#all inferior names to my genius

[psychemochanight]

This may sound bad, but there's something I've noticed that bothers some of Nightwing fans, and it's not exactly something new (since Jason's first appearance, actually)-

And for many, as a new batfamily member appears, the writers seem to take away or diminish some quality in Dick to enhance it in another character

Let me explain:

One of the reasons why many people initially disliked Jason (not the only reason, by far), is that they saw him as a copy of Dick, even if they both had their differences, many did not feel that Jason had anything "special" that separated him from Dick.

And for those who say the difference is that Jason was cheerful and Dick wasn't, no, that's a modern thing, and that interpretation was given especially because it was the time when Dick was more "angry" as Discowing (he wasn't even that angry, just a little bit more serious); same with those who say that Jason was the only model student, when in fact, Dick was also a star student, there is even a panel where some students dismiss the possibility that he is Robin because Dick was a "bookworm".

That's partly why many applauded the change he made in becoming Red Hood, because it gave the character something that set him apart, that made him unique.

With Tim is when this change that they make to Dick (more the fandom than the writers themselves, but it is growing in them too) was most noticeable, to enhance Tim's qualities.

When talking about Tim (and God knows how much I adore canon Tim, he's so damn cool), people ALWAYS downplay Richard's detective skills to highlight Tim's. To make him look like the only good detective in the family after Batman.

People forget that Dick was originally like a mini-copy of Batman, but he was destined to surpass him. Not just in combat, but in detective skills as well. Before they even thought about a new Robin, there were already hints that Dick was, and would be, better than Batman.

Even with the appearance of other family members, Dick's abilities were still pointed out. I'm not talking about his physical agility, but his mental agility.

Dick was a genius, just like the other members of the family, he was ALWAYS pointed out as someone so intelligent, someone logical. He also has extraordinary skills with technology, He didn't need someone to back him up with hacking issues 24/7, he could do it himself, not always, but most of the time.

Now, what they point out the most is his physical agility and leadership (characteristics that he always had), but they leave aside his other aspects, such as combat ability and above all, his capabilities as a detective, like someone intelligent.

Some even bring up that Ra's called Tim "detective", when in reality he also called Dick that, and I'm pretty sure he also called Jason that at some point.

I want to clarify, that with this I am NOT saying that Tim's skills are inferior, AT ALL. I am one of those who think that Tim was the one who finished polishing Robin's name, the one that gave it a meaning beyond being Batman's sidekick, the one who turned Robin into his own hero. Tim is probably a prodigious detective, but like Dick, he too needed help honing those skills. Damn, it was Dick himself who taught Tim how to be a full-fledged detective.

But seriously, I'm not saying this to put Tim down, but to talk about the need to put Dick down in order to elevate others.

Even with Cass this happened, Cass fans throw away Dick's abilities to bring out Cass's when that is not necessary, like, It is more than possible to highlight the qualities of your favorite characters without putting down the others.

There were even times where people were putting Dick down for Damian, and I honestly didn't even understand why, but aha.

I think you're getting my point across, right?

Again, I am NOT trying to say that ANY character's skills should be nerfed, on the contrary, I feel like people should stop doing that just to level up other characters' abilities.

The fact that Dick is also a prodigious detective does not make Tim any less of a detective ? The fact that he also knows how to handle technology does not make Barbara any less competent at her job ? Just because he's an excellent fighter doesn't make Cass the weakest ???? God, just because he was a light in Batman's life too doesn't make Jason any less of his son!

Partly yes, it was the writers' fault for giving Dick too many abilities from the start, which made it harder for later characters to stand out in their own fields, but, fr, taking away his abilities to getting up the rest is not the solution at this point either.

And as I said, this mostly comes from before there were even other members of the batfamily, Dick's only purpose was to be better than Batman, it wasn't even the plan to be his own person yet. Probably for a while, the plan could even be that the next Batkid would accompany Dick as the next great detective, and then the next batkid would take the mantle and so on, a chain. I'm not saying that's the case, but that's honestly what it seems like from the way their abilities are written, at least before they started really developing them as their own individual person.

Something I love about part of the fandom is that there are people who understand that Dick was an inspiration, so that his younger siblings did not inhibit his abilities, but rather learned from him, and then surpassed him with their owns, just as Dick did with Batman. Idk.

And... Yeah, that's just me complaining about my favorite character being downgraded when he's clearly way more capable than the fandom gives him credit for <3

This is me btw

[literaryvein-reblogs]

How do I write mean insults that's in character for a character to say? I'm personally poor at coming up with insults that don't sound generic or would actually cut deep, being mean in general. I want to write a snarky character with a dry sense of humour when it calls for it but don't know how to go about it.

He's also recovering from a superiority and inferiority complex.

As the writer, you know your character best, and what insults would make sense for them to say (also considering the bigger context of the scene). So, I'll just provide you with a compilation of prompts and notes from different sources, and you can choose which ones are most appropriate to incorporate in your story.

Writing Notes: Insults & Dry Humor

A List of "Sophisticated" Insults

Craven - having or showing a complete lack of courage; very cowardly

Fatuous - silly or stupid; complacently or inanely foolish. From Latin infatuate, which once meant "to make foolish," but which now usually means "to inspire with foolish love or admiration."

Insipid - not interesting or exciting; dull or boring

Obstreperous - difficult to control and often noisy

Obtuse - stupid or unintelligent; not able to think clearly or to understand what is obvious or simple

Pusillanimous - weak and afraid of danger. It's been used by such notables as Ralph Waldo Emerson ("It is a pusillanimous desertion of our work to gaze after our neighbours"), and the disgraced Vice-President Spiro Agnew, who called journalists "pusillanimous pussyfooters."

Sanctimonious - pretending to be morally better than other people. It once meant "possessing sanctity; holy, sacred." The genuinely holy aspect faded, and William Shakespeare is credited with first using sanctimonious to mean "hypocritically pious or devout."

Twee - sweet or cute in a way that is silly or sentimental. Just as buddy is believed to be a baby talk alteration of "brother", twee is a baby talk alteration of "sweet". Although twee is still considered a chiefly British term, it's increasingly popular in American English.

Unctuous - revealing or marked by a smug, ingratiating, and false earnestness or spirituality. Unction can mean "anointment" or it can name something used to anoint, such as a soothing or lubricating oil. That idea of oiliness led to unctuous, which can describe the slickness of false sincerity.

Vacuous - having or showing a lack of intelligence or serious thought; lacking meaning, importance, or substance

The insult would also depend on which other character it is directed at. Here is a list of "funny" insults for adults from Reader's Digest:

My days of not taking you seriously have come to a middle.

You are the human equivalent of a participation trophy.

If you were a spice, you’d be flour.

You may have a sparsely attended funeral.

I smell something burning. Are you trying to think again?

You’re like a lighthouse in a desert: bright but not very useful.

Don’t worry—the first 30 years of childhood are always the hardest.

May your life be as pleasant as you are.

You’re as useless as the “ueue” in “queue.”

Your face is just fine. It’s your personality that’s the issue.

...and for your character's significant other:

I like you. People say I have no taste, but I like you.

You continue to meet my expectations.

I’ll never forget the first time we met. But I’ll keep trying.

If genius skips a generation, our kids will be brilliant.

We were happily married for a month. Too bad it’s our 10-year anniversary.

I admire the way you try so hard.

You’re entitled to your incorrect opinion.

Have you tried doing it the way I told you to the first time?

The best part of watching a show with you is when you fall asleep because then I can watch my show.

Don’t call me crazy—you’re the one who married me!

You can always alter these to better suit your character. You can read the full list here, which also includes some insults for kids, best friends, and family.

Tips for Better Humor Writing

Humor writing isn’t all about landing a good joke (except for when it is). In creative writing, the effect is usually a bit more nuanced. Here’s a few writing techniques to get you started:

Subvert expectations. Try to undermine the audience’s expectations or reform them with structural elements.

Save the best for last. Humor is often a release of tension, so the sentence builds that tension, and the pay-off—the punchline—happens most naturally at the end. This is also sometimes referred to as the “rule of three,” where two thoughts act as a build-up to the final humorous closer.

Use contrast. Are your characters in a terrifying situation? Add something light, like a man obsessing about his briefcase instead of the T-Rex looming behind him.

Use good wordplay. Sometimes words themselves are funny, and just as often, their placement in a sentence can make a difference. Some words are just funnier than others, so make a list of those that amuse you the most.

Take advantage of cliché. While clichés are something most writers try to avoid, it’s important to recognize them,so you can use them to your advantage. Humor relies in part on twisting a cliché—transforming or undermining it. You do this by setting up an expectation based on the cliché and then providing a surprise outcome. In humor writing, this process is called reforming.

Use humor as a counterbalance. If you just pile on one terrible thing after another, it starts to become ridiculous, and people won’t buy it. Using humor is a great way to achieve the proper balance between fantasy and real life. Remember, if a roller coaster only did twists and turns the whole time, it wouldn’t be as fun to ride.

Level of Intensity

There are people who shrug off an insult (“That’s just the way she is”) and people who commit murder over an insult (“I’m avenging my honor!”). Plus, of course, everything in between. Which is your character?

To be believable, consider the following:

Personality. How hard does your character take events in general? Does s/he get really excited over good fortune and really depressed over setbacks? Then we’ll find it believable that s/he gets really angry and reacts accordingly.

The second cause of an intense reaction is the nature of the specific fight that you’re creating on the page. Lily Owens lets most of her father’s insults go by (“the art of survival”). But when he starts in about her mother, the topic is too important to Lily to gloss over. Lily’s reaction is intense. She runs away. Another type of character might merely have seethed silently. Still another might have fought T. Ray more intensively, setting fire to the house with him inside.

Finally, the strength of fights is culturally determined. Where public or even private scenes are disapproved of (upper-class London, old-money Boston, “well-behaved” families), arguments may be muted, even when the subject matters a great deal. In other cultures, volatility is not frowned on, and people may feel free to scream at each other in public. In extreme cases, murder may even be considered a duty, as in avenging a sister’s sexual assault.

Where is your story taking place? Are your arguers in tune with local or family culture? Maybe not. You can create interesting effects by portraying the rebels against the local mores: the meek child born into a battling family, the furious feminist in polite 19th-century English society.

On Dry Humor

Dry humor - is all about the subtle irony of the facts being stated plainly; it is the contrast between sentiment and reality that makes the situation funny.

The technique is known for its simple, often matter-of-fact declarations that will make the audience laugh or be perplexed (humor is subjective, after all).

With dry humor, delivery and intention create a sort of comedic cognitive dissonance or contrast. Sometimes it is as simple as using a bit of sarcasm, but it can also be more than that.

Dry humor lives and dies on the back of doing less.

Less facial expressions, less props, less setup—less is often more when it comes to landing the joke. You aren’t using a big, dramatic setup or a grandiose vocabulary to make your point.

Essentially, these jokes are derived from saying the opposite of what is meant or delivering them in a way that purposefully counteracts the supposed meaning of what is being said.

Dry Humor in Writing

The function of dry humor has often been to highlight the absurd.

It is effectively executed in moments where satirization of the circumstances at play require little more than noting the facts aloud.

When writing this sort of humor, quick, cutting accuracy is key to making the jokes land.

Simplicity is king, and an honest statement of the facts will always lead the way to finding the funny.

Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 ⚜ More: References ⚜ Humour ⚜ Laughter & Humour

Hope this helps with your writing!

[ac0nites]

(Rat anon) do you have any headcannons or anything for ratcatcher (not many people like/know about him, so I want to hear someone talk about him/show some love/etc)!!

hi rat anon!!!!!!!!!!!!

i received this ask SEVEN YEARS AGO and i have finally finished and compiled all the art i had originally intended to attach to this post

anyway i still love ratcatcher. i think hes genuinely one of my favorite batman rogues in the bunch, even if i dont think about him a lot anymore : )

in terms of headcanons ummm.....

i think he should looove the rats. his backstory is not finalized in any way in my mind but i think he cares about the rats and loooves them, as an ex-exterminator who now cares about protecting them so much. idk if that should necessarily be his primary motivation for committing crimes (a la poison ivy), outside of maybe the inciting incident making him spiral to the point of rat-obsessed city-wide terrorism in his personal Year One. but that happens to everyone in gotham city at least once it's ok.

i think seeing himself as inherently inferior is also core to his motivations. i like that for him : ) i think he tries to justify any criminal activity with the idea that he's punching up, even if it gets out of control or has Ramifications. like im sure theres no long-term consequences to unleashing one million rat plagues upon the entire city, or doing Rat Torture to various people you dont like. nice job punching up buddy. but fighting batman and losing every time only supports this justification, so whatever ♥️

i like the idea of him having some kind of redemption arc at some point. i dont remember Mother Panic too well and i cant find any receipts for this so sorry if this is dead wrong but iirc he had like a surveillance/spymaster sort of role in that? and i kind of love it. i think he has potential as an investigator or like information broker who can work with batman or other more "good-aligned" characters.

i dont really engage in fandom or shipping or anything anymore but ratcatcher x pied piper is such an excellent crack ship to me it still warms my heart. idk if anyone else is in on this or if im simply a genius. who sees two morally gray rat-obsessed Green Bitches and is like is anyone going to make them kiss. and not wait for an answer. one of my hcs about them was that hartley names his rats after his favorite composers and dramatic/literary figures and otis names them whatever the fuck he wants

i think he should also have a rapport with killer croc. sewer-dwelling solidarity. i dont think he would get along Great with a lot of the big-name rogues, but i can see him vibing with maybe like.. scarecrow and harley? i think harley is chill enough that they could get along really well, and jon is tolerable enough out of costume, plus the Fear thing appeals to him. he sits at their table at arkham during lunch hour

and yea i dont know : ) i gave him heterochromia for fun. i think hes kind of short. i dont think he would use it/its pronouns for himself but i think he would readily Accept them. i dont think he thinks about that stuff. i think he's well-read and Sharp, he just comes off as kind of awkward and disorganized. skittish and ratlike in his mannerisms, but still very emotional and passionate.

thank you so very much for your ask ♥️♥️♥️ hope this works as an answer! so sorry about the delay i wanted to make it a Good post

[kiyomitakada]

Mello for the character ask?

oh silly mello where would we be without your silliness

favorite thing about them: god i don't reread the mello parts of arc 2 enough to pick. uhhhh. i like that he's legitimately brilliant and that he figured out kira can kill without heart attacks on his own just by studying the death rates in the months before higuchi was caught. he's a wildcard but he's also a strategic genius. i also like that he is insufferably extra WHY does he have a christian cross on his GUN

least favorite thing about them: called misa stupid. fuck off

favorite line: "i don't underestimate revenge as a motive." that OR "then i guess i'm going to have to do it"

brOTP: the actual answer is halle and mello but i've talked about them so i am going to say him and matt <3 i am constantly undecided on whether this is platonic or romantic to me but i love that mello is like "okay im going to japan now. follow me" and matt is like "what the hell, sure." what is wrong with them. matt do you not have anything better to do. also matt trying to get mello to take over his job monitoring misa is so funny to me it's such a weird injection of frat bro culture into death note of all media

OTP: meronia forever. love story of all time in, again, death note of all media. truly fucking insane how it's basically confirmed that mello didn't plan the kidnapping to beat near but to save him. mello is the only character! in the entire series! to actually experience positive development! puts aside his inferiority complex because there is no race without near, because near needs him, because he needs near, because they are two halves of one whole and mello has always known something is missing in him and only figures out who it is five years later. what the fuck man. extremely sad that this realization is exactly what gets him killed

nOTP: i have not yet figured out the appeal of mello/light although i am sure i could be convinced. mello deserves the older yagami

random headcanon: i talked about this a little while pondering fem!mello but i like the idea that he got a lot of passive aggression for his haircut in wammy's which made him absolutely determined to keep said haircut forever even when he starts not liking it anymore. and after the explosion he's like [lying face down on concrete, waves of pain racking his twink frame] i……… have an excuse to change my hair now……………

also the blue lipstick is because he heard from somewhere that blue was L's favorite color

unpopular opinion: i don't think of him as catholic :pensive: it's possible that he used to be and is lapsed? or left the faith? but i usually see his extremely aggressive use of catholic stuff as decoration as more of a fuck you to the idea of god than anything. the one thing that contradicts this is the rosary (mihael whyyy do you wear the rosary around your neck in plain view whyyyyy) but i wonder if it's more of a, like… comfort object than anything? if that makes sense?? i don't knowww i don't really see mello as someone riddled with the catholic guilt that most catholic-mello interpretations give him. however i am not a mello understander so perhaps i should read more meta to figure out his Deal first

on a higher thematic level i like this interpretation of the christian imagery for both misa and mello as symbolism of them worshipping a false god (light and L respectively)

and OH WAIT I REMEMBERED MY ACTUAL UNPOPULAR OPINION: i pronounce his real name mee-hyle kale. the way soichiro (english dub) does it. sorry.

song i associate with them: i found this song just last week (i'm late i know) but oh my god

I'm gonna get myself in fighting trim Scope out every angle of unfair advantage I'm gonna bribe the officals, I'm gonna kill all the judges It's gonna take you people years to recover from all of the damage Our mother has been absent Ever since we founded Rome But there's gonna be a party when the wolf comes home, oh

god it's just so. it just sounds like him. it's gonna take you people years to recover from all of the damage!

favorite picture of them:

im obsessed with the shading on this. it doesn't make any goddamn sense. how did livor mortis set in that fast???? he's drawn with pale skin everywhere else in the manga! he should be turning paler in the first few minutes after death! i know they probably did this to be dramatic but what is going on here!

(also i have feelings about mello dying with eyes open and L dying with eyes closed. nothing coherent but. gestures)

[kaidlo]

HEY YOU! Yeah, you! Get over here.

Happy birthday and uh Happy New Year. *throws some Fallout Louisiana lore at you*

Do I have multiple projects and assignments to do? Yes. Am I going to make up lore for an entire region in the Fallout universe for fun? Also yes. (I am on the Autism spectrum.)

I’m gonna dub this pet project “Fallout 5” and refer to it for ease of reference, but if I made this into a real game, I’d call it Fallout 5: Old Orleans so it could be somewhat of a spiritual successor to Fallout: New Vegas 😋

Anyways, the map unsurprisingly spans across New Orleans up to northern Louisiana, the border ending by Shreveport. However the map would also include a small part of Mississippi and Alabama, specifically to Gulfport and Mobile (by request of my friend whose family is from Mobile). It would look something like this:

The entire region has two different names: “The Parish” as it is officially known, and “the Bayou Wasteland” as it is more commonly called among locals. You will hear pre-war Ghouls complain about it being called “The Parish” since Louisiana uses parishes instead of counties. It’s called the Parish post-war because it sounds cool.

Additionally, most of the settlements were borne out of pre-war cities and towns, most of which were not bombed directly. New Orleans was the only city in the state to be bombed, and was not as heavily targeted as Los Angeles, New York, or D.C.

The entirety of New Orleans is now nicknamed “Old Orleans” because that’s exactly what it is: old! Imagine being a post-war scavver traveling to the city and seeing buildings from the 1800s that are still standing. Though I imagine there’s a few pre-war French Ghouls who hate the name.

The city itself has been split into two sections: Eden, which was built out of pre-war Uptown, and made from Vault 42’s G.E.C.K. It has sprawling forests and meadows not characteristic of the region. The second section is called Vient Vieux which literally translates to “comes old” 😭 but is derived from uahh something I forgot to write notes about (I will add to this section later)

Fun times! Let’s move on to CHARACTERS! Yippee!

I’ve come up with several options for companions, including:

Anthony, an ex-Legionary with daddy issues from Caesar and Lanius

Eddie, a pre-war Ghoul and former Bluegrass singer with an inferiority complex because of his scratchy ghoul voice

Ben Gadot, a seemingly unassuming caravan guard from the Commonwealth with a slight Bostonian accent and an annoyingly high Charisma/speech stat

Patience Goodwin, an excommunicated Vault 42 dweller who insists they’re a cult

Marnie Juneau, a “clairvoyant” who makes money by telling people their fortunes in Vient Vieux

Hazel Mendoza, a young BoS scribe rescued from The Pitt who has an irrational fear of all Ghouls and Super Mutants

Claude Fontenot, another pre-war Ghoul who’s stayed in his Bayou-front home for the past 200 years and seems like a stereotypical Cajun guy, except he’s actually a genius and was accepted into four Ivy Leagues in his day (and turned them all down)

Anita, a Super Mutant hired gun who was transformed all the way back in California, although she really just wants to feel pretty again.

Domino, a Great Pyrenees who you can rescue from a flood and is also especially aggressive towards raiders

I have several ideas for NPCs as well, more specifically,

Antoinette Rose, a pre-war Ghoul woman and former environmental lawyer who is now the de facto leader of Vient Vieux and the Bayou wastelanders

Dominic Dolton, the overseer of Vault 42 who is from their Evangelical Christian family (more on that later)

Elder Adrian Vargas, the same Paladin Vargas from Fallout 3 now promoted to elder of the BoS’ Parish chapter

Cliff Strickland, yet another pre-war Ghoul turned radio host after quitting his raider lifestyle

Jamila Adler, singer who was adopted by Cliff as a kid, and leads The Big Easy Brass

Ahh! Quick subject change again! Here’s the lore in bulleted form because I’m tired and lazy:

Vault 42 actually consists of several different families, all selected by Vault Tec before the war for their dedication to their respective faiths

Although they ended up putting mostly Christian denominations in the vault so of course that won out

Patience is actually descended from the Baptist family that was put in there. She’s still very religious but disagrees with the vault’s mission.

Speaking of which, Vault 42 is a designated control vault, and their supposed goal is to resettle the Wasteland and preach faith back to the lost little wastelanders to save them.

Vault Tec’s scientists actually anticipated all the families to kill each other or something lol but they made it to the 200 year mark and finally got to leave

As you might expect, the local wastelanders aren’t too happy about Vault 42’s “salvation” mission, especially because they opened their G.E.C.K. and cut off a big part of the city

The BoS and Enclave don’t have as much sway here. In fact, the Enclave is basically nonexistent, while the BoS is a lot more passive thanks to Elder Vargas and the small team that Elder Maxson deployed to the region.

Despite people’s general distaste for Vault 42 dwellers’ religions, many people within The Parish are very spiritual, to the point where Traiteurs (faith healers) are considered essential to have in a settlement

Basically Cajun, Creole, and Abrahamic faiths collided with fear and desperation after the bombs dropped, leading the beliefs to change to something almost unrecognizable to a pre-war person

The Parish also has a lot of its own mutated creatures much like post-war Appalachia. For example, there are these very hairy feral Ghoul-like creatures, dubbed rougarous by early bomb survivors. And there are giant scary mutated alligators called “snoligators” (derived from the urban legend about the snaligaster)

I don’t know I have a lot of thoughts. And will keep coming up with more maybe. Let me know guys (I’m procrastinating,)

[nileqt87]

Jamie McCrimmon in Tales of the TARDIS

The most special thing that's come out of Doctor Who in years. But the most important return for me will always be Frazer Hines as Jamie McCrimmon. I want him back in a full episode. His story is so rich for a return that could only involve the Doctor (and/or the TARDIS), as well as not only having clear parallels to Donna Noble's mind wipe, but also being the Classic companion who most meant it that he'd never have left the Doctor willingly and would've followed him until the end.

For the record, this Jamie was the inspiration for Jamie Fraser (note the actor's first name being Frazer) in Outlander, as The War Games (my favorite Classic serial) was what Diana Gabaldon was watching when she came up with her idea, which is arguably Doctor Who fanfiction that 'ships time-traveling highlander Jamie McCrimmon with that serial's WWI nurse, Lady Jennifer. Frazer Hines is well aware of being the inspiration and even cameo'd.

Jamie was not only the longest-serving companion in Doctor Who history (yes, even more episodes than the Brigadier, though Sarah Jane beats him with her spinoff) with his 116 episodes (1966-1969, 1983 and 1985) and this short (2023), but he's also one of the greatest examples of the Doctor's closest and most-beloved companions not necessarily being chosen for being the most "equal" (the idea that companions from humble or easily-belittled beginnings like Jamie, Jo, Leela, Rose, Donna, etc…, who all struggled with insecurity over their worth due to their backgrounds, are his intellectual inferiors and thus not as worthy or appropriate as non-human companions like Romana or River, or even human genius Zoe here, for the Doctor to love--which is an insult to the Doctor and what he fell in love with humanity for), but for being the most human, genuine, loyal and loving as well as brave. This is one thing that Russell T Davies understood so well and Steven Moffat didn't quite get.

Jamie was hardly afraid to call the Doctor out when he disagreed or thought the Doctor had callously gone too far, by the way. Just watch/listen to The Evil of the Daleks for that, which is where the Doctor manipulates Jamie's very humanity to get him to rescue Victoria from the Daleks along with him being the source of the "human factor" used to create human-Dalek hybrids. Jamie's desperate, heartbroken, unrequited reaction (sadly, reduced to just audio, which captures the sound of a kiss) to Victoria's departure likewise puts to bed the idea that sentimental emotionalism and the Doctor dealing with companion reactions at their most human began in the Russell T Davies era.

Jamie certainly was more of a skirt chaser, albeit quite innocent, than you'd assume would be depicted in Classic Who! As much as Ian and Barbara, and then Ben and Polly, were depicted as couples in the TARDIS, they never got such an explicit declaration of feelings as Jamie's in Fury from the Deep.

Jo is the Classic companion who arguably admitted to having feelings for the Doctor himself, describing Cliff Jones as a younger version of the Doctor for why she's choosing him. These shorts allude to this moment as well, though frame it in retrospect as Jo having chosen Cliff over the Doctor, despite her arguably having more of a basis for feelings towards the Doctor than Sarah Jane in School Reunion and her inability to move on (highlighted beautifully when she walked down the aisle alone after her wedding day betrayal, only to be comforted by the Doctor, not to mention her adopting all the children she never had), which made her a mirror to Rose's future. Jo is thus a mirror to Sarah Jane as the companion arguably in love with the Doctor in a not-so-platonic way who moved on and found real love vs. one who didn't move on until it was too late, and who was likewise a mirror to Rose, who is famous for being the companion most explicitly in love with the Doctor to the extent that her moving on involved ending up with the Doctor's Metacrisis (but ultimately choosing him, their daughter Mia and a human life over the Eighth and Eleventh Doctors in Empire of the Wolf).

The Second Doctor's favoritism of Jamie extended so far as to go back for him (quite rare for the Doctor) when he was forced to work for the Time Lord Celestial Intervention Agency (season 6b, which isn't so much a theory anymore) and the reaction towards Jamie was probably the most cuddly and warm the Sixth Doctor (to the extent that the turbulent relationship with Peri got a little better for that one serial because of Jamie's presence) sadly ever got on screen before Big Finish salvaged the era. Jamie always brings out of the best in the Doctor and what the Doctor loves humanity the most for.

That Frazer Hines was so genuinely close to Patrick Troughton in real life (they were quite the mischievous pair, often sneaking gags in past the censors in addition to their pranks!) comes across so beautifully in every voice impression of his old friend and through his portrayal of Jamie whose love for and wish to have never left the Doctor is unquestionable.

Obviously, there was that fear of what he had left to return to, but also his belief that he needed to be there to protect the Doctor, which he always took it upon himself to do. Jamie would no doubt get along very well with the Brigadier (whose first story was with Jamie), Leela and Ace in their willingness towards protective violence, not to mention Ian and Rory often facing having to fill that role a little more reluctantly. And most of all, one of the deepest, most-loving friendships among Doctor and companion. Yes, there is exactly one iteration of the Doctor whose closest, most-favorite companion (that tendency towards favoritism was already there) was unambiguously not any of the female ones and was an even firmer break from the Doctor's old model of replacing his granddaughter with a relationship that felt far more like friends/partners in crime with a hint of fatherliness or mad uncle. And of course, this twin mop-topped Odd Couple fit in nowhere. Jamie was as out-of-place and "alien" as the Doctor wherever the TARDIS landed.

And given where he was sent back to by the Time Lords, his future without his memories looked pretty dire. His immediate return involved being being shot at, hanged, put on a slave ship by the Redcoats or fleeing to France--which was the context of his situation when the Doctor saved his life and he walked into the TARDIS when he was a piper from the Battle of Culloden in 1746 who could neither swim or read, and who was as likely to call an airplane a "flying beastie" as calling a Cyberman "the Phantom Piper", and then was returned to that sans all memories but for his first adventure before entering the TARDIS.

Obviously, Russell T Davies has given Jamie quite a happier ending than his tragic comic fate in The World Shapers in which old Jamie has finally gotten his memories back, but his family (he married Kirsty McLaren, daughter of the laird whom he was a humble, orphaned piper for, from The Highlanders) has abandoned him over it and he rapidly ages to death in sacrifice. The Tenth Doctor also had a comic companion named Heather McCrimmon (descended from those five daughters, but still retains the surname!) who still carried her ancestor's Artron radiation energy from the TARDIS. I would love to see Jamie meet Heather, who would be awesome to see realized on screen.

[playertwotails]

Per the poll I put out I'm gonna ramble about how Tails displays his genius vs how Eggman does.

It's long so under the cut it goes

We'll start with Eggman. Now Eggman clearly has a complex. He's talked about being compared to Maria his whole life which has made him want a lot of attention. Which a valid feeling but then Eggman being Eggman takes it to the ^nth degree.

See he has to make sure EVERYONE knows how smart he is. He plasters his face over everything he makes, names everything after himself to some degree, and is loud bragging all the time about his latest greatest creation and everyone being inferior to him and his genius.

He's gonna make sure that people recognize him and what he's done no matter what.

With this mindset, all of his creations are only for the benefit of he, himself and no one else. Every invention he creates falls under 3 categories.

Expanding the Eggman Empire

Kill Sonic

Or both

Even when he has "allies" he very rarely gives them any of his inventions unless they directly benefit himself (hello start of the Zombot arc). His selfishness and self importance has him only making things that fuel his own desires and wants.

On the flip side of this though we have Tails.

Now Tails also has houses that look like him and has his own logo (and I'll get into that a little later). But in contrast to Eggman Tails doesn't brag much about his creations. He'll be proud of them and talk about them but never in a condescending manner.

(Side note: off the top of my head I think the only times we may have seen a slightly more condescending tone is a few times when he's talking to Sonic but it always came off as more of a "little sibling being a little shit" kinda tone)

Tails showing his friends his inventions is never in a "Look how much better than you I am cause I made this" kinda way. It's always felt more like a kid showing people their macaroni art cause they're proud they were able to make it. (which he is 8 so def fits lol)

And half the time his inventions are for the benefit of not only himself but all their friends, allies and just other people in general. He makes things to share and help improve what people already have to make their lives easier/safer. I mean look what he did to Sonic's plane. and their communication devices.

Now onto my next point: Quality over Quantity

So switching back to Eggman, he gets so focused on making these massive armies and sprawling cities/bases with his face plastered and designed into everywhere he's not gonna be able to do that by himself. So most of his creations are made in production lines not by his own hands.

Most of the time when we see Eggman he's not making something he's at a control panel directing things to be made. He's very hands off with the majority of his own creations with the exception of his more one of a kind creations like Metal Sonic.

Meanwhile we see Tails is always fiddling with things, taking them apart, and improving them, sometimes it's Eggman's own creations Tails messes with. Tails is typically shown to be very hands on. And yeah his house and inventions have his logo or face on them but their all one of a kind, hand crafted creations not massive bases that go on for miles (lol). So it feels more like a signature than an announcement like Eggman's does.

Now bringing this all together it comes down to the one person Tails is boastful to and constantly saying their not as smart as him --- Eggman.

Now, Eggman on multiple occasions has recognized how smart Tails is but we rarely if ever (off the top of my head) see Tails saying the same about Eggman.

Most of the time Tails is roasting him about shoddy craftsmanship and how Eggman's plans are dumb. One thing I've noticed too is we always see Tails hacking and messing with Eggmans tech but we've never really seen the reverse as far as I can recall.

Heck we've seen multiple time Tails taking apart Eggman's machines and talking about how weird and unorganized all his bots insides. We've seen Tails casually hack into Eggman's networks in the middle of fights.

Which brings us back to the quality over quantity thing. Because Eggman's armies and bases are mass produced mostly at this point so the craftsmanship quality goes down. Eggman is a genius for sure but even if his designs are great since he's not behind every robot creating them, his own genius suffers. He's too busy trying to make it big and loud that what's actually produced it of a lesser quality.

And then we have Tails who is one on one with all his creations and that makes them harder for Eggman to destroy cause Tails can personally check everything is up to snuff for all his inventions. (meanwhile too Tails rips Eggman's robots apart for extra screws probably)

I just think that it's very funny that while Eggman goes to great lengths to show the whole world he's smarter than everyone else, Tails just needs Eggman to know he's smarter then him.

[galacsin]

Hi! I've just read through some of your Riddler character analysis posts and you saying "My Boy Edward got sterilized, after Zero Year ,and he is not allowed to be silly in the name of making him a "serious threat"." on one of them made me wonder what's your opinion on Zero Year and if you have any thoughts on why he got sterilized after it?

I've recently skimmed over it again and while Zero Year makes some notable changes to the character that end up being reiterated on in other modern releases, like making him a successful college educated genius business strategist instead of an odd working class guy with a mediocre high school degree, it still writes him as 'silly' in some way imo, or at least as eccentric and playful, which is a trait that seems to have mostly vanished from subsequent versions of the character, namely ones like TWoJaR, so the sterilization of his personality seems to conflict even with this variant's established character?

(Though I do have to say, even though Zero Year Riddler is still more "weird" and playful compared to later versions, there is something missing about him, for me. Maybe that he doesn't really come across as as emotionally unstable as older versions, as well as him somewhat lacking the usual anxiety and inferiority issues? His arrogance and superiority complex are written to be caused by his academic and economic success and otherwise repeated proof of his intellectual brilliance going unappreciated, instead of being a coping mechanism for dealing with a lifetime of failure and degradation. It seems he simply doesn't really have that internalised voice telling him he is a failure and an idiot the way older versions do, at least not to the same extent.)

Anyways sorry for the long essay but your character analyses are very succinct and interesting to read, so I had to ask

Thanks, Anon. I spent way too much time thinking about Eddie last year, so I’m glad my jumbled rambling comes across as succinct. I have been mulling over this ask for an hour now, I hope what I am going to write will make sense.

What I mean by him getting "sterilized" is this: his aim is often to grab power or commit crimes with a high body count. This isn’t just a result of his general indifference toward human life—it’s baked into his goals.

He often just wears a plain green suit, with little to no question marks, and he rarely has themed goons around him.

He’s treated as a "serious villain," which means he’s not allowed to simply commit larceny or try to annoy Batman to make himself look smart. Instead, he’s usually portrayed as cold and calculating, rather than being driven by his inferiority-superiority complex, insecurities, and other big emotions he’s unable or unwilling to confront. A person can be highly intelligent and still be ruled by these traits, but for some writers, geniuses are inherently cold, logical, and calculating.

The short answer is: Edward is the quintessential "just some guy" character with a gimmick that’s hard to write. This means that the traits selected for him will depend on the era he’s written in (reflecting the general direction of the comics at that time), whether the writer likes Eddie, and the role he plays in the story being told.

If you leaf through most of his appearances, you’ll see that he often has nothing to do with what’s going on in the story—he’s just slapped into the background or thrown at the bottom of a pile of beaten and bloody villains.

I completely agree with your assessment of Zero Year. Additionally, we didn’t get to see writers explore where this new version of Eddie could develop as a character, because the next substantial mainstream Riddler story we got was TWOJAR. Tom King essentially tossed everything in the bin and reinvented Edward as the foil to Bruce Wayne. He really doesn’t seem to know what to do with the riddle gimmick. He just has Edward tell riddles on the page and then murder a child with a poisoned rope. The Riddlers bellow are all supposed to be the same guy within the same general timeline. If you read these stories you know how different their characterizations are from one another.

In Their Dark Designs, Edward leans heavily on the high-tech hacker angle, and he’s clearly an homage to Batman Forever. Meanwhile, Year of the Villain Ed has all the old school elements and that stupid chest scar. We see him as a carnie, winning a puzzle contest that shapes him as a person he has neglectful parents, and hangs out with King Tut. (I love it when writers reference that one Batman Confidential story. I know I am going to eat well when this happens)

Parallel to these, we also have the "Dealer's Choice" version, usually written by authors who don’t dislike him or are fond of some of his earlier iterations. These versions are more likely to be obsessed with clever plans and larceny rather than murdering a bunch of people. They’re also more likely to include his self-destructive tendencies. I personally prefer it when he’s his own undoing, or when something stupid and tragic happens to him—like in Joker Presents: The Puzzle Box. (It’s the Joker. He happens to him. He might as well have been cursed by the gods.)

Like Batman is not going to drink champagne on a rooftop with TWOJAR that is for certain.

The upside of this mess is that sometimes we get absolutely great Riddler stories and appearances. We’re not boxed into just one iteration of the character.

For example, I don’t have the time to go into detail about BTAA Riddler or Unburied Riddler here. Two stories with very different moods themes and Riddlers, both great in their own ways.

We’ve entered a “post-era” era, where every version of him exists parallel to each other and all at once.

[jungkoode]

hey kiki. it’s ya girl. i read c:e ch2 for ya. here’s my 100% professional analysis (sarcasm on the professional)

the way reader attacks namjoon and he flips it right back at her? impressive. pinning her against the wall? hot af. holding her face by the chin? please just kiss already what are you waiting for.

the nagging as they’re walking thru the city and her pushing his buttons is fantastic thank you it’s very “my words are my only weapon at the moment” coded and i love it. she’s like “i wanna hurt you and i found out how now im gonna exploit it” and honestly? she’s so girlboss for that. *cue c:e!namjoon asking what tf girlboss means*

side note here, i may need a guide to this world like you did with 25h bc i am dumb (not self deprecating, i am genuinely not good at following your extreme worldbuilding parkour but i soak up your stories anyways)

also the… racism? species-ism? idk the way that this works in this world… but it’s such a fascinating thing (omg i sound like c:e!joon rn) her skin changes colors?? i need to learn everything about the different species(?)(is this the right term?)

when namjoon starts talking about theoretical children of theirs, and she assumes he means by force: i am intrigued that even though he hates her guts and wants to hurt her, namjoon still shuts down her “im assuming the worst” mini-spiral. he’s not so cold-hearted after all awe

“what experiences shaped such expectations” i’ll tell you what ‘experiences’: kiki traumatizing her characters (lmao sorry not sorry)

the higher-ups talking in another language around reader is like when the grown-ups are talking and spelling things so the children cannot understand. i feel inferior and i do not like it.

who’s the j-7 escapee? i’m putting my bets on it being jungkook. but, yknow… half of bts has j names so you never truly know.

and then that’s the end of the chapter!!! a cliffhanger!! nooooooo!!!

this chapter was LONG and i stayed up way passed my imaginary bedtime to finish it. anything for you kiki <3

okay! that’s my professional chapter analysis. sorry it’s such a long ask, but i could go on for hours about your work.

nat, out!

p.s. i love that you call the goblins of kiki nation by name when you can. makes me feel loved. thanks mother <3

Nat, my beloved goblin scholar 👩‍🏫

First of all, NEVER apologize for a long ask—this was a gift. A delight. A whole dissertation wrapped in emotional carnage and I will absolutely be citing you in my next footnote (Chicago style). Let’s go.

Okay so—yes. YES. That moment. The children conversation. You clocked the nuance perfectly. He’s furious at her, sees her as an obstacle, a variable, a wildcard—but even in that state, the second she assumes coercion, he shuts it down. Not out of softness. Not because he suddenly respects her. But because in Namjoon’s mind, order must be preserved, and that means consent—even if he’s working within a consent model that’s wildly skewed by systemic bias. He isn’t kind. He’s convicted. And when that conviction aligns with basic decency? That’s when it gets interesting. That’s when the cracks in the programming show. And those cracks? That’s where the story lives.

“What experiences shaped such expectations” honestly made me a bit emotional to write. Because yes, he doesn’t know. He doesn’t know what it feels like to grow up on the underside of power. But we do. And she does. And she immediately fills in the blanks with the worst, because she’s been forced to expect the worst to survive. And he’s standing there, emotionally sterile, confused by the trauma spiral—because his system built it but insulated him from it. It’s not that he lacks empathy. It’s that the version of empathy he has is optimized. Sanitized. Algorithmic. He catalogs distress. He doesn’t sit in it. And that dissonance is so central to who he is, and what she threatens in him.

Also. THE ALTSPREK. The way you described it as adults spelling things out so kids don’t understand? Genius. It’s exactly that kind of weaponized exclusion, but with bureaucratic polish and institutional indifference. And the worst part is, it works. It’s meant to make her feel smaller. It’s meant to remind her she can’t access the things they already expect her to die for. And that kind of linguistic gatekeeping is SO deeply woven into real-world dynamics too—from class to academia to colonial violence—and it just felt so important to show how language is a tool of power. Not just the words themselves, but the right to understand.

As for J-7�� 👀. Listen. You’re not wrong about the J-name thing, I did it to myself. Could be Jungkook. Could be someone else. Could be a concept. Could be a ghost. Who knows. Not me. Definitely not me. (Okay yes me, but I’m not telling you.)

And the imaginary bedtime thing? Nat, the honor. The dedication. You’re giving Consortium asset levels of loyalty and I’m gonna have to assign you a proximity clearance. Come here. Let me put a little badge on your jumpsuit.

And Nat, thank you so much for the note about needing a guide—you are not dumb, first of all, you are navigating worldbuilding parkour that I made deliberately dense on purpose (love you). But also: I got you. If you check under each chapter on Tumblr, there are three little green links under ‘content’. Those lead to interactive maps I coded with my own two feral hands (HTML/CSS/JS girlie here)—they contain visuals, overlays, lore tabs, and labels for Valis Core, the Epitaph facilities, and Hollow Crest regions. It’s designed exactly for this reason—to help with immersion without needing to memorize lore. You’ll be able to click through rooms, locations, and even some restricted files. A little treat for the people who scroll with intention.

And YES — thank you for catching that subtle worldbuilding around speciesism / adaptation. So, technically they’re all the same species (science break: they can all reproduce with viable offspring, so no true speciation has occurred), but their bodies have diverged over generations in response to Veyrah’s collapse—radiation, ecological decay, environmental extremes. These adaptations are regional, not racial, but the differences are visible, which creates instinctive assumptions. And that’s the core of what you caught—Y/N assumes Valis Core would be racist or xenophobic, because from a rebel’s POV? Valis is rigid. Cold. Authoritarian. Intolerant.

But that’s the gag. That’s the dissonance. Because Valis Core isn’t hateful. It’s analytical. These people are not prideful nationalists—they’re scientists. Engineers. Geneticists. People who live for charts and phenotypic mapping. And in science? Hybridness is gold. It’s power. It’s resilience. It’s the answer to mutation bottlenecks, to adaptability, to survival. Of course Valis admires genetic variation. Of course they view interbreeding as not only acceptable but ideal. You have no idea how many research grants exist in Valis for studying hybrid neurodevelopmental profiles. It’s their version of hot gossip.

So when Namjoon corrects her—when he says they’re not staring out of fear but out of curiosity—he’s not placating her. He’s being literal. She’s standing there on edge, expecting disgust, expecting slurs and suspicion, and instead she gets wide-eyed fascination and a literal child going “oooh does your skin do stuff?” And that moment? That’s not just worldbuilding. That’s ideological collision. That’s a girl raised on suspicion and trauma being met with sterile fascination. And that’s what makes it so unsteady—because being studied isn’t the same as being accepted. It’s better than hatred, sure. But it still leaves you exposed. Under glass.

Valis doesn’t want to destroy difference. It wants to document it. Dissect it. Optimize it. That’s not less dangerous—it’s just dangerous in a different register.

Lastly: it genuinely means the world to me that the goblins of Kiki Nation feel seen when I use your names. That’s the whole point. This little corner of the internet is so precious to me and I want it to feel like a campfire (a slightly violent campfire, yes, but warm nonetheless). Of course I always check for bios or usernames for pronouns and names—if I can’t find one, I invent one based on your handle. That’s the law. EHHAHAHAHA.

Love you extra today!!! <3 (see, you went long, I went longERRRR hahahaha I’m sorry for the yapping! I get so excited about my own stories)

[katcadecascade]

If you believe the lies I tell

This is a preview chapter of my self-indulgent Snowjanus fic. Some of it has been edited to conceal some other stuff I have already wrote. For the entirety of the fic, I am still writing it and once it is completed is when I'll start posting to Ao3.

That will definitely take a while so I wanted to at least share this fun chapter as a new years special.

-

Coriolanus has to formulate a plan on what to stash away from the dining hall, anything to join the muffin intended for Tigris. He has to make backup plans after backup plans if Clemensia ever interferes. This is all he can think about during their class before lunch hour. 

Their calculus lesson had to take a pause for their professor to receive documents from the ink and printer room. Urban Canvill, top student of the subject, was asked to assist. 

“And there he goes, our calculus genius,” Gaius mourns like a nurse bidding a soldier farewell. 

Apollo taps a pencil on his textbook, “I swear there is a calculator in his head, it’s the only explanation.” 

“Or you’re bad at math,” Diana teased. 

“Hey, I scored higher than you last I checked.”

“Well, twins, you’re both beneath me,” Arachne butted in, believing she was always a part of the conversation.

“Okay, can we just all agree we hate math,” Domitia said.

“Minus Urban Canville,” Festus winked. “Get it? Minus?”

Only Persephone Price laughed. 

Gaius fake-yelled, “Boo! Get off the stage!”

“I’ll be here all week, folks!”

“Besides, I don’t think anyone is gonna out calculate Urban,” Florus said, tapping a pencil on Apollo’s head. 

Diana had to interfere before the boys started sword fighting with their stationary. 

“Really? That’s quite the statement.”

No one expected such a mocking tone from Sejanus. 

Coriolanus feels his eyes burning at the rich boy. He gives the attention no mind, soaking in the way their classmates stare curiously or irritatedly.  

“I’m surprised that none of you have tried hard enough to beat Urban’s score.”

“Excuse you,” Vipsania stands up and points at the mocker, “I am one of the top ranked students here.”

“That doesn’t sound like you’re actually the top student. We all know that’s Coriolanus.”

Eyes flicker to him and Coriolanus burns at the way Sejanus said his name. He’s using his name to further make their classmates inferior. 

It’s a brag, is his delayed thought. It’s equally a praise. 

Coriolanus still refuses to visibly acknowledge Sejanus, so he turns to Clemensia, “Do you have any idea what’s going on? It sounds like a mess.”

She tuts, as if she’s a disappointed mother, “They are a mess.” 

While that further infuriates most of their classmates, besides her, Lysistrata giggles at Clemensia. The girls exchange more laughter, like they’re sharing an inside joke. Coriolanus merely raises an eyebrow at her, surprised that Clemensia’s partaking in the biting comments. 

“They can still clean up their act.” 

Sejanus commands everyone’s attention back to him. 

It’s effortlessly done. 

Coriolanus wonders where Sejanus learned to say all the right words. To manipulate the crowd. It’s the opposite of what Coriolanus does. 

Coriolanus Snow charms the audience to keep everything in order. 

Sejanus Plinth riles up the audience for chaos.

“The upcoming calculus test.” He scans his audience, yet somehow skips over Coriolanus. Air is trapped in Coriolanus’ lungs. “Anyone who replaces Urban Canville’s number one spot gets a Plinth prize of my own.” That gets people to mutter about but once again, Sejanus shuts them up. “Not money, that’ll be real boring. I’m offering up a favor.” 

“What are you on about?” Arachne scoffed, “We don’t need anything from-“

“Shush!” Festus nearly throws his body on top of her desk, shoving a single finger against Arachne’s red lips. “Let the man bake!”

Persephone corrects, “Don’t you mean cook?”

“Yes!” 

His enthusiasm is uninterrupted when Felix strong-arms him off the desk. Festus straightens up and behind him, everyone ignores Arachne dramatically gagging into a napkin that Felix passed her. 

Festus explains, “He’s right, we don’t need his money but making Sejanus Plinth do whatever we want? Now that’s a real prize!”

Persephone winces, “You’re making it sound cruder than it would be, Festus.” 

He winks at her, “Only if you think that way.” 

Besides them, Arachne and Domitia shared appalled, mocking faces. 

“Actually, I'm with him on this. It would be interesting to see Sejanus hold his end of the bargain.” Felix Ravinstill approaches Sejanus Plinth, “Anything we ask?”

“Don't make him do anything illegal,” Persephone warns, proving that she really is the nicest girl in class. “That’ll be too far.”

“We’re not that chaotic, can’t let our families find out after all,” Their class president assures her with a smile, but to Sejanus it is anything but warm. “But, Sejanus, don’t think it’ll be anything simple.”

“I would hope not,” he smiles and reaches out a hand.

The most politically rich boy shakes hands with the richest outsider of all of the Capitol. 

A deal has been struck. 

“Sejanus, why are you doing this to Urban?” Gaius asked, so far the only one willing to defend Urban. 

“I’m not doing this to Urban, this is about all of you.” False gratitude has never sounded so much like a threat before. Sejanus has them all eating out of his palm. “Prove that you really are the best and brightest of the Capitol. Also why not have some fun with academic rivalry.”

“I hate calculus, but I admit I’m intrigued,” Apollo grins even though his twin elbows him roughly. 

“This is what finally gets you to take math seriously?”

“Hey, I’d love to win something. After all, it’s gonna be Coriolanus who wins the actual Plinth Prize.”

A few heads turn to the leading candidate for the scholarship money. 

He only has mere seconds to decide what mask he has to wear. Anything to maintain the image of the perfect Snow. 

“Do you really think that Apollo?” Coriolanus performs with a million dollar smile, “Well, one more test to ace isn’t a real problem for me.”

Now that raises everyone’s ego. The chance to take something away from the untouchable Coriolanus Snow. 

He sees in the way Arachne whispers to Felix. As Florus and Apollo immediately plan a study session that Diana of course invites herself in. Coriolanus despises them a little bit more. They just had to prove his thoughts right. 

Everyone in this school feeds off of others’ failures. 

Urban Canville, the challenge, no - the obstacle, arrives and the tension in the room shifts. 

“Why’s everyone staring at me?” 

“We’re just talking about calculus, buddy,” Festus is instantly at his side, very touchy-feely, roping an arm around Urban’s neck, “and how you’re so good at it.” 

Behind Urban’s back, Festus glares at everyone to not snitch. It's mostly aimed at Gaius who does concede. Class resumes without a hitch. 

Coriolanus has to wait until everyone leaves before confronting the most annoying person in his life. Clemensia needed to be placated with a promise of not taking too long, that he’ll catch up later. 

When it’s just them, there’s no more performances. 

“What the hell was all of that?”

Sejanus squirms in his chair, finally acting like his usual, uncomfortable self. 

Seeing this just makes Coriolanus angrier. 

If this guy can behave two-faced so easily, manipulate their classmates, how is Coriolanus’ own mask believable?

He has the urge to pace around, think of better ways to lie, to analyze how exactly their classmates were suckered in by Sejanus. As suspicious as his actions were, they only focused on their own world. 

Pride on the verge of narcissism. 

It was too well played out but it was enough to pique their interest. Coriolanus would be impressed if not for his irritation over Sejanus. Specifically about how he knows Sejanus better than anyone else. 

And right now, Sejanus knows him better than anyone Coriolanus has allowed. 

He stays rooted in front of Sejanus, needing to figure out what’s exactly in his head. 

Sejanus bites his lip, for once considering his words. If only he was always like this. 

“Sejanus,” the name is harsh on his tongue, “tell me, now.”

The command should make him feel powerful, from just the way the he looks up at Coriolanus. But those brown eyes full of pity sends poison down his veins. 

It almost makes Coriolanus squirm, targeted under the weight of Sejanus’ undivided attention. 

“It was the only way I could think of to-”

“To give me food?” His pride takes over, already regretting this conversation. “You’re telling me that you proposed some idiotic bet for all your enemies on the chance that I would accept your generosity?”

He expects Sejanus to lie to him. Or say something absurd like he’s doing this out of the kindness of his heart. How Sejanus’ sense of judgment and righteousness demands to treat Coriolanus like this. 

That’s a terrifying relationship. Coriolanus refuses to be an object that sits pretty for every compliment, to receive a feast for doing absolutely nothing. 

“Yes, I did.” Something just clicks behind those brown eyes and Sejanus’ expression hardens. “You said it yourself, you’re not spoiled. Coriolanus, you’re hard working and twice as stubborn than everyone else.” He stands up, preparing to leave with his bag slung over his shoulder. “You don’t have to win this competition though, that’s up to you.”

He sees it and he hates it. 

Sejanus is trying to rile him up, trap him into admitting that he has something that Coriolanus Snow needs. 

As if. 

“I don’t want handouts.”

“This isn’t a handout. This is a choice.”

He is right. Coriolanus could choose to not partake in zealous efforts of reaching the top. 

But it is not in his nature to lie down and let his competitors gain what he deserves. 

Coriolanus deflects, “So you made a spectacle? That doesn’t sound like you, Sejanus.”

“I’m just speaking your language.” At Coriolanus’ scoff, a reflex to mask his confusion, Sejanus steps closer. He lays a hand on Coriolanus’ arm. “I know you can beat everyone in this class. Do what you do best, Coriolanus Snow. Be at the top.”

An exhilarating thrill buzzes throughout Coriolanus Snow. 

He does not need Sejanus Plinth’s permission. 

It’s natural for the sun to shine brighter than the stars.

For the ocean to knock down sandcastles. 

For snow to land on top. 

The real Plinth Prize waits at graduation day.

But today?

His classmates saw a chance, no matter how small, to best him. It’s maddening to have a target on his back but at the same time, Coriolanus welcomes them to try. Eager to see them all fall. Graduation and university is too far away. After seeing their glimmer of hope, he craves their defeat now. 

This is more than a predator nature or survival instincts born from starvation. This is what Coriolanus truly greeds for. To actually feel like the top of a mountain peak. 

Anyone else would tear at him with teeth and claws, exposing this bloody animal he locks under a perfect mask. Yet with Sejanus it’s a scalpel, a clean cut. 

In an impossible way, Coriolanus feels seen. Layers of flesh exposed and undone, revealing a hungry creature, a void that will devour. 

Beyond status or wealth, Corionlaus Snow can and will dominate any who opposes him. 

It’s a taste of something better than any food served on a silver platter. 

All provided by one Sejanus Plinth. 

He gives Sejanus one last glare before storming out of the room. 

-

Thanks for reading!

[ask--eggman]

Doctor, you remember how one of the other employees asked if you knew someone named Giovanni, correct? Well, Giovanni is the leader of a crime syndicate named Team Rocket, which is in another universe. A universe where there are animals that look human, plants that look and have animal-like body parts, and animals with plant parts exist, with magical powers. Oh, and there are mostly normal animals there too.

Hmm, interesting. Those animals still don't sound any more impressive than my genius creations that are superior to all nature on this world too! Still, perhaps there could be some potential value in them serving as energy or tools for my creations just as the inferior ones here do too. I'll have to look into it. Perhaps in the process I'll learn some more about this "Giovanni" character you speak of.

[faggotryandtransjesterism]

VegasPete Fic Rec Masterlist (Pt. 1)

favorites are marked with a (*)

Lost Pet by @clandestinegardenias | 12k | E

Vegas has very few things he truly allows himself to care for, in this life. Going through the routine of feeding his hedgehog, only to find that a second pet has left him in as many weeks, might finally be the thing that pulls him under.

i can't really point to why i like this one so much, but it was my first vp fic and i always come back to it.

spend the rest of your life (what could have been) by toomoon | 15k | M

“I have an idea,” Pete says slowly, and Pol looks up at him. “But you’re not going to like it.” “I’ll take anything at this point,” Pol tells him. “Tell me.” Pete tells him. Pol doesn’t like it.

Pete and Pol get put in charge of a surveillance operation on a potential business rival. The only way to avoid rousing suspicion is to take over a small family restaurant. Vegas is the only person in the Theerapanyakul mansion that can cook. It's all going smoothly until the restaurant actually becomes a success.

vegaspete running a restaurant, what can i say? i love the vibes and the premise of this fic so much. also features trans!Pete, which was a nice surprise.

Sustenance by @givemeunicorns | 14k | M *

His grandmother told him when he was very young that there was no love in the world so filling as a place at the table. That there was no greater kindness, no greater expression of devotion, than to feed another, no better way to make them whole.

As the smoke begins to clear, Pete waits and wonders.

i adore this fic with every bone in my body!! food as a love language my beloved. i remember feeling like i'd been punched in the gut when i first watched ep. 14 and pete said because I'm hungry, and this fic really taps into that reaction, and builds on it with some beautiful character study for both pete and vegas.

fuck it all back down by @syzyg3tic | 4k | E *

Everything about sex is performative. There is no such thing as fucking without an agenda, at least in Vegas’s experience. He wouldn’t have survived to adulthood if he was precious about shit like that.

Vegas and some of the men he sleeps with in his desperate, rage-filled attempts to be loved or hated--either will work.

unparalleled, genius, the Vegas fic. great character study and really influenced the way i perceive him. also sparked my obsession with big and also with vegasporsche friendship. (obligatory CW for vegas' psychosexual obsession with his cousin. Freak <3)

hoping at the gates they'll tell me that you're mine by puckbaes | 34k | E

Missing scenes between Vegas being gunned down and waking up again.

Pete takes care of an injured Vegas, what's left of the minor family's business and Macau. He's reminded that while he resigned from his job, the family that loves him are not going to abandon him.

Bamf!Pete, found families, and glimpses of life after Vegas wakes up.

nice little fluffy domestic vegaspete fic :) i don't read much fluff for this pairing for obvious reasons, but this one's cute.

Five-Star Southpaw by Anonymous | 106k | E *

When Vegas is handed the keys to a failing major family hotel and told to bring it back to life, he knows it’s not a gift, or a test, or even an opportunity to prove himself. It’s a taunt. It’s a way to set him up for failure so everyone can rub his nose in the shitshow he’s left with, defeated and inferior to his cousins like always. It’s the death sentence of his pride in a gilded cage.

But misery loves company and all that, and he finds a surprisingly fitting cellmate in an unassuming looking employee named Pete. Now if only he could get Pete to stop playing hard to get, this cage could become a lot more comfortable.

Obviously. We all know. this is The VegasPete Fic, it's glorious, it's perfect. i think about it at least once a day.

stay with me a minute (swear i'll make it worth it) by incendir | 2k | M

Pete hadn’t anticipated how much breathing would hurt.

[Or, an unseen moment in 1x13]

incendir is an author i read consistently, all of their oneshots are great, so definitely check out their page after you finish this one!

while I do my thing in the background by TheDameJudiWench | 1k | G

"I have a gift for you. This is Pete."

tankhun-centric vegaspete fic my beloved...

First Impressions to Love Expressions (Chapter 12) by @iffervescent | 6k | E *

this is part of a series of stand-alone kpts fics, but i think this is the only vp one. anyway, it's immaculate. the little delve into pete's backstory, his connection to vegas and the family throughout his life are all amazing. great writing, great characterization, highly recommend.

like a trigger (get me ready to shoot) by @veliseraptor | 6k | M *

sadism: psychosexual disorder in which sexual urges are gratified by the infliction of pain on another person. (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

As far as Vegas can tell, there are normal people who want normal things, and then there's whatever he's got going on.

another marvelous Vegas character study, beautiful characterization. lise is another author i read regularly, so you'll see a lot of them on my lists.

That's it for part 1! I'm just going through my bookmarks in reverse order, so there's no real rhyme or reason to the ordering here. If anyone knows of any more of these authors that are on tumblr, pls feel free to tag them!

[mitigatedchaos]

[ @lokifreign ]

is it helpful to imagine that the Dem party s earnest about its philosophy & goals? how does that assumption fit with their policies and choices since Carter?

I never ended up reviewing much stuff 1980s-1990s, and mostly touched on 1970s as part of branching of my investigation into the effectiveness of charter schools - namely that 1970 is around the time we started to work on the matter seriously, so we've been trying at it for about 50 years.

But...

What I know, and what all of the Rationalists know, is that evolution is a property of all information systems that conform to certain rules.

There is no fundamental requirement that every possible way you slice humanity, it all has to be equal. There's only a statistical chance that they'll be close enough that it doesn't really matter on average. Which would be nice, in some sense, but it's a hope. It's not a law.

This is why most Rationalists are also Transhumanists; they want to raise humanity's material standard of living, but also they're liberals, so they don't want to hurt people to do so. If some people have bad spines, then we'll just make cool robot spines for them at a factory. There's no point waxing hysterical about how having a bad spine is oppression by society (it isn't), or flipping out and killing everyone that has a bad spine for being "inferior" (rather defeats the point).

Understanding evolution as a property of information systems, which does not require that everyone has a good spine, is available to anyone with about +1.5 SD without stating it, if education includes most of the basic background assumptions, if you catch my drift.

And the individualist meritocratic system hedges for this. It just measures the performance of each individual person's spine. It doesn't make assumptions about the underlying distribution of spines. And if you find great vitamins that fix people's spines, then it just accepts this benefit and moves on. Throw in some welfare to search for or distribute spine vitamins and you're mostly set.

Okay, now to get to the point.

Because this information is available to them, the progressive left/post-lib ≥ +1.5 SDs either knowingly, willingly, and deliberately chose to defect and selfishly promote graft; decided to be cowards when their capabilities should have them as officers; or their opinions are so socially determined that they can't be said to have their own opinions, and should be subordinated.

The ≤ +0s buying into the ideology after years of saying to be nice to everyone is disturbing, but they don't have the same responsibility.

Using individualist meritocracy for this purpose, while soft-suppressing the Nazis through social pressure, plus money for development, is a powerful technique to manage the problem at the current level of technology. We manage to promote individual behavioral justice until the problem can be solved, set the system up to function correctly if the problem solves itself, while quietly attempting to solve the problem, without making information accessible that more cognitively vulnerable populations might attempt to weaponize to undermine the project - the dangerous stuff is only to be discussed in obscure scientific journals you need +1 SD to even read.

This combination is genius. For a liberal, it's tough to do much better than this at current levels of technology, including social technology.

And the progressive left/post-lib +1.5s broke that within 10 years, in order to gain... no improvements on any worthwhile metric.

This gets into why I'm so furious with them. Now they might even break the medical establishment, science, and even all of the power plants outside of East Asia, pushing back the possibility of building a factory for cool robot spines by decades or maybe even centuries.

[kenonade]

stella maris reading log #1

its about damn time i start noting down how i feel when i read what i read. hell yeah. hopefully this makes me a better writer.

spoilers not really about the plot (bc honestly is there even a plot in the sense of a plot) but more about the language below the cut woooooo

tldr: book cool. writing insane. wtf. wtf. wtf. head ouchie. 越级打怪的后果就是头晕脑转 (dizziness is the consequence of attempting to read beyond my level). ooga booga man talk abt english

reading stella maris is so interesting because im just sitting here wondering like. how the FUCK did mccarthy accumulate all this knowledge about a variety of very distinct fields. my brain hurts. this is so much information. im learning nothing and learning everything at the same time. how the man managed to learn all this stuff and how he managed to put it together like this puzzle me equally intensely. its one thing to acquire knowledge. its a whole other thing to convey it in language so dense with information but also character. like, not to be that guy, but when osc does his infodumps i think to myself okay old man lets get you to bed. every time alicia opens her mouth i confront my intellectual inferiority and contemplate the meaning of life because it is alicia talking.

not to mention what the FUCK alicia. if only you’d have KNOWN. EUGH. WHAT. WHAT. WHAT.

my head hurts. the reason why im writing instead of reading is because ive already reached my reading breaking point where my eyes glaze over and the words go in one and out the other. its only been two hours. difficult language i can handle fine, verbosity is fine, i inhaled the ender stuff and only took breaks when osc pissed me off, but stella maris is information overload in a way that i’ve never experienced before. im like, texting three separate people all the time. oh i should vet this w my math guy. i need to show this to my psych classmate. this has to go to my orthopedics bestie.

i started this book saw the page number and went oh sure. its half the length of the passenger. the style means that it’ll contain less words overall too. i should be able to finish this on a three hour hsr ride. WRONG. i CANT. it’s TOO DIFFICULT. im running into roadblocks very similar to what i felt when i read the passenger: dont know place/name/context/big word. except im finding stella maris to be even more difficult because unlike some nautical jargon or random place in the midwestern usa that i can just look up, i cant. i think its impossible to even begin to comprehend all this math.

that’s definitely part of the charm of stella maris. the format of audio transcripts creates a much more intimate connection between the characters and the reader. the target demographic of this novel, though niche, is definitely not as niche as to comprise only of genius mathematicians with a burning passion for music and a hatred of psychology. the reader might be a master in one of these fields, but alicia outsmarts them in it along with all others. viewed through this lens, the reader is the doctor. the reader is the one who converses with alicia, trying their best to piece together a mind that is so extraordinarily genius and extraordinarily tormented. it’s a position of emotional significance. the reader sits through these audio recordings because they want to understand alicia. and to understand alicia is to love her. (this is a certified when i truly understand my enemy i love him moment)

all of that sits in stark contrast to western’s narration in the passenger.

i wrote an entire paragraph but tumblr fucking ate it. im pissed. its ok. for love i’ll write it again.

western’s narration is detached. it’s impersonal. mccarthy’s clinical and direct use of language alienates the viewer and prevents the formation of any sincere rapport, allowing only mild sympathy for western’s continued suffering. the reader is merely an observer, piecing together the life of a strange, curious creature through inference and deduction. nor is the reader meant to empathize with him. he’s the one who chose to abandon alicia, the one reckless enough to chose race car driving over his degree, and therefore the one who shoulders alone the responsibility of alicia’s death—or so he thinks. in a sense, because western is comparatively lucid, the detached narration becomes almost a punishment for the guilt he’s assigned to himself. he’s not the one in the mental asylum, afterall.

its interesting to me how mccarthy presents this duo to the audience. i have many Thoughts on alicia’s sexuality and stuff but i should finish the book before i synthesize those thoughts. anyway. thanks for reading 👍

[shinagawa-division]

Verbal Justice (CodeX Ver.)

Bring The Beat!

[CodeX:]

CodeX!

[Sumire:]

Our intelligence is lethal (Lethal)

A combination of regal and evil (Evil)

[Miho:]

Don’t expect us to show any mercy (Mercy)

Bow down, baby, bow down (Down)

[Ritsuko:]

We’re on top of the divisions

Taking them out with precision

This is your final hour

Behold our great power

[Sumire:]

C-O-D-E-X

An encryption so powerful and complex

Come at us, ya fucking pleb

Good luck getting out of this spiders web

Nothing and no one can match our pace

We’ll put you in your place

I’m Diabla, Hell’s Queen

Ain’t like nothing you’ve foreseen

[Miho:]

Pests: destroyed

Empathy: devoid

Objections: rejected

Victory: expected

This royale is filled with people who are inferior

Doesn’t take a genius to know that we’re superior

Iron Maiden here on my golden throne

I’m going to take everything that you own

[Ritsuko:]

Has it finally settled in on who you’re up against?

Still challenging us, you don’t have common sense

Save your breath

Against Strychnine, your only option is death

It’s all part of my design

Getting rid of anyone in my way, this world shall be mine

And you’re up next

Be prepared to face the best

[CodeX:]

We’ll take up our Hypnosis Microphone

Paving the way to our brand new world

This future now belongs to CodeX, to CodeX

Spinning a web you can’t stop from being unfurled

We’ll take up our Hypnosis Microphone

Paving the way to our brand new world

This future now belongs to CodeX, to CodeX

Hold fast to the ideals of our verbal justice

[Miho:]

It's a coup d'état, can’t stop us, we’re taking over

[Sumire:]

The world that we will rebuild is coming ever closer

[Ritsuko:]

Be grateful for this exposure

[Miho:]

We’ve got an iron resolve

[Sumire:]

The rest of you continue to devolve

[Ritsuko:]

The three of us will continuously evolve

[Miho:]

(SHUT UP) If you wanna complain

[Ritsuko:]

(SHUT UP) You’re forever plain

[Sumire:]

(SHUT UP) Stay in your lane

[Miho:]

We’ll always be on top

[Sumire:]

It ain’t something you can stop

[Ritsuko:]

It’s rather amusing watching you flop

[Sumire:]

It’s over, we’ve won this game

[Ritsuko:]

You only have yourself to blame

[Miho:]

Don’t ever forget the name

[CodeX:]

CodeX!

[Sumire:]

Our intelligence is lethal (Lethal)

A combination of regal and evil (Evil)

[Miho:]

Don’t expect us to show any mercy (Mercy)

Bow down, baby, bow down (Down)

[Ritsuko:]

We’re on top of the divisions

Taking them out with precision

This is your final hour

Behold our great power

(THIS IS THE POWER OF CODEX)

[CodeX:]

We’ll take up our Hypnosis Microphone

Paving the way to our brand new world

This future now belongs to CodeX, to CodeX

Spinning a web you can’t stop from being unfurled

We’ll take up our Hypnosis Microphone

Paving the way to our brand new world

This future now belongs to CodeX, to CodeX

Hold fast to the ideals of our verbal justice

[night-unfurls-its-splendour]

🌤️ 🌩️ ☔

🌤️Share your favorite piece of dialogue from your WIP.

Published or unpublished? Because have so much favorite dialogue from all of the published chapters. And not much to choose from for Ch. 8. So I guess I'll do one of each.

The first is from Chapter 5, where Erik has just played her an excerpt from his new composition and Christine is feeling quite inferior to him, as an artist. She says that she has no genius of her own. Which Erik is of course very offended by:

"You must never forget that skilled as I am, though I say it myself, I am not so powerful as to be able to imbue talent where there was none before. I am only able to foster what nature has already gifted you. Do you understand me? And please say that you do, Christine, for you must know—know—that it is not in my nature to lie about music to spare anyone's feelings; even yours."

And then I don't have much dialogue at all written for Ch. 8, but this kind of connects to the above incident:

"Father always said he wasn't really talented," she sobbed quietly. "He said he simply practiced well. When he would tell me of the Angel of Music, I asked if he'd ever heard the Angel, and he shook his head and told me that he'd never been so blessed."

And Erik connects this with the fact that Christine did the exact same thing earlier in the evening.

🌩️ Share something funny/cracky from your WIP.

OK its not terribly funny, per se. I've been forced to confront today that I just don't do a lot of comedy in my writing. Except perhaps for the passage in chapter 5 where Erik mentally calls Carlotta a "contemptible cow" and then considers making her "moo" instead the next time.

But this is a scrap I have written for a future chapter:

Only Meg Giry had made any effort in those first few months to befriend her, and that had been an exercise in understanding when Christine required her solitude. That must have been quite an effort for little Meg, curious and nosy as she was. More than once he'd had to hold closed some hatch or panel which Meg had sniffed out to prevent her from confirming her discovery. She was a chronic pebble in his shoe.

☔Is there a fic concept you have that you'd like to just explain and share because you're not sure you'll ever write it? If so, what is it?

Ah okay this is actually excellent. Yes.

So I've been reading Driven by the wonderful and lovely TryingNotToLoveYou, where each chapter is named after and accompanied by lyrics from a different Depeche Mode song. Now I LOVE Depeche Mode. Every fic (published or WIP) that I've ever thought of for poto has a title taken from a DM song. It's just such PotO music.

One song in particular has always stood out to me: A Question of Time, in which the narrator expresses his fear and concern for a young girl and how it won't be long before "They" (this can be interpreted to mean men specifically or society in general) start to take advantage of her. He says "I've got to get to you first, before they do". The song also contains the lyrics "I'll take you under my wing; somebody should" which of course brings to mind "The Angel of Music has her under his wing".

This song was released in 1985 and my idea is for a movie based 1985 AU where a young Christine is an aspiring singer who gets signed to Erik’s record label.

I would love to write this fic. The problem is, its more of a vibe, an atmosphere, than an actual story in my head. I don't think I could write a story for any time period after 1918 to be perfectly honest.

In some ways I feel like I have a better understanding of life-patterns older periods. And the 80's would be particularly tough for me because its kind of in the middle as far as history goes. Its not far enough back to feel like fantasy-land but just far enough back that I wasn't alive yet and I don't even have a firm enough grasp of life in the 90's to fall back on (I was born in 95). So even though I'm probably the most familiar with the 80's out of any period in the mid-20th century pop-culturally, I still feel unqualified. And as for plot? Beyond this starting point, I have no idea where I would even start. I can't imagine writing any kind of long-fic, especially a modern!AU one. When the Longing Returns is actually just a short fic that has been stretched out by my excessive wordiness 😅😂