#and if not then then he absolutely learned it after the Eye yoinked him

[th3archivisst]

So, do we think Jon learned simlish the second the game came out as a way to deal with Georgie breaking up with him or no

[hyatoro]

yoinked this ask from another blog but i thought it was a really interesting question for your yan charas (frankie and kayden, specifically 😳) !! : ‘What is something that your yanderes want to hear? What they need to hear? And what they dread to hear from the reader?’

Franklin Russell

"I thought we were already dating?" Someone says something that leads to you saying this, and as delusional as he was, there's just something about hearing you say it that makes his heart full. It means that you two were always on the same page! "Frankie, I'm running out of space for your gifts." Extremely true. You need to move out and get a bigger place or something if you want to keep all the things, otherwise you might need to downsize on stuff and that's not going to be good for anyone.

"I'm moving to get away from you, Franklin." What? What do you mean he doesn't get to come with? What do you mean you're trying to leave him? No, that doesn't make any sense. You two are best friends. You can't.

Hwang Minsu

"I like how you smell." An obvious one, but true nonetheless. Either you have a strong sense of smell, or you're all up in his space, and you know which one he prefers.

"Get it together. The nightshift isn't sustainable for you." It's literally going to be the death of him if he doesn't get sunlight ASAP. Dude's vitamin supplements are working overtime. He doesn't even own sunscreen. Get him some and get him outside in the day time, otherwise he will burn from how pasty he is.

"You fucking reek." Same reason as the first one. Only the heartbreaking version of it when one of the core things about you is repulsing to the one you love. Would send him into a spiral.

Kayden Nguyen

"Wanna come over and beat It Takes Two with me?" Getting invited over to play a game that requires a player two, and you chose him of all people, makes him super happy. Plus he gets to roleplay being married to you, even though the premise is them trying to get divorced in the first chapter.

"All that beer can't be good for you." Not gonna lie, but he is definitely an alcoholic by medical standards. He's not entirely addicted, but it's become such a regular habit for him. Literally if you want it though, he can absolutely cut back to a reasonable 1-2 drinks per week. It's a habit he learned from his dad, and his way to bond with the older man, but for you? No problem.

"What did you just do? No. Get away from me." If you catch what he's doing to the people that try and approach you, AND you condemn him for it? He'd be devastated. They don't deserve you, but apparently he doesn't either. His raised arm falls to his side as he feels like caving in on himself.

Augustine Carver

"Now that that's out of the way. Augustine Carver, will you marry me?" If you were to propose to him immediately after getting your engagement annulled/taking care of the Crown Prince and Saintess, he'd be shell-shocked. After you nudge him to see if he was still breathing he screams out a 'yes'.

"You can't just challenge everyone you don't like. You're going to cause problems." Another true thing. It's a different setting. He's a Count. If people are making googly eyes at you, which they should cause you're hot, but they also shouldn't cause you're spoken for, then he's going to challenge/get rid of them.

"After the way you had forsaken me and our friendship. You really thought I could ever forgive you?" Decimates him. He knew he had done you wrong. He's grateful that you let him be by your side, but it's because you're using him. He doesn't mind, because he literally offered himself to you for that reason. But part of why he does it is to atone. And if you said this to him after all you two have been through together, he'd be crushed and speechless. Because what leg does he have to stand on?

[weebsinstash]

Was thinking of something you said about Luci. Like him crying when he sees you coming you back to the hotel all marked up. Even better idea, him regularly spying on you using the orbs/balls from episode 6. Probably started as a way to learn more about you and make sure you're safe but quickly became something else....

Like you say him seeing you after? How about him watching you get fucked crying his eyes out and touching himself?

Like he's so upset it's not him, but he can't NOT watch and listen! He needs to see what you like so he can be perfect for you, and make sure you're safe. So what if he touches himself? How can he not when it's you he's watching and hearing? Even if it's with some sinner scum.

I misread Luci as Lucci and I was like "HOW DO Y O U KNOW I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT ROB LUCCI, I HAVEN'T EVEN POSTED ABOUT MY CP0 READER X LUCCI ESPIONAGE IDEA YET--"

I was thinking about Lucifer, you know, how we tend to think of him as Charlie's dad and just "the Devil" but I think we can kind of forget, he's also the Cardinal Sin of Pride, and I keep brainstorming on how he's probably INSANELY JEALOUS AND POSSESSIVE AND WOULD BE TRYING TO IMPRESS YOU ALL THE TIME

Can you even imagine like. He's peeping on you getting railed by someone twice your size and that person can absolutely scoop you up and throw you around with how big they are and here's Lucifer uncomfortably reminded of how short he is. bonus points if before this you and him had an argument and you shit all over his height just to piss him off and now he's seeing you fuck some huge dude. Give him that emotional damage with the backstab buff

The thing with Lucifer is that, he's short, yeah, but like. He's also ungodly strong. I'm too lazy to link the post but people have pointed out that he literally was not even remotely phased when Adam was throwing him against a building and trying to hurt him, like actual frames of Lucifer just kinda sitting there o.o, totally unbothered. And this could go one of two ways! You could get protected and rescued by him and, he scoops you up into his arms and that makes YOU feel small (in a sexy way)

OR

you kinda like, not infantilize him per se, but you figure, since he's "this little goober" that he would never like, ACTUALLY do anything scary, but. Honey he's a grown man who wants you as a serious partner and he's extremely prideful and attached to you and you're, constantly picking other people over him 💀💀💀 you're irritating him on purpose, you're giving him sass, you're FUCKING OTHER DUDES and I can see him totally snapping, "you think I'm not serious about you?! I'll show you!!" and just, yoinks you up, snatches you away, you're magically appearing either AT THE ALTAR WITH HIM LIKE, WEDDING WITH AN ENTIRE AUDIENCE, or straight into his bed where he proceeds to show you exactly why he deserves to be your king

(Tbh I've grown a sudden uh, taste for "yandere character suddenly reveals they're gonna marry you" and I mean with a whole ass engagement ring and WEDDING especially for Lucifer and Alastor recently 😩 WAIT LUCILILI POLY WEDDING-)

Still obsessed with "i bet she doesn't even see me as a man" Lucifer vs "he definitely doesn't even see me as a woman haha I'm gross :)" Reader where little Luci Goosey finds out you're just, straight up either hating yourself or have been rejected too many times to even find yourself desirable, and the second he realizes it's not even him that's 'the problem', he's taking matters into his own hands. Like something slips out of your mouth, "why would anyone want me, I'm, I'm dorky and stupid and gross and ugly" and Lucifer is just like, "OH!!! Aw honey you just have depression :) oh golly we have so much in common--"

I also just. Really like the idea that he's basically got full control over Hell and can get in your head and know what you're thinking and feeling if he REALLY wants to. Got another ask in my drafts I'm about to get to that delves more into the idea of him and Lilith HELLA abusing their dream controlling/pocket dimension powers in a definitely not "you didn't know you had a secret second life in your dreams that was 100% real" kinda way...

[modelbus]

Heyy! Could you do Wilbur x artist!reader dating hcs because a musician and an artist? I feel like Y/N like Wilbur makes so much art of him to the point she actually probably made one of their lovejoy posters!! And Wil would teach Y/N guitar and Y/N teach Wil how to draw and its so SDHDSGJ

I'm an artist and I think this would be cute! Hope you can answer this ask <3

- 🍄anon :D

I’m not an artist myself, but my two artist friends came in clutch here!

Pairing: Cc!Wilbur x Gn!Artist!Reader

Adored Artist

Idle drawings of Wilbur completely fill your sketchbook. Him playing guitar. Him sitting there. A specific doodle of him with a large forehead— for the joke.

The two of you tend to sit together without talking. You drawing, him creating Melodies and lyrics.

Getting showered in compliments.

He talked about decorating his guitar once, and you drew nothing but guitar designs for the next week.

His callouses and your graphite-stains are jokingly called “battle wounds” together.

When Wilbur buys you art supplies as gifts, he is painfully meticulous in making sure the supplies are good and ones you like.

Him peering over your shoulder to see what you’re working on, always delighted when it’s something related to him. Whether that be a simple guitar sketch for practice, or actually him.

And 100% yes he’d be yoinking your drawings to use for Lovejoy or merch reasons.

“Hey Love, remember that drawing you did the other night?” He asked, leaning against the couch where you’re curled up with a sketch pad. “You’re gonna have to be more specific than that, Wil.” You had laughed, finishing part of the sketch and looking up at him. He laughs too, leaning down to kiss you. “The one with the Lovejoy mascots. And our skull.” He had elaborated for you. Your eyes had lit up, flipping to the page for him. “Yes! That one. I was thinking, maybe it’d be cool to use as a design for merch?”

You couldn’t believe it, that he actually wanted to use your drawings. But, when you realized he was serious, you jumped at the chance.

(He insisted on paying you for it, too, even though you assured him you were perfectly happy giving him the designs. For two weeks you played a game where you passed the money back and forth until you gave up and just accepted it)

He doesn’t shut up about you or your talents ever. Met someone new? He’s pulling out his phone to share your art. Saw someone online talking about art? He’s tagging you to say you’re the best artist ever.

Teaching each other <333

Wilbur had made a small comment, and you jumped on it.

”I wish I could draw like that. You’re so talented, you’re incredible.” “I can teach you.” “What?”

Did not go well at all.

“Imagine that the light is here, okay? So you have to shade where shadows would be, making it darker there.” You explained patiently, gently tapping the areas you’re talking about.

“Shadows. Darker. Shading.” Wilbur repeated, looking up at you. You were leaning on him, your head on his shoulder to see his drawing. A very… admirable attempt at you.

“Go for it.” You encouraged, and he blinked.

“What?”

“…Were you listening?”

“Of course I was, love.” But the way he had leaned in to kiss you—to distract you—certainly said otherwise.

Since you “made” him draw, he convinced you to learn how to play guitar.

You protested (secretly loving the idea of learning from him) but in the end he got you to agree.

Sitting on his lap, his arms wrapped around you to help you form the chord shapes. It’s cozy, and you’re absolutely failing.

“This is a G—“ “My fingers don’t do that, Wil!”

In the end, it turns into him playing a song for you. But only after you manage to make that G chord, finger pain be damned.

He loves putting up your art on the walls. Taped.

[kit-kat-jo]

My Murder Drones Finale Analysis... 2/2 - 1/2

jesus, imagine getting your entire life force RIPPED out your body, and being able to look back at it. i feel like this is only a taste of what the dissassembly drones went through during transformation.

uzi desperately trying to scoop her core back into her gaping open chest will haunt me for life, i think. and her hands haven't regenned yet, leaving her to scramble even more. absolutely. horrific. probably gonna be the most gruesome moment in this series for me altogether. didn't even notice N getting yoinked away there lol

this whole sequence as well… we, or N starts hearing a second voice while she repeats “let me in,” but who is it?? the actual cyn? one thing i know for sure though, is here is where N starts to get his past flashbacks, specifically of being torn apart and transformation. fuuuucked. up

i realize now that Uzi’s protecting her core from Cyn’s callback pings in all the times she’s grabbing at her chest, but at first i really thought she was terrified of losing her core again. which: UNDERSTANDABLE GIRLIE!! MY heart?? broke.

so, N did see the actual Cyn while he got tore open. and now he’s having proper trauma flashbacks and getting back bits and pieces. this absolutely breaks my heart, seeing how desperately panicked he gets, watching memories of what i’m only assuming is V being transformed. my sweet baby. for a moment i thought for sure he was going into a full panic attack. it’s a good thing hand holding pulled him out of a full on episode, but i think this man deserves a nice big breakdown after everything to process all the shit he’s been through. pretty sure V needs the same thing, having held onto these memories a whole lot longer. post series group therapy sesh?

i think i'm gonna hear CALLBACK PING in my nightmares, actually.

AND THIS IS WHERE I FUCKING CRY!!! after everything, after learning J was never on their side, V breaks. she needs to let everything out in the open to N. her apology and genuine emotion is so, so important to me… she LOVES him! always did! and it fucking hurt to have to hide like she did, only for it to all be a trick! she wanted to be honest with him this whole time, but she was so scared! she felt like she HAD to resort to acting resentful towards him and pushing him away! it gets me so, so bad.

and then N sacrifices his own safety to save her.

also teefs.

sorry

oh god. when V realizes that she’s only led N to his death… and that this long ago promise was only one big trick… everything falls down around her. she desperately grasps at being able to fix this. she blames herself. as Eternal Dream plays in the background… it was always their song, man. it was always V singing to N. so many of the lyrics fucking HURT now, putting it into this bittersweet context.

“let my body keep you warm, let my essence be your breeze, can you hear me calling? please look out for me. can you set me free?” it was always a love letter to N. (platonically. i see it platonically, better yet, in a sibling way.) the wishes she had for him to know everything. for them to be together. for her to not have to hide. to go home, to be set free from her neverending dream. it’s all so horrible and lovely and poetic to me. she deserves everything. they deserve everything.

and then her expressions as Cyn’s about to eat N’s heart, agonizingly slowly, staring her straight in the eyes so mockingly to pour salt in the colossal gaping wound. HEGGDHHSGSGGH💔

on a side note, i find it so interesting how, seemingly, a drone’s core magnetically gets yanked back to the body as soon as it gets a tiny chance. very ehm… helpful.

bi uzi tho. QUEEEEEEN PROUD OF HER FOR COMING OUT 💜

“glad you’re not dead or whatever.” waaaahahahh. they care for each other. bwuhuhuhh.

here, howd she stop letting the callback ping effect her….? just from being cringe and free?…. queen i guess?

also, she can effectively control the solver without cyn making it go crazy anymore. is this a result of just practicing and gaining more control over it? she’s just built different? or another plot hole? shrug noise. i said i was oddly okay with the plot holes, so that stands true here too.

nori already flinging herself into mom mode with her terms of endearment had me CRYING BRO!!! development!! she went from “i caused every horror in her life,” i gotta stay away from her, to HELL YEAH THAT’S MY DAUGHTER, KICKING ASS!! mom of the year ❤️

the entire fight scene was SO GOOD!!! i need AJ Dispirito’s “Bite Me” song injected into my bloodstream RIGHT NEOOWW!!

i’m obsessed with seeing them hold hands to calm each other down after a moment that affects one of them. it’s my favorite thing. we came so far from episode 6…… wipes tear

the lyrics focused on these two here is interesting to me… V saying to let her go, Uzi saying she’s not worth saving… either i’m looking too deep into it or OUCH GUYS NOOHOHO, MY SWEETIES

this had to be giffed. also, i love these scenes breaking the immersion several times and showing that all this time the nightcore is just playing through uzi’s ipod in the distance. absolutely genius.

i’ll admit, i was so confused from the black hole scene at first. but now i understand somewhat. after uzi grabbed her core and formed a [null,] she essentially had cyn’s life force. all those times she got away by turning herself into a black hole and floating off... that was essentially HER. in the void here, cyn had to try and get it back to come back to the living, like a drone putting their core back in their chest but in a weird, eltrich cyn way, i guess? instead of her core, its the manifestation of the solver itself? cyn’s and tessa’s bodies are so far gone, that all that’s left is the solver? and as soon as uzi saw what was happening, she knew she couldn’t have it back.

she fucking eated it…. homph. that was not on cyn’s bingo card. the eyes are HILARIOUS

awwwww husband wife reunion! she is so uzi’s mother.

and now, before we get into the end of things, my vizzy propaganda. not only did lizzy KNOW that v wasnt dead, and distracted j for her, but now, in @ottterpops' words, the sentinel is just like the pet she doesn’t want. its her and v’s daughter now, it’ll grow on her for sure : )

and now, my chosen video! :D

EVERYTHING about this scene, N calling for her, the HUG, him squeezing the LIFE out of her, her noises of getting choked and giggling, sent arrows straight through my heart, THEYRE SUCH CUTIES AAUHHHHG!! n spinning her around and throwing her in the air, her tackling v, ugh! THEY GOT THEIR HAPPY LITTLE ENDING!

she’s a fucking mary sue guys, ohhhh my lord. the eyes are so so cool though, they literally look like a sunset. she is living her best mary sue life now, jesus christ. she deserves it ❤️

uzi, uzi my beloved. she feels like a dear, dear friend, my sweet little emo who goes through the horrors and comes out of it with all her unhinged goofy cringe. i love her so, so much, and i’m SO fucking proud of these three. they deserve the happiest little life together.

and lastly, end credits!!! during the series rewatch, my friends and i joked that the finale should involve n getting to play a game of cards with everyone. and HAHA SKFHSJCKSJDHDJS

oh they’re def watching a scary movie… look at the way they hold onto each other, i’m done 😭😭 if i redraw anything, it’s gonna be this first tbh.

i ran out of space for images again, but! the solver still being alive in uzi is so good, she’s gonna be a real pain in the ass… the implications this brings up is so fun to think about, ugh the possibility for spinoff series is crazy! i’ll be waiting with baited breath for more content from glitch, whatever it may be! i’ll be happy!

alright, this is probably the longest frickin post i’ve ever made. but god, did i love this show. i’m so grateful my friend got me into it, and i can’t wait to continue loving it, rewatching it and messing with my stories for as long as that’s gonna last.

thank you Murder Drones, Glitch, and Liam Vickers. now to waste money that i don’t have on merch!! 💫

[xerith-42]

wait so i love the idea of MCD laur being launched into MS season 3. Now i have questions.

Does he end up telling them about being a shadow knight? Or does that… reveal itself (rubbing my hands together menacingly). If so, how does that go down? What’s the reactions? The circumstances? mwahaha

Does he get to visit Cadenza? What’s that like? For that matter, are his dads alive in this universe? (AUGHEUGHEU) Does he ask Cad about them?

Oh now that's an idea...

He 100% would want to keep it on lock down. Even if these alternate versions of his friends are surprisingly chill about him being from another dimension, they even ask him questions about it, there's some stuff he refuses to tell them. Idk where he would start living, maybe with MyS Garrance who knows, but whoever first sees him without a shirt on would no doubt notice the amount of scars across his body. There's a difference between "I come from a dangerous world" and "I have scarring of multiple stab wounds and burn marks that would have easily killed someone."

If anyone tried to ask him about it he would just dodge the question, tell them that it's nothing, just wounds from a battle he's already won. I don't think his calling would fully be able to act up in this other dimension, but it would try to. He'd be hanging out with everyone, getting to know them, and then when he looks over at the now second alternate version of the woman he loves so much, it just happens. In an instant his hands become shaky, his eyes start to cloud over, and all his thoughts are filled with the urge to kill.

And let's remember, at the point he got yoinked out of his original timeline, Laurance has just barely if at all started to come to terms with his condition and what it does to him. He's still in denial about how bad it is because he doesn't want Aphmau to worry or Garroth to distrust him. He doesn't know or understand different symptoms because they just started, and now he's surrounded by people who don't even know what a Shadow Knight is.

I imagine the calling acting up would make Laurance run away, like physically run the fuck away from Lover's Lane with no way to track him because boy has inhuman speed and no phone. The thing that gets him to come back is when they find him hiding in the woods that line the city. And the person who finds him is this dimensions version of Cadenza. The one person who no matter what situation Laurance was in, is able to talk him down.

She's not the same as his sister. When he sees her he can see the difference in them. His sister is a little taller, carries herself differently, and is obviously dressed differently. But her voice sounds so similar, her laugh is the same, and the soft way she talks to a freaking out Laurance is enough to ground him to some sense of reality when he's spiraling. Cadenza was always able to talk Laurance down from a bad decision when they were kids, and now this alternate version of her is able to do the same.

MCD Laur and MyS Cadenza become absolute besties after this. Like forget his budding brotherly relationship with MyS Dante that reflects the same one they had in MCD, he's found someone he can consider family here. He never talks about what happened, just tells everyone it was some warrior instinct that went haywire. What do you mean his eyes sometimes change color when he looks at Aphmau for too long? You're making things up again Travis.

Fun little aside, Laur would 100% tell most of the cast about their counterparts, and Travis would be so upset to learn that he doesn't have one (as far as Laur knows).

And one day Laur goes to Cadenza's house so they can talk and she can figure out a way she can properly dress him. Everyone else lives alone or with another adult roommate, so he doesn't even think to ask about who she lives with. When he knocks on the door, there's nothing that can prepare him for who opens it.

It's Joh.

His dad. His real dad, or the closest thing he had to one. The man who first took him in, and the first person Laurance failed to protect.

Emotions take over logic and he just hugs this man. He doesn't know if Cadenza's informed him of the situation, he doesn't know if he's supposed to pretend to be the other Laurance, and he doesn't care. In a precious moment he's able to hug his father and maybe break down crying while he's hugging him who knows.

I do think Cadenza tried to explain to her dads that the man coming over is an alternate version of Laurance from another dimension. And while Hayden is a sci-fi nerd and can actually wrap his head around the concept, Joh was sort of nodding along for the conversation. He gets that this man looks and acts a lot like his son, but isn't his son. Yet this doppelganger hugs him the exact way his son did when he came home from college, with so much love that it crushes him.

And for Laurance, even if he knows this is no doubt an alternate version of his father, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because for just a sweet sweet moment he gets to hug his father and pretend like he didn't completely and utterly fail him. When this now very awkward hug breaks, Laurance has to come to terms with reality, see that this man is indeed different from the one he failed to protect.

But for just a minute... it felt like he was.

[highfantasy-soul]

Things I LOVED from NATLA Episode 5 - Spirited Away

Katara creating a water version of the earth disks!

Small moment, but Sokka and Aang don't jump until Katara is there and grabs their hands to lead them off in the jump onto Appa

Love that Momo's the one who picks up the acorn to give to Katara - he's so cute!

Katara calling on Gran Gran's teachings <3

"Seeds for the future, not past mistakes" - bringing back up the themes around needing to let go of past guilt so you can step into the future

Big brother Sokka 😭😭😭😭

Pipenpadalopsikopolis!!!

Zuko is such a sassy dick to Lt. Jee XD but like, kinda deserved atm as a girl with ice is kinda, really, something that should raise some flags.

But damn, Jee's face - it makes the next episode all the more satisfying

"Water the most promising seed" ooooohhhhh

"Not self-serving flattery and coy whipers" oooohhh BBUUUURRRNNNNNN

Though it burns all the more as we know that children want the approval of their mentors/parents and it's unlikely Azula has ever gotten that organically, so she feels the need to prompt it.

tHiN pLaCeS????? Sorry, Bruce from Dungeons of Drakkenheim has just primed me to fear that phrase and what it will bring.

Jumpscare where I really thought Sokka had just been yoinked into the Spirit World by that tree branch XD

Aang and Sokka bickering because Sokka can't stop talking and Aang is trying to concentrate - love the group dynamic here

Sokka's little "sshhhhhhh" in the back

Katara practicing her forms!!!

Blue Aang!!

Sokka being absolutely not here for a Spirit World journey and Katara quickly accepting it and just enjoying the ride

"When have I ever caused trouble?" 🙄 "When indeed." 😐

The most AWKWARD and NOT SLICK questioning by Zuko 😩 failing to smoothly slide the money pouch over the counter, just…he's SOOO BAD at being 'nonchalant'! He wants to just scream at you and demand you obey his orders, damn it!!!

Just Dallas' whole performance here - so fucking funny

Pirate mention! Canyon guide!! Stopped the volcano from erupting!!!

All those side quests get nice little mentions <3

Iroh's little run as he chases after Zuko throwing his tantrum 😭

JUUUUUUNNNNEEEEEEE!!!!! NYYYYYLLAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

Omg perfect. So perfect. Perfection. Gorgeously perfect. Did I mention perfect?

Zuko and Iroh's little slap fight XD

June noticing Iroh is cute 🙌

And Zuko's disgust at that 😂

Love Aang always mentioning Gyatzo and all he taught Aang - and Katara really wanting to soak in the knowledge

I like that they brought the entire Gaang into the spirit world here so we could have a natural in-road to deep character work

WON SHI TOOOOONNNNNNNNNGGGG!!!

Nice birdie!!!!

Also great touch with only Aang being able to understand him here, humans just can't

Pretty eye shot!!

Azula's blue fire!!!!!

Really like the choice to let us see her progression to the blue flame - more character development is always a good thing in my book

"Everyone knows you're perfect" "That's not good enough" - smash cut to Zuko

SOOOOO GOOOODDD - seeding her fear that if she doesn't prove herself adequately, her father will treat her like he did Zuko

Showing not telling, people! This is what that means!!!

Zuzu!! Being disgusted - love it

Love Iroh trying to seed his lessons in with pai sho anecdotes

I'm sorry, this scene is hilarious and I cannot unsee it being Iroh trying to prep Zuko for the news that he and June are a thing XD "I know it's unexpected, and she's much younger, but open up your mind to new ideas! There's much you (I) can learn from a dommy mommy."

Again, reinforcing that Zuko has a strong sense of right and wrong - right now, that's leading him down the path of following the Fire Nation's rules, but that very same integrity will be what makes him change sides

Ugh, Iroh's lessons wrapped in pai sho terminology are soooo gooooddd

Creeeeeepy spirit world!!

HEEEIIIII BBAAAIIIII!!!

Who's a cutie patootie panda bear?? YOU ARE!!!!

Oh no, Sokka!!! He went flying.

Suspicious 3-tailed fox!

Her talk about pain right here is so poignant not only for this storyline, but the future one with the ocean spirit

"Do you always make jokes when you don't want to talk about something?" - cutting right to the heart of a lot of Sokka's humor as a coping mechanism

Just… everything with Katara's spirit vision

Her getting to see her mom again and hug her, the women joking around about braiding and Kya encouraging Katara with her waterbending

The absolute gut-wrenching horror as Katara knows what's about to happen, the viewer knows what's about to happen, but the helplessness you feel as you have to watch it play out

Katara trying to save her mom but not being strong enough - it's so well done and we see why the trauma is so very deep when it comes to her and waterbending

Omg Koh's introduction was sooooo terrifying

The sounds, the way he senses despair - it's everything I love about the spirit world

Hakoda!!! DX

Bato!!!!!

I like how we're getting to see that Sokka's feelings of inadequacy as a leader and warrior aren't unfounded - he DID struggle, it didn’t come naturally

I don't blame Hakoda in this moment - he knows the war is coming and he's going to have to leave Sokka in charge - he knows it's not fair - he knows it's an impossible situation, and he's desperately trying to exert some control over the uncontrollable

It makes sense that he'd want Sokka to be magically perfect, that way he could feel marginally better about abandoning him and the village - it's not like he has a choice to stay, everyone is in impossible situations and wishing your kid could be the perfect leader when you know it's going to be forced on them anyways is totally rational

Love that Aang immediately clocks the vision as not real

Despite wanting nothing more than to go see his home and people again, he's a master of the spiritual side of his nature - he knows how to rein it in.

It hurts all the more when we get to Gyatzo and there's the initial distrust - completely founded

Koh's lair!!!

Creepy centipede boiii

Love their chat and I like to think that Aang's past lives subtly let him know not to show emotions with Koh

The whole situation around Koh's face that opens and closes - thanks, I hate it.

It's well done. And I hate it. Please get it away from me. I do not like. Please, kill it with fire. Thank you.

But Gyatzo!!! He waited for Aang for 100 years!!!!!!!!!

I'm gonna say it again - everything with Gyatzo is pure gold. I'm so glad they expanded more with him being Aang's first mentor, even after his death

Gyatzo trying to relieve Aang of his guilt over not being there for the fire nation attack ): It's something Aang really needed to hear and I'm glad it was someone who was present who told him that, not someone just trying to make him not feel as sad.

Aang leaving Appa and Momo in charge of watching over Katara and Sokka!!! So sweet

Gyatzo's monologue is great - how sometimes it feels like we'll always be alone, the only thing keeping you company is your own pain

It ties into every single character of the series and it's such a great through line - they're all suffering in different ways. They NEED people (even Azula) 

[Masterlist of my NATLA thoughts]

[cyberphuck]

Assassin’s Apprentice Abridged: Part Two

Read Part One (My friend Razz wants to understand my Farseer Trilogy shitposts but doesn’t want to have to actually read the books, so I decided to summarize them. This turned out to be much harder than I thought it would be! Here’s part two of ASSASSIN’S APPRENTICE: ABRIDGED!) When we last left our hero, Fitz was a little baby following an old man into a hole in the wall.

"Gosh, Chade," Fitz says, after a wholesome montage of him learning how to steal things and poison people, "I love hanging out with you. It sure is neato to have a friend. I get to do all sorts of pranks around the castle, and once in a while the King even calls me to his rooms to remind me I'm a tool of the Crown!"

"You know what would be really funny?" Chade asks, eyes alight with glee.

Jump cut to Fitz's Twilight-esque depressive episode. He lays in bed for days, staring at the wall, refusing to get up. Burrich comes up to his rooms to ask Fitz what the fuck is going on with him and assumes he's dying.

Fitz can't tell him that Chade asked him to steal from the King and he refused, because everything about Chade is a secret. Burrich doesn't know that Chade told Fitz that if he wasn't game to yoink something from Shrewd's chambers, that he could get the fuck out and never come back.

"Watch this, Shrewd! You can actually pinpoint the second when Fitz's heart rips in half!"

(Burrich tries to cure Fitz's ailment by introducing him to alcoholism. He's like ten.)

Sitting in his room alone and drunk, Fitz starts wailing. He cries and cries until Chade finally comes back down through the secret wall-door to hug him. "Me and Shrewd wanted to see if you were really loyal," he says. "So we traumatized you. We really wanted to introduce you to depression, alcohol, and abject betrayal at a young age and this was the quickest way to do it."

"I want my mommy," Fitz sobs.

"There, there," Chade says, drugging him and leaving.

Later, Fitz is summoned to speak to King Shrewd again, who explains that it was all his idea to give Fitz borderline personality disorder and absolutely does not apologize for it. Fitz takes a knife from the breakfast table in Shrewd's room, brings it back to Chade, and stabs it into the mantle above the fireplace.

I like to think that every time Fitz throws himself into needless danger for the next ten books, Chade looks up at that knife and goes "lol. lmao."

--

"Hey Lil Accident," says Head Scribemaster, "you're pretty good at writing. You wanna be my apprentice?"

"Gosh. I'd get to go places and do things," Fitz marvels. "And almost none of them would involve poisoning people!"

Chade Mission-Impossible drops from the ceiling and hangs above Fitz for long enough to tell him that no, he can't be a scribe's apprentice, for one thing he's already learning to be an assassin, and for another Fitz is kind of an important political tool, being a bastard of a Prince, and someone would definitely murder him.

"Sorry," Fitz tells the Scribemaster, "my uncle said no."

"But you can go down into town and buy some stuff for me, since you've been good," Chade says, reeling back up into the rafters.

Fitz jumps to his feet. "Oh, boy, social interaction! I haven't seen my hoodlum friends in a year! And you know who ELSE I haven't seen in a long time? MY MOM!"

He strides happily past a sad woman in the street wearing an anime mom side ponytail, completely ignoring her in favor of his old friend Molly Nosebleed, who goes by Molly Chandler now that her dad has stopped punching her in the face.

"You're the only girl I know, besides that hysterical woman over there screaming that I'm her son," Fitz says. "I think I have a crush on you."

"Neat," Molly giggles.

Lovestruck Fitz gathers his groceries and heads back up the road to the keep. Princes Verity and Regal ride by, carrying a banner that says "CHIVALRY'S DEAD. THE PRINCE, NOT THE CONCEPT. I MEAN THE CONCEPT IS ALSO DEAD, BUT THE MAIN POINT OF THIS MESSAGE IS THAT PRINCE CHIVALRY FARSEER HAS FALLEN FROM HIS HORSE AND"

Burrich shaves his head. And his beard. And his eyebrows. And his dog's hair. And Fitz's hair too, for good measure. Fitz, rubbing his new buzzcut, says "God, if you loved him so much, maybe you should have married him," and Burrich flings himself into the sea.

"We should be careful," Chade says, later. "Because Chivalry was probably murdered. Anyway, you're going on a road trip. tl;dr one of the dukes isn't properly manning the watchtowers that keep vikings from viking the coast, and Prince Verity has to go deal with it, and you're going with him."

"What's a teal deer?" Fitz asks.

Wandering around outside the castle later, Fitz runs into Shrewd's Fool with a capital F, the albino freak-child that cartwheels around in the King's wake all day.

"Oh no," Fitz says. "Are you lost, little freak child?"

"fjdaklfdafds," says the Fool.

"Come on little fella, I'm not gonna hurt you," Fitz smiles.

"FDAJKFDLALSDFAS," the Fool repeats, louder.

"Do you need an adult?"

The Fool steps up to Fitz, grabs him by the shirt, yanks him down to eye level, and says, "Fitz Fixes a Feist's Fits. Fat Suffices, you fucking beautiful dumbass."

Fitz stares at him.

"I thought you were too dumb to know how words worked," he says finally.

The Fool flips him off and cartwheels away.

"...Weird," Fitz mutters. "Whatever, time to go to NEATBAY! I hope I get to kill somebody!" On the way to Neatbay (in a riding party consisting of Prince Verity and like half the staff of Buckkeep), Fitz pals around with stableboy Hands, and meets Mysterious Old Person Lady Thyme, who is a person that sucks in every way possible.

Hands whispers to Fitz that everyone in Buck knows that Lady Thyme sucks and avoids her. Lady Thyme shrieks that you whippersnappers better not be liking yourselves up there!

Fitz and co. finally arrive in Neatbay. It's a walled city like the place in Attack on Titan, with concentric fortifications like an obstacle course that Vikings have never been able to Vike all the way past (this will not be important again until the next book). It's ruled by Lord Kelvar and his trophy wife and if Kelvar doesn't get off his ass and start manning the watchtowers Fitz might have to poison him to death.

They have dinner. Fitz hates rich people. He eyeballs everybody at the table.

That night before bed, Verity calls Fitz into his room. "What's going on with Lord What's His Face?" He asks the boy.

Fitz explains a very complex situation about how Lord Kelvar is clearly trying to impress his Young Hotness Wife with lots of jewels and shit and his Young Hotness Wife is trying to impress everyone else with her jewels and shit and meanwhile all those jewels and shit could be going to pay to man the watchtowers and the roads, and Kelvar has to take some pride in doing it or else he'll become embittered and...

"I'm going to tell Lord Kelvar to stop being a puss and man the watchtowers," Verity says, and turns over to go to sleep.

Fitz facepalms.

Late in the night, Fitz wakes up starving and ninja-sneaks down to the kitchens to grab a midnight snack. While he's there, a woman comes in with a little doggie wrapped in a blanket.

"My poor little doggie is dying," she sobs. "This type of dog is a small hunting dog called a 'feist,' by the way."

"Hack," says the dog.

"I think your dog is choking on something," Fitz observes, whipping out his stethoscope. "Yeah, there's definitely something jammed down there. Let's get it out. Hold your dog steady."

Fitz finds a long hook, slathers it in butter, and wiggles it down the dog's throat while the dog yowls and pees and scratches the Mysterious Blanket Woman. It takes a minute, but eventually he manages to dislodge a chicken bone from doggie's gullet and they all sit back, panting, while LeVar Burton comes onto the screen and lectures the audience about never letting your pets eat poultry or fish bones and the importance of limiting table scraps and keeping them on a healthy diet. Thanks LeVar!

"You saved my doggie's life," Blanket Woman says, and pulls back her blanket to reveal that she is actually Lord Kelvar's Young Hotness Wife! "I shall repay you in any way you wish."

"I'm thirteen," Fitz says.

"Any way you wish," the woman repeats.

Fitz scratches his head. "Oh! Tell your idiot husband to man the fucking watchtowers before you get Vikinged to death. I mean," he amends, "I had a prophetic vision that a strong and graceful trophy wife spread out her arms to protect the laaand wooooo~"

Then he goes back to bed.

...And is woken up YET AGAIN by a servant telling him that Lady Thyme is demanding his presence down in town.

Oh. Joy.

Fitz gets dressed, saddles up Sooty the horse, rides to the inn that Lady Thyme is staying at, knocks on the door. "I heard you're calling for me," he sighs. "Are you dying or something? Please say you're dying."

Chade opens the door. "Fooled you, boy," he cackles. "I am Lady Thyme! And we have to go to Forge right now."

"You made me empty out a pot full of your shit every single morning for five days," Fitz says.

"Get on your horse," Chade orders, and they're off.

"You know, I've never actually seen you outdoors before," Fitz says as they gallop down the coast. "It's-- are you snorting coke right now?"

Chade sneezes, wiping his nose. "Stay in school."

They ride hell-for-leather for Forge, a little town known for two things: iron exports and being raided by Vikings. They manage to get there twelve hours after the nick of time because Chade had to return some VHS tapes, and find little more than a completely burned-down village and some zombies.

"Chade, are those slow zombies like in Dawn of the Dead, or fast zombies like in the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake?" Fitz asks, watching the zombies shambling around and fighting over pieces of rotten bread and pairs of pants.

"Run," Chade advises, and they do.

On the road out, they pass a bunch of non-zombie survivors moving all their slightly singed possessions to another town. Nobody wants to stay in a town infested with zombies, which the people of the kingdom start calling Forged people, or just Forged, because one of the rules of zombie movies is that none of the characters can say "zombies."

Over the course of the next few months, more and more people are kidnapped by Vikings and Forged, but no one can agree exactly what should be done about it.

And then one night, Fitz is picking his nose alone at a table in the kitchens when another mysterious woman approaches him…

[wall-eye]

The run down and lead up of events re: fawn wager crows nest crew and the absolute mess we are in at the last session

Fawn is a pc, the pinkest valley girl rogue satyr, originally from the feywild is on the material plane hiding and being a pirate

For reasons that don't matter rn, our ship sinks and we get stuck in the same island that our rival pirate crew is on

We see the Captain and this fox guy from his crew in a tavern and Fawn goes over to bother them

Oh! Fox guy, who we learn is called Wager, is also from feywild!

Oh he asked to have her name

Fawn likes that. She does that. She likes this fox

They leave tavern together to get mail, when they come back Wager is covered in kisses and they're dating

its barely been an hour if that since introductions

We convince Wager to help us find Captain

We make a plan to steal rival captains boat, since we lost ours, and recruit Wager to help.

Before we can do anything, an archfey (derogatory) called The Spider shows up again

We dont like him and Fawn is very scared of him.

Events happen, and we find out that another archfey (derogatory) called The Lady is also here

she is Wager's "boss". Wager doesn't want to go back

She takes him back to the feywild anyway

Its very upsetting

We decide that we were going to steal him anyway, might as well steal him back from the feywild

We go there, with help from fawns uncle, archfey (affectionate), Uncle Cass

We meet Ephie, new pc, and Foxboy, a young little fox folk like Wager.

Events happen

We learn, that Ephie's "mother" is The Lady (archfey, derogatory, stole wager, punishes ephie when she isnt perfect, Archfey derogatory)

We learn that Uncle Cass and The Spider are engaged

We get yoinked by the spider and are forced to relive not-quite-nightmares of ours infront of an audience

Fawns was last, she had a face to face with the spider and he showed her "Wager" with one eye.

When we wake up, we see the spider but get an "intermission" before we fight him

Wager is the one to bring us back to the arena after its over.

Hes disguising himself to have two eyes. He doesn't want to be here but can't say it.

We promise that we are going to come back and get him, then go to "fight" the spider

We win, he's an archfey and this was a show so he isn't dead dead, but we won and we return to the green room.

Foxboy is there! He has some letters for us, but cant read it :( he's only 7 :(

Its an invitation to Tea Time from The Lady. We read it, are transported, and wake up to a wooded area, in fancy outfits and the aarakocra pc (me) as a human

We meet an dmac (dm assistant character) and get lead to where we are supposed to be for tea time, stopping for a snowball fight with Wager's and Foxboy's sister

(We also have learned that Foxboy(/Felix) is just a permanently 7 Wager, through archfey derogatory nonsense)

Their sister tells us that Wager is "rehearsing" for something important. Is cold, particularly to Fawn.

Note: The Lady is an Archfey of the winter court.

We make it to tea time. We have a few moments to get familiar with the space before The Lady and Wager appear

Wager calls Fawn over to the private duo table, the rest of us sit at tables and try not to freak out too hard yet.

Fawn's having a wonderful time. She has found her boyfriend, her fancy dress is a bigger poofy pink wedding dress, and she keeps talking about how they're going to get married

Wager is both so happy to see her and so extremely anxious

Kul can see this, and gives him a bardic inspiration. They can tell he *is* about to propose.

They stand up and Wager starts doing a speech

He gives her a dagger, customary for spring court proposals (Fawn is from spring court) and a loud confetti canon goes off, obscuring them

Dm goes ok couple people deafen. Secret dnd time.

We, kul and ephie, see what really happens

Wager says speech, which if you look closely at spells out GOOD BYE, and ends it with this (bones is a nickname for fawn from wager. Its cute, she's bones he's treasure. This session was titled Treasured Bones)

Wager says speech and raised a gun

And shoots fawn

A table is rolled and she is only paralyzed, he falls to his knees.

The Lady says "finish the job"

And he stabs her in the heart, and hugs her dead body on the floor

Out of character we are losing it. The ones deafened are worried about our reactions. Theres nothing we can do.

People undeafen. We clarify that we are picking up exactly where we were.

Our dm lets us do deals with him to get extra information. I had done a deal to get more info on Foxboy, and my consequence for it was that I had to react with violence in a situation when he told me. So

Kul sees red. Theyre crying. Theyre not responding to questions. Theyre attacking Wager.

Ephie is crying over fawn but the other two are more concerned with the immediate unexplained violence and dont notice or even think that fawn could be dead

The Lady is watching this all, gleefully

Kul doesn't kill wager. They do a big spell and physically attack him with a weapon they had loaned to Fawn, then their mind clears

They turn back to Fawn and the others see that she's dead and dying

Ephie asks her mother to help. She learns that this was a punishment for her for leaving the manor and making friends, and getting close to Fawn in particular

The Lady leaves

Hai asked new God (she recently broke her oath and got a new God, she doesnt like her much) to help and loses an arm to the elbow for it

Kul calls in a favour with Hais Old God, saying they "can't take losing another one"

He shows up and Kul revivifies Fawn.

She wakes up, her hair now has some blue bits and her scelaras are now blue and one eye is pink instead of orange

End of session

WAGER WAS FORCED TO KILL HIS LOVE BY THE LADY, BECAUSE EPHIE HAD LEFT HOME AND GONE FARTHER THAN INTENDED AND GAINED FRIENDS, AND KUL ATTACKED HIM FOR IT.

[darthkvznblogs]

I get that it would make for a pretty boring story (and I suspect they're the kind to fall victim to the Sunken Cost Fallacy), but is there a reason Doom and Reed didn't just use their future knowledge to gather the Stones and fix it all with a Snap?

There’s a handful of reasons, but I’ll focus in 3.

1. Ego. Not the Living Planet, but their own insurmountable need to be the ones to Figure It Out. As they’ve mentioned, they’ve already managed a few iterations where they win in a manner similar to how you describe, but it’s never been a perfect victory. People die (important people, in their eyes, for all their crazy I don’t think they’re delusional enough to think it’s possible for absolutely no one to die), Earth suffers, there’s all these little flaws that their pride simply cannot allow them to ignore.

2. There’s an inescapable gravitational pull to certain events in the timeline, what I’ve described as the “framework” of the universe. Heroes and villains must exist. The Avengers must form. A great foe must desire to enact great, terrible change through the Stones. The heroes must oppose them, leading to a final clash to decide the fate of the universe. If R&D go out of their way to yoink the Stones before Thanos can even think to seek them out, before he’s even born, something else (something worse, most likely) will take his place. Doom and Reed are obviously powerful, and they make up for what power they lack with sheer willpower and bold action, but defying the curve that keeps the universe existing is beyond them - at least, for now.

3. Crazy as it sounds, Thanos is a known quantity. They’ve studied him and his history extensively. I’ve mentioned that the predictive models they use to figure out where the chips will fall after a new universe is integrated is never 100% accurate, and it forces them to be hands-on and adapt as needed, but their grasp on Thanos’ decision-making and potential paths taken is as close to perfect as it can be. It’s extremely rare for the Mad Titan to surprise them by now. It would be a fool’s errand (or at the very least, an extremely arduous process, even to someone with their, er, general disregard for the passage of time) to fight the natural flow of the universe and force them to have to “learn” a new Big Bad when they’ve already figured this one out.

[ashipiko]

ASHACE TRIVIA!

buckle yourselves in guys this is gonna be a LONG ride (click under cut for the trivia)

🌺 — Ashi has absolutely NO idea how makeup works 😭😭 “oh I know concealer! then it’s like eyelashes and eyeliner and eyeshadow and lipstick… uhh… and uh… uh… WHAT DO YOU MEAN DO I KNOW WHAT FOUNDATION DOES. HOW WOULD I KNOW” meanwhile ace over here is all “oh yeah that does that for that and blabalabahalh” and so it’s a funny dynamic of “ash, you’d look good w this” and “what. what is that” 😭😭 personally I like to think that ace does makeup on her for fun because a pretty face like hers has SM POTENTIAL that its like “??? HOW DO YOU NOT DO ANYTHING W IT???” and also the fact that. ashi’s one of the prettiest people at NRC and she’s completely natural is so good

❤️ — ashace has like. A LOT of dynamics within them (besties, besties to lovers, mutual pining, rivals, etc etc) but their romantic dynamic (AKA what I think most of y’all are curious about) is

ashi: teases/flirts w ace for fun

ace: teases back

ashi: malfunctions and has no idea what to do

ace: gets the upper hand

AND IT BECOMES LIKE THIS LIKE. ONCE ACE GETS FED UP W CONTAINING HIS FEELINGS AND JUST GOES “SCREW IT” and that causes Ashi to fall for him and BAM. ashace canon

not to mention ashi’s like a gigantic tease for fun 😭😭 she just uses her charm to see how many people she can make fall for her as like. a personal challenge <3 even tho she’s straight she won’t hesitate to see if she can make chicks fall for her too

SHES LIKE. THAT STANDARD “flirty chara but has no idea what to do when flirted back to” YK

🌺 — ON A MORE NON-FLUFFY HAND…….. man. the inferiority issues ace has dealing w both Ashi and deuce………. BOOK 5 IS SUCH A GOOD BOOK FOR ASHACE DEVELOPMENT BUT IT HURTS SOMETIMES.

SPOILERS FOR BOOK 5 BUT LIKE so in another AU (called yuuniverse might talk about it more another time; but the yuus can basically learn magic as long as they work hard enough) Ashi reveals her UM in book 5 😭😭 and its like?? she’s aware that Ace could totally feel inferior when two of his favorite people end up getting a head start over him but she reveals hers because “deuce hasn’t gotten his yet so Ace’ll have deuce” and then BAM deuce gets his. AND IM LIKE??? POOR ACEY…

but even just canon where ashi’s magicless she’s just so naturally talented and excels at so many things w such ease that like YAY ACE HAS COMPETITION. BUT THE INFERIORITY ISSUES RHAT COULD STEM FROM IT….. UGHHAGSHVWSHWH yeah. them

❤️ — Ashi freaks the hell out and bursts out red when ace grabs AAAANYWHEFE LIKE. around her midriff/hips and once Ace figures that out she’s done 😭😭 tryna tease me??? yoink I’ve got your hips <3 she loses all power

TBH on the other hand I do think that ace would freak w anywhere on his head??? like head pats head scratches blabalaha <3 v cute and he’ll melt into Ashi during cuddling sessions v easy

🌺 — ashi has baby hands. no matter WHO she compares them to THEYRE ALWAYS A GOOD CHUNK TINER like maybe even just the tiniest bit bigger than orthos. DUNNO

but ACE MAKES FUN OF HER FOR THIS ALL THE TIME but alas he still loves holding hands w her 😔 even when they were just friends

❤️ — SPEAKING OF JUST FRIENDS……. Ashi has a habit on grabbing onto people’s arms and leaning her head on people’s shoulders when she likes them (platonically or romantically) and w ashace they hang out SO MUCH that Ashi pretty much always does this 😭😭 espec when she’s tired, she’ll just lean her head on ace’s and close her eyes and fall asleep maybe 🙏

🌺 — ………if ashace have kids the two names they’re planning for are Avila and Alexander (Alex can go both ways, avila’s for a girl <3) to keep the trend of having every family members initials be A.T. 🫶 speaking of initial’s ashi’s and Ace’s are the exact same already 😭😭 both are A.T. (totally not foreshadowing I swear)

❤️ — ace pops by ramshackle for sleepovers WAYYYYYY more often than he does in canon and he NEVER STOPS TRYING TO SLEEP W ASHI. after a while she lets him because they’re close enough friends but like DW THEY DONT GET TOO IN CONTACT. maybe pre-relationship there’s some tickle war’s and movie watching but they don’t cuddle 😔 once they DO get into a relationship they cuddle and ashi’s the little spoon and it is so cozy because her bed is covered in pillows and fluffy things <3

🌺 — Leona legally (and secretly) adopts Ashi during her time in twisted wonderland (they’re like annoyed older brother and annoying little sister dynamic to the max) and Leona’s really protective of her, and so you BET when ace gets w Ashi he has to talk all smooth around Leona if he doesn’t wanna get pummeled 😭😭 for all Leona yumers out there you’re basically ashi’s mom now (sorry not sorry DW she’s responsible)

[trashcanbutcute]

Icarus Dark.

17 years old; Seventh year of Hogwarts.

April 18th; Capricorn; INTJ.

He/Him

Straight.

Pure Blood.

Manchester, England.

Slytherin. The sorting hat barely touched his head and it immediately screamed SLYTHERIN.

Black hair, piercing blue eyes, a perpetual serious expression and a very pale skin.

Very closed off, Icarus prefers to talk only when absolutely necessary. When he does talk, it's usually in a condescending tone, as if he knows he is better than you but doesn't feel the need to explain why. He has a very stern, no nonsense attitude. He hates beating around the bush, you either say what you want or don't say anything at all.

He absolutely despises wasting time. He values his time, it's basically the saying “Time is money”. So if you won't help him or be useful, you can see yourself out.

He himself isn't sure how he has a friend, he knows his attitude is not the most approachable. So imagine his surprise when a fellow Slytherin basically adopted him. He just took one look at him and said "oh poor thing" and yoink, adopted. I imagine their friendship to be like Manny and Sid have, from Ice Age? Where one is serious and just "leave me alone" while the other is stupid and “awn you don't mean that, you jokester”. (I'll make a post about him probably,,)

The Dark family is famous for almost preaching it's purity for all to hear. They will carry this to. their. grave. Beng the only son of the family, Icarus has been pressured to not fuck this up ever since he was little. His two older sisters ditched their family and left them behind immediately after they turned 18, marrying and running away with their spouses to never come back. Icarus then grew an intense hatred for his sisters, growing up with the assumption they left him behind to suffer in the hand of their family in their place. Because of this he has a hard time trusting people.

He carries the family name, so his parents pressures him into marrying immediately. Arranging dates, forming deals with other families, introduce their daughters to Icarus. But he doesn't care about marriage, he thinks it's pointless. Even if he succumbs to his family constant nagging and marry they will never leave him alone. He knows that the moment he marries, his family will pressure him to have children.

His name actually came before his backstory lol. I imagine that he will go so far to make his family proud that will "fly to close to the sun" and just hurt himself in the process. Stretch himself so thin to please his family there will eventually be nothing left.

I imagine his style to be a mix between Dark Academia and Royalcore.

He will never admit it but he is absolutely in love with muggle poetry. He adores the way muggles take such simplistic things such as the sound of the rain, the changing of colors in the transition between season, the sky and the stars and find a much deeper meaning. When muggles make mundane things seem straight out of a fantasy book. They make life seem so magical, which is ironic, because they don't even know magic exists!

He is VERY cynical. He acts in his own self interest and doesn't understand the way others will throw away everything they have for something so trivial like friends and family.

A lover of tea and an enjoyer of fine dining.

Wears only the most expensive of colognes. Likes scented candles, favorite scent being lavender (he is a basic bitch, fight me).

He would excel in Potions, Spells and Charms, History of Magic and, surprisingly, Care of Magical Creatures.

He doesn't care about flying lessons because, in his words, "It's utter rubbish, why learn to fly on a broom if we are perfectly capable of apparating?”

He absolutely hates Herbology and Divinations; Herbology is messy, the Mandrakes are so loud and his plants never grow so he got petty. Divinations is mostly because of Professor Trelawney, he truly believes she doesn't know what she's talking about and is making everything up on the spot, but also because he thinks it's stupid, because it's so difficult to get precise results, it's so open to interpretation you could say there isn't any, and it's just so trivial, like, why would we even have this as a class?

Songs that describe his ✨ v i b e ✨ is Reflections, by Toshifumi Hinata; Carol of the Bells, instrumental version; Merry Go Round of Life. .

[mcmcntomorii-later]

Plots please ( for Soi fon, Yoruichi, Yor, Byakuya, or Itaru. YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO ALL OF THEM. JUST ONE. I JUST WASN'T SURE WHO TO PICK SINCE I WANNA THROW ALOT OF MUSES YOUR WAY )

@kismetkiss

— oh imma do all of them :3cccc and honestly you could throw any/all of your muses at me I have a bunch of fun writing with you :3

Soi Fon:

— ( This one could work for either Soi Fon or Yoruichi ) but given that that she's commander-in-chief to the Onmitsukidó, that would give some connection to Mukuro's late fiancé since that was the division he was in. That could be a way that they'd sort of know each other besides Mukuro knowing of Soi Fon given that she's a captain. — While I can see their personalities clashing ( with Soi Fon being a 'we have to follow orders' person and Mukuro being the embodiment of the shrug emoji towards orders and authority figures ) I can also see them learning from each other. — I'm trying to think of how to spin a fun shipping plot but I think that a fun kind of rivals to lovers thing would be fun? Like they're both just kind of *side eye* towards one another but they also can't seem to be apart for long lol also the sex is probably too bomb

Yoruichi

— Honestly I think having her and Yoruichi be childhood friends would be fun! With Mukuro learning how to efficiently sneak out of her clan's compound their paths could cross and Yoruichi spots her and is like 'well, well, well, fresh meat someone new to tease.' Also honestly if we go w/ their paths crossing and Yoruichi talking about what she does with Mukuro could probably be the push Mukuro gets to go to the Academy when she gets exiled from her clan — To add to the one above the mental image of their paths crossing again but this time it's Yoruichi in her cat form and Mukuro who's just like 'aw kitty~' and as she goes to pet Cat Yoruichi, she says 'nice to see you again, Mukuro' and there's the fun little comedic moment of Mukuro panicking 'did I just hear this cat speak actual words or am I more exhausted than I thought?' — That would also give some good good childhood friends to lovers trope lol with the reunion and having them both be like 'oh... she's hot'

Yor

— I love the idea of them being paired up for a mission and then unexpectedly running into one another outside of their assassin jobs and it's just a bit like the spider man pointing meme — Honestly with how horny that Mukuro can get after a successful assassination job, that could led into some spicy moments ;3 — I imagine that they probably begin interacting with one another prior to Yor having that fake marriage but I can easily see that when Mukuro finds that out she's just like... *squints* oh. B/c by that point she's probably developed some sort of feelings for Yor and to hear that she's fake married to a guy would probably set Mukuro off and while she'd be civil on the outside, on the inside, she's absolutely livid and figuring out how to plot his demise so Mukuro could be with Yor. ( if shipping is a route you'd like to take with them anyway :3 otherwise Mukuro could be just absolutely over protective of Yor )

Byakuya

— Ooh I do love me a good rescue plot :3c For instance her clan could change her mind and be like 'oh mukuro's like mega powerful now so we want her back' and then just yoink her in some fashion and either Byakuya knows somethings up almost immediately or it's something like she gets nabbed on her way to/from a mission and people are like 'hmmm she... isn't back yet?' — I honestly just love how soft they are with one another so I'm always down for more things like that. Mukuro opening up more and both of them learning that it's okay to love again. So I'm always up for more interactions like those, like them having walks and holding hands and talking, just enjoying the company of one another. OH! like having a moment where Mukuro is ready to show him her back scars ;v; and that could lead to some sweet lovey dovey moments afterwards. maybe very emotional/heartfelt lovemaking huuhu:3c — I think a thread where either Mukuro gets sick or Byakuya gets hurt and there's just the almost non stop worrying/doting that one is doing to the other.

Itaru

— I do really enjoy the thought of Itaru's coworkers finally getting him to attend an company party or something ( honestly Mukuro was also probably like 'i'll get you like 10 buys of whatever the highest cost package of any in game currency you'd like, if you go and take me and we can even stay enough for just a quick visit and eat some free food' ) and all his lady coworkers are just like 'aw yessss time to flirt with itaru outside of work' but then he comes in with Mukuro and they're just in disbelief. Because honestly Mukuro also lives off of making others jealous lol. — Either Itaru is out doing like a late night snack run and he runs into a bloodied Mukuro ( not her blood ) or while he's out he sees Mukuro with known Yakuza and he raises questions ( because I'm not sure if she would have revealed that she's an info broker/assassin to him yet - I think she'd probably lie and be like 'oh ya i'm swimming in cash because i'm a rather popular vtuber' ) Either way some good good drama :3 — Mukuro would probably help him increase his stamina ( either legitimately or through... you know ;3 huhu ) or honestly an interaction of like 'oh wow Itaru your stamina has really improved since you've started dating Mukuro, what sort of workouts have you been doing?' and those who could probably get an good idea of probably what the cause is will just go silent and wait for Itaru to explain ( and mukuro at the sidelines like :3c 'yea babe what do we do?' )

【 plots please! meme 】 ♡ 【 accepting 】

[bellafragolina]

HERE ME OUT! Based off fanart but other way around! - Jes

What if hero was from modern Galar before being yoinked, and confesses to Laventon craving and painting an applin to give to him.

HHHHHHHHHHH YOU KNOW ALL MY WEAK POINTSSSSSSS

🍓🍓🍓

It’s been a blessing amongst the curse that was your fall. Lost within a strange land, in a strange time, surrounded by strange people and Pokémon, all suspicious of, if not threatening, you. But amongst them all is a sweet Professor, one that hails from your home region of Galar, albeit from a different time period.

Still, it’s fun, comparing notes with him. Hearing how things used to be while describing how things changed. Laventon listens to you so intently, takes such stock and interest in your words. It’s nice, to feel appreciate and seen by him. He comforts your homesickness by being familiar, even if just by accent.

You easily fall, so easily.

And you know what Galarians do when they’re in love. So you take to the craftworks. You learn from Anvin the basic or wood carving, how to make it smooth, how to make it last, how to paint it, and so on. You practice with him for a month before you feel ready.

And that month is torture for your dear professor.

He’s terrified every time he sees you working and laughing with Anvin. Sure, he knows the craftworks owner is a charming man in his own right, but your interest is so out of the blue! Laventon feels like he’s upset you in some way, to have all the personal time usually shared with him stolen by given to Anvin instead.

He’s so confused he nearly asks Anvin, only to quickly scold himself. He isn’t your partner! He’s started the proper courting measures, yes, but you’re in no one forced to accept him! After all, you’re the hero of Hisui, from somewhere far far away from here. It’s not like you’d stay with him here if given the chance to return home.

Laventon’s misery and pitying is interrupted by familiar boots. He snaps his head up from his (now cold) plate of mochi, stammering a greeting as you smile down at him.

“May I join you?” You ask, nodding to the bench space next to the professor.

“O-of course!” Laventon says, unable to deny you anything. He scoots over so you can sit, and dwells on what to say. He’s curious, but he can’t just- “So I’ve noticed you’ve been favoring the craftworks lately!”

Apparently, he can. Goes to show how desperate he’s become.

You nod, absolutely beaming. “Yes! Anvin’s been teaching me how to carve and treat wood for decoration!” Laventon’s interested noise makes you grin wider. “And I made you something with my new skills.”

Guilt wracks Laventon. He’s been so jealous of you spending time with another man, and here you are, gifting him something!

“O-oh!” Laventon exclaims, bashful now. He darts his eyes away, only to look back when you reveal your present. The wooden Applin sits pretty in your palms, bright and beautiful and a near spitting-image of the real thing. Laventon stares at it, his jaw slack. “Oh.”

“You know what this means, yes?” You confirm. You hadn’t asked if Applins were still a confession, in fear of being found out. You hope you weren’t wrong in assuming. “You know what I’m asking?”

“Yes.” Laventon squeaks.

You smile. “And your answer.”

“Yes.”

“Is that all you’re going to say?!” You ask, laughing.

“Yes!” Laventon throws his arms around you, capturing the carved Pokémon between you. You laugh more, cradling him close as your dear professor weeps into your shoulder. “Yes! Yes!”

“Yes.” You echo him, leaning your head into his. “And thank you.”

Laventon strokes the carving with his thumb.

“I should be thanking you.” He says. You wipe his tears away. “I’m the happiest man in Hisui.”

“I’ll do my best to keep you that way.”

Arceus, is he in love with you.

🍓🍓🍓

Ehehe this was fun!! Thank you for requesting my boy!!!! I love him!!

Have a good day!!

~Renee

[dweetwise]

i’ve been kinda quiet while finishing a project over on ao3, but now i’m back with some riconti to share <3

ship: felix x ace (only implied; can be read as platonic if you wish!)

word count: 1640

Someone to Lean On

"—and I thought for sure she wouldn't pick me up! I ran straight into her after being unhooked, but she didn’t even hesitate calling my bluff. Well played, Spirit!"

Felix kept half-listening as Ace rambled on about their latest trial. They were walking back to the campfire together through the fog, having both been sacrificed by the ruthless katana-wielding killer.

It wasn't uncommon for Ace to wait around for him in the plane of nothingness if he didn't survive the trial. Felix had lost count of how many times he'd regained consciousness only to see the familiar, smiling figure calling over to him through the fog.

He wondered if Ace knew how much he appreciated the gesture. The gambler’s friendly banter was always a welcome distraction from the harrowing experience of having every fiber of his being torn to shreds and consequently be reassembled.

But this time was different. Felix could barely make out Ace's words, his own thoughts sounding deafening inside his head despite the silence of the fog. His body didn't feel like his own; it was like the Entity's claws were still twisting and turning around his insides. 

Felix’s feet dragged behind him and when they eventually came to a stop, Ace stopped right with him and patiently waited for their journey to continue. Only once Felix made no move to do so did the Argentine’s brilliant smile falter from uncertainty. 

"Felix?" Ace asked.

"I can't do it," Felix said.

According to people back at the campfire, it had been over a year since Felix was taken into this horrible realm. It felt even longer than that; with nothing in this world but means to make them suffer, Felix was starting to forget the things he used to enjoy.

"Sure you can, champ!" Ace grinned.

Felix knew Ace was trying to be encouraging. He knew he should go back to his play-act, should plaster on a fake smile and brush off his struggles as nothing more than a bad trial, like he’d done countless times before.

But he couldn’t.

"No," Felix said, a surprising determination in his voice. "You don't understand."

“What do you mean?” Ace asked.

Felix wasn’t sure how to describe it. The more he thought about this world and the absolute wrongness of it, the harder it was to pinpoint its exact cause.

He felt lightheaded and almost delirious. It was like he was in a dream; a terrible nightmare that he couldn't wake up from. Nothing in this place made sense, yet all this time he had accepted it as truth. What if it was all a figment of his imagination?

"Is any of this real?" Felix asked.

Ace’s smile made way for a confused frown, and his expression was the only thing in their surroundings that looked lifelike. The unnatural fog surrounding them felt neither damp nor cold, the unending darkness somehow allowed them to see perfectly, and even though there was nothing to guide them they still knew exactly which way to go.

Felix felt his breathing pick up as he only now seemed to realize the vast emptiness of nothing they were standing in. He’d been here countless times before but never fully aware of it, and his heart was racing as he frantically looked around, feeling the terror rising in his chest—

Until a warm hand was placed on his shoulder. 

"Hey, deep breaths," Ace said, turning Felix to face him.

The touch helped to ground him and the panic started to fade as Felix looked into familiar brown eyes. Ace felt real, but how could he be sure?

"It doesn't make any sense," Felix said. "The Entity doesn’t exist. It simply can’t."

Ace said nothing. Whether he was giving Felix space to speak or thought he’d finally lost his mind, Felix didn’t know.

"What if this is just a nightmare? What if I'm going crazy—having some sort of episode from work stress, and I'm really hospitalized in an institution?" Felix said, his frantic eyes finding Ace's. "What if I'm in a coma, or—or I died, and this is all my brain shutting down? What if this isn't real?"

Felix realized he was shaking. Ace looked at him silently; like he was pondering what to say. Felix didn’t think he’d ever seen him look so serious.

Abruptly, the embarrassment hit. Felix broke eye contact and stepped back. Even if he was losing it, he didn't need to drag Ace into this—

"So what?" Ace asked.

"What?"

"If you wake up in a hospital tomorrow and realize none of this was real, what does it matter?" Ace said. "It's not gonna change that this feels real."

Felix was silent, mulling over the words.

"I think that, sometimes, it's best to just take things at face value," Ace continued. "Fucked-up things like the Entity exist? Alright. One of them yoinked us into its world for fun? Sure. Whether we like it or not, right now we're stuck here—might as well try to make the most of it."

"Don't you want answers?" Felix asked.

"What I want is to get the hell out of here," Ace huffed dryly.

Felix couldn’t remember Ace ever talking about an escape before. The gambler had always seemed surprisingly well-adjusted to their predicament, but he should have known that even the most optimistic person would be eager for the chance to find a way out of this nightmare.

"But since that's not on the table, I'll take the next best thing of living to see another day," Ace said. "And if I wake up in a real bed tomorrow and it was all a dream? Even better."

"Have you never thought about it? That this could just be a product of your mind?" Felix asked.

"Briefly, yeah," Ace said. Then he smiled. "But then I remembered how shit my imagination is. No way I would've been able to come up with something like this."

Felix huffed out a dry chuckle despite the situation.

"But it's probably easier for me," Ace said. "I know you tend to overthink things. And with the kind of year you've had? I'm kinda surprised you've adjusted so well."

Felix hadn’t thought about it that way. After the numerous panic attacks and freezing from fear in his first trials, Felix never considered himself particularly well-adjusted to his new existence. He owed most of his meager success to the people around him, always there to lend a hand and pull Felix up when he wasn't strong enough to do it himself.

And most of the time, that person had been Ace.

"I had some help," Felix said, offering a hesitant smile.

"Ah, true—almost forgot about Élodie," Ace grinned. "Must be nice, having a friend like that in a place like this."

Felix didn't have the heart to correct the assumption. Having the familiar face of a childhood friend among their teammates had no doubt been beneficial for both Felix and Élodie while they learned to survive this new world.

But it wasn't Élodie who had been by Felix's side those first months. It wasn’t her encouraging words that got through to Felix when he felt paralyzed from inaction, or her who took the time to involve him in the group when Felix was too lost in his own head to participate.

"It really makes a world of difference, having a good friend," Felix said.

Ace kept looking at him, until his face spread into a bright smile at the realization.

"Well, in that case, can I offer you some friendly advice?" Ace asked.

"Of course," Felix agreed.

"Don't get too wrapped up in the 'how's and 'why's," Ace said. "It's just gonna consume you. And…"

Felix waited as Ace paused in an unusual gesture of uncertainty.

"I'd hate to lose you," Ace said.

He was still smiling pleasantly, but his eyes betrayed his real emotion; it was the first time Felix had seen genuine fear in Ace's eyes. And it wasn't from a brutal mori or the hopelessness that they might never escape.

It was from the possibility of losing Felix.

"Alright," Felix said. "I'll try."

"It's a start," Ace said, his demeanor back to the usual playfulness. "You ready to head back?"

Felix realized he felt much calmer now than only minutes prior. There was still an uneasiness in the back of his mind due to the unspeakable horrors that haunted them on a daily basis, but he felt grounded. This wasn't just about him; no matter whether it aligned with the objective truth, this was their reality.

"I think so, yes," Felix said.

"'Atta boy," Ace said. 

Ace's hand left his shoulder, and Felix immediately missed its warmth. The moment of camaraderie they had shared was exactly what he had needed. Even Ace seemed more at ease, his smile relaxed as he fell into step beside Felix.

"By the way," Ace said conversationally. "If this is all in your head, could I request you make it a little… I don't know, less guts and gore, more flowers and booze?"

Felix chuckled. "I can try."

"Oh, and while you're at it, can you give me one of those makeovers?" Ace said. "Make me like ten years younger? I think I’d look great in brown hair—ooh, and a six pack too!"

Felix listened to Ace ramble with a smile. It would never cease to amaze him how the seemingly lighthearted man could go from joking to serious and right back to silly banter in just a few short moments. Ace was like a bolt of lightning; chaotic in nature and gone in the blink of an eye, but always managing to calm the storm in Felix’s head.

"Ace?" Felix asked, interrupting Ace still talking about his hair.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you," Felix said.

Ace’s smile flashed bright and warm in the darkness surrounding them.

"Anytime."

[vivithefolle]

Is there anyway you could share the entire livejournal essay about Hermione's reaction to Ron coming back in DH? The few paragraphs that you referred to in your recent answer sound extremely interesting.

[The “recent answer” that goes back to... last December. Oh my god I’m such an ass I left you hanging for so long I’m so sorry.]

Okay, okay, so here goes! KEEP IN MIND: I DIDN’T WRITE THIS. I FOUND THIS ON LIVEJOURNAL AND PICKED EVERYTHING THAT I LIKED ABOUT IT, AS WELL AS SOME COMMENTS THAT INTERESTED ME.

This “essay” was actually more of a “reading the books” thing with the person sharing their thoughts and ideas about it. The person was clearly a Snape fan, but they had sympathy for Ron too. I’ll try to formate it as accurately as I can remember it.

And now, here it is:

---

ORDER OF THE PHOENIX

[About Ron being made a prefect.] The essayist: It’s sad, but this probably is the first time Ron’s beaten Harry at something. And the last time.

A commenter: Ron's had a really difficult life, and this is the book that proved it for me. It made me a Ron fan. Just look at the interactions he has with Fred and George. This is commonplace. I know a lot of people don't like Ron, but just look at this book, this chapter especially. People have accused Ron of being lazy, unambitious, having no emotions, and being a big stupid boy. It's just not true. Look at how Fred and George needle him out of jealousy. Look at how they treat Percy. Imagine Ron having to grow up with two older brothers that will not hesitate to bother, torture and torment people that stand out or that get more attention than they do or that cross them. He saw it happening with Percy, so what's he going to learn? He'll learn to shut up unless he wants to have something happen to him. He'll learn that standing out positively is rewarded with cruelty. I can understand how Mrs. Weasley could not have fully protected him from those two. Not all the time, not while trying to also care for Ginny, keeping up with her other kids in school, and running the household. Worst of all, punishing F&G doesn't seem to do anything. Those two just don't care/they crave the attention, negative or positive. The best thing she could've done would be to give them no attention, but that's so against her nature that unfortunately she just fed the monsters. No emotions? Is it really difficult to understand that sensitivity wouldn't be encouraged in young Ron? He's got these two bullies that only want a reaction out of him. If he cries, it'll only encourage them. Any reaction is encouraging to them, but he has to go with anger. It's a survival thing- puff yourself up, make yourself look bigger than you are so the predator messes with you a little less. Look at the pride Ron's showing in his badge. The desire to do well is there. He likes the good feeling that comes with it, but he's been hard-wired since birth that it's better to be "middle of the pack". In later chapters, I know you'll have to point out the way the power makes Ron behave, so I just want to start on the defence now. It's all Ron knows. It's all he's been taught. It's a huge character flaw, but it's what makes him so human. Rowling did develop this in the book, but only accidentally. We're never going to get a good look at Ron's psychology except through these hints because it's, as usual, All About Harry. Ron's flawed, but I hope we remember that he has a reason why he's got those flaws. It doesn't excuse him, but it really explains him. So yeah... that's why I defend Ron.

...

“I’m not Percy,’ he finished defiantly.”

The essayist: Mmmm-hm. Ron feels nervous at the thought of his good fortune inspiring anger in someone and what's his first defence? "I'm not Percy"? Man, the evidence that the Twins' psychological torment has left lasting scars on Ron could not have been more obvious if he'd shielded himself and said "Please don't jinx me, Fred! ... I mean Harry. ... Shit, what'd I say?"

...

“Excellent,”  said  Ron,  with  a  kind  of  groan  of  longing,  and  he  seized the nearest plate of chops and began piling them onto his plate, watched wistfully by Nearly Headless Nick. “What  were  you  saying  before  the  Sorting?”  Hermione  asked  the  ghost. “About the hat giving warnings?” “Oh  yes,”  said  Nick,  who  seemed  glad  of  a  reason  to  turn  away  from  Ron,  who  was  now  eating  roast  potatoes  with  almost  indecent  enthusiasm.

The essayist: Ron’s not being very restrained with his eating, is he?

The commenter: I don't know if it's accidental or not, but this is one of those moments that I love, one of the tellings of Ron's home life via his behavior. In this scenario, he's totally a kitten who just got adopted to a house where he's the only cat. He's at a table with food, so his instinct is to eat as fast as he can or his siblings will yoink it. It doesn't help that there are many other people around, encouraging the "get the good stuff fast or you'll have to sate yourself on bread or whatever nobody wants". Ron is so much more human than Harry! How can Harry not be showing any signs of his "horrendous abuse" for eleven years? Well... I guess he sort of does when he buys all that stuff in his first year. And I guess Ron has to go back home every summer where it gets reinforced. But Harry goes back every summer, too... what the hell?

...

“What’s going on?” Ron  had  appeared  in  the  doorway.  His  wide  eyes  traveled  from  Harry,  who  was  kneeling  on  his  bed  with  his  wand  pointing  at  Seamus, to Seamus, who was standing there with his fists raised. “He’s having a go at my mother!” Seamus yelled. “What?” said Ron. “Harry wouldn’t do that — we met your mother, we liked her. . .” “That’s  before  she  started  believing  every  word  the  stinking  Daily  Prophet writes about me!” said Harry at the top of his voice. “Oh,”  said  Ron,  comprehension  dawning  across  his  freckled  face.  “Oh . . . right.” “You know what?” said Seamus heatedly, casting Harry a venomous look.  “He’s  right,  I  don’t  want  to  share  a  dormitory  with  him  anymore, he’s a madman.” “That’s out of order, Seamus,” said Ron, whose ears were starting to glow red, always a danger sign. “Out of order, am I?” shouted Seamus, who in contrast with Ron &#145;was  turning  paler.  “You  believe  all  the  rubbish  he’s  come  out  with  about You-Know-Who, do you, you reckon he’s telling the truth?” “Yeah, I do!” said Ron angrily. “Then you’re mad too,” said Seamus in disgust. “Yeah?  Well  unfortunately  for  you,  pal,  I’m  also  a  prefect!”  said  Ron,  jabbing  himself  in  the  chest  with  a  finger.  “So  unless  you  want  detention, watch your mouth!”

The essayist: Note how Ron’s first reaction is to side with Harry.

The commenter: Not surprising because of the best friends thing (some might argue) but I say it's not surprising considering how Hermione and Ron were treating Harry like a ticking time bomb. Survival!

...

“Hello, Harry!” It was Cho Chang and what was more, she was on her own again. This was most unusual: Cho was almost always surrounded by a gang of giggling girls; Harry remembered the agony of trying to get her by herself to ask her to the Yule Ball. “Hi,” said Harry, feeling his face grow hot. At least you’re not covered  in Stinksap this time, he told himself. Cho seemed to be thinking along the same lines. “You got that stuff off, then?” “Yeah,”  said  Harry,  trying  to  grin  as  though  the  memory  of  their  last meeting was funny as opposed to mortifying. “So did you . . . er . . . have a good summer?” The moment he had said this he wished he hadn’t: Cedric had been Cho’s boyfriend and the memory of his death must have affected her holiday  almost  as  badly  as  it  had  affected  Harry’s.  .  . Something  seemed  to  tauten  in  her  face,  but  she  said,  “Oh,  it  was  all  right,  you  know. . .” “Is  that  a  Tornados  badge?”  Ron  demanded  suddenly,  pointing  at  the front of Cho’s robes, to which a sky-blue badge emblazoned with a double gold T was pinned. “You don’t support them, do you?” “Yeah, I do,” said Cho. “Have  you  always  supported  them,  or  just  since  they  started  winning the league?” said Ron, in what Harry considered an unnecessarily accusatory tone of voice. “I’ve supported them since I was six,” said Cho coolly. “Anyway . . . see you, Harry.” She  walked  away.  Hermione  waited  until  Cho  was  halfway  across  the courtyard before rounding on Ron. “You are so tactless!”

The essayist: So Harry meets Cho, makes a complete faux pas and reminds her of her dead boyfriend. Ron quickly steers the conversation away onto something more happy, i.e., Quidditch, before Cho can get too upset. Nevertheless, Ron is apparently the insensitive jerk around here, not Harry.

[If this reminds you of something, then yes, I absolutely took what the essayist was saying and elaborated on it. I confess, I am a dirty thief.]

...

“Well, I suppose he could’ve played better,” Harry muttered, “but it was only the first training session, like you said. . .” Neither Harry nor Ron seemed to make much headway with their homework  that  night.  Harry  knew  Ron  was  too  preoccupied  with  how  badly  he  had  performed  at  Quidditch  practice  and  he  himself  was having difficulty in getting the chant of “Gryffindor are losers” out of his head. [...] And so they worked on while the sky outside the windows became steadily darker; slowly, the crowd in the common room began to thin again.   At   half-past   eleven,   Hermione   wandered   over   to   them,   yawning. “Nearly done?” “No,” said Ron shortly. “Jupiter’s  biggest  moon  is  Ganymede,  not  Callisto,”  she  said,  pointing over Ron’s shoulder at a line in his Astronomy essay, “and it’s Io that’s got the volcanos.” “Thanks,” snarled Ron, scratching out the offending sentences.

The essayist: So Ron’s getting basic facts wrong in his essays.

The commenter: This is going to look so contrived, but I genuinely believe it, and maybe after these reviews, your standards for contrived have dropped enough for me to pass the bar :3 But... he's not putting in any effort. His ego can't take another beating at the moment (even punching bags have limits). Imagine it- after the Quidditch humiliation with his friend the Star Athlete (when he really was trying) he tries to distract himself by doing school work 1. which he isn't very good at anyway, 2. with the Star Athlete of Academics/Slytherin Spectator Crowd best friend Hermione there 3. with Hermione there to set it right anyway (it sounds as if Hermione isn’t so much correcting their essays as writing them herself). If he tries his best at this and then fails at that, Ron probably would start to consider suicide. It's self-preservation at this point to put in zero effort. This kind of fail is literally "I'm not trying because I have given up."

...

She  wrenched  her  bag  open;  Harry  thought  she  was  about  to  put  her books away, but instead she pulled out two misshapen woolly objects,  placed  them  carefully  on  a  table  by  the  fireplace,  covered  them  with  a  few  screwed-up  bits  of  parchment  and  a  broken  quill,  and  stood back to admire the effect. “What  in  the  name  of  Merlin  are  you  doing?”  said  Ron,  watching  her as though fearful for her sanity. “They’re  hats  for  house-elves,”  she  said  briskly,  now  stuffing  her  books  back  into  her  bag.  “I  did  them  over  the  summer.  I’m  a  really  slow  knitter  without  magic,  but  now  I’m  back  at  school  I  should  be  able to make lots more.” “You’re leaving out hats for the house-elves?” said Ron slowly. “And you’re covering them up with rubbish first?” “Yes,” said Hermione defiantly, swinging her bag onto her back. “That’s not on,” said Ron angrily. “You’re trying to trick them into picking  up  the  hats.  You’re  setting  them  free  when  they  might  not  want to be free.” “Of  course  they  want  to  be  free!”  said  Hermione  at  once,  though  her face was turning pink. “Don’t you dare touch those hats, Ron!” She left. Ron waited until she had disappeared through the door to the girls’ dormitories, then cleared the rubbish off the woolly hats. They  should  at  least  see  what  they’re  picking  up,”  he  said  firmly.  “Anyway  .  .  .”  He  rolled  up  the  parchment  on  which  he  had  written  the title of Snape’s essay. “There’s no point trying to finish this now, I can’t  do  it  without  Hermione,  I  haven’t  got  a  clue  what  you’re  supposed to do with moonstones, have you?”

The essayist: This doesn’t seem like a particularly open-minded and enquiring position to take, although I suppose that Hermione’s open-mindedness has always been something of an informed attribute.

The commenter: This trope among fans has got me riled up beyond belief because they use the "Hermione's word is gospel" thing to make unfair assumptions about other characters: Ron's "emotional range of a teaspoon" thing comes to mind, and right after that, Lavender supposedly being silly about believing Trelawney about her dead pet (Hermione never considered that maybe the thing Lavender was dreading was bad news from home or bad news about her pet). Regarding house elves: This is one case where the fans ought to have seen that Hermione was being very thoughtless as far as strategy. Ron has lived all his life up until this point thinking that there was no problem with house elves and she literally expects to be able to just tell him "it's wrong" and he's supposed to change instantly? Talk about your cultural insensitivity. In this case, maybe Ron knows better than you do, Hermione? You didn't even know about house elves until you were at least twelve (but more likely, she didn't know until this year). She must understand the concept of "he doesn't know it's wrong". That was how she defended Crookshanks when he was chasing Scabbers. ... Hey, Hermione thinks Ron's smarter than her cat. That's something, I guess.

...

The commenter: Competition is seriously the worst thing in the world for Ron. He's got wa-a-ay too much baggage. Do well so they'll love you. Do well so they'll notice you. If they notice you, you'll get praised. And tormented by Fred and George. Then if you fuck up, you'll have let everyone down. My brothers never let anyone down. That's the standard. Oh God, I can't live up to that. Which do I want to chose- being ignored or scorned? I could do well. Then I'll be good enough to be called "just like them"! JFC, when's it ever going to be "Good like Ron"? Chess. Literally everyone else has one thing they shine in, even Neville with his Botany and Dean with his art (and... and I'm going to ignore the fact that Hermione and Luna are the only two I can think of with non-appearance based special stuff... someone please help me out? I guess Tonks' doesn't really count as a shallow one because it makes her a master of disguise...)

...

HALF-BLOOD PRINCE

...

Ron gagged on a large piece of kipper. Hermione spared him one look of disdain before turning back to Harry.

The essayist: “Hermione spared [Ron] one look of disdain before turning back to Harry” pretty much sums up her relationships within the trio. It’s no wonder Ron’s so insecure and keeps worrying that she really fancies Harry.

...

“And you’ve been through all that persecution from the Ministry when they were trying to make out you were unstable and a liar. You can still see the marks on the back of your hand where that evil woman made you write with your own blood, but you stuck to your story anyway...”  “You  can  still  see  where  those  brains  got  hold  of  me  in  the  Ministry,  look,”  said  Ron,  shaking  back his sleeves.  “And  it  doesn’t  hurt  that  you’ve  grown  about  a  foot  over  the  summer  either,”  Hermione  finished, ignoring Ron.  “I’m tall,” said Ron inconsequentially.

The essayist: Ron’s so adorably pathetic here, the way he’s obviously feeling inferior to Harry and being ignored by his so-called friends. *hugs Ron*

...

When they left the Gryffindor table five minutes later to head down to the Quidditch pitch, they passed  Lavender  Brown  and  Parvati  Patil.  Remembering  what  Hermione  had  said  about  the  Patil  twins’  parents  wanting  them  to  leave  Hogwarts,  Harry  was  unsurprised  to  see  that  the  two  best  friends were whispering together, looking distressed. What did surprise him was that when Ron drew level with them, Parvati suddenly nudged Lavender, who looked around and gave Ron a wide smile. Ron blinked at her, then returned the smile uncertainly. His walk instantly became something more like a strut. Harry resisted the temptation to laugh, remembering that Ron had refrained from doing so  after  Malfoy  had  broken  Harry’s  nose;  Hermione,  however,  looked  cold  and  distant  all  the  way  down  to  the  stadium  through  the  cool,  misty  drizzle,  and  departed  to  find  a  place  in  the  stands  without wishing Ron good luck. 

The essayist: Hermione keeps belittling Ron and doing him down, and reacts quite strongly when he even so much hints at losing interest in her and showing attention to another woman. Can we say “abusive relationship”, anybody?

...

“Harry! Ginny!” Hermione was hurrying toward them, very pink-faced and wearing a cloak, hat, and gloves. “I got back a couple of hours ago, I've just been down to visit Hagrid and Buck--I mean Witherwings,” she said breathlessly. “Did you have a good Christmas?” “Yeah,” said Ron at once, “pretty eventful, Rufus Scrim—” “I've got something for you, Harry,” said Hermione, neither looking at Ron nor giving any sign that she had heard him. “Oh, hang on--password. Abstinence.”

The essayist: Wow, Hermione’s just being so childish here, ignoring Ron when he’s talking directly to her. Incidentally, Ron’s speaking to her like a normal friend, it’s Hermione who’s doing the blanking. Still, I’m sure this argument is all Ron’s fault for daring to go out with another girl. Hermione is totally blameless.

[Just in case: the essayist is being sarcastic, they’re pointing out the double standard of the HP fandom blaming Hermione’s immature behaviour on Ron.]

...

DEATHLY HALLOWS

...

“I think you’re right,” she told him. “It’s just a morality tale, it’s obvious which gift is best, which one you’d choose—” The three of them spoke at the same time; Hermione said, “the Cloak,” Ron said, “the wand,” and Harry said, “the stone.” They looked at each other, half surprised, half amused. “You’re supposed to say the Cloak,” Ron told Hermione, “but you wouldn’t need to be invisible if you had the wand. An unbeatable wand, Hermione, come on!” “We’ve already got an Invisibility Cloak,” said Harry. “And it’s helped us rather a lot, in case you hadn’t noticed!” said Hermione. “Whereas the wand would be bound to attract trouble—” “Only if you shouted about it,” argued Ron. “Only if you were prat enough to go dancing around, waving it over your head, and singing, ‘I’ve got an unbeatable wand, come and have a go if you think you’re good enough.’ As long as you kept your trap shut—” “Yes, but could you keep your trap shut?” said Hermione, looking skeptical. “You know, the only true thing he said to us was that there have been stories about extra-powerful wands for hundreds of years.” “There have?” asked Harry. Hermione looked exasperated: the expression was so endearingly familiar that Harry and Ron grinned at each other.

The commenter (?): Actually, I thought that Ron was proving the errors in the story. Because he’s right. The eldest brother didn’t die because the Elder Wand had corrupted him (like the One Ring). He died because he was an idiot. He died because he randomly decided to start blabbing about his new toy.

“You talk about wands like they’ve got feelings,” said Harry, “like they canthink for themselves.” “The wand chooses the wizard,” said Ollivander. “That much has always been clear to those of us who have studied wandlore.” “A person can still use a wand that hasn’t chosen them, though?” asked Harry. “Oh yes, if you are any wizard at all you will be able to channel your magic through almost any instrument. The best results, however, must always come where there is the strongest affinity between wizard and wand. These connections are complex. An initial attraction, and then a mutual quest for experience, the wand learning from the wizard, the wizard from the wand.”

The essayist: Harry’s wand has to think for and protect him because he’s too stupid and incompetent to think for and protect himself! Ollivander’s the expert, and he just admitted it. He said any halfway decent wizard can perform magic with almost any wand. The reason Harry could only work with the holly wand is because of the phoenix feather core it shares with Voldemort’s wand. That is, it wasn’t Harry doing the magic with Harry’s wand! It was the Voldemort soul piece! Once Harry was forced to use wands that didn’t have that core, the soul piece couldn’t do the work for Harry any more. He was forced to rely on his own magical powers and competence, which are clearly minimal. This is proven by his inability to do effective magic with any other wand. It’s also proven by an incident from Philosopher’s Stone. Remember when Harry was being chased by bullies and inexplicably found himself on top of the shed roof? That was the soul piece allowing him to fly like Voldy. Lily could slow her descent from a height, as if she had an invisible parachute, but that is not the same as flying, and we have no evidence she could fly. Only Voldemort and Snape fly without assistance! The evidence is overwhelming that I am right. How many spells can Harry do effectively? Expelliarmus, Expecto Patronum, Protego--that’s it. Even as a young adult, he is incapable of doing the basic healing or cleaning spells a young child should have down pat before going to Hogwarts. Of course, we’re told the Patronus spell is difficult and advanced, but who told us that? Remus Lupin, friend of Harry’s father, sycophant, and notorious liar, particularly when it comes to flattering Harry. Recall Lupin also said Snape didn’t like James because Snape was envious of Potter Sr.’s Quidditch prowess, and we know that was a lie. Given this evidence, anything Lupin says that cannot be confirmed by an independent source, especially regarding the Potters, should be dismissed out of hand. True, Hermione has trouble with the Patronus spell, and she’s super-competent. Doesn’t that prove it’s a very difficult spell? Not at all. To take an example from a different field, Beethoven was a virtuoso organist, the greatest pianist of his day, one of the greatest pianists in history, and probably the greatest improvisational musician ever. But he was only a decent violinist. Everybody has areas of weakness, no matter how good they are overall. In addition, Hermione is very gullible where authority figures are concerned. If a teacher tells her, “The Patronus is a very difficult, advanced spell that many people can’t ever master,” she’ll believe that, which may create a self-fulfilling prophecy. A couple of years ago, another DTCL member and I facetiously suggested Harry was less intelligent than his wand. We didn’t know we were right. It rarely happens, but this is an occasion when I would have preferred to be wrong.

...

If only there was a way of getting a better wand... And desire for the Elder Wand, the Deathstick, unbeatable, invincible, swal-lowed him once more... They packed up the tent next morning and moved on through a dreary shower of rain. The downpour pursued them to the coast, where they pitched the tent that night, and persisted through the whole week, through sodden landscapes that Harry found bleak and depressing. He could think only of the Deathly Hallows. It was as though a flame had been lit inside him that nothing, not Hermione’s flat disbelief nor Ron’s persistent doubts, could extinguish. And yet the fiercer the longing for the Hallows burned inside him, the less joyful it made him. He blamed Ron and Hermione: Their determined indifference was as bad as the relentless rain for dampening his spirits, but neither could erode his certainty, which remained absolute. Harry’s belief in and longing for the Hallows consumed him so much that he felt isolated from the other two and their obsession with the Horcruxes. [...] As the weeks crept on, Harry could not help but notice, even through his new self-absorption, that Ron seemed to be taking charge. Perhaps because he was determined to make up for having walked out on them, perhaps because Harry’s descent into listlessness galvanized his dormant leadership qualities, Ron was the one now encouraging and exhorting the other two into action. [...] But not until March did luck favor Ron at last.

The essayist: MARCH! That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. The first fifteen pages of this chapter cover three months, and during that entire time, Harry Potter does nothing, nothing, but sit on his ass fantasizing about the Elder Wand and trying to connect with his Voldie-soul mate. Oh, wait. He also tries to open the snitch so he can get the stone out of it. (Nothing gay about that, either.) I wish he’d succeed in that, too. Maybe he’d swallow the stone, and it would end up in his scrotum. He sure needs something that works down there. Harry doesn’t have the right to bail out on his society like this. He can’t have it both ways. He can’t have the adulation that goes with being Mr. Boy-Who-Lived-Chosen-One-Wizarding-World-Savior and abdicate the responsibilities that go along with those titles and that adulation. Look at what happens in this chapter: Harry becomes obsessed with finding and uniting the Hallows, so much so that he withdraws from his friends, bails out on the job his idol Dumbledore gave him, and spends all his time brooding and trying to connect with the Dull Lord. In other words, he acts clinically depressed. Ron and Hermione were exposed to the same information Harry was, but they didn’t become obsessed/depressed. Ron was mildly interested in the Super-Wand, but not enough to distract him from the Horcrux hunt. Hermione dismissed the whole DH story as nonsense and continued following Dumbestbore’s orders. So why weren’t they tempted?

...

The essayist: Harry opens the locket using Parseltongue--interesting that this never occurred to him before now--and two ghostly figures emerge. They’re Voldie-versions of Harry and Hermione, and they articulate Ron’s worst fears: “Least loved, always, by the mother who craved a daughter...Least loved, now, by the girl who prefers your friend...Second best, always, eternally overshadowed...” I’ll say it again: When you’re right, you’re right. The evidence is overwhelming that Molly Weasley treated Ron the worst of all her children. And if Rowling doesn’t want us to ship HP/HG, she needs to quit throwing them together and making them leaders, with Ron either in the background or absent entirely. JKR obviously wants us to automatically dismiss certain statements just because they’re made by “bad guys” such as Voldemort and Rita Skeeter. There are two problems with this: (1) The “lies” make perfect sense, far more sense than what we’re supposed to believe. (2) Even pathological liars sometimes tell the truth, typically when it won’t hurt their own interests to do so. For those of us who live in what cartoonist Garry Trudeau calls “the reality-based community,” the evidence is what matters, not what we’re told by authority figures. Those of us in the higher stages of spiritual development are funny that way.

...

The essayist: Well, whose fault is that, Ms. Rowling? You’re the one who’s spent the last four books making Ron dumber and dumber, depriving him of any meaningful activity, while you shoved Harry and Hermione into increasingly dominant roles.

The commenter: Are we supposed to look down on Ron now so that we can condemn him for leaving Harry and Hermione? Because if so, then that’s just unfair. Every time Ron tries to come up with an idea, Hermione criticizes him or shoots him down. And the twins have done a fine job of intimidating Ron into remaining mediocre and modest so that he doesn’t remind them of Percy, so what is he supposed to do? How is he supposed to come up with ideas when he’s surrounded by people who basically tell him to shut up and sit down?

The essayist: Just then, Hermione comes out of the tent with cups of tea, with tears running down her face and looking terrified her “friend” is going to curse her with her own wand.

The commenter: So, Hermione will snarl at Ron all day long, but cower in fear when Harry gets mad. Is she projecting herself onto Harry and assuming that just because *she’s* quick to hex people who anger her (Ron, Marietta, etc.), Harry will do the same to her?

The essayist: The evidence is overwhelming that Molly Weasley treated Ron the worst of all her children.

The commenter: And blatantly showed favoritism to Harry while snarling at Ron in the same breath. Of course, Horcrux!Tom doesn’t bring that up, because JKR would have to admit that there might be something wrong with Molly favoring Harry the way she does. The essayist: Hermione acts so crazy Harry has to put a protection charm between her and Ron.

The commenter: Yeah…sorry, it’s not “slapstick” anymore when somebody actually has to stop her from hitting Ron. When Harry feels that the situation is dangerous enough that his intervention is necessary. That’s not funny. That’s a true-crime episode. What gets me is that Hermione's tantrum lasts for days. It goes on for several pages into the next chapter. She doesn't start acting normal again until she comes up with the idea of visiting Xeno Lovegood. The essayist: Hermione tells Ron she still hasn’t ruled out attacking him with birds again.

The commenter: *flatly* So, all of the fans who cooed about how “great” it was for Hermione to show “girl power” by sending Ron to the hospital wing in HBP or breezily dismissed the scene as just tired teenage melodrama? Can put a sock in it. Hermione has clearly learned nothing, JKR clearly feels that that scene was funny, and at no point are we supposed to think that Hermione is an abuser. Even though, if the genders were reversed, fans would be calling for Ron’s head on a platter if he dared lay a finger on Hermione. No. This isn’t funny. This isn’t charming. Hermione hurt Ron so badly in HBP that he had to go to the hospital wing. And she tried to repeat the damage she caused here. Is she going to attack him with birds again after they get married? Is she going to do it in front of their children? Will it be “cute” and “funny” then? No, if a man is an abusive monster for losing his temper and trying to hurt his girlfriend, then Hermione is an abusive monster for losing her temper and trying to hurt her boyfriend. Not only did Hermione land Ron in the infirmary with the first attack, but she wants to do it again at a time when they are on the run. She will NOT be able to take an injured Ron to Hogwarts infirmary, nor to St. Mungos. In other words - she intends for him to remain injured and stick with them while camping, or else he must apparate away while injured, risking another splinching so he could be healed.

...

The essayist: Ron and Harry go back to the tent, and Harry fades into the background so as not to interfere with the lovers’ reunion. That’s a mistake. After Harry wakes Hermione, she shows her delight at Ron’s return by--attacking him? She punches him over a dozen times while yelling at him and screaming for her wand from Harry. Remember last chapter, when I talked about how immature Hermione is? Here’s your proof.

[The essayist quotes an article that I haven’t been able to find, but paraphrased: it speaks of a father who came to pick up his 4 y/o daughter from daycare, a little later than usual, and the daughter reacted by punching and hitting her father, upset at his being late. Additional read:  “The parents must know that physical aggression is a common yet natural problem faced by toddlers.”]

The essayist: So there you have it: Hermione Granger, know-it-all supergirl, is so immature she acts like a preschool child when the boyfriend she’s been missing finally returns. I’m not suggesting she has a father-daughter relationship with Ron; this kind of anger is found in other relationships, too. What I am saying is that her way of expressing her anger is appropriate for a very young child. While adults may certainly feel this kind of anger and desire to hit when reunited with a loved one under similar circumstances, they don’t act it out. That restraint is what separates adults from children. Hermione acts so crazy Harry has to put a protection charm between her and Ron. I frankly found her behavior so out of control as to suggest mental instability. She engages in two full pages of histrionics before throwing herself into a chair, sitting so tensely I’m surprised the circulation isn’t cut off to her arms and legs. She remains in a bratty snit until the end of the chapter, which is another six pages.  Hermione is still pouting the next morning. I’m wondering if her real problem is not that Ron left, but that she didn’t. Is she angry at him because he had the guts to admit they were blowing it and take a time out, while she just kept trailing along after Harry like a lost house elf? I think she’s definitely mad because she’s always controlled Ron and their relationship. How dare he assert his independence of her! Who does he think he is? Her equal? In an AU, maybe. This is called the Potterverse after all, not the Ronverse.  Hermione’s having a bad month. First Ron runs out on them; then she saves Harry’s life, but he’s an ungrateful jerk about it; then Harry asserts his independence; then Ron comes back but doesn’t grovel sufficiently for her taste. All this mistreatment is going to give her the idea she’s just a normal character and not an Author’s Darling.   While Ron was gone, he was captured by bad guys called Snatchers, who are bounty hunters for Voldemort. In getting away, he got a spare wand, which he gives to Harry. Of course, it doesn’t work as well as Harry’s “real” wand, so Harry’s still in a snit about that, and with Hermione in a snit, too, they’re a cheerful bunch. Honestly, I don’t know why Ron puts up with these two. The Hs are so spoiled and self-centered, they deserve each other, but I don’t think this is what HP/HG shippers mean when they proclaim the two as an OTP. Sane, normal Ron doesn’t deserve either one of them. Run, Ron! Run while you still can!

...

The essayist: As an interesting aside, ròn is the Celtic word for seal. In Druid lore, seals represent love, longing, and dilemma. No more appropriate totem animal could be imagined for this boy whose sense of selfhood is undermined by his longing for love from a rejecting mother and inadequate father, and who, like the selchie wives of folklore, is faced with the impossible choice of being who he truly is and being rejected, or denying the best part of himself to gain love. Ron’s intelligence and independence threaten his insecure wife (and best friend), just as the selchie’s identity as a seal-woman threatens her human husband; Ron imprisons himself by hiding who he is so the Hs can feel smart and in charge, just as the selchie’s human husband imprisons his wife by hiding her sealskin in a trunk.