#call me crazy but the concept of a character that has room to develop is sort of the point of fucking literature?

[wyverningx]

people on The Internet Dot Com keep being absolute idiots about thea muldani so here is your reminder that she's a ravens success story — she grew up in an environment where she was asked to give her all and engage in incredibly unhealthy practices, but the result of such sacrifice was that she was rewarded for it with US court and a pro team. she was part of a cult and "left" in the sense of gaining physical distance, but all of her experiences reaffirmed that the toxic ravens environment was the most effective way to a successful exy career. it is fucked up that she believes others should go through the same thing in order to be "worthy" or "good enough," but i simply do not understand why so many people look at her and think that she should be crucified for being a representation of a finished, successful raven. especially not if she's unable to recognize abuse in others, which tbqh is something that is very common in cult-like settings. you don't want to look something-that-could-very-well-be-abuse-happening-to-others in the eye, because if they're being abused, then you could potentially be being abused, too, and what do you do with that? do you have any idea how hard it is to come to terms with that reality, especially when you are told day in and day out that this is the only way to get to the top? that this is how you make it in the sport? that someone who is being harmed by the coach or the team captain absolutely deserved it? that people who can't hack it are weak, but you're not weak, you're one of the best, you'll do whatever it takes?

is it extremely shitty that she blames jean for his own sexual assault? absolutely, yes. but she doesn't have the whole picture, and it's clear that jean intentionally deceives her (with the comment about him being fragile/clumsy, etc.) and lets her believe he had more agency in his sexual experiences than he truly did because it's a coping mechanism that also serves the purpose of letting her fill in blanks so he does not have to explicitly tell a lie. besides, if there is any singular raven that both kevin and jean view fondly, wouldn't they want her to believe whatever it took so that she didn't ask too many questions? wouldn't they both want her far removed from the reality of the moriyamas and human trafficking, because her uncovering the truth would put her entire life at risk?

people can have friends that are imperfect or do not understand them completely or that fuck things up sometimes. i get that jean's experiences put people on-guard when it comes to how he interacts with other characters, but god damn. she was his mentor. she taught him everything he knows about being a backliner. she made horrible and judgmental assumptions about his experiences. all of those things can be true at the same time. does she not deserve the opportunity to change upon receiving new information? does she not deserve the ability to take a step back, as ravens are dropping like flies and all eyes are on evermore and the perfect court, to consider that maybe she was a victim in all of this, too? that plenty of people are capable of making it to the top without calling another human being the master and turning a blind eye to the king beating his own men? that maybe kevin and jean and all of them were terribly wronged? why is she the only person in this series who's not allowed to grow as a person by developing a more nuanced understanding of rape and sexual assault and learning how to be a better friend to someone who had no choice?

also someone tried to "gotcha" me by saying thea and jean aren't friends because she uhhhh (checks notes) calls him a teasing nickname and says "i'm going to break your ribs" as though threatening your friends (especially ones you play a contact, violent sport with) is the worst possible offense ever in the same book series that people regularly ACTUALLY fistfight each other and pull knives on one another. i'd argue that these are actually huge indicators that they do like each other, because she's probably one of the only people in the world who he can express himself around and even say things like "i'm not from paris" exasperatedly. you know, like you do when people you care about tease or poke fun at you. those are actually probably some of the most normal interactions jean has pre-TSC, especially as she is not needlessly cruel to him like literally everyone else in the nest is. and not only is thea one of the only people who has any sort of comraderie with him and who makes the effort to see him after his injuries because she cares, but she also makes it past wymack and kevin and renee and neil guard-dogging him. does that seriously mean nothing? do you think renee fucking walker (who was ready to brawl on-sight at evermore) would have let someone like zane waltz into abby's house if kevin said a single negative word about him?

i have seen some incredibly wonderful and nuanced takes about most characters in AFTG, but at the same time, the way thea is treated and criticized in a more severe way than literal murderers in the series for her possibly-willful ignorance is utterly crazy to me.

idk. just some food for thought

[puffyducks]

DCRC Week #27

Today we're reading PKNA #22: Fragments of Autumn and it's about to get CRAZY IN THIS BITCH!!! WHO UP FRAGMENTING THEY AUTUMN?!?!?

Ok so first of all shoutout to every single piece of cover art for this comic for being absolutely breathtaking. And also shoutout to Lyla for having eyes that get bigger and more haunting each time.

Uuh yeah she's gonna shoot the BAD GUY why the fuck did you jump in front of her 😭 Idiot

oh my god it's SLENDERMAN

Well he was a cop so 🤷‍♀️

friend and admirer 😏😏😏 (in a gay way)

OH NAW THEY SENT BABYGIRL TO THE UNITED NATIONS

I've said it before but I'll say it again: who the fuck calls into a meeting in this stance 😭 seriously is he sitting on the floor?

Oh GOD the Raider is rubbing off on him we're gonna have to put him down

Image that's relevant for 99% of conversation about Lyla Lay

NO HE ATE HERE!!! LEONARD, FUCKING KILL THAT GUY LIVE IN THE COURTROOM I BELIEVE IN YOU

So Odin is seen here in some type of hotel room with a bed in the background right? So my question is, does he actually use that? Can he sleep??? I mean Lyla said she has a sort of "sleep" mode where she has dreams, and Odin is technically more advanced than her so surely he needs to take breaks too right? These are incredibly important questions I need to know about his snoozer potential

Breaking and entering together, just like old times!!! ❤️

DID HE JUST CALL THEM CRACKERS

I like how much Donald is having fits of anger in this comic. Like yeah he's fucking everything up but it feels a lot closer to his usual character. Also I want him to kill.

"I'm going to do something Eidolon wouldn't approve of" YEAAHHH YEAH GO CRAZY GO STUPID

KILL HIM!!! KILL HIMMM THROW HIM OUT OF THE SHIP!!!! NOBODY WILL CARE IF HE DIES HE'S A POLITICIAN

Sorry maybe I shouldn't encourage PK every time he has violent fits but I think he should get to be a LITTLE homicidal. As a treat.

Soooo these panels are terrifying

Oh my GOD it was LEONARD VERTIGHEL ALL ALONG!!!!! (person who has totally not read this comic before and is definitely not pretending to be shocked)

"You don't know him" you shut your whore MOUTH. I mean not that Donald knows that he knows him well either BUT TECHNICALLY HE DOES.

Soooo instead of just making himself a robot wife that loved him from conception, he decided to make a bunch of pretty girl droid models, send them out in the world to develop their own personalities and memories, and THEN activate his secret little chip that would make them suddenly fall in love with him only AFTER they've become fully sentient beings with their own dreams and ambitions???........ EW

You just told us about your multi-year project to create someone to love you because none of the biological women met your "perfect" standards so... YEAH. You're an incel bro.

THE IMMENSE! THE UNIQUE! THE UNREACHABLE!!! A PRETTY GIRL IN A BIKINI WHO LOVES ME BACK

Odin please you can't just keep making vague references to your past with Donald I need them both to EXPLODE!!!!

Sooo that was Fragments of Autumn! (I'm not including anything here for the bonus comic cause I already hit the image limit, sorry to anyone that stans the Evron bonus comics or whatever.)

There was a LOT to soak in there between messages of love and autonomy and consent, but I mean HEYYY it sounds like Odin made some good deals for droid rights at the end there! So even if Lyla's big messy trial didn't amount to much, there's at least less of a chance that something like this will happen again in the future. Probably.

I'm sorry to Leonard Vertighel that he couldn't find the most perfectest woman ever to fall in love with him but also like, idk just get on Tinder or something bro. Go to the club.

I have a LOT of questions about Vertighel (specifically who this random fucking guy is and why Odin trusted him so much) but we're not ever gonna see him again in this series so for all intents and purposes we can just assume he burned to death in that lab fire. RIP bozo!!! Yes I know he's in PKNE but that's not relevant right now just let me have dreams

Coming up later this week: Crismus 🎄🎁🐻

[bluesylveon2]

for the 500 follower special, idia + 75?

I love how all of my gamer knowledge reappeared as I was writing this lol.

Prompt: 75. I’m an insomniac who calls my best friend at 3am except I misdial on my landline and I tell you all about my nightmare before letting you talk and now I’m mortified but you don’t hang up (I changed it a bit)

Note: Modern au. Fainaru Fantajī XV is Final Fantasy 15 but in Japanese. I was gonna use FFXVI but idk how the story goes and I might just watch it on Youtube lol. I DO know the story for FFXV and I love it so much

Word Count: 959

Warnings: not beta read and possible OOC characters

500 Follower Event

Idia's day typically goes as follows: 1. Wake up, 2. Collect his dailies, 3. Stream in his room for hours (while snacking during it). 4. Use the bathroom. 5. Eat sweets, 6. Stream again. 7. Stream. What's sleep anyway?

Idia sighed after setting his headphones down. He just finished playing the latest Fainaru Fantajī XV game since its release. His body ached from the long sitting position, but it was all worth it for him. The story was good, and the gameplay was phenomenal! Idia needed to tell someone about it!

Usually, he would rant about it to Ortho. Still, his little brother was currently out of town because he was starring in a movie with the Vil Schoenheit. Idia was proud of his brother and wanted to keep his much-needed rest. 

Idia grabbed his phone and sorted through his list of friends.

Azul? No, he would only talk about board games. 

Riddle? No, they both had a mutual dislike for one another. 

Cater? HECK NO! NO NORMIES! (Idia made a mental note to delete his number later. How his contact information got on his phone was a mystery.)

Lilia? Idia's eyes widen. Yes! Lilia was perfect! They both share a love of games and often play co-op together. Surely he would be awake at, Idia glanced at the time, 3 am! Idia quickly typed his number, too excited to click on Lilia's number, and brought the phone to his ear. 

"Hello?" A clearly feminine voice replied, but Idia had already started his passionate ranting.

"Lilia! Did you get to play the newest Fainaru Fantajī XV game?"

"Who is-"

"I love the open world concept, and did you see the Regalia? That car screams luxury, and it has to be my dream car. I need to get one ASAP. That would show those lame normies I deal with, ugh."

"Lilia" laughed but continued trying to speak, "That's nice, but-"

"And the chemistry between the main characters! Luna was pretty, I guess? Lowkey women still scar me after the whole Eliza incident." Idia shivered at the memory of his "self-proclaimed" (and crazy) girlfriend (it was one-sided, and Idia didn't consider her his girlfriend anyway) in high school. Never again. "But the bond between Noctis and the other guys was top-notch! It made the gameplay even better!" Idia sighed and leaned back in his chair. "If only Noctis survived to the end, ya know? I guess the developers loved angst. The song choice at the end was the cherry on top. I actually shed a tear."

"Uhh, that's very interesting, but who is this?" "Lilia," asked, and Idia frowned. Now that he was partially done with his rant, he noticed the strange pitch in his friend's voice.

"Lilia, it's me, Idia. You know? The super cool guy who you spend playing League with. Are you sick? Your voice sounds off."

"I don't know a Lilia. My name is Yuu, and no, I am not sick. I am very healthy." Yuu's voice replied, and Idia froze. OH NO, NO, NO

"YOU'RE A GIRL?"

He could imagine the stranger frowning and thinking he was some creep. "Yes?"

"Eep!" Idia squealed and immediately pressed the big red "end call" button. He threw his phone at his bed, jumped face down on his bed, and groaned loudly. "Stupid, stupid, stupid! You just embarrassed yourself in front of a stranger! In front of a girl!" Idia was ready to bury himself in a hole.

Idia's phone rang just as he made the decision to do it. He groaned at the annoying ringtone, picked it up, and brought the phone to his ear without checking the caller ID. 

"Hello?"

A female voice laughed. "You hung up on me, Idia."

"Ah!" Idia screamed. He looked at his phone and raised his finger to hang up the call.

"Wait! Don't hang up!" Yuu exclaimed, causing Idia to freeze. He slowly brought his phone back to listen. The girl sighed after a minute passed. "Look, before you hang up again, I wanted to say that I love that game too."

Idia blinked, and his mouth opened in shock. "Y-you do?" he managed to say and wanted to facepalm.

Yuu laughed. "I'm not far into the game, though. I got distracted by fishing and playing with chocobos."

Idia felt himself relax, and he laughed with Yuu. "They are adorable. I liked racing them."

"Me too! Hey, Idia, can I ask you something?"

"Uhh, sure…What is it?"

Yuu sighed, and Idia could hear some shuffling on her end. She was probably adjusting herself to get comfortable. "Can you tell me more about the game? I need some help getting through it and would like some advice."

Idia felt a smirk grace his face. "Of course, you would need my help. I'll help you beat all the bosses with 0 deaths. You're good to talk for tonight?"

Yuu chuckled. "Yeah, I don't have anything planned. Oh great, Idia. Give me your wisdom." 

Idia ended up not sleeping that night but made a new friend instead. 

Bonus:

"I heard the Child of Man made a new friend." Malleus looked up from his Gao Gao Drakon-kun to speak to his father.

Lilia paused his game and turned to Malleus. "Oh? Did she say who?"

Malleus nodded. "It's actually your friend Idia. The one you often play games with." He said and gestured to the monitor that currently had Fainaru Fantajī XV. 

Lilia smiled, feeling happy for his friend. "What a coincidence. It is a small world, after all."

Malleus nodded and smiled, thinking about Yuu's happy rant that morning after staying up to talk to Idia before passing out from exhaustion. He was also delighted for her that she had met him. "Indeed it is."

Disclaimer: I do not own Twisted Wonderland and its characters. Those belong to Aniplex, Walt Disney Japan, and Yana Toboso.

©: This story belongs to bluesylveon2 2020-23. DO NOT modify, republish, or plagiarize my work.

[sacrialege]

plot wishlist for richard price.

there are many people available to watch rosalie, richard’s little girl, but one day he decides that he wants an outsider. he wants someone completely unconnected to crime, someone he views as safe, to babysit rosalie when he’s away. the hiring process includes extensive background checks, public and private records pulled, etc. he’s overly cautious with the whole thing because that’s his baby girl, of course! after almost a month of continuous work and rigorous research and interviews, richard decides to hire your muse. they’re just a regular person with no connection to the crime world—not even a speeding ticket on their record—and they’re completely unaware of richard’s businesses. all they know of him is what the public knows: he’s a philanthropic rich man in a three-piece suit. he’s intimidating. he loves his daughter. after working for richard for a time, they begin to put together the pieces, possibly overhear a conversation or two they definitely weren’t supposed to, and maybe they begin to consider blackmail as an option to get a big lump sum of cash from richard. drama and angst ensue. also: give me the sweeter alternative to this, where they become aware and slowly start helping out more because of it. they accept richard’s late-night calls to look after rosalie, they don’t ask questions, they offer richard help whenever he needs it. they become an ally to richard and his business and eventually a friend of the family—and richard takes care of his family.

richie is a well-known face in his city and i want more plots centered around the concept!!! give me someone confronting him on horrible rumors when he’s spotted alone in a movie theater; give me interactions at big galas and business parties he’s invited to; give me sudden, awkward meetings between richard and a family member of an old associate who was killed on the job; give me someone going to richard for advice on starting a business, even though they’re very wary of him, because they know he’s really good at it; give me random meetings with strangers who recognize him not because of his rumored crimes, but because of public speeches and announcements he’s made; give me people coming to him for help because they’ve heard of his generosity instead of his cruelty; give me “fans” and people who attempt to get in good with him because they think it will get them places; give me people attempting to exploit him, loving him only for the doors it will open and the advantages it will give; give me eventual in-depth relationships that will build character development!!!

give me that one plot where a law enforcement agent goes deep undercover to infiltrate richard’s life in order to get information (either on him or someone he associates with) but then they end up falling for each other like crazy and by the time the secret comes out it’s already too late because he’s getting sent to a max security prison and the undercover agent is on the other side of the glass so they have to work together in 30-minute visitation rooms and through 5-minute phone calls to secretly plot his escape and then a getaway out of the country for the both of them because neither can go back to their previous lives after this. or, in another version, the secret comes out in a heat-of-the-moment confession (before any real harm has been done or maybe even in the thick of it) and richard’s first reaction is to take care of the threat as he’s always done: by killing them. but this time it can’t possibly go that way because he loves them. so now he’s basically got an undercover agent held hostage in some secret concrete room while he’s pacing around outside, torn and clueless on how to proceed, and the agent has to constantly remind him that if they don’t check in with their superiors every so often that the whole thing is going to go to shit anyway because the police will be at his door in minutes... and there’s just so much physical aggression but also soft touches in small moments of weakness that leave them both so confused. idk just give me the betrayal and anger and angst and sadness and all the feels pls thnx!!!

give me… more angst. one of richard’s closest men dies tragically on the job, leaving behind a struggling wife and kids. richard is a family man and he considers those involved in his crime enterprise to be family, and that doesn’t end simply because they are no longer with him. this man in particular was one of richard’s closest confidants and friends; having their families over for every holiday, birthday, and life milestone. for years now, both their families were intertwined in some way. his kids even referred to richard as “uncle.” so, richard grieves honorably and tries to make sure the family is taken care of in any way he can. he sends a sizable check (which is labeled as some kind of “workplace insurance” money on paper), food, and offers his help wherever and whenever possible. at the funeral, however, richard and any of his men who came are ran off before it begins. the wife doesn’t want them there. she blames richard for her husband’s death and, while she isn’t necessarily wrong in that, richard is heartbroken that she feels this way. she may or may not know what kind of work her husband was doing (dependent on plotting). richard doesn’t even get to apologize to her, however little it might have meant to her. give me richard trying his hardest to make amends; give me tears and anger and shared grief between the both of them when they finally talk again for the first time; give me the kids asking their mom when they’re going to see uncle richard again, but she knows she doesn’t want them around whatever richard has going on; give me richard’s daughter, rosalie, asking when she’s going to be able to play with her “cousins” again, but richard is unsure of what to tell her and he’s heartbroken again knowing that she might never get to; give me yelling and slammed doors when richard tries to come over and talk, declined calls and cold shoulders when the wife sees him in public; give me an eventual resolution—or not—and everything else that comes from that!!

[smilingoctopus]

Umineko Chapter 2 Thoughts

Just finished Chapter 2 and thought I'd write some thoughts on what I think is going on, as entertainment for myself later once everything is revealed and for others. Spoilers for Chapter 1 & 2 of Umineko and all of Higurashi VN and GOU/SOTSU below.

So I think the first thing I want to talk about is how on earth I managed to miss that Battler's design has a white cross on the zipper, in contrast to Maria's I mentioned in my last post on chapter one. So I believe this gives us our two King pieces in this chess match. I've looked for some other chess piece motif's in the other characters designs but not noticed anything in particular.

Conversely to last time I'm less directly suspicious of Maria's involvement, despite her being more directly creepy in this chapter. She calls herself a witch at one point, however she is never seen in the tea party for otherworldly beings, and her role following Beatrice's revival is similar to the other characters taken to the golden land such as Rosa. This leads me to believe that she is being manipulated by Beatrice, and likely in a manner that is fundamental to Beatrice's schemes if she is the King piece of this board.

On the topic of otherworldly beings we have some interesting developments going on with the witches involved, Bernkastel is now openly involved following her being outed as helping Battler. I don't know if that means she will be appearing on the island and as a piece on the board now or helping through other means.

The same goes for Lambdadelta, who is openly helping Beatrice. Following confirmation that Bernkastel is indeed the same one from Higurashi I can only guess that Lambdadelta is Satoko's witch from GOU/SOTSU, what with the laugh, appearance and trapping of Bernkastel. The only thing throwing me from that is the bit about Lambdadelta being the strongest, though that may be explained by the description of her power not straying far from human concepts, though I'd expect Bernkastel to be older than Lambdadelta having gone through more loops if that were the case.

The other option here is that Lamdadelta was helping Takano in Higurashi, though I don't think much aside from the 'Witch of Certainty' gives me that impression. I think I'm more inclined that as Beatrice referred to herself as being like Battler's older sister, it makes me think maybe Beatrice helped Takano, giving birth to Bernkastel in much the same way she may have created Battler as a witch if Battler defeats her. Though they've not mentioned tangling in the past, but it could be that Bernkastel doesn't know of her involvement maybe?

I'm interested to see where the battle of the witches goes and in we get Bernkastel and Lambdadelta as characters within these loops, though I'm not sure how that might be explained unless they form some sort of bond with existing characters to help/hinder, though they could be new guests arriving along with Beatrice.

Now onto the events of the loop, we've had some crazy scenes with energy swords, shields, living devil weapons that transform at will, spiderwebs burning people. Notably all of these occur following the presence of the golden butterflies and I believe Battler is never present for any of these. My theories on this are twofold, it's entirely possible that these scenes are fabrications of events from Beatrice, as Battler isn't present I don't think we can rely on the narration of these scenes to be accurate (otherwise Battler's position is slightly untenable).

The second theory I have with the golden butterflies is that they may be related to some form of hallucinogen. This would explain the unusual scenes occurring after their presence and would solve some of our closed room problems and how someone might take out groups larger than their own such as the deaths on the first night.

It's clear this potential hallucinogen isn't being put into the food as swapping to canned foods did nothing to prevent their appearance. I believe it may actually be a red spray, this may be the sticky substance used to create the magic circles as well. We know this substance isn't paint as it clearly hasn't dried and likely isn't blood as it is also likely to have dried or coagulated. I think this is also why it's on Natsuhi's door in chapter 1, I think someone may have tried to get Natsuhi to open her door by spraying that through the keyhole, making a mess that was the confused with scratching at the door. Using a spray for the magic circles may also reduce the time to make them, resolving some of the issues of magic circles appearing during short intervals.

I'm fairly convinced because of this that non-Fragments Beatrice is not a witch and that there are reasonable explanations to all of the events that went on in these chapters. I don't have all the answers but I do have some ideas.

So the first twilight, it seems entirely possible to me for Beatrice to have snuck into the room with Maria's letter, taken the letter, removed the key from the envelope, used the key, and then resealed it with the key and put it back. Beatrice could even have manipulated Maria to assist her in this. From here it's not unfathomable that a hallucinogen could have allowed Beatrice to lure the victims to the chapel to kill them. We also see a scene of those involved with golden butterflies around speaking to Beatrice and resigning to her, which fits.

The second twilight I believe a hallucinogen was also used as we have scenes with magic going on, though one part I think may actually be not a hallucination, I think the goat headed people may actually just be some henchmen of Beatrice's wearing masks. I don't have much to go on here but we don't have a confirmation that there isn't a >=20th person on the island, and Bernkastel wearing and removing a goat head towards the end may be a clue that these are human. I'm not sure on how this one occurred though with the keys, though I suspect Kanon may have just been thrown out the window to make his body disappear as I don't believe anyone explicitly was said to look outside.

This could mean that Kanon returning wounded prior to the attack in the servant room may have actually been Kanon as his behaviour changed pretty severely from someone who seemed to be actively dying to suddenly then standing, touching the wound and attacking them. I suspect a hallucinogen caused the servants to believe they were under attack and attack each other.

We also have an interesting discovery here with which twilights Kumasawa and Nanjo were, as the eighth and seventh twilight respectively which supposedly occurred before the fourth, fifth and sixth twilights. This means that either the twilights can occur in any order, or that Nanjo and Kumasawa were still alive when they left the room and were killed somewhere else. They have additional wounds when they're found but we don't know enough information to tell if they occurred while they were alive or not. Unfortunately I don't recall everyone's whereabouts and key placements during this time to know if them being alive and leaving breaks this closed room.

The events for the fourth, fifth and sixth twilight I believe are also likely hallucinogen related as they have some fantastical events occur prior to the deaths. The closed room scenario here I think only works if Beatrice was still hidden in the room and had locked it from the inside, having entered with them somehow.

So that leaves us with the events at the end of the chapter, I think these may be happening actually in the mansion with the characters heavily affected by hallucinogens, with the goat headed people being Beatrice's henchmen (Maybe this means Bernkastel is on the island?). I'm not sure of their goals if Beatrice was truthful about not wanting the gold, unless that was just for herself and that was her henchmen are after the gold?

Beatrice can easily have another motive for her actions, there is clearly a history between herself and Kinzo. Given some of what Beatrice says mocking Shannon, it's quite clear that her history with men is a negative one and that likely involves Kinzo. We know they have an ongoing chess game from 30 years ago, timeline-wise it could be that Beatrice is actually the original Beatrice's daughter. It's also possible that Beatrice was quite young when first meeting Kinzo, this might be contrary to the portrait of her but we do know that was only two years old. It's entirely possible that Beatrice revealed herself to Kinzo sometime prior to this so that she would be recognised when arriving at the mansion.

It's mentioned that Beatrice died some time ago but I suspect this is false, we're never told how this happened and I suspect Beatrice left Kinzo following some incident, especially with Kinzo breaking down and begging to be able to apologise to her, along with Beatrice's words to Shannon just before the fourth, fifth, and sixth twilight.

There is still the mystery of the gold, we now see three bars of it on the table at the first twilight, I suspect that each of the siblings may have found one bar each when investigating Kinzo's gold. I'm not sure on the origin of the gold, it's possible that Beatrice had it created specifically for him. I suspect in some manner it's linked to the original Ushiromiya family but I don't have anything firm to base that on, I also suspect Kinzo may have been involved in their downfall.

We also have a second costume for Beatrice which is interesting, she has the Ushiromiya crest on her thigh which can't be seen in the other costume. Along with her having the ring this does have some significance as she appears as a part of the Ushiromiya family, which doesn't seem to be something an unrelated witch would do, though I could be wrong. It's also possible we have another twin situation here with two Beatrices, though Beatrice hasn't used an alibi for anything like this yet I'll keep it in mind for future chapters. The only thing I'm basing this on is the three beatrices appearing in one of the more fantastical scenes, though it's possible that's for affect or due to a hallucinogen.

Beatrice's tips page also includes the line 'However there does exist a way to kill me. You hold that method in the palm of your hand.' I think this doesn't refer to how closely we have that object but more the manner in which is it held, it could possibly be the mirror? Though I feel that leans to the witch side of things which I'm not inclined to believe. It may also refer to Maria as a method to reveal and 'kill' her schemes.

I have noticed as well that Beatrice is never seen by the person with the gun, to me this says that she is 100% human and vulnerable to bullets. I believe someone else shot Natsuhi in chapter 1, rather than the bullet reflecting back at her, after she was lured away from the scene.

Still absolutely no closer to solving the witch's epitaph, my only thought is that they've not investigated the actual physical epitaph. It's possible a different riddle entirely exists physically held within the epitaph, though I've nothing to base that on other than the ambiguity of the word 'in' the witch's epitaph. Also someone definitely needs to take that painting off the wall to see if anything is behind it.

Overall very interesting things going on, less suspicious of Maria as an actual witch and more unwitting accomplice. Hoping there's some form of hallucinogen involved otherwise like 90% of my theories go out the window, though I also hope that happens so I'm happy either way. Reasonably sure there are no witches outside of the fragments.

[sacrialege-archive]

plot wishlist for richard price.

there are many people available to watch rosalie, richard’s little girl, but one day he decides that he wants an outsider. he wants someone completely unconnected to crime, someone he views as safe, to babysit rosalie when he’s away. the hiring process includes extensive background checks, public and private records pulled, etc. he’s overly-cautious with the whole thing because that’s his baby girl, of course! after almost a month of continuous work and rigorous researching and interviews, richard decides to hire your muse. they’re just a regular person with no connection to the crime world—not even a speeding ticket on their record—and they’re completely unaware of richard’s businesses. all they know of him is what the public knows: he’s a philanthropic rich man in a three-piece suit. he’s intimidating. he loves his daughter. after working for richard for a time, they begin to put together the pieces, possibly overhear a conversation or two they definitely weren’t supposed to, and maybe they begin to consider blackmail as an option to get a big lump sum of cash from richard. drama and angst ensue. also: give me the sweeter alternative to this, where they become aware and slowly start helping out more because of it. they accept richard’s late-night calls to look after rosalie, they don’t ask questions, they offer richard help whenever he needs it. they become an ally to richard and his business and eventually a friend of the family—and richard takes care of his family.

richie is a well-known face in his city and i want more plots centered around the concept!!! give me someone confronting him on horrible rumors when he’s spotted alone in a movie theater; give me interactions at big galas and business parties he’s invited to; give me sudden, awkward meetings between richard and a family member of an old associate who was killed on the job; give me someone going to richard for advice on starting a business, even though they’re very wary of him, because they know he’s really good at it; give me random meetings with strangers who recognize him not because of his rumored crimes, but because of public speeches and announcements he’s made; give me people coming to him for help because they’ve heard of his generosity instead of his cruelty; give me “fans” and people who attempt to get in good with him because they think it will get them places; give me people attempting to exploit him, loving him only for the doors it will open and the advantages it will give; give me eventual in-depth relationships that will build character development!!!

give me that one plot where a law enforcement agent goes deep undercover to infiltrate richard’s life in order to get information (either on him or someone he associates with) but then they end up falling for each other like crazy and by the time the secret comes out it’s already too late because he’s getting sent to a max security prison and the undercover agent is on the other side of the glass so they have to work together in 30-minute visitation rooms and through 5-minute phone calls to secretly plot his escape and then a getaway out of the country for the both of them because neither can go back to their previous lives after this. or, in another version, the secret comes out in a heat-of-the-moment confession (before any real harm has been done or maybe even in the thick of it) and richard’s first reaction is to take care of the threat as he’s always done: by killing them. but this time it can’t possibly go that way because he loves them. so now he’s basically got an undercover agent held hostage in some secret concrete room while he’s pacing around outside, torn and clueless on how to proceed, and the agent has to constantly remind him that if they don’t check in with their superiors every so often that the whole thing is going to go to shit anyway because the police will be at his door in minutes... and there’s just so much physical aggression but also soft touches in small moments of weakness that leave them both so confused. idk just give me the betrayal and anger and angst and sadness and all the feels pls thnx!!!

give me… more angst. one of richard’s closest men dies tragically on the job, leaving behind a struggling wife and kids. richard is a family man and he considers those involved in his crime enterprise to be family, and that doesn’t end simply because they are no longer with him. this man in particular was one of richard’s closest confidants and friends; having their families over for every holiday, birthday, and life milestone. for years now, both their families were intertwined in some way. his kids even referred to richard as “uncle.” so, richard grieves honorably and tries to make sure the family is taken care of in any way he can. he sends a sizable check (which is labeled as some kind of “workplace insurance” money on paper), food, and offers his help wherever and whenever possible. at the funeral, however, richard and any of his men who came are ran off before it begins. the wife doesn’t want them there. she blames richard for her husband’s death and, while she isn’t necessarily wrong in that, richard is heartbroken that she feels this way. she may or may not know what kind of work her husband was doing (dependent on plotting). richard doesn’t even get to apologize to her, however little it might have meant to her. give me richard trying his hardest to make amends; give me tears and anger and shared grief between the both of them when they finally talk again for the first time; give me the kids asking their mom when they’re going to see uncle richard again, but she knows she doesn’t want them around whatever richard has going on; give me richard’s daughter, rosalie, asking when she’s going to be able to play with her “cousins” again, but richard is unsure of what to tell her and he’s heartbroken again knowing that she might never get to; give me yelling and slammed doors when richard tries to come over and talk, declined calls and cold shoulders when the wife sees him in public; give me an eventual resolution—or not—and everything else that comes from that!!

[beepboop358]

Anti-Byler Argument Refuttals

Although I discussed all of this in my Byler Proof master slides post, I wanted to do a separate post specifically just refutting the most common anti-byler arguments.

1. "Mike and El's relationship is too developed" and "They have been through too much together to break up now!"

This is probably the thing I hear the most when people argue that Byler will never happen. The weirdest part of this argument is that people assume that they will never drift apart, and that they will never ever break up, as if we didn't just see them drift apart, break up, and not officially get back together in S3? Yes, they have both been through a significant amount of trauma, but their relationship is not as developed as people think it is, they barely even know each other really. They spent a week together in S1, then El was gone for a year. Mike and El don't reunite until the very end of S2, probably a few days after halloween. If we work out the timeline between Halloween of 1984 and July 4th of 1985 in S3, that's 246 days, so it's actually less than a full year they have spent together, getting to know each other.

The “development” people argue that Mike and El have just doesn't stand up. Mike and El do not have intimate conversations, their conversations are incredibly awkward, and they just kiss frequently in the beginning of S3 before they break up. That's not development. Hopper even refers to their constant kissing as "not normal and not healthy." Mike couldn't tell El he loves her to her face, which is a parallel to the failed relationship of Stancy where Nancy couldn't tell Steve she loved him, and we later find out it's because she doesn't, which all happens during the blank makes you crazy scene that is extremely similar to Robin's coming out scene. And yes, Mike and El have endured a lot of trauma together, but so has the rest of the group and people don't seem to use this argument the same way with the other couples, or between the friendships. History doesn't determine the future if there's no feelings involved, things can always change. This is idea of staying in a relationship where there is no real love but there is history/benefits is hinted at in S3 when Mike dresses almost identically to both of his parents.

2. "Look at how much Mike cares for El! They're in love!"

No, they're not, and how they treat each other proves that they're not. I firmly believe neither Mike nor El is seriously, romantically in love with each other.

If Mike was really deeply, romantically in love with El, why did he treat her like he did in S3? If he really cares about her that much, why did he wait for Lucas to guide him at all times in matters regarding his relationship with El, instead of just taking initiative, but he does take initiative with Will? Why can't her apologize to her? Why wasn't Mike more upset about El dumping him? Why couldn't he tell El he loves her to her face? Why did he consistently lie to her throughout the whole show? Why did he stop calling her in S2? Why did he give up and say she was dead, but never gave up on Will? Why did he scream in her face in S1? And no - it isn't because he's just shy or awkward. Mike doesn't act like he is truly in love with El because he isn't. He is projecting his feelings for Will onto El, and he is deeply in denial about his sexuality due to his internalized homophobia and hasn't fully processed how he feels about Will throughout the series (up until the ending of S3). And why does Mike have such an odd reaction to El saying she loves him if he does love her? If he loves her that should be exactly what he wants to hear, so why does he look so confused and scared? And why doesn't he just say it back right then?

El isn't seriously, romantically in love with Mike. They meet in S1, and he immediately takes her in, saving her life. He looks out for her, and actually cares if she is okay, and no one has ever done that for her before. El was abused her whole childhood until Mike lets her live in his basement. He was the first person to treat her like a human being, and show her compassion, which she has never experienced before. It makes total sense that she would cling to their relationship like a security blanket. Mike is an emotional attachment for El. He makes her feel safe, because of how he saved her life previously. El has very limited knowledge of love, life, friendship, relationships, and social behaviors since she was locked in a lab for over a decade of her life, she was never truly exposed to these concepts like the other kids in the party were. Everything El thinks she knows about love she learns from watching soap opera's alone in Hopper's cabin. Of course her perception of what romantic love is, is warped. If El was seriously romantically in love with Mike, why was their break-up no big deal to her? Why was she smiling, laughing and looking at pictures of boys with Max right after she supposedly dumped the love of her life? Why did she not seem even the slightest bit upset about it the entire season?

If they're both seriously in love, then why are their interactions so awkward to watch and why does it feel so unnatural and forced? Why don’t Mileven’s interactions feel romantic? The official released scripts on 8flix describe several Mileven scenes as "awkward". It's no coincidence that detail was included in the script.

3. "But they already have Robin"

I mean this comment basically means that sense the show already has one confirmed lgbtq+ character, there can't possibly be any others. What?! There isn't a "one gay character limit per TV show". This comment really bothers me because it reeks of homophobia. If you don't ship Byler that's fine, but refusing to even explore the possibility there could be more than one lgtbq+ character in a TV show just because one already exists? Yeah no. Queer people existed in the 80's, definitely more than just one, so capping out the amount of queer characters in the show is just icky.

Also, Robin was not originally written to be a gay character. It was decided during the filming process that Robin should be a lesbian, because Maya Hawke and Joe Keery were not getting romantic vibes between their characters. Just because the show introduced a new gay character in S3, it does not mean the queercoding of Will and Mike is erased to make room for Robin, and keep Mileven together. Making Robin a lesbian, does not cancel out Mike and Will being gay/liking each other, and the show's future plans for byler.

4. "Mike's not gay."

Does this seem straight to you?

Giving your girlfriend a drawing of your male best friend, that was drawn by him, but telling her it's your drawing so she'll hang it up on the wall you coincidentally face while you make out with her, to remind you of him.

Taking your girlfriends hands off of you while you're making out with her, and keeping your hands folded in your lap away from her.

Only being able to apologize to said male best friend and being more emotionally invested in that relationship than your relationship with your girlfriend.

Mike is the only other person besides Will pictured in close up shots with rainbow and fruit imagery.

Even the die-hard Mileven fans have to admit that's more than a little coincidental, and if we know anything about the Duffer brothers, it's that they love incorporating intricate details in their show to reveal things about the characters/plot.

If you want more examples, some images, or just a more in-depth analysis of byler throughout the series, I suggest you check out my Byler Proof master slides :)

[glowingbadger]

How are there no SFW and nsfw modern day Felix HCs? I must remedy this.

Ah, I actually have a few Modern AU Felix thingies- they're just scattered throughout posts about multiple different characters lol. You can find them all in my masterlist, but lemme go ahead and compile everything I've written for him so far~ ((There aren't many NSFW ones yet, so if anyone has a nice Modern AU spicy concept for Felix for me to toy around with, I'm all ears :3))

Felix (FE3H) x Reader, Modern/College AU

SFW (nsfw below the cut):

From the BL Modern AU hcs: He’s a business major, but his heart clearly isn’t in it- he’s only doing it because he’s expected to run his father’s company some day. He’s at the gym every time you go (presumably plenty of times when you’re not there too), before you realize it, you start looking for him there. You tell yourself it’s just because you admire his motivation. He catches you staring though one day, and calls you out. Somehow, you stumble your way through introductions, but before long he’s telling you how you’re not stretching properly at all, how your jogging pace is inefficient, and just like that, you’ve got a gym partner who eventually becomes the most secretly-sweet boyfriend.

From 'modern AU w/ insecure Reader': He’s a funny one about this, honestly- his feelings for you are strong and enduring, and because of the intensity of what he feels, he does have a hard time understanding what you’re insecure about. He’ll grab your hand and grumble that, “I’m your boyfriend, aren’t I? I wouldn’t waste my time if I didn’t love you.” He’s also definitely one of those types who wants to help in concrete ways, so he’ll interrogate you about what’s making you anxious and what he’s screwed up- he knows he’s not good at romantic stuff, but he’s willing to do absolutely anything to make you happy. He will never admit it but he somehow finds himself lurking on relationship forums to better understand how you’re feeling

From escape room BL hcs: This poor boy. He does not understand why you would intentionally put yourself in the position of being trapped somewhere for fun. But you get so excited and so into the whole thing that he simply can’t help wanting to help you if he can- not that he would ever admit it. It’s just that your moods are so contagious to him and he can’t help wanting to see that adorable, triumphant smile you give when you’ve figured out the next clue. Absolutely the type to get impatient if one code or riddle is taking too long, and will 'test out’ the structural integrity of the doors, walls and locks.

From 'modern AU soft hcs': - He’s so bad at being soft, but he wants to be for you, but also doesn’t want to be because ew feelings. Which he has a lot of. This is why the main way he expresses his affection is through physical contact. It’s mostly in private, where he can be super cuddly with you- but in public, he’ll still find times to lightly brush his hand against yours, or an excuse to “fix” your hair, mumbling, “It’s flying all over the place, hold still-” even though it’s really not that out of place, he just wants a reason to touch you.

- Felix is a funny one to bring your problems to. He’s actually a surprisingly good listener for someone he cares about, so he’s happy to just hold onto your hand and listen to you vent about whatever’s bothering you. If it’s an interpersonal problem, he’ll probably offer to confront or straight up fight whoever is giving you trouble, which might at least get you to laugh, even though he fully means it. But for a more serious problem, he’ll quietly wipe away your tears and remind you, “Hey, listen- you just… keep living your life as you, okay? You can’t be anyone else, and I don’t want you to be.”

- He secretly loves it when you play with his hair. While he’s studying or gaming, he likes to lean back against the edge of his bed or a couch and have you sitting behind him brushing out his hair, or even braiding or pulling it up for him if you like. He finds your touch incredibly soothing, and there have even been times when he’s spaced out a bit and completely forgotten what he was doing because he was just enjoying your nails along his scalp and your fingers through his hair. Honestly, it’s a bit like scratching a cat’s ears- he’ll even subconsciously lean against you if he’s not careful.

From general modern AU hcs:

- he’s very cat-like in how he chooses to show his affection. He’ll almost never verbally express it, and to many, he comes across as cold. But if you know what to look for, the signs are incredibly obvious. The mere fact that he goes out of his way to just be near you, the fact that he’ll jump to your defense the moment someone dares to give you a hard time, small gifts that he’ll give with a carefully neutral, “It’s not a big deal, it just seemed like the kinda thing you’d like.”

- Once you’ve been together for a bit though, he’s extremely physically affectionate in private- only in private, mind you. Alone in your dorm or apartment, he’s very cuddly, holding you close to him at any chance he gets and resting his chin on your shoulder, or nuzzling against your neck. Sometimes he doesn’t even realize he’s doing it, but he’ll run a hand along your back or your waist when he moves by you, or his thumb will rub little circles along your thigh when you’re sitting together. Don’t call him out on it though- he’ll lurch away immediately and be too shy to touch you for an hour or two.

- His friends definitely know he’s developed a thing for someone very early on. He tends to be notorious among his friends for never checking his phone or responding to messages, and when he does respond, it’s in five words or fewer. Once he’s started getting close to you though, he keeps his phone in his hand while he’s hanging out with the other Blue Lions, glancing down at the screen every ten seconds, and completely impossible to communicate with when he’s thinking of what to send you when you do message him.

NSFW 18+ v

- he’s the type to feel most comfortable initiating sex when you’re just relaxing in one of your rooms together. In the middle of a movie or playing video games together- or even just sitting quietly and studying together on his bed- he glances over at you and it just hits him that you’re his, you chose him, and damnit he’s just so crazy into you. He leans over and kisses you without a word, then slides his tongue past your lips, pulling you closer until you can very evidently feel that he needs you now.

- His roommate (Sylvain) is quite the renowned flirt on campus, and likes to tease Felix by openly hitting on you in front of him. All three of you know that it’s genuinely in jest, and that Sylvain would never push things TOO far… but that doesn’t stop Felix from fucking you extra hard and deep once you have the place to yourselves again. He’s generally not very vocal during sex, but if his insecurities have been prodded a bit, he’ll lift your legs into a mating press and pound his cock into you, groaning out, “tell me you’re mine, Y/N. C'mon- again, louder-!”

- Overall, isn’t much one for intimacy in public places- but once or twice, you’ll encounter a bit of an exception. Gym dates with Felix are generally common and comfortable enough, and he’s actually very helpful in improving your technique and efficiency when working out. But he won’t let on for quite some time that it also turns him on immensely to see your body moving like this, and the scent of your sweat and pheromones drive him near feral. If it’s late enough at night and there’s no one else to overhear you, he’ll drag you into one of the changing room showers and fuck you breathless against the wall, his tongue dragging along your neck and his hands groping every inch of you he can reach.

[persepholline]

I've read that article about the romanticization of the Darkling and while I absolutely understand people who are pissed off/sad and I agree that it's shitty, I find LB's attitude towards Darkles stans very funny in a "girl what are you doing" sort of way because it's so petty like I've never heard of a bestselling author writing a portion of their fans into their books as a crazy cult before, it clearly hit a nerve

I'm new to the fandom but the feeling I get is she wrote something problematic ten years ago and became very embarrassed about it afterwards so she turned on the fans that liked it as a way to absolve herself. Especially since fandoms in general have become a lot more focused on discussion of what constitutes healthy/acceptable relationships to write about. And in a way I get it I had a huge Twilight phase in high school and afterwards I was super embarassed about it because of how problematic and cringe it was. But now with distance and more maturity I'm able to both still see why it was problematic and also why I was drawn to it (mostly the very unhinged representation of female desire) and like...it's really not the end of the world and no it never made me believe that breaking into somebody's room at night to watch them sleep was actually ok in real life lmao. This feels so obvious to me but apparently it needs to be said.

(More under the break this is turning into an essay, I've been thinking of this a lot recently)

And of course it's good to have these discussions about how historically romance tropes have echoed social dynamics of men's shitty behavior being romanticized and excused. But these days they often are so simplistic and focused on chasing clout that they become this weird new puritanism and moral panic about oh now women are reading novels it's going to make them hysterical or something

So you have these weird assumptions that you can't like a character and also be critical of their actions, or enjoy certain parts of a character and not others, or wish they were written differently and like them more for their potential (which I'm sure stings a bit for an author lol) - it assumes that if you like a character it means you would approve of their actions in real life, or that people just stupidly reproduce whatever they see on TV. That tendency to treat fictional characters like real people is the thing that actually worries me, to be honest, because it indicates a lack of distance and critical capacities regarding how stories are used and received. But people - fans and authors - are so scared of being called out as problematic and harassed for it that they're going to shy away from any nuance.

And yeah I think that it's good that standards of what constitutes an ideal relationship are evolving and becoming more feminist and communicative and all that and we definitely need more of that. But not all fiction has to be aspirational! Sometimes you just want to read about fucked up shit, because it's cathartic or fascinating, even healing at times because with fiction you are absolutely in control and can choose when to close the book. Toxic relationships in fiction can have an appeal specifically because they go to extremes of feeling that we don't want to go to in reality, in exactly the same way as horror movies or very violent action movies - which I don't see a lot of people besides fundamentalist Christians argue that they turn you into violent psychopaths (and that feels very obviously sexist). And for women, who are often taught growing up that love is the purpose of life, the "saving someone with your ability to love" can be a power fantasy in the same way that being a buff superhero who saves the day with their capacity for incredible violence can be a power fantasy for men. Still doesn't mean those women are going to fall in love with actual murderers or that those men are going to start beating up people at night. And love is scary, and weird, and weirdly close to horror at times, with all the potential for loss of self and being vulnerable and overwhelming feelings and potential for being horribly hurt and it should be possible for stories to explore that without anybody screaming about how this is going to Corrupt the Youth or something

And I mean I get it LB wanted to write a cautionary tale for teenagers, but it just did not work for reasons a lot of people have already written about - the fact that the Darkling is the leader of an oppressed minority and is the only one with a real political agenda to end that oppression in the first trilogy, the fact that he helps Alina come into her own power while her endgame LI is someone she keeps herself small for, that she's shamed for wanting power after growing up without any, a generally very wonky conception of privilege, and a lot of other stuff with yucky regressive implications to the point where stanning the villain actually feels liberating and empowering which is a surefire sign that the narrative is broken (unless it's a villain focused story lmao). But of course that Fanside article makes almost no mention of the political dynamics, it's all about interpersonal stuff which is an annoying trend in YA, there are those massive events happening in the background but it's made all about the feelings of the hero(ine) ; war as a self-development quest (which is kind of gross). Helnik is kind of an example of this too - I like them, I think they're fun ! But Matthias spends a big part of the story wanting to brutally murder Nina and her kind, and he mostly changes his mind because he finds her hot. Like you don't feel there is some sort of big revelation that his entire moral system and political framework is completely rotten ; it's all better because of feelings now.

As a teenager that kind of sanctimonious bullshit would have annoyed the hell out of me ; I read those books in my early twenties and I found the ending so stupid I wouldn't have trusted any message or life lessons coming from them. And I liked reading/watching dark stuff as a teenager, as a way to deal with the very intense inner turmoil I was dealing with - and I turned out fine ! Meanwhile I've seen several times women in very shitty relationships being obsessed with positive energies and stories ; they were so terrified of their life not being perfectly wholesome they ended up being delusional about their own situations.

Like personally I think the Darkling is a compelling, interesting, alluring character and also a manipulative, murderous piece of shit and that Alina should get to punish him (like in a sexy way) - but he's also the end result of centuries of war, oppression and trauma and reducing that to "toxic wounded boy" feels kind of offensive ngl ESPECIALLY since the books don't offer any kind of systemic analysis or response to oppression beyond "the bad guy should die" and "now the king/queen is a good guy our problems are solved!!!!"

In Lives of the Saints, we see how Yuri is abused extremely badly and almost killed by his father, and so when his father dies when the Fold swallows Novokribirsk, he thinks the Starless Saint has saved him. Later in KoS/RoW he's turned into this fanatic who explains away all the Darkling's crimes. The other followers talk about how the Starless Saint will bring equality for all men. Then the Darkling comes back and actually thinks his followers are pathetic, which feels again like a very pointed message to his IRL stans. Which is absolutely hilarious to me. Like oh no, if he was real he would not like you and think you're pathetic ! Yeah ...but he's not. Real. Damn right he would not like the fics where Alina puts him on a leash. I'm still going to read them. What is he going to do about it, jump out of the page ? Jfjfjjdhfgfjfj

Anyway I think the intended message is "assholes will use noble political causes for their own gain and to manipulate people" and "being abused/oppressed is not an excuse to behave badly." Which. Sure. But that's kind of like...a tired take, honestly ? A big number of villains nowadays are like this ; either they've been bullied as kids, or they're part of an oppressed group, or they have "good ideals but too extreme". This is not surprising because a lot of mainstream heroic narratives present clinging to the status quo as Good and change as chaotic and dangerous. And like sure in real life people often do bad shit because they're wounded and in danger. But if you want to do a story like that, you have to do it with nuance, talk about cycles of violence, about how society creates vulnerable people to be exploited, about how privilege gives you more choices and the luxury of morals, etc. The Grishaverse does not have this level of nuance (maybe in SoC a little bit but definitely not in TGT). So it kind of comes off as "trauma makes you evil" and "egalitarianism is dangerous" and "if you're abused/oppressed you're not allowed to fight back". And ignores the fact that historically, evil generally comes from unchecked privilege.

I guess my point is that there are many things I like about LB's writing, she knows how to create these really exciting character dynamics, and the world she has created is fascinating. But these stories are not a great starting point for imparting moral lessons. And her best characters tend to be, at least in canon, the morally grey ones. I hope one day she'll be at peace with the fact that she wrote the Darkling the way she did and leave his fans alone but in the meantime I'm just not going to take this whole thing seriously I'm sorry

[genesisrose74]

Requested by @blanknamed (aka my bestie fr): hihi i saw the matchup and remembered my irl friend sent me these pictures when describing my aesthetic at one point and was wondering if i can have a matchup with someone from dsmp and dr. stone 🥺congrats on 1k too! so proud of you ❤️ you deserve this milestone!

Arielle get over here and let me give you a virtual kiss on the forehead because you’re just the sweetest person to ever grace this earth 😚forgive me for the long wait but i had to put so much into this one because it’s for you!! thank you for always being such a ray of sunshine and for becoming one of my first ever mutuals so long ago — and as a show of my gratitude, i’ll get right into your first pairing, which is going to be with…

I had a literal conflict over this because I think you could be compatible with more than half of the characters in dr. stone (looking at gen specifically), but UGH you and Senku would be so damn iconic together. As much as he’s not intent on becoming romantically involved with anyone, it just so happened that you both had a chance meeting together at the school library — in the modern times pre-petrification, of course. You were looking for a book on the development of radiation powered technology for a history class, and by coincidence Senku was reading the blurb of that very text when you stopped by. When you asked if he’d read it, your classmate simply shook his head and said he just knew a lot about the subject, and soon enough a conversation blossomed from that point.

Y’all talked for two hours. While standing in the same spot. TWO HOURS. And it didn’t even stop there because he realized the time and asked if you wanted to talk more over a bowl of this really good ramen he knew about close by. Senku barely even realized the implications of his offer until much later, since…

He was way too involved in your conversation to notice

He’s never had any interest like that in someone before, let alone has he ever tried asking a person out in general

Everything about you was so interesting to him that he cannot process anything else going on around him and he doesn’t know why

You just feel so different in comparison to his dynamic with anyone else that it throws him off. He’s curious as to why he straightens up when you walk in a room, why everytime you smile at his stupid dry jokes it makes him more confident, why your intrigued questions about his work give him an extra burst of adrenaline. After he comes home late, having fallen asleep in the library while you studied for a test beside him, Byakuya eventually spells it out for Senku in massive bold letters.

No, seriously, he writes it on a whiteboard with a chunky black marker.

“That’s ridiculously far-fetched,” he asserts quickly, trying to push his old man out of the room. “Since when have I ever been interested in anyone in that way?”

“Senku, you waited for her to finish her work. Without complaint.”

And he’s like: oh shit—

But knowing Senku, he still makes some futile attempts to disprove the concept that he could ever be attracted to someone in a romantic sense. Ya know, all that, “science is my only devotion” shit. It lasted for about two weeks, which was the exact amount of time that he tried avoiding you in hopes of seeing if he could in fact continue his routine without your presence next to him.

The bitch still cannot swallow his pride though, so you have to be the one to make the first move — which is about as simple as perfecting Flight of the Bumblebee on a violin. Every time you try bringing it up, it’s like Senku gets a sixth sense about it and is pulled away from you as soon as possible. At some point you just had to corner him in the school lab, hands smacking against the surface of his work table and mouth blurting it out.

“I think we should go on a date.”

He’s kinda impressed at the sheer willpower you displayed in finally getting the question into the air. And as much as he would hate to admit it, some happy nerves shot through his body when it happened. On the outside, though, he simply failed to fight a grin.

“Wanna get food with me tonight?”

And you did :D and it only went good from there. Dates at cafes with comfy chairs and pretty lighting, test runs of new experiments in the middle of the night that Senku calls you to see together, just enjoying the presence of one another in a secluded corner of the libraries you frequent. Even after the disaster that was petrification you’re both side by side, being sarcastic little shits to each other as soon as Senku frees you from the stone; doing new tests to save the world, going on picnics by the river, and constantly being of service to one another.

And then from the c!dsmp, I thought it was only fitting to match you up with…

^^ artwork by SAD-ist on YouTube

Listen, listen: I was considering a more standard/expected approach to this matchup, like maybe c!Wilbur or c!Niki because they’ve both got some major academia vibes. Especially Niki, because damn she’d probably take you to her flower shop and make handmade bouquets for you each day. However, I just think that it would be so perfectly fitting to have you and c!Sapnap together aesthetically. He’s very emotionally driven, always doing something stupid, and he probably hasn’t read a book since L’manburg claimed to be a sovereign nation. Regardless of that fact, he could sit and watch you read a book for hours, even if you didn’t ask him to. Standard case of grounded scholar + impulsive idiot = natural soulmates.

Within the region of the SMP, I imagine you like confining yourself to the libraries filled with ancient texts on the vast history of your home — although taking a visit to Eret’s self-made museum is always a pleasure as well. Niki gets along with you easily enough that you hang out together all the time, and it’s on one such occasion in the early days of L’manburg that Sapnap encounters you for the first time.

Dream had sent him out for scouting duty (which to Sapnap translates into, ‘be annoying to everyone within the walls’), and he’d taken to the edge of the country’s small borders, lounging up high above the trees so that he could see everything below with ease. To his surprise he found you, scribbling away within a ragged old notebook underneath a tree canopy, and wearing the prettiest smile he’d ever seen exist on a person before. You were waiting for your friend to arrive, it seemed, taking the ideas in your head and putting them to paper whilst you sat patiently. He was enraptured with you right away, and as a result he took to teasingly pestering you every chance he could.

Sapnap showed up at least once a week — and when he could, more than that — to slowly learn more about you. He tried staying under the radar of Wilbur when he did, just to make sure none of his endeavors were interfered with or got back to Dream in any capacity. Initially, his presence appeared a pain in your side, but your apprehension ultimately fell at the hands of his ridiculous humor and genuine inquiries as to your likes and dislikes. You knew who he was from the get-go, but it was hard not to find delight in his visits when he made such vigorous attempts to know you.

Although you’re sure he’d already learned it somehow, you told him your name one fateful afternoon, and he’s thought about that moment every day since, marking it as the first day he truly made progress in winning you over.

“You should come up here one day so we can talk normally,” he called out on a particularly overcast fall morning. “Maybe then I can see your face up close.”

You laughed, gazing up at him from the hillside on which you reclined. “You’re ridiculous. That’s not how this relationship works.”

“Mm, relationship? Sounds like you wanna gimme a kiss more than saying anything, hu—ow!”

A pine cone had clipped him in the shoulder harmlessly, chucked with expert aim by your own hand. Despite his surprise, Sapnap couldn’t help smiling.

“If you’re working that hard to twist the narrative and get me up there, how about you just come down instead?”

Without missing a beat the next day, he scaled to the top of the nation’s wall, made his way inside (with very little consideration for his safety), and took your face in his hands.

“You want me to?”

You already knew the implications. “Yeah.”

And he kissed you, then and there. Nice job, Ari!

Navigating a full blown relationship in the conditions y’all were in was not ideal. Sapnap tried everything he could to make sure you were safe, despite his distaste for your mother country and its leaders. After that cleared, though, it was a whole lot easier to be together and figure things out. Sapnap didn’t mind you staying within the walls as much as he initially thought because it reminded him of the first time you met, and so long as he could spend time with you he loved every second. Literally ask this man to do anything with you and he’s in, no matter what it is.

The sheer spontaneous energy Sapnap has inevitably feeds into your own, so while you’re much more contained than the pyromaniac, you have some very notable moments of crazy that are simply unforgettable. It’s honestly super funny to see that infectious life invade your senses, because otherwise you’re a super logical person and love entertaining yourself with the more simplistic things.

You work a lot with Wilbur on record keeping and cartography, but something that you and Sapnap apparently have in common is archery. That pine cone throw was no fluke, and he found that out when you came to visit, a shimmering bow fastened to a stock-full quiver on your back. It’s become a pastime to both ride out into the forest with your horses and practice archery (oftentimes mounted) as a way to let out frustration. If the weather conditions are too abysmal to go and do something outdoors, though, Sapnap likes to fall asleep watching you do methodical work, most commonly with his head in your lap as a fireplace crackles nearby. He’s a huge sucker for that cozy atmosphere, even though he tries to be all tough and badass at other times.

This became a huge ramble because I just think this pairing for you works so well, but I’m praying you get the picture. Sapnap is a flirty, slightly whiny, very protective, and free spirited person whenever you’re around, and he’d do whatever he could to see that pretty smile like the first day you told him your name. He thinks the world of you, and in his eyes your intelligence goes unparalleled.

[lilyclawthorne]

Hi again, friend! I'm the anon who asked if I could talk with you about Julieta. I'm autistic and this movie has become my hiperfixation and Julieta my comfort character so I can't help but take it personally when people come from her but I feel better now. I still feel like I could talk about her four hours. And about the whole movie! I just love these characters so much.

One of the comments that made me angry yesterday was that some people kept saying that Julieta is actually a bad mother because she didn't care about her other daughters since she never interacted with them but we don't know how their relationship is??? The movie was about Mirabel and we only see scenes with her in it, so they didn't focus on the others relationships but that doesn't mean she didn't love them as much as Mirabel?? Even in the art book the director says her kids (plural) are her number one priority so I thought it was unfair to say she didn't care about Isabela and Luisa. And yeah both Isabela and Luisa were going through stuff but I think the point of their songs is that they were hiding it?? No one knew Luisa was feeling so pressured and I actually think Julieta had felt the same but because of the generational trauma, she just sees it as how it's supposed to be (but that's another conversation) and Isabela, I don't know if this is wrong take on my part but I don't think anyone was forcing her to marry Mariano? Because no one knew she didn't want to! I wonder what would have happened if she said something because the director said on Twitter that actually Alma didn't like Agustin for Julieta but Julieta loved him so she still married him it wasn't always what Alma wanted then.

But yeah I think people assume things based on the events of the movie but forget that no only the movie was about Mirabel and that it was only a couple of (very stressful) days so what happened there doesn't dictate how the characters are all the time, including the relationships they have with each other. One of the reasons I would do anything for a tv series is just that, to see all the characters interacting more. The kids with their parents, the cousins, the siblings, the triplets!!! I would love to see more of the relationship between Julieta and Pepa! The only thing we got was Pepa telling her the secret about Mirabel and the vision and then calling for her help after casita was destroyed but I would love to see how they get along on a daily basis. I would love to believe they're really close, and also I imagine their relationship is very different to their individual relationships with Bruno. There's so many posibilities that could be explored and there could be fluff and angst and flashbacks and so much character development!

I just feel like I just consumed everything there is out there about the movie and now I just want more!!! I wish there had been more promotion for it with the voice actors and the people bts so we could get more insight into the characters and their lives. I want to know more about their rooms! I was watching the kind of deleted scenes on YouTube and in the one with the powerless madrigals they show Dolores's room when she was supposed to have Julieta's powers and it was like a lab! It was so cool, I wonder if the concept would still be the same for Julieta. Also in that same scene they show Pepa with a different power and she's sooo different, still an amazing character but I'm glad we have the version we have now.

But now I just want more content! For now I just have rewatched the movie a crazy amount of times, both in Spanish and English, and have seen and read everything oficial there is out there so my next step is fanfic, since I went to look for more content on Twitter and TikTok but there's many different opinions and it's kinda driving me crazy a little bit so time for fanfiction!! I haven't searched any but I guess most of it will be about Camilo or Bruno so I'm sure there won't be much focused on the triplets or the entire family in general but I also seen that there's amazing people out there like you that do write for the characters I love so I can wait to read those!!!

Anyway, thanks for letting me ramble over here! It feels good since I got no one to talk to about this in real life! You're amazing, hope you're having an amazing day!!

Yeah that’s pretty much the only critique I’ve seen of her as well, and like you’ve said, the movie takes place over 3 days & 2 nights, it’s a very short glimpse into their lives. It’s not great that Isabela and Luisa probably were very good at hiding how they felt, cause I mean that is a sign that somewhere in their lives they learned that that was the best thing to do. It’s clear they’ve all been taught not to be upset about what they’re given by the miracle, so when parts of their lives are impacted negatively because of those gifts, they probably feel really selfish for thinking badly about it. Luisa is at a point where she literally can’t say no to people, and while Isabela may not be “forced” to do anything, she definitely still feels trapped. But they could never complain, because complaining means looking ungrateful, and that seems worse to them than just shoving their feelings down. I’m incredibly doubtful that Julieta would’ve taught them this, but Julieta still listens to her own mother (who knows, it’s not impossible that Julieta may feel trapped in it all as well), which sets an expectation and that can be part of how these problems develop and last through generations. Julieta does love all of her kids, but just like any mother she’s bound to make a mistake or wrong decision here or there.

Also, I do know a lot of people headcanon Julieta as the golden child of the triplets, just like how Isabela is the golden child of all the kids, and I can totally see that! She’s the most level-headed and responsible of the three, as well as the eldest. And she has the least disruptive gift, with no presumed drawbacks to it. But her gift is also incredibly practical, just like Luisa’s strength is, and just like how so many people took advantage of Luisa’s strength , I could imagine a lot of people took advantage of Julieta’s healing as well. To me it seems very likely that Julieta had both the perfection and the pressure on her, so if she did even notice this happening to her kids, its possible that because of her own experience, she’s relieved more than anything that neither one has to deal with as much as she had to.

Additionally, Mirabel is a kid who does need more attention from her mother. She pretty much went through a traumatic experience at the age of 5, and afterwards there were members of her family that wouldn’t really look at her or treat her the same way again. Whereas some of their family lifts up the two eldest daughters, some of those same people are putting Mirabel down whether they realize it or not. It makes complete sense that Julieta would feel the need to give extra attention to her.

You’re so right too that a tv series would be great!! There’s still so much to all of these characters that has yet to explored. There’s so much to them that can be expanded upon and fleshed out beyond the film. The end of the film shows us this promise that they all want to go forward and learn and be better for each other, and I for one would love to actually see the result of that happening!! And also yes I absolutely would want Pepa and Julieta interacting more, or at least more triplets content!! There’s too much stuff to explore still with this movie to let it go to waste. Also yes, I also want to see all the rooms!! Dolores’ room in the deleted scenes surprised me because I wouldn’t have expected that for that gift. (Also on a side note, if Dolores was supposed to have healing through food, it makes me wonder if Julieta once had super hearing because that ALSO feels like a very mom gift to have, literally always being able to hear if you’re up to no good lmao). Julieta wouldn’t strike me as having such a mad scientist room, but then again it could just be that because she puts so much time forward in fulfilling her own responsibilities and doing things as always, that her room could be the one place where she could actually experiment and have fun with her own gift!!

You’re not wrong in assuming a lot of fanfic is about Bruno or Camilo, but there are still plenty of triplets or family ones. There’s definitely a tag that exists on Ao3 for the triplets relationship so you can filter with that and it should help narrow it down for those fics at least! (“Bruno Madrigal & Julieta Madrigal & Pepa Madrigal” is what it would be).

[uomo-accattivante]

Great article about Paul Schrader’s The Card Counter - a poker movie that’s not really a poker movie...

Some filmmakers write a hit movie and spend the ensuing years trying to escape its shadow. Paul Schrader never flinched. Forty-five years after his “Taxi Driver” script put him on the map, the writer-director has developed a body of work loaded with alienated anti-heroes compelled to violent and reckless extremes for the sake of a higher calling.

That includes “The Card Counter,” in which Oscar Isaac plays guilt-stricken Abu Ghraib vet William Tell, a man with a gambling addiction compelled to help the revenge-seeking son (Tye Sheridan) of a former colleague. Taking justice into his own hands, Isaac’s William Tell slithers through the Vegas strip in search of questionable salvation, not unlike a certain Vietnam vet named Travis Bickle did from the driver’s seat. As if to cement the comparisons, “The Card Counter” features Martin Scorsese as an executive producer, marking the first time the two men share a credit since 1999’s “Bringing Out the Dead.”

For Schrader, “Taxi Driver” comparisons are inevitable in all his work. “My tendency is to look for interesting occupational metaphors,” Schrader said in a recent interview. “‘Taxi Driver’ hit the bull’s eye of the zeitgeist and it doesn’t die. There’s no way I could’ve planned for that, but it does inform the stories I tell.”

At 75, Schrader continues to churn out movies much like his compatriot Scorsese, albeit on a much smaller scale. “The Card Counter” is the latest illustration of the secularized Christian dogma percolating through his work. “Our society doesn’t like to take responsibility for anything,” he said. “But I come from a culture where you’re responsible for everything. You come into the world soaked with guilt and you just get guiltier.” In his own prickly fashion, Schrader makes movies steeped in empathy for lost souls in search of redemption despite the daunting odds. “We’re all certainly capable of forgiveness,” he said, and chuckled. “Anyone who says otherwise is wrong.”

The “Taxi Driver” dilemma looms large in nearly all of Schrader’s work, from the dazzling high-stakes activism of “Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters” all the way through Ethan Hawke’s eco-conscious priest in “First Reformed.” While the latter, Oscar-nominated effort brought Schrader new fans, “The Card Counter” is an even more precise distillation of his aesthetic — a moody, philosophical drama about the vanity of the personal crusade.

Schrader, who has labeled his homegrown character studies as “man in the room” dramas, embraces the parallels as usual. “There is this kind of myth that the taxi driver was this friendly, joking kind of guy who was a character actor in movies,” he said. “But the reality is that it’s a very lonely job, and you’re trapped in a box for 60 hours a week.” He saw the same logic with gambling, a wayward profession generally depicted in the movies in the context of escapist romps, rather than the somber rituals that afflict most players. “I thought about the essence of playing cards every day, or sitting in front of a slot machine. It’s kind of zombie-like,” Schrader said. “You see commercials of people in casinos laughing. But it’s a pretty glum place. Today with slots you don’t even have to pull the lever. You just sit there and let the numbers roll.”

The gambling figure led Schrader to the bigger picture of his character’s conundrum. “I was wondering why someone would choose to live in that sort of purgatory,” he said. “He doesn’t want to be alive, but he can’t really be dead, either. What could cause that? It can’t be a simple crime, murder, or a family dispute. It has to be something unforgivable. And that was Abu Ghraib.”

After the fallout of that debacle, William did time in a military prison, and reenters society before the movie begins. That was a world the filmmaker wanted to understand in clearer terms. Though Schrader has received blowback for his controversial Facebook posts in the past, in this case, the platform was an asset: He used it to track down soldiers who had done time in the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, the only military prison in the U.S., to better understand the initial claustrophobic world that Tell endures, as well as the conflict between the justice he’s received and what he deserves. “This man has been punished by his government, set free, and paid his due, but he doesn’t feel that,” Schrader said. “What does he do then? How does he fill his time? That’s how it all began.”

Schrader himself toyed with gambling when he lived in Los Angeles early in his career, but soon gave it up. “I very quickly realized I was only interested in gambling if it was really dangerous and I didn’t want to expose myself to that kind of danger,” he said. Years later, though, the experience helped inform his story. “There is this whole fantasy of gambling movies from ‘The Cincinnati Kid’ to ‘California Split,’” Schrader said. “But poker is all about waiting. People will play 10 to 12 hours a day and two to three times a day, a hand will happen where two players both have chips. Now you’ve got a face-off. But that doesn’t happen very often. Most guys who are there are running the numbers, the probability.”

He envisioned “The Card Counter” as a repudiation of the traditional poker movie, which builds to the giddy release of a final tournament. When that moment arrives in the movie, Schrader takes the movie in a bleak, shocking new direction. “It’s not really a poker movie — that’s a red herring,” he said.

William is immersed in his casino journey when he encounters Cirk (Sheridan), the crazy-eyed son of another Abu Ghraib soldier who committed suicide. Cirk blames the soldiers’ former commander (Willem Dafoe), and hopes to loop William into the plan. Instead, the older man decides to take Cirk under his wing to talk him out of the act, which doesn’t prove so easy. In the process, the gambler forms a curious bond with La Linda (Tiffany Haddish), a gambling agent and pimp whose icy, relentless drive to make the most out of the poker circuit brings William some measure of companionship on his wayward journey.

It should come as no surprise that the “Girls Trip” breakout is nearly unrecognizable in the role of the calculated La Linda, which is also a distinctly Schraderish touch: From his work with Richard Pryor in 1978’s “Blue Collar” all the way through Cedric the Entertainer’s supporting turn in “First Reformed,” Schrader has made a habit of seeking out comedic actors willing to play against type. That’s partly opportunistic on his part. “They’re eager to do it because they want to expand their palette, so you can get them for a price,” Schrader said, chuckling again. “That’s necessary, given the kind of films I make.” But that’s not all: “They will always find a way to be interesting, even when they’re not getting a laugh.”

Which is not to say that the process comes easily to them. Haddish recently told the New York Times that Schrader had to coach her out of speaking in a comedic sing-song. The filmmaker put it in blunter terms. “On the first reading of the script we had, frankly, she wasn’t very good,” he said. “I told her to go back and read every single line without emotion. Then I said, ‘You’re not going to do that in front of the camera, but you can’t hit every line either. So let’s pick five or six lines you can hit where you get a smile or reaction.’ Quickly she got that it was a different rhythm.”

As for Isaac, whose disquieting turn suggests a maniac lingering just beneath the surface, Schrader once again turned to metaphor. “I told him to imagine himself on a rocky coast in the ocean,” Schrader said. “Waves are going to come up and get you all day every day. They’re going to try to batter you. Let them. The waves will go away. You’ll still be there. Don’t compete. In the end, the rocks will win. You have to learn to trust that the way these things are put together has more power than the individual movement.”

William’s routine includes an odd ritual in which he covers all the furniture in his various Vegas hotel rooms with white paper. While the motivation is never explained, Schrader said it stemmed from an experience with production designer Ferdinando Scarfiotti on the set of 1982’s “Cat People,” when Schrader realized the man was doing the same thing. “He said, quite simply, ‘I have to live here surrounded by these ugly hotel furnishings,’” Schrader recalled. The concept inspired the new movie’s most compelling visual motif. “Casinos are very ugly places. There are no exceptions,” Schrader said. “Often you aspire to finding pockets of beauty and there weren’t really any here except the only place he could control, which was his hotel rooms, where he could privatize his visions. I came up with this ritual for him to control those visuals.”

At a certain point, Schrader himself couldn’t control the visuals of “The Card Counter” for more prosaic reasons: After an extra tested positive for COVID-19, the production shut down last March, with five days of shooting left, and couldn’t resume until July. Though Schrader initially took to Facebook to fume at his producers, the pause eventually opened up an opportunity to tweak his vision. “I edited the film and put in placeholders for the five or six scenes of consequence that I hadn’t shot,” he said. “I didn’t have a fully finished film but I could screen it for people. Normally you only get that privilege if you have a big-budget film and you’re allowed reshoots.” The early audience included Scorsese, who provided a crucial note. “I asked Marty, ‘What am I missing?’ He said to me that the relationship with Tiffany and Oscar was too thin. So I rewrote those scenes.”

Schrader asked Scorsese to take on the executive producer credit as a favor. “I said, ‘Marty, wouldn’t it be nice to share a card again? I thought it would help sell the film but it would also be a cool thing to do after all these years,’” Schrader said. “Then a couple of weeks later his agent called wanting to work out a deal. What deal? I asked Marty and he said yes. That’s the deal!” Now, the pair are trying to collaborate on a new long-form TV series based on the Bible, though the timing has been delayed by production on Scorsese’s upcoming “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

In the meantime, Schrader has been mulling over the way “Taxi Driver” not only continues to inform his storytelling but the world at large. “Hardly a week goes by that I don’t notice or hear some reference to it,” he said. “But I don’t know how you’d tell such a story today. A number of writers have tried and I don’t think they’ve succeeded because it has to come out of a certain place and time. We have plenty of these incels around, but they’re not as original or revealing as they were 45 years ago when that character came on the scene. I wouldn’t know how to write about it.”

Instead, his next project is a love triangle called “Master Gardener,” which he hopes to shoot in Louisiana before the end of the year. He has several other potential scripts ready to go after that. And while he has expressed trepidation about the future of cinema in the past, he’s not convinced that audiences have given up on it yet. He recalled a conversation he had with Cedric the Entertainer when “First Reformed” made the rounds. “He said off-handedly to me, ‘You know, I didn’t realize there were so many people who liked serious movies,’” Schrader said, and chuckled once more. “Well, yeah, there are.”

“The Card Counter” premieres next week at the Venice Film Festival. Focus Features releases on September 10, 2021.

###

[kdramachitchat]

The Devil Judge - The Finale

A dystopian law drama w/a good concept that ended up underwhelming due to terrible writing. The star studded cast made up that fault with the likes of Ji Sung and Park Jinyoung.

Min and Jung has a previous conversation about the live show court trial. They team up so that they could stop this madness with the Supreme Court and with the SRF Foundation. Jung request that Min should keep an eye on someone and that someone is Ga-On. He requested Ga-On during their early meetings to be the Judas for Yo-Han. Min hated Yo-Han for ruining the country so he wanted to attack him by revealing his family affairs. He wants to drag Yo-Han down. He affirmed it when he was at the hospital and Jung visited. But Min didnt know how crazy Jung was and killed Soohyun. He said that Soohyun is like a daughter to him. Min said didnt he want to stop Yohan at all cost, that includes Soohyun too. Jung said that there's no going back now and they're close to ending the chaos, and questions if he wants to be remembered.

Min needed to become a monster to stop Yohan. Gaon then calls him a dirty hypocript and Min calls the security. Gaon is in pain that he just let Soohyun die just like that. Gaon was taken away by the security. Gaon tells Jinjoo that the foundation has set this all up and she wants to help.

The SRF team congratulates Jung for having Min to their side and Heo is in silence waiting for her instructions. He's literally her dog. They then talk about Yohan's mental mind now that he's in prison, he's out of his game. If he disappears quietly, they assume that everyone would be happy. Jung thinks otherwise, if he continues to say things she threatens him to step down. The SRF team continues to praise Jung. Jung discussses with her righthand woman on how Heo changed his personality completely and finds it fishy. She probably underestimated him and there's something else. She then request to check the status of the moving of the residence to the Dream Village.

Chief Ward meets Yohan to have discussiona t the office. Yohan disrespects the Chief  but the Chief warns him that this is not a live court show and that he's in prison.

Lawyer Ko talks to Gaon and how much of an idiot he is. He doesnt know if he can continue to trust Gaon with what he's done. Gaon is asking for help. Gaon wants to go expose the Dream Village and plans to go alone. Lawyer Ko warns him that there's tone of security but he can go to the Medical Center, but no way he can exit out. Gaon says just let him in. Also warns him that the media is on their eggshells and it's not anymore a free media. Gaon though has come up for something and request to get him 1 thing.

Gaon explains to Elijah in a letter that she didnt do anything wrong and promises that Yohan will return and that it wouldnt take long. He tells her to eat well to not get sick so that Yohan wouldnt worry. She then cries and eats her food to recover.

At the prison, Yohan and Juk breaks out a fight at the courtyard.

Gaon then enters through the Dream village by using the food truck inside a box. He then observes the restricted area and records using a small video device. He sees alot of people lying down sick surrounded by nurses and guards. He goes through the wards and surprisingly sees Ms. Han, the woman who sided with Yohan during the live courtshow. All of a sudden the President arrives at the facility. Theyre testing a new vaccine and the number of people that survived is 182. President requests about the behind payments of all the countries. Clinical trials are in high demand. President tells them when a person dies through the trials they collect all the well organs and export them as byproducts. Nothing goes to waste. Gaon silently watches them laugh maniaclly in disgust. The SRF and Heo talks about Jung behind her back, they plan to outs her. Gaon plans to escape with Han but was got caught with a nurse but saves himself that he's checking her vitals. The nurse recognizes him and actually helps him. She has been waiting for some help and said that their phones have been taken away. Also said that there's some sane people in the center too. She promises to help.

Breaking news that Yohan has been arrested for instigating murder is dead. He was stabbed by a assailant. Both co-judges are left in shock. Same goes to Jung. She's in shock but calms herself that it was done because of her. Jung will be President and Min would now be Chief Justice. He did a press conference instead of a inauguration. Oh was able to catch up with Min and tells him that Jung wants to meet him at her office, this is a set up. Gaon tells her to leave the building and requests her to go. SRF team celebrates at the live court set with Jung at the top of the judges seats. Gaon then captures Min and ties him up at the office with a bomb around his body. Since when did Gaon become so violent. Its a plant and the media will receive news about exposing the Dream Village with his name on it. Yohan suddenly appears and saves Gaon on time. The death news was fake and that Yohan had to dig out to save him. He reminded me of Batman at some point here. Yohan was able to get out by threatening the Chief with his corruption and crimes for the last 30 years. Mentions the Chief that the money is not with him anymore. Yohan tells him to save himself is by doing his specialty for swapping prisoners. Just give him 24 hours. Lawyer Ko enters and tells him that he couldnt tell Gaon everything. Yohan tells him that he was able to return the Chief a favor but not in the form of cash but through charity.

While the SRF is celebrating the lights and the screen suddenly went on with Yohan on the screen. Jung realizes that he is alive and so does the rest of the team. Its revealed as a solemn trial. Yohan starts a live trial and its the final trial with the entire SRF team being exposed with the Dream Home Medical Center. Looks like Jung doesnt know anything about it and asks the team about it. Even the conversation Heo had with the team regarding the citizens. They also show that Jung has killed innocent people in the way to fulfill her ambitions and to attack him. Min is attacked too as a betrayer.  Min is let go by Gaon but tells him that his name is tarnished forever and he will live awfully for the rest of his life. That's a better punishment and more realistically given too. 

There was a proper punishment given and Yohan announced that there's a bomb then leaves to go to the trial set. Yohan reveals that Gaon was the one who helped exposed and will testify to tell the whole truth. The bomb is planned and Yohan will sacrifice himself along with the foundation. Yohan asks them if the moment reminds them of the fire incident. All of them trying to escape. Only the fastest person survives. Jung calmly comes up from her seat with a gun on her hand. Heo complains that he is the President and Jung shots him due to annoyance. She also tries and aims the gun at Yohan. Yohan tells her that its the both of them till the end. Tells her to come with him till death. That's the only way she'll be with him, which is quite tragic. Jung says her final goodbye to Yohan and shockingly shots herself to death, like how Ms. Cha did. Gaon then appears at the end, tells Yohan to stop and think of Elijah. Gaon in the end will be the hero and Yohan pushes him out. Will Yohan survive the bomb explosion? He needs to be alive or Gaon will end up with nothing. Well he still has Judge Oh and Elijah at least. Gaon wents back to the mansion and ses the blueprint of the bomb explosion, there has to be a escape route for Yohan. Yohan tells him that Gaon must do something for him. Housekeeper tells Gaon that Yohan stopped by and tells her she's fired and asks for Elijah. Yohan tells Elijah that they're going to move out to somewhere safe and its a rehabilitation center in Switzerland. Gaon then finds out that Yohan is actually alive.

Gaon was set in a trial with the comittee. Gaon inwardly thinks that nothing has changed at all and is confused on what to do now that the country doesn't need Yohan. Yohan secretly bids goodbye to Gaon and he then quickly realizes it. Captures him on time from afar. The 2 men bid each other goodbye which then ends the drama.

Thoughts: If you like stories like Batman or The Hunger Games this would be the drama for you. The writer seem to took inspiration from both works. I think Yohan is like Batman/Katniss while Gaon is like Peeta. Oddly reminds me of the finale alot with the similarities of the characters. Or sometimes Gaon acts like Katniss/Peeta both. Just remove the whole romance aspect of The Hunger Games. There's quite a few angst moments of Yohan and Gaon. Gaon all of a sudden cares for Yohan. The writer tries to include those similiarities with the 2 characters. Yohan wants nothing more than revenge. Then the rest of the SRF are like the trial players or could be the government too. They try to copy the brutality of the hunger games the games itself with the fire incident and the finale of the drama. All trying to save themselves from death.

Messed up the ending. What I wanted most from this drama was for people to rise up to protect their country, because its the job of people to protect their country not the job of one or two people like Yohan and Ga On. Also they didn't even show the aftermath of the last trial. What happened to that dream house project and what was the people's reaction about the live trial? Assuming the whole time it was filmed. What did they think of Yohan after that? Alot of afterthought was left out.

Rating: Story: 3 (Great until episode 12 onwards) Production: 2 (Locations and the offices were ok but not meant for the dystopian feel they were trying to sell. Could've been more modern looking set) OST: 1 (BGM is spot on and fills the scenes well, dont like the rock portion of the OST) Acting: 4 (Mainly because of Ji Sung) Character Development: .5 (Main cast are 1 sided and no room or little improvement) Overall Enjoyment: 1 (The drama's tone is consistent throughout despite the bad writing) Total Rating: 2.5/6

[taglegend]

Tag Fact #3 -  I’ve come to realize I’ve always been a fan artist more than I thought. so here is a timeline of influences that shaped my childhood to now. from nostalgic times, to sad changes, to great loss, to strange rises to fame and phases, to stepping stones and finally a laughing place. all the things that make up your favorite fan artist Tag.

1. Rayman (bumped into this in the year of 1999) was actually the first fandom (with crossovers) I bumped into when I was 9. although the internet wasn’t available at the time it was still fun to dwell in home amusements. I remember the storylines and the OC’s I made but they’re kind of embarrassing and it’s probably a good thing there was no internet. I’ve done fanart and comic crossovers of Rayman with Calvin and Hobbs and Nights Into Dreams, spinoffs of Sonic the Hedgehog OC’s, Yoshi with Pikachu, and the Pokemon/Digimon craze with OC’s and other Nintendo comic shorts. but the drawings and comics are long gone and disappeared in the garage in a backpack due to suspecting my sister’s dad accidentally throwing them away. years later towards the year 2018 (now 28), we decided to move to North Carolina and it was my chance to find them again. unfortunately the backpack was gone just like I suspected (my main stuff), but for some reason I found my Pokemon/Digimon fanart, a good batch of Super Mario drawings (vaguely remember doing these), my sister’s drawings and some other neighborhood kids’ drawings in a dirty box. I was partially happy I found something at least but it was the backpack I wanted the most. sometimes I regret not looking for the backpack (’cause I was too busy being a kid) but it’s alright, noone needs to see that shit anyway, ha ha. anyways, I recall being a fan of Rayman from 1999 ‘til 2002.

2. Sonic Adventure 2 Battle (bumped into this in the year of 2003) my second fandom I bumped into when I was 12 going on 13. at the time, my sister and I both liked the Sonic The Hedgehog Franchise based on the Battle remake and ended up making our own secret fanart club that consisted of only us two members. she liked Sonic (and that was her boyfriend, ha ha) and I liked Knuckles (and he was my boyfriend, ha ha) and we were crazy in love about Shadow’s backstory. we listened to the game’s soundtracks as we drew fanart and comics after school and man, those were good times. however, as we grew older towards the year of 2005, we ended up having separate rooms and I believe it played a part in disconnecting on the same interest. then one day, I asked her why she wasn’t into Sonic anymore and she replied, “Because I grew up.” I was sad after that and slowly observed that she was influenced by the emo culture and the new friends she’s made. I was the only member of our little club for a little longer...but eventually I moved on too. I still have some surviving fanart we did together but it doesn’t mean shit anymore since she turned out to be an abusive mother from the last I’ve heard of her. 

3. Gorillaz (bumped into this in the year of 2006). as the Sonic years were at its end, I first heard the song “Feel Good Inc” on Music Choice and seeing the first image of them as displayed on this post (except the fan-made background doesn’t count since I can’t find the original artwork). this was my third fandom and later had proper access to the internet to the website I still currently use called DeviantArt. at first I liked 2D but eventually fell for Murdoc and developed a spiritual connection towards the character as obviously seen in my old fanart and rare photos of my devotion shrines on Valentine’s Day and his birthday every year. for the longest time since being a permanent fan from 2006-2017 (11 1/2 years) I had no knowledge that it was a political propaganda band and other realizations I don’t want to talk about. I only followed them because it was a cartoon and not the bullshit behind the musical project. the world I’ve built and support for them for all those 11 1/2 years shattered the fuck out of me and I just wanted to be left alone to find myself again, somehow. activity stopped on all my profiles, the flow of fanart stopped since I now cringe from the fan service and felt I was used for my talent. I didn’t want to be reminded of it all so I took down all my Gorillaz fanart and archived them for old followers’ nostalgia but also in the hopes they’ll be forgotten in my timeline. I ceased to exist in the fandom for huge personal reasons but it’s best to not say why. I know for sure that the fandom wonders what happened but it’s none of their business. THE END.

4. Waluigi (although I knew he’s been around since 2000 during childhood, I took deep interest once I revisited the character again in the year of December 2013). as silly as this sounds, when I revisited him again, the character was so bizarre that I ended up staying up 3 nights and 3 days in a row just looking all over the internet on everything about him and the questionable “hush-hush” absence of a backstory. despite there being no backstory he slowly gained a cult following and in many ways it’s a good thing. however, since the early 2010′s tension has been building up between Nintendo and its fans about him starring in a main game but everyone hasn’t fully gotten it in their heads that it’s not gonna happen. as long as Nintendo is in control of that, the fandom will not win, I’m sorry to say. on the other hand, if it’s going to be this way, then that’s what fanart and comic projects are for. as for me, I am doing my very best to get my comic project “Waluigi Land” going. again, I apologize if it’s taking very long to get Chapter 2 going if you’ve been keeping track but aha moments need to develop before I start permanent drawing (since concepts, character design and storyline needed improvement badly). as of right now I am still a Waluigi fan and I will not quit on him.

5. Turbo from Wreck-It-Ralph (although it debuted in 2012, I watched the movie two years later into the year 2014). for some bizarro reason, I had an unhealthy obsession with this character to the point where I dressed up as him for Halloween 2014. only 2 fanarts of him and the Turbo Twins exist on my profiles, mainly because my mind was more focused on just ‘thinking about him’ or ‘being him’ rather than drawing physical drawings. luckily, this supposed alleged fandom didn’t last long a little after Halloween so I chalk it up as a very short phase. to this day I don’t know what has gotten over me about him. the only thing I can think of now is that I think it’s because the character had yellow eyes and teeth but I don’t know. now that I think of it, that little fucker was ugly as hell and I STILL don’t know what had gotten over me. one day, my brother mentioned what that was about, and I said to him, “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

6. Undertale (although it debuted in 2015, I later took interest in it in 2016). It was all about Sans and Papyrus. I couldn’t get enough of the skeleton bros. eventually Toriel and Mettaton EX became my favorites but it took a long time to draw more of all 4 of them because I had other important things to do in my life plus I was still waiting for the next Gorillaz album to revive my imaginative juices (or so I thought). I really want to have this as one of my frequent fandoms but I just don’t have time for it anymore. it’s still in the back of my head to want to draw them but at this point I still have other better interests to be in. and besides, I’m lazy just like Sans.

7. Cuphead (June 28th, 2017 was the official day I called quits on the British-based band Gorillaz due to the bullshit behind it. since that date I was lost, had no inspiration to look forward to and no cartoon guy to make me smile...but lo and behold of the same year, I took an interest in playing the game Cuphead and man...that shit was a frightening exaggerated metaphor for being on that one drug (forgot the name though) and having sex at the same time but man that was the best fun I’ve had in years. I mean, it’s like, enemies are just so happy to murder you and that scared the shit outta me. and the facial exaggeration?....I think I should stop, ha ha. anyways, the Moldenhauers saved my ass from spiraling down, they have no clue. anyways, eventually I became a permanent fan of their work so to ease the hurt and erase my past from the G-fandom I had to re-wire my brain into a different cartoon category that’s a rather more American, so anything Toon related like Roger Rabbit, Felix the Cat or another favorite that’s a western-based cartoon makes me feel better, especially my new man .......King Dice <3 <3<3<3. however, there was something about this new fandom category I still didn’t quite understand until the date March 14th, 2020. I finally understood what it was but I feel I shouldn’t bring it up. anyways, Cuphead and anything western or rubber hose is my last stop in inspiration for the remaining years of my life. many say never say never but I believe I’ve found my laughing place and that’s all that matters.

[arsenicpanda]

Bughead Appreciation Day 1 Except It’s Day 2

So I spent yesterday nice and cozy in bed and put this off (good choice, tbh, I was very snug as a bug), but now, now comes the time for me to gush about some people in the fandom!  This is definitely not a comprehensive list, I have absolutely left some people out because I am very forgetful, but, in no particular order and under a cut because I’m a wordy bitch:

@tory-b: A delight and a dear, leading writer of monsterfucker!Betty, co-runner of @riverdaleprideandjoyzine, a legend and a friend, we have no choice but to stan.  Her stuff is so good and varied and just *chef’s kiss* a delight, two favorites of mine are Fangs/com/Match (Betty/dragon!Jughead meet via monsterfucker Tinder, has some great friendship moments with Kevin and Veronica and is v sexy and funny, features the horniest Betty) and Sticky Sweet Serenade ((past)-friends-to-enemies-to-lovers bughead, mixes up some statuses in Riverdale, excellent mystery, I remember reading it and going, “holy shit, a believable take on Northside!Jughead”).  I’ve also gotta mention Whats in a Name? (Betty and Jughead meet on tumblr, Betty writes poetry and Jughead is a shitposter, they slowly connect, it’s great) and To Balance the Scales (scientist!Betty/mermaid!Jughead, currently a slow build, I cannot wait for you guys to see the excellent worldbuilding she’s done).  I could keep going, or you could binge all her fics today, an excellent use of your Saturday, I assure you, because I’ve left a lot out.

@stillhidden: Always good for some great thoughts on the show, one of the best reasons for my your thoughts on Riverdale please show them to me tag, I get psyched every time I see a Riverdale text post or ask answer because I know I’m in for a good time.  Thoughtful and funny and nice, what a combo!

@satelliteinasupernova: So talented!  Author, artist, co-runner of @riverdaleprideandjoyzine, funny, haver of good thoughts on Riverdale is there anything she can’t do?  No, there is not.  Every time I see her art I’m like !!!, the colors! how well-drawn the hands are! the accuracy of their hair! the backgrounds! the way I can see the love in their eyes! I cannot even, there are no words.  Also!  Her fics!  So original!  One of my earliest memories in the fandom is reading The town called Riverdale (a sort of mystery about the meta fuckery going down in Riverdale, explores time loops, stories that control lives, the roles the Archie characters are “supposed” to have, a mash-up with concepts in Princess Tutu that requires zero knowledge of Princess Tutu) and going !!! is this a Princess Tutu mash-up?  Have I been #blessed enough to see a mash up between Riverdale, a story that fucks with archetypes, and Princess Tutu, one of the shows about fucking with archetypes and the way stories ontrol lives?  I was and I am and I raved to my non-fandom but Princess Tutu liker friend about it.  Has also wonderfully tackled eldritch horror in return to Eldervair and gothic horror/romance in The Lady of the Manor, does fluff, does angst, does it all, so go check her out!

@go-ldy: An angst and time skip queen, tbh, and always has some great thoughts on Riverdale, another reason I’m glad I have that tag.  Every time she answers an ask, I’m like, “Yesss, incoming Good Thoughts, I am HERE for this”.  But do not sleep on her as an author!  Into the Deep is some delightful dark!bughead, and I’ll walk with you in the shadows is such good time skip angst and a mystery and there’s a certain surprise I love but is a spoiler but you simply must read this, you must.  The Time after Time series is giving us that good angst bughead content that season 5 is not going to, and I’m so glad it exists and just thrilled that she trusted me to beta it.  I’m leaving a lot of stuff out though, so you should go check her out!

@milajovovich: One of the best gif makers in the fandom, I will fight you on this.  Makes absolute miracles with footage, the way she makes season 4 webrips look like they’re actual blurayrips is godly, they’re so crisp and so smooth and the coloring is always great.  And like, jesus, the way the bluray footage looks?  Fucking outstanding, the talent is off the charts.  Go marvel at their gifs, go, go.

@imreallyloveleee: A prolific, talented author and funny to boot!  loveleee is one of the people who has been here since the beginning, a mainstay in the fandom, and we are so, so lucky she hasn’t left.  How do I even begin to rec you some of her stuff?  She can write smut with fics like burn, baby (a 3x16 missing moment of bughead fucking in the car as the trailer burns, what a gift to the fandom, I can’t even), is queen of pining with fics like boy problems (season 1 post 1x05 canon divergence, a bughead get together but with that quality pining) and her i’m just a shot away series (two fics, one from Jughead’s POV and one from Betty’s, that are fully of pining and sexual tension and miscommunication and major teenage vibes, you gotta read them), and writer of one of the funniest fics in the fandom and one of my favorite, like spirits in the night (the core four + Kevin perform a seance to contact Jason Blossom and yes, it is just as funny as it sounds, perhaps even funnier).  And there are countless others, so settle in and go check her out because she does it all, fluff and angst too, I just don’t have time to rec them all.

@meditationonbaaal: Absolutely one of my all-time favorite fic authors, like across fandoms, the talent, I cannot even properly describe it, like the quality of the prose, amazing, iconic.  the devil’s daughter (a season 2 rewrite with some differences in season 1, jumps back and forth through time in the best way, has the best and creepiest dark!Jughead, has some great smut that includes dom!Betty and dom!Jughead can you believe we are so blessed, such a good rewrite of season 2, and you know how I love season 2, so that is some high praise, let me tell you) is easily in my top 10 all-time favorite fics across the many, many fandoms I’ve read many, many fics of, and you simply must check it out, you will not be disappointed.  develop, stop, fix just blew me away as a kink week fic of bughead playing with bdsm in a dark room, the layers, the smut, the trust, the feelings, I cannot even.  And doll parts!  doll parts is so good, just such an amazing take on drop dead gorgeous, a fabulous Jughead and Betty as per usual, dare I say even better than an already fantastic movie.  I am behind on loose lips sink ships, but I can already tell it’s going to be a great exploration of the Stonies and a great take on season 4.  Keep an eye on her stuff here and here, do not miss out!

@dieqohargreeves:  An icon and legend in gif making, just makes the most beautiful and intricate and creative gifs.  The coloring is amazing, the techniques are amazing, that shit is Art, I will fight you on this.  You gotta check ‘em out, you just gotta, I can’t do their work justice.

@sullypants:  The wit!  The humor!  The observational skills!  The talent, my god!  Sully is the genius behind @bettycooperoutfitwatch and @riverdalearthistory as well as a fabulous writer of both meta and fic, yet another excellent reason for me to keep up with others’ thoughts on Riverdale.  Her a comic miniverse series is so funny and sweet and such a great take on the Archie Comics version of bughead, and the after-party series (Betty and Jughead attend a, well, prom after party, and the events that happen, and I am not doing it justice, but it is v good, I promise) has such a great vibe and such great characterization.  And young adult friction (librarian!Jughead is in a kind of competition with librarian!Betty, it’s so funny and so great) is such a delight, and we do not have time to get into everything great she’s written, but go check it out here.

@lilibug--xx: The queen of bughead smut, can you believe she has graced us with her stuff?  It is steamy and it is in character and it is amazing.  Dark Cherry Chutney is still a fandom favorite of mine, just some great dark!bughead who are unaware of each other’s darkness (but oh, they find out!) as well as some excellent smut.  And Pressed for Time (Betty teasing Jughead with her skirts in an effort to get him to fuck her and he is barely holding on until he isn’t, alternating POVs in the best way) is sexy af but makes you work for it, it’s a delight.  And give you mine (Betty and Jughead fuck at work and it is so hot, I can’t even) is so goddamn good, just some of the best dom!Jughead out there.  Has also written monsterfucker!Betty, which you know I’m a fan of, in once upon a midnight (werewolf-hunter!Betty/werewolf!Jughead with sex pollen where she does not shy away from some wolfy-ness and it is hot af) and has written monsterfucker!Jughead, a rarity but always a delight, with reap what you sow (witch!Jughead/undine!Betty and Betty is so delightfully otherworldly and it is so sexy but also sweet), and there are countless other smut fics, we would be here all day if I went through them all, so you gotta check her out here.  One more thing though: she can also write fluff with Lemon Drops and Chocolate Chips, a sweet fic of Betty and Jughead as neighbors that you should definitely check out.

@thatiranianphantom:  Funny and thoughtful and talented and has correct opinions on musicals!  Writes such good explorations of post-4x17 (and post-4x17 adjacent) scenarios.  Like, the we are a masterpiece series is v good and so interesting, and no one else is singing my song is such great angst as a post-4x17 fic and a great use of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend songs.  I am forgetting a lot of stuff, I know I am, and I think I might be behind like a fool, so let’s go check out all her stuff together here, yes?  Yes.  Also?  Great for Riverdale speculation, especially about the season 5 musical episode.

@heartunsettledsoul:  So talented, queen of canon missing moments, and funny to boot!  I love reading her liveblogging of the episodes, and I cannot recommend her stuff enough.  Her Forgotten Moments series of canon missing moments is iconic, you must go read all of it, especially there’s witchcraft in your hips, a post-2x13 fic of Betty and Jughead being such teenagers and Jughead being a dweeb about his cheerleader girlfriend and I am not doing it justice but you gotta go read it, man, you gotta.  But the series is full of gems from the beginning with Midnight Silence (Betty and Jughead talk post-1x04 about the Grundy debacle and it’s such a delight) and going all the way through to the most recent it might’ve been a nightmare (a 4x12 through 4x16 fic that gives me a wide range of emotions and is fantastic) and your eyes look like coming home (Betty’s diary entries throughout season 1, simply inspired).  But she’s also so good at AUs!  a dark world aches (for a splash of the sun) is already looking so good as a bughead mystery with some varchie fun on the side, just some quality core four content, and won’t be the same (if you’re not here with me) is a favorite of fake dating, Christmas, and there was only one bed, just the best tropefest.  And there are so, so many more, so you must check her out here.

@lovedinapastlife: She writes such a variety of AUs, I am just in awe of them all!  The talent, I am amazed.  The dark!bughead in The Society is peak dark!bughead with a simply iconic yandere!Betty, and you are seriously missing out if you have not read it yet.  Oh, and there’s some more dark!Jughead with a side of dark!Betty in the key to harm(ony) that you must check out because it’s such a great ride and is sexy, what more could you want?  Every movie AU she does really takes the source material and makes it her own from works You Drive Me Crazy (but I'm gonna keep on loving you), based on Drive Me Crazy and definitely better than the movie, to the most recent to all the boys (but especially you), based on To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and just so sweet.  But also can write otherworldly fics like Heart’s Desire with genie!Betty and The Second Coming with fae!Jughead, as well as regular aus like Detention (Betty and Jughead in detention and it gets a little sexy but also quite cute), and pure porn like Eye of the Beholder (Betty and Jughead as sorcerers who hook up over sorcerer Tinder and it is sexy but also sweet), as well as some of the best ABO in fandom with her A/B/O Mine series (alpha!Jughead/omega!Betty in high school and holy shit is it hot as hell).  I am only just skimming the surface here, so definitely go check her out!

@kyloren aka @jughead-jones:  Mila is so talented at making gifs, like goddamn, and also so funny, but I bet you didn’t know that she also has written some damn good fic!  She hides it, but it is out there and it is very good, my favorite being let me hang my hook on your splendor, a fandom fave of a Scooby-Doo au that is so much more thoughtful and clever with its casting, and also very amusing, you must check out the rest of her stuff here.

@elizabethbettscooper: A delightful person and a delightful writer who is largely retired from the bughead fandom but still such a talent, like seriously.  Her Twin Peaks Riverdale AU The Past Dictates the Future is so good, you simply must check it out, like you must.  And yours was the first face i saw is such a fun AU of “what if Betty’s crush on Archie was a front for her crush on Jughead”, you must go read it.  And holy shit, her i may be bad (but i’m perfectly good at it) series is peak dom!Jughead/sub!Betty taking place when they’re in college and fucking in so many varied ways, like if you are into that, you must go read these fics, you must, you will have a great and sexy, sexy time.  And there’s so much more good stuff, you gotta go read it all here.

@bettycreeper: She does so much for the fandom and she makes such gorgeous gifs!  Like, the coordination she does on the @bugheadfamily server and @bugheadfanfictionawards and @riverdale-events and probably elsewhere cannot be understated, she is such a valuable presence in the fandom.  And have you seen her gifs?  Gorgeous quality, just gorgeous, and her movie poster gifs for fics are simply inspired.  Also?  She’s an amazing beta, just outstanding.

@stillscape: A very thoughtful person and excellent writer who I can’t seem to tag.  Dianthus Caryophyllus is still one of my favorite fics in the fandom, a high school bughead fic with some amazing pining from Jughead with an oblivious Betty, I can feel it, it’s so good.  And of course there’s Ninia, an amazing take on the soulmates trope, just so good, I cannot do it justice, you must check it out.  The for the life of me series is also such a good AU for Betty and Jughead getting together pre-Riverdale at a summer internship, I have such fond memories of it.  And la peste (the plague)!  So good, I cannot even.  We don’t have time for everything, except you should make time and go check all of it out here.

@theheavycrown:  God, where would we be without Sarah?  She does so much work for the @bugheadfamily and @bugheadfanfictionawards and @riverdale-events and @riverdalecentral and I’m probably forgetting some, tbh.  And so sweet and talented!  Her gifs are fantastic and so are her fics.  Like, Rain Comes Down (Betty and Jughead fucking in the car on the side of the road while cars drive by)?  Iconic, some amazing exhibitionism.  you had me howling(Betty in heat in the woods and then Jughead finds her and fucking ensues)? Fantastic ABO, so horny, so desperate.  Beneath the Silver Moon Rising?  Excellent dom!Jughead, excellent sexy times.  You must go check out all of her stuff here, you must.

@50shades-of-bughead:  Just some of the absolute cutest art that you must check out, especially their series of dark!bughead that is just fantastic.

@thepointoftheneedle: The variety of work here is phenomenal, the talent, I cannot.  Took my ridiculous double fake marriage/draft-dodging concept and turned it into an excellent, thoughtful period piece with phenomenal characterization and a great mystery with Never No Locomotive, I cannot recommend it enough.  And Ghosts and Clouds and Nameless Things (ghost!Jughead/grieving-dead-Jughead!Betty with a side of mystery) gave me so many emotions, I think I almost cried, and I am not a crier, I assure you.  Hey Pixie Dream Girl, I’m Coming for Your Man! (Betty in her bookstore saves Jughead from his date with a Manic Pixie Dream Girl) is so delightfully funny, and Sunflowers (Betty and Jughead share a working space and fall in love) is so goddamn cute.  I have actually found myself behind on her work, which is a crime, it all looks so amazing and I know it will be, and you must check all of it out with me here.

@hellodinoflower:  Such an amazing presence in the fandom, such a delight, so clever and funny.  She ran @bugheaddrabblechallenge this past summer and gave us all so much joy in the process, and, while her fics are deleted now (as is her right), I promise you that they were amazing, you all missed out if you slept on her.  She’s such a great follow, you gotta follow her.

@bluevelvetvideo:  A delighful soul, great character insight, great writing.  Like, her smut is fantastic, have you read Arsenal (a double feature of Betty and Jughead fooling around in public and then having some sexytimes back in private with some quality dom!Jughead, let me tell you, v steamy)?  Because you should.  Christmas Lights (Jughead ties Betty up with their Christmas lights, it’s fantastically sexy) is a delight, and you can’t blame gravity (for falling in love) is a very fun take on soulmates and soulmarks, and you simply must go read it.  She is a master of smut, let me tell you, and you must check out all her stuff here.  Also?  An excellent beta, 10/10, I’m so lucky to have her.

@a-true-janian-reply:  Very funny, has excellent thoughts on Riverdale!  Like, truly, every time I see an original text post or a reblog from her, I am PSYCHED because it’s always going to be SO GOOD.

@writeradamanteve:  Such great talent across genres, really impressive.  Drive (illegal drag racing Betty and college student but former-ish Serpent Jughead, just fantastic) is one of my earliest fandom favorites, I remember excitedly telling my non-fandom friend about it because I thought it was so clever, and we all know how good Daemon Bound is, yes?  Yes, I’m sure we do.  Let’s go make sure we’ve read all her stuff here.

@thugheadjones:  Has some great insights, some great responses to dumb anons, and some fantastic art, like holy shit, I cannot even.

@bugggghead:  A delightful soul, so nice, so talented.  Writes some amazing smut, like, have you read intimately acquainted (alpha!Jughead/omega!Betty, meeting up on an app to help Betty with her heat in a heat retreat, four chapters of excellent smut)?  Because you should if you’re even kind of interested in ABO.  And en pointe is the bughead knifeplay fic of dreams, you gotta check it out.  And there are so many other ones, we do not have time to cover them all.  She also does cute fics, btw, and Message Me (fanfic-author-who-is-actually-the -real-author!Jughead/gif-maker-and-fangirl!Betty meet on tumblr and fall in love and it’s great) is such a delight, definitely go check it out.  In fact, go check out all her stuff here.  Also a fantastic beta, I really owe her for that.

@heavy-lies-the-crown:  A talented soul who has written so much high quality fic, from the hilarious red ribbon winner (a Christmas fic comedy that I cannot describe well but I assure you is both hilarious and sweet) to the emotional and moving road to me (Betty and Jughead break up, find themselves, and come back together and it’s perfection) to the heart-ripping angst of apizza (a semi post-4x17-speculation fic of bughead together but apart at Yale and the way they will come back together and it is so good and so angsty) to many, many more.  You gotta go check it all out here.

@lurker-no-more:  Yet another funny person, we as a fandom are so blessed, you must check them out, you just must.

@iconic-ponytail:  Another excellent writer!  a revelation in the light of day is SUCH a great slowburn and  SUCH a great take on both FBI!Betty and Sheriff!Jughead and the two of them falling in love as adults.  Also, the side varchie is fantastic, and the mystery is amazing.  I have not yet checked out the nighthawks, but I already know it’s going to be good, I can tell, you can trust this author to be quality, so go check all of her stuff out here.

@soyforramen:  Funny!  Very funny!  Also?  Writes some great ficlets that are, I think, exclusive to tumblr, which is a tragedy, tbh, but as is their right.  But I do have the link to this genius fic about bughead and a platypus in honor of the platypus anon that was going around this summer.  Definitely go check them out!

And now I am very tired, I have used up my energy, and I am so sorry if I forgot anyone!

[twisted-leader-of-something]

Background Information - Ramshackle Dorm

I should say this quickly: 

This is my INTERPERTATION of what I think Ramshackle Dorm will be like be based on the information we have about Ramshackle dorm and its' environment currently. I am not claiming this as canon in any way shape or form, and when we do get more information on this dorm (if we do) I am probably not going to change too much about my Ramshackle dorm because I already have developed it a lot, and also I don't want get into other's interpretations of Ramshackle dorm. 

I also DO NOT mean to be offensive to other people's Ramshackle dorm OCs or their interpretation of the dorm in any way shape or form. I tried my best not to seem like I am copying or stealing ideas from anybody, so I did as much research as I could on other's Ramshackle dorms just to make sure I'm not copying anybody's stuff. The only the that I used to help me with this was a theory that Ramshackle dorm was possibly founded after Pete or Oswald, and I thought Owsald was a better pick, this theory is from @darkspellmaster​ and @lovee-infected​ [if the two tagged are reading this, love you, sorry to tag but I loved the theory so much I based my fan dorm off it!) from the post: https://darkspellmaster.tumblr.com/post/616674941368238080/so-first-big-thank-you-to-geodraconia-for-using

But, other than that theory, I do not mean to be offensive to anybody's Ramshackle dorm OCs. So, sorry if I did. 

Founded upon the Cleverness of the Lucky Rabbit, this dorm is full of tricksters and lesser villians (or neutral characters within the stories they are based on) who are at Night Raven College. These students are known for being well-versed in many fields of study, and for not being the most clear cut of people. This often makes these dorm members not very well liked for their trickster nature by teachers and students alike, but they have been known to help when it benefits them or when they feel like it, much to people's want to be able to predict these people. The dorm members are known as the ones in the middle or the neutral characters, as these dorms members aren't always considered good or evil like the other dorms can be categorized, as the dorm members can play both side of a story as needed. These dorm members are also known for their ability to get into strange situations and generally get into trouble, as the Lucky Rabbit is believed to have been both lucky and unlucky based on fate, despite the dorm and the Lucky Rabbit not really believing in the concept. Thes dorm members can also be people who have decided to change their fate from what has been decided for them, as this is a pretty common occurrence in this dorm. 

History: Ramshackle Dorm is a dorm created in one of Night Raven College's years due to the dorm leaders stating that they needed a dorm for people such as tricksters and neutral people, as these people were numorus enough to fill the other dorms to the brim and the dorm leaders had trouble controlling these people due to their tricksterness and lack of control they had. The headermaster at the time, Conleth Falkenrath, agreed to try and find a solution after years of the dorm leaders complaining about it, and thus did several rituals about the situation to which the Dark Mirror stated that the new dorm would be made be called Ramshackle dorm, and then re-sorted certain people into the dorm, both whom the dorm leaders wanted out and not. And after few years long years after the dorm became an official and respected dorm next to the other more offical dorms in Night Raven College, but soon the dorm's population declined when the Dark Mirror suddenly stopped sorting people into Ramshackle dorm altogether, which at first was met with much backlash from previous Ramshackle residents despite not much the school could do to change the Dark Mirror's mind but then quickly faded into obscurity until Quentin Nighy-Sallow, Yuu and Grim came to Night Raven College and brought back the dorm. 

The Rumor of the Dormitory's Foundation: It is said that Ramshackle Dorm was originally an organization founded by the Clever Rabbit himself to create a stronghold against a dark force in Twisted Wonderland's past alongside his other companions before it was ever a dormitory. Because of the dark force becoming less and less out in the open as it used to be within the world, and the Clever Rabbit and his companion's fear of the force returning, the Clever Rabbit and the Runt Mouse made two organizations: one in Night Raven College, the other in Royal Sword Academy to teach and train the most powerful of the younger generations to protect themselves against the dark force which later became dormitories within the schools. It is also said when the Clever Rabbit died, he left behind a paintbrush staff for the dorm leader of Ramshackle dorm in case the dark force came back and said that if the force came back to look for the other organization, because they have another part to the brush. 

Most scholars believe that this rumor was started by a crazy conspiracy theorist teacher to gain respect on the other students and instill some form of unity between the two rivalling schools, but in recent years some scholars have said that the dark force might have been Overblots in some ancient form, and have wanted to get their hands on the legendary paintbrush and other part for scientific purposes, saying it might have been the first weapon specifically made against Overblot creatures. More conspiracy focused people say it was connected to the two schools' very foundations, and that the story has been water down over the years.

In the past, the Dorm Leader and Vice-leader was determined by a simple challenge of the whole dorm playing a modified game of hide and seek around Night Raven College's campus, and the two who were not found by the headmaster where crowned Leader and Vice-Leader for their craftiness and intelligence. But currently, the ones who are Leader and Vice-Leader are the leaders by default since they are the only students in the dorm currently. 

Current Dorm Head: Quentin Nighy-Sallow 

Current Dorm Vice-Leader: Yuu and Grim 

Dorm Room Location: Outside The Main Building of Night Raven College across a bridge, or a short walk from the Botanical Garden.

Dorm Status: Active but Minor Dorm

Dorm Colors: Brown, White, and Black

Known Places In the Dorm:

Front Entrance (Outside): [Sorry that it's the one in the snow, I can't find the one without right now, but when I do I'll fix this]

Lounge:

Hallway:

Front Entrance (Inside):

Yuu and Grim's Room: