#like i've said before; season 2 is unhinged

[witchtwig]

I don't have a complete thought for this yet, but it is interesting that in episode 5 before she says that ghosts have unfinished business, Lilia states that "emotion ties them to this plane"--

Agatha died during an incredibly emotional moment, crying as she kissed the woman she had been fleeing from for years. Agatha who has so many unpacked, unprocessed emotions as she's avoided really sitting with them for years. She hid behind the Darkhold to be invulnerable.

I really think that's like an interesting thread to explore with her as a ghost for a potential season 2. Not just mentoring Billy and fulfilling that part of her that has always wanted to raise a protege in a way she never was. But also maybe unlike this first season where in a lot of ways it was Agatha's Avoidant All Along, we actually get to see her unpack some things (which I would imagine largely revolve around Nicky and even moreso Rio (given she began to process a little bit around Nicky in the first season)).

[motorsportbarbie13]

Post It - Part 8 - LN4

when lando stumbles upon a random tiktok of a pretty american influencer, he can't stop himself from sliding into her DMs. what happens next is more than both of them ever bargained for.

warnings: angst and online hate. notes: i'm baaaaaack. i've got this series finished up for you even though i said i was going on a break. Part 9 will be up later this week. as always, extra thank yous to @lestapiastrisgirl for listening to me whine and complain and letting me bounce ideas off of her. <3 pairing: lando norris x influencer!reader word count: 3.5k words

|| - Part 1 || - Part 2 || - Part 3 || - Part 4 || - Part 5 || - Part 6 || -Part 7 Master List

Worry creases the space between your eyes as you watch Lando pace the the length of the living room in his Monaco apartment. After your run in with Allegra in Miami, you hadn’t seen her for the rest of the weekend. In fact, you hadn’t heard from her at all in the weeks after the race, which had started to make you nervous. Lando had insisted that this was a good thing, that maybe your hard launch with him had gotten her to back off but you knew better. You were familiar with women like Allegra and you knew that Miami wasn’t going to be the last time you had heard from her. 

And you had been right. 

“Lando, we need to go to Zak with these.” You plead from your spot on the couch. It had been hours since the texts had stopped but the threat remained. You knew she’d make good on her promises after reading how unhinged she was being. “Or at the very least let Corinne know so they’re not blindsided by whatever story she fabricates.” 

Lando runs a shaky hand through his curls. “No.” He says, voice tight and thin. He stops pacing before turning to you, his eyes filled with a desperate kind of resolve. “No one else is going to see these. I’ll handle this by myself.” 

“Handle it how, Lan?” You ask, your voice tight with concern. “By giving her what she wants? By breaking up with me?” 

He flinches at your words, a flicker of pain crossing his face. “Jesus, baby. Of course not.” Crossing the room to sit next to you, he pulls you into his lap while his arms snake around your waist. “I would never. I’m not going to let her dictate my life. Not again.” 

You run your fingers through his hair, the curls long and unruly from his refusal to get it cut because of how much you like it longer. “Then what are we going to do?” You drop an extra emphasis on ‘we’, desperately hoping that he realizes that you two are in this together now. You can practically feel the panic radiating off of him and you know you don’t have much time to prevent him from spinning off into oblivion. 

“I just need to figure this out.” He mutters, more to himself than to you. “There has to be another way. Some way to make her stop without…” He lets the words hang in the air, his voice thick with dread. 

“Without what, Lan?” You press as gently as you can. “Without her ruining everything?” 

His eyes meet yours then and you see nothing but a desperate kind of vulnerability that has your heart squeezing painfully in your chest. He didn’t deserve this and you could kill Allegra for brining this kind of pain to your doorstep during one of Lando’s favorite race weeks of the entire season. 

“Without her dragging you into this.” He says, voice barely a whisper. “You don’t deserve this. None of this is your problem and you shouldn’t have to deal with this.” 

You reach out to cup his face, waiting a beat for him to look back at you and make eye contact. “Lando.” You say, firm but softly. “This isn’t just about you anymore. It’s not just about her either. It’s about us, you and me. And we’re not going to let her win.” 

“But-” He starts, lips trying to form a coherent protest but you simply shake your head. 

“No.” You say firmly, “We’re going to Zak. We’re going to Corinne. We’re going to tell them everything and we’re going to do it together. I’ll call Giselle on the way to the paddock and have her dial in too. This is an all hands on deck problem that we need help dealing with. You’re not alone in this anymore, okay?” 

You knew your PR manager Giselle was going to lose her shit once she heard the story. She was huge on making sure your reputation was spotless and this was the kind of problem that was going to keep her up at night. You didn’t care though. Nothing else mattered beyond getting this chick out of your lives for good and making sure Lando knew this wasn’t his fault. 

“This isn’t just some PR mess anymore, okay?” You wait a beat, letting your words sink in deeper. “This is blackmail and it could ruin your career. It’s not going to go away if we ignore it.” 

Lando looks at you, gaze filled with a mixture of fear, embarrassment, and a hint of admiration. “You really think they’ll help?” 

You scoff a bit before dusting a kiss over his cheek. “I know they will. You’re like a son to Zak, he’d move mountains for you. And Corinne? She may play the exasperated press officer, but she adores you. Everyone does, okay? And no one is going to want you to deal with this alone. They’re not going to let her get away with this. We’re in this together, my love. Always. Okay?” 

It takes a moment but eventually Lando nods. “Okay. Let’s go talk to Zak.” 

You probably could have cut the tension in Zak’s office with a butter knife. The McLaren CEO usually prided himself on being a calm beacon in what normally was a chaotic and busy sport. Not today though. Today, the room was tense as you sat next to Lando across from Zak. Corinne stood in the corner, arms crossed. On Zak’s desk sat your phone, with Giselle on the other end in her office back in Boston. 

“It was never real.” Lando insists as he finishes reciting the history of his ‘relationship’ with Allegra. “Rich introduced us. He said it would be good for my image, good for her career. We did a few staged appearances in Monaco and London but we were never alone behind closed doors. There was always someone from my circle with us. That’s it. Nothing more.” 

Lando runs a hand through his har, sighing deeply out of frustration. Beside him, you reach out a hand, placing it on his thigh, hoping the gesture will ground him in some way. You can feel the waves of anxiety rolling off of him and you want nothing more than to fix this mess for him. 

“I ended it with Allegra months ago, before we even met in person.” He glances over at you, eyes going soft. “I told her it was over but she won’t let it go.” He pulls out his phone then, the screen displaying the threatening texts. “She’s claiming we were together and that I cheated on her. Now she’s threatening to go to the press with ‘proof’ if we don’t break up and I hard launch with her instead by tomorrow.” 

Corinne leans forward, brows furrowed. “What kind of proof?” Her voice is sharp, like she almost doesn’t believe him. Your hackles rise at her tone and you turn to glare at her. The last thing you were going to allow was someone to put the blame on Lando for this. 

“She didn’t say.” Lando replies grimly. “But knowing her, it’ll be fabricated. Texts, photos…anything to make her story believable.” 

Zak rubs at his temples and sighs. “This is a mess. We need to get ahead of this. If she goes public, it’s going to be a disaster. And during Monaco race week too?” He looks over at Corinne. “How bad do you think this could be?” 

Before Corinne can answer, another staffer bursts into the office, the door practically shaking on its hinges. “Zak.” He stammers, totally breathless. “TMZ…they just dropped the story. It’s everywhere. They have screenshots of texts and photos of them kissing. Everyone is losing their minds.” 

A heavy silence descends upon the room, the weight of the situation pressing down on everyone. Lando’s jaw tightens, his eyes flashing with anger. “Fucking hell. She did it.” He growls, low and dangerous. 

Zak’s eyes narrow, expression grim. “Show me.” He commands sharply. 

The staffer holds out his phone, the screen displaying the TMZ article, the headline screaming accusations of infidelity and betrayal. The ‘proof’ was there, fabricated texts displayed for the world to see, a twisted narrative designed to Destry Lando’s reputation and your relationship. 

The room falls into stunned silence, the air thick with disbelief and a uneasy sense of urgency. The TMZ article was a total bombshell, carefully contracted to inflict maximum damage. The fabricated texts, displayed at the top of the article, paint a damming picture of your boyfriend’s supposed infidelity, a betrayal that threatened to unravel his reputation and relationship with you. 

“This is outrageous.” From Zak’s desk, Giselle speaks up firmly, her surprisingly calm voice cutting through the silence. “Allegra clearly planned this. The timing, the ‘evidence’, it’s being done right now to cause maximum chaos.” 

Zak nods grimly. “We need to respond quickly and decisively. We can’t let this narrative take hold.” He turns to Lando, looking at the young driver with a mixture of determination and concern. “These texts are completely fabricated, right? I need you to be honest with me, is there any shred of truth to any of this?” 

“Absolutely not.” He shakes his head. “I swear to all of you, these are lies. I still have every single text she ever sent to me. Everything I sent to Rich too. Every email, every text, every conversation we ever had that was in writing is saved. We were never really together, this was all a PR stunt.” 

You reach over to take Lando’s hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze in hopes he’ll feel the silent support you’re sending him. You knew the truth and you trusted him implicitly. Anyone who was close to you and Lando would see right through it, you knew that. But you also knew the public wasn’t going to be very kind. The truth often took a backseat to sensational headlines and online outrage. 

“Okay.” Zak says, pulling your attention back onto him. “Here’s what we’re going to do. Corinne, I want a statement drafted immediately. We need to be clear and unquivocal: these allegations are false and the ‘evidence’ is fabricated. We’ll release it through all of our official channels.” 

Corinne nods, her fingers already flying across the keyboard of her phone. “I’ll need Lando to sign off on it.” She says without lifting her eyes off the screen. “And we need to be prepared for a media onslaught. This is going to be a feeding frenzy, especially with today being media day.” 

Zak turns to the staffer, his expression stern. “Get legal on the phone. I want to explore our options for handling this in court. This is defamation, pure and simple. We’re not going to let them get away with this.” 

He looks at you and Lando then, his expression sofenting slightly. “This is going to be tough.” He says, shaking his head. “But we’ll get through this. You both have the full support of the entire team both here in the paddock and back at the factory. We’re going to fight this and we’ll prove it’s all false.” He pauses before shifting his gaze to Lando. “You’re going to need to be strong and clear and you’re going to need to trust us.” 

Zak then moves to look at you, his expression softening even further. “We’ll do everything in our power to protect you from this too. You don’t deserve to be caught up in this.” His eyes drop down to where your phone sits. “Giselle, you have Corinne’s direct line. You let her know what you need and you’ll have our full support too. We’ll get through this.” 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

McLaren Racing Statement Regarding Recent Allegations

McLaren Racing is aware of the recent allegations circulating in the media regarding Lando Norris. We categorically deny the claims of infidelity and the veracity of the fabricated evidence presented.

It has come to our attention that false and malicious information has been disseminated with the intent to damage the reputation of Lando Norris and *your name*. We are deeply concerned by the deliberate attempt to manipulate public perception through the creation and distribution of fabricated texts and misleading narratives.

Lando Norris has been a valued member of the McLaren Racing team for many years, and we stand firmly behind him. We have thoroughly investigated the claims and have found them to be completely unfounded. We are appalled that anyone would resort to such tactics to inflict harm.

Furthermore, we wish to express our unwavering support for *your name*, who has been unfairly and unjustly targeted in this campaign of misinformation. We condemn any attempt to drag innocent parties into personal disputes and to subject them to unwarranted public scrutiny.

We are currently exploring all legal avenues to address this egregious breach of privacy and to hold those responsible accountable for their actions. We will not tolerate the spread of lies and the deliberate attempt to tarnish the reputations of our team members.

We urge the media and the public to exercise caution and critical thinking when consuming information from unreliable sources. We will continue to provide accurate and transparent information through official McLaren channels.

We appreciate the support of our fans and partners during this challenging time. We remain focused on the upcoming race and on achieving our goals on the track.

f1.gossip.source posted

f1.gossip.source in a bomshell report, TMZ released an article full of text messages and photos from Lanod's old supposed situationship @/its_allegra_babes today. McLaren quickly responded to the report claiming it was all false and that Lando had never been in a relationship with the model. They are apparently persuing legal action against both TMZ and Allegra, claiming defemation and that the text messages were falsafied. Lando has repeadetly refused to answer any questions related to his personal life during the Monaco race weekend, further adding to the speculation that he is guilty of cheating with his now-girlfriend @/yourusername. What do we think folks? Who do we believe??? user928 i fucking KNEW that girl wasn't as wholesome as she appears. >>>user223 right??? total homewrecker user029 anyone who thinks Lando wrote those text messages that were in the TMZ article is dumber than a box of rocks. user019 you can't even see his face in any of the photos!!!! user929 this reeeeeeeks of jealous on allegra's part user2029 idk the way @/yourusername was avoiding the paddock this weekend and has gone radio silent when she is usually all up in her stories when she's with lando is sus af >>>user282 she's guilty. she knew lando and allegra were together and she went along with it.

The fall out from Allegra’s article in TMZ is swift and immediate. The paddock is abuzz with accusations and whispers that followed both you and Lando around all weekend. McLaren’s statement had been quick and forceful, effectively silencing anyone in the paddock who tried to bring it up during any interview with Lando. 

On the advice of Giselle, you had chosen to remain silent beyond releasing your own short statement on your instagram saying that you stood behind your boyfriend and believed that all of the allegations brought forward in the TMZ article were lies. You had turned your comments off and left your phone in Lando’s apartment for the weekend. 

On Saturday night, when you’d usually be out to dinner with Lando and some of the other drivers ahead of the race the next day, you and your boyfriend instead chose to lay low in his apartment instead. 

The apartment, usually a haven of tranquility and quiet respite, felt suffocating tonight though. The air was thick with the weight of the weekend’s events. Lando had qualified P2 behind Oscar, but the celebration of a McLaren front row lockout had been somewhat subdued. 

Lando sat on the edge of the sofa, shoulders slumped, the energy that had fueled is driver earlier in the day now replaced with heart exhaustion. You sit beside him, head tucked into the crook of his neck, legs slung over his as you tried to offer some sort of silent support. The initial shock of the scandal had subsided and in it’s place settled a weary air of acceptance. The damage had been done, the lies were out there, swirling through the digital world, posing the public’s perception of both you and your boyfriend. 

“I’m so sorry, my love.” You murmur against his neck, still sweaty from the exertion of a hard qualifying run earlier in the day. Your heart aches for him, seeing the way he had nearly melted into the couch after arriving home just a few minutes ago. “This isn’t fair.” 

Lando looks up at you, his eyes filled with a mixture of exhaustion and gratitude. “It’s not.” He agrees roughly. “But we’ll get through this. We always do.” 

“I know.” You place a dusting of kisses on his neck, up his jaw, before finally landing on his lips. “But it’s still a lot for you to handle.” 

He nods, lifting a hand to frame your face before smiling sadly at you. “I feel like I’ve let you down.” He confesses after a moment. “I promised to protect you from all of this and I didn’t.” 

“Baby, this isn’t your fault.” You say gently. 

He looks at you with a flicker of doubt in his eyes. “But it is.” He insists. “If I hand’t…” He trails off, unable to articulate the way his heart is aching in his chest, the way the guilt feels like it’s going to drown him alive, the way he wants all of this to just…stop. “If I hadn’t been so careless, if I hadn’t…” 

“Lando.” You interrupt, voice firm. “Stop. You are not responsible for her actions. You didn’t do anything wrong. You trusted the wrong people and tried to make things better, that’s it.” 

He sighs, shoulders slumping. “I know.” He murmurs so softly you can barely hear him. “It still feels like…” 

“Like it’s your fault?” You finish for him. “Like you somehow brought this on yourself?” 

He nods, his gaze fixed on the floor. 

You reach out, gently tilting his chin up so he’s forced to look at you again. “Lan, this isn’t your fault. This is on her and her miserable attempt to drag you down with her. She saw you were happy and couldn’t stand it. This sits squarely with her and I promise you, she’s not going to get away with this.” 

He looks at you then, a flicker of hope retiring to his eyes. “You really think so?” 

“I know so.” You say, dropping a kiss onto his nose before pulling back to look into his eyes again. “We’ll get through this. We’ll clear our names and we’ll come out stronger on the other side. Together.” 

He finally smiles then. It’s wary but it’s the most genuine smile you’ve seen from him since this entire fiasco started.

“I love you.” He whispers, confession hanging heavy in the air between you. 

Your heart hammers in your chest. The words hand’t been quite out of left field if you were being honest. You’d felt the same way for a while now but you had been afraid to put the feeling out in the open, worrying that it was too soon or that Lando didn’t feel the same. A genuine smile blooms across your face as tears prick the back of your eyes.

“I love you too.” You whisper. 

Lando leans in, his lips brushing against yours, a soft tentative touch that quickly deepens into something more urgent, hungrier, like he can’t get enough of the way you taste.

When Lando pulls away, he rests his forehead against yours, breath warm against your cheek. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” He confesses thickly. “You’ve been my rock through all of this.” 

“And you’ve been mine.” You reply softly, peppering quick kisses along the strong line of his jaw. “We’re in this together, remember?” 

He nods, eyes searching yours and you can feel that there’s a question he wants to ask you. “About tomorrow…” He starts hesitantly. “Do you still want to come to the race? I understand if you want to stay here.” 

You hesitate, the weight of the situation pressing down on you. The thought of facing the paddock, the reporters and the fans, fills you with a sense of dread. But you also know that staying away would be seen as admission of guilt, a sign of weakness. 

“I don’t know. I’m going to miss Spain next week already with my trip to New Zealand…” You’d had this trip planned to get content for Pretty Little Lens for almost a year now and Lando had been totally in support of it, even suggesting that he join you after the race because the grid had 2 weeks off before the next race in Canada. You hated to miss another race when you were already here. Missing two races in a row after this would also cause more rumors to swirl, you both knew that. 

“I want to be there for you…” 

“But you’re worried.” He finishes for you, his hand finding yours before intertwining his fingers with yours and giving it a squeeze. “I understand. You don’t have to go if you’d rather stay out of the spotlight. It won’t be easy tomorrow.” 

The look in his eyes, the defeat and the way his shoulders slump down a little more despite his attempts to be supportive make the decision easy for you. “No.” You say firmly. “I’m going. I can’t let them scare me away and I can’t let Allegra get what she wants. We should go together, show them that we have nothing to be ashamed of. We didn’t do anything wrong and we shouldn’t need to hide.” You pause, an idea striking you suddenly. “But…” You say carefully. “Maybe we can arrive a little later? Avoid the rush and media circus?” 

Lando nods, a small smile playing on his lips. “I am known for my inability to be on time.” 

You chuckle, allowing Lando to pull you into his lap. Your arms circle his neck before you nuzzle into his neck. Dragging in a deep inhale, you let the smell of his cologne surround you. Citrus and spice and all Lando. Comforting. Yours. 

He pulls you closer, his warmth a warm have of comfort that you’ve grown to depend on in the last few months. “Thank you.” He whispers against your neck. “For everything. I love you.” 

“I love you too, Lando.” 

f1.gossip.source posted

f1.gossip.source despite both going silent on all social media platforms after posting personal and team statements, @/yourusername and @/lando still showed up hand in hand today ahead of the first practice session of the weekend. Lando refused to answer any questions regarding his personal life and both the driver and influencer looked noticbly tense. The couple were some of the last people to arrive to the paddock so there wasn't much time for the media to pry. The McLaren driver has been accused of cheating on his ex-girlfriend and participating in a PR relationship with the American influencer @/yourusername. McLaren and Lando both catagorically deny any wrong doing and say that the proof provided by Allegra is fabricated and false. Who should we believe??? user8187 idk, they looked genuinely upset while walking in this morning. Why would McLaren post such a public statement if Allegra was right about everything? >>>user929 they looked upset because they've been exposed!!! user112 i always thought their soft launching so quick was weird. it's giving 'oh look a shiny new toy to distract me from my real problems' >>>user928 seriously. they hard launched SO QUICK. Something doesn't add up. user847 i always knew there was something off about her. #teamallegra user1883 there's no WAY these two are PR. Are we all forgetting how forced and miserable allegra and lando ALWAYS looked??? Compared to these two??? >>>user9288 seriously. we moved on much too quickly from the allegra/lando PR allegations. No way she's telling the truth. user928 #teamyourname and thats a hill i'll die on >>>user9992 fucking SAME

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[calvin-reads-problem-sleuth]

Doctor Who Season 2 Theory: The Davies Masterplan

This post contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Doctor Who "Season 2" / Series 15 / Season 41. If you haven't seen it yet, go do it, because A) it's really damn good and B) this post will make literally zero sense if you haven't seen it.

So I haven't used my blog in a long time, but I feel like I need to in order to share this deranged theory, partly so I can point and scream at it if I get it right and partly to get this madness out of my head. I came up with this idea a few days ago while spitballing theories with one of my friends, and while part of it was originally floated as a joke, the more I listened the more I realized how much actual evidence there actually was for at least parts of it.

Right now, as far as I've observed, there are two big mysteries going on in the season: the identity and plans of Mrs. Flood; and the nature of the weirdness going on with Belinda. Well, in this theory, I'm going to do my best to lay out my IMO fairly plausible guesses as to both of those things, as well as my absolutely unhinged speculation as to how these two might dovetail together into possibly the wildest plot twist this series has ever seen.

PART 1: The Case of Mrs. Flood

Right off the bad, Mrs. Flood is the most obvious mystery of the new RTD era as a whole. She's been present since "The Church on Ruby Road", reoccurred occasionally in Season 1, and now is an every-episode occurrence in Season 2. She also feels... weird in a way that most of the other antagonists in the era- even the more surreal ones like the Pantheon members- don't. She's REPEATEDLY addressed the audience directly, and while the first couple of those could be interpreted as happening in dubiously-canon stingers, the most recent one happens mid-episode, implying her ability to break the fourth wall is in some way a canon ability for her.

So what the hell do we make of her?

I think the most obvious thing we can say is that she almost has to be someone we know. The show isn't going to spend two seasons plus change building up the identity of this mystery character if it's ultimately someone or something we've never heard of. We also know for a fact that RTD loves to bring back antagonists from the Classic Series as big reveals. The Daleks, the Cybermen, the Master, Davros, the Toymaker, and most recently Sutekh... while many of them had their return spoiled by marketing, all of them have been used by RTD as a major plot twist, mostly in a season finale. I would bet actual money this is a returning foe.

We also know that she's almost certainly a time traveler. Her moving next door to Belinda could maybe have been shrugged off with mundane means, but her presence in "Lux" and "The Well" basically rules that out. I guess technically speaking this could be another Clara or Susan Triad situation where there are a bunch of different Mrs. Floods scattered wherever the Doctor goes, but I don't think that's going to be the case; whatever your thoughts on RTD, he's not dumb enough to use the EXACT same plot twist two seasons in a row. She has to be following them- or at least traveling widely within the same range as them- meaning she has a TARDIS or similar method of space-time travel stashed away somewhere.

Most peculiar, though, is the sheer amount she knows about the Doctor. It's not just that she's researched him; she almost seems to know minute details about the activities he is doing right now. When she goes to free Conrad in "Lucky Day", she not only knows that the Doctor just had a conversation with him, but seems to imply she knows what was said. When she shows up in "Lux", she makes a nod to the same May 24th anomaly that the Doctor discovered mere hours earlier, before she could possibly have overheard him. She also ends Season 1 by making a bold declaration about the "end" of the Doctor's story, implying outright foreknowledge. But perhaps most damning, however, is the fact that she knows the device Fifteen is using to get Belinda home is called a Vindicator, a name the Doctor literally came up with on the spot. All this leaves us with a person who doesn't just know the Doctor's past, but also his present AND- to some extent- his future.

So, what does this add up to?

When I first tried to speculate about her identity, for a while I tried to pin her down as the Rani. After all, she's probably the most famous Classic Series villain who has yet to make any appearance in the New Series. And admittedly, I was kind of feeling it when she made her speech about storming the gates of heaven in the Season 1 finale. But... it just doesn't seem to fit, especially after the last couple episodes. The Rani is the prototypical mad scientist character, obsessed with logic and knowledge, ready to throw ethics to the winds in pursuit of discovery. By contrast, there's something... ethereal- almost darkly whimsical in a way- about Mrs. Flood, this kindly-looking old lady who talks directly to the audience while giving ominous warnings about the future. As much as I wanted to jump on the Rani hype train once again, I just don't see that being the answer. Plus, on a meta level, the Rani's stories aren't exactly the most well-remembered in retrospect, and it feels like it would be quite risky to bring her back when by all accounts the executives are already looking for an eject button.

Who does that leave? The Master? Well, I guess we can't rule it out; they do have a habit of turning up where we least expect them, and we did get his return teased in "The Giggle". But it just doesn't feel right; it doesn't answer most of the questions around her, mainly the fourth wall issues and her knowledge of the Doctor's near future. But I think we're on the right track suspecting a Time Lord; after all, Gallifrey may be gone again now, but there was a major gap between its return at the end of Series 9 and its newest destruction at the start of Series 12, and anyone could have snuck off it then. Notably, the subtitles for "Lucky Day" notably capitalize her line claiming to be "the Governor", so I guess it's also technically possible she's just an entirely new renegade Time Lord we've never seen before.

But that got me thinking: aside from the Rani, who is the other most famous antagonist from the Classic Series who has yet to make even a single appearance in the New Series? One who would have every reason to know about the Doctor's future in detail, and one who we know is more than willing to dedicate an inordinate amount of time and resources to hunting him down?

The Valeyard. It may seem out of nowhere, but it would neatly explain everything.

Why does she seem intent on opposing the Doctor? Self-explanatory if she's the Doctor's vengeful dark side.

Why does she know so much about the Doctor's present and future? Because she might well have already lived it; we still don't really know for sure how far in the future the Valeyard originated from. In particular, this would explain why she knows about the Doctor's speech to Conrad, because it was a moment where he engaged in his darker impulses (as much as Conrad absolutely deserved it, telling someone the age at which they're going to die alone in prison is still objectively kinda fucked up).

How is she traveling through time? Either the Doctor's own TARDIS at a different point in its timeline or another one the Valeyard used after escaping at the end of "The Ultimate Foe". (Yes, I know that Big Finish made a canon sequel that ends with him defeated for good, but this would hardly be the first time the TV show contradicted parts of Big Finish.)

It would also explain why she was wearing what looks like Romana I's coat- a coat that would presumably still be in the TARDIS- in the ending of "Empire of Death".

And hell, it would be awfully appropriate for the Valeyard's dramatic return to TV to be A) right as the show is seemingly facing the looming threat of potential cancellation again and B) against the Doctor that was born from bigeneration.

"But wait!" I hear you exclaim. "What about the fourth wall breaks??" And yes, that is definitely the weak link. But consider this: as far as I am aware, there are only two sets of characters on this show who have repeatedly broken the fourth wall in the past. One is the Pantheon (and I will revisit that idea later), but the other is the Doctor themself. It's most obvious with his "I thought that was non-diegetic!" comment back in "The Devil's Chord", but that's not the only time: "Lux" not only reveals that he apparently recognizes episode names like "Blink", but also has him shout "Cut!" and then wonder to the audience who he's talking to. And while it may be a stretch- and few people alive today have seen it in person- "The Dalek's Master Plan" famously has an episode end with the First Doctor turning to the audience and wishing them a happy Christmas. What I am saying is, there is precedent for the Doctor breaking the fourth wall... and thus, presumably, the same could potentially be true of the Valeyard.

So that's my first theory: Mrs. Flood is a new incarnation of the Valeyard, and she's involved in an elaborate revenge plan on the Doctor. And buckle up, because the theories are only going to get wilder from here.

PART 2: The Case of Belinda Chandra

Alright, here we have the part of this theory that made me decide I needed to make this post. I might very well be jumping at shadows, but on the off chance I'm right, I want the receipts to point to the fact that I called it.

So, Belinda Chandra. The big mystery surrounding her is, of course, what is preventing the Doctor from getting her back to May 24th, 2025, and why Earth and the human race appear to have ceased to exist on that day. But that's not the only weird thing about Belinda's circumstances; even though it's not as obvious as with Clara or even Ruby, there's something odd about her situation. Though the Doctor agreed to drop the subject, it's still VERY weird that Belinda's descendant 3000 years removed is so suspiciously identical to her as to be played by the same actress; if they had just shrugged it off as "Hey, you look like her" I could have assumed it didn't mean anything, but the fact that they specifically had the Doctor highlight how unusual it is makes me raise an eyebrow. And while I'm definitely not the only one to point this out, it's worth reiterating that Belinda refers to the Doctor's ship as "the TARDIS" before he ever calls it that on-screen in her earshot. Could he have told her off-screen? Yes, absolutely. But that's a weird detail to leave out, considering how much the series loves to show a new companion getting introduced to the TARDIS.

Now, there's no easy way to ramp into what I'm going to say next. So I think I'm just going to get right into the realization I had the other night that blew my mind so hard that the entire rest of this theory materialized almost fully-formed in my head.

Take a look at our new companion's name: "Belinda Chandra". Now rearrange it with the last name first, like you might see in a database or on some kind of form: "Chandra, Belinda". Do you see anything yet? If not, here's a visual aid:

The first six letters of "HARBINGER", not just all together, but in the right order. All it would take would be her middle name being "Georgina" or "Geraldine" or something else with the letters "GER" in that order- or hell, even having her name be said in a context like "Chandra, Belinda, danger"- and you have the full word.

Am I being paranoid? Almost definitely. But in my defense, I am paranoid by design. So far RTD has snuck "Harbinger" past me twice: once with Harriet (which was admittedly kind of cheating because we never knew her last name), and once with the movie sign. I'm not letting it slip by me again. I am laser-focused for anything that could be shortened to "HARBINGER". And I do not think it is a coincidence that Belinda just so happens to have those letters in her name.

To be clear, I do not think that Belinda knows she's a Harbinger. I think everything she has said to the Doctor is the complete truth, and that she has full memories of her life as a human. If anything, I think she's more like the Susan Triad copies: full individuals who have lived whole lives until the moment their deity needed them. (Yes, I know Susan Triad wasn't technically a Harbinger, but she served more or less the same role as one, so I'm counting her.) I think Belinda is a sleeper agent who will be activated as soon as the Pantheon deity who created her needs her. Maybe Mundy was another version of the same Harbinger who never got that chance, or maybe she really is just a descendant of Belinda and the weird genetic stuff is because of her being a sort of divine creation.

So that's the other theory I think is actually semi-plausible: Belinda is unknowingly the Harbinger of an unspecified Pantheon member.

But now that we have both of these building blocks, we can dive headfirst into the TRUE madness that's kept me up at night the last two days, the theory that will be either the most unhinged, off-base thing I've ever said or the most buckwild called shot in my years of theorizing about pop culture.

PART 3: The Case of the Doctor

The more I thought about the fourth wall issue, the more my mind drifted back to the Pantheon. Aside from the Doctor, they're the only characters in my memory to have this sort of relationship with the fourth wall, and it tends to be WAY stronger with them. With the exception of Sutekh, almost all of the Pantheon members since RTD took back over have had some kind of interaction with the fourth wall: Maestro played the theme song; Lux created mostly-accurate representations of the fandom, implying he knows the actual fandom; and while not seen in the episode itself, the novelization of "The Giggle" has the Toymaker get into a whole conversation about the BBC's rights to the Spice Girls song he sings.

Why is it only these two groups? Why only the Doctor and the Pantheon? If it was just one or the other I could almost shrug it off as a recurring gag, but what is the connective tissue there? Why does the Doctor know the names of real-life episodes? How can he hear the background music? Why does he seem to know where the cameras are to say "Cut" to? Why can he do this thing that only members of the Pantheon can do?

Unless... maybe... just maybe... the Doctor is a Pantheon member, without even realizing it.

I know, I know. This feels like an even crazier version of the Timeless Child reveal, the one that ripped the fandom asunder with furious arguments over its handling. But by the same token... that's kind of what makes this possible. Like it or not, the Timeless Child reveal is still canon; the discussion of it in "Wild Blue Yonder" and "The Church on Ruby Road" confirms that beyond doubt. And now we have a great big mystery left hanging from it: where did the Timeless Child come from? What was on the other side of that portal? Sure, Tecteun said during Flux that they came from the other universe she was trying to move the Division to, but she could easily have been lying, or else merely assuming that to be the case. We have no earthly idea where the Child came from, and the EU has already started dropping some wild ideas (like that one novel which implied that they may or may not have been a Great Vampire). If the show is really in such danger, why not go one step further?

This is where we start to get into the realm where my deranged theories are fueled less by evidence and more by pure vibes. It just feels right, like it's what the last couple seasons- hell, last SEVERAL seasons if we count Chibnall's arc- have been building up to. It would explain the fourth wall commonality. It would explain how the Doctor was able to summon the Pantheon into the universe with a simple invocation of a superstition: he's on the same level as them. It would explain how he's apparently able to set rules for the entire Pantheon. Hell, the name "The Doctor" fulfills the same pattern of "The [X]" used by every Pantheon member except Maestro and Lux (even Sutekh spent most of the season under the given name of "The One Who Waits").

And going off of the previous theory about Belinda, it would tie directly into her role in all this. She's not just a Harbinger, she's the Doctor's Harbinger, thrust into his path right as he's about to rediscover who they really are. Hell, an argument could be made that all of the Doctor's companions, on top of their previously established relationships, have unknowingly also served as pseudo-Harbingers, assigned- either subconsciously by him or by the universe as a whole- into the role of a figure who should be there but isn't. They often serve as go-betweens for humanity to interact more comfortably with this effectively all-knowing ancient being.

Of course, that raises the question, what would the Doctor be the god of? That's where we enter realms of speculation where even I don't venture. But if I had to guess, I would say the God of Time. Aside from the obvious connections, we know that the Time Lords reverse-engineered regeneration from the Timeless Child, and regeneration in general feels like a sort of mirror to history itself: the Doctor changes form and personality while remaining the same fundamental person, just like how history rarely repeats exactly but constantly returns to certain recurring patterns, recycling ideas over and over again. And for that matter, it feels a bit odd that Sutekh- a being who we know for a FACT was not originally a member of the Pantheon- is somehow considered their leader and progenitor. Almost as if he stole a seat intended for someone else...

And for those who are still shaking their heads and scoffing at my admittedly insane theory, allow me to make one last Hail Mary pass at convincing you. See, most of the Pantheon members of the last few seasons have been accompanied by a certain sound: that seven-note pattern, rising and falling, rising and falling. The Toymaker had it, Maestro had it, Lux had it... at this point it's safe to say that it's a hallmark of the Pantheon as a whole.

And the thing is, the Doctor has been accompanied by a certain sound from the very beginning. A sound that rises and falls in a rhythmic pattern, just like the Giggle.

Just imagine it. The reveal happens. The Doctor is confronted with the truth of their origins. And as Fifteen and the audience process it, we hear the sound of the TARDIS's engines... except stretched out into seven segments. A rise and a fall. An arpeggio. A song. A laugh.

"Ha-ha-HA-HA-HA-ha-ha!"

That, right there, is my big, bold swing: the Timeless Child was, and the Doctor is by extension, the God of Time. The finale will involve Fifteen being made aware of this, briefly regaining that power, and then sealing it away again because he prefers to just be who the Doctor has always believed themselves to be: a simple traveler in time and space, passing through, helping out.

I'll be honest, that was originally where I was going to end the post. This has already gotten insanely long and taken several hours to write, and quite frankly there is more than enough here to serve as my receipts for if I'm right (and evidence to have me committed if I'm wrong). But while I was working on this theory, I somehow stumbled ass-backwards into another one, and it's too goddamn good an idea for me to let go of now. So what the hell, let's move on to the ACTUAL final section...

PART 4: The Case of May 24th

Okay, so we have a theory outlined for who all the individual major players are. The Doctor is the God of Time, Belinda is his Harbinger, and Mrs. Flood is the Valeyard, which technically makes her part of the Pantheon as well (and thus neatly explains her own ability to break the fourth wall). But I can't help but feel like we've forgotten something. We've failed to address the single biggest, most obvious driving question of the season: why can't the Doctor take Belinda home? What mysterious force is preventing the TARDIS from landing on May 24th, 2025? What has wiped Earth and the human race out of the timeline in the future? What, ultimately, is Mrs. Flood planning- or, if she's not responsible, what does she know?

I'll be honest: what I am about to say is maybe the most unhinged sentence in this post, and I say that in full knowledge of the fact that I just a few paragraphs earlier suggested that the Doctor is a literal deity. Normally even I wouldn't dare suggest something this absurdly out-there, but the more I stare at the evidence, the more plausible it seems. So here goes:

I believe that the event which is preventing Belinda and the Doctor from getting back to Earth is, in-universe, the cancellation of Doctor Who.

At this point I have almost certainly (and quite frankly rightly) lost the suspension of disbelief of anyone who, by some miracle, is still reading this post. I know, it's a buckwild concept. This would be EASILY the most surreal, bizarre thing the series has ever done, maybe in any medium, and certainly in the TV show. But pretending for just a moment that someone is still with me, allow me to lay out my evidence:

The date of "Wish World" airing being the same date the Earth is seemingly destroyed seems significant. They could have picked the same date the premier aired- that way it would make sense as the day Belinda left from- but no, they chose to set the episode about two months in the future just to have the date line up with the penultimate episode. Yes, I know Moffat did that too in Series 5 and it didn't lead to any meta shenanigans, but the amount of direct fourth wall breaks makes this alignment feel... different, somehow.

On that front, this would be the perfect culmination of the fourth wall breaking shenanigans that the Pantheon have been involved in. We've gone from the Maestro playing the theme song (something Twelve also did, by the way, in case you needed any more parallels to the Pantheon) to Lux straight-up trapping the Doctor in a room with Doctor Who fans. The Pantheon are straight-up metafictional entities; the Doctor even describes them as "forces beyond this universe" that "look down" on reality, which is the perfect way to describe individuals operating on a higher layer of narrative than the Whoniverse. What better way could there be to top this off than with the Doctor fighting against the very forces of executive disapproval that are threatening to erase his universe's future?

And speaking of Mrs. Flood, she practically spells this out in "Lux". When the Doctor and Belinda disappear in the TARDIS, she warns one of the onlookers that the show has a "limited run" and ends on May 24th. Yes, in context she's doing wordplay about the theatrical setting of the episode and the fact that the Earth apparently gets destroyed on that date, but Mrs. Flood is also a character who is aware of the audience; she would know the potential double meaning there. If a character like her starts saying shit like "the show's ending soon", I start looking for a meta angle.

The erasure of humanity also feels like something very, very odd for the Whoniverse. It's made clear numerous times that humans are practically ubiquitous in the far future. They're by far the most populous of the remaining sapient species by the end of time. They spread out across the cosmos and never stop. Them being erased from history without the Doctor noticing the change simply makes no sense. Sure, we've seen alternate timelines where humanity gets wiped out (Pyramids of Mars), and we've seen incidents where the Doctor arrives only after time has already been changed (The Long Game), but both at the same time?? And such a MASSIVE alteration that would no doubt prevent countless fixed points in time from ever coming to pass?? No, whatever did this is FAR beyond anything we've ever seen.

And finally, this feels like the most fitting possible conflict for the season finale's title: "The Reality War". As in, a war against "reality". A conflict not against an in-universe foe, but against forces within the real world: the forces of executive meddling and fan negativity that threaten to pull the plug on the show just like in 1989. In fact, this is the kind of story that could ONLY be told right here, right now: when the presence of the Pantheon allows the series to tell more fantastical stories than ever before, and when the rumors of cancellation are swirling faster than usual. And hey, if the show is already treading water with the executives, why not go out with the biggest bang imaginable?

And thus, we arrive at the end of my theories. I'm taking a gamble, and I'm calling my shot. If I'm wrong, I will sit with pride upon my throne of shame. But if somehow I am right- if I somehow manage to guess the biggest, most insane twist in the history of the show- then I want you all to remember that you fucking heard it here first.

The season finale will involve the Valeyard, in the form of Mrs. Flood, attempting to get Doctor Who cancelled in order to spite the Doctor, only for the day to be saved by the Doctor, God of Time, with the aid of his Harbinger, Belinda Geraldine(?) Chandra.

And with that, I can no longer justify dragging this post out any longer. Thank you all for coming to my TARDIS Talk.

[wishfulsketching]

What a year, huh.

I'm not going to talk about how everything is going to shit in the real world, that's not what this post is about.

I can remember that before Gotham, I had a bit of trouble trying to get inspired about art. I did end up doing a lot of original art due to that, tho. Gotham was the nice return to a hyperfixation that got me back to creating, which felt like a saving grace tbh. I draw A LOT, you may have noticed. I thank my ADHD for that. So, when I'm unable draw I do struggle spending my time in any meaningful way.

I also started reading again this year. Murderbot Diaries got me by the throat, I love those books so much. I've also liked T. Kingfisher's books so far, haven't read that many yet, tho. I also read in english, not the translated versions, so it's a nice way to "use" my english skills.

I finally started needle felting this Christmas! I've been meaning to do it for yearsss. Bunnydog was my ever first attempt, Slowpoke was my second.

Arcane season 2. Woohee, I had totally forgotten when it was going to drop! It was a good thing tho, I was saved from a lot of painful waiting around, hah. I might've chickened out of the Zaundads fandom back in the day but it's so much more chill now. Well, kind of. I do see people complain a bit in the tags. Plus I bet it's a lot worse in other sites. ANYWAY!

I feel like that in this short time after season 2, I've gotten better at art and got my groove fully back. I am so grateful for people who just keep being so nice and support me here adsfsdfo! I said it back in 2021/2022 I think but I'll say it again: zaundads fandom has been one of the nicest fandom I've been part of. (I have to mention tho, so is riddlebird fandom)

I'm still a bit overwhelmed with all the attention I'm getting, I admit, but I am also so happy I get to share my unhinged love for this stupid little man.

My next year will start with job hunting and balancing my mental health (I've been "in recovery" for years, it's gonna be a adjustment to start working. I am still very much struggling but not as much so I have to find a job that doesn't kill me in a month lol).I've also made one new years resolution which is that I will more actively display and live my preferred identity and not just go "eh whatever, I know how I actually feel like so". Not gonna be easy because I get embarrassed about everything and will want to backpedal so hard at the start but uhhh...I'll try not to? Eh.

Yea. So a lot of new things for the next year and I already feel tired. But hopeful!

I'll end this post by randomly sharing my fave CJU gameplays because his gameplay vids always help me to relax:

I couldn't find the playlist so here's PART 2 and PART 3. I really love the story in this one.

A game I expected nothing from and now rewatch this playthrough ever so often. PLAYLIST

Love the game, love the commentary, love the vibes! PLAYLIST

[lexdelioncourt]

So I'm sure I'm not the first person to think these things and I'm sorry if it's been talked about a million times already and I've just missed it. But I have a lot of thoughts, many of which are probably unhinged and I need to let them out. This is probably pretty half-baked but whatever I'm way too deep in the Devil's Minion trenches.

SO ANYWAY..

So after Louis burns in SF and Armand has finally put him in his coffin, Armand gives that last little speech before he says he's gonna leave him to himself. Then he tells Louis to “rest” and closes the coffin. Louis then comes out pretty soon after to stop Armand killing Daniel. But are we supposed to believe that Louis, who appears to barely have the strength to walk across the room and sit down properly, had the strength to both break out of Armand’s “rest” (which no one ever seems to do until he lets them) AND push the lid off his coffin and climb out of it?

THEN we don't actually hear Louis tell Daniel the whole speech he ends up putting in his book, right? We see them talking but we don't hear what they say. When Daniel says he's “a bright young reporter with a point of view” he says that to Armand, really quietly, when he's all up in his face. He doesn't say it in front of Louis. Also, when Daniel reads the passage from his book that mentions that line, language-wise, it doesn't really sound like something 70s Louis would say. It also doesn't sound like something you'd say to a random guy you met in a bar 10 hours ago. In fact, the language and tone sounds more like something Armand would say and it even has some echoes of Armand's “easeful death” monologue that we just heard. The passage also has the whole “these are the words you'll hear in your mind” part and who's words is Daniel always hearing in his mind in the DM chapter, even before he's a vampire? Armand's.

To ME that passage from Daniel’s book reads more like something someone would say in a very loving way to someone they know really well, but who they reluctantly want to let go so they can be free. It's got a sense of melancholy to it. What if Daniel DID conflate two events but they just weren't the two events he thought he conflated? What if that passage is something Armand said to him right before they broke up in the past? It sounds almost like a breakup speech and him telling him to go get his shit together. If you listen to both the “easeful death” monologue and the passage from Daniel's book back to back, they almost sound like they could bookend a long relationship. Especially with the repeating of the “bright young reporter with a point of view”. ESPECIALLY when you go back and see the look on Armand's face when old Daniel says that line in the first episode of season 2.

Anyway, that's my incoherent ramblings of the day. Rolin please give us Season 3 already so I can go back to being at least semi-normal.

[syrikif]

Gamer Etiquette

Kodzuken x Streamer!Y/N

Pairing: Kenma Kozume x Fem!Reader

Genre: SMAU + Written, Strangers to Lovers, Romance, Fluff, Humor, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Streamer/Youtuber AU

Content Warnings: Sexual jokes/content, mention of death threats, mature language

Upcoming content creator/streamer, Y/N, has gone viral for lots of things. Her infamous dumb moments, her blended cookie recipe (which tastes better than it sounds), the way she rages at her friends during games, and about a hundred more.

But her most recent viral moment? Accidentally knocking famous streamer, Kodzuken, off the Bedwars map and making him lose his two year winning streak.

Now with more attention (and hate) than she ever asked for, her only option left is to go to the source: the man himself, Kenma Kozume.

Created: October 6, 2023 Completed: (Ongoing) Update Schedule: I’m currently in the process of moving so just whenever I can :)

Masterlist:

Important Profiles: Y/N's Group Kenma's Group Prologue: Daddy Kink Cat Distribution System Chapter 1: Thirst Trap Hospital Food Chapter 2: Bedwars 🖊 Boredom 🖊 Chapter 3: Trending One Game Chapter 4: Calm Guilt 🖊 Chapter 5: Unhinged One in a Million Chapter 6: Cuddle Buddies 🖊 Casual Chapter 7: Rating The Cat Girl Chapter 8: A Dozen Men Little Things 🖊 Chapter 9: Scaredy Kitten Disappearing Act Chapter 10: Chapter 11: tbc . . .

Author's Notes:

Hey guys! This is my first post on Tumblr and the first SMAU I've ever written. Which, kudos to everyone else who makes SMAU's because they are a lot of work.

Just some basic info before you begin reading:

Y/N uses she/her pronouns and is feminine presenting.

Every chapter will have two parts, one part from Y/N's point of view and one part from Kenma's; the order will differ depending on the chapter.

Every update will be a double post so make sure you know you’re reading the correct one first, and reading both of them.

Time stamps don't really matter unless explicitly written by me so you can just ignore them :)

There will be both written and social media elements; written parts will be marked with a pen (🖊).

And I'm gonna be honest, while I love the anime I haven't actually watched it in a long time and I was never able to finish season three. That being said, if anything I write seems out of character for anyone just bear with me I'm trying my best lol.

Please feel free to give me any feedback and/or criticism to help me improve. And if any of the links aren't working just let me know and I'll try to get it fixed ASAP.

If you have any questions, don't feel too shy and reach out if possible; I promise I'll answer to the best of my ability.

(Also, just comment if you'd like to be on the taglist.)

Hope you enjoy the story :)

[yanderes-galore]

I'd like to see a yandere concept of Rhaenyra Targaryen. Either romantic or platonic is fine.

I'll do a general pairing and spill my thoughts, then! Sorry for the long wait, I have a lot to get through, lol ^^; I am having fun though, so that's all that matters. Can't wait for HOTD Season 2! I'm so worried her character isn't right but I wanted to lean in on her more unhinged side.

Here's an older concept I did for her.

Potential Fire & Blood/HOTD Spoilers Below

Yandere! Rhaenyra Targaryen Concept

Pairing: Romantic/Platonic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Manipulation, Controlling behavior, Condescending behavior, Possessive behavior, Murder, Blood, Violence, Mature themes, Possible sexism, Delusional behavior, Imprisonment, Kidnapping, Mind break, Dark content, Threats, Trust issues, Forced companionship/relationship.

It's been a while since I've seen HOTD, so pardon me if anything is too off personality-wise.

Rhaenyra is described as strong-willed and independent.

She's always hated being a traditional lady and prefers to fly on her dragon, Syrax.

She wants to choose her own destiny and take her birthright on top of the iron throne.

However, something noted in the book is that her personality is similar to Maegor.

Which implies Rhaenyra is rather ruthless, cruel, and entitled.

Rhaenyra would bond well with someone she knew in childhood, like a childhood friend.

But I can also see her attached to a personal servant or loyal supporter of The Blacks.

That or there's some drama that could happen if you support The Greens when the war comes around.

I feel if you knew her in childhood you can clearly notice her change in behavior.

From child to adult, the whole world has been against her.

Combined with the death of her child(ren), Rhaenyra grows into a cruel queen for The Blacks.

While she holds care for you, she's deceptive and every word carries a threatening tone.

It's said in Fire and Blood that Rhaenyra has trust issues, feeling the whole world is plotting against her due to The Greens.

That along with the betrayal of the Velaryons later on.

So you can imagine she wants to cling to her obsession... but worries they'll work against her.

Due to this distrust, you're forced on your toes.

After all, it takes one order for her to decide your fate.

She could have all you hold dear burned by Syrax.

She could imprison you for treason.

Or even worse, she can have you killed to keep you to herself.

You should know that Black Queen Rhaenyra is unhinged due to what she's gone through.

She'd do anything to keep her obsession and their loyalty.

Every word she says towards you feels like a subtle threat, a warning to keep in line.

Rhaenyra is a dangerous yandere, especially as she begins to lose her mind.

Regardless of if you're a loyal follower or not, ahe worries her obsession will go against her.

Considering how obsessive she is... she may snap completely without you.

If you're loyal to her, she often tries to test it.

She gives you tasks or forces you to make promises with her.

If she loves you romantically, she may make you prove yourself by being... intimate.

One way or another she wants you to kneel before her.

She's desperate for your attention, sometimes even holding your face as she whispers how she can't continue without you.

I only imagine she gets worse when her kids are dead, all except her Aegon.

She keeps you at her hip.

If platonic, she may make you her Hand.

If romantic, you're her secret partner.

If you support The Greens, she's determined to change that.

I'm talking about kidnapping, Imprisonment, and psychological conditioning.

You're fed propaganda, you're threatened, and Rhaenyra no doubt guilts you onto her side.

She wants to make sure she has you on her side... making you reliant on her by neglecting resources so you can beg for her.

A side I imagine Rhaenyra having is a more ruthless and sadistic side.

She hates The Greens, in this case she feels they stole you from her.

She has to find a way to get her dearest obsession back... even if it means breaking you.

She's mentioned to be cruel, so her doing such a thing seems plausible.

She's already burning countless people who oppose her.

You might as well submit.

If you just listen to her, support her, she'll give you everything.

If you don't, she'll find other methods.

If Rhaenyra can't break you, I can definitely see her having you killed.

If she can't have you, no one can.

She's already spilled a ton of blood, by this point she may be delusional enough to think this is how she keeps you.

Otherwise, you'll be forced by her side until she dies.

It's hard to escape from The Black Queen, Daemon and her other supporters no doubt wish to keep her happy.

She loves it when you take care of her children, she loves it when you show you're loyal.

If she has to trust anyone, she wants it to be you.

You're her beloved obsession, a dear friend/partner.

She refuses to give you up...

No matter what it takes.

"Pledge yourself to me... show me I can trust you... show me you'd give your life to keep me happy...."

[pico-farad]

Secret Identities AU #3

revolver, soulburner, kusanagi, and ghost girl

SIAU tag

⇀ Revolver

So the reason I didn't address Revolver in this AU before is because with the other characters (Yusaku, Naoki, Go, Aoi) I tried to keep them recognizable. The changes made are mostly in their circumstances, but their core traits are the same.

That's not the case with SIAU Revolver.

In a secret identities story, half the fun is how characters show off a different side of themselves. People love Contrast, so I was disappointed that with Vrains, Aoi is kind of the only one who takes advantage of that (and then it drops off after season 1). You could argue Takeru but... I want a true old fashioned Alter Ego, where the secret identity is something that frees you to become someone else.

Anyway, I want to make IRL Ryoken a pathetic, unsocialized, sopping wet cat.

I want him to be a basement-dwelling, chronically on Reddit and StackOverflow, miserable little nerd who only goes outside to eat hotdogs. You can keep Revolver exactly the same with his smirks and his monologues, but when he logs off of Vrains, he has a nervous breakdown over the landscaper making eye contact with him through a window.

It's absolutely bait, and people would gobble it right up. The ultimate Yugioh meow meow. 

He may be a hacking genius, but he can't take care of himself. The Knights of Hanoi look up to Revolver-sama with utmost loyalty, but outside of Vrains he's useless and they have to do everything for him. They beg him to make one relationship outside of Hanoi, so of course he just goes with the boy from the hot dog truck, the only person he sees semi-regularly.

Secret identity stories thrive from betrayal. Ryoken will never recover from the betrayal that the hot dog guy is Playmaker.

And while I'm at it, I think it would be fun if mid-series, he shows up at Yusaku's school as a transfer student for Hanoi Reasons. You weebs know what I'm talking about. Yusaku's mind is drifting in class as he thinks about how there's been no sign of Revolver since The Confrontation. The teacher announces that they'll be having a new student in class. Yusaku looks up, their eyes meet, and he thinks to himself Oh hell no. And Ryoken is having an even worse time.

Think of the possibilities, okay?

⇀ Soulburner

I had some comments on the first SIAU post saying that they'd love to see Takeru fitting into the Yusaku Defense Squad, but the thing is, Takeru isn't really a character I would have created if I was actually making SIAU from scratch.

Like I've said before, Soulburner was added to Season 2 because Yusaku needed a real "best friend character." But in SIAU, he already has Naoki, he has Go, he has Aoi, he even has Kusanagi and Ai. Making him Yusaku's best friend would not only be redundant, but it would undercut the friendship arcs that were developed and earned through "Season 1."

Originally I thought that I would have just cut him out completely, but I've come up with a better idea. This one's also going to be quite divergent from canon.

While I was doing research, I read a lot of fan reactions from when the episodes were coming out live, and the widespread theory about Soulburner... was that he would be the Bakura of Vrains. That is, a character who was friendly, but either reveals themself as or becomes something twisted and antagonistic. It's not a rigid definition, but some classic examples would be like Ryou from GX, Kiryu, Rei from Zexal, and Sora. A lot of people were waiting for the other shoe to drop with Soulburner, but it never did.

I'll sign onto it though. I'm not sure how I'd make it work exactly. IRL Takeru, the "facade," can be the soft-spoken, normie glasses guy that we see in Vrains, but I don't think I'd make Soulburner as... unhinged as the Bakura usually is, since Spectre already exists. I might model his personality more off spiky Takeru, the one we see in the Blood Shepherd flashback. Intense, angry, unstable, prone to lashing out whether you deserve it or not. And well, maybe he can be a little unhinged too... as a treat.

Ultimately, Soulburner should be an antagonist, so it makes the most sense to put him on the side of the Ignis. I'd erase the Bohman stuff (sorry Bohman likers...) so that this conflict is represented by Yusaku being in conflict with Soulburner, and Ai being in conflict with the rest of the Ignis. I think it also makes for a more compelling story if the Ignis are a united faction, and Playmaker and Ai are stuck in the center of a three-way conflict between SOL, Hanoi, and the Ignis. It makes Ai's conflict much more poignant, that all of the Ignis are asking him to join their side against humanity, but he can't make that decision. The Ignis dynamic would also be interesting to explore in this scenario, with Lightning, Aqua, Windy, and Flame actually being on the same side. 

As for what Soulburner is doing on the Ignis's side, I'd have to... develop the plot a lot more... Maybe the Ignis are using him? It would require the Ignis to be more sinister, especially Flame. It could be connected to the Ignis targeting their Lost Incident counterparts; rather than the SOLtis route, they plan to use actual human bodies as hosts. That would be pretty compelling, and it's a Yugioh classic. I'd be so down for Kusanagi dueling Lightning in Jin's body, and Earth facing Spectre to try and steal his body (maybe even succeeding and infiltrating the Knights of Hanoi? That could be fun). The Flame and Soulburner relationship could also be fascinating in this iteration, although I'm not exactly sure where I'd go with it.

Open to other thoughts on how to make Bakura!Soulburner work!

⇀ Kusanagi

I want him to have more of a surrogate brother dynamic with Yusaku. With a greater emphasis placed on Yusaku's secret identity, Kusanagi being the only person who knows that about him becomes even more important, as someone who knows both sides of his life and can see how each affects the other.

I think it's clear that Kusanagi feels like he failed Jin, and I think it would be poignant for that to bleed into how he sees Yusaku. Because he's thinking about the life that Jin should have lived. 

He's the one who encourages Yusaku to make friends with the Duel Club, and translates normal high school interactions for him when Yusaku doesn't understand them, and worries about him balancing being Playmaker and his personal life.

Since Zaizen stays an antagonist in this AU, I would give that confrontation to Kusanagi instead: about how Yusaku is a child and a victim and should leave this to the adults.

At first, Kusanagi just sees Yusaku as an ally to find those responsible for the Lost Incident, but as they grow closer, he sees Yusaku as his brother, someone who was hurt, who's still a child, who should be living a normal high school life, and feels more uneasy about Yusaku taking on the heaviest burden in pursuit of his revenge. Zaizen's platitude of "Leave this to me, you don't need to do this, I'll find those responsible" carries more weight if Kusanagi is the one saying it to Yusaku.

The fallout drama... immaculate.

⇀ Ghost Girl

In SIAU, I want there to be a greater emphasis of different factions in conflict not just with Yusaku but with each other. And I want Ghost Girl to play for all of them because she deserves to backstab as many people as possible.

Also, since there isn't a true "secret identity plot twist" so far, I think it would be fun for Ghost Girl to be the one. By which I mean her true identity is revealed to be someone who's been under our noses the entire time. Corny I know, but it's Yugioh. I think it would be fun.

Specifically I want her to be that secretary with a crush on Akira. Hayami. I want her to be spilling coffee on Akira and blushing and going "Oh Chief Zaizen!" while inserting dubious USBs into his computer behind his back. I THINK IT WOULD BE FUN, OKAY?

I'm not sure if I would include Blood Shepherd in this AU, I don't know if he would add anything. But I'll always be a sucker for a complicated sibling dynamic, so who knows? Maybe he infiltrates SOL at the same time as her and they're both fighting over the dubious USB behind Zaizen's back LMAO

[suzie-shooter]

Alex Rider season 3 unhinged liveblog ramblings scribbled during first watch. Spoilers, obvs. (also fair warning, I am not particularly a fan of Tom or Kyra lol)

Episode 1 - Widow

S2 recap trivia - Alex's therapist is Molly Doran from Slow Horses and married to Alan Blunt IRL

Malta: Ok, so we're not just going to pretend it's Venice lol.

Creepy old men already hitting on Alex. Standard.

"After this we're out of leads." How do you even have any leads in the first place? Oh ok, Smithers' phone. Terrible security protocols from him, leaving that much historical classified data on it.

"Find the Widow - surely he could have given you an address?" First thing Tom's ever said I've agreed with lmao

Aaaand within a second he's back to being deeply irritating, okay.

Yassen living rent free in Alex's head, you love to see it.

"They've got this picture of me being the responsible one." Have Tom's parents actually met him?

Ooh Razim mention.

You maybe want to clean that wound before whacking a dressing on it Alex?

"Do you think you'll ever lose your appetite Nile?" Spat my drink.

Damn, no harem pants then. Scrubs up well tho.

Listing Levin in the opening credits than having him be only a S2 flashback should be a warcrime.

Episode 2 - Lab

"This weapon is called pork sword, wait, no, shit, wrong USB."

"Julia Rothman. Definitely a wrong un." Spat my drink again.

Do Crawley and Pritchard not warrant helmets and visors? Are they somehow immune to shrapnel?

So, room 6, wired to blow, yes? It's what I'd do…

Oh yeah sure guys, they're going to still be sitting there, all unmoving in the dark, for sure that's a person, and not a Massive Trap.

Thereeeee we go. Agent mince. Top of your class huh, well you're certainly at the top now, and down the sides and partially out of the window.

I know there's the whole 'characters don't know what genre they're in' thing but you are literally in the 'working for MI6 genre', you are up against people notorious for booby traps and blowing shit up, why the fuck would you touch something that hadn't been declared safe first? Apart from anything else you're fucking up the scene before forensics get there.

"I love you man." Vom.

Alex: breaks into super sekkrit lab. Also Alex: doesn't have the faintest fucking idea what he's looking at, so not really helpful.

COMICALLY LARGE BOMB KLAXON.

Episode 3 - Enemy

"Welcome to Malagosto." OooOOooh.

Maybe I'm just looking at it from a fic writer's perspective but it does seem a massive anticlimax to immediately let Tom and Kyra know Alex is okay? Like, you could have got a good couple of episodes of angst out of that uncertainty.

"Do you want me to kill them?" Oh God yes please.

Why the fuck have they plugged the USB directly into the network rather than an isolated PC? 'Hur dur we checked it first', you literally believe Scorpia are smart enough to not be bluffing about the nebulous death threat but you don't think they could hide something on the hardware? Fuck's sake lads. Amateur hour.

Is this Home Secretary meant to be Suella Braverman? Or Priti Patel maybe lol. (Equal rights and all that, and if it had been a white male character I don't think I would have thought twice about the dialogue but having both your two new female characters be immediately proved wrong/ massively patronised/ blown up ain't hugely comfortable viewing tbh).

HOW MANY FICS INVOLVING ALEX GETTING FUCKED ON THAT BED HAVE JUST BEEN BORN?

"Are you suggesting we break into a dead man's house?" "It's not like he's going to be there." 😂

"He became a very close friend of mine." Fnar.

Omg making Alex read his father's love letters is hilarious.

Alex: you could have faked that news report Also Alex: handwriting can definitely never be faked (how is Alex even familiar with his dead father's handwriting? wouldn't recognise mine)

Ugh please stop trying to make Alex/Kyra happen.

Alex up the vent shaft. I hope they're sitting casually at the top going - you could have just taken the stairs love.

If he's climbing upwards, why is his hair dangling like he's upside down? Have they filmed this like 60's Batman, and he's just crawling along a horizontal set lol.

Alex never once asks about his mother does he. Given the shagger-John route they seem to have gone down you almost think Julia would be in a better shout of getting Alex to switch sides by claiming to be his mother.

And - yeah, Alex's recruitment just doesn't feel that convincing here. Adding Tom/Kyra/Jack so much to the mix has changed the feel of his life a lot, and TV verse Alex has had a lot less fucking over by the Department by this point too. And Rothman feels too creepy to be effectively convincing him of anything.

"I want you to meet your tutor." FUCK YES FINALLY 🙌 (may have rewound that part several times lol)

Episode 4 - Recruit

Nicaragua: 18 years ago OH MY GOD IT'S HAPPENING

Baby Yassen is adorable, I'm in love.

OH MY GOD THAT'S SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE FUCKIN SPIDER THING

OH MY GOD THE REVEAL OF HIM STANDING OVER THE SLEEPING ALEX I'M DEAD

(Ok, I'm calm again. For now. We continue.)

"You killed my uncle" - all the hundreds of ways this conversation has been written over the years and Yassen's just like lol get over it 😂 (here for it tbh)

Rothman: He's one of our best Yassen: One of? Bitch.

Yassen watching Alex train like 👀👀

"Did he ever tell you you're no fun?" Oh you want to have FUN with Yassen do you?

Yassen bitchslapping Alex to fuck, both hilarious and hot.

Oh, you want to be WET wet.

"Matteo's the guy with the blanket." Why is that so funny.

Omg Yassen stepping in to protect his boy and humiliating Nile in the process lol. And Alex doing what Yassen tells him, because of course he does 🥰

"This one is my responsibility" 🥰🥰

"What about love, friendship?" Alex has only known Yassen five minutes and is already down bad.

"Kind of lonely though, right?" Yeah, Yassen needs you at his side Alex, so step up and stop being a whiny little bitch about killing people.

Never get in the first taxi, rule one of espionage.

Yep, called it. Tom's like: I'll have my fucking tip back in that case.

This scene is so dark I have no fucking idea what's going on, I thought Nile had attacked Alex, but apparently not. Is Nile officially part of this exercise or not, it seems really unclear lol.

The power of friendship and sparklerabbits saves the day, apparently. Yawn.

Jesus, we really ATE with this ep, huh.

Episode 5 - Revenge

"Would you rather your arms around me, or my arms around you?" Way to make it creepy Tom you skeevy fuck.

"Can we focus please?" "We're multi-tasking."

Sure Grendel, rock up to the super sekkrit spy base in a massively conspicuous car why don't you?

"Yassen will give you everything you need." Oh I BET he will.

Feels sloppy them not removing the diffuser from the vent tbh.

"What does this say?" Alex hasn't inherited John's neat handwriting then lol. Alex leaning into him like that > me making noises only dogs can hear.

"You've put lockpick?" "I left my last one in Nile."

Ooh, suicide pill, nasty. Kind've pointless though, given they've been left with the evidence anyway.

Yassen in Alex's bedroom again, likely place for him to be.

"I don't want you to fail. I don't want you to die." 🥹💕🥰

Yalex roadtrip, let's goooo.

Disappointed they're not making Alex do the Entrapment infrared acrobatic sequence here lol.

If this is Yassen's idea of a date it definitely needs work.

So no surprise scorpions then? Can't have shit in Detroit Malta.

"Why? Why did she kill him?" Well taking things at face value here he was a highly murderous member of a terrorist organisation, so you know, kind've her job.

Yassen does like a casual lean, doesn't he.

Episode 6 - Target

Alex and Yassen have shacked up in London, hope there's only one bed.

Now they're in the back of a van, SO many opportunities for shagging, they're spoilt for choice.

Yassen's impressed look when Alex reels off all the security details, so proud of his boy.

"What happened to my mum?" Finally he wonders lol.

"And I'm good at it. You could be too." 🥹

"You think Alex killed him?" I mean, he was also there with a notorious assassin, so probably not, y'know.

Domestic Yassen cooking Alex's dinner and also cooking him a gun lol.

Smithers' "How I've missed you" ahahaha. Smithers/Kyra much better pairing tbh.

"He's actually quite good at this stuff." Smithers' little snort lmao

Time for Alex to be blacked up/ dunked in a teabag bath/ gussied up. Although he still looks exactly like Alex afterwards, which feels less useful lol.

"You love him, don't you?" Yassen loves him more. I have to say Alex had far more chemistry with Syl, and frankly for that matter with Tom. I really don't get the Kyra agenda.

"It's a dry hole." Alex's worst nightmare.

Is Alex going to look through Mrs Jones' knicker drawer?

Episode 7 - The Shot

Mrs Jones and her tall murderous hobbit son lol. Otto really looks about 58 here.

Hope they bill him for her fucked up fridge.

Is that Bath? Oh, it is.

Mrs Jones casually throwing Alex back into play lol. Maybe she can have a little revenge for him trying to shoot her.

"Everyone breaks into houses." Jack's face lol

Ewww put him down, you don't know where he's been (Yassen's bed, almost certainly)

"Remember they can't hurt you unless you invite them in." "That's vampires."

Yassen arguing in favour of going to rescue Alex MY HEART

"Sit down. I'm going to tell you a story. About your friend, John Rider." HOLY PLOTHOLE TIMELINE PATCHING BATMAN

"John was embedded inside Scorpia for three years." Not the only thing he was embedded in by the sounds of it.

Alex seems to be hallucinating again lol.

Yassen, maybe psychoanalysing your insane boss isn't the safest thing to be doing?

"It's quite mad Julia." Yassen really gives no shits omfg

"I know my place." Yes, at Alex's side.

I like how Julia thought telling Yassen she'd killed John would do anything other than piss him off lol.

Episode 8 - Invisible Sword

"But you do owe me a new fridge." LOLLLLLL

Crawley feeling like a spare part during this lift convo, hahaha

"Smithers, you can do me some kind of tracker, right?" "Yeah, if you promise to keep it on you this time."

Alex is like ohshit I'm gonna die fr

"Not for the agents. They undid their seatbelts." Eyyyyyyyy 👉

Aww they've given him a little baby assassin outfit, how cute.

Where's Yassen, has he just fucked off to the pub?

"For the head of Scorpia, you're a really bad liar."

Laughing at all the other Scorpia agents having to listen to this convo about their boss like we are not paid enough for this shit 😬

"Everyone else is getting what they want, let me have my cereal."

Protecting his boy to the last. Yassen really is purely on Alex's side, we love to see it.🥰

And OMG HE LIVESSSSSSSS 🙌🙌🙌🙌 (I voted yes in that poll, I had faith lol)

Well that was - far more fanservice than I dared hope for, after the meagre pickings we got in the first two series. Yalex supremacy to the motherfucking end, let's go.

[unhinged-domestic-raccoon]

Miraculous Rewatch Where I Overanalyze Everything: Masterpost

Hello everybody! I have decided that if I am going to write Miraculous fanfic, I need to actually rewatch the show. It's been years since I've watched season 1. Since I'm sure there'll be at least two of you who find my utterly unhinged ramblings interesting, I decided to publish it for posterity.

These are mostly gonna be either me deliberately reading too deep into things or just pointing out random details I liked (with a fair helping of note-taking on behavioral patterns or themes for fanfic purposes). I'm also watching these in the Netflix order, not production order or chronological order or whatever. This is how I experienced it the first time. I liked being severely confused then, ya'll can deal with being severely confused now.

Season 1:

The Bubbler | Mr. Pigeon | Stormy Weather | Timebreaker | Copycat | The Pharaoh | Lady Wifi | The Evillustrator | Rogercop | Dark Cupid | Horrificator | Darkblade | The Mime | Princess Fragrance | Origins Part 1 | Origins Part 2 | Animan | Simon Says | Pixelator | Guitar Villain | Kung Food | Gamer | Reflekta | The Puppeteer | Antibug | Volpina

WARNING: I enjoy critical media analysis, but I also enjoy Miraculous Ladybug. I do not think Miraculous is a well-written show, but it's a guilty pleasure for me. While I hate a lot of the writing decisions made (especially later on), I do still like the show and am trying to have fun with this.

I'm not exactly trying to watch it as though it were my first time, but I am gonna try to take it in good faith. That said, there is a *high* possibility, especially around season 4 and 5 that I will get salty, and I will try to tag any salty posts accordingly and include a SALT WARNING before the relevant sections.

99% of the time, this salt will be writing salt, not character salt. I don't hate a single character in this show and when I criticize their actions, it's not because I think they're the devil incarnate or whatever, it's because I'm having fun examining the narrative.

[moirindeclermont]

Men beyond the façade: Colin Bridgerton and William The Bloody (Spike)

TW: brief mention of SA;

Like many things, the idea for this post comes with a random thought… I was talking about Spike with a fandom friend who did not watch all Buffy, and we came up with the idea of a fic in which Colin is a Vampire and Pen is the Slayer, and as I was writing snippets of dialogue, I've catched myself writing in a very distinctive Spike voice.

“Everyone underestimates her. She was a woman, for starters. She was short and plump. Everyone underestimated her until they were about to be dead (or dead again) because of her stake. Not Colin Bridgerton. He was fascinated by Pen, by her vitality, her joy for life. Hell, even her fighting gave him a boner.”

That's when I've truly started thinking about it. Can these two characters, who are so vastly different in the perception of people, have a lot of traits in common, so much so that they actually can be almost the same? I've decided to talk about 3 main points: the persona or the façade they put on, their relationship with their SO and the importance of accountability.

Of course, this whole piece is based on my very personal interpretation of the characters. But even without a personal interpretation, some similarities are just… there for everyone to see.

But first, a bit of presentation, if you met only one half of the pair we are discussing. I do discuss some plot points but I'm trying not to get into too much detail. Anyway, this is your spoiler warning.

Colin Bridgerton is the 3rd son of a very important family during Regency time in London. His dad died when he was young, there was a brief engagement during the first season of the show which did end when people found out the future bride was already pregnant with another guy. After that, he decides to travel a bit, until after a kiss (and a summer without Pen's letters - his best friend) he realises he is in love with her and from that moment he becomes Colin “my wife” Bridgerton. He has gone bad. Just to tell you one thing, he interrupts a dance Pen is having with another suitor and proceeds to finger her on a carriage. The man is unhinged when it comes to Pen.

Spike, or William the Bloody, or William Pratt was an only son of a noble family during Victorian London. He was a poet but his creations didn't gain much success, earning him the nickname The Bloody because of the poor quality of his writing. He was sired by Drusilla, with whom he becomes involved for a good century, and the nickname gets reclaimed as an attribution to his violence. During his life he kills 2 slayers, until he arrives in Sunnydale. After events he falls in love with the current Slayer, Buffy, and he also becomes absolutely unhinged and pathetic about it.

But their similarities don't even begin with this. Both of them have this façade they use to be cool and accepted. Colin return in season 3 as a charming and fascinated man and everyone (except his best friend and some family) congratulates him about it. William literally uses Spike as a way to prove he has changed. He changes the look, the accent and builds this reputation of being the big bad. For both, the cracks in the façade are not a crack but a river in Egypt, because both of them take so much joy and purpose in being the providers. They slip into that role with such ease and familiarity that you can see it's just who they are at their core.

I've seen a post about Pen and Colin that says “when little Miss “I can do It by myself” meets Mr “I know you can but let me” and if that doest summarise the relationship Spike has with Buffy I do not know what else does.

They both have a dream about their Significant Other in which they depict a highly romantic scenario in which both confess their feelings, come on.

I've said before that Colin went to the Gomez Addams school of loving your wife, but Spike was also there.

They both can't absolutely function without their respective partners and while their relationship evolves in different ways it doesn't change who they are at their cores.

Now, I know you are thinking about Seeing Red, because yes I've talked about being pathetic but surely they can't be the same even under this aspect (for those who have not seen Buffy, Seeing Red is an episode in which Spike attempts to SA Buffy). And while, I do agree, Colin has not done something like that to Pen, I think he would definitely have done the same thing Spike did when he realised what he had done to Buffy. Because when he is confronted with his mistakes, Colin does take accountability and so does Spike. In a way that's vastly different, for obvious reasons, but they both do.

Yes, Colin and Pen are healthier than Spike and Buffy. Absolutely. But Colin and Pen is what Spike and Buffy can become after they both do the work on themselves and each other.

Yes, there are differences. One is a vampire, for starters. But the point I'm trying to make is that when you strip away the difference and put them in similar circumstances, their actions prove how similar they are.

How they both tried to put out a façade, but how quickly that fall when they were confronted with Love. How they both take pride in having a woman at their idea that's indipendent and strong. How they both truly see their partners entirely. How they both know when they fuck up and they don't stop at apologize but they do the work to get there.

If they met, you just know they would talk about their partners constantly.

(And if you're wondering about the sex, the only reason Colin and Pen didn't fuck a house down - yup that happens - it's because they physically can't. After all, they broke at least one piece of furniture.

And Colin and Pen won the title for freakiest couple in Mayfair. Even their respective kinks match pretty well in my opinion.)

Now, I don't think this was intentional at all. It's interesting though because it's not a common interpretation of the romantic interest at all. And maybe for Spike the intention was completely different behind the scenes (iykyk) but for Colin it is very intentional. But that is another story ..

Before conclusing this, let me just quote the two most beautiful declarations of love (one by Colin, and one by Spike) and think about what they're really saying… they are so much more similar than you might think.

Colin: “And now I simply cannot believe that a woman with such bravery loves me.How lucky I am to stand by your side and soak up even a little bit of your light. If my only purpose in life is to love a woman as great as you… then I will be a very fulfilled man, indeed.”

Spike: “When I say I love you, it's not because I want you. Or because I can't have you. It has nothing to do with me. I love what you *are*. What you do. How you try... I've seen your kindness, and your strength. I've seen the best and the worst of you. And I understand, with perfect clarity, exactly what you are... You're a *hell* of a woman... You're the One, Buffy.”

I'm curious, though, to hear your thoughts on this.

And if you're still here, regardless of what you think, thank you for being here 💓

[wallbeatjournal]

If they'd have chosen to just be straight up about it, when in the canon timeline do you think is the most likely place narratively for hirarchie to have gone sexual?

i've said before i think season 2 is already a grooming narrative with a subtextual consummation, but if i'm actually script-doctoring what we've got across the whole series to have hirarchie fuck nasty as a shocking and trashy and high-aesthetic plot development, i'm going to argue that it's more satisfying if we don't have an explicit archie cheating plot at this stage in the story. it works better as an emotional affair. (saying this bc to the characters i think it would be first and foremost about the complication of cheating, not bc that's the biggest problem with hiram/archie.)

imo riverdale should have done it as a mid-seasons escalation in season four. give us a season or two to really sit with how unhinged and obsessed hiram is about archie and then decode it in the worst and most extreme bad taste like the second archie turns 18.

putting my season 4 hirarchie proposal below the cut since it got quite long:

the s4 dodger plot is...extremely uneven and feels a bit cobbled-together on the fly by a writing team grappling with the death of luke perry and the in-universe death of fred andrews, and whether it would be respectful to keep being super weird about hiram in the wake of all that. but there are still useful components in the dodger arc - archie is the oliver twist in the oliver twist riff happening*, a boy "orphaned" without reliably engaged, aware parents who was groomed into criminality and doesn't see a way out without a wealthy benefactor. lean into that!

it can happen as hiram starts working out at archie's gym, mysteriously ill in a dickensian sort of way. riverdale's favorite weird incestuous overtones come into play especially hard if we're considering season four hirarchie, when it can really only be largely about fred for archie and holding on to/deepening a relationship with the sometimes-father-figure he has left. archie has been trying so hard to be a good brick in this monument of fred's legacy but it feels impossible because the only tools that come naturally are violence and sexuality and appealing to benefactors, so why not get a little nihilistic-horny with it.

he's also frankly already being a pretty bad boyfriend to veronica this season, it's stale, they're bickering, they don't have emotional intimacy the way he used to have emotional intimacy with hiram during what he probably still unfortunately remembers as their best days......i just don't think he'd be guilt-ridden about fuck-nastying veronica's dad at this point the way he would have been in season 2 when fred's cheating was the big looming legacy beat to avert and goodboyism seemed like an achievable and real thing archie could prove to others.

this is also i think when indulging in fuck-nasty hirarchie would be least damaging/difficult an option for hiram - he's ill and wants to feel vital again, he's ill and he wants archie to remember and honor him when he's gone the way he remembers and lionizes fred (he knows this isn't possible and that makes him resentful and apt to grasp at another form of intimacy that wasn't available to fred). he's feeling aggression towards his daughter, who is leaving him (by going to college) as much as he might be leaving her (by dying of a mysterious illness). it's a big complicated sick emotional motivations stew and both archie and hiram are looking at getting left behind to cook in it while the rest of the core four move forward in life.

and it would be hot. archie and hiram in the gym "personal training" (gone sexual) with weird grief-hate-reconciliation-validation sex would be hot. archie and hiram doing vigilante violence and then making out in sketchy alleys would be hot. are you kidding me?

all of this would make archie even weirder about hiram's illness and tenser in discussions with veronica about what to do about hiram's illness, and i do think barcheating would still happen - it's escapism/avoidance from what's going on within varchie, it's escapism/avoidance from what's going on within hirarchie, and archie is primed to be impulsive. so we still get barcheating fallout but MORE.

does veronica find out archie hooked up with her dad when they all thought her dad was dying? maybe! maybe she feels more sorrow and guilt (irrationally, about being the conduit bringing hiram into archie's life in the first place) than personal betrayal. or maybe she does feel very betrayed and that's an additional factor in everything (especially archie choosing to run away to the military. sorry everyone i know i've disappointed you all deeply and am very fucked up. instead of talking it out i will simply Leave).

all of this fuck-nastyism of course would make hiram's reaction to the barcheating that much more intense and outsized. veronica was feeling her relationship with archie wane already but hiram was IN IT. he's getting well, he's fighting again, he's offered archie a job, archie is about to be his main special interest while veronica and hermione drift and archie would CHEAT on him?? he's only supposed to be cheating WITH him!!!!

and then we segue into season 5 post-timejump when the riveradults are all kind of weird with each other but moving through it, and hiram has been behaving like a jilted ex throwing a temper tantrum for 7 years. and he will certainly continue.

*i think everyone notices but the dickinson crew is mostly named in reference to the gang of thieves who adopts and trains oliver - the artful dodger, fagan, bill. intertextuality, yippee!

[leevingthisplace]

I just binged Dead Boy Detectives yesterday and I need to get my thoughts out of my head or else I'm gonna explode so here they are (yes I watched all of the show yesterday and even though it was the dead of night when I finished and I still scrolled on tumblr for over an hour afterwards)

the amount of queer media with supernatural / ghost stuff nowadays is really great I love it, and it's now what I will call the "Unbury your gays" trope (my favourites from this genre include "Cemetery Boys", "Under The Whispering Door", this frick show and Lockwood & Co. as a honourable mention because it feels queer)

the sets are gorgeous, especially Mick's magic shop

these title cards or whatever they're called are an underrated element of comedy

Charles outfit with that coat and the buttons would make such a good cosplay

another tumblr user said they always mixed up Charles and Edwin's names in the beginning and honestly same (like Charles also looks like an Edwin and Edwin also looks like a Charles or maybe it's just me)

Niko. just Niko. love her. (also her and Edwin's friendship is the best and I headcanon both of them as autistic)

the worldbuilding is so unhinged like wow they're in Crystal's mind and here's this creepy demon and there are eyeballs hanging from the ceiling and here's this creepy man who's also a cat and he's also the king of the cats and then they're in literal hell like w h a t

like many others before me I too was disappointed to find out Crystal was not in love with Niko, Niko just had parasites, and yes that's just a thing that happens

on that note, Crystal and Charles do not work together romantically, even if we leave aside other ships. Their dynamic as friends? great. everything beyond that? no. It just has these "he was a boy she was a girl can I make it any more obvious" vibes that I detest and am really fed up with

I'll say it now and I'll say it again: a female lead character shouldn't have to have any super special unique fantasy powers or be a male character's love interest to justify her being a main character. It's just something that I am observing again and again in books and shows alike

Crystal has a lot of unexplored potential. And it's always difficult to have a character with memory loss because you automatically lose a big chunk of backstory and potential character motivations until later in the story. But I have hopes for season 2 (if we get one pleeeease)

they really played Apocalypse in the Jenny and Maxine date scene and expected me not to notice

the Cat King is creepy and icky and I will die on that hill. he does not respect personal space and what was up with that "I'll remove the bracelet if you make me happy" like are you for real what the fuck (derogatory)

I've taken an unexpected liking to Monty. idk why but I relate on a personal level

[bl-bracket]

I'm guessing most times the winner of a bracket is a character that was submitted enough so it didn't have to go through prelims. However, I'm curious, which is the highest ranking a character from prelim has gotten?

This is an incredibly interesting question! The completed brackets where prelims have been a thing are: #1 Himbo, Lest Rizz, Most Unhinged, Poorest Little Meow Meow 2, Greenest Flag 2, and Most Whipped 2.

In #1 Himbo, the Quarterfinals (so Top 8) featured 3 characters who went through Prelims. If it makes a difference tho, this bracket was only 32 characters and only 10 skipped prelims.

In Lest Rizz, the winner (Winner from Pit Babe), actually DID go through Prelims! He had the highest score in the prelims as well, with 86.9% yes votes and only 6.1% no votes. But it's worth noting that this was a very unique bracket due to the nature of the topic, so it wasn't easy to predict based on submission numbers.

In Most Unhinged, the furthest anyone from Prelims got was the Semifinals, with Xie Wang from Word of Honor. This bracket was also very unpredictable based on the seeding number. Out of the top 4 submitted, only 1 of them made it to the finals (and then lost), and the 2nd most submitted character lost Round 1 to a character ranked #63 in the seed, who only lost in the Quarterfinals to the Xue Yang who won.

In Poorest Little Meow Meow Season 2, the winner again went through Prelims! Jin Guangyao was only submitted once and without propaganda, but he took the cake in the end (later, someone sent me propaganda that was added to his polls, but initially he was in the bottom half of the seed).

In Greenest Flag Season 2, the furthest one went from the Prelims, was the Semifinals with Togawa from Old Fashion Cupcake! Though it should be noted, that for this bracket I changed the prelim rules and only characters with 3+ submissions and propaganda got to skip. Togawa had 2+ submissions and propaganda, so normally he wouldn't go through prelims. For characters who would have normally featured in the prelims, there were 3 of them in the Quarterfinals!

And in Most Whipped Season 2, the further one went from the Prelims, was the Quartfinals with Gao Shi De from We Best Love!

So to answer your question, 2 characters have actually won who went through the prelims, and in every other bracket, at least one has made it to the Semifinals or Quarterfinals.

Lately, I've found that seeding is becoming less and less reliable of what the outcomes will be. Before I took my hiatus like a year and a half ago, seeding was usually pretty accurate. Like there weren't huge upsets. Now there's almost always massive upsets. My observations from before and after my hiatus (prelims only started after hiatus) is this: while engagement on polls is relatively the same, the submissions statistics have drastically changed. On average, there are more characters being submitted, but way less repeat submissions. And repeat submissions are like the biggest factor in seeding and prelims. Don't know why this is happening, but it is and there's not much I can do except encourage y'all to submit every character you think fits the theme, including the ones you know have been submitted. That'll give me a more accurate indication of what people think, which helps both the seeding and prelims.

All and all, I'll still do the prelims and still do the seeding cause it helps. The only possible improvement I can see to the system is for every single character submitted to go through prelims and to then base the seeding on their score in prelims (since the [see results] option also functions as a built in method for gauging how well known a character is). The issue with that is like I've said before, I'm getting WAY more characters submitted. Just in this bracket alone, I had 120 different characters submitted. And that's a LOT of prelims to go through. And tbh I don't want to have to spend like a week on prelims before even getting to the main bracket. So I'll keep it as it is for now, but who knows what the future holds.

[1jemmagirl22]

*crack's knuckles*

Okay folks, I forgot before part 1 but I'm hyped and counting hours so let's to a quick roll of my Bridgerton season 3 part 2 theories while I contemplate how many of those archived shit posts I've written on my notes app I'll have time to post this weekend, after the Polin screaming ends before the HOTD screaming begins.

Anyway, number 1, the obvious, don't deny folks, it's coming, drum roll anyone? Penelope and Colin are gonna have a son who inherits the barony! Like come on, it's gotta happen, its Shondaland! For fucks sake!

So, my backing, well aside from the obvious that Penelope's sisters know nothing and Pen is back here banging her Bridgerton boy left right and center. That aside, the cake though! Multiple scenes with cake references, and Marina, Marina going "with cake" that's such Shondaland thing to do though! Like you all don't understand, you who haven't watched every Shondaland production don't get even if Shonda didn't right this shit, her student did, and her students, they all learned from her! It's too perfect!

Anyway, that said, other theories. Kate and Anthony are totally gonna come back with Kate pregnant, I'm not sure if this even counts as a theory when it feels as if it's basically been confirmed but whatever.

Next, I've seen that zoomed in trailer shot, I think Cressida is gonna take the Wisteldown fall, or at least, I hope so, my blood pressure is gonna skyrocket tomorrow, just so everyone knows, in case my unhinged posts after I finish watching the four episodes in a single sitting in bed don't come in quick succession cause I had a medical emergency.

And lastly, for shits and giggles, I think Sophie is gonna show up, now this isn't uncommon, but like, come on that would be fun. Cause let's be real it's Benedict or Eloise for next season, cause hopefully Francesca get's a little peace with her husband before her plot kicks in, but who knows.

[medlarmeadows]

BASED interests first of all

holds a mic to you. favorite slimecicle character(s) go !!

if you're sending this message that means you ALSO HAVE BASED INTERESTS

btw i hope this includes his dnd characters :D

warning: some slight spoilers for some jrwi pd and apotheosis campaigns

i've said it before and i'll say it again, i love wiwi wisp so much. season 1 william just exudes that tired friend energy, but actually he's so unhinged too and i feel like we see that more in season 2 (and while i haven't finished s2, i already love the arc that his character goes through). i relate to wiwi far too much to not put him here

PETER SQLOINT he is a pathetic boy who is so much stronger than he gives himself credit for. there's so many points like how he deals with exandroth bursting out from him, and having to fight off his literal demons (or angel of retribution) in a meat cube that are just not addressed or recognised (but rumi/elena definitely does hehe angelstone <3)

q!slime holds a special place in my heart for the utter tragedy that was his time on the qsmp. from losing his daughter, to going down a whole code infection arc. i do appreciate a little insane character arc

feel free to add your own! i wanna know too!