#i think it's fairly possible that we will see him given the involvement of the crows. but not extremely likely bc they don't care abt him

[redlyriumidol]

honestly i forgot about this but objectively it was soooooo ridiculous for zevranmancers to get less zevran content in dai than people who didn't romance him

[cleo-fox]

Safehouse

Summary: This mission wasn't supposed to go as badly as it has. There wasn't supposed to be a blizzard, you weren't supposed to get snowed in at a remote cabin, and there certainly was supposed to be more than one bed. And none of this would be a problem were it not for your completely irrational, ill-advised crush on Loki.

Pairing: Loki x Female Reader

Warnings: Smut, 18+, Minors DNI, p in v sex, fingering, workplace crushes, There Was Only One Bed.

A/N: I didn't think this was going to be the next fic I posted, but this has been 95% finished for over a year and I just figured out the final 5% in the last 72 hours. Don't ask me how my brain works because I truly don't know sometimes. Also, perhaps after you read this, you will think "hey, I would like to read another fic that involves railing Loki in the middle of a blizzard." Well, my friend, then you should read Some Things Are Easier to Say in the Dark by the great @loki-cees-all because not only is there a blizzard and one bed, it is also beautifully written.

You didn’t expect this mission to go as badly as it has.

It was supposed to be quick, one of those tidy in and out things that almost feels routine—or at least as routine as things ever get in this line of work.

No one counted on a fucking blizzard, though.

It comes upon you suddenly enough to feel suspicious—one moment, it’s slate grey skies and barely a puff of wind and the next thing you know, the wind is howling and whipping at your coat and you can barely see three feet ahead of you.

“What the fuck is this?” you shout at Loki, who looks just as perplexed as you feel. “I thought you said the radar was clear.”

“It was,” he says, frowning. He taps at the screen of the device, an overly complicated piece of tech that you’d delegated to him because Tony’s brief training sessions had made your eyes glaze over. Still, though, you know enough to tell that you’re looking at a weather map and there’s absolutely no sign of the storm that’s howling around you.

An uneasy feeling is bubbling in the pit of your stomach and prickling up the back of your neck. Everything about this feels wrong.

“We need to find shelter,” says Loki. You know him well enough to tell that he’s pretending to be really calm and unbothered because he doesn’t want you to know that something’s wrong. Normally, you’d call him out on that bullshit, but the creepy crawly feeling running up your spine coupled with the storm that doesn’t seem to exist has you itching to get inside as soon as possible.

“There’s a safehouse just west of this hill,” he continues, tapping at the screen.

“Let’s go, then.”

The trek to the safehouse is fairly demanding, even though the distance is short. You’re walking straight into the wind, which seems to grow stronger and more biting by the minute. The snow under your feet grows slick with ice and your pace slows to a crawl, though even that doesn’t stop you from slipping.

The safehouse turns out to be an unassuming cabin that’s a little too shabby to be rustic; in the biting wind and dim light of the storm, it’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen. You make it to the door and a few minutes later, you’re inside. 

The cabin has been unoccupied long enough to put a light layer of dust on some of the furniture, but not enough to render anything musty or moth-ridden. It is charming in a way that you don’t normally see with S.H.I.E.L.D. safehouses—handcrafted furniture that’s a little rough around the edges, pine board floors, a squat wood burning stove in the center of the room that makes you want to curl up and read a book. It’s…homey and maybe even comfortable, two qualities that S.H.I.E.L.D. is decidedly not known for. It’s a welcome surprise, given how this mission has gone so far.

Loki bolts the door the moment you’re both inside and quickly turns his attention to the windows. 

“I’m putting up wards,” he says. There’s a grim set to his jaw that you don’t particularly like, largely because you only see it when something is wrong.

The back of your neck prickles.

The wood burning stove is not merely decorative—it’s the cabin’s only heat source. There are a few places that are intended to blend in no matter what—you suspect this is one of them. You manage to get a fire going and you settle yourself in front of it while Loki works. You know enough to not interrupt him, even though you feel like you’re about to bubble over with questions.

It takes him a while to finish warding all the windows and you notice he shuts the curtains for each one once he’s finished, which sends another chill up your spine. When he finally joins you by the fire, he looks a little tired.

“So, I take it you can’t just magic that storm away or something,” you say, with a casual sort of tone that sounds strained even to you.

“It doesn’t work like that,” he says, which you sort of expected. The set of his jaw is still tight. “And even if it did, this isn’t an ordinary storm. Someone is doing this.”

“Yeah, I kinda got that impression.” You pause, worrying your lower lip between your teeth. “Any idea who?”

He shakes his head. “Someone very ancient. Angry.”

You exhale. “Great. Do I want to know what the deal is with the curtains?”

“We should not look outside after the sun sets.”

The skin on the back of your neck prickles. “Why?”

There’s a reason that they call Loki “Silvertongue:” he is a compelling, eloquent speaker. And the somewhat irritating part is that he can do this extemporaneously and effortlessly—he doesn’t need to think about it at all.

So the fact that he pauses for a moment to think scares you a lot. His gaze drifts to the fire, quiet and thoughtful, as though he might find his answers written in the embers.

“Imagine every ghost story you heard as a child coming true,” he says finally.

You don’t like how spare he is on the details, but an icy chill works its way up your spine and you get the eerie sense that someone is listening. Suddenly, you don’t feel like asking any more questions.

“Okay,” you say softly.

*

Being in close quarters with Loki is…something.

There was a time early on, back when you first started working together when you thought something could maybe happen between the two of you. It was hard not to—Loki is attractive, certainly, but he has a particular magnetic quality that can make a stadium full of people think that he’s talking just to them (incidentally, this is also one of the qualities that gets red flags and warnings added to his file at S.H.I.E.L.D.) When you experience that up close, well…it’s intense, to say the least. It becomes easy to believe that his smiles mean something more, that he sees something intriguing in you.

Your feelings for Loki aren’t exactly a crush, or at least that’s what you tell yourself. Crushes are silly infatuations that make people do incredibly stupid things and entertain incredibly stupid hopes. You are a professional with a good head on your shoulders: you know better. You’re attracted to him, but it doesn’t matter because nothing is going to happen.

Perhaps more importantly: Loki is a god and you are not. You have a good relationship—your banter comes easily and he seems to enjoy talking to you more than he likes talking to the average person—but it’s strictly professional and that’s all it ever will be. The fact that you’ve been working closely together for three years without a hint of anything romantic only confirms your theory. He’s your colleague, nothing more.

Except…being trapped in a small cabin with him is dredging up a whole swarm of feelings that you would have sworn you had gotten over.

And the storm is showing no signs of stopping.

And there’s only one bed.

It’s a fucking cliché, the kind of thing you’d roll your eyes at if you saw it in a movie or read it in a book, but you’re a professional and you’re also not sleeping on the floor. Besides, you’ve both got sleeping bags and it’s a double bed—it’s not like you’ve got to curl up together or anything.

Not that you’d complain if you had to.

Which, again, is another feeling you thought you were over.

The wood burning stove is doing its best to keep up, but it’s still no match for the storm outside, even though Loki’s done something to the logs to keep them regenerating as they burn. You dig out an extra pair of woolen socks from your pack and pull on your fleece over your sweater and long sleeved thermal. You pile your coat on top of your sleeping bag, along with your share of the scratchy wool blankets you’d pulled out of the cedar chest by the foot of the bed.

Loki watches you with the lightly amused look that always feels like he must be quietly making fun of you.

“What?” you say as you settle yourself under the blankets. “Some of us are delicate mortals who find the cold a little uncomfortable.”

“I said absolutely nothing,” he says, though the glimmer in his eyes undercuts his point.

“You were thinking it.”

“Oh, the things I think of would turn your head, darling.”

You know that there’s no innuendo specific to you in that statement, but your body reacts like there is: your heart and stomach do a complicated series of flips that would put trapeze artists to shame and a heavy, familiar heat stirs hopefully in your hips. Outwardly, you roll your eyes at him and focus on arranging the blankets over your legs. 

“I’m well aware that your mind is a kaleidoscope of horrors,” you say. 

“Oh, I wouldn’t say it’s horrors so much as—”

You recognize that look in his eye: it is the herald of something wildly inappropriate. And while you’re no prude, the reality is that you’re about to share a bed with him and you will have no outlet for whatever feelings of lust this will inevitably provoke. Time to change the subject to something as far away from sex as possible, which happens to be whatever creepy fuckery is happening outside. 

“Speaking of horrors: why are you being so cagey about what’s going on out there?” you say.

You almost feel a little guilty as the teasing expression disappears from his face and settles into something grimmer. “It’s safer this way,” he says as he sets about preparing his own sleeping bag and blankets.

“That doesn’t really answer my question,” you say.

“I know.”

It occurs to you that this is a perfect example of the cryptic bullshit that makes his intentions so hard to read. Is he saying this because he cares about you? Is he trying to prevent problems down the road? All of the above or something else entirely? Nobody fucking knows, least of all you.

You scowl at him and he looks completely unbothered, which is typical.

“I hate it when you do this, you know,” you say.

There’s a slight twitch to his lips that could be a hint of a smile and you’re embarrassed by how giddy that makes you feel. 

“I know,” he says.

“It makes me feel like you don’t trust me or something.”

He stops what he’s doing and looks at you and his face is so honest and open that it makes your breath catch in your throat.

“Of course I trust you,” he says.

There’s something unsaid in his expression and you’re not quite sure what it is, but it leaves you with a warm glow in your chest.

“Okay,” you say softly.

For the briefest of moments, the difference between god and human doesn’t feel so impossibly vast.

But it’s only a moment.

*

You fall asleep quickly, even with Loki lying so close by that you could count his breaths if you wanted to.

You wake sometime in the middle of the night. The wind is still howling outside. Your mouth is dry and you fumble on the nightstand for your water bottle. Your fingers close around empty space and it occurs to you that you’d left it over by the fire.

You lie still, staring at the ceiling. The blankets have warmed up with your body heat and you’re not keen to brave the chill of the cabin. You could wake Loki up, maybe ask him to summon your water bottle to you. You nearly snort with laughter at the thought. That would go over well.

After a moment, you muster up all of your strength and willpower and haul yourself out of bed.

It’s not as bad as you thought it would be, in the end. You pad over to the fire and take a long drink from your water bottle, which turns out to be almost empty. You go to the little kitchen to refill it, idly listening to the wind howl outside.

You wonder if it’s still snowing, if the snow is piling up in drifts against the doors and windows, freezing you in. The thought of being stranded here with Loki is admittedly appealing.

Your brain is still a fuzzy from sleep and you’re a little distracted thinking about being snowed in with Loki and for just a moment, you forget what he said about not looking outside. You reach up to the kitchen window and push the fabric of the curtain aside to see how bad the snow is.

You’re not frightened at first because you only see shadows, but after a moment, you realize that the shadows are moving in an unnatural, broken sort of way, like someone had sculpted them into rough facsimiles of people and commanded them to walk, without really explaining what walking was.

Quite suddenly, they all turn and look at you. Or they would be looking at you if they had eyes. There is simply a void where their faces are, though somehow you can tell that their mouths are open, gaping and hungry, showing all of their teeth.

You feel something hook into the thread of your thoughts, tugging and pulling at your mind. The world tilts on its axis and there’s a sharp and white hot burning at the base of your skull that makes you cry out.

In the haze of pain, you think to yourself that it’s like they’re trying to take your soul and the shadows grin at you with too many teeth and a hissing, sibilant chorus of voices says, yes, we are hungry. So very hungry.

You know in that moment that they intend to kill you.

You are leaning closer to the window, your thoughts growing dark and murky as something saws away at the thing that tethers your soul to your body and there is so much pain and all of those horrible spindly hands and grinning mouths are reaching for you—

Someone is grabbing you around the waist and you scream because you think this must be the end, but instead, they’re pulling you away from the window and yanking the curtain closed and you realize it’s Loki.

There is a flash of green light and the connection between you and whatever is outside breaks abruptly and the pain retreats to a dull ache, like your body is carefully starting to repair those shredded, fraying threads that the shadows were tugging on. 

Loki’s eyes are wild and he looks at you like he half expects you to disintegrate or melt into the shadows. You are suddenly shaking so badly that your legs start to buckle.

“I’m s-s-sorry,” you say through chattering teeth. The cold you feel is bone deep and unnatural. “F-f-forgot.”

“Foolish girl.” He says it without malice, almost with affection, though his face is drawn tight with something like worry. Your legs are about to fail you, but he’s right there before they can, scooping you up into his arms like it’s nothing.

You snuggle up against his chest almost automatically, your body instinctively seeking out heat. “S-s-s-sorry, c-c-c-cold,” you manage to squeak out.

“I know,” he says and it almost sounds gentle. He is carrying you across the room and climbing back into bed with you in his arms, drawing the pile of blankets and sleeping bags over the two of you. 

The wind howls and you shudder, realizing for perhaps the first time that it may not be the wind making those noises. Loki stiffens, his grip on you tightening. 

“Did you see their eyes?”

You shake your head.

You feel some of the tension leave him, though not all.

You have so many questions, but that unnatural, bone deep cold is making you sluggish and sleepy and your teeth are chattering so hard you wonder if you’d even be able to speak at all.

“You need to rest,” he says. The cold feels like the sort of thing that could easily claim you while you sleep and he must see that fear reflected in your eyes because his expression softens ever so slightly. “Rest. I’ll keep you safe.”

You don’t like how quickly that line melts you. You tell yourself that it’s only because you’re so cold and tired, but you know that’s not entirely true. 

You allow your head to drop to his chest and he readjusts his grip on you, smoothing one hand against your hair, resting his chin on the top of your head. You try to catalog all of the different senses—the way he smells like snow and pine, the heat of his body pressed against yours, the feeling of his arms wrapped around you—but sleep is pulling insistently at your eyelids and you find yourself struggling to stay awake.

“Rest,” he says, and this time it sounds like a command.

Your eyes slowly slide shut and sleep finally claims you.

It seems like you sleep for a long time. Your dreams are strange and unsettling and have an odd sort of veneer, like they’re real but not quite. 

The first time you wake up, it’s because of a nightmare. You are back at the window and the things outside are threading their fingers underneath the panes, reaching for you with their spindly hands, clacking their too sharp teeth. You don’t know where Loki is and you’re trying to back away as they reach for you, and one of them is wrapping its fingers around your wrist and you can see its eyes and—

You thrash out in your sleep and gentle hands are soothing you. You wake abruptly, shaking, blearily looking up at Loki’s face.

“They—they were coming for me,” you manage to sputter out.

“Shh.” Loki is stroking your back. “You’re safe. I won’t let them harm you.”

Your pounding heartbeat takes a moment to settle, but the gentle pressure of Loki’s hands on your back calms you slightly. There’s a tenderness in his actions that you don’t necessarily expect, but it also feels so right and natural that you wonder how you could have ever been surprised by it.

“What are they?” you ask.

“That’s an answer for daylight, love,” he says. “Go back to sleep. You’re safe.”

You want to protest and push for answers, but you’re so very tired and he’s smoothing your hair again and you can feel exhaustion tugging at your eyelids, ready to pull you back under.

“I’m holding you to that,” you manage to mumble at him. “I’m not going to forget.”

“I’d expect nothing less.” You can hear the smile in his voice. “Sleep, darling.”

You fall back under.

Your dreams are still wild and strange this time around. You wake again a few hours later, teeth chattering and tears streaming down your face. Loki wraps you even more tightly in his arms, drawing more blankets over the two of you, conjuring an additional pile of furs. You try to tell him to save his magic for the wards and the fire, but he hushes you and mutters something about how that’s not exactly how it works, even though you’re pretty sure it is.

You sleep again.

You have a half memory of him quieting you and pressing his lips against your forehead, but you’re not quite sure if it’s real or wishful thinking.

When you wake again, it’s still dark and the wind is still howling. The cold has retreated somewhat—it’s not as sharp, not as biting, but you still need the warmth of the blankets and Loki’s arms to keep it at bay.

You’re a bit more clearheaded now, so there’s part of you that feels a little embarrassed about what happened. It was a stupid mistake. Rookie level. You know better.

“Are you awake?” Loki’s voice rumbles pleasantly against your ear.

“Sort of.” You hope he continues holding you. You’re not quite ready to give up his warmth or his arms just yet.

“How is one ‘sort of’ awake? Either you aren’t or you are,” he says.

“I’m very talented,” you say. It’s not particularly funny, but he humors you with a soft laugh, more exhalation than anything else.

“How do you feel?” he asks.

“Still cold,” you say. While it is true, you’re also secretly hoping that the more you emphasize this, the more likely he is to continue holding you. “It’s better than it was, but it’s still bad.”

As if to prove a point, a shudder works its way through you. Loki shifts, rolling over so his body covers yours, pulling the blankets up so they cover your shoulders. It helps, but there’s now a degree of intimacy there that makes your heart stumble in your chest and your breath catch in your throat. You know he doesn’t mean anything by it, but with his green eyes bright above you, you can’t help but hope he does.

Leave it to him to ruin the moment.

“That was very foolish of you,” he says, his expression becoming serious and his voice taking on that hard edge that you only hear when he’s trying to pick a fight.

You exhale sharply. “Are you seriously trying to do this right now? I told you it was an accident. I was half asleep.”

“I’m not fond of close calls,” he says tightly.

“Oh bullshit,” you snap. “You fucking love chaos, don’t tell—”

“It’s not chaos, it was foolish and dangerous—”

“For fuck’s sake, do you think I’m not aware of that? I’m not—”

“You could have died.” He’s not yelling, but he’s raising his voice and there’s an unexpectedly strained quality to his tone that you don’t know what to do with. “It’s not chaos, it’s not an accident, it’s—”

For a moment, he seems like he might be at a loss for words, and for some reason, this enrages you.

“It’s what, Loki?” you say with more venom than you intend. “Please enlighten me, since you’re such a fucking expert.”

You’re not quite sure what line you’ve crossed, but you think it must be an important one based on how angry he looks.

“You truly are infuriating,” he says. “You nearly get yourself killed and you have the audacity to speak that way to me after I save your life!?”

And before you can say a word, he brings his mouth down on yours in a bruising kiss.

His tongue sweeps past your lips, seeking out yours, demanding and hungry. Your response is reflexive and instinctive, your lips parting, tongue meeting his. You return his kiss, even though you’re still a little mad at him and he’s maybe still a little mad at you. But his mouth loses that hard edge as you kiss him back, his touch turning softer, more tender, but still urgent and wanting.

“Do not scare me like that ever again,” he murmurs against your lips, kissing you in between words, each pause punctuated by the soft caress of his lips, the silky warmth of his tongue. “Do you have any idea what you’ve put me through?”

You are astonished and somewhat perplexed. “I…I didn’t even know that you…that you wanted this—“

“Darling, I have thought of little else.”

His mouth covers yours again and you are drowning in the feeling of him. The cold that has settled in your bones is melting like snow in springtime. You move your hands along his shoulders, tentative at first, then a little braver. You thread your fingers through his hair, marveling at how soft and smooth it is. He deepens the kiss, his fingertips tracing the curve of your cheekbones. 

It’s dizzingly good and you want more. You need more. You arch against him in a clear invitation, reveling in how perfectly his body fits against yours. He sighs and presses back against you briefly before pulling away.

“You should rest,” he says, his voice slightly strained. “You experienced some very powerful magic—I don’t want you to overexert yourself.”

“I won’t,” you say, tugging him back down to you. He allows this for a moment, his hands cupping your cheeks as he deepens the kiss with toe curling intensity.

And then he draws back.

“You really do need to rest,” he says.

You shake your head. “I need you, Loki.”

His lips and tongue are just as insistent as yours when you pull him back into a kiss. You can feel him growing hard against your thigh and when you wrap your legs around his waist and rock your hips against him, he groans and nips at your lip before withdrawing again.

“Darling,” he says, his voice a little hoarse, like he’s barely holding himself back.

“I can stay on my back,” you say.

“Appealing as that is, you’re rather ignoring my point.”

“And you’re ignoring mine,” you say, rolling your hips again. His eyes close for a moment as he presses back against you, his hand sliding along your thigh. Your hands grip the fabric of his shirt, pulling him back down into a kiss that he returns without protest.

You catch his lower lip between your teeth and he sucks in a deep breath as he grinds his hips against you.

“Please,” you breathe. “I need you so bad.”

He groans as he lowers his head to the column of your throat. “I’m trying to keep you safe and you’re tempting me like this.”

“Touch me and tell me I need to rest more than I need you.”

It’s a bold thing to say and your heart pounds with anticipation as you feel him nip at your collarbone. His hand pauses at your hip, so close to where you need him. You wait a moment and then take his hand in yours and guide it underneath your waistband and between your legs. He lifts his head, gaze snapping to yours and the moment that his fingers graze your slickness, you know that you’ve won.

“Oh, you’re dripping,” he says, his voice dropping and his eyes darkening with lust as his fingers swipe across your clit.

You’re tempted to tell him that you told him so, but this still feels so fragile and tenuous that you settle for a more flattering truth: “Loki, I need you.”

“Do you have any idea what you’re doing to me?” He shifts on top of you so that you feel the hard press of his cock against your hip.

“Same thing that you’re doing to me,” you say. “Which is why I need you to fuck me.”

He sighs, but his fingers don’t stop moving. “You really ought to rest.”

“I can stay on my back,” you say. “You can take me really slowly and gently. Think about how good that will feel.”

“Darling,” he says. You can see a flicker of hesitation in his eyes and you know that you’ve almost won. You feel your orgasm starting to coil like a snake in your belly and you moan, rocking your hips with his hand.

“Loki.” You lick your lips. “Don’t you want to feel me come on your cock?”

You know the exact moment he gives in—you see it in his eyes. Less than a second later, he’s sliding one long finger inside of you and curling it just right.

“Not before I finish what I started.” His voice is a low growl.

“Yes,” you breathe, letting your head tip back against the pillow. “God, that feels so good.”

“I can feel you trembling,” he says, his voice rough. “Are you going to come for me already? I’ve barely touched you.”

“I told you: I need you,” you say.

He raises an eyebrow, his eyes darkening in a very attractive way. “You’re not getting pert with me, are you?”

There’s a particular tone to his voice, a sternness that makes you shiver. Something to explore later, perhaps—right now, you need him too badly to play games.

“No, just trying to emphasize that I need you.”

“Are you really that desperate for me? Do you really need me that much? Surely you could touch yourself, surely you don’t need me that badly.”

You know that he’s saying that to amp you up, to tease you. But you are also so desperate to come that the idea of not having him is beyond comprehension.

“I do,” you say, a bit of desperate note making its way into your voice. “I need you, Loki, I need to come for you, need you to fuck me, please don’t make me wait, please, please, please—”

He stops your mouth with a kiss as he eases a second finger inside of you. “I’m going to take care of you, sweet thing,” he says as you gasp at the stretch. 

His fingers are curling inside of you, his thumb working your clit in small, tight circles that are pushing you closer and closer to the edge as a fantastic pressure builds inside of you.

“Oh, that’s it.” His eyes are dark, pupils wide and lust-blown. “I can feel how close you are.” He brings his lips to your ear. “Come for me and then I’ll fuck you properly.”

Your breath hitches as you reach your peak. “Oh god—I—fuck, I’m coming, I’m—”

Your voice cuts out as you come, pure pleasure blooming low in your hips, your back arching against the mattress as Loki works you through it, murmuring soft encouragement as he watches you shake in his arms.

“You’re beautiful when you come undone,” he says, pressing a kiss against your cheek. “Utterly stunning.”

You fumble for the waistband of his pants, your fingers slipping over the fastenings. “I need you,” you say, tugging at the fabric.

His mouth curls into a smile, his eyes dancing with mischief. “Are you quite certain?”

Leather yields to warm skin and you slide your hand into his pants, wrapping your fingers around his cock. He inhales sharply as you stroke him, his eyes turning dark.

“You’re presenting a very compelling argument,” he says.

“Think about how good you’ll feel inside of me,” you say, gently increasing the pressure on his shaft as you move your hand.

“Norns, woman.” But he’s rolling on top of you as he says this and sliding his pants off his hips. He pauses briefly to divest you of your pants and underwear. A shiver works through you during the brief moment when your bare skin is exposed to the chill of the room…and he notices right away, hesitating slightly as his brow furrows in concern.

“Don't you dare stop,” you say. “I don’t care if I get hypothermia and die, I will straight up implode if you don’t fuck me right now.”

He chuckles, pulling more blankets around the two of you as he settles himself between your thighs. “Are you always so demanding?”

“Look, you’ve been teasing me for the last twenty minutes and you’ve been strutting around in those fucking leather pants for a lot longer, so forgive me if I’m a little impatient.”

He pauses above you, his expression deadly serious. “Let's get one thing quite clear, my love: I do not strut.”

There’s a glimmer in his eyes and you smirk back at him. “You totally do.”

He lines up the tip of his cock with your entrance. “I walk with the gravitas and stature appropriate to my station.”

“You strut and I know you strut because it’s extremely distracting.”

His smile is sly. “Tell me more about how I distract you.”

“You make me think about doing this with you.”

The tip of his cock eases into you. “Do I? How often, would you say?”

“All the time.”

He sinks in another inch. “All the time?”

“Mmmhm.”

One more inch. “That does sound terribly distracting.”

“You’re still trying to tease me,” you say and he grins and gives you another inch.

“You wouldn’t want me as much if I didn’t.”

“I’d want you always, no matter what.”

His gaze turns serious and he leans into kiss you, his hands stroking your cheek as he sinks into you fully, all the way to the hilt. You gasp, your walls stretching to accommodate him, your legs wrapping around his waist to hold him even closer. He’s still for a moment, his eyes shut.

He opens them.

“I’ve waited so long to have you,” he murmurs.

“You have me,” you say. “You always have.”

He kisses you deeply as he starts moving, slow as honey, sweetness in every thrust of his hips or touch of his lips. He fills you in a way that you’ve never experienced, his cock bumping up against that tender place inside you, making you gasp and pull him deeper. 

It builds slowly and steadily, the muscles of your cunt tightening as he takes you higher. You shudder as your climax builds.

“That’s it, my love,” he breathes. “That’s it.”

You inhale sharply, your orgasm swelling within you, rising, about to pull you under. You ride that wave, your hips rocking with his. You try and hold on for as long as you can because he feels so good and you don’t want it to end, but eventually, it becomes too much.

You keen and he kisses you. “Come for me, darling. Let me feel you come.”

Your fingernails dig into his shoulders and all your muscles tense and release as you come. Loki sucks in a sharp breath, brow furrowing.

“Fuck.” His pace increases slightly. “You’re divine.”

Less than a second later, he’s also unraveling, his expression of ecstasy particularly beautiful in the flickering firelight. Even in the hazy afterglow of your own pleasure, you can’t help but stare at him, utterly spellbound.

As soon as he catches his breath, he kisses you deeply and slows to a halt, his cock still throbbing inside of you.

“I don’t want to say I told you so—” you start.

“That’s a lie.” His reply is prompt and accompanied by another deep kiss.

You smile against his lips. “Okay, maybe I did want to say I told you so.”

“Better.”

You feel pleasantly loose and sleepy, exhaustion pulling at your eyelids. He seems to notice your fatigue and raises an eyebrow. “Is this the part where I say I told you so?” he asks as he slowly eases out of you.

“Mmm, but it was so worth it,” you say. “So I’m basically right.”

“That’s not how that works,” he says.

“I’m not listening to you,” you say. “I need to recover my strength.”

“Now you’re just being pert.” He shifts to his side and draws you close so he’s spooned up against your back.

“You like it,” you say, barely stifling a yawn.

“Mmm, I do,” he says, drawing the pile of blankets back over you both. “Are you warm enough?”

“Yeah, but don’t go anywhere.”

You feel him smile as he presses a kiss against the back of your neck. “I don’t intend to.”

“Good.”

You both fall asleep like this, wrapped around each other, warm and safe from the storm outside.

[pointlesschairjokes]

A Needlessly In depth Analysis of the Hypnos Subplot thus far

So, the new update is out and my sleepy boy has gotten his own story moment. I have... concerns. Going purely off of dialog I'm worried the subplot is going to simply be comic relief. The joke set-up has been obvious. Mel thinks Hypnos is wise and powerful, everyone else is being sarcastic because they know he's a lazy goof. Hypnos wakes up, Mel's image of him is shattered, cue laughter. On the one hand, I would personally find that resolution disappointing because I'd like to see more done with his character, but on the other, I hold out hope because a purely comedic subplot just wouldn't make sense. I've seen comments here and there saying Hypnos must just be conked out cause Hades and Nyx aren't there to scold him, and if this were to be pure comedy that'd probably be the case. But, if there is one thing Hades 1 makes clear, even if you interpret Hypos' character in the shallowest possible way, he cares very deeply for those he loves. When he drops his cheerful tone to ask Than to spend more time with him, it is distinct, and he nearly tears up calling Zag his best friend. I simply do not buy that he would choose to sleep for years when it means being separated from his friends and family. But then again, the first games treatment of him was just a bit odd. The only time him being the god of sleep is relevant is a single line of flashback narration where we learn he's able to put the entire house, including Hades, to sleep. For the rest of the game no character acknowledges that it makes sense for the god of sleep to be sleepy, and his keepsake, the coin purse, has nothing to do with his aspect or his character. I really hope the subplot goes in a direction of addressing that disconnect. So as to what we actually have so far: the dream scene. A lot of what we see is fairly easy to interpret, Than is there resting close to Hypnos, Hypnos is surrounded by massive stacks of work with an angry Hades looming in the background. Now this is a bit interesting, as in the first game Hypnos appears oblivious to Hades anger in his interactions with him. Perhaps this is evidence that some of that cheeriness is a defense mechanism, its hard to say, but its clear that Hypnos feels overworked. I feel its also important that Mel remarks how unusual it is that he is still asleep inside the dream. Given that, and given that there's a craftable item involved, I suspect that the scenery of the dream is going to be different each time Mel uses the dream vapors. There may even be a puzzle involving the character cutouts. As for why Hypnos is asleep, its still unclear. Could it be exhaustion due to overwork? Possibly, although it wouldn't be the most satisfying answer. I'm actually a bit reluctant to say its Chronos' doing. None of his magic seems to operate in a way that would make sense in Hypnos' case. I'll throw out one wild theory though, that its actually the Fates who have put him to sleep. We know from the prophecy list that Mel is going to locate them at some point in the story, and thus far its completely unclear how. If she can communicate with them in dreams however... What could be a better ace in the hole than a god who not only is underestimated by everyone, but who's also in an 'eternal' slumber?

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

I’m just going to throw down my thoughts now real quick. Someone is obviously going to get taken over by Fyodor. This takeover seems to require blood to activate. Here are the potential options, rated lowest to highest by my own personal interest.

Random character we’ve never met - the easy and boring answer. Fyodor will body snatch one of the vampire guards he was communicating with. Fair amount of likelihood since he could easily have made the transfer of blood at any point, though I’m not sure yet if it needs to be an instantaneous thing or if his blood can lie dormant. Either way I think it’s a bit of an ass-pull with no stakes on our cast so I’m hoping this isn’t the case.

A named character outside Meursault - Probably someone he’s had a lot of contact with, so Fukuchi. This depends on the blood having a latency period and is also insanely contrived. I actually hate it more than the random guard.

The Catgirl thief - I’m assuming this is extremely unlikely since the host needs to be alive. But anyways. Women lovers here’s how we lose even worse.

Having said this now, I think it’s fairly obvious it has to be one of the other Meursault four. This is appropriately thematic and tragic, given that all of them place a lot of value on free will and self-determination, which a takeover by Fyodor would rob them of.

Chuuya - He spent a lot of time around Chuuya to be sure but there’s no blood on him. If there’s a latency period though, it is possible. I’m not feeling this one though, to be honest. I don’t see what narrative purpose it serves - Chuuya hasn’t had enough of a role in the manga for this to mean much, other than royally pissing Dazai off (which to be fair is definitely in character for Fyodor). I think it far more likely that Chuuya is going to be a witness for whatever comes next.

Sigma - High likelihood. He did get stabbed and had the memory transfer. I can’t remember whether Fyodor touched him with his wounded hand. It would be brutal for this to happen to him after he’d just broken free from his manipulation. But honestly I don’t know that Sigma getting taken over is all that interesting. For one, they’re going to need his knowledge (though that may be a reason for Fyodor to off him truthfully), and for another, I just don’t think Sigma’s… done enough as a character. I feel it would kind of render his arc in Meursault pointless to end his story here.

Nikolai - The most likely possibility to me. He is holding Fyodor’s severed hand, which he touched to his face. Fyodor’s ability probably kickstarts after his death, and Nikolai was the first to get his blood on him. Sadly, I suspect that if this is the case, this will be the end for Nikolai. If he gets taken over, I can’t see a reason or method to restore him to himself. What a horribly tragic end this would be to our favourite clown, his freedom snatched away for good by the one person he couldn’t help but get attached to.

Dazai - I dismissed this off-hand at first. Of course I did, Dazai is immune to abilities. I also want to be clear that I seriously doubt Asagiri will off his favourite boy like this. But oh man. What if Fyodor’s ability isn’t an ability, much like in the first skk manga team up? What if them both being there is a call-back to Rimbaud who snatched corpses, and Lovecraft who could hurt Dazai? What if Fyodor really has become no longer human - and this is the proof? I was kind of hoping the Meursault arc would end with Dazai (temporarily!) out of the picture, and this would be a way to do it - Atsushi and Akutagawa would have to step up, Chuuya could be more relevant. We could even have more Kyouka if what I’m starting to wonder is true - that Fyodor was involved in the death of her parents. At the same time, Dazai’s special boy plot armour nullification and mysteriousness gives us a plausible reason to bring him back. And all the while maybe they could continue their mind games, with Dazai being an annoying little pest in the back of Fyodor’s mind.

[meanbossart]

Ask compilation: DU drow, Orin, Astarion, lore things and little fun facts.

Trying to make a dent in this dang inbox. As always, thank you so much everyone for your patience and curiosity! Sorry that it is straight up no longer possible for me to reply to everyone, but I will keep doing my best within reason. Enjoy!

Absolutely! I had a lot of requests for bottom Astarion on my patreon which is why I was kind of on a roll there for a minute.

Though, for the record - I am really not very invested in strict bedroom roles at all. Or clear and distinct dominant/submissive dynamics. So please don't overthink it whenever there's a switch, no pun intended.

You wanna know how often they smash? Man, I don't know, I guess fairly often considering their lifestyle post-game (very active, often on the road).

Assuming that everyone agrees that sex doesn't have to involve penetration, I'd say once every other day or less, really depends on the circumstances though. DU drow's libido is much higher than Astarion's, but he's not an animal and can hold off fine. Astarion is likely to be pickier in regards to location and how-recently-have-we-bathed status as well.

I keep meaning to draw him, but I have like... A million things I want to do 😂 so its rough!

BUT you will at least continue to see him in ANE! And I'm sure i'm bound to draw him again in the future.

[MORE UNDER THE CUT]

If you mean in his bhaalist "AU", where he has the red robe and the extra scars, I imagine he would have gotten it through killing Isobel.

I think as a changeling she probably has the ability to just... Transform her hair however she likes at will, right? And based on her attitude plus some lines we get from Sceleritas about her own former-butler, it sounds like she would be really opposed to being serviced in that way, to me at least.

I see her as pretty aggressively independent with the way she operates, which is another factor that sets her apart from DU drow, who really enjoyed lording over the other Bhaalists and making an errand boy out of Sceleritas, to the point where he practically depended on their help to function.

Neither! I wasn't willing to let anyone take either of my eyes in my first playthrough, LOL.

I have since always given the Volo eye to SOMEONE, usually Gale, but I don't consider that canonical. I don't think anyone was desperate enough to let mister frumpy-hat over there ice-pick their eyes out.

He did do them himself. It was a profoundly stupid display he got caught up in because of Gortash. Also, de-handment is kind of a theme in his life, at least inside his head.

I have a comic about it planned for the future ;)

What do you mean, that's canonical to the game and everything! He loves the cuck chair!

He is an angsty 29-year old in denial. Your interpretation is still perfectly accurate.

Hates the guy. Hates when Shadowheart Astarion people joke about him being the Drizzt of his generation. Hates the guy like literally any countercultural weirdo hates Taylor Swift or the Weeknd. If he saw him at the line in the grocery store DU drow would find a way to roll his eyes loudly just so he could notice being an asshole.

Stay tuned, I'm cooking 🧑‍🍳

If you're asking about game strats, badly, LOL. Pretty sure I died twice to her in my first run and it was a rough way of being thrown into "serious" DnD combat.

With the exception of a couple of encounters that just so happened to turn out SURPRISINGLY cinematic, I'm just realizing that I actually don't think too often about how most of the fights went in real-time! I imagine Autie Ethel's in particular wasn't one that DU drow went into of his own accord, probably rather at a companion's insistence. That's as deep as I've thought about that personally.

Now... Back to game strats. I personally try to get a surprise round on her however I can by sneaking and shooting an arrow or AOE in her general location, since she always stands on roughly the same spot while invisible. I have my companions spread about the arena so we can take her clones down as fast as possible, and as soon as I identify who the real Ethel is I just have the strongest martial characters wail on her until she begs to be let go. Hers is one of the few fights that is actually pretty dang easy at this point for me - and I SUCK at this game.

That would certainly take a while! But, Bhaalist DU drow does kind of have an end goal, actually.

That might also turn into a comic eventually, but it would a rough one.

He pretty swiftly disposed of her, DU drow doesn't like being talked down to, which Minthara very promptly does. Him (and I, by extension) had very limited exposure to her and she was just kind of a speck of dust in his story in particular. Though I have since grown to adore her character in my proceeding runs where I do recruit her!

I guess if he got an invitation and it wasn't particularly painful to arrive at the venue, sure! He would specially love to take Astarion to Gale's wedding ceremony and purposely upstage him at every at every opportunity, LOL.

Yes. He got pretty freaky with the pain-priest. This is gonna sound like a lie but I made him get naked for it without even knowing there was a buff to be gained (I didn't get it, unfortunately, I don't remember whether I failed a check or if I had camp clothes toggled on, so it didn't count as being truly nude). I wasn't taking the game very seriously and just doing dumb roleplay things to see what would happen, LOL.

And I consider that canonical. I think DU drow saw the opportunity to show off his physique And had a strange inkling that this was a practice he was... Somehow familiar with.

Imagine my joy when Astarion and Shadowheart start having a back-and-forth about my absurd display. That's when i knew those were my people, to be honest.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Sussex Survivors Club

Tom Sykes of The Daily Beast dropped an article yesterday about the latest Sussex employee to bail out.

There's some good gossip in the article, such as:

For example, one photographer who was requested to pitch to work for their wedding told The Daily Beast: “It was incredibly exciting to be asked to present for the wedding. I had to go to Kensington Palace where I laid out several mood boards in what was then their office. Eventually, Meghan walked in, took one look at what I had prepared and said, in the meanest way possible, ‘No.’ Then she spun on her heel and walked out. I was left in tears. It was horrible.” Another contractor, a florist, The Daily Beast was told, was “monstered” by Meghan after posting an innocuous message on social media trying to source flowers for a bouquet Meghan had requested they make. The florist vowed never to work with Meghan again despite the prestige associated with such a client. Harry, by contrast, has generally been seen as a considerate and thoughtful boss. Another contractor who worked at his wedding told The Daily Beast how Harry helped set up one of the bars in a marquee before the event kicked off. 

There's also a couple eye-rolly moments like this one:

Reports this week, in the wake of Kettler’s departure, have claimed that 18 people have resigned or left Harry and Meghan Markle’s employ since she married Harry, with nine leaving since they moved to the USA. However, defenders of Harry and Meghan would be quick to point out that some staff, such as James Holt, who moved to America with the Sussexes, have remained in post for many years, and point out that there is plenty of churn in Prince William and Princess Kate’s office too, but they don’t get accused of being bad bosses every time a new hire doesn’t work out.

(Eye-rolly because why do we even need to drag William and Kate into this to begin with? Oh, I forgot. Because Tom needs his paycheck and Meghan needs her SEO.)

Anyway. I was going to do a deep dive into the photographer and florist to see if there's any more details there but...18 ex-staffers seems awfully low compared to all the stories that have trickled out over the years.

So let's count them!

Kensington Palace Survivors

Christian Jones. Meghan was papped taking him to lunch, causing many to believe she poached him from Burberry and he was working directly for her; however, when the household split, Christian stayed at KP with the Cambridges. I'm too lazy at the moment to check, but I think Christian was one of the four KP staffers that planned to testify in one of the lawsuits, and I'm fairly certain Meghan's pissed at him about something (or everything) because Endgame ended up being a hit job on Christian.

Amy Pickerill. She was formerly Harry's PA but transferred to staff Meghan during the engagement and was so closely trusted by Meghan that Amy was given the honorable task of...airport duty? (Amy was tapped to pick up Doria at the airport for the wedding.) Amy is suspected to be one of the two PAs that Meghan bullied, descriptions of which Jason Knauf included in his letter. Amy quit working for the Sussexes, went private for a little bit, but was then immediately hired by The Royal Foundation, where she became involved with Earthshot, where Kate was overheard greeting her with "Well done, Amy!" It's also believed that Amy is the PA whom William was once witnessed comforting while she was upset. Amy is also suspected of being the aide seen crying (after being yelled at by Meghan) by one of the royal reporters; the reporter chose not to print this incident when it happened because "privacy" but later admitted it sometime post-Oprah.

Melissa Toubati. Formerly Robbie William's PA, she joined KP during the engagement and was assigned to the Sussexes' staff, where she helped plan the wedding and the Australia tour. She quit after about six months or so after the Australia tour, where allegedly Meghan threw a cup of tea and/or a pair of scissors at her, which allegedly led to a handsome payoff by the BRF and a NDA. She is the aide that Valentine Low described as getting fired for something she didn’t do, suspected to be related to a disagreement over Meghan’s accepting of freebies. Harry then threw her under the bus in Spare, writing that he and Meghan turned her in to HR for taking freebies that were sent to Meghan. (Thanks for the correction, anon! Original text left below.) Melissa is thought to be the second of two PAs referenced in Jason's letter.

did get a shoutout from Harry in Spare, who said that Melissa and Meghan butted heads over Meghan wanting to keep all the clothes she was given while Melissa was in favor of following protocol (i.e., returning all the clothes or sending payment for each item received).

Samantha Cohen. She was a valued aide to Queen Elizabeth, given to the Sussexes to help Meghan learn the ropes and whip their staff into shape. Samantha the Panther famously accompanied Meghan on her first (only) engagement with The Queen - yes, the hatless toilet tank engagement - and to Australia. Sam's assignment to the Sussexes was just supposed to be a few weeks, but it stretched for well over a year. Samantha later made private remarks that have since become prophetic, that Meghan had no interest in getting along with anyone (or something to that effect) and she has also made comments that Meghan often screamed at the staff (including her) and pushed Samantha past her breaking limit.

Edward Lane Fox. He was Harry's valued aide, having worked for him for five years and is largely the brains behind Invictus Games. He announced his departure from the Sussexes' staff a few weeks before the wedding, allegedly citing Meghan as the reason why he was leaving. He continues to serve on Invictus Games' board. About six months before the wedding, Ed gave Meghan a 30-page dossier on being a member of the BRF, on everything from curtsey protocol to fashion tips to advice about walkabouts to information about charities and public life. Meghan apparently refused to read it.

Sonia Lane Fox. ELF’s wife. I can't find her name or many details about her, but she supposedly worked for Meghan during the engagement and couldn't take it anymore. She left soon after ELF did.

Edit: I’m getting asks from anons saying that ELF and Amy Pickerill are married but that’s not true - at least not in 2018-2019 when all this went down. I did some insomnia research and found this list of Sussex wedding guests, where ELF is mentioned as attending with his wife Sonia (and here is their engagement announcement). ELF and Sonia could very well be divorced now and Ed remarried to Amy (but still, I doubt that because there would be mentioned in some of the stories about former Sussex staff); however, since what is known about ELF’s wife working for the Sussexes is dated to the wedding, this means Sonia and she remains a separate entry.

Unnamed Assistant. Bower discusses this assistant in Revenge, saying this particular individual once had to call Meghan after hours for clarification, which led to Meghan screaming at her "you can't do anything right, I'll do it myself."

Sara Latham. Technically Sara didn't quit the Sussexes, the Sussexes quit her. She worked for the Sussexes all the way through Megxit, after which she was absorbed by Buckingham Palace.

Natalie Campbell. Natalie was a KP staffer mostly well known for the work she did with Meghan's Hubb Cookbook (aka I think Natalie did all the work and Meghan just posed for the photos). It's not clear what other work she may have done for the Sussexes (or the Cambridges) or how/on what terms she left the Sussexes' staff.

Clara Loughram. Clara's an interesting staffer. She initially came into the Sussexes' employ while working at KP. She helped with the wedding planning and was the woman who gave Meghan her flowers when she arrived at St. George's Chapel for the wedding. She stuck by the Sussexes' when the household split and lost her job through Megxit; however, the Sussexes later re-hired Clara as a freelancer for Archewell, who worked on their UK projects but Clara has since left the Sussexes' employment.

Edit: Apparently Clara established her own company that the Sussexes continue to contract for support planning their overseas work, according to some anons. I’ll still leave Clara in this list because she doesn’t technically work personally for the Sussexes anymore.

Jason Knauf. The big kahuna. Everyone knows Jason's story. He was the Communications guy for KP, working with William, Kate, Harry, and Meghan. When the household split, Jason stayed at KP with the Cambridges. He advised Meghan on her letter to Tom and poked a lot of holes in her testimony. He also wrote a damning letter about Meghan's behavior towards staff that led to the bullying investigation, which was DOA.

Katrina McKeever. She was part of the communications team at KP and was said to have also helped Meghan with the wedding planning. She quit just before the Australia trip, allegedly over Meghan's harsh criticism of how certain wedding plans were executed though Meghan denies criticizing anyone.

Melissa Crow. She used to be Madonna's assistant and allegedly worked for the Sussexes but quit abruptly. There's not a whole lot of information out there about her - it's totally possible that people confused her for Melissa Toubati, but I'm including her anyway on this list.

Unnamed Female RPO. This woman quit after (or in the middle of) the Sussexes' Australasia trip. Many suspect her to be the blonde RPO seen escorting Meghan through the terrifying Fiji market.

Staffer Who Quit In Africa. An unnamed staffer who quit the Sussexes' office - or pulled out of consideration for a Sussex position - after joining the team for the Sussexes' South Africa visit.

The Midnight Nanny. One of the nannies hired by Harry and Meghan after Archie was born allegedly quit mid-shift in the middle of the night over the Sussexes' behavior.

Another Unnamed Nanny. If I'm remembering the details correctly, the Sussexes went through several nannies before finding "the perfect fit." I think there were three nannies trialled, including the midnight nanny (see above).

Another Unnamed Assistant. I don't know if this is the same unnamed assistant as the one further up or if this is someone who's already been named, but there was a second assistant who Tom Bower claims Meghan threw under the bus with her freebies.

Let's take a break for a second. That's 18 known staffers that quit working for the Sussexes. (Okay, 17 because Sara Latham didn't technically quit.) Already we've blown Tom Sykes's estimation out of the water. Again, 18 people that quit their jobs in a span of 23 months. But sure, let's talk about the turnover in William and Kate's staff.

And we're not even counting the RPOs Meghan pissed off by treating like her personal servants!

Archewell Survivors

Ben Browning. He was the head of content for Archewell and worked the Netflix deal. He quit after the docuseries.

Bennett Levine. He was also involved in the Netflix deal with Archewell.

Catherine St-Laurent. She's the Gates Foundation poach. Didn't last very long, less than a year I think. Not really sure what her role was. I think she was supposed to be like a CEO or an Executive Officer to Archewell. Her quitting was the subject of a CDAN rumor alleging that no one actually likes the Sussexes, they're just working for the resume credit.

Josh Ketter. Harry's CEO-assistant who quit this week after only three months in the position. The Sussexes are spinning it as his employment was only temporary. Sure, Jan.

Fara Taylor. She was hired to do Archewell's marketing but lost her job when they "streamlined" the Archewell staff. (aka they didn't have money to pay their staff.)

Rebecca Sananes. She was on the Archewell Audio side of things and helped Meghan with the podcast. She quit (or was "let go" - it's not clear which) after Spotify failed to renew Archetypes for a season 2.

Mandana Dayani. She's the big kahuna of post-Megxit, and the staffer who worked the longest with Meghan. She served in a COO-type role for Archewell, overseeing much of the charity work and helping Meghan with her personal brand development. Mandana did accompany Meghan to Uvalde. Mandana allegedly abandoned Meghan, leaving her high and dry by creating American Riviera Orchard for Meghan but not doing any of the paperwork or developing any ideas for product.

Toya Holness. Archewell's press secretary. She was said to be a mini-Meghan or a "Meghan in suits" (something like that, which didn't make sense). She didn't last very long.

Now, Tom Sykes said there were 9 staffers who left the Sussexes after they moved to California. This is only 8 people. I'm not sure who the ninth is - maybe he's counting Clara, who was rehired by the Sussexes post-Megxit? If so:

Clara Loughram. Clara's an interesting staffer. She initially came into the Sussexes' employ while working at KP. She helped with the wedding planning and was the woman who gave Meghan her flowers when she arrived at St. George's Chapel for the wedding. She stuck by the Sussexes' when the household split and lost her job through Megxit; however, the Sussexes later re-hired Clara as a freelancer for Archewell, who worked on their UK projects but Clara has since left the Sussexes' employment.

Edit: Apparently Clara established her own company that the Sussexes continue to contract for support planning their overseas work, according to some anons. I’ll still leave Clara in this list because she doesn’t technically work personally for the Sussexes anymore.

So in sum. That's 26 known people who've quit working for the Sussexes. There's probably a few more that we don't know about, both from the KP side and the Archewell/post-Megxit side.

Tom Sykes can go ahead and shove his "let's talk about Kate not being able to keep a CEO" talk where the sun don't shine because 26 people quitting is not the same as 3 people quitting.

[splendidunboyfriendable]

hold on (brian quinn x reader)

[I know this is a little random but you know what older men do to me. Trigger warning for mild descriptions of sexual assault. This is also posted to the japage3moondog ao3.]

Part One: Hold Me Back

Part Two: Hold Me Down

"So, what would you say is Q's biggest flaw in your relationship?" Joe asked.

"I love him," You answered. "but he can be a little jealous."

"In Q's punishment today," Sal started to explain. "we are going to be exploiting this flaw."

"We're gonna see if we can get him to punch someone in the face basically." Murr joked. 

... 

You had been dating Brian for almost half a year now. He'd kept your relationship pretty much just between the two of you, especially in the early months. The privacy was nice. Even though he wasn't a necessairily big celebrity, he still attracted some publicity and you weren't really the type to enjoy that.

Brian was your dream man. He was almost too good to be true. You could have serious, intelligent conversations with him but he could still make you laugh. He made you feel safe, loved and respected. Every moment with him was a cherished memory. His only real flaw was his jealousy.

Everyone who knew Brian, knew about his possessive tendancies. He would glare at every guy who looked at you when you were out. He was fiercely protective and shut down any joke or jab at your expense. He would keep his arm wrapped tight around your waist in public, keeping you close as possible.

As far as he was concerned, anyone who hung around you for too long was trying to get in your pants. He made it his mission to show those punks that you were happily taken. You knew part of it was just his touch-starved side but there was definitely some underlying insecurity you were trying to work through together.

He made you aware of the implications of dating him from the start - the show, his tight friend group, his insecurities. All thanks to doing a risky 20 questions on your first date. You were grateful that he was upfront, if not intimidated by his honesty.

Meeting the guys was like meeting his parents. It was a little awkward, given how well they knew each other but you got along fairly well. When Murr asked you if you were interested in being featured on his show, you were surprised that they wanted you to be involved.

You had to give it a lot of thought and they had to give you a lot of convincing but eventually you agreed. They were waiting on an episode where Brian would lose so they could use you in the punishment segment. Something involving random strangers hitting on you while Brian was forced to deal. Initially, you were hesitant to touch on such a sensitive part of your relationship but the guys assured you that they'd take the fall if anything went awry.

...

The guys stood outside of the club, riffing while they waited for the shoot to start.

"Q," Murr said, grinning at the camera."you are the loser of today's episode."

"And for your punishment," Sal explained. "you're going to the club!"

Brian rolled his eyes as the other jokers laughed at him.

"Why don't you take a look at this outfit, buddy?" Joe threw clothes at him that landed at his feet. 

Brian picked up the shirt first - a cropped baby tee with the phrase 'SINGLE & READY 2 MINGLE' across the chest and 'GRAB MY ASS 4 MY PHONE #' along the back in pink, puffy paint. He chuckled, comparing the small size of the shirt to his chest. Underneath the shirt, laid a pair of equally small, booty shorts that looked like they would cut off the circulation to his legs. 

"Uh, I don't think these are my size, fellas." Brian said, confused.

"That's 'cause it's not for you," Joe went on, between laughs. "it's for your lovely girlfriend."

Brian's pleasant expression dropped immediately. The thought of a random guy groping you made his blood boil. He subconsciously curled his fingers into tight fists at the hypothetical. 

"While your girlfriend is out making some new friends," Sal laughed. "you're going to be behind the bar of this club behind us." 

"And if you make any drinks wrong," Murr added. "let's just say we'll be upping the anti."

...

You put on the outfit the guys had chosen for you. You had to admit that it felt nice to be part of one of their jokes but you were nervous for the outcome. You checked yourself out in the club bathroom mirror. The shorts clung nicely to the curve of your ass, leaving a cheeky bit of flesh visible. The tshirt barely covered your bra, the text stretched over your chest. You smiled at your appearance, hoping that Brian would get to see you like this. 

You checked the time on your phone, awaiting the start of the punishment. Sal had sent you a text, telling you to sit at the bar but not to order anything yet. You followed the instructions, picking the stool farthest from the noise of the DJ's booth. You were greeted by the sight of your boyfriend in dinky bartender's garb.

"Can I get you anything, sweetheart?" He asked, leaning over the bar to be closer to you. 

"They told me not to get anything yet," You answered. "your outfit's adorable."

"I'd say the same to you if we weren't here right now." He spoke through his teeth. "If anyone even looks at your ass, I swear to god, I'll murder them with my bare hands."

You could see the anger burning in his eyes. His usual big brown irises shone with flicks of colour from the club lights. His brow was furrowed and he was biting the inside of cheek. He was trying to keep true rage a secret, but it was written all over his face. He moved closer to you, his fingers grazed your chin, tilting your head upwards. Your eyes fluttered closed as your lips connected. As embarrassing as it was to be the type of couple to make out in public, you knew you both needed this. 

"Hey!" Sal scolded, sitting beside you at the bar. "Cut that out, you're making it seem like she's off the market."

You pulled away, still tasting him on your lips. Brian was already shooting daggers at Sal, exhaling deeply through his nose. 

"Can I get you anything?" Brian asked, his jaw clenched. 

"A beer," Sal said, pulling out his wallet. "and a drink for my lady friend here."

Brian pinched the bridge of his nose before pouring Sal a beer and slamming it down on the table in front of him. 

"What would you like, baby?" He turned to you, placing his hand on yours.

"Just a water please." You answered as he slid you a bottle of water. 

Sal put down a ten dollar bill and slid an arm around your waist. 

"Why don't we hit the dance floor?" Sal set your drink down and you followed him away from the bar, but still in Brian's field of view.

You could see the anger burning in his eyes. His usual big brown irises shone with flicks of colour from the club lights. His brow was furrowed and he was biting the inside of cheek. He was trying to keep true rage a secret, but it was written all over his face. He moved closer to you, his fingers grazed your chin, tilting your head upwards. Your eyes fluttered closed as your lips connected. As embarrassing as it was to be the type of couple to make out in public, you knew you both needed this. 

"Hey!" Sal scolded, sitting beside you at the bar. "Cut that out, you're making it seem like she's off the market."

You pulled away, still tasting him on your lips. Brian was already shooting daggers at Sal, exhaling deeply through his nose. 

"Can I get you anything?" Brian asked, his jaw clenched. 

"A beer," Sal said, pulling out his wallet. "and a drink for my lady friend here."

Brian pinched the bridge of his nose before pouring Sal a beer and slamming it down on the table in front of him. 

"What would you like, baby?" He turned to you, placing his hand on yours.

"Just a water please." You answered as he slid you a bottle of water. 

Sal put down a ten dollar bill and slid an arm around your waist. 

"Why don't we hit the dance floor?" Sal set your drink down and you followed him away from the bar, but still in Brian's field of view.

You looked back at Brian, shooting him a sympathetic look as you danced with Sal. 

"It's a pity we haven't spoken much before this." He said, twirling you to the music. "It does make this funnier though."

"Are guys really going to grab my ass?" You asked nervously. "I don't want Brian to catch a charge."

"It'll be fine, I'm here to make sure nothing gets too crazy," He assured you. "just relax and have fun."

You did your best to listen to him and focus on the music. You didn't go out often, especially not out to clubs, so getting to dance around was a treat. The music wasn't what you'd usually enjoy but there was something about the lights and the people around you that just made it perfect. Sal would shoot you a comforting grin every now and then, reminding you of the joke. 

It took barely twenty minutes for the first guy to grab your ass. If you hadn't felt it, Brian shattering a beer glass against the bar would've felt it for you. You turned around to a stranger holding up his phone with his contacts open. Out of shock, you put in a bunch of random numbers so he'd go away. You looked back at Sal, jaw still grazing the floor. He had his fist in his mouth, cackling away. 

You turned to see Brian trying to jump over the bar, Joe and Murr holding him back to prevent the murder that was about to occur. You mouthed at him that you were okay but the distance between you made it unintelligible. You tried to walk back over to him but Sal pulled you back.

"I'll talk to him, just wait here." He said. "Murr'll come over, we'll switch places."

You were definitely more stiff without the security of Sal by your side but Murr didn't make it a long wait. You were just waiting for the punishment to be over, trying to enjoy what you could.

"Q is totally going to kill someone tonight." Murr laughed.

You looked back at your boyfriend, Joe and Sal calming him down. 

"How many guys have to grope me before this is over?" You asked.

"Only a couple more," He answered. "do me a favour, give the next guy Q's number."

You giggled at the thought of Brian getting a late night text from a horny stranger. The next guy looked about half your size and you could feel his hands shake even though the touch was only for a second. You dutifully put Brian's number in as your contact, leaving a winky emoticon next to some made up name. You didn't even have to turn around to know that Brian was fuming. Murr looked like he was about to die of laughter. You giggled along too, the humour of douchebags thinking they had a chance with you forcing up a chuckle.

The final switch was made, Joe taking Murr's place. He awkwardly danced next to you, glancing at Brian every so often. 

"You having a good time?" He asked.

"I'm alright," You shrugged. "but, I'm a little worried about Brian's blood pressure."

"We'll get him on pills." Joe joked, making you laugh.

"Hey, baby." A stranger came up behind you and pulled you up against him by your hips. You froze for a moment, in shock of what just happened. After the realisation hit, you turned around slapping the man across the face. 

"Where's my number?!" The guy snapped. 

Joe signalled over club security, pulling you away from the creepy guy. The bouncer

"Holy shit," Joe said. "are you okay?"

"I'll live," You answered honestly. "I knew it was a possibility, I'm fine, really."

Brian rushed over to you, hugging you as tightly as possible. You reciprocated the embrace, wrapping your arms around his neck and letting him hold you. You could feel his rapid heartbeat thud against your chest. His breathing steadily evened out as he held you.

"God almighty, sweetheart," He whispered in your ear. "I'll never let that happen again."

"It's okay, Brian, I'm yours" You assured him. "I'll always be yours."

When you pulled away from the hug, you saw the guys huddled around you, looking shaken up. 

"Is everything cool?" Sal offered you a sympathetic look. "We don't have to air this."

"Yeah, we can always put him in a cage with spiders." Murr joked. 

"No, you should use this for the show," You said. "it's funny."

"You guys can head home," Joe made shooing motions. "we'll stay and film the outro."

Brian nodded at them, sliding his arm around your waist as he led you to the car. You rested your head on his shoulder, relieved to feel his hands on you instead of some perverted stranger. You breathed in his cologne while he gently rubbed your side. 

"I really am fine." You said, looking up at Brian.

"I know, I know," He spoke gently. "you just seem cold. I can feel your goosebumps, honey."

He opened the passanger door for you, giving you a chaste kiss before getting in the car himself. He rested his hand on your thigh while he drove. You leaned against the window, listening to him hum along to the radio. You could still see a glint of anger in his eyes.

"Just so you know," He made eye contact with you through the rear view mirror. "I'm going to destroy your ass when we get home."

[ikea09]

Currently thinking about how the underworld saga could fit in with events in the odyssey.

For those not familiar, in the odyssey when odysseus goes down to the underworld, He sees a bunch of ghosts including his mom and tiresius but he can't talk to them and they don't recognise him untill he does a ritual involving digging a trench and filling it with honey, blood from a black ram, wine and other stuff that i can't remember and none of the souls can talk to him till they drink from it. Then tiresius drinks from it, gives him the prophecy and tells him to let other ghosts drink from it to talk to them which he does and he gets to talk to his mother and a whole load of other ghosts and this could have happened in epic where when we here anticlea in the underworld, it's that first time when none of the ghosts do, then between the underworld and no longer you, he does the ritual then between no longer you and monster he gets to talk to all those ghosts.

Also, in dangerous, we don't really get a detailed account of odysseus's journey with hermes and its hinted to be fairly long so potentially... he could've stopped off by the phaecians. (Not in the same way as in the odyssey but similar nonetheless) heck, what if the reason he survives charybdis is because he was a given a better boat by the phaecians. Potential nausicaa?

Just saying, there is a lot from the odyssey that could possibly be cannon to epic even if not explicitly referenced.

[pinkeoni]

Figuring Out Lonnie’s Whole Deal

(Or, assembling a timeline of pre-show events inspired by a culmination of theories centering around one Lonnie Byers)

After spending much time deliberating and theorizing, I’ve come to what I believe is a solid timeline of events relating to Lonnie Byers grounded in evidence from the show.

Now I don’t have all of the pieces, but also if I had all of the pieces then I wouldn’t need to be theorizing in the first place. Still, I’m fairly confident in my assessment. Maybe it would be wise of me to wait for The First Shadow to come out to give me more information, but for all intents and purposes of this I will only be looking at evidence within the text of the show. So no cast or crew comments, no supplemental materials, and as much as I love it, no speculation regarding TFS. Still, I think the show has enough evidence to support my assertion.

Things to establish:

A lot of what I’m about to talk about comes from a basis of these three things—

1. Will and El’s storylines mirror each other, which I charted out here. Their stories share a lot of differences, and a lot of similarities.

2. Powers are being used in this show to explore themes of sexuality through a sci-fi/supernatural lens. I talk about this in length here, but tl;dr El’s powers are used to explore the exploitation and reclamation of female sexuality, and Will’s powers are being used to show the demonization and repression of homosexuality.

3. Oh yeah, and Will has powers, by the way.

Surface Level Information We Are Given About Lonnie Byers:

It might be best to have a refresher of what we know about Lonnie Byers. Most of this comes from season one and all of it is displayed directly to the audience—

Lonnie is the absentee father of Jonathan and Will and ex-husband of Joyce

He left his family at an unspecified date that led Jonathan and Will to build Castle Byers the night of

He currently lives in Indianapolis

He used to call Will homophobic slurs

Joyce once argued with him about not showing up to a visitation with Will

Jonathan and Joyce do not speak of him fondly. Will’s feelings are unclear but seem positive “It’s fun to go with him sometimes”

Expressed interest in wanting to see Jonathan more

Referred to Joyce as “babe” despite being apart and having another girlfriend

Did not take Joyce’s calls to his house

Doubted Joyce, took down her Christmas lights and tried to repair the hole in the wall

Has unspecified debts

Likes to fix cars

Doesn’t like cops

Tried to use his “dead” son for lawsuit money

Was kicked out by Joyce and hasn’t been seen on screen since

Things to glean from just below the surface:

The following are things that are not stated directly, but can be easily inferred from clues given in show—

Lonnie is likely an alcoholic, shown through an abundance of beer bottles littering his house. Even if he splits it between him and his tiny girlfriend, it’s still an absurd amount of beer for two people. It’s possible he may have other addictions as well.

Lonnie was likely physically abusive towards Jonathan given his “You’ve gotten stronger” comment in the house. It’s possible that the extent of his abuse could stretch far beyond that for both Jon and Will.

Will likely used to hide from his dad. Jonathan and Will built Castle Byers the night he left, which Jonathan remarks that Will likes to hide in. Not to mention the “he’s good at hiding” comment.

The rest of this post is going to be much more speculative, but it’s all speculation that is grounded in what we see on and just below the surface.

Theory #1) Lonnie was involved with MK-ULTRA

This was an idea that I tossed around a while ago, that after spending time with and finding new evidence I’ve now grown more confident in.

Most of this confidence comes from this conversation between Becky and Jopper. Becky tells Hop that him and Terry would have gotten along, as Terry didn’t like authority or the government— “The Man , with a big capital M.” (which is ironic given Hopper is a cop)

When discussing who was involved with MK-ULTRA, Becky mentions “people like [Terry]”

So people like Terry, who maybe don’t like authority as was just mentioned?

It seems as though the Byers have always been down on their luck in terms of finance. Would it be hard to believe that, especially given the close proximity of the lab to the Byers house and Lonnie's willingness to get money in the show, Lonnie might have partaken in a paid study in the past? ("You were in it for the money!")

Above I mentioned the implication that Lonnie is an alcoholic. If he was involved with a study involving hard drugs, could he have developed addiction problems through the program? Furthermore, wouldn't it also make sense for Lonnie to gain a mistrust of authority after being taken advantage of by the government?

In my initial post about it I discuss how this could be foreshadowed through Hopper’s past as well. Hopper was involved with something government related that required chemicals, something that ended up affecting his child.

Theory #2) Lonnie was working with the lab during season one

Another part of proving Lonnie’s MK-ULTRA involvement is his connection with the lab. Everything that I’m about to list could align perfectly with Lonnie simply just being a shitty ex and father, but everything that I’m about to list could also align perfectly with the idea that Lonnie was working with the lab against Joyce the entire season.

1) Lonnie’s fishiness with Joyce’s phone call

I’ve already made an entire post about this here but I’ll recap all of the important bits.

Right before we see Joyce call Lonnie in the first episode, we are shown the lab spying on her conversation explicitly. Joyce is then sent to voicemail, which given the ordering of scenes makes me wonder if the lab purposefully intercepted her call.

Joyce also never actually talks to Lonnie on the phone. Cynthia picks up until their call is disconnected, which could have been Cynthia but also could have been the lab interfering again.

When Jonathan confronts Lonnie about not returning Joyce’s call, he kind of shrugs off his answer.

Why the hesitancy at first, Lonnie?

Lonnie tells Jonathan that he’s talked to police, which is likely, but then adds a comment that makes me question if he talked to any Hawkins cops at all.

Why do you need to ask if Hopper is chief, if Hawkins police came to question you, Lonnie?

2) The timing of Lonnie showing up in Hawkins

Even after being told this his own son is missing, Lonnie does not show up in town until after—

Will’s “body” is found in the quarry

Joyce refuses to sign off on the fake body

Joyce actually speaks to and is able to see Will through the hole in the wall

The next time we see Joyce is when Lonnie pulls up that night at the Byers house. Here is what Lonnie does while he’s there:

Tells Joyce that Will is in her head

Tell Jonathan not to feed into Joyce’s “delusions”

Takes down the Xmas lights that Joyce was using to talk to Will

Covers the hole in the wall that Joyce saw Will through

Unsuccessfully tries to convince Joyce to use Will’s "death" for money

All of these actions align perfectly with Lonnie’s character, do you also see how it also aligns perfectly with Lonnie trying to purposefully cover up the truth?

We don’t see Joyce call Lonnie to come over and I highly doubt that Jonathan asked him to come. Granted, Lonnie was most likely notified by police of Will’s death, why not come right away? Why wait until after Joyce refuses to believe that it’s Will’s body and after she actually sees Will alive in her walls?

Remember that the lab had likely bugged her house as well, given the scene where Hop finds a bug in his cabin.

Think about the timing of when the lab decided to place Will’s body in the quarry and have it found, something that we know for a fact was their doing. This comes after Joyce had discovered the ability to talk to Will through the lights and right after the writing on the wall scene, when Joyce was coming closer to the truth.

If a lab personnel showed up at the Byers, took down the lights and hammered over the wall, that would obviously draw a lot of suspicion towards them. But if the lab could get someone on the inside to do it, perhaps an ex-spouse that can be easily manipulated with cash and already had connections to them, that wouldn’t raise an eyebrow.

That’s also where the lawsuit comes in. If the lab is paying off Lonnie and his family, they can’t just give them the a ton of cash directly, it would likely have to go through a third party under the guise of something else, like a legal suit. I’m willing to bet all my money that the suit Lonnie wanted to file on the Sattlers was just another cover from the lab.

Theory #3) Lonnie was trying to hand Will over to the lab

Another note about Terry, if Will and El are mirrors then Lonnie and Terry may possibly be mirrors, too. If Terry was desperate to get El out of the lab then maybe Lonnie was desperate to get Will into the lab. Also the difference between Terry's daughter being taken from her/Lonnie voluntarily leaving his own son.

Something we know about Lonnie Byers— he was homophobic towards Will and did not want to visit him after he had left.

Something else we know about Lonnie Byers— he likes to fix cars.

We have confirmation that Lonnie was trying to “fix” Will, at least in a less aggressive manner, by taking him to baseball games. Jonathan says explicitly, “He’s trying to force you to like normal things.” This line is so incredibly loaded, what Jonathan is saying below the surface is "He's trying to force you to like girls."

The above scene is in the same episode where Jonathan goes to Lonnie’s Indianapolis house, and we get a line from Lonnie about him fixing up a car.

Yes, Will is being compared to a car. Lonnie wants to fix him.

And remember, Will has powers, and powers are being used as a way to explore sexuality.

So given Lonnie’s connection with the lab from MK-ULTRA as expressed before, along with Lonnie’s hatred of Will and homophobia, along along with powers as a metaphor for Will's queerness, it leads me to believe that Lonnie was trying to cure Will of his powers through the lab. This would essentially be the supernatural version of gay conversion therapy.

I want to talk about the word “mistake”

This word is so potent and really sticks out because we haven’t really seen it used in this way on the show before. The writers could have had Will say “monster” to relate to El's arc, or they could have had him say “freak” which would not only relate to Eddie but is something that Will has called himself in the past. But instead they decide to give him a new word that is different from the labels other characters give themselves.

The word mistake is unique to Will.

What do you do with mistakes? You fix them.

I have a lot of fun with Will-being-a-lab-kid theories, and nothing but absolute love to those who make them, but after doing a lot of my own thinking I’ve since come to the conclusion that Will didn’t grow up in the lab at all, but Lonnie was making an unsuccessful effort to ship Will to the lab. Part of El and Will’s narrative mirroring is Will coming from a normal background while El does not.

Which isn’t to say that the lab didn’t want Will, I think they very much did. I’ve seen the take that Lonnie tried to hand Will to the lab but he didn’t display powers at the time so they wouldn’t take him. But do you really think that that would stop them from wanting him anyway, especially if the boys father was giving him to them willingly? Do you really think that Martin “you wouldn’t stop” Brenner was gonna turn down another child? That someone was willing to give to him?

So then, if Lonnie was willing to give Will to the lab and the lab was willing to take him, what was stopping them?

For starters, I’m guessing that the process involved in receiving a new test subject, especially one that wasn’t born into the lab, would take patience. They can’t just nab Will off the street. They would probably have to surveil things for a while, gain intel from Lonnie, and come up with a strategy.

A strategy that may involve falsifying an accident, a fake body, and the funneling of money via fake lawsuit?

I’m not saying that the lab was the ones behind Will’s disappearance, at least initially. I think the mothergate opening was completely unpredictable from their end and instead necessitated the plan to be accelerated due to sudden unforeseen circumstances, as well as taking advantage of Will’s presence in the Upside Down to try and take him for themselves.

So why wait until now? If they had an airtight plan, why not act sooner?

Could there have been an incident, perhaps, with the lab, which happened prior to Will’s disappearance, that may have delayed this process?

I’m willing to bet that a mass death event of majority of the test subjects and personnel from the place that Lonnie was trying to send Will to, might be enough to put the brakes on this operation, if not on delay for a few years so they can regroup.

While we’re here, I wanna talk about Will’s similarities to Henry Creel

The comparisons between Henry and Will aren’t something hidden under the layers for only die hard theorists to find, this is something that everyone and their mothers were discussing on twitter. The similarities were noticeable even from casual viewing.

Image via Reddit

We know from his monologue that Henry’s mother knew he had powers and wanted to send him away to a doctor, a doctor that we later learn was actual Papa Brenner.

If Will and Henry are similar, is it possible that their parents wanted similar things? The main difference being that Will actually did evade Dr. Brenner.

Furthermore, is it possible that Will has powers similar to One’s and that the lab could have been knowledgeable of this? If that is the case, it may stand to reason that they might be hesitant to bring in someone with similar abilities to the guy who just killed a bunch of people.

I used to think that Will and Henry had to have completely different sets of powers, and while I do think that Will may have abilities unique to himself, given how they are compared I do think that Will may have similar powers to him. In fact, we may have already seen Will display a traveling into the mind ability in season one.

Theory #3.5) Lonnie’s departure correlates with the Hawkins Lab massacre

If Lonnie was desperate to get rid of the son he hates, and then was told that there was an unexpected delay, it would make sense for him to give up and leave town.

There’s been comments from cast and crew in the past regarding when exactly Lonnie left, but it’s never been confirmed in show.

Evidence for why I think it coincides with the massacre actually comes from the shed scene.

Joyce first mentions Will’s eighth birthday, which would have been in March of 1979. The massacre was in September of 1979.

Mentioning his eighth birthday specifically places emphasis on that age. Jonathan then follows Joyce by talking about the night dad left.

We don’t get an exact timeframe or age, but the fact that this follows the story if Will’s eighth birthday does create a correlation with that age. We then switch timeframes when Mike brings up kindergarten.

Think about it, if their dad had left when Will was eight, bringing up his age again would be redundant because Joyce just mentioned it. Mike mentions kindergarten to let us know that this is a different time and age that we’re talking about.

Let’s talk about Lonnie’s debts

What exactly these debts are that Joyce brings up is never specified. And it could be anything. Maybe a loan he took out, drug or gambling debts, since nothing is stated it’s all possible. But here’s my take:

Will is Lonnie’s debt. That’s what he owes.

Remember that the exact way that Lonnie was going to pay back these debts was with Will. He is linked with this debt conversation.

It is Joyce who brings up the debt, but since she doesn’t specify there’s a reasonable doubt that she herself doesn’t know the specifics. She could know that Lonnie is indebted to someone but not know what/could have been lied to.

I’m imagining the lab giving Lonnie some kind of advanced payment for Will, with the promise that they’ll eventually have him. It would be a way for the lab to control Lonnie. He now owes them, and the lab expects to collect their debts. Despite the lab and Lonnie having similar goals, there is definitely a power imbalance.

Lonnie does want a family, just not one with Will in it

More thorough post here, but in season one we get indications in Lonnie's dialogue that he does want to be around his family, like expressing interest in seeing Jonathan more and calling Joyce "babe," which seems to contradict him living in another town, or hell even leaving his family at all.

When Joyce gets mad with Lonnie over the phone about not coming to visit, it was specifically a Will visitation day. It's seeming more and more that Lonnie's departure is centered on Will. (Which doesn't take away from any of the potential abuse he hurled at Jonathan or Joyce. He doesn't care about their interests, only his. Furthermore, I'm not placing blame onto Will for Lonnie's absence. That is all Lonnie's doing)

Am I saying that Lonnie has powers?

Well, maybe.

That is something that I’ve been wondering if Lonnie had powers, which granted is something that relied heavily on speculation regarding TFS which I said I wanted to stay away from for this post. Since I don’t have all the pieces yet, I want to consider as many options as possible.

Option A) Lonnie was born with powers, and MK-ULTRA was simply how he became acquainted with the lab/his powers were repressed and MK-ULTRA activated them

Option B) Lonnie received powers from MK-ULTRA and passed it on to Will

Option C) Lonnie was not born with powers nor received powers from MK-ULTRA but it did give him super-powered sperm

May I remind you of Lonnie's comparison to Terry from earlier in the post, and the fact that Terry herself does have powers.

I oftentimes see the theory that Joyce herself has powers, and I myself even theorized that her Aunt Darlene may have had powers. However I'm more inclined to believe that Joyce is a carrier of this gene rather than having powers herself. Most of the evidence used to suggest that she has powers comes from Joyce reacting to what Will is showing her. There's also no indication that Jonathan has any powers.

If Lonnie participated in MK-ULTRA after Jonathan was born, then it could explain why Will would have powers and not Jonathan. Moreover, having both a mother who is a carrier and a father with powers/nuked balls would likely have a higher chance of having a powered child. (That's how genetics work, right? Please forgive me if my science is wrong.)

Notes on Lonnie's character

You'll note that there are multiple times in this post where I acknowledge that I lot of Lonnie's actions are explainable because of his identity as a shitty guy, and maybe that's all this is. However, I want to explain why having this type of character is actually perfect for a reveal like this.

In order to pull off a successful reveal, you have to hide the truth while also giving enough information so it doesn't come out of nowhere. Lonnie's personality allows for the truth to be hidden in plain sight.

Let's say that Lonnie was actually an upstanding man. Jonathan and Joyce both had fond memories of him, but he left in the past for some unknown reason. Lonnie was always a great husband, but for some reason he's doubting Joyce and taking down her Christmas lights even when she asks him not to.

Do you see how that would create a huge plot hole? How season one would feel incomplete? How it would create a giant unanswered question that needs answering?

Why didn't Joyce know about any of this?

Unfortunately we are told pretty explicitly in season one as to why something like this could have been happening under Joyce's nose. We are told in the first episode that Joyce works long hours, leaving early in the morning and not coming home until later in the night. Jonathan is expected to get Will up, make breakfast, and take him to school. My guess is that Lonnie may have been in charge of such tasks when he was still home.

If Lonnie was, say, taking Will to the lab for some preliminary tests or meetings, he could have easily done this while Joyce was at work or while Jonathan was in school.

We even hear from Joyce herself that she hasn't been keeping up with Jonathan, she isn't in the know how with her sons. (This is not me calling Joyce a bad mother btw, this is definitely a symptom of capitalism rather than bad parenting.)

Why doesn't Will say anything?

If Will was being taken to the lab for appointments in the past, wouldn't he say something about it? Especially to El, who grew up in the lab?

Well, there's a chance that Will doesn't remember this.

Longer post here, but we are given a scene in season four where Will expresses not remembering something from his childhood very well.

Which I could write off as Will being too little to remember this small detail, but this is also coming from the same season where we just got an entire plot line about memories from El's past being erased. (El who, as I stated in the beginning, has a storyline that mirrors Will's)

The Final Timeline

Tl;dr, or, the timeline written out chronologically:

Lonnie marries Joyce and has Jonathan. Jonathan is born without powers

Lonnie becomes involved with MK-ULTRA sometime prior to Will's birth as a way to make money

Joyce and Lonnie have Will, who was born with powers

When Will is very young Lonnie knows that he has powers

Lonnie begins taking Will to the lab in hopes of curing him

Lonnie and the lab strike a deal that involve taking Will in exchange for money

There is a plan to take Will involving a fake accident. Lonnie will file a fake lawsuit in order to exchange the money and avoid suspicion

The Hawkins Lab massacre happens and the plan is delayed

Lonnie leaves

Mothergate is opened by El and Will is taken

Upon realizing that Will is in the Upside Down, the plan moves forward with Lonnie in on it

Things don't go as expected and Joyce is on to Will being alive, so the lab asks Lonnie to come home in order to help with coverup

Joyce is infuriated about the lawsuit and kicks Lonnie out

The rest of the season follows as we see on screen and the labs plan unravels, some of the personnel is killed by El and the demogorgon in the school

[ask-olive-huchers]

just for funnies, I'm gonna do a relationship chart thingy realll quick with the characters Olive has interacted with (plus maple, Chris, Ditch, and pebble bc they technically have met but there's so roleplay for them-)

Olive and Bailey: close friends, kinda like siblings! Olive definitely sees him as a big brother, though! And (don’t tell anyone!), They definitely look up to Bailey a lot

Olive and Sora: close! Sora is like the mother of the group, so naturally Olive see's him as a role model!

Olive and Zaria: they know she helped Rowan with her plan. So. hate.

Olive and jasper: ehh, neutral (ish). Just has fun messing with him most of the time. So I guess possibly another brother figure idk

Olive and Rowan: despises. Hates. Would kill. Could kill. It’s their fault. Or, that’s what olive thinks anyway.

• Olive and Finn: neutral. Not much to say in this in, olive just doesn't really know Finn that much.

Olive and Jay: ZERO OUT OF TEN. HATE EACHOTHER, DEARLY. WOULD PUNCH THIS MAN FOR A CRUMB OF BREAD BRO. ANYTHING TO MAKE HIM SHUT UP.

Olive and Skipp: do I even need to explain this one? ok, fine. Olive definitely "likes" Skipp. Let's put in simple terms for now, shall we?

Olive and Yuki: Dislike. Only bc bro was in a bad mood when they had met. Then again Olives kinda always in a bad mood, so..-

Olive and Ray: sorta dislike. Only because they had a bad first impression as well. But all of Olive's first impressions involve anger so..no hard feelings?

Olive and Quinn: a like for sure. I mean, her dog had already won them over! Plus she was pretty nice!

Olive and Stone: neutral. I mean, he's okay I guess.

AND NOW, TIME FOR THE OTHERS THAT ARE CONTROLLED BY ME!:

Olive and Ditch: hate. Hate. Hate. Pure annoyance. If given the chance, Olive would stab him in the neck and stomp on his body. They'd throw his body into the ocean. Plus, Olive would tie giant rocks to his body so he'd sink to the very bottom. Where no one could find him. But he's too important to the story so that'll never happen! Perhaps in another universe...

Olive and Chris: neutral. Not practically close, but Olive does like to call him out for anything he's done wrong. They find it funny how ironically clumsy he is.

Olive and Maple: neutral. That's all I have to actually say but, I don't reallly think they'd have have a straight bond. It would probably be from their friend group, if you know what I mean.

Olive and Pebble: I guess sorta like? I mean, he must be cool if they're dating Bailey. Right? Though I think they've only met like, once..-

AND BONUS: OLIVES RELATIONSHIP WITH PARENTS!! And Adi!

Olive and Calvin (their father): hate. I thought that was obvious..? But yeah. He's a pretty shitty dad who was verbally abusive and physically abusive. What was worse was it was only olive that WAS being abused, so it was favouritism for sure.

Olive and Charolette (their mother): Strong disliking. Not much as a hate, though. Their mother was fairly nice to them when they were younger. And the only golden child to appreciate. But once Their sister was born, Olives perfect little world had fallen apart.

Olive and Adi: let's get something straight. Olive hates a bunch of people. Like, a lot. But Adi takes the number one spot on the leaderboard. Olive absolutely DESPISES HER. I mean, she RUINED their life! If you were to ask olive how they ended up on the streets, they'd probably say their father. And little sister. If they could torture anyone until the end of time, Olive would 100% pick Adi. I mean, that's the whole reason they had murder their mother. To strike fear into the child, and to get the message clear for her small little mind.

And yeah! I think that's everyone? Question mark? Well, that's everyone olive met! I think? I'll probably put this is the masterpost, and it'll probably change over time as well!

Last updated : Aug 4th, 2024

[alpaca-clouds]

Some more Nocturne Theories

Alright, with the new trailer out, let me theorize a bit more. Please note, before I start: I also take into account meta information we have about the series, like the writers involved and such.

Let me first talk about Richter. Now, the new trailer confirms two interesting things. First: He is once again the last Belmont, so presumably the rest of the family is dead again - or at least he is under the impression that it is like that. Second: Yeah, he definitely is able to use magic.

So, let me talk about the "last Belmont" thing. Because of course this is a bit strange if we assume that the first animated series is canon to this. Mostly because it leaves just open the question of the village of Belmont. To be perfectly honest with y'all there is some weirdness about that either way, because if you ask me, it is still weird to see the French Revolution happen as is, based on the fact that technically speaking the "sharing of the knowledge" should have changed history a ton.

But besides that... It does make me wonder, how Alucard fits into the picture. Because other than with CV3 he obviously does not end the series on "Yeah, gotta take a 300 year nap. Peace!" with him staying around with Trevor and Sypha and the village. And a part of me has just assumed that he would remain a guardian for the family. But... well, that is the question, right? Because we so far do not see him in the trailer. We know that Callis is in the cast voicing him again, but there is most certainly a reason why we do not see him. It is either an active decision to keep something from us - or he only shows up in the very last episode, which could be possible, too.

The second thing is that he is able to use magic, but he does not use magic the way Sypha does. Now, some have speculated that Juste is his father (who in the game canon is the most magically gifted Belmont there is). I am going to disagree with that assessment for one simple reason: It would make him an incest baby. Julia, who we know to be his mother, is a Belmont. And as long as they do not change the rules for the Vampire Killer, she is of Belmont blood, because she carries the whip.

Given that he also is gonna be a descendent of Sypha, him having magic is nt really so weird - what I find more interesting is that it is so very different from the magic that we see Sypha and in Nocturne also Tera use.

Now, so far the big question with Annette is, how her background ties into the plot. Because we see in the trailer, that she and Edouard are looking for Richter. And this is where I am very certain that her entire backstory plays into the story. Because here is the big thing: Based on the fact that 3 out of the 4 writers on this series are Black - and the fact that in the old series also worked in Isaac's Blackness into the story.

We know that Annette is a runaway slave from the Caribbean. While I think it is not explicitly stated anywhere, it is very likely that she comes from Haiti, just because the Haitian Revolution and the French Revolution intersected so much.

Now, why is this interesting? Because from everything we see, the entire conflict does seem to be a conflict of class and possibly also about colonialism.

Do not make the mistake to think, that colonialism did not play into the French Revolution. It did. It had everything to do with each other. It was not the only influence, but it was one of the things that lead to the Revolution happening. Again, there is a direct connection between the French Revolution and the Haitian Revolution.

The fact that Edouard is Black as well, might play into this, too. My current theory for him is that he is probably only quarter or even an eighth Black, because with the right parentage that would actually give him some privilege within society - and he needs some, because otherwise he would not sing at the opera of Paris.

The other thing about Annette is her magic though. Because it seems unique. I am fairly certain that she is an Earth bender. What we see her manipulate within the trailers is earth and metal. And it is interesting what the background to this powers is.

Also: I am still wondering what is going on with the Fleur-de-Lis tattoo/branding on her hand. My best guess is, that she was actually property of the French royal family, before she escaped. It is the one thing I can think of.

To be honest: I do not have a lot of theories about Maria. She seems so far the most straight forward of the characters and also the most straight adaption from the game material, featuring the exact kind of magic we know her to use in the games.

What I do wonder, though: Are they going to explain her magic? For one, it is a kind of magic we have not seen within this canon before. But also: Why the hell is she summoning creatures from fucking East Asian mythology?

In the games, that originate with Japan - and especially Rondo of Blood, whcih includes all those anime hommages - it seems a lot less weird, as in the more... well, "grounded" seems the wrong word. But definitely less anime world of the series.

(Especially considering that in the games she then evolves into a fucking ninja. Like... I love my SotN, but that is just weird, right?)

Now, one interesting aspect is, of course, that the trailers so far meaningfully keep from us, that Orlox is gonna be on the side of Richter and Co. In this church fight scene he saves this dude (more about the dude in a moment) from what seems to be vampire cultists. We know that because through the leaked images we know that those skulls are Orlox's magic. But the trailers really do their best to keep from us, that Orlox is on the heroes' side.

The fact that they made Orlox indigenous and have this Indigenous vampire fight on the side of our heroes makes me once again think, tht the political landscape of the time will somehow play into this.

The old series is very agnostic towards the politics of the times. Sure, you will find just two or three simple mentions of some things, but in general: Castlevania on Netflix could theoretically take place at any time between like 1450 and 1500 and it would not make a ton of difference.

With Nocturne being set in the French Revolution, which in itself was a political event, this obviously has to change.

Now interesting is the colors this nice dude is wearing. White cross on black ground, which is the colors of St. Piran, an Irish saint. Now, this is interesting, because these colors at the time were worn by Cornish people rebelling against the British crown. And yes, some of them were involved in the French revolution, in the hope that if the revolution succeeded, the French could help them tople the British monarchy.

This finally brings me to Drolta. Because with her I am also so very certain that it is more than it seems going on with her. Simply because everything we see so far does speak for a classist/colonial conflict taking place. With most of the vampires we outright see being aligned with the French upper class. And yet, their leader is a Black woman, who clearly serves Erzsebet.

There are shows where I would just shrug and assume that this just is "we chose some random characters to be Black because diversity" (which would be fine), but from all we can see so far - and also based on Castlevania handling Isaac as well as it did - and especially with the mainly Black writing staff... I do not think it is that easy. I do think her Blackness is gonna play a role.

What role that is... I do not know. My gut feeling is, that it is either her trying to serve Erzsebet in a hope to get recognition in this vampire society that very much mirrors the historical class structures... Or that she actually does have some connection to Annette.

But that is just gut feeling.

I do think, though, that she is gonna be a fucking interesting character.

One big thing that is also still a question is, what is going on with the monsters here. Given the dialogue with Richter: "What are they?" - "I don't know, but I bet they can die." I am going to assume they are not night creatures. Because I am going to assume that Richter would recognize night creatures.

The running theory is, that they are vampires. After all, in the games it is a common occurance that vampires change into a more monstrous form during the boss battles. But again: It would stand to reason that if this within this universe was common, Richter should know about it, right? (Or Tera, for that matter.)

So, I am going out on a limb and say: I think the ritual with the branding allows them to change shape. Or, maybe, even forces them to change shape after a while, allowing Erzsebet to control them.

Oh, by the way, one thing that is interesting about the second trailer: Outside from a few very short things, all the sequences we see seem to be from only four action scenes:

One taking place on a graveyard overseeing the city

One taking place on a plaza within the city

One taking place in a church (Notre Dame, maybe?)

One taking place in the dungeons

So, yeah, there is a lot that is being hidden actively. Which makes this whole speculating thing so much more fun. xD

[thisbuildinghasfeelings]

Tag Game Tuesday: 911 Lone Star Fandom Edition

How fun! Thank you for tagging me @tellmegoodbye!

When did you first start watching Lone Star? Who or what introduced you to the show?

In early February 2022, I began to see some Push gifs on tumblr and I was very intrigued. Two beautiful men, one waking up from a coma, both of them obviously in love with each other...I had to know more! I started season 1 a few days later and it took me around a week to get completely caught up. I was just in time to watch 3x07 as it aired. I've been completely consumed by the show and Tarlos ever since.

Which season is your favorite?

I think season 3 is the most consistently great season, though I love a lot about all the seasons. Still, if I have to pick a favorite, it's season 3.

Who is your favorite character? (Bonus: If you answered TK or Carlos, who is your favorite besides them?)

TK and Carlos are absolutely my favorite characters. I love them so much. I don't think I can even choose between them to pick out one single favorite. Aside from those two, I think my next favorite is Marjan.

Top five episodes. Go!

1. In the Unlikely Event of An Emergency (3x08)

2. Push (3x04)

3. Saving Grace (2x09)

4. Riddle of the Sphynx (3x13)

5. A Bright and Cloudless Morning (3x18)

If you could pick any character to be given a "begins" episode, who would it be and what would that episode look like?

Carlos. My dream season 5 episode would be somewhat of a "begins" episode for him, focusing on his relationship with his father and showing him working through his feelings about that and his grief. It would include flashbacks that would give us a chance to see more of Gabriel. I would also love it if Carlos was solving his father's murder in the present!

What is a scenario or storyline that you would like to see in season 5?

The one thing I want most from season 5 is great Tarlos content. Particularly, I want to see TK and Carlos working together as a team. They make a pretty good team, after all! I think it would be great if TK helped Carlos solve Gabriel's murder. Bonus points if this storyline involves both of them freaking out over the other being in danger!

What do you think is going on in this still?

There are so many potential scenarios! My best guess in this moment is that TK is upset and worried about Carlos--maybe he's being threatened by Gabriel's murderer or putting himself in a situation where he could be in danger. Carlos is trying to tell TK that everything is going to be ok when he gets a phone call that ends up being related to the danger somehow or potentially gives Carlos some information that will lead him into more danger.

Either that or maybe TK went to the pet store and they were all out of Lou's favorite crickets and so he came home devastated that he couldn't provide his lizard son's favorite food. Carlos, determined to not allow his husband to be disappointed, gets on the phone and begins calling every single pet store in Austin.

We all know about the elusive 5x05 spicy scene that has been teased, so what is your prediction for how it could possibly top 1x02?

To be honest, I'm not quite convinced that it could possibly be hotter than 1x02. I know Ronen said that it is, but he's very enthusiastic and recency bias could easily play a role here. However, I could imagine an excellent scene following a brief separation or a moment where one or both of them were hurt or in danger. Like some life-affirming/reunion/slamming each other up against the walls of the loft kind of sex! Really, it does not have to actually top 1x02 to make me happy. I'll be happy with anything!

Where was the Tarlos honeymoon in your mind?

Somewhere fairly close to home where they could have some peace and quiet and relax and enjoy each other's company and gaze at each other's wedding rings and get all sappy about it. What I want most for them is to be able to rest and be happy and in love, so that's how I picture the honeymoon.

Shoutout one of your favorite fan creations.

There are so many incredible fan creations in this fandom. So many talented people! It's very hard to pick just one. The first that comes to mind in this moment after just thinking a lot about what I want from season 5 is How I linger to admire by @ladytessa74. If the show gave me a season 5 just like this fic, I would be very happy! See also: this list of the fic that brought me joy in 2023

No pressure tagging:

@lemonlyman-dotcom @ladytessa74 @she-walked-away @reasonandfaithinharmony @carlos-in-glasses

@paperstorm @vineofroses @laelipoo @herefortarlos @bonheur-cafe

@literateowl @welcometololaland @goldenskykaysani @carlos-tk @toomanycupsoftea

@autistic-lesbian-story-lover @guardian-angle22 @reeeallygood @goodways

[howlingmoonrise]

So... sorry if this came out of the blue... but I always wondered about the PSOH translation of the final chapter, where Papa D dies and he apparently... reincarnates as human? Or is that something unclear? Because for most people, I keep seing the hc that he reincarnated as the new!D and that's how they "reproduce" but tbh I've never been too convinced of that? But I'm just one guy so... what do you think?

hi! absolutely no worries, my inbox is always open especially for psoh discussions! (though i hope you haven't sent this too long ago because i was travelling and only just got home, i promise i wasn't ignoring this)

okay so! my first thought was whether that came from the translation, since tokyopop's was notoriously unreliable and unclear in many places, but they turned out to actually be fairly similar in this particular page.

below, tokyopop's:

and then the most recent fan translation (by ruthlessnightsscans):

look i will. say i don't vibe with the "papa d becomes human" either.

especially because the next panels also seem to contradict it?

this "last memory", as we might recall, is uh. papa d himself getting killed by humans? and telling d not to embrace hope again or stray from the path.

which! i can kinda get him contradicting himself about - papa is a very interesting character, and feelings very often differ from actions taken. however it doesn't make a lot of sense for sofu d to want to raise a human child (human-hater as he is but i guess his child-stealing tendencies overpowered it) and then.... give him his own memories of hating humans, while knowing he wanted to reincarnate as one?

going from this, i think we can probably split your ask in two parts:

the matter of the reproduction of the D line

papa reincarnating as a human

apologies in advance for rambling and adding even more meta but i'm incapable of shutting up about psoh :'D

--

ON THE REPRODUCTION OF THE D LINE

IT SURE HAS, SOFU D!!

i actually think this is a very interesting topic! i've discussed this at length several times before in the psoh server, but it's relatively impossible to reach one true canon conclusion without more information. but what we DO know is this:

a new being was generated from papa's death

the death of a d is surrounded by plant matter and/or a possible ?spiritual explosion? anyway, they're closely linked to plants in matters of life and death (see also gattolotto, and d nearly giving in to despair in the last volume)

there were others before sofu, papa, and d, from the same line (mentioned/shown at several points in the prequels, and present in at least one spread); those three have not lived through the ages as immortals

that being said, their lifespans are also unknown, and presumably they do not always die violent deaths?

they are unable to be cloned in laboratory conditions

the "titles" of father, grandfather, etc, don't seem to necessarily be about who actually gave "birth" to the new addition or who raised him, but rather regard who is the previously youngest one in the line (such as sofu d assigning d the title of "father" of new!d to d, despite immediately taking him away and d not being directly involved in his birth), and therefore give no actual information about their geneology

originally there was only one d to survive the massacre, and now there are three, and there only seem to be three at any given point in canon (sofu also only mentions a father and a grandfather in his series; there is an exception which sensei herself seems to have forgotten about, which is when d mentions a sister before the orangutang chapter but she is never again even mentioned, either on that occasion or on any other relevant ones)

so what we can conclude from this is that the Ds can be reborn from their death (whether this is only under certain circumstances and desires, like papa's was, is undetermined). they also reproduce without the need for a partner (every d is a natural clone, ergo they practice magical and/or asexual reproduction when they don't have anyone to reproduce with).

the association with plants in matters of life and death can also point to the type of reproduction they use (as a sidenote, i once read a fic where the d in question had an aerial stem rooting into a pot to reproduce, which i felt was in line with this). they may or may not be able to reproduce sexually with other species, such as humans - we know the "machinery" is at least virtually undistinguishable from a human's (thank you shin psoh for that lovely information) but their blood is..... uh. interesting enough that it might not mix too well with others (once again, see shin psoh). then again, they are Ds and can do a bunch of weird shit, so who knows. i assume they can reproduce sexually with their own kind, were others still around, since continuous cloning is not viable for long-term survival.

another interesting point here is that at some point back in the lineage one d turned into three. this could indicate a peculiarity in the reproduction process (something like twins having happened twice down the line?), or supernatural shenanigans such as a wish or a contract with another being that allowed for this to happen. i'm inclined towards this rather than them just... being able to make more of themselves whenever, because if that were the case i don't really see the reason for them to keep to such low numbers when their goal is to take revenge on humans. but i disgress.

the point above makes me think that apart from the one-becomes-three event, they are only able to "reproduce" without a partner in the way that papa did - aka, by dying and being reborn, which is the only occasion of a d death/birth that we see in canon and is lowkey confirmed by sofu ("death and rebirth, that is the life cycle of our species").

going from this, papa being reborn into new!d seems viable to me, except for one small detail...

--

2. PAPA REINCARNATING AS A HUMAN

look. the panels say it, or something close enough to it, but i desperately do not like it so i'm going to be as nitpickety as possible.

firstly, i don't think it really... makes sense? i already explained the matter of papa's own feelings on the subject further above, so now let's talk about the possibility and likelihood of this happening:

he is definitely not born in a human way. i guess you can make an argument for the papasplosion with the plants and animals going all over the place being his "divinity" being expelled to be replaced by humanity instead, which... is actually an interesting concept ngl. 🤔 (but also that's way too much hair for a human newborn, and the baby looks far too chill and awake for having just being born in the middle of fire and flames and explosions 😂)

"death and rebirth, that is the life cycle of our species". okay but. OUR species. not humans. you're contradicting yourself, sofu d! there's four ways to read this, in my view. the first is that the Ds can... change species, under certain circumstances? and then possibly go back to being kami?? (i find this unlikely, especially since i doubt he'd be the first, even if not turning human but into another creature). the second is that the reborn as human might something of a figure of speech (i do not know japanese so i can only rely on translations, and therefore do not know exactly what was said or how it could be interpreted). the third is that sofu might be lying, as he has been known to do on family matters like these. the fourth is that "human" refers only to some aspects of new!d, rather than his whole-ass species and dna changing just like that - so new!d being a hybrid or mutation/chimaera of some sort (which would be interesting considering papa's experiments on that field).

"no matter how many times they betrayed and killed you, you still want to be among them". okay FIRSTLY, interesting implication there? as in, killed several times implication. i wonder if papa's previous incarnation (possibly sofu's own father, who also had long hair like papa) also died in a similar manner for sofu to phrase it like this. secondly, being among humans is not necessarily the same as being human.

it's really only the "human child" part that's tripping us up here. i went to check the translations on other languages i can read that i could find (in this case, spanish and portuguese) and they confirm the human child thing, but often those translations are based on the english ones rather than the original. anyone with access to the original japanese feel free to weight in!

another thing that also doesn't really work with new!d being human is how he "inherits" the petshop by the epilogue of the og series. not only is it strange for sofu to want to raise him considering his hate for humans, but new!d seems to be by himself handling the petshop and taking on the functions of the Ds, killing humans included (chris finds him due to deaths caused by the petshop pets). he can be murdery and human-hating as a human, but presumably there are petshop-related things he cannot do as one - as we saw also on that last volume, humans cannot travel on the petshop/ark, and that's only one (very relevant!) skill of many we saw the Ds display along the series.

all of this is mostly to say that while both english translations agree on the papa being reborn as a human child line, i don't like the idea of it and so i'm choosing to ignore it 😂

anyway, tl;dr: papa was indeed reborn or gave birth to new!d. new!d is presumably at least somewhat human according to sofu d/the current english translations, which is a take i don't like and personally choose to ignore. the explosion death-rebirth combo may or may not be their only method of reproduction, which is unconfirmed.

many thanks for the ask!! 💖💖💖 i hope i didn't make things worse 😂

[xerith-42]

I decided to watch Void Paradox

I'm about five minutes into the first episode and I'm still not entirely sure if this is a good idea or not, but Laurance has already spoken like three lines of dialogue and I felt my heart wrench at just one of them, so clearly I'm in too deep now.

This post serves as my live tweeting/mental break down that I am currently having as we speak. It is very incomprehensible because it is literally just my thoughts as they happen, and given how much I have to say, I'll probably make proper posts out of a lot of these points once I finish the series.

This mess is just giving you a taste of the madness I truly posses.

I am only three minutes in before I have to pause and feel the urge to scream about how bad the dialogue in Aphmau series can be. Like this series is fairly okay, especially based on the standard set by her other shows but man... something is just not working here. The whole thing feels very clunky and while I can get the gist of what Jess is going for, the execution of said gist is leaving a lot to be desired.

[Laurance shows up]

nevermind Laurance is on screen and fully voice acted everything is better

Literally nobody talk to me I need to scream about Laurance Zvahl because he is EVERYTHING in this series. The way he very softly says Aph's name when he sees her, the immediate instinct to hug her because he's so relieved to see her, the fact that you can hear the smile in his voice the minute he registers that she's there and alive!! AUGH I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!!

And I literally screamed when he revealed that he was transported to this AU right at the end of season 1. Oh my Irene, I screamed. I collapsed. I was truly defeated by a single line of dialogue. I don't know where this series is going to go but I am here for it. And the fact that he knows Garroth did it and hid it from her???

I can't overstate how genuinely healing it is to hear Laurance fully voice acted. I know Sebastian Todd is retired from voice acting, but when he retired, he took down all his posts, including what I considered to be a comfort video. That video of him reading iconic Laurance lines from before he was in mcd/lines he just didn't act? That video was my everything when I was trying to hold onto this version of the character I knew I loved who was different to what Jess made him. When that video got taken down it was a major cowabummer bc there's so little properly voice acted Laurance content that isn't mcd Season 3 or My Street stuff (and I can't stand My Street like 80% of the time)

Hearing his voice, hearing him get to be properly expressive, it's just doing things to me man. I missed this character a lot. I've mostly been enjoying him through fan content or my own work. It's nice to say I enjoy a piece of canon content involving him, at least so far.

Still not sure how I feel about literally anything else. The whole relationship between Aph and Tommy feels very... weird. She describes herself as "basically his mother" after she's left with him, and treats him like it in the opening scene. But then when he's mocking her for being attracted to Laurance (so relatable), it seems really weird for a [checks wiki] 14 year old kid to be calling out his mom for finding someone hot. Feels a lot more like sibling dialogue to me? Which I guess they could be seen as siblings, but the series explicitly stated that she views it like motherhood??? But I don't think Jess is even thinking that deeply about it, I just over analyze her work for fun at this point.

Okay what the actual fuck is going on with the inside of this house???

Why is the color scheme purple and yellow? And not in any kind of flattering way which is possible with opposite colors, it just has both of them. The wallpaper changes when you get into the living room except not entirely on the windows, and in an earlier scene it looked like it wasn't even put onto all of the walls. And the wood that she used as supports just does not compliment either of these colors as they are. Just make it all purple, you know you want to Jess.

Also is the texture on the table and the glass the same??? I don't know a damn thing about modding or making texture/data packs for minecraft but that just seems. odd.

Laurance: mentions the nether Me: [screams just a little]

Tommy: shows up and gives a random ass lore dump Aph: Kay thanks go back to your room

"I don't know what I can do to help."

"Just be there for me. I just need someone to ground me right now."

I literally want to shake Laurance around like a rag doll and give him a stupid kiss on his stupid fucking face UGH why can't I be normal about this block man and his stupid feelings?!?! The way his voice breaks as despair sets in?? The fact that he's no doubt pieced together that Garroth probably stole the amulet and plans to use it to hurt Aph and he can't do anything about it?? I'm literally losing it.

How did I not watch this series before.

Literally about to cry over him just calling Aph "M'lady" out of pure instinct. He didn't consciously do that. He just misses her that much.

oh no spooky evil alternate Laurance or whatever--

MAN I'm so happy I decided to watch this series. This was probably a mistake though :)

[redrikki]

Scott's Season 2 Master Plan

In Teen Wolf season two, Scott McCall has a problem. Gerard Argent, his girlfriend’s evil grandfather, is threatening Scott to force him to help Gerard get the Bite to cure his cancer. Scott solves this problem by pretending to comply while switching out Gerard’s medication with mountain ash to ensure Bite rejection. The plan and who Scott chooses to involve (or not) in it say some interesting things about Scott’s character and his relationships.

Of course, Gerard doesn’t just explain what he’s after. Scott has to figure out the truth from disparate clues like Erica’s motivation for receiving the Bite and Gerard’s cancer smell and behavior. Once he’s figured out what Gerard’s game is, he comes up with a plan which pulls together things he’s learned about Bite rejection, mountain ash, and disguising murder to look like a medical emergency. It’s a smart plan. The show has spent a lot of time harping on Scott’s academic struggles, but this shows his how clever he actually is as well as his attention to detail in terms of replicating Gerard’s pills and pill case. Scott may not be book smart or good at figuring things out on the fly like Stiles, but give him the space to think and he shines.

It’s also a very passive aggressive plan, which is fairly typical of Scott. He rarely liked to confront his problems head on when he can come at them from the side or get a third party to deal with it (kind of like Gerard). Here he plays possum, plays Gerard and Derek off each other, and uses a tool which could not have been traced back to him if he needed plausible deniability for his involvement. Scott shows both Gerard and Derek exactly what they want/expect to get them where he needs them and shows nerves of steel in the pill handoff and waiting out the clock for them to take effect even as Gerard keeps the pressure on.

The plan displays Scott’s sense of poetic justice. Gerard wants the Bite? Well, Scott’s going to ensure that he gets it in the worst possible way. Derek won’t stop biting people even after Scott tells him not to? Well, Scott’s going to ensure he bites Gerard wether he wants to or not. We haven’t seen this from Scott before, but we will absolutely see it again in season 5 when he uses Deucalion as a sort of reverse uno card to destroy Theo’s pack from the inside the way Theo tried to do to him. 

It’s unclear, exactly, what Scott hoped to do aside from making sure Gerard didn’t become werewolf. He has repeated conversations about how Bite rejection kills, so he had to know Gerard’s death was at least a possibility. In canon, Gerard manages to alienate his entire family at the last second, but had things played out with slightly fewer witnesses, Derek would have been the one taking the fall for all of it. Scott would have kept his hands clean while allowing Gerard and Derek to destroy themselves/each other. I wish we’d gotten to see Scott’s reaction in season 3 to learning Gerard was still alive. Allison was shocked, scared, and angry. Scott being shocked (or even relieved) would be a hint that he planned/expected Gerard to die, but sadly the show skips right past a reveal in favor of evil grandpa story hour.

After seeing Gerard kill the omega in 2.01, Scott is understandably scared of him, but he consistently underestimates him. Gerard’s true threat lies not in his ability to personally cause harm, but his ability to inspire, manipulate, and lead others to do so (he’s a dark reflection of Scott in that way). Scott gets one over Gerard by preventing him from becoming a werewolf, but it is ultimately a hollow victory. It doesn’t break Gerard’s hold over the kamina or prevent Gerard from raising/funding a hunter army in season 6. In fact, it took Scott in Gerard’s eyes from a scared kid to be manipulated to an arch nemesis to be to be destroyed. 

Derek is an essential component of Scott’s plan, but he doesn’t get to be in on it. This makes sense given that their history largely consists of Derek threatening Scott and his friends and screwing Scott out of his hope of a cure after promising to help. Derek has repeatedly saved Scott’s life, but he can’t be trusted to do what Scott wants. He seems visibly hurt by Scott’s “not my Alpha” speech. He’s willing to help Scott with his tattoo in 3.01, but he clearly has no interest in involving Scott in his troubles with the Alpha Pack until Scott forces the issue.

The only person we know is entrusted with the plan is Deaton, as evidenced by the pill-making flashback. Deaton is Scott’s long-time professional mentor who has kept so many secrets, but is helpful when asked. As a werewolf, Scott can’t wield mountain ash. The will behind the pills’ magic is Deaton’s and he hates Gerard. He also believes that Scott has the capacity to be a True Alpha, but that blood on his hands will negate that. This plan allows Deaton to take out a guy he considers a murderer (or at least prevent him from becoming a werewolf) without getting Scott’s hands dirty. Whose idea was it to use the mountain ash this way? Would Scott even have known it could be used this way without Deaton’s guidance considering it’s a pretty far cry from how it was used at the rave?

It is unclear how much, if anything, Stiles knows about the plan. In season 1, any time Scott was hurt or threatened, it was followed by a conversation were he and Stiles discuss it. We don’t get any scenes like that in season 2 after Gerard declares war and threatens Scott (or after Victoria tries to kill him). The boys don’t really talk to each other after what happens at the Sheriff’s station, and it’s unclear whose idea that is. When Stiles expresses anxiety about how things are going to go down, Scott doesn’t remind him of the plan or even assure him that there is one. Stiles comes back from his beating at Gerard’s hands and doesn’t respond to any of Scott’s 17 missed messages and entirely misses Scott’s big reveal. Obviously, he learns about what happened later, but all signs point to a distinct lack of communication between the friends about what’s going on. What’s less clear is why. Does Scott no longer fully trust Stiles? Is he trying to protect him somehow by keeping him in the dark?

Scott also isn’t communicating with Allison. The difficulties of hiding their relationship from her parents absolutely plays a part, but he cuts her out of the channels of communication they do have. She repeatedly asks if there’s something going on with Gerard and Scott repeatedly says no. She checks her window for messages multiple times after the rave and gets nothing. The price of knowledge is responsibility and Scott is trying the shoulder that burden alone, but knowledge is power and in doing so he denies her the ability to make informed decisions about her relationship with her family. Gerard offers Allison up as a prize at the lacrosse game and then taunts Derek that Scott is doing his bidding all for Allison. That’s not what’s really happening, but I wonder how Scott’s lack of denial plays into Allison’s decision to break up with him.

Isaac doesn’t know the plan, but after Scott told him to be careful at the rave, he doesn’t care. He’s ready to back Scott up because he always tries to do the right thing and the fact that it works just makes him trust Scott even more. 

Gerard threatens Melissa as soon as he realizes Scott is a werewolf, but Melissa does’t even know she’s in danger until he’s choking her with the kamina’s prehensile tail. Scott and Melissa’s relationship has grown increasingly strained over the course of the series, but Scott’s reluctance to trust her with the truth of what’s happening to him might be a sign of how their relationship was already strained. Melissa freaks out and refuses to really speak with her son after learning he’s a “monster.” Her begging Scott to protect her and then showing up for him at the game and with Jackson is the first step of them repairing their relationship, but the dynamics are permanently and knowingly reversed. While Scott has been trying to protect his mom without her knowing since Peter tried to date her in season 1, now Melissa knows about the danger and fully expects Scott to deal with it. 

In the end, Scott is forced to reveal his plan after Gerard starts screaming about mountain ash. The tactics he used (playing possum, secret-keeping, manipulation, and using third parties to do the dirty work) are all tricks Gerard also likes to use. The difference is that Scott is trying to do what he thinks is right to protect others, while Gerard is strictly out to help himself. Scott damaged relationships with his actions and in 3.01, he declares his intent to be a better son and a better friend. When he faces Gerard again in season 6, he does so as someone who communicates openly with his allies and draws on his community rather than attempting to work around them.

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[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Would Death note change if Light had an identical twin? In one hand, Light would not share anything as he didn't with his family. But if the twin was closer to a clone (as with the Bella twins discussed in this blog), it would make things significantly harder for Light. I don't know if they would be able to make a long alliance, given their pride, but what do you think?

The horrible post anon's referencing.

Interesting. Not much would change but we'd get even more family drama.

The Thing About Light and Kira

Light didn't decide to become Kira until after he'd accidentally killed using the Death Note. At which point, he decided a) because he was a murderer b) because that murder in his eyes was justified and the world was a 'better' place he had to go all in. Before that point, he was bored yes, but it took him about a day to decide to kill every heinous criminal he possibly could (at which point Ryuk became very impressed and interested).

So even an alien experiment Light Yagami clone from birth who is identical in every way would not be Kira just because the other Light is Kira. From what we see in the Yotsuba Arc, Light without having take the step to kill himself and decide to become Kira, from an outsider's perspective, thinks Kira is fucking insane and heinous and absolutely should be stopped.

Which is where twinny mc twin comes in.

The Other Thing About Having Two Light Yagamis

Light in canon is the first born son. There's Sayu, yes, but she's several years younger than him and it's established early on that Light is extremely brilliant and that Sayu while sweet is normal. Light adores his little sister and were it not for Kira they'd have maintained a great relationship (as it is, Light distances himself from his family and something truly awful happens to Sayu, but he never stops caring about her).

However, Light now has a twin and they are equal on every level. Light is highly competitive and a perfectionist and so I imagine while he loves his twin (as he's extremely family oriented as a character) there's also a lot of tension and a complicated relationship as both feel they have to be the best and out do the other.

We're not talking about people who are each other's best friend, confidante, or even get along all that well beyond the nebulous idea of being closely related.

Even if Light were so inclined, this isn't someone he'd want to confide in and someone he'd be extremely wary of.

What Does Twin Know?

As you note, Light takes great pains to keep his family in the dark. His father dies believing Light isn't Kira as Light had gone to great lengths so he was not technically owner of the notebook when his father viewed him with the eyes.

Sayu and Sachiko who had no direct involvement in the case were kept very in the dark about the case details and investigation.

Remember also the reason Light was able to track the investigation so closely was that he hacked his father's computer and was looking at files directly from the NPA homicide division. Soichiro was extremely tight lipped about details and never revealed to what extent he (and later Light) were involved in the Kira case. The family could figure out the answer was "heavily" but it was nothing outright said and god knows what Sayu and Sachiko were told about that time Light disappeared for several months with no contact, no appearances at his university, and was not able to call home.

I doubt it was "a detective has handcuffed him to himself and is unrelentingly convinced he's a serial killer".

And note that later Light has as much information as he has because he 'joins' the task force. By that point, the general NPA had been cut out and Light no longer had useful police files on the investigation.

Point being, twin has very limited information.

Light Becomes Kira, Twin Does Not

So, we start off in canon. Twin notices Light behaving strangely for a few days but doesn't think much of it. Light's always been fairly solitary and being locked up in his room after school isn't... too weird.

It's not immediately obvious what's happening, either, as people at first did not put together the connection of Kira and then didn't want to put together the connection of Kira. It wasn't until Lind L. Taylor that Kira went from internet urban legend and weird coincidence to either a) a god like being having it out for the wicked or b) a human criminal psychic who has a very terrifying talent.

I imagine twin is dubious at the initial rumors pre the broadcast, while also being somewhat :/ about the coincidences. Twin doesn't know how bad it is, as twin only sees the news at this point which I imagine is censoring just how many are dying of heart attacks of all things, but it's still enough to be weird.

Then Lind L. Taylor happens and "what the fuck" is twin's initial response. Twin doesn't suspect Light, because that's insane and Light's not a psychic or vengeful god, but is instead just reeling from the fact that Kira exists and is doing this.

Twin is absolutely in support of their father being directly involved in the case and itching to be on the case themselves and dying that they're too young. I imagine they talk to Light about it (where Light has to act his little heart out) and both agree that they have to get into the homicide division as soon as possible to help catch this motherfucker.

"Oh well, hopefully L will manage it before that point," twin muses, as realistically that'll be another several years.

"YEAH, HOPEFULLY," Light says.

Twin won't internally notice anything's amiss for some time (as after the initial mental breakdown Light did a fantastic job pretending that everything was fine/not changing his behavior patterns) but then the FBI agents show up. Now, Light noticed he was followed in part because of a) Ryuk b) he was expecting this sort of thing. Twin may not notice, but if they do, I imagine they start wigging out because why are what are clearly government/police following them around. If they notice, twin probably confronts Light (not wanting to worry Sayu and Sachiko, and not wanting to push things with Soichiro) and Light will either have to a) gaslight b) agree "yeah it totally looks like we're both being followed, what's up with that?" Regardless, twin will notice when Light takes a girl??? to Space Land??? out of nowhere and think it's all very odd because Light doesn't do dates or girlfriends.

Where things could go... potentially sideways as since Light and Twin are the same person on paper--does L know which one's Kira? He never really has a concrete reason to suspect Light specifically. He narrows it down to Japan, a police family, then to the family of those followed by Raye Penber, and settles on Light as his primary suspect but--here's another young teenager, an idealist, who is as brilliant as Light.

L may use his voodoo powers to magically think Light is the correct one but--he may also not be sure which it is or if it's both. In which case Twin is in for a terrible terrible time in the future.

But before this post gets too long, I think I'll say I can see how Light would not be found out by Twin and Twin would either die ignorant or else be horrified and have to be murdered by Light when twin discovers what Light really is.

But I think it'd take some time to figure out or that they never would both because they have limited information, because suspecting Light would be insane, and because Light is their brother and that's a horrible truth to confront/admit.