s resurrection irrefutable proof of her god’s power, yet at times Jon had wondered if he was so different from the wights he faced across the battlefield: something dead, with fire breathed into him rather than ice, intended instead to be a puppet for R’hllor.

It's an interesting parallel, and one that I'm sure Jon has mused upon before. The dead are not allowed to rest; they are tools to be used by unknowable forces. Unlike the wights, of course, Jon is alive and has free will, but that doesn't mean his return to the living wasn't meant to serve a purpose, as the wights do.

Favorite detail:

The gifts! I had a lot of fun picking the first batch out. Rhaegar's gifts are pretty easy/obvious, and we even had Daemon musing last chapter about getting him charcoals and parchment. The book written by Aenar Targaryen will definitely be important/useful as they go through it. With the dragons left in the care of the Dragonkeepers, it's not a book that anyone has likely read in a century. Aegon or Visenya could very well have been the last to do so, other than Viserys briefly scanning it for information to reconstruct the hatchery in his model.

Meanwhile, the generational cartography is something that felt fitting for dragonriders to do. It is far easier to map something from a bird's eye view versus going about slowly on foot, though it requires recalling the details later, as dragonback is not the most stable position to draw from! One eagle-eyed commenter on the chapter guessed at Daemon's reasoning for Jon's gifts: in both chapters 24 and 26, he's shown interest in ship movement on dragonback and the landscape in general. So he gets a map and wooden model ships!

(Obviously Jon is attached to his bronze knife, but Daemon needs more lead time to have a Targaryen equivalent made.)

And the gifts also reflect aspects of Daemon that he shares with both children: a curiosity about the lay of the land and the movement of people and things below (a strategic eye), and his own interest in their family's history and dragons. Daemon's similarities to Jon are often more obvious, because their personalities on the surface are closer, but he shares many things in common with Rhaegar too!

Favorite dynamic:

The cousins, naturally. Aegon and Aemond's childish jealousy (enhanced by their existing dislike for their nephews) of their shiny new cousins spending time with other children, doing that thing that kids do where they demand you admit that they're your best friend obviously and far superior to any other friends.

Then we have Aemond "letting" Jon be Aemon so that he can be Rhaegar's brother instead, living out the dream of having a brother he likes and can relate to / have adventures with. While Aegon wants to buy "cool points" with his secrets.

And the sibling sabotage with Aegon's secrets, of course! With Otto as their grandfather and Viserys as their father, they are privy to some interesting conversations, which is a resource that Jon and Rhaegar can try to leverage in the future.

Meanwhile, no one has made any guesses yet as to the secret Aegon wants to show them...

Quick hitters:

I hate the flow of "Princesguard" but it's KINGSguard and QUEENSguard, so symmetry demands it. It's also very patriarchal (it's not called Princessesguard), but so is the Kingsguard tbh. I imagine "Princesguard" will be considered a neutral term.

I quite enjoyed delving into Jon's musings on the gods, and his conclusion that he'll pray to whoever keeps his family safe. It's a sentiment we've seen from him before, when Rhaegar has been in danger, where he throws out prayers to whatever god might listen.

Jon opens himself a little bit to Jon Redfort and receives a memory in return. A few folks on AO3 have wondered why Rhaegar can remember parts of Raymar's life but not Jon, and it comes down to Jon being very resistant to opening himself up that way. He keeps a very hard line of separation, which can make his emotions more volatile (Jon Redfort's emotions reach a boiling point that spills over).

I considered writing the gift-giving from Daemon's POV after I finished writing it in Jon's. I'm fond of the "least knowledgeable" POV principle, aka writing a scene from the POV of the character who knows the least about what's going on. Daemon lacks context on the candle, and he has no idea what the boys feel about his gifts, so we'd get his reads on both their reception of the gifts and what they're feeling about the candle. But it also felt reasonably fine from Jon's POV and I usually don't bother rewriting a POV unless I'm unhappy with a scene.

Harvest festival + ball name drop! It's about two months out for the start of the monthlong festivities, which gives interested knights of the land time to make the trek for the Princesguard tourney at its close (3 months from now).

The toy ships were a bit of a bust from Jon's perspective, since he's not actually all that interested in nautical matters aside from their implications for conflicts/supplies. But he wouldn't ever want Daemon to think so, so we'll see if Jon forces himself to play with them for his benefit later. 😅 Laenor+the Velaryon boys are more likely to be interested! (Laenor: You know, Daemon, if you ever need someone to teach you about seamanship...)

I really like the godswood as a setting. It's quite peaceful.

This chapter in general was quite peaceful, until Daemon dropped not one but two "famous last words" remarks at the end.

No deleted scenes or even deleted bits this time to share!

[xiament3]

[𝐒ummary : Pete’s dreams finally come true, now earned everything he’s truly ever wanted.]

[𝐑𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭] [no, but I would love to be sent you’re requests]

[𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 1.32k 9 minutes read time]

⟣-----------------------❀------------------⟢

It wasn’t a secret that Pete wanted to have children, he had very publicly talked about it several times and I’m many interviews.

Still the idea was somewhat foreign to him but he knew what he wanted and he wanted kids with you.

“Hey babe” Pete started pausing the movie the two of you chose to watch for date night you both made it a point to have a date nice twice a month every month indefinitely.

When picking those dates you both took turns planning them last time you choose going to a museum, due to history being your favorite subject and you loved learning about thing and telling random fun facts.

Pete had chosen to stay in wanting to have you in his arms close at all times, so here you were watching the little mermaid on the couch with his arms wrapped, around your waists him laying on you’re belly and you’re back against the couch.

“Yeah, what’s wrong?” You said turning your full attention to the tall man on your stomach.

He gazed up at you grabbing hold of your hands playing with them showing his eyes gleaming nervously at you’re hands, his eyes bouncing before your hands and then at you.

“Well I don’t think it’s wrong but I’m not sure where you stand on it I mean I know but I don’t know if that was just talk or futuristic.” He rambled.

“Baby what is it?” You said cutting to the point but still finding his rambling abordable.

“Iwanttohavebabywithyousoonbutnow” he sputtered out quickly making you felt like your head was spinning at his pace.

“Okay say it slower, taking that fast you can’t possibly think I’d understand you.” You said reaching to give him a sip of you’re water, before he sat once again on you’re facing each other hands in hand.

“Okay?” You asked making him nod his head and sigh. “Now what did you say?” You asked him again turning you’re attention to him.

“Yeah, I want to have a baby with you and I feel like now would be a great time we’ve been married for a little bit we moved into this house and we have this extra space and backyard for kids and I’m directing mostly now so I’ll be able to be with you and not have to travel as much and…” he ranted deciding to let him finish his baby fever fueled rant.

“Yes,” you said stopping his rant right there quickly focusing on your face.

“Yes?” He repeated confused

“Yes, I would love to have a baby with you were both stable and healthy we do have the space. This would be the perfect time.” You agreed looking at him and not even a half of a second pasted before he was showering your face in kisses before picking you up kissing you all the way.

“Baby making time.” He said taking you up stairs to bed, bursting through your bedroom closing the door behind him before turning his attention to you on the bed.

Pouncing on you again he kissed all over your face.

“Baby, wait wait.” You related begin cut off by a kiss with each word.

Instantly Pete stopped sitting up

“I want to have a baby but I still need to make an appointment to get my IUD removed and it might take a little bit for my body to adjust.” You warned

“I know as long as I get to enjoy the process of the journey with you I’m okay.” He said kissing you rapidly this time with no interruptions.

The following Thursday you found yourself in a doctors appointment with a very excited Peter getting your birth control removed.

And then eight almost nine months later you found yourself in the early morning.

Suddenly feeling extremely sick rushing and pulling the covers off you waking Peter up in the process.

Emptying out your body in the toilet having Pete hold your hair back and rubbing your back comforting you best he could.

You didn’t want to assume immediately you were pregnant, twice before you had a false alarm and now you wanted to be sure before getting excited about the morning sickness.

After a doctors appointment it was confirmed.

“Mrs. Davidson you are in fact six weeks pregnant.” The doctor said dragging the Doppler across your jellied stomach.

She filled the screen around and there was your baby it was the size of a cherry seed but I brought tears to both of your eyes.

“I love you so much.” He said looking deeply into your eyes as he wiped the jelly off your belly and helped you stand up.

Ever since then Pete has been on cloud nine.

HIS POV

ever since I found out, you were making me a father I tried my best to make it as easy as possible.

I thought it would be hard having your body change constantly adapting to take care of our baby.

I wanted needed to do anything and everything to take the much off you as I can.

Crack of dawn cravings? Got it

Can’t fine anything to wear you feel comfortable in? I’ll buy you new clothes or you can have mine

Anything hurts? Feet, back, boobs I’ll massage it

Anything, as your due date was approaching and before you couldn’t travel I wanted to take you on a babymoon.

Settling on Punta Cana’s blue water beaches booking a beach villa, with you laying next to me sound asleep tried from the day and our daughter.

I can’t help but stare down at you and your belly holding the child I always wanted but never thought I’d get.

You’ve given me everything I could ask for marriage, love, understanding, support and now a baby girl to be named Aniline Amy Davidson.

Thanking nobody but you for making all of this a reality.

I drift off to sleep your back to my chest, my hands to your belly, and your hands together with mine.

⟣

Turning over away from the window, the sun blinding me trying to force me out of my sleep.

Feeling the bed for you only to come up empty, jumping up sleep long forgotten my eyes frantically darting around the room.

The bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen, the living room and no sign of you. My eyes still darting around seeing the sliding glass door open running standing in the doorframe.

I saw you in a floral dress blowing through the breeze. Playing and swaying in the water.

Drawing closer behind you wrapping my arms around your belly swaying with you and the waves.

“Are you okay your heats racing I can feel it?” You asked me stare locked on me.

“I couldn’t find you this morning when I woke up I got scared and started running around trying to find y’all.” I confessed

Normally I probably would’ve gotten embarrassed about jumping that far off the bat but, with you I didn’t feel like I needed to hide or be embarrassed about anything.

“We’re right here this morning she wouldn’t stop kicking and I didn’t want to wake you up so I came out here, she stopped kicking when I told her about this place and how much it means to us.” You told me sitting down at you best ability to sit criss cross.

“Yeah, this all feels like a dream to me.” I told you sitting with you hearing and feeling the waves clash softly against our bodies.

“It’s real Peter I’m real, our daughter is, our marriage everything is real.” You smiled at me holding my hands your wedding ring glowing in the sunlight.

“I remember when I asked you to marry me, I remember when we were at the alter here, when you told me you were pregnant after our honeymoon and now soon you’ll give birth to our daughter soon. We’re here together you’re 32 weeks pregnant this is all I’ve ever wanted ever.” I told you feeling my eyes water.

“This is what I never thought I’d have thank you for everything being my wife, the mother to our daughter, and my support and heart.” I thanked her rubbing your belly.

Kissing your face enjoying this ocean and life with you.

[karniss-bg3]

what are your thoughts on why was kar'niss turned into a drider? your theories are so god tier, and i want to cry over my babie a little bit 💔

also how do you look at the possibility of turning him back into a drow?

Greetings!

This is a bit of a loaded question to be sure. I’ve mulled over Kar’niss’ origins for months and unfortunately the clues offered in-game aren’t substantial enough to form a solid through line. At best I can offer speculation based on drow lore alongside what information we do have and go from there. As you can imagine, none of the outcomes are good.

1) The Gambler’s Debt

A bit ago I dug into the meaning of Kar’niss’ name. With the help of an astute Anon, we managed to piece together that his name means “productive gambler”. Drow names can change throughout their life and I believe Kar’niss changed his name, either by choice or by force, after his transformation. It makes me curious what his birth name was but that’s another drop into the unknown bucket.

In this theory I believe Kar’niss wagered something valuable and lost it, or he bet on the wrong person to trust and was subsequently backstabbed. Drow societies are notorious for underhanded behavior as it’s a necessary evil in order to survive the harsh environments. If it was an item he lost it would’ve had to be something of high value and/or it belonged to someone notable in drow society. We know Minthara is part of house Baenre, the most notable clan in Menzoberranzan. She is also familiar with Kar’niss to some degree which leads me to believe they have history, especially as she seems sympathetic to his condition. Perhaps he took something from a member of house Baenre or was even a servant/slave to one of its members. I highly doubt he was related to anyone in the Baenre clan as I’d like to believe Minthara would’ve mentioned that at some stage.

Regardless of the chosen method, Kar’niss did the equivalent of “fuck around and find out” and was ultimately caught. As punishment he was turned into a drider and exiled to the outskirts of drow society.

2) Loyalty is Skin Deep

The next running theory is that Kar’niss is a Szarkai, otherwise known as an albino drow. If that is true then that would’ve gained him extra attention he likely didn’t want. Either by women coveting his unusual appearance or men who saw him as competition. The more likely outcome is that he would’ve been tasked in infiltrating the surface as he could pass for an elf without much trouble. He acted as a spy for his given house, Mistress or organization and was tasked to filter information back.

Perhaps time on the surface altered his perception. He was likely treated better by his peers and even accepted to some degree, even if that acceptance was based on deception. Maybe he fell in love with a surface dweller or simply became close with those he called friends. He could’ve either decided to abandon his post and opted to live with those on the surface, or his true identity could’ve been discovered by those he came to care for and he was ousted.

Following the tree of outcomes, these are the possible branches:

-His secret is discovered by his surface friends who turn their back on him for the deception. Kar’niss is either exiled or nearly killed in the process of escaping. For his failure in the mission he is turned into a drider.

-He is found out by his surface friends but is instead accepted by them. Other spies learn of Kar’niss’ alliance, reports back to Lolth, and eventually Kar’niss is kidnapped and brought back to the Underdark for his punishment. Instead of killing him they turn him into a drider knowing his new appearance would horrify his former companions and thus isolate him once more. Ashamed by his form, Kar’niss becomes a recluse and never sees his old allies again.

-In an attempt to deny his growing bond with the surface dwellers and in a bid to get in good with Lolth, Kar’niss opts to betray his new friends. He leads them into a trap where they are ambushed by drow scouts and killed. Kar’niss is a witness to the massacre and sees the betrayal in their eyes as the life leaves them. Consumed by guilt, Kar’niss begins to crack at the seams mentally over time. He starts to hear their voices, sees their visage from the corner of his eye, haunted by the terrible crime he committed. Eventually he comes to snap entirely, turning on fellow drow in violent outbursts and accusatory tirades. He may even severely injure or kill another drow which is what leads to him being transformed. This only worsens his fragile mental state and the “ghosts” continue to follow him everywhere he goes. The delusions are amplified once he reaches the shadow lands. To him, the shadows are the phantoms of his fallen former friends, stalking his every waking moment to remind him what he has done. It is why he is so thoroughly terrified of them and lashes out anytime someone foolishly tempts fate.

3) Love Lies Bleeding

This is more of a personal headcanon I began to write sometime ago but never finished. Essentially, Kar’niss is a slave to a cruel and overbearing mistress named Kyrzhal. She abuses, torments and mocks him at every opportunity. At some point she brings home a new male drow pet, Xaros, and parades him around in front of Kar’niss, intentionally seeking to disturb him so he no longer feels safe in his position. Kar’niss despises this man and wants him gone as he sees him as a dire threat.

To his surprise, the new addition is not only helpful but is nice to Kar’niss. He helps treat Kar’niss’ wounds after their mistress beats him, cares for him, shows him affection in a way he’s not accustomed to. Over time Kar’niss begins to trust him and even finds he feels something a little more than he anticipated. After this trust is gained, Xaros convinces Kar’niss to run away with him and escape the Underdark. At first Kar’niss is vehemently against the idea, still loyal to Kyrzhal despite the abuse. It takes time but Xaros eventually convinces Kar’niss to defect, and the two make a plan to flee.

The day comes and they take their shot. They leave the manor when Kyrzhal is gone and make a break for one of the exits out of the Underdark. Before they can reach salvation they both hear a familiar voice call out behind them. It is Kyrzhal with a hunting party of female drow. She knew about the betrayal all along. Xaros retreat from Kar’niss’ side to go to Kyrzhal as it is revealed he was working alongside her the entire time. It was a game for her amusement and both drow men were the pawns. It would be Xaros who’d gain a reward while Kar’niss was to suffer punishment.

Heartbroken and betrayed, Kar’niss is taken away, beaten for two weeks, mutilated and verbally abused. Once Kyrzhal became bored of that she opted to turn him over to Lolth who then warped him into a drider on Kyrzhal’s request.

“Death is an easy out for that one. It is my desire that he live on in the form that suits him the best. I warned him that someday I’d remove his manhood and this is the most inventive way of doing so. I hope he’ll remember this moment the next time he thinks to turn his back on his superiors.”

And he would remember, forever and always. He’ll never betray his Majesty, no matter the cost.

***

Those are just a few backstory ideas and of course all of them are sad as hell. I’ll forever be a sour apple that I can’t recruit the poor bastard and show him some love. But at least I can do so in my head!

As for him turning back into a drow, I’m all for it. I’ve written a fanfic where he does exactly that here. The most viable option we know of is the wish spell, which is rare and hard to come by but would be a cool option thematically. In the end though I’d want Kar’niss to make the choice. If he prefers to remain a drider I’d be happy with that but I’d still love him as much as a drow. One thing I do believe is that, whether drider or drow, his mental state will never fully recover. He’s been through too much and suffered immensely and that has long term effects. Still, with the right amount of care and attention he could have a happy life moving forward.

Thanks for the ask!

[age-of-moonknight]

Helloo

If im not bothering you too much, may I ask what you know about the cia?

I know it may not be a question related to moon knight, or maybe it could be, but im kinda interested to know the basics at least and you seem to know a lot about it

Btw, i absolutely adore your blog

Hello!!! :D I'm so glad that you enjoy this blog and thanks for stopping by! Although, well,,,,hm,,,maybe it's just my rabid paranoia sinking its claws even deeper into me, but this is one of the more interesting asks I've gotten for this blog, that's for sure. 😅 For perhaps some context, I think anon might be referencing this post I made, gosh, close to two years ago now, where I got....maybe a little too excited talking about the history of the CIA and what Marc's time with The Company could mean for his character hahaha Accordingly, a full rundown on the agency's history, not to mention its many, many facets, is probably a bit outside the purview of this blog, but this is then a good time to state that if anyone ever wants to talk about anything and everything besides Moon Knight, my dms are always open and I'm happy to chat! However,,,I also have an affliction where I am an incorrigible pedant who jumps at the chance to write essays on things that interest me (and intelligence interests me very, very much, unfortunately). As such, while all my instincts are telling me this is absolutely glowing bait on a hook, if anyone wants to read a rambling wall of text about that agency Marc spent some time with, that will be waiting for you under the cut. Again, disclaimer, I'm just some person on the internet and thus can't really be considered a credible source on much of anything (except maybe how many times Moon Knight has teamed up with the Punisher hahaha). All the following info could easily be gathered from OSINT sources (and we're talking, like, Wikipedia, although this gave me the chance to pull out one of my favorite textbooks, Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy by Mark Lowenthal (vol. 7). If you're the textbook reading-type and interested in the topic, I'd suggest giving it a shot, particularly chapters 2 and 3 for the CIA and the U.S.' broader intelligence community). I tried to keep this incredibly surface level, as these are all topics that you could write monographs on, so if you want more sources/context, just hit me up! This also got,,,,unreasonably long (I didn't even know tumblr HAD a point where it would stop autosaving, but apparently trying to list all of the CIA's crimes against humanity will get you there), so I ended up having to split this across multiple posts.

Conception I discussed it in my previous post, but I'll give a brief rundown on how the Central Intelligence Agency came to be. So, the United States had intelligence organs pre-World War II, but they would typically only be spun up for however long a conflict lasted and then all of their assets would be reintegrated back into the military, da? But then with the end of WWII ushering in the atomic age and nuclear deterrence pushing out conventional conflict in favor of an espionage-fueled Cold War, the U.S. government deemed it prudent to have a permanent intelligence gathering service. There was just one hiccup, the question of what to do with the U.S.' WWII-era intelligence service, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Under the leadership of the very descriptively nicknamed Brigadier/Major General William "Wild Bill" Donovan, OSS officers had been running around conducting sabotage and espionage operations throughout Europe and Asia, doing wild things like working with an underground intelligence network of European Catholic priests and coordinating with the 20 July plot/Operation Valkyrie assassination attempt on Hitler. They were the very definition of irregular, British officials accused them of "playing cowboys," and the U.S.' massive post-war military organization was loathe to have to find some way to force OSS officers into the military's necessary uniformity, so in 1947, after a couple years of bureaucratic shuffling, the OSS apparatus got pasted onto this new intelligence agency that was so far,,,rather bookish and the CIA as we know it was born. This divide, between the incredibly Ivy League analysts and the more martial remnants of the OSS that got folded in was a contributor to the two major branches of the CIA (and their infamous intra-agency rivalry), so this perhaps a good segue into the CIA's different internal departments, its "directorates."

There are the two ogs, the Directorate of Operations and the Directorate of Analysis, and then the newer Directorates of Digital Innovation, Support, plus Science & Technology. (Note: this is as the agency stands now; there have been some fluctuations in structure and naming conventions over the years).

The Directorate of Operations (DO) needs little introduction, as it's the legacy of the OSS and what most people think of when they hear the word "espionage," the kind of work one individual once described to me as "fast cars, nice suits, and unlimited spending" (hope he's still out there and doing well). They're your politically deniable boots on the ground collecting HUMINT (human intelligence such as handling contacts and the like) and executing covert actions. It contains the ultimate sharp point of the spear, the Special Activity Center (SAC) with its Political Action Group (PAG), which spreads black propaganda, influences elections, and conducts other psychological operations, and the Covert Action Group (CAG), which draws operators from the military's special forces programs to form their own direct action, counter-intel/counter-terror, unconventional warfare, paramilitary group (they have a very diverse set of martial skills). Naturally, most recipients of the U.S. intelligence community's highest honors, the Intelligence Star and Distinguished Intelligence Cross are from the SAC. Most of the stars on the CIA HQ's Wall of Honor, which memorializes officers who died in service of the CIA, represent SAC officers too, however.

The Directorate of Analysis (DA), in contrast, doesn't get enough love, despite making up nearly half of the CIA for decades. Whereas the DO mainly collects the intelligence through various means, the DA has the people who take the raw intel and try to turn it into something digestible for policy makers (whether that means just translating the intel into basic English or proposing whole, wide-sweeping policy strategies has varied across the agency's history depending on its professionalism and the degree of government oversight at the time). They get so overshadowed despite being a key part of the intelligence cycle, it's almost not funny hahaha (I kid you not, the official CIA website not only has a "kids" section with an online coloring book that depicts the various directorates as heroes, but it even went so far as to depict the DO with a rather dashing hat and cape,,,,while they gave the representation of the DA glasses and a briefcase, I weep hahaha). However, if you've ever heard a stereotype of the CIA actually being made up of a bunch of incredibly Ivy League, smart but cliquey, uncomfortably cold (both in manner and strategy) eggheads, that would be because of the DA. That's a very disparaging stereotype,,,,but it got its start from somewhere. It's still the CIA after all, and there have been times in the institution's history where the only thing to distract the DA from its intra-agency pissing contest with the more domineering DO was to shield the CIA from any sort of external government or other agency encroachment on the CIA's "purview."

Probably the next most established division would be the Directorate of Science & Technology (DST). Whereas the DO is predominantly HUMINT and the DA works closest with policy makers, the DST is the one expanding the CIA's technological capacity to deal with CBRN threats (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear), and collect SIGINT (signals intelligence over radio waves and the like), IMINT (image intelligence as from satellites), and GEOINT (geological intelligence monitoring seismographs to, for example, detect if a nation is doing underground nuclear tests). Intel collection is only as good as the tools used and naturally intelligence agencies all around the world are constantly trying to leapfrog each other in capabilities, circumvention, and denial (preventing adversarial interest's collection efforts, that is).

Similarly, the most recent division is the Directorate of Digital Innovation (DDI), which is similar to the DST, but the DDI is focused almost entirely on cyberwarfare/espionage. They also seem to be doing a lot with OSINT ("open-source" intelligence, AKA any information you can access without a security clearance). OSINT used to be a bit of a joke in the intelligence community ("so, it's just what you read in the paper this morning??? That puts it one step above LAVINT: intelligence collected by overhearing conversations in the lavatory"), but with the explosion of information made available by the modern internet landscape and social media, you can go far with OSINT. (If you too salivate over the potential OSINT, maybe checkout Bellingcat if you haven't already)

Lastly but not least, there's the Directorate of Support, who are all the people who keep The Company running smoothly, managing logistics, comms, security at CIA sites, and overseeing officer training.

So yeah, I've alluded to the DA's and DO's rivalry, so maybe I should talk about inter- and intra-agency competition and the hot water those things have got the CIA in over the years. Maintaining an effective intelligence community is a tricky thing, particularly in a nation trying its best to be democratic and at least nominally respect human rights. You want officers to be able to collect intelligence, but you can't let them have so much free rein they rough up the nation's own citizens with impunity (as that's a bad look and can lead to civilian push back that could not only hurt the regime but handicap intelligence gathering in the future) and you definitely don't want an intelligence agency getting so much power it feels like it can start dictating a nation's policy instead of just advising on it. (Plus, the absolute nightmare scenario of an agency that's gone completely off the rails and no longer bothers much with consulting on politics at all, but just operates completely independently). Thus, to prevent the intelligence community from getting too big for its own good, a little competition, a little checks-and-balances from within the intelligence community can be beneficial. The drive by one intel group to outperform another (and consequently get more recognition/funding/etc.) can lead to a mutual improvement of the products that end up on a policy maker's desk. Having said that, I hope I explained it in such a way where you might see the issue with the CIA being the U.S.' singular, domineering force in the federal intelligence community for decades. The DA and DO had their marked cultural divide, but the CIA had very little competition from other agencies and, for example, had their ultimate weapon: the President's Daily (intel) Brief. The CIA, due to its vast capabilities, for years had the privilege of providing the president with (what the CIA deemed to be) the most important intel topics of the day. Accordingly, particularly during the Cold War before government oversight of the CIA really kicked up, this allowed the CIA to sway the government towards some at best politically questionable and more critically ethically deplorable policy choices.

Yeah, having gotten this far, I don't think I've made it clear that, for as much as I am fascinated by and spent,,,,a lot of resources studying subjects such as intelligence and terrorism, I am fully cognizant and never quite cease to be outraged by the injustice that permeates those fields. The CIA for sure, with its vast resources and the outsized role the United States played in meddling in international affairs during the Cold War and on, is a chief and, now, well-documented offender. I'm sure CIA intelligence collection and guidance has prevented many attacks we'll never know about, but you can't talk about the CIA without discussing the actions that directly resulted in thousands dead. Let's go over some of their greatest hits, shall we? (And that takes me so long I have to put it in a whole other post).

[swearyshera]

Alice,

I've loved being able to read Sweary She-Ra through the years. I happened upon it only a few months after finishing She-Ra (I was late to the party due to not having Netflix, oops), and it gave me so much wonderful content to keep my excitement for the series alive.

The way you explored the characters, especially Catra's mental health and her relationship with Shadow Weaver, helped give me a new understanding and greater appreciation of them. I bring up Catra specifically because, I'll be honest, I wasn't a big Catra fan for awhile. I liked her well enough, then kinda didn't in season 4, but grew fond of her again around season 5. But you helped me understand her thought-process, and I came to like her more because of it. I really like that you also handled her in a nuanced way, where, as you've said many times, you explained her behavior without excusing it, and that made all the difference.

One of the things I really appreciated about your take on She-Ra was how apparent your intelligence was, as well as your writing skill. It wasn't just "Catra says fuck and Glimmer has killed dozens," even though it could have been--you went the extra mile (or kilometer, since you're British :P) and gave us a variety of jokes, as well as mood shifts from comedic to tragic to dramatic to hopeful. All of the characters felt like themselves, even though they were pushed up to 11 and had some creative liberties taken, such as Frosta being a demon and Hordak's Geordie accent. You had a good handle on all of them, which can be very hard to do with a large cast, especially one written by another writer.

I also really appreciated that you took the time to answer asks and build a community here. It gave us lovely jokes such as Bob (that's right, I haven't forgotten about him), Catra's age, and Entrapta reading our comments. I've always been very shy online, but seeing you having such nice interactions with fans helped me open up, and I'm glad I did! I used to ask anonymously from time to time (yes, my first ask was about DT, all the way back during your start on season one, what else would it be? XD), and I'm glad I've gotten to chat and joke with you, as have the rest of us.

I'm so glad that you stuck with this and created such a wonderful fan-series. We never got a movie, but this was just as good, in my opinion. It was like watching SPOP for the first time all over again. I'm excited to see what you create next, be it SPOP-related or not. I hope the future has great things in store for you.

You brought us laughs, tears, and spectacular Glimmer-swears, and your blog means so much to so many people. You mean so much to so many people. I hope you find success in your future endeavors!

FOR THE HONOR OF GAYSKULL!

What can I say, it's truly been an honour (of Gayskull) to write something that I had no idea brought so much to many people. I'm genuinely quite humbled by the reaction.

I always wanted to be fair to all the characters, to show their reasons without necessarily validating the invalid stuff that they've done, and that particularly came across with Catra. It's no secret that I see a lot of parallels between her and my own history, but I've applied the same take-no-shit but be kind approach that I took with myself over the years. And I've learned a lot about mental health during that time, so I could give that sometimes painful realism, but also know just how to make fun of it in the right way.

In some ways, I feel like the characters I've written have taken on their own personality that's very distinct from the original, and that's probably why I think there's a little more mileage in them yet. Both in terms of original stuff (my pilot script Snowflakes has almost 1:1 versions of DT and Perfuma!), but also in the possibility for creating more Sweary stuff, and that is slowly taking shape - although I am taking it easy for a bit, I've already outlined a story which I'd love to make into an audio drama. Currently workshopping it with a couple of people, so watch this space...

It has been a joy to get so many asks from people, yourself included, and my inbox will always be open. I'm not going anywhere for a while! You were very much my DT-asker-in-chief, and I'm super glad you enjoyed their scenes (heck, you even got them a cameo at the end!). So thank you immensely for the support.

I'm happy I've been able to contribute to a wonderful fandom in such a way, and I'm eager to keep on giving back to a community that has given me so many amazing friends.

FOR THE HONOR OF GAYSKULL!

[writing-frenzy]

Kurosaki Fam Isekai - The Shiba question

So I had an alcoholic slushy, was thinking of ideas and such, when I go slammed by this idea for the Isekai: Kurosaki Family addition.

Like, just the thought of Isshin, Ichigo, and Karin, all who look like dead ringers for his dad's side of the family(Yuzu is all her mother, with maybe her nose or her eye shape from her father's side), but then also for this big name Noble family? Like, Ichigo could be a dead ringer for the clan head? Karin could be Kukaku's long lost daughter/sister? And Isshin... yeah, it's like someone decided to just print and stamp everything Shiba on this man that they could, from his Personity to his *gestures at his everything* yeah, it must be obvious that Isshin is either from a completely lost branch of the family, or someone had a bastard they didn't admit to...

But now I'm thinking of what the Shiba family could be in this world, because a part of me wants Kaien alive for shits and giggles >:3 but that also means I got to get a better idea of just how this world works and where everyone is.

Fun~

So first things first, how can we have a relation between the two :D

Simple answer: Isekai Harem Protagonist~ The guy got around and had quiet a few kids poping out before he got back home to have an actual family (still probably had two wives).

(Darker answer: So, an Isekai Protag may have been summoned/tripped through a hole in realities/random bullshit, found a way home, but had to make a deal for it; his bloodline is strong and powerful with unlimited potential, and at the time, the protag picked the lesser of the wicked nobles, a Family still proud and very high up, but heavily diminished but with plenty of daughters at the time. He went with the one family that he knew would keep their word, would honor his own wish to be back with his own family, so thus he made sure each child he had managed to be born safely, offered whatever protection he could to them (maybe used a bit of magic to make sure they could protect themselves, until they had the strength to do it themselves) before he finally was able to return, changed and a little broken, but his family ecstatic and there for him every step of the way through his healing process. He can't, won't be able to get into a relationship, still broken, still remembering the children he had left behind, but accidents happen, and when he finds his one night stand is pregnant, wanting to keep the child because this is her one shot at a family, he honors her, marries her, supports her and the child, even as he can't actually be there for them. It is from this child that Isshin is descended from.)

So yeah :D pick your poison, its all leading the same in a way.

So anyways, I'm gonna say the Shiba Clan, one of the Four Great Noble Houses of Seireitei, is probably a highly combat Magic/ Craftsmen's family. They have their own Family Magics, along with Family Secret Recipes and Books passed down generation to generation, along with devastating potential with their powers. They are also a Clan that puts Family before anything else really, and it shows in their long and infamous History. (The Shiba Clan has gone to War, to fight, to slaughter more times can be counted, when one of their children, their wives, their loved ones have been threatened; and they never regret it.)

What this means, is that the City the Kurosaki Family goes to is not of the Kingdom of Seireitei, because in no way would the Shiba Clan leave them alone if they were. No, I'm gonna say it's a pretty Famous Neutral Land, where say, a bunch of people in exile can escape too, pay for protection in knowledge and skills and be left well enough alone as long as they are willing to assist in the Kingdom's darkest moments. (Does not look at a certain Shop Keeper and some of his Regulars who never buy anything but still seem to trade at times) Like was said before, the Kurosaki Fam stayed in this City because no matter what the rest of the world was going through, it never actually fell.

So what this means is that most people don't clock the Kurosaki fam as Shiba relations; for one, most of the people they interact with never had a reason to have ever met a Shiba, what with them being High Seireitei Nobility and all. Even when the group was traveling around, they mostly avoided canon places in the story that would have problems, Isshin and Ichigo being protective. When they had to, they tried not to stay long, just enough for the girls too rest from all the traveling and to resupply and maybe find another caravan group to travel with.

(But now I'm hit with the thought of maybe some Academy Students, some Shiba's mixed in, or some Officers from the military see some of the Kurosaki members, double taking, spit taking, just jaw dropped before they try to track them down for a whole day, only to be left with rumors and whispers. It happens in a few of the cities that the Kurosaki fam traveled through, but no one is able to catch these sword wielding(?) Shiba's.

It's all very funny, at least for those watching from the side lines)

Like, I'm even imagining when Ichigo had entered the Shoten all that time ago, Urahara's brain was racing so damn fast, wondering if they had a message from Kukaku, were here to snoop on the Gotei's behalf, to even if it was Kaien just badly disguised. Kurosaki Ichigo was a surprise, to say the least (oh, and just how that boy kept surprising him).

And like, I'm just imagining a meeting, like, maybe the kids first, because all the misunderstandings, like,

"WHO HAD KIDS AND JUST LEFT THEM TO ROT!!!??" Like, people are wondering at first if maybe Ichigo and the girls were maybe stolen, to honey trapped children, to bastards and all. Like, serious full on debates and shit, escpally when they hear about a 'father'.

Then Unsarcastic B+ Parent Isshin comes in like a wrecking ball, two wedding rings hanging from a necklace and behaving like any true Shiba; including the Papa Bear protecting his cubs and all, his smile more a bearing of teeth ready to rip though anyone trying to threaten them.

("Which ever old fart it is, I'm gonna kill them." "What if they're already dead?" "Obviously revive them, yell at them, then kill them for good this time.")

Just- it's so beautiful :3 I imagine the Kurosaki Fam won't be moving anytime soon, their home is the city, but if their is one thing that would tempt them, it's that the Shiba Family would be the perfect teachers for sweet little Yuzu, sweet little spring child who's getting a bit too much into poisons thanks to a certain Shop Keeper. (Psst, go read Stunted Empathy Verse on Chershiresense's tumble, so good, so creepy.) also, when it in fact turnws out they are in fact related to the Shiba in a bit distantly, Isshin staring as he questions his family tree and everything he knew about them heavily, while the Kurosaki Siblings too stare, each reacting in their own unique ways.

On the Shiba's part, they are stunned they missed an entire branch of their family somewhere, now wondering if there is any other family under the woodworks (the other noble families are now as well wondering as well, because they have a feeling that the Shiba's in search will in fact find other family bastards; it seems their luck.)

Welp, this is that, feel free to ask me any questions about any aus and such)

[jaggedwolf]

2. Share your thoughts about Beau

Beau thoughts! Always Beau thoughts hour over here. Can you believe there are still Beau thoughts I haven't yelled at you yet? What a gal.

Don't think Beau cares much for fiction. She's canonically not much of a reader before the campaign, and once she gets into it she cares way more about the world's secrets and connections than a story. An adept, instinctive liar, it's warped truths that are her jam. She would've cared even less than we did about that long-ass cat story Caleb told Jester, except maybe as a lens through which to psychoanalyze Caleb, and I doubt she's one to go see a theatre show of her own accord. She'll dramatically read out lines from Jester's smut books though, she finds that funny. Her accidental ownership of Courting of the Crick (Jester bought it for Caleb, who didn't want it and gave it to Beau) is 50% because it was banned in the Empire, 30% lol Kryn smut, and 20% burgeoning history nerd

Beau is deeply embarrassed by how much the single incident of the monk kidnapping got to her. While I'm sure part of its lasting impact is the final parental rejection it signifies, exacerbated by the later letter she gets about TJ, I think a lot of it is the sheer helplessness of it. She had that young person's confidence in her own immortality and ability to get out of any scraps on her own merit, and gets hit by the one-two punch of needing her dad to bail her out of jail and then experienced parent-endorsed monk kidnapping which she could not escape due to a combination of emotional shock and plain physical inability. This seems quite pathetic to her, and is one of the reasons for sharded backstory strategy she employs. A Beau who left her parents of her own accord, heck, a Beau who got plain kicked out of home, would be a significantly different Beau at the start of the campaign.

Related: It was really really good for both Beau and the Nein as a whole that Beau was one of the rescuers in the Iron Shepards arc and not one of the rescued. You know how Fjord took it badly, having to be rescued at such a risk? I think Beau at that stage of the campaign would have taken it worse, in a more volatile way. Subtract the confidence boost of defeating Lorenzo's crew, add in a sense of debt of not carrying her own weight, oof, messy AU there.

IMO, the only worlds in which Beau's mom leaves Beau's dad are worlds in which Thoreau is societally condemned, which means I don't think of Clara as sooo much better than Thoreau. Only a little. I do think Beau is willing to give her way more grace because Thoreau did do worse shit, Beau has more of a complex about Thoreau, and Beau also just tends to give women more grace. (I don't think I'm making up that last bit lmao) So yeah, I can see a post-campaign Beau rebuilding her relationship with her mom or whatever, but I will be eternally judgy-eyed about the woman who sent her monk-kidnapped daughter a letter saying the Lionetts had been "granted their greatest wish and had a son". It is not a Thoreau move to tell Clara to send that letter.

Scrolling through the wiki about post-campaign canon, and while I abstractly respect all this "the Mighty Nein see each other regularly!" and "Beau has a good work-life balance" stuff...my favorite take on a post-campaign Beau will always be one who dives in full speed with Caleb into taking down the Cerberus Assembly, each of them barely pulling the other back from burnout, literal or metaphorical. An obsession that leaves them neglecting the others and themselves, yes.

I still think it would so funny for Beau to have a one-night stand with Astrid after the campaign (only once Trent's trial is complete ofc, what a professional) and then go oh shit...bro code.. Visits Caleb and go yo I slept with Astrid sorry if that wasn't cool and Caleb's immediate reaction is "are you sorry because she's my ex or because she's part of the Cerberus Assembly??" And then he goes, actually no, we will never speak of this again, because he's scared Beau will go into detail. (Beau wouldn't, Beau would only go into detail about hypothetical sex acts in front of Caleb, because it would scandalize him without revealing anything about herself, the perfect Beau troll bit.)

[a-rum-of-ones-own]

You’re one of my favorite authors in the fandom and I love how many different ships and characters you’ve created for us. Thank you!

Most of your stories are heavily character focused and I’d love to know your approach and tips for writing this way. How you develop characters so beautifully?

Thank you SO much! I'm always so glad when people like my character writing. It's why I really enjoy writing fanfic - with fanfic, the characters are what's drawing people in, so you just get to indulge in all these meandering explorations that could never fly in original work.

Honestly, the best tip for writing characters I ever got was to keep in mind that they're characters, not people. To read as 'real', they have to interact with their constructed worlds in ways that aren't necessarily like how actual, real people do it.

Almost everything I write (including the little bits of original work I dabble in) is centred around one or two overarching themes. Like, Cosmology is very much about forgiveness and isolation and The Ghosts of Familial HistoryTM, Books of the Netherworld is about facing all your great, unknown potentials (for love, for violence) and seeing that they won't cause the world (or yourself) to go full-on Egyptian 'trial of the dead' on you and devour you for your sins. Méduse is about pride and its limits, adulthood, and the sacrifices you make for those you recognise as 'yours', Tromp as Writ is about womanhood and power and all that.

I think that in the end, for your characters to seem coherent and believable in the world you're creating, they have to fit in with these themes and motifs in ways real people obviously seldom do. That's why the Draco in Cosmology notices so many details about the Manor, Andromeda's cottage, or other houses - houses are metaphorical for histories and families in that work, and he's obviously interacting with family history throughout the entire story. Fleur in Méduse had to have a friendship with an older adult (I actually considered making her buddies with Minerva for a bit before I settled on Mad-Eye) for that theme of 'who's in adult, who's a child, and who is an adult/child in relation to whom' to work. And obviously, all these things are maybe not 100% fully realistic to real people - few people are that into houses, or have as thematically appropriate jobs as the Hermione in Books of the Netherworld - but I always feel like that's what makes the characters seem 'of their world', which makes them feel more realistic even (and especially) if that world is fantastical. I just always try to make the character interact with a main motif in some way throughout every important scene, and if I notice that a scene is devoid of interaction with the motif, I ask myself whether and why I feel like that needs to be in the story, and how it can be rewritten.

Also, I'm a firm believer in that characters should keep some secrets from the reader. At their most minimalistic, you really only need to give them a personality, and use that personality as a means of relating to the themes of the story - the reader can flesh out from there. One of my personal favourite little people I've ever written is the Mad-Eye in Méduse, and he's really just such a rough sketch. You just get these glimpses into him: That 'you're all so fucking young'-line at the table with Fleur, him taking a curse for Tonks, his horror at his birthday, him calling Fleur/Tonks/Bill/etc 'the youngsters' , him having been the one to debrief Andromeda after she ran off and obviously having some kind of relationship to Tonks' parents.... And it all ties in with that motif of adulthood and the sacrifices adulthood demands, so of course, he has to die in the end, because he is that motif. But beyond the motif, we know almost nothing, and we kind of just don't need to - anything more would just detract from his position in the world of that particular story.

Anyway, I could ramble about this all day, because I'm a sucker for thematically stringent, but otherwise meandering writing- I hope it helps somewhat!

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🦇 Gwen & Art Are Not in Love Book Review 🦇

❓ #QOTD What classic story would you love to read a queer retelling of? ❓ 🦇 Gwendoline and Arthur have been betrothed to one another since birth. Too bad they absolutely hate each other. When forced to spend a summer in Camelot together, Gwen and Arthur discover tantalizing secrets about one another: Gwen witnesses Arthur kissing a boy, while Arthur learns that Gwen has a crush on the kingdom's lone lady knight, Lady Bridget Leclair. Stuck at a stalemate, they make a reluctant pact to cover for one another. While Gwen and Bridget finally connect, Arthur finds himself enamored by Gwen's brother. Can they navigate their messy feelings to find their own places in history?

[ Find my review below or on Goodreads | Storygraph | Literal ]

💜 Oh my goddess, the queer chaos in this is everything. Lex Croucher has spun Arthurian legends of old into a queer medieval YA rom-com that could easily alter history as we know it. Gwen is a bi baby, newly navigating her feelings for a badass lady knight, while Arthur is a gay, sassy messy shooting heart-eyes at Gwen's brother (the one-day king). The dialogue is EVERYTHING; sassy, quick-witted, and all too entertaining. There's somewhat sexy sword-fighting (come on, sword-fighting is always sexy, but when your queer crush is schooling you, it's all the better), fake dating (does it count as fake dating when you've been betrothed since childhood?), and heart-warming found family vibes. The queer panic and nervous humor were all too relatable, even though the story is set in medieval times. That's a true feat; you can connect with the queer chaos, even if you're shooting heart-eyes in the 21st century.

💜 That being said, let's talk about Gwen and her lady knight. I mean, get ready to absolutely SWOON alongside Gwen. Lady Bridget Lechlair is all fierce confidence (a necessity, when everyone has an unpopular opinion of you simply because you're a woman, regardless of your badass abilities), but she's also an enigma with a gooey interior. I loved seeing Gwen find her confidence through Bridget, discovering her voice and standing up for them both when necessary. Though Gwen is a royal, she's questioned her inner power and authority, as everyone around her has made it clear her only worth is in her marriage to Arthur as a political move. Spending time with Bridget gives Gwen the change to realize she's worth so much more. Though the story's quick wit and banter stands out, I think this character development is the story's real strength. Sometimes, you need someone who believes in your potential before you can see it yourself.

🦇 The only real hang-up for me was the pacing. The ending felt especially rushed, which was a disappointment after the queer chaos dragged a bit. I wonder if the writer paused for a moment, then returned to finish the latter half of the story. I also found the relationship between Arthur and Gabriel (Gwen's brother) a little underwhelming when it had so much potential at the start. Regardless, I appreciated all the queer hijinks and humor.

🦇 Recommended for fans of Heartstopper, Rainbow Rowell's Simon Snow trilogy, Red, White, & Royal Blue, and the TV show Merlin. Get ready for a swoon-worthy, medieval mess of pining and romance!

✨ The Vibes ✨ ⚔️ All the Queer Ships (w/ Serious Queer Panic) ⚔️ Fake Dating ⚔️ YA Debut ⚔️ Found Family ⚔️ Medieval/Historical Fiction/Rom-Com ⚔️ Enemies to Allies

🦇 Major thanks to the author @lexcanroar and publisher @stmartinspress / @wednesdaybooks for providing an ARC of this book via Netgalley. 🥰 This does not affect my opinion regarding the book. #Netgalley #GwenandArtAreNotinLove

[space-blue]

Hey, I saw you reblogging that post about normalizing sending people random asks and can only assume that you'd like some. So here some random questions (in no order) that you can answer in whatever length and degree of seriousness that you're comfortable with:

Favourite dinosaur/prehistoric animal?

Dead historical person that you'd like to resurrect for a chat or a chance to yell at them?

Most/least favourite story trope in fiction?

A country that you'd like to visit some day?

Something funny that happend to you (If you want^^)?

A nature fact that you find fascinating?

Food that you'd like to try?

Favourite artist/artistic inspiration/art style?

Last song that you listened to?

The prettiest insect/arthropod that you can find online?

I think that list is long enough, skip whatever you want if it's too invasive or weird :))

Damn, now that's an ask!! O_O Thank you! Sat down to try and think it through. I don't mind being serious :3

Favourite dinosaur/prehistoric animal?

I love a lot of them, especially now that we have such a greater understanding of what they looked like. Floofy dinos are just extra excellent. But I think I'll have to crown Spinosaurus. It's a bit of a meme dinosaur by now. Every discovery changes our perception of what it looked like, and people still debate if it was aquatic or not. (I'm team aquatic all the way) I mean look at it. It's fucking iconic.

I once started a short story set in a future in which humans had long since reengineered some dinosaurs, and a pirate crew had a raft-style boat that was powered by a Spinosaurus. They'd pierced grommets in the sail to clip ropes to her back. They also had pet Troodons on the crew. Sadly I lost steam and inspiration and never went anywhere with the story. I still adore Spinosaurus.

Dead historical person that you'd like to resurrect for a chat or a chance to yell at them?

If I could just indulge myself, Francois Renee de Chateaubriand. Absolutely crazy guy. Lived through the French revolution, Napoleon, went to the Americas, wrote early romantic works, mostly known for his autobiography memoirs from beyond the grave. He's truly a blorbo from my history. Look at this :

“A moral character is attached to autumnal scenes; the leaves falling like our years, the flowers fading like our hours, the clouds fleeting like our illusions, the light diminishing like our intelligence, the sun growing colder like our affections, the rivers becoming frozen like our lives—all bear secret relations to our destinies.”

BUT if I had a perfect translator and could quizz to my heart's content, and had actual intentions of being useful, I'd talk to a Gaulois. Probably Vercingetorix or an earlier leader from Celtic France.

We know SO little about these people. They're my ancestors, and we have almost no knowledge of their beliefs and practices. We have some (most likely wrong and slanderous) accounts from (the invading) romans. And archeological finds. But stuff like Cernunos/Karnonos (for who I wrote one of my fav short stories ever) is known from one pillar, one cauldron, and nothing else! We don't even know what he was the god of!

It's so infuriating to me. If I could quizz a Gaulois, I'd write the most detailed and comprehensive guide to their belief, their knowledge of others tribes, and their everyday life. I'd want to know about their gods, their myths, and their superstitions.

Most/least favourite story trope in fiction?

A/B/O and mpreg

A country that you'd like to visit some day?

Japan... Sad hours... I live in the UK, right. Scotland. And I had managed to get a work holiday visa to Japan! It's free to get, you just have an age limit. So I saved money (excruciatingly slowly, the UK being what it is), and finally planned it all. Got the visa (in Paris), got 400£ worth of shots (encephalitis, japanese encephalitis, rabies...), and was ready to apply for a Mongolian visa and start buying train tickets.

You see, I was going to do Scotland > London > Paris > Berlin > Warsaw > Vilnius > Tallinn > St Petersburg > Moscow > Irkutsk (on the transsiberian!!) > Ulaanbaatar > Beijing > Shanghai > Osaka

All train and bus, except for the last leg, which is a ferry.

When I was getting my second of three injections (always rabies + another and rabies turned me into a shivering plank of wood omg) the doctor was like... 'are you sure you want the last round done? There's this worrying cough developing in China at the moment...'

January 2020, RIP.

And then I aged out of the Japanese visa. And then Russia went to war and ruined its reputation forever. I spent a lot of time trying to make myself see that COVID had far worse repercussions for countless people, and I got off easily. But this was the culminations of a decade of dreaming and many years of planning and saving. It was a major bummer.

Something funny that happened to you (If you want^^)?

Weirdly enough this one stumps me. IDK why. I have weird, crazy, bad... but funny?

OH. Actually I think I told it once here. I'm sorry, it's not even funny either, just wild...

A nature fact that you find fascinating?

This entire video.

Food that you'd like to try?

A real family style chinese hot pot. The sort you eat on a tiny plastic stool in someone's backyard.

Favourite artist/artistic inspiration/art style?

That's definitely too hard. I don't have a favourite. Maybe it's because I studied art. Not a matter of taste, but a matter of exposure. I've seen a lot of styles and a lot of artists and there is no one work I can point to and say "this is it". The inspiration art folder I keep is extremely varied itself. Variety is the spice of life.

Last song that you listened to?

I'm currently listening to the IXION soundtrack as I write! It absolutely SLAPS.

The prettiest insect/arthropod that you can find online?

Definitely has to be a moth. Also I really love the colour scheme of this wasp :

I think moths are just so gorgeous. Butterflies too of course, but the moths are SO fluffy and some of them have insanely clean aesthetics.

LOOK

Milionia moth

Look at this Pompelon Marginata! Literally the Louboutin of moths.

Also they can have really fun caterpillars:

Little beasts... And I think it fucks that they make themselves a cocoon and basically liquify into some primordial goo to remake themselves. And often remake themselves as their best dressed sex party tiiiime!!

Hope that answers your questions appropriately :3

[incorrectsibunaquotes]

The Interconnected Family Tree of Anubis

I was trying to keep my family tree headcanons on straight for fic purposes, so I devised my own family tree for all the complicated pre-canon HOA connections. Almost everything on here is headcanon, so take it with a grain of salt, but if you like it, feel free to use this!

First up we have the Frobisher-Smythe & Rush families! I added some lore surrounding RFS’ family, which is as follows (TRIGGER WARNING FOR MENTIONS OF SELF UNALIVING)

Eleanor Frobisher-Smythe (1841-1881) was a Paragon, but could not handle the burden, nor could she deal with the constant badgering from spirits and gods in her head. After the birth of her second son, Robert, she suffered with postpartum depression. She killed herself via morphine overdose a year after his birth.

Julian Frobisher-Smythe (1841-1908) was Eleanor's Osirian. He built the Anubis Estate (though it wasn’t called that yet) based on a vision he had that essentially insisted that it would be a crossroads of destiny. He could not save his wife and Chosen One from herself, and blamed himself for her death up until the day he died of TB in 1908

Robert Frobisher-Smythe (1880-) was a brilliant (and mental) man who was superbly skilled in chemistry/alchemy, riddles, metalworking, carpentry, masonry, archaeology, and history in general. He, after several successful trips to Egypt, suffered the from the curse placed upon all who disturbed the tomb on Howard Carter’s expedition in 1922, along with taking the fall for his friends on the expedition who dared to disturb the Staff of Osiris. He was cursed to sleep by Ammut for their folly, and pronounced dead to avoid suspicion, with only those he trusted for the ceremony aware of the truth.

Edward Frobisher-Smythe (1878-1918) was Robert’s older brother. He was not nearly as brilliant (or mental), but he was strong and good-hearted. He, like many brave men, fought in WWI and died in the Second Battle of the Somme in 1918.

(Louisa also had ancestors who were Chosen Ones, and while that does technically mean she and Robert are related, it’s incredibly distant since Amneris’ descendants are spread all over the globe.)

Sarah Frobisher-Smythe (1915-2010) was the Paragon, and her life was incredibly tragic and tumultuous, marked by being her family’s secret keeper for secrets she didn’t really know. She went into hiding in the 70s/80s after discovering the Society’s existence and what their ultimate goals were, and assumed the identity Emily Grant. She is buried with that name.

Rebecca Rush (1881-1950) was a brilliant woman, one of the first WOC to be educated in England, which is where she met both Robert and Louisa. She and Robert fell in love, got married, and a year after the birth of their son, Charles, in 1913, they got a divorce and she moved both herself and her son to America to set up with family there.

Charles Rush (1913-2012) grew up in America with very little contact with his father before he was put to sleep, but he knew his role well. He married a woman, Eloise, and had two children, Robert “Bobby” Rush and Nora Rush. Bobby suffered from severe depression and anxiety, but he was a good man. He married Josie Rush, and they had a daughter, Kara-Tatiana “KT” Rush. Josie died of melanoma in 2005, and Bobby lost his battle with depression that same year*. Nora moved back to England, and resides in London as a bit of a recluse museum curator.

KT Rush (1995-) is the great-granddaughter of Robert Frobisher-Smythe. She came to school at her grandfather’s behest to do what Charles had become too old to do. She was a member of Sibuna.

*Note that KT is raised by her aunt on her mother’s side, Becca Talbott

————————————————————

Now we move to Louisa’s side of the family, which you might recognize as the Denby family. Yes, I’ve decided to connect Louisa with the Denby family as a way of incorporating that family more closely with the Frobisher’s. Hang on tight cuz it’s about to get complicated.

Cartwright & Elizabeth Denby gave birth to three children: Isabel, Thomas, and Louisa. They were strong willed people who were not afraid to push their children toward greatness.

Louisa Denby became Louisa Frobisher-Smythe (1883-1922) in 1913, after Robert and Rebecca divorce. Louisa is a brilliant mind, a woman who, like her husband, could make just about anything. As kind as she was, she was also greedy and complicit (often more than complicit) in her expedition party’s exploits. She gave birth to Sarah Frobisher-Smythe in 1915, and after several successful trips to Egypt, suffered the curse placed upon all who disturbed the tomb on Howard Carter’s expedition in 1922. She died in a horrific car accident the end of that same year.

Thomas Denby was a strong, no-nonsense man; he married an equally no-nonsense woman named Victoria. He was entrusted by his brother-in-law Robert to act as his Keeper, a roll he passed down to his only son Thomas Denby Jr, who then passed it down to his oldest and biological daughter, Harriet.

Harriet Denby (1977-) is a pragmatic woman, who made her living as a teacher, while also doing her best to live up to her family’s legacy as a Keeper. At least until she’s drugged and stuck in a mental facility by her adopted younger sister Caroline, who then assumes her identity and role.

Caroline Denby (1979-2012) was a deeply troubled young woman who was adopted by her neighbors, the Denby family, after her mother hanged herself. She had delusions of grandeur and didn’t care who she had to hurt, even if that meant her beloved older sister, to achieve that greatness. She was murdered and devoured by the goddess Ammut.

Isabel Denby became Isabel Zeno when she married Gustav Zeno, a French historian. She was a frivolous woman, and she had a bubbly, playful personality that was hard to dislike. She happily raised Sarah alongside her son Rufus after her sister died.

Gustav Zeno was a French historian from Paris, who married Isabel and had a son Rufus. He worked closely with Robert and Victor Rodenmaar Sr on the Elixir of Life recipe.

Rufus Zeno (1915-2011) was a bright, rambunctious, and strong young man, divinely tasked with being the Osirian to Sarah Frobisher-Smythe. He had ambitions far beyond being a mere protector, however, and the more Elixir he took, his resentment toward his cousin/adopted sister grew. He, Sarah, and Victor Jr founded the Amun Academic Boarding School in 1960, and soon after, he and Victor founded the Society, along with several others. In 1936, he had a daughter, Evelyn, who he and the woman he’d been seeing with decided to put up for adoption. Later in life, as he still appeared young, he had another child with Maggie Sweet, named Eric. He betrayed Sarah and the Society and eventually came to ruin when his hubris got him possessed by the Forgotten Ruler, Senkhara and sent to a fiery end.

Evelyn Meridian Martin (1936-) was put up for adoption almost immediately after her birth, and was taken in by a kindly American couple. She lived a happy life, unburdened by her origins, and eventually married a kindly man named William Martin, and had a son Peter Martin, who married a Spanish woman Marie. She raised her granddaughter after Peter and Marie died in a car wreck in 1999.

Nina Martin (1995-) is potentially the last Paragon to walk the earth, since she has fulfilled her purpose of restoring the Cup of Ankh. She is the former leader of Sibuna, and now lives her life back home in America.

Eric Sweet is the headmaster of Amun Academic Boarding School and a former member of the Society, as well as the Seeker. He attended school and lived at Anubis House in his teen years, but did not know that Rufus was his father until much later in life. He moved to America for a time after he met an American woman Catherine “Cathy” Miller, and had a son. When he discovered his son, Eddie, was the Osirian, he knew that if Victor or Rufus were to discover that, he would be exploited. So he divorced Cathy and returned to England.

Eddie Miller (1994-) is a rambunctious and loyal young man who also acted as the Osirian, until he sacrificed his powers to appease Ra’s wrath. After Nina stepped down, he acted as the leader of Sibuna.

[imjustabeanie]

hi there! this is for the matchup trade. i'd like to request a twisted wonderland matchup. please do not match me with the first years. my info is as follows: pronouns: she/her/they/them personality indicators: intj 5w4 ; melancholic-choleric signs: pisces sun / taurus rising / taurus moon hogwarts house: ravenclaw alignment: neutral good alignment

personality: studious, business-minded, tech-savvy, a little bit of a perfectionist, tends to overwork, stubbornly independent, calm and composed, intimidating at first glance (according to colleagues), reserved and extremely introverted, protective to loved ones, obedient and respectful to authorities but will not hesitate to call them out if necessary, blunt, idealistic, highly organised, loves to play video games or read and write books on spare time, passionate, tends to sing alone only when in the mood, drawn to mysterious, historical, gothic, and horror subjects

hobbies + likes: researching abandoned and haunted places, writing, reading, exams, stationery, business-related topics (esp finance), coffee shops, bookstores and libraries, electronic shops, technology, video games, dark royalty / dark academia aesthetic, classical literature, classical music, detective/crime/mystery/horror stories (esp. from 19th century), cats, history, listening and belting out to musicals when alone, greek mythology

dislikes: bugs, studying repetitive subjects without gaining new knowledge, failure to meet own expectations, unnecessary change

fashion choices: gothic, elegant, classic, vintage, and formal fashion styles

partner preference: someone gentle yet authoritative, smart/highly intelligent and has a lot of knowledge generally or on a certain subject

that's all, thank you!

Hi! As you know I've been having problems with tumblr for some reasons 🫠

About my matchup, here is my description link. Just....not leona or ruggie lol...

Here is your matchup! Enjoy!

I hesitated a lot between Vil and Jamil before finally settling on….Vil! Riddle was also considered lol. I didn’t choose Jamil because he’s too sly and secretive (hypocrite of me I know). He has very high standards and his character definitely isn’t for the weak. But you two would make a good match.

How you met: Okay, you two had a group project together. Since you’re both perfectionist and ambitious, you’d butt head a lot. He’d make snide remarks about your appearance and of course you’d retort. But in the end, you both make very good work together. In the start, you’d just be study buddies. But then he’d start giving you skin care and general appearance advices. Slowly you’d get to know each other’s and despite the difference in interests, you’re both eager to learn new skills. He’d keep up with you when talking about technology and business and would ask questions! Perhaps you could even propose some props for the movie club. He’s definitely knowledgeable on books and would gladly discuss them with you. This would take time as you’re an introvert and you don’t have much in common. But in the end, if you see him for who he is and treat him nicely, you can definitely tell that he’s softer on you than the rest. He’s gonna be annoyingly strict but it’s his way of showing that he cares. Your frequent appearance in his daily life (and perhaps rooks teasing) will prompt him to suddenly ask you out on a friendly movie date. Spoiler alert, he’s gonna criticize the whole movie.

In a relationship: Both of you will learn a lot from each other. You’ll learn a lot of insides about the entertainment industry. He’ll also push you to always look your best so I hope you’re not too sensitive. Because he’s as if not more blunt then you. The truth is his way of caring. He loves that you’re organized, ambitious, studious and a perfectionist. Because it means you always strive to do better just like him. He enjoys hearing you sing and will personally coach you if you want. I think that with you, he’d also learn to loosen up and enjoy a good game. Your hunger for knowledge is nice and he’d often give you books he thinks you’d enjoy. If you were to ramble about history he’d be here to listen. I can just imagine him doing a mask or make up and you passionately talking. He’ll definitely have a soft smile on his face at this moment. For your aesthetic, he’d make the effort to find fitting outfits for both of you. Vil is the to go to guy concerning fashion. He can easily switch or fuse them. I can imagine both of you trying out different combinaisons (and rook taking sneaky pictures). Vil isn’t much for horror or mystery but will make the effort for you. Everyone enjoys a good true crime, but excessive gore isn’t his thing. He’s more in refined crimes if we can say that. Good luck convincing him to get a cat, he’d fear for his looks lol. Him caring about you and loving you is shown in his effort to share your hobbies. He’d also take you on expensive dates and show you his world. It will take him time to open up with you, but you can expect a loving and long relationship if you get past the struggles. Getting with him will direct the paparazzi and his fans on you. He’ll try to hide you at first (it can spark arguments depending on your character), but it will get discovered eventually. His fans will make very good comments. The pressure can be too much with someone like him, even when he defends you and insults your bullies. If you get past this and can handle it will be a very loving relationship. The power couple lol. He’ll even take you to some of his shootings and always expect your critics and compliments on his roles. To him, you’re his muse even if it takes him time to admit it.