#and that’s why he Suspects Something

[grassbreads]

Holy shit, I cannot remember the last time something in a book has filled me with as much simultaneous intense excitement and dread as clicking to book two of Silent Reading and seeing that the chapters are named after Humbert Humbert.

Because like, on one hand, that was the moment when it hit me what the literary references in part 1 were doing and how the rest of the novel would be structured, and. damn. I fucking love allusions, and Priest has absolutely outdone herself with this referential criminal structure. (Assuming I’ve interpreted her intentions here right, lmao). That realization was the moment I went from decently enjoying to absolutely loving this book.

But on the other hand, given that the upcoming chapters are named after Humbert Humbert… I am filled with horror and dread.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Let the revenge games begin.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[mozart-the-meerkitten]

Been rewatching the early Marvel movies and apparently this is the time of my life where I just get re-obsessed with characters I love so here's some random thoughts about Loki/Thor the Dark World:

Why. In the world. In the universe. Did Odin not ask Loki ANY questions when Loki was brought before him for judgement in Dark World? Like, at the BAREST MINIMUM he should have asked where Loki got an ARMY, the last time he'd seen Loki was when Loki fell off the Bifrost and then he vanished for a year and showed back up with the glowstick of destiny and an army that Thor says "are not of Asgard or any world known". ODIN. WHY ARE YOU NOT ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS?!

Like, we are aware that Odin is. partial to giving his kids harsh punishments. He obviously doesn't care about Loki's motives. Like, a good parent would look at their kid who disappeared for a year and then came back insane and be like "hey so what happened to you when you disappeared? you didn't get captured by a super powerful being and tortured into submission did you?" (Thanos tortured Loki I have SOURCES and I WILL cite them upon request) But even a bad parent who was a decent king would wonder how their kid suddenly got an ARMY out of NOWHERE and yet Odin never questions this at all. Even Thor in Avengers at least asks Loki "Who showed you this power? Who controls the would-be king?" (which just shows Thor would honestly be a better king than Odin tbh) but Odin is just like "nah this is not important. imprisoning my son for life and telling him how worthless I think he is is more important in this moment."

I wonder if she'd had more time if maybe Frigga would have been able to get Loki to tell her what happened and if maybe that was part of her goal of visiting him (beyond just, you know, actually being a decent parent who cares about her child and wanting to keep him company) because we know she's clever (she's smarter than Odin good gravy, is there like an age difference between them is he going senile or something) so PERHAPS she thought if she talked to Loki she could puzzle out what had happened to him and find out if there was, you know, a potential universal threat Asgard should be aware of. And like, if she had found out anything what was Odin going to say? He can't actually punish his wife in any meaningful way (lol imagine he tries and she just grabs her two grown sons and leaves, help xD) especially if she found out IMPORTANT INFORMATION that he SHOULD have discovered on his own.

This does kind of highlight an underlying problem with Odin, where he seems to think that Asgard is invincible and is, well, lazy about defending it. Like, I've seen posts about how Loki letting the Frost Giants into Asgard in the first movie is actually him not just showing that Thor is not ready to be king, but also demonstrating that Asgard has dangerous holes in its defenses. Because yeah, Loki can HIDE HIMSELF FROM HEIMDALL and sneak into Asgard. Heck, he can sneak OTHERS into Asgard while he's not even WITH them. That- that is a security threat, because if anyone BESIDES Loki could do that then Asgard could easily be invaded and- wait a second, that happens in The Dark World! The Dark Elves hide themselves from Heimdall and sneak an invasion force into Asgard! Destroying it's defenses and KILLING ITS QUEEN. Like, my goodness, do you think Loki is the only person with these abilities? Are you even trying Odin? At all?

TLDR; Odin is an idiot for not questioning Loki about the Chitauri/where he was for a year between Thor and Avengers, not to mention an awful father and an incompetent king.

[maegalkarven]

I keep thinking about how from all of the Dead Three' Chosen, Gortash is the only one offering an alliance, and why is that.

It stirs from their goals, I believe.

Orin's ultimate goal is Bhaal's goal, i.e. the destruction of the world.

What is Ketheric's ultimate goal I know not, but I suspect his ultimate goal has been achieved already - Isobel is alive, and now all what's left for him is to serve Myrkul for the miracle of bringing his daughter back.

Gortash's goal is world domination. And, as we could see in Control the Elder Brain ending, world domination is a...lonely thing.

In the end there is no one but you and your army of thralls. No one to see you shine, no one to bask in your glory.

And if there's no one to see you rule, then are you even ruling?

I think of Jaheira's comment about what "of course Gortash is genuine, he needs someone to bask in his glory".

And this is why he ultimately seeks an alliance with Tav/Durge, this is why he specifically requires his ally to be his equal.

Because, maybe subconsciously, but he knows what the power he seeks is a lonely business. And he wants, no, needs someone to witness his greatness, someone he can share it with, someone who could GET it.

He genuinely plans to share his rule and power with another person because he needs someone - equal to him - to see and acknowledge his success. That's why, ironically, he can be a legit ally if your actions and goals do not contradict his.

This is why it's "our tyranny".

And that's so fucking sad.

[sotc]

Honestly tho, as much as I hate to say it, I personally think Illario betrayed Lucanis. I know he seemed really torn over Lucanis' death in The Wake buuuuut if you've read TN then you know Illario has been gunning after being the next First Talon. Caterina said the body they found wasn't her grandson because the face was altered with blood magic to look like Lucanis and had his clothing. What would be Zara's motivations to do that? Why would she give a damn besides someone who needs a coverup? A story? Who needs Lucanis out of the picture (again)? Isn't it convenient the moment she voices what she knows, when you return with Lucanis, she's suddenly gone? How did Zara manage to get so close? Stares into the camera.

Maybe Illario had a set up planned with Zara? Maybe Zara learned Lucanis' weakness was his cousin and she got to him through Illario? Was Illario more manipulable because of his envy and resentment? Hmm! 🤔💭 Part of me thinks (hopes) it's not that simple. I know Illario loves Lucanis. Maybe he was approached by Zara in some way and didn't want to betray him. Maybe the betrayal or the hand in Lucanis' death was unintended and accidental or perhaps even forced/unwilling and he realized Zara had also played him and could make him culpable. Maybe he truly was beat up over the events of what happened and Lucanis' death! If it did play out this way could Lucanis forgive him? 🤔💭

Anyways, just musings. thoughts. speculations.

[the-sage-libriomancer]

Shigure's relationship with Kyo drives me crazy. he doesn't hate Kyo in the slightest - in fact, he pities Kyo, and not in the condescending "oh you poor little boy, cursed to be a horrible, disgusting monster" sort of way that everyone else does. Shigure pities Kyo for the reason he should be pitied: he's just a kid caught up in a system so inhumane it can't possibly be survived without some seriously unhealthy coping mechanisms.

and it drives me crazy because - listen, Shigure is the only zodiac member who's emotionally aware enough to see the other zodiac members as exactly what they are. he knows Yuki is a severely traumatized kid who projects all of his self-hatred on a single convenient target. he knows Akito is really a scared little girl with a raging god complex (literally) and no concept of a healthy relationship. and he knows Kyo is a regular-ass human being who doesn't deserve to be locked up for the rest of his life just because some arbitrary system says so. he KNOWS it's stupid. he KNOWS it's ridiculous and unfair. and he has to share a house with Kyo knowing that Kyo is living with a sword over his head, hating himself and hating others in perfect tandem because he has no other way of coping with the insane amounts of negativity he's had to deal with his entire life.

but the thing about Shigure is that he KNOWS all of this, and the same time he doesn't really CARE. he feels sorry for Kyo, but an apathetic sort of pity, a disinterested "this is how it is. such a shame." sort of pity. in some ways he's worse than the other zodiacs because he DOES see Kyo as a person, someone he likes being around even, but he still considers Kyo below his attention because all his focus is on Akito and breaking the curse. and sure, once the curse is broken Kyo will theoretically be set free with the rest of them, but that's more of a coincidental side effect than anything. despite being in a much more dangerous and precarious mental space AND comfortably in Shigure's reach, Kyo is about as much a priority for Shigure as Ritsu or Momiji.

and it drives me CRAZY because i think Shigure does start actively caring about Kyo as the series goes on, but it's hard to tell when that happens and to what extent. when Kazuma told Shigure he planned to reveal Kyo's true form and Shigure said he was going too far - whose sake was it for? was Shigure trying to protect Kyo, who would be hideously traumatized/emotionally scarred by such a cruel betrayal? was he trying to protect Kyo and Tohru's relationship, which was still formulating and might, under such severe testing, ultimately end up damaged beyond repair? was he only trying to protect Tohru, who wasn't ready to be burdened by such a horrible aspect of the curse so soon, or perhaps simply didn't deserve it? or was it all for the sake of himself, trying to protect his still-forming plans of using Tohru's positive effect on the Sohmas to break the curse?

Shigure cares about Kyo, but they're not close and Kyo clearly isn't a priority. he treats Kyo like a person - offering him genuine advice, teasing him like he teases anyone else, even speaking up on his behalf once or twice - and yet he's too entrenched in the long game to spare much active interest in Kyo. for a very long time, he doesn't care about Kyo the way he cares about Yuki or Tohru, and it's never made clear when exactly that changed. and the thing that gets me about this whole situation is that right from the start, Shigure is in a position where he can meet Kyo at his level - as equals, just one human being to another - but he doesn't, because Shigure is a chessmaster, Shigure is someone who observes and calculates, Shigure never steps in unless one of his chess pieces makes a wrong move and he absolutely has to.

it drives me crazy. Shigure drives me crazy. this series drives me so so crazy.

[worstloki]

Loki didn't even do anything to the other Asgardians personally, unsure why they didn't like him so much and thought he was so suspicious

[blackfoy]

Baby Viktor

Due to a magical mishap in the lab Viktor ends up de-aged. Little Viktor comes to himself in a place he doesn't recognize, with no clothes and no cane. He is very obviously in Piltover, and there is a very large man calling his name and asking him if he's ok and what he remembers. The poor boy is very frightened, and it doesn't help that they are not speaking in his first language, so he is still having some trouble with words at this age. Jayce, of course, helps the little one up and puts his own shirt on him, which hangs down like a dress, but little Viktor is even more terrified because of the strength in Jayce's arms and the fact that his hand practically covers his entire torso.

Of course, the poor child tries his best to put together how he got here. He understands that he is missing memories, but he doesn't know he's been de-aged, so he is trying to figure out how a crippled child from the undercity ended up in the rich part of Piltover. The feeling of being out of place gets even worse when he finds out that Jayce is a councilor and when he meets Mel, who looks extremely extravagant and is also a councilor. Any and all ideas he can come up with are, of course, bad ones, but there is little good he can figure from his situation. He had never thought of himself as one of the ones to sell their body for food and shelter, much less to big, strong, rich pilties, but he assumes his past self must have had a reason and tries to be good and not make himself sick with his own thoughts.

[moxie-girl]

DRDT SPOILERS

WAIT. WHAT IF EDEN GRABBED THE TAPE FOR A NON MURDER REASON N GAVE IT TO SOMEONE ELSE BC THEY ASKED HER FOR HELP? and now she’s realizing she might have helped Arei’s killer unwillingly, maybe why she kept repeating that line about friends helping each other?

[nostalgia-tblr]

there's something incredibly revealing about fandom's assigning of alternate jobs in AUs and how rarely this leads to Blue Collar Loki as opposed to Blue Collar Thor.

[wisegirl-seaweedbrain]

and the crowd… exchanges confused glances?

[total-drama-brainrot]

TD World Tour AU, where Noah doesn't tell Owen that Alejandro is an eel in London... In Area 51, Noah is accidentally splashed with an alien truth potion (which wears off after a few days) and he talks to Owen... Owen asks Noah what he truly thinks about Alejandro, and Truth-Potion Affected Noah says this: "I have mixed feelings for Alejandro. He's a brilliant, interesting guy and I like him, but I don't trust him. He's like a slippery eel dipped in grease, swimming in motor oil. Basically, Heather with social skills. Wait a minute, why am I telling you this?!"... What if Alejandro secretly heard Noah call him all those conflicting things + Alejandro also learns that Noah is affected with an alien truth potion? 👽

Alright, you got me. I'm an absolute sucker for truth potion plots, especially when the character(s) effected by them are usually either pathological liars or incredibly secretive- of which Noah absolutely falls into the second category, given he shares so little personal information.

I'll gloss over why Noah declined to shit-talk Alejandro in London (though there's so many ways this change in behaviour could be justified) since the focal point of this hypothetical centred around their time in Nevada, so let's start from the beginning of the Area 51 challenge.

Area 51:

Before we start, it'll have to be established that no one was eliminated in London. Let's say that the majority vote went towards Duncan (team CIRRRRH voted him out immediately because they found his re-admission to the competition unfair, I guess. I imagine he'd also vote himself, if not as a plan to escape the competition he'd been actively skiving from, then just as an act of spite) but Chris instead claimed it was a rewards challenge- much like he does in Greece- because he doesn't want to let Duncan slip away again so soon.

I see no reason to alter the first part of the challenge- the sneaking into Area 51 portion- since team CIRRRRH's course of entry is fairly straightforward. Noah's presence doesn't make much of a difference to how it would play out; the majority of them throw their rocks and run, Owen gets lasered over the fence and Owen-napped, ect ect.

When both teams have managed to make their way into the Black Box Warehouse, Noah immediately suggests they should prioritise rescuing Owen. Tyler's quick to agree, since he's a firm believer in the "no man left behind" mentality (and he probably makes a not-so-subtle jab towards Noah for his chance of tune compared to London, where both he and Owen did leave Tyler behind) leaving Duncan and Alejandro to split from the group- Duncan in search of Gwen, and Alejandro just takes the opportunity to finally be free from his 'incompetent teammates' and prioritises finding an artifact.

Noah and Tyler come across the contraption Owen's trapped in, Tyler punches it in a futile effort to break it open, and the face hugger cube drops into Noah's hands. This is where the point of divergence comes into play; Tyler has his E.T. moment with one of the face huggers, but Noah- who's a tad bit more observant than Alejandro, and used to dodging surprise attacks from his various older siblings (and Izzy)- anticipates his own face hugger attack and promptly starts a game of cat-and-mouse with a taser alien hot on his heels.

The commotion of which attracts the rest of his team. Alejandro and Duncan arrive on the scene to see Tyler being electrocuted by an alien and Noah running in circles evading another.

Duncan attempts to rip the face hugger from Tyler's face, finding success at the cost of sending Tyler trampling into Owen's captive contraption (essentially taking Alejandro's canonical place in this scene) and inadvertently freeing Owen.

Meanwhile, Alejandro swipes up the nearest box he can find and snags the alien chasing Noah, who's still very loudly panicking as he flees, and succeeds! The alien is swiftly captured into the box, netting team CIRRRRH their artifact, and Noah promptly goes careening into the nearest tower of junk in his face hugger-fuelled hysteria. This causes another box to topple from the peak of the tower, landing directly on Noah's head and spilling its contents onto the bookworm- glass vials filled with a mysterious, luminescent cobalt blue liquid shatter into pieces drenching Noah in whatever they contained. (i.e. truth potion.)

Owen has his false-amnesia moment, characterised by his Joker makeover, and Alejandro enacts his revenge post-hypnotic suggestion after being addressed as "Al" one too many times.

Noah, understandably, swiftly objects to Owen's treatment and demands that Alejandro snap him out of it. Alejandro concedes, and Owen's brought back to himself. At least, for a moment, before the fatigue of having his mind messed with sends Owen into near-catatonia (the same as canon), meaning he has to be ferried through the Warehouse and back to the Jet by Alejandro and Duncan.

Things carry on canonically from there; Noah's just sort of there for the most part, though there'd be a minor hint to his newfound proclivity for honesty. Something along the lines of him giving an uncharacteristically honest answer to Owen as to who he's voting- Tyler, of course, since he was the one who ultimately threw the challenge for them... and also because Tyler still holds some resentment towards Noah for what happened in London, and Noah feels guilty about it every time he looks at the jock. Wait, why did he say that?

Sometime between this and the elimination scene, Noah wipes the truth-goop off of himself, but not before the effects have already started.

Tyler's voted out, yada yada yada.

The Jet:

Thus begins the start of "Picnic at Hanging Dork". Team CIRRRRH, consisting of just Alejandro, Duncan, Owen and Noah, are slumming it up in the Economy Cabin. Alejandro tries to rally his team by asking how to break apart Courtney and Heather's tentative co-operation. Owen suggests having Alejandro seduce Heather, since it worked for both Bridgette and Leshawna. Duncan makes his "Babe Olympics" comment. Noah pipes up that playing with someone's feelings is pretty scummy, even for someone competing for a million dollars.

Alejandro takes Noah's reluctance towards his methodology poorly; he hadn't spoken up before, when Alejandro had utilized the same strategy against other girls- and even Owen noticed that, so surely Noah did too- so why was he to outwardly against him using the same tricks? Duncan agrees, and offers ''his'' idea of having Alejandro flirt with Courtney to throw both her and Heather off their games (since Heather has an obvious crush on Alejandro), and things follow canon.

Then, the scene between Alejandro and Courtney happens. Noah scoffs at the display from the side lines, prompting Owen to ask him why he's so against Alejandro's plan.

"I mean, you never said anything before, when he flirted with Bridgette and Leshawna." Owen comments, light-hearted in nature but with an underlying questioning tone.

Noah's eyes flicker with a cobalt glow, easily mistaken for a trick of the light, and he speaks without even thinking.

"Yeah, because I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. Bridgette was happenstance, and Leshawna's whole deal could've been a coincidence, or some massive misunderstanding. But this?" Noah extends an accusing hand out towards a smug looking Alejandro, then pans it over to a flattered Courtney, "He's outright toying with Courtney's feelings after she was cheated on in front of an international audience. It's scummy."

Owen nods in understanding, momentary contemplation evident in the pouted curve of his lips, and he chimes in.

"Does that mean you don't like Al?"

"I never said that."

"Well, how do you feel about him, then?"

Again, a flash of blue light against the hickory backdrop of Noah's eyes, and he responds thoughtlessly.

"I guess I have mixed feelings about him. On the one hand, he's slippery, like an eel dipped in grease, swimming in motor oil. He's like if you took all of the worst aspects of Heather, wrapped them up in a pretty package, and gave them social skills..." He holds his hands out before him in a scale-like manner, with the left tipped downwards and tie right raised by his chin. Then, the two hands swap positions.

"And on the other hand, he's brilliant. I've never met anyone as talented as Alejandro; he's smart, he's athletic, he's funny. It's almost unfair just how perfect everything about him is- even his face is perfect. It's ridiculous! Infuriating, even. It's so hard to dislike him, even when I know he's bad news, but that doesn't mean I trust him."

Owen stands slack jawed beside his best friend, both impressed and stunned at the raw honesty of Noah's tirade. Noah, now a little more aware of himself, realises that he's said more than he intended to- more than he thinks he's ever spoken in one go throughout the entirety of Total Drama. He's not usually one for speeches, after all, let alone honest ones.

He's always been the type to play his cards close to his chest, so why...?

"I, uh, didn't mean to go off like that."

And he also didn't mean to admit it, either. What was going on?

The look Owen gives him is, in a word, vivid. The blonde has a shit-eating grin stretching across his face, a sort of elated smugness practically glowing from his features.

"Sounds like someone has a cruuuush!~"

What? No? No! Not at all, where would Owen even get that idea?!

Noah splutters to correct Owen's assumption (to disastrous results, because he does sort-of has a crush on Alejandro, so the truth potion doesn't allow him to outright deny it), and in his preoccupied state he misses how a calculating pair of sage green eyes never seems to stray from him.

Alejandro has a lot to think about in regards to a certain cynic, it seems.

[oatmealcrisp-freak]

.........................it'd be so funny if they got Light convicted and then because he was a minor he only served like five years

Light banging at L's door the second he's out, "DO YOU SEE NOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT?!"

L: .....okay fair enough. Where's Amane?

Light: Are you kidding, she got out before I did

[sadlynotthevoid]

The other day I had this weird dream where, in a timeline where the Soo's, somehow and for some reason, stopped the plaza terror incident— pretty much with no casualties. And then, like a week later or so, the king or Alberu (or any royalty, not sure who) gathered the nobles and other people related to the matter on the palace.

Here's when things start to... happen, I guess?

Turns out, between the people there was a really angry noblewoman who went straight to the king to ask for divorce of her husband. Not really sure what the guy did, but he was also there and he was kind of a jerk, so... Fair.

Zed, for this time in the right, tried to explain that 'yes, he can get them divorced, but right now was not the time for it'.

—It didn't worked.

The woman was really mad and indignated and the jerk of the husband wasn't helping. Obviously, the situation escalated.

The discussion turned into yells, which turned into them throwing things and a random woman (seriously, who was this? a mistress, maybe?) joining the jerk. Food was launched, Antonio Gyerre almost got a fork at the eye and, by the end of all this, Choi Han had a chicken wing on his hair (that was Choi JungSoo, actually).

After they got them separated, the jerk ended up being held by the guards for some reason (I think he threw a knife, but I'm not sure. It could had been Raon). The woman stomped off the room, being followed by a distressed maid holding a baby.

Five minutes later, Cale Henituse entered through the door, looking really confused. He glanced at all the people covered in food, at the man being picked like a naughty cat by the guards and at the spoon tangled in the king's beard. He tilted his head.

"What happened here."

And, instead of answering him, Bassen asked, "hyung-nim, what are you carrying there?"

Slowly, Cale moved the bunch in which he had his coat wrappled in his arms. He pulled off a piece of fabric a bit, showing a pair of litte hands to Bassen.

"—!!"

"Some crazy woman threw this baby at me at the hallway. Literally."

----

Then I woke up and now I don't know what happened later with og!Cale and his accidentally acquired baby. I mean, besides that he kept her, obviously.

[kadextra]

q!Bad talking to the Skeppy statue:

“We need to rely on the people closest to us, we need a shoulder to lean on. I realized Bagi and I couldn’t handle this situation alone (reason for why he involved q!Baghs) we need to rely on our friends, somewhat…. it’s all for our eggs.”

[paces around, stares off into the distance before looking back at Skeppy]

“Hmm. When am I gonna tell them? *violently pulls out a scythe on the statue and laughs* Never, Skeppy. They can never know. :)”

[hums and walks away]

[kingofattolia]

"Do you miss it? The Order?" "I miss... the idea of it. But not the truth, the weakness. There was no future there." OKAY, THIS MAN MISSES THE ORDER SOOOOOOOOOOO BAD IT MAKES HIM LOOK STUPID

I'm serious. He's carrying the husk of his long-ossified grief so obviously. It is evident in everything he does and says that he was a young knight absolutely ripped to shreds by Order 66 and its lonely, dark aftermath. He allowed despair to be his comfort, convincing himself there's nothing to mourn because it's easier than dealing with the loss.