#Miranda????? Literally did not understand what was happening there

[lovemyromance]

Stop Kicking Elain out of the NC

She doesn't want to go. She doesn't want to leave her family. The cauldron turning her into high fae was unfortunate, but in typical Elain fashion (my favorite quality of hers) she made the best of a terrible situation and adapted to her new home, her new body, her new life. She has friends. She glows with health. She is mending the relationship with her sisters. The male she loves is there.

Why would she want to leave?

And if anyone brings up the fact that Cassian said she couldn't pull off a black dress - I swear to god I'll be convinced you've never read a book before. Cassian, the Miranda Priestley of Velaris, declaring Elain doesn't look good in black does not mean she is being rejected by the Night Court.

Do people not read? Did you not read how Nesta had to stand out to be Eris-bait, and if Elain, gorgeous, sweet, with beauty-that-could-bring-a-king-to-his-knees Elain was done up like the rest of them, the chances of Eris following after Nesta would have been slim? They had to make her look muted, to purposefully fade her into the background. That is ALL.

Now let's get into the even worse arguments for booting Elain out of the NC. Specifically,

She belongs in Spring (with Lucien)

She belongs in Day (with Lucien)

She belongs in Autumn (with Lucien)

Do you see what all those have in common (other than being surface level awful arguments)? They all center around Lucien. Who currently, Elain avoids like the plague. But I'm getting ahead of myself, lets go one by one, slow and steady:

Elain does NOT belong in spring

Why is this a thing, even? Because she likes flowers and Feyre said "oh elain would like it here?" That's it? Are we reducing people down to their hobbies now? Nesta likes books, should she also move to Day? Mor likes...wine I guess, should she move into a tavern? Amren likes puzzles, ship her to Dawn? Azriel likes Elain, let's put him in the Prison??

Or, oh wait, Tamlin should lose his court and Elain and Lucien will rule? How. Genuinely, how? Lucien is already an heir to Day Court & Autumn Court. How would the magic pick him of all people if Tamlin somehow dies/gives up his court? Wouldn't it pick someone...of Spring Court descent?

P.S Flowers also grow in the Night Court.

Make it make sense.

2. Elain does NOT belong in Day

First of all, right now, nobody knows about Lucien's parentage except for Feyre/Rhys and LoA (maybe). Helion doesn't know. Lucien himself does not know.

For Lucien to become high lord of Day, y'all realize Helion would have to die, right? Why would you ever kill off such an icon? And even if he just casually lives there while Helion still rules...a lot of things would have to happen for this to occur, like: Lucien's parentage is revealed, Helion accepts him as his heir, likely a blood duel between Beron/Helion over LoA, If Beron wins THEN Lucien becomes HL of Day, but if Helion wins then Eris becomes HL of Autumn...all of this would have to be covered in one book before they can even think about moving to Day and living happily ever after. You know, if Elain ever actually gives him the time of...day.

Don't even give me the "but Elain needs sunlight"!!

P.S. The NC also gets sunlight

Elain is not a plant. She does not undergo photosynthesis and need to go to the Day Court to physically be alive. Elain does not need light she IS the light. What's not clicking folks? Her name literally means LIGHT. Some variations say fawn/deer, but mainly she is light.

3. Elain does NOT belong in Autumn

This argument is more rare, but I don't understand it either. Why would she go live in Autumn as the reluctant mate to the 7th son of the awful Autumn HL? Autumn court cannot be this interesting to y'all, that you would be totally okay with not hearing from feyre/rhys/nesta/cassian/any of the IC, just to read a story about Elain avoiding Lucien in different climate/setting? Autumn exists in the NC too, you guys. She can ignore him when the leaves change color there, just as much.

And all of this, is only centered around Lucien. Because if you just asked this sweet flower child what she wanted, I can guarantee you, her answer would be to stay right where she is: home.

If she weren't mated to Lucien, would you still be sending her away to Spring/Day/Autumn?

This isn't even a ship thing at this point, like...Lucien doesn't currently have a home right now? Why are we tearing Elain away from her home to go live with a mate she does not want? If Elucien ever did get together, it would make so much more sense for Lucien to just move to the NC instead. Because Elain sure as hell is not going to live in her ex-fiance's manor, far away from her sisters, with a mate she didn't ask for and his rude bestie who literally made a r*pe joke about her (yeah, not understanding the Jurian & Lucien friendship here either).

Stop kicking my girlie out of the night court. She's staying where she belongs. If she leaves, it will be her choice. Not because her mate lives somewhere else. Not because she likes flowers. If she stays, it will be because that is her choice.

I thought it was obvious.

[were-wolverine]

percy jackson ep3 live reaction

yesss the attic it looks perfect

the voice crack on “hi” i’m cackling

“oh geez” HES SO PERCY

annabeth immediately i love him.

percy’s gf requirements: has to be willing to push him down a flight of stairs without hesitation

let percy understand the horses PLEASE

“i chose you” i thought it was gonna be like ‘because you’re my best friend’ but nah he is just suspicious of grover dang. “i trust you” DAMN HE REALLY LYING HUH. poor grover totally believes him too. good thing he earns his trust back eventually and remains his best friend forever

“i’m gonna pack the best snacks” HE IS THE BEST KIND OF FRIEND

why tf are there lobster traps in the cabin. WHERE IS HIS BED???

“i think they’re canadian maybe? or from chuck e. cheese i dunno” he’s literally my favorite person ever

“these are… interesting”

thalia’s tree :(

when do they tell percy that grover was thalias protector 🤔

“the most powerful being in the universe’s best idea to save his daughter’s life… was to turn her into a tree?” YEAH FR GET HIS ASS PERCY

bro really does not know how to read the room 💀 “she met a pinecone’s fate” dude she is talking about her dead friend/sister-figure. grover’s literally like “wtf man”

how tf did they get a taxi from long island to the city bro

“i’m sorry to hear that” UR THE BEST ANNABETH

why is grover singing… THEATRE KID ENERGY

“our voting system’s broken” hgjfhdhd

BIG OOF ????

the autism makes decisions so hard very real

NOT THE TOSTITOS /j

“they smell fear” “that’s bees” EXCUSE ME? BEES WHAT NOW??

damn dodds that’s brutal

“perhaps the most formidable demigod child alive” i adore how they make 12 y/o annabeth so fucking powerful. like i really really love that they do that cuz ppl always talk about how powerful percy is but not how powerful annabeth is

defeated by shitty evacuation skills smh

…we’re lost in the woods, somewhere in new jersey

“i didn’t even know they had forests in new jersey” king. what.

ahhh i wish they just made them 13 i really cannot see them as 12 year olds

ope it is revealed. GROVER STOP TRYING TO REDIRECT THE CONVERSATION ITS NOT WORKING

annabeth IMMEDIATELY knows it’s medusa lol

thinking abt how sally used medusa’s story to teach lil percy that appearances aren’t everything and “not everything that looks like a monster is a monster”. very interested to see what they do with her in this version of pjo

“and i definitely trust my mom” percy is such a momma’s boy i love it

i hope they don’t make her evil pls pls pls. SHES NOT EVIL SHES AN SA VICTIM. “a survivor” :(

“the gift the gods gave me is i cannot be bullied anymore” yes 🙌

girl really said “it’s not a gift it’s a curse” as if she was there 💀 ilysm but clearly the story you’ve heard isn’t what really happened

“so did i” :( she was a worshipper of athena

“i wasn’t like you, i was you”

ANNABETH “that isn’t what happened” GIRL YOU WERENT THERREEEEE

you tell them medusa !! her and percy get matching “i hate poseidon” shirts

team #trust issues

oop. yeah fuck poseidon.

okay yeah i really like this characterization of her. like a good person with a skewed moral compass. or at least good intentions but not great actions

leetle snakes hiss hiss

annabeth watching percy defeat alecto… she literally has heart eyes hehe

THEY BETTER SHIP HER HEAD TO OLYMPUS I SWEAR

you tell them grover!!!!!!

oh he really did choose grover because he trusted him aw :,)

YES SHIP THE HEAD

“i am impertinent” ily

the song 💀 this is why they are besties

LIN MANUEL MIRANDA? *lip bite*

[corvuserpens]

Theory for what happened between the conclusion of Black Sails and the beginning of Treasure Island: part 1

I don't have it in me to write an actual fic bc I'm already stretched thin as it is with my Master's dissertation + paleoart project, my part-time restaurant job AND writing a self-indulgent fic that I may or may not post, but! I have Ideas and I need to share them.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

OKAY, SO! 🙏

After the end of Black Sails, Flint is alive and he's in the plantation with Thomas, where he spends the rest of his days. Far into the future Thomas passes away from natural causes, and Flint, in his grief over losing him a second time, and with no cause fueled by Vengeance to keep him going, starts to wither away himself. Whether his health failing due to alcoholism is... Subjective.

What is for certain however, is that without Thomas, Flint suddenly spends A LOT of time alone with his thoughts. And boy, do his thoughts start spinning and unraveling.

He recalls the past: Nassau, his adventures, his misadventures, the bold impossible plans for a revolution that was supposed to make an empire shake and crumble into dust, the friendships, the alliances, but also the betrayals. Oh, the betrayals... They eat away at him until he's consumed with dark thoughts of a rage that lied dormant for twenty or thirty years, but in the wake of Thomas' death comes back in full force like a tsunami. Impossible to ignore, destroying everything in its path. And the one betrayal at the forefront of the line, is Long John Silver.

Unfortunately, with the way his body is starting to give out after decades at sea, from battle to battle in countless blood shedding, and then years of labor in the fields, he knows he doesn't stand a chance to do anything grand and explosive about it.

So, Flint does what Flint is best at: he concocts a plot. His ultimate plot. He writes letters and sends them out through half the globe, from the Bahamas to England, summoning all acquaintances who are still alive to come see him before his final hour. There aren't many of them left, granted, which might be fortunate because with each passing day, Flint grows weaker and weaker. He can see Thomas waiting from across the river of the dead. Miranda, too. They're waiting for him. It won't be too long now.

Now, to answer the question: what happened to Billy Bones after he was stranded on Skeleton Island? The simple answer is, Ben Gunn.

Ben found himself a new crew as soon as possible and, after months (he doesn't have the gift of manipulation like Flint or Silver do, it takes him some convincing), he manages to entice them into looking for Flint's treasure, but in reality, he's there to rescue Billy.

Oh, this new crew still searches part of the island for the treasure, but after a few days, a lot of them are dead of pestilence from the swamps or really rotten luck. They decide it's not worth it and gtfo there, with an embittered, extremely pissed Billy in tow who wastes no time taking over the ship by force.

Literally by force, he beat up everyone who stood a chance to take him on and, despite the months going hungry and struggling to survive, he is an unstoppable bulldozer. Ben Gunn can no longer recognize the man he had once admired so. He has turned cruel and uncaring, especially after the first three tankards of rum. Understandably, Ben Gunn is a Little Bit Afraid of Billy Bones now.

Meanwhile, Silver and Madi found some reconciliation. They are in love, they are safe, they get married, adopt a parrot, and, for the most part, they're happy.

But it's a fragile happiness. Always, there's the reminder of everything Silver did, from quashing the war to removing Flint permanently. All Madi has to do is look at her lover and it all comes back. Every time she does, she has to make a conscious effort to bury it in her soul. But it's there all the same. The resentment. The disappointment. The hurt. Slowly corroding their bond. And Silver sees it. Flint's last words to him gnaw at him. She will no longer be enough. The comfort will grow stale. He's to smart not to know this, indeed. And yet, there's nothing he can do to remedy it.

Until he receives the letter. Flint is dying. Thomas is gone and soon he will follow. This is his last chance for reconciliation and to offer a little forgiveness. Maybe receive some in return, as well. Together, Silver and Madi travel to Savannah, Georgia.

Billy has also received Flint's letter, and at first he doesn't want to go. Let Flint rot, and may his soul burn in Hell where it belongs (where he belongs, as well). Why should he give a damn about the man who ruined his life?

But another part of him wants to go. He wants to see Flint dying with his own two eyes, just to make sure he's actually gone. It won't be the same as getting his own hands wrapped around his throat and squeezing until that glint in his eye finally snuffs out, but it's the next best thing. And who knows? Maybe God will be merciful and offer him the chance to do it, anyway. Billy also travels to Savannah, with a growing reluctant Ben Gunn at his side.

[blubffsd]

WE WERE ONE – K. MBAPPÉ.

summary: the frustration of what was at some point but not anymore.

note: based on the song "Uno los dos" by Miranda! (it's literally the lyrics but in english lol)

Leave it at that, my love.

I don't want any more excuses, please.

What used to be dates planned weeks in advance became texts between us apologizing to each other because an unforeseen event came up and we can't make it, promising to make it up. But it never happened.

How long have we been one?

They ask me and you answer.

I don't understand, for the rest of the people we were really soul mates, we knew each other as well as ourself. Always thinking the same, doing the same things, laughing at the same jokes.

"We are perfect for each other" you used to say when we both said the same thing at the same time. But painfully it was just that, the sentence you told me as a joke, instead of fact.

And it's that you, it wasn't you without me, no

You were nothing and I didn't exist without your company.

I think you know well that little by little we began to depend on each other, at first it was cute the way we both needed each other to do something, but then it just got insane for us.

Heart, give me some reason.

We have lost personality in this relationship.

And as much as we knew how much it hurt ourselves, we weren't willing to accept the situation between us and how bad everything was. We refused to accept that us no longer has a solution, and that we are no longer ourselves, not even a little.

Tonight I will cry so much for you that I will let you go.

I will wipe away with tears all the blood that has flowed here.

But the two of us always knew that our attempt to ignore the mess within us was going to be in vain. Ours no longer worked, we were no longer a team, I didn't work on my own and you didn't work on yours.

The CD we had compiled with us in mind, yesterday was my favorite record and today is the saddest thing I heard.

Although as much as I try over and over again, you and I know that ours is going to be very difficult to erase from our minds, we have so many of our things. We even had songs, remember? The first I chose, the second you and so on. Yesterday I listened to them again. And I cried.

Today, for the first time, I will confess to you

that it is hard for me to leave us

and that I don't know how long I will take to get used to it.

I also admit that sometimes I like to think that we tried it again and that this time it does work, but as much as it pains me to admit it, that is not possible. Although I prefer to think about the remote idea of ​​a "we" than the fact that we are no longer. I need to get used to that.

I was never dependent on me, rather I was on you.

You gave yourself in love to the game

and although it hasn't been bad at all,

I want to escape,

let's recover our freedom.

We had beautiful moments together, remember? Sometimes I wish we could have done things differently, we could have had it all. But things happened the way they did and it sure was for a reason, we weren't ready, and we still aren't.

We spent entire nights listening to our CD, at times I only heard your passion

but now that you tell me this, I must admit that I want to be myself again, I no longer remember what I was like yesterday.

You told me that you got used to me and I to you, that eventually we got tired but we depended on each other to be okay. We love each other, ours was nice, but we must let go. And you were right.

I swear I don't, I don't hold a grudge against you, I just want to go back to being that girl I once introduced you to.

It's good that we reacted in time, don't you think? We're not quite lost yet, you go back to being you and I go back to being me. It's sad that we became each other's ideal type, I feel like I don't know you. And you don't know me either.

The CD we had compiled with us in mind, yesterday was my favorite record and today is the saddest thing I heard.

But honestly the saddest thing I heard was your goodbye when you left, and with this letter I part with you, Ky.

[beevean]

What pisses me off the most about NFCV is the way it disrespects the original medium of video gaming. The show sets up a potential action setpiece similar to a level from the game (the turning wheel, s1e3 I think) and then just *walks around it*. Everything about the way "Devil Forging" works in the show demonstrates that Ellis didn't even consult a cutscene compilation, much less the game. And sure enough, the fucker admits he never played them. Why adapt source material you've never experienced?

*Captain N* (a show I defend to the death) was better than this. It embraces the action montage, and even if things aren't 1-to-1, they do capture the appeal of the gameplay they adapt. It understands people love the original work. NFCV plows through the formalities of adapting a guy skimming the wikipedia summary of the game and then sits everyone in a basement for a full season.

The only times I felt I was watching an adaptation of Castlevania was in S1, with things like the fight against the Cyclop who petrified Sypha and Trevor falling into the deepest catacombs where Alucard hid himself, and in S4, where the last fight before the final showdown with Death happens in a clock tower, his iconic hideout.

As for the rest, I remember some snarky fans defending the show's wildly different direction with things like "what, did you expect to see Trevor jumping on platforms?" I don't know but it sure as shit would have been better than the trio wasting the entirety of S2 cooped up in a library! Yes, I would have preferred to see them travel through forests and caves and swamps, instead of wasting my time watching N!Alucard being a complete jerk to N!Trevor for no good reason! (and no, defending vampires is not a good reason)

bro. bro not even the vampire killer is treated with respect. it's replaced with the morning star which is a different weapon, and then n!trevor drops it in favor of a knife pulled out of the story's ass. the morning star pisses n!dracula off, but a fucking stick is capable of killing him. are you doing this on purpose.

And don't get me started on Devil Forging. I actually don't mind too much the idea of making it more similar to necromancy, because it would fit with the idea that it's a cursed, disgusting, blasphemous art. I also can concede that the knowledge that Dracula infused Hector and Isaac with his own power is very obscure, vaguely implied in one cutscene in CoD and one panel of PtR, and confirmed in a pre-release interview. But everything else is so less interesting. It's an art that apparently N!Hector was born with for no reason and N!Isaac could study on his own, removing the personal connection between Dracula and Forgemasters. There are other Forgemasters in the world: those two are not special (which also makes me wonder why N!Dracula bothered to hire N!Hector with a lie when he could have travelled some more: I'm sure Miranda would have helped him). N!Isaac eventually becomes so OP he can stibby stabby to create new Night Creatures without any effort. None of the interesting themes about dehumanization or forcing pure creatures to sin are hinted at*. Even N!Hector's unique cavalier relationship with death, a genuinely but interesting childish mentality of "oh no, death is sad! but I can fix it!", is never explored, because the story was too busy making him look stupid and breedable. And to top it all off, Nocturne literally introduces the concept of a Devil Forging machine which is so bad it sucks even in universe.

*the closest thing to this is in S4 with this line from N!Isaac: "You believe you are tools of destruction only because this is how your kind have always been used". Admittedly, it's a cool line I would have loved to apply to Hector and Isaac. But it doesn't quite work because by definition Night Creatures are not innocent, being demons from hell... and anyway he keeps using them to kill people in Styria because N!Isaac is a bastard and unlike Isaac he won't even admit it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ that line comes off as so self-aggrandizing and I hate how much the show shills him so I won't cut it any slack because I'm petty.

As for Captain N, I will say this: the inclusion of the Poltergeist King is, of course, totally wrong from a lore stand point, but to me it tells that the writers actually read the manual in search of information, and the American manual really was the only resource they had at their disposal at the time. Just like that, they put in more effort than Warren "somehow didn't realize on his own that Mathias Cronqvist was Dracula's human name while reading a wiki page" Ellis.

[captain-amadeus]

You have some of the literal best takes ever about Stf characters. Chief ones among them being you get the point of the show!!! which is to give people the opportunity to change, and you don't hate them obnoxiously to prop up cedric (who doesn't need that to begin with anyways)

Basically I'm just so happy there's people out here who like Roland and Chrysta and all the other good characters the fandom demonizes

GAHHHHHH

/pos this is so nice man

I do not understand why people are so adamant to point out every other character's flaws, and yet they make Cedric out to be correct in so many situations that have so much grey area to them. Cedric was NOT always the best person because he was not treated the best. The thing is people sometimes do bad things if they are treated badly, but when treated with kindness, can change for the better. That is literally the whole thing about Cedric and Sofia's dynamic: Sofia is good towards Cedric, which makes Cedric want to be good, despite how people treated him in the pass. It's even thanks to Sofia convincing others to treat Cedric better and give him a chance to show what he's capable of that overall allows Cedric to be better off in his life.

While Cedric does change for the better, he still does some things that aren't justifiable. It depends on how much other characters are willing to forgive him, but the ending of Day of the Sorcerers shows how despite people like Roland not completely forgiving his actions right away are willing to give him another chance because Roland realizes there was a REASON why he did all of this, and that there could be something done to get to the root of the problem.

There's also this thing called "people aren’t perfect and they will make mistakes, but that doesn't make them completely evil," and I feel like the fandom forgets that a lot. Especially with Roland.

Oh my god, Roland is hung up on a crucifix for breathing. I can't fathom how people come to the conclusion that Roland is the worst father to Sofia, when he's actually one of the sweetest dads I've seen in fiction.

I feel there's a lot of reasons why people mischaracterize him so much like:

1) He treats Cedric a bit poorly (and yes, the things Roland said about Cedric were bad, but Roland doesn't come from hating Cedric. It's more of a pity he has towards him, which is still disappointing because Roland should've supported Cedric more, but because he grew up with the notion that Cedric isn't as capable as his father, doubts Cedric's abilities like everyone else. He still has good intentions and doesn't mean to hurt his feelings, could talk about Cedric's Apprentice but we'd be here all day, but he still does because he doesn't quite recognize how his words impact his confidence)

2) People watch and focus on the Cedric centric episodes and think that Roland isn't doing his job as a father, when there's so many reasons why he can't always be on screen.

Personally reason two sort of icks me out, because people don't recognize how the small moments with Sofia and Roland have as much value as with Sofia and Cedric, but also kind of strange why people make Sofia and Cedric have this extremely close relationship where Sofia only goes to Cedric for literally everything. There is little balance when it comes to who Sofia interacts with in fan stuff, and I can see why their bond is father-daughter coded. Just, man, it's like she doesn't have an entire family she can turn to for help, who've shown nothing but support for her, where Cedric is the only person that exists for her in this stuff that it's, man at least let her talk with Miranda who is the best character in the show and the best mother ever when she needs help like she does in the show. Or maybe have her figure things out with Amber and/or James, hell, even Clover could offer a few words, the worst thing that could happen is the advice doesn't help and everyone learns a lesson in the end like in the SHOW.

Anyways I'll just stop here and say I will always love the royal family as a whole and as individuals, despite how most of them are ignored or demonized. You are very swag HEHSHSISJHDUEJSBEIJD

[scarlet-heels]

The office refurbishment was taking longer than expected and entirely longer than was at all acceptable by Miranda’s standards. She could not understand how people enjoyed this…’working from home’ business. Call her old fashioned but the work day is for the office, not for the luxury of accessing ones own pantry or artisan Brazilian coffee beans on a mere whim.

The truth is…the truth is. Miranda priestly hated working from home. Granted, working from home on an evening, reviewing the Book, was one thing. Working from home during the DAY was something else entirely. Oh she knows she could have requisitioned an empty office somewhere in the Elias Clark building…a discreet corner away from the chaos … but Miranda Priestly was not someone to be shoved away in to a temporary storage room-turned-office while her luxurious office was being remodelled and so, alas, working from her home office was the most pragmatic arrangement.

Something she did not bargain for was the effect her brunette assistant would have on her when literally by her side hour by hour, day by day. The gentle tapping of the keys on keyboard, the intermittent and somewhat irritated clicks of the tongue while tying to arrange and rearrange Miranda’s schedule, the soft exhalations of breath before and after each phone call….It was only day 3 of the townhouse-as-office arrangement and already Miranda was ready to send her plucky assistant home on a completely unauthorised leave of absence.

“Of course, Mr Hirsch. Miranda will be more than happy to meet with you to discuss the finer details. She IS fully booked for the next two months, however we do have an unexpected slot of availability of the 5th august at 3:40 if this is acceptable?”

Miranda hid her smirk behind a well manicured finger to the lips. This was Andrea’s MO…a politely apologetic stance in rebuffing unwanted and unnecessary appointments and a diffusion of any ill after effects by dangling a faux last minute exclusive opportunity only to cancel closer to the time with equal aplomb and heartfelt apology. A sure fire method whereby no one felt uninvited to the table yet, if they did not get the opportunity to feast, it was completely out of their, and Miranda’s control. Her assistant, it has become clear, is a master of diplomacy and PR.

Watching her assistant over the top of her glasses, Miranda can’t prevent the small smile playing across her lips, pride swelling in her chest. She held her gaze, finger tip running over her lower lip, as Andrea’s eyes lifted to her own with a smile, utterly pleased with herself.

What happened next makes Miranda’s stomach turn inside out and her heart rate speed up suddenly. There, in her very own home, in the middle of the WORK day, her assistant threw her a cheeky wink.

A WINK.

Miranda could barely prevent the strangled gasp that left her mouth, before quickly averting her eyes to stare once more at the mood board spread out on the desk before her. She barely saw the muted earthy tones, far too aware of the bright crimson blush that she felt creeping up her chest and neck to settle in her cheeks.

She shifted in her chair, thighs squeezing together, as she cleared her throat and reached for the chilled Pellegrino in front of her. She was suddenly parched.

Andreas gentle tapping of the keyboard resumed and Miranda dared to lift her eyes again to observe her fully concentrated on her laptop screen. Shaking her head slightly and tilting her head to the right to stretch her neck muscles, Miranda closed her eyes briefly before taking a silent breath and forcing herself to focus on the task at hand.

It was going to be a long two weeks.

[flares-of-arcadia]

Some messy thoughts on RE7 (with mentions of 8)

just beat RE7. I wish I had paid more attention when it first came out and I watched my brother go through it, because holy shit I fucking loved it

Under a read-more for length

After playing through 7 on my own, it's hard to believe that I didn't really get into the fandom until Village. Or, well, it does track that I saw scary women in 8 and started paying attention... I am nothing if not predictable

And honestly, a big part of why Village sunk it's claws into me is because it's flawed, or at the very least felt like it had a lot of missed potential. All of the antagonists were so interesting, and I felt like they didn't get as much attention as the Bakers did (there are so many things to look at, storytelling in the environment, AND we learned more about them in the DLC). Wanting to fill in those gaps for the 4 Lords and Miranda is what made me so invested in the fandom

(also because I'm really gay)

If you're familiar with my main blog, you might know that my biggest gripe with Village is that we don't get anything between Mia and Miranda. Having now played through 7 (and read literally every file), I feel even more strongly about what was missing. Or, at the very least, what I wanted from it.

Annnnd that's just in terms of story, gameplay is a whole other thing, but I'd want to replay 8 before getting too much into it.

But back to just talking about 7 for a tiny bit longer, as chaotic as my thoughts are:

Loved the soundtrack. Also hated it because, as a horror soundtrack goes, it was Very Effective. Didn't appreciate one of the tracks having some monster noises, tho. That was already a tense section and I hated getting false alarms about whether or not there was a Molded around the corner. And!!! Honestly the version of Go Tell Aunt Rhody didn't need to slap as hard as it does. I'd listen to that shit in my free time

Ethan is an interesting protagonist? I love him, don't get me wrong, but there are a couple kind of quirks that make it hard to interpret him. Most of the time he feels like a silent protagonist, but in cutscenes he's very vocal. It gets weird once the cutscene ends with something dramatic and he immediately shuts up.

Like, after we first reunite with Mia, we reach a dead end, Ethan goes to check another room, and while our back is turned we hear Mia scream. Ethan yells her name, we rush back to the room she was in, and then Ethan just doesn't say anything else. Doesn't call out to her, doesn't say anything about the new pathway, nothing. There are more examples but this was supposed to be quick

I love Mia. She's a badass, she's a liar with temporary amnesia, and she's a Fucking Badass. Seriously wish we had a chance to play as her again in Village. I do kinda wish we got more glimpses into her relationship with Ethan, but hey that's what fanfiction is for

I feel so bad for Eveline. I get that she was beyond the point of saving, but fucking hell, you read the files and you look at the photos (and you think about what we know from 8 about Miranda's role) and she's suddenly very understandable. It's tragic, everything that happened to her, even if she went on to inflict tragedies on others.

Okay I have more thoughts but my thumbs are tired from gaming + immediately typing on my phone. Love y'all byeeeeee

[lovelywingsart]

🦀💔🕊️

For the OCXCanon thing uwu Because I'm desperate to talk lmao

🦀 'How did they handle realizing they were in love?' - They didn't ALDKALDKSLFJ- Ok, but seriously, neither of them took it very well.

Karl realized way before she did, when she was taking care of him after he had gotten near blackout drunks after a bad meeting, and it actually took him a few days to realize that 'love' was exactly what it was. Emelias realization is actually a story here, 'Rainy Day', followed by 'Dear Mother' that happened only week later.

Both realizations were met with straight panic and fear- Karl tried to convince himself that it wasn't actually what it was, that he didn't deserve it if it was, and he was genuinely afraid both for himself and her if it ever came out; Emelia was genuinely terrified because she wasn't sure he'd even understand, and given the fact Miranda already hated her, she knew that that information ever getting out would spell tragedy as it had with a prior instance. They both completely ignored that realization in hopes that it would go away, when in reality it only made it worse.

So basically, they handled it by NOT handling it. At all.

💔 'Do they have an past relationship experience? How does it effect them?' - Strap in. 😂😭

Karl never had a 'proper' relationship beforehand- a one night stand here, a week or two long fling there, but nothing he ever fully considered a relationship. But also given the skewed view on 'affection' from Miranda and the others, he really didn't want one, nor did he ever learn exactly what went into one. Mirandas abuse severely kinda fucked him up on what to expect, plus he was too busy for one so he never searched for it.

Emelia DID actually have a relationship- not while human, but with Regina. As a kid she always dreamed of having that nice happy family, and still held onto that hope despite everything- and she genuinely thought she had found what she wanted in the village girl once she got to know her-

And then Regina got sick.

Upon Regina getting sick, she was exposed to Mirandas vileness when offering herself to be an experiment to try and live to be with Emelia, because the woman very quickly picked up on the fact that Emelia truely loved her and therefore denied any chance to save her; literally because Emelia was what she considered her 'greatest failure', and she despises her with a passion and will work to make her life a living hell if she shows any kind of happiness (hence Dear Mother). Mirandas denial and jabbing allowed Regina to die, and therefore rendered Emelia absolutely terrified of feeling any kind of affection- which is why her realizing she loved Karl afterward was such a huge issue. She was afraid both of his reaction and Mirandas if she were to ever find out, and it fucked her up a little more than she already was.

Going off the Survival AU, when they actually HAVE a proper relationship, they're both still unlearning toxic behavior even with a constantly growing family. Emelia needs to unlearn being so closed off (and takes to it pretty quickly when given the chance) and Karl need to unlearn.... alot. Specifically his tendency to be unnecessarily possessive and defensive both of himself and Emelia. They make it work given the shared trauma, but it IS a struggle sometimes.

🕊 'Give a general domestic tidbit' - Probably one of the sweetest things- when Karl eventually feels so tired he's about to fall over, he will purposely look for Emelia, or will radio her with a code word they have for that specific scenario. Reason being, simply put, he doesn't like sleeping alone, and finds difficulty doing so. He's actually afraid of sleeping, and is incredibly uncomfortable with the idea of just passing out where he's standing like he used to before she came along.

If she's working, she'll drop what she's doing almost immediately either to find him or if he finds her, and attempt to lead him away to a safer place, be it either the corner of the Foundry, one of the rooms they have with a cot, or up to her room on the surface. She'll get him comfy how she can, make sure he's the one close to the wall (corner bed ftw) and he is promptly little spoon while she relaxes him enough to actually sleep either by singing/humming, rubbing his back/shoulders or playing with his hair. It usually knocks him tf out pretty immediately, and she might also fall asleep as well. Its also the only way he can sleep relatively peacefully for a bit before the nightmares fully kick in, which also helps that she's right there. She wakes up pretty easily if he starts moving, so she can in turn wake him up before it gets bad, and the cycle continues if he needs more sleep.

There have been times where they just lay there for an entire day, if not moreso, until he's rested enough to keep working. Its always followed by a good amount of food as he's fully waking up to regain that energy, and she takes special care in picking what's needed. 💙 Its a small routine that doesn't haven VERY often with how little he sleeps, but its one that they figured out quickly that was the most effective and let them both be the most productive otherwise.

[kingcedricthegay]

So I read the first chapter of your Cedric x Reader fanfic and came to share my thoughts.

I will say, I'm not too fond of x Reader, I'm more about reading about characters instead of being one. That being said, I liked that there was an effort to include other characters from stf, and I actually got invested from how the fic was formatted as a genuine stf episode.

I don't want to be too critical of the portrayal of some of the characters, but as a Roland enjoyer, I felt your portrayal of him was quite decent until it came to Cedric. I'm not sure at what point the story is supposed to take place in besides being between Great Auntventure and Day of the Sorcerers, but I feel that Roland being unhappy about Cedric coming along doesn't feel in character. At most points in the show, Roland is shown to not mind Cedric, let alone with Sofia. Cedric's Apprentice was an episode where Sofia literally became Cedric's apprentice so he could help her for a test, and Roland never once objects to her being with Cedric. I think Roland doesn't have as big of a gripe as people think because he's more disappointed at Cedric not being able to do magic than him as a person overall.

That being said, I love how you wrote him as someone who respected Sofia's wishes and let her bring Cedric along to the carnival. That is very much like Roland to see that Sofia likes something and sets aside his biases for his daughter. I can understand headcanoning Roland not liking Cedric as a person, and It's not something I'd agree with, but I absolutely agree with him respecting his children and their wishes.

As for the royal family as a whole, I didn't expect them to take as much of a focus as they did, and it was a pleasant surprise to have the children interact with Y/N. In fact, the format of the fic was so creative, with the royal family being so involved, I found myself being invested more in that than the x Reader parts. That's just me liking things not involving Cedric more because of how focused he is in the fandom. I wanted to talk more about the other aspects of the fic because I think people would find these elements such a treat.

While the royal family isn't THE main focus, I found Amber and Miranda to be a bit weird as characters. The fact I preferred the writing for James over them says something. With Miranda, I felt she wasn't a character like everyone else. The only role she seemed to have was as a mother and nothing else. The way she didn't have as much of a prominence as the others bummed me out. And it's not that she had to have a bigger role, but I felt myself questioning where she was.

My thoughts about Amber are based on my opinion, but the way she was written felt mixed to me. There were parts where she felt like Amber, like her excitement at getting her fortune told, but her being interested in whether she has a spouse?? I don't know, I personally don't think she would be too interested in that, or at least would be more interested in other aspects of her future. Plus the "I AM EASY" part caught me off guard. That part with the part before of Amber eating fast but elegantly did not pair well. It felt like Hildegard core.

These are just my thoughts though. I really enjoyed reading this fanfic despite some parts I didn't jive with. I would recommend it for anyone who likes a storyline with their smoochies with Cedric rjdbhdidjdjdjrj

Thanks for recommending me this fic /g /vpos

I ain’t reading all that I’m happy for you tho or sorry that happened /ref

No but seriously thank you so much for writing all this 😭😭

First of all I always try to make my one shots feel like they could more or less happen in the StF canon, so I’m glad it works!!

Regarding Roland, I know that you love him but I don’t necessarily like him that much. I think he’s okay most of the time, I just hate him for fun lmao (that’s probably why I wrote him as less likable than he actually is)

About the characters overall, this was my first piece of StF fan fiction and when I was writing this I hadn’t finished the show yet (I was maybe at the beginning of season 2) so the characters hadn’t gone through all the development they had to go through yet, and I guess I didn’t have that good of a grasp on their personalities. Now that you point it out, looking back Amber was never boy crazy so I agree that that bit doesn’t make any sense (😭), and yeah I guess Miranda ended up being just… mom.

All in all thanks for the feedback! ❤️❤️

[gloriousmonsters]

what is the new book concept?? (if you don’t mind sharing — but if you do mind it’s ok not to reply)

also what is that font you used btw? is there a full alphabet somewhere and if so would you mind sharing the link? i like that it’s a very understated gothic-looking serif. or very calligraphic looking i guess

sure thing!! with the understanding it's a lot more half-baked than most of the ideas I've been talking about, so i'm going to briefly walk you through the few ideas that went into it before explaining (also briefly) what it is so far, lol. Also, the font is Fondamento - it was one of the fonts available in Photopea (free online photoshop-like) which I used to make the cover, but it looks like it's also on Google Fonts. If you want to know how I did the bronze metallic-ink-ish look for the text I can expound on that as well, btw, or you can just enjoy the font :)

So I've been having a resurgence of my Tempest emotions

(for those who are unfamiliar. i would summarize it, but it would take a long time. just. find a summary and read it with a MASSIVE grain of salt that's labeled 'prospero is an asshole and nobody understands Caliban but tumblr user gloriousmonsters and the poet Robert Browning')

and this time reading it was especially having fun with the parallels between Caliban and Miranda's characters and also thinking about how EXTREMELY weird and screwed up their relationship would have been growing up.

Despite interpretations/stories based on it sometimes having it otherwise, in canon neither of them seem to have ever seen or spoken to Ariel (at least in capacity as A Person You Can Talk to; Caliban is more aware of the spirits Prospero commands in abstract, at least). Aside from Prospero, who is notoriously not good at being present for what he's supposed to be looking after, they are the only human being the other one knows. It's serving twisted Eden vibes. It's serving tmg's 'the last man on earth'. it's serving 'not that Prospero would have encouraged it, but to an extent they must have seen each other as family, right? especially in Miranda's case, considering she grew up her entire life with him. the psuedoincest is off the charts'. Then shit goes bad (in whatever way you want to interpret) and now suddenly they're in a place of seeing each other daily, because Caliban does literally everything around the place, but having an uncrossable rift of mutual hurt and betrayal between them* that has little choice but to curdle and get worse because neither of them can do anything to change their situation. Depending on how lines are assigned, they never speak to each other in the play. And they have nobody else to talk to save for cursing out Prospero (Caliban) or trying to get in two words between Prospero's monologues (Miranda). And then the play events happen and they just part ways because Prospero has decided it, after probably expecting they'd be stuck in this forever. And then the next-to-only person you've ever known is on a different landmass and you're probably never going to see them again. it's So fucked.

Anyway I was revolving all of that with quiet awe in my head, and going 'man, I want to write a fucked up Caliban/Miranda book, but I don't have a non-play plot and I don't want to just write a prequel'

Then I encountered Caliban upon Setebos for the first time, and despite the fact i could still nitpick some things it slaps insanely. Only good Tempest fanfiction. It's a long poem consisting of Caliban theorizing about Setebos--a god his mother supposedly got her witch powers from, but that Caliban knows very little about. He theorizes that Setebos is either indifferent or malignant or both--impossible to predict, driven by whim. The only other divine force is 'the Quiet', an even more inhuman and incomprehensible force that doesn't do anything at all; cosmology is cruel, the world a sandbox under the eye of a god with as many arms as a cuttlefish, capricious and sadistic, whom we can only hope will someday grow decrepit and sleep, which is the closest to it being dead we can pray for--

It was about this point I realized Caliban/Browning was inventing the Lovecraft mythos 50ish years ahead of schedule, and got hit by the lightning bolt of 'PUT ELDRITCH BEINGS IN IT' and, five seconds later 'CALIBAN DESERVES TO BE A MAGICIAN' and five seconds after that 'miranda deserves to break out of being her father's Perfect child, let's set it in the future and kill Prospero off'

So Bitter Heart (taken from a line in the poem, 'Caliban/a bitter heart that bides its time') is conceptually a dual perspective novella/short novel focused on how about nine years after the conclusion of The Tempest, Miranda (unmarried, I'll handwave it; Ferdinand bores me so much sorry dude) finds her father dead and surrounded by rambling half-incomprehensible notes, remnants of a type of magic that's far different from his old ways, and a creeping sense of Wrongness that begins to slowly manifest in distortion, mutation and decay of elements of reality. People search for solutions while Miranda tries to find the source of the bizarre power in her father's notes and what hidden books she can unearth from his study, but she hasn't made it very far before a man comes to Milan at the behest of someone who's decided we should throw magic at the magic problem--a man she's heard rumors of as the hot new 'guy you keep in your court for a bit to show him off at parties because he's learned and also Moorish or something, he has this crazy backstory that's probably fake but is a lot of fun, also he does magic probably' in other cities, but never met.

A man who, when they meet face to face, turns out to be Caliban, who after about a year of 'finally peace and quiet' realized that living completely alone on an island was going to drive him insane and also he still really wanted revenge on Prospero (and had a lot of ambiguous ideas about what he wanted from Miranda) so he scraped together what Prospero had left behind and taught himself magic for the next few years until he could figure out a way off the island. He's extremely annoyed that after that, and after spending more years building himself up and finding his footing in the outside world, Prospero had the nerve to die RIGHT before he showed up, even if he wasn't promised a reward if he can stop people's arms from turning into fishes and shit he'd find out what did it so he can give it a piece of his mind. Miranda understandably never planned for this scenario and has a really hard time knowing what to feel about it, but she and Caliban form a tentative truce in order to try and figure out wtf Prospero was doing before he croaked.

There'll be intercut flashbacks to their past and the time they spent becoming incredibly codependent and eventually tipping into confused romantic attraction and sexual experimentation, which both of them have tried very hard to convince themselves was a bad idea for one reason or another, it clearly wasn't and will never be good for them, etc; and of course in present day they both immediately resume having bitter gothic sexual tension and trying to ignore the instinct that, now they've met each other again, they're the only two real people in a world of dreams and spirits.

Also they have to find the entrance to an eldritch realm and figure out what's coming through and how to stop it, and have a lot of insanely weird and pretentious thoughts/conversations about God and sin and abuse and vengeance/hatred and so on. So that's the mess Bitter Heart is at the moment :P

*ymmv may vary on how justified on either side depending on the situation, obviously

[theonlyadawong]

putting all my hateration under the cut 😌❤️

I love that ethan is just a Normal Guy but dear God would it have killed them to give him some semblance of a personality other than wanting to save his wife and daughter like yeah okay he loves his family and that's something but when you're spending two games with him it's actually a whole lot of nothing! The game overall was beautiful of course but my God it just felt like a dark fantasy game and that's great but I want to play resident evil and this was not a resident evil game and I don't care how hard 8 fans campaign for it to be seen as one, it will never fit into the franchise unless the next few games make a hard left turn into fantasy. And yeah you could say 4,5, and 6 aren't exactly horror games and you know what I would agree with you kind of, but they still are resident evil games. I just think everything they did in this game was so... it was such a wild departure from anything we had ever seen before and not in a good way. The only things connecting this game to the rest of the franchise were chris (who is only in 10% of the game and that's pushing it) and ethan and mia, and those 2 are brand spanking new to the franchise. It honestly feels like they wanted a testing ground for 4remake so they just worked backwards from that and then worked on the story and that's how we got this junk and boy do I mean fucking junk. There is no way you can look me in my eye and tell me vampire woman and metal powers man seriously feel like they belong in the franchise. I can work with moreau because he leans into horrific mutations and donna... is kind of a joke to me lol. The doll thing is creepy but again it feels like a fantasy thing and not Sci fi or horror (though there are some horrific aspects to the game.) AND ALSO DO THEY EVER EXPLAIN WHY EVERYONE HAS AMERICAN ACCENTS EVEN THOUGH THEYRE IN ROMANIA DID I MISS SOMETHING?!?!? anyways the whole retroactively putting miranda in the ozwell Spencer story is such a fucking joke to me. Why would they fuck around with an already fine story beat? Why? Just to justify miranda and it doesn't even work because she, like everything else, feels so out of place in the franchise. And the game itself? Like the gameplay? Was nothing special! I didn't care for it! The most interesting thing that happened was the bsaa using bioweapons and that came at the VERY END OF THE GAME!!!!!!! like... THAT is the story beat we will be following up on (I assume. I mean. Unless capcom wants to go batshit like they clearly did here) and we don't even know about it until the fucking end!!! And my God. Shadows of rose. Completely boring don't care don't care don't care they literally just did all that work just to tell us ethan is always with rose. That's it. It's not for us to understand rose. It's for ethan. And again I must ask, why on God's green earth is mia seemingly absent from her daughters life. Why. THAT is an interesting story beat I would have liked to see in SoR not this other half cocked bullshit. Also eveline so did not need to be here. It's not like rose ever actually gets to learn about her. She's just there to be a malicious force and it's only for like... 20 minutes at best. Anyways this was the dumbest re game I've played and I suspect it will be the dumbest out of the franchise. I literally could go my whole life ignoring this game and be happier for it. Also it should have been mias game that way we can see mias relationship with rose but fuck her I guess.

[beevean]

https://youtu.be/esYWVXrAeyA?si=CDDDS7irx3n6_SW2

Correct me if I'm wrong but this is literally the first scene we see of Isaac after the timeskip right?

It's so cool when character development happens off screen and we are left with the character just talking about it :)

Imagine watching the show in real time, having to wait a full year after Isaac's story in S3 only to open with this

Yep!

And for posterity sake, here's the last scene we see of him in S3, after he kills the wizard:

And to this day I cannot understand the thought process of this man.

He blazed through the village cackling like a madman and happily turning the brainwashed villagers into Night Creatures, because he really wanted that damn mirror. Then he killed the wizard, who might as well be a monster for the amount of personality he displayed. Those people were alive (Miranda says that the wizard "cooked their soul into ash", but also admits that in order to defeat him, Isaac would have to kill them), and Isaac let them die without a thought because hey, new creatures for his army - he orders his Night Creatures to not maim them or eat them, so it was for that express purpose. Then, after he finds the mirror, instead of immediately crossing the threshold since nothing else is stopping him, he decides that he'll keep killing people (?), but leave the city standing, to allow other people to live in it one day, a dream apparently not even he believes in...? Then he wastes six weeks, when without the mirror he would have taken two weeks to reach Styria, nullifying with his own hands the point of getting the mirror in the first place: if before that was the only reason he even cared, now he has decided that "killing [the wizard] felt just". And after taking six weeks off-screen to think, now he's all about mercy and purpose and burying the people he killed because "everyone here was a victim"?

(this feels like Lenore's non-apology. They "were victims", huh? Of who, Isaac? Which two people in particular caused all this innocents to die? How convenient.)

I feel genuinely stupid. What prompts him to change his mind so quickly? Isaac in S3 does nothing but flip flop between listening to wiser people who tell or show him that not all people are bad, and immediately deciding that believing it is insanity because he meets some guards who want to do their job. I don't. I don't understand what clicks in his head. Why didn't he use the mirror as soon as he found it? Why did he decide right then to "take his time to think"??

My guess is that he eventually takes to heart the words of the Captain, who more or less said "yes, humans bad, but also humans good, also how about you rule the region after you conquer it", and decides he doesn't want to go insane like Miranda or the wizard. But it doesn't come across the screen at all, and again, that stupid time skip makes things too convenient.

And I wouldn't even be this nitpicky, if I didn't point out how brazenly self-centered his speech to the dead wizard sounds! I know I'm meant to think he has come to feel guilty off-screen and that's why he wasted six weeks thinking about what he's done, but dude really sounds like he just feels awesome and he's riding the high of being so cool. Like he has decided, off-screen, to be constructive rather than destrucive not because he has come to realize the worth of human life, but because... well, wouldn't he be the coolest dude if he did so? And doesn't he deserve to feel good about himself? And if so, how can I buy the idea that he organically has come to realize his past mistakes and has become a better person?

I could tell you to watch the episode for yourself to draw your own conclusions, but considering the atrocious editing of S3E9 that mixes together Isaac's gigachadness, Trepha fighting a battle no one cares about, and Alucard and Hector getting sexily raped, it's very very hard to get the evidence I need without my eyes melting...

My thoughts when I rewatched the whole show still apply:

Isaac already had agency in S3. He decided to make himself an army and get revenge. These were his ideas and plans. What changed off screen are his loyalty to Dracula's memory, his ideals and how he no longer has any interest in destroying, but building. While technically I can trace back this to the conversation he had with the Captain, by then Isaac had already fallen into his "human bad" mentality, and nothing spurned him to make him care about humans' future. "I killed many people for many reasons, but killing you felt just." You literally killed people because you thought you were purifying the world. You literally murdered people in the name of your Lord and your Prophet. I don't see any regret about all the senseless death you spread in S3. It really feels like Isaac just wants to feel good about himself.

Isaac certainly changed, as he and Flyseyes and Hector so conveniently tell me. If you summarize his arc, it even appears to make sense: dude went from being a personality-less simp ready to die for his Lord, to a petty asshole consumed with thoughts of revenge and death, to someone who has finally understood the worth of his own life and is ready to move on. But when I look into the details, and by details I mean the very dialogue, I just can't make sense of it. And I am positive that his sudden swerve into "goodness" in S4 was not planned, but is due to his massive popularity in S3, much like Lenore getting woobiefied or Hector apparently gaining braincells or Alucard getting over his misanthropy in one episode.

and the time skip was a terrible idea and it sucks for every character in s4 and i hate it

[applesandbannas747]

hi there ✧⁠◝⁠(⁠⁰⁠▿⁠⁰⁠)⁠◜⁠✧

I've been getting into fence recently, and got given the novels for my birthday today, and I was wondering...where do they fit into the canon of the comics, and the reading order?

also, follow up....are they going to ruin the comics for me, because I've read a lot about mischaracterisation, ableism, racism and worse in them recently?

Hey friend! Welcome to Fence!! And of course happy birthday—I hope it’s been a great one! 💜

So the novels exist in a weird pseudo-canon black hole. I honestly believe they were supposed to be more canon than they ended up being but either Pacat realized that he let the author of the novels, Sarah Rees Brennan, get ahead of the story in his excitement OR because of fan reaction/further consideration after Disarmed came out, Pacat ended up backtracking. The novels are meant to take place after RIVALS (volume 4) and before RISE (volume 5) and cover a couple of weeks in that stretch of time. However, RISE picked up right after RIVALS with no hint of any adventures having happened. The novels are not referenced at all—the biggest nod to it is Seiji wearing a watch. That’s the only acknowledgment of it at all, which is strange because some pretty substantial developments happen in the duology that could not be ignored. That is to say, RISE continues to develop something the novels conclusively resolved with no explanation other than the events of the novels simply never happened. Pacat has said that the novels are 80% canon, but the events clearly aren’t included in that 80%—the characterization from the novels does carry over to the comics, so if you notice a difference between volume 3 and RIVALS (volume 4), that’s where that came from. (Striking Distance was written before and during RIVALS (volume 4), despite being published after it.)

The novels are completely unnecessary to read and irrelevant to the plot. So if you read the novels, it’s for your own enjoyment. You probably came to them the same way most Fence comic fans did—through a love of the story and the characters and a desire to spend more time with them. Some people loved the novels, finding them fun and easy read. Some people love what SRB did with the characters. That’s cool for them, but fair warning that the characters are one dimensional caricatures of what they were in the comic and are painfully stupid. Like they are emotionally and cognitively at the level I’d expect to see in 8 year olds. The way Nick is treated by the narrative is incredibly belittling of poor people, treating them like idiots who don’t know anything and are unable to solve their own problems—but good thing the rich people are there to take care of him! Seiji’s obviously written as autistic in the worst way. As someone that’s autistic, I cannot articulate in a way allistic people can understand how much it hurts to have your special interest betray and mock you/what you are. Seiji is like is Sheldon Cooper and Miranda Sings had a child. And the narrative thinks it’s god’s gift to autistic people for it. His entire personality is stripped away and replaced with the author’s idea of autism and it sucks. SRB knows so little about the characters that she looked at Eugene, saw a brown kid, and labeled him Mexican through implication—also had him not understand racism against Asian people despite being Asian too. She implied that Nick’s gay as well rather than his canonical bisexual. Aiden’s honestly bordering on abusive toward Harvard during Striking Distance, and Williams has a really fucked up interaction with some of the boys that’s literally sexual harassment even though it wasn’t framed that way by the narrative. Beyond that, in my opinion, SRB doesn’t know how to write chemistry and in fact turned me heavily off Aiden and Harvard as characters as a ship. She also dented Nichoji’s appeal for me when I consider her characterization. So you’re not even getting any good moments there for the trouble imo.

If I were you, I’d skip the novels. They don’t add anything to canon and you’re not missing any context by ditching them. And you’d be saving yourself a lot of cringing, discomfort, and anger of varying degrees depending on where you fall on things. If you want specifics, please feel free to message me on or off anon! I tried to be as spoiler free as possible here haha

If you want to explore more on your own, you can check out some other asks/thoughts! (These all contain novel spoilers)

My full review of Disarmed

Autism representation in Seiji

Seiji in general

Eugene

Eugesse as a concept in Disarmed

Eugesse interactions in Disarmed

Nick's bisexuality

Coach Williams and sexual harassment

I also found an ask from someone saying they regret reading the novels while going through my posts to compile this list, which I thought was too hilariously on-topic to omit

(PS a birthday song for you to enjoy uwu)

[m-r-nicely]

Rude Awakening

Bela Dimitrescu x OC

Word Count: 771

Chapter Summary: Everyone is having a nice nap, and a talking doll decides to test fate by testing if it can awaken chaos incarnate. Will it work?

_______________

If she was fully honest, Bela did not want to leave her human friend. Not to mention, there were still questions she had yet to get the answers to. The two had come to a state of silently understanding the other in the setting of Seraphine's home. With the woman having somewhat successfully taught the vampire how to make the fearsome Bela Dimitrescu's new favorite food: Blood Glazed Profiterole. At first Seraphine wondered why she wanted to learn to make the puff pastries, but she realized Bela was worried if she would ever get a chance to see the woman again, or if some tragedy would take the life of her new favorite human before their next meeting. She wanted an excuse to either spend more time with Seraphine or have something to remember her by. If Bela chose to remember her with her favorite dessert, then so be it.

Eventually, the time did come for Seraphine to see Bela off. It was still rather cool out on that afternoon. Bela wanted to stay until the weather was warmer, but she knew the human could see she really just wanted more time with Seraphine herself. Due to this, none of her ideas worked.

It was too cold? Bela was handed an extra, albeit short, fur cloak. She doesn't know the way? Worry not, for Seraphine has many maps. She would get hungry on her way home? Bela was offered a chance to feed shortly before leaving with a basket full of profiterole for the journey.

"You cannot seem to be rid of me soon enough," Bela joked.

Seraphine looked at Bela and the vampire could once again see that unidentifiable emotion. Except now it was stronger. When Bela heard Seraphine speak, she knew exactly what the emotion was, and why it was growing. Why she was pushing Bela away.

"I just think your family have thought you dead long enough," her words were sincere and caring, but they were delivered with an apathetic and empty voice.

How she achieved such juxtapositions will forever be lost on the eldest Dimitrescu.

Bela saw it, and now she heard it. Her heart hurt for her friend. What Bela saw hidden in those captivating chartreuse eyes was loneliness. Everyone good who had come into Seraphine's life had left, in one way or another, and now Bela was doing it too. Seraphine was too caring to ask Bela to forget about going back home. To stay. So, she was pushing her away instead.

The doors to the library open and Angie waddles in. She completely ignores the two sleeping women and addresses Bela.

"Hey blondie!" the doll said very, very loudly.

Daniela sat up at the sudden noise and looked around for the source. Bela put a hand on her shoulder to get her attention and tilted her head in Angie's direction. The doll waved to the younger sister, who promptly waved back after pivoting in her seat, and made its way to the sofa the women were sat upon. She holds her hands up like a toddler, or like when Seraphine wants to ride on Bela's back, to make it clear she wants to join them on the couch. Daniela lifts the doll thinking she would peacefully sit on the couch with them. That was proven incorrect when Angie wriggled out of Daniela's hold and, with chaos in mind, all but tackled the sleeping Seraphine to the floor.

"Angie!" The sisters yelled. One in surprise and the other in frustration. Both in fear.

Seraphine is awful to deal with if she is, quite literally in this case, rudely awakened.

Speak of the devil, and he doth appear.

Daniela and Bela both brace for the incoming onslaught of absolute attitude. Even the village's Goddess has found herself cowering at the fury that will inevitably be faced if those gentle chartreuse eyes open too soon.

"Mother Miranda wouldn't dare cross you, sleeping beauty," Lord Heisenberg once said. Nobody truly knows what happened, but if Karl ever has any more remarks about her attitude, he keeps them to himself.

The library is deathly silent. Even the sisters' flies are stilled from their usual humming buzz. Nobody dares to move. Yet all things must come to an end, but it would seem fortune is on their side. The one who would be destined to be first to fall victim to Seraphine happened to be the one person who did not care about the attitude. Someone who had a heart big enough to understand the frustration and the only person who has ever extinguished the flame that makes chartreuse burn.