#it is genuinely a FASCINATING thing to me and he deserves the credit for making it work in this way

[rainibao]

I keep thinking of Lin Ling (precious delusional wife) and all the ways his Nice is different from the original. Much softer, more doe eyed expressions compared to the originals sharper more confident/later jaded gaze. He also has uglier expressions when he fights (that is to say, he looks more intense/angry) vs og Nice effortless smile. And I can't help but wonder if the ending sequence (where his hair is brown again with a white streak) implies he'll slowly break the NICE persona. I wonder if he's going to remain so complicit when he's already done so much to change the image. (Implied wreck death which is not his fault entirely but he was honest with him which is notable) and finding an out for Moon which the og couldn't do in 1-2years?

Technically he's designed the Perfect excuse for the Nice character to change- they fridged his fiance. His nemesis is gone. Even if he's outed there's a lot of ways Lin Ling can shift the narrative. It's fascinating I wanna see how long he can be NICE before he makes it his own. That or before the horrors get him. Cause buddy I'd be a bit more concerned if my false persona was worsening my ocd (although he said worsening not developing so maybe he's always had it....)

Also Lin Ling deserves a bit more credit he was a fan boy for moon sure but he genuinely just thought she was cuter as herself over her persona and went against his own wants to find her an out even ensuring she'd have the choice to go wherever.

Think for all his parasocial callouts the man's adherence to boundaries is kinda over looked.

He's also too honest for a man forced to lie- he legit caves to telling the truth pretty much immediately when confronted directly which is extremely amusing

Yoo thanks for the long ask anon! Always very happy to see people be thoughtful about tbhx

I agree about Lin Ling looking softer in general!! We don't really have a lot to go off in terms of comparing their expressions during fights (since in the fights Lin Ling has been in, his opponents are actually out to get him- with Nice we only have his PV with Wreck iirc) but I do agree that certain expressions that OG Nice makes (in the PVs) I can't imagine Lin Ling ever making. And if he ever does, it would be heartbreaking asf

YES the ED visuals!! It feels like it showcases the breaking of the status quo, so I sure do hope it is him breaking the persona and not the other way around...And yea, by the virtue of him being him and not OG Nice, he lost the people that secured Nice his position. He lost who the public perceives to be his arch nemesis (I doubt Wreck would choose to be his nemesis for real) and his loverboy persona, now it's really up to him to carve his own hero identity even if still under Nice's image

As for him letting Wreck fall, I choose to believe that he decided Wreck is powerful enough to not die from a fall (like how Nice wouldn't have died if he used his flight) but it still kind of irks me that a grieving man losing his shit was treated like another villain to defeat

Edit: hang on, but Wreck would still be considered at risk given his mental state so uhh l0 explain yourself 😔

He only developed OCD recently, in chinese he says his "最近的强迫症" (recent OCD) has been getting worse, rather than "强迫症最近越来越严重" (OCD has been getting worse recently)

I definitely loved how he respected Moon as a person first and crush second, interacting with her normally despite the swooning, though I also think that's the bare minimum. We really shouldn't be used to fanboy characters acting like creeps, and I'm glad that trope wasn't utilised. It's cute that he's a polite gentleman!

About the honesty thing- yeaa haha even with the lie detector xD I love that he let his confusion and panic show when Wreck started asking him about the texts emails and calls, forgetting that he was supposed to be calm and suave xD Kind of reminiscent of how he was when juan jie was questioning him about Nice in ep 1, I think

Also, to be fair...I wouldn't be able to lie to someone clearly so desperate for the truth (him threatening Moon aside, but I think it's pretty clear from the framing that Lin Ling did feel bad seeing how much despair Wreck was in)

[cintasvel]

ok because i like to torture myself apparently, i listened to the ATX interview with Gilroy and Willimon. they eventually talk about Vel and Cinta and. uh. i have thoughts. i know, shocking. i've decided to put them under a read more, as i fear they'll get too long.

warning: there is a lot of sodium here. i personally think it's justified but if you enjoy Gilroy glazing, you will not like what i have to say.

the interview is fascinating because it confirms a few things that i'd already suspected, as well as some things i already knew.

the first - Varada Sethu's schedule was 100% not the problem or a reason for why Cinta died. i have zero idea why people keep saying this was the case, but no. it wasn't.

the second - it was always going to be Cinta who died during the Ghorman heist. speaking to the interviewer, Gilroy recalls his phone call with Varada Sethu and how the (to paraphrase) "Ghorman thing goes tits up and friendly fire happens." Gilroy then goes on to say "I don't have any other piece but Cinta or Vel, and I can't kill Faye, so sorry, but it's gotta be you." which was well. uhm. let's say, an interesting thing to say. now don't get me wrong, i didn't want either to die, but why was Vel not even considered? this feels especially hollow when you decide to define Vel by her grief throughout the rest of the season.

also side note: i can't imagine saying this to an actress personally, like, 'sorry you're character isn't considered as relevant or noteworthy <3 whoops!' i'm so sorry Varada Sethu, you deserved better from a franchise you love so much.

anyway, the interviewer goes on to question the decision of killing Cinta because of TV's history with killing off queer characters, particularly lesbians. (the way i was genuinely shocked someone even mentioned this, god how my expectations for journalists have fallen). regardless. Gilroy says he is "fascinated" by this question because the first season got a ton of credit for them including these queer characters in the first place, but then they get flack for normalizing them and treating them like everyone else by making Cinta die in S2. He says he doesn't understand that and that he isn't going to "socially engineer" his characters just for a chat room.

Beau Wilimon intervenes at this point to say this is a show where "everyone knows where it ends" aka everyone is going to die. Gilroy continues "yeah, they all die." which... no! that's not true though, is it? that's not remotely true. you can't use this excuse unless you're trying to tell me that all these characters (minus Mon) end up perishing on Scarif alongside Cassian. which i doubt.

Wilimon goes on to say that as storytellers they are always thinking about "cost" and that they knew people were invested in Vel and Cinta's relationship and they wanted to bring about the 'cost' of what would hurt people the most because that's just storyteller catnip apparently. he does compare the relationship being unfulfilled to other relationships like Cassian/Bix and Luthen+Kleya.

then, Wilimon says that he see's Cinta's death as a noble one. because signing up to die and fight off the Empire, no matter whether it's friendly fire or not, showed her bravery right from the very beginning. to which i say, that's all very well and good, but i've seen this 'death' for lesbians for around 20 years and yeah, sorry, the context of Andor does not make it more noble or compelling to me. hard pass, sorry.

Gilroy concludes the Vel+Cinta discussion with this long ass quote that i condensed down a little.

"There's a level of responsibility when you're going to introduce a great number of characters. There's always going to be people who identify with different characters. So if you're queer, you're going to identify with this character [Cinta]. But I'm driving the story of Luthen being a very poor HR manager, whose failure to recognize the importance of personal relationships is a much more important issue to me than whether you think this is the place Cinta should die or not. So that's a level of responsibility that comes from abundance I suppose."

and what can you really say to that? there's literally nothing you can say. i don't want to discuss this anymore because people who understand it, understand it, and those who don't, won't or can't. it's obvious where Gilroy and Wilimon fall. i'm glad they think the relationship is beautiful, i agree that it is, but i'm not patting them on the back for thinking they did a good job with Velcinta, and just Cinta in general. like, even outside of the whole relationship, the treatment of Cinta in particular, the complete unwillingness to understand why the death didn't sit right with queer audiences, is just mind boggling to me. i cannot wrap my head around it.

anyway. that was my vent. i'd apologize for it being long, but i actually don't gaf. i do think i'll be avoiding any other Gilroy interview talking about Vel and Cinta because he just doesn't get it and really, it's on me for still being frustrated about straight white men's incapability of getting it. like aimee, girl, you should know better by now.

to end this vent. a message from a friend to me that i will be putting to the forefront of my brain for the future.

"i’m not going to let all of the good that their relationship meant for queer SW fans be ruined by this man." real and true. love you velcinta. always will

[sissytobitch10seconds]

I think it's kind of interesting that Viktor is overshadowed by his siblings both in the canon and fanon.

In season one I could understand it. Despite Viktor being the main character that literally drives the entire plot, everyone focuses on the other characters. People make fun of Luther for talking about the moon all the time. Everyone is almost creepily obsessed with Klaus and the Vietnam fling that he had. No one really talks about Allison, but her story is primarily linked with Viktor's since she's trying to heal their relationship (fandom misogyny too). I think that there's a decent amount of talk around Five since he's such a fascinating character. There's quite a lot of talking about Diego too, since he loses Eudora and spends a lot of time trying to take care of Klaus. But no one really talks about Viktor and the amount of shit that he goes through in s1. All the siblings other than Allison completely abandon him too, and Allison only wants the idea of a 'sister' that she's built up in her head since she lost her husband and daughter.

In season two, it makes even less sense to not talk about what Viktor has done. He has a queer love story with Sissy and we get to see way more development and chemistry for, Klaus and Dave had a montage and some sad lines from Klaus as opposed to an entire arc through ten episodes, but no one really does anything with it. Allison gets basically no attention for the same fandom misogyny issues as before. Five gets some attention because of the fact that he's exhausted and still dealing with the Commission (his fight scenes are amazing). Diego gets the same treatment as Luther did but a little more deserving because the plan to save JFK was stupid. Luther gets totally sidelined and ignored too, but people really hated him in S1 so I'm not surprised. Klaus gets all the attention again even though his plot outside of Ben possessing him is honestly really boring and makes me so uncomfortable.

Season three is where Viktor should have gotten the most attention. If we're considering the fact that the TUA fandom has a very queer audience, then they should be super excited and celebrating the fact that Viktor is trans. Not only that, but he's also working his ass off so that he can fix things for Allison and get her back to a timeline where her daughter exists or back to the sixties. I think a lot of people ignore that, giving Five more credit than he deserves for trying to fix the world when Viktor was doing that until Harlan showed up and he wanted to handle that first. A lot of attention during the debut went again to Klaus, which was actually warranted this time since he was plot relevant by showing us things about Reggie and discovering his powers. Diego got more attention since he was parenting Stan and fighting with Lila, which was nice. Five got some meme attention but nothing serious and Luther got a little bit of genuine love. But mostly people just posted the conversation where Viktor comes out to his family and continued to ignore him.

Now Season four is out and no one cares about Viktor. He stands up to Reginald and says all of the things that he needs to say, he fights like Hell to try and save Ben from the Durango and get him someplace stable, he owns a bar and got fucking KIDNAPPED. No one is talking about him, all people are doing is complaining about fivela and the ending.

Viktor moved to Nova Scotia probably to get better trans healthcare, but also because none of his siblings care about him. My man is a tiny trans man that got kidnapped and ransomed off the street and they couldn't care less about him when they show up, Five is taking notes about the room they're in instead of checking to make sure that his childhood best friend is okay. Luther may have made him best man at his wedding, but it was just because Viktor had only just come out and all the other siblings were non options (never been close with Five, butted heads with Diego who didn't even want the wedding to happen, not their Ben, and Klaus was officiating) which was the same reason Lila was Sloane's maid of honor. Diego and Viktor barely spare two words at each other despite their closeness in the comics. Lila and Allison say something briefly to him before they also fuck off further into the plot.

Viktor isn't liked by his family despite them trying to include him in it when it's convenient for them, and he's also disliked by the fandom. I went into the TUA tag and about half of the top twenty posts were about someone else with him tacked on as an afterthought.

[marq-lynch]

Update: I watched the infamous 2009 PWG match between the Young Bucks and Roderick Strong / Brian Danielson, and it really was that bad. Top three things I didn't consider ahead of time to brace myself for in order of how much emotional weight they carried:

- Kenny Omega on commentary for all the Bucks' matches he wasn't in at this time, growing quieter and more disjointed as both he and Excalibur clearly can tell this shit is Not Alright, which unfortunately times it to mean you have less Commentary as the beatings get Worse and the Crowd Gets Louder.

- The Bucks don't get enough credit for their acting skills, but I will now Never Confuse Genuinely Pissed Off Nick or The Pissiest Bitch Face (Deserved) of All Time on Matt Jackson for one of their replicas.

And the number one thing that fucked me up in the match I wasn't expecting to:

- Bryan gets a LOT of camera focus in this match, especially beating up on Nick, and god help him, he fucking Tries. But there are... absolutely moments where you can watch his face and see him go 'oh fuck this is sunk cost we're in too deep now' and others where he desperately pulls out the most OBVIOUS heel moves he can and gets 'Best in the World' and 'Dragon! Dragon!' Chants and he looks like he's fucking losing faith in humanity and himself a little in real time. I don't think this is in the book but at the end he grabs the mic and basically has to Order the crowd to respect and cheer the Young Bucks for taking a hell of a beating and they Immediately do in an 'oh okay anything for you Beyonce' kind of way, resulting in the Matt Jackson bitch face in point #2.

It makes me wonder if this match (and some others in this era but this one... Goddamn.) had a role in shaping Bryan's final run. That fascinating antagonistic relationship with the audience where whatever he does they cheer for him, laid out on display.

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

Below is a response written to a comment left on The Feast of San Giovanni asking about Marsilio's involvement/knowledge of the Pazzi conspiracy. It's something I think about often - so have below my current musings on the subject.

-------

So, no one knows for certain what Marsilio's knowledge of the plot was – some historians say it was minimal, others think it was a little more than minimal, it varies depending on who you are reading.

My working, personal hypothesis is that Marsilio knew a lot more about it than would make people comfortable. He was close friends with Francesca Salviati, tutored Jacopo Bracciolini, tutored a lot of the Pazzi boys, and was old client of the family. Marsilio also had some public grievances with Lorenzo about the dropping off of patronage and favouring of Marsilio’s rivals (e.g., Luigi Pulci) – very publicly – over Marsilio.

It is my interpretation of events that I incorporated, to a certain degree, into Feast of San Giovanni. I do think Marsilio was a little more in-the-know than is implied in Feast, but the story is also from Giovanni’s point of view and he is doing a lot of stress-hoping that Marsilio can distance himself as much as is humanly possible from the plot. So, he’s choosing not to look at things too, too closely.

The approach I take is mostly based on the letters we see from 1476 through to early 1478 – particularly those to Bracciolini and Salviati. For Salviati we can see the close friendship and support they gave to one another and that Marsilio, Salviati and Giovanni were all very fond of one another. Marsilio’s early letters to Salviati were very encouraging – a lot of “you will get the job you deserve when the time is right, I trust God will reward you” etc. Then, when Salviati finally receives the archbishopric of Pisa, Marsilio writes him several very warm congratulatory letters, including one of my favourites where Marsilio basically says “Giovanni and I have popped a bottle of prosecco to celebrate the news”. And yes, Salviati did move from being Marsilio’s friend to his patron around this time so a certain level of flattery is expected, but there’s a genuine warmth that carries through from the old “we’re equals and friends” letters into the ”you’re my patron but we’re still buddies” era.

By mid-1477 and through to early 1478, however, Marsilio begins writing to both Salviati and Bracciolini (and some of the Pazzi lads) letters really focusing on being content with what God has given them. Reminders that greed and political grasping at power never go well and that the good, moral thing to do is live rightly as they are now and not try and take what isn’t intended for them. All terribly thinly veiled attempts to warn them off of the anti-Medici plot.

There is a fascinating letter in Vol. 4 of The Letters of Marsilio Ficino to Bracciolini in late 1477 and it is one of the letters that makes me think Marsilio knew a lot more than people give him credit for. I typed it out in full below:

Marsilio Ficino to Jacopo Bracciolini: greetings. Encouraging her with your arguments, magnanimous Bracciolini, I recently prevailed upon Truth [i.e., Marsilio himself] to come to Pisa, if she were needed, for the installment of Riario as Cardinal. Although at first she cheerfully accepted, a while later, in some strange way, she seemed a little less inclined to take this path. Even though she knew full well that all the Cardinal's servants [i.e., Bracciolini, Salviati, Pazzi] are her friends, she feared that someone else would intervene and interpret her words maliciously. But then, she remembered that Bracciolini, one of her keenest defenders, was now there, she immediately seized upon this path with the utmost confidence. Now, my Hercules, if necessary, do not hesitate to summon to assistance of your Iolaus; I mean Cosmico, the vigorous soldier of Pallas. But why do we needlessly lack confidence, as if any of my interests were less than safe under the ample roof of my patron Salviati? Among friends all things have a happy issue [outcome]. Farewell, Happy men.

Marsilio had a habit, in his writing, of positioning himself as a Concept – in this case, Truth – as a way of allowing himself to speak about very specific things without getting into self-incriminating details. It enables him to both give his position on a situation while keeping it in the realms of plausible deniability.

“No, I wasn’t talking about how everyone is going to Pisa for Riario's investment in order to talk about the plan to assassinate the Medici and I was very clearly invited for that purpose and initially accepted but am now sort-of quasi walking back my acceptance. I’m talking about the Platonic Ideal of Truth. Or something. Don’t worry about it.”

Instead of saying that he was intending to go but now is worried, Marsilio is saying: Truth was going to go, but now Truth isn’t going to go, though Truth might go if her safety could be guaranteed. But why should she be at risk, Jacopo? It's not like you and Salviati and members of the Pope’s family etc. are doing anything stupid or dangerous right? You're not going to plot to overthrow the Medici right? Right??? [Ficino staring into the camera like he's on the Office.]

I fundamentally believe that while Ficino had his grievances with Lorenzo (their relationship by the late 1470s was rocky), his annoyances with the lack of patronage, the frustrations with the unofficial Medici Court, he truly didn't want to see the younger man removed from power, let alone killed. What he wanted was for Lorenzo to be a better man and a better leader (and a better patron). He didn't want a switching of power within Florence.

Long and short is that Ficino spent a lot of 1477 and early 1478 trying to talk several of the conspirators out of going through with the plot. In doing this, he demonstrates that he had at least enough knowledge to know who to write to, what their motivations were, and how to best frame his arguments for their stepping back from the plot.

Again, I don’t believe he knew the details of how, since those were ever changing anyway (by the time they got to Easter Sunday Cathedral Murder Plan they were onto Attempt_43.1A_CLEAN_REAL.doc), but he knew enough to be hanged. What saved him was Lorenzo's nostalgic sentiment for Ficino, Cosimo's historic deep love of the little philosopher, Ficino's general popularity, and that Ficino sent a warning. (The warning letter might seem cryptic to us, but Lorenzo would have understood it.)

(Side note: While I have Ficino saying he doesn't think Giovanni being Lorenzo's cousin-through-marriage would have saved him, which is why Ficino sat on the information about the plot, I actually do think it was in Ficino's favour that he was Giovanni's most especial, unique nudge-nudge-wink-wink friend. Giovanni was family, Ficino was as good as family in certain respects - these are things Lorenzo cared about.)

----

no real firm conclusion, but there you go. Pazzi & Marsilio Thoughts.

[dragonsarecats]

[ Previous anon ]

 I'M SORRY FOR WORDING IT LIKE THAT I played the Golden Deers, some of my favorite queer ship are with Deers and some of my favorite character are among the deers! My favorite deer ship is probably Leonie x Lysithea ( She litteraly say Leonie would make an incredible partner! Why do their support stop at B again?? ) and my otp is Hilda x Edelgard ( do not judge me I have REASONS ). And also, one of my favorite queer headcanon is trans aro-ace Claude! So I genuinely love the Deers as queers!

However, for me the deer and the diverse queer content around them is heavily a fandom thing. When I say the deer are "too straight for me", I meant it for the game directly. Like you have the Black Eagles where not only litteraly every characters is canon queer/has heavily subtext but has also its whole narrative drenched in queer metaphor! You have the Blue Lions where, while there's less "canon queer", you litteraly cannot say most of its members are straight with how heavy the subtext that's barely even subtext anymore is: there's 0 straight explanation for Felix crying more at Dimitri death than his wife, or him dying the same day as Sylvain because they can't live without each other.

But for the Deers... You have Hilda/Marianne and Claude/Lorenz as the most popular one but while their relationship are so fascinating, when you only look only at the game, they feel too platonic? Especially compared to a Dedue/Dimitri ( like a family in private. took up a post at his grave for the most of his days. BURIED BESIDE EACHOTHER ) or a Ferdinand/Hubert ( rare A+ support, with blushing, their own little surname, Ferdinand/Edelgard support changing just to mention Ferdinand drinking coffee ). Otherwise you have Leonie/Lysithea which stop at B. You have Raphael/Ignatz where they decided to just push the relationship to make their ending all about Ignatz with his sister.

Like really, the Deers manage to have less in game queer moment than the Church of Seiros, Rhea aside, of all things! We were so robbed! The rainbow house deserve better. I'm a lesbian and after all my playthrough Verdant Winds was my only route where I had to marry a man, all I wanted was a lavender wedding with Claude while I have a passionate romance with Leonie :(

To sum up: Lysithea and Leonie should kiss, Intelligent Systems are fucking cowards 

For the fandom I'll have to disagree, I think the Deers have a lot a queer content and it's amazing :] My only thing might be how Claude has become the first character you think of when talking about bi fe3h character which is kinda telling how wlw are dismissed in the general fandom, but its better than some people insisting he's totally straigh so eh ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

( Also I big agree on Hilda support being gem, she's such a great character and one that's much more complex than given credit for!! )

Oh and I think I disagree with Deers being the more family found-esq ( saying that bc it's a great subject of I discussion and I want to hear more about your opinion on the matter )

The Lions is the family where they all stick together through thick and thin, following Dimitri to hell and back, but their relationship are complexe and not always healthy ( mostly at the beginning with like Dimitri & Felix or Ingrid & Sylvain ).

The Eagles are the found family where a lot of them bitch about each other at first but they end up with deep relationship where they take care for each other and stand together against the world, even sticking together during the time skip ( also because they kinda all killed each other dad ).

The Deers are for me more like an actual close group of friend: their life are not going to revolve around each other like it does with the other houses, but they won't hesitate to come for that 5 years reunion to see the other. It's kinda like you say they're so normal in a good way! They tease each other but they don't hate each other in the way of a Dimitri/Felix, a Caspar/Petra, a Ferdinand/Hubert ( except for Lorenz but like, it's Lorenz ). They won't kill the other dad, but they'll sure as hell support each other like Lorenz and Ignatz or Marianne and Raphael. They might not start a revolution together but they will listen to the other even when it’s total heresy ( Leonie & Claude, such an incredible support :’) ) and help the other to reach their goal… I do agree with you it’s linked to not knowing each other before, but on that, isn’t knowing each other before more of a Lion thing than not knowing being a Deer thing? I don’t know, the BE are kind of a middle ground.

( Sorry for my ramblings- It's so fun talking about the deers )

AA anon thank you for the long ask!! Okay I'm gonna take this point by point under the readmore!

"My favorite deer ship s probably Leonie x Lysithea ( She litteraly say Leonie would make an incredible partner! Why do their support stop at B again?? )"

INCREDIBLY fair and based of you, lol, I read Lysithea as gay and it's 100% because of the support conversations she has with Leonie and Hilda (which to me implies an ADORABLE crush--Lysithea seems to genuinely respect and admire Hilda which is not something you'd expect from like, a surface level reading of their characters).

I'm gonna admit my own bias here in terms of canon text endings--my favorite Lysithea ending is her paired ending with Lorenz. It really reads like a queer platonic relationship to me--I don't really get romantic vibes from either of them (gay as they are) towards each other, but the commitment and care they have for each other genuinely warms my heart. Especially the fact that like, Lorenz is SO determined to ensure Lysithea takes care of herself and the ending doesn't really imply that she dies young (only that her health is delicate/poor) in comparison to others, and she and her family get to live the quiet life they want. Of course, as an aro/ace disabled person, I think it probably hits differently for me than people who aren't just because of the fact that after the most recent time I saw their support chain/got their ending I teared up a bit (and also why I'm now adoring your trans-aro-ace Claude).

ANYWAYS, I agree IS are cowards and that's why Edelgard is the only Lord who can romance both male/female Byleth.

"For the fandom I'll have to disagree, I think the Deers have a lot a queer content and it's amazing :]"

I probably didn't word what I meant completely lol correctly-- it's not that the Deer don't have a lot of queer content, it's just that overall, they have less content in general made for them then the Black Eagles and Blue Lions.

I do ALSO love so much of the queer content made for the Deers! The Three Houses fandom is amazing.

"My only thing might be how Claude has become the first character you think of when talking about bi fe3h character which is kinda telling how wlw are dismissed in the general fandom, but its better than some people insisting he's totally straight so eh ¯\_(ツ)_/¯"

Okay, so I was kind of dancing around saying this to your last ask but you hit the nail on the head lol. I genuinely think the reason why the Deer might come across as less queer is because the "main ship" for them, so to speak, is the WLW pairing Hilda/Marianne.

Ironically when I think about bi fe3h characters my first thought is consistently Lindhardt?

"Oh and I think I disagree with Deers being the more family found-esq ( saying that bc it's a great subject of I discussion and I want to hear more about your opinion on the matter )

The Lions is the family where they all stick together through thick and thin, following Dimitri to hell and back, but their relationship are complexe and not always healthy ( mostly at the beginning with like Dimitri & Felix or Ingrid & Sylvain ).

The Eagles are the found family where a lot of them bitch about each other at first but they end up with deep relationship where they take care for each other and stand together against the world, even sticking together during the time skip ( also because they kinda all killed each other dad )."

Okay so I definitely agree with you that they're all found family, explicitly in the text lol. What I meant in my statement that they're the most found-family-esq is that you get to see the development of ALL their relationships and becoming that family together on screen.

The Lions (a mess, and I love them), are pretty heavily involved with each other at the beginning of the game. A lot of the intrigue with them is the fact that they all have backstory stuff going on with each other (save for Ashe, I think, but we kill his dad on screen so). Mercedes and Annette went to Sorcery School together, Felix/Sylvain/Dimitri/Ingrid are all childhood friends with intense complications, and the trauma and deliberate kindness that brought together Dimitri and Dedue makes me emotional.

Similarly to them, the Black Eagles all have a history with each other (save for Dorothea) as well. There's the insane and amazing devotion between Edelgard and Hubert, Lindhardt and Caspar's childhood friendship, the onesided rivalry going on between Ferdinand and Edelgard since they were kids and Hubert's judgement of Ferdinand for it. Petra and Bernadetta, technically don't have pre-established relationships with the others, but in ways that are deliberately intense. Petra is blatantly a political hostage in the Academy Era in a way that really informs her relationship with Edelgard and Hubert even before they get to know her. Additionally Bernadetta's isolation creates a kind of infamy between her and the other nobles.

The Golden Deer, on the other hand, don't really have as many intense bonds going in (and thus, in my opinion, makes it easier for Byleth to integrate amongst them as an eventual equal). There's the preestablished dynamic of Lorenz being suspicious of and wanting to best Claude, but it's a recently developed dynamic, as Claude only appeared a year ago. This would be a bigger personal issue if he was leading a house like the Blue Lions or the Black Eagles (noble heavy as they are), but it's barely an issue in the Deer and not just because of the commoners. Hilda, Lorenz, Lysithea, and Marianne are not close. In all his supports with the three of them, Lorenz is the one reaching out because of his belief that their time in the Academy should be used to form better and closer connections with other nobles. There is nothing to imply that there was any substance to their pre-existing relationships. The only two who have anything to their relationship before the game starts, are Raph and Iganatz, who haven't spoken in years, mostly due to guilt on Ignatz's behalf for what happened to Raphael's family.

So as a result, you get to see the bonds being formed and deepened with the Golden Deer from scrap. Obviously some development happens off screen during the time skip, but other than that the Deer's found family forms and develops completely on screen, which is why I think it's the most found family-esq of the three.

In fact, it's a huge part of Claude's story. It's something you don't really notice in his route, but it's really clear when you don't pick him. While Edelgard and Dimitri kind of can't function and literally can't without Byleth's support, Claude has probably the highest survivability rate when you don't choose him of any character save technically Marianne. He survives the Blue Lions route, the Black Eagles route (if you spare him), and is implied to have survived the Silver Snow route. When he doesn't have Byleth, he still survives, so not choosing him isn't as dramatic. But it's easy to see that without Byleth as a teacher, he doesn't open up enough to the Deer. Dimitri and Edelgard have assured loyalty from their houses (even Ferdie and Felix) becuase of these pre-established relationships and positions, but Claude has to earn it. That's why Hilda, despite being his vassal, is recruit-able so long as you don't choose Black Eagles (the only route where he can die). Without Byleth, although the Deer do grow close, they don't do it as quick or as closely as they do with the Professor. Claude is a character who's never been able to truly rely on others, even if they care about him, and being able to rely on Byleth allows him to open up and rely on the Deer and truly trust them. I mean, Claude's two most relied upon people in the Deer (as seen in 3Hopes when he goes against Dimitri) are Hilda and Lorenz. I don't think people talk enough about how insane it is that Claude trusts Hilda Goneril with his life, considering he's an Alymran prince.

That's also why I think the Deer are so good for Byleth. I don't think any of the other route's are bad for Byleth at all, but I think the deer provide something to Byleth that neither the Lions or the Eagles can bring to her: a single of equivalency. Byleth is only slightly older than her students in the Academy Era and is in fact younger than most of them in the War Era, and yet it's only really with the Deer that she feels like she's amongst peers (whether it be because of the commoner/noble ratio or that she's as much of a stranger to them as they are to each other.) I mean, Claude is literally the only character who doesn't call refer to her by her Profession.

Anyways, TLDR: I think they're the most found family because a huge part of the Golden Deer route is them getting to know and love each other from scratch, and being a found family is a much bigger thematic aspect for them then it is for the other two houses.

"However, for me the deer and the diverse queer content around them is heavily a fandom thing. When I say the deer are "too straight for me", I meant it for the game directly. Like you have the Black Eagles where not only litteraly every characters is canon queer/has heavily subtext but has also its whole narrative drenched in queer metaphor! You have the Blue Lions where, while there's less "canon queer", you litteraly cannot say most of its members are straight with how heavy the subtext that's barely even subtext anymore is: there's 0 straight explanation for Felix crying more at Dimitri death than his wife, or him dying the same day as Sylvain because they can't live without each other."

"But for the Deers… You have Hilda/Marianne and Claude/Lorenz as the most popular one but while their relationship are so fascinating, when you only look only at the game, they feel too platonic? Especially compared to a Dedue/Dimitri ( like a family in private. took up a post at his grave for the most of his days. BURIED BESIDE EACHOTHER ) or a Ferdinand/Hubert ( rare A+ support, with blushing, their own little surname, Ferdinand/Edelgard support changing just to mention Ferdinand drinking coffee ). Otherwise you have Leonie/Lysithea which stop at B. You have Raphael/Ignatz where they decided to just push the relationship to make their ending all about Ignatz with his sister."

Okay, so I definitely agree with you that those things are canon queer and subtext, and that it's a shame they don't push the Raphael/Ignatz stuff and focus on Ignatz and Raph's sister (which is admittedly adorable to me).

Again, I'm aro/ace, so for me, queerness doesn't necessarily require romance as a prerequisite? Which is why I like Lorenz and Lysithea's ending, lol.

Hilda/Marianne in no way reads platonic to me, so I really disagree with you there. Hilda treats Marianne completely differently to how she treats everyone else in game. Their support chain is focused on how Hilda, who manipulates her way out of doing anything she doesn't want to, chooses to consistently over and over again do things for Marianne that she can't, and refuses to let Marianne feel bad over it. She leverages this into Marianne buying her pastries and them having a lunch date together. Their A support consists of Marianne questioning their regular dynamic of doing this and Hilda reassuring that she enjoys it so much she'd feel odd if it changed. They compliment each other to the point where Hilda starts to get a little flustered, and Hilda's even able to poke fun a little at Marianne and get Marianne to poke fun at her back. Marianne laughs at Hilda, and Hilda textually thinks it's adorable and can't even get mad at it because it's so cute. Marianne seems so genuinely happy and herself (even in negative ways!) with Hilda, and can rely on her in a way that doesn't make her feel inadequate or a burden.

I can understand as being able to view Claude/Lorenz as platonic, especially since I will never diverge from my Claude/Byleth endings, but I think they can also still be read pretty textually clear and potentially romantic. Part of this is Lorenz, who just, is very clearly gay to me? But again, part of this is the fact that a huge part of the Lorenz/Claude dynamic is them being viewed textually as equals, which is something that will and can never happen with Edelgard/Dimitri and their rival characters. Their support chain is all about getting to know and respect each other as they grow to care for one another, and while it isn't explicitly as romantic as Marianne/Hilda, I think their paired ending really speaks a lot for itself, in that Claude trusts Lorenz to be Fodlan's face of diplomacy towards Almyra. He trusts Lorenz to help him achieve his dream in the most direct way possible, something I think you can absolutely compare to his relationship with Byleth in their S-Support. Additionally about their support chain, their A-support really is about affirming to the player how close they've become, how fond they are of each other, and how neither of them can imagine the future of Fodlan without the other one in it. While there isn't a lot of direct text between Claude/Lorenz, I think there is absolutely enough subtext that you could read them romantically, especially from Lorenz's POV. The hard thing with this game is that each character needs to be able to be paired with Byleth, so they can never be textually obviously/blatantly in love with another character save for Byleth until their paired ending, and I think that absolutely holds doubly true for Lord characters, which is why I think Claude/Lorenz relies more on subtext.

I do think it's a shame that Lysithea doesn't have any A supports with women in her own house. Leonie like you mentioned is an adorable one, and I think Lysithea has a huge crush on Hilda in the ones with her, and there is definite potential in the one she has with Marianne (which in my opinion is a kinder, more gentle version of her supports with Ignatz).

I also think there's a few other support chains where there is a queer romance blossoming, they just don't get the chance to have an ending. A big one for me, personally, that I think deserved more, is Ignatz and Lorenz. I also think Leonie and Marianne's support chain was very cute, and deserved an A.

This is kind of what I was saying when I answered your last ask, I think, wherein the Deer have queer romance, but because the don't have a big blow up mlm ship (Claude is more often shipped with Dimitri + a lot of people aren't as fond of Lorenz as I think they should be lol), they kind of get sidelined as their big queer ship is WLW. And unfortunately in most fandoms, wlw ships are rarely as popular or have as much pushing force.

And also, I think, that the deer are queer without having as much romance. Their romantic pairings are far less set in store then the other two houses, I think, and part of that is because a lot of their endings read really queer platonic to me. Plus, a lot of the heavy romance lifting in the explicit text for a lot of supports tends to happen in the A/A+ region, and a several of the wlw/mlm golden deer pairings only go to B, which I think is a shame and forces them to rely more on subtext.

Additionally, because they're not the revolutionary or chivalry aligned House, a lot of their endings aren't written as...dramatically? Like I adore Felix/Sylvain to death (I have a print of them hanging next to my Claude one lol), but their childhood promise is very much the product of living in Faergus, similarly to how Hubert and Ferdinand's relationship is defined by them living in the Empire. I think because the Alliance politics are far less dramatic (or are far more dramatic in a visibly different way) the subtext for Claude and Lorenz's Romeo/Juliet for politics thing doesn't come across as huge as two characters who promised to die with each other as kids and keep it (insane I love them).

That's why in my original post I talk about loving how normal the Deer are, and I think ultimately a part of that comes from their setting: the Alliance. In my first play through, I specifically chose having my loyalties lie (in the initial meeting with the Lords) with the Alliance, because to me, someone who had no real context for the game, the Alliance was the closest thing to a democracy from what little we'd hard of each nation. Politics informs almost every aspect of the Golden Deer; sure it's played for angst and importance in the other two routes (Duscur/Sylvain's Crest Complex/Felix's problem with the chivalry system for the Blue Lions--with the latter two never being things that are textually resolved in the Kingdom's government--and Enbarr/those who Slither in the Dark for the Black Eagles), but Claude actually has to balance what other lords want in the War phase, and it's his ability to be so good at politicking that enables the Alliance to consistently remain neutral in the war. So a lot of the subtext stuff comes to fruition through the realm of politics in a way it doesn't entirely through the other two, if that makes sense. It's a huge gesture of love that Claude can trust Lorenz with his dream.

"The Deers are for me more like an actual close group of friend: their life are not going to revolve around each other like it does with the other houses, but they won't hesitate to come for that 5 years reunion to see the other. It's kinda like you say they're so normal in a good way! They tease each other but they don't hate each other in the way of a Dimitri/Felix, a Caspar/Petra, a Ferdinand/Hubert ( except for Lorenz but like, it's Lorenz ). They won't kill the other dad, but they'll sure as hell support each other like Lorenz and Ignatz or Marianne and Raphael. They might not start a revolution together but they will listen to the other even when it’s total heresy ( Leonie & Claude, such an incredible support :’) ) and help the other to reach their goal… I do agree with you it’s linked to not knowing each other before, but on that, isn’t knowing each other before more of a Lion thing than not knowing being a Deer thing? I don’t know, the BE are kind of a middle ground."

I both agree and disagree with what you've said here!

I think it's true, that in any route where you don't choose Byleth, the Deer are textually viewed much more as just close friends rather then found family, whereas I think if you chose their route they end up much closer (as I said above). I think the Black Eagles and Blue Lions have their lives, by nature, revolve around each other since they're literally all Nobles and thus part of the governning system of this world (with the exception of Dorothea). I think the Golden Deer have to make it a much more deliberate choice, and I do think it's something they do after the War in any route (assuming the majority of them have been allowed to live) because that sort of thing just forms a life long bond between people that's hard to shake without deliberate effort I can't imagine any of them truly wanting to put in.

They are normal! None of them hate each other! They don't have that sort of intensity, but they do have a lot of complexity that lends itself very well to found family. I think a big part of that complexity lends itself to the lack of killing (although I don't really think any of their parents deserve to be killed whether they've alive or dead?). The fact that Lorenz's dad has Claude's uncle killed (which when combined with Hilda, again, being a fucking Goneril is INSANE my man's two best friends are people who have reason to kill him for BOTH SIDES OF HIS ANCESTRY) and thus gets Raph's parents killed is something truly heartbreaking, and yet I think it's because there's no violence amongst each other or against the previous generation that characters like Claude (has had violence perpetuated against him for his heritage), Marianne (has had implied violence perpetuated against her for her crest), and Lysithea (has had violence perpetuated against her to get her second crest) are able to feel safe amongst the Deer. Violence is an intense choice, but I think lack of violence should also be viewed as something deliberate and chosen, esp. in the world of Three Houses. I mean, throughout Verdant Wind Claude is constantly complaining about the perpetuation of violence caused by the War! He's someone who deliberately chooses direct harm reduction. Although, to in fact speak of violence, I think it's absolutely insane that Hilda "I refuse to die for my friends" Goneril will willingly die for Claude "DO NOT DIE FOR MY SAKE FLEE PLEASE I'M BEGGING YOU RETREAT" von Riegan's sake.

I do think that the Golden Deer are the most similar to a modern queer friend group and thus would be the easiest to make a 1:1 comparison, but again the events of the game do kind of necessitate that they are found family because they go through a war together. Their group dynamics are probably the most influenced by Byleth (Dimitri and his relationships with others while "mad" of course, aside), and it's really hard to make generalizations about them because again, the fact that she is not there to facilitate these close bonds makes it a lot harder for them to be as close as they are before the war as they end up being, although even without Byleth I still think they're exceedingly close. But yes, I agree, they do not live in each other's pockets, which does not make them any less found family, but does, probably, make them healthier in modern context lol.

(As a side note about Byleth and the house leaders: I think what she visibly provides to Edelgard and Dimitri is a lot more obvious than what she provides to Claude. She helps the both of them in maintaining themselves and not loosing themselves to the burden of leadership and trauma. Claude, however, is a character who has been handling both of those things alone, and we are shown that he is capable of handling them alone without massive cracks appearing in Three Houses. Claude does not need Byleth to live, as the other two directly do. Byleth gives Claude someone consistent and trustworthy to rely on, which opens him up to being able to do it with the other members of his house far easier then he's able to otherwise.)

Anyways! I think the Golden Deer are very queer, just more subtextually so then the Black Eagles and Blue Lions. I personally view a lot of the straight endings, so to speak, as queerplatonic (again Lorenz/Lysithea and honestly Leonie/Ignatz). Romance is a pretty easy metric to view queer storytelling through, but I don't think I'd see Sylvain as any less of a queer character if he didn't have his paired ending with Felix because of how his story is written. In a similar way, I think characters like Ignatz (wanted to be a painter, but it's not what his family wants for him; yearns to be creative and is self conscious about people thinking it'll interfere in his duties and has to learn to accept himself and his true dreams) and Marianne (sees herself as a monster that other people won't accept if they knew the true her and what she's hiding) are also queer without needing to be in romances, which is why the fandom gets a lot out of them subtextually.

Acceptance, I think, can be viewed as a very queer theme, and I think it's a prominent one within the Deer.

[lyriquette]

Old RWBY AU description from Frosen Steel chat server - 3/31/2021

lilac — 03/31/2021 12:43 AM

--- After an hour or so of tossing and turning in bed to no avail, I suddenly have an idea for an AU. 8)

---

Searching through Atlas's archives, a young impressionable Penny discovers a digital scan of an ancient translated version of the Tale of Two Brothers within. The previous owner of the book had written notes.... well, rants....in the margins about how the God of Darkness deserved to have no worshippers and that both gods were pieces of shit.

Still, the tale fascinated her about how the gods had actually created Remnant and humanity, sorta like how her dad created her from nothing. And it was also kinda sad cause it sounded like the God of Light got all the credit for making humanity if the lack of worshippers for the God of Darkness meant anything.

He kinda reminded her of her dad. Because before Dad made her, people was always taking credit for his work, even though he did 99% of it. But her dad was too nice to make a fuss.

You know what. I'm gonna worship the God of Darkness now and no one can stop me!

----

Her dad had been pretty cool about the entire thing after she explained it, even bought some books about prayer rituals and worship. (He assumed Penny was just going through a phase.)

And so one day, Penny got all the stuff she needed and began praying to the God of Darkness every day.

------

lilac — 03/31/2021 1:44 AM

In a galaxy far far away, the God of Darkness just stared in dismay as another bunch of his worshipers got exterminated again. By the Church of Light no less.

He really wanted to toss an energy beam down there, just to let the stupid ants know that 'hey these are my worshippers', but that'd break the rules he and his brother made.

To be honest, if he actually liked them, he might even done so anyway.. but really, he knew they had it coming. He liked destruction and mayhem as much as the next God, but there's a line between destruction and intentionally torturing and making people suffer - a line his worshippers regularly crossed with the whole skinning and dismemberment alive thing. The sad thing was they literally were all he had.

eriously, why did he get stuck with all the crazy cultists? He wasn't like that. Sure, he had a bit of a temper problem like most gods did when it came to pride, but he hadn't genocided anything since he left that stupid planet wi-

Oh. That human. That Salem. It still made his horns quake just remembering it. He thought he was going to get his very first genuine worshipper, intelligent and sane and wishing for favor. And he granted her the favor, even paid the horrendous price of pulling a soul from the world and encasing it into a mortal shell. And for what? She was just using him.. only came to him cause his older brother wouldn't give her what she wanted,, and he got played like a fool.

And when she got all those greedy humans to rise up against them - to try and demand immortality from them - okay yeah, genocide probably wasn't the brightest solution, but he was what- like a million years old at the time and going through a phase- he's easily ten times that by now.

"Oh, and there goes your worshippers again," said a very unwelcome voice in a tone that didn't seem smug but really was meant to be smug.

"I have a moon and I'm not afraid to drop it," the God of Darkness sourly replied to his brother as he turned his attention back on the last of worshippers getting cleaned up by his brother's.

Wait, that'd probably kill everything in the planet - damn it.

Eh?

Did they miss a spot? Why was he still receiving faith?

"That's the last of them," the God of Light remarked, "Hopefully it won't take another dozen millenia for people to discover your existence again."

...Ignoring his brother's gloating, he directed his attention towards the source of the thin stream of faith.

...Was that Remnant?

He glanced at his brother. He was going to ask if his brother had sensed something from the world they abandoned. But you know what? Fuck him.

"Ugh. Shut up. I'm going to destroy a couple uninhabited planets. See you in a couple millennia or something." he pretended to grumble as he transformed into his dragon form and flew off.

"Sure, brother. Come back soon," the God of Light replied before directing the entirety of his attention back on the world they currently lived in.

The God of Darkness could only roll his eyes as he flew off towards the world they abandoned: Remnant.

---

lilac — 03/31/2021 2:42 AM

Creates an avatar of himself as a Grimm squirrel... human girls like cute things right. This should be an acceptable disguise, right?

It takes him months to create a squirrel that didnt look monstrous enough to get shot on sight by Atlasian security. And since he didn't actually know if his worshipper actually cared about these humans, he can't just go on a murder spree to get through.

Penny gets to learn that though gods, though very powerful and already born fairly intelligent, gain insight and learn very very slowly. Even GoD will admit humans are incredibly fast in that regard.

[here-comes-the-bard]

man my post from. yesterday or day before. is making me think like. i don't know what it would look like if yaevinn DID decide he was tired of being nice and just wanted to go apeshit. mostly because he's getting to the point of being like. yeah both is good tbh. i will be nice but if you fuck around you will find the fuck out.

he's very much a "my trauma did not make me kind, i made me kind. do not credit my abuser and oppressors for my kindness" person. his philosophy is something along the lines "the world was unkind to me and unkind to others, but why should i be unkind? if I didn't deserve it, neither do others. might as well be a light in a world of darkness". and honestly that's a big part of what makes him who he is. i cannot imagine yaevinn without it honestly.

but i think that's what makes it an interesting exercise. what would yaevinn be like if at some point (after asylum, it's important to note, as really that's The Big One and just kind of amplified the previous issue) he just said "being kind is exhausting and i'm exhausted so fuck this". because aside from the horrors i think it's genuinely exhausting for him to be kind in the face of unkindness. it is simultaneously an effort and an instinct for him. and it's fascinating to wonder what would happen if he not only gave it up, but just went in the opposite direction (because ngl if he just gave up on it as a whole he'd just. kinda vanish off the face of the earth and not interact with anyone).

the thing is, he wouldn't become gleefully cruel. in fact i think he'd actually really dislike it and dislike himself for it, but what else is he supposed to do? it wouldn't feel right, but it'd be all he knew because being "good" clearly wasn't working. i think he'd just feel so. empty. where his world now is filled with colors that can sometimes be overwhelming but that he wouldn't give up for anything, his world in an au where he actually gave it up would be so grey and bland that i kind of think it'd impact his mental health, to put it in a less rough way.

not sure whether he would've missed his calling as an assassin or not but considering he learned his archery and dagger techniques as self-defense i think there's a good chance he wouldn't have.

i think he would've kept a lower profile due to his shame honestly. would've gone from a little timid and anxious to nearly reclusive. wouldn't want let anyone see him like this because the feeling of being inherently bad would become a self-fulfilling prophecy. this is all he is. a monster is all he could've ever been. and yet, he does let people see it. because look what the world has done to him. how can you hold good in your heart when the world has done nothing to return it. he'd see himself in it, and he'd see it as pathetic because of that.

i just like. fr the thing is i think he'd have this constant feeling that it wasn't supposed to happen this way. he wasn't supposed to be like this, and yet there's no other path.

and he doesn't even know that there was. and he could've seen so many beautiful things if he'd kept the kindness in his heart. but how could he? why would he?

i honestly think it's something like this post tbh. just crushed under the weight of his ideals because upholding them broke and splintered every single fucking bone in his body. i might have fundamentally misunderstood the post but isn't art less about what you put into it and more about what people get out of it or something like that.

anyway sorry if you read this whole thesis, be sure to like comment and subscribe for more content that makes me kinda glad i didn't make him worse. i'm gonna make either a pinterest board or a section in his pinterest but considering he is schrodinger's Fundamentally The Same Character (both is and really isn't) i'm not sure. uhhh this is a fun character exercise if you wanna do it. it doesn't have to be an essay tho this is just how i get out my thoughts. ok bye

[froggy-n-tired]

the 8 show.... (spoilers)

The show was phenomenal, I really enjoyed following the plot as it progressed and with the ensemble of characters each step taken into madness felt completely logical. Not to mention it was visually stunning and the moments of surrealism were fascinating to see and kept me on my toes so much.

In terms of characters, 4th floor was my favorite (perhaps an original statement) she was just doing what she had to do to keep up that grindset and her heart was true in the end anyways

I don't so much understand the hate for 8th floor, yes obviously she orchestrating some of the torturing and is clearly deranged but if we're being candid and honest someone else would have orchestrated it eventually (maybe not the sleep deprivation though (although it did create perhaps my favorite scene in the seduction hallucination)) as the whole show takes care to demonstrate that each of them will do what they must for the money and (maybe save 5th and 3rd?) will betray the others for more time. I think her detachment from reality was strange given the more realistic personalities present in the others but I think she got what she deserved and if anyone should have been punished it should be 6th floor (I genuinely couldn't believe he wasn't jailed after winning because even if there's no proof that he assaulted anyone before the show I seriously doubt he would have been above it.)

The only major plothole that bothers me is in episode 6 when the lower floors finally revolted against the top floors and bound them to stop the games. 6th floor never manages or even tries to escape his tape??? It seemed to me like such a nerf to have him go from a huge violent threat that will stop at nothing to get time to just laying there for days until his toenails get taken out which is the only time he gets mad about the whole thing. He seriously wasn't upset to see the lower floors take complete control of him?? Given his rage and strength previously shown I figured he would easily be able to break the tape if not wriggle out. Obviously the last few episodes would have been completely different had he maintained his power but it was such a gaping plothole that I couldn't suspend my disbelief enough :[

I'm so glad the ending wasn't like squid game where the gamemaker was with them the whole time; I suspected 1st floor because if the show is meant to test the limits of human nature, it would make sense to control the lowest spot and see how everyone treats you. I'm glad the show didn't go this route though because it's such a tired trope and I much preferred not knnowing how the show came to be, it makes the message itself more powerful- there will always be the 8 show because there will always be people who want money at any cost and there will always be wealth inequality. I would have been more satisfied seeing everyone coming together (maybe not 6th floor because in my fantasy he was imprisoned) but I think it was a good conclusion.

The credits scene had me worried that the ending was that everything was made up by 7th floor (which honestly would have ruined the whole thing) but it really didn't seem that way from his reactions.

I hope there isn't another season because everything that needed to be said was already said and beautifully at that.

[cynettic]

I just read Kitsune reader x yan Scaramouche's fic, may I have gotten hooked on it? and of course, it's just perfect and that's why I'm here to lose a part two with nsfw, thank you in advance and understand if you refuse:3

Link to Part 1

Summary - Taking you captive, Scaramouche continues to see you as a pillar of support. Coming back home to have you there, always. Even if it meant chaining you up.

Pairings - F!Kitsune!Reader x Yan!Scaramouche

Warnings - Smut, slight noncon ( I tried to make it as consensual as possible but its difficult with yandere themes ), fingering, electricity play

Rating - NSFW

Penpal - Ahhh I'm actually beginning to get attached to this series, might end up writing a couple more posts with different hc and stuff. I hope you liked the post though, have a great day <3

A/N - The literal definition of the ‘stoic cruel boy who’s mean to everyone but you.’ Oh well, Scaramouche is ooc af, but I did change a few things in his backstory so its supposed to make sense for this story ;) Also- since we dont know Scaramouche’s actual name, I have the reader still… yknow, call him Scaramouche. Which is kinda weird cause its his harbinger name but oh well. Also, credit to @cycletr4in for proofreading it ;3

Taglist - @cursedraiden

Stay with Me pt.2

Scaramouche was a gentle captor.

In contrast to piercing eyes and harsh stares when it came to others, he had a soft spot for you. Like the ice that encased him whole melted at your touch, craving for the warmth only you could give him. For your arms around him, to play pretend and imagine he were a child, free, fearless, unbound. A child in your arms, safe and protected.

But you were held hostage, which meant that the chains around your wrists and legs held you down and secured you. Like you were bound to one spot like you’d always been, except this time you didn't have a choice.

You weren't waiting for the Kitsune Saiguu.

Hell, you didn't even have your vision.

This brought on resentment for the dark haired boy. You hated him, you despised him for holding you down under his own judgment. But at the same time, all you saw in him was a child, a little kid who hadn't had the time to grow up. The one who refused to do so because it was his only way to survive in the type of world he lived in. Hide behind that same facade he developed as a kid, snide remarks and unrelenting cruelty.

Just to come back to your arms, sobbing because he was still that child. Sobbing because he was still hurt. Sobbing because you were still his beacon of light, of hope.

He depended on you.

And as much as you built up harsh words to use against him, they dissolved in your mouth when you saw him. His vulnerability that he saved for you and you only. A deep part of you cared for him, a little too much.

Gentle fingers brushed through the locks of Scaramouche’s hair, twirling it around and playing with the strands. It was smooth, a small detail no one would have the chance to notice from the distance he put around himself and others. A quiet hum left his lips as he leaned against your chest, eyes fluttering closed against the soothing feeling of you against him.

The lavish silk sheets were soft against your skin, pillow pushing your form to sit up. Just enough to have Scaramouche in your arms, knees on either side of his body as his head rested under your chin. His chest rose and descended, almost on beat with yours, if not just a tad slower.

You hoped he wouldn't hear the way your heart thrummed against your chest.

Warmth, his body flushed against yours, the luxury of a bed and the small candlelight on your bedside. Different from what you’d grown into just on the side of the trail, sitting for decades. Or with your time with the Kitsune Saiguu, it was never this warm, never this gentle.

But this warmth ended at your beating heart, furiously blazing. Sending an urge of adrenaline through your body, whispering ‘run’ through your veins. A primal urge that would've had your hands around Scaramouche’s neck, till he was wrangling and dead.

Till you could escape.

Hand slowly sliding down his jawline, you let your gentle fingers ghost along the soft skin of his neck. Claws outstretched and ready, sharp and pointed with a deadly intent to kill. You could end him so quickly, overturn his trust and make an escape. You deserved it, you deserved freedom. Not a delusional boy who thought himself protector against someone who’s lived decades more than him.

Jolting at the sensation of a soft grip on your wrist, you watched with idle fascination as he simply cupped your wrist in his hold. Not stopping you, not restraining you, he simply brought your hand to his face. To his lips where he pressed the softest of kisses into your palm. So heartfelt and genuine that all you could do was freeze, not even considering clawing his face.

“I love you.”

You both stayed in that position for a few moments more, silence cradling the tension that slowly dissipated from your body. Forlorn eyes watching as he shift the angle of your wrist to kiss your fingertips. He wasn't waiting for an answer, basking in these soft moments where he could hide in your hold. Like a child, forced to grow up too quickly, yearning back for his foolish naivety, yearning for the childhood he missed.

You were that childhood.

Which is why he clung to you so dearly, showed expressions he didnt know he could make, hold you captive under the impression that it was ‘right.’ What he was doing was okay.

Claws retracted, you pursued your lips, holding back the tears of frustration that burned at your eyes. You hated him, hated him for the chains on your wrists, for the disappearance of your vision that you’d given so much value to. Hated him for the warmth he still made you feel.

You hated him.

You felt like a housewife in some respects. Not with the cleaning and cooking part, and of course no children were part of the equation. But in terms of support, you stayed rooted to that room, loose chains too strong for you to break or tug holding you down. Window was too far, and you were stuck moving around the bed and the desk that sat just a little farther away.

Attempts at having your vision back or more freedom in movement had been discussed with Scaramouche, but as childlike and free as he acted with you, he was not an idiot.

“I don’t plan on underestimating you,” was his answer, head resting on the plush of your chest. “You’re strong, always were. But I have to take extremes to make sure you don’t get hurt, some people out there are stronger than you.”

You wanted to point out that there were a ton of people stronger than him as well, but you kept your mouth shut. “Can I at least see the house? I’ve been cooped up here for so long…”

And he cant say no to such an innocent request as that right?

So he unlocks the chains, the vision at his side reminding you that he was strong. You solely knew that he’d been tough as a kid, and under the intensive training he’d seemed to endure, he was much much stronger. You werent willing to give it a go and lose his trust just yet.

Not like he really trusted you anyways-

At the very least, you’d hoped to get some sort of blueprint of the house, and all you’d received was confusion and your mind making up that the house itself was a maze.

“Didnt we… just pass through here?”

Glancing at the obvious frustration on your face, Scaramouche chuckled, pulling your arm through the hallways you swear you’d seen three times prior. “Nope, most of the hallways look pretty similar. The house wasn't built for dumbasses.”

You flashed him a look and were about to make some snideish rebuttal before you saw the smirk. You knew what he was doing, trying to comfort you with casual arguments you both used to have. Consisting of you telling him to work on his people skills, and him calling you a lazy ass. Of course you missed it, but you also knew you couldn't go back to it.

And then there was the issue when you learned that he was a harbinger.

A scene you didnt want to replay in your head, when a maid burst into your room, Scaramouche acting a tad more intimate. He had an awful tendency to do that, hug your waist and press his face against the crook of your neck. Press gentle kisses down the length of your shoulder that had you shuddering. You weren't used to intimacy, and considering you’d watched him grow up, it was just weird.

Stuttering, the maid had demanded that he was requested by the Tsarista. You’d seen the fear in her eyes when Scaramouche slowly turned to her, seen the unshakable immobility of standing under his gaze.

“Do not enter.” He said, “It’s on the door.”

That was the first time you’d seen Scaramouche kill.

You hoped it’d be the last.

But you’d seen death before, so much death in the time of the Kitsune Saiguu. And for a few seconds, you found yourself fearless as you yanked against the chains, yelling at his figure at the doorway.

“Tsarista?” You snarled, standing just a few feet away from him. His hand on the girls neck, clenching around the pretty skin of hers. Disgusted, the chains that held you back from closing the gap and throwing the girl away from him were impossible to overcome. “Why the hell does she need you?!”

‘Let go,’ you wanted to say. ‘Let her go, she’s going to die.’

It worked, because the ironclad grip was gone, the maid tumbling to the ground lifelessly. You’d been too late, and now her blood was on his hands, your hands. This was your fault and you had half the self control not to thrash against the chains with sharp claws, hands on his neck.

The hard steel gaze vanished in an instant, and like he’d regained his senses, he took a few steps to you. Hands clenching to fists before loosening to fingertips brushing against his palms. Confusion, regret and guilt clouded his features like a child waiting to be reprimanded. You didn't back away, stood firm and fierce when standing and keeping a tough front.

You wanted to cry.

“Its… its a long story.” He finally stated to your question, and when you didnt budge, he took a deep breath. In control again, he closed the distance between the two of you, “I’m sorry.” And that same thrum of electricity jolted through your body, sending you into a spiral of the girls lifeless eyes and Scaramouche’s childlike eyes. Till everything went black.

You woke up with the body gone. Scaramouche was gone as well.

You learned that Scaramouche liked to have things his way. Which meant that he was always in control, always had control of every situation.

Even in those short stretches of vulnerability when he rested in your arms, he still held something over you. And you had to adapt, shift for his wishes, coddle him and stay as his beacon. Because he was stronger, and even if you’d find some way to escape, he would find you.

It was odd, and you slowly let go of the image of him as a child, you knew he was a lot older. He’d probably reached the age your body was stuck in, and with every sweet kiss he pressed to your lips, you knew he saw you as some sort of lover. But as someone who wasn't in control, you simply had to play along, just until you found some way to make your escape.

Without killing him.

_-_-_-_-_

“Strip.”

Laying on one side of the bed, your eyes jolted open at the commanding voice. Slowly, you sat up, eyeing the dim figure at the doorway. Without the help of a candle or the moonlight at the window, you could distinguish Scaramouche at the doorway, taking off the large headpiece as he flung it to the ground.

“Excuse me…?” Your voice was soft, rusty after an evening nap.

“I’ll make you feel good,” was his only answer. Slowly making his way to the bedside till he could properly face you. His eyes were soft, but there was an odd sort of determination that you hadnt seen before. You held back his stare, confusion lacing your features when he suddenly started pulling off loose decorations that hung on his clothes. Just till he unlaced the vest and slid off his shirt. “Don’t worry.” But you didnt know quite what he meant until he leaned further to you, catching you off guard.

So you yelped when his hands suddenly slammed down on your shoulders, shifting you to have access to the buttons of your top layer. He was quick when undoing them, simply swatting away at your hands when you protested and tried to pull him away. Throwing it to the edge of the room when he was done, you could only thrash in horror when he undid your trousers just as quickly, pulling them down before you could grab them back up.

“Scaramouche? Hey-”

And then he threw you down on the bed, exposing you in your undergarments in the cool air of the room. Shivers crept up your spine and bristled across your skin, and before you could curl up to at the very least hide away, you felt a tug at your chains. Fear finally settled in when you saw Scaramouche attach the chain to the bedpost, until your hand was lifted up and he began to do the same to the other.

“Wait wait wait, stop and explain what you’re-”

Only then did he pause from what he was doing, slowly looking down to properly face you. His eyes slid up and down your body, and he took a step towards you. “I’ll make you feel good,” were his only words, and you were forced to take them as all he was planning on giving you. Only when he sat on the bed next to you did you realize what he meant, hand settling on your shoulder, waiting.

“Alright,” you said slowly. Painfully, the words bit your tongue, but you were merciless against someone who had control against the situation. You could say no and you knew Scaramouche would stop, he was gentle to you and you only. And even if he’d been firm just before, you knew that he’d still stop if you asked him to.

A part of you felt thrilled to have that power over him.

Another part of you just wanted to escape.

But you didnt have any hope to do so unless you were willing too give him everything. Because he expected everything and would do anything in his power to obtain it. You’d let him fiddle around with this delusion, thinking that he had control. Until he didnt.

Which is why you didnt flinch when his hand gently slid up your stomach, cold against the warmth you’d had under the blankets. Rubbing gingerly against your skin and drawing smooth shapes over before he slowly slid over your body. His eyes seemed to glint under the darkness of the room, lust filled and wanting.

You didnt shift uncomfortably, you pretended to be that doll he expected you to be.

Just staring up at him as he slowly leaned down to kiss you. His lips felt like snowflakes on a winters day, idly swaying side to side to catch one in your mouth. Jolting like electricity when they melted into your touch, red and swollen when he pulled back. You now vividly felt every touch, as if a current flowed and static jittered in the places he briefly brushed his fingertips.

“You always take such good care of me,” he breathed, lips slowly drifting down your chin. Just past your jawline and right on your neck. The space between your head and shoulder, a soft vulnerable spot that had your lips humming at the affectionate pressure. “Its my turn to take care of you.”

And then his lips were everywhere, collarbone, shoulders, cleavage. Just until his teeth were tugging off your bra, face nuzzled in between both breasts. Both of his hands now resided on your hips, grabbing both thighs to hold them up and against him. You could feel him hard, pressing so close to your heated core.

You managed to keep your reactions in check.

Just until he slowly grinded against you, mouth on your breasts as he again pecked the soft mounds, molding his lips against them as if he could remember the texture, memorize the feel. It was just to that point that mindless sounds slipped past your lips, turning to gasps when his hands on your thighs suddenly buzzed, and static rushed in. Your legs felt weak, entire body thrumming in response to the electricity he sent jolting.

He was using his vision.

The realization was numb against his lips on your breasts, hands slowly stroking the skin of your sides, travelling up. He hovered over you for mere seconds before mashing his lips against you once more, different. He was no longer gentle, and it was with the contact on your tail that you lost all control. When he gently moved it out of the way, backing up.

You were a mess.

Not that you tried to be, you’d been doing your best not to enjoy his touch. But it was hard when your core heated up so fast, mashing both legs together in hopes he wouldn't notice. You knew he would, any action beyond that was just you trying to save your dignity.

He sat there like he was enjoying the sight, the first time you’d seen him actually portray any visual confirmation of satisfaction towards the chains. He’d drink dry any ounce of control you gave him, and it was impossible not to give him it all when you were visionless and vulnerable.

But the dignity you struggled so hard to keep shattered when his hands brushed against your inner thigh.

Fingers slowly made their way to the padded fabric of your undergarments, two digits rubbing the area slowly with expertise. You bit your lip, muffling any groan of anticipation, hiding the way your hips tried to rock back into the gesture. Desperate, oh so desperate. Hiding back the whimpers as he slowly quickened the pace of his fingers against your garments. “Archons Y/n,” he murmured. “I haven't even put anything in and you’re already a squirming mess.”

“Shut u-up,” was all you managed, trying to shift away from the pressure against your clit. But his other hand was on your hip, holding in place. You could only watch and press your thighs tightly together as he slowly slid down your panties, resuming hovering over you. Distracting you with kisses, his fingers gently stroked your core, two fingers slowly sliding into your cunt using your juices.

He was gentle when pumping both fingers in and out, too slow when you thrust your hips to meet his fingers, pleading for him to go faster. But he liked hearing your cries, slowing down when you begged, quickening when you whined and just lay there, taking it.

You shuddered the first time electricity jolted from his digits.

It was when he had three fingers that he sent the static up your body, back arching with such intensity that it even had him chuckling. “Oh? You like it that much?” And then it is like something buzzed against your body, fingers vibrating against your clit as your thighs tightened around his hand. So much that you thought you’d crush it, but it didn't matter, not with the electrifying feeling against your body. It felt so odd, so overwhelmingly good that it had your legs sliding up and down the bedside, toes curling as the static grew and you fell paralyzed to his touch.

It didn't take long with his fingers thrusting in and out of you to cum. Moaning mess when he gave you the time to breathe, teeth biting your bottom lip and then mashing against yours. Your eyes grew fuzzy and most happened in a haze, and all you knew the entire time was that you’d given yourself to him, and that it felt good. You couldn't see the childlike wonder in his eyes anymore, not the need of a beacon or of support. No, the look he shared was feral, the smile tinting his lips almost scary. But it felt too good to care, and you let yourself enjoy his ministrations.

He pulled out and suddenly his own shorts were undone, boxers thrown to the side of the room just like all your other clothing. You didn't see how big he was, just felt his hard shaft against your throbbing cunt, pussy dripping and legs open wide and tired after your first go at it.

You expected him to be gentle like he’d been with his fingers. But he pressed the tip against your core, and in one full motion he was in. Teeth grinding against each other, you held back a scream, shock coursing through your body, overwhelmed with pain and discomfort. It hurt. But it was quickly overshadowed by his movements as he slid in and out of you, slow when pulling his hips back, and rocking himself completely inside you each time. A pattern that let you catch your breath and lose it all the same. Like he was continuously having a go at hitting the deepest parts of you, pulling back before fully thrusting into you and sending waves of pleasure and pain alike.

It was expected, but you couldnt hear yourself.

Not with your mind trapped in a haze of how he felt, body still buzzing after how he’d pulsed his vision through you. And now you were at the mercy of his member, hips swaying along with his, no energy for you to rock with him and try to push him deeper.

Archons, you didn't even think he could go deeper.

But you were proven wrong again and again as he kept the steady pace, hands clawing at your ass and hips. Stabilizing himself and trying to press himself against you, as far as he could go. Slowly, his hands drifted up to your hair, playing with the soft sensation of your furry ears. Pinching and rubbing, fingers coaxing the back of them like a massage. So gentle, but it paled in comparison to the harsh treatment of his dick.

You came first, gripping the chain with your hands in an attempt to stay stable. Walls clenching around him one last time before you got your release, your moans turning into cries when he continued to thrust into you. Your body felt numb, all nerves centred on the way he pounded into you, chasing his own release.

When he did, he pressed his head into your chest, his own breaths heavy with pleasure. Not pulling out, you could only lay there helplessly as his seed filled you, warm in contrast to the electricity he’d shot up your body just earlier. He didnt pull out, and laying in your chest, your heavy breathing didnt stop until he was asleep, collapsing on you and using you as support yet again.

Taking only a minute later to regain control of your senses, you shifted uncontrollably at his member inside of you, sending waves of pleasure every time you moved. Your wrists were restrained and you were stuck in this position till morning.

Achingly, you looked down at the boy, wondering how you would ever manage to escape.

[suzannahnatters]

MOON LOVERS: SCARLET HEART RYEO has deaded me and I've never been so happy about it

EUN!!!!

I'm not okay.

of course So was always going to make this choice, and I suppose it's hard to just opt out of a system when you and everyone you care about it trapped inside it, but there tragedy is definitely HERE

oh heck no, did he just lie to her? after promising he wouldn't?? and when the real thing he used as an excuse was a genuine point of conflict that could have served the writers just as well???

everything was going so WELL

Jung has no damns left to give either :3

big fan of the way nobody's wearing pastel robes anymore, they're all in black and guyliner

cept Baek Ah, please stay alive my child

dying over the internal thematic resonance here. So wants to be king so he won't be someone's killer anymore. but if you take the throne you have to be willing to throw everyone else away. And that's what he's already done to our girl, as happened to Lady Oh before her

taking the throne is the leading cause of insanity in this kingdom, looks like

ok they actually resigned me to the Break Her Heart To Save Her bit by downplaying it a whole lot and justifying it pretty well. it's still not my favourite & it IS cruddy of him to lie but also the king IS very actively using her to control him.

most of the time this trope happens I'm like "in what universe does this even make sense" but in this case, well it's a stupid decision but one I can actually imagine making

So explains why he wants the throne: at first he just wanted to protect the people he loved but now he wants to FIGHT THE SYSTEM, YEAH

*cough* or make things better for the normies

she's 100% Ophelia but he's better than Hamlet so I support him tbh

it's on, even Baek Ah is in armour now

not so evil queen gets the thesis statement: you must throw away love in order to gain the world

aaaaaaaaaaaAAaaaaAAAAAaaahhh

did...did our girl poison king Guyliner (no but it was convenient yes?)

what was in the letter

our girl getting to be the first to acclaim the new king yessss

well HECK the throne-induced insanity is setting in quick this time

I repent, I repent, he should have listened to our girl T_T

astrologer is Concerned and so am I

I'm so happy for Rebel Princess getting to stab someone at last

augh Wook very correctly points out to our girl that she's stuck by So as he makes the same decision Wook did

and then she retorts that at least he was honest about it with her

well played and game over

oh no I knew it wasn't good that she was clutching her heart

the sheer stress of the lifestyle is getting to her...the way it did to Lady Oh

and our girl's protege Chae Ryung is in love with a prince, it's all starting another tragic cycle huargh

fascinating how the back half is contextualising the show's treatment of the original king.

I hate that it went easy on him, but it quickly started to be apparent that the king is similarly caught in the system as everyone else. one person wanting to change isn't enough.

this show is so much more complex than I gave it credit for!

well I have a three page list of Reasons Why Marrying Princess Smirks-a-Lot is NOT Good Realpolitik

oh the pain is ON now our boy is making a whole parade of bad decisions and the show...isn't letting him off for them?

like, it's showing him yielding to the pressure of the system but also our girl takes a good long hard look at him and...

is this show going to Do The Thing

couples who pledge love over this swimming pool never end well, goodbye Baek Ah

no this is almost worse, Baek Ah gets to live in the most heartbroken manner possible

meanwhile So is gradually losing the bits of his humanity one by one T_T

SHRIEK

Jung just came to get our girl in the dumbest way possible, this is why you do not ask the general to rescue you from the deadly court

WOOK, DID YOU JUST DO SOMETHING LEGITIMATELY UNSELFISH

oh the sad king lurking in Jung's garden all eaten up with jealousy is the BEST THING and totally what he deserves

oh I LOVE this - our girl makes sure Chae Ryung's last letter gets to Won ahhhhh

the actor for Wook has just done an amazing job of visibly aging from 20 to 50 before our eyes, and he's done it all with facial expressions and body language

our girl has made it back YESS

and left history a little better in her wake

that rates as a happy ending in my book

THEY DID THE THING

I NEVER THOUGHT THEY WOULD BUT THEY DID

IT'S OPHELIA IN ANCIENT GORYEO

look idk what I expected from a story about a modern girl going back in time to charm 8 cute princes but it sure wasn't a brutal Shakespearean tragedy about power corrupting even the truest love

10/10 perfect ending, no notes. Bittersweet, agonising, fitting, PERFECT.

review to come

[desertfangs]

Who are your top 3 (or 5 if you can't narrow it down) VC characters?

Thank you for the ask! (Send me asks to stem the boredom at work!)

Daniel Molloy - This will surprise no one, but I really love him. I think he's fascinating. The way as a young journalist he's just enraptured and fascinated by Louis in the interview and the way he hears Louis' story as one of possibility. Also the fact that he even does the whole 'meet and interview strangers for their stories' thing is just so interesting! And then of course, everything with Armand, and how he's just the right kind of weird and unhinged to really click with him. I also really relate to his desperate desire to live forever and experience the world for centuries, and I love how being with Armand is like a blessing and a curse for him: he genuinely loves Armand and wants to be with him forever, but it also makes him feel time ticking like a bomb until he finally becomes a vampire. And vampire Daniel is so giddy and high on being immortal, it makes me happy. I'm so bummed we didn't more of him in later books beyond a few little bits in B&G and PL. We even get told he's back with Armand at the end but we don't get a single paragraph of them together, and he just sort of vanishes. I know Anne was pretty much done with him after QotD and the only reason we even got the bits we did in later books is because people kept asking where and how he was but still. C'mon! Anyhow, I love him.

Armand - He's easily the most complex and fascinating character in the series to me. And I think he gets the most character growth, too. He starts as a villain but even then as the 'bad guy' you feel bad for him because he just wants love and passion and something to live for and he can't even have that. And then it's heartbreaking all over again when you learn his history with Lestat. And then finally with Daniel he gets what he wanted, only to have it ripped away (and probably he pushed it away himself because he does that!) and again it happens in scenes we never see on the page (you're killing me, Anne!). But then he finds happiness with Louis finally finally after decades and gets Daniel back as well. He just has such a fascinating dynamic with literally everyone else in the series, I love how he thinks and how he reacts to things and he's amazing. He's never done anything wrong in his life.

Louis de Pointe du Lac - Louis was my first favorite VC character and I've always loved him. He also has some good character growth and also sort of gets lost in later books, though not as much as Daniel because he's too important to Lestat for Anne to totally shunt to the side. We meet him when he's totally dejected and lost and isolated in IwtV and willing to spill his guts to Daniel, and I think that, too, is fascinating. Was he watching Daniel for a while? Did he put himself in position to meet him and be interviewed? Or was it really just a crazy random happenstance? Regardless, I love his guilt and that he thinks he deserves nothing, and that as the series goes on he finally comes to accept himself and also love (from Lestat, and also from Armand). Louis and Armand are that couple who marry young and divorce because they're just not ready or in the right place, but years later reconnect and it finally works because they've both matured and learned more about themselves but also they have both accepted that they DESERVE love (and I credit Daniel with some of that on Armand's end.) Anyway, I'm going to cry. Louis also has zero desire to be some overpowered vampire. He's content to live forever wearing moth-eaten sweaters (at least until Armand starts throwing them out and buying him better clothes) and reading books, and I'm here for it. I know you said I could pick 5 but I have rambled a lot already! Honorable mentions go to Jesse Reeves and Gabrielle, whom we also didn't get enough of in canon IMO, and of course I love Lestat.

[pub-lius]

What is your opinion on Aaron Burr?

he. he him. he.

i don’t know BEKWBWKWN

burr was an icon im not going to lie but he’s also the bane of my fucking existence and whenever i remember he was a real person i get a little scared.

but fr tho like. out of all of those freaks, i think i would get along with burr the best. like he wasn’t great, he could be pretty shitty, but i feel like we could have a conversation and agree a lot and it would probably be genuinely enjoyable instead of me probing his brain like i would do to hamilton or jefferson or sobbing my eyes out due to daddy issues like i would if within a 500 mile radius of lafayette or washington.

i also think he is generally undervalued and the musical did a horrible injustice to him. i never really defend him unless im arguing against a misconception spread by chernow and/or lin, which is like. a lot of the time. its really sad that most of the time i spend discussing burr is arguing false information that a VAST majority of people think is accurate because of the musical, which is now being TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS.

i don’t think the musical made him into a villain, but it made him into someone he wasn’t. it wasn’t authentic to him, and i think the person he was deserves that credit. this man was a war hero and lin manuel miranda spent like an entire musical calling him a nark like. who the fuck are you talking about

also, like hamilton, im mostly just fascinated by his character, not bc i think he was just a swell guy. one thing i do appreciate about chernow’s biography is that he acknowledges the many parallels between burr and hamilton (even if he overdoes it a shit ton), i just wish he did the same thing with jefferson and hamilton, bc they had the same thing of like. being each other’s reflections, if that makes sense. its a thing of like burr reflected hamilton and hamilton reflected jefferson, but burr and jefferson don’t have that. idk if that makes any sense but if i need to explain it more lmk

what i think isnt talked about enough is the fact that burr was a good father and grandfather, and thats one of my favorite things about him. idk why i just find it really comforting that he had good family relationships. idk exactly why, i just think its sweet

so yeah, generally i think pretty positively of burr, but i do treat him a lot like hamilton in my study in the ways that apply. although he and hamilton weren’t close, i see them as pretty un-intertwinable when it comes to understanding either one of them, and that’s always my goal when it comes to my Specialty Dudes (tm).

[lyknest]

I think the ‘Pat treats Pa poorly’ stuff has really been exaggerated but I do think it’s brought up some interesting thoughts and conversations. I think Pat’s physicality contrasting with his ability to be soft maybe makes us as a fandom more lenient on him because we expect him to always be aggressive and dominant? Because he really does start out being quite entitled to the point where he, partially unknowingly, leads Pran on but then asks him to do his laundry or let him sleep over. That combined with his impulsiveness and sometimes cockiness could totally be eye roll worthy if it wasn’t for the fact that he’s multifaceted and develops as a character throughout the show (and we know it’s just toxic masculine ideals ingrained in him by his awful dad).

I do really find it very interesting though that Pran shares a lot of the same positive traits with Pat but doesn’t get half the ‘best boi’ ‘green flag’ labels that Pat does. I genuinely do think though it’s because Pat looks like a mean unapproachable hottie but doesn’t fit the stereotype personality wise while Pran looks like a softie and so you kinda expect him to act like one too? I know he’s initially poor at communicating his feelings because of previous trauma but once he gets over that hurdle he very healthily communicates with Pat and is just as selfless and loving as Pat is albeit a bit more reserved. I’m sorry I’m just rambling at this point. It’s not a criticism at all because I love them both it’s just something that fascinates me as someone who’s studied film and tv theory before.

hi dear anon! i agree with what you said and i love it that we as a fandom can critically analyse the flaws in the fan favourite characters respectfully!

im not really sure about the leading Pran on part because honestly how could he have, neither did he know that pran was gay, nor did he know the same about himself. he was just being friendly. we honestly don't have enough development of pat & his friendships to analyse how he like with them as compared to pran so 🤷

but yeah, i have honestly thought about this a lot before, that what if we're giving pat wayy too much credit for being the bare minimum? but then i realise that he indeed is anything but "bare minimum". pat got the best boy title when he started communicating, and looking back i realised he openly communicates with everyone and not just pran.

open communication, while might seem easy, but is infact one of the most difficult things to do. it takes a lot of practice and a level of self awareness to so do. (ironic?) it's honestly a task for most people, so for that i feel he does deserve the best boy tag loml

but yeah you're absolutely right, i did have a positively biased perception of the character because he turned out to be exactly opposite of what i expected him to be, which made me love him more!

and exactly!!!!!! I'll never get over that pran's doesn't get nearly as enough best boi awards that he deserves. he, by far, has been one of my favourite character for multiple reasons, one of them being that he's just so PURE give him everything!

I've also seen people criticizing pran for not doing enough for pat which just makes me lose my mind!

[girl4pay]

okay you mentioned catelyn stark so now you’re just gonna have to suffer through me spiralling just for a sec it’s been years and years since i read any of the books and i watched the first few seasons a while back i don’t RECALL this being in the book ALL THAT SAID when cat’s talking to robb’s wife about the charm mothers make for their children GENUINELY one of the most fun and fascinating character moments Of Time for me and like i’m really generally Not That Into got but that whole conversation RULES ME like!!! idk idk how to explain it but the absolute psychological war going on there the terrible, awful humanness of it like she prayed for jon’s death!!! and then he almost died and she sat with him all night begging the gods to let him live, promising to love him and then he lived and she still couldn’t do it!!! like watching cat’s resentment towards jon was so uncomfortable and it’s like… SO so obviously unfair and wrong and then you realise cat KNOWS ITS WRONG she knows he’s an innocent in the situation and that it isn’t his fault and he deserves to be loved and cared for and she believes all this to be true to the degree that she fully believes failing to do so is an act of evil punishable by the annihilation of not only her entire family but like the whole continent she believes utterly and wholeheartedly that it was her god-given duty to love this child and she STILL COULDNT DO IT absolutely fascinating absolutely runs my brain like i will give at least what i’ve seen/recall reading in GOT credit for absolutely and categorically refusing to have any Morally Pure characters and not even just in a ‘they didn’t have any better options’ way in a full throttle people who are otherwise ‘good’ doing things that are genuinely and completely unjustifiable way but this moment especially i’m fascinated and obsessed like i really didn’t think they were ever particularly going to raise jon and cat’s relationship and they did and it’s fucked up and complicated and ugly! and she knew she was being unfair and cruel and she knew it wasn’t his fault and she was taking the anger that should have been for ned out on this innocent kid and she wanted to be able to love him but she Just Couldn’t! even though she hated herself for it she’s internalised the guilt for it so deeply she genuinely believes herself to be fundamentally responsible for Every Bad Thing That’s Happening and she knew it was hateful at the time but she couldn’t help herself!!! fucked up and fascinating!!!! i never stop thinking about it!!!!

its literally so fun like i love to read it i don't remember the scene abt the charms bcus i haven't watched the show in ages but the jon + catelyn relationship is so fucking fascinating and well written honestly catelyn + all her children it's like a great little microcosm study of like misogyny + familial abuse + power dynamics probs my fav part of the series. like my favorite part of the starks is they are supposed to be the Good Family that loves each other etc etc so they serve as like a perfect mirror for all the social issues in the got world bcus it's not villainy or hatred it's just what happens to a group of people living in a world like this

[woozapooza]

Breaking Bad: The Verdict

For many years I thought I would never in a million years watch this show. It looked intense and violent and depressing and I could handle those things in historical fiction and fantasy, but not in a story set in the real world in the present day. I credit It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia for making me realize that my tastes in media had changed, and therefore I ultimately credit IASIP for getting me to give Breaking Bad a shot. AND I’M GLAD I GAVE IT A SHOT! WHAT A SHOW! WHAT A LITERAL SHOW!

Favorite character: Jesse, obviously! Love of my life! He is everything Walt could never be. He is the heart of Breaking Bad and he deserves only good things ever.

Second favorite character: Saul! Every time he was on screen I was like YES IT’S THIS GUY AGAIN YES. I completely see why he got a spinoff. Also, I called his number and oh boy it was worth it. I highly recommend doing so if you haven’t already. 505-842-5662.

Even though he sucks so hard, Walt is undeniably one of the most fascinating main characters I’ve ever seen. And really, I shouldn’t say “even though he sucks so hard" because that makes it sound like his awfulness is an impediment to him being such a fantastic character, which couldn’t be further from the truth. The seeds of Heisenberg were present all along BUT you can also 100% see how he justifies every decision he makes and why he’s able to continually convince himself that he’s not the villain. And honestly, this might sound bad, but I found myself sympathizing with him a lot, even when I knew objectively that he had only himself to blame for whatever problem he was facing (which is the case most of the time). And I’m fine with that! It’s literally just a testament to how well written and acted he is. Part of me thinks it shouldn’t be allowed for an actor to win multiple Emmys for the same role because it’s not really fair, but part of me is like, no, actually, it is good and right that Bryan Cranston won four Emmys for playing Walt. He deserved every one of them.

And Walt and Jesse have one of the most interesting dynamics I’ve ever seen. “Dynamic” is a special word I like to employ when “relationship” just doesn’t feel strong enough to express the depth of what’s going on between two characters. Other “dynamics” include Uhtred and Alfred in The Last Kingdom and Flint and Silver in Black Sails. It’s pretty undeniable that Walt feels genuine affection for Jesse, however twisted his ways of expressing it are. Walt turning against Jesse in Ozymandias was one of the most painful things I’ve ever seen a show do. I was very relieved that their last interaction in Felina ended on a not-utterly-terrible note.

Skyler White has done nothing wrong ever in her life.

Neither has Marie Schrader.

Walter Junior is my son now. I adopted him. He’s mine. I kept wishing that he would meet Jesse, and I’m so disappointed that he never did. They have so much in common! Since finishing the show and reading stuff that other fans have said, I’ve learned that this is a common sentiment. Ah well, that’s what fanfic is for, I guess.

What a perfect blend of comedy and drama this show is. One example of BrBa’s comedy that stands out to me is in the second or third episode when Walt and Jesse are cleaning up after the bathtub incident. After they clean inside the house, there’s a shot of the two of them outside, each standing in an inflatable pool, passing a hose between the two of them, taking turns hosing the blood and gore off of each other. The most brilliant thing about this scene, the thing that elevates it from funny to hysterical, is that the pools are decorated with adorable cartoon sea creatures. The contrast between the horror of what’s happening, the cutesy pools, and the characters’ trance-like demeanor had me DYING.

Overall grade: A+