#probably a nearby suitor corpse

[brainrotcharacters]

Mental theater in my head says: Eurymachus couldn't see Odysseus circling him like a shark during his part because the room was so dark

No reason why Odysseus would be circling. Or maybe he's intrigued the way a wild predator is intrigued when their targeted prey chooses to talk them down

But none of his words except that last line made any impact. That last line guaranteed an arrow to the jugular.

[ikevampfg]

How would the suitors react to mc being a top notch assassin or secret agent?

(Warning! Violence and graphic depiction ahead!)

MC is in present time along with the suitors and she had to resume her mafia jobs to keep up. At one point, enemies come on their way randomly and MC will show her deadly skills to them.

Napoleon and Jean

The three of them were walking together to get some crepes and sweets at the nearby cafe and as requested by Jean, to continue touring since he’d like to see other improvements in the future. Three men dressed in black suits suddenly halted their way and without a word, fired a gun at them. Jean and Napoleon didn’t bring any weapon along with them an is unguarded, advising MC to run but nope, she ain’t running. She doesn’t have a gun too, but what does she have? A goddamn sharpened pencil on her bag. She advised the two to stay put on their place as the three men attacked her, the first was kicked into his stomach band a few punches were thrown, aiming for the man’s eye before directly stabbing into the eye socket. The next ended up with the pencil stabbed on to the nape and the third on the throat all ended up dead, with the bloody pencil on her hands.

Only with a goddamn pencil. 

 They both witnessed��it by their own eyes and didn’t even get to interfere or react, but one thing for sure is both the soldiers were head over heels for their deadly goddess. 

Le Comte and Leonardo

They visited the newly modern library in the city for Leonardo to see new books and also for Comte to revisit and rest for a while. It was a rather large library, with many aisles without people considering its weekends when they visited. Leonardo  and Le Comte were busy skimming books when a man, dressed in casual who has MC on a contract to kill, physically attacked her. The two were unaware until they heard a loud ‘thud’ and the shaking of shelves were MC was and both rushed to rescue her.  But MC yelled at them to stay put, as she was doing her job. She had a thick hard bounded cover book on her hand, slamming it repeatedly on to the guy’s face having a heated combat exchange until MC shove the book on the guys mouth and forcefully push it in his mouth breaking the jaw with force resulting for the man to die. 

They were astounded that she has hid that talent to them for long, and that she was actually a deadly woman who hides in a face of a angel. The heart of the two were easily snatched, and definitely turned on with the blood splattered a bit on her face. 

Isaac and Mozart

They visited a modern music hall together. Even Isaac get to join, wanting to see new stuffs as well because MC and Mozart agreed to go to a planetarium after their tour at the hall. They were touring inside when men dressed in suits approached them, in need to ‘talk’ with MC. The two wont be able to defend her well, surely as the scientist and the musician weren’t experienced in fighting so she told them to let her ‘talk for a while and wait. The two were hesitant and still persuading to go but she just told them to trust her plans. They took distance just to avoid for the two to get involved on the fight and when they were far enough, MC immediately took down one physically and reached for the gun fast, flawlessly aiming for the head without a word. There were ten equal and she had brought down the six, no time for reload and just took the gun of other dead men he recently shot and gun them down. 

The two were speechless. Both aren’t a fan of violence but when MC just executed it, they started to question their morals and why they were attracted on what she did. 

Theo and Arthur

It was supposed to be a simple walk at the park when things just got out of hand when men suddenly stopped them on their tracks. Theo was easily annoyed and would be ready to go head to head in a fight, same with Arthur whose a bit cocky and refers it as ‘warm up’. When they both noticed that the men were armed, they backed with Arthur suggesting to run instead to avoid danger. And when one was supposed to attack Arthur by a punch, MC immediately caught the hand and twisted it ugly, snatching the gun and swiftly shot them clean in the head for reassurance of instant death and did it all without a word in such a cool manner. Even MC didn’t get a blood on her clothes nor face when she did it, showing her true nature as she looked at the dead men coldly. 

And with that, Arthur and Theo were already conditioning their mind, and even planning to buy a ring later or plan a wedding at the afternoon. Let’s just hope the two won’t compete much. 

Vincent and Shakespeare 

They were in a simple resting place where both Vincent and William can write and paint together. It was all pretty peaceful, the three of them enjoying their activities while MC is sculpting a simple small sculpture with her steel spatula. It was all fine when one tall man immediately grabbed MC’s collar, probably an assassin from an opposing group. Vincent and Shakespeare was too late to respond, one thing they knew is MC already was done with the man, blood dripping on the steel spatula she was holding. 

Vincent immediately rushed to her side asking if she was fine, even kicking the fresh corpse because she only cared for her while Shakespeare was grinning ear to ear, definitely turned on by her deadly action calling her off as the Lady of Death. 

Dazai and Sebastian

They had visited a Japanese temple together so the three of them could revisit their Japanese roots. They were touring inside, looking at some old items related to Japanese tradition and culture, even religion too. They were walking in their kimonos when a man at their back had pointed a katana at MC, cutting her hair down from the blade. Dazai and Sebastian were cautious and pulled her to run but MC was mad because of her hair being cut down and wont allow the enemy to fled back along with her ‘honor’. There was a display katana at the thin wall when she suddenly grabbed it, coming fast for offense even with the dull pointed katana on her hands and managed to cut the man down because of ‘talent’ in killing, even leaving it stabbed at the man’s chest. 

Dazai and Sebastian were left with their jaws dropped open, both are willing to kneel and even die on her own hands.

[sciencespies]

When Catherine of Aragon Led England's Armies to Victory Over Scotland

https://sciencespies.com/history/when-catherine-of-aragon-led-englands-armies-to-victory-over-scotland/

When Catherine of Aragon Led England's Armies to Victory Over Scotland

She was, in the words of historian John Edwards, Henry VIII’s “greatest queen.” But though Catherine of Aragon’s marriage to the Tudor king lasted 24 years—collectively, his five other marriages spanned just 14 years—she has long been overshadowed by her successors.

The daughter of Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, Catherine came to England as the bride of Henry’s older brother, Arthur, Prince of Wales. But Arthur died shortly after the pair’s wedding, leaving his 16-year-old widow in a precarious position. Though Spain and England initially sought to maintain their alliance by marrying Catherine to another member of the Tudor family (both Henry and his father, Henry VII, were suggested as potential suitors), negotiations soured as diplomatic relations shifted. Ultimately, Catherine spent seven years mired in uncertainty over her future.

The princess’ fortunes shifted when Henry VII died in 1509, leaving the throne to his sole surviving son, who promptly married his alluring young sister-in-law. The couple’s loving relationship, however, eventually deteriorated due to a lack of a male heir and the king’s infatuation with Anne Boleyn.

Catherine is often portrayed as a dowdy, overly pious, stubborn old woman who refused to yield her position for the good of the kingdom. The truth, however, is more nuanced—a fact increasingly reflected in cultural depictions of the queen, including Starz’s “The Spanish Princess” and West End hit Six: The Musical, which features a fictionalized version of Catherine chiding her husband for forgetting that “I’ve never lost control / No matter how many times I knew you lied.”

Far from being the troublesome, unappealing wife of popular imagination, Catherine was actually a charismatic, intelligent and much-loved queen. Three years into the royal couple’s marriage, Henry was still so besotted with his consort that he invited a Spanish visitor to look at her “just to see how bella and beautiful she was.”

In 1513, the queen, then 27 years old, was entrusted with command of the kingdom while her 22-year-old husband waged war against France’s Francis I. Henry left behind a small group of advisors, but as newly discovered documents demonstrate, Catherine didn’t simply defer to these elderly men’s counsel. Instead, she assumed an active role in the governing—and protection—of England.

“When she is left as regent, she is in her element,” says Julia Fox, author of Sister Queens: The Noble, Tragic Lives of Katherine of Aragon and Juana, Queen of Castile. “… She has the power to summon troops, to appoint sheriffs, to sign warrants and to get money from the treasurer of the chamber.”

As Henry and his troops besieged the French town of Thérouanne, Catherine and her council readied for a clash closer to home. Just over a month into the queen’s regency, France’s ally, Scotland’s James IV, had declared war on England, bringing a period of peace between the neighboring nations to an end.

The fact that James was married to Henry���s older sister, Margaret, did little to dissuade either him or Catherine from entering the fray. According to 17th-century chronicler William Drummond, the pregnant Scottish queen pleaded with her husband to desist, noting that he was poised to fight “a mighty people, now turned insolent by their riches at home and power abroad.” But James, buoyed by the possibility of conquest (and of dealing a blow to his egotistical brother-in-law), refused.

Catherine, for her part, appeared to “relish the opportunity” to exercise her full authority, says Giles Tremlett, author of Catherine of Aragon: Henry’s Spanish Queen. In an August 13 letter, the queen wrote, “My heart is very good to it.” Wryly referencing women’s traditional role in warfare, the queen added, “I am horribly busy with making standards, banners and badges.”

Michael Sittow portrait of Catherine, c. 1502 (left), and portrait of Henry VIII around the time of his first wedding

(Public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Though Catherine did, in fact, order the royal wardrobe to furnish two banners bearing the arms of England and Spain, as well as “standards of the lion crowned imperial,” such tasks made up just a small portion of her preparations. Working with councilors, she mobilized forces across England, communicating with local authorities to determine how many men and horses their parishes could provide. When the mayor and sheriffs of Gloucester failed to respond in a timely fashion, she gave them a deadline of 15 days and emphasized that “writing and news from the Borders show that the King of Scots means war.”

In addition to recruiting soldiers, the queen dispatched money (£10,000, to be exact), artillery, gunners, a fleet of eight ships and supplies ranging from grain to pipes of beer and armor. She had Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey—a combat-hardened, 70-year-old veteran of the 1485 Battle of Bosworth—and his army of around 26,000 mount a first line of defense near the border with Scotland and asked Sir Thomas Lovell to lead a secondary force in England’s Midlands.

What Catherine did next was unprecedented, particularly for a kingdom where warfare was considered an exclusively male domain. As records recently found at the United Kingdom’s National Archives testify, this daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella—two famously bellicose rulers who’d spent Catherine’s childhood driving the Muslim Moors out of the Iberian Peninsula—left the safety of London and headed north toward the English-Scottish border with 1,500 sets of armor, as well as a golden “headpiece with crown” that Tremlett likens to “an armored sun hat,” in tow.

“The new details involve the queen more deeply as a director of events rather than a passive figurehead managed by those of Henry’s counselors left in England,” Sean Cunningham, the archivist who discovered the papers, told the Times’ Mark Bridges in May. “… [They] let us know that Catherine was heading for Warwick [Castle] and the Tower [of London] had pretty much been emptied of armor.”

Catherine and her troops were ready to face the Scots if James IV managed to defeat both Surrey’s and Lovell’s forces. One contemporary, Peter Martyr, reported that the queen, “in imitation of her mother Isabella,” regaled her reserve army with a speech compelling them to “defend their territory” and “remember that English courage excelled that of all other nations.”

This incident is widely referenced—including in an upcoming episode of “The Spanish Princess,” which will feature a highly exaggerated version of Catherine, clad in armor fashioned to accommodate her visible pregnancy, riding directly into battle—but many historians now consider Martyr’s account apocryphal. (Ambassadors’ correspondence indicates that the queen delivered a premature son who died shortly after birth in October 1513, but the pregnancy’s veracity remains a point of contention; in Sister Queens, Fox argues, “[I]it seems unlikely that she would have risked a much-wanted child by accompanying the army from London.”)

Tremlett deems the speech “almost certainly invented” but points out that this “doesn’t mean it [didn’t] reflect the spirit of the moment.” Fox, meanwhile, says Catherine probably made “a speech, … but whether it was quite as rousing or as wonderful, I don’t know.”

Memorial to the dead at the site of the Battle of Flodden

(The Land via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 4.0)

As it turned out, neither Lovell nor the queen ended up seeing action. On September 9, Surrey’s troops and James’ army of more than 30,000 engaged in battle. The English wielded the bill, a simple hooked weapon derived from an agricultural tool, while the Scots opted for the longer, steel-tipped pike. An afternoon of “great slaughter, sweating and travail” ensued, and by its end, some 10,000 Scots—including 12 earls, 14 lords, an archbishop, a bishop, 2 abbots and James himself—lay dead. Comparatively, the smaller English army only lost around 1,500 men.

The Scottish king’s brutal fate was, in a way, evocative of the broader blow inflicted on his country in the wake of the defeat: As historian Leanda de Lisle explains, “James’ left hand was almost severed, his throat gashed, and an arrow was shot through his lower jaw.” (Additional ignominies, including one at Catherine’s own hand, awaited the king’s corpse.) With the Stuart monarch’s passing, his infant son, James V, became the leader of a grieving, much-reduced nation.

According to Fox, the Battle of Flodden (which draws its name from nearby Flodden Edge) left Scotland “in a powerless situation.” She adds, “Not only have you just defeated them in a spectacular way, but [the kingdom is] in disarray. Scotland is practically at [England’s] mercy.”

Prior to Cunningham’s find, historians had only known that Catherine was in Buckingham, around 60 miles north of London, when she received word of Surrey’s victory. But the new evidence suggests that the queen intended to travel further north, if not directly into battle like Joan of Arc, then at least into the vicinity of combat.

“Many a queen would have quite simply hotfooted it to the Tower of London, pulled up the drawbridge and sat there fairly safely,” says Fox. “… But she doesn’t do that. She’s no milk sop. She’s not taking refuge. She really is out on the road.”

Three days after the battle, Catherine penned a letter to her husband, who had successfully captured Thérouanne and was now besieging Tournai. She began by emphasizing Flodden’s significance, writing, “[T]o my thinking this battle hath been to your grace, and all your realm, the greatest honour that could be, and more than should you win all the crown of France.” As one might expect of such a deeply religious individual, the queen proceeded to thank God for the victory—and subtly remind Henry to do the same.

Catherine’s missive then took a rather unexpected turn. She’d sent her husband a piece of the Scottish king’s bloodied surcoat (“for your banners”) but lamented that she’d originally hoped to send a much more macabre trophy: the embalmed body of James himself. Unfortunately, the queen reported, she soon realized that “our Englishmen’s hearts would not suffer it.”

This “gleeful and somewhat bloodthirsty” sentiment may seem out of character for a woman renowned for her piety, but as Tremlett points out, “Plenty of pious people were also violent, [and] plenty of people were violently pious.” Few exemplify this seemingly contradictory mindset as well as Catherine’s own parents, who waged a relentless, violent campaign against all non-Christians in their kingdom.

Catherine and Henry later in life

(Public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Ferdinand and Isabella’s reconquest of Spain culminated in the January 2, 1492, fall of Granada, which marked the end of 780 years of Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula. Then an impressionable 6-year-old, Catherine witnessed the Moors’ surrender, as well as her mother’s leading role in the military crusade.

“This [stays] with her,” says Fox. “This idea of a woman involved in battles is there. And when she actually comes to the divorce question, she sees it as a battle. She sees fighting for her own marriage as just as important as fighting for the Catholic faith.”

Though Catherine was careful to praise her husband’s success in France, she and other contemporary observers knew that Henry’s triumphs paled in comparison to Flodden.

As Antonia Fraser writes in The Wives of Henry VIII, “[T]he Scottish threat was removed for a generation by the slaughter of its leaders. … Compared to this, the Battle of the Spurs won over the French, although part of an expensive campaign, was a purely temporary check, forgotten the next year when the King turned his foreign policy on its head.”

Catherine wasn’t the first English queen to assume the reins of power in the absence of a male monarch. Sixty years prior, another foreign-born princess, Margaret of Anjou, took charge of the kingdom amid the Wars of the Roses, fighting for her son’s inheritance and making major decisions on behalf of her disastrously incompetent husband, Henry VI. More recently, Henry VIII’s grandmother Margaret Beaufort—an “uncrowned queen,” in the words of historian Nicola Tallis—had acted as regent in the brief period before the young king came of age. (Years after Catherine’s death, her beloved daughter, Mary I, followed in her mother’s footsteps by rallying troops to her cause and seizing the throne from those who had sought to thwart her.)

Combined with the example set by Isabella and other relatives, says Tremlett, “Catherine had some very strong role models for women who could rule, for women who could fight.”

Whereas Margaret of Anjou’s seizure of power made her deeply unpopular, Catherine’s regency cemented her already sterling reputation. In the mid-1520s, when Henry first raised the question of divorcing his wife, he found that public opinion was firmly on the queen’s side. She viewed the survival of her marriage as inextricable from the survival of the Catholic Church, according to Fox, and refused to back down despite immense pressure.

Catherine’s legacy, adds the historian, “is that of a wronged woman … who did not accept defeat, who fought for what she believed to be right until the breath left her body.”

Henry, for his part, never forgot the tenacity his wife had demonstrated in the days leading up to Flodden. As he later reflected with no small amount of trepidation, she was perfectly capable of carrying “on a war … as fiercely as Queen Isabella, her mother, had done in Spain.

#History

[swordslinger95]

After the latest Death Battle, I got a bit inspired and drew up a sketch of a crossover pairing. I’ll later clean it up and and a few more things, but for now. Have a sketch of Weiss Schnee X Mitsuru Kijiro.

Also, have some Fanfiction!

Weiss skidded to a halt on the stone floor, her ears ringing from the force of the ice explosion that had sent her flying as she closed her eyes. At first, she felt nothing, mostly because the cold had numbed her nerves somewhat, and if it hadn’t been for the scream she had let loose, Weiss probably would have thought she had died.

 No, Weiss was fairly sure she wasn’t dead, because the next thing she felt was that exquisite feeling of having your stomach poked with a sharp blade.

 It was a little sad that Weiss was familiar with that, but hey, at least she was alive. True, her bones were hurting something awful from that...umm...Person summon...thing whack her a few times, and she wasn’t happy about being encased in ice, but when you lived with a hyperactive speedster who crashed into you at high velocity, and you used to live in the literal frozen sky of the world, you kinda got used to both over time. So, that was good practice, sort of.

 Still, ow.

 On the bright side though, Weiss was fairly sure she had no internal damage, and her Aura, whenever it came back, would be able to heal whatever wounds that...what was her name again? Mit...uru? Mituru? She never quite caught that red haired, rapier user’s name.  

 Speaking of, where was she? Weiss tried to listen for something, anything, but the ringing in her ears was like that time when she had to block a literal wall from smashing into her face from that time on the train. It was okay, she could handle this. Just take a few deep breaths….

 Wait, as that redhead still nearby?

 A cold, sharp spike of panic shot into Weiss’ spine, did the redhead with the amazing figure think she was dead? That would be good, that meant Weiss could get away once the coast was clear. She heard of this tactic, playing possum, was it? Blake told her about it once, that sometimes animals in the wild used it to trick predators into leaving them alone. Maybe Weiss could use it.

 Yeah, she faked smiles all the time, how hard it could it be to play dead?

 Weiss would’ve allowed herself a smile, but corpses didn’t smile. Unless...wait, Weiss thought for a moment. Did her eyes have to be open or closed? She heard that people sometimes had their eyes open when they died, or was that only in the movies? Wait, what about her position? Did she need to make some sort of pose? She was laying pretty still, with no weird limb rotations. Was that too normal?

 Curses, what would Yang do in this situation?

 ….Probably make a pun, then scamper off while the opponent was frustrated.

 Okay, what would Blake do?

 ….Probably get saved by Yang.

 Ruby?

 Silver eyes of death, probably.

 Okay, she was out of options. Still, her ears were still deaf, and she needed to see what was going on. Time to take risk! Despite how often that never seemed to work out, risks were a part of the Schnee lifestyle!

 Besides, she didn’t have to open her eyes all the way, just enough to see!

 Satisfied with this plan, Weiss dared to open her eyes just a smidgen.

 And saw the gorgeous redhead standing over her, talking into a phone.

 What would Qrow say at a time like this, probably something along the lines of “Well, shit.”

 *****

Mitsuru Kirijo nodded once, “No, I’m fine. Just had to take care of some trouble.” She gazed down at the fallen form of Weiss Schnee, who was either shaking off the effects of her Nilfheim, or just trying to play dead and failing at it.

 Bodies, of course, did not shift into adorable facial expressions like they were trying to figure a math problem.

 On the other side of her conversation, Aegis gave her a “Affirmative.” Then closed the line. Pocketing her phone, Mitsuru shook her head and kneeled down.

 She thought for a moment, how should she play this?

 On one hand, she had just stabbed this person, and most people understandably weren’t too happy about that. Still, it wasn’t a fatal blow...she thinks. The people she used it on, mainly Akihiko, usually bounced back up in a few seconds. Then again, Akihiko was a freak of nature in every category, so that was probably a bad measure to scale by.

 On the other, well...maybe that’s just how people greeted each other from where-ever Weiss was from? Maybe not, but it was worth a shot.

 Oh, Mitsuru nodded to herself as a thought struck her. Pulling out her evoker, Mitsuru put it to her head and pulled the trigger.

 “Persona!” She yelled, somewhat reflexively.

 Next to her, Artemisia flared to life, and she swore there was a sharp intake of breath from the fallen Weiss. After a moment of scanning, Mitsuru nodded, Weiss was down and out, but had about one Hit Points left. Far from dead, still, that raised the question of what to do next.

 Capture, release, or kill?

 ...Well, it had been a good fight, and the thought of killing a disarmed opponent left a bad taste in Mitsuru’s mouth. Sometimes, she was called an Executioner, but that just meant she finished battles quickly, she didn’t actually kill off helpless victims...did she?

 Pushing that thought of her mind, Mitsuru gently placed a hand on Weiss’s neck, to confirm a pulse. A more mundane way of checking a person’s health, but at least it showed that she wasn’t fool by Weiss’ trick.

 True to form, Weiss slightly recoiled at Mitsuru’s touch. Well, that was triple whammy if there ever was one.

 “Ms. Schnee,” Mitsuru said, “You can get up now.”

 Weiss didn’t move a muscle, trying to appear as still as poosible.

 “...Ms.Schnee,” Mitsuru repeated after a pause, “I know you’re still alive, your health bar isn’t drained just yet.”

 “What health ba-”  Mitsuru smiled slightly as Weiss, now fully awake, looked at her with wide eyes and shrunken pupils, “Oh...um…”

 Weiss immediately closed her eyes again and held her breath, causing Mitsuru to shake her head, “Well, at least you’re determined.” She mused.

 After a few more seconds of waiting Weiss slowly opened her eyes and sat up under her own power, “What do you want?” She asked, her tone cold. Mitsuru attributed that to having just woken up by the person who beat you down, she had been there herself once or twice. Not fun.

 Mitsuru placed a hand on Weiss’ shoulder, “You can relax, I mean you no further harm.”

 Weiss looked down towards her stomach, where a stab wound could be seen, “...Forgive me if I don’t believe you.”  

 “Mhh...Fair enough.” Mitsuru, after a moment, sat down next to Weiss, who naturally flinched at the contact. In an effort to appear fair, Mitsuru scooted herself an inch away to give Weiss some space.

 “....So…” Weiss rubbed a hand over her stomach, “....Would you believe me that this is the second time I’ve been stabbed?”

 Mitsuru blinked, “Do you mean…” She ran a finger over her left eye, mirroring Weiss’.

 Weiss giggled slightly, then placed a hand over her left eye, “No, this...this came from a test my father planned.”

 Mitsuru had to pause after hearing that, “Your father did that to you?”

 Weiss shook her head, “No, I had to fight a possessed Grimm, that...big knight you blew up.”  She looked away, “I-I won, obviously, but…”

 Mitsuru paused for a minute, then he reached out for Weiss, but quietly pulled her hand back. After a moment, she spoke again, “...My father entrusted me to fight Shadows when I was a little girl.”

 Weiss snorted, “Wow, my father wanted me to be a trophy doll, all smiles, no substance.”

 Mitsuru smiled, “I’ve lost count of the number of suitors I’ve had that wanted just that.”

 Weiss turned to her, “I know, right?! They just..want me to stand there and look pretty.” She exclaimed happily, then flinched, clutching her stomach. “Ow...Heh.” Weiss glanced at Mitsuru, “You know, this isn’t my worst stabbing.”

 “...” Mitsuru looked at Weiss for a moment, who coughed awkwardly, “I think you should work on your phrasing Ms. Schnee.”

 “...How do you know my name?” Weiss asked after a pause.

 Mitsuru blinked, “Ah, my Persona...it gives me information regarding opponents.”

 “Oh.” Weiss looked suddenly deflated, “I see.”

 “...It was a good fight.” Mitsuru tried, “You fought well.”

 Weiss chuckled, but Mitsuru could tell it was bitter, “Actually, I’ve err...never managed to win a one on one fight.”

 Mitsuru blinked, “Really?”

 “I don’t know what it is, I just…” Weiss sighed, “I guess I work better in a team.”

 Mitsuru closed her eyes, “Multiplication, not addition.”

 “I’m sorry?”

 Mitsuru looked back at Weiss, and tried to give her a smile, “Sometimes, some people work better with others then by themselves, hence multiplication.”

 “Oh.” Weiss nodded, “...That doesn’t make me feel better, but thanks.”

 “Don’t mention it.”

 An awkward silence fell on them. Mitsuru looked away from Weiss for a minute, trying to think of what to do next, but before she could even begin a sentence, Weiss spoke.

 “Hey, where’s Myrtenaster?” Weiss asked, looking around for her fallen weapon.

 “Oh, is that how you say it?” Mitsuru found herself asking.

 Weiss glared at her, “I’ve heard plenty of misnaming from my friends thank you very much, I don’t intend to…” Her gaze fell over to her fallen weapon, which laid on the ground in two pieces. “You broke it.” Weiss said, her tone hollow.

 Mitsuru winced, “Yes, I did.”

 “You broke it.” Weiss repeated in a daze.

 “Allow me to apologize for-”

 Weiss leaned forward, cupping her face in her hands, “Uuuuggggghhh...Can this day get any worse?”

 Mitsuru was about to respond, then, of all things, a song began to play from on Weiss’s person.

 “I BURN!”

 With one smooth, practiced motion, Weiss pulled out a small, white device and flipped it open. Mitsuru figured that it was her equivalent of a phone, going by the way she quickly spoke into it.

 “Hey Yang, no, no, I’m fine.” Weiss spoke, “I just...ran into some trouble. Turns out, I’m not the only one who knows how to use a rapier…” Whoever was on the other end must have said something stupid, Mitsuru mused, because Weiss made a face that looked like Yukari’s whenever Junpei was...well, Junpei. “Anyway...yeah, yeah...I’ll see you soon. Bye.” Hanging up, Weiss looked at Mitsuru and coughed, “So...um...Can I go?”

 Mitsuru thought for a moment, “Well, I did break your weapon, so I assume you’re of no threat to me…”

 “Gee, thanks.” Weiss said dryly.

 “So, yes. You can go.” Mitsuru finished.

 “Great!” Weiss made to stand up, only for her to wince and clutch her stomach as she sat back down, “Damn you Cinder…” She swore under her breath.

 Despite the fact she wanted to know who this “Cinder” was, Mitsuru pushed it to the back of her mind, “Here, let me help you.” She said, standing up and placing a hand on Weiss’ arm.

 “No, no, that’s fin-e?” Before Weiss could finish, Mitsuru stood and pulled Weiss up to her feet quickly, catching Weiss when she stumbled forward in her grasp. “Ah-ha…” It dawned on Mitsuru that Weiss was actually a bit shorter than her by a few inches as she clung onto her for support.

 “Are you okay?” Mitsuru asked.

 Weiss just huffed, looking into Mitsuru’s eyes, “I’m perfectly fine…” Weiss blinked for a moment, then said in a daze, “You have really pretty eyes.”

 Mitsuru paused; when did she use Marin Karin…?

 Weiss however, quickly shook her head, “Uh...forget you heard that.” She placed a hand on her head, “Post battle stress!”

 “Quite.” Mitsuru smiled, “And for the record, I think you have pretty eyes as well.”

 “Oh…” Weiss’ face blushed hotly, and she said something under her breath that Mitsuru couldn’t quite hear.

 “So then,” Mitsuru began, “I trust you can find your way back?”

 “Yes..I can Ms…” Weiss blinked, “I don’t think I ever got your name.”

 “Ah.” Mitsuru blinked, “Kirijo M-....Apologies,” She took in Weiss’ outfit, westerner. “Mitsuru Kirijo.” She finished.

 “Oh...Weiss Schnee.” Weiss smiled, “But you already know that, didn’t you?”

 Mitsuru smiled, “I know, I just wanted to hear you say it.”

 “Oh.” Weiss looked away again, then took a step back. She appeared to be unsteady, but she stood, “I’ll...uh, be going now.”

 “Of course.” Mitsuru nodded, “Do you need any assistance?”

 “No, I’m fine.” Weiss said with a hasty breath. She limped over to where her weapon had fallen, and she slowly bent over to pick up the fallen pieces. She was in pain, obviously, but Mitsuru knew that she had her pride on the line, “This cost a lot, you know.” She called over.

 “The Kijiro group will pay for any damages.”  Mitsuru replied with a grin.

 “Mh, and the SDC will have to file a complaint.”  Weiss returned.

 What was the SDC? Mitsuru asked herself, but she shook her head and turned to walk away.

 “Hey!”

 Mitsuru looked over her shoulder, where Weiss was pointed the sword of Myrtenaster at her, trying to be as dramatic as possible, but the effect was lessened by the sight of Weiss struggling to keep the sword up, “The next time we meet, I will win! You got that?!”

 Mitsuru smiled, she liked people with fire. “It’s a date!” She called back, savoring the sight of Weiss turning completely red and letting out a sound like a deflating balloon.

[longforgottenunofficial]

Here Comes the...Never Mind, She’s Here: Constance and the Hatchet Man

Updated March 2015

(photo: Jeff Fillmore)

Like I said last time, the Constance addition is an ambitious attempt to expand the Mansion's backstory and solidify it.  The attic bride now has a name (Constance Hatchaway) and a definite story.  She's a "black widow" bride, marrying five men in succession (or at least five) and beheading each on their wedding night (Sigmund Freud, call your office).  Each man is more wealthy than the last, and Connie's accumulating fortune is symbolized by the addition of a new string of pearls around her neck in each successive wedding portrait.  Her junk now clogs the attic.  Mostly wedding gifts.  There are some cute items amidst the clutter, like this porcelain couple with the man fallen and with his head broken off.

Here's the grim tally:

1869:  Ambrose Harper

1872:  Frank Banks

1874:  The Marquis de Doom

1875:  Reginald Caine

1877:  George Hightower

There are official mini-bio's for each man (cf. Surrell 2nd ed., p. 84); the most interesting fact is that George is expressly said to be a former owner of the house, implying that Connie inherited it.  Evidently, before it became a retirement home for ghosts, the Haunted Mansion was Connie's residence.  As if to emphasize the point, the widow portrait in the stretching room is now officially recognized as a portrait of Constance.  The resemblance between it and the last wedding portrait in the attic is obvious.

Objection, your honor:  The Constance ghost is clearly still a young woman, while the stretch-room widow was just as clearly a senior citizen before she died.  In addition, isn't the plot simply too far-fetched?  You're saying there were five identical and sensational murders on Connie's successive wedding nights, and no one caught on?  Were the latter suitors such dolts?  And were the police brain dead?  There are limits to our suspension of disbelief. I'm no fan of the Connie thing, but I will say that these objections hold no water.  The notion that ghosts appear as they appeared at the time of their death is not the only popular notion out there.  There is also the idea that ghosts haunt because there is unfinished earthly business that must be resolved before they can "cross over," and perhaps they appear as they appeared at the time of that unfinished business, which may have occurred well before death.  In Connie's case, it's an unavenged murder spree from her youth. That too is a concept not unknown to ghost lore:

From The Reader magazine, 1904 (hat tip Craig C.)

Interestingly enough, Ken Anderson invokes this ghost theory in one of his 1957 scripts: "... our house had a tragic and bloody history of unlucky owners who died sudden and violent deaths, which resulted in their unhappy ghosts remaining behind to fulfill the uncompleted missions of their lives." As for the preposterousness of the plot, it all becomes plausible when we throw money into the equation.  Bribe the police, bribe the judges, remove any public record of the crime or its investigation, falsify death certificates, and presto: a clean slate for the next victim.  Sure, she would have needed a good missing-and-presumed-dead story the first time (a teary-eyed Constance describes how Ambrose fell into the river on their honeymoon), and the second time would have demanded a cop or judge who could be bought pretty cheap (perhaps she used, er, other assets as well?), but after that she probably had enough wealth piling up to cover her tracks easily.  As for how suitor #4 or #5 could be foolish enough to marry a widow whose previous husbands managed to disappear so quickly after the wedding, well...she's got a pretty face, see, and a certain wiggly-wag.... Objections overruled. How did they cook up such an idea in the first place?  To begin, mad female ax murderers are nothing new on the radar screen of public cultural consciousness.  Lizzie Borden and all that.

Closer to home, once again we find an interesting changing-portrait concept in the huge pile of unused material left behind by Marc Davis.  He came up with a macabre version of a famous portrait by Thomas Gainsborough.  So popular was "The Honourable Mrs. Graham" in its day that Gainsborough did several versions of it, including an etching:

It doesn't take much imagination to see inspiration for Constance in Davis's spoof:

(Artwork ©Disney.  Animated gif by Captain Halfbeard) Another inspiration for Constance hidden in the WDI vaults is the long-forgotten "Mr. Meaker," a character concept unknown until the recent discovery of a crude notebook sketch by Dick Irvine (VP of Design at WDI from '52—'73) . . .

. . . and this accompanying description:  "Mr. Meaker was a very simple man who lost each of his five wives in a very tragic manner.  They died in bed—apparently of natural causes.  Mr. Meaker's only compensation was that his wives were all insured.  He smothered them with affection." Here the tour guide throws a switch and the canopy of a nearby bed descends.  The tour guide continues:  "One night he was testing the mechanism while his cat was sleeping on the bed.  When Mr. Meaker found out that he had killed his pet, he was heartbroken.  He hanged himself." It's not hard to see a male version of Constance in certain details of this outline.  It's curious that he hanged himself, because if the HM's hanging man was already considered the Ghost Host at this point (and he probably was), then this backstory identifies the Ghost Host with Mr. Meaker.  This opens up a can of interesting worms, but we'll tackle that one a little further down.  (Actually, I've never tackled a worm and would decline any invitation so to do.  The unfair weight advantage, for one thing, would take all the joy out of it for me.) One of the most important factors shaping the creation of Constance, however, was inspiration drawn right from the existing ride.  I have no doubt whatsoever that the Imagineers involved would respond to the criticism of Constance as an unwanted intrusion by pointing out that, on the contrary, they are zealous traditionalists with the highest possible respect for what the original Imagineers created.  In expanding the backstory, they definitely wanted their addition to stay true to what was already there. And they have a good case, so far as it goes. First, Connie is a throwback to the original, scarier bride, skipping over and ignoring the forlorn 1995-2006 models in favor of their darker predecessors.   On our own analysis, the original attic scene gave you just enough clues to conclude that the bride killed her groom via decapitation.  The Hat Box Ghost goes topless to the tune of her lub dub, lub dub, remember? Secondly, the Constance narrative seizes on the two items from the original HM that indicate a history prior to the "retirement home" story and it weaves the two together into a single story, so you could argue that the Connie story tidies things up a bit.  I'm talking about (1) the Ghost Host's ambiguous tie to the house on the one hand (actually, it's his neck, but let that slide), and (2) the attic's tale of some kind of nuptial homicide on the other.  Everything else in the HM is part of the three-act play taking place on the stage of "this ghostly retreat." The Ghost Host connection is largely unspecified at this point, but there is every indication that it is waiting in the wings, ready to be rolled out as time and funds permit.  That's right, people, there is another shoe waiting to drop.  There are more chapters to the Constance saga up WDI's sleeve, so you had better get used to her.  If her role is destined to change at all, it is only in order to expand it further.  Do I have an inside line on this undisclosed sequel?  Nope, but I can tell you that it will involve a character sometimes called the "Hatchet Man." The Hatchet Man A creepy portrait of a man with a noose around his neck and a hatchet in his hand has been in the DL Corridor of Doors since the place opened.

Do not doubt the word of your blog administrator.  Here is Hatch in a rare 1969 photo:

The Orlando HM has had Hatch since the day it opened, but as one of the "Sinister 11" portraits rather than in the Corridor of Doors:

This guy is the Ghost Host.  First, the concept art for this character reportedly identifies him explicitly as the "Ghost Host," and second, the hanging corpse in the stretching gallery is scrupulously dressed so as to match the Hatchet Man, and of course the hanging man is the GH ("there's always my way").  This is a good example of WDI overkill for the sake of "making it real," since guests can't possibly see this.

Oh, and incidentally, the Hatchet Man is one of those rare cases where you can point your finger directly at a piece of outside art that inspired it.  Davis modeled him on "The Old Witch" from Tales From the Crypt comic books.  Betcha didn't know that.  Sheesh, Marc, this one isn't even subtle.

There are at least three indications that WDI is preparing to raise the profile of this character considerably.  First, his face is showing up elsewhere.  Reportedly, when the Constance attic makeover took place at DL, plans included alterations to the Séance circle as well.  The faces of Connie's husbands would be seen materializing around the perimeter, or something like that.  It didn't happen.  Either the report was false, or this part of the project was postponed for one reason or another (funding? technical feasibility? manpower? scheduling?).  We did get a new effect in there, however, as the wandering Ectoplasm Ball began making faces at us.  There were more than one, but one of them was Hatch:

Why him?  Secondly, some guys from WDI just showed up one day and put a Hatchet Man portrait in the Corridor of Doors at the WDW Mansion.  According to my sources, it was a complete surprise to the Florida folk.  Bam.  Now Orlando has a portrait similar to the one at DL.  Hatch was already represented there as one of the "Sinister 11," so why this one as well?  Not only that, but a dimension has been added to his character.  Previously, you could say that his hatchet was simply the implement by which he cut his ties to the house.  But now, he's wielding it as a frightening weapon—note the shadow.

Thirdly—and this one is more subtle—WDI has apparently adopted a zero-tolerance policy toward any identification of the Ghost Host with any other character, specifically, a certain Master Gracey.  Among Mansion fans there's a very popular belief that the character in the following painting is named "Master Gracey" and that he is the Ghost Host.  Neither of these is official; it's purely fan-generated Mansion lore.

For years WDI has looked upon this with a certain bemused tolerance, and in fact the name "Master Gracey" has risen to the level of, I dunno, what you might call semi-official sanction.  But any suggestion that he is the Ghost Host has been ruthlessly suppressed in recent years.  When they put up a construction sign at the WDW Mansion during the massive refurb of 2007 that identified the Ghost Host as "Master Gracey"—dude, somebody got a stern email from On High, because they had to go to the trouble and expense of fixing the sign to eliminate this boo-boo.  We're talking about a temporary construction sign here.

Now you see it...now you don't.

(photos by Pickwickgrl) Sheesh, that's tight.  "Who told them to change it?"  "Top men."  "Yes, but who?"  "TOP.  MEN."

And consider this dismaying observation.  Jason Surrell had a loosey-goosey attitude about this whole business in his first edition (2003) of The Haunted Mansion: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies.  Speaking of the WDW Mansion, Surrell says: "As guests enter the Foyer, their attention is drawn to a formal portrait of the master of the house hanging on the wall above the fireplace.  The master is the Ghost Host himself, or Master Gracey, if you go by the name on one of the tombstones in the family plot, although that is not the official story."

But between that edition and the second edition (2009), some Top Men evidently had a little clarification session with Mr. S. "As guests enter the Foyer, their attention is drawn to a formal portrait of the master of the house hanging on the wall above the fireplace.  Contrary to another popular theory that has made the rounds over the years, the Ghost Host is not the master of the house—Gracey or otherwise—but merely one of 999 happy haunts."

And Jason—no fool he—gets to keep both kneecaps.

The most obvious reason for the crackdown is that the real Ghost Host is going to make a more formal entrance sometime in the future, and he's the sinister-looking Hatchet Man, not some dandy named "Master Gracey."  How all this will tie into the Constance saga is unknown at this point, but they do make a charming couple with their mutual hatchet fetish, and I find it curious that a previous concept for the Ghost Host (Mr. Meaker) is in some ways a mirror-reflection of the future bride Constance, although I'm probably better advised to put that one down to coincidence.

One way or another, it appears that WDI is preparing to tie together the Ghost Host and the attic bride in a single backstory that tells the history of the HM before it became a ghostly retreat for wandering spirits from all over the world. UPDATE (March 2015) It's been several years now, and the second shoe has yet to drop. It may never. You see, the man I am sure was behind the implementation of this backstory is no longer in the position to do so. He's transferred to somewhere else in WDI now, and so far there is no evidence that the new boss is interested in developing the master plan of the old boss. Alas, the glowing face effect in the Séance Circle has fallen into neglect and disrepair, and merchandise identifying the Ghost Host with "Master Gracey" appeared on the shelves in conjunction with the Mansion's 45th anniversary. It's true that Merchandising tends to do its own thing and thumb its ignorant nose at WDI, but I'm pretty sure the previous guy would have put the kibosh on such heretical items. 

Originally Posted: Saturday, June 5, 2010 Original Link: [x]

[diaryofanobsessivefangirl]

Masterlist of Ships Subtropes

Dynamic tropes

Puppy love

Romance between children.

Examples: Gendry x Arya, Arnold x Helga, Mike x Eleven, Shaoran x Sakura

Childhood Acquaintance

They meet when they were children, regardless of the frequency or how close they were. They may have been raised together, may have saw each other every now and then, or even just once.

Used to be Friends

Examples: Petyr x Catelyn; Erik x Christine; Mina x Lucy

Used to be Lovers

Couples that were officially together (At least had sex) before everything went to hell. Ships that only flirted, such as Anna/David (The Guest) and Jackson/Lisa (Red Eye) are not included.

Examples: Athos x Milady; Tom x Elizabeth (The Blacklist); Dolores x William

Love Makes You Evil

A character who was originally good but did things for love that turn him to the dark side.

Examples: Anakin, Petyr Baelish and Claude Frollo

Love Makes You Crazy

A character driven to the brick of sanity because of love.

Example: Claude Frollo from Notre Dame de Paris and Ram from Princess Daisy

Not So Different After All

Opposites/rivals/enemies that actually have many hidden similarities. They are canonically each other’s shadow and are compared as two sides of the same coin.

Example: Anne x Vincent, Steerpike x Fuchsia, Kylo x Rey, Jackson x Lisa

Love Beyond Death

Meeting in the after-life, meeting reincarnation or person coming back from the dead.

Example: Catherine x Heathcliff, Petyr x Catelyn, Dracula x Mina, Naraku x Kikyo

Dragging You to the Gutter with Me

A villain turns a heroine into a brutal lonely broken thing only he can understand what it’s like to be, and still she won’t come to him. So what keeps them together is also what keeps them apart. Read more.

Example: Naraku and Kikyo; Alina and Darkling; Petyr and Catelyn; Dolores and William

In Love with the Mark

A man who works for some really big, bad guys. He may or not believe in their ideology; that is not the point. He is there for the money and he prides himself of his professionalism. For some reason, this organization working on the shadows have “business” to deal with this ordinary everyday woman. So he is hired to stalk, threaten, or even kill her. Turns out, Stalking is Love, and he develops feelings for his target. That doesn’t stop him from keeping up with the job, thought. He had to be undercover to get closer, so cases of Used to be Lovers/Friends are probably included. You will likely hear from a character In Love With the Mark the quote “It wasn’t personal.”

Example: Jack/Angela; Jackson/Lisa; Vincent/Anne; Tom/Lizzie (Jacob/Masha); Skye/Ward

The Queen and her Champion

Woman occupies traditionally feminine roles of power and the man is an example of masculinity for others. She uses clever words, social understanding and schemes. He is her sword and her armor, but nothing more. Because of their different stances, he is bound to be close to her he protects, but never with her.

Examples: Maly and Alina; Zelda and Link; Lancelot and Guinevere; Rhaenyra Targaryen and Criston Cole; Daenerys and Ser Jorah; Every Elizabeth Tudor romance, Queen Anne and Aramis; Lucrezia and Cesare; Cersei and Jaime.

Art Inspires Love

When character A realizes or falls (more) in love with character B after watching him dance, sing, or doing something artistic.

Examples: Frollo/Esmeralda, Christine/Erik, Hap/Prairie, Isaura/Leôncio, Anne/Vincent, Sandor/Sansa and Babydoll/Blue Jones.

Supernatural Connection

The characters have a psychic or physical connection. Maybe they can communicate through telepathy or can feel each other’s presence and emotions when they are nearby. There might be a spell connecting their hearts in a way one can only die when the other one does. Maybe they are twins. Whatever the reason, these characters are bonded in a way no one else could be.

Examples: Kylo x Rey, Nuada x Nuala, Darkling x Alina and Cersei x Jaime.

The Frollo Effect

A guy falls in love with a girl he is suppose to reject, repulse or dehumanize, and fights against it. By trying to suppress it, her converts love into hatred against her and himself, and probably punishes both hoping it will make the feeling go away. It does not work and the guy starts doing things he never thought he was capable of in order to deal with this unbearable need. He is usually proud, rational and very in control of himself until she comes along. Her initial dismissal as a suitor commonly starts out as social expectation - in which the characters are from divergent social segments and ideologically separated -, but it’s always a expectation the guy has over himself, regardless if anyone else imposes this on him.

Examples: Esmeralda x Frollo (Gypsy and priest), Amon x Helen (Jew and nazi), Isaura x Leôncio (Slave and master), Daisy x Ram (Sister and brother), William x Dolores (Host and guest) and Hap x Prairie (Subject and scientist)

Bonding undercover

When the bad guy pretends to be a normal person long enough to befriend the good girl and make her fall in love with him. This is usually how tragically two-sided vxh happens, because she gets to know his other side before the bad one gets in the way, but they can still have a happy ending because it also establishes they could have the base for a healthy relationship if only he could abandon his malicious quest. This only happens when the girl develops deeply romantic feelings for him; if it's only a crush or devilish attraction (Red Eye, The OA and Agents of SHIELD) than it doesn't count. She must be sobbing on the floor when this is done. May also involve an amnesia period in which the antagonist approaches the hero as an old friend or a lover.

Examples: Steerpike and Fuchsia, Christine and Erik, Kiara and Kovu, Elizabeth and Tom, Dracula and Vanessa

Generation Parallel

A love story doesn’t end up well. Years later another generation repeats the first one in a slightly different manner. Most of the time, the parallel between the two affairs means the characters from the first one have the chance to develop as we wished they would, and that their love might have grown roots under a different field. Sometimes it just means shit happens no matter the circumstances, and that people will make the same mistakes of their elderlies despite that they should have known better by now. If we are talking about the first generation’s offspring (Incest not necessarily included), it might mean their love is on their DNA and they would fall over and over again under different names and places. In any case, this trope is the romantic side of History Repeats Itself.

Very common theme in incest, because their birth requires a previous affair between their parents, but it only counts if it is a story on its own, full of ups and downs, and people talk about it. If it’s not mentioned or important to the plot, there is no point in calling it Generation Parallel.

Examples: Jaime and Cersei (Joana and Tywin), Arya and Gendry/Jon (Lyanna and Robert/Rhaegar), Catherine and Hareton (Cathy and Heathcliff), Abby and Henry (Wakefield and Sarah), Rey and Kylo (Padme and Anakin), Isaura and Leôncio (Almeida and Juliana), Leonardo e Marina (Pilar e Murilo).

Roaring Rampage of Romance

Love that starts a war and the main plot. Characters that destroy cities and galaxies because Love Made Them Evil, because they are trying to be with whom they love or to secure their safety and happiness. It might be on purpose, in which they have foreseen the consequences but choose to take them anyway as a means to an end, or it was accidental. There may be decades of conflict and the count of a hundred corpses, or maybe a famous massacre with a handful dead extras. Maybe a murderer is hunting down everyone on an Island so that he can be alone with his beloved. Anyway, innocent people that had nothing to do with them nor interfered with the couple’s happiness will suffer the collateral damage.

Common trope among royalty, since marrying or bearing the children of someone you were not supposed to could have disastrous consequences to the State, still people would do it for love.

If the character is causing the rampage in search for something else, like power, and to secure his beloved is an incidental bonus, it isn’t considered Roaring Rampage of Romance, unless he is doing it because Love Has Made Him Evil. Alina/Darkling and Nuada/Nuala, for instance, don’t fit this category.

Examples: Penny Dreadful, Inuyasha, ASoIaF (Rhaegar x Lyanna, Jaime x Cersei, Petyr x Catelyn), Harper’s Island, Westworld, Notre Dame de Paris, Wuthering Heights, The Phantom of the Opera, Bram Stroker’s Dracula, Apollo and Cassandra, Star Wars (Anakin and Padmé)

Taboo Tropes

Incest

Self-explanatory. Cousins will not be considered incest in here. I’m brazilian.

Subtrope: Decadent Aristocrats

Ho Yay

Homosexual couples

Age gap

Ships with age gap between then, 10 years at least. Supernatural/immortal beings won’t be taken into account unless the other part is a child or coming of age.

Wife Husbandry

A man adopts or temporarily takes care of a little girl. She may or not develop a precocious crush on him. Little girl grows up into a extraordinary and desirable woman. She had him on a pedestal all these years and has been saving herself for him. Man is distressed bc he can’t reconcile the image of the child he cherished as a father and the provoking woman she turned out to be. He mostly resists her advances, but they work that out by the end.

Example: Older!Mathilda/Leon AU, Nancy/Hartigan (Sin City), Veronica/William (Final Girl)

Development Tropes

End game ship

Is not everyday an OTP becomes end game

AU ship

A.k.a. “Canon? Who needs canon?” ships. OTPs that had a lot of potential but were ruined by canon. So either I ignore the end they were given, either some parts in the middle. Unlike Not Canon ships, these were meant to be romantically involved, but the way it was executed ruined it.

Secondary Interest ship

That One Scene ships are the ones with nothing shippable except for one or two scenes. Sometimes is not even canon and are more anti-recs than anything, but it’s still about villain x heroine, so it’s relevant to this blog.

Not canon

Word of God stayed silent and, according to my best judgment, the subtext was not enough. If something sexual or romantic happens between the characters but isn’t based on desire, such as the villain seducing the heroine for his advantage, it’s not canon.

Example: Scream (Billy/Sidney), Kim Possible (Kim/Shego), Mulan (Mulan x Shan Yu), World Without End (Carys x Edward), Sky High (Layla x Warren), Star Wars (Obi-Wan x Padmé), Richard III (Anne x Richard), Tesis (Angela x Bosco)

[victorluvsalice]

Weyr Wednesday: Fandom Weyr -- Parole Officer

Welp, there’s not much happening in DragonVale now that I’ve cleared out all the available dragons. And I happen to have run out of Pern Crash ficlets to share. So, it’s time for a piece from the other Pern crossover I came up with ages ago -- Fandom Weyr! As you might guess from the name, this is a multiverse crossover set on Pern itself, with characters from a bunch of my favorite fandoms living on an island with its own little weyr. The place is run by the Pern version of Vetinari -- hey, if he can keep Ankh-Morpork running smoothly, he can sure as hell handle a weyr. Glados leads the kitchen drudges, which of course includes Chell and Wheatley; Victor (now Vitor) lives in nearby Everglot Sea Hold with his fishing family, drawing maps and composing music in his spare time; Alice’s (or Aliss’s) family helped run a crafthall until their murder by wandering Harper Bumby; and so on and so forth. I never fleshed it out as much as Pern Crash (mostly because I’ve only read two Pern books, both of them for young adults, and both of those were for Menolly’s fire lizard family), but I did do a couple of little fic snippets for it. Here’s the first, for the curious.

Set-up: Vitor and Aliss have been taken to Fandom Weyr -- Aliss having been caught for Bumby’s murder, Vitor as a possible Impression candidate -- except the moment he arrived, he had a screaming panic attack about going “Between.” (Because if anything’s going to trigger Victor’s phobia of absolute darkness, it’s an airless void between places and times.) Aliss is meeting with V’tinari about the punishment for her crime, and for some reason he’s just called in Vitor. . .

“Come.”

The door opened, revealing the very pale face of one Vitor of Everglot Sea Hold. Aliss squinted – was it just her, or had he someone managed to become even whiter since she’d last seen him? Then again, he’s just been summoned into the presence of one of the most renowned and reviled Weyrleaders on Pern, after having a panic attack that the whole Weyr must have heard. I’m surprised he’s not unconscious. “Is our appointment over, Weyrleader?” she asked, glancing at the open gap behind Vitor. But it couldn’t be, he hadn’t actually assigned punishment yet. . . .

“Oh no, please, stay where you are,” V’tinari said pleasantly, before nodding at Vitor. “Do come in. You made quite the impression on my Weyr today, young man.”

“I – I am s-so sorry, sir,” Vitor said as he entered the room, hands twisting together before him. “I r-really had no idea I’d–”

“My Ankth has already spoken to the dragon that brought you here,” V’tinari cut him off. “Apparently his decision to take you was more or less an act of pity.”

Vitor blinked, clearly thrown. “Sir?”

“Yes, Arctith didn’t really think you appropriate for a dragon. You have a spark of what’s necessary to be a good rider – but just a spark. No, he and N’rth simply saw how discontent you were in the Hold of your birth – Everglot Sea Hold, correct?” Vitor nodded. “And am I right in assuming you were the unsuccessful suitor for the Lady Holder’s daughter Vitorea – what a remarkable coincidence with your first names, by the by – and the one who found that corpse the wanderer Barkis tried to conceal?”

Vitor blinked rapidly a few times. “I – yes. Y-yes, that’s me,” he confirmed. “I – d-didn’t realize the story had become so famous.”

“Oh, not really,” V’tinari said with a calm smile. “I just make it my business to know as much as I can about everything on Pern. I was apprenticed as a Harper before Ankth called me.” He shrugged with the ease of a man who has everything under control, even things that technically shouldn’t be under his control. “Old habits die hard.”

“I thought everything about Fandom Weyr involved the old habits dying,” Aliss put in, unable to help herself.

V’tinari turned that stony gaze on her. Aliss held out as long as she could, but the Weyrleader was clearly more practiced than she was at outstaring people. “Joke, sir,” she said at last.

“Ah, of course,” he said. “Do tell me when you feel another coming on.” He turned back to the fidgeting Vitor. “Now, don’t be upset, Vitor – I’m quite glad N’rth made the decision to bring you to my Weyr.”

Vitor looked up, his expression absolutely baffled. “You – are, sir? Even with – with what j-just happened?”

“Oh, half of the boys and girls that have been retrieved by my riders will not Impress,” V’tinari said carelessly. “I wish they’d all give such clear signs of their unsuitableness for the post so we don’t have to waste time putting them on the sands. You, Vitor – you I can place in your appropriate position right away.”

“I’m willing to do anything, Weyrleader,” Vitor said with what he thought was a helpful smile but was more a grimace. Aliss resisted the urge to slap her hand against her face. That sentence probably condemned the poor fellow to emptying latrines and spreading dragon dung over nearby Hold fields.

“Excellent! You’re Aliss’s new parole officer.”

. . .what?!

Vitor seemed as startled as she – probably more, as he hadn’t guessed his companion in the room even needed a parole officer. “Ah – I – I b-beg your pardon, Weyrleader?”

“Whatever for? Having a panic attack isn’t a prosecutable offense,” V’tinari replied, voice smooth as fresh-churned butter. “V’mes would have you in his charge if it were. And as far as I know, you haven’t killed anyone like your new charge.”

Vitor’s eyes snapped to her, wide with shock. Aliss winced. “I would like to point out again that the man in questioned killed my entire family when my sister refused to pretend it was a dragon’s mating flight with him,” she said.

“Yes, and we have ample evidence of his other – activities,” V’tinari said, tiptoeing delicately around what those activities actually were. She supposed she couldn’t blame him, they were wretched. “But the fact is that you have killed someone, so we can’t exactly allow you to roam free. Vitor will keep an eye on you on his new assignment, and you can pay back society by proving your worth as his assistant.”

Now Aliss and Vitor shared a baffled look. “I’m afraid I’m not following, Weyrleader,” Vitor said with considerably more caution in his voice.

“Do you know how large the island the Weyr and its tithed holds occupies?” Both young people shook their heads. “10,000 miles across at our last estimate, and our last estimate is very poor. We need someone to take a proper measure of the place – to draw maps of the best roads between holds and weyr, to find where the medicinal and food plants grow, and to make sure no dangerous fauna lurks in the darkness waiting to reduce our rather meager numbers even further.” He fixed Vitor with a look. “From what I understand, Everglot Sea Hold prospers at least in part because of your skill in drawing maps. I’d like you to put that skill to work for me.”

“You – want me – to map your island?” Vitor said slowly.

“I see you understand me perfectly! And to send back regular reports of whatever animal and plant life you discover. Anything that might be useful to the running of the Weyr.” He smiled suddenly, something that actually looked like a genuine smile. “We have a number of fire lizards on our beaches, by the way. Any eggs that you could secure would be invaluable. And should you wish to take one or two for yourself. . .well, the dragons assure me you would be perfect for the ‘little ones.’”

“And – I’m expected to help him?” Aliss said, staring. This – this didn’t sound like a punishment at all. It sounded like paradise. Yes, she’d have to put up with Vitor, but – he didn’t seem a bad sort when he wasn’t screaming and comparing the cold dark of between to his worst nightmares. Surely this couldn’t be how he intended to see justice done. . . .

Unless he believed you when you said you’d already done it.