#THIS IS SUCH A FASCINATING ACCIDENTAL PLOTLINE

[lionheartedmusings]

i love how our opinion about the whole bad tubbo ron fred escapade is so different yet so close in many ways lmao

LISTEN THE THING IS RIGHT that it's really easy to understand the other person's perspective when you're following either q!bad or q!tubbo because at the end of the day, they're kind of doing things for the same reason: a) to help someone they love, and b) because their intentions are good. the execution? totally different.

q!tubbo is a character that i sympathize with more than actively like, mostly because he frustrates me a bit, but who very clearly has good intentions. while i think his primary motivator is fred and the fact that the workers have feelings (and in the same line ron's safety) is secondary, he's trying to help a friend. he doesn't want anyone to get hurt, and that's a very honourable reason of doing things. i also think that his relationship with fred is interesting because to an extent i wonder if it's a direct response to the loss of the eggs - a new friend he hoped to learn about and have company from, with the eggs not being able to do so.

now, i firmly think that q!tubbo's problem is that he thinks he's smarter than everyone else and that's bound to be his downfall in all of this, because the way he underestimates everyone and almost patronises them (not to their face, but i found his reactions to q!bad while they were both with q!bagi were both fascinating and left me thinking "oh boy, you've got a big storm coming") is all fun and good... but he isn't the smartest person in the room, and he definitely isn't the most calculated.

something something, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

and then you have q!bad who is playing some wild 8d chess that we can only half analyse because at the end of the day we only have half of the picture, but who ultimately is doing everything he's doing to save his children, to get them back safe and sound. you can argue kidnapping is a bit overboard, but his intentions? good. he's doing this to save the people he loves unapologetically, and given everything that's happened over the six months he's been on the island i'm not surprised he went this far.

he also has recognised ron not only as a friend, but as family at this point and thus ron is now higher on the list of "keep safe" than q!bad himself is - family is everything, and if anything happens to ron this man is gonna go apeshit (now, that's also a whole can of worms but yeno).

it's a matter of morals and priorities vs. how far you're willing to go for the people you love, for both of them.

now, the most fascinating thing for me is how q!bad doesn't underestimate q!tubbo at all, and told pierre point blank that he might be a bigger obstacle than the federation themselves...

q!bad is fully aware of who he's up against, but q! tubbo isn't and that makes me FERAL WHAT IS GONNA HAPPEN AAAAAAH

ps. i do think fred is either not fred anymore, is dead, or has been manipulating q!tubbo from the beginning. i genuinely think something is off there, and it would be such a juicy plotline that i think the admins would love to give tubbo the real true horrors with it.

[aroaceleovaldez]

listen I know everybody makes Orpheus and Eurydice quest aus of Nico bringing Jason back BUT we already did Orpheus and Eurydice in canon like at least three times (Nico bringing Percy to the Styx, Nico bringing back Hazel, and Piper in general is Orpheus as an Argonaut) AND we are missing the much simpler canon-established method.

Remember the whole soul-trade thing Nico was doing in BoTL that got dropped completely? Even though it was like the entire subplot with Minos?

The requirement is a soul that has cheated death for a soul that has died. Now, quickly ignoring the convenient emperors running around who very much cheated death and the entire main conflict in TOA is Apollo trying to get rid of them. There are a ton of escaped souls from the whole Doors of Death/Thanatos getting captured thing. They're just kind of around. A lot of them were in the Giant Army but not all of them and a good number of them are random mortals and they're just. Somewhere.

So that's two loose plot threads: Nico is 100% fully aware of a completely Underworld-Legal method for bringing people back from the dead and there's an absolute ton of random souls-who-cheated-death running around who knows where completely unaddressed. Also, we know from BoO that Nico has changed his stance since BoTL and is now completely down for some murder.

Now, is there a very compelling plot within there about Nico and his sense of Underworld justice/Nico's morals and how he views the situation (insert the "That word ['please'] didn’t make sense to Nico. The Underworld had no mercy. It only had justice." quote from BoO of Nico killing Bryce while he's begging for mercy here.) vs Jason's own sense of justice/morals and the knowledge that Nico 100% actually murdered somebody to bring him back. THAT'S FASCINATING. It's a good conflict for a story and it ties up loose threads! We don't need to invent new mechanics the worldbuilding writes the plot all on it's own.

[lexalovesbooks]

Kihrin going from yelling at thurvishar for describing his parents having sex with each other to him spending an entire chapter relating he and teraeth and janel flirting badly in the middle of the night… my dude your hypocrisy is showing

[nonsensology]

So I've had these Grunkle Stan crackships on my mind for almost a year now. Could be interpreted as platonic, but I think there's great and fascinating potential if interpreted fully romantic. Full musings and explanations below (Warning: very disjointed and random).

Uncle Chan from Jackie Chan Adventures

Maybe Ford and Stan stumble across the Chans on one of their globe-trotting adventures. Both groups fight off the same supernatural threat and surprise each other with their ease and familiarity with the weird and fantastical.

I feel Uncle is kind of a weird in-between of Ford and Stan. He is knowledgeable but not a nerd like Ford, is generally cranky but doesn't get into trouble like Stan does, although he does have a level of disregard towards authority if it gets in the way of his goals. He's quick to do research instead of impulsively charging into a situation.

I think Uncle's dynamic with Stan would be hilarious. They would argue a lot on how to deal with a threat, but once they agree to work together, they could kick ass. Once he gets past his initial annoyance, Stan would probably enjoy Uncle's quips, even more so when he realizes that Uncle does not say them to be funny, he's just naturally snarky.

Uncle is never shown having any romantic interest or relationships, so I kind of headcanon him as ace, but I think it would be really interesting to see what kind of queerplatonic relationship he and Stan could form.

Jade and Mabel would probably hit it off immediately, and while Jade isn't as studious as Dipper, she also has an enthusiasm for the supernatural so she'd probably get along decently with him. She'd also probably think Stan and Ford are super cool, especially considering their lax attitude toward giving children weapons. Though they do still take the kids' safety very seriously.

Jackie is doubtful of Stan, much like he was with Viper, but seeing Stan look out for the kids would probably endear him a little. Ford might also help ease his worries, and maybe they both could have fun discussion about archeology.

I think Tohru and Soos could get along decently, though Tohru would find Soos' eccentric musings odd at first.

Additionally, Uncle's shop is in San Francisco, practically next door to Dipper and Mabel in Piedmont. The kids would easily visit each other every weekend.

Bruno Madrigal from Encanto

Stan has been to prison in Colombia, so I don't think he'd willingly travel there for fun, and Encanto Valley seems relatively closed off from the rest of the world, so I imagine their meeting is accidental, maybe a result of the Stans getting caught in a storm or something. They stay for a while in the valley while repairing their boat.

Stan might initially be outraged at the idea of the Madrigals not charging anyone for the use of their gifts, but perhaps lightens up when he sees how close-knit the community is. He'd still come up with ways they could show off their powers Mystery Shack style, probably butting heads with Alma in the process, lol. He might encourage Bruno to adapt a more showman-like approach to his seer abilities to make it more presentable and less intimidating.

Bruno and Stan connecting over their shared feelings of isolation from family is definitely what drew me to these two together in the first place. If they ever got serious about their relationship, I can imagine the biggest hurdle would be deciding if they should continue a long-distance relationship, since neither is keen on asking the other to be separated from their family.

Yuuko Ichihara from xxxHolic and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle

Major spoiler alerts for both series. It's been many years since I've read them, and Tsubasa had so many plot twists that even CLAMP (the writers) admitted they were confused by the end result. I also might be misremembering some details, so bear with me. Factoring in the plotlines for both series and Gravity Falls would make for an incredible AU fanfic that I unfortunately am not qualified to write.

Due to Yuuko's shop being in Tokyo, a whole ocean away from Oregon, I like to imagine some timey-wimey space mumbo jumbo allowing Yuuko and Stan to meet in the dream realm. Maybe at some point, Yuuko's shop would obtain a door connecting it to the Mystery Shack.

Stan and Yuuko both have a mischievous side, though Yuuko is generally more reserved. They could start out as drinking buddies, though I imagine Stan would probably favor a light beer, while Yuuko loves sake.

They also both use aliases (it is never revealed what Yuuko's real name is), but Yuuko would likely be upfront about it. As their relationship progresses, Stan would probably feel comfortable telling Yuuko his real first name, even after she tells him the supernatural dangers of giving your real name.

While Stan scams his customers, he generally sells harmless entertainment and trinkets, whereas Yuuko grants wishes and operates strictly on an equivalent exchange basis. To quote the wiki, "All of Yuuko's customers must pay a price in order to grant their wishes, which can be no more or no less than the one demanded, or else harm will come to one's way. She is not one to tell the customer the most direct way to solve their problems because in the end, it can only be solved with that person's own realization and resolution to change themselves... Her abilities are not unlimited and may almost seem like a curse as it appears that she is unable to do anything for anyone or grant any gift (other than feelings) without it becoming a binding transaction." 

When Stan finds out just how powerful Yuuko is, I think he might react with a mixture of hesitation and awe, especially when she reveals she knows about his past, and Ford being lost in the multiverse. I am on the fence on whether Yuuko would use her powers to bring Ford home sooner, or let Stan continue working on the portal because he's already close to completing it and this would be significant in defeating Bill.

I found that the main villain of Tsubasa, Fei Wang Reed, surprisingly parallels Stan. Both endanger reality to bring back someone who is lost, but while Stan does it out of love and devotion to his family, Fei Wang Reed only did it in an arrogant plan to prove himself a powerful sorcerer. And in Fei's case, the person is already dead. CLAMP's universe establishes that the dead cannot be brought back to life, and Fei's wish to do so would cause the universe to be destroyed. I wonder if Bill would factor Fei as part of his plans.

Stan also surprisingly shares a lot in common with Fai D Fluorite. Both use their twin's name (Fai's real name is Yuui), and for much of the series Fai's tragic backstory regarding his twin is unknown, and he hides his trauma under a laid back exterior. I think Stan would empathize a lot with Fai, after he finds out his backstory.

Kimihiro Watanuki is revealed to have been created to fill a void left by Syaoran after the latter wished to turn back time. I remember Watanuki's character arc involved realizing that people cared about him. "Don't disappear", "Continue existing". Stan would probably take Watanuki under his wing, much like he did with Soos. Watanuki might find life with the Pines family far more chaotic than he's used to, but slowly warm up.

Yuuko is revealed to have died a long time ago and has basically been in magical stasis due to Clow Reed's unintentional wish. When time finally moves forward again, Yuuko eventually passes on. She doesn't return in the canon series, but Watanuki is stated to have also suspended his time to wait for her return. In this AU, maybe she reincarnates in the past and reunites with Stan and the Pines in the present day.

[yellowocaballero]

SHAZAM SHAZAM SHAZAM pls tell us about billy batson. ive only ever seen the movies o great comic knower

Very very very VERY far from comic expert (that's brawltogethernow) but I have read a lot of Shazam. His history is actually really, really fascinating and involves more than one lawsuit that really defined very early comics. I'll focus on one thing, though.

There are two Captain Marvels: One from the 1940s to around 2013, and one from 2013 til now. The Captain Marvel you're familiar with (who is named Shazam) is from 2013. He's a more realistic, grounded character. He was created to be pretty much the polar opposite of his original version. The best summary is to say that the Wizard chose Billy Batman 1940 because he had the purest heart, and the Wizard chose Billy Batson ~2013 because he was there. My personal 'best' Shazam story is the "Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil" graphic novel by the guy who made Bone. It's good because it's for elementary schoolers yet acknowledges this small child as homeless. Which, don't get me wrong, you shouldn't always do. My personal favorite is the 1970s ones.

As some background: Otto Binder was the creator/main writer of the very early Captain Marvel comics. He was by far and away the best writer of the early Superman Silver Age comics, because all of his comics were batshit insane. Shazam has a complicated and legal history with Superman, so the 1970 run was a super fun high camp tongue in cheek reinvention of the best Silver Age stories.

So the 1970 Captain Marvel comics are insane.

I can't even summarize them without sounding crazy. Basically the conceit is that Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr, and Mary Marvel (Billy, Freddy, and Mary) are having 1940s Golden Age Adventures when they get somehow in suspended animation and are basically time travelled to the 1970s. This don't bother them too much. Why would it bother them. Nothing bothers these people. Nothing. I don't think anybody experiences a negative emotion in these comics. Not bc they were twee. Bc they were insane.

Many of the comics basically had three shorter comics inside it: one Billy story, one Mary story, one Freddy story. Interestingly, they all had different art styles, artists, types of story, genre, etc. Billy's stories had a cartoony art style with very over-the-top and silly plotlines that involved supervillain bad dudes. Freddy's art was slightly more realistic and was slighty more grounded, but still had some classic Marvel indescribable scifi that can best be summarized as that one meme panel people have seen where Sivana recites a science equation that lets him walk through walls. Mary's stories were much more realistically drawn and featured the most banal shit, like her starting a club with her friends. Somehow Mary Marvel gets involved in those.

Sometimes they worked together and did superhero things and fought bad guys. The average fight looked like this:

Billy was a twelve year old who lived by himself, in his own apartment, had his own radio show, a full-ass job, a whole thing as Captain Marvel. He paid fucking taxes. Everybody knew this and nobody cared. He's the most affable, good natured kid on the face of the planet. Nothing bothers him. Nothing. Nothing bothers any of these people. Sivana shows up and he's BIG MAD so he's creating another death ray and Captain Marvel shows up like "Oh you rascal! Time to punch this and go back to helping my friend eat his infinite Jello."

He has a friend named Talky Tawny, who is a talking tiger wearing a suit. He also has a friend named Sunny Smiles, a person of indeterminate gender who everybody falls in love with, for unexplained and unknown reasons. Not to be confused with Freddy's friend Gregory Gosharootie, the "World's Dullest Mortal", who is so boring that nobody notices him and he keeps accidentally comitting crime. There is also an old guy named Uncle Marvel who pretends he has superpowers, which they all find funny so they just roll with it. Freddy is a disabled orphan who has to sell papers on the street corner to make a living. Mary lives in a middle class suburban home with loving foster parents. It never once seems to occur to Mary's parents to adopt Billy, for Freddy to live with Billy. Everybody is happiest this way.

I do think this is partly why a good Shazam comic has to be aimed at the 6-12yo demographics. They have to be for small children, because Billy is living a complete and utter power fantasy that only a ten year old would think is a good idea. He's a kid, and he doesn't have drag parents or a lame family, but he can turn into Superman, and he can also do magic, and everybody loves him and thinks he's the nicest person, and his supervillains are Dr. Doofenschmirtz and a worm, and his supporting cast is like okay my sister if she HAS to be involved, but also my best friend who is a paperboy! but cool because he's disabled, and….

Look, you could engage with that seriously. You could go "holy shit this is a homeless child". That's fine. That's what they do these days, and that's what they did in the movies. Nothing wrong with that. Take the story more seriously.

But also they don't give a worm the electric chair in those stories, so.

To actually give some commentary on these comics: these comics really love people. I've never seen comics that were so entrenched in their community. The kids just know everybody they meet on the street. Freddy delivers paper up and down every block, so an average story for him is just talking to a butcher or baker or old man or grumpy housewife and helping them out with some batshit problem. Mary's a sweet girl who's always starting clubs with her friends and taking on neighborhood projects. Many Billy stories involve one of his many friends falling into some trouble and Captain Marvel helping them out - or just exploring some fun with Billy hanging out with Sunny Smiles, who is a person of indeterminate gender who for some reason has magic love brainwashing powers -

This isn't the biggest #Shazam take, but I think a good Shazam story stays grounded in that. These are poor street kids who love Fawcett City so damn much. They love fighting their supervillains, but they love helping out the random guy off the street with their problems even more. Way more so than Spider-Man or a lot of other guys, I think of the Marvel family as the friendly neighborhood superheroes. They're both larger than life and street level. They're Superman level powers but they just use the powers for wrapping up their hijinks. Isn't that nice? Aren't you tired of going apeshit? Don't you just want to be nice?

[starstruckkittensweets]

Summary: An accidental run-in with one of Japan's most-wanted villains leaves you yearning for more; unfortunately, you're not the only one with a blooming fascination to hide.

Fandom: My Hero Academia AU: Canon Divergent Pairing: Dabi | Touya Todoroki x Reader Rated: E (explicit) Content Warning: spoilers for Season 6, blood and violence, arson, stalking, explicit language, slow burn romance (mutually obsessive but actual romance comes later on), eventual smut, dubcon, cat-and-mouse game, borderline yandere behavior from both parties, alcohol consumption, smoking, unhealthy attachment issues from both Dabi and Reader, past familial abuse, both of them are kinda fucked up but oh well Additional Tags: female reader, heavily inspired by Haunting Adeline (that's a warning in and of itself), reader has a personality/slight backstory (originally from overseas, home country not specified), additional OCs included, reader is a writer (shocker) so prepare for a lot of useless writing metaphors and sad feelings

Disclaimer: This story is incredibly personal to me; it's one of my comfort fics, the one I can turn to when I'm feeling down, the one I can just turn my brain off and not worry about heavy plotlines and tiny details. I read an unhealthy amount of smutty books over the summer (*cough* reverse harem stories *cough*) and channeled those h-word thoughts and secret fantasies into this story. Please heed the warnings above and included in each chapter, and I hope you enjoy the ride :)

chapter one - 6.2k words

chapter two - 5.6k words

chapter three - coming soon

[kitkatt0430]

For the headcanons, how about an AU where Julian is there from s1, employed by CCPD after their other CSI got struck by lightning and comatosed for 9 months and definitely wasn't coming in to do his job

Ooooh, I like this idea a lot. :D They really did need another CSI. I mean, presumably there are others, I dunno what was up with the backlog at the start of S4 other than maybe David Singh screwing with Barry a little bit (it was funny), but there have gotta be more CSIs stationed off site. Presumably though they've always got at least one on site CSI who can explain stuff to detectives or lawyers while still keeping up with their own work.

So I think here Julian would not have changed his last name. So he's still Julian Desmond and not Julian Albert. (He did change his name in the show, though it's not clear how much of that is to distance himself from the snafu at the dig site in India and how much was to distance himself from his family after his sister's death.)

In turn, his sister is alive here and so while his relationship with his parents is troubled, he's not estranged from them.

If Julian was already employed by the city and just picked to take over as the on site CSI in Barry's absence, then he'd be a meta in S1. I think it'd make an interesting storyline to have him be kind of a jerk about metas as he was in S3, but then really explore what it means for him to find out that he's a 'dangerous meta' too. He wouldn't be a bad guy, just kind of a low level antagonist who peaks when his powers emerge, but winds up an ally of Team Flash when they help him get his powers under control.

Julian and Barry would absolutely have friction at first. Barry doesn't like how his lab has changed while he was away and expects that Julian will go back to the offsite labs now that he's back. Julian isn't about to let go of the on site lab, he likes it there and it's his now. They eventually work things out, but it takes a while.

Comics Albert Desmond had dissociative identity disorder which is where his iteration of Alchemy came from, but neither the comics nor the show treated that disorder well so I'd want to leave that out for Julian, but he could still have powers similar to what the philosopher's stone gave him. Specifically the 'transmutation' that allowed him to trigger potential metas to gain powers caterpillar style. So maybe his powers activating accidentally creates the main antagonist of an episode at least once and he, rather understandably, freaks out over it.

Eobard would absolutely be fascinated by Julian's powers. If he can create metas, could he also take away meta powers too? EoWells wants to know the answer.

I think Julian wouldn't be main Team Flash. He helps out where he can, but he doesn't have to be a genius of all trades to give him something to do every episode the way S3 decided to go. He'd be ideal for giving Barry alibis when he has to run off during work hours to be the Flash.

No Julian/Caitlin. I wasn't interested in it when the ship was danced around during S3, so I wouldn't want to see it happen in an alt S1. Besides, Caitlin is pretty tied up in the Ronnie Lives/FIRESTORM plotline, so she still has her fiance around and wouldn't be interested in a complication anyway.

[live-from-flaturn]

Chay, Hope, and “The New Hunger”

An unnecessary metatextual analysis by an excited English MA queer.

So it all started with this shot from Episode 7 of KinnPorsche:

I zoomed in on the novel next to Chay’s desk out of curiosity and discovered that it was The New Hunger by Isaac Marion. Not a super old book by any means, and definitely one that Chay would realistically be reading.

Also a brief cameo that lets this single comedic shot FORESHADOW SO MUCH OF CHAY’S TRAGIC PLOTLINE without likely intending to do that at all.

Because The New Hunger, published in 2013, is a functional prequel to Marion’s 2010 novel Warm Bodies.

Warm Bodies is by far one of the most beautifully written and engaging re-interpretations of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” probably ever written (and I spent 3 summers at Shakespeare camp, so this approval is not coming from a casual fan perspective). There are zombies, apocalyptic drama, Daddy issues, and a LOT of stuff about not losing hope in the face of annihilation, loss, and loneliness. 

R spends most of the novel talking TO HIMSELF and coping with HOW TO BE ALONE. He is doing exactly what Chay is forced to do for survival: Create his own joy and entertainment. He’s abandoned by the world around him and must fight at every turn to maintain a sense of agency, all while desperately clinging to the idea that hope is everywhere. Here are some of my favorite Warm Bodies quotes for perspective:

“It frustrates and fascinates me that we'll never know for sure, that despite the best efforts of historians and scientists and poets, there are some things we'll just never know. What the first song sounded like. How it felt to see the first photograph. Who kissed the first kiss, and if it was any good.”

“What wonderful thing didn’t start out scary?”

“You should always be taking pictures, if not with a camera then with your mind. Memories you capture on purpose are always more vivid than the ones you pick up by accident.”

“’What's wrong with people?’ she says, almost too quiet for me to hear. ‘Were they born with parts missing or did it [love] fall out somewhere along the way?’“

“The sky is blue. The grass is green. The sun is warm on our skin. We smile, because this is how we save the world. We will not let Earth become a tomb, a mass grave spinning through space. We will exhume ourselves. We will fight the curse and break it.”

“Deep under our feet the Earth holds its molten breath, while the bones of countless generations watch us and wait.”

BUT THEN YOU HAVE THE NEW HUNGER.

“Nothing is permanent. Not even the end of the world.”

“Enough white lies can scorch the earth black.”

“What happened? How did I get here? How could I have known that my choices mattered?”

“Crying. Expelling grief from the body in the form of salt water. What's its purpose? How did it evolve, and why are humans the only creatures on Earth that do it?”

He has not reached the point of exhumation yet. 

Porchay must first be burned down. He must experience the hopelessness, loss, and devastation of betrayal first. 

Like yeah, sure, this is a throwaway shot and someone on the set probably grabbed a handful of random books to use but HOLY FUCK they really could not have made a better (potentially) accidental choice!

Like... Jesus Christ in Heat do I love these books more than life itself. Warm Bodies is my second favorite book of all time and again, I read books for a living. You should go check them out if you like romance, comedy, zombies, or really just feeling good about the end of a novel. Isaac Marion will fundamentally change your life and the way you look at the world and it’s a wonderful experience.

But also the accidental foreshadowing of Porchay’s world being burnt up... of his memories being tainted and blackened by Kim’s lying and Porsche’s secrecy... Ugh it hurts. I am having some feelings in this Chili’s tonight. 

[legendarybelmont]

You know, I can't help but feel as if the games already had a compelling character arc for Richter that the show just blindly ignored in favor of making him more like Trevor, which defeats the point of making changes for the sake of creativity.

You have this hotshot hero, best of the best, at his total prime and everybody loves him, but there's a darker side to him, an existential insecurity about the implications of his role, and what happens if he's fulfilled it; Where does he go next? What else is he good for? Is Richter a soldier who's come back from the battlefield and is suddenly expected to just go back to living a normal life?

And that creates the setup for his fall from grace when Shaft exploits those emotions, which could lead to a compelling humbling arc where Richter ultimately comes around and triumphs over his demons and arrogance to do the right thing. There are still consequences, like the Vampire Killer rejecting him, but that sets up Bloodlines and Portrait of Ruin, and eventually, things heal when Julius steps up for the War of 1999.

It's just such a very distinct and fascinating way to deconstruct the legendary hero, so you'd think Netflixvania would be all over that with its darker tone, but it just makes something up. So I don't really buy the excuse of "There's not enough to work with," at least in THIS aspect of adapting the Richter era.

im really hoping that by 'making him more like trevor' you mean making him more like netflix trevor, but i wouldnt actually know much about that since i cant stomach even 5 minutes of the first nfcv ^^'

richters character arc is indeed incredibly interesting, being one of the most well-defined and intentional arcs of any castlevania character, considering his multitude of little accidental parallels with trevor or not -- in fact, i feel like if you wanted to adapt ANY castlevania plotline into something faithfully, richters story across rondo and sotn would be the best, because of how much youre already given and how clear-cut it is in comparison to someone like, well, trevor, who is most likely so strange in curse of darkness because he needed to act as a bit of a plot device and the writers didnt think too much about whether or not his actions might conflict with characterisation given and informed by an nes game -- this goes for arikado, too, as for why hes so very Like That in aria of sorrow.

... but this isnt about them, oops. youre right that its something that would, assumedly, work well for a tv show format, especially under the guise of adapting and building off of the original material in ways that wouldnt work with a game series of castlevania's genre. however, they obviously didnt want to do that, for whatever reason, which would likely be because netflix castlevania just doesnt much care for making something truly and genuinely based off of castlevania. theyre just not interested in it, for whatever reason, which would be fine if it wasnt the thing they were supposed to adapt 😭

[curatoroffiction]

The Curse of Alice: Chapter 1

This is the first chapter of a new series for the Ikemen: Villains series. In it, the reader is gender-neutral and accidentally wanders back in time due to having a curse of their own. (Really, it's more an excuse for me to play around with time-difference shenanigans.) ----- Also Tumblr deleted half my Content Warnings in the tags, so please let me know if I'm missing any -----

Content for this series is likely to include;

Canon-typical violence (For any of my readers who are more familiar with my Twisted Wonderland and Obey Me writings, please note that "Ikemen: Villains" is SIGNIFICANTLY MORE VIOLENT AND DARK than those two combined.)

Canon-typical trauma triggers (Again, this series is so much darker than the other ones I write for, please, please, PLEASE pay attention to the content warnings for this series as I write it. I'll be doing my best to thoroughly tag)

Spicy romance scenes (These will also be thoroughly tagged so my romance-averse/touch-averse readers can avoid them.) I might later have some specific single stories that address AFAB player content in this same AU, but those will be separated from this series (You will not find AFAB-specific content in any chapters from "The Curse of Alice", but if you're seeking that content out, you might check out other stuff I've posted for this fandom)

----- Content warnings for this chapter;

Suicide mention

Suicide/Forced Suicide (It's a background character, but it's still DARK and vivid.)

MURDER

Blood touches the reader

Abduction

----- You aren't fond of tours.

You never feel like they really show you what you want to see on a tour. At least, nothing you couldn't learn from a written tour guide. Those usually have more information in them, anyways. Tours are always focused on showing you exactly what you're meant to see, and your heart calls to see what people don't want you to see. You yearn to see things that people keep secret.

If it weren't for the fact that you'd heard that this mansion had a particularly intriguing piano from the 19th century, cursed by the soul of a man who committed suicide in front of it, you'd have never even come here. A story like that is stoked with tragedy. You heard that the man had a long list of sins that came out after his death, which made you curious about the story, because it made it dark. Did he kill himself because he felt guilty? Did he kill himself because his sins were going to come to light? Did those sins only come to light because of his suicide?

If anything, it would make for a fascinating story study.

You're an aspiring writer who likes to test your mettle against darker plotlines, so you're attracted to learning stories that touch the macabre.

Unfortunately, the mansion only allows guests to go along with a guide. So you're trapped in a night tour. The mansion's corridors are lit up only where the tour guide leads everyone. There's many more corridors darkened by the night's ambiance, giving an eerie sense to the experience.

You bought a tour book, but out of respect to the guide, you aren't reading it. It's stashed away inside your backpack.

Most of the information the guide is giving is about how people used to work in this building, showcasing some of the old art of the time from around when the suicide took place. What intrigues you is that they don't really mention the artists of the architecture that much. They make some over-all claims about the designers and architects, but they can't tell you exactly who designed or crafted the banisters of the stairwells, or the tiles of the floor. You take several pictures of these fixtures, especially some of the more run-down areas.

When the tour reaches the room with the famed piano, you take a video of the instrument as the tour guide talks about the stories of the night that the man killed himself. Some passerbys that night had faintly heard the sound of piano music on the night of the incident. Particularly, a postwoman had a haunting account of the song being played. She couldn't place it, but she remembered it sounding mesmerizing, like it would have drawn her in, had the front door not been locked.

You take diligent notes, writing small comments to yourself about things to research as you do.

The hallways of the mansion are a veritable labyrinth. So when your tour continues, you find your eyes drawn to the hallways you're not allowed to go down. You look down a particularly dark hallway and see a small, white bunny rabbit on the ground, you pause and blink. "...." You look back to your tour guide group, but something calls to you about the rabbit. The tour group is already moving on, but surely.. They won't notice you missing from the group, right?

The white rabbit sees you and darts down a hallway, and you turn to follow it, separating from your group. The hallway it turns into is outside the grasp of the light from the hallway you came from.

It's almost as though there's a threshold here. In your heart, you feel like if you walk past this point, you'll be walking into the night itself. An impenetrable darkness.

Impenetrable by all except that little white rabbit, which you can see at the end of the hall, staring at you.

You feel.. Compelled to follow it.

You were so bored, and this is so interesting and exciting and it feels like you're actually chasing a story. Getting to see something the tour guides won't show you. There was no mention of rabbits. Does someone keep a collection of them here?

It feels like everything you were seeking would be found if you follow this rabbit, which is such a strange and foreign experience that you just.. Follow it.

It's hard not to, when it feels so right.

Corridor after corridor, you find yourself following the rabbit through the halls, until the rabbit disappears entirely. No matter how much you look, you can't find it. You must have scared it. What was a rabbit doing in this place anyways? You have so many questions, none of which are getting answered.

Looking around, you have no idea where you are. There's a room number on a nearby room plaque though, so you decide to try to figure out how to get back to your tour group by checking out the map. By the light of your cellphone, you figure out where you are and begin to head towards the main entrance. You'll get in trouble, but that's fine. You're used to getting in trouble for straying from groups, ever-curious.

As you're walking through a hall that you swore was lit earlier, you begin to wonder if the tour closed down early. You couldn't have been gone from the group for THAT long, could you? What if it's closed down already? You're walking into the darkened main foyer when you hear a hauntingly delicate tone drifting through the halls of the mansion.

The sound of the piano.

Ah, the tour must have ended, and someone was now playing the piano to make sure it was operational. You'll just have to explain yourself to whoever is in there that you got yourself separated from your tour group and apologize.

Phone blasting light, you open the door to the room that the music is coming from, only to get hit with a splash of something warm.

Something dark.

Something red.

You see the body of the man in front of you on the floor first. The last breath escapes the man who has obviously killed himself by stabbing himself in the neck with a knife, in the light of your phone's flashlight. A shiver goes down your spine as you're going to be sick. You're covered in a dead man's blood. Your phone has no signal.

The piano playing stops and you look up, your phone light illuminating 8 figures in the dark.

Is this.. Some kind of sick after-tour live action retelling of the suicide? "... I uh.." Your eyes keep traveling down to the man at your feet. It's so convincing. You're visibly disgusted. "... Sorry, I got separated from my tour group. ..." Your eyes watch the man on the ground. He doesn't look like he's acting. He doesn't look like he's breathing anymore. His body went limp, even with your interruption. Too convincing to be just an act. The wound looks too realistic, too. Blood pooling out from under him in a growing pool that makes you step back. Maybe it's a convincing mannequin? Your mind wants to make sense of this in a way that doesn't focus on reality. .... Whatever it is, your stomach is churning. Those special effects have to be really good, if they're special effects.

"Well, well..! I wasn't expecting a guest." You hear a voice from deeper in the room, which is dark. Too dark for an after-tour play. In the dim lighting illuminating the room, you can see seven figures all standing around in the dark. The man speaking to you, however, is stepping away from the piano, making eight people total. When he sees you in the light, he cocks his head to the side with a soft, excited grin. "Hmmn.. I'm not familiar with you."

"Hrm.. That's a bit troublesome. What should we do with them?" A man with rose-pink hair and a soft, milky-smooth voice asks, looking in your direction. "And what is that light?" He asks, his curiosity piqued at your phone.

"Sorry to spook you, but this is just a rehearsal for a play." A very easy-going man with a cocky grin looks up to you in the dim light.

"..." You look down to the body in front of you. "... It uh.. It looks pretty real. ... What kinds of special effects are you using?"

"It's a secret."

"...." Your face tells them everything, that you're not convinced.

"... Y'know, it really would've been better if you had at least pretended to believe it." His smirk is palpable. Like you just walked into a trap. It drops as he looks to the guy who'd been playing the piano; "What should we do, Will?"

"We should take them with is, of course - To the Palace's Reaper."

There's a click of a tongue and one of the men to the side is visibly scowling as he mutters; "That's why I toldja to lock the damn door!" a particularly gruff man says, audibly scowling.

Another man chuckles. "Well, I didn't think we'd have a tresspasser! You're a naughty little thing, aren't you?" He smiles to you, and you think you can make out a rifle on his back.

They're all so non-chalant as they stand around. The body on the ground has stopped sputtering, and has released its last vestiges of air. You know this isn't fake. They've killed this man and made it look like a suicide. Why? And why here, in this room?

"Why don't you come over here? There's no escape at this point anyway." The gentle tone of a dark-haired man beckons you deeper into the room.

Every part of your spine is tingling with danger. You have to leave. You need to leave. You've followed the rabbit into something horrific and now you're ready to go home.

As though he could sense your growing panic, the man from the piano looks to you with crimson eyes and a smile that's much too warm and inviting; "Come here, pitiful one." The words feel so much heavier than anything else said tonight.

Your legs begin moving on their own. You're visibly startled. What is this?? Why are you moving? You're moving against your will, and you want to run, but you can't. They only stop when you're standing in front of the man.

"Pardon me." He says, tugging you in closer so he can see your face better in the illumination of your phone's light. Your light also shows you his eyes in a way that showcases their vibrancy and deep crimson - Like the blood you can see splattered on your own clothes, it looks too real to be fake. You've seen red contacts before. These don't look like contacts. He reaches up and wipes the blood from your face with his thumb, and he grins. ".. There." releasing you from his touch and his control. "Forgive me for not introducing myself sooner. My name is William. William Rex. I'd like to invite you to have dinner with us tonight. What is your name?"

Your knees buckle as you're released from his verbal commands, and you drop tot he ground, barely able to stand. You're visibly dazed. The pink-haired man comes alongside you, looking at the device in your hand, peering over your shoulder. "And what IS that thing?" he motions to your phone.

"...." You slowly look to him, and give him a questioning look. His question is so outrageous it's ripping you out of your mental shock. "... It's a phone..?"

"Doesn't look like anything I've ever seen.." The even-toned, deep-voiced man with the rifle expresses, curiously.

"You'll have to tell us more over dinner." William kneels beside you, holding a hand out to you. He doesn't command you. He's practically asking you to come along, like you didn't just witness something horrific and somehow magically had your body controlled against your will.

When you stare at him in quiet shock, visibly perturbed by the idea of taking his outstretched hand, eyes darting between his eyes and his bloodstained glove, your heart sinks.

You're surrounded, and there's no getting out of this.

William can sense your hesitation, and he he begins to ask questions about you, redirecting your attention to talking about yourself. You're wary and not wanting to comply, but he doesn't force you like he did to make you come into the room. They stand around, patiently waiting for you to get your story out as William calms you down. It's like they have all the time in the world.

At your own pace, you explain your circumstance to the men, and how you got here. As they hear your story, William's eyes can't help but to light up as he watches you. But all of the men appear to be surprised, and intrigued.

"I promise, if you just help me find my way out of here, I didn't see anything-"

"Ooh, it's much too late for that now." William smiles, almost apologetically. "There's someone who will want to meet you."

Despite your protests, you're brought along and taken to their base of operations.

---

You didn't expect the horse-drawn carriage. Or for the block to look so... Different than it did when you came out of the mansion. It's the first clue that you're not where you're meant to be. The city in the distance looks completely different too. This isn't the city you've been exploring all day, this is something older. The buildings look different, both newer and older. There used to be a building with lots of windows out front, but now it's just.. Small shops?

Except that doesn't make sense. One moment, you were taking a tour, then you were following a white rabbit, and now the world is different around you. None of this makes any sense. You wrack your head as you stare out the window of the carriage. Did you bump your head? Have you gone crazy? Are you in a dream?

It's too vivid to be a dream.

Maybe you're crazy. It'd be easier to swallow if you'd gone mad. Maybe they'll let you go if they think you're crazy too.

What's weird is that they didn't take your phone from you. Kidnappers would take your phone, right? You look to it repeatedly, and you've gotten zero bars this entire ordeal. And now you're going further into what looks like the countryside. You're even being allowed to see the entire route to get out here. Why wouldn't captors take your phone? Wouldn't they cover your head to keep you from knowing where they work and how to get back?

One of the men in the carriage is eyeing you as you peruse your phone. It's a touch-screen. "... What a curious device."

You glance up to see a man with dark hair and a weary smile on his face. Like he's tired. Too tired. He smiles warmly to you. There's a blonde man sitting at his side who looks almost picturesque. Like someone hand-crafted his face. You look back to your phone. "...."

The dark-haired man taps the windowsill of the carriage, causing you to look up again, and he motions to the castle coming up in the view. "We've arrived. This could be the place where your life ends, the root of all evil - Or rather, our base." He's still smiling as he says this.

You look up to see the castle and it's astounding how beautiful and dark it looks in this lighting.

You knew you made a mistake following them into the carriage. You were just so thrown off by how the whole street looked different from when you arrived, that your brain went into auto-pilot, and you let these strangers cart you away.

Now you might die here. The word 'Might' is pulling a lot of weight in giving you a sliver of hope in this whole ordeal.

".. Is this real?"

"Unfortunately, yes. It's neither a dream, nor an illusion. It's what you may call the harsh, inescapable reality." His words ring out in your mind. This is not a dream, this is reality. Something tickles at your mind and you harshly find yourself rejecting it.

"This can't be real." Your answer causes him to chuckle, but you can see sadness in his eyes as he does.

"If you want to believe in a sweet dream, who am I to deny it?"

---

As you walk up to the castle, the curious pink-haired man comes up alongside you, asking a million questions about your phone. You show him the device, explaining it to him, confused. It really is like he's never seen one in his life before. When he sees that moving pictures can show up on the screen, and that you can interact with it by touch, he wants to learn everything he can about it.

You're hesitant to hand him your phone, as it's the only contact with the outside world that you might have, wherever you're going - But you do choose to open up a game on your phone to show him what it looks like. He's practically glued to your side as he watches you play, learning about this game. He's overflowing with excitement to get to see something so novel to him.

But you don't understand why he's so enthralled. Everyone here should know that phones exist, shouldn't they?

One look around at the prying eyes stealing glances at your phone tells you that they likely don't. While the pink-haired man is the most curious, the gruff man with black and white hair also keeps stealing looks towards your device.

---

A bright, excited, celebratory man's voice calls out as you and the men enter into what looks like a dining room, and there's the distinct popping sound of a party popper. You blink, confused. Is this how assassins typically celebrate their kills? His eyes rest on you. "Oh..? Who is this?"

"This is ___. They just happened to be at the target's mansion." William explains. "They appear to have technology that's strange and different, and the story they told us was quite interesting."

"Wow! What a.. Fateful coincidence!" The dining room man with dark, long hair looks to you curiously.

"You don't even know the half of it." William chuckles, then looking to you. "___, this is Victor. He serves as Her Majesty's personal aide."

..... What?

You stare in complete shock, not sure what to do. Surely, these guys are just fucking with you at this point, right? Your mind refuses to believe any of this could be real. It has to be some kind of twisted dream mashing up everything you'd interacted with that day. You must have bonked your head without realizing it, and will be waking up any moment in a hospital or something.

This can't be real.

Victor walks you through your experiences with the group, and asks questions about how you came to find them.

When you explain that you were on a tour group for the building and then you followed a rabbit down a hallway and found yourself lost, his expression shifts to earnest surprise as he only has one question; "What color was the rabbit?"

".. White?"

"...." Victor glances to the group, who all appear to have the same thought as there's nods all around. He looks back to you. "Do you have anything from the tour?"

You nod and rifle through your backpack, producing the tour guide - And your notes from the tour. "This was the tour I was on, and those were my notes."

He begins reading through the tour guide, intrigued. The dates and comments in it are intriguing him the most. Accompanied by the quality of the paper and the print on it. He's never seen anything like this, or any machines that can produce this quality of work. When he gets to your notes, however, he's even more impressed. "... And what year would you say this is?"

"----...?" you say the year you came from, visibly confused.

"......." Victor looks to the cocky guy from before who has been staring at your eyes as you speak. He gives Victor a nod. "... Fascinating. Well, ___, I think this might have actually been an incident of fate."

"...?" You look to him questioningly.

Victor reaches into his jacket pocket and produces another party popper, which he'd stashed just in case the first one failed, and he pulls the popper, letting out a loud sound and spraying confetti at you with a bright smile; "You're cursed!"

You stare at him in exhausted silence.

He coughs and straightens up to explain; "You see, we all here are cursed. You're familiar with fairytales, yes?"

"... Yeah?"

"Fairytales, stories, they all hold some tokens of truth to them, I would say. We each are cursed with a fairytale curse, which binds our destinies to a dark and turbulent path. I think you've got the curse of 'Alice'!"

"....." You look even more exhausted than before. Are they going to kill you, or induct you? Is this a cult? Have you been abducted by a death-cult?

"... I see you must have many questions. Please, feel free to ask away."

".. What is this 'Curse of Alice'..?"

"It's a term I just came up with right now!" Victor beams proudly. "I've never heard of someone with a curse like yours. Jumping through time to completely different realms.. Hahh.. That must be such a fascinating experience!"

".. Jumping through time?"

"The year at this time is 1886."

"......" You shake your head. "Nah. I don't believe that. Nope. That's just not true. Look, I know you guys murdered someone tonight, if you could skip the mind games and just kill me, that'd be appreciated."

Victor laughs, shaking his head. "Oh no, no. We can't kill you, we'll need to study you."

"Oh, absolutely not."

You hear a voice behind you, the gentle voice; "Should we kill them then?" You peer back and lock eyes with the gentle expression of Ellis. The dark-haired guy who told you that you couldn't escape and coaxed you deeper into the room where the murder happened. He stares at you in almost.. a vacant kind of way. "I don't think it would make them happy, but if you ask me to, I will." He seems to be addressing Victor as he says this.

"..." You turn your attention back to Victor. "So uh, what kinds of experiments are we talking about here?" wanting to avoid the outcome that points at death.

"We'll need to thoroughly understand your curse, which means we'll have to keep you under surveillance. And you'll have to work with our resident medical professional, Roger."

You follow Victor's motion to meet Roger. Your voice is completely disturbed as you flatly say; "... Nice to meet you, Doc."

"Oh, I'm not a doctor. My license was revoked." He gives you a big smirk.

You immediately look back to Victor; "... Please kill me instead."

"Is that what you truly want?" William asks, eyeing you with interest. Something deep inside him is intrigued by how his curse reacts to yours. He wants to guide you. He wants to know you. He wants to watch you come apart.

"...." You grimace as you realize they're taking your jokes literally. "... No. I'm just frustrated. And I don't want to be experimented on."

"Might be more careful about voicing such false desires." William motions behind you and you turn to see Ellis has gotten right up behind you without you noticing. You visibly startle at how close he is, and the soft-spoken man just smiles warmly to you with his dark purple eyes.

You feel a shudder run down your spine as you feel like your body just narrowly escaped death in this moment. You turn back to William. "... I'll keep that in mind."

Victor takes charge again; "You must have a lot of questions about us. Go ahead and ask away."

"... The thing is, you've read that guidebook now, so even if I asked if this was the murder of 1886, you'd know that you could say 'yes' to cover it up. I don't know if you're on a power trip and you're just messing with my head because you can, or if you're actually telling the truth. It's impossible for me to know." You explain everything. "And honestly, I'm not entirely sure that I'm not just crazy. That'd explain this whole thing so much more. I'm going to wake up in a hospital bed and discover I slipped and fell on those old tiles or something. I just know it."

The cocky man from before smiles as you speak. He likes how little you trust them. It's a good sign that you'll make a good partner in their line of work.

"Patient exhibits delusions of fantasy." Roger is already making notes. You shoot him an annoyed look. He grins to you.

You look back to Victor. "None of this seems real. Can you somehow prove that it's real?"

"You experienced a curse firsthand tonight." Roger motions to William.

The gruff man with the annoyed expression scowls at Roger, admonishing him for spilling 'state secrets'.

William just smiles to you and nods. "Yes, cursed people have special abilities, and you experienced mine earlier tonight. I can command people to do anything I want them to, just with my voice."

You're reminded of when your body moved on its own at his command. That feels real, but you're still not sure. "... Do it to me again."

William raises an eyebrow at you, curious. His lips wear a smile, but he's interested to help you believe that this is reality. So he holds his hands upwards, as though beckoning you into his arms. "Dance with me."

Your body moves on its own once more. You're pulled into his arms, taking up the position as the lead in a dance you've never learned before. You're visibly shocked and surprised. William dances with you around the room, amidst the circle of onlookers, before he releases you from his control.

You can feel that heaviness from before overtake you once again, except this time it's much less intense. You were a willing participant in this command. The more he has to overwrite your will, the more energy it must take to control you. You're still lightheaded though, as you spin out of the dance, visibly dazed. ".... Okay. I'll believe that. If that's the case though, then what's MY power?"

"Well, isn't that the question of the hour." Victor grins to you again. "It seems you can travel through time, though not at your own choice, which is a fascinating problem. Might be quite the handful keeping an eye on you. Just don't go following any white rabbits while you're here, alright?"

"Where IS here?"

"This is the headquarters of Crown, the root of all evil in England. Where we fight evil with evil. The cursed carve a path for goodness to survive in this world, and we learn more about the curses as we do." Victor begins to explain to you about Crown's operational code.

".. Evil?" Your tone is audibly skeptical.

Liam, the pink-haired man, speaks up now; "Yes, cursed people are doomed to commit evil and meet a tragic end." He smiles warmly to you. Much too warmly for the subject matter. "For example, when someone has the Cat's Curse, they can't suppress their curiosity. Ever heard of 'Curiosity killed the cat'?"

"But satisfaction brought him back - Yeah, I'm familiar."

Liam is pleased that you're familiar, but his eyes get a little sad as he looks to the side; "Well.. Satisfaction doesn't always bring the cat back. I have the Cat's Curse at this time. According to the records, the person who received the Cat's Curse before me dabbled in all sorts of horrific things. Arson, robbery, self-mutilation, adultery.. All to satisfy his own curiosity. He was tortured and had his limbs torn off, but still, he laughed through the tears and screams escaping him to laugh "This is a great new first for me!" before throwing himself into a bath of sulfuric acid."

You shudder at his story. It would make a great scary story to tell around a campfire.

Roger speaks up now, looking to you in the eyes. "If you truly do have a curse, which I think you do, then the safest place for you will be right here, with experts who know how to deal with such things, who can understand if you begin to do evil things."

"... I haven't had any evil impulses."

"Really?" Alfons, the man with the tired eyes, smirks to you. "Trespassing.. Leaving your tour group behind to follow a little rabbit into places you knew were off-limits.. The need to tell people when you think they're wrong even if it makes things worse.. Following a group of strangers into a vehicle to an undisclosed location.. Do you think these are the actions of someone who wants to be a law-abiding citizen?"

"......." The curse definitely would explain a lot of your behavior today. Though you've always followed things that catch your eye. "... If that's true though, then why now? Why did this happen now, instead of when I was a kid?"

"It's possible that it did happen to you when you were young, and you just didn't know." Victor explains, looking to you empathetically. It's not every day that someone finds out they're cursed and doomed to tragedy.

"..." Your nose scrunches up as you think through your memories. You did wander a lot as a kid. You still wander a lot. It would definitely explain some things. "... Don't like that."

"Not many people do. I'm sorry we had to be the ones to tell you."

"So what's this about fighting evil with evil?"

"You saw that in action tonight as well. We killed that man."

You think back on how the man died. It looked like a suicide. Your eyes meet William's, and he just gives you a warm, knowing smile and a soft nod. You shudder. ".... Why?"

They explain how the man was a key figure in some horrific underground organizations. The list of his 'sins' as dictated in your notes wasn't even half of the things he actually was 'sentenced' for, and the list was already pretty bad.

They go on to explain that cursed people are often regarded as dangerous and evil, but England is, at this time, the only place which has organized and nationally recognized them and their potential. That 'Crown' is an organization of cursed individuals, and everyone in this room is cursed. They go into the hearts of the most evil places in this country where police and military cannot touch, to wreak havoc and disrupt evil.

Victor explains that, because the nature of cursed people is to commit evil acts, this organization is meant to allow them to do that without fear of punishment, so long as their evils benefit the country.

And now, as a cursed individual who has seen this organization and knows what it's capable of, they have to make a decision about how to deal with you.

"We'll need to study you, that's certain.. But hmm.." Victor wonders out loud. His mind returns to your notes. They were very well taken. "... Do you like writing, perchance?"

".... Yeah."

"Then I think I have a solution~! While you're stuck in this time period, you shall be our fairytale keeper!" He's very pleased with himself. "You had wonderful prose and writing in your notes from what I saw, so I have every belief that you can write something worthy of using as our reports to Her Majesty. You'll write all the evil deeds committed by the people here, including yourself, and write them as fairytales. How does that sound?"

"That sounds like a fake job."

"I just designed it right now, isn't that exciting?" Victor's eyes dance with excitement.

- "It feels like you're just trying to avoid doing more paperwork.." The cocky man gives Victor a sideways glance.

His insinuation isn't stopping Victor's excitement train. "Well, what do you say, ___?"

".. If I say no, are you gonna keep me against my will anyway?"

"Naturally. You know too much and will still need constant supervision."

"And will saying 'yes' and doing this job for you at least give me some kind of freedom in this arrangement, and a chance to earn your trust that I won't go spilling your secrets?"

"Of course."

"Then I guess I'm on-board."

Victor claps his hands excitedly. "This calls for a celebration! Our cursed little family just got a little bigger tonight~! Now, let's get you acquainted with your new home. This calls for a tour!"

...

You really hate tours. -----

End

-----

Next Chapter ----- If you like this chapter, you can stay easily updated when more chapters come out via AO3;Link All of my other random off-shoots for this fandom will also be posted there under "The Curse of Alice - A Collection" series. Thank you for reading!

[sailforvalinor]

I saw you post on seasons 1 through 4 of Dr. Who and I wanted to know more about your accidentally Christian pile. What are some other works do think unintentionally emphasized Christian doctrines or morals?

Ooooooh, really good question!!

So the first thing that comes to mind here is Marvel’s Agents of Shield--each season has it's own story arc and themes, so it's hard to pin down just one thing here, so I'll just talk about a few. I'll talk about the obvious one first: Season 3 in particular has a lot of Christian imagery (though in this case, it's definitely on purpose). You see a flash-forward of a cross necklace at the beginning of the season floating in a spaceship in space right before it blows up, and then you watch as that necklace get passed around from person to person, knowing that whoever ends up with it at the end of the season is going to die. I won't spoil anything more, other than to say that it results in quite a bit of Christ/crucifixion imagery and themes.

Other than this, there's a lot about the redemptive power of love (Fitzsimmons my beloved), individual guilt and how to handle it, how to let go of shame, the inevitable defeat of evil--I know there's more, but that's all I can think of off the top of my head. (AOS girlies/gents, feel free to chime in!) Additionally, one of the main characters explicitly a Christian, and while he's not portrayed perfectly, he's never ridiculed for it by the other characters or the narrative, which is a breath of fresh air. There are of course some things I don't approve of (prepare to have your skip button ready once or twice in the earlier seasons), but it's still a fantastic show, and by far the best show Marvel has ever come out with.

Harry Potter’s a pretty obvious one—Harry has to sacrifice himself and be fully willing to die to kill Voldemort, the fight with the basilisk in Chamber of Secrets has some Biblical parallels—but I’m fairly certain that these themes were deliberate, so I suppose they don’t really count. But they do to me, so 😂

Star Wars is another big one for me—of course, a la George Lucas’s original vision, SW is much more directly influenced by Buddhism, but I find that it often can’t help dipping into Christian themes. I find this is especially true with anything that has Dave Filoni’s name attached, likely because he in turn is pretty influenced by Tolkien and Lewis (Ahsoka is meant to parallel Gandalf, the World Between Worlds in Rebels was inspired by The Magician’s Nephew’s Wood Between Worlds, etc). Mandalorian season 3 in particular blew me away—baptism! Redemption! Rebirth! Mandalorian denominations/sects! Seriously, I was expecting them to come down hard on the strange rules that sect holds themselves to and for Mando to completely reject them—but they didn’t?? It was SO fascinating.

Kingdom Hearts is probably one of my favorite demonstrations of John 15:13: “greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Otherwise, I can’t really think of any super prevalent Christian themes I noticed, but that one is just so strong and so important to the themes of the series, I couldn’t not mention it.

Final Fantasy XV has something similar going for it—although what I’m going to say has MAJOR spoilers, so if don’t want to be spoiled, go ahead and skip this (and play the game because it’s great—but Noctis having to willingly sacrifice himself by sitting on a throne in order to purify his kingdom is as blatant as you get. For crying out loud, he’s called the One True King. However this only holds true for the base game—the dlc’s (except for Episode Prompto, but that’s just because it doesn’t really apply to that plotline, also it’s incredible) and the novel in my opinion kind of ruin it.

Legend of Zelda is an interesting one, because it is of course heavily inspired by Shinto, but a few Christian themes sort of snuck their way in there. In Skyward Sword (oh and spoilers for Skyward Sword). Hylia, though certainly not meant to be a direct Christ figure, chooses to be reborn as a Hylian (basically a human) in order to save her people. The difference here is that Zelda does not know that she’s Hylia, and she never regains her goddess status (at least presumably until she dies of old age), but it’s an interesting parallel nonetheless. Also, there’s a famously creepy cutscene in Twilight Princess where we get the story of how the Twili were banished from Hyrule for dabbling in dark magic, and the sequence has always reminded me of the Fall.

Those were just a few that I thought of off the top of my head—I’m sure there are more, but that’s all that’s coming to me at the moment 😂

[gayelectro]

*grabs you gently* tell me about your self ships, if you’ll like!

EEEEEEEEEE, I LOVE TO RAMBLE, THANK YOU!!! 🌈

I guess I can talk about how I came around to self ship to begin with?

I did have lots of casual "flings" and crushes for sure in my past, but I never really self shipped. I end up crushing on just about any character that my wife writes with me in RPs or even characters that my ex-fiance would write back in the day! I started dabbling in the idea of actually self shipping with Hypnopotamus and Big Mama from Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles back when that was airing. (Think around 2018 to pre-pandemic 2020.) We usually just wrote one off dates or misadventures and there wasn't much more than that. I also kept it very private too, too shy and worried about people being mean.

I think that started getting me comfortable with actually writing myself with a fictional character. What are my traits? How do I act in a relationship that doesn't start online first? All things to really figure out about myself!

And I also had a brief little "I can fix him" moment with Emperor Nefarious from the new Ratchet and Clank game. I think the character's design is really hot, but to be honeeeest, he's a pretty flat character with hardly any screentime in a franchise that I only have a tangential connection to. This resulted in a short fizzle, I just couldn't make it last with just so little. So I realized that what I was looking for in a self ship was a lot more than just initial magnetic attraction, it had to be more substantial.

And then I ended up falling head over heels for Bull Armor!

It was slow at first. His introduction into the plot of the show got me invested to begin with. But even so, then I was like "psssh, there's no way I can find Leaguers attractive though". I love robots and all, but Leaguer proportions are still strange. They're so chibi and yet they all also loom over most humans. Yet inevitably though, something clicked and I was just doomed.

Everything about him and his story just compels me. The way that he's so kindhearted and gentle, yet it never comes into question how powerful and strong he is. How trauma impacted his every waking day after the accident and getting to see him heal from it and make lifelong friends. And his resume is accidentally so long in the weirdest ways, and yet it works! Former (but diagraced) pre-championship football runner and quarterback, robot nurse, soccer goalie for the World Championship... Also he's bull themed, fuck it, as if he didn't have enough going on!

(Art by @/pixlezq )

I love him! He's really the only character I truly consider my "F/O". My wife writes Bully for me and we've got a bunch of plotlines and a whole timeline of our relationship and a couple silly AUs and just lots of cute sappy shippy stuff!

Something I really like about shipping with him is that I think he'd find the way humans function to be fascinating and genuinely beautiful. I'm constantly smitten with the idea of him loving me even more as I age, because humans transform and grow in ways not attainable by robots. I've never thought "I want us to grow old together" before about a fictional character, so it feels extra deep and special that he brings that out in me. I feel more excited about entering what some people disparagingly refer to as "twink death"-- I'm getting hairier and fatter on testosterone and I think it rocks. And I think that a lot of that confidence comes from obviously not just my own joy at how my body is changing, but also because I can imagine he'd be in love with it too.

(Art by @/thebeardedladyofthelake )

Overall, I love this guy! Plus it feels like just the human/robot relationship in the context of the Shippu! Iron Leaguer universe has such an endless array of questions to answer! I feel like we'll never run out of stuff to write about us. Plus, it just makes me happy when I'm stressed.

[catkin-morgs-kookaburralover]

listening to the end of return of the king is giving me Thoughts of several kinds.

i find it fascinating that frodo is merciful eve to those who have directly or indirectly done him wrong (like wormtongue) even after all he's been through. it hasn't hardened him.

the rest of the thoughts are completely unrelated to lotr and are instead related to the story i definitely need to do more editing of so I can share it with people more - taira.

listening to lotr is definitely making me realise how much it accidentally inspired the end of taira. after the climactic final battle, it looks like everything is over and done and all the bad is unmade - except that it isn't, because a contingent of the bad guys have headed to the place where all the children have been put for safety. (this necessitates a mad dash across the country by the good guys, of course, and they make it there in time - equally of course.) it's not the scouring of the shire, but there's got to be at least one death/injury to give a bit of that feeling.

also sam and rosie, i straight up stole that plotline for paddy and lilac lol

[icerosesummerbracket]

Something I really like about the people who surround Radiance, is that they all have vastly different reasons for why they're there, and why they're the way they are. Isabeth is probably the most obvious. She's very young when she accidentally burns down her home and gets taken in by Radiance, who then tells her she's special all her life, pretends to care, and all that jazz. Isabeth is devoted to Radiance because she thinks this is what love is like. Lux on the other hand was taken in much later, and was pretty much raised by the other acolytes. To him, Radiance was more like a legend, a hero, someone from a myth. He's also just,,,,so incredibly trusting, and actually it's only when Radiance really starts training him herself that his immersion is broken, and a sense of wrongness kicks in. (So like, classic cult stuff). I think for Fennel it's his sensitivity that's both his saving grace, and ultimately, his death sentence. Kid couldn't hurt a fly, he just wants to tend to his veggies and write his poetry, dammnit. As for Belladonna, she also grew up with Radiance, but unlike the other acolytes, she knew about all the atrocities going on pretty early on. (That scene where her magpie gets killed,,,,it's fine, I didn't need my heart anyways). All this results of course in a fascinating combination of "fuck this shit, I hate it here, I will not do a single thing these people tell me" but also "there's nothing I can do, I'm stuck, I have no agency, life is unfair, and there's nothing I can do to change it, so why waste energy, why bother?" So she ends up rebelling in small ways, while also being an accomplice when it comes to other stuff. Anyways, that's just my thoughts on it, tell me if I misinterpreted anything, it (unfortunately) happens quite a lot,,,,

[This was entirely inspired by the Radiance post, which I loved to bits < 3 I also have Thoughts on Etienne spying, but it's entirely connected to the anti-monarchy revolution plotline I may or may not have made up, which hasn't passed queue (yet?), so I'm hesitent to bring it up, but if it ends up being accepted, I might end up eleboratating a little on that too : ) ]

Yeah, I love how none of it feels redundant- like, especially with Lux and Isabeth, both you could summarize with "are desperate for Radiance's approval because she's the only source of positive attention they get" but they couldn't be more different in execution

[OOC- THANK YOU.... love that my characterizations for at least Isabeth, Lux, Fennel, and Belladonna have passed the peer-review lol. Also I love all the subtle additions made possible through using in-character voice. Also now I'm tempted to immediately go say yes to your anti-monarchy revolution plotline ask to hear your thoughts on Etienne, but I still gotta think it over]

[mdhwrites]

S3 Has Done A Weirdly Good Job Setting Up For It’s Finale... But Was It Worth It?

For anyone who is thinking this is a gag or a gotcha... Well, it’s a little of the second but it’s not a joke actually. I’m sincere in saying that it has made it so that, despite S2B, it is actually capable of even having a finale at this point that might be at all satisfying. The bigger question is if it matters when there’s so little satisfying about the show at this point or to get hyped about. This was inspired by someone mentioning that they expected the finale to be middling despite loving the show because it simply had too much to wrap up. Too many plot threads to tie together. I mean, come on! They haven’t even given Belos a full backstory yet. Which... That last part is fascinating to me from a narrative standpoint but I also don’t entirely blame them for it. I’ll get back to it though because the bigger question is: How many plot threads really are still dangling? How many character arcs need to be finished? How much expanding on things is there to do? Let’s go down the list of what was theoretically needed to be tackled by S3 once S2 was wrapped. We’ll also talk about how each one was wrapped up (expect much snark), or not as some cases will be: (and sorry if I’m a bit off the mark on any of these. I’ve seen parts of the episodes but still refuse to watch the season itself so much of this is second hand): Returning to the Human Realm: Fixed effectively as much by happenstance as anything else. This allowed the first special to focus more on other matters from what I’ve been told. Speaking of those other matters: Luz’s angst over helping Belos and the Collector: *incoherent screaming* Ignoring this being one of the worst plot decisions in the show, it is wrapped up at this point. Getting Stringbean is effectively that moment. This is, you know, in spite of the fact that all evidence points to Luz entirely ignoring any talk of how mistakes are okay and shifting it entirely onto a personal narrative that is questionable at best because when was the last time someone told Luz no? Or didn’t try their damnedest to understand her? When did Camila ever do this in fact outside of when Luz’s actions caused her to ACCIDENTALLY ASSAULT PEOPLE? But it’s resolved with minimal interaction from other characters besides her mom. Everyone forgives her immediately anyways when it was revealed and it continued into the second special for... reasons I’ll get into. Hunter being a Grimmwalker: Dealt with similarly to Luz’s angst where no one actually thinks it’s a big deal besides him until Belos takes possession of him. They then gut their disability allegories by ‘curing’ Hunter through the death of his best friend. Because I’d totally be cured of my depression if my best friend gave their life to make it happen! Amity... Actually, Amity at the point of S3 has effectively nothing going on that needs further expanding, to the point where she doesn’t bring up her dad in S3 Ep. 2. This is probably why she’s the largest comic relief in S3 Ep. 1 with human realm shenanigans and clumsiness because the writers recognize she’s still the third most important of the characters in the human realm. Speaking of: Gus: Hasn’t had anything going on in the entire show except for single episode plotlines. He was never going to get much out of S3. Or even a S5 potentially with how the writers treated him. Willow: I would copy and paste what I just said about Gus except that she gets stuff in the second special even though many of the elements used for it haven’t been relevant to her character for at least one season, if not literally two. And yet she still gets to effectively be the secondary star to Ep. 2 and... I’ll get into why after I’m done with this portion. Lilith: Her character was done with ‘Cool Aunt Lilith’. Eda: Eda hasn’t actually had anything going on for her except Raine since S1′s finale. Even the S1 finale ends up being treated by her more like a reset back to status quote than anything more which has interesting things about it good and bad. I’m being mouthy enough as is though. Belos: Should have stayed dead and sure as shit isn’t getting anymore interesting just because every bit of lore is tied to his backstory. He’s a villain because he’s an asshole and he really isn’t much deeper than that unfortunately. The best thing about him is change he inspires in other characters and... *looks back at Luz and Hunter* Let’s just say he’s no Perfect Cell, a villain who also gets a lot of bonus points for that same reason. The Collector: Over three months he went from “I can’t wait to play in the bones!” to “What is death? I’m just a wittle guy.” Which is effectively mixing an anarchic, force of nature villain and turning him into a sympathetic villain who doesn’t understand his actions who is Upside: one step away from redemption and Downside: not at all coherent or interesting because he’s so obviously barely a character. He’s just missing too much to not easily be read as a tool of the author to have ANOTHER (the at least fourth in the series in THREE SEASONS) bad guy turned good guy. Just, you know, the biggest because it’s the finale. Camila: She’s a saint with no baggage and resolved Luz’s stuff so nothing really there. The Isles being warped by the Collector: I have thoughts on what I’ve seen and heard but I’ll actually pin this for the same segment as Belos’ ‘full’ backstory. Kikimora: Who was still taking Kikimora seriously? Who COULD take Kikimora seriously by now? She’s threatening only because of a mech but she herself has been a joke since Eclipse Lake. Why would they include her... Put a pin in it. Edit: King: I forgot King at first but he’s honestly a main character at this point because of LORE so I’m not all that surprised. He has such little to do between him finding out about his beginnings to when he found out about his heritage (minus Knock Knock Knocking) that he’s overshadowed by a lot of others. After Titan Hunters, he then became quite possibly the wisest, most rational character in the show. Bare minimum, the wisest 8 year old in existence. And that’s... Just super not interesting. Any real plot line left with King I feel effectively died the moment he was ready to give his blood to the Collector with minimal hesitation. For the greater good, don’t get me wrong, but he’s EIGHT YEARS OLD. And theoretically still the same character as he was in S1. But I’ve done several blogs at this point about TOH’s character arcs being rough to put it mildly. And I could maybe go on but that’s much of what comes to mind immediately. So what is left to cover for S3′s finale? Well... The Collector’s final game which doesn’t have to be that long. The Collector’s turn to being a good guy, likely when his game demands he kill King, or King gets a chance by the rules of the game to kill the Collector but doesn’t do so. Just something that makes the Collector start considering how other people feel about his games and the like in a big, emotional way so he can make his full transition. Belos being forced out of Raine’s body and nuked by The Collector. Again. And Luz’s destiny between worlds. Which world, or both, will she be living in. And that’s... actually pretty bare bones going into a finale. That’s more than little enough to cover in 55 minutes alongside some resolution for the other characters getting happy endings in a montage. And... If you didn’t notice, this is actually mostly what was left on the table for S3 in general except for more potential of the process of beating The Collector being more complicated and harder to do. And that’s where we get into the pins about Kikimora and Willow. They’re padding. It sucks to say, I don’t like it either, but without actually trying to finally use the coven heads as antagonists or have a more protracted conflict with The Collector and what he’s done to the Isles, you needed some way to have an episode in the Isles that still dealt with something specifically of the Isles in theory. And those things were chosen to be first Hexide, a setting that has hardly mattered for about a season at that point besides the fact that it gives a convenient meeting ground for Hunter to meet Gus and Willow... Characters who mostly didn’t matter in S2, and especially S2A for Willow. Second was Boscha and Kikimora for antagonists because one is a Hexide antagonist who stopped mattering before the end of S1 and then the person who had a big enough mech to theoretically even challenge the five strongest witches on the Isles. And then because Gus has a good relationship with most people, plus shipping with Matt, the conflict went instead to Willow. Instead of being clever with her arch and how the show has defined her role in the narrative, they go back to an issue dealt with literally in the first six episodes of the series as a representation for repression. Because out of control magic is totally what makes sense for repressing your emotions instead of, I dunno, her powers genuinely just not functioning because she’s plugged herself up too much. It’s not a bad angle mind you, it’s done fine enough and fits okay with the character, even now, but I also made an entire blog about Too Little Too Late because of it. But then we get to the other pins: Belos’ backstory and the changing of the Isles. These are... theoretically things they cover and expand but they’re also just not narratively critical at this point. Belos is indeed still the main villain but he’s motivated by spite and wanting to finish his goal of killing all witches more than he is by his backstory or logic so his reasoning hardly matters. The changing of the Isles also has mostly to do with selling the Collector as a threat and villain, things that are actually against the writer’s narrative goals. So a lot of things people are asking for are things that, from the standpoint of this being a show with limited time and a high cost of production, just... shouldn’t be covered. That time should more be spent refining finishing the plot and giving a satisfying ending. But when there’s so little to resolve, and characters have been either kind of flat or out of character for much of the season... Why should we be excited for the ending? Especially an ending that has effectively telegraphed itself even before a trailer was put out for it. What sucks about an ending like the Sopranos is that an audience can imagine a dozen ways for it to go down and an answer to that, especially in something they love, can be exhilarating. But in something like The Owl House, where the answers are obvious and only the minutia is up for debate, and much of that minutia could be painful or narratively backwards (OOOOOH BOY will it be a bad time for everyone if they bull the same thing they did with Amphibia and have Luz only live in the Human Realm and wish everyone on the Isles goodbye) then... Why should we be excited? It isn’t the conclusion of a story that has too many questions to be certain about or a villain we want so badly to see brought down that it’ll bring us true catharsis. It’s the ending of a world we once saw so much potential in and now are just hoping won’t die in its final moments. And honestly? For me? I wish the show had actually faced a cancellation because that world feels so small now that I’d rather it have just never been given an ending so we could play in the world as much as we desired and never had to face the prospect of one last, painful goodbye instead of a triumphant farewell.

[daisywords]

ok I've been sleeping on Fablehaven but I'm getting through a chapter or two during lunch and I have several things to say about this part (chapters 7&8)

I think about the 'blowing bubble for the fairies' scene all the time. enrichment in their enclosure literally

I forgot that Stan just casually understands the fairy language? how did he learn it? did he take a class lol. Also do all the fairies know English?

I don't ship Kendra/Bracken but I do have to say she started off the whole 'loving unicorns' thing all the way back in book 1. so good for her ig

Seth capturing and accidentally transforming the fairy + the fairies' retaliation is an absolutely perfectly executed plot point. Like 1) it's a good bridge between the low-stakes first half and and the high-stakes second half. It defines the stakes and illustrates the potential consequences of breaking rules, laying through groundwork for the turning point at the summer solstice. And like the concept of using magic by interacting with natural laws. AND AT THE SAME TIME it increases the tension and directly relates to the climax by forcing them to untie one of Muriel's knots. Fantastic introduction to that plotline. (I say introduction even though we've already met Muriel and her rope because its here where we learn the significance of the knots and the risk of her being set free.) Literally this part of the plot perfectly sets up basically everything that follows AND YET IT DOESN'T FEEL FORCED! Like of course Seth would catch a fairy he's the perfect combination of competent and stupid to move things forward. A+ character.

"Hush Seth. You've lost the ability of speech." iconic line for some reason

The 'acting according to their nature' magical creatures vs. 'more agency + more consequences' humans and the spectrum in between is one of the most interesting things about this series to me. Like how Stan points out that fairies love themselves and imps hate themselves but "their personalities remain the same—shallow and self-absorbed." absolutely fascinating implications...and how later there's the more "intelligent" creatures like centaurs and demons and how they do have more agency but are also trapped by their nature idk it just makes me go a little insane. And like how Lena prefers to be a human now but when she's a naiad she prefers to be a naiad and how that's echoed by the changing nature of dragons when they take human form and dfghjk I'm getting ahead of myself

The dichotomy of Muriel being a creepy old lady in a gross shack but speaking very smoothly and politely. A+

"Kendra, nice to meet you, may you find less happiness than you deserve." asdfghjk