#but what do i know about lb plots truly-

[darabeatha]

[sangreprince]

I wanna keep this brief (graphic design is my passion level effort but also it kinda works in a really funny way) !!! I wanna let you all know I appreciate the love you've given Zagreus and I'm so so happy to be here. You're all great and wonderful and I could say so many good things to say about each and every one of my mutuals. So fuck it, that's what I'mma do. Because you all truly deserve it. I'm super happy with Zagreus and being able to share my portrayal and have it be well received means so much !!! It's easy to say 'thank you all so much' but I want to acknowledge that I truly do appreciate and care about each and every one of my mutuals, even if my time / availability makes it tough at times. PART 1/4

@withinchains / @hercarnality : Elle you already know how much ily so I'm gonna keep this short. You're such an amazing friend and writer and you already have the screenshot about me gushing pinned so eat my shorts and play arams with me. Your Morgana is to die for and you write every character to a fucking T because of how you just interpret all their personalities and put them into words SO effortlessly.

@lasraichean : NEMO U SMELL LIKE BEEF and I think you're fantastic. You pour so much effort into all your OCs and that passion does you so much credit. You absolutely shower Annie with love in such a way that I shower everyone else with unrequested amounts of fromsoft lore so MWAH.

@blackrosesmatron : Lucy your LB is fantastic and you're so easy to talk to and communicate with. Genuinely every time we sit down and plot I find myself getting so enthralled in her antics and character. You do her so much justice

@avernusfuries : HAN You single handedly made me like Karlach and that isn't even a joke. Before we met and started writing I always thought her story was one of the weaker ones and you somehow managed to turn her into one of the more realized characters in the game. HATS OFF TO YOU and every day I beg for more of this big doofus.

@feuerwizard : Crys I know I need to get back to you for plotting things, I've just been so busy but I want to say: You and some of the other CR writers you write with are so talented and I adore reading your posts. Were it not for you guys I still probably wouldn't have any interest in CR and I'm so so excited to get started with more stuff and actually get threads going!

@soulcluster : Lilah I think all your portrayals are excellent. Your MM deserves all the attention it gets and I honestly couldn't pick a favorite muse if gave me truth serum. Plotting with you is a blast and I'm so thankful for all the ideas we pass between eachother!

@pitgritted : Your Sett, Taric, and Mutli are all so well done Jojo. I can tell you really care about all the people you write and it shines so brightly, right down the amount of detail you place into every reply and how you format things. Passion shows in the end and this is no exception!!

@palespawn : This sassy motherfucker. We've only just started writing and I still need to get to replies but you've showed interest since almost day one and I cant say how much I appreciate that. Courtney you do such a beautiful job with the twink, I almost dont wanna stab him. Almost~

@infinitysagas : I first of all wanna say thank you for writing such underappreciated characters. To see Damon get love brings me so much joy, I always take a second to read his posts when I see them come up. I know we haven't done a ton but please know that I see your writing and totally wanna do stuff, I'm just very busy skdjhf.

@deathdxnces : Irelia was a character I never cared about too much, but how you humanize her so much and have expanded on her character beyond what Riot's given us does SO much for me. I actually adore how you portray her, Mel, and I wish to get writing at some point soon!! I know you liked a starter a bit ago and I do plan to get to that, but please do not hesitate to hit me up for plotting in the meantime. It really does help and I promise I don't bite!!

@tealbeats : I know you're not super active on Ez (and I still owe you a lot of stuff actually) but I wanna say I love the amount of his personality you're able to paint into every interaction. You have such a way of making him the perfect amount of insufferable (in the best way) while still twisting it in SUCH an endearing light. I love that annoying little bug and I'm so glad you do too, because it really shows.

@agonizedembrace : Han it's been really nice to reach out and get into contact again. You're genuinely a really funny, interesting, and thoughtful person who cares about Evelynn in such a way that brings out every aspect of her character. The agony, the sex appeal, the sass, the confidence, you just nail all of it and I'm really hoping we can get stuff going soon!

@bendwill : Elder scrolls blogs are few and far between, but Miraak is absolutely one of those characters that deserves to be more written out. We haven't gotten to do a ton but please don't hesitate to hit me up and scream ideas at me, the idea of Tamrielic Zagreus is very fascinating to me. (And also I need somebody to ramble about my Oblivion D&D Campaign ideas with skdfjh)

@ofweave : First of all, trans gale is based as fuck and you have a vision. Second of all, I know you're on hiatus but once you come back I'd be so happy to get the ball rolling with this stinky wizard man!!

@kismetwilled : I'm not gonna lie, seeing how you pour effort into your headcanons and thoughtful replies kind of inspired me to do similar with my own. I also want to say that I'd love to plot more and yell ideas all day with you, your style is gorgeous and I find myself appreciating characters on your blog I've never even heard of or are barely familiar with. Seriously Dani, it's top tier and I'm so happy to be mutuals.

@enrogued : We haven't gotten anything started with but I'm so hyped. Rogue as a character has such fascinating potential with her powers, and that's not to mention her attitude towards others in general. Once stuff gets started I'm probably never gonna shut up in your DMs but like that's a constant sdfjkh STILL!!

@lunarrepel : Shadowheart my beloved. The aesthetics, writing, dialog, everything you do with her is SO on point and I can't get over it. I was already biased and liked her after Larian adjusted her a bit during the beta phase of BG3 but still. Man you just nail her and I'm so excited to develop these two out. They give wine aunt energy and THAT alone gives me so much life.

@dreadgloom / @cinderschild : I wont lie to you I was GIDDY when I found out you wrote a WoTR character. I honestly expected that fandom to have more of a presence on tumblr but I'll take what small fanclub we can get right?? And also can I comment on the takes you have from Salvatore are absolutely genius and play really well into WoTC's drow?? Genuinely fantastic worldbuilding and it's always a pleasure to see you crop up on the dash.

@nightsbloom : Your headcanons and replies have been gorgeus and I just want to say despite me being really busy and not getting around to approaching yet, I'm so excited??? Also a while back you reblogged a Qimir gifset and it's still living rent free in my head so thank you for the food chef--- Please though, if you have any thoughts or even just dynamic ideas - toss them at me at mach 5 and I will run with them because I'm HYPE.

@spiderwarden : I think you officially win the title of Minthara's #1 fan. Her performance (as I've mentioned) is absolutely captivating, as is your writing. I'm very excited to see where her interactions with Zagreus go and writing with you (or even just seeing your random hc posts and comments) is such a blast. I will always sit down and listen to you ramble about her, I think she's so fascinating and that's in no small part to how you manage to inject so much life and love into her despite all the cut content.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

What are your opinions on more „popular“ salt takes about Adrien and Mari, like the typical „Adrichat is an ass for for flirting with LB after she rejects him“ and „Maribug us a horrible stalker“?

Well, I'd be lying if I said that I have no idea where they're coming from. There are definitely times when I'll watch an episode and wonder what in the world the writers are trying to do, especially when it comes to Adrien's behavior as it's played a lot more straight than Marinette's. While I don't like her behavior at times, it's almost always treated as a joke, not a dramatic character beat whereas I cannot say the same for Adrien.

But these are characters in a TV show, not real people and we need to keep that in mind when judging them. It's why my go-to thought is "what is wrong with the writing staff" and not "Adrien is an incel." Because Adrien is very clearly not supposed to be an incel. Unless the writers are plotting something truly asinine, the Love Square is our end game couple. We are supposed to view Adrien as a charming and funny romantic lead. When he falls short of that role, it's not Adrien "showing his true colors." He's a fictional character. He has no true colors. If his actions and words are ever unbecoming for a romantic lead, it's because the writers are failing to write Adrien the way they want us to see him.

They consistently do this to all of the characters. Alya's supposed to be an awesome friend and a smart journalist (I think), but she can't see through Lila's BS. Marinette's parents are supposed to be loving and supportive, but they randomly believed that their daughter stole from their bakery to make a dress and didn't even try to let her explain herself. Nino is supposed to be the Chosen of Protection, but he didn't care to protect his best friend and just happily sent Gabriel on a rampage without a second thought.

Give me a character and I can point to a bunch of episodes that justify every salty take this fandom has because they're not pulling this stuff from thin air. They're picking and choosing the worst writing in the show and venting about it, which is frankly understandable. Like I get why there are so many Alya salt fics. Her writing in the Lila episodes is infuriating and I do find those fics a little cathartic at times. But it's really, really obvious that she's not supposed to be a terrible friend. She's a victim of the writers drawing the Lila plot line out for far too long and making Lila's lies far too obvious.

Similarly, a lot of the issues with Adrien and Marinette stem from the fact that you simply can't draw a romance plot out for five seasons without causing issues unless you make the romance a background plot. But they didn't do that. The love square is front and center for most episodes, but since it can't actually resolve, the writers keep adding drama that makes our leads feel horribly unhealthy.

On the Marinette side, her not being able to talk to Adrien was fine as an initial issue, but we are five seasons into this show. Over 100 episodes! You reach a point where it stops being cute and starts being concerning. It's also not helped by the fact that Marinette's crush is written like a celebrity crush and not a crush on someone she actually knows. Daily exposure to Adrien should mellow her out. Especially since he's supposed to be her friend! But if the writers let Marinette talk to Adrien, then they'd grow closer and might feel like they had to get together, so they couldn't let that. Thus Marinette being a disaster for four seasons and the terrible shoehorned plot to try and justify it in season five.

On the Adrien side, they let Chat Noir confess too soon. Prior to that, the Ladynoir relationship was a playful one where it was feasible that Ladybug just viewed her kitty as a massive flirt. This was especially true since he flirts with everyone. But once she knew that he was serious? The playfulness vanished and Chat Noir started coming across as entitled and pushy. It didn't help that they had him ignoring her preferences ("Don't call me Bugaboo") and getting them in trouble by not taking his job seriously (his flirting getting them hit in Oblivio).

In summary, the love square should have been resolved much sooner or been relegated to a b plot that got far less attention. I also would have reversed the square since it makes for a far more interesting story that you can organically draw out longer, but that's just me. I don't have any issue with people ignoring the canon problems and just writing Adrien and Marinette as the cute couple that they were obviously intended to be. I also enjoy fics that treat Adrien's pushiness as a character flaw that can be resolved because that's what canon should have done. His issues aren't the mark of a terrible person. They're the understandable flaws of a teenager who is in love for the first time and doesn't know how to express himself. If a show would actually address this kind of common tween/teen issue, then a lot of kids would get an incredibly valuable lesson that would help them when they grow up and fall in love. If you're ever watching Miraculous with a kid, I strongly encourage you to approach Adrien's character from that perspective. Talk about why his actions are understandable, but ultimately wrong and more likely to push someone away than win their heart just like we see with Ladybug.

[stellarf0x]

Sharkboy & Lavagirl details only I care about! Part 2/?

Max’s Parents Parallels

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The parallels between SB & LB with Max’s parents are amazing. Let’s start with Sharkboy first.

I’d also like to mention that both SB & LB must’ve been directly made by Max for the purpose of showing how he views his parents and coping with his own internal conflict.

Sharkboy

This character is the first introduced to us with a tragic backstory, one where a father figure is sweep away in a sudden storm. I think this highlights what Max feels towards his dad too. The fighting has driven Max away from both parents, but he seemed especially close to his dad. So Max is trying cope and understand his feelings with this backstory Sharkboy was given.

Max must feel like his dad was too suddenly taken from him, with SB’s dad being literally swept away in a freak storm.

So which parent is supposed to be represented by SB? Max’s mom of course.

Take SB’s strict nature over Max, much more like a older brother figure would. Yet also ready to fight anyone who threatens him.

Max’s mom is much more of the realist in the relationship, denouncing dreams, because she had trouble following her true dreams. Even quickly telling Max to look to a more secure path in life and not have his heads in the clouds like his dad.

She’s takes her experience as a sign and pushes that onto her husband and son to protect them. Even if they don’t see it as such.

SB takes on her quirks, liking saying that Max shouldn’t have sugar because it gives you nightmares, directly taking a line his mom said earlier in the movie. (He also has a good singing voice, which could link to Max’s mom having one?)

Besides that SB generally takes the logical/cynical part of the duo and is harder on Max.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lavagirl

She’s the heart of the pair, clearly taking Max’s side; being patient and encouraging.

Her personality is directly connected to Max’s dad, specifically his presence before the fighting between parents. Someone who listens to Max, encourages his interests and spends quality time with him.

Her introduction itself wasn’t anything I felt meant anything, she just kinda popped into existence.

She’s also a vessel of Max’s own internal struggle of figuring out who he is. We see her voice her own uncertainty in where she came from, what she’s meant to do. (This could also refer to Max’s dads own struggles)

I feel a bit bad but Lavagirl didn’t have too much to work with. It was all internal and she wasn’t necessarily working towards figuring out who she was until the end. If I missed something please let me know. (I’d like to give her a better role in my fanfic)

EDIT!!!

I thought about it some more and both LG and SB are vessels for Max’s character growth anyways, so LG’s sorta plot line growth being vague makes a bit more sense? It’s not as well executed personally I think but it’s somewhat of an explanation on why she herself didn’t feel like she went through much reflection. These characters just merge with each other it’s hard to keep track of if everyone actually gets decent development alone. If that makes sense.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now to my favorite part.

In the final act of the movie, Max’s parents are swept up in the freak tornado, both putting aside any feelings about their relationship to save Max.

As it’s a life or death situation they have a final conversation about their divorce. Max’s dad admitting that he never truly wanted to leave his wife. Both saying their final “I love you’s” in what they think is the end.

It’s corny as hell but who comes out of the tornado with who in the tornado? Mom paired with LB, and Dad paired with SB.

They saved each other.

That’s all I have to say for these two, I’m not sure what else I have left to analyze in this movie now that I think about it. I might do some random thoughts or moments I forgot about.

[separatist-apologist]

What are some of your favorite fanfics? You can only include up to 2 LB fics

I was going to wait to answer this in the morning because it's so daunting an ask. But I have to be in office tomorrow and I know I won't have the time, and then I'll forget about this. It's been a long time since anyone asked me my personal favorites.

I put some of them in yesterday's list of elucien recs, so definitely start here. I have to cross post a little, though. None of these are in order, this is actually not a ranking but the opposite of a ranking in which every one is incredible, and written by very wonderful people worth following.

playgirl, by @damedechance. I love this fic. Lucien has an only fans, Elain moderates his chat. She was the first gwynriel writer I ever read. You know I'm weird about Azriel- I don't really enjoy him, but in bookclub, her fic was being recommended CONSTANTLY and I gave it a shot thinking I'd hate it, and she made me insane. The gwynriel fic is Things You Can't Have, and I suggest reading it, too.

Latch, My Fate is Yours; Latch, My Very Soul is Yours by @labellefleur-sauvage. Elucien mummy au and so beautifully done. The author is also an VERY funny person and I recommend anything she writes (such as her 1920's Neris fic And All That Jazz) on vibes alone.

Our Bodies, Possessed By Light @iftheshoef1tz. Azris at its FINEST. If you like Azriel and Eris as a pairing, and you want something that is both achingly beautiful and well-plotted, this is it. This is the fic. Honestly, even if you don't want that, you should read it anyway. It's sexy, it's funny, it's emotional and it's poetic. I think about this fic (the cabin specifically because I'm slutty) all the time.

Crimson Clover, by @thesistersarcheron. Baby's first elriel fic, I heard the sentence "Elain covered in blood" and dropped everything I was doing to learn more. Elain is, in fact, covered in blood and Azriel is pretty insane about it. This author also has a fic bookclub is obsessed with, Viciousness & Intelligence which is Nesta x Cassian x Azriel in a poly bond and another of my personal favorites, Bejeweled in which Feyre is Night Court fae made entirely of jewels and Rhys is...well...down bad as he always is.

Embers, by @ultadverb is my favorite Morlain fic in the fandom. It's so richly written and such a good exploration of Elain and her feelings. She really does Elain such justice. I have it on VERY good authority she's also working on a little monster elucien, and right after I typed that I saw she's actually posted the first chapter, Seven Tears for the Sea, which is selkie Lucien, coastal Elain, I believe. I will be reading that for sure, just as soon as I finish this list, but everyone else should too!

I Believe the Word You're Looking for is "Friends" by @kingofsummer93. Truly Elucien 101 required reading. It's actually on the made-up syllabus I just created in my mind. If you're wanting to settle into a long fic, canon-compliant, adventure fic, THIS is it. Also, people are always asking for BOE smut, well she has so GRACIOUSLY provided it with The Intimacy of Being Understood

Remember, We're Madly In Love by @velidewrites. Have you ever seen one of those really gorgeous mood boards floating around and asked yourself, is that person also an incredibly sexy writer, too? Well I'm here to answer that question with a resounding YES. This is hunger games Feysand and if you've been thinking about reading it, stop thinking and start doing. I don't know when I became a sales person during this sharing of faves, but here we are I guess.

Vanserra Wildlife Rescue by @headcanonheadcase. In the haze that was elucien week, where everyone was creating and I was trying so hard to see all of it (and failing miserably), this fic was a gem. It's meet cute Elucien- he's a wildlife vet, she finds an injured fox. They're both on their way to a blind date (I wonder who they're meeting), and instead cancel to take care of the fox.

Can't Help It by @moodymelanist. This fic was literally why I decided to answer this anon. Nesta and Cassian are in a very toxic relationship but can't keep away from each other. I LOVE this fic, I love their dynamic and without spoiling it, there is a threesome I am still so deeply unwell about, even to this day.

Wonderland by @c-e-d-dreamer. The premise is SO GOOD. Nesta rejects the mating bond and Cassian rejects society. They reconnect later on, and the angst is SO DELICIOUS.

This list is getting really long- I could do this all day, actually. As for my top two @the-lonelybarricade favorites, which is cruel just fyi.

I'm gonna go with

You Look Like Bad News- Elain's neighbor has an annoying habit of fucking REALLY loudly next door.

And of course,

They Are The Hunters, We Are The Foxes, which is the best thing ever produced in the history of ever. Wonderland WHO? This is the shifter elucien romance we deserved, actually.

[cardiac-agreste]

WIP Game

Yesterday I RBd a thing where you list your WIPs, then people send you asks about specific ones, and you share a little. @bohemianrhapsody711 asked about these:

Into the Bugverse

I am SUPER excited about this idea, but it's in very early stages (no actual snippets to share, just some disjointed points I'll fill in right now). It is, as you might guess, a riff on Into the Spiderverse. A bit of crack taken seriously where the multiverse is all the fics on Ao3.

We begin with a universe in which Marinette is navigating not to disappointing her parents, who want her to learn the family trade.

Chat Noir, who fought alone most of his life before Marinette was recruited (think of this as kind of a plot divergent Hey, Ribbons by childoflightningg aka @peggiecarter aka @annaethchase), has died (he was Felix Agreste). She's all alone as LB now. The whole of Paris mourns him.

She also meets the new kid, Adrien, and a new Chat Noir shows up. Suddenly, pulled through the "bugverse" into her own world is an older Marinette from another fanwork, possibly Semantitheft's L'Oublie Marinette. They bond while fighting the big bad (imagine a vibe kind of like @leviaana's wonderful comic about Minibug, the jaded older LB who still loves her younger self).

At a low moment for them, other Marinettes get pulled into her world, all from other fanfics. Maybe

a paranoid @buggachat BEAU Marinette or mistrustful one from @wackus-bonkus-maximus One Does Not Love Breathing

Maybe a Marinette from a Coffee Shop AU like Allez savoir pourqois by Yilena who has no powers but is still smart

Or possibly a blog AU like Chat Noir's Miraculous Award for Truly Magical Food by @mommadon. Non-magic Marinette will receive a miraculous as a temp hero!

Marinette from a fic where she's pregnant as fuck but still fighting (the one I'm thinking of it's kind of a twist she gets pregnant later on, so I won't mention it).

Definitely Marinette from Ghost in the Machine by @jheqiawrites alongside her AI companion Adrien.

Possibly an akumatized Marinette

lip service to the MariBat fandom with a very well-capitalized MARINETTE (see what I did there?) from Miraculous LadyBat by BoxTops

a princess or knight Marinette like from A Royal Pain by jheqia and @sing-in-me-oh-muse

At some point in the fighting, we find out that Adrien died young in this universe and Papillon and Peahen are the enemies, and they're trying to get the miraculous to wish him back to life.

The Adrien in this universe is actually from a universe where Marinette/Ladybug is dead, and OMG, Marinette, he's Chat Noir!!!! Possibly from Hamburger Ladybug by @raspberrycatapult or from Last Wishes by @kasienda

Blah blah save the world, everyone returns to their universes. Hint at sequel that brings in other fanfics' Ladybug versions! Do we get a transdimentional love story?? Who knows? I DO!! (I don't.)

I think there's something of an ethical issue for me about using other people's Marinettes for my story, but I think if it's crack it's more OK (it's somewhat like parody) than if I were creating spinoffs with the same tone. BC to be honest, I suspect none of the BNFs would ever see a message from me asking permission. Better to beg forgiveness, right?

Miraculous: Bachelorette Edition

Alya, sick of watching Marinette flounder into her 20s, unable to confess to Adrien, submits her friend in secret as a potential Bachelorette for a reality TV show where many men vie for her hand. Through the magic of crack, a bunch of guys from the show end up contestants: Adrien (his father made him), Luka (he's pan so why not?), Nathaniel (STILL IN DENIAL about his feelings for Marc), Theo the sculptor with the bad soul patch, etc. Oh, and much to Ladybug's annoyance, Chat Noir is also a contestant?!

All of Paris is begging for Pajamagirl x Adrien Agreste

This is going through revisions in my head, but the initial kernel that is actually written down in my WIPs is

Ladybug falls in a crowded area and unconscious, de-transforms. Someone takes their camera out. "Don't you fucking take that picture. Hawkmoth can't know who she is!" Some teen girl "Is that Pajama Girl? Annette, I think that's Pajama Girl!" "OMG Charlotte, you're right! "Wait, didn't Adrien say in an interview that his celebrity crush is Ladybug?" "Dude didn't I see that Chat Noir took her on a date to Andre's?" Marinette wakes up surrounded by people, freaks out. "Don't worry girl, we're not gonna tell anyone, and no one took any pictures. Your secret's safe. Later that day, Annette and Charlotte get #adrienshoulddatepajamagirl trending on social media. Gabriel, who turns out to have been full of SHIT when he told Marinette that he determines what the public wants, pressures Adrien to date his Very Good Friend for the brand.

[justbrainrot]

Okay, my Legendborn Cycle deep nerds— I have an idea for writing the story of Faye & Natasia’s relationship rattling around in my brain and I need to chat some stuff out, you with me?

(This will clearly contain Legendborn & Bloodmarked spoilers— it’s also a long one, y’all)

Item the first:

How exactly are we explaining the difference between how Bree’s root affects Sel in BM ch40-41 vs BM ch58? Because getting mega drunk & literally losing one’s humanity are… really different outcomes lol.

I personally think that consent is the key here (big ol’ hat tip to @jenosavel for this reasoning, it has been exploding my brain for a few weeks haha) & that Bree actively pouring root into the shared casting they created (for completeness I’ll also point out that she believes the construct/bomb they created was entirely Sel’s work, but he says it’s both of them) created the drunk-but-better feeling Sel has afterwards— plus his eyes go back to gold! They aren’t bright bloodred anymore nor are they the burnt sienna that they were once his mesmer was removed by Valec at the bar. Contrasting this with the changes he experiences after consuming her root by force in the last bloodwalk— it’s night and day. His eyes are “molten red,” his fangs are black, he has claws ffs! The only difference I can see between these two situations is Bree’s consent regarding use of her root (well the bloodwalk does take place on its own plane & not on earth but everything that happens in all the bloodwalks holds true on earth as well so.)

Anyway I obviously think this is a super compelling theory BUT it also means that Natasia can’t help him. She is probably in her own descent, since at this point we are six months after Faye’s death, & if the thing that has been keeping her balanced since she broke out of the Shadowhold years ago has been shared castings with Faye, then she’s pretty screwed unless she has access to the kind of edible (drinkable?) aether Valec sells or is friends with another rootcrafter. I don’t see why or how she could do that though, since it’s not like she can hide being a Merlin to anyone in the know.

Definitely interested in hearing other theories about this!

Item the second:

When I first read LB I was convinced that the accepted fact that Merlins would descend into demonia without their Oaths had to be a straight lie & just another way that the Order manipulated Merlins into giving their lives over to the cause. Are we to believe that all unbalanced cambions on the planet are bound to the Order? Like every single one? Nahhhh. Valec doesn’t have any children (that we know of) but he’s also very unlikely to be the only cambion on earth who isn’t descended from Merlin, & who knows what kind of shenanigans the others get up to? Plus one of the fun things Ms. Deonn has peppered these books with is the arrogance of the Order thinking their way is The Only Way— both how wrong that is & how that hubris blinds them from seeing the magical world as it truly is. I was mega surprised by the fact that Sel’s descent was a major part of the plot of BM. So that’s my previous headcannon bias which likely affects the following, I guess.

I just can’t wrap my mind around how the descent even works in a way? Like maybe this is just the Sel heart eyes talking, but though I understand how he explains it to Bree, I also wonder how reliable a narrator of his own destruction he is, because our boy doesn’t have the best self esteem. Like yes he for sure tries to kill Bree, & that’s capital letters BAD, no arguments there, but he’s not operating with all the information at the time! And as soon as he has the relevant info he’s the first to kneel to her in the ogof y ddraig, even though he must be as confused as anyone as to why she pulled Excalibur from the stone.

Let’s just take a look at the text, shall we?

"Oaths are sealed through personal belief and intention. Belief is why Lord Davis could do all the evil he did and not be burned by his own Oaths; he believed what he did was right. I believed I was doing my job well when you first arrived on campus. That going after you was the right thing to do."

“I'm not excusing you," I say. "But back then, you were doing your duty. What you thought was right based on what you knew. I didn't know what I was either."

Okay— so theoretically no ill effects should have come out of him being wrong about Bree being a goruchel, because he believed she was a threat, just as Davis believed he was serving the greater good. Cool cool.

I frown. "When did you worry?"

He shifts on the log to face me, eyes darting across my face so quickly, I almost don't feel the sparks.

"When I saw your bravery. Your fury. Your heart. When I started to see…” He swallows, brows knitting together. "When I started to see what I believe Nicholas sees when he looks at you. Only a monster could look at you and want to destroy you, Bree."

The knot loosens in my chest a fraction. "But you were still serving your Oath to Nick, then. So even though you were worried, you couldn't have succumbed that night, not technically . . . right?"

"Perhaps. But my behavior then affected how I behaved later, after Nicholas was taken." He inhales. "By the time the Regents arrived, I had been feeling the effects of not fulfilling my Oath for several days."

So by his estimation he begins his descent the night of the second trial. Which (tragically!) is the same night he begins to fall for Bree. (<— this part is my opinion but anyway) it leads me to my other point: his demon side is drawn to all the negative human emotions, yeah? Fear, suffering, anger, pain, etc. How can he be in descent when he’s feeling the beginnings of what is arguably the most human emotion of all? One which continues to grow throughout the whole of BM, during the time he’s away from Nicholas, yes, but protecting Bree with all he has?

Plus I just have to say it’s bullshit that there’s no stopping the descent once it starts. Like obviously no (Natasia) but also come on. It has to be a foregone conclusion? There’s no other option? That just seems like an obvious lie to scare baby Merlins into acting right. (Again— this is where my previous headcannon bias rears its head, so I question myself on this one.)

I’m not even sure what I’m saying here anymore 🤪 these books have got me all kinds of fucked up. How is Sel in descent at all? Is he just confusing it with his actions serving the spirit of his Oaths but not the letter? Or does it not have to do with any of this stuff & is simply about being away from Nicholas? Sel says himself that the Kingsmage Oath runs deeper than either of them has ever acknowledged, likely because it’s been part of them since they were really young kids, & it’s one of the most powerful Oaths in the Order.

Anyhoodle this is what my brain is record scratching on these days. Plssssss gimme what you’ve got in the comments because what else are we gonna do while we wait for her to write book 3?? Also please let me know if you are at all interested in my Natasia/Faye fic idea. I think it’s pretty funny that I’m over here writing a story about characters that don’t even appear in the books so far except for short flashbacks. 😆 What if I were a normal person writing fluffy selbree smut? Lmao anyway that’s not me I guess. (Everyone else continue to write that though lol because I like reading it.)

Just tagging folks who I have been in the comments with a few times, no pressure y’all: @you-are-my-king-now-cariad @thoughtfulbearpanda @blackdragonflies88 @ofstarsandmoonlightt @ashaligtwood @poisonousflora

[llycaons]

since I rarely reference fics by name in my lbs and never tag them, I imagine it's extremely confusing to read through my tag. and I've been reading four or five these past few days, so in case anyone cares, these are them

Tether by Annerb: post-sunshot cursefic where lwj must be in proximity to wwx at all times or become extremely ill. this one is a long fic and a real slowburn (to the point where it can be frustrating!), but the development and the characterizations are absolutely incredible for everyone (except a few slipups with wq and jc's interactions) and it really feels like the commitment to a healthy and freely chosen relationship ala cql. VERY cql-faithful, even when it comes off a little silly. despite a few weird plot choices this is an exceptionally well-done and elaborate work and I do recommend it highly, it has a few more chapters left so I'm waiting to write the real summary and post it to the recs page, but the author is updating frequently and it's a completed work. this is the one that had me screaming the other day hehe

Odd Geometry by maziodyne: the sunshot AU where wwx is a healer who hadn't been adopted by the jiangs! I beta read this one - a ton of fun with a great elemental addition to the magic system, thorough research into the sunshot campaign, and wonderful characterizations

stray cat strut by ScarlettStorm: THE CATBOY ONE LOL. more on the horny side than on the tender romance side, but a really fun time

a catalog of non-definitive acts by zerodignity: the last work in the series of canonverse wwx struggling with his identity as some flavor of nonbinary. I really liked the first two works in this series, but this one is kind of weird. they're keeping their relationship secret bc they're in CR, which is depressing, and wwx's identity barely seems to come up except in sex scenes. however the characterizations for like, lxc are extremely well-done (but like, doesn't lxc know they're together? jeez). it looks like they're going to come clean and leave CR, but idk what the point of all this is anyway. this is an epic romance about publicly supporting your infamous beloved why the fuck are you sneaking around past midnight postcanon just to see him...why do you care about these people's judgements...

Dispersing Clouds by dreamingofcake: this is a very well-written novel-verse AU where wwx gets fed up with the jiangs pretty early on (everyone is presented pretty unsympathetically, even jyl) and bounces to become a rogue cultivator, joining up with lwj to help fight off the looming wen threat. I got like 20 chapters into this - the chapters are short and the writing flows well, but it's a long series and there's legitimately zero genuine emotional conflict. the jiangs suck so wwx leaves. he's fine with this. he's so smart and capable and brilliant and beloved and everyone likes him. the townspeople are so grateful for his help they give him a title just like lwj has. he realizes he loves lwj and immediately vows to woo him. lwj by all indications really likes him too. it's an idealized version of what wwx's life could be like if he...wasn't wwx, without all the conflict and loyalty and familial love and suffering and self-doubt and miscommunications and difficulty and external forces working against him and misunderstandings and without being forced to stand against authority for what was right and be actually, truly alone. I also found the long descriptions of talismans, night hunts, and sect politics extremely dull, and I probably won't be going back to it, but it IS very well put-together and edited, and the romance is sweet, so if you enjoy it, I'm glad!

[nono-bunny]

Marinette becoming the guardian was the worst thing to happen to ML imo

Like I kinda feel like the entire purpose behind making Marinette the guardian was to invalidate the “Adrien should have been the main character” beyond the whole thing with Thomas calling people misogynistic, except it backfired because she’s a terrible fucking guardian? Like legit even when she was merely a guardian apprentice she did an awful job, and while I personally believe that she’s also a bad Ladybug in general... That’s much more subjective than her being a bad guardian who is solely responsible for her predecessor's downfall and for losing all the miraculouses to HM

Like even beyond my own personal growing dislike of her, Mari/LB salt has just been on a pretty steep rise ever since she was given more narrative importance in season 3, because she is legitimately unqualified for her role and keeps messing up in really annoying and stupid ways she doesn’t even learn from. I know a lot of people are aware of the ways Adrien/Chat became a worse character just to lift Mar/LB up, but like. Even she herself became insufferable once she stopped being merely a lucky teenage hero doing her best and went straight into being the undisputed leader of all Parisian heroes- she legit just doesn’t have the benefit of the doubt anymore. Her incompetence used to be a relatable and endearing character trait, but now it just truly feels out of place with how the show expects us to believe in and root for her when she’s just given power ups or narrative prizes every time she majorly fucks up. Failures aren’t the end of the road, and that’s a good message for a TV show to portray, but at the same time they shouldn’t be ignored beyond serving as one off emotional hooks the show uses as an excuse to launch into a completely different character state almost entirely off screen. There is literally nothing about season 5 that explains why the “reverse love square” is happening in it specifically out of nowhere, nothing to explain why ONLY Mari got a random visual upgrade in season 4, and there’s nothing that makes sense about how the solution to most of the part-time heroes being exposed is to just employ more of them.

I have always been a pretty vocal fan of Chloe, and obviously I hate what happened to her in Miracle Queen and season 4, but she absolutely wasn’t the only victim there- pretty much all of the plot stuff I truly actively dislike about ML now are a result of that episode, and more specifically, of Marinette now being the guardian. Master Fu was a shitty mentor and guardian, for sure, but... I infinitely prefer him in the role than Mari, because the moment she assumed the role in full was the moment I truly started disliking her, and, honestly, even the show itself to a degree. With great power comes great responsibility, and Mari isn’t responsible enough to be able to carry it alongside the heavy burden of being the likeable main character without failing at both, unfortunately.

[cuddly-asexual]

Man I’d love to see the plot of The Deep from Al’s perspective. She gets left on her own so many times throughout the story, but, unlike Luke, she’s truly alone since Luke often had LB with him. Did she have something else that was keeping her grounded? What was she thinking when the Challenger’s hatch suddenly closed behind Luke? Did she learn anything about the holes while she was down there other than from Luke? Was she also reliving past traumas other than Eldred’s death? Or did she only see him in all sorts of twisted ways? What did she see in the vent leading to the O2 room? What was going through her mind as she stood entranced by Westlake’s lab?

She’s definitely a character who speaks her mind so we do kind of know how she thinks, but I think seeing what other things she thinks about would be neat too. Like what she thinks of Clay and Luke and the other scientists. I also would have just liked to see her more in the book, she’s a cool character.

[hyena-frog]

Light Bringer predictions post

I’ve been jotting down notes all day, trying to remember all my big and little predictions for Light Bringer. Some of these have already been discussed to death, some have been idle thoughts floating in my head. But I want to write it all out before LB finally comes out, so I can look back on this and either laugh at my naivete or feel vindicated by my genius.

I’m sure I’m still forgetting some things, so I may end up editing this later.

The new POV is either Diomedes or Volga.

Two or more POVs interact.

Light Bringer starts off in some way no one has theorized, because that's what Pierce Brown does best. (This happened with Dark Age too.)

Pierce Brown introduces even more plot points that won't be resolved until Red God.

There will absolutely be at least three huge things happen that no one predicted or even considered might happen. This is how Pierce Brown do.

Not everything will be resolved by the end of Light Bringer. (This is a given of course; I mean some of the things people are theorizing or want won't happen until next book.)

The Morning Star was originally commissioned by Octavia as a gift to Lysander. Since it is now in enemy hands, it is repaired and handed over to Lysander, as the "rightful" owner.

Cicero becomes important.

Someone we don't expect is sympathetic to the Republic, or is otherwise an unexpected Reformer (ie not Diomedes because everyone suspects him).

There is an epic showdown at Lorn's castle, or on Europa in general.

Rhonna and Char survived and fight on Mercury still.

Holiday remains true to the ideals of the Republic; she was never a traitor, and the people who keep repeating that theory despite having zero evidence will finally shut the fuck up.

We learn more about whatever Oculus is and what Quicksilver's intentions are.

Mickey comes back.

Evey comes back.

Evey is working with the remaining Sons in the Rim.

Faust/The Duke of Hands comes back.

Deanna dies. Holiday dies. Screwface, Pebble, and/or Clown die. I don’t want these to happen but I also don’t want to think about what kind of death made Pierce Brown cry. I don’t truly think any of these would really make him cry, but this is as close as I want to get to considering what the real answer is.

Lysander plots to kill Atalantia.

Atalantia becomes pregnant with Lysander's child but dies by DNA poison backfire.

Atalantia dies, Atlas remains alive to deal with in Red God.

Lysander gets worse, despite the guilt over Cassius.

Lysander doesn't face consequences yet but the winds shift against him.

Ajax seeks revenge on Lysander.

Ajax and Diomedes bond as cousins. Alternatively, they duel, but I think that is too obvious.

Ajax joins Darrow (out of revenge against Atalantia, not love for the Republic).

Cassius confronts Lysander. In person? Over holos? It is epic and emotional.

Pytha turns against Lysander and returns to the Archimedes. Alternatively, she remains with Lysander as a spy for Cassius.

Darrow and Cassius have a heart to heart.

Cassius talks to his mom. For better or worse. Julia will help Cassius despite hating the Republic because he is her only remaining family.

Cassius finds closure with Virginia.

Diomedes/Cassius or Screwface/Cassius becomes canon. Listen, I know these have a snowball's chance in hell, but I can dream.

We get a detailed explanation of how Cassius escaped the Rim. Either Diomedes and Aurae worked together, or Aurae worked independently. There’s not enough information yet to guess.

Cassius meets Pax and Electra; Pax has a celebrity crush on him but Electra is not happy, since Cassius literally murdered her grandpa.

Cassius demonstrates that he has matured as a person.

Cassius faces consequences for killing Fitchner or otherwise expresses regret for doing so.

Cassius returns to Eagle Rest. He repairs it and the city ransacked by Fa.

Lyria finds Volga and they kick Fa's ass together.

Lyria and Volga fall in love.

Volga is changed by her time with Fa, more hardened, but Lyria brings out her kindness again.

Volga gets that damn farm, and a womb, and has a child.

Volga’s heart being on the opposite side becomes plot relevant when Fa tries to kill her but goes for the wrong side of her chest.

Volga becomes queen of the Obsidian.

Valdir shows up again and joins Darrow.

Valdir is confirmed to love Darrow romantically.

Fa is being slowly poisoned by the DNA poison in Sefi after eating her heart. Alternatively, Fa does not get sick, proving he is not her real father.

Pax is involved in the war effort somehow. Maybe helping Lyria? Darrow has complex emotions about this.

Darrow is able to show Pax that he still has his hoverbike key and it's a touching father/son moment.

Darrow and Pax ride the hoverbike together again -- for fun? In battle?

Pax makes more friends his age. Diomedes' younger siblings? Baldur comes back??

Pax struggles with the weight of essentially sending Ephraim to his death; logically he knows it’s not his fault, and that Ephraim knew the risks, but by god, Pax is only a child. Darrow is able to help ease his distress with an epic dad speech or something.

Pax kicks the Abomination's ass.

The Abomination becomes good, or otherwise decides being the Jackal sucks, actually

Lilath dies for real. Painfully. But definitively.

Atlas is the big bad; a blind spot even in the Jackal's plans.

Virginia and Victra save Sevro.

Darrow and Cassius save Sevro.

Sevro is brainwashed by the Jackal and Virginia has to fix him.

Sevro learns what happened to Ulysses. Pierce Brown writes this scene in such a profoundly sad way, the entire the fandom dies instantly.

Darrow and Sevro have a heart to heart.

The Darrow/Sevro/Cassius trio do something epic again, like they did when they stole the Minerva standard in the first book. I am starving for these three.

Cassius is jealous of Darrow/Sevro. I think that would be very funny.

Virginia and Victra bash sisters moment.

Virginia and Victra actually become friends, not friends by virtue of their husbands being best friends.

Mars becomes the capital of the Republic under Virginia.

PsychoSpike tech comes back in a big way, as either a boon or a detriment to the Republic.

Victra is called on by Volga and Lyria to fulfill her promise to aid them whenever they need it.

Darrow and/or Victra will face (or at least be threatened with) consequences for the destruction of the Docks of Ganymede.

Eagle Rest becomes a campus to teach lowcolors important life skills they might lack, following what Sefi was doing for Obsidians, but expanding the idea.

Rhea is resurrected and becomes habitable again; possibly a new home for the Obsidian, depending on how the Rim ends up.

Diomedes joins the Republic/Darrow.

Diomedes is captured by Darrow's crew and comes to an understanding with them while in captivity.

Diomedes discovers Atlas' plans, which include destroying the Rim, which motivates him to join Darrow.

Diomedes becomes Sovereign of the Rim.

Aurae joins the Republic/Darrow with Diomedes. Alternatively, Aurae is revealed to be a Sons of Ares agent, perhaps one of the survivors of the SOA purge in the Rim.

In Iron Gold, Aurae played music during the dinner scene. So my predication is, if she joins Darrow's crew, she will entertain them with music. idk I just think that would be a nice moment.

Diomedes is confirmed to love Aurae (beyond Lysander assuming so for a brief sentence), or at least this is expanded on in some way.

Apollonius tries to duel Diomedes but the latter is Not Interested in a moment of comedy.

Reaperstang reunion??? Please???

We see more of the Raa family, and get to know established members better. Vela, Gaia, Diomedes' remaining siblings, etc.

Virginia, Diomedes, and Volga become a Triumvirate, ruling over Republic, Rim, and Obsidian factions respectfully, in a peaceful political alliance, rather than warring to get everyone under the same empire banner again.

Big damn Reaperstang reunion kiss.

At the end of it all, somehow Darrow's banishment is the only way to maintain peace.

Darrow is believed to be dead throughout Light Bringer, until an epic reveal at the very end. This miraculous second resurrection is why he is the Red God.

Darrow lives. He lives and he is happy. (Shh I know there is another book coming, let me have this.)

[metvmorqhoses]

Thank you for your take on the Darkling! I absolutely loved reading it. (I might read it a second time tbh). He truly is complicated and it kinda bothers me that people oversimplify him, especially the book version. Could things have been better? A 1000% Yes! But I don't see how people can read TDiW and not see his perspective on life or at least feel sorry for him. Btw are you going to read the graphic novel on TDiW when it comes out? Do you think LB is using him to simply make more money? It's hard to tell if she actually cares about him as a character.

You cannot imagine how glad I am to see so many people sharing my thoughts and frustrations regarding such a deserving and yet so poorly treated character. Every time it feels genuinely like a small victory.

One thing can surely be said, this fandom gave the Darkling the consideration and depth the original novels denied him. What he deserved as a character, he certainly found here thanks to some very stubborn few.

As for your question, I am actually still debating if buying Demon in the Wood, even while of course knowing more or less its general content.

If I have to be completely honest with you, I am quite fed up with how Bardugo uses and abuses the Darkling, a character she probably conjured by chance while taking here and there from ancient folklore and other better works, a character far larger than her own imaginings, a character that quite obviously escaped her own narrative and just stubbornly refuses to fit in every single little box she tries and fails to relegate him in, and to the point of discovering myself discouraged at the idea of reading something I'm deeply interested in because of the tragic logics of its own creator.

I absolutely find this occurrence deeply bizarre myself. It had never happened to me before, to like something so much while completely disagreeing in every single way with the person who is supposed to be in charge of it. I've always been fiercely loyal to every artist's absolute right of kingship over their own creations, but I find this particular case just hardly excusable.

As a reader, I cannot really help but feeling toyed with and cheated when it comes to this series.

The general writing is plain and mediocre aside for a few lines here and there. The plot doesn't make any thematic sense. The story doesn't follow its own logic but the absolute strange one of an author lurking behind every corner, an author that doesn’t allow her readers to actually have their own opinions about anything. The majority of the characters are "heavily inspired" by some other greater source. The rhyme and reason of the one poetically and mythologically interesting personality in there completely escapes its creator, whose only piece of understanding seems to revolve around the fact that, for some reason, this very character is the one thing that makes her books sell.

Therefore everything she writes constantly hints at and promises a big meaningful part for him in the narrative, while in truth he is just strategically always put one time in the beginning, one time in the middle and one time at the end of every single book just to serve as a page-turner and to make at the same time plain and over-sentionalistic turning points work, without ever gaining any real role, development or actual depth, while the other characters seem always frozen in their own opinion no matter the evidence they are presented with, eternally unable to change their (the author’s) static idiotic narrative about him.

That LB puts the Darkling in her books to make them sell it's by now evident common knowledge. That she uses our collective interest in him for her own gain, all the while judging us harshly for it, it’s something that truly drives me up a wall. And quite frankly I am rather uninterested in following the appalling and nonsensical literary whirling she constructs with this poor character as the main bait in order to quite literally exploit our ability to recognize artistic worth.

I actually noticed she always tries to deal with him as little as possible in every novel, probably afraid to find herself in the need to really start to characterize him.

It's really quite sad.

The Darkling is literally killed and brought back to life to sell copies. The Darkling is what makes Netflix shows happen. And now prequels about him are coming out in different forms just for a capitalistic kind of sake.

I'm not a big fan of any of this. If the writing was at least good, getting idealistically mad would make some sort of sense, but alas this is not even that much the case.

I hope I didn't sound too harsh, but I really was in absolute disbelief while reading those novels.

I’d much prefer reading again some true masterpieces written by beyond talented authors on ao3 (stories that actually feel way more real and deserving than the actual original books) and leaving LB to her own, very sad, literary choices.

[where-theres-smoak-2]

This is out of nowhere, but I just wanted to say: the show did not do a good job of portraying the Darkling's POV.

Even the books gloss over a lot of details of Grisha persecution. It isn't until the Crows find the burnt corpses in Fjerda that the horror truly sets in, and by that time it's too late because the trilogy is already over. But if I imagine sitting there at the Little Palace, year after year, for over five hundred years, knowing that despite my best efforts people like me are getting burnt alive or tortured or sold as slaves just for the crime of existing, I'd take up some extreme measures too. Four hundred years since the Darkling created the Fold, and nothing has changed for the Grisha, they're just tolerated in Ravka because they are useful. I may not agree with everything the Darkling set out to do, but I can understand his fury and his desire to finish off the wars quickly.

But the show, in particular, fucks it up even worse. I've always maintained that in media, the first impression is the last impression. Our very first introduction to the Grisha is the squaller who challenges Mal. Mal is dragged away by his friends- because at the end of the fight the squaller gets to go to the Healers but he will end up in the 'brig'. The next time we meet them is at their practice arena, where once again, the First Army has to shift their tents to accommodate them. All of this sets a different tone than what one gets by thinking carefully about the books- it makes us feel that the Grisha are the bullies, and the 'poor dear otkaza'tsya' (idk how to spell that) are the underdogs. That one sentence from Fedyor about 'not hiding behind walls' doesn't really cut it to make viewers understand the horror of Grisha persecution. And it makes the Darkling's anger look ridiculous, because we don't feel the rage he might have felt every day. I really can't figure out WHY LB and the show writers try to force down our throats that the Darkling is the 'big bad villain' and Alina is 'pure innocent sunshine uwu'. It's dumb as fuck and just makes me side with the Darkling even more.

I mean it is one of the biggest gripes I have with both the show and the books, that they didn't do enough to show just how bad things were for the grisha and that they kind of just gloss over the grisha's plight and the fact that the darkling is the only one trying to help them. I will always believe that Aleks was a terrible choice as a villain and that the throne or the Apparat or even both together would have made a better true villain for the story. They could even have started out with having the reader think that the darkling was the villain and then in a plot twist revealed that the throne were the true villains, it would have been alot more interesting to me. At least when it comes to the show there is still hope. They might still explore what life is like for the grisha. At least in the show they had the added plot of Nina being kidnapped for being grisha so you got a little more of an idea that things were bad. I do agree that they made the mistake in that first episode of making the grisha seem like bullies, I said it in another post but the problem you have with the show is that we are first shown the grisha as the bullies, then we are shown them happy and living life up in the LP. The only indication we get that the grisha truly are suffering are mostly small moments, like Ivan and Fedyor talking about the high walls for protection, Ivan reading out the list of the dead (which even in that scene is played more to make Ivan seem like a dick and to make you feel sorry for Alina as opposed to the dead grisha), how Nina is treated by her captors and then Aleks' flashback to how the grisha were treated at the time of the creation of the fold. Whilst better than what we got in the books I do still think there is room for improvement and I hope in season two they explore the grisha and their persecution more and that they keep Aleks as a sympathetic figure. I do feel that the show did a better job of showing us how Aleks is motivated by the protection of the grisha. I also really hope they keep Aleks as that complex and sympathetic figure and don't just decide to make him straight up dark villain, to me him being more morally grey and understanding why he is doing these things is more interesting than just the 2d villain he was in the books.

[yjwhatif]

i actually think the OG gang might not tell anyone about Bart because of this line: "Bart made a choice, and we should trust him on it." beyond that being Dick saying they should trust Bart to handle himself, it might also be implying trusting his choice to not tell anyone about what he's doing (especially since Dick's got the theory about this all being time travel related and potentially super sensitive)

This very well may be the case - I guess we can’t truly know until we actually see what’s going on with the active outsiders who are closest to Bart and would probably be looking for him - but as soon as I read this (which was before this latest episode - apologies for this delayed response) I was totally convinced by it.

From the information gathered, Dick is working off of the assumption that Bart knows what he’s doing and has a plan which he’s following - he trusts Bart to handle whatever he signed up for - but he doesn’t dig deep enough into the available information to actually realise the situation Bart &co. may actually be in. Z doesn’t look past what they wanted to see from Raquels memory - and therefore misses the fact that the rage fuelled lor escapes onto that camouflaged bioship - where Dick then theorises Bart could be. Even if the memory didn’t show that - nobody seems to question what happened to lor after the projector was blown up - and considering detective Grayson just worked out the entire plot of the season in less than 24hrs - I don’t think it would have been that much harder to theorise lor might have gone after the ship and whoever’s onboard might actually be in serious trouble. It’s one thing trusting someone to deal with any danger they might run into - it’s another to actively turn your back on someone you know is in danger… or at least that’s my take away from that scene - and maybe I’m a little biased since I do actually know Bart’s in trouble - either way, I’m definitely intrigued to see if they get any backlash for having overlooked that fact or for choosing not to share the information they’ve learnt (if that is in-fact what they’ve done). It wouldn’t be young justice without teams keeping secrets from each other and then getting in trouble for it when they get found out… and ironically it’s Mr. ‘I-hate-secrets’ who can always be found in the middle of everything.

Guess we’ll see what happens…

LB

[rozaceous]

I HAVE BEEN SUMMONED

emerging from my tumblr soft-vanish specifically to derail this ask bc i fucking hate the ""broken back"" thing, just like i hate how p much every injury, or lack thereof is handled in dc. (an outline of the broken back plot can be found here.) he gets someone w healing powers to fix him up, fine, magic is about the only thing that's gonna get you back to normal at this point!

but my first question is--IF BRUCE HAS A SPINAL INJURY WTF IS ALFRED DOING TAKING CARE OF IT? you need an entire gd medical team for that! spinal injuries are SO serious! how did he even get transported back to the batcave? you'd need multiple ppl to move you and preserve spinal stability!

not only is breaking your back an incredibly non-specific injury, it is, regardless of that, going to be A BIG FUCKIN DEAL. some ppl take over a year to recover from a spinal fusion, and that's considered a very rote kind of back surgery! as far as i can tell, canon doesn't get into the specifics of what his injury entails, and we're just going la-di-dah abt whatever the fuck happened, and clearly he wasn't paralyzed, but i also wanna know wtf he's doing even sitting up and putting pressure on the vertebrae and--

how did he travel with this?? where is his neurologist?? where is his surgeon????? any PT in this joint????

if we're going to do the hand-wave of magic fixing it, fine, whatever, we're all reading comics and no one is pretending they have the high ground when it comes to plausibility, except we're also now in the realm of fandom meta and if i want an explanation for all this crap it's more doylist than wastonian, and i want something in-universe to explain things, SUE ME

enter in: bruce wayne is a secret meta with a subtle but profound healing/strength factor. this man has had so many concussions, should have broken so many bones, torn so many ligaments--if he's able to go out batting for YEARS at his intensity level, he either has a crack team of the world's greatest healthcare workers focused on keeping him in fighting fit and they have access to truly sublime medical tech, or he's a meta.

there's literally no other explanation for all 250+lbs of this man to be able to go out swinging one-handed on a grapple without out tearing his shoulder straight from his socket.

ooh! we're starting no man's land! i'm sorry if this question is heading spoiler territory, and you can refuse to answer, but i'm just wondering if you're going to include other vigilantes that were involved during the og storyline in your fic, such as azrael and huntress?

i'm gonna get choosy with the canon events + characters in the fic because not all things can exist without contradiction. azrael's everything makes me 😕 and he's not small enough to be some side event -> bane breaks bruce's back, then azrael takes over, then etc <- i cannot abide by this. wdym he just gets better and back to batting after getting his back broken?? batman ban yourself from gotham bc you're the real meta i don't fucking care this is a thing that kills @rozaceous dead whenever we talk about it

other vigilantes and heroes will pop in and out if relevant to the narrative. it's a rich and wild world out there and for the focus of the fanfic, we won't go into what every single character is up to all the time. that can be answered bts, but it's definitely a lesson learned that when you write a fic that explores a lot of worldbuilding, sometimes you need to step away from too much worldbuilding or 1) you'll never finish, 2) miss the main point of the fic (which is "dick's accidental chaos gremlin acquisition")

("what would a transmigrator actually look like from the outside, and can they make it?")

=

my head almost melted trying to get information about these two events...but i think the chaos of it all can be leveraged. so next chapter, hang tight for...uh, tentative titles:

so what really happened in gotham?

#justgothamthings

tales from the cataclysm

=

i hope that sorta answers the q or elaborates if i don't completely

[greensaplinggrace]

What I Would Change About the Ruin and Rising Ending

So this is separate from what I actually think would have been best for the story, in that Aleksander is the third amplifier and Alina is a tracker. Baghra never has her ridiculous plot twist info dump and Alina is actually allowed more agency and the ability to take initiative and the Darkling is actually written consistently from the start.

Here’s what I think should have happened in the ending if all the events leading up to it were the exact same: 

Alina kills Mal and with the power of the three amplifiers kills the Darkling. As punishment for using all three amplifiers, she and the Darkling both lose the power of Merzost. This power is then used to fulfill Morozova’s aching loneliness, creating hundreds of shadow and sun summoners all across the world. The Darkling comes back to life through the loss of Merzost, and Mal comes back to life through the loss of his tracking abilities and status as an amplifier.

This ending feels not only more consistent with the themes LB tries to convey throughout the books, but it also aligns more with character arcs, established lore, and the parts of the plot that actually made sense.

The Darkling was punished for using Merzost by the Fold’s creation, which was a place where his powers were rendered useless (although the fact that he still has much power over the fold feels contradictory to this fact). He still retained the ability to use it, however, the result of only using some of the Merzost’s power. Alina was punished much more severely for not only using Merzost but also taking all three amplifiers. Therefore she is stripped of that power entirely. The Darkling, who she killed with the power and who has also lusted for power, is stripped of it as well. 

Not only that, but the presence of hundreds of people like them now ensures they do not have more power than everybody else. It strips Alina and the Darkling of power without robbing them of a very important piece of their identity that should be impossible to take. By making it so that they now have hundreds of equals, that they have people to match them, challenge them, stop them. That they can no longer take more power, that they can no longer use their powers over those less powerful than them, that their greed does not destroy those around them. It makes them essentially powerless (consistent with the theme of punishment in regards to the Merzost), without removing their status as members of a persecuted and oppressed minority. 

This remains consistent with Alina’s character arc as well. Her growth as a character, coming into her abilities and learning to accept every part of herself, instead of denying an essential piece of her identity because she’s trapped by the past and her prejudices and her fear of moving forward - because she’s also trapped by her low self esteem and her loneliness and her fear. By allowing her to remain as a Grisha, her developmental arc - of learning self esteem and self acceptance, of learning to love every part of herself and to not deny those parts of herself for others or because of her worries, of finding a community, growing into a woman outside of one person, learning to connect with others and love others and love herself and love her powers - isn’t regressed in any way. It isn’t negated. 

There still remains a punishment for the Merzost and for her hunger for power. There still remains a way to acknowledge the thematic ties between loneliness and Grisha - especially Morozova’s loneliness and therefore Aleksander’s. There still remains the culmination of three books worth of seeking out amplifiers - a satisfying result of all her effort and her traumas; the powers she sought out to defeat the Darkling actually used to defeat him. There still remains the acknowledgement of Alina’s growth and change. She isn’t robbed of a valuable piece of her identity and her path of self fulfillment and self acceptance. 

I won’t get into this much now, but I also think Alina’s reluctance to accept herself as Grisha, hurting herself to remain untested and weakening herself by denying that crucial part of her, is the result of centuries of the oppression and persecution of the Grisha as a people. It isn’t just her own fears, but also the way the world has forced Grisha to integrate into society. How the Grisha’s oppressors have treated them, not allowed them to truly develop or grow or gain power. The way they’re viewed by society and the prejudices against them as a whole that stifles their ability to truly connect or form a healthy community.

That part of Alina’s culture and birthright was denied her by her oppressors. She lived amongst these people for years and grew up with their customs, and when she finally discovered the part of herself that made her Grisha, she was introduced to her people. Her community that the world, through endless hunting of the Grisha and stripping them of agency, using them and othering them and ostracizing them from society, refused the ability to truly connect. She was allowed to finally realize herself and who she was born to be.

Her stay at the Little Palace was distressing in a lot of ways, but I’m not talking about just the Little Palace, I’m talking about her journey throughout the books as a whole, as she learns about the people and community she belongs to. As she grows to love it and accept it and take pride in it. Her culture and her people - the Grisha. 

So when people say Alina losing her powers is good because she doesn’t want to be a part of the Grisha (even though she grows to love being Grisha, not wanting to was only in the beginning), and that she’s happier as an otkazat’sya because she grew up with them (the people who have oppressed her kind and smothered her powers), and that Grisha culture isn’t hers, I want to scream. The reason it wasn’t hers was because she was held back from it. Because Grisha oppression has become systematic and ingrained within society. Because prejudice against the Grisha runs deep. 

To say that it's good that she’s stripped of what makes her Grisha because she was raised otkazat’sya? When if the Grisha were free she never would have been in the first place? To refuse to acknowledge the harm done to her people and therefore her, in creating a world so against Grisha that she was never given the chance to be raised in her own community? Amongst her own people? Who would understand her and would never have let her get sick by refusing to use her powers and who would have helped her because they know what it’s like to be Grisha - because they are Grisha.

That’s fucking bullshit.

Alina doesn’t hate her powers. Her powers don’t cause her pain. It’s others and the world that hurts her because of them. And this is an important distinction. Alina losing her powers isn’t a healthy message. That others hurting you for how you were born means that the only way to remain safe is to strip away the part that makes you different. That Alina returning to the people she was forced to assimilate with and that raised her to deny a massive part of her identity is a healthy thing-

That’s not a message that should ever be given. Which is why Alina should have kept her powers as the sun summoner, even if she loses the amplifiers.

And the burden of being the only sun summoner is lessened with the spread of her powers as well. People claim that Alina losing her powers was good for her because the world burdened her too much because of them, but that’s an issue easily solved by the splitting of her powers. She now isn’t the only one with a weight to carry because of the way she was born, and in fact she no longer has to carry it at all. 

Additionally, Morozova’s amplifiers and the Merzost itself, which he created, being used to fulfill the loneliness he felt in the world and that all Grisha feel - that Aleksander especially suffered under (and which he suffered under in part due to Morozova), is a much more poetic and thematically consistent way to maintain equilibrium and fill the void of loneliness in the world than robbing Alina of her powers to do so. Which is just pointless and random and doesn’t align reasonably with any of the narrative elements. Morozova himself doing so through his amplifiers and the Merzost makes it a state of healing and even redemption. It ties his story and his character together with the plot and established themes.

It also keeps with the theme of balance. In that the Merzost is now gone and the amplifiers are now gone - abilities deemed to be unnatural and against the balance - and instead both of their powers are spread across the land. Not just Alina’s. Which was an unbalance and not in keeping with the themes established throughout the books. With both powers not only split but also split amongst many, real balance returns to the world.

I also think that both Mal and the Darkling coming back makes the ending more in line with the plot and all of the character’s arcs, and also more intriguing as a whole. Alina now has the opportunity to navigate her relationship with the both of them on new, uncertain ground.

I think this would be a unique start to a Darklina relationship in particular, as the Darkling now has many equals that are not Alina. So what would make him stay? A fun premise to explore in regards to both characters and their motivations.

On the other hand, Malina has to continue to grow with Alina still living as a Grisha sun-summoner, but now the pressure isn’t all on her. She’s free of the burden she was forced into, but not free of the powers which she came to love. She also hasn’t been stripped of her identity within a group of persecuted and marginalized people that she came to connect with.

Alina and Mal could very well live out their lives in peace. Or they could take a different path, with so many new avenues open before them. This could provide the opportunity for an even more complex future if the Darkling still remains involved with Alina (with them) even peripherally. Like if they still had dealings with him in some way, even if there isn’t anything romantic going on between him and Alina.

All in all, I just think it would be a better ending for all three of them in a variety of ways, and it also creates so many opportunities for different paths to be taken. It’s more consistent with the themes LB attempted to convey, the plot and character arcs as a whole, and the established lore.