#I can't tell how coherent this ended up being lol but i had fun

[lathbora-virann]

I know other people will probably have made more in-depth posts about "those across the sea", but after reading this brilliant old post by @felassan about the Executors and possible Ghilan'nain/Mythal and even Andraste connections, my sleep-deprived brain is wondering:

1) Were the kossith originally ancient elves? And

2) Are the Executors kossith (or possibly working for them)?

This got longer than I intended, so under the cut!

We don't have confirmation yet if the kossith were one specific race that became the Qunari race of horned giants, or instead a cultural group of different races that largely became followers of the Qun, and I think you could make arguments for either of those that would still fit this idea.

We all know the theories about the origins of the Qunari race being a merging of elves and dragons - potentially through excessively drinking their blood, potentially a Ghilan'nain experiment, potentially something else. If some of the ancient elves changed or evolved into kossith/Qunari, that would tie in with why concept art Abelas has horns (multiple like the Qunari in DA2) and very scaly armor:

The first time both kossith and Qunari were seen in Thedas is when they landed from across the sea - at complete opposite ends of the known world. The kossith landed in the southern Korcari Wilds (the southern-most part of the current map) and (a millennium later) the Qunari landed on Par Vollen (the northern-most part of the current map) from the north.

The Qunari are said to have come from an eastern land across the Boeric Ocean which was likely the land of the kossith as well, and according to Iron Bull the stories suggest they left their homeland because they had to - but no one knows why. He also says that whoever they were, he doesn't think that the kossith looked much like modern day Qunari (which is obviously just stated as his opinion, but they added it in for a reason).

The Executors are representatives who speak "on behalf of powers across the sea", presumably from beyond the Amaranthine and Boeric Oceans. Varric wrote in Hard in Hightown that they were behind the assassination of Queen Madrigal in 5:99 - but with no clear indication where he got the idea from as it's never mentioned anywhere else. If this has any basis in truth, however, it means that they have been operating for at least hundreds of years (and Felassan's post goes into lots more fun detail).

The symbol of the Executors is an inverted triangle with two horizontal wavy lines across it. Both symbols are heavily used in Solas' murals - with the upside down triangles appearing to represent the Veil and the wavy lines lyrium, though in this context probably the sea (the direction of the lines seems to maybe changes what they represent). It makes me wonder if the kossith were a group physically distant and cut off from the rest of Elvhenan and Arlathan, and thus impacted differently by the Veil going up. Maybe they weren't devastated by it and were able to survive and form their own society.

In our real world the inverted triangle symbol has historically represented the element of water, as well as feminine energy and *the womb* which have all been associated with Ghilan'nain (as well as those wavy lines). Additionally, an inverted triangle with a single line through it is the real world symbol for the element of earth - and also feminine energy.

As noted in Felassan's post above, in Tevinter Nights it's stated that the Executor attending the meeting smelled of the ocean which should not have escaped the notice of anyone who also read Horror of Hormak in the same book as being *probably brought up for a reason*. They also take great pains to hide their appearance and their voice - or maybe they just naturally sound incredibly ambiguous and unknowable...

So if the Executors are (or are working for) the kossith, and if the kossith were indeed the result of Ghilan'nain's experimentation on ancient elves, does that mean that they are her creations that she spared because (we assume) Solas stopped her?

"On the second day she drowned the giants of the sea, except those in deep waters, for they were too well-wrought, and Pride stopped her hand."

If those creations were indeed sentient beings, it makes sense that Mr believes in the "inherent right of all free-willed people to exist" would stop her from exterminating them so that they could live free. And if many of those people later went on to join a religion and culture that pigeonholes people in a very rigid, unforgiving, unquestioning way, it would add an extra layer as to why he's so opposed to that religion in present day.

If this is in fact the connection, does that mean that the Executors work for Ghilan'nain? Or do they hate and oppose her for what she did to them?

They clearly know things that Solas doesn't want shared, and he thinks that they're dangerous enough to petrify one before they can do so. But was this because they're on Ghilan'nain's side, or because they thought he was going to release her again and they absolutely wanted to stop him from doing that? The Executors apparently don't care about Solas' true nature, only about his goals and means of accomplishing them.

Finally, if the Inquisitor sides with Cullen and chooses to ignore the symbols being left all over their outposts by agents of the Executors, three of those outposts are found abandoned with the following message:

"Thedas's present troubles are great, but you have the strength to meet and conquer them. More will come. We prepare for the day and hold vigil. Do not look for your men; do not mourn them. They have given themselves of their own free will to a higher cause."

The last line of that quote opens up a lot of new questions. It certainly sounds very evanuris-y, but it could arguably also sound very Qunari. Given everything we know of Ghilan'nain and the evanuris though, I'm leaning more to that side and a potential perversion or manipulation of that free will. Or maybe they're all Cekorax creatures and all of this is moot.

There's no way the Executors don't show up in Veilguard, especially after the line if you side with Leliana: "for the moment, we are not your enemy". However they do I assume we'll have to fight them in some capacity, so I just hope to god they're given some complexity and nuance.

This is all just throwing spaghetti at the wall and I have no clear conclusion, but I want to know what other people think! I am but a caterpillar on a leaf that does not know there is a forest about her.

[kheta]

Soul-Swapped...Again?

I don't know how to make this coherent so just take this premise and all the chaotic associated sentences lol *Might be a bit confusing. But due to the time period, I'm refering to them as Cale and Rok Soo. No like Og!.... Cale is Cale, even if he was Rok Soo and Rok Soo is Rok Soo, even if he was Cale. Make sense?

Premise: Rok Soo and Cale swap souls with one another (temporarily) for whatever reason buuut. This happens after they have both already reconciled with living their lives as different people. And because neither one know how the other is leading their former lives, they just. Decide to revert to their original personas. Until things can be sorted out.

-They are both found out almost instantly.

-Raon is the only one who KNOWS who is in his humans body and even though he doesn't love it, he decides to help this human hide and find out a way to his original body.

-KRS, on account of also being a dad, takes to not babying or spoiling either On or Hong, because that's how he treats his niece. Unfortunately this unwillingness to spoil them (monetarily) and his compulsive need to make sure they are in reach of him clue the siblings on to him straight away.

-On and Hong decide its best to trust their little brothers judgement and don't tell anyone his secret. They also kinda like his head pats and the way he like to stroke and groom them for soooo long and that he'll actually play outside with them. (But they still miss their Cale, even if this new human is kinda fun)

-By the end of the week everyone from Bud to Hans and the Blue Wolf Tribe kids know that someone else is in Cale's body. Unfortunately they don't know who and they are unwilling to cross Raon to find out. Raon and his siblings meanwhile are viciously protective of the KRS, because he's nice and funny and is in Cale's body, they can't dislike him.

-Ron is instantly on guard and sends out so many bad vibes and thinly veiled threats. Choi Han needs to physically walk away, because he knows he'll do something bad if left with this stranger. Alberu actually does stop in to threaten this stranger. Lock is standoffish but non-confrontational and Rosalyn is purposely nice to uncover the strangers secrets. Vicross makes sure not to appear, because the kids will know his intent instantly. He also wants to hurt this imposter.

-KRS meanwhile is pretty nonchalant about the threats. He is a bit bewildered that they picked him so quickly though. It's kinda. Maybe. A little offensive? Like okay, the heroes and the Prince, fine. They never knew KRS when he was Cale. But Ron, Vicross and his dad? Knowing KRS isn't Cale after a week, meanwhile KRS has only been KRS for two years. What the fuck kinda logic is that? Oh well, not like KRS minds anyways. He needs to study with Raon Miru and Rosalyn. Things to do first. Not like he has times for stupid, pointless things anyways

-It takes Cale a little longer to be spotted. At first his team think maybe he's having a bad week. Even his niece thinks that, because he's not as thoughtlessly affectionate as usual.

-But a week turns to two and some of his team are mad because? Seriously? Near death attempts and two years of bonding and suddenly he regresses? Kim Min Ah and Jung So Hoon are a bit more sceptical. Because this coldness is just weird. The barriers that exist feel both alien and familiar.

-By Week two they've come to a weird, crazy conclusion that KRS has multiple personalities. Because anything else is just too weird and crazy. When they confront the 'Protector' with this knowledge, Cale figures it's easier to tell the truth. He likes to keep his cards close, so he just says he's close to KRS but he's not him and for whatever reason he woke up stuck in his body. He doesn't want to hurt the bonds KRS had created, he was just acting like the KRS he knew.

-Which brings me to: The vague way KRS and Cale talk makes their respective Found Family's have completely different ideas about the others identity.

-Everyone in LCF come to the conclusion that KRS is a child Cale picks up in the future, because he talks about being so close to Cale at one point in his life. And that he's just acting like how he thought Cale would act, based on stories. And he's just. Weirdly knowledgable about the Molans and the Henituse family and even the heroes, even if his knowledge is a bit skewed. And kinda paints them as scarier than they are? (The only other possibility based on his comfort level with Cale and the people who surround him is a future lover and they all point blank refuse to accept that) But it's nice to see Cale('s body) eating well and exercising and having a good sleep routine. If they weren't still immediately suspicious, they might think this kid would be a good, healthy influence on Cale. Privately, they wonder if the grounded, active way this man acted would help to make Cale more solid, more present and less likely to jump into danger. -On Earth, their whole Team thinks that Cale is some sort of jilted childhood friend who lost contact with KRS as he became apart of the Survival Forces. They are actually advocating for Cale to refriend KRS because KRS desperately needs a friend (or more~~❣️) outside of their team. And there's no way this smart, but truly lazy man could be anything but a good friend for KRS. He could convince their team lead to slow down and relax and actually indulge in things! Maybe then their Team Lead would be less of a freakin' pain.

-Niece!Jour (I can't find a name for her and I'm not gonna make one up) likes her Not-Uncle! He's super smart and he gets her presents just cause and only buys them the yummiest food. And he never tries to cook, which is good because Actual-Uncle is maybe. sorta. Not great at cooking? Like he can cook two dishes really well and he bakes one really nice biscuit but everything else is just kinda. Okay. So it's nice to have really, really yummy food in the house. And to have someone who likes sitting with her while she reads or watches tv, instead of trying to plan elaborate days out. Because she does like those day! But sometimes she just wants to watch her movies without pauses or finish a really good chapter without going to park.

-Raon likes to play 'tag' with his Not!Human and to receive actual smiles, not the scammer smile. He also loves being able to fly around with his Not!Human watching his cool new tricks and patting his head all the time and the Not!Human bakes really, really good jam and butter cookies and he's even teaching him and his older siblings how to make them. It's really cool.

-Rosalyn hates how smart this punk is, he knows things he shouldn't and he's obviously got some plan to get back to his proper body, if the journeys to different temples mean anything, but she can't tell what. He's evasive and infuriating because he doesn't lie. He just. Speaks weirdly around all topics. The only time he's sincere and talkative is around the kids. And he's never allowed near the kids alone after they figure him out, so it's not like he's just honest to only the kids. It's just. They're the only ones who can get a straight answer out of him and none of the kids want to interrogate him.

-I want some angsty scene where their true identities are revealed but also can't see the point? Because the only reason an identity reveal would happen would be to cause more drama/angst. And trying to get back to their own world after a truth reveal feels a bit?Futile and cruel? Like 'Oh you KNEW me, but idrc, I have a life I prefer that you are not welcome to and it's also in another world, bye ✨✨✨'

-A more satisfying ending would be them accepting that they are definitely not who they were and no matter how much they might enjoy some aspects of their old life (Cale the convenience and KRS the bonds he has/had) they ultimately have no role to play in each other's lives anymore. Maybe they write a letter to each other before the swap back? Where they both tell each other to cherish their family and either be more involved/take a step back from all the action so they can actually treasure their found family?

-I think it'd also be beautiful for maybe some people to reach a bit of a conclusion (looking @ u Molans/Henituses) on the identity of KRS, but ultimately doing nothing (like always 🙄) because the person they love and bonded with is not KRS. Not anymore. And they have not and will never force any version of Cale to stay somewhere he is unhappy. Because even if they didn't always love him in a way he could relate to, they had always and will always love him. But also, this end doesn't feel like it fits with the ending letter ting.

-Also while I'm adding random thoughts. Both found families are wrong. Cale and Rok Soo would be the worst influence for each other. They're both different flavours of neurotic control freak meets push over enablers. Like both are used to manipulating people for their own gain, they just go about it differently. And if they ever decide to fully trust each other? Chaos. Un. Mitigated. Chaos. I feel like they'd have the similar plans that they tell people about, all except for the last step since they both just randomly decide they are the acceptable casualty. And Cale will leisurely, with feigned reluctance, walk his way up to the sacrificial alter. And Rok Soo will be there already, determined and unrepentant. Cue spiderman meme.

[miz-chase]

hello i would like very much to hear about your b&b&b idea👀👀👀 (also i love that lol. b&b&b. you're so right)

Booth x Brennan x Hannah Burley:

OK SO FIRST OFF, Hannah met Booth when he was in deep grief for what he thought he and Brennan had. No matter how smooth he thinks he is, Hannah is smart and he's an open book after a few drinks. She KNEW what she was walking into, even if she didn't know it was specifically Brennan at the start. It would not take much work to figure Brennan was the "not-ex" in question.

SO its possible from the beginning that Hannah is trying to get in good with Brennan and sew a little chaotic good fun into all their lives. Now, Brennan and Booth both do not take a hint well and were oblivious/actively opposed to anything of the sort. Brennan was keeping her connection to Booth very surface level, Booth was actively trying to put a wall between them. Not exactly a lot of flexibility going on there.

BUT when Brennan confesses her feelings to Booth and he immediately tells Hannah, that's the sweet spot where I think some magic could happen. The follow up question Hannah would have would be "So, do you still have feelings for her?" Booth would try to lie, to hedge, to dodge the question, and Hannah the reporter knows when a source is lying. Hannah's not hurt, she's intrigued.

I think we gotta give Hannah full credit as a human being with her own ideas and goals, she's more than just a plot point. She's getting bored of DC, it's more pantsuits and boardrooms than explosions and revolutions. She is really fond of Seeley, and who could help but be intrigued, attracted, fascinated by Temperance. That's the kind of profile piece that gets people Pulitzers. But the more she gets to know Temperance, the more she likes her as an actual person, someone she wants to spend time with, someone she wants... to get to know a little better.

So rather than being upset by Booth's half-admission of lingering feelings, Hannah sees opportunity. The clock is ticking on how much more DC she can stand, why not bring something new to the table while time is left? I wouldn't be surprised at all if Temperance had drunkenly and/or bluntly already asked Hannah if she had intercourse with other women, and confessed the interest herself. There'd be no resistance to the idea of hooking up there.

The problem is Booth

Of course Booth had thought about the concept of threesomes when it was just him and his right hand in his bunk. It's hot, obviously. But he's a one-girl-at-a-time type guy. He's not one for random hookups, either. You can't make love to a stranger, right? So what's the point otherwise? So his rationale goes.

Hannah is the one who first suggests the idea. He laughs her off, thinking its a joke. She just raises her eyebrows at him. He goes bright red and then very pale. The way Hannah so casually talks through some practicalities, things they could do, makes him go completely blank. It's almost an out of body experience. He mutters some nothing to get out of the conversation and spends the next day hiding in his office from both Hannah and Brennan. Unfortunate side effect: when he next sees Brennan, he can't get a single coherent sentence out of his mouth. She assumes he's still upset at her and isnt going to let it go. She doesn't know he's clinging to his St Christopher medal for dear life and trying so hard not do something embarrassing.

I don't know exactly how they get there, but it all works out. Their first time is Brennan and Hannah having fun while he watches, until Hannah invites him to come join in. She gets the pleasure of playing sexy matchmaker and joining in that intensity. Booth takes it all too serious but between Hannah and Brennan, it ends in laughter.

When Hannah decides its finally time to leave DC, she at least knows she's leave the pair of them in a good place. Over the years, every time Hannah's back in town (eventually "Aunt Hannah!"), they are delighted to host her, catch up, relive old times, etc.

[stars-n-spice]

THOUGHTS ON S3 EP 05:

as always, spoilers under the cut and my thoughts are in no way coherent or in the order of how things happen in the episode

it's just me going to be screaming about whatever comes to mind as i type this

holy shit y'all new comfort episode just dropped!

kid you not, after seeing the episode i deadass went, "Wow, I'm so glad that episode didn't absolutely devastate me!" while I was like,, sobbing

whole episode i was either crying, screaming, or punching a pillow

can't even cry anymore, don't got no tears left

ANYWAYS

I AM AN ABSOLUTE FUCKING CLOWN FOR THINKING WE WERE GOING TO GET A PROPER REACTION/CONTINUATION FROM THE LAST EPISODE

OF FUCKING COURSE THEY WERE GOING TO SKIP OVER IT AND JUST,, FUCKING DIVE RIGHT IN. FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!

what is it with this show and having what would be emotional reactions to heavy things off screen???

fanfic writers you know what to do

anyways,,

Omega being back with Lula :( and her new outfit is so cute I love it so much :((

THEM BEING BACK ON PABU!!!! <3333 and still sleeping in their ship lol

AZI!!!!! HE'S OKAY!!! HE'S ALIVE AND HE'S THERE AND I LOVE HIM AND I MISSED HIM :((

Crosshair practicing :( and his aim just,,, getting worse :(((

CROSSHAIR AND BATCHER ARE SUCH A DUO!! I FUCKING LOVED EVERY MOMENT WITH THE TWO OF THEM,, THE LITTLE PETS AND SMILES CROSS GAVE BATCH UGGHH

will never ever ever ever get over cross and omega's dynamic,, I love them so much and I'm so glad he's back

I don't know how many times i went, "They're all back together!!" in this episode only to remember Tech isn't there and then sob violently

BUT ECHO FINALLY RETURNS - i'm kinda bitter about how he reacted to seeing Omega again because it seemed like,, like he was completely unfazed by the fact she was captured and sent to a hidden facility conducting god know what experiments BUT at the same time,, I could see it being that Echo always knew she was more than capable of escaping on her own so he wasn't too worried but STILL

"What no hug for me?" <- AAGUUHH,, and then the little smirk Crosshair gave after Echo's response,, they have no bad blood, love that

when Crosshair started talking about the facility I fucking KNEW he was talking about Barton IV and i was in so much pain,, agony even

Was NOT expecting them to return but I'm so glad they did because it played such a vital role in Crosshair's growth and returning to it and growing even more,, just,, aguughhh

WHEN HE FOUND MAYDAY'S HELMET,, FUCK FUCK FUCK minutes before that scene i was like "i swear to god if he finds something from Mayday-"

MAYDAY COME BACK YOU DIDN'T DESERVE THAT,, YOU DID SO MUCH :((

Hunter and Cross' dynamic in this was so fun to watch but also had me gnawing on my hands

could NOT get over the fact that they brought the dog with them on the mission, idk why but that's fucking hilarious to me

OMEGA CALLING CROSSHAIR "LITTLE BROTHER" AND CROSS CHUCKLING AT IT SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!!!!!!! I LOVE THEM!!!!!!!!

WHEN WRECKER GAVE CROSSHAIR BACK HIS ARMOR I FUCKING KNEW HE WAS THE ONE WHO KEPT IT AGUUGHHH

god I love Wrecker so much

"Omega trusts him and that's enough for me" FUCK

he wasn't super prominent in this episode but everything he did made me love him more

WHEN HE WAS DIGGING IN THE SNOW?? fucking lost it

THE HUG AT THE END???? FUCKING FINALLY???? THE WAY HE IMMEDIATELY KNEW AND HE JUST,,, FUCK,, RAN UP TO THEM????

like you can tell the whole episode Wrecker was just waiting for the two of them to work things out

i missed all of them so much

it was so good to see them all work together

GOD FUCKING AUGUUHH

THE FIGHT CROSS AND HUNTER HAD??? CROSSHAIR READING HUNTER LIKE A FUCKING BOOK??

when he started to blame Hunter for his failures?? oh fuck as an oldest child that hurt SO much and I was so scared Crosshair was going to pull a "You're the reason why Tech is dead" card

But your honor they are brothers, I love them so much

"i said talk to him, not argue with him!" - "he started it" <- crosshair you cannot beat the youngest brother allegations

hey Crosshair probably didn't tell his brothers about his shaky hands,, ahahahahahaha,aha,,ahh,,,ha..

lmao love that being in a life or death situation and saving each other from it was what made Hunter and Cross start to trust each other

this episode was so great you don't understand

and i'm so happy nothing like,, terrible happened in it

yes I cried a fuckton throughout it but,, at least Omega is still with them and at least Echo is back (for now) and at least they're slowly starting to make up and be a team again

anyways,, nice episode,, can't wait for things to just get worse from here

[thegeminisage]

star trek update time. last night we did ds9's "hard time" and "shattered mirror," which, WOW

hard time:

so i knew going in this was going to be an obrien suffering episode but i did NOT expect it to escalate to an ONSCREEN SUICIDE ATTEMPT. JESUS CHRIST

first of all, even real prison would have been less evil than fake prison. argrathans are VILE

kira was so niceys to him when he woke up :( even though you could tell she was super uncomfortable

i read that this episode was originally supposed to be about that lower decks bajoran girl...i'm kind of glad it didn't happen to her, tbh, but also, what did happen to her was still so fucking horrible

episodes that make a great case for why julian bashir can and should join the obriens marriage. he can still see garak on the side!!

i mean was this not julian and miles: the episode?

it was just SO good. everyone trying really hard to help and no one being able to help because obrien is LYING ABOUT IT AND GOD. THEY WASTED THIS GUY ON TNG! FIVE YEARS ON TNG AND THEY GAVE HIM ONE GOOD EPISODE! ONE!!!!!!! HE STOOD AROUND AT THE TRANSPORTER DOING JACK SHIT AND FOR WHAT

i actually thought for a second at the end when they were starving in prison he was gonna eat that guys. tarsus iv blinders. actually what happened was kind of worse

suicide scene. what can i even say except bashir is the most gentle man and good person. and god obrien fucking CARRIED it. five years on tng and i didn't know he could do that except for one fucking scene which was also about the cardassian war

bashir assuring keiko obrien always bounces back and then he almost KILLS HIMSELF.

AND THE THING IS YOU GET IT! he was really scary when he killed his cellmate! he was scary when he hurt quark and almost hit molly! you can see why he would be frightened of himself! it's that moment of absolute rage and then it's over and that guy is dead on the ground and you can't undo it. even though he wasn't REAL and then julian talks him down ANYWAY god i'm actually not even making any coherent sense bc it was just That good. god. GOD.

shattered mirror:

mixed feelings about this one, but mostly positive

i really Don't like how easy it is for characters to hop back and forth between our verse and the mirrorverse. ds9's mirrorverse already takes SO much mystery out of the original, which i could except, but having jake's not-mom and sisko's not-wife pop over for a visit for nooo reason is like. too much really. it should be harder. seeing her should be a bigger deal

about five second after the words "this should be a bigger deal" left my mouth it started being a bigger deal and i immediately took it back lol bc im weak but ultimately thats the kind of writing i'd wanna see for mirror jennifer

i think her using her knowledge of their grief against them WAS fun and evil actually even if it was also evil to me. and jake was already lonely because nog was gone too GOD. hey, also, speaking of nog, why was quark all "oh jake comes down here and pines for nog like every day" like are they boyfriends?? young love? whats going on ds9

speaking of gay people, um. worf and garak. the. the bondage collar. the way we both at the exact same moment had the exact same thought, which was: slave bikini leia. whatever they had going on in this episode was so homoerotic there was even penetration (with a knife).

one thing mirrorverse will do is kill people. odo, quark, rom, and now nog and jennifer. i called both their deaths before it happened but jennifer dying was still SOOOOO. god. at least this time they got to say goodbye?

SO thrilled to see mirror kira again, ik nana visitor was against the evil lesbian stereotype but what if i did wanna see her just lez out now and again? it's pride month i have rights

theme of the evening: mood whiplash. we went from obriens suicide attempt to fun edgy horny mirrorverse worf and garak bondage to sisko and jake's shared grief over jenifer to mirror kira doing ✌👅 at the camera every chance she got. my head was spinning by the end of the night. good for them though

TONIGHT: ds9's "the muse" and voy's "the thaw"

[pocketramblr]

machia and yoichi, you say 👀 could you tell us more about this ship, please? i smell a lot of fun here - they both were close to afo, had some emotional attachment to him, experienced extreme violation of their body autonomy because of it, however they had very... well. rough start. but any romantic relationships between them would be based on something more than constant manipulations, lying and lust, i bet

My thoughts are more half-shaped vibes than coherent sentences but I'll do my best. I see two main sets of options for this ship

1- where they do indeed have a very rough start lol. Machia is one of the few trusted with the Vault's location and purpose and brings food when AfO is too busy elsewhere, and sometimes they talk- neither of them think very highly of the other, but I think actual conversation could break out after Yoichi asks where his brother is when it's been longer than usual since he visited, and Machia picks at the concern in his voice, to Yoichi's protests. Yoichi would also ask his name and not get it, but two days later realize Machia never refers to him by name either. "I'm Yoichi, by the way." And Machia never heard his name out of AfO's lips before (never heard AfO's name either, though, surely he doesn't need it, to serve his lord...) but something's gotta shift then, even if it isn't much. Perhaps it is something different, to hold down someone for force feeding when you know their name. (Something different when he shot an angry look at you first, for telling AfO about the hunger strike, even though you aren't the one who got him locked down here and he was skinny enough before-). Also I don't think Yoichi is actively trying to seduce his guard to escape (which is also something fun but anyway less so here) BUT he does have this urge in him. This "I can fix him" urge, or maybe this "I can save him" urge is a better way to put it. Also, Machia had to have seen a lot of quirk exchanges, thefts, and rewards in his time guarding AfO. He's also not that dumb. I don't think it'd be too much of a stretch for him to begin to pick up on the different reaction to someone without a power getting one, someone with a power getting another one that merges, and someone with a power getting another one that overwhelms them. So after Yoichi has a power forced onto him, I think Machia might be one of the ones who realizes what happened first- even if he's in denial, thinks it could be an unusual reaction because Yoichi's body was weaker than expected, surely AfO would know if he has a quirk and they merged together- but after reporting the reaction to AfO, who suddenly can't take it back out of Yoichi, well... clearly AfO isn't perfect. I don't know if it would go fully romantic before Yoichi's rescue from the vault but I think it could be heading that direction. And, Machia would feel guilty enough for Yoichi being taken from the vault even though he was guarding AfO at the time as ordered, more so if Yoichi dies soon after. Guilty and grieving enough to submit to AfO giving him more powers, even as it hurts while they're still merging, he'll survive it, get stronger, never notice how much of his mind AfO clawed back under his control, how little he thinks of Yoichi years later.

2- the second option is that they actually had a rough end. This is one where Machia was Yoichi's friend first, and AfO suffered a bad case of "can't let him have his own toys". Perhaps Yoichi started out as a villain, or closer to it, and recruited Machia in. Perhaps they were friends when younger. Either way, AfO slowly gets in between them, charismatic and manipulative. Maybe seems a more capable villain than Yoichi, who gives Machia powers while Yoichi keeps losing the forest for the trees, trying to ensure each lower member of the group is in the right spot, helped in return, something Machia had appreciated when it benefited him early on, found good, but now finds irritating, as AfO clearly does. Or perhaps Yoichi was always too sweet, and AfO poked and prodded about how he needed more protection, about how only he had the power to do more, speaking of things Yoichi couldn't understand but they, the metas, could. And then it's easy to join, and easy to be betrayed when Yoichi tries to leave. After all, if he'd turn on his own beloved family, who was there before you were, of course he'd turn on you too eventually, and maybe you were more of a project to him than a partner- memories easily rewritten, when pretty green eyes are glaring at your fiercely as if you're the traitor, when you never left, carrying him down to the vault (gently, as ordered, even though you know Yoichi could handle more than his brother's protective instincts want to admit.) And then he doesn't even say anything to you again, never- not in the vault, not after, not when he's dead.

[maleficore]

Saw someone else do it and I think I've done this before too, but the list has grown since then a bit so here's my current lineup of read dead wips that I'm working on!! :D Minus the stuff that's already posted on AO3 cuz I see no point in doing a synopsis for things that have left my google drive and you can go and read ahah.

Turned out loooooong so lookie under the cut if you're interested in knowing what I'm up to.

Morston Soulmate AU (title tba, multichapter, around 20-30k when finished) - An AU where you can feel all the injuries your soulmate gets, both minor and major ones. There's no soul marks, seeing your soulmate get hurt and connecting the dots is the only way to find out. Has a lot of time skips and focuses more on feelings than events, but starts out pre-canon when John almost gets lynched and works its way towards the end of the canon story. Chapters alternate between Arthur's and John's POV. Canon compliant :)

RDR2 "Modern AU" (title tba, multichapter, long as shit) - I only call it a modern AU for the sake of simplicity... I'm not sure if it counts as one. Set in 1999 and focuses on the case of Arthur Matthews -- a 36 year old adoptive son of the infamous criminal defence lawyer Hosea Matthews, who went missing without a trace for six months and then reappeared miles from his hometown, seemingly unharmed, but also... not quite right. Delusional, confused, suffering from some sort of memory impairment. The story is about Arthur struggling to adapt to being back home in a reality that is apparently foreign to him. Outsider's/John's POV, but not really shippy. It can be read as pre-slash, though.

My Self-Indulgent Jesse/Arthur fic (another title tba lol, it's too early to tell but I'm thinking multichapter? A collection of scenes from 1878 to 1899) - This one is for me and me only, though I will eventually post it 😂 Written in second person, like a reader-insert and can be read as one if someone wants to, but I am including Jesse's backstory and feelings that are way too specific to be immersive for anyone but myself... I'm working real hard to write it in a way that portrays growing up queer in that time somewhat realistically, so it's not always pretty, but I do try to keep it not that depressing. Features: Jesse's early-life backstory, the story of the scar, his first Gay Experience, how his brothers died, the ups and downs of his relationship with Arthur, why they eventually broke up for what felt like last time, how he got arrested (altered RDO storyline bit) and how he got back up with the gang. I'm planning to do a rough rewrite/fix-it of the canon story with him in it too, but that's... an "one day" thing ajsddjfk

Morston Omegaverse (title tba, one shot, around 10-15k probably? I can't keep things short, sorry) - Young-ish and freshly presented Alpha John, "Closeted" Omega Arthur. Ngl this one is smutty as hell... but! I think my take on omegaverse is rather fun (very transgendered) and it's porn WITH not without plot so something for everyone there lol. John's POV again + lotsa feelings, misunderstandings and some angst :) Just the way I like it.

Vandermatthews Daemon AU (had a title but ao3 yeeted my draft and I forgot what it was, oops)- I say Vandermatthews, but it's more of a "curious couple, unruly son" genfic than real slashfic 😅 This is supposed to be the beginning a series of oneshots from different characters' POV. This one is maybe a 1/3 done (needs a serious rewrite tho) and written from Hosea's POV. It's about him and Dutch finding and taking in young Arthur -- a very traumatised child who has undergone intercision and therefore lost his daemon. More of a collection of vignettes from that moment to when they take in John than a real coherent fic tho. The next one is going to be John's POV coming of age thing and we'll see where my brain will go from there. I want to do a separate big ass post about this one later because I have Opinions on the gang members' daemons that I need either challenged or validated...

1907!John/Isaac fic (title tba... a two parter, one set in the epilogue and the second is a RDR1 fix-it) - NOW HEAR ME OUT!!!!!! PUT DOWN THE GODDAMN PITCHFORKS FOR A SECOND PLS This is a plot bunny that Refused To Fucking Die. Isaac is obviously an adult in this (22), they have never met before, and the story begins in the months where Abigail and Jack were gone and John worked alone on Pronghorn ranch. It's not so much a romance (despite the slash) but more two people dealing with different types of grief in Very Unhealthy ways, okay. It's supposed to be a bit iffy because of that and the... 12 years of difference between them in this universe. I'm not trying to make this shit uwu or anything. It's also a bit of a daddy issues vent piece for me and I've been working it for MONTHS because I want to write this one right. This is the the fic I redacted in my last WIP showcase, but now decided that... fuck it. Here you go.

(Doubt anyone has made it this far, but if you did ily.. please lemme know what you think? My ask box is open for questions too... I love talking about the stuff I'm working on even if it's not posted yet ❤)

[heinzpilsner]

It's basically me analysing things with Yon Rha again, but withot being too offensively unempathic and biased, lol

Hey, I'm trying, you can give me that at least!

(Perhaps if I didn't ignore all my notifications, I'd get it faster, but hey, I quite enjoy my little intellectual puzzle here so far. Don't wanna spoil it for myself with interactivity, lol)

Okay, thinking of Katara's encounter with Yon Rha not through the prizm of my zutara brainrot now (not gonna pretend it is not affecting my judgment, it most definitely still is, lol), maybe I'm not giving enough credit to the cognitive/informational component of this event.

(Your honour, there are so many components in here, and whose components have components on their components! You can't expect me to juggle all of them at the same time and not ending up like Zuko during his date with Jin, lol)

Previously I said it was a fruitless trip, but I didn't really take into account the specifics of the case - the ones connected to learning Yon Rha's side of the story and seeing him as a person, - as well as more subtle psychological consequences of the encounter. But as I said early, I'm not a psychologist (also, not the most emphatically gifted person around, as you already can tell I guess, yikes), and my understanding of intricacies of such inner workings is quite limited.

Also, there is a thing to consider - I don't know much about the writer, and how psychologically competent she was. Of course, I could go full "author is dead" approach here and try and read really hard into this case as if it was a real life event (I wouldn't be surprised if someone much more competent than I already did it though), but... I'm trying working through "what author really implied by this" logic when analysing tSR because I respect the writer's ability to build a coherent psychological narrative within her work - given how ambitious she was with the complexion of chosen topics, you'd expect no less from her. Just throwing a bunch of random events on your audience end expect them to built their customised narrative out of it may be a fun postmodern game, but... Just but, I guess.

What I'm saying here is that there's two things about the encounter that can be easily noticed even by most casual watchers but not by me apparently geez.

First of them is that Katara learns there was a reason behind her mother's death - namely, Katara's waterbending. Oh boy. What can I say? I guess the girl could live without the guilt and painful associations connected to her bending produced by the knowledge. Another point to my "maybe facing Yon Rha wasn't such a great idea after all" argument, I guess.

Still, it was important for Katara to learn about her mother's last moments and sacrifice. It was pretty insensitive of me to overlook this fact in my previous analysis (... and I can only imagine how many people I potentially pissed off by this, oops. In my defence though - the whole "revenge" context was pretty distracting). I guess you can't call the trip completely fruitless then - althouht the fruits, may I say, were bittersweet at best and sour at worst.

(Thinking about it now, it's kinda curious that the only truly valuable thing Zuko got from his "closure" with Ozai well, except for the valuable opportunity to practice his lightening redirection was information about his mum as well, even though it wasn't his initial intention. Was it a deliberate parallel, I wonder?

... Wait a minute, why it wasn't Zuko's intention though? It would make much more sense, if you ask me. Oh well, I guess writers had too many things to juggle on their hands as well.)

Another thing is that at the start of the episode Yon Rha was a "monster" for Katara, and then he became just an empty sad man to her. I take it as a deliberate point the writer made. But what exactly does it mean within the narrative? Just a fact of life? A thing for Katara (and audience) to reflect on with no real consequences within the plot?

Or was Yon Rha's personality somehow connected to why Katara forgave Zuko, after all? But how, exactly?

I can only think of juxtaposition. "Look at this guy, Zuko is not so empty and cares about his mum, hence he's worth of forgiveness" kind of logic. But... I mean, Zuko has many problems obviously but emptiness was never one of them, lol. It still counted, perhaps - amongst other small weights on the scales (the weight of it depends entirely on Katara's previous assessment of Zuko's personality though, and I have reasons to believe it wasn't so unflattering at this point).

Does this whole 'cognitive' perspective rearrange my understanding of the reasons behind Katara's forgiveness of Zuko? Yep.

Looking at the trip as meaningful for Katara now (Zuko helped her to learn about her mother's sacriface), it makes much more sense to me. Many of my previous arguments still stand, but the weight shifted more towards platonic reasons (I mean, on one hand, this reason is linked to their connection in Ba Sing Se and reinforces it, but on the other, it's a rational reason for forgiveness, as opposed to irrational ones).

Which feels more appropriate by being less shippy, even though it was fun to compose bizzare conspiracy theories about secretly coded zutara puzzle left by the writer for us to decipher, lol (Your honour, the writer was zutara, it wouldn't be that unlikely!)

It's all about interpretations though. As I said, there are so many components in here you can easily transform the context by shifting the weights as you like.

(Ugh, my posts manage to become obsolete so fast. But hey, it's my live thinking process you're looking at, what do you expect, lol?

I'm not trying to create perfect things for people to repost or something. It's just me playing with my mind to relax. It's nice.)

[apocalypticdemon]

for the wip title ask game:

'the droning engine'

oh boy, this is my super self-indulgent fic, lmao. I've been super into IndyCar my whole life, as is the rest of my family, so it's my IndyCar AU for the Terror (with a focus on fitzier as the narrative drive behind it).

It's kind of unwieldy and a bigger project than I thought it would be, so it's still very much in the works/in the planning stages while i draft prose as it comes to me, but I've been poking at it in my free time. The basic premise is Crozier is an older driver, signed to team Terror, a smaller team, but one that generally is in good standing. He's got a really odd rivalry with Fitzjames, and this comes to a head at the start of the work, when the Terror management signs James on as a driver. Basically, the plot is going to stretch over the entirety of an IndyCar season, and I'm going to try to hit major plot beats from the show in this story as the characters all vie for the championship for the season. Some stuff gets changed around, just to make things work, but that's the general premise.

I have it planned for the final driver lineup for team Terror to be Crozier, Fitzjames, Silna, and I think Little, but that's still in flux. Hickey was on the team, but gets let go after publicly starting a fight with Silna and suffering the consequences, lol. He continues to scheme in the background as the season continues to unfold, because a different team snaps him up pretty quickly. Is it conventional for how drivers are passed around and contracts are signed? no, probably not, but I do what I want, lol.

I have plans for general plot beats, how I want to draw narrative similarities for things like the no good, very bad wardroom dinner from the first episode, carnivale, and character deaths in the show without...... actually killing anybody, because I can't really have that.

I want the vibes for the fitzier part of the story to be the kind of "they would absolutely fuck several times before actually talking about their feelings" kind of dynamic, so I think that's the route I'm going to take and have their relationship really blossom towards the end of the season, but i'm also still planning out the specifics of that one. I really like the added tension of a secret relationship, given that they're on the same team and that motorsports doesn't necessarily have the most.... open-minded audience (it's very fun being an unpatriotic queer person at these events. i am....... very much in the minority there), so I want to play with that a bit, too. I thought I had a neat and tidy plan, but it rather started crumbling in my hands when i sat down to actually try to write it, so I think I'm going to be wrangling this one for a bit.

but i'm very excited to actually get to it someday! i know this write-up is very rambly and a bit unhinged, but i truly have so many thoughts about it that it's hard to organize into a coherent, short summary, lol. I have a lot of personal history tied up in this, too, so it's hard not to just go on cool tangents about the sport. this project has taken a back seat as my master's work ramps up, since it's just.... so much bigger than i thought it would be. but i really want to work on it over this winter break, creative juices willing.

and as thanks for reading........... all of this rambling, lol, here's a snippet from my draft of the "birdshit island"-cum-team-dinner scene:

Francis is at the end of his patience with the man, at this point in the day, and snaps. “Why don’t you tell us all about that crash in Monterey, James? That one was rather spectacular, if I remember right.” Fitzjames sours immediately, frowning and gritting his teeth. Francis has exactly a half a second of deep satisfaction at the expression before Blanky viciously kicks him in the shins under the table. Francis winces and glares at him, leaning down to rub at the spot. It had hurt, damn it. That prosthetic leg wasn’t soft by any stretch of the imagination.

[yujeong]

Update: I finished the 1st part of the book (apparently I missed the fact that the book is divided by parts lol, I'm doing great I swear) called "1. Earth and the Overlords" Btw, besides what I'm doing here, I can't emphasize enough how fun this book is to read. If you find the subject matter interesting and haven't read it, do so, it's very cool. Anyway, back to the topic at hand, I've read up to page 67, which is where the first part ends, and I had a delight trying to connect the dots, a totally normal behavior as we've established. So, the rest of the story goes like this:

We first get to see more of Stormgren's time in captivity, and there's this line that made me laugh out loud in the tube: "Joe was an altogether more complex individual, though sometimes he reminded Stormgren of an overgrown baby." Joe, for context, is the man who kidnapped Stormgren, so I believe you can tell why I was laughing like a crazy person in public. Oh I would almost forget to mention: the reason Joe is an "overgrown baby" is because "emotion and extreme conservatism clouded all his judgements" = "resentment for the main family clouded all of Vegas' judgements." Now, the interesting thing here is how the rest of the story about Stormgren's kidnapping is kind of a canon-divergence plot of how the safehouse arc could go. And I say kind of because as you can imagine, I have a big ass imagination for connecting the two in the first place. So, after a while, the heads of the organization that opposes the Overlord occupation comes to visit because they want answers which Stormgren can presumably provide. Even though before, this Joe guy seemed sketchy and perhaps dangerous, suddenly in front of those guys he's reserved and careful in his movements. All I'm saying is that this is a canon-divergent story of Vegas holding Pete hostage, acting all tough in front of him, but then Gun comes and interrogates Pete and Vegas is suddenly a sad little kitten in the corner. I can imagine Vegas reading the book at that point and imagining this happening. I'm sure he must have thought at least once that "I have the guy my father asked me to kill right there. If he finds out, I'll get the beating of a lifetime" and even though in the book, it's done on their orders and all parties know about it, I can still connect it somehow. Stormgren eventually escapes via the help of Karellen, who knew he had been kidnapped but did nothing for weeks while giving excuses, and this deadass reminded me of the main family forgetting about Pete. I won't waste much more of your time, I only have two more instances: - Stormgren is still suspicious after he escapes, and wants to know what Karellen looks like, because eventually Karellen will reveal his appearance to mankind in 50 years, but Stormgren will have died by then. For that, he goes to a scientist friend, who makes a magical light thingie in order for Stormgren to use it and reveal Karellen's appearance -> this reminded me of Pete going to Arm for the device Pete used on Vegas' computer to take his files - Eventually, Stormgren reaches 90 by the end of the first part, and he lives close to a lake with a forest surrounding him. If this isn't Vegas' subconscious showing him images of Pete surviving and growing old at the safehouse (he was reading the book after beating him bloody with a belt and tasering him), then idk what it is. (It's 100% not that but idc, I can be delulu all I want okay?) Sorry for not being as coherent this time, I think my brain malfunctioned after trying to find the similarities between the two stories. I loved how more subtle they were this time, and how I needed to dig a little deeper to find them. See you in the next one :3

VegasPete and Childhood's End: a deranged attempt at connecting two completely unrelated things

Hello there, fellow VP enthusiasts. This post here is my remaining 2 braincells trying to come up with ways the silly, little book known as Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke and the silly, little couple known as VegasPete are connected, and how the show chose this book for Vegas to be reading in episode 11 for reasons beyond its title. I swear it's true, I asked Pond, he told me about it, trust me. I said in the tags of this post that I have started reading the book because I have a fic idea I wanted to write (which will happen next year now, after I finish the book), and after I shared my observations on the kindergarten mafia server, I thought to myself why not make a Tumblr post too? So, here I am. I would like to clarify that I will be spoiling major parts of the book, obviously, so anyone who doesn't want to get spoiled, don't read this post and the ones after it. Also, this is the version of the book I bought like 5 days ago from a well-known bookshop at the center of Athens, which sells English books too, bless them. Just so you know what my source is. (Unfortunately, getting the version Vegas was reading might be difficult - if not impossible - in Greece to find, because I believe it's one of the first editions? I'm not sure. Nevertheless, I have the book in my hands, which is what counts.) If I make any mistakes in regards to the information I'll provide about the book, the story and the characters, I apologize in advance. It'll probably be me not being careful enough while reading it and missing sth. So, without any further delay, here we go:

The basic premise of the book is a concept that's become cliche in the recent years: aliens called the Overlords have taken over the Earth, bringing prosperity to it but leaving humans with having no actual freedom in their choices. So, reading up to page 34, we learn that there's a specific Overlord called Karellen who's responsible for ruling the Earth, and we also get introduced to Stormgren who's the intermediary between Karellen and the human race, with the title of "Secretary". At first, I had made the connection of Vegas being Stormgren and Karellen (or the Overlords in general) being Gun, because Stormgren trusts Karellen with ruling the human race, just as Vegas idolizes his father who can totally bring prosperity to the family and make it better by force (an important element since the Overlords just came and declared themselves the rulers of the planet and took over). Also, there's an element of secrecy with Karellen, because it's been 5 years since he arrived on Earth but no one, not even Stormgren, knows what he looks like. This causes Stormgren to be a bit suspicious of Karellen, which he rarely shows and tries to push the feeling down when it resurfaces. In the same way, I thought this could connect to Gun who's hiding stuff from Vegas - Porsche anyone? - which Vegas will start having thoughts about post ep 11. All of that is fine and good, BUT I wouldn't be a Pete girlie if I didn't try to include my boy in this. I think all of the above I mentioned is more about Pete than Vegas. And, judging by how obsessed Vegas became with Pete post ep 10 - after their masks fell off and he saw who Pete truly was - I am confident in my belief that Vegas reading Childhood's End would think of Pete, not himself (sth he already does at this point but you get what I'm saying). SO, Stormgren is actually Pete, who follows Karellen's words almost blindly, and almost is an important word here because in the book, he does argue back about things and is vocal about his opinions, even if Karellen smartly turns them down. Karellen is generally very softly spoken, polite and very human like in the way he talks, so in my opinion he resembles Korn way more than Gun. There's also a character who calls Stormgren out on his blind faith in Karellen, and if this isn't Vegas telling Pete that "there's no such thing as honesty", I don't know what it is. Now, for the fun part: Stormgren gets kidnapped by a group of humans who want the Overlords to leave and not only is the dude semi-casual about it on the surface while keeping his panic under wraps, in the end his captors, after explaining how they got him and what their plan is, throw a pack of cards at him and ask him to play poker with him, which causes Stormgren to laugh like he hasn't laughed in years. I'm just imagining Vegas reading this and shaking his head, putting on his clown shoes, thinking: these guys are so stupid, encouraging their captive be this nonchalant around them, I would never.

[deepspacedukat]

Story time? About my dreams? It’s more likely than you think.

Anyways remember that Macet, Daro, and Telle dream I had?! My brain did a remix while I was awake (yay for daydreams) that added Boheeka. Which is fine but!!! I ended up married to Akellan 💜💜💜 but apparently he was friends with Madred and liked to be cuckholded sooooo there was an ‘interrogation’ that used him and a bunch of his glinns(?). But that was after the free use party at Macet’s which had some of my friends and the guests were: Daro, Telle, Boheeka, Tekheny Gamor, Dukat (obviously 🤣🤣 because I was rereading your whole lizard list), and Madred. Anyways one of my friends ended up going home with Tekheny (I can’t spell I’m sorry) after. And also banged Ari! So yay! And another ended up with Madred. I got to ‘interrogate’ her first as a way to see if I wanted to join. But anyways we apparently got so good at it there was a real one with an actual suspected traitor! Don’t worry, Akellan got in on all of the ‘interrogations’ he just had to wait his turn for a very long time.

And then as I was falling asleep I had a pon farr dream with Taurik? There was a center unmated or Vulcans who’s partners couldn’t help for health or travel reasons went to and I got paired up with him.

Apparently my brain somehow meshed these together while I was dead asleep into me being somewhere deep in Cardassian space with a gul who had absolutely broken me. I blame stayneurotic’s keevan and the spy part 4 (which popped on my feed, I’ve only read part 4) because I read that during lunch. I WOKE UP about this one! Legit woke up, went back to sleep and continued it. Idk how because that never happens but it was AMAZING. 11/10 would recommend insert Chef’s Kiss emoji here times 36.

I’m not gonna like I read the mirror fic with Dukat 3 times yesterday and Bird of Prey twice. Why do I feel like Dukat insinuates Damar would be down to participate again in activities involving the reader??? I think it was my horny brain😭😭😭😭

Btw that McCoy as the only human scenario??? Definitely in love with it.

-Horta-in-Charge

OH? MY? GOD?? *fanning self* I–

I'm fucking dead or feral or something about that dream/daydream! Omfg I...I have many emotions...and most of them are dirty.

*ahem* I guess I should try to be coherent, holy shit. Uh, okay. So. The Cardassian part of all that: I'm absolutely drooling oml. I can't even express how lovely all of that sounds. Taurik and the pon farr combo: Amazing! *chef kiss* I love this for you, and I approve of the combo. He's a v pretty Vulcan!

Since you mentioned it: I'm absolutely out of my goddamned mind over @stay-neurotic ‘s “Keevan and the Spy” series. It’s so fucking good, and I cannot praise it enough! 10000/10 *chef’s kiss* If you need, horta, I can link you to the series on AO3. It’s so fucking good and I’ve read through it more times than I should probably admit. Actually, I’m just gonna link it anyway, because I have no self-control and I love it. HERE! I love how that influenced your dream, though! Omg that sounds like it must’ve been such a fun time.

I’m glad that you enjoyed both “Eyes Wide Open” and “Bird of Prey”! And you’re not imagining things. I wanted that to be the impression that was given, even if it’s kind of like a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it kind of undertone. I was giving myself a sort of lead-in for a sequel in case I ever decided to write one. That way I wouldn’t have to find some way to add in heavy exposition and transitional stuff if I did decide to write a sequel. Let’s hear it for lazy sequel writing lol.

[zoobus]

Is there a piece of media that you absolutely detest? And I do mean detest, like, a movie or book or man(hu/hw/g)a (etc) that when you remember it's existence makes you go fricking ballistic (or the nearest negative emotion).

I've written this essay for at least different platforms but somehow not tumblr. Yes. One of the most popular otome isekais out there no less. And for once I'm going to put this under a cut. I know people browse the otoisekai tag for fun and aren't looking the beating I want to give this manwha. Also because this is a copy-paste-edit of something I wrote months ago on reddit and it's too long. Stale material gets the snip.

I hate The Villainess Lives Twice/Again. I hate it so much. tl;dr don't quadruple amputee your morally black heroine and have her draw a pentagram on a dirty floor with the bloody remains of her tongue in chapter 1 if you're not gonna follow through. I really felt like I was bamboozled into reading what was ultimately a generic contract marriage, saved by the hot duke romance, and I hate it. If you like this comic, don't click this.

I know TVLT is popular. I know it's well-loved and often trotted out as an ur-example of the genre. Why? I'm not really sure.

I hate it because on every single level, for any possible reason I enjoy otoisekai, it fails. All the charms of the genres it attempts end in failure. I hate it for lying about what kind of otome story it intended to be.

The concept? Great. Wonderful. I have a mighty need for writers to fill the gap on villainess characters that are actually villainous. I love otome isekai and stories where they let a girl-boss stay winning? They're the best. Let👏female👏protags👏be👏toxic👏👏👏

And here? Chapter one STARTS with our MC getting taken down for some crime she didn't commit and you know what? She can't even be mad, because what she's accused of pales in comparison to what she's actually done. Chapter one ENDS with our now limbless MC squirming across a filthy floor, dragging the remains of her sliced out tongue to form a pentagram so she can sacrifice herself and turn back time, knowing full well this alone could never atone for the crimes she committed for her own selfish gain.

The execution? oh my god, I hate this comic for hyping me up like that. Every single chapter after had me desperately searching for the potential I saw in the first. A peak into what could have been. But there's nothing. Why is there nothing.

1. Agency

Chapter 1 is essentially MC getting tortured for a wrongful accusation, with her noting the irony of this. She explicitly refuses to apologize or justify her actions. She knows there's no point in doing so. We're presented with a woman who knows there's no excuse for the innocent lives she's destroyed - no sad childhood or miserable backstory can make up for the evil she's puppeteered. She had choices and she chose evil.

Lol jk actually she has a tragic backstory that is vewy sad :,( and we're not saying you should feel sorry for this poor little war criminal lady, but she just wanted her mamma's love!

I can't tell you how much I despise the "cool motive, still murder" meme but it really applies here.

Chapter 2 is a slap in 1's face. After seeing her go to such lengths to own her actions, we get a frustrating and, frankly, confusing recollection of her terrible childhood (they suggest she's being starved, but that doesn't really make sense with other info given; MC doesn't have a lot of clothes but wouldn't that make her ambitious family look...bad? because nobles are always looking for weaknesses and you're intentionally sending a representative of your family name outside looking like a scrub? The emperor passed a law that only married people can have affairs - why?? What does this bizarre piece of law do besides marginalize our MC??? You think you're too good for normal concubines? These aren't spoilers, they're just weird details that add nothing or make things less coherent). Chapter 2 is a long way of saying "I know there's no excuse for what I did, BUT"

2. Dumbass's Machiavelli

Did you assume the mastermind-orchestrator MC would be equally brilliant and manipulative once she returns to the past? lol. It's a 1-2 combo of "plot conveniently happens to MC in a way she could not have planned but we'll pretend she did" and "MC does objectively dumb shit."

An example of the former -

MC walks downstairs, gets randomly slapped for no other reason than she needs a reason to lecture the slapper "you need to get your father's attention in a different way than throwing tantrums at his mistress's house." Said slapper is in her 30/40s with two kids, so uh. If she's still throwing tantrums, I don't see this being a convincing argument.

An example of her doing objectively dumb shit - hey, if you know you're going to the poorest area in the whole empire, why would you roll up in a noble carriage and put your black cloak disguise on after you step out and the beggars have already seen your noble-exclusive golden hair?

I can't even edit this screenshot smaller, you have to see this fucking framing in its entirety:

This fucking screenshot. This FUCKING PAGE. It throws me into fits, it turns me into an incoherent animal because there's SO MUCH bad, it throws off my numbered list format 1 2 3 4 THIS PAGE the depiction of POVERTY before a noblewoman gets PRINCESS CARRIED out of a carriage, complete with the pink glitter background because this is meant to be a ROMANTIC scene for an INTELLIGENT character by a KIND male lead AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO SEES THIS???

3. Fuck the male lead

That's him in that last pic. ML is stated to be the people's Duke, a duke who cares, a duke who is disgusted by the treatment of commoners at the hands of the aristocratic elite. Commoners should receive just as much valor for the efforts as us nobles!

"Riches aren't important," he says that verbatim. We, the reader, should root for his ascension to the throne because he's not like the other noble boys ;^)

He displays his unrelenting commitment to justice and commoners by:

Verbally attacking and embarrassing MC's bully at a party, despite the implausibility of sherlocking enough facts to recognize the bully is in the wrong (side note, I was #teambully - she points out MC has worn the same dress to six parties in a year, not even aware that MC is wearing her filthy clothes from the day before, when she was out in the sunshine cooking up a BO-storm. I know enough about historical garments to know that those layers heat up and that she did not wash them before the party). I got off-topic, I'm just saying I would not be comfortable with a guy who jumps to conclusions like this being my political representative - we know she's a bully. He could not.

Terrifying a visibly nervous butler for giving info the ML literally just demanded, which is treated as proof the MC has an abusive life, as there's no other reason a butler would say "Oh MC's at the ball" to the scary 6'5 war hero duke glaring down at him. Again, a noble second to the king jumping to conclusions without considering how his intimidating presence might affect how less powerful people perceive him is not actually a good look. I know you have a brain cell in there somewhere, use it.

Openly hostile to beggars living in what we are explicitly told is the most poverty-stricken part of town for having the audacity to ask rich people stepping out of a noble carriage for money.

😍 Dripping wet over being princess carried in front of the wretched poor before my boyfie whips his sword out in case one tries to touch me😍

4. "Banter"

Yeah so if you've ever seen the actual video where this gif comes from, the context is that the smirking guy is "roasting" the other dude with these bizarre quips that either aren't clever or make no sense, but his friends are going nuts anyway.

MC cannot banter. She shares personal info unbecoming of an alleged mastermind. Her jokes suck, like booooo get off the stage boooooo. I'm not even going back to screenshot them, they're too tryhard/corny.

5. Just say you hate fashion

The fashion is hideous, anachronistic, and at points, clearly traced from something else. I don't expect all otoisekai to care about fashion - it's a perk when they do, but I can ignore it when it's not - but all the clothes are noticeably from different centuries, at times it's super obvious the artist traced a stock photo, and the stylistic inconsistency is weirdly notable. I have never cared about this kind of thing before, but I guess you could say TVLT has a special place in my heart. NONE of these clothes are from the same period which would be fine except they're UGLY. How dare you.

tl;dr2 The Villainess Lives Twice is the worst OI I've ever read because they baited me with an MC who's literally willing to crawl in the dirt, to spill blood to get what she wants, a boss-bitch more than prepared to play 12th dimension human-chess.

And then those stakes turned out to be tripping over her own feet on prom night.

✌️Cliffhanger✌️