#I think it was heavily implied that Lucy dies

[reedeemable]

Ok, I’ve had this dbh crack ship in my head for ages and I know that most likely no one has even thought of it but I still wanted to share it.

So you know how Leo is in rehab for his Red Ice addiction? Well, he attends therapy during that time and his therapist is an android. A KL900.

While Leo is trying to better himself, he’s still not the biggest fan of androids but it is part of his rehabilitation so he goes along with it.

During their therapy sessions, he tells the KL900 stuff that he has never told anyone, not even his own mother.

He talks about his conception, he talks about his father and he talks about Markus and his moments that led to him being here in the first place.

The entire time, he is never judged, he is never looked down on, he is never looked at like a burden or a mistake.

Leo ends up falling for the KL900 and during her time getting to know Leo, so does she.

[daydreamer-in-reverie]

If you ask me if I think Snow ever loved Lucy Gray, the answer is is an easy yes and I can 100% back up my belief.

In the beginning of TBOSAS, we saw the Mayor of D12 pulling names out of the Reaping bowl, with Snow speculating that the Reaping was likely rigged by the Mayor because of how flippantly he read Lucy Gray’s name. And it’s easy to assume that to be case when we find out the history between Lucy Gray, Billy Taupe and Mayfair. Of course the mayor would rig the games to send Lucy Gray to her death, his daughter asked him too. From the get go, the odds were not in Lucy Gray’s favor and this is an injustice that even Snow was affronted by.

And yet, in the 74th Hunger Games, escorts like Effie Trinket become fundamental members of the Game’s system. So much so that winners of the Hunger Games make use of their services as they go on their Victory Tour, guiding them as they go through every District. Escorts like Effie are impartial, objective members of the Capitol, with no personal ties with the Districts they associate with. There is no way for them to rig the Games to call out the names of people they didn’t like because it’s not as if they can form an opinion on the children they’re sending to their deaths.

I can’t imagine a world where it wasn’t Snow who suggested this change. Even if it wasn’t his suggestion, with how quickly he amassed power (it was heavily implied he even became Head Gamemaker at one point), he would have had the ability to approve or veto this idea. He would have likely consulted with Gaul if it had been lobbied by someone else before he had the chance to become Head Gamemaker as he swiftly became her top confidant, groomed to take her place on the day she died. Whether or not it was his idea, he would have done whatever it took to see it implemented.

Escorts are a small kindness, to ensure that it is truly the odds that determine whether a child gets sent to the Arena or not and not the machinations of a vindictive person with a vendetta against a certain family or child. A small mercy, to be sure, but a mercy nonetheless. The one single echo of Snow’s love for Lucy Gray, the only woman he ever loved. So that what happened to her does not happen to another child again.

[witchhazelnut]

This new revelation that the rat grinders all died and were brought back by this cleric of the unnamed ankarna, and Yolanda and Lucy’s refusal was what kept them dead but also bound with that sigil, has got me thinking about the events of Yolanda and particularly Lucy’s deaths.

If the rat grinders (+ jace) died in the mountains of chaos, why was lucy’s body in the far haven woods? she also died after spring break, which means she came back from that adventure. There’s also the matter of someone trying to change her paperwork to reflect a new, unnamed divinity, who we now know is ankarna, who is still unnamed to the rat grinders.

I think the rat grinders did kill her, but maybe it wasn’t the first time she died. It’s pretty heavily implied that there was tpk in the mountains of chaos, and if that’s the case, perhaps she was brought back once under the promise of changing her divinity to ankarna, but shortly after realized she couldn’t give up the goddess who meant so much to her and her family, and so she had started the change paperwork but then reverted and the rat grinders confronted her and killed her, and bc she broke her deal to be a follower of ankarna she was branded with that sigil?

OR, maybe she did survive the mountains of chaos! Maybe kipperlilly tried to convince her to convert first with words alone, thinking that it would be like it always was where lucy would support her decisions. She gets the paperwork drawn up and everything. And then lucy refuses. And kipperlilly kills her, calling upon the cleric who brought her back to bring lucy back the same way, so that she would bend to her will by force, bc she couldn’t imagine lucy refusing life to honor her divinity, but she does. and her refusal traps her in her body, and she’s gone perhaps forever.

Maybe the honey is just for kipperlilly to forget. Maybe it’s why she can smile ruefully to kristen as she slits buddy’s throat and tries to force-convert another cleric.

[see-arcane]

I think you came close to real issue. Adaptations do not center on Jonathan and always somehow misrepresent him is because majority of male directors-screenwriters, adapting Dracula, associate themselves more not with Jonathan but with Dracula or Van Helsing. And it didn't begin with Coppola. It began with Murnau where his Hutter doesn't kill vampire and can't save his wife but instead it's his wife Ellen who dies to kill vampire. Then it's Browning who made Van Helsing into cool main hero who kills Dracula, while Jonathan is again useless in the movie. It's Fisher who kills Jonathan off at the start of the movie and again makes Van Helsing into cool main hero, who kills Dracula. So by the time 1970s rolled out and romantic versions of Dracula began to heavily pop up, Jonathan as character on screen was already heavily downgraded.

This honestly hits on something that unhappily fascinates me about the whole pattern. Unlike other stories that see adaptation, however classic or modern, I think the Dracula issue is the only one I can think of where a male main character--one of the two married protagonists! the guy who actually opens and closes the entire story! including beheading Dracula himself!--gets so thoroughly watered down, warped, or often just thrown out of the story entirely. Mina's treatment is unfortunately very much expected.

She is LAST GIRL STANDING. She is NOT ICKY SLUT-LUCY WHO LEADS THREE MEN ON EWWW. She is SO INTO HUNKY HE-MAN DARK PRINCE COUNT FUCKULA and doesn't mind the castle harem or the best friend assault or terrorized/deadified husband whatever who cares.

Mina's character-butchering hell is sadly a running theme in a lot of Classics! Now with (Off-Brand Hollywoodified) Feminism (tm)*!

*She is now simultaneously Mom to a bunch of rowdy dumb-boys and the hot anti-villain wants to do the sex with her so bad and it's sooo tempting because hot anti-villain is sooo much more forward-thinking than these icky Victorian guys ha ha

But Jonathan's situation is unique.

Because Jonathan is broken down for parts.

His sweet ingenue gothic heroine time in Castle Dracula is routinely handed over either to a stand-in (Renfield ala the original Dracula movie) or Random Damsel seen on every book and movie and comic book cover. Because you can't have a man in that situation. And if you do, shovel him out of the story immediately once the hetero-sexy part is over with, ala the Brides closing in. Maybe make him an unfaithful piece of shit who is SO down to ditch boring old Mina for the undead harem.

His stamp as a rightful nemesis-turned-badass vampire hunter is stolen and given to Van Helsing, including his kukri, including the defeat and beheading of Dracula.

His devotion and love for Mina to the point of blasphemy and inhumanity is ripped away and given to Dracula to romanticize and sexify him, which in turn defangs the Count himself. 'Ohhh I just did all this evil because I was depressed and looking for my Love~ :'c' rather than him being one of the most insidiously engaging and chilling villains in classic storytelling.

And all of that implies that writers and directors do like the character of Jonathan Harker...so long as he's split into pieces with the husk that once contained all those facets quickly discarded.

Because if they have to portray Jonathan Harker in his totality, with all his kindness, his femininely coded introduction, his trauma after assault, his adoration of Mina beyond human measure, and his ultimate conquering of Dracula the Monster/Abuser (their idolized macho surrogate) then that does something unthinkable.

That portrays men like Jonathan Harker in a heroic light. In a positive light, period. This milksop! This sweet, loving, bookish, preyed-upon, afraid-then-fierce, walking talking knife-swinging wall-crawling middle finger to the whole idea of the fantasy people project onto Dracula (read: Megabadass Immortal Vampire Man who gets Allll the Ladies Who Totally Wanted It/Had that Victorian Slave Leia routine coming~)! We can't put that on screen!

So what happens, happens.

And Jonathan Harker continues to be harvested for parts without ever, ever getting to be all of himself in a retelling. If he shows up at all.

[agentem]

Preparing for "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes"

I'm going to talk about the Hunger Games series some more because I'm in a hyperfixation.

If you saw the movies and/or read the books awhile ago, you might need a bit of a refresher before seeing The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (in theaters November 17!).

BALLAD is set 64 years before the events of The Hunger Games. It is takes place around the 10th Annual Hunger Games and Katniss competes in the 74th Hunger Games.

So really you just have to remember that Panem is a the country and they have Hunger Games. That's pretty much it. Ballad deals with how the Hunger Games themselves went from being a plain punishment to a spectacle that is still a punishment. You'll see.

There are only two characters from the first movie series in the prequel, as far as I know.

The first is this jerk:

Coriolanus Snow was originally played by Donald Sutherland and will now be portrayed as a teenager by Tom Blyth.

The other is a character you might not remember.

Tigris Snow appeared VERY briefly in the movie Mockingjay Part 2 (and the book Mockingjay). She was played by Eugenie Bondurant. We learn she was a stylist for the Hunger Games. Her heavily tatooed and feline appearance surprises Katniss. The director Cressida approaches her, saying she was part of Plutarch Heavensbee's underground. Tigris smiles when Katniss says she's going to kill President Snow and shelters Katniss's squad.

So it was a bit of a shock when Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes the book came out and revealed that Tigris is Coriolanus' cousin, who practically raised him because his mother died in childbirth.

In Ballad, Tigris is a cinnamon roll too pure for this world played by Hunter Schafer of Euphoria. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that we do not know what happened to her in between the two time periods. (Suzanne, if you are reading this, we need a Tigris novel. Or at leastanother novel in which she appears.)

I'd like to know if Tigris did her body modifications because she wanted to (I hope) or if it was to disguise her appearance (but she kind of draws attention to herself?) or maybe to cover up some scars? I'm worried about her. (Anyone got theories?)

Family Members

We do see some characters that are related to characters that will appear in the main trilogy.

Lucky Flickerman, played by Jason Schwartzman, is related to Cesar Flickerman, played by Stanley Tucci. Both are TV presenters that are involved with the production of the Hunger Games.

Snow is also classmates with members of the Crane and Heavensbee families. Seneca Crane (Wes Bentley) was the Gamemaker with the funny beard in the first movie. And Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) was a key figure in the revolution that eventually overthrows Snow in Mockingjay Part 2.

TLDR, the elite families of the Capitol are insular. They all go to the same school and live in the same area. Outsiders are not welcome. Especially outsiders from the Districts.

Other Connections

SONGS

Ballad will also follow a female tribute from District 12. For the 10th Hunger Games that is Lucy Gray Baird, played by Rachel Zegler. Lucy Gray is very different from Katniss. She is a singer and performer, not a hunter. Her family is a group of other children that were once part of a traveling singing troupe called "the Covey". (They are now kind of stuck in 12 since the Rebellion.)

The song "The Hanging Tree" that Katniss sings in Mockingjay Part 1 is a part of Ballad. We learn that Lucy Gray wrote that song. And it is implied that the littlest member of the Covey, Maude Ivory, is related to Katniss' father. She is probably his mother or grandmother, which explains how Katniss knows the song more than 60 years later. (This theory has not been confirmed by Suzanne Collins but makes the most sense.)

Keep your eye on this little one.

BIRDS

Also you may wish to refamiliarize yourself with the fictious creature called the Mockingjay. The book Ballad features the bird itself, whereas the movies mostly focused on it as a symbol of the revolution (Katniss).

But mockingjays are hybrid birds created when the Capitol's genetically engineered jabberjays (these were seen in the arena in Catching Fire torturing Finnick and Katniss with their lifelike screams) mated with mockingbirds and a new species came about. Thereafter they were associated with the rebellion against the Capitol as a symbol. Katniss says they were something of a "slap in the face" to the Capitol--a sign they didn't actually have total control.

This symbolism will be furthered when Katniss herself wears a mockingjay pin into the arena and Rue teaches her how to use them to signal to each other. And then it becomes a whole thing where Katniss "is" the Mockingjay and that's the title of the third book/third and fourth movies.

[zipadeea]

Waiting on my copy of The Screaming Staircase to come in, so I’m just sitting here dwelling on the Lockwood & Co. TV show and what’s behind the forbidden door on the landing. 

Obvious answer is it’s something to do with his parents and the way they died. We know they’re dead, we know they died when Lockwood was young, and we know Lockwood won’t move from the house because it’s the last tie he has to his parents, so we can assume he had a relatively happy childhood and good memories with them. 

I expect the forbidden room is either a bedroom or some large storage room, because that’s where (the show heavily implies) Lockwood gets the necklace he gives to Lucy. The necklace Lockwood says used to belong to “someone special to him”. 

Two problems for the parent theory here: 1) why would Lockwood call his mom (or dad, dads can have necklaces, too) “someone special”? Lucy knows they’re dead already and she knows they lived in this house. If the necklace came from one of his parents, why wouldn’t Lockwood just tell Lucy that? 

2) If the room behind the forbidden door is a bedroom, I don’t think it’s the master bedroom. Because, in the first episode during Lucy’s tour of the house, Lockwood says Lucy can use the bathroom in the attic or share the one on the landing with George. Not with Lockwood and George. So, Lockwood’s bedroom most likely has an ensuite, which leads me to believe it’s the master bedroom. 

Another thing I noticed about the house is the number of bedrooms. We have two bedrooms in 35 Portland Row for sure (George’s and Lockwood’s). I predict the room behind the locked door is or can be used as a bedroom, because the house has been able to function without it available in the years since it’s been locked. So, three bedrooms, and Lucy’s room in the attic. Lucy’s room in the attic which Lockwood specifically told Lucy he used to sleep in when he was little. 

Why would Lockwood’s parents make him sleep in the attic as a child when there was at least one, and were possibly two, free bedrooms in the house? A kind uncle who liked to hunt was discussed during Lucy’s interview, so it’s possible he lived with the Lockwoods, or visited often enough that they kept a nice guest room for him. But that still leaves one room in the house that, if not already a bedroom, could function as one. Why would you send your young son to sleep in the attic is there’s an empty room in the house? 

Because, dear reader, there wasn’t an empty room in the house. 

The room belonged to Lockwood’s older sibling.  

An older sister probably, because of the necklace from “someone special” and, of course, Lockwood and George’s discussion about girls and baths in episode two. After George finds Lucy in the bath with her clothes on, Lockwood tells George “Girls are weird about baths,” or something like that. Why would he say that? Why is that what Lockwood chooses to add to the conversation? Could be about his mom, I guess, but if we believe the master bedroom has an ensuite, she and Lockwood never shared a bathroom. Plus, Lockwood said ‘girls’, not ‘women’. If Lockwood has never lived anywhere but Portland Row, what would he know about living with girls? About sharing bathrooms with girls? 

Unless, of course, he had an older sister. 

Anyway, I feel like I’m right, but I haven’t looked anything up yet. Meanwhile I’ll re-watch season 1, do my best to manifest season 2, and wait patiently for my books to come in. 

[over-grown-foliage]

Just finished 2x10 of Timeless… don’t know how to feel (I already know some spoilers but I am very much just pretending I don’t) I did accidentally see that Rufus dies so I wasn’t surprised but I will miss him and his nerdy jokes.

it really seemed like it’s canon that Flynn likes Lucy which I wasn’t sure was going to happen so explicitly, in the previous episode in which he tells Lucy about when she gave him the journal he very heavily implies he thinks she attractive “you were 5 years older but just as…”

Also Wyatt’s confession? Are you kidding? I’m not rlly a Wyatt hater I think he was put in an impossible situation and should have given Lucy some more space to get over him, but that was such an unfair time to say that. Your wife is pregnant and you’ve said your very much still in love with her? Also the pan to Flynn. CRAZY.

The ending??? Idk what to think. But anyway I just unlocked a bunch of new fanfics that take place during/right after 2x10 so that’s a plus.

[independent-beat]

This reply really made me think. Apologies for the long post and obviously, spoilers ahead.

I think a lot of my problem with Kit’s death is based on how it felt like intentional expectation circumvention.

So, to me, this feels very much like Cassie went, “Oh shoot. I wrote a family tree and an epilogue with a bunch of information about these kids. And now I’m writing a new series about these kids. I can’t have it end the same way it does on the family tree, or else I gave away the ending too soon!” Especially since the family tree includes Grace being accepted into the main gang and returning to the name Cartwright, which, if Grace served the same role she does in TLH currently, would be a massive game changer for her character and a huge spoiler. So small changes to the tree (Cordelia’s mom being Sona not Colette, birth and death years of some characters, etc.) all mean the tree is overall wrong, but nothing would be different enough. Something big has to change for the tree to not be a spoiler.

We know Tessa and Will only had 2 kids, as referenced by Magnus and Catarina(?) in TMI. We know Tatiana doesn’t have any other biological Blackthorn children because Rupert dies in Clockwork Princess. So, in order for those two lines to continue to our TMI/TDA heroes, both James and Jesse need to have partners by the end of the series. (I guess technically there are other Blackthorn lines, but we don’t hear about them really at all)Gabriel and Cecily are heavily implied to be Alec and Isabelle’s ancestors, since we hear repeatedly how much Alec looks like Will and Isabelle wears Camille’s ruby pendant (which Will gave to Cecily), but we don’t know how many children they had. Neither TMI nor TID specify.

So, the easiest place to change the tree without changing the big picture narrative (James and Lucie have magic demon powers, Tatiana is in cahoots with our Big Bad, Jesse is dead but not, etc.) is in the Lightwood family. Therefore, Christopher has to either die or not end up with Grace. Killing him can serve more of a narrative purpose (ups the stakes, gives our main cast someone to avenge, shows that no one is immune from war no matter how kind and noble they are, etc.) and so that’s what Cassie did. Give him a backup brother to carry on the line and blow up the tree. Sure, fine.

What I don’t like is how much Cassie set up Christopher/Grace, and teased fans that maybe they would be endgame, when all along she knew she couldn’t do that. We spend most of Chain of Iron and Chain of Thorns where the only person who sees past Grace’s actions to the person below is Christopher, even Jesse struggles to see the sister he loves. We see Grace respect Christopher’s knowledge and kindness and see him as a man she wouldn’t want to manipulate, even if she could. We hear Christopher advocate for Grace to the Merry Thieves. We’re set up with a redemption arc through the power of love and friendship. We’re given this whole story that, to me, feels far more authentic than the Matthew/Cordelia fakeout. It feels like authentic respect and camaraderie that could become love with time and effort.

And sure, many relationships don’t work out. People do die in real life and their potential partners have to move on without them. But this is a YA novel. This is a book where the ships matter just as much as the plot. This is a book where main cast characters die and are either brought back (Jace…twice), hang out as a ghost (Jessamine and Livvy), or are saved through magic intervention (Jem). Simon’s ‘death’ is circumvented through plot armor and hand waving. And that’s okay! This is a book where the bad guys lose and the good guys win and true love can overcome any obstacle!

And it’s not like I particularly shipped Christopher/Grace, Grace had a long way to go to be anyone remotely tolerable. Christopher couldn’t date Grace without invalidating James’s trauma. Hell, Kit could’ve been ace based on his depiction! I just didn’t love reading two books worth of laying the foundation for a potential relationship just to have the rug pulled out like “SIKE! You thought!”

But here, a true relationship built from an imperfect person trying to make up for the sins of the past and the smart and kind person who believes in her, can’t exist because otherwise we just read 3 books to end up with what we already knew. And so, we spend thousands of pages of buildup to get an abrupt 180 and a “SIKE! You thought!” because it was too predictable otherwise.

This isn’t to say I particularly “shipped” Christopher and Grace. Grace still has a long way to go to atone, even a little. Christopher dating Grace minimizes James’s trauma. Christopher could realistically be ace or demisexual based on his depiction. It’s not that I wanted this ship to happen, more so that I feel it’s disingenuous to spend 2 books laying the groundwork just to pull the rug out for the sake of a shocking twist.

Q&A, spoilers, COT

VERY SPOILERY. DEATH AND STUFF.

shadowbooker asked:

Hi Cassie!

I love Christoper so of course I’m devastated about what happened to him. Was his death always planned or something you came up with while writing book 3?

------

I knew Christopher was going to die before I started writing Chain of Gold. There are a few hints I think in Thorns, but I wanted his death to be unexpected, to hit our characters out of nowhere — and to hit the readers the same way. But indeed, the reason Alexander, his little brother, exists is partly simply so we would know who carries on the Lightwood line down to Alec etc. — because it was never going to be Christopher.

[ashdumpsterpile]

Ohmygod YES Susan Pevensie is awesome please talk to me about Susan i want to know everything you have to say

Literally THANK YOU for asking me this bc Susan Pevensie is a character I never get asked about and I have So Many Opinions.

I'm going to start by saying that Susan used to be my least favorite character in the series. This goes for the books and the movies. Some of it was for personal reasons--she reminds me of a couple of annoying ppl I know irl--but it was also bc I watched Prince Caspian which shoehorned her into a relationship with Caspian which I hated.

HOWEVER. I ended up rethinking this position after interacting with Susan fans and realizing that there are so many wonderful things to love about her!

(putting under the cut bc this got long)

Things Ash Loves About Susan Pevensie

Aight I'm not going to do a formal analysis yet on her, but instead rant about some of the unrelated things I adore about Susan Pevensie.

Susan the Archer

Look we all love archery here. I don't have anything more to say.

Okay, I actually do have more to say. I love the fact that Susan is a complete badass with the bow. You get the general impression that she's one of the royals in charge of public relations, traditions, foreign policy, etc. and yet she's the most competent archer in the series. One of the few things I liked about the movies is how they didn't downplay this. They actually let her be a badass and show off her skills.

Also the part where she kicks Trumpkin's ass was awesome.

Susan the Gentle

Susan being the most passive Pevensie was something I definitely underappreciated as a teenager. I think my non-ability to see past "I'm not like other girls" narrative and the combination of Susan being described as the most traditionally feminine woman in the Narnia series is what initially turned me off from her.

HOWEVER, now it's one of my favorite attributes! I love that Susan is a badass and the most beautiful woman in Narnia. She has hair down to her feet, every man and woman in the kingdom want to fuck her, and she's still a fucking badass who will not hesitate to kick your ass.

Susan the Sister

Most of my thoughts of Susan as an older sister mostly stem from my own personal headcanons, but she is an awesome sister to her siblings. She's Peter's voice of reason, Edmund's sass partner, and Lucy's big sister.

Susan the Mom-Friend

She is a literal mother-figure for Corin.

"[...] the most beautiful lady he had ever seen rose from her place and threw her arms round him and kissed him, saying: "Oh Corin, Corin, how could you? And thou and I such close friends ever since thy mother died. [...]"

-The Horse and His Boy, 33-34

Most everything I have to say about this ventures into headcanon territory, but I love the idea of Susan basically adopting Corin after his mom dies. The way she trusts Cor--who she thinks is Corin in this chapter--is really sweet and I wish we could've seen more of that relationship.

Susan the Flawed

Something I notice from the fandom is a lot of people who hate Susan tend to because of her flaws. On the other hand, most Susan stans like to wave away these flaws and blame C.S. Lewis for being misogynistic or Aslan for being a "cruel god" and ignore the fact that she is a deeply flawed person.

Susan gets something of a "reverse redemption arc" in The Chronicles of Narnia. This makes her not only a fascinating foil to Edmund--as both are analytical, logical people--but an interesting character by herself.

She starts out in TWW as very skeptical of Narnia and it's whole deal and also very condescending to Lucy throughout. She ultimately does admit that Lucy was right and does get on board with the whole prophecy at the same time Peter does, and ends the book being crowned "the Gentle Queen."

In The Horse and His Boy, she has a very interesting dynamic with Edmund and in even more interesting relationship with Rabadash. They don't even interact on-page with each other, but it's highly implied that she was interested in him when he was a guest in Narnia. His behavior obviously changed when she visited him in Tashbaan, but you have to wonder what their dynamic was like before for her to travel all the way to his home when relations between the countries were strained at best.

Prince Caspian is where the cracks start showing through. Susan has lived an entire life as an adult in Narnia, gets thrown back to England with her siblings, and is yet again in Narnia as a child. This book is what really emphasizes her one fatal flaw: convenience.

(Put a pin in that thought, I'll get back to it.)

Susan denies once again that Lucy saw something that the rest of them can't seen. She continues this narrative until every other sibling finally acknowledges Lucy in the right and only then does she apologize.

The last mention of Susan is in The Last Battle, where all of her flaws rise up against her in the worst way possible. I have a lot of controversial opinions on this that I'm going to address later, but I just want to say that Susan's reverse-redemption arc is something I actually like about her.

(There is also evidence that Susan does get a full redemption arc, just as Edmund and Eustace did, but C.S. Lewis was pretty much done with The Chronicles of Narnia at the point and instead encouraged fans to write their own version of how that went down.)

Okay, back to convenience being Susan's fatal flaw. So the one thing that comes up time and time again in the series is that Susan is very focused on material comforts. I believe it's implied that she's vain, and it's canonical that her own personal comfort spurs her to make decisions.

"[...] I really believed it was him — he, I mean — yesterday. When he warned us not to go down to the fir wood. And I really believed it was him tonight, when you woke us up. I mean, deep down inside. Or I could have, if I'd let myself. But I just wanted to get out of the woods and — and — oh, I don't know [...]"

Prince Caspian, 81

Prince Caspian has the strongest examples of Susan doing this, but certainly there's evidence elsewhere. There are a lot of fans who are distressed by this, claiming that Aslan and the others are too hard on her and shouldn't judge.

Honestly, I like that she's written with this flaw. Not only is it very relatable--(my own personal comfort and convenience is something I highly prioritize too)--but it humanizes a character who otherwise is ridiculously op and basically the Helen of Troy of the series. It may sound like I'm using this as an excuse to rant, but I really wouldn't have her any other way.

Susan As Portrayed by Anna Popplewell

Movie!Susan is a fucking delight.

She's sarcastic and badass and awesome and I could spend hours heaping praise on Anna's acting and her portrayal of Susan, but I can already tell that this post is going to be long so, I'll just stop here.

(10/10 want to be stabbed by her tho.)

Personal Headcanons

Let's talk about my fanon thoughts. I have many.

Susan is Aro

There's canonical evidence for this! Susan is a character who is heavily pursued by suitors everywhere, and even lets herself be courted by many of them, but chooses not to settle down. Even when she gets back to England and is described as only having interest in parties and material things, boys aren't mentioned.

I like to think that in The Horse in His Boy Susan was interested in Rabadash at first because he was a brilliant conversationalist. Nothing she says about him implies romantic interest, before and after she realizes the truth of his intentions.

Susan and Edmund Were Best Friends

This might be my love for The Horse and His Boy showing itself, but I think Susan and Edmund were thrown into circumstances where they interacted the most with each other.

Edmund is the ruler in charge of politics. Susan is the ruler in charge of Cair Paravel's public image. I imagine they spent time as ambassadors to other countries and planning royal functions.

They're also the most level-headed and logical out of their siblings, so they probably found a lot in common.

Susan Fancast

I literally just said I loved Anna's potrayal of Susan's (and I love what they gave us of older Susan too in LWW!), but I read the books in 2008 and my parents didn't let me see the movies bc I was like...nine years old and they thought it would be too scary.

So I had to headcanon my own interpretations.

Queen Susan the Gentle:

For some reason Merlin wasn't too scary for me to watch and I fell in love with Katie McGrath in like. Two episodes so. (On an unrelated note, I also fancast Bradley James as Peter at the time.)

Anyway, fanon Susan is basically Morgana Pendragon pre-evil arc. Sassy as hell, hot as fuck, and can kick your ass.

Unpopular Opinions

Yeah, feel free to skip this part if having controversial fandom opinions is a deal breaker for you.

The Problem With Susan Isn't Actually A Problem

I'm about to start so much discourse in the Narnia fandom, but C.S. Lewis's choices with her in The Last Battle weren't misogynistic. Bear in mind, I'm not saying that all of his writing choices in the series were A++ or excusing away certain racist/sexiest bits, but it's honestly baffling to me that people are so up in arms over Susan's exclusion in the final book.

So the part that everyone loses their shit over is as follows:

"My sister Susan," answered Peter shortly and gravely, "is no longer a friend of Narnia."

"Yes," said Eustace, "and whenever you've tried to get her to come and talk about Narnia or do anything about Narnia, she says 'What wonderful memories you have! Fancy your still thinking about all those funny games we used to play when we were children.'"

"Oh Susan!" said Jill, "she's interested in nothing now-a-days except nylons and lipstick and invitations. She always was a jolly sight too keen on being grown-up."

"Grown-up, indeed," said the Lady Polly. "I wish she would grow up. She wasted all her school time wanting to be the age she is now, and she'll waste all the rest of her life trying to stay that age. Her whole idea is to race on to the silliest time of one's life as quick as she can and then stop there as long as she can."

The Last Battle, 83-84

There's a lot to unpack here and I first want to say that everyone's opinion on this part, no matter how different than mine, is valid. I'm going to be quoting some other ppl's opinions on here and by no means am I bashing them. I just want to address my feelings on the matter and the best way to do that is to cite the thoughts of ppl who have opposing ideas.

Here are some arguments on Tumblr I've heard regarding "The Problem of Susan":

"How about we talk about what might have happened if Narnia hadn't deserted Susan? [...] What if we didn't tell Susan she had to go grow up in her own world and then shame and punish her for doing just that? She was told to walk away and she went. She did not try to stay a child all her life, wishing for something she had been told she couldn't have again."

"Narnia is filled with metaphors (often not very subtle ones) that are supposed to teach us how to be, and the most glaring one for any young girl to absorb is that it's okay to be a girl like Lucy, unthreatening and cheerful and valiant and faithful, but to be a girl like Susan gets you punished - in fact, you aren't just punished, you're destroyed."

"why do we call it ‘the problem’ where’s the problem about a young woman dealing with her trauma and choosing her own path, actively making the choice to keep living and to stay and to carve a life out in England when her siblings couldn’t? what is the problem about susan forgetting to somehow cope with what she’s experienced? why is it ‘the problem of susan’ that she recontextualised her faith?"

And then there's JK Rowling who said this:

There comes a point where Susan, who was the older girl, is lost to Narnia because she becomes interested in lipstick. She's become irreligious basically because she found sex. I have a big problem with that.

It's weird how I'm still finding new ways to hate JKR in the year 2021. Again, there is absolutely zero implication that Susan had sex when she came back to England. ZERO. Did she actually read the books? IDK. If someone shares this opinion pls reply with actual canonical evidence.

Back on topic, I'm a firm believer of death of the author and interpreting art via your own experiences. Which is why I'm also going to share my own interpretation by saying y'all are wrong.

Susan Pevensie was not abandoned by Narnia. She was not barred from Narnia because she is traditionally feminine or because she "owned her sexuality" (another opinion I didn't have time to condense down for this post) or because she recontextualized her faith or even because she deserved to be punished.

I also fail to see how Susan recontexualized her faith, as the entire point of it all is that she has none. Bringing this back to Susan's fatal flaw (personal convenience/material comforts), her prioritizing herself over her own faith is the reason she is "no longer a friend of Narnia." Not...whatever fanon y'all are imposing on her character.

Susan is not being punished for liking lipstick and looking pretty. Susan's not even being punished. Y'all read Neil Gaiman's The Problem of Susan and forgot it wasn't canon.

There are many reasons Susan is not in Aslan's Country (one of them being that she's not actually dead yet), but the main one has to do with this:

"[...] But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.”

Voyage of the Dawn Treader, 215-216

Yeah, okay that's why Susan is no longer a friend of Narnia. The implication when the Pevensies are told that they can no longer enter Narnia is that they are to find Aslan in other places. Susan doesn't do this, instead choosing to focus her life on material things. It isn't the lipstick, it's that she only wants the lipstick.

Susan Had Sex In The Books

Oh and not in the context y'all are thinking. (Again, there are no implications that Susan was barred from Narnia for having sex or that she had sex when she came back to England.)

So there's actual canonical evidence that Susan and Rabadash had a sexual relationship. Sort of.

"What think you? We have been in this city fully three weeks. Have you yet settled in your mind whether you will marry this dark-faced lover of yours, this Prince Rabadash, or no?"

-The Horse and His Boy, 35

Edmund calls Rabadash her lover. Not her suitor. I don't know if the word had a different meaning in 1954, but it feels like C.S. Lewis is saying that they're fucking. I'm not really happy with the idea of Susan sleeping with an abuser, but really proud of her for Getting Some as a woman born in a time period where having premarital sex was a big no-no.

This also invalidates the weird opinion going on that Susan was barred from Narnia because she had sex.

Suspian Is The Worst

I haven't really talked about Movie!Susan much, but as long as we're talking unpopular opinions, it's worth noting that I hate Suspian. Some of it is the "Susan is Aro" headcanon screaming inside of me, but it's also the fact that it's written poorly, does nothing interesting for either character and generally comes across as awkward.

I feel like they were trying to make Prince Caspian sexy and relevant to teens. It came across as super heteronormative and unnecessary.

It also gets really really weird bc the next movie then gives Caspian and Edmund mad chemistry and we're all just like........ok.

Final Thoughts

Susan may not be my favorite character in the series, but she's grown on me over the years. I have many issues with fanon interpretations of her--which definately fueled some of my disdain for her initally--and I don't identify as a Susan Apologist.

I do however adore Susan and have many headcanons for her not mentioned here. I love reading fanfic, writing fanfic and meta, and generally having conversations about her and would love to talk more about it.

I welcome criticism (CONSTRUCTIVE) and conversation on all of my opinions and observations. Please drop into my inbox. <3

[rainingpouringetc]

but god i want to feel again

written for alastair pain day 2021 (even though it’s two days late) title from ‘touch’ by sleeping at last, which i listened to on repeat while writing

tw for brief implied period-typical racism, abuse, alcoholism, bullying, toxic relationships

read on ao3

all i want is to flip a switch before something breaks that cannot be fixed.

invisible machinery, these moving parts inside of me well, they’ve been shutting down for quite some time, leaving only rust behind.

well i know, i know- the sirens sound just before the walls come down. pain is a well-intentioned weatherman predicting God as best he can, but God i want to feel again, oh God i want to feel again.

~‘touch’ sleeping at last

---

Alastair rolled his shoulders back. He’d done this a hundred times before. It never got easier.

“Come on, now, Baba,” he groaned, lifting his father’s arm across his shoulder. Elias mumbled something incoherent and drooped further, stumbling over his own feet as he was dragged over the cobblestones. “Time to go home,” Alastair murmured, silently tallying how many times he had taken this exact route from this exact tavern in just the past month.

Twelve years old and he knew the location of every pub in every city he’d ever lived.

Their house was visible just up ahead—the third they’d lived in this year. Alastair noted that all the lights were out and thanked whatever god was listening. He couldn’t deal with redirecting Cordelia’s questions on top of getting his father cleaned up. Tonight was already draining enough.

He managed to get Elias up the steps and into the washroom with less trouble than usual, a sign that his father was perhaps more lucid than he’d originally believed. The clock on the mantle had read just past midnight—perhaps he was just tired as well.

“‘M fine, ‘m fine,” Elias slurred as Alastair attempted to wipe his damp forehead with a wet cloth, pushing his son’s hand away.

Alastair huffed and set the cloth aside before turning to rummage through the cabinet for a glass. They always kept a glass in the washroom for times like this. He filled it halfway and offered it to his father. When Elias only glared at it, slumping down on the seat and leaning heavily on the wall, Alastair held the glass to his lips and tipped it back, forcing him to drink. 

When he pulled the glass back—his father having blessedly drunk it all without much of a fight—Elias stood abruptly. He was still quite drunk and thus swayed on his feet for several long moments. Alastair leaped forward to steady him, but was immediately pushed away with all the force of a heroic—however disgraced—Shadowhunter.

Alastair hit the wall hard and gasped as the breath whooshed out of him. His head spun—had he hit it? He must have—and his vision blackened at the edges. Elias was still struggling to keep himself upright. Alastair watched as he took a step and immediately crumpled to the ground. He stumbled forward yet again, trying to help, wanting to help, but his father cried out and Alastair froze in place. The last thing he needed was his mother—or, worse, his sister—hearing the noise and coming to investigate. 

Alastair looked down and realized that at some point he’d dropped the glass. It had shattered on the floor. Head still spinning, he bent down to try to gather it together, instantly cutting his hands. He inhaled sharply, ignoring the pain and sweeping the remains into a small pile in the corner. He could ask Risa for helping taking it out in the morning. 

His hand was bleeding rather substantially, blood running over the Voyance rune on the back. The only Mark he had. 

“Are you alright, Baba?” he asked quietly, careful not to speak loud enough to agitate his father’s headache. 

“‘M fine,” Elias repeated. “Go to bed, Alastair. I’ll be just fine on my own.”

Alastair didn’t believe it for a second. He stood and carefully maneuvered his father’s arm around his shoulders again. He couldn’t risk taking him up the stairs—Elias might fall, or someone might hear. There was a small room just down the hallway that Alastair had left his father in on numerous occasions to sleep off a hangover. It seemed tonight would be another one.

He shouldered the door open and deposited his father on the couch, making sure to leave him on his side and support his head with a few pillows. He knew he shouldn’t leave his father alone. Something could happen, and if Elias died because he suffocated on his own vomit there would be no one to blame but Alastair and his selfishness. But his hands were throbbing now, and his stele was upstairs in his room. He took the stairs two at time, skipping the ones that creaked the most, and shut the door gently behind him.

As soon as it was closed, Alastair slumped down against it, trying to steady his breathing. In, hold. Out, hold. In, hold. Out, hold. Over and over until the spinning stopped, until he could think again.

His stele was on his desk. His mother had given it to him last year, claiming it was a birthday present. Alastair knew it was because she’d spotted the bruises on his arms.

For a moment, Alastair considered leaving the cuts be. They would scar if he did, and it would hurt until then. But Alastair would revel in the pain, in the ability to feel something—anything—besides dull fear and numbness. It was the direction he knew he was heading towards. If he allowed it to consume him—

No. He wouldn’t let it. He wouldn’t let it change him.

Carefully, Alastair picked up the stele. It stung where it pressed against his cuts. He traced an iratze flawlessly and held his hand away to survey his work. 

Practice makes perfect, he thought wryly.

---

Alastair sat almost fully turned around in his seat on the carriage, watching as Cirenworth disappeared into the distance. Cordelia, who had run behind them down the lane, struggling to keep up, had long since faded into nothingness.

“Turn front or you’ll fall off the moment we hit a bump,” Elias snapped from beside him. Alastair did as he was told, stubbornly looking anywhere but at his father.

Alastair did not understand why his father had insisted on seeing him to the Academy. Alone. There would be no one to make sure he returned in one piece, no one to steer him away from welcoming taverns or haul him out of a pub before he drank himself to death. 

But for once, Alastair found he didn’t particularly care. He was going to the Academy, and his father’s health would no longer be his primary concern—his primary burden. He would be around children his own age. He would have a chance to finally—finally—make friends.

It was much more exciting and nerve wracking than he’d expected.

Cordelia had Lucie, a fact that Alastair was endlessly grateful for. But he was all alone. Cordelia could hardly count as a friend. She was his sister, after all, and therefore obligated to tolerate him, yes, but also to tease him at every available opportunity.

This was something he couldn’t risk messing up. He needed this. He was more desperate than he wished to admit.

Alastair spent the remainder of the journey in silence, shutting down all of his father’s attempts at conversation with a stoic nod or by blatantly ignoring him. It wasn’t his favorite method, but he truly could not deal with his father making him more nervous than he already was.

When they finally arrived at the Academy, Alastair’s stomach was a jumbled mess of nerves and whatever he’d eaten for breakfast—he couldn’t even remember at this point. He was too busy praying his father would leave before he could embarrass Alastair.

The universe wouldn’t give him a break, though.

Elias clapped his son on the shoulder and insisted on helping carry his bags up to the dorms. He nearly slipped on the stairs four times. He dropped the bags twice. Alastair wanted to crawl into a hole by the time they arrived. His roommate was nowhere to be seen—likely they hadn’t arrived yet—so Alastair went to stand beside the bed nearest the window. His father dropped the bags to the floor beside the other bed.

“No, Father, this one,” he said, pointing.

Elias blinked at him. “This bed is closer to the door,” he told Alastair, speaking slowly as if the implications should be obvious.

“I know. I just—I want the one closer to the window is all,” Alastair stammered, face hot. What did it matter? In a minute his father would leave and he could take whichever bed he liked most.

“Closer to the door is safer,” Elias insisted, sitting down on the bed and folding his hands together. 

Alastair simply nodded, trying to play along. He might’ve gotten away with it, too, if the door hadn’t burst open at just that moment, revealing a slightly disheveled looking boy. Alastair assumed this was to be his roommate then.

“You’ve chosen your bed already then?” the boy said without preamble, nodding to where Alastair’s bags were sitting next to his father.

“He has,” Elias answered.

The boy nodded and swung his bags up to rest on the bed next to the window. Alastair swallowed thickly and said, “Thank you for your help, Father, but I think I’m alright now.”

Elias grinned. “Of course you are. I’ll be on my way then.” He stood and strode to the door, turning to say, “Goodbye, Alastair joon.” He disappeared into the stairwell.

Alastair turned to his roommate to find the boy was staring at him. “What was that he called you?” the boy questioned a bit rudely.

“Joon?” The boy nodded. “It’s Persian,” Alastair said hesitantly. “It’s just—something you call people you care about.”

The boy wrinkled his nose. “That’s weird.” Alastair flushed. Before he could defend himself, the boy stuck out a hand. “Piers Wentworth.”

Alastair took his hand. “Alastair Carstairs.”

Piers’ eyes widened. “Carstairs? As in—was that Elias Carstairs?”

Alastair nodded, confused at his tone. “He’s my father.”

“Your father?” Alastair nodded again. Piers dropped his hand. “I heard he spends most of his time at the bottom of a bottle.”

Before Alastair could process the words fully, Piers pushed past him and was gone from their room. When the words hit him, Alastair picked up the first thing he could find—a volume of poetry from his bag—and threw it as hard as he could at the wall.

---

Alastair wasn’t sure when he started to become numb. He thought it might’ve been sometime during winter, when Augustus Pounceby kicked him down the stairs and he broke two ribs. Or perhaps it was after that, when Piers locked him out of their room overnight and he slept curled up in an alcove, waking to find Augustus and his friends crowded around him, laughing. 

All he knew was that it was a slap in the face the first time he heard his sister’s name come out of one of their mouths. It was Augustus who had said it—said something so awful Alastair’s mind had blocked it out immediately. All he registered was Cordelia and danger. 

That was the last straw.

He’d grown used to their abuse, to their snide comments and kicks and punches, but if there was one thing that could snap him out of this it was his determination to protect his sister. She was too young, too kind, for this. He wasn’t too numb not to protect her a bit longer.

The next day when Augustus and his gang cornered Alastair again, he made sure there was a clear sight of some of the dregs—the mundane students. Alastair had tried to befriend them as well. They had turned him away, exclaiming that they didn’t realize they allowed people like him in the school. What should he care if a few of them were hurt to save himself and his sister?

The moment Augustus looked like he was going to make his move, Alastair made his, raining down insult after witty insult on the small group of dregs watching on. Augustus stared at him in surprise, then burst into laughter, even joining in once he regained his balance. Piers was there too, and Clive—soon enough the whole lot of them had turned their attention from Alastair and were focused solely on those poor mundanes.

It happened again, and again. Soon enough, Augustus and his friends weren’t seeking Alastair out to kick him around—they were seeking him out for help in their own schemes.

Is this who I’ve become? Alastair wondered faintly as Clive pulled him along down a corridor, speaking rapidly about a prank they were going to play on a few of the girls.

The numbness began to creep back in, diluting the anger and pain of which he’d long been so afraid.

---

Things were different, certainly, when Alastair returned from the Academy. Cordelia managed to pry some of it out of him, but he couldn’t allow her to see the full picture. That would mean telling her about their father’s drinking, and even he wasn’t so selfish as to tell her that yet. 

The years passed, and Alastair allowed that numb shell to solidify and thicken, dampening the swirling mass of indignation and heartbreak that lay beneath. 

And then he met Charles Fairchild.

Or, really, he met Charles again. They had seen each other—talked, even—at various Shadowhunter functions whenever the Carstairs were near London or whenever the Fairchilds were traveling to an Institute near them. Alastair had always picked Charles out effortlessly at such events, with his slicked back red hair and piercing green eyes.

Alastair knew better than to pretend he did not find Charles attractive. It had been no secret to himself that he preferred men—he’d known it since before the Academy, really. But it also wasn’t as if he’d had any opportunity to act on it. 

So, when he was sixteen and in Paris for a few months, when he saw Charles again and the man dropped one too many thinly veiled hints, Alastair allowed himself to be swept away by the romance of it all—the mystery and charm and utter newness that came with Charles and all he represented.

It was wonderful those first months. Perhaps not what Alastair had expected. He supposed he hadn’t thought there would be quite so many rules, but Charles was very insistent. No one could suspect a thing. It was exhilarating.

Until it wasn’t.

He didn’t know when, exactly, it shifted from exciting and new to tedious and tense. Perhaps it was when Charles became engaged to Ariadne. Perhaps it was after the first dozen or so broken promises. Perhaps it was when Alastair realized a life with Charles was a life with doors shut and curtains drawn.

But who was he to complain? That was life, wasn’t it? Few people in the world were lucky enough to have a perfect whirlwind romance, and those who did often left others in the dust. 

And Charles liked Alastair, had told him he loved him. He smiled at Alastair and didn’t act like he was a waste of space. 

So while that numb shell stayed firmly in place to keep everyone else away, Alastair propped open a back door for Charles to come and go in his life as he pleased.

They didn’t see each other as often as Alastair would have liked, and when they were apart they didn’t risk sending letters—“Letters can be intercepted! Opened and read without your consent,” Charles had explained—but that didn’t stop Alastair from dreaming of a time when they could be together without the strings of society attached.

He dreamed of a time when he could feel again.

So he let the little things slide. When Charles and Ariadne didn’t split up when Charles had said they would, Alastair just said, “Next time.” When Charles chose Clave meeting after Clave meeting over Alastair, Alastair simply attended the meetings himself for a chance to see Charles. 

And when Charles pushed him away at every oncoming footstep, every creak of the floorboard, Alastair pretended not to see the fear and shame in his eyes.

---

Alastair decided that Thomas Lightwood was the single most lovely person to have ever existed on the planet.

He also decided that he must be loopy from the exhaustion of the day because he’d never been prone to such sickeningly sweet thoughts before.

But he couldn’t deny it either. There was something in the way he wore his heart on his sleeve that made Thomas so approachable, so loveable.

Alastair found himself wishing he could bottle up this whole day and carry it around with him wherever he went. This whole murder trial business was far more bearable with Thomas there with him.

And yet—all good things must come to an end. Alastair knew it, perhaps better than anyone. And this… this was too good a thing to last very long.

Alastair did not wish to hurt Thomas. Thomas was good and kind and all the things Alastair never had been. Beyond all possible expectations, Thomas had entered the small group of people for which Alastair would do anything. 

Even if it meant pushing him away.

Thomas was grieving. Alastair knew that. He knew that it was messing with Thomas’ head, making him act more recklessly and crave things that were bad for him. Alastair didn’t want to be bad for Tom—he wanted desperately to be good for him. But that couldn’t happen until things changed.

If they ever did.

If anyone would ever be willing to step forward and claim their feelings for him without fearing embarrassment or shame. If anyone would ever be willing to open the door for him and let him step out into the light.

At this point it was almost second nature to pull away from his touch, turn his eyes down and let the lies roll off his tongue. If he closed his eyes, he could almost ignore the sound of his own heart cracking.

As he strode away from him—from that single loveliest person to have ever existed—Alastair wondered if this would do it, if this would be the thing to push him over the edge and break something in him that couldn’t be fixed. 

He could feel it—feel the gears inside him grinding to a halt and shutting down. Soon there would be nothing but rust left behind, and he would be blown away by the wind.

[tags - @littlx-songbxrd @anarmorofwords @foxglove-airmid @barbra-lightwood @lifewouldbebetteronmars @imherongraystairstrash @itsdaughterofthemoon @stxr-thxif @knifescythe @axoloteca ; i just used my standard taglist, sorry if you didn’t want to be tagged <3]

[holden-norgorov]

Everything we know about Amalia True so far

Spoilers of the first 4 episodes of The Nevers under the cut.

On August 3rd, 1896 she attempted to commit suicide by drowning herself and was Touched right after. It's still unclear whether she actually succeeded at it, with the Touch transferring an alien consciousness inside her lifeless body and completely taking over her, or whether the Touch awakened also her previous consciousness back to life and her body is now hosting two different sentient beings.

She seems to always be sleeping on the floor, in the same exact spot and position.

Her known Turn is Ripplings, which grant her the ability to see glimpses into the future. We know not every Rippling she experiences actually comes true (e.g. Maladie assaulting her on the balcony of the theatre in E01) and that her Turn seems to be connected to a sort of hand tic whose actual purpose is still unclear (it may vary from being just a way for the character to handle anxiety/PTSD, or to stay in touch with the present while seeing the future, to being a way through which she can actually control when to have Ripplings or even what to see). It's also still quite unclear whether she can prevent her Ripplings from coming true at all (in E04, she decides not to bring Desiree to Massen's mansion just because her Rippling showed her she was going there alone, even though bringing Desiree was clearly the smartest thing to do - or at least, that's what the writing wanted us to draw from it).

She knows at least Chinese, Russian and Turkish enough to grasp that Myrtle is speaking those languages.

She is a skilled fighter in hand-to-hand combat and she's also likely an expert on weaponry.

She tells the Beggar King that "this isn't her real face" while he's holding a blade to her cheek.

She can tell Massen has a past in the military just by looking in his eyes.

"Trouble makes her troublesome". It's likely she finds some kind of solace/catharsis in violence because "she knows where she is during a fight", while her PTSD, her Turn and her unique position as someone who was "left behind" with an unclear mission to accomplish probably make her feel constantly stripped of control. ("You think anything here has to do with what I wish?", E03).

She knows Mary is the Voice of the Galan-.

She admits she isn't from "here" and that the city's maps (as they are in the present, at least) are incomprehensible to her.

Before the Touch, she was a baker and had a husband who was a butcher. Her husband died in unmentioned circumstances some time before 1899. It's also hinted at during E02 that her husband might have been abusive or violent towards her (it's clear that she is also thinking about herself while talking to Mundi about Maladie being a victim of abuse and mingling pain with pleasure).

She is referred to by Maladie as "the woman who sheds her skin". Amalia asks if she was talking about her dress at the Opera, and Maladie replies that she is talking about her relationships. It's unclear whether this reference might also contain another meaning (more literal perhaps) that we still ignore.

She is called "Molly" by Maladie. It's still unclear whether Molly is just a short nickname for Amalia that Maladie gave her when they were friends (which would mean that Maladie knows her only as Amalia) or whether Molly is the actual identity she knows her as (maybe her real name from where/when they come from).

She shares a background with Maladie and knows her as "Sarah". She had to do a difficult choice and it's implied that said choice "created Maladie". She also states that her mission apparently doesn't need either herself or Maladie, but needs both Mary and Penance. We know Mary is the Voice of the Galan-, while Penance may be destined to create something important with her Turn (maybe rebuilding the Ship)? Still, Amalia is careful to shoot both herself and Maladie in such a way as to avoid for the wounds to be fatal. This might indicate that she was just gaining time for Mundi to arrive, and that Maladie is also needed for the mission (we'll have to see if Amalia is going to save her from being executed in the next episode).

She shoots herself in a specific spot in order to avoid hitting any vital organ, but as it turns out later she actually fails at doing so. This might support both the theory that she is an alien in a human body (doesn't know human anatomy that much) or that she is a human from the distant future (where evolution has progressed in such a way as to dispose of the vital organ she hit here because it would turn out to become useless for the survival of future generations).

It's suggested that she tells Penance everything about herself and her mission some time between E02 and E03 ("there's lots I'll need explained, but let's just be alive for a while now").

At the beginning of E03, she slaps herself in front of a mirror and seems to be staring at herself as if she's tired of wearing that face, or maybe even disgusted by it.

Horatio explicitly reveals here that Amalia is a soldier, even though we already had several hints that pointed to that in the previous episodes. She replies that she is a killer just like Maladie, which ties to Bonfire Annie saying to Horatio that Amalia and Maladie are actually quite similar in E04.

Amalia mentions being Horatio's "mistake". It's unclear if she's talking about Horatio cheating on his wife with her, or if it's about something deeper. However, we know that Amalia was present when Horatio discovered he was Touched.

She mentions to George that Mary wouldn't recognize any of the songs she knows (because she is not from "here") and later says she has already experience with the device Penance is currently inventing, recognizing it as an "amplifier". This definitely establishes that Amalia's consciousness comes from the future.

She reveals to Mary that right after August 3rd, 1896 she "woke up knowing things that she shouldn't and was declared insane". This suggests the background we know Amalia and Maladie share be from the asylum Maladie was being brought in exactly the day the Ship appeared over London. Later on, we get confirmation of this when Maladie recalls that Horatio was working as a doctor at that asylum while she and Amalia were both kept there. So Amalia, Maladie and Horatio seem to be the only members of the Touched who share an unknown background together that occurred between 1896 and 1899, and Penance is probably the only one currently at the Orphanage who has been provided with indirect knowledge of this.

She reveals that "we don't do [funerals] when I'm from, there's not enough time and there's not enough ground". This seems to imply that in the future most of the currently available land will be buried under the ever-growing levels of sea (while on the other hand population growth is likely going to gradually increase), or might simply suggest people die at enormous rates and there's just no time to mourn. She also makes it clear that she believes she was abandoned here by herself, and even raises the doubt that her original body host in the future might not be female.

It's heavily implied by Massen that she had previously foreseen Mary's death in the park during an unshown Rippling, and her reaction to that accusation seems to confirm that.

She confesses to Lucy that something went wrong during August 3rd, 1896 and that "it wasn't supposed to be like this" and she "just got left behind". This, combined with the conversation she had with Penance earlier, suggests that Amalia ignore the Ship crashed somewhere in London instead of fleeing away, as it was likely planned to do. So, Maladie seems to be the only one who knows about the crashing, which might explain why she also believes to have a mission which is different from Amalia's (as in, Maladie might have held as a mission all along that of finding the remains of the Ship and building it back to escape and carry out the original plan, while Amalia's plan might have nothing to do with escaping and everything to do with training the Touched to accomplish something in this place and time, since she doesn't know the Ship didn't leave her behind but actually crashed).

She discovers she isn't alone in her mission only when presented with the translation of the Voice of the Galan- made it possible thanks to Myrtle. She is referred to as a lonely soldier wearing stripes and is told by an unidentified someone (who was talking through Mary) that she wasn't actually abandoned.

[thatscarletflycatcher]

I really, really, really dislike the Fanny as the schemer theory here, because S&S more like any other Austen novel, is focused so heavily in the objectification of women by men, specially in economic terms.

You don't need a Fanny to persuade Mr Dashwood Sr to give it all to his great grand nephew; he's doing it all on his own because he's charmed by a little boy, and because he thinks his nephew will live long enough to provide himself for the women dependent on him; he only sees the other men, and the women exist as their extensions, unseen and undervalued in their labor. Edit: is a bit like when Aragorn tells Eowyn in The Lord of the Rings that there may come a time where women will have to fight after the men are killed, and Eowyn retorts that that is rather saying that women have leave to be burned with bed and home because the men no longer need them. The "what if he dies" is no concern for Mr Dashwood Sr.

Even when Fanny does scheme with John, it's because John wants to be persuaded and knows Fanny will manage to soothe his conscience. We are told he spend several days thinking he'd give them a thousand pounds each. What was stopping him from just doing it? That he really didn't want to and was putting it off.

Both Fanny and Lucy succeed in this game because they do manipulate men by catering to their ego and fancies. The only actually "powerful" women in this novel are widows without single daughters (Mrs Jennings, Mrs. Smith, and Mrs Ferrars).

Further into the novel, we see Willoughby treat women as sources of income (Mrs Smith and Miss Grey) or entertainment (Eliza Williams and Marianne). Eliza Sr. is used for her fortune by her warden and his older son, and in her unhappiness she's used and discarded for sex, first by a lover, and later (implied) by clients as a prostitute. To a lesser degree, even Sir John and Mr Palmer married women for their beauty/elegance, without apparently one care for an intellectual or emotional connection, even at the level of ideals (Sir John is sociable and boisterous, lady Middleton is insipid and socially conscious; Mr Palmer and Mrs Palmer, the reverse).

It is in this context why Edward Ferrars' refusal to break his engagement to Lucy is so important and heroic (and why I get so mad about people arguing "but his happiness is important! Elinor's happiness is important! It was idiotic to stay in a situation that was only going to bring unhappiness for everyone!); as far as he is concerned, Lucy depended on him and had invested her best marriageable years on him. When a woman's comfort depends so heavily and exclusively on men choosing to do right by them, Edward sticking to his word is huge, and not a silly concession to convention; it means he will do what is right, even when it does not benefit him. Elinor, being much younger and in a socially higher position than Lucy, even in her "genteel" poverty, has better chances of marrying decently well.

Of all the Austen heroes, Brandon and Edward are the only ones that are specifically considered to be plain, in both physical beauty and personal charm; Edward is poor by himself, and for a non-clergyman, Brandon isn't super rich (he's less wealthy than Darcy, or Bingley, or Knightley... I'm not sure if we are ever told how rich Wentworth is); he's inherited a estate of about the worth of Longbourn, but that his brother had mismanaged and was probably tied in debt. I think this is specially so to highlight that the one thing they have going for themselves, that is, their respect, care and concern for the welfare of women they have nothing to gain from -and other vulnerable people- is hugely important, the main thing that matters. And it is a thing that isn't tied to temperament or ideals (Edward being reserved and unsentimental, Brandon being romantic and emotional).

Sure, Lucy and Fanny are (IMO) the most hateable female "villains" of the Austen canon after Mrs Norris, but I think shifting all or most of the evils of the story into their shoulders obscures this aspect of the novel, that I don't think can be read as accidental. Austen can give you a story where she is pointing out the power evil and just selfish men can have over women AND at the same time have bad women in it too.

In S&S I’ve always been puzzled why Elinor’s and Marianne’s great uncle tied up his estate in such a way as to leave them in such a desperate financial state. Then it finally occurred to me that Fanny probably had been dropping hints in his ear about Henry Dashwood making plans to break up the estate or sell the hardwoods. Whether he actually intended any of this, I could definitely see Fanny scheming to tie it all up on her son’s behalf. If this were so, she must have been pretty mad that John Dashwood had promised Henry that he would be generous to the girls - thereby undermining her years of plotting. Thank goodness she could talk him out of his better impulses!

The start of Sense & Sensibility always bugs me because it's just too realistic for my taste. I've heard this story even today, the child who spends years caring for their ailing parent unrecognized in a will. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dashwood devote 10 years to Uncle Dashwood's care. During that time, John leaves home and only occasionally visits along with his wife and child.

The whole was tied up for the benefit of this child, who, in occasional visits with his father and mother at Norland, had so far gained on the affections of his uncle, by such attractions as are by no means unusual in children of two or three years old; an imperfect articulation, an earnest desire of having his own way, many cunning tricks, and a great deal of noise, as to outweigh all the value of all the attention which, for years, he had received from his niece and her daughters.

Little Harry Dashwood is the logical heir to Norland eventually, he is after all from a direct male line, but in favour of this male inheritance, Uncle Dashwood passes over the women who "gave him every degree of solid comfort which his age could receive; and the cheerfulness of the children added a relish to his existence."

I think the point Jane Austen was trying to make is that women's work is being discounted in favour of continuing the male inheritance system. Mrs. Dashwood was running the household for Uncle Dashwood, but he does not seem to actual value (in monetary terms) what she has done. Instead, he passes it all on to a boy who doesn't really need it.

As for Fanny, I have no doubt that she would be dropping hints, but it does seem like she just pointed her baby at Uncle Dashwood and won. Low effort victory.

[eliotquillon]

HIVE TIMELINE TWO, ELECTRIC BOOGALOO (Updated and reworked for Bloodline; spoilers ahead!)

It's a year since my original HIVE timeline (which you can read here and is obviously pre-Bloodline), and how things have changed. Well...kind of. I was expecting more of my timeline to crumple under the weight of eight years' worth of continuity errors but, unlike most of my pre-Bloodline fic, my 2020 timeline has stayed somewhat intact. However, in light of Nessa's excellent post that used the Bloodline prologue to figure out Raven's birthday with a scary amount of accuracy, I've decided that somewhat intact just isn't enough. Lo and behold...find the C ottomalpense new and improved H.I.V.E. timeline under the cut. This is just my interpretation of the canon timeline; because Walden contradicts himself constantly when it comes to age and continuity, most of these dates are educated guesses and any other interpretations are more than valid. Bloodline spoilers below.

PART ONE: RAVEN

In my original timeline, I used two anchor dates: Otto's 13th birthday being August 29th 1993, and Raven being 16 in the 'fifteen years earlier' Hong Kong flashback, making her 31 in Aftershock/Deadlock. Using the age difference between her and Otto, I counted backwards to give Raven a birth year of 1979. Otto's birthday still holds up, but Bloodline has since made it clear that Raven was 15 in Hong Kong. Therefore, several options presented themselves in order to salvage the rest of the timeline.

Option 1: Raven was indeed born in 1979, and Hong Kong takes place in 1994. This would make her 27 in H.I.V.E., given that she has a September birthday and H.I.V.E. takes place between September-December 2006. However, this means Raven that if Raven is 30 in Aftershock/Deadlock, there are only three years between the first seven books....something that canon vaguely supports given Shelby's "I've waited three years for you two to get together" comment to Laura and Otto in Deadlock, but feels very, very unrealistic given the number of time skips and the sheer volume of things that happen in the first seven books. My original timeline was created to get rid of the stasis in canon and give a better sense of the progression of time between books. Keeping Raven's birth year as 1979 undermines that.

Option 2: Raven was born in 1981, Hong Kong takes place in 1996, and she is 25 in H.I.V.E., meaning that there's exactly five years between H.I.V.E and Aftershock. This supports my earlier placement of Aftershock being the start of fifth year, but 25 feels kind of...young? It also hinges on Raven knowing her exact birth date before she finds out that Nero is her father, which I personally don't think Bloodline supports - Nero didn't know her birthday, and I think if Raven did know, she would've told him pre-Bloodline.

Option 3: Raven was born in 1980, Hong Kong takes place in 1995, and she is 26 in H.I.V.E., but, because she doesn't know her birth date, she celebrates her birthday on New Year's Eve. So while Raven would technically be 31 in Aftershock, she would still consider herself 30 until the end of the year, as would Nero. This gives a little bit more leeway with her age, reduces the number of changes in the overall timeline, and accounts for the overall unreliability of both Raven and Nero's narration in the flashback scenes - given that one of them had been traumatised so thoroughly that she had recurring psychotic episodes just months before that scene, and the other had his memory tampered with to the point where he misremembered the date of worst day of his life.

I personally opted for Option 3, making Raven's new birthday 3rd-6th September 1980. She is 33 in the Bloodline epilogue. Therefore Hong Kong still takes place in 1995.

PART TWO: OTTO

This is just a rehash of my last timeline, but for clarity's sake: Otto being an August 1993 birthday makes him one of the youngest in his year, meaning that everyone else (Lucy, Wing*, Nigel, Franz, Shelby, Laura, and Penny) were all 1992/3 babies. Bloodline takes place right at the end of his final year (meaning I correctly predicted that it would be set in 2012), making him 19. Something I forgot to mention in my original timeline is that Tom is described as being a few years older than Penny in H.I.V.E., but given that Tom isn't really alive for long enough to present me with an issue timeline wise, I'm just going to let that one slide. The Bloodline epilogue thus takes place in 2013.

As always, I am ignoring Rogue's claim that Otto is 13, because it doesn't make sense in any context (if Otto really is 13, it means he magically ages three years in Zero Hour and Aftershock according to Walden's own implication that Otto is 16 by Aftershock...which I'm also ignoring, but whatever). Laura still choosing between universities in September 2013 is weird, because either she is very, very late for the 2013 academic year, or very, very early for the 2014 one, but, again, I am ignoring it. Essentially, nothing meaningful has changed for any of the student ages between this timeline and the 2020 one.

PART THREE - NERO

This is where it gets interesting. This time last year, my Nero section was just speculation. I was, uh, very off, and did not account for how early Nero knocked Elena up. That was on me. My bad!

Nero is in his early 20s when Elena is murdered. If we take the year to be 1980, and early 20s to mean anything between 20-24, we can get an approximate birth year of 1956-1960. I'm going to average that to 22, making Nero's birth year 1958. He's a practically spritely 48 in H.I.V.E, and 55 in the Bloodline epilogue.

(Also, I am treating the 'thirty years' in the 'thirty years ago' flashback to be an estimate. Nero has memory issues and also thirty years has a much better ring to it than thirty-two.)

PART FOUR - DIABOLUS

We can't talk about Nero without mentioning Diabolus because I, for one, have been haunted by the knowledge that Nero taught Diabolus for years. However, assuming Nero immediately joins the H.I.V.E. teaching staff in 1980 following Elena's death, he is 22. If Diabolus is a first year student, we can give him a birth year of 1966/7. That said, I tend to think Diabolus is a little bit older than that, given how close he and Nero are in Hong Kong, so if we age him up to a third year in Nero's first year of teaching, that makes him 15/16 with a birth year of 1964/5. There's only 6/7 years between him and Nero, leaving plenty of time for them to become close friends by Hong Kong, during which Nero is 37 and Diabolus is approaching 30. That means Diabolus had Nigel at 27/28.

PART FIVE - THE OVERLORD INCIDENT AND XIU MEI

The Overlord Incident (henceforth the OI) is the bane of my existence. There's no mention of Raven in the original flashback in the Overlord Protocol, implying that she wasn't around yet, but it's referenced as still being a work in progress in Hong Kong. Again, this is a rehash of my previous timeline, but the Deadlock interpretation doesn't work; regardless of anything else, Wing was definitely born in 1992/3 in order to be in the same year as Otto, and either Wing or Raven would be too young for the OI to occur after Hong Kong (Raven was only 13 in 1993 in this interpretation of events, and this is one that puts her on the older side - there's an argument to be made for her being born in 1983, which would make her 10). Ergo, in this timeline, the OI precedes Hong Kong.

As mentioned, Wing had to have been born in 1993 at the latest, and the evidence suggests that he's most likely one of the older kids in their year, pointing to a 1992 birthday, meaning Xiu Mei got pregnant by January 1992 at the earliest. There must be time allowed for the following to occur between Wing and Otto's births and the OI: survivors of the OI to start going missing, Xiu Mei and Wu Zhang /Cypher to marry and move to Japan in order to escape persecution, and Overlord to get enough soft power over Number One to convince him to start trying to produce a clone of himself to be his successor. At earliest this can be 1991. I, however, think that it's more likely to be January 1990, given Overlord's comments about how much Number One initially resisted having his brain hijacked. This is the same as my previous timeline.

Unlike my previous timeline, however, I'm also going to attempt to estimate the year of Xiu Mei's death. While the Overlord Protocol does not explicitly state this, it can be inferred that Nero receives Xiu Mei's locket and letter after she is murdered by Overlord for investigating the Renaissance project. Nero receives the locket "many years" before Overlord Protocol (which takes place roughly in Spring/Summer of 2007), but Xiu Mei was also presumed "long dead" already when he received it as a result of the OI. This puts 17 years between Xiu Mei's faked death and Nero's reminiscence over the locket and letter in 2007 after the assassination attempt in Vienna. Xiu Mei can't have died before Wing was at least 5 years old, given the strong memories he has of her and the fact that he made a promise to her not to kill anyone, so I'm tentatively putting Xiu Mei's real death at 2001, when Wing would've been 9. This leaves just enough time for Cypher to establish himself as a thorn in Nero's side, and for his relationship with Wing the deteriorate to what we see in the Overlord Protocol.

PART SIX - OTHER

I've been meaning to do the maths on this for a while, but H.I.V.E.mind was officially brought online April 10th, 2006! (He'd been online for four months, three weeks, and two days by September 1st.) Nero really was paranoid after the OI.

Brexit doesn't occur in the H.I.V.E.verse, because Duncan Cavendish (David Cameron) resigns in 2010, AKA way, way, before the rise of UKIP and the 2016 referendum. The Iraq war, however, does - Tony Blair is heavily, heavily implied to be the prime minister in 2006.

Not really timeline related, but the fact that both Otto and Raven are Virgos is enough to make me shudder.

TL;DR - THE (FINAL???) TIMELINE

1950-59: The Furan siblings are born at some point. Two siblings are twins, presumably Elena and Anastasia or Anastasia and Pietor. At some point, they are owed a blood debt by the Sinistres.

1958: Nero is born.

Early 1960s: H.I.V.E. is founded, most likely by Nero's mother.

1964-5: Diabolus Darkdoom is born.

Late 1970s: Elena and Nero start their affair.

1980: Elena is murdered by Pietor. Raven is born. Nero has his memory of Raven's survival forcibly erased by Francesca Sinistre, clearing the blood debt between the Furan and Sinistre families.

1980s: Diabolus Darkdoom and Duncan Cavendish attend and graduate H.I.V.E. Diabolus and Nero become friends.

1989: Raven runs away from her orphanage.

1990: The Overlord Incident takes place, leaving three named survivors: Nero, Xiu Mei, and Wu Zhang. Overlord begins to assert control over Number One.

1991: Raven is found by the Furans and brought to the Glasshouse. Wu Zhang and Xiu Mei marry and immigrate to Japan after survivors of the Overlord Incident start going missing.

1992: Presumably the year Raven claws out Pietor's eye and gets shot in the woods, it is also the point at which Overlord/Number One most likely starts considering cloning himself. In the final quarter of the year, some students - most likely Wing, Shelby, and possibly Laura - are born.

1993: Otto and the rest of the students in his year are born.

1994: Likely the year Dimitri's escape attempt fails, and Raven is forced to murder Tolya. Also presumably when H.I.V.E.'s Icelandic location became dangerously compromised, and Nero starts seriously considering plans to move. At this point his mother is dead.

1995: Nero and Diabolus go to Hong Kong to meet with the Architect, and thwart Raven's assassination attempt. Raven eventually defects to G.L.O.V.E., and the first Glasshouse burns.

1996-2000: Construction on H.I.V.E. 2.0 is completed. Nero starts work on the emergency Zero Hour protocol.

2001: Xiu Mei is murdered by Overlord for asking too many questions about the Renaissance initiative. Wu Zhang becomes Cypher. Nero receives his half of the amulet, and Xiu Mei's letter.

2001-2005: Lucy's parents die of unknown causes. Diabolus Darkdoom falsifies his death to escape execution for getting too close to the Renaissance initiative, possibly after divorcing his wife first. Otto drops out of school and starts scamming local business to repair St Sebastian's. At some point Pike convinces Nero to try AI again. Number One's will is entirely consumed by Overlord.

2006: H.I.V.E.mind goes online. Pike's experiment to give Ms Leon the same reflexes as her cat goes horribly wrong, leaving them both trapped in the wrong body. Shelby becomes the Wraith and makes headlines for stealing millions of dollars' worth of jewellery. Laura is caught hacking the nearby American air base's early nuclear warning system. Otto hypnotises the current prime minister, allowing Duncan Cavendish to come into power. During a failed escape attempt from H.I.V.E., several hundred million pounds' worth of damage is caused to H.I.V.E. by Nigel's experimental crossbreed plant, Violet.

2007: Cypher fakes his death as Mao Fanchu in order to lure Wing to Tokyo, and the Contessa betrays Nero. Nero keeps Cypher alive, unbeknownst to Number One, and starts to have suspicions about Number One/Overlord for the first time. By the end of August, everyone is fourteen, and first year is over.

2008: H.O.P.E. is formed, and Nero is captured in either April or May whilst meeting with Gregori Leonov. Three months later, he is rescued by Otto, Raven, and the gang. The Contessa and Number One/Overlord die. Laura and Otto kiss, but nothing comes of it. Diabolus resurfaces from the dead to be elected head of G.L.O.V.E.'s ruling council. At some point in late August to early September, Otto, Wing, Shelby and Laura first encounter the animus fluid on a train to Paris whilst on a mission to recover a stolen thermoptic camouflage suit. As a result of the Contessa's death, Lucy Dexter is transferred to H.I.V.E. at the start of third year, at which point everyone is fifteen. Following the hijacking of Dreadnought, and an encounter with Pietor Furan, the animus fluid, and the Disciples, Otto is captured by American forces after saving Air Force One and the US president. He is then turned over to H.O.P.E.

2009: Assassinations of key members of G.L.O.V.E.'s ruling council take place at the hands of Otto, now under the influence of animus. Raven is given executive privilege to kill him if necessary. Otto confesses his love to Laura. Following a confrontation in the Amazon jungle, Cypher, Ghost, and Trent all die. H.O.P.E. is destroyed. Otto feigns memory loss of everything that occurred under animus. By the end of the year, everyone is sixteen.

2010: Laura's brother, Douglas, is born. Otto has continual and repeated nightmares and is the subject of rumours. Overlord takes control of the Advanced Weapons' Testing Facility in Colorado. The Zero Hour protocol is activated. Wing and Shelby get together. Chief Lewis and Lucy Dexter die. Pietor Furan is killed by Raven. Nero becomes head of G.L.O.V.E. Duncan Cavendish is forced to resign. The Architect is contacted by Anastasia Furan through a proxy, and construction of the new Glasshouse is completed. Following the appointment of Security Chief Dekker, Laura is blackmailed into betraying the location of the Hunt after Tom and Penny's recruitment to H.I.V.E. Joseph Wright and several former members of the ruling council are offered the help of Disciples'. All of the Alpha stream save Shelby, Otto, Franz, and Wing are taken captive. Otto is expelled, and joined Raven on the hunt for the location of the new Glasshouse. By the end of the year, everyone is seventeen.

2011: Raven and Otto take down several Disciples, most notably visiting Dubai, London, and Paris. In Venice, they are pursued by the CIA after tracking down the Architect with the help of Diabolus Darkdoom. Tom dies. The new Glasshouse is stormed and destroyed, again. Laura is given the choice as to whether she wants to stay at H.I.V.E. or not, and decides to stay. Anastasia Furan is taken hostage in Nero's basement storage facility. The Disciples' countdown for the new batch of hostages starts at 99 days. By the end of the school year, everyone is eighteen.

2012: The majority of Otto and the gang's final year goes smoothly. Franz starts working out and loses weight, becoming conventionally attractive. A few days shy of graduation, the clone known as Anna becomes loose. Otto reconvenes with the CIA and is allowed access to the last remaining batch of the animus fluid. Francesca Sinistre dies. It is revealed to Nero by Anastasia that he is Raven's father. Raven kills Anastasia. Otto stays behind to destroy H.I.V.E. and dies. His consciousness is transferred to a cloning vat by H.I.V.E.mind. Everyone is nineteen.

2013: Construction on the new H.I.V.E. facility is already underway. Raven finds out her birthday. Shelby and Wing set up an orphanage, implied to be in Africa, for war orphans in Otto's honour. Franz is an instructor at the temporary facility. Laura gets in to MIT and Oxford. In early September, Otto shows up on her doorstep.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Smalltown Bringdown 3

Warnings: blood, violence, groping, more to be added.

This is dark!biker!Bucky and explicit. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Summary: Your new job does not offer the stability you crave.

Note: So, I’m thinking 4 to 5 chapters. I had another migraine last night which meant an early sleepy time for me. I work today so I’ll be running around as you guys get to read this! To those who take the time to read, thank you. Love you guys!

Please, leave some feedback, like and reblog <3

Your mother wasn’t happy about your new job. Neither were you. Yet, you couldn’t tell her why you accepted the job at The Asp or what Bucky said; what he had implied. You fed her some tripe about the pay and benefits and you didn’t lie when you said it was all you could get. He made sure of that.

You were dressed all in black; jeans, long-sleeved tee, a pair of narrow toed boots. You were nervous. You liked The Saucer because it was quaint, you dreaded The Asp because it was anything but. A biker bar, the seediest place in town where boozers and gamblers alike spent their cheques. Your mother always told you to avoid the place. For good reason; your father had never returned from that very bar.

You ran your hands along your stomach and down your thighs. You took a breath and pulled on your jacket as you turned away from the mirror. Your mother was in the kitchen, just home from work. You walked through and Ash danced at your feet. The speckled Dachsund always thought a coat meant he was going on an adventure.

“Before you leave,” Your mother said as she wiped her hands.

“Not really hungry, mom,” You grumbled.

“I know, I know,” She rounded the counter and grabbed her purse. “It’s not food… for once.”

She pulled out a small cylinder and held it out.

“Is that mace?” You chuckled.

“Oh yeah,” She shoved it into your hand. “Any of those boys start giving you a hard time, you give ‘em an extra spray for me.”

“Mom.” You shook your head. She wasn’t making you any less nervous.

“Ash has a good sixth sense. He didn’t like that man one bit,” She crossed her arms. “And I’m inclined to share the sentiment.”

“Mom, look, this is what I got,” You grabbed your own bag and dropped the mace inside. “And you know if I got him as my shadow, no one else is gonna give me anything.”

“You be careful, honey,” She grabbed your shoulders and drew you close. “Maybe… apply to college again.”

“Mom, it’s a little late for that and you know I can’t afford it.” You hugged her and pulled away. “I can handle myself. I have so far.”

“God,” She touched her forehead. “You sound like your father.”

You stuck your tongue out at her and went to the door. 

“Mom,” You turned back, “I love you. It’ll be okay.”

“Love you, too,” She said glumly, “I’ll leave your dinner in the stove.”

“Alright,” You took a step out into the hall, “Thanks.”

💀

It was almost dark out as you walked up to The Asp. You stood across the street and looked up at the moniker. Cleopatra was chipped and faded but her eyes shone beneath the spotlights. It was more Liz Taylor than the actual queen. You crossed the road and held your head up as best you could as approached the bouncer.

“Here for a job,” You said plainly. He didn’t bother to card you.

“I heard,” He grumbled as he pulled a smoke out. “The man’s in there somewhere. Waiting for you.”

“Thanks, Lonny,” You pushed through to the dim barroom. 

Lucy was pouring a pint at the bar for a man in a tattered flannel. He slid his money across and she returned his change. He tossed a few coins over the wood and took a swig. You neared and leaned a few feet away from the man. Lucy wiped her hands on the towel tucked into her apron tied around her rounding stomach. A pregnant barmaid was a peculiar sight.

“Hey, didn’t believe him when he said you were starting,” She smiled as she waved you around. “Grab an apron,” She pointed to the pegs along the wall. You grabbed a plain black smock and tied it around your waist; pockets big enough for a notebook and change, though it reached no further than the middle of your thigh. “I’ll show you the ropes; figure if I can get it, you can.”

“Figure you’re right,” You followed her behind the bar. You glanced at her faded roots that topped her yellowed bleach blond hair. Little different than the girl who’d gabbed loudly in the back of your Lit class. 

“Beer,” She pointed to the shelf of pint glasses, “Wine,” She continued to the stemmed ones, “Whiskey, scotch, liquors. Me and Bobby do most of the pouring so you worry about beer and serving.”

“Alright,” You followed along and she turned around. 

“Just as they’re labeled,” She pointed to the taps. “This is water, soda,” She touched the hoses along the counter. “Grab a cloth and a tray. Looks like we’re startin’ to get our usual crowd.”

“Thanks,” You said and she gave you a mocking smile.

“Oh, and there’s a little closet just inside the kitchen. Put your stuff in there.” She advised.

You did as she said and took your small notebook and pen from your bag. You grabbed a round tray and a cloth from the stack of folded linen. You tucked it in your pocket along with your notebook and went back to the barroom. Lucy glanced over at you as she rubbed her stomach and nodded to the group of men around a table by the far wall.

You smiled at her and strutted around the bar. You recognized the man with his back to you. Steve Rogers sat with four other men, their voices a buzz that permeated the bar. You held back your venom as you approached and stopped just by his shoulder as you greeted them with your simulated cheer.

“Can I get ya anything?” You asked.

“Beer, the us--” Steve began but as he looked to you his voice died. He smirked. “Hey, doll.”

“Hello,” You said to the table. “So, what’s the usual?”

“Just a bud,” He turned in his chair and slung his arm over the back. “Well, pardon me, I just… seeing you here is… funny.”

“Funny.” You repeated. “That it is.” You looked to the rest of his party. “And the rest of you?”

“Coors,” Danny raised two fingers in a half salute and the rest of the men chimed in as you tallied their order in your head.

“Right, I’ll be back.”

You spun and felt a light pat on your ass. “Thanks, doll,” Steve said and you ignored him, not even missing a step.

You went to the bar and leaned your tray on it. “A Bud, two Coors, and two whiskey neat.” You said. “Extra foam on the bud if you can.”

She scoffed and went about her work. “That Steve’s silly but he means no harm.” She said.

“Mhmm,” You pursed your lips. “No harm at all, eh?”

She handed you the drinks one at a time and you set them on the tray.

“Really, not so bad here, once you get to know them,” She sang. “And it’s good to be on their side.”

“I’m sure,” You balanced the tray and turned away.

You returned to the table and smiled as best you could. You began to unload your drinks; whiskeys, Coors, then the single Bud. As you leaned in to set Steve’s pint before him, you felt another brush along your ass, followed by a pinch. You paused and sneered at him.

“Sorry, doll, hand slipped,” He smirked.

“Yeah?” You looked at his beer and dumped it in his lap. “Oops, hand slipped.”

He stood and the beer dripped down his jeans as he looked down in shock. The bar was silent but for his cursing and you backed up as he pulled the wet hem of tee away from his stomach. “You little bitch.”

“Sorry, it’s my first day,” You grinned. “I’m still getting the hang of things.”

“Don’t be fucking smart,” He lunged at you and grabbed your arm. Your tray clattered to the floor as he yanked you close. “You work for us now, means you belong to club. You belong to all of us.”

He turned you and gripped the back of your neck as he forced you against the table. He squeezed until you bent over and gasped in pain. 

“Get off of me!” You tried to kick out at him blindly.

“Do you know what that means? Hmm? Belonging to the club,” He slapped your ass with his other hand. “Boys, you wanna have some fun tonight?”

“She doesn’t belong to the club,” A deep voice cut through the dull music rising from the jukebox. The air stilled and you breathed heavily against the wood. “Let her go, Steve. I’m sure it was an accident.”

“She poured beer on me.” Steve growled.

“And you pinched her ass. Must have scared her and caused her to spill on you,” Bucky’s boots sounded across the floorboards as he neared. “It was an accident, wasn’t it, honey?”

He came up on your other side. 

“Y-yeah,” You sputtered. “Yeah. Like you said.”

“See?” Bucky said. “So, let her go.”

Steve released you roughly and huffed. You stood and Bucky bent to pick up your tray. He held it out to you and you took it with a mumbled thanks. 

“Steve, go get dried off and she’ll get you fresh pint,” He clapped his friend on the shoulder. “Oh, and let this be a warning.” He squeezed and looked around at his men. “She’s not the club’s. She’s mine. Any man finds his hands wandering and they might just find them gone.” He said through his teeth. “Got it?”

The men agreed at once, a flurry of ascent. You backed away and quickly retreated to the bar before he could turn his attention on you. Lucy’s eyes were wide as she watched you.

“I didn’t know were his,” She gaped. “You’re a lucky girl.”

“I’m not,” You snarled as leaned on the bar. “Go on, need that Bud.”

💀

At the end of the night, you cleaned up the empties and wiped the tables. You counted your tips and yawned as you zipped up the coins in your purse. You hung your apron and helped Lucy with the bar. You grabbed your jacket and signed the time sheet. She said her goodbye and waited for Bobby to finished in the kitchen. 

You headed for the door but were stopped by your name. You turned slowly as Bucky stood at the other end of the bar. “Gotta talk to you.” He said.

“About?” You asked.

“My office.” He replied. “Just work stuff.”

You tried not to roll your eyes and shrugged. He turned and you followed him across the barroom. He led you into a room opposite the restrooms. He waited for you to enter and was sure to close the door behind you. You paused and glanced over your shoulder. His hand rested on the knob as he watched you.

“Go on, sit,” He gestured to the leather chair that faced a desk. “You been on your feet all night.”

“To be fair,” You stayed where you were. “I’d rather just home and go to bed.”

“I know this isn’t home but the bed part I can accommodate.” He snickered. His arm rubbed against yours as he passed you and sat on the other side of the desk. “We gotta go over a few things about this job.”

You sighed and dragged your feet to the chair. You sat and crossed your legs as you hugged your purse. You stared at him without emotion.

“You understand those men didn’t try anything further because of my say so,” He pointed to the door. “Now, I could’ve let them and what do you think would happen? Who would stop it?”

You gulped and stay silent.

“You know the cops, they don’t come here for nothing more than a drink,” He shook his head. “Maybe a bit of pool but they don’t come here to work, you understand?”

“Yes,” You uttered quietly. “I understand.”

“I didn’t have to do that. Didn’t have to claim you but you went and poured that beer all over Steve. Like you want him to do something.” He laughed. “Trust me, you don’t want that.”

You looked away and shifted in the chair.

“But I did it because I don’t want anyone else touching you. As the leader of this club, I share many things, I make sure my men have what they need, but you are mine,” He said the last three words deliberately. “I know you don’t get it, not yet, but you will.”

“You’re fucked,” You hissed. “This place, is fucked. Who are you? King Shit of… Birch? Birch?! This pile of trash.”

“I’m the king of your world,” His jaw ticked. “Now, I can be… a kind king and patient even as you… adjust but you don’t talk to me like this in front of anyone. I mean it because the moment that tongue lashes out I’m gonna have to lash back.”

You shuddered and looked down at your purse. “I just…” You slowly looked up. “You tellin’ me you can’t get a woman who wants to be here? The standards around this town aren’t that high.”

“I can get anyone I want,” He smirked. “And I think you’re just realizing that, honey.”

The breath went out of you. The tone of his voice, the heat in his eyes. You struggled not to look away. You bit down. His eyes drifted down and his lips parted hungrily.

“We’re just about finished here but one more thing,” His voice was dusky. “There’s a dress code. Jeans and short sleeves. A nice hint of what’s beneath… skirts at the thigh.” He ran his tongue across his lip. “Now, you can go… should go before I change my mind.”

You stood. Your nerves bounced around your chest wildly. You gripped your purse and nodded. 

“Got it.” You muttered.

“Right. See you tomorrow night,” He sat back and pushed his legs apart. He winked at you as you neared the door. “You have a good one.”

“You too,” You eked out before you slipped out. 

You closed the door behind you and stumbled numbly through the barroom. You couldn’t get home quick enough.

💀

When you got home, your mother was asleep. You were thankful for it. She would ask you how your night was. You didn’t wanna talk about it. Ever. Didn’t want to think about the dread of those to come. The fear that bubbled in your stomach. So unfamiliar to you. Growing up in a small town, there wasn’t much to be afraid of because every day was the same.

You turned the stove on and waited for the ravioli in the glass pan to heat up. You took it out and sat alone at the table. The light overhead shone a spotlight on you as Ash snored in the hallway. You ate without tasting. You opened the book you’d left on the table and opened it to your mark. 

‘I'm as pure as the driven slush.’

You laughed to yourself and swallowed. Lu was right, Tallulah was funny. Cynical. And ballsy. You admired her. You wondered for a moment how she would deal with this life. With this town. Well, she never belonged in a small town, she would’ve found her way out.

You cleared your plate and rinsed it. You set it in the rack and checked the doors. They were locked. An old habit; some would call it a compulsion. They said in small towns people don’t lock their doors. In this one, they always did.

When you were a girl, your father gone, the reason obscured from you, you imagined it was the monsters that hid in the night who took him from you. In a way, that was true.

You were tired but restless. You couldn’t help but hear Bucky’s words in your head. See his eyes staring back at you; menacing and dilated. A predator tracking its prey. That’s what you were; you both knew it. There was no way out.

Your mother said you took after your father. Had he died protecting her too? Or for his own selfishness? It didn’t matter, he’d left you both behind.

[mirandalinotto]

Trigger Warning: discussion of eating disorders

Sometimes you just gotta write up a whole rant with your raw feelings and then delete it. And then write a new, calmer and more collected response. I recognize that there are certain situations where defending your intentions only digs you a deeper hole, and I’ve definitely dug a large number of holes for myself on here. I hope this is a case where in digging my hole, I can at least collect my own thoughts, if nothing else.

I got a message from an anon who very correctly said it isn’t right to make comments about changes in a person’s appearance, even if it’s coming from a place of concern. I agree. Full stop. My intentions were not to speculate about weight loss or illness or the like; all I had intended to say was that when I saw those photos of LD, I was surprised by how little I recognized her. Even when I was making the post, I heavily debated whether my caption was implying judgment or speculation or not. I had hoped it wasn’t, but I can see that no matter the intent, even pointing out the change in Lucy’s appearance can be taken as fueling a conversation that isn’t ours to have.

The irony is that I myself almost died from an eating disorder when I was a teenager. I lost twenty-five percent of my body weight in four months. I lost my period for over two years. I don’t say this for pity or as a defense; I am simply saying I should know better, but also, part of the reason I was concerned is because I identify with Lucy’s past struggles. I think it would be disingenuous to pretend like I wasn’t worried she’d relapsed, and I imagine a lot of fans were worried about that, too, but of course IT IS NOT OUR PLACE TO COMMENT ON IT. It does more harm than good to speculate about such things. Lucy has explained the changes (not that she should have to) and that’s that. I ought to have kept my worries to myself. Which I recognize is a running theme for me—I often come on here and publicly “worry” about things that aren’t really appropriate to speculate about. The PO “it was just like a night in” situation comes to mind. This blog is a place where I react to things, and I have to own it when those reactions are unhelpful, or even harmful.

[autumn-foxfire]

So I finally finished watching Bungou Stray Dogs and it was pretty good! The story itself is okay (well except for the Oda flashback at the beginning of season 2 - that was god-tier and in all left me with all sorts of emotions and thoughts about life and death and Dazai) - I find the powers / all the literary references interesting, but the lack of consequences for the multiple murders of the Port Mafia (esp. in situations involving innocents) kind of irks me. (1/4)

Also, I find the pacing a bit weird at times - but that may just be a personal thing. Anyways, where I think the story really shines is in its characters. The character designs are great, but then add the special abilities, personal conflicts, and relationships to one another into the mix and, well. I honestly think it’s hard not to come out of watching BSD absolutely loving a character or two. For me, I came out of it absolutely loving Kunikida. (2/4)

His conflicts between his ideals vs reality and duty vs feelings are really interesting (+ he’s best agency mom). And then his ability Doppo Poet? I want it. Also he’s voiced by Patrick Seitz (Endeavor’s va) and instantly recognizing his voice in the first episode made me kind of proud. And then - of course - Dazai. Honestly, I think it’s a given that any fan of Hawks is going to love Dazai + again, the four best episodes in the series focus on him so??? (3/4)

I wish his suicidal thoughts / tendencies were taken more seriously though. Overall, I really liked the series and I’m glad I gave it another chance (especially since it introduced me to the A+ ship that is Soukoku). I still think that the hinted romantic relationship of the Tanizaki siblings is kind of creepy though… (a big reason I stopped watching in the first place, as I eventually remembered). Anyways, thanks to you + thegaygyrus for inspiring me to watch it again! (4/4)

+ just read through other asks and YES it annoys me how shafted Chuuya was. Especially since he's so closely linked to Dazai - I was so excited when I finally got to see this mysterious short redhead I've seen from your blog + everywhere else only to see that he doesn't get as much focus as, well, all the other heavily marketed characters. And then we finally got his backstory at the beginning of S3 only for him to be put away in the final battle... smh. Anyways #ChuuyaDeservesBetter2020

I’m really happy to hear that me and Lucy geeking out over it convinced you to watched it and you enjoyed what you saw so far :3

I agree that the pacing suffers from time to time (it especially felt rushed at times and I’m not sure if that’s due to the fact that didn’t have many episodes to work with or if it’s just how the light novels/manga is). And I do understand being irked by the lack of consequences because I feel it at times too (...like did they forget that the Tanizaki siblings would have died without Yosano’s ability due to Akutagawa T-T or how Akutagawa blew up a police station and probably killed a lot of innocent people). Like I can understand later on that the reason why is probably due to the fact the tripartite exists but then why present Akutagawa as a fugitive if the Port Mafia’s crimes are usually ignored? So yeah, there are issues with the writing at times, I agree (especially what happened to Chuuya).

I can understand why you love Kunikida so much T-T The conflicts he faces in the story are so appealing and he’s really the one you see put through the ringer the most (...people he keeps trying to protect die in front of him and damn is it tragic to see. The man is going to develope a complex at some point). Also Doppo Poet is just such a useful ability (It reminds me of Momo’s quirk who has my favourite quirk in BNHA. Now we need a crossover with these two bonding :p).

And I feel you about Dazai’s suicidal tendencies. I know it’s played for gags most of the time but we saw when he was in the Mafia he truly didn’t care if he died and put himself into dangerous situations under the possibility that he would :/ Dazai needs a therapist desperately (and for someone to get rid of Mori forever).

(I also feel for you about the Tanizaki siblings. The incest is just... unneeded. But I’ve also become numb to it sadly because it appears all my favourite anime have incest in them *glares at Durarara!!*)

AND YES! JOIN US! Justice for Chuuya!!

I’m so mad! I wanted to see Ranpo and Chuuya fight in the book! I wanted to see Poe have to run with the Port Mafia on his tail while trying to protect it! I wanted Chuuya to be more involved for gods sake T-T Time and time again he’s implied to be the ace in the hole and he’s just not used.

(Have you watched the movie yet? Some of the best Soukoku scenes come from it and it’s incredible. Dazai actually references himself as Snow White and Chuuya to be his Prince Charming... He’s not very subtle XD)