#people may not know what exactly happened but the backstory the guys made up is believed as the truth.

[ancha-aus]

RealAgeAU Drabble - Searching

Are you guys ready?! We are going continue where we left up last drabble :3 I hope you all are up to date on the story :D @spotaus

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We good? We good :3

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Dream checks his inventory. He has medicine and a first aid kid. He has the reports from the last few meetings and the news he spread about his mess up.

Just in case that Nightmare doesn’t want to listen he can at least leave the proof he had been working on fixing the mess he made.

Dream rubs his arm as he checks his bag again. Is it enough? He messed up so many things and left his brother alone to deal with all of it for so long-

“Dream?” the voice and a hand on his shoulder shake him out of his thoughts.

Dream looks back and sees Blue looking at him worried “If you aren’t ready I can go by myself first and look around.”

Dream shakes his skull “no no! I want to go! I need to go!”

Blue frowns and speaks softly “Dream. I am not even sure if they are actually there. It is just a lead… I just… I don’t want you to be disappointed if he isn’t there or if you don’t see him.”

Dream blinks but smiles at Blue “I know that. I know there is only a small chance… but I just want to be prepared… What if we do see him and I don’t have any of it with me? And I never find him again? It is just in case.” Of course Dream really hopes he finally gets to meet Nightmare again. It has been a year and  a half and he is going crazy.

Dream hadn’t realised how much comfort he had gotten out of seeing Nightmare each time they fought.

Blue sighs but smiles “Okay. If you are sure.”

Dream feels like a terrible friend and he grabs Blue’s shoulders “Hey. When this is over. You are going to tell me something I can help you with okay?”

Blue blinks and laughs “No need Dream. We are friends.”

Dream nods “Exactly. So I am going to help you with something after all of this! I promise!”

Blue blinks and laughs as he looks to the side with a blush- wait a minute! Blue keeps chuckling nervously “No need! There is nothing that would require help or assistance or anything! Lets focus on your whole thing! Come I have the universe coordinates!” and he manages to duck under Dream’s arms as he messes with his phone. Trying to hide his blush.

Oh. Oh!! Oh Dream is so going to help Blue with his crush! Dream wonders who it could be… Well Dream doubts it will be hard. Blue is one of the best people in the whole multiverse. Anyone would be lucky with his attention.

Dream joins his side and grins knowingly at him. Blue just glares back at him, a blue blush still on his face. Dream giggles and wiggles his eyebrows. Blue gets bluer and looks away “Knock it off Dream.”

Dream giggles and nods “Okay… but just so you know. I don’t think you have to be nervous or worry. Whoever you like will be lucky that you like them.” Blue mutters as he looks away nervously.

Dream nudges their shoulders together before checking the coordinates Blue has pulled up. He grabs his staff and concentrates. The universe ripples and a portal opens.

Dream freezes as he stares at the portal. Feeling nervous all over again.

Blue nudges their shoulders together and grins “Ready? Let’s go.”

Dream smiles and nods “Let’s.”

They step through.

The thing with dimension hopping that most people don’t realise. Dimensions move around.

They rarely move around enough to need completely new coordinates. But unless you know the place well you will not cross-dimension teleport to the same place twice.

Dream and Blue step out on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. They look around but only see fields upon fields of growing crops.

Dream hums “Well… that was to be expected with a Farmtale.”

Blue nods “I am already happy we didn’t show up in the middle of a town or city. That is always a mess. Especially if it isn’t a universe in the know.”

Dream agrees full heartly. He looks around and pulls on his magic.

Blue keeps an eye out as Dream feels the universe out. One of the nice things about being a god. It is rather easy to get a feel for if a universe has been tampered with in anyway.

Normally Dream could also feel when his brother is near but ever since losing his domain Dream doubts he still can.

The edits to this universe are… very limited. It almost seems like the only thing that has been changed is some kind of shielding or camouflaging all around the universe. Dream frowns as he knows this type of work.

Dream puts his hands down as he glares ahead “Error.”

Blue looks up shocked “What?”

Dream glares at the ground as his hands form fists “Error. Error put up a shield.” Technically both Error and Ink call it firewalls but it is the same.

Blue frowns as he joins him “Why would he put one around a Farmtale?”

Dream knows Blue knows as well “Error doesn’t like me.” Which is putting it mildly “And he is close to Nightmare.” Maybe closer than Dream thought. Dream had thought they just worked together and after how Error defended Nightmare and backed up how their jobs worked Dream figured they were at least on friendly terms.

Blue glances around “Well.. that is good right?”

Dream frowns as he looks at his friend.

Blue grins “It means there is something here. Something important that Error is trying to hide. Maybe it is another lead? Or… well… maybe you finally have the right universe?”

Dream feels any irritation and annoyance melt away. Oh stars…

Blue grins and nudges their shoulders together “Best we keep being sneaky about it. Get a feel for the land and how things work. Maybe find the Sans of this place? See if he saw anything noteworthy?”

Dream feels himself relax at the familiar routine “Some good old scouting.”

Blue smiles “indeed. Come! I see a city in the distance! Lets get a feel for everything there and then get searching!” and he starts walking.

Dream smiles and follows his best friend.

They have done this song and dance quite a few times. They walk around. Make some small talk with people. Get a general feel for how things work in the universe to fit in better.

Only once they have established these things they start to search for a way to find this universe ‘main cast’ with the hope that at least one person is in the known about multiverse things.

It is always a gamble if the people in the universe know or don’t know about the bigger multiverse and Dream and Blue generally try not to let this information slip. If they don’t know it can cause trouble.

They had multiple people try and attack other universes when the more aggressive people found out about the option. They were… dealt with. As many others are much better prepared for these possibilities.

Blue returns to his side “I don’t think they know here.”

Dream nods “Which means even more careful information gathering…” At least that would explain why Nightmare picked this spot. Why hide in a place that hates you because of the multiverse? Best start over new and fresh somewhere.

Now with the knowledge of how to act the two quickly decided that they are looking for old friends. Sans and Papyrus. Them being the safest bet for multiple reasons. One, because they are both most likely to know about multiverse stuff. Two, because they are all skeletons people will ask less questions about them searching for each other.

Yes. Dream thinks it is a stupid reason but it is what it is.

The two of them split up and get to work with asking around if anyone knows their friends by any chance. When asked why they don’t know where they are Dream just says that he can’t quite remember the address but knew it was somewhere around here!

It takes a while until they speak to some humans. The humans look thoughtful and mention that they are not sure if the skeletons were named Papyrus and Sans precisely they are very sure they saw skeletons at the farmers market a bit further to the east. A few cities further by a very small farmers town.

Blue happily notes down the address and they waves goodbye before starting their journey.

Blue grins at him “Want to get an actually vehicle or shall we keep walking?”

Dream feels nervous and answers “Walking.” He needs to figure out what he is going to say. Blue nods and the two make their way into the right direction.

It takes about two days of steady walking in which Dream tries to think of what to say and how to say it.

What if he actually sees Nightmare? What does he say to him? How does he make Nightmare hear him out? What if Nightmare is actually willing to hear him out?! How can Dream tell him everything? Without making it sound like he is trying to excuse himself?

What if the gang are actually the ones who meet him first? How does he convince them to let him see his brother?

Or worse.

What if the gang only lives here? What if this is just the place that Cross and Dust settled with their child? What if they don’t know where Nightmare is?

What if there really is no way for Dream to find Nightmare?

Blue shakes him out of his thinking by saying they are there.

The town is small. Very small. Only like one main street with a few shops and a few side streets.

Blue and Dream share a look as they look around. Some people are walking around. Blue and Dream share another look before Blue nods towards the large tavern reading Grillby’s. Blue grins “Probably the best place to start.”

Dream smiles and nods.

They walk together but Dream can’t help but feel… watched. He sneaks a few glances around and can’t help but notice that everyone is watching them with clear suspicion on their faces. They have been met with nerves and curious looks before. But rarely with suspicion. That usually only happened in a fell verse.

Dream shoots Blue a look and mutters “Blue?”

Blue just keeps smiling as he walks straight towards the target “I noticed the same. But I am sure this isn’t a Fell verse… Lets focus on out plan for now.” then he opens the door.

A few people are moving around and talking but as soon as Dream and Blue step in they grow quiet.

An icy silence as Blue just smiles and walks towards Grillby. The fire elemental is preparing some things behind the bar. Another fire elemental looks nervous as they glance between them and Grillby just nudges them towards the back where they disappear into.

Blue gets to the bar and Dream just stays by his side. Blue smiles “Hello! I was hoping you could maybe help us!” and he smiles.

Grillby watches them and shrugs “Don’t know until I know what you want strangers.”

Blue laughs and rubs the back of his neck “I am sorry. I am Blue and this is my friend Dream! We are looking for friends of ours.”

Dream wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t been already on edge. The soft mumbles around them stop as soon as Dream’s name is said. Grillby shoots him a considering look and seems to look both of them up and down.

Grillby hums and turns back to his glass “Never heard anyone looking for either of you.”

Blue blinks and smiles “We are old friends of them. Fellow skeletons like us.”

Dream frowns as he feels more and more tension in the air. Fuck he wishes he could still feel emotions. Get an idea for what everyone is feeling and leaning towards.

Grillby hums as he keeps cleaning “Seems rude to just assume any skeletons I may or may not have seen would be the ones you are looking for. Even if they are rare. At least that is what people say.” And he puts some glasses away.

It is like a wall.

Blue nods thoughtfully before smiling “Well,” Blue pauses for a moment as he shoots him a look. Dream isn’t sure if it is smart to mention the others. Mostly because their names are not the friendliest and they don’t want to make it seem like they did something wrong. Dream catches Blue’s eyes and shakes his skull a tiny bit. Blue catches it and smiles back at Grillby “If you happen to see either Sans or Papyrus can you tell them we wish to see them? It has been so long and we would love to catch up.”

Grillby just gives a short nod “If I see anyone named that I will mention it.” and he turns back to his work.

Dream and Blue both quickly leave the building.

They exit the building and share a look.

Blue speaks first “Okay that wasn’t just me right? They all don’t like us at all.”

Dream nods as he glances around “They are very on edge… I wonder why…”

Blue frowns as he glances around “We can check out the stalls and shops?”

Dream thinks before nodding “Let’s. We can then just take a break and try again tomorrow if we need to.”

They walk into the decided direction and check stores and make small talk. Or try to make small talk. People are not willing to reply to them at all. And questions even hinting at a different topic aside from their wares is met with annoyance and dismissal.

Dream smiles at the dog monster before him. She just looks uninterested at them while her friend is outright glaring at them.

Dream frowns “You sure you don’t know any skeletons?”

The dog monster shrugs “Seen a few. But not anyone specific coming to mind.” she looks outright bored.

The other woman, a bunny, huffs “Well are you going to buy anything or waste time we could be spending on other customers!?”

Blue looks around and behind him but no other customers are in line. Dream laughs softly as he rubs his neck “I mean… It seems to be a quiet day at least?”

The dog monster, neither of the ladies had given them their names, shrugs “Can change at any moment.”

Suddenly the bunny sits up straight and nudges her friend “Wait I just spotted my friend! I need to check if he has my dvd still. That okay?”

The dog monster frowns at her but nods “Sure. Just be back before the rush.”

The bunny smiles and rushes off to the side. Dream follows her with his sight but the other monster disappears around a corner.

Blue tilts his skull before grinning at the dog monster “Well… If you by any chance see anyone who fits the description we gave you. Please let us know?”

The dog monster shrugs “Maybe.”

… right. That is about as far as they had gotten with these people.

Dream sighs and nudges Blue “Come Blue. Let’s go. We can check some other people.”

They spend more hours just like that. Talking with people and getting nowhere except unhappy faces and dismissive hand waving.

Dream sighs as he sits on a bench “Are we in the right place?”

Blue nods “According to the people we spoke this is the right town.” He sighs and gives him a half grin “Maybe people are just nervous about strangers? I know back in Snowdin we were always a bit cautious when people suddenly showed up… unless someone we knew vouched for them of course.” Blue looks around the place “This place reminds me of Snowdin…”

Dream frowns as he looks around. Maybe that is it? They are just being cautious. That is it. Dream needs to stop being paranoid. Stop thinking people know or suspect what happened. This is a locked universe and seems to have no contact with others-

Blue suddenly jumps up and rushes off “Hey Sans! Papyrus! Wait up!”

Dream looks up and spots who Blue has spotted. Two skeletons. This was the place! Dream smiles and rushes to follow Blue. Oh things are finally looking up!

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[saturncoyote]

After much work i have finally written down my analysis on the fictional character Creek from hit children's movie Trolls 2016, open Read More on your own discretion because this shit is about to get long

Alright let's start with a small summary for the folks that have never watched a Trolls movie and don't really know anything about Creek outside of the plethora of art i've made about him

Creek is one of the movie's side characters and secondary villain, he is Poppy's (the main character) friend and acts as a short-of twist villain (i'll explain that 'short-of' later,). Although shown to be a stereotypical nature-loving hippie he later betrays his friends and everyone he's ever known as he sells out the location of their village to Bergens, a race who 20 years ago used to keep the pop trolls in a large cage and would eat them once a year during a holiday called Trollstice.

He is first introduced when Branch (the movie's second protagonist) is confronting Poppy about her decision to throw a party, arguing that this could attract the attention of the Bergens, this is also where my first point about Creek's character begins First thing to notice is that, unlike what some people would like you to believe, Creek is NOT the only troll in Poppy's friend group (the Snack Pack) to be dismissive towards Branch, if anything Poppy herself is the only one in the group that seems to want to give him a chance ("i think everyone deserves to be happy"). Creek also shows up late to the conversation, only appearing once Branch escalates the situation by throwing Poppy's party invitation to the floor and stomping on it. You could easily argue that, in Creek's perspective, he is only doing what a good friend should do and protecting his friend from someone who is being cruel towards them, and although Branch has a GOOD reason to be upset and we later find out more about his backstory, there is no reason for us to believe that Creek or even the rest of the Snack Pack know anything about his situation, to THEM Branch is nothing but a party pooper who actively chooses to stay miserable ("some folks just don't want to be happy")

One point that i sometimes see that i would like to snip in the bud as soon as possible is that Creek doesn't truly care about his friends, especially Poppy, and is only using her to get something out of her (what exactly ? well we don't know, we could especulate that since she is the princess, he may want to use her for her status, possibly wanting to become royalty himself, but we're not here for that), the reason i bring this up now is because of the scene that follows the interaction with Branch, where Creek is the first one to notice that Poppy is still upset about the results of the conversation, not only that but he doesn't seem too happy about it himself

It would have been extremelly easy to animate him smiling or looking smug after Branch storms off, but that doesn't happen, he even glances down at the ground before looking towards Poppy, which is when he attempts to cheer her up. This small scene ALONE already leads me to believe that he truly does care, and although his attempts at cheering her up aren't exactly the best nor the most productive ("tune out his negative vibrations Poppy, they're toxic") he is still trying.

However we do not get enough time to find out more about his relationship with Poppy outside of this very moment as the next scene in the movie is the party and their imminent capture by the Chef Bergen, this is where i'd like to remind you that i called him only a "short-of" twist villain. For a twist villain to truly work we first need to understand why this character is considered to be a "good guy", and their relationship with the protagonist, so that the incoming reveal of them being the antagonist has a impact, not only on the other characters, but the audience themselves. The thing about Creek is that we don't GET that insight into his relationship with Poppy, they interact TWICE before the reveal, and one of those interactions is Poppy attempting to save him from being carried away by a Bergen, therefore the "twist" itself falls flat... but what if i told you that was done on purpose by Dreamworks ?

Before the existence of Creek there was another character who was meant to take his place in the storyline, and her name was Miss Guffin

According to concept art, Miss Guffin was originally going to be Poppy's mentor, and be captured by the Chef Bergen, and much like Creek she would sell out the other trolls as an attempt to save herself. Now that would have had a much bigger impact, not only on the audience as they realise that the respectful elderly character was a selfish coward at heart, but for Poppy as she would have had a much closer relationship with Guffin as her mentor. So why was she changed ? It's simple really, she was just too likeable.

Creek, by design, was created to be unlikeable, not only so that his reveal wouldn't upset the audience, but so that you wouldn't feel pity about his eventual demise. THIS is what i mean when i refer to him as a character "doomed by the narrative", he only exists because a much more appealing character had to be turned down for the sole reason of not upsetting those who watch the movie, he would never have been allowed to have a closer relationship with Poppy, because that would have given the viewer a emotional attachment to him, and we can't have that. Creek is a tragic character in the sense that he was destined to be the traitor, not only a traitor but a unredeemable one, and i understand why that is, there was never going to be enough time in the movie to give him a satisfying redemption, and it would have thrown off the entire flow of the story, killing him off was a much easier choice than trying to squeeze an awkward redemption at the very end, but that doesn't stop me from wishing that there WAS more. His fate feels unfair to me, as his only crime is being kind of a dickhead, and it's hard to blame him for his decision to sell out Pop Village when his only other option wasn't much better, so let's talk about that next.

In the next scene where we see Creek, him and the rest of the Snack Pack have been put in a cage by the Chef, this is where i'd like to point out that his first reaction to this predicament is to try and get everyone else to stay calm ("Woah, woah ! Everyone, we must all remain calm") This scene leads directly to the one where he gets nearly eaten by King Gristle, and when i say nearly i mean it, he is shoved INTO his mouth and assumed dead by everyone except for Poppy, who is only holding out hope that he is still alive. Of course we later find out that he is indeed, not dead, but that is only because he clung to Gristle's uvula causing him to choke and spit him out. The way we find out that he is alive is through Gristle himself, who reveals to Bridget that he has him locked inside his cape's clasp

Notice how little space he has in there, i'd say barely any to move let alone breathe, as he lets out a desperate gasp just as the clasp is opened. We do not know how much time has passed since he escaped being nearly eaten alive, but we can estimate it has to have been at least a few hours, as quite a few events happen between the formerly mentioned scene and this one. We do NOT get to see what happens between him, Gristle and the Chef during that time, which means we can only ESPECULATE why he was put in there in the first place, so allow me to do just that:

- Firstly, we do not know if Creek agreed right away to the Chef's request to reveal the location of the village, for all we know he might have declined to do so, and putting him into a small claustrophobic space was a way to give him that final push. - However this could have also been a way to stop him from escaping and telling the other trolls of the Bergen's plan, but i fail to see why they would have had to resort to such a, let's be honest here, barbaric method of keeping him put, when a normal cage would have done the job just as well, perhaps the Chef wanted to make sure he wouldn't change his mind. - Thirdly, this could have been a way to have someone keep an eye on him as the Chef busied herself with other things, essentially making Gristle the guard to Creek's prison No matter what option you decide makes the most sense, one thing is clear: Creek was tortured

At last we finally reach the moment he reveals to Poppy, Branch and the rest of the Snack Pack that he plans on betraying all of them and selling out the location of the village, this is the scene that is supposed to make you despise him, for being so cowardly and selfish that he'd rather let everyone he's ever known die horribly than.... give up his own life ? Hold up did i read that right, oh... hm Creek is a character who finds himself in a situation out of his control and is forced to make a decision between two truly awful options, he can either let himself be eaten or everyone else goes, there is NOT a correct answer here, and in the end his sense of self preservation wins. A decision probably influenced by the fact that before this moment, he had spent hours trapped in a small space with barely enough oxygen. There was NEVER going to be another way, as the Chef states herself:

Especially bringing attention to how he acts in this scene, to me it comes across less like he's finally showing his true colors as a manipulative person, and more like he's desperately trying to justify his actions not only to Poppy but to himself ("At least you get to die with a clear conscience")

And it seems like he's successful in doing so, for him at least, what other options does he have ? It's either give up your own life, or convince yourself that what you're about to do isn't truly that bad, he chooses to look at it with a positive outlook, ignoring the very obviously bleak reality he finds himself in ("So in a way... You could say... I'm doing this for you")

Another thing about this scene is that we don't really get to see his true feelings on the situation, as during this conversation the Chef Bergen is actively sharpening knifes in the background, even if he did want to come up with a escape plan or air out how he feels about this predicament they find themselves in, he would be unable to do so, as the person who could easily just snatch him up and kill him right then and there stands in the very same room. And that is a recurring thing when it comes to Creek, we don't get to SEE much of him, we don't see the events leading up to his betrayal, we don't really get to see his relationship with Poppy or even the rest of the Snack Pack for that matter, we don't SEE how he feels about being trapped inside Gristle's cape clasp or having to choose between himself or his friends, and honestly we probably never will. For a secondary villain he barely gets any screen time at all, and the screen time he does get is spent in near constant live-threatening danger.

And finally, his story comes to an end, the Bergens discover true happyness, Chef Bergen is defeated, and the last time we see Creek he's getting swallowed up by a mountain sized creature, the very thing he tried so hard to save himself from, to the point that he would give up everyone he's ever loved, happens regardless of his choice, was he even given a choice in the first place ? When both options led him to the same fate ? I would say it's almost tragically poetic if it didn't feel like salt to the wound.

Of course, Trolls: The Beat Goes On exists, but it's not even close to being a good continuation of his character let alone a satisfying redemption, his introduction is incredibly rushed, characters who have no reason to forgive him for his actions immediatelly welcome him back with open arms, and the one person who doesn't do so is shown to be in the wrong even though his reaction and suspicion make complete sense.

Besides, TBGO is it's own can of worms and opening it now would only make this post longer than it needs to be, so i'll spare you from that.

My final point is that Creek is a much more complex and interesting character than the story would like you to believe, and it CAN be quite frustating seeing people brush him off as just a selfish fraud who never truly cared about anyone but himself when there's really so much more under the surface. Of course i'm not saying that you should love him, hell you don't even need to like him, he has a lot of flaws and has made terrible decisions, but that's also exactly the reason why i am so keen on giving him a better ending. He shouldn't need to be perfect to deserve a nicer fate, to be given an actual choice for once, one that isn't going to blow up in his face in the end, the ability to be better and do better. You don't deserve to be tossed aside just because you have a big ego or some other personal flaw, you don't deserve to be considered unredeemable because you were put in a situation out of your control, making a bad decision shouldn't define your existence for the rest of your life.

I've come to accept that Creek is a very important character to me, he's a character who NEEDS to be selfish for the story to work the way it does, one who's the narrative is actively trying to make as unlikeable as possible at all times, but it's attempts had an opposite effect on me, and the more i dug only solidified him as my favorite in the entire franchise. I love him because of his unused potential, potential that'll most likely never get a true chance to shine due to Dreamworks not seeming to really care about him as a character, so i have taken upon myself to do what canon failed to. If i had to pick ONE THING for folks that read this post to get out of it, is that you should never be embarassed of your enjoyment for a fictional character, no matter how unlikeable or one-dimensional they seem to be, analyse every frame they show up in, write that fanfic, draw that art, create that self indulgent AU, find meaning where no one else did

[blacknedsoul-blog]

Montresor is the Bad Ending of White Raven

So Montresor has a religious trauma. And from what little we know of the flashback to his death, the man was apparently a corrupt preacher.

What that tells me about his life made me crack my knuckles, because holy shit, this guy is an even better villain than I expected. And not for the reasons I thought at first.

Montresor's possible backstory

A fun fact: "unholy men" used to be called "sons of Belial". Same as Monty's Spectre type, so there's the initial connection, but with what we saw in chapter 87, this phrase from his mother resonates quite a bit:

Montresor was most likely a bastard (literally), and if he was raised in a religious community, that immediately made him and his mother outcasts. Possibly his mother hated him for "ruining her life". Whether this is true or not, the implication is that he grew up a victim of a system that decided he was sucked by the devil from birth.

In this light, Montresor's attitude towards the world is actually a logical consequence: he has decided that abuse is the only way to relate, and you can either be the victim or the victimizer. Of course, he is now the victimizer.

But he decided that because life taught him two lessons that were important enough to make him the person he is now.

"I know this game better than anybody"

We know from the clothes and hat in his flashback, and the cross around his neck, that Montresor was a preacher. And I would venture to say an excellent one: he has heard all his life that he is a demon, he knows better than anyone what terror hell produces in people, so he knows exactly what to say (or not say) to manipulate others through that fear.

Montresor, like Annabel, is someone who exploits his own traumas.

Annabel has been almost conditioned to behave like the perfect high-society lady, and that includes going to impressive extremes if it means getting something in return. She has engineered her way through life by identifying the currency of the people around her and knowing exactly what to give them so that they will, in her words "kissing her rings".

Loyalty gained through fear vs. loyalty gained through pretended sympathy.

Same goal.

If the world has made them that way, both Annabel and Montresor will use every last footnote of knowledge gained through trauma to get what they want.

But then there's something else they have in common: this deep knowledge of the rules of the game has also made them both know that the odds are too stacked against them to ever win. In the past, we've seen Annabel throw in the towel on her arranged marriage, but Montresor took a different path, much more along the lines of…

"So I'm not afraid to cheat."

Montresor decided that if people wanted a demon. He would give them one. The worst demon of all, because this one knows the rules: he knows how to play the game, he knows how to cheat and get away with it. We don't know the extent of his atrocities, but given what happened in the flashback and the fact that his idea of a sleepover is stuffing someone behind a wall to slowly suffocate, this guy must have a long rap sheet.

So long, in fact, that he was tied to the tracks of a train to be torn to shreds without even a trial.

Because if the rules are just there to screw you, then screw them: the only option left is to cheat.

Which is exactly what Lenore did when she burned down her house and pretended to be a man to go after Annabel. Lenore jeopardized everything Annabel said was important to her.

And she got away with it. At least until they were both killed (or, if those of us with our chips on Annabel's childhood friend, they may have both died without anyone knowing).

Now, in Nevermore, Lenore is still doing that, as we can see in her reluctance to kill or destroy Montresor: she refuses to play the game, refuses to follow the rules.

She will look for ways to cheat here, as she did before (something Annabel actually expects her to do). The woman is too stubborn to bend, and so far she seems to have the wind at her back (the question is, for how long?).

The bad ending

These elements make Montresor a complete exhibition of the ultimate consequences of taking Annabel and Lenore's attitudes to the extreme: a person who instrumentalizes her own traumas to unravel and try to inflict them on others, and who is not afraid to cheat for her own benefit if it means getting what she wants.

The only thing that separates Annabel and Lenore from Montresor is that they both still use these attitudes in the name of other people: Annabel for Lenore herself, and Lenore for the people she cares about. That both of them (still) seem to have their hearts in the right place.

But if Annabel continues to use her vast knowledge of this twisted game to work her way through people without caring, and Lenore still believes she's above all rules, here's Montresor to show them (and us) what's waiting for them at the end of the road.

[miriadalia]

Alright so, by now in part 2 we have:

People flying to the other side of the globe faster than Flash and with no jetlag consequences apparently 🙄

Robby being SA but everyone treating this as some kind of infidelity or fling (even him, wtf??)

Demetri being unfaithful to his girlfriend (though I was not exactly surprised by this 🙄) Yasmine you deserve better gurl...

Spanish team representation being SO WRONG. And I know because I'm Spanish: we don't say "Ándale" like they were saying when hyping Diego before his fight. That's a Mexican word 🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️ and Maria's surname should have been Álvarez and not Àlvarez, we don't have this accent (`) in Spanish. Please it's really not that difficult to make accurate representations... Especially because THEY WENT TO FREAKING SPAIN!!! Study a little bit for goodness sake!

Korean Cobra Kais being 2D bad guys that apparently don't have any more personality than being violent and ruining everything for Miyagi Do. Seems like only Americans are allowed to have a complex backstory and profound motivations to win. Like: even Axel got the "abused athlete" foreshadow... and he literally had 2 lines of dialogue.

Speaking of Axel, my guy really fell head over heels for Sam in 2 seconds like... That is some other level of crushing here 😳 creepy...

And speaking of the Korean team: wasn't Kwon like the outcast rebel of his class? Now why is everyone suddenly super friendly with him?? Especially Yoon! What happened? Because I understand they respect him now as he earned his place as captain (violently ofc). But they were giggling all over the place wtf...

Tory's mindset and trauma after her mother's death being treated SO LIGHTLY that I want to scream 😖😖. Do you think she would really be in the right headspace to argue about "stealing my boyfriend, bitch"?? Haven't you ever lost a loved one?? I have, and let me tell you: you don't have the heart to suffer for anything else than your loss... Especially not after just one or two weeks.

And then she even had to watch a teammate fucking DIE right before her eyes. Thank you writers for another trauma🤮🤮

And of course, we arrive to Kwon's death... Listen, I don't have anything else to comment rather than: yes, some people are such psychopaths that can't even see how their actions may result in hurting themselves, and they decided to make Kwon a lost cause (I get it, would have preferred some backstory scenes of him to fully understand it, but I get it).

What I don't understand and really gets on my nerves is how ridiculously stupid the reason of the brawl was in the first place. Are you telling me there was not a single sensei apart from Daniel, Johnny and Chozen that would have stopped the fight?? They were like: fuck, yeah, let's allow these kids to fight until they get seriously injured. Let them run up the stairs and kick each other as if they were made of rubber and they wouldn't die if they fall.........

I know that in the professional sports' world there's so much competition and substance use. And that was realistic. But it's teens we are talking about. Really anyone had a good sensei??? Anyone?

Because if that's how it is then I don't see how Cobra Kai might end in part 3 other than banning karate in every country.

That's all for now...

I was really enjoying the season until the end of episode 7 or something...

I hate it when the shock factor wins over the emotional and coherent plot...

That "strategy" has ruined so many good series, and now I don't really feel like watching part 3 😔

[verycharismaticdragon]

Y'know I'm not going to go and argue with people but I'm. kinda weirded out by the "Shen Yuan's family was actually neglectful/awful/abusive" takes? Because we have a story where:

a point is made about cycles of violence and how abuse creates more abuse (with Qiu Jianluo - Shen Jiu - Bing-ge sequence).

a point is made about how the person can turn out very differently depending on their environment growing up (with differences between Bing-ge and Bing-mei).

And like... how does one look at those two points, then at Shen Yuan saying he had a loving family, and forgoes the obvious conclusion - that growing up in a stable home is what sets him apart in the world of PIDW (including from literal author of the world who is a lonely and embittered child of the divorce!) and allows him to change it with the power of love & kindness & bonding with people - in favor of deciding that his family was ~actually~ horrible?..

In that case, what makes him capable of breaking the cycle? Some kind of innate goodness or kindness? That, for some reason, no other character happened to possess? Right. Nice going completely devaluing Shen Jiu's tragedy.

To explain the last point: we get a lot of backstory for Shen Jiu, and the obvious takeaway from it is that he was not born a scum villain. That he did have a desire to do (and be) good, but it just couldn't flourish - because of a combination of terrible circumstances of his youth, his personal flaws, and the demands of the meta-narrative.

Thing is... two of those problems, he shares with Shen Yuan. Shen Yuan has his own personal flaws aplenty, even if they differ from Shen Jiu's, and a literal manifestation of the meta-narrative haunting him. But, unlike Shen Jiu, he happened to have a good family. That is their fundamental difference.

If one argues that Shen Yuan's family situation actually wasn't good, then what allows him to be so different from Shen Jiu? Isn't that saying that Shen Yuan was just a good person from the start... and Shen Jiu was just a bad person from the start? you know, the exact sentiment that made Shen Jiu give up on himself? And isn't it flattening Shen Jiu's story from a tragedy of a person who was broken out of his desire to do good by his terrible circumstances, into just 'a bad guy doing bad things because he's bad'? like, exactly what Airplane did to him in PIDW...

---

But, some of you may ask, don't we have evidence that Shen Yuan wasn't actually very happy in his past life?

Thing is, I don't disagree with that! I just think it didn't necessarily have anything to do with the quality of his home life.

For starters, having a loving family is not everything. Like, even if you just look at Maslow's pyramid, "love and belonging" is actually in the middle of the thing. Shen Yuan could have a perfectly fine, caring family and still be unfulfilled on "esteem" (recognition and respect from other ppl + personal feelings of accomplishment) and "self-actualization" (becoming the best possible version of himself) levels.

And that's before we factor in that he's a(n obviously if you read between the lines) queer dude who grew up in a country that criminalizes queerness which is something I don't see brought up a lot in discussions of the strength of his internalized homophobia, and the possibility that he is an undiagnosed neurodivergent person (i personally hc him as having adhd-I, i know there are also ppl with autistic headcanons, could be both, etc etc), and the influence of his social circle outside his family (cishet dudes on the forums, from what he know, so not the most positive and uplifting bunch)...

---

Lastly, while I think the thematic evidence from the first half of this meta is more telling, there are also a few small in-text details that prove Shen Yuan's words about how close-knit his family was.

First, the way he compares Yue Qingyuan to his older brothers in the very beginning, at the time he is still finding his footing and YQY is the one person looking out for him. (On the subject of SY!SQQ and YQY, just read this post, I won't be able to put it better.) Shen Yuan is explicitly "feeling at home in the atmosphere of brotherly love".

Second, the fact that we know he read his younger sister's danmei novels. On Shen Yuan's side, literally how committed he had to be to supporting his sister's interests, when we know from being in his head how determined he is about playing ostrich with anything and everything gay. No shit he spoiled her, I believe that one hundred percent. And on his sister's side, the level of trust she has towards her brother? Having full confidence that she could make him read gay bdsm and he wouldnt love her any less?..

---

So yeah, I think all signs point to Shen family being as close-knit and loving as Shen Yuan says.

[kerubimcrepin]

LIVEBLOG: Wakfu Season 4, Episode 7

Grandpa piss, being a part of the Remote Viewers Division doesn't prevent you from being a deadbeat. KILL him Eva.

What were YOU doing at the devil's sacrement, King [insert name here] Sheran-Sharm!

I love women who are tortured for an eternity and then die in some way that will not kill them in a way that matters #signaliscore posts

Man haha I wonder if this might be saying something about Yugo (and Joris, but that goes without saying on this blog)

I have seen people criticize this moment, but let me be the devil's advocate: after seeing years of fans saying that Flopin is the boring twin, or that Eva has no backstory, them getting a problem-causing grandpa is literally so good.

And I think I understand why Flopin did this, since he says himself that he actually feels like the boring twin... I understand why he felt like going with this man, to learn about this guild, and where he comes from.

[starts hacking up blood] you know what other duo of demigods in this franchise had a twin who felt like they were living in the shadow of their sibling and his wonderful white fur—- [is shot by animal control]

I loooove comparing all the characters in this show, because it's genuinely a good way to approach Krosmoz, since Tot likes exporing the same themes (immortality/family) over, and over, and over, and over. And what I can say rn is: man, having normal parents makes jealousy-based plots much more tame. Atcham went in a "I want to be great like you, so I need to end you, you don't care about me like I care about you anyway" direction instead of a "I want to be great like you, so I'm gonna leave and work on myself, and then we can stand side by side someday"

I do think he is going to hurt his sister in some major way with this decision and in the end it will be a bitter, or bittersweet memory <3 I believe in the power of toxicity <3

To elaborate on the thing I said about titles, Astra is the ruling queen (to be precise, she is the daughter of the king of Bonta who was mentioned in seasons 1-2 and OVAs, who seems to have passed away); while her wife is either queen-consort, or a princess-consort.

However, Wakfu kingdoms may have worse, weirder rules than real life about inheritance.

The reason I am not getting my panties in a twist about the same-sex aspect of this (besides me supporting toxic royal yuri + being against homophobia or whatever) is that this is a magical universe, idk. they could adopt or get magically pregnant. It's literally a non-issue for me. UNLIKE PEOPLE NOT UNDERSTANDING THE CONSORT SYSTEM AND—-

Joris is present in all the kingdoms as Yugo's emotional support mediator/ambassador, except for Brakmar. I assume they simply do not let this fucking man into their palace, and rightfully so. He's literally a Bontarian narc. He'd use that chance to steal documents or some shit.

Btw I find it so funny how he keeps the same neutrally haunted look.

If a Bonatrian political leader goes for a week without wanting to start genocide against a people who isn't into the main 12 gods, they start getting the shakes from withdrawal.

I imagine living for hundreds of years and experiencing unimaginable suffering would make one pretty averse to being bossed around by some random guy who was born into wealth and has not known a second of grief in their life.

I feel it is important to point out: Joris was the one who made sure the meeting with Astra happened. He also felt this was important enough to try and organize meetings with other kings and queens. This is a dangerous situation.

As always, absolutely nobody listened. Nobody ever listens.

As I was saying, I imagine living for hundreds of years and experiencing un—-

I think the fact that Joris went with them has to say something about him. Yes, it is probably his sense of responsibility — he doesn't exactly want bad things to happen...

But also it explicitly puts a wedge between him and the Bontarian government. He values Yugo more.

[jolieblack]

Jolie's notes on

The Three Students (Sherlock & Co podcast)

📖 🎓👨‍🏫 This case doesn’t seem to get talked about much… and I think I agree and I know why. I find ACD’s original Three Students story rather unspectacular myself. The setting is very picture-postcard English™️, but it is otherwise completely unexciting. A solid string of observations and deductions eliminates both red herring suspects (painfully red) to arrive at the *gasp!* solution that people may not be who they appear to be on the surface. Decent work, but hardly the stuff that made Sherlock Holmes a legend. Considering that this is what Joel was up against, I’d say he did rather well for the podcast! Because this isn’t a story about a crime now, it’s a story about identity and about belonging. (Once again. I love how this is a recurring theme of our show.)

John abandoning Sherlock, Mariana and their whole project for a wild night of student partying has been called out of character by some commenters, but while I was still at a loss to understand it myself at the end of the first part, by the end of the second part it made sense to me that this whole case is a story about fitting in, about being popular, about FOMO and what FOMO does to people. John didn’t recklessly let Sherlock down in pursuit of instant gratification in the alcohol or flirting department. What actually happened there was John being bowled over by either the memories of his student days and of how much he loved being one of the boys and having a gang to party with that accepted him just the way he was, which he subsequently lost after his army days and injury; or by the memories of how he never really had a gang to belong to, having struggled at university both academically and in the popularity contest, and is catching up to that lovely feeling now. We see the same thing mirrored in Mariana‘s backstory of wanting to fit in with the cool gang at school. Then it gets mirrored in the three students, too, and in what drives them. Even Sherlock isn’t immune from being called the best in his field and it being "cool" that he’s being invited to speak at Oxford. But he - unexpectedly, given his constant sense of being a misfit - ends up being the happiest and most successful of the whole bunch in this adventure, because he fully realises, quicker than anyone else, that has found his family (a doctor from Swindon and an accountant from Sociedad!) and knows exactly where he belongs.

I don’t suppose any of us were surprised that Sherlock’s awkward lecture would end up being the live solving of a case. (We all remember the BBC Sherlock’s wedding speech in season 3 of that show, after all.) Love how he took everyone to task though. Brutal. Fantastic. I knew there was a reason why I love this man.

Details that I loved:

Sherlock stealing everyone’s sausage rolls and framing Archie! 😂 The way Sherlock got demoted from best friend to "roommate" with very sharply enunciated consonants as a punishment cracked me up.

"when I am positively carbonated with the fizzing bubbles of resolution…" - I kept looking for the ACD story that quote comes from, but it’s apparently an Emory original! 👌

I adored John once again being Sherlock’s interpreter for social cues, and how much they’ve perfected their routine by now: Their super-quick "hyperbole or sarcasm?" - "affectionate hyperbole" exchange made me tear up with affection myself.

"I will merely emit a faint glow of intrigue for now." - Another quote that I could have sworn was ACD.

Things I did NOT like: The professor’s accent. This guy was literally painful to listen to. Oxbridge alumni in this fandom, please join me in confirming that Oxbridge professors do not typically talk like that.

So… like in ACD’s stories, we can’t and won’t always have high stakes, dead bodies and mortal danger, but that’s fine with me. These are stories about friendship as much as they are stories about crime, and in this one, insights abound in the former sense.

[queersouthasian]

Listen guys, I just wanted to say this, may not to be important but needs to said:

PEOPLE HATE WAY 'CAUSE HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE HATED

that's it, that's the post...ok let me elaborate

As the saying goes, "you have to be the villain in someone's story for them to be the hero", and this may not be the most fitting sentence in context to WAY but in a way it is. Listen, why do we love characters like vegas/kiyoi/charn but dislike the dr from sign or way to be specific?? Interesting question right?

Vegas/Kiyoi/Charn are not "evil" characters, they are not supposed to be looked over or hated 'cause of whatever they did (killing for Vegas, bullying for kiyoi and Charn being the evil lawyer) 'cause their motive to commit a crime outweigh the consequences of the crime itself. Why did Vegas kill people?? He was from the minor family who were always overshadowed by the major, lived with his abusive ass mf dad, was raised and treated like an animal and when the final fallout with pete happens, he realises he treated pete the exact same way he was treated all these years, like an animal (pls don't even treat animals like that) and the realisation alone made THE vegas beg to Pete. Even though Vegas is a murderer, a criminal, people can sympathize with him 'cause he has a convincing story of extreme physical and emotional abuse to tell, his story perfectly explains him as a person and doesn't matter how bad/evil he is, people still cry out for him, people still feel the pain 'cause to some extent, people can relate to it. Same for kiyoi and Charn (I am not elaborating but there are many psychological takes on kiyoi here which are really good)

Now this solid back story lacks in the case of Dr and Way. Even if Way was not the "Enigma", he would still be a very annoying character, he is not the cool "loki" rather actually annoying lmao, mostly because nothing about way, till now, can explain what he did, like why did he hypnotise and manipulate babe?? FOR 10 YEARS?? why did he have to manipulate everyone against Charlie and Jeff about the car accident??? He was suspicious of Charlie, but actually he wasn't. He didn't know anything about him, did no research about him, did not have any reason, technically, to doubt him cause he had zero proof about Charlie or even jeff doing something, he just wanted to cut both off 'cause jealousy. He even saved the bfs in the last ep just 'cause babe was there, if only charlie was there or someone else with him, he would have left them. And I am not even kidding. Remember how after knocking the guy out, way goes "come on, Babe" totally refusing to acknowledge charlie being there. He could have just went "let's go" or "come on guys" but no. And if he infact is the enigma, then that just adds up to the selfishness and nothing. I am not saying that a character needs a dramatic backstory to explain their wrongs but way has...nothing. like from all perspectives he would have won, he did not have a loss. Also the biggest deception is literally from his part. The fact that not only babe, but literally every character including jeff - charlie, trust him, the fact that he tries to come off as a concerned friend but actually is just a manipulative bitch with victim complex, and to make it worse his "love" is more of a "possession" like unfiltered unsexy possession lmao. Exactly like the doctor. Both don't have any reason to do anything they did, they just want to see the world burn but not in the "oh the world is shitty" Charn way rather they are the upper hand and basically are toying with things for their pleasure.

Nothing worse than a character being merciless to people for no reason, they are either sociopaths or just rich and this would have been a great thing in crime/thriller genre not romance.

[saberamane]

Today, I may have finally scared off a guy at work who has been repeatedly asking me out, despite the various forms of 'no' I have given him.

Even a straight up 'no, I don't feel comfortable dating someone at my work.'

Now you may be wondering, how exactly I finally accomplished this.

Well... I was brutally honest with a question he had today. One that made him rather uncomfortable.

(And made him leave me alone earlier than he usually does.)

I should preface the following story by saying there will be TMI, to some degree, that many people probably don't care to hear from a stranger, so fair warning.

I suppose I'll give some backstory on this guy. I have been working at my current job for nearly 4 years, and have known this guy for nearly the whole time as well.

As stated, I'm not comfortable 'dating' anyone I work with, even if we have different jobs/shifts/departments or whatever. I have given it a try on 2 different occasions, neither worked out, and one even led to some harassment at work.

Now, me and this guy, I'll call him Jim (which is nowhere close to his actual name) we've been 'friendly' for about 2 years now, though I don't see him much usually. People who have read some of my rants will know I work in a warehouse, specifically battery maintenance for the pallet jacks and fork lifts. This includes changing out batteries to charge in the equipment, which the operators bring in.

Jim is an 'order selector', which means he goes around and picks up various grocery items that have been ordered by the store to restock, piles it all on a pallet, wraps it up in plastic, and delivers it to the area on the loading dock where the store's order is then loaded into a truck and sent off to the store.

All of this means that he uses a piece of equipment that uses a BIG battery, and that battery drains and needs to be switched with a fresh battery eventually. Which is where I come in. Jim drives his pallet jack into my work area, parks it in the 'changing zone' for me to do one of the big parts of my job. Working a big machine to pull his dead battery out and switch it with another from the chargers.

This process usually takes 3 minutes, and only that long because everything needs logged. I have to write down the pallet jack number, the battery number I'm taking out of it, the charger it's going on, the date, time, and my initials. Not hard, but still takes about 3 minutes total for the whole process, including putting the fresh battery in.

Now, usually, people leave after this. They have more orders to select after all, and they have to meet a certain quota.

...but Jim likes to stick around and talk to me, if there's no one else waiting for a battery.

And before this was never really an issue for me. Jim can do what he wants, and if he wants to risk not meeting his quota because he's talking to me while I work, that's on him. We would talk about various things, usually video games and inane workplace gossip. And then one day, several months back, Jim asked me out.

I said no. I said I don't date people at work. I said it can create an awkward work environment.

He said ok, and things went back to normal, only now I was a little apprehensive about having Jim linger as he did. For the most part, my work area is pretty barren of people unless someone comes in to get a fresh battery. All the other maintenance people work in the shop further back, some 200+ feet and behind a block wall and automatic roller door.

Perhaps I'm paranoid, but being left alone with someone who has shown interest in me, and been denied, and knowing there'd be no one to hear anything should anything sketchy happen unnerves me.

But I don't say anything. I let Jim talk, kind of answer him, but mostly get on with my other work duties until he leaves.

And then he asks me out again.

And again.

And asks to 'hang out'.

'What am I doing this weekend', 'do I have plans', etc.

Every other week it seems. He'd ask some variation of wanting to see me outside work, to do something, and I've said no every time.

And he still asks.

Now, on to the 'TMI' portion.

It's 'that time of the month', I get horrible pms, horrible cramps, DRASTIC mood swings, and honestly get a little... murdery.

Who wouldn't when feeling that kind of pain, and still having to work and stand and just be ok for 8+ hours a day while dealing with people.

So anyway, it's about 3 hours into my shift, my advil still has not kicked in, it's been a pretty busy morning changing batteries and constantly pulled away from my other duties...

And then Jim comes in.

I sigh under my breath, walk to my machine, switch out the batteries, get my paperwork filled out, step off the machine and Jim starts talking.

And as he's talking I get the mother of all cramps. And while I try to keep a pretty neutral face at work during this trying time, I must have made some sort of expression. Because Jim asks if I'm ok.

And between the gross, dirty feeling of the current mess my pants are forced to contain, the cramps, the heat of my workplace, the annoyance that Jim can't just leave me alone for ONE day, I ask a rather inane question.

"Have you seen the Alien movies? With the Xenomorphs?" I ask out of nowhere. Jim is rather perplexed, but answers.

"Uh...yeah?"

"Well right now it feels like I have a chestburster. But instead of coming out of my general torso area, it feels like it's trying to burst out of one of my ovaries. And it's been going on for about an hour now and the advil just is not kicking in yet. In fact, I'm in such pain right now my right leg is actually kind of numb, and I'm pretty breathless honestly, and would love nothing more than to cry right now but seeing as I'm at work and can't exactly do that and expect to keep my job, I'm just sort of holding all of that in to the best of my ability. And actually, it's time for my break where I can take more advil and actually sit down for a bit, but as usual you're holding me back from doing that with your usual meaningless banter while you try to come up with yet another way to ask me out, even though I've said no the past twenty or so times. And honestly, it's getting to the point now where I'm tempted to bring this to HR cause apparently you don't know what 'no' means and might just turn one of my days into an episode of 48 hours because you seem rather obsessed with me."

...Long story short he left pretty quickly after that, looking rather cowed. And I'm honestly expecting to be called into HR or something Monday when I go back to work because I can't see him actually dropping this with no reaction.

(Also, I was 100% serious about the chestburster bit.)

[malaierba]

It's really remarkable how Natsuo's attitude is born from such a clumsy attempt at being mature, in a situation where it isn't even clear how much she's at fault.

Don't get me wrong, she did what she did, both with Sanae and her brother but she was like. What, 10? She probably knew she was behaving badly with Sanae, that's why she carried that guilt onto high school, but I also think... She was compelled, in a way. She tried to read those around her, find the problem, provide a solution that ended up being quite clumsy.

It's made very obvious in her backstory with Sanae that Natsuo's NEVER been good at socialising. She isn't a natural when it comes to reading the room, minding people's feelings, politeness. And it's so interesting how her brother resents her for it, but Sanae? Sanae from the FLOOR kept a cool head and tried to get her to explain herself. And Natsuo didn't. Natsuo realised she was the bad guy, and committed to the act.

It's the whole bad guy act. She took her casual hurtfulness, her mindless bluntness, and put it alongside how her actions caused the fallouts with her brother and Sanae, and was like. Ah, so this is who I am.

Obviously the theme in Teppuu is self-loathing but I look at all of the above and wonder, was it all also a clumsy attempt at being mature? At being a grown-up? Endlessly childish to think "I must own up my actions, so since these were the actions of a mfer, I will own up to them by being exactly that, and I'll act like idc about what happened bcs someone who did wouldn't have acted as I did in the first place".

Just. Contrived copium lol. Trying to regain a sense of control by doubling down on what she did, and acting like she also doesn't care who she's hurt, even thoughhhh the whole story started because she DOES she did care and she still cared when the manga ends. Trying to take responsibility by being super immature about it and refusing to open the can of worms.

Sanae foils her so well. She IS the most mature character in Natsuo's age range. She engages her directly, calls her out on her attitude, doesn't back down since they both know she's right, doesn't flinch when faced with Natsuo's taunts. And still, she has that little bit of teenage immaturity. That whole, I'll show you that doing things properly (unlike you) gets you farther (and maybe then you'll learn this lesson)

Which doesn't happen through her ofc. And it hurts her, but she also seems to reach a point after the fight that's like. Yeah, she still pisses me off. Still mad the cookie crumbled like this. But I can move on, I can let this unresolved business ordeal go.

Sanae moves on, yet Natsuo remains stuck. The parallel in what it takes to mature, the fact that they both develop as characters through a loss. You just can't have it your way all the time, you win some you lose some, sometimes it's unfair but such is life. Doesn't mean that examining WHY things are unfair is pointless. That's what Sanae seems to do that Natsuo doesn't. Sanae realises, even if I had won Natsuo wouldn't have learned what she has to learn. Her issue is with me but also not really (it's not even with her brother, it's with herself and how she relates to herself and others, it's with her unpacked repressed trauma). Fighting may prove a point but it won't solve the issue.

Just. Damn. You think it's just beef between two ex-childhood friends but it goes hard in a way that only stories about being messed up in ur teens does lol

[everyone-with-a-para]

This is the response for the Pokémon ask thing. Sorry for the super late reply, got caught up into some real life things. But please enjoy this deranged ramble :>

Anyways! Grand choice! Grand choice! If I have to be honest, I was anticipating for either one of the Poké villains because they seemed very popular. Though, Cynthia is popular too. Also, a Cynthia dup, huh. Well, that's a first, I usually kept running into Lusa dups in the Daydreaming Discord server I'm in, lmao.

She may not be as lore heavy as the other blonde bitch, but she gets enough to the point of getting a backstory and some significant ties to the paracosm's big bad evil mouse guy.

So, Cynthia.

This Poké para is practically similar or the same as her canon counterpart personality wise. Just more serious and maybe a bit sassy/sarcastic given the trauma and suffering I put her through with the mouse alone. She was very well off at first in lore. A very respected actress for her job when on camera and a renowned fighter when off camera.

Yeah, the main cast in the paracosm are this skinwalker-esque species who are made mainly and solely to act and entertain the audience. In order to do that, they must wear the meat suits of their given characters and bear their names. Should they try to physically diverge or remove the meat suits, let's just say that bad things happen if they try to disown/change their names, and it'd hurt like shit if they remove the skin suit. They don't know who exactly are the audience, but they've been told by their creators over and over again that there are entities watching or playing their work. And these entities must be entertained, get something out of their performances.

Back to Cynthia, she's been very popular amongst the fellow actors thanks to her work/performance, and her character leaving a lasting impression on people. Because of her role as one of the good guys in the canon Pokémon storyline, she has the advantage and the privileges to navigate in a society that favors those who play that role more.

So, how did she got traumatized? How did all that fame, fortune, and privileges slipped past her finger tips?

It all started with a mouse.

In 2010, Cynthia had to perform for Mickey live for his birthday. It was a live performance for Pokémon Platinum. It was all fine and dandy at first. Though, over time, Mickey... Let's say his delusional episode started kicking in. You see, he can easily tell that his own project is an act all the time. But he can't easily tell if the others' works are real or not most of the time, so he has a tendency to attack the villain actors for what their canon personas did. Even if he does tell what is real and an act with some of the others' series, he'll still be a bigot towards villain actors and even commit hate crimes against them.

Towards the end of Cyrus's final act, Mickey tried to attack him in the Distortion World because of his delusions, insanity, and saviour complex. Cynthia saved Cyrus, but at the cost of losing a leg to Mickey. Right after they escaped from the mouse king, they tried to report him to the authorities of the Nintendo Empire. However, the trial kinda ended on a tie or a null. No one got guilty'd or taken to jail. Mickey is a king and can easily get away with a lot of things, this incident and the other Pokémon live performance incidents included. Cynthia still has privileges, so she's spared, and Cyrus just barely survived and only managed to escape from getting enprisoned because Cynthia had him cover.

Some months after the trial, rumours begin to spread, they were about the Sinnoh Champion herself. They can consist of her relationship with Cyrus and being brainwashed by the villain actors to help them overthrow the Nintendo Emperor, Mario. These made everyone become suspicious of Cynthia, leading up to robbing her wealth and her home, along with her socio-economic status. After that, she's been banished into the Villainous Underground, a ghetto-like place where villains, usually from very oppressive territories, live when off camera. Since then, she's been taken in by the residents and just lives there.

Nowadays, she hangs out with the villain actors of her series since they're all she has now. Some of the champion playing colleagues who were once close to her now reject and disown her from their social group thanks to those rumours.

In a following Live Performance incident, Cynthia lost an eye while helping Lysandre. I just thought it'd be neat and cool to give her a key stone for an eye. In another incident, I decided she loses a forearm while helping Lusamine with Mickey's attacks. It doesn't help that it was Ms. President's very first gig and her live first audience was not the Sponge bestie she intended to invite over, but the deranged mouse king himself.

I forgot to add/mentioned that Mickey adn one of the high ranking cult members started a smear campaign on Cynthia's ass and that's how she got angsted

That sounds so much darker and more convoluted to my poké paracosm where they're all just silly little guys with their silly little mons and their silly little family relationships but I kinda love it. My Cynthia isn't a main character in my paracosm but she's trans and immortal and terrified (/hsrs) of a 15 year old that keeps kicking her ass and she's so iconic about it. Girl committed atrocities and it's coming back to bite her 250 years later

[lighthousegod]

Shoutout to everyone who thinks Miguel is on some bullshit about this canon event stuff. I think so too, and I’m still a lil annoyed at him he needs to chill. However-

I do not think he knows it’s bullshit. Seen a lot of people thinking he sorta made it up and convinced himself? Or is just plain lying? And now he’s projecting his guilt onto Miles and everybody else. I def think bro is projecting, but after reading about his comic line, I’m sorta skeptical of whether he’s even the mastermind here. I mean, he really thinks Miles is the anomaly- does he know that wouldn’t have been able to happen without doc ock and kingpin? It’s not just mean that he blames Miles a bit, it’s plain wrong. Yeah Miles became spidey, but even if he hadn’t, ole’ Miles 42 would still be spiderless. If miles hadn’t gotten bit, I think we’d just have 2 miles prowlers and a dead spider- still an anomaly, right? Idk it just doesn’t make sense, and yet Miguel is still so passionate about it. It’s not just a job for him, this is serious. He lost his whole world to this stuff. But I suspect that’s not all there is to his backstory- like I said, in his original comic series, he was not a bad guy or a big boss of all the Spider-Men. Instead, he was a geneticist working on super soldiers for- guess who!- Alchemax. It was when he tried to quit because of their unethical practices that the drugs he may or may not be taking (unclear on what the venom stuff is exactly in ATSV) come in. In the comics, it’s called rapture, and it doesn’t give him spider powers. Instead it’s just stupid addictive, to the point where it alters your genetics or smth. When alchemax drugged him, it was their way of gaining control over him. He basically couldn’t leave after that, like I’m pretty sure it’d kill him to go without the drug. Howeverrr, he figures out a way to alter his own genetic code to before he was addicted, which should’ve fixed the issue, but the alchemax bad guys sabotaged him and put spider dna in the machine, so he came out all fucked up and weird and spider like. That’s why instead of sticky hands and spidey sense he has giant claws and insane eyesight. Sunlights too much for him, he’s got the fangs, all the vampire stuff. He wasn’t bit like in the traditional canon, but in the comicsss he’s not giving himself venom to Make himself Spider-Man- and even when he was injecting himself with drugs, it was because he was being manipulated by alchemax. The Spider-Man part was still a total accident, albeit a different one than peter’s.

This is where ATSV differs, though. In that injection scene, it’s definitely implying that green stuff is giving him spider powers. This sorta changes the game, cause that means he’s Choosing to be Spider-Man. And everyone’s been calling him out for that the same way they’re calling him out for the universe thing- it’s hypocritical for him to run after Miles. Except when it’s about the universe collapsing, we say he’s projecting instead. He’s fully aware what he did was bad, he’s GUILTY about it. That’s why he’s so passionate about all this. So with the venom… I really doubt he’d make himself a Spider-Man by choice and then come after Miles for his anomaly spiderman-hood or whatever. Unlesss…. He’s guilty bout that venom shit too. He hated being controlled by Rapture in the comics, so what if it’s a similar situation here? Maybe the spider venom giving Miguel powers IS rapture, or something similarly addictive enough to have dire consequences if you get off it, and alchemax still has control over him through that. Maybe THEY funded the big spider hub and the research to do all this, and had to use Miguel’s science brain to get there. I still think the canon is bs, but Miguel doesn’t seem like a power hungry control freak- he seems genuinely afraid. He thinks not following canon really will destroy universes- it happened to him, after all- but that’s not really what’s happening. Mayday is proof of that, MILES is proof of that. Even Pavitr’s world is messed up only bc of the spot, not directly because his police captain lived. You could argue spot exists because of a break in canon too, but mumbhattan and the surrounding area isn’t disappearing like Miguel’s was. Still, it makes sense why he’s so nervous. But he’s so SURE about it, despite the situation being more complicated. He ignores all that evidence, hell, he literally wouldn’t look at Mayday. Why can’t he entertain the fact that, maybe, breaks in canon don’t always fuck stuff up? What did he do differently to make his collapse? Was that even his fault? Why tf did he get to live in that world so long before it started disappearing? Something ain’t adding up. Maybe he was lied to, too.

[clumsyraccoon]

Great news! You're in charge of the new DMC anime, what are you going to do with it?

Oh-oh…shi…ah-ehm….dear anon you caught me by surprise xD

(Putting all under the cut because geeeeez, I didn’t expect it to become this long)

Mmmmmh, what am I going to do with it? Since it’s a different media than the “usual” games, I think I’ll try to decrease a bit the “action” part and delve more into the psychology of the characters, the world building, and all those nice little aspect that are not addressed in the games.

1) as stated in a previous post, I would like to know what happened to Vergil (but honestly also to Dante) in her teen years, from Eva’s death to the beginning of DMC3. It would be nice to see what kind of people/demons they have encountered and what kind of impact they had on the twins lives. Did Vergil found some kind of parental figure or friend during those years? Who taught him the “way of the sword”? And who give him all his knowledge about the demon world and demons?

One nice idea that was suggested was foster families: did they get adopted? If so, what kind of families did they find themselves in?

2) following this kind of thought: when exactly was Vergil able to escape Mundus? What/who made it possible? And what happened in that period of time, before he was able to track down Yamato and Nero? How did he survive an escape from the Underworld in such conditions?

3) another thing that I would like to touch would be Trish, Kyrie, and Nico. Like, in dmc3 we see a lot about Lady and his backstory, about his family, and how those things affected her and her behaviour…I would like to give that kind of space to the other girls as well.

For Trish, it would be very interesting to see what she did and where she went when she decided to not closely work with Dante anymore: we see and know so little about her, when she has a lot of potential in terms of personal growth and self-affirmation.

I would be delighted to see the events of DMC4 from Kyrie‘a perspective. How she felt when the truth of the Order was uncovered, when Credo died, when Nero saved her and let her see his arm…this poor girl has gone through some serious shit, it would be interesting to see how she coped with all of that.

We know Nico is the biological daughter of Agnus and adopted granddaughter of Neil Goldstein: here I see another goldmine for family issues. What kind of relationship she had with her father and mother before Agnus abandoned both? How did she end up with the Goldstein? Did she met Tony when she was young?

4) speaking of families, my little heart is always craving happy Sparda family time. I want to see more of Sparda and Eva, more of the little twins, more of their happy moments together. Like, even nice and short flashbacks would be perfect: a little glimpse on what was before the nightmare.

5) speaking of Sparda: his young years alongside Mundus. I honestly want a villain (beside Vergil) to not only be the Bad Guy™️, but to also have nuances, to be a round character. I want to know how they became friends, what adventures they were in as a team, how Sparda helped Mundus sit on the Underworld throne.

6) my biology nerd ass needs more information and world building about the demons and the demon world. How is it structured? We see some places at the end of DMC3 and some glimpses at the end of DMC5…but I honestly crave moar. Also, I may be a sucker for “classic” demonology, but it would be interesting to know if demons are “organised” in a hierarchy, or is just complete chaos where the strongest prevails. Also, since hybrids are possible, all types of demons can have offsprings with humans? Or just the most humanoid ones? Why?

[wack-ashimself]

The closest I ever came to going vegan...

Okja (the super pig. Spoilers)

<Backstory: 'Poker Face' has an episode where a known BBQ guy goes vegan after watching Okja. So I had to see what it was about. Turns out, I like the director's work (All of it) and didn't realize he had such a wide variety of movies.>

Plot is after being paid to raise a super big GMO pig (sold as magic/miracle pig) for 10 years, it's supposed to go back to the company to be made into meat. Young girl doesn't want to give it up. Goes on an adventure to save it. And for a mostly light hearted romp, there is some graphic and violent scenes. Forced breeding, cops beating the FUCK out of people, and probably the most real to life walk thru of a meat processing plant in a movie I ever saw (non documentary).

In the end, at the processing plant, the evil CEO won't give up the pig cuz it's bad business. The girl gives up her solid golden pig statue (what her grandpa basically sold the pig for) in order to save it. And this is all after you saw, step by step, how they would go from killing to chopping up the meat*. So you already sat thru a lot...

but then, something I felt like you would see at a concentration camp. It rocked me...

As the girl is being escorted out with her pig, going by all the locked up and being systematically killed THOUSANDS of other pigs, some of the other pigs are curious and follow them. You don't understand why, until one starts to attack the electric fence, hurting itself. Then you see them push something thru...

THEIR FUCKING BABY!!!! They KNEW they were going to be killed, including their baby, so they took the only chance they had, and threw it to the people escaping. Okja hides the baby in her mouth. As they're walking away, all the other pigs (who have been raised separately) cry in unison as another gunshot to the head can be heard in the background....

GEEZ. I ....wow...you don't come out feeling great if you are a meat eater watching that movie. Cuz you know ALLLLLLL of that is true:

-rich people & businesses (and governments, since the FDA approved it in this movie) only care about the bottom line and will happily shove garbage, toxic garbage, down your throat. And lie every single time they can. <Also, marketing can make you believe anything if it's said loud and happy enough>

-our meat industry is SOULLESS. And we (honestly, self included) genuinely need to eat significantly less. For our health and the planet's health. I mean, do you really think making something live a terrible unhealthy caged life and then murdering it, that its' remains will be SUPER healthy for you? We are gross.

-Every living creature has a soul, can feel, can love, and can suffer.

-again, this is me reading into a foreign movie but FUCK traditions. This all happened cuz her grandpa hated her pet, and wanted her to get married? She was 14 in the movie; Let her live her fucking life.

<The thing that bugged me (little things annoy me): they lived on a mountain top/side. Their water pump was RIGHT at the edge of a cliff. Where the FUCK are you pumping water from? Is there small pockets of water in mountaintops? Do you have one LONG pipe? It just....it was so close to the edge of a MOUNTAINSIDE. Where was the water coming from?>

Either way, great movie (GREAT), but....I would genuinely say this borders on at least a HARD PG rating. If kids have never thought of or heard about this (rich corporations, the meat industry, marketing lies, etc), and find out what they see is MOSTLY true....it may fuck them up.

This is exactly why I like foreign movies too. There were so many times I went 'x happened, so now y happens' and I was pleasantly surprised. It still has some tropes, but nothing completely stolen.

Okja: Solid 8.2/10. My only complaint was tilda swtinon playing herself (AGAIN. How many times can she play 2 characters?), and the CGI kinda sucked. It wasn't horrible, but ain't winning fucking awards. And if it did...holy shit, low standards much?

ps-fav part? I have 2. The beginning, when Okja basically throws itself off a cliff to save the girl and the girl finds her just...farting around, fine, wanting attention. It was so like a pet. 2nd part? STEVEN YUEN! His WHOLE character arc. Also, him playing an asshat. Summary: he's part of a PETA like group, trying to free the super pig. But he lies to get the main girl to be forced to go along with them (and gets the SHIT beaten outta him for lying to the leader.) Then, in the end, he saves the main girl and the leader, outta no where, and shows that he got TATTOOED what his boss beat the shit out of him for doing on his arm. THAT is dedication. Get the shit beat out of you (your fault), kicked out of a group you gave your everything for, come back, AND get a tat to show your dedication? Geez...

*Meat. Why not dead animals? Name specific CUTS of meat instead of the body part... then go by animal. Beef, not dead cow. Pork, not dead pig. Poultry, not dead chicken.....we change the name so you feel less remorse for eating dead things we killed for our own ease (and we don't even do it. We pay others to do it, paying someone to take the guilt. How many if the only way we could eat meat was to kill the animal ourselves could do it ? WAY WAY less than you would think.)

[blogger360ncislarules]

CBS‘ Tracker just introduced Colter Shaw’s white whale.

The Season 2 premiere — which aired Sunday in its new, 8/7c time slot — revealed a decade-old case that continues to haunt Colter to this day: the disappearance of a young woman named Gina Picket, who was abducted from a shopping mall parking lot in 2014, potentially by a shady fella named Frank (played by Justified’s Ryan Dorsey).

Every year, on the anniversary of Gina’s vanishing, Colter pays Frank a most unwelcome visit — and this latest one ends with the typically unruffled reward-seeker putting Frank in a chokehold. He also checks in with Gina’s sister Camille (played by Supergirl’s Floriana Lima), with whom we learn he’s romantically involved. Camille is ready put the past behind her, resolved to the idea that she may never receive closure. But Colter made a promise to Camille, and he’s determined to keep it.

Below, series star/executive producer Justin Hartley weighs in on the Gina Picket case and the introduction of Camille. He also tees up Jensen Ackles’ return as Colter’s brother Russell in Episode 2.

TVLINE | Let’s start with the Gina Picket case — this white whale that Colter has been chasing for a decade. I’ve seen you say that this storyline was derived from a desire to show that Colter is human, not a superhero. Why was it important, entering Season 2, to show more of Colter’s human side? Obviously, when we started this show, we got the character from the book. And it was important for [fellow EP] Ken [Olin] and I to make sure that people had a reason to watch. We need to give people a reason — to show them a reason — why they’re watching this guy. He’s special, he’s really great at what he does… and it just became one of those things where, towards the end of Season 1, you’re thinking to yourself that what we haven’t shown that he’s not infallible. There is something that happened that he couldn’t get to the bottom of, and it does bother him… he can’t let things go. And I just thought that was such a cool thing to introduce to the character — the idea that this guy suffers. For better or worse, he’s not going to let go of it, and I think that adds to the complexity of the character. It adds to the intrigue.

TVLINE | What can you reveal about the relationship between Colter and Camille? I mean, I think the relationship has changed based on the trauma bond. That’s exactly what it is — a trauma bond. It’s almost like — it’s very, very sad, but it’s like these married couples that lose their child, and they can’t be together anymore because they see their child in the other person. It’s hard for Colter and Camille. When [Gina disappears], he makes a promise — and I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he never promises [his clients] anymore. He says, “I will bring her home… I will bring him home.” He says, “I am going to do my best… to try.” This is why. [This storyline] has been built in a way that, when you look at it, you go, “Oh man, that was a pivotal moment in Colter’s life that changed the way he approaches his work and his relationships with other people.”

TVLINE | Might Colter’s relationship with Camille and the Picket family predate Gina’s disappearance? I don’t know how much I’m allowed to say. I’m pitching that it was prior to [Gina’s disappearance]. I think it’s stronger… I think it’s deeper.

TVLINE | I assume Floriana will be back this season? A couple of times. We have to tell that backstory, so we’ll tell that story coming up in Episodes 8 and 9, I believe… I could be lying to you, Episodes 8 and 9 or Episodes 8 and 10. After that, we’ll see how it all shakes out.

TVLINE | Will the anger, or whatever unresolved feelings he has regarding Gina’s vanishing, influence his approach to unpacking his own family drama this year? Well, he learns from everything, right? That’s what this guy does. He evolves. I think we saw at the end of Season 1 that his approach to how he deals with his mother, his brother, his sister — what they’ve been telling him, the estrangement, the dad — that all kind of came to a head when Russell came into town. And it was like, “OK, so now who’s been lying to me?” Without knowing that he was doing it, Colter was actively distancing himself from his entire family because he probably didn’t want to talk about what [happened].

TVLINE | When Russell (played by recurring guest star Jensen Ackles) resurfaces in Episode 2, is Colter going to ask him about Dory’s secret stash of Dad’s research papers and journals? Well, Colter is going to bring it up to him — and he’s going to bring it up for two reasons. Number one, to let him know. But I think, also, to see if [Russell] doesn’t know [about it], what does he think of it? And if he did know [about it], why didn’t he tell Colter? Colter is very skeptical of everyone in his family now, including Russell. I mean, they definitely broke bread, and they’re definitely back on decent terms, but they don’t keep in touch necessarily. They don’t call, they don’t write…. but I think his opinion of his brother has completely changed.

TVLINE | Can we expect to see Colter’s sister Dory back in the first half of Season 2? No, Melissa [Roxburgh] is busy on her show, The Hunting Party [for NBC] — which, by the way, she’s like right across the street from us, but she’s busy on that. But I feel like she ends [her season] way before we do. So I think if we pick that story back up this year, I think it would be more towards the end of Season 2. I haven’t worked with any family members other than Russell this year so far.

[semper-legens]

100. The Inmate, by Freida McFadden

Owned: No, library Page count: 385 My summary: Brooke’s not having a great life. She survived a horrific attack as a teen, gave birth to her attacker’s child, and moved away to New York. But now she’s back in town, after her parents died and she has inherited their house. Too bad the only work she can get is in the same penitentiary where her attacker is imprisoned. As Brooke goes about her work, however, doubts are niggling at her mind. Is Sean as guilty as she had assumed? What really happened that night, ten years ago? My rating: 1/5 My commentary:

Okay, look. Sometimes, I totally judge a book by its cover. What, it's a legitimate thing to do! Book covers can tell you a lot about genre and themes of the book, and if you add the blurb (if a book actually has a blurb, grumble grumble) you can get a decent impression of the book. And this one seemed interesting enough. Thrillers aren't my usual genre, but it's not like I hate the trappings of thrillers or anything, they're just not usually what I go for. And reader, I was burned so bad by this one. It was just writing by numbers. There was nothing interesting or unique going on here, it was just bland, bland, bland, unsurprising plot twist, bland. I only finished it out of a vague sense of inertia and, honestly, it wasn't even worth the tiny amount of effort I put in.

Our protagonist, Brooke, is kind of nothing. She's torn between Sean, her ex who tried to murder her (maybe) and Tim, the friend next door who's had a crush on her for forever, and may also be a murderer. It's first person present tense, and Brooke's voice sounds like it belongs in a bad YA novel. Children are more mature than she is. She seems like she can't focus on more than one thing at a time, oscillating between 'Sean is evil!' 'Sean is sweet!' 'I'm in danger!' 'How does my hair look?' on a dime. She's just vapid, and I really don't want to use that word, because it's a common criticism for female characters, but she is. She doesn't have any real character. She's just a vessel for the plot. I don't know what she likes and dislikes, what her goals are, what she wants and dreams, just her backstory and how she feels about it. She was the most developed character, and I can't tell you a single character trait she had.

But like...the whole thing was just so boring. None of the characters had any depth, they were just filling out vague archetypes at best, and at worst I couldn't even identify that much. There were so many assumptions and shortcuts made - like, the mystery of who the killer was rested entirely between Sean and Tim in the flashbacks, despite the fact that at that point, any of the girls could have been guilty. Brooke gets pregnant after sleeping with Sean exactly once, despite how unlikely that is. The police and courts apparently convict and acquit people based entirely on Brooke's say-so, and are okay with slamming some guy into jail, then releasing him and imprisoning some other guy, without any other evidence? If the evidence to convict Sean is solely Brooke's testimony where she admits she couldn't see his face or be entirely sure, wouldn't she be ripped apart in cross-examination? Was there no DNA evidence or anything else that could be taken from the scene?

Brooke is also allowed to work at the same penitentiary where a man her testimony got locked up is, which feels like something that would have come up during the hiring process. I know part of the point is that the prison isn't well-funded and the administration doesn't care, but that seems to be a ludicrous breach of safeguarding. And also, you know, she shouldn't be allowed to interact with inmates 1:1, I feel like? She's told not to share personal information and then breaks that immediately. I get what McFadden was going for with the prison, that rights for people who are incarcerated are basically nil, but the prison itself seemed straight out of a stereotype and the two inmates we get to see in any detail are terrible murderers. So, you know, that point was kind of undercut. It was just so...stereotypical. There was nothing to distinguish it from a load of bland tropes with no extra flavour. Avoid at all costs!

Next up, a group of demigods are chosen to participate in a set of trials...which only one will survive.