#intentionally poisoning students

[thearunadragon]

Okay, I’m sorry, but Oromis POISONING Eragon is so messed up that poor boy

Do Arya and Orik know about this

Because they should

Not even Islanzadí would ever thumbs-up that. She would be horrified.

Eragon, back in the Varden after Roran asked him what he was doing to his food: Checking it for poison

Roran: …where did you learn that?

Eragon: my teacher poisoned me until I figured it out

Nasuada, Arya, and Orik collectively: (spits out tea) WHAT?!

Don’t poison minors, y’all. Especially ones with CHRONIC PAIN AND SEIZURES??? OROMIS WTF

[greenapplebling]

Do you guys ever think about how much of a contradictory character Jamil is?

Like I don't have the energy rn to write a full essay with proof and all about it but?? The way we're told that Jamil is the kinda person to use someone else for the dirty work but when we look at his actions Jamil actually does a lot of the hard work himself and, specially when it comes to Kalim, refuses to take shortcuts for some goddamn reason???

Shipping aside, am I really supposed to believe Jamil when he says he hates Kalim when:

There's a voice line where Jamil says he actually isn't into cooking but does it for Kalim out of convenience, and yet explains (in his school uniform vignette I think?) that it's probably safe for Kalim to eat food from the cafeteria, which makes sense!!! After all, what kinda idiot would poison the whole school (full of elite students btw) just to get to Kalim?? And yet, Jamil still insists on cooking 3 meals a day every day for him...

Jamil does his hair with magic so he doesn't have to waste time on it, but does Kalim's headpiece and makeup by hand every morning (I know that kind of magic is hard and takes a lot of practice but hear me out, he had at least 5-10 years to practice on Kalim)

At the start of the Glorious Masquerade event, Jamil, despite quite literally having a mental breakdown over how much he doesn't want to take care of Kalim or be around him in book 4, seems very anxious and worried about leaving Kalim... FOR 3 FUCKING DAYS

Also how he thinks he's really good at masking his feelings and true intentions and yet Kalim is waaay better at him at masking. Like no one in-game nor most of the fandom ever seems to realize Kalim often masks his negative feelings with a positive and (intentionally) naive attitude. But when it comes to Jamil? Leona, Azul, Vil, Floyd and whoever else, all of them looked right through Jamil's act and some of them even said/implied Jamil is easy to read...

So yeah, Jamil often lies... mostly to himself

[kelluinox]

Oh are people mad at JKR again and calling out her antisemitism? That's funny. No, it is! It's funny when people suddenly care about antisemitism after these 5 months we've had. It's funny when people who threw a grand ol party on October 7th suddenly care about being antisemitic. It's funny when the people who called the kidnapping and rape and largest massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust justified resistance... suddenly care about the Holocaust. It's funny to hear their "very angry very loud very righteous outrage against antisemitism" when they have:

1) said and done nothing about the hostages being held by Hamas, among which there is a baby and a 4 yo and women being subjected to sexual torture

2) done nothing to pressure the embarrassment called the Red Cross to pass vital medicine to the hostages and actually do its job

3) have gone full Holocaust denial with their denial of the 7th... despite eagerly sharing videos of Shani Louk and Naama Levy and Noa Argamani and the Nova Festival massacre as it was happening, asking Hamas to film their slaughter horizontally and calling victims "hipsters" as the massacre was actually happening

4) called for the murder and expulsion of half the world's jews from the Levant, labeling them all colonizers despite us being indigenous... which is ironic because they certainly don't seem eager to move their own ass and go back to wherever they came from (looking at you Americans, Canadians, Australians - shut the fuck up you hypocritical bitches)

5) attacked, and harassed, and bullied, and even murdered jews all over the world since the 7th. Jewish students were told to hide in the attic from an angry mob, have been unable to walk to class without verbal or physical attacks, have been unable to mourn the biggest massacre of jews since the Holocaust, have had posters of the kidnapped jews that they put up torn down, have had all their attempts at talks about antisemitism and peace derailed and have even been unable to wear their magen david without harassment. Jewish business have been targeted and defaced. And Paul Kessler and Samantha Woll were murdered. Murdered!

6) refused to listen to jews about antisemitism and have eagerly repeated antisemitic conspiracy theories as old as the middle ages like the gullible bigoted little idiots that they are: Jews control the media by distracting Americans from Gaza by using Spotify Wrapped, the Superbowl, and making a Stop Jewish Hate ad (wow do I 'love' it when Americans make fun of their own intelligence by admitting that they're so easily distracted). Jews poison wells - they poison Palestinian land. Jews steal Christian kids and drink their blood - Jews kidnap blond Palestinian children and steal organs from Palestinian corpses. Jews love killing and are bloodthirsty monsters - Jews intentionally target civilians, have killed 0 terrorists whatsoever, and are rubbing their hands in glee watching mass starvation unfold. Oh, and they also do all this on Ramadan because they're evil like that. Beyond that we also have had: Jewish doctors are not to be trusted - straight out Stalin's doctor's plot. And Zionists are racists - straight out of Imperial Russia's Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Wow, congrats on quoting Imperial Russia and the leader of the Soviet Union, fuckers. Though frankly you don't seem embarrassed about that considering your genocidal intifada posters display the hammer and sickle, do you?

7) have ignored literally everything Hamas has done. From the rape and brutal murders and kidnapping (videos of which they published themselves!). To the tunnels. To the theft of aid. To the execution of civilians following humanitarian corridors to safe zones. To using hospitals to hide weaponry, terrorists and hostages. To forcefully keeping civilians in said hospitals even as they try to evacuate, using them as human shields. To shooting at civilians who try to get some aid before it's stolen. To sending 4 yo children to Israeli soldier camps to assess their preparedness. To keeping weapons beneath a child's bed. To enlisting child soldiers. To programming children with Mein Kampf. To launching rockets from next to kindergartens and across the street from a building belonging to the joke we call the UN. To breaking the November ceasefire 15 minutes in because even an hour without killing jews was too difficult for them to accomplish. To separating families despite the hostage deal being that families will not be separated. To branding the Jewish boys they took hostage (sound familiar to you yet?). To forcing child hostages to watch their October 7 videos and threatening to shoot them if they cry. To raping female hostages. To depriving elderly and chronically ill hostages of life saving medicine. To forcibly converting female hostages. To not releasing the Bibas family despite the deal being that all children be returned. To executing hostages and then lying they died in air strikes despite the cause of death being a bullet. To creating sick games where they publish photos of hostages and dare psychopaths on the internet to guess which are dead and which alive. The list goes on and on and on and you lot stick your fingers in your ears every single time and go "lalala not listening".

8) Have supported the Houthis who literally have "a curse upon the jews" in their slogan

9) Have supported Bin Laden

10) Have supported Iran by supporting its proxy - Hamas.

11) Have shamed Ukrainians for trying to remind them that Russia is still attacking them, and told them that they should support Palestine when... Hamas and the Houthis have literally visited Moscow and Iran are Russia's allies. Good job, guys. Good job.

12) Have done everything to exaggerate what's happening, twist the facts and demonize Israel, all the while portraying it as "criticism". A war is suddenly not bad enough on its own - it has to be a genocide to get people to care. Displacement caused by a war is not bad enough - it has to be ethnic cleansing. Israel is suddenly a fascist Nazi state... despite being democratic and Jewish (where have all the people who laughed at Putin for calling Zelensky a nazi despite Zelensky being a jew gone? I wonder). The war in Gaza has to be the worst conflict on Earth, despite there being ongoing genocides in Sudan and China and the goddamn invasion of Ukraine.

And before any of you antisemitic goyim start furiously typing that it is a genocide and I'm a genocide apologist, please do keep in mind that jews know more about genocide than you ever will. And being a Russian jew I will know more about fascism than you ever will. So do us all a favor, shut up and listen to people more educated on the matter than you.

13) Have tried to define Zionism and Judaism and Jewish history to jews. Thanks for the goysplaining, I guess

14) Have mocked released hostages and their testimonies. Falsely claimed that they were not mistreated and actually written fanfics of them falling in love with the terrorists who murdered their families and kidnapped them

15) Have defaced the statue of Amy Winehouse

16) Have made lists of jews. Oh, sorry, "zionists"

17) Have devolved into race science

And to conclude my post, here are just a few photos of the shit goyim have done since october:

[forcebewitht]

Would you do a yandere Jamil x reader?

Snake In The Grass (Yandere!Jamil Viper x Reader)

(Possible TW: Stalking, murder, slight gore mentions, manipulation, sexual implications)

He was a crafty one, that Viper. He knew it, too. He had to be to survive, after all. Slithering through the shadows undetected, simply being known as a mere servant- nothing more, nothing less. This is what was upon the surface- but there was always far more to the attractive male than what was visible.

He was always there. He would slink up beside you after class to walk with you, speak with you. Kalim would be present as well, of course- unless he had found someone else to watch over him for the briefest of times. He would ensure that you were provided for as best as he could, especially given the conditions within Ramshackle. He had already long since calculated the dietary restrictions of your body and would ensure that the proper nutrition would be packed and slipped into your bag for you to consume when you retired for the night.

He was always watching. The smoky gray eyes with a tender yet occasionally sinister glisten trailing over your figure. Every inch of your flesh, every curve, every molecule…nothing missed the calculations of the Vice Dorm Leader of Scarabia. Whenever you would attend the parties within the dorm, he would watch your every move. Even outside of the comfortable confines of the dorm he knew every secretive in and out of, his eyes would remain upon you. Within the shadows. The darkest of nights. Beneath trees. Behind walls and corners.

He would always take care of whatever business needed to be done. This, soon enough, included the disposal of the bodies of the students who had dared either step to you in aggression or affection. Bones broken, skin bruised and contorted. Blood seeping from the very crevices of their figures. His cuts were precise, and as calculative as the rest of him. They were always placed somewhere intentionally conspicuously- unless the person themselves had far too much of a potential tie to Jamil himself. In those cases? The bodies were never found.

His voice was one that lingered. It was smooth, warm, and practically oozing with a charm unlike anything you had experienced from anyone else within the institution of Night Raven College. It was deep, yet it would slightly raise in pitch if he grew a bit excited or stressed- yet it still somehow retained a level of tranquility that would leave you practically begging for him to speak to you more. He occasionally would even hum or sing near you whilst completing his tasks or simply beside you walking, and it was as though a siren had come from the darkest depths of the sea to be by you and croon its serenade and embed it into the very soul of yourself.

His touches were always gentle, his smiles like warm sunlight cascading down upon your figure in soothing waves. Given the work that he constantly was assisting with or accomplishing alone, his sleek skin was toned. Abs and muscles would peek themselves through whatever articles of clothing he had on. You would feel the very same muscles within his arms tense and tighten whenever he would touch you or gently move you around or out of the way within the hallway. Within the classroom, he occasionally would lean over just enough for those muscles upon his arms or chest to lightly graze your skin, assisting you with whatever classwork you needed help with.

His steel gray gaze. The depth of kindness yet knowledge they held. Those beautiful eyes upon that sculpted, handsome face of his that you always found yourself slightly getting lost in. The eyes that would behold you so tenderly, as though you were a precious piece of artwork within a museum, or a delicate flower that brought him a warmth inside of himself. And it was here, within that gaze, that you finally found yourself slipping under the poison of his venom entirely, his fingers just barely grazing your chin to tilt your head up to behold him in all of his glory.

“Snake Whisper.”

It was his voice, those eyes of his…those blood red eyes that were drawing you in…he had you right where he wanted you at last, having pulled you into his room for conversation during a party at Scarabia. His lips tugged into a sinister grin as he watched your gaze shift into the same blood red one he had moments ago. He bent forward slightly, his fingers remaining beneath your chin. That is, until they slightly trailed downward. They settle gently upon your neck, and you are too far gone to comprehend just how much of the poison of him you had succumbed to.

“You, my beautiful desert flower (Y/N), are now mine and solely mine. You shall obey my every word from here on, and you shall dedicate yourself to me. Your heart, your mind…your body…and your very soul are all mine. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes…Master.”

A pleased chuckle escapes the lips of the snake, his arms wrapping around the waist of his caught prey. His gaze locked onto yours once he had finished observing your lovely figure. His nails lightly dug into your flesh upon your waist, keeping you planted firmly before him.

“Good~ when you are solely within my company, you shall refer to me as Master. But when we are within the company of others, you shall refer to me either as my name or “my love”. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Master.”

“Such an obedient pet~ now. Place yourself upon my bed. Spread yourself out. Prepare to give yourself to me entirely.”

Your motions were swift. Your body soon was pressed against the bed, your back firmly making itself at home upon the comforter of the Viper that had you within his grasp. Jamil grinned, ensuring his door was locked and he had placed up a sound nullification spell- he did not need to ruthlessly slaughter anyone that dared to interrupt, tonight. You were the only one on his mind- the only one he would soon claim to be his. The snake had finally emerged from the grass.

~End~

[yuurei20]

Honorifics: Vil Schoenheit

Vil will generally refer to the first-year students by their first names with no honorifics, and sometimes by nicknames.

He refers to Ace and Deuce by their first names and by "Spudling #1" and "Spudling #2."

Vil will call Sebek both by his first name and "cucumber."

Vil generally refers to Jack without an honorific, with a one-time exception of "Jack-kun" during Phantom Bride when he is intentionally changing his speech patterns as a part of the act he is putting on for Eliza.

Vil will generally refer to Epel by his name without an honorific but also as "little potato-chan" and "poison-apple-chan."

Vil refers to the second-year students by their first names with no honorifics, no exceptions.

Vil generally refers to the third-year students by their first names with no honorifics, though there is the one-time exception in Book 6 where he calls Rook, "My Hunter."

Vil calls Leona by his first name with no honorific, with the one-time exception of "Leona-kun" during Phantom Bride when he is in-character as Eliza's suitor.

[sugarmarbles21]

Something needs to said about the smear campaign against climate activists who are against apartheids too

I don’t care if this is not a big thing, but I am very frustrated with the apologists who targets anyone who calls them or the Zionists on their crap to save face! We know that they went after all those students who protested against their schools dealing money with Israel and they definitely have gone after Norman Finkelstein many times because he’s the biggest expert on Israeli colonialism who isn’t a Palestinian as far as I know.

Why are they acting like it’s such a surprise that Greta decided to join the pro-Palestine movement? She hates it when people destroy the environment for profit or pure stupidity and the Israeli fits both criteria here.

If you’re wondering why the movement is an environmental too: They drove the Palestinian crocodile to extinction and probably some other species too. They have been ripping up olive trees for decades now, because the “barbarians” shouldn’t have nice things. They have dropped bombs all over Gaza, destroying everything that can grow food and poisoned the ground water with all the chemical weapons they have been using illegally for months and I still believe that they intentionally killed off most of the marine life around the coast just so that the Palestinians couldn’t fish to feed themselves. To summarize my rant: Israeli government=bad for the planet!

[kingconia]

I saw the Neuvillete one and I come bearing a different Fontaine Character!

So how would the following react to an MC with personality traits of Navia?

Rook Hunt (Romantic)

Idia Shroud (Platonic)

Professor Trein or Professor Crewel (Mentor) (Your choice as to which professor to write)

Please and thank you!

ROOK HUNT, IDIA SHROUD AND PROFESSOR TREIN WITH FEM!MC, WHO IS LIKE NAVIA FROM GENSHIN IMPACT

Rook Hunt; romantic. 💜

— I have a feeling him and you will be a lot like Navia and Clorinde dynamic, but slightly a more teasing one;

— You play your own very strange little games, in which Rook follows you everywhere, trying to stay unnoticed, and you suddenly disappear from his view as soon as he relaxes, leaving funny notes and roses after yourself. Moriarty meets Moriarty;

— You find a common tongue quite quickly, and it is not only about french! You both are undeniably loud, cheerful, strange in eyes of others, and, oh! You like unsightly hats!

— I feel like students feel strangely uncomfortable around both of you as you speak nonsense—for others it seems this way, at least—or genuinely act very unhinged. And your flirting? It the worst!

•

”Y/n, l'amour de ma vie, where are you?” Rook hums thoughtfully, narrowed eyes scanning the bedroom where he just heard your voice a few minutes ago. ”Y/n?”

But the room is empty now, and the only thing that catches his attention is one of your fancy hats being left on the bedside. Clearly, intentionally.

Rook wastes no time in raising it in the air. As he expects, there is a note and a breathtaking violet rose under it, just waiting to be found by him.

’Catch me if you can, mon petit gâteau!~

P.S: I found this ethereal little thing this morning, when I was having my daily walk with Riddle R. It was obscured by others, more pompous ones, shyly peeking out from the bush. Others was blind to it, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from this flower. It reminded me of you, and so I painted it violet to this resemblance being even more obvious.

— With love from the one, who would poison you, if you were by husband.’

A laugh that escapes his lips is ever cheerful as Rook swirls the rose between his fingers, noticing only now that to addition to everything it is thornless; a clear evidence of the work of yours.

Quickly, he takes off his hat, leaving it behind, putting yours on his head instead.

”Well-well, Y/n... The one, who would drink your poison if he was your husband, is coming. Beware.”

Ah! What a perfect match you are!

Idia Shroud; platonic. 💙

— I genuinely believe he doesn't understand how such a loud and extraverted person, managed to befriend him. But you did, somehow, so congratulations? Or condolences. He is not sure, who suffers the most out of two of you, yet.

— I also feel like you intentionally pretended to needing him for some work or project, just to get closer and befriend him, but Idia thinks it was an accidental, lmao;

— He is so happy, when you tell him, that though you never played games before, you are willing to learn how to play his videogames, so he wouldn't feel so lonely;

— And in return for your kindness, Idia agrees to spend time with you on your weekly shopping sessions! Ah, sweet summer child... If he only knew!

•

Idia groans, hiding his face in his palms as he hears your quiet musings behind the door of the changing cabin. It is some silly french song, but in given circumstances, it is a lot like a dead march for him.

When you first told him about shopping sessions, Idia seemed surprised why would anyone waste time on something like this, when online shops literally existed. But, nevertheless, he tagged along with you. Because he is a good friend.

And at first, everything seemed fine. Yes, of course, you chose a very questionable and flushy clothes that looked as if someone pressed a ’random character design’ button, but... At least, you was quick! A few minutes here and there, and you finished with each shop effortlessly.

Until you saw a shop with hats. That is where everything started to crumble.

You spent fifty minutes only on staring at different hats, touching and checking their material, and carefully analysing every part of it as if it was a peace of art. And then, you spent even more on trying them on by one one, with different bought outfits from before! And it is not even going to end soon!

”So,” you ask, while opening the door of your cabin. ”How does it look, Idia?”

He has no idea! All of these hats look similar to him: too bright, too much, too pointy. What are you, a witch from nineties?!

”Cool,” he answers, offering you an awkward smile, not willing to he honest in this one.

You sigh.

”I don't kno-ow... Something is off.”

You have been telling the same thing over and over again. At this time, Idia wants to say that your style is off in general.

”Everything is very cool, I don't know.” He repeats, shrugging.

Please, let it work, please—

”Let me try another one,” you click your tongue, before disappearing again.

Idia wishes he could die.

Ah, the things he is doing for his best friend...

Professor Train; mentorship. 🤎

— He is a proud father of a few daughters canonically, so as soon as he sees you as one, you are instantly becoming his favourite student off all the time;

— But truth to be told, you really make his life as a teacher easy. It is often that students ignore his subject, calling it boring and the most uninteresting one, so when you start to ask him questions during the lessons, considering the topic of it, he is pleasantly surprised;

— And, oh, Lucifer loves you! When this cat jumps off his arms, to hide on your lap, professor Trein is absolutely... Shocked. That is unusual for his cat, but it is undeniable now: you are a trusted face;

— You are such a diligent and quiet student on his lessons that he is genuinely surprised, when he overhears that you had been a real troublemaker on other lessons! What do you mean Crewel hates you for criticism of his looks? Had you really broke your broom on Vargas's lesson?..

•

Mozus realises that it is you, who knocks on his door, when Lucifer starts meowing quietly, trying to catch his attention by scratching the fabric of his pants.

”Yes, Y/n?” He calls for you, allowing himself to take a quick break of checking everyone's homework.

You peek from the opened door, eyes slightly wide.

”How did you...”

But the question never leaves your lips, and instead you march in with a big pile of old books in your hands.

”Good morning, professor Trein!”

He gestures you to come closer with his hand, that is not busy with stroking the cat's fur. As you do, he examines you again, remembering his conversation with headmaster Crowley he had this morning.

It is so hard to believe that he described you as ’a smart, yet worthy of getting expelled’ student! Professor Trein can't understand how would anyone say something so deceiving about you.

”Good morning. How can I help you?”

You put books in front of him with a loud thud, gasping for air, clearly tired of carrying it around. Smiling widely, you gesture at them.

”Professor Trein, do you remember how you said that it is unclear what happened in the history Shaftlands between 13th century, after the revolution?” He nods, and you puff out your chest proudly. ”I called my uncle, and look at what I found in our family library! Here it is, the secret information!”

It is his turn to look astonished now. Had you really gone for all these troubles because of the small note he muttered near the end of his lesson?

”So, I brought it to you, thinking that you will be interested, maybe?”

...No, there is no actual way someone sees you as a rude girl! You are the best students he had in centuries. He actually will leave this working place if someone ever tries to get you expelled.

”...Ah, thank you. That is very nice of you.”

You lean closer automatically, and he pats you head as a reward; a very common thing you bribe out of him for good studies.

Lucifer uses this opportunity to jump on you as you laugh, catching the cat hastily, clearly being ready for such an unexpected attack.

Mozus smiles shortly, watching you dancing around the class with Lucifer in your hands, and then, checks the books on his table again.

...Ah, perhaps, being a teacher is not that bad, after all.

[liketwoswansinbalance]

Rafal headcanons (not all have a basis in canon):

He doesn't and will never get hype culture much to Rhian's chagrin.

He probably has some item, like an article of clothing, such as socks, that he buys duplicates of, so he doesn't have to waste thought and energy on them everyday.

He likes olives, especially the sour ones, in some of his sandwiches.

He suffers from "irony poisoning" by a certain stage in life.

One of the worst things in the world to him is writing Thank You cards, usually to people like alumni who send generous donations. He always foists the task off on Rhian because he can’t bring himself to sound sincere or fawn over anything. Also, it irrationally humiliates him to have to thank someone for something in person, even if it's something small. He doesn't know why he feels that way, and doesn’t care enough to find out. It’s an unplaceable, inexplicable feeling, and it’s just there.

On the converse, Rhian lets him respond to the letters of complaint and petitions for reform. He vetoes almost everything.

He likes to manipulate the sky and weather patterns, particularly lightning, to look more foreboding, as if nature were his personal backdrop. He secretly lives for drama as long as it stays a spectator sport for him. (This one might be canon going by the Snow Ball edict scene in Rise, but it's sort of unconfirmed.)

If he ever appreciated sentimental elements in the tales (unlikely), he’d never tell anyone. And he would only play those things out in his head where there would be no record of them.

In his own thoughts, or if he were a writer, of course he’d write about taboo subjects, but the one obvious thing he intentionally wouldn’t write about would be love (or specifically romantic love). He’d probably write around love. He’d write the negative space that makes love’s presence known, but somehow not engage with it directly, eye to eye, and instead define it by what’s not present in his work.

He’d avoid thinking or writing about the human condition, even if all writers, by default, end up writing about human condition in some shape or form, by hazard of being a human. He’s immortal and he’d view himself as above human and above humanity as a sympathetic trait. Simple as that. (He’d be in denial, essentially.)

And yet, he’d write about it. Incidentally. The same way he’d write around love—somehow managing to snare everything he’d circumvent into his works while he circumvents it.

His critics and fans would have a field day, trying to parse out what might have been intentional or not on his part.

For his part, he’d never give interviews, and would let his works stand for themselves, alone, as art, as they’re meant to be read: gone into blind. He hates it when educators flatten his works, so they can be consumed by a broader, apathetic (in his eyes) audience. He hates abridged versions.

He even hates abridged versions of the tales the Storian writes, and he unconsciously spurns the laymen of the Woods.

Even if he wouldn't write about love, a subtle, recurring theme of his would be sacrifice. Sacrifice for personal gain and ambition, or whatever else there is that he’d value, that wasn’t always in his hands, that didn’t always drop into his hands immediately, if he couldn’t orchestrate it.

He wouldn’t admit to valuing Rhian, but well… that’s one other “thing” he keeps like an object to be owned. It’s a form of "love." And to him, sacrifice is a form of "love" or devotion, because you let go of everything else for the one gain, in pursuit of it.

He often thinks along the lines of “all-or-nothing," "the thought doesn't count," and “actions, not thought, not words.”

If he wrote, lectured, or thought around love, he'd also leave a gap for his students or readers to fill in for themselves.

And it's just as well that he probably would only ever write the povs of hard-boiled figures like detectives, or the solvers and perpetrators of crime that would never fall prey to emotional appeals. He can’t stand putting himself in the shoes of the “fool” or the duped, even in an imaginary world, even in the safety of his head—because what if it bled into his real life? He's not superstitious, but what if, one day, he were played for a fool? Never. He would never allow that.

And it makes sense really, as, ironically, writing these figures, the least emotionally vulnerable characters for an audience or outlining them on the blackboard for his students when discussing a tale is probably at once the most impersonal route and also the most revealing. To his students, those behind-the-scenes decisions are themselves telling in some way.

It’s all just up for interpretation—because, what would he be if he didn’t leave gaps and holes in his character? The chinks in his armor are left there for others to do the work for him because he’s impressively lazy and apathetic about "introducing” himself, and has the good fortune of having a job that doesn’t require introductions to new faces, aside from the students he doesn’t truly need to know by heart in order to teach. They can just fill in the gaps however much they want, ideally or relationally and so on.

And he’s content to leave them with a false image of himself because even that’s less unnerving and disconcerting as people being too close for comfort, and knowing too much of what he can no longer moderate in the privacy of their own minds. You can’t unknow something or someone after all.

He’s afraid of the "mortifying ordeal of being known" in a less conventional way. To an extent, humanity is fear-driven deep down. Thus, he doesn’t want to give anyone a window into his psyche—lest he be taken advantage of, so he contents himself with not being known at all, feeding into his paranoia that the world is out to get him.

Why give it more ammo? He should deprive the world of anything it could use against him. Maybe he has a fear of being mocked for however he really is? Though, if there is a facade (I mean, he is a public figure), it's not actually that far removed from whatever he doesn't reveal anyway.

Perhaps, he would respond to mockery internally the way he did at his own Nevers expressing their hatred of him with a brief, sharp, jabbing twinge of hurt, at the disapproval he largely never cares about, but that under the right conditions, he may indeed care about.

Now, he's no longer in a position to be mocked, but perhaps, before becoming School Master, he used to tell others harshly: "Do. Not. MOCK. Me." whenever they would mirror him because he did not think as far as to realize that emotional reciprocation was two-sided, especially with Evers and their behaviors. Yet, he mocks Rhian, Evers, pirates, and everything else in sight. Nothing is immune from being subject to his irreverence, and he is both hypocritical and hyper-critical.

[moody-b1tch]

Keeping the tradition of bringing to the table things nobody asked for...

✨Headcanons about which NRC students have killed someone (and which would) ✨

Spoilers, violence and discussions of murder ahead.

Trey

• He's clean.

Riddle

• He's clean, too. Despite the anger issues, he's a good boy.

Cater

• Clean, too.

Ace

• He's also clean.

• He would help a friend to hide a body, tho.

Deuce

• He hasn't killed anyone, but he might have come pretty close to it during his delinquent days.

• Just. Think about it. A regular fight that went a little too far. A guy from a rival gang's head hitting the pavement a little too hard.

• I don't think Deuce could cope with having blood on his hands, tho. So, despite the chances of shit going wrong, I think his body count is 0.

Jack

• Another good boy.

Ruggie

• 50/50. Life in the slums was rough. We will never know.

• If he ever killed someone, it was 100% self defense, tho.

Leona

• Okay, hear me out. That unique magic of his? That's some scary shit.

• What if he discovered it in a really, really bad way? We don't know shit.

• We also don't know shit about that scar on his eye. If Kalim, without being royalty, has to deal with constant kidnapping and murder attempts, the second prince of the Sunset Savanna...

• Honorable mention to the stampede he and Ruggie created. He could've killed someone.

Azul

• He, killing someone? That generous soul could never.

• He's not getting his hands dirty.

• That's why he has Jade and Floyd.

Floyd

• Maybe?

• Funny enough, I don't think it would be intentional. Just... Accidentally taking a squeezing too far.

Jade

• Yes. 100%

• Even if we ignore the hints about Jade cannibalizing his other siblings as a baby... C'mon guys. C'MON.

Jamil

• Yes. I won't elaborate.

• Okay, I will elaborate.

• If part of his "job" implies dying for Kalim... Why wouldn't he *kill* for Kalim.

• Even if he didn't want to... One of the many fucked up situation involving kidnappers or hitmans must have ended with a traumatized little Jamil covered in blood.

Kalim

• I'm 80% sure he has killed at least one person (and his memory probably suppressed it).

• It was probably an accident, tho. Pushing one kidnapper from a high place, a panicked outburst of magic...

• And, even if he was unable to intentionally kill to save himself... He 100% would kill for Jamil.

Epel

• No.

• He *wishes* we saw him like that, tho.

Rook

• Yes.

• No, I won't elaborate.

• What? I said I won't elaborate. I'm not a liar.

Vil

• He's clean.

• He 100% would've killed Neige if he hadn't been stopped.

• That was just blot poisoning, tho. Usually he would just daydream about it.

Idia

• He would say "yes", blaming himself for Ortho's death.

• Me, his parents, Ortho, Ortho 2.0 and his online bestie would say that's bullshit, tho.

Ortho

• He hasn't killed anyone (yet) only because everyone around him baby sits him. And, well, divine intervention too, I guess.

• But he will. Some day. Is just a matter of time.

• Fr, slandering Idia in front of this kid is like playing Russian roulette.

Sebek & Silver

• I'm putting them together because they're in a similar situation.

• They're good kids with big hearts, but they're training to be Malleus guards.

• The situation with Malleus is extremely different from Leona or Kalim. But he's still royalty.

• So, if they have to, they will kill to protect Malleus. Or a loved one.

• It would fuck them up badly, tho :)

Lilia

• He was a war general. He probably can't remember all the faces of the people he has killed.

• Still, I don't agree with the "daddy war crimes" headcanon.

• After experiencing all that violence, he is more self conscious about the value of a life.

• But he would 100% kill for his loved ones.

Malleus

• The concept of an entity stuck with the emotional maturity of a child, and then a teenager for CENTURIES, with inmensurable magic power, is terrifying. Add to that the lack of constant parental figures? Is a recipe for disaster.

• So, yeah, he has probably accidentally killed a few while throwing a tantrum. Multiple times. Freezing the castle, floating the land, hitting someone with lightning...

• Also, I think he would intentionally kill someone if they fucked with Malleus loved ones. Or at least curse them.

[multidimensional-trashcan]

hamlet but i haven't seen it (yet)

there's this guy named hamlet who's the prince of denmark

somethings foul in the state of denmark or something

hamlet's dad, the king, got killed before the play and hamlet suspects his uncle claudius (is that his name?)

claudius marries hamlet's mother and is now king (bit weird but okay)

hamlet doesnt like that

the ghost of hamlet's father appears to hamlet and tells him to kill his uncle in revenge

hamlet the master of indecisiveness™

to be or not to be

thats like about whether to act or not i think

hamlet is a college student so actually quite young (i think boy started to go to college at age 14 and hamlets probably around 16 but nobody's sure)

a phrase stuck in my brain is "hamlet the frat boy" but im pretty sure he's more of a theater kid

instead of killing his uncle hamlet stages a play similar to what he thinks transpired to watch how his uncle reacts to it

the lady doth protest too much, methinks

shakepeare does love to make his protagonists spiral into insanity

i heard hamlet is a story about grief and i also heard that it's like a mirror, what you see about hamlet says more about you that hamlet himself (but dont ask me to elaborate i am realising my brain retains information i have no clue how i got)

in the end almost everyone dies because of hamlet

hamlet stabs someone through the curtain i think its the father of ophelia (polonius or smth i dunno) cause he thinks is his uncle

im not sure why his uncle should be behind a curtain tho

hamlet randomly gets kidnapped by pirates but we never see it because shakespeare already new how expensive special effects are

i bet the pirates let hamlet go because he's a little bitch

hamlet is A LITTLE BITCH

i think in one scene he just tries to fluster ophelia (his not-quite-girlfriend) by turning everything she says into sexual innuendo (may i lay my head in your lap so on so on)

there's one scene with a grave digger whom hamlet asks for whom the grave is the man is digging and the man responds it is his own to which hamlet answers something along the lines of

one would thinks so for thou dost lie in it

great pun

ophelia actually manages to drown in a brook which is characterised by it's shallowness

its unclear whether she did it intentionally

there are some guys named rosencrantz und guildenstern (probably didnt spell that right) and i know nothing about them except that they die because of hamlet and for some reason they always get mentioned together which makes me think they are an item

many people die because of hamlet

also there's a skull

is that yorrick?

hamlet talks to it

david tennant got the role of hamlet because he randomly picked up a real human skull

hamlet dies (big surprise!)

there's a duel? and one of the sword's is poisoned and hamlet picks up the wrong one? is that with laertes? i know he dies, too

also there's horatio, everybody seems to like him so i tried to not mention him for as long as possible to annoy them (not really i just dont know much about him)

people think hes gay for hamlet

hes not nobility but wellspoken

something something sweet prince?

horatio does not die

he lives to tell the tale

which is somehow worse

while i know (claudius?) hamlet's uncle dies and thats kinda the point of hamlet's whole actions i do not actually know when or how he dies (but i know about the curtain stabbing, the brook and the duel, weird)

or is he the one in the duel?

i bet hamlet's mother dies too

i also dont know how hamlet dies, something with the duel and the poisoned sword i guess, i know he picked up the wrong sword but im not sure if the wrong one was that with poison or not

WHAT DOES THE PIRATE KIDNAPPING HAVE TO DO WITH EVERYTHING?

AND WAS HE REALLY SIXTEEN?

i am very confused about how much there is in my brain about the guy

i do think there must be more to horatio except 'gay for hamlet' but i dont know anything

rosencrantz und guildenstern sound like a comic relief duo who dont know what they're doing

something about mother and knowing about playing with her drapes... (is that from hamlet?)

im sure this is enough for now

please do tell me how wrong i am

also tell me if you know why i seem to know so much about this (even if it's not true)

yes, this was inspired by @weirdly-specific-but-ok 's good omens post and @hello-ello-ello 's post about macbeth

[yansimstorythatiwillnotworkon]

#5

Friday

Info-Chan: If you managed to poison Raibaru’s food with a headache or emetic poison, she would be weak enough to eliminate.

Yan-Chan: If that was really the case, then why couldn’t I have done that any other time?

Info-Chan: I give you helpful tips daily. This is just your helpful tip of the day.

Yan-Chan: A helpful tip that amounted to nothing in the end.

Info-Chan: Don’t worry, this one is probably the most helpful one! :)

Yan-Chan: Why are you stalling?

Yan-Chan: I only have so much of the day left before everything is ruined

Info-Chan: Don’t worry ^^

Info-Chan: I wouldn’t unintentionally allow my client to fail. :3

That, of course, hinted that she would allow her to fail intentionally if she so pleased. Ayano sighs as she gets one last text from her crappy informant.

Info-Chan: Toga Tabara seems to need a little help. :)

Ayano frowns, but pockets her phone and searches the halls for Toga.

__

“Oh, Ayano.” Toga’s eyes widen in slight surprise at Ayano approaching him. He puts a hand on his hip with a curious frown. “I’m surprised you’re asking. I admit, I didn’t entirely see you as the ‘favor-doing’ type.” He shakes his head with a hand on his hip. “Before I answer, though, can I ask why you want to do a favor for me?”

Ayano didn’t know any more about Toga than he knew about her, but from what Info-Chan had told her, he wasn’t exactly as impressionable as other students. Regardless, the less Toga was able to say for certain about her, the safer she was from being doubted based on her actions.

With that thought in mind, Ayano subtly began swaying back and forth in a girly manner. She smiled in faux confusion. “Well, I can’t say that I help others because I want sunshine and rainbows raining on Academi, but I can say for certain that doing favors makes me feel helpful.” Shrugging, she claims, “Maybe it just feeds my ego, hehe..”

Toga raises his eyebrows briefly, his gaze and overall posture hinting that she had didn’t quite believe her. He simply shrugged and continued, though. “Well, to each their own. Not like I can say what you do and why you do it.” He claims, folding his arms. “As for my favor…” He hums in thought. “Well, I’m sure you know I’m quite notorious for not being able to pick a club. It would help me if you asked each club leader their thoughts of me- regarding my performance, of course.”

Ayano nods with a bright smile, “I can do that! No problem!” She says, and begins walking to speak to the first club leader on her list.

“One moment.” Toga calls out again. He hesitates as Ayano turns back to him but eventually gets his statement out. “Could you also ask Kuroko what she thinks would be best for me?” He asks, “I value her opinion a lot, and I’m sure she could give me great advice.”

After pondering for a moment, Ayano eventually nods. Kuroko seemed to be the more… normal of the student council. Akane always seemed to be breathing down her neck, awaiting Ayano’s eventual screw up. Aoi spent more time accusing her of things instead of actually catching her doing anything. And Shiromi was just… weird.

Unlike her fellow student council members, Kuroko was more humble and respectful to everyone while still knowing how to use her authority. If Toga hadn’t asked for Kuroko specifically, Ayano likely would have gone for her herself.

__

“Ah, Ayano.” Shoku smiles at her, although his awkward expression hinted that he hadn’t forgotten their previous encounter.

“Shoku.” Ayano nods, “Toga’s having trouble picking a club… as per usual. He asked me to ask you and the other club leaders what your thoughts on his performance in this club was.” She explained briefly, continuing her petite body movements, but keeping her face normal. When she first interacted with Shoku, she showed no changes in her persona or facial expressions, so perhaps changing how she presented herself slowly wouldn’t stand out to him as much.

Shoku raises his eyebrows in slight shock. “Oh, really?” He lifts a hand up to his chin in thought. “Well, he certainly was talented. He was an incredible learner, and apparently often had to cook for himself at home. He didn’t know everything, of course, but knew a lot despite being a novice.” He hesistates for a moment, however, before saying. “I guess if I had to complain it would be his lack of…enthusiasm? He claimed several times that he wouldn’t want to ‘waste time’ cooking for others, or even himself. I guess after spending so much time cooking for himself, it got kind of boring?”

Ayano hummed in silent thought, but nodded. “Right. Is that all? Did any of your clubmates have anything to say about him?”

“Well, Aija didn’t really like him. Thought he was lazy, which he really wasn’t.” Shoku explained. He turned to his tray, grabbing a bag of powdered sugar and sprinkling some on top of his brownies. “Honestly Aija… doesn’t like a lot of people. At all. I think what she didn’t like about him was the fact that Toga saw cooking as more of a hobby instead of anything he would consider ‘important’.”

Once again, Shoku turned to Ayano with a brownie on a napkin. “Do you still not like brownies?” He asks, smiling hopefully at Ayano.

After a moment of thought, Ayano takes the brownie. “Thanks.” She said briefly, taking a bite of it. She then nods, “It’s good, but a little cakey. And I’m not a fan of powdered sugar.”

“Not everyone is.” Shoku says with a casual smile. “I appreciate your feedback, though!” He says, picking up the serving tray. “If other students say the same then maybe I’ll use a little less flour and more butter?” He says, although more so to himself. He nods to Ayano as a goodbye and goes on about his usual routine.

__

“Hi, Yan-Chan!” Kokona waves happily at Ayano as she enters the gymnasium. Ayano waves briefly, not quite knowing if Kokona knew that the “Yan” nickname was meant to be a joke name or not.

Kokona and her club were on the stage, all holding their own script. Tokuko was clearing her throat and excersizing her voice as she was often the singer or vocalizer during performances. Shozo was comparing the script to a book he was holding on the “History of American Tragedies”. Tsuruzo usually got the main role, only second to their leader. Kokona was usually the narrator due to her passion and overall joy of being dramatic, and Riku was usually everything else. Technician, stage set-up, back-up, and so on and so forth. Basically a jack-of-all-trades.

“Ayano! There’s my favorite drama-club-to-be!” Tsuruzo claims, flipping his curled ponytail over his shoulder. He smiles brightly as Kokona walks over to Ayano as well.

“Look! I’ve got the narrator role again!” Kokona cheered to her, jumping a bit in excitement. “Isn’t it so cool?!” She asked excitedly, looking down to Ayano.

Ayano nods. “That’s nice.” She says calmly.

“Did you come to beg me to join, yet?” Tsuruzo asks with a hopeful grin. It immediately fell, however as Ayano shook her head. “Well, we can’t all be bursting with potential, I suppose.” He huffs, but smiles once again. “So, what brings you here, darling?”

Folding her hands behind her back, Ayano responds, “I came to ask you about Toga.” She claims. “He wanted to know about what you thought of his performance during his time here.”

Tsuruzo immediately scoffs, looking offended at the mere mention of Toga. “Performance?! I think you mean lack thereof!” He snapped, placing a hand on his hip with a scowl.

Ayano raises her eyebrows in surprise. “Really? What did he do?”

“What he didn’t do is put in an effort!” Tsuruzo grumbled, before sighing and deciding to calm down. “He had all the time in the world to learn scripts or help with setups or run errands, but all he did was ask questions!” He looks to his hand, counting on his fingers, “‘Why this play?’, ‘Is there any meaning behind it?’, ‘Why is Kizana even the leader?’, ‘Why does anyone listen to her?’, ‘Shouldn’t we do something more unique?’, ‘What’s the point of this line?’, ‘Does this have anything to do with-’ and nothing else!”

“He’s just mad that Toga was honest about disliking Kizana.” Tokuko chuckles, although her voice was a little weaker that usual.

Riku spoke up, tilting his head to the side in thought. “Well, he was pretty talkative.” He commented, “It was only a matter of time before his questions switched from what the play was to asking if it was related to some…obscene murder case or something or other.”

Kokona hesitantly agrees, folding her hands together awkwardly. “Yeah… he did ask some weird questions. Which wasn’t exactly the problem, it was more so that he asked us these questions while we worked in front of him.”

“He wasn’t really an actor. All of us have our own… amount of talent when it comes to acting, but he either didn’t bother or just… couldn’t.” Shozo added. “Honestly, I just don’t think that he joined the drama club to act at all. Of course, I don’t know what he joined for, but my point still stands.”

“He left before I could kick him out.” Tsuruzo smacks his teeth, his arms folded in pure irritation. “He didn’t bother going to a single club activity. It was Monday through Thursday, and he left Friday morning.”

Ayano frowned in thought. She wondered a bit about what exactly Toga’s goal was if not to actually act, but brushed it off. In the end, that wasn’t entirely her business. If he ended up being as weird as the Drama Club saw him then Info-Chan would have provided her with that information. Or maybe “might have” is more accurate.

“I…see.” Ayano nods in understanding. “So, in general?” She asked, turning to Kokona this time for a more fair judgement.

Kokona smiles wrly. “He just, ah… didn’t seem very interested in the first place. I’m sure he could have performed well if he actually wanted to, but he… didn’t.”

Ayano nods. “I see. Thank you for the information.” She says.

“If we were so helpful don’t you think it’s only fair that you help uuus?” Tsuruzo hums, walking behind Ayano and placing his hands on her shoulders.

“...not today. But what do you need help with?” Ayano asks him, taking a step away and turning to face him.

Kokona bounces up next to respond instead. “With setting up the play in a couple of weeks!” She says, peering down at Ayano with an excited smile. “Our leader, Kizana, is coming back to Academi next week, so we want to put in as much work as possible!”

Ayano ponders that and hears Tokuko mutter something like “unfortunately” under her breath. Ayano didn’t particularly care about this Kizana character, but it might do her reputation good if she helps out. Even more so without being in the club. “I’d be happy to help, but like I said I’m pretty occupied today.” She responded.

“Well, whenever you’re ready, we’ll be waiting!” Kokona chirps, waving Ayano goodbye cheerily.

__

“Toga?” Shin seemed to frown at the thought of him. Well, he was already frowning, but it seemed more so out of disdain than being generally gloomy. “Well, he was… very interested in our studies.” He said, quietly. “He asked a lot of questions, but in the end, um…”

Shin looks around the club briefly, as if trying to collect his thoughts, before Supana spoke up. “He debunked all of our studies with ‘science’, and whatever.” She grumbles, clearly not holding a very fond memory of Toga.

“I recall that Chojo was quite fond of him.” Shin said, moving his tall figure from in front of Ayano to reveal the lankier boy sitting in a chair.

Chojo peeked up from his upside-down book, but immediately looked away from Ayano. He mumbled something that Ayano couldn’t quite here, and after noticing that he spoke up. “He listened to me a lot!” He said, much louder.

“Be quiet!” Supana hissed, making Chojo recoil back into his chair.

“Sorry..” He mumbled.

Shin turns back to Ayano. “Chojo is quite talkative if you’re patient enough. Toga was very patient, and listened to everything that he had to say. Though..” The taller boy paused in thought, but slowly continued, “..I feel like he was looking for something whenever he listened to Chojo. And perhaps that was the same reason he spoke to us and asked us questions so often?”

“I heard something similar.” Ayano said, averting her gaze in thought. She didn’t particularly think that Toga was suspicious or meant any harm. If anything, he just seemed like he sat with a club for a week and left if it wasn’t up to his standards, regardless of how high those standards might be.

“I could be imagining things.” Shin claimed, shaking his head, “He did seem to be a very positive influence on the club. He never bothered listening to rumours and didn’t judge any of us via how we appeared. If anything, he seemed to have joined for knowledge rather that drama, which can be respected.”

Ayano nods, “I think so, too.” She agrees, folding her arms behind her back and taking a step back. “Thank you for the information, I’m going to continue asking around.”

“I hope what we’ve said was helpful to you.” Shin says, bowing his head as Ayano takes her leave.

__

“I guess he was alright.” Gema shrugged, immediately straightening his back when Ayano came in. “He was interested in every aspect of every game. Hell, he asked me so many questions even I started questioning what I was playing. I didn’t like it!” He sighed, sitting in one of the chairs at the desk. “If a game I’m playing has secret contreversial lore I’d honestly rather ignore it and keep playing. But then Toga had to keep, like, doing background checks on the developers and stuff?”

Mai spoke up. “Toga looked into a favorite developer of mine and learned that he was… well, a freak to be honest. I still play the game, sometimes, but… it doesn’t feel the same anymore.” She sighs, “I’m at least thaknful that he told me the difference of a good and bad developer. I see why so many of my friends hate that game now. It really hasn't grown much in the last… what, ten years?”

“He was suuuuuper smart!” Midori said, cheerily, trotting over to Ayano. “He sorta did that thing that your mom would do! Like, he would watch us play and then point everything that didn’t make sense! Do you remember that?”

Ayano nods. When she was a kid, Midori would bring over her game system and all of her games. She recalled Kuu saying that if she won against Midori than they all would have a book night. That alone probably made Midori better at video games.

“How’s your mom, anyway, Ayano?” Midori asks, but is interrupted by Gema.

“Don’t get distracted, Midori, you still have grinding to do!” He says, sitting her back down. “Anyway, Toga left pretty quickly. He finished all of our games in two days and then left! I guess he didn’t feel like farming XP for me anymore.” Gema shrugs, once again having to straighten his posture, clearly not yet used to standing up straight just yet.

Gema seems to remember something and smiles at Ayano. Quietly, he says, “Thanks again for those tips, Ayano. Musume and I are on, like, talking terms right now! Girls don’t usually talk to me! You know, unless they’re..” He looks at Midori, and then back to Ayano and shrugs, “..a loser.”

“I’m happy to have helped.” Ayano says, “And thank you for the info. Toga will be happy to have heard your opinion. I think.” She says. “I’m going to continue asking around now.”

“Sure, sure. Tell him that if he feels like grinding more XP he’s totally welcome!” Gema calls, although Ayano didn’t think that she would bother telling him that.

__

“Ayano! We’ve been seeing more of you, haven’t we?” Budo says, thankfully remembering to keep his voice quiet this time. “What can I do for you?”

Ayano pulls her hands in front of herself, intertwining her fingers. “Toga asked me to do a favor for him. He wanted to hear what the club leaders thought of him. Apparently, it will help him decide which one to stay in for good. Or something or other.”

Budo gives a wry smile. “Toga, huh?” He crosses his arms, thinking. “Well, he certainly put in an effort. But.. you know, he’s a pretty thin guy. He only stayed with us for the week and eventually left us for the light music club.”

“Did he do a lot of research on martial arts?” Ayano guesses, causing Budo to smile in surprise.

“How’d you know?” He asks, “I honestly think that Toga just used being in our club as an excuse to do research about martial arts.”

Ayano nods. From what she’s hearing, Toga was just the type to research anything he could.

“He’s a pretty smart guy, though. Some stuff he told me even I didn’t know about.” Budo laughs, “Not that anyone taught me anything. But anyway, if Toga worked out, he could probably properly get into Martial Arts, but I don’t think it’s his strong suit at the moment.”

Ayano nods. “I understand. That’s all I needed.” She bows lightly, “Thank you.”

“Of course!” Budo beams as Ayano moves onto the Light Music Club.

__

“Oh, he was an absolute riot!” Miyuji says, pumping her fist with a big grin. Her smile immediately falls into something more sheepish as she thinks about it more, though. “Well… his skills were. Despite how absolutely a-MAZ-ing he was with instruments… his skills didn’t exactly match his energy.”

Tilting her head to the side, Ayano asks, “What do you mean by that?” She got the general idea, but maybe Miyuji could provide an example.

“Well..” Miyuji flopped back down on her seat, casual picking at some strings of her guitar. “...he stayed here literally from Monday to Wednesday. We did a performance on Tuesday, and he honestly rocked the whole time! But, during the performance, he was, like… completely still! It’s like he only moved the necessary parts of his body to perform the song well, but didn’t enjoy the song at all!”

Myuji lowers her voice and continues. “Between you and me, he was sort of a drag. He was super serious about everything. Hell, the most expression he showed the whole time he was here was when Kiba let him dissect and fix up her keyboard!”

“Sounds like he preferred learning about the instruments more than playing them.” Ayano says, and Myuji shrugs.

“Maybe. I mean- he was only here for three days. I don’t really have much else to say about him.” She says, looking down to her guitar. “Except that he was pretty good-looking. Would’ve been our hottest member if he let me dye his hair.” She chuckles.

Ayano bows her head briefly. “Got it. Thanks for the information.”

“Anytime! Except next time I’m gonna make you play with us!” Myuji called as Ayano left.

__

“Hm.” Geiju hummed briefly, turning his head away from Ayano to paint as he thought. “Very inquisitive.”

Ayano folds her hands together in front of her. “So I’ve heard. Were there any pros or cons with working with him?” She asked, realizing that she would probably have to do most of the talking.

“Very smart.” Geiju said, nodding, but then shook his head as he said, “Not active.”

Ayano pauses in thought, slowly putting Geiju’s words together. It would be helpful if he could provide some examples, but Geiju was strictly a two-word-sentence speaker. As if hearing their conversation, Enpitsu walks in and leans on the doorway.

“He was kind of a drag, I won’t lie.” The orange-haired fellow claimed, although him saying something like that wasn’t too surprising when it came to most people. “He said he never painted in his life, but aced every beginner and intermediate-level training on his first day here. And then he left.”

Geiju speaks up, “Studied plenty.”

“Yeah, that too, I guess.” Enpitsu shrugs, “He came to all of the members of the club and studied our individual tastes to the T. But he still left the very next day.”

Ayano looked to Geiju. “Did he happen to join on Thursday?” She asked, to which he nodded to. Maybe he was following a schedule or had some sort of goal? “I see…”

Enpitsu spoke again, “I think he enjoyed painting, and he was really good at it, but when he left, he just said that he wasn’t sure if he wanted to stay.”

“He might have been testing out each club, then. Most of the other club leaders say the same.” Ayano said before turning to Geiju again. “Thank you for answering.”

Scoffing, Enpitsu mumbles, “To the best of his abilities.”

Geiju didn’t react to Enpitsu’s remark and nodded to Ayano as she exited the room.

__

“Well, he was definitely a good photographer.” Furredo claims, leaning back in his chair. “He didn’t seem too bothered when he learned that we only really photograph for fun.”

Dafuni smiles sheepishly and comments, “I do think it’s worth mentioning that he didn’t let us see the photos he took.”

Furredo nods, snapping his fingers, “Right, right!” He looks back up to Ayano, “He even brought his own camera. Probably so we wouldn’t have a right to look at the pictures he took.”

“Certainly didn’t help those ‘pervert’ allegations.” Beruma comments. As she does, Rojasu flinches and leans up. He sniffs, looking half-asleep.

“He’s a pervert?” He asks, blinking slowly, before slowly laying his head back on the table.

Furredo chuckles awkwardly and raises his hands to his club. “Let’s not encourage those rumors, you guys. Those are only rumors that really stemmed from nothing. I don’t know why he kept his pictures private, though. He could just be a private guy. Or maybe he was embarrassed.”

“Toga?” Sukubi asked, slipping Rojasu’s bento out of his bag. “He didn’t seem like the embarrassed type. He was super confident and, like, straightforward and stuff.”

Beruma snatches Rojasu’s bento away from Sukubi, but not in agreement. “Right, I think his candid personality shocked people into listening to him.” She says, putting the bento into her own bag for safe keeping. “I say that, of course, because other students hate it when we take pictures of them if it isn’t some happy celebration or event. But they did the opposite for him.”

“So he approached the people he was taking a picture of?” Ayano asked, to which the club agreed to, whether that be a murmured ‘yeah, pretty much’ or a simple nod.

Dafuni giggles, “Maybe you were right about the embarrassed bit, then. Pictures taken face-to-camera probably don’t look too good anyway.”

Rojasu sits up again suddenly with a gasp. “Like that one cat meme!” He said, causing a wave of laughter amongst the group.

Not only was Ayano not a meme person, but she recalls there being several different cat memes. Whatever it was Rojasu was talking about before he went back to sleep was somehow something that the whole club recalled. Or maybe it was completely different, who knows? They didn’t seem like the smartest bunch anyway.

“Well, thank you for the information.” Ayano says, bowing her head politely.

“No need to be so polite, Yan-Chan! Ayano!” Furredo quickly corrects himself and smiles, “Drop by anytime!”

__

“Oh, Toga! Yes, yes.. Very smart, that one, very smart.” Kaga nods his head. “Or, uh… obedient, at the very least. You don’t meet many people willing to sacrifice their lives for science. I would know. I wouldn’t either. Not when there are other people around!”

Ayano pulls her mouth into a straight line before speaking up. “Right… so, is there anything significant that he did during his time here?”

“Uh, no. Er- yes, maybe. I don’t know, you should ask Homu. Toga seemed incredibly interested in her.” The scientist claimed, walking over and peeking underneath the tarp in the corner of the room before walking back to his usual spot and typing something. “A-As a matter of fact, the two of them seemed incredibly close throughout his time here! Ate lunch together, spoke on the roof, and… whatever friends do, I suppose.”

“He was pretty smart, though.” Horo spoke up, messing with a small device that lit up pictures of random students occassionally. He smacks his teeth, tapping on it with a sigh. “Toga, right? He really did his research. He looked into everyone in the club and helped us with all of our separate projects. If anything, he was just an assistant to everyone.”

Nodding, Ayano joins Horo’s side as he works. “And what about Homu?” She asked, watching as Maka’s picture came up on the hologram device. It stayed there for a moment before Horo finished putting a couple of pieces together and pocketed the device.

“Right, um… I’m pretty sure they spoke the most outside of the clubroom.” Horo lifts a hand to his chin in thought. “I wouldn’t call them friends. I don’t think Homu would consider anyone a friend, but I do know that she talks to people who have something she needs. I think.” Horo shrugs a bit, “In fact, I think that was all. They had some common objective and extracted as much as they could before he left for the next club.”

“Do you know what that objective is?” Ayano asks, but Horo shakes his head.

“I don’t. Homu doesn’t really talk about private stuff to any of us. Or anyone, for that matter. I guess Toga was just something special.” Horo said, “I wouldn’t recommend asking Homu, either. She talks to people less the less she knows them. Meka says she doesn’t even bother responding to people on the street.”

Ayano frowns in thought and steps back. Bowing her head, she says, “Right. Thank you for the information.”

“Sure.” Horo said, waving briefly as Ayano left.

__

“Didn’t stay here long.” Itachi shook his head. “I won’t say he easily gave up, I just think he easily lost interest.”

Ayano tilts her head to the side, “You say that as if he was looking for something.”

Itachi nods. “If not a reason to stay then something else. That something is probably why he worked out with each of us for a period of time.” He says briefly. “Whatever the reason, he surely won’t be welcomed back if he pulls that ‘losing interest’ bit on me again.”

“What did he talk to you about?” Ayano asks, tailing him as he walked back into the gymnasium to stretch.

“The club leader, past members. And I think how we interact.” Itachi said, pausing between each example to thoroughly stretch his muscles. “Like I said, nothing much.”

Ayano hums quietly in thought. It was just Uekiya and Kuroko that she had left to ask. “Right, thank you.”

Itachi merely hums, running back out of the gymnasium to return to the track.

__

“Ah, well, he was certainly a great worker!” Uekiya smiles fondly at the memory of Toga. “We really needed a guy like him here. He was sort of the muscle we needed to deal with tougher plants and weeds. Himari couldn’t do all of it herself, haha..” She brushes off a bit of dirt and stands up from her plant to properly face Ayano. “I think the girls just liked having a guy around, hehe.”

Toga seemed to have made an overall positive mark on this club, but that was probably because Ayano only asked Uekiya one question. Anything negative at all she feared would cause rumours to spread. “So you don’t have any complaints? That would be a first.”

Uekiya hesitates, but sheepishly twirls a piece of her hair around between her fingers. “W-Well, uh… He was a great worker whenever I asked, but he and Sakura would usually run off together to go talk about… well… something?” She gasps and quickly says, “Oh! But they aren’t dating! Please, don’t take that out of context. Sakura’s already in a relationship, so she’s not interested in Toga. Plus, it’s been quite a while since the two spoke.”

“I understand, Uekiya.” Ayano nods reassuringly. She didn’t doubt that Sakura wasn’t interested in Toga, as before classed she often blabbed about her boyfriend to her friends. Although they still have yet to meet him.

“Thank goodness..” Uekiya sighs, but smiles again and returns to the topic at hand. “I’m not sure what those two spoke about, but I do know that they went to the Occult Club to grab books sometimes. Toga spoke to all of us individually often, but with Sakura I just assumed they had a similar interest.”

That was strange. Near the end, Ayano’s interests are steered back to the Occult Club. Shin didn’t tell her much except that Toga spoke with Chojo often. “Did she speak with Chojo at all?” Ayano asks.

Uekiya hums, shrugging, “I’m not too sure. I’m sure I’ve seen them talk at some point, but not for any significant reason. Sakura talks to her peers often so it’s not exactly strange to me. Why do you ask?”

“No reason, really. I was just… wondering.” Ayano bows her head briefly. “But thank you for answering my questions.”

Smiling, Uekiya waves cheerfully at Ayano. “Of course! Don’t you worry about it!”

__

It was 7:49 now. Ayano had wasted all of her time doing the task that Info-Chan had given her, that she’d completely forgotten that the whole reason she might lose Taro is because of Info-Chan’s unreliability. She didn’t even know what Osana was doing right now. Hell, she could’ve decided to confess early and she and Taro could’ve been on their merry way to a honeymoon or something.

As Ayano blindly stormed towards the student council room, Kuroko, who was walking out, suddenly bumped into her and instinctively shoved her back with one hand. “Ah. I apologize, Ayano. I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

Ayano stiffens up, which she learned was a habit of hers whenever she’s confronted by the Student Council. Or more precisely shoved by them. “..neither was I. Sorry.” She says, taking a generous step back. “I wanted to ask you something, Kuroko.”

Kuroko pulls up her sleeve, looking at the time briefly on a watch Ayano hadn’t noticed she had before. “Alright, we have about ten minutes before we should head to class.” She says, nodding at Ayano as a way of hinting to her to continue.

Ayano folds her hands in front of her, almost subtly copying Kuroko’s movements as she continued. “Toga asked me to go to each club leader and question what their opinions on his performance was during his time there, and I’ve finished that. He also asked me to come to you and ask you the same thing.” She pauses for a second. “You two are in the same class, right? Maybe he wants you to give his opinion on his performance durring class, then?”

“I know what he means.” Kuroko says, nodding briefly. “He often runs errands for me and includes himself in the work I do as the leader of the student council president. He’s a fine worker and has his head in the right place. Even more so than that, he’s a very efficient worker.”

Somewhat like the others, Kuroko pauses in thought. Slowly, she continues. “If he wants criticism, then his only issue is socializing. Or perhaps a better way to word that is… he needs to learn about what the people he interacts with wants. His goal is to finish the objective he’s given, but his swiftness is often misinterpreted as indifference or him having an unfeeling personality.”

Ayano nods. That certainly sounded like Toga. According to the majority of his past club leaders, that was something he struggled with. “So I’ve heard. I’m sure that if he hears that the majority of his peers think that, then he’ll consider acting otherwise.”

“I hope so. I fear he may become disliked simply because of his own habits.” Kuroko agrees, folding her arms back behind her back. “If that’s all, I’d like to continue my routine before classes.”

“Right.” Ayano, for the last time, hopefully, bows her head politely and parts ways with Kuroko.

__

Ayano couldn’t find where Toga was for a while, and considered just going to classes and forgetting the task for today, but finally found him outside of the faculty room window. When she walked over, he noticed that he was reading a book, and had the famous stray kitten perched on his shoulder. “Ayano.” He looks up to her. “I’m glad you found me.”

“It took some time. What are you doing out here?” Ayano asks, kneeling down next to him. The cat subtly switches from Toga’s left shoulder to his right as Ayano approaches, seemingly avoiding her.

“I like the cat.” Toga said, tilting his head to the right and urging the cat to sit in his lap instead. “He’s very quiet and polite. For a stray, that is.” He shrugs, looking back down to his book. “I take it you’re here because you finished my favor?”

Ayano suddenly remembers that she approached Toga with a polite and girly persona, and decides to smile in order to keep that much efficient. “That’s right! In general, everyone agreed that you were very talented. Albeit…” She puckers her lips in thought and hums, “...a bit distant. Aloof even. But a good listener, if that’s any consolation.”

Toga nods, his eyes raising from his book to the grass in front of him in thought. “Right, I expected that.” He mumbles. Despite his clear-spoken acceptance of that fact, he seemed conflicted now that it was confirmed. “And Kuroko said the same, I’m guessing?”

“That’s right.” Ayano says, noticing that Toga’s expression remained as still as it was previously despite her answer. “She also said that she thinks you’re a very efficient worker…. But, in addition to that, she’s also concerned that the way people percieve you might ruin your relationships in the future if not corrected.”

Humming, Toga nods briefly. He sat and thought for a moment, before sighing and standing up. “Right. I’ve been told all of this before.” The cat hops onto the grass and sits in its signature spot as it looks up to Toga. “I guess it’s just something I still need to work on.” He nodded again, more so telling this to himself than responding to Ayano.

Ayano stands up after him, but pauses when Toga speaks up again. “Perhaps like your expressions.”

“Huh?” Ayano blinks, a bit shocked at the sudden comment.

“You seem to not be very used to showing emotion, so I’ll say this. The more invested you get into a conversation, the more bored your expression looks.” Toga said. He continued when Ayano stayed silent, clearly not knowing how to respond. “I know that because I’ve seen you interact with others in many different ways. You pretty obviously switch from looking uninterested to some… flavor or a personality.”

Ayano presses her lips together and furrows her eyebrows, somehow feeling embarrassed and frustrated that someone pointed her out. “...I see.”

Toga stares at Ayano’s expression for a moment, but smiles. “Regardless of how your face look, I’m happy that there are helpful people like you in school.” He puts a hand on his hip, “Your ability to change how you appear is impressive, but I hope you don’t feel pressured to do so around me after this.” He pats her shoulder and walks past her to get to class.

Despite Toga’s kind words, Ayano only feels herself feeling more irritated. Was it that obvious to everyone? What could she change to make it less so?

God, this day was nothing but stress. After class it will be lunch time, which means it was way closer than needed to the end of the day. To 5:00 PM. To Ayano’s inevitable doom.

__

Once lunch time hit, Ayano slowly tailed Osana and Raibaru up to the rooftop. Osana was showing off some sort of playlist to Taro, and Raibaru- ever the obsessive friend- was watching, leaving her lunch pleasantly unattended. How is someone so unecessarily strong so sloppy with their food? Well, regardless of the reason, it certainly made Ayano’s job easier.

As Ayano discreetly slipped some of the stomach poison into her, she heard of how Taro seemed to apparently be a fan of whatever the hell Osana had showed him. Ayano steps back quietly, and steps aside to sit on a nearby bench that happened to be empty. She didn’t want to look as if she was doing nothing, as Toga and another student were sitting somewhere nearby. God knows Toga will notice if she’s being suspicious.

Ayano pulls out her phone as she waits for the stomach medicine to set in for Raibaru. At the same time, she coincidentally gets a message from Info-Chan.

Info-Chan: Are you sure this is going to work?

Yan-Chan: Don’t try to make me doubt myself now.

Info-Chan: I’m not ^^

Info-Chan: I’m just making sure you know the risks of what you’re doing.

Yan-Chan: What do you mean?

Info-Chan: Well, for starters, what do you plan to do exactly to elminate her?

Ayano pauses for a moment, realizing that she didn’t bring any sort of weapon with her. God, of course as soon as she forgets something like that Info-Chan has to call her out on it. No matter, Ayano could just drown her. Surely, she’ll be caught off guard by that.

Yan-Chan: Drowning.

Info-Chan: Right, of course.

Info-Chan: So, hypothetically- considering she’s such a strong student- what if she’s able to overpower you? I don’t recall you training your body this week.

Ayano pauses, balling her fists.

Yan-Chan: Can she then?

Info-Chan: I don’t know :)

Info-Chan: I’VE never tried to drown her.

Yan-Chan: Regardless, what good are you as an informant if you don’t KNOW anything?

Info-Chan: No need to be so rude, Yan-Chan :(

Info-Chan: I at least know that Raibaru’s already left.

Ayano stiffens, looking up to find that Raibaru was already on her way to the bathroom. Without another remark, Ayano rushes down to the nearest bathroom. Thankfully, she could hear the evidence that Raibaru was still occupying the stall.

As her heart raced, Ayano quickly walked into the bathroom. But she paused.

“Jeez, Raibaru. What did you eat?” Amise asks, filling up a water bottle, presumably for Raibaru to drink from.

Ayano quickly ducks back out of the bathroom, her heart thumping, but likely for all the wrong reasons. Why was nothing going as planned? Why have all of these days been a failure? Why didn’t she have the strength, the plans, the knowledge to get any of this done? Even with whatever help Info-Chan was giving her, these past couple days have only been a failure for Ayano. What has she accomplished? Socializing??

Ayano turns her head as she hears Raibaru’s voice approaching the bathroom entrance. “I don’t… god… I don’t need your help, Amise.” She hisses, acting unnaturally rude to the girl.

Amise sighs, exiting the bathroom as Raibaru rushes downstairs, likely to go to the nurses office. “Oh, hey, Ayano.” She says, turning and smiling to the girl. “What are you doing out here?” She asks, folding her arms behind her back.

“...” Ayano hesitates, but manages to squeeze out, “...I was going to ask you the same thing.”

“Ah, well.. I was heading to class since I’d finished lunch, and then I saw Raibaru heading to the bathroom looking absolutely terrible!” Amise said, pulling a hand up to her chin with a concerned frown. “She doesn’t really like me that much, so she didn’t tell me what exactly caused such an upset stomach, unfortunately.”

Ayano falls silent again, looking away instead of responding. If she said anything else she might actually end up saying somthing she shouldn’t. Asmise stands there for a second, before smiling and walking off. “Well, enjoy the rest of you lunch!” She said, walking downstairs to her classroom.

Ayano waits to hear Amise’s footsteps get far enough before she pulls out her phone. Rather than texting Info-Chan, she just blankly stares at the blank screen, unsure of what exactly to do.

__

Ayano went to class, but found herself watching Osana intently afterwards. During cleaning time she stood outside of the door, still just… watching. What was she supposed to do? If she were to get caught or apprehended, it was over for her.

When Osana walked down to put the note in Taro’s locker, Ayano followed her then, too. Her heart beated fast- almost as fast as when she first ran into Taro.

It didn’t matter anymore. Taro would love Ayano regardless. All it took was some threatening, right? Better yet, why not hold Osana hostage, since she was just… so much better than Ayano could be? Right. Right… Not Raibaru or Taro or the student countil or the staff would dare come forward if that were the case, right? Since Osana was so important to everyone.

The running didn’t help Ayano’s beating heart, and she found herself panting and almost feeling lightheaded as she ran up to the base of the hill. Before she could put her… plan into affect, however, someone suddenly grabbed her by the wrist.

In a poorly chosen split-second decision, Ayano swung the knife at whoever it was, but her wrist was caught.

Amise smiles at her. “Put that away, Ayano. There are people around, you know.” She hissed, her voice colder than the kind expression on her face. Slowly, she urges Ayano to slip the knife back into her pocket. “Now watch.” She says.

Maybe it was because Ayano felt so lightheaded and disoriented, but she stood there. She allowed Amise to grab her shoulders and turn her to the sakura tree. That’s when she noticed something. It wasn’t Osana up there waiting for Taro. It was Osana running up to meet Kyuji. “...huh?”

“I guess maybe you were too anxious to notice, hehe.” Amise chuckles.

Ayano struggles to calm down, but does eventually, and recalls the previous events in her head. No, Osana didn’t put a letter in a locker… she took a letter out of hers. That’s why she was running. Was she not planning on confessing after all? What had happened? “...what..?” Was all Ayano managed to mumble out before Amise continued.

“I’m sorry that Info-Chan was messing with you so much.” Amise hums, folding her arms behind her back. “It was only because I insisted on helping you.” She holds a hand up to Osana and Kyuji, who were certainly having a pleasant conversation. “While you were unfortunately struggling, I was able to get the two together. Or at least make Osana choose between someone who showed no interest in her and someone who did.”

Ayano furrows her eyebrows. Was it that easy? Wait, why did she do that? She knew Info-Chan? Insisted on helping??? “You… you work for Info-Chan?”

Amise makes a slightly offended face. “Meh. I’d call us business partners if we were on good terms, but somewhat.” She replied, shrugging. “I’m sorry again for the trouble. Info-Chan didn’t want your victory simply handed to you, so she insisted on giving you a hard time in exchange.”

“...and… and where’s Taro?” Ayano asks, bunching up her skirt in her hands anxiously.

“On his merry way home. He didn’t recieve a letter for him to stay, after all.” Amise said, putting a hand on her hip with a smile. “But anyway, congratulations, Ayano.”

Amise folds her hands behind her back. “You’ve… eliminated Osana-Chan. Taro is now free for the taking!”

[respectthepetty]

Background Noise in Shadow

The three books near the dad:

Richard North Patterson's Protect and Defend

The Tom Peters Seminar: Crazy Times Call For Crazy Organizations

Guía del mal padre - Guide of a bad father

The dad plays Makruk (Thai Chess). It does not have checkered boards and the pieces have different names.

For instance, the piece the dad moved across the board at the beginning of his conversation with Dan . . .

it's called a Rua which translates to "boat"

Like rowboat

And when the dad plays it on the hospital floor, he plays it with oranges and water.

Dan and his father talked and played Makruk while sitting in water.

Water is a recurring motif that represents change and serves as a transition between the waking world and the dreaming one or being alive and being dead. Which is probably the reason the mountain people floated the bodies on the river and why the school serves as a hub for activity.

Hamlet deals a lot with the idea of water, sleep, and death. Hamlet believes death is a long sleep, and the famous "To be, or not to be" question is him contemplating suicide. The opening scene of the play actually questions drowning in particular because if the man goes into the water, he has caused his death, but if the water takes him under, he is not at fault (Scene 1, Act 5).

The opening scene is of the gravediggers discussing if Ophelia, Hamlet's love interest will receive a proper Christian burial. Ophelia drowned, and although never explicitly stated within the play, the assumption is it was intentional; therefore, due to Christian doctrine, she committed a sin. This conversation is repeated for Dan's mom.

However, Hamlet's father was murdered by poison, and he haunts Hamlet to avenge his murder. We saw Trin vomiting and holding his heart when running through the woods as well as his head bleeding.

The ghost of Dan's father appears when Dan is acting out the scene in Hamlet where the ghost of his father appears to Hamlet, and the shadow appears on stage when Dan is acting out the scene right before Ophelia drowns. However, in the play, Hamlet is cruel to Ophelia telling her he is not a good man, yet he is honest. In the show, Dan messes up the line and says he is NOT an honest man, which is why the teachers look at each other.

This is the bust of Laocoon in the art class, who was murdered by sea serpents with his two sons for attempting to expose that the Trojan Horse was a ruse. The Greeks gifted a huge wooden horse to the city of Troy, yet Greek soldiers were hiding inside, so once the horse was accepted inside the city walls, the Greeks snuck out of the horse at night, attacked, and won the war. Laocoon was killed for being honest.

Hamlet is usually presented with a skull due to the opening scene depicting Hamlet realizing a skull he finds in the cemetery belonged to a former and favored court jester as he realizes death is unavoidable.

And the drawings in the art class show a skull in water and someone with orange hair drowning (which orange seems to represents rebellion).

Yet when Dan slips into the dream world, everything else is crossed out or scribbled on except for those two drawings and now the skull sits in a pool of blood and the person in the water is no longer drowning but bleeding in the water.

The show seems to be combating the idea that Trin simply drowned intentionally or even unintentionally. The shows seems to be stating that he was murdered. Probably poisoned.

But it'd be odd if Brother Anurak did it, mostly since his name means "angel of protection."

Perhaps it has something to do with all those students lying on the ground appearing to be girls, and where the blood is coming from.

Maybe Trin found out what happened to the nurse's daughter? And maybe it has to do with that book near the dad, Protect and Defend, which is about an abortion case.

But it's all just background noise . . .

for now.

[morbidology]

Laurie Dann led an unassuming childhood, growing up in an affluent northern suburb of Chicago. She was remembered as being somewhat awkward and lacking in confidence. It's believed that’s why she completely altered her face with plastic surgery at quite a young age.

She attended the University of Arizona for several years but never graduated. While working as a cocktail waitress at Green Acres Country Club, she met Russell Dann, the son of a wealthy family. The duo were inseparable and settled down and got married in September of 1982. They moved into a large mansion - something that had always been a dream of Laurie.

Shortly thereafter, Russell began to notice some bizarre quirks about his new wife. For example, she would keep her makeup in the microwave, would throw money into the back seat of her car, and would put clothes away while they were still soaking wet. While the couple remained together for several years, Laurie’s quirks began to worsen and worsen.

Eventually, she completely stopped leaving the house and refused to cook or clean up after herself. The relationship was doomed but it reached calamitous heights in September of 1986. Police received a phone call from Russell. Somebody had stabbed him with an ice-pick while he slept and he was certain it was Laurie. In fact, a store clerk would come forward to say Laurie had indeed purchased an ice-pick just days previously. The ice-pick missed his heart by just an inch.

Considering Russel was asleep and didn’t see his attacker, the charges against Laurie were dropped. The couple divorced shortly afterwards. As the divorce was underway, Laurie’s ex-boyfriend from five years previously started to receive threatening phone calls from Laurie in which she claimed she was pregnant with his child. The harassment finally ended when his lawyer contacted her parents.

Laurie moved from the marital home and decided she wanted to become a babysitter but this quickly failed when she was accused of stealing from her client’s homes and slashing up their sofas, rugs, and curtains. Following this failed business idea, she moved into a dorm room on the northwest campus. This too fell apart when Laurie starred to hide rotten meat inside furniture as well as hiding rubbish in other student’s rooms.

In January of 1988, she moved to a dorm in Madison, Wisconsin, where she became known as “elevator lady.” Students recalled her riding up and down in the elevator all day long. Once again, she started to leave rotten meat around the dorm and would often be seen stark naked in the communal areas. A month after moving in, a dorm room was set alight. Many believed Laurie had caused the fire intentionally but with no evidence, she was never charged.

By now, Laurie’s sanity had completely unraveled and nobody thought to get her more suitable professional help. After threatening a fellow student and slashing his clothing, Laurie baked buns and injected them with arsenic. She sent these laced treats to several frat houses and homes in the area before making her way to the home of a former babysitting client, asking if she could take their kids to the local fair. She gave the two children poisoned milk. Thankfully, they threw it out after saying it tasted strange. The arsenic in the laced treats she had sent out was so diluted that it caused no damage.

From here, Laurie went to a local daycare and tried to set it on fire before returning to the former clients home which she then set on fire. They were lucky enough to escape out of a smashed window. By the time the family escaped, Laurie was en route to Hubbard Woods Elementary School. Armed with two handguns, Laurie started shooting indiscriminately as soon as she entered the building. She shot and killed 8-year-old Nicholas Corwin before critically wounding another five.

Laurie ripped off the bloody shorts she was wearing and tied a plastic bag around her waist. After fleeing the school, she crashed her car into a tree and then broke into the home of Ruth and Phillip Andrews. Laurie held the terrified family hostage for six hours, claiming she had shot and killed her rapist and was now on the run from the police. Phillip grabbed the gun from Laurie as his family escaped. During the scuffle, he was shot in the chest but managed to stagger into the garden.

Alone in the Andrews home, Laurie shot herself dead.

[just-your-average-gothamite]

Not been posting about Gotham cause I've been on a long student exchange btw. It's really been forever. Coast City is peaceful compared to Gotham tbh. Anyways:

The Gotham Guide to:

Masked individuals!

Heroes, who would never ever (intentionally) hurt anyone:

Batman

Nightwing

Robin

This new kid Spoiler I've been hearing about online from my Gotham friends

Heroes off the streets:

Oracle

Villains who are just huge jerks:

Riddler

Condiment King

Kite man

Villains who will wreck things but not specifically try to hurt people:

Firefly

Harley Quinn (IF she's alone)

Poison Ivy

Villains who will literally kill you:

Two-face (new since I've been gone, but I've heard tell)

Black Mask

Harley Quinn (will assist the Joker)

Joker

Professor Pyg

List subject to sudden changes

This has been

The Gotham Guide

[yuurei20]

Jamil Info Compilation part 34: Suspicion, Bugs and More

Jamil is one of several students who seems suspicious of Crowley, but he is possibly the only person thus far who has admitted to being suspicious of the Dark Mirror itself.

After Kalim explains that he transferred late to NRC and Deuce asks, “they belatedly recognized the nature of your soul?,” Jamil follows with, “I’m still skeptical that the Dark Mirror actually selects students based on that...knowing the headmage, he probably arranged for a backdoor admission so he could get some generous Asim family donations.”

In a flashback we see that Crowley has all but admitted to Jamil that this is the reason why he allowed Kalim's promotion to Housewarden.

Jamil has hated bugs ever since he was a child and found one in handful of dates he was eating. He tried to get rid of it via fire magic, which ended up burning the awning to the store from which he had purchased the dates.

Jamil says he has never eaten dates again, and “even the sight and smell are too much for me.”

Jamil resorts immediately to fire to handle bugs during Halloween as well, and during Fairy Gala he says he even hesitates to touch the silver insects that decorate his boots, though he knows they’re not real.

We learn that Ace once pranked him by putting a toy bug on his bag after basketball practice. Jamil says, “You can rest assured I got him back thoroughly.”

Kalim may not take Jamil’s bug-phobia very seriously: in a chat he encourages Jamil to help him catch a bug that he finds in the lecture hall, with Jamil saying, “You KNOW bugs freak me out, Kalim!”

Curry is Jamil’s favorite food, despite how he once—as Kalim’s food tester—was “bedridden for days on end” after eating poisoned curry that had been meant for Kalim.

Jamil seems to have an unusually good memory.

He says that he makes it a point to memorize people’s names and faces, we see him immediately memorize and recite six different lunch orders during Firelit Sky and he also says, “I never forget a favor…or an offense.”

Jamil getting others to do his dirty work is a common theme.

He tries to use the prefect and Grim to overthrow Kalim during Book 4 and comments that, “Sometimes it’s better to let others do your work for you” in a Beanfest voice line.

He also gathers mirror fragments during Halloween by intentionally letting ghosts find them first, on his behalf, and then taking them by force.

According to Jamil, Ace, Ruggie and himself are the most skilled with their hands.

When asked if he is good at athletics Jamil responds, “I can’t think of any sports I’m bad at, so I suppose I’m passable.”

[placeholdercornerworks]

I was aware of ghosts cbs, but on the contrary unaware that there were a German, Spanish and French version in the works, so it made the idea came to mind for the fun of it.

Lo and behold! How I would picture the ghost cast of an hypothetical italian version of the show (Please pay mind to the fact that I'm intentionally ignoring coming up with the reason that tied them to the house cause I can't be arsed <3)

Of course, what is more italian than a renaissance artist ghost, said ghost would of course have to lean more to late renaissance/slightly before italy started to crumble politically (which is to say I'd roughly place him equivalent to humphrey in terms of era). Perhaps he died cause a rival saw him as a threat to gain the favour of their common patron and poisoned something he consumed

A noblewoman from the duchy of Milan (Specifically around the same era as Kitty), this is about to sound like an hyperniche literature reference but I'm talking pompous boore to the likes of the noblewoman the signorino is pining for in Parini's Il giorno.

Napoleonic era poet (Hence, Thomas' era mate), except he's an unsufferable crossover between Foscolo and Alfieri, this man takes up interpersonal beef for a job

1910's aviator whose plane crashed nearby the hypothetic grounds of the house (the aviator idea is from forse che sì forse che no, but the idea was for him to be a tad tamer than Tarsis).

1900's chronically vaguely jobless guy who is a fucked up crossover between Adriano Meis and Zeno Cosini. Wanted to fake his death on the nearby river except he tripped from the rails and fell in.

Young person who died in 1968 from reasons totally unrelated to the student protests as future ghosts politely presume

I'll admit I'm not very well versed in 1980's onwards political scandals, but many were there, so the disgraced politician ghost is in fact customary fitting