#also to be clear: The Emperor? smash

[catsharky]

Hey Larian why can't I mention to anyone that the squid man tried to get in my (Ember's) pants? If that happened to me in real life I don't think I'd ever stop talking about it

[starberry-cupcake]

Welcome back!! I hope you're doing well and, if not, I hope my silly ramblings can make your day somewhat better, like the wildcats used to say: we're all in this together ♥

previously, in harrowcita del 9:

this happened

for those of you recently tuning in, this is the tag of all the ramblings

also, I'm officially in the sixth house now, palmolive can't stop me

CHAPTER 46

we're back inside the emperor's bolthole, which is infested

this is what happens when you have a lyctor orgy without the proper protection

gideon is doing her very best to fight the infestation of herald bees swarming and attacking her

she's in harrow's feeble small kitten baby body, so she's dying a lot

I'm gonna try to represent this visually

gideon keeps apologizing to harrow for getting her bits chewed off and her insides pouring out

and puts emphasis on things she wants harrow to remember

"I saw it eat your thumb—these details are important, so keep up with me—and your thumb was back in the next half minute"

"Child, that bee smashed you"

"I touched your intestines, which is usually what, fourth date"

me:

so, gideon takes off harrow's excess bones, which are no use to her, and goes further into the emperor's infested bolthole, where she finds mercygirl

mercygirl thinks gideon is harrow at first and, turns out, she was the one who stabbed her

these lyctors istg

can't trust any of them

mercygirl thinks harrow should be grateful that she stabbed her

and she was aware that harrow had "stuffed the soul of the cavalier in the back of her brain"

NOW WE'RE GONNA GET INTO SOME TERRITORY THAT MAKES ME GO ABSOLUTELY BERSERK, SO BEAR WITH ME

I NEED TO GET MY NOTES BACK FROM MY PREVIOUS RECAPS FOR THIS

she asks what happened with gideon's eyes and, as we have seen in the previous gideon-centric chapter, gideon's eyes are in harrow's face atm, if memory serves

"You're not her—she isn't driving you—but you have her eyes. Why? When they showed me your corpse I didn't think to check the eyes"

"I thought I knew what you were, though I didn't want to believe it..."

now listen, we're starting to tie some loose ends and some of those loose ends are linked very closely to my previous theories

I have been considering the Commander Wake is Gideon's Mom and Has a Personal Connection To Gideon The First and Is The One Connected With The Harrow Notes In Canaan AU for a while now

I need to link the specific recaps where I said this because I need to be transparent about where my brain was at

Evidence A, Evidence B, Evidence C, Evidence D

there's probably more but those are pretty clear

I swear to god if I was right about this I'm gonna screencap my own recap and put it here when the time comes

I've been marinating this one for months

I actually forgot how much of that I had written down in the recaps until I re-read them

mercygirl says that she thought the commander was a bad girl workaholic who put business before family, that she made her "the dolls" and she must have "played silly buggers with the emission" and that "gideon was on her tail"

"And then Gideon ruined everything. Then the commander ruined everything. Then you ruined everything. This could have been over eighteen years ago"

apparently gideon the first was "obsessed" with the commander, which accounts for some of the notes harrow read

I'LL GET BACK TO THAT WHEN WE GET TO THE SLEEPER, MY THEORIES CONTINUE

mercygirl starts calling gideon all sorts of names, including mutant, and keeps being bothered about her eyes

"Lipochrome. Recessive. You are the evidence. He lied to us...and you are all the proof I needed" "Cytherea would have known as soon as she looked at you"

is gideon the first gideon's dad??????? I mean, I always though he might have Something with the mom but my money was on gideon being made through science rather than Traditional Means

I mean, having lyctor genes in some way would account for gideon being a demigod, something I said with those words when I was reading gideon

also, remember when not!dulcinea told gideon she was prettier than the other gideon?? because I've never forgotten

mercygirl confirms that gideon the first was sent to kill gideon's mom

who, according to mercygirl, would have hated to be called a mom

mamá luchona intensifies

all of which aligns with my theory very nicely so far

she calls gideon more names, including "abomination, you heresy, you failed ambition nineteen years too late"

gideon reacts not wanting mercygirl to touch her instinctively

man, my theories are RIGHT THERE to be fully connected I'm BITING THE DESK

but there's no time for any more talk because mercygirl is trying to kill gideon in harrow's body

but she is stopped

she is shot

by not!dulcinea

but I don't think this is not!dulcinea, I previously mentioned her maybe being used by someone, not sure if it's possession or being used or what's going on but I don't think this is her

I thought about gideon the first being the one to do it but if he wanted harrow dead, I'm not sure he'd save gideon now

not!dulcinea says "with a tone that wasn't" hers: "goodbye"

gideon ends the chapter with "what the fuck is going on?"

CHAPTER 47

we're back at canaan au and it's time to perform an exorcism

harrow has a new note

I've been connecting those notes to gideon's mom possibly commander wake (as linked above)

the latest note continues to add to my theory

"end of the line. falling. oxygen can't last the distance and won't redirect power from the payload. instead I will make you watch every moment as I get the last privilege you cannot enjoy you bygone son of a bitch. I hope you're both as sorry as I am."

I still think this is gideon's mom because that's how she died, I mean, she got to the ninth in a suit without air and gideon still had some, allegedly

I've been thinking that one of the two people involved in the situationship triangle described in the notes was gideon the first, and that maybe the other was dr reverend emperor john

he's the most likely to be a bygone son of a bitch, so maybe I'm right

so, if harrow connects the notes with the spirit that's haunting her

and I'm connecting them to gideon's mom....

what if it's her that's haunting harrow?????

I mean, Waker

I NEED TO STOP GETTING INTO THEORY TANGENTS

anyway, all of the ghoulie ghostie friends are getting together for a sleepover exorcism

I didn't use this when I should have, back when the different aus were going by, but here it is

real!dulcinea says "Pal always said I'd be the death of him. And I was..."

he died being a weenie but he's not all the way dead, so it's fine

harrow questions why everyone wants to help her but everyone's totally fine with all this, for different reasons

real!dulcinea is "horny for revenge" (that's a tshirt for the seventh girlies right there)

protozoa is there because duty is his full personality

abby is really grateful to be asked to help (she also really likes tombs, very lara croft of her)

magnus loves his wife

ortus wants a redemption arc and now has a polycule

martita is behaving better than judith

abby asks harrow if there's anything she can remember from the slasher waker sleeper to try to pinpoint who tf it is

there's a suit, blood, a gun and gideon's sword, which is the only thing harrowcita recognizes and doesn't know where it comes from

my money is on gideon's mom, commander wake, probably also the woman in the shuttle poster that harrow saw but didn't recognize back when she met camilla

I'M PUTTING MORE CHIPS IN MY BETS EVEN IF I GET NO MORE INFO RN

harrow is very interested in how abby and magnus make it work as a married couple who are also a necro and a cav

I wonder why she's so interested

anyway, everything goes to shit on the exorcism

like, it goes really, really badly

group project off the rails bad

I mean, they didn't even have blood

apparently the spirit is also tethered to an object out there (the sword??????? possibly?????)

and she (she's a SHE) is pretty much invincible and shooting everyone and performing parkour while she's at it

harrow says camilla would be impressed, which is the highest praise

the sleeper waker slasher potentially gideon's mom (but not sure because it hasn't been confirmed yet) calls harrow by her name, but in a way that sounds like she's never said it before

she says it like a curse, which maybe means she knows, to some degree, how harrow was made????

she's basically doing whatever she wants over here, shooting ghosts, punching ghosts, throwing them around, regenerating, not bleeding, pulling guns out of thin air

I mean, ok, we got it, calm down lady

where was this energy when it was time to kill the emperor

she says there's "no magic" there and that "she's been doing this for years"

she wants harrow, so she can kill her and use her body to "finish it"

WHICH MAYBE MEANS KILLING THE EMPEROR???

OH MAN I DO WANT THAT TO HAPPEN

BUT NOT AT THE COST OF HARROW

also, mrs potentially gideon's mom, even if harrow dies, there's also gideon in the body right now so, it's a bit crowded atm

maybe find another way to kill the emperor

use not!dulcinea instead, if you can get the current tenant to leave

the chapter ends with: "ortus cleared his throat"

MAN, I HOPE HE DROPS SOME POETRY LINES, WE SURELY NEED THAT

and that's it for today!!!!!things are certainly heating up in the emperor's bolthole!!!! see you soon for the next installment, fingers crossed for my theories!!!

[moltengoldveins]

so we can all agree that the newest 2WEI song (take the crown) is the trailer song for an Antarctic Empires Emerald Duo pg14 movie where Techno is a gladiator who earned his freedom and has vowed to destroy the government that enslaved him and Philza is an old demigod banished to a solitary plane of existence for five decades after attempting to run a coup against the ruling class.

They meet on a battlefield, Techno having joined up as brute muscle and Phil having used some minor illusions to pass as a quirky avian and join the bombardment team. Combining some similar plot beats as Oceans 11 and Atlantis: The Lost Empire, they gather a specialized team of insurrectionists, anarchists, battle mages, and warriors to take down the imperium from the inside, eventually planning on restoring the nation to the democracy it was in Phil’s earliest memories. But will they manage it, or will their bloody pasts and violent present seat Technoblade on the throne as the Antarctic Emperor, with Philza as his right hand, the Angel of Death? (Spoiler, the second option. It’s the most controversial film finale decision of the decade.)

The movie is filmed in a style somewhere between Dune 1, the Prince of Egypt, and Topgun. (denis villeneuve is too busy and too expensive, but it’s clear they’re taking inspiration. Bold colors and lighting and a lot of shots of the sky, wildlife, architecture, or of characters’ hands.) It’s scored by an up and coming indie musician, working under the consultation of Ludwig Gorannson in his spare time as a pet project, though his association with the film doesn’t really come out until it Smashes the expected theatre income in the first two days of release and critics start Raving about it. Techno’s actor is nominated for an Oscar for one of the most compelling intricate portrayals of ptsd and platonic devotion in modern cinema, but doesn’t actually get the Oscar.

Tumblr is flooded with gif sets of Techno in the Obligatory No Armor After Gladiator Fight Scene and the Late Night Vibing With Phil In A Loose Poet Shirt scene (firelit, lots of closeups of his eyes, the film is obviously attempting to express his complex emotional state and his deep relationship with Phil, and is failing miserably at doing Anything but making him hot. The internet is ✨gay✨ about it, because when is the internet not?) Also most of the simps are calling Phil a dilf.

Fit MC is the fan-favorite side character, his four scenes and nine lines of dialogue are clipped and edited and giffed and memed into the dirt. (His armor and prosthetic, the makeup and costuming department say, were the hardest thing to do in the entire film, which is why he isn’t in too many shots.) Though, a close second is Niki, who is played by a woman built like a brick house who doesn’t wear sleeves, so…. Yeah. We all know what the response is there. The effects, including Phil’s wings, are almost entirely practical and the only real places it gets iffy is Steve, the giant war polar bear that’s pretty clearly clipping through a few snowbanks here and there. Nobody can agree on which characters are morally reprehensible.

Within a few years, very few people outside a dedicated fan base have seen it and a few assume it’s made up like Goncharov. It’s also, for some ungodly reason, been labeled a Christmas film. (most of the plot happens in the ice and snow, hence ‘Antarctic Empire.’) I guess nothing says ‘Christmas spirit’ quite like ‘unmitigated violence, platonic yearning, and overthrowing oppressors.’

[quitealotofsodapop]

I was re-reading the baby being introduced to the Courts and Red mentions that he and Xiaotian are legally married. When did they decide to do that? I'm imagining after the pillar when Red confesses his feelings he also proposes because go big or go home, right?

(Xiaojiao pointed out that Red had made it so he and Xiaotian were kinda having a baby together, which is like the biggest commitment already, but Red ignored her.)

Prev.

The "celestial legal marriage" happened in the months leading up to Haoyu's birth + after the confessions at the Pillar. Once it became clear to Xiwangmu that these two crazy kids were in it for the long haul - she started planning a real royal wedding.

As for "demon legal marriage" happened... even before Red confessed his feelings!

You see; demon courtship may involve a lot of kidnapping and fighting your future in-laws for their approval (something that spicynoodles has already done unintentionally), but it's not a one-sided street. The target of affection gets some pretty big say in the matter.

Kui Mulang, for example, is hated by demon and celestial communities alike for forcing a demonic marriage upon Princess Baihauxing without her consent. In demon customs, if the Princess had said "hell no." thats end of discussion. She has to be let go and returned to her clan. The Wood Wolf did not do this, and instead kept her captive and made her sire two children with him without any outside contact. Not many upstanding demons would defend him.

In Spicynoodles case; The confessions and commitment wasn't one-sided leading up to their confessions at the Pillar...

After the Xiwangmu (and the posthumous Jade Emperor) recognised Red Son as her grandchild - lots of demon clans and celestial noble houses came to the Demon Bull Clan with prospective marriage arrangements. Prospects that increased with intensity and hostility when rumours of the Bull Prince having a pregnant sweetie started rolling around the Realms.

A smokin' hot regal demon frequently tries to insert themselves into Red's personal bubble. Red is hesitant to swat them away due to recognising them as being highly-connected.

Mei isn't as passive, loudly telling the demon to get lost. She becomes more firm when MK is nearby, her demeanour much like a dragon protecting a gravid littermate.

One day the prospective suitor makes one huge mistake; attempting to courtnap Red Son.

It's a real crap show.

Somehow the suitor got their hands on some Binding-Gold Rope, pretty much lasso'ed Red Son and ran like a villain in an old timey western film. Red is angrily spitting his rejection at the Suitor, making clear that he wants nothing to do with this courtship!

The Suitor ignores the prince's demands.

Now it's getting serious.

Mei leaps forward with her sword, trying to keep up with Red Son and his captor. Before she can shoot off a burst of Samadhi Fire, another voice roars out;

MK: "BACK OFF! THEY'RE NOT YOURS!" (*MK is running after them in full golden kaiju-monkey glory. His stomach still protruding with the Stone Egg*) Red Son, blushing pink flames: "Noodle Boy?! When did you get-" The Suitor, cowering: "Nobody told me they were taken! Honest!" MK: (*Looms over the Suitor before smashing their vehicle like it's a soda can. Picks up Red Son and bites the Rope off of him. Gives Mei the scraps of rope*) Mei, surprised but understanding: "I'll deal with the trash disposal." (*Mei turns the rope into impromptu handcuffs*) Mei, gloating: "There! I've already been streaming this rescue to the rest of the crew, so you about to be cancelled! Right, guys...? Guys?" MK, still in Kaiju-form: (*loud purring noises as he nuzzles Red Son to his face*) Red Son, almost magenta red with blush: "I don't think he's in the mood for conversation!"

The rest of the gang finally arrive as backup; only to see Red safe in Kaiju!MK's arms, and the attempted court-napper completely humiliated.

Macaque, chuckling: "Oh ho ho! I've seen this before!" Pigsy: "Huh? Where?" Macaque, fond smile: "Tieshan - when she was pregnant with Red. If you think a demon can be possessive of their mate, you haven't seen a pregnant one think someone is trying to take them away." Tang, lore-thought: "OH! Like the Jade Faced Princess..?" Macaque: "Yep. Old friend of the gang. Jade Face asked Bull to help fake a marriage licence so she could claim her father's inheritance, and Iron Fan, well... she didn't take it well. Only time she's ever used her kaiju form, actually. Best thing to do is let MK calm down, and he'll return to normal size. Though he'll act a little feral for a bit." Pigsy, dreading: "How long is a bit?" Macaque: "Eh. Depends. Tieshan wouldn't let Bull out of her sight for a whole week." Red Son, thinking: "A week wouldn't be so bad. Or a few weeks even."

MK refuses to stop clinging to Red Son, even after he's returned to his regular form. He's just buried his face in Red's neck and hair, pressing his round stomach against him as a heat pack. Full nesting-mode.

Red has no true complaints about the situation.

Especially since MK has pretty much, in his feral rage, reverse-courtnapped Red Son from the Suitor.

Red Son hopes MK isn't so oblivious to not realise what he's done. (hint: he is).

When news gets back to PIF and DBK about what's happening; they both share a knowing look with one another. MK may be the successor of their old fre-enemy, but he's far better a potential in-law than any mock-title demon from an uncouth new-money clan.

PIF: "This is why I declined all of those marriage arrangements for Red Son. Clearly, the Noodle Boy has already staked his claim." DBK, nodding: "And our child has accepted the proposal in his own way. It would be hypocritical to deny him a loving mate." PIF: "One who's already providing us with a potential heir, too." DBK, tail wagging happily: "The Little Thief has shared the ultrasound photos."

So by demon standards, Red Son and MK are already married before they even fully confess towards one another!

Mei demands to host a mock bachelor party.

[serial-serializednovelreader]

It's crazy to me that people call Jonathan a himbo, he's so methodical and clever! It makes sense that Mina would be attracted to someone bright too

Yes, anon, you’re so speaking my language!!! I do wish people would stop calling Jonathan a himbo because — nothing against himbos — but Jonathan is not one of them! And yes, it totally makes sense that Mina would attracted to someone as clever as him, and since she’s also so smart, I’m sure the feeling is mutual.

Before y’all come shouting in my inbox “what do you have against himbos??” and “Jonathan is totally a himbo, what are you talking about?” Let me clear things up:

First of all, I love himbos!!! Kronk from Emperor’s New Groove — peak himbo, imo — is one of my favorite characters. Am I attracted to them? Well…no. As you can probably tell from my last Nova’s Notes, I’m more the kind of person who’s attracted to cleverness or when people nerd out. BUT I cherish himbos for all of their wonderful qualities and if I ever get the opportunity to meet one in real life, I would love to be friends with them! <3333

Secondly, for anyone who’s still saying Jonathan is a himbo…

Himbos have to embody all three qualities equally to be considered himbos! If they are not kind? Not a himbo. Not strong? Not a himbo, I’m sorry! I do make the rules of himbo, I simply follow the rules.

Now on to our good friend Jonathan Harker’s case.

He is undeniably kind. From what we’ve seen so far (not to mention later), he is not only loving to his fiancée, he is kind to strangers as well. He takes gifts from the villagers, even if he does not understand them. Just a couple of entries ago, he was willing to risk his life over a child he didn’t even know (and the same night after he had screamed running away from the women, too). Some of the Dracula Daily book club on here suspects (as do I) that some of the reason he’s so eager to spring into action the next day is to put a stop to Dracula’s evilness for other people, not just for himself. Heck, he’s even talked about Dracula’s good qualities after finding out he’s a prisoner!!! So, kindness? Yes! ✅

As for strong, there’s not as much evidence here, but I would call him somewhat strong because not just anyone could successfully scale a castle wall twice in one day like that! That takes a lot of strength in your core, arms, back, etc. Sure, Dracula can do it — but Dracula is also a vampire with super strength. Maybe it’s easier than I think it is, but I’m not exactly going to look for a castle to try it!! So for Jonathan to crack his knuckles and go “yeah, he can do it, why can’t I?” is both hilarious and shows that he must know something of his own strength. However, he’s also a solicitor and I doubt he’s built like a bodybuilder. So, strong? Maybe not as much as a typical himbo, but let’s give him the check mark because Lizard Fashion is nothing to sneeze at. ✅

Now for the ditzy part….I’d have to say no to that. Himbos are meant to not be “the sharpest tool in the shed” (yes, I did have to hit you with a Smash Mouth reference, sorry not sorry) and Jonathan is farrrrr from that.

Everything he has done so far has been methodical and smart. I covered this in my other Nova’s Notes (you can look under the hashtag on my page if you want to see more :D) so I really don’t want to go through too much I’ve already gone through, but the arguments I’ve seen for him being a himbo — based on the entries we’ve already read — are that he’s not smart because he:

Doesn’t heed villager’s warnings

“Let’s” himself become a prisoner

Is nice to Dracula after he knows he’s a prisoner

Talks about his fiancée a lot (???????)

For the first point, we’ve gone over this, but here we go again — he doesn’t heed the villager’s warnings, no. But keep in mind none of them actually say “The Count is a super dangerous man!! Don’t trust him!!!” Here’s the passage:

“When I asked him if he knew Count Dracula, and could tell me anything of his castle, both he and his wife crossed themselves, and, saying that they knew nothing at all, simply refused to speak further. It was so near the time of starting that I had no time to ask any one else, for it was all very mysterious and not by any means comforting.

Just before I was leaving, the old lady came up to my room and said in a very hysterical way:

‘Must you go? Oh! young Herr, must you go?’ She was in such an excited state that she seemed to have lost her grip of what German she knew, and mixed it all up with some other language which I did not know at all. I was just able to follow her by asking many questions. When I told her that I must go at once, and that I was engaged on important business, she asked again:

‘Do you know what day it is?’ I answered that it was the fourth of May. She shook her head as she said again:

‘Oh, yes! I know that! I know that, but do you know what day it is?’ On my saying that I did not understand, she went on:

‘It is the eve of St. George's Day. Do you not know that to-night, when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will have full sway? Do you know where you are going, and what you are going to?’ She was in such evident distress that I tried to comfort her, but without effect. Finally she went down on her knees and implored me not to go; at least to wait a day or two before starting. It was all very ridiculous but I did not feel comfortable.

So here’s the thing: you can see that the only thing the innkeeper’s wife explicitly warns him against is going to the castle that night because it’s a day in their culture where evil spirits are considered to have full sway.

The innkeeper’s wife does ask him if he knows “where he is going and who is going to” — he says no, but she does not speak further on the matter. When he asked about the Count before this, they just refused to speak! I know that may seem like an implicit warning — and it is — but some people on here act as if Jonathan was supposed to have known why they were crossing themselves and immediately have left? Like, he obviously feels uncomfortable, but as he states before and afterwards: he has a job to do. If you were in his position: a newly-appointed lawyer (or position of your choice), and you went to a place where the locals told you not to visit your client that night because it was a night where evil spirits would come out: would you honestly believe them? And if you asked about what your client was like and they just crossed themselves and refused to speak on the matter, would you simply leave the town and tell your boss “nah, sorry, the villagers warned me against him. I decided this client’s not for me”? I guess that honestly depends on you, but I would think not if you want to keep your job!! I know that’s not ideal, but to be fair, he also is not given a fair warning before going in.

There is also that incident in the carriage where he hears those villagers talking and he picks up bits and pieces (including the words werewolf and vampire) but a) they’re not talking to him and b) he doesn’t pick up enough to even indicate who they’re talking about!! In fact, he thinks they’re badmouthing him!!! (Which is understandable, he can only hear a bit and he’s translating on the fly). Again, how he is supposed to automatically know: “oh, Count Dracula is a vampire and I must flee this place immediately.” We know that because Dracula has been a pop culture icon for 100+ years, but Jonathan doesn’t have that kind of knowledge. I feel it’s kind of ridiculous to call him not smart for not knowing this.

However, and this is important, he does take some of this warning to heart. He does take the crucifix and the other vampire-repellent gifts the villagers bestow upon him, despite his skepticism and ignorance of the culture (thanks, English colonization /s). He feels uncomfortable and anxious before he even goes into the castle, literally saying goodbye to Mina in his diary in case he doesn’t make it back!! He keeps the crucifix in his room and uses it to ward off bad dreams and for safety against Dracula (which is not really how he’s supposed to use it, but he wasn’t really told how, so I don’t really blame him for that).

I don’t think a himbo would’ve picked up that something was amiss at any of these points, not until it was too late at least. I think for this test, just picture Kronk (or your fav himbo) in this situation. Would they even notice something was up? Or would they go cheerfully towards the castle?

As for the second point — this is kind of unrelated to the himbo question but — what kind of victim-blame mentality is this????? I have seen people unironically (at least I’m pretty sure it is?) post that Jonathan deserves the abuse he’s getting because he didn’t heed the villager’s warnings (which I already talked about above) and/or he’s “rude” to Dracula. I’m sorry — WHAT???? So if you’re rude to somebody they’re to allowed to lock you up in their castle???? That’s a fair trade? I beg your pardon?! Just…ok. Believe what you want, but maybe let’s not blame the guy who’s been a prisoner in a random stranger’s castle for a month and is sure he’s about to die? Yes, this is fictional and not that deep, but still — weird take.

Back to the himbo question, I mean, he doesn’t really let himself become a prisoner. He’s at Dracula’s castle for a job. Once he’s done with that job he’s ready to leave, but Dracula makes him stay because he literally locks him in!!! He then explicitly tells him he will stay longer and Jonathan has to accept because he is there in place of his boss, and saying no would be like speaking (negatively) for his boss — and Jonathan is not going to do that. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think a himbo would be able to see all of that subtext within that conversation. I actually don’t know this kind of interaction between a true himbo and Dracula would go, but I imagine not well. Dracula thrives off of interesting conversation and wit, as well as being able to maintain a facade of host and guest. I just don’t see if someone like Kronk could maintain that for long because he would probably be like “but I don’t want to stay longer, let me go” or something, which would end the “game”.

Moving on to the third point, he is nice to Dracula after he knows he’s a prisoner for a reason. When he realizes he’s locked up (which he realizes super fast, by the way), he sits down and has a good, long think about what he can do. More passage evidence!

“I am thinking still, and as yet have come to no definite conclusion. Of one thing only am I certain; that it is no use making my ideas known to the Count. He knows well that I am imprisoned; and as he has done it himself, and has doubtless his own motives for it, he would only deceive me if I trusted him fully with the facts. So far as I can see, my only plan will be to keep my knowledge and my fears to myself, and my eyes open. I am, I know, either being deceived, like a baby, by my own fears, or else I am in desperate straits; and if the latter be so, I need, and shall need, all my brains to get through.”

So he knows Dracula is up to something (or he’s jumped to conclusions) and either way, talking about it is a bad idea. The only way through is to act like nothing’s wrong for now and try to get information out of Dracula. Other than that, he’s going to need to use his brains! Yes, he does talk to Dracula and acts nice — but it’s with a plan and a purpose. Dracula has creeped him out from the start, but he has always been able to maintain good cheer around him. Now, he will put that to use.

So for this himbo test, it’s kind of similar to the second one. Were Kronk in this situation, he would make it by for a while because he probably wouldn’t notice the doors are locked. But once he did…I’m not sure if it would be like the second point where he’d immediately tell Dracula “hey why are all of the doors locked” and the game is up or if his shoulder angel/devil characters would come out to help him. I guess it depends! And to Kronk’s credit, he has figured things out before (e.g. figured out who Pacha was and in relation to Kuzco) *but* it took him like 12 hours after the fact and that’s not how Jonathan operates. Jonathan figures out things pretty quickly. Does he need time to think sometimes? Yes. But he’s pretty much always thinking and trying to figure out more once he’s at Castle Dracula. I just don’t see these two in the same vein here.

For the final point, I haven’t seen much evidence for this, but it needs to be addressed. I think sometimes people tend to equate WifeGuy with “no thoughts, head empty only for wife” and that can be true!!! There are definitely characters like that and I do love them so. Jonathan is undeniably a WifeGuy (and Mina’s not even his wife in name yet), bringing her up anytime he gets a chance. I would argue though that just because he’s in love and brings her up a ton doesn’t mean he’s also not clever and methodical. You can be in love and smart: these can coexist. Mina is a very smart character from what we’ve seen already and she’s in love too!

I don’t really have a Kronk case study for this one, but like anon said — I think Mina is attracted to Jonathan for his smartness and it goes both ways. They love each other for many other reasons (there’s a lot to love!), but I imagine that’s kind of the cherry on top for them.

Why does this matter? I think calling Jonathan a himbo is reducing his character a bit here. Again, I’m not saying being a himbo is bad, but it does discredit his methodical ways and strategy he has in the castle. His methodical nature is part of personality and pretending that doesn’t exist erases his character, in my opinion. Additionally, it raises the question: could a himbo become a lawyer? I…don’t think so…but maybe? Find me a himbo who’s a lawyer and prove me wrong I guess! Wait is Phoenix Wright a himbo…? Question for another time.

In conclusion, Jonathan Harker only passes 1 part of the himbo test (kindness) with flying colors. The strong test he only passes by the tail of his lizard fashion, and as for ditzy? He fails miserably. Recall that for someone to be a true himbo, they have to possess all three traits equally. Even if you could make the case for one, you’d still be missing another. So, no, I don’t think Jonathan Harker is a himbo. You can maybe argue with me that he has himbo moments (if that’s a thing, idk), but overall? No.

[lovelyyandereaddictionpoint]

Yandere Overlord | A Little Crush 

“Oh, my–who is this?”

You had been allowed to sit in on the meeting with Ainz, reading his hidden plea that you actually help him understand some of this. Of course under the guise of learning the guardians pay no mind in fact their barely able to contain their excitement to see both you and Ainz.

“That is the insolent emperor of the Vassal country of Baharuth Empire–”

Albedo continued to spew insults but you couldn’t help the heat that spread all over when you looked at his purple-pink irises. You put the picture down before your typical smile could change too much instead using your abilities to inform, Ainz as you promised.

‘Scared him into submission? I don’t remember doing anything but making peace before…’

‘Demiurge is specifically thinking about your appearance at the match…apparently, he was trying to meet with the Slane theocracy but your showing up immediately scared him into submission. Wow! Good job, Ainz!’

‘No good job! I didn’t even know that was happening!”

‘Sure. Sure.’

The meeting continued, which ensured a constant struggle as you tried not to look at the image they had crafted. When it ended you fought with yourself not to take the image instead opting to use your power to photocopy the image onto paper later…or maybe a body pillow.

“Jircniv huh? What a cutie!”

______________________________________________________________

You didn’t have Ainz’s emotional regulator…that much was clear. Yet in the beginning, your true emotions illuded the guardians of Nazarick. But after many months of observation and talking with you they picked up on the subtle signs. Like today the heat emanating from your body, the way you crossed your legs, the bite of your lip to restrict the larger smile–it was all too clear.

“FOR A CRETIN LIKE THAT NO LESS!?” Albedo smashed the table. 

Demiurge rose, fighting the urge to angrily thrash his tail about. 

“Calm yourself Albedo…this could just be mere interest. (Y/n)-sama has expressed a growing interest in politics…we shouldn’t be so quick to judge!”

“B-but they n-never looked at anyone else like that!” Mare spoke sharing worried eye contact with his sister who returned the favor.

“At this rate…they’ll like them more than us!”

A pregnant silence hung over the room; each of the floor guardians imagining horrifying images of you leaving them for a mere human. Some were of you on the emperor’s arm in wedding garments, others had you sharing a milkshake and feeding the emperor, and another had you promising to run away with the dreaded emperor. Fear and horror enveloped all in the room bringing them to their knees as they reeled in pain. Amidst this Cocyutus took a stand, prepared to bring these worries to light. 

“I say…we bring our concerns to Ainz-sama!”

“YES!” “Y-yeah!” “I agree.” 

______________________________________________________________

It doesn’t take long for Ainz to see this behavior himself. Hearing your telepathic giggles when you open the same page in the book you’ve been reading for a month is enough confirmation for him. And like always he is the one left to make the hard-hitting decision.

“AINZ-SAMA I suggest I personally help quell their sexual needs!”

“I’m more equipped to take care of them, ariska. ”

“Are you kidding, Mare and me cuddle with them all the time! Maybe you should make them do more with us!”

“Y-yeah!” 

“Perhaps they simply wish to explore its healthy for youngins to—”

“Shut up Cocuyutus!” “Grrrr!” “Quiet Cocyutus, ariska!” 

And while he agrees you’re boredom is probably a good indicator it’s also because you’re you. He’s sure if he knew you in his old world or even in his guild this would have been normal. As your technical guardian, he shouldn’t really interfere…but even he can’t help but be annoyed with the telepathic squeals you keep making. So maybe on a whim, he’ll make a judgment call. 

“A trip to the Vassal state?”

“Yes, it's important that you publicly integrate yourself with the Sorcerer Kingdom.”

‘Do you want to?’

“I’m especially grateful!! I’ll take my mission with pride!” 

‘Yes!!! Thanks, Ainz!’

Your telepathic voice warms his nonexistent heart and he sends you away with Aura and Mare. He hopes their presence will deter any acting out on the Emperor’s end and as a deterrent from you possibly…deepening relations. At the guardian's insistence, Ainz sets up a magic glass to watch you from. So with great anticipation, they all watch as you pull away in your carriage pulled by the undead as you make your way to the Baharath Empire. 

______________________________________________________________

“Oh, Aura Mare now that we’re practically here I’ve suddenly become so nervous!” 

You nervously mused playing with your headdress and veil resting on your lap. You could see through the carriage with your power easily; watching the people of the Baharuth Empire look on in astonishment. But your nervousness wasn’t about meeting people at least not entirely, you were going to meet the man who plagued your imagination with his face for the last month. 

“U-uhm (Y-Y/n)-sama why are y-you so nervous! You’re the most amazing Supreme being next to Ainz-sama s-so y-you should be c-confident.” 

Mare peeped out, blushing as he complimented you. You gave him a loving smile patting your gloved hand on the tip of his clenched fists causing him to release. 

“Thank you Mare, for reminding me! It’s just I’m more nervous about meeting one particular person.”

“Oh? Who is this particular person? Have they done something that we should punish them for?”

Aura probed leaning close to you as if on the verge of discovery. While Aura understood good and well that the Emperor was the cause of this she couldn’t place how; or why the guardians were so averse to it. She guessed it was similar to the way Albedo felt about Ainz but you didn’t do anything as she does so she was stumped…how could a weak human have anything against a Supreme Being like you?

You giggled, “Oh Aura, you’re so cute! I’ll tell you when you’re older!”

She blushed at your statement hiding her face against the corner of the carriage as she mulled against her shaken resolve. She just couldn’t help but crumble when your attention was solely focused on her like that. In a way, she related to big sis Albedo a bit. 

With your Sorcerer headdress resembling Ainz and a dark veil covering your face you stepped out of your carriage with Yuri lending you a hand out of the carriage with a bow of respect. 

“Presenting (Y/n)-sama, the flower of the Sorcer Kingdom!” 

The people guffawed as you traveled up the stairs of the Emperor’s palace, many whispering words of awe as you made your way up the steps. Thankfully the people were so focused on you that they failed to notice the twins who so easily killed a great mass of people before their vassal status. 

The guide into the palace was one of his personal guard, fighting the tremble in his voice as he recognized Aura and Mare. Passing by various staff and soldiers you drew their attention easily many dropping weapons or papers as they watched you for as long as they would be let. Past a set of golden double doors you finally laid eyes upon the deeply bowing emperor. 

“Jircniv Rune Farlord El-Nix, at your service.”

It was a demeaning bow for someone called the “bloody emperor” and you couldn’t help feeling pity. Already knowing what you wished Yuri cleared her throat and demanded that his personal guard and any remaining staff clear the room. She even sent a look towards the twins who pouted until you turn to them with a pleading tilt of your head. Sulking they excused themselves finally leaving you and Jircniv, with the exception of Yuri, all alone.

Worldlessly she bowed towards you once more before raising your veil, you smile when shock overtakes his face. 

“Its a pleasure to meet you Jircniv! I hope you can show me the best Baharuth Empire has to offer.”

“Of course my liege!” 

______________________________________________________________

When Jircniv had been informed of a visit from Nazarick he near crapped himself in fear that it be in reprimand to his attempt to betray...but when he heard that the “Flower of Nazarick”was in attendance he relaxed…a little. This probably was the final nail in the coffin for him, pulling at his hair and cursing his hubris he ordered the best for your arrival. Even as you arrived with those dreaded dark elves as guards he was sure you would be the one to rip out his heart. 

To that, he was right. The lifting of your veil was the fist, tightly grasping his heart as it slowly revealed your face to him. The pulling was the ethereal gleam of your smile and voice. In complete juxtaposition from Ainz Ooal Gown you glowed with a heartwrenching presence that had him practically becoming a puddle on the floor. If he were a lesser man he would have been far to floored to look away to bow even harder than before but he was an emperor for blood’s sake.

Immediately he rearranged the whole plan for the day, changing seating arrangements that would have put space between you two to eliminating them entirely. Offering his hand to you when there was so much of a change in tiles. Even when maid with the gauntlets threatened to kill him for overstepping he remained steadfeast. All his fear had dissipated the moment you revealed your face, he wondered if it was some sort of sorcery that made him so infatuated. If it was, he doubted he’d ever wanted it removed. Even when your veil dropped over your face again and he felt misery take hold of his being once more–he still didn’t want to be relieved of this joy. Watching you feast on the various delicacies as they disappeared behind your veil overtook him with a feeling of pride.

Hearing the relayed words of joy as you experienced the different activities and festivals he had prepared in your honor. Had him swooning all the more, completely nulling the deathly glares from the elves that had so easily lay waste to his army.

“Ahem (Y/n)-sama would like to thank you for the griffin egg, tch, they say they will be thinking of you when they raise it.”

“I’m honored, my highness!”

Hardly able to hold back his tears when you must retire he takes a bold step that leaves all your guardians itching to pulverize him. A kiss against your gloved hand before you dismiss yourself for the night is all it is. 

“Good night, oh luscious flower of Nazarick! I’ll be counting the seconds until I may see you again!”

In the comfort of your room with Aura and Mare sitting on the grand bed you received they watch as you float about as you scream into the various pillows.

“Keeee he actually said that to me! OhmigoshOhmigoshOhmigosh! Can you believe he said that to me!? Hehehe!”

So enveloped in your joy you fail to register the dark shadows that have cast over Aura’s and Mare’s faces. 

“Yeah…it sure is great…”

“Isn’t it? Who’d think he’d be so sweet! Especially on the first day, too! Weeee, its just like those romance fanfics–”

“U-uhm (Y/n)-sama? C-can y-you tell me how g-good I was today!? I followed Ainz-sama’s and your orders and I didn’t hurt any humans!

Mare’s outburst had Aura incredulously looking at her twin. Especially because she knew well and good how many times her twin opened the ground to swallow the humans following after your entourage. But she watched as your floated back down to the bed pulling Mare into your chest as you pet his head, she hurriedly crawled to your other side.

“M-me too! Do me too (Y/n)-sama!” 

“Okay okay you two get over here!” 

Miles away in the safety of Nazarick the other guardians watched as the glass ball they had been watching from received a crack. 

They weren’t the only ones who were regretting letting you leave.

On a completely personal level...

This man just sends me...

I wanna bite so bad I don't know why! 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

[lxdymoon0357]

Imagine, A Male reader who have read A novel and Webtoon Both them are Remarried Empress.

And he made all analysis, theories and Thinking that Sovieshu is Only being dumb but what if he was dumb then it would have happy ending for Sovieshu and Navier.

While overthinking male reader Crossing the road and he somehow stopped at middle of road and he got new theories, while thinking about it, Trunk-kun smashed it and Male reader got isekaied

Male reader transmigrated into Sovieshu/ Heinrey's body.

If Male reader transmigrated into Sovieshu's body then he would tell everything and apologies to Navier to understand it ( Best friend Kinda). He would go and see Heinrey and starts falling in love (and so on idk)

If Male reader Transmigrated into Heinrey's body then he will use Letter exchanging to Emperor Sovieshu until Emperor falls in love with Secret Admire.... But Emperor Sovieshu and Heinrey are Rivals ( Not enemies )... After Heinrey revealed his secret admirer, Both them will became best friends then Lovers ( sounds like Enemy to best friend to lovers, almost like enemies to lovers trope 😁 ) and Navier is Cupid cuz Her lover ( Rashta) shared plenty of BL/GL/Smut Novel with them

That's all are on my mind, this is my request

But before isekaied, He had huge simps on both ( Sovieshu and Heinrey)

(....I just couldn't...I'm sorry..how long is this WIP? 2 years old...Yes that's right humans, 2 YEARS OLD! Kill me...)

Isekaid! Sovieshu X Heinry:

Your chance is my change!

※ The burning pain in your back was stopping your vision from clearing up , as you heard a voice continuously calling you “Your highness…”, as it started to get louder, "Your highness..!” and louder, “Your highness!!!!!!!”

The colorful void finally started to clear up as you head started to hurt. As you finally opened your eyes and your vision cleared up…You saw a lady with long straight blonde hair with golden-green eyes, as you continued to look at her, she reminded you of something you would see back at home....

"Who . . .who are you?" You asked, you throat sore and hurting as you tried to get out words. But as you asked her, the lady immediately looked surprised, before turning to the doctor on the other side, as if he was losing memories....

"Uhm, I'm not sure, you're highness, but I'll try my best to understand this, maybe try to remind him of himself again, I'll come back tomorrow, my grace." The man bowed before taking his leave and going out of the room, as the lady turned to you, before brushing strand of hair behind her ear, she says,

"You highness, You're name is Emperor Sovieshu Vict, I'm your wife, Empress Navier Ellie Trovi. Your the Emperor of Eastern Empire, I'm the empress of Eastern Empire. You've been unconscious for four days now...."

That was the last straw of this weird place...WAIT! Did she just say, her name was NAVIER ELLIE TROVI?! As in from your favorite manhwa?! As you whipped your head back on her face and stared at her intensely, her hair was long and blonde, with mature green eyes and soft yet sharp features..

"So how did I faint???" You asked Navier,

"An object fell from the sky and knocked you out..." Navier replied, completely stoic. As you tried to comprehend things, Navier sighed before asking for dismissal from you, which you granted hastily, as she walked out, she said, "Also your highness, please look after you dear concubine, she's been crying horribly..." Before walking out, you tried to understand your situation...You were just walking back from the grocery store buying some ramen when a truck hit you and did you just isekaid into a manhwa like those in your favorite ones?????

"This is just weird, I just isekaid into Remarried Empress in the emperor's body, do I have to survive this now?" You mumbled, while laying back on your bed cushioning yourself into the soft duvet, before there was a knocking on the door, which caught your attention to it...

'Well, if I have to play an emperor, might as well do it!' You thought before calling out, "Come in!" As you sat up back in the bed, fluffing you pillows in the process, as you turned to look at the door, you were frozen as you saw a beautiful lady with bright, blonde nearly white hair and dark grey eyes, it was Rashta, who was crying her eyes out…As you sat up straight, putting on a façade of caring to hide the maybe upcoming annoyed expression

"How- how are you- you, your highness...Rashta- Rashta was worried..." Rashta said, wiping her eyes and nose with a dark blue napkin, as she rubbed her eyes out and sat on the chair right beside your bed. As you reached out and brushed some strands of hair out of her and behind her ears, before wiping the few stray tears falling down her eyes. You were honestly expecting to be annoyed by her actions, but instead you were her feeling pity for her, she really did love Sovieshu in the manhwa after all....At-least in the beginning, until Ergi manipulated her to make her power-hungry person. As you wiped her tears and talked with her to make a friendship with her, as you both talked while having dinner, you learnt many things about Rashta, mainly that she was a lovey person actually, quite mature and smart along with being imaginative but put on a child-like and cheerful façade to make herself likable by other stuck up nobles and Sovieshu...

Over the course of the next two weeks, you would be again taught the way to live as an emperor, talk with Navier as well and build a friendship with her and Rashta, you both spent time with each other as friends, while she took care of the empire with a little bit of help with you. You met different people from the manhwa, including countess Eliza, Laura and a few others, you pretended to play the emperor so nobody would suspect the emperor forgetting his memory, you knew your favorite manhwa to heart and you knew Sovieshu even better so it was no problem playing him except the fact that maybe you weren't straight....And you were in no way, shape or form in love with Rashta or Navier.... You were actually (y/s) and were not interested in Rashta or Navier, but you didn't know what to do....

As you were sitting outside, reading a erotica, sneaked in by Rashta who was having her education under your guidance, she saw you eyeing that book in the library, luckily since she didn't know how to completely knew how to read, she borrowed it under the excuse of "Buying for a friend" without knowing it was about BL...

As you flipped the next page, too fixated in it to realize somebody had sat next to you, as you heard somebody's voice read the lines, which made the blood run out of your face....Well Sovieshu's , but you get it....

"Well, well...I didn't realize you liked these types of novels your highness...." Navier said, as she leaned beside your shoulder reading the next few lines of the erotica, which was quite rough for a time setting like this one... But still a little bit better than those dumb ass erotica you were reading as compared to those amazing smuts.....

But back to your mind, you smile nervously as Navier sat beside you also holding a book in her hand, "I've read that one before, is it to your taste?" Navier asked, tilting her head. surprised, you shook your head to tell her, "Well, I've read this one before and it is quite boring..", "I have a collection of better ones...Would you like to read them?" Navier asked twirling a strand of her hair in her fingers, obviously blushing after asking such a scandalous thing...

You were shook as you were frozen into place and not being able to answer back and zoning out before Navier snapped her fingers in front of your face, making you snap out of your trance as you frantically nodded your head, your cheeks also warming up, Navier took a deep breathe before opening her book, which was a encyclopedia, in the first eight pages, she took out a list of her favorite eroticas you guessed, she handed it to you, saying she has all of these ordered by her brother and if you wanted to read it you could always visit her room.

As a week or three passed you though about it, reading over the titles of these books and their summary that Navier had written down. You decided which books you wanted for the time being while she gets more for you both. As you walked to her room, face with a faint blush. As you knocked on her door, when she didn't answer as you waited out the door, you knocked again a little harder this time and waited but still no answer from Navier, finally as you slowly opened her door and walked in her room, you saw a sight you weren't expecting in your whole life of Rashta sitting on Navier' s lap only in her corset and a underskirt as Navier pulled on her corset strings slowly opening them. The two ladies were deep into kissing, Rashta whining and panting as Navier and Rashta's tongue were exploring each other (and their mouths).

You were absolutely blushing finding your "wife" in such a compromising state with your "concubine" ... Trying to make known of your presence, you cleared your though as the two ladies pulled away and Rashta immediately screamed as Navier pushed Rashta's head into her neck, muffling her scream and quieting her. Navier looked back at you without a emotion on her face, her and Rashta's lipsticks smudged across her lips and neck and hickeys on her neck and shoulders, you showed her the list and named the books you wanted as Navier pointed to a bookshelf, which had a shelf of fake coloured ombre covers, you pulled on it before taking the books you wanted, and walked out the room before waving to a again making out couple, where Navier who was making out still waved her hand a bit.

As you walked through the hallways, you turned the book on the top of the bunch over to read the summary at the back, not realizing where you were headed as you bumped into someone who was running, the collision was so strong throwing you both away from each other and on the ground, making the books scatter like a drama scene, you picked up all the book before turning to the guy who you bumped into about to put some sense into their heads, as you were met with Heinrey looking at you, annoyed. You walked away, you knew Heinrey was already annoyed with you, because of the the way you treated Navier you guessed before you fainted.

As you sat in your room around 20 minutes reading a book with series of different erotic stories and were reading the first story, where the couple finally confessed their feelings as they had their orgasms together, you were unknowingly blushing and giggling and squealing like a high-school girl, as there was a knock on your door, you without lifting your head allowed the person inside, Rashta immediately jumped up on your bed, she had been very affectionate about these things and talked with you for hours on end,

"And weren't you just kissing Navier in the other room, Rashta?" You asked, curious as to why is she here.

"Well, Sir. Heinrey came to Darling's room and we had to stop kissing and pretend we were doing something important so we had to clean ourselves up real quick and so their conversation was too long and I got bored so I got out!" Rashta rambled on as you nodded your head listening to her but unfortunately zoning out half-way through, but luckily Rashta didn't notice and continued to ramble and talk about how things were going...But also you didn't notice her leaning over in your book, until she read the whole two pages as she yelled for some reason, knocking you out of trance and breaking your eardrum, probably...

"WHAT?! WHAT RASHTA?!" You asked yelling back, until she pushed your face angrily, "WHAT LECHEROUS THINGS ARE YOU READING?!" She asked angrily,

"BECAUSE I WANT TO! STOP PUTTING YOUR DAMN NOSE IN MY THINGS!"

"YOU'RE AN EMPEROR, YOU CAN'T READ THIS!!!"

"WHY NOT?!"

"BECAUSE NAVIER DOESN'T ALLOW ME TO READ THIS AND I WANT TO AS WELL!!!!"

"WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WIT-...Oh...It's fine! I'll convince her!" You said coolly, patting her shoulders as she squealed in excitement like a child getting a present, ignoring the fact that you both were screaming like shit, until you got a multiple bangs on your door, "You highness, lady Rahsta are you both okay?!" "LADY RASHTA, EMPEROR DO YOU NEED HELP?!" And multiple people asking you both,

"Oh, A BIRD! A BIRD Flew into the window?" Rashta answered back as she locked the door..Breathing a sigh of relief, you silently yelled at Rashta for causing a scene as she also silently yelled back at you, you both were bickering in your room until there was a knock on the door "Your highness, is Rashta with you?" You hear Navier's voice call out as you jumped out of bed to open the latch of the lock to let her in. Navier enter the room, as Rashta pounces from your bed and jumps into Navier's arms, who has to carry her like a koala. As Navier sits on the bed while you and Rashta try to convince her to let Rashta reads some books,

"Come on! Rashta will learn to read and once she gets through with such books she will learn to mask her expression better!" You say, Navier still looks very doubtful as she sighs, disagreeing,

"No! She only learnt to read and she's too young to read!"

"I'm 20 years old now your highness, that's not young, I also had a child remember!?" Rashta whines and reminds Navier, "I basically know everything there is need to know to create a child!" "This is different." Navier comments, "SO?!" "UGH FINE! YOU CAN READ THEM!" Navier whines loudly as she finally gave up against you and Rashta as you both cheered loudly around the room,

"ON ONE CONDITION!" Navier interrupted your celebration, "Your highness and Rashta will have to attend a dinner with his highness, Heinrey, and duke Kaufman for my business with Duke Kaufman and also because I want you both to have manners, you've been very chaotic since you woke up your highness!" Navier says and comments on you, your faces drop as you listen to Navier's bet... "AND NO TRYING TO RUN AWAY FROM THE DINNER!! AND YOU CANNOT BEHAVE IMMATURELY, YOU NEED OT HAVE ETIQUETTE..." Navier finished her argument with yelling before taking a deep breathe and sighing...

So that's why you both were sitting on the dinner table, dressed up; prim and proper yet all bored as they ate the amazing food with "etiquette" around them Navier was conversing with Kaufman, Heinrey and Ergi, as you looked under the table and bit to see Navier's hand under Rashta's dress which was bunched up on Navier's wrist, you mentally gagged before lifting your head up making Heinrey look at you annoyingly as he asked, "Are you okay, majesty??" You jumped a bit but answer, "Uhm, yea-yeah! I'm good.." as you drank water and mentally cursed for stuttering..

Finally finishing up on dinner, Kaufman and Ergi decided to retire earlier as Navier said she'll take Rashta, you nodded before waiting for the dessert, ain't no way in hell were you going to bed before having your favorite sizzling brownie with ice-cream and warm chocolate syrup. Heinrey also with you, but he was reading a book for some reason as everyone left. As your dessert finally came and you finished eating, you were finally so full it felt like you were gonna burst...You sighed and started standing up, as Heinrey said, "Your majesty, may I escort you to your room?" He asked, catching you completely off-guard, as you smiled and hesitantly declined, he still somehow convinced you saying you're sick and it would be bad if something happened to you on the way back and nobody would be there to help you as it was very late now, so you hesitantly agreed as he was walking you to your room.

Finally reaching your room, you thanked him and entered your room before closing the door behind you. As you removed your shirt and pants and changed into comfy loose pants for sleeping, as there was pecking on your door. You quickly put on a shirt, as you walk to the balcony and open the door to let a letter fly in...

You wanted to open it, but as you laid in the bed you found it difficult to even sit up and then you realized you're body was so tired and you were too lazy to anything else other than sleeping... Soon the sun rises as the morning rays hit your eyelids, burning your eyes even when they're closed...you angrily open your eye about to throw something, but deciding against it as you freshened up and got ready, when your eyes fell on the letter, you decided to open it which said,

"Your highness, you looked very good at the dinner, I hope to talk to you again soon...Even though I'ma man, I feel like falling in love with you is like being in love with the moon, it's very beautiful but it could never be mine...

Secret Admirer."

As you read, butterflies popped up in your stomach, you silently giggled and brushed a hand up to your chest, feeling your heart thumping loudly and quickly, as your cheeks warmed up, you took a few deep breaths to calm down as you walked out and to your office, Rashta was already there doing some of her paperwork or something, you couldn't tell, but when you entered she smiled brightly at you and you smiled back just as brightly as you started your work while gossiping with Rashta in the middle, until it was time for lunch, while you and Rashta were eating lunch, in entered Navier who sat beside Rashta and Heinrey who sat across from her near you, while you four ate food, you slowly saw Heinrey being less hostile towards you and Rashta, and so you all were having a good conversation...

The next day when you woke up, another letter was there with the same writing,

"Good morning Handsome, hopefully you'll converse with me today and make my day with your gorgeous smile!"

You again giggled and felt your day getting better already as you got ready for the day...and it was a thing for everyday, in the morning you'd find a letter from the secret admirer with pretty comments, speaking how pretty you'd look, how your smile was brightening up the room, and more..you had a hunch who it was, but you still kept it a secret for yourself..

Everyday you'd find Heinrey getting more and more enamored and nicer to you, you knew it was him sending those letters, but you wanted to see how far he would go before coming clean...

[feyhunter78]

Hello! Yet another demon emperor Miguel thought (because the idea rots my brain in the best way) that I had.

So! Miguel and Y/N are at some kind of fancy ball (bc that's what rich fancy noble people do in fantasy stories, right?)

And they get separated somehow - Miguel was mingling with others before they lost each other, and Y/N gets swept into the crowd of other guests.

Anyway-! To escape the noise and find some peace and quiet, Y/N sneaks out onto the balcony, looking out over the gardens. And she's just enjoying the silence, the cool breeze calming her significantly.

But, as she's lost in thought, someone clearing their throat drags her back to the moment.

She turns and sees Miguel, leaning in the doorway, admiring her.

They have a sweet heart to heart with some teasing and flirting and from here, I can see it going two ways.

-

First idea:

They hear someone in the garden starting to play music - perhaps an orchestra hired for the event. And Miguel offers her his hand.

They sway together out in the night air, enjoying the loving silence, the only sound being the music, a loving ballad cementing their adoration for the other.

They don't need to say a word to each other.

They just have to enjoy each other's company, swaying into the night, lost in their own little world.

-

Second idea, however...

Maybe it's the fact they've both had too much wine tonight.

Maybe it's the chill in the air, or the way the moonlight is dancing on them.

Or maybe it's something else entirely.

Whatever it is, they wind up in each other's arms, kissing with an intensity unrivalled by any other.

They pull apart, breathlessly. Looking at the others face for any signs of wanting to stop.

And none can be found.

...Their hands run over each other, desperate to feel their lover in the chill of the night air.

They can't take it anymore. The two of them just have to fuck. And they don't care where.

Miguel and Y/N dart across the ballroom, diving through other guests as they try and make the most of their excitement.

They sneak away somewhere quiet (like a bedroom, or a study, or even just a closet) and continue their affections. Lips smashed against each other, gripping the other, pressing as tightly as they can to them.

And then, Miguel rips her dress with his claws.

Desperate to see his wife under it.

And when Y/N complains about how it was a really nice dress, Miguel just growls that he'll buy her fifty more like it if that's what it takes to make her smile.

Anyway, they get to fucking and Miguel kisses her neck, whispering the lewdest compliments he can into her ear.

"Imagine everyone in there, finding out how desperate you are for me, my darling... Their queen, desperately begging for her husband's cock."

And they just go at it, with all of the passion and excitement that they can muster. Lewd sounds muffled by the door.

But they don't care if anyone fucking hears them.

Because yeah, they've had a little too much wine.

And sure, they both looked glorious under the moonlight.

And the air was cold - heated up by their lust in such an enclosed space.

But they're also in love.

And that's what matters.

-

Idk, I had many thoughts and this was the easiest to write out.

-Red.

I have such a different vibe in mind for Among the Sun but I LOVE THISSSSSS😍😍😍

[bee-named-alex]

Alrighttt, went to see Gladiator II and of course everyone needs to know what my reactions is, so here is my rant! Spoilers, btw

Wanna preface this by saying that I only saw the first movie once, a few months back and mostly to go see this one (a friend really wanted to go because Pedro Pascal). Just to be clear. Ok, so overall I enjoyed the movie, though I really don't think it's better than the first one, honestly, didn't even expect it to be. Lucius, our main guy, idk why, I just couldn't care for him? Not sure if he didn't seem charismatic enough or what it is, but I just didn't develop any connection to him. Same problem with his wife dying, I mean, it was kinda clear she was going to, but I don't think her death hits nearly as hard as it did in the first movie. I think cuz there, she was very much innocent of any crime and was killed purposefully, as punishment to Maximus (so like, it wasn't his fault, but it also wasn't not his fault). Whereas here, she was a warrior (cool af) and therefore her death is kinda... just another victim of war. Nothing truly personal. Also Lucius is supposedly "filled with rage" but he doesn't seem like that to me. idk I really really don't like that they made him the son of Maximus, textually. Like, don't get me wrong, it was implied in the first one, but I honestly prefered it just like that. Not entirely sure why tho :D

Acacius, fucking Acacius, ok first of all it's Pedro Pascal, what do you want me to say? I really like that he also got parallels with Maximus; general, doesn't want to fight, loves Lucilla. I think that was a great choice. I kinda did not like the choice of having Lucius not kill him, not because I think he should have, just would have prefered to have them interact at least once so that he would take longer to change his mind.

The emperors were fun and though their combined charisma did not reach Commodus' level, I feel, they came pretty close tbh. I liked the combat, mostly the personal hand-to-hand though, didn't really like the opening battle. Again, not sure why, just felt like they did it because the first one opened with a battle so the second one must too (and to kill Lucius' wife ofc). Visually pretty, idk, truly not an expert :D Though some of the CGI (mostly the monkeys) was dreadful.

...I thought "smash" about half the characters... but that's probably just my brain being faulty xD (no but I'm sorry, Ravi! Arishat! Acacius, of course!!!! and Geta (i think was the name??) honestly even, and others :D)

But again, overall I enjoyed it and can recommend. Was fun!

[spockandawe]

Okay, you know what, I think I'm going to do an impassioned rant on behalf of romance. This isn't a super fresh idea, I've seen much more knowledgeable people than me advocate hard on romance's behalf for years and years, I know people are still actively fighting to get this megagenre the recognition it deserves instead of being brushed off as Literature Lite. But I do want to come at this from the perspective of someone who just doesn't... super jive with the genre. I respect it a lot, romance writers intimidate the hell out of me, and now I have found some books and subgenres that I do enjoy, but that's only been the last year or so.

(I gravitate to sf/f and like a good romantic element, but I'm most happy when it's in support of a bigger plot. The gay lovecraftian historical has background stakes of horrors beyond mortal comprehension, the a/b/o shifter polycule has stakes of slow species extinction, I have more intriguing books marked to read as well. And of course, there's more monsterfucking than I used to imagine, and I am ALWAYS down for imaginative anatomy in my smut)

With a readmore, in case tumblr doesn't auto-shorten right

And what got me thinking about this was the goodreads awards, and the deeply unsurprising win by SJM. I don't like her writing, just 'females' alone is close to a hard no for me, and while I understand the broad appeal of her books, I'm confused and frustrated by the... intensity of their popularity, and I was talking with someone in my book club about it, who feels similarly. My very, very uncharitable knee-jerk take was that there's a lot of young adults who want to read about sex, and don't realize that the romance and fanfic communities have already done it better.

That's not fair of me, to be clear! I am also a person who chooses sf/f-with-romance-subplot over a sf/f romance book. I might find her worldbuilding choices trite, but I'll still mumble at length over how the belgariad and mallorean are actually a lot of fun if you give them a chance. 'Alphahole' might make me emit pterodactyl shrieks of irritation, but so do most of the names in goblin emperor, and I have lots of friends who very much enjoy that book. I stand by my opinions, but my personal tastes are not an objective measure of quality or enjoyability.

And, because I think it has to be said, I think there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with people wanting to read about sex. Nothing. The growing puritanism of the wider internet is extremely alarming to me, and I have no patience with it. I think my archives make it plenty clear that I'm down with smut, I only started writing period because I wanted more atla:lok kink than I was finding, and my archives used to make it very clear that I was equally down for sexy art. I'm terminally online, immersed in fandom, one of the fics I've worked with most for bookbinding (and have plans for in the future) is a space clown bdsm xeno epic. Plenty of sex to be found on ao3 and I just said I don't read much romance. So what gives?

Smash cut to podcasts. I listen to podcasts. And I've tried many times over to find a fandom podcast I jive with. I haven't yet, and I don't think that's the fault of the podcasters. I've got high hopes for the hs reading podcast, for example. But I also remember the first time I realized transformers podcasts were a thing (circa mtmte 47), and opened up an older episode to find the hosts (circa mtmte 13) having an earnest discussion about how rewind might have been attached to dominus ambus, but it seems like maybe dominus ambus owned him, and rewind cared for him as a good master. When the episode was recorded, the comics weren't overtly gay yet, there was no reason to believe they'd be given the thumbs up to GET gay, but it still made my skin crawl to hear about this couple that I knew were husbands, and the podcasters chatting about how one probably owned the other, and I noped out and never went back.

That was a running theme, to my frustration! When podcasts talk about characterization for stories I know, I've got strong opinions. I either have conversations about those with a carefully curated group of friends, or i place opinions forth into the void on here without expecting or particularly wanting conversation about it. And the written word moves faster than spoken, I can read a 15 hour audiobook in less than a day, the time sink of bad tumblr takes versus bad podcast takes is very different. And. Even worse. Sometimes fandom podcasts wade into DISCOURSE. I don't want this. I have a nicely pruned dash, I scroll quickly, and still I could use less discourse. I still get flashbacks to the transformers barbarian au debacle. I really don't want this.

I did realize, eventually, that fandom podcasts were just not working for me. I was tense waiting for discourse and ready to fight the empty air about bad characterization or analysis. But even worse than that, a lot of the time I was bored, I didn't want to hear a detailed critical breakdown of hp when my ancient interest has faded to dying embers. I've never cared about spn or dr who. I want to get into the podcast about shipping dynamics, but it's hard to get excited when I know that I'm just not INTO a lot of the big megaliths that people will rave about. Or, I'm interested in something and haven't consumed yet (ofmd) and I'm staring down the barrel of spoilers for a story I want to experience. But I want to HEAR people discuss what makes the farmers look at the story fields and say 'yep, should be a good crop of praise kink this year'

Frustrating!!! Anyways, back to romance. Romance podcasts.

Because you know what? I can get a LOT of that same content, about character dynamics and interactions and smoking hot sex scenes, and I can get it all delivered with the same fannish delight and enthusiasm it just comes with slightly different packaging than I experience myself online. I forget what pointed me at fated mates (and many of their trailblazer episodes are eye-opening, especially when they interview some gay and lesbian romance pioneers), which was nice, but I started subscribing to podcasts they recommended, and found a HOME with bonkers romance.

I'd been kind of feeling this in the back of my head, that the way these people scream over stories together was very identifiable, but something didn't quite CLICK until bonkers romance that this is really parallel (or divergent?) evolution. Just on behalf of sexism, I was already outraged over the broad dismissal of romance. But then I hear the hosts losing their minds over an absolute batshit story, like, idk, the spidertaur alien and the human who crash-landed on his planst, and how he's trying take care of her and she's not quite REALIZING that yet-- These are, very much, my people! There's a historical romance where a widow is trying to get Ruined to avoid a new marriage and shyly confesses to her new sex-club-owning beau that she's always wanted to kiss a woman, and he arranges a scene where she does that! The hosts go nuts as much as I do! This novel is a bdsm awakening sans impact play but with HEAVY praise kink tied into low self-worth! This one is about a nice young man and his boyfriend, the terrifying smoke monster!

I did decide to wander over and rant about this at length when they were discussing one of the 365 days movies (glorious? sexy? delightful? yes, apparently. good? ehhhhhh) and had a side tangent about how romance novels were so formative and how Stories With Sex were important to them as they grew up, and trying to GET them in a pre-internet age. They're at least 10ish years older than me, I think, I was split between internet awakening and novels (mccaffrey, auel). And the discussion was so familiar, about how fiction is a space for young folks to be introduced to some of these ideas and work through them on their own terms, I won't rehash it, we've all seen it before. And THEN there was further discussion about how the 365 days story has set things up so that a happy, satisfying ending would have to be a triad, right? They doubt it's going there, m/m/f is a long shot for Manly Mafia Men, but the conversational beats are exactly what I live for.

And, looping back in the fandom podcast thing again, I'm getting all this without character analysis I disagree with, I'm getting it without the fandom disk horse beats that I dread, and I'm getting it without spoilers for stories I want to consume. On the occasions a story intro has intrigued me enough to read ('as if', 'unhallowed', 'manix'), I've jumped to the next episode until I can consume it, and that has gotten me reading romance for the first time ever, and shocker, I enjoyed it! I don't think it'll ever be my primary genre, but my tastes are pretty established, and it hit those notes. I am having a FANTASTIC TIME, and I can relate to these people going nuts over X romance book perhaps better than I can relate to people going nuts over, idk, supernatural

This is too long but I'm too deep to stop now! If anyone reads this far, I'm sure to some of you, I'm preaching to the choir. I know there are fandom people who read romance already. But I want to wave this vaguely at people who are uninterested in romance, or who think there's a hard and fast line between fanfic romance and ofic romance. I've already read queer ofic a/b/o and monsterfucking and polycules, and I've barely scratched the surface. I think it is good for people to read both fanfic and ofic, but it's not my job to be the reading police (my solution: be too distracted to read either one), but even without reading, I think it's a worthwhile community to absorb, and to observe. I'll listen to a youtuber dissect a video game I'll never play for hours, and bask in new knowledge acquired. This is very similar, but even more aligned with my own creative/consumptive preferences, and I think more people should try it. I would come up with a strong concluding sentence but my awareness that this is too long has tripped over into profound self-consciousness so okay we're done, bye now, hahaha

[foxingpeculiar]

FF16 blogging: about to head off toward Twinside with Goetz. Spoilers up to that point.

I figured out what was nagging at me about Byron. It sounds like whoever’s voicing him is doing a John Cleese impression. Not a complaint, just an observation.

Okay, so I was wrong—that wasn’t Joshua/Ultima, that was apparently Harbard. But he also refers to Clive as Mythos and generally seems to be clued in to what’s going on, as does Barnabas. But how do they know what they know (and, again, how did Cid recognize Ultima) if there’s apparently no record of it, “nor even the conspicuous absence that would suggest concealed information” (Tomes)?

It’s clear that Clive is some kind of perfect vessel—that’s why he can absorb powers from other Eikons, plus Ultima basically said as much, and that “you were created for this purpose.” But by whom? My gut says Annabella has something to do with it, and maybe Olivier is some kind of second attempt or something? I still don’t know exactly what their end goal is, though, although it’s clearly… y’know, not good.

Did Kupka see Benedikta (naked, naturally) because the crystal was fucking with him, or was he just kind of totally losing his shit at that point? Might be a small distinction, but might be significant. Also, the way Harbard talks to him like a pet during their exchange in the dining room is suitably creepy.

So, I’ve mostly been avoiding reading anything about the game, but one of the few scraps I’d picked up was that the Titan fight was one of the hardest ones. And I got through the first phase like “pfff… he hit me like once, that was NOT hard.” Then there were two more phases and things got kinda nuts. I managed it in one go, but ended it with like 1/4 health and no Firelight. I did laugh cos like, twice during that fight Ifrit either cuts off his arms or smashes his hands. Like that’s a thing between the two of them.

But I’ve still only died a few times. And like 5 of them were to the Atlas hunt, the first S-rank hunt and the first one where I’m like “maybe I’ll come back to this later.” I was fighting him at level 33 (he’s at 45) and I can allllllllllllmost get him, but not quite yet.

Okay, what’s with the Medicine Girl? Cos she’s shown up 3 times now, and is on Vivian’s “persons of interest” chart off by herself. So there’s something going on there. But she only ever just passes by really quick so I don’t know what they’re doing with her.

So Dion is the queer rep here. Okay, good to know. And damn if Joshua doesn’t know how to make a dramatic entrance. Olivier becoming Emperor… well, I can understand why that would make zero sense to Dion on a couple of levels. But if there’s a “second vessel” type long-game being played here, then yeah. Still seems early to make that move, again, the kid is like 6, but go off, I guess.

I am very excited about the Enterprise, even though the quest-trilogy to get it built was a little sidequesty. I suppose it’s about having a moment with the characters, but when it was making me choose between Otto and Gav (I warily picked Gav), I was like “oh shit, is one of them going to die or something?” And was real nervous for a minute, until he started getting on with the “sappy shite.” Chose Jill over Tarja (whom I like, but c’mon) and hell yes I’ll split some soup and a pie with you girl, that sounds awesome.

The most interesting sidequest so far has been the one I got from the Alliant Reports dude re: Quentin. Cos, first, you get some of his backstory (fuck the system, take direct action and slit some throats), but moreso because it remains unresolved. When the quest ended, he was preparing for “war” and the next time I was in Lostwing for something, it was being evacuated. That and, at the point I am now, I’ve acquired some quests at the Hideaway that are the first ones I can’t just immediately go wrap up, one at a time. It won’t let me go anywhere but along the main story path for now, so I have to let them stack for a second and deal with them later.

Which is kind of an indication that the sidequests, like the Eikon fights, are getting more sophisticated as the game goes on. And that’s kind of interesting.

Okay, Mid’s lifeboat speech was fun, that bit with the flowers on the wind off Cid’s grave reminded me of the intro to FF8, and Goetz is a little TOO excited about coming along on this one. But let’s see what crazy thing happens next.

[bluemoonball]

Another November 2024 Post

I've little doubt that this will be remembered as one of the greatest self-humiliations that any country has ever engaged in. Nevertheless, there is a great deal of ruin in a nation, so we move on. We don't have a choice, you know.

There are at least three kinds of excusable motives for people. One is just being dumb as shit, and there's plenty of those. That's "he'll make the economy better" and so on. This is excusable inasmuch as it's driven by an entirely appropriate ignorance. Most people are dumb as shit, and that's not their fault; it's nothing immoral or sinful. In this system, people are supposed to be presented with two reasonable choices: go on as is, or do something else. This is precisely to account for people being morons; even morons are well equipped to decide if they like what's been happening or not. Morons who exert this basic form of democratic accountability are doing their job and can't be blamed. I think this is probably most voters on either side, and certainly most of those who swung. And really it's the party's fault for putting up an unacceptable, addled wannabe-dictator as the alternative.

The second kind of error is some kind of passionate principle or narrow interest. People who love money and hate regulation, or believe abortion is the greatest sin, or seek to punish the guy who tepidly supported Israel in its bombing. This is an error of principles. These principles are subjective, and while it's a poor idea to put them above the elementary social compact, most everyone has something they'd put above that compact--their family, their own skin, whatever. On some level, we ought to be humble enough to accept their choice of principle.

The third possibility is accelerationism. There are those who believe that the system is so broken that someone needs to smash it fully. They accept that this man is not only a piece of shit scumbag, but also incompetent and incontinent, but this is the tool they have. Arguably, some would say, only a person this warped and shriveled, this empty and cheap, this totally void, could do so. I think there's something to this view, and it is held by some intelligent people. This one is very excusable in some sense: I think the system we have is imperfect but very good and should be sustained (that is, I'm a conservative); they think it needs to be torn down in order to make progress (that is, they are progressive); and that's an instinct I can sympathize with.

By contrast, what I don't excuse is the plain old narrow sadism of trolls. One may feel resentment, one may genuinely be wronged, but to respond to it by giving in to your sadistic nature? That's the behavior of a villain, of Richard III. At its core is unformedness, immaturity, raw and tender self-obsession—"His Majesty, the baby." I also don't excuse delusion, which surely is a lot of it as well; Qanon or whatever. There's nothing to excuse when you're orthogonal to reality.

No doubt these factors are all mixed up in people, in reality, and so it would be more generous to excuse the majority in general. And so I will. But to understand and even excuse them means only not to blame them. It doesn't mean to shield them from the consequences of their actions, or to behave as though we're common citizens and need to row together now. We are not. They've made a category error. In each case, they have consciously or unconsciously, knowingly or unknowingly, made a value judgment that the fundament, the cornerstone, the centerpiece of our society—the principle imperfectly reflected in our Constitution, that power belongs to the people and so when the king loses, they leave—is less important to them than something else.

To my mind, this was clear enough the first time, but after January 6th, it's unconcealable. It shouts to the heavens. It's the Emperor's new clothes. To disregard what was done and what worse was attempted that day, well, that's their choice to make. But the response to that can no longer be persuasion, offers, and bargaining. The response to a fundamental irreconcilable difference is divorce, it's secession, it's annulment, it's contract-breaking, it's war.

At best, we are, unfortunately, cast in the role of a parent to a child. A wayward and obstreperous child who wants candy and wants his stomach to stop hurting and to stay up late playing video games all at once. We've tried to shield them from the consequences humanely, while being beset by a million other problems, as an adult is; of course it wasn't perfect, had many failings, but all in all it was a creditable adult effort, and it's been rewarded with another tantrum.

What is the response? It can only be to let the consequences hit. If amelioration doesn't work, the next move is our own accelerationism. The tat of the tit-for-tat has to come out of the sack, and this time we should do what we can to push it along. We don't need to take any joy in this, and probably shouldn't, but if they insist on eating candy despite being warned that they'll shit their guts out, then the thing to do is to hand over the candy and a bucket and leave the room.

Give it to them good. Let them have what they asked for, as hard as they asked for it, or harder. Innocent people will be caught up in the crossfire and that is unfortunate, but that is why war is bad.

With malice towards none is always a sound principle. With charity towards all is a good one that will have to wait. No charity, no succor, no aid, no sympathy other than in private; no bandages, no insurance, no safety, no sanctuary. No mercy. Let 'em all hang; I'll see them in four years, and we'll all see how they've reaped in that time.

[wyvernwriterarchive]

🌄New Champions of Dalgari🌄

The heirs to their respective thrones, the descendants of mighty heroes of eld, and the future rulers of the new realm. Their noble heritage and divine bloodlines give them powers and responsibilities that few others have.

Gathered together and guided by Grand Duchess Viria, ruler of Cerotia, they are tasked with learning all they can about the people they will he responsible for, as well as protecting them from the threat of cult that has resurfaced.

They must learn from the mistakes of their ancestors and parents and clear a path towards a brighter future.That is why they are a part of the "Gilded Guardians" to begin with.

⚡️Enid, Herald of Change⚡️

(She/They)

Heritor->Luminary

The child of Duchess Viria, whose caring heart and concern for the world, drove her to create the Gilded Guardians in the first place. Enid desires to make Viria's dream of peace and prosperity across the world’s reality, using the power she possesses and the strength of her friends and allies to make it so, smashing through darkness.

They are brave and empathetic and extremely determined to help others, often letting caution and rationality go to the wayside, which leads to chaotic situations at times.

They are also extremely conscious of how people treat them as a noble and a holy figure, hating both of these labels, yet understanding the weight those titles hold and the responsibility they have. They aspire to shield the weak and use their power to guide a path towards a better future.

🔥Taurn, Solar Flare🔥

(He/Him)

Successor->Warmaster

The prince of Bovent, a mighty empire in the rugged, warm mountains. Surrounded by warriors and trained harshly by his father, Emperor Atlas, he dreams of being a hero to the people and appease his father, his heart and blade being challenged by bloodshed, stress,and battle at a young age.

He is headstrong, rowdy, and heroic. He cares for his friends deeply and is incredibly warm, but his enemies fear him and his wrath. He aspires to be a pillar of reliability and strength for his allies and people to lean on.A perfect ally to the Gilded Guardians.

He has a heart condition that affects his ability to fight and keep his persona of perfection from falling apart. He fears being open about this, fearing that he may seem as weak if he relies on others. Though he must dismantle these ideas if he is to become a truly great leader and warrior.

❄️Leon, Crescent Prince❄️

(He/Him)

Gallant-> Lionheart

The prince of the kingdom of Liron, a frigid country in the cold northern mountains, where those of noble status are treated to safety and luxury,while commoners starve, get sick, and free One day, they decided they had enough and rebelled in an event known as the Insurrection of the Lioness. During this insurrection, Leon was kidnapped by the rebels. He prayed for safety and help from his father... but he did not receive it.

When the rebellion died down and he was freed, Leon began to realize what the people needed; order, compassion,and stability. So he decided to do everything in his power to uphold justice and be as strong as a knight so he could protect those of lower birth.

While he is honorable and kind and does genuinely want to help the people, he does seem to believe that he is better than them because of his royal status and holy blood. He upholds the noble ideal and seems resistant to change. But the noble ideal may be tested and questioned as time goes on, as cruelty blossoms in the higher courts.

🌲Sophia,Blooming Princess 🌲

(She/Her)

Sage->Auspex

The princess of the queendom of Delka, a lush and beautiful land filled with ethereal forests and groves. Her mother,Queen Fiáin, was praised as being a nigh perfect queen, ruling with strength, wisdom, and love. Things would stay perfect... until she suddenly went missing. Sophia, not feeling confident in herself, desperately tries her best to find her mother before it is too late for her country.

Sophia is a kind and energetic woman once you get to know her. She cares deeply for her friends. But her nerves are very prevalent. She worries constantly about the future. In order to not think about it, she searches for her mother whenever possible, often neglecting her duties as princess.

She can't keep searching forever. Her people will need a ruler. She doesn't need to be as perfect as Fiáin, or as respected. But she does need to be there to take responsibility. And perhaps she will find out that she is more capable than she appears to be.

🔮Noah, Agent of Eventide🔮

(He/Him)

Strategist->Grandmaster

The heir to the throne of Nowtuol, a small yet country in the plains and coasts, known for its incredible amounts of knowledge. In Nowtuol, knowledge truly is a powerful resource. One that in this society you can not simply share with anyone you please. Unfortunately for Noah, that is exactly what he wishes to do, much to the chagrin and annoyance of everyone he talks to. He was ostracized for being different and a potential liability, which left him lonely.

One day, he learned of something important and dangerous that would soon be headed for Nowtuol. To prepare for this, he put several plans into motion and protected his people, and was eventually welcomed into the Gilded Guardians. They were more than happy to hear about the information he had.

Noah is an extremely noble and energetic soul who cares for his friends. Though he may be a bit awkward and doesn't get treated well by society. Hw believes that his knowledge and prowess are not things he alone should have, and wants to do a he can to help bring wisdom to the people and enlighten them, so they may use that knowledge to the best of their abilities.

☀️Angeline,Merciful Maiden☀️

(She/Her)

Maiden->Valkyrie

The princess of the kingdom of Phenlory, a land with snowy tundras and forests. Despite having a champion's blood in their veins, she was told constantly as a child that she was not strong enough to face the world, unlike her siblings. She spent her time under the protection of many holy knights and inquisitors in the safety of a palace or temple. She prayed to the heavens often, hoping they would answer her call and give her the power she lacked.

Angeline thought she would be stuck there, but she saw how harsh the world could be, and she saw people who needed her help. So she decided to leave, healing the sick and injured, and helping others. Eventually, she received a strange vision and left the country, only to realize it was a trap. But thanks to the Gilded Guardians, she was saved.

Angeline is quite shy and sheltered, not knowing much about the world, yet still filled with the desire to learn. She holds very little confidence in herself, besides her skills as a healer, but she hopes that she can use whatever power she can to help those in need and potentially become someone the people can rely on.

🌪Wulf, Verdant Wayfarer 🌪

(He/They)

Nomad->Zephyr

The long lost heir of Pakwil, a country to the east with beautiful plains, mountains, and rivers. Before, it was a land of peace and joy. But due to the cruel ambitions of its leaders, this image melted away. Leaster, Wulf's bastard father, ended up discarding him and his family when they didn't pr9ve useful enough. They would regret this choice, as when Wulf grew older and learned ahour his lineage and his father, he was determined to tear down the corrupting forces.

The only problem with this plan is that he was raised a commoner. Wulf has no idea how to manage a country, let alone make it as peaceful as it was before. But due to the blood in his veins, he believes he must. He may be lax when it comes to his studies, but he does take this opportunity seriously.

Wulf is a relaxed, charming man who knows more than anyone about the plight of the commonfolk from his time living as a mercenary. The feeling of being told he is special and destined for greatness scares him. He fears that his chaotic situation may disrupt not just his life but the lives of the common people.

🪨Shahriyar, Eclipsing Hand🪨

(He/Him)

Thieftaker->Hellion

The prince of Ampherous, an incredibly advanced sultanate in the southern deserts. His father was taken from him by a curse that's placed on the country by a lost civilization. And that curse is soon going to affect his brother, Surya, and the people of today. Fearing for his people's safety, he decides to become his brother's shadow and find a way to break the curse, no matter the cost.

He seems like a simple, wisecracking, nonchalant noble with a tongue as sharp as his skills. But beneath the surface lies a man willing to do whatever it takes to protect those he cares for. Working with those with cruel intentions, becoming a wretch so that his loved ones will seem better and be safer. He has an incredible amount of ambition yet tries to keep a level head, ultimately on the side of good... or at least, the law.

He doesn't tell any secrets that he doesn't have to, and often seems more than a bit untrustworthy. And with his plans to potentially take away the luxuries and advancements of his society, he seems to be fully prepared to face any consequences he has to alone...even if he doesn't have to, and probably shouldn't.

🪷Leilana, Floret of Faith🪷

(She/Her)

Sibyl->Dawncaller

The princess of the country of Taliver, a land in the arid savannahs and cliffs of the south. The country has faced harsh weather, plague, violence, and misfortune for years now. And Leilana experienced this first hand when her parents died to sickness.

But she did not lose hope. Nor did her people. To help them stay happy and hopeful, the princess has been working hard to ensure they have better lives by marrying Lord Surya of Ampherous,ensuring an alliance between their countries.She also leads a band of entertainers, physicians, and folk heroes in a band known as the Joy Brigade, who wander the world to bring happiness to the people.

She is a bundle of joy and faith and is optimistic to a fault. She believes that if she does the right thing by her people, things will work out. A child's logic, perhaps, but those are beliefs she holds dear to her heart. Giving into despair and pessimism isn't going to solve things any faster.

🌑Amethyst, Bewitched Blade🌑

(She/Her)

Alraune->Vouivre

Amethyst is the eldest living heir to the throne of Umbertala, a kingdom deep in the dark thickens and swamps. Her older brother and many of her people were slain by Phenlorian inquisitors in an event known as the Umbertalan Massacre. Because of this, she has had to grow up fast, becoming cold and analytic, and accustomed to the ways of high society.

She is calm and very quiet. She often watches those around her very closely, waiting for them to make a move against her. She isn't exactly very trusting, especially when it comes to anyone from Phenlory. So, if someone is lucky enough to gain her respect and trust, they better make sure they don't break it.

Her cold and hurt heart is burdened by trauma that she is not given time to process. Deep down, she can be as silly and awkward as a teenager at times. But that behavior won't do. It's weak. And right now, her people need strength and stability.

[littleflowerblogspot]

How to Improve Your Skills in Super Smash Bros Ultimate

A quite literal guide to improve skill and longevity while playing Super Smash Bros Ultimate. *Based on a true story and real observations* 

The Beginning 

It all started at the beginning of this year. My friend group has played lots of games together to include Mario Kart, Overcooked, Jackbox, and various other card games. But something felt different when our friend Myles took out his Switch and offered up the idea to play Super Smash Bros. There are five of us, including Myles, but only he truly knew the complexities of the game. Clouded by the little experience we’ve had from previous instances in our past, we all decided to play. It went, as any experienced Smash player could guess,…horribly. We all died swiftly. Myles being the last man standing with a full stock of lives left. 

I don’t take too kindly to losing and after a few rounds of what felt like endless and inevitable defeat. I gave up. I could feel the true effort that it would take to even try to beat someone with so much more experience than me. So instead of learning the game myself, I decided to sit back and watch my friends dawn on the adventure to hone their skills. 

From these observations my friends fulfilled these 4 Smash player archetypes…

The Emperor 

Myles represents the Emperor. In the friend group's eyes he was not only the best but the best you could ever get. Definitely an older brother vibe. While playing against him it seemed as though he knew our every move and knew exactly what to do to win. 1 against 3 looked like a fun skip through the park for him. When questioning him on why he was so good all he could answer was time and practice. He had been playing Smash for a while, accumulating over 600 hours played, and has basically memorized every character and their preset moves, powers, and quirks. He served as a true inspiration for the rest of my friends to improve their skills.  

The Knight 

Ryan represents the Knight. While highly enthused at first, Ryan quickly grew to despise the game. Figuring that inorder for the game to actually be fun and enjoyable you’d have to put in a significant amount of time and effort to learn the characters, the moves, and to be able to predict other players' attacks and counter attacks. While stating his dislike for the game, he used that distaste as a sort of inspiration to get better at the game. Outside of the group he spent his time trying out different characters with different presets against countless CPU’s to see what felt right to him. After months of practice and play, his hard work has paid off being able to beat Myles (with or without the help of the others) almost every 2 games. 

The Magician 

Adam represents the Magician. This is everyone's younger brother, just there to fuck around and have fun. Spamming and making a joke around every combo. There are no tactics to how he plays, but if there was he would strategically be playing as unpredictable as possible. This ensures that other players don’t properly know how to play against his moves because he's not using any typical combos. Yet this isn't what he's doing, he's just playing around purposefully being annoying. But still after months of constant playing I saw that he also improved, though in a way that almost seemed magic. He started winning just enough games to actually quantify being significantly better than terrible. 

The Fool 

This was me, this is you, and it’s also what my friend Max represents. After all this time we are just as confused, losing half of our lives to falling off the map, losing our placement on the screen, and used as a shield for other more experienced players. Sadly we have to realize that sometimes it's ok and come to terms with the fact that maybe not every game is for us. 

The End 

In the end there is only one clear and guaranteed way of improving your skills in Super Smash Bros Ultimate. And that is…time. Well lots of time and lots of effort. It's not just gonna magically click for you, like every other great game and every other craft or skill it takes time, effort, and practice to become skilled. And for a game as large and customizable as Smash expect at least 5 months of almost daily play in order to beat a Lv. 9 CPU.

[sketching-shark]

Haha! Okay :3

So to set the context, a lot of my (admittedly morbid) interest in the violence running rampant in JTTW lies in the way that you see past and contemporary societies react to the violence they commit. And while there's infinite nuance in these reactions, you do start to see two big patterns emerge: that once acts of mass violence have been carried out, societies tend to either either sweep these crimes against humanity under the rug & do everything they can to pretend they never happened and/or present them as a tragic but sadly necessary act, OR they frame these atrocities as proof that they're super cool and awesome and so much more powerful than those they exterminated. In the 21st century global civilization tends to prefer the former choice, but the latter option is something that happens every day.

So turning back to JTTW specifically, while it is true that the levels of violence can sometimes seem over-the-top cartoonish what with the starring monkey routinely smashing people into meat patties, a lot of it is also under-girded by these all-too-real presentations of violence both abrupt and systematic and at all levels. This is a world, after all, that does have bandits preying on farmers and wayfarers, but is also one where an human emperor can have over 1,000 people executed in one go for something they didn't even do. The presence of the supernatural and human-eating yaoguai as such are part of the violence that defines the world of Xiyouji, but they are FAR from the only source of human pain and misery. Even the Jade Emperor is explicitly presented as someone who can and will curse an entire landscape with a lethal drought because of something even he perceives as the fault of but one individual!

Turning then to our main monkey Sun Wukong, the book pulls no punches in presenting him as a devious and murderous yaoguai who uses his vast capacity for violence to get his way. But, and for me this is the crucial sticking point, in a world such as this one, why wouldn't he? After all, so many other people with enough power to impose their will, from gods to humans to yaoguai, act in very similar ways! Tang Sanzang, Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing, and Bai Longma themselves are also both the victims (being condemned by the Jade Emperor to all kinds of tortures) and the perpetrators of terrible violence. This rambling was all started by me bringing up the fact that Tripitaka helped get the guys who murdered his father and raped his mother tortured to death for their crimes, but we also see (among other things) how he's proud to call himself brother to the Tang Emperor, who is explicitly characterized as a man who had countless individuals, including his own brothers, killed in the formation of his rule. Sha Wujing and Zhu Bajie also killed and devoured who knows how many people, which in Sha Wujing's case likely included nine of Tang Sanzang's past incarnations. And, of course, it can't be forgotten that on the Jade Emperor's orders and at our dragon horse's father's request, Bai Longma was whipped hundreds of times and hung in the sky as punishment for arson. Hell, Sun Wukong's first ever murder was against the Demon King of Confusion, who was not only tormenting and killing the Huaguoshan monkeys, but kidnapping their children. And even with SWK giving him the chance to stop and surrender, the Demon King of Confusion made it abundantly clear that he had no intention of stopping until SWK stopped him permanently. So from his very first murder, and as seemingly backed up by the actions of so many other characters, this basically confirmed for SWK that he could solve a lot of problems for himself and his loved ones through power and violence. And you could argue that this is something that was but strengthened by the fact that right before this murder, the Monkey King had been told by his own shifu that because he was destined to be wicked, SWK was to never tell any one that Patriach Subodhi had trained him; if he did, he would be tortured to death. So even his teacher is in the end relying on threats of violence and his ability to carry them out to get his way.

In all these cases then, the "moral" is very clear: that this world runs on the ability to use violence to impose your will on others and thus get what you want. And that since everyone else is working on the same principle, no need to feel a twinge of remorse for the deaths you may cause, especially if they're in the service of a greater good such as protecting your family and kingdom. And even when it comes to SWK at his worst like during the war on heaven, this situation does drive one to ask if you would behave the same, that if someone told you that you better surrender immediately for a punishment because you ruined a banquet or else they would kill you and your entire family (what the Jade Emperor did wrt Sun Wukong), would you feel confident in believing them, especially if you were of the mindset that they had lied to you before? It was a gamble, but Xiyouji makes it pretty clear that it is such gambles that the world is defined by.

But of course, this is just the very start of the narrative. I'm sure many people much smarter than me have discussed this, but one of the really neat things that JTTW does as a narrative by having its big warfare scene right at the start rather than right at the end was it then gave itself a lot of page space to go over what happens after the major violence is over. And it's here that we really start seeing this pattern of suffering leading to more suffering, how the consequences of violence can last generations beyond the violence itself, and indeed how said consequences aren't alleviated until a sincere effort is made to end them. And in fact, we do see through the pilgrims that the tortures that they're forced to endure do basically nothing to change their characters, how it was only through going on the journey and actively doing good--and here too often under the threat of further pain but also with the promise of great rewards--that they begin to change for the better. So underlying all of this is the discomfiting implication that it really didn't matter for their redemption how much they suffered, how sorry they were, or how much they begged for forgiveness; all that mattered in the end was the material actions they took to help people out as part getting to the next stage of the journey.

But the narrative of Xiyouji also demonstrates how the perpetuation of violence itself doesn't end even after major catastrophes and wars, and how this can intersect with sincere efforts to alleviate suffering in sometimes very disturbing. Like I know that people know about the destruction of Huaguoshan and the genocide of its monkeys as a form of collective punishment for SWK's challenge against heaven. But what I've only see one person bring up so far is how almost as soon as SWK found out about this he rapidly set to work restoring Huaguoshan into a verdant land as much as he could and getting the remaining monkeys food, clothes, and the skills and weapons they would need to fend off potential future attacks in his absence. But the first thing he did to give the monkeys the time to recover was to prevent the hunters who were hounding them to extinction from ever coming back. And 3 guesses on how he did that! Spoiler alert it was through mass murder.

So this for me is then one of the central and most interesting tensions running through Journey to the West; that the world is full of violence and suffering. That in fact it may make sense in this context for others to adapt violent ways if that's the only thing which is getting results. But that it's also the case that an insistence on violence is precisely how you get politics that in the end are little more than a spiral of incredibly dangerous and incredibly dumb Mexican stand-offs that can and often will end with countless people dead or in pain, a number that in all likelihood will eventually include yourself.

The peace and one-ness that Buddhism proposes then looks like partially a religion, but also a survival strategy. Where the milk of human kindness as it were isn't a fantastical dream, but in fact something required to keep us alive.

And to get there, you got to be honest about not just what you did and how the world around you permitted it, but how none of this violence had to happen, that none of your actions, even with the world's circumstances, were set in stone. As the Monkey King himself demonstrates, you can be good, you can be bad, but no one possesses an "inherently" evil heart.

I've been an apologist for all of the pilgrims, but even by today's standards there's something so refreshing in how unsparing and blunt Journey to the West is when it comes to laying out those funky dudes' various atrocities.

[gentrychild]

I feel like AFO is a good example of how grief can really change a person. Like you said, OFA is the only thing of his brother he has left. If someone dear to me died, I would also want to keep anything and everything I could. TBH, to me, it's clear that AFO has not processed his grief of his brother and his trauma. Instead of All Might smashing him out of a face, maybe he should pay for AFO to get a therapist or something. I mean, I'm sure there's a part of AFO that does like being the emperor of evil, but I also feel like therapy would at least help him with his brother issues.

I am going to stop you right there: AFO is not the victim here. And it’s certainly not All Might’s responsibility to redeem him.

While I agree that Yoichi’s death made All for One more unhinged than before, it absolutely did not push him over the edge and it can’t be used to explain all the evil things he’s done. That man jumped off the slippery rope long before we even met him.

That guy killed people without being bothered by it long before he ever found this stockpile quirk.

This is a guy who is ecstatic at the idea of people murdering for him without even having to ask him to give the order.

He imprisoned his brother. I know we are all joking about the vaulting thing but I am pretty sure we are approaching torture territory. Human brains can’t process being placed in solitary confinement. It drives them crazy and to this day, I am sure All for One did it to break his brother’s spirit and make him more compliant.

In chapter 193, what do you think happened to those people he depowered in the middle of a fight?

It’s not because he didn’t kill them himself that he isn’t responsible.

And I am not talking about all the One for All holders he killed. May I remind you that he didn’t only kill Nana; he nuked her?

Do you maybe remember Kamino, where he flattened an entire neighbourhood just to take out four heroes? Those buildings certainly weren’t empty.

You don’t negotiate with someone like him. You try to survive him.

And I can’t even understand why All Might paying him therapy is an option? Don’t you think All for One has the money to see a therapist on his own? And even if he did, he wouldn’t stop being an asshole or a mass murderer.

All for One doesn’t want to be better (making a therapy a moot point, btw). He just wants to obtain whatever strikes his fancy.