#and the bad kids still don't involve him in the mystery

[hootgrowlbears]

Is Gorthalax under Oblivati Mori?

In episode 10, Lydia clarified that Bakur's god was a god of the Nine Hells, likely of fire and rage and torment. Like Gorthalax, Bakur is a pit fiend. Oblivati Mori is a law of Theothanatic Silence, which means the gods are not meant to mention fallen gods, but we don't exactly know what laws Pit Fiends must follow. Bakur at least wasn't allowed to mention his god's name, but he was able to convey enough that Lydia's party knew that he was trying to resurrect his old god.

In episode 4, Gorthalax mentioned that he knew the guy who invented spite, and that he was an okay guy, but warned the bad kids away from making spite and revenge a priority. Adaine asked him to name drop the inventor of spite, but Gorthalax right breezed past it.

Did Gorthalax know the dead god of rage and torment? After the deity transitioned from a giant god to a god of the nine hells? How much would he be able to talk about the god if he was asked?

[narrativelysignificantturtleduck]

i'm fully willing to accept that sokka's weird "play hard to get" advice in "the fortuneteller" was just the writers (rightfully) making fun of that type of dating advice however there's a part of me that's still like. HOW did sokka come up with that. there were no girls his age in his village besides his sister so presumably he's only had 1 single romantic encounter (suki) by that point and that very much did not involve him being aloof and uninterested. yes he's lying to aang about being romantically experienced and probably pulling it out of his ass but why is that what he comes up with.

after pondering, i think there's a few possibilities:

hakoda. now, i don't think it's romantic advice hakoda would give. he's a friendly guy and presumably pulled kya just by being, y'know, sweet and funny and hot. however i CAN see him saying it as a joke. like he says something goofy and kya rolls her eyes fondly like "why did i marry you" and he's like "definitely my cool unattainable mysterious appeal" and they both crack up because he was actually adorably down bad. only thing is, baby sokka does not know that and takes the joke at face value. that's how dad said he got mom! but dad was joking. dad actually tripped over himself and fell face first into the snow when she smiled at him

some older kid in the tribe. there are no girls sokka's age in his village but i have to imagine there are other villages in the tribe, we just don't see them bc after the raid the villages got more isolated and more mobile (tents over igloos) to avoid detection by the fire nation. so baby sokka had a baby crush on a girl from another village and an slightly older boy (someone who would later be just old enough to go to war with the men and leave sokka as the oldest boy in the village) tried to give him Sage Advice. but sokka was 10 and the kid was 14 so it was Bad Advice

bato. this is the funniest option to me bc "play hard to get" is such childish advice for a grown adult to give. but it kinda fits with the whole bakoda storyline of bato quietly pining for hakoda for years. worked so hard at maintaining Maximum Aloofness that the guy he liked didn't realize it for decades

katara. okay actually maybe THIS is the funniest. she found out sokka had a crush on the girl from the other village and thinking her brother is gross and icky and no girl should have to deal with that she said hey. you know what girls like? when you pretend you're not interested :) baby katara is so cute and so full of mischief <3

[whateverloomis]

I told you they were witches man ✒︎ Scream (1996) x The Craft (1996)

Note: This is a cross-over fic and I highly recommend watching both Scream (1996) and The Craft (1996) movies to understand the story better.

Before reading: The reader is gender neutral, AFAB and referred with the pronouns They/Them. The "T" will always be capitalized and in italics so there's no confusion as to who's being talked about.

Warnings: Character death, cheating, supernatural powers, witches, SMUT, hint of blood play, choking, making out, unprotected sex, lot's of screaming, angst, unedited.

Pairings: Reader x Billy Loomis and Reader x Chris Hooker

Word count: 4.2k

-

It's wasn't a secret that witches exist... but in Woodsboro? The town was all about the ghost face killings that happened, but recently there had been rumors about witches roaming the area... as if that were needed in such a troubled place.

YN had been going to the towns community college for about a year now. They didn't have many close friends, not only because They're very selective with people, it's also because people can't be trusted in general.

The rumors started because of those who still remained in that popular kid headspace as if this were some kind of high school drama. Some people needed to learn to grow up...

One of the many that were spreading the rumor was Chris Hooker. An attractive football player that doesn't pay attention in class and flirts with whoever crosses his path. YN didn't appreciate his attitude most of the time, but They couldn't deny that he was great in bed. It was all fun and games, really. Temporary entertainment between the two.

Then there was Billy Loomis. The mysterious bad boy type. He had a tight friend group, and within it his girlfriend was included, Sidney Prescott. They'd been dating for over two years and their relationship had been declining ever since Sidney's mom was murdered. YN was also part of the friend group but wasn't loyal to it since They  belonged to the witch coven along with Nancy Downs, Bonnie and Rochelle.

Billy didn't like the little clique much and he didn't exactly approve of YN being part of it. The group weren't aware of Them being a witch, but Billy knew better. He'd been in YN's room before. He'd seen the candles, the tapestries with weird symbols on them, the intricate journal covers and other items that screamed witch.

"I don't know why you keep hanging out with that Billy guy, he's bad news YN." Nancy said in her usual sassy tone. YN rolled Their  eyes at her and scoffed. This wasn't the first time the topic came up, and it was starting to become too repetitive and annoying. YN was aware that Billy wasn't innocent. He was way too obvious about being involved in the Woodsboro murders along with his best friend Stu Macher, but They  were too involved with him at this point to just say goodbye and move on.

"Nancy quit it, you know it's complicated between us..." They said, and Bonnie smirked at Them, knowing it was a cheap excuse.

"Is it that way with Chris too? Because you guys have been pretty close lately too." Rochelle said and the other girls started to giggle.

YN rolled Their eyes and smirked in response. "Stop it guys, I have it all under control."

Suddenly the witches went quiet and looked behind YN.  They  turned around and saw Chris standing against a tree nearby, clearly waiting for Them.

Nancy stood up along with the rest of the girls and flipped Chris off before leaving their usual picnic area.

YN walked over to the man and stood right in front of him, arms crossed over Their chest. He looked at Them from head to toe and smirked, placed his hand on Their hip and took a few steps forward.

"I saw you talking to Billy this morning. You trying to replace me now? Hm?" Chris said and YN rolled Their eyes. "Stop. I told you what's up and you're the one that said it's fine, now you're getting jealous?" They answered firmly.

Chris bit his lip softly and pulled Them closer to him, placing a soft kiss on YN's lips. "I know baby, I just miss you that's all..." He said and kissed Them again, prolonging it until it got heated.

He moved YN's hands around his neck and placed his on Their  hips, pulled Them against him and ran his hands down to Their ass, squeezing the soft flesh before moving them up to YN's waist, squeezing there too.

His kisses and touches were intoxicating and YN hated it, yet couldn't get enough. Chris knew the power he had over Them and took advantage of it as much as he could. He was aware that their little game wouldn't last long. Billy and YN had a more involved relationship and eventually it was going to end for both Chris and Them. It didn't matter though, at least that's what he told himself. His feelings for YN weren't strong, but they were definitely there.

The kiss continued to escalate. Chris had his thigh in-between YN's legs and They were slowly grinding against him to get some kind of stimulation and release tension. He knew how to get YN worked up and loved doing so.

Suddenly, Chris stopped his movements and turned YN around, pressing Them against his chest while wrapping his arms around Their waist. YN saw Billy standing a few feet away looking at the both of them. They tried to pull away from Chris, but he held Them in place and started to place kisses on Their neck, a weak spot. An involuntary moan escaped Their mouth at the feeling but They were quick to push Chris away.

"Don't be a fucking asshole" YN said and turned around to look at Billy with an apologetic look. Chris laughed while giving Billy a glare.

"Sure, my bad. Catch you later babe, we're not done yet." Chris said loud enough for Billy to hear and jogged away.

YN flipped him off and walked over to Billy who had annoyance written all over his face.

"Is he really that good of a kisser? Because I'm sure I can do way better." He asked and YN smacked his arm playfully. Billy rolled his eyes and held YN's hand and squeezed it a bit harder than usual before walking towards his car.

-

The ride to Their house was quiet until Billy and YN arrived at Their  house. Lucky for both of them the house was empty so they went up to YN's room to finally have some alone time.

Billy was on edge because of what he had seen earlier between Chris and YN. He had agreed to whatever triangle was happening between them, but he had enough of it. YN was all he wanted and he was going to make sure he got it soon. That, and execute his plan to kill Sidney for revenge because of his mother abandoning him. Getting rid of the girl in general. That was going to allow him to have YN all to himself, but he needed to get through with the plan carefully in order to succeed and not get caught.

As much as he didn't like YN's witch friends, he found himself with no choice but to team up with them somehow, which is why he ended up getting Nancy involved in his plan to get rid of Sidney Prescott and Chris Hooker. Billy didn't need that asshole running around after YN like a desperate puppy any longer.

It was a simple plan. Stu was going to host a big party to get everyone together in the same house. Nancy would serve as a distraction and asset by hooking up with Chris in Stu's room and creating a scene by pushing him off the second floor to scare everyone away. While chaos went down, Billy and Stu would have the opportunity to kill Sidney and run away with YN.

It was the perfect plan. The perfect ending. Everyone would win.

-

Billy couldn't contain his emotions any longer. He had anger, jealousy and hurt written all over his face. YN walked towards him and placed a hand on his cheek, looking straight into his chocolate brown eyes that held the power to hypnotize whoever he pleased.

"I'm sorry about... Listen, Chris is an asshole and was messing around, it's not that serio-" -- "Then break it off. Stop whatever the hell is going on between you two. Am I not enough for you, YN?" Billy cut Them off.

YN closed Their eyes and took a deep breath. "Billy, I love you and only you, but you hurt me everyday. We're going behind Sidney's back and you seem to find every excuse to stay with her even if you say your relationship with her is long gone." -- "It is. I need you to trust me on this YN, I can't just break up with her abruptly, I need some time to-" -- "To find the right moment? That's what you always say Billy, and it never happens. I have a right to be with whoever I want to be until that happens because whatever this is, it's not real until it's over between you two!" YN said, all patience lost.

Chris was a distraction for Them. A fun game that kept Them from thinking about the things that hurt the most which was not being able to have a normal relationship with Billy. It was a mutual, silent understanding they both had, but Billy needed Them all to himself already but before that happened he needed to go through with his plan. It was complicated and he didn't know how to keep lying to YN any longer, but he had to make it work, he had no choice.

YN's breathing slowly picked up and Billy took note of it. "Look, I promise this will be over soon... Me and Sidney. We're nothing." -- "Then prove it to me, Loomis. Break up with her already. Make your "promise" come true once and for all!" They practically screamed and the air started to shift. Billy looked around the room and his heart rate picked up. That wasn't normal wind.

"YN, please calm down. We're gonna work this ou-" -- "Don't tell me to calm down! I can't!" They screamed, and the wind blowed aggressively, making all the papers spin around the room as well as the candles on the night stand and shelves light up by themselves. A force that YN couldn't control anymore. That They were tired of hiding from Their secret lover.

As scared and shocked as he was, Billy placed his hands on YN's shoulders, attempting to ground Them, and to his surprise it was working. The environment around the room started to calm down slowly, until everything went silent and still. They both looked at each other for a few seconds but it felt like minutes. They were both scared for different reasons, but no words were spoken. There was only a silent understanding and acknowledgement between the two. He knew that was a supernatural reaction but despite it all, Their secret was safe with him.

Billy looked at YN and slowly scanned his eyes over Their face until his gaze landed on Their lips. Despite everything, he loved Them. Needed Them. Billy couldn't stand close to Them without wanting to have his hands on Them. It was a force that he felt, an attraction that he couldn't describe, and YN felt it too. They took a step towards him, feeling the mix of emotions. The love and hunger. It was electric.

Without warning, Billy crashed his lips against Theirs. The kiss was aggressive, full of love and anger. He grabbed Their hips and pulled Them towards him, deepening the kiss. Both of their tongues were brushing against each other softly and the pair bit their bottom lips occasionally. It was soft, it was rough, it was a delicious contradiction of movements and they couldn't get enough of it.

YN took the lead and lead Billy to Their bed, pushing him on it and sitting on his lap, continuing their kiss. The pair started to grind against each other and moan into their mouths.

They ran Their hands through Billy's hair and tugged at the strands. His actions got more aggressive by digging his fingers into Their waist and removing Their shirt slowly, revealing Their tits and he brushed his hands along the side of the mounds. YN released a moan at the soft touch and moved Billy's hands to squeeze Their tits firmly. Their small hands over his. They both played with YN's chest and moaned at the sight until they couldn't get enough of the teasing.

YN removed Billy's shirt desperately, followed by Their pants and thong. They both didn't have enough patience at this point, so Billy unbuttoned his jeans and pushed them down just enough to release his cock. He was rock hard and They moaned at the sight. Billy moved Them towards his throbbing dick and They started to grind against his length, stimulating Their clit with each rub.

The pair started to make out furiously again while They continued to rub against his shaft and spread wetness all over Billy's cock, creating the perfect slide. YN occasionally pressed Their hole over the head of Billy's dick until he was barely inside Them, and then pulled up. YN repeated the action until both of them couldn't take anymore teasing and Billy buried his cock inside Their throbbing pussy, bottoming inside.They moaned and dug Their nails on the man's chest, hard enough to leave droplets of blood along the trail. They scratched down on his skin multiple times and Billy bit his lip at the sensation, trying to avoid making any noise, but he let out a grunt either way.

YN started to jump on his cock and roll Their eyes at the feeling of Billy's girth filling Them up. The man thrusted up meeting YN's movements, which made Them stick Their tongue out in response and pant like a wild animal. A primal desire taking over Them. Billy took the opportunity to run his finger over his chest to collect some of the blood droplets and place it on YN's tongue. On instinct They closed Their mouth, sucking and savoring the red substance. Billy's pupils dilated at the sight and something took over him. He used his other hand to choke YN softly, slowly adding more pressure to the sides of Their neck to restrict air flow in the most pleasurable way imaginable. The feeling of decreasing air made Them whimper pathetically and throb around Billy's cock uncontrollably, building up both of their orgasms.

"Fuck... Just like that baby, yes..." Billy cursed while his cock grew impossibly bigger inside of Them.

"Inside... Please... Cum inside me..." YN whimpered, feeling slightly lightheaded because of the restricted airflow which accelerated Their orgasm until the point of explosion. They came around Billy's cock and moaned uncontrollably. Their vision turning slightly blurry. Not long after Billy came inside Their overstimulated cunt, which caused Them to squirt all over the bed.

Billy chuckled at the "incident" and slowly pulled out of YN, biting his lower lip at the sight of his cum dripping out of Their throbbing pussy.

YN fell on the bed next to Billy, finally catching Their breath and gained back the loss of vision.

"I missed you." He said, and YN placed a soft kiss on his lips as a response.

-

"You guys coming to my party tonight?!" Stu literally screamed in Their ear and Tatum smacked his arm. "Keep it down doofus you're gonna explode my ear drums!" -- "Aww c'mon babe, I'm excited! So?! You guys coming or what?!" Stu asked Sidney and YN directly this time. Sydney showed a bit of discomfort and YN rolled Their eyes. "I don't know if it's a good idea to have a party with a killer running around..." Sid replied and Stu scoffed. "Nah, we'll all be together in a big group and safe, plus the witches will keep an eye on us too, right YN?" He replied and They glared at him. "I'm not a witch, Stu. Quit it." YN replied and he shrugged. "Hey witches, are you coming to my party?!" Stu asked YN's friends while running towards them. "Go away Stu!" Nancy answered and YN, Tatum and Sid giggled at his chaotic behavior.

-

The night arrived and the music was loud. Half of the college students were in the house. YN decided to arrive at the party with Nancy and the girls making a slight scene while walking in. The coven didn't exactly blend in with the normies with their dark hair, bold makeup and punk clothes, but fitting in wasn't exactly exactly their goal so, who cared?

The witches went into the kitchen and caught Stu passing around alcohol to everyone, which is exactly what they were looking for. YN spotted Chris and started to walk towards him, but Billy was quick to pull Them towards him and spin Them around to face him. "Hey baby..." He said, loud enough for YN to hear. His attempt to distract YN wasn't exactly the best because They saw his eyes following Nancy who was taking Chris upstairs. YN took note of his odd behavior but continued to casually interact with him and the girls, who were tense at his presence like usual.

-

Upstairs, Nancy took advantage of one of her new found power to transform her appearance, and made herself look just like YN in order to turn Chris on and get in his pants. She didn't mind it one bit since she's always had a thing for Chris and if she was being honest, she was kind of envious of YN for being able to get his attention so easily. 

Downstairs, things were completely different. Tatum was nowhere to be seen and Sidney was worried sick, looking for her everywhere. YN had lost Billy in the crowd a while after Nancy disappeared with Chris and decided to spend Their  time with Bonnie and Rochelle, trying to ignore the weird feeling that something bad was going to happen, and it was not going to be pretty.

"Where did Nancy run off to?" Bonnie asked and Rochelle shrugged. YN pretended to be clueless and went to look for her, knowing damn well that she was with Chris. Climbing the stairs carefully, YN walked past a few rooms and figured that Chris and Nancy were in Stu's room. They didn't want to think that Chris was an asshole to the point of hooking up with Nancy randomly before breaking off whatever was going on between him and Them, but anything was possible with "the popular guy" that could get into anyones pants at any moment.

YN hesitated to open the door, however when They finally did, the sight was unbelievable. It was some kind of clone of Them, with Chris on top grinding his hips against Them while kissing the clone aggressively, moaning and grunting. The neediest They'd ever seen him.

"What the fuck is going on here?!" YN asked and Chris climbed off the clone. "Who... I thought? I..." He was speechless, and when he looked at the bed he saw that YN's clone transformed into Nancy. His eyes widened and he yelled "You're a witch! A-And you too?!" He ended his sentence by pointing at YN.

Nancy started to laugh manically and They were furious at her response. Why would Their  friend and witch coven sister do this to Them? 

"Nancy what the fuck?!" YN screamed and pushed her off the bed with an invisible force. "Ah! Fuck, YN! Listen, I had no choice okay?!" Nancy answered and stood up, glaring at Them. YN pushed Nancy against the wall with another wave of force and the girl did the same, pushing Them against the closed door. YN couldn't move yet They kept trying to run towards Chris. Without warning, Nancy walked up to him and said "Sorry boo, duty calls" before pushing him away with a powerful gust of wind and out the window. "No! Chris! Wh- What did you do?!" YN screamed while finally pushing Themselves away from the door, launching at Nancy. Before anything else happened, screams were heard from downstairs and YN ran out of the room, leaving Nancy laughing wildly on the floor.

-

The living room was empty, and the few people that were left at the party were running out of the house to circle around Chris's body. He was dead, and YN didn't know how to process anything at that point. Tears were prickling at the corners of Their eyes as They ran away inside the house, closing the front door and locking it. Their heart was beating so fast that it felt like it was going to burst any second. The rational option was to call the police, so They ran towards the phone and dialed 911, but before They could say anything They heard screaming coming from the kitchen.

YN ran into the kitchen and saw Billy pointing a knife at Sidney and Stu with a gun. They weren't surprised, They had been suspecting the boys were definitely psychopaths but to see the intention of killing Sidney was not something They expected. Why Sidney?

"Billy?..." They called softly, and everyone in the kitchen looked at Them. "What's going on here? Why are you holding a... AND WHY ARE YOU SMILING?!" They screamed at Stu, noticing his idiotic expression and manic smile. "This just keeps getting better and better! Go ahead Billy! Tell your lover  what's going on!" Stu said and Sidney's eyes widened. "Lover?..." She asked YN, and the only way They could answer was with a shocked and apologetic expression. Confusion. Acceptance of the situation in a fucked up way too. 

"You see..." Billy started talking, pacing around the kitchen while pointing the knife at Sidney. "Sid's SLUT MOTHER was fucking my father, so I took it upon myself to slash the fuck out of her last year!" He explained, slowly raising his voice until he was screaming his lungs out. "It was you... This whole time..." YN answered in acknowledgment and hurt. "And me! Don't forget me!" Stu screamed and They glared at him. "So, you see... This is the reason why I didn't break up with her. THIS is the perfect moment I was talking about, YN." Billy said and suddenly slashed Sidney's throat, her body collapsing before him. "No! Fuck... Billy! This is insane! I can't... I-"-- "Baby c'mon, now we can be together! Isn't this what you wanted?!" He answered. "Yes... Billy, yes but... No! I didn't know it involved killing her! HOW ARE YOU GOING TO CLEAR THIS UP?!" YN responded just as aggressive as him and the air started to shift again. Stu explained the rest of their idiotic plan, being oblivious to the wind that was now circling around the house. 

The power went out unexpectedly and thunder started to erupt from outside. The boys looked around, confused because of the sudden change and then the girls appeared floating in the air, looking wickedly menacing. YN was overwhelmed with confusion and anger. Everyone was in on it.

"YOU WERE ALL IN ON THIS AND I HAD NO CLUE. HOW COULD YOU ALL BETRAY ME LIKE THIS?!" YN answered, tears falling from their eyes and smudging Their eyeliner all over Their face. "Oh c'mon! It's not like you were being any good either." Nancy said and chuckled along with the girls. "Why did you do this... Why?!" YN asked the witches and the girls continued laughing. "Oh c'mon, it's fun! Plus I got to fuck your boy toy one last time, so win win, right?!" Nancy answered and anger flooded YN's body. 

Billy walked towards Them and held Their hand, staring into Their eyes. "YN, baby, if I hadn't done this I wouldn't have been able to get REVENGE!" he screamed the last word while pointing at Sidney's body with the knife. "...or be with you." He added, sweetness laced between his words now. 

YN looked at him softly but the anger towards the witches overpowered Them, so They turned around and glared at the girls. "Get out of my sight AND NEVER COME NEAR ME AGAIN!" They said and the witches laughed in response, slowly disappearing into thin air. "Good luck solving this mess, bitch!" Nancy said before they all vanished into thin air. The power came back right after and YN turned around taking a deep breath, it doing nothing to calm Them down. They looked at Billy and allowed Themselves finally cry. 

From the floor behind the counter, Stu was sitting on the floor, knees pressed against his chest. "I told you they were witches man..." he said and Billy pointed the knife at him. "Go check if the cops are here. NOW!" The man screamed and Stu quickly did as he was told, nearly tripping on the way to the front door.

Billy looked at YN and attempted to comfort Them byholding both of Their hands now. "Listen, we're gonna get out of here and start a new life. Leave this dump of a town." -- "Billy... As much as I want that, I don't know how to process what just happened. I'm scared. I'm confused. I feel everything and nothing at the same time." They said. 

"Billy man, it's the cops!" Stu said while running into the kitchen. Before anyone could move, two police officers entered the kitchen, pointing their guns at the boys and YN. "Sheriff, I didn't do anything!" Billy said, a very stupid comeback but it's all he had. "Like hell you didn't. Hand's behind your back. You're under arrest for the murder of Sidney Prescott." The cop said while pushing Billy over the counter, cuffing the man while he struggled against the restraints. "YN, please-" -- "Shut up and walk!" The cop shouted and pushed Billy towards the door. The second cop did the same with Stu while he whined about being innocent and cried because his parents would be mad at him for the mess they created, out of everything else he should be concerned about.

YN was taken out to one of the ambulances, left with Their thoughts and expressionless face. What now?

[tbhimnoteasyonmyself]

TAN IS NEW

Hello, fellow associates, I, local deranged man, bring you (by request of @ayansbff who said I should "go make a post and patent it fr." thank you, Naga <3) once again a theory as insane as whatever has been going on in the ASOIAF fandom in the last 10 years (but no, I'm not here to tell you Tan is a horse or New is a faceless man).

For this week's episode: Tan is New (but with some spice).

Pls beware, this will require a certain level of "bear with me", ok? Ok.

Also: long ass post, guys. Be prepared.

So, 1st things 1st: New is obviously studying abroad.

This would mean that, in all the episodes we've seen of the flashback, we wouldn't have seen New. Because he's literally in a different country (cue theory: New is Mhok working as a cook in Hawaii ksksksk /j).

Nevertheless, in the latest events of the past storyline, Non has just gone M.I.A. Which is definitely something you'd tell the kid's brother about. I'd be pretty pissed if I was New and no one fucking told me about my brother vanishing.

(I think it could definitely be argued that their parents might try to hide the whole getting involved with money laundry and even the pedophilic child revenge porn sex tape on Twitter thing, especially their mother. bc, considering their treatment of Non this episode, it would definitely cross my mind that they'd think something along the lines of "New shouldn't be worried about what his fuck up of a brother is involved with, he should just focus on his study". And idk if Thailand's national news would arrive to New in the US just like that (maybe, maybe not, I won't try to speculate too much, I think it's too much of a wild card). YET, I still think, regardless, they'd have their limits even if the rest was true and they'd tell him about his brother being literally MISSING. So yeah...)

So back on track: sure, the police "think" Non has run away with Keng

Or, was convinced by Tee's uncle to accept that storyline

but Non's parents don't believe that shit

("They're TRYING to make our son LOOK LIKE" not "They think our son HAS")

And I think the same feeling could've been passed to New by his parents or just by New himself. But even if not, I think it's pretty reasonable to assume he'd come back to Thailand after that news. Like, if my brother was missing, I'd feel pretty bad, my parents would feel pretty bad and I'd want to go back home and be with them a bit, follow things up close, at the very least.

So, assuming that's true, it's not weird to presume New could be back in Thailand by the time The Hidden Character (the film Non wrote, not the BOC reality show thing) airs. Which would lead us to:

Now, I've seen people say it's Tan, I've seen people say it's White, I've seen people say it's Bible (?)... To me, that's Tan. The voice that calls "Phee" seems to me that's Mio's voice and the person we see in the door, albeit he does resemble Bible, reads to me as him as well.

Besides, we see him being introduced to the class in the ep.9 preview so, yeah, it could be to throw us off, but I genuinely think it's just bc it's Tan.

Regardless, even if not, Tan will appear next episode. So... There's that. Question is: why?

We see both Tan and Phee moving to the gang's class next episode, which the gang points out as "weird". Now, idk why it would be weird to see people change schools in 12th grade but fine, I'm not gonna argue, maybe they know something I don't. Ig you could argue it's bc it's the last year but I'd say people have issues all the time (being the last year of school doesn't change that) and people also move houses all the time. So I wouldn't question it but ok. Moving on.

We know Phee has a connection to Non (as his ex-boyfriend) but we don't know why Tan would be there too. Sure, we can argue Phee has to have friends. But, ngl, if my friend asked me to move schools bc he wants to find out what happened to his bf who mysteriously disappeared, I'd politely decline. I'd support him in his endeavours, of course, but I wouldn't change my entire life for it. I could even go as much as to help him befriend them and hang out with the fuckers but I wouldn't move schools, I think.

So Tan must have a bigger motive, right? And what bigger motive than being the brother of Non, am I right?

Furthermore, we have to consider legal matters. They're all minors. Phee's father, of course, knows about Phee being, at least, friends with Non. And, even if he told him to stay out of trouble and that he himself would not go around poking in the business for Phee's own safety, I think he'd be okay with Phee moving schools for grief reasons (a.k.a being close to Non because that was his school) or even bc he knew Phee was trying to talk to his friends (I don't think he suspects the kids too much and honestly that's a terrible lack of sight on his behalf but, I mean, they're kids, I think it's fair to assume they're innocent).

But what about Tan? Assuming Tan is not Non's brother, would his parents let him move schools to the school where all those nasty kids who keep appearing on the news study??? I don't think so. Sounds dangerous. Things change, of course, if Tan is not actually Tan but New.

Non's parents, despite their obvious lack of parenting skills, care about him. He's their son. They'd want to know what happened. And, sure, New getting involved would be terrible for them (bc he's their son and clearly the favourite child and god forbid he wastes his potential studying there bc of Non's failures AGAIN), but if New specifically requested that, would they go against it? Would they go against their talented son and his show of altruism and love for his brother?? Especially when the police are not doing anything and it's just trying to close the damn case??? I don't think so.

Thus: Tan is New.

"But what about his legal name???", I hear you say. "If they're siblings they'll have the same last name!!" And yeah. That's true. Especially in Thailand where most surnames are exclusive to a singular family. But I thin- "What about the age gap??? New is older than Non!! His mom even refers to him as Non's phi!!!" Yes. I know. That's where the spice comes in:

NEW IS ADOPTED.

There, I dropped the bomb. This would mean that, maybe, his legal name wasn't changed from what it originally was. Sure, it could've, since he's now part of a different family but they also could've kept the original surname. Which is likely if New wasn't adopted in a normal fashion.

We have to consider how poor Non's family seems to be. Whether that's a new situation or it has always been like this we don't know. But that's something. Now, I'm not Thai nor do I live in Thailand but from what I read, income does factor a lot into whether or not a family can adopt a child (at least in theory). So I'd assume a poor family would struggle with it. Nevertheless, it seems Thai law puts a lot of value into family ties with the child so, maybe New was someone else's child originally like of a brother or a sister of one of Non's parents. Or maybe something else entirely, I don't know. I don't think it matters that much.

"That still doesn't explain the age gap though. Tan is only 2 months older than Non!!"

Well, that's still older. Would that qualify him as "phi", idk? Both Pimpa (Non and New's mother) and Non refer to him that way. But maybe that's just another way for the series to tell us there's a ver clear hierarchy between these brothers and Non comes second. Idk. (if you're Thai or know Thai culture well and would like to add input here, pls do)

"WHAT ABOUT THE PICTURES, DANTE???"

Ok, yeah, I know. They make a compelling case.

(I took the liberty to brighten them bc OMG WHY IS THIS SHOW SO DARK????)

And yes, in the picture further to the left it does seem like they have a huge age gap but also, in the picture right next to it, it doesn't seem so (in fact the kid in blue seems about the same age in both pics, only the other one doesn't). So maybe the kid in pic one is not Non, it's some other kid (could be, especially considering he's wearing blue and, as the fandom's most dear colour theorist @shannankle has pointed out on a lot of posts but most especially this one: Non's colour is red). Or maybe it is one of them and they just grew up at different paces, idk. It happens, man.

TBH I'm not greatly concerned about the pics. What I am concerned about is the narrative implications of this. That his parents's (and, as previously established, especially his mother's [who is the most present parent in his life, as stated by the parents themselves in ep.8])

favourite kid is the one who isn't even theirs by blood. That their favourite son is the one that is not actually their son (I obviously do believe adopted kids are as much people's kids as biological ones, family is made not inherited, but I mean this as strictly talking about the blood relations of these people)! That no one ever loves Non enough to actually save him from doom (bc, like a fairytale princess, the thing that could prevent Non's demise was love).

If his peers had loved him enough he wouldn't have felt the need to cling to that awful gang. If Jin had loved him enough he would've helped him get away from Tee in this episode, at the very least. If his parents had loved him enough, they would've prevented him from falling prey to so many people or, at least, would've been trustworthy for him to talk to and helped him get out of the situations he was getting himself into.

This would also play well with the character's names:

Non. That which/whom isn't.

Who isn't seen, who isn't heard, who isn't loved, who isn't perfect, who isn't who people expected him to be, who isn't the gang's friend, who isn't his parent's perfect son (not blaming him but that's how they see it), who isn't the boyfriend Phee hoped he would be (not blaming him for the sexual assault he suffered, just seeing it through Phee's eyes, pls don't misinterpret).

New. That which/whom is fresh, original. That which just arrived.

Who is a prodigy, a talent, one of a kind. Who is so different from Non and his "crooked ways". Who arrived at the family later. Who just arrived in Thailand, who just arrived in Non's school. Who is a new person, who has a new identity, who has a new life goal.

So, yeah, it is a bit crazy and depends on a lot of circumstantial and potential facts that have not been hinted towards AT ALL by the show. And I recognize that. But I think this is what is fun about theories and speculation and, even if this is not true (likely), I still had fun crafting this and showing it to you guys. At the very least it's entertaining and keeps us thinking.

Pls feel free to add stuff or question stuff in this post, I'd love for us to work together as a community for our little murder gays show. Hehe.

Also, I'll leave you a question myself: if this is true, does it mean Phee and Tan are working together as the killers, only one of them is killing or neither is committing murder? 🤔

[kissorkill16]

Sprinklers: A Hello Neighbor Fanfic

By JJ

Summary: Just at the beginning of a new mystery, and some weird hijinks occur.

"That does not sound like typical raven behavior."

The gang was in their after school club room, binging on soda and cookies and telling their recent stories about this new creature.

"What do you mean, Ivan?", asked Trinity.

"It's another one of Raven Brooks' creepy urban legends. About a tall, cloaked, beaked figure who lurks through the town of Raven Brooks, bringing bad luck wherever it goes. No one knows where he truly originates from, he's a mystery through and through."

Everyone else just stared blankly at Ivan as he told his story.

"And he goes by the name of Crowface."

A moment of silence, then Maritza spoke up.

"Uh...are we just gonna pretend you've been here the whole time?", she asked, pointing to Delroy with a confused expression on her face. Ivan disappointedly stared at Maritza.

"Mari, have you been listening to anything I just said?"

"I was, I just think it sounds stupid.", she flatly said. "Also, seriously! How did you get involved with this?!"

Trinity sighed. "Look. Delroy is the newest addition I've added to the group. He might know something about this Crowface and we can use that information to help us unmask him."

Everyone exchanged a confused look.

"Unmask him?", asked Delroy.

"Yeah."

"...You think it's a costume?"

"Yeah...is it not?"

"It's debatable."

Trinity rolled her eyes and took out her coin from her pocket. "Well whatever he is, we have to get to him before he curses anyone else."

Just then, Nicky saw the coin in her hand, and his eyes widened. "He gave you that?"

Trinity nodded, "Yeah, and he told me I'd lose my life if I lost the coin.", she said. Now she was confused. Did Nicky know something about the coin? "Why do you ask?"

"I don't know.", said the boy. "It's just something about those coins that seems familiar to me. I know they come from the amusement park, but I swear I saw these coins somewhere else...before..."

All of the sudden, Nicky seemed to have stopped breathing. His eyes widened again, and he turned as pale as a ghost. Trinity stood closer to him, lightly touching his shoulder. "Nicky, are you alright?"

"I have to go."

Then Nicky just took his soda bottle and left the room altogether, slamming the door behind him.

"What's his problem?", asked Delroy.

"Eh, who knows?", said Maritza.

Enzo looked at his sister, "Can you really blame him? God knows what Mr. Peterson did to him in his basement."

"What're you kids up to?"

The kids turned around to see Mr. Murtaugh, still wearing that annoyingly creepy smile. They rolled their eyes.

"Nothing, Mr. Murtaugh."

But then Trinity ran to him before he could slip away.

"Mr. Murtaugh, can I ask you something?", she asked.

"I'm all ears, darling.", said the science teacher. Trinity held her coin to Mr. Murtaugh.

"Some creature named Crowface is after me, and these coins are a part of it. Do you know anything about this? It's okay if you don't, I just want to know.", she said.

For some reason, Mr. Murtaugh's eyes widened in shock. He nervously tapped his fingers on the door frame and bit his lip.

"I have to do something.", he said, and then he was gone.

Everyone just stood there, confused.

"Okay, seriously, what the hell is going on?", asked Maritza. "First Nicky and now him? Is today Act Like A Weirdo Day?"

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the sprinklers started raining from the ceiling.

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

All of the kids started screaming as they got wet. Enzo ran to Maritza and carried her on his back, running out of the room with her. Everyone else just ran out as fast as they could, trying not to slip on the wet floor.

Soon enough, the entire school was outside, trying to dry themselves off with towels provided by the teachers.

As Trinity dried herself off, she couldn't help but notice that Nicky was completely dry. He didn't look dry like he used a towel, he was just...dry.

But how? He was inside the school with them. There's no way he could've made it out of the school before the sprinklers turned on, unless he was just that fast. He did run faster than Mr. Peterson in the past, that Trinity knew.

But still, something about that seemed a little too strange.

[utilitycaster]

If you have time, I'd be really interested to hear any thoughts you have about the Bad Kids in terms of party/combat mechanics! I know they have a number of homebrew abilities/items that make them a little different from RAW character builds, but what do you think about them in terms of party balance or combat effectiveness? The thing that usually leaps out to me is how many of the Bad Kids are able to buff each other in and out of combat, and they seem to work fairly cohesively in battle. What's your read on them?

I don't have a ton of thoughts - in general, assume my CR thoughts will always be much more involved in part just because I'm more involved and also the ease of looking up information for CR works - but what does interest me actually is that the Bad Kids started off a pretty standard split of three casters (all competent support casters but capable of damage) and three martial classes, and that everyone but Adaine has undergone a subclass change, a multiclass, or more, and nearly all those changes were in the direction of higher utility and support. Adaine meanwhile was always a divination wizard which is simply a fantastic class and subclass with high utility and cool abilities so there's no need to change:

Fabian was originally a champion fighter, which is a great subclass but not really focused on party support other than being extremely good at killing foes and a decent tank. During season 2 he switched to battlemaster and multiclassed into bard (college of swords). His focus is still primarily on damage, but he can now maneuver and aid allies with his fighter abilities rather than just being super good at hitting, and he has the spells and inspiration of a bard, arguably the class most defined as a support/utility class.

Gorgug was originally a pure barbarian, and branched off into artificer late in season 2. It's a weird multiclass and one that Brennan has worked with Zac to homebrew but it did make a lot of narrative sense for him, and he then put the work in this past season. Artificers are also a good support class, whereas barbarians (especially Beserker, which he originally was) are also all about tanking and damage. By multiclassing into battlesmith he adds familiars onto the field, and maintains taking abilities.

Fig was originally college of whispers, which kind of sucks as a bard subclass, and so switching to lore, which gives you more access to spells and ways to help your allies helped. She also addressed the lack of bard ability to do damage by taking first a level in hexblade, and then multiclassing into paladin. She can still serve as support, and frequently does via inspiration and healing, but she now has pretty much all options available to her.

Kristen was originally a life cleric and is now twilight, and honestly both are super strong but twilight has a wider array of powers whereas life is very strongly healing-focused. Clerics also just get exponentially stronger as they level up and get higher level spells.

And finally, Riz switched from inquisitive, which is a solid rogue class in terms of solving mysteries, to arcane trickster, which gives him access to spells, dramatically expanding his repertoire. Also, to be honest, rogue abilities at high levels are really good, it's just, you spend a lot of time in levels where all you get is sneak attack.

So: all the martials ended up with some amount of spellcasting, the most pure support caster took some wise martial dips, and clerics and wizards are just really good classes that get better as you get more powers. You end up with a party that, as you say, can all buff each other.

[anhed-nia]

I was delighted to learn that there was a crazy-girl Black Swan movie from before BLACK SWAN, and disappointed that it's exactly as mysogynistic, just in a much dumber way. We're all familiar with the John Hughes model of romance, in which girls who reject you just want you to be increasingly persistent and controlling--but there's a sort of kid brother to this framework, that says that when women reject you it's actually because they're literally fucking insane, and they need your help with that. In the movie ETOILE aka BALLET, Jennifer Connelly aka the most beautiful woman in the universe plays a ballerina whose psychotic obsession with Swan Lake interferes with her non-relationship with some little dweeb who decides he's entitled to her. The guy looks and kind of acts like the wormy new wave guy Chuck in RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (fig. 1), but in ROTLD that used car salesman suit is a joke so I don't know what the makers of ETOILE think I'm supposed to feel when I look at this asshole (fig. 2). Something positive, apparently. It's funny, in my life I live firmly in the Ugly Girl camp and I have all the usual neuroses about it, but certain situations unlock this protectiveness about beautiful women--case in point, watching this jerk kiss Jennifer Connelly. I mean if he were like Bud Cort or someone with that Funny Valentine quality, who is warm and charming, then it would be fine, but with this low-end cretin it's really like...sir, please back away from Jennifer Connelly. This is not for you.

In this movie Jennifer Connelly is frankly way too good for this guy, and if this were real life, it would make perfect sense that she's polite to him and then gives him the brush-off when he pushes his luck; but of course, in the fantasy world of this movie, the reason she rejects him is that she's fucking possessed or something and she's just waiting for him to rescue her from her feminine irrationality. This is extra funny because the script itself directly references the myth of Apollo and Daphne which is like the original version of this: Daphne just wants to be left alone, but Apollo assumes his advances are desirable no matter what she has to say about it; to get away from him she transforms into a tree, and he's so sad about it that he desecrates her corpse weaves a wreath from her leaves. This is really the ultimate reflection of a man refusing to believe that a particular hot chick really, genuinely doesn't want him, but ETOILE isn't capable of figuring out that subtext, so the guy just forces himself on Jennifer Connelly until she isn't "crazy" anymore. Bonus points for the scene where he repeatedly screams at her to stop dancing, because there's really no bigger threat to romance than a woman's career and personal interests.

I wish I could think of more examples of this trope, I know they're out there, and I did just see another one called FEMME FATALE where Lisa Zane marries Colin Firth and then "mysteriously" leaves him, so he has to go on this whole odyssey to retrieve her. This is a particularly funny example because Firth is mopey and boring and untalented and a bad listener and out of shape and a drag, and Zane is this turbulent sexpot who is making it really obvious that she's not satisfied with him right up to the point that she "strangely" vanishes. Spoilers ahead I guess but the first thing Firth finds out is that she was in some psychotic art film by a militant lesbian who she used to date...and still the spurned husband thinks, nah, it CAN'T be that I'm boring and sappy and self-centered and I ignore her needs, and it ALSO CAN'T be that maybe she secretly prefers girls or is, at the very least, way more sexually exotic than I am. There has to be some OTHER reason I got dumped, something that involves me pursuing this uninterested woman to the ends of the earth and forcing her to admit that she loves only me, forever. And the movie totally agrees with him: There's no moment where Colin Firth realizes that he misread all the evidence, or even that she's EVIL or just not who he thought she was or whatever. Instead what he finds out is that she's literally insane! She's a paranoid schizophrenic whose only valid choices of companion are her dad or, you guessed it, Colin Firth. When I saw this I thought wow, this movie has gone impossibly far out of its way to explain that when a woman rejects you, it's not because you're a dullard and a jerk, it's because she's dangerously crazy. Only an actual lunatic would turn down a catch like YOU.

Anyway I know I was just talking about not being pointlessly mean about movies in public, but all bets are off if the movie manages to say something this insulting. I am now done talking about this and I will leave you with this hilarious thumbnail from a YouTube clip of FEMME FATALE, which pretty well sums up the whole movie.

[ppeonppeonhan]

Dead Friends Forever Q&A-Style Review

I listen to a movie podcast called The Rewatchables, and they have interesting categories that I want to examine this series through.

Most rewatchable scene: It has to be the last one, because we've been talking about it nonstop since it aired. Plus, it lives in my head, rent-free, like Non is haunting me. Like WE failed him. 😱

But since I'm a BL girlie, who loves a well-crafted sex scene, I also have to include both of Phee and Jin's high-heat moments when Phee's trying to seduce him on the balcony and when they have rough sex in Jin's room. I'm not gonna lie: That was some king shit on Ta's end.

Best quote: "No one could leave this abandoned house — not even one." Come on! It foretold the surreal ending and fulfilled the victim's wishes. Gold.

What aged the best? The way that even the bullies perceived teacher Keng as a groomer, who took advantage of a desperate child — that will most definitely make that subplot still bearable even a decade from now.

What's aged the worst? The unaliving and SA montage in the finale that some have said was insensitive/irresponsible to have included. It was like trigger after trigger after trigger — practically a machine gun of traumatic scenes. The fandom could sincerely organize a class action lawsuit against the writer and director for them to pay for our therapy bills.

Scene-stealing location: The lake. Such a beautiful setting for romance, betrayal, and revenge. 😈

Best shot: Definitely the one of Tan from above when he's successfully drugged all of his victims. Iconic.

Are we sure this person is good at their job? Tee's uncle. The fact that he has so much riding on two teenagers is ridiculous. He didn't just start being a con man / mob boss that week. How does he not have a more stable criminal infrastructure at this point?

Best use of food and drink: Obviously, Tan spiking the beverages, knowing it would be the easiest way to poison everyone.

Was there a better title? Absolutely not. The play on the phrase "Best Friends Forever," an archaic term popularized in the '90s that puts way too much pressure on kids to find their kindred spirit and hold on to them through adolescence and adulthood, was inspired. It truly encompassed the impossibility of it all. There are just so many obstacles ahead of you, like peer pressure, family obligations, love triangles, bullying, ego, insecurity, and cowardice, that it's a lofty promise to make when you've barely finished puberty. Plus, it kind of hints at the ending...

Overacting award: Some could argue Barcode, but part of his performance was meant to be surreal, because it was in the dream state. I, personally, vote Jet (Top). Sometimes I felt like his character was in an entirely different, far more slapstick genre.

The "That Guy" Award: This category is for the actor/famous person you see all the time, but don't know the name of. I noticed a lot of people were excited to see Perth, so I "saw him all the time" on my feed. When I Googled him, that's when I learned that he was on a reality show with other Be On Cloud stars. 

Scene-Stealer (with very few scenes): Honestly, whichever extra/stunt double they had wearing that mask, freaking us out. The most memorable of which was when its creepy hand groped Tee.

Recasting couch:

I think Nanon (Bad Buddy) could've been interesting as the tormented Tan, because we would've bought his innocence longer.

It could've added to the mystery if we had the BL twins, AJ and JJ, confuse the narrative. 

I would watch Neo in almost anything at this point, and he could've played the morally conflicted Tee as he showcased those skills already in Only Friends.

A younger Mark (Last Twilight) would've fit so well into this cast. He plays lost and guilty quite well.

Picking Nits: This category is for pointing out things that just don't add up.

Why didn't Phee's cop dad have more questions about his son's behavior and activities after he saw who his son was involved with?

What teenager is fine going somewhere that has no wifi or reception? Even I wouldn't do that and I've had wifi as long as these characters have been alive.

Why was Non, a teenager, being medicated for mental health issues, but not being monitored by a mental health professional?

If Tee's uncle didn't want to be at a loss if Non died unexpectedly, then why didn't he let him get his wounds treated and get some rest? Unless the plan was always to harvest his organs, which would still have merited rest. Nobody wants shitty organs.

Unanswerable Questions

If Jin and Phee survived, would they have got back together?

If Non were alive, would Phee have ditched Jin?

What did they do with Non's body?

And, of course, after succeeding: Does Tan recover from his grief and move on with his life? Does he successfully escape arrest? Does he leave behind evidence of what the boys did to his family to further persecute them in death? Is his revenge plot really over...?

That was fun! Tag me if you answer the same Qs.

[iamthedukeofurl]

FHJY Spoilers I'm not going to go here and say the Bad Kids should have tried to redeem the Rat Grinders mid-fight, not with the Multi-Jace and MegaPorter there. But: Rat Grinders rated by Redeemability Killerlady Throatcutter: Willingly and maliciously tried to not only sabotage the last stand, but do so in such a way as to perma-kill the Bad Kids. When she got made, her first instinct was to murder Buddy Dawn with zero hesitation. 0/10. Yeah, she was manipulated, but she's probably so egotistical that she would have to suffer some sort of ego-death breakdown before she could ever admit that she did anything wrong. Oisin Hakinvar: We know he has been heavily and directly involved in a lot of the Rat Grinder's nastiest schemes. The involvement of his grandma and the dragons attacking the house means that he was, at the very least, open to the idea of massacring the Augefort students attending the party to get at the Bad Kids. Still, he's just normal levels of wizard-smug, I could see somebody talking him around. 2/10. Ivy Embra: Okay, Ivy doesn't do much besides be mean to Maisy. We don't get much sense of her, so I'm going to give her a 5/10, just because there isn't much to go on. Ruben Hopclap: Ruben is one of the few Rat Grinders to show much in the way of character OUTSIDE of being an antagonist. Wanda Childa may have been an elaborate mind game that didn't really go anywhere, but it proved that Ruben at least had something going on in his life besides weird plans to ascend a new god of toxic masculinity. I think he could probably have been talked around given the right circumstances, which is probably why Kipperlilly kept the whole team hidden after the Last Stand. 7/10. Buddy Dawn: Look, Helio sucks and Buddy Dawn sucks too, but I don't think he's actually EVIL. If he hadn't been killed and rage-resurrected, he'd be perfectly fine. The whole concept of this discussion assumes that there's a way of breaking the connection between the Rat Grinders and corrupted Ankarna. I think that the moment that happens, Buddy Dawn goes back to worshiping corn or whatever. 10/10. Maryanne Scuttle: Look, I don't know what you want from me here. Maryann Scuttle is a riddle wrapped inside an Engima. Maryanne Scuttle is an impenetrable citadel of mystery. Maryann Scuttle might be the most devoted servant of destruction we have ever seen, she might have flipped sides if gorgug bought her a soda. I Don't Know. ???/10.

[kimberlyannharts]

LAST TIME ON MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS: THE RETURN: Depressed milf Kim just got finished traumadumping onto Trini's relative Selena about all the shit that happened on the Moon 22 years ago, just to find out that this wasn't Trini's relative at all, but some mysterious white-haired witch out for revenge???? I guess it makes sense it would never be the simpler option. MMPR: The Return #3!

= So here's the reveal of the dialogue that was blacked out in the previews! Selena Repulsa, the daughter of Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd, is official! There's something very funny about the fact that she didn't even use a fake name for her Kwan family disguise. She heard Sylvia had an S name and was like sweet, I can just play the alliteration card

= I mentioned before in the first issue that this series was already discussing the topic of secret identities in a more nuanced way than the main series' "Zordon is a tyrant for having rules" strategy so I'm happy that's being continued here. YES public use of the powers can be used for good in society but ALSO it can make it really, really, REALLY easy for your enemies to pick you off the street

= also UNCLE HOWARD SPOTTED

= YEAH BABY

= Selena is hilarious btw. YOU BUILT A BOMB AND ARE SURPRISED IT KILLED PEOPLE?

= this is Dungeon Meshi

= I already made the Paul Dano does he know?.png joke but I can't help it. It's too perfect. Alternatively: Kimberly Hart Dreamworks Face

= Zedd is noticeably less involved in this story than Rita is (as per the usual with BOOM books, admittedly) but I do like how this plan still uses him in some way. Part of me is still curious as to what Dad Zedd would have been like, though

= she's meditating, guys she's died

= he was literally born to be a girl dad and the fact that his "main universe" child is a son makes me fucking sick

= also off-subject but I see the occasional comment about how the civilian forms for these flashbacks look too young and it's like.....guys. They're only 22. If anything, drawing them like how they looked on the show is ACCURATE to their age, considering how old the actors themselves were when they were on the show kjdkfjdkfjd and anyway Dino Thunder lied to you. Tommy would absolutely be wearing tank tops as an adult. Those long sleeves were the devil's work

= I still say I don't want to get attached to any theory about Tommy and whether or not he'll end up alive but Rita seeming to be aware that he saved her daughter and getting his attention before doing the spell...........that's probably going to be important

= You guys don't understand how much I need the scene where Tommy and Kim discovered she was pregnant and the conversations they had afterwards. Every "ranger kid" story has been so bad about "what does the parent think about their kids one day inheriting their ranger powers" and The Return is the one closest to understanding this is a very logical and rational conversation to have!!!!!!!

= also Olivia was 100% unplanned this i just the vibe i get. And props to my gender-inclusive king Tommy Oliver

= "no more Power Rangers.......except my daughter who's COOL as FUCK"

[jonsimstwitchyeyeballs]

TMA AU where everything is exactly the same except that Gertrude was Jon's legal guardian when he was a kid

I'm all for the somewhat disinterested unnamed grandma that let him occupy space and didn't show him affection plotline but hear me out:

What if that had been Gertrude?

You can come up with many a reason why she ended up having him under custody (I don't want to say they're necessarily blood family in this AU) and the story would pretty much play out the same way.

She would also be distant and frankly not immediately concerned with raising a child because she's way too busy stopping rituals and making fear avatars fear her, so she sort of leaves him unsupervised most of the time. He has no idea what her job even is, he just knows she prefers to work in secret instead of taking care of him and still is salty about that later on.

He doesn't find out Gertrude's been working for the Institute until he goes to work there himself and it's painfully clear he knows less about her than everyone else there-which is frustrating because he's learning things about her second hand, that's how avoidant she had been with him.

Obviously he resents her for it, so throughout Season 1 his comments about her incompetence are more targeted and personal, though not too personal since the only thing he knows about her is that she didn't care about his upbringing.

As the show progresses and he finds out who she really was it's pretty clear that in a twisted way she was trying to protect him from harm, keeping up an extremely typical relationship so that she doesn't get attached and he doesn't get used against her. She can't afford to be vulnerable for anyone, nor can she have anyone knowing he lives with her.

Of course, some people would find out and she'd make sure they'd never hear the end of it. Though, unfortunately she could not predict the bad luck via which a Leitner ended up in Jon's hands.

In the end, the arc about Jon discovering more about his predecessor and her deeds is largely the same, but it also has that extra vector of personal involvement, as he begins to rationalize her actions towards him too, but maybe not entirely forgiving. It's obvious that between the fate of the world and a child she would choose the former, but a part of him wishes she had told him more about her life and he didn't have to meet the real her post-mortem.

You can add a lot of angsty bits with the concept, like Jon wanting to get through all of Gertrude's tapes to see if he's even mentioned once, only to find out that he never is, or him meeting people who knew Gertrude but had no idea he even existed in relation to her and clearly describing her personality better than he ever could. Oh and of course the tragic irony that since she never told him about the Institute, he couldn't have known it was a bad place and ended up there anyway. I'm particularly fond of this idea because I still want to emphasize that Jon is still just a random guy at the end of the day and didn't end up where he did because of his relation to someone else.

It also serves the theme of human connections, making you wonder that if they had communicated and bonded, would everything play out the same way?

As a conclusion, I'd just like to say that this is by no means a correction of the original story, I like Gertrude being a completely mythical and mysterious figure just as much, I just wanted to share a different take (might make part 2 for more details/headcanons).

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

why don't you like buffy seasons 4 and 7?

The Statement

Anon's actually referring to an offhand comment @therealvinelle made in this post.

And actually not what they said. She noted she has problems with both, but season 4 was still very well written, and season 7 was the one that was less so.

As we tend to agree on these things I can clarify that they're far from bad I've seen shows where any season, their best seasons, are still worse than those seasons of Buffy by far. I was able to watch through all seasons and have done so multiple times, there's many shows I can't and don't finish.

But they're not as good as the rest of the show in my opinion and season 7 especially so. Season 7, unlike the others, actually was hard to finish and kind of just... was there.

Why No Season 4?

Season 4 is very much written like a season that's finding its footing and trying to navigate how to coexist with the spinoff show that had just started, Angel.

And a lot of the problems start and end with Angel.

Angel has a bad habit of taking fan favorite characters from the Buffy cast that they feel Buffy can survive without. We suddenly lose Wesley, Cordelia especially, later Spike and Harmony, and Angel himself. The thing is that Cordelia is a real loss in that she's a very big part of the supporting cast, she gets a lot of the funny lines, a lot of the Scooby but not quite interactions. The show makes up for it for soon introducing Anya as her powerless human self, who takes up a similar role for a while, but it then has to introduce her character and a similar love interest arc with Xander.

We also get the Angel Easter Egg episodes where he either makes silly cameos (showing up for an episode only to never do anything and just be referenced all the time while the B plot rages) or we get episodes where "wow, you should have watched Angel last night, it was super important and things happened, and it was important, but we're not making the show self-contained". The season, because it is well-written, does work with it but it's not great.

Then we have the more major problem in that a lot of the story arcs, settings, and everything else they'd depended on went away the previous season. Cordelia's gone so Xander has no more love interest in her or in Willow who's still dealing with the Oz fallout, there's no Oz (though I should note I do not like Oz) which means that the Willow Oz thing is done, Angel's now gone for realz which means Buffy's will they won't they thing with him is now a won't and they have to offically replace the love interest even though they clearly don't want to, Giles has to be involved somehow but he can't hang around the school all the time when the kids aren't there.

So, we have a season where no one's really sure what to do with themselves. We get Buffy together with Riley, Willow has a very messy grief over Oz and then gets together with Tara entirely off screen, Xander is now with Anya, Giles is around.

Now, all of these are good plot threads, I do actually enjoy the growth of characters in season 4, but the problem is that because of all of the above it's kind of all over the place. Combined with filler of Buffy wanting beer in an episode, it's just a giant mess of Oz coming back, then not coming back, Willow's exciting gay offscreen love interest, and even more Xander relationship problems.

It's watchable because it's all very well written, some of the best lines come from season 4, but it's a mess.

And then we get the Initiative, which as a big mystery of the season is just... bad. It's just bad. Yes, Spike is a gem in the season and the chip is a great plot device, but the Initiative itself is not very interesting, our first big bad of Maggie is eaten almost immediately, then we barely see Adam and when we do... He's really boring.

I will say that there are individual parts of other seasons I like much less than season 4 but it's a mess of a season.

Why No Season 7?

Now this season really didn't know what to do with itself.

Narratively, the show should have ended at season 5. It was a great conclusion, everything was pretty much wrapped up, and we had our death for Buffy. However, it didn't end.

Now, I say this loving season 6. Season 6 is a great season with some of the best writing in the series, horrible and extremely dark, but very good.

But it's hard to go anywhere after it because the big bads of season 6 were the characters themselves. It was Buffy entering this toxic relationship, Willow's road down addiction and power, Tara having to leave, Giles having to leave, Anya and Xander falling apart, it's all about the gang and the villains are just three losers who 2/3 are just misunderstood weebs who don't quite realize what they're doing.

So, we get done with that, learn that we ourselves can be just as bad as any villain, and then we get a lot of lore and a lot of characters I just hate. We get all the Slayers being watched, we get a love interest slammed in Willow's face so that you don't think that her bisexuality was just a season long, and Kennedy is the worst, god she is the worst. We get the First Evil, while admittedly is intangible and has to manipulate others, but to make up for that we have uber vampires and uh Nathan Fillian as an evil priest guy who never really gets explained or dealt with. Angel's crammed back in, once again, in case you started shipping Spuffy too much over the past few seasons in another kind of ridiculous cameo to literally hand Buffy the deus ex machina MacGuffin which will sacrifice Spike so that he can go to his new show.

Spike and Anya just sort of die just so they can kill somebody.

And the whole thing's just messily written in trying to introduce many new characters while wrapping things up with the old cast, new love interests all over the place, and trying to recover from season 6 so that these characters can work with each other again.

I easily put season 7 as my least favorite season.

[zeroducks-2]

tell us about the nasty Slade man from TT03

since you guys (and @exhausted-pigeon) asked, here's me talking about iconic Teen Titans 2003 Slade :D

Disclaimer right here. Unlike a lot of fortunate folks, I did not have Teen Titans available to watch back then (I really missed out, especially cause I was in my pre-teen years and that would have been The Perfect Show for me at that point). This means that I only got to watch tt03 recently, therefore these thoughts don't come from someone who holds the show dear as a childhood memory, and who fell in love with it a long time ago, who had their christening to DC stuff through that and yada yada.

I'll therefore discuss tt03 Slade without personal/emotional involvement, and keeping in mind that tt03 is indeed a show intended for a young audience. I'll be adding screenshots for poignancy, so it's going to be a pretty long post :)

End of disclaimer, now onto the good shit.

So, what to say about Slade. Fans have been calling him downright devious, the Teenagers Tormentor, A True Menace To Society, a master manipulator, and a child predator even if there's nothing *too* explicit being that this is a show for kids.

(not that kids being the target audience stopped them showing Slade sleeping with Tara in NTT back in the '80s, but that's a conversation for another time)

Do I think that any of this is true? The answer is essentially yes, I agree with all of the above.

Slade is a very fun character, and his presence dominates the scene every time he's on screen. He's a solid villain, one that feels truly threatening for the protagonists (and not like a forgettable bad guy who can be overpowered with The Power Of Friendship™), and he fits perfectly with the dynamic of the show. He will do the most ridiculous corny things, like materializing at random in a corner of a panoramic wheel cart, while the wheel is in motion, right when Terra and Beast Boy are about to kiss (just to ruin their night basically).

I tried to find a gif cause this scene is too funny but sadly I didn't manage.

But he will also (and mostly) do fucked up shit which people nowadays argue as not belonging in a kid show, like grooming teenagers and/or forcing them to work for him.

His design is also easily iconic, and he's huge in bulk compared to the tiny, slender kid protagonists, adding to the threatening vibe.

I mean look at that Raven's a mushroom compared to him

But he's not a monster - you know he's a human being while you're watching the show, whether you imagine an eyepatch and silver hair like comicbooks!Slade or you picture a completely different kind of face on him, you still know he's just a man... or is he.

The show subtly toys with the idea that Slade might not be human after all. His face is never shown - every single time one of the characters manages to overpower him and unmask him, they find out that they've been fighting against a robot.

This happens after a fight so violent Robin almost dies by falling off a building, and SLADE HIMSELF saves him - reason being more or less "I'm not done kicking your ass". Eventually Robin manages to overpower him, takes off his mask, and lo and behold:

Slade wasn't even there the whole time.

Also, he seems to live in some sort of lab filled with complicated tech and huge gears that spin into nothing. Does this man even need to sleep, eat or drink?

What is this place and how high is the rent

I love what he did with the huge gears it's so ambient

All of this contributes to the threatening, mysterious aura surrounding the character. Which at times can turn into outright terrifying despite the show being relatively lighthearted. Pretty soon the narrative manages to establish the fact that Slade is nearly impossible to beat, that he will do anything to bring down the protagonists (or bring them under his control), and that you can always expect the worst from him.

But the most interesting aspect to discuss is for most people the child predator vibes this character has from his first appearance throughout the entirety of the show. And to whoever says "you can't tell me that they didn't do this intentionally", well, consider two things

1 - Slade in the comicbooks did sleep with a 15yo, in order to use her to bring down the Titans. So like, the fact that he *might* sleep with kids isn't much of a far-fetched hypothesis and 2 - The way he acts goes beyond the average "well this is a kids show of course the villain will act in weird ways towards kids".

Let me expand a little on this second point. When the protagonist of a story is a kid, the villain that will try to hurt/kill them is not automatically a child predator or a child abuser, only because he hurts a kid. In the context of that story it makes sense that the villain will act as if the protag was an adult - the story was created with a young audience in mind, and if other characters treated the protag like a child it would break their immersion.

So is this the case with Slade? Well yes, but actually no. There obviously is a case of "he treats the characters like adults cause it's a kids show" but does he, really? Slade works with the fact that the characters are kids, therefore inexperienced and easy to manipulate. He also wants an apprentice, which necessarily has to be young. In Terra's case, he plays on her insecurities and her need for someone to teach her and guide her. And then there's the way the scenes are directed and the creepiness factor of just how this man interacts with these kids that rightfully puts him in the creep zone, regardless of what exactly the story will show in terms of explicit details.

For this to make more sense I need to make examples, so let's dive in a little deeper starting with Fans Favorite's ... *drumroll* ...

The Apprentice Arc

It starts out with Slade contacting the Titans to tell them that he planted a bomb in the city. Robin, who's already obsessing at the point of waking up drenched in sweat after nightmares where he and Slade beat the shit out of each other, snaps into action to retrieve the trigger of the bomb.

Tis Robin waking up in his "Pepe Silvia" room dedicated to Slade after a nightmare, for your viewing pleasure.

So off the kids go, and while Robin chases Slade, the rest of the team goes try and dismantle the bomb. Slade tosses Robin around for a while, and when Robin manages to grab the remote control, Slade reveals that this is not a remote control because there is no bomb at all - rather, the rest of the Titans have just gotten hit with a laser beam that infected them with nanomachines. Now Robin has to do Slade's bidding and become his apprentice; if he refuses, or disobeys, Slade will use a button to inflict pain and potentially kill the other Titans, thanks to those nanomachines.

These are said nanomachines attached to the Titans' blood cells, conveniently displayed in huge ass screens. I love this scene so much it's so SERIOUS and SO CORNY at the same time lmao.

What ensues is Robin being forced to become Slade's apprentice, dressed in a cute replica of Slade's own suit,

And meanwhile Slade tosses him around either for the funsies or because Robin dares do something he doesn't like. Explicitly saying that he wants Robin to call him "Master". Please go watch the scene, it's 7 seconds long but it conveys EVERYTHING. This mf calls Robin "good boy" in the most condescending way you can ever imagine. Here, click this, I promise you won't be disappointed.

Here's Slade beating up a child for your viewing pleasure.

So at some point Robin is ordered to infiltrate Wayne Enterprise. The Titans try to stop him, Slade pushes for him to fight them, but baby doesn't want to especially when Starfire refuses to engage him. Slade not only starts to torture them with the nanomachines, forcing Robin to shoot them, but when kiddo gets back to him he receives the ass-whooping of his life, followed by this scene:

Here Slade is basically saying "I'm going to put you in your place in a way that will stick", but the scene is conveniently cut by the arrival of the rest of the Titans.

Robin has the idea of infecting himself with the nanomachines, so now if Slade wants to kill them, he has to kill him too. And Slade... tosses away the button, discarding the nanomachines plan on the spot, because the point REALLY was having Robin as an apprentice. If he can't have him, then there's no point.

Then there's Terra's Arc in Season 2, which goes more or less like this:

The Titans meet Terra, a kid their age who's very strong (she can manipulate the earth) but can't perfectly control her own powers. She's very self-conscious about this and when Beast Boy finds out, she begs him not to tell anyone, which he promises.

Soon after she gets singled out by Slade, who corners her and starts poking and prodding about how weak she is, unable to control her powers, and how her "new friends" will soon find out and once they do, they will discard her.

Honestly the fact that he's so big and Terra's itty bitty teeny tiny really adds to the overall creepiness of this scene. They're blocked in a cave underground btw, and to hammer the point home Slade starts tossing her around until she completely freaks out and almost buries herself under the rubble.

Soon after that, Robin deduces by himself that Terra isn't in complete control of her powers, but Terra thinks that Beast Boy snitched on her after promising he wouldn't say anything. Hurt and betrayed she runs away, and guess who she runs to?

As far as I remember, the amount of time Terra spends with Slade is nondescript. But what she says is that he trained her, taught her to not be afraid of her own powers (which is true, she can control her powers now), and gave her a purpose and direction. She comes back and infiltrates the Titans, now being a well groomed little spy, but despite her efforts Slade keeps being abusive and beats the living hell out of her when she comes back to him after a failed mission. He can puppeteer her through the suit she's wearing, but at some point she manages to break free of his control and the arc ends tragically with Terra killing Slade, and herself.

Is this the end of it then? Nuh-huh. Here comes the

Whatever the fuck is happening to Robin Arc

So Slade is dead. But at some point during a fight, Robin starts seeing him and chasing him, getting a mild ass-whoop like he normally would. His teammates are obviously confused but they comply when Robin tells them to go defuse these bombs that Slade planted - only there are no bombs. And it looks like Robin is the only one who can even see Slade.

The situation escalates at the point of Robin having to be strapped to a bed because he was literally killing himself while "fighting Slade", despite being the only one who could see him. Slade himself is the one that frees him from the restraints, and keeps beating him within an inch of his life, at the point that Robin starts begging.

And here we have what's probably the most memorable line of the whole show: "I am the thing that keeps you up at night. I am the evil that haunts every dark corner of your mind. I will never rest and neither will you."

What is happening here in theory is that Robin got dosed with toxic dust coming from Slade's mask, therefore he's seeing things and his brain is in so much stress that he might die from strain (he ends up saving himself by turning on the light). But taking into consideration what happened during the Apprentice arc, it's easy to see parallels with PTSD.

There is actually more. There's Slade being resurrected by Trigon and going rapey on Raven (you've seen the screenshot before) by tearing off her cape, and there's also an epic moment in which Slade goes to hell, WITH ROBIN'S HELP, to retrieve his own body and aid in the fight against Trigon. But I think my point already came across well enough:

Teen Titans 2003 Slade is a fucking creep, and compared to him, NTT Deathstroke is a sweet little lamb who wouldn't hurt a fly. Which is why it is so funny to me when people claim tt03 Slade is "better cause he never slept with a teenager" - Boy oh boy, you might have not seen it on screen but the subtext is clear as day.

This man has no moral code, no bounds (other than what the PG rating of the show will place on him) and not an ounce of humanity. I don't need to see no scene with half naked kids smoking cigarettes with only a bathrobe as clothing (like this one) to know what this man did.

[mdzs-owns-my-ass-i-guess]

Noticing you (noticing me)

Lan Wangji is not jealous. He's not, really. He knows Wei Ying is in the Cloud Recesses with business. He's here as sect leader, brother's asked for his help dealing with some unusual spiritual activity in the area that's beyond the scope of the Lan.

This is necessary. Wei Ying is busy trying to uncover the mystery with Zewu-Jun, that's all. They're working.

In the hanshi. Alone. For the past 10 hours.

Lan Wangji is jealous.

Of course, he knows neither Lan Xichen, nor Wei Ying would break his trust like that. There's nothing going on in the hanshi besides cultivation work. Lan Wangji has no reason to suspect anything.

But he still drinks vinegar by the liter anyway.

He wants to be the one to spend all this time with Wei Ying. They see one another so rarely now... and he misses his beloved so much it hurts. They've been having such a hard time synchronizing schedules lately that they haven't spent time together in over a month, and they haven't been intimate in just as long...

And now to have Wei Ying so close but so unreachable... torture! All Lan Wangji wants to do is be around Wei Ying, at least. Give him a kiss, maybe. Duck behind some bushes. It's not that much, is it?

But no, Wei Ying's holed up in the hanshi with Lan Xichen while Lan Wangji is stuck doing paperwork. How is any of this fair?

Logically, he knows he'd get nothing done if he was left alone with Wei Ying. It's good Lan Xichen didn't involve him in this work. But he still aches, longing for his dearly loved.

He's so incredibly intelligent, he'll sure fix whatever's going on immediately and they'll retreat to the jingshi for the rest of his visit... right?

---

All Lan Wangji has managed to get from Wei Ying so far is a very brief kiss. And he's grateful, don't get him wrong! He loves feeling Wei Ying's lips against his own, warm, soft and inviting... But Wei Ying's been in the Cloud Recesses for four days now, and all that time's been spent working. Shouldn't he be taking a break by now?

Lan Wangji is trying not to be antsy about this. He really is, he even let the kids leave class early so he won't be unnecessarily harsh on them. But he wants Wei Ying so much he feels like he's going to die. Whatever can be so difficult that he can't figure it out? Maybe he just needs some time away from his work, a distraction even. And Lan Wangji is so good at taking his mind off things-

He sees Wei Ying and Lan Xichen stroll leisurely across the Cloud Recesses, deep in their conversation, and decides he's just going to drown in vinegar at this point. Wei Ying looks so good, in his red and black robes, expensive fabric shining in the sunlight and his hair unbound, a keen expression on his beautiful features...

He should have been sect leader instead. How bad could it be. Brother deserves a vacation, let Lan Wangji deal with Wei Ying and the other sect stuff, just...

Wei Ying notices him. Their eyes lock and the world seems to slow down for a moment - just long enough for Wei Ying to wink at him and add just a bit of a swing to his hips as he walks away.

It takes all Lan Wangji has not to run after them.

---

"Lan Zhan, how am I going to go back home now?" Wei Ying whines, laying down on Lan Zhan's chest after a long due session of lovemaking.

"I could carry you."

"How gentlemanly of you!" A laugh. "I'll be bed-ridden for a week now, whoever will run my sect now?"

"They'll live."

[melbatron5000]

Mr. Beck

When I was a kid, my favorite class was art class. My second favorite was English, but I didn't like hand-writing "complete" sentences. (i.e. if the question was "Why did the chicken cross the road?" we weren't allowed to write "to get to the other side." We had to write "The chicken crossed the road to get to the other side." In neat writing. By hand. When I tell you I nearly had writing and reading beaten out of me through boredom at school, I want you to believe me.)

At any rate, art. I loved it. It was free-flowing, it was creative and imaginative, we learned new techniques for making stuff look cool. And my very favorite art teacher was Mr. Beck.

Most days, we had an art class taught by the usual teacher. But on Wednesdays, Mr. Beck came to our classroom. Like most schools, ours had started to skimp on the humanities budget, so Mr. Beck traveled around and went to different schools each day, and taught a different classroom each hour. Wednesdays were my favorite day.

Mr. Beck clearly loved what he did, and he enjoyed the kids, and he also especially loved me. I didn't recognize it then, but he loved my questions and enthusiasm, he loved that I loved art. (I still do.) I just knew I loved him.

My questions often involved whether or not I could change the assignment somehow. Mr. Beck always listened to my ideas, nodded, and then said, "Yes, that sounds cool, try it." Well, I thought my ideas sounded cool, too, but I wanted to know if I was allowed to try them.

One day, in second grade, I went to Mr. Beck with an idea to change the assignment. He listened, and then he said, kindly but seriously, "You know, Melody, you don't have to ask permission to change the assignment. If I explain something and you have an idea how to do it differently, you can just do whatever you want. In fact, you don't ever have to ask anyone's permission to do any art however you want. Okay?"

And I nodded quietly and went back to my desk, and did the stuff I wanted without asking permission first, and Mr. Beck smiled approvingly at me gave me As on all my artwork and I loved him.

One day in fourth grade, we had an art assignment. I had been living by Mr. Beck's words since the day he spoke them, and I never asked permission from anyone to change an art assignment. I just did what I wanted. For reasons unknown to me -- still to this day -- my fourth grade teacher hated my guts. I seem to randomly inspire that in a few people for no reason that I can discern -- every once in a while, I meet someone and they just despise me as soon as I say hello. Their problem, not mine, but it's mysterious to me. Been that way since I was little.

At any rate, my fourth grade teacher was one of those random people. So when I went wild with this art assignment she gave us -- as per Mr. Beck's instructions -- not only did she give me an F for not following directions, she refused to hang it on the wall for parent-teacher day. I was devastated. My mom went to bat for me, and to this day will tell people what a cool piece of art I made. I honestly don't recall the details of the assignment or what I made instead.

What Mr. Beck failed to tell me when he gave me those excellent instructions was: Sometimes people will try to make you conform and do as they say instead of what you want, but that doesn't change the fact that you don't have to ask anyone's permission.

I was definitely a little beaten down by my fourth grade teacher's response to my art. But I remembered what Mr. Beck said, and I knew that he was a real artist, and my fourth grade teacher was not an artist. I knew that she didn't understand, and wasn't qualified to judge, even if she had judged and tried to make me feel bad about it. She made me feel bad, but not about following Mr. Beck's instructions, and not about my art.

I wish I could find Mr. Beck today and tell him what a deep impact he had on me and on my life. His instructions -- I wouldn't call it advice, because he didn't give it to me that way; he told me, "here is the rule" -- have stayed with me since that day. Even in the face of adversity, even as a kid still, I knew he had it right. I don't have to ask permission to do whatever I want with my art.

I would like to pass that rule on to anyone and everyone who wants to make art of any kind; written, visual, performance, you name it. You don't need anyone's permission to do it how you want. No one's. Even if they don't like it. Even if they think they have some kind of power to make you conform. Even if they try to make you feel bad.

You don't need anyone's permission to do what you want.

Ever.

[nevertheless-moving]

Headcanons for Ladrian children!

Maxillium (waxillium. Who let you flip the first letter of your name upside down. Why.): grows up to be something of a 'gentleman miscreant.' Even at the time, Steris and Wax knew that hiring a pickpocketing tutor for their noble firstborn son was a bad idea, but Max had pleaded that Uncle Wayne had promised him lessons when he grew up. And...well...Wayne would have, no matter how much they tried to stop him...anyway. Sentimentality won the day. Mistakes were made.

Despite his deliberate and consistent flouting of propriety, he's still almost universally well liked. Genuinely charismatic. Doesn't put his foot in his mouth. Smart without being considered mean or dull.

His parents have no idea where he gets it from.

People think he must be a soother but his actual allomantic power is generally considered useless. I'm leaning towards gold auger for true self confidence brought about by super powered self reflection. A+ use of C- skill.

Adrenalin junkie. Likes fast cars. Very fast cars. Only one of the kids who remembers Uncle Wayne, though they all get stories.

...

Tindwyl: somehow oldest, middle, and youngest child syndrome. Wax and Steris reign things in a bit after they realize they've inadvertently been raising their firstborn to become a highly effective career criminal. I'm not saying they're bad parents, they really do care, listen, and adjust. But they're imperfect people and the clash of personalities is the hardest on her.

Hmm twinborn, but still insecure about it, so it's gotta be one of the less flashy combos. Bronze or cadmium compounding, making her very good at either not sleeping, or surviving indefinitely at the bottom of the ocean awaiting rescue after her boat sinks, neither of which is immediately useful ... i mean the sleep thing is pretty cool but might cause some internal issues..

Similar to her parents in the more neurotic ways. Her father's eye twitch, her mother's anxiety. But not much inclination towards the more heroic arts, something her parents love, glad they raise one child unlikely to die in a fire, but she feels ashamed of. No fascination with danger, except in the deeply abstract. She tends to fixate on novels, not disaster planning or solving murders.

Gets motion sick :/ When Wax tries to take her for 'rides' she's giggling until she suddenly pukes without warning, and then she's crying. Wax feels guilty forever about this, but she insists on trying again every so often throughout her childhood.

Oh! Heavily involved in the allomancer jak fan community, first as a joke, but eventually she gets into it despite herself. She delights in discussing his stories around the dinner table and watching her father grit his teeth. I mean, comparing them with her father's own tales - which claims are really less likely, once you break things down, piece by piece -

...

Third child: I don't know their gender! I don't even know their name! But I do know that they're going to be the first natural born mistborn in over three hundred years, and it's going to cause soooo much chaos.

Lotsa religious nuts following to school. Lotta kidnapping attempts. They catch dad yelling at death, no wait, false alarm, hes just yelling at death to pass a message to God, because he doesn't want to talk to God directly. Cool, cool. Something about wanting a promise that that 'they wouldn't be made a sword'

They seem to most consistently run into ladrian luck - things explode around them, they say the exact wrong thing to the exact wrong person. If there's a murderer loose, they end up in the same tree house, if there's a lion escaped from the zoo, it steals their lunch. Assigned protagonist by the narrative, despite the adults in her life genuine and consistent efforts to intervene.

Mixed feelings about it.

Generally Max bails them out of the social faux pas, but, much to tindwyls annoyance, when worst comes to worst they can fall back on the 'mistborn aura' growing 'mysteriously grave' and then jump out an airship window. Mildly jealous of Tindwyl because when she gets lost in the city she doesn't accidentally discover a cult, or get adopted by a circus troupe, or , anyway. If they also get a ferrochemical power people are going to lose. their. shit.

Snaps (I believe snapping is gentler in era 2, but still) way too young during their first kidnapping attempt, possibly same time as/ before older siblings. All kidnapped together?

Please Imagine Max age 12, breaking Tindwyl, age 9, and Misty age 6 out of their cells (of course he pickpocketed the keys from the guards). They all down a full spectrum vial, which of course they all carry in a secret aluminum lined pocket for LITERALLY this EXACT traumatic event because their mother is Steris. Max gets nothing (would gold even be in the vial?), tindwyl is a seeker or cadmium burner.

Cue ridiculously OP six year old bendalloying past the guards, pewter punching their way out... Max takes more than a few hits for them when they accidentally iron pull some loose nails at themselves... it's not pretty, but they do escape and the media goes absolutely bananas.

Please, please imagine tiny child carrying two medium sized childs, and jumping out a window. They're very carefully arranged, Tindwyl clinging to Max's shoulder, Max on Misty's, feeling absolutely ridiculous. Misty breaks the window - Max yelling steel push directions as they just need to get to the next building - Tindwyl yelling, ok they're all yelling now as Misty loses balance -

Ooh Wait if Tindwyl can cadmium create slow time then she burns that as they're falling, so it's extra terrifying from all their perspective, but to other people's view they're just hanging there, dropping very, very slowly. Either way-oh thank the Survivor, Dad's here now, catching them.

Some of this is caught on evanotype. Like I said - absolute media storm.

...

Fourth child: An accident and everybody knows it. The other three are mortified to discover that their parents are still having sex. Steris is mostly bemused that the one (1) time she said 'it'll probably be fine' instead of immediately drinking moon tea after the sheepskin broke, she gets pregnant. Wax is concerned for her health, but after a scare or two, it all goes fairly smoothly.

A good 15, 20 years younger than the rest and maybe a little isolated because of it, doesn't feel like she has the same sibling relationship the other three do, though they all adore her and compete relentlessly for 'best big sibling.'

Cool twinborn combo??? Like pewter allo and gold ferro for super healing. Or zinc super speed, because that's honestly excellent by itself.

Or no powers, because angst and also being underestimated and getting really competent at tech or whatnot. Possibly allomantic status is less important as time passes, and she actually doesnt really have as much issue with it as people assume she will. Infiltrates and takes down some shady hemalurgic group due to the misperception.

Only one of the children to go into law, but ends up more secret agent/spy genre then western/action hero.

Regardless, while Max is effortlessly charming, she's effortlessly cool. The middle children, and possibly parents, are amazed and maybe slightly jealous, though dad insists he used to be cool, honest-