#at least it’s a lot more intriguing and doesn’t like. involve her making out with her dad for some reason.

[hibiscera]

Last night, I finally read the story with Poison Ivy’s New 52 backstory and huhhh.. ermm… I’m filing that one under I’m Not Allowed To Feel Bad About My Writing Ever Again.

[kr-starz]

Modern Highschool Arcane AU headcanons !!

(Vi & Jinx)

Jinx and Vi are still teenagers, their age gap would be like 3 years in this AU, so when it's Jinx's freshman year Vi's already a Senior.

People were genuinely surprised finding out the little chaotic science geek and the sports-minded athlete were SISTERS since they were so different friend group and personality wise.

(Cait & Vi)

Vi is a jock! She does winter wrestling and she's the best in her weight group. She's also involved in fall and spring sports. Baseball and football are her other seasonal sports.

People know Vi to be just a sports junkie, she has pretty good grades but nothing exceptional.

She's not so great at science , which forces her to be tutored.

Vi and Cait met in their sophomore year, she needed some help improving her grade in order to be eligible for the spring season sports since she was failing history at the time, so Caits assigned to help her out.

Caitlyn’s a goody two shoes icl, like she’s apart of the student council and her mom’s the superintendent. She’s in ROTC and she’s so very loud about it, she’s basically the FACE of the program.

Cait and Vi get close because Vi keeps seeing Caitlyn around and she’s become sort of a hallway crush, but with her fuckboy attitude Vi tries to flirt the second she realizes that she’s somehow managed to get Caitlyn as her tutor!

Cait is used to people flirting with her, she usually brushes it off since she’s a man magnet. Vi on the other hand, is weirdly making her flustered? It’s strange, really.

Cait and Vi start getting closer and eventually start dating the year after.

(Ekko & Jinx)

Ekko and Jinx are the same age but Ekko's older by a few months so he brags about it.

Ekko D&D nerd. He dragged Jinx into it, she only complied since Ekko asked so nicely (he threatened her kindly)

Jinx isn’t into extracurriculars, did track in middle school so she’s exceptionally fast and she’s in the track and field team in high school but she skips practice A LOT but the coach lowkey needs her so she doesn’t get punished.

Jinx has straight A’s but she skips classes and has days where she just can’t attend class so she does some of her work online (it’s like 70/30) in person-online; she has accommodations in her 504 plan that lets her listen to music all the time and lets her leave class whenever.

Jinx is just a nickname that was given to her while she was a kid since every sports team she cheered for ended up losing (she only ever went since she wanted to see what Vi was up to) and she was Jinxing every game which DID hurt her feelings when she was like 6 but now it’s kind of funny since she doesn’t care for sports.

She’s slightly uncomfortable letting random people call her Powder now since she introduces herself as Jinx, only her closer friends call her Powder.

She no longer Jinxes games now though but it was funny while it lasted.

Ekko and Jinx have this weird rivalry-friendship-situationship where they ARE childhood best friends who back each other up but they refuse to pair up together when working on projects since they wanna see who can get better grades or impress more people.

Ekko and Jinx is like “the boy/girl next door” trope since they’ve been casually hanging just whenever since they were little itty bitty kids. So people kind of know Jinx as “that girl friend he’s always around” and Ekko as “that boy friend Jinx is always around” to their respective classmates and acquaintances.

Ekko and Jinx used to get the “wait you guys aren’t dating” comment at least once a month. (They’re not dating just yet)

Ekko is in the art club and has never considered doing a sport (Ice hockey has intrigued him more and more every year though) and he’s in a bunch of clubs to compensate. He established the D&D club, being in a little “green thumb” club for plant parents, afterschool computer-science club which is run by Viktor and Jayce. He’s got a pretty decent variety of friends because of it and larger social circle. He’s known to be this friendly little nerdy guy and people either love him or think he’s weird.

When Ekko doesn’t have extracurriculars to focus on he’s out practicing new skate tricks,

Ekko is the plant dad of the CENTURY, he has like 20 plants in his room, he’s nurturing a garden in his backyard and he has the prettiest bushels of flowers in the house. He’s got the greenest of thumbs.

Jinx has a black thumb and kills every plant in a 20 mile radius. No but seriously, when Ekko tried giving Jinx a plant to take care of as an attempt to bond, it DIED within a week. (She drowned it) and when he gave her an easier plant to take care of, she fed the thing rubbing alcohol and didn’t notice until it was DEAD.

Ekko asks Jinx to Hoco, that’s when they started dating. Everyone calls it like “oh my god finally” “you weren’t dating before?” Etc. it’s really cute but there’s minimal changes!! They just start like, kissing or something.

[picturejasper20]

How Vlad’s arc is going to be post A Glitch in Time?

A few days ago @pedanticat released an interview with the author of A Glitch in Time graphic novel, Gabriela Epstein, in it they cover a lot of things about the novel and the original series but what i want to focus on is in the part they talk about why Vlad was given a redemption arc in this book and some hints on how his character arc is going to move forward from here. (From around 26:50 minutes time to 33:00 minutes)

Gabriela says that she doesn’t see Vlad as exactly ¨redemmed¨, which it is interesting because it can mean a lot of things on the direction his character can take. In the context she later adds that ¨characters involved would probably not forgive him¨, so i think this means that Vlad has a lot to make up for and he is only just starting to realize what he did wrong.

Another aspect that Gabriela talks about is that Vlad ¨created his own prison¨ in a way that ¨everyone now hates him¨ and that his life is in ¨complete shambles¨ and he has to start all over again. I wonder if this indicates that post AGIT he doesn’t longer have the same power and influence he had during the series and he is likely seen as someone who isn’t trustworthy in the eyes of the public. If that’s the case, i think it would be a good direction for his character to take, since he would still be facing certain consequences for his actions and it would make him less likely to fall back to his older bad habits.

One thing that is talked about in this segment is that Vlad could use this opportunity ¨to grow and learn… or get a lot worse¨ which it is intriguing on its own but it kinda makes sense given what we know about Vlad and how he deals with his own problems.

For starters, we know that Vlad has a lot of emotional baggage to deal with on his own. This is something that has been growing bigger and bigger over many years. All these issues aren’t just going to away because he has realized he was in the wrong: Now he has to deal with them and find a way to move from there. The problem is that this man in general has… really bad ways of coping with his own problems. He has a bad history of dealing with them, choosing the worst possible ways that end up hurting others and on his own self destruction.

And considering what i mentioned earlier about how he is ¨stuck¨ in a prison of his own making, he might have lost a lot of the power and influence he originally had… i think he is very likely to fall into other bad habits that don’t involve controlling people like he did in the past but they are still quite self destructive.

In his own extreme loneliness combined with his new sense of guilt (which it what drives his ghost purpose now) i think he is going to become very quickly ¨attached¨ to Dan in a way. He would try to have some form of connection with him by trying to giving him what he wants or find any way to make amends with him just to get some form of affection from Dan back. However, he would eventually realize that he can’t get what he wants from Dan back (or at least for the momento) and that would make him feel more depressed… or look for that affection in other places.

In the interview Gabriela says she has ¨very specific plans¨ for Vlad and Danielle’s relationship. Now that on itself could mean anything- still, following the rest of her wording, i believe this dynamic could involve Vlad desperately trying to get that form of affection he can’t get from Dan from Danielle. With this i mean that Vlad may try doing a similar thing he did with Dan: Trying to make Danielle happy or giving her whatever she wants. To find anyway he can to make it up to her.

Dani would likely take advantage of this first (being in part in her right to do so) but i think all these things that Vlad does would eventually lead to Danielle lashing out to him and telling him that she can’t bring herself to forgive him for what he did to her.

I don’t know where Vlad is would go from there. Nevertheless, if he is supposed going to have growth from all this- he is probably going to have to realize that he won’t be forgiven by certain people, and while he can try making amends, there are certain relationships he left so broken that it won’t be possible for him to ¨fix¨. This could be an interesting route for his character to take, involving him realizing better how badly her hurt certain people and that are some things that just too broken to change them.

….This is just one speculation of how his character could go though. I can also seeing having doubts over if all this redemption stuff is really worth it, maybe falling back in previous habits until he learns that he is going to have to work really hard to be better and repair all the damage he has done. Or maybe having a general crisis of what he is supposed to be and do post AGIT. It is still interesting to analyse and trying to guess based on new things revealed on this recent interview. I’m certainly intrigued to see what is going to happen to Vlad and how that is going to have an impact on his relationship with other characters.

[xlibra-rising]

Kanye & Bianca Censori Chart Reading

Kanye & Bianca have been in a relationship for ≈2 years at this point after Kanye’s divorce with Kim. And after the recent Grammy’s scandal where Bianca showed up butt naked, I was kind of intrigued to look into their charts and see how compatible they actually are.

Bianca is a Capricorn Sun, Pisces Moon, which Kanye as has a Pisces Moon. She as well has a Scorpio Venus and Virgo Mars. There is no confirmed birth time for Bianca as Astrotheme doesn’t list one, so i’m going off of what i have with zero house placements.

Bianca’s chart. Kanye’s chart.

(i used the Cancer rising as Kanye’s ascendant because it seems accurate for him lol)

Bianca is a Capricorn sun, which means she prioritizes structural systems, dedication and traditions in her life. Her conscious mind is most concerned with her personal discipline and responsibility. I see many Capricorn women make use of their technicality for work and career greatly, and they seem to care a lot about the image of “the boss”.

Kanye is a Gemini sun in the 12th house, he has a sharp and versed aware mindset when involved in the hidden energies, sacrifices and the subconscious he experiences. I’d say he is already skilled at this part of himself, since he is notorious for saying very strange things, even if he gets publicly shunned.

In this relationship, Bianca can struggle with Kayne speaking over her and dismissing her voice in the matter, even if it is a really good point she has. He will probably make her feel like he centers his lifestyle around belonging to other groups than in a committed relationship. Bianca is a Capricorn that craves grounding in personal relationships, Kayne may be a little too fast-paced for her liking.

Both Kanye and Bianca have Pisces moon’s, which as a result, means they both relate deeply on a familiar level. Pisces moons are boundless to emotions and let themselves feel a lot of emotions extensively. This is a common area for them both, and a good way to connect with a partner IMO, is having compatible moon signs. They equally have good intuition and psychic powers, and can maybe even read each other’s mind. Kayne’s moon is specifically in the 9th house of higher learning, philosophy and spirituality, this is where he expresses the Piscean energy his moon has. He cares about larger than life ideologies and feels most safe when he can use these poetical experiences when he can convey them with his creative heart. Kanye makes music and art that makes people feel like they apart of his inner world.

Bianca’s Scorpio Venus and Kanye’s Taurus Venus are like kind of beneficial for each other… Both are fixed signs and are on the same axis. Scorpio Venus’ crave emotional intensity and passionate devotion in a relationship. Kanye prefers and values a partnership where he can indulge and enjoy the pleasures that come to comfort with him and his lover. Particularly this plays out in career and the masses. This can indicate that Kanye LOVES when this side of a relationship is admired by the general public. This hints at an overindulgence in this kind of relationship admiration. He may ask a lot more than what he gets when with a woman. And that being more likely to happen because it is also at the 2nd degree of Taurus.

Kanye and Bianca’s love i see as fairly fervent in nature. Bianca is somewhat astrologically compatible with but they need to watch out with clashing egos. They have this weird tendency towards pleasure in their relationship though. I wonder if Bianca likes the way he treats her or is at least somewhat “okay” with it.

[crguang]

how do you think kafka would fall in love with her s/o? like what does she notice first and makes her want to know her future s/o more. would love to hear your thoughts

i love any excuse to yap about kafka let me think… imo to catch kafka’s attention you would have to stand out a little. she lives a very exciting life and i think she’d be attracted to bold personalities, people with a certain talent she admires, just someone who kinda stands out from the crowd in any way. that would pique her curiosity for sure, but i do think she loves boldness in general. someone who can tell her to go to hell? someone who isn’t afraid of her and who plays hard to get a little? she’d want you so bad. would go out of her way to get on your nerves because she wants your attention, and that can translate as either pissing you off by being annoying or being excessively flirty, suggestive, sending you lots of things… i think the first step or indication that kafka’s getting emotionally involved is her need for attention from her s/o and the time dedicated to you. shes not clingy but she’ll take the time to check up on you even if she’s worlds away by calling or texting just to talk to you, she asks questions like “miss me?” and stuff because she wants you to say yes, buys stuff that make her think of you, etc etc. the feelings come after you’ve built a corner for yourself in her mind. i headcanon kafka as someone who intellectualizes her feelings more than she feels them, so she’s able to tell how shes feelings without necessarily feeling the emotions, so in consequence of that she realizes them a bit late. emotions that are instantaneous like anger or disgust don’t require much intellectualization, but love is slow to build and it would certainly silently creep up on her until it’s too late to remove herself from the situation. i hc that love/romantic feelings are the one thing that will always surprise her, at least from her part. she doesn’t ask herself “do i have a crush on them…?” like most people would do, that introspection about her feelings wouldn’t come naturally to her because she doesn’t expect them. so by the time she realizes that she loves someone it’s like “oh. shit.” cause things just got complicated very quickly

kafka prides herself on knowing people, it’s part of her power/advantage over them and she just likes observing human nature in general so once she’s curious about you she will want to know you. knowledge eliminates surprises and i just feel like if she’s intrigued she’s certainly gonna do something about it. she has no shame or anxiety like 😭 she’ll approach you no problem depending on the context, but she’ll also spend a lot of time observing you. she’s good at reading people and their body language so trust she notices the little things, they all contribute in painting a picture of you in her mind which will in turn make her feel more in control. the thing with kafka imo is that control is very important to her, and you can’t have intimacy and control in a relationship; intimacy requires risk and vulnerability and she’ll never fully expose herself, but what’s a little annoying is that she’ll probably expect that from you. she understands you but you don’t necessarily understand her. this is how she treats her relationships and it kinda sucks because u can never have complete intimacy if there’s a power imbalance in terms of vulnerability. at least in social psychology lmfao

but yeah falling in love is a slow process and it’s definitely obvious cause we know how she acts when she cares (with the tb) and it’s made painfully clear, so if you pay a little attention to her behavior towards you vs others you’ll be able to realize it maybe even before she does 😭 it’s endearing really. i can’t tell you how exactly she’d fall in love bc it depends on the context but once the train is in motion there’s no stopping it

[tapwater118]

The Post-Split Rant, Part 2

a.k.a.: Grown Adult somehow whines about Baby Cartoon for even longer

Part 1

BFB Post-Split is my least favorite season, so I’m gonna keep whinging on about it. As a reminder to all who bother to read this, this is my opinion. It is fine if you disagree with me about something, and you probably will. This is a good thing! Disagreement invites discussion, as long as all involved are willing to discuss.

Ok let’s just get right into it.

BFB 22

THE LEAFY PLUSH IS NOW AVAILABLE!!!!! I don’t have really anything to say about the ad intro other than it’s become a vocal stim for me. Moving on.

erm taco got out and she was my favortie character so this js the wrost epistioe

Ok, but seriously.

Overall, this is a pretty fun episode! “Court case” doesn’t really sound like it would make for that good of a challenge, but they make it work! A lot of funny moments all around. Jet-flying class is a top tier bit.

That being said, I have two VERY BIG ISSUES with this episode that keep it out of my favorites list. The second one I want to save for later (after BFB 24), so let’s talk about that first one.

This episode, and the resulting elimination segment in the following episode, is the biggest middle finger to Bubble Post-Split ever pulls. She is killed off very early into the challenge, and is not recovered until the next episode. I believe this is directly responsible for her elimination. Leafy gets her moment with Firey (more on that later), Lollipop and Gelatin form their Newbie Alliance, and Teardrop has some cute moments with the typewriter. Every Have Cotter gets to do something intriguing or endearing this episode, except for Bubble. She is, quite literally, written out of the show. It’s not even like she did nothing because she’s a boring character; Bubble is a very interesting character! She was just killed off. (Honestly reminds me of how in season 1 they were pretty obviously trying to get people to vote Ice Cube out near the end, only this time they didn’t have to resort to a contestant vote to do so.)

Like I said, we’ll get to that second issue in a bit.

BFB 23

One last one-two combo on Bubble for really no reason or payoff here. Pretty much nobody remembers she even died last episode, and her elimination is by far one of the most anticlimactic in the entire series. No drum roll or anything, and she barely even gets to say bye. Spongy, the character everyone always seems to point to when people talk about characters being mistreated by the writers (rightfully so imo), had a more impactful elimination.

This episode is just bland. Challenge-wise it’s the exact opposite of BFB 22; the premise for the challenge is really interesting (A jailbreak! That’s exciting!), but they execute it in probably the most boring way possible. One team spends the whole time jumping on boxing gloves, and the other basically has a repeat of BFB 21. The Flower and Purple Face stinger is the best part of the episode.

Just wanted to mention Flower here because I’ll probably forget to do this later; she’s actually written pretty well, by Post-Split standards. I’ve seen people say she wasn’t done well by Post-Split, but I honestly don’t really see it. Post continues her character quite cleanly from Pre-Split; she wants to make friends and make amends for her past behavior, while also still being a bit rude and off-putting. Don’t really see where the issue is here. (As for why she’s like this versus her BFDI/A self, we’ll probably have to wait for IDFB to pick back up.)

BFB 24

Unless something really dumb happens in BFB 28-30 that I’m forgetting (haven’t got there on my rewatch yet), this is probably the worst episode in all of Post-Split, and maybe even the whole series. I know this is the worst episode because it was the only one during my rewatch where I checked how much time was left, saw I still had half the episode to go, and audibly groaned. Nothing happens the entire challenge except for people shitting around and talking, and the overall payoff for most of the contestants not doing the challenges is like one and a half kinda funny jokes. We barely get to see any of them getting the supplies for their parties, or setting them up, or even anything related to the parties until it comes time to judge. The intro/Cake at Stake are so much more engaging than the actual challenge portion. The best part is the Flower and Leafy team-up and even then barely anything happens. Definitely up there with the likes of BFDI 16, BFDIA 1, and BFB 5 for the “real stinker challenge segment” award.

Purple Face becomes a mainstay here, so I guess I’ll comment on him. He’s whatever. He has some good bits, but overall feels like he doesn’t bring anything new to the table. Kinda unnecessary for what Post-Split goes for (or at least tries to go for).

I’ll be completely honest and say I completely forgot about this Gelatin-Teardrop “arc” before this rewatch. It kinda comes out of nowhere too; their moments of “conflict” are not brought up as such (not even any subtle insinuation) until this point. But hey, maybe if they expand on it, Post-Split could really have something intere—aaaaaand it’s over. The same episode this “arc” is established, it gets entirely resolved. Glad that that conflict totally got fleshed out and developed to its full potential. Yup.

Ok, I said we would talk about it after BFB 24, so here we go. My second main reason for making this rant:

I do not like how Post-Split resolved Firey and Leafy’s arc

If you’re gonna disagree with me on anything in this rant, it’ll probably be this.

Let’s start with BFB 22.

First off, bozo, she DID try to talk with you, you just slammed the (soundproof) door in her face before she could get a point across. Ok time to talk about the actual writing.

As a whole, this whole scene comes off as extremely biased towards Firey. Yes, Leafy never apologized for stealing Dream Island, but Firey never apologized for both excluding her for an extremely petty reason and for ignoring her in the years since. This SHOULD have been a mutual make-up between the two. Both apologize for their misdeeds towards the other, and both promise to do better with each other moving forward.

Instead, we this one-sided argument wherein Firey is given much more pity than Leafy by the show. He isn’t even all that remorseful about how he’s treated Leafy, he’s more distraught over potentially being eliminated for stealing the diary. And Leafy, of course, offers to throw the challenge to make sure he isn’t up for elimination. Ok. Sure. Maybe that is in Leafy’s character, to help save Firey from elimination when he’s done something the viewers won’t like; she is the super nice one after all.

Anyway here’s a completely unrelated screenshot from BFB 15. Just putting this here for no particular reason.

Episode ends with them being friends again, and Firey’s only punishment for stealing the diary is to clean the railway. Yippee.

Fast forward to BFB 24: Lollipop snarks in Leafy’s direction, and Leafy tells Firey she’s upset about him not standing up for her, as well as all the time he spent ignoring her. And Firey apologizes! Great!

THIS SHOULD NOT HAVE TAKEN 2 MORE EPISODES TO GET TO!!! THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN BFB 22 WITH THE REST OF THE MAKE-UP SCENE (aside from the ferris wheel probably)!!!!! I can only imagine the crew realized how one-sided BFB 22 was to Firey, so they decide to shoehorn in this scene into BFB 24 to try and fix it. It doesn’t, and this moment feels so phoned in.

Overall, my main issue with how Post-Split handles this reconciliation is that it feels sloppy. It’s too biased towards one side, and they try and correct for that too little too late. It feels like rather than something they wanted to write, it was something they had to write, as they (correctly) predicted Firey didn’t have much more time in the game left, and if they didn’t do this now they wouldn’t get a chance to later.

Anyway, Firey gets eliminated so no more of this arc for a bit. Let’s move on.

BFB 25

Just want to mention it here, because this episode has a perfect example of it, but Four has definitely changed from Pre to Post-Split. Here Gelatin slaps Four, and instead of Four giving him a face full of zappies like Four most certainly would have in Pre-Split, Four just kinda insults him and then the episode moves on. I won’t really say whether this is a good or a bad change, but I will say I like Four much more in TPOT than in Post-Split.

SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP

Meme-slop aside, this is a very whatever episode. More just walking and talking, you know how I feel about these already. I do like both the detail of how Flower’s vomit-repelling sweater was what was causing the vomit-filled totem to run away from her, as well as the fact this detail goes pretty much unspoken. Certainly a nice change of pace from the amount of over-explaining characters tend to do (COUGH COUGH LOLLIPOP COUGH).

The best part of the episode happens near the very end. You know what part I’m talking about.

i need her

BFB 26

It’s the Profily episode! I guess I’ll touch on them a bit. They’re a pretty funny joke character! I can’t decide whether it’s funnier for them to have been there all along and nobody noticed, or for them to straight up be lying about everything. This is a good thing. Past that though, they’re just ok. Some good bits here and there, but after this episode they just become another face in BFDI’s minor character menagerie with nothing to really set them apart.

Nothing really to complain about here. Fun episode! Lots of silly things, and nothing stays still for too long. This and BFB 20 really show how good Post-Split could have been, I think. I do prefer 20 a good bit more, but I’d rank this one above 22.

Time to ditch the Pillary Ruins.

BFB 27

The thumbnail is the worst thing about this episode. Just look at it. Why is there just an ugly chartreuse slab on the side. Why are the characters arranged so haphazardly. What even is this composition. It barely even fits with the rest of the Post-Split thumbnails. I hate it.

What gets me is that there was a scrapped thumbnail that looked a lot better! No clue why they switched it.

I do like the desert as a setting more than the Pillary Ruins, which might be an uncommon opinion idk. The ruins always felt too cluttered to be good default backdrops, so going to something simpler is nice.

Yeah I don’t have much to say about this one, another “whatever talky bluh bluh” episode, but this does have some more funny moments than others like it so there’s that. The Flower and TD montage was silly, and it seems like they kinda set Leafy up for elimination solely because they didn’t want her in the top 3 again. Nothing really much else to say.

Actually, come to think of it, this is the last “regular” challenge before the final all-in-one challenge. Maybe escaping the oven was a callback to BFDI 22’s escaping the volcano? If so, BFDI 22 did it better.

This seems like a good time to stop for now. They’re about to bring back all of the eliminated contestants, so I’ll be touching on both Taco and Firey/Leafy again in the next and final part of this rant. We’ll also get to the third main reason I’m making this rant: BFB 30.

Part 3

[grailfinders]

Grailfinders #345: Kriemhild

today on grailfinders, we’re getting close to the end of our traum(a), but before that, we need to get revenge! on what, you ask? doesn’t matter, I’m sure we’ll think of something in the planning phase. to help out, we’re gonna be making a build of Kriemhild, Siegfried’s wife and avenger. (a “kriembuild”, if you will)

Kriemhild is a Mastermind (mistressmind?) Rogue to be a cunning little cutthroat, as well as a Hexblade Warlock to steal her husband’s gold and sword and start lopping heads. whether the gold or sword is the hexblade in this situation doesn’t matter that much, either way it’s a magical lump of metal giving you power.

...are nuclear power plants hexblades? I’m getting off topic.

check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet here!

next up: waka waka waka waka

Ancestry and Background

once again, Kriemhild is Human, and with the variant rules that gives you +1 Intelligence & Charisma, as well as proficiency in Arcana (or maybe Nature? idk what skill would help you figure out your husband’s weak points), and the Lucky feat to forcibly re-roll a d20 that directly involves you up to three times a day. Kriemhild’s a schemer, and just like I said in the wodime build, sometimes you get to actually plan, some times you just have to pretend you meant for stuff to happen after the fact.

you’re a Noble of course, but we’re mixing it up and giving you proficiency in History and Intimidation. I hope I don’t need to explain that Kriemhild is scary. don’t cut her in line, trust me

Ability Scores

on that note, it’s no surprise Kriemhild’s Charisma is as high as it is- she’s scary, sure, but she’s also plenty devious and tricksy too. after that is her Dexterity. she wears like, zero armor for most of her ascensions, so good luck not getting hit. third is Intelligence for better scheming, and we’ll at least keep your Constitution positive so you can survive the occasional hit. just don’t go pissing off any gentleman inspectors. this does mean your Strength is a bit low, but it turns out that’s optional for wielding a greatsword, who knew? just drag it around til you need to murder people. of course, this all means we’re dumping your Wisdom score. berserkers, am I right?

Class Levels

1. Rogue 1: starting as a rogue gives you a lot of proficiencies, like Insight, Deception, Persuasion, and Sleight of Hand. you plan around people, and I don’t even know what proof “that Siegfried, and not Gunther, has taken Brunhild's virginity” (to quote wikipedia) would even look like, but you probably forged that. also, Dexterity and Intelligence saves, which is nice. you like fire, it would never hurt you.

if that’s not enough proficiency, you also get Expertise in two skills, doubling your bonus for Deception and Intimidation! you can also add a Sneak Attack to your damage while wielding a finesse or ranged weapon, though you also need either an ally standing next to your target or advantage to hit. it’s a bit situational, but an extra d6 is an extra d6.

also, you know Thieves’ Cant! it’s a language!

2. Rogue 2: second level rogues can make Cunning Actions- or, cunning bonus actions, anyway. you can dash, disengage, or hide as a bonus action, leaving your usual action open for anything you want, like murder! or planning murder!

3. Rogue 3: third level Mastermind rogues get a lot of stuff, including the full-class feature Steady Aim. if you don’t move before or after attacking on your turn, you can spend your bonus action for free advantage! just drag that big ol’ sword around and everything will work out eventually

but all that’s for later. for now, you’re a mastermind, which means you’re a Master of Intrigue- you’re proficient with even more stuff- the disguise kit, the forgery kit, one gaming set, and an extra two languages! you can also copy accents you’ve heard before.

also your sneak attack grows to 2d6. I’m probably going to forget to mention this every time, so just know you add another die every odd level.

if you’re eager to get to fightin’ you’re also a Master of Tactics, letting you use the Help action as a bonus action and at range! so I guess you’re not fighting with this, but every bit helps.

4. Rogue 4: use your first ASI to bump up your Dexterity. this’ll help you not get hit, and also use something small like a dagger. don’t worry, the sword is coming I promise. presumably your husband’s still alive at level 4.

5. Rogue 5: fifth level rogues get an Uncanny Dodge- if you get hit by an attack, you can react to turn a direct hit into a graze, only taking half the damage in the process. don’t die, basically.

6. Rogue 6: at sixth level you get a second round of Expertise, doubling down on Sleight of Hand and Arcana. forge gooder and remember how your husband can be killed. I’m sure that will never bite you in the ass.

7. Rogue 7: seventh level rogues get Evasion, so now your failed dexterity saves protect you as if they were successes, and your successes negate all damage!

8. Rogue 8: use your next ASI to bump up your Dexterity once again. not dying is a great strategy, keep it up.

9. Rogue 9: ninth level masterminds are Insightful Manipulators- if you spend a minute with someone out of combat, you can learn how their soft stats (intelligence, wisdom, charisma) or levels compare to yours, or you can even learn bits of their backstory or personality!

10. Rogue 10: tenth level rogues get another ASI, so start working on your Charisma. scheme better, and uhhh, this’ll help later too. that’s for later though.

11. Rogue 11: eleventh level rogues are a Reliable Talent, so now every time you roll a skill check you’re proficient in your roll will always be count as at least a 10. that means every deception check you have to make will always count as at least a 22 in total.

12. Rogue 12: did I say 22? let’s make it 23 by bumping your Charisma up to maximum with this ASI.

13. Rogue 13: thirteenth level masterminds can put a taunt on another party member with Misdirection- if you would take an attack while another creature is standing next to you, you can react to force said creature to take the hit instead. every good plan needs a scapegoat.

14. Rogue 14: at level 14 your Blindsense lets you detect invisible creatures within 10’ of you. I guess you could consider this the dragon sword helping out? it’s a little early, but at least it’s harder to get the drop on you now.

15. Rogue 15: with our last level of rogue, your Slippery Mind gives you proficiency with Wisdom saves. I wish it wasn’t so, but we don’t need any more warlock spells, and your levels have to go somewhere. what a shame.

on the plus side, your husband’s dead now.

16. Warlock 1: so, sorry about your husband, but on the plus side you inherited his Hexblade, so you get some Pact Magic out the gate! you only get a handful of spell slots, but whenever you cast something using your Charisma you can recharge the slot on a short rest!

speaking of spells, Eldritch Blast is a generic ranged option, Sword Burst lets you spin around and hit everyone, Wrathful Smite lets you add a little damage to your attack and frighten creatures who get hit by it (surprisingly effective against dragons btw), and Distort Value will make people care a lot more about some worthless rocks than they really should. yeah I’m giving you the rheingold too, it’s in your bond CE so it counts.

you’re also a Hex Warrior, so you can use your charisma instead of strength or dexterity to attack with a weapon chosen after each long rest. this doesn’t work with Siegfried’s sword yet, but we’ll get there.

for the time being, at least you can use Hexblade’s Curse on your next target, giving you bonus damage, an improved critical hit rate, and you regain health upon your target’s death, all for up to a minute, once per short rest.

17. Warlock 2: second level warlocks get two Eldritch Invocations, though we’re really only using one this level- the other is getting swapped out in a level anyway. Armor of Shadows gives you free mage armor on yourself for what is basically a permanent +3 bonus to AC while unarmored. ironically, your third ascension actually has armor, so this spell’s a bit late.

you also learn the spell Illusory Script, letting you write one thing but have it look like something else. I don’t think should really be part of Kriemhild’s kit, but it certainly fits the theme, doesn’t it?

18. Warlock 3: now that you’ve entered into the Pact of the Blade with an Improved Pact Weapon, you can summon just about any weapon you wish as an action and use charisma to wield it expertly. that being said, you can also turn a magical weapon like Balmung into your pact weapon.

of course, no matter what ability you use to swing it, a great sword will never be able to use your sneak attack, which is why you can also summon a Shadow Blade now. it’s a light weapon that deals psychic damage when it connects, but more importantly it has the finesse property. you can also summon it to your hand as a bonus action, and it lasts for up to 1 minute.

19. Warlock 4: now that your AC is decent enough and your Charisma is maxed out, use your last ASI to improve your Constitution for more health. you can also cast True Strike now, which is steady aim but worse, or use Crown of Madness to sow the seeds of war. if your target fails their wisdom save, you can force it to attack a creature of your choice, causing chaos and wasting its action. you also have to waste your action to keep the spell going, but rogues have tons of stuff they can do as a bonus action, so it kind of evens out.

20. Warlock 5: for our last spell, you can invoke the rheingold to Incite Greed, charming nearby creatures into congregating around you for up to a minute. they also have to repeatedly fail wisdom saves, but I’m sure it’s fine.

if that doesn’t work, you can always take the direct approach and use Eldritch Smite, burning a spell slot to add 4d8 force damage to your hit and forcing a save or knocking the target prone. this is actually a really nice way to knock a dragon out of the sky if you’re okay bending the rules to grab a bow, so I think our anti-dragon damage condition has been met by this point.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

with easy access to advantage and improved critical chances from your hexblade’s curse, Kriemhild is really good at dishing out critical hits, and thanks to sneak attack and smites, you can really capitalize on those to deal a ton of damage quickly.

you’re also great at sowing discontent in enemy forces, falsifying written orders and forcing them to attack each other with spells and misdirection.

on top of that, you make for a great party face thanks to your maxed out charisma, complete lack of critical failure on charisma checks, and expertise. you’re great at weaseling your way into a situation, then hacking your way back out.

Cons:

balmung is a greatsword, or at the very least a longsword. regardless, that fact seriously neuters the cohesion of this build. smites are nice, but you were already dealing way more damage with a regular dagger by this point. plus, being a sword prevents you from using ranged attacks, which are way more helpful when taking down dragons. basically if you play this build too close to character, it messes with the build mechanics and its flavor.

like mentioned above, your warlock stuff is cool, but it’s already outclassed by your rogue features by the time you get it at the end of the build. it’s a shame siegfried dies near the end of the nibelungenlied, because his sword would be way more useful early on.

every feature you have outside of your sneak attack is pretty situational, since a ton of it relies on fighting things that actually think. in fate and in history, this isn’t too much of an issue, but dnd has armies of undead, constructs, and wild animals that’ll shut down your provocations before they ever get started.

...ignore the fact that we've been infinitely more productive the two days ff14's been offline, that's a coincidence, I swear.

[afyrian]

no. 5 - cabin firekey masterlist

    “welcome to cabin firekey.. terrible name, i know! i wasn’t the one to chose it though,” you open the doors to your cabin, turning around to look at all of the kids joining you for the duration of camp.

  they all look different from each other, all intrigued by different things. a few of them hold their phones, eyes lit up with the bright blue lights. a couple of them holding their bags while dancing on the balls of their feet. you could picture yourself in them, each of them, even the one who seemingly wants nothing to do with camp.

  “as you all know, my name is y/n, and i’m your counselor. we’ll be competing in activities, hosting a talent show, and having some fun in between. i know that this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but i’m hoping we can enjoy ourselves,” you take in a deep breath, clasping your hands together, “so pick your bunk and we’ll get to know each other.”

  as they filter into the cabin, you look back into the woods and spot atsumu with his group. he’s already engaging them all in a discussion, expressing himself with his hands and movements. you bite your lip, wondering if this counselor thing was going to be as easy as he’s making it appear from afar.

  you turn back to your cabin, looking around to see that most of the kids had already set their things down. the couple of them that seemed excited had quickly laid out their things, styled it some, their attention on their fellow cabin mates.

  “so, i’ve already seen the names of everyone joining, but how about you give some names to the faces and a fun fact about yourself?” your heart rate quickens as you see all of them looking over at you. 

  the looks on their faces practically scream that they’re all socially nervous, hoping for someone else to start the conversation, “uh, we can start with me.. i used to come to this camp when i was your age. i actually met a lot of my good friends here. mmh i also really like to play video games, so if this stuff isn’t your cup of tea, i’m always good to talk about that.”

  being welcoming was the only way you could think to get them involved. to bring about a side of them that they wouldn���t normally show to others, which is why you loved this camp. slowly, the girls all started to get out of their shells some. like amaya who joined the camp so her parents would buy her a new computer part. or kaida who wants to work in wilderness conservation, paired with her twin kaori who loves theater. 

  it slowly brought smiles to most of their faces, a few still stubborn.. and honestly, you couldn’t help but feel overjoyed that even if it’s your first day, it’s a better week than you could imagine. at least, it has been going well, now all you need for the perfect day is a great dinner. 

  “okay, tonight, the only thing on our agenda is dinner. they’ll have a few options for dietary needs, so please let the servers know if you need anything specifically,” you grab your phone and stuff it into your pocket, standing by the door, “and you can sit wherever. if you know someone from another group, feel free to say hi.”

  “could we sit with you?” hanae, one of the shyer girls, raises her hand slightly, pursing her lips.

  you nod immediately, “for sure, i’ll probably see some of my friends, but yeah, plus you guys can help think of some filler activities between the main stuff.”

  this seemed to make some of the kids a bit more confident, walking down the path together with a pip in their step. you subconsciously look towards where atsumu’s cabin is again, him and his group already gone from their area. almost instantly, you look back forward, scolding yourself for even wondering what he would be up to. you don’t care, you probably shouldn’t care.

  especially when he likely doesn’t even take a peek in your direction, unknowingly setting off a chain reaction of emotions within you-

  “y/n!” a voice comes from your right, the noise of someone running up to you forcing your head to look at the person.

  all you can see is a tuff of blonde hair as someone wraps their arms around you. however, the feeling of the short-stature automatically makes you know that it’s the nishinoya. “noya! i would’ve assumed you would already be at the mess hall.”

  “nah the dudes ended up wanting to catch some bugs so we lost track of time- but can you believe atsumu is here? the balls on that dude,” he shakes his head, completely ignoring the many younger kids surrounding the two of you. 

  you laugh some, shaking your head, “i can’t stop him from being a camp counselor here, and neither can you. besides he doesn’t even remember me! so trust me when i say that it’s not balls.”

  nishinoya bumps into you some, his two left feet unable to walk straight on the narrow dirt path. every little thing starts to help you remember things from camp that you never would’ve thought of. the two of you trekking through the trees, him constantly bumping into you cause he leans when he walks. his voice loud and quick, always making the conversation feel shorter than it is.

  “okay.. but i could fuck him up if need be!”

  “dude don’t you have like ten year olds in your group? and no, don’t even think about it. i will get my revenge when and if the time is right, young noya,” you bow a little, acting as if he’s your padawan. 

  he shrugs his shoulders, eyes clearly now focused on the mess hall. his mind switching between the conversation at hand and the mouth-watering food that the both of you could remember osamu making. you smile to yourself, trying to listen as he discusses some talent show thing his group wants to do. 

taglist (open): @lemurzsquad, @froyaoya, @localgaytrainwreck a/n: noya’s here!! i love writing him and hope you guys like it too

[duvetfawn]

Chapter III

<Previous chapter> | <Chapter Masterlist>

A/N: Hello people. Sorry for updating so late, I've been a bit busy. I made this chapter longer as an apologise. Thanks for all the likes and reposts, it means a lot <3. (Oh, and in case I made some grammar mistakes, I truly apologise, English isn't my first language.)

PAIRING: Professor!Benedict Cumberbatch x fem!reader

WARNINGS: Some eventual swearing. Nothing in particular.

WORD COUNT: 4.1k

“There’s no way you actually went to see him.” Cassie was drinking her third shot, but not even alcohol was helping her relieve the shock. It’s not like didn’t want you to join, she knew you loved poetry, but at the same time she considered it a suicide. She didn’t want you to cry during nights like she did because of Cumberbatch.

“You’re a graphic student, why on Earth would you want to take some lessons about poetry?!”

Your friend was too drunk to have a civil conversation, but you knew Felix wasn’t approving that either. 

“She has a point, Phoebe. You don’t know him.” Your guy friend tilted his head to the side, perfectly convinced you weren’t understanding the situation. 

They really cared about you, and since they knew how much of a twat Cumberbatch could be, they simply didn’t want you to make the same exact mistake. That professor was the only one who could make Felix cry over a grade, and he was always careless about school. The man really drove both of your friends crazy. They were just trying to save you, but only God knew how much he intrigued you. It was the danger – that intrigued you, actually. You started to see it as a challenge; you wanted to prove to your friends that getting good grades with Cumberbatch was possible.

“He’s not that bad.” Your friends almost choked on their drinks before quickly putting the glasses down.

“Not that bad?!” they exclaimed in unison, unable to believe what you had just said. 

You leaned back in your chair, thinking about the professor. The way he challenged your friends, pushed them to the limit... It wasn’t about being nice; it was about respect. And maybe that’s what you liked about him. It wasn’t something your friends understood. But you didn’t care.

“You guys don’t get it. He doesn’t just hand out grades. He makes you earn them. You don’t know the whole story. Trust me, there’s more to him than just being tough.”

“Like what? He secretly loves kittens?” Cas joked, while glancing at the “attractive” (that’s how she considered him) waiter. She won’t sleep at the flat tonight. – you thought.

“No, but... maybe you’ll find out soon enough.”

You weren’t sure what those words meant, you were sure you were going to get at least an A with him though.

The night had wrapped up, and the pub was slowly emptying out. You watched as your friends chatted, laughing and poking fun at each other, while you stayed mostly quiet, still thinking about the conversation you'd had about Cumberbatch. It wasn't like you to get so defensive, but there was something about the challenge he presented that pulled you in.

Cassie wasn’t the type to back down from a challenge either, though her challenges usually involved something a little more... adventurous. You saw her give a sly glance toward the waiter—tall, dark-haired, with an easy smile. She had always had a way with people, especially when she was in the mood for something more than just a casual conversation.

As the hours passed, the energy in the pub shifted. The music grew louder, the conversations more animated. You couldn’t help but notice her making her move. A few teasing words, a laugh, and suddenly, the waiter was sitting with her, sharing a drink. It didn't take long before they slipped away, disappearing into the night.

You didn’t think much of it at first. Cas was always unpredictable, and you’d learned not to be surprised by anything she did. But as you stood up to leave, you noticed her phone buzzing on the table. She hadn’t come back to grab it.

You grabbed it, sending her a quick text saying you were heading back to the flat. But then you paused, a little hesitant. There was a message from the waiter, something about meeting up later. It was more than casual—it was flirtatious. A smile tugged at your lips despite yourself. 

The walk back to the flat was quiet. The city streets were empty now, the late-night crowd thinning out, the cold air biting at your skin. You slipped into the building, climbed the stairs, and unlocked the door to the flat, feeling the familiar warmth of home.

Inside, the silence felt odd. Your roommate wasn’t back yet, and there was a strange stillness in the air. You dropped your keys onto the counter, stripped off your jacket, and made your way into the living room. You tried to distract yourself by scrolling through your phone, but your mind kept wandering back to the night. Cassie and the waiter. What had really happened after they left the pub?

Suddenly, the door creaked open, and she walked in, her face glowing in a way that caught your attention. She looked... different. It wasn’t just the way she carried herself—it was more like she had a secret, something she wasn’t sharing just yet.

“You’re back late.”

“Yeah, I lost track of time.” She tossed her purse onto the couch. Her eyes sparkled with something you couldn’t quite place, but you weren’t sure if you wanted to know. “And you? How was the walk of shame?”

“It was fine.” You gave her a sidelong glance, but she didn’t seem to be paying much attention. She was too busy scanning the room, like she was looking for something—or someone.

You opened your mouth to ask if she was okay, but then stopped yourself. There was no need to ask. You could already see it in the way she moved, the way she kept glancing at her phone, the slight flush in her cheeks.

As you grabbed a glass of water, she finally spoke up, her voice light but with an edge of mischief.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you what happened.”

“Try me.” You leaned back against the counter, crossing your arms, still a little curious but not sure if you wanted to hear the full story.

She looked at you for a second, considering whether or not to say more, before a laugh escaped her lips. “I might have gone home with the waiter. And... It went really well.”

You raised an eyebrow, trying to keep a neutral expression, though a small part of you was surprised by her candour. She didn’t usually share details unless she wanted to.

“Really? How well?”

She gave a mischievous grin. “Well enough that I stayed over.” She stretched her arms above her head, clearly amused with herself. “I think he might be a little smitten. Let’s just say it wasn’t just a one-time thing.”

You didn’t respond right away, just sipping your water. Part of you wanted to be sarcastic, to joke about it, but there was something else—an unspoken understanding between you. You knew her well enough to know when she was being serious, and right now, she seemed to be savouring the moment, letting it sink in.

The mood shifted slightly as you processed what she’d said. You both had your wild nights, but this felt... different. Maybe because you had no idea how to process what she had just done. It wasn’t about judgement, just the realisation that your world was shifting, ever so subtly, and you weren’t sure where it would land.

“So, what now?”

She shrugged nonchalantly. “We’ll see. For now, I’m going to take a shower and figure it out.” She turned away, leaving you alone in the living room, the weight of the night pressing down on you.

You stared at your phone again, but this time you weren’t thinking about the professor. You were thinking about Cassie —and whatever happened with the waiter, you had a feeling it wasn’t going to be the last secret she kept from you.

The flat was quiet. The soft glow of the desk lamp flickered gently in the corner of the room, casting long shadows on the walls. You had intended to spend the evening reading, to dive into the worn copy of Notes from Underground that you’d picked up a few days ago. Dostoevskij had always intrigued you, his exploration of the human psyche—its contradictions, its darkness, its beauty—had always felt like something you could connect with, in some way.

After your conversation with Cas earlier, you'd promised yourself that tonight would be different. You’d push aside the distractions, the thoughts of Professor Cumberbatch, and focus. You needed to focus.

You sat on the couch, tucking your legs underneath you, the book open in your lap. The first few pages were filled with the usual musings of the Underground Man, his bitter, self-loathing observations about society, about himself. You tried to focus on the words, the rhythm of Dostoevskij's sentences, but as you read, your mind began to wander again. 

It had been a simple request, really—just a quick meeting to discuss whether you could join his course. But when you walked into his office, something in the air had shifted. It was as if you’d entered a different world entirely, one where rules were set by him and only him, where even the smallest gesture seemed significant.

His eyes, so sharp, so calculating. That slight frown when you spoke, as if every word you said was being measured against some invisible standard. His voice had been cold, as it always was, and yet there was something else in it—a hint of something that couldn’t quite be defined. Was it curiosity? Or was it just the way he viewed everyone: as another puzzle to solve, another enigma to dissect?

You tried to shake off the memory, but it clung to you like a shadow.

You forced your eyes back down to the page of the book. The Underground Man, now deep in his musings, was reflecting on his own alienation from society, his frustration with his inability to act on his desires. It should have been comforting. After all, you were feeling a similar sense of frustration—not with society, but with yourself. With Professor Cumberbatch.

It wasn’t just that he was cold or distant—it was the way he saw people, the way he seemed to know exactly where their weaknesses lay. The way he had looked at you that first time, his eyes narrowing slightly, his lips barely moving as he gave you the approval to join his class. It was as though he had known you weren’t like the others, and that made you both anxious and… intrigued.

The Underground Man’s internal dialogue, so full of self-hatred, was suddenly too familiar. You could almost hear his voice—“I want to be everything, to be admired, to be desired. And yet, I remain here, on the outside, watching, always watching, but never truly seen.”

You felt that way sometimes, too. Like you were watching from the outside, never quite allowed in, never quite understood. But with Cumberbatch... it was different. You weren’t just watching. You wanted to be seen by him. You wanted to break through that cold exterior, to make him see you as more than just another student, to make him notice you in a way that was beyond grades or lectures.

You sighed, closing the book with a snap. The words of Dostoevsky had faded, now irrelevant in the face of your own swirling emotions. His coldness was beginning to consume you, a constant, nagging presence at the back of your mind. You didn’t know what it was, exactly. Was it admiration? Or something darker, something more dangerous?

You glanced at the clock on the wall. It was late—too late to be thinking about him so intensely, but you couldn’t stop yourself. The idea of him lingered, wrapping itself around your thoughts like smoke. Why did you even care so much? You couldn’t say for sure. You didn’t want to care, but every time he spoke, every time he looked at you, you felt the pull again.

You tried to read, but the words just wouldn't stick. You couldn’t escape him, not even in the pages of a book. You closed your eyes for a moment, the silence of the room swallowing you whole, and all you could see was Cumberbatch’s sharp gaze, that unshakable calm, as though he was always five steps ahead of you. Maybe it was the challenge that drew you in, you thought, the way he made you feel like you were always trying to catch up, always striving to prove yourself. Maybe that was it. But deep down, you knew it wasn’t just about proving anything. It was about him. About how his coldness made you feel like you needed to be more than what you were.

You had read somewhere that the most intriguing people were often the hardest to understand. That the more distant they were, the more fascinating they became. Perhaps that was what it was. You couldn’t stop thinking about him because you were trying to figure him out, trying to decode him like some impossible puzzle.

But you also realised, with a twist in your gut, that maybe you were trying to decode him for an entirely different reason. 

You shook your head, pushing the thought aside, but it was no use. 

The silence of the flat was suffocating, the kind of silence that made your thoughts feel louder than they should be. You had tried, really tried, to focus on the book in your lap. The weight of it seemed heavy in your hands, but not because of its content. No, it wasn’t the book that weighed on you—it was the battle raging inside your head. 

Every time you read a sentence, every time you tried to immerse yourself in the Underground Man’s bitter rants, your mind would drift back to that man. His face, his voice, that cold, assessing gaze that had been burned into your memory since the first time you’d met him.

You hated that you couldn’t push him out of your mind. You had tried so hard. You had closed the book, shifted on the couch, taken deep breaths, even tried to replay the dull, comforting monotony of your day to drown out the thought of him. But it was useless. His image crept into your thoughts like smoke, seeping into every corner of your mind, twisting everything around.

Focus, you told yourself. Focus on the book, on the Underground Man’s cynicism, on his contempt for the world. Focus on something that makes sense.

But it was impossible.

The thought of Cumberbatch lingered like a shadow, taunting you. What was it about him that had you so utterly captivated? You barely knew him, for God's sake. You knew nothing about his life outside of class, nothing about his personal history. And yet, there was something about the way he carried himself, that air of indifference mixed with intellect, that had gotten under your skin in a way you couldn't explain.

You shifted uncomfortably, your heart racing for reasons you couldn’t quite name. You didn't want to think about him. You really didn’t. The thought of liking him—of feeling something for him, something other than disdain or annoyance—made you feel… dirty. It wasn’t right. He was your professor, after all. The power dynamic between you two was something you couldn't ignore, and yet your body had betrayed you, repeatedly, in ways you couldn’t control.

Why was it so hard to just stop thinking about him?

You hated this feeling. It wasn’t admiration; it wasn’t respect. It was something else. Something that made your stomach twist uncomfortably, as if you were standing on the edge of a precipice and couldn’t quite bring yourself to step back from it.

Why couldn’t you just leave it alone? Why did your thoughts keep drifting back to him, like he had some magnetic pull over you?

The mere idea of him—of liking him, of being attracted to him—made you want to crawl out of your skin. You could feel the shame creeping up your neck, heat spreading across your face.

This is ridiculous, you thought, clenching your hands into fists. He’s your professor. He doesn’t care about you. He probably doesn’t even see you as anything other than just another student—just another face in a sea of faces.

But no matter how hard you tried to convince yourself, the discomfort wouldn’t go away. The thought of him lingered like a taste you couldn't wash from your mouth, sweet and sour all at once.

You stood up abruptly, pacing the small flat. The low hum of the city outside the window seemed to taunt you, as though the whole world was moving forward while you were stuck in this strange mental loop. Every time you thought you’d gotten rid of him, he'd slip back into your thoughts.

I need to sleep, you told yourself, desperate for some escape from the dissonance swirling in your mind. Sleep is what I need. Forget about him. Just sleep.

You grabbed your book and threw it on the nearby desk, suddenly unable to stand the sight of the pages anymore. Your breath was shallow, your hands trembling slightly. This wasn’t like you. You weren’t one to obsess over things like this. You weren’t someone who let a professor—someone who barely even noticed you—take up so much of your mental space.

But you were. And it scared you.

You moved toward your bedroom, your steps heavy with exhaustion. The night had dragged on far too long, and you felt the weight of your thoughts pressing down on you. You undressed quickly, too tired to think, and crawled into bed, pulling the covers tightly around your body as though they could somehow shield you from the storm of emotions raging inside.

You lay there in the dark, staring at the ceiling, eyes wide open, the silence almost unbearable. You tried to clear your mind, but each time you closed your eyes, his face appeared. His eyes. That voice.

You squeezed your eyes shut, as if that would banish the thoughts away.

The sunlight filtered in through the blinds, casting soft stripes across the room. You woke up to the familiar hum of the city outside, the world moving on without pause. Your head ached a little, not from the usual hangover, but from the weight of your thoughts, which had stayed with you throughout the night. But for now, you pushed them aside.

You rubbed your eyes, stretching under the covers, still half-dazed from the lack of sleep. It was Saturday, which meant you had the luxury of a lazy morning. The apartment was quiet, save for the faint sound of Cassie moving around in the kitchen. You could already hear her talking, her voice cheerful, full of that easy energy that always seemed to fill the space. As you dragged yourself out of bed, the familiar scent of coffee wafted through the apartment—one of the few things that always made you feel more awake. You walked into the kitchen, where your friend was sitting at the table, sipping her coffee with a mischievous grin on her face. There was a spark in her eyes that was impossible to ignore, a knowing glint that made you immediately suspect what she was about to say.

“Morning,” you muttered, rubbing your eyes one more time.

“Good morning!” Her voice was bright, almost too bright. She leaned back in her chair, casually stirring her coffee, her gaze never leaving you. “So, how was your night?”

You winced slightly, a quick flash of discomfort crossing your face. You hadn’t exactly planned on this conversation. The night had been quiet for you, spent in a dazed attempt to avoid the things swirling in your head. But Cassie had clearly been up to something more exciting, and there was no way she wasn’t going to talk about it now. 

You sat across from her, trying to feign casualness, but the unease you felt about last night’s thoughts—about the guilt you couldn’t shake—was hard to ignore. Your fingers wrapped around the mug of coffee you’d poured for yourself, its warmth a small comfort in the still-chilly morning air.

“So, uh, how was your… night?” You asked carefully, trying to sound nonchalant. You really didn’t want to get into the subject of Cumberbatch, not now, not when you still hadn’t figured out what the hell was going on with you.

Her eyes sparkled with a mischievous grin. "Oh, it was quite something," she said with a dramatic pause, leaning in slightly, as if sharing some kind of inside joke. You raised an eyebrow, dreading the details, but bracing yourself for them nonetheless.

“I told you that waiter was cute, didn’t I?” she said, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial tone. “And we had such a fun time talking, you know? He was so easygoing, not like those uptight types we usually meet. And then… Well, we ended up spending the night together.” She shrugged, completely unapologetic. “It just sort of happened. Nothing too dramatic. I think he’s a little younger than me, but it was fun—completely spontaneous. I don’t know, I just felt like doing something different, you know?”

You nodded, still processing her words. For a moment, you just stared at her, feeling that strange sense of disconnection. She seemed to take everything so easily, while you felt like you were being buried under a pile of guilt and confusion. You weren’t even sure what you wanted anymore—everything felt foggy.

“Wow, sounds like quite the night,” you said softly, attempting to sound encouraging without delving into the details.

“Oh, you bet,” she replied with a playful smile. “I’ll tell you everything later, but not while you're giving me that look.” She winked at you, obviously seeing through the facade you were trying to maintain.

You swallowed hard, a sharp pang of self-consciousness running through you. You hadn’t exactly expected to be interrogated about her night with the waiter, but the more she talked about it, the more it reminded you of how distracted you had been with your own thoughts. Thoughts you couldn’t even fully acknowledge yet.

You bit your lip, trying to keep your focus on Cassie words and not on the uncomfortable knot forming in your stomach.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that,” she said, catching your glance. “You’re making it sound like I did something bad. We’re adults, you know.”

It wasn’t that you judged her at all—really, it wasn’t. But there was something about the way she was so carefree that made you feel even more self-conscious about your own internal battle. You suddenly felt so small, so inwardly conflicted. There you were, stuck on a man you couldn’t have, with thoughts you couldn’t control, and all she seemed to care about was whether her spontaneous hookup had been fun or not.

You shifted in your chair, trying to focus on your coffee, as if it could provide some kind of escape. 

“Yeah,” you said, forcing a small, half-hearted laugh. “You always know how to have fun.”

“Of course I do,” she replied, her grin widening. “You know me.” She paused, studying you for a moment, her expression softening slightly. “But, you are okay, right? You’ve been a little... off lately. You know you can tell me if something’s bothering you.”

You hesitated, looking down at your coffee. You wanted to tell her everything—how you couldn’t stop thinking about the professor, how the thought of him made you feel weird, like you were betraying some unspoken rule. But no, you couldn’t. Not yet. Not when you still didn’t understand what was happening to you.

You forced a smile, hoping it looked more convincing than it felt. “I’m fine,” you said quickly. “Just tired, I guess. Nothing to worry about.”

She didn’t seem entirely convinced, but she didn’t press you any further. Instead, she shifted in her seat and grabbed her phone, distracted by a new message.

“Anyway, I think I’m going to see him again,” she said breezily, glancing down at her screen. “Maybe we can all go out next week. You in?”

You nodded absentmindedly, lost in your own thoughts again. The idea of hanging out with her and the waiter seemed like a distant thought now—almost too simple, too light-hearted for what you were feeling. The weight of everything you couldn’t say pressed down on you.

“Sure,” you managed, your voice quiet, far from the enthusiasm you were trying to fake.

You couldn’t bring yourself to ask about the details of her night any more than she had pried into yours. And for the rest of the morning, you sat quietly, trying to pretend that everything was just as it had always been.

But in your mind, all you could think about was the crushing, relentless feeling of wanting something you couldn’t have, something that you knew, deep down, would only complicate things further.

And you weren’t ready to deal with that.

[yuhi-san]

Hospital yuri be on my yay! Vol 4 lots going on in the few first pages already.

Floppy haired vash is so adorable omg

Them making contact all of a sudden just then felt a little abrupt but good for them! Of course knives has to ruin it. Makes you wonder just how much he notices and knows of things going on.

Wolfwood oh man. I think its easy to miss how much time he spends just trying to keep it together and to adjust to all the curveballs hes thrown ever since he met vash. I think that deserves his own post eventually but he is not having a great time. But his reaction to the satelit and them making contact is really telling. His “will we be saved? Us…?” speaks volumes about ww. I think it shows how little hope for the future he really has. He can’t think much further than surviving tomorrow and maybe, if he’s lucky and smart and ruthless enough, keeping the children save for a little longer. But its clear he didn’t believe that there truly could be a future, let alone a good one. he has so very little hope abiut that but at the same time he wants to hope so, so badly, if not for himself then at least for the kids. And ouch that hurts.

Vash trying to sneak off alone, thinking he has to do it all alone. Of course he does. One day you will be at the receiving end and it wont be fun.

Ohh midvalley. Still very intrigued by him. But on the same note, what an unhinged first impression you give knives. But anyway  I think midvalley is actually a lot like Wolfwood. At least in the sense that he is very, very terrified but also has a very good intuition for a situation and danger. He also clearly does not want to be involved in this insanity, less out of a sense of morality but self-preservation. He can feel in his bones how evil and dangerous knives is and he really, really rather not cross his path again but what would be worse is getting on his bad side, so. I guess in a way midvalley is in a very futile situation, not too much unlike Wolfwood. Makes me wanna see an au where midvalley switches sides, if for no other reason than thinking this is more likely to keep him alive. Him and Wolfwood would be so interestig

Well knives seems confident Wolfwood is doing exactly what he wants. Though I’m not sure if that is because knives is so certain about ‘chapels’ loyalty (to the children, that is) or if he thinks it doesn’t really matter how it plays out either way as no matter what, he IS guiding vash and also it IS going to cause him so much pain regardless on how it goes down. Also not sure he even knows ww is the wrong chapel. On one hand, knives is meticulous and damn smart on the other hand I can see him not giving enough of a fuck to realize or maybe worry about it.

Vash and Wolfwood are soo dumb. How are they not dead. Bless milly and meryl. What absolute idiots. Especially vash. you traveled the desert for over a century, you should not make mistakes like that!!

It may be short but some badass milly and meryl moments! Man does meryl look mad. It reminds you that if they are not dealing with basically superpowered people, these two girls are not ones you want to mess with

Wolfwood waving at milly and und the horrified face he makes when she starts crying is so funny. He was just saying hi!!

Goddamn vash is mad and ready to strangle zazie, I’d say with the way he jumped at him (which went great. That was some hilarious rodeo of a worm vash)

It probably wouldn’t have worked out well but man I have no doubt milly would have shot ww. Shes so determinate I love her.

Lots and lots going on. The action and dialog is sometimes a little hard to follow to me. The missle Wolfwood shot into the sky. What was that for? Or was that the same one that hit between vash and hopperd?

Knives. We get to see him some through midvalleys eyes but there is also the shot of vash with a black eye stumbling after him while knives looks… displeased and uncaring at best. And we’ll see how my opinion evolves but I do think already then, knives was rotten to the core with no sympathy and love left. I do not at all think he is a case of born evil or anything. Knives very much was a victim of the circumstances. But what I do think is the whole tesla situation and all broke his innocent mind to a point where for him, there was never a chance of healing, no matter the course his life would have taken. You know what I mean? Maybe I’ll get more into that in another post.

[christabelq]

'SOULSTAR' BOOK REVIEW...

I haven’t done a review for a while, but I felt I should for this book, as I didn't like it and wanted to explore why. The book’s about a necromantic witch called Robin, who is fighting to make the country of Aeland a better place. At first she tries to do this by working with the new king, who appears to be quite progressive, but as time goes on, it becomes clear he’s not the person she thought he was and she needs to take a different route. She takes over as the head of the Free Democracy party when the previous leader Jacob is assassinated and ends up bringing about a revolution. The blurb for the book describes it as A WHIRLWIND OF MAGIC, POLITICS, ROMANCE, AND INTRIGUE, which sounded right up my street, but it totally didn't live up to my expectations and here are some of the reasons…

One of the villains (a terminally ill old man) is tried near the end and sentenced to hang. I find the idea of capital punishment deeply troubling, so this was never going to sit well with me. I think it’s inhumane, and when mistakes happen (which they totally do), there’s nothing you can do about it. The trial also left a bad taste in my mouth. It’s what I believe is commonly referred to as a kangaroo court, when the accused isn’t given a chance to defend himself and the verdict’s pretty much decided before anyone says a word. To make matters worse, Robin traps the man’s soul in a tree for a thousand years after he’s been hanged. This isn’t part of the court’s decision and there’s no consultation. She just does it. For me this little display suggests that power has totally gone to her head and Aeland has simply traded one arrogant despot for another, which I’m sure wasn’t what the author had in mind.

The pacing feels off. Parts of the book seemed rushed (e.g. the revolution and a lot of the magic stuff), while other parts felt bloated and unnecessarily drawn out. The author seemed unable to tell what to focus on to best serve the story, and if there was any editorial guidance, it must have been pretty poor judging by how it turned out.

Complex issues are dealt with in what for me seems like a totally simplistic way. The revolutionaries are holier than thou and the people they’re fighting against are like pantomime villains, when in the real world, almost everyone is somewhere in the middle. You only really hear one viewpoint about stuff and the whole mess gets cleared up in a ridiculously short amount of time.

The character of Zelind. Zelind is non-binary, which on the face of it sounds great, but the sense I got was that khe was a token character. I had no clue about kher appearance or what kher life as non-binary was like (e.g. the specific challenges khe faced). I noticed that the author used the wrong pronouns for kher a few times (usually SHE/HER, but also at least one THEY), which made me wonder if KHE was once a SHE and the non-binary element was added quite late in the writing process to be on trend or something. It certainly doesn’t add to the plot in any way. If it wasn't a late change, then it's another example of sloppy editing. You expect that kind of slip in self-published books, but not when they're from a big company like Tor and not when its something people might be sensitive about. I also wondered how everyone the character meets seems to immediately know which pronouns to use for kher. I don’t have any direct experience of this myself, but I’m guessing it doesn’t always work that way for real non-binary people, so it doesn’t ring true. Another thing that didn’t seem realistic was the way the character rustled up a machine to generate electricity at the drop of a hat, when others have been trying for years and utterly failing. It’s not properly explained how khe is able to do it and it all happens off camera so to speak, so you don’t get to see what it actually involves. This character could have been so much more and for me was a big disappointment.

The plot feels contrived. I knew all along where the book was headed, so getting through it felt like a chore. There were also quite a few times when seemingly hopeless situations were quickly resolved by unlikely events, e.g. Robin happening to know there would be a hidden door which would allow her and Grace to escape from a burning room, or footsteps lying undisturbed on a snowy rooftop for days, so Robin can solve the mystery of Jacob’s assassination (luckily there hasn’t been any snow in the meantime and it hasn't melted either). Magic also felt a bit convenient at times and the rules around it seemed to shift to fit the plot.

So those are my biggest gripes. I won’t tell anyone they shouldn’t read the book, because I’ve seen a lot of glowing reviews and I’m sure a lot of people will 💜 it, but for me it just didn’t work. I haven’t read the other books in the Kingston cycle and I won’t be doing now. This one was more than enough. 2/5

[landoffreaksandfrogs]

Anonymous Bloodswap Headcanons, parts 1 through 3. I am not the source, all ideas presented are from an anonymous user.

the best thing about being a creative is that you can inspire others, and im so so happy that someone wanted to share such a great interpretation of my bloodswap. it has so much great stuff going on that i can really appreciate, so if anon ever sees this, PLEASE keep writing!! you obviously have a lot of talent. :]

transcript under the cut

okay so terezi is like. Raised in the courts, she’s always playing around online “judging” people’s crimes. This is how she comes across the others — she meets vriska first, talking about the annoying things highbloods do, and decides she likes this girl, takes pity on her, meets her friends, proper scourge sisters courtship and all such shit

vriska really loves to flarp. her favorite thing is to flarp pirates with eridan and kanaya (although eridan always makes her do the dirty job of killing the trolls they round up while kanaya takes their lusii for tz, so vriska mildly resents him for it ig? eridan doesn’t notice, just figures that vriska’s doing what she’s naturally meant to do — become more powerful so that maybe one day she’ll be able to be in his presence not as a flarper but as a hatefriend. yes he’s still racist in my head.)

sollux and aradia are in a cave system one day when they hear the sounds of some trolls running. sollux, lil guy that he is, gets involved, while aradia stays for backup but doesn’t really want to deal with this. sollux finds eridan and vriska hunting down the two trolls. he challenges eridan to a duel, dismissing vriska. vriska is. rightfully pissed and retreats (terezi will hear about this). eridan loses the duel — he didn’t know that his powers wouldn’t work to their full extent on sollux and sollux therefore has time to take him out. eridan’s never been a very physical fighter, always relying on vriska to do the dirty jobs for him or on his mind powers to take people out so he didn’t know how to deal with this.

eridan is lost broken he just lost to a dirty little hemonymous upstart who somehow evaded his powers? shit’s getting real man idk. anyway he looks into who sollux is, finds out who his friends are — and oh, fuck, he’s red courting fef. eridan is fucking livid at this. but fef manages to calm him down for now. keyword.

anyway in the meantime karkat is having fun exploring his caves and figuring out his ancestral legacy when he discovers this weird one with his sign on it, only it’s not only his sign its also nepeta’s sign and sollux’s sign?? he looks into it. there’s a statue of what looks like an older version of sollux, sweeping a hand out dramatically over the empty cave. karkat’s ancestor is behind him, hand on S.A (sollux’s ancestor’s) shoulder. N.A is sitting at his feet, grinning devilishly, eyes glowing and air sparking around her as her hair floats wildly in the air. intrigued karkat spends some long weeks fucking around in there until he discovers his ancestor’s diary. he reads through it, uploads it to goregle storage and sends it to sollux and nepeta. 

nepeta when she gets this is absolutely fucking enraged. what the fuck, karkat. you dont just share anti empire shit like this on goregle! youre not part of the fucking warthunder fandom for heavens sake! anyway she gets mad at him, kind of ends up blowing some shit up with her psionics (she always had too much power and not enough control) and starts a fire in her hivestem. this takes so long to put out and is during the day. at least six people die, and nepeta suffers severe third degree burns both from the fire and from running out of the burning building into the sun. sollux finds out, yells at karkat, they’re not friends for the next few sweeps. anyway karkat, trying to make amends, takes nepeta into his cave system, where they spend the next couple of sweeps until sgrub charting ships and talking romance and ancestral legacy and healing their friendship. theyve got a really fuckin cute pale thing going on by the time they enter sgrub. 

gamzee gets wind of what nepeta did. he of course has no idea what karkat did. so he starts cyberstalking nepeta, carefully gathering evidence on his murderer friend. she notices but decides not to say anything — he’s a teal, she can’t challenge him. aradia might like her but aradia’s also stoned most of the time on weird highblood weed so she’s not sure how well the trial would go. anyway gamzee collects this evidence, and, once he’s got enough (or, thinks he does), he sends it to aradia. 

aradia finds this amusing, that he would put so much time into a seemingly petty grudge against a lowblood 

“what kinda crush you got on her, gam”

he takes offense, arguing that she murdered five people and commited arson! she obviously isn’t right in the head, should be culled or at the very least punished and put in her place! aradia takes this moment to point out that she’s a fucking clown. she doesn’t care if someone kills another person. as long as there’s not a political motive, she isn’t there for it. gamzee resignedly leaves it alone. 

however! then we’ve got aradia and tavros discussing this stuff. tavros ends up spilling the beans to terezi. he’s always liked nepeta, found her super awesome but like shit if he’s going to lie to the heiress

terezi ponders it for a while, lets it sit. 

before you know it they’re all six sweeps old. the game starts. shenanigans ensue. 

not going to go into this stuff but: 

vriska and terezi break up, leaving terezi mentally fragile and vriska mentally and socially vulnerable

karkat and nepeta also break up when nepeta starts pitch courting gamzee (karkat cant deal with it because he doesn’t understand why and everything is changing and nep can’t keep up w him and and and and . teenager stuff.)

erinepquius moirails maybe? 

eridan definitely figures out their gender sometime during this, thanks to kanaya (they’re in some sort of quasi-romantic relationship — not quadranted but not entirely platonic)

gamzee keeps a close eye on nep. whenever she starts to get angry, he records it. whenever she steps out of line, he’s onto her.

terezi keeps a close eye on the records gamzee keeps. she doesn’t approve of this — of what he’s doing — but nep might be dangerous,. she’s constantly fighting with herself and the otehrs, and keeping them off balance. 

karkat fucks up the frog because he’s so on edge, so paranoid. terezi’s affecting everyone, and it doesn’t help that he doesn’t have a moirail anymore. 

they finish their game, but then bec noir comes and yeets it. 

escape to the meteor. 

ill finish these tomorrow lmao

[phantomoftheorpheum]

a couple of things about 2x05 of summer school, i felt kind of disconnected from the girls for the most part.

first of all, like you pointed out, it seems like the writers wanted as to feel sad about noa and jen? absolutely not. i don’t like shawn’s mom but i understand where she’s coming from. i would’ve said way worse things to noa honestly - as we know the full story and shawn’s mom doesn’t. jen calling her evil or whatever was annoying. she has the right to be pissed. and the fact that jen doesn’t even acknowledge that shawn is the one who helped her out.

and then imogen blowing up at her dad. i like imogen a lot but i thought she totally overreacted as if her father committed some heinous crime. her mother gave back the ring years ago. if they had been together by the time of her death, and he took it and gave it to someone else THEN i’d understand. but to physically grab a knife and threaten to cut off her finger??? hello??? then she says to johnny “you must think im nuts” and he tells her he doesn’t… i do! it feels like the writers brushed that aside too much. i actually thought we were going to get a reveal that she only imagined it (in line with her medication issues) and that imogen would be upset for the rest of the dinner but that obv didn’t happen 😅

mouse was barely involved. i’m glad tabby told off wes. it felt like the writers were ignoring his weirdness from season 1 so at least we’re getting back to that. and i agree that it’s strange how fast henry was… converted.

overall, something about this season feels off to me. i don’t think i’m connecting with it as well as i thought i would but i am still looking forward to seeing where things go mystery wise. but the romance, friendship, and familial drama isn’t doing it for me. and the girls feel so disconnected but that might just be me feeling that.

I have yet again written a really long response to ask, so I have yet again decided to place it under a cut.

Okay. So, yeah, I will definitely stand behind the fact that I really feel the framing of the Noa & Jen breakup felt weirdly out of step with how they've been portraying the rest of that storyline so far. So then I just find myself thinking about what they're trying to tell us with that. Why? The thing that I find the most intriguing about this whole situation is the fact that, most of the time, they don't actually seem to be trying to make the audience like Jen at all. They go out of their way to give us scenes that make us feel bad for Shawn, just tons of him being sweet and oblivious and supportive, while also seemingly going out of their way to make Jen seem shady and like an absolute dick. That's such an interesting choice if they mean for Jen to continue on to possible future seasons of the show. It would have been so much easier to just have Jen be super nice and Shawn and Noa's relationship to be falling apart more organically. But that's not what they've done at all.

So why would you do this if you ultimately want your audience to want Noa and Jen to end up together? The only particularly good explanation I can see for that would be if Shawn's going to be a revealed as an antagonist, or possibly if they're going to try to pull a reframing twist of some kind where we see why Jen has said and done what she has this season and it was genuinely actually the best she could do and it makes us feel differently about those words/actions (but this doesn't really help redeem Noa's behavior, which a lot of people are struggling with). This second thing is pretty hard to pull off, but it can be done (see 1x04 of Queen Charlotte). I'm not sure PLL is the kind of show that wants to devote the time/care needed for that kind of storyline, but it's certainly a thought I've had.

The other answer would be that they don't actually care if the audience likes Jen because she's a temporary character being utilized as a plot device and they have no long term plans to keep her around (either because she's a villain, or because she just leaves once she's completed summer school).

The last option I've got is just that... they didn't mean for it to come off quite as harshly as it has for a lot of viewers (like if they are making Shawn so "perfect" because it's more dramatic for the audience if he's so oblivious and supportive, but they kind of over did it and now a lot of the audience just feels super bad for him to an extent they weren't supposed to?), but this seems less likely because like... how would you not realize the way this is going to come off? I mean, I HAVE seen writer's rooms and showrunners that are so completely out of touch with the audience, so it's not impossible, but in this case, it feels very intentional, imo.

I think one thing that is really common in fandom (or honestly just in humans in general) is letting our first impression or a generally good or bad impression color everything. So, for instance, I will see a lot of people excuse literally any and all of the girls' behavior, seemingly just because... we like them? They aren't always right. You can still root for someone and acknowledge they've handled something poorly or done something wrong. The girls don't need to be morally perfect for us to justify liking them.

So I think a great example of what happens in the opposite direction (we don't like this character, so they are never allowed to be right) is Shawn's mom. Shawn's mom sucks. I mean, I totally agree. She's a dick to Noa, showed a lack of compassion for her difficult situation, the passive aggressive way she spoke to her on multiple occasions was just flat out childish, and my overall opinion of her is that she sucks. But just because I think that overall she's shown more bad than good, and I don't personally like her, that doesn't mean that she's always wrong.

To an extent, I agree with her. She's right to be upset about Shawn pulling 2k out of his bank account for Noa just out of the blue with no explanation. I think it was also totally fair for her to remind Noa of the "house rules" if she's living with them. There is nothing weird about not wanting your teenage (minor) son to have a live in girlfriend who is ignoring your family boundaries. There is nothing weird about being concerned about your teenage son emptying all his savings for his girlfriend. As a mom, I think it's normal for her to be concerned about the things she's been concerned about. Most moms wouldn't be chill with this situation. The way in which she went about addressing all of those things sucked, imo, but the fact that she's upset is very understandable. On the other hand, I get why Noa, Jen, and even Shawn are not happy with his mother, (personally, I'm not sure that Jen really has many feelings about Shawn's mom at all, I think she just sees that conflict as a crack in Noa's relationship with him and she is actively trying to get Noa and Shawn to break up, so of course she was going to take this opportunity). They are teenagers. They feel like they're adults, and this feels overbearing to them. And the show honestly treats them like adults a lot of the time, so it's a weird cognitive dissonance for the audience, too.

I'm not sure where Rebecca & Imogen's dad might fit into the larger plot line, but I think the point of that scene for Imogen was to show that she is really close to snapping. In Dr. Sullivan's files she wrote something about Imogen teetering on the edge of a psychotic break, so I don't think the audience is supposed to think that was a totally normal response (I mean, I do get why she's upset. She clearly has sentimental value attached to the ring, and she feels like her mom is being replaced, regardless of how true that feeling is), and while I do agree that Johnny's response is startlingly chill, when I thought about it, I realized that sort of has been his character so far. He hasn't had much screen time, but his main characterization is being really calm no matter what's thrown at him and just staying kind of level. He's taken everything Imogen has said and done really easily and talked her down when she's upset. I think Imogen's deteriorating mental state will be a major part of the next three episodes. I even talked a bit about this in my breakdown of the trailer (I won't go into details here, because I know some people don't watch the trailers) and where I think that is going. I also definitely think her grabbing the knife is foreshadowing (so possibly this scene got a little over the top because they needed that moment). It's the second time Johnny has gotten her to hand him a knife when she's panicking, and I'd bet just about anything there will be a third time (though I suspect it will be an unsuccessful third time) this scenario comes up. Whether or not that's Johnny maybe failing to talk Imogen out of stabbing someone else, or him, who knows? Depends on if he's good or bad.

I always love seeing Wes get put in his place. He is trash. He just is. Even if he's not going to turn out to be a major antagonist, I'm glad the show is acknowledging that.

I can see where you're coming from with the way the relationships (of all kinds) are dealt with this season. There's just a lot of stuff going on, and I think the show is struggling a bit to balance all of it. Like you've got 3 established main love interests, 3 brand new love interests, Imogen's situation with Estelle, Greg & Kelly's relationship, the Mrs. Beasley/church thing, the BR "tests," the online mystery boards, Chip's lingering legacy & his mom, the online version of the cult, Mouse's grandmother, Faran's job, Tabby's films, Dr. Sullivan's whole plot, actual Rose Waters, and now this stuff with Imogen's dad. It's a ton to try to tie together, and it also means limited screen time for each of these things. I think if the show had even just like 12 or 13 episodes for this season, so there was a little bit of breathing room, it might feel like we get more time for characters to grow, connect, and just be themselves. A ton happens in each of these episodes. I would know, since I type it up every time one releases and it takes ages because there's so many different things going on. Plus, we don't know why any of these things are happening. Last season we had motive and it was more about "who." This season we don't know who or why. So it's just... a lot.

I'm having fun over-analyzing and breaking it down, but I can definitely see why it could be a hard to connect with.

[bonesandthebees]

hello! ive been very skillfully avoiding reading other peoples reactions because once again i am behind by two chapters!!

so chapter five here we go!

i like that tommy’s just like a kid having a grand ole time and wilbur is like “this guys SUCKS.” its very silly

i just semi-recently read jane eyre so the curtains on fire are giving rochester’s curtains on fire but that was because his wife that he hid away lit them on fire whilst he was sleeping not because of you know an accident of sorts but anyways

i like that tommy is just tommy living his best life

to the city they go!!!

i like their interactions just in the carriage its interesting

FLOWERS RAHHHHHHHHHHH

(i wont go into flower imagery right now because that would leave us here for a while and while they might have meaning they most likely do not in this sensebut god i love flowers and all their meanings and even the way they coincide with characters and ahhh)

i like that wilbur can read her it makes sense for his character but now we get to see how perceptive tommy is which is basically not at all in this case at least

and wilbur is helping despite his hatred and his thoughts dont cross phil and how he would want him to help, but its a rather decision solely based on his own conscience and that is an interesting thing

and then theres tommy who takes everything as a challenge and yeah i just am intrigued by them

but this time wilbur holds himself because of phil and thats the contrast between the things he does for him and the things he does for his dad

tommy is doing things!!!

and i like this

i like that this shows tommy’s morals, it shows that he understands he has power in his position he just prefers to be a kid rather than have to act with that power constantly and i think that is telling of how he would be as an heir to the throne because he doesn’t act for the power he acts for the people

and hes a good person, exactly that wilbur, he doesnt play the games of politics and that is what makes him interesting

i like that in this situation wilbur knows what would be good and bad options and it sets him up to be able to better evaluate their answers from his own view

blank slate

and now tommy gets to go to the place because he is a possible heir interesting

anyways i enjoyed this chapter! i think it gave good insight on all the heirs character in a sense and how they would be as a leader and its just kind of setting that stage but anyways time for the next chapter!

- 🪿

lol yeah the contrast between wilbur and tommy in ch 5 is so funny. tommy is just a kid goofing around and wilbur is like "I hate my fucking life why am I stuck with him" he's such a dramatic teenager

gonna be 100% honest I don't really use a lot of flower language symbolism solely bc I feel like depending on the source you go off of you can find totally different meanings for the same flower like there seems to be very little consistency across the board and I never know what the 'right' source to use is. this isn't to say there is no flower language/symbolism is the fic, the references to roses are very intentional. and there are hints to certain things with the flowers mentioned in the palace garden but it's not exactly... symbolism, per se. anyway, you're more than welcome to analyze the flower language of the flowers at the market, just know that I didn't look into that at all and just chose the flowers mentioned there mostly based off vibes lol

yeah I liked pointing out that wilbur wasn't trying to help tommy with the seashell seller because of his father's orders, he genuinely didn't want to watch a 13 year old get ripped off

tommy is a blank slate like phil said. he's young and idealistic and most importantly, a good person. and one could say the reason he's still good is because he hasn't gotten involved in the games yet. you'll have to wait and see if he stays that way as the story progresses

ty I'm glad you enjoyed this chapter!!!

[readymades2002]

speaking OF misericorde and misericorde spoilers btw

i have been thinking about these two exchanges since reading them for the first time. WHAT DID THEY MEAN BY THIS!!! i am absolutely unceasingly intrigued by eustace’s stumble there and what it could mean! my current leading thoughts which almost definitely don’t account for everything (eustace going from ‘in the [morning?]’ to ‘later’ is its own fun mystery to solve) are that either eustace is lying about needing to check for the book For Whatever Reason, OR that the superior knows things about the library that eustace doesn’t. 

i am leaning towards the latter interpretation because i think that has some capital R Ramifications! at this point (one chapter in, mind you, so who knows what is yet to be revealed) i’m feeling positive that eustace and the superior are In Cahoots in a similar way as hedwig and the superior. i think that both of them having access to the relic room is notable and i think that in this context eustace telling hedwig not to snoop around the library while the superior knows things eustace doesn’t is soooo loaded. god i want to know whats going on there. eustace asserting boundaries to hedwig that she can not assert to the superior, the superior playing moves ahead, the superior invading eustace’s life and fragile peace the way she has invaded hedwig’s, catherine’s place in the library and how it factors into this, etc etc...

i also think that this is really worth noting what with medea showing up on hedwig’s bed. iirc a fair bit of catherine’s things ended up with eustace, and this copy of medea, if it was truly meant for hedwig (which i remember being suspicious of? it is very convenient that it showed up on her bed and she accepted it easily enough in her kind of desperate and romantic way that i am not quite taking it as fact), would reveal a connection between catherine and the alleged Only Woman Who Had No Connection To The Murder Victim that would shoot even more holes in the superior’s plan to have the single least qualified woman in the world to investigate a murder investigate a murder. i think that eustace likely had the means to get this play to hedwig, or to know where this play is in the library and be able to access it, and that it could be...hm. HM

i am puzzling this out as i go so sorry if its incoherent (big surprise) but i think that eustace being in cahoots with the superior makes her attempts to chase hedwig away very, very interesting. it feels like a warning and a threat at the same time. i think there’s a case you could make (a faulty case, almost definitely, but a case) that if eustace and the superior are collaborators, they could be involved in catherine’s murder, and they could be aware of hedwig’s connection to her, aware that the anchoress could have heard things from catherine’s pursuit of this Unnamed Conspiracy that she should not know, and could be acting to shut her up now? question mark? in the sense that eustace is being used as a weapon by the superior? i don’t think they murdered catherine (her having two different wounds stands out to me), but i think they could have definitely found her body and then arranged it in the striking way she was found. its like...its like what eustace was doing with the armor. creating an atmosphere to warn people off. though eustace as the superior’s tool warning hedwig (in a very similar situation. theoretically. if i am not fishing in the air) carries a feeling of “do not end up like me” that i think is cool

which is kind of the reason behind a lot of this, because only one chapter in i EXTREMELY doubt there’s even enough information to Solve the murder (we still don’t know SOOOOO much) but there is already enough being set up that i think this is perhaps not entirely an ungrounded thought process. maybe. perhaps. i just think that the idea of eustace being in hedwig’s situation is cool and i also think that someone being made to tamper with their friend’s murder scene to send a message against everything they wish because someone else has leverage on them is just. i think as a concept that it is compelling. to ME

also i’m not throwing my weight behind any of this because i am very foolish and i do not trust my ability to read mysteries all that much but i’m definitely having fun!!

[soupiyamashuu]

rin hr alt.

Basic Information

Her full name is Rin Zeniya. (銭谷凛)

Hero Name:

Cis Woman (she/her)

Asexual + lesbian

Born in Yokote, Akita, Japan. Her birthday is June 6.

Speaks Japanese and basic English. She almost always speaks Japanese with the Akita dialect. Her japanese is actually considered quite “rough” and “hostile” sounding.

blood type: O

Power Type:

Firearm & Weaponry Creation

she mostly focuses on making guns and “mains” rifles + shotguns “cause they’re badass”. she doesn’t like using swords or knives as much because she likes being a long range fighter better.

rin is able to generate weapons (and, if needed, ammo) using Energy. she is also able to easily cobble together weapons using things she finds (scrap metal, rocks, wood, etc.) like it’s damn minecraft or smth.

her power set is largely physical/weapons-oriented rather than psychic.

As a result of her childhood being very chaotic, she is grateful for her abilities as they allowed her to protect herself from bullying and general violent attacks against her/her family.

Hero Outfit: typically wears some type of military lolita-style fit (see appearance section); heavy boots + a lot of random accessories (this is dependent on the mission though)

Likes & Dislikes

Likes & Hobbies: She is very interested in spooky, ominous, or otherwise dark things. Big fan of horror movies, taxidermy, and “witchcraft”. She is also big into learning about weaponry and has a sizeable collection of (Real) swords/knives and (model) guns.

Dislikes: being cold (ironic since akita is in northern japan and frequently gets Quite Cold), being outside for too long, and various vegetables.

Fave/Least Fave Animals: crows // most reptiles

Fave/Least Fave Colors: black & blue // purple

Fears: ???

Family

Rin has two fathers who are fairly high ranking members of the Yakuza. They considered trying to resign from their gang once Rin was born* but realized it would be quite difficult to try and support a family as ex-Yakuza members. (allegedly it’s hard to reintegrate into normal society if ur an ex yakuza member so it makes sense but also this is a fake character so i dont care about realism.)

*Rin was born via a surrogate and adopted upon birth. She has an older sister from one of her fathers’ previous marriages.

Because her parents are literally in the yakuza, she has been involved in a Lot of targeted attacks on her family as a whole.

She is technically considered an affiliate of the yakuza but . isn’t like a full fledged Member of it. she tries to stay away from the whole thing because she doesn’t want to be involved in large scale violence.

Despite them being yakuza members, her parents were quite caring and, with support from their freakin gang, have been able to provide rin and her sister almost anything they could want or need.

Appearance

Short, blue-black hair (comes to about shoulder height)

Dark indigo eye; she lost her right eye when she was young due to the freaking yakuza violence and wears either an eyepatch over it … or gauze to make it look more intriguing because she likes being extra

she’s got sharp teeth #cool

5 ft 0

Petite, though she can look a bit spindly …

Asian; relatively pale because she does not go outside That much

Typical fashion: Gothic lolita + military lolita

Personality

A bit off-putting; she can be quite hot-headed and hostile due to feeling the need to protect herself (due to her environment growing up). As much as she would like to be a ~kawaii~ superhero, she kind of feels the need to be rough, dark, and a bit edgy to stand out. Then again, she’s not too into ‘cutesy’ stuff anyway. This has somehow garnered her many fans and followers.

She is a big fan of jpop despite not liking cute things. But then again, that’s probably just because she likes looking at the girls involved.

Design Lore

Shin, Haruka, Mikiko, and Rin all represent an interpretation of the four horsemen of the apocalypse – Rin = war – the four of them are known by the Japanese name “Yohane no Mokushiroku no Yonkishi” (literal translation of the four horsemen)

came to me in a vision But could be loosely inspired by maki from ndrv3. her name just seemed fitting #TBH

the last name “zeniya” just seemed badass somehow so i used that FHKGKHFGHK

according to japanese blood type beliefs, people with type O blood are “confident, arrogant, competitive, insensitive, easygoing, and natural leaders”

i miss playing yakuza like a dragon but heres rin with her gay yakuza dads to make up for it #loveislove

Trivia

she is instagram famous and has like. 500k followers. she primarily posts gothic fashion pics and random weapon posing pics.

likes being in the US because she doesn’t have to worry about freaking targeted yakuza attacks (…as much?) and can just chill out playing games or some crap