#shes the one who started the love triangle she is absolutely bad at this

[hopeymchope]

No hardcore fandom has ever died so quickly and so completely as Veronica Mars. This is the story of its murder.

They should study Veronica Mars in Hollywood. I'm serious. It's an incredible story of how to go from "loud, passionate fanbase with its own fandom name that campaigns and advocates constantly for it" to "absolutely zero fucking interest" damn near OVERNIGHT with just ONE epically terri-bad decision.

If you weren't there, you don't understand: From 2007 to 2014, the fandom — the "Marshmallows," as they called themselves — were everywhere in the Internet's geek spaces, my friends. They routinely beat the drum about the series' three seasons and its excellence, lamented its cancellation, pushed others to give the show a try, and always - ALWAYS - proudly and loudly called for the series to be revived.

FULL DISCLOSURE/CONFESSION: I've not even watched that much Veronica Mars, frankly... ? Yeah, I'm sorry! it does seem pretty good from like the four-or-five hours I've experienced firsthand. I just never took the time to sit down with it. Regardless, I find fandoms and their dynamics — both how they operate internally and how they display to others externally — deeply fascinating. And I honestly find them easier to study from the outside than the inside. Like, if I'm IN a fandom, I'm more likely to stay in my corner and ignore places that seem negative. But being on the outside lets me just... absorb what's out there, looking into every forum without judgment. It's like studying pop-culture sociology or something? And it helps that I'm very close to some serious(-ly burnt) Marshmallows. It makes it so much easier to find and absorb the gamut of the fandom.

Besides: There is NO fandom story I've ever seen that's anything like what happened to Veronica Mars and the Marshmallows.

(Time to insert a brief explainer for the uninitiated: Veronica Mars was a TV series that aired from 2004-2007 on the now-deceased UPN network wherein Kristen Bell played the titular character, a high school girl whose single dad was a private detective in the fictional community of Neptune, California. She grew up working "unofficially" as his assistant, which meant that she herself was effectively a teenage private detective.

The three core elements of the series were: 1) Veronica investigating each week's big mystery with plenty of quips and snark, 2) Watching Veronica's various relationships develop and shift, with most of the focus given to a) her relationship to her father and b) Her romantic pursuits (which began as the Veronica/Duncan/Logan triangle before eventually becoming focused on the slow-burn, off-on Veronica/Logan love story), and 3) The gradual development of that season's "mytharc" — the overarching BIG MYSTERY that doesn't get resolved or wrapped until the season finale. So it went over the course of two seasons that took place in high school and the third, shorter season that was at the start of Veronica's collegiate career.)

Just how big and how passionate were the Marshmallows? WELL! When series creator Rob Thomas (not the Matchbox 20 guy) and star Kristen Bell announced the Kickstarter campaign for the Veronica Mars movie in March 2013, it achieved its heretofore-unprecedented goal of TWO MILLION GODDAMN DOLLARS within less than 12 hours. At that time, it was the biggest Kickstarter goal to ever succeed — and certainly the fastest to reach that kind of height. Fans fell OVER themselves to pay out for it. Hell, my own significant other was DEEP in the tank for VM at the time and invested enough to get multiple t-shirts as backer rewards as well as a disk copy of the movie when it eventually came home.

And AFTER the movie hit in 2014? It was thankfully beloved and embraced! The once-teenage characters were adults who were actually out living on their own and working for a living, but the fandom had grown up with them, so it wasn't like they were begging for them to stay young students. They embraced Adult Veronica and her new adventure. The fandom rejoiced loudly and continued to be all over the geek side of the Internet... where they, of course, still wanted more. Sure, there were new novels in the aftermath (which were written by the creator of the series), but most of the Marshmallows were calling for more movies or a streaming revival.

And then, at long last... season four was actually announced. And there was much (premature) rejoicing yet again.

Yes, Veronica Mars returned for a fourth season on Hulu in 2019. It was just eight episodes, and it was heavily centered on one season-long mystery instead of sprinkling that amongst a bunch of smaller ones, but it would still feature the same ol' Veronica. They promised a new, more "adult" mystery/investigation plus a strong focus on Veronica and Logan's love story.

New Hulu purchased the rights to the first three seasons and hyped up its presence on the platform while marketing the return for the new run. The marketing team played up the most popular quips from the show's history plus put out TONS of stuff centered on the Logan/Veronica ship to pump up the fans.

The season was dropped all at once using the classic Netflix "binge" model in July 2019. And then... afterwards?

There was a brief explosion of LOUD RAGE from the Marshmallows at what series creator Rob Thomas had to done to burn and spite the fandom and ruin his own goodwill.

SPOILERS FOR SEASON 4: See, at the end of the movie, Veronica and Logan finally entered into a long-term relationship. In season four, they've been dating for years, and Logan proposes marriage. But of course there has to be drama/obstacles: In this case, Veronica isn't sure she's ready to marry... or capable of being in a marriage. Ah, but of course she eventually realizes how much Logan means to her. The two are married, and, in the season finale... Logan is killed by a car bomb in the penultimate scene. The final scene is a flashfoward to a year later, where Veronica leaves Neptune alone.

For most fandoms, that'd be a memorable point of pain. A big ol' speed bump that ultimately throws some people off the bus, leaving only the die-hards. But the fact that fans had been invested in this relationship for literally 15 years and that Hulu (and creator Rob Thomas) had heavily marketed the new season as being a big romantic event for the ship... it was too much. Unlike the aftermath of the Star Wars sequels, there was no lingering group of die-hard fans who were open to whatever was next — at least no significant one. I did some Googling and could only find TWO people who still wanted another season.

Funnily enough? Critics LOVED this. Hell, Vanity Fair infamously penned an editorial about how Veronica Mars had "finally grown up" with this finale. I suppose all the other murders and deaths and drug overdoses and r*pe weren't "mature" enough before now for... some... reason. (The same editorial also featured the author openly hating on Veronica ever being in a relationship because it causes "arrested development" and declaring that the movie -- which was acclaimed by both critics AND fans alike, I remind you -- was a lame dud. So. The writer must be a reeeaaaal fun person.)

But a series doesn't live based on critical acclaim, as it turns out. The fandom was murdered overnight. "Marshmallows" stopped appearing in geek spaces online entirely. No one expressed interest in seeing the next season or the next movie. The constant flow of fan AMVs on YouTube and fanfics on AO3 dried up to nothing or damn nearly so.

Since 2019 ? Nothing. Chirping crickets. An intensely dedicated fandom of 12 years was just... vaporized.

I've never seen anything like it before OR since.

That's why it's so fucking fascinating.

So what went wrong?

Creator Rob Thomas was adamant about two things: ONE, the series was intended to be a noir show, which meant there couldn't be any happiness for its protagonist. And TWO, the death of Logan was necessary to evolve and grow the series.

Thomas thought that having Veronica in a relationship would be holding her back, and that a marriage would absolutely kill the series and leave her stagnant. It never even occurred to him that marriage isn't the end of a character's life and growth. It never occurred to him that plenty of drama can be had AFTER someone is married, or that development/growth could be that the characters mature enough to be capable of maintaining a committed relationship. Thomas' view of his own universe was so myopic that he couldn't conceive of any possible way that Veronica could still be a private detective involved in life-threatening investigations AND be married at the same time. Futhermore, he felt that fans just wanted Veronica to become a pregnant housewife, which is about as far from what Marshmallows were after as you can get without straight-up killing Veronica and/or Logan. He managed to do the only thing wronger than what he wrongly thought was their insistence.

On top of the above, Rob Thomas only viewed "noir" as a vehicle for total fatalism... despite the fact that many of the most famous noir stories are cynical and full of moral ambiguity, but they still feature a positive outcome. The Big Sleep still has the protagonist get the girl. The Set-Up arguably ends with the happiest possible ending in spite of the beating the hero receives.

Perhaps most importantly? Despite Thomas own insistence that Veronica Mars was always "noir," the majority of both TV critics and fans did not think that designation ever truly applied. I suspect that's the reason why Thomas decided to go as dark and fatalistic as possible: He wanted to be noir, and he was being told that he wasn't. So he went so far into noir that he killed his own most popular property.

He was adamant that it was the only way for the series to grow. But as it turns out, it was instead the only way for the series to permanently end. Without that season four finale, a passionate group of fans would still be begging for more. With it? It's over. Nobody fucking cares now.

That's kind of amazing.

[martian-astro10]

Astrology observations - Part 3 (use whole signs)

🎀 For a lot of people with moon in 7th house, their mother had a huge impact on their personality (in a good or bad way). They'll either admire her a lot and try to be more like her or, do their best to not be like her. Their mother usually has a lot of say in who they marry. If the ascendant lord is not strong, then these people completely change after marriage and start to behave in a way in which their spouse would like them to.

🐈‍⬛Saturn in 9th house people can be really good when it comes to their career, they end up getting promoted earlier than others, but I've noticed that they prefer to work alone. It's like, they create something, but they would like someone else to market and sell it since communication is not their strong suit. Can be very introverted, not the best at taking initiatives, are very prone to undermining themselves.

🎀 moon in 11th house people have a really good relationship with their kids (unless it's debilitated). It doesn't matter if you're a guy or a girl, it's the same for both. They're the parents who have a very "chill" relationship with their kids, their kids trust them a lot, treat them as a friend. All my friends who have a great and healthy relationship with their parents, 85% of those parents had moon in 11th.

🐈‍⬛ Mars in 5th house people have such an "interesting" dating life; love triangles, friends with benefits, they've (or will) experienced it all. The people to say "it's complicated" when you ask them about their love life. But I've also seen that these people are very accepting of other people's dating preferences, this is one of the things that I really admire about them, this can result in them having a very diverse group of friends.

🎀 Jupiter aspecting ascendant/midheaven is one of the best placements that you could possibly have. I was going through celebrities' charts and I noticed that the ones who were exceptionally popular or rich had this like 90% of the time. With opposition and square it can indicate that people hate you at first, but then some info comes out and suddenly everyone loves you, but you gotta go through the hate first. Conjunction can go either way depending on the sign.

🐈‍⬛ Saturn in 4th house women have my full respect, like, these people go through so much shit in their life and yet they're so hardworking and never give up. Their mother was probably their worst enemy growing up. If you know someone who has this, give them a hug, they're carrying so much burden, and yet they never show it. You'll never hear these people complaining about life, have a very, "it's okay, problems come and go, you can't be sad all the time" mentality.

🎀 Sun in 1st house people make me so angry, I don't get along with them. They have such a shitty personality, and always wanna fight for absolutely no reason. Start a beef out of nowhere, but they are so fucking good at their job, that's actually what makes me hate them more. My class representative has this, and she's such a bitch, but she's so responsible, it breaks my fucking heart, can't even complain 😔

🐈‍⬛ Mercury in 11th house people have unmatched Rizz, will charm the pants off you (unless it's debilitated). I'm so jealous of people who have this. I know people with this, who are not conventionally attractive but their charm is what makes people like them. I never knew what it meant to be attracted to someone's personality until I met someone who had this. (I know this sounds like a backhanded compliment, but it's really not)

🎀 I have never in my life met a moon in 8th house person who was like....okay. these people will have a mental breakdown almost every week. Can't take criticism AT ALL. I have seen that people with this have a tendency to date whoever they see once they break up, just to show their ex how "wanted" they are, and it's not healthy because a lot of their hook ups have bad intentions. Have a habit of playing the victim "everyone bullies me 🥺" "I have the hardest life" and blah blah. On a positive note, they can handle fame really well because of their ability to manipulate people, once you get in their trap and start liking them, you'll never be able to hate them.

🐈‍⬛ I never see people talking about how smart Venus in 3rd house people are. I'm always so amazed by the way they carry conversations. A lot of women who have won beauty paegents have this because of how nice their answers were. A lot of young politicians have this as well. Their juniors often look up to them.

© martian-astro All rights reserved, 2024

[lunar-years]

Peanut gallery social media commentary on Challengers is sooo funny to me.

“Art was the victim!” Did you miss the part where he started stirring shit up between his best friend and his best friend’s girlfriend in the hopes they’d break up and he could get with her instead? Or how he chose to cut off his best friend entirely to side with Tashi because Tashi blamed said best friend for her injury (literally he doesn’t even talk to Patrick about the argument? Ever? Just kicks him out of his life because Tashi wants them to LMAO)?

“Patrick was the victim!” Did you miss the part where Patrick spends like 13 years willfully reinserting himself back into a relationship he no longer gets to be a part of all because he’d rather ruin them and come between them and repeatedly hurt them if it means he knows they still think about him, rather than taking ownership of his actions and coming to terms with the fact that they no longer think about him at all? Did you miss the fact that he’s a giant flop on top of being a giant asshole?

“Tashi is an evil cold manipulative bitch who doesn’t care about anything but tennis and comes between them!” Okay what we’re not going to do is 1) act like those two losers weren’t active participants in the vast majority of what was happening to them so that we can blame everything on the woman 2) forget that Tashi spends the entire movie both being incredibly horny for yes tennis, but tennis very much including Art and Patrick specifically, as well as bringing a wrecking ball down on her own life repeatedly because she physically cannot go on without having all three of them in her life.

“The three of them are ALL terrible, bad people!” Are they or they neither good nor bad but a secret third thing (messed up, regular people)? Are they or they all three simultaneously the one’s holding the gun and falling into the graves they’ve dug for themselves?

“The movie promised me a throuple and then didn’t even deliver!/it was just a regular boring old love triangle” Did you miss the part where Patrick was the person who taught Art to jerk off? Did you miss the part where Tashi encourages them to neck her until they’re close enough for her to back away and leave them kissing each other as she watches with horny amusement? Did you miss the fact that they’re both playing for her number? Did you miss Art molding himself into the person who could obtain the glory that Tashi was denied? Or how he saw his fiance/wife kissing her ex boyfriend who also happens to be his ex best friend in Atlanta and then spends like 10 more years doing absolutely nothing about it? Did you miss “Don’t I matter?” “Not to the most obsessive tennis fan in the world” “I’m not talking about tennis” followed by an Art who has stopped caring whether he wins or loses caring, by the end of the match, more than he’s ever cared before, because Patrick DOES matter and because he’s STILL playing for Tashi’s number? Did you miss the part where for about 15 seconds there they were actually playing tennis and they understood each other completely and so did everyone watching and it was a bit like they were in love or like they didn’t exist and they went somewhere really beautiful together? HUH?

“They’re incredibly toxic!” Well, yes! but you see, that’s part of the fun!

[beauty-and-passion]

TBOB PART 2: OF FLATLAND, EXWHYLIA AND EUCLYDIA (3/4)

Hello, everyone, welcome once again to another post about Bill’s dimension. One day this analysis will end, I promise. But today is not that day: today is the day we will talk about Bill’s family.

And oh boy if there’s a lot to talk about.

Please check all previous posts to understand this one (and the masterlist too!).

<- Previous post - Masterlist

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PART 4: OF BILL’S FAMILY

“If you think Stan’s relationship with his family is bad, Bill’s is worse” - Alex Hirsch, NYCC 2015

_______________________________

Loved and ostracized

Everyone loved me immediately and the mayor dubbed me the “best baby of all time”, made my birthday a holiday and gave out free knives. (...) Truth is I’ve always been loved and admired by all!

Of course Bill starts telling his story with a huge. Fucking. Lie.

How can I be so sure? First of all, the hyperbolic way in which he talks about his birth as if it’s the second coming of Christ. Then, all the previous points of this endless analysis.

Considering everything we have until now, I find it very difficult that Bill’s birth was celebrated by everyone. Surely his family celebrated it - if his society is similar to Flatland’s, having a regular son would’ve been enough to make them very happy.

But also… he’s just an Equilateral. And if his world has social classes based on the number of sides, then he’s from a middle class. I doubt the birth of another Equilateral was a reason big enough for huge celebrations.

Also, let’s not forget what Bill himself said in the TBOB: you should make a new reality and a meaning for yourself. Well, what if this is the reality he made? A place where he was immediately loved and admired by everyone?

_______________________________

Scalene and Euclid

Sooo… those are the names of Bill’s parents.

Honestly? They’re interesting. Even if I’m a bit weirded out by Scalene: in the only image we have of Bill’s parents (the grayed-out triangles on thisisnotawebsitedotcom) neither of them looks like a scalene triangle. On the contrary, they both look equilateral.

It’s a bit strange, you know? As if a person has “Neanderthal” as their first name. “Neanderthal Smith” or similar. Sounds strange, doesn’t it?

While speaking of Euclid, I think it’s a nice name. It’s the same name as the dimension they lived in and no, it’s not as weird as it seems: in our world, some people have the same name as the country they’re from, so it’s not so weird.

But hey, the most important thing is that we canonically have the names of Bill’s parents! We know he had parents and we know details of his relationship with them!

And this raises A LOT of questions.

Let’s start with his mother: we know she loved him, at least a little bit. She sang him lullabies and told him she loved him, despite his strange eye. So we can be sure at least one of his parents didn’t mind his deformity so much.

Also, this part in TBOB after Bill and Ford's breakdown, in which a very, very drunk Bill talks to his mom:

“I’m gonna be back from school soon, don’t forget to cut out the crust off my sandwiches or I’ll —”

I don’t know you, but to me, this sounds like the threat of a spoiled child. Something like “cut the crust off or I’ll throw a tantrum”. And yes, this implies Bill was a spoiled child - or at least, a child who considered himself above others, mother included. So yes, I can imagine him throwing a tantrum at his mother for something stupid like some crust on his sandwiches.

But again, even more questions! How was his mother towards him? Was she submissive? Was she combative? Was she ready to answer to every little whim of her son like a Flatlander Woman or did she ask for some respect? Considering how bratty Bill is, I'm more prone to believe she was very lenient towards him.

While speaking of his father, I find it very fascinating that we know absolutely nothing about Bill’s relationship with his father. We know his mother loved him (maybe to the point of spoiling him too much)… but his father? Did he care about Bill? I suppose so, considering Bill visited a doctor (unless it was his mother’s decision only, but I doubt it).

And about his job: was he a Tradesman? Bill attended school, but was school supposed to teach him about his future job too? If not, then this was up to his parents, right? Presumably, it was his father’s job to teach Bill how to be a Tradesman, a bit like in the Flatland society. If that’s the case, then why we don’t have any information about this? Why no memory at all? Bill seems to care about his father too - if we assume that the top hat he has was his father’s. So at least he cared enough to keep something of him.

Was his father a bad guy? Was he cruel? Or was he so blinded by society’s rules to torture his son and think he was doing it for his good? In that case, I would understand why he did everything he did - but beware: understanding doesn’t mean accepting. It would be a bit like Filbrick Pines’ situation: I can get the reasoning behind his actions, but that doesn’t make him Father of the Year. Maybe it’s the same for Bill’s father. This wouldn’t be the first parallel between Stanley and Bill, after all.

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An Irregular masquerading as Regular

Time to talk about Bill’s eye.

We can safely assume Bill’s rare mutation was having his eye on the face and not on the side - which, from the Euclideans’ perspective, meant having an eye on his insides.

Now, imagine with me: you have a child and you see that your baby has no eyes. No eyes at all, not even an eye socket. I bet you would freak out, at least a little bit. You would probably send your baby to a doctor and ask if there is something they can do.

The doctor checks the baby and gives you both good and bad news: your child has eyes and they work. But they are inside his body. In his goddamn stomach.

And if all of this isn’t enough, your child starts telling you that sure, he can see a lot of things! He sees things you cannot see - no one else can see.

Now, would you say: “Oh, no problem. He can see things no one can, so he’s fine and his eyes work well”? Or would you probably freak out even more and fear your son is having goddamn visions because he’s probably dying or has a tumor or who knows what?

I can understand why Bill’s parents brought him to a doctor. And I can understand why the doctor thought the best solution was to “blind” that eye. As far as Euclideans know, there are no “stars” and there is no “above”. It’s as if someone in our world says they can see rotating hypercubes in real life. Would you think they’re perfectly fine or question if they’re insane/growing mad/getting very sick?

So yes, even if it's insane for us, from Bill’s parents' POV, giving him medicine to make him blind was for his own good. Does that make them Parents of the Year? Hell no, they were literally blinding their own son, of course it’s terrible and insane and if someone tries to do the same they should be immediately thrown in jail. But for the rules of Euclydia’s world, this was probably the best thing to do.

And personally, I ADORE the tragedy of this. The tragedy of giving something to your son that will permanently blind him, but trying to make it at least bearable - he’s still a child, he doesn’t really understand what he’s drinking, but you think it’s for his own good, your whole world think it's for his own good, so you use something silly that he likes, like straws, because this will make the medicine - the impairment - more tolerable. Uuurgh, it’s so tragic I love it.

And it’s even more tragic, if we consider that even after billions of years, even if he talks about his doctor and the medicine as something bad that wanted to “blind” him, Bill never forgot the straws. He still loves the straws he was using so much, to the point he still gave them a place in his book.

But since there’s always room on the angst train, also think that by making him blind, Billy would’ve probably stopped talking about these visions (at least, according to his parents). And if he stopped, it would’ve been easier for him to fit into society. He would’ve followed the rules and standards. He was a Regular shape after all, so if they took away that hidden-and-yet-so-present pieces of Irregularity he had, he could’ve become a respectable member of their society. One who didn’t go around, talking about weird things no one could see. Things that were against the law.

Again, it’s not me saying this, it’s Bill:

“Technically, talking about a “third” dimension was illegal in my world.”

This makes Bill’s character EVEN MORE fascinating. He could’ve been the Apostle of the Third Dimension. He could’ve spoken to everyone, because he had something of everyone - he could’ve been a bridge between Regulars and Irregulars, because he was both. He could’ve changed his world or died as a martyr.

But in the end, he chose the third option.

And we will talk about it in the next post.

See you soon with the fourth and final post on this part.

Next post ->

(How about a coffee? ☕)

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[morroodle]

So recently I started a new, ninjago themed playthrough of my beloved Cult of the Lamb and it has led to some very funny things

Kai got that quest line thing where you make another follower eat poop 2 times then imprison them then kill them and it was targeted at Garmadon. Cannon.

They are friends :D

My wife <333 (she fits as Leshy so well!)

Yea that fits

Green cousins got drunk then Wu died of old age and they immediately started fighting. I broke them up and they fought again. Repeat 2 more times. This has got to be the most cannon thing that has happened

On one of my runs I ended up with the ax and a x2 attack speed buff and it was so overpowered cause I could hit hard as fast as I could click. The next run I ended up with 7 demons. This game is great!

Don't have pictures of it but I have begun breeding followers. Zane and Pixal made Minipix and then I bred Cole and Jay (I was NOT intending to keep the egg I just needed some yolks and they were compatible) but then they gave me my first golden egg so i made Joel the usher robot from the nightmare love triangle in season 3. Once I get a Geo I will be making the finder childeren :D also I had to wait a while to get Lloyd because I specifically wanted him to be the child of Garmadon and Misako and it took me forever to unlock the mating tent.

And finally: the event my followers (the ones who survived) my followers will forever remember as the great abaabandonment. I'm not actually sure what happened but i think the game might have somehow remained unpaused while I was eating dinner and looking at bedframes. I didn't notice when I got back until I got a notification that The Overlord (what I renamed The One Who Waits aka a follower who is supposed to be IMMORTAL) died. At that point I fucking booked it back and returned to find an absolute disaster

A total of 15 followers died. The only ones who survived were Wu and Garm, the ninja and Morro (aka the important ones). Wu, despite being a disciple, was dissenting. 2 followers had already dissented enough that they ran away and I got a notification that if I didn't fix things FAST then half of my remaining followers would also leave. There were so many corpses. I still haven't recovered. I am so sorry my babies.

I have a spreadsheet of all my followers and all the ninjago characters I plan to make into followers. Top half is good guys, bottom half is bad guys, green is alive and red is dead.

I'm waiting to do the serpentine until after I unlock the snake follower form but in order to do that I have to find all the lore and I have found none of it despite thoroughly beating the game ;-;

Anyway I'm having fun. I'll update with any future shenanigans.

[blackleatherjacketz]

Shadow and Sin: Chapter 10

Elijah Mikaelson, Klaus Mikaelson x Female Reader

Summary: Having recently moved to New Orleans, you get intimately acquainted with both Mikaelson brothers, but don't find out who they are until it's too late.

This Chapter: The powers that be reveal that they've been pulling the strings all along, and you're forced to finally choose a brother.

Warnings: Mature Content, Love Triangle, Klaus' Filthy Mouth, Violence, Blood, Knives, Cutting, Blood Drinking, Witchcraft

Word Count: 3.6k+

Read the rest of the story HERE

“Oh good, you’re awake!” A woman’s voice rings in your ears, echoing off the walls of the room that you open your eyes in. It’s an older southern accent, it’s pitch and volume signaling that she’s standing only a few feet away from where you sit, even if you can’t see her just yet. “You must be exhausted from entertaining two of the world’s most lethal vampires for the past few weeks. I’ll bet you needed that rest.”

“Excuse me?” You blink a few times and try to focus on what’s around you, noticing the chill of night and the steady drip of water leaking down from the roof a few dozen feet behind you. It drips in a slow, unchanging rhythm, surpassed only by the increasing beat of your heart as panic begins to settle in, stifling your breath along with it.

Oh great, you’ve been taken.

“Where am I?!” The smell of rust and sage surrounds you as the rest of your senses start to kick back in, your eyes now focused enough to take in the barren walls towering over you, flanked by rows of boarded up windows with all sorts of symbols painted on them as outdated newspaper clippings peel off their corners. It doesn’t take long to figure out that you’re in an abandoned warehouse out in the middle of nowhere.

“I almost feel sorry for having to put you through all of this, baby.” The voice comes again, this time curving around your right side as it gets closer with each click of her heels against the concrete floor. “Almost.”

You turn your head to look at her, to put a face to that voice which taunts you, but quickly realize that it’s the only thing that you can physically do. You can’t turn your torso at all in the chair that you’re tied to, the tightly bound ropes digging into your wrists, chest and ankles as you try to move your limbs in a painfully futile attempt at freedom.

Holy shit, you’re not going anywhere! This is bad… REALLY bad.

“What do you mean, feel sorry for me?! Did you really knock me out and bring me here? Kidnap me?” You ask, absolutely dumbfounded. “People still do that?” You have to admit that out of all the absolutely insane things you’ve witnessed recently, this is the most incredible. You expected there to be violence from your immortal suitors in your immediate future, but kidnapping? Well, you didn’t predict that at all. She must be one of their enemies, one of the people Klaus had trained his men to protect you from. Lot of good that did. “Who are you?”

“Oh, it doesn’t matter who I am, child.” The woman steps in front of you, her dark hair littered with streaks of gray as it falls down onto her shoulders dressed in a colorful linen dress. She holds a stick of sage in front of her as she chants indistinguishable words beneath her breath, the white smoke wafting off of it slowly thinning into the stale air around you both. “All that matters now is you and the part you still have to play.”

“Look, I don’t know what I did to offend you, or what ancient tradition I broke, but whatever it was, it was an accident. I’m sorry, I swear to God, I promise I am! I was on my way out of the city anyways, I’m not even staying in town anymore after today, so none of this is really even necessary! We can just forget about this and all go home. Both of us.��� You try to plead your case as she continues walking circles around you, her chants getting a little louder as you notice the large ring of salt around the bulk of the room.

Shit. She’s a witch. Another one of Klaus’ warnings that you should have heeded… but how? What would you have done differently besides ask more questions about how to avoid them? Would he have even answered them for you?

“Oh honey, I wish it were that simple,” she smiles somberly, amused by your ignorance. “But I still need you to bring them here for me.” She sets her sage down somewhere that you can’t see, its earthy scent still lingering in your nostrils before she comes back into your field of vision. “Which shouldn’t be that hard at this point. I was planning on waiting a little longer before doing all this, planning to let you bond with them both just a little bit more, to really twist that knife. But you had to go and wise up, now didn’t you?” She shakes her head and laughs.

“What are you talking about?” You force your wrists upward again, testing the strength of the ropes one more time as their frayed strings cut into your skin, drawing little droplets of blood out in the process. “Wise up to what? Is this about Klaus, about Elijah?”

She nods. “A little slow, aren’t we, child? Did you honestly think that both of the original vampires could fall in love with ‘little old you’ at the exact same time? That it was mere coincidence that these two wildly different monsters wound up in your bed absolutely smitten with their little nurse?” She pulls out a phone… your phone that she had to have taken from you sometime between leaving your brother’s place and tying you up here. She holds it up to your face to unlock it and then turns it around to take your picture. “Smile for the camera.”

Wait, WHAT?! Is she saying that everything you’ve experienced in the past few weeks has been nothing more than a lie? A spell? A curse? But how could she do that? How could that BE?!

The flash nearly blinds you in your devastated stupor, forcing your eyelids to close as you hear her fingers type away on the digital keyboard of your smartphone, your eyes finally adjusting enough to see her grinning the entire time.

“You put a spell on me?” You venture a guess as your heart feels like it’s being torn in two, each tattered piece slowly sinking down to the very bottom of your chest.

How can what you feel for them not be real?

“The spell I cast is for all three of you, actually. It was the only way that any of this could work, and despite your little hiccup with the time frame, I think it will all work out in my favor.” She smirks with a tilt of her head. “Only one of them has true feelings for you, and you for them. But in order to find out which one, to break the spell, you have to choose one of them.”

“What? No… no, that’s not fair!” You scream shakily, the pain in your chest taking root in your stomach as nausea bubbles beneath the surface. You’ve already weighed the pros and cons of choosing one of them, and neither result is favorable. “Why are you doing this?”

“Why would anyone do this? You may have just moved here, child, but vampires and the Mikaelson family have been terrorizing the people of New Orleans for centuries; killing innocent people like my Charlotte just to get a meal, or simply for their own entertainment! I needed a way to divide their house, a way to tear their family apart from the inside out, and what better way to do it than with a pretty girl like you in their beds? Once they get here and find out the dirty truth, they’ll have no other choice but to destroy each other.”

“You’re sick, you know that?” Your lip quivers in fear, realizing now that you’re going to die here in this empty warehouse as you imagine the very worst ways for that to happen.

She puts your phone back in her pocket as it vibrates almost immediately, a smug look gracing her aging features as she glances up at you in silence, refusing to answer. She gives you a look that no one else has ever given you before, a look that shakes you to the very marrow of your bones; as if somehow you’re the answer to all of her malevolent prayers.

“Please!” You beg again, a single tear falling down your cheek as your sinuses begin to fill with a sick sorrow. You feel your heart race as the taste of bile backs up into your mouth as you watch her pull a large knife out of her bag, its blade glinting in the dim candlelight. “I don’t even know you! I’ll forget your face! I’ll leave them both alone, I swear, you’ll never see me again!”

You watch in awe and devastation as she raises the knife up into the air before cutting into her own palm, letting her blood drip onto the array of random objects and ingredients she has scattered on the floor.

“It’s too late for all that now, child. They’ll be here soon.” Her tone is cold and flat as she steps toward you, her blood glistening a ruby red on the blade before she drags it across both of your arms.

It stings at first, the piercing pain searing into each layer of your skin before cutting through to the muscle. Your own scream surprises you at first as it vibrates in your throat, nearly deafening you as it bounces off the empty walls of the warehouse. More tears stream their way down your reddened cheeks as she pulls the knife away, swiftly disappearing from sight as the pain from your wounds simmers into a low, heated throb. Your bound hands are unable to do anything to stop her or subdue the bleeding as it spills onto your thighs, staining your jeans a deep burgundy before the rest of it drips onto the floor in an off beat of the leaky ceiling.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

This is it, isn’t it?

——————

“It’s okay, I’m here now.” Elijah’s voice suddenly distracts you from the growing pain as it radiates up your arms, his nimble fingers making quick work of untying your right wrist.

Oh thank God, you think, just before remembering the rest of the witch’s plan. Uh-oh.

“Elijah, I’m so sorry.” You mumble, the rope digging deeper into your skin before it eventually eases up and releases your arm altogether.

“Shhh, don’t be sorry. I should have been here sooner. I should never have put you in any kind of danger.” His voice is tinged with a hint of fear and regret as he unties your other wrist and immediately bites into his, bringing it up to your lips to drink.

You open your mouth and swallow it without question, knowing that his blood will help heal your wounds and give you strength as he kneels to untie your ankles. You can feel it working almost immediately as the pain begins to dull, then subsides completely as your skin seems to stitch itself back together right before your eyes. You’ll never get used to that.

“There, you’re free.” Elijah gets up off his knees and reaches his hand out for you to take, a confused look knitting his brows together as you refuse to take it. “What is it?”

You can’t help but stare at Klaus as he storms through the entrance of the warehouse, his presence sealing your fate as he fulfills the requirements for the witch’s twisted revenge plot. His dirty blonde curls fall in front of his eyes as he takes in everything from your healing injuries, the tears on your cheeks to his brother’s blood smeared across your lips to tell enough of the story for him to clench his jaw in frustration.

“What’s all this, then?” Klaus’ tone is cold and dismissive as he waltzes toward you, noticing the familiarity between you and his brother while Elijah still reaches for your hand.

You remain speechless as you watch the wheels in his head spin, each cog fitting into the next as he puts all the pieces of the puzzle together, setting the blue of his eyes ablaze in an infernal, glowing yellow. But just as he’s about to open his mouth to speak, to yell and scream at you and Elijah, he steps into the circle of salt, igniting the candles that surround it with a nearly deafening WHOOSH.

Elijah flinches just slightly as the flames grow taller, turning reluctantly toward his brother, “Niklaus, what are you doing here?”

Niklaus? Who the hell is Niklaus?

“What am I doing here, you ask?” Klaus laughs, casually pointing to you as if you’re nothing more than a mere piece of furniture as you sit there, frozen in fear. “Well, I could ask you the same thing, dear brother. I just got a message that my lovely little protégé was being held here against her will, and here you are, so quick to swoop in and play the hero once again.” He smirks, tapping that pointed finger against his lips as he continues. “You know, I’m beginning to think that your desire to save her is fueled by much more than just your noble oath of ‘always and forever’.”

“Your protege?” Elijah’s breath catches in his throat as he looks at you before glancing back at his brother, eyes shining with the realization you’d hoped he’d never come to.

FUCK.

“You’ve been seeing her, too?” The hurt in Elijah's voice is everything you dreaded it to be, another painful stab in the series of a thousand tiny cuts that you’ve endured tonight. You watch him take a deep cleansing breath, shifting the weight in his hips as he tries to regain his composure before speaking again. “For how long?”

“Well, why don’t you ask her?” Klaus leans forward and grabs onto your neck with a nearly deadly squeeze, lifting you up so far out of your seat that your legs begin to dangle. “How long after I pulled out of you did you let my brother slip inside, hmmm? Did you even allow the paint to dry on your skin before letting him into your bed? How far did my come drip down between your thighs before you so desperately helped him out of his three piece suit, whore?!”

“Klaus…” You attempt to explain yourself as he squeezes even tighter, the betrayal in his eyes shifting to anger as your hands frantically grasp onto his fingers. “I didn’t know you were… it wasn’t my fault!” You gasp for air as he lifts you even higher, his strength so much greater than you could have ever imagined.

“I’m sorry, love, what was that? It sounded like you were trying to speak.” Klaus’ eyes glow gold again as the veins around them darken and engorge with blood, showing you a side of him you’ve never seen before as fangs descend from his canines. “Cat got your tongue?”

“Enough, Niklaus!” Elijah finally stops him, releasing his grip with a mere pinch to his brother’s wrist. “I don’t like this anymore than you do, but this is clearly some sort of… witch’s plot meant to trap us here. Perhaps we should focus on that instead of our menial transgressions against one another.”

Menial? Do you mean that little to Elijah? Does he even care?

Klaus stares at you like a lion would an antelope beneath its paw, ready for the kill at any point, but after what seems like an eternity of torment, he eventually softens. “Very well.” Klaus’ features return to normal before loosening his grip on your neck, gently lowering you back onto the chair as a growl brews just beneath the surface of his words. “After all, you always know best, now don’t you, brother?”

“She put a curse on all three of us! She needed to pit you two against each other!” You push your words out as fast as you can in your now gravelly voice, rubbing your palm across your neck to soothe the irritated skin.

Jesus!

“What else did she say?” Elijah consoles you with a palm to your cheek before pulling back a second later, feeling Klaus’ eyes on you both.

“She said that only one of you has real feelings for me. That I only have feelings for one of you. But we won’t find out who, we won’t be able to leave the circle until…” You choke up a little as they both stare at you with rapt attention. “Until I choose someone.”

Elijah clenches his jaw as Klaus huffs.

“Well, I say we get on with it then, love!” Klaus lifts his arms up in the air like the dramatic showman that he is. “Why waste any more precious time to chance?” He steps in close to watch every micro expression on your face as you wrestle with the pain and heartbreak of this zero-sum game that you’ve been forced to play with them. “Ticktock, darling.”

“I can’t…” you look into his eyes as he closes the space between you, your whole body trembling with the anticipation of what’s to come before looking over at Elijah for guidance. “I can’t possibly choose.”

“I see,” Klaus nods with a whisper, pressing his lips together as he pulls back from you slightly, his anger still simmering just below the surface. “Let me make it easy for you then.” He grins before instantly reaching back and snapping his brother’s neck with a loud CRACK, all while keeping his eyes fixated on you.

You gasp as Elijah’s limp body falls to the floor, your eyes darting back and forth between the two brothers dozens of times as fear immobilizes you completely, nearly paralyzing your lungs.

“I would have given you everything! Can’t you see that?” Tears blur in his eyes, making that deep blue seem a slight shade of green in the glowing candlelight. “How could you even think of choosing him after what he shared together? Just so you can be judged for every mistake, ridiculed for every flaw and controlled for the rest of your life? I would have let you be who you were meant to be! I would have helped you grow!” Those tears stream down his cheeks in tragic trails of saline, dripping down onto the floor as they mix in with your blood near his boots. “I would have loved you no matter what!!!”

His scream nearly shakes your entire body, triggering your lungs to expand again enough to take a gasping breath. You aren’t sure what to say, or what to do next, afraid that no matter what course of action you take, it will lead you down a road that ends up just like Elijah’s. So you decide to take a page out of his favorite book, to try to appeal to the monster before you.

“I was the one who had my brother look you up.” You confess, figuring you might as well tell him the whole truth. “I was scared that I was falling too fast for you, and I wanted to be sure that you were real, but when he came up with nothing… no driver’s license, no property, no nothing, I freaked out.” You pause and see the tension release a bit in his shoulders, urging you to keep talking. “I’ve been lied to a lot in the past, and I didn’t want to go through that pain again. I know now that I should have confronted you and asked you about it myself, but before I had the chance, we were attacked by those men warning us to forget your name. You can imagine why I didn’t come back to see you after that.”

Klaus’ maddening mask of anger morphs into a sullen shade of hurt as his tears curve down the outline of his pouty lips, reminding you of the champagne from the night you first met. He lets those tears fall down his face as he gently strokes your hair, searching your expression for any signs of deceit, but unable to find any.

“So you fuck my brother instead, thinking he’s the better, safer choice, hmm?”

Damn. So much for honesty.

“Klaus, please,” you beg, your tone changing to one of nervous desperation. “It was the curse, the spell… the witch, she…”

“And where is this witch now, hmm? How do I know you aren’t actively working with her to destroy me? That you haven’t been conspiring against me with my brother from the very second you stepped foot in New Orleans?” He cradles your face with both hands, an act that might normally be mistaken for intimacy, but in this case is clearly a threat.

“She was here just a second ago, I swear!” You feel your breath become more rapid and shallow as his fingers press against your scalp, this newly heightened state of stress dizzying you as he tightens his grasp. “Can’t you read my mind or something? Isn’t that one of your powers?” You offer up in a last ditch effort of transparency, hoping to God that all the vampire movies you’ve watched up until now haven’t led you astray.

He smirks as he watches you struggle, licking his lips before leaning in close enough to whisper into your ear. “I’ve got a better idea, one that’ll make your body choose once and for all.”

He bites into your neck without hesitation, pulling you in as close as possible as his fangs sink deep into your flesh, swallowing what little blood you have left. The pain is so much different than the cut from the witch’s knife, the sensation of his lips and tongue massaging your skin lulling you into a false sense of euphoria as you drift off to sleep.

------------------

Tags: @hcqwxrtss123 @hayleym1234 @derangedangel @spnaquakindgdom @natalie668 @arbesa-mind

[potterrstar]

Hello!! Idk if you would feel comfortable writing this but would you be able to write something that's a regulus/Sirius x reader love triangle and you can choose who reader ends up with? I mean honestly it can be anyone and Sirius (I am in love with the man). If you don't wish to, I totally understand and hope you have the best of days:) much love ❤️

-🪐

sirius black/regulus black x reader

summary: what can be so bad about starting dating one of the black brothers?

warnings: probably nothing! just slytherin!reader

a/n: hi!! thank u so much for ur request, sorry about the delay, but i hope you enjoy it and also have the best of days! sending lots of love too! 💗 english is not my first language, let me know any mistakes!

───❃•❃•❃───

Lately, it had been raining quite a bit; there was supposed to have been some kind of storm since last week. Regulus could see how the raindrops made water trails on the library window. He listened to the rain showering the castle roof.

He watched as his housemate entered the room, her tie slightly askew and her hair tousled, looking as if she had run all the way there.

Regulus didn't have many friends, to be honest. He believed he didn't need them; after all, they didn't bring him anything. Except for her, a girl he had met in second grade, who, unlike everyone else he knew, he didn't find absolutely and completely unbearable. She could even be kinda nice and a bit pretty, a little.

"Hi! How's it going? Is it difficult?" The girl referred to the herbology homework the younger Black was working on. She took a seat in front of him, placing her things on the table.

"Not really, it's a stupid subject," Regulus replied, focusing his gaze on the parchments in front of him.

"I like it," the girl smiled. "I think it's interesting. Did you know that mandrake is used to cure petrified people?" she commented.

Regulus smiled at her; he really couldn't care less about anything related to herbology, but she cared, so he cared a little too.

"I didn't know that." Of course he knew, but he liked making her think he didn't. He noticed a little sparkle in her eyes whenever he did.

There it was, the sparkle in her eyes. She smiled at him. "I don't think it's as bad as you think; you should give it a chance," she said about the subject.

"I'm not really interested," Regulus turned back to his work.

"Oh," she lowered her gaze until she remembered what her housemates had told her that morning. "Hey! There's a match this afternoon, Slytherin versus Gryffindor. I hope we win!" The girl smiled. "Are you going?" she asked excitedly.

Regulus didn't like those games; he didn't even like half the people who went there. "I don't think so."

"You should, we're sure to win! I heard your brother is playing, I think he's a Beater for Gryffindor." Regulus felt his blood boil.

Regulus never got along well with his older brother. He thought he was arrogant and didn't find him nice at all. He usually didn't care what Sirius thought of him; actually, nothing that came from Sirius Black mattered to him.

"I don't care; he's an idiot." Regulus rolled his eyes.

She really didn't understand why they got along so poorly. When they were in second grade, she thought it was just because they were in different houses, but as they grew older, she realized it wasn't just that—they really hated each other. She never asked Regulus why that was, and she didn't plan on doing so.

As for her, she didn't hate Sirius Black. They had talked a few times in the hallways and when she occasionally visited the Black house since she was friends with the younger brother, so they had a few conversations. She found him nice and really liked the pranks he played with his Marauder friends; she found them funny.

───❃•❃•❃───

With the sky pouring down and the stands painted red and green, the Gryffindor versus Slytherin match began.

The girl was really excited; she loved Quidditch—not to play, of course, but she adored watching it. She loved seeing everyone flying on their brooms, giving their all to represent their house and make it proud. She loved Slytherin and was quite proud to be a snake.

The problem was that Slytherin had been on a losing streak in Quidditch lately, having lost the last two finals—one against Hufflepuff and the other against Gryffindor. She hoped that today she would finally see her teammates in green lift the Quidditch cup.

The match proceeded fairly normally; they were tied at the moment. Slytherin tried to score, but their players were neutralized by the Bludgers sent by the elder Black. Sirius was quite good at playing Quidditch, although it was curious because, as far as she remembered, Sirius didn't usually play Quidditch. She believed he had only signed up this year.

Suddenly, the Gryffindor Seeker, James Potter, caught the Golden Snitch, announcing the victory of the lion house. The green stands booed and deflated with this announcement; it was unbelievable how they had lost three finals.

The girl sighed, waiting for the stands to empty a bit so she could get down without being pushed. Once enough people had cleared out, she descended the stands, running into a couple of Gryffindor players.

"You knocked everyone out, it was incredible, Pads!" said the dark-haired boy with glasses.

"You caught the Snitch; without that, we wouldn't have won!" Sirius replied to the Gryffindor Seeker. Turning around, he saw the Slytherin girl, and a smile formed on his face. "See you later, yeah?" the black-haired boy said goodbye to his friend.

"What's up, pretty? Sad because you lost?" he teased her as he approached.

"Quite, it's a disaster. I don't understand how they let themselves get hit," she rolled her eyes.

"They didn't let themselves get hit; I hit them," Sirius boasted with a smile, a big, white, and perfect smile. She noticed it; she found it attractive.

They started walking, entering the castle. It was dinner time, so they headed to the Great Hall.

"I don't think so. You cheated or something," she laughed.

"Oh yeah? Like the other two times you lost?" Sirius laughed back. There wasn't much to say about it; Slytherin was in decline.

"Well, whatever, I think Quidditch is silly," she lied, rolling her eyes.

"That's not true, you love it. I saw your eyes sparkle from the pitch," he confronted her.

"As if you could see my eyes from the pitch, it's too far," she accused.

"Not far enough to miss you," Sirius said suggestively. The Slytherin girl felt a shiver run down her neck.

"Don't be ridiculous." She laughed a little nervously. Just then, they passed by the Herbology classroom, and a lightbulb went off in her head, remembering she needed wormwood to finish her homework.

"Wait! I need to collect a plant for my Herbology homework," she announced to the Gryffindor.

"Are you kidding?" the boy followed her. "You like Herbology?" he asked the Slytherin.

"Uh, yes, a bit," she murmured. "I know it's a stupid subject, but I find it interesting," she said while picking leaves from the plant.

"Stupid?" Sirius frowned. "Why would it be? I mean, I don't like it much, to be honest, but that doesn't make it stupid. If you find it interesting, it must be fun," he gave her a genuine smile.

"You think so?" she returned his smile, hopeful.

"Of course," he helped her carry the leaves. "I like Transfiguration," he commented.

"Really? I don't like it… it's not that i hate it! I find it amazing, I'm just not very good at it," she laughed a little.

"Well, maybe one day I can teach you Transfiguration, and you can teach me Herbology," he suggested.

"Sounds great," she accepted his plan.

She liked the idea of being able to share what she loved without it sounding like a bother; she often felt that way.

───❃•❃•❃───

Recently, the girl was going out with Sirius, nothing too serious. They went to Hogsmeade for a walk, and Sirius bought her a dittany, which was a plant she adored, so she planted it in the herbology greenhouse.

They also tried to have their little Transfiguration classes, which didn't go very well. (She might have turned a Gryffindor student into a cricket or something like that) But it's the thought that counts!

The girl was now in Divination class with the younger Black.

He took a breath. "Listen, I thought we could go out today. I don't know, maybe go to the Black Lake," he suggested to the girl.

Today? Today she was going to teach Sirius about herbology, though she thought that she hadn't spent much time with Regulus lately, and she enjoyed doing so.

The girl used to have a crush on Regulus some time ago. She never told him, but she was certain that he knew; there was no way he couldn't have noticed. She was far too obvious for him not to figure it out. But just like her, he never said a word, so eventually, the girl tried to mitigate the feeling.

He never did anything to make it clear that he liked her.

"Uh sure, sounds good," she accepted her housemate's invitation.

Of course, she wanted to see Sirius, but despite everything, Regulus was her best friend, and they hadn't hung out for a couple of weeks. Besides, it was just Regulus; he wouldn't hurt her. She could talk to Sirius later, who didn't seem to mind the fact that the younger ones were best friends. He found it totally strange that someone as sweet as the Slytherin girl would get along so well with someone as repulsive as his brother, at least that's what he thought. But he didn't plan to tell the girl; it wasn't necessary. He knew that she cared about his younger brother, and he wasn't going to get involved in that.

They left their class, heading towards the Black Lake. Their walk was silent; Regulus didn't say a word, and she, for some unknown reason, didn’t feel like talking to him. She didn’t even know what to talk about. After spending so much time with Sirius, she discovered that it was very easy to talk to him; conversations flowed effortlessly. Everything with him flowed effortlessly.

“Are you okay?” Regulus spoke for the first time.

“Of course, why do you ask?” she questioned him.

“You always talk, you talk a lot,” he replied.

“That’s not true.” She rolled her eyes, which made the black-haired boy laugh.

As they laughed, the eldest Black appeared in front of them, bumping into them. Upon seeing him, Regulus instinctively took the girl's hand and intertwined their fingers, which made her frown slightly.

Sirius walked calmly towards the girl, completely ignoring his younger brother.

“Aren’t you going to make it to our little date because of him?” he whispered, though not quietly enough for the boy beside her not to hear, of course.

The older brother walked away from the girl with a smirk, not giving her a chance to respond. He was overly confident, it radiated from him, in fact.

When the Gryffindor was far enough away, Regulus abruptly let go of the girl's hand.

“What the hell is your problem? Why are you going out with my brother?” he yelled at her.

The girl opened her mouth in surprise. “I’m not! I’m here with you, you heard him,” she protested.

“I’m not talking about today. Is this why you haven’t talked to me these past few weeks? Because you’re screwing him?”

“What the hell is your problem?” she repeated. “You have no right to say anything to me, much less treat me like this. What’s wrong with you?”

Regulus was angry. Really angry.

His problem was that, one way or another, he was always going to end up feeling less than him. He hated Sirius, but not as much as he hated the feeling of never being as great as Sirius Black, never being as cool as Sirius Black.

“You can’t date someone like him! You can do better, you know that,” Regulus spat.

She let out a sarcastic laugh. “Better? Better like who? Like you?”

“Definitely,” he retorted.

“Go to hell! I spent years of my life following you around like your damn keychain, hoping you’d realize one day how much I liked you! And you knew! You knew I liked you and you just took advantage of it! And now that I’m finally trying something with someone, you come up with this bullshit?” Now he wasn’t the only one angry.

“It’s not ‘someone’! It’s my brother, my idiot brother. You knew I hated him! How can you believe all his crap in just two weeks!?” Regulus raised his voice.

“Well, in two weeks he showed me he’s better than you could ever be in four years!”

Regulus suddenly leaned forward, getting in her face, which made her back away, scared.

Noticing the girl's expression, Regulus felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head. She thought he was going to hurt her.

“Hey—listen, I—” Regulus tried to speak.

“Go to hell.” The girl pushed him by the shoulders and walked away, leaving him alone in the middle of the hallway with nothing but the storm of regret thundering in his head.

───❃•❃•❃───

After the fight with Regulus, the girl headed to the covered bridge. She loved it there; almost no one ever came by, it had a beautiful view, and sometimes she felt that even the air was purer, more magical.

She felt really bad and wondered if it was wrong to start dating Sirius. Maybe she shouldn't have; after all, he was her best friend's brother, or at least Regulus was supposed to be.

But Sirius was nice, and not just physically—though he was incredibly good-looking—but he was also pleasant to be around. He understood her and made her laugh. She felt comfortable, like she didn’t have to try so hard to make him like her, as she always did with Regulus.

“You look very mysterious there,” Sirius appeared behind her with a smile, looking at the girl with her arms resting on the bridge.

She laughed, as she always did when he was near.

“I’m thinking about whether I should jump,” she joked.

“Don’t say stupid things,” Sirius laughed too, coming closer to her side.

She smiled at him without saying anything. She wasn’t in a very good mood.

“I guess you fought with my brother,” he said, looking at her.

“It doesn’t matter; it was going to happen sooner or later.” She rolled her eyes.

Sirius sighed. “I don’t know; he’s weird. We don’t get along.”

“Really? You don’t say,” the girl said sarcastically while laughing.

“I’m sorry if he made you feel bad, okay? I doubt he’s aware of what he’s doing.”

“I know, I’m sorry too. We were supposed to go to the Black Lake.” She remembered.

“Yeah... I don’t regret that part.” Sirius glanced away with a chuckle.

“Hey!” She gave him a light hit on the shoulder, scolding him while laughing.

“He’s immature. Why should I be glad you spent time with him when you could have a much better time with me?” He moved closer to her.

“Oh, really?”

“Of course. You know it.” Sirius smiled at her.

“I know you’re a narcissist.” She laughed.

He rolled his eyes, laughing. “You know we have a date pending, right?” He reminded her.

“Mmm, no, I think I’ll tell Regulus to go to the lake instead.” She joked, and he grabbed her by the waist.

“Don’t joke about that.” He said with a smile.

“I’m not joking.” She began to walk away from him, laughing as she freed herself from his grasp.

“Hey!” He called indignantly, catching up and taking her hand.

She turned around and kissed him on the cheek.

“Let’s go to the greenhouse, okay?” She whispered to him. He looked at her, entranced.

“Sure, yeah, of course,” he stammered. The girl laughed at this and led him as they walked.

She hoped there would be a lot to do in the greenhouse so they could spend a lot of time together.

Either way, she was sure they would be spending a lot of time together from now on.

[galedekarios]

Idk if you’ve been asked before but what are your thoughts on EARLY early access Gale? The Gale that has bandages on his arm in some early promotional art? There’s an old Auntie Ethel vicious mockery line for him: “I can smell what’s under those bandages wizard! You’re all rot and ruin.” I always wondered if the orb was originally going to have nastier side effects. Like it was making Gale fall apart slowly OR maybe Gale was trying to become a Lich to better handle the orb before being abducted by the mind flayers so he’s in this half alive and undead state when Tav meets him. I feel like that last one would explain the necrotic damage he emits when he dies better. Anyways those are just two tiny details that I roll around in my mind from time to time. I might be thinking too deeply about it. Maybe the writers just wanted to figure out a way to show how much the orb was hurting Gale and the bandages were a start but for some reason they decided against it.

i loved early access gale. there were a lot of uncharitable reads / bad faith takes about him back then, ranging from him being the secret bbeg, the ultimate and guaranteed betrayer, the absolute, to being myrkul because he had a triangles on the robe he was wearing (no, i'm not joking), etc etc etc.

personally, i always loved his character, though, and found him the most interesting and intriguing out of the companions.

overall, i think that he's not that much changed - however, as with all companions and a lot of the npcs, some things have been whittled down or away entirely by larian due things like fandom feedback, but that's a discussion for another time.

i don't subscribe to the lich idea myself, because i think that's not something that gale would want for himself for a multitude of reasons. having said that, however, i always enjoyed this theory:

so, early access gale had this key art, which is still one of my favourites:

left hand wrapped in bandages, the almost stone-like texture of what little you can see of his skin.

adding to that, as you also mentioned, ethel had these vicious mockery lines for gale:

Auntie Ethel: I can smell what's under those bandages, wizard. You're all rot and ruin.

and

Auntie Ethel: Come to greet death early? You'll be a lovely spectacle.

to add to this, this was the way gale talked about the orb and what he thought it was, as well as karsus:

Player: I was wondering about that “mighty lord” you told me about in your story. Gale: Ah, yes. Karsus Karsus was perhaps the most powerful wizard that ever lived. The child-who-would-be-a-god, the elves called him. And he tried. With a spell of his own devising he endeavoured to usurp in one fell swoop the power of the goddess of magic.  Mystryl, she was called then. Imagine what it must have felt like. To be a god. To know yourself to be untouchable. To be mistaken. As Karsus aimed his spell at her she began to unravel, and with her, the entire Weave. Too late did he realize what he had unleashed. It would have been the end of everything had not Mystryl sacrificed herself.  Gale: The goddess of magic is all magic. By dying, the entire weave was lost, and the spell that challenged a god failed. It was the end of Mystryl, the end of Karsus, and the end of an entire civilization. As the child-who-would-be-a-god was turned to stone, his empire came crashing down around him. The floating cities of Netheril were no more. An event that came to be known as Karsus' folly. Player: So at that moment in time, all magic was gone?  Gale: For a spell. Mystyl was reborn as Mystra. Upon her return, the Weave returned with her.  Gale: Now, so many centuries later, I tried to follow in the footsteps of Karsus, not to destroy Mystra, but to prove my love for her. I tried to control only a fraction of the magic that was unleashed that fateful day. I merely sought to return one tiny diamond to an imperfect crown. Gale's Folly one might call it. History. Repetition. It's the way things go.

some of this is still in the game.

more lore about karsus's folly:

Unfortunately, his choice was a terrible mistake, for one of the responsibilities of the deity of magic was to regulate the flow of magic to and from all beings, spells, and magic items in the world. Lacking the ability to do so properly, magic surged and fluctuated. With her last remaining bit of power, Mystryl sacrificed herself to block Karsus's access to the Weave, causing all magic to fail. The flying cities of Netheril plummeted to the earth. The severing of the link also killed Karsus and transformed him into stone, and the last thing he saw was his entire civilization being destroyed because of his actions. This was to be known as Karsus's Folly. The stone form of Karsus eventually landed in a part of the High Forest, now called the Dire Wood.[8] The city of Karse was built around its base. Karsus was never accepted as a petitioner by any god, nor did he go to the Fugue Plane when he died. Instead, his soul was bound to the Material Plane. Those with experience in pact magic could call up his vestige, where he appeared as a giant blood-red boulder,[5] like the one found in the High Forest where his petrified form landed.[8] Blood burbles up from the top of the stone, trickling down the side facing the summoner, pooling at the base. [x]

there are also lines of gale referring to this corruption he carries within as a "taint" and a "shadow", corrupting him "within", affecting his blood as well (another thing that carried over to release).

i think what might have been originally planned (and again, some of this did carry over) is that the orb not only affected gale's magic, but also his body even more severely (it still does to an extent in the release version even though this part is very, very sadly almost entirely glossed over).

putting all of this together, i think that by absorbing a part of that magic unleashed on the day of karsus's folly - the failed magic, the severing of it, karsus turning into stone, petrifying him - might have affected gale in a similar, albeit weaker fashion.

"history. repetition. it's the way things go."

karsus's folly.

gale's folly.

perhaps as the game continued this petrification might have spread, from his hand, up his arm, to his shoulder, and on, either by leaning onto the darker aspects, or by the treatment failing (the consumption of powerful pieces of weave).

maybe that concept was then turned from petrification, to a sort of corruption/rotting that ethel referred to in her lines.

either way, it would have been interesting to see, for sure.

[hp-hcs]

(Fine, I’ll do it my damn self: part 6 of my silly lil mlm stories <3)

love triangle — rival! ron weasley x male! reader

solving a love triangle in the only correct (and gay) way

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

“Hey, Hermione,” you said with a cheeky grin, sitting across from her.

She glanced up. “Hey, Y/N..?”

“D’you wanna go to the Yule Ball with me?”

“Oh! Uh, that’s very sweet of you to offer-”

“-but I’m sure Hermione would much rather go with someone else,” interrupted the annoyance that was Ron Fucking Weasley.

You glared at him. “But of course, going to a dance with a platonic date is rather pathetic, wouldn’t you agree, Granger?”

Ron opened his mouth to snap back, when Hermione interrupted the both of them. “Boys, boys, you’re both pretty, stop fighting. I’ve already got a date.”

You turn to look at her quizzically, saying at the same time as Ron, “Who?”

“Well, if you must know, Viktor Krum.”

~~~

The Ball crept closer, Hogwarts’ halls alive with excited whispers and laughs. It seemed like everyone had a date except for you. And Ron, you supposed.

(And Ron’s friend, Harry. Although you had sneered in passing to the ginger, “looks like he’s got eyes for your sister, Weasley,” which had almost led to a fight breaking out in the halls as he hollered for you to “shut your bloody mouth!”)

((Sure enough, within the week, Harry Potter had a date to the Yule Ball—Ginny Weasley. You took great pleasure at smiling smugly at Ron whenever you saw him.))

Hermione’s rejection hadn’t deterred either of you though. Ron seemed determined to outdo you. When you gave her a tiger lily you’d picked in Herbology, Ron sent a bouquet of flowers to her dorm. When you split a Chocolate Frog with her, Ron took her to Honeydukes. Anytime you saw each other in the halls, you glared daggers sharp enough to make the paintings rattle on the walls uncomfortably. It was all-out war.

Even the teachers seemed to notice, for better or for worse.

“I’m taking your girlfriend to Flourish & Blotts this weekend, Weasley,” you whispered casually under your breath to your elbow partner in Potions.

“I swear to Merlin, L/N, I’ll-”

“Mr. Weasley, Mr. L/N, if you’d care to pay attention rather than chatter about your meaningless weekend plans,” Professor Snape drawled, glaring his beady little eyes on you both. “Ten points from Gryffindor.”

You stifled a giggle under your breath, accidentally making eye contact with Ron, whose embarrassed expression and red-tinged ears made you just absolutely lose it. You had to clamp one hand over your mouth to prevent any laughter from escaping.

Then, much to your surprise, Ron started chuckling quietly too, cheeks still flushed from the reprimand.

“Pay attention,” he drawled under his breath in a mocking imitation of Snape. You snorted, clearing your throat to disguise the noise when the Professor in question whirled around to see who dared disrupt his class.

~~~

After class, you elbowed Ron in the hall. “Man, Snape’s such a dick, right?”

“Totally. He’s got it out for me, I swear.”

“I think he’s just got it out for Gryffindors in general. Remember when he antagonized Longbottom so bad that he was his boggart?”

“Yeah, that was brutal,” Ron shook his head, as you both walked to your next class together. “Hey, look, I just wanted to say like, sorry? I’ve been kind of an ass to you this whole year…” Ron trailed off.

“Nah, it’s fine, man. I haven’t been much better. I think we both kind of got caught up in the competition of asking her out,” you shrugged. There was no reason to clarify who her was. “Truce?”

“Yeah,” Ron smiled. “I’d like that.”

~~~

So here you were, alone at the Yule Ball, your friends having left you to dance with their dates. You leaned against the wall, watching the couples twirl around with a mild tinge of jealousy. Sipping your drink, you surveyed the crowd, appraising everyone.

When your eyes landed on Hermione, who was being lifted up and spun around by Viktor Krum, your first thought was not one of envy, but rather, she would’ve looked much better in blue. Your gaze drifted to her date, and lingered on Krum for a moment too long.

Damn, he looks good, you thought to yourself, blinking quickly at the thought. Where did that come from?

Ron sidled up to you, looking rather smug for someone wearing such an ugly outfit. “She’s having the time of her life, isn’t she?”

“Huh? Oh- yeah, yeah, I guess,” you mumbled, your gaze drifting back to Viktor.

How can someone look so hot? That ought to be illegal.

Ron’s eyes narrowed, and he followed your gaze. “Merlin, dude. Are you staring at Krum?”

“What? No! S-shut up!”

He snickered, patting your shoulder patronizingly. “S’alright, man. I’ve been watching Diggory all night myself.”

Your eyebrows raised in surprise. “You’re-”

“Yeah,” he cut you off, lips thinning a bit. “That bother you?”

“Not a hypocrite, Weasley.”

He glanced at you, clearly taken off guard. You kept his gaze for a long moment, finding the way his blush matched his hair to be rather cute.

“Care to dance then, L/N?”

“If you can keep up, Weasley.”

You two took to the dance floor, twirling around like idiots and laughing loudly. Neither of you noticed your respective friends, and the teacher chaperones, watching on in morbid fascination.

And when you kissed at the end of the song, neither of you noticed Harry scowling as he handed both Ginny and Hermione a galleon each.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

[comicaurora]

Hey! So I have a trope question

Something I’ve noticed since I was little is a that a lot of media with a trio had the same make up of two boys and one girl, is this a trope or just some weird thing that just happens by random odds?

I think it's a little bit more broad and nebulous than a trope, although it does have a TVTropes page. It's not random odds, it's storytelling trends.

For a number of reasons, the majority of protagonist POV characters are guys. Starting from this premise, if you want to make sure your protagonist always has somebody to play off of so they aren't engaging with the story in complete isolation, you give them at least one character to hang out with. This minimum one character can have all kinds of traits (mentor, scoundrel, battle butler), but if you as a writer are taking the easy, normal approach, you will give this protagonist a friendly buddy/rival to team up and squabble with (and this buddy will also be a guy, because again, this theoretical writer is taking the easy approach to character dynamics), and as a second thought you will probably give our hero a theoretical love interest girl for him to pine after so you can (a) write/draw a Hot Lady as much as you want and (b) get Hero Boy to cover a broader range of emotional situations within the comfort of his friend group. Thus you have rederived the trope of Two Guys And A Girl, congratulations on your moderately successful mid-2000s gaming webcomic.

As the story continues you might realize Girl Who Exists So Protagonist Can Remember Girls Exist is not actually an appealing love interest for him, so you'll probably pair off Girl with Second Guy and leave Hero Boy to pursue other romantic avenues. Second Guy is liable to be rather more interesting anyway, since he's going to be a Lancer to the hero's Leader-ness and serve as his primary foil, meaning he has a little more personality and frankly a lot more romantic tension with the lead. In fact, if you want to be really lazy about it, you can take these three characters and snap them into a love triangle with absolutely no extra work on your part, and that's an infinite drama generator at no cost to you.

You might take a slightly different approach if you, the writer, are a lady writing a lady-centric romantic story, in which case Girl is liable to be the POV character while her buds Hero Boy and Rival Boy take turns having romantic subplot adventures with her. In these narrative structures you don't want to add another girl to the inner circle, because the presence of a Romantic Rival (which seems to be the only purpose Other Girls serve in these stories) would spoil the center-of-the-universe romantic fantasy, so your hands are tied and we're back to Two-Guys-And-A-Girl again. You might add a supportive girl best friend when it gets adapted for netflix though - she can pair off with whichever boy loses at no additional cost.

What we're seeing here is Easy Mode Storytelling. This is what happens when a writer takes the extremely well-traveled road and lets their wheels slide into the well-worn tracks and follow where they may. It's not good or bad, it's just easy. It's a story we can recite in our sleep. This particular character arrangement occurs with unusual frequency because there are a number of factors that make it easy, and when you take a broad approach, the easy approach will be statistically favored.

This triple arrangement can obviously be genderflipped - Hero Girl with her friends Rival Girl and Love Interest Boy - but this is less common just by the numbers, because in the space of fiction there are more Hero Boys than Hero Girls. All-boy and all-girl trios also happen, but because most people are straight, most writers will see this as depriving themselves of all the exciting romantic tension they could get from having One Token Character to be romantically viewed and pursued. Additional characters can be added to the group, leading to Four-Temperament Ensembles and Five-Man Bands, but broadly this three-person arrangement is the smallest possible Ensemble Cast unit a writer can easily construct.

[becauseimanicequeen]

Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo (ep 1-2)

After holding off on Let Free the Course of Taekwondo for a few days (because I didn't want to watch it at 3 am with a half-sleeping brain), I'm diving in tonight and writing down my thoughts here as I watch it because it's Hwang Daseul. She's made some of my absolute favorite Korean BLs (especially To My Start 2) and I know this one will hurt me in all the ways I want it to. So, why not capture my pain in real-time? lmao

Let's go!

Episode 1

I love this boy already.

As someone who isn't a numbers person, this part went straight over my head. So, obviously, it was totally my vibe when Juyeong told Dohee he was impressive even though Dohee's answer was wrong. Juyeong didn't know any better (and neither did I!).

Not me sitting here looking at this scene:

And thinking about the downwards pointing triangles (on Dohee's shirt + the ones on the fiber art on the wall) and how many emotions this show will throw at me (downward pointing triangle = water = emotions). Sometimes I wish symbols would stop glaring at me like that...

What...

A...

Tease!

I love him so much. But, also... I will no longer look at eating ice cream the same ever again.

Will ice cream become their "thing"? This is, what, the second or third time they mention ice cream? If food is the way Dohee takes care of Juyeong, will ice cream be Juyeong's way of flirting with Dohee?

No...

Fucking...

Way!

That's an old kdrama move that's sometimes reenacted on Korean variety shows or whenever there's an umbrella around (at least, I saw that when I watched a lot of Korean shows during the pandemic).

Anyway... Juyeong knows exactly what he's doing.

And Dohee knows what Juyeong is doing.

Just look at that damn smile!

That episode felt like it was a lot shorter than it was. It just shows that I'm having a great time. So, let's jump into the next one.

Episode 2

Well, this episode started with violence:

x2:

I'm not easily shocked or gobsmacked. But... The way Juyeong just went in there and took his shirt off... And Dohee clearly wants to avoid even looking at Juyeong because it's too much... Well played, Hwang Daseul. Well played.

I can't!

Juyeong went outside in the fucking ice cold to make sure he wasn't disturbing Dohee with his (to be honest) overly loud voice when talking on the phone.

Have I mentioned that I love Juyeong?

No?

I love Juyeong!

Now you know.

And now he's even made breakfast for Dohee!

I was just having a blast with the way these boys were looking at each other... And then everything turned way too serious way too fast.

You better not be using that the way I think you'll be using that!

Wait... This:

I can't remember his name, but there's definitely something going on here. He hesitated to go after Dohee and Juyeong in the 1st episode when Dohee and Juyeong ran away. Then he and Dohee seemed to be on speaking terms (kind of) at school at the end of the 1st episode. But, at the same time, he seemed to have beef with Dohee (or, at least Dohee's dad), perhaps insinuating that Dohee's dad messed him up somehow.

I'm intrigued.

Of course! Here we have it:

Fuck! The way both these boys felt it. The way they weren't expecting it. The way they were looking at each other. This whole scene was so good. Especially how it merged with Mr. wannabe-bad-boy (why can't I remember his name? lol) walking away in the present.

I know this story is primarily about Dohee and Juyeong. But this boy:

I want to know more!

What is his story?

And now to something completely different...

THE ICE CREAM!

That's the ice cream Juyeong was looking for, isn't it? The same brand that was on his flyer in the 1st episode? If that isn't Dohee confessing some sort of caring feelings towards Juyeong, I don't know what is.

Hwang Daseul, what are you doing to me, making me feel these things about two boys who aren't even real?

Wait a fucking minute!

He followed Dohee? After just standing by and watching Dohee get beaten by his friends(?) (while also making sure Dohee's head didn't hit the ground). Oh, my boy, what kind of shit are you battling in silence? Besides those feelings for Dohee?

This show is really throwing me between hope and despair (or something a little less dramatic). Just look at them:

Nothing to see here really. Just two boys sharing ice cream.

But it means the world to me!

To him too:

And then this:

Don't tell me he's trying to make fake snow.

He's trying to make fake snow, isn't he? Or maybe just take a bath?

No, he made fake snow!

Tell me Juyeong is in love with Dohee without telling me Juyeong is in love with Dohee.

I love Juyeong so fucking much!

So... Emotions are running high, and then this:

Clearly, that necklace means something. So, what's with the "T"? Has someone with a name starting with a T been mentioned? Or does it stand for "taekwondo"? And why did he have to take it off before confessing his feelings for Dohee? Who (or what?) does he feel like he's betraying by confessing his feelings?

So many questions...

And somehow all of them just slipped my mind...

Well, that was another episode that just flew by. And, no wonder, because I'm loving it.

I haven't even written about the visuals (I guess I was too focused on loving Juyeong and writing about ice cream or something, lol), but I'm getting a To My Star 2 vibe and my eyes are thanking Hwang Daseul for it. Especially the scenes filmed outside at nighttime (I'm such a slut for those scenes because they bring a certain vibe that's nostalgic to me).

I can't wait to see more of this show. I can't wait to see Dohee and Juyeong's relationship grow. I can't wait to find out more about Mr. wannabe-bad-boy (I really need to learn his name... lmao). And what about all these elders who are basically letting Dohee's dad do whatever he wants? I didn't even write anything about that before (again, I was busy thinking about ice cream, or something...). But, what was that about? Interesting.

Either way, this was a really solid start.

[thetypedwriter]

Children of Anguish and Anarchy Book Review

Children of Anguish and Anarchy Book Review by Tomi Adeyemi

This book was so horrible. 

No one is more disappointed than me to say that. 

I’ve gone to two of Tomi Adeyemi’s book signings, including a recent one for Children of Anguish and Anarchy.

Tomi Adeyemi herself is absolutely wonderful. She’s so intelligent, hilarious, addictively charming, and can work a room like no other. The book signing was fantastic. Too bad the book couldn’t hold up to the event itself. 

Children of Anguish and Anarchy follows as the third and last installment of the Legacy of Orisha trilogy, but doesn’t read like that at all.

Other than having the same four main characters of Tzain, Zelie, Amari, and Inan, nothing about the book concludes any issue, plot story, or character development from the previous two novels. 

A completely new villain is introduced, someone we haven't heard about as a reader in the last two books whatsoever, and obliterates any of the conflict and tension that Adeyemi worked so hard to build in her previous stories. 

Gone is the tension and literally hundreds of years of in-fighting between the Maji and the monarchy, gone is the civil war and its repercussions on Orisha, gone is even one of the main characters from the last novel, Roen, who was a significant love interest for Zelie and who has been completely disappeared in this new book all together (like, what???). 

It was incredibly lazy writing to wipe away everything the first two books created in order to “unite” against this new enemy. The sentiment is nice, but it’s not the finale we wanted or needed. 

I desired answers to Amari and Zelie’s broken friendship, closure to the Inan and Roen love triangle, a verdict on how Orisha would rebuild and who would rule. 

We get none of that. 

Instead Zelie and the others spend half their time in the book on a ship with very strong slavery parallels, and the other half in the introduced land of New Gaia.

While I thought the descriptions of New Gaia were beautiful (albeit very similar to Avatar), I was dissatisfied because the whole series at this point has been focused on Orisha and Orisha’s problems, not New Gaia and not the Skulls. 

While the plot was bad and aggrieving, the characters were even worse. 

None of the characters were interesting. They were carbon copies of each other in which all they talked about was avenging their fallen Orishan people, killing the Skulls, and protecting loved ones.

Rinse and repeat. It was boring as hell to delve into four different characters’ minds only to find that they all sounded exactly the same. 

I often had to go back to the start of the chapter to tell whose internal thoughts I was reading because they were so interchangeable and self-righteous and dull.  It is never a good sign when you can’t automatically tell who’s POV you’re reading based on their internal dialogue and tone. 

Lastly, the pacing of the book was atrocious. Everything happened so goddamn fast that I felt like I never had the chance to properly digest or internalize anything.

Oh they’re on a ship? Moving on from that. Zelie got some sort of medallion shoved into her chest?? Moving on. Wait, Maji and Titans and the monarchy are all working together after two full books of them killing each other??? Five pages and it’s done with. 

It was outrageous and insulting. 

The pacing made everything feel shallow, unimportant, and unnecessary. More than most of the plot were action scenes, while difficult to write and interesting in their own right, in this book it was so repetitive that characters killing other characters 90% of the time became egregiously tedious. 

And speaking of the action, I also found it incredibly violent and graphic for a YA book. As someone who is not a fan of gore and blood, this book had so many explicit details for no reason other than being gratuitous.

For example, at one point Zelie shoves a chicken bone through someone’s cheek. I found it repulsive and it was also incessant. 

I know some people can handle brutality, but I can’t, and found it a huge turn off and made me dislike the book so much more, especially as this was a majority of the book to boot. 

Disappointment can’t even contain my full feelings for this story. For such a wonderful trilogy to succumb to such a terrible end is a tragedy. I wish the best for Tomi Adeyemi and success for her future, but I will not read another book by her again. 

Score: 2/10

Recommendation: Read Children of Blood and Bone, a magical story that will inspire and entertain you. Read Children of Virtue and Vengeance if you really need something else, but even this book I wouldn’t recommend picking up.

Do not, I repeat, do not read Children of Anguish and Anarchy. It will leave you feeling dismayed and disheartened beyond redemption.

Bonus: Here's me, my fiance, and Tomi Adeyemi at her book signing!

[ameliaszahmet]

Duncan , the most EVIL character in TOTAL DRAMA HISTORY- a psychological anaylsis of the narcissistic syndrome and the downfall of 3 great characters: Courtney , Gwen and Trent (and why Courtney made a list)

I want to specify something from the start. Duncan Courtney Gwen and Trent are ALL MY ABSOLUTE FAVOURITES . I just tried to make sense of this situation through a psychological point of view. Each time I analyze this it gets darker but a lot more interesting than expected. So the point is not hate them but figure them out.

I wrote this covering almost each and every aspect. courtney's sudden friendship with gwen , duncan as the one and only evil character , courtney's downfall and her list. I split this in more parts cuz it was already too long . So more parts to come .But in this one I cover their characters and their personalities

To understand better what really happened in total drama and that love triangle there is only one and ONLY ONE EXPLANATION for that . Narcissistic syndrome.

For those who don't know narcissistic syndrome refers to people who have a constant need for attention and a complete disregard of who they might be using to get that. We're not talking about someone just simply looking in the mirror we're talking about a complete painful form of abuse.

To get a better understanding of Duncan ‘s character we need to see how it all started . The first thing that Duncan did when coming to Island was flirt with whatever moved around him, torture animals and bully people. He pretty much made a point how he wants to be seen . A bully . “Being bad is cool.” He tried his luck with some girls on island :heather, lindsay , gwen , till courtney fell for it. "told you she wanted me". While for her it seemed like the best day of her life because she finally got her chance to express herself as she is without that pressure of rules and "perfect image" , for Duncan was just another usual Monday. She was so obsessed with rules ,raised to believe they are the only thing that keep her safe in society but the moment a bully showed her how to be free she accepted that immediately. She wanted to be free and Duncan offered what she wanted.

I do follow rules , that makes me a loser , right?

With his usual taste to break the rules it is quite obvious why he was fixated on Courtney and why he didn't try to flirt with other girls when she was around. He knew that at some point she would fall for him ,cuz Courtney = rules and Duncan LIKES breaking them.He saw her as a challenge and not someone he particularly liked for herself. He dislikes rules or police or law or anything that courtney mostly takes interest in: studying, school, being a good kid etc. He had a lot of girls, specifically those that "are crazy" . "I had crazier chicks and uglier or" hey I like that in a chick. "He likes to drive them crazy for him and the attention he's getting from them and Courtney gave him that each EACH AND EVERY SINGLE TIME.

While most of the guys have shown a particular interest for the girls they genuinely liked , like Trent for Gwen , Geoff for Bridgette , Owen for Izzy , and Tyler for Lindsay ,Duncan was the only one who tried his luck with ALL of them. Touching Lindsay's shoulder without permission, flirting with Heather the first moment he got there or flirting with Gwen later.

It is not unusual for a narcissist to use one or more victims to get their constant supply of attention and Courtney offered him plenty.

The situation changed in season 2 , especially when Courtney was not around anymore to give him that ,and Gwen's relationship with Trent was his PERFECT OPPORTUNITY to get it. He saw Gwen weak ,vulnerable during her difficult time with trent just like he saw courtney's obsession with rules as her own weakness, which made them the "perfect victims".

The sudden interest and the amount of time Duncan spent with Gwen made her confused enough about his feelings for her and Duncan knew that it would work against both her and Trent. He knew how much Trent cared about her and he used his jealousy to his advantage while turning his genuine love into a pathetic image in front of gwen. He saw this as an opportunity and not genuine interest. " Personally I would choose the money ", "I would remind you two about it when money' s divvied up" .While Trent valued her more than money and always as his first option Duncan saw her as a second option.

idk ....duncan? Not sure herself of her choice this was the very moment Duncan understood his plan worked. She made her confused for his own gain.

He instigated the doubt between them to make their relationship fall. A narcissist doesn't care who is he using for that as long as he gets to be the centre of attention and create trouble. He doesn't care about people more than himself. Just like he didn't care what Courtney might think watching this back home and seeing him doing this to people around him without remorse.

season 2 he noticed that Gwen 's relationship with trent suffers a change for the worst so he used that to his advantage. He told in his audition tape he is "resourceful" , he adapts to many situtations. His best skills are "fake tears"as he refered in his confessional . A skill that he proved to have it from a young age " oh mom was that your favourite vase? boo hooo" It is seen through his friendship with Alejandro how easy is for them to lie to women for their own convenience and even when both Courtney and Gwen were around.

those 2 are pretty much on the same page when it comes to seducing women without any regard of how they both feel. The main difference is one does it for the game and the other for "FUN"

Duncan can manipulate his goodness and his badness to his own advantage .

When he saw he's losing his game with Gwen he lured her back by saving her from the leeches trying to insist he's good while he simultaneously tried to send hints to courtney by using his relationship with Gwen and trying to make her notice him . All this while he tried to prove his bad boy image for a whole season. He doesn't want to be good, he doesn't want to be seen like this. It just happens his goodness was useful for him when he wanted to prove he's bad.

In season 2 he told gwen about the stars, and how good he treats his girlfriend because he knew this very thing would ATTRACT her when she was dealing with her hard time with Trent and offered her a safe option she can pick when her relationship with trent completely falls , just like he told courtney "oh look sweetheart how cool it is to break rules but I have a "soft side "so of course I'm not gonna hurt you." He knows Gwen is a kind girl in spite of her strong appearance just like he knew courtney is weak in spite of her forceful personality. He doesn't like to be seen as nice but it is not uncommon for narcissists to use that if it's proven to be helpful in achieving their goals. Duncan pretty much like Alejandro has to analyze the situation and act according to the victim's preference. Harold is obsessed with duty and honour? then Alejandro suggests "harakiri" , Bridgette's character turned completely dependent on Geoff ? then Alejandro makes her fall for him cuz she's weak without him. Dj has a curse problem? He creates a "gold fish" fakely making him believe he is not cursed anymroe.

Duncan operates in the same way Alejandro did.

He used Courtney's weakness and love for him against her to get Gwen and he used Gwen's trust and emotional vulnerability to get Courtney. To understand why it was easy to do this to them we need to see their characters.

For both Gwen and Courtney art is basically the only place they allow themselves to be weak

Both of them are sensitive souls who keep their feelings hidden in the hopes someone might get them one day . Gwen likes drawing , music and actual romantic stuff in spite of her dark strong goth appearance. And Courtney was the kind who never wanted other people see that she is weak , not even let them see she has a small fear or open up for a moment about her feelings ," you must be afraid of something"

"No ...nothing...."

or that her eye was hurt : " what happened to your eye girl ?" nothing! ! but it's worse.!!

" shh we don t want to let them know that. "

Her violin is the only thing she particularly feels attached to and her only safe way to actually express what she really feels. For many musicians, playing the violin is an emotional outlet and a way to express their innermost feelings. The physical closeness of the violin to the player’s body creates an intimate connection, allowing the musician to channel their emotions directly into their playing. She uses her violin to share emotions she wouldn't normally tell out loud just like Gwen creates art through her drawings revealing her deepest emotions on paper

Courtney has trouble trusting people fearing her weakness might be used against her and Duncan was the first person she completely let her guard down for. Why Duncan? She noticed he was "different". Until that" soft side episode " she did not have interest in him that much. He called her princess cuz she is spoiled not as a form of affection. that's why she hated it. She doesn't like to be reminded she has to keep up with a "perfect image" . All she wants is to be herself . Courtney mostly thought he is just a bully , just a plain bully. But the moment she saw that he has" a good side " she completely changed her mind "ohh, a bunny , wow he is nice??? " yet for him it was not something he is particularly proud of or wanted to show her. Everyone has a soft or weak or a mean side , something that Courtney and Gwen find it hard to accept .

That's for the first part. second to come.

[joanyio]

TOP 9 DRAMAS I WATCHED IN 2023

inspector koo (2021) - everyone here is a different flavor of fruit, crime show exclusively made for girls and gays and it’s the best thing that ever happened to me

when i fly towards you (2023) - this is what happiness is all about

doom at your service (2021) - “love me to the point that you want to destroy the world for me” that’s it that’s the line

love all play (2022) - wfkbj for people who aren’t annoying

little women (2022) - second half felt like a makjang damn the writers were spiraling and i couldn’t stop watching (gay little women i love you)

twinkling watermelon (2023) - worth the hype

bloodhounds (2023) - i remember my letterboxd post for this saying you can almost smell the testosterones through the screen but it was absolutely binge worthy, kinda homo if you ask me!

daily dose of sunshine (2023) - park boyoung is the loveliest human being

law school (2021) - is it insane to beg for a season 2 the chance is low but nonzero… right?

HONORABLE MENTIONS

hidden love (2023) - im tired of people saying the word chemistry about the main couple but it’s true they invented it

designated survivor: 60 days (2019) - maybe political dramas aren’t always badly written, also han nakyung please give me a chance

celebrity (2023) - user joanyio stop finding invisible gay subtext in every show you watch challenge failed

the good bad mother (2023) - such a gem *continues to ignore mommy issues*

time and him are just right (2022) - cute and perfect for mindless watching in the background while you do other work

the worst of evil (2023) - instead of forcing the love triangle turned love square the writers should have made all four hot main characters make out with each other it would have been perfect

and because of love all play (2022), see also:

castaway diva (2023), witch’s diner (2021), and unlock my boss (2022) (although i haven’t finished this one yet) chae jonghyeop is my new lee dohyun (read: male actor i enjoy watching multiple projects of simply because he doesn’t give me the ick). i also rewatched hot stove league (2020) for park eunbin and jonghyeop after castaway diva, still one of the all time best dramas i remember it used to be my twitter handle years ago baseball is so cool i wish it was real

DRAMAS I STARTED LATE DECEMBER 2023 AND FINISHED EARLY JANUARY 2024

shining for one thing (2022) - please don’t watch this show it was made only for me and i’d like to gatekeep it forever

reset (2022) - never watched a drama execute time loop plot device as perfectly as this did

UNFINISHED BUT PLANNING TO CONTINUE SOON

derailment (2023) - i was baited by a tiktok i thought it’d be a cute silly little high school drama but boy was i surprised

one day off (2023) - she’s living the dream

[thelaurenshippen]

Hi there! I started relistening to the bright sessions (as one does) and had a random question come up. When did you know that Mark/Sam wasn't going to be endgame (romantically)? I know in s4 they both fall apart separately and together, but even in Safehouse pt 2 (my absolute beloved) they argue about their coping mechanisms. Did you know then that they weren't going to end up together? How did you come to that conclusion?

hey!! this is a great question - I definitely did start the show thinking they were endgame and that's mostly what I was thinking at the time of safehouse too, despite their issues. I think it was really in writing Season 4 actually, when I realized that I was no longer telling a story about two people in love working through their issues, but was instead telling a story about two people who were in love but realized they shouldn't be together in that way. I started to feel those tension points in Season 3 (I would say the safehouse episodes were a true attempt for them to learn to work through their issues), but it wasn't until planning S4 that I really made the decision.

there are a lot of things that led to this that I'll try to articulate, because the honest, simplest answer as to why the plans changed was "because it felt like they should". but if I were think back and pinpoint a few reasons for that...

there was never supposed to be a love triangle. Mark was always bisexual but he and Damien were never supposed to develop feelings for one another. but the first time we got Andrew and Charlie into a room and read through their first episode together it was like "oh, OH-kay" (which, sidebar: clearly I was writing something between them subtextually because it wasn't like Andrew and Charlie were strangers to each other - I'd watched them act ALL sorts of scenes together in acting class but the romantic chemistry popped OUT with Mark/Damien. pretty much from the second motel episode on, I was writing leaning into that dynamic). that threw a lot of spanners into the works because while I never had plans to put Mark and Damien together, I hadn't anticipated Mark grappling with feelings for someone else.

similarly, I'd underestimated just how flawed Sam was. Sam is not a bad person, but she sometimes doesn't really know how to be a person who cares about other people. when you add that to the dynamics of Damien and Joan kind of, like, hovering over Mark in various unproductive ways (for Damien, it's destructive and invasive; for Joan, she's just a too-involved older sister sometimes), Sam becomes another person who is kind of, like...controlling Mark, or trying to, because she loves him and doesn't know how to (I mean, I'm pretty sure I'm just regurgitating actual lines I wrote lol). this is not to say that her flaws make her unable to be in a relationship (Mark is also deeply flawed!) but just that their flaws clashed against each other in ways I hadn't planned.

finally: Joan and found family. in my mind, there was something grand and romantic about Sam meeting Dr. Bright so that she could be led to Mark - like they were somehow always fated to meet. in actuality, it's not that at all - instead, the bond that Sam and Joan have is just as important as the one she has with Mark, albeit different. I don't believe in soulmates personally, but I've always liked the idea that you have people out there. soulmates in a more general sense - people you click with, have a connection with. it can be romantic, familial, friendship, work or creative partnerships, whatever. I think the Bryant siblings and Sam have that. I think Sam and Mark are meant for each other but in a non-exclusive way and in a...maybe not non-romantic way, but a way that doesn't have romance at the forefront. they love each other deeply and they fit, but a romantic partnership might not be the best way forward for them. and Joan and Sam are the whole heart of the show to me in some senses. as I was writing the finale, I very intentionally ended with the two of them - both because the final appearance of every character is in order of when they first appeared, but in reverse and also because the show starts with both of them in dark, destructive places and while there's broken trust between them throughout, they ultimately help each other get better. I thought Sam's story was about finding love and it was, but that love looked differently than I had planned.

okay, god, this has gotten waaaaaay too long and rambly. I hope this answers your question? one of my favorite things/the thing I miss most about making a show like TBS is being able to shift things based on chemistry/what the actors bring/etc. so often now, I'm writing entire seasons of things and then handing them off to production, in which anything can happen! the flexibility of recording episode by episode in TBS is something I took full advantage of.

thanks for listening and relistening!!

[violettathepiratequeen]

There's a lot that's frustrating to me about Angel the Series but a major thing is the Gunn and Fred relationship.

Because I love 'em both, but they remind me of Riley and Buffy. Two people who worked in a similar field and should have just stayed friends, because they may have been physically attracted to one another but really they had extremely little in common.

And it's not just that the show was setting up a love triangle, and Fred would have to choose who she loved more (which is also bad and I have never EVER seen a love triangle that didn't frustrate me). It's that the show WAS setting up Wes as Fred's love interest from the getgo. Wesley cared for Fred when she was crazy. He held her in Caritas when Gunn's friends were shooting it up. He was giving her dopey smiles and adoring looks first. They researched together and worked like a well-oiled machine, and the only reason he didn't make a move sooner was because of the whole "Billy" episode, where he was bespelled to be abusive towards her, and Gunn was a little bit, too, but Wesley took it so hard he shut himself up in his apartment for several days until Fred herself asked him to come back. As far as we know Gunn had no such guilt over that spell.

And out of nowhere Gunn decides he likes Fred too, but I think they just don't click. As aformentioned, they don't have a lot in common. He teases her for caring, and barely noticed or paid attention to her when she was dealing with the Pylea aftermath crazies.

Wes confided in Cordy that he wanted to ask Fred out, and she could see it, even. Gunn confided in nobody. In this same episode, "Waiting in the Wings," Fred says she wants to ask Cordy something and Cordy says "I think you two are perfect for each other" and then claims she used her demon powers to know what Fred was talking about when, actually, Fred wasn't talking about Wesley at all. Cordy then takes this false information and tells Wes that Fred is interested. How is this not setting up Wes as the underdog, and the one we should be rooting for, even though we love Gunn as a character, too?

When Wes sees Fred and Gunn kissing, it's a blow that comes out of nowhere for him, because he never suspected and Cordy had hinted that Fred was interested in him. Wes is more shy, he's more careful, he wants to be more sure and he's absolutely still thinking about the abuser stuff between them, but the show decided he took too long and gave her to Gunn instead.

And when he sees it... he steps back. He doesn't say a word. He doesn't discourage them, doesn't act hostile to Gunn, even though we can see how earth shattering this is for him. He has to watch Gunn and Fred be all gooey and sappy in front of him, and he bears his secret. If he'd said something to Fred at the time, I imagine she would have been apologetic, but would have said that Gunn asked her first and he's the one she chooses, and that would have been that. But she would have known, at least. Known she was loved by someone else, known that she didn't have to say yes to the first person who asked her. Wes doesn't put that burden on her, and carries it all himself.

He will have to wait two years before she admits feelings for him. Two years in which he will try to carry on fighting the good fight as before, he will try to protect Connor from being killed and kidnapped, he will have his neck sliced open, he will search tirelessly all summer to dig Angel up out of the ocean, he will deal with all the drama and demons and supernatural every single week as always, he will have his memory tampered with-- twice-- and will start a hate relationship with his enemy, who he will force to dress up as Fred because he's taking everything out on Lilah anyway.

He will watch Gunn and Fred fall apart because they were never going to be sustainable, and still he won't say a thing. Everyone at Wolfram and Hart in S5, including Spike but excluding Angel, will know that Wes is into Fred. And yet Wes will again have to watch Knox (I called him Holden at first, whoops) try to get his foot in the door with her, until finally, finally, Fred expresses her interest, and they get to kiss for the very first time.

That's at the end of "Smile Time." And the next episode, "A Hole in the World," is where Fred gets sick. Right at the start of the episode. Right after Gunn says he's glad Wes and Fred get a chance; he had his with her and he recognizes it's time for her to move on.

Wes and Fred didn't get one episode together. They didn't even get ten minutes of screen time together before she started dying.

They got one of the best love declaration speeches in the history of television... but it was about two minutes before she died, and seven episodes before he died and the show ended.

As I said, there's lots that frustrating about AtS, and I know Cangel also was teased and teased and teased before being snatched away in the most brutal and lazy way possible. But at least their final episode was really a good one. Angel and Cordelia had so much time and history together and were pretty much in a relationship anyway without being official about it. It was even brought up to both of them as a possibilty and both dismissed it, so it's not like they didn't have time and chances.

(And I know none of the BtVs relationships ended well or happily either, but we're not talking about this show right now, lol)

Fred and Gunn got a season and a half, almost, of cutesy smiles and breakfast at the same diner every morning and raising Connor when no one else was around, pretty much only because they were in close proximity and not dating anyone else.

Wesley-- who granted is not without his flaws and dark character arcs-- loved Fred deeply from the start and waiting patiently for years only to have her die in his arms pretty much 24 hours after they started dating.

It would have been better if we'd never had even that, or Wes had confessed his feelings and Fred had truly never been into him. The way it was just shows all the time that was wasted and lost between them.

Of all the cruel and frustrating things that show did, in my opinion this was the worst.