#beatrice as a character is SO interesting due to you never seeing her at all until the very end

[peteytheparrot]

Ok but only A Series of Unfortunate Events could open with such a good quote every episode like ‘Darling, Dearest, Dead’ goes SO hard wtf…

[whensomethingelsecries]

umineko: how often they cry

some data on the number of crying sprites each character has in umineko, obtained from looking through the game files. obviously has nothing to do with how frequently the sprites appear in-game, i just thought that would be a funny title

i'm including results for both question arcs and answer arcs this time, because the variation between them (and the upsets) felt much more notable than for the akuwaria data

a "crying" sprite is defined here as any sprite with clearly visible tears coming from one or both eyes. this includes teary-eyed sprites and excludes sprites where a character is visibly wailing but producing no tears. "unique" expressions are changes to the facial expression itself - two sprites where a character is making the exact same face but they're holding up a gun in one of them is considered one unique expression under "unique crying", but two sprites under the "all crying" and "total sprites" categories

mercifully, i will readmore this one.

so, top 5 (including 5th-place ties) highest number of unique crying sprites:

standard beato, for reasons that are probably obvious, gains a handful of crying sprites in the answer arcs that no other outfit/variation of hers receives, landing her with a clear lead in the answer arcs.

i was surprised to see ange rank so high since she has relatively few sprites overall. also surprising to me was how few crying sprites battler actually has! you'd expect it to be more proportionate to how often any given character cries, but battler manages to cover all the necessary nuances with just 4 (and 4 that are the same expression but pointing)

i do also think it's funny that the youngest 3 stakes all have extra crying sprites compared to the eldest 4 - it is interesting to note that while the sisters do share pretty much all their sprites with at least a few of the others, they don't all have the same complete "set" like i would have expected to see

top 5 most crying sprites, including posing/prop variations:

beato clears pretty comfortably due to her pipe/no pipe variations really stacking her deck. eva and question arcs natsuhi also get a huge bump in their totals from having three sprites per expression: one standard, one holding the gun, and one aiming the gun.

top 5 highest percentages of crying sprites:

the only category to see no real upset between question and answer arcs! the only change is eva gaining one (1) additional sprite somewhere along the line, impacting her final percentage very slightly. the top 3 here all pretty clearly won out due to their very small number of sprites, relatively speaking, meaning even just 2 or 3 gives them a pretty significant edge here. congratulations to sakutarou for being umineko's biggest crybaby by volume

also, here's the bottom 5s for question and answer arcs, respectively (highest number of total sprites with 0 crying sprites):

rudolf exits the bottom 5 in the answer arcs by gaining 3 unique/5 total crying sprites, shooting him all the way up to #17 out of the 70 included characters! congratulations on learning to express your emotions, bud. EVA beatrice slipping into the bottom 5 is just the expected result of this - she was one spot above krauss in the question arcs.

i was kind of surprised to realize that rosa never cries? from how many sprites she has and the type of character she is, you might expect it. it's interesting to see that, despite her tendency for outbursts, we never see her cry, of all things. maybe that's the one way she is good at keeping it together.

i remain surprised in general by battler's poor performance, especially compared to characters with a lot less screentime than him. i was pretty convinced he'd be a clear winner in both of the quantity-based categories, but he's fighting pretty hard just for his spot in the top handful, it would seem. honestly very interesting data

[fujoreads]

Umineko: Episode 3 // Review & Thoughts

VNDB | Steam

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

CW: Murder (duh); suicide attempt; blood

P.S.: There are broken youtube previews due to my blog's theme, so they won't look as good, but I refuse not to show them.

With this review, I am almost up to date with my Umineko reviews, so let's get this started!

PLOT

I would say this is the easiest episode to solve to far, but to be honest, I'm second-guessing myself as I type.

This episode had its focus on Eva and I loved every bit of it.

For starters, this is the first episode we get where all Ushiromiyas survive the first twilight! It was pretty cool to see all the dynamics in these moments of stress and panic.

The first twilight was rather tame; it's only after the second twilight that things get more serious for both sides: the purgatory side, and Rokkenjima side.

I gotta say though, Kumasawa turning into Virgilia was surprising, and the fight scene was 100% chunni hype KEKW

I don't necessarily love chunni works, but I also don't hate them. For some reason, I really like how Ryukishi writes theses more fantastical scenes; hell, even the dumb comedy scenes! Maybe it's because the works are so heavy that you get relieved when you see some lighthearted action. Though to be fair, this is a split opinion amongst the fanbase.

I find it extremely funny how Schrödinger's cat is always mentioned in VNs. It goes with the plot this time, though.

Evatrice torturing Rosa was tough to watch...

ESPECIALLY this part. Like, holy shit, what a description lmao

This sceneeeeee! When I saw his eyes and heard his tone, I knew Beato fucked up. It was so hype!! So hype I wrote this when I read it lmao

Beatrice's trial sure was something... I even shed some tears.

And then we get this... UOOOOOOH BEATORICHEEEEEE!!!

I got tricked so hard and I can't even hate her.

CHARACTERS

Ushiromiya Kyrie & Rudolf

This is the episode where Kyrie & Rudolf both shine as a couple and individuals—though Rudolf less than Kyrie.

The fight scene with the Stakes was one awesome fight!! I never wanted to marry Kyrie more <3

Ushiromiya Eva (ft. Evatrice)

Evatrice is a very interesting character, even if somewhat annoying. We can see her as the antagonist witch, or just as a personification of Eva's fuel and desire... and trauma.

Ooooh that's a nightmare face alright.

The violence of growing as a woman, living in extremely sexist times and amongst a shitty family, with a powerful surname to uphold... I can relate to two of those aspects, but even if I'm not rich like Eva, I can understand her drive and feelings. Seeing the way Rosa and Eva are developed over the episodes, I can only look forward to the rest of the cast!

Ushiromiya Hideyoshi

I haven't met anyone as compassionate as Hideyoshi. I would say Eva doesn't deserve him, but he's the perfect match for her. She's a lucky woman, in that sense.

Ushiromiya Kinzo

Kinzo might be the one individual I can't like. He might be an entertaining fella, but he's an utterly horrible human being—and I bet I haven't seen half of it.

The way we learn more about her time being Kinzo's captive... it's all too painful to see. It also feels like a romanticized tale, twisting human reality.

Her sweet smile is surely a sight to see, though. For that, I can understand Kinzo's fire, but it seems he has given her more damage than happiness.

Speaking of fire, I absolutely loved this CG. It looks like a painting, and Umineko Project's version animates this scene, making it seem like it's actually burning. Fantastic!

Virgilia

I really liked her character! She is nice, but cunning—a true witch. I enjoyed all the help she gave Battler, and how she betrayed him in the end, outdoing Beato.

AND OF COURSE SHE ALSO HAS A NIGHTMARE FUEL FACE UGH

Chiester Sisters

I love the Chiester sisters! Especially Chiester410—but honestly, the two of them are both fantastic.

(This brought me Maggot Baits flashbacks lmao)

Bernkastel

One of my favorite characters, even if I don't see much of her. Maybe it's because I've read Higurashi beforehand and got hyped seeing someone so similar-looking to Rika?

These moments are precious too. It feels like a treat to Higurashi readers. It's so sad, though...

Lambdadelta

She's here!!

I didn't know anything about her, but I had seen her before, along with Bernkastel. At first, since Bern is clearly based on Rika, I thought Lambda would be a version of Satoko, but looking at her now, I think she might be either a mix of Satoko and young Takano or just Takano.

Her laugh and childish demeanor reminds me of Satoko, but her obsession with Bern and absolute certainty clearly reminds me of Takano and how she keeps Rika trapped in an endless tragedy. Plus, she's very calculating and controlling, which just adds to that theory.

Ange

It's Ange time!! What an introduction to her character :D

I can't wait to explore more of her character in Episode 4, wink wink

Though playing Wingless as she is planning on jumping to her death sure is painful :(

Atmosphere & Soundtrack

As always, great tracks. They make my ears blush ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶

Discovering both Miragecoordinator and Lost Paradise was such a blessing. I added them to my music player as soon as I listened to them in-game!! Oh, and I must not forget about Dance of the Moon Rabbit. I love that track, though I can't unhear Evatrice's voice over it.

Art

There were so many wonderful CGs in this episode, as I've shown over this entire post. Some scenes were animated for this version, and it adds so much to the immersion!

Final Thoughts

Fantastic as always, no complaints!

I'll give this a score of 7.4/10, aka 4 stars!

<See you soon. Have a nice week.>

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

Thank you for reading it all to the end! I’m working full-time and looking for another job to make my life possible; would you be so kind and consider giving me a little tip? It can be as low as 3 bucks and it’d make a huuuuuge difference!! If you tip 10€ (or higher), you can dictate my next read and be credited (if you’d like) on that review! Have a nice day!!

[whenthechickencry]

Umineko EP5. Part 1

Props to Battler for finally trying to understand her, but reminding the person who gave up on everything due to not seeing room for understanding that you do, in fact, not understand her is a choice Battler.

Bernkastel and Lambda are not really wrong here, per se. This game, while having Sayo with differing main motivations than other times, does in fact provide a lot of hints. But also promising to understand someone and then being like "we will give you training wheels" by a third party does seem pretty bad.

Again though, she literally does in fact do that despite the framing as if she's just saying this to mock Battler.

Yeah, this is the best way to describe it, the murderer and the rules are the same but the *motivations* behind it are a bit messed up, still I think showing you someone else's interpretation of Sayo's trauma does help in getting a full picture of her...

The contrast between episode 4 ending with Battler going about how he's gonna kill her she's evil die etc to a guilt-ridden Battler trying really hard to understand her is quite interesting.... one big push made him give up on understanding her and another big push put his mind into understanding her. To be fair, the ending of EP4 was a huge degradation of his character. He was gradually being pushed into this direction, otherwise.

I am sure one person who realized they were never in the same room with Battler before this had a heart attack during this scene.

Hiiiiiii!

Natsuhi is about the only person in the world who would be legitimately weeping at Kinzo dying, it's kind of insane how much of a tryhard she is at keeping her Kinzo headcannons in order to not hate him. It's kind of funny Nanjo says like 3 times Kinzo held no regrets.... seems at first he is just saying that but it is quite true.

Narsuhi's magic doesn't stop at Kinzo, either, she has a whole writing of Krauss and this strong, silently brooding man destroyed by his father's death deep down when he is in fact thinking about how tf to not lose his dad's wealth rn.

lol

Natsuhi is a lot smarter and more competent than Krauss but Natsuhi feels emmasculated and ridiculed by this so he would rather trust a man scamming him than the woman he married. Natsuhi, despite being constantly discarded and lied to and treated as lesser writes headcanons where she is her husband's only ally and he really appreciates her help and respects her secretly even if he fucks up. He will still lie to her about the gold for a couple extra years after she saves his ass here btw.

god man this scene hits so differently now. I was Natsuhi during an abusive relationship during the time crypto and scams were becoming popular. I was the person begging someone to not use the last of their money on moon tourism and getting mistreated in result.

A very heartbreaking thing in both this scene and the one where Rosa reveals her thoughts about her husband leaving her is that Natsuhi and Rosa decide they are both fundamentally at fault for the errors of the men in their lives. They struggle with men being the ones at fault because they were always taught women were the issue.

Even after revealing to Natsuhi they might lose the literal place where she lives, he refuses to give all the information to her, fuck you Krauss.

Natsuhi is letting him off as something he couldn't have predicted but he literally could. He knew Kinzo was dying. Man is old.

Natsuhi I think it's more productive if you take these thoughts of self-blame and put them into murdering Krauss.

"Had become" as opposed to choosing to.... can't bury your true thoughts that deep I guess. Also stop demonizing yourself, does are completely fair thoughts not dark at all!

this kind of would have actually worked, which is funny with how desperate he is being. I mean, it might get complicated with Sayo, but.

I don't remember if it was Beatrice or who that said Natsuhi had no propensity for magic but they were so very wrong. Natsuhi is the Witch of Rebirth, a witch who can change someone's soul into whatever form she desires (in her head).

Natsuhi can't admit that Kinzo and Krauss are bad husbands because that would make her a bad wife.... Kinzo can, though.

Again, Natsuhi is very attuned to magic.... I might be delusional but I think Sayo and Natsuhi could have gotten along, if things were different.

It's interesting how fantasy Kinzo has said this for both Natsuhi and Kyrie. I don't think Kyrie is as desperate to be acknowledged for her efforts as Natsuhi is, but, it does show a certain discomfort about how the men in their lives control them, I think.

I can't help at magic being used this shamelessly, lol. Genji probably went to consult with Sayo right away about this lol. Kumasawa and Nanjo probably feel conflicted enough about Kinzo to just take the money without much guilt.

This scene shows us Kanon and Shannon were told I guess, Natsuhi doesn't really like them so I guess she just felt obligated to do that, though. With them being one winged servants and all.

It is kind of sad that it sees that Kinzo's wife only really exists in Natsuhi's world.... because she can relate to her. And with all the info we have, relating to her isn't exactly a sign of happiness.

.....well. You sure did know her when Beatrice was young but not vice versa I guess.

This is an answer arc, as you can tell by the game handing you answers. Thanks Lambdadelta for magic 101! You can tell killing Beatrice has made Battler do his homework, too. He's come a long way between episodes.

Battler is kind of smugly going "Heh, your easy mystery gave me answers" and it's like.... yes. That's what she is trying to do in fact Battler! It's really obvious in reply that it's really just Bern, not Lambda, that fucking hates Beato.

Lambda's not really wrong here, even if she's coming more from the angle that "anything fictional is a waste of time", which is wrong obviously.

....And the one pointing out this way of fighting is hurting Beato is Lambdadelta, again. It's really obvious she is partial to Beatrice, in her own way.

"Kumasawa, you really are quite an actress. All that panic in the corridor made it seem like Father really was there." Again, this is an answer arc. Where else has Kumasawa shown weird, overreacting terror?

[august-cvnty]

Macrbe Mariah-creepypasta oc- backstory

(Wanna apologize in advance cause this is my first time writing a Creepypasta character- I know it’s super brief and I’ll update it lots in the future but I wanted to post her story cause I did lots of research for her lolz)

Tw’s: mentioned abuse, religious trauma, homophobia, descriptions of murder, internalized homophobia.

•••

Mariah Benedict is the daughter of Frank Benedict and Beatrice Benedict. She was the product of an affair between the two which resulted in a discrete divorce between Frank and his ex wife (Alice Williams). Due to the split between Alice and Frank, he was agitated and was emotionally (and sometimes physically) abusive towards Mariah and her mother. However, Mariah was kept extremely sheltered so she never recognized the flaws in her fathers behavior and how toxic it was.

Frank was the Father of an unknown cult that was followed by the entire town. Being his daughter, Mariah was higher up in the cult (a blood child) who worked as a superior nun along with her mother (who’s role was the mother of the cult). Due to they’re powerful positions, the family were worshiped and rarely questioned, as the man of the family had ‘came in contact with a god’

This all went on until Mariah was 26, one day (during the weeks of autumn), a new woman moved to town; her name was Elizabeth Beaufort, she was 23 with tan skin, mid length auburn curls and piercing black eyes. She was aware that the town was religious but not to what extent the cult was. When Mariah saw her from her window, she felt something she assumed resembled love; however, her religion was homophobic and she saw this as sin and attempted to pray for forgiveness for whatever she did to deem these feeling; she felt disgusting and ashamed and begged for them to go away, but nothing worked. The feeling kept eating her whole until she couldn’t bear it anymore and decided to get closer to the new woman which Elizabeth gladly accepted. But throughout this time Mariah started to notice a strange pale man lurking in the forest next to her estate, when he got nearer she would get migraines, strange whispers in her ears and horrid nightmares of a future demise; she ended up convincing herself it was her punishment for her feelings.. A few months into the time between Mariah and Elizabeth, Mariah confessed and Elizabeth accepted. Knowing that Mariah’s father would never accept this and might even kill them if he knew about them, they decided they would get eloped and run away from the town late October.

A few nights before they had planned to put their plan into motion, they were caught by Mariah’s Father. They ended up getting split up attempting to run, Mariah tripped over a rock in the woods and was captured and dragged back to the town. Now being deemed ‘a tainted’ (the lowest sinner rank in the cult), Mariah was sentenced to being burnt at stake. As she was covered in fuel, she noticed the pale man in the woods again just before she was set into flames.

When she woke up once more, she had a purple outfit from her dressing room on and half a Marionette mask on from the theater in town. She had a constant static and faint voice in her ear, ‘kill them… kill those who watched you burn and make there cadavers twice as bad…’ she looked at her hands to see her skin was completely soldered off. She was horrified and confused and vulnerable; she ended up listening to the voices. She set the town on fire and left her father for last, cutting off his hands and feet before slitting his stomach and dumping him in the river.

(I’m in the middle of writing an actual creepypasta for her so lmk if you’d be interested)

[johannwolfgangvongoethe]

More Umineko

episode 1, part 5

the hidden family treasure isnt real, it cant hurt you

thats one hell of a bombshell to just drop and then leave the room without any elaboration. but i had been expecting the "six" mentioned to die in the riddle to be the older siblings and their partners. minus rosa maybe. idk. she seemed in a special position both because she is not as shrewed as her other siblings and because i expect the maria population to be affected by her death.

and i fully expect maria to be important later on due to her unique relationship with beatrice.

but well. thats not what happened later on.

anyway. rudolf, this isnt about you, first we need to look at my favourite wet dog of a woman, natsuhi.

damn girl. i promise youre not just a childbearing multifunctional screwdriver.

and of course not only does that mean her husbands status as the future family head is endangered, and her late childbirth "caused" that, he also didnt deem it necessary to mention the gold actually exists to her. she spirals so beautifully and painfully. all she ever wanted was to be useful and be a support tool and to make "her" family prosper. the family she left another one behind for. damn girl thats a sad unhappy marriage you got there. is the golden cage comfortable enough to endure it? are they feeding you good food through the bars? are they dusting you off on that high trophy shelf of yours? she has been made to understand that she has no worth on her own and she will Never be a real part of the ushiromiya family. later on we see her sad little room with her sad one person bed. its dire.

natsuhi would be a different person, had she been born in a position with more power. as a man. as an ushiromiya.

and he really just said "no you cant lol"

while krauss fails to comfort her and is, frankly, just kind of a prick, its understandable he doesnt want to involve her, i guess. its very interesting that this seems to be a cycle too, she is trying to secure a good marriage for her daughter as well, who she believes has no value of her own (bad grades, rowdy character.... undesirable leader and wife material), much like how she had to marry into this family too.

damn, so same as rosa perpetuating the physical violence.

its very touching to see natsuhi and jessica try and be nice and understanding to each other for Once. they really have to force themselves. its a lot of emotional labour that goes into it and its not perfect but there is value in it. even if ultimately i think it just brings up and enforces how big the chasm between them is. even though they are both in a similar position, strained and controlled by expectations around them, they cannot muster up the strength (and agency) to help each other and find happiness. sad!!!

its the undiagnosed narcolepsy.

and just like natsuhi, rosa has a short moment where she gets to express her apologies about pushing her trauma on her daughter. and much like natsuhi too, the message cannot reach its destination, no matter how good the intentions were.

speaking of fantastic healthy enviroments

even so, the evening goes well for shannon, i would say. in fact well enough to be a flag. the furniture plot thickens and, if she can survive the death flag that was just placed on her for longer, shannon might be graced with the chance to join the ranks of People. even if that does not necessarily equal being a Better People (=ushiromiya family member, as discussed above)

and yup. sure enough. shes nowhere to be found. instead natsuhi remains, protected by the charm perhaps. (this is my beatrice respects marias ambition to become a witch theory. dont interfere) its unfortunate.

the funniest possible way to lead the convo about how you appreciate your daughter in law

i really hope kinzo saying this to natsuhi made her feel somewhat appreciated bc god knows she needs it. where did that come from though. will he need a favour of her later? does he wish for her to succeed as an heir? since his children all only seem to wish for financial gain... while natsuhi cares about name and outward appearances. there is absolutely manipulation involved, even if it makes natsuhi feel good. and now she is powerful. at least for a while. and she shall be mean and evil towards others again. yay!

maybe im too obsessed with the gender politics of it all but it feels so significant that this was how kinzo decided to initially phrase it. he too sees that natsuhi would be a different person, had she been born in a position with more power.

well, its the morning of october the 5th. where is the dangan ronpa crime scene i had been expecting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[caliphoria17]

WARRIOR NUN: WAS AVATRICE ALWAYS CANON?

In EXCLUSIVE - Fuera de Foco spoke with its creator, Simon Barry, who told us more about the Warrior Nun mythology, stuntwork, and of course, the relationship between Ava and Beatrice (Kristina Tonteri-Young) and the potential return for a third season.

Avatrice was always canon

By the end of the first season, the potential relationship between Beatrice and Ava was one of the most popular topics on the show. In such a way that the known ship Avatrice was one of the most anticipated things by the fans of the series.

In the second season, Warrior Nun places a greater emphasis on the story between the two, which several viewers assumed was due to the strength that the ship had had on social networks after the first season. However, Simon Barry told us that Avatrice had actually always been part of the plan.

“Avatrice was always a point, a slow romance in the Warrior Nun story.” assured the showrunner , who points out that the second season of the series was written before the first even premiered on the platform.

“We understood how good it was: Ava and Beatrice on the show, and Alba and Kristina were very good, they had great chemistry. So the writers and I started writing from what we knew, something that the audience didn't necessarily know yet. So it was interesting that afterward the public was on the same page as us, because the series came out and they went crazy for it, for them.” - Simon Barry, Out of Focus

However, Barry commented that while the relationship between Ava and Beatrice is interesting on its own, it also has a reason for being for the story as a whole.

“It's not just about them having a relationship. It's mixed with the whole theme of the second season, which is about sacrifice and feeling that something or someone belongs to you." Recounted the showrunner, who added that "This relationship was the best way to portray the challenges that Ava was facing, as she took responsibility for her as a hero."

On the other hand, he comments that as for Beatrice, the story with Ava had to build her as a character, because "she also had to allow herself to be who she needs to be, risking losing Ava, which is hard."

Would the ending have been different?

Simon Barry revealed that despite the season's satisfying audiences, the team had written a scene between Ava and Beatrice that never saw the light of day. Well, according to the creator, although he responded to much of what the fans were asking for, he would have lessened the emotion of the final scene between the characters.

“I wrote a scene where Ava and Bea were in bed together. Not like something romantic, but them trying to get on the same terms to understand each other, and it was awkward because they weren't a couple yet." Barry detailed, assuring that it was also one of the funniest scenes to write.

"We removed it because we didn't need it, we did more by avoiding being so explicit with the tension, and that made the ending have a bigger emotional impact." - Simon Barry, Out of Focus

From emotion to action

Perhaps one of the things that stands out the most about the season is the impeccable work done by its actors and doubles in the action scenes and battle choreography ; especially considering that both Alba Baptista , as Kristina Tonteri Young, William Miller and Lorena Andreaperformed several of their risk scenes, seeking to be "really present in the battles".

“Many of the actors we have in the series do their stunts, at a very high level,” said Barry, who stresses the importance of the work done between the actors, stuntmen, and stunt and fight coordinators , Coco Usín and Lee Huang.

"We built a training place in Madrid, where all the scenes were broken down by the coordinators and then filmed,"said the showrunner, who also shared that actors and doubles trained together so that " when they see them on camera they know the movements and we could choose who did what.”

“Some of the actors told us that those scenes were enjoyable to do, they liked the physicality of them. […] Alba in particular was very interested in doing more action scenes on her own and learning from her. She has a great understanding of her own physical strength and she is very good at it. She excited us because we could use her more for filming as well." - Simon Barry, Out of Focus

[gellavonhamster]

in the bleak midwinter*: an asoue/atwq peaky blinders au concept

...also known as the idea that’s been living in my brain for what must be a couple of years now; I have reconciled myself with the fact that I will never write this fic because I simply do not have enough patience to think it out and write it down in the way that would give it justice, so here’s a plot bunny or something.

This is basically the Sugar Bowl Generation of VFD (still young, before kids and all) meets All The Wrong Questions (some of the events + some of the kid characters of ATWQ as adults) meets season one of Peaky Blinders, but I guess it could be read and understood without the knowledge of the latter simply as an organized crime AU.

It’s the beginning of the interwar period, and VFD is a gang. Which, yes, would require a certain amount of OOC of the characters, though I imagine their intimidation tactics would still avoid too much bloodshed. They deal with bookmaking, contraband, and sometimes art forgery because even this version of VFD has to have something sophisticated about it. There’s a number of places, such as bars and clubs, that pay them for protection, and there’s also a number of places they own, such as the Hotel Denouement with the Denouement brothers in charge and the nightclub ran by Ramona Browning**, alias the Duchess (her father was some kind of aristocracy, see, too aristocratic to ever truly acknowledge her). They use their influence to become the informal rulers of their part of the City. They claim to strive for power to make the City a better place, and these are not just words - they do donate money to schools and libraries, for example - but it’s not like they don’t enjoy being in power, and their rule is still based on crime, those who threaten it being eliminated swiftly. 

The Snickets are the Shelby family of this AU, of course. Lemony is Tommy - the mastermind, already a legend of sorts despite being the youngest, plagued by the horrors of war - but still hoping for the best, strange as it seems, because he’s still Lemony. Jacques is Arthur, the fighter suffering from PTSD. Kit is Ada, but she’s also Aunt Polly - she’s the one who ran the business while the boys were in the army. 

Now, season one introduced Grace Burgess as an undercover police informant spying on the Peaky Blinders.

Enter Ellington Feint.

Ellington’s father, the only family she has left, has been kidnapped by a gang called the Inhumane Society, and she’d do anything and everything to save him. So she agrees to infiltrate VFD, their rival gang, to find out the whereabouts of a shipment of weapons that was meant for the Society but was accidentally stolen by VFD. Apart from machine guns and shells, the shipment includes some “statue of a sea beast”, and no one cares to provide more explanations to Ellington about it, but apparently it is the most important part of that cargo. So Ellington takes on the position of a barmaid in The Black Cat Bar, one of the places that pay VFD for protection and the one frequented by its key members, and starts listening and watching.

Ellington needs to get close to the Snickets, because if anyone knows where the weapons are, it’s them. Steward Mitchum, the corrupt cop on the Society’s payroll whom she is to meet from time to time at the Natural History Museum (which she used to attend with her father) to pass on the information, suggests she should seduce one of the Snicket brothers. The problem is, Ellington has a chance to learn very soon that Jacques doesn’t know much about the stolen cargo, and Lemony is too taken with his girlfriend, the music hall singer Beatrice Baudelaire, to even look at any other woman. There’s no getting between them, even though it seems Beatrice also has something going on with VFD’s bookkeeper Bertrand Markson, and Lemony seems aware of it. 

So Ellington decides to approach Kit instead. Kit, who seems so lonely - Ellington doesn’t know the details, but there was some serious falling-out between her and her ex-boyfriend, who has since left the City (and won’t appear in this story. Olaf is the problem for the hypothetical season two of this imaginary show). Ellington doesn’t plan on anything other than a very close friendship - yet, the closer they become, the more she understands that she is attracted to Kit.

(There certainly is a variant of the “I warn you, I’ll break your heart” - “Already broken” scene in which Ellington sings to Kit)

Anyway. Things progress, and they fall in love. Well, Kit seems to have fallen in love, and Ellington keeps trying to persuade herself that she hasn’t, because Kit has to remain nothing but a task for her.

The location of the stolen weapons, however, still remains a mystery, even though Ellington once hears Kit and Lemony discuss it. Whatever the statue is, Lemony seems to believe it has great powers, and Kit seems to believe it’s nothing but folklore. Lemony tells her of the stories of a mysterious sea animal (or spirit, or whatever it may be) he heard from other soldiers during the war, about what Widdershins heard during his time in the navy. Kit tells him that everyone is a believer in a foxhole, and that she loves W like her own kin but he’s a bragging idiot. There was nothing on the sea other than enemy ships.

Elllington’s mission is complicated by Lemony clearly not trusting her. He tells her it’s because his sister has been hurt before, but she suspects it’s more than that. He even admits that he had his people make enquiries in Paltryville, the town she claims to have come from, and found out that no Ellington Feint ever lived there. When he suggests her secrecy is due to a child born out of marriage, she is eager to confirm that. (Cue him asking her if she’s read Les Misérables - yeah, even this version of VFD would be literature nerds, how can it be otherwise - because this whole situation reminds him of Fantine, and her lying that she hasn’t and thinking that she’s more of a Javert at the barricade, really).

Then there’s a masquerade party at the Duchess’s club, and Kit takes Ellington there as her date. (Which is okay, because if there’s any place in the City where a woman dancing with another woman or a man dancing with another man would not be looked at askance, it’s the Duchess’s club. If I was actually writing a fic, there would definitely be a scene in which Ellington observes Beatrice asking Bertrand to dance with her and Bertrand trying to decline by telling her that, since he didn’t have time to procure a mask, he shouldn’t be on the dancefloor at all, and then Lemony approaches him with a spare mask in hand and encourages him to dance with Beatrice and puts the mask on Bertrand himself and it somehow looks so intimate as if he’s undressing him and Ellington’s like “Oh, so it’s like that with them. This is probably of no use to me but still, good to know”). 

When Kit disappears at some point, Ellington follows her quietly and eavesdrops on her conversation with one of the Denouements. He tells her that his brother is all right and sends his regards. Later at the party, however, Ellington sees two Denouements. Why would one of them send the other’s regards to Kit if they’re all in the same room? A couple of drinks with the already tipsy Olivia (officially a fortune-teller, but who knows what purposes VFD really uses her salon for?), and Ellington learns that there used to be three Denouements, actually. But the third brother, Dewey, had a conflict with one of rival gangs which nearly resulted in a war, had not Lemony agreed to dispose of Dewey. To stop that gang from going against VFD, he killed Dewey with his own hands.

Except he didn’t, Ellington thinks. Lemony must have staged Dewey’s execution, and now he’s out there very much alive. Perhaps this knowledge will come in handy.

Meanwhile, the Inhumane Society, who have other beef with VFD apart from the stolen weapons, are getting impatient. There’s a gun-fight which results in Ike Anwhistle dying and his grieving widow, Josephine, telling Lemony it is all his fault and leaving the city. (I know I said this is based on s1 only, but they’re the John and Esme Shelby of this story). And Bertrand is severely wounded. VFD needs another bookkeeper while he’s recovering, and Kit, who knows from The Black Cat’s owner Dashiell Qwerty that Ellington has also been keeping the books of the bar lately and doing it well, offers this position to her. This gives Ellington an opportunity to learn more about the asserts and resources of VFD - and a chance to discover some interesting notes scribbled next to the name of Dewey Denouement. Dewey Denouement, who is only officially dead, but still has a grave at the cemetery.

Ellington tells Stew she has an idea where the weapons and/or the statue might be hidden.

When she meets some of the members of the Inhumane Society to take them to the tomb, she is surprised to see Hangfire himself among them. She’s only seen him in passing before, this mysterious man with his face covered in bandages. They say he’s been horribly disfigured during the war. They also say he came back mad. When they’ve done some digging and unearthed, instead of a coffin, several crates of guns - and opened one of them to find a small statue of what seems like a very scary seahorse - Mitchum and Flammarion are suddenly shot down, and Lemony Snicket steps from behind a gravestone. 

He’s been following them.

Of course he didn’t believe that all Miss Feint is hiding is an illegitimate child, Lemony tells them as he’s holding Hangfire at gunpoint. He’s been doing research. In fact, the man whose grave they’ve unearthed is presently in a unique position allowing him to make research away from the City. He’s found out that Ellington Feint is the daughter of a renowned naturalist Armstrong Feint, who’s recently gone missing. And then they managed to discover something more. 

This is when Hangfire grabs a gun and points it at Lemony, and Lemony aims at Ellington instead, which for some reason stops Hangfire from shooting. 

This is also when it turns out that Lemony has also been followed, and Kit Snicket steps from behind another gravestone, pointing a gun at her brother. He keeps aiming at Ellington, wearily telling Kit she isn’t really going to shoot him. 

Kit tells him that unless he drops the gun, he’ll find out.

(When Ellington tries to speak to Kit, she just tells her to shut up. And it hurts, because Kit has stopped being just a mission a long time ago. And now she knows that Ellington’s been lying to her from the start. And she may not want Ellington to die, but she would also hardly ever forgive her. And that would be fair).

And then Hangfire tries to shoot Kit, and Ellington screams, and Kit manages to spring back, and Lemony fires at the man who tried to kill his sister, and suddenly Hangfire is bleeding out on the ground and calling out to Ellington in her father’s voice. 

That is what they’ve also found out about Hangfire, Lemony tells her as she’s kneeling beside the body, unable to bring herself to uncover his face. He sounds genuinely surprised; he thought she knew.

Kit makes him let Ellington go and tells her she doesn’t want to see her ever again. And Ellington leaves. She takes a train to some seaside town she’s never heard of before and leaves. Her job is ended. Her father is dead. Her love affair that never should have happened is in the past. She still doesn’t know why her father lied to her when he could have just asked and she would’ve done anything, why he kept up this double life, what was the significance of the statue and what it might become in the hands of someone like Lemony Snicket. She is too tired and sick of it all to try to find out.

She manages to build a life in Stain’d-by-the-Sea. She works in a coffee shop and sings there in the evenings. She never sings the song she sang to Kit again. She marries a man she doesn’t have any truly strong feelings for.

Then, a year or so later, there’s a phone call, and the voice of the woman she loved and betrayed tells her she still can’t stop thinking of her.

*This phrase used by the Peaky Blinders upon the death of one of them is replaced by “The world is quiet here”. Obviously.

**My Last Duchess, referenced in ASOUE in connection with R, is written by Robert Browning.

[thewhitefluffyhat]

Bernkastel’s Umineko Origins

What is this guide?

<< Previous (Bernkastel)

(Profile continued) “In theory, she holds the strongest power of any witch, but in practice, that is no more realistic than saying a piece of paper can reach the moon if you fold it a hundred times. And fold it a hundred times she did.”

Since “Gou is a Bernkastel origin story” is quite a widespread theory, I figured it might be useful to compile every single piece of information Umineko gives about Bernkastel’s past in one place.

This is meant as more of a comprehensive reference post, so if you’re not interested in that theory, feel free to skip this section! 

Next (Lambdadelta) >>

[Also, spoiler warning for part of one character’s plotline from Umineko Episode 4/Alliance in here.]

From Umineko Episode 2/Turn:

Bern was probably once (a) Rika. Hard to get more definitive than using Rika’s catch phrase in the ??? Tea Party.

Bernkastel: “...Umm, in times like this, what did I used to say again? ……...Umm, uh, ……...Fi-Fight o~n. Mii, nipah~☆ ...It's so embarrassing, doing this. I've done this much for you, so quickly stand back up.”

Bern is a witch born from being trapped in a game against Lambda.

Bernkastel: “You are now just like I was in the past, when I was imprisoned inside Lambda's world. Shut inside a labyrinth of cruel fate, tormented by a witch, in a manner of speaking. I am a witch who was born from there. So maybe I'm like an older sister to you. So I decided that I'd lend you my power.”

The last time Bern and Lambda played against each other, Bern won by using pieces that started in their most powerful state.

Lambdadelta: “…...W-well, last time, I felt just a little pity and said that she could start her pieces anywhere she wants, and then that idiot Bern totally didn’t pick up on compassion and started with aaall of her pawns promoted on the eighth rank!!”

(Source: https://lparchive.org/Umineko-no-Naku-Koro-ni/Update%2062/)

From Umineko Episode 4/Alliance:

According to Lambda, Bern has experienced being denied a happy ending herself due to being a witch’s piece, rather than the one who actually experienced the ending she found.

Lambdadelta: “You aren't Ushiromiya Ange. You're a witch's piece with that name. Strictly speaking, the name ANGE Beatrice belongs to a completely different person. Know what that means?"

Ange: “I’m... starting to think I don’t…… ...Huh? Huh? Who... am I? Huh?”

Lambdadelta: “...And thaaat's why I think Bern's cruel. No, I think she's a meanie. Especially since it's not like she hasn't gone through the same thing herself."

Ange: "...Am I... being tricked... somehow...?"

Lambdadelta: "Yeah, but please don't blame Bern, okay? After all, depending on how you look at it, that kid isn't lying. If Beato is defeated, your family will be returned. Returned to Ushiromiya Ange. But she probably didn't say that this Ushiromiya Ange would be you, right...?"

(Source: https://lparchive.org/Umineko-no-Naku-Koro-ni/Update%20116/)

From Umineko Episode 6/Dawn:

Bern was once a human piece, but after being abandoned by an unnamed Game Master (implied in the manga to be Hanyuu), she became a witch by solving a logic error in place of that Game Master.

Erika: "...My master was also... a witch's piece?"

Lambdadelta: "Yes. That kid's master... was another bad one. Though she created the game herself, partway through, she lost sight of what her goal was. She ended up creating something like a broken game of backgammon, where the start and goal were connected like a donut."

Erika: "What do you mean, she lost her goal...?"

Lambdadelta: “I'm talking about a logic error. In her backgammon game, she was unable to draw up a line of logic describing how to reach the goal she desired. So, the game remained broken, with no goal at all."

“...In that case, she should have quieted down and thought of an answer herself. Instead, she despicably left even the thinking entirely to her piece, Bern.”

[insert long metaphor involving cats, monkeys, and typewriters]

Lambdadelta: “If she wasn't a witch... no, if she hadn't been able to become a witch, she would probably still be a black cat strapped to that typewriter for eternity. That child was blessed by a miracle, succeeded in typing out a 'miracle', became a witch, and returned from that hell alive.”

“That hell was so long and harsh... that her mind was completely broken. That's why she became such a mean and heartless witch.”

(Source: https://lparchive.org/Umineko-no-Naku-Koro-ni-Chiru/Update%2065/)

At some point prior to Umineko, Bern was Featherine’s longest-serving miko, trained by her to tear out the “guts” of stories.

Featherine: "...A cat who has learned to eat meat and choose its own path. It has been a long time..."

Bernkastel: "It's a path I'd never have to have noticed if you hadn't told me. You're the monster who taught me the taste of flesh. So, you've come back to life. Featherine Auaurora..."

Featherine: "...Augustus Aurora... You never learn no matter how often I tell you that…”

“...Very well. Even that brings back fond memories... I have heard the rumors... It seems you have taken the name Bernkastel, Witch of Miracles, and have been playing a far from praiseworthy Fragment game..."

Bernkastel: "I'm just imitating you. Though I could hardly match up to your level. If the rumors you've heard about me are bad, that applies a hundredfold to you."

Bernkastel sat unreservedly in an antique chair, as though she was already familiar with the place.

Featherine: "...What are you afraid of? I am merely celebrating my reunion with my longest-serving miko so far... Did you really find my messenger cat so displeasing?"

(Source: https://lparchive.org/Umineko-no-Naku-Koro-ni-Chiru/Update%2075/)

From Umineko Episode 8/Twilight:

An alternate explanation for Bern’s origins: she was Featherine’s pet cat who revived her master.

“Featherine Augustus Aurora. …...The legendary Great Witch. It is said that she surpassed the level of witches, becoming a Creator, and that, upon reaching this forbidden plane, she was cursed with a deadly ailment. However, in life, she once turned her pet cat into a witch. They say that this second witch wanders the sea of Fragments endlessly, searching for any Fragment that can revive her master from the pits of death called boredom, if even for a moment. And so, the cat revived her master. Revived the sacred witch who had reached heights none should reach…”

(Source: https://lparchive.org/Umineko-no-Naku-Koro-ni-Chiru/Update%20156/)

There’s also this little tidbit from Last Note of the Golden Witch, where Bern outright says she was once in “Higurashi.” That being said, in context she’s referring to the “All Cast Review Sessions” from the Higurashi VN, so… unless you also consider those to be canon, I wouldn’t advise thinking too hard about this. (See the section on Lambdadelta for another good example of this kind of reference.)

(Source: https://youtu.be/ZoIEID02sxI?t=7890)

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...And that’s it. So, the question is, what was the game that Bern was trapped in?

It’s possible (and before Gou, not uncommon) to interpret all of these scattered bits of information as references to the original Higurashi. In that configuration, perhaps Higurashi was a game where Featherine/Hanyuu was a Game Master playing against Lambda, with Lambda using Takano as her piece. Rika/Bern won that game in Hanyuu’s place by manifesting a miracle, defeating Lambda and ascending as a witch after Saikoroshi (which then denied her Rika’s happy ending).

But now with Gou in the mix, it looks like the fandom’s long-held assumptions may be due for some reexamination...

Next (Lambdadelta) >>

[eizneckam]

Not that this would ever happen, but I like rolling around the idea of fancasts in my head, so here’s some ideas for an Omori fancast (I used mostly anime VAs since they tend to do video games too). I’ll put a couple roles next to the names in case you don’t recognize them so you can look them up:

Main Cast

Sunny/Omori - I mean. This VA would get Persona levels of “no actual voice lines”, since neither of these characters speak until the last 5% of the game, but still… I saw someone suggest Kyle McCarley (Hyde Kido from UNIB, Shinji from Fate/stay night, Narancia from JJBA: Golden Wind) for this, and even if I weren’t a huge fan of Kyle, I still would choose him for this. It’s actually a really good fit. (Of course, this video contains an… interesting alternate suggestion.)

Aubrey - Cassandra Lee (Taiga Aisaka from Toradora!, Kyubey from Madoka Magica). Again, this is a bit of personal bias since she’s one of my favorite VAs, but she can do both the “cute little girl” voice (for Headspace Aubrey) and the “abrasive” voice (for the real Aubrey), so I think this works out really well.

Kel - Two VAs for this one. I think in real life, Kel would be one of those boys who’s tiny and cute when he’s little, but grows up to have a surprisingly deep voice, so for Headspace Kel I went with Brittney Karbowski (Selim Bradley from FMAB, Black Star from Soul Eater) since I think she’s one of the few female VAs that can do an actually good impression of a little boy’s voice. (Maxey Whitehead (Alphonse Elric from FMAB) would also work.) For the real Kel, I would probably go with Austin Tindle (Karma Akabane from Assassination Classroom), since he sounds friendly (though Karma is really anything but).

Hero - This was the hardest one for me, because I feel like Hero’s voice needs to be just right. After a lot of deliberation, I settled on two - Johnny Yong Bosch (Yu Narukami from Persona 4) or Bryce Papenbrook (Shirou Emiya from Fate/stay night). I still don’t know if these are correct, so if you have a better idea, tell me.

Mari - Cristina Vee (Sakura Matou from Fate/stay night and countless others). This is one of those that I can’t really explain, only say that it fits in my head. Don’t you agree?

Basil - ...okay. I’m just going to say - I actually don’t like the “female VA plays young boy” trope. Yes, I know I did it for Kel above, but I used two actresses who I actually think can pull it off - I just don’t think most female VAs are good at it (not that they’re bad actors - it’s just that despite similar pitches, a young boy’s voice still sounds different from an adult woman’s). All that said… there’s no way I hear Basil with a male VA. Maybe one with an extremely high-pitched voice, but until someone can suggest one of those, I’ll go with Lindsay Seidel (Nagisa Shiota from Assassination Classroom). She’s among those few actresses I mentioned who can somewhat pull off the “young boy” voice. Of course, I also chose her because of the similarities between Nagisa and Basil - young man, looks like a girl (kinda), bad parents, seems shy but has a hidden dangerous side, etc. So yeah. (This explanation was unnecessarily long.) ...except several meme videos have also made me read Basil with the voice of Red Van Buskirk (Silver from Real-Time Fandub), which, despite being a joke idea, works scarily well.

Side Characters

Pluto - One of two actors. Either Christopher Sabat or Patrick Seitz, as they are the biggest hams the English-speaking VA community has to offer. (See: Vegeta and Dio.) Now that I’m thinking about it, Sung-Won Cho (a.k.a. ProZD) would be perfect too.

Space Boyfriend - Thanks to Osulan, I am unable to unhear SB as Chase Young (a.k.a. Mephiles from the Real-Time Fandub series). This is not a serious choice, but it’s the only one I have.

Sweetheart - Due to Sweetheart essentially being “Beatrice+Erika minus the nasty bits”, I really want to say Sayaka Ohara (the voice of Beatrice). But I did say English voice actors, so we’ll go with Mela Lee (Rachel Alucard from BlazBlue), mainly because Rachel and Sweetheart are both “elegant lady”-type characters.

Mr. Jawsum - Probably Patrick Seitz again. Yeah, actually I think this one works.

Slime Girls - I really don’t know about this one… Probably Monica Rial for Marina, Jamie Marchi for Molly, and Laura Bailey for Medusa. That sounds about right.

Humphrey - As a joke idea, Humphrey with the voice of Tom Kenny (Spongebob from… well) would be absolutely hilarious. (Imagine Spunch Bop saying “I fucking love air conditioning”.) Anyway, for a real idea, maybe Sonny Strait because Koro-sensei’s and Humphrey’s laughs are eerily similar. (Also, Sonny Strait is scarily good at changing his voice pitch. I would never recognize Krillin, Hughes, and Kyuzo as all being the same person.)

Hooligang - Unfortunately, I couldn’t really think of any except Todd Haberkorn (Ling from FMAB, Italy from Hetalia) for Mikhael, so if you have any ideas, add them.

I’m out of ideas. (Sorry, Polly.) Feel free to debate (politely) and add more.

[apparentlyaswarmofbees]

please do make a list of Korean Isekai you’ve read, I’ve been wanting to get into them more 👀

And the word has been spoken

I was going to use images for each but tumblr only allows 10 or them 😑. Imma list all isekais/re incarnation webtoons that I personally recomend, a note though that last night I actually opened just a few more tabs with new ones to read so I may give this list an update later lol.

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Long list bellow!

Doctor Elise

Not exactly my best recomendation seeing I kind of dropped reading it but I still go back from time to time. Main character is currently on her 3rd re incarnation and set on being a surgeon and making use of all her knowledge on earth. It's actually really interesting! Reason I dropped is more related to the romance, but that is simply out of my own personal preference and I don't consider it bad at all.

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The Justice of Villanous Woman

Also dropped but it was actually because I missed too many updates and now I need to re read it jajdjxkwhdjskaj, it's not a WOW story but it's good, specially since the main character is pretending to act like a villainess (two faced on purpose) against the ACTUAL villainess who was just pretending to be nice. It was a really good twist.

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La Dolche Vita di Adelaide

This one is actually completed! And it's really good too!! The female lead is very assertive and the male lead is one or those that can be pretty shy lol. It's a really nice read.

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Reminiscence Adonis

Badass female lead that I would gladly let step on me. It's really good but I also dropped due to missing too many updates lololol. The main character and the male lead basically flirt with each other all the time later in the story it's ridiculous l o l o l o l.

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The Abandoned Empress

Though I dropped due to it not being my cup of tea it may just be yours since although not my preference I can't deny the story is actually good. Female lead was done so much wrong to her in the past and is trying to change her destiny even against God.

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Survive as The Hero's Wife

One of my favorites big time!!! Female lead is amazing and male lead is so. damn. cute I can't even. Also ART????? It's so damn pretty. Female lead re incarnated inside a novel, she makes a REALLY good use of all her knowledge.

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They Say I Was Born a King's Daughter

Not gonna lie this is just one I read to pass the time. Entertaining enough though the story itself is, ???????. It takes a while to get used to the art style. Though I only find it mildly interesting, it can be really good to someone else. And I really cannot say that this one is in any way bad because it absolutely isn't. Prepare for frustration directly related to strong mysoginy though.

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The Reason Why Raeliana Ended Up At The Duke's Mansion

Another one I dropped because I missed too many updates jshbdcjshejcksjenfoskjfjoa but it's really good and the main character basically takes to shit. Her main goal is scape death.

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Miss Not-So Sidekick

This one is a very comedy centered one , I dropped due to the fact because updates are pretty damn slow I ended up loosing the track of the thing, what I am doing now is waiting for it to basically end so I can read it all in one sit. It's actually pretty good and the art style is very unique!

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Suddenly Became a Princess One Day

ALL TIME FAVORITE OH MY GOD WITH EVERY UPDATE I LOSE ANOTHER YEAR OF MY LIFE SPAM. Just, just give it a go. The art is BEAUTIFUL, the characters extremelly well made, and the main character is just fucking great I love her.

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I Was Born As The Demon Lord's Daughter

Another one I dropped due to slow updates that caused me to lose track;; But it's actually good! And the autor did the thing many don't do in these stories: have the main character actually be someone and give her a story that actually becomes reason of many of her actions and feelings in her current life. Also soft good Dad uvu.

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The Emperor's Companion

This one was too frustrating so I ended up dropping but I can't deny it's good so I will recomend it. To wake up in a body of someone who was supposed to have a lot of responsability but has been in a coma basically all her life which resulted in her underlings going ape shit under corruption and now that she's awake she gotta fix it.

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The Villainess Reverses The Hourglass

ANOTHER ALL TIME FAVORITE AND THE ART IS SO GOOD TOO. The main character is NOT pretending to be a villainess, she is straight up made of wrath and spite and is set on ruining those who ruined her first in her previous life.

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The Duchess With an Empty Soul

So. Damn. Interesting!!!! The way the main character is portrayed wasn't something I have seen many do, and she's a badass!! Male lead is a good man uwu. Also it's one of those with 'marry me but don't expect love'.

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A Stepmother's Marchen

One 👏 More 👏 Favorite 👏 the art is BEAUTIFUL, the characters are WELL MADE, and I just LOVE the interactions between them, be it from interactions I want to punch one of them in the face to interactions where I just am in love. Also OLD PEOPLE ARE DRAWN SO BEAUTIFULLY. The art in this one is just BEAUTIFUL and I really can't even-

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Beware of The Brothers!

Same creator as Suddenly Became a Princess One Day, only this one is actually deal with a lot more, serious (?), subjects in which one(just a single one) of them was the reason I dropped. But in fact, said subject is currently being really well fucking written, so although not my cup of tea, it definetelly deserves a chance.

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Beware of The Villainess!

I KNOW many of you know this one and I KNOW all of you also love the female lead, the blue werewolf, the *cough* lesbian *cough* heroine and the maid. I love them too. It's a REALLY good one and it also is one of my all time favorites. Be ready to want to kill some guys though lol.

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Lucia

Just- just read it. It's GOOD. And recent updates just started going deeper. Please. It's good, I promise-

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The Evil Lady Will Change

It's also pretty damn good and also has the thing with 'marry me but don't expect love'. Both female and male lead are actually pretty good guys but their reputation was twisted so now they are seen as villanious like in public eye.

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Priscilla's Marriage Request

Powerful female lead that is set on avoiding the outcomes of her previous life. But of course, once one manages to change the course of the previous story a new one starts, and in that new one she won't have her previous knowledge for it. Also she has a crush on the male lead ever since her previous life l o l.

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This is an Obvious Fraudulent Marriage

Female lead is quite oblivious and the male lead only becomes better with time. The female lead may throw a few tauntruns but they're never annoying. I really like this one.

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I Became The Villain's Mother

Also dropped because of slow updates, to be reborn as the mother in a family of villains and trying to give them the love they lacked. Both father and son and little shits.

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The Villain's Saviour

Though the fact that the female lead cries way too much is a bit annoying, the story is so damn interesting. Male lead is basically a literal psychopath. The drama is off the charts too, specially since this one also makes use of Soulmate Marks.

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Beatrice

One more on the list of dropped because of slow updates so now I am waiting for it to basically end so I can read it all in one sit. The fact she is insekaid is only shown at chapter 4 nsksjxksnekxjasfo, it's a good one though.

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IRIS - Lady With a Smarthphone

Although I wish they would have actually focused more on the fact that she has a phone and put it to more use, it's actually a really interesting story in which the female lead is aiming to destroy everything related to all the pain she faced in her past life, and she is being very through with it.

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The Youngest Princess

Badass female lead re incarnated in the same world so it's not isekai but it's very much re incarnation. Family interactions are great in this one lolololol, female lead is really good as a character. I have re read this one quite a few times though it's still very much only on the beggining of the whole thing.

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The Duchess' 50 Tea Recipes

Came for the isekai, stayed for the female lead's obsession with tea to the point you could make memes about it. Poor male lead losing his position to TEA. It's in all honestly one of my all time favorites and though it is very focused on tea, it's very entertaining as it deals with other subjects too. It's so amazing how some problems were actually solved with tea. Very recomended.

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Chitra

When you are reborn in a world that of all game functions it has decided to be GATCHA. It's really damn good though and the art is hella great, extra plus for comedy material lololololol.

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The Villainess Lives Twice

Female lead is very particular, she isn't nice but she isn't necessarily evil, her actions are pretty manipulative due to it being all she has ever known and she uses herself as a mere tool to have others achieve their goals, automatically achieving her own goals. I just find the way she works really interesting as she goes against those who ruined her in the past.

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A Capable Maid

Not really isekai nor re incarnation but I felt the need to put it here due to the fact that not only it is great but also due to the fact that the female lead had visions of several times in history that has helped her in many tasks.

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A Returner's Magic Should Be Special

Now I'm not sure if it's korean but I love it so it's here. This time we have a male main character, it's really damn good and I read it all first in one sit. Main character went back in time before apocalypse right after he just destroyed the cause of said apocalypse in the future. Now he is aiming to avoid the apocalyspe alltogether and make sure his loved ones stay alive and well this time around.

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The Pet of The Villainess

This one is so damn interesting, seriously. It destroyed so many too often used tropes in these kinds of webtoons and its PERFECT. I seriously recomend it just from the fact it takes a completelly different approach to many now "cliches" in these kind of webtoons.

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Please Throw Me Away

Another interesting one, male lead is a huge puppy in love with a distrustfull cat female lead. Her family is shit and I would pay to have them destroyed. Have I said the male lead is a huge fucking puppy.

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Actually, I Was The Real One

When you are accused of being fake and sentenced to death only to be told by the fake herself that you were actually the real one all this time. Main characters has no socializing habilities and it's cute lol, she is doing her best. This time she is making sure to try to avoid the same ending, and searching to know why she was brought back in time.

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I Became The Hero's Mom

This girl took stanning to the next level and decided that no, since now I have the chance I will make sure my favorite character grows up as a happy child being loved and smiling instead of suffering. Male lead is the dad and he is so fucking great.

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A Young Lady is a Royal Chef

This one is pretty centered in food as the title says, it's pretty new so the story hasn't gotten a chance to fully develop just yet but it's still interesting enough to keep me hooked.

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When The Villainess Loves

B O I, I DIDN'T EXPECT TO LOVE IT BUT I DID AND HAVE RE READ IT MANY TIMES AND I NEED MORE UPDATES AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. Anyways this can actually manage to hurt your feelings with "fake angst" and I give kudos to that lolololol. The male characters are killing me seriously, they're too cute, then too hot, then too cute, THEN TOO HOT, BUT THEN S O C U T E-

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I've Become The Villanious Empress of a Novel

Also one fairly new to the point the story hasn't fully developed yet, I really like it solely for the fact the female lead is now on the road to fix the bullshit around her. She's also a badass I would gladly let step on me.

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Shadow Queen

A big FUCK YEAH to this one because the main character deserves it. After dying to a very thought out plan and even having her son killed, she is now planning on turning the tables and ruining the ones making the plan from inside. She is amazing and I love her pls read.

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The Lady and The Beast

Honestly this one is both comedy gold and angsty at the same time the mix of feelings makes me go jshejdhsowjebfoshexiwnnfso, it's so hella great though, it's also basically new but it has developed it's story quite a bit.

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This Girl is a Little Wild

And to finish this list on a gold but sad key, this one is also one of my all time favorite, the female and male lead are adorable and ridiculous together and I love them, the main character is so likeable and the plot has so many puzzles but, rumor says the original creator has dropped this, thought it is sad I hope said creator is okay, even incompleted it's still a really damn good read.

[iinfortunii]

rules: code of conduct.

BEGIN.

Before we start, I would like you to have certain things in mind when approaching me ooc. I am very shy and quite awkward, which results in me not being much of a talker; however, I will always try my best to be friendly to whoever wants to approach. I dislike pet names so please do not use them with me unless we are very close. There will be times when I'm just exhausted, so my wording could sound rude/aggressive, to which I apologize in advance -I never mean to hurt people’s feelings. I also reserve the right to interact with WHOEVER I want, and pestering me about it will only get you blocked.

Updates will be made as required.

I. BASIC.

A. This blog is: Selective / Independent / Canon Divergent / NSFW / Mutuals only / Singleship / Mostly iconless / Multiverse / AU, Crossover, OC, and Multimuse friendly / Vaguely affiliated with the OP RP fandom.

B. I am a very slow rper for many reasons —school, family, my ever-fluctuating mood —and I would appreciate it if you refrained from pestering me for replies. In return I offer as much patience as necessary. Think of this blog as low activity please.

C. English is not my mother language so I apologize in advance for any mistakes made.

D. I track the tag #iinfortunii, although mentioning me works just as fine.

E. Constructive criticism is always welcome but anon hate will be immediately deleted. I have no problems if you disagree with my portrayal, but it doesn't give you the right to harass me.

F. Mun and muse are both over 18, so there are chances that heavy content will be present; however I won't be writing smut. I can roleplay anything before or after the act if requested, but the moment things get far too explicit, I'll do a fade-to-black. I ask of you to not lie about your age or else you’ll be blocked indefinitely.

G. This is a heavily headcanon-based blog, and changes are likely to be made as more information is revealed about him, though I reserve the right to adjust the new information according to my interpretation of Deuce or simply ignore it, which is why I’m canon divergent.

H. If you'd like to turn an ask into a thread, you can turn it into a new post, or reblog from me, as I won't be using the Tumblr asks anymore due to the problems that come with formatting and such.

I. Ask box is open for everyone ic or ooc, but you aren't allowed to turn it into a thread and nor I will reply to it if we’re not mutuals. Please don't push me, because I won't hesitate to block.

J. No godmoding —only a minor is allowed if it moves a thread forward —or metagaming, please. Don't kill Deuce either, unless plotted beforehand, and most importantly, don't hold your muse back.

K. Discord is available for mutuals upon request.

L. Just because I write something it does not mean I condone it. Please have this in mind and again, do not pester me about it. Any and all nsfw matters will be tagged accordingly. There will be triggering topics present, and you can know more about this on the section below.

M. DO NOT involve me in drama or call-out posts. I’m heavily against both things. On this note, you’ll never see me rebloging a call-out post. This culture is so damaging and toxic, and I firmly believe no one should play the role of the judge for the good of the community just because you had issues with someone or don’t agree with the things they roleplay. Talk things privately, be mature about it, hard-block the person and move on. I am also very aware that a lot of people have done things that can’t be excused, but I like to believe that people can change for the better. If you try to drag me into it, I'll hard block any and all people involved indefinitely.

II. TRIGGERS.

A. They will be tagged as trigger tw, trigger / and trigger cw.

B. I do my best to stay up to date with my mutuals triggers. Your comfort is way more important to me than you might think, so never be hesitant to approach me via IM, (anonymous) ask or stop following me.

C. Triggers that are likely to appear, although some more than others: violence || blood || death || drugs || abuse || knives || body image || medical equipment || suggestive content || etc

D. I have no triggers, so you are free to go wild with your content. I only ask you remember to tag your nsfw (both written and visual), please.

III. INTERACTIONS.

A. Deuce won't like everyone. He might/will make wrong assumptions about your character. He will insult and bite back. He won't always be nice to those he likes. He does many things that serve his interests. You, as the mun, have no reason to take it personal, because I'm won't follow someone I don't like; if you DO take it personal however, and decide to rouse drama, then I'll be hard-blocking you. Goes for me as well —I have no reason to get angry for any of the things noted above.

B. My bonds page displays the relationships that have been built over time, not necessarily through interaction alone but over plotting as well. Refer to it for more information.

C. Interactions with OCs related to canon characters will only take place as long as said OCs have a detailed about page. Personally, I'm not interested in the idea of an OC being blood-related to my portrayal, so I apologize in advance.

D. Formatting isn’t a big thing across my blogs, save for the small text. Please don’t mix either sup/sub with small text when writing with me, as I have eyesight problems. Don’t use colored text either.

E. Non-romantic pre-established relationships are allowed! Just make sure to talk it out with me first, yeah?

01. Spade / Whitebeard pirates (canon and original characters alike that i am MUTUALS with) will have a pre-established relationship as long as the other mun is comfortable with such idea, though that relationship will be limited to merely crewmates, unless discussed otherwise.

F. You don’t need to match my writing length as long as I’m given enough to work with. If something about my reply bothers or doesn’t work with you, let me know and I’ll re-work it.

G. I really enjoy plotting scenarios or talking out about the relationships my muse could have with other muses, so hit me up if you’ve got any ideas! I’ll try to do the same!

H. Mun does not equal muse, so don’t go assuming I’m a jerk simply because Deuce is an asshole from time to time. I’m set on the idea that I’ll give people the same treatment they give me —which is always nice and kind. Kudos to everyone for this ♡

I. I don’t use a threadtracker because I rely on my memory (terrible mistake, I know), but I try to draft people’s replies as soon as I see them. If by any reason it seems like I lost it, then please let me know / send me a link with it and I’ll be deeply grateful.

J. I don’t do nor reply to greetings starters for matters of my own comfort, so I ask of you to never expect a starter or a reply from them.

IV. SHIPPING.

A. Singleship, with the spot taken by daadzi, which means Deuce is no longer open for romantic relationships.

01. Under no circumstances, I will accept more romantic relationships once the spot is taken. That being said, I won’t discourage your muse from falling for / hitting on him, although I ask you to understand he will never respond with the same interest or will never react gently if he’s pushed too far.

02. If my shipping partner is comfortable enough, I'll interact with duplicates with the condition that the relationship is strictly platonic.

B. Constant interaction, mutual interest, and chemistry are a must for the sake of better communication (both ic and ooc, preferably).

C. Please do not approach me if you wish our characters to have either a: one night stand or friends with benefits type of relationships. It won’t work out due to the nature of Deuce’s personality, and for that I apologize.

E. My ship has its own tag so you're free to block it if you don't want to see it on your dashboard. In addition, I'll also tag those posts with only the ship name for this very purpose.

F. Please do not force ships on me.

V. CELEBRATIONS.

A. First off, I am absolutely terrible at keeping up with dates, and to be frank, I am not the biggest fan of celebrating, which is why I think it’s necessary to say I won’t be partaking in any holidays, not even Deuce’s birthday (not that he has one, to begin with). Obviously I will still reply to any gifts received, and will send out things in return —you know, common courtesy.

B. I won't be sending out birthday gifts every year, and I might write drabbles for people once in a blue moon; it doesn’t mean they will be done for the specific date though, so please be patient.

VI. REASONS TO NOT FOLLOW BACK / UNFOLLOW.

A. Too much drama / call-outs / vague posts / sexual content.

B. Content makes me uncomfortable.

C. You are a personal blog without a visible rp sideblog. Please make sure it's easy to find.

D. You do not have a proper tag system.

E. Your blog doesn’t have a rules and about pages.

F. You lack the manners to deal with people respectfully.

G. I have no interest / lost interest.

H. I'm constantly / only used as a meme archive.

I. Other reasons may apply. I will soft block so we can both cease following each other and avoid any potential awkward situations. I won’t make a fuss if you decide to unfollow so I expect the same courtesy.

VII. ABOUT BEATRICE.

She is not a real person. Her concept as Deuce’s (toxic) pseudolover is my creation and was somewhat inspired from the real life Beatrice Portinari. Do have in mind that Deuce doesn’t talk about her so your muse can’t simply approach him and ask about her unless they can go through his memories / read his mind / any capability alike or he speaks about her, though it won't take a genius to figure out that she's a product of his imagination.

You can read about her by clicking here -link to be added.

She serves as a lie to shield himself from the internalized homophobia he deals with up until meeting Ace.

NOTE: As stated previously, Mun =/= muse, but I too have been dealing with compulsory heterosexuality for far too long, so I'd like to apologize in advance for projecting a bit of that into my portrayal. I'll work so that this part makes sense with what we've been given from Ace's novel.

VIII. MISCELLANEOUS.

A. I will never force people to follow me, so if by any reason you have to unfollow/block me, please go ahead. Your comfort matters and have every right to do what you must to ensure your wellbeing. With that said, I will not tolerate and will immediately hard block if you try to police my content.

B. I do not follow back immediately, and it can take me from a few hours to several days to follow back. Do not take it personally if I choose not to.

C. If I follow it’s because I am interested in interacting. I only ask you to be patient because it might take me a while to gather the courage to send something to your inbox or talk to you.

D. I have. ZERO knowledge about medicine. Don’t expect me to go full force and try to be 100% accurate, because I won’t.

E. I practice reblog karma (send a meme to someone if I’m rebloging it from them). If you see something you’d like to reblog but have no intention in sending something yourself, then please reblog from the source.

IX. FINISH.

Thank you for taking the time to read this! As you might have noticed, there’s no password to send. Make sure to check the psa tag for any updates, or don’t hesitate to send an ask if there’s anything unclear! I do my best so as not to post too much OOC posts, but sometimes it just happens. If it's nothing important, then I'll erase it whenever I have the chance/remember.

Keanu Reeves vc: You’re all breathtaking!

[whenthechickencry]

Umineko EP3. Replay Part 3

She probably expected it but giving out so much of her trauma away just to not even be believed must have hurt a bit...

Yeah...

Again, obviously using this story as a device to talk about herself. K Beatrice never really considered suicide like that, the one that did was Yasu. The way the story says that Kinzo and Beatrice's love is one-sided is interesting - that's not how its portrayed in ep7, though I can imagine that's how Yasu saw it, due to how her life was fucked up by Kinzo.

The referring of Kinzo as mage/magician/blacksmith is pretty interesting to me. I think it shows how yes a complete dismissal of 'maigc' we see in Battler and later Erika is bad and can hurt people who need help the complete enabling that Genji and others did of Kinzo's magic is bad, too.

B-batler theres another more obvious and clear definition of the "miracle of creating life" here stop getting frustrated!

There are like a hundred million hints here Battler! No wonder Beatrice is starting to get frustrated with you. The only bigger hint she could give at this time is basically force-feeding the answer.

Awkard phrasing considering that's not even true aside - you can tell how their dynamic has changed a bit by now. By this point at the last chapter Battler was talking about how she was evil and would never accept her.

He's starting to get it but then he forces himself out of taking the story seriously.... Ronove tries to get him back on track though.

Woah I didn't realize they gave actual dates here... honestly, I don't have the timeline of events 100% clear in my mind on certain stuff so maybe I should work on that with this reread....

He's able to get the general gist back, though! Thanks, Ronove!

Ronove chastises him for trying to use Beatrice as a sacrificial piece here too - obviously a hint that we should look into the people he loves.

Here is Rosa basically talking about the time she heavily considered suicide and then there's her brother and her sister making fun of her for 1. Not trying harder and 2. Being a failure at what she likes. I sit really any surprise Rosa ended up as fucked up as she is?

Man, this so fucked up.... not allowed to know anything, completely stuck inside one man's delusions....

I think the fact in this episode you spend time with a younger Rosa and Eva a very interesting a necessary choice for the game - here you meet an Eva before the realization that her dreams will never become true and a Rosa before she was thrust into adulthood with a million unresolved traumas and no support system - I think this was a very necessary choice so that we could see this characters not as people to scapegoat for all the misfortune but as complicated people.

Yes, that's a better assessment, as her entire life has been a trick by and for Kinzo...

This must have really fucked up Rosa a lot - I imagine she felt so so guilty about it. I don't really think you can blame Beatrice or Rosa here - the fault lies with Kinzo grooming someone to be so defenseless and naive to the point they can barely understand danger.

Beato has had enough of having Battler try to blame an ethereal 19th person now, Battler is forced to play like a big boy now.

I think this is probably referring to how Kinzow is unable to take any results other than Beatrice being brought back to him... other people might think of ways of moving on with their life and accepting their misfortune.... Kinzo chose to spend the rest of his life chasing something impossible and ruining the lives of many people in the process.

I can't really express it very well here but holy shit an animated CG.

I might be overthinking this but the fact this episode, outside the meta, refers to the previous episodes is a hint that this one was written a bit after the other ones - the contrast between episode 2 and 3 Shannon is kind of interesting but ultimately it's not that different, Shannon doesn't believe that a real future with George is possible so she's fine with dying after getting the highest attainment (the ring) she believes she can possibly achieve. It's just her death here came earlier than it did in ep2.

Ouch that line about crying himself to sleep over being furniture hurts....

These conversations are pretty interesting when you consider it is the same person struggling with their own thoughts, the part that is fine with killing themselves after getting a ring since that's the happiest they will ever be and the part full of regret and bitterness...

The lines of pure self-hatred are pretty tragic too...

With this board being the first one to go really off the rails the fact Genji died so early probably has to do with it, lol, that's kind of hard mode for Yasu.... of course, the narrative purpose is Tohya knowing the board didn't go as Yasu planned I and to hint us towards how it actually went down in actuality.

Huh.... they bring this up again right after they bring up how Kinzo's wife did the same thing when she thought/knew Kinzow as having an affair.... I guess Natsuhi suspected that as well.

You can tell this episode isn't written by Gohda anymore because Gohda has a scene without someone remarking that he is a snake and evil.

The fact original Beatrice roughly means "played a lot of pranks" is pretty funny.

Battler going uh uh I can't take this anymore here always felt a little weird as if this was any weird than the Kanon goat fight in epsidoe 2... that was due to the changed plans in 3 probably though.

[francesbeau]

The Moon Signs of Bojack Horseman Characters

Just my opinion, I am not aware of the canon moon signs if there are any. :)

Mr Peanutbutter - Leo Moon in the 7th House: Although it may seem stereotypical to give the character who loves attention a Leo placement, I do actually think this makes sense. A key component of the Leo moon is that they love to entertain others and have an easy flow of charisma. Both things are applicable to Mr peanutbutter and we can see this most prominently through the various types of events he puts on within his house ie. a reality TV show, election campaign etc, etc. Another, more negative aspect of the Leo moon is their childish nature that can be transmuted into arrogance. We constantly see Mr. PB engage in very childish acts, such as buying Diane a belle themed library, and his childish nature can be argued to be one of the main facets of his personality that he tries to eradicate towards the series denouement. As the Moon represents relationships with the parents, specifically the mother, this childishness can be reflected in the parents outlook on life. Whilst there is no indication Mr Peanutbutter sees his parents as childish as the audience we can deduct that they most definitely are, partly from being dogs and also their inability to teach him about ‘important’ matters, such as death, preferring to say that a dead relative has gone to a ranch and is having a relaxing time. Because Leo is represented by the lion another key factor of Leo moons is there obsession with pride, we see this multiple times throughout his trajectory but more importantly we see him take pride in his friends accomplishments, Todd’s various creations, Bojack’s role, Diane’s intellect - this love of other people transpires to his Leo moon being in the 7th house. So, the 7th house is ruled by Libra and because of this people with the moon in this house can place a lot of emphasis on romantic relationships, finding love to be the sole benefactor to their emotional upkeep. He definitely does have his emotional security come from his romances, shown very clearly through his inability to remain single - the childlike nature of the Leo moon comes into shine when in these relationships too as he often only pursues women who are a lot younger than him. Many argue that this is due to a darker desire for unfair power dynamics but I see it as hum just trying to find a woman who shares his youthful ideals, someone like pickles. 

Bojack - Scorpio Moon in the 10th house: Again, it may seem redundant to give the cynical character with a bad childhood a Scorpio moon but I do actually think it matches up well. The Scorpio moons relationship with the mother is known to be turbulent, with the mother often not providing the child wit the correct emotional nurturing. But another aspect of the mother is that she can be seen to be highly secretive, this is definitely true for Beatrice, she is secretive about her affection for Bojack, secretive about Henrietta and secretive about her own family life, never actually recounting any of these tales to Bojack until she gets dementia. Scorpio moons are often praised for their keen sense of ambition, and as we follow Bojack through his later years we often forget that he was a highly ambitious man, writing to secretariat, doing comedy clubs, constantly trying to find jobs. As for the negative aspects, these moon signs can be moody, vengeful and judgmental. Throughout Bojack’s character arc we see him desperately try to expel these traits in himself, failing miserably thus causing a drug/alcohol relapse. This is because these traits are innate to him, through his fixed moon sign. Another thing to mention is that the Scorpio moon is ruled by Mars, the planet of aggression, this helps us to understand why Bojack is so overly agitated of his own emotions and even sometimes the emotional needs of other people, such as Gina. Something else which is quintessentially Scorpio moon is that they are secretive about their feelings, and whilst this is partly true for Bojack we watch within the first two seasons how he uses his negative emotions to create a best selling book, this is because of the moon in the 10th house. The 10th house’s main focal point is career and it is because of this that Bojack has a harsh aspect within his chart - the innate desire to keep his emotions unspoken and the desire to be successful and use his emotions to advance his career. And from this we see that Bojacks desire for recognition (probably stemming from the lack of nurturing as a child) out-weighs his Scorpio influence, this leads me to believe that the moon in his chart has some positive aspect relating to his midheaven, Chiron or north node. 

Princess Carolyn - Capricorn Moon in the 2nd house: I honestly believe Princess Carolyn fulfils every trait of the Capricorn moon, she is essentially the archetype of an ‘emotionless, hardworking’ woman who secretly has a lot of emotions she keeps secret. Practical, sensible, rational and ambitious are all traits of the Capricorn moon that align perfectly to her approach to life. The most Capricorn moon emotion she exhibited was when she looked into the mirror and said ‘serves you right for having feelings’, when I watched this, as a Capricorn moon, I instantly thought that she must have a Saturn ruled moon as she way she represses emotions and sees them as weakness is so quintessentially Saturn. A positive trait of this moon sign is that they can have a strong sense of worth and because of this can set clear boundaries with others - this is something she masters as the show progresses and it was truly great to watch. However, a boundary she always fuses is her emotional attachment to work. The Capricorn moon gets a lot of self satisfaction out of their achievements so it is no surprised Princess Carolyn struggles to create a healthy distinction between these two important life aspects. The episode, ‘Ruthie’ was a perfect example of the Capricorn moon in its fall - with her looking at the prospect of a child as more of a project than a really fun, exiting moment, this highlighting her inability to separate the work from the home life. Much like the Scorpio moon, this moon placements often has a tough time with the mother figure in their life. This is true within Carolyn's life. The Capricorn moon often has a mother who is either too strict, too domineering, too harsh. Or a mother who is too neglectful - particularly emotionally. The interesting thing about Carolyn’s mother is that she is both, she was constantly emotionally unavailable towards her daughter and often neglected all of her children's needs, forcing Carolyn to have to look after her siblings. On the other hand, when Carolyn falls pregnant at 18 her mother switches to the overly harsh parenting approach, conducting Carolyn's life to stay at home and be a mother. This relationship with the mother links closely to the moon being in the second house. The second house is ruled by Taurus and therefore equates to wealth, however when the moon is in the second it can represent a negative attachment to money and material possessions. We see through the fact she grew up in a ‘poor’ household and through her attachment to her necklace which she believes was really expensive, which, of course turned out to be really insignificant and cheap. However, the energy between the Capricorn moon in the second house gives one a fantastic work ethic towards making money - something which is obvious through Carolyn's personality. Having a Capricorn moon makes sense in her relation to Bojack’s Scorpio moon, she sympathizes with his rough childhood whilst also being able to maintain a strong outward show of being the ‘good agent’.

Todd Chavez - Moon in cancer, 11th House: Because the moon is in its ruling planet in Cancer we see that those with this placement are highly sentimental and open to empathy. This is reflected in his character as he repeatedly empathizes wit the plights of the character around him, always trying to maneuver himself into helping others. This deeply sensitive placement has the negative trait associated with all cancer placements and that is that it is passive aggressive. So whilst Todd is not a massive aggressive character we see the moments of confrontation surrounding him to be subdued and therefore passive aggressive. This placement craves emotional; support and intimacy from the Moher, intimacy that they may not be allowed - we can see this reflected in his kidney dilemma towards the end of the series. As for the moon being in the 11th House, this house can often represent a lack of understanding and a feeling of otherness. Despite Todd's positive moon sign, no one really understands how he feels, ever. His dad doesn't understand his lack of ambitious, Bojack not understanding his need for comfort and all characters not really understanding his asexuality. This placement bodes well between him and Bojack as they both have water moons allowing them to have an unspoken bond, emotionally with one another. Todd never pushing Bojack's Scorpio moon to indulge in emotional conversations. This moon also acts nicely with Carolyn’s earth moon, explaining why Todd took on the role of Ruthies babysitter. 

Ralph Stilton - Moon in Virgo, 5th house: A common trait of any Virgo placement but especially the moon is nervousness. This is definitely apparent in Ralph’s character. The Virgo moon is also known to be critical, both to themselves and to the outside world. Ralphs middle class lifestyle granted him the ability to judge and we can also infer that, through his timid nature, he is self-critical. The Virgo moon’s relationship with the mother can be characterized as fairly unpleasant. With many of these mothers being critical of their children and desiring their children to be perfect. This is definitely shown in Ralphs family who dislike Princess Carolyn from the beginning, his mother is overly critical of his partners here. The moon is comfortable in the 5th house and because of this, this placement gives a person who cares about others feelings and has others interests at heart - this helps to evaluate why he is such a ‘pushover’ to Carolyn's needs. In terms of compatibility, the reason in which he and Carolyn worked well together is down to the fact they are both earth moons and therefore have a lot of the same goals, expressions of emotions and similar experiences. 

Sarah Lynn - Moon in Taurus, 1st House: The moon  in Taurus can be described as the most indulgent Taurus placement die to the vulnerability of the moon, this is actually a really good placement for emotions, making the subject process emotions quite well and be, generally quite empathetic. This is shown in Sarah Lynn’s dying speech to Bojack, where she is openly emotionally and has a magnificent ability in articulating the raw emotions and experiences of her life. She also caters to the emotional needs of others, an example being where she offered to get really high with Bojack when he came to her upset. However, this coping mechanism is de not great and we can relate this to the indulgence of the Taurus moon. This moon loves the finer things - seen through her extravagant house but this moon also loves to over indulge - seen in her addictions. This moon craves emotional security and security in general, maybe explaining her attachment to toxic figures in life. The Taurus moon’s mother may be seen as materialistic by the child. This is seen in Sarah's mum who forced her child into acting too young just so she could be rich. This moon can be argued to be placed in the fist house for multiple reasons. People with significant first house placements can be seen to be idealistic and youthful, this corresponds to the fact that even as she approaches middle age she remains very childlike. The first house also responds to appearances and approaches to life, something which is integral to Sarah Lynn's character and also to her emotional satisfaction, with, in the end, her realizing that it all means very little. In terms of compatibility, her Taurus moon compliments Bojack's Scorpio as both fixed signs are on an axis to one another, explaining their draw to each other, whether that be platonically or romantic.

Diane - Moon in Gemini, 12th House - Being ruled by mercury, Gemini moons are often very mercurial in nature, this definitely applies to Diane who ultimately makes this nature the basis of her entire career, from working at Buzzfeed to writing a book. Gemini Moons have a proclivity to other think every action they do, often thinking that they are making the wrong option. This is such a fatal flaw of Diane's character, from romantic relationships to Jobs she is always shrouded by worry and thinking that how she acts will be perceived in ways she does not want. This is especially poignant in her speech in one of the last episodes of the final scenes surrounding trauma and how it influences her writing. Gemini moons, as a byproduct of the planet mercury, have a natural proclivity to judge others, this cynical nature is definitely a key aspect of Diane's personality, being heightened when she argues with other characters, such as Bojack who, after his Oscar, she judges vehemently. The Gemini moon tends to have a lighthearted relationship with the mother, someone they perceive to be smart and caring, this of course does not transmute with Diane's family and for t his reason I believe that Diane’s moon is square the sun - giving a general variety of tension to any relationship - also signifying a bad familial bond. The 12th house, amongst other things can be seen as the self-enemy. The aspect of yourself that you seem to ruin. And it does seem that Diane's emotional outbursts repeatedly ruin or altercate different situations and relationships she is in. Specifically in the character arc of her trying to write a book. She acts as her own worst enemy, repeatedly self-sabotaging by other thinking about her own ability to even write a book. In terms of Moon signs we see Diane having a massive lack of compatibility with all the aforementioned characters, this just pertain to how it seemed she felt throughout the show, constantly misunderstood by the people around her. 

[beatricebidelaire]

would love to know the tea vera! what are the sbg ships you can’t see working?

hey lauren! ahahaha so this is Highly Subjective Personal Opinions time, disclaimer first i don’t actually care if other people ship these sbg ships it’s just that in my mind and the elaborate headcanon universe i constructed they don’t work. but like we get so few canon details about them it’s easy for people to have different interpretation for these characters so it made sense some people might decide these pairings work in their headcanons.

first there are some characters i always read as lesbians or gays, and while most of these are arguably at most implied canon and not exactly what i’d call representation, ive always view them this way in my mind and it’s very hard to change now. such as, i see r as a lesbian and i can’t see her with any men, i see ernest as gay and i can’t really see him with any women. i also see jacques as gay but i have been known to make exceptions to read very good fics that paired him with a women, but only within the universe of that fic and i don’t really ship it outside the context of the fic (it was actually one of your earlier fics of jacques/esme i’m referring to sjdjjssj) (speaking of jacques, i also read book!jerome as closeted gay instead of bi and he just thought esme fit the expectations of women his family expected him to marry)

and then there are just some i can’t see their dynamics working, such as beatrice/olaf for example. i tend to view them as best friend to worst enemies, a lot of history and codependency there but it’s all platonic. they’re like pseudo siblings in a way. also tbh i think shipping them is so ... boring, like it makes their dynamics much less interesting in a sense to just interpret it thru the lense of romance. plus, there are enough arcs of vengeance based on failed m/f romance i do not care for more, it’s so ... boring. i just Do Not Care For It. (if it’s gay they it’s a different matter, beasme for the win am i right or am i right)

i also don’t see georgina/beatrice, i think I’ve said before but they lack the spark. there’s mutual dislike but not rivalry- the rivalry is at best one sided imo with heavy disinterest on georgina’s part, unlike the heated passion of beatrice/esme. esme’s hate for beatrice is like the thin line between love and hate thing, with heavy sexual tension, while georgina just doesn’t care for beatrice enough to hate her that much. she just dislikes her much like she dislikes most people, if finding her slightly more annoying than most, but georgina also find people in general annoying so that’s not saying much. (now georgina/kit i can see ... it’s cutting in from the stem women in vfd aspect and begrudging mutual respect of competence and casual flirting to Prove Something to Certain Actresses)

i also don’t see kit/bertrand but that’s just because i have too many headcanons and written too many fics about their friendships now i can’t ever see otherwise, and their friendship is just, v important to me. (also she gave him the ring to propose to beatrice... much like r gave the ring to lemony to propose to beatrice and r and lemony were also really good friends .... im a sucker for friendship parallels.)

i can’t see jacques/ernest but this one is a bit hard to explain why it’s mostly a vibe thing, if i had to pinpoint i’d say jacques is too deeply in vfd / too loyal to vfd to interest ernest, and also too deep in vfd to have an interest in ernest, someone on the other side, potential double agent he might be (and tbh the double agent part is debatable). like, he’s fine being civil to him out of respect to frank but he’s not interested. but also i think it has something to do with the vibes i imagine them because i have been thinking a lot about the “jacques swap sides AU” in which vfd murdered jerome for his fortune (by having beatrice marry him first and then widowing him) and causing jacques to switch sides due to grief and he and ernest became friends, and even in this AU where they are on the same side i can’t really see them together romantically but i can’t explain why to myself, maybe my version of ernest is romantically allergic to eldest sibling (only child doesn’t count, ofc) , i’ll need to reflect on that more sjdjjdjd

oh also i dislike Netflix!georgina/olaf because i don’t like how they make georgina so, affected by olaf tbh. book georgina and olaf were never involved and i like that.

thanks for this ask it’s a lot of fun rambling about these!

[confessionsofaloudmouth]

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard; a blog post by Chelbey Trump

Happy Sunday, everyone! I’m generally going to be posting on Sundays because it gives me all of the weekend to write them. Also, you’ll catch on to the structures of these posts as we go.

This week, I am going to be discussing the novel Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. Published in 2015v by Simon and Schuster, the novel was on the New York Time’s Bestsellers list. (In the future, I would like to write a blog post about that particular achievement because, let’s face it, almost every book has been on it.)

Characters:

Mare Barrow; A 17 year-old pitpocketer, living in the slummiest part of a country, with a younger sibling who has potential for their life, parents who are loyal to-said country even though they’re given the short end of the stick, and a male best friend who is, undoubtedly, in love with her. Come on down, Katniss Everdeen! Oh, sorry, I meant Beatrice Prior. America Singer? Oh, right this novel is uniquely science-fiction, even though it follows all of the rules of a dystopian-fiction series. Ehem: I hate this character. Her arch, though not necessary to the forward motion of the story, was lost completely by a million different subplots and, even, the main plot. I like the idea that, in the midst of becoming the face of the rebellion, she became less of an individual person and more of a loyal person to her people. That being said, she was incredibly selfish, with her pity-part-for-one attitude simply because she was born into the Stilts. She took for granted her sister’s opportunity to provide for their family by dragging into a scheme which destroyed her life. Did she save her by acting the part of princess? Yes, but, c’mon: It was either marry Maven or be killed. I hope that she loses this attitude within the next couple books because;

Cal Tiberias; What a hunk! Charming, self-less, sensible, and a future-king? Cal was a strong character, although it could be said that he was weak due to his loyalty to his father which was conditioned inside his brain from a young age. He turned his back on the lower part of his people to stay true to the upper, wealthy, ‘better’ half. He deserved better than this, after showing traits that he was, well, better than this! I understand it worked for the plot line, but how juicy would it have been to see Cal stand up to his father? I loved how passionate he was, though. Mare thought he didn’t care about the divide, but he was noble in saying he didn’t want violence to be what closed said-divide. He was willing to put his men on the same level as the Red soldiers, including himself, to fight the war. That’s hot. In the end, when he defended Mare even though she had offended him, I fell more in love with his character. He had stayed true to himself- or who he was meant to be- instead of a stupid girl, but when they turned their backs on him, he was ready to die with honor alongside that dumb female (synonyms!) If Cal was still the general, then I’d say:

Maven Tiberias; If Cal is a hunk, Maven is that nerdy, attractive guy. He was charming from start to finish even though he was, ya know, the ‘bad’ guy. It was hard to believe him even as the bad guy, however, because he only 17 and played Mare like a game of Chess. It’s understandable that he had, like Cal, been conditioned to love his mother and her cause for all of his life, that the king and Cal were enemies, that Mare could never possibly love him. But, Aveyard literally threw us twenty pages from the end of the novel. It felt rushed, uncomfortable and, well, forced. Overall, I still love his character and I’m excited to see him as a king in the next three books.

Queen Elara and King Tiberias; The. Best. Female. Character. What a literal queen! She didn’t care about anyone’s feeling, had powers which made her stronger than pretty much everyone, and waited so long to let her husband’s head roll so she and her son could rule. That’s amazing! I loved her smug attitude which was revolutionary because she was still a lady. She chided Mare for not acting like a said-lady and did so herself while still manipulating everyone and anyone. We dont see enough strong female characters who are still very much feminine, and we deserve to. Now, for the king: Off with his head! I’m so glad he’s dead because I dont think I could have stood another second of his toxic masculinity. That’s all I’ll say about that.

Ruth, Gisa, and Daniel Marrow; I wish we could have a family which is matriarchal. Too many books rely on normal societorial standards fo household and I’m slightly over it. I understand that in a normal kingdom, men, like Daniel, were the war hero’s, honorably discharged, wise, older, and the most-looked up to in the family. But, c’mon, Mare could literally manipulate electricity and her father couldn’t have made dinner? Her mother was too sweet and quiet and her father too quiet and judgmental. It was too basic and boring. However, I feel awful for Gisa: She absolutely deserved so much more than what she was given by Mare’s horrible decisions.

Honorable Mentions; Kilorn was just so annoying, trying to be masculine yet show his affection to Mare. Get over her, bud, she’s fighting a revolution! Evangeline was annoying, yet so, so satisfying to read about. She was exactly like Queen Elara with all the overwhelming traits of King Tiberias. Lucas, I felt, could have been used a lot more sufficiently than he was. Julian, too, was lost in the fast-paced motion of the novel. Overall, the relationships everyone formed with one another were not illustrated well through the novel. I refuse to believe Mare was falling for Maven, or Cal for Mare, or that Julian truly cared about Mare as much as he said he did because I saw no build up of that love.

Settings:

What Aveyard lacks in characters, she makes up for in description. Although sometimes it felt like she was going overboard with her language usage, fo rate majority of the time, I could see exactly what she was discussing. Her most creative ideas for setting were the forest which was able to prevent pollution from Gray Town, the usage of The Capital River running through the entire kingdom, and the bridge separating Archean and the Silver residencies.

Plot Lines:

Reds vs. Silvers; I hate and love the idea of the high-class citizens having silver-flushed skin and literally silver blood. It took the first half of the book for my mind to comprehend the distinction because I was too focused on hating Mare Barrow (just kidding!) I loved the moment when Evangeline dug her nails into Mare’s arm in order to draw red blood so that her identity would be revealed. But, I hated that there was no explanation as to why there was separation between the two classes.

The Love Triangle (Quartet?); How grossed out would you be if your brother was engaged to the girl you just kissed and made-out with her on a regular basis? Well, put yourself into Cal’s shoes and see you feel. I knew from the moment Cal pretended to be a Red citizen that he was the love interest for Mare- not that she didn’t end up having two others. The personification of his body heat connected to the feelings Mare would have for him, and that was interesting to read about. However, Maven had to be thrown into the mix because he was engaged to her for literal marketing reasons. I shipped Maven and Mare so hard, but Maven apparently did not. I wouldn’t call it a love quartet because we all know Evangeline didn’t actually love Cal.

Brother vs. Brother; The idea of Cal and his father vs. Maven and his mother reminded me of Reign and the relationship between Francis, Queen Elizabeth, Henry and Sebastian. As a fan of that show, I loved this power struggle. The idea of Cal being the OG son and Maven his half-brother showed that his blood did run deep with the Tiberias’. It allowed for him to feel disconnected and to want to follow his mother’s lead to power.

Symbolism and Themes; Let’s be honest here: There were none. Besides the fact that the division between the Reds and Silvers could stand for racism in any and all societies, the novel itself lacked depth. You shouldn’t look to this novel for guidance or meaning. Rather, it is a quick, cute read. Mare’s earrings stood fo her brothers, and eventually Kiloran, but that was literally given to us within the first five chapters. Most of the themes lied along the man vs. nature due to the issue of biological desterminism, and man vs. man for the revolution.

Dream Cast:

Jaz Sinclair as Mare Barrow

Charles Melton as Cal Tiberias

Tati Gabrielle as Evangeline

Jaeden Martell as Maven Calore

Melora Hardin as Queen Elara

I know, I know, this is not everyone. But, these are the only characters I truly felt needed to be played by specific people. And, yes, some are highly debatable, such as Melora because of her comedic timing, but I think these actors could play these characters well.

Quote Corner:

“The truth is what I make it. I could set this world on fire and call it rain.”

“Flame and shadow. One cannot exist without the other.”

“Words can lie. See beyond them.”

(Victoria Aveyard is a wordsmith. What she lacks in character and book depth she makes up for in language and description.)

Overall Rating: 3.75/5

I know I bashed the book a lot, but it was a pretty easy and cute read. I am going to read the sequel because I am very invested in Maven as character and would like to see what else Aveyard has in store. She took ideas from dystopian novels which were all familiar with and put her own unique twist on them, and I admire that.

Thank you for reading this week’s blog post. Next Sunday I will be discussing, “The Half of It.” Please like, follow, and reblog my posts to help get me out there. Happy Memorial Day Weekend!