#which makes dahlia's actions seem much worse

[banished-away]

artemis and dahlia are so good. the contrast between the supposed hero drizzt always keeping her at an arm's lenght, preferring the "soft look" she puts on to please him where she acts and looks softer and covers her tattoos and scars, knowing she had a painful past but not bothering to ask or look into it because it would shake his morals and he would rather pretend to not know than to actually confront it or even help dahlia through it. meanwhile the supposedly cold killer artemis with just a few looks saw the pain in her, let her have the kill against herzgo because he realized it was important to her even if he had just as good reasons and he didnt know dahlia's yet, and when they were alone he let dahlia be vulnerable to him, asked her about her pain, and when she was not comfortable to speak about it he just stayed near her and comforted her

[invisibleanonymousmonsters]

Howlin’ For You – Drabble

I’ve had this idea stuck in my head for months now and decided to just finally give in a write it. 

Some protective Biker!Dad!Bucky and a wee bit of Amelia

Bucky and Amelia were driving back from school.

By some miracle, Bucky knew enough not to pick her up on his motorcycle. He learned the hard way that that his daughter was starting to find it embarrassing. There once was a time – when she was still a kid and not a teenager – that Amelia thought it was cool that her dad drove a motorcycle.

Now she was embarrassed by it. The comments about how hot her dad was didn’t go unnoticed by Amelia and made her want to throw up. She also just hated unwarranted attention of any kind.

Bucky had been asking Amelia about her day when his cell started ringing.

“It’s mom,” Amelia said, seeing the screen before him.

He picked it up right away. “Hey, doll.”

“Are you guys too close to home? I realized I forgot a couple of things for dinner. Would you mind stopping by the store for me real quick?”

“Yep. Just text me what you need. Me and Amelia will grab it.”

“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,” Y/N answered before hanging up.

“Mom forget to buy ingredients again?” Amelia smirked.

“Yep,” Bucky chuckled. “Mind running in and grabbing it if I give you my card?”

She nodded. 

A few minutes later, they were pulling into the parking lot of Whole Foods.

Amelia jumped out.

“Hey,” Bucky grabbed her attention before she could run in. She paused. “Buy some flowers for your ma, too.”

She rolled her eyes. “What kind?”

“The prettiest ones,” Bucky told her with a chuckle.

Amelia scoffed, “That’s helpful…”

She pretended to be grossed out and annoyed by her parent’s loving marriage and partnership. But she also saw how different it was from her friends’ parents, who all seemed to hate each other.

Bucky watched his daughter walk towards the entrance.

But his attention quickly averted to the group of young men that were loitering just outside the entrance. All of their gazes were fixed on Amelia, ogling her body up and down.  

If his window hadn’t been down, Bucky might’ve missed the disgusting catcalling that was aimed at his daughter.

His grip immediately tightened on the steering wheel, his knuckles going white.

If Amelia had heard it, she pretended not to and continued on walking.

Bucky wondered when she learned the womanly skill of ignoring the disgusting behavior of men. 

He hated that she had to. He also hated that she was only 15 and men were already targeting her as if she was a grown woman. They had to be in their early 20s, which only infuriated Bucky even further.

‘Breathe, Bucky. Just breathe.’ That’s what Y/N would tell him if she were here right now. She’d try to calm him down and prevent him from doing anything rash.

But she wasn’t here and Bucky’s anger was getting the best of him.

Before he could change his mind, Bucky shoved his car door open and slammed it shut behind him.

His walk alone was murderous. And it caught the attention of one of the guys. He hit his friends’ chests and nodded toward Bucky, grabbing everyone else’s attention.

“Hey! What did you just say to her?” Bucky asked.

He’d give them a chance to look guilty for their actions, to immediately realize that what they’d just done was wrong.

But they weren’t that smart.

However, they did seem to know what he was talking about and started laughing amongst themselves.

“Why don’t you fuck off, old man?” One of them muttered without looking Bucky in the eye and turned his back on him, bringing his attention back to his friends who were laughing again.

It only made Bucky’s anger worse.

Alright. He’d tried it Y/N’s way. And that didn’t work.

Now it was his way.

Bucky grabbed the one who had talked back to him and slammed him against the car they were all standing near.

“Hey! Hey! Whoa, man! Chill the fuck out!” One of the friends panicked.

They weren’t so tough now, realizing that even though they were outnumbered, this stranger was taller and stronger than they were. It probably didn’t ease their panic that they saw a knife attached to the back of his waist on his jeans. 

“How old do you think that girl was?” Bucky hissed, his grip on the shirt tightening.  

His voice and tone were disturbingly relaxed. Through his military training and being around too many alpha males, Bucky learned that the man with the most control and composure always came out on top.

“I-I-I don’t know, man! 21?” The guy stuttered, eyes wide with fear.

Bucky slammed against the car again. “She’s 15 years old.”

“How was I supposed–”

“It doesn’t matter how old she is,” Bucky snapped. “No girl or woman wants to be catcalled. Do you understand me?”

The guy just stared up at Bucky, hoping that he wasn’t going to get hurt.

“I said, do you understand me?” Bucky repeated, annoyance evident in his voice.

The guy nodded his head quickly, realizing that showing his understanding was the only way he was going to survive this interaction unscathed.

Bucky released him roughly and then turned to acknowledge the boy’s friends.

“You idiots ever heard of the Howling Commandos?”

They all looked at each other and gave one another a reluctant nod. 

Everyone in the area had heard of the biker gang in some way or another. Some people knew they existed and others were convinced they were just an urban legend.

“If I or any one of them ever see you talk to another woman that way again, I think you can imagine what’ll be in store for you.” Bucky tilted his head and raises his eyebrows, offering them the chance to make the mistake of asking him to elaborate. 

With that, he slowly walked back to his car.

As soon as his back was turned to the guys, they all scrambled to get into their car and make a run for it.

A few minutes later, Amelia was practically skipping back to the car.

“I got mom a bouquet of Dahlias. I feel like their weird and creepy, so she’ll like them.”

Bucky chuckled. “Good choice.” He was trying his best to act like nothing happened. 

He knew how much Amelia got freaked out when Bucky turned all biker on the world. 

If Amelia noticed her dad acting more tense, she didn’t comment on it.

But Y/N, however, wasn’t one to let things go unacknowledged.

When Y/N and Bucky were finally alone in their bed at the end of the night, she asked him what was going on.

Bucky reluctantly told her about his little altercation.

“Should I talk to Amelia?” He asked her.

Y/N sighed. “It’s not about talking to Amelia or teaching her anything. It’s about making the world a safer place for her. And you know how you do that?” She asked him gently with an encouraging smile.

“Huh?”

“By raising boys to know better. And I think we did a pretty good job with the twins, don’t you think?”

Bucky shrugged. “If I ever heard the boys say those things to a woman…” he got angry just thinking about it.

“They would never, Bucky. You know that.” Y/N defended.

He knew Y/N was right. But he was grumpy and pissed off, quite frankly. Owen and Grayson were just two young men out of millions. It didn’t really feel like much of an impact to Bucky. It was other people’s sons that he was worried about – not his own.

A moment of silence passed between them.

“You feel helpless, right? Like you can’t control what other people do?” Y/N asked.

Bucky nodded, realizing that’s exactly how he felt.

“What you are experiencing is minuscule to what every woman feels like every day of her life.”

Bucky blinked as he processed what she meant. “I’m sorry, doll.”

She chuckled and laid her head on her husband’s chest. “You don’t have to be sorry, Buck. Plus, ‘sorry’ isn’t going to stop other men from being misogynistic assholes.”

He brushed her hair out of her face and off her neck. His hand then moving to rub her back. 

In minutes, she was fast asleep.

But Bucky couldn’t find rest so easily. All the women in his life taught him different things about the way the world saw and treated women. He just never expected his daughter to be the one to teach him another lesson.

---------

I missed writing for Howlin’ For You, so there ya go. 

[girlbabyvelez]

Royals // Chapter Three

Summary:  Royal AU: You’re engaged to marry Chris except the two of you don’t seem to really get along. But the King orders Christopher to get along with you.

Word Count: 2k

Warnings: None

The four of you sat around the table in the conservatory. You watched as the maids served the hot coffee into the cups and set the little breakfast desserts around the table. You notice the maid that you first talked to, she seemed quieter than before and seems to avoid your gaze.

“So tell us about last night Y/N, you snuck off with Christopher,” Paola inquired as she reached out for one of the muffins that Evalia just set out. Evalia stepped back, her ears perking at the conversation topic. She loved Christopher and she couldn’t even think about him being with you, you weren’t even a problem until you moved here.

“Well, we agreed that we would try. We think it’s better if we try to get along, we’re going to be married unless my brother or his father break the alliance but that won’t happen so we might as well be happy.” You answer truthfully. You knew that both of your countries needed this, Ecuador needed men and the strong military backing of Mexico and Joel needed the support of Ecuador in order to have his coronation and fully be crowned king.

“I’m glad you guys were able to come to an agreement,” Itzel responds. You smile warmly at her and nod your head. You hated how Chris was cold towards you when you first arrived, especially because he was the only one you knew and he pushed you away. 

“Me too. So did anything interesting happen at the ball while we were away?” You ask. You wanted them to be having a good time here as well, their happiness was just as important as yours. After all, you did ask them here to be your ladies. You notice how Itzel and Alejandra share a look and a giggle prompting you to question it. 

“Richard and I might have hooked up last night. I mean we danced when you left but then one thing led to another and you know.” Itzel explains. You laugh at her words, she was very flirtatious so it didn’t surprise you but you hadn’t gotten to properly know Richard but I guess he was very flirtatious too if he got Itzel. 

“Damn Itzel you’re already making moves.” You joke and you all laugh. 

“But I’m not the only one. Alejandra and Erick bonded over their shared love for dessert and politics.” Itzel responds. Your eyes shifted over to the quiet girl who sat beside you, she blushed as she took another sip from her coffee. 

“I mean he’s really sweet and we talked a lot about Cuba. Apparently he’s here to help Ecuador too which is nice.” She informs you. 

“Well, I’m glad you are all getting along.” 

~

It had been two days since the ball, and you had yet to have some alone time with Christopher. Anytime the two of you would meet somewhere to spend time all of your ladies tagged along which prompted Chris to invite his friends. But today the two of you had planned to go to the library and try to get to know each other better. You walked through the now-familiar halls when you hear the singing coming from the library, you step quietly not wanting to interrupt or scare him. You had to admit he was a good singer which was something interesting to know about him. As soon as you stepped in the library you saw him running one hand through his hair while the other grazed the books as he sang.

“¿Tú cantas?” You ask, announcing your presence. Christopher quickly turns to you. He puts on a smile as he sees you. To be honest, Chris was mostly doing this for his country and because his father commanded him to get along with you. But he felt like he also owed it to the both of you to at least try. He motions for you to sit at a table 

“Yeah, occasionally.” He answers as the two of you decide to sit across each other at the table. This was nice, you had just arrived and you already knew more about Christopher. It was the first step into getting along. 

Just as you sit down, you notice the small bouquet that sat in the middle of the table as a decoration. You reach your hand out to touch the vibrant and delicate white and pink magnolias. Christopher noticed the way you gently touched one of the flowers.

“Do you like magnolias?” Christoper asks you, watching as you look at the flowers happily. 

“Yeah. They’re not my favorite though.” You answer. You pull your hand back to your side and look over at Christopher who was already looking at you. 

“What’s your favorite?” You take a moment to think about his question, you loved all flowers but your favorite was always between lilies and dahlias. 

“I guess I would have to say lilies. What about you?” 

“Oh, definitely magnolias. That’s why there are so many in our garden.” He tells you. You’re a bit surprised that he was the reason that so many magnolias were planted outside, it made the garden look so beautiful. 

“Wait how?” 

“Well when I wasn’t learning politics and law with my father, I would spend time with my mother outside. And she loved magnolias too so we planted one magnolia and that turned into us planting more.” He tells you. You sit there for a moment, processing the soft man in front of you. He was so cold yet he has a kind and down to earth soul that you appreciated. You were glad he was being open about this. 

“Aw well I’m glad you and your mother had something to do that was outside of your royalty. Sometimes it can be drowning when it’s all you do.” He nods at your response, he understood what you meant perfectly. Being a future leader of a country could be unbearable at times but he was born for it.

“So, how are you adjusting to life in Ecuador?” He questions changing the subject. You sigh at his question, Ecuador was so beautiful but you missed Mexico so much. You missed your family, especially Joel and Israel those were the ones who would have your back and they were the ones you spent the most time with.

“I love it here but I’m definitely homesick,” You answer honestly. Chris’ smile drops at your words, he didn’t realize that you had left everything you had known to come and be with him. This would become your new home since you would be the Queen of Ecuador, you would probably only return back to Mexico when your brother requested.

“I’m sorry. I know it can be tough but I’m here for you. Plus I wouldn’t mind if you taught me some traditions from Mexico.” 

“Really? You would be willing to try and learn?” 

“Sí, if you’re going to be my wife I want to learn everything about you.” He answers and you can see that he genuinely means it. After your encounter when you first arrived, you were nervous that this was going to be miserable for both of you but you felt better with his words.

“Sounds like a deal Velez.” You playfully wink at him. And he only chuckles at your actions. The two of you were feeling more comfortable with each other which was good, this allowed both of you to be able to talk more.

~

The King sat on his throne, surrounded by one of the commanders of their army, his wife, and Christopher. The news was bad, worse than they were expecting and Christopher gauged his father’s reaction at the bad news that was being delivered by one of the commanders to their army. 

“So Colombia is pushing their troops across our borders?” The King asks clarifying what the commander told them. 

“Yes, they had enough troops to take Tulcan from us and we believe they will soon take San Gabriel.” He answers. Christopher watches as his father slams his hand on the armrest of the throne before rubbing his face. 

“Okay take more troops, we cannot allow them to keep pushing and invade.” The King orders and the commander nods before leaving the throne room. 

“We can’t keep sending all of our troops padre. Soon we won’t have any.” Christopher warns his father as he steps up towards him. His father shakes his head at his words knowing that the sooner Chris and you married it would be easier to push against Colombia. 

“You need to marry princess Y/N and soon.”

“Well we can’t push it further, you know that Joel and his mom have to set the date.” Christopher reminds his father. They had more power in this alliance which meant that your family got to decide almost everything. 

“But we can push them. We’ll have to officially announce your engagement. They would have to marry the two of you before the end of the social season, it’s tradition.”

~

Christopher stepped into the entryway that connected both the west and east wings together. The two of you were meeting in the middle so he could escort you to the garden party where the two of you would officially announce your engagement and set it in stone, which made both of you nervous but the two of you have become closer over the past few weeks. After the conversation in the library, it became easier for the two of you to talk to each other and get along. You guys were friends now which was good for your future marriage at least.

As soon as he saw you standing with your ladies waiting for him, he stopped in his steps. You wore an elegant dress that was white with pink detailing, matching the native magnolias that grew in the garden and he had to admit that it looked stunning on you. 

“Princesa,” Chris catches your attention as he steps up towards you. You warmly smile at him and take a step closer to him reaching your hand out and laid it on his arm. 

“Are you ready?” You ask him and he nods his head.

“Yeah. Te ves hermosa.” He whispers as the two of you begin to walk towards the entrance to the garden. You blush and look down at your dress trying to hide your blushing face from him. 

“Gracias. I remember that you mentioned you loved magnolias so I got a matching dress for today.” You respond as the two of you step out into the garden. His heart melts a little at the fact that you got a dress because of his favorite flower. 

Once you arrive at the garden party, the two of you have only moments to greet everyone that you can before you get called over by the King and Queen. Christopher places his hand at the small of your waist and guides you over to them. 

“Are you guys ready?” The Queen asks as she looks at you, she wanted to make sure you were good and comfortable. She was nervous when she had to make the announcement way back before she married the King. You avert your eyes from her gaze and look at Christopher who looks at you the same way, with comforting brown eyes. 

“Yeah, I’m just nervous.” 

“Me too princesa but we’re in this together,” Christopher whispers. It was enough to reassure you so you grab his hand as the two of you place yourselves in front of the crowd.

“Atención todos!” The King orders, everyone quickly quieting and turning towards him. You and Christopher stood beside him. “I would like to thank you all for joining us for the garden party. Now my son has a very important announcement to make.” The King lays a hand on Chris’ shoulder. 

“I would like to announce that Princess Y/N of Mexico and I are to be wed!” Christopher announces. 

“Yes, my son will finally wed, Ecuador has a future queen. And we are pleased to announce that the wedding will be on July 18!” The King adds the surprise announcement. July 18 was only a month away, your mother or brother couldn’t have chosen this date, you know they wanted to do it in September if possible, but July? You turn to Christopher with questioning eyes and he looks just as surprised as you.

-

Author’s Note: Ahh sorry for the long ass wait, I’ve been dealing with some stuff and whatever I am back now. The next chapter will be juicyyyyy and it will be a lot longer soo. Any thoughts on this fic?

Taglist:  @phanislife124 @bbyyelyah  @zabdisamor @xxxstormyninixxx  @babecita-1 @yashuazbabygirl @getmealifepls @cyaneaa @codename-nyx @cncoh-damn @mamacamacho @smoljoelito @itsmaytimetosaygoodbye @ladykxxx08 @la-undercover-latina @lostpil52 @undeadspazzattack @plentyoffandomss @babyyynatty @juneninetynine @cnchoe-imagines @valeriiaaass @moonlitzabdiel @damnthoseyes  @ourkarlanicoleuniverse @niallisworld @multi-fandomgoddess @california-creator @ ego-allie-bap @zabdicl @chellybear98 @sometimesbadalwaysboujie​ @estoy-enamorado-de-ti @nochillnelly @ericksmamita @cncoamor @you-kinda-smell-like-christmas @pizzaspirits​ @josiemara​ @deniseasonrisa @nqbmf @affro-doll @h-bea92​

[artemis-entreri]

[[ This post contains Part 1 of my review/analysis of the Forgotten Realms/Drizzt novel, Boundless, by R. A. Salvatore. As such, the entirety of this post’s content is OOC. ]]

Genre: Fantasy

Series: Generations: Book 2 | Legend of Drizzt #35 (#32 if not counting The Sellswords)

Publisher: Harper Collins (September 10, 2019)

My Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Additional Information: Artwork for the cover of Boundless and used above is originally done by Aleks Melnik. This post CONTAINS SPOILERS. Furthermore, this discussion concerns topics that I am very passionate about, and as such, at times I do use strong language. Read and expand the cut at your own discretion.

Contents:

Introduction

I. Positives (you are here)     I.1 Pure Positives     I.2 Muddled Positives

II. Mediocre Writing Style     II.1 Bad Descriptions     II.2 Salvatorisms     II.3 Laborious "Action"

III. Poor Characterization     III.1 "Maestro"     III.2 Lieutenant     III.3 Barbarian     III.4 "Hero"     III.5 Mother

IV. World Breaks     IV.1 Blinders Against the Greater World     IV.2 Befuddlement of Earth and Toril     IV.3 Self-Inconsistency     IV.4 Dungeon Amateur     IV.5 Utter Nonsense

V. Ego Stroking     V.1 The Ineffable Companions of the Hall     V.2 Me, Myself, and I

VI. Problematic Themes     VI.1 No Homo     VI.2 Disrespect of Women     VI.3 Social-normalization     VI.4 Eugenics

VII. What's Next     VII.1 Drizzt Ascends to Godhood     VII.2 Profane Redemption     VII.3 Passing the Torch     VII.4 Don't Notice Me Senpai

Positives

I've found that the untrammeled positive elements of Boundless exclusively have to do with solid turns of phrase peppered throughout the book. There are also semi-positives in terms of characterizations and literary devices that Salvatore uses, but these are at best mixed. 

Pure Positives

Salvatore pulls off some surprisingly good descriptions in Boundless through the usage of a more varied vocabulary than his standard repertoire, evocative imagery, compelling metaphors, and other effective strategies. An example of a good passage is, "The demon responded with a word of its own, a croaking, grating combination of hard syllables that sounded to Regis like a porcupine being rubbed across the flesh of a giant frog." in normal Salvatore tradition, the description would've been left without the metaphor. Heck, I'm not even sure that "croaking" and "grating" would've been employed in regular Salvatore fashion. In addition to speaking to the imagination, the metaphor evokes the fantastical nature of the world, a world where giant frogs exist, ones that wouldn't simply rupture when a porcupine is rubbed against them. Furthermore, the metaphor harmonizes with the adjective earlier in the sentence, for even though the frog is not the thing doing the croaking, "croaking" matches frog, just as grating matches porcupine quills.

Another example of solid writing in Boundless can be found here, "Every syllable hit Rethnorel the way the flowing breath of a speaker might make the flame of a candle blow back." Like the previous example, this one combines the usage of a noun associated with an uncommon adjective and demonstrative imagery to good effect. The metaphor shows us that the character is buffeted in an almost soft manner, for such is the flicker of a candle, but it is a continuous assault. A line that is almost too good to imagine coming from Salvatore is, "...scurrying along like a pair of giant rats fleeing the purring pursuit of a hungry displacer beast." This description is short, concise, and yet contains so many effective elements: "scurrying" instead of "running", the alliteration in "purring pursuit", and of course, alluding to a unique creature specific to the world. Putting all of these elements together paints an expressive image of an earnest and high-speed chase, the predator full of pleased anticipation but the necessity of its hunt not allowing its contentment to tamper its progress.

A passage that I wish every Salvatore paragraph could emulate is this one, "Even the way she talked grated on him, every bitten-off word making him feel like someone was running the bark of an old and gnarly oak tree down the back of his neck. It seemed like this drow woman could barely get the words out of her mouth, so tight was her jaw, and when they did come out, they carried the hissing timbre of an open fire in a downpour." The standard Salvatore version of this would be something along the lines of, "Even the way she talked grated on him. Every word was bitten off tightly", which, granted is more concise than what was published, but falls far from embodying the soul of wit in its brevity. The imagery in the published metaphor more than lets us hear the way the female character talks, it lets us feel it. So, too, can we feel what it'd be like to try to talk while our jaws are locked. "Hissing timbre" is a beautiful description on its own, but combined with inciting a sound that everyone can at least imagine, even if they may not have heard firsthand, results in a punchy and effective description. An example of another effective description, and one that doesn't make use of a metaphor is, "Some time later, they lay beside each other, the soft glow of candlelight catching pinpricks of sparkle in the beads of sweat they both wore." Sweat is not normally an attractive feature, even when it's associated with a sexy scene. The way that this imagery is presented however invokes a sense of soft decadence, as though the characters were covered with a delicate and exotic garment strewn with countless pearls. The many sparkles from this "garment" help to further set the romantic mood far more than the soft candlelight would have done by itself. Although the description, "bag of demonic despair", doesn't look like much when presented by itself, and isn't as strong as the preceding examples, it's worth a mention because of how it adequately serves as a concise summary. The object that it refers to is Entreri enveloped in an unbreakable cocoon that an unknown demon trapped him in. The word "cocoon" shows up many times in relation to this object, and admittedly, is an concise, if a bit bland, way to describe the object from both within and without. Inside the encasement, Entreri is held in a state of perpetual torment, whilst outside Dahlia, and to a much lesser extent, Regis, are worrying about his condition. Perhaps "demonic" could be replaced with another adjective but overall I'm fine with the way it is, for anything referring more to Entreri's suffering might run the risk of sounding melodramatic.

"Running stride" is also worth noting because in a world that doesn't use the same units of measurements that we do, it's always jarring when inches, feet, and miles are cited, especially when readers of the text hail from countries that aren’t the US. Without the known common terms, it is understandably difficult to effectively convey distances in a concise and comprehensible way, so units of measurements like this example are wonderful because they use something that we all understand, and do so without breaking immersion.

Tasteful omission is as important as smart inclusion. I'd criticized Salvatore for trying too hard in Timeless by using "fashioned" in in awkward way, and he's dropped this altogether in Boundless. By the same token, "six hundred pounds of panther" doesn't appear at all. Salvatore's favorite adjectives, "magnificent" and "fine", are both used better in Boundless. The former appears thirteen times in Boundless but unlike in Timeless, the usage of most of them aren't vague and lazy ways of characterizing splendid objects, characters, or actions. Six of those thirteen usages can maybe be improved still, but that is already a huge positive change from the fourteen out of seventeen occurrences in Timeless. Meanwhile, "fine" appears fifty times, but many of that is part of modifiers like finer, finest, etc, and through a cursory scan, by itself, relatively few are used in inane ways. 

Muddled Positives

Aside from the examples in diction above, Boundless does contain praiseable elements, specifically even in areas where I usually criticize Salvatore. There are moments of decent, even good, characterization, and some of the negative potential I'd feared Timeless was leading towards are not realized in Boundless. Furthermore, there are improvements to be found in the themes that Salvatore employs, and some descriptors stand up to fact-checking.

One of my biggest criticisms of Salvatore is that he routinely disrespects what I describe as the beautiful tapestry of the Realms, which was woven together by the hands of many creatives who worked in harmony. In Boundless, the amount that Salvatore insensitively scribbles his name in Sharpie over the tapestry is reduced. Ironically, sometimes Salvatore scribbles over the portions of the tapestry that he'd worked with others to create, but in Boundless, he doesn't perpetuate this disservice to both himself and others as much as he has in the past. For better or worse, Salvatore did create a lot of information about drow, though his work is mostly limited to the city of Menzoberranzan. While the Drizzt books contain the most drow content than any other FR novel series, they've done so through their sheer volume, and they mainly portrayed the drow in a one-dimensional fashion. Just as there are many more drow settlements than the fanatic Menzoberranzan, so too, are even Menzoberranzanyr drow capable of qualities other than scheming self-service in the name of dedication to Lolth. In Boundless, we see more dimensions to the drow characters presented. Zaknafein is not the only drow in Menzoberranzan who possesses a moral compass. Loyalties born of motivations other than pride exist beyond the Do'Urden bloodline, with familial concern and the kind of love that'd been described as being unknown to drow inspiring or dissuading murderous deeds. In previous books, the closest that we got to "non-evil" drow were drow who had the potential to be good, perhaps even living for awhile in a goodly way, but eventually and inevitably squandering that potential. For example, Drizzt's sister Vierna was not as cruel as the other Do'Urden females, but ultimately, through trying to seduce her own brother and then turning a different brother into a drider, turned out to be just as bad as the rest of the Lolthites. Another similar example could be found with Tos'un Armgo, whom although having created a family with a surface elf, ultimately participated in the murder of his own family and returning himself and his daughter to the depraved society of Menzoberranzan. 

In Boundless, although the priestess Dab'nay Tr'arach follows a course similar to Tos'un, her path is much more nuanced, and although she squanders her morality for station, she does so with great ambivalence and regret. Dab'nay's house is long destroyed, with she and her siblings' surnames changed to reflect this. She stands to gain nothing by preserving members of her bloodline, but nonetheless, she endangers her own life to see that her brother isn't killed, a selfish thought of rebuilding her long-lost house not at all factoring in to her concern for her kin. It is also clear from actions such as Dab'nay running her finger playfully along the top of Zaknafein's nose while telling him that he, not his services, were worth waiting for, that the feelings that she develops for him are more than those a female in a matriarchal society entertains towards a favored pet or sex object. Dab'nay allows her vulnerability to show in Zaknafein's presence and does not conceal the tears she sheds for the way that they must live their lives. She also fears for Zaknafein's safety even though she'd arguably stand to gain from his demise, and feels guilt for implicating him negatively for the sake of her own survival. Before the Generations trilogy, these qualities were not possible in any genuine or long-lasting way in any priestesses of Lolth, not even a disgraced one. Prior, a disgraced priestess who isn't killed or turned into a drider would become even more dangerous, with having nothing to lose by concentrating the proverbial venom in her veins.

Dab'nay isn't the only Menzoberranzanyr drow who demonstrates the capacity for multiple dimensions in Boundless. So, too, does Harbondair Tr'arch and Arathis Hune. Harbondair possesses the same familial loyalty as Dab'nay, and, like his sister, possesses the ability to genuinely overcome past prejudices. Despite Zaknafein having destroyed his house and despite Zaknafein issuing him a death threat should he attempt to harm him again, Harbondair grows to develop a real friendship with Zaknafein. Arathis, while definitively more "evil" than the Tr'arch siblings, is motivated by more than his rank in Bregan D'aerthe to eventually go to a head against Zaknafein. It's never stated that Arathis' rivalry with Zaknafein isn't based solely in Arathis feeling threatened in his second-in-command position. However, from the way that Arathis is described to behave while Zaknafein is absent, Arathis appears to be motivated by jealousy that he's no longer Jarlaxle's favorite and most trusted follower. Jarlaxle makes it abundantly clear on numerous occasions that he considers Zaknafein and Arathis equally valuable, hence why he prohibited either from trying to kill the other, so were Arathis worried about his position in the mercenary band, he needn't have gone so far because he and Zaknafein were equals in that regard but Zaknafein was definitely his better in combat. However, there can only be one favorite, a fact that Arathis couldn't engineer, but because he could ignore it when Zaknafein was away, his mood was noticeably better when he was the only lieutenant by Jarlaxle's side. It's actually quite pleasant that Salvatore didn't spell out the nature of Arathis' motivations, the way that Arathis is successful in that it is shown and not told to us. Unfortunately, Arathis' fate is soon met, which is probably for the best, as this lets him safely fall into the "gets killed off before too many books ruin him" category that I'd previously (and prematurely) populated with Zaknafein.

Although the Boundless version of Jarlaxle continues to be consistent with the Timeless version of Jarlaxle, ergo de-fanged to his current timeline self rather to the much more morally ambiguous character he was in the earlier Drizzt books, there is a comical and memorable scene in Boundless that is true to Jarlaxle's irrepressible humor even whilst in the middle of delivering a solemn ultimatum. While forbidding Zaknafein from going after Arathis Hune, Jarlaxle manages to bring a smile to the very angry weapons master by assuring him that in any other circumstance, "I promise you, if we two were trapped in a cave alone and starving, I would not kill you. But if you died first, I cannot promise that I wouldn't eat you."

There are improvements in Boundless even when it comes to the less morally gray drow of Menzoberranzan. One such individual that gets a more profound treatment is Mez'Barris Del'Armgo, the future Matron Mother of the second house of Menzoberranzan. During Boundless, her mother holds that title, and House Barrison Del'Armgo is far from its destined ranking. High Priestess Mez'Barris, the most promising member of her house, has her position recognized by being the only one allowed to copulate with the strange and giant Uthegentel, a dubious honor that the other priestesses aren't interested in anyway. Other priestesses tease Mez'Barris' preference of Uthegentel because "it was unusual, almost unheard of, for a drow woman to be attracted to a man so physically superior to her". However, "Mez'Barris couldn't deny the thrill she felt when Uthgentel so easily tossed her up upon his hips, holding her aloft while he took her, never tiring. He threw her about as if she were a child, but he knew how to throw her indeed!" Other than the more than slightly disturbing analogy to a child in the context of a sexual setting, which really could've been better done comparing Mez'Barris to anything else, a rag doll maybe, or heck, even an animal, there are a lot of things going on in the description of Mez'Barris and Uthegentel's relationship dynamic that are pretty outstanding for Salvatore. First, it is made clear in no uncertain terms that Uthegentel's size is unusual, which directly addresses the misconception that elves in the Forgotten Realms are larger than humans. Elves are larger than humans in worlds such as Middle-Earth and Azeroth, but this is not generally the case on Toril. Second, Boundless specifically states with regards to Uthegentel, "He was stronger than the women, too -- another anomaly among the drow -- and was easily the strongest dark elf in the city. Even with magical assistance, other men could not match him, and even with Lolth-blessed spells of physical enhancement, other women couldn't, either." An extremely too-oft practice among the many people who love the very popular drow race is to ascribe Earth human characteristics to them: that the males are usually bigger than the females. Drow of the Forgotten Realms, like many animals of our world, are a species in which the females are larger and stronger than the males. The aspect that stands out the most about Mez'Barris and Uthegentel is a message about reversed gender roles and how, by conforming to the norm, one might miss out on some very exciting experiences. I don't really dare hope that this is a message that Salvatore was consciously conveying, but it would be pretty awesome if it was intentional on his part. Taking that message and reversing the genders for our patriarchal world, if Salvatore could encourage the idea that men do not become any less masculine when they break conventional ideologies of what a man should be, I would be willing to consider putting serious effort into building him a pedestal, and even gazing upon it favorably from time to time. 

There's one other thing going on with Mez'Barris with relation to Uthegentel, specifically, "as it pertains to the other priestesses' teasing, "'How can you be with a man who is stronger than you?' most women asked, seeming sincerely aghast at the thought. 'It isn't natural! Are you sure that you don't simply prefer the bed company of women?" Mez'Barris was sure." I'd actually completely overlooked this three times: as I was doing my read-through, as I was organizing my notes, and as I was reviewing my notes. It occurred to me, while I was writing the previous paragraph, that Mez'Barris' certainty about her preference of Uthegentel isn't based in anything sapphic, which, added to the fact that Boundless doesn't contain any gratuitous lesbian sex scenes means that Boundless is the first Drizzt book in quite possibly forever in which Salvatore doesn't fetishize female/female non-heterosexuality. This is, if it is what it is, HUGE. One of the things for which I regularly criticize Salvatore is how frustratingly often he drops in a female/female sex scene or has implied female/female sexytimes going on. Specifically its that this happens in a totally non-representative manner because, of course, the same treatment isn't even considered in terms of male/male representation. I've gone into this enough in the past and I'll go into it again later so there's no need to do that here, but seriously, just the fact that not once do we have anything even close to some random priestess whose name we won't remember banging this other random priestess whose name we similarly won't remember is such a large improvement. And with Mez'Barris conveying the reverse gender role ideology with Uthegentel, if Salvatore intentionally did all of this, I would totally consider, yet again, and pardon my french, building that fucking pedestal and putting him on it.

Dab'nay and Mez'Barris are two very different priestesses, but their respective scenes of intimacy are better done than such scenes in previous Drizzt books. The passion in Dab'nay and Zaknafein scenes are marked by affection, whereas in Mez'Barris and Uthegentel they're solely lustful. There is tenderness, even hints of trust, between Dab'nay and Zaknafein, whereas what's between Mez'Barris and Uthegentel is detached and mercenary. One is a silken handkerchief while the other is a stinging riding crop, and though each priestess doesn't feel jealousy that her lover is ridden by others, one willingly rents him out, while the other has thoroughly accepted that she is not entitled to possessive emotions.

The drow aren't the only characters who enjoy improved literary treatment in Boundless. The dramatis personae of the World Above receive some refreshing new dimensions. Wulfgar specifically, who has been hammered flat even prior to his resurrection, becomes more than a plot device that fights as much as he beds. Since his resurrection, the carefree barbarian has been primarily embodying getting the most out of his second life by sleeping with anyone and everyone willing to do so. In Boundless, we're told that Wulfgar has been with Penelope Harpell exclusively, even though she is a much older woman and, as Penelope herself realizes, Wulfgar can get practically any younger woman that he wants so he chooses. However, Wulfgar chooses Penelope and exclusively Penelope, because he's enamored with her confidence and authenticity. One of the things that I criticize Salvatore for is his poor handling of female characters, especially with regards to how the most redeeming features for his female characters are youth and beauty. For instance, Drizzt and Catti-brie's supposed great love has never been tested "on screen", for Catti died in her forties and was returned to Drizzt's side as a hot young thing. We never got to see how the glorious hero would've behaved as his mortal wife grew old and frail while he remained young and hale. Drizzt might've told himself that he'd never think Catti ugly, but he was never tested. Admittedly, Penelope isn't super old, but having the hunk that is young Wulfgar faithfully and exclusively stay by her side goes some distance in making up for the previous treatment and portrayal of women in the Drizzt books. The only downside to Wulfgar and Penelope is that their scenes of intimacy are awkward to the point of cringe-worthy, which suggests to me that Salvatore is writing outside of his comfort zone. Nonetheless, he's giving it an honest effort, and even though it doesn't work out, it looks to be a genuine attempt, for there aren't any contradictory messages in Wulfgar and Penelope's relationship.

Boundless is the first time that we see Dahlia up and about since Night of the Hunter. I'd feared that Salvatore was going to have Kimmuriel fix more than the damage wrought unto her by Methil El-Viddenvelp. It would've been an easy and lazy plot device, along the same lines of Idalia's Flute and the aboleth's influence in "developing" Entreri. Thankfully, Kimmuriel has not undone Dahlia's past traumas, nor even eliminated the more recent ones and the personality flaws that she has as a result of those traumas. What we see in Boundless is that Dahlia is still who she was during the Neverwinter Saga, modified by the experiences of her relationship with Entreri. As we follow Dahlia through a Waterdhavian nobles' ball, in addition to learning more about her through her thoughts, we're able to glean additional information through her physical appearance. Most of those details that are mentioned in the past, but certainly don't hurt to see repeated. For instance, "She was tall for an elf, nearly six feet, with black hair that she dyed with streaks of cardinal red." Specifics like height tend to be vague in Salvatore's writing, for after so many books it's clear that he can't keep track of his own details, so it's good to see Dahlia's, and even better that, once again, Salvatore reminds the readers that elves in Toril tend to be short. It's good to see that Dahlia still wears the diamonds she'd accrued from her years of being a black widow, for even though she's abandoned those practices, she hasn't abandoned her past and who she was. Furthermore, she now wears her hair in the manner that she'd use for her softer guise when she was with Drizzt, except this is presumably neither an illusion nor as a result of trying to manipulate Entreri as she did with it and Drizzt. It's a subtle reminder of how things have changed for her in a lasting way. 

In the previous books, we'd only seen Dahlia be angry, vindictive, selfish and petty. Although I'd always liked her more than any of Salvatore's other female characters, my opinion regarding Dahlia is an unpopular one. Dahlia felt very much like a character that Salvatore wrote for readers to hate. In Boundless, he appears to be trying to make her more than that. During the ball, Dahlia is comical, even silly, both of which can begin to endear a reader to a character. Throughout the rest of the book, Dahlia exhibits courage and loyalty so steadfast that it's easy to forget that she was once a villainous character, but she doesn't do so in such a way as to come across as goody two-shoes either. Dahlia is still very much not a goodly character, nor should she be at this point. Unfortunately, there exists a rather large problem with Dahlia, and that is her relationship with Entreri. In just as artificial as a way that it started, so, too, are we told more than that we're shown, namely, that Entreri had overcome his childhood demons and is now helping her overcome hers. The thing is, that whole plot with how Entreri overcame his demons by doing Drizzt-like good deeds doesn't ring true at all, and we're not shown how Entreri has been helping Dahlia overcome her own demons. I doubt we ever will, but I'll discuss the poor handling of Entreri in this book later. For now, I will add that I thought it was a good touch by Salvatore to have the apartment shared by the couple to be located in the Southern Ward of Waterdeep. The Southern Ward is, as of fifth edition D&D and the current timeline (~1490s DR), is no longer the poor ward that it used to be, which is very fitting for Entreri because he wouldn't want to live in the grimy Dock Ward or the destitute Field Ward any more than he'd want to live in the aristocratic Sea Ward, the Watch-infested Castle Ward, or the noble-infested North Ward. The Southern Ward is inhabited by common folk instead of hoity-toity nobles, with a good portion of its population hailing from southern Faerûn. Although Entreri's Calishite heritage is not given much treatment in the Drizzt novels, it would make sense if, even with his rough and austere childhood, that associations of home would bring some degree of comfort or at least familiarity. Waterdeep's Southern Ward is home to some of the best singers of Calishite music and probably the best examples of Calishite cuisine. The location of homes above stables or around inn yards allows us to accept that Entreri would have been able to ensure a good sightline of the goings-on around his domicile, likely a necessity for one of Entreri's nature. The only downside to all of this is that Salvatore calls the Southern Ward the "South Ward", a nomenclature that only fools would use, according to Volo's Waterdeep Enchiridion.

The best-developed member among the resurrected Companions of the Hall is Regis/Spider Parrafin, and this continues to be the case in Boundless. In the past, I'd criticized Salvatore on numerous occasions about how his heroes perform a lot more questionable actions on screen than do his villains. In the travesty of the series, Hero, I'd specifically noted that Regis and Wulfgar kicking people who were already lying down to be decidedly not heroic, even if the victims of said kicking were highwaymen. In Boundless, Regis doesn't do anything of the sort. No, in fact, he actually performs what would be a humbling or even degrading act himself by normal Salvatore standards, and conveys a surprising and important message thereby. Much like how I'm uncertain that the message conveyed by Mez'Barris and Uthegentel is intentional, I'm not sure if this is the case with Regis, but Regis admits to using his looks to get what he wants, which is unfortunately a strategy traditionally attributed to women alone, both inside and outside of Salvatore's books. When Regis states to Dahlia, "Because I do the same thing, as does my lovely wife, Donnola" as he points out that Dahlia knows how to use her looks to gain an advantage in her negotiations, he, in my mind, is performing a much more admirable feat than slaying a hundred rampaging ogres singlehandedly. Humility is a mark of any true hero, and although Drizzt and his companions are supposed to possess tons of humility along with other virtuous qualities, we see so little of those qualities. Instead, much of their actions are full of sanctimony and self-satisfaction. Another thing that was done well with Regis is his reaction to being in Entreri's presence. Despite the significantly de-fanged current nature of Entreri, and Regis' intellectual knowledge that the assassin wouldn't hurt him, Regis struggles to suppress the fear he feels in Entreri's presence. This is one of the few instances in which Salvatore correctly portrays trauma. Regis has more than enough reason to behave the way that he does, Entreri inflicted significant distress in his previous life, and, as Regis notes, "Was there any amount of time and any number of deeds that could fully erase that?" Regis' musing is at the core of many trauma victims' journey to recovery. Furthermore, there is no contrived PTSD in Regis' experiences like was the case with Drizzt in Hero. Accurate, too, is the way that Regis' struggle is focused on the stub of his pinky, with which he fidgets while fighting to hold his voice steady. This shows us rather than telling us that Artemis Entreri is still very much a trigger for Regis, and speaks more to Regis' courage in facing that trigger than had he been the one facing down Demogorgon in Menzoberranzan.

Those are the major positives in terms of characterization and literary devices employed in Boundless. There are also good points dispersed among the descriptions and interactions with lesser characters and incidental elements. While we're not quite sure what the demon possessing the little girl named Sharon is (or if it's a demon at all), Salvatore did a decent job of making Sharon unsettling and creepy under the creature's influence. It's also refreshing to see intrigue in a Drizzt book that isn't confined to Menzoberranzan. Although Salvatore doesn't do the intrigues of Waterdeep justice, he does make an effort to include them, and even if he doesn't show us a great amount of it, I appreciate the nod that he gives to its complexity through indicating that despite months spent in the City of Splendors, one as acute as Entreri hasn't been able to unravel the mysteries he'd been tasked to solve. Unfortunately, there's a total hiatus from the further development of the Neverember plot. The final thing that I wanted to mention for this section is a detail, that, although minor, stood up to fact-checking, which delighted me. A lot of Salvatore's action scenes and descriptions, despite going into overlong detail, are often impractical or simply incorrect. Towards the end of Boundless, we see Drizzt running with everything he's got, "his arms pumping for maximum momentum in the desired direction". I'm not a runner, so I had to research this, but I was ecstatic to find that pumping one's arms does actually help one run faster! Bravo, Salvatore!

That concludes the positive-oriented analysis of Boundless. From this point onward, I'll be performing my brutally critical and honest breakdown of the novel. Fair warning, it's not going to be pretty, because Boundless isn't. Sit tight though, and I'll tell you all the ways that it was bad in excruciating detail, for better or worse. 

[reikiajakoiranruohoja]

The biggest issues in the Silent Hill movies

I watched the two Silent Hill movies back to back, and I wish to give my thoughts on some of its biggest flaws. Not Pyramid Head, not the change of the protagonist because both have been discussed heavily already. I instead what to focus on some core level messes.

1. People living in the Otherworld. Here's the thing, unlike in the movies, Silent Hill the town is still very much alive. People live there in relative peace. Sure, the cult exists but most townsfolk aren't hyper-involved in it. However, in the movies, there are people living in the purgatory part of the town. Why this is baffling, is that the purgatory part is exactly that, a place where you face your sins. Generally, time does not pass there for you nor the people you meet. Everyone is stuck in limbo. Not to mention, the purgatory is different for everyone, so what you see isn't what another person might see.

In the movies, people very much live in the Otherworld. They are in fact stuck there and have been for years. They are stuck in a monster-infested place that doesn't have food, water nor anything to sustain yourself with. They raised Vincent in this town. Not to mention, the rusty and even more dangerous dark world is a townwide event.

In addition to the above, the cultists who might have been born in the town don't seem to get why the nurse monsters are dangerous, trying to chase them off with cattle prods.

I'm not one to scoff at changes in adaptations, but the movies seem to have missed the point of the Otherworld entirely. Enough that its original purpose is lost.

Though I have to admit I'd love to read the lives of the regular cultists trying to live in such a hostile world. How'd they coped?

2. Changed roles and motivations for the main antagonists. My biggest gripe about the movies is the entirely changed character of Dahlia. In the games, she is very much a mastermind behind the events of the first game and affects heavily the events in the third game (from which the second movie is based on.) She is not a good person and in fact personally had Alessa AND burned her to birth the god of her cult.

In the movies, they went for a confusing theme of motherhood, so Dahlia's role was given to her sister Christabella. Dahlia herself was treated as a victim of the church. Not only does this make things more confusing (a clear foe vs one that is really more bark than bite), but it robs the story from its theme of family being people who care for you and not the ones that you were born to.

Claudia suffered even worse. Originally, she was a former friend of Alessa's who got left behind thanks to the sacrifice. A result of Dahlia's brainwashing and her own broken family, Claudia seeks to get Alessa back so the god can be born. As well as get her friend back, in a desperate attempt to find some comfort.

In the second movie, Claudia is a mother and sister of Dahlia and Christabella. Which makes her son Vincent Heather's cousin. Yay. Her relationship with her father has changed from an abuse victim to one holding power over him. What made her sympathetic has been removed entirely.

In both these cases, the clear motives and goals of the female villains have been changed in ways that only make the story needlessly confusing. Especially Claudia, whose goals would have been fairly poignant, as she is stuck in the past while Alessa moved on. Now, she is a cenobite and little more.

Christabella, Dahlia's replacement, is a very weak character compared to her. She is a religious leader and source of Alessa's suffering, sure. But her motives are shallow, literally grilling a girl alive because she didn't have a father. In a mining town, where there is always a danger of losing one's spouse. In the games, Alessa didn't have a father because it was literally the cult's god, and such did not care to get involved in her life. In the movie, who knows.

What makes Christabella even more shallow, is her lack of proactivity. In the games, Alessa was quite happy keeping Cheryl the heck away from Silent Hill, it was Dahlia who forced her to call Cheryl to Silent Hill. Christabella and her crew literally just try to survive in the Otherworld, they had no power over Alessa. Her reaction to poor Cheryl as well is strange, burn her again and then ....what? Christabella is reactionary and seems to have no goal outside survival and calling people witches.

Dahlia was a great antagonist because she seemed like a crazy old lady, but in fact, she held a lot of power and control while being only human. This made a good foe and allowed the story to use her influence to inform the actions of future characters. Christabella is simply an overtly religious lady with no further goals.

3. Overly complicated themes. (I am only going to speak about the first movie here because the second has no true theme.)

The core of the theme in Silent Hill the movie is 'A mother is a god in the eyes of her child.' Which, given the events of the first game, is a little ironic. I am glad they tried to make use of the switch from Harry to Rose, though.

What ends up happening, is that these themes are then clouded with strange choices by the writers. For one, the usage of Silent Hill 2 monsters. These monsters are coded as male frustration and guilt. Going rather poorly against the mother theme.

Another is the change from the cult from a pagan offshoot of Christianity to a Christian one. In the games, the birth and then burning of Alessa is the plan. One that Alessa stalled by creating Cheryl. They bought hospital workers off to keep Alessa's body in agony for years. The goals of the cult were very clear in the games.

In the movie, they burn Alessa literally because she doesn't have a father. There is no greater plan, there is no bigger goal than getting the 'witch' burned. In general, the witch angle is extremely dodgy, given this is still a modern town. Burning Alessa has no greater purpose or theme, it is just what crazy religious people do. Thus our antagonists are left without a reason to exist beyond the backstory. There is no push to get Alessa back, there is no goal other than survival.

The only thing that feeds Alessa is her revenge. That is her goal to get Cheryl to Silent Hill, to kill the cult and then be free. In the games, the Otherworld was punishment enough.

Where is the theme of motherhood in all of this? Other than Rose trying to get Cheryl back, the theme doesn't go into the cult nor the surroundings. Christabella might as well be a stranger to Alessa, Dahlia barely matters outside calming Alessa down off-screen. Where is the god a mother is supposed to be?

The cherry on top of this Jenga sundae is the fact that Alessa's powers come out of nowhere. In the game, the come from her father, therefore the witch and the Otherworld make sense. Not so in the movie. There is no explanation why Alessa lacks a father or has her powers.

4. Humans, humans everywhere. CGI is expensive, I want to note this before anyone else does. Regular actors are cheaper, naturally.

But Silent Hill is a very lonely place, as it is a realm of testing and challenge. You meet people there when the Otherworld chooses to let you (or they manipulate the otherworld.)

In the movies, there are humans a-plenty just existing in the hostile realm. In baffling places as well, like the sanitarium. If they absolutely had to have Heather groped, merely arms could have served the purpose.

Most blatant use of complete randos was the Mannequin scene, where there are two random women there for the sole purpose of dying to showcase the monster. Remember, people don't just randomly enter the Otherworld. Most of these people have been either trapped with the original cult or were -born- in the realm.

Looking at the movies, despite over 16 years passing, there are still enough people to glare and attack Heather in the town.

These are simply my thoughts, but I feel these are important in explaining why the movies failed as adaptations.

[artificialqueens]

But I’m A Cheerleader! - Chapter 28 (Aja x Farrah) - Millie

A/N: I really hope this was worth the wait. This was definitely a more heart-wrenching chapter to write (maybe I’m just sensitive) so I hope you enjoy a bit of angst/hurt/comfort!

Aja was filled with guilt, yet she felt so hollow, as if that guilt had eaten away her insides and replaced them. She could never stand to see Farrah upset, and it was even worse right now because she was the one who’d made her feel this way. Sure, Farrah understood that Aja couldn’t reciprocate yet, but Aja knew that her girlfriend had practically exposed herself that night, opened up, confessed something. But the words didn’t quite feel right on her tongue yet, no matter how many times she’d tried to muster them up, speaking to herself in her mirror.

Yet. That was the word they kept focusing on. But when was “yet”? How far away was it? - and would it even come?

Of course it will, Aja scolded herself. She wasn’t in this relationship just for nothing, not expecting any outcome or progression over time. Christ, they’d started off as sworn enemies, and look how far they’d come.

But something at the back of Aja’s mind was now whispering to her, its words wrapping around her brain, and telling her that maybe she’d never feel the same as Farrah. And she hated that. She hated the very idea of not being in love with Farrah, because she was such a huge part of her life, now. They sent each other “good morning” texts; she saw her every day at school; she saw her at practice (which was now discontinued until after summer vacation, since the football season had ended and they had no idea if they had passed the tryouts). Farrah was Aja’s last thought before she went to sleep - so how in hell could she just eliminate that from her life? And how the fuck could she live with herself if she lost her?

Aja pushed herself off of her bed, still in her prom dress. She had to admit, although silently, that she actually liked the way it looked, and overall, she’d had a fun night. She walked over to her mirror and just stared at herself, her reflection seeming to glare back. Looking at herself as if she were another person sometimes helped her solve dilemmas, but no solutions came to mind; her head felt heavy, and she hunched over lazily. Maybe getting out of her prom dress would help relieve some tension, so she did just that.

As she unzipped the dress, her phone buzzed from the bed. For a second, a flash of worry struck her, and she wondered if it was Farrah, panicking and apologising and trying to resolve this issue. She quickly snatched the device from her pillow to see, thankfully, that it was not the former girl mentioned.

Unknown Number Hi, Aja! This is Farrah’s mom. I heard you two had some sort of disagreement and I just wanted to know if you could tell me what happened?

Aja raised a sculpted brow in response. Farrah’s mom was one of the nicest people that Aja had ever met, and the fact that she had the decency to text her so politely almost astounded her. Back in middle school, the families in her neighbourhood would never dare do such a thing - one little squabble, and the two belligerents’ mothers or fathers would be having a screaming match outside someone’s house. Aja couldn’t count the amount of times the police had got involved, either for the fights or just out of sheer pettiness from the parents.

She quickly added Farrah’s mother to her contacts.

Aja Hey. I don’t want you to worry too much about it, I’m sure we’ll sort it out asap. Farrah didn’t tell you what happened?

Farrah’s Mom Nothing at all. Is it serious?

Aja’s lips contorted into a hard line, and she debated what she should reveal. Farrah’s mother had no clue about their relationship (none of their family did), so she couldn’t exactly tell her all about it, as much as she wanted to get this huge weight off her chest.

Aja I’m sorry, I wish I could help, but I feel like this whole situation is too personal, and I don’t want Farrah to feel like she can’t control what you know, y'know? Maybe it’s better if you speak to her about it.

Farrah’s Mom That’s okay, sweetie. I understand. I’ll speak to her now.

She let out a relieved sigh - that could’ve gone south very fast. She hoped that Farrah would at least tell her mom something; when she would bottle up her feelings, they would overflow very quickly, and those feelings turned to tears at a drop of a hat. Aja did not want to be held responsible for that.

-

When her phone buzzed to life the next morning and woke her up, Aja really wished it hadn’t. She’d expected sleep to take care of the draining feeling of guilt she had, but her head was still heavy and dense, and the wave of emotions just came into shore all at once.

It was Saturday, so she hadn’t set an alarm, and it took her a hot minute to realise that the buzzing was signalling a phone call. She grabbed at her phone from the desk beside her bed and blinked a couple of times before she read the name at the top: Farrah.

Her stomach sank and she took a deep breath before sliding her thumb along the bottom of her screen and pressing the cold glass to the side of her face.

“Hello?” she said tentatively into the phone, her throat clearly dry.

“Did I wake you up?” Farrah replied quickly, with an obviously worried tone. “God, I forgot you’re not normally awake at this time-”

“Yeah, but it’s okay,” Aja cut her off. This early in the morning (okay, it was half past ten) was not the right time to be feeling remorse. “What is it?”

“Um… Can I meet you at some point today?” she asked, and Aja took note of the hoarseness in her voice. “I feel like we need to.”

Aja nodded to herself. “We do. Any place in mind?”

“Just anywhere is good. The park, maybe.”

“That’s alright with me.”

“Good, good…” There was silence for a moment.

“So, I’ll see you at, like, three o'clock?”

“Yeah, sure,” Farrah said quickly.

“Okay.” She sighed as she spoke the word. “Bye.”

“Bye.” Their farewells lacked their usual cheeriness, and the bitter sounds left the air around Aja feeling cold, despite the oncoming summer heat. She shivered under the thick duvet of her bed and rolled over in an attempt to go back to sleep, if that was even possible with her mind running endless circles. She forced her eyes shut and pulled the covers over her head as if that would block out all mental sound, and tried her best to relax once more.

-

Aja woke up again, this time by her own accord, around two o'clock. She was always one to sleep in at the weekend, although never normally until this late. With one less-than-swift push out of bed, she figured her body knew how much she just wanted to curl up under her duvet and escape the whole situation, which is what she usually did. Until she met Farrah.

Every time she wanted to keep something locked up, someone always found the key and pried it out of her; whether it was willingly or not varied, but most of the time it was the latter.

From the moment she’d found Farrah that night, all ability to keep things avoided had vanished. And she wasn’t exactly blaming Farrah for this, like it was a bad thing, but she definitely didn’t enjoy it. However, if anything, it was for the greater good. A year ago, Aja would’ve flat out ghosted someone in order to never bring up an issue that certainly needed addressing, and now? She was actually leaving her house to discuss such an issue.

Dahlia was something - or someone (she was simply just a subject to her now) - that needed to be talked about. Not with anyone in particular, but Aja had been actively ignoring the weight in the back of her mind for the past year at least. It would take a while, but some time soon, she’d take that key for herself and unlock all the thoughts that had been trapped in her head, ones that needed to be spoken aloud instead of just to herself when it crossed her mind.

Aja quickly got dressed, grabbing some clothes from the floor that she’d discarded after school yesterday, before taking her phone and heading downstairs. Her mother must’ve been out; she could tell by the fact that she wasn’t standing annoyedly in the kitchen, about to scold Aja for getting up so late. She was grateful - it meant she didn’t have to talk to anyone else about what was going on.

She glanced over at the toaster in the far corner of the countertop, her stomach rumbling, but she wasn’t hungry. The thought of confrontation made her sick to her stomach, full to the top with nervousness. But it was still too early to leave, and she needed some sort of distraction, so she grabbed a piece of bread from its bag and anxiously bit into it.

The time it took was agonising, and Aja was sure that time had decided to slow down and no one had told her the news. But, eventually, the clock on the cooker struck 14:40, and she decided it was time to leave.

When she eventually arrived at the park, Farrah was already sitting on one of the swings, rocking it back and forth nonchalantly. Aja approached her, a concoction of fear and guilt rising in her gut the closer she got.

“Hey,” she greeted quietly, and Farrah’s head snapped around and up to face her.

It was clear that she resisted the natural action of smiling, and instead replaced it with a simple, “Hi.”

Aja sat down on the adjacent swing and rocked it too, albeit far more nervously, and turned to face her girlfriend. “So…” she started. “Where should we start?”

Farrah shrugged. “You can start, if you want,” she said. “I… I’m not really sure what I want to say.”

Aja nodded and tried to compose herself. Her mouth didn’t exactly understand the meaning of control, and she didn’t want whatever she was going to say to come out as some incoherent mess.

“First of all, I’m sorry,” she said, and she meant the apology wholeheartedly. “I’m sorry, and I never meant to make you upset.”

Farrah acknowledged that with a nod and a quiet, “Thank you.”

“I’ll be honest, I’ve never been in a proper relationship before, and I’m not the one to throw around love all the time- not that you do, I’m not saying that.” She put her hands out in front of her in a low surrender to accentuate her point, and she felt as if she were pushing down the rising levels of anxiousness. “And, when you told me you loved me,” her blood ran cold at the thought, “it made me panic, because… Well, I didn’t expect it. I didn’t believe it- that’s not me doubting you in any way, it’s- I don’t know. I think it’s me doubting myself.” She closed her eyes to shut out the world for a second, and inhaled deeply to bring herself back.

“That… That makes sense, now that I’ve heard it,” Farrah said, and her voice didn’t sound as forlorn as before. “And, Aja, I do love you-”

Aja was going to frantically interject and reiterate her excuse yet again, but Farrah continued.

“-And yes, I know you can’t say that back yet. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to remind you. Unless that makes you really uncomfortable, then I’ll stop immediately-”

“Farrah, it’s okay,” Aja said, and those three words seemed to relax her hunched shoulders and calm her voice. “Look.” She looked down at the ground to avoid eye contact. “I really like you. Really like you, trust me. And, fuck, I don’t want to lose you. So, I’m just asking for you to wait. I’m sure you have way more experience than me when it comes to relationships, and this one probably isn’t great-”

“Aja, are you serious?!” she questioned, and Aja’s heart stopped. Her eyes shot back up to Farrah’s, and her eyebrows were furrowed together in confusion. “This isn’t bad at all - this is one of the best relationships I’ve had. Yeah, of course I was hurt, but I’m not an asshole. Of course I’ll wait.”

Aja launched herself at Farrah, wrapping her arms around her, and a second later, a wave of relief washed into shore at the contact. Farrah responded a moment later with a squeeze, her arms around her girlfriend’s neck. Aja was off of her swing now and simply bent down so she could reach Farrah, and her hands impulsively went to stroke the top of her blonde waves gently. She buried her head into her hair, feeling like she’d missed the smell of Farrah despite it being less than a day since she last saw her.

“So, are we good?” Aja asked, her voice muffled.

Farrah nodded against her shoulder. “We’re good,” she said.

-

Snuggled under Aja’s duvet, the two cheerleaders felt at home again, watching a movie on Aja’s mom’s laptop. For once, Farrah had let Aja pick the film (probably out of pity, considering the vast amount of movies that Farrah had forced her to watch) and she’d decided on Rent. Its long length kind of made up for everything she’d been made to see over the past couple of months, plus its songs were amazing, so it really was the best choice.

Aja had a double bed with all the space in the world, but Farrah had decided she needed to be as close as possible to Aja, so they were both pushed towards the right hand side of the mattress. Aja kind of liked it. No, she loved it. She loved being this close to her.

“No!” Farrah let out a yelp. “Angel’s dead? Aja, is she dead?”

This part always made her tear up, but she wasn’t going to cry in front of Farrah. She’d only seen her cry once, she was pretty sure, and she wasn’t about to make herself look like a pussy. In her own words.

She simply nodded, adding a faltering, “Yup,” to it.

Farrah gasped as if this was the biggest plot twist of all time, and the action made Aja chuckle and choke back some of the approaching tears. She held on to Aja’s midsection, pressing her forehead into her ribcage and letting out a small whimper, much like a child’s.

Watching this scene had always forced Aja into the characters’ shoes, and the empathy she felt for them was far too overpowering. She rubbed Farrah’s back, and her reaction made her feel better about her own; she let a few tears slip out, and she sniffed.

This caught Farrah’s attention, and she slowly pulled back to look at Aja, eyes reflecting the laptop screen. She felt uncomfortable under Farrah’s gaze, slightly exposed, almost.

Farrah just looked scared; she knew that if seeing Aja cry was a serious matter, and if she even recounted it to anyone, Aja had told her, “You’ll no longer have a mouth to tell anyone with.” She wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but it was threatening all the same.

So, she just hugged her, which was probably the best thing to do. Aja couldn’t help but feel childish crying over a movie, even though Farrah did it all the time. Well, she felt childish crying overall. She felt too vulnerable. And as she returned Farrah’s hug, she thought about embracing that vulnerability - Farrah already had. Because if this was how she felt just showing emotion, she needed to change - maybe take that key and finally unlock something by herself

[letterstosestrilles]

Dear Tyko,

You haven't yet responded (I assume you've spent the past several days trying to figure out how much you should scold me, or maybe just trying to make sense of the complicated web of politics I foisted on you), but I do need to write you again, because plenty has happened over the last few days. Well, a few important ones, anyway. I could tell you about spending a few nights at Midat's place (and about the beautiful mechanical bracelet she gave me in a lovely bright copper—in one position, it has a pattern like circuitry, and in the other, like birds, and it is gorgeous), and about how much Maliah has relaxed now that she's not pretending she's training to be a courtesan anymore, but honestly, I can't concentrate.

I can barely concentrate on the truly important good news (and bittersweet news), which is all about Pika. She's almost a different person now that she's reunited with her son (and is one, in some ways—the Lady Dahlia is quite different to Pika Stormflight, in actions and in speech, by which I mean that she talks), and she's never been more than a few feet away from him that I've seen. She introduced Maliah and I to him (as his aunts, no less, which made us both more than a little teary), and he seems like a wonderful, grave, sweet little boy, and so glad to be reunited with his mother.

I made sure that he has my contact information, because—well, because Pika is leaving us. Of course she is, really, I knew our partnership would probably dissolve when she had her son again because she has him to care for, now. She can't be running off to go adventuring, and I don't think she even wants to, now that she has her place and her family back. I'll miss her terribly, but it's also been difficult between the three of us, at times, so I think it will be better, to give her letters and visits, and let her have the quiet life she deserves.

The quiet life, I might add, not only with her son but with a few other people too! I hadn't thought she would stay in Mashoy, with her family several planets away, but she was making plans for taking up the mantle of Lady Dahlia again, and without batting an eyelash, told us she'll be marrying not only Tirine Larchbright, but Arteshki Kazuha as well, an arrangement meant, it seems, both for making Pika happy and for protecting the child. Tirine and Kazuha both seem a little bemused by the situation, but there's clearly affection there, and I hope the marriage will be happy.

Especially since I'll get to see it begin! In a few weeks' time, when Pika's family can rearrange their schedules, there's going to be a wedding, which I will no doubt tell you all about. Pika is very much enjoying planning it, or at least teasing her family about it, as far as I can tell, and I'm certainly planning to offer my services to play some music for the ceremony should she desire it.

It all does, though, make me wonder where we're going next, what we're doing. Two people (and a dog) is a fearfully small adventuring party, and I don't intend to stop adventuring, even if I don't know where we're going next, and Maliah doesn't seem to have much idea either.

Only, well—you remember Drixam Vimning, who decoded some of the files from my earring? And I don't know if you recall that he said he'd keep working to see if he could get anything more from it. He couldn't clear up any of the other files more than he had, but he did find another, and it's clear, much clearer than the others: a picture, of three gnomes seated at a table. I've attached it, because I need all the confirmation I can get that I'm not making it up, but—he's my father, isn't he? The woman, I could maybe see a resemblance, but the hair is hard to deny, and I think he's my father.

Somehow it's worse, and better, seeing specific faces. Better for obvious reasons, but worse—I've known my whole life that I'm missing people, missing a whole family, hell, a whole identity. But having specific people to miss, specific faces, a father—that's something new, and I'm not sure what to do with it yet.

So I don't know where Maliah and I are going, but if nothing else, there's a flattened star map to steer us. I'm planning to see if there's an explorers' library of any kind that might know more about uncharted stars, or how to make the map three-dimensional again, but I don't know how long that will take, or where such a place may be. And Maliah may have her own plans. We've been concentrating so much on Pika and her new life with her family that we've barely talked about our own future at all.

I'll let you know how the wedding is, and I'll let you know when we decide where we're going next.

Love,

Elyn

[attached file: a picture of three gnomes seated at an oval table. One, dark-skinned, with dreadlocks pulled back into a ponytail and a quiet smile, does not resemble Elyn. A woman, with silver hair, is smiling at the person taking the picture and has blue-green eyes that could resemble Elyn's. The last, a man, has a scattering of freckles and unmistakable, very bright red hair.]

[royalpains-roleplay]

Initiate Program Males - Available

» ; ♛ ❮OPEN❯

Character quote: ❝I don’t know where you’re going but do you have room for one more, troubled soul. I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m not going home.❞

✗ — Name: Damien Tills. ✗ — Age: 27. ✗ — Kingdom: Argentina. ✗ — Sexuality: Heterosexual.

— Personality; Damien is a warm, compassionate person. He’s the type of person whose laid back and charming in a way that makes people comfortable with him, as well as open up to him. He’s got a patient temperament and is generally calm. It takes a great deal for him to lose his temper or cool, but when he does it’s very intense. He’s very intelligent, and with his intelligence comes a cunning that allowed him to partake in politics for so long, and now aids him in completely lying about his identity to prevent him from getting dragged back into royal life. While he tries to be honest about as much as he can, he hides a great deal of secrets about his past. He’s very protective of those he cares about, and will do just about anything to keep them safe. One of the main ways to get to him is by threatening his family or a loved one.

— Biography; The Castillo family might not have been in power in Argentina, but between their great size and royal status, they had plenty of influence. On the outside, they were unstoppable. They had a seemingly perfect older child, Damien. He shone in almost every subject in school; he was kind, courteous, fair and just cunning enough to understand his way around politics. The people of Argentina flocked to him, even in his younger years the press buzzed around him. His parents weren’t always the most affectionate or forthcoming, but they were there, more so than most royal parents were. When two more children were born, twin daughters, the standards were set just as high. Damien had an outstanding relationship with Delilah, but he could never quite get close to Dahlia as hard as he would try. As soon as she was old enough to have a personality, she was unusually skittish, careful around people. He was still protective over his siblings and his family. And with most of the buzz on their family saying that the power might shift in Argentina, he was sure he would work with his parents as best as he could to keep his siblings safe. His media presence died down over the years, slowly dwindling out. But he was still a strong competitor in the race of who would become the next ruler. When he was twenty-one, everything fell apart. His younger sister, Dahlia had committed suicide, leaving not one but two notes, one addressed to him. The note addressed to him detailed what the reigning King had been doing to her since she was a small child and how he’d said it was revenge for Damien’s attention and possibility as heir. The king had been sexually assaulting her, and telling her it was all Damien’s fault. Near the end of the letter, it said she forgave Damien for it. However, even though he could not control the king’s actions, he felt guilty. Drastically and painfully so. He couldn’t function for weeks and wanted no part in the games of royalty. Not wanting to be the reason for anymore death, he cut all ties, getting emancipated from his parents. He took out loans, finished his schooling in a public college, eventually getting a teaching degree. Under a new identity, Damien Tills, he started to teach. He was offered a job at Royal Pains to teach, and while he was reluctant, because of who he was and his relations to the royals, he agreed to take the position for the money as a way to pay his debt from his schooling. Little did he know that he would start to not only fall for one of his students, but run into his two surviving siblings there.

✗ Secret; Damien Tills was born Damien Castillo. He cut all and any legal ties from his family after the death of his younger sister Dahlia which he blames himself for due to her suicide note.

「 Faceclaim: Ian Harding. 」

» ; ♛ ❮OPEN❯

Character quote: ❝My family is my strength and my weakness.❞

✗ — Name: Diego Rivas. ✗ — Age: 24. ✗ — Kingdom: Cuba. ✗ — Sexuality: Heterosexual.

— Personality; Diego has always been a level headed man with a good head on his shoulders. He's a very friendly person and will usually talk to anyone who bothers to start a conversation with him. He is known to be the wiser one out of the remaining Rivas brothers but he does love to party and loves being surrounded by women. Unlike Samuel, he has more compassion when it comes to love and believes that it exists but he isn't in any rush to find it. Diego has always been a responsible person who has always attended his classes. He is naturally a really funny person and is almost always wearing a smile on his face even when he isn't happy.

— Biography; Diego was always the more responsible and youngest Rivas sibling and although he still sometimes got into trouble, it wasn't as much as his older brothers. They had a really close bond growing up, one that not many people understood but Diego knew that his brother protected him from the abuse that his father would have inflicted upon him if they weren't around to stop him. Both of his brothers meant the world to him, but he was closest with Samuel because they were only two years apart in age compared to the five years between him and Hunter. Pressure was naturally put on Diego to be a perfect prince but like his brothers, he to loved to go out and party. It was something that helped them all escape. He was pretty popular with women too but unlike Samuel, Diego had a couple of long term relationships through out his entire life although they didn't ever end up going anywhere serious. Diego was overall popular in his country, many adored him and he thrived off it. He has always been a bit of an attention seeker and he doesn't even bother trying to hide it. His parents were always hard on the boys, his father was very mean but they overall trusted them. Partying aside, they were good boys with their heads screwed on so when death threats were being sent to the boys, no one took them seriously, especially their parents who just seemed to blow it off. They left for a business trip one night taking most of the security team with them, the three Rivas boys decided to stay home and spend time with each other. It was just a casual week in, they spent time playing video games and talking about woman. Diego was having a lot of fun until a bang was heard downstairs. They boys went down to investigate only to find a man much bigger than them with a knife ready to attack. A fight almost instantly broke out with Hunter trying his hardest to protect his two brothers which unfortunately ended up with him getting stabbed. Diego didn't know what happened next, it was all a blur but somehow Samuel managed to knock the man unconscious and tried to save Hunter but he was too late. When their parents came home, Samuel was blamed for his death and though Diego tried his hardest to defend his older brother, his father was having none of it. Diego could tell it was getting Samuel feel even worse about the entire situation so after Hunter's funeral, he tried his hardest to cheer Sam up but nothing seemed to work so he took him out partying. This ended up to be a huge mistake, Samuel got extremely drunk and when someone made a passing comment about his brothers death, he lost control and beat the man up. Diego was talking to a girl at the time and once he realised what was happening outside, he rushed tried to stop it but was too late, by the time he had gotten to Sam he was covered in blood with a broken bottle in his hand. Since there wasn't anyone around at the time, Diego panicked and immediately drove his brother home, he stripped Samuel of his clothes and ordered him to show and disposed of the glass bottle and the bloody items of clothing Samuel had been wearing. A news report came on the TV a few days later asking anyone with information to come forward since the attack was so bad it resulted in the man having serious brain damage but Samuel was too drunk that night and didn't remember a thing so Diego decided to stay quiet. He already lost one brother, he wasn't going to lose another. When their parents said they were sending Samuel to Royal Pains Estate, they told Diego he was going there too so he could grieve for Hunter in a place that didn't remind him of his older brother.

✗ Secret; Diego covered up the fight Samuel got into which caused a man brain damage.

「 Faceclaim: Nick Jonas. 」

- Admin L.

» ; ♛ ❮OPEN❯

Character quote: ❝ It's hard to dance with a devil on your back, so shake him off. ❞

✗ — Name: Eric Elington. ✗ — Age: 25. ✗ — Kingdom: Finland. ✗ — Sexuality: Heterosexual.

— Personality; Eric had always been the typical prince. He was very careless with his funds and the life he’d been granted. He spent his money on whatever he wanted and didn’t care. He didn’t consider anyone else but himself. He would screw around, sleeping with any woman he could come across and end up breaking their hearts. However, after the murder of most of his family, everything changed for him. He became a lot more mysterious and secretive, always brooding. Sometimes he would bring out his charming side to get what he wanted, but rarely did that. He became rather morally inclined after the tragedy, resulting in him becoming a vigilante. Eric is very protective over those he cares about. He can tend to be very independent, to the point where he drives those away because he won’t let them in.

— Biography; Eric was raised in a small enough royal family, one of the ones of Finland. His parents were higher up, and while they were not in power they might as well have been with all the influence they possessed over the country of Finland. He was the second child, the middle of an elder brother and younger sister. They weren’t in power, but they were very rich. They relished in their wealth, even if it sometimes meant they paid little to no attention to the suffering around them. Eric was particularly one minded. He was caught up in the lifestyle his money provided him, the drugs, the alcohol, the girls. He loved it all, and he never seemed to have a desire to do more or have more than the average royal life. When Eric was twenty years old, everything fell apart. He was exposed sharply and quickly to a new painful world, one he didn’t know how to live in. There was a deal, for Eric’s father to bribe Eric’s way into the throne, and it fell through. The people who were supposed to put him on the throne ended up coming in and slaughtering Eric’s parents and elder brother when the deal fell through. They almost killed his sister, but she narrowly escaped with her life and was shipped off somewhere for her own protection. Eric was left alone, exposed to the harsh reality of the world he lived in. And had to deal with holding up his family’s legacy while morning their lives. Something that didn’t include being a careless party boy. He sat and let all that fester for years, finally, he broke. He knew he had to do something, so he began seeking out the corrupt ones of society who were responsible for hurt and chaos and killed them, becoming a vigilante of sorts. He saved many people and killed many. One of the most memorable rescues was of a young blonde woman; something about her just stuck with him. One of his advisers found him going out every night, never interested in politics, so they decided it was best if he went to the Estate to try and hold some grip on the throne.

✗ Secret; After the death of his father, mother and elder brother, Eric has become determined to wipe out all those who are corrupt in the world.

「 Faceclaim: Stephen Amell. 」

» ; ♛ ❮OPEN❯

Character quote: ❝ I’m addicted to a life so empty and cold.❞

✗ — Name: Charles “Charlie” Anderson. ✗ — Age: 22. ✗ — Kingdom: Scotland. ✗ — Sexuality: Bisexual.

— Personality; Charlie is the essence of what is intended to be royal. He’s poised, graceful and charming. In many ways he is rational and believes in being fair and just. He’s good with people, but not so good that it crosses the royal boundary. Though he can be fairly spoiled as he believes he has a right to everything, it tends to come with the territory of being bred by parents with limitless funds. Charlie also tends to be quite cocky and narcissistic. He’s smug and knows exactly that the way he looks and acts will get him just about everything he wants. Every woman, every man he desires. However, Charlie craves something much more than just to be a King, he mostly just wants to be free. But because of his father’s harsh lessons growing up he’s never dared step a foot out of line, and often because of this he tends to snub those who do act in such a way.

— Biography; Charles was the result of a love affair between the Queen Consort of Scotland and the King of Liechtenstein. It didn’t go on for long, as the King wasn’t the type for anything much romantic. When it got too serious and the Queen spoke of leaving her husband, he decided to break things off, only for the Queen to realize she was pregnant a short while later. Realizing that she would have nowhere to go with her child, she stayed with her husband and told him that the child was his. He seemed skeptical, because of her prior behavior but was desperate enough for an heir that he decided he would take her word. So he claimed the child and eventually Charles was born. His father was not easy on him by any means. In fact, his father was known for his cruel behavior, using it as a method of keeping Charles in line. It was what made sure he would never go against his father or his mother, though she wasn’t nearly as harsh on him. For a long time, Charles was the perfect son. The most rebellious he ever got was sleeping around every now and then and completely disliking his bride to be, Gemma of France. He knew he would have to marry her someday though, as his father wanted to close the alliance with France once and for all. It didn’t make him like her any more though. Eventually, Charles found out the truth about his birth. His mother was completely distraught over the King of Liechenstein’s death. She seemed crushed and heartbroken. That was how he found out something had been there. So he confronted her and she explained everything, including the fact that the King had been his father the whole time, not the man he’d been calling father. He couldn’t believe it, he was so shocked and angry. But most of all he saw an out of his father’s harsh ways. So he decided to use it. He told his father he knew and would expose it to the world. However, instead of loosening his leash only tightened it and sent him off to the Royal Pains Estate before he could tell anyone. A few months in word reached him that the fiancée he’d originally be betrothed to was not dead, and now he was set to marry her instead, and she would be at the Estate with him shortly.

✗ Secret; Charlie is Thalia Holden’s half-brother.

「 Faceclaim: Thomas Doherty. 」

» ; ♛ ❮OPEN❯

Character quote: ❝ Can you hear the silence? Can you see the dark? Can you fix the broken? Can you feel, can you feel my heart? ❞

✗ — Name: Grayson Levinson. ✗ — Age: 24. ✗ — Kingdom: England. ✗ — Sexuality: Heterosexual.

— Personality; Grayson was everything a royal could want. Growing up, he was mannerly and proper. He was the youngest brother, but he was far more mature than his elder brother. He always prided himself on his truth telling and being honorable and loyal. Grayson is very protective and loyal to both his family and those he holds close to his heart. When he comes to fall for someone, he often sticks to them and does everything he can to make them happy and keep them safe, including cleaning up their messes and fixing their mistakes. Gray is constantly haunted by the guilt of what he did to his girlfriend and holds himself as completely responsible for it.

— Biography; Grayson was everything a royal strived to be. He was mannerly, properly. He was a role model, the things King and Queens told their children to try to be. He was the youngest brother, but without the rage and impulsivity weighing him down, he was much more mature than his brother. He was honorable, loyal. His parents clearly favored him, and wanted him on the throne. Even though he was the younger brother, he was the clear candidate for the throne. It was one of the rare cases where the older sibling was deemed unfit in order to put the younger in the power role. Despite this, Grayson and his brother were incredibly close growing up. Though Grayson was younger, he acted more like the big brother. He was always cleaning up all the messes that his brother made, looking out for him and making sure that he was always okay. It became his job to look after his brother. When he became distant and increasingly unpleasant, dipping into drinking more, Grayson was lonely. So much time had been spent cleaning up for his brother that he had never gotten his own life. At least until he met a girl. A girl he fell for quickly. He loved her dearly, but his parents didn’t approve. They wanted him to marry Eliza, the girl destined to be Queen so their countries would be united. He didn’t find her to be his type, though, and was far too in love with the woman he’d met to care what his parents wanted. Though, the alliance had become something popular, something wanted. So desperately that Grayson’s girlfriend was found by an extremist and was captured, along with Grayson. They eventually forced him to make a choice, one that led to his girlfriend’s death. Grayson never forgave himself, and when he was released he blamed his parents for everything that had happened. He believed if they hadn’t of promoted the potential alliance to Eliza, it never would have happened. Out of anger, he withdrew his claim to the throne and left in the middle of the night. For a long time he worked in a bar. Though eventually, he was tracked down and captured by his parent’s men. They brought him to the Royal Pains Estate, in hopes he might be convinced to return to the throne.

✗ Secret; Despite being physically forced to murder his girlfriend, he still blames himself for her death and hasn’t told anyone the way she died.

「 Faceclaim: Daniel Gillies. 」

» ; ♛ ❮OPEN❯

Character quote: ❝ I’m the one with ghosts in my bed.❞

✗ — Name: Louis Lynch. ✗ — Age: 26. ✗ — Kingdom: French. ✗ — Sexuality: Heterosexual.

— Personality; Louis has the same Lynch family arrogance that his brothers and sisters did. But he wasn’t quite so prone to it as they were. He didn’t like his smug attitude get in the way of his responsibility and rational mind. He was charming, outgoing and could get just about anyone to do exactly as he wanted. But he knew his limits and didn’t push them, nor did he ever take his requests too far. Louis is intelligent, perceptive and a problem solver. He tends to be able to figure out people quickly and knows how to use such things to his advantage. He’s also creative and tends to solve problems more easily than most. Louis is known for being far more careful and calculated than his siblings are, mainly because he knows what sorts of mistakes can be made if he isn’t careful. He holds a lot of guilt over his sister being kidnapped, and for the longest time was haunted by nightmares and blame for her supposed death.

— Biography; Louis is the second eldest of the Lynch family and held all the perks of being the second son. While it was doubted he would rule because of his older brother, he was still taught all the teachings and had all the knowledge that his brother did. He was taught to have an easy grace with the people and became a favored royal of the Lynch family. It gave him an advantage in strategizing and understanding the world he was in, at least partially. As a young boy, he was known to be rather naïve, innocent. He trusted everyone. So when he befriended a little girl around his age he never thought anything of her strange questions or the weird way she acted. He just dismissed it under a quirky sort of behavior and didn’t think much of it. Little did he know she was being used by the group responsible for trying to ensure the Grimaldi’s remained on the throne to gather information about his family. Information he was feeding to her. Eventually, the girl he’d befriended disappeared from his life and not long after his sister was believed to be dead. He mourned with the rest of his family for his dead sister but never thought anything of it. He didn’t think of any plots or such that could have happened. He just assumed it was what everyone else called it – a tragedy. When Louis was eighteen, he ran into the girl again. He recognized her by an odd birthmark. Only she was going by a different name. He decided to look into her and realized she was a con-woman. So he had her tracked down and finally got her to confess what had happened. She admitted her parents had had her to the job for someone who wanted to bring down the Lynch’s chances of taking over the throne, and that they were behind the death of his little sister, and because of that, so was he. After that, his life was entirely different. He was no longer carefree, no longer as obsessed with being the perfect prince. He was ridden with guilt. He had nightmares often about his sister. He dedicated his time to trying to find the people that killed her. When she was discovered alive years later, he was beyond relieved and determined to somehow make it up to her. So when his parents sent her away before he even got to meet her he went to the estate as well, hoping to learn more about Nesryn’s life and protect her somehow.

✗ Secret; His insider information helped in the kidnapping of his sister Nesryn.

「 Faceclaim: Ben Hardy. 」

» ; ♛ ❮OPEN❯

Character quote: ❝ Voices in my head tell me they know best. ❞

✗ — Name: Leo Anderson. ✗ — Age: 22. ✗ — Kingdom: Scotland. ✗ — Sexuality: Heterosexual.

— Personality; There were only a few things in life that ever mattered to Leo Anderson. Power, wealth and himself. He was constantly after more power, making him appear to be somewhat of a higher achiever. Though most people never pegged him for it. They just assumed he was charming and dedicated to his future throne and getting along well with future subjects. They were wrong though, behind closed doors he was cocky, narcissistic, full of himself and hard to get along with. He’s very sure of himself, and this tends to make him fearless, often having him take risks that lead him to trouble in almost every case.

— Biography; Leo’s mother was the reigning Queen of Scotland. His father was a higher class man, but he was not a prince and by no means royal. However, it didn’t lessen the status of Leo, and he still had as much of a claim to the throne as any prince or princess. Royal or not, this man was the Queen’s husband, and that meant the children born to them would be princes and princesses by definition of the royal laws. Leo lived the average life of a royal, lavish, but with so many responsibilities and duties that he couldn’t handle all the weight of it all. As much as he wanted all the power and wealth that came with being a royal, he didn’t have the skills it took to make it there. So, instead of taking the hard way and trying to learn to become a royal, he decided he would take another way to get all the power and wealth he desired. So he began making bets with royals. He would gamble money, play for their secrets too so he held things over them. It became exciting, almost addictive. He had all the control he wanted, but it didn’t come with half as much difficulty waiting until he could be King. It was easier at first, but as bets grew further and he became addicted to the risk of it all, he stopped being able to control himself. It became something he had to do, something he couldn’t stop doing no matter how hard he tried. He ended up spending most of his trust fund, and was still in debt to many other royals, and low lives that he had gotten loans from. His parents finally stepped in when they noticed the money was gone. They learned what had happened, and what he had done and knew they had to do something. So, in order to help with the great deal of loss they’d suffered because of his addiction, they arranged a marriage alliance with a woman. In order to give him a break from the world that he’d been in while having the addiction, they decided sending him to the Estate to meet his bride was the best option.

✗ Secret; Leo ended up putting his family in financial debt by making a bet with another royal family.

「 Faceclaim: Zac Efron. 」

» ; ♛ ❮OPEN❯

Character quote: ❝ Take my badge, but my heart remains. ❞

✗ — Name: Landon Asenov. ✗ — Age: 22. ✗ — Kingdom: Bulgaria. ✗ — Sexuality: Heterosexual.

— Personality; Landon is very laid back and easy going. He’s charming, a trait that was used often to get him out of whatever trouble he found himself in, which was something that his devious and adventurous nature tended to get him in quite a bit. Despite the mistakes he has made he does consider himself a decent person, to the extent where many of his friends consider him to be the go to for advice. Many people refer to him as the ‘Golden Boy’ or ‘Moral Compass’ of the Estate, even though he often finds himself in small troubles with his best friend Julian Brooks.

— Biography; Landon was the son of the Prince of Bulgaria, and while his father was not reigning King, it was believed that power would shift to the Asenov family in the upcoming Selection. However, his father had his problems, problems that included a gambling addiction. His father was constantly betting money, and sometimes, he’d win it back, with extra, but a lot of the time, he was constantly gambling away dollar after dollar. With a wife who’d died giving birth to Landon, there was no one to stop him from dealing away the riches that came with being a royal. Finally, by the time Landon was five years old, his father had blown all his cash, to the point where he could barely afford to feed Landon. He survived only through other royal’s parties and such, re-wearing old outfits to maintain the façade that he was still as rich as the other royals. Finally, Landon’s father was so desperate to get anything he could, he decided to get rid of the last thing of value he had. Landon. He was sold to a woman in Australia. She was higher up, and believed Landon may one day make a good match for her daughter. She gave his father a sum every month as payment. He barely interacted with the woman who bought him. He barely knew her at all really. Because of his title, and the title of the woman who was paying his father to keep him about, he was raised in the castle. He was still a royal, and often surrounded himself with the other royals. He got along well with Julian Brooks, as well as the Dayley family, although he got along especially well with them, as he began to develop somewhat of a crush on Chloe. He was a solid rock, almost always there for her through and through, though she never seemed to see him as more than platonic. Upon turning eighteen, the woman who’d bought him became more present in his life when she was grooming him to meet her daughter. Of course, she soon became obsessed with him and decided she had to have him. They began sleeping together. The scandal was exposed by one of her advisers and knew if it kept happening it would blow the deal and destroy both reputations. The adviser went to him and said he would expose the scandal or Landon could go away to the estate. Believing he had fallen for the woman, he wanted to save her reputation and chose to go to the estate.

✗ Secret; Landon was raised by a Lady in Australia because his father gambled away all their money and could not afford to support him.

「 Faceclaim: Chace Crawford. 」

» ; ♛ ❮OPEN❯

Character quote: ❝People are afraid of me because I’m different.❞

✗ — Name: Levi Jansen ✗ — Age: 22. ✗ — Kingdom: Netherland. ✗ — Sexuality: Heterosexual.

— Personality; Levi is a fairly quiet person and often keeps to himself. He’s outwardly awkward but once you get to know him, he is the most open person anyone could ever meet. He’s usually shy around most people, but he is known for his honesty. Levi doesn’t like to lie, he thinks it’s bad for you and would much rather everyone be honest with him. The people he truly cares about could trust him with their lives because Levi is fiercely loyal and protective, he’ll do anything to protect those he loved. Recently he’s become a little more closed off from people and it takes some really effort from other people to actually make him have a decent conversation.

— Biography; Levi had a very sad upbringing. His mother died when he was just seven after being involved in a car accident leaving Levi with his father. The two never really got along too well. His father was always so judgmental over everything Levi did, it didn’t matter how hard he tried he always felt like he was a failure. A few years after his mother’s death, his father had fallen in love again and even if the woman could never take place of his Mom, Levi was fond of her. She was kind to him and her daughter, Lotte, soon became the cheeky younger sister Levi had always wished for. He became very protective over her growing up and when she started to date someone who was known as being a trouble maker he tried to split them up knowing he wasn’t any good for her. Levi had never really been into socializing much but when he was nineteen it was announced that his father and stepmother were throwing a ball, he couldn’t have been less thrilled. It didn’t take long for it to happen. Many royals were invited from different countries but there was only one that caught Levi’s eye. Delilah. He remembered her from childhood, his parents used to be close to hers but after the death of his mom he never saw much of the again. That night Levi made extra effort to find scenarios in which he could make conversation with the brunette. Luckily enough for him she seemed to like him too so he didn’t have to try too hard. The night drew to a close, and Levi was disappointed that Delilah had to return to her own country. However, they made a plan to have a date a few weeks later which instantly lifted his spirits. Unfortunately, their date never happened. Only two days after the ball Levi was arrested for the murder of his step sister’s lover. Although he hadn’t actually done it, everyone knew how protective he was of Lotte, how much he hated the man and his DNA was found at the his house, there was no way for him to talk his way out of it. Even though he was the prince and would be the king someday, Levi was treated poorly in prison. Guards would often beat him and leave him for days without food or water to rebel against the royal family. Levi never told anyone, even when scars started becoming noticeable on his skin. He was released two years later after it was proven that the man had faked his own death for revenge plot on Lotte after she broke their relationship off. His stepmother thought it be best to send him to royal pains so that he could adapt back into society.

✗ Secret; Levi was repeatedly beaten by the guards in prison, which has left him with some nasty scars.

「 Faceclaim: Keegan Allen. 」

—Admin L.

» ; ♛ ❮OPEN❯

Character quote: ❝ Everything is g r a y — his hair, his smoke, his dreams. ❞

✗ — Name: Kyle Dayley. ✗ — Age: 23. ✗ — Kingdom: Australia. ✗ — Sexuality: Heterosexual.

— Personality; Kyle is a very charming man. His laid back and open-minded nature makes it incredibly easy for others to get along with. He holds little jealousy over the fact that his royal status is limited, and he holds no real claim to the throne and doesn’t ever get angry over the fact his siblings are more than likely to become King or Queen and he is not. Kyle is very friendly, his compassionate, openhearted nature makes it easy for people to open up to him and turn to him in times of crisis or need. He’s very compassionate, caring and his thoughts are almost always on the needs of others. He’s very self-sacrificing and often gives up his own happiness for the sake of others. Sometimes he can make very rash decisions, but most times his are well thought through. Kyle carries a lot of guilt over both Ivy’s miscarriage and the face he slept with Eliza.

— Biography; Kyle was one of two children from his father’s first marriage. He was never in the limelight, and always took a backseat to his newer half siblings. Given that he wasn’t the oldest of his siblings, nor did he have the attention or support of his other siblings, he didn’t have much chance of being King. He had known and accepted this fact. His life consisted of parties, living with his family and just trying to get through the days. When he was five years old he met Ivy, a princess who he became good friends with. They were different in behavior, but they eventually started dating at twelve years old. That was when he began getting attention from the tabloids. All they could talk about was the young lovers and the alliance it could bring about. His parents were all for it, hoping there was a chance Kyle might earn more power for the family by marrying her. When they were older and became engaged, it was revealed that Ivy was pregnant. It wasn’t easy. The pregnancy had several complications, and it was fairly clear they stood a high chance of losing the baby. He was under a lot of stress. And eventually Eliza became his shoulder to cry on. One night, they got a little drunker than intended and they slept together. They remained close, and Kyle knew he was falling for her. He even planned to leave Ivy and tell Eliza he loved her. But then Ivy lost the baby, and he found himself so guilty that he stayed. However, neither of them seemed invested anymore. The relationship was extremely strained and tumultuous. And they ended up realizing they were no longer going to work together. It was evident to both they no longer were in love, but Ivy was the one to walk away. His parents were furious, and when they found out Ivy was being sent to the Royal Pains Estate, they sent Kyle as well in hopes they would rekindle their relationship. Instead, Kyle ended up rekindling his friendship with Mia Winters. They had been good friends before she’d cut him off suddenly. And he was happy to be around her once again. He ended up falling for her. But after how poorly things had gone with Ivy, and Mia having left him behind once before, he was scared to tell her.

✗ Secret; Kyle has an affair with Ivy’s best friend, and for a short while thought he was in love with her.

「 Faceclaim: Paul Wesley. 」

» ; ♛ ❮OPEN❯

Character quote: ❝Would it really kill you if we kissed?❞ ✗ — Name: Bradley Lynch. ✗ — Age: 20. ✗ — Kingdom: France. ✗ — Sexuality: Heterosexual. — Personality; Bradley is a special kind of full of himself. In most cases, most people have a little bit of cockiness to some extent, but Bradley surpasses it all. He appears to be in love with himself, and his appearance, the way he looks and carries himself. There are a rare few who carry the kind of confidence in themselves that he does. Though it’s hardly a good trait to have, more than anything it gets him in plenty of trouble and causes him to be extremely reckless, with no real boundaries. He’s incredibly flirty, having a bad habit of going after every woman, including the ones older than him and the unavailable ones. He is also very secretive about everything personal in his life. If anyone starts to get close, he clamps right up. — Biography; Bradley’s life was spent being pressured by his parents. Despite the fact that his brother had been trying to secure an alliance for their family, it didn’t mean the pressure was any less placed on him and in fact, Bradley felt like it was more so since he had to live up to the same expectations as his brother. When the alliance mostly fell apart, things only seemed to get worse. He was groomed and picked at under a microscope to be the best husband he could ever be. He hated it; he absolutely hated it in fact. Every ball that he was ever at, he was forced to dance with every single princess in the room, and eventually he was forced to pick a bride. Bradley didn't want this; he was sick of his life being planned out for him and simply wanted to live for himself rather than for his parents. So like most stubborn people do, Bradley refused to comply with his parents wishes for him to pick a bride. This didn't exactly work out the way Bradley hope it would, though, for when he refused to pick a bride from just one dance, a marriage was arranged by his parents. The girl loved him, but she was all about romance. She had this vision in her head of them riding off into the sunset and living happily ever-after like a fairytale and Bradley just wasn’t feeling at all. Eventually, all this pressure turned him into something of a womanizer. Due to his ways, his little escapades were always in the press and once his bride to be caught on to what he was doing, much to Bradley's delight and his parents dismay, she called off the wedding. By the time he was fifteen, he had been a full-blown womanizer. He slept around, got with everyone he could, it didn't matter to him if people were in relationships. It wasn't his fault he could woo the woman. It turned out that Bradley did in fact ruin quite a few serious relationships as well as reputations and broke several hearts. It was who he was, he just simply couldn’t be tied down. It was a lifestyle he loved and one he didn't plan on giving up anytime soon. His affairs weren’t limited to older women, he ended up sleeping with a Queen, and not only did he do this, he got her pregnant. Since it happened, his country receives a large sum of money every two months so Bradley will keep her secret. His reckless behaviour continued and so did the press, so his parents sick of the negative stories written about their family due to Bradley's behaviour decided to send him to Royal Pain's estate. ✗ Secret; He got a married Queen pregnant, and his family receives pay checks for his country every two months. They don’t know that the check is to keep Bradley quiet, but he does and it’s one of his biggest secrets. 「 Faceclaim: Francisco Lachowski. 」

» ; ♛ ❮OPEN❯

Character quote: ❝ Some legends are told, some turn to dust or to gold, but you will remember me, remember me for centuries. ❞

✗ — Name: Carter Heartly. ✗ — Age: 23. ✗ — Kingdom: Madagascar. ✗ — Sexuality: Heterosexual.

— Personality; Carter has never been able to find the in between ground of ruling. While he is dominantly laid back, charming, a side much loved by his people, he can also be temperamental when it comes to the harsher decisions of ruling, simply because he believes after the injustice done to him, people should be punished more severely. Despite his ways of ruling, many people love and practically worship him. He’s constantly throwing lavish balls and parties that are never stingy like most royal events. He likes to include common people in everything, something heavily increasing his popularity. Carter is still heavily affected by what happened to him as a child, and it affects his day to day life, even the way he loves.

— Biography; Carter wasn’t raised by his birth parents. When he was a baby, his parents decided that they didn't want to have a child since they didn't feel as though they were ready to be parents. Perhaps it was the fact that they were younger, pretty much powerless compared to all the people in the world. But in the end it didn’t really matter what the reason was at the end of the day, they ended abandoning him in the cupboard of his kitchen and left him to die. Two or three days later, he was found naked in a cupboard, malnourished, dehydrated and sick. He was nearly dead, and the man that found him was shocked that he was in fact still alive after the state he had found him in. The man that found Carter managed to take him to the hospital in time for him to be nursed back to full health. The King and Queen of Madagascar heard this story, it was headline news and several citizens of Madagascar were fighting for legal action against the parents for leaving the child to die instead of putting him up for adoption. Instead of doing this, they took pity on the poor baby. After several years of trying, they were told by several doctors they couldn’t seem to conceive a child and it was unlikely that they ever would. This put them in a tricky situation because needed an heir. So they legally adopted Carter, making him the prince of Madagascar. They loved him as though he was their own and treated him as much but Carter knew he was adopted from a kid and even though he was still a baby when it happened, he sometimes gets flash backs to being locked in that cupboard. It upset him slightly, but he tried to forget about it. He loved his adoptive parents and realised that they did everything they could do for him, but he fears that he will never love them the way children usually love their parents because he doesn't really trust anyone but himself. He quickly realised that no one in Madagascar realised he was adopted either, so he has kept that secret to himself. Despite the tragic story at the start of his life, Carter never didn’t have any major problems growing up. At least no real ones. He was well loved by everyone, but Carter was known to love to partying. He was popular with the people, however, his issues was that he was simply too laid back and didn't really care about his title as a prince or he was too harsh and took his prince title way too seriously. There was no real in between. To help him extend on his skills and become more in tune with other royals; his parents sent him to the Royal Pains Estate.

✗ Secret; He is the adoptive son of the King and Queen.

「 Faceclaim: Charles Michael Davis. 」

» ; ♛ ❮OPEN❯

Character quote: ❝ But if you like causing trouble up in hotel rooms, and if you like having secret little rendezvous, if you like to do the things you know that we shouldn’t do, then baby, I'm perfect — baby, I'm perfect for you. ❞

✗ — Name: Ashton Deutch. ✗ — Age: 24. ✗ — Kingdom: Russia. ✗ — Sexuality: Heterosexual.

— Personality; Ashton is the exact opposite of his twin Anastasia. He is very extroverted, outgoing, and likes to socialize even though with his abrasive, impatient and temperamental nature he often struggles with getting along with everyone. He doesn’t like waiting for things and can quickly lose his temper when he doesn’t get what he wants. Although he doesn’t become violent with other people, he’s been known to break things and yell in his fits of anger, usually when he is drunk. Ashton likes to play off an air of narcissism, when in truth he suffers with himself quite a bit. Ashton is stubborn and refuses to admit anything is wrong with him, although almost everyone else can see there is. He often relies on alcohol as a crutch. Somewhere inside himself, Ashton blames himself for not being there more for Anastasia, so after she got into remission, he became extremely overprotective with her. Despite his problems and challenges, Ashton is more than capable of being incredibly loving and caring, as well as compassionate and kind, it just takes the right person to bring out that side of him.

— Biography; Ashton, being the fraternal twin of Ana, grew up to be very protective of his sister. Despite being total opposites, they were very close growing up and often did everything they could together. Of course Ashton had other friends, such as Alessandra; he was a very popular guy growing up and Ashton thrived off of it. As he grew up, it was obvious that Ashton grew a liking to the party scene. He would typically sleep around with any girl he deemed fit and find himself enjoying himself when he could really let lose. However, when it was revealed, that Ana had cancer; Ashton swore his world had stopped. His sister meant the world to him and her becoming ill felt like he had been stabbed in the heart. Instantly, he stopped his partying ways to focus on Ana. He was there with her day and night, even if it was just to hold her hand, he refused to leave her alone in case anything terrible happened to her. He felt like he had aged significantly, and once Ana beat her cancer and went into remission Ashton still couldn't help but worry about his twin. After a few months his worry subsided and he began to focus on princely duties. One day, at a charity gala he spotted Elsa Grimaldi from across the room and the rest was history. Every chance he got, every event their countries attended, Ashton looked for the shy girl. Eventually, they got drunk together at an event in the Russian castle and ended up in bed. It was then Ashton realised his feelings for the girl were more than just a simple liking towards her, he was in love with her Elsa. The next morning Elsa panicked and fled his room and once Ashton realized she was gone he broke. The boy lost his last bit of hope and went off on everyone in his sight. As a boy, he had tantrums and always had a short temper; it never took much to trigger him. It didn’t take long for him to actually finally lose it for good. He had a psychotic break, and his parents admitted him to a psych hospital. After a few days of treatment, he left. There was barely a difference in him, though. He still refused any sort of treatment and suffered from his depressed rage. Eventually, seeing no way to help him other than this, his parents sent him to the Royal Pains Estate with his sister, whom had been part of the pilot program there.

✗ Secret; He has psychotic depression and was admitted to an institution for it yet refuses to agree to go along with treatment. Sex and liquor are his only coping mechanisms.

「 Faceclaim: Harry Styles. 」

» ; ♛ ❮OPEN❯

Character quote: ❝Sell your soul, not your whole self.❞

✗ — Name: Anton Jarvinen. ✗ — Age: 26. ✗ — Kingdom: Finland. ✗ — Sexuality: Bisexual.

— Personality; Anton is a devilishly charismatic man which makes his incredibly dangerous. He doesn't really care much for rules and plays by his own. Not use to being told 'no', Anton often does whatever he wants when he wants regardless of other people getting in his way. He isn't known to be much of a caring person; he doesn't engage with the idea of having friends but he does enjoy the company of both males and females in his bed. Though he is responsible for selling drugs, he hardly ever takes them unless it's a special occasion since he has seen what it does to people and really doesn't want to end up overdosing. It is rare that Anton grows an attachment for anyone; he's not one to admit or share his feeling well. Anton is a master manipulator. He's a closed book, and it is extremely hard to get him to open up.

— Biography; The Jarvinen family actually is the ruling family of Finland and Anton's parents hope to maintain that through their son. It was clear to Anton very early on in life that his parents weren't as picture perfect as they claimed to be. Even as a child Anton was exposed to things, he shouldn't have been which is what he blames for the way he turned out. As child, Anton was always scared of the men that would come into his home to have private chats with his parents but as he got into his early teens things became a lot more clear to him. His parents were involved with the drug cartel and naturally, it only made sense for Anton to join too. Being royalty gave them the perfect cover, no one suspected the royal family to be involved in the selling and distribution of drugs in the country. Anton took to it like a duck to water, an instant fascination developed and he loved the lifestyle it brought. As he got older, he became the perfect candidate to sell to the young unsuspecting people of Finland. He could be as manipulative as he wanted to get people into the drugs his family were selling. He would often use his sexuality to bring people in. Anton partied a lot because it was easier to target people this way. While all this was going on, Anton still put on the perfect display of a charming, humble prince. He would only ever target the rich, well known people in his country who wouldn't tell anyone he was their drug dealer because they had a reputation to loose as well. To the public, Anton seemed actually very sweet and no one ever really suspected him of any wrong doing until he became too power hungry. The people of Finland as well as Anton's parents noticed that his public attitude began to slip. Instead of doing is drug dealing in secret, he became too cocky and started doing it in plain sight. A few paparazzi happened to catch him one and it was leaked all over the internet. Luckily enough for Anton, his face was blurred so his parents managed to spin a story of the picture being a hoax and paid the photographer to say that he didn't think it was Anton, just someone who looked similar to him. His parents knew that with Anton being as reckless as he was being, they would get discovered sooner or later so they decided to take action quick and enrolled him in an estate for royals under the false pretence that he was recovering from a bad car accident when in reality the only reason Anton was sent to Royal Pains Estate was because he was getting sloppy with his involvement in the drug industry and his family couldn't risk being exposed.

✗ Secret; His family is heavily involved with a drug cartel.

「 Faceclaim: Bob Morley. 」

- Admin L.

» ; ♛ ❮OPEN❯

Character quote: ❝There are parallel universes out there where this didn’t happen.❞

✗ — Name: Sebastian Munteanu. ✗ — Age: 22. ✗ — Kingdom: Moldova. ✗ — Sexuality: Heterosexual.

— Personality; Sebastian has thick skin and can often seem distant to people around him, but he just doesn’t want to let people in so easily to people after what has happened to him. Underneath his sarcasm and dark humor, he is actually a really sweet, thoughtful guy who is constantly worried about losing people he loves. Unlike most royals Sebastian was allowed to live a normal life, so he doesn’t always act royal. He’s street smart, and he knows that he could live alone and survive if he had to. Before he used to put a lot of trust into everyone he met, but he’s discovered that not everyone is to be trusted and a lot of people will just stab you in the back to get what they want.

— Biography; Sebastian considers himself lucky in terms of his up brining. His parents weren’t like most kings and queens, they wanted him to have a normal upbringing like everyone else his age. They decided it would just be cruel to separate him from his peers the way they were so he was sent to a public school. He was taught to respect everyone equally and if he ever did run into some trouble, he would never let his status interfere with the punishment he faced. However due to being royalty his family had to travel a lot, which meant at a young age Sebastian would join his parents. One of the many places he remembers visiting from his childhood was Switzerland. The rulers of Switzerland never liked the Munteanu family so every few years his parents visited to attempt to make peace with them. Sebastian was six when he first met Selina Caspari and they instantly became friends. He was drawn to her even then, and as they grew up they became closer until her parents realized how close they were getting and cut off all ties with the Munteanu family. For years Sebastian didn’t give it much thought but when he was twenty and his parents gave him more responsibility in the kingdom, he decided that he wanted to join the two counties together. He arrived in Switzerland a few days later to discuss the possibilities with the king and queen. However the meeting left more to be desired and Sebastian feared it was a wasted journey. Until he once again met the princess. Selina had aged well, and he couldn’t deny how he felt. They decided to spend some time together, behind her parents back and only a few weeks later they started dating in secret. Sebastian didn’t like the secrecy of it all, but he would do anything for Selina. Things became pretty serious rather fast. A year later Selina informed him she was pregnant and after he initially freaked out, he was more than excited to have the baby. He planned on sitting down his parents as well as hers to explain what had happened but someone beat him to it. Selina’s parents were informed much sooner then he would have liked and to say her dad was angry was an understatement. Before Sebastian has time to talk to her, she was taken back to the palace. Sebastian left Switzerland after Selina’s father told him that she agreed to leave him and have an abortion. He didn’t believe him at first but he left to go back to Moldova to give Selina some space. When he tried to call her and she began to reject his calls and eventually blocked his number, he realized that her dad was right. Selina agreed to all of his demands. Sebastian had never felt so low in his entire life and instead of being level headed, like he usually was, he took up drinking as a coping mechanism. Eventually it became too much to bare, he couldn’t go a day without having alcohol and rather than see him drink himself to death his parents decided to send him to royal pains so he could overcome the issue.

✗ Secret; Since losing Selina and his baby, Sebastian has become dependent on alcohol.

「 Faceclaim: Tyler Blackburn. 」

— Admin L.

» ; ♛ ❮OPEN❯

Character quote: ❝All we do is think about the feelings that we hide, all we do is drive.❞

✗ — Name: Noah Rutten. ✗ — Age: 23. ✗ — Kingdom: Netherlands. ✗ — Sexuality: Bisexual.

— Personality; Generally, Noah can be on the kinder side. He’s somewhat out of touch with the proper social constructs as his rather isolated childhood didn’t prepare him for such things, so he tends to be rather curious about learning how to interact with his environment as he’s expected too. He almost always has the best intentions at heart, but has been known to be incredibly selfish at times, not always thinking of others. Noah can be difficult to reason with, and tends to be rather closed off about his past. When something reminds him of his experience, that’s when his truly mean behavior comes out. He can be rather unkind and cruel to get people to leave him alone, a method he uses to protect himself when he’s reminded of his uncle. Overall, Noah does care about people, but doesn’t always know how to show it. He’s compassionate, but sometimes his selfish nature can be rather all-consuming. He’s also the type who acts on his desires as opposed to thinking it through.

— Biography; Noah’s family was incredibly conservative and paranoid. After a few attacks on their particular royal line in the past, they became certain people were out to get them and would go after their children if given the chance to do so. So Noah barely ever left his palace. If he did he was under heavy guard. Most times he wasn’t even allowed to attend royal functions. His parents would, but he couldn’t. There were never guests in his home, and his best friends were his maids and cooks and other workers in the palace. He was a very lonely child, all because of his parents over protective actions. However, they weren’t able to guess that the true danger rested within the walls they held their son in. The one true exposure he got to the outside world was his uncle. He was loving at first, and Noah was convinced they were friends. He would come with gifts and photographs of his travel, promising Noah one day he would show him the world. Sometimes he would even sneak him out of the palace. Noah was always excited when his uncle arrived and always sad to see him go. Things changed when he was about eleven and his uncle started doing things that made him uncomfortable – things that he knew weren’t appropriate. But he was always told it was their game – and that he would have to keep it a secret if he wanted to keep seeing his uncle. Knowing that if he wanted to keep seeing and experiencing things he’d have to keep quiet, he complied. Eventually, the abuse stopped when he turned fifteen, and he was free from the cruelty. He missed his exposure to the outside world, but didn’t miss what his uncle did. As he grew, he understood how bad what his uncle had done was. And eventually he told his mother. Hearing her brother had been so awful and that she’d allowed him, she ended up taking her own life. Noah’s father followed not soon after, going out after a fatal overdose. Noah was left alone in the world, with no real concept of how to understand it. Realizing how grossly inhibited he was, his advisers decided Royal Pains was the best option to undo the option of what had been done by his isolation.

✗ Secret; Noah was molested by his uncle growing up.

「 Faceclaim: Chris Wood. 」

» ; ♛ ❮OPEN❯

Character quote: ❝You learn to take life as it comes at you. To make each day count.❞

✗ — Name: Caine Laiton. ✗ — Age: 22. ✗ — Kingdom: America. ✗ — Sexuality: Heterosexual.

— Personality; Not much is known about Caine’s past. He likes to remain an enigma in people’s minds and basks in people that are often captivated by the mystery he is known as. Caine is brilliantly clever and creative. Especially when it comes to his writing, he’s known to be very passionate. He never shares his work, though, because he often writes about people he knows, and things he sees. Things that are personal to him that he doesn’t want anyone else seeing. Because of how observant he is, it often leads to him getting into trouble but he is always able to charm his way out of terrible situations which is something he had learnt to do whilst living on the streets. Caine prefers to be alone rather than being in big groups because he’s so closed off. He doesn’t like to let people too close in fear of rejection. Caine is known for being direct and honest where necessary, and often says what’s on his mind rather than sparing people’s feelings. He doesn’t like things being handed to him and although he agreed to let the king and queen adopt him, Caine likes to work in order to get what he wants, he feels more accomplished that way.

— Biography; Caine was born into a broken home. His birth parents had a toxic relationship that they didn’t bother to hide or shelter from their son. In his home an ‘I hate you’ was the perfect substitute for an ‘I love you’ and Caine became to numb to it that he just believed it to be normal behavior. At school he was an outcast because people were aware of the way his parents acted. He didn’t mind much though, he would have liked to have had a friend or two but she wasn’t reliant on it and did well by himself. His grades were always high, but he arrived for improvement. And when his school grades increased, his family life rapidly went downhill. At thirteen Caine walked in from school only to witness his father beating his mother to death. Scared out of his mind, Caine ran from the home and immediately called the police but he knew he couldn’t be there when the police showed up. Instead Caine fell under the raider and at such a young age he began to fend for himself by living on the streets. Even though he enjoyed attending school, he knew he had to drop out otherwise he would be sent into the care system and it was the last thing he wanted. For years Caine managed to keep himself alive but on one of the queen’s trips out, she noticed Caine sleeping in a street corner. At the time Caine wasn’t aware of who was in power, he had fallen so out of touch with the world that he hadn’t realized who she was when she woke him up. Being only fifteen at the time the queen invited Caine to stay at the palace for a few days and the opportunity to sleep in a real bed was too good to pass up. It was only when they arrived that Caine realized who she was but that didn’t stop him from agreeing to stay the night, and then the next night and the night after that. Eventually, the king and queen sat him down and explained to him that they weren’t able to have children of their own and had grown fond of having Caine around, and truthfully he had grown to like them. When they asked if he would like to be adopted he reluctantly agreed and soon they managed to bring Caine back into education where he rediscovered his love for writing. Caine began to show how intelligent he truly was and began to work around the palace to help his adoptive parents out. A few years later they were given the opportunity to travel to Poland and Caine was curious to meet the family who was known for having such a perfect image. It was there that he met the princess Lena, he was instantly attracted to her innocent ways but he was no fool. He was aware of the way her parents felt about him. They didn’t think he was any good, so he decided to stay away from her, not wanting to cause any trouble. He only became close to her after she had had one of her blackouts and he helped calm her down. The two became fairly close after that incident and even after he returned back to America, she would often call him. After so long the calls became to come less frequently and even though he pretended it didn’t hurt, it did. Caine decided to focus all his energy into writing but that was his downfall. While he was out, the queen discovered some of his writing that went into detail of his mother’s death. Now she loved Caine unconditionally, but she knew he wasn’t over the tragedy so she sent him to royal pains in hopes that it would help him overcome the trauma.

✗ Secret; Caine watched his real father kill his mother.

「 Faceclaim: Cole Sprouse. 」

— Admin L.

» ; ♛ ❮OPEN❯

Character quote: ❝I don't know what's worst, being taken for granted or being played like a fool.❞

✗ — Name: Teo Arslan. ✗ — Age: 26. ✗ — Kingdom: Turkey. ✗ — Sexuality: Heterosexual.

— Personality; Teo is known for being charismatic person who likes to lead a fulfilling lifestyle. Despite the heart break he has recently, he remains optimistic and hopeful that better things are coming his way. Teo is a total party animal and if he's not at a party, he is often the one throwing it. If someone he cares about is feeling upset or down, he goes out of his way to make sure that they're okay. Loved ones are often lucky due to Teo's fiercely loyal trait. He is the first person their if a friend is in need and the first person to defend the ones he cares for. Teo isn't a push over, if he doesn't like someone then he tells them. He's not afraid of being honest, and it shows especially when he's in conversation with people he doesn't like. If there's trouble, Teo usually has something to do with it. He loves mischief and does whatever he can to entertain himself and others around him.

— Biography; Like most royals families, Teo's parents were always strict when it came to their son. He was always told what to do, what to wear even down to what he should eat. Teo grew up resenting his parents for the way they treated him. He felt more like their property than their son. His relationship with his father, in particular, was pretty rocky. They could never see eye to eye. His father always tried to control Teo, but he wasn't one that wanted to fit the mould so he would rebel against him. Any time his father told him to do something, he would be the complete opposite. Due to him impeccable charm, Teo has always had a way with women and embraced in pretty quickly much to his father's dismay. There were always different news articles featuring Teo with different women. His father believed Teo was brining shame to the family so he forced him into joining him visiting different kingdoms around the world. They travelled all over, and Teo became friends with a lot of new royals. It was in Australia though when he met someone that changed the way he thought about other women. She was the queen and at least twenty years older than Teo was but she was so beautiful and so charismatic that Teo fell at her feet. She was married, but that didn't stop Teo in pursing the relationship. Pretty soon they began a secret affair. His father didn't know why Teo had calmed down when it came to women, he had no idea that his son had fallen in love with the ruling queen of Australia. He thought it was impossible but since Teo was on his best behaviour, he allowed Teo more freedom which he spent travailing to and from Australia to continue with his affair. Teo, however, enjoyed travailing around so the next year, while the affair continued, his parents decided to visit a kingdom in Jamaica and Two decided to tag along. While visiting Jamaica with his family, he met Harlow Campbell. Though their introduction was a bit rocky as well as their first day, the pair quickly became friends. Teo liked her because she was so honest and quickly told her about the affair he was having with the Australian queen. Harlow was the one that told him how wrong the relationship was and that Teo was being led astray by the woman he thought he loved since she had no intention of leaving her husband for him. She helped him realise that he was just a toy to the queen. After he returned home, he kept in contact with Harlow through letters rather than through phone and quickly realised that what Harlow had said was true. He was much more invested in the relationship then the queen was. Although it hurt him, he broke off their relationship before anyone else found out but it wasn't that easy. The queen kept calling him and when that wouldn't work, she sent letters. Letters that ended up in his fathers hands. Once his father realised what had been happening, he didn't think twine before packing Teo's bags and sending him to Royal Pains Estate to keep him as far away from that woman as he possibly could.

✗ Secret; Teo has been having an affair with the queen of Australia.

「 Faceclaim: Michael Malarkey. 」

- Admin L.

» ; ♛ ❮OPEN❯

Character quote: ❝I’d probably still adore you with your hands around my neck.❞

✗ — Name: Quinn Braxley. ✗ — Age: 23. ✗ — Kingdom: Brazil. ✗ — Sexuality: Heterosexual.

— Personality; Quinn is a moral compass of sorts. He grew up non-royal, with a father who thoroughly believed in doing the best he could to be a good person. He was honest, moral and prided himself on always being trustworthy. He was always charming, had almost everything going for him. He was compassionate towards others, friendly and relatively laid back. And on top of that he is passionate about the things he believes in, and the things that he enjoys. Despite this, Quinn has always been insecure in his self-image, mostly because of his mother’s abandonment.

— Biography; Quinn was not born royal. In fact he was born a commoner, to a man of simple means and a woman of a lower status. His parents were not together long, they were a brief romance, something that burned out rather quickly in the end. But it did result in something, Quinn. His parents tried to make it work after he was born. But in the end it was just something that ended miserably. His mother turned to alcohol, partying, going back to her ways from before her father, and most of Quinn’s memories of her was finding her passed out in the various rooms of their house. He loved her, though. Always patient with her, helping her with her hangovers and withdrawals, even if he didn’t fully understand. He did his best. However, when he was ten, she left with only a letter. She said his life would be better without her in it. The only reason he’d found the letter was because he’d gotten in the door before his father did. After that, he always carried the worry around that he had been the problem, and while it stuck with him he became relatively successful. He maintained good grades, got a scholarship to college, ended up doing well in that field too. When he turned twenty-one his entire world shifted. His father had met a woman, a princess of Brazil. Quinn wasn’t even sure how to act. But the dating kept up, month after month with her coming to America to see his dad often. He didn’t get to meet her daughter though, not until after his father revealed that he would be marrying the woman. They moved to Brazil and the marriage happened rather quickly. He struggled to regain connections, to maintain his life from before. His new step-mother did her best to include him, even legally naming him as a Prince of the country. However, one of his biggest problems, aside adjusting and a newfound status he’d never had before was being completely and utterly smitten with Ariella, his new step-sister. The attraction was mutual, and after months of trying to resist he finally gave in, resulting in a passionate night together. He was caught by the guard later on that night. It was late, and the guard knew what he was doing. He used his newfound source of money to pay the guard off. Ever since he’s been struggling with the moral problems of what he’s done. His step-mother offered to send him to Royal Pains so he could learn more about royalty and he accepted, desperate to get away.

✗ Secret; Quinn was caught leaving Ariella’s room one night by a guard. He’s been paying the guard’s silence ever since.

「 Faceclaim: KJ Apa. 」

» ; ♛ ❮OPEN❯

Character quote: ❝Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend, somewhere along in the bitterness and I would have stayed up with you all night, had I known how to save a life.❞

✗ — Name: Samuel Rivas. ✗ — Age: 26. ✗ — Kingdom: Cuba. ✗ — Sexuality: Heterosexual.

— Personality; Samuel is a fun loving guy who likes to partying. He enjoys drinking and smoking anything that can help him forget about the past. He lives his life from day to day and doesn't really have a plan for what he wants to do with his future. Samuel can seem arrogant and full of himself. He knows he's good looking and isn't afraid to use it to his own advantage especially when it comes to the topic of women. Never one for serious relationships, Samuel finds satisfaction from meaningless flings to fill his nights. Samuel is seductively charming and always finds fun in a challenge. If he knows he can have someone, it's usually a turn off because he loves the thrill of the chase. Samuel isn't as shallow as he seems but he often closes up to keep people at a distance.

— Biography; Samuel was the second oldest Rivas sibling and since it didn't seem likely that he would ever be up for the opportunity of ruling Cuba, he took things easier than his older brother. There were three of them all together and all of the Rivas boys were extremely close. Their father was a strict man that no one wanted to cross because if you ever got on his bad side, he was often abusive. Since Samuel was always the cheeky, rebellious brother, he often had to face his fathers punishments and was seen with bruises covering his body frequently but he was good at coming up with excuses if anybody asked. Early on in his teens, Samuel grew a taste for the night life. Often he and his two brothers would go out on the night and see what trouble they could get into. Samuel liked it so much because it was one place his father never followed, too ashamed to be seen having fun. It was like a whole other life style for Samuel and he loved it. It was never taken too far, though, and the boys never got out of control. They would return home by morning and take their classes like other royals just to please their father. As they got older, the brothers bonds became stronger than ever. If one of them was in a relationship, the other two knew about it, if one of them stayed out too long the night before, the other two would cover for them. It was a very powerful bond they had and because they were so close, they often spent a lot of their free time together. Media loved them, they were all attractive and had a certain charm about them so they were constantly written about in news articles or on the TV. It seemed like everyone in Cuba wanted to know everything about the boys. It wasn't so bad at first, but people soon began to obsess over them and sometimes death threats would be sent their way. No one ever took it too serious though and the boys tries to block it out. Once day the three brothers were home alone doing what they usually would. Play video games, order pizza, talking about girls. They were having a great time just enjoying each others company but when a bang was heard from downstairs. Most of the security team had accompanied their parents to their visit, so the brothers were left unprotected. The oldest Rivas brother walked downstairs first with Samuel following behind and their youngest brother behind him. When they entered the kitchen, they noticed a man with a knife heading straight for them. The fight got out of hand quickly, the three brothers fought for their lives. Tragedy struck when the oldest brother, Hunter was stabbed. Samuel was the next target but with so much adrenaline running through his system to save his brother, Samuel fought back ten times harder and knocked the man unconscious before he could hurt him or his younger brother. Sadly it was too late for Hunter, after an ambulance arrived he was pronounced dead on the scene. His parents soon returned home and after hearing about what happened, his father placed all the blame on Samuel for not rendering the man unconscious sooner. Usually, Samuel would argue with his father, but this time he couldn't since he thought it was his fault too. He believes he should have taken the death threats seriously and had a security team around them all the time. Samuel soon became depressed because of his brothers death and to help him cope, he turned to what he knew best. Alcohol and sex. Every night he would go out and drink just to forget. Since Hunter died, it was only fitting that Samuel would be next in line for the position of the crown but since he was drinking so heavily, his parents knew he was in no fit state so they sent him to Royal Pains Estate so he could clean up his act.

✗ Secret; Since the death of his brother, Hunter, Samuel has been relying on alcohol to help him cope.

「 Faceclaim: Joe Jonas. 」

- Admin L.

» ; ♛ ❮OPEN❯

Character quote: ❝ Rate yourself and rake yourself, and take all the courage you have left. ❞

✗ — Name: Nolan McCormick. ✗ — Age: 22. ✗ — Kingdom: Scotland. ✗ — Sexuality: Heterosexual.

— Personality; Nolan is determined, passionate, kind hearted and loving. After the cruel example set by his father, and the more passive one set by his mother, he decided to better himself and rise above his upbringing. He strives every day to help others and to spread the kindness that he can. He is very friendly and gets along well with almost all others. He wants nothing more than to be a good King and good friend. Sometimes he can get caught up in his own head and back down from doing things.

— Biography; Nolan was raised by a single mother. She was a princess of Scotland. The other family had all the power, but she still held her title. For a long time, she was the one everyone expected to become Queen. She had all the graces, the intelligence and the love of the people. But when she was fifteen years old, she became pregnant with Nolan. Being in that phase, women who got pregnant out of wedlock were frowned upon, and the scandal just about destroy her chances of ever becoming Queen. As for his father, he was a lower level royal who just happened to be a general scum bag. He was a player, had slept around and tended not to care what he left behind, unless of course that something was rich. He had an addiction that he refused to try and fight, and ended up doing anything to feed his habit. He never hit Nolan, but he had a bad habit of sweeping in and out of his son’s life. And every time he came in, it was only because he wanted the chance to steal jewelry from Nolan’s mom and get some money for his next fix. Every time he’d come, he’d be the dad Nolan always wanted. He would do things like teach him sports and just have general fun, then he’d have a big freak out over something small and leave again. His father was like a hurricane, destroying nearly everything in his path. Watching his mother, who was still hopelessly in love with his father, and seeing how crushed she was every time he left, he knew he didn’t want to be that sort of man. He decided to take the pain and the rejection he felt from his father and let it inspire him to be a good person, to not be like his father. He wanted to be a good King if he ever gained power, so he had his mother send him to Royal Pains to learn everything he could should the day come. There, he met Blake and Benjamin, who soon became his best friends. He ended up developing a crush on a girl named Ellie, but he was too shy to approach her.

✗ Secret; Nolan has a head injury from a fall down the stairs and if he strains himself too much, he could die.

「 Faceclaim: Tyler Posey. 」

» ; ♛ ❮OPEN❯

Character quote: ❝Smile though your heart is breaking, smile even though it’s aching.❞

✗ — Name: Evan Cavanah. ✗ — Age: 26. ✗ — Kingdom: Ecuador. ✗ — Sexuality: Heterosexual.

— Personality; Evan is a kind, compassionate man that has time for everyone around him. He is a very bubbly person that could tell jokes for days and have people laughing in no time. He’s a true ray of sunshine and tries to see the best in everyone and everything. It is clear to most that he is very passionate about the relationships he had with people, be it friendship or family, he tries to do what’s best for everyone he surrounds himself with. Known to be pretty old fashioned with his ways, Evan his very gentlemanly and could charm just about anyone in his presence. Evan tried to look on the positive side of life even after going through a pretty traumatic event in his life because he fears if he lets sadness consume him then he’ll never feel happy again. He’s is a very sincere, honest person, he hates lying to others and find it rather uncomfortable so even if it can get him in trouble, he always tells people the truth. Unlike his brother, Evan is gentle and caring. Kindness radiates from his being and he’ll socialise with pretty much anybody he comes into contact with. He’s a good man with strong morals, he always tries his hardest to put a positive spin on things but his optimism can be too much for some people so when he’s around people with negative views, he tries his hardest to tone it down. It’s known that Evan is very open about things, he doesn’t like to keep his emotions locked away because he knows it unhealthy but sometimes he doesn’t know how to deal with them very well and that scares him. Evan pretty much goes with the flow, he doesn’t like the plan ahead because he knows how quickly things can change so he tends to just let the world guide him and hopes it takes him to where he’s needed.

— Biography; Never having known who his father was, Evan grew up without a strong male father figure in his life. His grandfather passed when he was two and his mother never had a boyfriend so Evan was forced to deal with male issues on his own. Not that he minded, his mother was loving and honest, she cared a great deal for Evan and would do anything he asked to ensure that he was a happy child which he mainly was. Sometimes he was a little lonely due to not having any siblings but his mother allowed him to go to a normal school so he could make friends there and he did. Evan was a popular child and that continued on to his adult life. The people of Ecuador loved the prince because he had good values and he was always kind and polite to anyone he came into contact with so everyone thought the world for him and he worked hard to maintain his reputation. Evan adapted to being a royal fairly easily, he did well with his royal lessons and because he was motivated to make his country a better place to live, he had the people on his side which was something he was always greatly appreciative of and he always went out of his way to show people that. Evan was popular with the girls but he wasn’t one o take advantage, he had a few girlfriends but nothing too serious until he met a girl called Elizabeth who worked at a charity Evan sponsored. The two clicked immediately and were fast friends but it was obvious to people around them that they both wanted me. It was actually Evan’s mother who set the two of them up on a date and although he was embarrassed that his mother had asked her out for him, from that day forward the pair never looked back. They were constantly by each other’s side and they were known to be the perfect couple. They were together for years and Aidan really saw himself growing old with her. They were destined to be together in his mind, there wasn’t anyone more perfect and eventually, he proposed to her. Things were going great until tabloids and new articles started reporting that Evan had been spotted with a string of other girls and with photographic evidence, it was hard to deny. Even didn’t understand it, he had never done anything of the sort, he would have never risked his relationship with Elizabeth but she didn’t believe him when he told her it was lies, after all, it was definitely him in the photos, or so she thought. Elizabeth drove away from their shared home that night in tears as heavy rain fell from the sky. The next morning, Evan was woken up to a phone call telling him that Elizabeth had gotten into a car crash and passed away. He was heartbroken and still confused over the photos but he tried to keep positive for the people of Ecuador. A few months later, he realised what had happened when a man who looked identical to Evan was introduced to him as his twin, Aidan. Evan had never felt so betrayed in his life, both by his mother and Aidan. He has been lied to his whole life and he had a twin that had been sleeping around with half of Ecuador. From that moment on Evan blames his twin for Elizabeth’s death and to this day, he can honestly say he is the one person he truly resents. Evan hasn’t really been dealing with his grief for his lost love well so his mother suggested it was time for him to go to royal pains estate so he could get over his fiancé in a healthy manner rather than live in denial about it.

Secret: Evan blames Aidan for his fiancé's death.

「 Faceclaim: Colin O’Donoghue. 」

_ Admin L.

» ; ♛ ❮OPEN❯

Character quote: ❝It’s a good excuse to be a bad influence on you.❞

✗ — Name: Aidan Stanley. ✗ — Age: 26. ✗ — Kingdom: Ecuador. ✗ — Sexuality: Heterosexual.

— Personality; Aidan has always had an element of charm about him that always makes people believe it is safe to be around him, he is a natural flirt and although he is straight, he will flirt with men if he thinks it’ll get him what he wants. He’s always been fairly good at coming up with little, sarcastic comments and one-liners that will add humour to most situations and cause people around him to laugh and he’s always liked that about himself. He can be mean and rude to people though if he doesn’t like them, he isn’t one to hold his tongue, if he has something negative to say to someone then he will say it without fear of consequence. After all, most of his life he had been around criminals who never cared about anyone else’s feelings and that definitely rubbed off on him as he grew up. Aidan has a reputation of being ruthless to the people that cross him because he doesn’t like people to think that they can just take advantage of him so he makes an example out of the people that try. He can kind to some people but only the ones he respects, usually the ones that except his dark nature and don’t try to change him because he is perfectly content with who he is and he won’t change to please people. If challenged, he is never one to back down from a fight. Aidan likes to party as much as the next man, rum is his drink of choice and if he’s ever going to an event or something of a similar nature, he usually carries a flask of it around with him. Aidan isn’t totally selfish, some people he will allow to get close to him but that’s a very limited number and it’s hard for him to let people in because he’s spent most of his life closed off to everyone around him. Though isn’t completely horrible to be around, you’ll find that Aidan can be pretty vindictive and manipulative to the people around him, he does often put himself first and if he wants something, he’ll do anything in his power to ensure he gets it. Aidan is a mischievous person that often lands himself into trouble because his curiosity always gets the best of him.

— Biography; Unlike his twin, Aidan grew up knowing exactly what had happened between his parents. His mother was a princess of Ecuador and she met his father when she was eighteen, the pair hand a short romance that soon ended when she found out his father had ties to the Russian mafia. However, fate didn’t seem to be on their side when the princess discovered she was pregnant. She told the father that she would raise the child on her own but he wanted to be there for his child too, this argument continued for a while before they discovered that she was having twins. They came up with an arrangement that they would have one child each to raise as their own and they would never speak of their relationship again. Aidan lived with his father but his father didn’t keep their deal a secret, as soon as Aidan was old enough, his father told him everything and Aidan respected him because of it. He didn’t care too much that he was royal, he had a close relationship with his father and that was all he really cared for. Aidan went to a boarding school in England while his dad was off doing work, so Aidan picked up an English accent rather than his mothers Irish one or his father’s Russian one. Aidan did fairly well in school, he was intelligent but he was a problem child who found great pleasure in distributing all the other students but nonetheless, he passed all his exams and left with top grades. When he was in his later teens he discovered what his father did for a living, he was tied in with the Russian mafia which meant that Aidan would sometimes help too. At first, it was nothing major, just some small drug deals but the older he got, the more involved he became. By the age of twenty-one, Aidan had to hide bodies for the mafia bosses after they had killed someone. He knew it was wrong and he didn’t enjoy it but he did it anyway because he knew what happened to people that spoke up and he would rather hide the bodies than be a body to hide. All the while, his twin seemed to be doing pretty well in Ecuador so when he had the chance, Aidan would visit Ecuador and cause some mischief that would get his brother into trouble because everyone thought that he was Evan. News outlets would report that Evan had been seen in obscene circumstances. Aiden would be photographed leaving clubs and bars with different women hanging off his arm, he would be terribly drunk and usually singing really loud. Luckily for Aiden, he could fake an Ecuador accent so no one ever questioned if he was Evan or not. It was a lot of fun for him and helped him escape the horror of the mafia life he was born into. Things seemed to take a turn of Aiden when the mafia bosses told him that he would have to kill someone who owed them money. His father was fully against this idea, his son was dark enough, Aiden was ruthless to the people that crossed him but he had never murdered anyone, sure, he had gotten into fights and injured people but never killed them. His father didn’t want to turn fully dark and lose who he was so he stood up to the bosses and told them that his son wasn’t going to be involved in anything like that. They gave his father a choice, either Aiden could kill the man that owed them millions or he could have his freedom and his father would die. Aiden was forced to watch as the man shot his father and he had never realised what heartbreak was until that moment. He has rushed away from the scene and never even got to say a proper goodbye to his father. With nothing to do and nowhere to go, Aiden did the only thing he could think of and travelled back to Ecuador where he went to the kingdom and demanded to see his mother. The meeting involved a lot of her apologising for abandoning him but Aidan was so numb from watching his father die that he didn’t care to listen to her pathetic excuses, he would never forgive her. Either way, he was introduced to his twin but the pair didn’t really get along. Ecuador soon found out that there was another prince and although he’s now part of the royal family, Aidan refuses to change his last name from his father’s. He likes having a piece of him with him wherever he goes. Due to Aiden’s lack of knowledge about how royals are supposed to act and what their responsibilities are, his mother thought it would be best if he was sent to the royal pains estate to get a better understanding of the life he was denied for so long.

Secret: Aidan was linked with the Russian mafia due to his dad’s involvement with them.

「 Faceclaim: Colin O’Donoghue. 」

_ Admin L.

» ; ♛ ❮OPEN❯

Character quote: ❝I forget about the consequence, for a minute there I lose my senses.❞

✗ — Name: David Anuwat. ✗ — Age: 25. ✗ — Kingdom: Thailand. ✗ — Sexuality: Homosexual.

— Personality; Usually David is an upbeat happy person who will talk to anyone and everyone he’s around. He can be a real wild card as he often does things that push him out of his comfort zone because it makes him feel like he’s achieving something people always told him he couldn’t do. David always has a sarcastic comment up his sleeve so his friends find him extremely humorous. He’s typically a happy person but he gossips a lot, he’s a good friend but he can never keep his mouth closed when he finds out juicy gossip. He can’t help himself, it just always ends up spilling from his lip which often tests his friendships. The people he is close to, David really cherishes and cares deeply for them. He knows what it’s like to be at a low point in life so he always wants the best for the people around him and often goes out of his way to try and help people achieve the thing that makes them happy. His bubbly nature draws people to him, he’s usually always seen with a smile on his face, though the good doesn’t come without the bad. When he stops taking his medication, David can have a complete switch in personality and become withdrawn from the things around him and he’ll seem to be uninterested in things he usually loves and his motivation will be at an all-time low. It’s almost like a zombie is living in his body, he eats and drinks because he has to do it to fiction and survive but he doesn’t do it because he wants to. When he is off his medication, people usually have to sit down with and remind him to do it because he tends to let himself wither away and doesn’t bother with important key tasks in everyday life. Luckily, this doesn’t happen when he is on his medication when he is on it, he’s an upbeat, spontaneous person that will pretty much be up for anything.

— Biography; David grew up in a loving, unproblematic home where he was the only child which meant his parents spent as much time with their son as they could. Being royal, they were always busy but they would never leave David with nannies, they hated the idea of letting someone else practically raise their child so they would bring him with them wherever they went. He truly was adored and that was something that made David confident as a child, he grew up with very little insecurities and knew that it was thanks to his parents because they always treated David as an equal despite him being their child. Sure, they would tell him off if he was taught and they’d talk to him if his grades were slipping but overall, they were the best parents he could ask for and he was an ideal version of what a son should be. He always did what his parents ask, he was a well-behaved child who did extremely well with his studies, both royal and normal and his parents were incredibly proud. David was a very social child and had plenty of friends but when he was fourteen, his mental state began to deteriorate. He began to get very withdrawn from things and wasn’t motivated to do anything, he stopped eating unless his parents sat down and made him and then a couple of months later he started to hear voices telling him to harm himself. His parents didn’t understand what was happening, he barely went out with friends anymore and stayed locked away. They were worried about their son and that worry only increased when they heard him talking to himself and one day they saw that his wrist was bleeding. That drew the line, they refused to see their son suffer so the decision to seek out help. The strange behaviour lasted only a short while before his parents made him go to a doctor that was a professional in the mental health department and that was when David was analysed and after speaking with him, he was quickly diagnosed with having schizophrenia and he has prescribed a medication to help him stop hearing the voices. When his parents brought him back home and he started to take the medication, he drastically improved and started to become his normal self again. His parents decided to keep his disorder from the public because they didn’t want to add any more stress to their son when he was showing clear signs of improvement. For years, David was taking the medication and functioning like he used to, he was happy and carefree, he had plenty of friends and finally felt as though he was free. Recently though, he had been having an inward struggle with the medication, he thought he was well enough to stop taking them so he did but didn’t tell anyone he had stopped. Instead, he would hide the pills and act like everything was fine but it didn’t take long until the cracks began to show. His parents once again noticed he was becoming withdrawn and wouldn’t really speak to them. They feared the worst and booked a doctors appointment immediately but the day before he was supposed to see someone, his mother found him fully submerged in the bathtub with all his clothes on. He was immediately rushed to the hospital and revived but when he woke the only explanation he had was that the voices told him to do it but David wasn’t scared. In fact, he continued to refused to take the medication believing he was fine until one doctor talked some sense into him by telling him that if he continues, he might hurt someone other than himself and that was the wake-up call he needed. He started to take the medication again and slowly he has started to become himself again but his parents believe it to be in David’s best interest to take a break from the royal duties, believing it would only cause him more stress he didn’t need so they decided to send him to Royal Pains estate where many of their royal friends have sent their children in hopes of David realising how important and valuable he is to the world.

Secret: David suffers from a schizophrenic disorder which caused him to almost kill himself.

「 Faceclaim: Casey Cott. 」

_ Admin L.

» ; ♛ ❮OPEN❯

Character quote: ❝It’s not the human walk, it’s the human race, if you ain’t living on the edge you’re taking too much space.❞

✗ — Name: Gerard Chandler. ✗ — Age: 22. ✗ — Kingdom: Andorra. ✗ — Sexuality: Heterosexual.

— Personality; Gerard knows from first-hand experience how precious life is and how easy it can end so he tries to do as much as he possibly can to ensure that he has lived a full, happy life. He’s fairly reckless with this though and often pulls dangerous stunts. He’s fairly easy to get along with so long as your fun to be around, Gerard finds that people with no drive tend to bore him and he just can’t find it in himself to want to hold a conversation with them. He’s fun to be around but his eccentric nature sometimes scares the people around him because they never know what to expect from the prince but he is always kind, he would never force someone into joining in on his crazy acts, he’s far too polite for that but he doesn’t like to do them alone. When he’s not doing something life-threatening, he’s a pretty calm guy that enjoys a good party and if he’s not going to one, he’s often the one throwing it. He’s always been fairly rebellious and does things that he wants rather than waiting to get permission. Gerard easily gains friends but he’s never sure if they want to be his friend for real if because he’s royal so he keeps himself pretty guarded because he’s been let down a lot. Although he’s been through a lot, Gerard is rarely seen without a smile on his face, he always seems to be in a good mood. Even if he’s upset, he tends to fake a happy emotion so that people don’t question it. He was affected by the plane crash more than he’s willing to admit so he keeps quiet about it, he’s never actually spoken about the traumatic experience to anyone and he doesn’t plan on it either but the even is heavy on his shoulders and he feels like he might crack under the slightest amount of pressure. Still, he keeps it to himself in hopes that one day it won’t plague his life so much.

— Biography; Growing up was pretty simple for Gerard, though he was royal, he lived in a small country so he didn’t have as much pressure resting on him as other royals from bigger countries had. His parents allowed him to do whatever made him happy so long as he carried on with his studies which is something Gerard happily agreed to. He knew he was lucky that his parents trusted him so much so he was always sensible and didn’t do anything dangerous because he knew they wouldn’t approve of it and he wanted to stay in their good graces. His family wasn’t the closes and it wasn’t because of a lack of love, it was simply because his parents were always so busy they would have to leave Gerard behind a lot to focus on other things and that was one of the disadvantages of being a royal, it was rare to get a lot of family time and when you did, it was limited. Gerard knew this so he never truly held a grudge against his parents because he knew they were trying their best provide a stable life for the prince, it wasn’t their fault they were royal. Though this did mean he was a pretty lonely child, sure, he had nannies to take care of him but it wasn’t the same as being around his family or friends so when he was ten, Gerard started to sneak out and meet up with other children which is when Gerard realised how much of a people person he was, he managed to gain friends quickly but soon realised that most people only wanted to be his friend because he was royal. This was something he had to take with him growing up, he never knew who he could trust so he became very guarded though he still spoke to people, he would just manipulate the situation to get things he wanted. Gerard’s life was a series of similar events day in day out until it wasn’t anymore and one day changed his life forever. At twenty, Gerard was invited to England to go to some gala event thrown of a charity and he happily agreed to go, he and a few of his staff set out and to get there, they had to go on a plane. He had been on one a million times before so he had no issue but he regretted agreeing going an hour into the flight. The plane experienced terrible turbulence and before he knew what was going on, the plane was going down and there was nothing he, nor anyone else, could do about it. Gerard thought he was going to die and when the plane made contact with the floor, he thought he had. By some miracle, he survived and so did one of his staff but everyone else aboard died and that changed Gerard’s life forever. A few days later, a search party found the prince as he was noted as missing and Gerard soon realised just how quickly life can get taken from you. It was reported all over the news that Gerard was found safe and alive but he never once spoke to a single person about it, not even his parents. He soon realised that he had been taking his life for granted for years, never doing things that would excite him so he decided from that moment on, he would live life to the max. He would go to different parties all the time and gained a love for the night scene, he would do bungee jumps and climb the tallest mountains in the world, at first his parents didn’t see any harm in it until he started to do things that were becoming more and more dangerous because it was the only way he could get the adrenaline rush he wanted. His parents particularly started to worry about him when he and a group of friends started to free climb up thing. Climbing up tall buildings with no equipment gave Gerard the adrenaline rush he desired, even when one of his friends fell to his death, Gerard continued to do it. The crazier his tasks were becoming, the more scared his parents were so eventually they told him that for his own safety, they were going to have to send Gerard to royal pains estate.

Secret: Gerard was involved in a plane crash where all but two people including him survived, though he’s clearly struggling to deal with it, he refuses to talk about it.

「 Faceclaim: Shawn Mendes. 」

_ Admin L.

[askaceattorney]

Dear Decoy13,

There’s actually only two of us! This is Modthorne. And thank you so much for the praise! It’s really difficult running a giant blog like this, much less with two people and so many responses. We might run into each other if we’re not careful and respond to something twice, or something else. But we do try our hardest.

Co-Mod here, and I’d just like to add one thing: at the time you sent this letter, there was only one moderator (the Mod), but he’s since taken on the two of us, and there’s a chance he’ll still answer a few letters every now and then.  He deserves a lot of credit.

Dear Crazyarielxd,

You’re welcome, and thank you for writing letters to help keep the blog going!

I think that Kristoph and Dahlia had a few similar behavior issues -- being two-faced, selfish, unfeeling, etc. -- but when it comes to mental conditions, I’d say Kristoph was far worse off.  In fact, I’d say Capcom tried to make him look like a disturbed man from the very beginning.  When we first see him, he looks like a calm, intelligent, well-mannered person (he even has a nickname reflecting this):

But in reality, all it takes to disrupt his peaceful visage is for someone to question his character:

This also seems like the best explanation for why the opportunity to become a hero was, ironically, what turned him into a villain.  I can understand someone being bitter about not being chosen for something as important as defending a famous magician, but when they start plotting the demise of the person who was chosen and the one who chose them, I feel like there has to be more than bitterness behind it -- especially considering it wasn’t his first time constructing a murder plot.

As for Dahlia, I share pretty much the same opinion as the Mod about her mental state -- she knew what she was doing, and just didn’t care.  If I did think her behavior had to do with a mental disorder, I’d probably hate her a lot less.  From what I saw, greed and arrogance seemed to be the only motivations behind her actions.

By the way, I hope you weren’t expecting to see any pictures of her.  Sorry, but I’m about half sick of seeing those.

But Manfred von Karma’s behavior is even more confusing to me.  “Earn me a penalty, will you, Gregory?  Well, then I’ll just murder you, steal your son, and raise him to be a ruthless prosecutor like me before having him framed for murder!  >Optional evil laughter<”  Besides the fact that the motive for his crimes makes him sound like a 65-year-old child, his decision to hold a grudge for so long ended up causing even worse problems for both of his proteges.  It makes sense in Edgeworth’s case, since he never cared about him in the first place, but why would he let his own daughter suffer for it?  That showed some serious stubbornness on his part.

Since we don’t get much of a backstory for him, I can only assume that he was either taught at an early age that winning cases is the only important goal a prosecutor should have, or he actually cared about justice at some point, but as he kept winning case after case, he let it all go to his head and started only caring about winning.  Either way, pride seemed to be the only thing driving him.

And finally, Damon Gant’s motives seemed like a mixture of pride and obsession to me.  He knew he was headed for a higher position in the police force, and when he found three unconscious people in his office, he saw it as an opportunity to gain even more power.  I do find it strange that he never did anything so extreme before that, which makes me wonder if Capcom just wanted to make him a villain for the sake of thickening the plot.  He himself even admitted that he’s better suited for solving crimes than committing them.

I’ve already started seeing a few letters dealing with touchy subjects, and so far there haven’t been any that made me too uncomfortable.  There was even one that I was very glad to answer, because it was about something I relate to strongly.  Honestly, as long a letter follows the blog’s rules and doesn’t involve something that one of us sees as too offensive or sensitive to be shared online, we’ll do our best to give it an answer.  Just keep in mind that neither of us are the ruling authority on topics regarding ethics, psychology, religion, politics, ladders, etc., so we can’t guarantee a satisfactory response.  We’ll do our best, though!

(Previous Letter)

Uhhhhh... It’s too bad it’s come back to haunt me the MINUTE I return, ain’t it? I’m, er, gonna have to bite the bullet on this one. Heh heh...

Dear Yessiee!!!!,

(So he can pull himself together when he wants to!)

It’s true that presenting us with different version of the same puzzles could be seen as laziness on the developers’ part, but I’d say it was worth it to see Ms. Belduke’s attempt at a puzzle-solving pose.

I finally reached the end of Layton Brothers yesterday (relative to when I’m typing this), and I think it was a pretty fun game overall.  The soundtrack was incredibly engaging (which is often what keeps me coming back to a game), and the carefully-crafted story lines reminded me a lot of the ones found in Ace Attorney -- way more condensed in this case, but still very similar.

My favorite character by far was none other than the cute but courageous Lucy Baker.  Her charming optimism and adventurous attitude made her almost like a British Maya Fey in my mind.

“Let’s get going, Prof!  Out in t’ wild!”

I know she didn’t actually say that, but that’s the message she conveyed to me at nearly every part of the game.  Alfendi became a poor, tired Phoenix there for a moment.  Speaking of Al, I wasn’t sure how to feel the first time I met “Potty Prof,” but he sure made the story more intriguing.  I kept wondering what he was going to do next, and that made him all the more interesting to watch.

I won’t say who my least favorite was to avoid any spoilers, but when a woman decides to get a new boyfriend days after her husband’s death, it’s hard for me not to at least cringe a little.  Oddly enough, there was also a young lady who greatly reminded me of Ms. Hawthorne, but I found it hard to hate her quite as much for some reason.  Strange, isn’t it?

Speaking of that character, my favorite case was probably Case 7, where she trapped Lucy in a room and made her solve a case that happened years ago before she’d let her out, without giving kind of explanation for it until the end.  I liked all of the cases pretty well, but that one did a good job of building up the mystery.

The gameplay wasn’t that impressive to me, though.  I’m okay with having no penalties for guessing the wrong answer, but why does the game constantly tell you to investigate things you’ve already investigated?  That just seemed like a pointless way to further the story, in my opinion.

I don’t think I’d put this game above an Ace Attorney game in terms of overall fun to be had, but I did have some good fun watching it, and it’s definitely whetted my appetite for the Professor Layton games.  And I pretty much gave up trying to guess who the culprit after Case 3, which did indeed confuse the heck out of me, but I at least got most of the questions right.

Have a good day yourself, and I hope you got the reference at the beginning there.

-The Modthorne and Co-Mod

[amateurfan227]

Shitlist Halloween Reviews - American Horror Story 1-2 1 of 5

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m Amateur Fan 2.27 and welcome to this year’s Halloween specials of the Shitlist where bad movies burn, through the next few weeks I’ll be looking over some shows and movies that relate to the traditional holiday that’s been going on for century’s Halloween. And seeing that the new Halloween is coming around the corner (which I am excited to see by the way) I thought it would be interesting to start this year in a different perspective when it comes to the Horror genre.

Anthology Horror.... it’s been around since the early 60s starting with the cult classic horror movies like the Vault of Terror or Tales from the Crypt or in modern times such as the Tales from the Crypt TV series or this weeks TV series... American Horror Story

For those who don’t know American Horror Story is currently one of the best horror shows that’s presently going with a strong fan-base due to the writing, characters and plots per season. It’s also one of few shows that changes location per season such as setting one in an institution for the criminally insane towards a cursed hotel.

The show is created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk who some of you may remember for creating Glee, Nip/Tuck and Scream Queens, and released from 5th October in 2011 on FX but escalated to 10 seasons with the ongoing 8th season Apocalypse which I’ve yet to see.

As said before the show is known for switching different locations as the series progress but it also changes time zones as well such as Asylum (being my favourite season which I will get to shortly) is set in the 60’s or Freakshow being set in the 50’s or the recent series from Murder House and Coven being set in the present day which also benefits the story per season.

Now for something that is known for the series is the actors that the series presents such as Evan Peters from X-men fame for portraying Quicksilver in the Fox series (which technically should be the MCU’s version as Disney has legally bought FOX studios. Sarah Paulson (The People v. O.J.Simpson: American Crime Story) and Lily Rabe (Miss Stevens) who are regulars to the series as they star in pretty much every season.

Though other cast members have been in the series such as Connie Britton, Dylan McDermott, Taissa Farmiga, Denis O’Hare, Zachary Quinto, Frances Conroy, Emma Roberts and Finn Wittrock though some of those I’ve mentioned have been in several series of the show but apart from 3 leading actresses who I think personally stole the show when it came to the series, Jessica Lange who stars as the leading villainess in the first 4 seasons, Kathy Bates who stars from season 3-6 as characters of support and finally Angela Bassett who is more of a powerful character depending on the season.

For this review I’ll be focusing on the first 2 seasons of the show starting with Murder House, a season based on a family moving to L.A from Boston after an affair was caught out which leads them to living in a mansion which dark secrets, which also deals with infidelity, depression family and school violence, which I’ll attempt to ignore that factor the best I can, as well as sexuality of both genders.

After that it will be Asylum, again one of my favourite seasons of the show, which is set in 1964 based in a mental institution for the criminally insane in Massachusetts following an mechanic accused of being a murderer being sent into the asylum along with a journalist being sent there due to her sexuality which mixes along with demonic possession, extraterrestrial abduction and supernatural/scientific influences among patients. The season is obviously based on insanity ut it holds more themes towards Religion against science, racism, faith and corruption.

Before I start, I’m only going to be stating my personal opinions on each season which some of you may not agree with but before you grab your pitchforks, this is only opinion based and for this moment I am only going to go against the characters and not the actors.

 Murder House or known as the first season to several fans is in my opinion is one of the weaker seasons and I’ll give my reasons shortly, the season is based on the Harmon family who left Boston due to the wife Vivien catching her husband Dr Ben Harmon having an affair with one his students following a miscarriage.  This does lead to some creative ideas towards the family when they move to L.A. they attempt to do what they can to survive a marriage as well as saving a family especially when it comes towards their daughter Violet who gets into trouble at her new school.

The other characters are quite unique in their own way such as Constance Langdon, their next door neighbour who has some secrets to hide of her own, her daughter Adelaide and her dead son Tate who has a darker secret which lead to a major reveal on his own character differently as the show progresses, and not forgetting Larry Harvey or known as the Burned Man, a former owner of the House the Harmon’s currently resides in.

I like the characters of Vivien and Ben as they are in desperate need of rejoining their marriage from separation, especially when it comes down to affairs, though it is hard to discuss when it is literally taken and written in a realistic tone, I’ve to admit, these characters are my favourite throughout the season.

Violet however is something different, from when she appeared, I knew for a fact that she was going to be a downer towards the end of the season, granted they attempted to make her a key character as she does reflect the events between her parents’ marriage but christ her annoyance gets out of hand very quickly, but there was a twist that some saw coming though I saw different which I will reveal shortly.

Tate Langdon.... I may get this character over and done with, from the moment I saw this character, I knew for a fact that he was going to be trouble, especially when it came to the history of the house as well as an impact towards the family and I mean a BIG impact... You see this season going into different time segments, such as one set in 1922, one in 1965 and one in 1994, Tate is portrayed as a teenager but one thing that I was surprised at was that he committed a massacre at a local school in the show which came back to bite him badly.

He does show interest in several actions as he’s misunderstood, sociopathic and mainly has psychological problems such as outbursts leading to shooting up a school as well as burning Larry which I will get to shortly, I admire the way they came to this character but due to the crimes that the characters has done has seemed to close to home especially what’s going on in America at the current moment, for my American brothers who are reading this, I am sorry for your losses and my prayers who have fallen.

Larry who used to live in the house has a different action towards the Harmons especially towards Ben who is informed that the house has major problems very quickly before things get worse, he did live in the house as they reside in but tragedy does emerge as his burns are explained, you see the House does have the ability to revive those who died their making them ghosts who can’t leave the house, I’ll get to that in a moment.

Larry was once married to Constance shortly after living in the house to Tate’s disapproval which leads him to kill one of Constance’s children to her request against child services, which leads to Tate to snap and go on a rampage leading to burn his step-father alive as well as to go on a massacre.

Constance, who you may think is a nice lady next door but she’s far from bloody nice, at the beginning of the series, she’s seen as a thief, a liar, a monster but she’s more a motherly figure towards her children, she too has connections to the house as well as personal experiences with the ghosts.

She even knows that her son resides in the house because she used to live there with her family, only to move next door due to the tragedy, she lived there with her ex-husband who she killed along with her maid following a rape-attempt which also ended with the maid getting killed in the process.

The other characters are Adelaide who is Constance’s daughter with learning difficulties who is killed during a hit and run on Halloween, Chad Warwick and his lover Patrick who were killed in the house by Tate, Hayden McClaine, the student that Ben slept with who is emotionally obsessed with. Crazed surgeon, Charles and Nora Montgomery and their son turned monster known as the Infantata. And finally Moira O’Hara played by both Frances Conroy and Alexandra Breckenridge, a maid who was murdered by Constance.

The House itself is interesting to look at as well which is known for the crimes that occurred there from different time periods, leading those who died at the residence will have the ability to reappear as ghosts dressed from that error leading them to haunt the location as it is their final resting place, I will discuss the crimes momentarily but first I would state the house or Mansion at this point is one of the key locations of the series and the most well known as it’s the iconic look of the season, you know trouble is about to happen with it as well as its history.

Crimes have occurred there starting with the 1920s with the Montgomery’s with their son Thaddeus being taken killed and then dismembered leading Charles with grief to mend the son with the best of his abilities making the child into a monster known as the Infantata, an abomination from medical science.

1947 It was the location of a dentist where a young actress was to be seen only to be raped and killed following an anaesthetic overdose leading her to be dismembered and thrown into a field leading her identity to be Elizabeth Short, the infamous Black Dahlia.

1968, it was the sorority house which was known as the resting place of two students Maria and Gladys who were killed by an unknown man leading their souls to be trapped there.

1978, it was an abandoned mansion where two twins Brian and Tory planned on destroying it only for Addie to warn them, leading them to be in the basement and violently killed by the Infantata.

1983: Moira was brutally murdered with Hugo Langdon following a rape attempt gone wrong by Constance.

1994. Following requests from his new wife, Larry kills one of Constance’s children in the attic of the house due to him being deformed and not wanting social services to take him, leading Tate to go on a rampage (overdosed with cocaine/crystal meth) killing over 15 students in Westfield High School, leading for a S.W.A.T. team to invade the house and gun him down in front of Constance.

2010: A couple Chad and Patrick are planning a nice Halloween leading to an argument between them leading for Patrick to leave for the Rubber Man (Tate in disguise) to brutally strangle Chad and stab Patrick when he returns.

2011: The Harmon family moves in following the uncover of an affair the husband was having with a student, leading to the ghosts to appear leading Tate to manipulate the family leading towards the daughter Violet to suicide via overdose, Addie to be involved with a hit-and-run, Vivien to be raped by Tate without consent leading her to be pregnant with twins leading her to die due to complications via birth with one of her twins Joseph and Ben Harper to pass when the Ghosts get revenge on the family for leaving.

The history of the house is vague but you have to watch it in order to understand what is going on with the house, I found this season in particular to be weak though following an interesting idea on how the supernatural can infect the world of reality. The problem with it is the characters that reside in the house alone especially when it comes to the teenage daughter, especially when it comes to surviving a broken marriage along with parents.

Now for Asylum which is set in the year 1964 in the mental institution, Briarcliff Manor, an asylum for the criminally insane which is possibly the strongest season of the show due to storylines between characters as well as the setting itself like in Murder House, the setting is home to a series of dark secrets, mainly towards the doctors who run the facility starting with a long list of characters which I will get into momentarily.

This raises a few good ideas towards faith and religion going against science and nature which is a good idea if I’m entirely honest but this also raises a few problems when it comes to questioning our morals in faith and religion. There is also a twist as there is a serial killer known as Bloody Face, a murderer who preys on women with skill that leaves no evidence untouched. Let’s begin with the characters.

Lana Winters played by Sarah Paulson is a journalist who seen closer to home when she is locked in the facility following blackmail against her female lover who is against lead antagonist, I have high respect for this woman to survive the ordeal especially when it came to going through literal hell when it she’s forced against her own sexuality.

Kit Walker played by Evan Peters is thrown into Briarcliff following accusations of being Bloody Face after the disappearance of his wife Alma in attempt to keep their interracial marriage secret, only for her to be abducted. In Briarcliff he is blackmailed by another leading character as well as beaten by both guards and inmates for his ‘crimes’ but he does get his comeuppance at the end.

Grace Bertrand played by Lizzie Brochere is a French immigrant who was thrown in Briarcliff for murdering her family but is a major character in supporting Kit due to believing that he’s not the murderer but he thinks over wise when it comes to her case as she is known as a manipulator in the Asylum.

Sister Jude Martin played by Jessica Lange is known as the major fist of Briarcliff bringing a powerful authority figure towards the inmates leading the guards of Briarcliff with her orders, she also has a hidden past containing a hit-and-run following a drunken encounter with a small girl (fortunately she survived), she is known as wrecking ball in her own way when it comes towards her power of Briarcliff.

Dr Arthur Arden AKA Nazi war criminal Hans Gruper is played by James Cromwell is the chief physician in Briarcliff who has a strong history of violence towards women, including a character I will get to next week when I continue the series at hand. Arden is known to torture his patients even performing sadistic experiments on patients with no family to mutilated patients that surround the woods by the facility.

Sister Mary Eunice McKee plated by Lily Rabe is a young nun who works with Sister Jude closely who favours her naivety as an act of purity, she is one of the interesting characters of the series as it’s seen as she is a sympathising character who becomes more of a monster as the season progresses in the later episodes, she becomes possessed by something deadly when an exorcism attempt is failed.

Monsignor Timothy Howard played by Joseph Fiennes is Sister Jude’s Superior and the object that she infatuates over; though they both run the facility together he is quite aware of Arden’s experiments with the other inmates of Briarcliff. But as a major character of Briarcliff Manor, he’s also one of the strangest characters as he changes his morals before questioning his beliefs first.

Dr Oliver Thredson played by Zachary Quinto is the psychiatrist of Briarcliff hired by Sister Mary Eunice, he’s one of the manipulating characters of this season and possibly the most dangerous characters following his beliefs of the treatment of Briarcliff’s patients though his methods of his occupation are incredible but his methods are over stepped when his identity of Bloody Face is revealed.

The story is pretty obscure to say the least as it is honestly based on insanity alone, mainly because that’s the trick of the season is how it actually works with insanity being the main focus towards the characters on their survival of Briarcliff and how they left with their sanity intact. I highly recommend watching this season because the season is so easily paced between different perspectives in characters especially the villains.

This would be the strongest season by far because it explores religion against our own moral judgement; the writing behind that alone is possibly the best I’ve heard in a long time, especially when it’s from a horror based TV-series. The character development is interesting to look at but it raises a major question against the setting, especially towards their survival in a hostile location. If I’m honest this is possibly my favourite season of the show by far and I’ve yet to see Roanoke and Cult.

As I said before this is part 1 of 5 reviews that I’ll be going over this Halloween, starting with the first 2 seasons of American Horror Story and the next 2 which will be Coven and Freakshow, and after that on the third week I’ll be going over something special for you guys so hopefully you guys will enjoy; aside from that, I hope you guys have a nice Halloween and enjoy the holiday.

[riddlez213]

As I write this it is the end of summer and while I have had a little break and have had some fun I knew my coming back was inevitable because while I love what I do on this blog and what I do outside of it with the same skill set I thought it would be a great idea to do something different. I’m going to find out the backstory of Heath Ledger’s Joker. I am a huge comicbook fan and I love Batman for not only his amazing detective skills not put forth in many works but also his rogues gallery and every character’s amazing psyche. And then there is the best comicbook movie of all time “The Dark Knight” and it goes astray from the source material with a perfect and in some way better interpretation of the Joker played by Heath Ledger. But as the original Joker is this one also has a lack of backstory even more so that the original and for the 10 years after its release people have theorized and theorized without much skill into case work and they’ve gotten pretty far but today I put forth my theory or theories depending on how you look at it and with actual evidence that is solid and a little bit of assumption but not nearly as much as some theories on this go. In the movie he kills 28 to 35 people so definitely on the mass murder scale but also displays signs of something far sinister with his preference of knives making him seem more like a serial killer. His ratio of actual intelligence and social manipulativeness and also other display signs of antisocial personality disorder puts him on the definite psychopath side but some aspects such as sexual promiscuity and superficial charm are not present and also his teenage and marriage history isn’t known but I would assume that he would have had trouble as a teenager especially if he was indeed abused in his childhood. so this doesn’t actually put him at the top of the psychopath spectrum but it is worse because he doesn’t care about anyone from his nihilist point of view including himself. He sees himself as a vessel that chaos can come from or be a part of. This means he doesn’t care about hygiene or his looks in the traditional sense. He very much does care about his looks but he doesn’t want to be seen as attractive he wants to be seen as crazy or a freak because he doesn’t believe himself to be and wants to show people how they are the same as him but also in doing that they would realize they are extremely crazy just like him. So technically speaking he isn’t completely psychopathic just like he tries to make sure he is undiagnosable to not only show that every system is a list of flaws but also that he is unpredictable and represents uncertainty. Many comic book characters follow a similar path such as the punisher, batman, and I’m sure many others. Regardless he would definitely be leveled as legally insane but possibly not in our world but I’ll get to that in a moment. Legally insane means that you were not aware of your actions in the event of a crime and is a very slim amount of courthouse cases that it is even discussed in. Especially since on the outside it is hard to not identify him as crazy but instead is extremely intelligent and an amazing specimen of research if it is even possible. In the DC universe these terms seem to be tossed around more and it is probably because there are a lot more criminals out there than in this world and also that they have more faith in their treatment because of Arkham Asylum’s large amount of support financially and in terms of workers. In this world he is obviously not insane because although he is aware of his actions he doesn’t really know right from wrong because of his hatred for all people but in a way he does still know right and wrong and this is obviously not a case of him not aware of his own actions because he isn’t say a schizophrenic. From how “The Dark Knight Rises” was suppose to go before the death of Heath Ledger the Joker was definitely going to bust out of Arkham and face batman again and even if he was put in a mental hospital the first time around in this world the second time he wouldn’t be so lucky because if they keep putting him in an asylum and he keeps breaking out we would just execute his ass and batman wouldn’t even have to worry about breaking his one rule. This would especially be showing how intelligent he is in order to escape and he could possibly escape from Blackgate prison or one of our real world prisons I don’t know. Another aspect I think might be apparent in this joker is his “hypersanity” which in the comics is joker’s ability to realize he’s in a comicbook which could be true. He could realize he’s in a movie or comicbook as well because if there are infinite parallel universes like theoretical physics suggests then there is a parallel universe where he is in a comicbook or a movie and this is the one where he is in a movie. In fact there is a universe where you are in a comicbook or where we are all in a comicbook and to him it makes everything a joke and if we all thought like that all the time we would be in the same purple shoes he is. Alright enough on the criminal profile I think it’s time for some actual possible origins. The first thing I looked at were the scars. They are hypertrophic scars and his scars are actually called a glasgow smile that was actually in the Black Dahlia case and a few other famous ones. It is usually followed with a stabbing or kick to the stomach so when the victim screams they rip the “smile” open so if we saw him shirtless and saw that it would be a definite 99% proof he did not do this to himself. but instead I will have to go with 98%. Here are pictures of the scars

The red circles indicate the tearing of the actual cuts themselves. The black is just a cut below the mouth that seems accidental. And overall both sides of the smile are not even. This seems to have been done by a different person or people because if he did this himself he would have obviously used a mirror and wouldn’t make these mistakes if he would have taken his time. These type of scars take 3 years to heal. This means he had at least 3 years before he went to go create chaos in Gotham. We know that the Joker had only been active from the end of batman begins into the dark knight because at the end of batman begins Gordon shows Batman a Joker card explaining who he is briefly. So this means he had his scars before he even considered himself the Joker. As Gordon shows Batman the card he explains how Batman could make way for villains with a taste for the theatrical like him which is a perfect segue into saying that Joker probably saw what scarecrow and Batman did in Batman Begins and in seeing there are other “freaks” out there became one himself and it is deeply embedded in the comics that there can be no batman without joker and vice versa. But how does Batman use all his detective skills (although most of the tech he used was incorrect in terms of forensics) and still not be able to identify the Joker? Well everything about him had been deleted without a trace. But how does someone achieve this in the real world? Well in a missing persons case or some other crime someone is obviously missing and after 7 to 8 years they are considered legally dead but even if you are legally dead you were still once a person and therefore still have records. The most likely of something like this to happen would come from the government or even the military because they are the system and they do it all the time. That brings me to the theory itself. I believe that the Joker was indeed a soldier overseas but instead was tortured by his fellow soldiers for probably doing something they didn’t agree with probably brought about through something he did morally whether it be not allowing something illegal to happen or killing an innocent person on purpose. either way he is tortured and given his scars and left for dead and erased from ever existing. He survives and makes his way back to society whether he ran from home to Gotham or lived there originally. He then becomes homeless living on the streets until discovering someone he relates to: Batman. He then finds his way through the ranks of the criminal underworld messing with the rest of the mob and eventually making the bank heist we see in the beginning of The Dark Knight. This is why in the beginning of the movie we see all the crime bosses discuss who stole their money and Salvatore Maroni states “Stupid whack job, wears a cheap purple suit and makeup. He’s not the problem.” And we even see this cheap purple suit in the beginning where the threading is even coming undone because of its age in the bank heist. You can even tell how different the makeup looks when he is in the bank heist to when he is talking to the crime bosses with his famous pencil trick. Also in the interrogation scene he states “what would I do without you go back to ripping off mob dealers?” implying that he had done it multiple times in the past. This even explains why he says to two face he only did everything with some gas and a couple of bullets because in his mind that’s what it felt like to him and it persuades the audience and two face because overall it didn’t seem like a lot of actual traditional power even though we see a rocket launcher and 28 to 35 dead. This would add even more to the idea he suffers PTSD making it extremely possible he doesn’t even remember where he came from like he is in the comics. And PTSD can effects the hippocampus creating short term and long term memory loss. He even states he is like a dog chasing cars and that he wouldn’t know what to do if he caught one. But something else that I found very interesting is that he definitely knows who Batman is because also in the interrogation scene he says to Batman “You know for a while there I thought you really were Dent. The way you threw yourself after her.” and “Does Harvey know about you and his little…” and finally “choose between one wife or the other. Your friend district attorney or his blushing bride to be.” The reason he knows torture methods is probably because he did it while he was in war because he tells batman not to start with the head when batman bangs his head against the table. In fact him wanting to be a clown or freak possibly comes from how he may have been viewed in war with his fellow soldiers. He could have even been, in a way, similar to or the same as the comedian in The Watchmen comics since they both share the same ideology. This means since his second explanation of his scars was false then the other one is probably false too. But he still mentions how he hated his father when even not talking about his scars and it seems likely a psychopath like him came from that kind of background because most psychopaths come from that. When he states that even when a truck load of soldiers is blown up it’s all part of the plan that is probably because he witnessed it happen but he would have looked a lot different if that happened to him. In the dark knight manual it states the GCPD think he could have been an Arkham escapee and a victim or Dr. Krane (Scarecrow). This is possible but I don’t think Joker is very afraid of everything and Arkham wouldn’t really have the ability to erase records from existence and in fact they would probably have copies of all of it. So what do you think? Do I seem correct or just as crazy as Joker himself? What would you like me to investigate next? I say this was definitely a fun thing to work on.

  -Riddlez

File 19: The Joker Files As I write this it is the end of summer and while I have had a little break and have had some fun I knew my coming back was inevitable because while I love what I do on this blog and what I do outside of it with the same skill set I thought it would be a great idea to do something different.

[maxwellyjordan]

Thursday round-up

Court-watchers did not take a holiday yesterday from the Supreme Court nomination drama. For the Associated Press, Catherine Lucey and others report that President Donald Trump has now spoken with seven candidates for Justice Anthony Kennedy’s soon-to-be-vacant seat and that “Vice President Mike Pence has met with some of the contenders” as well. For The Wall Street Journal, Peter Nicholas and Louise Radnofsky report that “[f]ollowing a brisk round of interviews Monday and Tuesday, the three front-runners at this late stage in the president’s search are all U.S. appeals court judges: Brett Kavanaugh of Maryland, of the D.C. Circuit; Raymond Kethledge of Michigan, of the Sixth Circuit; and Amy Coney Barrett of Indiana, of the Seventh Circuit.” For The Hill, Brett Samuels reports that Trump “on Tuesday night promised a ‘home run’ pick for his Supreme Court nominee after continuing interviews with potential candidates earlier in the day.” At Balkinization, Mark Tushnet questions the value of the presidential interview to the selection process.

The Center for Public Integrity tracks financial-disclosure forms for the nominee’s on the president’s list. At Empirical SCOTUS, Adam Feldman offers relevant statistics about five front-runners. At Keen News Service, Lisa Keen looks at where the five “stand on LGBT-related concerns.” At the Yale Journal on Regulation’s Notice & Comment blog, Chris Walker collects “thoughtful blog posts” analyzing the top five’s views on administrative-law. The magic number is six at The Daily Signal, where Elizabeth Slattery and John Malcolm highlight a sextet of top candidates, who “all would be great additions to the Supreme Court.”

In an op-ed at RealClear Politics, Scott Jennings declares Judge Amul Thapar to be “a dream choice” for conservatives. My profile of Thapar for this blog is here.

Fantasy Scotus gives the edge to Judge Amy Barrett. Amy Howe profiles Barrett for this blog. At Balkinization, Mark Tushnet considers the article about judging by Catholics that was so controversial at Barrett’s confirmation hearings. At Slate, Ruth Graham looks at People of Praise, the religious group to which Barrett belongs. In an op-ed for The Washington Post, Ruth Marcus argues that out of all the prospective candidates, Barrett is “the one who seems most inclined to undo Kennedy’s work and overturn Roe as completely and quickly as possible.”

For The Washington Post, Robert Costa and Josh Dawsey report that “[a]n intensifying debate over Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, a front-runner in President Trump’s search for a Supreme Court nominee, gripped Republicans on Tuesday, with conservative critics highlighting past rulings and his links to GOP leaders while his allies — including inside the White House — forcefully defended him.” At the Election Law Blog, Rick Hasen suggests that “a Justice Kavanaugh could well vote with a new SCOTUS majority to hold that laws effectively limiting foreign influence in our elections violate the First Amendment.” For The New York Times, Adam Liptak remarks that “the stark contrast” between Kavanaugh and Barrett “reflects the division on the right between the conservative legal establishment, which is hostile to government regulation and the administrative state, and social conservatives, who are focused on issues like abortion and religious freedom.”

For The Washington Post, Michael Scherer reports that “[l]iberal political strategists hope to block President Trump’s next Supreme Court nominee” by focusing on two Republican senators, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. For Politico, Elana Schor reports that “[g]rass-roots groups on the left are planning a massive mobilization next week against President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee — pressing senators to oppose the pick as soon as it’s announced.” At The Nation, John Nichols identifies a “calculus for blocking Trump’s Court pick.” At The Hill, Lydia Wheeler reports that “[s]tare decisis, the Latin term that means courts should ‘stand by things decided,’ has jumped to the forefront of the Senate debate over President Trump’s next pick to the Supreme Court.” At CNN, Joan Biskupic identifies two other themes that have already emerged in the confirmation process “[e]ven without a choice yet from President Donald Trump”: “Russia and Roe.” But in an op-ed for The Hill, Jonathan Turley pushes back against the suggestion that the Russia investigation is relevant, maintaining that “[w]hoever Trump’s nominee may be, it is the nominee, not the nominating president, who should be the focus of a confirmation vote.”

At Slate, Hasen assesses the effect of replacing Kennedy on voting-rights cases, predicting that “issues from voting rights to campaign finance [will] get far worse.” Also at Slate, Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern write that “[p]rogressives worried about losing Supreme Court protections for voting rights, reproductive rights, LGBTQ equality, affirmative action, and a whole lot more are now turning hopeful eyes to Susan Collins,” but they consider any faith in her misplaced. And in an op-ed for The New York Times, Linda Greenhouse asks, “If hostility to the Supreme Court’s 1973 precedent is a deal-breaker for Ms. Collins, how will she learn what the nominee really thinks? How will we the people know?”

At the Brennan Center for Justice, John Kowal observes that “replacing a very conservative justice with an even more conservative one won’t change the outcome in most cases.” But for The New York Times, Liam Stack and Elizabeth Dias report that, although much reaction to the Kennedy retirement has focused on the future of Roe v. Wade, “[t]he prospect of a more conservative justice, though, has L.G.B.T. rights groups worried about legal challenges from conservative groups that oppose gay marriage, who may see an opportunity to challenge rulings that have established its legality.”

At FiveThirtyEight, Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux looks at Kennedy’s jurisprudence, concluding that his “sweeping rhetoric on gay rights, combined with a handful of key votes with the liberals in controversial cases, overshadows his track record of conservative rulings on a wide range of other questions.” At Slate, Mark Joseph Stern maintains that “[p]rogressives who are surprised by Kennedy’s retirement bought into the myth that the justice, who occasionally swung left on key controversies like abortion and gay rights, was a moderate who dabbled in liberalism,” but that “[p]ut simply, Kennedy retired under Trump because he’s happy to leave his legacy in Trump’s hands.”

In an op-ed for The Orange County Register, Elizabeth Slattery argues that in  National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra, in which the court held that California’s Reproductive FACT Act, which requires crisis pregnancy centers to make disclosures, including about the availability of abortions, likely violates the First Amendment, “the court made clear that so-called ‘professional’ speech is simply that – speech – and it must be accorded the same level of respect granted to other protected activities.” At ThinkProgress, Zack Ford maintains that conservatives hope NIFLA “will be their key to overturning the laws in 13 states banning conversion therapy for minors.” Additional commentary on NIFLA comes from Jay Hobbs at CNS News.

Briefly:

In an episode of Bloomberg Law’s Cases and Controversies podcast, Kimberly Robinson and Jordan Rubin “discuss this term’s divisive nature, and what’s likely to come next.”

At Medium, Nick Lum points out that the South Dakota attorney general, who represented the state in South Dakota v. Wayfair, which cleared the way for states to tax internet purchases, admitted in an interview that he “has not been following the existing law by paying tax on his internet purchases.” [Disclosure: Goldstein & Russell, P.C., whose attorneys contribute to this blog in various capacities, is among the counsel to the petitioner in this case.]

Commentary on Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, in which the court ruled in favor of a baker who refused on religious grounds to make a cake for a same-sex wedding, comes from Jeremy Tedesco at Colorado Politics.

In an op-ed for The Gospel Coalition, Barronelle Stutzman, a florist who declined on religious grounds to design flowers for a same-sex wedding, and whose case the Supreme Court sent back for reconsideration in light of Masterpiece Cakeshop, asserts that “[i]f the government can require us to create art and participate in sacred events, or take all we own and destroy us for declining to submit to its demands, then we aren’t really free.”

At ThinkProgress, Ian Millhiser is less than thrilled to find that “Justice Clarence Thomas is the most important legal thinker of his generation, and the most significant judicial appointment of the last forty years.”

In an op-ed for The Washington Post, Katrina vanden Heuvel argues that Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31, in which the court held that an Illinois law allowing public-sector unions to charge nonmembers for collective-bargaining activities violates the First Amendment, is “part of a multifaceted, unrelenting assault on unions to weaken a central pillar of progressive reform.” [Disclosure: Goldstein & Russell, P.C., whose attorneys contribute to this blog in various capacities, is among the counsel on an amicus brief in support of the respondents in this case.]

At The George Washington Law Review’s On the Docket blog, Richard Pierce discusses the implications of Lucia v. Securities and Exchange Commission, in which the court held that SEC administrative law judges are ‘officers of the United States’ within the meaning of the appointments clause, who have to be appointed by the president, a court or a department head.

We rely on our readers to send us links for our round-up.  If you have or know of a recent (published in the last two or three days) article, post, podcast, or op-ed relating to the Supreme Court that you’d like us to consider for inclusion in the round-up, please send it to roundup [at] scotusblog.com. Thank you!

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