#malevolent blah

[croik]

ngl I'm still baffled that Malev expects us to care, at all, what John did in the Dark World his second time around. Because I do not. It is exactly Faust all over again:

It happened off screen. Supposedly there's good horror shit to be milked here but we don't get to be there for it.

It's been over a year in real time since the event happened before we the audience even got an inkling it happened at all - it is already old news.

Likewise we've seen Arthur and John interact for a full year without any significant effects to their behavior so clearly it didn't impact them THAT much??

Once the truth comes out, Arthur basically has no choice but to just forgive John, the same way John forgave Arthur for Faust even before we learned about it. Because listening to Arthur struggle to forgive John for something he did off screen to strangers who may or may not already be dead while IN HELL, when Arthur is still mad at John for the things John specifically did to him personally, would be silly and a waste of everyone's time.

Is what John did in the Dark World worse than killing a man and eating him to survive? More or less moral than shoving your entire fist into a man's open wound to torture him? Murdering someone who is running away because you're just super mad? Not roasting Arthur here, just saying, scale wise, the bar for "things John did in the dark world that are heinous enough for me to care about" is pretty high. And even if he, I dunno, tortured a hundred ghosts for a while to try to find a way out of the Dark World, I don't really care about that either. The entire premise of the show is that we are encouraging him to be better after being a malevolent god for tens of thousands of years. Nothing he did in the Dark World is worse than whatever KIY has been doing for millennia, surely.

And just like Arthur can say "I can't remember the last time I ate meat!" 15 minutes after reminding us of the time he killed and ate another human being raw, I can't imagine that anything John did will matter until the exact moment the plot decides it should, if it ever does.

I just find it all very tedious and empty drama.

[merlins-art]

Off to go Experience The Horrors

And some Cat!John with a side of Long Hair Arthur bc a friend likes him like that (based honestly)

[foxpod]

coming online to reblog a bunch of malevolent fanart so i can feel something

[croik]

Once again I am begging for John to be the recipient of comfort.

[croik]

I like to think that even though John controls a few parts of their body, the body itself doesn't know the difference and considers itself whole. Which is how we get things like they can both trigger crying, Arthur's muscle memory covers for John when they play the piano together in ep 5 etc. So when they're in fight or flight, the information is still getting from the eyes to the brain to the rest of Arthur's flailing limbs. And that's how he's able to throw a punch that lands, instinctively avoids trees and such. Arthur's body can still see and adjust, he's just not consciously aware of it.

At least, that's how I'm rationalizing it in lieu of a canon explanation ^^;;

Imo most unrealistic part of Malevolent is that Arthur doesn't trip or run into things way more often. Like even if you know the stairs are there, you can be wrong about how many there are and it takes a second to orient yourself. I don't think I've ever heard John warn him about a steep curb or an uneven sidewalk either.

Don't get me wrong, it's great what's there, I'm just saying it's surprisingly smooth. You adapt, but Arthur has no cane or o&m instruction and John isn't a trained guide.

[miscreantahead]

Was missing writing fanfiction while thinking about Kayne talking about all the different universes and then started thinking about my favorite trope, universe swapping, and this dribbled out of me:

---

“Hello,” the man breathed the word out, and John raised his brow at him. He might’ve checked over his shoulder to see if the man was talking to someone else, but the guy was looking directly into his eyes. They seemed to bored into his soul, even.

“What’s your name?” He asked, breathy once again, and before John could respond to the initial greeting. He hadn’t wanted to respond out of politeness, but because going speechless because some asshole on the street was staring him down did not fit his reputation.

“Why are you staring at me?” John demanded just after the question was asked if only to avoid another pause that made him look caught off guard.

“Is your name John?” The man didn’t seem intimidated, he took a small but bold step forward and cocked his head, never breaking eye-contact. As John wondered where he knew this freak from, the man’s eyes downcast and he mumbled something like, “I suppose it doesn’t have to be…”

He had an English accent, and his face wasn’t exactly forgettable. Nothing about him intimidated John but he didn’t have the eyes of someone just anyone would want to fuck with, either. So who was he? How did he know John’s name?

“Listen,” he said, taking a step forward and on reflex John took a step back, “my name is Arthur Lester— I… I think I know you.”

“You think you know me?” John snarled. “What, do you have amnesia? Seeking out long lost relationships? I’ve never seen you before," he was certain.

The man’s eyes widened then he covered his mouth with his hand, covering an odd smile, his breath beginning to come out in little pants.

“Your voice is different…” he said from behind his hand, “… but you talk just like him.”

“What?” John wondered if he was dealing with someone who’d actually lost their mind.

“I’m sorry, this doesn’t make any sense to you. If I’d had more time to think this through I would have been more… subtle, I—,”

“This doesn’t make any sense to me,” John took an aggressive step forward, “I suggest you get the fuck out of my face.”

The man froze, and at first John thought he was terrified, but after a moment of observing his expression, John was sure it wasn’t that. It was something else, he was holding something else back. It unsettled John even further, especially given that John had a few inches on him vertically and horizontally. He should have been terrified, and if he didn’t start acting that way soon, John was going to show him why.

“Listen, John, or—,”

“How do you know my name?” John demanded.

“So it is John?”

Why the fuck is he smiling?

“That’s…” Arthur was almost laughing, “that either makes total sense or no sense at all, or is at least statistically unlikely, I—,” he put his hand over his mouth again to stifle more of his gentle, confusing laughter, “…it’s nice to see you, John,” he said, looking him in the eye again.

John stood still, eyes narrowed, head cocked, trying to tell himself he was all irritated or all creeped out, not a fraction of intrigue.

“I told you, I don’t know you,” John insisted.

“I know you don’t, but I know you, John.”

Why’s he say my name like that?

He turned his head to look across the street, gaze focusing on the bar on the other side for a few seconds, before he looked back at John.

“Would you allow me to buy you a drink?” He asked.

John narrowed his eyes, tried not to look taken aback, and said, “fine.”

[unmechanism]

post Malevolent 42

[donnovien]

If John gets to live as a human, I hope he hates it.

[justablah56]

this post will only make sense to a very small amount of people, but thinking abt Jodie and Zhao like Arthur and John. like . idk . Zhao says things in Jodie's mind and then Jodie needs to speak out loud to respond. Zhao beginning to randomly take over certain parts of Jodie's body as time goes on. thinking about them meeting and seeing each other talking to 'themself' and then realizing they're at least a little bit like each other . anyways .

[mokiemorty]

Granted a meatcutter sister (Shelby Hallowoods) but lost a butcher brother (Butcher Malevolent) its been a very emotional couple of days for the meat industry podcast bitches umu

[aa-400]

me ignoring how the king in yellow is definitely cruel and malicious with my whole chest: arthur holding john and yellow to uniquely human standards and punishing/being angry with them when they fail to meet those standards is kinda shitty and he should do more to consider where they come from or at least remember that they aren't human, actually, and haven't lived whole human lives in a human society.

[croik]

BUT SERIOUSLY I want Arthur to get DP'd (double possessed) so that John and Scratch have to have a bitter fight to the death for his body. John gets to let off some steam and redeem himself a little and Scratch gets DED it's the perfect ending for this arc!!!

Imagine Arthur keeps the stone and now John and Scratch have to share Arthur’s mind and attention, i think John would explode out of jealousy

[warriorprincesstramp]

creepshow is a worthless series except for when that kid brutally murdered his dad with a needle + a voodoo doll while evilly muttering "that'll teach you to take away my comic books 😈🔪" that was of incredible cultural value

[luci-z-wont-shut-up]

ORDER OF THE FALLEN STAR RESPONSIBLE FOR WOODS MANOR BABY??!?!?!??

LARSON WHEN I CATCH YOU. WHEN I CATCH YOU LARSON

[brothermoth]

I'm a Micah Bell coyote motif truther (ignoring the fact that I love coyotes and they're actually incredibly intelligent and dedicated parents and partners who mate for life and work together to raise their young)

Outcompeting wolves and surviving despite human activity decimating natural territory? Clever, versatile animals that can live almost anywhere and are notorious in popular knowledge for being nuisances and pests? Framed as malevolent trickster characters in Native American beliefs? Much better metaphor than rattlesnakes that literally just mind their own business and don't bother people unless bothered themselves. Also makes me think of that guard dog who hunted down and soloed a pack of coyotes and blah blah blah John Marston vibes

[croik]

It would serve him right IMO for stealing what is likely Daniel's only memento of his grand daughter, especially if it turned out to be actually Bella. And especially since Arthur bites John's head off minutes later for not being able to recognize faces or notice things! That photo could be literally anything.

Random thought about Malevolent episode 36:

I would be so mortified if the little girl in the photo they found in Daniel's studio end up not being Faroe.

I can imagine Arthur carrying it like something precious, or even risking himself for the photograph, just for it to be a picture of someone else.

(I know it being a picture of Faroe, like John assumed, make the most sense, but the alternative is deliciously cruel.)