#made me think of otho

[sanjarka]

if you don't buy the importance of the love stories in the series - whether that be everlark, snowbaird, aberdove. you will be missing the point. or not enjoying the prequels and thinking they were not necessary. because of course it was katniss with peeta that made snow truly lose his mind. katniss's luckier nature hides in a bunch of places but peeta being reaped with her was the biggest piece of it. him, so immediately understanding the importance of performance and being willing to play by the rules so they could be broken. katniss protecting him where she should've killed him, letting him bleed out. because that was snow's last wish. for peeta to eat those berries, back to katniss. him trusting her. her betraying him. to hijack peeta to kill katniss, for katniss to shoot at peeta, hijacked. what he wanted was to be proven right. but he never was.

[yaoiwchie-wowchie]

For canon Wilbur, what attracts them to infected Paul is finally being able to feel control over something. For Uncle Otho, what attracts them to Wiley is how he is resilient. Wiley is still himself, albeit evil now and a bit more devoted to Wiggly. There is still a sense of who he is at his core deep down that Wiley clings onto and Otho is fascinated at how he does that as well as the fact that Wiley doesn't roll over and do whatever Otho wants like pretty much everything else in existence.

[celestialgalaxyglow]

Batfam and Danny, Part 34

The next day, Wayne Manor.

Damian: Everyone I have an announcement to make. Everyone turned to look at Damian. I- Damian looked at Danny who smiled and nodded. Last night Jon asked to court me and I have accepted.

Steph: Oh my goodness! Congratulations!

Tim: A Kent! You have good taste little guy!

Alfred: Jon is a respectable young man, he'd make a good addition to the family some day.

Bruce: [processing new information]

Dick: My little brother is in love!

Jason (to Danny): You already knew didn't you?

Danny (to Jason): They got together last night on during the gala, I saw them wondering off and wanted to make sure they didn't get into trouble and accidently saw them confessing to each other.

Cass (signing): I think we should invite the Kents for dinner.

Duke: That'd be fun! Ma Kent's cooking is amazing- not to say your cooking is any lesser Alfred.

Alfred: Pay me no mind Master Duke, I consider Martha my equal in the kitchen.

Bruce (having processed the new information): Jon is a good match for you Damian.

Damian (blushing): Well that is all, let us continue with our breakfast.

Meanwhile at the Kent Farm.

Jon: Everyone I have an news! Everyone turned to Jon. Damian and I started dating!

Lois: Congratulations my dear!

Kara: I knew it! You two will make a great match.

Kon: Waynes and Kents, a match made in Heaven.

Pa Kent: We must all gather for a dinner to celebrate.

Ma Kent: I'll call Alfred. Jon I assume Damian is telling his family about your relationship.

Jon: Yes.

Octavia: Our little sunshine cousin and the Waynes' little assassin.

Oscar: Opposites attract I guess.

Clark: Oh Bruce must be loving this, some day we'll be in-laws two times over.

Kara: Define "loving."

Lois: I'm sure Bruce will be over the moon.

Ma Kent: That's enough, there's no need to make of your friend. Besides today's about Jon.

Jon (blushing): I- no! Let's just eat.

A few hours later at the Justice League Watchtower

Clark: Hey Bruce.

Bruce: Morning Clark.

Clark: Did Damian tell you anything interesting this morning?

Bruce: Jon told you that they're dating?

Clark: Yeah.

Bruce: I'm happy from them.

Clark: They make a cute couple.

Bruce: They do.

Clark: Anyways you owe me an interview.

Bruce (confused): Since when do I owe you an interview?

Clark (smug): Since I allowed your little copy date my beautiful son.

Bruce (offended): Excuse you, if anything YOU owe ME an interview for letting YOUR little copy date MY beautiful son!

Clark: 1pm tomorrow work for you?

Bruce: Yes, 60 minutes.

Clark: Good, see ya then.

Bruce: See ya.

Oliver: What just happened?

Arthur: I have no idea...

Later that night, Wayne Manor, Damian's room.

Damian: I should write to mother and grandfather about my courtship...

Damian sat on his table and got out a letter and a quill.

---

Dear mother and grandfather,

I write to inform you that I have entered into a courtship with my dearest friend Jon. I consider our partnership to a good one that some day will bring great honor to the House al Ghul. I hope that you two will be supportive of my decision in this venture.

I'd also like to inform you that Alfred and Mrs. Kent have started talking about a joint family dinner in honor of Jon and my courtship, while no date as yet been determined I wish to extend an invitation to you both and would be most happy if both of you could attend.

Your son/grandson Damian Wayne al Ghul.

---

Damian: That's good enough.

Damian folded the letter and placed it in an envelop, sealed it, and placed a stamp on it.

Damian: It's late, I'll leave it in the mail tomorrow.

(Master Post)

Otho-Ra = Octavia

Osul-Ra = Oscar

[evermarch]

when i think of everlark, i think of a jewish concept called beshert. it’s a yiddish word that’s pretty hard to describe in english. there isn’t a one-to-one translation. it’s not only about romantic love, but (at least nowadays) it’s most often used in that context. sometimes people define it as “fate,” but i think that’s an oversimplification. what it really means is destiny, but understood through the framework of the choices we make. in other words, “this would've happened anyway.”

people describe their partner as “my beshert,” and in many ways that language boils down to “soulmate.” but beshert is less a guarantee that something will happen, that "fate'" will push people together or to make specific choices, and more that people making certain choices will lead to an outcome becoming inevitable. your soulmate is not your soulmate because an unascertainable force has guided you to each other, but because of all of the decisions big and small which shape you into people who are meant for each other.

and that, to me, is the story of katniss and peeta. their story is one of a lack of choice, and yet their love is defined not by the choices of the people around them, but by the choices they make.

that lack of choice becomes central to katniss and peeta before either of them are so much as a concept in their parents’ minds. yet, the simple fact that their parents made choices when they had no choices to make is what put their children in the same place at the same time. peeta is only possible because burdock saved otho’s life. katniss is only possible because asterid defied a future that otherwise seemed inevitable—a life with a boy from town, almost certainly otho himself. why otho chose to marry who he did, why burdock had the wherewithal to protect otho, why asterid had the courage to refuse her upbringing, we can only guess. we are left wondering: but for these actions, from a kick in the leg to fleeing home for love, would the eldest daughter of older parents and the youngest son of three boys have been in the position to choose each other at all?

there are generations of everdeens and marches and mellarks and bairds whose decisions big and small brought everlark to the brink of each other. but not one of those innumerable actions would mean anything had peeta not chosen to heed his father’s words on the first day of school. had the girl with two braids in a faded red dress not chosen to sing in music class. had katniss not run into the feast to save the life of the boy with the bread. had the sick, starving, bleeding loverboy not taken the palmful of berries from the girl on fire.

there’s plenty of luck, there, too. peeta points it out himself in the cave. but what is luck compared to choice? was it luck that cinna was there on time to make the choice to link them by their glowing hands? or that snow was full of enough resentment to fuel his choice to, even insincerely, allow the introduction of the two-victor rule? what of thresh’s integrity guiding his split-second choice to, against all reason, spare katniss’ life? or seneca crane’s short-sightedness, so uncharacteristic of a gamemaker, enabling his choice to allow them both to live? where does choice end, and luck begin? are they truly distinguishable?

prim’s reaping would not go awry if katniss did not volunteer, true. but if haymitch didn’t stumble forward, drawing the cameras before teetering off the stage, would effie be frazzled enough to pluck the first card off the top of the slips? a woman so committed to ritual, to protocol, known for her predictable words and consistent idiosyncrasies, shirks her process of reaching deep into the bowl. would she otherwise pull one of peeta’s other four slips? one of gale’s 40? or some other boy altogether? any are possible. none are probable. but the fact of the matter is that she does pull peeta’s name after this unsettling sequence of situations, and it is impossible to know whether that is a matter of luck or choice or neither or both.

so where, then, does that leave the boy with the bread, who is a whiz with fires, and the girl on fire, who owes her life to bread? who come from a place where the ritual binding two lovers for life is toasting bread over a fire? whose story together began with two burnt loaves? what, ultimately, makes them each other’s beshert?

the answer lies in the dandelion in the spring. the dandelion is their resilience of character against all odds. the manifestation of every choice they make when they otherwise have none. peeta, taking a beating to give up bread his family could not afford to spare, and learning that he could wield his kindness as defiance of a place where he himself saw nothing of the sort. katniss, in the midst of weakness of body and mind, finding the strength to grow both inside and outside the fence, to save herself and those who cannot help but depend on her. together, they discover the strength in their kindness, and so they discover themselves.

and that is what would have happened anyway. because in any universe exists a boy who grows kind from a lack of love at home, who needs strength to keep his kindness from turning him too soft. in any universe exists a girl who grows strong from supporting her family, and needs kindness to keep her strength from turning her too hard. someone who can tame a fire. someone who sees life in a loaf of bread.

neither choice nor destiny can claim such an inevitability in the absence of one another. and they, ultimately, are nothing without the love that binds them together. that is beshert.

[mollywog]

Hi!

I can't stop thinking about this scenario i'm your complicated universe:

Burdock is now showing off his granddaughter.

Thank you for letting me know: I’m so tickled!! It inspired me to write a small addition.

For context, Complicated is an in-Panem AU where Mr. Everdeen lives and this would have happened anyway happens much sooner.

Shout out to all who suggested names for the Toastbaby girl for this universe!

Haymitch first saw the girl at the Hob when she was just a baby. Burdock was so proud of her, toting her everywhere. Katniss soon outgrew his arms, trailing behind him with her own scrawny squirrels on her belt, until she was striding beside him with just as much to show as her old man.

They’d never mended the old wound, he and Burdock, but he still paid particular attention to the Everdeens. That way, if Lenore Dove’s ghost ever came to him, he’d be able to tell her of her kin— at least that’s what he told himself.

And recently there’d been a new branch added to the family tree.

Haymitch had watched the girl— Katniss, over the last several months as her belly’d swelled near splitting, until he’d worked himself up worrying it’d be twins— but then he’d learned the father was one of Otho’s boys and her size had made sense.

He’s heard she delivered— a healthy little girl, but it’s just luck that he’s at the Hob today when Burdie arrives, his bundle in tow.

He doesn’t see her right away, just the unmistakable pride on his old friend’s face as he introduces her around.

Haymitch has no reason to linger, his business with Ripper complete, but he can’t resist the urge to get a peek of the girl and any information he can glean, so he sidles up to Sae’s stall and sits at the booth. He ignores the old woman’s raised brow, carelessly pulling a fistful of coins from his pocket. Gone is the bribe and the questioning looks as the bowl of something he rather not contemplate slides across the counter. He hunches over the stew, running his spoon through the sludge, straining his ears to catch crumbs as Burdock moves closer.

Bits and pieces of conversations float over the chatter and Haymitch’s chest tightens at the sound of his friend's voice, so achingly familiar and comforting despite all the years, until the girl’s name shakes him out of his revelry.

Olive?

He scoffs, frowning at Sae’s knowing smirk.

Like the food? He supposes it’s an improvement from the tuberous roots for which mother and grandfather are named…

But no, it’s not just a food. He turns the name over again. It’s a color— green— a dark yellowish green like the moss that’s begun to grow over Lenore Dove’s grave stone, though he doubts that’s what the happy parents were imagining when they picked it. Still a nod to Burdie’s family perhaps? But color alone does not a Covey name make. He briefly wonders if there’s a ballad of Olive Mellark.

He really hopes not.

But there’s still something that nags at the back of his muddled mind. He closes his eyes to clear his head, but instead an image floods his memory: the floor of a Justice building on his tour long ago— a mosaic depicting a bird with a bough — no, that's not quite right— a dove with an olive branch.

He breaks into a sweat and his stomach rolls. Unbidden, his eyes seek out the source of his distress; the tiny girl, swaddled in a dove colored blanket, with a muted orange ribbon accenting the scalloped edge.

It’s as if someone has walked over his grave— no, not his— Lenore Dove’s— but aren't they the same thing? They’re a matched pair, mated for life, more married than any piece of paper could make them. And that girl is his kin too. Beloved and endangered if he cannot fulfill his promise to Lenore Dove.

“Don’t you . . . let it . . . rise . . . on the reaping”

He stands abruptly, knocking the stool over in his wake. He gives the girl— no, Olive, one final look before retreating back to his house. He won’t waste another minute; There’s work to be done.

[liberalk1tsch]

This is a bizarre request, if I couldn’t get it out of my head.

Could you write a slight canon divergent one shot/drabble about Prim finding out how Gale has been treating Katniss, and slapping him across the face? I just think it would be really funny. And I love the relationship between Katniss and Prim

ok this request made me giggle ngl but i kinda fw how it turned out?? idk lol, hope you enjoy, anon!

setting: hospital wing in 13, post-bombing of d2

Your Sister Was Right

“Hey, Baby Everdeen, got anymore of that morphling for me?” asks Johanna, her laughs dissolving into words as she strolls out of my sister’s hospital room and down the hall to my nurses’ station. 

I smile at her ruefully. I don’t need to check her chart to know she’s jonesing for drugs she won’t get. “You know you’ve got another six hours till your next dose.”

She sighs dramatically. “Feels like forever.”

“How’s she doing?” I ask, nodding in the direction of Katniss. It was always hard caring for her, but especially now. Whenever I walk in, she puts up her typical front of pretending she’s okay for my sake, even when I know she’s hurting. Problem is, she won’t let anyone else in to see her pain either, save for maybe Haymitch.

Not even Gale’s been able to get much out of her, though I can’t say that doesn’t make sense. She can’t talk to him about Peeta, and that’s the thing that really torments her.

Finnick was the only one she came close to opening up to, but he’s . . . busy. The poor guy deserves some happiness with his soon-to-be wife.

Which leaves Johanna.

“She’s definitely been better,” says the girl from District 7. “Don’t think seeing your cousin is helping, though.”

“What do you mean?”

Johanna smiles pitifully at me. “Oh, my sweet summer child — he’s pretty, but he’s not good for her. Anyone with eyes can see it.”

I give her a confused look.

 She leans over the counter, like she’s telling me a secret. “Haven’t you seen it? The way she’s been slowly withdrawing from their relationship?” She leans back, putting a hand on her hip and speaking at normal volume again. “Personally, I’m Team Choking over Team Bombing A Mountain, but that’s just me.”

I have seen it, actually. Not just recently, but since those first Games. My older sister who left on that train never came home. Gale, for all his kindness to our family, still doesn’t see that.

At this rate, I’m not sure he ever will.

Once upon a time, I used to think it’d be cute if they got together. We’re all practically family anyways. But it wasn’t until I saw the way she looked at Peeta that I knew the poor guy never stood a chance. When her and Gale don’t talk, there’s only plain relief on her face. When her and Peeta weren’t talking, I would constantly catch her staring down the road at Peeta’s house, only breathing a sigh of relief as she watched the warm glow of his fire start up night by night, signifying that he was alive. That he was all right.

She’d deny it if anyone asked, but I know she’d started setting aside a squirrel to drop off at the bakery on days when Gale was in the mines and she knew Peeta would be in Victor’s Village. She wouldn’t take anything in return, and she’d always make sure the Hawthornes got the money for the “traded” game, but I helped Mother balance Katniss’ monthly winnings; it was hard to ignore the missing money — always the precise price of small game, and always on weekdays. It doesn’t help her case that I spotted her arguing with Otho Mellark when I stopped by the sweet shop after school one day, insisting he accept her offering.

Peeta would stop me in the street too, ask me how she was doing. Clearly hurt, clearly still licking whatever wounds they inflicted upon each other, but still caring for my sister in a way Gale never has.

I’m not stupid — I can see Gale has feelings for her. Have known about it probably longer than she has. I just don’t think his intentions are as pure, or as mindful of my sister as Peeta’s are.

“What’s he saying to her?” I ask Johanna.

She shrugs. “See for yourself.”

So I do.

I move down to the supply station a few yards away from the door to her room, pretending to take inventory, leaving me just within earshot of their conversation.

“Katniss, what difference is there, really, between crushing our enemy in a mine or blowing them out of the sky with one of Beetee’s arrows? The result is the same.”

“I don’t know. We were under attack in Eight, for one thing. The hospital was under attack.”

“Yes, and those hoverplanes came from District Two. So, by taking them out, we prevented further attacks.”

“But that kind of thinking . . . you could turn it into an argument for killing anyone at any time. You could justify sending kids into the Hunger Games to prevent the districts from getting out of line.”

“I don’t buy that.”

“I do. It must be those trips to the arena.”

I’ve never been an angry person.

I tend to see the best in people, even when they don’t necessarily deserve it, because you never know what someone has going on in their personal lives behind the scenes. 

But as I stand at the supply cart outside of my sister’s room, I can feel my fingers curling into fist, crumpling up a stray syringe wrapper in my hands as they begin to tremble with rage.

It was one thing to push his feelings onto Katniss (even if he does have notoriously bad timing with everything and is incredibly disrespectful towards Peeta). She can handle that herself. Sort of. Ish.

But condemning thousands of people to the same fate as our fathers, and then trying to justify it by comparing an offensive attack to defending the injured and ill is too far.

I saw the footage they used in the propo. Had to look away when the mountain collapsed, burying who knows how many people.

Plutarch tells me it’s just the way of war, that I’ll understand when I’m older.

But I don’t think I’ll ever be able to understand what could bring someone to do that to another person, let alone thousands of them. And now finding out that it’s Gale’s idea?

I want him away from my sister.

A small part of me tries to justify it. He stresses her, which is neither good for her mental nor physical healing. As an apprentice healer, I can very easily make the argument that it’s what’s best for her health. 

But if I’m honest with myself, I want him gone because I’ve lost faith in him. I used to look up to him as an older brother of sorts, but more and more often I find myself questioning if I even really know the guy.

He’s turning out to be very far from the person I thought he was.

I’m about to go march in there myself and tell him as much, when he’s suddenly there, closing the door behind him as he leaves.

“Hey, Prim,” he says by way of greeting. 

I’ve never been a violent person either. 

But although Gale is six years my senior and has a good foot and a half on me, for some reason, I find myself reaching up and smacking him across the face.

We stare at each other in stunned silence for a moment. My palm stings terribly, and Gale has a red imprint on his cheek from where I struck him.

“What was that for?” he asks, holding his hand to his cheek. He seems more shocked than angry with me.

Honestly? I’m not entirely sure. Lots of things, I suppose. For treating Katniss as if she owes him something. For never respecting her feelings for Peeta and his role in her life. For giving the citizens of District 2 a miner’s fate.

But Katniss especially. 

But in spite of what she’ll tell people, she’s the nicer one between the two of us. She’ll rebel against authority no problem, but when it comes to the people she loves, she’s a big softie. She freezes. She hates confrontation and struggles to stand up for herself because she’s so scared of losing anyone else. 

I know she loves Gale, same as I do — he’s family. But it’s possible to love someone and hold them accountable for how they treat you. Our relationship with Mother proves that.

I can’t imagine the slap was particularly painful for him, and I’m somewhat horrified by my own actions, but I can’t help the underlying feeling of satisfaction too.

“That was for Katniss. And Peeta. And the people of Two,” I finally say.

He sighs. “Prim, you wouldn’t —”

“Understand?” I ask. “No, you’re right, I wouldn’t. Because I don’t care if we are in a rebellion, I could never do what you did.” He opens his mouth to argue, but I cut him off a second time. “But that’s not the point. My point is that she needs space and you need to give that to her. None of this is easy for anyone, and you’re making an already difficult time in her life that much harder. We aren’t on the brink of starvation in Twelve anymore. She doesn’t need you for survival. She just needs you to be her friend, and you haven’t been doing a very good job at that.” I look down at the cart, my temporary bravado suddenly gone, and with it my ability to look Gale in the eye. “Anyways, I’ve gotta go get some butterflies for this cart, it looks like it’s running low. I’ll see you at dinner,” I mumble, darting past him and scurrying off to the locked supply room.

I press my back against a wall and slide down to the floor, sighing out loud.

My mother will be furious when she finds out. Gale’s been good to us. I know that. She won’t let me forget it. But he’s been awful to Katniss as of late, and I can’t keep sitting around and watching her grow more and more upset, especially now that Peeta’s back.

Peeta.

Poor Peeta.

Poor Katniss. To be continuously badgered by Gale when Peeta’s only three halls down in a padded, locked room, nearly twisted beyond recognition by Snow’s torture.

It’s a good thing she’s not the only Everdeen sister who can put up a fight.

[that-theaven]

The scene where Peeta's Dad came to visit Katniss after the reaping really stuck out to me after my latest reading

I couldn't help but think that Otho Mellark probably made cookies every year for the Tributes. Probably with some speech about them getting more when they come back home.

But this year, it wasn't some kids from he just met this year it was his own son and the girl he bought squirrel from this morning. Bought squirrels from her father in the past, and she is wearing the dress of Astrid Marsh

Suddenly, his words can't leave his mouth.

[shoujophobic]

Beetlejuice and Civil Servitude: How Suicide is a major factor, but also isn't. (cw and sequel spoilers.)

I saw this post (by an anti) on Twitter, which made me mildy annoyed, but inspired enough to discuss this topic in my own, miniature thread.

And while I agree Otho is a con artist not to be trusted, of all his words these are the ones that were are actively shown to be, well, true. Especially through the sequel.

Miss Argentina says to the Maitlands, "This is what happens when you die," before stating that when she died she was put into a place of Servitude, and holds up her wrists. This implicates directly that her cause of death directly influenced her afterlife. This is even further proved by Juno, who has a slice in her throat, assumed to be by her own hand, and once again proving that Otho's words are in fact... truth.

But that's all in the original source: what about the Sequel?

Well, this is where the concept of Suicide and Civil Servitude gets confusing. Not that this actively proves the original theory/concept as false, but actually puts perspective on how terrible the afterlife actually is, and that it's just as corrupt as the living worlds method of life.

Beetlejuice was Juno's apprentice at one point, and he now works on his own through freelance. He still remains a servant to the dead, regardless of how he does it. But his actual cause of death as revealed in the flashback sequence in the sequel is that he didn't kill himself... Or did he?

We have to break down what the afterlife actively counts as self termination. Beetlejuice may not have intentionally killed himself, but he did willingly drink a mysterious liquid given by his newfound bride. And the afterlife clearly doesn't play fair already with its bias against those who are struggling—So his death was counted indirectly. This is also seen in Wolf Jackson, who died performing his own stunt. He willingly put himself in a dangerous position, but didn't mean to actually die, and yet, it was still marked as a suicide by whomever rules the afterlife.

So we can already discern that suicide, wether intentionally or not, will always land you in this position. What makes it more interesting is this little detail (credits not mine, unsure of the origin of this ss):

The news paper covers this unfair fact. Suicide, in the afterlife, is counted as any death caused by oneself, regardless of their being poisoned, in an accident, or genuine means to die.

So what is the point of this thread? Really, it's to further prove lore we already have, but expand on it and the facts we get handed.

Also, to dissect the Netherworld itself, and how it's not meant to be a perfect afterlife, but rather a neutral, means to an end. There is no heaven nor hell, but there's also no fairness. The afterlife is just as dull as life.

I think this should also explain why Lydia's deceased husband, Richard, was in civil service, despite having no motivation to kill himself. The reality would be that he didn't, but his death was ruled as one anyways due to the set of circumstances in place. But why wouldn't Delia also be counted? That one... I don't know. Likely to prevent the plot from stopping, but also possibly that because deaths are finally being looked at fairly, and that accidental suicides, aren't marked as such.

[nerdy-prude]

‼️SPOILERS FOR HATCHETFIELD LORE AHEAD ‼️

Let me introduce you to what I like to call The Lords in Black theory

Notice how in NPMD during The Summoning each of our remaining main characters are told something by a lord in black.

Blinky says: 'We've been watching you, Gracie. Someones been a naughty girl'

Tinky says: 'Oh boy! A Spankoffski! I'm gonna have the whole set in my toy box!'

Nibbly says: 'Stephanie, yum yum!'

Now, as we already know, Hannah is kinda like 'The chosen one' of the Hatchetfield universe. She plays a major part in BF, from the very begining she hates Wiggly. Wiggly on the other hand, is kinda like the leader of his brothers.

In Yellowjacket Hannah is fighting Pokey but she can't defeat her until Lex, a powerfull, MAJOR CHARACTER and her own sister shows up.

It seems as if all of the brothers are somehow connected to one of these major characters. All of these characters are important parts of the story and have shown to be powerful in some way. With Lex and Hannah their power is more clear since they have the gift, but think about it, we don't really know that many people who have had the Black book, even less good people who have had it.

But there is one very much good character who has had and used the Black book. Miss Holloway, everyones favorite witch lady who in every universe fights Wilbur Cross, the guy who has been described as the ultimate bad.

Now some of you might be thinking: "Okay, well that doesn't yet prove anything. There should be bigger evidence if they were actually connected. Their stories should be tied together" Well, funny you should say that! Lets take a deeper dive, shall we?

Wiggly-Hannah

Both are the 'leaders'with the most power. Hannah and Wiggly says to her: "We just keep running into each other, don't we Hannah"

Pokey-Lex

In Yellowjackect it was made very clear that Otho was incredibly powerfull and no one could defeat him. Lex did just that. Also, I am not trying to say any of the brothers are more powerfull than others (well, maybe expect Wiggly) but the thing is, we know that there is a world where Pokey wins. We know his powers. We also know Lex' powers. It would make sense that out off all of them Lex would be connected to her.

Tinky-Peter

Tinky hates Ted with a burning passion, that is why he trapped him. It makes sense that he would be after his brother too. Also kinda unrelated and doesn't prove much but it would be funny that when Peter says: "I have been waiting for what feels like five ducking years and I still haven't gotten my hot chocolate" would have more meaning than just a funny bit. Almost as if he could feel that in another universe five years agohe ordered a hot chocolate and never got it. Like he could sense TIME and SPACE differently?

Nibbly-Stephanie

Whose dad has had the Black book? Oh right, Stephs! And what did mayor Solomon Lauter say abou the black book again? Wasn't it something like: " ...It comes with a price, a terrible price" and "No! I am not touching that book ever again"?

And who has a major part in organaizing the Honey Queen festival? That's right, the mayor! Who has shown multiple rimes they will do anything to keep getting elected? Who has shown to be interested in power? Who has shown to be 'Hungry'?

What if he cast a spell and Nibbly wanted her daughter as a sacrafice? What if he then gave something else. Something that made him bury the book. It might have worked for a while. But Stephanies fate was already sealed. Nibbly still wanted to have Steph tho, he tought she'd be yummy.

Blinky-Grace

Ahh, Grace, Grace, Grace...

I have to admit, she was more of a mystery to me but lets SEE what we can FIND. (Laughs in Jigglypuff)

Grace is the perfect Christian girl. She never does anything wrong! But then she just snaps? She very quickly comes up with a plan on how to hide a body. Then at the end she goes after 'the souls of the pervs'. But to everyone around her she still looks like an innocent young girl. Makes you wonder what else she has hidden. Makes you wonder about the other alternative universes. Maybe Blinky was referring to many different Grace Chasities. He ment the many different things Grace has done bc of her faith and hidden from anyone elses eyes. Only problem for her is that you can't hide anthing from Blinky.

[psychomusic]

i had a vague idea last night on chiss space-traveling system. it's really just an idea and maybe it breaks the existing lore so. if there's any chiss expert here PLEASE tell me if it's something that could exist because i wanna know if i can put it to use in my story

i know they use force sensitives with that third sight power, but like. idk. i understand that they are trained and sometimes they fail but like that's SO complex. you're traveling faster than light - you can have jedi like reflexes and shit but that's still hard af.

so i was imagining (because lately I've been trying to better understand chiss lore, which i LOVEEE) wouldn't it be easier if there were like some stations in between planets, especially important colonies, to allow the force sensitives to have to navigate between smaller points, and not completely in the dark?

idk if any of you know sky: children of the light's trial of fire, so here's the link (skip the intro part). now imagine that instead of the checkpoints with rocks and candles you have little artifical moons/planets/asteroids (depending on how important that station is), and force sensitives are supposed to reach that and then re orientate etc.

BUT to make it cooler and most importantly, easier to sense for the force sensitives, imagine that those artificial ecosystem are made to be inhabited by different creatures that can't stay on their planet of origin (like. maybe because the environment changed and they are endangered, or they're too dangerous so they like. put them there). so they're full of life. they'd be like lit candles in the dark, literally.

THIS CAME TO ME BECAUSE TWO WEEKS AGO I SAW SUCH A COOL VIDEO (a 12 hour analysis of the phantom menace that's like. so fucking well-researched??? considering its length it's impressive really, so here's the link) that spoke (at 1:19:22) about that Boss Nass's phrase about going through Naboo's planet core. But to synthetize: basically in the lore, Naboo is supposed to lack a molten core, and at the center of the planet, plasma is being emitted, and it creates infinite tunnels that can connect even theed and otho gunga. but besides other worldbuilding problems that this rather absurd idea would create - that i won't recap here - in the video, there are some ideas on how to make it make sense (like. "going through the planet core" is simply a figure of speech and not what actually happened), BUT between those, there is one in particular that struck me: at 1:30:40, he proposed Naboo could be a constructed planet - like a planet-aquarium.

then, the video explains why it can't be the case for naboo but. GUYS!! if there's a species that could pull off something like that it's the chiss, with their sense of order, their need for knowledge, and organization abilities.

the maintenance of these stations with particular ecosystems could then be left at the nearest colony of csilla (kinda like the romans delegated the maintenance of their streets to each town it crossed and benefitted off of it), and be used as a "lighthouse" for new sky-walkers to train their third sight. researchers would benefit from keeping these animals alive + they could be kept in various different scenarios depending on how the specific station is made. if it's big enough, those creatures wouldn't be even captive, in a certain sense. especially since these stations need to be big enough (and full of life) to be perceived by the force sensitives, they'd just become replicas of the planet, where researchers, even in the creation of such stations, can really have a boost on their understanding of those ecosystems, through the feedbacks and experiments on the stations.

i have made a few sketches to visualize the idea

(ugly quality and poor rendition ops. in my defense it was late)

i know i wrote A LOT and prob not many will read this BUT if you've come this far, what do you think?

[herefortheships]

You want to know something that has me thinking about Lydia's characterization in BJBJ? She clearly has bad anxiety and seems pretty traumatized by her ability to see ghosts to some extent, but it's unclear what exactly drove her to feel this way about being able to see ghosts, when in her past, it didn't seem to bother her.

Lowkey they seemed to hint at her experience with Betelgeuse being the cause of her trauma (which makes it look like at the end when she banishes him at the wedding that's her overcoming her trauma and fears), but that seems extremely strange a choice, if that's the case, considering that at the end of the previous film some time seemed to have passed from the events at the end (Otho's ritual with the Maitlands, the wedding, etc), and Lydia seemed really happy at the end of the movie. In fact she seemed to be styling herself less goth-like (although arguably that could be because she's back in school and they may not allow her to style herself that way at school lol), which visually I think it's done to show how she's not depressed and thinking about death anymore.

She seemed to be happy coexisting with not just the Maitlands but with the occasional ghosts that she'd see around. That last part is my speculation, though, based on ghosts of the football team dancing behind her on the stairs, which she didn't seem to mind at all.

My point is: Lydia seemed perfectly happy at the end of the first movie, which disqualifies the events of that movie as the cause of her present anxiety.

It had to have been something else. I wonder if I just need a rewatch of BJBJ; was it made clear why Lydia is struggling with anxiety and needing medications? What exactly happened in Lydia's life that drove her to that? Was it losing Richard? She explained in the movie that that relationship was over long before whatever happened to Richard, though of course not knowing what exactly happened to him MUST have affected her, despite the status of that relationship. So one could think losing him is part of that anxiety. But the thing is, though, she seemed to be most anxious when seeing flashes of Betelgeuse... So that's why it seems to me that her anxiety is more related to her ability to see ghosts (and more specifically with seeing Betelgeuse) over anything else.

So I have to wonder, has he done something to scare her at some point over the years since their last encounter? Or did she have another terrible experience with another ghost/entity that really scared her and reminded her that ghosts/demons like Betelgeuse exist, and now that she's seeing him she's scared he will harm her? The movie really didn't make it clear what happened in Lydia's life to bring her to this point and especially to make her so scared of potentially encountering Betelgeuse again.

Mind you, the first thing she thought about when Astrid was taken was to find Betelgeuse and ask for his help, when we know she can 1) Talk to ghosts, so if she needed to find one to draw a door to the other side so she could find Astrid, she could have found some other ghost? Since she's supposed to be so "scared" of Betelgeuse. And 2) She already knows how to get to the other side, so back to point one, she didn't exactly need to use Betelgeuse to get there. Anyway, she was in a hurry/desperate, so maybe instead of looking for a random ghost she decided to look for the one she knew she could find and who'd help her immediately (the same one the movie has for some reason decided that she is most afraid of. lol).

I think there's potential to explore Lydia more deeply in the next movie. I just don't believe that her experience with Betelgeuse in the previous film is responsible for her current emotional state. I am positive she knows that Betelgeuse, as creepy as he can get, would never do anything to truly harm her; his motivations were never to harm her, but to leave the afterlife. The most he can do is try to marry her. And as far as Lydia knows, what could that do to them? All we really know is that he'll materialize in this world in some form. In that case, if he leaves the afterlife and incarnates here, wouldn't that make him human (or just, alive), and remove his powers? So, again, he wouldn't have a means to harm Lydia (and would he want to harm the person who helped him escape the afterlife like he so wanted?). Many questions. lol But I'm sure the marriage contract wouldn't bind Lydia to anything else that is nefarious, as far as she's concerned, since the marriage is a condition Betelgeuse needs to fulfill so he can leave the afterlife. Again, many questions, and Lydia's story is pretty open to interpretation, I guess, as far as her past goes. I just wish we could know what exactly happened, because the first movie is no indication or justification for her current state; there's nothing in that ending that shows Lydia will be traumatized 30+ years after what happeend.

[thesweetnessofspring]

I love that everyone in the whole Everdeen family, including the parents, is named after plants! And it makes so much sense to me. It’s very clear that plants are very important to them, i.e. the plant book. Knowledge of plants helped them with medicine and survival skills, two things that are so crucial to who they are. My soon-to-be husband is from Lithuania, and their culture and pagan history are deeply rooted in their love of nature. As a result, a lot of Lithuanian given names are also nature-based. Liepa=linden, Ąžuolas=oak, and Rūta=rue (which is their national herb). So I was really excited to see a similar pattern in SOTR. I think names are a powerful thing and reflect a culture and identity.

I agree names are important to show culture, but I'm disappointed in the Everdeen parent names, for a few reasons.

Burdock is I think what we could have expected from Mr. Everdeen's name. I just sigh that it's another root like katniss is a root and is also an edible plant. To me, it makes his picking Katniss's name less impactful and more like, "hey child, I want you to be me. But a girl." Nature names go with Mr. Everdeen, but giving him basically the male version of Katniss was just really uninspiring to me.

I'm really disappointed in Mrs. Everdeen's name. First because she's from a different culture than Mr. Everdeen, I would have liked her name to reflect where she came from. In comparison, I find it fascinating that Mr. Mellark's first name is Otho, who was a Roman emperor. That fact says so much about his parents and the time he was born and makes me curious if other kids in the merchant class around his age have names more suited to D2 or the Capitol and when that shifted. Though I've said many times that Ruth was my headcanon for Mrs. Everdeen's name, other names not nature-related would have made a lot more sense to me because that's the pattern we see from merchant names.

But even if Suzanne was determined to have a flower name, I strongly dislike Asterid. Asterid is just a type of flowering plants, and according to Wikipedia, make up about 1/3 of flowering plants. So her name means nothing. Her name is 1/3 of flowering plants. Great. Thanks. So much I can do with that. 🙄At least Burdock is something specific. And compared to Primrose, which is an early blooming plant that dies young in the season, and is used to treat depression, says something about her character, while Asterid says nothing. What can I get from Asterid? It's way too general to garner any meaning from. And then there's the way it reminds me of the "Astird" (ass-turd) joke from The Office which is just a personal thing but I can't help thinking of it whenever I read her name. 😭

Basically, I wanted more individuation for the Everdeen parents, not just Katniss 0.5 and Primrose 0.5, even if they were going along with nature names.

Idk I was looking forward to writing Mr. and Mrs. Everdeen fanfiction but the names are throwing me off a lot and I'm not inspired by them at all.

[amostimprobabledream]

Thoughts on Beetlejuice Beetlejuice *SPOILERS*

The Good:

The reveal that Astrid could see ghosts this whole time and that Jeremy was actually a ghost was genuinely really good - I didn't see it coming but in hindsight it was so obvious. The whole bit about him trying to trick Astrid into giving her life for his was so fun.

Michael Keaton was a treat to watch as usual - all the actors seemed to be having the times of their lives, especially him, Willem Dafoe and Monica Bellucci. I was actually laughing out loud at some of the scenes he was in and I appreciate that they used him sparingly. I also thought the gag of Willem Dafoe's character being a former actor who liked pretending to be a cop and his secretary kept fetching him coffees and feeding him his lines was genuinely funny.

I was on the fence about Astrid because from what I got from the promotional material she seemed pretty bratty and whiny, but I think her frustrations with Lydia and her life in general were generally fairly understandable and I think she and Winona Ryder had great chemistry. Also I want Astrid's wardrobe, that sweater-dress with the bike shorts and boots? An absolute serve.

It's cool that Tim Burton and Michael Keaton both insisted on building sets instead of relying on CGI to do everything, I think that one of the charming things about the first movie was the handmade feel of the sets and they managed to capture a lot of it in this one. I mean, they do use SOME CGI, especially where Beetlejuice is involved, but I think it's good they didn't just rely on greenscreens.

Banger soundtrack, as usual, thanks to Danny Elfman.

Killing off Charles and Delia was surprising but I thought it was handled in a good way. I thought the actor who played Charles had died or something and when I googled why he wasn't in the sequel I think they did the best they could with the character. Catherine O'Hara sort of held together the Lydia/Astrid subplot for me, especially when she says to Lydia, "What happened to the angsty goth girl who gave me so much trouble? I think you need to find her!" The Bad: - This movie really made me appreciate the Maitlands more. The whole thing with the first movie is that Adam and Barbara ground it and give it a sense of normalcy - they have random, sudden, unfair deaths and as the audience we're thrown into the confusing world and rules of the afterlife as much as they are. In this movie I feel like everyone is too busy trying to be different flavours of wacky to feel real, which is fine for people like Beetlejuice or Delores but the human characters didn't feel like that had substance like the Maitlands.

Am I the only one who felt like this film felt kind of like a character assassination of Lydia?? I love Winona Ryder to death (pun unintended), but I feel like all she did in this movie is make that pop-eyed shocked face and say exposition. I'm sorry but am I meant to believe that Lydia Deetz, the only person in the first movie who could communicate with Adam and Barbara, called Otho, Lydia and her dad out on their shit multiple times and had the balls to make a deal with Beetlejuice to save the former, would seriously let some creepy man pressgang her into marriage? Not to mention I can't remember a single line of dialogue from Lydia, she's kind of been demoted to just being a depressed goth mom and that's kind of it. Also I felt like the way she was using her power for a TV show felt OOC when she was the only one who opposed the haunted house idea in the original. (Also Winona Ryder's hair looked terrible in the movie, it made sense for teenaged Lydia to have those gel spikes but on a Lydia who's hit fifty they look ridiculous. Like what, did her fashion sense never evolve past age fifteen?)

There were WAY too many subplots. I genuinely really liked the subplot with Astrid and Jeremy, and I think Beetlejuice and his ex-wife had a lot of potential, but the end of the movie was like Tim Burton forgot to keep track of every subplot he had going on and wrapped them up really unsatisfyingly.

Monica Bellucci's character was WAY underused. Like. I absolutely loved her design and stuff but she was walking around the whole movie attacking random people we don't give a shit about, and then in the climax she just stands there and lets herself get eaten. (That staple-face look would make a fire Halloween costume though.) I feel like the subplot with Lydia's creepy boyfriend/producer should have been cut so she had more time to shine.

The dialogue. Some of it was fine but other times phrases showed up that are so obviously going to become dated in a couple of years, it sounded like adults trying way too hard to be edgy and relatable to Gen Z viewers, like when Astrid goes "the afterlife is so random!" or that one woman describing something as "non-triggering". I don't remember the dialogue in the first movie feeling so buzzword-heavy.

Beetlejuice felt less like a threat this time. In the first movie he's more of a clear-cut antagonist but this time he's very clearly on Lydia's side and even dispatches all the other bad guys, so I think some of his more sinister energy was lost here.

The ending was really dumb ngl. It feels like it's setting up for a third one but Tim Burton was like "lol not gonna happen" so I have no idea why he chose to ending it like that.

[roznnreads]

She Likes a Boy

Maysilee Donner x Mrs. Mellark

Summary: In working at her fathers sweet shop she meets the various members of district 12 but one girl keeps catching her eye

a/n: Yes I made Mrs Mellark a Cartwright, what of it, it's not like district 12 has many families named in the series and since she is still without a name after sunrise on the reaping what can you do. And yes I am pushing the Maysilee Donner lesbian agenda. I am right if you think otherwise you are wrong.

wc: 964

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ding 

The bell above the door rings as Maysilee looks up at the would be customer, Julie Cartwritght, if Maysilee was the most stuck up person in town, Julie would be battling it out for runner up, her family ran the shoe shop a few buildings down and she always flaunted that her shoes were perfectly shined, not brand new but when you mother and father have access to shoe shine you could make your second hand shoes look brand new. 

This poor girl, well she’s not from the seam but instead pining desperately over Otho Mellark, one of their classmates, man is built like a brick, nothing could knock him off his guard, yet Otho was also desperately pining over someone, not Julie but Asterid March, another town girl, who in turn was dating Burdock Everdeen, a seam boy, destined for the coal mines, It was an awful game of telephone which all were destined to call with no answer on the other line. It didn’t matter what Maysilee said to Asterid that their romance was doomed to fail, romance between seam and town were always steeped in tragedy, Asterid stood strong in her conviction that she and Burdock were different, that they would be happy together forever, and who was Maysilee to stand in the way of true love.

“No, Don’t order, let me guess… Lemon Drops,” Maysilee said

“You know me too well,” replied Julie

“It's hard not to we are practically neighbors and your in here like every other week,”

“Well this week I would like Lemon Drops and whatever Otho likes,” 

“Whatever Otho likes, what's your scheme,”

“Oh, you know, it’ll be a gift,”

“Don’t you think a baker's son would be tired of sweet treats, with all the cake decorating he does” “You know as well as I that the Mellarks don’t eat what they sell,”

“Fine, how many grams of mint imperials do you want,”

“Aren’t those a little basic?”

“Bring it up with him, it's not my favourite sweet,”

“Right,” she said, “So what is yours?”

“My what?” Maysilee says

“Your favourite sweets” She said in a sickly sweet tone laced with annoyance

“Cinnamon Taffy”, I say and Julie smiles

“I haven’t heard of that one before”

“Well its new, not on the shelves yet, I’m trialing it, but boy is it delicious” “I’ll keep that in mind when they're in the jars, see you at school Maysilee” she said as she waved and left the shop. The bell rang again signalling her exit.

Maysilee sighed and placed her head on the cool counter, this will be the death of her

~

Ding

Another day, another shift after school,  another customer, always more sweets to sell, I sigh, facing the wall of candy jars turning around and I see Asterid, 

“Hey, hows life treating you”

“Same old, pa’s making me still work here”

“Well only you could make up brilliant stuff like this,” Asterid said pointing at the jar of mint and lemon flavored hard candy shaped like ribbons. 

“One day I’m going to leave this place and never come back,” Maysilee laughed

“The Candy store?”

“Sure, the candy store,”

“And where will you go”

“I don’t know, maybe down the street, the woods, who knows, certainly not me”

Ding

Looking past Asterid, I see Julie, enter the store

“Oh, is this a bad time, I’ll come back later,” Julie said, and turned on her heel and re opened the door and fled down the street.

Ding

“Well that was weird,” Maysilee questioned

“Yes strange, I’ll take 50 grams of licorice and 50 grams of that fudge you make so well,” said Asterid “Coming right up” Maysilee says getting a little striped bag of sweets together, handing it to Asterid, As she turns to leave she says

“Maybe she’ll comeback”

“Oh shove off” Maysilee laughs

It takes 2 weeks before Julie could even look at her at school, a further week for her to speak to her. Maysilee didn’t know what she did to her, what she did wrong.

A month after that weird experience at the sweet store did Julie walk in, like nothing was wrong she pranced into the store.

“What can I get you” said Maysilee apprehensively

“I want to apologise, I shouldn’t have avoided you for so long”

“Ok?”

“So do you have those Cinnamon Taffy treats you mentioned you liked?”

Confused Maysilee said “Ya, just got on the shelves a few days ago, yu want some?”

“Of course, I’d love try, how about 100 grams”

“100 grams!” Maysilee nearly screamed “are you serious”

“Yes, I saved up my money, I can spend it how I want” said Julie matter of factly 

“But on sweets?”

“Why not, here” she said and slid her cash across the counter, “take it,” she smiled

“Ok, let me ring that up for you” said Maysilee smiling back

Handing Julie the bad of taffy, she took one out of the bag, taking a bite and making a satisfied noise, 

“I told you they were good,”

“And I believe you now,” Julie said taking another out of the bag, leaving the rest on the counter, “here so you can have some fresh treats, for after the reaping”

“Oh don’t remind me, here’s this, take the bag come back here after the reaping and we can both have some, to celebrate another year safe,” said Maysilee

“Ok, good plan, at least next year the odds will be better, only 2 of us not 4 like today,” laughed Julie

“If I get reaped next year its your fault,” Maysilee jokes

“See you later, I have to get all primed up and nice for the capitol” 

“Don’t say things like that, I am serious”

Ding

Maybe things are looking up for Maysilee

[xxghost-zombie-jesus]

I would love to hear your opinions on Beej and Charles' relationship... Its always so fun to explore

dont mind me answering this two years later. i don't have an excuse im just a lil slow. it got long so it's under a readmore!

i like to think things are super rocky right off the bat. charles distrusts been the most in the beginning, after all, when he looks at the demon all he can remember is how he tried to marry his daughter, drove her and subsequently him to the netherworld, tried to kill delia, adam, and barbara, and made a mess of the house and their lives. so he isn't exactly please when beej is unceremoniously dumped onto his literal front steps. he is... cordial to the demon, not wanting to accidentally set Beetlejuice off and cause another Incident.

beej avoids charles a lot in the beginning. he has Mommy and Daddy issues, mainly from juno being, well, herself and his father not being around. (and honestly beej isn't sure if his father left him or was eaten by his mother, but he still holds out hope.) so another parent, especially someone who is genuinely angry and distrustful of him, and not in a 'god you're so annoying' way but in a 'you are a threat to my family way'. like, delia gets spooked by him easily, but she was probably the least affected by his outburst, and he helped her realize otho was a scam artist. the maitlands aren't exactly threatened by him, and quickly come to realize he's kind of... harmless. and lydia still considers him her best friend, even after the whole sham wedding/trying to kill everyone/killing him ordeal. but Charles? he's the only one who is not willing to deal with beej and his antics, nor does the man seem willing to move past the, well, past.

so, yeah, things are tense between them in the beginning. both of them feel threatened, and while beej is prone to lashing out when he feels threatened, charles is the quiet, calculating, take no shit. unstoppable force, immovable object. the few times they interact one-on-one doesn't go well, usually ends up in an argument, or worse, and the threat of sending beej back to the netherworld hangs heavy.

but, charles sees how beetlejuice acts around lydia, how he acts around the maitlands, hell, how he acts around delia. he's completely different than when charles originally met the demon. he's actually... more like a person than the mindless killing machine that charles thinks he is, and while he loaths to change his mind about the being who caused so much havoc and pain for his family, charles starts to doubt that he may have been wrong about beetlejuice. and then when delia implores that he just try and bond with beej, he really isn't so bad, they have a lot more in common that charles would think, he finally gives in and tries.

likewise, beetlejuice sees how charles acts around the rest of the household, the easy coparenting routines that he and the maitlands have developed regarding lydia. the calm discussions in the morning and the shared tv times in the evenings. he sees how charles is with delia, the gentleness and the love that's visible even to beetlejuice, eugh. the willingless to play along with her ideas and life coaching. he sees how charles is with lydia, the near desperation in his actions to make his daughter feel seen, feel loved, feel like he will always be there for her. how he begrudgingly builds her a dark room and allows her to paint her bedroom walls black. and he'd never say he was jealous, not if his undead life depended on it, but, honestly, he is. he wants so badly for charles to like him, hasn't what he's done to atone enough? hasn't he changed enough? but, fine, if charles won't like him, he can play along and make the man's life a living hell with pranks and comments and toeing the line of what is and isn't allowed.

and then charles finds out that despite being over 1000 years old, his age roughly correlates with that of a young adult, college-aged, even. charles, honestly, isn't sure that beej would even be of age for drinking, if he were human. he realizes that the demon's lashing out and acting up around him wasn't because he hates charles, its because he's a shitty young adult who has no idea who he is other than how others perceive him, who obviously got little to no parental love and guidance, who is fiercely protective of lydia, has taken her under his wing and would do just about anything in his power to make her happy. charles notices him eagerly playing along with delia's beliefs, never shutting her down or making her feel like she's crazy, but instead encouraging her to life her life how she wants to. he sees how beetlejuice had toned down the sexual jokes and innuendos at their behest, how he's done a complete 180 when he realized that they didn't enjoy his advances. he wants to be included but has stopped pushing and prodding for their attention.

and its when charles realizes that beej is basically just a hurt, scard, kind of angry yet doubtlessly kind kid that beetlejuice gets himself into some deep shit, and charles has to go save his ass. and its not for lydia's sake, well, at first it was, he'd hate to disappoint his daughter by letting something happen to the demon she's basically adopted as an older brother, but when he sees how genuinely hurt and upset beej is, something changes in their dynamic.

charles stops being so closed off to beej, starts including him in things, talking to him of his own accord, trying to be there for the demon like he is lydia. after all, he's no longer a freeloader, a dangerous demon on a hair trigger to charles anymore. he's just a troubled 20-something who just happens to be a demon. this doesn't exactly go well, beej isn't quick to judge, and the sudden change is so offputting to him that he thinks that charles is Up To Something.

because whenever juno started being nice to him, well, she either wanted something from him, or was about to make his life a living hell and fuck him over one hundred and one ways. so charles, someone he's lowkey started to think as a surrogate father even if he won't even admit it to himself let alone anyone else, suddenly acting like he wanted beej around, like he likes the demon? no he doesn't trust that. so he ups his antics tenfold, trying to piss charles off, trying to make things go back to how they were before.

and then this fic happens and, well, beej has to admit that charles does like him, and is trying to show it, and isn't out to get him, or kick him out, or kill him. its hard for both of them, but its a lot more positive than it had been before.

all this to say, i think they have a kind of father-son relationship, though not at first, and not for a hot second. both of them are resistant of getting along until both internal and external forces make them change, and even from there charles trying to kind of mother hen beej doesn't go well at first. but they figure things out

[zahri-melitor]

Knight Terrors 2023

Well, Joshua Williamson, you certainly wrote this event. Damian Wayne is just that much better than every other character that he can identify the problem and magically research and use techniques to stay awake when nobody else can, including Bruce.

(Also there was the apparently obligatory "what is it like to be the Son of Batman" scene which at this point makes me want to hurl things out the window. Wow. What a novel question you couldn't have asked any of the other kids at any point)

I don't actually know that there's much worth saying about the main plot. Everyone gets horrible nightmares because Lazarus Rain changed the powerset of Insomnia, who proceeded to steal powers from Dr Destiny and try to find the Nightmare Stone.

I made a judicious call to not read ALL of the tie ins for Knight Terrors, but in the end that only resulted in me dropping 5 of the 20 tie-in books (I skipped Black Adam, Green Lantern, Harley Quinn, Titans, and Angel Breaker).

Having read the other fifteen, I'd group them as follows:-

High or Moderate Degree of Plot Relevance:

Batman

Superman

Wonder Woman

Zatanna

Genuinely entertaining/good plots/strongly tied into surrounding runs in the titles:

Action Comics (I don't care about the Peej front half, but the back half was movie night with Natasha, Kon, Kenan, Otho and Osul, who proceeded to have Hank Henshaw and Warworld trauma. A+)

Detective Comics (this is Jim Gordon, expanding on the 'Tec back plots from Nocturne)

Nightwing (I wish it had been a bit clearer about explicitly linking Dick's fears to last time he was trapped in Arkham during RIP, and Babs to the Brainiac virus and the Oracle robot but what can you do)

Shazam! (Mary coping with her siblings, heavily tied into surrounding story)

Poison Ivy (suburban body horror. Straightforward concept done well)

Are you feeling completionist/like the character:

Ravager (what it says on the tin. Mostly read it for two more issues with the good costume I wish Rose'd keep)

Robin (I guess we just assume Jason and Tim are lying to each other in this. Wish the team had had a better grasp on them. Still glad this gave us the plushies though)

The Flash (maybe it's just I don't really care about Barry, but all I could think reading this is that Spurrier's done Flash horror significantly better right after this)

Punchline (to be fair this is a genuinely interesting interrogation of Alexis' identity being tied up in social media commentary on her. On the other hand I don't think anyone should need to read Punchline if they don't at least find the character as having worthwhile commentary)

Catwoman (this is rated 'read only if you want to see Maggie as a superhero'. It's aggressively fine, and no more)

Don't bother:

The Joker (seriously, only read this if you find the back-ups to The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing to be compelling and your speed. Free yourself from any feeling of needing to read it otherwise)