#but from his perspective she’s being unreasonable by not explaining anything

[almonddirge]

Furina, being put on trial and her worst fears coming true. Her people suspect her of not truly being the Hydro Archon, which she knows will lead to the end of them all. She has to keep pretending she knows more and can do more than in truth. Yet, the worst possibility is coming to pass. She wasn’t a good enough actor and everyone will pay the price.

Neuvillette, putting Furina on trial despite not wanting to. He wants to trust her and believe that she really has a plan, but the Poisson incident took things too far. She has to answer for so much, no matter how much he doesn’t want to do this. He doesn’t know why she’s acting the way she is, and by the time he finds out, there’s nothing he can do.

[serial-serializednovelreader]

Nova’s Notes - Dracula Daily - May 28

Finally, a letter from our good friend Jonathan Harker! I’m sure nothing bad has happened to him since his last entry. /s

So right off the bat, he tells us his plan for escape using the Szgany people as a means of sending two secret letters home, one to Mina and one to Mr. Hawkins.

“To her I have explained my situation, but without the horrors which I may only surmise. It would shock and frighten her to death were I to expose my heart to her.”

I’ve seen some flack on him from this and that’s valid, but I want to approach this from a different perspective (also, I’m a total Jonathan apologist).

So from what we can see here, he’s “explained the situation” to Mina. I’m going to assume that means “I’m trapped in this castle with no means of escape for the next 32 days, after which I’m not sure what’s going to happen to me. You will receive letters from me saying I’m on my way home, don’t believe them. I am being held here against my will, you and Mr. Hawkins need to find a way to get me out of this.”

Obviously, I’m sure that’s not actually how he said it — he likely said it much more covertly than that — but that’s the gist. While he does say he hasn’t explained the horrors to her, one of the reasons he doesn’t is because, again, he can only speculate about what’s going on here. He doesn’t have hardcore evidence that anyone wants to suck his blood or that the Count wants to murder him. His livelihood is built off of facts and sending a letter that has a ton of speculation without proof in it is pretty much against his moral code at this point.

Also, think about the position it would put Mina in if she received a letter filled with the horrors he has endured. Jonathan is placing her in a position of trust and power by telling his boss to “communicate with her” (to figure out a plan of escape for him). If Mina knows exactly what has gone down in that castle, she likely will be much more frantic in trying to get him out of there (and who can blame her?). But Mr. Hawkins wouldn’t be. He doesn’t know anything about what is going on, and that would then put Mina in the position of likely having to explain everything to Mr. Hawkins and him deciding whether he believes her or not. Sure, she can show him the letter, but I don’t know if he reads shorthand, and if he’s skeptical enough, he might dismiss the entire letter as “not from Jonathan” (this could be an exaggeration, but we also don’t know Mr. Hawkins well enough to know his character).

However, Jonathan being held against his will by an unreasonable client is something a bit more down-to-earth. While Mina might leave off the “after-32-days-who-knows-what-will-happen-to-me” part, she can say that Jonathan has tried to ask the Count to leave and has been refused for various reasons. Mr. Hawkins has likely dealt with this before and knows ways to counteract this. Perhaps he can send a letter to the count requesting his solicitor back for urgent matters, or something of the kind. While this likely wouldn’t have worked (due to, you know, it being *Dracula* we’re dealing with), Jonathan is eager to try anything at this point and this would be playing into Dracula’s illusion of Jonathan simply being a guest who can leave at any time. Plus, Jonathan knows if this tactic doesn’t work, he has more serious grounds to say the Count is holding him against his will.

Another point, he probably doesn’t have an unlimited supply of paper to work with, so he also wants to keep this letter relatively short. He could just read the pages from his diary and include those but that would make for a bulky envelope and it might not even fit.

On the emotional side, if you were in a horrifying situation and had one letter to send home, what would you put in that letter? Would you play up the horror of what you’re going through or simply emphasize the importance of getting out of there and how your loved one can help? While, yes, he should include some of what he’s going through (and, to be fair, he does explain some of the situation to only her which is a step above most protagonists, who likely would either a) not send letters explaining it to anyone or b) just explain it to his male boss). I think most people in his shoes probably wouldn’t want to include the trauma of what they’re going through in order to not stress out their partner, no matter the gender. It’s what a lot of humans do and whether that’s the right call or not depends on the situation.

Finally, another big reason I believe he keeps it a secret is because of the next sentence:

“Should the letters not carry, then the Count shall not yet know my secret or the extent of my knowledge....”

Here’s the thing we have to remember: Jonathan doesn’t know for sure that Dracula doesn’t know shorthand. He’s already proven himself to be smart and knowledgeable, knowing the laws (almost as much as a lawyer in his own right) for a country he’s not even from. Sure, there may have been things the Count has said to suggest that he doesn’t know shorthand (which has given Jonathan that level of security), but we also know he’s a lying liar who lies. So, who knows? Jonathan sure isn’t going to take his chances describing every single weird encounter he’s had since he arrived at this castle, because that would be playing his hand about how much he knows.

Yes, writing these letters is taking a huge chance and is showing a bit of what he knows. But if the Count is able to read the letter in its current form, Jonathan will, at worst, sound like an ungrateful and rude guest with weird ideas (presuming he didn’t say “the count’s murdering me in 32 days” which he probably didn’t). They can still come back from that. Will it be awkward? Yes, very. Dracula might even say “Jonathan, haha! You can leave at anytime, why do you say this?” (LIES).

But if Jonathan detailed every single thing that has happened to him? That would likely get him murdered on the spot. He has broken the rules of this game the Count so enjoys playing by inviting someone else into their confidence (at least to that full extent). It might even put Mina in danger as well.

“‘The Szgany has given me these, of which, though I know not whence they come, I shall, of course, take care.’”

And here we see Count Dracula trying not to lie for one second (impossible). I doubt they gave him the letter of their own free will; I’m almost sure he either used his authority as a nobleman or he used his vampire powers to make them hand over the letters. No matter what, it’s evil and I hate him for it. Of course, he’s going to put the blame on *the Szgany* to make them sound as if they just gave him the letters because there’s nothing Dracula loves more than discrediting those he deems “below him” (which, really, is anyone who ISN’T him when you think about it) and making them seem ignorant. Plus, it’s another abuser tactic to remind Jonathan that no one here is really on his side: he’s already done this with the villagers and the coachmen, so it stands to reason he would do this here. We know that’s not true (look at how the villagers protected Jonathan), but for Jonathan, it’s likely starting to feel true after almost a month of isolation.

“…here he caught sight of the strange symbols as he opened the envelope, and the dark look came into his face, and his eyes blazed wickedly—‘the other is a vile thing, an outrage upon friendship and hospitality! It is not signed. Well! so it cannot matter to us.’ And he calmly held letter and envelope in the flame of the lamp till they were consumed.”

Back to my earlier point: what if Dracula *could* read shorthand? I’m sorry if that’s a theory everyone already has and I just haven’t seen it yet, but it is something to consider. No matter if he does, he obviously knows it’s from Jonathan and it’s written in some kind of code to a loved one, so he was going to burn this no matter what. But still, the possibility of him being able to actually *read* that letter is scary…

Notice how he says “us” here, trying to rope Jonathan back into a little group with him (presumably away from the Szgany, or even, perhaps, from the outside world). It’s sickening to me that even while he’s burning Jonathan’s only hope (at this point), he’s still trying to build a sense of rapport between them. While Jonathan called him a creature — rather than a man — for the first time after the lizard fashion thing, this is where I’d call him a creature because that’s just horrible. He even has the audacity afterward to say “Your letters are sacred to me” while also admitting he broke the seal and read Mr. Hawkins’ letter as well. It’s an invasion of privacy on so many levels and, of course, there’s nothing Jonathan can do about it. If he even had the heart to complain, Dracula could just lean on the excuse of “I don’t understand English customs” (uhhhh you understand their laws to an alarming degree though???).

As a disclaimer, I don’t think it’s a thing in Transylvania to peek into other people’s mail — I’m sure it’s just as much of a taboo there as it is everywhere else — I’m just saying that’s the excuse Dracula would use to justify his evil behavior. Because he likes lying.

After he locks Jonathan in the study (which, wow!!! He’s really punishing him by just straight up locking him in the study now), what can Jonathan do but sleep? I suppose he was so numb to everything after that he just went to sleep. Or, if we really want to take it there, perhaps Dracula compelled him to sleep, as we theorized he did in the carriage ride on the way to the castle. For what purpose is unclear, but perhaps he wanted to tamper in his room and search for more secret letters or something of the kind and didn’t want Jonathan to be suspicious while he did so.

When, an hour or two after, the Count came quietly into the room, his coming awakened me, for I had gone to sleep on the sofa. He was very courteous and very cheery in his manner, and seeing that I had been sleeping, he said:— [para. break] ‘So, my friend, you are tired? Get to bed.’

I hate the way Dracula acts here. “Awwww are you sleepy 🥺 go to bed 🥺🥺🥺” like how???? You locked him in the study????? Ugh, hate him. It makes you wonder what he’s so cheery about and what he was up to while Jonathan was asleep….again, my best guess was tampering in his room.

I passed to my room and went to bed, and, strange to say, slept without dreaming. Despair has its own calms.

This is so sad. That last sentence really hammers home how much Jonathan is suffering and how *even then* he’s trying to make some positivity out of it. But for the first part, we know weird dreams usually indicate that Dracula is up to something, right? Perhaps he knows he messed with Jonathan so much that he doesn’t need to send him dreams — the mind games he played in real life are enough to satisfy him, at least for today. And that’s truly where the horror comes in.

[coffeeisfortheresponsible]

random ninjago thought?

akita was not being unreasonably mean for not caring about lloyd talking about his trauma in s11.

i haven’t seen many people have this take so i’m not saying this in response to anything i just think this is a good example of perspective bias.

anyways akita knows nothing about lloyd, she doesn’t really know the full extent what his past was like, his relationship with garmadon, or the trauma he went through. it is not unreasonable for her to brush off what he is saying especially since he is literally just some random guy that she saved from being killed.

and! lloyd tends to joke about the stuff he went through. akita doesn’t know him though! she probably thinks he’s just genuinely joking about random stuff and that this wasn’t the trauma that haunts his nightmares.

idk she’s just obviously a very caring person (shown with her brother and to protect lloyd, a stranger, from the wolves) but she really just didn’t have the context we do to understand that he was opening up for the first time about his deepest trauma.

but if lloyd sat down and genuinely talked it through? and explained how this has affected him??? she would go through hell to make the people who hurt him pay and would absolutely be the therapist friend.

[be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie]

Hey, so I saw your post about some fics demonizing Neytiri. That has actually been one of my major fears as a fic writer, attempting to balance Neytiri's extremely valid trauma and the POV I'm writing from (that is typically flawed in some way). I was wondering, since you seem very well-versed on the topic, what do you define as "demonizing" for Neytiri? Is it ok to write from a perspective where a character doesn't really like or trust her, as long as the trauma is noted? Do you have any resources so I can educate myself to properly write this kind of character?

I really want to make sure I'm doing right by Neytiri and improve as a fic writer overall, so any advice you could offer would be very much appreciated!

Whoa, what a complicated and nuanced question. A great one! And I'm super flattered you came to me! Just one I'm going to try to answer to the best of my ability. I'm assuming you're referring to Norm's pov in your fic?

First of all, I do not want to at all proclaim to be an expert on generational trauma; I am not a person of color, and I have been lucky enough to have a very normal and healthy family. I just had a best friend growing up in an abusive household and took steps to educate myself best I could to understand the situation, which I believe anyone would do. So I'm just gonna try to word vomit out my thoughts for you, please ask questions or challenge any of what I say if any of you see anything you think is incorrect. Buckle in, this will be long.

What do you define as "demonizing" for Neytiri?

Demonizing means portraying someone as wicked or threatening, as evil or worthy of contempt and blame.

For me, demonizing for Neytiri is the trend I've seen lately of portraying her as this unyielding, animalistic type character who's hatred of humans, Spider specifically, goes so far that she gets physically violent with Spider and eventually ends up tearing apart her family. In these fics, Jake is always a sad sack loser bystander, loving his wife too much to step in but of course shamefully knowing how wrong what she's doing is. Infantilizing poor white savior Jake Sully, being brow beaten by his mean indigenous wife into neglecting a child is a weirdly strong take in this fandom. Often Mo'at is a wise elder chiding Neytiri for being unable to get over her prejudice. Mo'at and Jake understand Neytiri as much as anyone would, they wouldn't shame her. To me, it's an extremely reductive and frankly borderline racist characterization. When paired with a sympathetic view of Quaritch, it is at best irresponsible and at worst knowingly dangerous.

Neytiri is representative of an indigenous woman. I feel like I don't have to explain why making her violent, volatile, and completely unreasonable is a little bit of a harmful caricature. In these fics, for me, Neytiri ceases to be a person. She looses autonomy to sort of represent this monolith of hatred and prejudice that has hurt our little baby boy Spider. It's crazy to me that people can't apply the exact same empathy they have towards Spider (saving Quaritch) to Neytiri (not being able to trust Spider). They are the most foil of foil characters. Their storylines are extremely similar, if I'm being honest. Essentially, ignoring the fact that Neytiri is a member of a minority community being actively genocided by Spider's people is intentionally reductive. If you can empathize with Spider, and ESPECIALLY if you find Quaritch sympathetic, finding Neytiri's actions unforgivable is racism, plain and simple.

Also, side note, the lengths people go to where Neytiri just literally will not budge under any circumstances at all is INSANE.

(I read a fic the other day where she gave Spider to child protective services behind everyone's back. That's LUNACY. She only came around after she almost lost Tuk when Tuk was suddenly born prematurely and Mo'at came in and was like "Eywa made it so you can never have kids again because of what you did, have you learned your lesson yet?" Like?? I do not understand the HATRED some of ya'll have for her, the suffering you all think she deserves. She's having an EXTREMELY NORMAL trauma reaction to surviving GENOCIDE? Examine yourselves greatly).

But where I was going was Neytiri is the same character who pushed her parents to let them go to human school, fell in love with human Jake, defended him and trusted him despite her family, mated with him and lost her religious position because of it, and then had a bunch of part human kids with him, and adopted a fully freak of nature kid born of a human she loved and respected. She has human friends, she wears and uses human tech, and she forgave Jake after he had betrayed them. Basically what I'm saying is Neytiri, despite her continuous trauma, is the most open and curious and non traditional Na'vi of all time. Girl is READY to meet new people and learn new shit, and to be open to everyone. Sometimes I think about a no trauma Neytiri and I get emotional. I think it's crazy to say she would never budge on Spider, if it wasn't for his dad I'm pretty sure she would've softened lonnnnng ago, if not having liked him from the get go.

Um, that got way too long I have too many thoughts. Second half of your question.

Is it ok to write from a perspective where a character doesn't really like or trust her, as long as the trauma is noted?

This is a tricky question, because technically there is nothing you can't do as a writer. Of course, it also means there is nothing anyone can't criticize you for writing. Like, Colleen Hoover can say she's writing realistic depictions of domestic abuse until the cows come home, I'm still going to say she's romanticizing and normalizing it in a super callous way. Neither of us can stop the other. So yeah, of course you're okay to write from the perspective of a character that doesn't like Neytiri. I just think the point will be what your prerogative is. One of my MFA professors says it in a way I like and I'm sure I've referenced before, if you aren't trying to make a point about something that might have to have a trigger warning then don't include it. I always say I would take it a step further; if your point is to defend that thing, don't do it. So for me, my big points would be try not to project my own feelings onto the character either way; if the character is wrong about something and the narrative intends to show that they will either learn, or we the reader will grow past them. But to be sure what you feel the takeway of the piece is is what you wanted it to be, I guess.

Do you have any resources so I can educate myself to properly write this kind of character?

Well, I have a few on white writers writing BIPOC characters and the ethics of that if you're interested in that. But I don't have any on specifically writing generational trauma. I guess I'd say reading and absorbing are my biggest tools; so reading books/watching movies or TV that use the speculative to translate generational trauma, and learning about and taking in the real life examples the character is based on. Read up on some genocides, and indigenous people today and how their lives are still affected. Even just watch the news; we're witnessing a very public genocide being pushed right to our attention right now. And of course, that is not the only genocide happening rn, it's just the only one we're talking about, so there's plenty of real world case studies unfortunately right in front of us.

[princesssarisa]

Autism headcanon:

The Beast/Prince Adam (Disney's "Beauty and the Beast," 1991)

*Except when he's angry, the Beast is quiet and reserved. His words tend to be few and concise. He's also a loner until Belle arrives. Not just because he hides from the outside world, as anyone transformed into a monster would do, but because he apparently spends most of his time brooding alone in his room, not even interacting much with the servants until Belle's presence brings him out of his shell.

*Despite being a prince who would presumably have learned court etiquette, he struggles at first with the most basic social skills and manners, relying on his servants to coach him. Of course this is partly the effect of the spell (he presumably didn't lap his porridge like an animal when he was human), and partly his insecurity about his appearance. But it's still relatable from an ASD perspective.

*Some of his outbursts of rage seem less like mere temper and more like meltdowns. Especially his outburst when he catches Belle in the West Wing. The way he smashes the furniture, and the way his whole body contorts with fury as he roars "GET OUUUUT!" doesn't come across as just a tantrum. It's as if the situation – his orders disobeyed, his privacy violated, the humiliation of Belle seeing his beastly lair, and above all the horror of seeing her nearly damage the magic rose – completely overwhelms him with emotion he can't control. And this clearly isn't a one-time incident. The broken furniture and torn fabrics throughout the West Wing (and of course the torn portrait of his human self) shows that throughout his years of misery under the spell, he's been prone to overpowering meltdowns where he has to vent physically. In the Special Edition of the movie, he does it again in his anguish after he lets Belle go, trashing the room which the servants had cleaned up during "Human Again."

*Also in the Special Edition and in the stage musical, it's revealed that he can barely read. This despite the fact that he was a prince who would presumably have had the best of education. Now, one interpretation of this is that he's forgetting how to read because his mind is turning increasingly bestial under the spell. But the dialogue in the musical and the Special Edition don't really support that idea. He just says that he only learned a little and long ago. Could it be that even when he was human, he had trouble with reading comprehension, as is sometimes the case for ASD children?

*At the beginning, he's messy and disheveled, and needs to re-learn how to groom himself and dress like a gentleman. Of course some people on the autism spectrum are meticulously neat and orderly, but others are just the opposite and struggle with it.

*Also at the beginning, he doesn't seem to fully comprehend other people's emotions or the way he comes across to them. For example, when he "invites" Belle to dinner, he thinks his obviously reluctant, forced politeness counts as "asking nicely" and that Belle is being unreasonable when she still refuses. Of course this could just be because he's a spoiled prince who's never had his orders refused or needed to ask nicely for anything before. But it could also imply further social difficulty.

*In general, he seems less mature than an average 21-year-old. He always has a bit of a childlike quality, at first in a "spoiled brat" way, but later in a sweet, gentle way.

*Countless fans have noted the plot parallels between Disney's Beauty and the Beast and Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The idea that Mr. Darcy is on the autism spectrum is a very popular and understandable headcanon. Isn't it natural then that the same headcanon should apply to the Beast?

Now I know this is a debatable headcanon. I know the writers didn't set out to code the Beast as autistic. All the traits I've described above can be explained either by (a) his being spoiled, (b) his depression, or (c) his mind turning animalistic because of the spell. And I'm not entirely sure I like this headcanon myself. If we do view him as autistic-coded, then about 80% of his character arc revolves around learning to "mask" to please Belle, with the undertone of "This is the only way you can ever be loved." But he's still relatable to someone on the spectrum like me. Maybe this explains why I always defend him from those critics who view him as just an abuser. If that were the truth about him, then what would that say about those of us in the real world who see ourselves in him?

[sluttytangerine]

Chapter 196 Spoilers !!

I was looking into the last panel of ch. 196 just now and it made me wonder:

What was Doll implying when she said she was going to "send them over to your hell"?

I'm no theorist expert, so please let me know if there's an error within my theory (there will definitely be some lol).

When I first thought of this, my mind went toward Sebastian and the servants.

It's been a long time since we've had more information on the event at the end of BoC and the recent chapters have barely given us any more details on what Sebastian had done to Doll, or if he said anything to her about the truth. All we have at the moment is Doll's vague dialogue with Finny and Snake in chapter 195:

Now, going on the basis that Sebastian and Ciel didn't have knowledge of bizarre dolls or any of Undertaker's antics at this time, we can assume that they wouldn't be so cautious of revealing the truth to Doll knowing Sebastian would kill her immediately after.

In chapter 193, the connection of Finny and Snake to O!Ciel was mistakenly revealed to Doll due to O!Ciel's alias in BoC.

Finny was of course a part of the murders of the circus troupe, but Snake wasn't. Once again, we don't know what Sebastian told Doll, or if he told anything at all, so for all we know Doll believes that Snake was a part of the murders as well and is also working with O!Ciel.

It wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that she would want revenge for what happened to the troupe, even going as far as to kill whoever is associated with it.

As of now we don't 100% know Undertaker's motive, but if we assume that he has no interest in keeping the servants (including Sebastian) alive, Doll will likely be interested in helping Undertaker in order to get her revenge. Although, we don't know if Doll has had any contact with Undertaker, and I have little evidence to support this part, so take this part lightly.

Now, it's completely possible that Doll is aware of Sebastian's true self before she was killed by him. She could also be aware that Sebastian is the epicenter of committing this tragedy, knowing how powerful of a being he is. With this information, Doll could be telling Sebastian she wants to send everyone who was a part of the troupe massacre to where he originates from.

This can explain why she specifically said "your Hell", since Sebastian is the only person Doll can know that confirms the existence of a hell, being his hell.

Of course, I have not mentioned the blood collection or much related to it. I simply wanted to assess this panel mainly using Doll's emotional and mental state, using evidence from her personal dialogue and experiences in the series. This will most likely put sinkholes into my theory, but I simply wanted to share a different perspective on Doll's consciousness and what her next moves may be going on into the current arc.

I would love to hear different perceptions of this panel from others, so please share them if you have any thoughts!!!

[sageandred]

* jotting down some thoughts from old wtFock, seasons 1-3 .... (part 1)

1. Jana

Pros- Jana + Robbe (Belgium Eva + Isak); Girlsquad minus Amber; Zoe + Jana/Zoe + Yasmina/Luca + Yasmina; the first appearance of Senne/Senne + Zoe scenes

Cons- Jana + Jens (Belgium Eva + Jonas), lol

*couldn't remember anything from this og season and the first few eps were fun, then I got annoyed at how the main couple story seemed to drag on; overall it was average-i don't think they changed much and the story was fine, but nothing really blew me away

2. Zoe

*I don't remember much from this og season (gonna be honest, before this, I don't think I finished Noora's season ever, because I can't stand William, lol, and I didn't realize until now).

Pros- Senne feels like a more likeable version of William to me [basing even off of the earlier episodes before both Senne/William's development]. (+ Senne at the beginning of wtFOCK is even still better than William at the end of Skam OG).

Cons- I LOVE Zoe + Senne, but the early ep conflict of her going on a date with him and being in denial is honestly so stupid. It seems like such a simple issue in the world of Skam in comparison to the other seasons for every reimagination. (But I know the later conflicts are gonna break me).

More in depth appreciation of Senne and Zoe

Senne: There were only a few moments in season 1 + early season 2 where I questioned him, but there's just charm and development to Senne that fleshes him out and actually made me love this couple by the end. They don't water down parts of "Senne" that are truly important to his whole "bad boy" personality-like later on (s3) his instinctual crutch of violence towards his brother or his smart-ass comments in season 1, but they also don't make him just a terrible boyfriend like og.

Zoe: could throw water in someone's face for no reason and I would still love her (I'm watching s4 rn although she doesn't do that, so this is kind of in line). She's not perfect and a lot of her push-back with Senne (mainly) can be really unreasonable, but that's what makes her her. I feel like she comes off as more stubborn than og Noora, but I honestly love it and there's subtle changes to her characterization that back it up. She's one of the most headstrong Nooras (obv all of them have this trait), and she's someone that is gonna move in a way that seems proactive to her (ex: her taking the plan B pill before even knowing what happened to her). The only minor thing I thought at one point is that we didn't get enough of Zoe's perspective on things (there are a lot of characters and it's great to see them, but sometimes certain interactions felt it took away in some way, idk). She was just a character I knew I would love immediately in season 1 [& she's great, but as I go on, I do think the writers kind of diminish her potential in some way (even certain choices in s2), but idk how to explain it-although it doesn't ruin her character at all for me, there's just minor minor differences than how she seemed].

Zoenne: I love how they are so different in their points of view; they each are strong in their opinions and it's not resolved too quickly. I honestly see both povs, which is how it should be. And in season 3, I wasn't even mad at the break up (even though it didn't last long)-they are the only Noorhelm imo to address the problem between them (with them being so young + why love's not enough), not make it the end of the world, and still get back together at a later time.

wtFOCK likes to dramatize a lot of their scenes, but for me it works in Zoe's season.

Examples: 1) the text from Senne's brother at the end of the episode revealing the pictures he took per the glass drop; 2) the Senne finds out scene I felt was better directed and acted than the og scene, giving a more emotional feel and lead up to the hallway confrontation in ep 10

other things: Amber is one of the worst Vildes in terms of ignorance, however they've done well with her development and not resolving her problems too quickly [I just know I'll eat my words come season 4/5]. Her seemingly heightened naivety against the other "Vildes" makes so much sense in this scenario.

2 is definitely my fav wtFock season

...not sure I'll watch Season 4, cause I know it's gonna piss me off more than Imane's, but maybe I'll continue for Yasmina only

^ update-started it; I hate it

[alexcalder]

───but I also know you are better she told him and his blue eyes stared into her beautiful grey-blue ones; is he, really? perhaps, to an extent, he is better since he has been with her; better at handling his impulses, the aggressive outbursts. better for he has stopped using, hasn’t since a little before they got together, even when the need is there; tangible, inviting. the him who is with her is reserved for her, alone; he isn’t soft and attentive to the world, he is a cold-blooded killer. feels no empathy when he pulls the trigger when he pours the poison. his very presence exudes danger —something dark, ominous; threatening. she sees a side of him nobody else does because he feels he can trust her; deep down he wants to let her in completely, be more open with her, and he makes a step towards it, but it is not always a walk in the park —he can’t unlearn a lifetime of coping mechanism in a blink. it often catches him off guard how patient she can be with him, even when he is being downright unreasonable. “I am not…” he shook his head, smiling a little at her; because he isn’t, he isn’t a good person. and then she laughed and he tilted his head, giving her a look. “baby,” he said softly as she tried to see things from the other’s perspective. “then it is his problem, not mine.” he retorted —certainly not hers; his opinion cannot be swayed; who speaks to her better watch their goddamn mouth.

his arm wrapped around her when she still tiptoed in her heels to kiss him before rushing off to find her friends. his eyes followed her as she got lost in the VIP section. he didn’t mind her seeking her friends out; if anything, from what she told him Ric would protect her, and for Luke, he had no doubt even if his opinion about him was still quite unclear. speak of the devil, he soon found himself in his younger brother’s company, even if for a brief time. once Luke left, he went to meet a client, seeing as Liz was still with Ric.

her dainty hand slipped into his and he turned to look at her with a ‘there you are,’ but soon noticed she seemed…different. upset over something; her makeup smudged, her eyes slightly red, tear-stained eyes, pupils dilated. a frown graced his features, his blue eyes studying her as he wrapped an arm around her waist to steady her, squeezed her hand in his as he brought her to the side a little, away from the crowd. she spoke and he blinked, because out of all the things he could have expected to hear, this was not it. then again, it explained her mood swings, the upset stomach, and the growing appetite. or how her breasts appeared to be a little fuller than before, maybe a little more tender to the touch —because, of course, he would notice. his eyes fell to the tests she put in his hand and he looked at them. positive. the both of them. when Liz spoke again, he realized he hadn’t said a word ( which, in fairness, wasn’t uncharacteristic of him ). “hey,” he cupped her face in his hand, meeting her eyes. was he ready to be a fucking dad, again? He was just about used to being the twins' dad, learned the ropes so to speak, and now this…and yet, perhaps, he did want it, unbeknown to him —he often felt guilty he hadn’t been there for the duration of the pregnancy. And funny thing was, he was postponing a trip due to her symptoms, just as he had to leave for one when she was pregnant with Lilou and Beau, though he hadn’t known then. “is this why you are so upset?” he asked, gently stroking the side of her face. “baby girl…” he breathed, “we will figure it out, okay?” not now; not when she was so worked up, or drunk and high. he pulled her to him, kissed the top of her head; a hand still holding her face, ever so adoringly, the other wrapped around her small frame.

⸻ Elizabeth was a bit nervous only because she doesn't want to screw things over for Alex, especially for his 'job'. Despite getting a bit annoyed at times for his impulses which is something she knew she'd have to deal with in the part of a package of having him. She wanted him could see himself the way she saw him. He's not as dark as he thinks he is. ⏤ But when she is around Alex she feels complete, as if there isn't anything he could do to make her feel better, because she is happy, she has never been this happy. Finding the piece of the missing puzzle. He is what was missing in her life. And she trusted him wholly, even when he struggled but she felt in her veins and as a six sense he would be there for her.

❛ I know… But I also know you are better. ❜ I believe in you, unspoken words, encouraging smile. The way she spoke it wasn't like she was disapproving in a total hate, nor impatient… Hell, she knows a person cannot change from wine to water in a nick of time. After he added his words a second later, she couldn't remain serious for long and cracked up into cackles. ❛ I agree with you. ❜ Once she found certain composture, turning to him. ❛ But I also don't know if he had a bad day, hence why he acted the way he did. ❜ Liz has a nasty habit of trying to all see the two sides of the coin. It makes sense. ⏤ A blush increased on her cheeks when he picked her hand and kissed the palm of it, and she gingerly took the candy he put in her mouth, humming in delight and happiness. Once, she felt satisfied with eating. ❛ I will try to find Ric, and Luke. Ric brought a surprise for me…. Then we will go home. Ok? ❜ She warns him, giving a long peck on his lips, tiptoeing, even though she was in high heels, and smacking his buns before rushing to where she knew she might find her friend.

Moments later, after leaving Ric, she was trying to find her grumpy bunny. Once she spotted him, she took his hand, and her mood switched, she was drunk, her make-up kinda smudged, and slightly moody.

❛ Alex…. I have something to tell. I think this thing is cursed, because of the spooky season. ❜ Elizabeth was considering either telling him now what just happened or waiting until the next day to be certain… She was also high… It was possible to notice and tell, her grey-bluish hues were a thin line around her dilated pupils, her entirely face crimson mixed from the alcohol in her system, and from crying alone under the sweets table. Fuck it! She hates lying to him. ❛ Funny, story… I… Am… Hmmm.. ❜ Words couldn't come out of her mouth. ❛ Pregnant. I just did two pharmacy tests. ❜ She showed him the results she got, that was in the pocket of a silk bathrobe, and put them on his hand so he could check for himself. Analyzing everything, it does make sense… But she didn't have half the symptoms she had in the first pregnancy, in fact, she found out a bit late in the pregnancy of Beau and Lilou. ❛ Please say something. Or just don't. ❜

[subconwoods]

AHiT Analysis: What Does Snatcher Think of Vanessa?

For my first write-up on A Hat in Time, I've decided to go with a topic that I think is very interesting due to its ambiguity, and that I've seen some pretty wildly different takes on: What does Snatcher think of Vanessa? This will be an analysis of what I believe to be most likely based on all of the evidence I've been able to identify.

[This post will cover the base game and the Seal the Deal DLC. The canon status of Vanessa’s Curse is dubious, but I don’t think it necessarily contradicts what I’m talking about here. If there’s interest I can go over it in another post.]

In the base game, Snatcher does not talk about or directly acknowledge Vanessa a single time. His contract instructs Hat Kid to go to the manor, but doesn't mention Vanessa at all.

You would think there just isn’t enough information for a conclusion in that case, but I think what exists is actually pretty illuminating.

In Chapter 1's storybook Time Rift, the Mafia Man explains how it was created: he was hit by a falling Time Piece, and the rift was created from his memories.

The Tale of Queen Vanessa involves two characters, so it could feasibly have been created from either (or both) of their memories. However, I believe it was created from Snatcher's.

The physical location of the rift is in the ruined area behind Snatcher's tree house, practically on the opposite side of the Subcon Woods map from Vanessa's manor. Environmental details in the level itself are suggestive of Snatcher, with things like the thorny vines, armchair, rug, and potion bottles appearing. Conversely, no assets from Vanessa's manor are present.

Despite this, the book is, by its title, about Vanessa, and is illustrated with heavy focus on her, while the prince is in the background in most pages he appears on.

The first pages go out of their way to establish Vanessa as a kind person. She and the prince are happily in love, and she's beloved by the children who would later become the Dwellers and Subconites when the kingdom freezes. In his memories, there’s no indication anything was wrong with their relationship, even though diary entries in the manor show her behavior towards the prince had been controlling well before the incident depicted in the book. Snatcher remembers Vanessa and his relationship with her fondly.

Even though the book is made from Snatcher's memories, it first shows a scene where the prince appears to be seeing the florist, with huge emphasis on how heartbroken Vanessa is, and then reveals that this wasn't the case. Snatcher doesn't think the misunderstanding was unreasonable on Vanessa's behalf; the framing of the sequence legitimizes her interpretation of it by showing it from her perspective first.

Snatcher seems to believe he deeply hurt Vanessa, and views her becoming cursed as a tragedy arising from a simple and avoidable misunderstanding. Vanessa wrote about chaining him in one of her diary entries, meaning his death was at least partly premeditated, but from his perspective, the events depicted were totally incidental. Even in the frames where he’s being taken away, Vanessa crying is still in the foreground. The last two pages parallel each other, suggesting that what happened to Vanessa isn’t any less terrible than what happened to him.

Snatcher appears nowhere in Chapter 3 Act 4; the closest he comes to acknowledging Vanessa is sending a Subconite to tell Hat Kid she isn’t allowed to use her hats. This was likely done for gameplay reasons, like the Ice Hat interfering with stealth gameplay and the Sprint Hat making it easier to outrun Vanessa if the player is spotted, but it’s still an in-character decision by Snatcher.

This is one of two times he limits Hat Kid’s ability to access her hats, the other being in his boss fight. In this case, he wants Hat Kid to retrieve the Time Piece from the attic, so it’s strange he would make it harder for her. I can think of two reasons:

Snatcher just doesn’t want Hat Kid to know anything about him and is trying to limit her use of the Dweller Mask, which reveals secrets. As it’s a mask, by technicality this is pointless and she can use it anyway.

Snatcher doesn’t want Hat Kid to hurt Vanessa. He doesn’t take her umbrella away, but he doesn’t take it in his own boss fight, either.

As Snatcher doesn’t talk about Vanessa at all otherwise, and she only appears in one level, this is all the information in the base game.

In Death Wish mode, Snatcher never sends Hat Kid back to the manor, but he has four pieces of idle dialogue that reference Vanessa, although he never mentions her specifically by name.

"You know, they always say love is a warm feeling... But in my experience it's been positively chilling."

"You might think the embrace of death is the coldest thing there is, but I can tell you from experience... it's not."

"Ah, you should have seen her back in the day. Like dynamite with a laser beam, you know."

"We all have a soulmate - supposedly. I mean, I know I do. She's waiting for me! I don't see anyone waiting for you, though."

The first two are similar. They’re both jokes (if you could call them that) about his death, and seem to have a bitter tone to them, but they’re a bit ambiguous, particularly the second one. It sounds like he’s saying Vanessa is colder than death, but the snow coming in through the window in the second to last storybook page suggests he froze to death due to Vanessa’s magic, so is he really referring to her here? It’s unclear.

The third one, just in case you didn’t know, is a reference to a Queen song about a call girl. Snatcher mentions his ex four times in the entire game and one of those times is to tell us how hot she was. There’s no ironic or sarcastic undertone here. He still thinks this. Moving on.

In the last one, though, he explicitly calls her his soulmate and acknowledges she’s still looking for him. The line isn’t read in a way that particularly suggests he’s being sarcastic about it, either. As a matter of fact, he’s jokingly telling Hat Kid she might not have a soulmate, in contrast to him.

Due to the limited evidence available and the ambiguity of his Death Wish dialogue, I don’t think other interpretations are unreasonable, but the bulk of evidence suggests that Snatcher doesn’t hate Vanessa: he cares about and misses her, to the extent that the storybook about her made from his own unconscious memories doesn’t acknowledge any of the things she wrote about in her diary.

Final verdict:

[silviakundera]

So now that I've decided to overshare my opinions about Love like the Galaxy... SPOILERS SPOILERS

Ep 25-26 were really interesting to me watching Ling Buyi try (and fail) to be good at anything but military affairs. Very earnest and like NN he is so used to people being awful that he's mostly just good at stabbing back. The people he loves either aren't really interacting with the world (mom) or are so absolute powerful that LB doesn't have to worry about trodding on vulnerabilities (emperor the foster dad). Plus, perhaps a huge part of why LB is how he is comes down to how emperor father figure sincerely thinks this kid is kind and loyal. He gets away with murder (pun INTENDED thx) because his terse, abrupt manner and stubborn behavior are always taken as good faith from the emperor. This hasn't really encouraged him to moderate himself. (now ok emperor, pop quiz on ur dadding: has that I Have Social & Political Power Over You But Also Unconditional Love role model ultimately made LB into a husband option who has boundaries but is also patient and non judgemental???? Let's see!)

Evidently he's going to struggle at first to communicate with NN, who has MASSIVE (understandable) trust issues. She's used to people not truly listening to her reasons or caring, so she has stopped trying to have reasonable conversations with people. What's the point? Wasting her breath. Growing up she was degraded and mistreated by her aunt and grandmother. Her mother again and again has refused to take her perspective seriously or address the context around her actions. And so NN has simply stopped trying to explain herself. She's decided to be unreasonable, because that's how she has been treated and labelled.

The critical thing Ling Buyi was trying to express in the carriage with the bread discussion is that when he says "you shouldn't do this, cause this reason" this is the start of a discussion in a healthy relationship. (He's used to comfortably pushing back on dictates from THE EMPEROR 😂😭.) NN took it as an order that can't be questioned, because that is all she's experienced growing up and with the arrival of her parents. Ling Buyi is Not Good at expressing himself, so it'll be a rough ride I assume until he can get NN to trust he actually wants them to be partners who communicate and compromise with each other.

In a relationship like for real you do listen to your partner's opinions and you can't just randomly do whatever all the time. Your partner might say no, you shouldn't stay up all night watching Netflix because tomorrow we have to go to buy supplies for the stairs repair. And the other party is expected to listen and either say yeah, good point. Ok I'll go to bed in 2 hours. Or they might say, I hear you but I have insomnia and am super stressed out right now and this is what I need to do to handle it. Don't worry, I won't sleep in and mess up our plans. And other person takes in that explanation. Relationships take communication every day.

The question is, how much tension is this pair going to have until she learns to trust he is not trying to always shut her down and will listen to her. That he actually does care about her reasons and wants to understand them. And that she can in the same way give him feedback and expect him to listen.

(Like honestly, the more I think about it I'm... Foster dad u do get a 9/10 congrats. LB just assumes NN would be comfortable debating right back at him when they disagree, because he's so secure that this is how loving relationships go, even where there is an imbalance of power. You nag and fret because you care, then maybe they tell u why it's totally not gonna happen. Remember the consort and empress just kicking the emperor's ass OUT?! 😆 The emperor just venting on him and he pops up like a windup toy 😂😭 OMG DAD I WOULDN'T HAVE BROUGHT HER HERE IF U ARE JUST GONNA SCARE HER GAAAAWWWD 😭😭😭😭😭😭)

[darklydeliciousdesires]

Not One of Many - Chapter Twenty Five.

Previous chapters - Prologue  One  Two  Three  Four  Five  Six  Seven  Eight  Nine  Ten  Eleven  Twelve  Thirteen  Fourteen  Fifteen  Sixteen  Seventeen  Eighteen  Nineteen  Twenty  Twenty One  Twenty Two  Twenty Three  Twenty Four

Tag list - In the comments

Words - 2,991

Warnings - 18+ content, adult audience only. Minors DNI!

Standing under the cool water of the shower, Alfie felt no better than he had prior to jogging around the coastline for an hour. He was prickled, Beth’s words still niggling at him with persistence. Guilty? For him doing everything she’d wanted of him? How the fuck could she feel that now, after the hoops he’d jumped through in order to be with her?  

He was a big fan of resolution, of doing the right thing to attain the best possible outcome, that for him meant facilitating the place for her in his life, the woman he realised he wanted above any others. And this was what he got for it? He’d sacrificed a lot because of his unyielding love for her, and yes, it came at the expense of others, something he had felt bad about too at the time. Those feelings had all been very much eclipsed by his happiness over the fact that he’d gotten what he wanted.  

Her. All he’d wanted was her, and now they were finally together, she had an issue with the steps he’d taken to clear the way.  

‘But does she, though? Or are you just being a boorish sod, as usual, mate?’

Was he? She had said it was how she felt, about her part, not anything he had done. But ultimately, it was because of something he’d done, in making himself available to be with her.  

And he was back to angry again.  

Once out and dressed, he was about to leave the room when she entered, unsure what the hell to say to her.  

Halting him, her hand gently grasped at his forearms. “Can we talk? Calmly, this time.”

His mouth twitched, lifting his chin in slight defiance. “Depends, don’t it? Because if it’s more of that bollocks from last night again, then I don’t wanna hear it.”

“Well, I’ll have to bring some of it up if we’re going to work to a solution over it, but if that’s how you want to be then I suppose there’s nothing I can say, is there?”

“I suppose not.”

Her expression darkened, closing her eyes for a moment. “Fucking child, I’m going out.”  

“Yeah, you piss off. Go on.”  

Picking up her bag and slides, she marched out of there, muttering under her breath. “What was that?” he barked angrily after her.

“I said you were a fucking unreasonable arsehole who isn’t emotionally capable of listening to anyone else. Just adding a bit more onto my assertion that you’re a fucking child!”

He turned, shutting the bedroom door behind him. “Fuckin’ hell.”  

Yes. They were both very angry with one another. With this in mind, it was likely better that they spend a little time apart. Alfie headed out to try and relax in the sun with Marcus, Magda and Dennis having breakfast still, Beth and Della leaving to head down to the market in the next town over, the latter wanting to stock up so she could make dinner for everyone that night, giving Martina the night off.  

“So, tell me if it’s none of my business, but I heard raised voices last night,” Della broached as they hurtled along in the rented Jeep she drove, the air con on full blast.  

“No, it’s okay,” Beth began, sighing. “I could do with the perspective of a friend, to be honest. Mind if I unload?”  

Della beamed. True, they didn’t know each other well as yet, but it was lovely to hear her being referred to as a friend, even more so, one she wanted to confide in. “You go right on ahead, hun. My ears are yours.”

She duly explained it all, Della listening carefully as she drove, taking in both sides of the argument presented to her, before offering her immediate thoughts on the matter.

“Okay, so I hear you, I do, but see the thing is, sweetie, your feeling guilty is a direct reaction to something he did in order to be with you. That’s why he’s taking it personally, and I’m going to try not to take sides, but for that I don’t blame him. Equally, he can’t tell you what you’re entitled to feel either, though, and that is something Alfie has an issue with. He isn’t always the best at seeing things from someone else’s perspective, I’ve seen him and Marcus come to verbal blows about it in the past. He’s very domineering, Alfie, and it sometimes gets in the way of him truly listening to others. I understand why you must be frustrated,” she explained, turning right at the junction, leading them out onto a stretch of road that directly bordered the coast.

“How do I get through to him that it doesn’t affect how I feel about him, or what he did, though? We’re just going to keep going round in circles, otherwise. It’s my part in it that I feel guilty about,” she sighed, Della thinking for a few moments.

“That’s the thing though, Beth. You didn’t break up with anyone. He did.”  

It hit her then, like a weight to her chest, Della’s simple explanation making it very clear as to why he was taking her feelings of guilt extremely personally. “And if you feel like you don’t deserve this because of that, well, how else could it be? The only path that led to you and Alfie being together meant that he changed his life to compromise to the fact that you wouldn’t share him, because he loves you that much. You deserve this just as much as any of his exes did, if not more, because we all know, Beth, you’d still be with him even if he was just working behind a bar instead of owning a pile of them, wouldn’t you?”

Again, her words added up, made sense. “Hmm, I think I see it from his side a little better now.”

“I’m not saying your feelings are invalid at all, though,” Della was quick to point out. “He should listen to you as well and acknowledge it, try and reassure you rather than just barking at you how he thinks you should feel. I think you two having a few hours apart to cool down will do you the power of good.” Beth could only hope.

Once at the market, she lost herself in shopping, she and Della getting fresh squid and all the ingredients to make the garlic aioli that would go with it, a leg of lamb she intended to barbecue, and a hole selection of other nice edible goodies, the ladies stopping at a coffee shop a few roads away for a quick refuel of espressos and a slice of cake each. While they were enjoying their day, Alfie was trying to take his mind off of things, sitting inside to hide from the extreme heat for a little while, attempting to get invested in a book. No such luck.  

Sighing, he abandoned it, deciding to go back outside and sit in the shade, crossing the kitchen into the outdoor area, but rather than heading to the seats, walking over to the rail, where he could see Magda enjoying a cigarette

“I’m putting it out,” she spoke, picking up the ashtray and stubbing it quickly.  

“You didn’t have to,” he told her, clasping his hands together as he rested his forearms against the rail. “Appreciated all the same, though.”

“You alright, sunshine? I didn’t mean to, but I kinda overheard you and Beth having a barny last night,” she spoke, turning to him.  

“I dunno really, mate. She’s fuckin’ got it in her head that she don’t deserve all of this because it came at the expense of my exes, as you likely heard, but what the bleedin’ hell do I do about that?”

“Can I give you some advice?”

He sniffed, scratching his beard. “Yeah, I’d be open to that. No one knows that girl better than you do, after all.”

“Beth is always very aware of her own actions, from whether it was worrying over her professionalism while she knew she was falling in love with you, to being the reason you went from three girlfriends to one, she’s extremely focused on the part she plays and thus, very self-critical. She applies her own journalism standards to herself, doesn’t let herself get away with nothin’ without fully addressing every facet of it. It can be exhausting, watching her do it, but it’s just her, Alfie.  

“This isn’t anything you can do, or fix, or help. She just has to go through the little phase of adjustment and beating herself up over it, and then she’ll be fine. It’s a lot for a little Jewish girl from Golders Green to get used to, all of this! Beth is so pure of heart and all, so hence the guilt. She’s also prided herself on being very self-sufficient, and we both know well that she ain’t like the slew of women you’ve had in your past who gave up working to live the life of a pampered, rich man’s girlfriend.  

“I told her that she can’t expect you to not treat her in accordance of your lifestyle, reminded her that you had compromised with her and all, but that the middle ground weren’t ever gonna be completely even because what you earn is simply incomparable to her salary. But yeah, mate. All she needs is time, and maybe for you to hear her, rather than expecting her to be okay with it just because you tell her she can be. I know you control your businesses with an iron fist, Alfie, that’s partly why you’re so bloody proficient at what you do, but you can’t with Beth. She won’t have it. “

He let her words absorb for a few moments, looking out over the sparkling sea, the bright sunlight capping the soft ripples of the water, making the endless blue glitter. “She’s a good girl, is our Bethany. She’d love you just as much if you were, I dunno, Alfie Solomons the tire fitter, earning fifteen bob an hour down at the local garage.”

“I know, Mags. I bloody know, and that’s why for me, she’s someone I can see myself remaining with indefinitely. She’s the only woman I’ve met in recent years who I know would stick by me if I lost the lot tomorrow. That’s the kind of woman I want in my life forever. I do admit, patience ain’t my strong point, but I guess that going forward, I have to try with her instead of expecting everything to go my way,” he sighed, Magda lighting herself another cigarette and shifting away from him a bit, blowing the smoke well out of his vicinity.

“Just be the boss where she likes you being the boss, ay?”

He snorted a little, grinning. “You know about that, then?”

“Oh, darling. There ain’t a single thing I don’t know about how much of a bad lad you are with my little Bethany.” He laughed then, Magda chuckling raspily. “Go and make nice with her when she gets back, sit and listen to one another without shouting, and it’ll all be fine.”

“Thanks, Magda.”  

“You’re welcome, love.” He kissed her cheek, heading back to the seats and stretching out on one of the outdoor couches, chatting with Marcus as the latter relaxed at the side of the pool. As soon as he saw Beth arrive back after a further half an hour, he got up and went to her.  

He felt awkward as he approached, trying not to frown. “Can we have a chat, duchess?” His tone was neutral, he sounded calm, but still, as Beth nodded, following him inside the house to the quiet space of the lounge, she felt her heart hammering with nerves. “Right, I’ve had time to think, calm down a bit an’ all. I’m sorry that I didn’t listen to you, baby. I can be a right fuckin’ pig like that at times, and I’ll be the first to admit it.”

“No, I’m sorry, because what you said about my guilty feeling being something you took personally, you were right, and you had every right to as well. You changed your life for me, after all, and me saying I don’t feel like I deserve it, of course you’re going to feel pissed off at hearing that,” she was quick to interject with. “I do appreciate you telling me you should have listened, though. It’s honestly my stuff, not because of your choice. I think it’s just a lot colliding within, for me to suddenly have to get used to, even if everything is good and my life is incredible now.”

“Yeah, I was pissed off, so in turn I appreciate you acknowledging that. I think it comes with a really intense love, proper fuckin’ intense belters of fights, innit? I mean, I ain’t excusing being a twat to you, but yeah. We need to hear each other a bit better rather than shouting each other down.”

His words made sense to her, Beth stroking his arm, her hand finding his. He smiled, leaning to kiss her, picking her up and seating her onto his lap, enjoying their closeness reunited. “We do, you’re right. I think I’m good for words right now, though.”  

The kiss she gave him left him in no doubt, but still, he asked. “Oh yeah? What did you have in mind instead?” One eyebrow arched upwards, Alfie chuckling, standing up to carry her to their bedroom.

As the late afternoon sunlight streamed in through the window, it caught the contours of her body after he’d undressed her, hands, gilding her curves, her skin lightly sun kissed, freckles popping up that he’d never noticed before, the view of that sublime, heavenly body exquisite from his place between her legs, tongue rolling over her clit until it swelled, watching her as she trembled.  

“You like that, darlin’? Fuck, look at that pretty little honey hole, getting so bloody wet. Mmmm, fuckin’ hell.” he rasped, burying his tongue inside her, Beth wailing as she clutched his head, her thighs writhing against his face.  

Replacing his tongue for fingers, he returned licks of ebullience to her bud, fingers trawling her insides, feeling her clamping on them, so velvety and slippery, his cock bobbing aggressively at his hip with the need to fill her. A few more licks, a couple of greedy sucks and he could wait no more, parting her legs and plunging inside her as he sat up, her sigh of satiation muted by his lips delivering hungry kisses.  

He drew back, viewing the way the satin slick of her cunt gleamed upon his cock, driving back in again, her body twitching in response. He kept it even paced for all of ten seconds, her cries demanding more from him, burying himself within her again and again rapidly as they lost any tentative grip on control, losing themselves to the throbbing heat of sinfully good afternoon sex.  

“Yeah, that’s what you needed weren’t it, love? To be fuckin’ speared on a big, fat cock, didn’t ya?”  

“Oh, god yes, that’s exactly what I wanted!” she cried, his teeth sharp at her nipples as he drove into her relentlessly, the bed shaking beneath them, the sound of him utterly pounding her slick echoing through the room. Her hands gripped the sheets, flying to his back and scraping as he railed her into the mattress, leaving a bite at the side of her neck as he groaned, his voice gone to gravel entirely.  

From both sides, it was that ‘I’m sorry we fought, and this is how much I love you’ wild, needy, primal sex, both pawing and clutching at one another, feral kisses exchanged, moans shared, their bodies beading with perspiration as they chased the blazing consummation of their undoing, both ascending sharply and shattering entirely, a mass of entangled sheets and entwined limbs in the aftermath. Stroked skin and soft kisses abounded, everything fervid now exchanged for gentle fluidity, lying there still fused, but in no rush to move.

After lying in their own little post-coital bubble for a time, they got up, showered and dressed, heading down to eat dinner with their friends, plans for the following day being made. Their destination was Ammoudi Bay for cliff diving, swimming in the crystal blue waters, and lunch. Well, except for one.

“I ain’t diving in off no cliff, fuck that right off, nah!” Magda announced, moving away from the table with her coffee to have a cigarette, shaking her head vehemently.  

“Oh, go on, baby,” Dennis encouraged, his wife resolute.

“Not a cat in hell’s chance, but I shall play photographer while you mad bastards all fling yourselves in.”

“You gonna be a daredevil with me, treacle?” Alfie asked of Beth, who didn’t even get a chance to reply.

“You should have seen her six years ago when we went to Acapulco. We pulled up at the top of the cliff, and she was out the car, flip flops flung, running past all these yank frat boy lads and jumped straight in from the thirty-footer! Adrenaline junkie, she is!”  

Alfie turned to her with pride. “I learn something new about the missus every day.” The missus. How bloody adorable that was for her to hear, him referring to her as that. She’d never heard of him refer to his exes in the same way. Taking a deep breath, she kissed him instead of letting the consuming feeling of guilt creep back, reminding herself that this life was something she did deserve. ‘You’re young, in love and happy, so just be happy.’

Happy was exactly what she was, feeling so much better for them to have had their air clearing talk, and the sweet and extremely hot physical make up that followed it. All was peaceful again, thank goodness. Exactly how it should have been.

[iturbide]

Bittersweet Truths

So. I have a gift and (hopefully) some catharsis. Instead of agreeing with everything her husband says, I wrote Henriette actually being a Good Mother and having Growth while her Gustav was dead. Enjoy!

______________________________________________________________

Henriette states at the moon reflecting in the lake. It looks… spellbinding, in a way that can’t truly be described. She should sleep, and yet…

She remembers the stories and myths, and she closes her eyes as her mind wanders to her husband, and in turn, the conversation she held with The Summoner after his passing. 

“We need to talk,” The Summoner says, once her son and daughter have left the room, “As two people who care for Alfonse and Sharena, we need to talk. Please.”

“Of course!” She replies, not hesitating in letting The Summoner take a seat, “Tell me, what’s on your mind? If there’s anything I could do to help…”

“A while ago, before Hel, when I first met with the king… after, I said some… cruel words to Alfonse, because I wasn’t thinking straight, and I let my emotions overcome my logic.” The Summoner begins, “I cannot take back what I said, and it was unreasonable for me to assume Alfonse would understand what I was saying right away, it was unreasonable for me to assume that he would realise that what he said in that situation… made me uncomfortable.”

“I see.” Henriette replies, and she’s about to offer to let her son know when The Summoner continues.

“I apologised, of course- and explained what was going on, why I reacted so badly, and asked if I could make up for it. Alfonse wasn’t angry, though I would have preferred it if he was.” The Summoner tilts their head, and even if Henriette cannot see it, she has a feeling that their eyes are staring holes into her, “I say this not as a Summoner to a Queen, but as Alfonse and Sharena’s friend to their mother. 

“You haven’t apologised yet.” 

“I… beg your pardon?” She asks, “Apologised for what?”

“For the way you treated them.” They answer without hesitation, “The way you justified your husband’s behaviour towards them.”

“It is a wife’s duty to help her husband.”

“It is a mother’s duty to protect her children.”

“I was. I explained why my husband was acting the way he did, so there wouldn't be any misunderstandings.”

“You were justifying his behaviour,” The Summoner says, and keeps going, “Justifying the way he treated his children- your children because he loves them and you love him, so it was okay, so it needed to be okay, the way he acted. I ask you this, though:

“If another person had treated Alfonse and Sharena the way he did, would you be able to justify it?”

Henriette opens her mouth. Closes it. 

The Summoner had been relentless that evening- she has no doubt that they would have been willing to stand there until the sun rose and set again if they felt they needed to, but they didn’t.

Because Henriette had remembered the way her children looked during the Day of Devotion. How happy they were, when she and her husband weren’t with them. 

She realised, then, that she had never truly seen her children smile like that before. That the way the two of them acted around her was- and still is, because despite things being better between them now, there were still years of expectations that she didn’t realise were there- subdued. It is no wonder, though, when she sees the affection and love the Order of Heroes shows the two, without reservations or any formality. 

She opens her eyes, and somehow, she isn’t surprised to see her husband near her. 

He is as handsome and regal as he was in life, and Henriette still loves him. She loves him, so much that it’s near impossible to imagine him doing any wrong, and yet…

“Just because you love someone who has done bad things, it does not make you a bad person.” The Summoner says, in a tone that is far too understanding to completely be from an outsider’s perspective, “Emotions are very rarely reasonable. It is when you try to justify their actions that your own become twisted.”

She knows, now, the kind of man her husband was. 

The conversation begins easily enough, even so, the topics take a turn to the serious. Henriette would like to let the ghosts lie- like to avoid the conflict, the pain it would no doubt cause.

However, some things need to be said, even it if is too late to say them. 

“I believe that first step guided him to victory against Hel.” Her husband says. 

Instead of agreeing, like she once, would, like she always did, she replies, “It was cruel, to fight him in such a way. To expect him to kill his own father. He admired you beyond anything. Wanted your approval more than words could describe.”

Gustav, her love, looks at her as if she is the one who is a ghost, “You have changed, since I died. Once, you never would have said such things.”

“I have had the chance to,” She replies, a sadness that she does not want to describe welling up within her, “I had thought, once, that explaining your actions to our children would lessen the pain of them. That your burdens were so much that you needed me to remind our children that your were a father too, not just a king, and yet… 

“I now carry some of your burdens, and I have not forgotten for one moment that I am Alfonse and Sharena’s mother, nor have they forgotten.”

“My love…” Her husband says, “Alfonse needed to learn the burdens of a ruler, the duty one has to their people. It was a necessary lesson.”

“A necessary lesson?” She repeats, anger filling here when agreement once would have. It has been a long time since she was spoken to with such a tone, and it stings to hear it from her husband, “Our son understands perfectly well, it’s us who didn’t. Tell me, now that you have been brought back, and as one of Letizia’s- Do not give me that look, I am no fool- do you intend to turn it into another lesson?”

Her husband remains silent, and that is all the answer she needs. 

“I am the regent,” Henriette says, looking her husband in the eyes as she sees him realise what those words mean, “Therefore, it is my duty to protect the kingdom from threats, just as it is my duty as a mother to protect my children.”

“Alfonse will rule, it is only fair that he…” Gustav begins, but she ignores his words, and prepares her tome and readies the spell- she is never defenceless, not now, when everything is so fragile. 

“Goodbye, my love.” She says as she releases the attack, “I hope we meet again, and when we do, you will not cause such pain to our children.”

Her husband’s body crumbles to ash, as it should have remained.

Here, by the lake where no one can see her, Henriette lets herself cry.

If this is even close to the pain her children had to go through… 

Then she does now know how she will ever forgive her husband, no matter how much she loves him.

 _____________________________________________________________

...This is what happens when someone gives recommends one of my fics and calls me awesome in the tags. I become so excited from it that I write 1000 words. Thank you so much. I'm just. Really flattered. 

[ectonurites]

hey! how knowledgeable are you on stephanie brown? because i got in a bit of an argument with a dc fan on reddit who claims she's all these awful things, but im still relatively new to steph and i want to see what was true and what wasn't. link to screenie right here: https://ibb.co/vh6CYCJ

these may be matters of opinion, but even then, i'd like to know your take. i haven't read her firsthand often enough and i trust your judgement over this random redditor who seems to have some sort of blonde-woman related trauma left untapped.

I'm not necessarily the most knowledgable on her in the world, but I do know a decent amount because she's one of my absolute faves and I love her

But ohhhh boy that screenshot is a lot.

I will say that several of the things this person brings up are based in canon but are taken in the worst faith and framed in the way that makes her look as bad as possible, if that makes sense? It’s ripping things away from any context, because there's a very clear bias against her here.

I'll go through it point by point under the cut

First of all though before digging into this, I want to make it clear she was a 15 year old for the majority of the things this person is talking about. Like just pause for a second and remember she’s a 15 year old victim of abuse. That is something that I think factors into a lot of her behavior! Anyways, I kinda while doing this got into a ranty 'talking at you' format in response to the person who wrote all that, so don't take any of this as me yelling at you who asked the question/you anyone reading this.

"She always acted entitled" - Saying Steph is entitled is absolutely ridiculous to me. Stephanie grew up with a very unstable childhood due to her dad frequently being in prison and her mom dealing with a drug addiction, living in a lower class part of the city. Tim is entitled. I don’t mean that as like a bad thing about him, but he is based on his living situation, she is not. She has wanted life to be better for herself and her mom, and is determined about that, but she is not and does not act entitled.

(Secret Origins 80 Page Giant)

"and stubborn" - I will give you stubborn though, that one is true. She’s stubborn as hell! I don’t really see that as a bad thing though, pretty much every bat is stubborn?

"demanding that Batman and Robin accept her untrained ass" - Steph may have been untrained in fighting but she's shown to have exceptional gymnastics skills from the start, and at one point Bruce even says that with the right training she could be as good if not better than Tim (in Robin #88)! So like... her realizing she enjoys trying to be a hero after she tried it out to deal with her personal business, so she looks to the local experts… and is determined about it… how is that a bad thing? It’s also not like she walked up to them and said ‘im perfect as i am let me in’ what she wanted was a chance to be a hero. But she also wasn't even really looking for approval, either, not having Batman's blessing was never going to stop her. ("So excuse me if I don't jump when you bark, Batman." in Robin #16) Later when Bruce does bring her in to train (and she also gets to train with the BoP) she's excited! She’s stubborn about wanting to be in the hero business, but it’s not like she’s unwilling to work for it.

"advocating leaving criminals to die because they 'deserve it'" - She’s a 15 year old who grew up knowing firsthand how dangerous Gotham criminals can be because of her dad, of course off the bat when they’re in a dangerous situation where any of them could die (because that’s the context here, this is in Robin #35 where they’re trapped in some super dangerous snow) she thinks they shouldn’t go back for another criminal who just tried to kill them and should instead save themselves. But she also literally WITHIN THAT SAME ISSUE then says she realized she learned something after listening to Tim and trying to save the guy! In the same issue! Characters in a story aren’t supposed to be perfect from the start… they learn things along the way???

(Robin #35)

"trying to steal from the shops they just stopped from being burglarized" - She’s 15 and doesn’t have a ton of money. She was gonna take two sodas, and when Tim said not to do it she paid with very little fuss. They stopped people who were robbing the place at gunpoint for prescription drugs. If you can’t understand the difference in severity between those things like… I do not even know where to start. (this situation is in Robin #56 btw)

"forcing physical affection onto Tim despite his visible discomfort and repeated objections (not even stopping when he told her he had a girlfriend)" - This one I will give you because she did cross boundaries with all that! But I do also want to clarify that she didn't start coming onto him until after Tim kissed her first (in Robin #5) while not telling her he had a girlfriend. That doesn’t excuse her later actions but for the first issue that she’s coming onto him from her perspective he expressed interest and she was just returning it! She even specifically says 'Maybe I should pay you back for saving my life the same way you paid me' (in Robin #16) before kissing him. That first time she kissed him unprompted was under essentially the same circumstances he kissed her unprompted, and she literally did not know about Ariana until after the fact. From that point once she knew about Ari she definitely should have backed off and she didn’t, that’s a very fair thing to criticize about her as a character. But Tim lead her on first, and I feel a lot of people like to casually forget that when talking about this situation. The way this is phrased of ‘not even stopping when he told her-‘ implies she was repeatedly doing the bad behavior before he told her, which is not the case. She still did bad things here but don’t misrepresent the situation.

"And lashing out at Tim, her mother, and her classmates in violent fits of anger" - Every comic book character lashes out at other people for the sake of drama like, I dare you to come up with a well-known superhero character who hasn’t done shit like that to a partner/family/friends in a moment of high tension/stress?

"She treated the girls around her like they were stupid bitches" - frankly this ones a little too vague like, I'm not sure off the top of my head exactly what they're talking about? in that era right around her pregnancy and stuff I really don't recall her being mean with other girls? I could be forgetting something I guess but the closest I can think of is a bit after this period of time when she has the confrontation with Greta in Young Justice but that was Greta attacking her first, not the other way around.

"got insanely jealous if Tim so much as expressed concern about another girl" - Steph getting jealous and thinking Tim was cheating isn’t that crazy when STEPHANIE BASICALLY WAS THE OTHER GIRL DURING TIM’S LAST RELATIONSHIP? Tim has cheated a little bit before! Tim cheated on Ari with both Jubilee from Marvel (during a crossover thing where he even mentions Ari specifically so it’s not like this was out of continuity/a setting she wasn't an issue or something) and also with Steph. While most of the kissing between them was Steph coming onto Tim which I wouldn’t count as cheating on his end, he did still kiss her which I would count. Not to mention that the jealousy thing (I imagine they’re talking about the instance with Star, the girl who taught Tim to skateboard, this arc of stuff starts in Robin #80 and continues for a few issues) is happening during the time she’s dating him while she still doesn’t even know his real name. He literally has a whole other life she doesn’t know about, and is someone who has initiated romantic moments with other girls while in a relationship multiple times before! With that in mind I don’t think a 16 (she's def 16 by this point) year old girl being kinda paranoid about how he interacts with girls he might know in his civilian life is that unreasonable? The later big instance with jealousy is the Darla situation- where Steph sees Darla kiss him and gets mad about it (and doesn’t talk to him about it) and thats what prompts her to become Robin. The important thing to remember about Steph in this time frame is that DC decided she had to die and they wanted to make her Robin first to drum up more attention for that death. They were doing ooc things with her to set those pieces in motion, and that needs to be taken into account. I think her getting upset about seeing something like that isn’t even ooc, but her using it as motivation to become Robin and not even saying anything to him about it is. In the earlier instance where she’s upset/jealous about Star, she does communicate to him what’s going on at least a little bit on the rooftop after they’d saved her. She makes it clear the thing she was upset about is that she feels like she can’t trust him because she doesn’t really know him while he knows everything about her, and that’s why she thinks he’s cheating. Her reaction to the Darla thing is not in line with how earlier in canon Steph would have handled the same situation, because they wanted her to die and needed a way to explain her becoming Robin.

"and expressed that jealousy by accusing him of cheating and throwing things at him" - I just addressed the cheating stuff but the throwing things was fucking slapstick oh my god this is a comic book for kids/teens like. ah yes this is horrible abuse in this little funny montage of how Steph wants him to leave her alone because she’s mad at him and he refuses to give her space

(Robin #82)

I don’t think anyone at DC or even in fandom would/should try to argue she’s perfect, because she’s not! And I don’t want her to be because perfect characters are boring. Steph is flawed, Steph has been compared in canon to Robin-era Jason by Cass & Bruce

(Detective Comics #790)

And I think these highlight some of her very real flaws that are an interesting part of her character. These plus her stubbornness and determination are part of what makes her her.

And for fuck's sake the world was mean to her, and to act like it wasn’t is just blatantly ignoring a lot. A criminal father who made her life really difficult (‘when my dad was mad at me he’d lock me in the closet!’), that time she got kidnapped for two weeks and her mom had left her (a 15 year old) alone at home so long she didn't even find out it happened (in text Steph says Crystal was visiting friends, a lot of people interpret that as her mom possibly being in rehab for her addictions again), that whole thing about how one of her dad’s friends tried to sexually assault her as a child, also just how due to her dad's work sometimes criminals would be living in their house (Literally the fucking Riddler at one point!), the fact that we as an audience watched her get tortured for several days because a plan she tried to enact to prove herself backfired since Batman didn’t trust her with important information (something Selina even calls him out on in her internal narration), like… sorry but in what way is all that not the world being mean to her?

She was Robin, she dated Robin, she likes Eggplant (because purple would've looked stupid), and makes jokes. She’s also impulsive, headstrong and determined, and wants to prove to herself and others that she can be more than just the daughter of a shitty criminal, that she can actually be a force to do good in the world.

She’s a complex character, and nobody is required to like her, but to act like she doesn’t have a single redeeming trait is ridiculous. You could write a paragraph like that with the worst moments of basically any character and make them look like shit if that's what you were setting out to do.

[hyacinth42-blog]

Bryon’s first resort was talking, he didn’t jump to murder until Tristan refused to back off/down and let him live his own life - still not good, but not a “first resort”. He tossed out the slurs he beat other people up for saying and did not continue to say them after Tristan told him to stop.

Furcate gave no indication they noticed Bryon was self harming, and checked on everyone. They gave Bryon no preferential treatment over Tristan which is what Bryon’s whole insecurity was about (nor is hugging and popping a gross candy into his mouth without saying anything what he needed). Moonsong is the one who then came to him and actually spent time with him specifically to make him feel better. So of course he told himself he could fix her, she was the only one who was his friend first and Tristan’s second.

Sure the team grieved, because someone near them died. Heck Furcate’s first reaction was to tell Tristan they’re sorry about Bryon’s death. They cared more about his feelings than about Bryon being dead. And then the team’s scummy therapist tried to get Tristan to put a lid on what he was doing.

But look, it doesn’t matter. lakesbian explained that Tristan is a sockpuppet, and it’s dumb to hate on him and fall for Wildbow’s nonsense. And that makes complete sense. People approach him from a Doylist perspective because it’s unreasonable to let Wildbow spin up hatred for a minority that is specifically related to his minority status and then do tongue in cheek silliness of being an ‘apologizer’ instead of hating the unreasonably written minority. Wildbow only does this shit with gay people. There are hetero villains yeah, but none of their baggage is tied up with their sexuality (except maybe Heartbreaker? But there’s only a vague argument for that. And he’s an offscreen villain who is killed in a timeskip).

I’m just going to hope he’s done with his nonsense with Tristan for a while since it seems like they mostly fixed that stuff with Bryon forgiving him and Tristan finally accepting the forgiveness. And go back to reading about Vicky being an insufferable cop.

I know the common reaction on here is to hate Bryon and love Tristan. But I honestly just can't do it.

Like, I can see that Bryon is an asshole, and that Tristan is a homophobic strawman, but idk, I still just greatly dislike Tristan. Maybe it's because I'm an autistic, introverted ace who was bullied and had very few friends that I can't help but feel bad for Bryon. He's just so pathetic and wet (literally).

I feel bad that whenever Bryon managed to get a group of friends, Tristan would swoop in, ingratiate himself, and then turn them against Bryon. Like, that's just so fucking evil. Not deserving of death (jesus christ Bryon), but hey man wtf.

And I get it, Moonsong was a transphobic, homophobic cunt. But she was the one person who seemed to like Bryon more than Tristan (for unfortunate reasons), so I don't blame the teenager for convincing himself "I can fix her" when it's quite obvious he can't.

Tristan's whole, "If I can't have sex or drink myself into a coma what else is there to live for?" made me want to slap him. Like touch grass dude, pick up a book, get a hobby, stop being a shithead. And then he had the audacity to tell Bryon, "You were hurting yourself and I was afraid you'd go too far". Motherfucker, TELL SOMEONE! Who the actual fuck can see their sibling hurting themselves and then just not say anything to anyone?

I hate feeling like I have 'reddit brain' instead of y'alls clearly superior tumblr opinions. But I just can't understand Tristan apologizers (outside of acknowledging that it's super inappropriate to make the one gay guy the one who only cares about sex and drugs and doesn't care about consent - but that's not really being an "apologizer").

[burning-sol]

\o/ yipee! i am also good!

YEAH PETER watching his partner?? His life and the world he loves being taken away?? i cant imagine he would haunt rumi so the song i feel is more rumi just yk?? his own manifestation thinking peter would b pissed at her but for exandroth i can imagine it would b literal w the "i"ll crawl out and drag you down w/ me." Bc yeah hes just abit pressed<3

^ peter says he blacks out when exandroth takes over but . yk au and idk how it works but i imagine hes like vaguely aware of time passing and sometimes if exandroth is tired enough can actually break through and take his body back briefly but thats just my not normalcore thoughts ^_^

- thepurpz

@thepurpz I think for this au, could easily bend the rules for Peter because we never actually see in canon what it's like for Peter to be possessed for more than a day - let alone weeks. I think it wouldn't be a stretch that the longer Peter is not in control, the more aware he becomes of it. He still can't SEE anything outside, but he IS aware that he's not in his body and that time is passing by without him. The only times he's gotten control back would be few and far between, and probably too short of a span for him to be able to get any information that resolves any of his questions.

What he can gather is that:

The sky is back, so that must mean that they completed their goal- but Peter doesn't know HOW they completed it and he doesn't know where Thanatos is.

For some reason Exandroth is trying VERY hard to keep him out of his body. It's definitely been more than a week of possession, which is extremely worrying to him since it doesn't follow any of Exandroth's older patterns.

Whenever he DOES come back, it's always cold and snowing outside. Which either means that for some reason he's only able to be in control when it's winter, or that this weather is not actually natural.

Peter has rarely gotten a glimpse of Rumi, but when he does Rumi doesn't appear to be doing well. He wants desperately to know what's going on and to help Rumi feel better, but shortly after he gets violently pushed out again by Exandroth.

It is FREAKISHLY quiet. There's been no signs of life outside of him and Rumi and it's bothering him a lot.

But of course he always spends a lot of questioning wondering if any of what he's seeing is actually REAL. Because whenever he thinks about it, it's so radically different from what things SHOULD be... Either this is some dream that he can't wake up from, or things are really REALLY wrong outside and he's helpless to do anything about it. So he just sits. And waits. And he hopes that one day he's going to come back and it's going to be warm again and Rumi will be there to explain everything to him. Because surely, SURELY Rumi would never do anything unreasonable. And surely Rumi wouldn't just LET Exandroth possess him for all this time, right?

So that's a very dark train of thought.

BUT YEAH THE SONG, when you say that I'm getting such an interesting mix of imagery. Because it absolutely fits Rumi's perspective, too scared to confront Peter and imagining a version of Peter than despises them. But there's also lines I feel could fit Exandroth, who feels betrayed by Rumi since this definitely wasn't the ending that she signed up for. And of course there's the ACTUAL Peter, who's mostly just left hurt and confused by everything - left behind and growing less hopeful as the days goes by.

I'm absolutely less normal after this ask.

[thespoonisvictory]

Hamilton Hot Take: A Hamilton that kept in the deleted songs and workshop versions tell a superior story (So Broadway vs Off-Broadway version). And, no, I’m not just talking about Congratulations (although that one should’ve also been kept).

A significant part of Hamilton’s narrative focuses on the relationship between Burr and Hamilton. From the beginning, their ideologies and the way they get ahead are completely different. Burr keeps his true opinions and thoughts close to his chest. He never reveals anymore than what will make him most agreeable to others. His persona is one of inoffensively likable. Hamilton is quite the opposite. He is never indecisive, always shooting off his own opinions. He takes risks in order to grab at better opportunities, but often this leads him to gathering more enemies. And despite these differences, Hamilton and Burr remain good friends who have a lot of mutual respect (and envy) of one another.

Until the second act that is. And the second act is also unfortunately where things start getting cut and rewritten.

As the dsmp fandom would put it, Broadway A. Hamilton is made “smooth” compared to his original counterpart. He’s much calmer and more reasonable. He’s pride and short temper have been stripped away. And Burr, in comparison, is stripped of much of his more sympathetic traits. Aside from Dear Theodosisa (Reprise) and really any mention of his family being entirely cut, he’s made to be far more malicious and villainous in other songs, compared to their original lyrics.

Take for example, Schuyler Defeated. Both versions start on Eliza and Philip finding out about Eliza’s father being challenged for his seat in the senate. In the Broadway version, Eliza is very unconcerned with this development and she and Philip leave the song as quickly as they entered, happy to go and meet the new senator. The original, in contrast, starts out with a panicked Eliza, desperate to find Alexander because she knows exactly how he’ll take this. Hamilton’s characterization also vastly changes depending on the version. Broadway Hamilton is very calm, innocently asking about Burr’s change in party affiliation. Meanwhile, og Hamilton comes out swinging, already furious, he demands to know when Burr changed parties. Hamilton is far more personally offended in this version, framing Burr running against Schuyler as an attempt to “make a fool of [him],” compared to to the Broadway version where he seems more offended on behalf of his father-in-law. The only thing that stops Hamilton from doing anything stupid for what is essentially just running for senate AND not the personal attack Hamilton views it as, is Eliza and, later in the deleted song “Let It Go,” Washington talking him down from it.

Another example is the Broadway vs original versions of “Your Obedient Servant.” The Broadway version is undoubtedly framed in a deeply negative light. He is furious, unable to understand Hamilton’s support of Jefferson, viewing it as an attempt to keep him from winning, as something done to spite Burr specifically. Meanwhile, the original Burr is more calm in level headed in explaining his feelings. In both versions, Burd makes accusations towards Hamilton. In the original, he backs up his claims with a source in the form of a private letter sent in confidant, while Broadway Burr makes accusations of Hamilton calling him “amoral [and] a dangerous disgrace,” which is never said by Hamilton anywhere and has no basis. This combined with Burr already suggestion they can name a time and place I’d they have a disagreement, makes Burr come across as far more petty and eager to start a fight. Faced with accusation with no basis, Broadway Hamilton responds fairly reasonably, saying he would need to sight a specific source for him to be able to disavow those words, and provides his own list of disagreements with. Original Hamilton, however, is very flippant of the accusations, being incredibly petulant in denying Burr’s accusations, mocking the wording of them. And yes, while both Burr’s escalate the conversations to threats, the Hamilton’s responses show just how different these versions. Broadway Hamilton stands by what he says and defending himself by saying that everything he said is true and that Burr stands for nothing. Which is completely true, so Burr then challenging Hamilton to a duel makes Burr seem unreasonable and angry that Hamilton pointed out how his own ideology screwed him over. While original Hamilton makes the whole disagreement incredibly personal, for no reason, bringing up Burr’s dead wife to mock him. It’s only then that Burr challenges Hamilton to a duel, to which Hamilton agrees to almost immediately, showing how rash the original Hamilton is, compared to the Broadway version who thinks the challenge over for a few seconds before agreeing.

And finally, “Ten Things, One Things,” really shows how far their friendship and understanding of each other has fallen off. Burr’s perspective shows how much he wants Hamilton to apologize and back down from the duel, only realizing at the 8th count that this is a serious duel, and Hamilton won’t be backing down. Meanwhile Hamilton goes into the duel considering the possibility they might die, but as the counting continues he becomes more and more convinced he and Burr will survive. He is specifically is assured of this by realizing it’s not in Burr’s political interests to kill him. While Hamilton scrutizes the area, Burr’s own fear and paranoia takes hold, convinced Hamilton will shoot, Burr resolves to kill Hamilton first, so his daughter will not orphaned. All the while, is so assured of his safety that he starts to think about going to back to his house to see Eliza awaken. Neither one of them are able to fathom the possibility of the other outside of the image they’ve created of each other. Hamilton cannot see a Burr that wouldn’t wait, and Burr cannot see a Hamilton who would throw away his shot.

Far more emphasize is placed on Hamilton’s violent anger in the original, while in the Broadway version this is lost and Burr is pained more as the unreasonable instigator in their deteriorating friendship, when the original makes it so much more complicated than that. Broadway is so much more Black and White in the story it tells, where the villain Burr shoots our hero Hamilton, rather than the far more interesting story of a friendship between two men based on mutual respect, admiration, and envy and how that friendship ultimately changed both until they could no longer understand each other and how that inability to see how the other had changed, led to their ultimate falling out in the form of final duel.

I’m not saying the workshop versions of songs are better musically (I know jack shit about music) but they make Hamilton’s characterization and relationship with Burr so much richer and that’s why the story they tell is so much better to me.

TLDR; Hamilton is less of bitch in the Broadway version and it makes me >:(

I hope this makes sense, I started to ramble

^^^

god damn this is so good idk what to do with this other than nod and tell you to run my blog for me

also- this reminds me of what happened to off broadway orpheus vs live broadway orpheos, bc ob!orpheus is a self confident bitch who was charismatic and funny and I like him so much, and b!orpheus is a awkward little rat creature who doesn't make as much sense both as a character and in the narrative. he got smoothed