#and the big three have had some dead flags as well

[jadeylovesmarvelxo]

Sunset ✨

Sunset was something you looked forward to every day.

Sunrise was something you dreaded.

Fluff and angst, vampire Eddie x reader, 18+ as there are slightly spicy situations.

✨

It's one of those long shifts at Family Video that's dragged on endlessly, you finish at five pm, the time seems to be passing by as slowly as possible.

You're grateful that Family Video managed to survive after the earthquake that should have torn the town apart, if it weren't for El destroying the Upside Down and stopping that grinchy ass looking Vecna's plans then you're sure Hawkins would have ended up as the epicentre for the apocalypse.

Mindless chatter washes over you as you vaguely listen to the conversations of a gang of preteens arguing over which film they were watching for movie night.

Steve and Robin are also discussing the dates that they went on at the weekend and you try to focus your attention on them, oohing and aching at the right moments.

You were happy that Robin was getting on so well with Vickie and that Steve was finally moving on from Nancy, it's just you were finding it hard to concentrate when you knew what tonight entailed.

Robin and Steve didn't know you were keeping a very very big secret.

Everything was pretty much back to normal, Autumn was well on its way and Hawkins looked picturesque as the trees turned various shades of reds, gold and brown. There was a chill in the air and Steve was planning a small party for when Halloween rolled around.

As much as you loved Halloween all that you could think of was tonight and how you wished that it was sundown.

Sundown was something that you looked forward to every day...because of him.

Finally when the clock strikes five you're anxiously shrugging off your work vest, Robin is grinning at you and Steve smirks as you wave goodbye to them hastily, "Looks like someone else has a hot date" he says to Robin.

Well they aren't wrong.

✨❤️

It's dead silent as you rush into your house and straight upstairs to your bedroom. Snuffles the bear isn't in his usual resting place on the bed, instead he's being held by the lone figure who's standing at your window.

Eddie.

"Hi"

All the tension leaves your body as your eyes trail over him, he turns to you and there's a serene smile on his face.

"Princess" his voice is so soft and tender. A whisper in the wind.

His eyes are a mix of brown and the tiniest tinge of red. He's hungry. It must have been a couple days since he's fed.

"I missed you" you tell him as you rush over to him and as much as you desperately want to throw your arms around him, you know that he needs blood. Mostly he feeds himself on blood bags, keeping his hunger sated.

Not that you know much about what he does, he showed up at your window nearly three months ago and almost gave you a heart attack.

He was dirty, covered in blood and goodness knows what else and you rushed to help him, you were so certain he was dead; Dustin was so sure that he was dead otherwise neither of you would have left his body in that...hellhole.

The guilt almost overwhelmed you but you pushed it out of your mind and the red flags that were forming in your mind at how the hell he was alive.

You guided him to the shower and found him some clean clothes that you sneakily borrowed from your dad, the clothes were baggy on Eddie but they were better than nothing.

Despite being presumed dead, Eddie had no injuries, scars yes but no injuries. Maybe it was some freaky Upside Down coincidence, you didn't know at the time what was really wrong.

The next morning Eddie was gone and he didn't return for days to the point you were certain that him coming back was all a dream.

He returned a few days later and it's the first time that you found out what he had turned into. He was covered in blood, some of it coated around his mouth. His eyes were bright red and you saw a hint of fangs.

That's the night you found out he was a vampire.

...

At first he would visit once or twice a week but recently it had turned into...more. Almost every night he visited you now and it was like he had never gone. He was his usual goofy, charismatic self and you loved the time you spent together.

The only other person who knew was Dustin and if Eddie wasn't with you then he was with Dustin, still playing D&D and teaching Dustin all the metal music knowledge he knew.

"I missed you too" his fingers ghost over your cheek and his hand rests on your chest, directly on your heart. His lips meet yours and like the last few times this has happened the kissing heats up quickly, it's all you can do but to pull away reluctantly.

There's a soft growl in Eddie's throat and you soften as he turns away from you immediately. He always gets like this when he's hungry.

"It's okay' you notice his eyes flash with hunger, you can feed" he nods then slowly guides you to the bed, he waits until you're settled before he sits down and kisses you again, lips trailing over your jaw then to your neck.

There's a slight sting as his fangs pierce your skin, he moans and one of his hands caresses your hips, god you shouldn't be so turned on by this but you are.

Blood pounds in your ears and a delicious heat pools in your stomach. Eddie pulls away, chuckles lightly and his eyes meet yours.

"You taste divine sweetheart and I'm guessing you liked that very much?" you nod, squirming with need and he smirks and his eyes darken for an entirely different reason.

He then wastes no time in burying his head between your thighs.

❤️

Much much later you're cuddled into Eddie and trace gentle circles around his tattoo. Your body is entwined with his, a frown on his face as he notices that it's nearly dawn.

Yeah you're trying not to notice that as well, the thought makes your throat feel tight and your heart ache.

He sighs and kisses you softly "I have to go princess" he sounds as disappointed as you are and all you can do is nod. You're afraid if you say anything you might tear up.

Theres a few more long, passionate kisses but pretty soon times up. Eddie groans and kisses your forehead, he then whispers in your ear. "I love you Princess"

Okay, now the tears really do come. "I love you too Eddie" his answering smile makes your heart flutter and with another quick kiss he's ready to leave.

"I'll be counting down the hours until I can see you again sweetheart" he winks and then he's gone.

You lay in your bed full of a million different emotions, Eddie loves you. He loves you. It makes you feel giddy. How you wish he could be here in the sunlight too.

As much as you loved sundown, you dreaded sunrise.

✨❤️

[tinypixl]

Inspired by Vrelnir saying that Harper was originally supposed to track down asylum escapee PC's on the blogspot a while ago, so here's a lil scene for how I imagine this could have gone (with a tiny sprinkle of wish fulfillment✨)

@pip-n-chips come get yo food, this was motivated by you digging up that old-ass ask 👀

Warnings/Additional Info: m!Harper, no smut sry, Harper being Harper, stalking, vomit mention, wobbly writing, implied past/future SA, traumatized PC, drugs, kidnapping, a tiny sprinkle of yandere

"...And remember, ladies and gentlemen," Harper said sternly, his hands folded behind his back: "You are dealing with a very disturbed and possibly confused individual that is quite capable of harming others as well as themselves."

Harper now finally turned to face the group of orderlies behind him with an unreadable expression. He paused for a few seconds, letting his words set in before continuing: "That being said, it is of upmost importance that you do not underestimate the patients intellectual capacity," Harpers expression remained unreadable but he visibly clenched his teeth, remembering how he himself had so stupidly miscalculated that sharp wit of yours.

"...Especially not after the incident that they caused a few days ago, which started this whole situation in the first place. The ones of you working in the asylum will know the full extend."

Some of the orderlies exchanged confused glances, the others knew better.

Harper turned around again and took a few steps forward. He stopped infront of a desk and picked up a piece of paper. It was a poster. A poster of you, with glazed, terror-stricken eyes. It had been taken when you first came to the asylum, now printed out as a warning to the townfolk (at least, that's the excuse he used in this case all the time: the safety of the townfolk...)

He inspected it incrediously, before swiftly fetching it as he spoke up once more: "I not only want you to be on the lookout for anyone entering and leaving the Nightingale hospital, I want you to keep an eye on the whole town, especially on Domus street. We've talked about the benefits those who'll retrieve this patient will recieve."

Harper looked upon that beautiful poster of yours once more before turning his head towards the orderlies one last time, the soft smile he usually wears had returned to his features.

"That was all, don't forget it," he remarked mannerly but one would've been reckless to ignore the discreet undertone of his voice.

"You are dismissed."

Orderlies began to shuffle out of the room. Harper made sure to wait until the last one left, the door slamming close before he returned his attention to the poster.

The dark room was dead quiet now with the only light peaking in through the thin lines of the shut blinds.

Harpers thumb gently brushed over the cheek of your image as he only took in your haunted expression for a moment. Then, he moved his arm to put it back on the desk again but stopped short of it's surface. Instead, he folded it three times and put it in the right pocket of his doctor's coat for later. It's not the first copy he lended for personal use but it's okay, he made enough for it not to make a difference.

To his suprise, he actually found himself feeling quite giddy today. It was certainly a big improvement from last weeks mood.

That being said, he still chastised himself for his embarrassing underestimation of your character. After all, it was extremely significant for his profession to be wary and watchful. But you were always so unassuming. Harper had carelessly mistaken your quietness as flustered shyness, maybe even submission. A mistake, that had made him want to rip his hair out when it finally hit him.

Your mind's stubborn refusal of his hypnosis attempts should've been a major red flag for that but then again, you'd never made the impression of an unruly patient who was plotting something. You weren't really popular with the other patients, mostly keeping to yourself and studying. You never resisted the rest of the treatment, never attacked him, always looking at him with those big innocent doe eyes-

Harper slammed his hands on the desk in front of him, some of his irritation returning accompanied by an odd fluttering in his stomach.

That little plan of yours had set into motion about two months ago, he reckoned. He recalled the view in front of him, of the flimsy hospital gown barely covering your supple body and how you'd obeyed his command to sit on his lap without any protests. The way your plush thighs had pressed against his own...

He could still feel the shivers go right into his crotch thinking about it... And how you'd kissed him then... Your soft lips hungrily bruising his, wet little tongue peaking into his mouth. So eager, so devoted... He really thought then that you'd lusted for him in the same vain that he had for you for so, so long.

A shaky breath came through Harper's slightly parted mouth. He wasn't entirely sure if you'd taken his keycard then or after he had you bend over his desk but it was gone in the evening. He'd spend the entirety of that day flushed with his heart pumping, he hadn't thought much of it going missing, as he'd also visited the farm not too long after. There was a spare he'd kept after all so it didn't matter much to him, thinking it just fell out in his lust-filled stupor...

Imagine his horror when he'd gotten all the patients back under control during that incident and you were suddenly missing. He'd even been worried at first that you'd gotten attacked and were lying somewhere, hurt. The security footage disproved that rather quickly. None of the orderlies had been able to find, let alone retrieve you from the surrounding area.

He'd spend that whole evening looking for you, and the entire night looking through hours upon hours of security footage. You'd entered the security room the same evening you'd stolen his keycard. That had also been when your frequent studying habit started. Every single damn textbook you'd used had been looked through by him that night. Oh you smart, slippery little thing. You'd been trying to figure out how to manipulate the control panel all this time...

A uncharacteristic grin formed on Harper's lips, his giddiness returning. Right, you were smart and you'd tricked him. He gave you that. But you were also all alone. Sure, he couldn't really waltz into Bailey's territory to get you back, you were still his ward which he hated, he should be the one in control, it wasn't enough to desperately pull on your delicate strings-

But you also wouldn't be able to hide in the orphanage forever. Eventually, you would have to resume your everyday life and then it would only be a matter of time.

Harper glanced into the asylum's yard through the cracks of the blinds, watching all the small moving figures.

It would only be a matter of time before he got you back.

~

A few small knocks rang against your door. The noise didn't startle you too much anymore, you'd gotten used to it pretty quickly after coming back. Despite this, it seemed a bit different today. With how early it was you first thought that it had been Bailey but the softness of the knocks contradicted that assumption.

For another moment, you just laid there, staring up at the ceiling before exhaling and dragging yourself to your dingy bedroom door.

Through the little gap, the flickering light of the hallway as well as two big, round, sympathetic eyes greeted you. Robin. She wore that small apologetic smile, with her brows softly knitted over her eyes. You adored that expression as much as you loathed it sometimes, it made you feel so pitied...

"Hey, how are you feeling?", Robin inquired carefully.

Stuttering, you could only give her a rather vague answer: "Umm I... I d-don't know I... think I'm okay...?"

"Do you think that... Maybe you'll be able to go to school again? No pressure of course! I'm just... A bit worried that you'll maybe miss too many hours. Don't want you to get written up or anything.."

Sweat collected on your hands that you tried to wipe on your pyjama pants. Robin was right but... You were still a bit... skeptical about assuming that you're in the clear just because you escaped but you couldn't tell her that.

Robin noticed your inner tutmoil and chimed in once more: "Of course, I'd walk with you to and from school! Just like you did when I was...", she trailed off.

Your mouth felt dry, trying to force out an answer.

"... Okay. I'll get ready."

Robin beamed at you before telling you to come to her room when you were done. It's fine you figured, you couldn't hide in the orphanage forever.

~

It was, in fact, not fine. But you didn't figure that out soon enough, the days after you'd gone to school again running just too smoothly. Despite looking over your shoulder, you never saw anyone watching. On the third day you even felt save enough to start to go to work on your own again.

Now, hiding in an alleyway beside two dumpsters in the dead of night, you noticed your slip-up.

Your hands were clutching a poster that you had ripped off the wall behind you minutes prior and probably the reason why you were in this situation in the first place. Your face was plastered on top. On the bottom it read: 'Warning! Dangerous asylum escapee; Caution is advised' along with a number to call about your last whereabouts. You had never been a danger to other people and still weren't but you knew the truth didn't matter in this town. Not when it was so easy for someone sneaky and powerful enough to just twist it to their advantage.

It was now abundantly clear to you where the orderlies you'd ran from earlier came from. Why didn't any of those posters catch your attention before?

Quietly, you huddled further into yourself beside the two dumpsters, trying to keep it together.

The alley lead into a dead-end but maybe, just maybe you were lucky and they hadn't seen you go in. You assumed they were still searching the surrounding area, so if you were quiet enough-

"Are you certain they went this way? You haven't found any trace of them yet."

You almost choked on the air that you were trying to inhale, hands instantly clasping over your mouth as you tried to keep yourself from hyperventilating. Of course, you'd recognize that smooth almost plummy voice instantly. You briefly wondered why he'd make such a big effort of showing up himself to bring you back but then again, the poster clutched in your hands over your mouth should've been enough prove to you that he was very serious about this.

A group of footsteps ripped you out of your thoughts and made your heart jump in terror. They were still rather distant but... definitely in the alleyway you were hiding in.

"100% sure Doctor, 'seen them go in this direction myself. We've searched any possible place they might've went. They have to be in here."

Oh god, you felt like you were going to throw up. The footsteps came closer, you could hear it. The ones closest to you sounded calm as they could be. Unrushed, taking their sweet time before they suddenly stopped.

"Alright. Let me handle this.", Harper's voice rang out once more. Now you could only hear those calm, slow footsteps coming closer and closer. Tears stung at the corners of your eyes.

Your name being called out gingerly sent a cold shiver down your spine. Harper's voice had taken on a soothing tone, the same one he used to play-pretend a normal doctor, the same one he used to hypnotise people:"... You don't have to be afraid any longer. I'm here to help you!"

At this point, you had completely given up on trying to control your breathing. Instead trying to hold you breath as much as could to prevent a full-blown panic attack. Prey, you felt like cornered prey.

"Please don't make this so hard on the both of us. I can help you. You'll feel so much better with regular treatment, I promise..."

Tears now ran down your cheeks freely as it took everything in you not to sob in pure horror. Despite your heartbeat pounding in your ears you heard clearly that his voice had started to shake slightly; giddy with anticipation. You needed to get out of here... You needed to get out of here!

"Someone in your predicament shouldn't be without help for so long...", his voice became more breathy as he closed in on your hiding spot.

"We both know that I know what's best for you..", the edge of lust in it was now unmistakeable. He was getting off on this.

You bit down on your tongue, trying to still your quivering form. You'd captivated the dear doctor, so much more than you could have known that you did and now, you'd pay gravely for your mistake-

"Got you."

A bloodcurdling scream tore out of your throat when his flushed, panting face was suddenly inches away from yours. It was instantly muffled by a chloroform-drenched rag. In your adrenaline-fueled desperation, you tore on his arm and pulled him down with you.

It took Harper by suprise and he crashed down on his knees, which gave you the chance to draw in a last-minute breath before wasting no more time to get to your feet to bolt out of the alley.

Something brushed over the hood of your jacket, trying to grasp ahold of it but failing as you ran, ran, ran

right into the arms of the two orderlies, to your unfortune.

"Not so fast!", one of them commanded. You tugged against them but they have you held tightly by both arms.

The clicking sound of dress shoes against concrete rang in your ears. You lifted your head to Doctor Harper's approaching figure.

Finally, the loud sob you'd been holding in slipped from you. You started struggling even harder against the two orderlies, nauseous with pure dread.

"Easy there kid.", one of the oderlies told you but you couldn't hear them, your mind preoccupied with primal fear.

Harper steps in front of you, with his usual soft, creepy smile.

"Sshhh..." Harper gently tucked a strand of hair behind your ear before firmly grasping your chin. His thumb lightly stroking it.

"Don't worry, I know what you need. I know that you need me."

With that, he held the rag to your face tightly as he continued to shush your muffled cries.

His thumb never leaving the softness of your cheek until your lights went out.

[cherry-pop-elf]

Newly Made Man

Draco Malfoy x Professor!Reader

Inspired by this post, which is originally drawn by Antenna

Summary: Ivy, Daniel, and Olive (Weasley) have asked for you help catching a ferret. You needed an excuse to not do some paper work. Who knew helping a gaggle of kids could lead to a date

“Professor! Professor Professor Professor-!” You would hear the gaggle of students call for you. They always seem to find you whenever you weren’t busy. A mysterious talent they held. As if you would complain. You were once a Hogwarts student as well. You liked the adventure.

“Yes? Ah, you three.” You chuckled, as you saw the trio show up. A pair of red heads, and that silvery violet, right in front of you. The trio looked rather excited. Daniel seemed more so frustrated, Ivy curious, and Miss Olive had that look in her eyes that reminded you so much of the twins. You could only assume something will blow up soon.

“There’s a ferret, and it stole Daniel’s bag-!” Olive would inform you. That had Ivy giggle, as Daniel was getting more and more frustrated. The boy didn’t have the best family life. That bag was nearly all he had to call to his name, after all.

“Oh dear. We can’t have that, can we? Where was it last-“ Before you could even finish the sentence, something skittered between your legs. A clinking bag was being dragged in its mouth, as it ran. The clinking sounds had to be potions, which meant it was Daniel’s. Such a white blur.

“AFTER THAT RAT-!” The red heads screamed, as Ivy tried to clarify it was actually more closely related to a dog or cat than a rat. Jeez, whoever could be the Hermione of that trio?

With a fond smile, you were soon chasing after them. It was rather nostalgic. It reminded you so much of your days as a student. Having Hermione, Ron, and Harry chase after the likes of Malfoy. How often times many a fellow student would tag along, and it was almost a big game between everyone. Almost like capture the flag if you will. Never thought you would miss something like that.

“WATCH OUT-!” Was soon shouted by you, but they were moving too fast. The trio crashed right into a gaggle of other students. They were all in a clump, and groaning. You wanted to assign, but you didn’t want that ferret out of sight.

“IVE GOT IT-!” You reassured, as you kept chasing the creature. You wanted to try and fast a spell, but it seemed to zig zag infront of you. As if aware that you would attempt such actions. Might not be the first time this little devil caused some mayhem. Perhaps it was a students pet? Would explain why it seemed to know where it was going. Managing to avoid dead ends, and not go where there were stairs to slow it down.

“Will you get back here?!” You huffed, as it finally found a place to hide with the bag. Nice and cozy in a tree, at a familiar courtyard. Just snuggled into the branch. Taking a little yawn. As if bored, and ready to slip. Such a mocking thing. Having the bag just out of your reach.

“I swear, every white haired creature I deal with is a pain in the butt. One way, or another.” You huffed, as you just swore the ferret rolled its eyes at you. Seeming to not take your comment too lightly.

“What would you even need a potion bag for? Gonna make some potions?” You would say to the ferret. Wand in hand, and sass on full dial. Sure had the students in the court yard giggle at you.

“Where is your owner?” You asked, as if expecting an answer back. That’s when you looked around. Hufflepuff’s! They should know! Or at least know someone who would.

“Do you know who this ferret belongs to?” You would ask the students around you. After a few thoughts, and whispers, they all shook their heads. No one knew. How strange. White ferret’s aren’t uncommon, so you figured that someone would.

“This school certainly isn’t showing itself to have a good track record with ferrets. Huh? Hope you aren’t another turned student, who played dirty with the wrong crowd.” The knowing tone made said ferret stick its tiny tongue out at you.

“Sassy like the last one too.” A wag of your wand was given, as you were ready to try and cast a spell to get the bag back. Maybe it was something in your tone, but it seemed the ferret had enough play for one day. With its tiny nose, it would nudge the bag off the branch. Narrowly managed to understand what it was doing, and grabbed said bag. As if you needed potions to explode.

“Thank you.” You would give a dramatic bow, as if with a Hippogriff. Another stick of its tongue, before it took its chance to jump on you. Ran right all over your body, before curling around your neck. As if a little scarf. Wet little nose nuzzled your cheek, before it was ready for its nap.

“Cuter than the one I knew to.” You would give it a gentle pet, before going to try and hunt down those students. Quit the sporting look you held now. A pretty little neck piece, that was as blinding white as the clouds in the sky.

Was a rather peaceful walk, you couldn’t deny it. Just enjoying the fresh air. Along with having a companion to snuggle with. Tiny scratches to its little chin. Gave you happy chirps in return.

“Adorable thing. You remind me a lot of a companion I had in school. His name was Draco. Draco Malfoy. Prettiest man I had ever seen. So handsome, and sly. I wonder what life would have been like, if there was no war. So many confusing emotions at the time. Can’t love the enemy, as they say.” You sighed, as the ferret gave your cheek a little lick. As if to comfort you. It was accepted, as you gently brushed your finger down its spine.

“My bag-!” Daniel was quick to point out, and hardly gave you time to register he found you. It was in his hands again. Left to be hugged tightly. Certainly gave him a scare. Ivy was quick to pat his back, while Olive gave the ferret a suspicious stare.

“…….You look familiar-“ She muttered, only for the ferret to quickly hide itself in your robes. Made you giggle, as its little paws ran around your body. Poor thing seemed startled. Olive did have that effect. She was the daughter of George Weasley. That certainly made her friends of peeves. That alone says it all.

“Coward.” Another mumble was tossed, before she would give Daniel’s head a ruffle. The poor boys, pun intended, bag was returned. One of the few things he could call his own. A relief it was. That’s for sure.

“Thank you Professor…” Daniel sighed, as you nodded. Anything for the students.

“Does the ferret belong to anyone?” Ivy would ask, as you would get said rascal into your hands. Just dangling him around, as he looked at you with big silvery eyes.

“None of the Hufflepuffs I asked knew. Seems far too intelligent to just be a wild stray either. Seems well aware of the Hogwarts grounds as well-“ Before you finished, Olive stared daggers at the white furred menace. You heard of the story about the family rat, so you don’t blame her being anxious around creatures. Yet, that was a Weasley stare. A stare that could pull the truth out of you like any Veritaserum.

“Animagus…..And one that I know. Come on, Uncle D-!” She would poke at the ferrets little tushy. Made the small thing give a chirp of annoyance, as you blinked. Uncle D-? Uncle….No. White fur, silver eyes, knowing the Hogwarts layout….

The moment you dropped him, it was a whisper of black and white. As if a swirling mist. All the thematics, to show a slender figure in its wake. With long bleached hair, a tight black attire, with a silvery under bust to ever keep him tall and slender. If it wasn’t for that playful smile you would think it was Lucius.

“For a Weasley, you certainly know how to ruin the fun.” He scoffed at Olive, as she stuck her tongue out at him. Left you all a fluster. Given said ferret had been nuzzling and licking you, and the little secret you spilled.

“Woah…..Draco Malfoy….” Daniel was wide eyed. Of course he would. He himself was a potion prodigy. Much like the Weasley twins, and Draco, were when his age. It can’t help being admire. Sure fueled the man’s ego.

“And why is a Malfoy stealing random children’s bags?” You would puzzle, as he seemed to cringe at such a name. Lucius did make sure it was tainted. That was for certain.

“It’s Black, actually. Draco Black. Took on my mother’s maiden name, for obvious reasons.” He would grit. “-And as for the bag. Well, I was curious. Is curiosity a crime?” Ever the sassy one. Had you roll your eyes, as you jabbed him with your wand.

“Ow ow-! Ok, I did it because….I…Well-“ He swallowed, as the trio were wondering why a grown man would do such a thing. That is, until Olive started to giggle.

“You thought it was funny, huh? That’s something dad would do!” She kept giggling, as he was pink on the face. Guess Draco wanted to be a little bit normal, for once. Actually do pranks, and be childish. Least, that’s what you are getting. Olive did call him Uncle D. It had been so long since you last saw him. You swore he was sentence to Azkaban. Suppose it’s time to catch up.

“Tell him, and you are dead-“ He threatened, as Ivy soon had her wand drawn. Taking the threat rather literal. Had the older man throw his hands in mock defeat, at such a gesture.

“I’ll deal with him, you three hurry off now. It’s almost lunch. Go on-!” You would shoo, as they ran off. Daniel holding his bag tighter, Ivy with a scowl to the older man, and Olive with a two finger salute.

“So……Seems like you finally got along with those red heads…..” You said, as you started walking. He didn’t refuse the motion, and walked with you.

“It’s complicated…..I rather avoid the details. Potter was able to make sure my mother and I avoided Azkaban, and community service was applied instead. Thanks to Po….Harry-“ He would begin to explain his story to you, as you both walked.

A case of laying low, and rebuilding himself. A hard thing to do, given where his father was position in the death eater group. Regardless, you were happy for him. Suppose some exposure therapy to Harry’s family and friends was what he needed.

“Welcome back, than……It’s lunch time, so…..” You trailed off, as he stared at you with shock. Were you asking him out? Why? His name isn’t exactly clean, but well….You missed him. You knew that, deep down, he wasn’t truly a death eater. You do what you can to survive, and sometimes who you survive from is your own family.

“You are insane….Fortunately that was always something I admired about you, back then…..I’ll cover the meal. We-…George pays his employees rather well.” He admits, as you giggled. A smile was returned, as the two of you would make a right instead of a left. Not heading to that great hall, but that rebuilt wooden bridge. To go give Madam Rosemerta a friendly hello.

He’s a new man, after all, so why not allow for a new first impression?

[notmorbid]

hacks: season 1.

dialogue prompts from the first season of hbo's hacks. (some lines have been tweaked for rp.)

i didn't realize it was a shoes-off situation.

did you want a gold star for showing up?

you classist monster.

you're supposed to be on mute.

what are your feelings on the climate crisis?

i explicitly told you not to say my name.

we don't work together, you work for me. and not very well.

it doesn't get better. it just gets harder.

do i have big hands?

i have nothing left to lose.

fuck you, lemony snicket.

why do you keep sending me petfinder links?

i told you you were going to regret over-tweezing in the '90s.

the only thing i regret is not getting emancipated.

just don't do it on my time. or in my chair.

go ahead and disregard the picture i sent you.

i do miss you. as a friend.

you think you know everybody better than they know themselves.

you don't even have to go through security?

stop acting like a hillbilly and sit down.

i guess it's good you can be there for someone's kid.

i always drink too much when you're around.

i can radically accept that my mom is a cunt.

they say if you collect, it's not a problem, it's a hobby.

jesus. was it at least good coke?

let's blow this shit and go celebrate.

watching tv is practically like reading a book, at this point.

you're that girl who never got to sit with the cool kids and never got over it.

what a rush. i should blackmail more often.

i feel like we're about to win a bunch of money together.

do you want to do coke in the bathroom?

i would have had such a crush on you in high school.

sorry to be so blunt. we just did a lot of coke.

who even likes marvel movies, anyway?

you were right. i am a little shit.

i don't really have friends. i think that's a huge red flag about me as a human being.

the real work is in loving yourself for who you really are.

my father's in my phone as 'dickhead'.

i know two things: you are a good person, and we need to do some molly.

i don't think i've ever seen you not wearing pants. did somebody die?

what's going on here? premarital sex?

go get a book on attachment theory and a bottle of ativan.

you don't have my number saved?

this is why your building banned parties.

the keg-shaped hole in the wall could have been made by anything?

i have an amazing idea, but it's kind of insane.

that's such a creepy way to be woken up.

i have some weed edibles on me.

to be honest, i keep forgetting to have an opinion on it.

i think shitty things keep happening because i've been a self-centered asshole.

do you know how to play mahjong?

people would rather laugh at me than believe me.

it was great, until it wasn't.

you haven't even heard about when the vatican had it in for me.

it's the truth. it might be nice to finally fucking say it out loud.

you can make it funny. you can make anything funny.

i drink, like, a glass of water a month.

am i blushing?

maybe it's just because i watched carol last night.

i've honestly never met anyone like you.

pretty soon, you're gonna be the same age as me.

i am a grown-up, and you can't make me.

i'm gonna eat your dessert and go home.

i've never been this close to someone i wasn't hooking up with.

stop waiting for ___ to be proud of you and start doing things that make you feel proud of yourself.

hope you enjoyed the free show.

before you, i didn't care what happened to me.

you always make loving me feel like the easiest thing in the world.

what? i'm literally naked here.

oh, that's horrible. play it again.

you're young. you'll be fine.

the whole soul-baring thing seems awfully off-brand.

let's grab a table and talk some shit. come on.

i would have been more than happy to smoke weed with your mom.

well, anyway, he's dead now.

camping? how do i protect myself from bears?

if i'm not upset about it, you shouldn't be.

it's exhausting, beating everyone else to the punch.

never forgive, never forget, baby.

will you stay off webmd? it's bad for your personality.

i can't tell who's haim and who's just three people.

you've always had my back. that way it's easier to stab.

at least now we kind of get each other.

i promise not to send you unsolicited pornography anymore.

you know you're charming. it's annoying, actually.

true feminism is being able to just come out and say that some women are cunty monsters.

your accent makes everything sound smarter than it actually is.

when you share a sense of humor with someone, it's like speaking your own private little language.

we come into this world completely alone, and that's how we leave it.

i don't pretend. i never have.

did you change your signature scent recently?

can we get pulled over for having too much fun?

it's not from therapy, it's from mental health tiktok.

you do think about me, and i think about you. it's called a human relationship.

you don't get to tell me what's important.

i move forward. i always have. end of story.

who slaps people?

i'm worried if i don't say it now, i'll never say it.

do you want some coffee? i made some.

it involved an ice cream truck and a hot wire, and that's as far as i'll go.

my uncle really doesn't want me to do 23andme, so i'm pretty sure he's a serial killer.

i always felt really, really lonely here.

maybe my entire existence shouldn't just be a response to my shitty childhood.

you need to learn to cry without moving your forehead.

[memory-lane-and-back-again]

A Thought About Wei Wuxian's Death

Spoilers for... I don't remember which book it is (Book 3 I think)

When WWX is captured by the Wens and tossed into the burial mounds he is so full of rage and anger that it is a terrifying possibility that he will come back as a fierce corpse full of resentful energy. (Arguable he does, but that's a point to make for after exams when I can actually have fun and analyse the heck out of these)

I find it an interesting parallel that when he actually does die he is an incredibly 'well behaved ghost.' as in, he's well... if not moved on, at least not inclined to try and act and in some state of peace: not happy but at least tolerating how things have ended. WWX's character is permeated by a deep, inextricable sadness and I think, though it is not ever blatantly acknowledge, this is foregrounded right at the beginning with the story: he doesn't know why he's been brought back, does not understand and is incredibly fixed on the fact that it was not his choice. To infer... he didn't really want to come back.

I found his present mellowness, that contrasts so brutally with his fury and anger and ability to feel such intensity before he died, to be a bit strange---not unbelievable but strange. That kind of anger burns incredibly brightly and is incredibly hard to tamper down and yes, he grows and matures but it feels a bit strange to me that this comes on from spending ten years without a body. I think it is more an extension of his grief and guilt: after Wen Qing and Wen Ning go to die on his behalf is when he gets truly angry... his anger gets out of control and Jiang Yanli is hurt and then dies for him. Jiang Cheng takes his anger out on him. As far as WWX can remember even LWJ is disgusted by him... is it so hard to believe that he too is disgusted with himself. Present day, he cringes at his past arrogance---the illusion of omnipotence and control he thought he had.

I am of the opinion he's the sort of person with the mindset that if he can make the world a better place, fix one problem, even if it is at the expense of his own, he'd do it. He is raised to protect JC, doesn't even bat an eye at losing his core because if it can help JC it is good; he doesn't fear dying if he can come back as a fierce corpse to still help destroy the Wens; he doesn't care to humiliate himself to try and give Wen Ning a chance at archery; his public image does not matter if he is helping people. This carries forward where he is willing to sacrifice discovery to protect Jin Ling; he turns himself into a spirit attraction flag for people who hate him; the moment LWJ freaks out about sleeping with him, WWX first priority is to take all the blame for everything and then leave and go do the stupid mission all by himself because he doesn't want to force LWJ to put up with him, even though it leaves WWX himself incredibly wrought. And then of course, he doesn't even bat an eye at luring Nie Minguie away by himself.

My point is he's a willing martyr, happy to get himself into trouble and deep water for pretty much anyone (mianmian, LWJ, JC, the Wens) so it must feel like hell when his efforts only succeed in getting everyone killed, when he's kind of forced to confront that he is loved and had people willing to stand by him that he did not consider when he made his plans and that they are dead because of to an extent his actions. I truly believe him trying to destroy the Yin Tiger Tally is his last attempt to try and rectify things and he is a bit like Xiao Xingchen in that regard, trying so hard to follow his principles and failing abysmally. At that point his jiejie is dead, who is like the very symbol of innocence and unconditional love in his life at that point and he knows they are coming to kill him. His big character difference I think has a lot to do with the three months after the nightless city and before his death because he feels the world is better off with him dead.

A lot of people compare Xue Yang and WWX and whilst I think that is valid, I think a lot of people forget his inherent connection to XXC through his mother. I think it is important to acknowledge that they share a very similar mindset: naively wanting to change the world with their beliefs alone as if people will see altruism and kindness as the best path whilst most people are out searching very selfishly for their own greatness and success---something neither WWX adn XXC need to think about because A) the are already powerful and successful and B) they were never raised to think themselves as needing to be supremely powerful to be successful and Good.

Anyways, it does make me wonder how much of WWX's characterisation present day is put on. He slaps himself in the face when no one is around to see it after he finds out who Jin Ling is, he lets Jin Ling stab him and feels he deserves it---that by proxy is when he's most open with LWJ: 'you don't need to come with me, your reputation will be ruined.' It so, so clearly speaks of self-loathing that he is so so good at hiding.

I think actually when LWJ and WWX first sleep together the physical undressing is also a metaphor for an emotional undressing on WWX's part because he strips himself of his insincerity and arrogance and allows himself to be vulnerable. The only other times we see his vulnerability is when he's passed out unconscious and when he realises to stop hurting LWJ he needs to kind of bare his soul to him in book 5 after LXC reveals the truth about nightless city.

Gosh, I love these characters so much.

[moreclaypigeons]

Mountain Goats fans how are we feeling

Jenny 2... I will put all my analysis about what these things mean under the cut. I would also like to note that after i took these screenshots the 11th (pirate ship sunset) just... disappeared? The post was gone for a fair bit but then came back. may have been a glitch. or maybe a ghost ship.

Here's what I'm getting story-wise:

Someone rode away on their custom Kawasaki with a stinger on the back, leaving the speaker there at the curb so they had to take a bus. But they never saw them again, no one did. Flaky yellow paint of the Kawasaki.. staying up late thinking about how the relationship ended. Time passes and it's winter and they have search parties out for this person. The person crashed while on their bike. And then the speaker realizes it. And the person is dead the end

Now in terms of allusions to the song Jenny:

"You roared into the driveway of our southwestern ranch style house": the house in the first image reasonably fits that description. "Our house faced west": based on the shadows here, the house DOES face either east or west because of the direction that the sun rises.

"on a new Kawasaki, all yellow and black, fresh out of the showroom.": It's the same bike! But, based on the line in the third post, "flaky yellow paint," some time has passed.

"the big orange sun" we see in the 11th image, where the pirate ship sails into the sunset. the image also alludes to "you pointed your headlamp toward the horizon," and "the pirate's life for me!"

post 10 is interesting because it too draws from the pirate's life line, but the imagery is different, and definitely connects/foreshadows the graveyard image. Here is an excerpt from the wikipedia page for jolly rogers: When the pirates' intended victim was within range, the Jolly Roger would be raised, often simultaneously with a warning shot. The flag was probably intended as communication of the pirates' identity, which may have given target ships an opportunity to decide to surrender without a fight.

Miscellaneous:

image 7, with the grecian vase imagery is reminding me of spent gladiator.

i have no idea what the fuck the water tower means.

image 12 depicts a music staff with some notes on it. i know nothing about music but i do know the internet does so i am currently trying to reconstruct it with a program. update mmaybe will follor?

other songs:

According to what John Darnielle has said in hit podcast "i only listen to the mountain goats," Jenny has appeared in 2 or 3 other songs.

"She calls on the phone in Night Light" and "she calls on the phone in Straight Six" and was the sender of postcards in Source Decay. He says, "She is defined by an absence, she has yet to speak. She's in the song Jenny; the other two songs she's in, she's already gone. …She's not there when things are going well, and she's not remembered when things are going well. Jenny is an emblem of more difficult times for people, of wilder times. But also times that they're pretty clearly romanticizing, right, that they're also remembering as the time when they were on a motorcycle with no responsibilities, livin' the pirate's life."

Of course I'm going to listen to those three songs <3

Night light: "Jenny calls from Montana/ She's only passing through / Probably never see her again in this life I guess" oh but we WILL see her again... And then never again. "I was a red dot blinking on a screen up overhead / And then the room went dark" and "Plug a night light in / Leave the porch light on" remind me of the bedside clock and the gas station.

Holy shit Straight Six. I didn't realize this was on Jam Eater Blues until I went to its page on the wiki, but- this is significant cause on their linktree, "stream jam eater blues" is at the top and i was confused cause they also released a bunch of other shit. this is foreshadowing...

Anyways significant moments of Straight Six:

"Dull powder blue paint job / earl scheib special" this could either be the auto station (#2) or the fact that the speaker's car has an earl scheib special paint job (had to research this), which maybe he got from the same auto shop. This song talks a lot about a car. "Rabbit skull hanging from the rear-view" "And I glide down the streets of this city / All night, uptight" "There's a crack in the windshield eighteen inches long / Evaporating snow forming crystals on the chrome" it's hard to tell from the drawing of the van whether there is a crack on the windshield or whether it's just stylized, but..this does intrigue me. And when I heard them mention SNOW immediately after... when the caption to the van post says "searching in the snow".......

Source Decay also mentions driving and cars a lot. Couldn't find anything more significant than what the other songs have though.

If anyone has any other thoughts to share or disagrees or like I missed something- PLEase share i am so eager to hear/talk about this!

[rawliverandgoronspice]

Ok so weird thing: Puppet Zelda. I mean, it was pretty obvious as a player Imo? But what I don't get: The tears show her ONCE! and it's the scene right before Ganondorf gives Sonia a backbreaking back massage. It's alluded to that she (he) did some other weird stuff to mess up for Sonia and Rauru, and it's not expanded upon at all. I was so put off by that, because it feels like that would have been a big chance for ACTUAL character development for ALL the characters from the past. What did P-Z do? Where was Ganondorf? Was he hidden, or was he inside the castle? How did Sonia react to it? How did Rauru react to it? How did Sonia catch on? Why was it only Sonia and Zelda confronting P-Z? Why wasn't Rauru somewhere hidden as well? I doubt Rauru would have dismissed such a serious accusation. Sonia confronts P-Z, Zelda comes out, then Rauru lies in wait to check for extra danger. The time it takes for Rauru to arrive also kinda makes me think he wasn't that far away? P-Z is a cool concept, but I'm still just so baffled by the absolute "non-story" they built by alluding to her bullshit.

Okay so. Yeah. I completely, 100% agree, and I want to use the opportunity to air out a very particular complaint I have not really seen a lot of people talk about, because I just rewatched that scene and I am shocked all over again.

The teacup scene, after Ganondorf submits, is, in my opinion, horrendous. Like not because of secret Problematisms (though yes also this, we just saw them asking their enemies to kneel and the very next scene they're having a little tea party with cake between royals while armed guards protect them and it's not supposed to be a red flag and it's wild to me), but because the actual writing, at a craft level, reads like a first draft at best. There are three narrative information beats that matter in this entire scene:

The war has stopped

Zelda wants to help her ancestors and not only return to her own era (??? okay, she already did and the problems are technically over already as far as they know??? and it's not a choice she's making since she still can't master her powers and never learn to btw)

Rauru learns Link's name

I'd argue the only real important thing is that Rauru learns Link's name, and it could have been done in a much more interesting and dynamic way.

Instead the scene just goes on and on with lore dumps that never go anywhere, reiterations of the bond between Zelda and Sonia we had already established, dialogue that is... shockingly bad...

Actually, let's examine just one case: "Ah. I can see that you have absolute faith in him."

Like, just, general pro-tip: if you use "I can see that X" in dialogue and it's not ironic or used as de-escalation and just there to reiterate what we have just immediately established, cut that line. It's doing nothing, it's dead weight, it's just grinding the pace of a scene to a halt for no reason (unless you want it to be about stagnation, like I could see a David Lynch dinner scene where every character restate each other's actions by saying "I can see that you really like the gravy." over and over but it's not.... very applicable to more generic situations). This is writing 101, and the scene is full of these nothing sentences that go nowhere and establish nothing about the characters or the world and set up nothing and pay off nothing and it's driving me wild!

(also it does my least favorite thing in game writing aka the game praising the player character for an unreasonable amount of time, but I realize this is a pet peeve and not as important but it always makes me roll my eyes incredibly hard when it's not earned and it wasn't earned or useful here, the fact that the scene ends on everyone being like yaaay link!!! is... completely disconnected from the actual story happening in the past and shouldn't be the focus of the characters at that moment --it would be more powerful if Zelda used Link as an image of strength to inspire Rauru after Sonia's death later, for example)

It's a scene that completely undermines the tension built in the previous memory, makes the timeline of events confusing, and it leaves a ton of questions open, like: where the hell is Ganondorf? What is he doing? What did Rauru mean by "keeping him close", if he isn't actually close? Do they think he returned to the gerudo lands while he actually stayed hidden in their palace to do his Puppet Zelda shenanigans? I don't know! There is no way to know, because we're being told about teacups and how Link is amazing instead of anything relevant to the plot!

So yeah. Would have *gladly* done away with that teacup scene and focused more on a very tense moment of Sonia and Puppet Zelda where she acts very suspiciously and maybe aborts a first attempt at stealing the stone that goes nowhere, and this is when Sonia catches on that something is off? Honestly, I would also have killed for an actual scene of tension between Zelda and Ganondorf where they, like. Talk to each other. Instead of this actual current version of the story where they never do. And maybe this is how he realizes that she has a special connection with Sonia and it's how he tries to get her.

But yeah. Sorry, I kind of hijacked the ask into a "this damn teacup scene!!!" *shakes my first at clouds*, but I think it mirrors the thought that priorities were not given to the actual tension points laid down in the story. Puppet Zelda inherently calls upon ideas of fear of imposture, of abuse of power, of insecurity, of a twisted version of what Hyrule *could* be, which is so interesting and ripe with conflict and counterpoints.

I would have done unruly things for a Zelda arc where she is struggling to be a ruler and she's still very insecure and wrecked by guilt over the Calamity thing and feel disconnected from the land because of the whole "being locked 100 years away fighting a demon" thing and her daddy issues, and this is this insecurity that Ganondorf picks up on and preys on by trying to dismantle Hyrule using her very image as he plans his Big Comeback, and our role is to unite all of Hyrule against this weird nasty caricature of her created by an envious man who was furious to see his rule rejected and his rebellion considered less important than peace, then go to her acknowledging the immense and unjust sacrifice she made becoming a dragon and being like "hey Zelda we all love you and we will all fight for you because we made the choice to believe in the future you want to build" and it would have been soososo powerful and I would have perhaps shed a tear or two or ten. ;_;

[leclerced]

Girl we kind of have one brain cell cause I was literally thinking about Athena’s daughter for Lando and then I was like “yeah well break the rule and get him someone else everyone knows about it”. Also so true about Oscar sending him to Hades. I literally forgot he could open the ground and just watch Lando fall with a lil “oopsie. See ya looser”.

Lando would want a revenge and he’d start spraying water at Oscar from nowhere. Maybe one time he sneaks up on him and his girl when they are near the late and he sweeps Oscar from her and is like “okay now you go on an adventure through my world” and sends him through some ocean or sth. Meanwhile he chats with Oscar’s girl and she’s just so done with both of them because they have this competition of who will prank who better. So Lando is practically half dead with how often he’s in the underworld and Oscar now has friends among some fishes with how often he’s in the ocean hahaha

ok sorry started answering this at work but had to save it to my drafts and im home nowww

imagine oscar and anthena’s daughter met as kids and were brought to camp together, kinda like luke, thalia, and annabeth but less tragic. she was super smart and always got them away from monsters by outsmarting them. i can so see like, oscar having played call of duty or smth and wishing for help from soldiers and like, bc he’s a son of hades that wish raises dead soldiers to fight the monsters while they escape. they’re both super confused about why zombies are rising from the ground and fighting for them but take the chance to escape. then one day one makes it back to them and they’re terrified, thinking it’s going to attack them until it asks oscar for it’s next command. they're claimed pretty soon after arriving at camp, he raises a bunch of dead people to distract the other team and she's the one to actually find and capture the flag. their team captain would have given them orders but they would make their own plan when the captain won't listen to their suggestions. they’re both claimed right after that first game!

can see him and lando becoming friends when lando gets there and is claimed, the only two son's of the big three. then he discovers lando’s secretly dating his best friend? he accidentally opens the ground and sends him down to the underworld when he finds out by catching them together sneaking around one night. he’s kinda hurt his friends didn’t tell him but mostly annoyed about it, doesn’t trust lando not to hurt her. plus imagine they made fun of him all the time, he’s a newbie at camp and is just starting training and is making a fool of himself constantly!! they make fun of him during every practice session, and then late at night she’s sneaking around with him. oscar’s baffled by it.

it's like lando’s sneaking into a club n getting kicked out, some underworld creature comes and returns him back to camp. imagine him crawling up the crevice he went down through and they’re trying to fill it in and he’s like, “we’re you going to leave me down there?” chiron explains it was a safety hazard, three people fell in after he did. lando saying he didn’t fall in, looking for oscar to glare at but he’s hiding from the wrath of athena’s daughter. she would have given him an earful after lando suddenly disappeared down a crack in the earth, demanding he go down there and retrieve him lest he get stuck.

“oopsies see ya loser” is sooo real. lando gets back to camp after his trip down to the underworld and waits until night time to flood the hades cabin, filling it with seawater and fish and oscar wakes up floating on his mattress with a fish flopping on his chest. opens a hole in the ground to drain the water and make it erupt into the poseidon cabin because no one else could have turned his cabin into a four foot deep fish tank.

she has skeletons following her around to keep lando at bay because they creep him out. she'd knock them over and because it's just bones, they fall into a pile but magically they'd re-articulate after a few minutes and find her, probably trying to sneak off with lando for some private time and lando's suddenly not in the mood anymore 😭 he eventually stops but thats how the prank war between them begins

lando gets him back by having the nymphs spray him and his girlfriend down with water when they get close to the water. one day oscar and his girlfriend making out on the shore of the beach and suddenly the water is grabbing him and pulling him in. he’s jerked away from the kiss and barely sees lando laughing as he sits next to oscar’s gf before he’s submerged. naiads and nymphs keep him down there until lando gives the signal to release him and he’s swimming up to the surface and gasping for fresh air because it feels so wrong to breathe underwater, he hates it so much when lando gives him an air bubble and sucks him underwater.

his girlfriend rushing to meet him at the shore and asking if he’s okay and lando’s like, “he’s fine! he could breathe the entire time, nothing compared to being slobbered on by cerebus.” oscar insists that being held underwater with an air bubble around your head is definitely worse.

oscar makes friends with some nymphs and mermen after awhile, and lando makes friends with cerebus and random spirits roaming around the underworld!! like meets shakespeare and is telling him all about the 2000s remakes of his plays.

[doublefreegames]

Travel Devil - better the devil you know!

There's less than a week left of judging for the Spooktober Visual Novel Jam and it's been a fantastic experience for us so far! Travel Devil has received such wonderful feedback and critiques. We take on board everything that is written to us so we can make better games every time!

So today I'm going to give a little insight into how and why Travel Devil came to be.

Do you wanna know how Travel Devil came to exist?

Originally we put together a game idea for a spooky pet adoptions agency. The game would take place on Halloween and have six pets (3 unlocked and 3 locked) to play with. Each pet was going to have a unique story and minigame associated with it. It was codenamed "Spoopy Pets" and it was far too much for the me and Robert to take on and complete in the Spooktober VN Jam timeframe. We worked on it for the first two days of the jam before we were flagging problems up, so we changed trajectory. It's not a dead idea though, it's in the list of rainy day ideas.

Speaking of the rainy day ideas list, that's where Travel Devil comes in. We thought this up a while ago but just put it on the back burner as there was no time to work on it. The concept was simple - a demon escapes hell and starts a travel log. Then the servants of hell follow in its wake starting the apocalypse march on humanity. When Spoopy Pets became too big we had a look at what we had to play with and Travel Devil just sort of fell into place. Robert started writing and I started drawing.

Character design went pretty smoothly. I went for a mix of cartoon styles, drawing inspiration from things like Dead End, Gravity Falls, The Simpsons and Garfield.

Traditionally, visual novels use anime and manga style design but truth be told, I'm not very good at that style. It takes me ages to make characters look good when I try to draw like that. Hats off to all the wonderful artists in this jam who made beautiful, scintillating characters. I'm so impressed by their dedication to fantastic character art.

One of the first pitfalls I encountered was background art. I like to use sites like Pixabay to get backgrounds but recently it's been flooded with AI artworks. The game jam expressly forbids AI use in your game so we had to get creative.

Fortunately this game revolves around travel vlog creation in Paris and we found loads of creative commons photos of the famous tourist destination. Seriously there are so many fantastic photographers out there and it was a complete life and time saver for the jam. All I had to do was add a translucent white filter to the top of the photos to make the characters pop out and we had our backgrounds!

Development went well once we got on the right track. Travel Devil was made using Ren'py which is a joy to develop with. We did have to wind back our ideas at one point as both Robert and I got sick with a nasty bug but we made it. We stripped back some choices and streamlined the game to make sure we could get finished. Originally, we wanted the player to be able to unlock multiple hidden scenes in one playthrough. As the deadline loomed we simplified it so that the player would only see one of three potential side stories that were growing due to the activities of our main character Tornacense per playthrough. We included 7 unlockable scenes and also 6 unlockable images in our gallery.

There's also a nifty guide to finding all the unlockables right here if you want a more relaxing time while playing.

If you've had a chance to play Travel Devil you may have noticed that we planted some seeds in our side stories that will be big plot points as we go forward. Travel Devil is going to be a series of five games travelling around Europe making video journals and outrunning the underworld.

Tornacense and Kirby will grow, we'll meet lots of new strange and devastating people and love could be just around the corner! Who knows? That choice will be yours.

If you want to check out the first installment of Travel Devil you can nab a pentagram portal and find it right here.

Travel Devil was made for the 5th Annual Spooktober Visual Novel Jam in under 30 days. The next one will be made with a lot more time dedicated to it!

Thanks for stopping by!

DoubleFree - Artist and coder for Travel Devil

[wuxiaphoenix]

On Characters: Knowledge of Fragility

Warning for the sobering and rambly topic, it’s what came to mind.... Have your characters faced serious consequences before the story starts? Have they been up-close and personal with situations of serious injury, major illness, or death?

It makes a difference to the way you portray the character. What risks they’re willing to take. What they will avoid like the plague. What’s their baseline approach to life; what do they consider a good day, a bad day, or just eh? Someone insults your intelligence and professionalism? Bad day. Someone was on fire and you put them out? Good day.

...Well, usually. Depends on who they were and why they were on fire. Someone who’s stared into that abyss may have definite opinions on certain people they’d just as soon see no longer breathing. Or to quote Samuel Johnson, “I’ve never wished a man dead, but I’ve read many an obituary with pleasure.”

Side note, this is one reason I avoid writing child characters. I can put myself in a lot of odd mindsets, but not “nothing permanently bad will ever happen to me”.

So. If something permanent has happened to your character, how do you write them?

There’s as many different reactions as there are people. But here’s a rule of thumb: Is it something that happened to your character? Or something that someone else did to them?

The first - like earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires - may have your character just habitually being more careful, if that will help. If it won’t... they may be raging and/or despairing at the unfairness of the universe.

The second will lead to rage and despair at a person in specific. And possibly, people in general.

It doesn’t have to be loud and obvious rage or despair. In fact, it often isn’t. A shadow in the eyes. A flash of shorter temper. Words chosen carefully, where others would say whatever entered their heads. Those are the kinds of marks left by the desperate fury of knowing someone’s deliberate evil or stupid thoughtless ego did you irreparable harm.

And if it’s happened once, it can happen again. Always.

Not trusting the universe is a reasonable and moderately healthy reaction. The universe doesn’t care about you personally, and can wipe you out like an elephant stepping on an ant. Not trusting your fellow human beings, though, can be... problematic. Perfectly understandable, and in some cases even the only sane reaction; if people who won’t hurt you might give info on your plans or location to someone who will, then no, you can’t trust anybody. It’s not a healthy way to live, but raw survival generally beats out emotional wellbeing on the priorities list.

Can characters grow past despair and rage? Sure. But it takes time, and some degree of safety.

One of the interesting ways of achieving safety is learning how to manage danger. You fell? Learn to climb and parkour. Got attacked by a tiger? Study big cat behavior. (They like boxes! Big boxes!) Had your life mangled beyond recognition by a sociopath or narcissist? Find out about red flags, and watch for them like your life depends on it. It does.

(Look for The Smirk. If you’re in doubt, if you have to know - watch for a situation in which they got away with something, they hurt someone, and they know it. The Smirk is unmistakable. If you need a fictional example, check Azula from AtLA. Not Zuko. He sometimes has a nasty smile, but he does not have the Smirk.)

And what about Door Number Three scenarios, where it’s not a person or the universe exactly that swatted your character? Things like cancer, autoimmune, various genetic hiccups that don’t quite kill you? Or at least, not yet.

Well. That can give you a particularly fey character, even an Anti-Nihilist. As they say, if in the end nothing you do matters... then all that matters is what you do. And some of us kind of want to slay the dragon....

[arcplaysgames]

so i was gonna reach the next major story beat, which i ASSUMED was Okamura dropping fucking dead but APPARENTLY NAH WE GOT MORE DRAMA FIRST

I have been POWERGRINDING through some SLinks so let's hit 'em

oh but first, Haru has the best persona since Yosuke's Susano-o level 3

Amazing.

Also Morgana saved literally everyone and Ryuji still hasn't apologized, but we knew that's how it would go. ANYWAY LETS JUST HIT THE IMPORTANT SHIT.

As everyone would have suspected, the Okamura Job was a false flag. Oh he was a fucking scoundrel and Haru needed help like ASAP but there is zero way Okamura organically rose to such infamy to garner the Thieves' attention. It's a set-up, Okamura is gonna die, and I assume the Thieves will be blamed and the whole thing will start unraveling.

If they had just not set up that fucking Phansite, none of this would have happened. So I'm blaming Mishima, personally.

Morgana has the same vision/dream about a shadow self in Mementos? Which I took initially as something that was Actively Happening, but it seems to be his origin actually. So Morgana is... some kind of product of the shared cognition of the world?

This is treading very close to Teddie's origin. Instead of a shadow that wanted to be liked, maybe a shadow that wants to Do Crimes?

I mean, I have cats so I think a cat-shaped crime shadow makes perfect sense tbh.

ALSO I GOT A LAPTOP AND TANAKA IS IN THERE??????

WHERE THE FUCK IS THE TANAKA THEME SONG, I'M SO ANGRY. Do you know how long i've had Anata no, terebi ni, Jika-netto Tanakaaaaa stuck in my head?

SULKS

okay lets get into some meat here, I am nearly done with Maruki's SLink and Yo. Yo. Okay.

Maruki is working on his nebulous research paper and laments that even at his best, he can only help a few dozens, maybe hundreds of people. Gosh, wouldn't it be so much easier to help everyone is there was some way to connect to all hearts hmmm but hahah that's impossible right? lmao. what a wild dream, a fanciful dalliance.

ha ha haaaaaaaa

Maruki is talking about applying cognitive psience to the collective unconsciousness.

Later, he just happens to ask Reverie about the Phantom Thieves' methods of affecting changes in people, and the physical representation of desire in the form of a "heart" and Maruki is off to the fucking races.

THIS ALL SEEMS VERY BAD HONESTLY. Like even if the most well-meaning motherfucker in the world got ahold of some means to affecting the collective unconsciousness on that scale, P5R is turning into a practical lesson on why doing that just really isn't the play. It's the recurring question of the whole game and with Okamura, signs are pointing to "yeah don't fucking mess with people's internal cognition, fuckface"

and frankly Maruki is well-meaning but is a shitty therapist anyway.

Next rank up, Maruki is excited about being nearly finished with his paper so he takes Reverie out to that one fancy buffet. Midway through, one of Maruki's college friends joins in to congratulate him on the paper and to shoot the shit, and:

me, IRL muttering "oh shit" under my breath. I'm kind of impressed how the reuse of a portrait I have see three dozen times now can hit me like a bolt of fear.

Oh there is something going on under that mousy hair. I was wondering who exactly was the big bad of the game here but I am pretty sure it's Maruki.

Next link, I get to know who the fuck Rumi is. Rumi was apparently the love of Maruki's life. They were going to get married and life was peaches and cream until there was a burglary. Rumi was hurt in the process, but worse, the attack caused her to have a mental breakdown. The aftershocks of it ended their relationship, and Maruki is transparently still deeply affected by it.

This is the cusp of his motivation, to learn a way to not only heal people of their emotional pains but to prevent that pain if he can.

With cognitive psience and the collective unconsciousness.

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. You're the bad guy. As soon as you flip from asking for forgiveness instead of permission, you are the bad guy of the video game, buddy.

I hope this doesn't manifest as like.... inducing apathy syndrome in everyone, like P3P. I don't think that's the play because Maruki does seem.... interested in actual happiness. So....

I'm just literally thinking really hard. What is his play...

Using the collective unconsciousness to steal all the distorted hearts? IDK that seems too 'neat'.

Let's skip ahead to the next important part actually. 10/3.

Fast summary of events: Kasumi is trying to improve her gymnastics but her performance is still not up to the standards of Shujin, and her honor student status is threatened. If she doesn't bring home a gold medal, she's going to lose her special privileges, and everyone is super disappointed in her.

The school faculty tells her this apparently to motivate her, but Maruki just happens to be included in the meetings (is he her therapist since the loss of her sister?) and he sternly tells everyone yo, this much pressure on her might make her crack more, not help her.

Reverie and Morgana find one of her lucky charms on the floor and go to meet up with her at the new stadium to return it.

OH GODDAMMIT I DIDN'T CAP EVERY LINE BC I DIDN'T REALIZE WHAT WAS ABOUT TO POP OFF.

Okay. That makes it harder to remember.

BASiCALLY: KASUMI HAS THE META NAV AND THERE IS A PALACE HERE.

She mentioned her own name, Kasumi Yoshizawa. But she also mentioned Dr. Maruki's name. And she corrected some passerbys that this place was a "stadium, not a research lab."

So the keywords here are either "Kasumi, Stadium, Lab" or "Maruki, Stadium, Lab." I am leaning towards the latter because inside the beautiful Frank Gehry Designs A Hospital building, there are pages from what I assume is Maruki's research paper.

Happiness cognitive psience, oh boy. Oh no. Maruki has a palace dedicated to his distorted desire to fix everyone's trauma with cog-psi. Oh no. Oh wow.

THERE IS SOME SHIT GOING ON WITH KASUMI. Some cognitive copy of her sister is trying to reach her. Why is she in Maruki's-- oh so. Oh, he was definitely her therapist and so he knows about her and her dead sister, so he has cognitive copies of them inside.

JFC this is so much. Maruki's cognitive copy of Kasumi's sister gets stabbed by a monster.

THERE IS NOTHING ABOUT THIS THAT I LIKE

OUR LORD? ACCEPT YOURSELF? FOOLISHNESS? OH I DISLIKE ALL THESE THINGS.

hey why does Kasumi get a full magical girl sequence when she pops her persona??????? no one else got this???? I wanna see everyone sparkly sailor moon transformation nekkid as they get into their gear. This is bullshit.

Anyway, Kasumi pops her persona, Reverie and Morgana help her fight and escape the palace.

HER PHONE MYSTERIOUSLY RUNS OUT OF BATTERY AGAIN BEFORE THEY CAN FIGURE OUT WHO THE PALACE BELONGS TIME cuz its Maruki, natch.

AAAAAND she actually turns down joining the Thieves, lmao. That's hilarious. Good for her, though! Go do your gymnastics, gurl.

Anyway so. Yeah, October Third is fucking wild.

I think the big bad of the game is still to come and is concerned with the whole cognitive shutdowns thing. Maruki, I think, is someone completely different since so far there is zero indication he's involved in all that. (I think?)

So, what happens when you take a well-meaning but unaccountably shitty therapist and give him every patient in the world and a power to materialize their hearts?

Pretty sure nothing fucking good!

But it should be interesting at least!

though how would he get into the metaverse unless Notigor helps him or someone else lets hi--

oh shit kasumi has the metaverse app now

/LOOK OF SUPREME FEAR

[moonstone27ls]

Chucky season 3...

Warning...

.......

Spoiler warning....

......

...................

.............................

After this I'm done warning....

......

...................

.............................

I warned you.....

Sooo quite a bit happened. Some of it felt crazy, maybe it was rushed. But considering they went through a writers' strike, etc. And its Chucky in general, I kinda let some of it slide. It was still a decent season. And I'm hoping they'll give it a fourth season. Especially since it ended on a cliff hanger.

Ep 6 was pretty decent. I mostly felt sorry for Henry, poor kid was manipulated so badly and all that he saw. He's gonna need a lot of therapy.

I almost can not get over that out of all the things Chucky wanted he wanted to blow up the North Pole, just to ruin the kids belief in Santa. In fact his last words were "Fuck Santa".

Bigger picture wise (yes I know its a horror/comedy but I still have a right to nitpick 8B)... I am a LITTLE surprised that the military did not even remotely question the "President"'s orders to blow up those designations. You would think one would be "Uhh... sir why the North Pole?". I mean you'd think one person would question whats happening the moment they hear him go "Abort" later that it should been a big red flag to turn EVERYTHING off.

And also.... though its the North Pole and climate change in all.... still feel there should have been some effect from blowing up the North Pole oO;. What I dunno. I'm not a scientist but still should have done something.

Ep 7: Feel like the Underworld was a nod/or inspiration from Beetlejuice lobby scene. And I dunno if its because they're all "ghosts" still... a bit confused why Chucky's victims were there with Damballa. Since you know they assuming didn't worship him.But I enjoyed the scene still.

I really did enjoy his banter with his god. Lol Damballa's own surprise to hear he killed the President. And he's "Oh well of course I wasn't paying attention, YOU cheated on me with other gods".

Though... and yes I'm nitpicking. Chucky's other chance... Damballa said he needed to kill without a body. I thought it was already achieved when he killed the three people at the seance... but I guess Jake's killing in the next ep still counted? Or maybe that was just an ad on for "kill counts". And as confused as I am where G.G. stands (good/or villain wise). I did like the message they left their mother

Then we get onto the finale... as much as it was interesting to see world of the dead/limbo, etc (I dunno). It honestly felt a bit obvious it was a trap. Why... because as much as Jake kept stressing there was "good chucky".

That was technically brainwashing. Brainwashing that was never really proven/or even successful. Cause... they did that in what in a couple of days. That can take weeks or months, maybe years. Not to mention all the other Chuckys. I dunno don't think thats how death works. But this was probably more fun I guess.

Did enjoy Jake's scene with him forgiving his dad. Though I do feel they missed a good opportunity for him to make up with all his family. His uncle, aunt and even Junior. (cousin) Junior I think especially considering, Junior died with no resolution between his animosity with Jake. Yes, yes I know Lexy "love". Butt doesn't scrape off the kid died with issues. He murdered his father (whom he had daddy issues). He spent his last days either bullying/or hating his cousin. Whom from I can see Jake didn't hate him, it was like his dad. He just hated how he was being treated.

But oh well, maybe they couldn't reach the actors/or didn't have time.

Not entirely surprised the CIA group would bomb the house to "cover up things". Would be shocked/or sadden by the medium Timmy dying... but he was only there two eps. The impact isn't as strong/or surprising. Did enjoy Pyrce was somewhat haunted by the ghosts before he died. I dunno feels almost poetic. Though it was cute Grant saw the ghost of his father holding hands with his baby brother Joseph... felt so sad/or bittersweet.

Then there's Tiff's escape.... uhh don't get me wrong I was okay. She's practically part of Chucky's entourage. And I'm not shocked she'd get out/maybe even reunite. Its just the continual luck that baffles me. I mean again this Chucky, so I went with it. But still lol.

She was so adamant about having those dolls. Making it implied she needed them or her spells wouldn't work(though I always find it strange her "dolls" influence feelings is a stretch). But literally they all come to her without even touching them. And if its the case they're all acting odd, you'd think someone family/or staff would notice oO. And I'm not buying that a random convict is that good of a shot at killing a sniper. Lol but I guess Chucky's gotta have his kill count.

And also how DID Tiffany know to come RIGHT to Wendell's house or that he'd be there oO. Had they been talking about that plan and when? But oh well. They brought back Chuck/Tiff which I'm okay with. There aren't that many "horror" couples and I feel they just kinda fit. Like a horror verse of Dr Girlfriend/Monarch.

I admit it was cute they actually tried to make these two like normal parents. And were nostalgic about G.G and wished to hear from them.

Then we have Caroline.... guys I'll say it again I have mixed feelings with her. And I'm gonna give fair warning, this is MY observation. I know I don't speak for a whole community. This is just from what I HAVE seen and read from other commentators on such topic.

Now bigger picture. The evil kid trope is not shocking or even unheard of. Same for killer kid trope. And if done right, they become icons like Children from the Corn, Rhoda Penmark, Sadako, and Damien (young Damien). And no just to make obvious, I'm not expecting Caroline to be an automatic icon.

To explain better... its that she's been hinted to be autistic. And for that matter her automatic switch to evil while its not completely out of the blue... feels problematic. Again I am NOT autistic and I know I shouldn't get on a pedestal and rant about something I'm not a 100% familiar with. But I bring this up for one reason, (there might be others but this is the only one coming to mind) The Predator made in 2018. Several people were not fond of how the portrayal was used. Furthermore making her a killer/or would be killer felt like it was going with a bad trope/stereotype. Again this is my understanding.

Do I think Mancini did this on purpose? That he's being an ableist following a stereotype. I ... don't think so. But even good creators can make mistakes. I think for the most part... this feels bad because this came out of no where and had no development. From all acounts Caroline was a normal, sweet kid. That judging by the writing was struggling to be understood by her family.

Yes that part I got. Cause I can imagine its tough for parents with a child thats most likely autistic, while the other one isn't (Lexy). Yes she ignored some of Chucky's violent stuff. But with no REAL development you can chalk it up to she's just a kid. Orr yes they'll just go "oh she's autistic".

In all honesty her going to the "dark side" was more of a plot twist for season 2. HAD we seen actual signs or development it'd be different. Show Caroline showing a big interest in dissection or tormenting animals. Have her be actual violent. We've seen Chucky influence children. They could have done that, SHOW Chucky telling her how to think. Show her enjoying it/or even questioning before giving in. But up until then we had NOTHING.

So her abandoning her family because Chucky told. So her "thats why I never fit in" and "this is who I am now". While I don't think Mancini meant to bring a bad representation. But without real development or something. It just looks like "oh she was evil cause she's autistic". That this is who I am moment just feels like a BAD allegory for autism. Sooo.. yeah have mixed feelings on Caroline.

But all my griping aside. Thats not to say I didn't love this show. No it was still good. The effects were great, you still had feels for the First family. Anddd we still had everyone alive. And although I'm sure some were hoping we'd get Andy and Kyle. I'm okay with it. Because it means they're still alive. And thats all I want. I want the originals to still be alive. If Mancini wants them to retire and let the new kids handle evil, thats also fine. Just don't kill off the original kid heroes.

Then we have the unknownnnnn.... SEASON 4!! Will we get it? Hope so cause that was a cliffhanger and I hate cliffhangers, lol.

Is there anything I want for season 4 if its greenlighted. Uh... I dunno. I'm okay with Chucky getting away (I'm sorta use to it from watching Elm street and Jason movies). Killer dies, comes back or you get a clear hint of sequels but heroes are still alive so you can be happy.

I know there are rumors? or confirmation Mancini was given a greenlight to make another Chucky movie. But as the show, if he wants to continue it I'm all for it. I would just like one episode to have Robert Englund. Cause I heard rumors of a Freddy/Chucky crossover. And while I don't know if it'd work for a movie. I think its a great chance for a season/or at least couple of episodes. Get Englund and Dourif together before I dunno they get/or feel too old to voice the roles again. Yes I said voice, cause I can imagine 76 yearold Englund might not wanna go through that make up process again. I dunno get a double to wear it and let him voice act. Fiona did her dad's "younger self".

Keep Tiff/Chuck together. Let Andy and Kyle live. I would like to see G.G. just at best to know what are they? Evil? Good? Good but you can't poke too much cause they'll go Norman Bates on you. Let Nica... let Nica get therapy oO;;. Poor gal couldn't win this season.

I don't have much aspirations for our new gen of heroes. They're okay but most of their conflicts feel resolved (aside from cliff hanger)... so yeah I guess skip them. Though I do wanna know what they did with their bodies. For that matter Tiff's ... no Jennifer to go back to her old body... so does that mean she just died?

Figure out... what the heck do they plan to do with Caroline. The rant I just wrote aside... what is there to do? Kill her off? Send her to a home for delinquents? No seriously I dunno.

[daveyfvckingjacobs]

Prev anon here PLEASE say more, I love modern aus sm

*dramatic sigh*

*checks watch* I have hw to do but if you insist

au is honestly the vaguest way to phrase it but I love it nonetheless. I think that the main reason yous all like the tweets so much is they’re 100% my mind without incorrect quotes or anything involved so thank @finchfvkingcortez and the hour long convos we have for that because that shit is BIZARRE

so yeah. sorta modern/social media where the main shenanigans we talk about are race and albert dealing with god damn tiktok comments (cause we all know they can be WILD). the most fleshed out bits are specific character hcs so yous get that first

as per usual with modern aus, the manhattan newsies collectively live in a group home (and milk tf out of it just because it gets funny reactions online). they’re pretty chill with it, and do weekend/morning newspaper rounds for what’s basically pocket money let’s be honest

anyway

character hcs

race - he/him, trans and ‘aggressively bi’. he went through the whole she/her > she/they > they/them > he/they > he/him pipeline and will murder you if you bring it up. he’s dating albert and spot, spot basically on accident after albert dared him to flirt with her and they flirted back and massively just Vibes™️. I feel like I overuse him in tweets but he’s so dumb that he just works here. autism/adhd king, with a sprinkling of ptsd, and he does NOT take his meds ever, driving everyone insane but they love him anyways. italian and very passionate about it. has way too much clout on tiktok and farms his friends for it

albert - he/him, gay, dating finch, spot and race “somehow”. I pretty much combine sky and jacob with him, where he has two older and one younger brother. benji is with a foster family albert didn’t want to stay with and their older brothers are in an endless battle to get custody of them both (he jokes about it sm and they both hate him for it, like “you got custody yet???” “fuck you”). he has too many piercings to count because he does them himself whenever he gets bored and Does Not Learn that it’s a bad idea. dealt with cd when he was younger but it didn’t develop further. he knows like three phrases in portuguese and got into an argument with finch about him being wrong without realising he was speaking spanish once

jack - he/him and bi, dating katherine and davey (after kath put a gun to his head and made him ask davey out). he’s the identified Big Brother of the others and takes it comically seriously while also being exhausted of them all. by all technicalities he’s flagged on every train line that leave the city because he definitely has not made it halfway to new mexico once at 11, but that’s irrelevant he’d never do that again nope. adhd and some mild abandonment issues, hands are always covered in doodles and he also draws on everyone else too whether they want him to or not

davey - he/they, demiboy and gay, dating Jack and has absolutely zero idea how it happened (“I’m going out with jack…” “your sisters ex?” “…yeah?” “ok then🧍”). he’s much more of a weirdo than people give them credit for and comes out with thee most concerning statements completely unprompted like it’s nothing. jewish, autistic with a side of anxiety that the newsies are helping a lot with and be spend 99% of their time with them between school to the point he’s almost dead on his feet. he’s this close to changing race’s twitter password, and is besties with elmer who loves the opportunity to speak polish with someone

crutchie - any pronouns, just chills with identifying as queer and milks ‘had polio in the 21st century’ like their life depends on it because how else are you gonna cope with severe neglect. most people call him charlie in public because they’re all terrified of getting chewed out by well meaning members of the public (crutchie won’t correct anyone). an absolute menace with nerf guns and usually sticks to jack like glue, because they spent time in and out of foster homes when they were much younger together

katherine - she/her, bi, dating jack. she’s practically an inch away from losing her job with how much time she spends not working to hang around with the newsies, is captain of the javey fan club and just all around a legend. constantly gets rich jokes and accepts it as necessary for their friendship. most of what I have for her aligns with canon already ngl

spot - she/he/they, genderfluid and bi, agab is the worlds biggest unsolved mystery that will remain unsolved. always refers to race and albert as her weird looking dogs. lives in a home in brooklyn after spending a few years completely on the streets. ptsd and absolutely no ability to acknowledge it (race and al help), and he’s absolutely covered in both stick and poked and legit but illegal tattoos

finch - he/him, gay, dating albert. he ran away a total of six times and lived in several parks for weeks before someone decided ‘hey maybe we should take him away lol’ and so deals with chronic hypothermia and trust issues. raised a baby sparrow that won’t leave now that it’s an adult, but he didn’t name it so the others just call it “finch’s baby boy”. irish/spanish decent but no real connection to either because it’s a link to his family, which he’d rather not have

morris - he/him, gay and steadily getting over a lot of internalised homophobia. spent way too much time with oscar in and out of crappy homes or their father/uncles ‘care’ so is very dependent on his brother. autism, ocd and cptsd, all of which he gets very little actual support for. he spends way too much money endlessly looping on the subway cause the movement is relaxing. he’s on friendlier terms with the newsies than oscar

oscar - he/it, aroace, probably aligns with agender but doesn’t think about it, autism/adhd (where adhd is significantly more apparent), bpd, aspd, cptsd and mild dyscalculia because he’s my current fav so I have to fuck it over the most. very protective over morris and has zero tolerance for the newsies unlike his brother. it’s camera roll consists entirely of bad candids of morris. taught himself to play a guitar he found in a skip, cannot read sheet music and primarily uses it as stim. I could do an entire thing just about modern delancey’s honestly

I said more x

feel free to ask stuff about this cause I love developing the nonsense the way I don’t get to just in the tweets

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: West Coast Avengers #34: Tales to Astonish Part Two: PRISONERS of the SLAVE-WORLD!

July, 1988

Captured by QUICKSILVER!

Dammit, Quicksilver!

Are you being a enormous dick again? I thought seeing a picture of your nephews in West Coast Avengers Annual #1 made you see the error of your ways?

Alas, while the East Coast Avengers book is in the character assassination era, Quicksilver is in a character assassination era of his own. Alas is dependent on how much you like him.

Because Marvel didn’t! Marvel did a ranking which found Quicksilver was the least important character in the company.

Anyway, somebody at Marvel wanted Quicksilver to be a villain so during this time you keep getting Pietro just being a dick.

I like how on the cover, Wanda looks aghast at how evil Pietro is being. But Vision just looks like this is what he expects from Pietro at this point.

Also, another throwback title. Prisoners of the Slave-World! is another old Ant-Man tale.

Between the throwback titlets and throwback villains, Englehart must have been in a big Hank Pym mood.

Anyway, last time in West Coast Avengers!

Hank Pym intercepted a message about his dead, deceased wife Maria Trovaya so the West Coast Avengers decided to fly over to Hungary and make inquiries.

They were intercepted at the airport by the People’s Defense Force, a bunch of old Ant-tagonists, and a scuffle broke out. Dr Pym and Wasp snuck away from the fight. They’re the lucky ones. Most of the rest of the team got taken down by a man whose superpower is that his pointy hat is poisoned.

Hank and Wasp used the power of talking to ants to find where people had been talking about Maria Trovaya but find not Hank’s first wife but instead Scarlet Witch and Vision locked up in a big vault.

This time, we start with Hawkeye, Tigra, and Wonder Man getting released from jail.

While Mockingbird and Moon Knight are kept prisoner FOR CRIMES. ESPIONAGE CRIMES.

The released Avengers are told not to cause trouble while they’re in the country, so obviously the three of them immediately start another fight.

Avengers don’t get arrested with quiet dignity, as a rule.

Seriously, Hawkeye just hauls off and punches Madame X.

Wonder Man hauls off and punches several gorillas. And Tigra tackles another.

The West Coast Avengers aren’t leaving without their teammates and also without their equipment which has been confiscated!

And this time, the guy with the poison hat can’t solo the team. Because Hawkeye uses the flag of Hungary to play matador.

Probably disrespectful but he be like that.

El Toro tries to headbutt Hawkeye, gets bamboozled by the flapping cape, and instead gets his horned hat stuck in the wall.

Then Hawkeye uses his MacGyver archery skills to make a bow out of the flagpole and arrows out of some jambs he kicks out of a waist high divider.

I wouldn’t call a jamb aerodynamic but he bonks various people in the heads with them.

That’s what he does to people who lock up his wife. He WOKH, PUK, or PLOKs them in the noodle.

But after beating up the entire People’s Defense Force apparently, Hawkeye, Wonder Man, and Tigra find that Mockingbird and Moon Knight are missing from the cell.

Then more soldiers show up pointing guns and threatening to kill... well just Tigra and Hawkeye, they’ve got no illusions about killing Wonder Man.

Then the US Ambassador Mr. Pickens shows up with a piece of paper from the Premier saying the Avengers are to be released into his custody.

And think, the West Coast Avengers had doubts he could get them out of trouble.

And not only did he get the West Coast Avengers put into his custody, he also found a lead for them to find the missing Mockingbird, Moon Knight, Dr Pym, and the Wasp! A rumored base for superhuman research. Mr. Pickens believes the rumors are true but hasn’t been able to prove it so far.

(Damn, Mr, Pickens gets work done!)

The West Coast Avengers say they’ll look into it and Mr. Pickens is like well that’s fine but instead of running off half-cocked, come back to the embassy to make some plans.

Hawkeye: “And I suppose you won’t listen in!”

Mr. Pickens: “Suppose I do? I need information to protect our country here! But it’s my ears or Madame X’s!”

Hawkeye: “Listen, Mr. Pickens -- you an’ I can remember when an American ambassador wouldn’t listen --”

Mr. Pickens: “No, I can’t, Hawkeye -- and neither can you! You just didn’t know it till now! It’s a rough world out there -- and believe it or not, I’m one of the good guys!”

Hawkeye: “I believe there are better guys!”

Hah!

When the West Coast Avengers and Mr. Pickens get to the embassy, they see OH NO Phantom Rider!

Except it’s not an oh no from them. They just see him as that guy from the Rangers. And are confused why he’s in Hungary. But Phantom Rider just says he knows his way around Budapest and doesn’t spend all his time in the American Southwest.

Phantom Rider: “I have very important contacts here! I was coming to do business with them. but once I heard about your poor wife -- ! You see, I feel there is great guilt yet to be cleansed from that Rider’s encounter with Mockingbird...!”

Hawkeye: “Sounds good!”

Oh goddammit.

Thought this was going to be an arc away from the Phantom Rider stuff and here he is, talking ambiguously about Mockingbird doing a manslaughter.

Speaking of Mockingbird, she and Moon Knight are over at the same building Dr Pym and Wasp found last time.

They’re being dragged around by a bunch of the Beasts of Berlin.

One of them quips that this must remind Mockingbird of the Vault super-prison. Mockingbird pretends ignorance because I’m pretty sure it’s a secret installation but she’s not fooling this ape. He knows that she was held there in East Coast Avengers Annual #15, for some reason.

Well-informed gorilla...

Mockingbird checks to see if Moon Knight has any bright ideas but he just tells her to keep the faith.

And because he may or may not actually be Khonshu or might just be a new personality that thinks he’s Khonshu because Moon Knight is confusing... uh, anyway, because of all that, Moon Knight thinks to himself “there is time enough to use the power of a god -- when a god is truly threatened!”

Would be funny if he just whipped out some god mode and walked through the prison walls, leaving a him shaped hole for the others to escape through.

Instead, he and Mockingbird are thrown into that same vault Dr Pym and Wasp found last time.

And inside are Vision, Scarlet Witch, Dr Pym, and Wasp. Apparently the door swung closed behind Hank and Jan after last issue ended.

Geez.

You guys were so competent last issue!

Vision explains that there’s some kind of projector built into the walls projecting anti-superpower rays.

It can interfere with Vision’s density powers, Wanda’ probability manipulation, and Hank and Wasp’s size shifting or ant talking.

It’s pretty effective.

It does apparently have to adjust or be adjusted for any new people. So it’s not just the superpower equivalent of an anti-magic field. Speaking of magic, I’d love to know if it blocks magic.

Wanda, you know magic as a separate thing from your (not-)mutant powers. Do some magic. You don’t want to? Okay.

Moon Knight deduces that this facility was built as a prison to hold superhumans and pivots right from that to saying “but you aren’t human, Vision!”

Wow. Rude.

But it does prompt Vision to exposit his ENTIRE BACKSTORY.

In fairness. Vision hasn’t been in this book for a while. It’s just polite to lore dump, especially when you meet someone who’s not very familiar with you. And since Moon Knight and Vision aren’t really acquainted...

EXPOSITION!

-inhale-

SO Vision’s story goes all the way back to the 40s when Dr. Phineas Horton created an artificial man with a bad case of catching on fire called the Human Torch but after a bunch of circumstances later in the nebulous recent past Ultron forced Dr. Horton to rebuild the broken robot Human Torch into the Vision to use against the Avengers and part of this process was using a copy of Simon William Wonder Man’s brain to base a new personality on.

But Vision turned against Ultron and joined the Avengers and found he was a real boy with real boy emotions when he fell in love with Scarlet Witch despite her brother Quicksilver’s ironic prejudice against the synthezoid man so Wanda and Vizh were married by Immortus in a double ceremony with Mantis marrying a tree and after Vision tried to take over the world he and Wanda quit the Avengers and decided to settle down and start a family thanks to Wanda doing a magic thing that allowed Vision to dry hump twins Tommy and Billy into her.

-gaaaaasp-

Anyway, Vision might not have a meat body but since he has a human mind and real boy emotions and magically impregnated a woman he considers himself a human man with a prosthetic body, thank you very much, Moon Knight.

Recently, Vision and Scarlet Wanda and their two babies have mostly just been living the civilian life in New Jersey.

And yet, they always seem to be wearing their superhero outfits.

Do we only see them on laundry day?

The two semi-retired heroes receive a note from Bova, the cow nursemaid that took care of Wanda and Pietro when they were babies. She needs their help and its way too urgent to explain in a letter that she signed with a hoofprint!

Since Ma Williams lives near them now, they leave Tommy and Billy with her, and go to Bova’s house in Transia where they are ambushed. They’re hit with weapons designed to nullify their powers and then dumped in this jail cell.

And that brings us back to the present.

Dr Pym notes its the same bait that lured the West Coast Avengers to Hungary. Someone dangled Maria to get Hank and co to come storming in.

When you add in that a bunch of Hank’s old enemies were ready for him at the airport, it adds up to someone that knows the Avengers well enough to set these traps and design weaponry targeted at them.

Then a door opens and closes for a second and the culprit introduces himself.

It’s Quicksilver.

Of course it’s Quicksilver.

He’s on the cover.

Don’t you be surprised. Stop it.

Don’t know why the hell he wanted to lure Hank Pym into a trap specifically. He wanted to destroy the Avengers generally back in those two linked annuals.

Will he be kind enough to exposit about all his plans and recent history?

Why, of course.

While the various Avengers try and fail to kick his ass.

Quicksilver: “I am the one who leads all those who betrayed me to their doom! I would have destroyed you months ago, but the Zodiac failed me --”

Yeah, Zodiac sucks. If you calm your ass down, Pietro, someone will tell you how Scorpio stupided the whole team to death recently.

The experience with Zodiac convinced Quicksilver that allies are for stinky losers who can’t solo challenges.

(Even though what stopped him from destroying the Avengers wasn’t Zodiac failing him but having a brief change of heart when he saw some baby pictures of his nephews)

So for whatever reason, I really don’t care enough to look it up, Quicksilver took a break from destroying the Avengers to try to destroy the Fantastic Four.

But oh no, their superior numbers defeated him. Maybe having allies isn’t just for stinky losers??

This is around the time that Crystal joined the team (so insult to injury) and the Fantastic Four turn him over to the Inhumans.

Quicksilver: “But the day those genetic outcasts can hold the fastest man alive has not dawned even on their lunar home.”

A very cunning Quicksilver had cleverly hidden an escape ship in a Moon crater at some point. So at the first opportunity he ditched the Moon to go back to Earth.

Quicksilver decided he needed allies he could understand. AND SO HE ALLIED WITH THE COMMUNISTS!

I don’t think he cares about politics much considering something he’s about to say. I think it was more about Eastern European allies. Transia is right around this area considering the ambush on Wanda and Vizh.

The communists shared their superhuman development projects with Quicksilver and he considers them pretty good. But they could be better. So he’s going to give them Wanda to experiment on so they can learn the secrets of the bestest superhuman... THE MUTANT.

-laughs in retroactive irony-

Also, holy shit, Pietro. You’re really leaning into being an evil dink.

Mockingbird: “You’re going to experiment with your own flesh-and-blood?!!”

Quicksilver: “Blood is no thicker than water when blood betrays blood, woman! She chose to marry the android! She chose to side with the Inhuman trollop! She’s nothing to me now!”

He fed up with this world. Everyone betray him.

But the real meat of this diatribe is

Quicksilver wants to follow in daddy’s shoes.

He wants to be THE KING OF THE EVIL MUTANTS!

Man. Marvel keeps trying to do this with Pietro.

There’s this. I don’t think it works out because Magneto eventually goes back to filling the Magneto shaped hole in the X-books after Inferno. Which isn’t all that far away.

And in the fall out of Ultimate universe’s Ultimatum event, Pietro faked his death to make Magneto try to destroy the world and then after Magneto died, Pietro declared he’d carry on his legacy but better.

Whether the 616 or Ultimate universes, Pietro is no Magneto.

I mean, it could work if the writers wanted to make it work. Superspeed is a scary and potentially devastating power. He could be the scary king of evil mutants, leading a Brotherhood and living on a meteor. Threatening the world. But this Pietro is kind of wishy washy and whiny. He never sells the same menace of Magneto.

And apparently Ultimate Quicksilver started off his leader of evil mutants tenure hallucinating Wanda telling him to do stuff and yelling at her when it didn’t work out for him.

Anyway.

While Pietro was distracted, Vision tries to put him in an armlock with diamond hard strength but Quicksilver twists free and runs out of the room.

Quicksilver: “Now you know who has beaten you -- I had to tell you -- but now farewell!”

Okay. Bye, dick.

Vision using diamond strength seems like it contradicts the power dampener affecting the room. But it didn’t work either way so I guess it doesn’t matter.

After Quicksilver leaves, Wanda starts in on something which actually makes me glad that the retcon retcon was retconned and Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver aren’t Magneto’s biological kids anymore for right now.

Scarlet Witch: “You have to understand -- all of you! It’s the taint of Magneto’s blood! When we didn’t know the truth, Pietro fought to overcome his... his awkward tendencies! He was a hero -- he was an Avenger -- ! -- But after he learned his true heritage, he stopped fighting!”

Vision points out that maybe they shouldn’t assume it’s in the blood since Wanda is a heroic hero but she argues maybe she’ll go crazy and evil someday too!

-sobs in retroactive irony-

Okay. Because she is going to go crazy and evil. Multiple times. And multiple times people will go ‘oh no, it’s because she’s related to Magneto!’

Magneto has better PR these days. So writers probably wouldn’t pull the same shit. But all I see from Magneto and Wanda and Pietro being biologically related is lazy writing to make Wanda and Pietro evil. Not in moments true to character but because because evil and crazy is in the blood.

That and writers soft retconning the Maximoff’s backstory to act like Magneto was always a parent to them. As opposed to them being raised by other people, only meeting Magneto as older teens or adult ass adults, and then him treating them like tools or goons to boss around.

I hope the retcon retcon retcon is never retconned to make them biologically his kids again. Recent stuff has hit a fair compromise where Wanda and Magneto have affirmed that no matter what a DNA test says, they are important to each other and in a messy, often painful way they are family.

For better and worse, Magneto is an important part of Wanda and Pietro’s lives. That’s all it has to be.

Anyway, teal deer: I don’t like Magneto being their birth dad because its lazily used to justify face heel turns and because writers forget that Magneto was an abusive monster when they were members of his Brotherhood.

Back to the story, Moon Knight claims he knows madness and that Wanda is too strong to succumb to madness.

-weeps in retroactive irony-

Vision: “And I offer you even more tangible proof, darling -- in the form of our twin boys! If your blood holds some taint, so, then, does theirs -- and neither of us believes that! Pietro went mad because he couldn’t love, Wanda -- and you can! That’s the difference between you! Our love has made us whole!”

-flips the table in retroactive irony-

Okay, there’s probably no way that Englehart meant Vision’s speech as ominous foreshadowing. But. It’s going to turn out that Billy and the other kid are the support beams of Wanda’s sanity.

That and near future upcoming writer John Byrne probably hates Vision’s speech about love making him and Wanda whole. Byrne has suggested before that, in his eyes, Vision is an overgrown calculator with delusions of being a people and that the Avengers shouldn’t risk their lives for the guy.

Sigh.

Anyway, Vision’s little speech is nice once you forget the cursed future knowledge. And it’s so nice that Hank, without thinking, puts his arm around Wasp. And has to apologize when she grabs his hand and moves it off her shoulder like ‘uh, no.’

But the speech also has an effect on Mockingbird who gets all pensive.

When Moon Knight suggests that Hawkeye will do everything he can to rescue them, Mockingbird bursts out:

“I can’t keep this up! I’ve tried, but I betrayed him! Him and all he believes in!”

DUN DUN DUN!

Mockingbird finally admits to someone who isn’t a robotic replica of her husband what happened in cowboy times.

(Oh, by the way, Phantom Rider is just hanging around the prison cell. Invisibly glaring at Mockingbird’s confession. Like a creeper.)

Mockingbird weirdly echoes Phantom Rider despite not being able to see or hear him.

Anyway, Mockingbird’s audience of the Wasp, Dr Pym, Moon Knight, Vision, and Scarlet Witch... are sympathetic to what Mockingbird went through.

Because they are good people who are not monsters.

Wasp: “And you never told Hawk?”

Mockingbird: “I - I couldn’t! He believes Avengers have to preserve life -- !”

Scarlet Witch: “I believe that, too, Bobbi -- but any woman can understand how you felt -- !”

Wasp: “No wonder your marriage has been under such strain -- !”

Dr Pym: “Whenever we’ve discussed it, Bobbi, I’ve held that Avengers should save life -- but that was in the abstract! Under your circumstances, and knowing you as I do -- I’d say you had reason for what you did!”

Moon Knight: “Good for you, doctor! Vengeance must be taken -- by Avengers!”

Vision: “I’m sure Hawkeye will see it the same way, Bobbi! No husband would condemn his wife for upholding her honor!”

Mockingbird: “Thank you -- thank you all! Vision -- Wanda -- I don’t know you that well, but -- if you can stand beside me -- !”

That’s nice.

It’s always nice to see Avengers having each others’ backs.

Phantom Rider isn’t feeling the love though. He angrily thinks “SHE MUST NOT BE HAPPY!” and flies off to reunite with the other half of the West Coast Avengers (Hawkeye, Wonder Man, and Tigra).

Phantom Rider tells them that he found where Mockingbird and the others are being held and even found a good way for them to get into the prison.

Tigra comments that if Phantom Rider ever leaves the Rangers, he could join the Avengers.

Phantom Rider: “I’d like that, Tigra, but you see I really am a phantom -- a dead man! And it’s time I told you why... !”

Oh, you dink!

You’re going to poison the waters, aren’t you?

Back over at the prison, the vault doors break open with a KRASH! courtesy of Wonder Man.

Mockingbird happily greets Hawkeye but he brushes her off with “Quit gabbin’ and get movin’!” and leads everyone out of the cell.

Where they encounter...

Giant scarlet beetles.

...

Yeah, this might as well happen.

So the Scarlet Beetle was another old Ant-Man foe.

Specifically a radioactive psychic beetle who stole some Pym Particles to grow giant-sized and then terrorized humanity until Ant-Man defeated his army with DDT.

That didn’t age well.

Anyway, Hank connived to shrink the Scarlet Beetle, decontaminated it of its psychic-powers-granting radiation, and dumped it in his back yard.

I have no idea how the People’s Defense Force found out about the Scarlet Beetle and... I don’t know how any of this is happening.

But its nice that pre-Avengers Ant-Man history is getting some love. And it gives the heroes some giant bugs to fight.

Dr Pym especially shines, jumping among the horde of beetles and shrinking them to beetle size with his size-changing touch. And then Wasp zaps them unconscious. And then Scarlet Witch uses her hex power to make one of the still big ones fall on a bunch of the shrunken ones, squishing them.

(The Avengers’ no kill policy really has some massive loopholes for bugs and aliens and robots, doesn’t it?)

Mockingbird tries to ask Hawkeye how he found them but he gives her the cold shoulder.

Wonder Man steps up to the plate to be verbally rude on Clint’s behalf.

Wonder Man: “Want to guess why he’s ignoring you, Mockingbird?”

Mockingbird: “I -- I don’t know what you mean -- !”

Wonder Man: “Yes you do -- murderess!”

Can’t believe we need a gender specific word for female murderer.

I also can’t believe that Hawkeye and Wonder Man apparently think so little of Mockingbird that they’ll just accept with zero reservations the story of a man who they know kidnapped Mockingbird. They don’t even want to hear her side of the story. It’s straight to the condemnation.

I guess we don’t know (yet?) what specifically Phantom Rider told them. But sheesh. No love. And such a marked difference from the compassion and understanding of team jail cell.

Vision, being one of the team jail cell, protests that they should discuss it. And also that these giant beetles are irrelevant. And with one SOLAR BEEEEAM, yeah they are. The Avengers just book it from the facility.

Tigra shows up in the Quinjet to pick them up (oh so that’s where she was! Wonder what her take on things is).

The People’s Defense Force shows up too late to stop the West Coast Avengers plus guests from boarding the Quinjet.

So they just launch a missile at the retreating aircraft.

Which usually wouldn’t be a problem.

But Tigra isn’t usually the pilot and she done goofed by forgetting to turn on the anti-missile defenses.

Whoops.

(Not that I need Quicksilver to look competent but maybe instead of Tigra just forgetting to turn on the defenses, it could be that Quicksilver’s inside knowledge of the team lets the People’s Defense Force get past the Quinjet’s defenses?)

Hawkeye takes the controls and tries to crash land past the borders so the People’s Defense Force can’t come after them.

And he successfully manages to cross the border into...

Ah dammit, Latveria.

Wait, Latveria borders Hungary?

-marvel wikia-

Huh!

Anyway, Doctor Doom. And Hawkeye and Mockingbird finally have a conversation about her manslaughtering a cowboy? Hey, maybe!

I’m not getting my hopes up too much.

Follow @essential-avengers​ to see how this plays out. Or just look it up. But a bunch of issues from this era don’t have a synopsis on Marvel wiki. So stick with me, I’ll get you the deets. Like and reblog too, maybe.

[foolishle]

OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH AHHHHH!!

I loved the first three episodes so much! For some reason I thought there would only be two??

First off… HOW DARE David Jenkins and Con O’Neill make me love Izzy?? I’m an absolute sucker for actors microexpressions and vocal work and Con BRINGS IT as usual. Don’t get me wrong, last season he was brilliant and I loved to hate him but the script and Con’s acting immediately made me actually care about him? Right from the get go (“yes, they all got cake…”) I was like… aw sweetie… You’re in over your head, aren’t you? Each time he was revealed to be NOT DEAD (if I had a dollar/weird that it etc) I was so relieved. He actually cares?? About the crew?? He blamed Stede for Pining!Ed but he knows that Kraken!Ed is because of Izzy, and that Stede makes Ed better.

Taika and Rhys brilliant as uzhe. The character building, again, good as!!

Stede is getting confident and competent, but still Stede. Not much else to say, somehow. Just as brilliant as I expected. Also the linen shirt? Daaaaaaaaang.

Ed… aahhh. Taika does every emotion so well. At the moment it’s mostly PAIN and I look forward to him breaking free of that. His ‘purgatory’ was especially brilliant. And his revelation of the fact that he hates himself. Beautiful.

LUCIUS!! I wasn’t surprised (was anyone??) to see Lucius return. We knew it had to happen! When they said “rat boy!”, I was bouncing on my seat with excitement. Cynical!Lucius is delightful.

Just… so many of the characters have been so deeply affected by the trauma of the last season (as were we all, let’s be real)… and it’s a credit to the crews (behind the scenes, and on it) that they each are so familiar and the same people they were… but evolved and changed and grown. They’re the same *people*, but not the same people.

Jim and Olu! I know there is some disappointment at their romantic separation along with their physical separation. But I love the contrast with Lucius and Pete who (so far) seem to be back together, or trying to be. That’s life, you know? Some people just don’t fit back together once they’ve been affected by different things. I don’t have a problem with them being paired up with other people. I hope that they can find their way back to friendship, even—especially-if the romance is gone.

I know there was confusion and disappointment that Ivan isn’t in this season. It wasn’t the actor’s choice not to return, but I think the change makes sense. No shade to Guz Khan, he was great. But the dynamic of the Kraken crew didn’t need him. We had Fang and Izzy from the old BB Crew, Jim and Frenchie from the Stede crew, and Archie as the newcomer… it really felt balanced. Loved the way they bonded with each other and I really look forward to the way the two different crews have been mixed up and seeing how they try and fit back in with Stede &co.

The new characters! Really nice to see some women on board. Archie is a nice addition, I hope we get some more of her, but at the same time we don’t *need* it. It’s enough that she’s there and she’s given some opportunities for exposition, disrupted the dynamic and made things feel a bit different.

ZHENG YI SAO. I love her. Guessing she’ll be the big bad of the season and she’s a worthy villain who will hopefully bring Ed and Stede back together.

I love that last season it took three episodes for Ed and Stede to fall in together… and by ep 5 we had romance blooming, by episode eight they were both actively interested and we had the kiss in episode 9. I hope we can have the same kind of pacing in season 2 (but I really hope they don’t break up again)… and we’re on track with that with it taking three episodes for them to fall back in together.

Also in case you missed them, like I did, there is a short post-credits scene after each episode so stick around through the credits!

I’m so excited for next week!!!

[ram-de]

[read] all of us villains thoughts vomit

I know, I know I haven't finished Good Omens and Evelyn. Um. Um... You know, reading slump. Except it's not a reading slump it's I kinda paused and forgot and now are a bit, idk, feel like it's a bother to continue. I will one day.

BUT FOR NOW...

I didn't read the blurb. Except the first sentence where it mentions Hunger Games and whatever. SO... I HAVE ZERO EXPECTATIONS whatsoever. Whatever I'm reading... Well... I also didnt know this book is a "Tiktok Sensation", but here we go.

------------

Okay just to get this outta here first. The prose is a bit pompous and edgy (maybe applied to Alistair guy), though I'm liking it 2 pages so far. "Alistair Löwe played a perfect villain. Not because..." hsgshshhs like yea write that DOWN ✒️🔥

Alright, alright.

------------- ~P54

So far, the premise is, for every 20 years, there's this seven families and they send a kid to fight to death so that the victor's family can collect this supreme power of high magick (different than common magick, as every spell casted with this, doubled in their levels.)

Ignoring the fact that this premise is a bit insane because there's like mom and dads sending their kid, prepping them for a deathly killing game in which only one can be stated victorious. Then again, they also kinda refer to themselves as villains. Maybe Alistair only, for now.

Alright, I'm on my 5th chapter. The first five chapter rotates from each of the four (main?) cast. Alistair is from the family that grooms him to be the victorious rep, and they had a very healthy dynamics in which the kids are locked and trained exclusively for the sole purpose of the tournament. What are the adults doing? Villain stuff, I guess. Or standing in the background since it's tradition. Each chapter got this cool transition in how they introduce the next character for the next chapter. Alistair met Isobel at this bar, where they sorta clash. Isobel is the media darling and her family scrouge magicks off dead people like vultures. Gavin is one of the Grieves, which not so coincidentally is the name of the family that's also the lowest of the low since they're always losing and what I get is they was of the lower class so they get picked up a lot. Brion is from the family of Thornburry where she was the expected champion rep of her family only to be snubbed because of the government intervention. Is that four? Five? four alright.

So far, I think like the characters is set up to work with one another, I don't know. With how there's this subplot of the tradition being exposed to the general public, maybe it will end them with like rebelling the tradition by somehow friendship power, tada! I think my favorite character as of now is Gavin simply because he seems to be taking the risk of the whole murder tournament thing lightly. The other three seems confident but guys... DEATH!!!!! Briony seems like, oh if it's not for the tournament I would be doing like athletes competition and stuff LIKE GIRL... idk maybe the discrepancies between how they implied that even being the winner of this death game would be life-changingly destructive and depressing (like to the previous Lowe's victor)...

BUT ALL IN ALL... i'm reading it slow and i'm enjoying it so far. i nitpick but i know i missed a lot of clues and obvious things happening maybe💀

------------- P78

I'm crying the whole book that exposed the tradition is such a big deal for the whole world enough to attract media attention to this place but this girl couldn't care to read it what😭 You know what I'll be rooting for Gavin simply because he's the one that cares enough.

How do I bet the stake in the book is the other 3 champion rep that's not the main cast...

--------------- P102

Gavin death flags already.... Sigh...

So, the curse is implied to he some kind of a loop. With the tournament for each cycle, how Lowes (usually?) wins, how Thornburries usually taking one specific kind of the Landmarks, etc. So there can be more than one victors? Granted they survived, all 3-months tournament period? Why don't they agree beforehand to like make it a stalemate then? If that happens where do the high Magick goes? Can't the high magic be distributed equally? WORLD PEACE? Abolish the fucking curse and for the stupid parents of seven families WHY WOULD YOU SEND YOUR KIDS TO A MURDER GAME.... ARE YOU INSANE...

Also this girl Briony😭 first... Why would you date a guy from a rival family that would participate in a murder game with you... two... Did you just tell him you'd kill him in a heartbeat WHILE YOU'RE DATING HIM... And lastly. You broke up with this guy because he knows something from the renowned book of the tragedy and you just read that damned book now... You know what... Whatever... You do you. His ex is also a dumbass what did you expect, it's a murder game. People murder to win. Smh...

—----------------- P110

I really don't like how some internal conflict is so easily resolved within like, two pages. Briony had her whole aspiration and expectations taken away, obviously shaken and on the verge of breaking down. There she met her sister, turns out she didn't like it as well. Sudden changes to "I need to suck it up because my sis is dealing it hard as well", there. İ

Isobel was doubting herself and for some reason 10 hours before the tournament her father was like... She was legit finally thinking of consequences of dying (which was something other champions barely mention or bother to care that there's chances they're gonna die. Like poof.) AND THEN CUE HIS FATHER acting all tough love and shit "Girl, you can do it. I believe in u, dearest daughter." like bro u barely saw her more than once a month before. Also ur sending ur kid to a murder game. AND THEN SHE ATE IT UP LIKE... "ok sure I guess lemme practice this super difficult level 100 spells I stole easily from a very suspicious important character of a spellmaker" LIKE... HMM... I'M NOT BUYING THIS... like whole development. Characters switch up real fast, like they're written on a whim and then the author kinda remembers their assigned traits. The build up is basically underwhelming.

Also the rules of the murder game tournament death itself. The more I read the more I'm like... Ok. Why does murdering each other needs 3 month max to finish. The rules seems so ordinary. I don't know, maybe I'll read more.

------ P113

What's up with them doing big decisions so close to the tournaments time lol the night before Gavin made a pact with the devil to turn him into a magick vessel in exchange for power (and succeeded) while Isobel girlie tried to craft a class 10 (very high) curse just 10 hours before it began. WHY NOW... YOU BOTH HAD LIKE TWO WEEKS LOL

-------- P142

First of all. Alistair is a menace. Second, Gavin and Alistair enemies to lovers when. Third, my girlie Isobel needs to make up her mind. Fourth... THE CITIZEN IS ACTUALLY THE SANE ONE HERE?? STOP SENDING KIDS TO SLAUGHTER... Fifth... Briony you have some severe case of hero complex... Like... Innes is right, you're making it all about you. Sixth... Alright... It's a cycle alright, let's break it boys and girls.

---------- P180

The whole Alistair and Isobel interaction is very entertaining simply for the reason I hc-ed Alistair as one head shorter than Isobel, and he tried to be this edgy chuuni villainy acts guy while Isobel just stared down at him during his taunts hsgahshsg

----------- P189

Not the "there's only one bed" trope😭 are they pairing up those two... You know what, I can get behind this. Alistair is a cutie. ISOBEL YOU TEASE....

----------- P191

Surely it's not implying that the monster in the dark is Hendery right... anyway Alistair needs a friend so this is highly adorable to read (ignoring the memories of abuse from his childhood)

Ar: So anyways... When I was a kid, the monsters plucked my organs out and plate it out as the skin was separated from my face in the meanwhile... And then...

Il: *blushed as the massive attraction ensues*

Wtf girl...

------------ P199

Why is Gavin's chapters usually the shorter one from the bunch. Also if anyone deserves to murder a human in this game it'd be this guy. I like underdogs. I mean, deemed weak, left out of alliances, like come on. It's warranted at this point. Though he's also dying in the process.

----------- P206

Clumsy Alistair.... He's precious😔

Conjuring a nightmare as a spell is SO COOL...!!! Imagination is peak ngl...

-------- P211

It's one week past the tournament WE NEED DEATH.... PICK IT UP BOYS AND GIRLS...

-------- P225

Why do I feel like Gavin's the one who's going on a rampage and take out Elionor and Darrow... Hm... Also... Isobel's "What are we?" OH SHE'S SMITTEN ALREADY... UH... They're being vulnerable w/ eachother... I guess this is it then. I'm not as ready as I thought for another het stories asfsgshjskdkd but whatever I'll look up cute fanarts after this

---------- P237

I was thinking that the spellcrafting here works like in Minecraft😭 maybe idk I don't play minecraft. Basically, you need materials. You have to arrange them certain way. Click craft button, and poof! Spells in a jar!

Maybe it's me being stupid, but Briony said that pairing up each Relic (the ingredient) to the Landmark (the slot) would undo the spell... but isn't that's how you /do/ it instead?? Huh?? Like that's the opposite?

Okay. It doesn't make sense. If each slot needs sacrifice (each champions) then that'd require everyone to die. But one of the excerpt said one time all seven champions die it resulted in the high magick unusable instead. BUT THAT'S JUST GOOD THEN?? Just don't write any name... Smh...

Miss Elionor is kind of a girlboss ngl...

--------

Hmm... I am not liking the sudden switch up of Alistair being mildly ambitious to be the victor to giving it up after the fuel so that Isobel won. They spend like two weeks together and idk it felt too fast to me. O wel...

------- P244

Ye they kissing whatever😒

I'm not as excited to read this anymore ngl I WAS LIED TO...

WHERE'S GAVIN AMIDST ALL THIS...

------- P260

Gavin!!! AND OUR FIRST BLOOD OUUUUUU...... CARBRY I'M SORRY :( TO BOTH OF HIS EYES??? HELLO?? THIS IS GROTESQUE... BRIONY GIRL......... YOU NEED TO DO SOEMTHIMG ABOUT UR HERO COMPLEX.... U CAN'T SAVE EVERYONE... THIS IS A MURDER GAME............

Hm... They're really making the other 3 (Finley, Elionor and Carbry) the villains doomed to death lol while the rest of the four make a team.

With Briony wanting to break the Blood Veil curse altogether and Gavin technically being a magick vessel already an anomaly in itself (he broke one of the rule of no talking to towngoers, breaking out the high magick boundaries), I'm sure they can concoct something. Drag Alistair and Isobel (one given up and the other never wanted to win in the first place). There it is, our main cast. I'm still not buying the Alistair-Isobel romance tho😒 it's like they skimmed a lot of the forced proximity and skipped a lot of what could've been bonding moments. It's like... Sleep together. Alistair suddenly risked his life for a Relic for Isobel. Then the almost kiss😒 HSGSHHSHS I'M SO BITTER FOR THIS I'M SORRY

-------- P266

Damn... THIS DYNAMICS IS SO... CHEF KISS...

I'm eating this up... LIKE REAL BAD... USHSHSVHZHS I ENJOYED THIS THOROUGHLY... the tension... the hostility UM.... YESS... OKAY... OU.... I WILL SAVOR EACH PHRASE DELICATELY THIS IS LIKE... GOURMET...

------ P278

Oh man... I know I wrote a lot about Briony but?? she's a rat too😭 why'd she snitch on Isobel like that she's kinda delusional even back then lmaoo

------ P285

Gavin lived up to his name, he helped Alistair to grief properly! My boys:(

----------- P298

AAGHHH I'M NOT HERE TO READ SAPPY ROMANCE... GET ME OUT OF THIS SHIP....

---------- P304

Isobel really gagged Briony like that ou.... It's true tho she's yapping all about doing good but really she's having a very bad case of hero complex. What kind good friends sends paparazzi to school ajsgjsksksk

_---__-_---- end

The ending scene. YESSSS REVENGE IS COOL (not to the point of crime for legal reason irl) . Because damn the old useless rotten hags needed to... Finally. Justice is served. Good riddance. I am so bitter. Good ending. I don't mind if it ends there. BUT THEN THERE'S A SECOND Part.

Augshsgsghs

One thing that's bothering me so much is that the author established a lot of rules only to bail it out and write whatever later on lol sure there's a reason (that being the cycle is disturbed, high magick yada yada) but still it's just an asspull after another asspull. There's a barrier but people can just cross over now with no actual consequences (Innes went in. But also no paps yet, why?). High magick can't be seen unless they're the victors, only for it to be retconned in the second book now that champions can see them fine. There's only seven champion reps, only for them to add one more later. Like... At this point it doesn't feel like a tournament game again. If there's only few I can look past it but it felt like a sandbox game that they can mend whatever rules as they like. No satisfying build up too.

I'll still read because I got spoiled few plot points and I'm interested for that alone lol

-------demise idk what page

Omg... GAVIN BEING ALIVE REAL...?? I don't care if they retconned him being on a limited life force I'm just glad there's chance he's alive... THAT'S MY PRECIOUS SON... (he tortured an elderly in his dungeon for his own life consumption)

HSGSHSGGGHSGSHSH he's so proud of himself... YEAA...

KICKING MY FEET SQUEALING GIGGLING I'M SO EASY TO PLEASE AAAH I love the banter I LOVE THE BANTERS

The media interview segment is so funny LOVE U BARB

Alistair my man... Who even thinks of ways to make someone die /impressed/😭

WHERE'S AGENT TOO AMIDST ALL OF THIS... AND THE GOVERNMENT??? "oh those kids broke off the blood veil boundaries... People can go into tournament grounds where they play murder game... That's fine..." HELLO??? -oh there she is hello agent yoo

Those families are a bunch of hypocrites gosh😭 not even three weeks ago they did a party where they aren't even sure their kid would return hsgshsj grooming them to play in a murder game and now that the kids back they act like they didn't take part in... the whole tradition thing. Good thing the Lowes dies already screw them. Also at least the Grieves aren't hypocrites though they did send a sheep for sacrifice. (Gavin is a fluffy sheep.)