#ooh this one was a doozy

[acherys]

hey question

given zoens whole .. thing. with Jaina. and their complicated relationship. what does she make of her uncles. specifically the undead one

That depends almost entirely upon Jaina! As difficult as their relationship often is, Zoen ultimately, dearly loves her mother. She’s as loyal to her as she can afford to be, and would never, ever want to see Jaina come to harm.

So you can imagine she didn’t take the opening scene of Boralus particularly well.

Zoen’s generally wary of his Proudmoore relatives. Forgiveness is for the living; the dead remember. While Tandred and Derek had nothing to do with Katherine’s cool response, they’re still the kin of her and this place. Kul Tiras hated Jaina so much. Everyone might have let bygones be bygones, but there’s a scar on Zoen’s heart that he’s entirely happy to nurse for the rest of eternity. ( His father’s son, through and through. ) Tandred would be kept at arm’s length until something especial should happen to change that. 

( Of course, he’s wary of his Menethil relatives as well. It wouldn’t be him who informs Calia she’s got a long-lost nephew. Shared blood brings out such a tentative nature in the Deathlord. There’s too much to hope for, and even more to be disappointed by. )

Derek being undead does afford him a particular leeway and … kindness … from his niece. As mentioned before, Zoen’s best nature is reserved for the newly-risen, chiefly those of especially traumatic rebirths. While she might be somewhat more terse with Derek than any other in his position, he wouldn’t be denied any of the actionable means of her compassion. The Ebon Blade stands ready to accept him, should he request it. And her long knowledge and experience with their shared condition is his to benefit from, should he ask. 

But she might not be so comfortable around him as she is the rest of her deathly kin.

[ritzyreils]

you gave me your heart, you know. you’d like me to give it back to you, whole again.

well i won’t.

[judesstfrancis]

oh I have so much drama to tell my coworker about tomorrow I'm quite honestly thrilled

[kanmom51]

Having a conversation Jikook style

But seriously, this is not only Jikook, this is basically long term couple behaviour.

We hear the words coming out of their mouths, clearly talking about food, eating "something", all while their hands and facial expressions are telling us something else.

Those legs, JK really likes touching those legs.

We know JK has a thing with textures

Was it because they were nice and smooth? Were they perhaps shaved and he was enjoying that texture. Guys, don't laugh, this is an actual thing. A very neurodivergent thing!!

Or was the conversation as suggestive as it clearly appears to be?

See, what we are shared in these clips isn't the full convo though.

It does start out about food and poop, but imo strays very fast from that to something entirely different indeed.

JK saying what he did about JM's fate trying to eat something, ooh, the under-layering that followed was indeed delicious.

JK saying he's definitley eating something going in for the touch, palm out palm in. And cut!!!

And what about that hand gesture of JM's when JK says "I'm definitley eating something"?

I kind of feel like walking through door 2 but having it placed behind door 1, lol.

JK loves the texture but that whole convo at the end is most definitley suggestive.

Whatever it is, that guy in the back, the one that was looking at them (the others were not) he felt the need to not see it!!!

And JM's hand. At first I thought he was trying to move JK's hand away, but I don't think he was. I think he was trying to hold onto JK's left hand. Because he clearly was not trying to move away JK's right hand that JK felt the need to go in for an extra touch with.

Ugh, don't you just hate those Hybe editors cutting away at our Jikook moments??

Oh, and before I leave you, how about this little doozie? Seems like the official translations of the show are shit. Please do act surprised why don't you.

Sigh.

Yeah, seems like slowly but surely we are getting more and more posts about how the translations are not exactly accurate. Perhaps bro-ifying the conversations, perhaps just struggling with translating it accurately because of the difference in the languages, idk, but it's something we need to take into consideration. Not gonna make this any less entertaining, but definitley there will be things that are louder than what we initially think they are with the current translations.

Another example to that is what we see in this clip about JK saying: "You looked great when you got here".

Cause yeah, JK says "you looked pretty..." not "great".

SO PRETTY

not great.

SO PRETTY.

A term which we know JK has used in the past to describe JM.

[daylesspax]

Favorite transformers ship, favorite mech out of all of them (or a list)

and fic recs? Just because I wanna get to know you

Okay! So sorry it took so long to answer this, lmao

My favorite ships rotate every month depending on what fanfiction I’m reading

Currently, my favorite ship is Jazzprowl!

My favorite character also rotates depending on the fanfictions I’m reading, but Rodimus is a classic for me ;)

For fic recommendations… wow, I have a lot but I obviously can’t name all of them so I’ll give a short list of some good ones (almost all of them are finished)

The Crime in Crystals series by Aard_Rinn, amazing Jazzprowl and exquisite world building and storytelling! Super fun and amazing badass moments!

And I Alone Have Escaped To Tell You by astolat, a time travel fic centering around a G1ish Cyclonus, very fun time with an engaging plot and incredible characterizations! I adore this rendition of the classic Cyclonus!

Echoes of Messatine by MileMusketeer… Ooh boy, this one is a doozy. This fic is a long-term commitment, and it will take you for a ride— Megatron angst and dark topics galore!

The Echo Garden by AltraViolet is a classic in my opinion, a masterpiece in worldbuilding and some truly professional work on Soundwave’s character arc! Some of the most well-done content on the Rodimus/Soundwave ship, on the use of dimension travel, and with the Lost Light in general!

Attack on Prime by melishade! Because of course I’m going to promote it lol, this is an incredible, in-depth crossover story of Attack on Titan and Transformers Prime— I consider this a personal classic and one of the best TF crossovers I’ve had the joy of experiencing :)

I have none-TF recs too but I really don’t feel like listing more… 😅

Read my fic, Exception, too if you want, idk, I think I did okay on it

[brucewaynehater101]

There's like, what? at least THREE speedforce users concentrated in a singular time period? and the word concentrated sounds a bit extreme until you remember the fact that these btiches have power over time; they can timetravel

Impluse did time traveled and has made a place for himself in an older time period permanently

Compared to that, the metabolism's hardly a big deal at all

and unless their world/universe/multiverse is isolated in it's own bubble where not even timetravel gets out, that means their time shenanigans likely affect existing multiverses outside their own so that's a doozy to comprehend

And time travel isn't even exclusive to speedforce users, nothing is sacred, there's magic, and sciences and magical sciences, probably metas with time powers and there's also time loops and---

As far as we're aware, there isn't just THREE speedforce users who can and will time travel if it's called for, but multiple other instance of time travel or manipulation, all concentrated in a singular time period

that fucks shit up

anomalies that people might not even pick up on because the screwing of reality has affected their very minds become the norm; because minus this time period the whole rest of the timeline, before and after that era, is in perfect working order

this particular patch of the timeline is mangled forever and irreversibly, before anybody knew there was a timeperiod in need of unmangling

The clock ticks onward---the heroes and villains, and everyone beyond moves on and dies and the next generations after them don the spotlights, and time marches existence onwards as it always has; that's true, that's permanent. It's ineffable truth

Nothing has changed

you say it feels like just yesterday we did this very act as though it weren't the case

The clock ticks onwards---1:00, 2:00, 3:00, 4

5, 6, 7, 8

9, 10, 11

this is how the world ends

11:30

this is how the world ends

11:50

not with a bang

11:59:59

but with a---

1:00

this is all to say that this is my headcanon to explain Tim's Forever 21 17

and also other plotholes; and maybe you can take this hc to make an AU where there's more shenanigans than ceasing to age at a certain point due to a time period being Eternal even though the rest of the timeline is still perfectly functional

=======

( as for wtf the whole clock stuff was meant to convey, it references the reblogged 'prokopetz the eleventh hour' post )

"...“The Eleventh Hour” is generally used to refer to the Last Possible Point BEFORE everything goes horribly sideways, so this would suggest that you are in a place perpetually stuck at the terrible and fruitless moment just shy of impending disaster. "

-- askmissbernadette

Ooh! AUs/HCs that explore Tim's perpetual state of 17 are rad as hell (although thankful he has finally been allowed to become an adult).

I never did quite consider the ramifications of multiple people messing with the timeline. For one person, we've seen so much media that warns against it and shit. Multiple people that aren't communicating before, during, or after their interventions? How the hell does the space and time continuum not collapse?

Then, the multiverse theory is added on top of all that? My brain is a little too tired to try to even comprehend how bad of an idea it all sounds (for the speedsters and other people who mess with the timeline).

I like to hc that some of the universes that pop off are consequences from a Flash or anyone else screwing up time. It'd be cool to see some angst regarding that (let's say Bart went back in time to save Tim in his universe which caused another universe to lose their Tim [and the domino effect of that unplanned loss for that timeline]). That, or the rewritten history causes new universes to form as a result of the many many paths and choices that can happen after that change.

It'd also be fantastic to see a villain who's like Miguel from Across the Spider-Verse, but worse. A person who picks and chooses universes that they think best suits their needs and desires. They keep hopping to other ones when the one they are in is no longer suitable. They also integrate themselves into the universes with ease and sometimes murder that universe's version of them to take their spot (they prefer kidnapping, though, so that the OG person can resume their life when the villain leaves).

Anyways, there are some great fics out there that chat about Tim staying 17 and/or the other Bats having weird timelines too

[daily-hyosatsu]

Ooh, I like this one! The name 河鍋 Kawanabe only belongs to about 370 people nationwide, but use a different kawa and you get 川鍋 (Kawanabe or Kawabe), which belongs to about 5000 people.

河 means river, and it’s read かわ or カ. The water radical 氵 on the left hints at the meaning, and 可 (meaning possible) provides the on-yomi reading カ.

鍋 means pot, pan, kettle, or hotpot (yum!). It’s read なべ or カ. Again, look at the left for meaning (金 metal) and the right for reading (咼, which is a doozy; it deserves its own post).

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

I’m not familiar with Dr Who so why do people dislike Lindy?

(Spoilers for the new season if anyone is not caught up)

Ooh boy, this one is a doozy.

So, first thing to understand is that Doctor Who is a do-everything show. The protagonist is an alien called The Doctor who periodically changes his face (therefore the show can theoretically go on forever.) We currently have our first ever Black Doctor, played by Ncuti Gatwa. The Doctor travels in space and time. One episode could be about earth history, the next could be an alien planet. And they’ve had some weird ones.

Lindy Pepper Bean is the stereotypical white girl and that’s very much on purpose. living on a planet called Finetime. Yes, that is it’s actual name. A bunch of rich humans sent their kids there to serve as a vacation spot where they only have to work two hours a day. The rest of the time they are connected to a social media hub called The Bubble, which acts as a hologram obscuring their vision and it literally gives them directions on where to walk since they can’t see. When Lindy turns the Bubble off, she finds she has forgotten how to without it.

The Bubble is controlled by this floating computer called The Dot, and everyone has one. The AI has grown sentient over time, and it’s ultimately revealed that The Dots have grown to hate their human masters and wish to kill them. If you’re thinking this is a commentary on social meda, or on the dangers of AI…just wait. It gets worse. Finetime is exclusively white. Was that just a lack of diverse casting? Oh no. Let’s talk about Lindy.

Lindy is extremely selfish. She is arrogant, superficial, and rude to most people. Especially The Doctor. She is constantly condescending to him. More so than his (white) friend and companion, Ruby. This is not unheard of. The Doctor is a genius who often struggles with socializing, people don’t always like him. But in this episode, he and Ruby are presented as equals and they’re both just trying to save her life.

Lindy shows her true colors when she, without hesitation, throws another character named Ricky under the bus. After he saved her life and shieldee her from The Dots, after he told her to go without him, she stops them from attacking her by revealing information that she knows will cause the Dots to kill Ricky instead. Ricky was entirely innocent and one of the more enlightened people on Finetime, choosing to read books rather than use The Bubble.

Lindy shows absolutely no remorse for this and never faces any consequences because nobody finds out it happened. She lies through her teeth and says Ricky just went back to help more people escape The Dots. But the real kicker is what comes next.

The Doctor offers to save the survivors, who would otherwise be doomed. They refuse his help. He has a space timeship that could evacuate all of them. But they won’t go with him, because he is “not one of them.” Lindy singles out The Doctor, she doesn’t include Ruby in this judgment. According to her, talking to him onscreen was tolerable, but in person is just too much. They don’t ever directly state that it’s about skin color, but the subtext is painfully clear.

TL;DR: Lindy is selfish to the point of using other people as human shields, incapable of even walking properly thanks to her social media addiction, has an overall rude personality, and (this is the big one) she’s fucking racist.

[inventors-fair]

Living Legends: Myth ReRealized Winners

~

Our winners this week are @bergdg, @izzet-always-r-versus-u, and @nine-effing-hells!

@bergdg — Songs for the Morning Star

Sagas are one of the clearer choices this week, right after legendary creatures. Heck, the card type was literally made to tell ancient legends! While I'm not particularly familiar with the story being represented here, the picture you've painted between the art description and the effect has me immediately interested. And speaking of the effect, it's a doozy. The final chapter is incredibly strong, but being locked behind a lengthy delay and the size of your board means it creates a good amount of friction. Your opponent has the chance in the interim to cull your creatures, either through wiping the slate clean or removing just enough to protect a crucial card. But on the flipside, the bird being created each turn means it's an uphill battle at all stages. I do think the card could use a slight tweak in mana cost and/or rarity, because gaining 6 life and creating 3 birds on its own already feels a bit like it's punching above its weight class. This one's firmly "I can't substantiate this without actually playing with it," so take it under advisement.

@izzet-always-r-versus-u — Exact Judgement

First of all: phenomenal pun. Genuinely the kind of wordplay that makes me equal parts guffaw and kick myself for not thinking of it myself sooner. Part of me wishes all the numbers you could choose were squares to really go all the way, but 9 is pretty impractical for the effect. Oh well. Anyways, we've seen plenty of board wipes like this over the years, where you're allowed to dictate the parameters of the wipe to hopefully make it miss your most important permanents. This one immediately has an interest point over other power-based conditions like Austere Command and Dawn//Dusk simply because creatures with power 1 are always being hit, nonnegotiable. Thanks to that, it's kind of a no-go in token and/or weenie decks, which is often where these effects find a home. I do wonder if this is a bit too overcosted, though, for what it is. Wrath of God is currently in Foundations, and while I touted its ability to be sculpted to miss your board, it also seems very easy to be forced to miss something you'd really rather destroy. Especially with 2, 3, and 4, which are all extremely common powers. Four mana with the extra color should be fine, right?

@nine-effing-hells — Tantalizing Torment

Ooh, this is positively vile. It's generally a bit of a faux pas to have cards contradict themselves. It's not fun to have a card lie to you about what it does, after all, and it generally makes it a bit too much of a pain to understand in an expedient manner. That said, you can justify just about anything (within the rules, that is) if it plays into what the card does well enough, which brings us neatly to this little number. The complete lockdown on draw and lifegain is brutal, but what really makes this stand out is the sheer cruelty of the last effect. Dangling what they could have and by all rights should have directly in their face while everyone else benefits without issue kind of rules, ultimately. A big selling point for justifying the contradictory effect is that it's also not too clever for its own good: a player who reads through and gets the joke—so to speak—would probably chuckle instead of groan, as so often happens. Now I'm just imagining a situation where you've enchanted every opponent in a four player game and you're just sitting there drawing so many cards that they simply cannot have. Deliciously evil.

~

It won't be long now...the runners approach. —@spooky-bard

[skellymom]

"Vagabonds" Chapter 18 "THE FORCE"

Ongoing fanfic Hunter x Reader/Fem Reader/OC

Hunter meets a smuggler Nomaadi Star Woman with a powerful force sensitive teen who changes the trajectory of CF-99's lives...as they ALL try to escape from The Empire together.

To read Chapter 17 - "WTF?

https://www.tumblr.com/skellymom/758867009187512320/vagabonds-chapter-17-wtf?source=share

Word Count: 2.1K

Background: Mad reveals her unknown/uncertain health status to the adults among the crew. LOVE tries to covertly gain intel. Tiggy helps her hoomans. Angsty, angsty, angst! (No fear dear reader: Things WILL pick up in Chapter 20!)

For anyone new to this series: "LOVE" is the nonbinary/genderfluid neurodivergent/nonverbal Force sensitive kid of the main OC of this series "Mad". For more background on LOVE, check out the introduction and past chapters leading up to this one. LOVE'S father is also mentioned in past chapters in a flashback...giving a clue as to how and why LOVE has the power they do!

Warning: Swearing, angst, crying, brief mention of sexual reproduction in clinical terms.

(Credit: Cool dividers by @4ngelic-wh1spers and @sister-lucifer)

Recap:

“TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!!!”  Mad SCREAMED as she ran through the Beldame to the Marauder... 

She STILL wasn’t wearing pants. 

Tiggy barked furiously and took off after Mad, tearing out of the stateroom...and almost knocked Echo over, too. 

Hunter stood there buck naked with his hands out...speechless. 

Echo’s head peeked around the corner comically at Hunter “Trouble in Paradise???” 

Hunter, frustrated, threw his hands up in the air, then grabbed his clothes off the floor... 

"The Force"

Even with Tech drinking himself to almost total drunkenness, he was up early as usual.  

Having rarely EVER slept all the way through ANY night, Tech found himself almost entirely underneath the instrument panel of the Beldame.  He quickly notated and ticked off a checklist of EVERY repair the Beldame required to make it truly ship worthy again.  

Wrecker wasn’t as lucky.  Tech dragged him out of bed with a doozy of a hangover.  He groggily sipped his caf with the occasional “Yeah...ok Tech... I’ll get RIGHT on it.” 

Tech didn’t register the sarcasm and kept on going with his mechanical observations... 

Until Mad ran screaming up the main aisle of the Beldame...Tiggy HOT on her heels! 

Wrecker winced jumping up at attention as Tech slid out from under the panel. 

“TECH!”  She repeated, wild eyed. 

He adjusted his goggles. “Why...are you NOT wearing pants?”   

Wrecker had a more appropriate response “WHAT’S WRONG?”  His voice too loud inside his own head. 

She was almost hysterical “I have...I have...a... PARASITE or something SWIMMING around IN MY BELLY!!!” 

“OH NOOO!” Wrecker’s face showed abject FEAR, sharing Mad’s feelings on the matter. 

Tech, ever calm and pragmatic, countered with “That is incorrect.” 

Mad’s head snapped back to Tech dumbfounded...as he mansplained... 

 “You have been implanted with Jedi genetic material in the form of ovuum.  They are viable, but NOT multicellular organisms.  That would REQUIRE fertilization of sperm.  Even IF you and Hunter did NOT take preventative precautions last night” Then he added with a veiled judgy expression “as you SHOULD have, you would STILL not be able to feel...nor Hunter even hear them...swimming...about in your uterus.” 

Mad stopped for a minute, staring at Tech. Wrecker could SEE the ANGER rising in her expression.  Tech totally missed it. 

“I know how pregnancy works, Tech.  YOU MET MY KID!” 

He cut Mad off “Well, technically...” and off he went on an infodump regarding reproductive biology... 

Wrecker attempted to get Tech’s attention...to no avail. 

Mad lost her shit and flipped up her blouse to show a bulging belly.  

“Well then Mr Smartassed Sassy Pants...WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THIS???”  

“OOH!” Wrecker was taken aback “Tech, I think you better rethink your thinkin!’” 

Tech’s eyes bugged out of his goggles.  “OH...” 

“And... that’s why you LISTEN when a woman tells ya somethin.”  Wrecker eyed Tech condescendingly, hand on his hip.  “She might just know somethin’ you don’t” 

Tech gave Wrecker his best FUCK OFF expression. 

Wrecker motioned for Mad to have a seat in his chair.  She sat as Hunter and Echo walked up. 

Hunter kneeled and took Mad’s hand then glanced up at Tech. “I heard it.  Something’s up and... we’re BOTH VERY concerned.” 

Tech rubbed his chin...thinking...” Your abdomen was not like this last night?” 

“No.” Mad answered “Can’t even close my pants.  I don’t go running around my ship without pants on...usually.” 

“Any pain?” 

“No” 

“Any vomiting?” 

“No” 

“But...you did have a change in taste preferences for caf the other night.” 

“Well...yes.  Last night.” 

“Some tiredness” 

“Only last night” 

“Did you and Hunter use protection last night?” 

“YES!” Mad and Hunter answered simultaneously. 

“Was that the ONLY time you and Hunter had sexual intercourse resulting in him ejaculating inside of you.” 

Hunter and Mad glanced at one another awkwardly... 

Then realized three pairs of eyes were NOW peering over the entrance of the Marauder to the Beldame. 

Omega, Sil, and LOVE had been awake, listening in and hearing EVERYTHING. Tech and Wrecker thought they were all still asleep in the Marauder’s bunks... 

Hunter sighed heavily “Please...not in front of THEM.” 

“I agree” Mad added.  Tiggy’s cold nose touched the side of Mad’s belly.  She immediately grabbed the dog’s snout and gently pushed her away “This is becoming TOO MUCH to handle.” 

"Go tidy your bunks!  ON THE DOUBLE!!!”  Echo thundered, then climbed up the ladder after them.  The sound of running feet and whispered gossiping could be heard above. 

“I’ll...uh...leave you all to it.”  Wrecker awkwardly spoke then followed Echo up the ladder, closing the hatch between both ships. 

Tech glanced back at Hunter and Mad “Now that we have the privilege of privacy.  Please answer my last question?” 

“Several days ago...the night before we left Ord Mantell.”  Hunter spoke first.  He then turned away from Mad suddenly to glance just over his shoulder. 

“You...did NOT utilize a method of contraception?”  Tech pushed up his goggles. 

“No.” Mad and Hunter shot back in unison. 

Hunter then glanced down at the floor to his right.  Tiggy sat innocently against the Beldame’s wall watching the interaction.  Hunter found her stare mildly intrusive...but he couldn’t explain why. 

“No need to feel threatened by my line of methodical questioning.” Tech plainly spoke.  “I am only attempting to...” 

“Get to the point Tech!” Hunter growled.   

Mad interjected while reaching up and gently rubbing Hunter’s shoulders.  A move that was to self sooth herself as well as him. “That was WELL OVER 12 hours before I met with the doctor.  Before...we had sex.  I’m also PAST menopause, haven’t menstruated in YEARS...” 

“Yeah...”  Hunter, still aggravated kept on “...she’s a woman of a CERTAIN AGE...isn’t THAT what you said...Tech???” 

Tech scowled and took the bait “Why are you bringing THAT up?” 

Their voices rising louder... 

On the other side of the hatch, up in the Marauder Wrecker leaned over with his ear against a drinking glass...with the glass up against the floor. 

Echo emerged from the back of the Marauder “What the Kark are YOU doing?” 

“Gaining intel” Wrecker concentrated on what little sounds he could POSSIBLY hear between both ships...which wasn’t much. 

Echo strode over purposely to Wrecker and kicked the glass out from under him.  His head hit the floor of the Marauder with a LOUD THWACK! 

Down below in the Beldame the sound was heard loud and clear.  Interrupting the argument.  Tech, Hunter, and Mad glanced up at the hatch above them. 

Then glanced at each other. 

Hunter quickly shot a look at Tiggy.  The dog continued to stare at them with undivided concentration.  She silently wagged her tail at him. 

“Maybe SOMEONE is trying to tell two brothers not to fight?”  Mad offered. 

Hunter and Tech sighed. 

“My apologies Tech.” Hunter sighed.  “You’re just trying to help.” 

“Unfortunately, there is not much I can assist with.  My datapad cannot scan to the frequency needed to give an ultrasonic image.  It looks like Hunter will be the ONLY one to help you on this journey.”  Tech glanced at Mad. 

“I can only hear so much right now.  Only know your body chemistry has changed too...but that doesn’t tell me anything of detail.”  Hunter added. 

Mad took both her hands off Hunter’s shoulder and pressed HARD on her temple.  She took a deep breath.  “There’s GOT to be SOMETHING...” She inhaled, then exhaled, massaging her temple.  “The coordinates to the extraction site...do we know where to go?” 

Tech answered “Echo has them.  It seems to be a fairly new site for the Rebellion.” 

Mad took her hands away from her face “Let’s go then.  Right NOW.  Before this...THING gets any bigger!  I will VERY willingly forfeit ANY of the credits...HELL, I’ll GIVE THEM BACK THE INITIAL CREDITS I GOT AT IMPLANTATION!!!  I JUST WANT TO BE DONE OF THIS WHOLE MESS!!!” 

“Unfortunately...that is two standard rotations from now.” 

“Can’t we arrive SOONER???”  Mad was close to crying. 

“I think what Tech means” Hunter explained taking her hands into his “is if we show up too soon to the meeting point, we may actually compromise the objective.”    

A tear slipped down Mad’s face. 

“Believe me, we’d take you RIGHT there in an instant.”  Hunter brushed away the tear.  “But I think we should bide our time...” 

“What if I die before then?”  Mad whispered. 

Hunter and Tech glanced at each other with a heavy look of foreboding. 

“That’s NOT going to happen.  Just a little while longer.”  Hunter put his whole heart into the statement. 

“But you don’t know that.”  

Hunter was silent. 

“Tech?”  Mad pleaded. 

He was silent for a few beats then replied “Perhaps if there were a way to test...perhaps we could rule out any ABNORMAL indicators.  But I do not have access to a lab.  And it seems the supplies on the Marauder and the Beldame are for first aid or rudimentary medical purposes only...I am deeply sorry.” 

Everyone was quiet...nobody knew what to say. 

Tiggy still sitting nearby whined pitifully, her tail slowly sweeping the floor behind her. 

Mad got up from the chair, Hunter rose with her, still holding her hands.   

“I’m sorry Hunky...just need some time to myself.” 

Hunter let go of Mad’s hands and stood there hesitantly. 

“Gonna take a long warm shower...think some things over.” 

Mad strode away towards her stateroom.  Tiggy quietly padded off after her. 

Tech took note of this. 

Then turned to Hunter...FINALLY realizing his brother’s “choice” in clothing. 

“Hunter?” 

“Yeah Tech” 

“Why are you wearing one of Mad’s skirts?” 

Hunter cleared his throat looking down at himself “Let’s just say...I REALLY need to do laundry.” 

Tech shook his head, then turned away towards the Marauder’s ladder. 

Hunter kept his calm walking down the Beldame’s aisle, then stepping into Mad’s stateroom. The door slid closed, and he flopped onto the bed, exhaling stressfully. 

He was mortified. 

Hunter couldn’t even IMAGINE how horrible and utterly terrified Mad must be feeling right now... 

He could hear the water running in Mad’s refresher.   

Hunter could also hear her sobbing...softly.  She probably thought she was doing this without him being able to hear.   

His heart ached.  He wanted to go to her, hold her and never let go.  But he respected her request for solitude and would pick up his things from this room and leave her to it...until she requested his presence.  Besides, he had things to do... 

Mad sat on the floor of her refresher letting the warm water run over her...trying to ignore her newly burgeoning belly.  It was ALL too much to handle as she sobbed quietly. 

Tiggy, unbeknownst to Mad had slipped into the refresher too.  She gingerly stepped under the water then pawed at Mad.  Mad’s raised her head. 

“Come here, Pot Roast” Mad pulled Tiggy into a bear hug.  The dog wagged her tail and cuddled into the embrace. 

LOVE knew they were eavesdropping.  They couldn’t help it.  LOVE was worried about their mother.  And, to LOVE that was the only motivation they needed. 

So, LOVE excused themselves from Sil, Omega, Echo, and Wrecker. 

To the back of the Marauder.  To float and “meditate” 

I am one with the Force and the Force is with me... 

Reaching out...past the Marauder through the decking of both ships...into the Beldame...sliding past Tech... behind Hunter... 

...who IMMEDIATELY turned his head around to glance RIGHT AT LOVE! 

LOVE almost lost their cool...then realized Hunter may have sensed their presence momentarily but could NOT see them. 

They pulled away from Hunter who was then distracted by Tech’s line of questioning.  They could FEEL his irritation building as his senses picked up SOMETHING out of the ordinary.  But LOVE could also feel Hunter’s INTERNAL struggle gnawing away at him. 

LOVE finally settled in next to Tiggy, who comfortably accepted LOVE’S presence without giving them away.  They both sat and watched the whole conversation between Tech, Hunter, and Mad... 

Even Echo kicking the glass out from under Wrecker.  LOVE slapped both hands over their mouth to stifle the laugh...and caught a split second of a memory from Wrecker.  A residue of nostalgia caused by the pain of his head bouncing off the decking floor... 

A tall skinny man...with the same color of hair as LOVE’S mother, grinning...a toothpick protruding from his mouth...” Playing SPY I see...” the words and images flooding together and dissipating like a chalk drawing in the rain... 

Hunters head snapped back to Tiggy, his eyebrow quirked at SOMETHING...still unsure what. 

LOVE took a deep breath and kept up with the Force...until the conversation ended.   

They pulled back into their body.  LOVE reached up and unexpectedly wiped the tears away from their eyes. 

Then it hit them... 

Their mother’s fear and anguish. 

Hunter’s internal struggle to keep it all together. 

Tech’s well-hidden panic of intellectual impotence in the face of adversity. 

Wrecker’s deep buried longing for a family member that was lost. 

Omega and Sil’s constant stress from their past and their unknown future. 

Echo’s constant background level of physical pain as a modified human amputee. 

Tiggy’s resulting stress and anxiety from the emotions of all the humans around her. 

LOVE could FEEL IT ALL...EVERYTHING in those just those few moments... 

Let alone LOVE’S own feelings. 

How?  How the KARK do the Jedi handle it ALL THE TIME??? 

To read Chapter 19 - "HEART OF THE MATTER"

https://www.tumblr.com/skellymom/761182994193154048/vagabonds-chapter-19?source=share

Please let me know if you wanted to be added to my taglist or removed! Thanks so much for your support!!!

[review-anon]

Oooh! Ooh! Do the favorite and least favorite character thing for the DR games, both canon games and the fangans you have seen, if you would be so kind!--Timeline Anon

Oh boy this is gonna be a doozy. Right off the bat I will only do the fangans I’ve mentioned in the previous ask. I also won’t do Despair Time since I’ve already told you guys what my favourites are in a previous ask.

So let’s get to it.

Trigger Happy Havoc

Favourite: Chihiro Fujisaki. Yeah I know low hanging fruit, but I think Chihiro is a really endearing character. He may not be the most physically strongest character but mentally, he’s easily one of the strongest as it takes serious guts to face your secret head on, especially one like his. His death is tragic and sad but he also manages to pull his weight even after his death. How many characters have a lifespan in terms of plot longer then their actual lifespan, not many I say.

On a side note, regarding the whole trans debate, I don’t want to get into that because a) I will do so in my Valentines Day review and b) It’s a very sensitive topic that I’m not informed enough to talk about and I don’t want to dehumanise anyone who is trans. But what I will say is despite what some YouTubers think, Japan is actually quite accepting of trans people. The reason being is because of how strict gender roles are out there, transitioning is seen as confirming to social harmony, whereas homophobia is high due to it being seen as a threat to social harmony. It’s the complete opposite of here in the West when homosexuals are widely accepted (mostly) and trans people have to struggle.

Least Favourite: Junko Enoshima. Again this is obvious I’d you read my stuff because I don’t make it very hidden I don’t like Junko. But to summarise I feel she is the wrong type of villain for a franchise like Danganronpa as she’s way too one dimensional and a generic doomsday villain. I also hate how neither Spike Chunsoft nor the fans can let her go because of her involvement in almost everything that has gone wrong. And she is a canon sue in Danganronpa 3 hands down. Also Junko basically rips off a OC villain I have made years ago but she does the whole “embodiment of despair” worse then he does

Goodbye Despair

Favourite: Gundham Tanaka. This guy is an absolute blast and I was NOT expecting him to behave the way he was. His English VA is also absolutely peak material as Chris Tergliafera delivers his lines perfectly. I'm a big animal lover as well so of course I'm drawn to Gundham on that route. His Chuunibyou personality and speech has a lot of layers to it as well as he's more insightful to what others think. I've seen a lot of compliants that his 'heroic sacrifice' wasn't as noble in the end as he tried to get away with it, but everyone was literally starving to death. Do you expect rational thought there? I don't think so.

Its for this reason why I get frustated with A Student Out of Time for how Bubbles has neglected Gundham. I mean when was the last time he was important? Let the Dogs Out and that's it. Again, I have not read Dianthus Memory so if Gundham does something amazing there, don't expect me to know.

Least Favorite: Hiyoko Sainoji. Now before certain anons, I know who you are raise your pitchforks and try to delete me off the internet, hear me out. Hiyoko in the games is a complete and utter bitch. Heck her introduction is her squishing ants and while ants do make me squemish, especially flying ones, that is still needlessly cruel. She also insults and bullies everyone around her, and she also picks on Kazuichi and Mikan, two people who have a terrible history of being bullied on. And while the whole "Hiyoko is meant to be a survivor but got changed at the last minute" rumour is a lie, her character development was too little and too late.

As someone who has been bullied in the past, especially by someone with the level of maturity as Hiyoko, while I wouldn't say Hiyoko deserves to be nuked into orbit, she doesn't exactly curry favour with me. Also while fan reception shouldn't affect how one views a character, but dear god does Hiyoko have some of the worst kinnies I've ever seen. Like if you disagree with how people view Hiyoko, fine, but if you try to send death messages and get blogs cancelled, then guess what? I'm not gonna suddenly like your chosen one. They say you can tell what a person is like by their favourites and with Hiyoko it shows.

Ultra Despair Girls

Favourite: Hiroko. Okay so this is kinda a spoiler for that one ask I haven't gotten to yet who my favourite Danganronpa parents are and while that is about the ASOOT/DTFA ones, canonically Hiroko rocks. Given how Hiro is as a person, I don't think anyone was expecting much from his mother but hoo boy were we wrong. She seems to be the only Adult Resistance member with a brain cell on and she does as much heavy lifting as Komaru and Toko do. And as such I am very sad she is dead in Survivor.

Least Favourite: Haiji. Do I need to explain this one? DO I NEED TO EXPLAIN THIS ONE?! Seeing as I have to, I guess I will. Haiji is a snake of a character who basically forces Komaru and Toko to do his dirty work, is responsible for most of the events in Ultra Despair Girls, is an absolute jerk of a character, almost breaks Komaru at the end by trying to pressure her to killing all the children with the Monokuma helmets on and unlike every other canonical Danganronpa villain, he gets away with everything. See how I described all of that and NOT mentioned his child touching antics? Yeah because even without that, he was already a POS but with that? Please get melted into a pile of sludge and I know you picked Cyndaquil as your starter. MOVING ON.

End of Hope's Peak Academy

Favourite: Seiko. This one is hard due to how most of the Danganronpa 3 cast are unlikeable arseholes. But Seiko manages to be one of the few that is decent. Note I said decent, as I still have issues with Seiko like how I feel she was only made so that Kodaka doesn't have to kill off Kyoko, how a lot of her backstory felt emotionally manipulative which doesn't make me feel happy, and how in the end the entire Class 76 trio drama is meaningless seeing how all three die in the end. Ruruka should have lived like in the stage adaptation. Still Seiko has a good design, her transformations are dope and yeah let's face it that one scene in Despair Arc is why in Survivor she is shipped with Nagito.

Least Favourite: Ryota. This actually hard since its a tie between him and Kazuo. But since I did like Kazuo for a bit for how he showed Juzo his place and how since we know he was brainwashed by the BSDV (Bullshit Despair Video) he can be excused for a lot of his actions. Ryota has no such excuse. There's a reason fans call him the Ultimate Plot Device because it feels like he was only created to be a easy way for how Class 77-B fell into despair, which is like NO. He also just screams and yells all the time, and I know people are like "But Yuki in SDRA2 was like that as well" the difference is Yuki breaking down was the entire point of the Killing Game, and yes the same applies to Ryota, I think Kazuo didn't want Ryota to be actually involved but watch the game instead. And oh his twist villian role lasted less time then it takes for Kanade to explain to Syobai why his latest theory why she killed Setsuka is wrong. This is the one character I question the very existence of and there is a reason why he gets removed or forgotten in literaly every askblog out there.

Killing Harmony

Favourite: Kaito Momota. This guy is a huge himbo and I'm here for it. When he punched Shuichi at first I thought this guy was gonna be a jerk or be the resident idiot like Kazuichi and Hiro before him were, but while not bright I was wrong on him being useless. Its kinda ironic that I like Kaito and yet I had issues with his ASOOT ancestor but that's how life goes. He has some very moral uplifting messages and his death as much of a mindfuck that was, is both depressing and impressive. I'm so glad they cut out his misogynistic nature from the Japanese verison or else Kaito will go the way of Mitch.

Least Favourite: Tsumugi Shirogane. Low hanging fruit again I know. But seriously who even likes Tsumugi? Prior to the mastermind reveal she was one of the most boring characters in the franchise as she just kept saying how plain she was, just said references which will age like milk within a decade or so, and is easily THE worst mastermind in the entire Danganronpa franchise, as Kodaka man, I know you wanted to deliver a message about fiction but you did NOT do it in a good way whatsoever. The fact I had a dream shortly after V3's release about Tsumugi being arrested and being jailed for and I quote "Being the worst mastermind since Tengan" says everything.

I just SO hope A Student Out of Time does Tsumugi justice.

Also a dishonourable mention goes to Kokichi Oma. Character wise I have nothing against him, as he's well written, despite what SOMEONE would say, fits the themes of Killing Harmony well, has a good VA and really makes you think long and hard about the character, which is a sign you made a good character there. So what is my issue with Kokichi? Well its a silly reason but for a entire year I had and I shit you not, recurring nightmares where Kokichi Oma was a psychotic yandere who would stalk and harass me, made worse by the fact he was self aware and the entire thing was like a living Nightmare on Elm Street. Trust me, it was WAY worse then it sounded and its for this reason I cannot touch Doki Doki Literature Club because the game reminds me too much of my nightmares.

Also I am not scared of his nightmare faces because my subconcious made worse looking ones.

Since its a very personal and honestly rather petty reason I've ranked him lower then Tsumugi who has way more issues story wise.

Another Despair Academy

Favourite: Akane Taira. Akane is in my opinion is how you do a traitor character right. Throughout the entire story, she's been a really supportive character and when she almost gets killed by Kizuna who is then killed by Ayame, you can feel the trauma she is going through made worse by Tsurugi saying that she should kill herself. She also hides the fact she's the traitor and mastermind very well so you don't know she's one of the Big Bads until the very end, and I agree with Bubbles, LINUJ should have led her live as she did realise the error of her ways and that listening to Utsuro all the time is bad for her. This why I love how she is in both ASOOT and DTFA as in the former she is a pivotal Quantum Crew member and in one of the best ASOOT ships of all the time and in the latter her interactions with Nagi are so interesting.

Least Favourite: Mistuhiro Higa. As much as we all like the WeebyNewz jokes let's face it, Mitch is a horrible character. Like we have had unpleasant Chapter 1 culpirts but he takes the cake on the vileness. While I believe the remake will change some things up, Mitch disrespecting women I feel won't be a change made. I will also forever hold the fact Mikado had the gail to make an entire fucking city after him against him. Also he's a football player. I don't like footballers as I seem as arrogant shitheads and Mitch does NOT help that stereotype one bit.

Super Danganronpa Another 2: Sun of Despair and Moon of Hope

Favourite: Nikei Yomiuri. This isn't even a contest. Not only is Nikei my favourite SDRA2 character but he's probably my favourite Danganronpa character period. The second I laid eyes onto him, I just knew I was gonna like this character, and I also knew he was gonna die as the culprit in Chapter 4 to mess with me. Let's just say I'm Apollo's favourite for a reason. Now originally I liked him because of how playful he is and how excitable he is, but as the game progresses you get the feeling that's not all there is to him.

And then Chapter 4 happened. Now while I have many opinions on how mismanaged Chapter 4 is, what I did like was how Nikei is in my personal opinion the single BEST example of a liar character, eclipsing the likes of Celeste and Kokichi for one simple reason; he doesn't just deceive the cast, he deceives YOU as well. Its also very apparent that like Kokichi, there's more then meets the eye and you really have to read between the lines to figure out what his true intentions are. And why I hold myself with bated breath for what Onmake Mode brings.

I will forever say one thing. As much as I like Nikei as a character, I will never, NEVER ever want to see him in real life. A meeting between us will ended extremely poorly and I think this is why I managed to stay more civilised then some Nikei fans are, because like a Warhammer 40K I took one look at Nikei and be like "No thanks, I'm good."

Which is probably why Nikei and Review Anon don't get along though I will say given how much of a shithead she has been to him, he does have reasons to be mad at her.

Least Favourite: Kanade Otonokoji. Even more low hanging fruit but point is the only reason I didn't completely hate her off the bat is due to The Mistake, and after The Mistake, everything looks good by comparsion. But now that shitstorm is behind me, I can see Kanade as a cheap Korekiyo copy that ruins the story more then anything. Another reason why I dislike her is because I'm certain that SDRA2's Chapter 3 murder method was insprised by the real life murder case which got Killing Harmony banned from South Korea. Which I REALLYY hope not because then I have some very choice words to LINUJ because we can meme all we want about Danganronpa but using real life tragedies for your silly fangames is where I draw the line, its why I refuse to play Pokemon Reborn.

Danganronpa F Shattered Hope

Favourite: Pocket. Pocket is everything that Ace isn't. He is a loudmouth that gets scared and he has STELLAR voice acting, but unlike Ace he doesn't take it too far and has his likeable moments such as when Corza shows the corpses of the two killed students to everyone, Pocket calls him out for traumatising everyone. Basically Pocket is the cooler Ace and I really hope he doesn't go the way of Leon.

If you know what I mean.

Least Favourite: Cancel. I cancel Cancel. Joke's aside I find her quite annoying and before you ask why not Moraiteru well with her I think they are setting her up to be the Rival Character so her being brass is understandable, but aside from sounding like a Instagram star, she gets very grating and annoying. The only redeeming thing about her is she got extremely sick in Chapter 1 and thus didn't blurse me with her presence. But I'm sure the Class Trial will make up for it.

Eternal Endings

Favourite: Sonechka Morozova. This girl isn't here to take any prisoners and I'm so here for it. Sonechka is interesting because she's very cynical but given her powers and her nationality, and fun fact about the Soviet Union, its collapse in the 90s makes the Lost Decade in Japan look like a picnic by comparsion, means she must have seen some shit, and probably lies about some of her visions so certain people don't see to make her a statistic. Clearly though if her death was anything to go that isn't good enough. I so expect her to clash with Yun due to him being such a Commie hater. Now my opinions can change over time but Eternal Endings only has its prologue right now so its literally first impressions here.

Least Favourite: Francisca and Adiranna Rivera. Now design wise these gals are the best since when was the last time you saw conjointed twins in a Killing Game? Its also a twist to see conjointed twins that don't get along with each other but that also lies the problem, I can forsee their bitching and arguing to get old and tiring very fast. You also KNOW they are gonna re-die at the same time unless you want to go super morbid. I long for sweet character development for these two but that's not yet.

Cartoons in Danganronpa

Favourite: Jenny Wakemen. Now I will preface that I haven't really watched any of the shows in Cartoons in Danganronpa. This gives me an advantage because then I'm not going in with pre bias. For example a friend of mine who's really into Powerpuff Girls will be biased towards Blossom and Bubbles, but I don't have those weaknesses.

That being said I think Jenny is a sweet character. She is so wiling to protect others much like K1-B0 but unlike him doesn't come off as like "Stop being robophobic" which got old very quickly with him. And I also hate the fact she's being set up the murder of the first chapter. I cannot say anymore as I don't know how many people here have seen it but please do its really really good.

Least Favourite: Eddy. Now while I'm not avid fans of any of the shows there are some I've seen clips off in my life, and I never was a fan of Ed n Eddy, and seeing how Eddy here behaves really doesn't make me feel better. He is a slimy bastard who's always thinking to line his own pockets by conning others and I could easily see him causing trouble. You would expect me to put Cartmen here but anyone who's familar with South Park and watched Cartoons in Danganronpa can tell you, he's the rival character and thus is meant to be disliked. Eddy doesn't have that.

And finally to round things off...

The Mistake AKA Danganronpa: The Wolf's Game

'Favourite': The polygolt MC. I don't remember the names of any of the cast and frankly due to how much I hate them I am not gonna go back and heck. So let's talk our MC. He is the Ultimate Polyglot which means he speaks multiple languages and can be endearing. At least I remember him as such as I'm sure I erased all memories of him being bad. I am also convinced he's the master of the Werewolves because happy endings are illegal in The Mistake. There's some other characters which are okay but he's the most ok.

Least Favourite: The Toxologist Rival Character, DEAR GOD DO I WANT TO DISSOLVE THIS CHARACTER INTO ACID! Let's see why I hate him. He caused no joke ALL of the conflict in The Mistake as both Chapter 1 and 2's murders were his fault, he also started the conflict in Chapter 3 and then THAT had the aucidity to try and make him sympathic by don't feel bad for this mass murderer who won a previous Killing Game because he has a family and a girlfriend and a comatose brother who the exposed Mastermind kills alongside herself.

Poor Scarlet you don't deserve to share the same talent as him.

Yeah you can tell I don't feel any pity for this character whatsoever. The Chapter 3 culprit is Kanade on steroids but she is meant to be hated, we are meant to somehow like this. NO. NO. NO. NO.

If I missed any games I mentioned beforehand then I apologise but this was a long one to do, also no spinoff canon series favs.

[ghost-in-the-hall]

Posting Update!!

Hello hello, I am back and preparing to launch into full swing! I'm pushing to have something out tonight (it was supposed to be out last night for the Equinox but we don't need to tell anybody about that) just something fluffy and very self indulgent to get myself back in the swing of things. But after that...

Fall For Me (Poly! Sleep Token x Reader) - Sleep Token friends the long wait is just about over, chapter 10 will be coming soon!

The Baptism (Charles Greywolf x Reader) - ooh boy is this one going to be a doozy. A little insane about him post concert I'm not gunna lie. All of Powerwolf is going to come back a bit bigger, stronger, and sexier because my god those men know what they're doing

More updates to come...

[petras-drizzt-corner]

Ooh, have fun with Starless Night! It might just be my favorite of the series and is in my Top 5 books of all time.

Also I have loved seeing your thoughts as you read the books so far!

Yay, thank you so much for this! I love rambling about what has become my biggest special interest, and it makes me so happy that other people are right ther with me!

And oh boy. From where I am in Starless Night, I can already tell this one's a doozy. Drizzt's little harem, Artemis and his plot armor, and MORE JARLAXLE???? The makings of an amazing book right there.

Well thanks for this, it was fun! Bee seeing ya! -Petra !

[fingerless-glovez]

Hoo boy, this one was a doozy. But I think his looks pretty good for a crime against humanity.

Ooh, busted

Flipped version without caption under the cut

[iviarellereads]

Nona the Ninth, Bonus Material: The Unwanted Guest

(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For detail on The Locked Tomb coverage and the index, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

In which the fandom goes wild.

Laid out as a stageplay, surely setting us up (one might say, setting the scene) for impromptu fan performances, Tamsyn Muir gave us just one bonus in the Nona paperback, but it's a doozy. I am operating under the assumption that you have read (or listened to a fan assembled live or recorded performance of) the whole play in my comments. If you haven't, you can now read it yourself here for free!

Scene One

The stage is set: a funeral, with seven coffins, a row of six and one at the front distinguished from its fellows by its many gold and violet flowers(1) and wreaths, and being propped open at the top. A tray of meat sits on the closed bottom. Mourners(2) in gaudy masks take a piece of meat, then lean into the open head, though the view obscures whether they're kissing or feeding the presumed corpse.(3)

Palamedes Sextus is the final mourner in the line, his mask plain, wooden, shattered and pieced back together. He almost looks like he belongs. As the last mourners file out, he considers the meat, skips it,(4) and reaches into the coffin.

A hand grabs his arm and the corpse sits upright. It's IANTHE TRIDENTARIUS. Her face is covered in bloody kisses. Ianthe You're fucked, my lad. The lights go out.

Scene Two

The room is now empty, except for a fireplace with no fire, and the door at the back. Ianthe stands by the fireplace, dressed as a butler. Pal enters, in a ruined grey suit with a purple tie,(5) though his body isn't apparently injured at all.

Pal is calling upon "the lady of the house", for at least the second time. Ianthe-butler says "the master's answer"(6) won't have changed. Pal would still like to hear that for himself, and offers a whole skeletal hand(7) when Ianthe-butler asks for his card. Ianthe-butler says "If you'd be so good as to stay here", and steps out through the door.

Pal faces the audience at the front of the stage. He speaks of the grammar of "if", and how sometimes it's used for permission and sometimes used to command while pretending to acknowledge another person's agency.

In the background, Ianthe returns, now dressed in an "ooh-la-la" maid costume with "an enormous purple feather duster",(8) flicking it at the dead fireplace. Pal continues his monologue on "if", finishing with the assertion that the phrasing Ianthe-butler used is over-the-top in its politeness, so it circles back to being rude again.

Palamedes A pretty silk glove over a fist of iron. Or, in this case, gold. He turns to the maid for the first time. Palamedes Don't you think? Ianthe No, sir.

Ianthe-maid curtseys and leaves, stage right.(9) Pal is examining the dead fireplace when the butler returns through the door, and says the master will see him in "the Almond Room". (10) Pal doesn't move, but robed figures wheel the coffins from the first scene back in, now numbered 1 through 7, standing upright in a semicircle in the center of which is placed a chaise longue.(11) Pal pays no attention to the action.

The door opens again and Ianthe enters, this time in a rather daringly unbuttoned shirt and a pair of leather trousers, plus a Lyctoral rainbow robe draped over her shoulders.(12) The whole affect is louche;(13) she carries a small clutch bag. Ianthe walks over to the chaise longue and drapes herself across it artistically.

Having made her true entrance, Ianthe says it's so good of the "Inspector" to call so late.(14) He says it's not that late, she affirms that it is quite late, given how he's in tatters and can't last much longer. Pal says she's been saying that for the last three visits.

Ianthe asks what Pal wants. He says the same thing he's been asking for, the body of Naberius Tern. Ianthe finally agrees that he shall have it, if he can win a simple game. Pal is surprised, but goes along with it. She says he only has to guess which of the seven coffins, after asking her no more than five questions, none of which can be directly asking which coffin he's in or anything about the coffins themselves. He debates with her about how many questions it would take under those other circumstances, and she observes that he must have been great fun at parties.(15)

Palamedes asks his first question unintentionally: will Ianthe play fair? She says she never does, and he has four left.

Palamedes pinches the bridge of his nose with one hand, turns away, and walks downstage. The curtain falls behind him--leaving him alone with the audience. Palamedes Ianthe's sparkling personality aside . . . this doesn't really make much sense. A new VOICE answers from the back of the auditorium. We do not see the speaker.(16)

The voice asks why it doesn't make sense. Pal says logic questions depend on a set of rules, and Ianthe hasn't set any. The voice suggests thinking more broadly, because logic isn't the important piece here: psychology is.

Pal almost talks himself out of this, but then the voice asks what would happen if he asked Ianthe to pick a number from one to seven. Pal realizes she likely would pick that number, trying to outfox him.(17) The voice says it won't be quite that easy, but Pal can get Ianthe to open herself up unintentionally and expose herself so he can get the answer. Pal nods and turns back to the stage as the curtains rise.

Voice I mean, more than she's already exposing herself with that shirt. (Pause) I'm kind of into the trousers, though.(18)

Scene Three

The curtain rises on the same scene as before--seven upright coffins, chaise longue, Ianthe--except that a robed and masked figure is now standing beside each of the coffins. Palamedes walks upstage to stand next to the chaise longue.

Palamedes says he has his first question. Ianthe corrects him, second, but invites him to ask. Pal asks if Ianthe believes in "the permeability of the soul?" Ianthe is dismissive, as the robed figures move the coffins. They place coffins 2 and 6 on their backs on either side of the chaise. Pal sits on coffin 6 awkwardly, as an attendant crowns Ianthe with ivy and sprays her with perfume, and another puts a gold cup in her hand and fills it from a gold jug.(19)

Ianthe wanted Pal to ask something more fun, maybe something sexual in nature. The attendants offer Pal a cup, but he covers it with his hand before they pour anything in.

Ianthe (Despairingly) You don't even drink! Palamedes In my defence: I'm dead, and this wine doesn't exist.

Ianthe suggests this improves it, as the false can have a "piquancy"(20) that the real lacks. Pal asks if that's a quote from something, and Ianthe, acting increasingly drunk,(21) goes on about pétillance(22) and asks if Pal's "tingue" ever "toungle[d]" when he was alive. Pal says they're not here to talk about his tongue, and makes to repeat his question, but Ianthe remembers. She addresses the attendants to say there's nothing the Sixth won't turn into a seminar, and she "shudders to imagine their pillow talk." Pal says "pillow talk is a science" on the Sixth, and Ianthe responds that she's not interested.

Getting back to the matter at hand, Ianthe admits(23) she does not believe in permeability of the soul. Pal asks if that means she believes "that the soul is both indivisible and impermeable", which she does. He asks if Ianthe believes the soul is malleable, can be altered or deformed. Ianthe says it must be so, or a revenant wouldn't behave as it does. Pal asks then if the soul is only imperfectly elastic, able to return to its original shape. Ianthe agrees to this as well

Pal summarizes: one would expect that a revenant would act like a newborn child in its behaviour, but there are cases where revenants clearly act in ways informed by their adult lives.(24) Ianthe accepts this, and with no reference made to the query about being in agreement being Pal's last question.(25)

Thus, Pal comes back to his original question: if you accept that the soul can be changed, and never fully recover, does it not follow that it can be diminished as well? Ianthe says that's not at all given. Pal says that surprises him, because most objects that can be deformed can be diminished. He compares it to a stone and a sculptor shaping it, and the stone can't regrow what was chipped off, and indeed someone who works around stone work will wear a mask to avoid breathing in the stone dust and damaging himself.

Tried beyond her patience, Ianthe takes off her garland and flings it irritably across the stage.

Ianthe can't do it anymore(26) and says the soul cannot be diminished because it's the underpinning of Lyctorhood. If the soul could be diminished, it couldn't be the perpetual fuel for the Lyctor's power, and only a soul can be used without being consumed in the process. Pal says that they don't know it, but Ianthe says she's a Lyctor, and she studied under Augustine who was a Lyctor for ten thousand years, and Pal has no idea.

Pal suggests that the rate of decay might be infinitesimally small, a soul might last a hundred thousand years before anyone noticed a change. Ianthe dismisses this as lacking evidence. Pal keeps trying to argue, but Ianthe says she's eaten a soul, and he hasn't.

Palamedes So your best argument boils down to "I know more about this than you do." Ianthe It's a very strong argument. Unless we get into "what's it like to be weirdly codependent with your dead-eyed cousin," I'm more or less guaranteed to win. Minions! Clear all of this garbage away; my guest has to go and take some deep breaths for a while.

The attendants move forward, and Pal walks to the edge of stage so the curtain can come down once more, hiding the action behind him. He says that went well, but the voice says the argument went nowhere.

Palamedes Ouch. Voice Sorry, babe, I can't compliment-sandwich this.(27)

Pal says it wasn't nowhere, he has a better idea of Ianthe's philosophical stances, and he thinks he can exploit them. The voice asks if jumping into Ianthe's "pet body" was Camilla's idea.(28) It continues that the Third are very good at giving people what they think they want, and Pal's best bet might be to stop asking Palamedes-questions, which she expects, and start asking Ianthe-questions. Pal isn't good at those, but the voice encourages him: play to your own weakness, everything here is Ianthe. Pal protests, not the bit that's Naberius Tern, which the voice points out is the part Pal is trying to find.

Palamedes considers this. Palamedes Ianthe questions. Okay. He turns upstage as the curtain begins to rise. Voice I believe in you. Palamedes (Over his shoulder) You didn't always. I had to fight for that.

Scene Four

The curtain rises on the stage, reset, with Ianthe on her chaise once more. The order of the coffins is now changed to 7-2-3-4-5-6-1.(29) Ianthe asks if Pal is feeling better, Pal says he doesn't feel much of anything, being dead, but he has his next question.

Ianthe Oh, Lord. Something juicy about pneumatic apocope,(30) I expect. I feel like I'm playing strip poker with Harrow; shyly unbuttoning her baggy black robe to reveal a baggier, blacker robe(31) underneath . . . (Pause) Yuck. I hope that hasn't awakened anything in me.(32)

Instead, Pal asks if Ianthe regrets murdering Babs. All seven attendants strike the lids of their respective coffins, once, together, then pick up coffins 2-3 and 5-6 and form waist-high barriers on either side of the stage by stacking them. Pal stands behind the one on the left, Ianthe behind the right, facing center stage.(33)

Ianthe gets a little up in arms over calling it murder. Pal says if she has another word for killing "intentionally and with malice aforethought," he'd be glad to switch. Ianthe says there was no malice involved.

Palamedes slams both hands down flat on the lid of the upper coffin, then thrusts his arm out to point an accusing finger at Ianthe.(34)

Pal accuses Ianthe of avoiding the question.

Ianthe is somewhat taken aback. So, after a second, is Palamedes.(35)

Ianthe asks why Pal did that, but Pal doesn't know. Still, he gets back on topic, and asks if Ianthe really denies she murdered Babs. No, it's a fair enough accusation,(36) but society is really to blame.(37) The cavalier's whole purpose is to die for the necromancer, though Cam's got "an element of horse/stable door confusion".(38)

Pal counters that the cav's role is to protect their necromancer, so what did Tern die to protect, Ianthe's ambitions? Ianthe says she is the sum of her ambitions, and that's why she and "Harry" are Lyctors, and Pal is "a little bag of bones."(39) Pal suggests Ianthe must be a real catch for salespeople, because she never stops to look at the price tag. If she came into his shop, he'd triple the cost of everything, and Ianthe would be too careless to notice the label swap. Ianthe retorts that if Pal came into her shop, she'd have security throw him out when he tried to haggle.

Ianthe states outright: the cost is the cost, and if blood must be shed, you demean yourself by arguing over how much. Pal asks if that's her answer, then, that Tern had to die, so she regrets nothing? Ianthe pivots and says she was very fond of him, and she thinks he was fond of her.

Pal is surprised, and Ianthe says Babs had some good points. He was always a good source of drama, for example. His tragedy was that he looked like he should be very interesting, but he never was. He was loyal, though it was to Coronabeth. He was sworn to serve before Ianthe and Corona were even conceived,(40) but he never shirked his obligation to it. Not like Harrow's original cav, who couldn't come to Canaan House because he was too sad. Pal says he heard it was because he got blown up, and Ianthe says yes, blown up for being too sad. And look at Abigail Pent, bringing her husband, and where did she get?(41)

Pal is flabbergasted. He says, so Ianthe was raised with Babs, since before Pal even knew Cam, and she still doesn't regret killing him? Ianthe pauses, then says no, and claps her hands.

Ianthe (Brightly) That's all, folks!(42) Back after the break.

Pal wanders downstage, distracted, as the curtains descend behind him.

Palamedes Do you know the worst part? Voice Tell me. Palamedes From her point of view, it all makes sense. Tern was shaped over years to be nothing more than--than-- Voice A perfect tool? Palamedes --a resource.(43) Something to be saved up and then spent at just the right moment. [...] Voice (Reproachfully) Cam would have smiled at "perfect tool." Palamedes Yes--she would have.(44)

A long paragraph is spent describing Pal pulling out, lighting, and smoking a cigarette. The voice draws attention to it, which makes Pal stare, with no described emotion or expression, at the cigarette between his fingers.

The voice brings him back, asking if he has any ideas for his last two questions. Still distracted, he says he thinks he does. The voice warns, he needs to use these wisely. If he doesn't turn up something, he'll lose. At this, Pal comes back to himself, drops and stomps on the cigarette, wipes his hand on his jacket. He wishes he had more time to think. As he turns away, the voice says he "used to say that a lot."

Scene Five

The stage is back to neutral, but the coffins in order 3-2-7-4-1-6-5. Ianthe asks Pal if he's had any insight. Pal asks what Ianthe made of Gideon Nav, at Canaan House. Ianthe asks why the curveball, and Pal says he had a question to spare, and was curious. Ianthe is reluctantly kind of proud of Pal's sudden trash talk.

The attendants take coffins 3, 2, 7, and 4, making a rectangle of them on the stage, a dueling ring. Attendants bring two rapiers, offering the more ornate to Ianthe, who accepts, and the less ornate to Pal, who refuses politely. The attendant is confused but takes up a dueling stance with Ianthe in the ring.

Ianthe asks where she should begin on "sweet Gubbins."(45) Pal asks for first impressions. Ianthe and the attendant duel, the latter poorly. Another attendant takes the place. Ianthe says she was intrigued, because everyone else was exactly on script for their Houses. Harry playing her part to the hilt, but Gideon dawdling behind her? Not the Ninth brand.

Palamedes "Harry"? Ianthe It's my little name for her, you know. Palamedes I can't think of a single thing she'd hate more. Ianthe You lack imagination.

Another duel with an attendant, another win to Ianthe. Pal asks what was off. Ianthe says, well, everything! The sunglasses, the vow of silence she only barely kept, the way she handled her sword. She accuses Gideon of wandering around "like she was the protagonist and we were all there to give her something to look at."(46)

Another duel, another win. Pal asks when Ianthe knew she'd underestimated Gideon. Ianthe says she estimated Gideon Nav exactly right from the first moment she laid eyes on her: a hilarious moron. Pal suggests Gideon "was smarter than even she realised."(47) Ianthe is dismissive: Gideon lived and died a dope.

Another duel, another win. Ianthe says that's all Pal will get out of her on this one. Pal says it was "tremendously helpful" actually, and thanks her. Ianthe looks suspicious, but Pal is already walking downstage, his hands in his pockets, the curtain already falling.

Voice Poor Gideon. I think she sounded fun. Palamedes Mm. You'd have liked her, I suspect. I did, once I stopped being jealous.(48) Voice Can you do this with one more question?

Pal stares at the audience for a moment, and says he thinks so, though he'd have liked less... the voice supplies, psychology, and he agrees. The voice, addressing Pal as "my child", says "there's no shame in a bluff."

Pal, on the subject of shame, says he does feel ashamed of rooting around in a dead man's body like this. He didn't like Tern, but the man deserved better than this fate.

Voice "Use every man after his desert, and who should 'scape whipping?"(49) Palamedes (Surprised) I like that. Is it from something? Voice Yes. It's complicated.

Pal asks if she still thinks of him as a child. Her problem was always reminding herself that he was one, as she told him often. He apologizes for not saving or avenging her or Pro. She says she couldn't save Pal either, and Cytherea was so fast, Pro couldn't even touch her. And, at least "we both"(50) were killed by the same person. Pal isn't comforted. The voice says it'll work out "in the wash."

Pal says he wants to believe, so much, that she is who she says she is, but she can't possibly be here. He asks how she did it. She says she gambled on the truth,(51) then died.

Palamedes You died . . . again? Voice Truly, wonderful news for my haters.(52)

Pal asks if he can know what happened. The voice says yes, but she's not allowed to tell. It was awful, "in the old sense of the word."(53) Pal asks if she can give him something. She describes a letter Pal wrote that delighted her.

It convinces him, and he tells her, though she says he doesn't have to, that he loved her, still loves her, and would have loved to learn to love her better. She says it would have been beautiful, and "Camilla would have had to cook."(54) But she didn't just want beautiful, she wanted it to last, and knew it could never. She didn't want to steal Pal's youth and potential for love away from him.

Palamedes This again? From you and her both?(55) That merely by loving you, I added to your torments? Voice (Encouragingly) Yes, and also my agonies. Palamedes Dulcinea . . .

Dulcinea, finally named by the structure, says that Pal and Cam were her best friends, and she "loved real, ugly, unfinished things." There's a freedom in being incomplete. Now she's not in the River, and will never be again.(56) Pal says if she's on the shore, he can find her. She asks which shore. Pal asks her pardon. Dulcinea says a river has two shores(57) and he might find that out for himself if it ends well.(58)

Pal asks to see her. She asks if he's sure. He is.

Blackout on the stage. Then a light on Palamedes--a Palamedes who is completely dazzled, and staring blankly outward, at nothing in particular.

Pal recites a Bible verse(59), then the lights black out again, then return to normal. Behind him, the curtain starts to rise.

Dulcinea Was I cute? Palamedes turns and moves upstage. Palamedes You're perfect.(60)

Scene Six

The stage is back to neutral, the coffins replaced but reversed, leaving the order 4-7-2-3-1-6-5.

Ianthe says the tension is killing her, or really, killing Hect. Pal says he has a question left. Ianthe says it better be a whopper, because right now she estimates he has nothing upon which to base an answer. Pal asks if she's ready, and Ianthe makes fun of him for it.

Pal asks, if Babs had died at Canaan House, before completing the Eightfold Word, would Ianthe have eaten Corona instead?

The attendants all hit their coffin lids together, once, then pick up the last three coffins and set them in the middle of the stage, like two benches and a table. Pal sits on the left hand one, Ianthe on the right, where she gets a pack of cards from an attendant and starts shuffling slowly. Throughout the scene, they play and pick up cards.(61)

Ianthe says it would be "rather peculiar" to eat Corona, seeing as she's not a cavalier. Pal doesn't understand why. Ianthe explains that the cavalier's spirit is not just a power source, it's the Lyctor's body's defence system when their consciousness is elsewhere. Pal knew that much. Ianthe says her sister is not a swordwoman. She'd have lost to Magnus, not as a cavalier, but as he is now.

Pal says Corona's compatibility as a power source would have been even higher than Tern's, and surely you could train some more sword skill into the cav's spiritual remains. Ianthe says that no, the cavalier is essentially frozen at the moment of death. Pal wonders...

Ianthe Oh, no. We're not going through this again. The soul is a diamond, Sextus. You can leave it in a glass of wine for as long as you like, it's never going to soak anything up. Palamedes (Mildly) I thought you objected to analogies.(62)

Ianthe says the point is that she wouldn't have used Corona to finish the job. So, Pal asks what else she would have done, perhaps using someone else's cav. Ianthe says that would be terribly inefficient. Pal says, better than nothing, and she'd still be a Lyctor. And, Harrow's situation was "unorthodox" but she still has power on a scale her mortal self couldn't have dreamed of. Ianthe admits, alright, she might have used another cav, and starts going through the others available to her.

Pal pulls Ianthe out of that line of thought and back to the subject at hand. Now, he wishes Ianthe to imagine a situation where things at Canaan House went almost as wrong as they could have, Cytherea coming up the steps, and Ianthe and Corona the only survivors, the Eightfold Word on Ianthe's lips. Does she fold or raise?

Ianthe refuses. She says Pal couldn't understand the bond between twins. Pal, for his part, says that won't work on him this time, and demands to know why Ianthe's answer. Ianthe says nothing.

Pal continues that Ianthe has stated that the goal is always worth the cost, so either that was bravado, and there are costs Ianthe won't pay, or Corona is part of her goal. Will Ianthe tell him which it is?

Ianthe plays her last card. Softly, she says Pal can believe what he will, but she's won: he has no idea which coffin Babs's body is in. She stands, and an attendant clears the cards. Pal says she hasn't answered the question, but she insists she has: no, she wouldn't have killed Corona, and she doesn't have to justify that answer.

Pal stands, and the attendants put all the coffins back, again in reverse order, leaving 4-7-2-3-5-6-1, then all leave the stage, leaving Pal and Ianthe alone. Pal says he has one last question, it's yes-or-no and if Ianthe can answer it, he'll surrender immediately. Ianthe is suspicious, but Pal insists, all he needs is for her to be able to say yes or no. A question about Naberius.

Ianthe accuses Pal of trying to buy time, but Pal says if that were the case, he'd start another argument about how souls work.

Ianthe So, what--if I can't answer this question of yours, am I expected to do the decent thing? Applaud politely and retire? Palamedes Ianthe, I've been in your head for what feels like a week. I would never insult you by expecting you to do anything either decent or polite. Ianthe inclines her head in graceful acceptance of this point.

Pal says she has nothing to lose by answering, and she owes him a question from before.(63) Ianthe says she owes him nothing, but they look at each other, and she gives in, and tells him to ask. Pal's final question is whether Ianthe knows where Babs's body is.

The two move to stand at either end of the row of coffins. Pal starts explaining how the little signs, like the purple tie, started to tip him off, but he assumed it was Ianthe setting the rules. He opens coffin 4, which is empty.

Really, it was the cigarettes that did it. They don't exist on the Sixth, because of the fire hazards. He has never learned how to smoke, but he did it by reflex. Ianthe opens coffin 1, empty again.

Pal continues his exposition, that he wasn't sure until question four. He opens coffin 7, next one in, empty again. He asks how Ianthe knew that Gideon used her rapier like a racquet. Ianthe protests, she saw Gideon fight, but Pal got the full details from Cam, and by the time Ianthe showed up at the end, Gideon had her two-hander back.

Ianthe says she might have watched the duels. Pal says it's not possible, as Gideon only fought two duels, and Ianthe wasn't in the room for them, nor at any other time Gideon might have used her rapier. Ianthe says Babs and Corona both told her about it. Pal says that's unlikely, at least in such detail as about the racquet. It's not even a comparison Ianthe would make.

But it is the one Babs might.

Ianthe opens coffin 6, empty. Pal continues that Ianthe expresses little to no respect for rules, but in her ranting about Gideon, she said Gideon didn't know how to duel as a negative. But, Ianthe Tridentarius would have found that punch at the end of their fight funnier than anyone. He opens coffin 2, empty.

Palamedes You only got one question wrong, Ianthe, and it was the very first question. You can't admit what's happened here because you're fixated on this idea of the soul as inviolate and inviolable--this perfectly solid, impervious thing, the diamond sitting in the glass of wine. But souls are permeable. When they rub up against each other, they bleed--they mingle--they contaminate each other. Just from the handful of real-life seconds I've spent wrestling you for Naberius's body, I've picked up the knowledge of how to light a cigarette and a disturbing new enjoyment of trash talk. Ianthe opens the lid of coffin number 5. It's empty. She and Palamedes are now facing each other from a few feet apart, standing on either side of the last remaining closed coffin, number 3.

Pal says it's messier than he expected. He's started remembering things he never saw, from Cam's point of view, just from spending a few months in her body. Lyctorhood isn't swapping out a battery, it's a transplant. When she took Babs into herself, she ate a piece of meat, and that meat is digesting and its component parts mixing in with hers, to become indistinguishable. He knocks on the lid of coffin 3, and says if he's wrong, if Babs's body is inside, Pal will end his career "with a truly spectacular cock-up" and death will be welcome. If it isn't, then it's nowhere.

Palamedes turns downstage and starts to walk away from the coffins. Ianthe remains staring at coffin number 3. Palamedes There's no body left to find, Ianthe. Or, as I gather they call you now . . . Ianthe Naberius.(64) Palamedes keeps walking, away from the stage toward the back of the auditorium. Ianthe stands like a statue next to coffin number 3. She reaches out and places one hand against its closed lid as the curtain falls.

=====

(1) Our first hint at the occupant, really. Violet eyes, gold arm, and the gaudiness (affectionate) of the Third House in general. (2) Who are the mourners? The robed figures? For that matter, who are the audience? We have Ianthe, we have Palamedes, we have Dulcie in the audience from kind of across the River. Does that imply something about the audience versus the mourners as representing different things? Are they all just figments of Ianthe's imagination, background characters of her life, or is this something more? (Knowing what we do, probably both.) (3) What did you assume it is? I don't think the bloody kisses actually answer the question very satisfactorily, because, from whence cometh the blood? I do love the symbolism of the meat platter though, because that's all Babs ever was, and Ianthe is still eating him up. (4) Pal passing on Babs's meat is perfection, to me. He does consider it, maybe because of the desire not to stand out, maybe because of permeability starting to influence, maybe just because he's not yet aware of what it means. But he decides against it, because he's the last one there, because unconsciously he knows it's not his impulse to eat, because he recognizes on some level that Ianthe's meat platter is and has only ever been Babs. (5) Funny how much this stands out on immediate reread, eh? (6) The lady of the house, the master of the house, just another play on the gender fluidity that's easy for the eye to slip past. (7) I can't help but feel that this is related to Harrow's scene with Cam in HTN. See, Pal's soul was anchored to part of his skull. But if you recall, Harrow was spinning it out into a skeleton, starting with a hand. And I can't pinpoint right now, but I think I recall someone in the fandom wondering if the powder that caused Paul's transformation in the end derived from Pal's bones, even though he was at that point anchored fully to Cam. But, either way, the hand feels meaningful here. Hands so often are in this series.

(8) So, one reason I gesture at this is because the purple accents continue throughout, and it's impossible to ignore them with the Tridentarius natural eye colour being the most obvious parallel. The second reason is because Pal isn't the only one who picks up pieces of his companion in this sequence: Pal specifically said he finds the outfits nurses wear sexy, but those are so close to the stereotypical maid outfits as to justify a little eyebrow raising at Ianthe picking up a piece of Pal, I think. The final reason I gesture at the feather duster is because it's described as "enormous" specifically in the text. How big do you think it is? How big do you think you could make a prop for this performance? Grab a few purple feather boas at the Spirit Hallowe'en or something this autumn, fold them in half, tie them at the fold point to a sturdy stick. Just, you know, in case anyone's thinking about a cosplay, since this will be the defining feature. (9) I'd love to see a deeper examination from someone with theater experience as to what the stage directions might indicate, the comings and goings from each wall. (10) Why is it almonds? Is this a reference to a piece of media, a name of a nut as one or both go "nuts", or something else? I saw a compelling argument that it's related to the amygdala, two almond-shaped lobes in the brain that relate to memory, decision making, and emotion processing. (11) A note: not a lot of Americans in particular ever hear the original pronunciation of this word, so for the wise, it's "shayz", not "chase" or any of the other ways I've heard it. "Long" isn't quite the same as the French "longue" (it's got a sort of w in there, lowng, with the g a little more present) but it's close enough. It's "chaise" that really got the short end of loanwording. (I'm not saying anyone has to change how they do it, language is defined by use, not by origin, but a "chaise longue" comes from literally being a long chair in French, and if anyone DOES want to honour the original pronunciation over where it's gone, I want to help them.)

(12) I have no idea what this is referencing, but I feel sure that it is evoking something. An outfit of Augustine's that I can't find referenced in the text? Generally the male leads on historical romance novels, to play again with gender presentation? Some other specific thing? (13) Louche - indecent, disreputable. Think a neighbourhood of dive bars. (14) Flipping the script, keeping Pal off his guard as much as she can by jumping around a story and reassign the roles and the lines. (15) We know he actually probably was fun at parties, because according to the Cohort Intelligence Files, Judith met him at one once, and thought he wasn't serious enough about his role and title. Which, given that Judith has had a stick up her ass her entire life about duty (again, affectionate) I think we can take to mean that he was genuinely trying to be personable and fun at the party. (16) Dulcie is literally and figuratively separated from the stage, just as her spirit is now, apparently, if she's to be trusted, across the River. Does that mean beyond the stoma, or is there a more literal-figurative other bank? Is it that distance from the situation that gives her this insight, or was she always this good at reading people? (I'm asking here now to save myself another footnote later. Conservation of energy.) (17) Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line. This little sequence gives me very third-party Princess Bride vibes, though it's far from exclusive to that title. (18) Dulcinea, you naughty lady, I love this for you.

(19) I'm currently ignoring all symbolism that might be contained in the numerology of the doors because I don't understand it and I haven't seen anyone unravel it. However, I do feel like I'm right on the edge of recognizing what the ivy crown and perfume are supposed to represent. Ivy was often associated with Dionysus, the god of wine, fertility, ecstasy. The indulgence of the perfume and the further pouring of an ambiguous liquid into a goblet hints toward this end of things, but ivy was also a crown for Thalia, the muse of comedy, which would be perhaps even more apropos given the stage play of it all. But also, ivy was known outside Greek influence to be associated with fidelity and marriage, because it's green year-round and cleaves so sweetly and strongly to that upon which it grows. And all of these layers, every single one, comes back to permeability of the soul, and Ianthe's consumption of Babs, despite her skepticism. (20) Piquant - having a sharp or otherwise stimulating flavour. (21) I feel confident that this is what's intended by the tingue toungle bit, the implication that Ianthe might be getting drunk on her false wine, or at least is pretending she might. (22) Pétillance is much as Ianthe describes it, a light sparkle in a drink, or a sense of very mild fresh tingling from a very low carbon dioxide concentration. (23) OK I really haven't seen anyone mention this before but there's a fascinating thing going on with quotation marks as Ianthe replies here. Her direct responses to Pal, that she does not believe in permeability, all the way through to her aside, it's all in extra quotation marks, which Pal's statements don't have. (24) Pal was personally privy to one in the Doctor Sex story, after all. (25) Yes, I counted. Didn't you? It's very gracious of her to let all this stand as the one question for the sake of the narrative. (26) And here, indeed, is where the mysterious scare quotes end.

(27) I bet NONE of us guessed that this line belonged to Dulcinea when Tor did the pre-reveal puzzle. (28) Ah, but Dulcie, they've been slowly becoming Paul all this time. (29) I know I said I'm ignoring all the numerology, but I find it interesting that 7 and 1 are the only swap here, when Pal has just agreed to try to be more Ianthe. (30) This one's tricky. It's not an actual condition. In modern usage pneumatic just means engineering relating to air and air pressure, like pneumatic tires. But likely here it relates to the lungs (like pneumonia). And "apocope"… now that's a real puzzler, because it means the loss of the final sound or vowel in the pronunciation of a word. But, it comes from the Greek term for cutting off, like an amputation. So, I think Ianthe is referring to cutting out of the lungs. (31) I don't have the full context, and search engines are… really, really bad right now, but I do know that "a bigger, blacker dick" is a white response card in Cards Against Humanity, meant to outdo the card "a big black dick", and outdone itself only by the card "the biggest, blackest dick". This game was very popular a decade or so ago, because we were all edgelord jerks. (Yes, I have regrets.) At any rate, I assume they got the reference from somewhere, possibly a Chris Rock comedy routine title? But I can't find anything, er, definitive on the subject. (32) This, on the other hand, I can very much point at definitively. A scene in the TV show Community had the dean of the school hoping that watching a person in a dalmatian costume flex doesn't awaken anything in him. (33) Anyone who suspected the Phoenix Wright reference from this stage direction, job well done.

(34) OBJECTION! Alright, that's not the best video, but I couldn't find a simple one from the games that included both the slap and the pointing. There are compilations of the pointing animations of all the characters who ever object, but not the slap that comes first. (35) I do sort of love that they call attention to it to make sure you understand that it's a reference, but… Look, LOOK, look me in the eye and tell me a little of Jod isn't rubbing off on Ianthe already, that proximity to him isn't melting things across a little, and tell me you don't believe Jod absolutely played those games. Permeability of the soul need not be limited to literal contact with the soul: I think Muir is hinting that every time you let someone into your life, your souls are connecting, exchanging. And, isn't that true in real life? Can you say, for absolute certain, that your friends, your interactions, even your experience on social media, haven't changed you? I'm all about looking at the Watson and the Doyle, and I think this carries the weight of both. (36) What she says is "It's a fair cop, guv'nor." which has proven very difficult to run down as far as a specific reference, with guv'nor on the end, but generally is used to mean "I admit it, you caught me". (37) See, besides being a fairly common excuse given for committing crimes, I think this might be more evidence of Jod's influence. He's really good at blaming his problems on anyone but himself. I feel like I don't know as much about Ianthe, despite spending almost as much time with her. I could believe that she had a habit of it before… but given the whole point of this story, why not read more into it? For funsies. (This also makes the previous line a loose Monty Python reference, a skit of theirs included the line "All right, it's a fair cop, but society's to blame.") (38) Closing the stable door after the horse has already escaped. Ianthe sees the quest for a better Lyctorhood as pointless. If you recall, even she had the good sense to be awed when Paul emerged, but I like the context this gives to that.

(39) As a bonus question, when this scene takes place within the storyline of NtN, do we think that Ianthe still believes that Harrow's body is Harrow returned to the fold? Questions I have to ask myself the more I think about them… (40) Well, and left unsaid is that Corona was the older twin, the rightful heir, and Ianthe's jealousy has probably always been mixed evenly with her superiority because she got the power and Corona didn't. (41) Insert all the exaggerations here, because I'm fascinated at Ianthe's implications, as I see them. Abigail Pent ended up exactly where she wanted to be. Ianthe only seems to see the death, the wasted ambition and potential. She didn't know Pent at all. (42) I'm just glad Muir didn't try to write out Porky Pig's speech impediment to get this one across. (43) We joke a lot about Babs only ever being for consumption, never being a person, just an object. But it's also very much the truth. Ianthe never overestimated his worth to her. She just underestimated what he had done and would do to her. (44) Is this Dulcie hinting that Pal is already subject to his own permeability, even right before the cigarettes? (45) Gubbins - a collection of useless bits and bobs. Ianthe is so mean about Gideon, considering the friendship bracelets. Then again… Kiriona is the saddest girl in all the world, so she probably knows Ianthe doesn't really mean any of it. (46) Which is, of course, true. She was the protagonist of her story. But it's so interesting to see Ianthe, of the clever, quiet, observantness that still managed to miss so much, catch that behaviour. (47) Saw a post about how Pal makes this astonished face with Kiriona starts spouting necromancy facts, and how this line gives it new context. I just. Love. These books. I love Muir's brain. Every line can be looked at under a microscope and then the entire book totally recontextualized by ten words in a bonus story.

(48) Once he realized that Cytherea was not Dulcinea, and he had nothing to be jealous about, really. (49) The line from Hamlet is "Use every man according to his desert and who should 'scape whipping?" The short version of the context is Hamlet chastising Polonius for saying he'll give the guests what they deserve, because if we all only get what we deserve, who gets anything more than corporal punishment? So, where did Dulcinea get this line? Some force across the River? (50) This line is driving me feral. We both? Is that Dulcie and Pro, or Dulcie and Pal? Which we, Muir? (51) I want to believe this is a reference to Fullmetal Alchemist, but I have no supporting evidence for the case, just a suggestion that you go watch Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood or read the manga. (52) Another observation from a post I saw, but, what an incredible way to reframe a lack of success. "I missed the bus. Truly, wonderful news for my haters." It's a silly thing, but I bet if you tried, it would lighten the burden of a lot of everyday "failures" into a much more average sort of vibe. (53) Awful, as in awe-ful, as in filling one with awe. Incredible how THAT one twisted over the centuries, amirite? (54) I think this definitely confirms the part where both Pal and Cam were in some sort of polycule-y thing with Dulcinea. (No, I don't think Cam and Pal are in romance or sex with each other, but I do think that some relationships defy the simplicity of the labels we have access to.) (55) His conversation with Cam, earlier in Nona, that Nona heard on the tape. That Cam would rather carry his soul than live in a world that didn't contain him. They're such a mirror for Harrow and Gideon. (56) Does that mean she's beyond even a Resurrection? (57) I want to start singing that old, old song. Somewhere, beyond the sea, somewhere, waiting for me… It's a river, not a sea, but I must wonder if Muir ever smirked at the thought of it regarding Dulcie and Pal here. But, this recontextualizes a TON. One, Pal not telling Cam before the Paul-ification that he'd spoken to what he truly believed was Dulcie. Two, his saying "beyond the river" in that same final exchange. Three, everything we've ever been told about the River in the narrative... (58) If what ends well? What does "well" entain?

(59) Daniel 10:6, Douay-Rheims translation as Muir is so fond of it: "And his body was like the chrysolite, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as a burning lamp: and his arms, and all downward even to the feet, like in appearance to glittering brass: and the voice of his word like the voice of a multitude." Daniel, speaking of having seen an angel. I got goosebumps when I realized. (60) Cute is insufficient to the moment, Dulcie. And you well know it. (61) Has anyone guessed at what game they're playing? It's not proper poker that I can tell, because you don't play that many cards down in it and they're not betting per se. Also, they play more cards than they're described being dealt or picking up. (62) Pal confirming his suspicions as we race to the end. (63) One assumes, her playing unfair up front and interpreting his first clarification as a question. (64) It was never just about her use of Babs as a puppet, adding his name to clarify to the readers of Nona that it wasn't Ianthe's body on the page, it was her somehow retrieved cav. It was always for this. She was always Naberius. Fuck.

[sharonisthebettercarter]

Slipknot Vermillion Butchlander.

FUCK. YES.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH~<3<3<3 buckle in buckle in y'all cause this about to be a DOOZY<3!!

songs if ya hadn't heard them~<3 (def give them a listen, pt.2 is like an acoustic version, both lovely~<3, same general themes tho different vibes which-- ;))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

anywho~<3

FIRST OF ALL. YES. absolutable~<3

you beautiful beautiful little monster, this is PERFECT. okay, okay, yes, i'm getting too excited lmao. BUTT--

"I won't let this build up inside a me--"

this is an absolutely perfect opportunity for a deep dive into billy's psyche, psychosis, and an incredible exploration of psychological horror~<3

and it starts~?

with a *married* butchlander<3<3<3 OOH~<3!! (altho fair to use for for other ships with butcher, just doesn't get to the same level of psychological turmoil from the whole *husband is the villain* thing--;)))))))))) ANYWHO<3

basically butcher and homie are in a loving, *healthy* relationship. john is a good husband. maybe they even have ryan<3 or a little baby in billy's belly on the way<3<3<3 (or both~! lmao, always gotta throw that in-- ;))))))))))) a/b/o always an option, trans/intersex billy too, the world is the oyster~<3 any explanation like homie can just knock dudes up i guess lmfao--maybe that was the start-- :O ;)))))))) anyway, everything's perfect--except...

billy's having a bit of psychological... trouble. in which for some reason, his brain seems to be fabricating an entire reality with a loving and perfect wife, becca/becky--where his husband is the villain who tore them apart... and the situation in turn... starts to drive him and john apart...

and at first, of course, they'd be managing, between medications, care, brain scans, billy having nightmares and dreams, john trying to help, fighting and screaming, moments homie would have to hold billy down because he's having a meltdown, john having all the proof to keep billy from going nuclear/make it clear that he's... unwell, and that he's there for billy. maybe even a dna test to show that ryan is *theirs* and no one else's if a baby still in billy ain't enough--

but trust is wavering.

OOH, exploration into billy falling down that rabbit hole and believing it so much, he makes an effort to investigate and run away while homie always comes to get him/find him, drag him back home--and always *always*, refuse to hurt him even while billy is at his worst trying to force his hand, maybe even asking john to kill him so this doesn't continue--and again, his husband refusing.

now here's the kicker<3<3<3

this story could be done in two main ways (with expansive variations~<3, 3 if you count the middle road<3<3<3)

OOH! but before i dive into that, i should also mention that billy potentially being the *villain* in his own mind--in which he kidnaps and tortures and holds captive this *perfect* woman while john is none the wiser--ooooooohhhhhh... we'll come back to that one~<3 ;)

back on *john* being the villain in billy's mind.

"she isn't real. I can't make her real--"

and there in lies the *question*...

whether or not billy *is* experiencing psychosis and john is *actually* the villain, is it's own exploration~<3<3<3. depending on which version (regular or pt. 2), you channel the vibes of lmao

pt. 2 def feels like it could be more of a tragic rendition of this idea, where billy really *is* experiencing psychosis and john *is* a loving husband who *is* trying to help and care for billy<3

but the original...? mmm. let's just say there could be various... hints of a completely manipulated world around them--signs of a world *rewritten* or people silenced ,sides to john that he never *ever* shows to billy. certain... *things* that would certainly *imply* he is the *monster* billy's mind has made him--maybe it's billy's real memories trying to spill through whatever homelander did to him-- ;))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

mmmmmhmmmm~<3<3<3

BUTT, my personal fave?

*open. ended*

in which... there are... hints that might suggest one is true, and then the other, or even elements of both, but there's never truly an answer given... OOOH<3 FUCK YES. OOF, just the IDEA def gets me lol

i do feel the songs lean towards the 'she isn't real' factor (for obvious reasons lol) but for a fic~? ;))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

for variation in that exploration (and maybe an easy way to dig into the open ended vibes, but with a twisty lean~<3), maybe *most* of the 'hints' implicate one way with extremely *vague* BLINK AND YOU MISS IT hints for the *other* end, and one very *strong* hint/scene that ties together all the *vague* hints and makes them... impossible to ignore~<3

gawd i love psychological horror<3<3<3 lmao can you tell?

NOW. what about *billy* being the villain~<3?

OOOOHHHHHHH!!! now *that* one has some *real* hard potential for gut wrenching love from john<3<3<3 (i should also mention, *def* an option for psychosis with *john* there and OOF gotta stop giving myself expansions into this but it's just so FUCKING GOOD, LISTEN TO THE SONGS DAMMIT AND FEEL INSPIRED--)

similar enough deal, except with billy believing he's committed these horrible crimes to an innocent woman, a wonder of it might have been real or not and john trying to be by his side and settle his mind--and of course, the potential for a seriously covered up horrific crime because john's not about to lose his husband *for any reason*<3<3<3

maybe billy believes he committed the crime when it was really john and they covered it up together but billy--

this of course works just as lovely for the *canon compliant* show option with *john* feeling the full brunt of his psychosis--and billy trying to cover it up... *OR*... did it really happen at all? is billy right, is ryan really *their* son and there was no becky/becca?

;)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

oh i know i am absolutely TERRIBLE I KNOW-- but listen. LISTEEEENNNN... I FUCKING LOVE PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR, OKAY!?!?!

anywho~<3

there's also an element of serious *danger* involved with homie being the one to experience psychosis (powers and all, def one with billy too but not nearly as savage--unless a course ya give him powers too<3), especially if homie *convinces* himself that he *is* this *monster*, and therefore *must* act as this monster.

ooh, def some dives into comics themes but it go a little somethin'... like this:

"i think, therefore i am" or cogito, ergo sum (heeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyy that's a title if i ever done seen one for this one lmfao only if 'vermillion' isn't used i guess, alternatively 'cinnabar'<3)

and

"i can, therefore i must"

but the comics actually have a perfect set up for this too--OOH! it kinda goes back to that 'detective husbands' prompt lmao (expect a little different obviously) where instead of being a 'convinced i'm right when i'm wrong' dickwad billy or even *homie knows he didn't do it* (he would have to be on that edge of sanity/not know for sure for this one to work<3) we have a billy who actually legit *explores* and *investigates* what happened to becky because he *sees* that things don't add up *before* he starts actively making it worse. instead doing his own *solo* detective work~<3

maybe even stalking, meeting, getting to know homelander (*john*) personally. possibly even with the motive of finding his weakness, etc. and then tripping and landing on his dick and falling in love along the way~<3<3<3

lmao could be that billy even *abandons* the boys to get to the bottom of what really happened-- but also cause he ends up knocked up after realizing homie *was not* in fact the culprit<3<3<3

do feel the homie versions (show or comics) would deal less with the 'vermillion' vibes or i guess less chance for *open ended* horror themes, and more of a cut clean *he did it/he didn't do it* and is losing his mind sorta feel. in a sense, *becky* def *wouldn't* be real for comics homie because they never actually interacted (while the show version could be actively trying to remember her/struggling with who he *used* to be--OOH!! jason blood is def a place to look for inspo there~<3), so the tie in could be *exquisite* for sure, but it def is a slightly different feel lol

honestly might consider writing the comics/vermillion themed one (at some point, i have promised myself to other shit), it would explore billy instead of using homie as an excuse to be his worst self, homie becoming billy's excuse to hold onto what becky actually wanted for him/turn homie good (which is cute and sad in it's own way but could be SO fucking precious<3) and that would be some GOOD shit<3<3<3

FUCK! this is probably gonna build up inside a me i--