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cablewintersoldier · 15 days ago

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Too Sweet 1/? (RobbyxOFC)

She wanted to make a good impression on her first day; she didn’t expect it would be because she came in on a gurney, giving chest compressions to a patient that coded in the ambulance.

She was hollering out code instructions to the nurses that came over to assist, and shortly a male doctor, towering over her even on the gurney, came over and lifted her carefully off the gurney onto the floor. She looked up at him, way up, and smiled.

“Hi, I’m Dr. Everly Taylor, third year resident, nice to meet you,” she introduced herself, and the tall doctor gave a look of semi-recognition. At least he knew she was coming.

“Dr. Robinavich, everyone calls me Dr. Robby or Robby. I’m the Chief Attending on Day Shift. Think that means you’ll be working with me most of the time.”

“Dr. Robby, I’ve heard great things about you. I’m excited to see what new adventures the ED brings me,” Everly smiled again, her dimples showing as she did.

“Tell me, how did you end up in the back of an ambulance giving one of our patient’s CPR?” He asked her, crossing his arms across his chest.

Everly shrugged. “I was walking here, saw a kid crash his e-scooter, called 911 and asked for a lift since they were coming here anyway. He coded en route, and I’m little enough that I needed to be on the gurney to get some good pressure.”

Robby looked her up and down, mostly down as she was a meager five feet tall to his six feet tall. Everly only then realized she was wearing tiny shorts and a tank top. “Yeah, I can see that. Well you may have saved that kid’s life, so congratulations, and welcome to the Pitt. Go get suited up and we’ll do introductions and get you started on some cases, starting with e-scooter kid.”

Everly went towards where Robby pointed, finding the locker room. She grabbed an empty locker, putting her purse inside and grabbing her scrubs, pulling them on over her shorts and tank. Then she locked up the locker, put her cellphone on mute and into her pocket, and then walked back out to the main hub, putting her blonde hair up in a ponytail so it was out of the way.

Robby was waiting for her at the nurse’s station, as was another blonde lady with a big RN badge.

“Dr. Taylor, this is Dana, our charge nurse. She runs the Pitt, whatever she says goes.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Everly said, waving slightly at the other woman. Dana gave a warm smile, before her phone went off and she stepped away to answer it.

“Let’s see who else we can find,” Robby said, leading Everly around the Pitt, giving a tour of the different rooms and areas. She met Dr. Collins and Dr. Langdon, both working on a man with a GSW to the leg. Then she met Dr. Mohan, who gave her a hug as she was introduced, and then Dr. King, who seemed just as excited to see Everly as Everly was to be there.

“Well that’s really everyone on shift at the moment, you’ll probably meet some of the night crew when they come in tonight. Why don’t you go check on e-scooter kid, and I’ll come over in a bit and help out,” Robby instructed, and Everly perked up, ready to work.

“Yes sir!” She jogged off to central one where the kid had been placed while the nurses and Dr. King brought him back from coding. He was now intubated and unconscious, but stable.

Dana walked over to Robby, patting him on the arm to alert him to her presence. “She’s a cutie,” Dana began, and Robby just looked at her. “Don’t start.”

“What? She is, so short and full of energy. She might be just what you need to get outta this funk you’re in.”

“I am not in a funk,” Robby disagreed, but his frown said otherwise.

“Sure…” Dana went back to her station, talking with Perlah and Princess about what they were to do next.

Robby went over to central one, peeking in, and seeing Everly cleaning a long cut on the patient’s arm, a suture kit next to her ready to go. Mateo was in there with her, handing her gauze as requested it. They were laughing about something, seemingly something Mateo had said, as he looked slightly smug.

Robby immediately felt a surge of something, he didn’t know what, but it made him step into the room and clear his throat to get their attention.

Everly and Mateo looked up at Robby, both still smiling. “What’s up Dr. Robby?” Mateo asked, being friendly.

“Just checking on my new resident, seeing how things are going in here,” Robby explained, although he knew there was a different reason for checking on her, he just wasn’t sure what it was.

“All good here, just a couple sutures. He’ll be heading up to surgery soon.”

“Good,” Robby ran his hand through his hair, unsure what else to do, so he just walked out, leaving the newbie with Mateo.

Robby wasn’t blind. Dr. Taylor was hot, smoking hot, and Mateo was an attractive guy. It seemed likely they would at least be friendly, based on their similar ages, if not hook up. Robby didn’t like that thought at all. He got called to a STEMI and his mind immediately switched back to work and focus.

He saw Dr. Taylor a couple more times throughout the day, where she emphasized to him to “Please call me Everly, Dr. Taylor is so formal!”. She had a glow about her, like a tiny little fairy, floating around the Pitt suturing wounds here, intubating there, and even at one point holding onto some sawed off fingers. Never did he see her without a smile, or at least a happy look to her.

Everyone noticed, especially Dana and Collins. They ganged up on him, coming up on either side of him at the nurse’s station.

“So…” Collins prompted, and Robby just looked at her.

“So what?”

“What do you think of her?”

“I don’t know, I’ve only known her briefly for a couple hours,” Robby answered diplomatically.

Dana and Collins both groaned in disappointment.

“Come on Robby, you’ve been watching her all day, you gotta think something about her,” Dana explained.

“I’m watching her because she’s my new resident, and I watch all my residents, including you, Collins,” he pointed out, crossing his arms across his chest.

“She’s a cutie, so smiley and full of joy,” Dana was watching Everly as she flitted across the Pitt, helping Langdon with a little boy that swallowed some magnets. “Good with kids, too.”

“You two are worse than Perlah and Princess,” Robby complained, walking away towards Mohan to see what was taking her so long with her patient.

“I give it two weeks,” Collins bet.

“Nah, I think it’s gonna be a couple months. He’s so uptight,” Dana countered. They began the betting pool over/under on whether Robby would ask Everly out, or continue to be a pining Victorian hero, sad and broken and lonely.

At the end of the day, Everly was at her locker, grabbing her purse, when Dr. Robby walked in. Everly smiled at him, closing her locker.

“Good job today, Taylor.” Robby complimented her, and she did a fake bow.

“Thank you, sir.”

“Keep it up,” he finished, turning to his own locker and grabbing his stuff. Everly took this as a dismissal, and put on her jacket, heading home after fourteen hours of nonstop medical treatment.

A month later Robby starts to realize he might have feelings for Everly. She brought him a coffee every morning, made sure he drank some water and ate at least a granola bar during the day. She was the sun to his starless night, opposite in every way, but fitting perfectly into his life. But she was 29 years old, and he was pushing 50, it was too big an age gap, they’d have nothing in common. He was a coffee black, whiskey neat sort of guy, while she was an iced latte, sex on the beach (the drink) kinda girl. It would never work. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t want it to.

#the pitt #the pitt x reader #robby x ofc #robby x reader #dr robby #original female character #grumpy x sunshine

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bringthekaos · 6 months ago

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I'm excited for your thoughts on the new season if/when you share them

It has legit taken me 3 days to come to terms with Act 1. Enough to be able to speak about it. Gunna apologize in advance for the wall of text, and I’m hiding it under a break for spoiler reasons. Also prefacing with these are all just my opinions. All are free to disagree with me and RB with discussions/theories etc. just don’t be a dick about it, I’m not engaging in any discourse.

Ok. So. I have mixed feelings, and I’m aware that this is because I don’t have the whole story yet. So this is all contingent on how the rest of the season plays out.

First and foremost, I’m… wildly swinging back and forth between love and disappointment for Viktor’s arc. So first the negative, and I’ll try to keep it brief because a lot of people have already expressed this and I don’t need to be beating that particular dead horse.

Viktor has had his agency, his bodily autonomy, his original ideas and nearly everything that made him Viktor stripped away. Nothing so far has been his choice. And while this could have worked just fine for an original character, he wasn’t. So there is a massive disconnect between what this character was/should have been. In League, it was all his choice (albeit with a healthy dose of mental illness thrown in, but still). AND it was very heavily suggested that many of the augmentations he performed weren’t as extensive as he lead everyone to believe (namely the controlling/dousing of his emotions). But it appears that whatever the Hexcore did to him, it’s real. He is clearly having a difficult time accessing his emotions, and if he can feel anything, it is limited to the point of him being completely stoic. And the thing with stoic characters is that you obliterate any emotional payoff for the audience. It’s very hard to make an audience feel an emotional connection to a character’s story arc when they themselves don’t feel anything (I have a theory about this though, but I’ll address it a little later in this post). And then there is the issue of Blitzcrank. Blitz was Viktor’s whole world, after his exile. How are they going to swing that? Like, I’m not even asking for Blitz to be in Arcane (that would be great, but I really don’t think they have time). But I stg if they take Blitz away from Viktor, make them someone else’s invention (my suspicion is Heimer or he finds the idea in Sky’s journal)… I’m sorry but no. This was Viktor’s idea, Viktor’s genius. I will genuinely be extremely upset if they take that from him too.

Then there is the whole situation with Sky. First, this girl was fridged. She was nothing but a plot device and continues to be just that. It feels hollow and forced, especially now that he’s hallucinating her as some sort of penance for what he did. (I have seen the prevalent theory that it’s the Hexcore using her image and his guilt to manipulate him, given that it “ate” her, and we have seen it “manipulate” him before when it punished him for trying to destroy it). But back to Sky—he barely acknowledged that poor girl. The reason for that can be argued, whether it’s because he’s gay or because he was just so wrapped up in his one-track minded research. But regardless, there just wasn’t enough setup between those two for this whole thing to have as much weight and meaning as I think it’s supposed to. Honestly to me (TO ME) it reeks of comphet. It feels like that random woman they threw at Poe Dameron to No Homo him. I’m not even asking for Jayvik canon. But the creators were well aware of this ship, after all it’s the second most popular ship in this show and it’s been around since 2012 when Jayce was literally created for Viktor. I’m asking for the bare minimum here—that it’s left open-ended as it was in League, open for interpretation.

Last negative I have is the whole Viktor Jesus thing. The first problem is I am pretty violently agnostic, and messiah narratives have never spoken to me. I don’t enjoy them, they feel weak. The whole “ordained by a higher power” thing is just… stale. Especially when this character originally had no higher power, he gave it to himself through his own hard work and ingenuity. Honestly, Viktor’s original arc is about as far from a Jesus allegory as you can possibly get. And I am absolutely terrified that they’re going to end said Jesus arc the way you’d expect—with him dying for it. Which leaves the moral of his story “disabled man should have just accepted that he was going to die despite the fact that it was the oppression and xenophobia of Piltover that left him out to dry, without proper health care, accessibility, equality, or equity that lead to his terminal diagnosis to begin with.” Which is a very oppressor-centric narrative and we do not need another one of those.

Sorry, I know I said I’d keep the negatives brief, and that was… not. My bad. But moving on!

I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy it, I did. I am working to embrace this new Viktor narrative and work it into my brain in a way that doesn’t ruin the ship for me. So without further ado, the positives.

Jayce.

I’d have to go back and time it, but it feels like he got more screen time in this first act than the entirety of the first season combined, and his character shined for it. It humanized him in ways season one never did. He’s caring, he’s devoted, and he loved Viktor! No matter what kind of love you think it is, it proves he loved Viktor without a doubt. He carried Viktor several city blocks to the lab to save him, and then YES, he broke his promise about the Hexcore because he couldn’t stand the thought of losing him!

And he’s funny! (The scene where he picks up the regular sized hammer in the fight against Renni and made that “this is ironic” face?? And then basically the entire interaction with Ekko? The hand me a tome thing, and then when he basically pulled this when Ekko suggested “so this is all your fault cuz you pissed off the Arcane”:

GOD that shit was great. Jayce’s personality just shined, and maybe it’s too much to hope, but maybe this will douse a little of the hate. Because instead of being a subtle hint at all of those things being true about him, it’s now overt. And when people lack media literacy, the hints have to be overt.

And th-the. The h. The HUG SCENE. I don’t think I will ever emotionally recover from that scene. Starting with Viktor who, despite being clearly emotionally—I dunno, vacant I guess—sounded so lost and scared when he said “what am I?” For me, it was whispers of that scene from The Last Unicorn: “what have you done to me?” And my poor sweet Jayce, who clearly hasn’t left this damn lab except to go to Cassandra’s memorial. Sleeping on the desk and bleeding through his bandages because he doesn’t want to spend a moment away from Viktor while he “recovers.” And his euphoric response when he finds Viktor alive, when he realizes he hasn’t lost him. And I OWE HIM AN APOLOGY, goddamn. I said in a post that “Jayce will not understand.” I thought that was how Arcane was gunna start the divorce. But Jayce genuinely did not care, as long as his lover friend was alive. And just… Jayce being so affectionate through this entire scene. The hug obviously, but also blurting things he thought he’d never get to say to Viktor—“I’m resigning from the council, my place was always here in the lab with you.”

And… the hug itself. I know we’re all analyzing it frame by goddamn frame, but I see exactly what everyone else sees—there is a moment where Viktor very subtly smiles. But it’s gone in an instant, and it turns bittersweet. LOOK AT HIM.

There is something there, it’s just buried. Deep beneath the surface. It seems to say “I want this, I have wanted this for so long.” But then he realizes something, something I don’t think we’re meant to understand yet. Maybe that he doesn’t feel anything about it anymore, and he recognizes that this should upset him and it doesn’t. Or perhaps it’s something more along the lines of “it’s too late.” Whatever it is, I think this is the exact moment he knows he has to walk away. Because he knows he’ll cave to the affection, he said it himself. (Which is another thing entirely. His voice changes when he says that. Something in him is reacting to that word. Maybe he’s fighting against it, or maybe he’s fighting to get it back. But something made him almost growl that word.)

Which leads me to my final thought (for this post anyway, cuz it’s turning into a novel); Viktor is still in there. He can still feel things, I just think they’re extremely muted by whatever the Hexcore did/continues to do to him, or he has to fight to express them. Because he also smiled at the hallucination of Sky after he “cured” Huck. And if he feels nothing, he wouldn’t have been “joyous” at the thought of her being proud of him, approving of the good things he’s trying to do in her memory. He wouldn’t crave that validation, that vindication from her. So I’m hopeful that we start to see this shell crack a little, especially if those visions of Sky are the Hexcore manipulating him through guilt. It will start to erode him, no matter how stoic he has become. And literally the only thing I’m clinging to is that Jayce will see this and try to pull him out. “He’s still in there and I have to save him.” And that maybe it’ll start to work.

#arcane #arcane season 2 #arcane season two #arcane s2 spoilers #jayvik #jayce talis #arcane viktor #viktor arcane #asks #ace answers

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thatnonameuser · 6 months ago

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The Red King holds a Bleeding Head

A Wonderland of Yanderes - Masterlist Chapter 1. Heartslaybul Part 7.

This place can get fucked.

No, seriously. You’re seriously starting to hate this place.

You’ve been hanging on one of your last threads of self control for the last day. And really, it’s fraying so fast that you can feel your muscles twitch from the lingering stress in your body boiling over into anger.

But you’ll bite your fucking tongue bloody to make reason and maybe correct this.

You’re not confident that'll happen though.

“W-Wait! You can’t just throw them out over a tart! We’ll just take it and go!” You try to make him see reason but so far, reason is the last thing this world sees. After all, if it did, you wouldn’t be so terrified of Ace and Deuce. And yes, you’re only defending them because the sooner this mess is over, the sooner you can actually sleep tonight. But still, this is completely outrageous.

But since this dorm’s rules come straight from the loony bin from a tyrannical dictator that got what she deserved in the end, and the person enforcing them is about as oppressive megalomaniac as the inspiration…what the hell were you expecting?!

“Yeah! If you want the tart gone, let me eat it!” Grim makes a dash for the tart, but all it takes is for an angry glare from Riddle for one of those terrified card soldiers to quickly take it and throw it out. Isn’t that just great? All that hard work for nothing.

For the first time since this mess started, Trey takes responsibility for messing up Ace’s apology, and sending his dorm leader into a tizzy. “Dorm Leader, allow me to apologize. I was the one who suggested making a chestnut tart!”

Thankfully, Cater takes a little responsibility too, considering he was the one that caused this tea party to turn into a mess. “I was a part of that too. We had no idea there was a rule about it!”

But Riddle’s just as uncompromising as he was at lunch yesterday. “The making of the tart is not the issue. The issue is bringing it HERE. Today. THAT is the transgression!”

“We were going to bring it earlier, it’s just we were unexpectedly..” You grind that out as you glare at Cater for that stupid detour, “distracted! How can you be so mean and uncompromising after he worked so hard! You have to think it’s at least a little stupid to live by these foolish rules!”

“Yeah! All you do is cite one stupid rule after another! You sound totally foolish!” Yes! Thank you Ace! At least someone else disagrees with this complete insanity.

Riddle’s face goes from angry to furious, “What did you just call me? ‘Foolish?!’”

Cater grabs you and Ace by your arms to pull you both away from the rising argument, “Everyone, stop! Don’t dig this hole any deeper! And Riddle, please try to remember that these are new students who’ve only been here a few days!” but you wretch your arm away. You already know that Riddle hates excuses IN apologies, and you’re not apologizing to this self-righteous pain in your ass.

Thankfully, Ace doesn’t buy the BS being spat out right now, “Nah, bro. I’ve got a shovel and I am DIGGING. Throwing away a tart to obey some insane rule is about as foolish as it gets.”

“I agree with Ace. Of course, I understand that rules do need to be followed, but…This is going much too far.” Deuce is on your side too, thank the seven. Someone else isn’t going to stand idly by for this fever dream.

“Too far is an understatement.” You say point-blank. “You’re acting like a crazy person over a tart! You can't deny that you're being foolish!”

Riddle’s angry glare falls on you “A person like you has no right to tell me what is and isn't foolish!”

Is he referring to you? And why is he- “Though I can't say I'm not surprised by your reaction, considering how your kind tends to act” Oh no.

To the ears of others you hope that they think that he's saying that you're just a troublemaker, but you know that he thinks otherwise. Because he already knows you're a darling. And he knows that you know that.

Which means that if he wanted to, he could reveal who you really are to anyone within earshot. Which is especially bad considering that Ace and Deuce are already suspicious of you.

This isn’t good…..

Maybe you should shut up for now.

Probably satisfied that he shut you up, he receptors his focus and rage back on Ace. “And you…Are you attempting to debate me? Bold move, but I’ll bite. By breaking even the smallest rule, you are throwing wide the gate to anarchy.”

You feel the urge to point out the obvious about how insane he's acting over a tart, but instead you bite your tongue.

Regardless though, Ace is there to say what you can't. Now very fed up, Ace gestures to the silent audience to this ‘debate’.. “Everyone, I know you’re afraid of getting your magic sealed away, but you know this is insane, right?”

But instead of speaking their minds, all of them jolt at being put on the spot, fidgeting and squirming in fear of the dorm leader's wrath. “N-No, we, uh….”

Some actually look like they’re willing to speak up against Riddle’s leadership, but whatever attempts at resistance there are in the crowd, they are squashed as soon as Riddle’s angry glare is set upon them. “Well? Isn’t it?”

“Far from it, Dorm Leader Riddle, sir!” One brave/cowardly soul says from the crowd and the bystander effect comes into effect full force. Because as soon as that one person gets his words out, the other card soldiers follow suit. “We trust in your judgment, sir!”

Once again, it’s just like your dream with the card soldiers standing idly by next to their fellow cards’/ dormmates’ abuse. You hate your dreams, stupid bad omens. Stupid self-serving card soldiers…

“You little…”

“You spineless, fair-weather cowards…” Ace mutters at the betrayal of his dormmates and fellow victims.

Now probably overconfident from the residents’ denial of his tyranny, Riddle starts some spiel. “In the year since I became Dorm Leader, not a single student from Heartslabyul House has dropped out or been held back a year. We are the only house that can boast such a feat. Furthermore, of everyone in this dorm, I have the best academic standing.” Whatever point Riddle’s getting to, his statements aren’t really the proof he thinks it is, just because they’re still here doesn’t mean they aren’t planning to leave. Also, doesn’t the fear of failure push you to break the rules to avoid failing?

“What does that have to do with anything?” You Someone can be super smart and still be very wrong.

He pauses in his tirade, speaking slowly, like you're a child incapable of understanding what he’s saying. “Hence I am the most correct! If you would simply obey me without question, we wouldn’t need to contend so.” Okay, rude. You bite your tongue to stop yourself from offending him further, but seven only knows you want to.

“Listen, we-”

Riddle interrupts Deuce, isn’t there a rule about interrupting someone while they speak? “It’s not off with their heads because ‘I’ want to do that. I do it because rules must never be broken.”

Still completely pissed about the fact that you might have In the corner of your eye, you see Trey cross his arms looking guilty. There has to be something wrong between the two of them. Because what Trey wouldn’t defend Riddle so much and then not tell him when he’s wrong if there wasn’t something strange or tense between them.

“If you will not obey me, then I will have all of your heads!” This isn’t just being a control freak, this is being a total dictator. Even some of the most overbearing control freaks can understand that mistakes are a human characteristic.

Cater intervenes again, to play peacemaker, “Okay, let’s all say, “Yes, Dorm Leader Riddle.” and screw that. Revelations be damned, you can't just agree with him because you're scared about what he'll do. That'll make you no better than the others staying silent.

“I can’t.” Deuce

“Me neither.” You cross your arms in indignation. “What you’re doing is just unfair.”

“Yeah, ____ we don’t bow to self-important tyrants!”

Riddle’s cheeks turn red as his anger grows.

“What did you just call me?”

“He called you what you are. A tyrant.” You repeat, what you're doing is very risky but still he can stay mad about it. Darling or not, you're not going to leave this alone.

“Yeah Henchman’s right! You wanted to destroy good food just ‘cause you’re throwin’ a tantrum!”

“Guys, I don’t think we need to escalate this-” It’s much too late for that. Because before Deuce can finish his sentence….

“Off! With! Your! Heads!”

There’s a flash of light and in seconds there’s a tight pressure around your neck. You cough in surprise and “Aw shit.” There’s a collar like Ace’s around your neck. And Deuce and Grim are wearing them too. Why? Speaking your mind isn't against the rules!

Still boiling mad, he spits orders like the tyrant he is. “Trey! Cater! Eject them from the premises!”

For the two very lively people they were, they immediately turn to the reluctant drones that the other card soldiers are once Riddle starts yelling at them, “...Yes sir, Dorm Leader.”

You shrug Trey's hand of your shoulder and glare at him in distaste. He doesn’t want to meet your eyes

“You’re supposed to be our ‘mentors’!” Ace objects vehemently at the betrayal. And all the two can do is spill empty apologies.

“Sorry, but we can’t disobey our dorm leader!”

“Sorry, man..”

They were fine with it yesterday. Glad to know that was all for nothing.

“Oh, that’s how it’s gonna be? Then bring it on!” Somewhere in this conversation, Ace must have forgotten that everyone about to be thrown out either had no magic to begin with, or can’t cast it thanks to the stupid collars. So obviously, they get trounced. It was kind of sad really.

Before Trey pulls you out, you yell at Riddle “Hey Rosehearts! I don't have magic. Take the collar off!” It’s already unfair that Deuce and Grim got one for questioning his authority, you getting one is just cruel and unusual punishment.

He gives you a snide look, “Perhaps you should wear it for a while too. Since you seem to have forgotten it, it might help to properly remind you of your place.”

This little…..

Trey and Cater kick you out before you can paint Riddle’s ears with the full capacity of your swear dictionary.

So. Now what?

“I'm gonna kill him.”

“_____-”

“No, Deuce, no, I’m serious.” It’s one thing to saddle Ace and Deuce with you for another fucking night, but then to collar you, an non-magic user, just because he got butt hurt. You hope someone chops off his head to see how he likes it.

Though now that you think about it, you really feel bad for the darling he’s meant to have in this world. If he’s this strict over a tiny thing like a tart then there’s no telling what he’ll flip the hell out for. You’d hate to be them.

“Stop, tryna be an honor student about this Juice. She’s right, we should just kill him. We can get away with it.”

“See, Deuce. Listen to Ace, we might just get a parade for ridding the dorm of that menace.” You don’t really want to encourage them to murder, but you’re pissed and the twerp deserves it.

“Yeah, even without my magic I’ll kick that guy’s butt so hard that he’ll regret collaring the Great Grim for the rest of his life.”

So you were all kicked out thirty minutes ago. And here you all are in the rose maze, with the music of the unbirthday party in the background. All of you had collars on your necks, and you were really pissed about this nonsense if you couldn’t tell already.

With you no longer there to be the voice of reason, because you were fuming, Deuce was trying to calm your bloodlust before you do something you might regret.

Which you probably might, if you keep encouraging Ace to kill someone.

You take a deep breath, or seven, before finally sighing in defeat. “Ugh. We probably shouldn’t kill anyone.”

“But-”

“We really shouldn’t kill anyone Ace.” You finally say,

Ace huffs in displeasure. “Fine. Still, who does he think HE is, the Queen of Hearts?” Ace kicks over one of the empty paint cans in his rage.

“Probably, Ace.” You tug at your shirt to give yourself more room to breathe. This stupid thing is super claustrophobic no wonder Grim hates it.

Speaking of, “Stupid collar! It’s so tight! GRrr!” Grim fights with the collar for the umpteenth time, and you sigh.

“We should probably go see Crowley. If Riddle will listen to someone, it’ll probably be him.” You huff, things just keep going downhill-

A voice pops up from the ether. “You’re really racking up those collars. Quite the impressive collection.”

“Who-?” You jump at the sound of a new voice, scanning the hedges and rose bushes for a source-”AH!”

“BWAH?!”

It’s a head, a floating head in the middle of the garden! Seriously, who did a line of cocaine before making this world!

“Myah! A ghost head!” Grim freaks the hell out, retreating into the safety of your arms, his fur standing up on end.

The head tilts to the side, one of his ears twitching, before looking down, “Oh dear. It seems I’m not all here.” He laughs as the rest of his body fades into view. Oh, it’s magic. Thank goodness. You breathe a sigh of relief.

“What? Er, so you do have a body, then?” Deuce’s brain finally catches up to the shock he’s just seen. “Who are you?”

“The name’s Artemiy Artemiyevich Pinker.” …….Wha? Forget the other names so far, did his parents have a stroke writing his name? He circles you all while starting a confusing spiel. “As for what I am….Am I a cat? Am I a purrrson? A mimsy borogrove, perhaps? A mome rath with a knack for magic?”

Great riddles. You already had an infuriating run in with the human Riddle, now you had to deal with the non-human kind. Wonderful. “Your name is…Artem- Could you say that again please?”

He laughs, with a cheshire smile, “People usually just call me Chenya. And let’s just say I’m not from the other side of the looking glass.” …..The hell does that mean? Is he from here? Or not? Either way, like everyone else here, he’s very weird.

“Yet another weirdo…” you mutter. You’re starting to wonder how in the hell Alice didn’t lose her mind in wonderland.

He must’ve heard you but he doesn’t take offense, instead he gets up close and personal, stopping right before your noses touch. “You think so? I’d say by the standards here, I’m no more mad than anyone else.”

Ace pulls you away from Art- Artemi- Chenya, by your arm and asks you as Chenya the other question that was on your mind. “Uh…what dorm are you from?”

He hums a laugh. “Why don’t you try to guess?” The animal ears remind you of Savanaclaw, but he’s not dressed in any yellow.

Grim takes the opportunity to display his intellect, “Oh, I know! He’s got animal ears, so you gotta be from….uh…Bananaclaw, was it?” No, wait a second, his uniform doesn’t even look like NRC’s. Does he even go here?

“Bzzzt! Incorrect. Bananas grow on trees, do they not? I, on the other hand, am a cat.” He reminds you of someone, just who exactly are you thinking of….

Deuce contemplates the question at hand. “And besides, other dorms have students with animal ears, too.”

Ace, on the other hand, is still pissed. “After that insanity that teapot tyrant put me through, I’m not in the mood for whatever this is. Just leave us alone.”

His ears twitch at the mention of a tyrant. “Riddle the teapot tyrant…Heh Heh. Well, I can’t dismiss that perspective as wrong.” He knows Riddle? Wait, you never mentioned Riddle. “He’s always been quite strict.”

“How did you know we were talking about Riddle? And do you know something about him?” You ask.

Chenya doesn’t answer, giving you that ear-to-ear grin, “Perhaps there are things that I know, and perhaps there are things that I don’t.” Yay….confusing riddles.

“That’s not an answer!” Grim objects.

Still smiling and still laughing, Chenya asks “Is there something you wish to know about Riddle?”

“Yeah, what created such a control freak?”

Chenya tilts his head in thought at Ace’s question, tapping his chin with a finger. “I believe his four-eyed friend may have the answer.” Wait, Trey? Also, Riddle has friends?

“Four-eyed friend? You mean Trey?” Deuce asks.

“He’s known Riddle since we were all little boys. If you want to know more about Riddle, I would begin my quest there.” Well that was uh, helpful. But if they all have known each other, why is Riddle so uncaring to Trey? If they’re supposed to be friends, they don’t act like it.

“They’re childhood friends? I didn’t get that impression.”

“Me neither,” You agree, “Could have fooled me, I didn’t think Riddle had any friends.”

Chenya laughs, his body starting to turn translucent“If you’re so perceptive, then what are you asking me for? Buh-bye!”

“Hey! Wait!” You try to stop him from disappearing, but Chenya only laughs before his head vanishes.

Well, that was something.

“I tell ya, no one makes any sense around here.” You nod in agreement. Nothing makes sense here.

Well, if talking to Trey will clear this whole thing up, then you need to speak with him soon. And from the sounds of music in the garden. That won’t be for a while.

“We should wait to speak with Trey, and then..”

Ace interrupts Deuce. “If you’re gonna say “Apologize to Riddle,” you can forget it!”

“I don’t think you should. Riddle’s clearly in the wrong here. But we might have some trouble speaking with Trey if he’s still in the dorm we’re kicked out of. But…”

“We might have to set up a little ambush…” Ace and Deuce don’t disagree, in fact Deuce is cracking his knuckles in preparation.

Now all you need to do is plan and wait.

“Hello Trey.”

Your group of four hadn’t exactly figured out what to do after Chenya told you about Trey and Riddle’s childhood friendship. Being banned from Heartslabyul and then watching another unfortunate student get thrown out minutes later with a magic collar around their neck told you that going in to find him wasn’t going to end well.

It was luck that you noticed Trey's tart cookbook yesterday, and even luckier that you remembered he probably hadn’t returned it already.

So you all staked out the library until he came back after the unbirthday party. Which Trey thankfully came alone for because you needed him to trauma dump on Riddle’s past very hard.

“You four!” He doesn’t seem surprised to see you. This must happen a lot.

“We figured that if we waited at the library, you’d show up to return your tart cookbook eventually.” Actually you figured that part out. You just thought you’d let Deuce be the one to say it, he’s had a rough day with his honor student problem.

“We still got a problem with the way Dorm Leader Riddle is handling all of this.” Ace has more than a problem with this, considering you had to calm him down enough to even have this conversation.

Trey shakes his head in exhaustion. “Yeah, I thought you might say that.” The more you hear about this the more you think that Trey was just hoping the problem would go away on its own.

Ace thankfully gets straight to the point.“Come clean with us. What’s your take on Riddle? Is it true you’ve been pandering to him since the two of you were kids?”

Trey recoils like he’s been struck across the face. “What?! Who told you that?”

“A Chenya popped up in the garden and explained the whole thing.” You say.

He sighs in exasperation. “Chenya…Huh. That explains it.”

“What I don’t get is, aren’t you older than Riddle? Why haven’t ya told him off already?”

“Grim’s right. If you’re supposed to be friends then why don’t you say something. If you’re friends, he might listen to you!” Trey better have a good reason for letting this get as bad as it did. Because he probably could have stopped this way earlier if he just did as Grim said.

“I do when I need to. I don’t think the situation calls for it.”

Well, that’s a load of BS right there. “No offense Trey, but are you blind?!” You’re done being reasonable about this. He needs to hear this as it is. “He’s ruling over your dorm with an iron fist, collaring anyone that slips up even on accident, and the situation doesn’t call for it?! How can you call yourself his friend if you aren’t telling him when he’s enforcing rules like he’s a tyrant!”

Trey shakes his head and averts your eyes. If he feels ashamed then good. This could have-“Because these sorts of strict rules…They’re what created Riddle.” -been…avoided…?

“I don’t follow.” You say.

You knew that Riddle probably had some serious trauma to make him the way he is, but as you were expecting he did.

As Trey was kind enough to inform you, Riddle’s mother was one of those mom’s who pushed her legacy onto her kids, and wouldn’t give them an inch unless they met her incredibly and unfairly high standards.

A childhood scheduled down to the last possible second sounded awful, and because kids are biologically inclined to care for their parents, Riddle did as was expected of him. But to have no freedom of choice your entire life, because of your mother’s rules, no wonder he followed rules so strictly, it was all he ever knew.

But still he had to rebel at least once, find fun in something outside the heavy rules that constricted around his life, after all he was no perfect child, he was only human.

“I can’t even imagine how hard he must’ve had it.”

“That…” It’s horrible that his mother messed him up that bad, but it isn’t just her fault anymore…Now Riddle’s, as he’s now being his own worst enemy and he’s not even aware of it. And even worse, the most unfortunate part of this was that this horrible childhood gave you the upside that at the very least this was proof that even with this society’s ridiculous laws and beliefs, life wasn’t perfect. And to be honest, to you that doesn’t sound like a victory. “That sounds horrible.”

Trey nods, “Riddle sees the enforcement of strict rules as a service to his dorm members. In his eyes, being bound by rigid guidelines by fear- is a fast track to personal growth.”

“But he has to know that’s not the same for everyone,” You point out, “either you make them ‘better’ or you teach them to break the rules without anyone noticing.” You’re not an expert on this, but you’re pretty sure this won’t end the way Riddle wants it to, which adds an extra edge of sadness to this downward spiral Riddle’s unknowingly put himself in.

Trey shakes his head, and he keeps talking even though he sounds so pained,“He might but, it was that strictness was what worked for him. And on the flip side, he sees the violation of those rules as an inexcusable offense.”

“I guess that makes sense, since rules made him who he is.” At least Ace is able to understand that Riddle’s situation sounds terrible to grow up in.

“Look, I totally get why you see Riddle as a tyrant, and why you disapprove of his methods. But for me…I can’t hold that against him, you know?” Trey may be right in thinking Riddle is a delicate situation to handle, as no one would like being told their childhood was emotionally abusive and they didn’t notice, but that doesn’t make this okay.

Being oppressive over people that don’t share your ideals isn’t okay no matter what childhood you have.

“Myah…”

“So that’s why he’s like that.”

Deuce and Grim might not have been able to pick up on what you have, but this isn’t a reason for Riddle’s madness.

It’s an excuse for why Trey hasn’t done anything.

“All right, now I get it.” Ace says finally. “It’s YOUR fault Riddle’s like this.” So he understands it the same way you do.

“What?!”

“I agree with Ace. This IS your fault, Trey. Sure, he had a hard childhood. But you’ve known that what his mother did to him was wrong and you let him repeat it, because you’re too afraid to stop him.”

“_____’s right. You’re going easy on him because he had it rough as a kid? Don’t you see where that’s leading? You’re letting him make a pariah out of himself!”

Deuce tries to shut Ace up before he offends their upperclassman, “Ace, man, come on…”

But Ace ignores him. “So why don’t you say something? Are you just afraid you’ll ‘lose your head’ too? That’s pathetic! You guys are supposed to be childhood friends?! Then act like it-”

“YOU THERE! BE QUIET! YOU ARE IN A LIBRARY!!!”

Headmaster Crowley comes out of nowhere and takes you completely by surprise, as it echoes throughout the library.

“But you’re yellin’ louder ‘n any of us, though!” Grim points out exasperated.

“Oh!” He clears his voice before hushing into a whisper, “Yes, my apologies. But let us strive to maintain the library as a quiet place for reading.”

“What are you doing here, Headmaster?” You ask.

“I’m researching methods to send you back home. Precisely as I promised I would.”

That gets your attention! “Did you find anything?!” You say hopeful, if he has then that’s one step closer to you returning home. You’ll accept any news, even horrific news!

Crowley hesitates for far too long. “Uh, No, unfortunately…But I am gracious! And the library is, of course, an ideal place for serious research.”

“Aw.” Your mood deflates like a balloon. Ah, well at least he’s trying.

“It’s not as if I came here just to secure the newest book in that popular series of novels. No, certainly not.” Wait, what did he say?

“Wait, what-”

He clears his throat and brushes you off, “Incidentally, what are you all discussing with such grim faces?”

“Wait a second. What were you not actually-”

“Now I understand, you are resistant to the idea of apologizing, but unable to devise any other method to get the dorm leader to remove the collar.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it.”

“I see, If you and the dorm leader are truly unable to reconcile, you could always transfer. However, this is the dorm that the Dark Mirror chose for you based on the essence of your being. Any attempt to relocate would necessitate quite a burdensome process, as well as a new ritual.” Of course, they are strings attached to this nonsense. You might as well just let Ace move in, which you really don’t want to do with what happened this morning.

And Ace is stubborn, so transferring is the equivalent of saying Riddle’s right and that means that transferring is not happening.

After some thought, Crowley finally responds. “Hmm. Then it sounds like you should challenge Mr. Rosehearts for leadership of the dorm.”

“WHAAAAAT?!” That’s a thing?! Even Trey is surprised for shit’s sake and he’s a third year! Does Crowley just withhold information for the fun of it, because seriously he just refuses to tell people things just to make a joke later?!

“Lower your voices! This is a library!” Crowley whisper-yells.

“But what you said was…insane?” Ace whisper-yells in complete disbelief. But to be honest, Whatever He’s said much more insane things to you….You probably wouldn’t have noticed if Crowley hadn’t spelled it out for you. Maybe this will lead to a solution somehow?

“There is nothing remotely ‘insane’ about it. After all, that’s how Mr. Rosehearts got the position.” Wait, how did Trey not- nevermind.

So dorm leaders can either be named by the predecessor or duel for the position. Well, this could be worse. If Riddle became housewarden within a week it could be possible for Ace or Deuce to do it.

Plus, it would get the collars of them before the duel because they need their magic to- Wait.

“But if you fight Riddle, then-”

“So what do you say, Mr. Trappola? Will you challenge Mr. Rosehearts?”

“But wait, if you fight Riddle-”

“Sure, I’ll give it a shot!”

“Ace, if you duel Riddle then he’ll-”

“Then I will too!”

“Me three!”

“I’m afraid not, Mr. Grim. You cannot challenge a dorm leader of a dorm to which you do not belong.”

“Myah?! Then how’m I supposed to get this buzzkill collar off?!”

“About that, if-”

“If I become dorm leader, I’ll just order Riddle to remove it! Easy-peasy!”

“But I don’t think you’ll w-”

“How will everyone know how tough I am if you do that?” You facepalm, they’re not listening. And they’re pumped up, so they’re probably not paying attention to the obvious detail they’re ignoring.

That Riddle will slap the collars right back on them as soon as the duel begins.

Even though Trey knows this, he doesn’t stop them or tell them that instead he says, “Are you sure about this? I certainly didn’t expect you to throw your hat into the ring, Deuce.”

“You didn’t? I think every man’s gotta make a grab for glory at least once in his lifetime.” Well, it’s too late to talk Deuce out of this. Yay. “And if we’re teaming up to take him down, ya better believe I’m running the show!”

“Oh man, here we go again.” The devious smiles on Ace and Deuce’s faces tell you that this plan is doomed from the start. Note to self, stop by Sam’s later to see if he has any charms or spells that can make your room impossible to enter without your permission, because you’re probably about to get two new roommates

“Huh? What’d you say?”

“Then I’ll get started on the paperwork,” Crowley says excitedly.

“Are you guys sure this is a good idea? Because-” Again, you’re interrupted.

“Don’t get all worked up on me now. All we need’s a plan. Anyone got one?”

“Hmm. Hard to imagine we can beat Riddle with straightforward magic. A solid left hook, on the other hand…”

“Yeah, that guy looks like a pushover.” Oh, well that could work. Riddle could beat them in magic, but with fists though-

“Ah, did I forget to mention that detail? These duels are to be fought solely with magic.” There it is. Why do you even bother?

Either way, Ace and Deuce have already decided they would do this and Crowley’s excited to make it happen, no way out of this now.

But maybe, for you, there is.

The mirror on your bedroom wall.

Let the night show you what it wants. Maybe it has something. A way out of this wonderland.

It might be uncomfortable to sleep with this collar on but,....

…..Let’s see where this rabbit hole takes you.

#yandere twisted wonderland #yandere #yandereverse au #yandere twst x reader #this felt like filler #I mean we already know what happens #enjoy anyways #I couldn't figure out how to make this really yandere soooo #whatever this will get better in the next part #I'm gonna stop tagging now

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altf4d3lete · 8 months ago

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My Thoughts on the Wednesday Novelization:

Okay so I have no clue how long this post is going to be, so bear with me. This is coming from someone who has been hyperfixated on the show for over a year and has watched it through multiple times, written fanfiction about it, and debated the characters and their motivations tirelessly.

1. Characterization

First up is the big hitter. The characterization of Wednesday specifically, since the book is written in her voice. I’ve seen a lot of controversy surrounding this. A lot of people have been saying that Wednesday was too emotional, that she was too sympathetic and cared too much about what other people think. To this, I heartily disagree.

We see throughout the book how she gradually begins caring more about the others around her. At first, she sees them only as allies; which is a very Wednesday thing to do. She only compromises because people like Enid or Tyler offer her loyalty, and she feels the need to offer something in return. And of course, the more they offer her their loyalty, the more she feels as though she can open up to them. She’s still human, after all, Addams or not. While most people would assume (wrongly) that Wednesday operated on a strictly “take, not give” mentality, it’s clear in the show itself that this isn’t the case. She still compromises in the show. The only reason people don’t agree now is because they created their own perceptions on why Wednesday was compromising, while it was clear to others all along that this was because she wanted to keep her allies close in case she needed help.

Wednesday, in the novelization, approaches everything from a strategical standpoint. Which is exactly how I’d expect her to approach things. She keeps a careful catalogue of her enemies and suspects, of who she can or can’t trust with evidence. Which, again, is what I had gathered from Jenna’s acting in the show.

Concerning the care she felt for Enid, among others:

I do not think the way she felt about Enid or the way their relationship developed was out of character at all. Wednesday said it herself, it felt to her as though Enid was the only one who accepted her up front no matter who she was or what she said or did. Enid was the only one who didn’t expect her to be someone else or a simple projection of what she wanted. Wednesday appreciated Enid’s willingness to be an ally even knowing that Wednesday wasn’t a good person. And it caused her to grow attached to the one person who accepted her no matter what. Even when Wednesday put her in danger, Enid still came back. And Wednesday appreciated that more than anything. I really think it’s incorrect to say that it’s out of character how much Wednesday cared about Enid. Enid was Wednesday’s first real friend, and put her life on the line for Wednesday. Of course they’re going to be inseparable, in Wednesday’s words, after something like that.

2. Theme

I’ve read a lot of books and done a lot of English classes and writing in my time. I usually look for themes in books, and it’s pretty clear to me that the theme of this book is friendship and navigating it, as corny as that sounds.

The entire book follows Wednesday learning what it means to be a true friend. What it means to open up and be vulnerable with others, what it means to put trust and confidence in them, and what it means to rely on others. Towards the end, there’s a passage where she realizes she’s never been alone.

In this book, Wednesday learned what it means to grow and foster a community of people who care about you. People who you can rely on. She comes to care about Enid, Eugene, even Bianca. All of them help her in some way, and all of them give her a shoulder to rely on at some point. She learns that having allies are nice, but having friends, people who are truly in your corner, is even better. And that there are specific ways to treat friends, and specific ways to keep them. She learned that sometimes compromises are important, and that it’s okay to not agree with some things, but it doesn’t mean that has to be the end of the friendship. And she learned just how deeply her care for her friends, as well as their care for her, truly goes.

One could say that this book is corny. One could say that it’s cringe, or that it’s not canon to them. All of that is completely fine. But in my eyes, this book has absolutely done Wednesday’s character justice and proven what I already knew: she’s not a psychopath like so many people paint her out to be. Maybe she was in previous iterations, but this is a new iteration, a new character. And she most definitely cares deeply about those who show their loyalty to her, about those who prove to her that they can trust her. Enid, Thing, Eugene, even Bianca. They created a sense of community to battle a common enemy and won. And Wednesday learned that she couldn’t have done it on her own.

I’m excited to see how her character continues to develop in season 2 and further. I’m excited to see how those around her affect her in new ways, and who she’ll ultimately grow to be. I loved this novelization of season one, and I loved the insight it gave us into Wednesday’s thoughts and her character arcs.

Anyway! That’s all, thanks for reading 🫶

Edit: my bad this turned into an essay. If I missed anything or you want my opinion on anything, let me know :)

#wednesday #netflix #wednesday addams #enid sinclair #tyler galpin #bianca barclay #wednesday netflix #wednesday novelization #wenclair

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ace-and-the-rpg-horrors · 2 months ago

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i was sort of wondering why exactly i've been sympathising with Eva so much, apart from, admittedly, bias- i did start considering that due to that, maybe i'd been internally exaggerating how Wolfgang & Co had been treating her. but i replayed some of Chapter 1, and honestly? now i'm of the opinion that Eva was justified to be afraid of Wolfgang, even if what she did in response was inexcusable.

because it wasn't just that Wolfgang told the others to be wary of Eva (and Damon) which caused them to feel othered. consciously or not, he literally attempted to control their movement on at least two occasions- when he attempted to stop them joining in on the exploration of the pharmacy, and then when he demanded to know where they were when they reached the dining hall last.

in his defence, i don't think Wolfgang was being malicious in doing so, i reckon he did genuinely believe he was protecting the others. but in doing so, for the two members of the group he disagreed with, he actively attempted to further restrict their freedom- in a situation where they're all already trapped!! i'm not surprised that Eva, with frustration, mentioned during the trial how much she'd been watched and suspected- multiple times, if i recall correctly. of course it got to her.

but that probably wasn't even the scariest part for her. it was probably just how easily Wolfgang had taken a leadership role within the group and how willing they were to listen to him without question. only Diana really spoke up against him on one occasion and got him to begrudgingly "allow" Eva and Damon to tag along. i mean, on that note, the fact that Wolfgang even casually commented that he wanted group decisions to be allowed by him, following the minor incident of Desmond taking initiative and checking the room locks, was extremely alarming!! like i mentioned, i don't want to villainise Wolfgang, but it does seem like he has the tendency to be rather controlling, whether or not he realises it. i would be willing to bet that the herd mentality implication was done completely on purpose, considering that Wolfgang's animal motif is a sheep and the writing team have done the symbolism in the game so well.

for all this, i can understand Eva's point of view. i know that, as Wenona had mentioned, there's a chance that Eva didn't actually feel threatened by Wolfgang, but i personally am willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. because if she was honest about being on edge, that would be a rather reasonable emotional response, in my opinion.

what else are you to feel when you're at odds with an honoured individual who effortlessly holds the power to turn so many others against you too and potentially put your safety at risk, if not terror?

#Eva Tsunaka the character you are...#YES i do acknowledge that Wolgang's distrust of her was NOT irrational given her OWN actions. they're both flawed and that's great #aaaaughhhhh. Eva you're so interesting... haunt that narrative lass #ALSO this is just what i think about what she did to Wolfgang. if anything i personally reckon that harming Diana was her bigger crime #for that i DO struggle defending my girl. sorry Eva love that WAS in fact truly fucked. it must be so fucking tragic to be Diana...#if i were Eva carrying out this scheme i'd probably frame Kai for the murder. since he was bullying her the most after the talent reveal #and i'm a petty bitch LMAO #(Grace also did plenty of the mockery but framing her wouldn't really be possible considering she and Wolfgang were roommates probably...)#THEN AGAIN i guess choosing Diana specifically to frame made it less obvious that Eva was the culprit?#since it'd be suspicious if not one but TWO of the most hostile people to Eva ended up involved in the case??#i suppose if they were all trying to see the best in each other they wouldn't WANT to believe even Eva would frame her biggest defender...#HOLY SHIT. IF SO. EVA IS FUCKING SMART. that is SO clever and SO cruel my gosh #so MAYBE the choice to involve Diana was more than a simple feeling of betrayal/bitterness from Eva??#did NOT mean to ramble this much in tags oops #i just really really like Eva. i need to inspect her more omg #ace's random thoughts :)#project eden's garden #eva tsunaka #wolfgang akire #p:eg #project: eden's garden #project edens garden

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avelanlorelay · 4 months ago

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Sorry to bother with questions but do we ever find out where Cardan was when he didn't return to bed with Jude those few nights? As he seemed to be avoiding the question when she asked. Was he with someone else?

Questions never bother me, I love to talk! I assume you're talking about that TQOF scene after Jude's presentation banquet. Feel free to disagree with me, but I think that to think that Cardan is just a womanizing boy is not to understand even half of his personality, especially when (I've already posted about this) he's the most sensitive character in the series.

In my view, it's implied in the book that Cardan's vice is drink, not sex. I'm not saying that he's a pure boy who didn't like taking part in orgies, but there are some points that show that it wasn't his priority. For example: Cardan isn't seen making dirty jokes or analyzing women's bodies like Valerian (except with Jude). He never had two lovers at the same time like Locke and Nicasia (I'm not saying that the intention of these two was just sex, but obviously there was a lot of desire for Jude on Locke's part and for Locke on Nicasia's part too).

And the main point for me, is that we see in TWK, when Jude invades Cardan's chambers at Balekin's behest, he is completely alone in bed, that is, at a time when he is worried about Jude and the situation of the kingdom is delicate, he doesn't have time to think about sex or anything like that, so to think that Cardan is still the same boy who only thinks about the pleasures of life and hasn't matured is to ignore his evident change in the second book. It's clear that in important situations, such as when the Crown of Blood is at stake, he no longer maintains the behavior of enjoying himself like a member of the circle of grackles.

It's not exactly proof, but on the same night that Jude breaks into his rooms, he confesses that Balekin forced him to take part in orgies, meaning that his perverted behavior was practically forced on him by his brother. It's no wonder that when he met a girl he liked, Cardan immediately committed himself to an engagement. And here, we all have to agree because it's obvious that he was always faithful in his commitment to Nicasia, their relationship was totally monogamous, otherwise he wouldn't have been so heartbroken by her betrayal.

Which brings me to the conclusion of your question: Cardan was faithful to Nicasia because he loved her and the two of them were engaged, in other words, they had a solid commitment. And he remained faithful to her until the engagement was broken. Cardan respects commitments, he has many faults but he is one of the few loyal characters in the books. So, throughout TQON Cardan and Jude had a real commitment, they were married by fairy law. Whether the marriage was consummated or not, I believe that he remained completely faithful to her. 1- Because he loved Jude and was completely fall with her.

2- Out of respect for their legitimate marriage.

3- Because he was too busy worrying about Jude's exile, her whereabouts after Madoc's invasion, her health and, most importantly, how to win her love. He wouldn't let himself be carried away by frivolous desires, especially when his greatest desire was her. I believe that when Jude asked where he was, Cardan didn't imagine that she might be jealous, so he answered without bothering to give details. Even when Jude expresses her feelings in words, he is still unsure and in doubt. Perhaps he was too embarrassed to say where he stood, or he was just a little slow to be objective. Someone here on tumblr already commented that he was probably in the Court of Shadows and I totally agree. And I would add that he probably spent nights drinking, playing cards and worrying about Jude's recovery and how to win her heart.

I think that sometimes, like Jude, we overcomplicate Cardan's thoughts and intentions, when in fact he is simple and even naive in his actions lol. Sorry for the long text, I hope I've answered your question 💗

#tfota #cardan greenbriar #jude duarte #jurdan #holly black #the cruel prince #the folk of the air

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in1-nutshell · 3 months ago

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Can I request more of Apollonis and drift with them forcefully bonding? Drfit needs to make up with his child

And make you Drift needs to do.

Hope you enjoy!

Apollonis and Drift

SFW, Platonic, Familial, Cybertronian reader

MTMTE

Apollonis tries to avoid Drift at all costs.

Which isn’t an easy feat considering that they were in the same ship, everyone was bound to bump into each other at some point.

And when one was working in the med bay, the chances of seeing the same bot increased by a tenfold.

Rodimus didn’t make things easier either.

As soon as he found out about Drift and Apollonis being related, he tried his best to get his Amica to reconnect with her.

While she has respect for her Captain, this is one thing she has asked him to stay out of.

Which he politely disagrees with and continues to try and help Drift.

Too bad things haven’t been working out well for both mechs.

Apollonis walks over to her assigned med slab. There is a slight glare in her optics when she see Drift sitting there. Apollonis: “What happened this time?” Drift: “That’s a bit harsh to ask, isn’t it?” Her glare hardens as she continues to do the checkup. There was a heavy silence. Apollonis: “How did you get this rod in your gears?” Drift: “It may have involved Rodimus and I—" Apollonis: “Oh if Rodimus is involved, you’re going to have to bring that up with Ratchet. And this time, keep things short. You can’t keep using the med bay as a way to keep on talking to him like that.” Drift: “Like wha—OW!” Apollonis gives a fake smile as she squeezed a bit hard around the mesh wound area. Apollonis: “Oh did that hurt? I’m so sorry.” Drift grunts a bit. Drift: “Look at you, your sarcasm has improved so much Little One.” She freezes for a second before putting on a neutral face. Apollonis: “You’re free to go now.” Drift: “Wait…” The young doctor turns and walks away from the med slab. Drift looks sadly at his daughter walking away.

Drift knows he messed things up with Apollonis.

There isn’t a day where he doesn’t regret how he treated her back when they were with the Cons.

He was her father for Primus sake!

He should have done more to protect her!

The mech accepts all the cold shoulders and sarcastic comments as part of his punishment.

Most bots can physically feel the tension these two have whenever they are in the same room.

It was generally thought that the two had some sort of shared bitter history.

What exactly is it?

No one has managed to get the story yet.

Mainly because Drift is very vague about it and Apollonis gets a bit touchy on the subject.

Also they didn’t want to push the Ex-Wrecker and mini Ratchet too far.

Though that doesn’t stop some crew members from asking.

Apollonis and Tailgate are sitting in a booth at Swerve’s. He was waiting for Cyclonus to show up and wanted some company. Tailgate: “So… what happened with you and Drift?” Apollonis sighs deeply. Apollonis: “Tailgate, we’ve talked about this.” Tailgate: “I’m just trying to think on what he could have done! I mean you’re a nice bot, kinda like a nicer Ratchet.” Apollonis tries to hide a chuckle at that comment. Tailgate: “Your even nice to Cyclonus and not everyone is. Why hate Drift?” Apollonis: “I don’t hate Drift… I don’t think I could if I tried…somethings can’t be so easily talked about Tailgate.” Tailgate sighs in defeat. Tailgate: “You’re starting to sound like Cyclonus.” Apollonis chuckles a bit at the minibots expense. Apollonis: “I’ll take that as a complement.”

Ratchet does try and talk to her about talking to Drift.

She needs closure and Drift needs it too.

Apollonis proves to be just as stubborn as her mentor and father.

Even with her avoiding the topic of talking to Drift, Ratchet did catch a little moment the two shared.

A couple bots had managed to get the drop on Drift and left him a bit banged up. Bot 1: “So what are ya going to do Deadlock?” Drift flinched a bit hearing his former name. Bot 2: “Aww look at him on the ground. Pathetic!” Drift gets a swift kick to the tanks and grunts a bit. Bot 1: “What? Not going to make us pay? C’mon, hit me!” Apollonis behind him: “With pleasure!” WHAM! The doctor decked the bot square in the face, successfully knocking him out before kicking one of his friends in the face. Out of pure surprise and shock the bots drag their leader away. Apollonis dusted her servos a bit. Apollonis: “What a bunch of beryllium baloney…” She turned to a slightly battered Drift. He notices her optics soften a bit as she hoists him onto her back. He slightly remembered the position being called ‘piggy back’ or something like that. Apollonis: “I can’t leave you alone for one minute, can I? Always getting yourself into trouble… ” Drift: “Aww—ouch. You do care—Hey!” She gave a little smile when she pinched the back of his pedes and made her way to the med bay.

#maccadam #transformers x reader #bot buddy #mtmte x platonic reader #mtmte x reader #apollonis

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kitty8804 · 6 months ago

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Doing another RWBY hatedom rant because people seemed to like the last one and I have more to say:

I absolutely despise it when people call Yang selfish and a terrible sister in Volume 9 when it came to Ruby’s struggles with her mental health. I have two main issues.

1. People seem to think that because Yang is Ruby’s big sister then she needs to always be at her beck and call. She can’t disagree with Ruby. She can’t let Ruby do things on her own. She can’t focus on herself or her happiness. She must always be focusing on Ruby. That’s not how relationships, especially sibling ones, work. People seem to think that Yang must sacrifice everything for Ruby and if she is anything less than that then she is a terrible sister. Do people forget how much Yang had given up for Ruby?! She raised her! She sacrificed her life for her! As soon as she was ready to went to go find Ruby in Volume 5 instead of her mom, which she had wanted to do for most of her life! I fully believe that if Raven didn’t have her portal semblance, which made finding/getting to Ruby MUCH easier, Yang would not have bothered. Yang loves her sister so much! But just because she’s a big sister does not mean that she isn’t allowed to struggle or focus on herself.

2. Here’s the big reason. As someone who has had to deal with a VERY similar experience in my life it absolutely infuriates me when people call Yang a terrible person and sister. I won’t go into too much detail because it’s not my place and I’d rather keep the information private but a couple years ago my sister hit a very low point mentally and it got very scary. (She’s doing much better now don’t worry). Here’s something that most people don’t realize when someone very close to you is going through something like Ruby did: You don’t tend to realize how bad it is. I knew that my sister had her struggles, but I genuinely thought she was doing alright. Afterwards I felt like such a terrible person because I wished that I noticed more and wished she had told me what was going on. This is exactly how Yang felt! She knew her sister was struggling, but didn’t realize just how bad Ruby’s mental state had gotten. She would try to comfort Ruby, not realizing that it was making it worse. She wished that Ruby had told her so that she could help her. It’s a really shitty situation to be in. This is on top of the fact that all of team RWBY were in a very stressful situation after having witnessed the fall of Atlas. I don’t think any of them were in great headspace’s, Ruby was just in a much worse place.

Honestly the entirety of Volume 9, in my opinion, was very realistic in its portrayal of mental health issues both as the person struggling with it and as the people around them. These situations are messy, complicated, and are never straightforward. Trying to treat it as anything else really shows that people don’t know what they’re talk about.

Yang is a good sister. She’s not perfect, but guess what? No one is! Remember we as an audience know so much more than the characters do. Just because characters don’t handle a situation perfectly doesn’t mean they’re garbage.

#random #how do i tag lol #shitpost #rwby volume nine #rwby fandom #rwby yang #rwby volume 9 #ruby rose #yang xiao long #mini rant #random thoughts #rant post #personal rant #rwby

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siphoklansan · 11 months ago

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HEYHEY SIPPY!!! For the ask game, I hope you don't mind me asking for... kind of a lot because I'm really curious jskdkfs but you can cut some out if want to, dw!

🌹♥️♠️⚗️📚🏆 for Siphok and 🌟🤖 for Pin-cha?

RIDDLE ROSEHEARTS ᝰ.ᐟ

sippy and riddle are friends! both of them have one thing in common: a stickler for rules. the only difference is that sippy doesn’t follow crazy rules (ex. heartslabyul’s strange traditions!)

fun fact: they both hated each other before the end of book 1 because:

⤷ sippy likes to voice out her opinions, so she gets into a yelling match from time to time with riddle when she disagrees with his behavior. ( “IT’S JUST A TART, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!” 💀 /j but yeah something like that-)

⤷ riddle hates how she doesn’t give two shits about his rule. ( “Nuh-uh.” “What do you mean “Nuh-Uh” ?!?”) and she also defends adeuce when they break the rules, much to their surprise.

at the end of book 1 they both had a truce and became some sort of buddies to each other! they both share an interest in small critters <3

ACE TRAPPOLA & DEUCE SPADE ᝰ.ᐟ

besties for life (adeuce will not admit it) they always go everywhere with each other and grim!

sippy is #1 deuce defender because she kins him😭 so ace rarely wins and argument when she’s around. sippy tutors deuce for history class (more on this later!) and deuce returns the favor by helping her fix things around ramshackle <3

like deuce, sippy bickers a lot with ace but it’s all fun and games. she’s like a tired mom with him (begrudgingly watches his basketball matches because ace insists on it so much, secretly doesn’t mind and enjoys it lmao-). I lowkey see ace as a therapist friend for some reason since he’s usually the voice of reason so she goes to him for advice sometimes! Only for certain occasions though cuz we know how ace is💀 /hj

DIVUS CREWEL ᝰ.ᐟ

#1 dad for sippy. they both go on shopping sprees together (crewel insists on it, because sippy wears the same outfit everyday and it irks him 💀). sippy isn’t the best at potions class so he tutors her privately at times!

crewel designs outfits for sippy sometimes! in the ghost bride event, her suit was tailored to her by crewel.

a short angst scenario for them would be sippy feels bad to see him as a dad because she doesn’t know if crewel sees her as a daughter but he actually feels the same😔.

other than that, sippy got a little more strict because she picked up some habits from crewel (much to adeuce’s dismay😭).

MOZUS TREIN (doesn’t look like him, i know) ᝰ.ᐟ

that one proud grand-uncle (?) TM /j

sippy is likes history classes, so it’s like a breath of fresh air for him in class (“Finally, someone who does not snore every 2 minutes.” /j)

not much to comment on them, but one thing trein dislikes about sippy is that she covers for students who are slacking off in class ( ex. covering grim’s sleeping form with a book) and he’s just like -_- but trein counters that by deducting both her and the other student (who’s mostly grim) participation points💀

ASHTON VARGAS ᝰ.ᐟ

that one crazy and upbeat uncle at family gatherings TM 💀 /j

while sippy is good in athletics, she doesn’t do very well in flying due to a small fear of heights.

⤷ “THE BROOM IS TOO THIN IT CAN’T CARRY MY FATASS!” “LANGUAGE! But no, it *can* hold your weight.”

sippy dreads vargas’s class because he pushes her more than anyone else.

⤷ “lift some more weights! your arms are like noodles!” vargas says, as he dumps some more shit into her arms-

KALIM AL ASIM ᝰ.ᐟ

pin-cha and kalim is like the worst nightmare for jamil, who’s already acting like a single mom who works two jobs who loves her kids and never stops-

yes, they go on carpet rides together🥺💓 pin-cha reminds kalim of one of his siblings back at home so they hit it off pretty well!

jamil is a little weirded out how well pin-cha is good at household chores but is also secretly relieved (and concerned) how pin-cha is babysitting kalim and not the other way around /hj

CHEKA KINGSCHOLAR ᝰ.ᐟ (NOT A SHIP ART!!)

RRAAAGHSGSHHSHGSHSG FINALLY SOMEONE MENTIONS CHEKAAAAA!! THEY’RE BESTFRIENDS, YOUR HONOR😭✨

cue leona thanking the gods for giving cheka someone to play with so he can finally nap in peace LMAO

cheka drags pin-cha away from his cleaning duties in rsa! the headmage of rsa adores them both (happy grandpa noises) <3

cheka enjoys when pin-cha shows his unique magic, summoning little spirits around to play with them. it’s like having extra friends to play!

yes, they both call leona “unca”💀 leona had to call sippy over to help him babysit them both (an excuse to be with her I MEAN WHAAATTT⁉️ I DIDN’T SAY ANYTHING-)

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE ASK, TARU!!💖💖 SO SORRY FOR THE LATE AND VERY LONG REPLY😭🙏 I had a lot of fun with this ask though I can’t find the link to the OG post anymore :((

I swear this whole post looks like some character who is liked by everybody but I promise you it’s not the case😭 she just has a good impression on the professors AHUSHSUGSYSI BUT ANYWAY I’ll list some characters who doesn’t like sippy (but i’ll leave the reasoning out for now👀)

⤷ ruggie

⤷ sebek

⤷ idia

⤷ jamil (kinda like a hate-neutral relationship?)

With that said, thank you again for the ask!!🥺💖🫶🫶

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boykingscourt · 16 days ago

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what do you think it wouldve been like if john had stayed longer (unspecified) after 14.13 (not what you think the show wouldve done, but your own hcs)

hmm...

I'm going to ignore the show's stupid ass temporal paradox thing and just focus on the characters

I think a lot would depend on if john stays in the bunker or spends most of the time with mary in donna's cabin (rip au bobby but actually I don't give a shit about you)

if he spends more time with sam and dean, I think the first thing he's going to notice is something you already see him pick up on in lebanon: sam's change in agency and personality (very different from the sam he knows in 2003). I think it would give john whiplash observing this quiet, mild-mannered sam who often stammers and flinches at loud noises or sudden movements. aside from this sam clearly carrying a mountain of trauma that john couldn't begin to imagine if he tried, he realizes it's dean. dean's word is absolute, and if sam protests one of his decisions, he'll give up the fight at some point and defer to dean. john would feel conflicted finding himself suddenly missing all of those things about sam that drove him up a wall and ultimately led to his disowning sam what like two years ago in his timeline. it would probably leave john with a lot of questions: just what did happen between his sons for dean to have this kind of control over sam, and how did dean manage to out-patriarch john? I think seeing his own worst qualities amplified and reflected back at him through dean would make john quite uncomfortable and maybe it would even be enough to keep him away or keep him scarce

however, I think his absence would be (in dean's mind) more understandable and less sacrilegious than mary's because 1. this is the same shit john would pull when they were kids anyway 2. john could fall back on wanting to spend time with mary (viable excuse) and 3. he's a man and the original patriarch

I don't think it would be smooth sailing for john and mary either. both of them have had to live with the other dead (for john about twenty years at that point and for mary about two) and neither of them are the "version" that either of them lost. for mary, john is two decades older, and for john, though mary isn't much older than she was in 1983, she would probably feel like a different person to him. for one, she's not the refrigerated woman and perfect and pure symbol of wifeliness and motherhood that he's supposed to be getting revenge for, but she's a hunter. and john is a hunter too, who raised mary's children in the life she tried so hard to escape but also vowed never to repeat with her own kids. after a few rounds of "I missed you" sex at donna's cabin, the two might find they have irreconcilable differences

dean is maybe the biggest question mark for me, and aside from a lot of it depending on just how much time john spends in the bunker like I mentioned I think it also depends on how much time john spends in the show after 14x13. like dean has certainly usurped john as Patriarch, but how would it be with patriarch prototype back? dean in later seasons is in this funny middle ground where a part of him recognizes john's abuse and how it wasn't fair to him and sam (but mostly him lbr) while also having grown into something even worse than john. they'd probably "get along" because they're similar in personality, but if there were a battle of patriarchs for instance, (like one of spn's "moral dilemmas" that isn't very compelling and/or sending a bad message but does get the characters on opposite sides for a few episodes) something where john and dean find themselves disagreeing, I ultimately think dean would win. I mean dean literally stole john's family and assumed his role, and he has a long history of abusing, manipulating, and gaslighting people, mostly sam, in ways not even john is capable of

I was going to speak more on how he'd feel about cas and jack but I think I used too much brain power so I'll keep it short. he'd definitely be wary of them because they're "monsters," but he'd probably get used to the idea of them once he sees they're part of the family, for dean always a few rungs below, but family nonetheless. however, if john were to stay around long enough to lose mary again, that would be the end of his playing nice with jack and probably cas too

this is short but I also think this john would struggle with purpose because again the woman he's supposed to be getting revenge for is alive, yellow eyes is dead, and sam's horrible dark destiny has come and gone

anyway that's basically it! I personally would've loved more john (mostly because s14 just sucked ass and I would be up for basically anything) but as you alluded to with this ask the writers probably would've done the least compelling and least fleshed out thing imaginable so actually thinking more on it I wouldn't have wanted more john with the writing team they had in the show at that point. but that's also because the early seasons sam/dean/john dynamic is one of my favorite things about spn and the only writer still around in s14 who was at all familiar with it also happened to be andrew dabb

I would love to hear other people's thoughts about this ask and my answer in the tags or comments though (but you have to be suuuuper nice to me or I'll cry)

#john #asks #nigesakis

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hazbin-but-good · 1 year ago

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another hazbin hotel rewrite/redesign?

yup! and i'm so serious about it that i made a whole blog for it. i'm a white queer ex-cath tran doing this as an art and writing exercise, so feedback from other creatives + jewish and/or racialized folks is especially welcome.

i'm putting this post and only this post in the main tags for visibility. also, not gonna link my main, but i do make my own original stuff, and i encourage fans and haters alike to do the same.

anyway, here's a mostly good-faith 1.7k-word essay on the original. i think it's pretty funny and brings up some less talked-about points. correct me on the facts, disagree with my opinions, and ask clarifying questions, but don't come at me with any piss-poor reading comprehension.

the hellaverse is garbage, and here's why

cw: strong language, stronger opinions, intersectional feminist critical discourse analysis

1. vivienne medrano, the person

medrano was born as a well-off white-passing latina (salvadoran-american) in bougieass frederick, maryland. while attending new york's top art school, she got popular on deviantart-tumblr-twitter by being a prolific multifandom fujoshi furry who's more into ornamental character design than storytelling. upon graduation, she leveraged her fanbase and industry connections to make the hazbin and helluva boss pilots, get helluva made for youtube, and get hazbin made for amazon prime.

like every woman online, she gets harassed for no good reason, and as a certified autist, i will defend her right to be dumb, weird, annoying, and bad with words. however, there are legit reasons to criticize her:

racism, misogyny, homophobia, fatphobia, some antisemitism, past transphobia, past ableism

shitty boss, bad friend

cowardly, vindictive, manipulative, thoughtless behavior

skeevy friends

sucks at taking criticism

in short, i think she desperately needs a PR person and someone to clean up her digital footprint.

2. medrano's art

incurious

inauthentic

noncommittal

creatively stagnant

overindulgent, and the indulgence isn't even fun

shallow and childish framed as complex and mature

bland and boring framed as shocking and subversive

to be clear, i'm at peace with the existence of suckass art like this; i just think the money, attention, and praise it gets are unearned and should go to more interesting works, of which there are infinite.

medrano's had the time, money, and social cache to grow as an artist, learn from the best, and take creative risks, but she hasn't. if she truly has nothing more to offer, she should let her collaborators take the wheel, but she doesn't do that either. instead, she keeps getting more and more resources to make the same baby bullshit, and that pisses me off. she could be the nicest person ever, and this fundamental arrogance would still make her art blow.

stop with the pointless guilt: liking medrano's work does not make you stupid or evil. however, if you stay in the kiddie pool of culture, if you refuse to engage with a diversity of art, if the hellaverse is your point of reference for anything media-related, you can't expect to have your opinions on art, media, or culture taken seriously. you have not earned a seat at the table. you gotta hit the books first.

i cannot emphasize enough how much incredible stuff is out there if you're willing to look further than what social media and streaming services put right in front of you. if you come away from this blog having learned about just one new artist or piece of art, i'll be a happy camper.

3. the hellaverse

a. empty and confused

hazbin and helluva's content and marketing has no clear target audience. the subjects are inappropiate for teens, but the execution is too childish for adults, and lemme tell you what i don't mean by that, first.

not inherently inappropriate for teens:

sex and sexuality

violence, including when it intersects with the above

politics and religion

not inherently childish:

animation (any style)

comedy

episodic writing and/or loose continuity

young characters

fun, happiness, optimism, the power of friendship, cuteness, tenderness, sincerity, etc.

what i mean is that these shows are literally about adult characters who fuck, smoke, drink, do drugs, go clubbing, work full-time, manage their own finances, and deal with stuff like bureaucracy, sexual violence, domestic abuse, marriage, divorce, late adoption, and family estrangement.

however, none of these "adult" things are given enough specificity to create drama or comedy. it's all too stock, vague, flat, weirdly sanitized, and thus utterly banal—pure aesthetics on top of bad saturday morning cartoons. it's exactly what i'd expect from a sheltered disney kid who needs to log off and get into their local gay scene ASAP so their only contact with things like poverty, policing, addiction, and sex work stops being facile movies and TV.

if the shows were aware of this and played with it, that could be amazing, but they're not. they give you the mickey mouse version of the world with a straight face and then play looney tunes sound effects to try to make you laugh and sad_violin.mp3 to try to make you cry. now that's funny.

b. old and tired

let's make like americans and pretend that the rest of the world doesn't exist. even within the confines of the USA, home of the hays code, the red scare, and reaganite propaganda, this neopuritan fascist state ruled by 1000 megachurches in a trenchcoat, the indie/underground animation scene has been doing crazier shit for decades. anti-war films in the 60's, bakshi movies in the 70's, the simpsons shorts and r-rated movies in the 80's, adult swim and MTV in the 90's, flash/newgrounds/youtube in the 00's, streaming in the 2010's—so what are we doing in the 2020's with this wet white rice drowned in expired ketchup? i feel crazy making this point because it's obvious if you've watched these things, but if you haven't, you're gonna be like "well, there's gotta be something new here". no! there isn't! in the words of jimmy "the scot" jordan, nothing, nothing, NOTHING!

c. ideological purgatory

actually, there is one thing in these shows i've never seen before: the presbysterianism. shout out some interesting or at least intentional presbysterian art in the comments, because the way these ideas are presented here is not compelling. it just makes the rainbow neoliberalism even more confusing and contradictory.

i guess the big presbysterian things are protestanism, calvinism, and, uh, big church government? presbysterians, get your shit together. get your brand down. catholics have BDSM and vampires, evangelicals have TV and corporatism; what do you have? celtic crosses? no wonder medrano has such uninspired ideas on divinity.

d. queer deficiency

when i look at a piece of art, i ask myself: "what does this give me that i can't get from the hunchback of notre dame (1996)?" if the answer is as limp as "uhh, gay people, i guess", i can probably look for my gay shit elsewhere and rewatch the hunchback of notre dame (1996) in the meantime.

but let's say that you have no standards. you've been waiting for ages for a show about gays by the gays for the gays, and by god you're gonna get it. this is it! here we go! time for some

generic twink obliteration

male sexuality as aggression and dominance displays

WLW (sex and chemistry not included)

a couple straight femdoms

and the stalest sex jokes known to man

...yeah, it's not very queer. and by "queer", i mean "questioning or subverting gender norms (including sexual roles) within a given cultural context regardless of creator identity and intent". i'm not a queer studies scholar so LMK if there's a more specific term for this, but whatever you call it, it's not in the hellaverse much.

there's not even any transness, literal or metaphorical, just ancient drag jokes. i guess the writers thought we would've been too controversial. so much for an indie animation studio that prides itself in the diversity of its staff both above and below the line, bakshi-style. i wonder how medrano, a bisexual woman, would've felt if told that a lesbian main couple in hazbin would be "too controversial".

4. spindlehorse and the vivziepop brand

spindlehorse toons underpays its overworked staff and keeps outsourcing more and more labor to even more overworked freelancers overseas to cut costs. a rainbow sweatshop is still a sweatshop, and just because these practices may be "industry standard" doesn't make them any more ethical.

the studio has also been repeatedly accused by current and former employees and contractors of creating a hostile and abusive workplace. AFAIK, it still has no dedicated HR person, and victims are too afraid of retaliation like blacklisting and online harassment to speak out.

this is exactly the stuff that unions exist to prevent. as i'm writing this, the IATSE (the parent union of TAG, which is the parent union of all US animation unions) is negotiating with entertainment industry executives for better working conditions, and if the execs fuck around like last year, it's strike time again. so watch this space, voice your support, and don't cross any picket lines.

i hope spindlehorse unionizes, but until then and for these reasons, i don't think you should give money to the company.

first of all, all content on amazon-owned platforms is ok to pirate, and all youtube ads are ok to block. everyone involved in making the episodes has (or should have) been paid upfront, so you're not taking the bread out of anyone's mouth.

next, let's look at the succulent offerings of the official vivziepop merch shop:

$10 pins and keychains

$15 sticker packs

$20 mugs and acrylic cutouts

$25 shirts

$30 metal cards (not even tarot)

$40 lounge pants

$50 mini backpacks

random $80 skateboard deck

forgive my latin americanness, but this is all stuff you can get made by a local metalsmith, print/sublimation shop, or just crafty people in your life. it's cheaper, customizable, and better for the environment to skip all the shipping and packaging. also, not painting your own skateboard is poser shit.

the hazbin website also has $15 pins, one $20 keychain, and $6 trading card packs. people are weird about trading cards, so if for some reason you wanna gamble for a mass-produced bit of cardboard, plastic, and tinfoil, at least bulk-order for all the vivziepoppers in your area so it's less of a huge waste. better yet, trace the designs and make infinite bootlegs.

at the end of the day, buying merch is not activism. your bulk order of trading cards will not save any wage slaves from getting evicted from their overpriced studio apartments. however, the shop links you to all the credited artists/designers, and more of your bucks will actually reach them if you buy their designs directly, then turn them into body pillows or life-sized bronze statues or whatever the fuck.

go through the credits of any episode of helluva or hazbin, and you'll find even more creatives you might wanna support. get jinkx monsoon's albums on CD. subscribe to actually good artist, animator, and composer gooseworx. lots of voice actors now have patreon, cameo, or self-hosted pages where you can write better lines for their characters and have them read it. these things may not look as shiny as Official Merch™, but we all need less plastic shit and more culture anyway.

#spindlehorse #vivziepop #hellaverse #hazbin hotel #helluva boss #spindlehorse critical #vivziepop critical #hazbin hotel critical #helluva boss critical #hazbin hotel rewrite #hazbin hotel redesign #helluva boss redesign #communism #degrowth

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miraculouslbcnreactions · 8 months ago

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This thoughts still cooking, so it might not make sense, but I think Thomas (Tomas?) Astruc is a very good case study on how being too attached to your own ideas can hinder your story telling.

I don't mean this in a "Thomas's original idea for the series was bad", but rather that he seems so attached to this concept that he can't stand other people having a differing view from him.

Chloe's the titular example here. Some people thought she deserved a redemption arc, and instead of just saying "nah, I don't think so" and continuing to write her the same way he had been, he had to prove them wrong, prove that his idea was the only correct one, and so turned her into the spawn of Satan and let her rule over Paris for some reason.

Instead of making Marinette less stalker-y, he wrote an entire episode poorly justifying it. And, imao, somewhat diminishing what PTSD actually is and does to people.

I'm not saying he has to make any change (though I think making Marinette less stalker-y would be a good change), but instead of 1.) sticking to his resolve or 2.) taking the criticism, he clung dearly onto this perception of his characters and his writing suffered because of how much he had to twist things to "prove" that his original assertions were right. And also that everyone who disagreed with him was wrong and didn't understand

idk if that makes sense, but the concepts been lingering in my head recently

It makes perfect sense! I've had similar thoughts. It's hard to say for sure, but Miraculous may be a case study in "kill your darlings". I'm not deep into the behind-the-scenes lore and I was not here in the early fandom, but I do know that, at some point, a much darker version of the show was pitched. That's why these exist (image source):

[Image description: two sketches styled like comic book covers. Both have the title "The Mini Menace Ladybug". The left cover shows Marinette's silhouette in a doorway. The door's glass and the glass of a nearby window are broken. In the foreground lies a hand holding a ladybug charm. The hand is limp and surrounded by blood, implying that someone is injured or dead. The right cover is Ladybug doing a spinning kick while looking angry.]

We also have this evidence of the darker original concept:

Jeremy Zag then proposed another project... which he was unable to sell to broadcasters... the project was called "Ladybug". No one was interested, as the project was aimed more at an adult audience... Sébastien had to make sure that the project could be broadcast on Disney and TF1.... Thomas wanted to make a series for adults, but at the time, it was very complicated to make a cartoon for adults. What's more, they didn't have enough money to take on such a project. Sébastien finally agreed, but there were some changes to be made, which Thomas accepted... In the end, Thomas Astruc's entire project was discarded, leaving only the love story between the two heroes and the city of Paris, where the story was to take place.

I've been aware of this darker origin story for a while due to Tumblr and, because of this knowledge, I have often had the thought, "are the writers trying to sneak elements from this darker version into canon?" Because that's the most likely explanation for what's going on here.

If I'm right, then I think that was a terrible move on their parts. They needed to let go of the story that they couldn't sell and embrace the story that they're being allowed to tell. It's why "kill you darlings" is such good advice. Many good stories have been ruined by writers clinging to an idea that ultimately doesn't work for some reason.

It's why the sitcom How I Met Your Mother has such a universally hated ending. The show was originally supposed to go for two seasons and so they wrote an ending that would fit the second season. The show ended up running for nine seasons and, by then, the ending didn't fit, but the writers kept it and left everyone with a bad taste in their mouths, which is not what any writer wants. That's why you have to do what's best for the story even if it means abandoning something that you really love.

This early version of canon may also be why the writers are so obsessed with Marinette. My understanding is that this concept had her mainly acting as a solo hero and, oh look! What is one of canon's biggest problems? Marinette being treated like a solo hero even though she has a partner and, later on, a team!

Not saying that this theory has to be true, just saying that it would explain some things. And if they're poisoning canon by trying to include elements from their darker original? Then it makes sense to assume that they're also doing it for smaller stuff. Like I'm pretty sure I've read that the head writer wanted Chat Blanc to be a lot darker originally, but no one would green light it, so we got an incredibly lackluster episode that spat in the face of the genres Miraculous' is trying to be part of while also falling to have the sort of impact we'd expect from an episode like that. It's a good example of a darling that really should have been killed. It just doesn't fit.

(Totally unrelated sidenote, but is your blog name from Tangled? Because that's what I immediately thought of and it made me smile!)

#the-story-of-how-we-died #ml writers salt #behind the scenes theorizing

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arcane-ish · 9 days ago

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@ravenking1771

I agree that Vander is not a pacifist. And I think Vander absolutely is a protector. But I think the deeper thing with Vander is that he is deeply concerned with consequences with results. His speech to Vi is about “are you prepared..” for the violence and death a fight with Piltover would have etc.

I think that's a really good point and a cool lense to see the show through especially since Arcane is full of people who probably don't think enough about the consequences of their actions (from Benzo attacking Silco, Jayce and Viktor's ... everything, to Vi attacking Silco's operation).

His deal with Grayson was thus a way to get out from Piltover by another means, getting the Enforcers out of Zaun in exchange for keeping Zaun out of Piltover, which was not nothing. This was a big meaningful deal that could have resulted in a Zaun that was more independent and self reliant, possibly even able to win greater rights and/or equality with Piltover.

I think in the end we know too little about "The Deal" and the circumstances of the Deal to say much about it. But I do think people have a point when they say it doesn't seem to be that great if Enforcers still hassle a fairly old Vi in the Enemy music video (and that doesn't look like the kids had crossed into Piltover, though I guess they could be outside the Lanes?).

And it's likely not that great if he made it with an "underling" rather than with the actual council/it's something Grayson has to hide from others.

But at the same time, I read it that the difference is that Vander doesn't care as much about formalities. It's not important to him whether Zaun has freedom on paper or if his protection comes from the council itself.

To me that was always the funny thing about Vander's ideology that he doesn't actually stray that much from Silco's ideology.

When Silco states his goal in Act 1 (scare the enforcers away from entering their territory) it's a very similar output of what Vander apparently wanted to achieve through different means with his deal.

I've always said that the two different ideologies presented in Arcane isn't Silco versus Vander, it's more Silco/Vander versus Caitlyn/Vi.

Silco and Vander disagree about the HOW, but they still propose different versions of segregation (ie Piltover should get out of Zaun's business, Piltover should leave Zaun alone). Cait and Vi seperatedly propose consolidation. Vi is angry that Piltover doesn't help Zaun more, she thinks Piltover should do more Zaun and Caitlyn agrees that Piltover has a responsibility to Zaun that it has lagged on. They both favor MORE intervention from Piltover into Zaun, not less.

But Vander even as he strayed from Silco's path is pretty much part of the idea that Zaun should be left to its own devices. He is part of that segregation. He does his own approach of advocating for and bringing about that segregation. (and peraonally I think he genuinely comes across like asking Piltover for help the way Vi does in season 1 likely never crossed his mind, because again, he's still roughly following Silco's ideology where he doesn't want that much to do with Piltover)

Silco's Act3 goals with economic independence are more complex but in Act1 I think you can seriously question whether what he wanted really would have looked so different in practice. Even if Zaun and Piltover were different countries, it's not like Zaunites could just freely go into Piltover to commit crimes and Piltover would be fine with that just because Zaun is a different country. And it seems that commerce and people always flowed between Piltover and Zaun, regardless of who is in charge. So restrictions on what to do in Piltover was always about doing crime there. (I think we can assume less enforcer presence as Silco wants to achieve in Act 1 is more his step one on the way to economic independence)

And I think you can read the end of Arcane with Sevika on the council and Zaun and Piltover doing funeral rites together as the cities moving closer together, that either the Vi/Cait ideology wins out or it's some middle ground between the two. (and we know at least the writers thought the AU would be "spurred into action by Vi's death Piltover helps Zaun more")

Silco on the other hand I think is remarkably unconcerned with consequences. My personal head cannon is that the split with Vander happened when Vander realized Silco just didn’t care about the deaths about the defeat the orphans etc. Silco just kept pushing for more violence or a bigger March etc.

That was my personal headcanon/this is the most likely explanation after season 1, but IMO season 2 goes against this, because Silco looks like this in Vander's memory

That doesn't look like a guy who is just fine with the violence that happened and eager to do more. (and I think the picture language implies that this is Vander going straight from looking at Silco to his gaze dropping down and seeing Felicia)

Granted, it could be flawed memory, Vander projecting guilt onto Silco. It could be Silco being upset Felicia got killed or it could be Silco just scared of Vander's reaction.

But my read is that the occam's razor explanation of what season 2 presents us is that Silco was shocked/upset too that Felicia was killed that the Vander "lost his head/temper" and it really wasn't proportional to what Silco had done at that time.

I do think that they likely had aready maybe had had disagreements over where and how their project was going. But that in this context it really was mostly personal and Vander regretted it afterwards and hence wanted to reconcile even if he had issues with Silco's goals or priorities. (and I do think that some of the things he says to Silco, like accusing Silco about caring too much about pride are old grievances/fights they had before, Vander just didn't consider that more important than their personal relationship when he wrote that letter)

When Piltover started looking for the thieves he ratted out Vander, rather than ally with Vander against Piltover he killed Vander and tried to kill his entire family, Silco did this in a manner in a way that he would be blamed for Vander’s death aka the most beloved man in Zaun, and guaranteed everyone of Vander’s fiends and allies would hate him forever.

I read Silco's season 1 actions as he ratted out the children because he wanted to provoke Vander into additional action. imo Act 1 can be read as Silco's attempt to get Vander to admit that Silco is right, that Vander is more violent than he wants to admit.

While I do think that Act 1 can be read as Silco getting carried away by emotion rather than just being practical, I think this is more about how he tries at all with Vander in the first place.

Silco whether fairly or not considers Vander an obstacle to his plans. But from his point of view, he has no reason to assume allying with Vander would ever work. He never got the letter, so he doesn't know that Vander ever wanted to reconcile/that for example using Vander's guilt against him was an option. Plus he seems to have heavy paranoia, so from his point of view, Vander already attacked him once, nobody can be trusted, especially not Vander. From this point of view the most "efficient" way would be to just kill Vander quickly without dragging it out and even talking to him or bothering to make it traumatic.

Not caring that it makes people hate him fits with his ideology about how it's a good thing to be feared.

I guess to me it just makes more sense to see it as "Silco's paranoia gets in the way of choosing potentially way more effective options for his revolution" (ie from a strictly revolution point of view killing Vander but blaming it on Piltover so people are upset at Piltover makes more sense than having people fear him and fight against Vander supporters) rather than "Silco knowingly chooses his own feelings over what is good strategy" IMO him choosing Jinx over the deal with Piltover is such a case where he KNOWS he's putting personal sentiment over getting what he wants politically; but many other cases I think that he thinks he's doing totally good strategy (ie trying to be popular with the people is a waste of time, having a small group of people you trust is more efficient than trying to do a broad popular movement, just doing shit rather than asking for permission is better, being feared rather than loved is a good strategy). Silco has a very particularly world view that influences his perception.

#arcane #silco #vander #arcane politics #zaundads

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