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[surpriseroundtellyourfriends]

Any thoughts on Esmat and J-Ryth?

I don't believe I've seen whatever show they're from, sorry!

[surpriseroundtellyourfriends]

fic for @endy-x (valorpunk/RSR crossover, spoilers for both shows)

[surpriseroundtellyourfriends]

Your fic about Isabella and Cadmus is consuming my thoughts

The way Isabella ended up there is really good- combining lax immigration policy with her already being in a space between dimensions, and when she’s supposed to go to her dimension i don’t know i just LOVE IT

Cadmus and Isabella solidarity on being fucking OUTED

Isabella taking no that memory means Cadmus no longer has Peter saying good luck, he doesn’t have that last time they talked to each other (if im interpreting it right)

The idea that Isabella’s friends turned into those zombies? HORRIFYING, thank you

KILL VICE MCCAIN!!!

Love that you’re showcasing Isabella’s strength, in her intelligence. Cadmus needed help, and she can. Even if she’s “hustling a girl in a wheelchair”, she can figure out the maze and get him out

Love the description of Cadmus’ determined face. Wonderful imagery, and I love that Isabella thinks of her friends

thank you 🥺🥺🥺 nobody was saying anything so I figured people just didn't like the fic

[surpriseroundtellyourfriends]

send me a single word + the name of an SR show and I'll write an EAM-style prompt about it! (e.x. "Beach + RSR")

shows I'll write for: RSR, VA, VP, EWW, BH, Windrose

[surpriseroundtellyourfriends]

nice

[surpriseroundtellyourfriends]

I’d love to hear more about your thoughts on Solomon

oops. this turned into a long-ass essay about racism, financial morality, and child programming, so I'll put it under a readmore. click at your own peril.

oughhh ughhhhh thinks about Solomon and gets ill.

I've given my Ben 10 racism speech before so bear with me if you know me and you've heard this before. (if you haven't: yes, you read that right, my Ben 10 racism speech.) listen listen listen. okay, so.

as someone who was raised as a conservative, homophobic, capitalist christian who fully held onto those beliefs and acted on them for a long time: it means the WORLD to me when I see an objectively terrible, morally awful person portrayed in a sympathetic light.

and it makes me want to KILL A MAN when I see a "sympathetic racist" (or capitalist, or homophobic, etc.) and the reasons they're supposed to be sympathetic are so laughably stupid that it ends up encouraging the idea that all bad people are intrinsically bad and cannot be redeemed.

the most common bad "sympathetic racist" character I see is "their family member was killed by a member of the group they despise. therefore, they hate that whole group."

that is NOT how ANY form of discrimination—including financial discrimination—works. I don't have a fear or hatred of long-haired boys because my stalker ex who tormented me for years was a brown-haired boy. even children can grasp that one trait of a person does not necessarily correlate to their other traits.

discrimination—for the vast majority of cases—happens due to child indoctrination. when an impressionable child is told, over and over again, that a certain group is inherently "bad" or "flawed," and told to exercise caution or hatred towards that group, a precedent is set. that child will likely be sheltered from good interactions with the targeted group, and therefore, any experiences they have of that group will be negative.

growing up, they will rub elbows with the targeted group a bit more, but they will already have a strong belief that has been "confirmed" by their tailored experiences. if they have any good experiences, they will cherry-pick information and repackage any positive feelings as "an exception" or the targeted group "deceiving" them, or even "having some good qualities but being bad/flawed at the core." they may avoid any future experiences with the group to avoid cognitive dissonance—effectively sheltering themselves like their parents sheltered them.

the reason I call this my Ben 10 Racism Speech is because Ben 10 is the first show where I ever saw a good depiction of a sympathetic racist character. we meet this one alien is a eugenicist, whose race believes they are the ultimate lifeform and that all other species are inferior. obviously, he's an antagonist. but Ben tries to befriend and help him, over and over, even when he refuses help. finally, when the alien loses an arm, Ben uses his powers to implant a new one on him. the alien assists Ben in getting back home—but refuses to go home himself, as he believes he is now "contaminated" (having DNA from another species inside of him) and is unfit to go back to his planet.

he literally tries to stay in a desert where he will die because he is so conditioned to think of his race as superior, that he is not immune to the racism. when a helpful medical procedure changes his own DNA, he thinks himself a lowly, disgusting creature fit only for death.

what does this have to do with Solomon?

well, Solomon certainly isn't a self-hating racist. (that would be Michelle.) but he IS—inarguably and unequivocally—a prime example of a monster who was raised to be a monster.

Solomon was literally raised by, and around, demons in hell. he was taught that mortals, especially the poor, were only designed to serve greater beings such as himself. in fact, the whole reason his family moved out from hell was because they were at the bottom of the social ladder there, but the top of the ladder on earth. he was taught that this was just the way things worked. he was trained by his father to one day kill his father, and consume his ashes, and that one day he would lay an egg and do the same.

he was taught these things as a baby. he has been raised his whole 17 years of life without contact to humankind. in fact, it's kind of astounding just how friendly he is on his first day of Valor Academy, even if he DOES see everyone else as "lesser than" him. he seems very strongly to desire a friendship and companionship that hasn't been provided for him at home, but he doesn't exactly recognize that friendship and companionship—the things he wants—necessitate equality.

but then he meets Benji. Benji, who—as far as he knew at the time—was an orphaned pauper boy with nothing to his name. quite literally at the bottom of the social ladder. but Solomon likes Benji. he's witty, he's funny, he knows a lot about the world. Solomon likes being around him. and Benji starts working to reform him. forcing him to volunteer at a soup kitchen. taking him out of that sheltered state and making him actually meet other humans, mortals, poor people.

and then.

then he meets Vika.

and Vika is a character I could do a whole other analysis on, but by god is she a bad combination with Solomon. because on one hand, she tells Solomon just how wrong he is, she's loud and brash and not afraid to state things as they are without coddling him.

but on the other, she refuses to take off her rose-tinted glasses about the slave colony she grew up in. she frequently refers to it as the best time of her life, as a perfect society, as something to be emulated. because she, too, was indoctrinated into a lie, and told that Donovan King Jr was their savior. and even if she no longer defends HIM, she still defends the slave colony.

and when she repeats that rhetoric, it re-activates Solomon's programming.

someone who didn't grow up with rigid doctrine, especially for such a length as 17 years, can probably never hope to understand how hard it is to break out. pathways in the brain are physically etched to rearrange morals, indecipherable from what might be "common sense" to someone else. and like the Winter Soldier, sometimes just one key phrase or story can set someone back years by triggering old programming associated with feelings of piousness or guilt.

Solomon was raised to be the worst kind of person on earth. and he wants to be better.

but god, is it going to be a struggle to get there.

[surpriseroundtellyourfriends]

RSR ACE ATTORNEY AU

Who died? Who’s the killer? Etc etc

Personally I think Vice as prosecution and Cadmus as defense attorney would be super silly

Victims:

Marco (Not actually dead)

The Zombies

Double Diamond (Hutch's rival we never met)

Haymaker (a defendant who gets killed in a later case for drama)

Killers:

Vice

Soccer Moses

Leianne (accidental)

Carmen

Bishop (Ridley and Orthus complicit)

Defendants:

Daniel Smith (tutorial defendant)

Cadmus (frequently recurring)

Isabelle (also frequently recurring)

Haymaker

Nix (framed by Carmen, has cool unmasking scene)

Defense Attorney:

Florence

Assistants:

Ian (sucks)

Tennis (rocks)

Roxy (gets kidnapped and used against you)

Prosecutors:

Mammoth/Copperhead (the equivalent of the Paynes)

Hutch (at one point a suspect)

Vice (also a killer)

Judge:

Craigor (frequently throws out random, wild anecdotes, which sometimes contain information or fun facts that end up being crucial to the case later on)

Everyone not mentioned is a witness or side-character to add suspects and color to the cases. Gauge in particular swaps around between roles, sometimes acting as your enemy and sometimes on your side, and always in disguise.

[surpriseroundtellyourfriends]

parents are getting unbearable. for the love of god, ask me questions and distract me

[surpriseroundtellyourfriends]

1) I love this blog, I love seeing your ideas and takes and rambling about shit is my favorite way to indulge the brainrot

2) I’d love to hear more about your thoughts on Cadmus and Florence. I haven’t thought about them that much but now that I am, I definitely see the vision

3) I might spam your ask box, sorry not sorry

YES! DO NOT APOLOGIZE!!! it is literally my favorite thing in the whole wide world to ramble about my Visions (TM) and giving me prompts just enables that brainrot

Cadmus and Florence friendship propaganda

In episode one, it's stated that while the rest of the group doesn't typically work closely together, Cadmus and Florence have worked together in the past.

Carol: Do things usually go sideways for you? Florence: Well usually I'm not working with this particular group of individuals altogether at once, so... Cadmus: NORMALLY there's just two of us. And not those two. (gestures to Ian and Isabelle)

There are a hundred small moments that imply how familiar they are with each other's quirks and patterns.

Florence: How many times I gotta tell you you'll catch a cold like that, honey? Cadmus: If you find anything that fits me, I'm willing to listen.

Cadmus: You're not doing that Noir thing again, are you? Florence: Don't just call it 'that Noir thing,' it's part of how I think!

"Cadmus is scrunched up really tight in the front seat to make sure that Florence has enough leg room." "She notes how considerate you are! And—doesn't say it out loud, but..."

(During the wrestling arc) "You ready?" (Florence and Cadmus IN UNISON:) "As we'll ever be."

Fun fact! 100% of the time Florence has used Unguarded Moment (her "inner monologue about a teammate to give them a buff" ability), she's used it on Cadmus. Literally every single time.

Both of them are so protective and have tried to push other party members behind themselves (including each other) at least one time. The mental image of them wrestling to take a hit is like that one comic of the guys diving in front of the gun.

Big dog and small dog energy. Please never forget that Cadmus tried to hide behind Florence from Zelda in E2 but it didn't work because she's HALF HIS SIZE and he's a GIANT.

After Vice outs Cadmus's epithet just before their fight, Florence is the one who figures out Vice's epithet to get a bit of revenge.

During the murder dungeon, Florence and Cadmus flank Isabelle with torches to keep her safe. Everyone knows by now that Cadmus is Isabelle's work-dad but Florence is just as much her work-mom-older-sister-cousin who wipes her face off with a napkin and steps on Ian's foot when he's mean to her.

Aroace 🤝 Bi solidarity (the aroace is canon, the bi is headcanon unless Roob ever stated Florence's orientation and I didn't notice)

TL;DR they are both so fucking good and have both gone through hell and back (we see it with Cadmus, but it's heavily implied Florence has had her own share of misadventures) and they NEED to TALK ABOUT THEIR FEELINGS or I'm going to blow up a house

[surpriseroundtellyourfriends]

excited to watch the new VP but I know I have to wait til after I'm done with RSR things bc I will inevitably be instantly yanked back into the VP hole

[surpriseroundtellyourfriends]

This is a bit of a random duo, but I’ve been thinking about them.

Naven and Isabella. Specifically how their powers would react to one another.

I think Naven and Isabelle touching would cause them both to explode on the spot, lmao

---

Naven, carrying the memories of thousands: wait you said your power doesn't just copy memories, but steals them?

Isabella, suddenly carrying the memories of thousands: UHHHHHHHH

[surpriseroundtellyourfriends]

someone submitted an ask that was like "how would Naven and Isabella interact?" and I misread it as "Naven and Isabelle" and my brain went WILD

so before I answer the actual ask: Naven and Isabelle interaction

You know that scene in PoP where Naven cries and holds Molly and says he knows how much pain she's going through (because he does), and there's that underlying implication of "haha lol Naven is angry because he's blaming Lori's epithet for this situation, and it's fueling his goal to wipe all epithets out?"

You know that scene in RSR where Isabelle says "it's bullshit to try to screw with reality itself and change someone's epithet as if it's a health problem rather than a mental problem which can be treated with therapy and accommodated for with humanitarian groups?"

What I'm saying is, Isabelle would singlehandedly kick Naven's twink ass into the sun and fucking demolish his propaganda in one fell swoop

[surpriseroundtellyourfriends]

Not to harp on this point but "My eyes are green. I'm knock-kneed and pigeon-toed. I have a dairy allergy. I like crab." as a follow-up to Isabelle's speech about epithets is like, so fuckin good. Huge Mob Psycho 100 energy of "Your power doesn't define you; it's just one aspect of who you are, same as everything else about you."

[surpriseroundtellyourfriends]

for legal reasons, this is a joke

[surpriseroundtellyourfriends]

What's the best gag in RSR

Unfortunately, as many peak gags as there are, I don't think anything can top the classic of "Craigor. What is your dick size?"

[surpriseroundtellyourfriends]

[surpriseroundtellyourfriends]

rolling girl isabelle post tweet