#giles has learned to not ask questions

[1moreff-creator]

I enjoyed the Despair Time x Eden's Garden speculations so much that I request something similar. Despair Time x Tetro Pink!

You know, I was kinda hoping someone would ask me for this, because there's a few pairs of characters I really wanna talk about lol. Anyways, let's go, DRDT x Tetro crossover!

Spoilers for DRDT CH2, TDRP CH4. CW: Murder, suicide, drugging (adrenaline), execution, bullying, gaslighting, psychological warfare, Arturo Giles, (implied) eating disorders, stabbing, medical care.

The Setting

I'll focus on the killing game side for this one, btw.

Though, that does bring up a few questions, no? With EG, the setting was similar enough to DRDT's that a vague merge of the universes worked well enough just by changing a few names around, and leaving the details as an exercise for the reader. However, there are some discrepancies between the TDRP killing game and the DRDT one which are harder to reconcile. So I'm going to quickly go into a bit more detail about what the setting looks like, so no one don't get confused.

TDRP takes place in Japan, DRDT is set in the US. That immediately creates a language and cultural barrier between a lot of the characters. For this, we're gonna say that it takes place in a weird merge of the two countries that was somehow a result of the Tragedy (and yes that did happen because DRDT lore; we're doing a future setting for this one), to get around the issue. The details of how that works are left up to reader imagination.

In Tetro, no one knows what an Ultimate is. But I can't exactly take that out of the picture without destroying things like Min's entire backstory. So we'll say that Hope's Peak exists and everyone knows what an Ultimate is. However, the DRDT cast went into the killing game knowing they were invited to Hope's Peak, while the Tetro cast is a year younger and would have been the sixteen people invited to Hope's Peak the year after DRDT's cast got the invite. That way, everyone from DRDT comes in with the knowledge they're an Ultimate, but the Tetro cast has to learn that they would have been their underclassmen.

Confession Game still happens before the first murder attempt, and everyone does in fact reveal their secrets. A few of them would have to be reworded, since there's secrets that can apply to multiple people, and there needs to be some way for Charles to know that his secret is in fact his (something like "Your older brother, Elliot Cuevas, died, but you don't remember him at all" would do, even though Oka would complain about unfairness).

There's probably more that should be addressed but I can't think of anything too big rn :v

MonoTV & Monomoko & TDRP Researchers

Let's put ourselves in Monomoko's shoes here. You're a rabbit mastermind of a killing game. You are trying your damn hardest to be professional about it, informing the students about motives and facilities and stuff. You are trying to maintain a sort of detached, almost robotic persona, not letting yourself show too much emotion in front of the students.

And then there's this fuckass cat-dog thing that's cracking puns, being openly excited about the killing game, getting riled up quickly, and being woefully incompetent at everything.

And then it turns out that you start getting complicated feelings about the entire killing game situation, and meanwhile this damn AI doesn't feel the same way, because it's an AI and doesn't feel, so you're even more alone than if you just didn't have a partner.

Yeah I think Monomoko would really dislike MonoTV quite a bit, even though it would try not to show it. MonoTV is oblivious to this and mostly ignores the other mascot.

For theri part, I have no idea how the researchers would be able to put up with MonoTV, really. Like, if they have issues with how The Rabbit runs things, then MonoTV's general bullshittery would probably drive them up the wall. However, MonoTV, being explicitly AI and all, would be easier to directly control than Monomoko, so I can see a world where they get annoyed enough to change its personality to something that's a bit easier to manage. There's definitely some potential for mascot related drama if Monomoko sees MonoTV's personality being completely overhauled on a whim, especially if it ever gets to see how DefaultTV (the personality driver that takes over in 2-16) acts. Like, even if it doesn't like the guy, that's kind of a scary thought.

Still, given there's a lot of exploration of Monomoko's character left, and the fact I haven't read Staffside so the intricacies of the researchers are lost on me, I'll leave the weird mascot and mastermind drama here.

Hu & Sasaki

I think Sasaki would still try to take a leadership role, even with how many more people we have this time, and the fact half of them would be a year older. However, Hu, wanting to feel depended on, would probably offer to help in any way she can. At least at the start, Sasaki would basically try to tell everyone what to do and Hu would try to enforce her orders.

Hu & Hiroaki

This little setup with Sasaki ends up with Hu beefing heavy with Hiroaki, because of course she would. Sasaki was already irritated by the guy, Hu would also dislike his confrontational nature a lot. Of course, Hiroaki wouldn't be the only one resistant to follow around Sasaki's orders (Ace, Charles, Teruko post-CH1), but he would be the most confrontational, so.

Nico & Harada

I mean, come on. Harada has a tiger. He's going to immediately become Nico's best friend. Nico would obviously love hanging out with Sawa a lot, thus becoming entrenched in the Hama - Chiba - Harada friend group. Their past of being bullied would actually make Harada feel very bad, since he used to be a bully himself, but I doubt the Zoologist would ever bring it up umprompted, so.

Arturo & Chiba

Get ready for Arturo to be even weirder than in canon, because he absolutely would consider Chiba a "beautiful person", given her fame. He'd obviously try to suck up to her a lot, which is seen as weird by anyone with eyes and ears. Hama would probably have to intervene, and he becomes the number one defender of anyone Arturo bothers (which includes J post-secret reveal, and I could also see Isono and Tamba and Hiroaki and Hasegawa falling in the "beautiful people" designation). There's a non-zero chance Arturo chills out a bit after Confession Game, but it's more likely that he'd end up getting punched in the face by Yanagi before that happens.

Xander & Tsuno

Each other's biggest fans. Xander really fucks with the Superhero shtick, Tsuno loves Xander's Rebel attitude. Combined with their respective famous friends David and Isono, you have a pretty fun and upbeat and positive group, where everyone is totally mentally stable! Well, mentally stable if you ignore Xander's survivor guilt and murder attempt and Tsuno's inevitable burnout when she has to deal with double the injuries (more on that later) and Isono's agoraphobia and David's... Davidness, anyways.

Rose & Sasaki & Ojima

Rose and Ojima wouldn't have much of a reason to interact, until the first motive gets announced. Because "No Sleeping" already brought up issues for Wada and Kamimura in canon Tetro, but it would destroy the more or less narcoleptic Rose. Knowing that, our great leader Sasaki would make it a priority to figure out a way around this. What Rose comes up with is painting; we don't know this for sure, but it's very likely that Rose doesn't tend to doze off when she's painting, or at least there's never been mention of it. So, she ends up doing painting sessions while Ojima illustrates. It's a very quiet affair, unless Hiroaki is there to provide background noise. They probably continue doing these sessions even after the first motive is over.

Teruko & Xander & Tamba & Hayashi

You know how Teruko's favorite color is "red by association"? And you know how some theories say that's not because of Xander, but because of Mai Akasaki? Yeah. Teruko seems to be a somewhat nostalgic person, so I think it makes sense to think she'd get attached quickly to a red haired girl named Mai. As a result, Xander and Tamba get dragged into this little friend group. The dynamic of the high energy Xander and Tamba, combined with the more subdued but still willing to get into some silly antics Teruko, and the ultimate voice of reason Hayashi, would be pretty fun to see.

Until Confession Game happens.

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Confession Game

So far, I've talked about dynamics before the Confession Game. However, said game would probably change a lot of things amongst the cast.

To clear up the timeline here: the motive gets announced, then Confession Game happens, then Xander does his thing (more on that in a bit) and the first motive ends before the second game can even start. So, what secrets would cause the biggest ruckus?

Min & Tamba

Solidarity amongst competitive girls who seriously harmed their competitors! I don't think they'd really talk about it much, but they certainly would think about it whenever they're in the other's presence.

Wada

There's nothing too big about his secret, but something that's funny is that Teruko might mess up and claim this one. Like, the way it's phrased, I'm pretty sure the secret does in fact apply to her, so she might press the button thinking it's hers when it isn't. I imagine the mascots would let it go and set up some kind of workaround so it doesn't happen again, as there's actually a few other secrets that could very well be Teruko's and aren't.

Hu & Kamimura

Very similar secrets, so it's gonna come up. I feel like Hu would approach Kamimura to see if he wanted to ever talk about it, and then fully respect when he inevitably says no. After all, she feels the exact same way.

Eden & Nico

The moment Eden's secret is spoken, I think a decent chunk of the casts might come out in support to try and encourage her. I definitely see Watari starting it, with people like Whit and maybe Veronika following along. Eden would probably be very embarrassed by the time she pushes the button, but she would appreciate the sentiment, at least.

Nico is in a similar situation, where people would try to encourage them by saying that they'll accept them no matter what aspect of their identity the secret actually references (if you remember the wording, it's a it vague about it). Okazaki could even reveal she goes by any pronouns if she figures out it means the student referenced in the secret is trans specifically, but I don't think she would. Nico would feel similarly to Eden and ask everyone to move on immediately after pushing the button.

Xander & Tsuno

(Btw, as always, I'm assuming Xander's secret is the survivor's guilt one and Teruko's is the "killing game is all your fault" one)

I'm bringing these two up because I feel like David would probably bring out the Inspirational Speaker for these two, and both of them would appreciate it (Xander might even fanboy a little).

Levi & Hayashi

Other than Ace freaking out over Hayashi's secret, I don't think the DRDT cast would add too much to that secret reveal. However, that's partly because it'd have to be reworded to "this student has killed one person in the past." After all, the original wording would also apply to Levi.

On the other hand, Levi's own secret would have to be rephrased to something like "this student has killed four people, and they hold no remorse" to differentiate it from Hayashi's. And since everyone else is pushing the button, I could see Levi imitating them and hitting it without much hesitation, bringing up a few questions. If he actually explains the whole deal, I imagine most people would start avoiding him, but a few of the nicer ones might try to stick by him. Particularly Harada, actually, since he used to be a delinquent himself (even if he never actually killed anyone but you get the point).

Ace & Chiba

Another set of similar secrets, but this one would probably go by without fanfare. They would never bring it up probably.

J

You know how Hiroaki reacted when he found out that Hasegawa was filthy rich? Yeah, he'd probably have a similar reaction to knowing J is a Rosales. She'd promptly tell him to fuck off, but y'know.

Arei & Watari

Not exactly the same situation (destroy sisters lives vs cause a divorce), but the fact they're both decently unrepentant about it would probably end up with them maybe bonding after the Confession Game. Watari has been known to hang around people even after she finds out they've done pretty questionable stuff, and Arei would probably just respect Watari's Girlboss behavior, so I can see them becoming besties.

David

There's a lot of ways that this early of a reveal could play out, but remember what I said about David doing the inspiring thing for Xander and Tsuno? I think they'd return the favor by doubting this claim.

Every other secret is relatively objective, but David's is pretty much entirely subjective, so they'd argue that the masterminds might have it wrong. This little amount of support might be enough for David to keep up his act. Especially since he wouldn't benefit from dropping the persona here at all, unlike in DRDT CH2 where he tried to throw the trial by having that reveal. A lot of people wouldn't trust him again after that, but David would probably keep a few friends. I'd argue that the people who wouldn't lose trust in him include Xander, Eden, Levi (keep in mind this guy still thought David was a good person after 2-11 and 2-12), Whit (dubious on that one), Tsuno, Isono (used to people misrepresenting celebrities), Harada, and Chiba, possibly more.

Teruko

Similar to David, she'd have to come up with some explanation for why "the killing game is all your fault" isn't actually as bad as it sounds. She would probably try to argue that the game is her fault because of her luck, and not because she genuinely wanted it to happen. I think a fair amount of people would stop talking to her altogether after the secret reveal, but her arguments might convince some people. I'll argue it would immediately convince Eden, Hu, Levi (see the reasoning in the David secret section), Min (maybe), Whit (perhaps), J (possibly), Tsuno, Isono (see David reasoning), Chiba, Hama (unconditionally believes the luck thing), Watari, Yanagi, and maybe others.

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Alright we're done with Confession Game. Now for some extra happenings!

Xander & Teruko & Hayashi

Like I said in my DRDT x P:EG post, Xander's murder attempt is a little too important for DRDT lore for it not to happen. Also like in that post, I don't know who'd actually kill Xander, but it would happen. However, given I'm saying this happens post-Teruko secret reveal, it's possible some people would be on Xander's side and say that maybe he had the right idea attacking Teruko, given "the killing game is all her fault" and stuff, so the trial might play out a bit differently than in DRDT CH1.

That said, I think Hayashi would put an end to that idea, claiming that Xander tried to kill with incomplete information and that's generally inadvisable, which she'd know as a Bounty Hunter herself. It'd be a nice moment in the first trial, but I don't think Teruko would properly thank her, given that by that point she'd already be starting her "screw everyone else" arc. Still, once Teruko starts swinging back around, they'd probably go back to being friends.

Nico & Hu & Yanagi

With the adrenaline motive, Nico’s attempted murder is extremely likely. If they don’t succeed, then much like the Tetro cast did with Yanagi after Ice Fairy, they’d decide to lock Nico up. I'm imagining Ice Fairy still happens, but with Arturo replacing Hiroaki probably, because of the stuff mentioned before. Keep in mind rewards never got swapped, since the first murder happened before that could go through, meaning the inciting incident for Yanagi really snapping at Hiro (Hiro reading Sasaki's journals) wouldn't happen.

In any case, they’d lock Nico up alongside Yanagi. Hu, obviously, protests the decision a lot, and would probably choose to stay alongside Nico and Yanagi for their imprisonment. Mostly for Nico, but y’know.

Funnily enough, this would force Yanagi and Hu to interact, and I think that’d be an interesting dynamic to see. Both of them have some kind of savior complex, so I could see Yanagi’s whole "I will protect women forever" shtick grating Hu’s nerves a lot. She wants to be depended on, not the one that needs someone else’s help. Cut to Nico, who is also bothered by Hu’s defense of them, and shit would get volatile, fast. Also there’s a guard here, and they’d really rather be anywhere else while those three discuss this shit.

Ace & Hama

Given the fact both Hayashi and Levi would be outed as killers during Confession Game, Ace would probably choose to stick to Hama to feel safe. However, it’s very possible that Hama would turn on Ace once he starts bullying Nico, which is especially likely if the adrenaline motive happens. Because of that, Ace would probably crash out similarly to what he did in DRDT, and I imagine he’d be the second chapter killer. Chiba’s still the victim, though, because Ace would pick the physically weakest one, and (subconsciously) would want Hama to hate him so he has a reason to hate him back. Basically the Levi-Ace thing from 2-16 would be more Ace-Hama here.

David's Heel Turn

I'll say that David still has his CH2 crashout here. Under my current interpretations, David's magical girl transformation is motivated by a combination of Xander wanting to kill Teruko and win a class trial, David learning Teruko's secret, David having his own secret revealed, and the "reveal" being beneficial to throw the class trial. While Xander's death would still be too fresh during the first trial for David to fully process the implications of Xander trying to hide evidence of his attack on Teruko (eg framing Charles), by the second trial he'd realize what was going on. At that point, he just needs an opportunity to frame himself to meet the conditions and engage bed hair mode, so it'd probably happen.

We already know some of the people most affected by this on the DRDT side, like Hu. Meanwhile, on the Tetro side, I think all his speeches about how people never change and stuff would hit quite a few of them pretty hard. Depending on how seriously they take him, I could see Tsuno, Harada, Wada, Tamba, and maybe Yanagi and Hiroaki taking it pretty badly. It depends a lot on whether David decides to go for their insecurities and pasts to piss people off. But he might, and that would certainly cause some outrage. David would become an outcast after this, obviously, but I doubt they'd try to lock him up or anything. At worst he's just an asshole, and even that is more a persona than anything else.

Arturo & Tsuno

Hey, the two doctors! They’d both be stuck to the infirmary after shit starts going down with the adrenaline motive and all, not to mention Teruko's CH1 stab wound. It would become pretty apparent pretty quickly that Arturo’s not actually that much better than Tsuno at medicine, so he’d try to get out of it. However, since Tsuno would burn out very quickly being the only doctor to thirty students, some people would “politely request” that Arturo help her anyways. You take that as you will.

Tsuno would be probably pretty good for Arturo, since she may be able to get him to open up and chill out a bit. After all, she’s Tsuno. And the reduced workload would do wonders for Tsuno, too.

Especially because of everything else that would be happening to her at this time.

Veronika & Okazaki

Finally, I get to talk about these two. Because this is a crossover for the ages! These two would be unstoppable together, and they’d be so incredibly iconic. 

Okazaki is by far the most obviously insane person in the entire cast, even more so than Arturo, so Veronika would latch to her even harder than she latched to Arturo in canon. Especially after Confession Game, because they could bond over the fact that their secrets aren’t the worst thing they’ve done*. Veronika would bring it up during her turn, and Okazaki would confirm the same applies to her during her turn, even if her full secret still gets cut off.

*It’s worth noting Okazaki never claimed this. However, I don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that the self-proclaimed supervillain has done something worse than performing unlicensed gender affirming surgery at some point in her life. 

And they really would become besties. Oka is weird enough that she can easily match Vero’s freak, and Vero is always glad to match someone else’s freak. Veronika would probably be part of the School Staff alongside Watari and Oka (and maybe others like Sasaki and Min if they get invited and accept), just to spend more time with Oka. She’d be the counselor, naturally, with her psychoanalysis, which would certainly lead to some fun scenes.

Veronika’s fascination only grows in the second trial. Assuming Okazaki still does something to Wada during that investigation, Veronika’s whole “the more irredeemable you become, I’ll only love you more” speech would be aimed at Oka, and she’d be much more receptive to the attention than Arturo.

Once they get some time alone after the trial, and now that Okazaki knows Veronika cares about nothing but entertainment, she might just reveal the whole “Phantom Thief of Nagoya” thing to the Horror Fanatic. And Veronika would love that! A self-proclaimed supervillain beefing with a self-proclaimed superhero who is just two rooms over? That shit sounds like prime time entertainment in her books. Okazaki would offer Veronika a position as a sidekick, and Vero would accept readily. 

This is naturally the worst case scenario for Tsuno and anyone she associates with. Veronika would probably try to use her knowledge of psychology and maybe even horror tropes to torture Tsuno and her friends as much as possible, with Okazaki masterminding several traumatizing operations against them. If called out, they would both cover for each other, trying to gaslight the cast at large into thinking they’re perfectly innocent. 

Which gets us to Trial 3, and whether or not Okazaki would still kill. Veronika might try to talk her out of it to extend the amount of time she can enjoy Oka’s company, but I’ll say that Okazaki would still choose this time to kill. Seeing as she can’t be convinced, Veronika would obviously switch to playing accomplice. Gotta enjoy being a villain sidekick to the fullest, yeah?

Kamimura would still probably be on the chopping block because his conditions are part of the murder method, but I think Vero would try to get Wada killed instead of Tsuno, just to really maximize the drama at the trial, y’know? I can imagine her finding Tsuno more interesting than Wada anyways, so. Also I’m biased and want Tsuno to live so.

And holy hell what a trial that would be. If Okazaki’s crashout was already iconic on its own, adding in Veronika leaning into the sidekick role while she’s at it would be the craziest shit you’ve ever seen. Just complete mayhem: Watari and Eden are crying, Tsuno is yelling, Hasegawa is constantly two seconds away from punching one of the two, Isono isn’t too far herself, David would be somewhere between impressed at the Audacity of having a bigger crashout than him and also pissed off that they’re dragging things out, Teruko and Sasaki and Min start yelling for the vote to just fucking happen already with everyone else joining in, Charles is firmly looking away from the blood all over Okazaki and Whit is trying to comfort him to avoid the Situation, Harada is trying to comfort Sawa with Nico’s help because even the tiger knows shit’s going down, even J and fucking Arturo are agreeing with each other about how horrendously insane those two are…

It would be beautiful, and then it would be over. Veronika and Okazaki share one last moment of “wholesome” supervillain and sidekick dialogue, cue “I’ll follow your flame” line to Watari, and Okazaki gets executed. 

Veronika gets chained to a bed after this. So many people want her dead that there’s a very high chance she’d be the fourth chapter victim, but oh well. It was entertaining while it lasted. I don’t know who the killer would be, though, since we still haven’t gotten the CH4 Tetro motive as of writing this. That means we’ve officially ran through all the killing game events I’ll write for this AU. Now it’s time for straight up dynamics!

… Btw is it obvious what my favorite Tetro character is? It might be, idk.

Charles & Hiroaki

Hiroaki acts a bit more like Ace in the beginning, but in a lot of aspects he’s a bit closer to Charles’ attitude. Especially given their shared distaste of blood (even if Charles’ is more extreme), I could see the two of them having a few meaningful conversations. Charles would probably say similar things to Hiroaki to what he told Teruko in 2-3, and given Ace’s death in particular would be a wake-up call for the guy, I could see Charles helping Hiroaki through a similar arc to what the Designer has in canon.

Levi & Hiroaki

Fashion talents would bring the two together in the beginning, even if only Levi knows he’s an Ultimate at that point. However, Levi’s secret in Confession Game would probably drive them apart.

Min & Sasaki

Despite the Confession Game, come on. Student talents. They’d be besties. Min would fully support Sasaki’s leadership, and would be perfectly willing to help her with anything she needs. I also like to think that Min would help Sasaki keep a more healthy amount of responsibilities than she tried to keep in canon Tetro, maybe. Look Xander may help get Sasaki past the first motive but I still want my girlie to stay sane through adrenaline you feel?

Whit & Watari

The jokes are off the charts. The silliness levels are critical. Immediate besties. Whit’s invited to all the sleepovers, and probably to school staff as well. Whit would get really into it and try to recruit Charles as a Chemistry teacher, only to be repeatedly shot down.

Eden & Isono

Didn’t mention it before, but Eden would probably form part of the Wada Support Squad with Isono and Tsuno, because Wada and because Eden. That means her and Isono would inevitably end up as besties, because they’re both just so nice. We always love when someone can match Eden’s wholesomeness, because God knows that ain’t happening in the DRDT cast (/lovingly). 

J & Yanagi

Another one who I don’t think would take Yanagi’s attitude very nicely. Yanagi’s not as bad as Arturo, sure, but that bar’s kinda on the floor. J would probably just avoid him, I think.

Veronika & Hasegawa

Funnily enough, Hasegawa is the one guy who actually goes to the “counselor” in canon Tetro, even if he doesn’t do it by choice. So there may be a few interesting interactions there. However, Vero helping in Kamimura’s murder would obviously make Hasegawa hate her, and the fact she’d probably just continue to rile him up after that wouldn’t help. The cast probably needs to find some way to get the two to stay apart, it’s just not sustainable otherwise.

Arei & Watari & Tamba & Yanagi

You know how I established Arei would be besties with Watari after Confession Game? Well, all that means is that she’d definitely join the Princess Watari and Princess Tamba scene. And so, Princess Nageishi was born. 

Teruko & Eden & Tsuno & Isono

Hey so you know the Wada Support Squad? Well, turns out, there’s another student that has had a really rough life and could use some cheering up! It probably wouldn’t happen in CH1 while they’re still kinda reeling from Teruko’s secret in Confession Game, but they’d definitely get their game on during CH2. Teruko would not be receptive to it, but she can’t really escape it when Tsuno keeps insisting on checking over her stab wound, with the other two in the room no less. It would certainly take a while, but after Teruko starts her “let’s start trusting people again” arc, she’d be a lot happier just kinda hanging out with them. 

Levi & Hayashi

I brought them up together in Confession Game, but it’s true that Hayashi might be one of the only people around who’d still feel pretty comfortable with Levi in the room after the secret reveal. Even the DRDT cast members who would still be okay with him in canon might struggle, since the secret got revealed so early. Hayashi would probably try her best to understand his situation, and would help him and the rest of the cast slowly work on their relationship.

J & Hasegawa & Kamimura

Hase and Kami would still be way closer to one another than to anyone else in the cast, because their relationship is largely based on the idea that they’re two of the people with the most common sense, and that’s not exactly a prevalent virtue in the DRDT cast (/affectionate). The exception is J, who actually has a good amount of similarities with Kamimura. I could see her sorta third wheeling them, though in not as awkward a way as the term usually implies. J would also be very vocal in hating Oka and Vero post CH3, and would be the one who tries the hardest to comfort Hase after the trial. 

Rose & Hiroaki

Assuming Rose continues painting alongside Ojima after the first motive ends, she’d end up talking to Hiroaki quite a bit. She’d probably explain her secret to the two, and they’d both be pretty sad about it. Hiroaki would probably try some of his usual tsundere tricks to cheer her up, while Ojima would just cheer her up like a normal person, and she'd appreaciate both of them. They’re also two of the most vocal people about Rose never looking at crime scenes or executions to get around the whole photographic memory issue.

David & Ojima

I could see Ojima looking at David post CH2 and deciding on a similar “I can fix him” path of action as he did with Hiroaki in canon, but I’m not sure how successful he’d be at getting David to cooperate in the slightest. I’d say that how this goes depends a lot on David’s characterization post canon CH2, but we currently don’t have that so.

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Alright. Look, like with the P:EG x DRD post, I could probably keep going forever, because all 32 characters are fun and so there are endless options of cool dynamics to explore. However, I’ll leave it at this. Hope it’s enough! Thanks for the ask!

[coraniaid]

I complain a lot (although not as much as I could) about Season 7's awful "is Giles really the First Evil [and were the Scoobies just all too stupid to check for weeks]?" and "now that Spike has a soul, we can finally ask the important question: what if he was hypnotized by a mean ghost?" subplots, and about the show's dreadful treatment of Robin and Nikki Wood (culminating in the abominable Lies My Parents Told Me).

But, for balance, it's worth pointing out that this season's long running joke about Chao-Ahn, the Chinese Potential who the Scooby Gang can only ever communicate with through crude drawings and gestures and speaking English slowly -- since, despite the fact that half the Scooby Gang speak fluent Latin and Sumerian and Ancient Egyptian and Etruscan and any number of other dead languages, some of which they must have taught themselves in literal weeks, none of them could possibly lower themselves to learn some basic conversational Cantonese in order to communicate with somebody they've been sharing a house with for months -- is ... well, it's also really really shit, isn't it?

[ofmdrecaps]

10/26/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; S2 Finale Anniversary! Rhys Darby; Taika Waititi; Con O'Neill; Kristian Nairn; Samba Schutte & Damien Gerard; Rory Kinnear; Other Fandom Petition; Fan Spotlight: Cast Cards; AMuseOfFyre; Love Notes; Daily Darby/Today's Taika;

== S2 Finale Anniversary ==

It's been a year since the finale of S2 aired crew! What a year it has been! Our friends over at @adoptourcrew asked some important questions and would love to hear from you on their various socials!

Source: Adopt Our Crew Twitter

== Rhys Darby ==

Rhys is announcing his Midwest Comedy tours going on in Indiana and Missouri! The Helium Comedy Club in Indiana information is here and Missouri is here!

Source: Rhys' Instagram

== Taika Waititi ==

Taika out and about!

Source: Instagram

== Con O'Neill ==

Con was so appreciative of everyone coming to join him and the folks of The Men out at Alnwick Playhouse!

Source: Con O'Neill's Instagram

Deepest thank yous to the super sweet Radical Hysteria on Instagram for being kind enough to share these adorable shots with Con! It looked like everyone had such an amazing time!

Source: radical_hysteria on Instagram

== Kristian Nairn ==

Kristian was out at MCM Comic Con in the UK-- and god to meet up with none other than Dogpool!

Source: Kristian Nairn's Instagram

Kristian's also got a new event happening in Dundee, UK on November 29th! For more info, check out Progressia Events!

Source: Progressia Events

Annnnnd if that wasn't enough, Kristian's also going to be at Beastly Books in Santa Fe, New Mexico on October 31 from 7pm -8 pm! To learn more, checkout Beastly Books!

Source: Kristian's Instagram

== Samba Schutte & Damien Gerard ==

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 released on the 25th-- and guess what? Both Samba, and Damien voice characters in the game! Yannick and Harry Stone!

Source: Samba Schutte's Instagram / Damien Gerard's Threads

Oh, and just by the way, Good Dead Entertainment has reported Advanced Chemistry has a 100 on the Popcorn Meter! Great job everyone! If you're still looking to help get Samba recognition, you can still do reviews on Amazon and other sites! For help on where, you can visit the repo for more info.

Source: GoodEntertainment Instagram

== Rory Kinnear ==

Our favorite Badminton Twins, Rory Kinnear..and well Rory Kinnear is going to be playing in the latest season of The Diplomat on Netflix! It premieres October 31st!

Source: Netflix Articles

== Other Fandom Petitions ==

Some other fans are hoping to get a full 6 episode series after the latest news about Good Omens only getting a 90 minute movie! They were so kind over the past year in sharing petitions for OFMD renewals, if you have a moment, and are willing, can you do a quick signature for them?

== Fan Spotlight ==

= Cast Cards =

More Cast Cards tonight from the ever-wonderful, sweetest person ever, @melvisik! First up is Rhett Giles! One of our Segment Producers! "Segment producers exist in television programs such as morning news shows. They produce the various “segments” in the show, such as a cooking, local news, or special weather report segment. They’re typically responsible for writing about stories assigned to them in. their production system from their Executive Producers, who get their stories from their news source like CNN." - The Film Fund

Next up is just a PLETHORA of awesome Stunt Performers! James Gerardi, Kieran Gallagher, Matthew Lorenceau, Raw Leiba, Tait Fletcher, and Steve Brown!

Source: @melvisik's Twitter

= A Muse of Fyre =

Another absolutely stunning muppet by our dear friend @amuseoffyre-- this time featuring Calico Jack! I am floored at how that mustache turned out!

Source: amuseoffyre's Instagram

== Love Notes ==

Hey lovelies <3 I hope your weekend ended up treating you well. Sending some mini-love notes your way tonight. Good luck on the week ahead!

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Source: NewHappyCo Instagram

== Daily Darby / Today's Taika ==

No theme, just hair! Gifs courtesy of some of our Gif-Maker Extraordinaires, @fandomsmeantheworldtome and @fuckyeahworldoftaika <3

[oveliagirlhaditright]

For funsies, some stuff about the Buffyverse characters that I've learned from reading the books and comics (a.k.a. fandom things they like):

Willow is a fan of Roswell (the OG one, of course).

Cordelia likes Bewitched. Namely Endora.

Anya's a fan of The Jetsons.

Since in one of the tie-in books, Dawn makes a positive reference to Jessica Alba, I think this means that she's a Dark Angel fan (since when Buffy takes place, that's largely what Jessica Alba what have been known for, of course). We also know that Dawn is a fan of Pirates of the Caribbean from the comics. One of the books also let us know that she likes NSYNC. Edit: She's also a fan of Daredevil.

I'm pretty sure that Xander is probably a "Pokémon" fan, since in one of the "High School Years" comics, he goes into a comic shop where they also trade "Pokémon" cards there. Obviously, that's not the only thing going for it--as it's also a comic shop--but this just seems very Xander, doesn't it? And Pokémon was so big in the 90's, when Buffy largely takes place.

And in the Buffy seasons 8-12/Angel & Faith comics, a number of the cast were Game of Thrones fans... though I kind of forget which characters were (I think Harmony was one, but don't quote me on that). I should probably reread the comics someday to refresh my memory on this. And just to reread them, of course. LOL

Edit: And Willow and Tara both loved this show (that was made up for the books) with this live psychic, that Tara and Giles went to a live recording of (because something came up and Willow couldn't go, so Giles went with Tara instead). And we got this Tara and Giles bonding moment that was really cute. We should have had stuff like that in the actual show for dear Tara.

Edit 2: Both Buffy and Dawn are fans of The Princess Bride.

Edit 3: Buffy loves It's a Wonderful Life, and watching this film with her dad (a number of times) is one of the good memories she has with him.

Edit 4: Buffy may not like Twilight, because when Angel calls himself "Twilight" as an alias in season 8 (it's a long story), she's incredulous that this villain she's facing (she doesn't know its Angel yet) would call himself that (edit: I should probably specify that Angel is not calling himself "Twilight" because of the Twilight Saga. LOL. Like I said, it's a long story as to why he is calling himself that, exactly), and she says she did that whole thing (story) first and her vampire was cooler. It might not be so much that she dislikes it (though she very well could), but that she somewhat feels that Twilight ripped off her own story (LOL), and--like she said--that she thinks Angel is cooler than Edward.

On the subject of Twilight, in the "In Every Generation" novel--that admittedly isn't canon and in its own 'verse, like separate from the comics for instance--Frankie (Willow's daughter) talks about how her and her mom, and Buffy (and maybe some of the other Scoobies), actually enjoyed watching vampire things like Twilight and The Lost Boys--it's sort of a silly little hobby of theirs.

Edit 5: Angel possibly doesn't like the The Phantom of the Opera (musical), because this one guy in the tie-in books keeps asking him to perform in this "demons only" performance of it that he wants to put on, and Angel is annoyed by being asked to do this all the time. So it's either he doesn't like the musical or he's just tired by this line of questioning or a mix of both.

But Spike maybe likes Phantom, because he at least knows a little but about the novel, to be able to compare some tunnels that they go through in one of the tie-in books to it.

In one of the Boom comics (that is not canon), Buffy quotes "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers, so she's probably a fan of the song there, of course.

[blackbutlerfandomnerddomain]

In "Kalim's Harem", if our Sunshine Boy was a Trans Boy, what do you think each of the boys would react to when they found out?

AWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!

So I have a lot of TWST trans headcanons so first off I'll name my personal ones (reminder everyone these are my headcanons if you don't agree or like then that's fine, you have your thoughts I have mine)

Riddle is FtM transgender who I sometimes swap in headcanon as nonbinary

Ace if FtM transgender who just got his top surgery before NRC

Cater's Cater and we all should be happy for it ^w^

Both Jade and Floyd are Intersex

Azul's nonbinary to me (I dunno octopi's anatomy is weird and I love it)

Jamil's Nonbinary but didn't come out until after Chapter 6

Vil is a genderqueen GOD

Epel's FtM transgender

Neige's in the closet of questioning (I have always been open with headcanons of him from him being trans, aroace, vegan, secretly a bitch, so that's why I wrote it like that. He's still learning things outside scripts and knowing himself)

Idia I always view as questioning but doesn't really care about pronouns, just doesn't want to deal with the whole thing of picking where he is and coming out

Same for Ortho but Ortho's just happy being Ortho

Lilia's a nonbinary bad-ass FIGHT ME

And sadly I'm not going to use my OCs Arie and Giles in this or @gay-salt-amber's OCs Esther and Amyir for this ask since the tags are glitchy for me but Esther's a beautiful wonderful enby vampy and Amyir is one hella fine and sweet Genderfluid demon

NOW ONTO THE HEADCANONS!

I think it's safe to assume Jamil knew for years

Unless you want to go the route Jamil started as Kalim's servant "friend" after he started going by he/him

In Night Raven, Kalim was very happy to be himself, but that didn't stop the slight fear of changing and someone comments on his body somehow or if someone finds his T-Shots or binder

Once he started attending classes and club activities, he started to learn he's not the only one who's different, which ease his heart and mind a bit

If Jamil knew, Jamil helped Kalim is so much of the transitioning and being carefully, even being the one who'd have to tell the teachers about it for Kalim after Kalim gave him permission, just so something comes up they can know how to handle it (periods, a malfunction with his binder or packer, someone said something, etc.)

If Jamil doesn't know, Kalim feels HORRIBLE hiding such a huge thing from his best friend

Once he started dating his lovers he became very aware he needs to come out to them properly

He does at his dorm

They all hug him and thank him for telling him

They all make sure Kalim's comfortable and not being harassed or feeling discomfort

The main protectors: Jamil, Riddle, Leona, Floyd, Rook, Sebek, and Lilia

Silver and Deuce are the worrying partners over every small thing

Ace, Riddle, and Epel are always prepared for any form of discomfort and dysphoria when it comes, also Trey and Cater but that's thanks to being here so long

Malleus once threw a dude who commented on Kalim's binder one hot day. He didn't know what it was and was confused why he was yeeted

Rollo's a bit confused by the term but he does lots of research and Kalim's open for any questions he has

One time Kalim got a few whiskers on his chin and he eagerly showed it off and was showered by so many compliments

Lowkey inspired by a real thing with my friend, Kalim had to use the foam version of his T-Shots and luckily hasn't ran out yet

When Jamil came out Kalim went shopping with him to help ease him and show he has an ally

Kind of saucy but Chenya once felt bolt and ask Kalim what sexual things are okay with and that unlocked like 10 to 20 minutes of a deep conversation of the subject cause turns out Kalim never thought of that before

The explore it safely and done very scary yet strong search results on the internet, communication is key in the end my friends

[violettathepiratequeen]

March 16th, 2025

Hello there, gentle viewers! Welcome back to Buffy Slays, where I’ll be going through all 144 episodes of BtVS over the course of a year, highlighting as many of the GOOD moments, lines, character choices, worldbuilding moments, etc. etc. as I think people will have the patience to read. 

So, here we go! 

Season 1, Episode 4, “Teacher’s Pet.”

Xander falls for a beautiful substitute teacher who turns out to be a giant praying mantis.  (Pulled from Hulu.)

If you're reading along and haven't finished the show, consider this your Spoiler Warning for discussion of future episodes and major plot points in any and all of these posts.

Episode Number: #4 Episode Ranking: #138 out of 144. Writer: David Greenwalt

Top 5 Quotes:

“And please don't listen to the principal or anyone else's negative opinion about you. Let's make 'em eat that permanent record.” —Dr. Gregory

“Don't say dead! Or decapitated, or decomposing, I'd stay away from D-words altogether.” —Principal Flutie

“Recording bat sonar is something soothingly akin to having one’s teeth pulled.” —Giles

“This is a question that no one particularly wants to hear, but... where did they put his head?” “Good point. I didn't wanna hear that.” —Xander and Willow

“Right. Wasn't here, didn't see it, couldn't have stopped you.” —Giles

How “Teacher’s Pet” Slays:

I think Season 1 might actually be Giles’ best season… I mean he’s great EVERY time he’s onscreen, even if he’s making bad choices, but in this episode there’s just so much to enjoy. He complains about the monotony of beautiful California weather. He laughs at his own joke about Buffy having too many guys in her life. He calls up a man in a mental ward and demands to speak to him. He has, at one point, recorded himself discussing the importance of filing, and filing correctly. And he follows Buffy through every unconventional method she has of saving the day.

The science lesson at the beginning, when Dr. Gregory stands with his back to Willow and Xander and asks Buffy how ants communicate. It’s a cute scene, because Willow tries to help out, Xander is totally willing to be a body for Willow to sniff and touch in demonstration, Blayne sitting next to Buffy is kind of a jerk but cool enough to not tip the teacher off that Buffy is cheating, and Dr. Gregory knows the whole time, he just wants to make a point. It’s a sweet scene with a lot going on, and is not your typical dry classroom moment!

Dr. Gregory. Gone too soon. His character only has five minutes in the cold open, and like two lines in the previous episode, but ugh… he’s one of my LEAST favorite deaths in the whole show, and that list includes both halves of my OTP. His character is so tightly written that you can see, in those five minutes, that he’s sharp and no-nonsense, he’s passionate about what he teaches and he cares about students’ education, and he can see potential, even if it’s buried under a sullied permanent record. I totally believe that he wanted to watch Buffy grow, he wanted to hold her up in triumph at graduation in front of everyone who doubted her, he wanted to see her get scholarships to any college she chose and rub it in her face that he always knew she could do it. His death sucks, but really, we’re not here to talk about that. We’re here to talk about those five minutes, where he believes in Buffy and lets her know that he does. And Buffy takes it to heart. She cries over his death, and she studies the homework he gave her to learn how to kill the thing that killed him. He inspires her, gives her that boost of confidence, and this is not someone who knows about the Slayer thing, nor someone she is forced to work with. She is just another one of his students, but he sees the potential for greatness in her specifically, and we can see how much it means to her, and how much she’s able to push herself with even one person in her corner backing her up and placing trust in her.

Principal Flutie continues to shine! I wanted to quote back every one of his lines in this episode, because oh my goodness. The way he’s so frantic about making sure no one who saw the headless body is traumatized. He plants students in front of a counselor and forces them to “heal!” and work out their feelings, and he’s always there for a hug but not a REAL hug because the school frowns on wrong touching. He’s so nervous and earnest and intense in a bumbling way, and… yeah, this is why they continue to mention this guy’s name all the way up until S7. He knows how to make all his scenes memorable.

It’s a pretty scary thing to be ensnared by a giant praying mantis, locked in a cage, and being told she’s gonna mate with you and then bite your head off. But Xander handles it bravely; he looks around for a weapon as Buffy taught him to do, he reassures Blayne who is freaking out next to him, and he fights the thing as much as he can. Before, of course, realizing he’s way out of his depth and screaming for help. Buffy comes in to save the day, because of course she does, and he tells her he was an idiot about all this, and that she was right in warning him to stay away from the hot science teacher.

When looking for Ms. French’s house, Buffy, Willow, and Giles find the house of the real Ms. French, the substitute teacher who retired twenty years ago. They don’t know that initially, of course, and Giles tells Buffy she can’t just go kicking doors down. She sarcastically agrees that it would be wrong, and lifts her leg to kick it anyway… only to have a little old lady open the front door. I’m just… so delighted that Buffy was ready to kick a little old lady’s door in!

Buffy makes it clear from the start of this show that she’s got her own ideas about how to be a Slayer. Giles forbids her from going after Fork Guy, and she goes anyway. But the GREAT part is that she comes in the next day and tells him so. Not in defiance, not out of disrespect, not out of smugness or cockiness or because she was wrong and has to suffer the consequences of her stupidity. She was just RIGHT, she made the call, and she was right, and she lets Giles know because he’s still her Watcher, she’s still gonna inform him of what she’s up to, and she still needs his help. But she’s ready to move on from the lying thing, and he apparently is, too. It’s great for both of their characters, and sets up a lot for when Wesely and Kendra and any other number of Watchers and Slayers come in and just kinda… stare at the way Giles and Buffy operate with each other. But they make it work, beautifully and effectively.

Buffy Summers— Not Another Dumb Blonde:

It would have been so easy to make Buffy bubble-brained and ditzy, fun-loving and unserious, following her every whim and pouting when she gets in trouble, and annoying as hell. 

And some of those aspects are there. But that kind of enhances the fact that she is NOT bubble-brained, she’s not unserious, she takes her punishment when punishment is due. She’s a blonde valley girl from L.A., Miss Popularity in her old school, and still young enough to want to have fun, yes. And books, reading, studying, research, homework… never her favorite thing.

But that doesn’t mean she can’t do it. And when she tries, she tries. She finds what she’s looking for in books, she retains information and can bring it up when pertinent, and I think it’s clear that she does want to do well in school, even when she’s stressed and tired and there are world-ending things going on.

And that’s just in this episode. Believe me, I will be pointing to every instance of Buffy’s intelligence and book-smartiness in the rest of this show, because it’s there, like a flashing neon sign. 

And beyond that, she’s smart as a Slayer, even if her methods are unorthodox. Her instincts about people, demons, vampires with chips in their heads, and substitute teachers are correct PRETTY much every single time. As I said earlier, she knows when to make the call to do her Slayer thing, even without express permission, either from her Watcher or her mother. In this episode she drags the vampire with a claw for a hand down the street until he identifies the praying mantis’ house, before she stakes him. She’s smart, and she gets results. She makes the plan, she executes the plan, and the plan succeeds, more often than not. She’s not flawless, and she’s not infallible, but she is pretty damn clever for someone who still does love to have fun, and does pout when she’s upset, and does think about the more shallow and trivial things in life. She’s the perfect balance of both sides, and tipping too far in either direction would have been drastically different and more insufferable Buffy.

And… she thrives when someone believes in her. Because she’s also not arrogant, or apathetic about people’s good opinions, nor does she need people’s good opinions to go on. But it gives her a purpose, to have someone trusting her and believing in her. It gives her that trust and belief in herself, to go further than maybe she even thought she could go. A resounding theme in S7, but already spelled out right here at the beginning.  

“Ours is a Forbidden Love:”

This show (and like every other movie/show ever) has spawned its fair share of ships that were never canon, nor were they ever remotely suggested as canon. But fans can read into anything and twist evidence as they like, SO, I would like to present the two ships that I saw and secretly hoped for in this show, with my own twisted, but damning evidence.

And they’re both with Willow.

And spoiler alert: they’re both with Buffy’s ex-boyfriends.

For any episodes where I deem it relevant, I’ll be pointing out the moments I saw leading to Willow and Angel (Wangel– oof, that’s an unfortunate ship name), and Riley and Willow (Rillow– that one’s much prettier), and I hope that even if you don’t see what I see, you’ll get a laugh out of my conspiracy theories anyway!

There isn’t really any evidence in this episode… obviously they were still working on even Buffy having feelings for Angel. But it is the first time Willow sees Angel, so I just wanted to warn what’s to come, haha.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And that’s a wrap on Episode 4! Thank you so much for reading this far!

Previous: “Witch.”

Next up: “Never Kill a Boy on the First Date.” 

(Credit for GIFs in this post: @detectivedawnsummers)

[ethanrayne]

🥞🎃🧸🍞 for cedric so we all get to hear about his very gethan childhood thx :)

hiiiii thank you i always want to talk about cedric <3

OC Asks

🥞What breakfast dish instantly reminds them of home or being a kid?

This is kind of an interesting one bc there's two answers, and one of them's the sappy one and one is a bit more... the reality of Cedric's early childhood is a bit rough, financially. So the one that's kind of sad but very nostalgic for him is literally just cheap cereal, because up until Giles went back to be a Watcher, they had very little money.

The fun, sappy answer, however, is that sometimes when Ethan was going to work at the Emporium for the opening shift, he'd take Cedric and Percy over and they'd get to have breakfast with the Walters-Delle girls, and Annie would do a fry-up. Cedric's a bit of a picky eater sometimes and doesn't usually like about half of what goes on in a full English breakfast, but toast with fried eggs and tomatoes is a comfort food for him because of that.

(Fun sidebar to this question: Ethan learned to cook specifically for the kids in the Cedricverse. Also, mostly learned from Annie.)

🎃What would their Halloween outfit be?

This is Cedric we're talking about- there's a new one every year. He goes all out. But some notable favorites of his from his childhood were a pirate costume (featuring enchanted plush parrot, thank you Ethan for turning the plush parrot into a real one for the night, that won't at all make Rupert annoyed when the bird poops on him [Cedric did not stop laughing for five whole minutes. Neither did Ethan.]), and the time he got to go as Ziggy Stardust. (Precious little music nerd <3)

🧸Do they have a stuffed animal or item they've kept from when they were a kid?

Yes! It's a plush chicken named Clucky that was a gift from Charlie, which is part of an extended family in-joke that I need to find space to work into the cedricverse somewhere. (Charlie calls Cedric Rooster for much the same reason that Ethan calls him 'earsplitter', namely Cedric's propensity for crying loud enough to wake the dead whenever set down as a baby.) Clucky is absolutely still one of Cedric's favorite things ever, despite the fact that the poor thing looks like it's been through hell by the time they move to Sunnydale.

🍞What smell reminds them of home or better days?

Dragon's Blood incense, which is the predominant scent of the Emporium and also- by the time Cedric has any strong memories- the little flat he spent his early childhood in. Ethan picked up the habit of burning it frequently as part of warding spells from Annie, and after Cedric was born, Ethan got very, very intense about making sure their home was warded.

[buffster]

Shadow (BTVS 5.08)

This is part of my ongoing Buffyverse Project, where I write notes/meta for every episode in an attempt to better understand the characters and themes of the shows. You can find the BTVS list here and the ATS list here. Gifs are not mine.

Joyce has a shadow.

We open on her CATscan and Buffy and Dawn anxiously waiting. This is such a heartbreaking episode for Buffy, and Riley choosing to cheat on her now just gives you the biggest ick. This is probably why people hate him so much.

Riley confessing to Xander that Buffy doesn't love him as put him on his radar. He's concerned about Riley tackling the vamps alone and asks him what kind of action he's looking for. Riley isn't interested in opening up.

Spike has leveled up his stalking and is in Buffy's room now. Riley catches him, and I wasn't paying the closest attention and definitely thought he was sniffing her underwear for a minute. It was a sweater. But he does grab a pair when he leaves. He attempts to set up a rivalry with Riley, telling him that Buffy has certain vamps barred from her home but hasn't included him in that and that he knows her mom is at the hospital.

Spike: Yeah. Right. Takes one to know, I s'pose. Least I still got the attitude. What've you got? A piercing glance? Face it, white bread, Buffy's got a type and you're not it. She likes us dangerous, rough, occasionally bumpy in the forehead region...Not that she doesn't like you, but, sorry, Charlie -- You're just not dark enough.

It's incredibly hurtful that Buffy didn't call Riley when she found out her Mom needed a scan. She's not treating him as a partner. Still, I can't figure out if that's because she's afraid to open up or if he's just not the one. She appreciates it when he shows up anyway; especially when he starts taking care of Dawn. She loves what a good guy he is. But is he her guy? When the doctor comes out to talk she doesn't want Riley with her.

This is when Buffy discovers Joyce has a tumor. We see how utterly unprepared for this she is as the doctor asks her questions. Buffy has lived in her own world with slaying and there's a whole host of things her mom has always covered. Buffy's being thrown into the deep end.

Glory shows up at The Magic Shop just as the gang realizes she probably predates the written word and that's why research is coming up empty. Giles sells her a dangerous combination on accident. He seems flustered by the new business and Anya catches his mistake. She's oblivious when Buffy shows up and they're trying to keep the mistake from her.

Glory is making a giant snake that will locate the Key for her. Buffy takes out some of her rage on Glory, but it isn't nearly enough. She barely makes it out. Again. Her rage does work on the snake and she manages to catch it before Glory learns the truth.

When Buffy goes off to fight Riley again heads to Willy's. This time he allows Sandy to suck his blood, though he stakes her after. This was weird from a meta perspective. His later explanation of liking the vamps because they "need" him and then killing them...Seems like the guy's pretty resentful. And just...why. I'm disgusted, Riley. While Buffy's mom is in the hospital with a tumor?! The communication here was so bad. He really blindsided her.

He returns to the hospital in a turtleneck. Buffy still won't cry on his shoulder. She goes back to her Mom and Dawn and shuts the door.

Character Notes:

Dawn Summers: For her 10th birthday her mom rented a carousel for her friends but they'd just moved and no one came. The family rode a bunch to feel like they got their money's worth.

Glory: She loves fashion.

Rupert Giles: His tagline for The Magic Shop was Your One-Stop Spot to Shop for Lots of New-Age and Occult Items.

[specialagentlokitty]

Giles x teen!reader - the family you need

Part 3:

Walking into the library, you looked around and made your way to the table, setting the papers down on it, making the librarian look up.

He smiled at you, setting his cup down.

“(Y/N), how are you? What can I do for you?”

You gestured to them.

“Did you write these?”

He picked up the papers, flicking through them and nodded, setting them back on the table.

“Indeed I did, I thought perhaps they could offer you some guidance in what it was you needed to do for your work. Did they help.”

Shuffling through them, you handed one over.

“What does this mean?”

Giles took it, and you sat down in a chair opposite him.

“Ah yes, it is pretty straight forward when you know what the symbols mean, here.”

He got up, pulling the whiteboard over and began to explain everything to you in great detail so that you were able to follow along.

He turned around, stepping aside so you could see the board.

“Once you understand the basics, everything else starts to become a little more clear.”

You nodded, looking at the papers.

“What about this?”

He took the paper from you.

“Ah, that’s just some equations that will aid in the tests that you’ll have to take at the end of the term.”

“Tests?”

Giles chuckled, sitting back down in his chair.

“You needn’t worry, with plenty of revision I have no doubt you’ll do perfectly fine.”

“School is hard.”

“That it is, I agree.”

You looked at him, and you turned away again, tugging at the hat on your head.

Giles smiled softly, handing the papers back at you.

“I know you study with Willow, but if you’d like if you bring me your work at the end of the day, I can create more papers like these for you.”

“Why?”

“Because I would like help you if I can.”

You thought for a moment before nodding your head, it did make the classes a lot easier for you.

“It’s settled then, I can create some extra revision notes for you, all I’ll need is is an outline of what you go through in your classes.”

“Thanks.”

Giles sat forward a little, resting his hands on the table.

“Buffy has asked me if I will talk to you about last night, about what happened. Are there any questions you have?”

“No, it makes a lot of sense really.”

“It does?”

You nodded quickly.

“All the weird things going on, why they’re all in here so much, it makes a lot more sense. What’s your part in this?”

“I’m her watcher, I have information and help her learn about the creatures she slays.”

You nodded again, and he smiled slightly.

“It is extremely dangerous (Y/N), and not to be taken lightly, if there is anything you want to know, or anything you see or you know about, you can always tell us.”

“Okay.”

You got up, taking your papers back, and Giles handed you one.

You reached out to take it, and his gaze locked on your wrist, and he could see the scar that went all around it.

He didn’t say anything about it, and he watched as you left.

Every day you would go there and tell him what you were learning, and the following morning he would have detailed explanations of everything for you.

Then after school, willow and the others would sit with you and you would all study or at least an hour.

You became involved in everything about slaying, and you finally felt like you belonged somewhere.

You loved the research, learning about new creatures you usually didn’t handle, but you knew they were researching demons.

They were trying to learn more about them and there was nothing you could do to stop them, but thankfully they didn’t have much.

You would listen to them talk about locations, you would turn up and deal with them, it made your life easier.

Sitting down at the table, you sat on your knees on the chair, turning your text book before sliding it over.

“Explain please.”

“You know not every student is eager to skip class to come to the library.”

You shrugged a little.

“You explain things better.”

He chuckled, looking over the work.

“I am glad to see you are more comfortable here now, how long have you been here?”

You thought briefly.

“About 5 or 6 months now I think.”

“Do you enjoy it?”

You nodded your head.

“Yeah, it’s definitely better than the last place, and a lot more fun too which is a bonus I suppose.”

“I don’t think you ever told us where you’re from, you’re not local are you?”

“I don’t want to talk about it…”

Giles noticed the dark tinge behind your tone, something he couldn’t place, it was either fear or anger, he couldn’t tell.

“Alright, I do apologise for bringing it up. But it is nice to see how you’re more comfortable around everybody, and you don’t seem to be quite as scared of me now.”

You looked at him.

“I was never scared of you Mr Giles.”

He looked at you confused now.

“No?”

“No it’s just… you reminded me of someone I guess, it felt a bit unnerving, but it wasn’t fear.”

He smiled brightly.

“Well, that is nice to know at least.”

He set the book back down, and he walked over to the whiteboard to begin his routine of explaining things to you.

You were only half listening, math wasn’t interesting to you so anything was a much welcome distraction, like Buffy walking in.

“Hey, you’re supposed to be in math.”

“So are you, why’re you ditching?” You asked.

Buffy took a seat next to you.

“Hell rising, the normal. What about you?”

“It’s boring.”

Giles turned around.

“Buffy, what is it? What’s wrong?”

“Well, I was doing some digging on those demons, and I went to talk to Willie, he said that there’s talk in the underground.”

Giles set the pen down, sitting in his seat, and you turned to look at your fellow student better.

“What about?”

“They say there’s something else here, something powerful and extremely dangerous, but they don’t know what.”

You swallowed the lump in your throat, knowing exactly what she was going on about.

“The vampires and demons can see these new demons because well, evil, but other things like witches and werewolves, Oz or Willow they can’t because they’re still human.”

“So, why can you see them?” You asked.

Buffy shrugged a little, but she showed you a tiny scar on her arm.

“I was attacked by one, it was only little but since then I’ve been able to see them clear as day. But the others can’t.”

“You don’t know why?”

“No, we’ve been trying to figure it out but there isn’t much on these sorts of things.”

You nodded your head.

“Right, I see.”

The bell went and you looked up before looking at Buffy.

“We’ve got gym, we should go.”

She agreed and you both went to your next class.

You waiting outside while everybody else changed, and when you were sure the changing room was empty you walked in.

Buffy was standing guard at the door waiting for you, and you grabbed your gym clothes.

Pulling your sweatpants on you pulled your shirt off, pulling on a sweater and made your way outside.

“Do you know what we’re doing?” You asked.

“Dodgeball I think, have you played it before?”

“No, but I know how it works. Throw the ball, don’t get hit, right?”

She grinned a little.

“You nailed it.”

So, that’s what you did, Willow hide behind you scared of being hit too hard with a ball, and you did what you could to protect your friend.

Throwing the ball in your hands, you cheered as hit somebody on the other team.

You turned around to grin at willow.

“See? You’re safe!”

“(Y/N)!” Xander yelled.

You spun around and you stumbled back as a ball connected with your face.

You stumbled back, hand covering your nose, and Willow stood in front of you.

“Are you alright?! Oh god I’m sorry!”

You chuckled a little.

“Not your fault, I just.. I need to go wash my face.”

You left the gym heading back to the changing room and you washed your face, the wound already healed and now the blood gone.

There was blood on your sweater though and you sighed.

Walking to your locker you opened it and pulled your sweater off, throwing it over the locker to find your shirt and hoodie.

“I’ll go check on them…” willow mumbled.

She walked to the changing room and began to look around.

“(Y/N)?” She called quietly.

There was no reply and she looked down the rows of the lockers and finally she found you.

You tossed the hoodie on the bench, along with your shirt and she froze in her spot.

She could see the huge welts on your back, large jagged scars that seemed to go in all directions.

She quickly left the changing room, hand covering her mouth as tears burned her eyes.

“Oh god.. oh god..” she whispered.

Willow rushed down the hallway and ran straight into Buffy and Xander.

“You were taking a while, what’s wrong?” Xander asked.

Willow looked at them.

“Willow what happened?” Buffy asked.

“No! Nothing! I mean.. nothing recent…”

“Then what?”

Willow grabbed their hands and began dragging them down the hallway.

“We need to find Giles, or.. or any teacher now!”

“Willow what’s going on?! We need to change!”

“Oh! Change fast!”

Willow ran into the changing room just as you were leaving, and you smiled at her.

“Hey willow.”

“Not right now!”

You looked at Buffy and she shrugged.

“Okay? I’m going home, see you later?”

With that you left, a little confused but you brushed it off, assuming they would fill you in later.

You were on the hunt for demons, and it wasn’t hard to find them.

Willow rushed everybody into the library, and looked at the door.

“Good heavens Willow, what on earth is all of this about?” Giles asked.

“I.. I.. saw something… I.. I didn’t… it was horrible..”

She began to tear up again, and Xander helped her into the chair.

“What did you see?” Oz asked.

“We.. we need to call the police.. we.. we have to help (Y/N)…”

“Willow?” Giles asked.

She turned to him, and sniffled a little.

“Oh it was horrible Giles! All over their back!”

“What was?”

“Scars! Huge scars! Deep scars! It.. it looked like.. it.. I can’t even say it!”

Giles slowly took his glasses off, sitting down in a chair, clasping his hands together.

“Scars? As in…?” Cordelia trailed off.

Willow nodded her head.

“How old did they look?” Giles asked.

“I.. I don’t know… they were still fading…”

“So it’s safe to assume they happened within the past few years, does anybody know if they live with anyone else?”

Everybody shook their heads.

“We’ve been a few times, never saw anybody, or anything that suggests that someone else lives there.” Oz said.

Giles slowly nodded his head.

“I believe I may have seen one, though I cannot be too sure it was only a glimpse.”

“What do we do?”

The room fell silent.

“Nobody say anything to anybody, right now we don’t want to scare them off, I’ll find a chance to talk to them.”

Everybody nodded at Giles.

It confirmed his suspicions, but right now if they called the police with nothing to go off there wasn’t much they could do.

It wasn’t long until they all left, and Giles spend half the night trying to figure out how to bring up the subject.

The following morning like every other day you walked into the library.

“Ah, (Y/N), wonderful, I was wondering if we could perhaps have a chat if that’s alright?”

You shrugged a little and he gestured to his office so you followed him, sitting down in a chair.

He closed the door, and he sat on his desk, taking his glasses off to clean then, trying to distract himself.

“Yesterday it was brought to my attention that uh.. well… somebody saw something, and it has us all rather concerned.”

“Who? Saw what?” You asked confused.

Giles sighed, putting his glasses back on.

“I know about the scars on your back (Y/N), and I’m sorry, but I need to know who did that, I need the name of the person or person’s responsible.”

You clenched your jaw, and you stared at the wall.

“I don’t know what you’re on about…”

“I saw one too, on your wrist. Please, whatever is going on I can help.”

“I said it was nothing, there’s nothing there.”

He sighed.

“Talk to me..”

You stood up, knocking the chair over.

“I said there’s nothing!”

Giles stared at you in shock, and he watched as you stormed out.

He sighed, standing up to pick up the chair, and he saw the small burn mark on it, furrowing his brows, he stood up.

He wasn’t sure that was there before, but he’d never paid all that attention to the chair, but he definitely saw something, some sort of spark come across you

[nordleuchten]

Do you have any favorite books about Lafayette or recommendations for someone wanting to learn more about him but isn't ready to jump into primary sources?

Dear Anon,

thank you for the Ask. I get questions like these quite often and if you go through my posts, you can find different recommendations for different people/questions/topics/ levels of depth/etc. Since you do not seem to look for some incredible detailed analyses of some niche aspects of La Fayette’s live, we will focus on the more general books.

Here I can recommend Hero of two Worlds by Mike Duncan and Lafayette by Harlow Giles Unger. They are both good and comprehensive overviews about La Fayette’s life from cradle to grave. Unger has a few more information and Duncan gives better sources and is more neutral, if you were to ask me, but both books are good starting points.

Then there also the books written by Louis Gottschalk – he was and likely still is *the* authority on La Fayette. He published a multi-volume work detailing his life as well as numerous papers and books about smaller, more specific aspects. He was also one of the driving forces behind the publication of La Fayette’s letters and papers.

If you are looking for books that are still rather general and broad, but with a bit more focus on a special episode of La Fayette’s live/ a special topic, I can recommend For Liberty and Glory by James R. Gaines (one of my personal favourites), a book about La Fayette’s and Washington’s relationship, and their different approaches to Revolution. I can also recommend The Marquis – Lafayette Reconsidered by Laura Auricchio for new perspectives.

Lastly, even if you say that you are not quite ready to jump into primary sources, let put in a good word for primary sources. They can easily look a bit intimidating and overwhelming, especially when you are still looking for the best way to access and handle them – but they are also so much fun. I found La Fayette an interesting character when I started reading about him but in the end my enthusiasm was lackluster, he was one of many dead people I was reading about – taking a deep dive into more primary sources made a difference for me.

Anyway, I hope some of these books work well for you and happy reading! I hope you have/had a wonderful day!

[coraniaid]

I was thinking about how Kendra really should've been mentioned in Fool For Love given its an episode where Buffy wants to learn about previous Slayers' final battles so Top 5 episodes in which Kendra should've been mentioned in?

Ignoring the episodes I'd have liked to actually see Bianca Lawson return in (either in flashback or some alternate dimension or in a dream sequence or as the First) and ignoring Fool For Love as well since you mentioned it already (but I agree that's a good call otherwise).

S3E07 Revelations -- obviously Angel didn't personally kill Kendra, but he played a very major role in her death (she came back to Sunnydale to stop his plan to wake Acathla, he lured Buffy away from the library so she wasn't there to protect her, he sent Drusilla to kidnap Giles and Kendra tried to stop her). So it would have been nice, in a way, if anybody had thought to bring Kendra up during that scene in the library where they're arguing about Buffy keeping Angel's return a secret and how he killed Jenny Calendar and tortured Giles. Especially when they're doing so mere feet away from the spot where Kendra was murdered. It would have nice to suggest that Buffy wanted to talk to Faith about Kendra at the end, too (even though I think Faith still brushes her off the way she does in canon).

S3E08 Lovers Walk Relatedly, it would have been nice if -- while Spike was busy feeling sorry for himself and remembering all the nice spots in Sunnydale where he and Dru had murdered people in better times -- the writers had remembered Buffy had reminded him that one of the people his ex had fun murdering was Kendra. Or that, way back in Becoming Part 2, the very last time Buffy said Kendra's name out loud in the show came with a threat to kill Drusilla ("Forget about Drusilla. She doesn't walk. She killed Kendra.")

S3E15 Consequences. Don't think this even needed Kendra to be mentioned by name, but it would have been nice if the show had acknowleged that this is in the third time in barely a year than Buffy has been questioned by the police in a murder investigation. And by the same guy all three times! Detective Stein doesn't seem to be part of the town-wide conspiracy to cover up the supernatural, so what does he think really happened to Ted and to Kendra? I get that the show at this point wasn't trying to be too serialized (but Ted, at least, will get brought up at least one more time in Season 4's Fear Itself), but ... I dunno, I just think it would have been a nice bit of continuity to have Stein tell somebody (Buffy? the Mayor?) that not only does he think Buffy was involved in Finch's death but that he still hasn't ruled out her being involved in Kendra's death too (whatever his bosses told him to make him drop it).

S5E14 Crush. This isn't actually a very good episode (as indicated by the words 'written by David Fury' that appear on the screen at the beginning) so we can't expect too much from it, but ... look! It's Drusilla! Back in town for the first time since Becoming! And Spike's talking about killing her, even. "Why do I care?" Buffy asks him, which would be a perfectly fine way for Buffy to express her disinterest in Spike and demonstrate her refusual to be swayed by his attempts at coercing her to 'admit' her romantic feelings for him if this were any other random vampire, but this is meant to be a vampire Buffy has a strong preexisting personal grudge against. She killed Kendra, David. That's why Buffy should care. You could, I dunno, at least have Spike bring that up again? ("If you don't admit there's something there ... I'll untie Dru, let her kill you instead. Just like she killed that other Slayer.")

S7E17 Lies My Parents Told Me. I mean, not the canon version of the episode, which is basically unsalvagable, but in some other better version of this episode where Buffy finds out that Robin was Nikki's son it might have been nice to contrast Robin's years long quest for revenge with the fact that Buffy didn't allow herself to leave town and hunt Drusilla down for revenge. Not because she didn't care about Kendra (at least, she cares about Kendra in my version of the show...), but because she had a responsibility to everyone alive in Sunnydale. That would, at least, be a better way to echo Nikki's "the mission is what matters" line than the gross way the episode settles on ("You're trying to get revenge on a man who doesn't exist anymore! Also, isn't it cool and fitting he got 'his' coat back?")

[valleyg0th]

I know joss said the cheese man has no meaning but the cheese is love. Love is cheesey. Death of the author. The cheese means love.

At the play Cheese Man tells Willow "I've made a little space for the love slices." The series has made pointedly little space for her and Tara’s love, mostly represented in witchcraft by this point in the series, and even Willow herself first compartmentalized & hid that little space from her friends. But space is being made and a little more space will be made yet.

Cheese Man appears to Xander when he’s running from his dad and says "Love… will not protect you." Love will not protect Xander from becoming his father, a fear later manifested in Hell’s Bells.

He appears to Giles in the crypt where Olivia cries over a baby carriage & after training a childish Buffy on carnival games saying "I wear the love. It does not wear me." Giles is unable to commit to either a family with Olivia or an unconventional family with Buffy as a daughter because he’s being too logical, not letting love move him but rather moving love, weighing a cost benefit analysis.

And since all the characters represent an aspect of Buffy and they each made up a part of her in their spell in the last episode, let’s look into how the cheese’s message relates to each aspect of herself:

Buffy’s spirit has a question about how much space she has for love, one which she asks throughout season 5. But Buffy’s spirit has made space for love. However it’s an interesting question just how her lovers each handle the amount of love space she can offer from moment to moment.

And Buffy’s heart is afraid it will let her down again. Xander’s situation mirrors Buffy’s in that they both don’t have good role models or experiences with love and are afraid of fucking up. They have seen and experienced love causing hurt & pain so they are afraid of the danger zone of vulnerability & affection.

So Buffy’s mind wants to keep the love in check, she has learned to be wary. I guess you could say this relates to Buffy keeping Riley at arms length. But it may also be meta commentary that the swept-away-by-love Romeo & Juliet angst of the Bangel era was over & school girl Buffy can’t come to the phone right now because she’s dead— and as the mind I think there’s a case to make it would be most self aware and referential.

Buffy sees the cheese guy in her dream right after she reasserts the importance of her friends and her world. The first slayer speaks for the first time and says “no friends, just kill,” and the cheese guy leans out in front of her with his slices as the first slayer says “we are alone.” The absurdist interlude of a bald guy waving American slices on such a dark & serious thesis from the first slayer caused me to reflect on the oxymoronic nature of WE and ALONE being in a sentence together. Buffy was not alone, she had the cheese with her, her love of the Scooby gang, the core of the show. And so she awoke to the room where she and all her friends were napping together on the couch. (I also couldn’t help but think of the first slayer’s continued wrong & absurd messaging in season five that su*cide is a gift and the don’t kill me total cheese factor of how it all culminates with her ~“heroic martyrdom”~ in the season finale why are you booing me I’m right)

[beheadedcousins]

oh this is really great with answering a question i had

(transcript in the read more if you can't read the photo)

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Anyone who's asked me about TIGERS knows how quickly I can go from "It's a teen horror comedy!" to an in-depth discussion about the debiltating pressures put on young women to succeed. I always circle back to its teen horror nature, but I do take this show pretty seriously. After all, l experienced firsthand how challenging it is to be a teen girl. For me, it turned out to be quite difficult because I eventually realized ľm a trans guy, but that's an entirely different musical.

As much as TIGERS is murder mystery,it's also about nine young women who are at extremely formative places in their lives. They want to feel hopeful about the future but are afraid that their greatest weaknesses could become what define them, especially after a failed stunt goes viral. The show opens as the Tigers cheer team is gathering for their annual sleepover- but their attempts to appear effortless around each other are painstaking, and each gir is contending with her own secrets and challenges.

Riley, the new captain, is determined to stay positive. She's still working out how to be a strong leader, but she refuses to let her team down. Cairo prefers partying over responsibility and doesn't see the harm in having a little fun, though that often comes at the expense of others.Chess isstruggling to recover from a knee injury that ended her lifelong dream of being an Olympic gymnast and led to an addicton to painkillers. Kate tries to help Chess recover,but their relationship has become complicated as Chess prepares to go off to college and Kate realizes she's falling in love with her distracted, spiraling best friend.

Annleigh relies heavily on faith to guide her, but ends up overwhelmed by unexpected urges, especially when it comes to her boyfriend, Clark. Annleigh's stepsister Farrah no longer feels supported after the botched stunt put her in danger, and her habits have slipped from playful partying to a dependency on alcohol. Tigers mascot Reese has faced a long history of bullying by her classmates, but she's learning to believe in herself even when no one else will. Freshman Mattie is optimistic that she'll have a great year and has no idea how wrong she's about to be. Eva, a flyer from a rival school, is used to not getting what she knows she deserves, but still takes a chance on a new experience. Soon,one of these characters reaches a breaking point, and three Tigers don't make it through the night.

And that's the team: desperate to connect but terrified to communicate, just trying to get through a single sleepover/party/practice (in a social context) alive. I could get sentimental about how many years I've spent with this show and how much these characters mean to me,but l hope that speaks for itself.I hope the honesty and empathy that's gone into telling this story comes through as powerfully as the screlting (and there's a lot of screlting). I hope it's sometimes very funny and sometimes quite devastating, and that some of it stays with you for a while.

As you know, the sleepover has been a Giles Corey High School tradition for 38 years now. And I'm honored to carry that on here with all of you.

-PRESTON MAX ALLEN

[jvstheworld]

The Buffy Re-watch: S2E11 (part 2)

Ted

Trigger/Content Warning still in effect for this episode just in case.

Buffy, Joyce and Ted have dinner, Buffy is sent to her room, then Buffy goes out to patrol. She was probably out for about an hour at the minimum, maybe up to 2. So how long as Ted in her room for to be able to read her diary before she got back? Also, 'Vampire Slayer' kind of explainable there Ted.

The threat of being in a mental institution is something we kind of see happen in the comics. During the transition between LA and having just moved to Sunnydale. We see in 'Normal Again' in season 6 what it would have been like if she did end up there.

Buffy in shock after killing a 'human'. It's a massive difference between her reaction and Faith's next season.

I don't like the questions the police ask Buffy during the interrogation scene. If her hit her first, which he did, couldn't that be grounds for self-defence. My knowledge of criminal law is lacking since I haven't done it in a while (I was originally a law student at university before switching to journalism. Still had to learn law for journalism but it was less intense and more focused on legal matters like defamation and copyright).

Yeah, Giles would understand the guilt that comes with murder. I'm surprised Buffy even went to school, I would have just avoided everyone.

The gang wants to help while Giles takes over patrol. Luckily Willow notices Xander's change in behaviour after eating the cookie and knows that something is sus with it.

Ted drugged it. How much of the food he cooked did he drug? PSA: don't drug people or their food. It's illegal. I talked about this before in 'Reptile Boy' this is just a different circumstance, but it still stands. Just don't do it.

Cordelia coming through with the research on Ted. We appreciate her help.

Jenny may have been harsh to Giles earlier in the episode, but she needed to do what was best for her at the time. Her apology just comes at a bad time when vampires are around.

Where did Ted come from? Seriously. He comes from the side of the room where Buffy's bed is. It would have made more sense if he came from the side where her closet, because he could have been hiding in there, but the implication is that he was hiding under her bed waiting for her.

Jenny, use the stake, not the crossbow. Because you could hit Giles.

Ted is a robot/android reveal!

Cordelia's sense of style coming in to hep find hidden doors to secret basements of horror.

Ted has literal skeletons in his closet, from his first four wives. That he kept locked in there. And probably could never leave. Holy fuck.

After seeing Ted glitch, Joyce gets wise to Ted's weirdness.

Cast iron skillets- they make good weapons, just watch Tangled.

Joyce forgives Buffy for what happened after finding out about the other wives and the attempted kidnapping. Does she not know that he was a robot yet? Because Joyce knows by season 4, but it seems like she doesn't know here and Buffy is trying to cover that up.

jenny and Giles are back together again. We like to see this, but it won't last long unfortunately. It makes Cordy and Xander happy too, at the very least.

Robo Ted is a nightmare of a character. His victims deserved better than the life they were subjected to because of him. The terror they must have suffered knowing that one wrong move and he could hurt them or kill them. The worst part is knowing that things like this happen in real life. The only fantastical element to this episode is the fact that he is a robot. How many horror stories have you heard of women being in abusive relationships and not being able to leave because the man they are with won't let them, because they control so much of their lives. Not being believed about the things you have suffered due to them because they put up such a good front of being the nicest guy around to everyone but when you're alone with him, there is nothing stopping him from showing you his true side. Joyce was lucky that she had Buffy to see through Ted's bullshit and to stop him before she ended up another one of his victims. Not everyone is so lucky to have that support behind them. I know in my own circumstance, while nowhere near as extreme as this, or many other stories you might find out there, I didn't have the support needed to be able to get out of it quick enough before plenty of damage was done. And years later I am still dealing with what happened. I hope any of you reading this never have to suffer this, and if you have, I am sorry that happened to you and I hope you are able to get to a better place in your life.

I'm going to leave it here. This turned into a heavier episode that I thought. Tomorrows episode will be a bit lighter.

[panther-os]

Okay okay so here are questions for your bastard children au.

1. How does Ghost find out that Cam is a half brother? How did that conversation go? What did Cam react to realizing Simon Riley isn't dead and actually a scary mf in the 141? And how did Simon react to learning that his basterd father was more of a basterd than he thought?

2. Will the other siblings learn about Giles = Simon? Or is it a secret between Cam and Simon? I cant imagine it would be safe to tell all these people he barely knows. But also, they are family...

Probably more questions to come, but these are the main ones for now 💕💕

So there are several ways I'm playing with the reveal going! But basically it boils down to Cam is not ashamed of Simon, he is proudly open about who his older brother is and what he means to him. He doesn't go around announcing it, but when talking about why they wanted to join the military, he just very clearly goes "My older brother, Simon Riley, was in the service, and I want to be like him and make him proud of me. Yes, that Simon Riley, no, I don't think he's guilty. I never met him, but everyone said he was sweet, if grim, and he was very protective of his family, even and especially after he came back on leave. I don't believe he could've done it - killed the American? yes. killed his brother and mother and baby nephew? absolutely not."

Cam also talks to "Simon" out loud sometimes. Like a mission will go well, and he'll sigh and look up at the sky or into thin air and go "We did it, Simon. We made it through." (And Ghost will nearly break his own neck doing a double take if they were paired together for it.)

Cam is just glad Simon's alive and glad that he and all the other siblings were right and he was innocent. Though, he is a little sad he can't tell the others, especially Jambo. I forgot to say in the last ask, but Jambo is a computer nerd obsessed with proving Simon's innocence. He has maybe gotten in trouble for hacking government records (mostly because he's bad at it). Not even he thinks Simon's still alive, though.

Ghost is scared as fuck for Cam and the others. He's lost all his family before, he's almost certain it'll happen again. Cam gets in his face about it when the avoidance gets extreme though and is like "I chose this life, too. You only get to dictate the risks I take in my professional life, as my mentor and superior officer, not in my personal life as my brother. We are both adults." After that, things get smoother, and he agrees to be added to the groupchat with the best cyber security Laswell can set up on his end.

As far as learning about his half-siblings' existence... he's disappointed in his dad but not surprised. Or surprised that his dad is a disappointment. 🤷‍♀️

Keegan for sure finds out eventually, when the Ghosts and 141 finally team up. I think the others will start to suspect after a while, but they're not saying nothing. If Giles is Simon, they don't want to get him in trouble with the authorities, and if he's not, they don't want to upset him by treating him like someone he's not. So they all know but they're not talking and they don't Know. Not even Jambo. And this is 100% to keep them safe, Cam and Keegan and Simon all chose to enlist, the others did not. And Kitty is roughly the same age Joseph was when he died, which makes the feelings More Complicated for Simon. He got PTSD up the wazoo.

One thing that is related to it being family, though, is that Ghost's maternal grandmother - his Mamó Caoimhe (pronounced sort of like Mamaw Keeva), who he was super close to - is still alive. The Bastard Children in Manchester all take turns checking in on her and bringing her food and giving her company. They've never said they're her son-in-law's offspring, but she definitely suspects. But Ghost cut off all contact with her for the same safety reasons and supposed to be dead reasons after the massacre, and it gives him peace to know she has people looking after her. Specifically, being able to get regular updates on how she's doing without putting her in danger by showing up himself or straight up hiring a stalker - or begging Laswell - does his mental health a world of good.

I think that answered all your questions? 😅 Let me know if I missed any!

[moonlight26posts-blog]

In Baltimore City, MD: Shy, skeletal dog surrendered to the shelter is still so trusting and resilient despite everything - BARCS, Baltimore MD

- Rescue Needed -

Bethany- 2 years, altered female, 38lbs

"Oh, hello, I’m Bethany! Are you a new friend? I’ve met many of those at BARCS. They speak to me in quiet, kind voices, and they don’t mind when I seem a little shy. I think the word is slowly getting out that I can be quickly won over with a snack or two.

I have been told I have almost impeccable leash manners. I’ll walk by your side at a steady pace, and will look up at you every few seconds to make sure you’re still there. Anytime I pass by an agility bench on a BARCS trail, I hop on top of it. My new friends seem to be very impressed by my skills. They tell me I’m a good girl, and give me lots of treats and scratches. I like to nuzzle up to them and ask for more.

One of my favorite things to do on walks at BARCS is to slowly make my way to a quiet, still part of the trail and sit with one of the nice humans who work here. It was a bit chilly on a recent day, but it was sunny, and I closed my eyes as I felt the breeze on my coat. Around me, I could hear squirrels scurrying over leaves, birds tweeting, and so many other wonderful sounds."

When tested off-leash in our shelter's play yard, Bethany was nervous around other dogs, but tolerant. She is not recommended to live in a home with small animals, however, as she did previously kill a stray cat after getting loose from her yard.

Bethany was recently brought to BARCS through Animal Control when her owner reported that she would not gain weight and they could no longer care for her, although the history is questionable and our vets believe her emaciation is due to lack of resources/food. She was also dehydrated and weak, but with time and consistent, small amounts of food, she has gained a bit of weight so far.

The world can be a scary place, but Bethany is starting to learn that it can be a beautiful one, too, and she would love to do it outside of the shelter and instead in a loving foster home.

Bethany is available immediately for rescue pick-up.

Please let us know if your organization can help!

Thank you,

The BARCS Rescue Team

Baltimore Animal Rescue & Care Shelter (BARCS) ​New Address! 2490 Giles Rd, Baltimore, MD 21225 rescue@barcs.org| (410) 396-4695

Rescue pick-up hours: Monday-Friday: 10:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday: 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m

Adoption hours: Monday-Friday: 2 p.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter, Inc. (BARCS) | 2490 Giles Rd, Baltimore, MD 21225