#accepted: iago

[accultant]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PUCK AND IAGO DARLINGTON!!! may there be many more!!!! today we celebrate bhaaltwins day with lemon candies and apples drizzled in honey ~♡ @bloodtwin

[theofficersacademy]

Iago has arrived!

Welcome to the Officers Academy! You have been assigned to the Black Eagles Faculty.

Please remember to follow the Masterlist and all your fellow colleagues. You have been granted the Swarm and Luna spells to start your journey with. We look forward to seeing the growth of your true potential.

May the Goddess light your path.

- Mod Key

[crimson-and-clover-1717]

Yes, it’s brutal, but within the pirate world of the show it’s nothing out of the ordinary.

We’re told in this scene that if a white man insults another white man, the insulted white man might well direct his retort at the brown man present.

Stede - ‘I’d love to show you some saucier spoons, but there seems to be a distinct lack of those on this, supposedly, first class vessel.’

French Captain - ‘My apologies. I hadn’t imagined we’d be hosting your kind’. This cannot be directed at Stede as ‘your kind’ is the same as the French Captain’s, unless he’s referencing something else entirely. It’s directed at Ed. The Captain didn’t realise he would be ‘hosting’ someone who needed tutoring in fine dining. Not all necessary silverware is present. At the very least this is a class put-down.

Ed seeks clarification, very calmly: ‘My kind. What’s that supposed to mean?’

French Captain - ‘It means a rich donkey is still a donkey’.

This is when it very clearly becomes about race. We have the dehumanisation of a man of colour, compared unfavourably to an animal. Ed is not recognised as human. Not innately so, and he cannot even earn the status of being human. Money, new skills, achievements, learned social graces…nothing will ever allow him an equal status in the white man’s world. It’s similar to insults said about Othello by Iago… black ram, Barbary horse. Othello, a celebrated war general, poetic story-teller, peacemaker… Not White™

There’s possibly an argument that Ed has invaded the French ship and deserves the ire and insults of the French Captain. But what this scene does is try to explain why someone of Ed’s background feels the need to invade the French ship in the first place. Criminal subcultures are often (not always) born of inequality. Ed could almost never have garnered the reputation, riches and relative safety he has by honest means. He’d be his indigenous mother, defeated by the inequality in the world. Or his working-class father, drunk, and violent, and bitter at not being able to provide. What else is there for those who are never given a legitimate path to be anything other? Accept your lot, or fight back.

Ed fights back. He’s been fighting back his whole life.

Yes, the French Captain’s on the ropes. As an individual his days are done. But sociologically, the French Captain is punching down here, and he knows it. Even with his life at stake, he continues that punch down because he feels entitled from birth to do so. He’s going to die with it on his lips, that’s how entrenched it is. Whilst Ed’s punching up. Always punching up in a white man’s world. On a wider scale, this is not an equal fight.

Ed has been made painfully aware of his race and class. He subverts this to make sure the French Captain is painfully aware of his race (skin) and class (snail fork). It’s an anti-colonialist fightback.

‘Skin him first. And use the snail fork’.

It’s cruel, but it really is a genius line.

[shiny-jr]

pardon my late message i've been letting letting the current damnation chapters sink in the past couple of days after finally taking the quiz (im am still waiting with baited breath but like in a chill way for the rest) but HOLY. MOLY.

i did indeed notice that the MC's have different morality stances, and they match their crimes (granted im still trying to figure out which one did what. cuz rn i got stuck on iago coming fraud or tax evasion, even though theyre super down with murder, but like raven is WAY more down to murder somebody. im just nit paying enough attention to figure it out, really. im having too much fun vibin)

2 THE WAY THE CHARACTERS MAY NOT START OUT ENTIRELY YANDERE FOR THE MC AND INSTEAD DEVELOP THE OBSESSION FOR THEM LATER ON 🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌😭😭😭😭😭 BRILLIANTBRILLIANTBRILLIANT. ok so i got heartslabyul on my first attempt so it wasnt as like "obvious" even though trey and cater are both instantly "shocked" i was like "that could just be bc our character is weird it doesnt necessarily mean they yandere switch has been flipped pshaw! 🤭" BUT THEN eventually i got to pomfiore and epel confirmed it when he was like "ive been imagining things i never did before!" and i was like "oh snap! WAIT is *THIS* part of the punishment? like not JUST being sent to another world that is based on a story, but specifically a YANDERE DEATH TRAP? 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯"

cuz like, sure, the MC is doing what they can to survive but depending on which one theyre fine to just vibe and let the story take its course if theyve got a good chance to survive not doing anything special. but then the story always gets WEIRD, RIGHT?! stuff always goes wrong! was that part of the vision? or am i going conspiracy crazy?

anyway AMAZING WORK. also you really fed the vil simps on that one story. i thought i was over him and content to be like rook and admire from afar but that SCENE with his hands wrapped around the retainer 🥵 i darn near short-circuited. HOW DARE YOU! (please continue 😉)

its hard to choose a favorite story in this series and i dont want to speak too soon before theyre all out. but i do have favorite bits in each of them.

and i just love the endings to them all. i love the bittersweet nature of all the endings. like none, of them are really romantic in a comforting way (duh its a yandere story) but they do vary in romance level. like by far i think riddle's azul's and vil's are the most romantic while leona and jamil are quite cold and calculating or in jamil's case mostly possessive and manipulative on the surface. it's VERY interesting.

and also bc im silly and you brought up the yandere-ness of the other characters, i start to wonder what happens next in these stories (im not asking for sequels. oh heavens no! never! unless you wanted to, but im mostly just brainstorming character relationships and potential conflicts). like in the savannaclaw story, ruggie and jack are also glued to the MC but not in a really romantic way? ruggie has that "i want to be your #2/by your side forever" which could go either way, but to me initially reads as "jack was pushing his way into MY spot and i want to guarantee he cant have it" rather than a "one day i'll deserve to be by your side romantically and for now i want to ensure i'll always have that opportunity by being next to you and a priority of yours" and then comes leona's proposal at the end, and i was thinking "uhhh but mc is by your side as consort, then ruggie gets pushed out of his spot in favor of the husband taking over. even though ruggie could still be an advisor and confidant, its still like 'move over dude theres another taking priority over you" and then that gets me wondering "what would happen if MC turned down leona? what kinda havoc would he wreak if any? does that put the village in jeopardy if he gets pissed off? what if they accept and they're STILL screwed bc he stops paying attention to the village after he gets the throne? and then the chieftain is taken into the palace and away from the village and has no way back and theyre left to basically flounder without them?"

also i really like how you end your stories with pseudo-cliffhangers? i mean they are but also the plot is mostly resolved and whatever major things that needed to happen happened. and its just the character resolutions and epilogues you dont see. its entertaining. like i said, i like to imagine what happens next and you really leave some stuff open for that.

anyway! thank you so much for sharing your stories!

Oh, for the crimes, just look at one of the questions which I believe asks what you (the quiz taker/MC) committed. Those are currently five of the seven crimes I've listed before, and each MC has committed at least ONE of them. But, they could've always committed more too.

On that other topic, of characters going yandere, one thing I hate is when reading a story and for some reason the characters are already obsessed with the MC but for absolutely no apparent reason. And me personally, I enjoy a bit of build up, which is why I try to implement some in my writing. Which can be a bit hard to do within forty pages when all these other things are happening, but I manage for the most part.

[elephant-in-the-bloom]

Lady Mary Sharma is a bad mother (to Kate at least)

There are many reasons to love watching Bridgerton, or even to defend it to haters - costumes and music aren't meant to be historically accurate, the show is known to be a frivolous escapade and audience should embrace it. But one thing I will never be able to get behind is how badly the characters are written. Let me start with an arguably fringe character - Lady Mary Sharma from season 2. Spoilers below.

What Lady Mary says about herself and her actions are completely at odds with each other, but the audience is supposed to accept the former and ignore the latter. It's not a problem for a character's words to contradict their actions, oftentimes that's how the depths of a character and a text is created. What Iago says and what he does are never in unison, that's how we know he's a snake, that's how Othello guides audience to read him as a villain. Same thing with Kate and Anthony - Bridgerton shows the chemistry and sexual tension between these two by having them spend over half the series saying how much they despise each other, while their eyes and actions show how they cannot help being drawn and eventually falling for each other. It is the spasm between their words and actions that forms the backbone of season 2, that deepens the delayed gratification which, when it is finally granted, is immensely satisfying because the odds between what these characters say and how the act are resolved. Are the audience to take what they say at face value? - "you're the bane of my existence", "you vex me" - the show itself suggests there is more than a mutual animosity. Were the audience to miss the longing gazes they constantly make at each other, they would have lost the plot.

Now back to Lady Mary Sharma - the tension between words and actions which forms the drama of season two is completely unaddressed when it comes to this mother of two. Despite her telling her parents that she has two daughters, her telling Kate that K doesn't have to do anything to make herself deserving of a mother's love, that she loves Kate as a daughter, when Kate needs her most, Lady Mary is absent. If Lady Mary truly treats both her daughters equally, why then was Kate tasked with preparing Edwina for the marriage market with so little of Lady Mary's assistance? Why was Kate enlisted by Lady Mary help raise Edwina "so [E] would never know [Mary and Kate's] struggles"? Throughout Edwina's childhood and adulthood, Bridgerton implies, Kate was a parental figure - a father figure even - as Kate acts as gatekeeper to Edwina's suitors, much as Anthony did for Daphne in season 1. Kate is older than Edwina by less than 10 years, she was going through the turbulence of teenage years herself, not to mention the pain of losing a father when she was tasked with raising her little sister alongside her stepmother. We are never shown what kindness and maternal guidance Mary has ever given Kate, the show simply has Mary say how much she loves Kate too and this is what the audience is supposed to accept.

Except Mary's grand speech is never shored up by her actions. At Kate's most vulnerable moment, she's not met with Lady Mary's protection but criticism and abandonment. When the Sheffields drag the Sharma women as gold diggers and put Kate on the spot, Mary immediately turns against her - her "what have you done" is uttered with such venomous coldness that it would be a brilliant piece of drama if Bridgerton could steer the audience to see this as a reveal of Mary in light of an evil stepmother. That of course did not happen and so it lost an opportunity to give its characters (esp. Mary) more depth, instead Mary remains on the fringes of society, suffering from being ostracized and bad characterization. Again, as Edwina fled the alter and unleashed her fury on Kate, Mary's reaction and attitude to her adopted daughter had zero maternal understanding or even concern, all she told Kate is to leave.

My problem with all these isn't that Lady Mary Sharma is a horrible mother to Kate, it is that Bridgerton is trying to suggest otherwise - we're supposed to accept that Mary, despite all her failures, loves Kate as much as she loves Edwina?! "I loved you the date I met you". "as a daughter, I never saw you as anything else". We're supposed to take her word at face value after everything that happened to Kate? (Keeping her emotions and longing to Anthony bottled up? Putting her younger sister before herself at all times? Having her heart broken believing that Anthony never loved her? Carrying the guilt of losing her family the Sheffields' fortune and sealing their fate of poverty and social expulsion? Lady Danbury whom Kate's met only a few weeks ago had offered more fatherly and motherly advice in one episode than Mary has done in the entire series.)

With the same lines, if Bridgerton truly possesses half the daring some critics have credited it with for its "colourblind casting", Lady Mary could have been illustrated as a selfish, calculating mother by changing the sentimental lighting and music when she uttered her grand speech of love, and she would have become a much more juicy and rounded (and frankly plausible) character. Her speech near the very end of the episode would have been bets she places after realizing that it is her elder "daughter" who might foster a link with the Bridgertons instead of Edwina, and the whole script would make so much more sense. Now that Kate tearily has lapped up her stepmother's great speech of love, Bridgerton only makes the heroine looks stupid and Mary an inconsistent character that doesn't even have real plot function. (Think about it - the Sharma sisters could have come to Lady Danbury, an old friend of their dearly beloved but deceased mama, and the whole plot of season 2 would not only still make sense but be even stronger).

[assortedvillainvault]

So I have the most random request for hc's with Jafar. [if you want to obv]. What if his s/o was a demi-god [possibly the child of a god of knowledge] BUT they don't tell anyone. Their dad just shows up one day and thats how he finds out.

Anon your patience for getting this answered is immeasurable. I decided to make the 'god of knowledge' here Hermes, since in the myths Hermes' domain is messenger, lies, travel and creator of the alphabet - which is pretty awesome!

Pls accept these humble headcannons!

Jafar x Demigod!S/O

- You did not intend for this to happen.

- You had had the good sense to lay low and get the hell out of Greece: Your dad Hermes may be one of the more ‘chill’ gods, but you have no interest in getting to know the disaster that is your extended family. Hermes was even weirdly encouraging about you jumping ship, but as the heavenly messenger, you suppose he’s just happy that you’re travelling and putting your skills to use.

- You went overseas, studied languages, got to know the trade routes and built a life for yourself in Agrabah. You even got hired to advise the Sultans government and landed yourself a tall dark and twisted boyfriend to boot!

- You decide to write home one day, idly, just to let your mother (and dad) know you’re alive and things are going ok.

- You...really should have remembered. Hermes is juggling about 50 jobs on the daily and in his haste sometimes...forgets things. Like the fact you’re trying to pass as a regular mortal.

- So three days later when your Dad in all his jazzy, turquoise glory whizzes into the palace, squeezes you up into a giant hug, ruffles your hair and presses a plate of snacks from home into your hands – all while chatting a million miles an hour and letting you know just how proud he is-! - and then proceeds to whiz out again with a cheery ‘Knock ‘em dead kiddo!”, you knew you fucked up.

- Jafar’s knuckles were white around his staff.

- ...oh dear.

- Jafar prides himself on being the most informed person in any room at all times. You think he rose to Grand Vizier and maintained his position by being idle?? Hypnosis, blackmail and murder aside, Jafar has worked DAMN HARD – he takes study and acquisition of intelligence extremely seriously.

- This man, even when in his evil wizard tower in his underwear and swamped under a metric ton of sultan-induced paperwork, can tell you what is happening on the streets of Agrabah and half the civilisations across the desert at any one time.

- And you. Lied to him.

- You, of all people, his most trusted confidant, deliberately and intentionally kept your divine lineage and (presumably) powers hidden from him.

- (if Jafar ever deigns to think about the fact that you kept this from everyone, not just him, there’s a 50/50 chance it would send him into a deeper spiral because he’s supposed to be better than those plebeians and you managed to not only keep this information from him, but LIE to his face about it the entire time-?!)

- Reader if his world would stop fucking spinning he’d congratulate you and then probably attempt to bowl you down the stairs, Iago’s just gonna hang on your shoulder for a bit until the mans paranoia and bitterness stope teetering on the edge of homicide.

- he’s not threatened why on earth would you think that he’s threatened by the fact you’re a half divine being of Fucking Knowledge now hold sTILL-

- It’s... going to take a few days for him to simmer down and stop plotting contingency measures.

- Then he’ll let his greed overtake his self preservation and think about all the ways he can rope you into his schemes to take over Agrabah. The 180 from thin lipped barely contained murderous rage to overtly-looming-hyper-sleaze is dizzying. Iago is facepalming in the back.

- All in all, he’d be up in your business waaaay more than he was before, but he does (eventually) get over it enough to use you as a blatant flex. Of course you only had eyes for him, little jewel, clearly only he had the intellect to match such a divine gift as yours~

- (trip him on the stairs, reader, plEASE-)

Thanks so much for the ask, sorry again for the wait and I hope you like it!

[moonshynecybin]

oh vale fucking marc in phillip island ‘15 for the first time, promptly freaking out, and latching onto uccio’s bullshit conspiracy just to find a way to drive marc away from himself… phew. you’re a genius i lovee the threesome au..

how would reconciliation work in that universe? would vale see marc getting cozy with an older man at the gala or someplace else and lose his mind? esp if the man has a girl w him who’s eyeing marc up and down? would marc think vale initially wants to go back to the first arrangement instead of just the two of them?

so many of my rosquez aus hinge on the beautiful race that is PI 2015. one of the sexiest races of all time and one where vale decided that marc was actually and genuinely EVIL based on uccio's extremely unbiased and not jealous at all opinion. BUT. uccio has never liked marc. has ALWAYS been suspicious of his and vale's relationship. and i think he would frankly have a LOT more of a leg to stand on if he had tried to break them up after assen 2015 instead imo... which makes me wonderrrr how long the uccio hate campaign had been germinating... whispering in vale's ear... turning the tides... moments in iago history.... etc. and i mean a BIG part of the reason vale's breaking point IS phillip island is because losing that title seemed a lot more realistic (three races left the pressure is ON. and marc is healthy so the field is more competitive) AND it was one of the greatest races of all time (WATCH ITTTT) and marc fucking WON it. vale used to be the kind of bitch who won that sort of thing. so its digging at his ego in lots of little ways that EYE imagine would be hard to swallow, and uccio identifies the chink in vale's armor here and exploits the FUCK out of it.

so i think. if im narrativizing this for gay sex reason which you KNOWWWW i am. that this is kind of the ideal point in a story to have vale flip out as much as possible. really dig into his neuroses. and one of the crazy parts of rosquez isnt JUST that vale is having an ego crisis its that hes having a crisis about CARING ABOUT MARC (also part of the reason it takes as long as it does for the paranoia to set in). thats why it suck so much! marc was his FRIEND ! (and he isnt friends with his rivals !!! think of that video where hes talking about bezz and pecco like. affectionately baffled about why theyre still friends?? this has never happened to him before!!! hes wigging out !!!) and so vale is ALSO heartbroken hereeeeee and thats part of why he gets as fucking mean as he does.

so in THIS au its them finally acknowledging that its not the girls that makes them keep fucking. its THEM. its EARNESTLY wanting each other outside of the heterosexual coolguy masculine just buddies threesomes that theyve been pretending are normal. pretending they havent been engineering them as social acceptable ways to get closer 2 each other. and once they break that seal and theres no more excuses. thats just too close for vale to keep a rival. and he implodes it.

[uyuartik]

othello ch.2 | anakin skywalker x reader

tags: othello au mini series, no major character death (just want to make that clear), borderline dark fic, we're not that deep into stuff but it's coming, this is plain angst at this point but ready yourselves for the next one iyky, allusions to infidelity but it's truly delulu

summary: This time, neither of you were so lucky. The storm grows big enough to destroy what little peace you have.

a/n: hi again! sorry for the long leave! hope the word count makes it worth the wait. the next chapter is even longer, and this is the perfect bridge to it, so i hope you all enjoy, and come back for the rest! don't forget to leave comments, reblogs or likes, everything counts!

may the force be with you!

also crossposted on ao3!

word count: 1451

prologue | ch.1 | ch.2 | ch.3 | ch.4 | ch.5 | finale

chapter 2

You saw those dark clouds again, and this time, they didn't disappear over the horizon. 

He was distracted. He didn't indulge you in the dinners you had together, answering your questions with single words, eating little and leaving you alone easily. You felt as if the long table was the greatest distance you ever had to cross, and you couldn't cross it. And he worked late, your fighter eyelids unable to win that battle against the moon. 

He had not been in your room for a few days now, and you had no idea when you would see him to ask about any of it. To make matters worse, he'd left you alone in the preparations for the celebration ofthe victory over the enemies, and your marriage.

When you saw him at the table, it was the first time you had met that day, and it was enough to make tears fill your eyes. He looked magnificent in that uniform, the one you adored. You could even joke it was the look that made you fall for him, and yet, now with his eyes as cold as ice, it didn't make your heart flutter in the slightest. With pressed lips, he extended his hand for you to hold it, assisting for you to sit, but his fingers were so dismissive of you, not caressing your knuckles like he always absentmindedly did. Instead, he was quick to drop it, as soon as you sat down, and you saw his palm clenched in a fist for the rest of the night. He accepted praises, all those kind words about his success and his good wife, without even glancing at you. You had expected all sorts of lavish foods he'd insist you try, all those compliments somehow finding their way to be relevant to you by his devilishly smart tongue, and dances. This was about the first time he would get to wrap his arms around you, and so would you, without scrutinizing glances, but instead with adoration. The newlywed couple, finally having the chance to be a part of society.

Yet it was anything but those things.

You could see the questioning look on the faces around you as hours passed, and the two of you stuck to your chairs. Your few attempts to get an answer, or at least get him to look at your face, had proven useless, and you were busy with the storm of questions in your head to try any further. 

“Have you seen Cassio?” You asked after a while, trying to know if your friends were here as well.

His jaw twitched, and he downed his wine, your cup untouched in contrast to his. The name that was already on his mind, now uttered out loud was torture. “Why would I want to see him?”

Oh. You couldn’t believe he was still on very bad terms with him, considering this new country didn’t give you the privilege of many trusted faces. Moreso, Iago was nowhere to be found either, and you wondered how alone the two of you were.

You shouldn’t have been, when you were finally together.

Alas, you didn’t elaborate further.  

===

The second night of the celebrations was the same, if not worse.

He had been out of the house all day, thus giving you little time to discuss whatever this was. 

What was bugging your noble husband this much? Was it work? The enemy? Some news from Venice about those jealous lords? 

Oh, it must’ve been one of them, right? 

But none of them explained why he was so distant towards you, and that carved a hole through your heart. You felt cold, and nauseous, struck with suspense. 

Poor Cassio, too. Your promise was becoming empty words with each passing day. The shame of your inaction had already made you refuse his visits. You had no good news to give, nor the nerve to hear more of his pleas.

You were almost sure you’d skip the festivity that night, the beautiful new dress weighing you down by tonnes, amplified by the weakness of your body from lack of food, and no matter how your best friend tried to distract you, your signature smile or famous sparkle didn’t visit your face in the slightest.

The only motivation you had was the will to not disappoint the love of your love, no matter how angry he was. 

Thus, under the moonlight you went, playing the role you were becoming accustomed to.

With a single addition.

After the previous night, the gentlemen of Cyprus were boldened by the lack of interest shown to you by your husband, and they came, asking for your hand in a dance. With the first offer, your eyes widened, filling with a few tears you hoped were unnoticeable, and you kindly murmured an excuse. After all, these people were here to celebrate your union, and you had no place upsetting them.

Your dreamy union. 

Despite being raised by promises of being wed to the wealthiest of lords, even princes, and witnessing weddings that lasted a month with all sorts of jesters and magical shows, you had to forgo all those visions, and the new prospect of hurting your father, you had agreed to abandon your mansion in the middle of the night, a simple cloak on your back and some of your jewelry hid in a stash by your waist, (not on your skin because they were to be sold if necessary) you married the man that had given you his true heart. He already had yours too, given freely and joyfully. 

In that night he hadn’t touched you yet, only an innocent kiss to seal your oaths. He’d hoped to wait til the morning to talk with your father, past the point of asking for permission but as a gesture of goodwill, informing him and pleading his case. Of course, he was called to the senate before all of that could happen, and you two were discovered, and the next time you were united was days after, in the sea.

All that misfortune, and lack of tradition, the lack of love you’d come to adore that spilled from his touch, still, you wished it was then again, instead of this.

With each insistent offer, you looked at- begged Anakin with those pleading eyes, the ones he almost hated for how vulnerable he was to them. He could see the conflict in your spirit, still clinging onto him for relief, but being restricted by society, turning your gaze elsewhere in the end. 

His heart was racing, bile rising in his throat for mistreating you, but the voice of Iago echoed in his ears. The subtlest hint of something was wrong, repeated over and whispered into his ears for a week now, had produced the desired effect. He already had Cassio to be worried about, his trusted right-hand man failing his duties, his code; and now you? The only soul he had put his entire faith on? The feeling of hopelessness claimed his chest, and wouldn’t let go.

He could see it in your gaze, the question of “Have I done something wrong?” evolving into “What did I do wrong?”, for you were sure you had to do something to be met with this attitude.

Didn’t you know?

How could you not know, but, most importantly, how could you still feign innocence? Was it possible for you to devour his heart with mere acting- even the word unbecoming of you?

But then, why would Iago claim it to be true, his face bitter with the ugly news? Why would he bother with being the target of his fury, or have the urge to protect him from what others may learn by revealing it sooner?

Albeit all the turmoil that plagued him, the poison that begged to be released, he couldn’t witness your discomfort. You recoiled at every gentleman passing by the table, toying with the seams of your dress to appear busy, avoiding eye contact.

Thus, he spoke when another one of them dared. “Antonio, give my wife some space.”

My wife. Not angel, or my sweet lady, or any of those little compliments he managed to squeeze in while addressing you. Just my wife. Yet, it was enough to make your heart beat against your chest, declaring that not all the butterflies have died. You couldn’t dare to look at him, the threat of tears spilling from your eyes too gruesome, so you looked down, with the ghost of a smile in the corners of your lips that was the blend result of praise and anger, the relief of action, and the recognition of your suffering only remain the same.

He owed you a great explanation, and you were ready to wait for it.

[romancemedia]

Aladdin and Jasmine's acceptance of Iago increases his guilt

[yaksha-garden]

∗ 64﹕ sender  [ applies / touches up ]  receiver’s  makeup . + reverse

Eden gently cupped Iago's chin in one hand, the other's fingers rubbing shadow over their eyelids, beyond and under the eye too. Perhaps smudging the smoky shade like this made them look a tad more corpse-like, but it was a look.

Once the eyshadow was applied just so, Eden picked up the eye-lining pencil. Lined up next, they'd have some nice purple they found for the lips, perhaps a little dusting of powder on the cheeks...

Nonverbal Prompts | Accepting

[coraniaid]

Enemies ends with Faith warning Buffy that if she kills her, she'll become her: "you ain't ready for that".

And sure enough, Buffy does go through a large part of the first half of the next episode convinced she's about to become something monstrous, a transformation which she's clearly not prepared for ("I'm scared Will. There's this thing in me and I can't find it. I can't stop it. What if it changes me? [...] All of a sudden I could be something that's not me anymore.")

Of course, Buffy isn't (explicitly) talking about Faith here, but (to paraphrase Xander a few episodes earlier), she is talking about her a lot. Telling Willow that "to the naked eye [kissing Faith] looked like fun", or telling Angel that Faith wasn't "so bad to have around" or that she was "hurting a lot" in a way that "some people, protective-type people" might have been drawn to, or (on a more metaphorical level), bringing up Iago's motivations for trying to destroy Othello (all of which, ranging from anger at being overlooked or sexual jealously or simply because he enjoys doing it, because he's "the dark half of Othello himself", clearly apply just as equally to why Faith has recently become Buffy's enemy.)

Of all the Season 3 episodes Faith isn't in, I think this is the one where her absence makes the most sense. Her arc this season wouldn't be as satisfying if we could read her mind and see her motivations. Just like Iago (at least according to Ms. Murray's dissertation), she's not really a person in her own right. She exists as a reflection of Buffy's own feelings, "but you never really see what's in someone's heart".

Though it wasn't the writers' concious intent, I do think you can view this season's central arc as the closest the show ever really gets to a love triangle: with Buffy forced to choose between dwelling in the comfortable past that Angel represents and the thrill of living only in the moment that Faith represents, and ultimately rejecting and accepting aspects of both so that she can move on into the future. And in this viewing, I think it's important that Angel and Faith are treated on an equal footing in this episode. Buffy doesn't get to use her newfound powers to read Angel's mind, and she doesn't get to read Faith's mind either. They are both blank slates: Angel representing who Buffy was before the events of last year, and Faith representing a possible demonic transformation (and note that the question of whether Slayers are demons or fully human will be pretty central to the next four seasons of the show).

The episode takes away Buffy's mind-reading powers almost as soon as she gets them, and while they give her a broader sense of empathy (or at least help to further develop an empathy she's been gaining since the show's first episode when she realized the difference between Cordelia being "nice" and being nice "to me, anyway") they don't help her resolve her confusion about her vampire boyfriend and "the whole bad girl thing" Faith has working for her.

But in just a few episodes' time, she's going to have to make a choice. And, coming back to her fears at the start, there's a risk that in doing so she'll become something that's not her anymore. When Xander tells Buffy in Graduation Day that he "doesn't want to lose her" before she goes to fight and possibly kill Faith, it's hard not to be reminded of what Buffy told Willow this episode. What if it changes her? What if, all of a sudden, she's not Buffy anymore?

[yowlthinks]

12 Months of Shakespeare - October: Othello

Last night I have finally finished Othello, and I must say it is really good! I feel like there are so many themes touched in it that I needed time to process it overnight to gather my thoughts and impressions (which is a rare experience for a play).

I picked the latest NT version (I think it is from 2023), and while it is very minimalistic in terms of set, they work with lighting in such a clever way that you can clearly see how scenes change and also when the character goes into the inner monologue mode. The acting was really good, I can't even pinpoint one specific actor, because they were all so good!

It is interesting to compare Othello to the Merchant of Venice, because in a way they both comment on discrimination, but in very different veins. In MoV, antisemitism is sort of the default, and while initially you would think it is condemned, the ending does not actually get to thay conclusion, while with Othello, racism is clearly shown as a force of unmotivated hate and the ending (at least to me) points to it being shown as something condemnable. So it is interesting to think about this from the modern perspective and how acceptable these views are now globally: to Shakespeare racism appears clearly condemnable, while antisemitism is not exactly great but "justified". The more I think about the modern views globally, the more unsure I am whether things have changed that much (which is horrifying) and if so, in which way. Feels like if you look across the range if countries, the answers will vary.

I loved the dialogue between Desdemona and Emilia about women having the same agency, desires and motivations as men, basically being no different to them in their humanity, just having less power due to how society is structured. This is such a modern comment, if you think about when it was written! And also them touching on the subject of domestic violence between Iago and Emilia - it is subtle in the text, but the makeup and costume choices they made made it bit more visible and I think this was the right thing to do...

Finally, Othello being so amazingly in love in the first half and then going gradually insane with jealousy - that was portrayed so well, I did not expect that...

Overall, 8/10, maybe even 8.5

[accultant]

"Do you honestly believe that you are funny? Tell me your best joke!"

Iago raises an eyebrow slightly, having no memory of such claims. "If you're trying to fish for more material, I'm afraid you're not being very subtle about it."

But the book they were drudging through was getting dull anyway. They make a show of slowly placing a bookmark and setting it to the side before they acknowledge the bard again,

" There was this clock maker, right? Horologist, if you're pretentious. He had a massive storefront - for clocks and watches, of course. I don't need to hold your hand through this, do I? Anyway, this shop was his pride and joy- much to the dismay of his only son, who was severely lacking in both parental attention and passion for his father's craft. He couldn't care less about the timepieces his father dedicated his life to. Which was rather unfortunate, considering the shop was left in to him when the elder passed away. The clock maker's son was reasonably distraught. They had their differences, but ultimately, he did care for his father. In his defense, he did try. He attempted to perform the repairs his father taught him- though he more often than not ended up damaging the timepieces even worse. He couldn't create anything from a pile of gears and springs, but he could slap a shiny new price tag on his late father's masterpieces.

" It stayed afloat for a while, but just barely. And the clock maker's son was tired. He didn't feel the same obligation as time went on, he didn't care for the craft, he simply wanted to be done with it all. None of the work was selling. The only thing that was selling was the storefront itself, prime real estate that was being ogled by every starry-eyed self-starter in the city.

" So, he caved. It was a matter of time, really. He had been wanting to throw those things into firewood since he first became an angsty, neglected teen all those years ago. It was freeing, in a way, when he started to lug them out into the courtyard nearby to burn once they had all been added to the mass. A metaphorical funeral pyre, if you wish to be morbid.

" But as he nearly broke his back moving one of his father's largest clocks - a beautiful grandfather, golden tinted inlays, chimes like a funeral toll every hour, you know -, a lovely voice called out to him. It was a woman, around his age, I'm sure you can imagine where this goes. She gushed about it's beauty, it's craftsmanship. The clock maker's son only ever saw it as trash, but when she asked to take it home, she batted her eyes and he couldn't refuse.

" Then, to his delight, she returned the next day. The pile of garbage was ever-growing, but she took a pocket watch from the mess. The day after that, a simple wall clock. She kept returning as he built his pyre until eventually, he asked to court her for an evening. Their relationship budded quickly, like it was always meant to be."

They pause and spare Tryck a glance, " Bards like that kind of thing, right? True love and whatnot? Well, it was like that.

" She adored him and he abandoned his monumental task night after night to see her. The trash pile of clocks and watches was left alone in favor of quality time and romance. It would need to be taken care of soon, as it was becoming a bit of an eyesore for the courtyard, but he didn't even hesitate to accept her invitations to dinners and parties and, most excitedly, a grand ball. He hadn't realized she was of such high class to be attending something like that, so he had to really clean up.

" And clean up he did. He was dashing and fit right in at the ball. He might've had two left feet, but the woman didn't seem to mind. They danced all evening. He planned to tell her he loved her that night, under the moon, perhaps on the balcony. Something romantic.

" But he was nervous- she was nobility. He was nothing but a clock maker's son with an abandoned pyre and a half-emptied storefront. His palms were sweating when he excused himself, offering to get them both something to drink. It was a fabulous ball, mind you, the spread of refreshments was quite impressive. He even had to wait behind a few other party goers as the table was quite congested. This time was used to calm his nerves, slow his racing heart.

" But you know how these parties tend to be. He couldn't help but overhear the gossip. The people around him, all a higher class than he ever dreamed of being himself, spoke about relationships and scandals. Literature and music. And one particular conversation piece that stood out- everyone seemed to be gushing about the grandfather clock at the end of the hall. The way they described it, the son had no doubt that it was his father's, the same one the woman took home with her the day they met.

" Hearing such kind words about his late father's work brought unexpected tears to his eyes. He was touched. He felt like a fool for letting himself give up on his father's art so easily. But then another line of gossip met his ears just as he neared the drinks table.

" 'The Lady of the house here has played the son for a fool, you know. He fawns over her like a lovesick boy and all the while she's bringing such lovely works back home, furnishing it before her husband returns from his time away. For not even a copper! And he's such a collector himself that he won't even be bothered by her methods. I hear she plans to drop the clock maker's son as soon as he returns, anyway.'

" It was gut-wrenching. He felt his world, the one he had begun to dream of, at least, fall apart in an instant. And there was that incessant tick-tock-tick-tock that seemed amplified now that his attention was drawn to it. How could he have missed it before? Every wall was adorned with another timepiece, another work of art that was unmistakenly his father's. And in the middle of it all, the woman who had ripped his heart in two, was across the ballroom, showing off her latest pocket watch.

" The clock maker's son couldn't take it. He couldn't stand to hear one more tick. He was a fool to let himself be distracted, he decided. He would finish his work, his destruction. She would never complete her collection because the pyre he had abandoned would soon be in flames as it was always meant to be. Garbage, it was all garbage! Trash!

" Someone from behind asked him if he was going to get a drink, snapping him back to the present. He had work to do. He ran out into the night, fueled by rage and heartbreak with only one goal in mind.

" He left the love of his life, fled from the party, and most notably,"

They fix a blank stare at Trick, their voice deadpan, "He abandoned the punch line, turning instead to his reinvigorated dedication to wasting time."

[yen-sids-tournament]

Disney Bird Battle

You may define "best" however you would like, we tend to think of "most helpful/useful" but "absolute fav." is 100% acceptable too. All of these birbs have been contestants on the Disney side of our Animal Besties Tournament. We are currently in the final round of this tournament. The collage of birds does not match with their listing order.

[halfdeadsacrifice]

A gift is left outside of Vayu's tent - a small knife with a note outlining the enchantment Iago had written for it, guaranteeing that it will slice exactly the right portion of whatever you're cutting (an apple has also been left with this to test). Iago has forgotten to sign their name on the note, but it does wish Vayu a "happy belated birthday."

Vayu does indeed test the enchantment -- and the apple is sliced perfectly in half.

"Huh."

He's gonna slip that in next to his hunting knife. It's mightily useful. As for who in the camp could have made such an enchantment, he has some ideas.

Say "Happy Birthday" to Vayu | Accepting

[elains]

Some ideas on Theia, Fionn, Pelias and the High Lords

Since House of Flame and Shadow is coming out soon, I want to leave this registered here for posterity hahaha. I'm doing most of this by memory, I haven't really reread, so any mistakes you find that's probably it lol. Also this is WAY more focused on CCity and its character's than ACOTAR proper.

ACOSF introduces us to the Daglan and Fionn, the First and Only High King of Prythian. According to the Prythian side of the legend, he has a sword called Gwydion which was dipped into the Cauldron by the High Priestess Oleanna, which he used to defeat the Daglan. Milennia of peace followed, the land was divided in the precursors to the courts, but then they were at the brink of war. He became High King and was betrayed by his best friend and his Queen, who was also queen of her own territory in her own right.

In Crescent City, we are introduced to the figure of Queen Theia, the Starborn Queen who led the Fae out of their homeworld and brought them to Midgard. She had two daughters, Helena and an unnamed second one. She was betrayed by her most trusted general, Pelias, who then married her daughter and forced her to bear his children. Her other daughter escaped, never to be heard from again. The Starsword beloged to Theia. Come HOSAB, we learn it and Gwydion are one and the same.

Applying Occam's Razor to these two characters, the simplest outcome is that Theia was Fionn's wife and the one who betrayed him, Helena and Nameless Daughter are their children, and Pelias is the best friend and general who betrayed him. Fionn probably wasn't a great person because let's be real, Theia found Aidas later and SJMs has a thing for making past love interests looking bad when a new one is in town (example: Shahar for Hunt).

I don't want Fionn to have been evil! And I guess this is what these ideas boil down to. I'm not even gonna call them theories because they aren't really based on hard evidence. Just fun What Ifs, possible parallels, headcanons. Who knows? So without further ado:

What If Pelias played the role of Iago?

We all know Pelias is utter trash. He betrayed his Queen and forcibly married her daughter so she could be the mother of his now royal children. If he was Fionn's best friend, I have exactly zero reason to think he wasn't trash and power hungry then too. All in all, regardless of what Theia and Fionn's relationship was like (and I want to believe they were both good people), I believe Pelias was the root of all evil.

I can see him feeling inferior to both: Theia with her blazing starlight compared to his meagre one and Fionn was probably remarkable in his own way. I like to think that though they didn't love each other, there was respect and trust and even camaraderie. They both played their part in expelling the Daglan. Fionn got to be High King and married Theia, who was Queen of Dusk. He was their friend, relegated to their shadows.

This gets even juicier if we accept as true that Pelias was always a Starborn Prince. Maybe he was Theia's illegitimate brother, maybe a distant relative. I can see him wanting everything his friends have: the crown of High King, the title of King of Dusk, everything. Greed and Jealousy that drove him to manipulate his closest friends into turning against each other and ended with Theia slaying Fionn.

He never got to reap the rewards in Prythian, though: Theia's killing of Fionn sent the realm into disarray. We are told the Fae were lured to Midgard, and I think that's because Theia took the chance to flee a whole land that wanted her dead for her crime either for justice or their own greed (we will come back to it). Theia escaped believing Pelias was her friend and trusted general. I don't think they were ever lovers. Maybe that too played a role in his jealousy and anger, how Theia never loooked his way and found love with Aidas.

Regardless, he betrayed and murdered her anyway, dooming her daughter to a lifetime of unhappiness.

What if Fionn and Theia were siblings?

Frequently, across Crescent City, we hear that the Starborn have intermarried to keep their bloodline pure (how utterly Targaryen of them). We have yet to hear about any historical examples of such unions, but Fionn and Theia provide a fine opportunity for this to be brought to the table. The Last Starborns marrying out of duty to keep their bloodline pure in their old world. It also goes well with how Gwydion and Truthteller are siblings blades, one belonging to each.

Could Theia have been a Queen of her own territory in her own right then if they were siblings? Why not? Plenty of queens in history were queens in their own right, regardless of their husbands. She could have been the oldest and heir to the Dusk Territory, Fionn the younger sibling who was chosen as the High King. Or maybe he was the eldest and gave up the throne to her. Maybe the territory passed down in the female line or to the strongest starborn. In any case, it's not really a hurdle.

In this scenario, Pelias as their best friend (distant relative/bastard half-sibling/wtv) still works. In fact, it complements it because it highlights Pelias's hatred and envy for them both. They get everything, he gets nothing. Taken further if Fionn didn't have the Starborn's light, but was a legitimate prince.

It would also create an interesting parallel between Ruhn and Bryce. Siblings, one dark and one light. "Maybe there's a knife for me out there", Bryce herself says. Ruhn's the older brother and as far as we know, the heir, but it's Bryce who is most often compared to a Queen. Not him, though if I recall, Bryce think she will be a good ruler. She is right. Ruhn might carry Pelias light, true, but his shadows are Fionn's.

This time, it doesn't end in tragedy.

What if Theia was Fionn's daughter?

This is VERY far-fetched, I freely admit to it, and was born out of me trying to rationalize the difference between ACOSF and CCity: Gwydion is Fionn's sword, but it'salso the Starsword, which is Theia's.

Simplest solution is either: it was Fionn's and Theia took it all after she killed him and Midgard doesn't have the full story or it was always Theia's and Prythian remembers it incorrectly. The Dread Trove we know was likely made by the Asteri and it wasn't originally Fionn's.

Crackpot theory: Fionn was the Starborn King, hero to the Fae, and married the Night Queen to secure his rule (that's where shadow power would have com into the bloodline). Fionn and his Queen have a daughter, Theia, and Theia herself has two daughters of her own. Who fathered these kids is 100% irrelevant. Sarah didn't give the Archeron sister's father a name, I'm not holding my breath he isn't just a no one.

Pelias is Fionn's best friend and general, and madly jealous of the man. Likely wants to marry his daughter, too. In any case, he and the Queen betray and murder Fionn, intent on setting Theia on the throne. In the end, Pelias tricks Theia into believing it was all her mother, and he is on her side. The Night Queen, ruler of Nightmares, was always a means to an end. Maybe she was aligned with the Asteri too, considering the Wild Hunt imagery in the CoN.

Or maybe the Queen was dead by then, and history has conflated her with Theia. Maybe Theia, Queen after her mother, thought her father was becoming a tyrant and decided to kill him. Maybe Pelias pushed her into it, thinking he could marry her. We actually never know how long Fionn reigned. Theia never stole anything at all: it was always hers by right. She was to be the next High Queen.

And then the High Lords intervened.

What if the reason Theia fled to Midgard was because of the High Lords?

Theia was lured by the Asteri to Midgard. But why? Why did she gave up everything in her former world to a new one? What could have driven her to take such a risk? I think she wouldn't have, had she any other choice. Theia was, to put it simply, pushed against a corner because she had a rebellion in her hands.

If she killed Fionn and he was recognized as the High King and well loved, this may as well have started a rebellion. Not even because he was a good king (maybe he was), but for their own power. The Royal House is in disarray, regardless of its familial arrangement, and what better place to strike? They do not want a High Queen whatsoever.

So they attack Theia. Maybe at some point she loses parts of the Dread Trove, which is why Helion has the reaction he has to the mask: it's an echo from when his ancestor used it against Theia. In any case, she's fighting a losing war. Her people will be eliminated. She's losing and desperte, and the Asteri's call is her salvation. She doesn't notice the trap.

Victorious, the High Lords weave history to be whatever he wanted, twisting or erasing the role she played. And, perhaps, this is why there have been no High Ladies: there's magic preventing it, magic which the first High Lords established to keep the power at bay, because Fionn's only heirs were women.

And this closes the bunch of ideas I wanted to write down lmao. Probably none of this will become canon but hey, it's fun to think of other possibilities! Again, this was all by memory, incosistences galore, self-indulgent, I don't really expect any (except Pelias is the Iago but that's pribably what EVERYONE thinks, but I needed to write it down for the rest to make sense you know).