#but shes a lot more adept with people and connection and life and stuff

[greatcometdeservedbetter]

Nothing makes me feel more like the Joker than knowing that Tamora Pierce has an entire novel about Tris at Lightbridge that will just… never be published? Apparently?

Anyway, as a poor substitute, here’s a list of things my brain has decided happens in that book:

Tris attends under a pseudonym, as planned, and no one knows about her connection to Niko or anything about her life at Winding Circle. She is one of many children of middling merchant families in her class.

Due to a mixup, she is assigned a roommate. For the first time in a long time, Tris has no access to power or connections and so she has to put up with it.

Most of her professors find her difficult to work with because she does not limit her study of their subjects to the traditional curriculum. Maybe one or two professors pay her special attention and praise, enough that her classmates are made aware of how talented she is.

Despite having no information about her except her milquetoast background, her classmates still find her strange and difficult. Her unexplained talent and advancement for a freshman leaves her isolated from her peers.

Gradually, Tris finds herself writing to her siblings less and less because she isn’t sure how to keep her unhappiness out of the message.

Making things worse is the roommate, who turns out to have a remarkably similar kind of backstory to Tris. Maybe she’s an orphan or a scholarship kid; her magic was definitely discovered later in life after a lot of hardship. Everyone in the school embraces her and finds her endlessly charming despite her social sort comings.

Poor Tris sits in the corner of their room while her roommate goes on about all the parties and dinners and whatnot their classmates have invited her to.

Only one student really tries to befriend her. He doesn’t have a name but he looks like a young Tom Hopper (Black Sails/Umbrella Academy). A super outgoing young mage from a working class family, he’s very adept at physical magical workings and is always outside doing like pushups and stuff where people can see him. He’s not used to an academic setting, though, and anytime he sees his pull ups catch Tris’ attention, he always calls out to her and sometimes asks for her help with classwork. She finds him annoying but still helps him when be asks because no one else talks to her.

She doesn’t know how he got into the university because he is. Shockingly bad at magic.

At one point, Nico visits. He tries to keep a low profile, but some of her classmates notice them spending time together. It immediately becomes the only thing anyone talks to her about, which is the opposite of what she wants so she starts being extra prickly and avoidant to make them stop.

This goes on for a while. Lonely Tris avoids her classmates and focuses on her studies. Presumably some kind of mystery is afoot and she can throw herself into that instead of wallowing in her misery.

At the midway point, she gets more visitors. Possibly all three of her siblings, but At minimum Briar.

For the sake of moving along, let’s say it’s just Briar. They connect mentally way before he arrives and any annoyance he has at her lack of communication dispels when he feels her frustration and sadness through the bond. He rolls up ready to be her social lubricant.

He introduces himself as her brother, never mind why they don’t look alike, and easily blends into the crowd at school for a few weeks. He makes friends effortlessly, gets invited to all kinds of parties and events, and even shows off a bit of his ambient magic during classes.

This infuriates Tris. They have a fight about it shortly before he leaves. Briar rightly points out that all the work she’s doing to lie about so many big parts of her life is preventing her from seeing the obvious - that many of her classmates have been trying really hard to make friends with her.

Her roommate only told her about things she was invited to in order to gauge if Tris would also be interested and to try and invite her along! And the boy constantly doing pushups in front of her actually has better grades than he lets on because he’s looking for excuses to spend time with her and all she seems to do is study. People only asked about Nico because he was the first concrete bit of information about her that anyone had!

It takes Tris a bit of time to process this, and she will have broken some bridges beyond repair already, but she does eventually see it and slowly starts to reach out.

Her circle (ha) stays small, but her life at Lightsbridge vastly improves once she starts seeing her classmates’ bids for connection for what they are.

As she gets comfortable with people, she gets key gossip and information about the school that she had previously been missing out on. Now the mystery becomes solvable.

It was probably whatever authority figure was nice to her in the beginning. Secret, asshole me too type behavior maybe.

She ends her first year better than she started it, with a good bunch of pals to help her out going forward, and a lot more confidence in her abilities.

Maybe she visits home over the summer or maybe we cut to after her graduation, but we see her return to Emelan at the end of the book

Whoever didn’t get to see her during the plot has a chance to hug and scold her for being standoffish. Then Briar’s like “and anyway, that guy who’s obviously in love with you asked if he could stay with us for a few weeks while he gets settled at his new job, and I told him sure”

And Tris is like “What guy? No one at school was in love with me.”

And then knock knock it’s the beefy-but-smart guy at the door and Tris is like “oh shit”

End book

[infectedpaul]

"the unlucky storybook"

(yes im forever obsessed hiyokos only depiction in the kings storybook was as a sunflower but also oh my god shes a sunflower...)

[lemonlover1110]

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬

Satoru Gojo

[Chapter 11] Date

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Pairing: Satoru Gojo x f!Reader

Discord +18 - Twitter - Ko-Fi

“I’d love to go on a date with you.”

You find yourself all giddy the next morning when you’re at the Gojo estate, trying your best to pay attention to your boss. Mrs. Gojo is trying on a dress, trying to see if it’s the best fit for the charity event that’s coming up– You remember it being two months away, but she begins to prepare for it now. 

Working for her has been a delight since you don’t have to do much around. She wants you to stay away from Satoru. However, she called up this weekend for this. She tugs on the sides of the dress and tells you, “Call the tailor, I spent too much money on this dress to not wear it. Also I need you to send flowers to the Inumaki family and make sure they’re coming.”

And the more time you spend with her, you realize that she’s practically running the company by making sure the connections the family has are intact. The more you do, the more you realize that the majority of people don’t believe Satoru is adept enough to take over his father’s job. He was going to take over the company someday anyway, everyone knew so, you’re not sure why so many people are against it.

It almost makes you feel bad for Satoru, but you don’t. It’d take a lot more for you to feel bad for that man. You hum in response, and write down a reminder for yourself. She lists a bunch of other things that you have to do, and you write each one down, and what she notices from the reflection of her mirror is that there’s a smile on your face, “What is up with you?”

“Um… Nothing, ma’am.” You respond. You watch from the reflection of the mirror as her brows furrow. She walks away from the mirror and grabs her glass of water. She takes a sip of her water before putting it down again.

“What has my son said to you?” She asks, and you’re not sure what she’s talking about since Satoru hasn’t really talked to you. You haven’t even gotten the chance to see him this morning, so you’re not sure why she asks that question.

“I haven’t spoken to him.” You answer, and she wants to believe you. But there’s a reason you have a stupid smile glued to your lips, and she’s certain it’s because of her son.

“Then why are you so smiley today?” And your brows raise. You find yourself confused as to why she thinks her son has to do with your happiness. She should know better than that. Her son has caused you anything but happiness in the past five years. 

“I have a date tonight, it has nothing to do with Satoru.” You end up sharing, which she has no problem believing. Satoru is busy tonight, and she knows that it’s not with you. She won’t pry about your personal life, unless it becomes serious and the man can become her grandson’s possible step father.

“Alright.” She responds, and you worry that she’ll push the subject, but she doesn’t seem to care. “Did you already handle catering?”

“I did.” You answer. She begins to ask about stuff that he has handled, stupid trifling details. You feel as if she’s worrying about the most trivial things. Satoru might be new at this, but he isn’t a complete idiot. “You don’t have to worry about anything, ma’am, your son has it covered.”

“Are you sure he does, though? He’s not a man that seems to care about tiny details, and they’re important. Especially in this world.” She responds, and you know better than to refute that argument. She might be right about the fact that tiny details are important, but she underestimates her son. You’ve seen Satoru work his ass off and he seems to care about every tiny detail, but you aren’t going to waste your breath defending Satoru; you doubt that he’s ever defended you, and you’re not going to risk arguing with Mrs. Gojo for him. “I don’t need you anymore. Do what I told you to, and then you can leave.”

“Alright.” You begin to walk to the door, but you hear her voice which makes you stop in your tracks.

“How’s Ren, by the way?” She asks.

“He’s fine.” You respond. She doesn’t say anything else, which makes you exit the room. When you get to the stairs, you hear your name. But it’s not your boss. Neither of them. You take a deep breath before turning to see Sayo, wearing yoga pants, and a sports bra. She has her ebony hair up in a ponytail, and she’s extremely sweaty– Your eyes are staring somewhere they aren’t supposed to. 

“It’s so nice to see you!” Sayo has a smile on her lips. She has a towel behind her neck and she uses it to wipe off the sweat that’s everywhere. Even without makeup she’s simply stunning. “Are you doing alright?”

“Yeah…” You answer. Maybe you should ask the same question to her, but you really don’t want to engage in conversation right now. You just want to get home, spend some time with your son, and then get ready for your date. 

“Are you doing anything tonight? I’m going out with Shoko, and I meant to ask you if you wanted to join us.” She says when you don’t say anything else. She doesn’t seem to have too many friends, and you genuinely feel bad for being so cold to her, but you don’t see yourself being friends with Satoru’s wife, especially when you have a son that he doesn’t know about.

“I already have plans tonight, I’m really sorry.” You tell her, and she lightly nods her head. Your eyes fall on the man that’s walking behind her, he’s walking your way. You quickly look back at her and sheepishly smile, “Maybe some other time.”

“Yeah… I’ll talk to Shoko to see what we can set up!” She effortlessly smiles back. Satoru really hit the jackpot with her, and it irks you. You wouldn’t be able to smile so easily while disappointed, and maybe this is one of the reasons she’s ideal for Satoru. She can uphold the image of his family, while you wouldn’t have been able to. She ends up turning on her heel and walking down the hallway to go to her room. She doesn’t acknowledge her husband, and her husband doesn’t acknowledge her when they walk past each other.

You try not to stare at Satoru, turning to walk down the stairs. He catches up to you and walks behind you. You begin to walk towards the front door but he takes the opportunity to speak up since from here he won’t be heard by anyone– Except by you and the workers downstairs, but they all know you have a history together. They literally know more than Satoru himself.

“I know that maybe she isn’t the ideal woman to spend the night with but… She’s trying to be your friend.” Satoru speaks up. You come to a stop, your brows furrowing. You turn to look at him, and try to act unbothered.

“I don’t want to turn your wife down, Satoru, but I do have a date to go to.” You share with him, and his brows raise. His hands go to his pockets and he tries to think of how to respond to that, but he doesn’t have anything to say. Nothing nice at least. Nothing smart.

“Uh… That’s nice to know.” He ends up saying, awkwardly looking elsewhere. Since you have nothing else to say to each other, you end up walking out of the house. His feet are glued to the floor and it takes a lot for him to lift his feet up and walk away.

“I love you, Ren.” You kiss the top of his head, and he doesn’t pay too much attention to you since his eyes are glued to the television. He doesn’t seem to realize that you’re going out tonight, and even if he did, his show is more fun and important than his mother, apparently. “Bye bye, Ren.”

“Bye.” He responds, waving his tiny hand, his head not even facing you. You almost roll your eyes and turn off the screen, but you’d rather have this than him crying. You hug your mother and then walk out of your apartment. Suguru is in the lobby of the building, waiting for you to show up. He offered to pick you up at your door, but you don’t feel like it’s appropriate with Ren being right there– You feel like you’ll owe your son an explanation about everything, and it’s too early for that. You have no idea what’ll result with Suguru.

Your eyes land right on him when you get to the lobby, he’s awkwardly glancing at his phone, and you call out his name to catch his attention. He looks up, putting his phone in his pocket and smiling at you as you walk over to him. He gives you a side hug before you walk out of the apartment building.

“I’m so excited for this.” You confess, and you try your best to suppress just how eager you are to be doing this. Maybe when you were sixteen you had a tiny crush on him, but nothing quite like how you felt for Satoru. Looking at a picture of Suguru would make you giggle and maybe your face would get warm, but you felt your heart skip a beat at a picture of Satoru.

But that’s not you anymore… At least that’s not who you’re trying to be. You can actually trust Suguru, which you hate to think about; thinking that you can’t actually trust Satoru is heartbreaking considering you’ve loved him for so long–

“I’m also really excited.” Suguru says, grabbing your hand as he walks you to his car. Your fingers intertwine, and you have the biggest smile on your face. You don’t even remember when was the last time you held hands with someone that wasn’t Ren, trying to stop the child from running off. “You look stunning, by the way.”

“Thank you.” You smile, and you feel your face warm up. You get to his car, to no surprise it’s a rather luxurious car (one similar to the one you have, one that you didn’t buy but your boss). He opens the car door for you, and you mutter another thank you before getting in. Your leg begins to bounce, and you wonder if maybe you are a tad bit nervous. It would be weird for you not to be, you don’t remember the last time you went on a date; additionally, this isn’t Satoru. You’ve only ever dated Satoru. This is the first time that you’re on a date with someone else.

Suguru gets into the driver’s seat and you take a deep breath. He starts the car and begins to drive. For the first minute you’re quiet since you’re visibly nervous– At least you bite your bottom lip, your leg bouncing and you’re looking elsewhere. He clears his throat and he asks, “How’s Ren doing, by the way?”

“He’s fine! He was watching some stupid show when I left and barely paid attention to me.” Your speech comes out a little too fast at first, and it’s hard for him to make out the words but he figures it out. You have to give it a minute to get used to these sudden nerves that overcome you. “He reminds me a lot of Satoru when he was of similar age.”

“Not gonna lie, I forget a lot about the fact that you’ve known Satoru for just as long as I have.” Suguru shares, and you chuckle. Your chuckle turns into an unintentional frown though, and you try to shake the thoughts that come to your head… But you can’t, so you share them with him.

“Not anymore. We’ve lost years of friendship.” You say, and you try to change the subject since you’ve made the conversation awkward. “How are you liking your job so far? How’s your residency going?”

You watch as he smiles, even though he tells you he’s tired. He likes what he’s doing, and you try not to pity yourself. You’re happy for him, you tell yourself that over and over again. You were supposed to be in a similar position and maybe if…

You’re happy for him. You’re happy with your baby boy and what life has given you, even if it isn’t ideal.

“God, she’s stressing me out.” You comment, referring to Mrs. Gojo. You have no idea how you got to this conversation. Slowly you’ve gotten more and more comfortable with each other, and you finally ended up in the topic of your boss who happens to be the grandmother of your son. “She was fine and then she– I don’t know, man. She’s micromanaging every single one of Satoru’s moves, and I’m the one that ends up with double work.”

“She’s always been a nightmare. Every time I have a nightmare she appears in it.” Suguru jokes, which makes you laugh. You have no idea why you were so nervous at first, you haven’t had this much fun in a while. He clears his throat and says, “The hospital I’m working at needs a receptionist, if you’re interested.”

“She pays too well and covers all my costs. As much as I’d love to leave, I don’t think I can.” You respond. “She got me the same car you have but in a different color, and it’s in my name. As stressed as I am, I’m living great.”

“And she paid for it? Shit, sign me up.” Suguru laughs. He proceeds to add, “What do I have to do? Fuck Satoru?”

“Have a child with him too.” You tell him, and he raises a brow and pouts his lips. He takes a moment to think about it.

“Hmm… That’s a challenge, but I’ll figure it out.” You both burst into a fit of laughter. You want to do this again. There’s an awkward moment of silence, and Suguru’s finger begins to tap the table. He has something to say, and you stay quiet so you can hear his question. “Do you… Regret any of it?”

“That’s not a conversation for a first date, is it?” You ask and he mutters an apology. He’s about to change the subject, but you proceed to answer the question, “I don’t regret any of it… Sometimes I think I do but Ren is–”

He loudly begins to cough, and you look at him weird, until you notice his eyes stare behind you. You turn your head, and you roll your eyes seeing the last person that you want to look at right now. He’s with his mother, most likely dealing with some business matters. Satoru doesn’t seem to notice you, his hand going up and waving at Suguru as he approaches your table.

“Hey, Suguru!” You turn back to look at Suguru, hoping that you’ll be able to hide because you’re certain this will be awkward– And it’ll certainly cause problems to arise. 

“Satoru! Hey!” Suguru tries to act like nothing is up, maybe Satoru will just greet him and walk to another table. 

“Don’t mean to interrupt your date, just wanted to greet you.” Satoru says, which is ironic since he doesn’t stop walking until he’s right behind you. Satoru just sees the back of a head, and when he tilts to try and get a look at you, you move so he’s not able to see you. “I hope you have a great–”

It takes him a moment but he remembers that you also had a date. It can’t be you… right? He says your name, and your eyes widen. You turn to look at him, and you swear you can see as his heart drops.

“Hi, Satoru.”

“I–” His brows furrow. He tries to think of what to say, but he doesn’t gather the right words to say. He doesn’t know what he feels. Overwhelming emotions take over, and he doesn’t know how to react.

So he walks away.

[gamesception]

Sception Reads Cass Cain #28

Batgirl (2000) #12 writer: Chuck Dixon pencils: Dale Eaglesham

Batgirl (2000) takes a break from the usual creative team for a tie in to the Batman Crossover of the month, Officer Down. We've seen Eaglesham draw Cass a few times now & he's always solid. Dixon wrote for Cass back in Robin 73, which wasn't the best showing for her. Better this time, if more reliant on narration blocks than I'd like. Kind of odd that this is a 'tie in' rather than part of the story proper. Like they didn't want people to feel they had to buy this issue? I'd say it was a slight against Cass, except it's not like she was kept out of the rest of the crossover, she's in like half the issues.

But the fact that this issue is partially segregated from the rest of the crossover is convenient for me anyway, as it gives me an excuse to just look at this issue on its own this week, while next week we can bundle together the rest of Cass's appearances in the cross over.

Off the top, I have to say I really like the art in this issue. Eaglesham's fast cementing his place as my second favorite Cass artist. And not just because I like the way he draws Cass as Batgirl, but just, I mean, look at this page here, with all the details and personality packed into the scene. Kudos also to Jason Wright, the colorist for this issue, for really capturing this warm cozy homely interior, almost nostalgia-sepia-toned, while everything outside is cold and wet and blue. A single page that really captures Cassandra's isolation. At this point in her story she's basically living as Batgirl 24/7. No alter ego, no normal life, no friends. Not even really any connections apart from her somewhat fraught relationship with Barbara and her extra fraught relationship with Bruce. To see Cass on the outside looking in at the sort of connections that seem so impossibly distant, especially after the run in with her father last issue, it really works.

I also love these panels of Cass navigating Gotham, moving around like a shadow, often in the background or in silhouette. Bits like that convey the spookiness of this Batgirl a lot more than other artists who give her an angry face or emphasize the stitching on her mask or the like.

Love that panel of her rubbing her chin, thinky face clearly visible through the mask. Batman's out, so Cass decides to start investigating on her own. It's nice to see her doing the detective part of the bat-person vigilante job, rather than just leaving that part to Barbara, and Dixon does a good job of walking the reader through her thought process.

He is relying on narration blocks a bit more than I'd like, but he keeps them short and terse. Cass can talk now, but English is still a second language, and that comes across pretty well, imo. I was very critical of Dixons last showing with Cass, but he's honestly doing a solid job with her here, and as much as I don't care for them in general, I think the thought bubbles are helping. Some writers just have a hard time wrapping their heads around a non-verbal character. I'd imagine even just a little bit of language makes thing a world easier.

That said, not to beat a dead horse here, but with Cass speaking a few words here and there like this, they could have believably gotten her to this point through her own effort by studying with Barbara, no psychics required. Just saying.

I guess it hadn't really been decided how much Cass's new speaking ability had translated to reading yet? It seems from these panels that she can read at least a little, at least enough to recognize names and dates as such, which is more than she can do later on. But clearly she's not comfortable or adept enough at reading to get much out of the police files beyond Catwoman maybe being involved, and you can feel her frustration here when she abandons the papers to finally just go ask Babs for help.

Good stuff.

Of course, Babs isn't home either.

Again, I really like the way Eaglesham draws Cass. I like it more each time he shows up in this retrospective. Love little head tilt in the first panel, love the cape in the second panel there, very dracula-esque. Love that we can kind of see her face through the mask, makes her feel like a person.

Oh, you poor random doofus goons.

There's an ok fight scene at one of Selina's safehouse, albeit against no-name mooks. The panels are well drawn, the fight's perfectly readable, but it still feels pretty arbitrary, like hitting a minimum action quota for the issue.

Regardless, Selina isn't there, and the issue ends with Cass abandoning her solo efforts to go find the others.

As an event tie in the overall issue feels... pretty unnecessary. Nothing is really discovered, the story isn't advanced at all, nothing much happens. Makes sense that it wasn't an official part of the crossover, though you're left kind of wondering what the point was at all.

Even so, I kind of like the issue regardless. Eaglesham does a spectacular job with the art all the way through, and Dixon seems to have a much firmer handle on the character this time around. We get some solid panels of Cass trying to do some detective work on her own, something we rarely see, and the excellent bit early on of her flittering around through the city like a shadow. That sense of isolation from the first page really permeates the entire issue even if if the plot never touches on it, with Cass seeking out the only two people she really knows only for both of them to be out.

So yeah, even if nothing that happens in the issue really matters much, even if it doesn't really tell a stand alone story per se, I still like this one a lot.

[cyeayt]

Ambivalence OC Profiles

ive been tagging some posts as my ocs and i want to talk about them so here are the three main characters of my ambivalence oc set.

Ambivalence lore (very cliche but this story is more for me to process religious thoughts and weird relationships): its basically an incredibly stereotypical urban fantasy setting where there are realms/planes where magic is more distilled, there's a heaven and a hell analogue and like, werewolves, etc. There are a gods/demons that sometimes organize stuff and might try to end the world but eh. there's a group who tries to stop that happening but its centered around one specific god and gets v culty, they are referred to as "the knights" from here out. Ben spent his childhood as a 'chosen one' figure (he's half demon), and got really fed up with the whole bit. Alice was his friend and brief girlfriend when they were younger. During the last arc of their childhood and after the last big battle, their ragtag hero group gets absorbed into the knights who have been gaining numbers and legitimacy. Ben runs away and Alice takes it hard. The main story takes place a few years later when they reunite.

I've made them each in these three picrews to properly capture the vibe.

Ben:

Reuben (Ben), 24, he/him. Ben lives alone in a house he inherited from his maternal grandfather. He likes to live simply and peacefully, and works as a carpenter. His hobbies include pottery, gardening, and collage making. He is badger coded and capable of great violence, but is very calm most of the time. Since cutting ties with his old life, he has simultaneously mellowed out and repressed a lot of shit. He is trained to fight with a broadsword, although he turned his old one into a garden sculpture. He has a lot of scars and pain from old injuries. He is generally very stoic but is pretty emotional if you can read his understated facial expressions. He values the happiness and safety of himself and the people he loves, and dislikes liars. He can often be hypocritical and selfish.

Alice:

Alice P. Morrison, 23, she/her. Alice lives on a remote knight compound researching and developing ways to protect the balance of the planes. It is a very high stress environment and she's honestly pretty miserable. She likes caffeine and graph paper, her hobbies include sleeping and eating. Sometimes she goes hiking in the surrounding woods. Since Ben left, she has lost connections with old friends and mentors and become increasingly reliant on an unhealthy relationship with the director of the knight organization. She is trained to fight with only magic and can maybe use a spear. When she eventually gets out she will enjoy live music, painting, and reading nonfiction books. She's 'dog that you might think is a large rat or sick cat at first' coded. She shows her emotions pretty strongly and gets embarrassed easily. She cannot read facial expressions she just knows Ben really well. She values values knowledge and approval and dislikes apathy. She can be petty and stubborn.

Max:

Maximilian Hadley, 24, he/they. He certainly is here. Ben meets Max after leaving the knights and as Ben makes a new life he and Max build a relationship that Ben is hesitant to define, although Max would like to. They are outgoing and very socially adept, he likes fashion, history, and forming connections with people. his hobbies are a lot of what people around him want to do, but he personally enjoys horseback riding. Their family is very rich and owns a lot of animals. He knows little to nothing about magic, although his moms got up to their fair share of bullshit before he was born. He is not trained to fight but he would try to bite if it came to it. He is fancy cat coded and expresses his emotions carefully. They value connection, loyalty, and finesse. They dislike cruelty. He often struggles with boundaries and can be pushy or jealous.

Other Characters:

John: Ben and Alice's mentor figure, was not very good at the actual raising children part of it, was injured in the final battle and died as the knights were taking over.

Archer: Another mentor figure, they were closer to Ben and ended up faking their own death after he left. Was involved with John's sister.

John's sister: So very dead real narrative haunting gal she was prophetic and very mentally unstable about it.

Mason: Stereotypical fighter guy, was very close to Alice and Val, is still essentially loyal to the knights but doesn't talk to Alice anymore.

Val: Mason's partner and also fighter gal, was always quick to put herself at risk for the others and it caught up to her. She's been in a coma since the final battle.

[frazzledsoul]

Unlike a lot of people here (because I'm ancient) I watched Gilmore Girls when it was airing on TV and rage quit twice, only to come crawling back eventually.

The first time was the S3 baby shower episode, at which point I just could not put up with Lorelai and her petty, childish behavior because Christopher didn't choose her over his pregnant girlfriend and was upset he was actually supportive of her. Well, big whoop, Lorelai that's probably why you shouldn't sleep with other people's boyfriends. I'm sure the example that you're modeling for your daughter here (mostly that it's okay to get entangled with men who are already attached because they were yours first) isn't going to be something she takes to heart a year and a half from now or anything.

Anyway, moving on. I rage quit the second time in episode 5 of season 6, "We've Got Magic To Do." This is the episode where Rory organizes a USO/big band themed party for the DAR, Richard is horribly disappointed that she has learned a new skill, and in the B plot Luke is upset when Lorelai encourages him to go camping.

It's not the worst episode of the season by a long, long shot. But I was bored by Luke and Lorelai's stuff, I have never really liked the upper class plot threads of the show so I was even more bored by Rory, and there were rumors about Christopher coming back and Luke's new secret daughter. I could tell it wasn't going to end well.

What got me to quit was Richard and Emily confronting the Huntzbergers, a plotline that made absolutely no sense

Emily and Richard were excited about Rory dating Logan not only because he is basically their ideal future grandson-in-law or because he possessed connections that might prevent Rory from becoming a penniless failed journalist like most of the people in her job field (funny how that turned out) but because they wanted to move up in their social circle.

However, Rory steals a boat, drops out of school, and seeks the refuge of her grandparents because Lorelai says she can't come home. She intends to party and slack off with Logan, but her grandparents insist that she work at the job they give her at the DAR and finish her community service hours if they're going to support her. (I will note that no one forces Rory to do this in AYITL and that's likely why she keeps spiraling: she can live off of the generosity of others and doesn't have to work, so she doesn't). You would think that Richard and Emily would have figured out that maybe Logan isn't the great influence on Rory that they hoped he would be, but alas....no.

The party is a huge success and you would think that Richard and Emily would be thrilled that Rory has pulled off this accomplishment, but no. Emily goes and rips into Shira, tells her that she's basically white trash and a scheming gold digger, and that she will never stand in the way of Rory and Logan's epic love story. Richard confronts Mitchum in the bathroom and accused him of crushing Rory's spirit and forcing her to seek an alternate career path that she is good at. The episode ends with him devastated that Rory is an adept party planner.

It still is ridiculous to me that two people who pride themselves on behaving according to social norms and maintaining the respect of those in their social circle would behave this way. It's deeply moronic and out of character. Why would they risk everything they've worked so hard for and jeopardize their social standing and Rory's to get back at two people they WANTED on their side? Pissing off Mitchum and Shira doesn't help Rory, it won't help her career if she does go back to school, and it's certainly not going to improve Logan and Rory's relationship. It's just putting words in their mouths that the writers want to express regarding their moral worth even though they've also spent the last season and a half focusing on how glamorous the rich kids sandbox can be. A month later, Jess comes back, encourages Rory to return to her life goals, and Rory breaks up with Logan and ends this plot thread. Hallelujah. No thanks to Richard and Emily, though, who probably could have made things worse for her in the long run career wise but didn't.

The whole thing was just dumb and dishonest and I hated it and still do. Plus, ASP was going to screw up Luke and Lorelai anyway, so why stick around for that? So I rage quit until the second half of the season 6 finale at which point I didn't watch again for another decade.

[septembersghost]

I don’t think I want to read anything about the Priscilla movie before or after it comes out. It’s gonna be a shit storm. Not just for the stuff that won’t make Elvis look good but also for the stuff that kinda defends him, like if it shows him not having consummating the relationship with Priscilla until they were married, you know that’s gonna piss off a lot of people off lol.

i mean, that's a hugely significant part of their story (i do have to laugh, she was SO frustrated by this, and she talks about it across multiple chapters), thus i'd assume it's going to be a part of the movie too, the protectiveness that came into play and the fact that they waited. so if that truth is a problem for people, that's on them. but this is also why i say there's no possible way to win with this movie, because approaching certain circumstances truthfully, or from a nuanced and human perspective, means the pitchfork brigade is going to claim it's "romanticizing" and "problematic" (i am taking these words away from the internet), and if it were to be really negative, then they'll be screaming self-righteously. it doesn't matter either way because those people will do whatever they can to have the worst possible takes and to vilify him and to disregard anything else, even her. it's also why i keep encouraging everyone to ignore the noise about it, if that includes not reading anything, blacklisting keywords, whatever (even if you want to see it yourself, you are not obligated to take part in the discourse. there's no point). and you know what, it WAS pushing it. it was a case where he should've known better, things probably should've been done differently. but it's complicated, and i don't feel right condemning or erasing the time they shared. it kills me that he never had the chance to tell his life's story in his own words, and everything will always be fragmented secondhand accounts, but there's been a fixation on him, and on them together, in pop culture. this isn't the first portrayal and it likely won't be the last, although i wish far more time had passed since last year, hollywood is nothing if not adept at capitalizing on subjects when more attention is on them.

curate your experience, protect your peace, remember that your connection with him is what matters, and let the rest go. and if anyone takes issue with that, well. bye!

[wordsandrobots]

IBO reference notes on . . . assorted head-canons

Was planning to put this up later in the week but it's been one of those days that make me want to throw stuff online to make myself feel better. Nothing too involved, just various things I head-canon about Iron-Blooded Orphans. Some of these have come up in my fics, others are simply things I keep in mind while writing them. Likely not an exhaustive list, so I may do another post like this later. Under a cut to hide one or two spoilers.

Oh, and on the off chance anyone has something else IBO-related they're interested in my opinion/head-canon on, please don't hesitate to sling an ask my way. This show has literally been eating my brain for a year and three quarters.

The Bauduin Family's blue hair is the result of genetic meddling. An ancestor really liked the colour and decided to make it stick forever. This had the unintentional side-effect of giving the family the lowest incidence of by-blows in the Seven Stars, because all its sons are painfully aware any 'accidents' outside of wedlock are going to be really, really obvious.

A long sword/katana is Barbatos' original main weapon. That's why Mika suddenly understands how to use one correctly when he connects more deeply to the system. I have a few ideas about what its first pilot was like, but she is basically a complete OC so beyond the scope of this post.

The original, 'pure' Alaya-Vijnana is safer to use. A lot of what happens to Mika is the result of him being implanted with the knock-off, bastardised version. This is why McGillis experiences no loss of motor function despite using Bael at a similar level of power. The fact I also picture almost all the original pilots as suffering some degree of paralysis speaks entirely to how bad the Calamity War got. Essentially, it took months, even years, of running the A-V at full tilt for them to reach where Mika is after Edmonton.

Agnika Kaieru was a cold-hearted bastard. Think Heero Yuy's consideration for his own happiness and well-being coupled to a functioning understanding of human nature and how to get people to do what he wanted. This guy could screw over those close to him in ways McGillis can only dream of.

Not that McGillis realises this because the central 'joke' running through my Calamity War head-canons is that, as a historical document, 'The Life of Agnika Kaieru' isn't worth the paper it's printed on. It's pure propaganda, the result of the original Seven Stars covering for the fact their leader was a manipulative arsehole who ended his days using Gundam Bael as a life-support machine.

Aside from McGillis deliberately creating distance between them, the main reason Carta fell out with him is because Iznario pulled strings to get her an early promotion to colonel. She wanted to earn it but wasn't given a chance, and had to watch McGillis sail up the ranks without any assistance at all. She's been overcompensating for the inferiority complex this created ever since.

Orga has always been able to read Eugene like a cheap novel and the reason he's Orga's go-to driver at the start of the show is that Orga knows he cares far more about being seen to do a good job than getting one over on his replacement as Third Group leader. The same logic applies to making him deputy boss.

Eugene's brain is wired such that his spacial awareness works better across large distances and in three dimensions than close-to and on one plane. This is why he's so adept at space combat and so crap at it on the ground. In space, he has breathing room and can move any way he wants; in ground skirmishes, he quickly becomes overwhelmed and locks-up for lack of options.

Mikazuki made a regular thing about working on Sakura Farm with Biscuit but Orga generally didn't accompany them. This is because Orga is not a fan of physical labour and his napping at the start of the very first episode is fairly typical of how he spends his breaks.

Ride doesn't join Kudelia's classes because he already knows how to read. He wasn't particularly better off than the others, but he did get some schooling before joining the CGS. Yamagi also knows how to read long before the series starts, probably owing to Yukinojo training him up as a second head-mechanic.

Age-order for Tekkadan, running oldest to youngest, goes something like: Dane, Dante, Akihiro, Chad, Eugene, Orga, Biscuit [16, S1], Zack, Shino, Hush, Mikazuki, Atra, Yamagi, Derma, Aston, Takaki [13, S1], Ride, Trow, Embi and Elgar, Hirume. I take Shino to be the youngest of the secondary boys (about 16, S1), and Yamagi to be the oldest of the tertiary trio (~15, S1). Even accounting for the general haggardness of the human debris' designs, Dante's character model looks older than the rest to me, so he comes in ahead of everyone except Dane, who I imagine has a fair few years on him. The younger kids are hard to be sure about, but I figure Ride is about 11 or 12 to begin with, and the others seem to be one to two years younger than him.

Character sexuality – because are we writing fanfic here or not? These are the ones I've given thought to. Anyone not listed, I haven't considered in enough depth to care who they want to sleep with.

Mikazuki: Straight. Sorry guys. I don't even read him as being on the ace spectrum, though I understand how you could.

Kudelia: Probably pansexual, not that she's considered it very closely.

Atra: Definitely, very, extremely bi.

Orga: 100% asexual and occasionally embarrassed by his inability to grasp what the big deal is supposed to be. By which I mean, people sometimes mock him for it, and by people, I mean Eugene and Shino.

Akihiro: ???? As in, if you asked, that'd be his response. A row of question marks to the tune of 'I have literally never given this a single thought in my life and I'm too busy to care.'

Eugene: Thinks he's straight. It's adorable. He's actually into anyone who'll treat him good and tell him he's doing OK.

Shino: Has known he's bisexual for years but internalised that the cool, macho thing is to be very into girls. Which, I mean, he is very into girls, but also sex is good regardless of which bits the other person has.

Dante: Straight. Dante is very boring in this regard.

Chad: Panromantic and demisexual. Chad wants to be loved, and everything else slightly scares him because he doesn't know where to start.

Yamagi: Gay (canon!) and somewhat kinky with it, since he approaches sex as an engineering problem and is, at heart, a control freak.

Takaki: Curious. Essentially a big 'TBA' on the whole sexuality thing. He'll get back to you after he's tried a few things.

Gaelio: Bi and hopelessly romantic with it. Prior to everything, he tended to fall in and out of love on a weekly basis. Bit of a commitment-phobe, but genuinely caring while actually in a relationship.

McGillis: Do not even go there. Long ago locked all his actual wants and desires in a box marked 'irrelevant' and threw away the key.

Julieta: Grey/demisexual. Would need a long run-up, probably involving a lot of frustration because why is [traditional relationship marker] even necessary?

Azee: Loosely bi, on the ace spectrum. Slightly more in love with Amida than Naze.

Eco: Straight. She and Yamagi take turns sympathising with and mocking each other for their equally terrible taste in men.

Argi Mirage: Asexual in an 'I don't need anyone else to take care of my sex-drive' way.

Grown-up!Ride: Firmly aromantic. Exists in a constant state of vague surprise about the things people do together.

All these sexuality descriptors are approximate modern-day translations because Post-Disaster, how people express their attraction has moved on to different phraseology.

That incident Shino shuts Zack up about because he cannot have anyone knowing it happened? Yeah, Shino ran into a dominatrix and became incoherently turned on by the experience. This is about the only sexual thing I can imagine him being worried others might find out about. Anything else could be hand-waved along the lines of 'I'm so hot, even the boys want me', but if people discover he has a submissive streak wide enough to drive a tank down, his life is over. Obviously, re: everything I've done with Shino in my fics, he grows out of being concerned by this. Not that it would have survived two seconds in a relationship with Yamagi anyway.

Relatedly, Shino is the world's most turn-on-a-dime switch. Fundamentally, always the people-pleaser.

That actually is both Orga's scarf and Mikazuki's gun Ride has in the epilogue. He accidentally stole the scarf during the evacuation of the Isaribi, then picked the gun up after Orga's death, and has held on to both ever since.

Akatsuki is small for his age and basically indestructible. Along with his eyes, his stature and the ability to shrug off physical harm are the main things inherited from Mikazuki. That said, he's probably going to shoot up like a rocket once he hits adolescence, leading to jokes about him having somehow stolen a tall gene from the Bernsteins. He also spends a large chunk of his childhood obsessed with wolves. This is a complete coincidence: he read about them in a book of Earth animals and liked the way they smile.

And while it's not strictly head-canon, if I were ever tempted into doing an 'Iron-Blooded Orphans: The Next Generation' fic centred on him, I wouldn't under any circumstances put him in a Gundam. Akatsuki becoming a child soldier represents a total failure of everything achieved in the main story and, frankly, I'm not (quite) that cruel.

[golvio]

I couldn't help but come back to this because I've been thinking a lot about these motifs, too. I couldn't stop making connections to a game called Cultist Simulator while playing it. I've put a bunch of disjointed thoughts below the cut, as I've been trying to figure this out myself, and boy howdy did this get long.

Basically, the game revolves around everything having certain aspects that are fundamental human impulses, both rational and irrational. You start getting into the real eldritch, dangerous stuff when you encounter an influence of higher intensity, which represents these impulses taken too far.

The ones I kept thinking of with him were Heart and Grail, which are both connected to your Health stat. Heart is connected to Vitality, which allows you to heal from injuries and recover from illness, and helps you increase your physical strength. Grail is also connected with Health itself, but also the depletion of Health.

The best way I can describe the two is:

Grail is about the creation of life, and the consumption of living things and the satisfaction of physical appetites in order to sustain and prolong life. It’s also about desire, both worldly and otherwise. Hunger and lust. It's very heavily preoccupied with blood sacrifice, and this aspect is also responsible for the setting's version of vampires, the Raveline clan who used to live in a castle somewhere in France. Grail followers tend to be extremely charismatic and seductive regardless of whether they'd fit human ideas of "conventional attractiveness" or not (and beings with more powerfully concentrated Grail aspect can look downright visceral and grotesque, but nevertheless remain seductive and "delightful" to ordinary humans, as desire can be a weird and unpredictable thing), as they can tap into impulses for self-destructive pleasure in people, and often use their powers of persuasion to steal life force from their lovers to sustain themselves and increase their power. The most powerful Grail-aspect characters tend to just outright eat their admirers. However, you can also consummate Grail aspect by being consumed by someone in a way that gives them great pleasure and satisfaction. There are references to powerful Grail adepts feeding their followers their own blood to heal them and keep them under their control by rendering them dependent on them for pleasure. I'm struck by the fact that Ganondorf first had to spill blood, then swallow his stone like it was food, both times he tried to ascend. Then there's the fact that one of his powers seems to include the ability to create new life from scratch from "his lifeblood," the Gloom, in addition to resurrecting the dead.

Heart is about the continuation of life, against any odds, at all costs. It's associated with music, dance, and manic compulsions. It also involves a whole lot of blood sacrifice, having some of the goriest tales in its mythology, with the motif of Apollo flaying Marsyas alive after he lost their musical competition coming up a lot. However, these blood sacrifices aren't about consumption or death so much as demonstrating or granting the victim or participants supernatural vitality, able to keep going well after sustaining horrific injuries, whether as an endlessly dancing immortal or as the skin of a sacred drum. Heart and Grail tend to be closely associated with each other, as the patron deity of Grail ended up creating the deity of Heart through a blood sacrifice. To understand how that fits in with Ganondorf...did you see the state of that guy after he'd been sealed underground? He looked like he'd been flayed. Also, his resurrection was punctuated by the sound of the beating of his heart, and the only way to temporarily stop him was to stop his heart from beating.

I've also been thinking about Moth, as we've got multiple characters in TotK mentioning radical transformations and seeking them out, even yearning for them and regarding their human forms as this awkward larval stage they must shed to achieve their true potential, from Kotlin to Ganondorf himself (twice, even!). Both Moth and Forge are aspects that have to do with a desire to change. However, Forge is a more rational, "premeditated" change, like you'd find in chemistry or or smithing. Moth is a more chaotic and primal yearning, like the urge to radically reinvent yourself, or transition between life stages. As the name implies, it's represented by the metamorphosis between a caterpillar and a moth or butterfly. There are lots of references to "shedding ones skin" among its followers who pursue its path to become an immortal dweller in the land of dreams, and the act of cutting one's hair is regarded as sacred to Moth.

I kept thinking about the patron deities of each element, the Hours, too.

The Ring-Yew, represented by a hand reaching out from inside of a tree dripping with sap, who is a healing Heart deity due to her lifegiving sap. However, she's also responsible for one of the forms of necromancy that exist within the setting, where a corpse is planted with one of her seeds, which allows it to move around until it inevitably takes root and becomes a new tree. It's implied she was a human woman who was ritually sacrificed. Given that Ganondorf makes his home in a giant root ball growing under the place where he was bound, the connection seemed obvious to me.

The Red Grail, who's the patron goddess of, uh, well, Grail. She's conflated with Cybele, the "mountain mother," in this setting. In the Priest path, she appears to the player character as a vision of this statuesque marble woman who brings them back from the brink of death by starvation by drinking their blood, to show them "not all scars are pain." She became an Hour by dying in childbirth, then drinking the primordial god of the sea, Tide, after she passed over into the Mansus, supplanting him as the deity who governs birth, life, and appetite. True to her name, she's associated with blood of all kinds, both the blood associated with birth and the blood that's spilled by slaughter and sacrifice for consumption. Her followers are this wild and crazy pagan Roman cult of hedonism, but she's also one of the shrewder gods, more obviously "playing the game" in the background history of the story to preserve her own power and influence against other Hours who might try to supplant her like she overthrew Tide. Hedonism aside, in terms of personality, ambition, and willingness to manipulate to get her way, she's a lot like Ganondorf.

The Witch-and-Sister/Sister-and-Witch, who's kind of two gods rolled into one who switch places with each other, represented by two women joined to each other at the waist. They actually were two separate people in life, but threw themselves into the sea and drowned so they could always be together, passing over and attaining godhood in death in a similar way to the Grail (who came to dislike them despite them ascending under her, as she sees them as competition, and created the Heart god, the Thunderskin, to counteract their influence). They're one of the funkier Hours whose dominion encompasses multiple aspects; in their case, Heart, Grail, and Moth (and which one takes prominence depends on which "face" is currently dominant). They're associated with the moon, the sea, with crossroads, and with yearning for union. One of her faces heals and "brings things to rest" in a state of union, while the other is "always hungry." They're also associated with the Wood, a supernatural forest that exists in the conceptual realm called The Mansus. The association with the sea and the tides reminded me a bit of Ganondorf, with his more fluid and lunar associations, as well as the insatiable hunger of the waters that accept any offering.

And then there are new elements that we don't know much about yet that have been introduced with the sequel, Book of Hours:

Moon, which has to do with secrets and obscured things. It seems so far to be closely associated with Grail, forbidden desires, knowing forbidden knowledge, and the sea. The people who most commonly have this aspect are fishermen and sailors, which implies seafarers from the village of Brancrug know things that most people don't. Ganondorf's lunar associations, plus him as a magical adept who's explicitly seeking out forbidden knowledge kept secret by the gods and their servants in order to empower himself.

Nectar, which was formerly called "Blood." It's the principle that governs the vitality of plants. In the demo you mostly use it to garden, gather useful herbs and flowers, and make medicine, but it also seems to be the most "folk horror" of the elements, as ancient rites associated with it involved spilling sacrificial blood into the soil to nourish the plant life therein (just like gardening in real life, if you've ever cared for a rosebush before). Obviously, Gloom Tree, plus its siphoning of life force from everything it touches, and its sap that looks like blood.

Scale, which is the element that governs animals. It's associated with a dead snake god, the Seven-Coils, and is also associated with things buried deep within the earth. This made me think of Zelda's monsters, as their origin and the source of their resurrection is implied to come from some primordial current of magic from deep beneath the earth.

I wish I had some kind of unifying thesis statement here, but this is more to get my thoughts down in case somebody else finds something in them. There's something here, and I want to get at the something that's here.

Something else that’s been plaguing my mind in regards to Ganondorf is a mysterious, probably unintentional, overarching motif.

I think it’s somewhat hindered by being designated the job of “Able to do Whatever the Plot Needs” , but here are some puzzle pieces I don’t know what to do with:

- The Moon

- his beating heart

- gloom’s strange similarity to menstral blood (in my opinion)

- the power of revival

- theft of vitality/life force

- only male in a society of women

Descending into the depths is very eerie. It’s like diving into an open wound or an artery.

It feels like all of these things can be summarized, because they feel incredibly connected. But I don’t know what it is….

[phoenixyfriend]

Fake Sith TCW Trio

I have another fucked up time-travel AU! Who’s surprised? (Nobody.)

So like. Have you guys read that one fic where Luke and his students go back in time and pretend to be Sith Lords and are super hammy about it? (Sith Lord Swell by AMournfulHowlInTheNight)

This AU has contributions by @atagotiak, @the-lunar-system, @purronronner, @gelpenss, @creepingthroughthistidalwave, and @thisarenotarealblog.

I want TCW trio (plus Rex and Cody) to go back to several years pre-TPM and, since the Council DEFINITELY won't believe them about the Sith being back... they'll force the issue.

Anakin is weirdly excited about things and building up their backstory.

Anakin: Okay so I can definitely be a Maul type, with the unhinged ranting and manic laughter, Obi-Wan can be the whole Refined Rich Guy type like Dooku, where you can't even tell he's evil until he starts talking about getting out the eyeball scoops, maybe toss in a bit of mad science stuff? Ahsoka could play up like Ventress OR, oh oh, she can be the Light Side Child we need to PROTECT who's publicly begging us to return to the Light after our big dramatic Falls where we murdered like eighty people to save her, and-- Obi-Wan: Why are you never this enthusiastic about actual undercover missions. Ahsoka: Did you just have all this ready to go, or...? Anakin: WE COULD GET YELLOW CONTACT LENSES FOR ME.

Obi-Wan: How's my evil laugh?

Anakin going “Okay.. so if any of us need to murder someone to sell the bit it should be me, I think I could handle it the best. Why? No reason.”

Obi-Wan: I'm not sure a complete Fall could come from protecting Ahsoka, really-- Anakin: No, no, it could.

Obi-Wan: Surely you’d hold back because you realize neither of us want that for you. Anakin: Uh. Sure. Definitely.

Obi-Wan points out that none of them can channel the dark side to Prove they're Sith and Anakin just goes "Okay, give me like two seconds to stew in my negativity and--right, you can stop staring in horror, please."

Anakin rambles on that they can TOTALLY make the galaxy a better place while playing at being Sith! He's got a whole LIST of slave empires to "take over" and disassemble!

Anakin has a whole excited spiel about how EVIL soldiers and assistants are minions, in this case partly because Cody and Rex are too good at what they do to be mooks. Cody could pull off evil minion very well. Facial scar? Looks good in black? Quietly competent and sarcastic?

He also pushes for Obi-Wan to lounge in a fancy throne with a glass of wine while Anakin stalks the shadows and Ahsoka hangs out on the window ledge. The disaster lineage is dramatic, okay, Anakin’s just leaning into it, he’d appreciate it if everyone stopped looking at him like that.

Qui-Gon, surprisingly, ends up a skeptic about all of this. Everyone is freaking out about the Sith and he’s like “y’know I’m not even sure they’re darksiders.”

Some Jedi, possibly Qui-Gon for his conspiracy board, gets in a real risky situation and one of the Fake Sith saves them, but also panics and kinda drops character for a bit.

Jedi: You saved me! Why’d you do that? Anakin: I uh... just wanted the pleasure of killing you myself?

"You saved me. Why?" "Mmmm. Jedi." [walks away]

Qui-Gon: [trying to figure out what is up with these people semi-competently (from his perspective) pretending to be Sith] Dooku: [trying to protect Qui-Gon from Sith influence]

The gang is the most successful at pretending to be Sith to Dooku. Sure, they’re not gonna punish him for something he hasn’t done, but it’s not hard to act menacing and angry around him.

(They really do have so much fun irritating the heck out of Dooku. He hasn’t Fallen yet, but they want to keep an eye out.)

At some point, future Obi-Wan definitely drops that little tidbit of "What, you didn't think the Banites were the only Sith running around did you? You... didn't even know about the Banites. How... disappointing."

They REGULARLY use Ahsoka as an excuse to be marginally less terrible. They claim that if Ahsoka pouts, they stop. ‘Soka also uses them as an excuse for why she’s a lil feral. (To be fair, that one is accurate. She was already a lil feral before but it’s not like they did anything to stop it.) Ahsoka gets her "breaking into people's offices" jollies by bugging Nute Gunray's office.

The Jedi keep trying to Rescue Ahsoka.

Rex and Cody end up in real beskar, there's a whole Thing with Mandalore and Jango and Satine.

Obi-Wan is CONSISTENTLY worried about Anakin Falling for real, which... hey, at least he knows to be worried about Anakin Falling. Step up from canon, really.

Anakin is WAY too into killing the Hutts but like. It does... technically sell the bit.

Obi-Wan: Sure, I’m not sad that they’re dead, especially because we’re not connected to the Republic, so we don’t need to worry about starting a war and all that. But. Anakin is disturbingly cheerful about this. Rex: Wasn't he a Hutt slave? Obi-Wan: Well yes, but-- Rex: I'd kill Nala Se if I could get away with it.

Cody and Rex are very supportive of Anakin's murderous intentions.

Obi-Wan does understand anger, even killing someone in anger. Like Maul (the first time at least) and D’nar and a few others. All the same, like... y’know. The level of bloodthirst from the others is a little off-putting.

At one point, Anakin accidentally addresses young Obi-Wan by name, despite never having met before, and to cover it up, he... panic-flirts. He panics, and so he flirts, with young Obi-Wan.

(He will later blame this on old Obi-Wan, because he had to pick up the habit of flirting with the enemy from somewhere.)

Anakin vaguely implies that he's a wee bit obsessed with young Obi, and that the padawan should "get used to being the target of a dark-sider's interests," because he’s scrambling for Ominous Shit and, well, future Obi-Wan was pretty frequently a fixation point for darksiders, right?

The second he gets out, he just starts screaming into a bucket while Rex pats him on the back.

For the next however many terrible months, possibly years, he has to keep up the act while having an ongoing meltdown about how That's My Dad As A Twenty-Something.

(It doesn't help that young Obi-Wan reflexively flirted back.)

Old Obi-Wan, meanwhile, is just very "you dug this hole yourself, padawan."

There is an argument at the beginning about Obi-Wan’s outfit. If he’s gonna be a Sith, he can’t just go around in beige, but he’s like “I like this and it’s comfy.” Sure, he’s changed clothes for undercover stuff, but that’s always been temporary, y’know? He likes his beige.

We have a number of options.

My first instinct? Beige linen three piece suit, like a southern lawyer. "Now I may just be a simple Outer Rim force adept--"

And, of course, you can TOTALLY make the beige sinister: he’s impersonating a Jedi! Jedi impersonation would also explain why nobody has a red saber.

“Sure is good that the Jedi don’t seem to realize most of the galaxy doesn’t know red sabers are different and bad.” “Shhhh, stop poking holes in our story where a Jedi might overhear.”

Like.... if you do enough doublethink, it works! How would a Sith hide? In plain sight. Also, it’s a GREAT way (if they were actually assholes) to try to slander the Jedi name.

(Anakin and Ahsoka still think he could stand to put a little more effort in. Add a splash of color, for pity's sake!)

Though tbh part of me is like “What if Old Obi wore, like... a split skirt suit...” Victorian womenswear inspired because he misses his robes, but he has to look Professional, and like he's MOCKING Jedi instead of BEING one, so he wears a vintage-y split skirt thing over his leggings. Ends up looking a lot like what Ventress had for a while, but Beige. I also keep wanting to put him regency menswear.

Anyway. Obi-Wan’s wardrobe aside...

Anakin builds up his Tatoo accent again. It helps him with the (mostly true) "slavery helped me fall" backstory.

Either Cody or Rex offhandedly mentions being made to serve them (the Fake Sith) and now the Jedi are somewhat concerned about brainwashing. Are these Mandos the victims here?

“No like. Literally made for this. In a lab.” This is even more horrifying. So...

On the one hand good! The Jedi should be scared about Sith! On the other hand... it makes the Jedi more determined to stop them, specifically. They keep on getting in the way, just, all the time, and they’re not investigating the actual Sith problem, which is decidedly not great since the Team doesn’t actually know who’s a real Sith right now, except Maul, and who even knows where that guy is.

Obi-Wan, at some point: Do you think we've succeeded at this ruse... a little TOO well? Anakin: I don't follow. Obi-Wan, gesturing at the truly obnoxious amount of wealth they've collected, including "trophies" of their kills: Really? Because I'm a little worried! Anakin, planning out a battle to take on Nar Shadda: ...I'm not.

"How many people do we realistically we need to take over Hutt Space? Apparently... five."

(Mostly because Anakin is ridiculously op.)

ANAKIN AND YOUNG OBI GET KIDNAPPED BY PIRATES TOGETHER. It's tradition.

Anakin: Okay, so, I need to get really angry about something to pass as a Sith... time to think about my WIFE and how I'll NEVER SEE HER AGAIN.

Since Anakin’s life never goes as planned... this does not work. Instead of getting properly angry, he makes himself sad. There are tears. There is wailing. There’s a distraught rant or two. Young Obi ends up awkwardly trying to comfort him.

“Oh no, this… Sith?? Is crying on me. What do I do???”

Later on, when the Council wants intel: "So... one of the Sith cried on me about his wife. I think she's dead? He wasn't very clear about it but it, uh... it sounded like it might have contributed to his Fall. Also the relationship was a little unhealthy? He basically worshiped the ground she walked on and kept ranting about how he would have given her the galaxy on a platinum platter of she'd only asked, but that might be new and inspired by the Dark."

One of the random Jedi is REALLY good at detecting the truth Through The Force, and asks Anakin how he Fell...

Anakin just. Tells the Tuskens story.

They don't get pinged as lying, but oh boy does old Obi have a LOT of questions for Anakin once they're in private.

There are other things happening to help sell the ruse. Some of them are necessary! Some of them are... not.

Obi-Wan: What's the best way to show we're rich and kind of evil, but like... classy about it? Anakin, immediately: I sit on the floor next to the throne, leaning against it, and you call me pet names while stroking my hair, and then when you need something killed I get to do it for you and then I go back to the floor and you thank me for the directed violence, and then you go back to Negotiations with criminals while I’m sitting there covered in blood. Obi-Wan: ...is there something you want to TELL us, or...?

"You're all going to get a glimpse of something normally kept hidden about me." "Anakin, you don't have to do that." "No, I'm gonna."

(Anakin has decided hes going to peel his kink tomato to sell this ruse, and the others are slightly uncomfortable with that.)

Anakin: Okay, I cannot keep flirting with you. Young Obi: Wait, what? But that's the best part of any time we run into you! Anakin: You look WAY too much like my Master did when I met him. Obi: O...kay? If someone looked like my master when HE was young, I'd-- Anakin: My Sith Master half-raised me. He's basically my dad. Obi: ... Anakin: What's that look for? Obi: I mean, you spend a lot of time lounging at his feet, and, like, given how much you hate slavery, I... kind of assumed it was a kink thing? Anakin, brightly: Oh no, I just have a LOT of trauma. And neuroses. Snips says they’re neuroses.

Young Obi is a little upset because he was actually getting REALLY into Flirting With The Enemy and was hoping it would go somewhere. He mopes to Qui-Gon about it. Qui-Gon isn't sure whether to be proud about Obi breaking rules, or worried over Obi-Wan falling for a Fake Sith.

(As Tia put it: "You enjoy making young Obi-Wan have a completely unrequited crush on Anakin, don’t you?")

Fortunately, one of those attractive Young Mando boys very kindly helped him tape up his ribs this one time, and has thus caught his eye...

I feel like having Cody date Young Obi would court an entirely different kind of (internet) drama because clone ages, but whatever.

Also please imagine an element of "so I'm dating the genetic identical of my boss... who's dating the man I'm a genetic identical of..."

(It's probably not actually Jangobi but man would that be funny and also stupid.)

Somehow Young Obi figures out that the "Sith Master" is a future him before he realizes that they're not actually dark. In his defense, Anakin was pretty convincing. Especially with the wife rant. It makes HIM more obsessed with Anakin, in a reversal of the implied earlier dynamic, which is all kinds of weird. Less romantic but like. Still weird.

"Future Me Scares Me" with Extra stupid. "Future Me Annoys Me." "Future Me acts like grandmaster Dooku, but more sass." "Future Me raised a really hot evil guy that refuses to bang Present Me." "Future Me might be a Sith, but I'm getting more and more convinced he's just fucking with us all." "Future Me is really rocking that beard, and I can't BELIEVE we figured out a way around the babyface."

"I’m kinda concerned about the whole evil thing, but I’m also glad that I know I’ll stay hot as I get older."

Quinlan approves of the priorities.

Also a lot of interactions with older Obi are very Anakin: [does/says something deeply unhinged] Obi-Wan: So, do you want to…. Talk about that? Maybe? Anakin: What’s there to talk about?? I’m fine, everything’s fine! Anyways how about those plans for tracking down Maul?

Anakin later, like way after the ruse is lifted, just blankly tells everyone that he did Fall, once, and Older Obi made him get therapy about it after the truth came out between the two of them a few months into the Fake Sith thing.

Where'd they find a therapist? I'm sure there's one SOMEWHERE around. Denon and Herdessa are close enough, and they've done enough "your criminal empire now belongs to me" that they can pay well. They make sure to find one that takes confidentiality real seriously.

It's all very "we need some more time to unpack all that."

Therapy helps get Anakin to figure out Sheev’s whole deal. They don't necessarily figure out he’s a Sith from it, but they figure out he’s sketchy and they need to look into that more. Obi-Wan probably already thought he was sketchy, but the whole active gaslighting campaign was a little surprising. They realize that he kinda benefited a lot from a lot of Sith plots and they still probably don’t think he’s a Sith but Obi-Wan is definitely starting to think he’s working with one.

"Okay, we're already bugging Gunray, should we bug Palpatine just to be safe?"

They get away with a lot of slicing because Anakin is a technical genius from twenty years in the future.

The reasons they're so good at Taking Over Hutt Space: 1. They know parts of the future. 2. They have superpowers and FAR less reason to not use them, now that their actions aren't going to reflect on the Republic. 3. They have Cody and Rex, who are two of the greatest military minds in the galaxy, and know EXACTLY how to wage a war that covers a solid third of the galaxy, starting from a position of relative weakness. 4. Anakin's charisma is scary high, and his knowledge of slave culture means they gain a lot of trust from the people they free, and they just... keep acquiring volunteers for the army they didn't plan to have. Obi-Wan doesn't know what to do. He thinks they might have started a cult?

In his defense, Dooku sort of started a cult, and Komari got kidnapped by a cult, brainwashed into joining it properly, and then took it over as head figure of said cult. It's practically tradition!

Comics Vader is the central figure of like three different cults, it was really just inevitable.

Anakin: Aw, don't worry master, it's not a cult, it's a revolution! Ahsoka: They're worshiping him, though. Anakin: ...it's still a revolution! Just... with some misunderstandings.

Also, if they got wind of people trying to keep people from being able to leave and other culty stuff like that, they’d probably put a stop to it pretty damn quick.

Names! Time for names. As per usual, it's easiest to keep track of Obi-Wan's alternate Older Self by just calling him Ben.

Darth Ben.

Ahsoka: You should be Darth Boring. Obi-Wan: I can still make you run laps, you know.

Anakin: The Force is telling me to call myself Darth Vader. Obi-Wan: ...why? Anakin: I dunno, but it sounds cool, I'll run with it.

Someone: Ben has all the answers; we shouldn’t question him, ever. Ben: One time I lost a planet, and a five-year-old found it for me.

More options: Going with the "evil word with the prefix 'in' chopped off" that we get with Sidious and Vader: Darth Surrectus (as in insurrection) Just random Latin words: Darth Temporus (time) Darth Commenticius (fake)

Anyway, back to Nonsense:

Maul goes after young Obi early, because the Fake Sith are really invested in this one random Padawan (Sidious is saying he might be a cousin of the false Sith Master? They do look similar enough) so someone needs to investigate. Naturally, Anakin shows up with some wild screeching to fight Maul, and when someone questions why he got involved it gets very "Kenobi is MINE!" and like. Okay. So.

Anakin means it in a very Sith "to toy with" and "to torture" way, or the ‘my chosen opponent!’ way, just the same kind of Obsession as Maul had with Obi-Wan in the original timeline. Unfortunately, Anakin’s a weird-ass person who flirts with Young Obi against his own better judgement, so there's some awkward "Like... your boyfriend?" from young Obi. Anakin just screeches in SOME emotion that nobody wants to interpret, and couldn't even if they wanted to, and starts whacking away at Maul again.

(Anakin hasn't explained the "you look exactly like my dad, sorry, it's just too weird" thing yet, and he is HAVING MANY REGRETS.)

There's definitely at least one instance where a person asks Anakin if he's planning on dating That One Jedi Twink, or at least banging out the tension. At that point in time, Anakin doesn't actually know who the fuck they're talking about, because "Obi-Wan + Twink = Does Not Compute" for dear, dense Ani, and instead he just ends up ranting about how he is LOYAL TO THE MEMORY OF HIS LATE WIFE, how DARE anyone so much as INSINUATE that he would TARNISH HER PERFECT MEMORY and UNWAVERING KINDNESS and WHOLESOME BEING, and the person who asked doesn't end up lightsabered but they do end up with a LOT to tell whoever they're reporting to.

Young Obi-Wan definitely hears Anakin mutter the phrase “something to discuss with my therapist later” a few times, and he’s a little bewildered because darksiders definitely don’t seem like the type of people to go to therapy. They’re the type of people to need therapy, sure, but not the type to go to therapy.

I think it would be very fun for Young Obi to continue sighing over Anakin (who's pretending to be fine with it and even flirting back because he's in too deep to stop and hasn't worked up the courage to explain the elephant in the room) while Anakin is covered in grease and infodumping while having a slightly manic hyperfocus on engine repairs while the two of them Somehow got stranded together in the middle of bumfuck nowhere (it's Plagueis's doing, he finds the interactions between THESE two in particular to be the most informative regarding the fake Sith).

Anakin, at some point while stranded with young Obi-Wan, and having actually started unpacking some stuff in therapy, though he’s def still got a ways to go: I’m pretty sure Ben cares about me. He acts like he cares, like he’ll do stuff like put extra blankets in my quarters in the spaceship because I get cold real easily or track down those droid parts I need for a project and he always has my back in a fight but y’know it’d be nice to hear him say he loves me once in a while. Especially because we kinda had a rough start and idk I don’t think he wanted me around at first.

And uh. Obi-Wan definitely relates to that a bit too much, y’know?

I want to say that Young Obi ends up mentioning All That to one of the clones or Ahsoka later, because they seem probably invested in Anakin's well-being, even if Ben is, well, a Sith, so Obi-Wan's a little worried the man's affection really is fake, but at least Ahsoka...

(Ironic, given what Anakin's actual eventual Sith would-be-Master was like.)

Young Obi mentions Anakin’s most recent rant to Ahsoka, and she just goes "Wait, is that why Skyguy likes to sit by the throne and get called pet names?" "Uh... I don't... know... but it sounds like all of you have a LOT to unpack there, Miss Apprentice."

Later on: "Master Kenobi, you need to tell Skyguy you love him 'cause apparently he's been having a lot of emotions about you not telling him you care and he's been talking to mini-you about it whenever they get stuck together and--"

Young Obi-Wan is just constantly the "Now we don't have time to unpack all of that" John Mulaney gif. Anakin in particular is a mess, and young Obi-Wan slowly goes from "I want to date that" to "I want to study that" about him.

Obi-Wan gets stuck somewhere with Ben, tries to small talk, gets on the topic of Vader, and spills the drama. He gets an awkward “Thank you for bringing that to my attention.”

It’s followed by a fairly frustrated “I try, but Anakin refuses to communicate his needs to me, and it feels like I’m always falling short.”

At least one member of the group is in therapy, probably all of them, but they’re still using young Obi as a sounding board for all this stuff. On the bright side, this is probably good for impressing the importance of good communication on Obi-Wan.

Good for Obi-Wan! And... whatever Padawan he eventually has.

As for baby Anakin, who is approximately age four, I want to go with "Anakin decides to be his own uncle, and Shmi just rolls with it because fuck it, she’s not a slave anymore, and a Fake Sith is a solid defense against anyone trying to re-enslave them."

[This is a backstory I've had them use before (see here and here).]

Seeing Big Ani and Little Ani in the same space might be what finally pings the "oh shit, that's future me" thing for Obi-Wan... you know, if he’s ever allowed close enough to see Little Ani in the first place.

Little Ani stays with the fake-Sith and is sorta jointly trained by all of them, and young Obi-Wan teaches little 'Soka at the Temple. Ani and 'Soka still end up friends somehow, but it is fairly different.

Every time little Ani addresses Old Obi as "Dad," it's just like ten kinds of awkward. The one time someone tried to explain that Ben wasn't his new dad, Shmi glared them down. She is of the opinion that, all the gods be damned, Ani deserves to refer to the most mature man in his life, who raised another him in another timeline already, as a father.

Ani doesn't NEED a father, Shmi herself is more than enough, but he does deserve to have this if he wants it.

An alternative conclusion to the time travel is uh. So the Mandalorians are genetically identical (give or take a hair gene) and really resemble Jango Fett, though whether anyone notices that is up in the air. Then the three ‘Sith’ (two fake Sith and their morality chain tag-along) have three younger, identical copies show up….

It could be really weird cloning shenanigans. Now, it makes no sense that they’d make clones, and stagger their production like that, and leave them as babies on various planets for Jedi to find. IDK what reasons Obi-Wan would come up with for that, but it’s a fun little detour before he gets to time travel.

There's a really painful moment (for the audience, who know about canon Vader) where someone tries to convince Ahsoka to leave the Sith and she's just like "no way, they'd never hurt me!” Then she clarifies that “someone has to keep them from doing stupid Sith shit whenever they get bored, you know?"

A bunch of Jedi probably think she’s delusional, but the few that have seen her get into trouble that is legitimately too much for her, which isn't often, have then seen Anakin show up like the devil himself to save her, and it's like. Oh. This is why she isn't scared of them hurting her.

We’ve discussed how Anakin does get concerningly in character with the fake Sith thing. However, Anakin and Ahsoka are, just once in a while, surprised by how Ben gets sometimes when playing the bad guy.

After all, he stabbed a dude with a fork and threatened to eat him during his time as Hardeen…

He has the same dramatic streak as all the rest of the lineage. He can be vindictive and creepy and scary as fuck.

HOWEVER:

Obi-Wan: I know I'm supposed to be playing at evil right now, but how do we feel about me making that evil a little... fruity? Ahsoka: Fruity, master? Anakin, who knows where this is going: [buries face in hands] Obi-Wan: You know, the... [limp wrist] Ahsoka: ... Obi-Wan: I mean, I'm already bisexual and well-groomed, I can play it up.

What’s the point of being evil if you can’t be flamboyant?

Anyway, I had to put in a lot of thought for what to do with Rex and Cody, because there's a solid place for them in terms of strategy, but it doesn't do much to give them independent narrative arcs, and 'young Obi-Wan has a crush' isn't much of an arc, you know?

So, basic info first: Cody, Rex, and Anakin all hold the rank of General in this AU because, like... who else is gonna. Ahsoka remains a commander because everyone declares her Baby, and also to keep up the "I'm a morality chain" ruse.

Cody maintains a very stern and unyielding public persona, but the second they're behind closed doors, he's roughhousing with his little brother.

Rex has some fun pretending to be a sadist whenever he and Anakin have to team up, because hamming it up as an evil bastard in front of Jedi is actually really fun... but usually, he's a competent fucking professional.

Because here's the thing: someone has to be.

They both kind of hate the army they've gotten, because these people don't even have proper trigger discipline, let alone any actual discipline.

This army? Tragic. They hate it. Give them the clones.

They have to be drill sergeants for months before they have anything worth sending onto the field.

I think that might be how/when they end up reaching out to Jango. Like, the first inroad is absolutely "we're your clones from the future and you were a Shit Dad so you owe us," but then they actually talk him around into letting the Fake Sith hire him. He brings along all the Mandalorians he can get to answer his calls, and on suggestion from Those Mando Twins, joins the army Ben doesn't even want.

Darth Boring doesn't want an army! Unfortunately, Cody thinks that's stupid as hell, and is overruling Ben so they can actually work on this 'cleaning up the galaxy of slavery' thing with actual resources.

Cody and Rex are super competent, and it shows in their horrified disdain for the state of their troops.

Rex: Fucking natborns. Anyone who isn't in the know: What's a natborn? Rex: [leaves without answering] People: WHAT'S A NATBORN???

(I'm assuming that the word smush is harder to parse in Basic.)

I think young Obi-Wan's new crush on Cody should also be unrequited. Cody's just like... bemused. Very "Okay, then, that sure is an Affection you've decided on."

Cody and Anakin both: Sorry, it’d just be too weird. Obi-Wan: Why would it be too weird? Cody and Anakin: Reasons.

Rex has to deal with the "whyyyyy" from both his brother and his (former?) General.

Young Obi-Wan just likes cute boys that fight good! Is that so wrong???

Ahsoka: So since we're not officially Jedi anymore-- Obi-Wan: We're still Je-- Ahsoka: Can we date? Can I date now? I want to date someone before we go back to the Code. It's a classic life experience for most teenage girls, and I want to Have That Experience before we're back at the Temple. Obi-Wan: You're not... you can date, Ahsoka, that's not actually banned by the Code. I mean, you'd have to keep it casual, but-- Ahsoka: I CAN DATE!!!

(Great priorities, Ahsoka.)

An idea I'm toying with is that one of the clones ends up Legally Engaged to Satine for political reasons, and young Obi-Wan is just like ???? because not only can he not date the hot boys, but one of said hot boys has become Mr. Steal Yo Girl.

Young Obi-Wan is suffering, and Quinlan is the worst friend ever because Quinlan is laughing at him.

There is obviously the question of

"How would Satine ever end up agreeing to that, given what their public personas are like and all that? She puts duty ahead of personal feelings but all indications are that it’s a terrible decision both ways." (as stated by Tia)

Which, yes, I forgot to actually say that I was imagining Jango had declared "those twins" his heirs after telling people they were his younger* cousins. Because reasons.

* Jango is about 27 when they land in the past, and I’m going to say the accelerated aging ended after hitting physically twenty because no, I don’t want to deal with that. As far as anyone knows, Cody and Rex are about five years younger than Jango. They’re less than year apart, which isn’t very visible, and most people assume they’re identical twins (except Rex’s hair), and that Cody just looks slightly older because of the scar.

Darth Boring had convinced Satine that the way to keeping Mandalore peaceful was to work with Jango (because Darth Boring, which is not his actual title but it is what Ahsoka insists on calling him in private, has a vested interest in keeping Mandalore and all interested parties calm), and he... maybe accidentally set up a political marriage between her and one of the clones.

It wasn't on purpose! Satine never married in his timeline, okay, he didn't expect her to ever get married here, either! He didn't even suggest it! This just happened!

(I want to say that Cody would be more competent at having a political marriage? But IDK.)

Do I do the Satine thing? It has potential, but also it's a bit of a cop-out. Do I have Cody be a diplomatic representative for their pseudo-Sith empire? He could be, but I think he'd hate it. Do I have Rex date one the Chaos Entities (Anakin or Ahsoka), or is that too repetitive with my other works? THERE'S JUST TOO MUCH GOING ON.

Part of me wants Quinlan to get a crush on Cody, and the crush gets bigger specifically in response to the fact that Cody refuses to take him seriously and/or just doesn't give him the time of day.

Based on their one interaction in TCW, they probably let get along ok. Cody maybe likes him back, buuuuuuut internally he's just a little "you were tolerable at almost-forty; early twenties you is obnoxious."

Just imagine the absolutely puppyish attempts at gaining approval and Impressing The Hot Mando General. Quinlan keeps having vague daydreams of seducing someone to the side of the Light. He really leans into the bodice ripper fantasies of saving someone evil with the power of love! (And also the power of really good sex.)

Bant looks at Quin and Obi and wants to throw them both into the nearest pond because they're idiots, but on this topic they are the same flavor of idiot. She considers calling up Reeft and Garen to help her knock some sense into them.

Quinlan: Can I volunteer to go undercover to the Sith? The Council: No. Quinlan: ...what if I-- The Council: No.

Tholme tries to get Qui-Gon to commiserate over their Padawans getting obsessed with Hot Sith Boys, but Qui-Gon just finds the whole thing funny. He knows from the chats he has with Ben that Anakin feels so completely, utterly, incredibly awkward about all of this.

(Ben continues to hold to "Anakin brought this on himself.")

(Ben also “kidnaps” Qui-Gon a lot.)

Also, hey, at least Quinlan isn’t actually into hot Sith boys! He’s into hot Sith minions which is... probably a step up. At least Cody’s not a Sith himself!

It's a step in some direction but Tholme has no idea which one.

(Quinlan sees Cody in dress uniform once and just keeps the mental image for Ages. It’s in his dreams. Sometimes said dreams overflow to Tholme via Force Mind Magic and Quinlan wakes up to someone smacking his face with a pillow.)

Arguably, Quin's also a lot more romantic about his crush than Obi-Wan is, in this case. Quinlan: I want to save him... Obi-Wan: Hey, hey, cute boy. Look at me. Let’s bang.

Cody: There are currently two future Jedi generals having some form of absurd romantic fixation in my direction. I don't know how to feel about this. Rex: Bed them. Cody: ...I'm not saying that's not eventually an option, but one of them is the younger Kenobi, and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that. Rex: Pat him on the head like a tooka and then bed his friend, it'll be funny.

I think the Quinlan thing and also general exasperation of leading an absolutely useless army can function pretty solidly as the basis for Cody, but I have another idea for Rex now.

Komari is currently brainwashed in a cult, yes? So.

I keep bouncing around back and forth on what to do with Rex, but part of me suddenly really likes the idea of, after Team Fake Sith finds and dissolves the cult (as one does), and takes Komari into custody (because she's dangerous and deeply unwell), Rex kind of ends up her touchstone to being a decent person. He’s not a morality chain, and it’s not really a redeemed-through-love thing, just This Is A Solid Dude who doesn't pity her or thinks she's irredeemable (however you choose to define such a thing), but actually relates to the kind of conditions living like that can involve, and just kind of...

I don’t know. I think Rex's arc in this AU could be very heavily grounded in something to the effect of "You're not the worst darksider I've met. You're not the only person who was in a cult. You're not even the only former Jedi I know that's committed awful, horrible crimes. My question is just this: What are you going to do moving forward?"

Later Anakin: Wait, who do we know that was in a cult? Rex: What did you think Kamino was?

(Rex isn't as chill as he'd like her to think, but he's trying, and she's fairly reliant on the Force to understand emotions, and is currently in nullifying cuffs, so he can bluff.)

Komari needs someone solid and dependable to rely on for at least conversation, and I think Rex needs to feel needed.

I’m not sure if it’d be romance or friendship, but I think there's a solid basis to work with, potentially.

Per Tia:

One thing about Rex and shipping is like. If you want to do Rexwalker again that's fine, but if you're worried about repetitiveness but still want to like. Ship him in a non-political-convenience way. Rexsoka here actually would be different than your other stuff.

I'm trying to figure out if I can make it work because Ahsoka thematically fits very much into a little sister shaped hole here? She feels younger than in other works, despite not actually being younger than she is in, say, Commander Buir. In those other fics, she has some time alone to function and prove herself independently of Anakin and Obi-Wan.

I usually pluck Ahsoka out at sixteen if I'm pulling her from TCW, so she's got most of her competence but hasn't gotten quite all the trauma yet. Commander Buir, in particular, also has baby-shaped Anakin for contrast.

That said, I can see a decent source of narrative conflict in her wanting to experiment with romance and all that, and Anakin trying to tell her she's too young.

A year into this whole time-travel mess, she wants to give the dating thing a shot, and it spirals into "You were only two years older than me when you got married!"

I think I could build a plot out of Ahsoka wanting to do these things, and Anakin as an audience insert not quite processing that she's old enough to make these decisions. If she's choosing to date Rex, whose age works out as being close to hers when one takes into account Kamino fuckery, and whom she trusts absolutely, it’s arguably extra weird for Anakin to be upset with it.

"Senator Amidala was five years older than you, and you married her when you were nineteen and had only really known her for a week! I can go on a date with a guy we both know is one of the most trustworthy people alive if I want, Skyguy!"

I can definitely see Ahsoka getting annoyed with Anakin being overbearing and controlling at some point before that unrelated to romance, too. It’s not exactly a new fault of his.

My god, just imagine someone snidely asking Anakin "where's your little shadow?" and Anakin, being Himself and also a Fake Sith, has an emotional breakdown about how Ahsoka yelled at him for micromanaging her and not trusting her to make her own decisions in life and so she got herself a multi-month solo mission from Ben that Anakin isn't allowed to know any details about, and--

It's another one of those "oh, you have PROBLEMS problems with your mental health" incidents for the Jedi to add to the file, because Anakin having emotionally charged rants about his issues at seemingly terrible times is how they get a lot of information.

Some of the rants are planned.

Many of them, actually.

They want the Jedi to know these things.

Just, well. Anakin.

He really is a little Like That.

On that note, I'm low-key imagining that Anakin gets put on mood stabilizers by the therapist in this context, and he's doing good! He's handling his issues! He's--been captured with Obi-Wan the Younger again and his medication was confiscated.

Anakin is... not great. He's a little out of practice managing his unmedicated self, and when adding withdrawal symptoms onto that... poor Anakin.

(Poor Obi-Wan.)

I think it would be best if Anakin makes a bunch of ominous blustery comments at their captors about how they won't like what's coming to them if they take his belongings (AKA the fanny pack that has his backup pills), and then Obi-Wan just gets to watch Anakin get more and more erratic, because like. Yes, Anakin is using the Force to compensate, but unfortunately he's mostly cut off, and the stress of the situation is pushing him away from depression and into the beginnings of a manic episode.

Anakin is aware of his issues to the point where he's mostly managing, and he keeps asking Obi-Wan "would it make sense for me to [slightly deranged, very impulsive action]," and Obi-Wan realizes he's being the morality sounding board for the Hot Sith because ??? reasons?????

Eventually, Anakin does flop back in bed and dramatically throws his arm over his eyes, and says he needs his meds back, he's absolutely going to lose it, and Obi-Wan tentatively asks what kind of medication. There are levels to worry about. Mild allergy medication is one thing, but heart medication that needs to be taken every four hours is another, you know? He wants to know how much panic is appropriate.

Anakin lets him know that it's Psychiatric In Nature. Obi-Wan suddenly realizes that he really, really, really doesn't want to know what a properly erratic, unmedicated Anakin is like.

(An unmedicated Anakin really isn't nearly as bad as Obi-Wan fears. Anakin's been dealing with this for a while, and knows what his issues are and some of how to deal with them. He'd need to be running on no sleep and higher levels of stress, or to have been drugged with something meant to increase his aggression, to really lose his shit and do something worthy of Vader. RotS levels of stress and sleep deprivation is required to pull RotS levels of manic paranoid delusion.)

Tia asked:

How long does it take the Jedi in general to catch on to how like. They have opportunities. But these Sith never seem to harm any Jedi. And it’s not just like, the past timeline parts of the disaster lineage. They probably get opportunities to hurt other Jedi. Ones that are less skilled at saber work. And more importantly ones that they don’t seem weirdly interested in."

I'm not sure, really. The Jedi don't spend as much time in the Outer Rim as they could, and that's where the Team operates, so actually running into them by accident is unlikely for anyone other than Shadows.

Fortunately, it's really easy to toy with Shadows with the excuse of "I want to see how long it takes before you Fall with us."

I do want like... okay. Here’s the mental image:

Qui-Gon calls them out on being Fake Sith pretty quickly, so Ben just sort of eyes him, dramatically, and orders out "Leave us" to all non-team people. The threat of torture is implied but not stated. He gestures with wine to keep in character. He definitely makes sure Young Obi-Wan is ushered out, so it's just five time travelers, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Ahsoka's immortal force birb.

"...so, what's the reason for the farce, Obi-Wan?" "How in all the hells did you figure it out so quickly?"

(Qui-Gon cheated a bit. He could feel the broken training bond that was never properly severed due to Traumatic Death Of A Master on Ben's end)

Ben didn't realize he'd feel it! Young Obi-Wan can't feel his older self or a training bond with Anakin or Ahsoka, so why could Qui-Gon?

IDK if there would be anything on the level of crying and hugging it out, but I think it would be very funny if, every time young Obi and Anakin are getting captured by pirates or something, Ben and Qui-Gon are just having a nice afternoon tea and checking their watches to see if their respective walking bundles of neuroses are done with their adventure yet.

The Council is So Done, because Qui-Gon continues to insist that they're Not That Bad, but every time anyone other than Qui-Gon brings up the friendship, Ben laughs and makes a comment about how absolutely gullible Master Jinn is.

Obi-Wan is skeptical of his own experiences with Anakin, at least, if only because he's skeptical about Anakin's everything.

"I don't know if Vader is telling me the truth. I don't know if he's telling himself the truth. I don't think he's a great source of information even when he thinks he's being honest."

Anakin could tell Obi-Wan the full and complete truth, and Obi-Wan would worriedly put a hand to his forehead and start doing tests for hallucinations and paranoid delusions. In his defense, this is a very reasonable assumption to make with an individual like Anakin. It's just also not accurate, this time. I don’t know if Anakin hallucinates in canon without a weird inciting incident like Force Nonsense or getting drugged by the enemy, but paranoid delusion is pretty much all of RotS.

"I’m your time-traveling padawan who’s pretending to be a Sith to catch some other Sith who’re going to start a galactic civil war and those Mandalorians you like are from a clone army based on a template of Jango Fett made to serve the Jedi (because that’s totally something he’d sign up for), and one of the Sith is your grandmaster but he doesn’t seem to have fallen yet, it’s probably fine," is hard to believe.

Honestly, even if he seemed stable before saying that, which he doesn’t, it’s all real far fetched. There's a lot going on and Obi-Wan wouldn't even begin to believe it without evidence.

I've had it in my head that he and Bant and Quinlan have been gossiping about the mess for months if not years about these idiots, and at one point it became common knowledge that Ben was a Kenobi, and Bant convinced them (since the two were among the most likely in the entire Order to encounter the Fake Sith) to get a DNA sample, probably hair or blood since that's easiest so they can figure out HOW these two are related, if they are, and then there's a whole big thing.

Bant: No, no, this must be contaminated, it's coming up as Obi-Wan! Are you sure you didn't accidentally grab some of your own hairs? I know it's a little long for most of your hair, but the braid-- Quinlan: Wait, they keep claiming stuff about cloning, right? Maybe someone's a clone? Check for artificial telomeres! Bant: ...okay, so, there aren't any artificial telomeres, but the ones from apparently-Ben are... a lot shorter... um... I don't know what to do with this. It's like I have two samples from the same person, twenty years apart. Quinlan: Obi-Wan, what's that face? Why are you-- Obi-Wan: Vader told me he was a time-traveler. I thought it was the fever talking, but...

That’s how he finds out that Ben is future-him before finding out about how he’s not evil!

"Master Jinn... I think... I think the Sith controlling the Outer Rim is me from the future." "Oh, you finally figured it out?" "I AM HAVING A CRISIS HERE."

Obi-Wan, after a few hours of dazed realization, runs screaming to Quinlan and Bant like 'GUYS GUYS THIS EXPLAINS WHY VADER KEPT SAYING IT WAS WEIRD AND THAT I LOOK LIKE HIS MASTER AND THAT IT WOULD BE LIKE DATING HIS DAD.'

You know, the important stuff.

I think Qui-Gon tells him that Ben isn't evil because, like, That Sure Is A Crisis Obi-Wan's Having. He could hold off for shits and giggles, sure, but Obi-Wan’s on the edge of something Really Concerning, mentally. Best help calm him down on at least one or two things.

Obi-Wan’s maybe still a little skeptical until he confronts them over it. Because their Sith act was real good and also like. Maybe Qui-Gon just wants to believe the best of his Padawan, y’know?

Quinlan runs into Ben before Obi-Wan does, after this whole mess, and gets to observe as money changes hands and people act like sore winners about bets made for When Does Obi-Wan Figure It Out.

Anakin was saying 'soon' because he really didn't think the fever-fueled rant would be discounted as easily as it was.

Cody was of the opinion that it would take at least a few more years since they're actually pretty damn good at this whole schtick.

Quinlan: Wow, he's... going to be really disappointed that you have such a low opinion of his intelligence. Cody, gesturing at Ben: Experience. Darth Ben: ಠ_ಠ

Cody just rattles off some of the Extremely Stupid Shit that Ben's done in their time working together.

Rex cheerily offers up "You didn't even realize General Skywalker was married, sir! And they weren't subtle!" "I knew they were together, I just didn--" "Everyone knew they were together, sir. Everyone."

(Rex had the lowest opinion of their deductive capabilities. He claims it would have taken until Baby Ahsoka showed up at the Jedi Temple.)

-Once Obi-Wan accepts that they're decent people after all- Obi-Wan: Wow, Anakin, you're real good at acting unhinged! Anakin: Haha. Yeah. Thanks?

[umbraastaff]

absolutely no issues with anyone else bc this is totally personal preference but it doesn’t quite sit right with me when people write Barry as not knowing any magic, or being really bad at it, etc at the start of stolen century

like, okay, i can understand having fun with watching his arc and growth from there, yes. but canonically he IS one of the five Very Skilled Wizards who got onto that boat at the start of it all. he knew his stuff & could use it too. consider that wizardry is literally magic that you learn from studying, and Barry's whooole entire flaw early life was that he did nothing BUT study. his arc was not learning magic, it was connecting with other people.

consider, instead:

barry is skilled at magic, but entirely rigid, academic magic with no spell flexibility where the incantations take too long to be truly useful in the terrible situations they now find themselves in. the twins, who have survived the unpredictable and terrible whims of the world most of their lives, have lots of tips for doing quicker, more original, less by-the-book magic, and eventually he develops his own style.

on the flipside: when they realize they're going to be in way more danger than they realized, Institute Professor Barry Bluejeans helps magnus learn some basics, and/or guides Lucretia (already a good wizard, but a pretty young one with a career pointed elsewhere) into more advanced magic before she specializes.

Barry uses magic that is exceedingly plain, and nobody thinks twice about it because of course the plan normal guy has a boring style of magic... but after Taako takes pity on him and tries to help give his magic *some* sense of personal style, (or perhaps in the midst of a life-threatening situation), we find out that Barry is actually already a (horrifyingly) adept necromancer. He was just overcompensating with plainness to avoid the judgement of his peers. (Who should've known, with all those "theoretical" papers he released on the topic of necromancy back home. But who reads those?)

fic where we hardly see Barry use any magic, because in this one, he often does things by hand if he can help it. They assume he's bad at magic, or can't really do it at all and is just good with the theoretical stuff. A year in, after he's bonded with the twins and no longer anxiously worried that they hate him, he starts pranking Taako with things like turning kitchenware to denim. when Taako accuses other people on the ship, Barry assumes it's a joke, because it's so obvious that's him, right? He doesn't at ALL realize nobody thinks he does magic.

this is going off the rails, but the point stands: let this lad do magic!

[fruit-salad-ship]

Ive binged so much brainrot (also normal stuff, congrats on the new site release!) This may have already been done, but: world where the trio were born rotated? Ie grey's born in peach's rough situation, peach is born into the stuffy riches and aloof family, plum gets grey's comparitively standard childhood

oof, the tough job of imagining what Grey would do with the same childhood Peach had.

So I guess step by step here:

Grey grew up being pushed to do things no child should have to do, it made him tough, it made him harsh, but under no circumstance was he ever going to take over the family business, male heirs did not happen, and seeing as the other cousins were boys too, he was pushed aside, in favour of his younger sister, born a year after him, another try for a girl. Her appearance brought out the worst in him, he was palmed off on staff and forgotten with the other two cousins, given tasks and work to keep him busy and out of the adults hair, all the while watching his sister get the attention he thought he deserved too. The boys bond, perhaps even plot in their older ages to overthrow the women in charge, but are always too afraid to try, its a harsh life but they've got it good, everything their twisted little hearts desire, so why mess with that? Grey can go off and start fights, his size and power means he's gained a reputation, rivalled only by the older cousin, who hit the gym to keep up with him, they compete a lot because of this. Together they keep staff in line, deals go smoothly, and pokemon bend the knee to them. They endlessly pick on the 3rd cousin, small and lanky in comparison, the youngest, an easy target. Grey does not find joy in things, he is not an inventor, not calm or collected, he was pushed too hard, and it made him cold. Plum instead of her elitist life comes from more humble beginnings, a huge loving family all piled into one big home, they laugh and joke together, theres a distinct change in her habits, she's happier, she feels less on the spot, like she doesn't have to perform, to be perfect. Her family dote on her, she's a middle child, not responsible enough to be in charge, not young enough to need help, just happy medium. The support and human connection she gains makes her life an open book, she travels and mixes with a lot of people, and puts out a very cheery disposition, able to adjust to situations and different folks from all walks of life. Her people skills are exceptional, others let their guards down around her. She may not have the money, nor the power, she doesn't get to do things in first class, or mess with the finer things in life, but she finds joy in new things, simpler things. Her friends are her world, she visits home often, and radiates warmth, a sweet disposition. Her passion to protect the ones she loves drives her hard, she's never had any trauma or neglect, so when bad things happens she can crumble a bit, not being prepared for it as much. Goes down the Pokemon Breeder route, really good with eggs and youngsters, seeing as she's got so many brothers and sisters, naturally adept at handling that energy.

Peach is an elitist asshole, growing up with money, praise, too many options, and not enough rules, she's been off the leash since as long as she can remember, took up several hobbies, spent countless hours indulging in things like Polo and fencing, loves to hang out at the golf club or by the pool. Her attitude is painfully 'better than you' at every turn, but she lacks any sense of humility. Her pokemon are papered beyond belief, making them fussy and difficult. She has no need to fight and so never got buff, no need to be anything more than the typical ideal daughter, which she does when she can be bothered. She is probably the most sheltered of the three, and gets a little overwhelmed in situations that are unfamiliar to her. Quick tempered still but its more annoying, less for good reason. She's basically awful! Theres a lack of authority in her life, so when having to follow rules, she fails quite spectacularly, and doesn't care either. Very two faced. Lonely.

none of their pokemon would be the same, none of their hobbies or talents. Totally different people hah

[lobster-sock]

Fun Amphibia side character theory

Hi welcome to my TED Talk, I promise this theory has nothing to do with severing characters' arms. Without further ado, here are my reasons to believe that "One-Eyed" Wally Ribbiton is Ivy Sundew's father!

I first subscribed to this theory in March '21 & have since become its most fervent champion, plugging it wherever I could. And now with Amphibia S3B coming in less than a month, I'm finally deciding to make my case here on tumblr. Also the images are from my reddit post about this

So let's start off with how similar Wally & Ivy's respective Season 2 episodes are: "Swamp & Sensibility" & "Ivy on The Run". In both episodes, Ivy & Wally fight with their parents, who set different expectations on their children. When those expectations are shattered, the parents and children compete against each other. In the end, the children win & reconcile with their parents. Of course, there are a few embellishments to distinct the two episodes, but the plots to both are more or less the same!

In "Swamp", we find out Wally actually lives outside the valley as a very rich boy, & he only poses as a homeless vagrant to escape the stresses of rich boy life. In "Ivy", we find out Felicia, Ivy's mom, traveled outside the valley before Ivy was born. It's not implausible to assume that Felicia traveled to Wally's town of Ribbitvale while collecting her tea & china, where they met & hit it off. A lot off.

When Wally decided to leave Ribbitvale, why did he go for Wartwood? It's a relatively unassuming town, sure, but it's like he was going there for something or someone. Felicia, perhaps. But at this time, Felicia could've been pregnant with Ivy, & knowing Wally didn't want to take part in a family in fear of becoming like his father, Felicia didn't tell him he was the baby daddy and let him be a vagrant.

In "Ivy on The Run", about four minutes in we discover Wally is an expert fighter in Muay Thai, or whatever the Amphibia equivalent is. In the same episode, Ivy & Felicia's final battle is a 3-round Muay Thai battle, where it's revealed Felicia is also a very skilled fighter, having picked up the moves outside the valley. Having Wally & Felicia revealed to be adept fighters in the same episode does sound a little sus. Maybe they had the same teacher, or they taught each other. Honestly it's cute thinking about them teaching each other moves.

Wally & Ivy share similar characteristics. They're both wild childs compared to their pompous parents. And in "Anne of The Year", Ivy pulls down her hat so that only one of her eyes is shown. One Eyed Ivy, anyone? Okay. They also seem to be self-conscious about their hair. In "Wally & Anne", Wally's iconic hat blows away and he says, "My iconic hat!", revealing a luscious Beatle-esque hairdo. And he says it like he's ashamed of people seeing his hair, Wally baby don't be ashamed! Anyway, Ivy has a similar reaction when her hat falls off in "The Shut In", and she tells Sprig not to look at her, even though Sprig thinks she looks gr8. The hair keeps in "Ivy on The Run", so while most of the stuff in "Shut-In" might have been non-canon, Ivy's self-consciousness may just be canon.

Also this is probs reading too much into things, but both Ivy & Wally have purple mouths while Felicia has a bit of a turquoise mouth. And Wally's open eye is the same color as Ivy's skin. Yeah that's a stretch but it's not implausible.

Oh and I also wanna point out a scene in "Reunion" where one of the toads throws Wally to the floor, & Ivy's first reaction is to throw a plate at the toad. Even though Ivy probably doesn't know Wally is her father, it's a reaction like that that really shows Ivy has some sort of connection to Wally.

Onto what I think is the most damning piece of evidence. In "Ivy on The Run", Ivy says to Felicia that she still can't believe she was a world traveler. Keep in mind while Anne & Sprig are in the shot, the only people fully in frame are Ivy, Felicia & Wally. Wally's on the left side of the frame while the Sundews are in center. Anyway, Felicia replies "Oh honey, where do you think I met your father?" Instantly, the camera shifts left to have Wally in the center frame. Our attention has been brought to the mother & daughter to this side character. There is a sense of importance to this character now.

Trust me guys, I took many film classes, I know my film theory.

There's also a sting chord played after Felicia says that, which makes it a little "aha" moment for people who cared who Ivy's father is. I wasn't one of those people but I've been converted.

Also there was no reason at all for Wally to be in Ivy's episode. The only logical reason is that they're building up to something. I've clarified Wally & Ivy's episodes are the same conceptually, so having Wally in Ivy's episode is logical just to remind us of his episode. If Wally isn't revealed to be Ivy's father, then there was no reason to have him there at all.

Anyway yeah, that's my theory, thanks for looking at this & feel free to give your feedback even though none of this is up for debate. Special thanks to RedMetalSky on reddit for basically birthing this theory.

[lalainajanes]

For klarosummerbingo, my “mango lassi” square! Did I order Indian food for dinner? Yes, yes I did.

Masks Off

When she notices the goon tailing her – shaved head, seasonally inappropriate leather jacket, neck tattoos – Caroline’s pissed off.

And exhausted.

She’d spent all day cooped up in the boardroom at Forbes Industries, listening to men twice her age complain about dividends and try to suggest that workers didn’t really need a raise subtly.

It had been a tedious and pointless exercise, one she suffers quarterly. Caroline holds 51% of the company’s shares and can easily wrangle another block of shareholders into voting with her. Her parent’s wills, read out fourteen years ago, had bequeathed a stake in FI to several loyal employees. People they’d loved, who’d stepped in to help raise Caroline after they’d passed.

The board knows she has the final say, and it kills them. They think she’s an idiot, that she’d bought her degrees and can’t comprehend the financial statements. They try to ply her with compliments and flattery, attempt unsubtle fibs – Caroline plays dumb and tolerates the bullshit because she knows she can control them. Another board might not be so easy to manipulate.

She’d had a headache by the time the meeting had wrapped, had been so grateful to see Enzo waiting at the curb. She’d practically dived into the backseat of the town car, had rolled the partition down, and enjoyed a satisfying debrief and bitch session on the drive back to her apartment. Enzo had offered to grab her dinner before he went off the clock, but Caroline knew he had a date night planned. She’d shoed him away, told him she’d order in.

Once safely tucked away in her place Caroline had gotten restless.

She’d changed out of her boring suit, pulled out the pins in her hair, and loosely braided it back. After changing into a pale blue cotton dress and pair of oversized sunglasses, then selecting a few Forbes Industries prototypes, Caroline had headed out for sustenance.

She hadn’t bothered to let her security detail know. She’s adept at sneaking away under their noses. The detail is mostly for show, to make sure no one connects Caroline Forbes, wild child heiress, to the vigilante who’s working on tidying up the city streets.

She’ll slip into the leather ensemble she’d commissioned once night falls and load up with weapons. Then she’ll head to the garage where she keeps her armored vehicles and larger toys.

There’s a new villain who’s been popping up more and more frequently on her patrols. She hasn’t caught him doing anything untoward just yet, and he’s yet to make the papers and have a ridiculous name bestowed upon him. She’s scoured papers from England, then the rest of Europe, checking to see if there was a reputation that preceded him. So far, she’s found nothing, but  Caroline knows he must be working on something big.

Why else would he be so determined to attract her attention? He must have some kind of plan cooking up, wants her looking in another direction when he enacts it.

The walk to the restaurant had been uneventful. Caroline had to wait a few minutes for her order to be ready, but passing the time on a bench outside, unnoticed, her people-watching undisturbed, had been a nice change from how she’d spent the rest of the day.

It promised to be a hot evening, even though the sun would be setting shortly. Sweat had begun gathering near her hairline, forcing curls out of her braid. Caroline had added a mango lassi to her order and collected her dinner, inhaled appreciatively at the warm, spicy scent emanating from the paper bag.

She’d begun her walk home, sipping her drink contentedly, weaving through the growing number of pedestrians who were venturing out for the evening.

She’d noted the guy shadowing her about three blocks from her building, had heaved a dramatic sigh that had the guy waiting for the walk light with her edging away.

She’d just wanted to stuff herself with naan, biryani, and saag paneer and become one with her couch for a few hours before she went out to take out her frustrations on some bad guys. Was that too much to ask?

Caroline takes a turn, heading east to where there should be fewer people, reaching into her bag to slide her fingers into the modified brass knuckles (not actually brass but a proprietary FI compound) and grasping the extendable baton.

She takes another turn to check that she’s not paranoid, but the goon mirrors it.

As does another person.

Caroline pretends to adjust the strap of her dress, twisting her head to get a better look at her second pursuer. It’s an impressively muscular woman, her considerable height only enhanced by her spiked hair, dressed in skin-tight shorts and a mesh crop top.

She doesn’t seem to mind that Caroline’s spotted her, wiggling her fingers and offering a challenging smile.

There are two possibilities. Either the people following her are cocky and stupid – really the ideal scenario – or they’re cocky because they’ve got a solid plan and some big guns.

When a hand grabs her upper arm and yanks her into an alley, spilling the mango lassi and staining her dress, Caroline suspects it might be the latter. She’s thrown against a wall, just managing to get her hands up to save her face from being smashed into the brick.

She hears footsteps pounding against concrete, and the two pursuers she’s noticed join the man who’d yanked her into the alley. Regretfully, Caroline drops her takeout and her bag and backs away, hiding her weapons in the folds out of the skirt. She forces a quaver into her voice, “What do you want?”

It’s unlikely that three people who seem to have stepped right out of the goon for hire catalog have just decided to rob her. Caroline doesn’t want to assume there’s a larger plot. She’s hoping this won’t turn into a big thing, and she’s out of luck if people are planning to kidnap Caroline Forbes for ransom.

But it’ll be even messier if a bad guy’s clocked her extracurricular activities.

The spiky-haired woman takes the lead, stalking towards Caroline. She’s got a knife in her hand now, “What do I want? Twenty million dollars, to start with.”

Oh good. It’s just a kidnapping.

Honestly, kind of an insulting one. She won’t even have to liquate any assets to come up with the twenty million. Caroline stops moving, straightens her spine. “Done!” she chirps brightly. “Wire transfer, or cheque? I can do cash too, but that’s like ten briefcases. What are you going to do with them after?”

She’s been hoping to catch her attempted kidnapper off guard, but the woman doesn’t falter. She snorts, “You’re funny. I didn’t expect that.”

“Thanks, I get that a lot. I’m chock full of surprises.”

Spike lunges forward, and Caroline dodges, stepping past her and whipping her arm out, until her weapon lengthens fully. She crouches, extending her leg and spinning while slashing with her baton. Caroline lands a brutal strike on Spike’s kidneys. Spikes grunts, stumbles forward, arm banding over her stomach protectively. Caroline completes her spin and rises, catching Spike with a punch before she pauses, poised on the balls of her feet, back to a wall.

Her would-be kidnappers no longer look as confident. Spikes spits blood, expression enraged. The other two watch Caroline with calculative gazes.

“Girls gotta keep in shape, right? The tabloids are brutal. It turns out the elliptical is super boring, so I had to find something a little more fun.” Caroline leaps forward, tucking into a roll, snagging a brick from the ground and using her momentum to throw it into Leather Jacket’s face.

The brick makes contact with a gross crunch of blood, bone, tissue, and teeth. Leather Jacket howls, his hand coming up to cover his head. She jumps again, thighs locking around his neck, spinning to bring him to the ground. She digs her knee into his spine, gripping his head and slamming it into the ground for good measure until he goes limp underneath her.

Caroline stands, wiping her hand on her already ruined dress. “One down,” she says.

Only to instantly regret the proclamation. Bonnie says she needs to lay off on the monologuing, and maybe she’s got a point.

She senses movement behind her, near the mouth of the alley. Caroline turns warily, head swiveling between her two attackers and the men who are now freaking rappelling from the rooftops. Six of them. In black tactical gear, strapped with weapons and wearing black ski masks.

Well, crap.

If she’d been on patrol, with her protective suit and gadgets, she might have been able to take them. Now, in flats and a sundress, with two flimsy weapons and no backup, she doesn’t like her odds.

Caroline tosses the baton aside, pastes on the smile she uses when she has to ignore paparazzi shouting rude questions about her sex life at her. She lifts her hands slowly, palms open. “So, I’m guessing you don’t only want cash, huh?”

“Funny and smart,” Spikes says spitefully, coming up behind Caroline and yanking her hair. “What a rosy life you must lead.”

She feels a sharp sting in the side of her neck, then a flood of wooziness. Brief pain when she collapses.

She’s vaguely aware of being heaved up and over someone’s shoulder, of being alarmed by how her limbs won’t cooperate when she tries to fight back. She’s tossed in a trunk, encased in blackness.

Caroline fights it, the tiredness, her thoughts growing meandering and disorganized. When the engine rumbles to life underneath her, Caroline loses consciousness.

* * * * *

Caroline realizes she’s tied to a chair as soon as awareness returns.

She can hear voices murmuring, too soft for her to make out any words even when she strains. Caroline’s slumped over, pulling against the ropes. She’s definitely going to have some fun bruises tomorrow. Her head’s resting limply against her chest, and she stays as still as she can, barely opening her eyes while trying to get a good look at her surroundings.

Unfortunately, she seems to be in a pretty generic warehouse—grimy, smelly, cavernous, decorated with random overlapping graffiti.

She spots a tray of shiny, sharp medical instruments to her right.

Which is not ideal.

Caroline tests her bonds slowly, checking for any give or weakness. Any kind of opportunity. One of her captors has eagle eyes and notices her movements. She flinches when his voice booms out, “Sleeping beauty awakes!”

Damn it.

Caroline lifts her head, rolling her neck to work out the cramp that’s developed. “I prefer the modern Disney princesses, thank you.” She’s not the type to wait around for a handsome prince to come to her rescue.

She studies the guy who’d spoken. He’s got steel-grey hair and tanned skin, thick biceps. His face doesn’t show even a hint of emotion, and he doesn’t acknowledge she’d spoken. She’d guess he’s a pro, probably some variety of ex-military, likely expensive. Caroline hears the clomp of heavy boots and twists her head to see some familiar faces joining the party.

Moderately damaged familiar faces, but she’s not sorry about that.

“So about that ransom,” Caroline begins hopefully. “Twenty-five million, was it?”

The guy who’d taken a brick to the face grunts, “Thirty now. For our trouble.”

Caroline can admit that’s fair.

“I get it. Plastic surgery’s not cheap. Not that I’ve had any work done, despite what the tabloids might claim. I’m only twenty-seven. Of course my boobs look fantastic in a bikini.”

No one even cracks a smile.

“Okay, so you’re not interested in jokes. We could discuss the fact that it’s super gross that people follow me around the world and stalk me with long-lens cameras. Am I not entitled to take a vacation?”

No response.

Caroline sighs, shifting in her chair in an attempt to get more comfortable. “Tough crowd.”

Spike drags a second chair over, sitting down and resting a booted foot on her opposite knee. “Thirty million dollars. I have a list of six prisoners that I need to be released from the Super Max. And I want something from the Forbes Industries Vault. The subterranean one that most of your employees don’t know about.”

Caroline tips her head back, considering. Thirty million dollars, no big deal. The prisoners might be hard to arrange, but she’s got connections. She knows exactly who she’d need to bribe. She can always scoop them up later, wrap ‘em in a pretty little bow and leave them on the steps of city hall.

The Vault though? That’s not happening. She’s going to have to figure out how they even know about it, who else might have bought the info, but that’s a problem for later.

“How about fifty million dollars and a couple of extra prisoners? Maybe someone from the asylum?”

Spike leans over, her hand drifting over the tray of instruments. She plucks up one with a serrated edge, twirling it through her fingers. “I know you’re used to snapping your fingers and getting everything your little heart desires, but this isn’t a negotiation.”

She leans forward, resting the blade against the dip between Caroline’s collarbones. She taps it against Caroline’s skin with each carefully enunciated word, “Money. Prisoners. Vault.” She pulls back, gives the instrument another spin. “That’s my only offer. You can say yes, and we’ll give you a phone, so you’re servants can start arranging things. Or, we can do this the hard way.”

She doesn’t insult Caroline’s intelligence by spelling out what the hard way would entail.

Caroline swallows, straightens her spine. “No one gets in my vault.”

Spike sighs in faux disappointment, her eyes gleaming with anticipation. “The hard way it is, then.”

Caroline closes her eyes, holds her breath, waits for the first cut to come.

It doesn’t come from where she’d expected.

Glass shatters from high above, showering down, leaving dozens of tiny nicks across her bare shoulders. She feels a rush of air before a body landing in front of her, knees bent.

A familiar man, one who’s been taking up way too much of Caroline’s free time, smirks at her, “Hello, love.”

Caroline gapes at him, and he pivots, backing up until her bent knees brush the back of his calves. She sees few bright flashes, but his back obscures her view of what’s happening. Whatever he’s doing, it’s painfully loud. Popping sounds interrupt shouts and screams of pain, and heavy thuds ring out. Caroline cringes, tucking her ear against her shoulder in an attempt to muffle the cacophony.

Silence, when it comes, scant moments after the chaos began, is jarring. Caroline leans as far to the side as she can, eyes widening when she spots the pile of bodies. She watches as the man, who she doesn’t know if she can call her rescuer since at this point he might also be planning on ransoming her, yanks a handful of zip cuffs from his pocket.

He moves swiftly and with grace, seemingly very at home his body and aware of its capabilities. Caroline’s eyes narrow, mind whirling as he secures her attackers, and she tries to assimilate this new information. He pulls off his leather gloves when he’s done, returning to her side. His expression grows regretful, and his fingertips brush her shoulders, skimming over the cuts and scrapes there. “Sorry about these. The skylight was the best entry point. Make sure you clean them up, hmm?”

He steps passed her, and Caroline feels him make quick work of her handcuffs. She hears the snick of a knife unsheathing and stiffens, but he only uses it on the ropes that bind her legs and torso. Caroline shakes them off, stands hesitantly.

“Okay,” she says, crossing her arms and turning until they’re once more face to face, separated by the metal chair. “What exactly is happening here? Who are you?”

“I’m afraid I’m not yet ready for you to know my identity. In due time, I promise.”

Caroline sucks in a sharp breath, her teeth grinding together. “Um, how about no?”

He blinks, and Caroline steps a little closer. They’ve always met in the dark, and he’d purposely stuck to the shadows as he’d teased and tossed questions at her. She’s never been this close to him. His eyes are blue, his lashes annoyingly long in a way men never appropriately appreciate. He wears a black mask, covering from the top of his forehead to his upper lip. His hair is slicked back, but she thinks it might be on the lighter side, given the shade of his stubble.

He clears his throat and shifts his weight, but he doesn’t step back or shy away. “I… I beg your pardon?”

“I have had a garbage day. It was long, it was boring, I had to argue over things I know I’m right about, with people who think I’m a bimbo and spend way too much time trying to look down my tops. My dinner got tossed aside when goons r us scooped me up. I love this dress, and it’s ruined. I’m bleeding. I don’t know where my shoes are. I’m hungry, I’m tired, and I want to go home!” she’s shouting when she’s done ranting, out of breath.

“Right.” Her rescuer, she’s decided on the term now, shoves the chair aside. He steps forward until his feet bracket hers, wraps his arm around her waist. Caroline grips his biceps, too shocked to admonish this rude invasion of her space. “Hold on. Step up onto my feet.”

She throws her hands up in frustration, “Hello? Did anything I just said sink in?”

His lips, which she’s now noticing are very nice, full and soft looking, compress. She’s pretty sure he’s trying to swallow a laugh. “I heard every word. I’m trying to assist in getting you home. In service of that, if you could please step up onto my feet and hold on.”

His right arm rises, and Caroline recognizes the device in his hand. She’s about to ask him if he’s seriously rescuing her with a device he’d stolen from her but thinks better of it.

He’d stolen the grappling hook from a vigilante who rocks a rose pink leather catsuit, not from Caroline Forbes. It would have been a monster slip, a true testament to how rattled she is from the day’s events that she’d almost blurted out her secret identity to a guy with questionable motives and an unknown name.

Instead, she smiles tightly, loops her arms around his neck, and gingerly steps onto his heavy boots. “For future reference,” she says sweetly, “I generally only like following orders in the bedroom.”

The strangled choking noise he makes as they hurtle upward is immensely satisfying.

* * * * *

Two days later, Caroline’s on her couch watching news footage of a gala she’d been supposed to attend. She’d had a great dress, red and scandalous, all ready to go, but trying to cover her scabby shoulders with makeup had made her look like she’d contracted some kind of infectious skin issue.

She’d sent her regrets and a fat check, resigned herself to a solo evening in her comfy sweats. On her TV, a society reporter’s chattering away about the guest she’d just finished talking to, a lech who’s at least smart enough to hire a publicist good enough to hide his dealings with loan sharks. She trails off in the middle of a sentence, fingertips coming up to press at her earpiece.

The reporter looks right at the camera, excitement on her face. “I’ve just been given some breaking news! A surprise guest has arrived, all the way from the UK. Klaus Mikaelson has shied away from public life since his messy exit from his father’s corporation five years ago. He’s built his own tech firm from the ground up. Buzz had been building since they announced their intention to go public. Let’s see if we can get a few words.”

Bored with the fawning, Caroline’s just about to switch channels. She knows all about Klaus’ Mikaelson’s company. Blurbs about it have been showing up in the intelligence reports she has complied since he’d lured a pair of promising engineers from FI’s Paris offices.

She’s planning on investing in his IPO because he might have scummy HR policies, but his business is sound.

There haven’t been many pictures of him available; apparently, he’d hardly been a social butterfly even when he’d been welcome in the family fold. He couldn’t have been more than sixteen or so in the ones Caroline’s seen, in which he’d been gangly and angular and sporting a terrible haircut.

The image changes, swinging to the red carpet before Caroline can grab the remote. She pauses, impressed because Klaus Mikaelson has grown up nicely. She might be distracted by the flawless fit of his tux, which Caroline knows can cover a world of sins, so she leans closer as the camera pans up to his face.

And promptly drops her wine class.

The blue eyes. That smile, the dimple it carves into his stubbled cheek. She’d brushed her lips over that cheek barely more than forty-eight hours ago when she’d thanked him for what he’d done for her.

Klaus Mikaelson had accompanied her home the other night, had neatly deflected her probing questions, his amusement never turning to exasperation at Caroline’s dogged persistence.

She’d seriously considered inviting him into her home. She’d told herself it was only in search of more information, but a tiny part of her, the one that was unfailingly honest and sometimes gets her in trouble, had admitted her rescuer intrigued her, even without a name.

Well. Now she has one. A plan forms rapidly, and Caroline scrambles for her phone, digging it out of her couch cushions. She taps the screen, connecting a call to Bonnie. “Bon? Sorry to bug you when you’re off the clock. But I need you to find someone for me.”

She stands, walking into her bedroom as she explains what she needs.

Bonnie’s a genius, well worth the exorbitant salary Caroline pays her. She gets the address within an hour.

* * * * *

Caroline drops a rope onto the terrace of Klaus’ apartment, slips down with barely a whisper of sound, landing lightly. She hugs the side of the building, inching over to the open French doors. She’s fully suited up, hair tightly controlled, and mask on. She eases her foot over the threshold, eyes darting around.

Ugh, of course, he has excellent taste.

Caroline likes light and airy, fun patterns and textures. But she can appreciate the sumptuousness of Klaus’ living room. It’s done up in burgundies and neutrals, hints of gold. There’s a buttery leather sofa facing a fireplace, thick carpets that muffle the sounds of her boots as she walks further in. She can imagine a pleasant night in front of a crackling fire, curled up on the couch when the weather turns cold.

But she’s getting ahead of herself.

Her nose twitches, picking up the smell of curry, cardamom, and turmeric.

She hears a door click shut, whirls to find Klaus, barefoot and still dressed up from The Gala, though he’s ditched the jacket and tie. He leans against the now-closed doors to the terrace. He smiles at her warmly, “Hello, Caroline.”

Which answers one of her most pressing questions.

Caroline yanks her mask off, tossing it aside. “I realize this is going to give you déjà vu, but what exactly is happening here?”

Klaus pushes off from the door, ambles towards her, studying her reaction carefully. Caroline doesn’t flinch away or retreat. “I have a proposition for you. And I have dinner. Takeaway from that place you visited the other day when your evening plans were… interrupted. I even got the mango lassi.”

Caroline narrows her eyes, “I have weapons, you know. Way more than you’d think, given how tight this outfit is.”

He laughs, a low husky sound that Caroline knows would be easy to get addicted to. “I’m sure you do. I’m not worried about you using them on me. I only want you to hear out my proposal. You can leave anytime you wish.”

She wonders if it’s stupid to believe him, but she does. He’d had the upper hand two days ago, had no trouble dispatching the group that had taken her. If he had nefarious intentions, he could have picked up right where they left off with the torture.

Caroline’s learned to trust her instincts. They’re telling her she’s safe.

She tugs her hair out of its elastic, loosens her collar slightly, pulling the zipper down a few inches. “Mind lending me something to wear? This totally isn’t designed for sitting for long periods.”

Klaus directs her to a guestroom, gathers a few things of his for her to wear. When she gets to the dining room, she finds he’s arranged the food on gleaming platters and lit candles. Her mango lassi, in its plastic cup, looks wildly out of place.

Caroline refuses to find it endearing.

At least until she’s confirmed that her instincts are correct.

[welcometoteyvat]

@dawns-noctua so I fucked up and answered your ask way too early ��� here’s a repost of the full character bingo

Childe

tbh I don't have much to say about him lol I don't think about him enough. I will say, from the content I've seen of him, I think he has good fans! Like childe stans (to me) feel like wholesome people? y'all don't seem to do him dirty at all and I greatly appreciate the memes and funny content as well as the serious fanwork about him; it gives him good depth and made me consider things I hadn't before! In terms of his actual character, I think his duality of being a caring brother and a fearsome harbinger is v interesting!! idk I feel like he'd have an interesting if slightly messed up perspective on life (good with kids; separates work and personal life; and yet extremely battlesexual). he's a malewife a harbinger a dead-eyes abyss survivor a pro-fisher the brother of all time a guy with no common sense and one braincell only aka he's hilarious! I enjoy his character from afar (also I'm gonna say from all the popular-ish childe ships I've seen, none of them are unrealistic pog to you guys for having taste.)

Shenhe

I don't think about her much either but I have more opinions about her lol. #1 opinion is always that she had So Much potential with chongyun, and then mihoyo dropped the trailer and never mentioned their aunt/nephew dynamic again (voicelines don't count). I also don't like how she seems to be designed as another fanservice-y cryo woman who's semi """in love""" with the traveler (ie some of her interactions with the traveler in the archon quest and her dialogue after you completed the moonchase main questline). Like I understand that the traveler is her first connection to mortal Liyue after being away in the adeptal sphere for so long and the traveler is supposed to be a major part of her arc but it’s giving “cryo woman is shown another side of society that she didn’t know before by the traveler” (ie Ayaka and Eula) and it’s kinda hrmmm. moving onto her actual lore, this is the part where everyone but me is wrong abt her (I’m joking.) I’m not well versed enough in xianxia tropes to talk but she draws a lot from that and being like a recluse from society because she’s been unlucky from birth; I appreciate the culture stuff in that but I feel like it also makes her misinterpreted not me seeing a post about how she has yang energy like chongyun??? she has yin energy if ever I saw it. Anyways maybe I’m not looking in the right place but I also feel like she has less fanon character depth than I’d like ;.; her most popular ships are meh to me (confused on why Yun Jin is shipped with her bc to me Yun Jin’s a minor) but I love the small doodles of shenlan a Twitter artist does <3333

Itto

LOVE THIS DUDE. He’s HILARIOUS I don’t think about him enough. I’m absolutely in love with whatever his CN VA did with him bc ittos loud and long “HAHAHAHA” lives rent free in my head since he dropped on the livestream. His story quest was also super nice!! 🥺 idk if you’ve played it yet so I won’t spoil anything but they did his character really nicely and the way they expanded on the oni lore was also super cute!! also the cutscenes were 100% amazing. Idk I like that genshin finally made a heart of gold himbo who’s been through some tough days but still keeps looking up; his character complexity and overall personality is v nice!! I also like whatever him and Yoimiya’s rivalry/r/ship is in general it’s funny. I think he was a bit too much comic relief (and not enough actual character) in perilous trails but it was funny so I’ll let it slide. anyways i don’t think enough about this man he slaps.

[sepublic]

King and Eda as Teachers

           Another thing I find fascinating about King and Eda’s dynamic, in addition to one being fetishized while the other is demonized, and neither quite gets how the other feels from that until later;

           But King and Eda are BOTH great teachers, in their own right? And I think that’s interesting because of TOH’s discussion about learning, students, and teachers in general, but just like Eda and Luz, King has a fascinating relationship with education! He’s deeply interested in demons, he’s quite an artistic person, a bit of a writer and artist in his own right; And we see in The First Day that he actually likes to teach people! He’s a good teacher, no less! Sure, he initially views his position as one whose authority he’ll abuse, but by the end of the day, the kids seem genuinely fond of him…

           Which, gets me to my point; Eda is more adept at an interpersonal, close, one-on-one kind of mentorship; The kind where she guides an apprentice through life lessons, and helps them learn. Really gets to connect with an individual as a person, be a guardian for them, while also learning from this kid, on equal standing with plenty of mutual respect really; And of course adapting to this individual’s needs and unique accommodations, a reactive type of curriculum that changes to fit the apprentice and encourages them to express themselves.

           Then, you have King, who clearly has a lot more comfort with a detached, authority role for a larger group, because teaching is a leadership role for him. Directing and commanding them on what to do, while having more of an emphasis on straightforward academics as his lessons, a conventional teacher. He could probably write a textbook, while for Eda, that sort of stuff might remind her too much of the ‘pointless busywork’ of regular school. King’s teaching is directed across a larger group and demands conformity and to be standardized, to really unite different people together for a common goal.

           And, that’s SO fascinating to me! It’s not something one thinks of about a lot, but there ARE different ways of being teachers, irrespective of the subject! Some people do one-on-one lessons and form emotional bonds, while others are pragmatic and spread across a larger group, in and out you go; But they both still CARE, because King clearly cares for people! He sometimes struggles to, but fundamentally, he tries, and the students clearly seem fond of him for it.

           King’s pretty interested in teaching as well- Obviously he likes the opportunity to be listened to and trusted on subject matter, to talk about his own interests, to have someone be his friend through Luz, he says this more-or-less in The Intruder… We see him challenge Eda over teaching Luz, and it’s not just a one-off incident, he continues this desire into The Intruder as well. And it’s not like King starts off as a great teacher- Like Eda, who’s also beginning to realize her issues in I was a Teenage Abomination, King obviously begins to realize that leading and teaching others isn’t as simple as it seems.

          With the baby Trash Slug, King defaults to just mindlessly throwing snacks and rewards at the slug, spoiling it until he runs out. Conversely in Adventures in the Elements, he focuses too much on being harsh with Private New Guy, and ends up inciting a rebellion in the process. King is clearly used to keeping his teaching position as a purely pragmatic sort of thing across people. With Luz, King learns to really step up to that teaching role of responsibility when he takes accountability for his mistakes in taking Eda’s elixir, admitting that he’s not the perfect teacher, and is given the chance to really shine in his own instruction for once, to have someone listen!

          King begins to understand what kids her age kind of look for and want to see, they like to learn stuff that relates to them or feels relevant; King is ALSO learning to provide as a teacher, that it’s not just about him, but it’s about the students as well. And as Luz showed him, what King has to teach, what he has to say, DOES have value, that people can find interest and meaning in it. King learns to compromise, especially in Sense and Insensitivity, that he can’t overcompensate for this lack of feeling in control, by being too controlling and taking all of the attention, and prioritizing himself; He has to consider others as well.

          King can’t be too easy, but he can’t be too harsh as well, and students have a curiosity for things that needs to be nurtured; Which, culminates nicely in King being a decent teacher in The First Day. King establishes his authority, but otherwise strikes up a good rapport with the kids, and teaches them stuff that, as one student remarks, is actually applicable to their lives and thus interesting and relevant to them. Obviously he’s projecting a bit, but King also does have that added understanding of teens thanks to his time in Luz’s body; And as I said, Luz showed King that what he has to teach and offer IS valuable, that kids like her can enjoy and treasure it.

          That encourages King to really put himself out there and respond to what his class wants, because he has a better idea of that now. King can better communicate and sell what he finds interesting to his audience now, and get others to be interested and listen; And during Grom, he definitely steps up more as someone who speaks to a large audience, and understands them enough to be confident with what he puts out by appealing to the kids’ sensibilities, such as their support for the Hexside Banshees. King believes in what he has to say and offer, and doesn’t let himself get discouraged from the first few failures, instead learning from them; And a teacher who can still learn, sometimes from their students, is something that Eda also becomes herself!

           And all of these revelations are a lot of fun, because I think King’s more detached, impersonal teaching methods, adaptable across a wider range of students, with less of an emotional bond for each one; It reminds me of Lilith, and how her and Amity are professional, how she’s always been reserved because of those Emperor’s Coven values; The strait-laced, conventional teacher. The one with multiple students besides Amity, but they don’t matter much to her… And obviously, King contrasts in that he seems to be a more compassionate person than Lilith (and wasn’t trained to be cold by the Emperor’s Coven);

           But it just adds to King and Lilith being so very similar in a lot of ways to me… And again, I think it’s a very nuanced commentary on education and what it means to be a teacher as a whole. About how people learn, how they store information; King likes to write things down, while Eda is likely a visual learner like Luz… Dana Terrace stated herself to be a visual learner, and obviously a lot of her own experience comes into Eda as well, and not just Luz!

          King stores his knowledge and organizes with books (he has a bunch about demons), while Eda and Luz are much more visual, unconventional people- It’s a lot of fun and really adds to the dynamic, that the core trio has their various ways of interacting with the concept of education, teaching, and learning as a whole, ways that sometimes contrast, sometimes overlap. We even see that King isn’t too shabby on visuals, either; He likes to draw and is interested in the pictures from Luz’s Azura books, and when he first tries to teach Luz, he DOES set up a diagram with plenty of visuals!

           I think it’s a neat detail; How King’s methodology of teaching fits his royal motifs, how he wants power and control… But how he still adapts to give people space and autonomy. A more conventional teacher who aces it at Hexside without any training whatsoever, visual and textual, while Eda and Luz are mostly visual- Although Luz DOES love to read her books and write fanfiction, so she’s likely got some textual leanings towards academia as well! That makes her a neat balance between Eda and King in some ways, susceptible to both, as Luz learns from King about demons in The Intruder, and from Eda in general.

           And, it provides ways for them to bond… King can draw, and he enjoys doing it for the sake of art; Him and Luz get along a lot in those Owl Pellet shorts, and he has fun with illustrations, both making his own for his demon lessons, but also enjoying the ones from Luz’s books. And, Luz is a visual learner, probably like Eda; Eda doesn’t quite get the artistic stuff as much, but they do bond over glyphs, especially now that Eda REALLY needs to use them! And it occurred to me, but it might be difficult for Lilith to adapt to Luz’s more impromptu teaching style…

           Which, suddenly makes me imagine her having an easier time learning from KING, who as I said provides that structure and authority she’s used to, except King isn’t downright terrible (well not always), and he’s also a reader himself. Technically I think Eda is also a reader, as at one point she DOES allude to taking a good break from her adventure with Lilith by getting down to a good book; But then again, she also dismisses the Book Fair, so it might’ve just been an inside joke about that whole mess from earlier. Then you have Lilith, whose deleted-scene bedroom has a stack of books… A few about curses, but others mostly just regular literature;

           Combined with her more ‘nerdy’ look with the big round glasses that she once had… And, I wouldn’t be surprised if Lilith was better at reading and that kind of textbook studying, compared to Eda. If that led to their differences as students, made it easier for Lilith to behave, and also work with Amity, who’s ALSO a pretty conventional and straightforward learner, and an avid reader; She hangs out at the library a lot, possibly not just for academics and to avoid her family. It’s practically canon that she loves teaching, after all!

           So for all we know, we might get Lilith learning from KING, getting to understand demons, and figuring out how to respect him more through this; And who knows, we could even see Amity learn from King, and hopefully Eda and Luz, that’d be really neat as well! And we could see Luz learn to be a teacher in her own right, potentially alongside Amity, who might have some guidance of her own… And they BOTH learn to be teachers and self-actualize in that sort of way! It’d be a neat passing-of-the-torch motif, how Eda and Lilith teach Luz and Amity… And they grow up to teach other kids as well!