#THERE'S NOTHING I HATE MORE THAN UNNECESSARY CHARACTER ASSASSINATION

[sketch-twentytwo]

WHAT WAS THAT LOAD OF HORSESHIT

[magsneezo]

Made the mistake of watching the entirety of season four of the umbrella academy. I’ve got some thoughts to get out so here we go.

-why did this whole marigold Durango thing just come out of basically nowhere? No real buildup besides the occasional view of yellow mist?

-also why it makes two people with it merge into some world ending monster blob? Ew

-Ben and Jen deserved more. The actors had chemistry and I would’ve loved a different storyline for them where they still got to be in love but didn’t turn into a blob.

-Klaus and his subplot contributed nothing. Gave me nothing. Not sure why that was his thing instead of, I don’t know, something more substantial to his character and the growth and backslide he went through? But creepy bikers and ghost dog I guess woof woof

-Luther deserved more than being a sexy lamp. That’s all he was this season it felt like. A pretty face and funny gags. Legs and eggs.

-Diego. Oh poor Diego. He has gone through too much character development for all of that. What a terrible storyline for him. Unnecessary drama.

-Viktor felt disconnected from the storyline while being in the middle of it. Weird. I don’t think any of the actors were feeling this writing and character assassinations.

-I have nothing good to say about what they did to Five. Worst character assassination yet. The only thing good was Brisket Five. What is his story.

-Lila was more than a love triangle enticement. She deserved better. Like the laser eyes tho. Unnecessary but cool.

-Allison, whom I hated last season, was maybe the most compassionate character again like she was in season one? That was good, but felt off since last season made her such a villain but now that she has Claire back she’s good again. There wasn’t any growth to be had or improvement. Disappointing. Her goodness is entirely dependent on her daughter’s presence. Boo. Face consequences.

-Abigail was underdeveloped and confusing. Could’ve been used better.

-you mean ten percent of New York (or wherever this was) was waiting on a Muse song to play on the radio before they go to start a mob?

-this season honestly felt like someone watched The Boys and wanted to take notes. Ew.

-great all these characters we’ve watched the last four seasons cease to exist. Love it.🙃

-this had the same feeling as the Olympic breakdancer. I could’ve done better.

-I love happy endings, but I would’ve been fine with a bittersweet one. This was neither. It was garbage.

-well thank goodness I was worried the Handler wouldn’t get a happy ending. That sure made it all worth it. All is forgiven🙄

I may make a post later on how I would’ve written it, but for now I needed to get the rant off my chest.

[mj-ackerman]

Sorry if you already made a post about it but what are your thoughts on the "Anya loves Loid more than Yor" thing? I personally don't agree with it at all. I think Anya does try harder with Loid because she knows about Strix but not necessarily because she loves him a lot more than Yor.

Hello, yes I already made a post about this but only on Twitter hehe.

Regarding my thoughts about the "Anya loves Loid more than Yor" thing, I don't agree with it AT ALL. I believe Anya loves them both equally, there's was no competition and it SHOULDN'T be a competition as to who she loves the most. Anya also said it herself, she loves both her mama and papa because they're fun to be together and gave them BOTH a 100 perfect score

She even said that she likes it the best when she can be together with the both of them.

That's why she likes and enjoys their little family "ootings" so much because it's the time where she can spend time with both her mama and papa together.

I also didn't like how the post claimed that Anya is much closer to Loid just because he was the one who adopted her because that's not entirely true. While it's true that it was Loid who got Anya out of the orphanage, Anya quickly got along with Yor the day she became her mama, she was even comfortable enough to ask her if she wants to hold hands with her, it's just that Yor's thoughts about how she broke Yuri's ribs from hugging too tightly had scared her.

I also didn't like how OP reduced Yor's role and made it sounds like she was only chosen by Anya because of the fact that she was aware that Loid was looking for a wife when it wasn't the case. She chose Yor to be her mother because the idea of having a spy father and an assassin mother excites her. She was entertained by the thought of what adventures a spy and an assassin could bring in her life.

She loves head pats - Why yes, she do loves head pats, especially head pats from her papa because it's the only genuine sign of affection that he could afford to give her as of the moment.

And yes, Anya does try harder with Loid but it's not because she loves him more than she loves Yor. It's because she thinks that she gotta do her best and try harder in order to keep Loid and have him stay with her, with their family.

Anya doesn't really have to try hard for Yor's affection or to put an act to impress her because she knows very well that her mama will accept her and love her no matter what but it's different for Loid. While she's also aware that despite Twilight's cold demeanor, he's actually a big softie for her, she doesn't really understand what he feels about her because right now he's in a lot of denial. She even canonically questioned whether Loid loves/cares for her or not.

But with Yor, she already had that security to the point where she immediately even became her safe place, but again, she loves them both EQUALLY, it's just that for that reasons I mentioned, she gotta try harder for Loid.

I love the user's post & metas, they give good insights and character analysis and I do think it's not their intention to start a discourse regarding this matter, they were simply giving their opinion about it, it's just that the way they worded it was really bad. I think if they didn't said "Not even close" or had put the unnecessary add up of "there's a reason why anya let yor holds her hand but it's loid who hold and hug her" (I was disappointed by that statement because that's not true AT ALL, and for the record Loid haven't hug Anya yet, picking her up and holding her doesn't count as a hug btw) I think people wouldn't react the way they did.

It's actually fine if people likes Loid more than Yor, there's nothing wrong with that. I just hope whenever they praise him or build him up to be as a good father figure, they wouldn't need to tear Yor down, because it's really sad to see Loid being praised of doing the same things that Yor is also doing but she's being hated for it or they don't think it's something admirable because it's something expected of her because she's a mother and wife :/

[number1traumalover]

This is random af, but I just finished watching season 4 of TUA(the umbrella academy) and I am extremely agitated

So, multiple paragraph long(super long) rant under the cut

First things first, let me clarify that this series isn't the worst I've seen, and that s1 and s2 were both goldmines. I do think season 3 and 4 definitely could of done better, though.

To sum up s4 in a few words, RUSHED, UNNECESSARY, and PLOT HOLES. For example, the entire love triangle thing Diego, Five, and Lila was unwanted and pointless. Not only did it degraded Five and Lila's characters so much(c'mon five, you're smarter than that), it was also just a waste of screen time. Lila and Five getting lost on the subway contributed almost NOTHING to the story. It was mainly just a setup for the pathetic relationship they had. The only beneficial thing that came out of it was Lila and Five being able to navigate the subways, which led to Lila's family and Allison's daughter escaping(this was also a terrible writing choice, but we'll get to that later). By pitting Diego, Five, and Lila together they unraveled 3 WHOLE FUCKING YEARS of hard work and dedication to getting Five to slowly grow on them. Overall, 0/10. Hated the love triangle.

For another example, let's talk about the variety in quality, shall we? I will admit that the first 2-3 episodes of season 4 were pretty decent, and I actually liked them, but you could see the quality of the episodes just go down as you progressed through out the season. The ending was clearly rushed, and to me it seems like they were running out of a budget and they knew it. Not a great look, 0/10.

Anyways, its time for my dearly beloathed plot holes. Since I have too many and it would take too long for me to explain them all, I'll just list them all quickly.

Wouldn't Grace, Claire, and Lila's other kid existing in another universe cause a kugelblitz to exist, since their mothers are dead, and thats exactly the reason for why the Sparrow kugelblitz existed?

What happened to the other children with Marigold in them? There were 43 in the umbrella timeline and 19(give or take) in the Sparrow timeline. Why would they also get obliterated when the umbrella siblings got consumed by the cleanse?

Why did Luther get his monkey body back when he drank the Marigold? The monkey body had nothing to do with the Marigold, henceforth shouldn't be associated with his powers.

If it was made so that Five never existed in the first place, then the Commission never would've existed, meaning that Five never would've been hired to assassinate Kennedy, meaning that the whole fucking timeline would be messed up(there's probably more examples of this)

Speaking of the Commission, why did Five found it in the first place? The old Five in the freezer at the commission had half of his arm chopped off, meaning that he founded the commission after the scene with the Guardian. He would've had to reset the timeline in order to gain access to what he needs to start he Commission, but if he reset the timeline, then he wouldn't have his arm chopped off, meaning that in another universe, Five and the others found a way to escape the Oblivion without resetting the timeline. If so, how the fuck did they do that??

Killing the tua shouldn't have erased all the Marigold, since Reginald's wife would've still created the durango and marigold on the other planet BEFORE it had reached earth. And if Five and co didn't exist, the Marigold just would've found another host. THIS DOESNT MAKE SENSE??

The new powers that some of the tua members got make no sense??? Why can Lila shoot laser eyes AND copy powers? How come Klaus can fly? That has nothing to do with his spectral themed powers, and everyone knows that he just makes himself levitate by having ghosts lift him instead. In the scene where Diego is delivering packages (the night after Ben spiked their drinks) how come he's able to make them land directly where he wants them? There's no metal in letters or envelopes??

(There's more plot holes, but I don't have the time and patience to list them all.)

LONG story short, the ending to the grand series finale was kind of disappointing. I genuinely think they could of done a better job on it.

[lau-ry]

Okay, 10 hours in the veilguard and

-interface and main music theme is awful. Did they confuse DA with startrek or what.

-level design is painful and map is useless. I never know where to go. Doing side quests means running endless circles every time. Hate it.

-why, WHY characters are transported at some random place after reload?

-companions do seem surprisingly charming at this stage.

-everyone is awfully chill about new apocalypse. Ancient gods of total destruction, new improved blight, countless tears in the veil again? Don't worry, we will deal with it because we are a team. Of three random dudes.

In inquisition you've had a literal army to fight one crazy magister and still felt like the world is ending.

-everyone is surprisingly well informed on the last discoveries in elven history. I can understand veil jumpers, but all other random people? Do they lecture political news in the church or what? The only reasonable reaction so far came from main Gray warden and they dismissed him as a petty idiot.

-everyone is very eager to let random dude know all their secrets. Assassin guild invites rook into their lair on first meeting and presents all important members. Are they idiots? Why do they even think this random guy is more capable than their best trained people?

-you also have no option to disagree that said assassin guild should rule their city. No second thoughts or moral questions here.

-veil jumpers is a great consept. My inquisitor would totally join. Or more like start the whole thing.

-there is an awfull lot of dismissing established lore points but they were doing it every game so nothing new.

-so many healthy therapeutic dialogues. Boring.

-new fighting system is questionable but fun . At least when there are't ten visual effects playing all at once and you can actually see what's going on.

-the clothes are totally ridiculous. I'm very tempted to leave my Rook in the starting tatters as the only reasonable option.

-so many details are unnecessary game-ish. Why things fly out of chests every time? Why nag meat costs 15 GOLD? is their economy in shumbles, what size are their coin purses? Why no one comments about you shamelessly picking up clothes and money in the dead village all while acting sad and horrified?

-It took three hours for someone to comment on dead tree people everywhere. They are just so SO chill.

[autistic-beshelar]

1, 12, 20

the character everyone gets wrong

oh you fucking KNOW i'm gonna say mollymauk. EVERYONE gets him wrong.

the people that like him woobify him and act as though he's just a teeny baby who has never done anything wrong ever (these are also often widomauk shippers who sexualise/romanticise the 'socially casually shove him against the wall' scene).

and the people who hate him are often straight up fucking vile. one breed of these people are the youtube ableists who also hate taliesin for crimes of stuttering or taking a minute to find abilities. there's also people who have called him a terrorist sympathiser???

and generally people think he's just a complete asshole, manipulative bastard, and refuse to acknowledge that 1 - he was 2 fucking years old and raised in a circus by a man who planned to feed him to a lizard and 2. ALL of the mighty nein were assholes in the beginning!!! molly had some fucked up morals, but he made an attempt at having them, for the most part. caleb murdered his family. beau tried to strangle a six year old. fjord wanted to unleash an ancient evil god to get a cantrip. they were all fucked up in the beginning, the entire point of their campaign was that they gradually became better people, and molly's death, their grief for him and their memory of him was a major catalyst for that, particularly for beau.

it really irritates me when people say 'molly had too much of an influence on the rest of the campaign' bc like. that was the point. that was the whole story. they knew someone who was bright and shining and tried very hard to be and to bring joy - and he died. and he was also fucked up, and petty and bitchy and mean and they loved him. the mighty nein campaign is about grief and growth. you don't have to like molly, but it's so disingenuous to act as though his character and his death weren't important, when they defined so so much of the campaign, and of the characters' development.

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

so you're actively willingly making me return to my hunter x hunter bullshit?

[pensive emoji] illumi zoldyck. my beloved who i have not thought about in so long

he's just so FASCINATING. because hxh is so much from killua's perspective, of course we're going to see illumi at first for, well, exactly what he is - an abuser, a manipulator, a villain.

but then you meet his family and they're all like that. illumi to me is so much a representation of cycles of abuse - an abused child who then went on to abuse his younger siblings - and cult upbringings. illumi knows NOTHING ELSE outside of what his family has taught him, he has no experience or understanding of the outside world unless it relates to his family's work.

he's also very different to the rest of his family in terms of his behaviour - while the rest of his family are also assassins, he's the only one that reads so clearly as Off, and to me reads clearly as neurodivergent - the flat affect that's so contrasted with his animated voice, the tendency to ramble to himself, the unstable emotions, the unusual posture. and there's also so much to unpack about the fact that illumi isn't the heir, despite the fact that he's (certainly in the beginning of the series) a thousand times more powerful than killua, upholds his family's values, excellent at his job, and actually WANTS to be an assassin.

man. he's just so fascinating. it's such a great look at how the situations people are in affect how 'good' or 'bad' we are able to be. illumi is a bad person - but how could he ever have been anything else?

20. part of canon you found tedious or boring

stares at dragon age inquisition

tedious doesn't BEGIN to cover my fucking issues with inquisition but it's certainly part of the problem. there's just... so much wandering around doing fetch quests and it's so unnecessary. they created this BIG OPEN WORLD!!! and it just felt so... empty?? like dragon age 2 had three dungeons and a dodgy back alley but somehow there was so much more life in that game.

i never finished inquisition, partly bc i fucking despised what they did with hawke (the OOC ness, not the leaving them in the fade), as well as the anti-mage pro-templar propaganda, and the fucking. dont get me started on cullen. but also the game was just boring tbh. whereas origins i have played like 7 times and will undoubtedly play again

[heartofspells]

For the weird writer ask, 1, 4, and 11?

Hiya, sweetheart!

1. What font do you write in? Do you actually care or is that just the default setting?

God, no. The default font is Calibri and I hate it. I swear, it's barely a step above Comic Sans. I write in Arial 11pt and nothing else. It's distracting otherwise and takes away my focus.

4. What’s a word that makes you go absolutely feral?

I don't know that I have a word that makes me go feral, though I do have some that cause me to grind my teeth a bit. I dislike the word couch, but more so in my own writing than anyone else's or in speaking. I'm not even sure why except that when I type it out, it's always a bit jarring. I also hate the word jizz. If I see it or hear it, my stomach is instantly turning. I think it's a terrible word and shouldn't exist in the English language.

11. Do you believe in the old advice to “kill your darlings?” Are you a ruthless darling assassin? What happens to the darlings you murder? Do you have a darling graveyard? Do you grieve?

I'm pretty sure I just swallowed my tongue. You chose this one on purpose. We all know I'm a merciless assassin.

But speaking in the traditional sense of what the phrase means, for the most part, yes. If it's truly unnecessary, remove it. Don't leave the clutter, though I'll say I'm more strict about this in my own writing with words than with characters or plot points, etc. But also, I feel that if you're truly attached to something, be it phrasing choice or specific words, characters, non-essential scenes, leave them in. If you're struggling to get rid of them, if you love them that much, what does it matter in the end. We're all writing for ourselves first and foremost. I have, of course, grieved my own killed darlings on occasion, and I do have a graveyard of sorts! There are quickly jotted ideas or full scenes I've removed or never added to a story that I haven't ever had the heart to completely delete. I like to revisit them sometimes.

Send me a weird question if you'd like!

[kierancampire]

I just beat Horizon Forbidden West!

I loved the first game, though i admit i remember little of it. I think this game expanded super well on it, from my memory of 1, it's hard to say which i preferred! They did really well with it! Loved the story, world, gameplay, the fighting, taking down machines, sidequests were super good and felt like they actually mattered! It was super enjoyable! Put about 60 hours in and there is still lots left to do!

However, there were things i disliked. Quite buggy, from being unable to progress quests, characters not moving, things disappearing under the floor, there were quite a few. Climbing, like Assassin's Creed Odyssey, was so frustrating, Aloy would just stop climbing or get stuck. It's kinda annoying knowing there is DLC but for PS5 users only. Also, i hated missions where other characters joined, they just scream at you the whole time, often repeating things endlessly, to the point i wanted to mute the game. Also the climbing animations where it slows down or tries to be tense like Aloy won't make it? Just so slow, tedious, and unnecessary. And also, some of the enemies were so difficult/impossible to knock parts off or focus on certain areas, due to them just CONSTANTLY moving and nothing helping, so getting parts, i literally gave up on some enemies as i just couldn't do it

However, my biggest gripe with the game. God. Fucking. Damn. Aloy. Fucking Aloy. If Aloy gets hit. You. Are. Fucked. When they make the third game, god fucking damn i hope they improve on that. The *AMOUNT* of times i got stun locked and killed! Or the fucking arena, where everything is time based, and often very strict time limits, but i failed because Aloy kept getting hit by water, explosions, or other things, and she just fucking flails, launches, falls over, but then takes an *ACTUAL* fucking century to get back up, to the point where often, and this happened SO fucking much, where by the time she got up/i got control again, the enemy did another attack, and it restarted the whole fucking process, sometimes until i died. And again, especially so in the arena or "certain" encounters, where you are in a small place, no where to hide, nothing to really hide behind. You can't go too far away, or the enemies just fire a constant barrage of projectiles at you, often leading to that issue of you in a 5 minute animation trying to get back up, so you die and can't hit back. But then if you get too close, they again spam attacks that just stun you and deplete your health in seconds! And trying to run away is futile! Everything has a lunge attack that lets them bridge the gap in less than a second, and you're stun locked! Like, if you can't tell, fucking hated this aspect of the game, i dunno how they decided it was okay and just went with it. It made *SOOOO* many parts of the game unenjoyable for me! Like i said, can't be too close, can't be too far, can't hide, can't run, can't back up, you can barely attack if at all between Aloy just fucking flailing for 5 minutes any time a fucking pebble taps her. Like, my god, i hated it

Also, i dunno if this was just me, but i literally never used melee, even in forced close range encounters. 3 reasons for this. 1, melee seemed so weak and you usually always need status ailments from ranged weapons. 2, groups of enemies just fucking destroy you, so you want to take them down one by one or from a distance, throwing yourself in for melee is a death sentence. 3, to sorta expand on that, stealth is so crucial to the game, to the point there are a ton of perks/an entire tree for it. So the game kinda forces you to go long range, bows are much more powerful, they inflict status, expose weakness, close range combat kills you, stun animations kill you, and there are a maltitude of long range options only one melee option. I just don't even really see why it is in the game? Or why the game seemingly tries to force close encounters on you at time to try and make you use it? There is literay no advantage to melee?

Also yeah, if it isn't obvious from a lot of my gripes, fucking hated Tiderippers. Elephant in the arena was hell too. But like i said, i did honestly really enjoy the game at the same time, it's gorgeous, i took so many scenic screenshots, it continues the story well, i just really liked it. But yeah, there could be some major quality of life improvements haha

[shirophantomvox]

Random date night with Illumi, Hisoka, and Chrollo

Hello, anon! Ask and you shall receive! This prompt is very interesting and I will try to keep it in character as much as possible. To sum this up, Hisoka would take you to an ice cream shop, a carnival, or apple orchard while Illumi would rather go to an art or historical museum. Chrollo would persuade you to attend a book reading/author signing or go hiking. Depending on who you are and what your ideal date is, I’m sure you’d find them all fun. Going to a carnival or apple orchard is my go-to since I’ve barely been because they’re all in the suburbs. These headcanons are explained much more than the others. That is why Chrollo and Illumi seem to be short, but they’re not. Also, I can’t wait for Halloween because these headcanons are going to be amazing. I am extremely sorry if there are grammar errors! Taking classes on Zoom is frustrating and now my brain has to relearn everything that I lost in 3 months! Before we get started, I have a few announcements.

This post is more laid back than my other headcanons because I tried to keep it as canon as possible.

I want to thank you all for 65 followers! It means a lot! I’m happy to see that a lot of you enjoy my writing and like it enough to follow me! I have a challenge for you! When I reach 100 followers, I will host some type of writing event here...but I need ideas. I’ve seen some pages do specials where you can send an ask and pretend like you're talking to a character and I respond with what they’d say. SEND ME IDEAS! I WILL CREDIT YOU!

I will be stepping back a little more than before. I’ll still be logged in and re-blogging but as far as writing posts like this...it may only be once or twice a week. You see, I’m in college and I’m struggling financially and I have to work on scholarships. If you all send me an ask, be patient.

Voltron posts will only be created based on asks. I will not be writing posts about VLD if no one requests them. I do not receive any feedback from it anymore and no one seems to like them.

Now, let’s get into the post.

Let's start with Illumi first.

Headcanon 1: Illumi has a secret admiration for different types of art but he specifically enjoys pop art and surrealism. He has commented on how surrealism makes his brain twist and his feelings swirl as he tries to figure out the piece and what inspires it.

He prefers not to participate in tours as he likes to digest the art at his own pace.

Headcanon 2: In his spare time, he paints on a canvas. His art style consists of both surrealism and abstract art. For a person with a dark personality, his compositions always contain bright colors and abstract techniques that leave you wondering about his TRUE personality. He is truly a good man with a bright personality but after being abused for so long, those behaviors/personalities have been shoved so far down his throat that they may not come back up.

He has a bad habit of asking you what you thought about every single piece of art you passed. The conversations were great but this is a date after all. The playful conversation slowly turns into a lecture about art. Although you loved your bf’s dictionary-like brain it also drained your energy.

One of his favorite artists is Vincent Van Gough. Although he favors surrealism, Van Gogh’s art style was mind-blowing to him. So amazed that he buys several Van Gogh t-shirts from the gift shop.

His favorite piece created by Van Gough is “Starry Night”.

He notices that you are becoming bored and decides that it is time for MORE excitement, one that you are certain to enjoy.

“Where are we going,” you ask, pretending to be interested.

“Down to the basement. We are going to have a bite to eat.”

Since Illumi rarely smiled, when he did smile it drove you wild. The anticipation of what his next move was going to be is what drove that wildness. Being a bounty hunter was thrilling already but dating a smart, badass assassin was totally out of your league but it worked out.

Headcanon 3: Illumi’s idea of being romantic is dramatically different from yours. He believes just spending time with you on the couch was enough. He is correct; but if you have the time and funds, your time together should be a little spontaneous. You insisted on dates outside of the house because his family will not stay out of your business.

“Illumi, I am too hungry for more trivia.”

He chuckles. “Don’t worry. So am I. That is why I’ve decided to take you to a wine and cheese party.”

Huh? Wine and Cheese at 3PM? That’s ok. When was there a time limit on when you can drink alcohol?

Illumi has indirectly attended parties as such when he was 15 years old. He never drank, but he watched as his mother’s friends (surprisingly) talked about business and their children. This time, you weren’t going to talk about business for once. Instead, you two were going to actually talk about what couples discuss.

Headcanon 4: When introduced to alcohol for the first time, Illumi immediately stated how he hated brown liquor. That includes Hennessy, Jack Daniels, etc. It makes him sick to his stomach. He prefers to drink Smirnoff mixed with fruity drinks like strawberry or pineapple.

He loves it when you make these drinks for him on a summer day.

Hence the title wine and cheese, you both go to a stand-up table, place your brochures down, and actually have a wonderful conversation not involving work or hunting.

Illumi smiled a few times, more than usual. Whenever he appears to be softer even around you, that is because he has mellowed out and doesn't have the overbearing weight of his family on his shoulders. You set him free.

Hisoka

According to a one-shot that another manga artist created, they expressed that Hisoka was found on the side of the road, was taken in by someone that worked at a local circus, and learned Nen in a matter of days. Hisoka’s clown look and having the skills of a magician proves that this has to be canon in some way.

Headcanon 1: Given this potential backstory, going to a carnival is his go-to every summer. He wants to take you to a circus but saves that for you as an engagement gift.

Everyone with a heart knows that whether or not you’re in a relationship or not the carnival is fun as hell! Expensive fried food, elephant ears, funnel cake, ICEE’s, rides, and stuffed animals are to die for!

Being at a carnival relaxes him so his bloodlust isn’t activated unless someone bumps into him and causes a scene.

Headcanon 2: PDA is something that Hisoka does well; he doesn’t overdo it but does it enough where people get the impression that you are a couple and aren’t “best friends”.

While completing a mission depending on how rough it may be, he insists that you tag along to see how he handles the situation. You’ve already seen his ruthlessness from Hunter’s exam but he insists.

His sense of pride gets the best of him sometimes. Sometimes his head is so big that it reminds you of a large birthday balloon.

Headcanon 3: ANYWAY, given his nature, he is very adventurous, dangerous, and courageous. If he wants to go on the Demon Drop, he’ll do it and you DO not have a choice in the matter. He’ll tease or guilt trip you into doing something that you would not like to do.

“Well, you wouldn’t want me to cling on to someone else, would you?”

“No. Of course not,” you reply.

“Let’s go then, scaredy-cat.”

As a hunter, you’ve seen worse. Why are you so afraid to go on a ride?

Headcanon 4: At apple orchards, cornfield mazes are one of his favorites. You cannot for the life of you figure out how to get out but he can. He grabs a scarecrow and scares you from behind. That annoys you but is nothing compared to later on that night.

Oh. My. God. It’s haunted house time!

“Hisoka, I’m not going in!”

“Why not? I’ll protect you.”

“Because they’re monsters and I already have to deal with one.”

It took him a second to catch on that you were talking about him.

“That’s going to bite you in the butt, kitten.”

Headcanon 5: Like Killua, Hisoka has a sweet tooth. Don’t allow his buff appearance to fool you!

He LOVES caramel apples, elephant ears, funnel cake, freshly squeezed lemonade, fudge, and cotton candy. How can this man manage to stay in shape? The world may never know.

Headcanon 6: He isn’t one to play by other people’s rules but he sets his own rules with your relationship that you both must obey. One of those rules says that neither of you can be on your phones while together.

Headcanon 7: Hisoka insists that you both wear either matching pants or matching shirts to avoid unnecessary flirtation.

He isn’t jealous but on “us time”, he doesn’t want to lose a single second.

Headcanon 8: Hisoka only jumps in when necessary. Given that you’ve passed the hunter’s exam and work as a bodyguard, he knows you can handle your business. If the person can’t take a hint, then he steps in. They almost back up immediately considering Hisoka is towering over them.

When the moon shines, you both go to the car and off to sleep in your comfy king-sized bed.

Chrollo

We all know that Chrollo loves to read! What does he specifically like to read? What Genre? Does he like to read alone or with other people?

Although Chrollo is a thief and must be hidden in the shadows, the authorities have called off the search for him for at least 3 years. Slowly but surely, he begins to find himself in the outside world again.

Chrollo once discussed a book with the Phantom Troupe when they were being transported to another place for a mission. He read “Tears of a Tiger” by Sharon M. Draper.

The reading sessions are opened with an affirmation and a reason to be thankful to be alive. He says he is thankful for the troupe, glances at you, and smiles. No one catches on to that sly face except for Phinks.

Headcanon 1: Chrollo is very silent and shy to an extent. He only associates with people he knows and trusts. You are the social butterfly at this moment.

Chrollo tags along behind you like a shy child, holding your hand while you stick out your free hand to greet everyone.

Today, the book club was going to read “Divergent”.

Headcanon 2: Although he loves to read, he hates it when others read out loud. Most people are drably read and it annoys him. After a while, he takes over. Chrollo was tense the first 30 minutes of the meeting because two cops were there but neither of them noticed it was him.

Headcanon 3: Chrollo often acts the part of the character that he is reading in the book. His tone, attitude, and emphasis on certain words keep the group engaged. He is complimented on his acting!

“Good Job, honey,” you whisper.

He responds by tightly squeezing your hand.

His tone was so impressive that the host insisted that he read for the entire night. He was ok with that because in between reads he was often distracted by a lovely pair of jeans and shoes you had on. You were into writing, so hearing others read and act out the characters helped.

Headcanon 4: In some settings, Chrollo is very braggadocious. He insisted that the group read one of your stories so you could be provided with feedback.

“We’d be delighted to view your story, y/n!”

“It will be fun!”

The book club wasn’t a stereotypical club that only consisted of soccer moms but instead consisted of men and women who were involved with a business, law enforcement, health, etc. This was an open space for everyone to relax and forget about their demanding jobs.

After the meeting, the group went to dinner at a nearby pizzeria. You all enjoyed large pizzas, beer, salads, and dessert. How could your stomach (or anyone’s stomach) hold that much?

Chrollo laughed so much that it made you question if he was your actual boyfriend or not. He even engaged in conversations with the two off-duty cops! For once, you helped Chrollo experience the greater things in life; true love, friendship, and happiness.

“Thank you,” he whispered and slyly placed a kiss on your hand. “For everything.”

[stxleslyds]

It seems like you have a negative opinion on all non-Winick characterizations of Jason in the comics. But do you hate them all equally? Could you rank all non-Winick comic depictions of Jason from best to worst characterization? Or maybe give them a letter grade?

Hi friend! This is a bit funny to me because I really didn’t expect people to be so vocal about me being such an annoying person when it comes to Jason’s characterizations. I can’t promise that I won’t complain anymore but I will try to be kinder.

But I won’t start right now, because I really want to make this ranking, it will go from best to absolute worst! I bet you guys won’t know who is in the deepest circle in hell! Place your bets everyone!

This is the level that gives me joy! (Yup, I put a writer that only wrote ten pages of Jason content as the best, please don’t call me out on it).

Matthew Rosenberg: I love him and I love what he has done with Jason, I have only read ten pages of his work while writing Jason and he already has me hooked. Like I said in that one ask/post, I think he will make some amazing things with the Jason that we have now and I still believe that. Little shit and competent Jason Todd, I am glad you are here.

Peter Tomasi: This one is a little checky because his run is out of comics canon, but his Arkham Knight Jason Todd and the way he wrote his origin are absolutely stunning.

Marv Wolfman: His Robin Jason was really good and I am really glad that we had those comics in which we could see Jason in an environment that didn’t include Batman. I was like looking at what Jason could have been if he had stayed with the Titans’ instead of keep on being Robin in Gotham with Batman.

This is the level in which I can still like some things about the story even though in general I didn’t enjoy the book.

Joshua Williamson: Yeah, but he is only here because his story seemed interesting, my issue as I have said before is his subplot “romance” and the fact that he seems to be the kind of writer that wants to push the “Batfamily” dynamic. Otherwise, his Jason characterization when it came to him not liking working for the Magistrate was really good, sadly it was overshadowed by all the bad that I just really didn’t enjoy at all

Chip Zdarsky: Tyler (Blue Hood) and Jason working to rid Gotham of a drug really brought me back to the good old days. I also really liked seeing the parallels between Jason and his mom with Tyler and his own mother, it felt like a good way to start a connection and develop a Red Hood story. Sadly, the book as a whole was shit and it ended horribly but there were some interesting moments.

Now we are looking at the level where I just wonder: Why?

Paul Dini: Why? His Jason really did a 360, and I meant it, I really don’t know what the point of Jason taking the mantle of another dead Jason was. His Red Robin was just a Red Hood in a different suit and that was that. I understand that they wanted to kill him because he was an anomaly and all that but, he just really felt out of place in that event. This was the first warning: Jason Todd/Red Hood only works on a street-level, stop trying to make everyone dimension jump and all that DC.

Bruce Jones: Hey! I forgot about this guy in the last post! He sucks! And his arc in Nightwing is the epitome of the question: Why? I get it, DiDio wanted to kill Dick and then have Jason take over as Nightwing but Dick didn’t die at the end of Infinite Crisis, he was still alive there was no reason to have Jason dress up as Nightwing and going on a killing spree, also, the tentacles? Really? Annoying and weird.

Scott Snyder and Tim Seeley: I ask why but I know why. This was a desperate attempt to use Jason in stories because they couldn’t use Dick Grayson. It was also weird because being there only pushed him more towards the Bat-Clan even though he had his Outlaws team going on. It was just weird and they were also big on unnecessary “romances”.

This is the Skrull Jason level. Here I see, hear and feel no Jason Todd.

Grant Morrison: Grant needed a villain and all they could come up with was this weird as red-haired-pill-headed-Red Hood and DC said “sure, why not?”. There is no real way to find UtRH Jason in this version of Jason and that for me is a little bit better than still seeing the Jason that I loved in whatever this was.

Tony S. Daniel: This one sucks the most because it isn’t that Jason is unrecognizable its just that Jason is the exact opposite of who he would have become. Everything about this Jason seems to come from the Upside Down. Him saying that Gotham needs Batman so he will be Batman and he needs a Robin was the wildest take that I have seen about Jason. I have no other words for it.

Hell.

James Tynion IV: whoever invited this man to this party needs to understand that they made a big mistake. All Tynion did was overpower the living hell out of Jason for a fight that wasn’t big enough to become a Batman/Red Hood event. The fight was so lame and so stupid, if Jason had learned the ancient martial arts move in the All-Castle and the used that and the All-Blades to defeat Ra’s it would have been more than enough, but in New 52 writers really wanted to make Jason look like the most experienced and best at being a hero when Kory and Roy were standing next to him.

Scott Lobdell: He sucks, New 52 was just terrible, there was nothing that I liked from it, character assassination for everyone, nobody was treated well there. He wrote a self-insert version of Jason and it was noticeable because Jason was trash in New 52. Rebirth was better but that didn’t make things better for Jason because Lobdell started to fuel the “Jason was guilty for his own death” and “Jason was a reckless Robin” narratives and here we are today. Lobdell danced around his own stories, his characterization of Jason and he never gave a fulfilling ending to any of his arcs. Some characters we only saw once some others simply disappeared. Nothing ever truly started or ended when it came to his writing.

Ginnungagap.

Geoff Johns: to him all I will say is: comprate un bosque y perdete.

Thank you for the ask! I had fun doing this! I wish you have an excellent day!

[djemsostylist]

Always & Forever: Complaints

As with anything, TO suffers from writers disease. It suffers from a case of too much plot, annoying characters, and the sort of character assassinations that comes from playing tug of war with a character to make them fit a given plot. It is perhaps my biggest pet peeve, and it's certainly not unique to The Originals.

In the interest of keeping things neat, I'm going to try for a bulleted list. (split in two apparently, since tumblr thinks I talk too much)

My chief complaint, and this goes for the whole series, was the moments when the writers changed things for the sake of plot. Nowhere was this more egregious than season 4. We go from Hayley, at the beginning, saying that she has done things she is not proud of to keep her daughter safe and get back the people that she loves, and telling Elijah she wants to build a life with him, to talking about how the Mikaelsons, and Elijah specifically, are not safe for for Hope. She is suddenly shocked by Elijah's past, by his ruthlessness in the face of protecting the people that they love, and it doesn't mesh at all with what we know from the previous 4 seasons. Hayley has always known who and what Elijah is, and has been with him in his darkest moments since he came back to New Orleans. They keep nothing from each other. There should be nothing that surprises her anymore, especially because she is just as willing to do whatever it takes to save the people she loves. She says it, explicitly, several times. Even at the end of season 3, after Davina and Marcel, she is nothing but supportive and loving. Their final talk is almost beautiful, with the desperate way they say I love you, and their final kiss, but the bits leading up to that were both out of character and wholly unnecessary. And frankly, with Elijah and Hayley being arguably the least toxic relationship in the entirety of the TVDU, I'd argue choosing them as a time for the writers to express some sort of weird quasi-feminist morality was--a choice.

Season 5 was wholly unnecessary. It added nothing to story, and served really only to further destroy characters and relationships that had been a core of the show. In all honesty, season 5 should never have existed, and a few of the actors could have made guest appearances on season 1 of Legacies, and that would have been enough. Their fates at the end of season 4 were thematically exactly perfect for each character--there was really no need to go further, and killing Klaus and Elijah and making Rebekah human add nothing to the story.

From season 5, I would keep the following: Kol and Hope being close (it makes sense bc of the witch connection, and Kol is fine with physical distance), Marcel and Hope (are we seeing a connection here--again, Marcel and Hope being close makes sense, and then you have a way of getting info about Rebekah and etc, and having Hayley maintain some sort of tie to the family. After all, Marcel is a Mikaelson too), Klaus watching over Elijah and killing his enemies between bouts of debauchery (I actually really liked that bit--Klaus will sort of fade into the shadows, become the myth, forever keeping his family safe, but never able to see them), Rebekah rejecting Marcel's initial proposal (I would still have her go to see Elijah, just bc she's scared and guilty and wants her big brother and even though he isn't him, she finds some peace). Hayley I would have probably pretty much offscreen, but I would NOT kill her, maybe she is staying at the school and helping, or helping wolves, etc. She is content with her daughter (no love interest, but once a year she goes to France and Elijah gets his memories back and they have one day together (leave me alone okay I get to have this)) and the rest of the time she is just a mom to the one person who matters more than anything.

I also really hated the whole super vampire plot. It was dumb and super extra and having there be a "super vampire who can kill even originals" just felt--weird. and dumb. I liked the outcome (the 5 year time jump and such) but idk. This show kept one-upping itself in the bad guy department, and it got old fast.

The random several episode love interests that went no where. Gia, the redhaired witch whose name I don't recall, the annoying vampire hunter (Sofia or something idk). None of them were interesting or added anything to the story, and frankly could have been left out with no consequence.

Up next, characters!

[extasiswings]

That episode truly put me in such a sour mood after what they did to Eddie!! Like the real Eddie would never do any of that stuff! He's a devoted loving father (the best father) who wouldn't do anything that his son isnt okay with! And I'm still super bitter that we didnt get a Eddie/Christopher scene once he got him from Bucks. Like I love the Buck/Christopher scene and it was important and lovely and I'm glad it was in the episode but a Eddie and Christopher scene would've been even more important and definitely needed! And don't get me started on her calling Chris sensitive 🤬 and Eddie not having a reaction towards that like he should! Ugh this is not the mood I want for the next 6 weeks! I'm just hoping that our Eddie, The real Eddie is back in 6 weeks and stay permanently and doesnt let that imposter use his face again!

I feel like the worst part is not only how dirty they did his character but how much it was a total waste of an extremely important and emotional arc.  Like...Eddie taking his first steps into moving on and navigating that with Christopher should have been big, should have been meaningful, should have been handled with at a minimum the same care and attention with which they handled the skateboard incident and Eddie and Christopher’s related conversations in “Fools,” and should have been something that clearly established (or at least strongly foreshadowed) what’s going to happen with their development moving forward into the rest of the season.  I was looking forward to it!  I wanted to see it!

And at the beginning, the rest of the absolutely cringeworthy and barely watchable date scene aside, it was clear that yes! Eddie was reluctant to talk about this with his son!  He was worried!  He had concerns!  And I thought, oh excellent, this is going to go well.

Then, Eddie got home and immediately lied directly to Christopher’s face about it and I thought...oh no.  But even then I still thought, hey now, they can pull it back!  I did actually love Christopher’s reaction!  That part was great!  And honestly, I can even accept Eddie deciding to give Christopher time to cool off instead of going after him to talk immediately.  

There was no reason to have the video call with Ana.  It was unnecessary and only ended up being a vehicle for Invasion of the Body Snatchers Eddie to *checks notes* be totally dismissive of his son’s extremely valid feelings without even having had a real conversation about why Christopher reacted the way he did and what exactly his concerns were!  Not to be dramatic [lie, I’m always dramatic], but I felt like I’d been slapped, it was so abrupt and OOC.  [And, as I mentioned in a separate post, it makes zero sense to have had Eddie be worried about telling Christopher at all if he wasn’t going to actually care about Christopher’s feelings, so not only was he ultimately wildly OOC, his characterization wasn’t even consistent within the confines of the episode.]  

And I’m sorry, I love the Buck and Chris scene, I do, but as much as we joke and clown, Buck is not Christopher’s parent. Plus, their conversation wasn’t even directly about Eddie dating!  It wasn’t directly about Christopher’s concerns with Eddie dating [so therefore, I’m still not clear on exactly what those are/were although I can guess] and there wasn’t even a token attempt at directly addressing that particular elephant in the room!  Yes, kids need reassurance and support from multiple adults they love and look up to in times of crisis, but we got nothing from the most important person and most important relationship in Christopher’s life: his dad. 

It would have been SO EASY to have cut the video call [avoiding the OOC bullshit] and used that time instead to have added on to the Buck and Christopher scene.  Example: Buck and Chris end their conversation, Eddie arrives, having rushed over in a panic, hugs his kid and says some variation on “we can continue this at home, but I’m sorry I lied to you, I should have told you first, but just know no matter what happens or who else comes into my life, I love you and you’re never going to lose me.”  THERE! DONE! I FIXED IT IN THIRTY SECONDS! 

Ideally we would have gotten a longer extended Eddie and Christopher scene because, again, their relationship should have been the focus of this storyline, but if we had even gotten just that little bit on top of the Buck and Christopher scene, it would have cut my salt levels at least in half.  Instead though, we got NOTHING and the next time they were on screen it was because Ana was coming over to the house and suddenly everything was A-OK????? WHAT???? 

Writing tip 101: YOU CAN’T RESOLVE SOMETHING THAT IMPORTANT OFF SCREEN! Like???? Christopher ran away from home and we got zero acknowledgment of the severity of that, zero acknowledgment of the resolution of that, not even a token throwaway line about “we discussed it and everything’s fine now” [which would have been a gross cop-out but still would have been SOMETHING more than the whole lot of absolute BS NOTHING we got].

Once again...Eddie didn’t even let Shannon back into Christopher’s life for months when she came back, but we’re supposed to believe he’s bringing over a new woman he’s not even serious with yet after just a few dates because...what, she was Christopher’s teacher so at least he knows her?  Make it make sense!  [And as a side note, what was the point of having Ana point out multiple times that they could/should go slow with respect to Christopher if she was ultimately going to be totally cool with that weird Meet the Girlfriend introduction? And a side side note, I completely agree, the “sensitive boy” comment rubbed me the wrong way completely and came off as super condescending so thanks I hate it on MULTIPLE levels.]

Anyway...yeah, the whole thing was a goddamn travesty.  I may be a Buddie clown, but I am an Eddie Diaz lover first and foremost and idk who that was in the episode but it sure as HELL was not Eddie Diaz.  @ the guest writer for this episode, the door is that way, please let it hit you on the way out.  Hoping they can do some serious damage control after the hiatus [currently Christopher is credited for 4x9 but Ana is not so there may be some room to set things right] but right now I’m just...very pissed.  Haven’t seen a character assassination this bad since Lucy Preston in the Timeless Christmas Special.  Fucking YIKES.  

[fanficparker]

A GAME OF DIAMONDS AND HEARTS // H.O.

>> CHAPTER ONE

"I felt lethal, on the verge of frenzy." - American Psycho, Ellis

(Frenemies to Lovers! Mob AU! ) Harrison Osterfield x Fem!OC

Word count: 1.2k words

Warning: Swearing, character death, jerk behaviour, anger issues

Series summary: After the sudden death of his uncle and the eccentric multi-millionaire mafia king Lufian Clarke, Harrison Osterfield's almost decent life is mostly devastated especially when half of what should be rightfully his fortune is transferred to their immediate rival for reasons he doesn't know. What's remaining is him trying to figure out how to deal with this collaboration of two rival corporations that don't belong together and work on the side of the woman he never knew would ever be referred to as his partner in crime while they are dragged into a mess bigger than what they were trained to handle.

[ SERIES MASTERLIST ] TWO >>

It was about time Harrison Osterfield would learn the difference between a good day and a bad day. Or to put it more clearly— the worst day of his life. The moment he stepped inside the four walls of his mansion, all eyes flashed in his direction. The two guards that accompanied him stood by the door, while he moved closer to his spectators.

The place was quiet and dimly lit. Nothing unusual. Except for the people living in it who suddenly felt the need to stand in a half circle imitating school children being punished for not wearing their PE uniforms. The air in the room felt musty and the walls too dark for being painted white. Harrison could easily hear the sound of his shoes softly hitting the marble floor.

He glanced down at himself.

Probably he could have gotten shot or stabbed. And like such dramatic events unfold in movies, he expected a similar sequence of events to happen to him. An action hero returning from a life-threatening mission but he didn't notice the bullet wound piercing the side of his abdomen and when he touches the spot, his hands would be dripping with that infamous red fluid and then he would hit the ground and die in the pool of his own blood.

Nah, Harrison wasn't this lucky. Someone, for sure, died today but it wasn't him.

His eyes roamed, capturing every single of the eleven people standing in front of him. Nine furious killers, one receptionist and one secretary. All of them having the same silent expression taped on their faces. He caught the eye of his first in command— Thomas Holland. But Tom just stood there with his hands clasped to his front and head slightly bent down. That was enough to piss him off.

It didn't take him long to notice the only major person missing from the scene. With gritted teeth, he swallowed his spit. "Where the hell is Clarke?" His tone wasn't any close to yelling but it for sure was full of venom.

"Sir..." Felicity, Clarke's secretary, stepped forward but Harrison stopped her with his hand in the air. He didn't care about turning in her direction, letting only his eyes to glance at her sideways, accompanied by a raised brow.

"No bullshit. Just straight to the point." Harrison demanded, words strictly separated with clear pauses.

"I am sorry, Mister Osterfield--"

Harrison hissed at the five unnecessary words she chose to initiate her sentence with, halting her abruptly altogether. The girl was definitely terrified.

His repetitive attempts to establish his dominance over everyone. Tom hated it to his guts. Luckily, Harrison's attitude never terrified him, so he stepped forward, shielding Felicity, making Harrison's tough gaze fall on his tougher one.

"Lufian Clarke was found dead in his room at 10 am, this morning." There was no ounce of hesitation on Tom's face.

Harrison's eyes slightly narrowed at Tom's declaration but the words failed to make immediate sense in his head. He noted the time on the clock above the reception.

11:13 am

He wanted to laugh.

As stupid as it may sound, Harrison had never considered his uncle to be the type that would ever die, especially in his own bed, refusing to wake up one morning. But death was inevitable. But that man also took two shots to his chest and came out alive.

Harrison refused to believe. That bastard must be on a vacation in Bali and these fools must have fallen right into his trap. Pathetic.

"He is dead, Harrison. I have confirmed it." Tuwaine tentatively clarified and Harrison bit the inside of his mouth, his nostrils flaring. He believed in Tuwaine. He had reasons to.

He unclenched his fists, relaxing his popping veins, shutting his eyes momentarily. But his voice reacted differently, devoid of any soreness— "Get his body ready for the funeral," as he walked past the men.

Julian, the youngest of the men swallowed, raising his head in wonder. "Won't you be attending it?"

He didn't bother replying. He instead answered by smashing the bowl of glass pellets from the reception table to the floor.

***

It was part fascinating and part agitating how sharply death could influence our opinion on the person in question. Lufian Clarke sucked. Lufian Clarke was a pain in the ass. But Lufian Clarke was the closest Harrison had to a father. And Lufian Clarke was dead.

Harrison would have calmly accepted Lufian's death if only it was not for the seven-paged will he left on his table. A fortune worth billions summed up in seven pages. Seven pages that should have only and only addressed one person's name apart from Lufian's own. But that wasn't the case.

The will was cut into half and only one half was named to him. The other half that rightfully also belonged to him was named to one of their first hand rivals. The one Clarke had himself taught to despise.

Sandhya Omar. The name stuck out like a sore thumb. The way his tongue hit his palette burned his gut, exploding into a fire deep within his chest. Those fools weren't standing like zombies in the hall for Clarke's death, they were there for the will, afraid of Harrison's response to Clarke's decision.

He yanked his tie, tore off his navy blue blazer and threw it over Clarke's now unused study and shoved back his perfectly gelled dirty-blond hair that fell over one of his blue irises. The climate outside the window was in stark contrast to that of the dead man's room. Harrison watched his men pushing Clarke's coffin into the grave as the seven pages crumbled in his fist. He caught Tom's eye again, and this time Tom didn't look down but up, presumably noticing the papers in Harrison's hand. The following moment he dropped the window blinds.

It was still time for the darkness to take over the cerulean sky but Harrison's heart was already captured in the night. A little knock could not bring his heart back to the bright blue day. Yet, it could bring back his mind.

Harry Holland was at the door, as Harrison rightfully anticipated. He was amongst Clarke's top assassins and conveniently enough, he was also Tom's younger brother. Harrison's lips twisted into a half grin as he walked up to the red head, rolling his uncle's will in his hand and flicking the watch on his wrist. Even when the two brothers had similar warm brown eyes, Harry lacked the cold, unafraid expression that his brother carried. That pleased him.

"Well, there appears to be something you guys forgot to tell me." Harrison remarked in an accusatory tone, tapping the documents over the study. Harry was quick to notice the papers and decipher what they meant.

He hesitated for a second, "We wanted to tell you about--"

Harrison tilted his neck to the side, leaning by the table.

"About what?" His wrath went as quickly as it had appeared, leaving him with a hollowing coldness and a smirk that said nothing and all at once.

"Sandhya O--"

"Kill her."

____________________

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...TO BE CONTINUED...

IS ANYONE EXCITED FOR THIS???! COMMENTS WILL BE APPRECIATED AS THEY PROVIDE ME WITH INSPIRATION TO WRITE :)

>> Send me an ask or just reblog/comment this post with 'Tag me' or fill this NEW TAGLIST to get added to the taglist of AGODAH.

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____________________

[easilydistractedbyfanfic]

fic writer interview

I was tagged by @aadmelioraa, and though I’m late answering, this couldn’t have come at a better time since I’ve been thinking a lot about writing (in general) lately. Thank you! <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

60, with 58 of them in one fandom

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

719,515. This number really blows my mind and I am determined to get to a million words before too much longer. 

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Only 3 at this time. Primarily t100, and one fic each for Bridgerton and Wu Assassins (coincidentally both Netflix shows). I also have an upcoming fic that will be in another (new-to-me) fandom (The Last Kingdom - clearly I have a thing for Netflix Originals).

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

All are t100 Murphy/Raven fics, since that’s primarily what I write. It’s so funny to me but I don’t think there’s any rhyme or reason about what gets the most kudos. I love all my story-babies (even the ones that aren’t as good), but for sure some of the fics that I am most attached to as a writer don’t equate to popularity.

5. Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Yes, I reply to every single comment. I don’t get massive amounts of comments, so of course that makes it easier for me to engage, but I find it very meaningful when people take the time to give positive feedback and praise, and it genuinely motivates me to keep writing. By engaging with readers of my works, I’ve become more friendly with a lot of great people.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Hmmm. Personally, I find “angst” difficult to define in fanfic. I tend to use that word almost interchangeably with “emotional”, and I know not everyone does. Although I don’t write a lot of open-ended or open-interpretation endings, I do enjoy reading those. But usually my characters at least have hope at the end of the story, if not a typical ‘happy ending’. So I guess that means I’ll say that Ashes Will Scatter as well as A Well Made Mistake are my angsty-est endings, because they are very much... open. Both Murven stories, though that’s probably obvious.

7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I don’t have a rule not to write them, but so far I have not. I have to care a LOT about the characters in a story to write a fic focused on them, so I am more inclined to take settings & plot from one show and incorporate it into a fic focused on another show rather than to merge two shows (and their characters) together.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I would not categorize it as hate, but I have gotten anti-Murven comments on my fic, which is mostly amusing to me. Look at my fic list - does it really look like I’m going to stop writing them any time soon?! LOL!

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

This question made me laugh. Oh yeah, I write smut. Typically hetero smut, though relationships of all types & genders are in my stories.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don’t think I’ve had a fic stolen, per se. But I have been asked in a comment if someone could take my story, change the character names and post it to another site for another fandom. I don’t think the commenter meant to be rude (likely different customs/culture in their country), but that was a big NO for me.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but I do know that at least one lovely reader told me that they translate my fics for their personal reading, which is incredibly wonderful.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, but I am not completely opposed to it! I’m a bit of a Type-A so I’d really have to trust the person I was writing with & feel like we interpreted characters similarly though.

13. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

I had never felt an urge to write anything before Raven and Murphy came along. I liked plenty of ships and fandoms, and read fanfic for years. But nothing sucked me in like them and compelled me to start typing. I don’t usually obsess to this level, so while I can’t say what I’ll answer in the future, I really can’t ever imagine these two falling out of favor in my book.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Oh man... I want to say NONE because I really would like to finish the two stories on ao3 that I categorize as WIPs (A Simple Plan & Only Then You’ll See). I do expect both of them to get done at some point, but Only Then You’ll See is for sure my biggest and most ambitious story. I also do have plans to write sequels to a few of my fics, although I don’t count them as WIPs since the stories already on ao3 are what I consider to be a finished work and any continuation/sequel will be a stand alone story too.

15. What are your writing strengths?

Characterization, original ideas and to some extent, plot. Sometimes dialogue. I can’t say that anyone else would consider them strengths in my writing, but they are usually things that I am proud of in my works.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Cutting out unnecessary dialogue because I am super-freaking wordy. I cut out what I think is a lot sometimes but am still left with a very wordy fic. Emotional dialogue is particularly difficult. Also I am very much a pantser and I often rely too much on my ability to pull a rabbit out of my hat in a fic I’ve started where I don’t always know where things are going. I don’t hate this because it’s my style, but I do think I need to get better at PLANNING my fics rather than just diving in and “see where it goes”.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I don’t think too much about it. I’ll put in a necessary language if that’s what a character is speaking or what the story calls for.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

t100

19. What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

This question is always too hard! I can’t pick a favorite child and it’s the same for my stories. Objectively I can see & say that some are better than others, and there are some where I might change things if I re-wrote them now, but they were all necessary for me to write at the time I wrote them. So MY favorite story will likely always change based on a lot of factors. Today I’ll say Across The Ocean Wild And Wide because I made a point of trying to get better with description in that story, and I feel like I accomplished that. Also it’s very fairy-tale and I’d never tried anything like that before.

I’m gonna tag @jarleene @hopskipaway @she-who-the-river-could-not-hold @osleyakomwonkru and anyone else who wants to fill this out! Happy writing!

[midoriyashotos]

Anguish of the Quirkless

Fandom: My Hero Academia

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Relationships: Midoriya Izuku/Todoroki Shoto (could be platonic... though I ship them a lot lmao)

Characters: Midoriya Izuku, Todoroki Shoto; MENTIONED - Bakugo Katsuki

Summary: Izuku doesn’t explode.

But burn after burn, he can’t take it anymore.

AO3 / Fanfiction

A/N: I had no reason to write this other than the fact I’ve been really angry and I needed to write something down.

I guess this is technically my first Tododeku fic? But like, it isn’t the focus here, so interpret it the way you want (if you can). I hope this didn’t turn out to be too OOC, though.

Please be aware of the tags and disclaimers below. Be safe. <3

TRIGGER WARNINGS - childhood trauma, past bullying/abuse and injury

*NOT BAKUGO/BAKUDEKU FRIENDLY!

--

Izuku doesn’t explode.

If anything, he’s more than scared of explosions. The explosions that silence him, that burn his tongue and his arms and legs, and the notebook of his fanboyish train of thought. The blasts that keep happening no matter how far away he is.

So no, he doesn’t explode. He probably can’t.

--

Though every time he stares at the blond spikes of his classmate, Izuku is sickened by a cocktail of years of combustions.

Maybe he does admire the beauty of the explosions when far away. Depending on them, they can actually be quite beautiful when done for the greater good. But when he’s so near, to try to reach them, Izuku gets injured. It’s probably his fault to begin with.

But even with patience and care, Izuku is always exploded back to where he’s been stuck in since he was four.

Izuku is always behind Katsuki. He can’t go around him and walk away. He can’t push him aside, he can’t as much as talk to him. Katsuki will forever be a wall, a minefield that will remain activated until the end of time.

And most importantly, Izuku can never explode back.

He hates explosions, after all.

--

The flaming blend of feelings, however, reach his mind at times he should be feeling okay.

The image of himself exploding Katsuki, of yelling at him, beating the crap out of him sickens the young hero to no end.

But it replays in his head still, even when they’re not fighting and instead having fun with their other classmates. Izuku stares at Katsuki for mere seconds and the thoughts come to him. The freckled boy swallows it all back, until it comes to haunt him at night. Until the burns sting his arms and his heart.

Izuku has tense nights, yet he never explodes. Ever.

--

You’d think Izuku would be happy here. He is happy, though, to be where he’s dreamed of for so long.

But each day that passes, he seems to get worse, he’s sick and tired and angry, and the combustions are closer to his heart. The fantasies become more violent, they’re disturbing. Izuku stains his hands, massacring the remaining of blond hair and hateful red eyes.

Izuku could never take blood from someone. It’s awful – he’s being awful. What would others think? What would everyone else think? All Might, his mother, his friends?

Izuku knows he can cry, but what about the rage? What about the ticking bomb inside him? The bomb that might be close to destroying all around him?

He can’t let anyone see.

Least of all Katsuki.

--

Thankfully, U.A. owns several gymnasiums for the students to train. Few, though, are somewhat left aside due to the new ones, but they don’t really close them. His classmates don’t seem to use them either, as far as he’s concerned.

Izuku finds the classic training tools, including several, big punching bags – different from those you see in common gyms, obviously. They’re able to take up a lot more damage, useful for physical-focused quirks.

He prepares and attacks. Holding it back, Izuku knows to be careful, to protect others. He hates explosions. He hates hurting others.

(All everyone has ever done was hurt him. Why? He was powerless. Quirkless. Deku.)

(That’s why he reclaimed the name, to transform it into someone who could be trusted, someone who could never hurt.)

Izuku kicks, dodges, as if in a real fight. He gives the bag mercy. Probably unnecessary.

(No one gave him mercy.)

(Midoriya Izuku, a boy who could never do wrong, who did nothing but exist.)

(He was exploded like no one ever was.)

The boy’s hands shine red with One for All, as do his eyes. The punching bag absorbs the power, becoming harder to punch and overcome. Izuku continues to spare it, to no avail.

(No matter what he does, he’ll continue to be blasted on the face.)

(Whether he’s powerless or not. The explosions will punish him until he’s gone.)

It’s then that the bag’s energy turns against him and blows him away, Izuku falling back and failing, once again.

It’s all too familiar.

Izuku roars.

He advances with his all, at the same speed as Gran Torino’s, but with a rage unknown to others. A rage from no hero. Heroes don’t feel hate, only towards evil – yet never, never to this extent. With revenge comes nothing. No hero should be selfish.

(This doesn’t come from a hero. It comes from… a boy? A monster?)

And Izuku is attacking the bag with no barriers holding him back. The second time it attacks, Izuku doesn’t let himself fall again. He returns at full speed and destroys the bag. He’s yelling this entire time, his throat hurting yet he’s far from quitting.

“WHY?!” Izuku demands from the bag. “WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME?!”

As always, he gets no answer, only blows and ignorance. And he’s punching it again.

The red of the bag infuriates him, it’s all he sees, and he wants to eradicate.

All those years, all that time never fighting back, never looking for solutions after years of rejections; they all come back to stab him again.

You’re useless.

Pathetic.

You need to deal with it.

“You RUINED MY LIFE!” Izuku screams, eyes shut but red, dams overflowing. “AND YOU DON’T EVEN CARE!”

Despite his cries and punches, they’re not moving, they’re not listening. When have they ever? When?

“I HATE YOU!” Izuku yells, his most disliked words. He’d never say to anyone.

“I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!”

“I

HATE

YOU!!! ”

 CRASH!

He yelps at the force thrown back at him. Smoke enters his nose, painful coughs echoing.

When Izuku looks back, he gasps without making a sound.

He didn’t destroy just one bag – it fired back and damaged the other ones, now abandoned on the floor.

And even then—

Izuku growls and punches the floor, this time without any power left.

He’s still burning.

It doesn’t matter. It never matters.

Now everything smokes and suffocates him, and he’s crying the most he’s ever did.

That’s why he hates explosions.

--

Izuku doesn’t go to Recovery Girl, nor does he tell anyone. He hopes Aizawa-sensei never finds out what he’d done. He looked for cameras and, thankfully, found none.

He lies to his friends he trained in the woods and got a little ahead of himself. As a response, Uraraka tells him to be careful and Iida insists Quirk training should be balanced for him, as a hero in training. Two important statements, of course.

Todoroki, however, observes.

It’s the most he does. Todoroki watches and sees all, barely saying much. He reads people like no one else does. He was the first to realize something would go wrong with Iida, when the latter had wanted to seek his brother’s almost assassin.

This is different, though. So much different.

Izuku ignores it the best he can.

--

Late at night, he can’t sleep. The green-eyed boy sneaks in the kitchen, to grab some tea to make. His classmates seem to have healthy sleep schedules, especially when exams are out of the scene.

So slow steps take him off guard, and Izuku hides his arms under his sleeves.

“Midoriya.”

He sighs deeply. “Oh, Todoroki-kun… it’s just you. What’s up?”

Todoroki shrugs. “Couldn’t sleep.”

“Oh. Me neither.”

“Hm.”

Todoroki is doing it again, he can tell. Watching him. (Judging.)

Izuku hates being watched – he’s watched the entire time.

The tea doesn’t take much longer to be ready, so Izuku barely bats an eye to Todoroki and makes his way to the stairs.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he mumbles.

“Wait, Midoriya—”

“What ?”

Izuku regrets the moment he hisses, but he’s so tired.

“Just…” his classmate hesitates. “Take care of yourself, okay?”

Todoroki’s tone has… softened.

Izuku doesn’t turn around.

“… Good night, Todoroki-kun.”

--

The days go by like usual. It’s like nothing happened. No one has found out, or so he hopes.

Todoroki hasn’t talked to him since that night. Or well, Izuku tries to avoid looking at him for too long in the first place. They have lunch together with the rest, but there’s no direct contact at all.

Todoroki isn’t the kind of person you can make excuses. He reads into your tone, he knows something is wrong. While Izuku’s relationship with him has definitely improved since the Sports Festival and Stain, he still finds that aspect of him a little intimidating. Because Todoroki, in contrast, is hard to read most of the time.

Izuku might as well be avoiding him. Of course, he’s polite when Todoroki has a question or when he asks for a favor. Though he rejects the suggestion they train together in the next day. Mostly, because Izuku’s wounds still sting, and he refuses to go to the infirmary.

At last, Izuku finds himself going to the old gymnasium, with no intention to seethe like before, even if the urge screams in his brain. It looks… the same, on the outside. As for the inside…

Instead of the gray smoke and destroyed reds, Izuku stops as soon as he catches white strands connected to wine, fire red. A fire that doesn’t explode, but fire, nonetheless.

Izuku’s veins fill with One for All, and before he goes Full Cowling to get as far away as possible, he’s less than lucky to expose himself.

“Midoriya?”

Nononononono—

Even though Todoroki isn’t using his Quirk, Izuku feels like he’s frozen by his giant ice spikes, caught to explain himself.

Why on earth is Todoroki here? Does he also know this spot? Oh, of course. Todoroki often trains alone but Izuku never knew where. Oh my god.

There are no words shared or spoken, least of all whispered. Izuku can’t bring himself to look up. There’s only shame to be shared. No one was supposed to find out and yet he just revealed himself. Stupid. Idiot!

A step.

“Midoriya…”

Izuku shakes his head.

“I know what you’re going to say.”

Todoroki stops. “What?”

“… that I’m supposed to be a hero, right? That I shouldn’t have done this? I- I know I shouldn’t have.” Izuku clenches his jaw and his fists, to contain the trembling rage. “I shouldn’t be angry.”

The fallen punching bags stare.

“But I didn’t know what to do with this anger. It only kept growing and- and it keeps growing inside of me, these thoughts, this scream in my throat,” Izuku spits out without much thought. “I’ve been hurt my entire life and I hate- I hate hurting people back, I hate wanting to hurt them, but I hate them, too, I hate-!” For a moment, he bites back the poisonous name, yet he can’t take it anymore, he’s tired of being silenced by the explosions.

“… I hate Kacchan. I hate that he always explodes me in the face, I hate that he used to go after other kids, too. He always explodes and hurts people, and he doesn’t give a shit.” Izuku’s tone is wet, soaked with weight. “He doesn’t give a shit about me, he still hurts me no matter what I do, and I’m sick of it. And god, all I want is to punch his fucking face and scream, because he never cared about making me cry or burning me at all, he- he doesn’t care! And I don’t know why I still do, why I even try to communicate with him! Nothing I do is enough for him!”

Izuku observes the multiple layers of old wood under his feet, each second finding new details, new splinters.

“This is why I don’t explode. Why I never burst out. I-I don’t want to hurt anyone… but I’m still so angry, Todoroki-kun. I’m only feeling worse than before.” The freckled teen pathetically dries his drowned face. “It’s like nothing is ever going to get better.”

The temperature is a bitter cold, despite the sun outside.

Izuku cries like that boy he’d known in Middle School, the one that would weep to himself in the shadows after getting burned on the face.

“W-What should I do?” He asks to no one.

It’s, again, a question without an answer.

Except…

His arms are taken by two hands that slowly pull up his sleeves, revealing the wounds from the hazard. The hands brush against his blistered skin as gently as possible. One hot, the other cold, but equally mindful.

“I think…” Todoroki whispers, “you need someone.”

Izuku’s face is close to the piercing gray and blue eyes, the ones who always read him… but not in judgment, he realizes. They read each sentence, each word of himself and take it to their heart, hopefully to come up with a meaningful response.

“Because then… who will protect you from the explosion?” Todoroki questions, his right hand reaching Izuku’s left.

The question is one he’s never considered. Izuku makes sure no one gets hurt, and maybe he’s successful at that, yet…

Todoroki’s face is close enough for their heads to touch, some of his red and white bangs touching Izuku’s forehead.

“It’s okay to be angry, Midoriya.”

“You’re… not mad at me?”

“Why would I be?”

“I don’t know,” Izuku gulps, “I feel… disgusting.”

“I understand. But you’re not disgusting. You were hurt.”

Izuku’s mouth quivers. “I don’t want to hurt anymore.”

Todoroki’s hands move from his arms to his shoulders, pulling him forward. Izuku shivers.

He’s…

Todoroki has never hugged him before.

Sure, they’ve gotten so far as friends. But after all this time, they’ve never touched each other; least of all Todoroki, who is, reasonably, a more reserved person.

The hug is far from awkward, nonetheless. It’s… good. Izuku has never been hugged like this. Even with the crime scene of his anger right there for Todoroki and everyone else to see… the red-and-white-haired boy chooses to hold him.

(After all, he’s also a boy. A boy afraid of his thoughts. Afraid while no one knows.)

Izuku returns the contact, his face somewhat under Todoroki’s chin.

“I’m sorry Bakugo is a piece of shit.” He adds quietly, “Well, more than he already is.”

That manages to attract a miserable laugh.

“It’s okay.”

“It’s not.”

Izuku hums, not up to protest as he melts in his touch. He could never have imagined Todoroki to be this… comfortable.

The permanent smell of smoke and dust does eventually bother him, so Izuku suggests, “Want to get out of here?”

“Sure.”

And they leave the gymnasium behind, hopefully their secret will be left alone.

Todoroki takes Izuku to a tree, the leaves green like the latter’s hair. There’s enough of a shadow to cover them from the sun, from the burning flames far away. Todoroki helps a little with the burns, his ice the most soothing Izuku has felt.

Until the sun sets, their hands are intertwined, scars only they know.

[starring-movies]

Killing Eve: Episode Analysis

*SPOILERS*

Season 3, Episode 8 - Are You Leading or Am I? [Part 2]

We then see the switch from ‘Oksana’ to ‘Villanelle’, when Rhian comes to tell her that Hélène wants to see her. Villanelle watches longingly as Eve leaves, but when she turns around her expression suddenly changes and she puts her act back on. She tells Rhian that if she wanted to dance she would “just have to ask”, and then as a power play, she proceeds to dip her.

We continue to the next scene, where Villanelle’s in the Tube station and trying to provoke Rhian into fighting her - so that when she kills Rhian to protect herself and Eve, she has an excuse for killing her). Rhian tells Villanelle that “autonomy is overrated, sheep are happier than wolves”; which is exactly how Villanelle was when we first met her in Season 1, if someone had told Villanelle to “jump” she’d “just jump”. But we can see how far Villanelle has come since then, as now she recognises that she was a “sheep” and is trying to break out from that.

Villanelle then attacks Rhian, after annoying her enough to get a reaction out of her, and the scene is shot in the same way as the choking of the girl in the Amsterdam nightclub from S2E4. Just as in the scene in S2E4, Villanelle is fighting from pure emotion and vulnerability - more like Oksana than Villanelle - because she’s trying to protect herself and Eve. Both the Amsterdam club scene and this fight with Rhian are messy, hands on fights. This is unlike when she’s doing kills with the Villanelle persona fully up; where her kills are, like she says in S2E3, “nice and clean, just like you [Konstantin] taught me”.

As Villanelle is leaving the Tube station, a song last called ‘Get out of Town’ by Fireflies is used in S3E5 is played over the scene. The lyrics are:

“Nothing matters if you bury it deep,

Take away the worry,

What’s left, you keep,

Never say you’re sorry,

If what you mean is,

Do what you do,

And I won’t hate you somehow”

In the same way as the lyrics of the song suggest, Villanelle is visibly distraught at having to kill Rhian, but has to “bury it deep” in order to protect herself and Eve from Hélène and The Twelve.

A funny but subtle moment that’s what makes Killing Eve special - Carolyn’s unmatched pettiness of doing the unnecessary action of putting her glasses on to then read a blank page, after Geraldine has read her letter to her.

In the next scene, we continue as we see Eve go into the betting shop, ‘Bridgeway Bets’, to cash-in the betting slip which was given to to her by Villanelle, at the dance hall. Amusingly, Eve clearly needs to work on her fieldwork skills of bribery and persuasion. She uses the same technique, as she did with The Ghost in S2E4, of pretending to drop some money on the floor and offering it. However, now the monetary value of the note which she ‘drops’, has gone up from a £10 (The Ghost) to a £20 (now) - the increase of the value of the money Eve offers, shows how Villanelle is more important to Eve than The Ghost; and also how the stakes are much higher in this situation than they were with The Ghost.

It turns out that Konstantin’s betting slip gave access to a package, containing a set of Matryoshka dolls (aka Russian dolls), which has a barcode giving access to another safety box containing emergency supplies. Matryoshka dolls are traditionally used as a symbol of family and, more specifically, of mother and child. Although Villanelle didn’t know that Konstantin’s betting slip accessed a package with Matryoshka dolls in it, her decision to pass on to Eve the task of retrieving it, is a symbolic one for their relationship - representing how, through the exchange of the betting slip, Villanelle is not only passing on the importance of her freedom to Eve, but also the mantle of becoming her only family. At Paul’s house, Villanelle lets Konstantin leave with the dolls, and without her, because she’s realised that he’s “not family”; but she stays to be with Eve, because Eve is now her ‘Matryoshka doll’.

When Villanelle goes to the Bitter Pill office, she has changed outfits and is now wearing a mustard yellow coat. Mustard yellow has been used throughout Season 3, as a colour to represent family. It was the colour of the ‘bin baby’s’ dress in S3E3, and seeing the reaction that people had to the baby was the catalyst for Villanelle wanting to find her family and people whom she would feel that same belonging and love, that she had never been able to experience; in S3E5 the colour was used for Villanelle’s mother’s cardigan, to represent the person who she thought would (and should have) shown her this love that she was searching for; and now Villanelle is able to wear the colour herself, because after her conversation with Eve at the tea dance, she realises that she has found the love, acceptance and everything that she was looking for in Eve.

When everyone is gathered at Paul’s house for the big ‘whodunit’-esque reveal of who killed Kenny, Villanelle asks Eve “what is going on?” and Eve says “I have no idea”. This exchange is mirroring the one they had earlier, at the tea dance, when Eve asked Villanelle “are you leading or am I?” and Villanelle replies in the same words, telling her “I have no idea”.

The switch from Eve asking the question and Villanelle answering, to Villanelle asking the question and Eve answering; is used to again show us how they’ve reached a middle ground where they’re now in synch with each other. Both Villanelle and Eve having “no idea” also emphasises their mutual confusion; and therefore how - just like the tea dance scene - neither of them is ‘leading’ or ‘being led’, but they are both equal to one another and their relationship can work when they’re balanced.

The fact that in two separate instances Villanelle and Eve both “have no idea” about what is happening, also demonstrates how neither of them are certain about their future, or what their next step even is; but what they do know, having tried to be apart, is that the other has to be a part of their future.

When Carolyn demands for Konstantin to explain what happened when he went to visit Kenny on the day he died, Villanelle says “tell her” to him, and after Eve says “you killed Kenny”, Villanelle adds that “he doesn’t kill people, he makes other people do it for them”. In S3E4, after finding Villanelle’s family for her, Konstantin says “but I need you to do something for me, something personal, off the record”, which Villanelle is able to repeat, at the same time as he’s saying it.

Just as she repeats when Konstantin tells her “no, I can’t, I’m sorry” after she asks him to stay and watch a movie in S1E1, and when she repeats the advice that Konstantin gave her and Irina that “information is everything” in S1E8; Villanelle being able to repeat these things, illustrates how these are all things that Konstantin has repetitively said, or asked of her. And so we can see from Villanelle’s reaction, that she’s realised what a coward Konstantin is. Konstantin “doesn’t kill people” himself, but she remembers that he has asked her numerous times to do kills “off the record” for him, to fix his messes for him.

Villanelle saying “tell her” to Konstantin, also parallels with Konstantin telling Nadia to “tell them” in S1E6. The parallel demonstrates to us the switch in the power dynamic and Konstantin’s fall from grace. At the beginning of the series, Konstantin was a powerful figure, who could control the assassins who worked for The Twelve with a simple stare. Where Konstantin was once the one commanding others to do as he asked; now Villanelle is the one with the power over him, commanding him to tell Carolyn what happened.

Konstantin’s actions are made even more detestable to Villanelle, when he tries to claim that he “wouldn’t do that to someone I once” and then Carolyn completes his sentence by saying “don’t say loved”. We can see from Villanelle’s shocked reaction that she wasn’t aware that Carolyn and Konstantin once loved each other, and so this makes his actions even worse. Through the whole of Season 3, Villanelle has gone through a journey of finding her family or someone who will provide the unconditional love that a family is supposed to, Konstantin killing the son of a woman he once loved will hit a very personal nerve for her - and in the moment, the situation that’s unfolding between Konstantin and Carolyn is probably prompting Villanelle to imagine herself and Eve in the same scenario, where one unforgivably betrays the other’s love, which they both once shared and held so dear.

Konstantin trying to claim that he “once loved” Carolyn is also the same thing that he did with Villanelle in S1E7. In an attempt to get out of being killed by Villanelle, Konstantin stroked her ego and told her “I love you more than my family” (throughout the series, Villanelle has been trying to get Konstantin to choose her over his family); and in the same way as in S1E7, Konstantin is again trying to manipulate the love that other people have for him to get out of a sticky situation.

It’s when Villanelle says that Konstantin “makes other people do it for him”, that Villanelle starts to realise that he is “not family” to her, as we can see from her reaction that she doesn’t approve of him killing Kenny. However, this is even further reaffirmed to Villanelle when Carolyn is pointing the gun to Konstantin’s head. Konstantin yells at her “Villanelle, do something”, confirming to Villanelle that he only values her as his personal ‘attack dog’ - able to be called upon to do his dirty work for him and to protect him whenever he pleases.

After Carolyn spares Konstantin, and shoots Paul instead, Eve angrily says “why kill him, he had everything we wanted to know about The Twelve... he was a source”. In S1E4, Carolyn tells Eve “we’re not out for blood, Eve, we’re after information”. The reversal between Eve and Carolyn’s main concern, emphasises how their characters have developed since Season 1 and how their priorities have changed - Carolyn was once most focused on gathering intelligence about The Twelve and scolded Eve for getting off track with her continual obsession with Villanelle, but now only cares about getting revenge for Kenny’s death; and Eve was once blinkered in her pursuit of Villanelle, but now seems to be more focused on finding out more about The Twelve.

In the next scene Eve proceeds to run off from Paul’s house, after Carolyn tells her that she should go “cold turkey” and quit her ‘addiction’ with The Twelve, and then we get the bridge scene on Tower Bridge. It’s notable that Villanelle and Eve have their honest conversation on a bridge, as bridges are symbolic of communication, union and the ending of one cycle to the beginning of another. The conversation that they have on the bridge, which is a continuation of the conversation they were having at the tea dance, is a liminal moment for their relationship - it’s not only the full acceptance of one another and of themselves, but more importantly, their mutual decision that they want the other to be in their life going forward.

After discovering that they each had a hand in killing Dasha, Villanelle says “isn’t that romantic?”, and Eve replies “you know the only people who would think that are?” Villanelle asks “who?” and Eve answers saying “us”. Eve saying this, is not only an outward acceptance of the romantic aspect of their relationship, but more importantly her recognition of the darkness and the abnormality within their relationship - which is everything that she’s been trying to reject and ignore up until now - yet by referring to them as one, with the collective pronoun of “us” (rather than saying something like “the only person who would think that is you”), it’s evident that she also agrees with Villanelle that it’s “romantic”.

Villanelle tells Eve “I don’t want to do it anymore, any of it”; which was repeated in S1E5 when Villanelle similarly tells Eve “I don’t want to do this anymore”, and in S3E6 when she says the same thing to Dasha, that “I don’t want to do this anymore”.

Looking at the passers by on the bridge, Eve continues to tell Villanelle that “I used to be like them” but Villanelle tells her “you were never like them, you only thought you were”. Throughout the whole series we have already seen that Villanelle, as well as others, could see that Eve was different and had this darkness; but this is the first time that Villanelle has told Eve this properly, and that Eve hasn’t tried to contest what she says.

Villanelle goes on to ask Eve “did I ruin your life? Do you think I’m a monster”. In the same way that Eve said “I know” when Villanelle said she’s “killed so many people”; Eve doesn’t reject or judge her, but instead says that everyone has a monster, not just Villanelle, and Eve even accepts the existence of her own monster by saying “I think I wanted it [Villanelle’s monster] to [encourage her own monster]”. This acceptance from Eve is what Villanelle has been searching for this whole time; Eve doesn’t reject her or judge her for being a monster, like everyone else in her life has, but she accepts her for who she is and accepts her own monster - which is what Villanelle’s mother couldn’t do.

Then Villanelle tells Eve that she has a way to “make it stop”, “if that’s really what you want”. She tells Eve to “stand up straight and look at me”, and then she takes a moment to look at Eve, before telling her to turn around and face the other way. Villanelle probably knows - especially from the tea dance earlier where she told Eve to “go” and she turned round to look at Villanelle in her reluctance to leaver her - that Eve will turn around, but she’ll still be aware that there’s a chance that Eve won’t turn round, but will continue walking; so her taking a moment to look at Eve, is her taking the moment to look at Eve so that she’ll be able to remember her, in-case this is the last time she will be able to do so.

The song “Tell Me” by Johnny Jewel feat. Saoirse Ronan, begins to play when Villanelle is getting Eve to make her choice between her or returning to a normal life. The lyrics that can be heard are:

“Tell me I'm your baby,

Be mine for always,

I'll be yours forever,

Tell me I’m you baby,

And you’ll never leave me,

Tell me,

That you’ll kiss me,

Forever”

The song is mirroring what Villanelle is thinking in this moment. She’s giving Eve the option to choose her own future, but she already knows that Eve is her family and that she wants Eve to be a part of her own future - so she wants Eve to decide for herself to turn around and therefore “tell” her that she’ll “never leave” her and “be [her’s] forever”.

Villanelle then tells Eve to walk away and never look back, to leave her behind and be able to pursue a normal life again. Unlike what happened in Rome, through giving Eve the opportunity to make a decision that is 100% her own choice, Villanelle wants to display to her that she truly loves her: by showing Eve that if it’s the future that she really wants, she’ll put her own wants aside and let her go.

We also see that this scene is mirroring the tea dance scene, where Villanelle was the one who was stood and watching Eve turn back to look at her; but in this scene, Eve is the one who is stood waiting for Villanelle to turn back and look at her. This switch stresses the balance between Villanelle and Eve, as well as how neither of them knew for certain if the other would turn round for them; but even so, they both made the blind decision to choose each other.

Just before Villanelle turns around, Eve has already turned around and is waiting in anticipation of Villanelle’s choice, but Villanelle is taking a moment to prepare herself for potentially seeing Eve walk away from her forever when she does turn. Villanelle was the one who proposed this exercise, only as a way for Eve to be able to decide what she really wants for herself, but Villanelle already knew what she wanted and so knew that she would turn - so we see Villanelle take that moment to prepare herself to lose yet another person in her life, because although she thinks Eve will choose her, she can’t be completely certain.

The imagery in the final shot of Villanelle and Eve looking at each other on the bridge, as well as the promotional pictures (of Villanelle, Carolyn and Eve) which were released for Season 3, also invokes imagery from the Lovers tarot card. The symbolism of the card, is “in its purest form, the Lovers card represents conscious connections and meaningful relationships. While the Lovers card typically refers to a romantic tie, it can also represent a close friendship or family relationship where love, respect and compassion flow”. This makes the chosen imagery very fitting for Villanelle and Eve’s relationship, and what it’s developed into, in this scene. Both of them have come to recognise and accept that they have a deep “connection” with one another which, although they’ve attempted to break free of, clearly cannot be ignored.

You can read my previous Killing Eve posts here:-

First Introduction to Villanelle

First Introduction to Eve

S1, E1 - Nice Face

S1, E2 - I’ll Deal With Him Later

S1, E3 - Don’t I Know You?

S1, E4 - Sorry Baby

S1, E5 - I Have a Thing about Bathrooms

S1, E6 - Take Me to the Hole!

S1, E7 - I Don’t Want to Be Free

S1, E8 - God, I’m Tired

S2, E1 - Do You Know How to Dispose of a Body?

S2, E2 - Nice and Neat

S2, E3 - The Hungry Caterpillar

S2, E4 - Desperate Times

S2, E5 - Smell Ya Later

S2, E6 - I Hope You Like Missionary!

S2, E7 - Wide Awake

S2, E8 - You’re Mine

S3, E1 - Slowly Slowly Catchy Monkey

S3, E2 - Management Sucks

S3, E3 - Meetings Have Biscuits

S3, E4 - Still Got It

S3, E5 - Are You From Pinner? [Part 1]

S3, E5 - Are You From Pinner? [Part 2]

S3, E6 - End of Game

S3, E7 - Beautiful Monster

S3, E8 - Are You Leading or Am I? [Part 1]

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