#there's barely anything about her and what we are given we then have to interpret to fill in the blanks

[clownishshit]

something that I thought was a bit of a missed opportunity A Court of Thorns and Roses series is that the world building doesn't really feel like a fantasy world sometimes and takes you out of the immersion or that things aren't fully fleshed out with certain characters.

[shalscumbunny]

For what reasons would members of the Gen'ei Ryodan impregnate their S/O?

TW: Mentions of forced relationship, forced pregnancy, gestation, breeding kink, body changes, parenthood, children, possible threat to children

Phinks:

It is the type of couple that is extremely overprotective, at the same time that it is extremely dominant, there is no better way of dominance than to impregnate your beloved, leave her plump and unable to do anything, so that she does not do anything stupid, nothing bad happens to her and there is no doubt that he is your absolute owner because you are carrying HIS child, and the idea of fucking you pregnant isn't something he's going to refuse either, he likes the idea, I'll just say that and of course he will love his child, I feel that he is the type of man to whom being a father comes naturally.

Feitan:

I don't feel that Feitan understands that concept of "family" and "parenting" and he doesn't care much either and if you're not very interested in the subject, pregnacy is not something that is going to happen, BUT, if we go to his sickest and most twisted side, especially the sadistic one and mixing it with a yandere or quite sick theme, if he sees that the idea of getting pregnant from him terrifies you as he is your captor, he is going to impregnate you with desire and on purpose, just to fuck you, torture you and well, in the process he will mark territory, by fucking you he will torture with the idea, if he achieves his goal now he only has the same thing left, making you feel bad, making you feel guilty, but he will probably still take care of you since in the end you are valuable to him.

Uvogin:

He barely fell in love with you, he knew that you were going to be the mother of his 78 children, Uvogin is the stereotype of a man who wants to get you pregnant 24/7, it won't even be two months after you have given birth before you are already pregnant again, he simply likes it because it is a way to keep you by his side, dominate you and take ownership of you. He has a fairly activated reproductive instinct due to his barbaric and somewhat animal nature. He's excited about getting you pregnant, he's excited about having you pregnant, he's excited about being able to fuck you when you're swollen with his babies. Added to that he may be a horrible person, a thief, a murderer and many other things, but it comes naturally to him to be a father, he loves his children, all of them.

Nobunaga:

The truth is that I feel that Nobunaga is one of these characters with the authentic desire to one day have children, he likes the idea of ​​raising little swordsmen who run from one place to another simulating an epic and legendary duel and there is no better way to join the love of your life than forming a family (That's what he thinks) It doesn't matter much if you agree, it will still happen.

He is going to get you pregnant, he is going to take care of you and he will do everything humanly possible to be with you, of course I also emphasize that probably doing it with you even if you are pregnant, it is quite exciting for him.

Franklin:

I wouldn't know how to interpret him very well in fact, I feel that he is not someone who is dying to be a father but he also does not hate the idea and if you ask him he will listen to you, he will take great care of you and his little ones. (I DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT FRANKLIN, FORGIVE ME FRANKLIN FANS!)

Illumi:

The same as with Uvogin, but somewhat different. He would say that he has a fairly marked kink breeding because in his family he has seen it as common and necessary to have many children (he literally has 4 siblings). When he fell in love with you the next thing in his brain was to imagine the family he would have with you as soon as possible. Once you are together (Whether by marriage or kidnapping) Illumi will probably have locked himself in the room with you until he makes sure that you are pregnant, Illumi never shows his emotions, but when he is fucking you and has you tightly grabbed, his body trembles of the emotion and excitement of being able to get you pregnant. Once you are very pregnant and swollen, he won't stop fucking you either (As long as your child is safe), he can simply become more obsessed with you now that you are carrying his baby. If everything goes well, I estimate at least 7 pregnancies, furthermore, all these pregnancies are going to be followed, as soon as you give birth, it will be a matter of time before he impregnates you again.

Hisoka:

I don't find any logical reason, he likes the idea of ​​having a partner, but not forming a "family." The only reason I can find is that in his moments of madness and revenge.

Especially if he has already left the Gen'ei Ryodan and wants revenge, if you are a partner of one of them, he will impregnate you with hatred and desire but only for revenge.

Shalnark:

I think we have already talked about this in this profile multiple times but we will do it again.

Shalnark doesn't want kids, he hates kids, he hates kids grabbing his things, he hates not being the focus of your attention and everything related to pregnancy and having kids.

BUT

It is an idea that he can consider in the same way, if he consider that you have problems in the relationship, he will consider an alternative to soften you and tie you down.

In other situation, if you mention it to him, obviously you have to beg him if you are the one who wants to have children, but if you are convincing, you will have your child.

But Shalnark is cruel and twisted in nature, I don't think he is someone who loves his children in a paternal way, he probably sees them as a pet and will appreciate them (Also as something to blackmail and threaten you with).

Chrollo:

Chrollo is a being of curious, selfish and greedy nature, a being rejected by the world. I think he has that desire to form a family and ABOVE ALL, have a child, it is something that will finally be authentically HIS.

It's not that he KILLS to get you pregnant or it's a mortal necessity (Like Uvogin to Illumi) but it's a recurring thought.

It doesn't matter if you agree or not, he's still going to get you pregnant when he can. He is going to push hard into your pussy and he is going to cling to your body telling you how beautiful mother you are going to be and how he is not going to stop until you are all swollen and pretty, that you will be his queen and that he will do everything for you.

Simply love your pregnancy, love hugging your belly, talking to it and planting soft kisses on it.

Thanks for reading this shit 🤍

[bringthekaos]

I'm excited for your thoughts on the new season if/when you share them

It has legit taken me 3 days to come to terms with Act 1. Enough to be able to speak about it. Gunna apologize in advance for the wall of text, and I’m hiding it under a break for spoiler reasons. Also prefacing with these are all just my opinions. All are free to disagree with me and RB with discussions/theories etc. just don’t be a dick about it, I’m not engaging in any discourse.

Ok. So. I have mixed feelings, and I’m aware that this is because I don’t have the whole story yet. So this is all contingent on how the rest of the season plays out.

First and foremost, I’m… wildly swinging back and forth between love and disappointment for Viktor’s arc. So first the negative, and I’ll try to keep it brief because a lot of people have already expressed this and I don’t need to be beating that particular dead horse.

Viktor has had his agency, his bodily autonomy, his original ideas and nearly everything that made him Viktor stripped away. Nothing so far has been his choice. And while this could have worked just fine for an original character, he wasn’t. So there is a massive disconnect between what this character was/should have been. In League, it was all his choice (albeit with a healthy dose of mental illness thrown in, but still). AND it was very heavily suggested that many of the augmentations he performed weren’t as extensive as he lead everyone to believe (namely the controlling/dousing of his emotions). But it appears that whatever the Hexcore did to him, it’s real. He is clearly having a difficult time accessing his emotions, and if he can feel anything, it is limited to the point of him being completely stoic. And the thing with stoic characters is that you obliterate any emotional payoff for the audience. It’s very hard to make an audience feel an emotional connection to a character’s story arc when they themselves don’t feel anything (I have a theory about this though, but I’ll address it a little later in this post). And then there is the issue of Blitzcrank. Blitz was Viktor’s whole world, after his exile. How are they going to swing that? Like, I’m not even asking for Blitz to be in Arcane (that would be great, but I really don’t think they have time). But I stg if they take Blitz away from Viktor, make them someone else’s invention (my suspicion is Heimer or he finds the idea in Sky’s journal)… I’m sorry but no. This was Viktor’s idea, Viktor’s genius. I will genuinely be extremely upset if they take that from him too.

Then there is the whole situation with Sky. First, this girl was fridged. She was nothing but a plot device and continues to be just that. It feels hollow and forced, especially now that he’s hallucinating her as some sort of penance for what he did. (I have seen the prevalent theory that it’s the Hexcore using her image and his guilt to manipulate him, given that it “ate” her, and we have seen it “manipulate” him before when it punished him for trying to destroy it). But back to Sky—he barely acknowledged that poor girl. The reason for that can be argued, whether it’s because he’s gay or because he was just so wrapped up in his one-track minded research. But regardless, there just wasn’t enough setup between those two for this whole thing to have as much weight and meaning as I think it’s supposed to. Honestly to me (TO ME) it reeks of comphet. It feels like that random woman they threw at Poe Dameron to No Homo him. I’m not even asking for Jayvik canon. But the creators were well aware of this ship, after all it’s the second most popular ship in this show and it’s been around since 2012 when Jayce was literally created for Viktor. I’m asking for the bare minimum here—that it’s left open-ended as it was in League, open for interpretation.

Last negative I have is the whole Viktor Jesus thing. The first problem is I am pretty violently agnostic, and messiah narratives have never spoken to me. I don’t enjoy them, they feel weak. The whole “ordained by a higher power” thing is just… stale. Especially when this character originally had no higher power, he gave it to himself through his own hard work and ingenuity. Honestly, Viktor’s original arc is about as far from a Jesus allegory as you can possibly get. And I am absolutely terrified that they’re going to end said Jesus arc the way you’d expect—with him dying for it. Which leaves the moral of his story “disabled man should have just accepted that he was going to die despite the fact that it was the oppression and xenophobia of Piltover that left him out to dry, without proper health care, accessibility, equality, or equity that lead to his terminal diagnosis to begin with.” Which is a very oppressor-centric narrative and we do not need another one of those.

Sorry, I know I said I’d keep the negatives brief, and that was… not. My bad. But moving on!

I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy it, I did. I am working to embrace this new Viktor narrative and work it into my brain in a way that doesn’t ruin the ship for me. So without further ado, the positives.

Jayce.

Jayce.

Jayce.

I’d have to go back and time it, but it feels like he got more screen time in this first act than the entirety of the first season combined, and his character shined for it. It humanized him in ways season one never did. He’s caring, he’s devoted, and he loved Viktor! No matter what kind of love you think it is, it proves he loved Viktor without a doubt. He carried Viktor several city blocks to the lab to save him, and then YES, he broke his promise about the Hexcore because he couldn’t stand the thought of losing him!

And he’s funny! (The scene where he picks up the regular sized hammer in the fight against Renni and made that “this is ironic” face?? And then basically the entire interaction with Ekko? The hand me a tome thing, and then when he basically pulled this when Ekko suggested “so this is all your fault cuz you pissed off the Arcane”:

GOD that shit was great. Jayce’s personality just shined, and maybe it’s too much to hope, but maybe this will douse a little of the hate. Because instead of being a subtle hint at all of those things being true about him, it’s now overt. And when people lack media literacy, the hints have to be overt.

And th-the. The h. The HUG SCENE. I don’t think I will ever emotionally recover from that scene. Starting with Viktor who, despite being clearly emotionally—I dunno, vacant I guess—sounded so lost and scared when he said “what am I?” For me, it was whispers of that scene from The Last Unicorn: “what have you done to me?” And my poor sweet Jayce, who clearly hasn’t left this damn lab except to go to Cassandra’s memorial. Sleeping on the desk and bleeding through his bandages because he doesn’t want to spend a moment away from Viktor while he “recovers.” And his euphoric response when he finds Viktor alive, when he realizes he hasn’t lost him. And I OWE HIM AN APOLOGY, goddamn. I said in a post that “Jayce will not understand.” I thought that was how Arcane was gunna start the divorce. But Jayce genuinely did not care, as long as his lover friend was alive. And just… Jayce being so affectionate through this entire scene. The hug obviously, but also blurting things he thought he’d never get to say to Viktor—“I’m resigning from the council, my place was always here in the lab with you.”

And… the hug itself. I know we’re all analyzing it frame by goddamn frame, but I see exactly what everyone else sees—there is a moment where Viktor very subtly smiles. But it’s gone in an instant, and it turns bittersweet. LOOK AT HIM.

There is something there, it’s just buried. Deep beneath the surface. It seems to say “I want this, I have wanted this for so long.” But then he realizes something, something I don’t think we’re meant to understand yet. Maybe that he doesn’t feel anything about it anymore, and he recognizes that this should upset him and it doesn’t. Or perhaps it’s something more along the lines of “it’s too late.” Whatever it is, I think this is the exact moment he knows he has to walk away. Because he knows he’ll cave to the affection, he said it himself. (Which is another thing entirely. His voice changes when he says that. Something in him is reacting to that word. Maybe he’s fighting against it, or maybe he’s fighting to get it back. But something made him almost growl that word.)

Which leads me to my final thought (for this post anyway, cuz it’s turning into a novel); Viktor is still in there. He can still feel things, I just think they’re extremely muted by whatever the Hexcore did/continues to do to him, or he has to fight to express them. Because he also smiled at the hallucination of Sky after he “cured” Huck. And if he feels nothing, he wouldn’t have been “joyous” at the thought of her being proud of him, approving of the good things he’s trying to do in her memory. He wouldn’t crave that validation, that vindication from her. So I’m hopeful that we start to see this shell crack a little, especially if those visions of Sky are the Hexcore manipulating him through guilt. It will start to erode him, no matter how stoic he has become. And literally the only thing I’m clinging to is that Jayce will see this and try to pull him out. “He’s still in there and I have to save him.” And that maybe it’ll start to work.

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

idk man been sifting through my feelings on all this. and i think what it comes down to is i don't really care/mind that there are non-canonical (BY DEFINITION, if it is not IN the media, it is not in the 'canon', and this info was in tweets) statements about Lucanis' sexuality being demi/ace/him being a virgin. and i'm glad for people who like to incorporate that into their headcanons about the game/interpretation of his character and expand on that more than the game itself does, like, this is our space now baby do what makes you happy!

but personallyyyyyyy i just do not think these new labels are some magic bandaid that solves the flaws in the pacing and writing of his romance. Lucanis never talking to Rook about his feelings as they get to know each other (but sure is willing to talk to Rook about his feelings for Neve if you don't romance him) is not solved, for me, by saying "well he wouldn't be attracted until he got to know you and also has no experience with sex". the same way calling it a "slow burn" did not solve this for me. especially because right up until release he was being advertised as a "bisexual mess". but now was secretly a "panromantic demisexual" the whole time. it just... idk. you can say anything you want online, you know? but if you don't Show Me... well. i also don't like that people who are saying 'well this was Not part of his story in the game so i don't see it' are getting labeled as anti-ace when like, many of the criticisms i am seeing are coming from people who are themselves demi/ace lol. it's not asexual representation bc it is not in the game itself. (though honestly. i AM glad that that was not jammed into his story arc, and that his quests were about his agonizing over his family and the fact that he's now bodysharing with a demon. because his writing was never going to get MORE lines, and to take away any of the ones he had to put in a sexuality arc beyond an offhand mention would have really crashed that because the existing writing barely holds together as is. like there just was not room to have more so personally i am not criticizing Mary Kirby for her decision not to add it. but you can't not add something and then also claim it's a definitive part of his character. plus i dont think a character needs to know/understand/use modern labels anyway).

and personally i DO prefer an awkward/fumbling Lucanis, to be clear. Before Veilguard came out I was never expecting the sexy antivan lover angle because we got that once already: Zevran. I didn't want poor-imitation Zevran, and bioware would not write Lucanis like that to make sure he is a more distinct character anyway. BUT i do think it's reasonable in a bioware game to expect that a romance is going to have romantic content--and the number of times after his cutscenes i literally said aloud "go girl give us nothing" after he failed to react to a flirt was pretty sad. If he's awkward and nervous give him a line where he stutters and doesn't know how to react, not just a blank stare and back to business, or whatever. Or a scene where you can literally ask "you never respond to my flirting do you want me to stop" and for him to say say he likes it but doesn't know how to reciprocate or. ANYTHING. Idk. I have seen 10 different posts/takes on how the Wall Lean Scene fits in, be it that he was imitating a romance novel or it was crow seduction training or he was just pretending because that's how he's seen Illario do it but at the end of the day. It is all just speculation because nothing in the game EVER addresses how wildly different the tone of that scene is from every other one of his romance scenes. And as much as i love the Sexy Wall Lean, given the rest of his characterization in EVERY other romance scene, i think I'm at a point where i think the romance would have been better served by cutting it out and having a different scene where you actually get to talk to him instead.

but! that is not the game we were given. we only have what we have, which is the Veilguard content by Mary Kirby, and The Wigmaker Job written by Courtney Woods (where for reference, he mentions stumbling into an orgy on a previous job, and having an "interesting" time getting out of that, so i already think we have 2 different interpretations of his character between them anyway). but yeah idk man to me "well he's ace" is not an excuse for either gaps in the writing or cut content or whatever was going on. because 1. HE IS NOT AN ACTUAL PERSON he is a storytelling vessel that i felt failed to satisfyingly communicate the entire romance story and 2. even if he was a person saying 'well in ace relationships communication sucks' would also be, not great, you know. everything beyond the text itself is just interpretation and headcanons

[ezra-editss]

Just watched X-men Apocalypse. What the hell.

Okay, so I kinda have a take on all this and idk if that's just how it feels to me, but that's what I wanna know. (I don't think this actually happened, but it's the vibes it is all giving)

So it started when I told my mom about First Class (keep reading I'm gonna get to apocalypse eventually) and we came to the conclusion that it feels like they wrote the script, looked at it again and thought:

"Hmm, this seems pretty gay.. Erik and Charles both have no female love interests and they have those lines that seem pretty romantic. Also, Erik seems almost obsessed with Charles at the end with how overprotective he is. Let's fix that!"

And then they gave both of them a kiss with a woman they weren't interested in and added the line "We're brothers, you and I" and then were proud of how well they "saved" it.

And then they made Days of Future Past and didn't even think of it, but when it came out they saw how people were shipping it and then they were like "oh shitt"

And in the first hour of the movie, I thought they were just doing all of this stuff to "erase" any potential gayness people thought there was and wanted to make sure nobody got the wrong idea about the recent movies. But it was more the reminder they like women, before the EXTREME GAYNESS in the second half.

(This is getting so much more unserious than initially intended💀)

Anyways, Apocalypse.

Either I missed something or Erik settling down and HIDING makes NO SENSE. In the last timeline it was 100% clear that he'd never stop believing in what he did, he would never stop fighting his war. So yes, this is a different timeline, but there is no reason given why he suddenly decides to try Charles way. He failed in Days of Future Past and Charles let him go, but there is no way that's enough. And they played this off like that isn't the thing they both wanted since forever and never seemed possible. Being on the same side. Erik switching to Charles side is insane, why wouldn't he talk to Charles in all those years then?

I can't believe they threw away everything that IS Erik, just so he had a reason to be angry enough to join the guy.

(They also died in such a weird/lame way)

And Charles and I still don't really know her name😭.. I have to admit the scenes where Charles was nervous were cute, but that's just because Charles is adorable. But in First Class she was obviously only there for the plot, in Days of Future Past, she wasn't even mentioned and in Apocalypse, she was, again, only there for the plot. She literally doesn't say anything the entire movie after the beginning. She has like two lines. And in the end fight, she's just standing there. And then Charles makes her remember and the flashbacks are soo bad, BC THEY HAD NO MOMENTS. (Especially bc you can compare it to Erik's flashbacks, we're gonna get to that)

(I don't think I have to say it, but to be sure. I have absolutely nothing against straight couples. I don't care if it's gay or not. But if one of them were a woman, I wouldn't be writing this. I just hate how often they prefer to write a heterosexual couple that has no chemistry at all instead of making the two guys/girls kiss.)

Let's talk about the ending. Sometimes when I talk about this stuff I'm a little worried that I interpret things wrong bc I want it to be like that and I'm not being objective anymore, but I was proven right so many times in this. When Mystique and Erik kissed in First Class, it felt really weird to me because Erik obviously had no interest in her. (I suppose it was to show her she's beautiful) And that was pretty much proven right when she talks to him and he barely reacts to what she's saying. I also thought that he probably didn't know Charles was dying, bc he wouldn't let that happen. Then Mystique says "Charles" and suddenly he does show a reaction and when she's gone, he has those god damn flashbacks. WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS ISN'T A ROMANTIC PLOT?😭 and then the specific one of Charles turning away and leaving him. (Could be a metaphor for Charles giving up on him) THAT'S WHAT GOT HIM.

And they make it even more clear when Mystique is dying and Erik doesn't react, but when Charles is dying, is when he steps in.

Ending was cute, but damnn the "you can make me do anything" was crazy.

(This turned out soo long, I've never been so obsessed with something.)

[beepboopkek]

— I will always come to your aid (AFAB!Reader)

AMAB!Reader has also been posted! including: Jing Yuan cw: !!NSFW!!, afab!reader, grammar and spelling errors possible, pwp but barely, hinted that reader has a s1ze k1nk, f1ng3r1ng, reader is a little sarcastic, still spreading my Jing Yuan is a Bastard (affectionate) agenda, masturbat1on, getting caught masturbat1ng, d1rty talk, cum eat1ng, no use of y/n, reader can be interpreted as the trailblazer but they are NOT stelle/caelus, safe sane and consensual w/c: 2k a/n: people liked strip starchess so much so here is another one of my brainrots... i dont usually like this troupe that much but i find myself excusing anything and everything for jing yuan so here we are. for my male reader likers i got u, its being posted right after this so you guys can enjoy too :3. also just remember that this is NOT stelle/caelus, its the you haha, i dont like shipping the raccoons with anyone as a personal pref so im just making that clear :3. anyways same warning as last time this is like my third time writing smut and also english isnty my first language. enjoy!!

The crisis on the Xianzhou Luofu was mostly over.

Which meant you had to leave the man you had fallen head over heels in love with.

Well— love may be an exaggeration but you weren't fucking around when it came to him.

Jing Yuan.

Your eyes had been hooked onto him the second you two met, his pleasant smile, his calm demeanor, his body—fuck, everything about him enamored you.

You could only wish that there was some other universe where he reciprocated your feelings.

You departed with a respectful nod of the head, despite wanting to smoosh your face between his pecs and cry about never getting to see them again.

The only hope that you did have though, was the jade abacus he had gifted you and your companions.

“No matter how astronomically distant you are, The Luofu Cloud Knights will always come to the aid of the Crew, whatever your need may be.”

Of course, his next sentence was to not use it for trivial matters when he saw March’s reaction, much to your amusement.

There was a discussion on who should keep the jade abacus, March being ruled out first much to her annoyance.

It landed between you and Dan Heng and given his history with the Xianzhou Luofu, he handed it to you.

That's how you ended up here, standing in front of your locked door with the abacus in your hand.

What if you grip it— You need to rinse your brain with cold water at this point…

You flopped onto bed, letting the exhaustion of the day seep into your bones as the plush blanket and pillows surrounded you.

You threw the abacus to your side, you'll take care of it later, not like you're gonna need it right now anyway.

Your mind flooded with images of Jing Yuan, his voice and everything you had been through together.

Fuck.

Your hand drifted towards your pussy, already feeling some wetness gathering at the thought of what you were about to do.

— Touch yourself to the thought of the General of the Cloud Knights on the Xianzhou Luofu, one of the most powerful beings to ever exist in history.

You shook your doubts away, he's just Jing Yuan to you.

You took off your shorts in record speed, tossing your panties along with it.

You never really touched yourself that often so you tried to imagine your hand being his instead.

You rubbed your clit, gasping at the cold touch of your fingers on the warm flesh.

How would he touch you?

He'd take his time, surely. He's not one to rush things— He'd work you open slowly for his cock—fuck, you're sure it's in proportion with how goddamn large his body is.

You moaned as you inserted two fingers inside you. You wanted to imagine Jing Yuan doing it, really, But, you also wanted an orgasm quickly so you can sleep. So, you just decided to go with imagining his voice talking to you.

You pistoned your fingers in and out, curling them at the spot only you could reach with your much smaller hands.

It was too intense, the thought of his deep voice guiding you through was enough to get your orgasm to graze along the edges of  your belly slowly, building up to be a strong one.

You grabbed the blanket next to you, gripping it tightly as you whispered Jing Yuan's name and continued thrusting your fingers inside you.

You swear the normal part of your brain recognised you gripping an object while gripping the blanket as well but you were genuinely too out of it to care in the slightest.

You're just about to orgasm when everything in your room rattles, as if there's an earthquake. 

Which should be impossible considering you are literally on a massive train that travels through space.

You let go of the blanket and sit up in shock, looking around to see what happened.

…With your fingers still inside you.

“Followers of the Nameless, I am here to assist you, tell me about the situ— Oh.”

You blinked.

Jing Yuan blinked.

Oh. Fuck.

You scrambled, ripping your fingers out and slapping your lower half with a pillow.

“J-Jing Yuan I-” 

You gulped, trying to calm your racing heart, you just got caught masturbating by your crush.

Life is going great.

Your cheeks and ears were beet red now, opening and closing your mouth as you tried to say something, anything to get you out of this situation.

Jing Yuan was just as surprised, if not astonished, by the scene that had unfolded in front of him.

He was finishing up some paperwork that Lady Fu had so kindly delivered to him in the Alchemy Commission when suddenly, the jade abacus he had clipped to his belt loop started vibrating.

Not one to panic, he quickly unhooked it and got it closer to his ear, so that he could hear what the Express were asking of.

What he didn't expect was to hear the voice of his crush, the one that he has acquired after decades of not entertaining any romantic relationships, whispering and calling out his name.

Okay, maybe now he should panic.

Without a second thought, Jing Yuan summoned his weapon and gripped the jade abacus back, signaling it to teleport him to your location.

Paperwork be damned he would rather lose a hundred years of his life if it mean you would be safe.

That landed him here, in front of a half-naked (and very surprised) you.

He dissolved his weapon into thin air and folded his arms against his chest.

“Well, this is a surprise.”

“Wow, you don't say.”

Jing Yuan raised an eyebrow at your tone.

“S-sorry, I don't know how you got here.”

An interesting turn of events.

“... Did you not call for me?”

“No, Why would I? Even if I did, how did you just…magically appear here?”

“Oh, dear.”

“What?”

“The jade abacus. I think you… I think you gripped it while you were…busy.”

He looked into your eyes and back down at the pillow that was barely covering your lower half.

“The jade aba—” 

You cut yourself off, turning to your side to where you had thrown it, only to find the wretched object to be in the center of your crumpled blanket.

“Fuck.” 

“Jing Yuan— I am so, so , so, sorry, I swear this was an honest mistake and I'll—”

Jing Yuan cut you off with the raise of his hand. “I forgive you.” “Really? Great let me j—”

“On one condition.” Of course there’s a catch. You sighed begrudgingly.

“What do you need help with?” “Quite the opposite, actually.” Your eyes widened but before you could let out your protests, Jing Yuan spoke up again. “You let me help you finish.” The gall of this man.You’re still going to take the chance that he doesn’t know what you were doing. “Finish what?”

You tried to sound innocent but your voice came out breathier than you wanted it to be. “Dont play coy now, you know exactly what I mean.” Your face burnt in embarrassment as you looked away. Jing Yuan dragged your desk chair and got it to the front of your bed before sitting down and making himself comfortable, propping one leg on the other and leaning back. “Go on, show me exactly what you were doing before I got here,hm?” “I can’t.” Jing Yuan paused, shit, had he misread the situation? Maybe he should—

“I can’t do it without you.” You had covered your red face at this point, way too embarrassed to look him in the eye while speaking. Jing Yuan just about lost it at that, abandoning all doubt and pouncing on you, grabbing your face to take you in a devouring kiss. He threw the pillow covering your bottom half in a random direction, quickly pecking you on the cheeks before pulling your hand over his. “Guide me.” You nodded shyly and pushed his hand towards your dripping pussy again. Fuck. His hands were just the way you imagined them. Warm and big, enough to hold your own two hands.

His hand (under your guidance and insistence) cupped your pussy and grinded the heel of his palm into your sensitive clit. “I’ve barely touched you, were you this wet while we were talking,hm? Did it turn you on to have me catch you in such an embarrassing state?” Jing Yuan whispered in your ear as he hovered over you and you thanked every aeon known for this opportunity because fuck, your imagination did not do any justice to how good the general was. Jing Yuan dipped the tip of his finger in your core, not entering but adding just enough stimulation for you to feel something there.

“Answer me.”

“No, I swear I didn’t, Jing Yuan, please—”

Jing Yuan smiled, he didn’t know you would be this easy to subdue.

He gently thrusted his finger inside, watching your face for any discomfort or resistance.

But, he was only met with your blissed out face, as you gasped in pleasure from his ministartions.

“Were you able to reach here?” He curled his finger upwards, hitting your sensitive spot just right.

You threw your hand over your mouth, pinching your mouth shut and praying, once again, to all the aeons you knew that the other passengers on the Express were dead asleep and couldn’t hear you. Granted, your room was the last in the carriage and had a decent amount of sound proofing but, you were still not risking it.

Your snapped out of your worries when Jing Yuan pushed in another finger alongside the one that was already in you.

“It looks like you’re getting distracted, maybe I’m not doing my job well enough?”

“N—Fuck, Its good, I’m sorry—Shit—”

Jing yuan simply kissed your head affectionately like he wasnt fingering you to hell and back right now and picked up the pace of his fingers.

Your hand was just gripping his wrist and you werent sure if it was to egg him to continue or get him to slow down and stop.

Maybe both.

Your head rolled back on the bed, exposing your bare neck to Jing Yuan as he immediately took the opportunity to cover your neck in kisses, Aeons be dammed. There's no way hes letting you walk out of this room unmarked and not carrying any proof of the evening you spent with him.

You gasped as your orgasm finally, finally overtook you. You shook in the general’s grasp as he continued thrusting his fingers in and out, drawing out the pleasure.

Taking his soaked fingers out, he popped them in his mouth, savouring the taste while you recovered from the intense bout of sensations you just went through.

You propped yourself up on your elbows again, looking at Jing Yuan owlishly as your head cleared from the horniness.

Jing Yuan only smiled at you before holding your head and kissing your forehead again before gathering you in his arms.

“Call me old fashioned or old but I do believe in the proper process of courting someone and,”

He looked into your eyes as he cupped your face in one palm and brushed the thumb along the seam of your chin.

“I think we skipped a few steps.”

“Yeah, no shit, general.”

He laughed at that, his chest shaking as the deep sound rumbled from his throat, you blushed again.

You were in the arms of the man you’ve wanted to kiss since you stepped foot on the Xianzhou ship.

You covered your burning face with your palms again as Jing Yuan’s laughter died down into little chuckles.

“We did all of that and youre getting shy now?”

“Shut up. You have no idea how much I’ve wanted this.”

“Wanted what? To get fingered by me?”

“No! — I mean that too, I guess, but I meant being held by you! Stop playing games, Jing Yuan.”

Jing Yuan only laughed as he took his free hand and grabbed your hands, turning them towards him one after the other and kissing the palm.

“I jest, I jest. But, I must stay here for the night. I’m afraid I cant travel back to the Xianzhou Luofu seeing as we aren’t closeby.”

You smiled.

Jing Yuan’s eyes twinkled in mischief right back at you.

“Be my guest.”

[wingedshadowfan]

⚠️arcane s2 act iii spoilers // criticism ⚠️

in caitlyn's post-war speech, she talks ambiguously of history and of ups and downs and of a story not yet over, but there's no promise for the future, no motivation to keep going, no bigger picture, no lesson learned. we're not shown much work being done either and i'm about to examine why it felt that way to me, leaving me a bit confused, somewhat unsatisfied, and deeply, profoundly sad

of course, jayce and viktor are dead. heimerdinger is gone, potentially also dead but unlike the latter two, we don't quite know what happened to him, he just kind of disappeared. i was left under the impression the were two ekkos - one for each universe, and our ekko's consciousness just changed bodies briefly due to the hexcore before heimerdinger managed to send him back to his own body in the right universe. but it seemed there was only one heimerdinger (body and soul) who'd traveled to the alternative universe as a package and lived there for a thousand years until our ekko came around in the alternative one's body, and instead of traveling back with him, heimerdinger's body and subsequently his consciousness ceased to exist. so... who's inventing things now? who's rebuilding piltover?

jinx and warwick (because there's no vander left there anymore, we made sure of that) are also presumably dead. we see how this is affecting ekko and vi, but not necessarily the undercity, for which jinx was a symbol of freedom, of unity - the perfect person who could've broken a cycle of violence, poverty and oppression. zaun doesn't get its sovereignty and seemingly loses its beacom of hope.

we see sevika as part of the council in piltover instead, but it's not like she's making merry with the other new counselors, in fact they throw her some nasty looks. and of course, i didn't expect it to be easy and it's admirable she's even there at all but unless i missed anyone, she's the only zaunite there out of 9 counselors (w/ zaun being 1/4 of piltover's population in canon afaik). i guess there's work to be done there but there was no indication of it even being able to go in a good direction, since she seems to have no backing from anyone now and again, we don't even know the extent to which the undercity managed to unify under her.

mel, a character always depicted in white and gold, an image of purity and mercy, defiant of her mother's brutality since childhood, now dons her red eyeshadow and sits on her throne on a ship for noxus. in an attempt to save her city, the city she was exhiled in to "learn" this brutality, to be hidden from the black rose from, and that's she's instead given her everything to care for (after barely getting the time to grapple with her own identity crisis and the predetermination of her fate) she's left no choice but to surrender her mother to the black rose, and watch her die in her arms. perhaps it is by virtue of noxian law she assumes her place and has to return to noxus. she leaves her beloved city in such a perilous and war-torn state, riddled with guilt and confusion. is she a wolf now? has she always been one?

ekko presumably grieves jinx by burning a piece of paper for her (my first thought was it was for heimerdinger, his "mentor" whose contributions and potential sacrifice made ekko coming back home possible, and with the time reversal device at that - but i interpreted it as being for jinx because it was in the place he kissed her alternate self in the alternative universe). what of ekko's future, of his commune? what happened to the tree getting corrupted? heimerdinger had plans to fix it with jayce's help or at least find the sickness' origin (the hexcore, yes, but we don't know if what happened to the tree got reversed), instead they found out the undercity was completely reliant on piltover's mercy for their water and air, and this knowledge seems to have died with them (bcuz i doubt ekko has the power to do anything about it).

caitlyn's looking at the kiramman house files, including city plans, potentially to rebuild things after the war but how? first of all, what are they gonna do with the hextech, the weapons, the gates, the magic in general? would they even want to try that again, and what implications would this have for piltover and zaun individually but for their precarious newly founded relationship? and secondly, she's a policewoman/detective turned anti-civil-war-commander turned just war commander, she's not an engineer or a scientist. all those ones? gone. all the people we know of who could rebuild the city in its previous progressive state are gone - jayce, viktor, heimerdinger, even jinx as a technological wildcar in vi's words. caitlyn seems to be telling the story or archiving files and plans for any future kirammans but she doesn't seem to have any work of her own to do anymore.

vi is the saddest case here, which says a lot. she's lost everything and is completely devoid of purpose. it's okay not to be okay, but what she says to caitlyn completely destroys me (and i'll do a separate, more detailed post but this shall do for now). she's depressed. easily. she's grieving jinx, humming a song her mother used to sing to them, the same one jinx was humming when we first saw her this season. when she says, "I'll always be dirt under your fingernails, cupcake." she isn't being cute, flirty, or romantic. she's being self-deprecating, indicating she deems her presence a nuisance to caitlyn, she deems herself unworthy and unwelcome in her house, but it's not like she's going anywhere. where else could she even go? caitlyn is all she has left. that's what she means when she says, "nothing's ever gonna clean me out", but perhaps even more so, she implies she's beyond repair, that she'll never be whole, never be truly okay again after this.

(the only person who got a "happy" ending, and the reason why this pisses me off is because he was truly vile and wicked and idc abt his motivations i will not be convinced otherwise, was fucking singed, who somehow got to have his immortalized robot daughter despite everything)

[literallys-illiteracy]

Theories and notes from HTP: Something is Wrong with Horse, and The Fueds of our Fathers

This will be both a compilation of notes and details, alongside various theories that I have seen regarding *that*, as well as my own theories on the subject.

This is being written on 15/12/24, following the "Disciplines" episode, and any theories may become obsolete with the release of future information

Ok lets start off with the first note(s) I had when first watching this episode.

Horse's name is, similar to the rest of our primary cast, a reference to If the Emperor had a TTS, specifically Horus being the favourite son. Despite this however, I doubt that this is anything more than an easter egg or red herring, as making this show a full transference of TTS is kind of lame, however "Horse's" eyes later in the log are also seemingly a reference to the eye of Horus (warhammer, not the Egypt one).

Horses cannot throw up, nor regurgitate. That being said, Horses can cough, and if undergoing pulmonary bleeding, may indeed cough up blood (or phlegm in the case of other infections).

Ok time for the actual prophecy.

What is it Thoust (thou hast; you've) see...? Doth (do) thine (thy; your) eyes... see it... Oracle? Gaze into... mine crimson miasma (pollution, in reference to horse's blood).

Ok once again, two notes. Horse is using archaic middle english, a trait common in a decent amount of prophecies, however, I am going to be a pretentious prick and try to pinpoint the time period Horse may be from given these words used.

Thy/Thine/Thou are between late-middle English and early-modern English, being used in the time frame of 1300-1800's.

Miasma comes from greek, and was used in medical theory between 400-1800's.

So with these time frames, I can say with certainty that Horse is at least 3, potentially older.

Ok now for the "oracle" part. An oracle, in MTA, is a mage who has undergone ascension (When the subtitle of the game is "The ascension" you can guess this is probably a big deal).

Ascension is poorly defined on purpose, lacking any strict mechanisms or mechanics, as it is the job of the ST to define for their game and players, however in essence Ascension is the absolute pinnacle of magedom.

An ascended is somewhere between a human and a divinity, usually, as the name implies, having transcended their mortal shell for that of pure spirit and power, though not all have.

In real life, oracle has two meanings for a noun. The first is the oracle themselves, being one who divines, seers, or prophecies the future in some way shape or form. The latter is an off note that in archaic use, Oracle is also a noun used to refer to the prophecy itself. eg. "Mine Oracle (person) hath gave this oracle (prediction) to the court."

My point is is that the running consensus (I hate talking about WoD because I have a compulsion to clarify stuff like this, the Consensus is a term in MTA for the standard agreement of reality) of Boy being in some way the reincarnated immortal soul of an ascended mage is not necessarily correct, as Boy's simple ability to see the images in the blood marks him as an "Oracle" in the non MTA sense, however it could go either way in this regard.

Thine (your) Faeder, laid bare... Dessicated upon the rocks, by thy hand... The Abbot will know

Faeder, meaning father (old english, 1055+) is most likely to refer to door, as any other character is by far stretching the meaning. Note that Boy is not adopted, stated by the HTP creators.

Laid bare is an interesting line, as it can be interpreted two ways, either physically laid bare in some way, having been defeated in some way, or being "Laid Bare" in the sense having his secrets come to light. Note that in the latter understanding, though we know little about door, it may make more sense for this section to refer to D, as "thy/thine" are used in the same manner as "Your", being applicable to a larger group that one is a part of, and as "Father" is the name both Door and Markus refer to D as -- This note is being made very specifically due to D's obvious secrecy towards the world of the supernatural.

Dessicated is an interesting word to use, as the literal meaning is in essence to "Make dry", though being a word often used in substitute of "kill". I am making the assumption this time that it is in reference to Boy specifically, though not directly being the person or creature who drains them (that would likely be... yknow, the vampire), Boy is responsible for either D or Door's state in this prophecy.

"The Abbot will Know"

This returns as a recurring phrase in the prophecy, marking the Abbott as some form of major figure in this series of events.

This use of a recurring phrase is also reminiscent of poems and songs within horror writing, such as Cassilda's song within The King in Yellow, each stanza ending with a mention of "Carcosa", or H.P Lovecraft's poems "The Bride of the sea" and "Nemesis", which use a similar technique, ending the poem with a phrase appearing close to the start, "my Unda, the Bride of the Sea.", and "And I struggle and shriek ere the daybreak, being driven to madness with fright." respectively. That wasn't in any way related, I just think its neat.

"The Abbot" or "The Prior" (which is among the two reasons I have to stop myself from using prior in the other "before" sense.) is a member of the Sabbott who manages the permanent territory or "Haven" for cainite packs, in contrast to nomadic "Wandering packs of sabbott hooligans" as D puts it. Considering the fact that, when we found Peter and his pack in the tunnels it was referred to as "The Launchsite of the crusade" by Kevin, as well as the fact that Shitbeard later claims they need to "Build up their bases", we can safely assume that a somewhat permanent residence was planned for the tunnels.

QosmicVoid, in his, better, analysis of theories, posits that the "Abbot" referred to is potentially the Regent or Prince, which are both abjectly wrong, the Regent being a member of the Camarilla, and thus not the Sabbot, and the Prince being Caine, who... no. (This is not to say that the video is bad or wrong, it's almost certainly better than this in every way.)

The last option is a Vampire that we haven't seen yet, which I personally believe is also wrong. We have seen her. We go by the assumption that the Abbot is a woman, despite the term Abbot traditionally being masculine, for two main reasons, the first being that later in the prophecy there is a line regarding "Her Gullet", the second of which being

Uh. This.

She is referred to in the credits as "The Monk". Abbot is historically a term used to refer to the leader or owner of a monastery of monks/nuns.

Note before I sound hypocritical, I am more than fine with the characters being based on their TTS counterpart, just as long as they're not 1:1 imitations.

This is a character who *technically* lacks a TTS counterpart, instead being most directly parallelled by The Emperor's WFB character the "Shaman Queen". What make of this? no clue, as per usual.

Her placement as "the Abbot" is also reinforced by the fact that she is simply observing the hunters, "The Abbot will know", mayhaps not because she is directly involved in each instance, but instead because she is observing from a distance.

Also final note, the story of the tunnels itself begins with tales of a priory, alongside the monks within, making specific mention of "Bizzare alchemical experiments".

Ok back to Horse.

Of two, one falls... One rises. Damnation. The third eye opens. His suet will feed and warm her gullet. The Abbot, will know.

This line means everything and nothing with how it is written. I know whoever at Ogre Poppenang is laughing their ass off at people trying to discern meaning from whatever this is.

Of two, one falls, one rises.

This is the keystone line of this section, and it entirely depends on who the "Two" is referring to.

Boy and Markus, both implied to be mages. Blacklaw and D, ancestral blood fiend. Kitten and Mark Kitten and Grimal The Abbot and (anyone) D and Kevin Kevin and The Abbot

We know almost nothing. The only thing that I am basing this on in current is the lines following in this section.

"damnation" "third eye" and the mention of "His Suet (innards)" and "Her Gullet (mouth)".

From the third section, we can assume that the "of two" in some way refers to:

A vampire or creature, referred to as "She"

A person referred to just as "He" or His.

We can also assume vampire from the use of the term "Damnation", as in VTM, when someone is childed, their soul is forever forfeited by god due to being marked by Caine.

The only vampires that fit the bill (That we are aware of currently) are The Abbot and The Regent, with the potential for Grimal, Polydora, Carmilla, or any other unseen character, though it would be poor writing for it to be someone introduced too late, so i'm personally discounting anyone past the Markus pub audiolog.

As another, very odd note to make, the use of the word "falls". This *WILL* return in later theorycrafting closer to the end.

"The third eye opens". Another line that gives me an embolism.

"The third Eye" is a real life term, often used meaning the ability to perceive something others cannot in some way; some form of precognition, vision, or out of body experience; The pineal gland, responsible for creating melatonin, the eepy chemical; and more, which will be discussed in a bit.

The third eye has a unique symbology in Vampire. The Salubri are known as the "Cyclops", a bit of a misnomer considering they have three eyes, due to their clan's primary trait being their possession of a third eye on their forehead, one which cries vitae on using disciplines.

The Salubri were indirectly mentioned by D in the Kevin audiolog, more specifically their relation to Clan Tremere, as their antediluvian Saulot was diablerised by Tremere. Saulot is significance due to his (and his clan's) connection to the concept of Golconda, or freedom from "The beast", a path revealed by the angel (foreshadowing) Gabriel to Caine, and later achieved by Saulot himself.

The primary theory regarding Kevin is that D plans to being Kevin to this state of Golconda, which in Saulot resulted in his third eye forming, however at the same time, most (in universe) lore regarding achieving this state has been lost following Saulot's consumption.

This leads me in circles, because now we have two major links to who these "two" may be, but at the same time, due to the variable and potentially metaphorical meaning to each line of this section, there is no definite information gained.

The third eye does not need be in reference to Kevin, as it can be used in a less literal sense referring to Markus, Kitten or Door becoming viscerally aware of what D has been hiding; to Boy's seeming prophetic nature, (See Boy Audiolog); or to Markus's past encounter with a "??????????" creature. (foreshadowing is a literary device in which-)

The only reason that I am unsure about Golconda is because the Saulbri are incredibly rare, rarely accepted by the Camarilla nor the Anarchs, and being diametrically opposed to the Sabbot. Golconda is so strongly linked to the Salubri by its very nature, and I'm not sure if I like D being as aware of everything as he is, the most impactful moment in the series to me is the end of the second Kitten log for this same reason, D's first open moment of uncertainty. as all things, this entirely varies on how well it is written, but the one thing I am confident in is the fact that the writers have a plan, and I trust in their process.

The Patriarch, in mastering Luna, ends hamstrung... He will wish death upon his flesh... But no mercy shall be given, For none he hath gave.

This is the first time that the subject of the prophecies clause has been simply titled as "The" other than The Abbot. "The patriarch" can refer to a few people, the most likely from current information being either Door or D. Considering the fact that Horse refers to "The" patriarch, D is in my opinion more likely, however the following lines make me uncertain in this regard.

The odd theory is Blacklaw being the patriarch, and elaboration will come for that.

This line also mentions "Luna", which means moon. In werewolf, "Luna" is the name that the Garou use to refer to the spirit of the moon (which is also the physical actual moon, destroying the spirit would also destroy the literal moon).

Mastering Luna could have many meanings, about... 3 maybe. The only problem is the fact that it is very specifically "The patriarch" who masters Luna.

Luna is one of the many sources of the werewolves rage, potentially this patriarch is a character who calms down, mentors, or combats a werewolf (we'll get to werewolves later in the EP 4 discussion).

There is the potential that this patriarch is, in some way shape or form, a Fera in their own right. (note, Though the Garou (werewolves) are the most directly linked to Luna, she also acts as the patron for many and most Changeling (fera) breeds, which causes said changeling's shared weakness to silver, such as Werebears (foreshadowing). If a changeling breed is instead blessed by the sun, they are weak to Gold)

Third, the concept of moon paths or moon bridges could exist as "Mastering Luna", in some way, this patriarch could be seeking to utilise these moon pathways in order to transport themselves easier.

"ending hamstrung" just means that said patriarch becomes crippled in some way, if we take this literally, and if Ogre Poppenang does want to take the parallels further, then this could potentially be the crippling of D onto the throne, specifically by the "Lunar Wolves" as the Sons of Horus were named. I do not like this too much, but eh, once again, the literal meaning of hamstrung is cutting ones hamstrings, which would render someone chairbound or crippled.

The only thing that dissuades the concept of this being D is the latter lines, mentioning "No mercy he hath gave", when D's entire characterisation has been his mercy in comparison to the other hunters, having an honest conversation with Kevin while the others organise a death gauntlet for example.

The rising three shall signal wars end. Woe and triumph. The Abbot, will know.

This line is mostly filler, just the general "Bad shit happens" kind of line.

The rising three is weird, because it has the potential to refer to the triat? No comment to this, as there is the easy potential for this "three" to refer to someone else, especially as the Weaver and Wyrm are in direct conflict, so referring to them as the singular "Three" is odd, as the Wyld is, too, being consumed by the other Triat.

From them... bloodshed. Armageddon for all. Kine, Kindreds, Garou, Milklings, Elohim, In the light, they all will-

Ok so, there are like 5 notes in this section.

The first is the use of the term armageddon, as another term that has meaning in World of Darkness, being an "end times" scenario wherein forces of magic fight and destroy the entirety of existence. This is related to the Triat, but, once again, note that this may not refer to the actual MTA armageddon, and may instead be used as a term for "Bad shit happens".

In this list, Horse mentions "Kine, Kindred", which refers to humans and vampires respectfully, however, these are terms use **EXCLUSIVELY** by vampires, Kine being an archaic word for livestock, and Kindred/Kin being in reference to blood relation or being of the same "kind". The fact that Horse uses these terms might mean... something? I don't know what to make of this, especially considering the implications of what "else" he could be.

Garou means werewolves, Fera is the term for all changelings in whole, so this is directly targeting werewolves for some reason, likely for convenience or because it made a better sounding omen to anyone who doesn't know these terms.

Milklings means fae-creature, related to the folklore regarding Fae and milk, often used as an insult of sorts. I do not remember the full reasoning behind Fae being linked to milk in real life folklore, but I vaguely remember the fact that they are.

Finally. Elohim. Meaning "Godly being". Elohim in WoD is used to refer to Angels, more specifically, those who did not rebel against god, Elohim who rebelled against God are instead referred to as "Fallen".

Ok time to talk about "One falls, one rises". This line could very well be in reference to this, as the major meaning behind fallen is the fallen angel, however there is one other meaning which may be the case. Fallen mages are mages who, rather than ascending, "Descend", and act as forces of entropy and wish to destroy the entire existence.

Now, the mention of the Elohim here is VERY FUCKING CONCERNING. There are almost no people who are meant to be aware of the existence of the Angels, with only two true Elohim remaining (according to lucifer) (thanks satan), with both God and the rest of the Elohim simply not being present when the Fallen escaped the abyss (foreshadowing). More notably, this appears to be something that D himself is unaware of, as seen in later logs, disparaging the idea of "Creationism" "The god part (probably)" etc. Which is odd, considering that he acknowledges the existence of Cain, who is entirely a biblical character, alongside the use of Holy Water.

Basically only the fallen, and certain mages from what i remember, are aware of the Angel's existence, which leads to the primary theory as to what the fuck is a Horse.

Aside from the fact that Horses aren't real, there is clearly something wrong here, most likely a form of demon or demonic possession. Note that not all fallen are necessarily malevolent, as there exist Fallen who still refer to themselves as Elohim, seeing themselves wrongfully banished, and this could be the case.

The blood, alongside the fact that Horse is very clearly wrong, with his eyes being the same as the Warhammer Eye of Horus, I personally believe this is the case, but there are other possibilities, such as Horse just being like that, or a Fae fucking with Boy.

Ooook part 2:

The Feuds of Our Fathers:

ok lets start with the obvious, who's the ghoul?

I personally think that its Grimal, mostly due to her connection to the arcanum for a long time, alongside her mentioning of crawling through the vents, and her placement in the security room during the interlude.

Her connection, attachment, and friendship with many people in the arcanum is likely the reason that Occam was unharmed while Fatigue was detonated.

Occam's name is the only wrench in this theory, as it is of course a reference to Occams razor, which states that the simplest answer is likely the most accurate, alongside Spit's erratic behaviour through the episode.

However that being said, we are given an explanation, he was out of Ritalin (adhd meds). Ritalin is a stimulant which is in essence a less severe form of meth or cocaine, being used to treat narcolepsy and ADHD, which is highly addictive and can very easily cause major withdrawal symptoms (I'm not your psychiatrist but also it generally isn't good to have these symptoms for withdrawal, and dependency may be a sign to consider a different form of medication).

Due to it's high metabolism, one may suffer withdrawals faster than many other drugs which act as long term release.

Ok tangent over.

The only other note that I have about Grimal, and the only specific note I have against the theory of her being the Ghoul is her name itself and it's inspiration.

Grimal's name is inspired by the word Grimalkin, which is a word meaning Cat, but which also is used to refer to Fae creatures, most notably those which... are cats. I have seen the concept of Grimal being a Fae creature which is gaining Glamor from Anime, which theoretically makes sense, but narratively does not make as much sense, other than Kitten's past interactions with Fae, speaking of which.

In Horse Audiolog, Kitten tells the story of his induction into the world of the supernatural, and as far as I can tell given the information we have, the creature that Kitten fought was a Fae creature, rather than a Vampire.

Credits out to "World-Jumper575" on youtube for saving me the trouble of articulating my point as they have made a similar observation, specifically a Redcap.

Their points are as follows:

"Notice the poor girl was being eaten, not drained of blood. While there is one clan that eats flesh, Naharaja are extremely rare especially in England. Meanwhile redcaps love nothing more than eating red bloody chunks of a person. They have the ability to eat anything and widen their jaw as far as needed to do it. They are eternally hungry, always looking for the next meal, sometimes snapping and just killing someone if it's been too long."

Note that, while Changeling is not my expertise, from what I remember the eating of humans is shunned by most.

We have hints the bloke eating her was seen during the day, wich helps confirm that he's not a vampire; all of them burn in the sunlight.

Notice that the creature tried to talk and reason first, even to the point of baffling politeness over a gristly horrific murder. Due to the Masquerade, no vampire would ever think to kindly ask you to leave; that's a masquerade violation, they'd just kill the interloper. A Changeling still sees themselves as human (well, half human) and have no concept of the Masquerade. This bloke just interrupted my meal, so would you kindly leave me alone, I haven't quite finished yet, thank you. The fact the meal is another person might not even cross the Redcap's mind. He was hungry, so he ate. Simple as.

Finally, it's important to note that Kitten didn't just kill the creature by impaling on a fence: he impaled the monster on an iron fence. Fae famously are weak to cold iron, or wrought iron. It's one of the few ways to truly kill a changeling. When a changeling dies, it's fae soul is reborn into a new body with some memories intact. Cold iron can kill this fae soul and stop their ability to be reborn ever again. Kitten was lucky enough to have the one tool needed to kill off the exact thing he was fighting even with no knowledge of what he was facing.

Uuh now we talk about Fera.

Matilda is most likely some form of changeling breed, here to target Blacklaw, as he mentioned hunting werebears, which are notably docile if you aren't fighting with them, so this may be the case. there really isn't much to say that hasn't been discussed already by the community at large.

[bestworstcase]

What specifically makes you say that the Ozpin circle is basically a cult?

not "basically" a cult—it is a cult.

ozpin's inner circle is a religious organization dedicated to safeguarding four divine relics entrusted to their leader, who is literally the god of light's chosen one, until he deems humanity prepared for the final judgment. its notionally secular nature likely exists because ozma figured out that publicly doing this:

“The others cheered in agreement. The man considered. He had wanted to bring people together, and his efforts were finally bearing fruit. The accidental experiment was working, far better than any attempts he had planned in his previous lifetimes. “The people here believe in magic, though many have never seen it,” she said. “If you show everyone that it’s real, that the man with infinite lifetimes has returned as he promised—” [...] “She shook her head. “We trust in you and the fate you’ve laid out for us. We believe in the good of people and our shared responsibility to protect one another and Remnant. So many have heard our stories about you, but now you’re here, in the flesh. Your presence is living proof that everything you’ve said is true. It reinforces our beliefs and commitment to the Circle. Together, now, we will make ready for the final judgment.” [...] “And for a time, all that the woman had said seemed to come true. Many more followers flocked to Circle and their reputation and message spread all throughout Remnant. This was what he was here for, he thought. Perhaps, in the end, he would be able to rest.”

inevitably leads to conflict because, surprise! people don't like being told what to do by eschatological cults!

but ozpin's circle is not in fact secular—ozpin tells his hand-picked loyalists that the gods he serves are the Only True Gods and the whole point is that he's working to fulfill the mandate given to him by the god of light. the huntsmen academies are, inescapably, a religious institution.

moreover ozpin's circle is a cult not just in the broader sense of being religious in nature and dedicated to worship of a particular god but also in the narrower modern connotation of a high-control group organized around a charismatic leader. this is not a matter of interpretation; this is overt text. half the point of pyrrha's arc in V3 is to reveal this fact.

members of his inner circle are expected to work in absolute secrecy and—evinced by the antagonism between qrow and ironwood in V2-3, and the immediate suspicion of lionheart in V5—subject to intense scrutiny by other members against the possibility of betrayal. likewise, pyrrha is deliberately isolated from her peers (primarily through secrecy) and put under immense pressure when ozpin et al attempt to recruit her as their next fall maiden—all without informing her of anything beyond the very bare minimum facts of what they want her to do. "we can fill you in on the details once we know that you're with us."

and like. with the way those scenes in V3 are framed, with the very direct line drawn between ozpin's ruinous paranoia and secrecy and preoccupation with betrayal and ironwood's ruinous obsession with loyalty, and with the whole thing where the narrative continues to highlight how deeply and profoundly traumatized everyone who comes into contact with the inner circle ends up being... like, this is the intended reading. it is so unsubtle.

salem's circle is also a cult in the religious sense—she's, er, very explicitly receiving cult from tyrian and i would argue at least notionally from the others as well—and while it remains to be seen to what extent tyrian's belief that she would send him to hunt down anyone who left is grounded in reality, at a minimum she doesn't bother to do anything about it so the implicit threat is there to keep people in line.

[shsl-analyzer-guy]

I'm feeling like being controversial today. Here, take some DR character opinions. Clutch your pearls besties

17- Makoto. I feel nothing for this character, in any positive or negative direction. To me, he's only ever been the vessel for which THH takes place for the player. That's kind of it. Bro is just chilling. (Note: these opinions are exclusive to the THH game.)

16- Leon. He suffers from what I like to call chapter 1 syndrome. Not only was he killed extremely early, but he had no plot or character significance before or after the fact in-game. I think the idea of a character that hates their talent is really interesting, and his design slaps, but he just didn't have any sticking power for me.

15- Yasuhiro. He's got funny moments here and there (the ghost bit in the ch 5 trial never fails to make me laugh) but he has no story. They don't do anything with him besides 'stupid occult man' jokes, and I can't help but feel like there was wasted potential to do something with his fortune-telling talent that was only ever used as another gag of his stupidity. Disappointing as a character, but at least he was around longer than Leon.

14- Byakuya. Asshole characters are always hit-or-miss for me, and Byakuya missed by a ton. I know he *technically* got showed up during the chapter 4 trial, but getting upstaged once and acting like nothing happened afterwards isn't enough of a character arc for me to find him surviving over so many others in the cast worth it. He's also just pretty weak as an antagonist in comparison to the others in the series(not to mention there was an objectively better option for antag in this very cast). He's the type of character I'd probably like way more in like, Ace Attorney, but here I just got so sick of hearing him speak.

13- Hifumi. I can appreciate the attempt to make a subversion of the 'perverted nerd' character, but they failed the second they actually made him a perverted nerd, even if they gave him that bare minimum ideal of rape being bad. Fanon interpretations of what could've been prop him up for me a good bit, too.

12- Mukuro. Similar to Makoto, she feels like a character that exists to serve a narrative purpose, and we never really meet her as herself in-game. Unlike Makoto, we actually got FTEs playable in the post-game that allude to a greater story with her and her doubt in despair that makes her retroactively more tragic and adds both to herself and her sister.

11- Toko. They just didn't do enough with her in THH to warrant me placing her any higher than this. I think the differences between her and Genocider are interesting, and I wish they'd been given more growth in the game instead of spending the entire game post-chapter 2 pining over and stalking Byakuya. Toko gets ranked lower because she wasn't as fun to have onscreen and I got sick of her insisting people disliked her for being ugly, even though she's pretty conventionally attractive beyond having glasses.

10- Junko. She was an incredible mastermind twist and had a ton of charisma and presence in the final trial, from her sprites to the VA's performance, but they just didn't use her enough to warrant putting her any higher than the characters above.

9- Mondo. I like the characters he's attached to more than I do Mondo himself. I like the 2-sided coin of toxic masculinity they write between him and Chihiro, and I love his relationship with Taka, but I just don't care much for him outside of what he provides for those characters. He's fine.

8- Genocider. Basically everything I said with Toko, but she's way more entertaining from her cheery and violent personality and is just more expressive and fun. I got excited whenever she came onscreen because I knew I was about to have a good time.

7- I don't think you could change Kyoko's role in the story much at all without drastically altering the game as a whole. Makoto may be the POV, but Kyoko is undoubtedly the main character of THH and not only is she the most capable member of the class, but her growth as she opens up to Y/N Makoto and puts her faith not only in the absolute truth, but also hope is beautiful to watch, especially as we get to learn the mystery of who she is and where she came from. In another world, she'd be my #1, but I've never actually shed tears for her so she ends up as low as 7th.

6- I'd say from an objective standpoint, Sakura is probably the most well-written character in THH. Her internal conflict as she's forced to play the role of spy paired with her rapidly growing relationship with Hina as she finally, finally finds someone that sees her as the woman she so desperately wants to be acknowledged as, growing past her greatest weakness- her fear- to stand up to Monokuma, and having to take the role of a fighter on for a class of people that hated her to be both victim and killer, freeing her classmates from having to become either- I think I've made my point. I still wish we'd gotten that 3rd-person fighter about Sakura.

5- When I went into THH, I fully expected Hina to be a dumb blonde character for the entire game, with no substance beyond her character design. Maybe that low expectation was what made her shoot so high up my list. She wasn't the smartest character, sure, and the game definitely focuses on her body an uncomfortable amount, but she still has an incredible arc in her relationship with Sakura. Her depiction of grief is so deeply emotional, and her sense of justice, which up until then had been alluded to but never put into her hands, became a weapon that almost took down the entire class with her tears. Not only does she lose her best friend, but she's then manipulated by Monokuma to make that pain so much worse by pinning the blame for her loss on everyone around her and herself. Her attempt of a murder-suicide of the entire class followed by the reading of Sakura's real will and her guilt and regret afterwards is one of the strongest moments of the series. I've always thought if Makoto didn't exist, Hina would've been a great choice for a protagonist for this game, since she starts with that same optimism and easygoing ability to make friends that Makoto does, but is a strong character in her dedication to her sports and fierce love of those closest to her.

4- As a trans man, Chihiro's story was a lot like looking in a mirror, especially when I was playing the game as someone who'd only just started opening the closet door. His insecurities due to his body and his attempts to forcibly feminize himself to receive acceptance and masquerade as something he wasn't was something I was intensely familiar with, and the tragedy of his finally gaining enough confidence to open up to a close friend and seek out help to try and become his true self, only to be betrayed by said friend and killed before he ever got the chance, was one of the best personal gut punches I've gotten from this series. Regardless of the transphobia and misogyny written into said storyline, he's a character I'll never not relate to. There's a ton to dive into with Chihiro's character writing, and he's one of those characters I can tear into like a raw steak and go not only into how he's treated by the show, but also by how many ways there are to write him better than the game actually did and all the different ways different corners of the fandom have treated him. (Also, to be clear, I'm not opposed to transfem Chihiros hcs, I'm using he/him bc that's what's canon.)

3- Taka. My beloved boy, underrated outside of his relationship with Mondo. I'll defend this man until the day I die, and will always believe he should've been a member of the surviving cast over Hiro. His constant uphill battle with trying to connect with and protect his classmates only to fail at every turn from his lack of understanding of social norms, going as far as to rationalize hobbies as a form of studying in his first FTE, and his pure joy in finally connecting with someone being decimated by the reality that that man went on to be a killer is so powerful. Watching him completely snap and go near comatose, only being pulled out of stasis by the news that an AI of Chihiro still exists and begging for forgiveness for not being able to prevent his death was shattering, and his fusion with his perception of Mondo pushing him over the edge only to be killed unceremoniously in the background of Celeste's plan was infuriating. This man struggled and clawed his way through the first half of the game for whatever scraps of screentime the creators would leave him, and then they tossed him out when they couldn't think of anything better to do. Justice for my man!!!

2- Celeste. Remember when I said there was a character more well-suited for the role of antagonist than Byakuya in this game? Well, this is she. Not only would she have worked as a narrative foil to the player, as Makoto and Celeste are both in the class for their luck-based talent, but she would've had a much more powerful and thematic rivalry with Kyoko, the girl who seeks out absolute truth, as the girl who wraps herself in a veil of lies. I already found her fascinating as she was, having a character that's unashamedly a bad person and follows her own ideals with no regard for the effects on the rest of the class beyond how easy it'd be to manipulate them, but her lack of regard for the class trials and refusal to cooperate could've been how she functioned as an antagonist, refusing to help the group when it didn't immediately serve her or intentionally leaving out details that put her in a bad position. Essentially, she'd function as an antagonist in a way inverse to how Kokichi functioned, which not only would've been phenomenal for THH, but for the parallel storytelling V3 later goes on to employ. That said, that's all hypothetical, but even without all of that, she's still an intriguing character that I can't stop thinking about.

1- Sayaka. I hated Sayaka when I first started playing, not because of anything she was doing, but because I didn't like how the game was seemingly gluing her to Makoto's hip. I didn't like having to slough my way through tutorial after tutorial going through her to talk to the entire rest of the class, and I didn't like being forced to burn my first FTE on her when there were other characters I wanted to learn about. I cheered when I found her body because it meant I wouldn't have to jump through hoops to speak to the other characters anymore. All that hatred dissipated as the first trial took place. Taking the cutesy sidekick girl and making her not only the first victim (something that was huge for the genre at the time) but also going on to reveal that she was actively betraying us and plotting to frame us for murder to save herself and her fellow idols was a genius move. Since then, Sayaka has become a stronger presence in my mind for this series, and her impact on the series as a whole can't be overstated. She put the first killing game into motion. She carried with her the first despair, and inspired the first hope from Makoto. Her desperation for a dream she had to fight tooth and nail for, that desire to hang onto her dream that'd kept her going for so long pushes forward everything. 11037 became a staple point for the series and the fandom, not just because of the poor western translation, but also because that was her point of regret, the guilt that stopped her from killing Leon successfully and ultimately saved everyone, her final moments being to save Makoto and the others. Every moment spent with her at the beginning is designed not just to make her seem like the desirable sidekick girl, but also to weave into your perception of her the darkness she carries on the inside, the dedication and determination to remain liked and retain her fame by any means necessary, feigning being agreeable yet still unwittingly developing genuine feelings for someone who's nothing but genuine. The money I'd pay for a prequel anime about Sayaka's rise to the title of SHSL Idol is unreasonably high.

[imaginesofeverykind]

Countermeasures

Dark Wizard! Sebastian Sallow x Baroness Reader |PT.1|

Summary: Another wizard darkens the doorstep of the Stone family Chataeu to win the favour of the Baron's daughter, only you are not the young woman people suspect you to be despite your fathers infamy as a dark wizard, you are much worse.

Word Count: 5.2k

Warnings: Implied assault/SA (not written that way but i can see how it would be interpreted as such), time period mention of child brides/young brides

A/N: I wanted to explore being a darker counterpart, not necessarily 'evil' but something thats like the evil couple who would kill for each other type beat.

”My Lady! Quickly!” The servant girl hollered in an attempt to capture your attention. It was a dreary morning as the fog settled low beneath the tallest room in the Chateau, however the grounds were just barely visible. The servant girl was all but pressed right up against the large window lavishly crafted with serpents around the frame.

Your face scrunched into annoyance, having reached a rather interesting chapter of a book from the house's extensive library, despite the disruption you humoured the servant girl, she was after all, the only one kind enough to share in your company unlike the others.

“What is it?”

“Were you expecting visitors today?” She pointed excessively on the glass in reference to the carriage that sat idle beside the fountain in front of the entrance. Visitors were far and few between these days, many people simply too afraid to leave their homes in wake of the rampant increase of dark wizard activity. The only people who even dare come seek your father were a handful of dark wizards themselves and the occasional Ministry worker snooping around.

Your father hadn’t mentioned meeting with anyone in particular on this day which usually meant what you suspected upon eyeing the figures ushering into the front doors of your abode. A smile pulled on your lips though it was sinister indeed, “it seems we have another daring individual asking The Baron for my hand.”

“Shall I escort you to the assembly room, my Lady?” The servant pulled back from the window, hands clasped behind her back and awaiting for the coveted ‘yes’ as if it were second nature.

”No not really, whatever sniveling brat wants to see me they will have to wait until I finish my reading.” You cited as if bored and reclaimed your spot on the loveseat by the fire, picking up where you left off.

“Shall I tell your father that is what you said?” She picked at her fingers nervously, never having had this response before and uncertain whether or not she wished to face The Baron's wrath at his daughter's insolence given his already prickly temper. You simply looked up over the book, locking eyes with her for a few brief seconds that felt like a lifetime and then flicked them back down to the page.

You needn’t say anything but the message got across loud and clear as the servant briskly made her exit. Despite the Chateau being cold and wicked, the servants were treated relatively fair all things considered, though the turnover rate was in excess due to both the Stone’s tempers often scaring off their workers. Servant Fae, however, remained the exception to the rule.

Fae was young, younger than most when she started at just thirteen, but she was a swift learner and had yielded somewhat of an obscene attachment to The Barons daughter, speculation accrued as it so often did but no one truly understood why out of all servants, Fae remained for as long as she did. Now aged fifteen, she approaches the assembly room with tentative courtesy, knocking thrice before entering and giving the Baron a bow, awaiting for her cue to speak.

The three gentlemen they had seen from the window above turned to greet the servant dismissively, wondering amongst themselves if this was the Lady Stone they’ve heard so much about.

”Speak, girl.” The Baron was short and snappy at the best of times, but the flicker behind his eyes indicated that he was vexed at his daughter's lack of presence, though he wasn’t surprised.

”The Lady expressed that she wishes to finish her book before coming down to meet anyone.”

“You are far too kind to my daughter, what did she say? I’m sure she wouldn’t mind our guests hearing what she thinks.” He was an instigator of chaos, many called him, and that he was in layman terms - a shit stirrer. Though cruel in many ways he was nothing if not supportive of his only daughter despite that she was now nineteen and yet to be wed.

Fae cleared her throat, eyes flicking cautiously to the three men who stood in-front of the Baron, remarkably young for suitors, compared to the last handful who were well into their thirties. “She said, ‘the sniveling brat can wait until I finish my book’ . I believe her words to be, perhaps a bit more abridged than what she originally said.”

Though despite the clear insult and lack of effort, the young man in the centre smiled at the prospect, “where can I find her?”

”I assure you, Mister Sallow, she will not take lightly to such impoliteness, but if you must. She’ll be in the library, I must warn you that it will be your funeral. She has a habit of misplacing men in the stone garden she doesn’t like.”

Despite the warning given, Fae escorted the young up and coming infamous wizard Sebastian Sallow to your usual resting spot. He was making waves in the wizarding world, having escaped imprisonment to Azkaban and running rampant across England as a force to be reckoned with. He was young, clever, and unimaginably gifted in the dark arts, learning all three unforgivable curses at just fifteen, he put most of the older wizards to shame and he knew it.

You, on the other hand, didn’t like to be interrupted. Especially reading, no one dared to be the source of such disruption, not even The Baron himself would bother dealing with being the object of your ire, though he had been known from time to time to interrupt. Not nearly, as badly as Sebastian Sallow had this particular morning.

Positively annoyed you were, not even sparing the two a glance whilst flicking the page across with a sigh. Fae made no moves to disrupt the stillness, not daring to speak over even the crackling of the fire in fear of what consequence may head her way. That was because she knew better.

Sebastian, did not.

“Lady Stone, I was informed I’d find you up here.”

”Are you deaf?” You clicked your tongue, still not making eye contact, staring at the book as the words blurred from focus. He uttered a mere ‘no’, and you proceeded, “are you blind then?” The question hung in the air for a short moment before also receiving yet another ‘no’, though his tone was soft, it didn’t tremble like most of them did when caught on the spot by you. “So — You must have heard dear Fae when she passed on that I wasn’t finished reading. And you clearly see that I am, in fact, still reading… So why am I being pestered by the sound of your voice?”

And you finally looked up, surprised to see not another older gentleman, but in fact someone your own age for once. Hardly anyone of nineteen or close had enough courage to muster up seeking you out of all suitors. Despite the shock, your quirked brows and pointed look hadn’t faltered while staring the young man down.

“Utmost apologies for the intrusion,” he wasn’t at all sorry, that much was clear as he sauntered forward, “I was simply dying to know what book could possibly be worth your time more than a — phenomenal, might I add — marriage prospect.” The two of you stared each other down, challenging one another almost silently, who would crack first? Sebastian Sallow or you?

”A servant's diary would be more worth my time to read than a marriage prospect to an imbecile who doesn’t respect a lady’s wishes. I don’t like you, or your attitude.”

“Well it’s a good thing I don’t want you to like me, I want you to love me… Perhaps we can help one another achieve the same goal,” his smarmy smile etched itself into the back of your mind, not to mention the cheeky gaze to top it off. Though, far be it for you to be challenged in your own home, to an outsider no less.

The book snapped close thanks to your swift hands, “and I suppose you think the best way to get a woman’s attention is to barge in, disrespect her and act high and mighty, is that it? I don’t even know who you are, boy.”

His lips twitched ever so slightly, “you may not know me, but I promise, you’ve heard of me. Sebastian Sallow, pleasure to make your acquaintance my Lady.”

You laughed, snorting it out as if pitying a joke that fell flat, but laughed nonetheless, “so you’re the petulant boy the ministry is folding in on themselves over? Those bumbling fools wouldn’t know how to organize a pissup in a brewery even if their life depended on it.”

”And you aren’t at all the wicked little witch I’ve heard in such harrowing detail about… Tell me, how is it, you’ve earnt such infamy if all you do is roam a single Chateau and never leave?” His hands were clasped firmly behind his back and his breathing was steady despite poking a lioness in her den. He very much liked your edge, the way your icy cold words cut through the air like a severing charm, if anything you had been nothing but faithful to the picture he had painted in his head.

“The secrets of my trade aren’t for the living I'm afraid, you’ll figure that out soon enough, Sebastian.” Tucking the book underneath your arm, in quick and decisive strides, you pass him on the way out of the library nook. He was charming, you had to admit, more charming than the droves of feeble-minded men that only spared interest in you for the power the Baron held in great honour. His interest had yet to be uncovered, and once it was, you wouldn’t mind playing with him in the meantime.

——

“—already memorized the layout of the place I see.” You had not spared a single glance Sebastian's way upon his arrival in the dining room for breakfast, too busy reading the book you unfortunately hadn’t finished three days ago due to the rude nature of the Stone Estates latest guests.

The Baron tutted, “Mister Sallow and his friends are guests until business has adjourned young Lady, I ask you show some respect.” Hidden within his words were a warning, though, he could also sympathize, his one and only daughter, Heir to the Stone Estate, name and Title, he would never willingly force you into a marriage but as time went on and no suitors met, he would need to bring the hammer down eventually.

You sighed, painstakingly stirring the teaspoon in your cup while continuing to read, “I seemed to have left my manners in the library. After all, I still haven’t finished reading which I recall requesting that I finish before meeting any guests.”

“Quite the contrary, my Lady. I was lost in the gallery until a servant girl found me.” Sebastian smiled, taking a seat directly across the table from where you sat peacefully, you assumed in an attempt to agitate you further.

The Gallery? Your ears pricked up at the comment. What are you doing all the way there? Though it was common knowledge amongst the servants that the Gallery split off into four different rooms, one of them being your room and the other three of varying degrees of significance like the Cursed Relics room and hidden passageway. It was nowhere near the guest quarters nor was it anywhere near the dining room where everyone resides presently. It could be benign, he may as well could’ve been lost on his way to the dining room, or a more likely story is that he was up to something nefarious.

With an eyebrow raised, finally lifting your eyes up to see Fae standing by the entryway, your gaze quizzical enough to make the girl shift on her feet. A tell tale sign that it would be worth asking her about Sebastian's detour when she had a moment alone if you don’t jump the gun and interrogate him first.

“I will be taking my leave, I have a matter that requires my handy work, I shall return in time for Supper.” The Baron rose out of his chair, walking around the table to plant a kiss on top of your head before promptly taking his leave. Part of him hoped that when he returned home Sebastian wouldn’t fall victim to a freak accident like so many before him had. He only wishes you a happy and content life once he is passed on, the same wish your mother had before her untimely death.

The room stilled, the only sound bouncing around the room was the soft clinking of the teaspoon you swirled absentmindedly in your teacup. The occasional dark oak floorboard creaked beneath the turkish rug gifted by a previous suitors family, but not loud enough to break the descending silence.

Sebastian cleared his throat, finally disrupting the peace which was rather irksome considering breakfast was one of your favourite times of the day, the way the morning sun shone through the towering glass windows, breaking golden rays across the deep and open dining room. Dust specs sparkled high in the air from the disturbances of people walking and moving, most likely falling to their usual spot in crevices and nooks that were far out of reach for the servants to clean.

“Say, who’s that?” Sebastian asked, gesturing over to the feature wall dressed in an ornate moody wallpaper and a singular large portrait that looked over the table. Its frame had such intricate snake detailing one couldn’t possibly see it all unless essentially standing underneath it, impressive handiwork, and even more impressive subject. The painted woman sat in a large baroque throne, skull detailing accented on the arms and head of the chair, she looked nearly vampire-esque with her severe and imposing look of malice etched across her face as the eyes of the portrait scanned the room, ever occasionally shifting in her throne and looking away at something else.

��Baroness Stone,” you answered flatly, knowing exactly who he was referring to without the need to even spare a glance. Between having met The Baron in person and sitting rather uncomfortably underneath the watchful glare of the late Baroness, it was clear to Sebastian that perhaps the reputation of the Stone’s was because of her. Sure, The Baron was imposing in his own right, but The Baroness had a certain cruelty that could be seen even in the eyes of her portrait.

“What was she like?”

”You’ve already asked a question, it’s only fair I ask one now…” Slamming your book shut, you leaned forward on the chair to look at Sebastian fully this time. He was broad in the shoulders, a face full of freckles like the dust specs that littered the air in your favourite places within the Chateau. He was dressed modestly, not exactly a paragon of wealth like all the others that had asked for your hand in marriage before and you admittedly did like that difference.

He shifted in his seat as if surprised by your forwardness, but nodded, “by all means My Lady.”

”You must think I’m as half-witted as my father, snooping around in the Gallery were you? What exactly were you hoping to find?” You folded your arms and stared at him expectantly, wondering just how hard or easy it would be to break him considering his rather stubborn vigor the night prior.

“That’s two questions,” he smugly smiled, “I didn’t think I’d be meeting my match here, you’re quite the observant witch I must admit. Well educated, despite not going to any wizarding school that I’m aware of… There’s nothing I can say or do that could possibly sway your distrust in me, is there?” The sincerity in his voice was nearly convincing, had you been as dim-witted as some of the girls in the literature you read, perhaps it would be believable. But there was something off about him.

Fingers drumming against your arm while letting the cogs tick away in your mind for a response, he certainly had a way with words that was surprisingly almost easy to fall for. “A spider doesn’t simply strike without watching her prey first, and you are hardly the epitome of trust since you’ve been spouting half truths ever since you arrived here. So perhaps we’ll agree to disagree — to answer your first question, this is what my mother was like, she brought me up to always second guess the truth a man tells you because it’s always a half truth. For the sake of the narrative, maybe you are interested in my hand in marriage but it's not the only thing you want, so I ask again, what were you doing snooping in the Gallery?”

The room stilled in absolute silence, nothing, not even the floorboards dared make a sound as your icy glare found his gaze, scrutinizing every motion he so desperately thought was near perfect upon arrival. Perhaps he was wrong for underestimating you, assuming that a woman from a wealthy family would be sheltered enough to not question many things. Your wrathful honesty may perhaps had been what gave you such infamy in the first place, and Sebastian is finally understanding why many were smart enough to fear you.

For the first time since he arrived he resigned to the fact that maybe the best way to earn your trust and get what he was after, would be to start telling the truth, which was a much harder thing to accomplish and he had accomplished a lot in nineteen years of life. There was a very distinctive shift in his body language and behavior that was noticeable almost immediately, his knee began to bounce as if it had a mind of its own and his eyes started to look elsewhere in the room.

”I suppose… It would make sense that you should understand where I came from… Why I’m here,” He started, playing with his fingers as he starts the story from its beginning, from the night his twin was cursed, sowing the seeds of his dark nature as it only continued to bloom on his hunt for a cure. He divulged in not great amounts of detail about the tumultuous fifth year he had at Hogwarts, only sparing the parts that made sense to who he became to be. Learning the three Unforgivable Curses, using all of them at one point at only fifteen, two on his fellow classmates and friends, and one on his uncle.

“— I… Well, I didn’t mean to.” He paused.

”You’ve been honest until this point, don’t start lying now,” your words had visibly annoyed him, his chest puffing out to defend himself but you were quicker, “the unforgivables are called that for a reason, saying you didn’t mean to kill someone with one of them contradicts its existence… You meant it at the time and now you feel remorse, don’t mix the two emotions up.”

He laughed bitterly, “remorse? My uncle was angry and cruel, he had it out for me the second my parents died and it only got worse with time. I’m only sorry that his death cost me my sister.” His emotions had rung surprisingly high, though you supposed it made sense given the nature of the conversation, he was divulging a lot of his past which clearly still rubbed raw his feelings to this day.

”You’re the one that said you ‘didn’t mean to’, I’ve still yet to figure out how this ties into us, so keep going.” You urged, unphased by his emotional outburst, it was nowhere near as volatile as your fathers could be and perhaps your unflinching composure had been exactly what Sebastian needed to calm himself down.

”I went through all of my fifth year at Hogwarts thinking Goblins were the reason my sister was cursed. But it was never them, it was Victor Rookwood who did this to her. Every wizard, witch or even muggle that is associated with him has met their end until I find him and kill him myself.”

This was news to you, fairly certain that the daily prophet had reported on his death four years ago. It was a surprise to find out that maybe he cheated death after all. “And I’ll take a shot in the dark — My father has something to do with him.”

“You’re a far more clever witch than I'd anticipated, I figured if I could snake my way into this family and have your father meet an untimely death, perhaps even you too. And when Rookwood came crawling back to this estate for The Baron's help, it would be me who lay in waiting and it'd be the last thing he’d ever see.”

You leaned back onto your chair and hummed in surprise, you were certain he was up to something but hadn’t quite expected that, but after hearing what he had to say, explaining his history it began to make sense. The daily prophet articles written about rogue wizard Sebastian Sallow, really he was more or less an unlicensed vigilante Auror at this point, he was admittedly far more effective. Though, you supposed he wasn’t just targeting dark wizards, he was also killing muggles.

”I admire your dedication, though your plan is positively flawed and would fail without question.”

“Oh, pray tell what you have in mind for a successful plan then, my Lady.”

You looked off to the corner of the room, absently tapping your feet on the floor while keeping the train of thought going in your mind, “one doesn’t simply become Baron of the Stone Estate. We’ve been in illicit doings for centuries, our roots are buried far deeper than you could possibly imagine. We have allies in the ministry, allies in the muggle world and two Aurors off the top of my head that work in tandem with this family. How do you think my parents got away with so much to earn their titles here? It’s not given to us by birthright, it's earned.”

“Then indulge me on what a girl who was homeschooled here her entire life has done to earn her title,” he looked you up and down, seemingly frustrated at your attempts to pull apart his entire plan, a plan that you guessed had been in the works for several years.

”Don’t be petty, I’m simply stating that if both of the Stones go missing, no corner of this earth could you hide where someone wouldn’t hunt you down. It’s a corrupt place out there, you need only know how to control it so that it works in your favor — come with me, it's time for a stroll outside, don't you agree?”

——-

The grounds surrounding the Chateau were ever expanding it seemed, closest to the home itself were the carnation bushes and enchanted hedges, more snake motifs littered among the detailing of the castle one might have assumed it was a Gaunt estate, Sebastian wouldn’t have been the first to think it either.

”I’d almost go as far as to say you’ve stolen this place from the Gaunts,” he commented as the two of you strolled underneath the ivy canopy into the vast array of different flowers. It was an assault on the senses almost, flashes of vibrant otherworldly colours on different shaped stems and heads, the smell was so thick it was nearly suffocating.

“Apparently you must be a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin to enjoy snakes now do we? I find them rather interesting if it's all the same to you,” It was no secret you favored reptiles over any other creature, dragons being one of your favorites but the serpent could never be beaten. Perhaps it was due to your love of old literature of different cultures that aided the love for snakes, they were highly regarded in many ancient historic cultures and were a symbol for power.

“I didn’t say that — though you would’ve made a great Slytherin.” He mumbled the last part, certain that in a different lifetime or universe where you had come to Hogwarts the two of you would be fast friends.

“That’s a pity, my family has a history of being Ravenclaws.” You mused, a smile on your lips as you practically glided through the gardens, your dress made of a fine black silk with dark blue accents that made it appear as if your feet weren’t even touching the ground. Sebastian had to chuckle at your response, understanding that given your affinity to reading and being as sharp as whip that perhaps being in Ravenclaw made perfect sense.

He then grew somber almost, lamenting on his past. Merlin how he missed his friends and classmates, he missed Hogwarts, walking the castle and going on weekend trips to Hogsmede, he’d even go as far to say that he missed Madame Scribner and the scolding she would have out for him for getting caught once again in the Restricted section.

There was a real attempt of normalcy after his fifth year concluded, he tried so hard to go into sixth year and leave his past behind him but it had lasted a meager two months before he couldn’t take it anymore. It wasn't long after he went into solitude that it came out what had occurred the year prior, The Ministry was on him ever since, trying to convict him for his uncle's murder.

The Dark Arts whispered to him like a lover that promised so much more than the life he had pretending he was a good person, it was easier for him to fold into the darkness than it was to follow the light. He hadn’t spoken to anyone since fleeing Hogwarts, not Ominis, not Anne, not Garreth or Imelda and certainly not his companion that had arrived in fifth year. His only friends were hardly that at all, many of the people he found himself with were more or less like colleagues than anything worthwhile. His hunt for Rookwood was all consuming, he didn't have time to make friends when he was out every other week tracking down Victor's allies and snuffing them out.

“Sebastian?” You had been watching him for a short while, hands cupped in one another neatly by your waist while waiting and the book you had been obsessively reading tucked under your left arm.

Hearing the softness in your voice caught him well off guard, snapping him back to the present and looking over, he almost forgot what the two of you were doing out here but quickly brought himself back on track, “how is a walk in the Garden proving anything?” He asked, almost irritated to be out in nature once he regained awareness of being outside. “Or are you simply walking me out here to kill me after I told you everything?”

A smile ghosted your lips, but you didn’t say anything and kept walking. The idea of your silence was to make him nervous. Why? Because, as the late Baroness always said, it was fun to play with your food. Successful in that venture, he still followed tentatively behind at a bit more of a distance in case his hypothesis was correct and that you were, infact, going to kill him. Or at least try to.

It was almost instantaneous, the divide from the gardens littered with plants to the mass yard of statues, it was almost like a stone maze, which would be aptly named given the family name.

Sebastian walked up to one of the statues in curiosity, a wizard who stood proud and tall. The sculpture was worn and had shown clear signs of weathering, at least in comparison to the statue adjacent to it. Another wizard statue, this one a lot less composed than the last, fearful features striking across his face and body language.

”Snakes have this incredible literary motif that I think a lot of people tend to overlook,” you paced around another statue, “for instance, a lot of the time they can be perceived as wise while they also can be perceived as deceitful… And I think two things can be true at once.”

You pulled out the book from the crook of your arm and opened it up, “the other night you asked me what book was so good I refused to meet with you — It’s a book of greek tragedies and alleged myths, another culture that looked to Snakes as powerful. But the story my mother told me when I was young was what always stuck with me… Medusa, a tragedy about a mortal woman who was seduced by Poseidon and cursed by Athena — Or was she assaulted by a man and given a protective curse by Athena to thwart that ever happening again? You’re well versed in history, yes?”

Sebastian looked at the statues surrounding them, all wizards, all varying degrees of fear, anger and stoicism imposed on their stone form, “I’m aware of the myth. My sister would read me these as bedtime stories.”

”Wonderful. Well lets just say, its an inspired artform, a homage if you will. I’ve been heir to this family name since I was born, I’ve had suitors knocking on our door since I was eleven asking to marry me, me?! A child. Men coming to inspect me since before I even had my first blood, can you imagine? Forty year olds, thirty year olds, always older and never my own age. I was fourteen when the first incident happened, he was a git that one, mother didn’t like him very much but it was my ‘duty to humour the men who come all this way to see me’. He said vile things but I had already started raiding my fathers bookshelves on dark magic and more archaic curses that aren't all that common anymore. I do hope you like my handy work, it's a more permanent curse than the full body-bind curse, turns the other person to stone entirely.”

You were sickeningly proud of what you’d done to men by the dozens, and why shouldn’t you be? You were content in your own company and didn’t need blubbering fools to satiate your needs better than yourself. “And the best part of it all, they’re still alive. They can hear us right now and they can live in that torment for all I care.” The way your voice hadn’t wavered once, sent shivers down Sebastian’s spine, he had done nothing but underestimate you the entire time he’s been a guest and he was beginning to question his own judge of character.

”I suppose I’ll be next then?” He asked, though trying his best to not sound nervous.

There was silence while you thought, circling the statue he stood in front of and tilting your head to the side, “I haven’t made my mind up yet. Though is this answer adequate enough for you? Is this worthy enough of earning my title?”

[kinuhanino]

The Moon Will Sing by The Crane Wives is Lena Sabrewing's song.

A Lyric by Lyric breakdown ✨✨

Because each verse fits Lena so well it's actually so insane

Like... this song fits her backstory to a T. I'm half convinced she wrote it herself.

also note! I imagine the song being sung by Lena. As in, This is Lena talking to Magica, or telling Magica these things she feels.

another note: this is solely my interpretation of Lena's backstory and how it could fit in the song! any other interpretations are valid but this is my personal take on it.

So without further adieu, here it is!

The Moon Will Sing by The Crane Wives

Tell me once again I could have been anyone, anyone else Before you made the choice for me

Born from the shadows, Lena could've literally been anyone. She could've been just a homeless kid roaming around the streets. She could've been adopted by a family. She could've made friends. Could've started a band. Be a musician. An Artist. She could've stayed in Italy. Be among the people there. Have a life of her own.

But no, she couldn't. Didn't.

Because she was the shadow of Magica De Spell. A mere puppet used for trickery and deception. And the key to setting her former caster free.

My feet knew the path We walked in the dark, in the dark I never gave a single thought to where it might lead

Lena was made on Mount Vesuvius, which is in Italy. She had to - practically on her own - ('cuz i doubt that Magica was helpful) go from Italy to the US to get to Duckburg, whilst being a newly made living person from the shadows, most likely not having a single clue on how to be a person.

She was probably so confused at first. I feel like Magica immediately ordered her to do something complicated and yelled at her for not understanding what to do.

For the first few years, she probably just blindly followed Magica's instructions. She followed the path Magica paved and led her to, and it was littered with shadows and darkness.

All those empty rooms We could have been anywhere, anywhere else Instead, I made a bed with apathy

Eventually, Lena probably learnt about Magica's nature and the morality of it. She probably saw how other people treated each other, or maybe she was able to watch a TV show that showed her what a good and honest person would act.

Eventually, however, she would have to arrive at Duckburg and follow through with the plan her master made for her. She'd be at the place where the main plan were to commence, and she'd have to put her morals aside for just a little more to finally be free.

My heart knew the weight Ten years worth of dust and neglect We made our peace with weariness and let it be

*15 years of dust and neglect.

Lena wasn't cared for in the slightest. It's really evident given how Magica treated her throughout the series. Magica only wanted her powers back, and Lena was the means to get it.

She didn't care about where and how Lena was supposed to live in this world. She didn't even consider her alive.

And Lena knew this, so she just chose to live through the bare minimum. There wasn't any point in her making any friends since she was just a tool. There was no point for her to get attached to anything because she wasn't staying anywhere for long.

And eventually, Lena probably got bored of "living". She grew to care less about everything and everyone around her. Her life was just a means to an end. She didn't and couldn't experience what it felt like to be alive because there always was a shadow lingering behind her, telling her that she was wasting her time on something useless.

Name your courage now We could have had anything, anything else Instead, you hoarded all that's left of me

*insert scenepack of Magica possessing Lena's body*

need I say more?

Swallowin' your doubt Like swords to the pit of my belly I want to feel the fire that you kept from me

She wants to feel love. She wants to feel warmth. She wants to feel the embrace of someone who actually cares about her. She craves it. The love, the lessons, the concern, all of it. She wants it, no, needs it at this point. She'd been deprived of it for so long, it's like breathing air for the first time after being submereged in the water.

And that family, the McDuck family, they gave it around like it was free candy. Sure, she had to earn some of it from Mrs. Beakley, but when she did, the love, concern and the protectiveness was offered to her, not only tenfold, but with no strings attached.

She's never experienced anything like it before. The feeling of security, the love that wrapped around her like a warm blanket. For once in her life, she finally felt safe. And now that the had a taste of it, she can never let go.

The moon will sing a song for me I loved you like the sun

At the end of the day however, looking back, she loved her aunt. Despite all of the torment, abuse, and neglect, during that period of her life, she loved her. It was wishful thinking on her part, but she truly deeply wanted Magica's love, approval, and care.

She loved her. She was her creator. She was there when she was made. And although it was probably grudingly, Magica most likely was the person who taught her the basics of life, or atleast, to blend in with the people.

Bore the shadows that you made With no light of my own

Lena is a shadow, case in point.

Additionally, Lena didn't have a life besides being Magica's sentient shadow. She didn't have a life of her own without her. She was just a slave to her master.

I shine only with the light you gave me I shine only with the light you gave me

She was only as alive as Magica wished her to be (atleast in her perpective). To her, she wouldn't be alive until she truly had her freedom.

And that was the driving force for Lena to go along with Magica's plan. She didn't want to do it (especially after meeting the McDuck family) but she had to. She never had a choice. The only choices she was able to make were in the guise of furthering Magica's ploy for revenge.

So, she shined (had freedom) only with the light (permission) she (Magica) gave her.

And she shined (lived) only with the light (magic) she (Magica) gave her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank You for Listening to my TedTalk!

u wanted to read it so here's a tag! @threeaxolotlsinatrenchcoat

[h0n3yk1tt3n]

One of the more frustrating parts about dywh (of which there are many) is that it doesn't even take itself seriously. People talk about it as if it's this Infamous Moment™️ where Chloe becomes the devil incarnate and violates our ✨️pwecious wittle Jer-Bear✨️ but the simple fact of the matter is that the Joes can't stop making jokes long enough to give the scene any actual venom.

Like yes, it's an uncomfortable scene, but most of it comes from the fact that Chloe is dressed as a sexy baby of all things and the song makes sure to constantly remind you of that. When you look at it divorced from the costume though, she barely even does anything. The squip is the entire reason Jeremy can't leave, so pinning that on Chloe is flimsy at best, and the worst she does per the script is kiss him. (Before anyone says it, the script says the squip made him drink. Animatics lied to you.) Still bad, yes, but far tamer than some fans act like it is.

Most of the scene beyond the lyrics and the kiss is just Chloe and Jeremy talking. Or Jeremy talking to a comedically malfunctioning squip. Or Chloe comedically pissing Jake off with fake sex noises. Do you see the problem? This scene can't decide if it's comedic or serious and is walking a sloppy middle road.

I can derive themes from the choices that were made ("sexy baby" showing the horror that comes from teen girls sexualizing themselves for peer approval/attention and symbolizing Chloe's entitlement and immaturity; the metaphorical and literal loss of control via the squip freezing Jeremy in place and telling him what to do throughout the show = overall loss of autonomy) and give Watsonian reasons for the weirder ones (creepily excessive baby innuendos because Chloe is drunk) but with how little they were capitalized on, I don't think the Joes did it on purpose. Or if they did, they were clumsy about it.

When the scene isn't joking about Chloe being a drunk sexy baby trying to get laid, it actually spends a lot of its time developing Chloe as a character by touching on her jealously of Brooke and having these blink-and-you'll-miss-it moments where we can see her insecurities and the conditioning that contributes to her actions. Why did she hear "You're the hottest girl in school" and automatically equate that to "Jeremy wants to kiss me?" How many boys saw nothing more than a pretty face and not an actual person? Has anyone actually bothered to unpack her bitterly asking if everyone likes Brooke "because she's nice," before sobbing about how "I can be nice, I can be so goddamn nice?" Has anyone ever given her the space to be a person and not The Hottest Girl In School?

Let me guess: it doesn't count because she was drunk.

We could've had an incredibly raw scene where The Mean Bitch Character (though drunk) opens up about all the pressure to play into that persona because nobody will give her the time of day otherwise. Nobody will try to get to know the real her. Nobody will let her show how goddamn nice she can be. She wants Jake back because who is the hottest girl in school if she's not with the hottest boy in school? She sees through Brooke's "wounded puppy routine" and is warning Jeremy about how she's just as fake as her. (You could technically interpret this as Chloe lying to sway him away from Brooke, but goddammit give Brooke some actual fucking flaws for once.) We could’ve seen PROOF that Chloe is more than Hot Girl #1. We could've seen an ACTUAL character.

Or, say we wanna keep the scene comedic, because this show has always been comedic first in my head. Make Chloe so shitfaced that she couldn't actually assault Jeremy if she tried. Keep the squip keeping him from leaving, but don't pretend that Chloe is any kind of actual threat. Make this whole thing just, weird and inconvenient. I have to get back to Brooke, no go throw up over there, can I just leave?? No I don't wanna drink. Why are you speaking in japanese?? What the fuck??? Chloe there like six pillows right there, you don't have to lay on me. Make Jake come along and pound on the door, THEN have Chloe make fake sex noises because it would be sooo funny if Jake thought that she and Jeremy were banging.

OR if y'all REALLY wanna demonize a teenage girl THAT FUCKING BADLY, we cut the jokes. We cut the song and we Actually Commit. Just have it be a short talking scene, but we see what direction it's going in through the blocking and body language. We cut the squip jabbering in Japanese. We cut Jake and Brooke. We fade to black and just jump to the (seemingly) empty bathroom where Jeremy runs in. We don't drag out the gratuity of sexual assault by showing it, but by showing how Jeremy acts after it. Show he's more on edge, more jumpy, show he was actually AFFECTED by what happened. Maybe TALK ABOUT IT, just a TINY FUCKING BIT. Make him BITTER toward the squip for MAKING him go through that. This isn't a show About sexual assault and recovery but FUCK at least give the scene a little more respect.

But dywh didn't commit to any of these and just gave us this weird scene that's interesting for Chloe's character but kinda bad but not bad enough to tone down the absurdity or actually be addressed later.

Fucking Rick and Morty had a more effective sexual assault scene. It was a small portion of one episode, sure, but there was FOLLOW-THROUGH. You SEE how the characters act differently afterward. The scene makes you uncomfortable in the RIGHT WAY. It Stopped Joking long enough to Punch You In The Gut. RICK AND MORTY, the drunk dimension-hopping grandpa show!!!

AND I maintain that dywh was meant to emphasize the SQUIP disobeying Jeremy's wishes more than Chloe, besides being an excuse to break the couples up. She couldn't fucking tell what Jeremy wanted (he didnt leave, she didnt know he couldnt; she misinterpreted him calling her hot, which is on her despite being drunk; he drank halfway through saying hes not a drinker, because some unseen force made him; CHLOE CANT CONSENT EITHER BECAUSE SHES DRUNK, AND THE SQUIP KNOWS THIS) until the last second when she GAVE UP, at which point she only cared if Jake THOUGHT she and Jeremy banged on his parents' bed and not if they actually DID.

The squip put him here fully knowing what Chloe wanted, fully knowing that Jeremy didn't want it. It doesn't care about the best interest of its host; just results. Who cares if Jeremy suffers a little if it gets us on the right path? Who cares what he wants? All that matters is what I want. Or, let's say the squip knew that Chloe wouldn't actually get in Jeremy's pants; it still made Jeremy live through the horror of not having the CHOICE to stay or go. To powerlessly WATCH it happen. The squip controlled his body at least once before this, and later forces him to fight Michael. Physically hijacking control his body is almost as LITERAL OF A METAPHOR AS IT GETS for this kind of thing.

That.

That is the villain of this fucking show.

Not a drunk and insecure teenage girl.

And dywh failed at showing you that.

[beepboopkek]

— I will always come to your aid (AMAB!Reader)

AFAB!Reader has also been posted! including: Jing Yuan cw: !!NSFW!!, amab!reader, grammar and spelling errors possible, pwp but barely, hinted that reader has a s1ze k1nk, f1ng3r1ng, reader is a little sarcastic, still spreading my Jing Yuan is a Bastard (affectionate) agenda, masturbat1on, getting caught masturbat1ng, d1rty talk, cum eat1ng, no use of y/n, reader can be interpreted as the trailblazer but they are NOT stelle/caelus, safe sane and consensual w/c: 2k a/n: people liked strip starchess so much so here is another one of my brainrots... i dont usually like this troupe that much but i find myself excusing anything and everything for jing yuan so here we are. for my female reader likers i got u, its being posted right after this so you guys can enjoy too :3. also just remember that this is NOT stelle/caelus, its the you haha, i dont like shipping the raccoons with anyone as a personal pref so I'm just making that clear :3. anyways same warning as last time this is like my third time writing smut and also english isn't my first language. enjoy!!

The crisis on the Xianzhou Luofu was mostly over.

Which meant you had to leave the man you had fallen head over heels in love with.

Well— love may be an exaggeration but you weren't fucking around when it came to him.

Jing Yuan.

Your eyes had been hooked onto him the second you two met, his pleasant smile, his calm demeanor, his body—fuck, everything about him enamored you.

You could only wish that there was some other universe where he reciprocated your feelings.

You departed with a respectful nod of the head, despite wanting to smoosh your face between his pecs and cry about never getting to see them again.

The only hope that you did have though, was the jade abacus he had gifted you and your companions.

“No matter how astronomically distant you are, The Luofu Cloud Knights will always come to the aid of the Crew, whatever your need may be.”

Of course, his next sentence was to not use it for trivial matters when he saw March’s reaction, much to your amusement.

There was a discussion on who should keep the jade abacus, March being ruled out first much to her annoyance.

It landed between you and Dan Heng and given his history with the Xianzhou Luofu, he handed it to you.

That's how you ended up here, standing in front of your locked door with the abacus in your hand.

What if you grip it— You need to rinse your brain with cold water at this point…

You flopped onto bed, letting the exhaustion of the day seep into your bones as the plush blanket and pillows surrounded you.

You threw the abacus to your side, you'll take care of it later, not like you're gonna need it right now anyway.

Your mind flooded with images of Jing Yuan, his voice and everything you had been through together.

Fuck.

Your hand drifted towards your dick, already feeling some pre-cum gathering at the thought of what you were about to do.

— Touch yourself to the thought of the General of the Cloud Knights on the Xianzhou Luofu, one of the most powerful beings to ever exist in history.

You shook your doubts away, he's just Jing Yuan to you.

You took off your shorts in record speed, tossing your boxers along with it.

You never really touched yourself that often so you tried to imagine your hand being his instead.

You rubbed the head of your cock, gasping at the cold touch of your fingers on the warm flesh.

How would he touch you?

He'd take his time, surely. He's not one to rush things— He'd work you open slowly for his cock—fuck, you're sure it's in proportion with how goddamn large his body is.

You moaned as you inserted two fingers inside your asshole. You wanted to imagine Jing Yuan doing it, really, But, you also wanted an orgasm quickly so you can sleep. So, you just decided to go with imagining his voice talking to you.

You pistoned your fingers in and out, curling them at the spot only you could reach with your much smaller hands.

It was too intense, the thought of his deep voice guiding you through was enough to get your orgasm to graze along the edges of  your belly slowly, building up to be a strong one.

You grabbed the blanket next to you, gripping it tightly as you whispered Jing Yuan's name and continued thrusting your fingers inside you.

You swear the normal part of your brain recognised you gripping an object while gripping the blanket as well but you were genuinely too out of it to care in the slightest.

You're just about to orgasm when everything in your room rattles, as if there's an earthquake. 

Which should be impossible considering you are literally on a massive train that travels through space.

You let go of the blanket and sit up in shock, looking around to see what happened.

…With your fingers still inside you.

“Followers of the Nameless, I am here to assist you, tell me about the situ— Oh.”

You blinked.

Jing Yuan blinked.

Oh. Fuck.

You scrambled, ripping your fingers out and slapping your lower half with a pillow.

“J-Jing Yuan I-” 

You gulped, trying to calm your racing heart, you just got caught masturbating by your crush.

Life is going great.

Your cheeks and ears were beet red now, opening and closing your mouth as you tried to say something, anything to get you out of this situation.

Jing Yuan was just as surprised, if not astonished, by the scene that had unfolded in front of him.

He was finishing up some paperwork that Lady Fu had so kindly delivered to him in the Alchemy Commission when suddenly, the jade abacus he had clipped to his belt loop started vibrating.

Not one to panic, he quickly unhooked it and got it closer to his ear, so that he could hear what the Express were asking of.

What he didn't expect was to hear the voice of his crush, the one that he has acquired after decades of not entertaining any romantic relationships, whispering and calling out his name.

Okay, maybe now he should panic.

Without a second thought, Jing Yuan summoned his weapon and gripped the jade abacus back, signaling it to teleport him to your location.

Paperwork be damned he would rather lose a 100 years of his life if it mean you would be safe.

That landed him here, in front of a half naked (and very surprised) you.

He dissolved his weapon into thin air and folded his arms against his chest.

“Well, this is a surprise.”

“Wow, you don't say.”

Jing Yuan raised an eyebrow at your tone.

“S-sorry, I don't know how you got here.”

An interesting turn of events.

“... Did you not call for me?”

“No, Why would I? Even if I did, how did you just…magically appear here?”

“Oh, dear.”

“What?”

“The jade abacus. I think you… I think you gripped it while you were…busy.”

He looked into your eyes and back down at the pillow that was barely covering your lower half.

“The jade aba—” 

You cut yourself off, turning to your side to where you had thrown it, only to find the wretched object to be in the center of your crumpled blanket.

“Fuck.” 

“Jing Yuan— I am so, so , so, sorry, I swear this was an honest mistake and I'll—”

Jing Yuan cut you off with the raise of his hand. “I forgive you.” “Really? Great let me j—”

“On one condition.” Of course there’s a catch. You sighed begrudgingly.

“What do you need help with?” “Quite the opposite, actually.” Your eyes widened but before you could let out your protests, Jing Yuan spoke up again. “You let me help you finish.” The gall of this man.You’re still going to take the chance that he doesn’t know what you were doing. “Finish what?”

You tried to sound innocent but your voice came out breathier than you wanted it to be. “Dont play coy now, you know exactly what I mean.” Your face burnt in embarrassment as you looked away. Jing Yuan dragged your desk chair and got it to the front of your bed before sitting down and making himself comfortable, propping one leg on the other and leaning back. “Go on, show me exactly what you were doing before I got here,hm?” “I can’t.” Jing Yuan paused, shit, had he misread the situation? Maybe he should—

“I can’t do it without you.” You had covered your red face at this point, way too embarrassed to look him in the eye while speaking. Jing Yuan just about lost it at that, abandoning all doubt and pouncing on you, grabbing your face to take you in a devouring kiss. He threw the pillow covering your bottom half in a random direction, quickly pecking you on the cheeks before pulling your hand over his. “Guide me.” You nodded shyly and pushed his hand towards your hard cock again. Fuck. His hands were just the way you imagined them. Warm and big, enough to hold your own two hands.

His hand (under your guidance and insistence) wrapped around your dick. “I’ve barely touched you, were you letting out pre while we were talking, hm? Did it turn you on to have me catch you in such an embarrassing state?” Jing Yuan whispered in your ear as he hovered over you and you thanked every Aeon known for this opportunity because fuck, your imagination did not do any justice to how good the general was. Jing Yuan gave your cock a few strokes before using the pre-come as lube and dipped the tip of his finger in your asshole, not entering but adding just enough stimulation for you to feel something there.

“Answer me.”

“No, I swear I didn’t, Jing Yuan, please—”

Jing Yuan smiled, he didn’t know you would be this easy to subdue.

He gently thrusted his finger inside, watching your face for any discomfort or resistance.

But, he was only met with your blissed out face, as you gasped in pleasure from his ministartions.

“Were you able to reach here?” He curled his finger upwards, hitting your sensitive spot just right.

You threw your hand over your mouth, pinching your mouth shut and praying, once again, to all the aeons you knew that the other passengers on the Express were dead asleep and couldn’t hear you. Granted, your room was the last in the carriage and had a decent amount of sound proofing but, you were still not risking it.

Your snapped out of your worries when Jing Yuan pushed in another finger alongside the one that was already in you.

“It looks like you’re getting distracted, maybe I’m not doing my job well enough?”

“N—Fuck, Its good, I’m sorry—Shit—”

Jing yuan simply kissed your head affectionately like he wasnt fingering you to hell and back right now and picked up the pace of his fingers.

Your hand was just gripping his wrist and you werent sure if it was to egg him to continue or get him to slow down and stop.

Maybe both.

Your head rolled back on the bed, exposing your bare neck to Jing Yuan as he immediately took the opportunity to cover your neck in kisses, Aeons be dammed. There's no way hes letting you walk out of this room unmarked and not carrying any proof of the evening you spent with him.

You gasped as Jing Yuan wrapped his other hand around your dick and your orgasm finally, finally overtook you. You shook in the general’s grasp as he continued thrusting his fingers in and out, drawing out the pleasure.

Taking his soaked fingers off your dick, he popped them in his mouth, savouring the taste while you recovered from the intense bout of sensations you just went through.

You propped yourself up on your elbows again, looking at Jing Yuan owlishly as your head cleared from the horniness.

Jing Yuan only smiled at you before holding your head and kissing your forehead again before gathering you in his arms.

“Call me old fashioned or old but I do believe in the proper process of courting someone and,”

He looked into your eyes as he cupped your face in one palm and brushed the thumb along the seam of your chin.

“I think we skipped a few steps.”

“Yeah, no shit, general.”

He laughed at that, his chest shaking as the deep sound rumbled from his throat, you blushed again.

You were in the arms of the man you’ve wanted to kiss since you stepped foot on the Xianzhou ship. You covered your burning face with your palms again as Jing Yuan’s laughter died down into little chuckles.

“We did all of that and youre getting shy now?”

“Shut up. You have no idea how much I’ve wanted this.”

“Wanted what? To get fingered by me?”

“No! — I mean that too, I guess, but I meant being held by you! Stop playing games, Jing Yuan.”

Jing Yuan only laughed as he took his free hand and grabbed your hands, turning them towards him one after the other and kissing the palm.

“I jest, I jest. But, I must stay here for the night. I’m afraid I can't travel back to the Xianzhou Luofu seeing as we aren’t closeby.”

You smiled.

Jing Yuan’s eyes twinkled in mischief right back at you.

“Be my guest.”

[dr-futbol-blog]

The Hive, Pt. 7

From Ford's ominous description of what happens when the enzyme wears off we transition back to Atlantis where Beckett has sedated McKay in the infirmary. We get an outside view of what is either a beautiful sunset or a sunrise behind the city. On Earth, we might interpret it as the sunrise but being that this is an alien planet, it is difficult to tell. Given that we recently had the episode called Aurora, named after the Goddess of the Dawn, a sunrise might be the more likely interpretation of the view also on the symbolic level. Regardless, against this beautiful backdrop we find Weir walking into the infirmary with Caldwell in tow, McKay laying on a bed behind Beckett.

Beckett: Colonel Caldwell! I didn't think you were due back here for days. Caldwell: Doctor Weir requested that we join the search ASAP, so we pushed the engines a little. Weir: How is he? Beckett: I've sedated him; administered a beta blocker to bring his blood pressure down to a more manageable level. It's a wonder he didn't suffer a stroke.

We see McKay in an oxygen mask in fitful sleep even being that he is sedated, and Beckett tells us that it is a wonder he did not die. And yet some people are going to think that it is Weir who is so very worried for Sheppard, enough even to have asked Caldwell to join them sooner even though she hates having to ask him for favours. She sure is worrying herself sick over him. And yet, McKay literally worried himself to death's door over Sheppard and the only thing that keeps some viewers from appreciating the enormity of what he had done is that Sheppard and McKay are both men.

Caldwell: Did he mention anything further about the location of Colonel Sheppard and his team? Beckett: Nothing coherent, I'm afraid. By the time he arrived here, he was hyperventilating, pulse extremely rapid. He could barely get out a word. Although, being Rodney... he certainly tried.

McKay appears to be restrained and there is an armed guard watching over him, and this may be due to Beckett's own previous experience with someone under the influence of the enzyme. We see a nurse taking some readings off of McKay in the background and possibly relevant for later is the fact that, even while he is unconscious, we see McKay turn his face away from her. It is not a conscious act on his part, it is more symbolic here. McKay is not drawn to hot nurses, the dark-haired nurse here not unlike the honeypot currently sharing a jail cell with Sheppard.

Here, we see Beckett talk about McKay in a way that he have seen him talk about and to him before: he depreciates McKay as a form of masculine bonding. They are friends and especially in UK, banter is the way that straight men show that they like someone, the only way they can let their affection be known. It is clear that Beckett cares about McKay in spite of the small digs that he takes at him, their intention more to show how familiar the two of them are with each other. They all know McKay is verbose, and they all appreciate him regardless. What is actually important here is what may be overlooked because of the tone in which Beckett says it: McKay had been trying to tell them about Sheppard up until he could no longer get words out. Up until the very last moment, he had been trying to get them to understand that he had to get to the jumper bay because Sheppard needed him. McKay may not have been coherent, but we are told that he had been trying to help find Sheppard (and his team).

Weir: How much of the enzyme did he take? Beckett: A very big dose, I'm afraid. I found a significant amount of it in his system, nearly as much as Lieutenant Ford. Weir: Alright. Can you wean him off it? Beckett: I wish I could. Unfortunately, Lieutenant Ford took the last supply of our enzyme when he left Atlantis, so an incremental withdrawal is out of the question.

Again we are confirmed what we watched him do: McKay had done something very reckless and dangerous because his need to find Sheppard was worth to him more than his own life. Ford's system had been awash with the enzyme because a wraith had died while draining his life, helping Ford survive the cold ocean water for longer than any human should have been able. This amount of the enzyme had altered Ford irreparably and McKay, someone who valued his mind most of all and thought that all problems ought to be solvable by logic had willingly injected himself nearly the same amount because he could take no chances, he had to get to Atlantis and the jumpers. His plan of action had been all action, rational thought had barely factored into it.

And here, we also come to the question of McKay and illicit substances. McKay's history of use and abuse of substances is interesting because even this, now, is definitely at least symbolic of a withdrawal from a particular substance that is often injected and is highly addictive. Also curious regarding McKay's line about having toked pot in college is the fact that the combination of this substance and pot is called the "A-bomb," which is what McKay had been literally building the first time that we saw him abuse stimulants.

Caldwell: Unless we harvest more enzyme. Beckett: Not an option. By the time you go out and collect it, the enzyme will have broken down in his system already. No, I'm afraid for Rodney the only choice is... Caldwell: ...cold turkey. Beckett: Aye, to put it bluntly.

As we shall soon see, all of the people that had been taking the enzyme are having to quit it cold turkey, and one of them dies as the result. While all of the others had been taking the enzyme for longer, and Ronon and Teyla seem to be saved because they had not been taking it as long as the others, Beckett just confirmed that McKay's dose was much larger than that of the others. He had nearly as much as Ford had in his system the first time. Ford had just told Sheppard that when ever he had run out of the enzyme, it had been bad. What ever we see the others go through, McKay has it worse. Had it not been for Beckett, he would most definitely have died of it. And now he is having to go through a whole withdrawal. And the enzyme is not even his true addiction. His true addiction is Sheppard, and incidentally in the following episode we have to watch his withdrawal from Sheppard.

Beckett: I can administer some drugs to help ease the process: anti-nausea medication, pain reliever, benzodiazepine for anxiety, as well as a multi-vitamin injection to bolster the immune system... Weir: Good. Beckett: ...but there's no dodging the fact it's gonna be difficult, possibly even deadly.

We hear McKay moaning in pain in the background in spite of the fact that he should be heavily sedated. Even as he is explaining his condition to Caldwell and Weir, Beckett keeps glancing back at him because McKay is touch-and-go at the moment, he is not out of the woods yet. Sheppard would never have wanted McKay to do it, he would never have allowed this to happen, and we saw Sheppard actually convince Ford to stop administering the enzyme to McKay at all because it was important to him that McKay was safe. And just to hammer home this point: McKay risked his life to save Sheppard, because he believed that Sheppard needed him. He is not doing this for friendship. He did it because he cannot live without Sheppard. Risking his life for Sheppard is easy a breathing because he does not think he can live without him.

Back on the hive, all of the others are starting to feel the effects of the enzyme leaving their systems and it seems like Ford, who has been on the stuff the longest, is having the worst time of it. Neera is taking care of him, wiping sweat off his brow, with the intention of endearing herself to Sheppard. Vulnerable, nurturing, shy, bashful; she is making herself into the dream of any dashing heroic type, all big doe eyes and pouty lips. However, it seem as though Sheppard had spent his time away from them, looking out of the cell trying to figure out a way out of there and turned around only as he heard Ford speak. He then approaches them, crouching by him.

Ford: Thank you. Sheppard: How're you holding up, Lieutenant? Ford: OK. I just need to get my hands on some more enzyme. Then I'll be able to get us out of here.

It is difficult to tell what Sheppard is thinking here as he carefully keeps his face blank, only narrowing his eyes slightly as he approaches Ford. While Neera looks up at him, it seems as though Sheppard keeps his eyes squarely fixed on Ford. Where Sheppard might have some compassion for Ford, even though the young soldier has gone above and beyond to drain any warm feelings he may once have had for him, he has other motivations for inquiring about Ford's condition too. For one, he wants to get out with increasing desperation and because he has no intention of leaving any (hu)man behind, he wants to know how much more difficult Ford's condition is going to make their jailbreak. And he is also very concerned for Ronon and Teyla, being that they are also on the enzyme and because he feels like it is his fault that they might now be suffering the effects of the withdrawal since he had basically given Ford permission to continue with administering the enzyme to them. What the enzyme does to them, that's on him.

Also worth a note is that even here, even now, Sheppard calls Ford by his title. He called him Ford once before because he was telling Ford off, he was trying to communicate to him that he had had enough, but now that the young soldier seems to be suffering and is likely frightened, he has returned to using the title. It is meant to convey security and comfort, to make Ford feel like he is being taken care of because Sheppard still considers him a part of his outfit. Sheppard uses titles with most people because it allows him to keep a professional distance to them, it allows him to meet them through a role rather than as himself. And he never, ever did that with McKay.

Sheppard: We'll do it together. With or without the enzyme, we're a team, remember? Ford: I remember.

Sheppard further drives home his point by reminding Ford of the fact that they are a team and that they are in this together. While there is a part of Sheppard that hopes against hope that things could go back the way they were, that if he could get Ford to come back home and get treatment that maybe he and McKay could also return to that place where they were before all the hurt. But at the same time, he knows that it is not possible, too much has happened, too many bridges have been burned. He is trying to make Ford feel better because he does not like to see him suffer but he may be doing it more for his own peace of mind than to actually make Ford less burdened. The real question is, how much of this is because and for the benefit of the young and seemingly innocent woman sharing a cell with them.

Men are often on their "best behaviour" in the presence of attractive women (and it is telling that McKay's behaviour around Chaya was "as good as it gets, Major" in Sanctuary, S01E14), and one might be tempted to interpret what seems almost like an about-face in Sheppard's behaviour here a caused by her, by Sheppard wanting to present himself as a good person and as a good man to the attractive young woman. That is how men behave the world over. But let us note the fact that Sheppard does not look at her, not once, during this entire scene. His attention is entirely on Ford, it is as though she is not even there. And because we once again transition from Ford to McKay, they are once more paralleled, Sheppard's "Remember" here may also imply that he himself had just been remembering when they were a team. He does miss that. He misses those days.

The last time Sheppard had been on a hive in The Defiant One (S01E12), he had this exchange with McKay:

Sheppard: Stay with him. Gaul: No! Please don't leave us. McKay: He's right, we should stick together. Sheppard: He killed Abrams. McKay: And I'm as sorry about that as you are, but just because we both made an error in judgement-- Sheppard: I don't have time to argue about this!

McKay had begged for them to stay together but because he had needed to get away from himself, he had left McKay behind. He had been reminded of that particular exchange not just by the people like Neera that they had just now ripped out of the wraith cocoons exactly like he had torn the webbing off of Gaul then, but also by McKay's words when Ford had first brought them to the dart and explained his whole plan to them: "Yeah, and I am sorry about that but this is insane!" McKay had been right then and he had been right now, and in the cell Sheppard had nothing but time to remember all that. Like he had before, he had been thinking about what McKay would do now, in this situation. And he while he was glad that McKay was not imprisoned on a hive with them, he wished that he was there to give advice to him now. He needed McKay's advice because things seemed to go wrong for him every time he went against McKay's advice.

Continued in Pt. 8

[accirax]

“Your mother is dead. You always omit that truth.”

As venus-is-thinking was rewatching DRDT’s Chapter 1 Free Time Events last night, she sent me screenshots of this one interaction between Charles and Whit, noting it as odd:

(She was right, btw. Whit, no matter how hard you try, you are not a normal man.)

Now, with the context of Chapter 2, we can probably assume that what Charles said here triggered Whit’s memories about his dead mom. There are a couple of options here, but the first one that jumped to my mind was that Whit was about to correct Charles, informing him that he actually learned how to cook himself. Obviously, he would then realize that saying this would bring up his mothers death, which he prefers to not mention, so he switches topics. While this option makes the most sense, given that Whit previously says, “teaching your kids how to cook is, like, the number one job of parents,” I would be surprised if Whit’s parents didn’t teach him how to cook at all.

It depends on how early in his life his mom died, I guess. And how long his dad has been away.

...wait, how long has Whit’s dad been away?

And then, an idea struck me. What if Whit’s dad doesn’t know that his wife is dead? What if Whit never told him?

This, of course, being a weightier spin on Whit’s secret, “Your mother is dead. You always omit that truth.” You omit that truth from who, exactly? People who already know what happened, or people like Charles and Teruko who don’t?

As I’m sure many people have assessed, Whit’s secret is comparatively pretty tame compared to the rest of the options. While his classmates are being revealed as manipulators and murderers, all we learn about Whit is a sad fun fact. But if Whit’s secret, in full, is actually “You never told anyone about the death of your mother, not even your father,” it becomes a much more severe secret.

Now, you might be asking, “if that’s the case, why wouldn’t Whit’s secret just say that outright instead?” Mastermind Whit interpretations aside, we have to remember that Despair Time is canonically a TV show. Assuming that Lin is watching his son on the big screen, as long as Whit’s secret says anything about his mom being dead, Lin would learn about his son’s concealment of the truth.

However, the question of why Whit’s secret wouldn’t be phrased like that for the sake of the other students remains. My best theory is this: it’s to make Whit suffer. I’m sure we all remember David’s heel turn in Chapter 2 Episode 11. After spewing his hateful monologue, he expresses how freeing it is to finally speak his mind.

For Whit, by not explaining what his secret is in full, they don’t give him the catharsis of expressing all of his thoughts and pain out loud. They still provide him the hopeful option of being able to salvage part of his story amongst the other students. While the motives of the TV show haven’t been expressly stated, it’s a pretty common killing game move to give the students hope just to rip it away and create despair, right...?

It’s like how Hu mentions that some secrets might be phrased unfavorably to make the students look worse. In this case, Whit’s secret could be phrased favorably with the intention of making him stressfully walk the edge of revealing the full truth and keeping it hidden. And, knowing Whit, there’s no way that he wouldn’t at least take a shot at repression.

Getting back to the secret itself, the way Whit talks about his family life also makes me believe that this could be the case. Through his dialogue, we learn that Whit lives a very solitary life. He talks about no one being home often enough to keep a pet, how lonely it would be to stay in the house all day, and how he’s befriended his neighbors’ dog and considers her family (but not the neighbors themselves?).

Sure, Whit is (barely) college aged, and college kids are typically considered able to live on their own. But Teruko and the gang believed that they were about to head to the Hope’s Peak entrance ceremony, so as far as Whit remembers, he only graduated high school very recently. If Lin knew that Elizabeth was dead, would he really leave his grieving teenage son completely alone in another country?

Because Whit’s dad doesn’t seem to currently reside within the United States, as far as I can tell. Maybe it’s just the Beetlejuice: The Musical fan in me, but I have to imagine that letting your kid grieve their dead mom whilst being completely isolated would be a very bad idea.

It would make sense to me if the reason why Lin allows this is because he doesn’t know. If Whit didn’t tell him the truth, either because it was too painful for him to say or because he didn’t want to jeopardize his father’s work abroad. According to Whit, his dad is “a real quiet dude,” so I could believe that he wouldn’t have any coworkers come up and console him for his loss, letting the cat out of the bag. The fact that he’s abroad further facilitates that idea-- how would Lin’s foreign coworkers even learn about Elizabeth’s passing when he himself doesn’t know?

You could run into problems if Lin went too long without seeing his wife, and started to wonder where she was. However, if Whit did something like impersonating his mom via text, it would be more possible for Lin to simply not notice that he hadn’t seen his wife in a while.

Venus also came up with the possibility that Lin is actually more of a deadbeat. He “works overseas” because, well, he lives there, having left his family behind. Whit could dye his hair blond not just to look like his mom, but also to look less like his dad. His skills as the Ultimate Matchmaker could have began at home with their split. It sounds a little implausible, but we know that Whit likes to ignore things that make him uncomfortable and put a positive spin on them.

At any rate, I believe this is a hypothetical worth considering. I definitely want to keep a closer eye on Whit’s backstory going further, as it’s possible that it’s not exactly what it seems.