#prae is hell

[yezielmoore]

18. Hackneyed

It's a short one today. 'cuz life and a depressive spell that flattened me like a pankacke got in the way. But we are not giving up! We are filling these as the inspiration hits and as time allows lol.

Anyway, more Himeko being sassy and giving voice to my thoughts on Prae Gaius lmao

~.~.~

“Are you done?”

“What?” Despite the modulator built into his helmet, Gaius Van Baelsar, scourge of Eorzea, sounded flabbergasted. 

Had no one interrupted his long-winded speeches before? How fortunate… for her. 

“I said,” she repeated slowly, as if talking to a very small (or very stupid) child, “are you done? Because frankly? Your speech was cheesy, trite, embarrassing and overused,” Himeko waved a hand, her every word dripping with dismissal and disdain. 

Some would say that baiting a man that stood on the head of his very own monster mecha was a bad idea. Himeko wouldn’t exactly disagree, but she would point out that the whole point of her presence was to beat him into a pulp and she would rather do it before Gaius could get his second wind and start another Fascism 101 masterclass. 

Himeko could be patient when she wanted to, or if it was necessary, but after fighting all night long, her patience was simply nonexistent. 

“Honestly, I have heard better from a 17 years old girl in the middle of her megalomaniacal rampage.” Himeko ignored the pang of regret in her heart and made a show of looking at Gaius from his pointy helmet to the sole of his feet. “She pulled the magical girl transformation way better too.”

“How dare you!?” Gaius growled in outrage. 

It was a decent growl, she would give him that. Internally. No need to soothe the burns.

“Booring~” Himeko singsonged in her most annoying voice. “And stupid. I’m not even Eorzean, you buffoon. Whoever wrote that speech should be fired.” 

She tapped her claws onto the haft of her battle ax, the metallic clack-clack-clack-clack echoed in the stifling silence that showcased his indignation and mounting fury. 

“Enough of this prattle!” Gaius seethed, that stupid as fuck gunblade pointed her way. “Face me, savage, and let this fight decide who is fit to rule!”

Himeko bared her fangs and readied herself, shifting from insultingly relaxed to battle ready in a heartbeat.

“Bring it on, you piece of imperialist shit.”

[dreamerwriternstargazer]

THEY MURDERED HER?!

JANG HAN-SEOK YOU CAN CATCH THESE HANDS MOTHERF-

[devotedlystrangewizard]

nope the absence of the glib line still hurts

[quotes-from-the-bookery]

"Last year,” I said, “I crushed the skull of a man who thought he was a visionary. He wanted to save Callow, he insisted. Thing is, I don’t really believe you can save people anymore. I tried that and it doesn’t ever quite seem to work right. I think it’s because it doesn’t matter, if they worship at the House of Light or sacrifice at some dark altar – most days they’re just people, and those are the same everywhere. They till the same fields, pay the same taxes, marry their neighbours and die fat if they’re lucky enough."

“Named are more,” Archer said. “We’re the brighter flame: the people who can actually change things.”

“Are we?” I smiled. “The part of the Conquest you pay attention to is the Calamities sweeping all opposition aside. You think that’s because they were mighty, but that’s not the part that matters. They were figureheads, enablers. Praes won because it had grown as a nation while Callow had not.”

“The Empire grew because villains made it grow,” she replied flatly.

“And don’t you think it’s telling the most successful villains since Triumphant put their efforts into reforming institutions rather than building a bunch of flying fortresses?” I asked. “People won that war, not Named. Malicia and Black, they’re brilliant – but there’s been a lot of brilliant Named over the centuries, on both sides. What makes those two different is that they know change comes from the bottom, not the top.”

“That’s…” she hesitated.

Heresy, she wanted to say. That it went against everything we knew. History was forged by the hands of those that stood out and crowned themselves with power, those precious few even the Gods recognized as apart from the masses. Except that’s a lie. A thousand Dread Emperors and a thousand Kings, but nothing ever changed – until what lay behind them did. It’s not the tip of the blade that kills, it’s the force that drove it into your belly. That was, I was beginning to grasp, what I’d done wrong in Callow. I’d fought to put all the authority in my hands with the vague notion that I could fix it all afterwards, but how was that any different from what the Lone Swordsman had been doing? There were people all over the Empire who could make things better, if they were allowed to. And if there were forces trying to stand in the way? Well, I was a villain. The parts of Creation I did not like, I would break.

“Right now I have an enemy in Liesse who thinks by sheer will and ruthlessness she’ll drag Praes back to a golden age that never existed,” I said. “I’m not worried about her, deep down, because even if she claims I’m the one going against the grain she’s the one fighting the tide.”

I broke off a piece of turnover and popped it into my mouth.

“Last spring, a little boy gave an orc a crown of flowers. There’s something beyond any of us happening in the Empire, right now,” I said. “Malicia and Black think they control it, but I don’t think they do. They’re watching the story when what’s important is the people telling it. They want me to part of the machine they’re built, but I don’t think that’s my role.”

“Then what is?” Archer asked quietly.

“When heroes and villains come knocking in the name of fate,” I spoke, tone calm and measured. “When they try to drag us back to where we were by force with a Choir behind them or the host of some howling Hell – I’ll kill them all. Every last one of them.”

Softly, Archer laughed.

“Ah, Foundling,” she murmured. “I was wrong about you – you’re not boring at all. You’re just as mad as the rest of us.”

I looked up at the sky. Night was dying.

“Drink up, Archer,” I said. “Dawn’s coming and we have a god to rob blind.”

[ohmypawsandwhiskers]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Spread the self-love ❤️

Oh my goodness! I love this idea! Thank you for the message!

Alright, let's see...

Of Devils and Monsters (Attack on Titan; Erwin x OC) Status: In Progress (7/??) This has to be my first one up, because it's one that has my full attention and entire heart!

Summary: Fate brings two old friends together again and sets them on the path to truth. In a last ditch effort to save her own skin, Lozen Daniella Pierce reaches out to an old friend in hopes of gaining her freedom. In doing so, she and Erwin Smith find themselves thrust on a path to truth- the truth behind the walls, behind secret organizations, and the truth of who they turned into. Rating will go up, but I am setting it at M for now. Eventual Levi x OC in later chapters.

Read it here on Ao3! I will probably start cross-posting to tumblr for non-Ao3 users in the near future due to the change in privacy settings because AI and bots are big bags of wet and smelly socks.

2. If It's True (Dragon Age: Inquisition; Solas x OC) Status: In progress, but on hold for the time being This is another one of my babies near and dear to my heart that I plan on picking up soon once I replay DAI.

Summary: Before the veil was erected, the Elvhenan empire was a sight to behold, with towering cities of crystal and gold, plenty of resources to go around, and Elves and Spirits lived in harmony. But there was a dark underbelly rarely acknowledged- at least until Solas encounters a woman who changes his views of his beloved people and puts him on the path to ending the tyranny of the Evanuris.

Read it here on Ao3! Again, if people are interested, I can cross-post here.

The next are drabbles I have posted to reddit in the past for the Dragon Age OC from #2, taking point post-veil. I haven't posted them on tumblr or Ao3- I don't believe, so I can link them below. Please excuse the summaries! I am not great with coming up with them on the fly.

3. Prompt 4: Something that was lost but now regained, regret, a wish, a window, touch. (Nehna x Solas)

Summary: Nehna decides on how to tell Solas that she recovered parts of her memories- parts in which she knew him.

Read it here!

4. Out of Time (Dragon Age)

A bunch of Halloween prompts thrown together for another round of Nehna and Solas!

Summary: In a brief reprieve from war, while she is hiding out from the Evanuris, Nehna awakes to a nightmare

Read it here!

5. Smoke, Gun Fire, and a Sense of Deja-vu (Mass Effect; Garrus x OC)

Summary: As Kei and her team work against the clock to save the colonists of Horizon, she struggles to separate past from present.

I will put this one below a read more, since it's not officially shared anywhere else besides discord, I believe. It will be part of a story or series of one-shots I eventually share, but for now, it remains in my drafts!

2170

Acrid odor assaulted her senses as Makeda pulled her friend along through the burning prefab building, hard spilling out of the corners of her eyes as smoke stung her eyes. Gunfire and screams took over any thought as instinct kicked in- where that instinct came from, she had no idea, but Makeda wasn’t about to question it now.

“What the hell is going on?” Cindy screamed as they scrambled over rubble. 

“Why would I know? Just run!” Just as they rounded the corner, they were met with a beeping followed by a force that sent the pair flying.

Present 

“Shepard! Shepard! Kei-” A hand pulled her down beside a hedge as a cutting beam narrowly missed her left ear as  she was brought back. Horizon, the Collectors. Abducted colonists. Everything was a blur since they touched down.

Specks of blue cleared the fog from her brain just enough for her to pick up on the worried twitch of mandibles. “We’re pinned down, Shep. Any ideas?” 

Kei peered over the barrier to be greeted by a line of husks ambling beside a praetorian. She took a shot at one of the mindless puppets before taking cover. It crumbled to the ground, twitching just a moment before it went completely still. “What’s the heat clip situation?” Kei asked as she summoned her drone to distract the enemies. With a beep and a whirl, as if it was assenting to unspoken orders, it was off, zooming the crowded field to distract their enemies for a moment. 

“Would advise using abilities as much as possible until another cache,” came Mordin’s voice over comms. “Did find particle beam dropped by assassin drone- could be useful against biotic barrier of the praetorian.” His efficiency with words always brought a smile to her face in the heat of battle. 

“Right, Garrus, cover me. Mordin, get that gun prepped.”

2170

“Mark, get down,” Cindy hissed from their hiding spot under the rubble, trying to get their classmate to hide from sight. Her voice didn’t carry over the conflict around them, and Mark fell right before their eyes. Before Cindy could scream, Makeda covered her mouth. 

“You want them to find us?” Makeda whispered, trying her best to stop her voice from shaking. “We need to keep moving. If we make it to my place, we can at least defend ourselves.” 

Silent tears streaked through the ash on her friends face as she nodded. 

“At least he can be a distraction. We need to move, and quickly.” Without waiting for an answer, Makeda began to belly crawl from under the fallen wall. The Batarians wouldn’t get her or her family. 

Present

The vibration radiating from the particle beam made the aiming difficult as Makeda tried to balance not dropping the damned thing while evading the constant stream of deadly energy from the last remaining enemy. In her periphery, she saw Mordin and Garrus alternating their shots in an attempt give her a break from the seemingly singular focus of the Praetorian. For a brief moment, the enemy’s beam was interrupted, giving her time to duck behind a crate and quickly catch her breath.  “I think we have it,” she yelled. “Just one final push. When it’s back in the air, I’ll take down its biotic barrier with a taste of its own medicine, and then Mordin and Garrus, throw everything you’ve got at it.”

2170

The ground beneath her shook as the bombardment against her house continued. Cindy’s body remained unmoving from it’s fetal position- any sign of life had left hours ago. It had been a mistake coming here to try and find her family. All that had greeted them was an empty house, already rifled through for any supplies or survivors. 

Crisp air and soot made her eyes water.

Makeda hugged her knees into her chest, rocking back and forth as though it would be the only thing keeping the sobs at bay.  Should she wait or continue in hopes of finding her family?

Present

Makeda lept from cover sending the remaining power of the gun careening into the floating creature. One final push. That was all it took until the creature shuddered and then evaporated into dust. Feeling uneasy, Makeda’s legs gave away beneath her, and she welcomed the thud of reality. The visions would stop. 

‘They will, won’t they?’

Footsteps from either side of her came running up to her position as Mordin began applying medi-gel to the burns sustained from the Praetorian’s beam. She welcomed the cold the medicine brought in hopes it would just serve as additional grounding to reality. 

“Good call on the Collector’s gun, Mordin,” Makeda said, and her eyes flickered over to Garrus, hoping he didn’t catch the waiver in her voice. 

Mordin went to respond, but was interrupted by the cowardly colonist they had run into hurling curses and insults their way. Garrus helped her to feet and tried to keep a steadying talon on her shoulder to be brushed off as Makeda rounded on the mechanic. 

“What the hell did you want us to do, huh? Most of the colonists were gone by the time we made a dent in their forces. I wanted to save them as much as you did-”

“Bullshit! Why would you care about a bunch of colonists out in the sticks?”

A voice stopped all of them in their tracks. “Show some reverence, Trevor, you’re standing in the presence of a ghost.”

That voice. She knew that voice. 

All anger dissipated as she turned to see the one face she needed to see. Needed to know was alright. “Kaidan!”

[kc-the-writer]

🖍️🧭🍄 ❤️

Dearest Prae! I am so sorry for the long delay on this. The resort wifi was as weak as I was when I got home.

Post Any sentence from your wip

Eliot is the reason Isaac was blinded and you’re widowed. Yet, If you believe anyone has fallen for your sad widow act, you’re mistaken. When you say 'I miss him,' your intent is clear.  

Decriscribe your wip/one of your wips in the format of:

“Pendleton Lore + King Lear = Dead As Earth”  

An alternative title to your/ one of your WIP(s)?

Book 4 is based on The Tempest. The quotes currently fighting for the title are:

When I waked, I cried to dream again.

and

 Hell is empty and all the devils are here.

[feuqueerfire]

Star In My Mind Live Blogging

Finally get to this after months goddamn but I wanted to watch it before 2022 ended and I’m in the mood for something lighthearted, so here we go :)

Episode 1 (Oct 8)

1-1

dang, we at 4 million views

loll Kluen and Nuea just staring at each other after meeting again while everyone else being like “girl, is he okay?”

people I recognize so far: Pawin, Sammy and also the guy from Love By Chance who played Pond the horny roommate (Yacht)

1-2

loll Nuea pretending to not know Kleun and then recounting every detail about him while in his car is cute

this is JJ, who is not the same twin who plays in The Eclipse

1-4

ah yes here comes the Nuea using “Dao” to refer to himself on the phone, which is what he said he’d call himself in a relationship and Kluen overhearing

poor Nuea’s skull really taking hit after hit

lol that’s gotta be a dream confession + kiss right? I’m onto you GMMTV after the Eclipse imaginary kiss ep 6 and Vice Versa imaginary reunion Ep 11. I think I’ve seen comments of the Cupid’s Last Wish Magic of Zero episode having an imaginary proposal as well, is GMMTV tryna hit the trope for every BL of theirs?

Two reddits posts: some drama about the casting and pronoun choices (Nuea using Gu/Meung rude pronouns), Missing In Translation ep 1

The acting isn’t super great (kinda stiff) but it’s really cute so far

Episode 2 (Oct 8)

2-1

no way kluen saw nuea asking about food delivery and brought him food from his home

2-2

Nuea excitedly showing Kluen posts of people shipping him and Kluen together... my guy

Kluen: “but i never told you that. you seem to know a lot about me.” oh nuea lmfao

the “have a good flight” is awkward as hell in the flashback but cute callback in present day

the shopping part is cute. kluen’s so into nuea lol

goddamn, this show has endless ~long-held stares~

2-3

oh yeah, there’s no way Gia or Fah are their faens

2-4

lmfao the NueaKluen vs KluenNuea fun little arguments in the show are made more funny by the fact that people were upset Nuea’s character’s more stereotypically uke/0 traits were removed

ahh Kluen’s “you’re feeling uncomfortable?” also the bg music here for some reason reminds me of Bengali/Indian music? what instrument is this?

loll Fah has appeared

hmm I should sleep now but I wanna see Kluen be jealous of Fah + I think Ep 3 is the episode where they get drunk, so I’ll watch it lol

Episode 3 (Oct 8)

3-1

people unknowingly shipping Fah and Nuea aka brothers together rip

people who like Nuea: Kluen, Typhoon, Maithee

3-2

naurr Kluen hearing Nuea say his type is someone like Fah

“y’know, i’m an expert in drawing your face” ahh omg nuea confessing his whole book of kluen drawings while drunk

3-3

loll the iconic scene of Sean seeing Nuea and Kluen cuddling after waking up

lmfao “i’m so cool i can totally take care of myself while drunk” and it’s kluen actually changing his bandages for him

dying Joong was so confused by Fah being Nuea’s Phi, he had to ask multiple times

woahh Nuea handing the marker to Kluen bringing back memories

Nuea so cute! “If you’re gonna bring that [the confession] up, just shut up!”

3-4

From the pic we saw of her before, I was like Kluen’s mom seems familiar... and yeah, it’s Pitch and Prae’s mom from PS I Hate You lmfao

Kluen talked to mom bout Nuea

funny to see Nuea having dinner with Kluen and his mom at this house a day after seeing the same in The Eclipse ep 9 ah familiar stairs

damn, does the mom not like Gia or her parents?

lol Kluen ~suggesting~ his mom go to bed

gonna ignore them having a play fight while Nuea’s leg isn’t healed

Episode 4 (Oct 9)

4-1

lol Sean seeing them cuddling last ep + now seeing Kluen give Nuea his roses 

Kluen’s so attentive toward Nuea

kluen unbuttoning his wrist button before approaching Nuea... 

4-2

What did Kluen win? he’s wearing a sash too right?

bye everybody clasping their hands and bowing when they realize Fah really is Nuea’s brother

oh yeah +1 girl added to the list of people who loves Nuea

4-3

ahh so did Nuea write his confession on the pic?? and Kluen keep it with him for a year?

Kluen is so funny with his “[the resort] can be yours too” and “[my mom] can be your mom too” like are you proposing marriage lmfao

This dinner table is hilarious, everyone but TingTing and Sean likes Nuea

4-4

Papang’s cute in the confession scene but idk what her longterm goal is? she’s okay even if he likes someone else but asks him to not turn her down yet bc she wants to love him for a bit? idgi

rip Kluen’s now got the wrong idea about Nuea and Typhoon now probably

interesting how Nuea can’t say no bc he was the one asking for a chance before

Episode 5 (Oct 9)

5-1

long ass “previously” preview, it was like 2 mins??

this convo between Nuea and Kluen confused me writing-wise but I think they were confused too so I’ll let it pass

5-2

Damn, Nuea did Kluen’s high school art homework for him in secret? also, hmm significance of sunflowers

misunderstandings upon misunderstandings. kluen sees phoon and nuea together -> thinks nuea doesn’t like him anymore, says he should move on and be happy w phoon -> nuea thinks kluen knows how he feels, so is telling him to move on and be with phoon

5-3

Sean does know it all

oof Nuea has points. i remember seeing the clips and some convo about Kluen kissing Nuea here and yeah, interesting to see the context. 

5-4

wasn’t expecting their confrontation again to be this ep too

Episode 6 (Oct 9)

6-2

Nuea giving him 10 mins to say what he needs to say and Kluen’s all “Can I call Noel first? I don’t wanna say something stupid”

6-3

Damn, Nuea crying is so </333

Phoon... Nuea is legit crying and in distress and sad, can you stop just tryna make him give you an answer you wanna hear?

6-4

I just don’t like Phoon in this episode 

rolling my eyes at phoon kissing nuea + this random ass fight wtf

Nuea saying “I hate you” multiple times to Kluen esp in front of everybody is a lot

Joong and Dunk are cute and good at like the more lighthearted earlier ep stuff bc it made me feel giddy but for these more emotional moments, esp Kluen who has to communicate with eyes a lot, I wonder what more skilled actors could’ve shown

Episode 7 (Oct 9)

7-1

I truly don’t understand why neither Phoon nor Papang don’t take Nuea’s rejections seriously like why do you keep wanting one more chance bruv

7-2

I wish we didn’t continue have girls in abusive relationships in BLs so that one of the love interests can go save her, ignoring his boyfriend/bf-to-be, thus causing friction between them, which is given more weight and gravity than the fucking abusive relationship. 

“This is the second thai BL i’ve watched released this year where the love interest has to go save a girl from a very serious domestic abuse situation and its main purpose is to cause conflict and lack of communication between the main couple and the situation is not given the actual weight it should be. like y’all can’t think of anything else? really? if its not a bitchy girl tryna break them up or an invasive shipper, women now gotta be abuse victims for a little conflict?” <- what i wrote on discord. other one was love mechanics

7-3

Girl the tonal shift in this is not good

and a sleep kiss? you don’t want me to like this?

Episode 8 (Oct 9)

8-1

when kluen’s being fed apple while lying on nuea’s lap, he grabs and kisses nuea’s hand which is adorable

8-3

Fah just casually drunk driving?

Sean and Maithee moments are really ramped up these past 2 eps

Fine, cute enough. Got annoying in the middle with the Phoon thing and then got boring after they got together. The start was the strongest part, the way they portrayed being awkward around one another but still having giddy, cute moments was great. It’s kinda like Vice Versa in the sense that it’s a fun show to binge but you mustn’t think while doing so.

Rating: 6/10

Tiktoks

JoongDunk messing around in Behind

Joong being shy while Dunk is bold - Behind

Behind - daring Dunk and Joong getting teased for blushing “I thought you were the cool one” @ Joong

[linelpisffxiv]

Werlyt Rant times

Inspired by a baseless claim I'm pretending isn't a thing but sadly aligns perfectly with my already sunk hype for DaT

Something always bugged me about the way people loved memeing on "Such Devastation!" Maybe it's because they were memeing on how it was said.

To me, it was always a pitiless moment. "Yes, you did intend this. If you thought you would be welcomed as a fucking hero with a parade and roses by people actively fighting you, you're wrong. There were always going to be casualties. On both sides. Of non-combatants. You're wrong if you thought it'd be easy. You aligned with a mysterious shadow-y wizard with all the answers for you, and you thought 'This is great! This is so powerful I won't have to use it!' without questioning whether said shadow wizard had his own plans to use it? Whether the people of Eorzea wouldn't find a way around the plan you have? Especially when you hate Eikons so much but are using their power against us? Yes. Yes, this much destruction is exactly what was going to result from this! And your indifference to this possiblity means that yes, such devastation is indeed your intention. You're ignorant and power hungry."

And they keep having him say it in different, less meme-y words. In 5.4 to Alphinaud during the stinger when they see Black Rose. To the WoL in 5.5 when he returns Alphinaud's body. In 6.0 to Estinien. And again in 6.5 to his adopted daughter, last of his kids, in Werlyt.

Werlyt had a lot more issues like this, painting his conquest as a noble, but failed dream that was respectable. They retcon Cid into having been cool with him since the speech before the first boss fight in Prae, and I'm like "I was trusting you at the time? Now I'm always going to second guess everything you did and whether you wanted me to win, or were just helping lead me to Gaius so he could win. That cutting out was suspicious."

The way every character bends over to make him out to be amazing. The one who was convinced he struggled just is chill at the end, and he gets a fucking Mayorship and I want to strangle everyone.

So seeing this is one of the people allegedly in charge of DaT makes my beat into the ground hopes from the second (and third) fanfests and starts telling them to limbo in hell because they're not going up.

There are things I am excited for in DaT, but none are the MSQ, except maybe "What the fuck is going on with S9? Hello Ascian bullshit that will make me forget about the colonial feels of the rest of the expac for 20 minutes before it becomes relevant again!"

Like, I was going to be nice before. I was going to try and turn it into the last semi-canon adventure, but with someone like that at the helm, I can't trust the worldbuilding to be solid enough for me to make something different out of it, though by gods I'll try.

[azemcrystal]

Times are tough.

Times are tough, I barely feel like a person. Sometimes I struggle to find a way to keep going, to avoid succumbing to that blissful oblivion.

But today I played the 10th anniversary event with Starsong, and we got to laugh over getting bodied by Hermes together, laying dead next to each other on the floor. Joked about Gaius’s inappropriate relations with his military subordinates in Prae, revisited a few circles of Lahabrea’s No Fun Twelve Layer Hell Zoo, happy to be joking around with someone dear to me again. Tonight, under the closest moon until 2036, I burned bay leaves with wishes written in charcoal on them, and held my cat up to look at the sky with me.

We experience life in seconds and inches, like every other creature on this planet, yet reflect in years and miles. It’s about finding the seconds that matter.

I will keep making seconds that matter until it’s my time to rest within the earth.

[warlordfelwinter]

gonna end up memorizing gaius’ elevator speech just because castrum, prae, and porta give the best exp drops and i’m trying to level a job over here

[meteorjam]

Arthit being jealous of the only lesbian in the friend group is the height of comedy

[echthr0s]

decided to bang out all the roulettes that are available to me rn and it took 2.5 hours and at first I was like “holy shit wow wtf” and then I remembered I got Praetorium for MSQ roulette

[monochrome-monarch]

An attempt at the Ghidorahs was made. Part of @flamingkingoftheskies ' PJO/Godzilla AU Pssst, by the way, check 'em out. Their stuff is cool

[devotedlystrangewizard]

losing ur sprout status is so weird you spend like. so many hours as a sprout then boom. you no longer have an excuse to suck

[jumpols-nostrils]

Okay, I actually want to elaborate on my theory why I think Wan will turn out to not have spread Prae's video on the wedding and also why I believe it was Pitch.

And ... I kinda wanna do so before the next episode airs and completely flips my theory. Just so I can come back and ratio myself or something lol

Now for one, I know, when you go through my blog, you will see that I just hate Pitch. And I mean that. I might be talking about the others in not so nice terms, and they do have faults, but I generally like them. Or relate to them. We see their sides of every string of the story, and we understand why they make their decisions. We've seen enough of Wanwan that we also immediately understand why she would exchange the videos. And even with all the bad decisions they make, even when a lot of the times they are a bit annoying, I like them.

That does not go for Pitch. Most of the "why" is personal reasons. But the rest is that his decision-making doesn't fit any motive that we get a chance to try and understand. The fact that we don't see enough of him and his story might tie into why I accuse him, but I want to say that I'll try to not let my hatred get in the way. 😅

First off, from a show perspective, which is a bit ridiculous (but hey, that's actually my second name so who can blame me?) I want to say it would just be an excellent move to have Pitch be the culprit and not Wan - or any of the other girls of the gang for that matter.

Throughout the show, we mostly got to see their perspectives, their stories, their pasts and plenty of their present. Mostly of the gang, of course, but we also have questionable parents. And while at least the parents aren't that far in the front, all of them make it seem like they are possible culprits. Prae's mother, Prae's friends and even Meen, whom Prae might have actually loved most. They all have been put in some form of bad light when looking at Prae's case, one way or another: Meen by probably been framed for the videos. Also for wanting to date Pitch, which Prae was in the way of. This one apparently also goes for May. She was also the one that immediately knew where to look: in Meen's purse. Wanwan is obviously now suspicious because of the thing with Win, but possibly other things too, since we know she had a lot to hide from her friends. Saras kinda falls out of the picture for me. But she doesn't give off culprit vibes, I'll be honest (just wait until the finals, I probably just jinxed her innocence). Even Phu was framed as a possible suspect, but that one got solved really fast.

They are all suspects and when revealed it was any of them, nobody would be surprised. Disappointed, maybe. But we were given hints for every single one of them.

And here is where Pitch comes in. He hasn't been framed as a suspect, at all. He doesn't even have emotional outbursts when the topic of his dead sister comes up. Hell, Meen's face always does this thing when she just thinks about Prae for longer than a second (Thanks at Jan for being absolutely perfect btw) and Pitch is like... Idk. His sister died and a few days later he was shaming Meen for keeping a promise she made with her. One that he himself couldn't even wait to finally break. He doesn't even put much effort into choosing which one of his deceased sister's friends he wants to start dating. Which I would have been ready to accept as a coping mechanism, but with everything else; The way he doesn't even seem to care.

With which I mean this: I mentioned this in another post as well, but the way he always backs out of any talk about Prae or doesn't participate, speaks books to me. He doesn't speak in favor of Meen once. He also never spoke in favor of his sister. He tried to calm his mother, but he did not say that Prae had done nothing wrong, hadn't defended her at all from the verbal abuse of their mother on Prae's wedding day. Who does that? What kinda brother is that? He didn't protect Prae at all, which was understandable if he was surprised, or it was a one time thing. But we now know it wasn't. For that, his efforts to keep the mother away from Prae were quite... Minimal. Why did he let her get even close enough to hit Prae? Weak-ass brother he is. Man, he doesn't even console her. Why did he go after the mother? Why was that more important than staying behind and making sure his sister knew immediately that he didn't think of her as a worthless slut? And we can only assume he never did really console her before, either. He watched as his sister got hit and screamed at and just hid away. The only thing we ever see him do is send Meen to console her. Which is a good thing! Really! But his obsession with Meen is another thing.

It is first apparent in the way he focuses only on her, even at the funeral. It really looked like that was the time he chose to try and reconcile with her. What an opportunist. Obviously, he did date other girls. The first time we see him, he is clinging to a nameless woman we never see again. I assume she was there to help him fulfil his plan and exchange the videos. He would know the flower arrangements, he would have access to the suit the bridesmaids are in. He just needed a girl to play the role.

Then why did he put the blame on Meen? To isolate her. To make sure, her friends would leave her, and she would be alone and desperate. Pitch is probably just like his mother and sister, a narcissist. And probably wants Meen all to himself and her to depend on him. Which would also explain why he is now so angry at her for what the mother revealed. Would a normal person really be angry, years later, when someone made a bad decision as a student? One that helped her out in a very difficult situation that had so far no other solution? Would you blame her for escaping the mother's resentment at that age? The same resentment she is now knowingly walking into, risking having that mother at her neck again. Which is a risk Meen took when she accepted dating Pitch again. Of course, you would still blame her for that - if you're a narcissist and see this as the ultimate betrayal towards your character. Even if he isn't the culprit behind the video swap. It makes him a really unlikable character to me, I suppose I cannot turn that distaste towards him off 😅

As for another motive, apart from Prae cockblocking him and being involved in the death of one of his girlfriends. I assume he also blames her for whatever is wrong with their mother. After all, it was always Prae being scolded and not acting perfect enough to please their mother. This one is the most far-fetched part of my theory. But I can easily picture this scenario in-between the rest.

All of this, I see that, is very far-fetched and not at all valid evidence. But let's just say it is revealed in the end that it was Pitch, wouldn't we all go back, look at these points and go "yeah, okay, that makes sense! Even if it wasn't made obvious."

And yeah, also. I hate him. 🤷

I am sorry for being so ineloquent btw, I'm just really bad at writing thoughts out. However if you still read until this part, I thank you so much for your attention and patience 🙏🏼💗

Just watch the next episode release, and it was simply Wan. And I'm just sitting on this hella long explanation simply because I don't like a character. 😂😂

[necarion]

I know I've said this before, but A Practical Guide to Evil is really fucking good, guys.

It's getting close to finishing up, and somehow has maintained an incredibly high standard, and just keeps sticking the landing. In part, the author is not trying to trick us. This is a story about Stories, and so if we follow the path of this one, we're rewarded for figuring it out.

PGTE is a story about Catherine Foundling, an orphan girl in a country under the thumb of the Dread Empire of Praes (ruled by the Dread Empress Malicia, who is very much a Supervillainess in her mile high Tower (the caps are in the original)). She is taken on as Squire for the Black Knight, and taught to (a) fight, and (b) understand how Stories work.

Because PGTE is also about Stories. Stories have measurable cosmic impact, and are played out by Heroes and Villains, people who have been empowered by the Heavens or the Hells for a specific purpose. Rules of narrative are largely binding; if a Villain beats a Hero in the first fight, it's setting up a pattern where the Hero will defeat them during the third fight. A villain saying "I am Invincible" is basically a death sentence, and everyone who knows the rules knows to never, ever as "What's the worst that could happen."

The story is well written, pretty well paced (better than the vast majority of web serials), and I love it.