#anyways idk they're not all like this but some do feel like it's just kaz's fault

[noirshitsuji]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love ❤️

mmmmmmm. MMMMMM. okay. there might be some recency bias in this, but in no particular order:

liededamp - as much as i meme it up myself i feel like i did manage to have some good character discussions in it and wrestle some real emotion within it as a crackfic, and i think it's resonated with some people a lot actually, which makes me very glad.

tried to touch you but you're cutthroat (stay to see it unfold) - obviously there was going to be a chloe(luka)-centric thing in this list because yes. i'm pretty satisfied with how the theming turned out in this one and my character work on chloe as well.

now this one sits here (whispers things to me) - also obviously there had to be an adrien piece there, and this is?? maybe my most popular one?? even though it's technically love square-focused. i spent like 20 mins trying to pick from the others and couldn't, and i am quite proud of that summary (and the rest of it, but the summary i think i did very effectively) and yes.

did you ever want it? (did you ever fight it?) - one-sided fabian pov fabriz fic. this one also really resonated with people who read it/seemed to leave an impression, and not just bc of the ship but a bunch of other things i put there, and i love fabian and it was so fun exploring the way i see his character and how he'd handle pining for his best friend, and i think i managed to pull off the theming around the five stages of grief reasonably well, so?? i'm happy with it.

saint, bastard, king - grisha fic where it's just. idk man something about the kaz/alina/nikolai (potential) dynamic makes the cogs in my brain turn. the way they're all leaders in their different ways and how they operate in different worlds but then they intersect and it's so??? fascinating to me??? but yeah i worked hard on this trying to figure out how to convey it and i think i managed to quite well??

ok yeah this was very difficult just because i do like?? a lot of my work?? like i always look at it and spot something to edit but overall i enjoy reading it and i'm happy with it and yes. i would've added circumscribe, eight-two-five (my kipps-centric l&co fic) as well bc it's the longest character-study/backstory/one-shot thing i've done and i'm very happy with it, but yes. oh look i did it anyway-

[wannaliveattheholidayinn]

alright uh,,, lab rats elite force headcanons in 2023? ... you bet jesus fucking christ

(before i continue, i should just say, a lot of these are very surface level, it's been years since i've seen a single episode of lref, lab rats, or mighty med, and though i've been wanting to rewrite lref since 2016 (i mean jeez, how much i want to rewrite it is in my gd ao3 profile), i've almost certainly forgot important and not so important beats of the story, so i apologize in advance, ty)

okay, number one, starting off very strong, they are all el gee bee tee

chase is gay. and probably trans, but idk. anyways, this feels obvious lol. he/they pronouns bree is a trans lesbian ✌️ she transitioned when she was younger and either genuinely thought she was bisexual until she realized she just wasn't into men OR had some serious comphet, likely enforced by the fact most portrayals that she saw of trans women were still attracted to men so... yeah. either way, she realized she's a lesbian before the show starts. she/her pronouns oliver is bisexual and nonbinary <3 he/him pronouns, but he's definitely warming up to using they/them too kaz is trans and bisexual. completely gone for chase, def had a thing for oliver during mighty med, probably had a brief thing for bree before realizing she's a lesbian, and has never had a thing for skylar, but he would marry her for the joke. he/him pronouns skylar is demiromantic, demisexual, bisexual, and nonbinary. i have very strong feelings on all of these and will not elaborate. she/they pronouns

kaz and chase have a very obvious thing for each other. everyone knows but them type beat. except they do know. they're just too big of idiots to actually do anything about it

bree pretty much swore off relationships after everything that happened at bionic island

bree and skylar have hooked up despite this

oliver and skylar do enter a relationship at a point (later in the series/timeline), but are very quiet about. no one except kaz has caught on yet. kaz simply knows them too well and figured it out like the day after they officially got together

definitely a bit of a sub-point to the last hc, but oliver is not creepy! he does not harass the girl he likes, is not stalkerish towards her! they simply acknowledge he has feelings for her and don't let it interfere with their friendship. when she gets together with him, it's bc she genuinely likes him and wants to be in a relationship with him !!

(i'm very sorry for that whole spiel on skoliver, but they are the first real couple i shipped in anything except for maybe like,,, phinabella, so i am attached to them and because i can shape canon how i want to, i will put them in a happy, healthy, quiet relationship :))

on a similar note, that i'm pretty sure was established in the last point, but i want to drive the point home, oliver is closer to what he was in mighty med then in lref. he has a feelings journal :) he's just a silly guy who's completely gone for a pretty girl person alien :) who can't relate to that?

they all have trauma :) every single one of them :)

bree and chase have pretty much accepted that no matter how close they get to the trio, they'll really never have any sort of relationship like the three have with each other, and they've sort of figured that may be a good thing

(if the last point's unclear, i can elaborate later, but it's late when i'm writing this so,,, yea)

bree and skylar swear like sailors

oliver's mom is the one who destroyed mighty med bc it makes no gd sense to me that she didn't

kaz and chase plan out and choreograph having huge fights in the shared spaces (i.e. kitchen, living room, mission command) and the other three are getting sick of it

yes, one of the sessions where they plan out their Biggest Fight Yet, is when they get together

this is kinda a given, but kaz, oliver, and skylar all drop out

they get GEDs

bree likes to experiment with skylar's hair

bree gave skylar a wolf cut

and then dyed about 50% of their hair pink

return of the pink hair

jewish oliver. i have very strong feelings on this. he's jewish <3

kaz and skylar don't totally get it (bc cultural xianity (altho based on how long kaz has known oliver, he def gets some of it) and she's an alien from a planet with presumably no organized religions), but they are very supportive :)

saw someone say on this very website that leo sends very detailed emails/texts about what he and adam are up to every week, and bree texts like two sentence recaps of a month, and i couldn't agree more however, it must be said, bree and chase miss their brothers and video call with them every chance they get

that's all i got rn besties. will i ever actually rewrite lab rats elite force? only time will tell, but for now... here's this <3

[19burstraat]

six of crows x the locked tomb au concept?

I feel like this is a fairly narrow crossover area but I've been obsessed with both lately and I wanted to throw shit at the wall and see what sticks. Pretty sure there's no Nona spoilers, since it's a crossover AU. I don't know how many people have read both of these series but to hell with it someone must have done lmao. This is less plot and more concept but anyway

Kaz (the Ninth, for the tomb and all that was lost, Heretical Secrets, The Sewn Tongue. The Reverend Son out of We Have No Young People Left process of elimination.)

If Kaz is going to be any house it's got to be the freaks with the elaborate black costumes and the constructs that have no flesh on them (lucky for Kaz...), that tell people fuck all about anything and have scary customs.

Jordie died in the pursuit of lyctorhood; @bloodbroox just suggested to me that he could have been talked into being Pekka's cav without knowing what he was getting into, and then was killed and consumed so Pekka could ascend, so Kaz is now out to get up to that fucking Mithraeum and kill Pekka himself.

I imagine Kaz has a very similar backstory to the one in the books, since it's not like there's a shortage of corpses in this series hh. Probably tried to save Jordie and got left in the aftermath with his corpse and many, many others. I wonder if I could pull in a very literal appearance of the River... maybe Kaz interfered and briefly got stuck in the River (i.e. nearly died) before he clawed back out, out of sheer insane willpower.

(Yes you can tell I don't entirely understand the more scientific aspects of TLT just go w it lmao)

No one dares to point out to Kaz that some rando with no necromatic skill cannot kill a Lyctor, because they're worried he might acc find a way. He's literally only a badly trained cav, but he's... determined. By the time everyone else works out he's the one to get rid of it's too late.

(Matthias, Kuwei and Inej, well trained and courteous cavs, are eventually horrified to find out how Kaz fights lmao.)

I'm not sure how he'd have broken his leg but there's a lot of perilous bits on the Ninth. Maybe training. It just makes his cover better though. How could he be the cav, he's clearly the necro...

No he's not. He's being covered for by...

Jesper (the Fourth, fidelity, facing ahead, The Hope, The Sword Ninth)

Jesper escaped from the Fourth because he and his dad didn't want him to get sent onto the battlefield to be a living weapon and then die, like most Fourth house kids. He got caught, and got thrown into the Ninth house jail. He emphatically insists he is not a necromancer. Yes he is.

Kaz springs Jesper from the Ninth jail and makes a deal with him; they'll swap. Kaz isn't a necromancer and Jesper is, but Kaz will pretend to be the necro, Jesper will pretend to be the cav, and they both get what they want-- Jesper can be a cavalier and be free from jail/the Fourth, and Kaz can get out of the Ninth and into the scrum of attempted lyctorhood to hitch a ride somehow.

(Except they don't. because Jesper flat-out refuses to kill Kaz and ascend and Kaz is hysterically furious, because his original plan was to basically trick Jesper into doing it wrong and seize control of his body, but he got attached and abandoned that plan and now doesn't know what to do. Having said that, if anyone could figure out perfect lyctorhood, it would be Kaz... Hope you want brown eyes Jesper.)

Yes his offhand is a revolver lmao

Inej (the Fifth-- tradition and debts to the dead, the Heart, the Watchers over the River.)

Cavalier, ofc, very very dutiful to her necromancer (one of her saints in the books??? Alina? Petyr? idk.) We don't know a whole lot about the Fifth but they seem (SEEM.) the most well adjusted of the lot, instead of the fucking balls to walls crazy Eight and Ninth lmao. I considered making her Kaz's cav but the idea made me want to throw up and lie down for ten hours, also the Jesper one is a bit more out there, and I refuse to give Kaz that much power lmao he needs to be a normal man he'd be too much of a menace with any kind of magic

Respectful of the Ninth and their weirdo monks until Kaz and Jesper open their mouths and reveal that not only do they talk, that they are also really really annoying and heretical

She works out very quickly that Kaz and Jesper are running a con and gets roped into it lol

Again I refuse to eliminate her backstory so it's gotta be in there somewhere, though I haven't worked out how yet. Perhaps she wasn't always part of the Fifth House, and was under Tante Heleen's thumb off-world...

Nina (the Third, for the gleam of a jewel or a smile, The Mouth, The Procession, The Shining Dead. Princess of Ida.)

But of course. The house that looks frivolous but is a deep well of backstabbing politics and intelligence.

Necro with a particular talent for flesh magic, which obviously is very close to her canon power. Not sure who her cav would be tho...?

Kaz hates her for all of those reasons and she makes a sport out of winding up the little uptight Ninth weirdo

But it's not as fun as flirting with...

Matthias (the Second, discipline, heedless of trial, The Strength, The Crimson Shield)

Second sounds like the Druskelle, no? Matthias is def a carefully trained cavalier, I would suggest Jarl Brum is his necro. Until he gets either killed or disposed of before he can kill Matthias and ascend...

Unless he DOES do that, and we keep Matthias dead in every universe. Sorry Nina. You and Kaz now have a common goal which is Get To The Bastards In The Sky And Kill Them.

Wylan (the Sixth, for the truth over solace in lies, the Reason.)

Genius little kid like Palamedes ig! I can see him being more into the theory than the practice and then, like canon, being underestimated. like a lot of the Sixth. Jesper def thinks he's nothing special until... he is.

I did consider putting Kaz in the Sixth soley for the truth over solace in lies but ultimately Kaz belongs in the horrible places like the Ninth and the Barrel, not the civilised academic environments like the Sixth and the merch Districts. Sorry bud. Another life.

No one really knows in the Sixth that Wylan can't read, bc he covers it up so well, but Van Eck threatens to expose it so he legs it to the Lyctor Convention <3

Kuwei can be Wylan's cavalier? Might explain the Jesper beef more lmao if Jesper is also a supposed cav trying to curry favour with Kuwei's necro, Wylan, rather than 'his necro', Kaz

(Giada also suggested that Alina can be Alecto and the Darkling can be John tho I'm not going all the way there other than to say Kaz Would Definitely Open The Tomb Because The Darkling Said Not To because he's an evil little git and also fatefully nosey and possibly bc Inej asked. And a lockpick. why would I put him in the place with the locked tomb without expecting the funniest possible outcome. also that would def make Zoya one of the OG lyctors a-la Mercymorn! Probably Genya and David too)

[soapysudz]

I was just thinking how a Ketterdam and Gotham crossover/mashup has so many possibilities! I haven't really seen much tho so here are some thoughts.

I picture it as slightly more Gotham, set in the modern (ish) world but also having the political systems and gangs of the Barrel mixed in. The grisha would still have the categories of powers that they do in the grishaverse but less organized, basically considered a subset of meta (my head is currently full of stress so sorry for any and all lore mistakes I make!).

So there's beginning SoC Kaz with the Crows and he hears right away when there's a certain up an coming crime lord in town. Kaz wants to get his revenge on Pekka Rollins but there's the issue of his debt and how many gang leaders don't take him seriously because he's young and walks with a cane. After gathering more info and concocting some convoluted plan that has 43 steps and 15 backups he meets with the Red Hood to see if they can come to a mutually beneficial agreement as Kaz has tabs on pretty much everything in Ketterdam and all the political gang stuff that goes on. He also has PLANS that I'm pretty sure Jason would disrupt and Kaz is gonna do his best to integrate him into those plans while also maybe helping direct him in what he should be doing for optimal takeover.

Like if Kaz has the firepower of the Red Hood to add to his plans? Absolutely terrifying. Ofc there would be interpersonal conflict but that's like half the fun, the character dynamics possibilities are endless! I was thinking that the generally fanon accepted rules that Jason has (I'm more familiar with SoC canon and am more fuzzy on dc details so apologies) like regulating the drug trade, protecting sex workers, etc and strict enforcement of those rules are all things that Kaz wouldn't mind AND if Jason took down Tante Heleen's Menagerie? That would be a great scene for after everyone has started working together and taking over, maybe Jason doesn't know Inej's history but he can probably guess and offers to torture Tante Heleen for her (do I hate Heleen? Yes I do) wether or not he does Tante Heleen won't be conducting her business ever again.

I think that Kaz could definitely spruce up Jason's ten step revenge plot but how idk. For real tho, Kaz's lack of experience is one of the few things holding him back, when he's older? Even just late twenties, it'll be over for everyone lol.

The Barrel seems Crime Alley adjacent so those can be smashed together (would that make Kaz from Metropolis?? Lol but nah probably some farming state)

Omg what if Dick is Inej's brother? Doesn't really fit I think but just an idea. That'd be so freaking sad tho, she's gonna search for her parents and not know they're dead :(

Batman does batman stuff I guess, I didn't really care about him when I was thinking of this crossover but there could be interesting ideas for him. I feel like there's so much going on in Ketterdam/Gotham (Gothdam?lol) that he'd be run ragged and honestly I'd understand him barely putting even a dent in crime there. I'd still have Duke be a meta as opposed to a grisha mostly bc he's closest to a sun summoner and I'm not a fan of the Shadow and Bone books. Damian should definitely have his metal spine, maybe he's a Fabrikator or got that spine put in by one. Steph might be on the very fringes of Crows activity, I really like when her and Jason are besties in fics bc I feel like they have the least amount of baggage/history and have similar backgrounds so its easier if u want to ease him into the batfam one person at a time. Not that I've decided if that's what's happening here but anyways. I'll have more later, ttfn and please take any of this and run with it! Imma tag this thing Gothdam au.

[owlbeers]

Shadow and Bone season two thoughts

I tweeted a little as I watched, but I realised I wanted to put together my thoughts more longform, so here we go. In general: I liked it still but not as much as S1, I had Thoughts.

Spoilers for all of the season after the read more.

Idk maybe its the fact that they started referencing events from Crooked Kingdom - a source I care about a lot and um more than some of the other books - that I started to get pickier but I did.

To quickly get the Mal, Alina, Darkling, Nikolai plot of it all. I liked all the new casting (Nikolai took a little to grow on me, but Tolya and Tamar were great the whole way through). Generally I was fairly unmoved by it all, but this plot really isn't why I am watching the show. Genya gave me some feelings. Zoe Wannamaker is great. I preferred Ben Barnes' villain moments more in S1 but the end in the desert did make me feel a little bit.

I'll deal with the !!! end separately.

So, the Crows. I wasn't sure what I expected them to do - knowing that they wouldn't do The Ice Court - but idk I was a little surprised they mined Crooked Kingdom the way they did because in my mind it so clearly needs the events of SOC for emotional reasons for CK events to work, but I think they ... sort of pulled it off. Sort of.

I mean, they rushed the fuck out of it. I know they wanted to reunite the plots but I wanted more out of Kaz's revenge and yes we got a lot of investigation of Kaz's trauma but I wanted a bit more set-up for all the Crows. The cane fight was very good though. Freddy was great in the confrontation scene - so good - but I admit I missed the quiet of the book church scene and that only Inej saw it. Inej not being there, it being surrounded by lots of people ... it felt different.

The Kanej: they hinted at book stuff but it all just felt a little watered down. Yes we got the bandages scene but only nods to it because they're not really there yet emotionally, and yes he tried to get her out and got her freedom but I didn't really see the point in having that weird fight in the middle. Yes, he is pushing her away but it just seemed odd. The hallucination scene was feelings-y but kinda confusing in why they had that for Inej, but the recovery form it was nicely done with the softness in Kaz's eyes before the !!! sets in. However the final ep "I will have you without armour" scene was pretty great. And his looks when he saw her walk back with Alina and the sword! I love them.

Wesper: I liked Jack's Wylan from the get go and I thought him and Kit had good chemistry. Even with the plot changes I found them very cute and charming.

Also the bit where Jesper lists off how Kaz couldn't imagine doing this without him, and Kaz said yes all of that - but not the unlimited tab. I love me some Kaz and Jesper friendship.

Nina with the Crows was great. She doesn't take Kaz's bullshit and I loved the "there is five of us" moment at the end.

Matthias: welp sorry Calahan you had shit all to do. I did assume they were gonna get him out this season but uh guess that is for the Ice Court spinoff.

The end: haha they sure changed a lot there. A lot. Are they setting up something for S&B S3 and also SOC?? Now with Dark Alina in charge of Ravka and King of Scars Nikolai stuff?? Mal going away with Tolya, Tamar and Inej?? I liked that Inej is getting a pirate slave hunter moment (but I still need that Kanej boat scene. I need it). I guess they'll find a way to get her back? Will she get caught?? So many questions. So random.

I don't care about Mal x Alina really but uh if I did and that ending happened and I was expecting the R&R ending. Well.

Are they going to do a Tolya and Inej moment? I have mixed feelings.

Anyway in conclusion: I love the Crows! Some things were good! The actors were all great! But eh some choices I'm not sure about it. I need the Ice Court story though. Please Netflix.

Yes I have read book scenes and I might go hunt down some of my Kanej fic faves ...

[inkofamethyst]

January 13, 2024

LOVE when the girls (Batman and Superman) start to tussle. Like yes, the Bruce/Clark friends dynamic is cute and fun and they're totally a power couple, but the tension when they disagree is so good. Anyway some other commentary no one asked for: 1. Superman TAS should not have ended like that lol. We never even got to see Lois figure out who Clark was, never got to even see them together. The episodes were fine, but the show had at least another season in it. 2. The music in Justice League (animated) is so bland, I don't think it's live. I do appreciate when they play character themes though :) 3. JL S2 definitely improved over S1. The stories are more interesting, the writing is snappier, overall more fun. 4. In love w Shayera. Like actually. Like to the point where I would even get back into comics just to read her stuff fr.

The apology from Keyleth to Laudna in c3e81!!! "For... everything." I mean that's not particularly specific, but 1. it certainly sounded like it carried the weight of the Sun Tree and 2. if anyone out of VM was going to apologize for what happened to Laudna even if it technically wasn't quite their fault it was going to be Keyleth for sure. I don't know if she'd gotten a heartfelt apology from any of them before that. (Of course, this could just be me being hopeful. Keyleth/Matt totally could've not been insinuating that at all and I was just reading into things too deeply. I don't watch Talks Machina so I guess I'll never know for sure lol.)

Found a steampunk playlist on spotify and it's really just driving orchestral in peculiar time signatures, sometimes with the classic Hans Zimmer flair, but I do kind of adore it. Makes me feel very powerful. It's been several years since I was into the "epic"/"scorecore" genre and I'm enjoying it!

Really only a week left of break (how???). Still a few things I want to get done, but I've made decent progress on the goals.

Today I'm thankful that, on clear nights, I can see stars from my bedroom window. Not many of them (light pollution probably), but I can pick out Orion :) A bonus feature, along with the sunset views, I lucked into here which I've never had before.

Re:Dressing Up to Walk About -- sometimes it's more important to just get out and walk, and if putting a coat over some house clothes and a scarf around an unwashed face is the answer then so be it. Beats spending a full day inside a single room by a mile. [edit, next day: upvote, just got caught in a cute little snow flurry!]

Last thing: halfway through The Winter King. I still think the romance was rushed, but there's been a bit of sweetness added which did make me feel warm and fuzzy inside so, points for that. I think I prefer more of a.. tender loving care romance with dashes of angst rather than an angsty romance with dashes of TLC (but I also don't read much true romance at all, so (and I think that's the crux of it, this is a fantasy-romance, a romantasy if you will, and I think I'm learning that this is just not my genre? I don't mind romance (Geralt/Yennifer, Kaz/Inej, even Tress/whatshisface), but I think I prefer when it's kind of secondary to a more driving plotline (or maybe there are better romantasies out there idk))).

Lots of media talk today hehe

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

here's some grishaverse ships!!!! darklina nikolina zoyalina genyalina zoyanikolina zoyalarkling nikolarkling? darkling-nikolai-alina? i'm out of names jesper and kaz jesper and wylan just bc they're normal

Darklina

Already did this one!

To give some more opinions, I like it most when he’s either at his cruelest or most pathetic. The best scene was when he threatens to skin her 🤷‍♀️

I love the pettiness of them having a telepathic bond and using it for fucking psychological warfare. Or well the Darkling does. Alina takes way too long to catch on and needle him as much. I wish she’d gotten the chance to fuck him up more. But anyway I generally find it so funny how much of the dynamic relies on her just being… fairly normal and then he’s Like That.

I love Alina as the constantly weirded out, narrative and comedic straight main to his supervillain melodrama.

Nikolina

This has been my TGT OTP for awhile, me and like five other people lmao. I like it most in AU and canon divergent scenarios tbh, partially because their dynamic is really chill and I love conflict and angst. I like it when there’s some aspect of pining, unrequited feelings, or just the shadow of other issues looming over the relationship. Like I love this ship in situations where they’re PerseveringTM together despite The Horrors, basically?

And I mean I’ve already talked a few times about how I really like their polar opposite priorities and ambitions. They contrast each other fairly strongly while still getting along very well. And that’s something I usually find very compelling. I like this ship most for AUs where they like self actualize/compromise/learn to cope with shared trauma etc. I want them to work through shit and learn to be happy!

Zoyalina

Rivals to lovers is soooo fun! Alina can’t go two minutes without mentioning how hot Zoya is. And I think LB genuinely meant it more for reader info/to get into Alina’s insecurity but it reads SO gay.

There’s like two main dynamics I really like for them. Okay three. But one is like a riff on early SAB era, where they bond while still both under the Darkling’s thumb, despite being pitted against each other. The other is like leaning into a devotion, saint and warrior/bodyguard/devotee type thing. Third is post R&R Alina retreating to her orphanage and it being explicit in the epilogue that Zoya visits and writes and even gives her a kefta because she’ll always be Grisha. And idk I’m just obsessed with Zoya, who’s so unused to that sort of kindness, being gentle or drawing her out of her shell in her own gruff way.

Genyalina

I love them!!! But also the plot just doesn’t give me much to work with past SaB. That inherent conflict of Genya lying to her and never sending Alina’s letters, while genuinely connecting with her is SO good. I love it, and that’s my favorite dynamic for them. And I also love the explicit comparison drawn between Genya’s own trauma and being exploited by the king, and Alina being groomed by the Darkling even if Alina’s not herself fully like cognizant of it. (Kind of similar to the SaB era Zoyalina dynamic, girls connecting over being manipulated and controlled by men/the same man even is a dynamic that I find very compelling) But past that point in the series I don’t have as much like… thoughts about them? I still love them and love when they interact but it doesn’t intrigue me in the same way.

Zoyanikolina

Okay okay maybe this is the real OTP… OT3… series ship of all time. KoS (more the idea of it than the execution) did convert me to Zoyalai to an extent, the pining is soooo good. And I already love Zoyalina and Nikolina separately so obvs the best way to go here is to smoosh them all together lmao.

My fave take is facilitated through a Nikolina political marriage that’s kind of complicated for everyone involved. And meanwhile Alina seeing all the insane pining going down and being like. Well. Are you going to do something about this or???

I may be writing this lmao so I’m generally thinking about it a lot. But Alina being the most emotionally intelligent one while simultaneously very NOT self aware about her own feelings is just very funny to me.

Zoyalarkling

So having confirmed that this is Zoya/Alina/Darkling hm! Hm! Not sure I can see this one except in very very particular circumstances. I feel like the Zoyalina dynamic when they’re both still into the Darkling is defined by rivalry and being in competition with each other. So I don’t think they’d be… happy about a poly scenario. But also the Darkling’s probably TERRIBLE enough to be like Ah yes here is my teenaged harem. So I could see a very fucked up version. Meanwhile I just don’t get the sense that Zoya harbors like any attraction whatsoever for him the way Alina does after Everything Goes Down. I could see some kind of insane hate fucking scenario, but like only very particularly?

I can’t help but make Hannibal comparisons when I think of KoS type scenarios/anything where they keep the Darkling jailed. But I could see Zoya as his jailor being very interesting (Chilton or Alana Bloom esque) And we canonically have him like demanding to see Alina, though again canon didn’t do nearly enough with it. So could I see a weird psychosexual SOTL/NBC Hannibal arc for these three? Mayhaps.

Darknikolina

Love them! I’m generally a fan of Darklolai and I think there’s a lot of very interesting unexplored territory in terms of what the dynamic between Nikolai and the Darkling even is. LB, even in KoS, tends to skirt around how they perceive each other fairly carefully? I think probably because she knows how much it’d expose the painfully thin politics and court set up lmao. But I think there’s room for very personal loathing —> fascination.

Anyway I am really interested in circumstances where like Nikolina get married For Politics and then the Darkling’s just in jail 5ever and things get weird. Or alternatively (I basically wrote this already) but a bad ending scenario where the Darkling wins and they’re both basically his captives.

I think there’s also a lot of mileage to be gotten out of the Darkling basically lying dormant inside Nikolai lmao/at least some of his power remaining there. And there are interesting body sharing weirdness places you could go with that. And complicate it even further by bringing Alina into the mix.

Kazper

This was probably my favorite SoC ship dynamic lmaoooo which I mean I knew was never going anywhere! But then gets further tanked by the clear comparison between Jesper and Jordie. I just really liked that initial pining set up where Jesper was desperate to prove himself to Kaz, to just get him to at all give him the time of day. And Kaz is just… frankly kind of cruel to him! Idk the conflict was really interesting. I would’ve loved to see the dynamic explored

Wesper

Eh. I didn’t really like them in the books tbh? I think they had some effective scenes in CK particularly but also like it wasn’t effective in a shippy sense to me necessarily. I did actually like them in the show a lot! So that’s made me more partial to it. But it’s still just not something I’d bother to think about outside of actually watching the show/reading the books.

[capinejghafa]

Fics that pretend that Kaz is the only one who has to work through his trauma, work through his touch aversion, or subsequently ignored Inej's trauma entirely... really miss a gold opportunity to have Inej acknowledged that some part of her also struggle too... Just starting to feel like this is all Kaz's fault, you know?

[jeanmoreaux]

I hope you don’t mind, I have an unpopular opinion. As much as I love the SoC duology (mainly sentimental reasons), in hindsight I see so many plot holes or thins that didn’t make sense to me (in a practical sense or in terms of consistency with a character’s personality) and I wanted to both share and ask what you might think! (Pls don’t shoot me)

—- Leigh loves having everyone paired up nicely, but I was just thinking realistically how

strange that Inej becomes captain of a ship (as implied by the end of the 2nd book); she had just reunited with her family as well. It’s not wildly OOC to be a slave-hunter at all, but it’s hard for me to grasp Inej being in the position of a leader (whose ship will surely be recognized and soon enough avoided by said slavers); the whole time we see she excels at shadow work, she is deadliest when quiet/least expected—I suppose the whole commandeering a ship in contrast is something very loud. Almost flashy and so it still bugs me to this day 😫

How neat Wylan and Jesper are together, all wrapped in a bow. They are from incredibly different backgrounds, and this is more of an issue with the writing and pacing than the actual pair—but it wrapped up so quickly and too nicely for me. The very common ‘getting past subtle glances and little flirtatious gestures to finally making a move’ trope (??) // (this is more of a YA complaint because this is honestly a standard formula™️, but I just wanted to include this anyway as an example).

Leigh always has these wonderful concepts, but far too many POVs are included in the novels so it retains a surface-level approach, despite some characters having genuinely interesting psyches and stories that could’ve been explored further (personally for me: the characters of Kaz and Genya most of all)

And that…is just a some of the trivial little nuggets that bonk around my head when I remember SoC 🤣 I’m sorry this endedt up being so long!

hahaha yeah i guess that's quite an unpopular opinion! it's really interesting to read your takes on it (so pls don't apologise for the lengthy message!) i really appreciate your ask! i am happy you feel like you can share these opinions with me. they are pretty understandable issues to have with the series. i think your point on inej is definitely something i have asked myself too since she doesn't seem to have much experience when it comes to sailing and leading a crew, but i kind of always imagined her to curate a small team on an agile boat that stealthily takes out the slave-traders? idk that's what my mind came up with. i mean financially she's definitely in a position where she can do whatever she wants for however long she wants. i don't think she'd jump into it right away but rather spend some time with her family first. (but ofc that’s all just speculation.) i can definitely see why you'd criticise the pacing of wylan and jesper's relationship. it could have been executed better especially in soc. when it comes to their background i think that after everything they both experienced across their lives they're actually not that different? i mean wylan lived in the barrel for quite some time and while he grew up privileged i think he's well aware of how life looks like for people beyond his wealthy bubble. jesper was educated and grew up pretty sheltered on a farm that i imagine didn't do too bad since he had the funds to attend university in ketterdam (a university that even royalty attends—i think it is mentioned somewhere that nikolai was supposed to study there too). he is definitely not as privileged as wylan but the discrepancy is probably not as extreme as if jesper had grown up in the barrel. like, i agree their backgrounds are different, but the difference isn't so extreme that it would make a lasting relationship almost impossible. i kind of agree with your point on the POVs, but at the same time i also kind of don't??? i get why you'd want too get a deeper look into individual psyches, but i don't think that's something these books ever set out to do—while there is some strong character work ,the grishaverse books are foremost plot-driven stories. they don't aim for that in-depth exploration of characters' psyches. these novels never had the ambition to be intricate character studies. so it's not really fair to criticise them for not doing something they never intended to do (even though i completely get it, i would love dig a little deeper with kaz and genya too!!!) i never felt like the POVs in soc are too many bc i found them to be overall really effective in telling the story. they made it easier to tell the story in the way it was set up to be told. the different perspectives make it possible to cover the plot-relevant parts of the narrative in an engaging and exciting way bc you get different angles of different characters with different amounts of information. all the POVs revolve around the same ONE plot line that binds them together like a glue. ((that's why the POVs in the nikolai duology are TOO MANY... you have so many POV characters with their own plots and it doesn't really come together until the very end so you're just jumping around too much which consequently takes you out of the story. it's all so disjointed and quite messy which makes it hard to get invested in any of the narrative arcs.))

i think i'll have to stop here bc this is already SOO LONG, but i just wanna add that this series is YA, it just has to wrap up everything nicely. it kind of comes with the genre. (even tho i think the soc duology does leave some things a little open and ambiguous, it's not as neatly wrapped up as many other YA books, and i appreciate that.) in general i think i am just not so harsh on YA, but yeah it does require more suspension of disbelief in some cases.