#mutual distrust

[spadesofgrass]

Maybe I am overthinking this a little, but there's something oddly fascinating about Trystan and the Thornes all wearing facades and essentially being caricatures of themselves in Book 2.

(spoilers for Crimes 2 ahead)

You have Trystan who hasn't quite grappled with the seriousness of this investigation and resorts to sex and charmspeak as a cure-all. You have Lydea, intimidating, stern - you never quite see her falter. You have Vasili - supposedly the smart one, the calculative one, the one everyone looks upto. Bas - loud, openly loathing everything and everyone that breathes in front of him. And this recurrent theme of caricatures follows - the family appears exaggerated, almost as if they are all aware of the newcomer - MC and it is through MC's eyes we see them.

For a while I've trifled with the possibility of MC being an unreliable narrator/spectator. They spend a portion of Book 2 trying to paint Lydea guilty, they come off as different and more into believing the first thing that lands on their plate. They try to trail after Bas - basically people who made them feel cold and uninvited. And these ridiculous accusations spiral from then on, until the final confrontation.

And we don't really get to see everyone's masks fall until the coronation and the events prior to it - Trystan is devastatingly silent, Lydea is mortified, surprised, shaken at the fact the crown was offered to her, Vasili - the cunning, clever one uses guns and knives and garottes and anything that he seems to find to kill. Bas is silenced. MC is in the middle, confused, out-of-their-element, forced to face reality. The family's no longer "exaggerated" or "comicky", they're real people and it has always been about who controls the narrative - who's able to have their mask on for the longest time.

And it's Trystan who does. They win this staring contest. They profess their love for MC, they give up everything, victory sex, everything is perfect. The only moment of vulnerability they show is during the murder trial and the coronation - almost as if it is some kind of a death sentence and they're forced to choose their last words carefully, forced to make important expressions. And almost immediately, the facade comes back on. Trystan's a parody and that is their greatest weapon - to never be taken seriously until nobody expects them to stab them in the back (i.e with pawning the crown off to Lydea, a satisfaction with imprisoning their own brother, never taking a definite stance on the Act of Equity, being as ambiguous and unpredictable as possible.)

And MC - a detective, quite literally a seeker of all truths, will never know.

[dalvs-wife]

ok so im just gonna copy and paste this from my twitter bc i dont have the energy to type it out again

goshhh hi sorry i really dont like to be overly negative but umm. important: please please dont follow me if you follow/support other dalv kissers/selfshippers/etc ... i know this seems gatekeepy (which is why i dont ask this for any other f/o) so im sorry ab that

legitimately have it here if u haven't seen!! i reiterate this now because i just got recommended a post of a dalv double due to one of my mutuals liking the post, and i feel really sick right now

im sorry if this seems unreasonable , you have every right to unmoot/unfollow, but it genuinely hurts me so bad to see that stuff

[heinrix]

oughgg diabolical thoughts of aenor and lucanis in mine and fray’s veilguard au

[xmimikyuusx]

Maybe it's just my bad RNG but whenever my partner wants to commission art of our OCs I internally grimace. I might as well just be throwing money into a hole because it's been like three different times now that I pay someone and get literally nothing for months and then they disappear. I'm kinda over it.

[kym-daily]

day 24, 🧹🏹

[spellsparkler]

writing elias is fun for, i expect, the same reason a lot of people find the dark urge fun: I know more or less what's going on with her and she's got no fucking clue. she's a very information-driven person, and as soon as she realises that there is some largely indefinable difference between her and the rest of them she immediately starts trying to catalogue it and narrow it down. it's interesting to write someone who is so deliberately aware of themself and observing themself all the time

[airs-headspace]

I want to ask my friends very deep and substantial questions because all of my friendships feel so superficial (on my end specifically) right now and I want them to be deeper.

[freekicks]

just realized something important about myself:

i've never enjoyed a mutually supportive, slow-burn friends to lovers ship in my life.

[candlebel]

[sexynetra]

Bye i love how most anarcia fics I’ve read, Marcia has internalised homophobia

It’s the blonde preppy girl curse, I can’t look at a blonde without thinking they’re probably at least a little homophobic 🤭

[jheselbraum]

I have anonymous asks turned on so people can send still asks about fandom bullshit if they have anxiety, not so weirdos can send me anonymous asks about fucking genocide. If you choose to somehow have me as your sounding board for opinions about ongoing genocides beyond "don't fucking kill people" despite the fact that I'm not an expert, have no qualifications, and am not a member of these groups, you put your face on that shit like a man. Especially if you're trying to convince me that a genocide doesn't exist, I have to attach my url to it if I respond directly to your bullshit ask, the least you could do is put your url on it too. I also find it distasteful to send me an ask telling me that one does exist on anon. People are fucking dying Brenda, anxiety takes a fucking break when people are dying. Say it with your whole chest don't hide behind the anon button like a fucking coward. Attach your url to it.

[boyenthusiast]

omg i really want to go to this k flay concert in march that's like an hour away but i can't drive and I'm not close enough with any of my friends to feel comfy enough to go to a concert with... i prefer going to concerts alone but if i were still with simon we could go together cause we both like her...

[llycaons]

damn so that ballroom dancing fic was actually quite good and I will be adding it to the rec list

[thedragonagelesbian]

astarion shooting his shot with ranger cyrus at the party........

[zoanzon]

You ever come across a mutual’s original post talking about something good in their life and you end up spiraling into a horrific mental state because of it? Not because a friend is happy, but the why - the who - referenced in the post, unbeknownst to said friend, hits a years-old wound, a years-old bitterness?

[the-kingkas]

Wayne and Eddie side eyeing the cops of Hawkins Eddie always mumbling insults under his breath, knowing they are corrupt , knowing hopper ( season 1 hopper really didn’t ) didn’t take his job seriously at all, if he did he would have saw how obvious it was that Al Munson was being framed , the man was just getting lost in another Stupid get rich quick scheme .

And ended up in wrong place wrong time . Eddie had already moved in with Wayne when it happened . Had enough of his dad not being there but trying to be , And Hopper and Callahan just went through the motions and let the feds take Al Munson’s case and now Eddie is down a dad .

Eddie who loves the party but has a hard time with El cause she loves hopper her dad but Eddie always sees him as the man who helped take his father away and who did nothing to stop the town going against the Munson’s since day 1.