#instead of fighting over who’s the worst of them in terms of morality ……….

[yanderes-galore]

I love how you write your yandere alphabets. Can I request one for Minthara from BG3 (romantic please)?

I can try, sure! I haven't been able to play myself... but I did research on overall story and Minthara's personality! I know I'm technically on break, but I wanted to get the BG3 requests done... and I might change my blog status to slow instead as no writing outright has proven to be boring for me -_-"

Yandere Alphabet - Minthara

Pairing: Romantic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Violence, Manipulation, Murder, Blood, Kidnapping, Cult mentions, Intimidation mentioned, Slight sadism, Punishments, Restraints, Punishment, Forced relationship.

Affection: How do they show their love and affection? How intense would it get?

Minthara is cruel, but she feels morally gray... perhaps even mislead due to the Mindflayer Cult. She has killed before as she felt it was what needed to be done. Minthara has a superiority complex as a Drow noble and dislikes the weak.

She uses violence, deception, and cruelty to get what she wants. She's observant of those around her. Despite her nature as a Drow... she'd care for her darling in her own way.

In terms of affection, it's a bit sparse. She can be intimidating but doesn't like the idea of outright harming you for no reason. She comes off as intense... yet knows when to give her beloved physical/verbal affection.

She likes to control her darling but doesn't intend to show them mindless sadism essentially.

Blood: How messy are they willing to get when it comes to their darling?

Minthara has killed many, violence is also expected of Drow. Safe to say if she feels it will control you or protect you... she'll spill the blood of others. For her, cruelty must have a reason for being done. You're a good enough reason for her.

Cruelty: How would they treat their darling once abducted? Would they mock them?

I have a feeling if Minthara abducted you she'd be mocking at times. Yet she doesn't believe in harming you without purpose. The reason she abducted you was most likely because you caught her eye... and if she's part of the cult still then she needs to find some poor souls to convert.

Despite her intimidating and cruel nature... you can tell she's taken a liking to you. She has a hard time with compassion but promises not to harm you unless she has to. But soon she casts aside her feelings against compassion when the urge to show you affection starts to develop due to her obsession.

Darling: Aside from abduction, would they do anything against their darling’s will?

Most likely, yes. She's a yandere who likes power towards her darling. Making you comply with her wishes seems like her.

Exposed: How much of their heart do they bare to their darling? How vulnerable are they when it comes to their darling?

Minthara isn't a very vulnerable character at times. Although, when she begins to give into her obsession more... she does show some desperation towards you.

So she does have some care... but struggles to show softer feelings, especially if you are not a Drow and are used to a softer kind of love.

Fight: How would they feel if their darling fought back?

Amused if not a little irritated. She likes that you won't submit easily and respects that... but overall she prefers to keep control over you.

Game: Is this a game to them? How much would they enjoy watching their darling try to escape?

Not really and she'd show irritation as your attempts at escape. But part of her still adores the fight you have.

Hell: What would be their darling’s worst experience with them?

Ideals: What kind of future do they have in mind for/with their darling?

Kidnapping and cult conversion if she is still part of it. That or punishments since she can be ruthless if you disobey.

Jealousy: Do they get jealous? Do they lash out or find a way to cope?

When it comes to her, maybe to make you a spouse she can control. She'll have you return home with her and give you the affections she knows you want. But she knows that will take time.

Yes, if I'm correct Minthara is known to be jealous at times. She may lash out about it or carefully try to manipulate you to get what she wants.

Kisses: How do they act around or with their darling?

Controlling, Manipulative, Intimidating, Cold, Ruthless, yet still Caring and Affectionate once she gives into her obsession and makes you hers.

Love letters: How would they go about courting or approaching their darling?

Mask: Are their true colors drastically different from the way they act around everyone else?

I assume she originally kidnapped you for various reasons. Yet over time she began to feel something towards you. At first she's in denial... but the thought is so tempting.

Perhaps she should court you...

She needs to court you and make you hers.

Not really, but she's more affectionate and open with you.

Naughty: How would they punish their darling?

I imagine punishments would be the time Minthara gets a bit more cruel with you. Perhaps she makes your skin bleed with a blade, restrains you so you have to rely on her... any punishment that makes her feel she has control over you essentially.

Oppression: How many rights would they take away from their darling?

Probably as many as she wants.

Patience: How patient are they with their darling?

Surprisingly Minthara is very patient with you.

Quit: If their darling dies, leaves, or successfully escapes, would they ever be able to move on?

She'd have a hard time moving on, especially if she opened herself up to you. She's had many lovers before... but you were the one she was most attached to. She'd hate to see you leave her one way or another... she's desperate to prevent that.

Regret: Would they ever feel guilty about abducting their darling? Would they ever let their darling go?

No and probably not.

Stigma: What brought about this side of them (childhood, curiosity, etc)?

Upbringing, curiosity, something similar to that.

Tears: How do they feel about seeing their darling scream, cry, and/or isolate themselves?

Unique: Would they do anything different from the classic yandere?

She's perplexed on what to do for a moment before offering some sort of advice. She's hesitant to comfort you... but eventually gives in and tries.

You may not like it though.

SKIPPED

Vice: What weakness can their darling exploit in order to escape?

Not any I can think of, maybe trying to play into her emotions or manipulate her back?

Xoanon: How much would they revere or worship their darling? To what length would they go to win their darling over?

Wit’s end: Would they ever hurt their darling?

Not if she doesn't have to.

Not a worship yandere but would definitely kill anyone who takes you from her.

Yearn: How long do they pine after their darling before they snap?

Doesn't pine for very long, since she probably met you either in battle or abduction.

Zenith: Would they ever break their darling?

She may, yeah. But she prefers you to have some fight.

[randomnameless]

The phrase “we have been aware of the high levels of competency from KT's writers, especially with their work for 3H” is worrying; i'm not going to shit-talk them just for thinking that 3H has a good story, especially when someone's standards for what makes a story good or not is subjective and could be different from ours, but KT's story-telling skills are never going to improve if people keep only telling them that Three Houses' deeply-flawed story was actually a narrative masterpiece, instead of a self-contradicting mess with plot points it introduces solely as gotchas and has no intention of ever following up on in any meaningful way, characters getting assassinated left and right to try and argue that female Ashnard might actually be right and not so different from them in terms of morality and goals (while they're in the middle of fighting for their lives and watching their friends die in battle because she decided to invade their home unprovoked and solely for a landgrab), and an over-powered villain group that should have ended the story long before it even started because the writers decided to give them a stockpile of magic nukes they can launch at anywhere in the world, which was also introduced solely for shock value and without them realizing how much of the story is ruined by making it so that the villains who want to kill everyone and take over the world can just nuke anyone they want (that isn't inside Garreg Mach when they launch it) with no consequences.

I just don't like what it means for the future of FE stories if the worst story in the series keeps getting praised as one of the best, even by separate developers, is all.

Wait and see anon!

For what it's worth, while Engage's sales are apparently not as stellar as Houses in the same timeframe (like House after month 1 and Engage after month 1?), Nopes totally crashed.

Amazon isn't the only market in the world, but in some places in the world (tfw not for amazon.fr) Nopes is now sold at around 15 bucks, which is ridiculous considering older games released on consoles still being in circulation are more expensive than this thing that is barely 1 year old(even the first FEW?).

Also, Engage was supposed to have been released earlier but Covid and Houses being released later than planned meant it was delayed, but Engage was supposed to be Fodlan's antithesis, at least writing wise - you'd think IS would have tried to retrofit more Fodlan themes (maybe more uwu maybe some villains aren't BaD and earl grey because they luf u) but they didn't.

Imo, fwiw, while KT apparently loved how Fodlan was received, IS is aghast and doesn't want to touch it within a 10 meters radius, only if it means selling units in FEH and even there, they sometimes retcon Fodlan units (hello F!Billy/Sothis) or challenge them in various FB (Brave!Supreme Leader, but also in the most recent one, Sylvain harping on his Crust being BaD...) clearly showing how they don't really want to follow KT's direction regarding those units - at times, it's almost as if the CoS receives more development in Heroes than in both Fodlan games!

So I'd like to see what IS has in store for the next FE games (or the next non remake FE game), even if in my opinion, given how Heroes has to retcon/finish the writing (Mercedes reveals more about her Adrestian family in FEH than in two of her games!) for characters just to sell them in the gacha game ffs, speaks volumes on what they think of Fodlan's writing.

On top of that, FE16 was the first game where people received surveys/mails from Nintendo/IS asking them if they understood the game... - so despite Fodlan selling well (better than expected?), imo it's clear the writing isn't to praise, at least for IS, and they don't want anything to do with it (Nopes' DLC was scrapped, when shiny!Rhea's sprite was datamined, so either they made an useless sprite, either this sprite might have been used in a future DLC?)

They can still butcher a future remake (plz no jugdral) by adding pointless supports between units and trying to uwu more than needed the red emperor - or add an OC waifu du jour who will sell merchs and try to uwu her if she is on the side of the red emperor - but I feel like we will see where they will go with a brand new game (since Heroes's writing is... as consistent as a fog and basically circles around "women sad'n'lonely*, men evyl", female playable OC simps after the avatar and is useless in the resolution of the plot because Alfonse will finally find a mc guffin way to defeat the villain of the year).

*i truly hope Vero isn't any indication to what the writing of the future games will be, like heavy retcons from her first apparition to "i was brainwashed and akshually everyone supports me from my home even if i send them to death against askr because the voice in my head told me to do it" because that'd suck, but vero is a young woman, thus she could be monetised for alts, figurines and even DLC content in a main game!

[lemonhemlock]

My personal interpretation of GRRM's bias during the dance is that he wasn't necessarily pro-Black or even pro-Daemyra, but he was pro-Daemon, and that kinda bleed out into the entirety of the Black side. What I think happened was that he set out to write the dance as a morally gray, no-good-sides type conflict using the Anarchy for inspiration, but at one point he created and fell in love with the character of Daemon, which then affected how he wrote the details of the dance. At one point he realized he inadvertently wrote a situation where one side was full of badass characters (Daemon, his kids, and the Velaryon family they're connected to) plus is backing a female ruler who appears progressive, and whose kids eventually inherit the throne, and maybe realized that oops, he made his morally-gray conflict a little bit TOO one-sided.

(He's had this same issue before with the Blackwood/Bracken conflict, where it's supposed to be a blood feud that both sides are at fault for, but it's also pretty clear how much GRRM favors the Blackwoods over the Brackens, because he keeps giving the Blackwoods cool features and interesting characters while portraying almost all Brackens as mostly assholes and losers.)

So then in an effort to try and balance the conflict, he doubles down on making Rhaenyra herself the absolute worst. She doesn't fight in the war herself, unlike her rival Aegon II, all the smart tactical decisions are solely attributed to the men around her (including her fifteen-year-old son), she makes nonsense decisions like throwing a lavish party during wartime, and she gets her own allies to turn against her, including Daemon. GRRM gives her some pretty horrific rumors surrounding her such as brothel queens (even if they're not true), and has her speak horribly about Nettles over her apparent "jealousy" for stealing away Daemon. He makes sure to point out that she is NOT progressive at all, having her pass over elder sisters for other houses. He makes her so bad as a ruler that the smallfolk rebel and kill the dragons under HER reign.

This is possibly where some of the weirdness surrounding the military aspect of the dance could originate from, because considering how bad of a ruler Rhaenyra proved herself to be, why does she still have people fighting for her? If there were rumors abound, and even evidence, of Rhaenyra passing bastards as trueborn, why are they so chill with supporting her? (I believe that's actually evidence of an early draft where Rhaenyra DID marry Harwin and therefore her sons with him were trueborn, which I think supports my theory that GRRM added the "Strong boys passing as trueborn Velaryons" subplot in an effort to make Rhaenyra more morally grey, but then failed to actually make them as big of a deal in Westeros as they realistically SHOULD have been, aside from like, giving the Greens more mean things to say about her.)

Heck, maybe GRRM did actually make Daemon worse than he originally was in an attempt to make the Blacks more morally gray. Maybe Nettles was originally a grown woman instead of another teenager he groomed. Maybe some of his other shady behavior such as murdering Vaemond wasn't originally there. But again, you run against the problem that if Daemon was indeed as disliked by the lords of Westeros as the text says he was, why are they still supporting Rhaenyra, and by extension him? Is it supposed to be maester propaganda, I guess?

But GRRM still loves Daemon, so he's still allowed to have his... "Heroic" action of letting the teenager he groomed live, I guess. And he's allowed to still have his anime death against his special enemy who's supposed to be a worse version of Daemon (even though Daemon is the worse version of Daemon). Rhaenyra unfortunately, did not get the same grace. GRRM might have actually tried to give the Greens a level playing field against the Blacks in terms of gray morality, but his attempts at doing so might have messed up other aspects of the dance.

So the showrunners kind of have a lot of their work cut out for them in trying to make the military part of the dance make sense. Why would certain lords support the Blacks despite their reputations and bad decisions? Is there truly no discourse over Jacaerys, and later Joffery, being the heir to the throne despite their dubious parentage? Why do certain Reach houses end up siding with Rhaenyra? Why does the Lads army exist? Addam Velaryon pulling an army out of thin air to fight for Rhaenyra despite literally everything? Aemond's decision to do fuck-all in the Riverlands? I'm probably going to be a lot kinder to the showrunners in this regard because it's really not their fault that these parts of the Dance make no sense, it was baked into the source material. It's a start that they know full well that Daemon is not a good person, and that they're trying to make Rhaenyra not the Absolute Worst like she was in the book, but for some of this stuff, it's literally going to have to be their job to try and make it make sense. So, good luck writers! I don't quite envy you.

Hello! This is a very comprehensive essay you wrote, thank you for sharing it with us. ✨ I feel like it basically encompasses everything there is to say on the matter. I do agree with the thesis statement that GRRM is not necessarily so much pro-blacks as he is pro-Daemon, as ranted in this post as well. Also agree the same kind of issue is visible with the Blackwood-Bracken divide.

Now, it is what it is at the end of the day, we're talking about supplemental material here and GRRM is certainly allowed to include his own Mary Sues and play around with them, but the quality does suffer as a result. And it's funny seeing people defending Daemon's actions or interpreting the fact that his line prevails as "righteous" when in reality he has the biggest plot armour imaginable. But, yes, Daemon growing as a character under GRRM's pen and in his mind is probably the most likely explanation as to how we got such an imbalanced story.

As far as what the writers can do to make the military battles more believable, they should start with redistributing the alliances, which is not impossible IMO. Generally-speaking, Rhaenyra can have fewer allies but make use of her considerable dragon army and she could even rely on mercenaries, if necessary. Should be enough to mount a serious threat to the greens without resorting to cartoon logic. :))

[cartoonrival]

Nrto/Brto for 3 10 & 17?

bro literally the wider naruto fandom sucks so bad idek where to begin

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

i dont have a specific example so instead im gonna give a general gripe about a trend that ive seen in many takes over time

the black and white thinking and refusal to think for half a second about characters other than ur faves Reminds Me Of Something!real ones know. the way people talk about any character with any sort of greyness to their morality kinda makes me crazy and i lowkey think ppl bring up kishimoto TOO MUCH in their discussion of the storys themes bc while obviously like its important to talk abt WHY he wrote it the way he did esp wrt nationalism and all, i think also it sort of dulls ur ability to think anything complex about it if u blame everything u dont like or think was "sloppily done" on kishimoto. judging every character based on kishimoto's morals instead of their own if that makes sense? its not like "the wrong way to do things" i just personally find it really boring when thats the only way youll look at a text. like no wonder you guys are constantly making jokes about how naruto sucks and you'd never recommend it, you wont even allow yourselves to think about the story as its own piece of art beyond just "kishimoto wrote it this way because he sucks" like do you ever think maybe youre killing some of the fun of media analysis... i think its why so many people hate sakura or kakashi or itachi or anyone else. and this always comes out in the way ppl characterize bc theyre like Um I've Fixed Them :) and then its the blandest shit ever because you absolutely refuse to work even slightly WITH the story you claim to love, only fighting tooth and nail against it.

some examples of what i mean w this: basically any conversation about itachi that tries to categorize him as either good or bad. basically any conversation about sakura that tries to do literally anything or nothing with her. people making sns blandly romantic as if the insane and inventive ways they talk about their feelings for each other in canon isnt genuinely part of what makes it so maddeningly fascinating and awesome. anyone who thinks kakashi is a bad teacher. its just this refusal to meet the characters where they are and think of anything in terms of the text itself rather than exclusively in a meta way, ie "this is how it would be if it was good." no its not. you just made it how it would be if it was bland and obvious. dont you literally think the fact that the guy writing it was accidentally writing his characters to be struggling against the same shit that he was struggling against irl and struggling to keep Out of his writing is like. wildly fascinating and part of waht makes the story intersting to pick apart. but ok. this also applies to aspects of boruto primarily sasusaku and naruhina marriages. no one gets it like i doooooo

10. worst part of fanon

everybodys always shipping kakashi with someone and its never even guy. if youre gonna ship kakashi it had better fucking be with guy bc theres gen srs no one else he would be caught dead romancing with and i cant even see how you could read any of his other relationships as romantic. he doesnt even HAVE a relationship with iruka. i get that not every ship has to have canon support but its all either 1) literally not even interesting to think about or 2) what they have actually going on is way more interesting but see my response to question 3. its the same with gaara honestly the more i think about it the more annoyed i get about the ignorance surrounding just-short-of-canon aroace gaara ToT like if u didnt know then ok... but you should learn because its awesome. i just thinking the shipping culture in the fandom is annoying like everyone has to be shipped with someone and that seems to come before their genuinely interesting relationships. and those genuinely interesting relationships are sanded down into something normal. idk this is a gripe that goes w Many Many fandoms but i feel like w naruto its particularly bad largely on account of See Previous Answer. ppl are like "its written this way bc kishimoto is homophobic i will fix this" then they make it suck because shockingly ik kishi actually wrote a good as fuck story if deeply flawed

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art

ill be fr i dont gen seek out fics or art independently to be 100% sure that stuff i'd be looking for isn't out there somewhere. but i think ppl really really should just. think about sakura more. i literally love her sm but ppl won't think abt her beyond either 1) she sucks and i hate her (but this is because of kishimoto's writing and has nothing to do with me! if i rewrote naruto then she wouldn't be there 😌 this is a kindness to her and not because i cant be assed to think about a woman for 5 seconds) or 2) girlboss!!!! like.... is that scene in the land of iron not BIBLICAL to anyone else....??? is her devotion to someone she's lost faith in out of loyalty to someone she loves and is losing her ability to understand not FASCINATING???? TO ANYONE ELSE???? IS THE WAY SHE PICKS UP THE TRAITS OF HER TEACHER THAT HE SPECIFICALLY IS NOT MEANING TO PASS ON TO HER NOT HEARTWRENCHING???????? you people suck. instead you write ooc sns over and over and draw kakashi without his mask kissing fucking obito

[king-of-wrath]

I like to think that the Exorcists are Hazbin's antagonists not because Heaven is intolerant of non-cis non-straight non-Abrahamic people or because Vivzie's declaring "religion bad" in cartoon form, but because Heaven sees morality in terms of absolutes: that is, if you do x or y even once, you're evil, you go to Hell and you can NEVER be forgiven

Consider the characters we've actually seen be denied entrance to Heaven (yes, these are Helluva characters and Helluva is a spin-off, but unless Vivzie declares "Helluva's a side project I'm doing just for fun, it's unrelated to Hazbin and its lore doesn't mirror Hazbin lore", we can reference Helluva):

Mayberry was a passionate teacher who's spent years being a positive role model for children, but she was damned because she murdered her husband in a fit of rage. Heaven didn't take into account the good deeds she had done and instead judged her for that one wrongful act. Her kindness to children, her inspiring them to do good and whatever good deeds those children would go on to do didn't matter---she killed someone and is therefore irredeemable

Cleetus, Keenie and Collin were cherubs who committed themselves to saving souls, but were banished from Heaven because one person was killed in an accident. They consoled a suicidal man, convincing him that life was worth living and that he could spend the remainder of his life (and his vast wealth) in service to others. But despite the fact they accomplished their mission (and who knows how many others prior to this), they were banished. It didn't matter that they were fighting literal hellspawn trying to steal his soul, they failed to protect someone and for that, they are forbidden from returning home

As Alastor said in the Hazbin pilot, the very reason sinners are sent to Hell is to be punished. However, the annual purges began because Hell was "too overpopulated" and Heaven saw fit to kill rather than forgive. The Exorcists don't bother to check who they kill or what their victims' sins were---because in their minds, everyone in Hell is terrible and no matter why they were sent to Hell, they deserve total oblivion

If Exorcists ever got to Mayberry, she would be destroyed without a second thought. The two scientists whose experiments killed untold numbers of impoverished people would also be destroyed, but that's IF they were caught

We see Wally Wackford employ the scientists and understandably, he wouldn't want to lose his new inventors. We also see Valentino, Velvet and Vox surviving the annual purge---presumably because of the wealth and power they possess (along with others in the pilot). The scientists would be protected from the purge, having a serious advantage over Mayberry

But the Exorcists' job is to kill everyone they can within a certain time limit. They don't spend their time attacking fortified buildings or pursuing Hell's worst, they just kill whoever isn't in shelter when the purge begins

We don't know if there's an actual quota the Exorcists have, but they place importance on quantity---that is, the number of souls purged. The more souls are purged, the more space is freed. If they can get the two scientists, that's great. But if given the choice between a defenseless Mayberry and two well-defended scientists, they'd kill Mayberry. Two worse sinners would survive and one potentially forgivable sinner would be lost forever

So Charlie reveals her plan to handle the overpopulation and end the purges: to rehabilitate sinners in the hopes that they'd be admitted to Heaven, thus reducing Hell's population. Her biggest hurdle, however is actually making a sinner worthy of redemption in the eyes of Heaven

If Heaven thought there was even a possibility that sinners could be reformed, they'd give Hell a stay of execution to test Charlie's theory. If Heaven believed sinners could be reformed, they'd send Charlie help. But so far, Heaven isn't pausing the purges or helping reform sinners---instead, they're ordering the destruction of countless souls every year and do so without much guilt

[aho-dapa]

Beron and Jurian

Some anti sjm and anti rhys comments because it's my brand

Hmmm, actually, this is super interesting fr

But quick imagine hot dilf beron for a sec, okay, cool

This can go a few ways, the first one is during ACOMAF:

maybe Beron is canon typical and is just a very logical thinker that puts his court above his family (while still caring? for them, idk canon beron is literally better than rhysand, you heard me).

Or it could go with Beron doing a Tamlin and siding with Hybern while working against them

(Maybe Lucien’s past can be reworked and stuff for this angle because I don't think Jurian would get above a hate fuck level with Beron if he knows about the Jesminda stuff) and maybe Beron has only been going with the tide in terms of humans and just not really caring about human slaves and just adapts to keep his family afloat

But Beron definitely meets Jurian with this set up and it's definite enemies to 'I will never admit I love you' type dynamic at best, at worst... it's real bad

Or it could turn into mutual erotic torture porn who knows

But I do find this relationship to be temporary and very tempting to the both of them

Very brief and passionate of them like a flickering candle flame being blown out (is that a pun??)

The second option is more romancey and morally gray Beron + LoA:

Ya'll, morally gray Beron is giving Eris and I need you to know because you're missing out with the crackship possibilities fr fr

Beron and Jurian actually know each other from the War with Hybern and maybe tweaking it so that the human rebellion also happened at the same time

Cue High Lord Beron being mates with human Jurian (or make a poly couple with LoA or have LoA have an open relationship with Helion that Beron knows about because they could have been forced to marry each other due to political schemes)

I actually find a tough, stone faced Beron being absolutely mortified at Jurian being his mate and Jurian not knowing to be completely hilarious

Imagine Beron and LoA just having a conversation about this and Beron just hands in the air, astounded that his mate is literally the leader of the human rebellion?? And betrayed Clythia, and cut her up into pieces in revenge?? The way this man might be a little weirded out for thinking that's hot, anyway

Also Beron and LoA aren't perfect parents but they're definitely the winning parents of the millenia

Also, maybe they've slowly been working together to weaken the power the nobles of the Court have over them and do a little bit of spring cleaning cough and they use this power imbalance between the fae and humans to gain more power and advocate for facing Hybern and siding with the humans because of the threat they pose (maybe humans could use magic but it was dwindling by Feyre's time) and maybe Beron and LoA just have personal distaste for cruelty and have been trying to fight for power so they can make better lives for their citizens and children

(Also instead of magic choosing the successor, it goes by typical lineage bloodline, that way Beron and LoA's position in the court is not as secure)

In this, maybe Jurian was a slave and servant to Clythia who took her along her war campaign as entertainment and company, and this is when Jurian kills her after gathering the othering human slaves they brought with them

Beron plays an active role in the rebellion and LoA acts as the High Lady of the Autumn Court during his absence and that's where we get Jurian and Beron shenanigans with them falling in love and whatnot

Cute stuff until Amarantha kills Jurian and Beron finds out about it after the victory of a battle when his magic suddenly twists on itself

So he doesn't know that Amarantha kept Jurian barely alive as an eyeball in a ring

Beron continues to fight in the war in grief and rage and is about to attack Amarantha when the KoH orders their surrender and agreement to sign the treaty (this treaty is only effective in Prythian and Hybern, not on the Continent where human slavery is still practiced into Feyre's time)

Beron returns home and grieves and eventually finds comfort in the life he builds with LoA and his children

But then Amarantha comes back, and curses them, and Beron plays double sides to protect his family and kill Amarantha in revenge

Only to find out she's been keeping a part of Jurian in a fucking eyeball for centuries and his goals shift

He's the one that ends up taking the ring once Feyre breaks Amarantha's curse (might just have there be no curse) or do something completely different

And Beron actually sides with Hybern again as a ploy to destroy from within because 'the tides have changed once again' and I love to characterize Beron as someone whose seen as someone who acts with their court in mind first to protect his own standing

So temporary truce with Hybern and then he finds out about the Cauldron and brings Jurian back to life

But fr, because we're talking about dilfs

Papa Archeron / Rhys with neslin and feyris, just IMAGINE

Tam mentally having the thought that this technically makes Rhys his father-in-law and Eris his brother-in-law by human terms and Rhys just spits wine across the table

No because that's it this is a fic now, I'm gonna write it fr

[tedcruzhasastupidface]

MAGA’s Cultural Heroine: “Owning the libs”

You may have heard the term “cultural heroine” in passing when reading about culture wars in the US in the last few years, but what is it? If you have heard criticism of JD Vance you probably hear he is a “cultural heroine dealer.”  What is ironic is that Vance coined the phrase in 2016 while criticizing Trump.  In 2016 he said “Trump is cultural heroin. He makes some feel better for a bit. But he cannot fix what ails them, and one day they’ll realize it.” This was past JD Vance warning us about future JD Vance, who, since he is more articulate than Trump, is now the biggest cultural heroine dealer to the Tump Party. And now Vance is high on his own supply, the cardinal sin of drug dealing.  But he get’s his dope high when he’s slinging it.

When the MAGA faithful hears or sees a spokes-mouth of the  party speak what they are thinking in a way more eloquently or cutting then they could ever say it or, have the guts to say to someone else’s face, whether it it is MTG yelling like a lunatic at the Sate of the Union, Mike Johnson gaslighting the nation NBC or CBS news interview, a right wing influencer trolls who cash checks from the Kremlin like Shaprio, Crowder, or Pools on a their podcast or YouTube channel, or a down ballot Trumper at a political debate, the brain of the MAGA faithful releases a hit of dopamine.

Dopamine is a hormone and a type of neurotransmitter, or chemical messenger, made in your brain. This unique neurotransmitter affects your body, brain, and behavior. Dopamine plays a role in how we feel pleasure and rewards.  There are signs that drugs like heroin, nicotine, cocaine, and MDMA target midbrain dopamine neurons and/or serotonin neurons, but their effects on the dynamic neuronal activity remain unclear in behaving states.  Taking drugs is pretty extreme, so why not watch some political fights instead?  Because doing so has a real impact on your fellow American’s lives.  It breeds political extremism on both sides but it seems the right is more susceptible to it since they are usually less educated and recent studies suggests that people with right-wing views have a larger area of the brain associated with fear.

I have watch many interviews with the MAGA faithful at rallies and event chatted with some MAGA friends on Facebook.  When they are asked why they support him or what he accomplished they can never one pinpoint or even name one piece of legislation he has passed because that is not what they care about. Often they say things like they like him because he is “owning the libs.” This is very telling, because they are recalling the dopamine hits they receive when they heard their thoughts spoken by someone they agree with to the face of someone that disagrees. Often it is about a false sense of security, a false sense of justice, or a false morally superiority, a false sense of equality that happened between 30 and 50 years ago or some time between 2017 and 2020.  Let me remind them that in 2020 Trump failed to stop COVID 19 and presided over the the worst unemployment since the Great Depression.  I am reminded during the 2016 debates when Jeb Bush said his brother “kept us safe” and Trump retorted that 911 happened on W’s watch.  Trump can dish it out but he can’t take it.

The MAGA faithful don’t want Trump in power because of concrete policies he can establish for the country or for themselves, they want him because it make them feel good, that the people they disagree with will suffer simply for having a different option them them and in some cases for just existing.  This is fascism.

Crime is down according to the FBI.  Unemployment and inflation are trending down. But the MAGA faithful only get their news from gaslighting cultural heroine dealers on Fox News, social media and political candidates with a need to paint an opposite reality by gaslighting them with video of smash and grabs and blame incumbents and opponents for the fake doom.

The followers of the Trump Party need a to sober up from their drug addle stupor.

The phrase “get a life” gets thrown around at people we disagree with, but let’s think about it. “Get a life” is short for: go and seek out a more fulfilling life by experiencing joy with your friends and family and the wider culture instead of being a hatful, petty, grievances filled creature that you currently are.  We one the left need to reach out to MAGA friends and family and just treat them like human being.  Try to understand before being understood.  But more importantly, we need to outvote them and discourage them from voting this November.  They have no problem with election interference, we should have no problem telling them to give up on voting because dear leader says it is rigged.

[umishiqu]

and the award for creepiest children go to…!

[noneatnonedotcom]

concept: humans on remnant would be utterly different to humans on earth. they would be less aggressive and more communal/traditional.

now, to make a long story short, grimm come around negative emotions, humans that are arctivly competing with each other will inspire negative emotions and thus will draw grimm. this means that the humans who co-operate better with each other will survive more and will have kids thus making the aggressive traits that were necessary for humans in our world die out.

pretty simple right? so lets break down what that actually means for a society

so since humans on remnant are encouraged to be so communal you would think that this would make them communistic. the answer is no actually they're less likely to fight to change things so families that claim leadership of a group likely continue to do so for as long as the area they inhabit remains. so an aristocracy rises pretty much everywhere on remnant and remains forever. without the worst impulses of humanity the lot of the small folk never really gets bad either societal pressure to conform remains and organizational structures are based in the same way herds are. bloodless tussles between the dominant members establish hierarchy.

so aura users fight each other and the Grimm. only the Grimm need to be killed most of the time. the grimm swarm anyone who causes problems so since humanity isn't the strongest thing around good morals are enforced.

to gamify their society government:

Imperial: Imperial governments are similar to dictatorial ones (ruled by a single individual for life that wields absolute control over the state.), except that the throne is always inherited by a designated successor upon the ruler's death.

ethics: Fanatic Authoritarian, Spiritualist

+10% Monthly unity

−10% Edict cost

−10% Edict upkeep

Can use the Veneration of Saints edict

+1 Monthly influence

+10% Worker output

Can use the Information Quarantine edict

but breaking down the government into civics Feudal Society: This society is organized in a feudal manner, with a monarch whose rule relies on powerful vassals that govern their territories with considerable autonomy.

+1 Unity per Governor level

−50% Leader Cost

+1 Monthly Loyalty from Subjects

Leaders have no upkeep

No Loyalty loss from multiple subjects

Cannot dismiss leaders

Cannot give Expansion Prohibited terms of agreement

Cannot give Limited Diplomacy terms of agreement

so basic idea is that the king has very little control of his subjects they are bound together instead by contracts and oaths. this goes all the way down with the grimm pretty much enforcing the oaths as oathbreakers will upset their small folk and bring the grimm down on them.

Philosopher King: It is not enough to simply rule. The Ship of State must be guided by a king that wields enough wisdom and knowledge to steer it true.

+2 Ruler level cap

Ruler and Governor leaders can't gain negative traits from leveling up

the nature of the world though means that leaders who exhibit bad traits are removed meaning the only leaders who exist are the firytale true kings and lords. ones who are truly noble in deed not just in name

Aristocratic Elite: This society has an entrenched nobility that occupies the upper echelons of society.

+1 Governor Level Cap

Can construct Noble Estates buildings

Can construct Noble Chateaus holdings

Capital Buildings replace some Politician jobs with Noble jobs

though it's still an un-equal society, it's not something that would fly in our world through our own innate desire to compete with each other for a better life facilitating adaptation. in this world humans have taken a far different course of action. but all this focus on the people at the top actually makes sure that they're the best of the best as I tried to show with the leader caps being buffed so much and the cost being lowered to maintain them. plus they can't physically get negative traits for leadership.

this society as i said could never work in our world. not just because the normal people would not accept being ruled over like that but also because such a system would be rampent with corruption and the like. but because the grimm exist adaptation to the new rules would be humanities main method of survival. and the best way to avoid the preditors that are the grimm are to simply not be around them and to not feel negative things or inspire them in others. so the people who are better at co-operation survive and have kids while the people who compete and look out for their own interests die.

of course the goverment structure is one thing even with the civics better explaining it. the main issue is how did the people of remmant evolve and how does this facilitate their society?

traits: positive

Conformists,+30% Governing Ethics Attraction

Traditional, +10% Unity from Jobs

Communal, −10% Pop Housing Usage

in layman's terms, they are a highly social species that typically just follows along with what they see others do and what their ancestors do. they're used to living together within the walls so they don't mind little privacy and the only populations of them left are the ones who don't cause problems for each other.

traits: negetive

Sedentary, −15% Pop growth from immigration +25% Resettlement Cost

Nonadaptive, they don't change well

Fleeting,−10 years Leader Lifespan

the downsides to this is that they never change, they expand on occasion with new villages and trade via ship on occasion but for the most part nothing ever changes in their world. and of course with the grimm around no matter how strong you are as a lord (aura user) your life will always be cut short. they never get to die in their beds. always in battle with the grimm.

so this means that almost all of remnant's history is the same. dense communities of people living under the yoke of nobles who do their best for them. the life of your great great grandfather is the same as yours and you're happy with that. there's no bulling, no crime, and the worst you deal with from others is the nomads who show up on occasion and cause problems for you till your lord makes them move along.

that is until the great war.

it doesn't happen all at once. about two generations back some minstral people landed on your continent and made a village. but one village became 5, with became 10, this couldn't stand. the king asks them politely to leave, but they refuse. they barely survived the trip over here and they have nothing to go back to now, this is their home. and they won't move now that they're here.

this means that the lords are called up on their oaths. but the kings made oaths with each other. so now all the families of the world are called in and they start to fight.

the first generation is a stalemate as some lords win and others lose. no real progress is made. it's all honor duels or small skirmishes.

the next couple of generations sees more fighting with the nobles .

and then the next.

and the next

until suddenly the battles are huge.

so huge it draws the grimm, and suddenly the old way of life isn't viable anymore because all the old families are gone. it's the end of the world the world is a scary place. to feel safe people start making weapons. then they start making armies to send at each other. it's all the otherguy's fault and if you could just make them leave you alone then things could go back to the way they were before!

this fear draws the grimm and things enter into a dark age. but ozma is there to pick up the pieces. the kingdoms agree that vale lost the least in the war and so gets to dictate terms. to prevent another war citizenship is now based on where you live not your previous oaths. the technology used to kill each other is now used to bring you all closer together.

and that's where we enter in the RWBY series. a world just coming out of a dark age looking to return to how things were.

so things that are different in this version of things faunas aren't oppressed, slavery was never a thing and while people are still getting used to the new arrivals from menagerie there are no real issues beyond them doing strange things that the locals don't understand and visa-versa adam is still evil inexplicably, literally for no reason other than to be a villain. something something witch's curse, something something freedom in death ruby is from a line of nobles but is one of the last of the noble families. she's brought to beacon to try and facilitate the return of nobility so the kingdoms can stop with this silly democracy stuff. aura is rare because most people don't want the responsibility of being a noble. beacon is created to try and train a new group of noble families jaune is actually trained in combat, he's still a huge goofball and has big goldenretriver energy cardin isn't a bully. instead, his issue is that he's obsessed with serving jaune as his family was the arc's vassals his arc will focus around him finally taking a few steps outside jaune's shadow to help others rather than having to be told. weiss is from a new family of nobles and doesn't have the people's support because of it. her goal is to find a well liked husband to remidy this. Pyrrha is so used to hero worship as one of the last nikos and the strongest noble left in minstral that she's desperate for some normal friends. bandits are replaced with nomadic tribes that just generally don't mesh well with the kingdoms but they aren't malicious. Grimm are the main enemy but they're terrifying. 1 or 20 is fine, but grimm swarms appear in response to negativity and form out of nothing. they come in thousands and a true swarm takes almost everything to deal with. the entire story is about fairytales trying to get back on track after a great war fucks up the plot for everyone. salem is still a thing but she works only with grimm. though the grimm do get intelligence and sapience after thousands of years so they're characters in their own right, they're just out to kill humanity cause that's what they do. still follow monster rules though since the entire world works on fairytale logic. monogamy is strictly enforced, not because of any logical reason. but because true love is a thing here and ya know, fairytales. @howlingday @weatherman667 thoughts?

[plan-d-to-i]

I feel like the fandom loves to excuse the villains and their shitty behavior because they had bad childhoods. JC and JGY fans love to cry that their fave has "daddy issues", XY stans cry that he was an orphan who was never given love ect. and so all of their crimes should be forgiven because they have childhood trauma. Honestly a lot of the characters had terrible childhoods or something traumatic happen to them and they don't come even close to behaving like the villains. I mean a whole WWX exists and he went through way more trauma than anybody else and he's one of the most morally sound people in the novel. Nothing wrong with liking a character, but don't try to justify or excuse their actions because of trauma. Having a shitty childhood does not give you the right to be a shitty person.

Absolutely. I think it's one of the cheapest excuses to be honest. Why do unrelated strangers have to suffer bc someone had a shitty childhood? How does that make sense? Don't get me wrong the candy story about Xue Yang as a kid twists my heart; Jin Guangyao suffering watching the cruelty with which his mother was treated, powerless to do anything about it likewise, but once they were no longer vulnerable they chose the kind of people they wanted to become. They chose over and over again. I have even less sympathy for jiang cheng who largely was the architect of his own misery in his childhood by giving the worst parts of his nature free rein. He never had to fear not having food or shelter. His mother was a horrible venomous woman, but he had YanLi favoring him, and in spite of how his stans try to twist it, his father only tried to gently guide him along. jc chose to echo YZY's world views and rhetoric to a t HIMSELF -Don't help anyone. Only help yourself. Balme everything ever on Wei Wuxian- and then was mad his father didn't praise him for it!

Wei Wuxian was left orphaned not even knowing what happened to his parents when he was four or five and spent four years on the streets, freezing, starving and being mauled by dogs fighting for food. Then he got to Lotus Pier where YZY had to be a venomous piece of shit, and make it her life's purpose to torment him, punish him for every imagined infraction and trash talk his dead parents.

Jiang Fengmian’s wife, Yu Ziyuan, had never been interested in having a conversation with him at all. If she didn’t whip him a few times and tell him to get out, kneel at the ancestral shrine, and keep far away from Jiang Cheng, he already considered that pretty good. (Chapter 29)

If Wei Wuxian hadn't made a conscious choice to see the best and forget the rest in the time he spent in Lotus Pier how miserable would another type of person have been in his place?!!

Someone asked, “Clan Jiang’s Lotus Pier has to be a lot more fun than this, right?”

Laughing, Wei Wuxian said, “Whether it’s fun or not depends on you. There are definitely a lot fewer rules, and there’s no need to wake up so early.” (Chapter 13)

How much carte blanche in terms of bad behavior should everything he went through have given him?! Instead not only is he a nice guy regardless but people in this fandom are actually pressed he didn't remain jc's servant for life after jc was already responsible for his DEATH once! They're try to excuse everyone who was shitty, but get mad that WWX was heroic...

[cannoli-reader]

Also, they are there as a lesson and a challenge to the good guys and a message that you can't win all your fights with force. They are the people that all three ta'veren have to come to terms with in one way or another in the lead-up to Tarmon Gaidon. For quite a few books, the good or 'right' characters have been decrying men fighting their own petty battles with Tarmon Gaidon on the horizon.

It's easy to preach that Tairens and Illianers should get along, that Cairhien and Aiel should put aside their grudges, or the different Ajahs should cooperate, or the Great Houses of Andor need to pull together instead of squabbling over the crown, because we are all on Team Humanity, and that's all that counts when you are facing the Shadow. It's especially easy for the readers and Two Rivers characters who don't have a dog in any of those fights (though Egwene's involvement in the Tower squabble tends to skew her and her friends' and lots of readers' PoV in favor of pressing forward with that conflict, even when we and they ought to know better), or any emotional investment in them.

Except there are the Seanchan. Because they are so objectionable to the reader, we can empathize with the main characters' desire to fight them, we want to see them defeated and humbled, not treated with respect. But they are on Team Humanity. They are extremely effective and useful and would be a great help in the military end of the Last Battle. Put up or shut up. How well can you practice what you preach. Most people agree that it's good to forgive your enemies, but somehow their own enemies are always a special case. Except not the Seanchan. The Pattern keeps beating the guys over the head with the fact that they can't fight the Seanchan and have to find some other way to deal with them.

Also, the Seanchan are simply a better run and healthier society in a lot of ways that highlight the defects of the mainlands and the imbalances of power that are causing the main civilization to stagnate and fade. The point is not to ask the main nations and society "why can't you be more like the Seanchan?" but rather "how is it they are doing a better job than you?" When someone points out that peasants under the High Lords of Tear are in many ways worse off than they would be under the Seanchan, that Cairhienin servants have to step just as carefully as those of the Seanchan, and that the Tower in principle is not much better than the sul'dam, with their conscripting channelers and controlling them with a ter'angreal (which actually has more harmful effects than the a'dam), the point is not that the Seanchan should be emulated, but that the wetlands should be doing better, if they aspire to be better than the Seanchan. Even with efforts in the series itself to rectify some of the worst practices, commoners in many wetland nations lack the legal protections that even slaves supposedly have in Seanchan, and the Seanchan Blood have more accountability than wetlander nobles.

The subtext of such comparisons is "The Seanchan fought a centuries-long war to defeat tyrannical channeling rulers and subdue a culture with no respect for honesty and morality. What's YOUR excuse?" That's also why the good guys can't fight them. Fighting an enemy often makes you more like them. A war against the Seanchan would require total war efforts. The nations would have introduce bureaucracy and mobilize their whole society to match the forces the Seanchan can bring to bear, and that would change them to be more like the Seanchan, just as the Empire originated as an expeditionary force from a well-governed nation, that absorbed far too much of the culture they set out to conquer. They are an object lesson and a moral challenge to the "good" countries who are not as good as they claim to be, but whose faults are more acceptable to the readers or more familiar to the characters.

Moderate Wheel of Time Book Spoilers ahead:

I can’t speak for the WoT community but seeing WoT discourse for over 20 years I’ve seen all kinds of takes on the Seanchan but there seems to be some confusion on their role in the story overall from show audiences so I will simply give my take.

The Seanchan are a civilization that was needed to demonstrate that the forces of the shadow aren’t the only major threat to Randland. There are several examples like this in the story of groups who have degrees of selfishness, cruelty, and prejudice but none as strong as the Seanchan. These include the Whitecloaks, the Red Ajah(Elaida), Shaido, Tairen/Cairhienin Lords, and generally anyone with bigoted ideas or power-hungry agendas who aren’t darkfriends or members of the shadow. The shadow uses these people and groups as useful tools to enact the dark ones bidding.

The Seanchan aren’t inherently “evil” (only the shadow/forsaken/dark one really occupy that role) but of course do lots of evil things and are more or less the worst active group in the story outside of the shadow. They are manipulated by the shadow (forsaken) which the show pretty much tells you but doesn’t go into how far back that goes. But they also don’t need a lot of help when it comes to being awful. The only defense of them you will really find among the fan base are things cited directly from the books or individual characters that were redeemable.

For example, once you swear oaths to Seanchan rule they more or less leave you alone (aside from the channelers obviously). They eliminate crime and corruption (though not from their own ranks as effectively) and arguably treat their citizens more fairly than many kingdoms they conquer. This is all governed by a strict legal code and honor culture followed in their society. Jordan demonstrates the downside of that culture and how it has developed and been exploited to thwart and enslave Aes Sedai and channelers.

The Seanchan are a major example (along with the Aiel) of how morality and ethics change among cultures after long periods of isolation. They have been across the Aryth Ocean for 1,000 years and their knowledge of their own history isn’t much more than legend. The people they are invading know their pre-history better than they do (particularly that of their founder Artur Hawkwing).

But ultimately they are pretty horrible. They will annihilate anything that opposes them. What they do to channelers and those who show the slightest disobedience is indefensible. They are more or less a demonstration of how “evil” a society can become when you marry ignorance/bigotry with enormous military power.

This is all just to say that if you see a book reader defending the Seanchan in any way, it likely is related to how effective they were at fulfilling a certain role in the series, not due to some sort of agreement with their world view. But even that is kind of rare because they just simply aren’t that popular and only have a couple characters that are really relevant in the long run despite having a constant presence. They are baddies who aren’t the shadow but are still awful/scary.

[beauty-and-passion]

A (not so) brief post about my favourite Sanders Sides ships

It all started with this ask:

I just wanted to write a short answer, I swear. Just a short answer with a tiny little explanation about why I like these ships in particular.

But then I got a bit carried away, my explanations became longer and so here I am, writing a full post.

One small clarification before starting: ships don’t have a place in my analyses. If I talk about connections between Sides, these connections are always in terms of friendships, cooperation or familial relationships. The romantic aspect is something different and I may joke about it sometimes, but it’s just a joke.

There is a time and space for romantic relationships - and it looks like that time has come. 

______________________________

Janus and Patton

I've always liked the canonical ship, in (almost) every fandom. So of course I like the canonical ship of this fandom as well :P

Jokes aside, this ship is incredibly mature, very interesting and terribly hard to talk about. The nature of these two characters, their roles and the episodes that had them involved proved how these two speak the same language, work in the same field and, ultimately, need each other.

* More similar that we think

If we look at them on a superficial level, Janus and Patton are completely opposites: one is cynical and cold, the other is a ball of sunshine. One is dark and suave, the other is goofy and bright. Janus' moral is "step on others and only care about yourself", Patton's moral is "help others because they are more important than you".

These differences became clearer over time, the more we learned about Janus and compared him with Patton. However, along these differences, some similarities started to emerge. Some qualities.

Janus and Patton want what's good for Thomas. They are humble enough to recognize their mistakes (the latest example was POF). They have a strong empathy. They’re kind. They’re mature adults (even if Patton doesn’t show it too often). And they both love and use puns.

But that’s not all. Along with these qualities, we found out that these two have similar flaws: they are both liars. They are incredibly persuasive to the point of manipulation. They have a huge influence over the mind (and the other Sides). They both deal with denial.

And this isn't just important, but it's a fundamental point for their character growth. Why? Because if they have similar flaws, if they are both liars and manipulators, then they cannot deceive each other.

And this is HUGE, especially for Patton! By his own admission, Patton lied multiple times, especially about his feelings (the Nostalgia episodes) and his thoughts (the most recent wedding/callback saga).

He always got away with it, because he was lying to other Sides and Thomas. But what would the point be, to lie to the literal embodiment of lies? Janus already knows what of his words are lies and what not, so it would be absolutely useless to do it.

Therefore, if Patton cannot lie to Janus, he cannot pretend everything is alright when it's not or hide his thoughts on a certain topic. He cannot shift the attention somewhere else or let a conversation drop. That means Patton cannot avoid confrontation about his thoughts/feelings and oh boy if he really needs to talk about them - especially with someone mature like Janus.

And yes, having someone who is able to see past your lies means being a lot vulnerable... but also a lot freerer. With Janus, Patton won’t have to pretend to be the strongest one: he can allow himself to be weak and confused, because if he doesn’t have an answer or if the weight of decisions is too much to carry, he has Janus with whom he can share it.

* A foundation of mutual respect

This point has never been fully addressed, but it was very well implied by their words/behaviours since Janus’ first appearance.

The first proof we have is CLBG: after Deceit revealed himself and disappeared, all the Sides and Thomas went through various degrees of shock, frustration and anger. Patton, on the other hand, was the only one who showed a pretty calm demeanor.

He should've been the angriest, considering that Janus took HIS place and pretended to be HIM the whole time. And yet, not only Patton didn't show any resentment, but he didn't talk bad about Janus (even if he had all the reasons to) and he even justified the other Side’s actions to Thomas:

[Patton]: Kiddo, simply put, Deceit is an inner coach that acts with the one intention of self-preservation.

Patton could’ve said anything, to make Janus appear as the worst. And his words could've had a lot of influence on Thomas, considering they were coming from his heart.

However, Patton didn't say anything too bad about Janus - not even in the following episodes.

Then we reach POF: Patton's monologue about his morals went so dramatically bad, he turned into a giant frog with abs and Janus had to sweep in to save Thomas.

In that moment, he could've said ANYTHING to make Patton appear as the worst Side ever. He had his chance on a silver plate: Patton was wrong, he had been wrong the whole time, he was literally ready to fight Thomas.

And yet, Janus took Patton's defense:

[Deceit]: He didn't mislead you on purpose, Thomas. I don't think the little guy... or... the big frog is capable of that sort of thing.

In addition to that, let’s consider Janus' whole attitude towards Patton in SvS: he basically spent an entire episode trying to make Patton understand his point.

[Deceit]: You can defend him all you like... But you can't change the facts. Is Thomas an innocent little lamb? Let's let them be the judge of that.

Why did he insist so much on this? Why not tricking Patton like he did with Roman or ignoring him like he did with Logan?

Because Janus knows how important Patton's role is and his whole behaviour shows respect towards the other Side. Unlike the others, who tend to diminish/forget Patton’s importance, Janus never did and always tried to reach him in the most honest, difficult way: through dialogue and confrontation.

And when he failed, instead of disregarding Patton’s importance, he just kept trying again, until his message finally reached the other Side.

* The perfect working partner

POF proved Patton can't bear the weight of the decision-making process all by himself. He needs another Side who can help him and Janus perfectly fills this role.

But why Janus? Why not Logan? Logan is a very mature Side, he can deal with a lot of stress, he's extremely organized and knows a lot. Surely he can help Patton with the decision-making process, right?

Not exactly. For his own admission, morals and ethics are not Logan's area of expertise (as it should be: logic can’t be influenced by what’s considered “good” or “bad”: logic is neutral). Secondly, Logic isn't an emotional-driven Side: logic is way less affected by emotions than other Sides - especially compared to Patton, who is the embodiment of emotions.

What Patton needs is a mature Side with a grey mentality, humble enough to respect him/not diminish his role, from his same area of expertise and enough emotional-driven to connect with him on an emotional/empathetic level.

And Janus is the only one who fills all those points. Even the latter, as we saw in the last part of POF:

[Patton]: Janus... Do you think there's a limit... on how many times someone can say sorry... before you have to admit... that they're just bad for you? [Janus]: Oh, definitely not. I'd love for someone to ruin Thomas' entire life one apology at a time. [Patton]: Okay. [Janus]: (After seeing Patton's reaction)The reality is that... it depends.

Janus' answer changed, the moment he realized Patton didn't get his sarcasm, by switching from ironic to honest. This is the kind of emotional connection Patton needs, something that doesn’t require words, but a small gesture that says more than a thousand words (yes, I’m also talking about that gaze and the small nod in the end card).

If we add to all of that the detail that Janus can nullify Patton's excuses and see past his lies, we have the perfect partner to help him grow up.

But this cooperation isn’t just one-sided: Janus needs Patton just as much as Patton needs him.

Why? First of all, to have a seat at the table. After years hiding, Janus can finally talk to Thomas, introduce his cynical mentality, make Thomas a little more selfish and help him grow up.

Secondly, by cooperating with Patton, Janus will become a better Side: he will learn to compromise, to work together and, most importantly, to trust Patton. And this is a particularly important point because, as I said in my analysis of POF, Janus isn’t used to trust others and he doesn’t want them to see past his barriers. Working with Patton might be exactly what he needs to trust the other Sides and lower these barriers, even a tiny bit.

* The romantic possibility

Considering all of the above points, the idea that their cooperation could evolve into something romantic-driven isn't so strange. The elements are all here, there's nothing weird to add nor need to bend canon, in order to make the ship happen. Their mutual acceptance can easily become need, learning more about each other can easily evolve into desiring each other and friendship could grow into passion.

And, of course, let's not forget marriage. These two can only end up in marriage. I mean, one is a dad, the other is a mom witch, so they are a perfect match XD

My point is: this ship isn't just a “cute couple being cute”. It's about dialogues. Conversations about themselves, their different points of view, their morals, their cooperation, how to help Thomas and the other Sides. It's based on listening to each other, on knowing each other a little more every day. On being silly together, working and failing together, going down and getting up, because there is someone by your side to lend a helping hand.

This is what makes Janus and Patton the most realistic, mature couple. And that's probably why it's so hard to perfectly nail it.

______________________________

Logan and Remus

Here it is, the couple that blew up after one episode and was confirmed in the most recent Aside.

But seriously, these two have a huge potential - first as friends/working partners, then as romantic partners. Logan and Remus need each other and the reasons are pretty clear:

- Having an interlocutor

Remus is Unleashed Creativity, a volcano of ideas in constant need of new stimuli, no matter if they are considered good or bad. After all "good and bad are all made up nonsense", as he said.

Logan is a walking encyclopedia in search of someone who wants to listen to him. He's pure, undiluted knowledge because that's what logic should be. No morals about what's good and what's bad, no emotions, nothing but neutral knowledge.

Considering that, it’s pretty clear these two have to come into contact. But what would they gain?

Well, Remus would have the stimuli he desperately craves. And Logan?

Logan would gain an incredibly smart interlocutor. And I’m not saying it because I am biased towards Remus, but because the canonical episodes showed us how smart he is. In both DWIT and WTIT Remus proved to be a quick thinker, with a sharp intellect and an even sharper eye. He's silly and over the top, but he's not an idiot and he uses everything he has for his own creative needs, no matter how small it is.

Just imagine this cleverness applied to everything Logan might say to him. Remus wouldn’t be the only one to benefit from it, but the whole creative process and, ultimately, Thomas himself, who will have better, richer ideas.

- Gaining a place

At this moment in time (just after WTIT) Remus has not been fully accepted yet. He is tolerated and his presence is a nuisance, but he’s neither wanted, nor banished. He’s just here and he has no voice on any matter.

Also because no one wants to give him a chance to prove how useful and worthy he can be. Thomas barely tolerates him, Patton does his best to ignore him, Roman doesn’t even want to see him and Virgil would rather not have any of the Others present.

The only Core Side who accepts Remus’ presence and is willing to give him a chance is Logan. He spent the entire DWIT to explain why Remus is useful for Thomas and shouldn’t be ignored, while in WTIT, he said: "There will be a time and place for you" - thus implying that, one day, Remus will finally be able to show how worthy he can be.

This is exactly what Remus needs: a Core Side who doesn’t see him as a nuisance or a villain, but as a fundamental part of Thomas that can be helpful, in his own way. Someone willing to give him a seat at the table (at least in the future). And, most importantly, someone who is powerful enough to control him.

Remus is and will always be a force of nature. He will never rest or stop being chaotic. This is why he needs someone strong by his side, someone who can’t be overcomed by his dark thoughts and that can put him back on track if necessary. And Logan proved to be perfect for this role not once, but twice.

- Understanding on a deeper level

However this cooperation won’t be beneficial just for Remus. As I said before, Remus could be a clever interlocutor for Logan. And this cleverness isn’t just related to creativity, but also to emotional understanding.

The Core Sides have known Logan for almost thirty years and yet, they have no idea of the inner turmoil raging inside him. They keep ignoring and dismissing him, clearly thinking everything is fine.

It took Remus one single day to realize what Logan’s problem is, how deeply frustrated he is and how much he’s actually angry at Thomas. Less than 24 hours and Remus knows Logan better than his long time friends.

That’s exactly what Logan needs. Someone sharp enough to notice his behaviour, find out the root of the problem and make Logan face it, instead of dismissing it because who cares (yes, Roman, I am talking about you and your “You'll be fine, Rome didn't fall in a day.”)

- The romantic possibility

I think almost all the fandom agrees that these two would have a great sex life. After all, Remus is the embodiment of Thomas' sexual urges, so he would definitely go for a very physical relationship.

But having a good sex life implies a lot of other great things: good chemistry, no comunication issues, great stability and greater trust. And, even more important, the desire to try new things together. Logan and Remus are both very curious Sides, they both want to know new things and experience them: so their relationship would probably be based on discussing new ideas, testing them and finding out together if they are good or not.

And this doesn't apply to just the sexual aspect: even just the romantic aspect or the working aspect of their relationship could have these characteristics. Logan and Remus can motivate each other, learn from one another and find new things together. They are clever enough to stimulate each other's mind, curious enough to do stuff together to learn something new and honest enough to not withdraw their opinions on any matter.

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Roman and Virgil

I am just recently starting to warm up to this couple, so I will keep this part short.

Just as it was for the previous two couples, these two can work together because canon made them work. The first part of their whole relationship is already all canonically established: at first Roman saw Virgil as a villain, then he slowly realized he could be a friend. Now moving from friends to lovers isn’t so difficult.

^ No need to demonstrate

Roman needs someone like Virgil, because Virgil is on his same level. Sure, Virgil’s mentality is way more gray-ish, but he still has a lot to learn, just like Roman.

Having someone on his side, who is on his same level is a huge relief: with Virgil, Roman doesn't have to pretend, nor to show off, nor to be dashing and perfect all the time. He knows Virgil won't care less, so he can relax. And for someone who is used to working all the time, having a moment of quiet with someone who has zero espectations is exactly what Roman needs.

Same goes for Virgil: he knows Roman won't care if he's gloomy and dark, because Roman already saw that side of him and appreciates him anyway. So no need to pretend to be different. He can relax too. And, because of his anxious nature, relaxing is exactly what he also needs.

So if they both need to relax, that implies they also need time to do it. And without expectations, without feeling like the other “is better than me and I’m slowing him down”, they can really take all the time they need, to grow at their own pace.

^ Growing together

Virgil and Roman’s is not a one-sided relationship, in which one knows more than the other and helps the other reach his level: since they are on the same level, if one of them learns something new, then it’s a victory for them both, because the other will be motivated to do more/learn more as well.

This isn’t just something I think, but something we saw in canon. During AA-part 2, Roman clearly stated that Virgil “make us... better”, thus implying that Virgil acted as a motivator for him.

Then we had FWSA and here we saw this sentence applied the other way around: Roman was the motivator and, thanks to him, Virgil overcame his own anxiety to push Thomas towards Nico. The final result was a victory for them both: Roman got the romance he’s desperately craving, Virgil found out a new aspect of himself: his bravery.

^ The romantic possibility

These two are a walking “enemies to friends to lovers” trope, so I don’t think there’s anything else to add XD

Only that they would both be quite passionate. One is Thomas’ romantic side, the other is heavily influenced by emotions: if the good one takes Virgil, he would probably be a very passionate partner.

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Two couples I understand

Janus and Remus -> I understand the appeal of this one and it would kinda make sense, especially from Remus’ point of view. Remus has (probably) sexual fantasies about anything, so I wouldn't be too surprised if he has a whole collection of sexual fantasies about the Side who is closest to him.

But also, I see them too much like father and son/bestest friends to imagine them having a romantic relationship.

So my take is more like that: Remus has sexual fantasies about Janus, just like he has sexual fantasies about anyone. They are his way to show his affection, how much he cares about Janus and wants to protect him.

But Remus is Remus and he's prone to lose control. That's why, since he reached adolescence and started to develop the sexual aspect, Janus put clear limits that give Remus enough space to express his fantasies, but never past a certain point.

So Remus can be very touchy (because, well, he's Remus) and extremely physical in showing his affections, but never go below a certain point. He can talk in full details about all his sexual fantasies to Janus, but never try to sexually force him. He can try to seduce him or propose sexual things, but never pretend he will accept.

And so, over time, it became a sort of internal joke between them: Remus tells his fantasies at the breakfast table, while Janus rolls his eyes with a "very interesting", they have a laugh, they keep going with their day. Remus wants to cuddle, Janus will cuddle. Remus proposes sex, Janus will just laugh and give him a forehead kiss.

In other words, they are the kind of friends who you can find sprawled on a couch, one on top of the other and imagine they're a couple, while that's just how they read a book together.

Logan and Roman -> This couple isn’t bad at all and I really like the idea of these two having a sorta-romantic crush on each other. It can lead to a lot of poetic/romantic possibilities.

The only problem is: Logan is logic, therefore he would destroy all the romance with one sentence XD and the romantic, poetic scene evoked would turn into these two arguing like madmen.

So, well, maybe the hate-sex would be great, but they would definitely spend too much time arguing. Still, I am very curious about it, so I will keep searching for stuff about them.

[straycinameticuniverse]

RED LIGHTS IS OUT FOR ALL YOU FREAKS

Freaks is the designated group of individuals who lack the patience to peacefully wait for the red lights to go green and so they just keep raging in anger inside their cars or on their motorcycles.

When I said that red lights was about traffic lights and the continuing story of motorcycles, I wasn’t joking and I am so happy that HyunChan came and dropped the video to affirm the fact they are indeed set on educating their fans at whatever cost. The chains and the ropes are the main plot for this music video as they serve as an analogy for how your morals should hold you back from doing the wrong thing but you know what else? This video has brought light to something I had forgotten to mention the last time, the real reason there is two of them going through the struggle with the red lights also serves as a reminder that our friends will never abandon us and will always hold us back from being the worst versions of ourselves.

I will do the very much needed analysis step by step because like the boys, I too care about the education of my fellow stans.

Seeing as how the video begins with Bang Chan pulling at chains I can only assume to be attached to Hyunjin’s body, he is using up all his energy to pull his friend, who is about to go past the red light, so that they do not get fined and completely destroy whatever morals they still have left and the scene goes hyunjin lying in bed facing upward with chains casing his body, clearly he struggles to hold himself back from doing things he shouldn’t do sometimes but luckily his friend Bang Chan is always there to make sure that he is under control, even if it means chaining him down to the bed, you may be wondering why a bed specifically, well its simply, beds are comfortable and even though this battle is only happening in their minds, Chan would never really want to harm his dear friend and that is why he insists on laying him on the bed to fight his demons. Although we see chan tied down on a table it is not because hyunjin doesn’t care about him but because hyunjin was tired and he doesn’t work out as much as muscle man chan and he didn’t want to hurt both himself and his friend so he puts him in a secure table which was the first place he spotted. If you are wondering how they both manage to tie each other because that wouldn’t be possible, well let me tell you an insider’s secret, the events in the music video are not happening at the same time and so they have only put them together because they are similar and so it only just shows how they would do the same for each other when the time comes, they wouldn’t let the other just go on and go past a red light.

When you see chan standing over hyunjin on the bed he is simply letting the boy know that “bro, I am warning you, speeding past that light is not worth it and that is why I have tied you to this bed, I hope you understand” the video then shows how at a different instance Bang Chan has tied Hyunjin up to the neck, and that still represents the struggle, it may not always be easy to do the right thing and it might hurt to be held back but the end results will be worth it, even if hyunjin keeps trying to escape, he doesn’t try too hard because I am sure even he knows that he needs to be held down because there is traffic coming his way up ahead.

When hyunjin is standing Chan you best believe he is telling his hyung to chill, being a few minutes late to where they are going really isn’t that much of a big deal, but chan really doesn’t care to listen, you see him standing on the table talking about, “going crazy now”, and all I can say is same bro, same. Also what a body ody ody ody ody ody that man has!

The sparks you see falling from the ceiling are representing the friction that occurs when the motorcycle stops at the traffic light after having been speeding through the night, it comes to a sudden halt.

When the dance break comes it is only to remind you the important things in life, before speeding past that red light please remember that you could instead have a dance break with your bestie in that time as you wait to pass time till the lights go back to green, if you do not have such glamorous dance breaks with your friends at traffic lights are you really living life and do you even have a bestie? I hope that upon seeing this you will be enlightened to do this yourself, keeping in mind that you should only do this in your heads, getting out of the car during the red light waiting period is not advisable and my babies never advised such, but they do encourage the use of imagination to pass time.

They proceed to show themselves in a chokehold from the other in which this serves to remind you that if the use of your imagination doesn’t work, you are allowed to get a little physical and only a little and please remember it is only to stop the other from crossing the line, that traffic light will stay red for as long as it pleases and you have to fight the forces telling you to past it.

In the background of the audio you can hear the breathing, that’s the tired breath of a man who has been driving their motorcycle safely and smoothly.

You can see them running through the hallways but it doesn’t seem to be that easy, as they are still held down by the chains, this serves to remind you that knowing that going past that red light is wrong is not going to stop you from still wanting to do it and so let’s say thank you to the friends that know better. When the next dance break comes and you see chan lifting hyunjin up, it is to remind you just how your friends will lift you up even if they themselves are on the very ground, they will sacrifice what little of their strength they have to make sure that you are okay.

The rest of the video goes back and forth with the idea I have already stated, the table setup is when they both comes to terms with the fact that this is how things are going to be, they will fight each other for the greater good but in the end they really do just love each other and want the best for the other.

You think you a couple of seductive looks well no it’s all in your head, chan and hyunjin are only making faces because they know that’s the only way to capture your attention, that’s the only reason there are all those looks directed at the camera all my boys want is Ta Educate!!!!!

I hope you are happy and know more are traffic lights, motorcycles and most importantly friendship.

STAY WOKE

[boldlyvoid]

Intro to Criminal Minds: Why They Did It

Criminal Minds x MINDHUNTER AU

Spencer Reid x Margaret Carr (OC)

Part 1: Ed Kemper.

Summary: Spencer is teaching a 7-week seminar on the most interesting criminal cases, explaining their actions to understand why they took place. Only, not everyone in the audience is a student.

warnings: graphic details of a real rape and murder case, like every trigger in the book, applies to this fic so read with caution (if you watch either show you're used to it, however), it's all real and did actually happen and I don't support any of it. strangers to lovers, mutual pining, flirting, fluff, eventual smut, idiots in love, OC is Wendy Carr's daughter, her bio father is Jason Gideon

word count: 3.9K

He'd be lying if he said he wasn't having fun teaching.

He started with guest speaking, moving to special seminars a few times a year. But he wanted something more, settling for a 7-week criminal justice elective of his choosing.

Intro to Criminal Minds: why they did it. Giving Spencer an excuse to share the most intimate facts about serial offenders in a setting where no one could tell him to shut up.

14 students total signed up for the two-hour Seminar, taking place every Thursday at 11 am from September until Halloween. Over the 7 weeks, he would explain the fascinating insights of the most successful killers in the United States. Only asking that his students write about a prolific crime they find interesting by the end of term, for their full grade.

All he wanted was to read about obscure killers from around the world, from the perspective of aspiring profilers.

The first Thursday, he came prepared with his coffee a half hour before the class. He wanted to write the main points on the whiteboard in advance, nice and neatly.

To his surprise, a student was already there waiting for him. "Oh, hello,” he smiled softly.

She was sitting with a book in her hands, she pushed her glasses up her nose to look at him as he walked in. She was older than his typical student, around 35. Probably finishing up a degree or adding something to what she already had.

"Hi," she smiled at him. “Sorry, I’m early, I was visiting my mom at Quantico earlier.” She explained. "I'm not a teacher's pet or anything. Promise, I’m not even a student.”

It made him laugh slightly, correcting him like she read his mind. "It's okay, I'm Doctor Reid," he introduced himself softly.

“Margaret Carr, Peggy is also fine.”

"Pleasure to meet you," he said quickly before focusing his attention on the whiteboard.

He could feel her eyes on him the whole time he wrote, not wanting to turn around and catch her. "That's so interesting," he heard her mumble under her breath.

"Hmm?" He turned around.

"It's just that, everyday occurrences that never phase the regular person somehow cause psychopaths to kill," she read the board back to him.

"I was reading a study a while back about how psycho killers medulla oblongata is approximately 19% smaller than the average human’s. Based on the way they're nurtured as children affects if they grow up to kill. The ones that don't often end up in law enforcement and other positions of power where their psychopathic tendencies can come to play."

He was taken aback for a moment. He had never experienced a student who was like him before. Someone who just pulled facts into conversations like it was nothing.

"I read that as well," he smiled. "It is fascinating. The smallest amount of bullying and abuse from a mother or disappearance of a father figure can set them off."

"Or, on the other hand, there are people like Ted Bundy," she added. "He was well-loved and taken care of, but it went to his head. His god complex and affinity for lying led him to be incredibly charismatic and enabled his killing."

"You're very educated on this already; are you just interested in hearing me speak today?" He asked, not wanting her to leave, finding it interesting that she was there.

"Oh," she blushed. "I was going to talk to you more about it after the seminar actually."

“Okay, I’ll be waiting for you,” he felt a little giddy at the prospect.

"Thanks," she laughed. "Seriously though, I'm a big fan of your teaching style, I saw a few of your classes when my dad was teaching at the academy in 2005. It's a lot easier to remember facts if the lecturer genuinely loves what they're talking about."

"You're going to like this Seminar then. It’s basically just a way for me to get paid while unloading all the random facts I have,” he warned her with a smile.

"I know." She smiled back at him.

The rest of his students filed in slowly. By 11 am, 14 faces were staring back at him.

"Hello," he waved awkwardly. "I'm dr. Spencer Reid. For the last 12 years, I've worked with the FBI's Behavioural Analysis Unit. Catching serial offenders across the country."

He took a deep breath, letting the nerves find their way out of him. "I've been asked time and time again who my favourite serial killer is, which is a peculiar way to phrase the question. It feels morally wrong to have a favourite in the way people do with baseball players.

"I am, however, fascinated with several serial offenders' reasoning and explanation for why they did what they did. Every single killer is different, but it all comes back to 1 thing. Do you know what that is?"

They all shook their heads. “What is your relationship with your parents like?" He asked. 

Everyone in the room reacted; some students sighed, some rolled their eyes as they recalled their parents and childhoods to memory.

"When a person decides to kill, it's often never in the moment. It's in childhood. The majority of serial offender's stories start the same; their mother didn't love them, their father left. Someone at home abused them or put them down repeatedly."

"Thus, causing a hatred so primal to bubble. No matter how hard they try and fight it, the bubble always bursts. They go from fantasizing to killing in retaliation for their abuse, taking the anger out in stages."

He referred to the board. "Every killer has a stressor and a trigger—something that causes the urge to bubble and the event that causes the bubble to rupture.”

"Edmund Kemper is a fascinating example of this. He grew up with a family for the first few years of his life before his father fully abandoned them. His mother handled the situation by turning her anger onto her son; it was his fault his father left, he looked just like him, Ed was just another useless man who would never amount to anything," he emphasized the words. Hoping the class sees the effects words have on children.

"He started by cutting up dolls, stealing his sister's barbies and cutting their heads off. In his mind, he was getting out his anger and hatred for how his mother saw him. She hated men, causing him to mature with a warped idea of what women are truly like."

"His attraction to killing worsened his mother's hatred; she could tell something was wrong with him, that he didn't react to everyday situations the way he should. By the time he was ten, she was locking him in the basement for days on end, telling him he was a monster and her biggest regret."

"The change in her rage amplified his own. He hated hearing her speak. He hated the way she walked around, thinking she was better than him. That just because she was a mother and a working woman, she deserved respect and submissive’s. All he could see was a woman with a big head who needed to be humbled. This is the moment when the psychotic side of his brain blended his hatred of his mother with how good it felt to kill."

"Is that why he, you know?" Peggy cut in, running her finger along her neck as she pretended to cut her head off.

He pressed his lips together in an awkward smile, nodding. "His signature, as it's called, was decapitation. But more specifically necrophiling the severed head of his victims."

The whole class let out a disgusted noise, Peggy and Spencer making eye contact while they shrugged, it wasn't news to them.

"At age ten, he moved from barbies to cats and dogs, never leaving them around for his mother to see. While he hated her, he was also absolutely terrified of her. Breading a special type of killer. When you think of school shooters or preferential predators, what do they have in common?" He asked.

He pointed at a student in the back. "They have a specific type of victim they’re after?"

"Exactly. Most serial offenders want to go after the cause of their pain or attraction. However, Ed wasn't able to kill the source of his rage for a long time. His mother mentally abused him so intensely that he believed she was in control of him and that her opinion of him mattered. He saw her as his God, he loved her, but he also knew that he disappointed her.

"He ran away soon after to find his father. Travelling to California, only to be told he was unwanted there as well. It wasn't just his mother that his father was escaping; it was the fundamental aspect of family that he didn't want. Ed defiantly didn't want to go back to his mother after that, so he moved in with his paternal grandparents."

He kept catching the looks on Peggy's face. She knew the story already, waiting patiently to hear the words he chose to make the horrific acts seem a little more conversational.

"His grandmother was exactly like his mother. If I had to guess, his father most likely had a distaste for his own mother and thus divorced Ed's mom. Only he never grew up to be a killer, just an absent father—his absence doing to Ed what never happened to him."

"Ed killed his grandparents when he was 15. Telling the police and his therapists that they had beaten him constantly, they refused to feed him and called him names. He said he snapped from the trauma; it was self-defence."

Peggy laughed to herself, making him smile softly. "Sending him to a mental hospital instead of a juvenile facility was the worst thing they could've done for him," Spencer added.

"Why?" A student asked.

"Ed is a psychopath." He reminded them. "He doesn't feel empathy the way we do. You can admit that you feel bad for him, yes? If you understand why he killed people, it doesn't make you sick, like him, it makes you human. You see a hurt person hurting others; Ed Kemper sees himself as a new sort of God, choosing who dies, how and when."

"He was brilliant, having the exact IQ as I do," just a humblebrag, "the staff trusted him. He looked like an innocent boy, smart enough to take matters into his own hands for the betterment of his life. They gave him computer privileges, they let him work the front desk and file patient information. Giving him all the resources to learn about who he was inside and how to get away with it perfectly."

"Damn," another kid added. "When did he get out?"

"At 21.” He answered the student quickly. “Ed was interviewed by my mentor Jason Gideon, in the 70s. Where he explained that being locked up during his sexual prime, as well as the access to information, is what truly set him off more than his mother.

"He moved back in with her and his sister when he came out of the institution, immediately returning to the constant ridicule. He went from being told all the time that he was a smart and charming young man, capable of rehabilitation to a useless, no-good son, who would have been better off collecting in a condom or running down her leg."

The whole class laughed, shocked at his repetition of Ed's mother's words.

"He got his licence when he was released. And remember, this was prime time for hitchhiking in California; everyone and their mother walked the roads with a thumb in the air. It was the birth of free love and recreational marijuana usage. It was also the best hunting ground for a learning serial killer."

"He was able to pick women up, but like I said, missing his sexual prime while in an institution made him almost impotent. He didn't know how to speak to women; he had to create a fantasy in his mind every time, one that involved killing, before he could look at a woman."

"How did he get them in his car then?" A voice asked from the back.

"He was 6'9, 300lbs; he looked like a big teddy bear. And his mother was the local college administrative assistant, so the whole town knew him anyway. If Ed offered to give them a ride, it wouldn't be that bad, right?" Peggy turned around to face the class as she explained for Spencer, who just shook his head.

"He only wanted to rape the victims, originally," Spencer added. "But he couldn't. There was no release of the tension. The bubble that had been growing inside him was at its breaking point; he needed to just do it. Get it over with and move on."

"He killed 6 women in succession after that. Gaining the name "The Co-Ed Killer," well before anyone even suspected Ed Kemper," Spencer took a sip of coffee, feeling his throat start to dry as they reached the insane part.

"He was overly friendly with the cops; he wanted to get his record expunged and join the force.” Spencer finally continued. “Being told, "don't worry about your record, worry about your weight.""

"Most killers enjoy wearing a uniform for the power and talking to the police about their cases, in the hopes of gauging how smart they really are—taking pride in the fact that they are getting away with it for so long."

"He watched all the cop shows, and he read all the books. He knew that in order to get away with it, he had to do it where no one could trace it back to him. He knew he had to keep his cool and avoid looking obsessed with the case, but just curious enough to gain insight into how they thought he was doing it. It went on for years, and they had absolutely zero leads, finding headless bodies every few months before they finally received a call." He left them hanging, walking over to his sheet of paper and pretending to read it while they anticipated the catch.

"Ed always knew that he wanted to kill his mother. He just never knew when,” Spencer teased the story along. Noticing as the students fidgeted in their seats as they wondered what happened next.

“In his interview with Gideon, Ed said that he knew she would die 7 days before he killed her. He walked into her room that night to find her reading, with the audacity to ask if he wanted to come in and chat all night. Teasing him for the way he rambled to her. It was the last time she ever did that."

"It's hard to imagine his signature with the fact his second last victim was his mother," Peggy added, cringing at the thought.

"Wait," another student interjected. "Who was his last kill then if he only really wanted to kill her?"

"Remember how I said he lacked empathy?" Spencer asked. "He loved his mother in the same way a prisoner can end up loving their captor."

Peggy nods at the comparison, looking like she's never thought of it that way before, then smiling at him.

"You grow a bond through the trauma and when the only thing you've ever known is violence and hate, you don't know what to do when that's gone, it's hard to cope."

"He said he killed his mother so that she never had to know what he did. She'd never have to sit at his court hearings or be able to tell the media that she always knew he was a killer."

"His last kill was his mother's best friend," He finally answered the question.

"He didn't want his mother to be even more disappointed in him, but he also didn't want his mother's best friend to find her like that and be upset. So the obvious answer to him was to kill her too."

"What the fuck?" He heard a couple of kids say under their breath.

"Yeah," he agreed with an almost chuckle. "This is what I mean by their answers are fascinating. It makes so much sense to them; clearly, if I kill my mother, her friend will be upset, so the best answer would be to put her out of her misery as well. He sees them as objects, like a matching set. One would lose value without the other."

Everyone was silent then. The students took in all the information they had just received, staring up at him with a look of disgust mixed with wonder.

"Any questions?"

Peggy raised her hand for a change; he pointed towards her in approval. "You missed the part where he specifically took the heads from the three women before his mother and brought them back home with him. He buried them in the yard outside her bedroom window, making sure they were always looking up to her."

Spencer was amazed that she knew the details. "Yes, I guess I did."

"I always found that part particularly interesting in this case," Peggy added. "Her opinion mattered so much to him. He knew how much she loved her co-ed's and how they looked up to her so much. They'd be exactly like her. He felt trapped in a town of women who were exactly like his nightmare, and his response was to make them physically look up to her for the rest of her life."

"Exactly." Spencer smiled. "understanding how he sees the situation and how the events played out in his mind is the key in figuring out who he is."

"If you were on the case in '72 when the first victims were discovered, how would you have handled it, Dr. Reid?" A male student in the back asked in the silence between answers, taking his shot before Peggy and Spencer went any further in their discussion.

“That's a hard thing to answer, connecting evidence back then was a lot harder than it is today, if it wasn’t for men like Ed there wouldn’t really be this many answers,” Spencer said honestly.

Another student put her hand up, “what’s the worst thing he did in your opinion?”

That racked his brain, there was a handful of horrific things he did that were particularly horrific, “probably his mother's entire murder.”

“What did he do?”

Before Spencer could answer he saw Peggy open her mouth and start explaining. “He not only cut off her head and fucked her neck, but he also took her vocal cords out and shoved them down the garbage disposal. And before he called the cops, he cleaned everything up and made her look presentable because he said his mother wouldn’t want guests to see the mess.”

The class all cringed, sinking into their seats with disgust. But that didn’t stop Peggy from explaining it all further.

“He used to go to a bar all the cops went to and he would talk about his case. They would always one-up themselves and say they were close which gave him this false idea that they were on his tail and they’d find his mother soon. But when they didn’t, he called it in from a payphone and said he’d come over and explain it all. And boy did he ever, the cops said he wouldn’t shut up. And then when they put him in the cop car finally, a woman walked past him and he threw up.”

Spencer watched her with awe, the way she could call information to memory like that was beautiful. He listened to her like he’s never heard a fact before, she was so intriguing.

“Thank you for the detail,” he teased her lightly. “Sometimes I get so caught up that the really gross parts get swept aside.”

The class smiled at him, he had gained their trust and attention within only 1 hour of class.

“I know you said you don’t have a favourite,” another student asked from the back. “I agree it’s weird, but who is the one you gravitate towards the most?”

“I’ve met hundreds of serial killers, I’ve read about thousands,” he explained. “I think Ed Kemper is the one I gravitate the most around because he was so willing and open to explaining why he is the way he is. Going as far as to say that the only way they could keep women safe is to give him a lobotomy. He didn’t believe there was any correcting to be done, only removal of the evil within him.”

He heard slight mumbles as everyone took in what he said. “Does anyone here have a killer or a case that interested them in learning more, or just introduced you to the chase of justice?”

Peggy put her hand up, “I personally think BTK is the scariest, most tactical, and just downright evil man to ever exist. He scares me to no end but he’s so interesting to learn about.”

“Ahh,” Spencer agreed. “Too bad you won't be here for week 3. But with that I think I’ll end the class, next week we’ll be discussing the difference between Ted Bundy and Richard Speck.” He nodded lightly, watching the majority of them close their books and had on out.

“I really enjoyed the class,” she said softly. Holding her purse in one hand, a collection of files in the other.

Spencer turned to look at her then, smiling right back. “It was a pleasure to teach alongside you.”

“What do you mean?” She teased, “it’s not like my mom and dad were the ones who did all the interviews."

“Carr,” he repeats her last name. The gears turning in his mind as he brings all the information forth.

“Your mother is Wendy Carr, she was recruited after the BTK case with Bill Tench, she’s who was behind that study you mentioned.”

“I know,” she smiled.

“Who’s your father?”

“Guess,” she looked at him with an unimpressed look on her face, pushing her glasses up slightly.

“You’re kidding? Gideon never said he had a daughter let alone a,” he stops himself before he can embarrass himself any further.

She smiled at the implication of his words, “but he’s told me all about you Dr. Reid, that’s why I'm here.”

“You need help with a case and I’m the only agent in Virginia currently,” he pressed his lips together awkwardly. Knowing it was too good to be true that she would have any interest in him in the slightest.

“No actually, I have a case I’ve been working on privately and I need some help. I asked my dad but he said you’d be able to help me the best. I agree,” she corrected him softly. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I was a big fan of yours. When I would sit in and watch his lectures, before he knew I was his kid, you would always step in at the best parts, adding the smallest details to the story that the average person would forget. It’s magnificent.”

He laughed slightly, tugging at his collar as she complimented him. “Thank you, you’re quite magnificent as well,” he replied with a blush and a smile

She didn’t look like Gideon, probably because she smiled so much. Like sunshine on legs, she beamed, all but blinding him with her smile as she stared at him, “do you want to get lunch and go over this case with me?”

“I’d love to.”

taglist: (message me if you want to be added or removed)

@shemarmooresfedora @spencers-dria @spookyspence @reidsfish @manuosorioh @mochionly @samuel-de-champagne-problems @jswessie187 @k-k0129 @calm-and-doctor @blanchardsbk

[thelordofgifs]

Part 20! This one is long.

The fall was always coming.

Fingon thinks of blood on the white sands of Alqualondë and the terrible Doom that followed it.

He thinks of Eagles.

Up on the battlements he clasps Maedhros' hand in his. "We will not hold much longer, beloved."

"You think I should call the retreat," Maedhros says.

"I will not overrule you," says Fingon.

"Better if you did," Maedhros says, "they will not heed me now, and rightly so."

"Come down and fight," Fingon suggests, "and prove them wrong."

"I know not if that is safe," Maedhros murmurs. "You have seen what happens when thralls are given weapons."

Nelyo, you are not a thrall, Maglor told him.

Maglor isn't here. Maedhros killed him.

Fingon protests the appellation too. "Don't call yourself that."

Maedhros smiles at him and puts on his Elder Cousin Voice, which usually conveys something like I-know-better-than-you-and-I'm-only-waiting-for-you-to-realise-it.

(Fingon hates the Elder Cousin Voice.)

"A thrall," Maedhros says reasonably, "is one who is not the master of his own will, and does the Enemy's work because of it. By any commonly-used definition—"

"The last stronghold of the East is falling," Fingon tells him. "This does seem like quite the opportune moment to quibble over definitions."

Maedhros sighs. "Give me some time to think," he says.

"All right," says Fingon, "but inside," and he leads Maedhros back to his quarters.

Threatening to throw yourself from the battlements, Maedhros notes, while very effective in the moment, might have unforeseen consequences too.

Left alone, he paces a contemplative circle around his study and tries to think.

Maglor's hand cold against his cheek—

Not that.

Maedhros is not a very good son. He thinks he was, once, at least while his father lived; but then he knelt before Fëanor's hated half-brother and offered him the crown that was Maedhros' birthright, knowing as he did so that his father could never forgive this. Sometimes he almost revels in it. With every sibilant sá-sí that passes his lips he thinks, I am not like you. I will not be like you.

Although he cannot say it aloud, he is not a very good lover. Fingon is a miracle and a blessing and Maedhros loves him with everything he is, but he knows that is not enough. He is not now the fair and charming prince Fingon fell in love with in Tirion across the Sea; and for all Fingon has changed since then too, he deserves better than the war-hardened and distant shell that is all Maedhros can offer.

But he always thought – he always thought he was, if nothing else, beyond reproach as an elder brother.

It was only ever a delusion. Amrod and Celegorm both died because Maedhros failed to protect them, after all.

But this is different. He has killed Maglor himself – no need for metaphor. He held his little brother with one arm and drove a blade into his side with the other.

Who is he, if not that? What is left of him if Maglor is gone – if he cannot be Maglor’s protector anymore, because Maglor is dead – because Maedhros killed him?

A slave, suggests the voice of Sauron that ever lurks at the back of his mind, a pretty toy to adorn the halls of Morgoth, nothing of any importance.

Maedhros shakes himself. It was listening to Sauron’s lies that got him into this mess, after all—

But that is not true. Sauron is not here, and it was Maedhros’ own unstable mind that betrayed him.

That is not quite right either. There was no division within him, no evil spirit that took control of his faculties: it was him. He killed Maglor himself.

How can he ever begin to come to terms with that?

Meanwhile Curufin and Maglor are making their painstaking way through the hills of the Eastmarch.

Curufin was expecting (and dreading) the Worst Road Trip 2.0, complete with moral lectures and another blistering enumeration of his personal failings.

Instead Maglor mostly sleeps.

Periodically he is jolted by the uneven, rocky path, and starts awake with a little cry of pain; occasionally his stab wound reopens and Curufin is obliged to dismount and dress it anew to avoid leaving a trail of blood behind them.

“We will not reach Belegost,” Maglor says unexpectedly at one point.

“We might,” Curufin insists.

Even bundled up in several cloaks, he can tell that Maglor is shivering. “Curvo, at this pace it will take us a year.”

“Well, what do you wish me to do about that?” Curufin asks crossly. “You can’t go any faster.”

“Think of a better plan,” suggests Maglor, “or else go back to Himring.”

“We can’t go back to Himring. Stop asking.”

Maglor’s breath catches in a manner that sounds almost like a sob.

“Káno, what’s the matter?” Curufin asks, trying to be gentle. “Fingon said Himring would fall. You know you can’t stay there.”

Maglor is not usually in the habit of unburdening himself to his younger brothers. But he is very heartsick now.

“I thought,” he falters, “I thought Nelyo would need me – after he remembered – but he made me leave—”

“So,” Curufin says slowly, “you’re not upset that he stabbed you, but you mind that he sent you away?”

“I wouldn’t expect you to understand,” Maglor says, immediately defensive, “you don’t know anything of loyalty.”

Curufin knows this is bait, but he rises to it anyway. “That isn’t true.”

Maglor says, "Do you think Tyelko would be proud of what you did?"

Curufin stiffens. "He didn't make any objections to what I did while he was alive. Maybe you didn't know him as well as you claim to."

"Did any of us ever know each other?" Maglor asks, voice very dreamy.

Curufin is not in the mood for poetical gibberish. "I knew him," he says sharply.

"You always grieved by striking out," Maglor says. "But it wasn't Nelyo's fault that Tyelko died."

Curufin does not want to criticise Maedhros – he thinks he has probably lost the right to do that for a good while – but nor can he bear the gentleness in Maglor's voice. "So you would say, naturally," he sneers. "You'd forgive Nelyo anything so long as you can still be useful to him. Well, you shall not see him for a long time now."

"I already knew that," Maglor murmurs, with an edge to his voice that Curufin cannot quite decipher.

He elects not to respond, and soon after Maglor slips back into his uneasy sleep.

Back at Himring Maedhros dons his armour and comes to join Fingon on the battlefield.

Fingon's heart takes strength in the sight of him, but it is plainly one of the few to do so.

Maedhros is well aware of this too.

"I will not pretend that I have not failed you," he tells his people during a lull in the fighting, with that disarming air of bleak honesty he has. "I do not ask for your loyalty now: only that you give it, if your hearts are yet hardened by the malice of the Enemy, to your High King – and to Himring, which has guarded the East these long centuries, and should not fall while still there are swords to defend it."

Maedhros is good at rousing speeches, and this one does lift morale for a time; but whatever he says, Fingon knows that it will not be enough.

"They are going to cut us off," he warns Maedhros later, "and everyone will die."

"About that," says Maedhros. "I think you should take as many people as you can and evacuate to Barad Eithel. I can guard your retreat."

Fingon meets his bright glittering eyes and understands immediately. "Absolutely not. I will not leave you here to die."

"Finno," says Maedhros, in a cajoling tone.

"Russo," Fingon says, mimicking him. "Stop it. I did not cut you from Thangorodrim for you to throw your life away now."

Possibly an unfair move. He does not often use the rescue as an opportunity for point-scoring.

But Maedhros says, desolation in every word, "And did you do it so that I could go on to kill my brother?"

"You did not kill him," Fingon says firmly. "He is still alive. And the sooner you call the retreat, the sooner you will see him again."

"I will never see him again," Maedhros says.

"Enough of that," Fingon says, angry now. "I will not stand for a retreat in hopelessness and despair. If Himring must fall—"

"Himring cannot fall," Maedhros says miserably, "it is the last bastion of the Noldor in the East."

"But it will fall," says Fingon, "and it will do so because we are not yet cowed, and we will live to fight again." He brushes a tendril of bright hair back from Maedhros' face and adds, "You will live to fight again, beloved."

Maedhros closes his eyes. "You almost make me believe you," he murmurs.

"I will accept that, for now," says Fingon, "if you will only call the retreat."

Maedhros looks at him and manages a shaky smile. "Very well," he says. "Tonight." Then he adds, thoughtfully, "Orodreth was overcome too quickly at Minas Tirith to organise his withdrawal properly."

"Indeed," says Fingon.

"Say what you will," says Maedhros, "but I can learn from mistakes. My own and others'."

The thing is: Himring was built to last forever.

The thing is: Maedhros does not believe anything will last forever.

(He thought Maglor would – but Maglor is dying, because Maedhros killed him.)

He calls the retreat.

No point in any pretty speeches, scarce hours after he exhorted his people to defend Himring as long as they could.

They will not care for them, anyway. Not from him.

But although something in Maedhros has been twisted and broken, fashioned into a tool to do the workings of evil, he cannot allow the same to be done to his fortress.

Once the evacuation is complete he says, evenly and dispassionately, "Set it ablaze."

Fëanor's son knows fire. Long ago Maedhros ensured there were flammable powders set into the mortar of his indestructible fortress; it is no trouble, now, to reach out to them with all the flame of his own spirit and call them to life.

[I spent a long time googling "how to set fire to a stone building" and am now on several watchlists. please accept this.]

All elves put a little of themselves into the things they make.

Self-destruction is not alien to Himring, nor to its maker. The fire catches quickly.

At the base of the hill Maedhros pauses for a moment.

"Russo," Fingon whispers, at his side. "Please."

Maedhros glances at him in the dying light of his four-hundred-year-old fortress, and then looks away again. "Make for the south," he orders.

Not extremely far away, Curufin and Maglor see the blaze, too.

Elvish eyes can see the rout clearly in the firelight.

And it is a rout, for all that Fingon and Maedhros are trying to keep order.

The orcs, who have the advantage of both number and position, fall upon the fleeing Noldor in wave after triumphant wave.

"They're all going to die," Curufin breathes, horrified. He makes to start riding again.

"Wait," says Maglor. "Curvo, how well do you know these paths?"

"Quite well," Curufin says, a little affronted to be asked.

"You know the cave system," says Maglor; and when Curufin nods he takes a breath and sits up a little, shaking off Curufin's steadying arm around his waist.

"Káno," says Curufin, "what—?"

Shall we ever save each other? Maglor wonders again; and as before he receives no response. He thinks of Maedhros, white-faced, turning away from his outstretched hand. He thinks of the first bright heat of the knife driven into his abdomen.

He opens the iron box in his hand and draws out the Silmaril.

When he hums a single clear note the jewel blazes forth in his hand, more radiant than the stars above them.

To the west the horde of Morgoth sees the light and begins, screeching, to turn away from the pursuit; every orc has its orders, after all. The Silmaril must return to Angband.

"You'd think," Maglor observes loftily, although he is smiling, "Morgoth might at least have learned from us that prioritising the Silmarils above all other objectives is not a sensible strategy."

"Put it away," Curufin hisses, "there is an entire army coming towards us – and the whole point was to keep the Silmaril's location secret—"

"In a moment," says Maglor, raising the jewel again, watching as the last stragglers of Himring draw free of their pursuers.

Maedhros' mind touches his for the first time in many days, astonished. What are you doing?

Saving you! Maglor answers gleefully, and then he closes off his own mind.

Perhaps it is merely a trick of the captured Treelight, but it seems to Curufin that there is a little colour in his brother's cheeks again, and the haze of pain in his eyes looks to have receded.

He puts the Silmaril away at last and says, "Now we had better go."

"Do you think so?" Curufin demands, encouraging his horse into something as close to a canter as they can reach on the treacherous rocky paths of the hills. "Are you trying to give the Silmaril straight back to Morgoth?"

"Oh, hush," Maglor says, drowsy but cheerful. "We know these hills far better than the orcs do. They won't find us."

Instead of arguing Curufin opts for speed; a few frantic hours later he and Maglor are ensconced in an underground cave [which is conveniently large enough to fit his horse. no horses were harmed in the making of this fic.] and Maglor, although tired, has sung a concealment over its entrance.

"How are we supposed to make it to Belegost now?" Curufin demands.

"We were never going to reach it anyway," Maglor says. In the sheltering dark he has taken the Silmaril out again, turning it thoughtfully over in his fingers.

Curufin is staring at it too.

Maglor notices, and says, "Would you like to hold it?"

Curufin gives him a look of deep disgust and holds his burned hand out pointedly.

"Why do you think it burned you?" Maglor asks.

"Oh, please," says Curufin. "I've already had this conversation with Fingon. I wronged Lúthien, I wronged Finrod, I wronged Beren. Then I lied to Nelyo, and as a result engendered the fall of Himring and got you nearly killed. I'm evil."

"An admirably succinct summation," Maglor murmurs, "if not necessarily correct in all the particulars."

He is shivering again. Curufin presses closer to him, trying to share as much of his body warmth as he can while avoiding touching the Silmaril.

It is hard to be acerbic when his brother’s eyes are half-closed, his breaths faint and shallow, but Curufin makes a valiant effort. “Do tell me where I went wrong, then! Fingon’s lecture was very thorough, but it’s a little outdated by now.”

“You mistake me,” says Maglor. “You know what you did wrong, Curvo. Perhaps you even know why you did it. But that doesn’t mean – that doesn’t mean you are bound to evil forever.”

Curufin scoffs.

“Show me your hand,” says Maglor, and his cool fingers brush over the blistered craters on Curufin’s palm. “Did you not tell me that the wound was in my spirit, not my flesh? I could say the same thing to you.”

"It's different," says Curufin. "What I meant was that you're so upset about Nelyo stabbing you that you'd rather die than come to terms with who you are if you aren't someone he needs—"

"And what I mean," says Maglor, deciding to match cutting insight for cutting insight, "is that you have grown so attached to the idea of yourself as evil that you cannot conceive of being anything else – but I say to you now that you are wrong. The iniquity is not written on your bones. Why do you think I can hold the Silmaril, after all? I slew at Alqualondë."

Curufin thinks of Fingon telling him, Be better. He thinks of Maedhros' anguished voice: I don't know – why you did it—

"Spare me the sanctimony!" he snaps. "So you can hold it. I'm very happy for you, believe me. Everything has worked out just perfectly for you, hasn't it? Nelyo lives, too, and the pair of you can keep on being smug and pious together. It must feel nice."

"Does it!" cries Maglor, temper flaring at the unfairness of this. "You ingrate – I am dying for your sake—"

"Please," snaps Curufin, "you'd be fine if you could just get over the fact that Nelyo didn't ask you to stay – don't blame me for your own problems."

"Do you know what Fingon offered Thingol to defuse your ill-planned war?" Maglor asks, very coldly. "He promised him your head."

That shuts Curufin up.

"Did you think none of your actions would ever have consequences?" Maglor continues. "That you could keep on breaking things and breaking things and someone would always be there to fix them for you? But Tyelko is dead now, and Nelyo will never speak to you again."

Curufin croaks, "You—"

Maglor tosses the Silmaril up in the air and catches it one-handed, watching Curufin's face as he does so as though daring him to object. "I made him promise not to do it," he says, "so long as I died first."

Curufin is quiet for a while.

Above them the thunder of orc-feet is starting to lessen. Their hiding place has not been discovered.

At last he says, "I never asked for that."

"All the same," says Maglor, whose eyes are bright with anger – or with tears, perhaps – "you have it."

"Káno," says Curufin.

"But yes, things have worked out perfectly," says Maglor. "I am going to sleep now."

He does so almost instantly. He is still very ill, Curufin reminds himself.

Not ill. Dying.

Curufin would like to think the plan to go to Belegost had some merit; but Maglor is right that they will never be able to reach the Dwarf-city. It is too far, and he is too weak.

And even if, by some miracle – and the sons of Fëanor know better than to depend on miracles – they do arrive there, then what?

Is Curufin to spend all the rest of his endless days sheltering behind the walls of his allies, with a price on his head if he comes forth again?

Is his only choice between that and his brother's death?

Or say Maglor does die now (he does not seem likely to last much longer). Must Curufin bring Maedhros his dead body, and say, Here, he is dead in truth this time?

Fingon said, Evil is not immutable, and Maedhros, face drained of any colour, said, I don't, I don’t – believe you.

Celegorm, brimming over with the energy of the hunt, said, I'll go after them – stay here, and flashed one of his quick merry smiles over his shoulder as he rode out; and Tyelpë, shaking all over, said, You are not my father any more, and Maglor said, The iniquity is not written on your bones.

"But it is written on my flesh," Curufin says aloud.

Maglor does not stir. He is so, so pale.

"And I have written it on yours," Curufin tells him.

He knows what he has to do.

The dawn finds the elves of Himring regrouping in arid, desolate Himlad. They have, for the most part, survived the pursuit.

To the north the army of Angband has disappeared across the hills. With the prize it sought, or without it?

Maedhros looks out at the tattered, weary force he leads, meeting gaze after gaze and finding too many of them distrustful.

"You have done well," he tells them. "I will not ask you to follow me further. You are free to go where you will: make for Amon Ereb, if you still desire to follow the eight-pointed star. Or the High King will value your courage, if it is Hithlum that calls to you instead."

There are objections, of course: even after the rumours they have heard some of Maedhros' most loyal people are sure this must all be a mistake.

Maedhros turns them all down, as gently as he can. Their loyalty is touching, but he is not fit for command any longer.

Fingon watches all of this unhappily. At last, once the greater part of the force has embarked on the long journey south to Amon Ereb, and those who took a liking to him during the defence of Himring have flocked to his side instead, he asks Maedhros, "And where will you go?"

Maedhros looks at him, eyes sad.

"That was a trick question, actually," Fingon says. "You are coming to Barad Eithel with me."

"Finno," Maedhros says softly.

Fingon pulls him into an embrace, no longer caring for who might be watching. "Beloved," he says, "you have endured so much of late. Will you let me make it better now?"

"Do you really think you can?" Maedhros whispers against his neck, but he does not pull away.

"Yes," says Fingon, "yes, I do."

Maedhros is tired. Perhaps – perhaps it is easier, sometimes, to let himself be carried away by Fingon's endless buoyant hope.

His chest will never be anything but hollow. But perhaps the despair can wait – just until he is strong enough to bear it.

His smile is watery. "All right," he says; "but there is something I must do first."

"I'll come with you, then," says Fingon, and Maedhros squeezes his hand briefly.

Meanwhile Maglor comes slowly awake, the chill of the stone cave-floor biting into him even through the blankets he has been wrapped in.

The wound in his side aches as though it has a will of its own, sharp spikes of pain pulsing through him quite out of rhythm with his heartbeat.

He is very cold.

Today, then.

"Curvo?" he murmurs, and when no response is forthcoming he opens his eyes.

The cave is empty.

The Silmaril is still clasped loosely between his fingers; by its light he can see the supplies of food and skins of water neatly laid out before him.

One of Curufin's hunting knives is lying sheathed near him, close enough that he can reach it without attempting to get to his feet.

"Curvo," Maglor says again, more clearly, although he already knows there will be no answer.

He can hear the sound of water from a distant underground stream, and the half-remembered echoes of the orc army heading north, and his own unsteady breathing, and nothing else at all.

Again. Is he always to be left behind?

A familiar presence at the edges of his mind: Where are you? Are you safe?

Alone in the dark, Maglor gives a sob. Fine, then. If this is how he must end, so be it.

The presence again: I am coming. Where are you?

If he hadn't lost his temper – if he hadn't blurted out the secret – would that have made a difference?

How very like Maglor, to have failed one last time.

"It was not far from here," Fingon says, "the light."

"Then they should be nearby," says Maedhros, "unless – unless—"

"Russo, don't panic," says Fingon. He rides up to Maedhros' side, gripping his elbow with a warm, firm hand. "Keep trying."

Maedhros reaches out his mind to Maglor's again. Where are you? I will find you.

His brother's mind is closed and distant – taken by the orcs, maybe.

Dead, perhaps.

Don't make me leave you, Maglor said, hiding the wound Maedhros had dealt him even as he said it, and then Maedhros did just that.

He should not be searching.

He has killed Maglor. Does he have any right, now, to cradle his corpse?

"Keep trying," Fingon breathes in his ear.

Where are you? I am coming. Where are you?

Maglor is so, so cold.

I need you, Maedhros thinks – how selfish to admit it, after all he has done, but it is the truth. I need you. Where are you?

What did Curufin expect Maglor to do? He has taken the horse; not that it matters, since Maglor still can't even walk.

Did he want Maglor to die here, alone in the dark?

Maedhros' touch on his mind is hesitant, uncertain, as though he does not believe Maglor will answer him. I need you. Where are you? I need you.

I am here, thinks Maglor, bringing down all his mind's defences in one swift undoing, I am here, find me.

"I have him!" Maedhros says aloud. "Close – he's close—"

The path is stony and uneven. Mounted, they must wait for the horses to pick their way between the crumbling rocks.

Impatient, Maedhros slides off his horse. "Finno—"

"Go on," says Fingon, sunlight and hope and life itself. He smiles at Maedhros. "I'll follow you."

On foot Maedhros makes better time. As he half-climbs, half-runs the final stretch he keeps calling out with his mind: I am coming. Where are you?

He passes the hidden cave entrance without seeing it. Maglor listens to his footsteps go past and then stop in confusion.

He raises the Silmaril, letting the light brush away his little spell of concealment.

Here, he thinks. Here.

Maedhros silhouetted in the opening of the cave, his height unmistakeable.

The last time they met like this, Maedhros did not know him. He had his hand curled around his knife-hilt even as they spoke.

"He's gone," Maglor gasps out. "I'm sorry."

"You're here," Maedhros says, his tone reverent. He drops to his knees beside Maglor, gathering him into his arms.

"Nelyo," says Maglor, "I'm so cold." He lays his head on Maedhros' shoulder and goes very still.

If Maedhros holds him too tight, will his brother break into a hundred pieces in his arms? But has not Maedhros killed him already?

"I know, Káno," Maedhros says, voice shaking. "I am sorry."

Maglor's eyes are open, but his gaze is distant, his breathing very slow.

This is Maedhros' doing. Maedhros has killed him.

What right has he to ask anything of Maglor now?

"You said," he says tremulously, "you said if I asked you to stay, you'd stay."

"But you sent me away," Maglor whispers, barely audible – Maglor, who was named for his strength of voice.

Maedhros can almost see his spirit flickering.

"I am sorry," he says again. "But I am asking now. Will you stay, dearest? For me?"

Maglor can never deny Maedhros anything.

"Yes," he breathes, "yes."

A flicker, and another, and a steadying.

Maedhros stays there on his knees for a while, until his brother has slipped back into sleep.

The lines of pain on his face are easing.

Maedhros can hear the sound of water from a distant stream, and a bird cawing outside in the sunshine where Fingon is waiting for him, with all his shining strength and boundless faith.

No fortress. No followers. Still only one Silmaril, clasped now between their hands.

Celegorm dead, and Curufin lost.

But there is this: there is Maglor in his arms, breathing.

Maedhros presses his face into his brother's hair and breathes, too.

(to be continued)

the fairest stars, continued

The "Beren and Lúthien steal two Silmarils" AU that has spiralled completely out of my control: time for a new post again! Parts 1-9 are here and Parts 10-15 here. Also now slowly being uploaded to AO3 here, though you still want tumblr for the latest version.

To recap:

Maedhros and Maglor are in Himring.

Maedhros has (somewhat, a bit, with caveats) recovered from his very bad unreality attack, and is now attempting to defend Himring from an army of orcs. Unfortunately 90% of his people aren't there.

Maglor has very much not recovered from being stabbed by Maedhros, and is not really in a great situation.

Fingon is busy trying to stop Curufin's war with Doriath. He's kind of managing to talk Thingol down from attacking Himring's assembled army.

Although his bright idea for accomplishing this was offering to execute Curufin.

Maedhros holds one Silmaril in Himring, Thingol has kept one in Menegroth, and the last one is still in Angband.

Dead characters who are nonetheless still in the story: Lúthien, Beren, Finrod, Celegorm.

When Maedhros' mother named him well-made, she was not picturing his prowess on a battlefield: but Maedhros was forged anew in the crucible of Angband, or perhaps more gently in his long months of healing by Mithrim's shores, and this is what he is good for, now.

And he is very good at war.

Under his command the defence of Himring rallies. Maedhros sets the few archers he has to rain down arrows on the arrows on the attacking orcs, and takes a small party out on horseback to drive them further back, and the fortress gains a little breathing space.

But there is only so much he can do with so few people – and people, at that, who are so strangely slow to respond to his command.

Not that they will disobey him openly, but he is far too aware of their suspicious eyes on his back, the wave of mutters that breaks every time he issues an order.

"And the way they look at me – as if I'm, as if I'm one of the Enemy's thralls – do you think—?"

"Nelyo," Maglor says instantly, "you are not a thrall."

Maedhros attempts to stop his frenetic pacing up and down Maglor's room. "Then why," he says. There is so much noise in his head. He cannot seem to finish the sentence.

"They're Curvo's people," says Maglor, and there is something hard and unfamiliar in his voice as he speaks their brother's name. "Who can say what poison he's fed them?"

That was the wrong thing to say. Maedhros blanches for a moment, draws in a sharp breath, and then says, "Curvo told me – he told me—"

"I know," Maglor says, reaching out a hand. "I know, and he lied. Come here."

Maedhros clutches at his hand. Maglor can feel his frantic, fluttering pulse beneath his fingers.

Maedhros can feel Maglor's, faint and irregular.

He tries to steady his breathing. Tries not to sort through the jumble of memories pressing against his skull (they're dead, they're both dead) and focuses on the present.

Maglor is here, alive, alive – although his pallor has worsened every time Maedhros can snatch a moment from the siege to visit him, and his grip on Maedhros' Silmaril is white-knuckled, and some nameless fear touches Maedhros as he looks at him.

"Should I send you away, dearest?" he asks.

Maglor's eyes widen. "What?"

"It isn't safe here," Maedhros explains, although he has little heart for his suggestion in the face of Maglor's obvious dismay. "If Himring does fall – I don't wish to put you through a hard retreat."

"Don't make me leave you," Maglor begs, his voice teetering on the edge of real distress. "I want – I want to stay here, and—"

"All right," Maedhros soothes. "All right. You can stay as long as I hold."

"You'll hold, Nelyo," Maglor says. "You always do."

In the face of this unwavering confidence Maedhros manages to summon a shaky smile.

When he is gone – and the sustaining warmth of the Silmaril with him – Maglor reviews his objectives, which are threefold.

One: stay alive. Not going very well tbh. He has not recovered from the blood loss. And more than that the world feels grey and cold to his eyes – he who has always loved sunrises – and he cannot stop remembering: the splintered haunted look in Maedhros' eyes, the way, before Maglor sang him to sleep, he was reaching for the knife to try again.

Two: make sure Himring doesn't fall. He cannot quite believe it will, while Maedhros is in command, but the news about the recalcitrance of the few soldiers they have is concerning. He should have realised that rumour would spread through the castle after Maedhros was found in a pool of Maglor's blood, should have blackmailed Curufin's lieutenant into keeping her mouth shut about it – but too late now. Hopefully Maedhros can rally them.

Three: keep Maedhros generally sane, and specifically unaware that he stabbed Maglor. Also not going too well. Maedhros is growing stressed and paranoid. He's noticed that Maglor is healing very slowly (or not at all, to be more accurate). And – as today's incident shows – he will remember, sooner or later.

A dire situation all round, Maglor concludes, and he is not sure how much longer he will have the energy to attempt to handle it.

Where's Fingon when you need him?

Exactly where he should be, actually!

Fingon is mostly succeeding in his objectives.

The Sindar have stood down.

(Thingol agreed to his terms. That’s what matters, right? Not the vague flash of disgust in his eyes.)

“Are we going back to Himring?” Curufin wants to know. “They’re in danger.”

I have to kill you, Fingon thinks, and says aloud, “Yes, we are. But if you’re lying to me again, Curufin…”

He lets the threat trail off.

Anyway. More pressing concerns for now.

He sets a hard pace back through Himlad, reasoning that even if Curufin is lying there won’t be any harm done in getting back to Himring quicker.

Curufin has been trying to make contact with Maglor again, but his brother’s mind is closed – worrying.

All he gathered from Maglor’s brief use of ósanwë was the scent of blood and panic, the sound of orc-horns in the distance and a terrible pain in his side.

Has Maglor been injured in battle? Surely not; his leg can’t be mended enough for him to fight yet. But then what’s wrong with him?

Curufin definitely isn’t going to try touching Maedhros’ mind, considering the state Maedhros was in when he left Himring.

This is such a mess. And it’s all his fault. And Celegorm is still dead.

Be better, Fingon told Curufin – but now he won’t even look at Curufin, and Curufin’s hand is still burned and he doesn’t think it will ever heal.

Does he even want it to?

Back at Himring, Maedhros watches as the orcs press closer. If they manage to surround the great hill completely—

[look I know nothing about military stuff. in lieu of any actual manoeuvres or strategies we are going to assume that the Bad Thing that needs to be prevented is the fortress being encircled. got it? cool.]

“Harass them from both flanks,” he orders. “Keep them contained, don’t let them spread out.”

His paltry force obeys, but with plenty of murmuring.

The patrols, Maedhros catches, and His own brother.

He doesn’t know what they mean. He doesn’t know how much longer he can possibly hold. He doesn’t know where Fingon is, or whether he’s succeeded at preventing a war with Doriath, or why Maglor isn’t getting better.

When there is nothing left but the clamour in his head and his racing pulse, there is still war, at least: still the swift brutal swing of his sword though orc-neck after orc-neck, the splatter of black blood against his breastplate and the deadly dance of the battle-field.

(Still the gentle light of the Silmaril in his pocket. Still Maglor, breathing. But those are harder to hold on to.)

Himring will not fall. Himring must not fall.

As the weary battle for the fortress continues, its chronicle is woven by steady, skilful hands in the House of Vairë.

Míriel Therindë’s grandson has little difficulty finding her tapestries in the Halls of Mandos.

He is staring at them in transfixed horror when he feels a presence behind him.

“Oh. It’s you. What are you doing here?”

“Same as you, I imagine,” says Finrod, coming to sit beside him (metaphorically. since spirits can’t really sit. you know the drill). “Looking at the tapestries.”

Celegorm snorts impatiently. In life he had a tendency, when frustrated, to slip into the language and mannerisms of whatever bird or beast he felt most appropriate to the situation – elves are simply too stupid to talk to being the clear implication.

Finrod is absurdly pleased to find out this is still the case.

Or maybe it isn’t absurd, he tells himself, maybe it’s natural to want to believe that this is still the cousin he grew up with, that a person can betray you and turn your kingdom against you and still have some parts worth saving.

“I meant,” Celegorm is saying derisively, “what are you doing in these Halls? I thought your dear cousin won you a special boon.”

“Impressive you can still speak of her, after what you did,” observes Finrod. “But yes, Mandos did tell me I was to be re-embodied. First of all the Exiles, you know.”

“And?” Celegorm presses, after he is silent for a time.

Finrod smiles at him. “I told him thanks, but no thanks,” he says.

Celegorm splutters for a bit. “What?” he manages at last. “Ingoldo, have you lost your mind? How – why – is this all out of some misguided form of pity? Or are you just flinging it in my face that you can choose to leave and I can’t?”

“Lúthien reminded me,” Finrod says seriously, “that we always have a choice.”

Back in Himring, Maedhros is being pressed hard.

They are so badly outnumbered, and the orcs keep coming and coming, a never-ending river.

If Himring falls, Maglor dies – for there is no chance of his surviving a hurried retreat, Maedhros can see that even without fully understanding what ails his brother, and he has refused to be sent away in advance.

Himring can’t fall, Maedhros tells himself.

(To evil end shall all things turn that they begin well – how those words echoed in his ears four hundred years ago, as he watched his high stone fortress built. He realises, now, that he always expected Himring to fall.)

The orcs have pushed them back to the south of the hill, almost closing off the circle, cutting off their last path of retreat.

Will he burn with the house, then – like Amrod, like his father? The prospect would not be so awful were it not for Maglor.

Nothing lasts forever; Maedhros understands that as few other elves do, and has done since Angband.

But Maglor – Maglor has to live forever – Maglor is dying—

To the south-west sounds a clear silver horn, the horn of Fingolfin.

(to be continued)

[rjalker]

[ID: Three versions of a crude MS Paint drawing, showing a stick figure with an evil smile standing in front of a fire, holding up a bloody knife, with another person sitting on one side of their feet, and a curled up dog on the other.

The blood on the knife is labeled, "the blood of innocents".

The fire is labeled, "the just world burning"

The dog, which is curled up and trembling, looking afraid, is labeled, "a kicked puppy".

And the person, sitting with their hands over their face and their legs curled up in front of them, is labeled, "a victim of their abuse".

Each picture is surrounded by a black border, with a thicker black section beneath it, which has different white labels in each version.

The first reads, "Villain? Literally their whole job description.", with the word literally underlined.

The second reads, "Hero? Nope, you just have shit morals and we can tell."

The third reads, "narrator/protagonist? Literally fine as long as you actually have morals and aren't glorifying the horrible things they're doing or demonizing their victims. It is literally 100% possible to have a narrator who is a horrible person without condoning their actions. It is literally so easy. Literally all you have to do is not pretend they're a good person, even if the character seeds themselves as one."

End ID.]

IDGAF about the technical terms. As far as I am concerned there's a difference between the hero of the story and the protagonist or narrator.

here's a shorter version of this post.

You can write stories with narrators who are the worst fucking scum of the Earth imaginable. This doesn't equal making them the hero or glorifying or condoning their behavior. You can write a story about a serial killer from the point of view of the damn serial killer and still pull no fucking punches about how horrific and terrible they are, even if they think they're a good person. It is literally so easy to not glorify abuse and other horrific things.

You can write about your narrating characters doing horrific things without romanticizing or glorifying those horrific things.

This is where the Animorphs failed unbelievably. This is where Miraculous Ladybug fails.

This is what Torchwood does right.

It doesn't matter what horrible fucking shit your characters do. What the characters are doing is not what's important. The way you portray it is what matters. It doesn't fucking matter if your protagonist goes around kicking puppies as long as you don't fucking spend endless paragraphs defending and making excuses for their puppy-kicking and trying to get your audience to think it's actually not that big of a deal or "just a Totally Normal but Tragic reaction to the protagonist's Tragic Backstory, which is why we should pity them and forgive them instead of being upset by their actions!!!".

There's a difference between writing about abuse and other horrible things, and romanticizing or glorifying it.

If, at the end of the day, you are telling your audience that Objectively Bad Thing is good, actually, something they should look forward to and enjoy, you've fucking failed as both a person and a writer.

This is where Miraculous Ladybug fails utterly. It would be fine for Adrien to sexually harass Marinette if only the show were portraying it as the horrible, bad thing that it is. Instead, we're supposed to think it's funny and romantic and cute. We're supposed to cheer him on.

This is where the Animorphs fucking fails. The characters do horrible things like murdering the people they're supposed to be fighting to protect, and we're....not supposed to even notice that they're literally murdering the people they're supposed to save. We're not supposed to care about the slaves of the yeerks unless, of course, the yeerks enslave one of the protagonists, then, suddenly, miraculously, they're capable and willing to free them. And let's not forget that the writers also literally retroactively victim-blamed the most prominant enslaved person in the series and tried to make us think, retroactively, that he deserved to be enslaved for being a bad person. Literally tearing any semblance it had of nuance to bloody fucking shreds. Just jumping straight to "everyone we are fighting is entirely evil and they deserve to be enslaved and it's a good thing when we murder them".

This is where Torchwood shines. The characters are all horrible people who do horrible fucked up things. And the show doesn't want us to think otherwise. We are not supposed to side with Gwen when she fucking cheats on and then fucking retcons Rhys. The entire gods damned thing is supposed to be horrible and horrific. We are supposed to be on Rhys' side. He is literally the victim, and the show doesn't pretend otherwise, even though Gwen is the main gods damned character.

Fucking Worm! Worm, people! Fucking Taylor is the damn narrator and she thinks working with Nazis is a great idea and you are supposed to want to fucking kill her! You are supposed to side with Aisha and be flipping your shit that Taylor wants to work with the gods damned Nazis! You are supposed to be pissed at her! Even though she, the character, thinks Aisha's fucking overreacting and thinks it's a perfectly good idea!

There are literally so many more examples I could give but I'm not getting paid for this, and I have other things to do.