#which is above and beyond my initial goal of trying to only get one LMAO

[seiya-starsniper]

Seiya's Dreamling Bingo Masterpost

This is Seiya's fill masterpost for @dreamlingbingo. All fills that are completed, or partially published in AO3 are noted above in green circles, and all Works in Progress/snippet works are noted in yellow circles. Each work will also contain a short summary, rating, and link to where the work is housed.

A1 - Creature: Doppelganger: untitled WIP Dream/Hob; Show!Hob finds himself in a strange world where his Stranger (comic!Dream) didn't miss their 1989 appointment. (Rating: Explicit, snippet is SFW) In Progress. A2 - Alpha/Beta Relationship: untitled sequel to A Dream for Viscount Dream/Hob; Omegaverse + Regency AU. After his heat ends, Dream travels across Europe with Hob, who introduces him Lucienne and Gault, a non-traditional couple. (Rating: will be Explicit, snippet is sfw). In Progress.

A3 - French Revolution: A Dream for a Viscount Dream/Hob; Omegaverse + Regency AU where Dream and Hob meet, fall in horny love, and get married (Rating: Explicit). Complete.

A4 - Exhibitionism: Midnight Pleasures - Chapter 3 Dream/Hob; Vampire AU where Hob makes a deal with a vampire named Dream, and agrees to gather his coven together (Rating: Explicit). Complete for prompt, overall fic is WIP.

A5 - Fuck or Die: Let's conspire to ignite - ch 1 Dream/Hob; Hell invades Desire's realm, and Dream's injuries during the battle give him some interesting side effects (Rating: Explicit). Complete.

B2 - Crossover: Book, replaced with the adoptable prompt Pranks untitled Spy AU Dream/Hob; Hob is a spy and Dream is his quartermaster. Based off this art. In Progress.

B2 - Rape/Non-con: Break Me, Shake Me Roderick/Dream, Dream/Hob; Omegaverse + Crime Family AU where Dream is in an arranged marriage with Roderick Burgess. His attempts to leave go awry when he is kidnapped by Hob and Johanna (Rating: Mature). Complete.

B3 - Creature: Phoenix: they say our love's just like Magic Dream/Hob, Johanna/Alianora; Human AU where Dream and Hob play Magic The Gathering competitively. (Rating: Teen) Complete.

B4 - Rescue: (Combined with March Monthly prompt MI6!Hob): A View to a Dream - Chapter 1 Dream/Hob; AU Crossover with James Bond Daniel Craig Universe (Rating: Explicit). Complete.

B5 - Schmoop: Wake Up & Smell The Flowers Dream/Hob; Flowershop AU where Hob runs a shop and Morpheus is his loyal customer (Rating: Teen) Complete.

C1 - Hand Feeding: secret moments (lost in the heat of the afternoon) Dream/Hob; PWP fic set during Dream's heat in A Dream for a Viscount. (Rating: Explicit) Complete.

C2 - First Aid: A View to a Dream - Chapter 2 Dream/Hob; AU Crossover with James Bond Daniel Craig Universe (Rating: Explicit). Complete.

C3 - Free Space: Cherry Slick Dream/Hob; Omegaverse + College AU where 20-year old Hob Gadling decides to sell his virginity online (Rating: Explicit). Complete.

C4 - Impaled, replaced with Adoptable Prompt Hope Springs Eternal: Let's conspire to ignite - ch 2 Dream/Hob Hell invades Desire's realm, and Dream's injuries during the battle give him some interesting side effects. (Rating: Explicit) Complete.

C5 - Haircut: A View to a Dream - Chapter 4 Dream/Hob; AU Crossover with James Bond Daniel Craig Universe. (Rating: Explicit) Complete.

D1 - Atomic Bomb, replaced with Whump: The Lament of Morpheus Dream/Hob; Hob Gadling ends up in Hell. Dream goes to rescue him. (Rating: Teen) Complete.

D2 - Meet Ugly, replaced by the Adoptable Prompt Talking in Riddles: Coffee & Flowers Dream/Hob; A cup of coffee has multiple meanings. Dream overthinks everything, as per usual.

D3 - Tentacle Sex: In the Middle of the Night (In My Dreams) Dream/Hob/The Corinthian; companion piece to and if I get burned, at least we were electrified. (Rating: Explicit) Complete.

D4 - Creature: Feline: Dreams for a Dozen Cats Dream/Hob; Hob happens upon Dream holding court with a colony of cats outside The New Inn. (Rating: General Audiences) Complete.

D5 - Justice: A View to a Dream - Chapter 3 Dream/Hob; AU Crossover with James Bond Daniel Craig Universe. (Rating: Explicit) Complete.

E1 - Frozen in Time, replaced by Adoptable Prompt: Rough: untitled sequel to Break Me, Shake Me Dream/Hob; after agreeing to help Hob and Johanna break into his husband's safe, Dream and Hob grow closer. On the day before the break in, Dream tries to seduce Hob. It does not go as planned. (Rating: Mature, will be Explicit later) In Progress.

E2 - Technology: untitled WIP Dream/Hob; Dream is an audiobook narrator, and Hob is secretly obsessed with all of his works. Especially the romance novels. (Rating: Explicit, snippet is SFW) In Progress.

E3 - Servant: A Maiden's Dream; Dream/Hob; AU where Hob is a Sacrificial Maiden for Dream, the local village God. (Rating: Explicit) Complete.

E4 - Feel Soulmate's Pain, replaced by High as a kite: Spoils of War Dream/Hob; Hob walks in on a compromised Dream, who has been given aphrodisiacs by an unknown party. Complete.

E5 - Fairy Tale Curse: Set the Night on Fire Dream/Hob; Dream of the Endless Dragons is the last of his kind, and cursed to remain in his dragon form after refusing to help a pair of humans seeking his aid. The spell can only be broken when another human willing gives him their heart. 1/4 chapters published.

[felikatze]

give me the a brainworms i am deeply invested in this man

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okay first of all you asked for this. second of all if i am a little off track from the game that is explained by me just building thoughts like building blocks without looking back. third i was supposed to be studying for an exam but this counts as practice right? it's character analysis anyway lmao.

buckle the fuck up, my dearest anon, because I have sub headings.

1. A as the Player Character

Let me begin with why I am obsessed with this horrid little guy in the first place: he's a silent protagonist. I am always obsessed with protagonists. It's a law of nature. I love taking hollow characters and dissecting them for scraps. It's a long standing practice of mine.

Being a silent protagonist, A, as X, does not have a set personality. However, there are patterns. Firstly, as any semi-silent protagonist, A is a reactive character. He does not start incidents, he only responds to situations, presented by the Sephirah, as they arise. He does not actively seek out new information, merely going about the routine of expanding departments, but expresses curiosity when information is presented to him.

I'm aware fandom likes to characterize X and A differently, likely because they are initially presented as different characters. I, on the other hand, would like to pose the theory that they are more similar than expected.

I believe that A is also a reactive character, rather than active. Despite the fandom wiki describing him as stubborn, the goal A pursues with such fervor, the completion of the Seed of Light, is not actually a goal he set for himself. Carmen is the one who set this goal for him by leaving him her legacy.

Throughout the backstory we get relating to the Cogito Project, A is Carmen's assistant, whereas Carmen is the driving researcher. This is how many of the City's inhabitants seem to be; going with the flow of goals set for them by superiors. Yes I will get into his attachment to Carmen later.

The above is not to say A isn't stubborn. Once he has accepted a goal as his own, he will pursue it at all costs, as is obvious from any and all flashbacks leading to horrible deaths. But the point isn't his pursuit of the goal, but where that goal comes from. Even Lobcorp itself supports this, despite what Hokma may say; A as X follows the "simple" task of managing the Corp's day to day activities, and executes any mission given to him by the Sephirah. He outranks them, and doesn't actually need to do their missions, but does so anyway. Players are driven by the reward offered by those missions, of course, and A might be the same in that regard. Nonetheless, at no point in gameplay do you do anything somebody else hasn't told you to.

The overarching narrative of the Script would be the most obvious example. Every single person in the game follows the script, whether they know it or not.

Lastly on this note, a phrase we hear attributed to A, "Machines must behave as machines." Now, Angela may be attached to this phrase because it bears significance to herself as a machine, and informs most of A's unjust treatmeant of her. However, what if it doesn't just apply to machines? The phrase reads as such, "Everyone must act according to their own role."

2. A, Carmen, and the disease of the mind

So, A will at any cost pursue goals Carmen set for him. Question is, why? The obvious answer would be saying he's in love with her, which like, true. But also, how did Carmen come to be so precious to him?

Let us return to the comparison, "This is how many of the City's inhabitants seem to be." We don't really know why exactly most characters joined Carmen, excluding mainly Daniel and Benjamin. But this does not mean we can't have theories.

Carmen's ideal was curing the "disease of the mind." What is the disease? Complete hopelessness. The inability to form aspirations and dreams, to think of a better future. A is a very reactive character who does not set goals for himself. Therefore, I personally conclude, that initially, Carmen's ideology resonated with him because he could identify with the disease.

This is the point where I start rewatching Lobcorp story clips. Dear god.

So, by briefly binging day 27 onward, I've come up with lines that very much support this lil theory of mine:

First, from Carmen, a description of the disease, "People lock away their own potential."

Second, a line from Angela, after the memory synchronization, "You've locked yourself in this prison without bars."

Carmen describes A as humble, and Benjamin thinks he is warm. If I suppose A was one of the diseased initially, Carmen would be the catalyst for this change. Carmen was someone with big aspirations, with plans to heal what is wrong with the City, and it gave him hope. He was one of the diseased, but through time with Carmen, with that relentless optimistic spirit, he may have been cured, for a time. It's not a stretch to say that she was his light.

But lor shows us what happens when the seed of light sprouts wrong, doesn't it? It distorts. A grasped hope for the first time and then it is ruthlessly crushed. Carmen was everything. Yes, A is described as a jack-of-all-trades, as a genius in all pursuits he puts his mind to, but what does that matter in the face of someone who can unite people? Who can give them hope of a better world? Who can inspire them to actually use the talents they have?

And what kind of pressure is it to put the legacy of a messiah in the hands of the diseased?

3. A and the Perception Filter: A is weak to White damage

No, I am serious about that. He's extremely weak mentally. Obviously death of a loved one is a changing experience for absolutely anybody, but Carmen's death destroyed him.

Not only did he refuse to confide this grief to anyone and bottled it up, now everybody looked to him to lead the project, but he just isn't Carmen. He isn't an ambitious person, he doesn't have the same optimism, he can't bring people together, but people expected him to, and he failed. Hard.

While he was without a doubt talented in science, he was also just an average guy.

After her death, A grew to hate humans. He lost trust in them. He refused to confide in anyone, and be confided in by anyone. Thus, the team fell apart.

In both lobcorp and lor, we get interesting tidbits about precations taken to protect the manager.

Firstly, Lobcorp's perception filter. The cartoony art-style of the game is a result of the game being in first person. Through the eyes of the manager, everything is cartoony!

This is a measure undertaken to specifically protect the manager's psyche. Angela tells us that, before it was deployed, the manager would frequently go insane, one notable incident including the manager trying to hang himself. When we first hear this, the previous managers and X are still separate in our minds. However, they're all A! A went insane multiple times without it.

This is understandable, considering that employees also frequently go insane and try to kill both themselves and others. But they're there in action, confronting the Abnormalities directly. Just watching them made the manager go mad. They could not handle the responsibility for the employees' deaths.

In lor, Angela explains why she picked the Rabbit Team from R Corp as their main contractor instead of any other team. One team was simply too big for L Corp's narrow hallways, and the other team... dealt in psychic damage. It was simply too big of a risk for the manager. But the manager is always secure behind the cameras. Would that teams methods just be that brutal visually, or would their attacks have reached the manager?

Combined with his immense grief at all of his friends and coworkers dying in part because of him, A cannot bear to look at death.

4. A's greatest flaw: Avoidance

A common thread during Core Meltdown flashbacks: A refuses to look at suffering. He just can't. Whether it be looking away from Elijah writhing on the floor or hanging up on Daniel's panicked report of death.

This is actually the thing Angela takes the biggest issue with, and what hurt her most. A would never look at her, acknowledge her, and she did not understand why. But I think A did not refuse to look at her out of maliciousness. Rather, it was out of grief over Carmen. He could not look at her without being reminded of what he lost.

Angela's creation came about because A wanted someone to guide him, someone like Carmen. He threw himself into the project to the point it made Benjamin happy that A was passionate about anything again. But as soon as the project he distracted himself with is complete, he is filled with regret. Carmen cannot be replicated, and he breaks again.

Furthermore, tying this back to my first point about A being a reactive person, we see Angela take charge over A. She's the one recruiting employees and leading the business. It was likely a relief for him to be able to step down from the leading position.

But avoiding it made everything worse. He did not act when he saw Elijah's unchecked ambition, he did not act beyond a simple check at Gabriel's decay, he gave Giovanni the same hope he clung to to no avail, et cetera et cetera.

Avoiding his problems is making them worse and sending everything down the drain (including his psyche), so he deals with it the only way he knows how, avoiding them more!

Biggest example of A's big avoidance problem as his psyche crumbles: the memory wipe. A, in perhaps his one singular moment of acknowledging his emotions, recognizes that he is incapable of fulfilling the Script in his current state. His grief is just too much.

By erasing his own memory, he could start fresh without his grief, because he might've really killed himself otherwise. His suffering became bigger and bigger, and he coped by avoiding it.

The memory wipe allowed him to distangle his problems. Through his interactions with the Sephirah (which I will not individually detail for the sake of my sanity and because I dumped all this on a friend on discord already), he can deal with and actually process his issues one at a time.

As the motto describes, only by facing the fear can he build the future. Only by finally facing his grief and acknowleding it, seeing that the past cannot be changed and he has no choice to move forward, can he actually do so.

5. The Sephirah as ghosts

Lobotomy Corporation feels like a ghost story. I've touched upon this in my previous A post.

As you reach the Corp's lower levels, there are less Sephirah. First there are four. They act like normal employees, and do not breach into the story's underbelly until you reach their core supressions and the facade breaks. Second, counting Tiphereth as one, there are three. They still go about their duties, but they know what they are. Third, there are two, and the facade is gone. They know what they are, and they will tell you about the sins of the past.

And finally, you reach Keter, and there is only one.

This gradual decay of the facade is what really gets to me. I said that by interacting with the Sephirah, A deals with his issues one by one, but that's what the Sephirah are, in this case. Representations.

The people the Sephirah used to be are dead, and the Sephirah are their ghosts. The core supression involve putting these ghosts to rest. Doesn't it match the progression of a typical ghost story? Find the ghost, find what they used to be, and help them move on.

So, if everyone is a ghost, then A is alone.

But, behind the scenes, the Sephirah are still there. They are still people, and they have changed for the better, too. As always, A simply does not look.

(Does he even see the good others see in him? Does he look away from praise, too? Did he even realize Benjamin's admiration for him? Will we ever know?)

6. A's end.

A's progression of moving on would be fine and dandy if it did not end as thus: A does kill himself.

A sees himself beyond the point of no return. Everyone is dead. He is alone. Carmen is never coming back. He can't call it quits now, or else everything has been in vain. (Even if the last days show us a part of him wants to just quit, so badly.)

So, there's only one thing left to do: follow the Script to its ending. Fulfill Carmen's legacy at all costs. Death as the ultimate release.

This is the point where I admit I do not like the death as release trope. But the game does a good enough job as presenting it as the only option A had, or the only option he saw himself as having.

However, I've mentioned it before, I'll mention it again: A was not alone. Death was his release, but he left wreckage. In order to end his own suffering, he inflicted the same pain he went through on others.

Throughout the game, he moves on and pushes through. The ending shows that in reality... he didn't.

At least in lor the characters stick together and help each other heal.

This has been most of my thoughts on A, amounting to my longest analysis post ever, having taken me approximately two and a half hours to complete, and clocking in at 2337 words including up to this paragraph.

Thank you anon for giving me the incentive to verbalize all of this, so I can finally be at ease having inflicted my thoughts on everybody else.

[incorrect-ikevamp-quotes]

i saw your post about Charles and what his personality past and part in the story line so i was wondering if u could do the same for vlad? :)

Ah, well, I can at least let you know what I’ve seen so far? I haven’t delved too far into Vlad, and some of his general impressions can be confusing, so I’ll do my best to make it sensible and unbiased! Here you go lovely <33333

Fair warning, there will be mentions of a lot of JPN app content since Vlad and his boys aren’t around much in the ENG app yet.

My general sense of Vlad is basically discount vampire Sasuke Uchiha.

What I mean by this is to say–according to what I’ve read so far–his clan/family were murdered by vampire hunters in cold blood when he was just a young boy. Presumably as a result of that traumatic event, he harbors a sizable enmity towards humanity and kind of lashes out on them in weirdly specific moments of violence. Another aspect of his motivation is something that’s mentioned within Comte’s route; which is that Vlad went through the timespace door on his own one day and allegedly saw a devastated future, where nothing remains of life on earth more or less.

I guess the reason I find him to be so perplexing is that he speaks about his actions in terms of efficiency, while most of the things he does just feel like unhappy outbursts (v often a product of unresolved trauma symptoms, I’d wager.) I also say this because he appears to have no larger pattern to his fury beyond the original event of his loss. Most of the human beings he attacks aren’t much of a threat to him and hurting them really doesn’t bring him any dividends beyond revenge.

For instance, he insists his disdain for humanity and insistence on controlling them is for the sake of ensuring they do not destroy the future–the horrifying wasteland he witnessed when he traveled through the timespace door. However, I’m not really sure how his current movements really speak to that goal? I mean sure, maybe he’s relying on Faust to create an immortal human so that humans will be forced to care because it will be their future too, but he doesn’t allow Faust to draw his pureblood blood for experimenting. (One can most certainly argue this was more about a lack of trust, and perhaps for plenty reason: Faust is vindictive enough to try to turn the tables and exert control over Vlad, or act on his own whims with his findings.) But if that’s the solution he’s waiting on, turning the rivals of the men in the mansion doesn’t really bring him any closer to that vision either? I mean, what good does it do to bring back Gilles de Rais–a prominent French serial killer? How would unleashing him on the populace help humanity “realize the error of it’s short-sighted and wasteful ways” and move to a brighter future?

Can’t help it, I ask these questions as I read.

In Comte’s main story, Comte hammers home that Vlad is not somebody to be taken lightly. One day when MC goes out to buy flowers, Vlad poses as a human florist to sell them to her–which is how Comte finds out he’s in France, and that he’s made contact with MC. When prompted, Comte describes him in a very particular way; and I think people really overlook this when they talk about their relationship. He says that Vlad is frighteningly pure in terms of the way he thinks and acts. The way I understood his description (given what I’ve seen of Vlad) is that Comte really does mean it point blank: Vlad is very simple in terms of why and how he does things. The issue with this is that nuance and context are lost on Vlad as well–and that’s where the problems start to flood in. Vlad is angry at humanity for what they’ve done to him. Baseline? That’s fair, they killed his damn family. However, Vlad thinks that by extension he has the right to decimate the general public and attack people completely uninvolved in his hurt.

And that isn’t right either–it’s ignoring so many factors here. He’s ignoring how much vampires use and toy with humans as pawns, it’s ignoring the massive power imbalance between him and his victims (this really isn’t a case of self-defense most of the time, nobody but Comte/Leo is a sizable threat to him), and he’s ignoring whether or not a person even did anything to deserve his retributive violence. While murder is never okay, it is perhaps more understandable when we see Jeanne’s frenzied and violent belligerence in response to a man who murders a boy’s mother for the sake of his own amusement/convenience. Vlad literally sees almost every single one of the rivals he created begin to heal/improve and murders them in cold blood because they are no longer of any use to him. That’s uh……..that’s a little messed, not gonna lie to you chief.

While part of me understands the efficiency here–he doesn’t want to leave any traces of his involvement, he doesn’t want any loose ends–it’s also just kind of foolish and cruel ultimately. From my understanding of the narrative, all the people he turned had some visible sign that indicated their origin to Comte. So even if he claims it was for the sake of concealment, it was more likely about his personal convenience. Which…..also yikes.

[Comte clearly does not trust Vlad to be reasonable, and I think there’s plenty of good reason enumerated above, but I actually don’t sense quite so much hatred? I think he’s just given up on the idea of Vlad growing up, even if he doesn’t like giving up on people. And considering Vlad’s behavior, I think it’s overkill to say that Comte just abandons him because he doesn’t care lmao. Even when Comte expresses real anger at the end of his own route, it was more because Vlad was fine with endangering MC’s life just to get back at him. I think Comte’s unhappiness with Vlad has more to do with Vlad’s treatment of human life as meaningless and worthless. It’s fascinating but also kind of sad? Vlad’s traumatic experience results in behavior that is a direct exacerbation of Comte’s trauma, and as such--no matter their potentially fond history--they can’t stomach each other.]

In Comte’s route, Vlad also has Shakespeare abduct MC and take her to the cathedral. Later on in the castle, we see an immediate display of Vlad’s shocking powers: he has the ability to manipulate people’s desires/thoughts. I’m not exactly sure how this works, but he is able to give MC visions of the mansion and Comte coming on to her–which shocks her into realizing it’s all just a dream. It’s not reality; it’s all manufactured by Vlad.

After that...weird introductory note...Vlad gives MC the rundown on his life together with Comte, which as always is subject to a question of bias. My assumption is that he did not lie, only because he was trying to convince MC that he was “right.” Furthermore, he does not omit the most damning evidence of his erroneous judgement, which suggests a continued inability for him to see where he went wrong.

We get a series of three flashbacks. The first is them as young kids. I don’t know if Vlad had already experienced the horrors of his family being destroyed, but this particular flashback focuses on Comte. His parents, in an effort to teach him that vampires and humans have no ability to co-exist, send away all of his teachers/mentors/nannies/the servants--pretty much everyone and anyone he was closely bonded to. Think about it this way: we can see that Comte is very sociable and affectionate by nature. He was living in a house full of people, all of whom cared about him and looked after him in their own way. Now the house is entirely empty. Naturally Comte is very very upset, and Vlad appears to try to cheer him up with little success. 

[When I look back on this scene I don’t think I initially registered the sheer dissonance of Vlad’s reaction, versus Comte’s catatonic misery. There was a very solemn feeling to that memory, and the correct choice in terms of extending comfort is to hold his hand believe it or not. There is a sense that he feels very alone. When young boy Vlad enters one can argue that it was the proper thing to do; he was trying to cheer up his playmate and friend. But at the same time, I think I need to double check. Because I’m beginning to wonder if I was wrong. What if Vlad was happy to see someone as alone as him, and that joy is accordingly dissonant for that reason? He can’t see what Comte needs or how he’s hurting because he’s so glad he isn’t alone anymore in a way.]

The second flashback is the war nurse scene that I have spoken at length about. The important thing to focus on here is Vlad’s surprise that Comte would opt out of turning her out of respect for her wishes. The way Vlad frames the situation is starkly different from Comte’s. Comte sees himself as an outsider, somebody who invaded her life as a result of the timespace door and therefore has no right to suddenly change the course of her fate. He had no idea if she even wanted to live (considering the horrors she’d have to cope with and remember) or leave that time period at all, for that matter (considering the only thing keeping her going was helping the wounded/victims). Comte really was listening to everything she had to say, and he was taking her concerns and motivations seriously. 

Vlad simply says: if you want her, take her. It’s as simple as that for him. And in one way that’s not entirely wrong--assuming Comte would have every intention of looking after her and actually cares a lot about her. But what’s being ignored here is her agency and the fact that they really don’t know each other that well? Something like that could begin and be rocky, if it doesn’t end in complete disaster. Worse, I get the feeling Vlad is perfectly fine with the notion of turning her and if things don’t work out, just kill her or get rid of her. Again, the simplistic thinking comes into play here: it ultimately comes down to Vlad being self-centered. He’s thinking only in terms of satisfying his needs, he doesn’t seem to have any concept of a larger pair or group feeling. There’s an inability to bend/be flexible for the sake of maintaining a greater harmonious feeling. 

[For the record, I don’t think this makes him irredeemable? Only that it makes it very hard to live with him or love him, probably. There’s an inability to live at a joint pace? It’s always answering to what he wants without room for anything else most of the time, which to me is not living and it’s not love ;;;;]

Following their escape back to their own time, Vlad explains how he wants to use the door to turn geniuses and control humanity. He eventually wants to create a surveillance state, which would mean everyone is forced to move with his explicit approval, more or less. (He almost reminds me of Louis XIV, can’t tell if that’s what they were going for.) I have my doubts that his abilities could extend that far, but human history shows us that we are plenty susceptible to fascist and totalitarian rhetoric. In a shocking display of anger, Comte draws the line at controlling humanity and forcing them into a regime in which, and this is Vlad’s description not mine, “we (purebloods) would be like kings.” There’s definitely a concept of evolutionary superiority at play here, which echoes what I mentioned earlier; vampires seem to have this awareness that they’re apex predators in a sense, and enjoy the power that comes with that. Unfortunately, that probably makes for a fairly toxic/uncomfortable larger species culture, which is exactly what Comte and Leo hate lmao.

Vlad does not seem to find any issue with this sort of outlook, and asks MC to decide which of them--Vlad or Comte--is right. Who is more realistic, who best understands the future? As expected the MC replies that it's Comte, and Vlad goes from beseeching to big mad at record speed. He's p much that gif of the teddy bear that smacks its head down on the tables and then has the angry eyebrows.

This is where Comte intervenes, firing a warning shot that grazes Vlad's cheek and demanding he let MC go. In response, Vlad shoves MC into the turbulent timespace door--p much guaranteeing MC's death. (Essentially timespace is a void of sorts, a human being could never survive in that environment for long. Vlad fully knew this, and yeeted her anyway.)

So uh, yeah. Disagreement? Death. Moving on? Death. Nuanced approach to reality? Death. Beginning to think he doesn't really have a lot of patience or open-mindedness or any other kind of problem-solving approach. 

He raises flowers and gardens like a fiend, and he openly plucks any single flower with a blemished leaf. Even if a single petal is slightly damaged, it will be removed and destroyed. So one could argue his extremism reflects a kind of perfectionism as well. No room for errors or troublesome dissent. No ugliness of any kind. I mean in all of his interactions with Faust and Charles this is the overt undertone. Don't ask more of me than I'm willing to give. Behave like good children, mommy's busy. Is that insubordination? boss music begins

One thing I actually don't understand very well is his decision making in Dazai's route. Dazai finds out about what Vlad's doing in a nanosecond when he senses MC is in danger, and yet Vlad makes absolutely no move to eliminate Dazai? He just watches from the shadows. Even when Dazai grills Charles about his loyalty to Vlad, no retribution.

My best guess for this specific situation is that Vlad does derive some level of satisfaction thwarting the future of human beings/former humans. Dazai--being somebody with no great desire to live, no rivals to speak of as far as we can tell, and no larger aspirations--is a life that is easily extinguished. There's no satisfaction in it. When Vlad's clan was murdered and he saw the future decimated, it could be that he felt humans had invaded and eradicated every potentiality that was important to him. Where he might have lived happily with his family, that future was ripped from his grasp. Where he might enjoy his flowers and the creation of an immortal for the rest of conceivable time, that too was ripped from his grasp with a desolate future. 

So much about who Vlad is is about control, so it's very possible his lashing out is an extension of that. Dazai does not awaken any of the disdain he feels, and he does not succeed in overthrowing Vlad's control over Charles, so Vlad simply lurks in silence.

And last but not least, I've seen the preview to Vlad's newest birthday event story. The contents are incredibly revealing, in that MC wishing him a happy birthday and offering him a gift has him saying that it was "the best birthday ever." Granted idk if that’s sweet or just...beyond sad, but here we are. It’s only compounding my curiosity about the wound on his chest--I really do wonder if he was attacked and locked away by vampire hunters or hostile human beings or something. I say that only because that line speaks to a lot of isolation, and given how little he seems to care about turning people/subjecting them to his whims it feels odd. Why the isolation or lack of people who care about him? Is it a perceived lack where his actions alienated all the people who wanted to be close to him, or is it a more involuntary lack?

When she says let’s celebrate again next year, he seems a pleasantly shocked by the notion, and remarks “Ah yes, it’s a promise c:”. The preview was also mega horny: “You make me feel so loved, I don’t think I can be gentle with you tonight. If you enjoy it so much, then I won’t stop. I want to see you completely lost for me. I’ll teach your body what it means to be loved by a pureblood.” Aaaaaand pretty sure the CG was alluding to him licking the good stuff from her basement, though not entirely sure given it was only the preview. 

The brief POV they give us is also very revealing:

“You always keep your promises, and I think I underestimate all the time how much you saved me. You are good, only you are good in this world.”

“Will we continue to make promises to each other in the future? Well in that case--you will always, always be mine, my vampire.”

Tbh he’s...v sweet? In his own way? Honestly he feels like a crabapple that is just so sick of the world and wants softe wife to take comfort in. While granted that’s not really my thing, I know a fanbase appeal exists for these types--so if that’s your thing, have at it!

So now that we have reached the end of my ridiculously long analysis (when am I ever brief, I’m so sorry. If you made it all the way here you deserve a cookie at the very least, if not the right to chase me with a bat) perhaps it’s more clear why I said discount vampire Sasuke Uchiha? “My clan is gone, every other second I’m going to be in retraumatization insanity, when I’m not I’ll be seeking power/hobbies, planning the demise of people who wanted the best for me, building a team to my advantage and unquestioned control, and eventually settling for a lifelong love who sees the best in me despite my more difficult moments and perceived hollowing loneliness. Not the most ideal comparison, but I will say if Vlad was not already named the historical figure, would have pointed and yelled Uchiha.

That’s all from me folks, hopefully this was a fun way to get introduced to him? And again, hope I didn’t alienate--I fully respect what people do and don’t enjoy o7

[kuningannasansa]

A musketeers rewatch (that nobody asked for) 1x07

Here we go, my least favorite episode of the whole show excluding season three which I didn’t watch! If you have even a passing fondness for Ninon, I suggest you look away :)

We start with a royal procession through the crowd and there are quite a lot of waving people there. If they can fill the streets with extras for scenes like that, why can those same extras not be used for the court scenes?

Priest whose name I have forgotten is being robbed. The musketeers rush in to help. 

Meanwhile, a crazy girl tries to get close to the queen and ends up being ran over by her carriage. If this is meant to be some Emily Davison analogy, it sucks!

The dead lunatic’s name is Therese and she wanted to give the Queen a note. Constance takes it and says “Fleur, what does this mean?” Am I supposed to take from that that she cannot read for herself? Cause a merchant’s wife definitely, definitely would know how to do that. 

Fleur is nowhere to be seen, however.

“This is an age of glorious discovery!” says Ninon. “Galileo observes the moons of Jupiter... But what is the role of women in this age of wonder?” - well, gee, i don’t know Ninon. Maybe you could have mentioned some female scientists of the era in addition to Galileo? Catherine de Parthenay, anyone? Or Marie Fouquet? Hell, Ninon de l'Enclos, my atheist queen, for whom this Ninon is doubtless named, was a notable woman in her own right! But no, we have to make women look more oppressed than they actually were to make this waste of space look more awesome. 

“My women of Paris, seek your own enlightenment!” - wrong era!

Therese, an orphan from a humble background, wanted to hand a petition to the queen about women’s education.  

“If she was an illiterate orphan she could not have written this. It is misguided but not unintelligent.” - says Richelieu. And indeed he turns out to be right. She didn’t write it. Which is fucking bizarre. 

Anne asks him if he doesn’t favor women’s education and he replies: “I admire learning wherever it is to be found, but this amounts to an attack on the authority of church and state.” Any French history buff know what the actual Richelieu’s thought of women’s education? @tatzelwyrm​? I’m gonna start a biography on him soon, but not until I’m done with this rewatch.

Ninon barges in past the guards and yells “stay out of my way, I will address the King!”. I’m sure this is meant to make her look badass, but she just comes across like a complete idiot who doesn’t understand that she would do better to follow court protocol, no matter how much she might dislike it, if she wants to achieve her goals.    

Luckily for her she’s pretty, so the king doesn’t mind.

“I want to know why this tragedy happened. If your guards are to blame I want them punished.” And then she gives Treville a dirty look! How dare you, you waste of skin and oxygen! Don’t you dare blame Treville for this mess! 

“You knew this lunatic?” - lmao, Richelieu!

Therese was the daughter of Ninon’s servant whom Ninon decided to educate. So she was educated, she COULD have written the petition herself. But she did not. Because when Richelieu says “she wrote this and was killed trying to give it to the Queen” Ninon screeches: “Don’t be ridiculous! She didn’t write it, I did!” And I mean, who exactly is looking down on servant girls here and saying it’s ridiculous to expect them to write something intelligent. It’s not Richelieu. 

But more importantly, WHY?? If Ninon wrote it, why couldn’t she hand it to the Queen? Why did this poor girl have to die? This is so, so stupid! I mean, okay, maybe Therese heard Ninon speak well of the queen and got the idea to hand her the petition on her own, without being told by Ninon to do so. But why did she have it in the first place, if it’s Ninon’s petition?

“Apparently the Comtesse de Laroque believes herself above the normal laws and conventions of society.” ´- well that’s an understatement.  

“The treasury is bankrupt and the country needs a new navy. Ninon has the wealth to provide it.” And that is why Richelieu sends Milady into the salon to find something to use against her. These two are so good in this, I love their scenes together! Pity about the rest of the episode. 

Richelieu is now freaking out about lesbians and Milady is just like “really, dude? really?”. I love her!

“Ninon must pay up or face destruction, I want every last penny from her!” - so it was not his intention to kill her, just to get the money. Interesting.

Fleur’s father is Bonacieux’s cousin. I love that, the commoners having family connections and support circles of their own.

The robbed priest is called Luca! Richelieu is “delighted to see him”, apparently, cause they’re old friends. And Louis isn’t, because he wrote a pamphlet arguing that Kings should bow down to the Pope’s authority. 

“We can’t have a comtesse abducting young women and spiriting them away to her boudoir!” - Oh, Richelieu! Do calm down.

It’s odd watching Richelieu try to use homosexuality to take Ninon down while shipping Trevilieu thou. 

Athos barges into Ninon’s salon, demanding to know where Fleur is and Milady very discreetly hides behind a pillar. Lol! 

And Ninon starts hitting on Athos immediately. She tells him that she’s often thought he’s handsome but the “melancholy aspect” to his looks is “probably only mental vacancy”. Who taught you how to flirt? Why must you be so abrasive and confrontational all the time? Like really, I get she’s meant to be a Strong Woman Who Don’t Take No Shit TM, but she just comes across like a loudmouth. 

Athos likes it thou!

“Forgive our intrusion-” “I will not forgive it!” - Jesus Ninon, it’s just a figure of speech, a polite gesture. People use these in conversation sometimes. She’s so unnecessarily rude smh.

Aramis says he “gladly acknowledges the superiority of the female sex” and I throw up in my mouth a little. That’s not feminism, that’s slimy!

D’artagnan: “If that wasn’t flirting, I don’t know what is.”  Porthos: “Rubbish! She can’t stand him.”  Aramis: “One day I’ll sit down and explain women to you.” - cause we’re all the same and no means yes, right writers?

Luca: “His holiness is concerned about the direction of French foreign policy.” Richelieu: “Well the pope is Spain’s performing monkey.” - he really is so funny! I know I keep saying that, but he is!

Also, YAY politics! Intelligent dialogue! I love this scene so much!

“In matters of religion I defer to Rome, in all else I am my country’s servant” - lol, Richelieu inventing the separation of church and state

Luca: “Is this your final word on the subject?” Richelieu: “It is.” - and that right there is where Luca decides to kill him. The actor plays it really well, knowing it’s coming I can see the briefest moment of regret in his eyes, but without hindsight I wouldn’t notice anything. And he gives Richelieu the poisoned gift. 

Also, isn't it the same guy who plays Margaret’s new man in Harlots? 

Athos says that Therese and Fleur were so far below Ninon in status that they were not in a position to make choices of their own free will. Which is fuckign stupid. But Ninon saying that she views all women as equal regardless of their birth is equally moronic. I mean, sure, they should be, but in reality they’re not and ignoring that doesn’t help anyone. And Athos does point out that Ninon’s money and position gives her certain privileges, but it sits wrong coming from him and not from Porthos or Milady or Constance, who are from poor/less wealthy backgrounds. That said, this is still one of the few semi intelligent scenes in this whole episode, so whatever. At least someone said it. 

Now she kisses him and invites him to dine! And he just looks sad.

Luca tells Richelieu to “deal with” Ninon “firmly”, cause the Pope is dying and Richelieu could be the next Pope if he shows himself a strong defender of the church against “heresy”. What heresy thou? Women learning to read? Lol, that’s so cartoonishly evil and ahistorical, but whatever. This at least explains where Richelieu’s desire to have her burned came from.

Richelieu: “I wouldn’t go so far as to call her a heretic.” Luca: “A woman who openly defies God's laws, what other word is there?” - what laws thou? what has she done, other than hold some salon meetings, as every other noblewoman was doing at the time?

Richelieu promises to consider his options and Luca tells him to pray to the poisoned bone for guidance, lol.

This right here is Richelieu letting personal feelings cloud his judgement, thou! Which he said he has learned no to do. But he allows himself to be carried away with visions of becoming Pope and honestly I don’t see how he can possibly believe that could happen with his foreign policy and how hated he is by the Vatican, as stated in this very scene.  

Milady and Ninon! I love that scene! Ninon clearly thinks she’s super special because she “takes the initiative” by kissing men instead of waiting to be kissed. She’s so damn smug about it! And Milady is just like “oh I could never be so bold” and I swear I can hear her laughing internally! 

And she very cleverly charms Fleur’s location out of Ninon!

Athos’s idea of a first date is the morgue. Charming.

Athos saying that Ninon is responsible for what happened to Therese because she gave a lowborn girl an education doesn’t sit well with me. Classist ass! But she is responsible for not thinking of Therese beyond how daring and adventurous and fun and positively scandalous it would be to educate a servant girl and then not bothering to care for her when she got bored. Cause if she had done, Therese could have come to her with her plan and she could have prevented her death. Because yes, regardless of her education, her background predisposed Therese to be naive about the King and Queen and how petitions work. Where was Ninon in all this, when a girl under her charge decided to do this foolish thing that cost her her life? Because if you want to be someone’s teacher you do have a duty of care. In short, Ninon is a classist ass as well! They’re perfect for each other!

So Luca’s stolen bag is in the morgue with the body of the thief who stole it. And Athos promises to send for it in the morning. I know it’s CSI: Musketeers and all, but why was it not delivered to Luca the moment it was found, lol? He’s a pretty important guest at the palace and it’s his property. 

Athos agrees with Ninon that marriage is a curse. LOL!

Ninon’s reason for not marrying is that she does not want a husband to own her wealth and body. Makes sense and that’s why many independently wealthy women chose to stay unmarried. Just pointing out the few things that make sense.

“You are a rebellious woman” - oh good, we managed to squeeze the title of the episode into the dialogue! 

Aramis just tossed a red guard out of Ninon’s house. Can’t tell if he’s dead or not, but certainly unconscious. 

There’s fighting. The red guards have swords, the musketeers have books. Athos screams “where is your authority for this!?!” - well, the Cardinal, I’d assume, since they are his guards. Oh bear of very little brain!

Fleur and some other runaway girls are found sleeping in a secret chamber and Ninon is arrested for abducting them.

Athos is all like “you said she wasn’t here” and Ninon tries to explain that Fleur did not want to be found and begs “make them stop” to which Athos replies “sorry, I can’t”, his voice and face making it very clear that he doesn’t want to. Because a woman lied to him! This is the worst crime! Really Ninon is lucky she’s being arrested right now, otherwise she’d end up swinging from a tree.

“Four young women! In their nightwear! I can only speculate as to the horrors they have endured!” - Richelieu really has a bee in his bonnet about lesbians. The days before p*rnhub must have been hard for a catholic cardinal. 

Luca is even worse thou! “Your majesty is joking but Satan is real! And his female familiars are everywhere amongst us.” Jesus christ guys, calm down! Have a wank or something!

“She had the girls, she lied, she brought her fate on herself.” - Oh shut up Athos! Not everything is about you and your relationship issues! As Aramis points out. Thank you, Aramis! And I never believed I’d ever say that.

Ninon/Aramis  > > > > > > > > > > Ninon/Athos

Aramis gives Ninon the cross Anne gave him. This is quite sweet!

“It’s not so easy when you don’t have money” Constance says and she is right. But it’s like the show is saying that the only way women can be independant is if they are independently wealthy like Ninon. But that’s not really true, Fleur could get a job such as a seamstress or pharmacist or grain merchant or actress or even as a secretary now that she knows latin and greek thanks to Ninon. Women did have jobs in 17th century France and even belonged to guilds etc. Not saying that Fleur would not be more financially secure still with a husband, but if she really doesn’t want that she has options and I don’t like how this supposed “feminist” episode constantly erases women’s actual history. 

Fleur’s father rages “what does she need an education for? She’ll be a seamstress until she’s married and then she’ll be a dutiful wife and mother.” But if he is Bonacieux’s cousin then they are in the same social class, that is to say, the merchant class. And merchant women had to keep their husbands’ shops when their husbands were away. They needed to know how to read and write and do sums. They needed this to be an attractive marriage prospect to a husband of their own social class! 

And the father wants to hit Fleur and D’artagnan all heroically threatens him. How boring!

Richelieu: “Many of our young women are educated. It’s not something we’re ashamed of.” Fleur: “Not just embroidery and sewing.”  Me: “WELL OF COURSE NOT!!!”

Then Fleur says Ninon taught them the “secrets of our bodies” and Richelieu is a hound on the scent!

“Be quiet or you’ll be gagged!” - Again Armand, this is neither the time nor the place to indulge your kinks. 

ENTER MILADY! 

She does such a brilliant job of her testimony! This is again her lying about rape and I talked about before why that is bad, but in this case I don’t mind cause it’s for state reasons and doesn’t in any way invalidate her own story the way the thing with D’artagnan does.

Athos completely LOSES HIS SHIT!! Not doing the defence any good there, buddy!

The look she gives him as she walks out is priceless!

Queen Anne to the rescue, bringing clemency from Louis! Clever girl, must have manipulated it out of him! Season 1 Anne was intelligent.

And Ninon ruins it by saying: “I have never consorted with the devil until this moment. I am looking at him.” To which Richelieu replies: “Condemned from her own mouth.” As any person with half a brain would. Jesus christ Ninon, you should have been gagged! For your own safety! 

And then Richelieu stops breathing! And we get Treville’s reaction to it, thank you camera people! Thou Treville mostly just looks confused, like “what is that drama queen doing now?” 

Now he’s twitching! And I’m sorry but it looks hilarious.

Aramis carries him to bed on his back and puts a hand over his mouth. I’m not sure that helps with the breathing issues... 

Louis pushes Aramis out of the way and cries “please don’t die! please don’t die!” aawwwwwwwwwww!

Aramis really saves his life here, huh.

Anne is briefly jealous about the cross and asks Aramis if Ninon is his lover. Lol! She never expected him to stalk her for the rest of her life, she fully expected him to keep lovers.  

Luca: “Satan turned his blood to acid at her command!” Porthos: “We’ll add Satan to the list of suspects.”

Fleur: “You think I poisoned him?” Constance: “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard even by musketeer standards.” - THANK YOU CONSTANCE!

Fleur is to be married to a 40 year old butcher. Poor girl!

“Was it you?” - LOL!

“Half the doctors say you’re doomed, the other half claim you’ll make a full recovery. There’s a lot of professional pride at stake.” - Milady is very funny too! But I’ve always known that! 

“Whatever happens to me, I want you to extract this confession from Ninon.” - translation: it doesn’t matter if I die, the main thing is that France gets that navy. For France, always. I’m amazed by how much he trusts Milady here thou.

Milady thinks the kneebone of St. Anthony is gross and “as much use as the doctors”. Bless her!

Constance very sweetly talks Fleur’s father out of forcing her to marry. Go Constance!

Ninon: “There is nothing worse than a woman who betrays her own sex” Milady: “I can think of a few things, but let’s not argue.” - THIS!! This is my favorite part of this whole miserable episode, because yes, with her background she can think of things Ninon couldn’t possibly imagine. It’s also a fuck you to that “don’t encourage girl on girl hate” line terfs and white feminists always hide behind when they get called out on their bullshit, though this wasn’t the point here. I love how she doesn’t even explain, too. Let’s not argue, cause what’s the point. You’ll never get it.

I do want to stress that Ninon is not wrong for educating other women and she has been unjustly condemned (althou I would argue that she might not have drawn Richelieu’s ire if she went about it in a more subtle, less smug way, for the safety of the girls she teaches if not for her own). But Milady is employed by the First Minister of France and is doing her job here, a job which she depends upon for her own independence and safety. As she says, Ninon didn’t do anything to her, she’s just a victim of circumstance. 

“If you don’t confess, the women of your salon will burn in your place. Surely you wish to save the lives of your accomplices in Satan?” - Milady does a good job of selling it, but if you think about it, that makes no sense. These women have already been publicly proclaimed Ninon’s victims. And if they have legal trouble with burning her alone, how would they manage a whole bunch of them, most of whom are also high ranking noblewomen?

Ninon falls for it thou. Fail!

Richelieu orders Ninon burned and Milady says that the Queen and King won’t like it. Richelieu replies that: “she’s irrelevant and a new navy will soothe his dismay.” He’s really underestimating season 1 Anne here. But season 2 will prove him right, sadly.

“The kingdom of heaven is a dream. Our only life is here.” - Go Milady!

Richelieu says he won’t burn her for heresy but to be careful cause “one day someone else might” and idk, but it comes across like pretty friendly advice, considering what he’s currently doing with Ninon. 

Now he worries he might go to hell! And Milady says he’s already there, lmaoo! I LOVE THIS SCENE!!

They go to the morgue to retrieve Luca’s bag and discover that the thief was poisoned in the same manner as the Cardinal. Thus the plot is uncovered.

“Open his mouth!” “You open his mouth!”

Luca kills a red guard and is about to kill Richelieu (who fights him with a fork!) when the musketeers burst in. And Richelieu curses them for being late!

Richelieu had apparently worked out that it was Luca who was trying to kill him at some point during the night. No idea how. 

Athos begs for Ninon’s life while the pire is already burning. And Richelieu agrees cause burning her is all very “dark ages”, like he said to begin with. He says he’s not a cruel man, just a practical one. But practicality sometimes requires cruelty. He’s not a sadist thou, that’s what he meant and that’s true. 

Athos drags Ninon off the burning pire. So the great feminist character got duped by Milady and then had to be rescued by her love interest. So good, much feminist. 

“As far as the world is concerned, Comtesse Ninon de Laroque died on that pire today.” Richelieu takes her lands, her property and her money and sends her into exile. Then he threatens to execute her if she ever tells anyone the truth of what happened.

“My voice will never be silenced, but I promise you will never hear it.” - the stupidest line of the whole episode and that’s saying something. Seriously, what does this mean? Your voice was silenced! Richelieu got your wealth which you could have used to educate more women. You were completely defeated. Like really, who is the idiot who wrote this? And what made them think this is in any way empowering or even just a satisfactory conclusion to Ninon’s acr?? Ughhhh!!

I do love Richelieu and Milady getting a rare victory thou! 

“Nothing, no person, no nation, no god will stand in my way.” - HOT!

Aramis gets his cross back lol. Otherwise it would have burned. 

Lmao, Richelieu sends Luca’s ashes to rome with a threat to the Pope.

And Capaldi pronounces “Richelieu” in a very strange way. 

Milady: “You do realise you’ll never be Pope?” Richelieu: “It’s an Italian club and largely a clerical position. I prefer something with a little more influence.” - L! O! L!

Ninon plans to open a school for poor girls and be a teacher. Well, idk, I hope she does a better job of it than she did with Therese.

Athos asks Ninon if “Madame de la Chapelle” ever told her anything about herself. And Ninon is like “so you did know her after all?” and he says “in another life” and she warns him to be careful because she has the cardinal’s protection so “a blow against her is a blow against him” and idk, does she realize that Milady was Athos’s wife here? Is that how I’m supposed to read it? He did tell her before that he used to be married.

Then she kisses him and tells him she could have loved a man like him. And she’s just way more into him than he is into her.

Lmaooo, Fleur is not forced to marry and can continue with her education and she’s “sure” that the woman who convinced her father was Ninon. And Constance doesn’t correct her and doesn’t even want the credit, but I’m mad lol, as if Ninon even remembers you exist Fleur!

D’artagnan gives Constance the credit, at least! And then comes his declaration of love, which is actually very sweet and I really liked them together in season 1! Constance is so beautiful in this scene too! It’s very well lit and she’s wearing that lovely dress!

Aaaaand we fade to black on some PG13 kissing and groping! Sorry, this was very long, but there was a lot to complain about.

In conclusion, awful! Like, the thing that bothers me the most is that this token girl power episode would not even have been radical in 1970, never mind today. The message is simply that women should have an education, which no sane person today would disagree with. It’s very safe and bland. And erases women’s real history in the process. It’s almost as if these male writers are congratulating themselves “weren’t things ever so bad Back Then, we are so much more progressive now”, instead of doing the truly radical thing and showing women’s real history, showing women in positions of power running their literary salons and not getting burned for it, showing women as independent businesswomen with an education! Why not give Bonacieux a female rival in the cloth business? Why not go deeper than “women are human beings” and give the episode a truly radical message that still resonates today. After all, we might be ever so educated now but it’s not like women have achieved equality. More on that in this old post: https://kuningannasansa.tumblr.com/post/126434697304/the-problem-of-ninon 

Anyway, I really hope the next episode will be better! 

Red Guards killed: 1 or 2, impossible to really tell

Ladies killed: Therese

Best Dressed: Ninon. She did have some pretty dresses. 

[unordinary-analysis]

Totally here fangirling over last chapter but also wanted to run this by you, I really really want Sera to get her powers back before John fight Arlo. Because if she does I have no doubt in my mind she’d get involved to protect her new friends and end “Joker” once and for all. Her fighting John with all of he skills he taught her + her powers + John not wanting to hurt her = Sera demasking Joker and I just think that would be beautiful

(This was the ask i lost an 1000 word answer on R.I.P.)

Sorry this is so late btw

I really like this take. It’s completely possible and would be really fun to read. When I imagine how this current saga is going to end, it’s usually something like this.

Also thank you for this ask because it lead me to realize how much I need a proper Sera and Arlo friendship.

Ok 4 things i want to address:

1. Seraphina getting her powers back

2. Getting involved with the Joker situation

3. Fighting against Joker

4. Aftermath

1.) so this theory (?) is very reliant upon one main thing: Seraphina getting her powers back. This could easily be solved because I mean, it’s pretty likely it’s going to be actually canon soon in the series. Leilah’s appearance was obviously put in where it was so that she would learn about Seraphina. Then, Leila having (supposedly) worked with EMBER or at least the company supplying them, will have the knowledge and resources to heal her sister.

Some things that are unknown, however, are Leilah’s intentions. We don’t really know what her point of view will be. We barely know her, having actually met her character once. Something else to consider, she ran away from home years ago. She will not be as close to Seraphina as she might have been once. We don’t know if Leila’s will prioritize her sister over her work, another thing we know little about. Though likely, us readers are very much guessing that Leila’s works with an organization affliliated with EMBER (which is why I said “supposedly” above). We don’t know if Leilah even actually works at a place that would give her the tools to help Sera. Her reaction at the restaurant may have just been because it was her sister, not that she knew the reason behind Seraphina’s ability loss. Even if she really worked close to EMBER, Leilah could totally be loyal to them. I don’t know. Her character is just so unknown for me to rely upon her to bring back Sera’s powers. Though, that probably is what’s going to happen because lmao why bring back Leilah at all if not for that. So that’s settled lol.

I don’t know how Leilah would bring back Seraphina’s powers. I don’t know anything about EMBER or the drugs they use, that’s the whole point. So I can’t really explain anything there, we just gotta wait.

2.) Okay, now that Serpahina has her powers back, something else I’m wondering about is why and if Seraphina would fight against Joker.

Ask just assumed that she would, to help her friends, but it really goes a lot deeper than that.

She has 3 separate groups of friends: High-tiers, low-tiers, and John (lol)

Most of her high-tier friends have already been defeated by Joker

She said she wanted to see Joker kick Arlo’s ass

She seemed to accept it when John said that he was just climbing up the ladder

But, overall, I agree with ask. Seraphina is going to fight Joker if she is able and that list is a shorter one:

Remi

Low-tiers

Though many of the high-tiers can be considered as fake friends to Seraphina, it’s been clear from the beginning that Remi has always been genuine. They might not have been the best of friends, but Remi and Sera respected each other and didn’t pretend to like each other. And guess what. Remi’s going to get beat up soon. Well, maybe. Depends on what this Remi and John conversation meant to John. Let’s assume things end badly. Remi’s a goner okay. Seraphina is a goodish person. She’s not going to let her just get k.o.ed

A problem with this is that by the time Sera supposedly gets her powers back, it’ll probably be after the whole john and Remi fight. And that’s why I have reason #2

Sera’s low-tier friends are afraid of Joker. They have told her that he’ll be able to do pretty much everything because he won’t have to face the consequences. I don’t know. They just spooked. They won’t be able to even attempt to fight back if Joker wants to duke it out. Seraphina, like I said, is a goodish person. She knows the low-tiers gave her true friendship even after she was an unbothered god-tier that couldn’t care less about them. She’ll be grateful and at least her perspective will have changed.

So if Seraphina finds herself in the position to fight back, she’s not going to just stand back like she did before. That was the old Serpahina: untouchable and uncaring. New Sera is aware of what her actions do to the lives of those around her. She knows that she is one of the only people that can do this, that can stick up for the low (and every) tiers. She gon do that.

So yeah, Sera’s fighting Joker.

3.) When Sera does fight him: I’m wondering a few things. First: things that ask mentioned:

Fighting how John taught her

Her abilities

John holding back

I’m not sure if Seraphina will actually use the tactics that John taught her when she’s fighting Joker. It could go either way. Initially, I thought that she obviously wouldn’t use them. John taught her fist fighting tactics. She learned how to throw a punch, how to block. Now, tell me why she would use those when she has her powers back and she is fighting against someone with an ability?

Then I remembered John’s ability. Aura manipulation. If Sera uses her power, he’d be able to use it too. And we have all observed by now that the stronger ability he borrows, the stronger John is. Remember, we haven’t seen John borrow an ability stronger than his, we don’t know what will happen. But, using her ability in general would be a major hazard. So using fists to fight is a good idea (in theory only because she doesn’t know how good Joker is at that too).

I personally think she would use her powers the most if the author went through the trouble of giving them back. Sure, she’d throw a punch is Joker got close, but I don’t think her type of ability will really suit close range fighting (i think, her ability confused me lol). So yeah. This isn’t really important to the whole of this idea, but I mean it was in the ask and I wanted to address it.

So that was the first and second points.

Now, onto something else ask said. They seemed to think John would hold back on Seraphina. I think it’s a little more grey than that.

Things to remember:

John was allied with Cecile and still went to far

Joker’s whole brand is merciless

The reason the high-tiers want him gone is because he doesn’t know where to stop, he keeps fighting even when the fight’s done.

Other things to remember:

Seraphina is John’s closest friend

Joker only exists because John wanted to protect Sera

Joker’s most common motive is to keep Sera safe

Cecile was more of a partner than a friend: he doesn’t care about her

So basically, I’m confused and I don’t know what John will do. Like ask thinks, John loves Seraphina (platonically, calm down). But he also is feared because he is completely merciless. Dark John’s character can be described by that one word: merciless. Let’s go down memory lane, k? Back to New Bostin. Remember Claire? Remember Claire? Same thing, guys. John’s best friend betrays him and turns on him and he crushes her into pieces.

Like I really don’t know what John would do if fighting Seraphina, and that includes whether or not he would hold back.

I’m going to skip the details of the fight and who I think would win because, like I said above, Sera’s ability vs. John’s would be too new for me to predict the outcome. And why bother. This headcanon kind of relies upon Sera winning so let’s just assume that for now.

4.) aftermath. Do you even understand how dramatic that reveal is going to be? How traumatized both of them are going to be afterwords? For Seraphina, she’s discovering that the guy beating people up and trying to beat her up is her best friend. Beyond that, he has an ability, which ultimately means everything she knew about him and respected him for is a lie. For John, he’s basically reliving the events of New Bostin, reliving the thing that ruined his life. Reliving what he tried to move on from for over a year.

How I think they’ll end up:

Seraphina: I think that Seraphina and John will cut ties with each other. Seraphina will want to hate John, but can’t help wanting to talk to him and laugh with him. She can’t seem to forget the person he was when he was with her. The humble and nice guy. She knows he doesn’t exist now. That he never did. The thought makes her sad, and she hates it. John did this to himself, brought this onto himself. He had dragged Seraphina into his mess, never confiding in her. It’s not her fault that he turned out to be such an asshole.

Seraphina becomes good friends with Arlo. After the fight, she feels he is the only one that understands her. She feels bad because she didn’t trust him when he tried to tell her the truth. She hasn’t apologized, but hopes Arlo knows that she’s sorry. They start spending lots of time together. It reminds her of the old days. When Seraphina first arrived at Wellston. Arlo had been king and she was queen. They were forced together because of their power and they bonded through that. They both had ambition, goals, a want to make things better for the students at Wellston and a need to prove themselves. They had been young then, and Serpahina had considered Arlo a friend. Then John came along and changed everything. Seraphina cant be ashamed of who she became because of him. If not for John, she would’ve remained ignorant about the mistreatment of low-tiers and EMBER. If not for him, she would’ve never learned how to laugh or how to reward herself. If not for John, she never would’ve stood up to her mom...

Now that Seraphina is back, all of her, her ability and rank, she feels whole again. Seraphina may have gotten used to the cripple life, but she never realized exactly how much her ability was a part of her. Now reinstituted as queen, Sera is with Arlo again. Nowadays, it feels like he’s the only one who knows what she’s going through. Seraphina realizes that he’s changed too. In the past year, he’s turned from the cold and ruthless leader she knew him as into a thoughtful, logical, and surprisingly kind person. He’s humbler too, which is new.

Sometimes they just lie on the roof together, not talking or saying anything, just enjoying each other’s company. It’s comforting not being alone. Seraphina finds it hard to trust him sometimes, but it doesn’t matter much. Though they like to spend most of their time in each other’s company, they don’t talk much, don’t tell each other things. They’ve known each other for so long, they don’t need to. And it’s nice. Seraphina... she’s happy. She may have lost her best friend, but she gained an old one. Her sister talks to her every so often because Leilah’s always in town visiting her boyfriend. Everyone is nice to Seraphina at school.

Seraphina knows she can’t ignore John forever, can’t just forget that he exists, but oh she wants to. In a perfect world, she could lie on this rooftop forever, carefree and forgetful, but she knows she can’t. Because this is not a perfect world. Seraphina tries to help the low-tiers defend themselves and tries to bring awareness to EMBER. Remi aids her in her ambitions, having similar ones herself, and their bond also grows stronger.

Seraphina is finally making a difference. It hurts to know that it’s because of John, but at least she’s trying. She’s better than she was before. Kinder. Stronger. Healthier. Seraphina realizes that for the first time in her life, she really has the chance to truly be completely happy. She’s not about to let someone’s memory ruin it for her.

John: After the fight, John was a wreck. He barely ate for a week, barely slept. Everytime he closes his eyes he sees her. And everytime, John breaks down because he can’t tell who she is. Can’t tell if she has pink eyes or blue ones. Can’t tell if she even exists.

In the end, it doesn’t matter. Claire, Seraphina... it ended the same. Ended with him sitting in these rooms, hands in chains, head pounding.

John isn’t really sure why they bothered to get him into these classes again. The authorities didn’t seem to care when he wore the mask. They didn’t bat an eye at a student climbing the ranks. John supposes he’s only here because of his past. And he can’t blame them. He’s really fucked up.

The classes are better than they used to be. They go faster. John knows all the right answers this time around. And Keon hasn’t returned, something John appreciates everyday. Instead there’s this strict lady running his classes. She’s not great, but so much better than Keon. She seems like she has a good heart.

When John got in here, he made a promise to himself. He promised himself that he wouldn’t forget. God he wanted to. He wanted to forget Wellston like he forgot New Bostin. But he knows how that ended up last time. He forgot too much. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

Everyday, he listed in his head: Claire, Arlo, Blyke, Isen, Cecile, Remi, Seraphina. He won’t let himself forget them. What he did to them. What they did to him.

When John gets out of his readjustment classes, he is more than surprised to find Cecile waiting for him. She doesn’t say much about what happened, and isn’t all that friendly, but he can’t complain. He treated her like trash. But for some reason, she sticks around. She visits his house. She talks to him about his new school. They text. It’s weird to have her. John realizes he doesn’t know anyone else quite like Cecile. Something he never really realized about her before is her genuineness. Yeah sure, she would keep secrets, but everything she did and said, everything screamed Cecile. She never put on a show to talk to him or a new personality that others would. It was refreshing. Cecile wasn’t instantly nice to him and it was great. She reminded him a lot of Seraphina... John wish she didn’t.

Seraphina... John wants to talk to her so badly... but he knows she won’t. He lied to her for the entire time she knew him. They were best friends. John still gets shocked sometimes as he remembers what he hid from her, all the secrets he kept. It never seemed like a lot at the time, only a little secret at a time. He hadn’t realized until recently that by the end, he was drowning in lies. Small ones and big. They had wrapped and choked him like a snake..

John stays silent at his new school. He’s friendly to everyone and greets people when they greet him. He doesn’t lie here. At a regular school, John is basically guaranteed the king spot. He doesn’t shy away from it. He tries not to embrace it too much either. It’s a difficult balance, but he manages.

He manages. And he remembers.

————————————————————————

After all of this, I think they’ll kind of hate each other but also kind of not because of how close they are and still remain despite (Sera) wanting to hate the other. Then when ember starts becoming near future, they will be forced together to solve something or whatnot as the two strongest people. I can’t even express how much I want this now. Sorry for super long post. I get carried away sometimes... oof. Sorry for that weird story thing at the end. I probably could’ve written that more generic and narrative, but eh

(comment “arphina” if you read the whole thing) :)

[abyssmalice]

Rules - re. mobile / w.i.p always !

lazy tl;dr:

don’t be mean

communication! important! lemme know if you need anything.

i’m just doing this for jokes and tears, my main interest is playing ffxiv and trying to survive capitalism.

like seriously. both tonias are a bit too unhinged at times, they do literally whatever the fuck they want so whatever you see from them is whatever you get on dash lmao

not as lazy reverse tl;dr:

Basic Info

i. This is an indie selective blog. Follow backs are not guaranteed - and I will usually only follow if you have the minimum of a page/post/doc/etc. that state your rules and a basic profile of your muse.

ii. Genshin is not my main interest so do not expect me to pour an extensive amount of time here. Not to say that I’m not interested period, but it is just one among a thousand things I like to enjoy so there will be periods of low to non-existent activity just because I don’t feel like it.

iii. There are two muses on this blog: Tartaglia & Freyja. They are separate characters with their own backstories, personalities, abilities, etc. and as such, they are not verses of each other. However, both are still "Tonia"—specifically, they represent a unique take on a canon-divergent Tonia each. For more info on the difference between Tartaglia and Freyja, please see this post.

Interactions

i. My muses are very canon-divergent, headcanon-based characters each and due to the nature of the differences between them and canon, unless the interaction allows for some level of fooling around or non-canonization, all interactions must be discussed/plotted to some extent with me beforehand. I apologize because honestly, I’d love to just do some on the fly threads but my muses are… uh, they conflict too much with canon for some interactions.

ii. For Childe muses: I highly recommend we discuss interactions before writing, since per my own muses’ canon, Childe is no longer in the picture. However, if we interact without any discussion—for my Tartaglia, I will default to either a duo-Tartaglia verse or a crossover verse. In the latter case, Tonia will not immediately recognize or associate Childe with her brother Ajax.

iii. Similarly, for Scaramouche/Wanderer muses: I recommend we discuss interactions beforehand, since there is a possibility for my Tartaglia to retain her memory of him despite his erasure from Iriminsul—but this may be dependent on how she views him. That said, if we interact without any discussion, I will default to canon and she won’t remember him; you are totally welcome to approach me later on if you want to discuss the above dynamic regardless.

iv. I prefer to keep my interactions (i.e. threads and plotting) with mutuals if possible. That being said, I don’t mind receiving asks for prompts or memes from non-mutuals.

v. If you wish to interact with Freyja aka Tol Tonia, please indicate so - otherwise, I will pick whichever one seems most suitable for the interaction, though usually default to Tartaglia aka Smol Tonia.

vi. I have a general preference for quick nonsense and serious subjects when it comes to interactions. Which is to say, I mainly prefer dash memes and angst. Not to say I don’t do fluff or romance—I enjoy these a lot really!—but they don’t come to me as easily.

vii. When it comes to plotting threads, I am an insistent lover of world and character building; my goal with longer, serious threads is to develop my muses and see them grow beyond their initial states. As such, I have a very bad habit for randomly getting into my muses’ motivations and mindsets on a lot of things and generally rambling about how they think about and react to things.

Blog Content

i. Sometimes I don’t use icons. I just don’t want to :V

ii. No explicit sexual content involving my muses will be present on this blog. That being said, NSFW-adjacent content like murder and torture or other such dark, uncomfortable topics will be present. Additionally, Mun is 18+ so I may discuss or reference such things OOC or in private chats.

iii. Neither of my muses have happy histories throughout, and this will be reflected in their behaviors and thoughts. They can and will behave outlandishly, violently, and with a skewed moral compass depending on the situation. I will not restrain them, and I hope you will not do the same for your muses either. If you’re still unsure about something, you’re absolutely free to consult with me about it - in exchange for the same courtesy.

Miscellaneous

This blog is best viewed on desktop or through desktop-mode browser. This is because all of the in-depth information on my muses—and the central navigation to reach said information—is formatted to blog pages and not posts i.e. I have not set up my blog to be 100% mobile-friendly. Currently, I am in the process of converting it all to a more mobile-friendly format but please understand that this will be slow-going and is not my biggest priority in general. As of now, only the most basic information (rules + muse profiles) have been converted to mobile - for the rest (such as headcanons + timelines), I’m afraid you’re going to have to dig around on a desktop browser to read lol

End of the day this is all just for funsies !!