#but it did seem to me that he was laying the groundwork for the other members to return

[asongoficeandfiresource]

Meta: A Tale of Three Daenerys’

An element of authenticity George R. R. Martin adds to the ASOIAF universe is the repetition of names. The same names appear repeatedly within specific cultures and the spread and popularity of certain names is used to illustrate how one culture has influenced another. Just look at the wide popularity of Targaryen names throughout Westeros, especially Alysanne.

With Daenerys Targaryen, GRRM has created two other characters with her name, so far: Daenerys, daughter of Aegon IV and Naerys, and Daenerys, daughter of Alysanne and Jaehaerys I. Both of these characters seem to be used to lay the groundwork for elements of the canon era Daenerys’ story and character arc.

Daenerys, the Retconned Princess

In The World of Ice and Fire, Jaehaerys I and Alysanne do not have a daughter named Daenerys. In fact, in the main series, Daenerys of Dorne is referred to as the first. But with the release of Fire and Blood Vol 1, Martin restructured the birth order of Jaehaerys and Alysanne’s children, which included not just reshuffling, but also removing and adding children. One of those additions was Princess Daenerys, who took the place of Alyssa as the second born child and oldest daughter of the family.

So the question is, why did Martin retcon TWOIAF just to add a new Daenerys? Part of the reason is likely to flesh out the reign of Jaehaerys and Alysanne with more information and loss. But why name her Daenerys and not Rhaenys after their grandmother or any other name? There is a wealth of Targaryen names Martin could have given this new child, but he chose Daenerys, the name of one of his main five characters in the core series. He likely made that choice to give additional foreshadowing for the canon era character.

At first glance, the two Daenerys’ don’t have much in common with Jaehaerys and Alysanne’s daughter being born into a stable family and kingdom as their oldest living child who grew into a confident girl but died young, while our Dany was born an orphan and an exile, and grew up constantly afraid, gaining confidence and strength in her teens. In that way, they are narrative foils. But where the foreshadowing comes in is with how Alysanne views her daughter.

Based on a combination of moments in Fire and Blood, there is a possibility that Alysanne had the gift of foresight, like other Targaryens in the series. For some unexplained reason, Alysanne is very insistent on Daenerys becoming queen after her father. This is strange because equal primogeniture is not the norm in their culture. Visenya did not become queen regnant, her younger brother Aegon became king. Rhaena did not become queen regnant, her two younger brothers and uncle became kings, though Aegon the Uncrowned was only a claimant. What’s more, Alysanne never pushes for Rhaena’s rights over Jaehaerys’. But she does push for Daenerys’ rights over her son’s. Why? Because she knows Daenerys will be a great queen:

[Princess Daenerys] so enchanted Alysanne that for a time Her Grace even began to eschew council sessions, preferring to spend her days playing with her daughter and reading her the stories that her own mother had once read to her. “She is so clever, she will be reading to me before long,” she told the king. “She is going to be a great queen, I know it.” – Fire and Blood

This is a rare issue where Alysanne is certain about something, but turns out to be wrong, since her daughter dies before having the opportunity to become queen regnant. It is very possible that Alysanne’s certainty over her daughter’s future and Martin’s purpose for retconning this child into existence was to foreshadow Dany’s eventual position as Queen of Westeros. Often with prophetic visions, they can be misunderstood by the person experiencing them as seen with Daeron the Drunken and Daemon II Blackfyre in the Dunk and Egg novellas. While both of their dreams came true, they happened very differently than what they initially believed. So the great queen named Daenerys who Alysanne might have seen wasn’t her daughter but her distant descendant.

Daenerys of Dorne

The Princess Daenerys who married Maron Martell was initially mentioned in passing in a Dunk and Egg novella, The Sworn Sword, but wasn’t named in the text until A Dance With Dragons where her connection to both the series era Dany and Martell family was emphasized. She is cited by Davos as the person Dany was named after and is the source of the Targaryen blood that gives Quentyn the belief that he can tame one of the dragons. She is also the reason the Water Gardens were built and through that palace was able to impact every generation of Dornish children after her.

Unlike the previous Daenerys, there are quite a few parallels between Daenerys of Dorne and the canon era Dany. They were both the products of extremely unhappy and abusive marriages. They each had significant age gaps between them and their siblings, with their older brother having reached adulthood and had a child or children of his own by the time of their birth. Their brothers married them to men outside of their culture. While Dany was exchanged for the promise of an army to take back Westeros, Princess Daenerys’s marriage was part of a treaty that united Dorne with the rest of Westeros. Both women marry for duty despite loving other men. Each of them are particularly protective and caring toward children. They also look beyond the social status of individuals and see that everyone is equally worthy of protection and a quality life.

While Dany pushes for freedom and justice in Slaver’s Bay, Princess Daenerys used her position in Dorne to benefit children regardless of class:

“Beautiful and peaceful,” the prince said. “Cool breezes, sparkling water, and the laughter of children. The Water Gardens are my favorite place in this world, ser. One of my ancestors had them built to please his Targaryen bride and free her from the dust and heat of Sunspear. Daenerys was her name. She was sister to King Daeron the Good, and it was her marriage that made Dorne part of the Seven Kingdoms. The whole realm knew that the girl loved Daeron’s bastard brother Daemon Blackfyre, and was loved by him in turn, but the king was wise enough to see that the good of thousands must come before the desires of two, even if those two were dear to him. It was Daenerys who filled the gardens with laughing children. Her own children at the start, but later the sons and daughters of lords and landed knights were brought in to be companions to the boys and girls of princely blood. And one summer’s day when it was scorching hot, she took pity on the children of her grooms and cooks and serving men and invited them to use the pools and fountains too, a tradition that has endured till this day."

——

"I told the story to Ser Balon, but not all of it. As the children splashed in the pools, Daenerys watched from amongst the orange trees, and a realization came to her. She could not tell the highborn from the low. Naked, they were only children. All innocent, all vulnerable, all deserving of long life, love, protection. ‘There is your realm,’ she told her son and heir, 'remember them, in everything you do.’ My own mother said those same words to me when I was old enough to leave the pools. It is an easy thing for a prince to call the spears, but in the end the children pay the price. For their sake, the wise prince will wage no war without good cause, nor any war he cannot hope to win.– ADWD

It might seem like a simple thing to allow a large amount of commoner children to partake in privileges alongside highborn and royal children, but this is hugely significant since it allows children of higher stations to form positive relationships with children of lower classes. The rest of Westeros does this at a far smaller degree, but usually at the convenience of the highborn. This act essentially put all of the children who stay at the Water Gardens on equal footing, even temporarily so they can all see that at their core, they are all made the same. This allows the royalty and nobility to empathize with commoners which will impact the choices that will impact everyone. Princess Daenerys’ impact on the ruling family kept Dorne mostly out of the War of the Five Kings, meaning that while the common people of nearly every region have been slaughtered and abused in the conflict, only one Dornishman has died so far, Oberyn Martell, a prince in full control of his actions rather than thousands of commoners ordered onto the battlefield.

Even though Dany is still a queen at war in the series, there are similarities between her motivation and choices. As noted above, both Daenerys’ have a weakness for children. Princess Daenerys fills the Water Gardens with “laughing children”. Dany wishes to do the same:

I want to make my kingdom beautiful, to fill it with fat men and pretty maids and laughing children. – ACOK

But more than that dream, when it comes to children Dany shows she is willing to take direct action to protect and avenge them. When the slavers of Meereen murder slave children and taunt Dany by mounting their bodies on milepost, Dany made sure to see them herself: "I will see every one, and count them, and look upon their faces. And I will remember.” (ASOS) Then she avenged them by killing the exact number of slavers in the same way the children were killed. Even when she doubts whether she did the right thing, she insists it was done for the children. Then, when Drogon kills a child, Hazzea, Dany tries to chain all of her dragons so that never happens again, though she only manages to capture two of the three. Despite the fact that she considers the dragons to be her own children, it only takes the death of one child to push her to imprison them, showing just how much she prioritizes the lives of these people. Even when it comes to the children of the slavers, Dany refuses to harm them regardless of what crimes the adult slaver commit:

Dany had grown fond of her young charges. Some were shy and some were bold, some sweet and some sullen, but all were innocent. – ADWD

Where the strongest parallel comes into play is with the way both Daenerys’ realize that there is no fundamental difference between people of different social classes since they are the same when brought down to their bare essentials:

On another island two lovers kissed in the shade of tall green trees, with no more shame than Dothraki at a wedding. Without clothing, [Dany] could not tell if they were slave or free. – ASOS

--

As the children splashed in the pools, Daenerys watched from amongst the orange trees, and a realization came to her. She could not tell the highborn from the low. Naked, they were only children. All innocent, all vulnerable, all deserving of long life, love, protection. – ADWD

The only thing that separates the highborn from the low or the free and the enslaved are societal restrictions. Since there are no natural physical differences between people of different ranks in society, that means they are all deserving of freedom and good lives. While Princess Daenerys acted upon this realization to effect change through the inclusion of all children from different walks of life into the Water Gardens, Dany fights for the freedom of slaves and allows freedmen places of power in her government and gives them a voice at court alongside people who were born free. Here are just a few of the many examples of Dany attempting to establish equality for the freedmen:

Reznak would have summoned another tokar next, but Dany insisted that he call upon a freedman. Thereafter she alternated between the former masters and the former slaves. – ADWD

--

Rylona Rhee had played the harp as sweetly as the Maiden. When she had been a slave in Yunkai, she had played for every highborn family in the city. In Meereen she had become a leader amongst the Yunkish freedmen, their voice in Dany’s councils. – ADWD

--

“The freedmen work too cheaply, Magnificence,” Reznak said. “Some call themselves journeymen, or even masters, titles that belong by rights only to the craftsmen of the guilds. The masons and the bricklayers do respectfully petition Your Worship to uphold their ancient rights and customs.”

“The freedmen work cheaply because they are hungry,” Dany pointed out. “If I forbid them to carve stone or lay bricks, the chandlers, the weavers, and the goldsmiths will soon be at my gates asking that they be excluded from those trades as well.” She considered a moment. “Let it be written that henceforth only guild members shall be permitted to name themselves journeymen or masters … provided the guilds open their rolls to any freedman who can demonstrate the requisite skills.” – ADWD

Princess Daenerys also helped to cement a permanent peace between House Targaryen and House Martell with her marriage uniting Westeros. That combined with the tradition of creating a closer bond between people of different classes and the continued caution on thinking of the people while making decisions that will affect them, she continues her legacy of peace. Our Dany also keeps the people who choose to follow her at the forefront of her thoughts with every decision she makes. She too wishes for peace and takes action to achieve that, even at her own detriment.

“Peace is my desire. You say that you can help me end the nightly slaughter in my streets. I say do it. Put an end to this shadow war, my lord. That is your quest. Give me ninety days and ninety nights without a murder, and I will know that you are worthy of a throne. Can you do that?” - Daenerys IV ADWD

--

She thought of Doreah, of Quaro, of Eroeh … of a little girl she had never met, whose name had been Hazzea. Better a few should die in the pit than thousands at the gates. This is the price of peace, I pay it willingly. If I look back, I am lost. - Daenerys VIII ADWD

--

Like all good queens she put her people first—else she would never have wed Hizdahr zo Loraq—but the girl in her still yearned for poetry, passion, and laughter. – ADWD

Conclusion

While the three Daenerys’ don’t have anything close to similar lives, each of the Daenerys’ of the past seem to intentionally have call backs or call forwards to the series era Dany. Both of them seem to foreshadow Dany’s current and future storylines with pushes for social progress and her future as the reigning Queen of Westeros. So far, Martin has included only three characters with this name, but with the positive change Dany is bringing to Essos and will bring to Westeros when she helps save the world from the Others, it would only be natural for the name to grow in popularity.

[the-power-of-stuff]

The Live-Action Sukka Manifesto that I Just Couldn't Keep in My Head

So I've been marinating in my live-action Sukka thoughts for the past three days, and when someone sent me an anon asking if I had any thoughts about the changes, at first I went, "DO I EVER?!" and proceeded to dump my entire brain on the page.

But then I worried maybe the anon wouldn't want to see my entire brain and figured I'd make my own post with my Many, Many Thoughts, and reel it in a bit when I answer the ask. And then link here if they're interested in the dissertation.

I'll put all the excessive details and spoilery stuff under a cut, but I'll start by saying, I didn't hate it! And I was afraid that I would.

There were things that I was bummed or had mixed feelings about, but there was also a lot that I genuinely enjoyed. All the Sukka interactions were cute and still had some decent character development, and I had fun with the episode overall (I've watched it thrice mind you, and definitely have not given the rest of the series that kind of attention). And I didn't necessarily dislike the differences from the original; I think I've just taken more of a "that was an interesting interpretation" approach.

But I better start that cut now, because I'm about to go on and on about this. I'd love to know what others think, though!! Even if the opinions aren't the same as mine! Please feel free to comment, reblog, shoot me an ask. If nothing else, I'm excited that the LA has gotten people talking about ATLA again.

So, I want to start with Suki’s characterization, which overall I found to be delightful, even if it was a bit of a watered-down version of her animated self.

In the original show, Suki is confident, sassy, and doesn’t take shit from anybody. She’s proud to the point of almost being arrogant, and even a little mean. What we get in the LA is someone who’s still confident in terms of her status and her skills, and still proud of her heritage and her role in her community, but with significantly less sass. And while LA Suki still seems like someone who wouldn’t take anyone’s shit, we don’t actually see LA Suki deal with that much shit from anyone (because Sokka isn’t really giving her any). 

There is one moment in the show where her interaction with Sokka is a little contentious, which is when he tries to relate to her as a fellow guardian of his people. I think Suki’s question to Sokka about how is he protecting his village if he’s not there is meant to be a challenge to his swagger. However, the line is delivered with a softness that makes it seem as though Suki is, at least in part, genuinely curious. (This curiosity makes even more sense when we consider the fact that Suki’s eventually going to leave Kyoshi Island so she and her Warriors can take part in the war effort, and that she will have to contend with the question of “how do you do that without abandoning your people?” when coming to that decision. The LA lays a lot more of this groundwork than the animated show did: Suki outwardly expressing her desire to see the world, her mother’s secretive looks every time Suki gazes longingly at Sokka the possibilities…)

Compare these two moments, for example. These are both scenes where Suki expresses disbelief at Sokka's claims about his warrior-hood. But in the LA, Suki speaks rather quietly and mildly, in contrast to the brash sarcasm of her animated counterpart. LA Suki is also tilting her head down and away, looking at Sokka indirectly. OG Suki is leaning in close, getting in his face, smirking derisively with her hands on her hips.  

I think there’s something to be said about the LA in general smoothing away certain personality traits that could be seen as negatives but that are actually strengths that are so narratively well-developed they occasionally show up as flaws (for instance, Katara’s fury, or lack thereof). Animated Suki is prideful and stubborn; she berates Sokka until he gives her sad puppy-dog eyes and has zero hesitation about making an example of him in front of her whole class. It’s a little ruthless, but these traits are also 1) what gets through Sokka’s thick skull (he, too, is prideful and stubborn), and 2) what makes her such a dedicated ambassador of Kyoshi and such a strong leader of the island’s Warriors at such a young age. I feel like the LA writers were afraid of making any of the protagonists seem too abrasive—everyone in the LA has had their edges sanded down, including Zuko, including Aang—and in general this tends to lead to less realistic representations of humanity and conflict, less satisfying character development arcs, and fewer opportunities for reflection and learning. 

That being said! I went into watching the LA with negative expectations about what we would see in terms of character development, and thus was pleasantly surprised. 

The LA removed the need for Suki to be as ruthlessly stubborn as she is in the animated show because LA Sokka’s skull is not so thick (and I'll get into that a bit more later). So what we get instead is a sheltered Suki with a helicopter mom who is so hilariously awkward that she has no idea how to interact with other humans. And, to be honest, I enjoyed this version of her so much that I even thought to myself, “I wish I’d thought of that!”

Suki is a straight-up weirdo in the LA and I love that for her. The way she puts Sokka in a chokehold and then looks at him after she sets him free like, “That was good flirting, yes? Would you like to be my boyfriend now?” And then her disappointment when Sokka walks away as if she’s thinking, “Why didn’t that go well, I thought boys loved getting put in chokeholds?” She is so precious, I just want to put her in my pocket. And this characterization might even be more broadly relatable than a super-confident Suki brimming with sass. Who among us hasn’t made a complete fool of ourselves in front of a crush by coming on way too strong and having no idea how to flirt? I mean…real. 

And because Sokka is also mostly just making a fool of himself trying to impress a pretty and talented peer (instead of covering up his insecurities by wrapping himself in misogyny) this leaves room for the two of them to be attracted to each other right off the bat and for their interactions to be more overtly romantic throughout the entire episode. Which, avid shipper that I am, I have to admit I have been gobbling up for the past three days straight. This episode was an IV drip of romantic tropes hooked straight to every Sukka shipper’s veins. 

Shy glances from across the room? Check.

Walking in on the other person half-naked? Check. (Y’all, Suki looks Sokka up and down for a FULL TWENTY SECONDS yes I timed it from the moment she appears in the background, yes you should count it to see how long that really is. Talk about awkward.) 

Tripping so they end up falling into each other’s arms? Check.

Wide-eyed shock that turns into surprise thirst after being pinned to the ground? Check.

Shooting each other satisfied smirks as they kick ass side-by-side? Check.

Jumping in front of literal fire for each other? Check and check!

Like, I could live off this for the rest of the year. 

But look, there’s a lot that I love about the way Sokka and Suki’s relationship is portrayed in this episode besides those romantically indulgent tension-creating moments, and it has to do with Suki’s admiration and validation of Sokka. 

Suki really looked at this boy with his mouth stuffed half-full of steamed bun and went, “Must have.”

With the removal of overt sexism from this episode (for better or worse), the story focused much more heavily on Sokka’s development as a leader. He still has that sort of posturing display of self-confidence that comes from inexperience and trying too hard to prove oneself (“Ferociously…deadly tiger whales…”), and while at first Suki seems put off by this and his attempts to liken himself to her (“I’m not just a warrior, I’m a Kyoshi warrior”) it doesn’t take her long to decide (*cough*after seeing him shirtless*cough*) that she doesn’t actually mind this behavior (and in fact maybe she kind of likes it because maybe it means he likes her and maybe it means she can show him how much she likes him by slicing the tops off all those melons with her fan). She seems genuinely interested in his boomerang and impressed that he hunts, and then later, she immediately takes interest in training him in the Kyoshi Warrior style. 

After they spar, she casually refers back to the fact that he’s his village’s protector, and this time, she does it without the disbelief and defensiveness. Because he’s finally stopped posturing. He opened himself up and gave himself over to Suki’s expertise, and in that way he proved that he has the will and desire—the heart—of a warrior. And Suki tells him so while touching him gently and gazing at him longingly in the soft golden glow of the late-afternoon sun. And as a die-hard Sokka stan, I love seeing him loved and appreciated like this. Adamantly. Ardently. The Sokka cheerleader in my head is going wild. “YEESSSS!! Our boy deserves this!!” Because we know that, in the animated show, he goes through a lot more struggle and self-doubt before he receives this kind of external validation. And while we also know that this makes for an incredibly satisfying growth arc, I gotta admit that it’s a fun bit of indulgence to watch Suki talk Sokka up directly to his face and then want to kiss him really bad. Y’know. As a treat.

That said, I'm very attached to and appreciative of the way their relationship is framed in the animated series. I love that their respect and affection for each other grows even after the disaster that is their first few interactions. In the LA, they are drawn to each other immediately, and the only barrier seems to be a bit of awkward stepping-in-it-ness. In the original, they have legitimate conflict, and they both have to give a little—Sokka becomes more humble, Suki becomes more tender—before they get to that point of potential romantic interest. And I think it says a lot about Sokka’s character and his desire to learn and grow that he is willing to humble himself in front of someone who, as far as he’s seen, has very little regard for him (slash has a good deal of animosity towards him). Giving himself over to Suki’s expertise costs him more in the animated show. But once he does, he and Suki learn and grow together. He shows Suki who he really is, shows her how dedicated and determined (and fun and a quick learner) he is, to the point that, by the end of the episode, she can allow herself to be vulnerable with him. And she does validate him in the original Kyoshi Warriors episode, just less directly than the LA. Her kiss on his cheek and “...but I’m a girl, too” is about forgiveness and acceptance and acknowledgement and respect, as much as or even more than it is about affection. There’s a little bit of romance, too, but it’s just little baby seeds of it, and it feels very natural to let those seeds germinate over time until we see Suki again later in the series. 

Which brings me to the live-action kiss. 

I’ll be honest, I was a little on the fence about the kiss. I want Sokka and Suki to kiss as much as possible in every conceivable universe. So there’s a part of me that was banging on the table and whistling with obscene joy. But the other part of me thought it was too much too soon. However, my hesitance pre-supposes some things about the second season (not least of which that there will be one), namely that it will handle the reunion with Suki and crossing the Serpent’s Pass anything like how it was done in the original. (Of course, one thing we now know for certain can't happen in a hypothetical LA season 2 is Suki pranking Sokka at the ferry station because he doesn't recognize her without her makeup. Do I love the expression on LA Sokka's face the first time he sees Suki's? Yes. Am I sad that this completely ruins their whole "You don't remember me? Maybe you'll remember this!" game? Also yes. But truthfully, I don't know if LA Suki would've been up to the prank, anyway. Not sassy enough. ;))

The Serpent’s Pass is one of my favorite episodes of all time, and that moment on the bluffs when Sokka and Suki are talking around Sokka’s loss, with the moon shining down on them all the while, and they almost kiss with the moon hanging between them in the background, and then Sokka pulls away without any other explanation besides, “I can’t”? That scene is so absurdly powerful and beautiful and an amazing moment of character development for them both, and I feel like it loses a lot of impact if they’ve already made out once. The fact that they kiss for the first time after that moonlit moment, when Sokka realizes that Suki doesn’t need protecting the way he thought she did, and in fact she was there to protect him, and he can finally just let go of this burden that he’s been carrying with him since Suki first mentioned she was joining them (slash since his dad put him in charge of an entire village at 13), and then and only then can he open his heart to what he feels for Suki, and in fact opens it so wide that he just cannot help but jam his mouth onto hers before she’s even finished talking…? I mean. C’mon. That’s poetry. But, again…loses impact if they’ve already had a first kiss.

But who knows what, if anything, they’ll actually do with that storyline. So for now, I’ll just enjoy my live-action Sukka kiss because, honestly, dream come true.    

Or almost a dream come true. Because there's a huge camelephant in the room that I haven't addressed yet, isn't there? The lack of Sokka in the Kyoshi Warrior uniform...

And I don’t think we can talk about the omission of Sokka’s Kyoshi Warrior uniform without talking about the omission of Sokka’s sexism. Because if Sokka isn’t sexist, then why do you have to put him in the dress and makeup of traditionally female warriors to make a point about how women are strong and capable, too? So here’s what I’ll say about that (and I know there’s a lot that people have said already, so I’ll try not to belabor the point.) I don’t think leaving out Sokka’s sexism was necessarily a detriment to his character arc. I do think, however, that leaving out Sokka’s sexism was a detriment to the message the show was trying to convey about sexism. 

Now, in the Northern Water Tribe episodes, the LA still gives us a message about fighting against the kind of systemic, institutionalized sexism that you might not be surprised to encounter within a very old-fashioned society or from a very old-fashioned gray-haired man. But what about the off-the-cuff, everyday kind of sexism that you might experience from an otherwise good person who is close to you? A person who loves you and would do anything for you but who gets carried away teasing you about “girly” things because of intrinsically-held biases that they’re not even that conscious of having? 

I think it’s important and meaningful for male and female audiences alike, and everyone in between, to see these different forms of sexism and misogyny—to see them, to recognize those behaviors in others and in ourselves, to be able to name them, and to have examples of fighting against them. We see the former kind—institutionalized, systemic—in Pakku. And we did see the latter kind—familiar, personal—in Sokka. And now that’s lost.

Not only that, but there’s the form of sexism that says boys aren’t allowed to do feminine things lest they relinquish their maleness. And in the animated show, we got to see Sokka combating this form of sexism, too. Not only does Suki show him that girls can be fierce warriors as well as boys, but he learns that wearing makeup and a dress does not make him any less of a young man.  

So, yes, I think the lack of Sokka in Kyoshi Warrior garb was a missed opportunity. And not just because Sokka looked really good in uniform and we all should have had the chance to see that, including and especially Suki. 

Alright, this is more than long enough, so I'll leave off with a moment from the LA that gave me great pleasure.

I needed this moment, y'all. And I was so afraid it wouldn't happen. I needed Sokka being protective, I needed him using his newfound Kyoshi Warrior skills to fight, and I needed him jumping in front of fire for the girl who'd taught him. If we couldn't have Sokka in the Kyoshi Warrior uniform, at least we had this.

[mermaidsirennikita]

ARC REVIEW: Honey Cut by Sierra Simone

5/5. Releases 6/18/24.

vibes: WEAPONIZED LONGING, the perfect angst recipe, the man Lana Del Rey was singing about but much better, We Can't Discuss Our Feelings Because My Feelings Are Hard

Heat Index: 10/10

Isolde Laurence is in a bind (literally, at points). She's about to marry Mark Trevena (the cold, dangerous man who deflowered her and promptly crushed her heart) in an arrangement that will enable her to seduce him and offer his secrets to her uncle, a high-ranking cardinal. However, on her way to do so, she's fallen in love with Mark's romantic, pining bodyguard Tristan. And Tristan--who very much loves her back--is also in love with Mark, thanks to a preexisting whirlwind affair he put a stop to upon finding out about the engagement. Isolde is determined to, if nothing else, guard her heart against her new husband. And, for personal and practical reasons, honor the agreement they made years ago: once they exchange vows, they'll be faithful to each other.

Easier said than done.

But Isolde herself is deadlier than she seems, and in the midst of a thorny triangle, she may end up crushing not only Tristan's heart, but her own... and maybe even Mark's. If he has one.

Well, this was my most-anticipated release of the year, and BY GOD did it live up to expectations. This is an ongoing series (you must read Salt Kiss before starting this one, and in my opinion? You should ABSOLUTELY also read the prequel novella, Salt in the Wound, as it lays the groundwork for Mark and Isolde's relationship) and of course, I don't want to count chickens before they hatch, but... If Sierra pulls the ending off--which I totally believe she will; she's yet to let me down--this could end up being her best series yet. And that is a LOT coming from me, someone who worships at the altar of New Camelot (and Thornchapel, for that matter).

The thing about the way Sierra writes triads--and nobody does it better--is that they all feel unique. You might think that Mark, Isolde, and Tristan would have a lot in common with New Camelot's Ash, Greer, and Embry. They're MMF, they're based on Arthurian myth, these people literally know each other (Sierra: I owe you my life for that cameo). But the dynamic is completely different--and in this installment especially, quite darker. I didn't see Mark's darkness as much in Salt Kiss (Salt in the Wound... perhaps more so, which gives you some insight into the differences between his individual dynamics with Isolde versus Tristan) but here? Um. She portrayed the conflict within him and his ruthlessness perfectly... While also letting us even further into the vulnerability she hinted at in Salt Kiss.

Mark can be a difficult character for readers to humanize, I think, because we haven't had his POV yet. It's easy to sort of dismiss him as this frosty, stern alpha who doles out pain while also dealing with plenty of his own (on the inside, because Mark is clearly very uncomfortable with feeling a feeling). Where she makes it brilliant is through these moments of BOYISHNESS. We got sneak peeks of boyish Mark in Salt Kiss, but here? Oh my god. The grins, the poking at Tristan, the GOOFY HOT FACETIME SEX WITH ISOLDE??? It's so human, and dropping those sneak peeks in makes his pain even more palatable.

And the thing is that you do get that pain. Because Sierra also doesn't shy away from the agony of a love triangle and, yes, cheating in this book. I often find that MMF is used in a sort of like... "Why choose? Heehee it's all okay because everyone wants each other" get out of jail free card. Sierra really doesn't do that ever, but this is the hardest she's gone in on "these people are cheating, and it HURTS the person they're cheating on, and it HURTS them". No punches are pulled here. This is one of the angstiest books I've read, and as an angst hound, I loved every second of it.

The ending? I am going to be in actual PAIN until Bitter Burn (out early next year, SHIT). There was a moment in the last few pages of this book that made me gasp. In part because I really didn't think she'd go there on multiple levels. This is a book of huge swings, and for me, every single one worked.

Quick Takes:

--I have been very vocal about how much the one time Mark called Tristan "puppy" in a cut scene (Beg Me, which you should absolutely read if you can--I think it's on Sierra's website) has not left my head since. Guess what? It's just a regular nickname now. He says it SEVERAL times in this book, in prime moments. And I was extremely happy.

--You can for sure read this series on its own, but I will say that this book in particular "spoils" a good bit of New Camelot. In the same way that any romance in the same universe or series of standalones sort of spoils others, but if you want to read chronologically without any giveaways, you should read that series first. And in general, read it even if you do read Lyonesse first. Because it's gorgeous.

--I can't emphasize enough how happy Isolde and Mark's dirty Facetime calls made me. Like. At the end of the day, Mark is just like any other man with a hot young wife, desperately trying to get a peek over his phone. While someone else peeks, perhaps.

--Isolde's such a fantastic heroine. Broken and devoted to God and maybe lowkey a zealot, while also craving physical and emotional pain and release and Tristan's soft heart and Mark's cold one all at once. She's the kind of heroine we very rarely get to read about in romance. If I'm being honest, I was a little worried about how the dynamics would balance here, as so much of the last book was Mark and Tristan on their own, and then the remainder was Tristan and Isolde on their own. (Which is another reason why you should read Salt in the Wound first, in my opinion.) But God. The dynamic of the three, the dynamic between Mark and Isolde, just blew me away. Two black cats circling each other, Mark perhaps a little more reticent to open up to Isolde than Tristan because he recognizes something of himself in her.

While at the same time, I found that Tristan and Isolde's relationship deepened. I always fully believed in their agonized love for Mark, and their desire to stay loyal to him. Yet I also completely believed that they couldn't possibly stay away from each other, not permanently.

--Mark's backstory? I foresaw some surface level stuff, but not the parts that mattered. Those kind of blew my mind.

The Sex:

I mean, it's Sierra Simone, so it's creative and very much a part of the character development. One of the sex scenes in this book was so... it was really one of the best she's ever written. But also? DEVIOUS. Sierra, you did not have to do us like that. However, I'm glad you did.

There are so many different "flavors" of sex in this book--super kinky, kinda vanilla (or as vanilla as these people can get), happy, angsty, sad, passionate, light, funny.

You can expect, among other things: restraints, impact play, cum play, breeding, biting, public sex (a lot of that), car sex, edging, voyeurism, pain play, cum licking.......... all that shit. And more!

Look, dude. Read this book if you've read the other books. If you haven't read the other books, read those and then read this book. I can't recommend it enough. This is angsty, passionate, heady romance at its best. Hot and emotionally complex and well-written. Sierra's prose! It's what romance should be; she sets the pace, and we all must chase it.

Thanks to Candi Kane PR for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[mortalpolykule]

Lay All Your Love On Me

Chapter 1: Sweat

Bi Han x Shang Tsung x Liu Kang

An au in which Bi Han doesn’t betray his brothers and they capture Shang Tsung. No guarantees that there will be much plot after this. Mainly just connected short stories about the character relations. This first part is mainly just laying the groundwork for character interactions and providing context. The pacing is a bit clunkier than I wanted, but fuck it we ball.

Warnings: None for this one, although there may be smut in future chapters

Bi Han, Kuai Liang, and Tomas had returned from their mission with Shang Tsung in tow as a prisoner. The sorcerer had his hands tied behind his back and his mouth gagged with a strip of cloth. His eyes dragged slyly around the room, likely plotting his escape. Kuai Liang and Tomas briefed him on the mission. There were a few hiccups along the way, but the trio was ultimately successful in disrupting the enemy’s plans. Liu Kang praised them for their efforts. Throughout the conversation, Bi Han had his eyes fixed on Shang Tsung. On the surface, it appeared that he was just keeping a close eye on the prisoner, but there was some underlying tension between the two of them.

“And what shall be done with the sorcerer?” Bi Han spoke up. His gaze was still deadly focused on Shang Tsung, who opted to ignore him and observe Liu Kang instead. Liu Kang could feel the sorcerer sizing him up. He realized that this was their first meeting in person since he defeated his counterpart and began constructing the new timeline.

“Shang Tsung will either be turned in to Outworld’s authorities to be tried for his crimes, or he can remain here in the temple under my supervision. I leave that up to Shang Tsung,” Liu Kang explained. Bi Han did not like that answer.

“He tried to tear my family apart and bring disgrace to the Lin Kuei!” He growled. “And the only punishment you have in mind is to babysit him?”

“I will explain all in time,” Liu Kang reasoned, his tone soft in an attempt to deescalate the situation. However, that only seemed to enrage Bi Han further.

“I have grown tired of your vague statements and half truths!” He roared.

‘Ah. So that is the source of his anger,’ Liu Kang noted.

“Bi Han!” Kuai Liang called out. His brother’s temper was making him increasingly nervous. Liu Kang did not react to the outburst, much to Kuai Liang and Tomas’ relief.

The Fire God knew that he must nip this conflict in the bud before it resulted in disaster, and he realized exactly what he needed to do.

“Kuai Liang, Tomas, please take Shang Tsung to my quarters. I must speak with Bi Han alone,” He said.

The two brothers bowed quickly and exited the room, tugging Shang Tsung with them, much to the sorcerer’s disappointment. He very much wanted to observe the Fire God and Grandmaster together.

Bi Han watched Liu Kang intently, his body still tensed, ready for a fight. Liu Kang decided that they weren’t going to make any progress with him amped up like this. Liu Kang calmly walked over to him and placed a firm but gentle hand on his shoulder. Bi Han flinched, expecting a blow that never came, but he made no move to push his hand away.

“I understand your anger Bi Han. Come with me, and you will have the answers you seek,” He said before turning and exiting the room. Bi Han decided to indulge him if it meant getting an explanation for Liu Kang’s lax punishment for Shang Tsung. They walked silently for a few minutes. Bi Han had spent a limited amount of time at the academy, so he was unfamiliar with this path. Eventually they came upon an isolated clearing. There were racks with various weapons placed around a grassless circle. It was much more simple compared to the other training grounds he had seen around the academy.

“Spar with me,” Liu Kang stated. Bi Han looked at him incredulously.

“I thought we were discussing the sorcerer,” he deadpanned.

“We will do that as well, but I need your mind to be clear for what I’m about to tell you,” Liu Kang explained. Bi Han’s eyebrows raised. Now, his curiosity was beginning to outweigh his frustration.

The two of them opted to fight without weapons or powers, relying only on hand to hand skill and strength. Bi Han figured the fight would not be easy, considering Liu Kang was a literal god, but he had confidence in his own fighting prowess as well. Liu Kang matched his every blow and was able to counteract him with ease. He played on the defensive side while Bi Han was on the offensive. After a while, Liu Kang finally began to speak.

He explained everything from when he took control over the hour glass to now, how he created this timeline to be be better than the last, crafting everyone’s fate to create the most peaceful outcome. He didn’t divulge much information about the previous timeline, but he did tell how Shang Tsung was a powerful sorcerer and had caused much chaos across the realms, so in this timeline Liu Kang wanted to neutralize him by giving him a meaningless life.

The fact that Bi Han was right about the sorcerer being a danger to them all only brought a small bit of comfort, for he was beyond shocked and angry. How much control did he really have over his own fate? His blows came down harder than before and his pace was beginning to grow more frantic.

“Talk to me Bi Han. Voice your frustrations freely. I will not judge you for them,” Liu Kang stated. He was still largely unaffected by Bi Han’s onslaught, which only increased the cryomancer’s ire. Bi Han could feel ice beginning to form on his hands, a physical manifestation of the heightened emotions storming inside of him. Still, he concentrated on keeping his powers in check. The Fire God had kept up his end of the bargain, and Bi Han wasn’t about to pull out his ice for his own convenience. He had more honor than that, honor that Shang Tsung had tried to strip away. The mere thought of the sorcerer had him in a fury before Bi Han even realized it. His form had gotten sloppy.

“Bi Han. Tell me what’s going on,” Liu Kang tried again. He remained calm and collected, merely blocking Bi Han’s blows as they came. He had been so focused on reading Bi Han’s expressions, that he failed to anticipate a sweeping blow from Bi Han’s leg, knocking him off balanced and sending him to the ground. Bi Han wasn’t even sure if he himself was expecting it either. A small gasp left Liu Kang as his back collided with the floor and the air was knocked out of his lungs. Out of all possible reactions, Bi Han didn’t expect Liu Kang to let out a hearty laugh and sit up, brushing the dirt off of his clothes.

“You caught me off guard. Well done,” he said with a smile, no evidence of anger or embarrassment on his face. Emanating from him was an aura of fondness and…. pride? Bi Han was so taken aback that he dropped his fighting stance completely. His eyes were wide, analyzing Liu Kang for any tricks. He would deny forever that a blush had crept up onto his cheeks and ears. His mind was swimming. His instincts and his starvation for praise were fighting amongst each other, and there were still the revelations from during the fight. This man-this god that sat before him was so much more than Bi Han had ever imagined. Liu Kang reached a hand out and gently pulled Bi Han down to sit next to him.

“Would you like to talk about it?” Liu Kang asked, still smiling gently. Bi Han couldn’t bring himself to make eye contact with him. Liu Kang had to have noticed his blush. He noticed everything.

“I…,” Bi Han began, but in that moment, words failed him. Where would he even start? There were so many things he wanted to say to him. To shout at him. He wanted to punch him and then gently hold his face in his hands.

“If you need time to process everything, I understand. I apologize for any distress that I have caused you and I promise to be more forthcoming about my decisions in the future,” Liu Kang said.

Bi Han simply nodded with a grunt.

“I also realize that it is important for me to admit when I have made a mistake. I believe this is the case with Shang Tsung. I weaved his fate out of spite and a desire for vengeance, and because of that, his suffering is my own doing. I must rectify this.” Liu Kang stood up and reached out his hand to Bi Han. “I will not ask you to forget your feelings, but I hope that you will be more patient with Shang Tsung from now on.”

Bi Han sighed. He had no energy left to argue, but he did take Liu Kang’s hand.

“Very well, but you better keep your promise.” Bi Han grunted.

[max1461]

I was asked by @cardassian-artistry:

I don't want to argue or anything, I'm just curious. What are your critiques of Marxist economics?

Ok, so, I want to clarify that I am neither an economist nor a Marx scholar. I am an informed lay person, who has also had the opportunity to spend a lot of time talking to my close friend who is an economist (well, sort of; his work is at the intersection of econ and CS). He's also very left-wing, and we've both read the relevant portions of Marx and have discussed Marx's place in the history of economics quite a lot, so I have, I think, more informed opinions on this particular topic than most people.

Right, ok, so there are a few things to note about Marx's economic theories. The first is that he does not really propose any sort of economic model in the modern sense. Ideally, an economic model should be predictive (probably a lot of Marxists will already disagree at this point, but I think it's not worth arguing with them because I doubt I will convince anyone). That is to say, an economic model should look at measurable quantities about some part of the economy, and relate these quantities to other measurable quantities, so that we can make predictions about how the economy will behave under different conditions.

Many modern day, orthodox economic theories do not meet these criteria. Those theories are also bad. Or, more accurately: they aren't even theories at all, they're just like, vague ideas. We should have higher standards than that for our economic models.

Anyway, predictivity: Marx mostly doesn't attempt to achieve this. He sort of gestures at a specific, predictive model when he talks about "congealed labor time" (I'll get to this) and so on, but he doesn't make it mathematically or measurementally precise enough to actually use it for anything, or to test if it's true. So there's a sense in which, by the epistemic standards I hold at least, Marx's theory of the economy is not actually saying very much to begin with.

Marx does, however, make some qualitative but testable claims. These are mostly sort of divorced from his economic theories as such, it seems to me, but they are claims pertaining to the economy, so they're worth evaluating. Most prominently, he claims that capitalism is bound to undo itself and give way to communism, via proletarian revolution. He very much thought this was going to happen in his lifetime or in the period immediately after. This did not pan out. You can make excuses for why this hasn't happened yet, as the early Christians did when the rapture didn't come, but I don't think any of these excuses are very convincing. He claimed this and he was wrong. As others have pointed out, at least Marx made a claim which could be proved wrong, which is braver than many thinkers—and probably cannot be said of many of his contemporaries in classic economics.

The second big point about Marx's understanding of the economy is that it comes largely from Adam Smith, whose work he studied intensely. Marx's early work is less concerned with the technical details of the economy, and was of course influenced above all else by Hegel. But Marx's later, more economic work draws very heavily from Smith.

Adam Smith's work has all the same problems. Economists like Smith, Marx, and Ricardo set the groundwork for what would come later, but their understanding of how economies actually behave was both far too simplified and far too mathematically unsophisticated to be useful as such.

And, right, this brings us to the labor theory of value, which Marx also gets from Smith. Well, modern economic theories tend not to use a "theory of value" at all, because… what does that even mean? How do you measure "value"?

Is "value" price? That's something you can measure! But Marx seems to say "no", value is not just price. And if value was price, then Marx's theory of value would be straightforwardly false. Marx claims that the value of a good is proportional to the average labor time it takes to produce that good in the given society in which the good is being produced. Well, this is not true of price (in Marxian terms, "exchange value"). So Marx's "value" cannot be price, if his theory is to hold water.

What is it then? Well, Marx and Smith don't really say. And they definitely don't say how to measure it. So their claims about value and labor time and so on don't amount to much, they don't really amount to testable claims about the real world. They amount to claims about this ill-defined idea of "value" that has relevance only internally within the system of Marxian thought. As such, many of Marx's economic claims don't actually say anything about the economy to begin with.

The upshot is that a lot of Marx's specific claims about the economy are either untestable or simply wrong, which is pretty damning. His theories are far too simplistic to model the economy accurately, and his dialectical method—far from remedying this simplicity—simply introduces more vagueness into his claims.

Marx did not know calculus. With a few lucky exceptions, it is generally difficult-to-impossible to model any real world process of significant complexity with any precision without calculus. Basically every modern day economic model makes use of differential equations. Marx, Smith, and Ricardo did not. A priori, therefore, it would be very surprising if their ideas turned out to be correct. And they don't.

So, I've been pretty hard on Marx. Is there any value to Marx's thought?

Well, I think, yes. Quite a lot, in fact.

Marx's work is sometimes split into an "early Marx", for example as represented in the 1844 Manuscripts, and a "mature Marx", as represented in Capital. People debate the degree to which there is continuity between these two periods, or whether the periodization really makes sense at all. But it's undeniable that Marx's thinking evolved significantly over the years. In particular, Marx's early work is much more concerned with the humanistic effects of living under capitalism. This is where Marx's theory of alienation comes from. He is concerned, everywhere but especially in this early writing, with how it feels to be an industrial worker in a capitalist society. And I think his analysis here is absolutely spot on. It has, in fact, been pretty influential on my own thoughts about markets and private property.

Marx also advanced a materialist conception of history, and of society generally. I think Marx's materialism was too teleological, and too wrapped up in nineteenth century ideas of Progress, but I still think that to a first order approximation his assertion that history is driven by the factors of production was basically correct, and was not remotely obvious at the time. For this I think he should be celebrated.

I think Marx was, in a certain sense, a victim of his time. Almost all the critiques that can be made of his economic theorizing per se are found in the writing of all the classical economists. And it is in this domain where I think he makes the most demonstrable errors. That is to say: most of what is bad in Marx is not that new, and (I think) most of what is new in Marx is quite good.

There's another reason to take Marxism seriously, too. I think that a really significant amount of good thinking about history, society, and the nature of wealth and power has been presented under a "Marxist" heading, or assumes fluency with Marxist ideas. From Marxist humanists like E.P. Thomson to the revolutionary leaders of Third-Worldism. Not that any of these people are above critique, to be sure. But anyway, in this regard I think Marx's thought is a lot like Bertrand Russell's work on logic (I love the Marx/Russell comparison, because they both would have hated it): less important for its actual content than for the work of the people it inspired, and for the century+ of ideas they produced.

[generallemarc]

The Amazing Digital Circus analysis that none of you wanted, part 2

Jax is the best character so far. I was originally only here for Caine, since I watched Alex Rochon all the way back when he was the Autarch of Flame in the good ol' days of youtube Top 10 channels, but every line Jax has makes me grin.

You go Kinger. Never stop being you.

I feel like that croc doing poses is a reference to something, but if it is I don't get it

Ok, why tf did they have Jax's head stay in a static position while everything else was jostling around? Is he like a chicken?

Okay, the glitches are gonna be a thing. Neat.

This is the last comparison I ever expected to be making, but the vibe I'm getting from the "computerized creation seeing its own world for what it is" thing they seem to be doing with the croc reminds me of Tad Williams's Otherland. You probably know it as the MMO with zero players that Josh Strife Hayes played through, but it's a damn good read and surprisingly relevant to ADC given the potential similarity with emerging digital consciousnesses.

"I can't even remember her face. Did she ever have a face?" And now we're going straight into the one truly terrifying ending to the Stanley Parable. I actually like the fast pace here-there's obviously gonna be other adventures, and this is laying the groundwork for how the Amazing Digital World(name not final) works, but how it really works and not some facade that'd get shattered halfway through the season.

Damn, I care way more about this literal nameless npc than I expected to. The first thing he does when he realizes the scale of what's going on is demand the truth of who he is. With how horrifying the truth has been so far, that takes guts.

I now see where they're going with Jax. He treats everything like a game likely as a means of coping and staying mentally stable enough to avoid abstraction, so he's going to have an active interest in not believing Pomni when she tries to tell everyone that these are sentient beings and not just npcs. He'll need her to be wrong to avoid a massive amount of retroactive guilt, so that's what he'll believe.

Ok, but why teapots? Is that an Alice reference?

Yay, they killed the monster! They accomplished something actually beneficial instead of the pointless murder they were sent for!

...I should really wait to see whether characters are dead before thinking they are.

And there go all the "Caine is trying to help them escape" theories. He knows they're sentient-he just doesn't care. There is no way he's missed it with that kind of reaction.

Yeah, so that was...fuckin' dark. And with a disturbingly realistic reaction from Pomni too. Tl:dr-Caine is evil. Do not trust Caine. And also Zooble was there I think.

[stellamancer]

niku (for the ask game) i wish you’d write a fic where reader is in grad school with gooj……..maybe a lil academic rivals to lovers….

gRAD SCHOOL WITH GOOJ.... and you can't just say MAYBE A LITTLE academic rivals to lovers to me. i cannot have just a little it MUST BE A BUFFET. 

UH ANYWAY. so actually, as someone who only did their undergrad, i had to ask the grad student i do know about the difference. and they actually ended up feeding me ideas. i can't take credit for their brilliance though.

> if theyre academic rivals to lovers then maybe theyre sharing an elective class that has a group project and theyre in diff groups

and also:

> well my apartment building has laundry in it > but imagine reader hauling their laundry to a laundromat n running into gojo > id shit > gojo sees u hauling ur laundry and follows u inside to bug u abt ur group project (separate groups btw) and he just sits there while u shove everything into the machine hoping he doesnt see ur underwear

i think being in separate groups for a group project would be fun. so uh, full disclosure i think i went kind of off the rails and i DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THIS ANY MORE. but uh. it got terribly self indulgent is and is just short of 5k which is is insane. so uh. yeah hahahaaHAHAHAHA. <- laughing to hide my tears.

anyway, as for my own idea. so uh, please ignore me for laying down some groundwork HAHAHA. so, reader and gojo ended up attending the same university for undergrad. it's a very prestigious school with a famously low acceptance rate (for reference, gojo was recommended for admittance and took the entrance exam for the funsies).

reader, who was used to being the top student, is somewhat surprised that, upon the results of their first major exam being posted, they are not first but SECOND. briefly, and I do mean briefly, they're kind of like ‘well this is a really prestigious school ofc there would be insanely smart people here that could best me’ but then they find out that the person in the top spot is satoru gojo.

and said gojo is known for being a filthy rich, insufferable slacker and because of that reader has no respect for him and gets MAD. especially since they've also heard the rumor that he's attending school for shits and giggles. so they study extra hard to try and knock him from the top spot only to wind up in second place AGAIN and the cycle continues.

gojo, on the other hand, doesn't really notice reader until a little later. he knows their name (he knows everyone's names) and that they're second place but he doesn't really pay them mind until the professor for their class has a ta conduct a free study period because they have a personal emergency to attend to. gojo gets very excited over this because it's finally his time to really shine as the top student in the class. he expects his classmates to flock to him for help with class material, and while a couple students do ask him for help, those who don't form groups of their own gather around reader. it doesn't bother him at first and he attempts to teach the students who have asked him for help but they don't seem to get it. which frustrates him a little. how can they not understand? Eventually some of them thank him for his attempt but go to ask reader and gojo is a little huffy about it. 

actually he's pretty huffy about it. 

after class, he approaches reader who is a bit 😑😑😑 at him because it's gojo, and he. Well. 

“must have been pretty nice having everyone ask for your help,” gojo remarks, derisive. “even though, i’m top of the class.” you scowl, annoyed. “well, maybe more people would have asked you if you were better at explaining things.” a couple of your classmates had mentioned asking gojo first, but couldn't make heads or tails of what he was saying. when you asked them to explain, you were able to understand, but only because you could reverse engineer his methods.  gojo shrugs, “not my fault they couldn't understand.” your jaw ticks. what is he on? “they asked you to help them, but you couldn't; of course it's your fault.”  “maybe they should have tried harder!” “maybe you should have tried a different teaching method!” you hiss before stomping off. 

and that's honestly the first time anyone has really argued with gojo in…. Well not a while, but the only one who ever challenges him like that is suguru. and he actually approaches suguru about the whole thing later and suguru basically agrees with what reader was saying which, gojo ultimately concedes to. 

so, he, begrudgingly, takes a different approach when the next class study session happens and is met with better results. gojo tries to gloat about it to reader but all he gets is a flat “good for you” and it upsets him because he worked hard, you know, he adjusted for everyone instead of everyone adjusting to him (like he's used to because he's a spoiled brat) and while it felt super good that so many of his classmates actually understood what he was saying this time he wanted reader to acknowledge him the most. 

again, he whines to suguru, who actually finds this all very funny, and suguru gives him a pat on the back too, but at this point gojo has become determined to have reader approve of him. 

which means gojo goes out of his way to interact with reader more but, is met with annoyance or hostility and normal people would just back off but not gojo. like he'll congratulate reader on their high score on the exam and reader will tell him to shove it and initially it kind of makes him mad (especially since reader is very cordial with literally everyone else) but eventually he starts to find it kind of fun to get a rise out of reader the way he does. (I think initially he thought the class was kind of boring but then he gets to look forward to antagonizing reader wtf is his problem). 

he does not get the approval he wants though, so at some point, he decides to double major— with one of his majors being the same as reader’s. this only bothers them more since now they see him MORE and he seems to handle the double major stuff flawlessly. 

anyway, reader doesn't manage to get better grades than gojo in any class by the end of their undergrad and gojo doesn't get the approval from them he craves. 

(I think there's an incident where one of them is accused by a jealous classmate of some form of academic dishonesty and the other defends them but I haven't decided on who. whoever it is though, probably starts to develop Feelings)

graduation comes and reader thinks that they are finally free of gojo, thinking he will go into the work force so he can ultimately take over the family company, bUT HE DOESN'T HE GOES TO GRAD SCHOOL. and reader is just appalled. like what the actual fuck. and so once again they have classes together but the only upside is that it's less often (since me grad school friend said that classes are more infrequent).

I like the separate group project idea so we are going with that. reader is fine with being a separate group from gojo until he’s all smiley at them and is like ‘looks like we’re competing again and reader is just like ‘fuck my stupid baka life.’

actually I feel like I put too much development thought into undergrad oh well. 

so since there is more free time in grad school so I'm thinking reader gets a job. maybe working as wait staff at a restaurant…. a fancy one. and gojo finds out when he goes there for a gojo family business dinner thing. reader has to keep a straight face and ignore gojo’s smarmy expression and how hot he looks in a suit (the suit is fan service for me).

during part of the dinner gojo excuses himself to go to the bathroom and happens to see reader joking around with a coworker. he's never seen reader with that expression before and gets a little annoyed/jealous (the jealousy is also fan service for me). 

gojo brings up reader's job next time they see each other for class saying he didn't know and reader's just like ‘why would I tell you?’ which makes gojo realize despite being academic rivals for years he doesn't actually know much about them. 

I think at some point they have a convo where reader is just like ‘why are you even going to grad school when you don't need to’ and gojo says that he doesn't have a lot of time left to do what he wants before having to fulfill his duties as the gojo family heir and he's the going to grad school because he wants to (keep seeing reader). reader actually feels bad for him when they realize the magnitude of the expectations placed on him and in this convo he mentions that competing with reader in school has made his college life fun. I think at this point gojo realizes he won't get to really see reader after grad school is over and that makes him sad. 

Mmmm. Maybe. They make a bet at this point gojo bets that if reader's group does better than gojo’s on the project he'll grant them any one desire they want and while reader is like ????? at first he explains that because of who he is he can do anything with his money and/or influence but if his group does better then reader has to do anything he wants and they’re like okay yeah sure whatever rich boy.

so reader does their best to encourage their group mates to well on this group project (which i have decided has a presentation at the end of the semester… it is a nice long semester long project). i’d say most of them at know of reader and gojo’s rivalry (or at least about gojo) and they’re pretty amenable to trying to show him up. 

over the semester stuff happens, you know extra relationship building stuff, with gojo constantly asking about the project. he'll occasionally annoy reader at work (and maybe try to shoo away the coworker he thinks is interested in reader), bug them at the library, drag them to dinner after class and. idk. despite gojo becoming less of a rival and more of an annoyance, reader starts to get endeared to him.

just as finals week, when they have to do their presentation, is approaching, reader is at the library and their laptop just. stops working. and they start to freak out because even though a lot of stuff for the project is saved to a cloud storage, they still have some things saved locally. gojo happens in as they're having a meltdown and calms them down and tries to assess what happened to the laptop. and like. 

you feel like you can't breathe. the realization that you've lost hours upon hours of work weighs down on your chest. can you possibly do it all again with what time you have left before the presentation? 

no. 

it's not a question of whether you can or can't: you have to, if not for you, then everyone else in your group. they're depending on you; you can't let them down.

“hey.”

if you call out for your next couple of shifts and pull a couple all nighters, you might be able to redo everything.

“hey.”

it won't be pleasant, but you have to do what you have to do. you don't want everyone to worry, but you should at least let them know what's going on. the thought of messaging the group chat, though, fills you with dread. 

someone flicks your forehead and you let out small cry. “what the hell!”

gojo looks petulant as ever and you remember you have to deal with him too. could this get any worse? his finger presses against your forehead as he asks, “tell me what happened.”

“i told you. it stopped working.”

“be more specific.” 

you groan, “just…. the screen went black and I pressed the power button but it wouldn't turn back on but it sounds like it's on.” 

gojo hums and leans down over the table, pressing his ear to the laptop. he hums again and nods to himself. “i think I know what's going on.” 

“are you the laptop whisperer or something?” you ask flatly. 

“something like that,” he answers nonchalantly, flipping the lid closed and pulling out his phone. he starts typing on it one handed. “but I think most people call it being computer savvy.”

“are you saying you can fix it?”

he shoots you a cocky grin. “who do you think you're talking to?”

you ignore him. “well?”

he huffs. “i can't believe you're doubting me here.”

“gojo…”

“just trust me, everything will be fine!” he says and starts to pack up your laptop. you protest but he doesn't listen. “but we need to have the operation at my place.” 

you scowl. “gojo, i’m not—”

“you don't have to come if you mind leaving your laptop in my care,” he shoots you a saccharine sweet smile and your frown deepens. he knows that you won't just let him take your laptop with him. crafty bastard. 

“ugh, fine,” you relent. 

gojo snickers in satisfaction and starts to call someone as you gather the rest of your things. from what you can hear, it sounds like he's calling his driver. 

ten minutes later, gojo is ushering you into the sleek black car that he gets driven around in. you expect gojo to talk your ear off during the ride to his place, but he's oddly quiet and glued to his phone. you're curious, but you decide it's better to not ask. 

soon enough you're both dropped off at one of the tallest high rise apartments you've seen in your life. gojo casually taps his phone to a panel by the door and walks in with you scampering after.

you want to be surprised when you both ride the elevator to the top floor, but admittedly you're not. of course gojo has a penthouse apartment, why wouldn't he? not only that but it's wildly high tech— you can only imagine how much it must have cost… 

“you hungry?” gojo asks as you both enter his spacious living room area. “i can order something; anything you want— my treat.” 

the offer startles you, but reflexively you shake your head. “no, i’m fine. i—”

“sushi, then,” he decides with a nod. 

“wait, no, i—” you start to protest, but gojo is already fiddling with his phone. “gojo, really, it's fine, i’m not hungry.” 

“oh too late, i already ordered.”

you sigh as he flashes you a conspiratory grin. well, you suppose it wouldn't hurt to have some when it arrives. free dinner, maybe, you guess. “okay so, how do you intend to fix my laptop?” 

gojo tuts at you and wags his finger. “all will be revealed in good time.”

“tell me or i’m leaving,” you hiss, glaring. you don't have the time to humor him if it turns out he's just been fucking around this whole time. 

gojo pouts. “you're no fun.” 

“i can't fuck up this project; not with my group mates depending on me.” 

you don't mention the bet. honestly, at this point you don't care if you lose as long as you can salvage the project enough to make sure your group gets a decent grade. 

he sighs. “I know, I know.” 

“so tell me, what are you going to do.” 

gojo leans against the wall. “just a simple extraction. seems like the motherboard died, but the data on your hard drive should still be intact, so we're just going to extract it.”

“you can do that?”

“wouldn’t suggest it if I couldn't,” he says with a shrug. “just waiting for something i need to do it but it should arrive soon enough.” 

you stare at him, unsure of what to say. it's awfully nice of him to help you. especially when he could have just walked away, left you there with your broken computer and despair, and yet… “thank you gojo, really.”

for once in his life, gojo looks absolutely speechless, widened eyes peering over the top of his sunglasses. you blink. is it just you or do you see the faintest shade of pink dusting over the tips of his ears?

“well, while we wait, why don’t i give you the grand tour?” he asks and his voice is unnaturally loud, moreso than usual. 

“i don’t need a tour.”

“come on,” he insists, moving over toward you and circling around to grab you behind by the shoulders. “it’ll be fun! i never get to show off my place!” 

before you can protest, gojo starts propelling you around his penthouse. his voice is filled with a childlike excitement as he shows you every nook and cranny of the place. it’s sleek, modern, and ridiculously clean, just like how you would expect the home of any rich heir to a corporate conglomerate to look. however, as you move to room to room, you see little peeks of gojo’s personality shining through.

like the display of pictures next to his computer setup (three screens is kind of overkill in your opinion though).

the legitimately impressive sunglasses collection he has in his bedroom (you had always suspected he had something like this). 

the almost terrifying array of candy and sweets he has lining the cabinets of his kitchen. 

while he's rifling through a box of imported american snack cakes to show you, you notice a cup of dry erase markers next to the fridge which has a board affixed to it. the board is devoid of any writing or marks and you can't help but wonder if gojo has ever used it.

he wouldn't mind if you scribbled something on it real quick, would he?

“whatcha doin’?” he asks as you grab a black marker from the cup.

“defacing your personal property.”

“huh?!” he exclaims as you pop off the cap. “hey, wait a sec—”

you do not. before he can try to stop you, you start to doodle a cartoonish rendition of him. large round glasses, a stupid big grin and… well, you try to recreate his hair but it looks more like a soggy sea star with too many arms.

“what the hell is that?” he asks. “is that supposed to be me?”

“obviously.” 

he clicks his tongue. “i'm way more handsome.”

you roll your eyes. “are you?”

gojo hmphs and steps over toward you, grabbing a blue marker from the cup. “of course i am.” 

you roll your eyes as he starts his own drawing next to yours. at first you think he's just going to show you up with a better rendition of himself, but you quickly realize that it's not him he's drawing.

it's you. 

gojo is a much better artist than you are (it probably helps that he's not trying to scribble it really quickly like you are) and his doodle of you looks much better than your drawing of him. 

“so?” he asks when he's done. “what do you think?”

if you're being honest, it's actually really cute. embarrassingly cute. “i… i think you’re just trying to show off.”

“...well, i am quite skilled in more than just academics, you know,” he boasts earning him another eye roll. “it's okay if you don't want to say it looks good, we both know the truth.”

“...shut up.” 

he snickers. “if you're done drawing all over my fridge, then there's one more stop on satoru gojo’s grand house tour!” 

you tilt your head and he motions for you to follow him. he brings you to what you assume must be a big window with the curtain drawn, but with the press of a button the curtains slide back to reveal the balcony. gojo slides the door open and gestures for you to go outside first.

the air outside is a little chilly but it's not too bad. there's some furniture set up for lounging, but otherwise the balcony is rather bare save for…

“it's beautiful…” you murmur as you stare at the view of the tokyo skyline, the lights of the city sparkling brightly against the darkened sky. 

“right?” gojo chuckles and there is something about it that makes you turn back to look at him.

he's staring right at you. 

the soft smile gracing his features makes your mouth feel very, very dry for some reason and despite the fact that you desperately want to look away, you can't bring yourself to. the air between you both is an odd sort of quiet that has you feeling all sorts of nervous and you try to think of something to say to feel that almost awkward void.

luckily for you, the doorbell rings just in time to save you. 

gojo’s head whips around suddenly and you think you see the ghost of a frown before he scampers toward the front door. you trail after, watching as he throws it open to reveal a handsome, but tired looking young man. you recognize him from some of the pictures gojo had by his desk; they must be friends. 

“satoru, isn't there someone who you personally pay to run your errands?” the other guy asks as he enters and you notice he's carrying a bunch of bags. “why ask me?” 

gojo tilts his head innocently. “why not?”

his friend sighs. 

“sooo, did you get it?” gojo asks as his friend hefts the bags onto the counter. 

the other guy looks at gojo like he's an idiot. “of course i did.”

gojo beams widely. “knew i could count on you suguru!”

said suguru rolls his eyes again before turning his attention to you. there's a curious spark in his eyes as he offers you a pleasant smile “i don't believe we’ve met before…”

“i’m gojo’s classmate,” you say before giving him your name. 

“ah yes, satoru speaks of you often,” he remarks. “i'm suguru geto, it's a pleasure to finally meet you.”

“um, same to you, i guess.” you're not quite sure what to do with the information that gojo's been talking about you to other people. you can't imagine he's said anything good.

so after reader and suguru introduce themselves to one another they either have a short convo where suguru roasts gojo (as is his right) or gojo interrupts before he can and they eat the sushi that gojo made suguru pick up (the sushi place is actually a small little shop, not anywhere really fancy, which reader notices immediately— maybe it’s somewhere gojo dragged reader to previously, but he’s a regular so they gave him extras lmao). 

gojo doesn’t actually eat though, because he’s too busy extracting reader’s hard drive from their laptop and when reader mentions he’s not eating, gojo tells reader they can hand feed them. reader refuses. lmaooo. it doesn’t take super long for gojo to complete the surgery and when he’s done he drags reader to his massive computer set up and plugs the hard drive (which has been converted into an external hard drive and it works!! and—

you hold your breath as gojo mouses over to the file folders to open the hard drive. as he does, some measure of relief eases into you as you see the familiar names of your folders and documents. 

but you can't breathe easy just yet. "which one is it?" gojo asks. "this one?" he hovers over a file that has the class name along with the words 'group project.' you nod and he opens it.  ordinarily, you'd be a little defensive about letting gojo see your project, but given the circumstances, you don't think you can afford to be. he scrolls down to the bottom and you can tell that the file isn't exactly up to date. it's missing about a page's worth of information you'd typed up.  but that's probably about fifteen minutes of work at most, much better than what you'd thought you'd lost.  the relief consumes you completely and before you can even really realize what you're doing, you're throwing your arms around gojo's shoulders wrapping him into hug. "oh thank god..." you murmur into the fabric of his shirt.   "...didn't think you thought that highly of me," he murmurs with a chuckle. immediately, you jump back. embarrassed, you clear your throat. "i don't, but you can have a pass this time around." "no, no i think you should keep showering me with praise." you roll your eyes and gojo rises from his chair, stretching. then he turns to you, with a familiar grin that makes your stomach do a flip. you don't think you're going to like what he has to say next. "so, what now?" you blink. oh maybe that wasn't so bad. "your laptop's shot, y'know." right. you grimace. you still have to finish your project. and you need a computer to do that. unfortunately, you don't own a desktop and you don't exactly have the cash to drop on a new laptop. "um, well..." you could use the computers at the school library, but it's way too late to go there now. "if you ask nicely, i'll lend you one of my laptops." "no thanks," you answer automatically. 'one of his laptops?' must be nice being rich. why would he need more than one anyway? "...i can just go to a net cafe." "a net cafe?" gojo exclaims in disbelief. "yeah, they're open all night and if i need to sleep there i can." he grimaces. "no, absolutely not." "it's not your choice," you say flatly. "i mean, wouldn't it be easier... and cheaper to just take one of my laptops?" he's got a point, but. "it's fine, you've helped me enough. i'd feel bad if something happened to one of your laptops." you doubt your luck is that bad. it's not like gojo couldn't replace it in a blink in an eye, but still. "then i can just give it to you, problem solved.' you almost choke. "absolutely not!" 

after some back and forth, gojo (with suguru’s help) convinces reader to not go to the net cafe, but reader refuses to take home one of gojo’s laptops sO THEY END UP sitting at the coffee table in his living room to work on their project. to reader’s surprise, he actually lets them work in peace (instead he annoys suguru). though at some point reader dozes off and when they wake up… they are in gojo’s bed. they freak out but it’s only them in the bed and when they leave the bedroom they find gojo snoring on the couch. Suguru, who also stayed the night, and is awake making coffee tells them that gojo carried to them to the bed and decided to sleep on the couch (suguru also slept on the couch it’s a big couch). he makes some kinda cryptic comment before he leaves and reader is just like ????? but shrugs it off as gojo’s bestie also being a weirdo and they try to thank gojo by making him breakfast but the freak doesn’t actually have anything to make breakfast with it so they just work on their project til he wakes up. 

when he does wake up reader does mention wanting to thank him by making him breakfast and he gets stupid excited and tries to drag reader off to the store to get stuff but reader is in the middle of some project stuff and, without thinking tells him to take an iou. and he gets weirdly serious about it, asking if they’ll really do it later and, reader’s like ‘um yes? why are you getting weird about this?’ and he just gives some non answer and doesn’t say THAT HE WANTS READER TO MAKE HIM BREAKFAST because like atp he is very down bad about reader (he and suguru actually were talking about this when reader was working on the project the night before). 

anyway, project presentation time and reader is a bit nervous and so is the rest of the group, but reader is confident that they will do well. and everyone in the group is like yeah, and then uh, gojo’s group waltzes in, oozing confidence and gojo is fucking dressed to the nines, in a suit and tie and his hair styled and reader’s like ‘fuck he’s hot wait what.’ and he comes over and and in his attempt at a rizzed up moment wishes reader’s group luck. one of the girls in reader’s group makes a super funny comment and reader is like ‘shut up.’

both groups do well and after the presentations are done, gojo drags his group and reader’s group to yakiniku or something that’s on him and everyone goes and. everyone but gojo and reader get drunk and gojo and they talk about the project and they both concede that the other did good and they actually aren’t sure who won. 

turns out they both scored the same lmao. so no one wins. reader takes it as a loss but gojo is pretty pleased and suggests that since it was a tie he’ll do something that reader wants if reader is willing to do something he wants and reader is just like ‘ugh fine whatever.’ so gojo asks what they want first and reader’s just like ‘i don’t really want anything i just wanted to beat you once.’ and gojo’s like ‘oh well… i’ll take an iou on a favor then’ and reader’s like ‘okay fine so what do you want?’

"well," gojo drawls, thoughtfully. "i gave it a lot of thought and at first i was thinking i'd ask for us to call it a truce and just be friends. but that's kinda boring, don't you think?" boring isn't quite how you'd put it.  "so i was thinking that instead, you could go on a date with me instead," he proclaims with a big grin. "that's fair don't you think?"

your eyes nearly pop out of your head. a date? he can't be serious.

"i'd pay for everything still, of course, can't risk the date going badly, you know." you scowl. "are you saying that i'd screw up a date just because i can't afford to go whatever fancy restaurants a rich guy like you is accustomed to?" he shoots you a mischevious grin. "well, no i didn't quite say that... but if you'd like to prove me wrong..." "fine!" you hiss. "i'll show you! it'd be the best date you've ever been on!" his smile eases into something, a little more gentle, a little more fond. "i'd love to see you try." 

(spoiler alert: he didn't want the date to go badly because he wants to actually date you but you'll find that out soon enough lmao).

[atths--twice]

Hello!! For the WIP ask game: Arcadia :)

Ohhhh this is a fun one I started a few years back.

It’s different from my other stories as it’s in first person present tense, and it will be solely from Scully’s perspective. We will see the in between moments we didn’t see on the show. Moving in, unpacking of sorts, how they handle the aspect of living together and dealing with one another that way, and get Scully’s thoughts about it all.

Now, I know not everyone loves first person, but I thought it would be fun to explore.

Because I know it will be awhile before I post this, I’m going to include two little snippets.

The first is from their arrival to the neighborhood.

The second is from a discussion they have in bed when Mulder comes back to the room, claiming that the couch had been uncomfortable the night before.

Hope you enjoy!

______________

February 24, 1999

I hear Mulder humming, and immediately I’m back to loathing this assignment, my recent feeling of being okay with it, although a little nervous, disappearing.

I’m trapped in a minivan with him, on our way to an undercover assignment, and the thought of running away as soon as I possibly can sounds like a fantastic plan.

He’s been humming “Here Comes the Bride” and “Chapel of Love” sporadically under his breath for the past couple of days, and it’s beginning to drive me insane. I’ve tried glaring at him, telling him to stop, and even threatened him with physical harm, and yet he has continued.

With a wink to me no less.

The bastard.

“Mulder, seriously,” I say with force, as I simultaneously scowl at him, hoping that will be what does the trick.

“Scully, we are going to be portraying ourselves as a happily married couple. I’m just trying to lay the groundwork for us. Get us in the mood, so to speak,” he explains with an innocent tone.

But I know him, and that aw shucks attitude of his isn’t going to stop me from wanting to smack that cheesy grin off of his face. I sigh and he smiles, obviously believing he has proven his point and won this battle.

Looking out the window, I sigh again as I think of spending days and nights with him pretending to be his happy little wife. I know he was not exactly thrilled with the assignment, but in the past couple of days that we have been here in San Diego, he seems to have gotten into the spirit of it.

At least the ‘annoy the shit out of your pretend wife’ spirit of it.

He’s called me honey more times than I can count and every one of my admonitions have fallen on deaf ears. Seeing how gleeful he is when he gets a rise out of me, I’ve seen a glimpse into my very near future.

I wonder if I would be hurt too terribly if I just jumped out of the car now.

_____________________

He looks at me and I stare back. He nods his head and then looks away. The room is silent again as we both contemplate what it would be like to have someone waiting at home for us while we lay in this bed, together, though not together.

“These rings, though,” he says with a tone of changing the subject. “Mine is fine, but is that ring something you would pick? It hardly seems like a Scully type ring to me.”

“God no,” I say in horror. “It’s a beautiful ring, but it’s not my taste at all. I would want something much more…”

“Simple,” we say simultaneously, and I look at him as he grins at me.

“We should go on the Newlywed Game,” he says, waggling his eyebrows. “We would make an absolute killing. We would beat all the other couples hands-down. I know my wife.”

I laugh and shake my head. “And yet, you were the one who picked out this ring for me to wear.“

“Hey, I did exactly what I was supposed to do. I picked out the most un-Scully like ring I could find,” he says defensively. “Because you’re not Scully, you’re Laura and that is exactly the type of ring that Laura would want.”

“Oh, so you know Laura pretty well?” I tease him and he nods vigorously. “So what else do I need to know about Laura?”

“Well, for starters, Laura likes to sleep in the nude.” He looks at me with a sly expression and I laugh again, shaking my head and raising my eyebrows.

“Keep dreaming, buddy,” I say to him, still laughing at where his mind would go immediately.

“I’m just letting you know in case you wanted to get into character,” he says by way of explanation.

“Mm-hmm.”

____________

I really am enjoying putting this one together. Yes, it’s been a few years, but… I think it will be good once it’s all done. ❤️

[myimaginarywonderland]

I am certain that Roger ap Gwilliam will play a bigger role in season two and I am also fully convinced that he is related to Ruby in some way.

We learned that the name of Ruby's father is William Benjamin Garnet. I would assume seeing as he now is 34 he might have had another child, who could maybe be around 5-8 years old. I feel like Ruby finding out she has siblings is an obvious plotline and I think her mother wasn't show with children so they would have to be from her father.

Now, Roger ap Gwilliam in 2046 is in my opinion in his early 30s? I know the actor is older but to me it felt like the character was angled to be a younger politician from what we have seen. Ap is used to say son/describe someone's relation and I personally just don't think Gwilliam was his actual name (might be, not much idea on any sort of genuine Welsh last names.) I assumed it was William and some other name, maybe a first or last name. With just his whole image he has I assumed that it was his dad's first name and last name mixed together that he used to run his campaign instead of going by his actual name. I figured someone with that much dramatics would have maybe assumed a slightly different name to appeal more to the masses, to make himself more interesting. And seeing as this is set in the future, who is to say he even has to run with his actual name, he might as well just have made something up to hide his actual identity of he maybe had a fallout with his family etc.

William Garnet could easily shortened to Gwilliam.

To me the entire hints about him plus leading to his actual appearance in 73 yards never felt like a true resolve. I always thought that there was sure to be more to his story because the way he has been talked about made him seem like a genuine threat that could potentially endanger the entire planet. Remember that regardless of what Ruby did in that episode, it never actually carried over into the actual timeline so he will still happen and the Doctor will clearly be the one to stop him in the future.

Ruby's father almost felt like an afterthought and I just refuse to see that as not deliberate. The entire time we were so focused on her mother who turned out to just be a teen in a bad situation that the real possibility that Ruby's father could be trouble never really occurred to us. I feel like they are definitely lying some groundwork for Ruby to have a bad or rude awakening because so far her story has been so positive really. She grew up with an incredibly loving and caring family and now has potentially found another member for that family that wants to get to know her. There is a rude awakening coming and what could be worse than finding out that not only does your father not want you but he is also responsible for one of the most dangerous man of the planet? One of the worst people you can think off?

It would perfectly fit that gut punching feeling most companion stories have at some point and lay a true ground work for her and the Doctor to have a conflict. Maybe somehow Ruby starts to remember the events of 73 yards and can't do it again because now she has seen this sweet boy and she can't imagine that is the same person. The Doctor would have to make a decision that will hurt in one way or another.

I think Ruby and Roger have a deeper connection than we think and being siblings would absolutely make sense for me.

[tachyon-omlette]

okay before I lose my thought (MASSIVE Rise of the Beasts spoilers re: Unicron)

in my opinion rotb handled Unicron perfectly.

when I first watched the full trailer & saw Unicron my second thought was "oh no" (my first being "YOOOOOO") because in the bumblebee-rotb timeline it seemed extremely early to be involving him. I went into the movie almost resigning myself to the thought that it would end with Unicron being destroyed & never seen again, because he was advertised as the main Big Bad.

but the truth is, Scourge was the main Big Bad. and while Unicron made several appearances and had more than one line, the primary thing he did was loom over the narrative like the slow approach of death - he did more than haunting the narrative, I think, but aside from his interactions with the Terrorcons and his arrival at the final scene, he was largely uninvolved in the main conflict, and was in the end defeated momentarily rather than destroyed.

what we did see of him was always displays of power: the destruction of the Maximals' homeworld, his ability to supply the battlefield with endless Terrorcon footsoldiers, his mindscape-meeting with Scourge wherein he tortured Scourge for failing him from Primus knows how far away. hell, even Scourge, Battletrap, and Nightbird themselves were living proof of Unicron's power - ruthless, near-invincible supersoldiers who've killed enough Cybertronians and Cybertronian-adjacent lifeforms to steal and wear their badges like a bounty hunter collects trophies. on-screen all of this is done through Unicron's power, the extension of his will - and not, notably, by Unicron himself.

this wasn't Unicron's moment to shine, only to be destroyed so early in the narrative.

this was the moment that painted a target on Earth, and on Optimus Prime. this was the moment that established how Unicron is accustomed to taking thralls from other worlds while also killing off the ones he already had, laying the potential groundwork for Galvatron or even Sideways. this was the moment that showed off just how powerful Unicron and his allies are without cramming it into the first fifteen minutes of another movie down the line, and when he appears again we'll already know just how fucked the protagonists are.

this was the setup to Unicron's moment to shine. though I'd hoped Unicron would get more screentime, rotb ultimately handled Unicron with the severity he deserves; for that, it was perfect.

sidenote: I got very big "then perish" vibes at the end of the movie, when Unicron said smth like "think about this, Prime. I could give you anything you want." and Optimus responded with "then DIE!!". it was dramatic in the moment but remembering it got me a good laugh

[nanomooselet]

Episode Six: Once Upon a Time in Hopeland

After last episode's cheerful and uplifting conclusion, it's Wolfwood's turn to suffer! Heh, implying it's ever not Wolfwood's turn.

Okay, sometimes it's Roberto's turn. The boys doing a synchronised shrug in the truck's backseat was such a funny way to demonstrate their weird camaraderie even when they're freezing each other out. They looked like a pair of brooding teenagers.

Did anyone actually believe that the reporters had left the story, or that Vash didn't consider them friends?

Anyway, before we get into it, and because I've complained discussed this extensively elsewhere: Legato, Livio. These panels are from flashbacks to earlier in their lives. The further changes to their designs seem to have them more directly contrasting Wolfwood. So we have Livio, neat and professional, to this sockless loser scruffy untucked Wolfwood, as well as white/blue Legato to black/red Wolfwood.

After yesterday's rehearsal in Rollo, it's time for opening night on Nick's backstory as the "undertaker" assumes centre stage - no doubt against his will. For the moment, Vash is somewhat relegated to the background, but it is by no means a coincidence that early in the episode he starts to openly prod Wolfwood about what's motivating him. Also, Wolfwood interrupting his own cantankerous rant about "babysitting" Vash to save him from getting shot makes me laugh. Sorry, dude, you're still not fooling anyone.

Enter Zazie, Livio, Legato and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad plan. With this, uh, interesting choice of camera angle.

I doubt Knives was consulted about any of this. All other instances of threats against Vash have ended very badly for the threat. Do you want to imagine what would have happened to Legato if Livio had succeeded in carrying out his orders, and Knives found out who was responsible? Having read the manga since, I don't have to. And that's apart from Wolfwood's need to protect being all that's keeping him going. I think this episode and the next are laying down groundwork both for the actual season climax and for whatever comes next.

I said before that Nick was in a bad place, and it's in this episode that we learn just how bad. Leaving aside that his innocence was ripped away and he's been forced into an alien, too-adult body before getting shot and wadded up like bubble gum, he's been coerced into working for the cult holding everyone he loves hostage to his obedience. If he acts out, they're worse than dead. If he escapes, he's replaced. If he dies, he's replaced, so even that's off the table... but judging by the way he reacted to Rollo, he's still got inclinations in that direction. Now his mission's actively being sabotaged by the guy who mocked and tortured him, then coerced him into serving. It's no wonder he doesn't believe in God, or in the cult's angel, or in Vash's good intentions.

Faith means having hope, and that's something he simply cannot afford to have.

And of course it ends on a cliff hanger, so I'll just post these clowns and their stupid axolotl helmets.

Incidentally, axolotls are amphibious lifeforms capable of regenerating limbs, and one of the shapes taken by Xolotl – dog-headed Aztec god of fire, monsters, misfortune, sickness... and twins.

[typically-untypical]

The Saint and the Manipulator

AU: Vampires

CW: Biting

WC: 1,962

Date: 12/14/2023

"Look at him Jannie, he just looks cute enough to eat," Patton cooed, watching the man at the bar mixing drinks for other people. His fingers were long, almost spider like and his shirt was wide enough at the neck to show off his warm flesh.

"Patience," Janus hissed, drawing a line from Patton's neck to his chin. For the past few months he had been talking with the bartender, slowly getting him to open up to the ideas of the occult. It hadn't been hard, Virgil was apparently an avid conspiracy theorist and so when Janus started spouting off about Vampires, the bartender had listened with rapt attention. Everything working out in their favor, Janus was enjoying Virgil's company and Virgil seemed excited by the possibility of something so macabre. It had been a long road preparing the human, but everything was going according to plan. Janus had to move one more piece into play, Patton. His husband was a joy and a sweetheart, full of wonder for the world around him. Unfortunately, as a vampire, Patton had a thirst that couldn't be satiated. Unlike most stories, vampires weren't reckless killing machines, at least not all of them. Much like humans, they had the capacity to be evil or kind and though Janus didn't believe such labels were helpful, he did hope others understood, as a human he could be far crueler than he actually was. Patton, on the other hand, was far kinder than most humans Janus met.

"Oh I hope we get his consent, I would love to have him as part of our family."

Patton was probably a big reason why Janus was the way he was. Being such a kind and open hearted man, even as a vampire he wouldn't drink from someone he didn't have permission from. The first time he had drank from Janus he had begged, pleaded in a dark alley. Janus had only been so gracious to shut him up, but when Patton had finished drinking the smile on his face had been captivating. He had complimented Janus' health and given him advice for his future. It had been such a strange encounter that Janus had gone back again and again until they were linked. Vampires could get blood from any random humans, but it wasn't nearly as fulfilling as blood from someone bound to a vampire. If a human agreed, their soul could be intertwined, giving them the life span to stay by the vampire's side while also promising their health to the vampire. This bond was a neigh unbreakable, which meant one couldn't go into it lightly. Janus had given his life to Patton over a century ago, but Patton's hunger continued to grow. This was his way of helping his husband. He had been laying the groundwork to woo the bartender. He would later take on the role of manipulative villain, but he would do anything for Patton's sake.

"Last call, you two," Virgil said, walking over to their table and leaving the bar unattended. It seemed like most of the regulars had already cleared out leaving only a few stragglers behind.

"I think we're good in terms of alcohol, but might we have a conversation once you're off work? Patton and I are curious about a few things." Not a lie, not the truth.

"Oh, so this is the infamous Patton," Virgil held out his hand. "Jay has told me a lot about you, give him a few drinks and he actually can't shut the fuck up about you. I've been curious." 

Patton giggled, covering his mouth to hide his fangs. "You are a sweet talker. He has mentioned you a lot as well. I think he and I are going to have to have a stern talking to because he undersold how pretty you are."

Virgil blushed, heat and blood rising to his face. "Well, that's good to hear. I have to start cleaning the bar, but I'll tell the others you're walking me to my car, that way they should leave you be even after we close."

"Thanks Kiddo." Virgil raised his eyebrow at that but didn't say anything as he started walking away.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Patton grabbed Janus' leg trying to control his obvious giddiness. "He's handsome, and that voice, and that smell." Patton seemed to melt a bit and Janus wrapped his arms around his husband, pulling him close. 

"Yes, I'm aware he's pretty. I figured he was just your type."

Patton giggled, "Why because I like dramatic emos who hide their true feelings with sarcastic quips?"

Janus pretended to look offended as he put his hand to his chest. Patton only laughed, leaning up to kiss Janus' chin. "I love you," he whispered.

Janus would never admit that he melted a bit too, returning Patton's kiss. "You are too saccharine for your own good." He kissed Patton's neck, desperately trying not to be obvious about their love and affection for one another. He didn't need Virgil's coworkers to think they were sketchy, lecherous, or anything of the sort. They needed to be seen as a good couple, and good tippers.

It was less than an hour before Virgil and the others had the place cleaned up and shut down. He started walking toward them and the two got out of their chairs, putting them up on the tables like they had seen the others do. 

"So, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Virgil asked, after walking them both out locking the door behind him. "You're not going to proposition me into your harem are you, Jay?" He asked teasingly, causing Janus to roll his eyes. That wasn't what he was planning on doing but he also understood that it almost seemed like that was exactly what he was doing. He was asking Virgil to potentially be a blood donor for Patton for the rest of his life, but all in due time.

"Actually, I wanted to tell you a secret, Pat, darling, would you like to show him your teeth?"

Patton looked to Janus for confirmation before he opened his mouth, allowing his fangs to slide out. Virgil's mouth fell, and he floundered for words. Janus let him process, making sure that he and Patton were at least 5 feet away so Virgil could feel like he could escape. No one could truly escape a vampire, but Patton also wasn't a hunter.

"Alright, so those are either really expensive, or..." He looked at Janus as if hoping to hear that it was all a lie, that Janus was playing a prank. 

"I am fully human, but my husband..." Janus allowed his sentence to taper off, allowing Virgil to fill in the rest. 

"He's a vampire, and you... you knew?"

"That's why I was so knowledgeable about them." Janus pulled Patton into him and as expected, Patton nuzzled his neck gently. "You're not in any danger from him, Patton is very sweet and never drinks from someone unless he has permission. However, it is an experience."

Janus watched as Virgil swallowed, looking over to his car before taking a step forward. "So vampires are real? You aren't just fucking with me? You do seem to like to do that." Virgil countered and Janus nodded.

"An unfortunate trait of mine, but I'm sure Patton would be happy to demonstrate as long as you don't mind watching. It can get a bit... intense." There was a bout of silence, the three of them standing there waiting for Virgil to make a move. Finally he nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, okay. I need to see this to believe it."

"Are you sure kiddo? You don't have to believe if you want. You could pretend it was a bad dream and go on with your life."

At Patton's suggestion, Virgil shook his head furiously, something Janus also expected. Virgil had anxiety and though he managed it well while he was bartending a discovery like this would haunt him for the rest of his life if he didn't verify it was fake. Then again, finding out it was real would most likely shake him to his core. He would come to them more often for comfort and Janus and Patton would both be waiting with open arms; Patton because he was kind, and Janus because he knew it would be a way to get Virgil to trust them. No other reason.

"Alright, if you're sure." Janus felt Patton shift, hands gently wrapping around his face was Patton looked at him. "May I?" He asked in the sweetest voice. He always started this the same way and it felt like a ritual at this point. 

"Always," Janus whispered in response, getting to see Patton's soft shy smile before his head was tilted to the side. Patton didn't just sink his teeth in. He kissed at Janus' neck, sucked a small bruise on the crook to bring the blood to the surface. Then he bit down. It was a brief moment of pain followed by a flood of endorphins. He felt like he was floating, like the whole world disappeared beneath his feet. Janus reached out for Patton, clinging to his arms, fighting the sounds that desperately bubbled from his chest. He was partially aware that Virgil was still here, was still watching them and that was not the thing to think about right now. He moaned out the bartender’s name softly before Patton pulled back, kissing his neck and sealing the wound. He left only a hickey behind. 

Vaguely, he could hear Patton speaking and Virgil was saying something as well. This had been the risk of going this route, letting the two of them talk alone. However, if Patton and Virgil were going to fall in love they needed to actually like each other. He was being swept off his feet, cradled in the strong arms of his husband. 

"Let me walk you to your car. If you're okay with it, we can talk more tomorrow?" Patton was doing great. He had managed to get them an invite back. Virgil wasn't running away. Janus knew he probably needed to stay awake, to do everything he could to manage the situation, but his head felt heavy. Patton's venom was still coursing through his system, desperately pulling him into a relaxed state. Elevated heart rates meant more blood, but it also meant a higher chance of someone dying and though there were enough humans now that culling the population wouldn't have a dramatic effect, that hadn't always been the case. 

Janus had done the research, Janus knew what was needed to keep Patton safe, to keep him healthy. Janus knew why things were happening, but he couldn't access it all his brain was too fuzzy. 

"This hit you hard didn't it?" Patton whispered, "Seems like you enjoyed someone else watching you feed me." He sounded more lucid and Janus felt himself falling closer and closer to sleep. "I do really like Virgil, but I think maybe you like him a bit too." Janus felt a slight kiss on his forehead and the warmth of a blanket being pulled over him. "At least I hope you do. You deserve to have a life's companion as much as I do. I'd love to build a little commune where you could have more friends, more family." Patton pushed his hair away from his face before laying down next to Janus. 

"Rest, it's okay, honey. I can take over from here. You've done such a good job but it's my turn to care for you."

Janus finally relaxed, allowing sleep to take over. This was why he loved his husband. He was too kind for his own good.

@tsspromptmonth

[yolowritter]

In Defense of Ladrien

Hello there everyone, and welcome to a shorter post this time. I'll be honest, I'm in a random Ladrien mood right now, so I figured I should go rewatch a few of the Season 2 episodes with it. As you do. Then I remembered...it doesn't exist. Not in canon anyway, and that's a real shame! Despite Adrien and Ladybug's mutual crushes on each other, we don't get anything except a couple times where they blush at each other and stammer through their sentences. Which okay, it's cute, but c'mon, there's so much potential here! So today I want to lay a bit of groundwork as to how Ladrien could have been improved in this show, and also (hopefully) open up a discussion about it, since I rarely see anyone bring it up in modern MLB. I guess we're all too busy with Sentimonster angst and questioning what's going on with Lila's three mothers. Still waiting to see how they'll try to write themselves out of this predicament... Anyway, today we're talking about the most underrated lovesquare ship, Ladrien!

First of all, it's worth mentioning that I won't be going over the show episode by episode. This is just a short post discussing the ship in general, not a 7.5k analysis like I did with Chloe, my keyboard still needs time to recover. So, I'm sure we all know the basics, but I'll give a simple overview of canon Ladrien just to have everyone on the same page! Ladybug (Marinette) has a crush on Adrien Agreste. Adrien (Chat Noir) has a crush on Ladybug. That's it. That's the ship. Nothing more to it!

Okay...well, things aren't so simple. Canon does give us a couple moments where this dynamic is toyed with, but they're few and far between, leading to a...less than adored ship in the fandom. Don't get me wrong, I love Ladrien! That's why I'm writing this after all, and surely there's others out there who ship it too! But when compared to Adrienette or Marichat...it falls flat on it's face due to the utter lack of content we have to work with. Thankfully, we at least have an established dynamic! And hey, with this show, even that's a bloody miracle!

However, I have seen a lot of people (in yee olden days) say they prefer other sides of the Square because Ladrien seems...a little dishonest. In their defense, it really wasn't hard to make the claim that Marinette's crush on Adrien was (by early S2) still quite superficial, considering they hadn't actually gotten to know eachother than well, and vice-versa for Adrien with Ladybug. I can see why, especially since these are the respective personas that are "least real". Adrien is forced to conform to his father's expectations and always be perfect, while Ladybug needs to be professional and has the city's safety to worry about, hence is unable to ever be genuinely "Marinette" while in the suit. Add to that all the identity shenanigans, and it's easy to see why this ship got pretty much dismissed by a large portion of fans back when it was still relevant. And given that Miraculous has since pivoted away from teen drama and more into the "crazy butterfly man wants to destroy the universe" territory, most ships except Adrienette (and Marichat in Elation) got left behind as the storyline progressed. Ladybug and Chat's relationship evoled, we had a whole arc where Adrien was depressed, etc. That's just the natural progression of storytelling. At some point, we have to move on with the plot.

Fortunately, I am here to present the opposite argument! Ladrien would actually be a very viable ship, especially because of this hero worship that afflicts both Marinette and Adrien! It makes for amazing and complicated interactions on both sides, and here's why! It's because Ladrien was misunderstood, or maybe even misrepresented by the show itself. In my humble opinion, it shouldn't (only) be about Adrien blushing the moment he sees his crush, or Ladybug stammering twenty times in a single sentence. That's all well and good, but look at that I said a moment ago. Ladrien, by the very nature of it's existence is dishonest. Neither Ladybug nor Adrien can be themselves with eachother, even if I have no doubt they would rush headfirst into some kind of secret romance if given the oppurtunity! But...that the point of this ship in my opinion. They both view each other as this perfect, can-do-no-wrong person and have placed one another on a pedestal higher than Lila's delusions! Ladrien is fundementally doomed to this flaw from the very start...but overcoming it is what's interesting!

Just...hear me out! Let's say that after Gorizilla (or some other Akuma with Adrien as a target), Ladybug goes to check on him post-battle to make sure he's okay. Maybe she visits him that night, and surprises him with her presence. They do their usual routine of blushing and stammering, and for one reason or the other, one of them confesses that they have a crush. Regardless of who it is, or how exactly this plays out, let's say for the sake of argument that they get together after another visit or two. Maybe Marinette thinks this is her chance and can't resist getting to know the boy she loves, maybe Adrien is the one to bring it up because Ladybug is his hero. The immediate first problem is that while they know eachother...they can't be honest with their partner. And this brings up an amazing character conflict!

For Marinette, it's possible she has doubts about herself and rationalizes that of course the Adrien Agreste would never see her, but be in love with Ladybug! There's a whole other can of worms here about Marinette's feelings in regards to her mask, but that's for another post. For Adrien, maybe he's a bit conflicted because Ladybug is in love with him...but not Chat Noir, who he considers to be the "real" him. And the more they interact, the more both of them realize that the other is blindsighted by the mask they wear. There's genuine moments sprinkled in between, but feelings of inadequacy keep them from truly connecting. Think "the wall between us" metaphor. But...just when it seems like neither of them is really that happy, when they start feeling like a mistake, both Ladybug and Adrien get a glimpse of the person behind the mask. She realizes that he isn't some perfect, unreachable guy, and he in turn figures out that she's trying so hard to be good enough for him. This can happen in an infinite amount of ways, and I guarantee there's at least some Ladrien fanfics out there that do it! And I'm really glad, because it means someone else gets it!

After this we have a myriad of possibilities as to how things could go, but regardless, things absolutely change in their dynamic. They slowly start to getting to know the person behind the mask. Naturally, they both find themselves even more in love, then eventualy there's a reveal somewhere there, they get together officially, etc. You get the point, right? The reason why Ladrien is interesting is the dichotomy between Maribug and Adrichat's identities. It's the idolization that blinds them slowly fading away to reveal the truth, it's the feelings of insecurity that plague their relationship until everything finally comes to a head! If Ladynoir is parters in battle to lovers, Adrienette is high school sweethears, and Marichat is friends to secret midnight visits to lovers, then Ladrien is idols to friends to lovers! And I absolutely adore their dynamic!

Now, I'm obviously not the first person to bring this up, since I distinctly recall some great Ladrien fics from back in the day with pretty much this plot. And the reason why I adore them is that they play into the inherent dishonesty so well! I hope my point has come across, and if anybody wants to add their own analysis, by all means feel free! This post is supposed to open up a new discussion after all. Anyway, I have to go take a day off and go through my old Ladrien bookmarks! I'll see you all next time, but until then, Stay Miraculous everyone!

[esther-dot]

I feel really bad for the originator of the Ashford theory, reading those posts you screencapped. It's not a 'crack theory' (unless they're putting it down because Jonsas took a serious hold of it), since structural foreshadowing is a basic storytelling tool. Hiding poetry in history, which seems a past-time GRRM particularly enjoys--- it's not just there to be there, but to lesson us in reading the past and make us understand the current story more deeply.

We should be confident in our analyses, regardless of whether we share a ship in common (I am do believe in Jonsa, but this goes for everyone), because storytelling can generally be trusted to be intentional. Anybody who wants to act like being incurious is more intellectually justifiable because it's less emotionally fraught is not worth spending time on. It is actually disappointing when stories are not considered and thoughtful (which is not a testament to so-called 'complexity'; The Little Prince is considered and thoughtful)--- fault in reading too much into things usually lay in perspective, less in doubt of substance.

Then again, Originator of Ashord Theory being possessive as claimant probably points more to dismissing it as crack because other people have taken ahold of it in a way they didn't like. If I am perfectly honest, were it not them having noticed it, someone else would have later (and someone else on Reddit did).

It's exactly the sort of thing I look for when I am engaging in a story because it is a tool I see used often. It was what attracted me to Jonsa, not that I was looking for evidence.

(about this ask)

The issue definitely wasn’t a lack of confidence in their own reading, they’re a tumblr BNF! I think Jonsas have written so much about it and so convincingly, it’s become widely viewed as a Jonsa theory and eclipsed the original intent which is their problem with it. Sometime ago someone shared an AltShift video here (a YouTube BNF), and he had included the Ashford Tourney as evidence for Jonsa, so I do think the goal of the blogger now labeling it “crack” is to detract from the Jonsa of it/for shipping reasons, not because they don’t believe in their own work.

As for the broader idea, I certainly agree that pre canon characters and events are written to add depth to the canon events. We can all expect that and look for parallels and contrasts with assurance that they are conversing with each other. It seems to me that every part of the fandom attempts that in some way, we simply come to different conclusions about what those things mean. I can look at something and accept a Jonsa interpretation but also understand, there’s another factor here too. And while I agree that many things are intentional in ASOIAF, I’m also aware that things can subconsciously influence and slip into a work. I recently watched this clip of Spielberg being told, he didn’t recognize this on his own, that he had included his parents love story in a film. Anyone might think, it had to be deliberate, but it wasn’t!

So, not saying anyone should be less confident, I just think it’s good to be aware that after a parallel is recognized, our interpretation of it is where we can all take off in different directions. For example, Jonnel and Sansa is perhaps the most beloved Jonsa foreshadowing (if it isn’t the Ashford Tourney 😅), and I absolutely think it’s groundwork for canon events. The question isn’t if it is, but how. Will it be a parallel, only, the point of the marriage this go around is to right a wrong? Give the girl her home back? (If say, Robb’s Will is recognized). I’ve questioned that simply because it seems like a big task to get everyone on board with Jon being legitimate and becoming their Lord and/or their King only to have them then immediately turn around and all accept he’s actually a Targ and will marry his “sister.” I wouldn’t be mad if that’s what Martin did, but when I think about how much agency he likes to give non POV characters, I’m a little skeptical he’d pull that turnaround off.

So then I think, well, maybe the idea is that unlike Jonnel, Jon will refuse Winterfell again and insist it is Sansa’s again only to ultimately be rewarded in the end by marrying her when she has the power to choose, and she chooses him? People have been very outspoken about how dumb they think the idea of Sansa being QitN is, and maybe that’s too much of a leap for the North because Martin does like his realism, but considering all the female heirs talk going on, Martin is certainly going to say something there, and Jon will have some complicating factors that might make Sansa more favorable to people.

Basically, Jon is a good person, he’ll do right by the Starks, is that the entire point? Look at the way the older generation of men treated women, this generation will be better? Or will Martin use the extraordinary circumstances to benefit Sansa / female heirs? Create an entirely new normal for the North? The story will talk to itself, but what exactly is it saying? That we can endlessly debate!

[bethanydelleman]

Northanger Abbey Readthrough Ch 18

Catherine learns that not only does John Thorpe think he proposed, he also seems to think that Catherine accepted! (or at least received his hints favourably) "He says so in this letter, says that he as good as made you an offer, and that you received his advances in the kindest way; and now he wants me to urge his suit, and say all manner of pretty things to you."

This reminds me of Mansfield Park, which contains a ton of flirting (or attempted flirting) by proxy. Mary Crawford is very happy to have Henry send messages to Fanny Price via herself, creating a loophole in the rule that men cannot write to single women. She also attempts to have Edmund write a message to Tom Bertram, way back at the beginning when she is angling for the heir. It makes me think that this might have been a common practice.

Isabella's one track mind is very set on a single track. Gone are mentions of clergymen and James, he's been replaced:

Tilney says it is always the case with minds of a certain stamp.... Tilney says there is nothing people are so often deceived in as the state of their own affections, and I believe he is very right.

This Tilney is none other than the charming Captain Tilney and he has certainly turned Isabella's head! Isabella attempts to soften the oncoming blow to Catherine by comparing her situation to Catherine's:

“A little harmless flirtation or so will occur, and one is often drawn on to give more encouragement than one wishes to stand by. But you may be assured that I am the last person in the world to judge you severely. All those things should be allowed for in youth and high spirits. What one means one day, you know, one may not mean the next. Circumstances change, opinions alter... I would not for all the world be the means of hurrying you into an engagement before you knew what you were about. I do not think anything would justify me in wishing you to sacrifice all your happiness merely to oblige my brother, because he is my brother, and who perhaps after all, you know, might be just as happy without you, for people seldom know what they would be at, young men especially, they are so amazingly changeable and inconstant. What I say is, why should a brother’s happiness be dearer to me than a friend’s?"

She is laying the groundwork to jilt James, which is just gross. Catherine has done nothing like Isabella is planning to do! And this line, "there are more ways than one of our being sisters." Catherine does not catch the meaning, but Isabella must mean that they would be sisters if Catherine married Henry and she married Frederick.

Isabella is also suddenly focused on wealth, which distresses her dearest friend.

Catherine overhears Isabella flirting with Captain Tilney and leaves in disgust. She has had another bad day, The compliment of John Thorpe’s affection did not make amends for this thoughtlessness in his sister. She was almost as far from believing as from wishing it to be sincere. And she's convinced that Isabella is engaging in the flirtation unconsciously.

Oh sweet summer child...

Persuasion comparison again! Anne is convinced that Wentworth is flirting with multiple girls unconsciously too and I... mostly agree... (I think there was a hint of spite too)

Other opportunities of making her observations could not fail to occur. Anne had soon been in company with all the four together often enough to have an opinion, though too wise to acknowledge as much at home, where she knew it would have satisfied neither husband nor wife; for while she considered Louisa to be rather the favourite, she could not but think, as far as she might dare to judge from memory and experience, that Captain Wentworth was not in love with either. They were more in love with him; yet there it was not love. It was a little fever of admiration; but it might, probably must, end in love with some. Charles Hayter seemed aware of being slighted, and yet Henrietta had sometimes the air of being divided between them. Anne longed for the power of representing to them all what they were about, and of pointing out some of the evils they were exposing themselves to. She did not attribute guile to any. It was the highest satisfaction to her to believe Captain Wentworth not in the least aware of the pain he was occasioning. There was no triumph, no pitiful triumph in his manner. He had, probably, never heard, and never thought of any claims of Charles Hayter. He was only wrong in accepting the attentions (for accepting must be the word) of two young women at once.

But we all know Wentworth is no Isabella, he isn't going for wealth, I will grant him that.

[gojo-mochi]

I appreciate the person who wanted to give Law a treat but I'd rather trick him 👻

Hi hi!! Thank you for always liking my posts! I see you in my notis a lot and i really appreciate the support!! A little more emotional this time? Hmm? But still got some spice at the end! Hope you enjoy!

 “Y/N-ya, could you hand me the white box please?” Law was crouching down, meddling with the lower cabinets, his left hand outstretched to you. Awaiting for you to give him the aforementioned white box. You usually helped Law out in the medical room, although your knowledge of medicine couldn't quite compare to his, Law did enjoy your presence and appreciated your help. And you enjoyed spending time with your lovely boyfriend too! 

Usually that is, that was until he made you spend more and more time reorganizing the cabinets even though you already did it last week. When you brought this up to Law, he just tutted at you stating that; “I think Bepo came in to rummage around for stomach medicine, it’s a mess now.” Then right after he starts throwing out all the items so he can put them back “in the right order this time.” You hand him the box and cross your arm in a huff, Law didn’t seem to notice though as his golden eyes were focused on getting all the pieces back on the shelves. 

You slump against the counter, wondering if you should just leave when an idea pops into your head. You smiled mischievously as you began to lay out the groundwork for your idea. “Law, I’m gonna go to the bathroom, real quick, alright?” Your boyfriend's only acknowledgment of your words was a soft grunt in reply. His hands still working diligently pulling out bottles of pills and gauzes out and back in. You give him a quick glance back as you exit the room, quickly sprinting to your room to get an idea you needed for your grand master plan. 

You stuff it under your shirt and wait for a while before heading back into the medical room, not wanting to come back too quickly in case Law would catch on to something being up. You shimmer back in the room, Law standing upright now as he was done with the bottom cabinets. “Ah, Y/N-ya, good, you’re back. I need you to sort this box for me.” You held the urge to roll your eyes, ‘Great ... .another box to sort..’ But you placed a smile on your face and happily grabbed the box from Law as his attention turned back to some syringes in front of him. 

You opened the box to also find some syringes inside, ‘Perfect.’ You did some actual sorting of the syringes for a short while, then you started your plan. “Ow!” You pull your hand to your chest as if the box burnt you. Law immediately dropped whatever it was that he was doing and turnt to you, grabbing your hand and checking your vitals. “Honey! Are you alright?! What stabbed you?!” His eyes flickered worryingly from the box of syringes to you. Wondering if the needle that stabbed you was fatal or not.

You slumped your head down on his shoulder, heaving out heavily. “I-I feel weird, like something bursting from my chest.” Law’s hands gripped on your shoulders tightly, he pushed you back so he could check on your chest. “Let me see, it’ll be alright-just-” “Blam!” That was when you pulled out the surprise item you got from your room, a small handmade plush that looked like Bepo. You tore it out from under your shirt and smacked its nose right with Law’s nose. The look on his face, jaw open and eyes crossed staring right in the middle of Plushie Bepo’s beady little eyes. 

You laughed out right, leaning into Law, and snorting. Law pushes your hand down with the Plushie Bepo and sighed. Closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. “Honey….” Uh oh…. You know that tone, that was the tone he used when he’s either really tired or really disappointed. You stopped laughing and looked up at him, his eyes bore straight back into you. His hand reaches out to you and you close your eyes and wait for punishment, only to find them softly caressing the back of your head as his other hand wraps around your back. Pulling you in close to his, Law leans his head down, his nose bumping into the crook of your neck as he breathes in your scent.

His hands absorbing your warmth, finding your quickening heartbeat, he just needed to know at this moment that you were alive and safe. Your heart twisted at his next words; “Please don’t scare me like that again.” His tone was so vulnerable and open, a wave of feelings crashed into you as you hugged him back tightly. “I’m sorry, the sorting was getting boring and- no. I’m sorry, I have no excuse…” Law sighs, his breath tickling the back of your neck. He placed a couple of long kisses on the skin there, letting his lips linger on your pulse to feel your heartbeat on his tongue for a while.

“No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have made you keep cleaning this room with me.” A wet chuckle escapes your throat as you hold back some tears. “Ok, we’re both sorry. Now what?” Law’s hands traveled down your back and hooked under the back of your knees as he lifted you up. “Now that apologies are out of the way, I think it's time I punish you for scaring me so bad.” He smacks your ass once as he carries you out of the medical room and into the lab room. Locking the door as he walks in and placing you on the examination table. Strapping your arms and legs in. 

“I do hope you’re ready for a long…long… examination. After all, I have to make sure that there really is nothing wrong with your body after your little stunt…’