#but so many Black women in the say her name post wasn't

[pumpumdemsugah]

Remember that white person that had a melt down when different Black women told her it's inappropriate to use " say her name" for a white person, as it's an awareness movement that came about because when a Black woman was shot to death no one came to her protest and the deaths of Black women and girls often do not generate immediate outrage or action UNLIKE the immediate vigils and protest that were made in honour of the white trans teen that was murdered in the UK so of course something about racialised misogyny makes sense on a white person and if you disagree the fascists win and the Black women and girls Say Her Name was about are somehow less dead than this trans teenager so shut up it's " solidarity" because whites said so

All this lecturing but doesn't seem to know anything about Black Americans, especially Black American women beyond how useful they are, for a hottake.

This was the reaction:

Would you be surprised that the same white person didn't like when another Black woman pointed out that framing the lynching of Black Americans as anti-rape instead of white supremacist violence reinforces the ideas lynch mobs used to kill Black people

If you try to reblog my commentary, even without adding tags, an anon told me you'll be blocked

Here's a Black American woman that has read about prison abolition talking about Black Femicide and her concerns about prison abolition especially given the history of how rape impacts Black American women

The self righteous meltdown about say her name, was walked back but it's obvious she didn't actually mean it. When online white people call something " infighting" and race is involved it often means some Black person disagreed with them and the implications of what they were saying and instead of being normal they call you "aggressive", which is famously something Black women are never called when we don't sycophantically agree. They don't see their behaviour as identity politics, whiteness is never identity politics, it's natural and neutral.

Black women are tools to these white "leftist" and you're not meant to disagree because they always know more even when they don't. It's crazy how easily these people will bring up Black people especially women into discussions that aren't about us but if you ever disagree, then fascist win

This is the standard behaviour of whites that always have Black women in their mouths. They don't believe in solidarity but usefulness.

[euniexenoblade]

since we're talking about call outs lately, i've been called out many times, most of which are made from lies and sometimes by altering screenshots, but the most effective call out i ever got was like, in early 2015 there was a tumblr user everyone knew was a terf, but she would say "actually i support trans women" this was before crypto terfs were as talked about so the language wasn't really there to say "hey this person is a crypto terf." but yeah some people put posts of this woman on my dash and i made a random post on my blog "why do yall reblog her shes a terf" and of course she searches her own name daily, found my post, and replied to it that me calling her a terf was racist. that was it. no other interaction. but she went on all night talking about me being racist and just making things up as she went "oh i bet she says the n word all the time irl" kind of shit that had, like no basis? But her follower base took it 100% and i literally had thousands of anons telling me to kill myself, trying to goad me into being racist (didnt work), and the most concerning thing was i got hundreds of anons being like "what was the point of doing hrt if you still look like that, you should kill yourself." It was like, violent and overwhelming. and on top of it I'd get random young teenager trans people who followed her and bought into her bioessentialism showing up in my messages being like "you give trans people a bad name" "you're why transphobia exists" etc etc it was fucking crazy.

but i lost like, no followers because everyone around me understood, this woman was a terf. this all set up the real one though.

later in the year a teenage "communist" trans girl made some snarky comment about me being racist on a post of mine blowing up. i ignored her cuz like, who cares it's just some random teenager. but i guess people were looking for a reason to hate me cuz that blew up, lots of people just took that at face value no need to investigate. when someone finally did send the girl an ask being like "hey how is she racist" she replied "I dont remember but I know she is" and even more people just took this as 100%. the thing is, i do remember her being one of those "you make trans people look bad" terf following young trans people, it's not that she didn't remember, it's that she didnt want to admit she followed a terf and she believed a terf just saying shit. I lost like 3/4s of my followers, i had a lot of people i thought were my friends just stop talking to me, and going forward every time i got a call out there would usually be a line of like "also she's racist, everyone already knows this" all cuz this girl needed to make a snarky comment cuz she just loves terfs.

the thing about the "i dont remember" bit is it made some weird game of telephone. "I dont remember" became "oh she's racist, i think she says the n word" which became "she called black bloggers the n word" like people just made shit up about me and connected it to this call out. and when id be like this isnt true id be met with a "this is just known, youre a known racist" and it's like, to this day i will still find people be like "hey good on you for growing as a person and not doing that any more" and its like I NEVER DID IT TO BEGIN WITH

[hedgehog-moss]

(TW POLICE VIOLENCE)

France has been feeling like a police state this week, there were 5000 cops deployed in Paris yesterday (watch this video and tell me this is a normal amount of cops and they're behaving normally) and they keep acting like they have total immunity*, to beat up protesters, to arrest protesters, or just random people walking in the vicinity of a protest. My 70+-year-old dad tried to go to a peaceful protest and had to abandon the idea because of all the tear gas being used by police.

*Which they do—as Le Monde pointed out, the cops who are violent risk nothing because they can't be identified because almost none of them wear their identification number even though it's supposed to be mandatory. They're not being penalised for not wearing them, so why should they?

If you can stomach it, please have a look at the photos and videos on this Twitter account documenting French police brutality against protesters—as I write this, the most recent tweet is about a journalist who was beaten up by a BRAV-M cop* using his steel baton; he had his head cracked open and his hand broken.

(* BRAV-M is a motorised repression corps—cops on bikes—a unit that was dissolved in 1986 after some of them beat a student to death, who wasn't even attending a protest but walking near one. Macron changed the unit's name, from Voltigeurs to BRAV-M, and reestablished it to suppress the Yellow Vests protests. This week, a BRAV-M cop deliberately drove over a 19-year-old's leg at a protest after chasing him on his bike. The victim said he heard a cop say to others "Smash him." Another BRAV-M punched a protester unconscious on March 20. And today Le Monde published an article about BRAV-M cops being recorded bragging about "breaking elbows and faces.")

In Paris last week the CRS arrested a 14-year-old kid because they took him for a dangerous black bloc protester I guess?? A child spent a night in police custody without knowing why. They've also arrested several 15 / 16 year-olds. Let's teach the youth what happens when you exercise your right to protest!

On March 16th in Paris, within one evening, they arrested 292 people, and 283 were released without charges, which means they're mass-arresting people for peaceful protests as a strategy of intimidation. The student I mentioned in my post the other day, who spent 48 hours in custody and was eventually charged for refusing to have his DNA samples taken and filed, asked the cops why they were arresting him + 4 other people who were walking down the same street and they said "Because you look like fucking leftists."

The government tells us "We fully support our brave police forces" when the cops are arresting people for "looking like leftists." How are we still a democracy? The guy also mentioned that during the time he spent at the police station, the police was mostly arresting Maghrebis, though they made an exception for him, a Black guy. There are videos from the past week of cops beating up women, tear gassing protesters in the face from 20cm away, kicking protesters in the face when they're already on the ground, crushing their heads under their boot, brutalising a homeless man and old ladies, tear gassing crowds with young children in them. I'm having trouble finding links to these specific incidents I remember because there are so many videos circulating.

Look at this video, they're violently striking the back of people's heads with steel batons even when the protesters are already going in the direction they're told to. The little old lady shoved around and trying to protect her head from the strikes is breaking my heart.

Surely at the point when enforcers of state authority are arresting middle schoolers, beating up citizens for exercising their rights and gassing and pepper spraying elderly people, children and babies in strollers, the government might want to make some sort of statement condemning this state of affairs, but instead they have been telling us they're proud of & grateful for their police forces, which of course angers people and makes protests more violent. The Minister of the Interior, who supervises the police, praises them wholeheartedly and excuses all instances of deliberate brutality as 'isolated incidents' due to 'tiredness'.

Here's a thread in English describing a protester's experience—"Yesterday (March 23) the level of arbitrary police violence clearly leveled up. I was tear gassed three times without being able to move in a very dense crowd; policemen took advantage that people were unable to move more than 20cm to pounce on us and bludgeon us in a totally arbitrary manner." (you can see an example of this behaviour in this video from a different protest)

Yesterday, after a day of nationwide protests that brought a fresh new wave of video evidence of cops beating up protesters and making reckless use of tear gas—at the end of a day when a special ed teacher at a protest got her thumb torn off by a tear gas grenade—this is what the French Prime Minister said:

They're not even trying to play it off like "both sides made mistakes" they're telling us they condone everything the police is doing, that this is what they're deploying them for:

(screencap from this video)

(this is from this video, in which you can hear a woman screaming "Stop it! You're strangling him! You have no right! I'm filming you!" The cops don't seem to care about being filmed. They're beating up citizens with the government's full blessing after all.)

Macron's government is trying to intimidate people into giving up their right to protest, by deploying cops in huge numbers and publicly voicing complete support for their behaviour, by allowing them to beat and arrest hundreds of people and to use tear gas indiscriminately. Tear gas has been completely normalised as a means of state violence, it's very practical that it doesn't leave traces of blood or broken bones I guess, but it's still violence, it burns, it's a chemical whose effects on people's health we don't know a lot about.

^ Paris (from this vid; caption: "one tear gas grenade after the other")

Macron condescendingly told us there's no "magic money" which is why the pension reform is needed, but he did find the money to stockpile these apparently unlimited amounts of tear gas grenades to suppress protests against his reform to make poor people work longer.

^ Nantes (screencap from a vid in which the cops throw three or four grenades at once and you can hear people say "oh come on, seriously? this is crazy. Why? go fuck yourselves" in a tired tone)

We've also found out yesterday that three Corsican MPs were pressured not to support the Assembly's no-confidence vote against the government—by being told if they didn't vote it, a teaching hospital would be built in Corsica.

The island of Corsica is the only region of France that doesn't have a teaching hospital; due to lack of medical resources Corsicans often have to travel to mainland France for healthcare. Just last month the Minister of Health said sorry, still no teaching hospital for Corsica, it's just not possible right now. Then last week some "magic money" was apparently found to build it but only if the Corsican MPs didn't support the no-confidence vote. I know this kind of thing isn't exactly unique in politics but Macron has been slashing hospital budgets to the point that 20% of French hospital beds are closed due to lack of staff, and he used the health of 340,000 French citizens as a bribe to save his ass. The three Corsican MPs ended up voting in favour of the no-confidence vote despite of that, as it was what their constituents wanted (honour to them). Macron's government survived the no-confidence vote by only 9 votes.

Whatever legitimacy Macron has as a President right now is being clung to by MP corruption and police repression. How do we move forwards knowing that, I don't know. How does he have legitimacy to govern on any issues after the way he handled this reform and the following protests? His police forces are drowning city centres in tear gas, a chemical whose effect on birds and other fauna is not known, and we're supposed to listen to him talk about the environment? They're wasting thousands of litres of water using water cannons to disperse protesters, and we're supposed to listen to him talk about low groundwater levels and how we need to save water? I was going to say, what about his legitimacy abroad but other Western governments don't seem too bothered so far by his handling of the protests—though I'm grateful that Amnesty International did condemn it, and that a Belgian deputy made a speech in Parliament this week asking his government to condemn Macron's use of violent police repression.

[Wait, I just saw that as I was writing this post, the Council of Europe condemned the "excessive use of force" in France. Saying that 'sporadic acts of violence' of some protesters can't 'justify the excessive use of force by agents of the State' or 'deprive peaceful protesters of their right to freedom of assembly'. This is the opposite framing as the one our government is standing by—sporadic acts of violence by cops that are either justified or excusable—it's refreshing.]

Between that and Charles III cancelling his visit (and lots of tourists cancelling trips to Paris which is bound to piss off the tourism industry) and our own media waking up and starting to talk about the government's brutality, I hope Macron starts being held accountable. He has been fanning the flames of this crisis at every turn, by telling us that the crowds protesting in the street have 'no legitimacy', by sending cops to break strikes even though striking is a Constitutional right (but the only part of the Constitution he cares about is the one that starts with 49.3), by condemning the protesters when asked to condemn police violence—saying "When [protesters] use violence, unregulated, absolute, we're no longer in a Republic." I agree, but he's describing himself.

When you resort to using article 49.3 to bypass the National Assembly for the 11th time this term to impose a reform that 70% of the country is against (and 93% of working people) that will force the poorer classes of the population to work longer, and your only response to people's distress at being told to work until they die is to force them to accept it by allowing your police forces to beat up protesters, to arrest them and to gas them, you have failed as a democratic leader.

The next organised protest and strike is next Tuesday (if you want to give something to the strike solidarity fund, here it is); in the meantime spontaneous protests are still erupting pretty much every day and cops are getting burnt out (good! There are fun videos from yesterday's protests of cops accidentally tear gassing one another, or a police car accidentally running into another as people laugh and clap.) And yes some protesters are getting more extreme and destructive, but Macron is the one choosing to stand by his reform at all costs and let this country burn. And when I look at what we're being expected to tolerate and to normalise, I'm kind of proud that French people's gut reaction was "burn it all."

Some popular Twitter hashtags for the protests:

#ToutCramer - Burn everything #CensurePopulaire - People's no-confidence vote #MacronDémission - Macron resign #OnLâcheRien - We won't cede an inch.

[joeys-babe]

Joey B Imagines: One of These Nights

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Summary: You as Joe’s girlfriend are by his side for every event, you helped him feel more comfortable since he wasn't the most social guy and he needed you there. You departed from him to go the bathroom and Joe isn't at all pleased with what happened on your way back.

Warnings: Angst, fluff, mad Joe

Pairing: Joe Burrow x reader

Imagine universe: None! (Misc.)

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*No specific date for this fic!*

(y/n’s pov)

Joe and I had just sat down at the table of Bengals players and their girls in our usual VIP section. One look at Joe and I could tell he already didn't want to be here.

I looped my arm with his and he flashed me a small smile, his icy blue eyes barely visible behind his black Cartier’s.

“I love you.” - Joe mouthed

“I love you too.” - you mouthed back

He had already thanked me so many times tonight for coming with him since it wasn't his scene at all, and I made it more bearable.

Sam Hubbard, a longtime teammate of Joe, knew all about his antisocial ways, so he tried to include Joe in the conversations to keep his mind away from the surroundings.

I gave Sam a thankful nod because if he wasn't keeping Joe occupied, I'd end up on babysitting duty for the whole night.

Even in a secluded area away from the rest of the club, I was constantly looking around for possible cameras.

Joe hated PDA, and for him to even have his arm looped with mine was a big step, but he needed close to me right now. That's why I checked around for cameras, knowing Joe would be mad if pictures of us close together were posted.

I found myself zoning out since the conversion had switched to football, and I could barely make out the sound of a female voice saying my name.

“Hey y/n, I have to go to the bathroom… can you come with me?” - Jess

It was Jess, Sam’s girlfriend.

I turned to Joe to see him already looking at me. He was waiting for an answer.

“Will you be okay if I go to the bathroom?” - you

My face faltered when he immediately started biting the inside of his cheeks like he does when he's nervous, but he nodded yes.

“Okay. Be right back.” - you

Before I stood up, Joe caught me off guard when he placed a soft kiss on my cheek.

Even Jess took notice, and as we walked away from the table, she commented on it.

“Your boy seems a little touchy today.” - Jess giggled

“I have no idea what's gotten into him, but you will not catch me complaining.” - you

“I hear that.” - Jess laughed

——

Minutes later, Jess finished washing her hands, I finished fixing my mascara, and we left the bathroom.

We laughed as we walked back to the table, just talking about our boyfriends and having a good time.

Walking up to the roped-off area, the same security guard that had let us in and out five minutes ago wasn’t even acknowledging us.

“Uhm, sir? Can you let us back in?” - you

The burly man looked at me, then to Jess, and silently shook his head no.

“Why not?” - Jess

“Don't see any passes… and the last time I checked the Cincinnati Bengals don't draft women.” - security guard

Jess reached into her purse mumbling a “Don't worry” and took her pass out to show the guy.

He studied it intently and eyed Jess once again.

“Okay.” - security guard

Relief washed over me when he moved the rope and Jess stepped through. I followed behind her but he closed it back before I could get to the other side.

I went to yell after Jess, but she was already around the corner, and the club was so loud that if I yelled at the top of my lungs she wouldn't be able to hear me.

“Not you.” - security guard

“Excuse me?” - you

“Listen, girl. I get it, you wanna try to make your move on one of the players because you want their money. I've dealt with girls like you before, and it’s not going to happen.” - security guard

I stood there completely baffled.

“What did you just say to me? You just let me walk out like ten minutes ago.” - you

“Now you're trying to gaslight me. Oh and let me guess, you're dating a player?” - security guard

“For your information, I am dating one of the players. I have been for six fucking years. You watched me walk in with him!” - you

“Of course you are and I have no recollection of letting you in the VIP lounge. You don't look like the… NFL player’s type.” - security guard

“This is unbelievable. I don't want to sound like a braggy bitch, but my boyfriend is Joe Burrow. I suggest you let me in before he finds out about this altercation.” - you

“Ma’am, with all due respect Joe Burrow could have any woman in the world… and I don't foresee him picking you. You don't have any proof of him being your boyfriend either.” - security guard

I grabbed my phone out of my purse and attempted to call Joe, but it went straight to voicemail.

“Shit. Voicemail.” - you mumbled

“Look my background is me and him. He's in uniform. This is after the AFC Championship in 2021.” - you

“That could be edited. Look lady, you're very persistent but I'm going to have to remove you from the club.” - security guard

Before I knew it the guy was grabbing my arms at full force and started shoving me around.

“Let go of me!” - you yelled

I could feel tears welling up in my eyes, but as always before anything could happen, I heard that voice.

“What is going on here?!” - Joe

The look on the security guard’s face when he turned around to see Joe, looking like a bull ready to face a matador, was priceless.

“Sir I was just…” - security guard

“Manhandling my girlfriend? Because that's sure what it fucking looked like.” - Joe

“I thought…” - security guard

“Let go of her before I break your arms!” - Joe

He immediately dropped my arms and Joe gently whisked me behind his back.

“What is it that you thought?” - Joe

“She told me you were her boyfriend, but I thought she was lying.” - security guard

“Why’d you think that?” - Joe

“She just doesn't look like a girl that an NFL star like you would get with. That simple.” - security guard

“What the fuck did you just say to me. You better get out of my face before I bash yours in.” - Joe

“Can you blame me, dude? She’s not really… you know…” - security guard

“She's not really what?!” - Joe yelled

“The smallest girl on the planet.” - security guard

Joe's entire face turned red as he bubbles with furiousness.

“That’s it.” - Joe lunged forward

I immediately grabbed his wrist and pulled him back with as much strength as I could. Once he was beside me I put my hand on his chest, knowing it helped him calm down.

“Don’t. It's not worth it, Joey.” - you

Joe looked down at me to find my face completely flushed and my tear-filled eyes pleading.

“Congratulations, you've just worked your last shift.” - Joe

He moved away and took my hand, moving the rope himself and slamming it on the ground before he walked back over to the booth.

I sat back down in our spot, but Joe stayed standing with his phone in hand, seemingly dialing a number.

Joe just radiated anger right now as he held his phone up to his ear and started raddling a million miles a minute.

A few minutes later, he sat back down next to me with a deep sigh.

“Had to call the owner. That guy’s never working here again. I swear one of these nights I'm going to beat the shit out of someone.” - Joe

“I’m so sorry.” - you blinked back tears

“You have nothing to be sorry for, absolutely nothing. I should've walked you to the bathroom. Oh and forget every word that fucking dick said. You're the only woman I could ever picture myself with. You're the most beautiful girl in this entire world, and you are perfect for me. I love you more than anything.” - Joe

I buried my face in his neck without even thinking about where we were right now, but Joe didn't care. He wrapped his arms around me and rubbed my back.

“Thank you for being the best boyfriend a girl could ask for. I love you more than anything, too.” - you

“Wanna go home?” - Joe

“Please?” - you

Joe stood up immediately and took my hand. We said goodbye to everyone and made our way back down the hallway. When we found ourselves in the main room, I figured Joe would drop my hand, but he didn't.

——

We approached Joe’s car, and he opened my door like always, showing off the gentleman he was.

As soon as he shut his door, Joe crashed his lips against mine.

“When we get home I'm going to show you how damn desirable you are. I don't care what other people say you're perfectly made for me.” - Joe

And that's exactly what he did, both verbally and physically. Joe made me feel like the most craved woman in the world.

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Authors note: ending the night (and the 5th day of Christmas) with some angst.

Request for this fic;

hope you enjoyed! ❤️

[izzabela]

Howdy 🤠 I hope you’re having a good day! Love your work. Could you do a fic where Johnny finds the fem reader crying because she got broken up with by her first girlfriend? He comforts her and gives her some relationship advice. Maybe throw in a line like “I just thought I was capable of being loved.” Some good angst/comfort please and thank you.

The Other Woman - Johnny x fem!reader

in which you get dumped during a epic party

a/n: omG thank you for reading my shit!

ship[s]: johnny x bi!fem!reader

warning(s): bits of angst, fluff, comfort, post-story, friends to lovers(ish)

You were supposed to be taking a break from training and sparring under Liu Kang.

You were supposed to be having fun with your friends at Johnny's mansion to celebrate his latest movie hit.

You were supposed to be confident in your girlfriend and yourself, that your bond wouldn't break like some do in those cheesy Hallmark films.

Instead, you were upstairs, tucked away in an extra room in Johnny's house, sniffling into a pillow you hugged close to your chest.

Your pretty, black satin dress was wrinkled as you were balled up in the corner of the room. You could feel the music's bass bump through the ceiling and vibrate through the floor of the bedroom.

No one was upstairs, since Johnny had put up a gate and a "DO NOT ENTER" sign over the ceiling edge for his guests. You, though, were the exception.

You were good friend with Mr. Carlton. Formerly a set-partner in his old movie, Flesh Pits, you two kept in touch after wrapping the movie.

At the time, you were dating a cute little barista girl at the local cafè in the studios of Hollywood, so Johnny knew to back off the flirty advances with you.

You were by his side when he fought Kenshi, trained alongside him, Thunder Lad, and Razor Rang, helped him out of Shang Tsung's lab, and every other event that happened during the timeline fiasco.

With everything that happened, it brought you two closer as friends, and you integrated well with the other men. You also met many other allies, women like Ashrah, Princess Kitana, Mileena and Tanya, and more women that aided you in you quest to stop the Titan.

You should have realized that being gone for an unforseen amount of time, leaving no texts, leaving no note, being with both handsome and ravishing women, would definitely send your girlfriend over the edge. When you came back, you though everything was going good.

That text on your phone proved you wrong tenfold.

To put it simply, she broke up with you claiming you lost your priorities. Claiming you didn't put her first, claiming you were unreachable, claiming, claiming, and claiming.

Worst of all, she claimed you were too much for her. You had too many responsibilities, which took you away from her.

"Tch," you scoff as you read the messages. Unfortunately, she wasn't entirely wrong.

After the events of Titan Shang Tsung, Johnny recruited you as his assistant director for the new series he was making (he actually shoved unedited garble on paper into your hands, saying you had to look over it).

Unironically, he named it "Mortal Kombat", and this was a task given to him by Liu Kang in order to introduce the world to... well, the world.

You were also sent on joint missions with the OIA. As one of Liu Kang's champions, the weight to protect the entirety of Earthrealm was huge and heavy.

You were sent on missions for weeks on end, and if you were unlucky enough, months. It was an inconvenience to many people, the most to your girlfriend.

New tears reclaimed your old ones, traversing down the dried stains on your cheeks as the reality of your situation begins to settle.

You're officially single- and if I dare say, it isn't your fault.

As you keep crying into your pillow, you don't notice the door behind you open, muffled steps on the plush carpet as you feel a slight weight on the floor.

Your head is up from the pillow, and your bleary eyes see a figure with pink over his eyes and a pink scarf around his neck. A warm arm hooks you into his chest and you take a whiff of the cologne.

Ah, it's Johnny.

You take a deep inhale, breathing in the pricey cologne, before another wave of tears leave your eyes. Johnny's in a slight fit on what to do, but he lets you claw at his back as you hug him and wail.

"Good thing I sound-proofed my rooms," Johnny griped a bit, which earns him a shove on his shoulder.

"Ow! H-hey! What's the big dealy-o?" You get up and out of his embrace, finding your phone across the room and opening it to your messages. You then toss the phone to him, and he begins to read where the break-up text begins.

"I..." he's breathless at the sight. His eyes dart up and down as he scrolls, trying to find any pretense for what could have caused this.

Unfortunately, no answers come from the texts as he hands your phone back. He takes the star-shaped shades off his face, placing them up on his head as he tosses the feather boa to the ground.

"Wanna sit and chat about it?" he inquired, sitting on the bed and patting a space next to him. You waddle to him, pillow clutched in your arms as you plop down next to him.

"I mean, I should have seen this coming," you sniffled, wiping snot off your nose. Crying into that pillow grossly accumulated the secretions from your nostrils, and it caked up at your nose.

"Good God, woman." He takes his button-up off and hands it to you as a makeshift tissue. "At least wipe."

You offer a small "sorry" before obliterating your eardrums with the roughest blow of your nose. Thankfully, Johnny's got a white tank underneath, meaning his incredible figure is out.

You can't focus on that, though, since your life just got the latest installment update. After blowing your nose, you continue to rant.

"I knew I was busy. Hell, she knew I got busy," you wipe your eyes gently with a clean spot of his shirt.

As mentioned before, you had the full plate of protecting the whole realm. However, as a normal human being, your girlfriend had her own problems, issues, and tasks to take on.

Just as you needed her, she needed you, but you weren't there.

"I know I can be a lot. Fuck, I did my best to keep it all down for her. And yet, I can't control it."

When you're overwhelmed, you find it a bit harder to open up to those around you- even your loved ones. You promised your (now ex) girlfriend you'd work on it, get better, but your chance was gone in the blink of an eye.

Johnny, for once, is quiet, with the only noise being the music bumping from the floor below you two. He's got a sympathetic frown on his face- it's clear he's been here before.

"I just.... I just though that I'd get it right for once," you murmur quietly.

You had shit luck with love. It wasn't that they were complete assholes, some of your exes were wonderful people. It's just that, you were a bit harder to get to.

As mentioned before, you wee hard to each when overwhelmed. However, in general, you were hard to reach period. You kept to yourself, despite the people you called friends. You were incredibly independent, to the point that you never opened up about how you truly felt.

In short, a really stubborn doormat- people walking over you (with a couple of pricks on the bottom of their feet).

"I thought that maybe, she'd get me. With how things were going, I really thought I was capable of..." your breath hitches as you mutter out the rest of your sentence.

"I thought that with all that I am, all that I have, I was capable of being loved."

Another wave of emotion comes over you, and the rest of your resolve breaks as your eyes overflow with fresh tears. The saltiness is in your mouth, and you can't help but choke on taste of it.

The bed is suddenly lighter, and Johnny is on his knees in front of you, both hands on yours as he declares a fact you didn't know about yourself.

"If you were hard to love," he begins, "You wouldn't have me, Ken-doll, Raiden, or Razor-rang by your side."

His hazel eyes stare into your colored ones, trying to touch your soul with his words. However, you look away as little baby tears fell from your eyes again.

He forces you to look at him, a firm (yet gentle) grip on the back of your head as he pressed your forehead on his.

"If you were hard to love, you wouldn't even have those shit-ass exes of yours!"

You let out a gargled chuckle, slightly choking on the snot and spit that was fresh in your mouth and nose. As fucked as it sounded, he was right.

You were capable of being loved, you had many friends to prove it. By the elder gods, you were friends with others not from Earth. You remember your letters with Kitana and Mileena, the spars with Tanya and Li Mei, not to mention the late night walks at the Academy with Ashrah.

You remind yourself of the meals you shared with Kung Lao, whether you won or lost bets was unimportant. You recall the chores you did with Raiden during the slow day back at the Academy, you even reminisce on the days Kenshi scolded you for training too hard.

Of course, you can't forget your best friend, Johnny. You think back to the days Johnny treated you to lunch after your scene-wraps during Flesh Pits. Memories of some birthdays spent with Johnny, even little pick-me-up dates where he'd cheer you up with karaoke or bar-hopping.

You were able to be loved, those people were just cowards. They didn't give all of them for you the way you gave your whole self to them.

Finally calming down, you realize how close you were to Johnny. You could see the shine in his eyes, despite the evident darkness in the room. You could feel his warm, ragged breath on your face as the faintest scent of alcohol whiffed into your nose.

You also note the delicate features of his face: the slight rough skin texture, healed scars from the battles he had endured, even a couple of freckles around his nose.

Was he always this handsome?

You smile and pull away from him, standing up and stretching your body of any kinks or aches it felt while curled up as you were. Concealed in the darkness was Johnny's pink cheeks from how close you two were.

"Thanks, Carlton," you tease him, dropping a bit of his government name. He scoffs, but he gets up as well, making eye contact with you as he searches your face for a sign of any more discomfort.

"Johnny," you groan, "I'm alright now, really."

Johnny takes your hand in his, fingers intertwining as he brings the back of your hand to his mouth. He kisses it, his warm lips making you turn a bit pink in the dark.

"Just remember, you've got so much more than what that bitch had to offer," Johnny says with a confident straight-forwardness.

You look at the door and back at Johnny, and he begins to lead you to it. However, you tug his hand right before he opens it, which makes him pause and stare at you again.

"What? Nervous?" he taunts. You laugh, shaking your head as you let go of his hand to straighten your dress and wipe away any hints of sadness.

You booty-bump Johnny out of the door's way, flicking your hair in his face as you turn to him with your signature, radiant smile.

"Not sure you can handle this much boom, Cage." You wink at him, flinging the door open as you allow the deafening music to envelope you again.

He smirks.

"You're on, pretty girl."

==================

thank you so much for the request! this was actually a lot of fun to write, despite me restarting this fic two times in my drafts

if you guys haven't noticed, i've been calling Kung Lao "razor-rang" because of a little HC of mine due to Johnny's love of nicknames

hope yall enjoyed, and i'll see yall in the next fic!

[lizzybeth1986]

Drake and Kiara: When You're Fucking Racist

Series - TRR's Alternative LIs - The "Romances" that Didn't Happen

Previous - Hana and Madeleine: When You Reward Your Favourite Bully with One of Her Victims

A/N: Again, apologies for the length. There was a LOT to unpack in this one!! I'm really, really not going to be nice to Drake here. It was harrowing to go through a lot of these scenes again and I honestly don't have the patience or inclination to sugarcoat any of it.

CW: Mentions of gun violence and minimization of trauma. Mentions of racist fan vitriol towards a black character. Examination of the Jezebel stereotype.

Whenever I think about how unhinged the hatred towards Kiara (and especially towards Kiara's attraction to Drake) was, a specific edit comes to mind.

On the surface, it looks quite simple. Kiara in a white wedding dress, Drake right next to her in his blue formal suit. Both of them are smiling at the viewer. The background is a beautiful forest, and the entire picture is bathed in a lovely, muted sepia tone. A sweet, simple wedding scene.

The caption underneath this edit?

Classify under things no one asked for.

Kiara's dream come true!

The tags read "#i barf a little looking at this" and "#i must post to share the suffering". You find out in the comments that the OP created this edit inspired by one of the many fics where Kiara was Drake's stalker, and intended to make her creepy and deranged (but ultimately failed).

The comments are...tbh, things that this fandom has long since normalized and shrugged at when it comes to Drake stans. Multiple puke-face emojis. Multiple gifs signaling disgust. One stan even equates the ship name (Driara) to the word diarrhoea.

"She looks very stalkeresque and white "I drugged Drake so he's marrying me" wedding ready!"

"Well it's close to Halloween so we should expect scary shit"

"THAT is why I made that bitch my Maid of Honor...so she got the message LOUD AND CLEAR...it ain't NEVER gonna happen honey" (right below a barfing gif)

I wish I could say this example of Kiara hatred was the worst of the lot, or even the only one. It wasn't. I'm not sure even an entire essay would be adequate space to explore the sheer levels of vitriol, hatred and double standards dumped on this one character.

Until now, we've seen examples of alternative LIs that were treated with respect. With adulation. Often with kid gloves in case we hurt their poor lill fee-fees. Up until now, no matter what an alternative LI may have done, the LI matched with them wasn't allowed to treat them badly, nor was the MC able to get away with hurting them without punishment.

But in this series, Kiara was, is, and will always be an anomaly.

The Jezebel Stereotype

In most media, black women in particular tend to be subjected to a variety of stereotypes that often have serious, real-world implications. The Mammy, the Sapphire (that over time evolved to what we now know as the "Angry Black Woman" stereotype) and the Jezebel, being the most prominent ones among them. In this essay, I will be focusing specifically on the last.

An article in the Black Then website explains the definition and history of the trope this: "The portrayal of black women as lascivious by nature is an enduring stereotype. The descriptive words associated with this stereotype are singular in their focus: seductive, alluring, worldly, beguiling, tempting, and lewd. Historically, white women, as a category, were portrayed as models of self-respect, self-control, and modesty – even sexual purity, but black women were often portrayed as innately promiscuous, even predatory. This depiction of black women is signified by the name Jezebel."

So it isn't altogether uncommon to see stories where black women are juxtaposed against "pure", "innocent" white/white-passing women, and viewed as lesser. PB hasn't exactly escaped these stereotypes in their stories either - though there are a variety of characters and character types, we can't deny that there was a time when a black woman was made the antagonist, often in ways that were meant to measure her up to the MC/another white woman to her detriment.

(VoS screenshots from the HIMEME YouTube channel, ACOR screenshots from Vika Avey's YouTube channel)

Two very prominent examples of PB using this trope are Scarlett from VoS, and Xanthe from ACOR. There are other black women who serve as antagonists but in a more professional space, but these two particularly are measured on their attractiveness, sex appeal and "purity" in the narrative in comparison to either the MC, or someone close to them.

In VoS, Scarlett Emerson and Kate O'Malley are the sisters of the two male LIs (Grant and Flynn), but their treatment couldn't be any more different. Scarlett's role in the book is pretty short-lived. She's very prominent in the first half of the book as Kate's potential MOH who secretly hates her, before it's revealed in Ch 5 that Tanner was cheating on Kate with her (and that she'd loved him since she was a child). Notably, in that very scene, the MC places most of the blame on Scarlett (rather than on Tanner for choosing to betray his fiancée) by labelling the act as her seduction of him.

Thereafter she is either only mentioned, or has blink-and-you-miss-it appearances in one or two chapters. We see her in the "memory" portion of the bonus scene, but we are never shown what her future is like (even as minor characters like Miss Harleney get one!). Her bonus scene shows us how her bracelet ended up on Tanner's boat, and it is an uncomfortable scene to get through. Tanner berates Scarlett for having sex with him a week before his wedding, but it is she who points out that he asked her to come there! Yet the MC and others view her as the temptress who "seduced" Tanner, as if the man had no mind of his own.

The narrative often juxtaposes her with Kate, the pure, innocent, sweet fiancée (and she actually is! No pretence there) and the fandom lapped it up. There were many demands for Kate to be upgraded to LI status, which eventually resulted in PB allowing us to marry her if we chose. As I mentioned earlier, both Scarlett and Kate are sisters to two of our LIs - but one is made an LI, while no one bothers to even imagine what the other's future entails.

An even worse fate greets that of Xanthe, the sole female antagonist in ACOR. The slut-shaming and disgust over her overt sexuality is far more blatant here. And it is extremely ironic for Xanthe to be viewed in this way, because the MC herself is a courtesan and uses wiles to get men to do her bidding. While Xanthe herself is not perfect by any means - she is depicted as xenophobic and callous, going as far as to mock Syphax when he is sent away to a possible death as a gladiator - the MC's targeting of her goes beyond just her "righteous indignation" and develops into a form of hypocrisy. She has no qualms mocking Xanthe for her direct approach or her skimpy red dress (even though the MC herself wears a skimpy red dress and can seduce a man in a temple not too long after).

The end Xanthe meets is horrific in its implications - the black matron of her scholae (who began by promising the MC herself that "you need do nothing against your will") sends her away to sexual slavery in Sicily, while the black man who was one of the few bastions of morality in the book, escorts her, smiling, to the ship that will take her there. As far as the narrative is concerned, the end was well-deserved...even though PB has had no issues allowing white women to do far worse without any punishment.

We cannot view what ACOR did with Xanthe in isolation. They had built up to it early on - from the MC's reactions towards her, her patrons' dismissiveness of her, the MC's LIs' viewing her with derision and zero respect. The MC - despite her own unscrupulousness - is viewed as the "noble whore" to Xanthe, yet it is clear on even a surface read that there is not much difference between the two women.

The Jezebel stereotype, ultimately, is about dehumanizing the black woman it focuses on, so that her actions and choices are viewed as deviant from what is "normal" - feeding into either responses of disgust and derision, or a desire to objectify her. To some readers, it makes whatever awful or comparatively unfair end they meet, more palatable. Scarlett and Xanthe are not viewed as people by the narrative - especially not the way the MC of their books or even white female antagonists are. No one cares for their backstories, coos over their losses, wonders if they are okay. When they meet their inevitable end, the characters and so many in the fandom alike just shrug and move along.

How does a character like Kiara fit into this? Her smarts and linguistic talents are her most prominent traits, and while she does have feelings for Drake, she never really acts out-of-pocket towards him (more on this later). So at least from what we see in canon, there's very little about her that seems to apply to the Jezebel stereotype. Yet, the fandom is not only inclined, but eager, to view her as one. Kiara's feelings have been viewed in a far more predatory light, perhaps more often than any other female character in the series. Why is this so?

A response I have often seen - on reddit, on Kiara's wiki page, at times on Tumblr too - is how there is a "certain something" about Kiara that people "just don't like". Many players who prefer Penelope to her are often very aware of what she has done, but still insist they like her far more than they do Kiara. On a reddit thread about questioning the logic of having Kiara and Penelope as options for the MC's MOH in TRR3, certain players commented thus:

"I don't know why, I just dislike her a lot. Penelope is fine to me, but Kiara irritates me." (said commenter is an Aerin stan)

"I liked Penelope, I thought she was nice. But Kiara got on my nerves."

In her book, The Sisters Are Alright, Tamara Winfrey Harris makes an eye-opening (to me at least!) observation about how misogynoir works:

"Misogynoir, abetted by dehumanizing caricature, is like water. It fills its vessel, taking many forms, and then overflows, creeping unnoticed into the cracks of things, rotting the foundation. It spreads a belief in Black women’s inherent wrongness." (Italics mine).

Now of course, if I were to ask the current fandom, they would come up with a range of reasons. Some that emerged from fandom myths and became more popular than the truth in time, some from PB's excessive pandering to players that hated her. But the root of it all is in a certain "je ne sais quoi" that makes her automatically unappealing, resulting in those readers leaning towards misreading or misremembering her scenes, misrepresenting her motives, or watering down the impact of worse actions from whiter women. It results in a group of writers (who have thus far gone to the extent of retconning the worst of a white woman's actions just to make her look good) leaning into such readings, even when they're not true.

TRR1 Kiara: Pragmatic Courtier or Backstabbing Snake?

"Kiara is fake", "Kiara is a snob", "Kiara is self-serving", "Kiara promised to be friends with us but dropped us like a hot potato the moment we became unpopular". These are some of the most enduring takes about Kiara in the past few years, and readers who say this usually bring up a vague recollection of TRR1 and 2 as proof. Mostly that "Kiara was our friend" in the first book, and left us hanging at the beginning of TRR2.

Is that reading based in fact, though? Let's take a look at TRR1!Kiara and find out.

We are introduced to Kiara (along with Penelope, and standing next to Hana) in TRR3 when we meet Liam's other suitors. Olivia introduces each woman differently, and the descriptor she uses for Kiara is that she is the "daughter of a diplomat and fluent in ten languages" (note: Kiara never boasts of her linguistic skill, Olivia does. Nor are there any scenes of her looking down on anyone who doesn't speak her mother tongue French, unless of course you accidentally ask her to sleep with you).

Both she and Penelope note immediately that the MC doesn't quite fit in - if the MC questions the women about being allies with Olivia, a woman who calls them "harpies", they view that as an overreaction. When the MC tells the ladies at the Derby about getting lost, Kiara finds her tardiness and inability to fit in, a sign that she cannot keep up with the competition. Until the chapters in Lythikos, Kiara's and Penelope's characterizations are almost interchangeable, personality-wise. It is likely the team envisioned them more as European nobility rather than specifically Cordonian (based on Olivia's introductions), and they are both depicted as poised, refined and aware of their place in court.

It's in Lythikos that Kiara, at least, begins to show a more distinct personality (for Penelope it's after the Regatta). Unlike the rest of the court, who watches Olivia's unwanted kiss on Liam with either mild shock or disinterest, Kiara is angered by what she sees as a very obvious power-play - which gives the MC the opening she needs to gain an alliance.

Now this "alliance" scene of Kiara's is interesting, for two reasons. One is that fandom often uses this scene to establish her "double standards" in TRR2, claiming that Kiara opted to be friends with the MC. Yet nowhere in the scene does the MC or Kiara ever suggest a friendship with each other - they both agree to an alliance. Furthermore, this is an arrangement that benefits the MC more - there isn't exactly anything she contributes (or is expected to contribute) to Kiara from her end. Kiara's promise is that she will put in a good word in the MC's favour, and she upholds that promise throughout the social season.

Another is that among the courtiers, Kiara herself is the first person to identify and respond to the MC's potential if she shows it at the Derby and the tea party (though Hana is also a courtier, I view her strictly as an LI in this context - since her support is by default and is founded on a more emotional basis). Not many nay notice this, but there is a distinction between how Kiara responds to an MC in a successful play vs a failplay...in a way that none of the other suitors do. Take note of the screenshots below:

The top two pictures in this collage are dialogues that feature by default. The bottom two, however, are dependent on branch-coding. They only appear IF the MC has managed to win the approval of the King, the Queen and the press. If you don't succeed in the same, she will not mention your performance in the social season at all, nor will she say anything about the value of your alliance.

That is a far bigger deal than most players of this series realize. It means that Kiara has been watching us closely, and has understood our potential over the course of just three court events. Only two other characters are shown tracking our progress this way: Bertrand (who is our sponsor, so he has to keep track) and Queen Regina (who can guess already her stepson's feelings for the MC, which automatically makes her a person of interest). For Kiara to understand the MC's capabilities, and to openly admit she has potential this early in the competition - it takes a high level of rationality, honesty and pragmatism to come to such a conclusion. Unlike Olivia (who lashes out in jealousy at the MC), Penelope (who has to be told why exactly it's good to have allies), and Madeleine (who dismisses us as competition until it's too late), Kiara actually views the MC with a discerning, impartial eye and an objective approach.

So on the surface, it appears as if Kiara is written by a team that likes her! You could almost be convinced that they thought she was cool but were forced to pander to "crazy Drake stans" in their writing later (which is an argument I have heard often). After all, she's established as beautiful, skilled, smart and observant. You wouldn't do that for a character you don't like, right?

But even as early as TRR1, a disdain for Kiara creeps in from the writing that you rarely see for any of the others.

This is especially apparent when you look at how Kiara's proficiency with language is spoken about. It is supposed to be her most visible skill - Olivia identifies her by it, we see her peppering her English sentences with French words (of course, many may argue that she doesn't exactly sound like an actual French person...but let's remember that her writers aren't exactly very used to the language themselves or interested in doing extra research for authenticity!). As we approach the end of the first book, there are at least two dialogue options that result in people doubting her abilities or mocking her for speaking only English and French most of the time.

In TRR1 Ch 16, Madeleine optionally speaks to the MC over phone (believing her to be a reporter taking her interview) about her thoughts on Kiara. Kiara's tendency to speak mostly in French and English is supposed to be a sign that she "exaggerates her accomplishments". Mind you, this is from the same woman who claims to be the best choice for Cordonia despite her poor strategies and her antagonizing potential allies during the engagement tour (TRR2); who complains if the MC doesn't compliment her for mediocre work as a press sec (TRR3). The MC can also choose to diss Kiara in a similar way, treating Kiara like she is a circus performer and her skills as if they are meant for the MC's entertainment. The only solace I could derive from this dumpster fire of a dialogue option, was that Kiara managed to shut the MC up with her multilingual response.

No other time are we allowed to call a courtier's abilities and skills into question. The MC accepts on faith that Olivia is a badass with great fighting skills. Same with Penelope's ability as a seamstress. The MC is never even allowed to have legitimate complaints about Madeleine's work as press sec, besides maybe that she could "be a little nicer". So the fact that the writers not only have other characters doubt Kiara's talent, but also allow people to mock her about it in all three books...is really something.

Another possible indicator of this disdain is the fact that Kiara is the only suitor who never gets a chance to actually interact with Liam on-screen. Even Penelope, a fellow minor character, can approach and talk to him twice...and her gift to him is shown in Ch 18 whereas Kiara's and Hana's aren't. Despite the fact that Kiara is a potential suitor, the story never allows her to interact with Liam. She doesn't exactly have any interactions with Drake in this book either, but honestly nor does any other couple have much time together besides Liam and Olivia.

Drake and Kiara hardly seemed to be a possibility back in TRR1. Drake himself didn't seem to associate with anyone besides the MC and the group in the first book (and even with the group his interactions were infrequent). Kiara herself doesn't have many scenes that aren't related to the court or to the competition, even once she is no longer participating. The closest she comes to any sort of association besides Penelope, is a friendship with Hana that begins sometime before the Fox Hunt. Drake and Kiara never actually have any scenes together, or interactions, or references. It is likely that the idea to pair them up was entirely a Book 2 thing.

On a fandom level, neither Kiara or Penelope garnered much attention or fan reactions. They weren't noticed much, nor did you see their scenes too often. Probably that is why it was so damn easy to remember Kiara's entire equation with the MC wrong. Why certain stans of the book were able to get away with misrepresenting the relationship between her and the MC in TRR1, to hate on her in TRR2. I will not deny, though, that certain dialogue choices from PB (like "I thought we were friends!" in the Fydelia scene) may have had a hand in those beliefs becoming the "truth".

TRR2 Kiara - Pragmatic Courtier or Backstabbing Snake (Part 2)

I plan to get into the way the Drake and Kiara angle is framed in canon, but before that it's important to tackle that one elephant in the room - Kiara telling the MC the alliance is over. Because very often, people used this scene (coupled with their misinterpretations of Book 1) as their "justification" to hate her. Often, people would choose the ruder options (such as the Christmas card dialogue) and assume that Kiara was rude by default, rather than as a consequence of the MC's behaviour towards her.

Kiara and Penelope are the first to express surprise at the MC's return (and their reactions are shown as representative of the rest of the court). Kiara in fact is shocked that the MC dared to return (which is kinda warranted! Several people in these early chapters view that as a risky move, a gamble that could backfire on her. That's why Bertrand gets her a press secretary). Their scene with the MC immediately follows the MC's conversation with Liam and Madeleine (and mind you, in the option where the MC can tell her she was set up, Madeleine herself voices disbelief of the same. Conveniently, this is never used as a reason to hate her). Both women let the MC know of their change in status, and therefore the change in their relationship with her.

What gets missed overall, is that Kiara is a lady-in-waiting (which is an actual role with specific duties) to Madeleine, which means her loyalty now has to lie with this woman whether she likes it or not. For her to even agree to approach the MC and explain the situation, is a risk. In at least two dialogue options in this scene, she tells the MC straight-up that they will be in trouble if they're even seen talking to her (this becomes a moot point by Ch4, mostly because Madeleine herself is shown talking to the MC and allowing her into conversations in public, once Hana arrives).

Penelope is often viewed in a better light in this scene because of her obvious friendliness and her sadness at no longer being the MC's friend, but once you have the reveal of her being a traitor, her behaviour in this scene seems wildly disingenuous, and I'm surprised more people didn't call her a fake when the reveal came out. She had to know the allegations against the MC were fake when she rushed to hug her, having been an integral part of that fabrication. It makes her lament when she's caught, in the failplay, ("I can't do anything right. You were never supposed to find out!") that much more chilling. She is eager to have the benefit of the MC's friendship and emotional support, without ever being honest about her role in smearing her reputation.

The other was that - no matter what you may choose to think of this scene - Kiara was placing herself at risk to let the MC know it was over. Approaching the MC was the right thing to do, but what is never spoken about is the fact that it was also a brave thing to do. Rather than ghost the pariah of the court and never give an explanation, she tells her honestly what the situation is, and strives to protect her impulsive friend (who could get both of them in trouble) at the same time.

When you view Kiara's actions from that lens - when you look at the facts - suddenly the claims that Kiara was "fake", "a flip-flopper", "a backstabber", "unscrupulous and self-serving", sound pretty hollow.

TRR2: The Drake x Kiara "Romance" Begins...and So Does the Vitriol

So...an interesting thing about the general reaction to Kiara in the early chapters of TRR2. I was new to the fandom when this book was released. There was an annoyance at Kiara when the first chapter came out, but to my surprise it didn't exactly become full-blown hatred until she started showing an interest in Drake in Ch 3.

This book is often used as a reference by Drake stans when they speak of Kiara as an obsessed, stalker-type, sex-hungry woman - often in contrast to their "pure", "innocent" MCs. Basically...the Jezebel. But the five scenes we see of this ship in the book itself tell a completely different story:

1. Drake Helps Kiara Lift A Heavy Beam (TRR2 Ch 3)

Chapter 3 is perhaps the first time we see an indication of Kiara's attraction to Drake on a physical level. The scene takes place at the barn raising, but only if we choose to stay with Drake over Hana for the barn raising activities. Kiara shows up in a rather pitiable state - her friend Penelope abandoned her for thirty whole minutes, leaving her to lift incredibly heavy beams alone. Drake helps Kiara and mildly chides her for not asking for his help, and Kiara stares at his bare chest, mesmerized.

She isn't exactly alone in this - the MC herself ogles at his bare chest at one point (if we go by the lines in the narrative that read "his muscles glisten in the sunlight" which is def from the MC's PoV). This scene was meant as fanservice for stans who wanted to drool over Drake's physique for a bit, and belatedly build up an alternative (at least for all three male LIs, they were trying to do this in TRR2).

The MC can either point out Kiara's obvious attraction towards Drake, or suspect her of being part of the plot. This will not be the last time the MC or the group will view her with suspicion, with little to no basis in fact. In the option that calls attention to Kiara's attraction to Drake, she is shown covertly sneaking a second look at him. Drake is shown with a visible discomfort at even the idea that Kiara could like him, one that only the MC notices considering she is working in proximity with him.

The reaction to this was instantaneous from several Drake x MC shippers. One or two glances at Drake's chest was enough for Drake stans to begin typing posts in capslock, screaming "BACK OFF KIARA HE'S MINE". The excuses given at the time were that the MC didn't get much opportunity to romance him (Drake was trying to refrain from kissing her in Ch 2 because he felt guilty), and largely-inaccurate judgements of Kiara's character. Jealousy of this kind is sometimes seen as the norm when you have a popular ship and a third angle is created, but this was about to take form in some...very disturbing ways in later chapters.

2. Kiara was Once Savannah's Friend/Kiara's long-standing crush on Drake (Ch 4)

A misconception I often see in the fandom (particularly in relation to how Kiara's feelings for Drake aren't given the same level of consideration that Olivia's for Liam is) is that Olivia's are "more genuine", and Kiara's are "mere lust" or "only physical" and this is probably why she's not given as much respect as Olivia was. Even though, tbh, Kiara was far, far more respectful of Drake and his personal space, than Olivia was of Liam in TRR1.

Leaving aside the obvious problems with that train of thought (viewing sexual feelings as "lesser" just because they're not rooted in some intense emotion), this is not even true, and the first part of the Driara garden party scene is proof enough. Kiara says, straight up, that Drake had been "such a good friend to [Liam]. It's part of why I always liked you." (Bold mine). If the MC voices doubts about this (likely incorporated for readers who would question it as a retcon...and it was a retcon since they didn't interact in TRR1), Kiara tells her that she doesn't wear her heart on her sleeve, which actually matches her practical approach to most things. In fact just a few scenes earlier, when the MC questioned her about wanting a husband (when she'd mentioned earlier about wanting to join the ministry), Kiara informs her that it would never hurt to have both. So it makes sense for her character if she's someone who kept her feelings for Drake a secret, especially while in a competition for winning the Crown Prince's hand. But we cannot, in any honest capacity, claim that Kiara's feelings for Drake weren't deep enough, or lasting enough, or genuine enough. At least based on the evidence we have.

Another point this scene brings up is Kiara's friendship towards Savannah. Up until this point, the only people who did reference her were Olivia, Drake and Maxwell - and Olivia's mockery of especially seemed to imply that the ladies of the court weren't very nice to her. Kiara's account is very different from this, and actually quite affectionate ("she was one of us", "she was coming along so well in learning French"). It's not the closest friendship, but Kiara did care enough to tutor her in the language and clearly missed her. It is possible that this scene was positioned to both build up to the alternative romance and foreshadow Savannah's presence in Paris. There is a lot more that could have been done with this angle, but perhaps that is a discussion for another section.

3. Never-Have-I-Ever (Ch 9)

This is a small option in a drinking game - the MC can get to say "never have I ever had a crush on Kiara", and loses, because Drake says she isn't his type (ironically he claims he isn't her type in the next chapter). It's interesting that he does consider her as not as bad as some of the others in that group.

3. Flirting with Drake in Paris (Ch 10)

For five chapters, we don't see any more hints of this romance. We see Drake in plenty, and we see quite a bit of Kiara. But none of it shows them together.

Kiara's scene with Drake at the tea party, is in some ways a continuation of his diamond scene with Savannah. He knows now where his sister is and what her big secret was, but this scene is where he realises how little he actually knew about her, if even her "noblewoman friend" knew she had intentions to go to Paris and he, her brother, didn't. This scene also takes place at what I call a "rest period" in the story - the group has just come out of a high-intensity altercation with Bastien, and it is one chapter before the major reveal about Constantine. So the MC can relax a little, some of the loose ends of previous stories can be tied up, and we get a vibe check on at least two alternative ships.

Drake is rather civil to Kiara in this conversation, mostly because he's trying to get information about his sister out of her. There isn't much he contributes besides this - it doesn't seem to matter much to him that Kiara was a rare friend among the court to Savannah (tho TRR3 would later retcon this), and when she talks about herself he doesn't pay much attention. Kiara does make an attempt at a light flirtation which goes largely unnoticed.

The MC's response when she first sees them goes three ways - a neutral comment about the petit-fours, a "matchmake-y" comment that points to them that they "look cozy", and a "jealous" comment about interrupting them. The third one especially results in Drake inadvertently confirming he doesn't think of Kiara in a romantic light, and Kiara appearing disappointed. Remember, at this point she doesn't see much evidence that Drake and the MC romancing him are an item.

The follow-up conversation with Drake, too, follows along similar lines. The neutral comment just asks him about the information he gathered from Kiara, the "matchmake-y" one points out she has feelings for Drake and the "jealous" one is... something.

The third response is very obviously crafted for the more possessive Drake stans to get satisfaction from dissing Kiara, perhaps in a more aggressive way than the Maxwell stans could. While the Maxwell MC can pass an insult or two to discourage Penelope, the Drake MC will go as far as to tell him he belongs only to her, and can threaten to "push her into the petit-fours".

Ironically, this scene follows a scene with Olivia about her lingering feelings for Liam - and Olivia's grief, the MC's clear sympathy and Liam's concern for Olivia are all by default. There is a certain level of sensitivity the Liam MC is required to have for Olivia that is never once expected of the Drake MC, and that plays out in very dangerous ways in the next book.

This scene, again, brought forth rather violent reactions, and in fact the language of the MC's responses itself seemed to encourage that kind of response. A poster later compiled an entire set of these responses ranging from mocking, to "back off, Kiara!" to straight up demands for murder (I couldn't link to this post because the names of the people involved were included in it, but I do have quite a few of those screenshots for reference).

After this point, you don't see any more scenes where Kiara actively flirts. In fact for most of the second half you see her and Penelope very rarely. So it does feel really wild in retrospect that "obsessed Kiara" became such a popular interpretation, after one checking-out scene, one flirtation and one rather sweet and genuine compliment of him as a person.

4. Pranking Kiara (Ch 17)

A pattern you would have noticed by now is that there is a bit of a mean streak in Drake for Kiara that is either very dominant or latent, based on whether the MC tries to encourage him, or shows jealousy towards her.

And this isn't necessarily an indicator that he can never be interested in Kiara. A distrust for nobility is almost a norm for him at this point, and let's not forget that Drake's first few interactions with the MC too didn't exactly leave her with the best impression of him either. Kiara initially being on Madeleine's side at the beginning of the story could be a factor in some level of disdain too. Such complications could - in a good story - add layers to a potential romance in the future if that was the direction the writing was going for.

Around the MC who doesn't mind them as a pair, he shows a small sliver of an inclination towards Kiara herself. His response if the MC points out that Kiara was flirting with him (Ch 10) is that he doesn't believe he is Kiara's type, not the other way around. In this scene, a drunk Drake who is encouraged to write a "nice note" to her as a prank, can write "your hair is pretty and your French is totally not stupid". Both of these lines present a sign of a possibility that a romance could happen. His behaviour when an MC casually hints at this possibility, is of someone who may like this woman deep down, but show it in very strange ways (akin to the age-old metaphor of the "boy who pulls the pigtails of the girl he has a crush on"). They wouldn't have even needed to show his responses in this way if they weren't trying to hint at a possibility.

His response to a "jealous" MC is to delightedly bask in her possessiveness of him, and to go hand-in-glove with her as she insults or suggests violence on Kiara in any way. Now one could perhaps headcanon this as a behaviour that comes from being unused to female attention focused on him, coupled with his affection for the MC - but when you take into account his behaviour towards Kiara herself in TRR3 as well, there seems to be a blatant lack of consideration or compassion towards her as a human being. Compare this, again, to the way Liam's behaviour towards Olivia is written in canon, and interpreted by the fandom. Liam is expected to be kind to her, even if he's clueless about her feelings or if she is harming him (eg. Even when she kisses him, he cares enough to opt for a reaction that will not publicly humiliate Olivia).

Not so for Drake. He is very happy to follow in the MC's lead, even in hurting Kiara. And in this scene, he pretty much kickstarts it with the suggestion of a prank.

Drake knows where Kiara's room is (thanks to a nameplate on the door, and the familiarity of the hallway, which he likes for the view outside) and wants to prank her. The MC can either accept or refuse. If she accepts, there is one nice option, and two distinctly mean-spirited ones. The first proposes to mess up her book organizational system, and the narrative describes the attempt as "ruining any semblance of order to Kiara's bookshelves". These are materials she likely requires for her career as an aspiring diplomat, or even books she uses to update herself on the world. But to this MC and Drake, her work and interests are little more than a joke.

The second one is not only aggressively mean - it also is an attempt to ruin her personal space with her personal items. Going by the array of haircare the narrative mentions, maintaining her hair is very important to Kiara (I am not equipped enough to speak about black women and their relationship with their hair, but this option did make me very uncomfortable, because of the little I've seen on how essential regular haircare and good products can be for many black women). Not only does the MC suggest using all that product to render Kiara's bed practically unusable, she also insists Drake waste the full bottle of said product. Because, yknow. "It's a prank. Go big or go home". Drake has one moment where he tries to be less mean in this option (when he attempts to use less of her hairspray), but the moment the MC encourages him towards a crueller direction he does not hesitate. In fact, when the MC first suggests this option, he regards her with something approaching awe, and praises her as "an evil genius".

There's a mean streak in Drake here no matter which option you choose. If you do go for the nicer one, he complains at first that it's not exactly a prank and in fact does claim that they "could still put glitter in her cupboard" as an alternative prank. But the other two options encourage the player to give full vent to whatever underlying frustration/enmity/hatred one could possibly have against Kiara, goading a drunk Drake to be merciless towards the things in her room, in her absence.

Maybe, perhaps, one could just view this as a "fun vent" for the "possessive stans". It allowed the Drake MC and her LI the chance to gang up on her, mock her and cause her discomfort through things that were clearly important to her, treat her like the butt of their joke, and get away with it. When you encourage that kind of hatred with your writing, it can go into some very dark, disturbing places. And it did, especially in TRR3.

The overall response to this scene didn't show much, since it was just one small sequence in a larger scene - and most of the focus was on the heartfelt bonding between Drake and the MC when he takes her to his "special hideout" and his reveal about his motives behind calling the MC by her surname.

Many Drake stans, however, took note of this specific section, and took their interpretations in a completely different direction. Questions were asked about why Drake knew about Kiara's room - completely ignoring that he frequented the hallway regardless for its view and her nameplate is literally placed outside her door - and several fans suspected the two to be involved in an affair just on the basis of him knowing where her room was. These suspicions, again, would crop up from the fandom in a more dramatic way in TRR3.

5. Drinks at Homecoming Ball (Ch 19)

This scene takes place in the finale, just before Kiara and Penelope apologize jointly to the MC for their comments in the beer garden.

Drake is, quite predictably, at the bar in this scene. In some ways one could draw a parallel between this one and the "bar" scene between him and the MC in TRR1 - the only differences being that the two were alone in the first, and that he and the MC are free to romance each other now. However this time, the two ladies of the court could also communicate with him about drinks, and he could use his knowledge of alcohol to guess their preferences.

The scene with Kiara is, again, written to be both a possible sign of familiarity and a diss (mostly the second, I think). With Penelope he just vaguely mentions cocktails and focuses on the decoration for the drink - with Kiara he is able to name the specific wine even though in TRR3 he has no idea what tannins are. There are ways one could envision that as a sign that he notices more about Kiara than he lets on.

The diss, of course, comes with his claim that no matter how top-shelf the wine is, it will still always be "old grape juice" (which is a very strange thing to say because most alcohols are fermented from basic ingredients be it fruit or grains - where did he think his high-quality whiskey that he regularly carries around in his personal flask came from??).

Kiara's attempt to impress him is pretty obvious, but the diss isn't something that weighs too much on her mind. There are less indicators here of a dejection if he brushes her aside, unlike the scene in Ch 10 - she just looks a bit surprised he could guess the exact drink she wanted. Kiara in this scene is more likely to shift gears to something more important. In this case, that is apologizing to the MC for what she views as poor behaviour that sprung up under the influence of alcohol, and offering her an olive branch (the specific apology is for her asking the MC if she came to gloat, not for telling her the alliance was over at the beginning of the tour. In that scene specifically she feels she has nothing to apologise for, and I'm inclined to agree for the reasons I stated in that section).

The overall pattern for this ship seems to indicate that it's...kinda there in case the MC doesn't want to pick Drake, but I always feel like they focused a lot more on the jealousy options and didn't spend enough time to see what a possible relationship could look like. They do claim later that Kiara's affections were supposed to be one-sided, but the buildup at least seemed to indicate some small baseline of interest from Drake's end, even if shown in some rather bizarre ways. However, because there seems to be very little respect for this character already, having the MC threaten violence and having her and Drake overreact over what were essentially harmless interactions from Kiara's end really does indicate that the writers didn't mind taking potshots at her whenever they felt like it. Like I've said before, the trashfire that was Kiara's treatment in TRR3 didn't develop overnight.

Smart, Skilled...Disliked?: Kiara and the Writing Team in TRR3

On 25th Sept 2023, PB released a two-chapter series on Storyloom called "Choices Secrets", which involved at least three writers (Andrew, Kara and Chelsa) talking about ideas and plots and backstories that didn't make it to the released book. In one section, Kara Loo speaks specifically about the ending of TRR2:

According to this account, the original idea was to kill off Olivia and possibly use that as a segue into the Nevrakis plot of the book, since her aunt and Justin were the real villains at the end of the series. When they decided to keep her alive in the series, Kara mentions finding "more members of your group get injured, like Drake".

Interestingly, Kara referred to "members" in the plural, and Drake is the only person from the core group to get shot. So it's just as possible that the choice to have Bastien, Justin/Anton and Kiara sustain injuries, was made once they decided to do away with the storyline about Olivia's death.

Olivia got spared because her writers cared for her. Kiara was likely one of the people injured in her stead, and probably the only one out of them (except for the one who was the main villain) who wasn't getting a prominent scene that focused on her being a survivor of the attack until some readers protested (the entire intro of TRR3 was dedicated to Drake recieving tender care from the MC, Bastien gets showered with concern and care from Constantine, Liam and optionally the MC. The MC comes to the estate, makes a perfunctory mention of the injury once and proceeds to emotionally blackmail Kiara into joining the tour. Let's not even talk about Lythikos. That shit warranted its own essay). No matter how much you downplay the situation, the truth is that Kiara got grievously hurt in a terrorist attack and her writers didn't think it was important enough to address.

I often wondered in the beginning, why Kiara was chosen for this. A close friend at the time theorized that perhaps it was done to ensure Madeleine would become our press secretary, because there was no way the MC would be considering her for this position if someone less hostile (like Kiara) was around. Another wondered if we might get opportunities to address palace security through the experiences of the survivors. Being a Drake x Kiara supporter at least by the end of TRR2, I wondered whether it was a coincidence that they both were injured at the same ball, and the possibility of the two bonding over such a painful experience.

Well. Boy was I about to be disappointed.

Because why did Kiara have to be so badly injured, if it was going to amount to nothing? If they weren't even going to address it in her own home? If - after even players who didn't care much for her, noticed the silence around that attack - the best you could offer was a scene that followed the MC and her friends suspecting the victim of this attack??

Had I looked at Kiara's narrative treatment (from TRR1 onwards) closer back then, perhaps I wouldn't have expected so much. It would have occurred to me that maybe they hurt Kiara the most, because they cared for her the least. Kiara is viewed as smart, poised, talented. Madeleine even calls her "one of the more competant courtiers" at some point. But that doesn't always mean that the team that writes her deems her worthy of respect.

For one, the writers tend to lean more into fandom perceptions of her in this book, rather than looking at their own canon. Kiara being a snob is not canon - that is ridiculous considering that she was such good friends with Savannah, and her support of the MC when she fits in well. Kiara acting like her linguistic skill makes her better than anyone else isn't canon either - nor is she obliged to speak in all ten languages on a loop just for the MC's or Maxwell Beaumont's entertainment. Kiara being perpetually mean to her best friend is inaccurate at best - she is often frustrated by Penelope, sure, but she spends far time and energy helping her than anyone else in that court.

Yet the narrative gives both these statements as dialogue options for the MC, where she can bitch about Kiara...but somehow only ever allows the same MC to be nice and caring and loving to Penelope - never once reminding her of the hell she'd put the MC through in the past. And because the fandom expected the Kiara-Penelope friendship to focus only on Penelope, PB got away with having Kiara's "best friend" stay conveniently silent as the MC berated her in her own home. The narrative even threw Kiara under the bus in TRR3 Ch 16, in order to make Madeleine look better in Hana's memories of the TRR2 bachelorette, claiming falsely that Kiara shouted at Penelope so much while drunk, that the latter was brought to tears. There is way more energy spent in painting an inaccurate and negative portrait of Kiara, than there is in showing the truth.

For another, the way the courtiers' and their parents' agreement to join the tour is coded...is extremely suspicious. When you compare both a successful and a failplay, you will find that all the parents have the chance to reject the MC's proposal to join the tour...except for one. Kiara's father, Hakim. In a failplay where you purposely do all the wrong things...out of the entire group of people who are still doubtful about supporting you, only Kiara and Hakim join your tour by default, without any expectation of a reward (Madeleine demands her own department after the wedding). They will be a part of it no matter what you do, no matter your failures, no matter how badly you treat them.

Hakim may have joined mainly to confront his old friend the King, but he still stays on even after Constantine dies. The writers made sure to branch-code things in a way that Kiara and Hakim could never drop out even if the MC was awful to Kiara, and never once acknowledged what it must take for them to do that. After Kiara herself had been fucking stabbed!!!!

Joelle, Kiara's mother, and Ezekiel, Kiara's brother, can reject the offer if they aren't impressed with the MC, but out of these two characters only one is viewed with respect - the one they were going to pair up with Penelope.

The narrative doesn't mind letting the MC mock Joelle for her passionate support of the arts if she doesn't win her approval, and her insistence that it is the sign of a thriving kingdom...and they make her sound petulant and churlish in response to that mockery. This despite the fact that in a successful route, she says one of the most profound political statements in the books:

"Hakim and I don't just want Cordonia to remain stable and peaceful. Those are blessings, naturallement, but our kingdom can do so much more than just survive."

In contrast, when you look at the same failplay, Emmeline and Landon are treated with far more respect from the narrative, even though Hakim and Joelle's plans for the country would benefit Cordonia as a whole. Drake looks up to Penelope's parents as an inspiration, especially if he's going to become a duke. Meanwhile Hakim actually acknowledges Drake and his bravery in a way that none of the other dukes and duchesses did, and Drake never gives a shit.

Emmeline can accuse the MC of not taking their situation seriously, if she does a bad job at the polo match, and the MC only has the grace to look contrite rather than lash out at her. Landon himself is never judged for coddling his daughter the way he does. Their focus on Portavira rather than the country is respected, and the MC not meeting their demands is viewed as her weakness, not an overreaction from their end. They never get the snarky responses Joelle gets, where the MC can outright call her "a handful" in front of her own husband.

And then there is the matter of how PB deals with the problems of all the court ladies.

(Screenshots from the Skylia YouTube Channel)

The period of the Unity Tour isn't exactly an easy time for anyone. The LIs each deal with their own shit, and the ladies of the court themselves have their own reasons for being reluctant to return. The entire point of this tour is to address their specific concerns as well as that of their families', because without the courtiers themselves we wouldn't have as strong a court.

In Madeleine's case, we have to talk to her through a diamond scene and then educate her mother on her ways of mourning lost opportunities, among other things. In Penelope's case we are required to give her complete protection and emotional security, for her to even bother joining the tour (there is branch coding where she can refuse to be a part of the tour at all). Even for Olivia - who is already an ally - the diamond scene encourages us to stand up to her aunt, by letting Olivia know that it is valid for her to lean on others for support without being considered weak.

But for Kiara? The best we can come up with, while in her duchy, is some version of - "You're smart. You'd know that if you left now, people will say bad things about Cordonia and then it would be your fault". You either manipulate her, or insult her as being a useless excuse of a diplomat. As I mentioned in another essay, Kiara's comfort is a non-factor. The gap between the care we were expected to give to Madeleine and Penelope, and what we deign to give Kiara in Castelserraillan (which is...well...nothing), is massive. And this gap would only increase - not reduce - in the books to come.

It might seem a bit irrelevant to talk about this, especially when this essay is about Drake and Kiara. But it's important to take note of this inherent disdain the writers had towards this one character - and people close to her. Because it is only too easy to pretend that the writers "got scared of the crazy stans".

Of course the stans had a huge, huge role in this. Of course their vitriol and racism succeeded in bringing about (what I consider) one of the most disgusting dialogue options in this series...or perhaps in any series. But I doubt those "crazy stans" would have gotten this far, without a team that didn't mind being cruel to Kiara.

When the Fandom and Canon are both Heartless: Drake and Kiara in TRR3

As I've mentioned in previous essays in this series, playthrough divergences truly begin in TRR3 (eg. While the playthroughs acknowledge who you chose as endgame by end-TRR2, you can still access diamond scenes through a small tweak that allows you to romance other LIs). And whichever LI didn't get engaged with the MC had indications of a new romantic possibility coming up. These were scenes you wouldn't find in your own playthrough with that LI as your fiancé/e.

Kiara doesn't appear in TRR3 until Ch 7, when the entourage comes to her estate Castelserraillan. There aren't a lot of Drake and Kiara scenes themselves, and I will get into why, section by section.

1. Kiara Greets the Group at Castelserraillan (TRR3 Ch 7)

Many Drake stans - once they found their MCs engaged to Drake in TRR2 - seemed to be practically giddy at the prospect of showing off their newly-engaged status to Kiara, and hurting her through the news. They were perhaps more excited about this than their upcoming wedding.

Well, they got that chance in Ch 7. In every other playthrough, she still holds the same feelings for Drake, and compliments his suit as Drake awkwardly fails to meet her eye. In his specific playthrough, Drake defiantly shows off his relationship with the MC, and Kiara shows a slight wistfulness before she forces herself to be normal then wishes the happy couple well. You'd think that would be enough to satisfy the stans who had been baying for her blood all of the previous book.

A throwaway line about Drake knowing where Kiara's room was, had already raised the heckles of a whole bunch of his stans. Kiara's "wistful look" in her first TRR3 scene somehow added fuel to that fire. Suddenly, you got to see a raging torrent of posts demanding to know if Drake had had an affair with Kiara. Fanfic had already been written about Drake cheating on the MC with Kiara by this point - and some of those headcanons and fanfic hinged on making Drake the innocent/vulnerable one, taken advantage of by this sexy, obsessed woman who would be either a danger to him or would be juxtaposed with the "pure", "virginal", "perfect" MC. Drake would never be the problem here, and none of the stans screaming over the possibility of Drake sleeping with Kiara would dream of blaming him for it. No, Kiara was predatory, Kiara was obsessed, if anything happened between them it would be likely Kiara's fault.

This is where it's important to note, again, that none of the more obvious signs of the "Jezebel" stereotype seem to be used in canon for Kiara. While cruel in her own way, the TRR MC doesn't exactly slut shame her or believe Drake will be unfaithful to her, Kiara isn't accused of seducing (or even trying to seduce) anyone, and she actually places respectful personal boundaries for herself in her attraction to Drake, that she never crosses. She may indulge in a light flirtation with him, try to impress him or simply talk to him - but you will never catch her forcing her sexual attention on him like Olivia did with Liam. Yet in popular fanlore, even Olivia's feelings were often cast in a far more noble light in contrast to Kiara's.

In her essay, The "Offending" Breast of Janet Jackson: Public Discourse Surrounding the Jackson/Timberlake Performance at Super Bowl XXXVIII, Dr Shannon. L Holland explores the historical and contemporary uses of the Jezebel stereotype in depictions of Black women in popular culture and discourse, especially in contrast to white masculinity (which in these contexts, is often viewed as innocent and blameless - and much of the blame lies with the Jezebel figure). The "Jezebel" stereotype "has come to symbolize both a malign, cunning sexual object and an autonomous, liberated sexual agent" - she is at once an independent sexual being making her own choices, and someone who is "incapable" of reining in her sexual appetite...and is therefore often depicted as not only a threat to the "purer" (and often "whiter" or "lighter skinned") woman, but also dangerous for whoever she is "obsessed" with. And we see this time and again in the discourse around Kiara - the fanfic that depicts her in a range of scenarios (stalker, obsessed lover, abusive girlfriend who will break a bottle over Drake's head, at times even descending into murderer to get the man she wants). Which is how we wound up in a position where Kiara even breathing the same air as Drake was viewed as a threat.

It didn't matter that he was flaunting his love for the Drake MC in that playthrough to send a message to Kiara, or that he stayed silent with the others as his wife badgered her into joining the tour. It didn't even matter that Kiara never got a diamond scene the way the two other women did, despite being the most harmed among the ladies. What mattered was that Kiara existed. Her damn existence was the threat.

2. Cheering for Drake's Victory (Ch 10)

Ch 9 of TRR3 was released to players on April 27th, 2018. Immediately after, a mid-book hiatus was announced, mostly to work on some new art (very possibly the red pandas), work on the wedding, and make changes (such as shifting diamond scenes from character-centric ones to LI specific - they'd already started making changes to LI diamond scenes). The book would return 2 months later, in June.

In a livestream before the hiatus ended, the writers had made it very painfully clear that Kiara's feelings for Drake was one-sided. And by that I mean they really emphasized on the one-sidedness of her affection, almost as if to reassure the panicking stans. This would manifest in any future interactions between the two - both in Drake's single and engaged playthroughs - and any hope that such a pairing would even be hinted at was over. But there was one variation that the team had perhaps neglected to edit out.

A small one-word depiction of Kiara cheering Drake when he wins his duel against Neville, joining his friends to praise him. It really isn't much - just Kiara saying "bravo!" before Savannah rushes up to hug him, which is replaced by a scene of Drake himself going up to the MC and passionately kissing her in his own playthrough. What is definitely striking about this depiction is that Kiara was clubbed with his close friends and his sister, rather than the second group of people that largely represented the larger court (Rashad and Queen Regina) who offer their congratulations.

Given the way the writers wrote any remaining interactions between Drake and Kiara, and the fact that this small appearance doesn't really amount to anything, it is possible that this variation was part of an earlier draft that involved other hints, that the writers failed to notice when they put up Ch 10. If they had, I'm pretty certain it wouldn't have stayed in the book.

3. Leaving Court + Wedding Conversations

Remember how I kept stating in this essay that the narrative was going to take their enthusiastic pandering of the "possessive stans" end of the fandom, to some dark, disturbing places? Well, here we are.

Tbh, the writers could have just stopped showing any interactions between the two, or given Kiara another boyfriend if their aim was simply to show that Drake and Kiara would never be endgame. They had done that with Maxwell and Penelope already...oh. I forgot. They actually wanted us to care for Penelope.

Up until this point, Drake's mean streak re: Kiara was present, but not really as obvious as it gets here. PB takes that cruelty several steps further in these two chapters, starting with Ch 11. Ch 11 was fanservice to the people who shouted abuses and "joked" about killing Kiara in every chance they could get. Ch 12 showed this sentiment at its worst, covered it up with enough fluff so it would be harder for people who liked Kiara to notice...and let those players get away with it.

In Ch 11, Kiara approaches the MC and her group to inform them that she is withdrawing from the tour. Drake is the first to respond to this, remaking at the suddenness of the departure. The MC can speculate on a couple of things, ranging from sympathy (that she might be afraid), selfishness (that she is "bailing out" on the MC) and suspicion (that she is hiding something).

In all three options, a pensive Hana expresses sympathy and encourages the group to "reach out". In all three options, Drake will only view Kiara as a suspect.

Mind you - according to Ch 12, Drake is saying this knowing Kiara was injured at Homecoming Ball...and knowing exactly which weapon she was injured with. Aware that she has gone through an event as traumatic as that (if we go by his "just one step at a time" monologue to Kiara), better aware than most how it would feel...he still opts to act like her motives should be suspicious.

This is further emphasized in the Drake playthrough, through the armory scene that the MC takes with Maxwell.

As I've mentioned in the post on this scene, it is divided into three halves. The first half deals with whoever the MC rejected (either Liam, or Drake in Liam's playthrough). The third is buildup to Lucretia's plans to usurp the throne. The second is supposed to be about the excitement among the members of the court for the wedding, and of course as the only people who come for the tour by default (and Madeleine is already taken for the first scene), Kiara and Hakim are used for this scene!

I will only focus on the Drake version of this scene today. There are a few things you notice straight off the bat:

1. Since this is Drake's playthrough, the narrative seems to do away completely with any lingering feelings Kiara may have had are done away with. In this scene she is quite happy about Drake's wedding - in fact, practically chipper. Literally nothing about her behaviour here serves as a reminder that she once had feelings for him.

2. Drake's response to Kiara attending his wedding ties in pretty well with his earlier default suspicion of her. Unlike Hana who is surprised but also happy that Kiara is attending, he seems to voice it as a doubt or a question. While that makes sense and there is continuity, it's pretty awful that he is allowed to suspect her like this and feel no remorse when the truth about her is revealed.

3. Now as I said in the post, this scene is meant to be a buildup to Drake's ice-palace scene. He speaks about wanting a private, country-style wedding in a natural place there, and Kiara's gentle teasing in this scene is supposed to be an indicator of how much he dislikes the usual fanfare. Okay. Fair enough. You're uncomfortable with the fancy decorations and the insane planning, fine.

4. But it's Drake's attitude towards Kiara in this scene that leaves a bad taste in the mouth (unless you were one of those Drake stans that liked to threaten murder on this character ig). The narrative really went out of their way to make him sound uncommonly angry with her, just for asking about his wedding. He angrily hisses at her to keep her voice down the moment she asks about the wedding, and then lashes out the moment she teases him about his love for the MC and his reluctance to be very public about it in that context. Of course, people who either liked Drake or hated Kiara would downplay this scene - either blaming Kiara for not magically knowing his likes or dislikes, or acting like Drake's behaviour in this scene is no big deal.

And his explanation in the ice palace scene really doesn't cut it as a reason for why he should be this pissed off at Kiara's excitement. There is no real bitterness or resentment tied in with the fancy trappings that are mentioned in that specific scene - it's just that he likes simplicity better. If Kiara doesn't know him well enough to understand that - it's because he has never properly talked to her. She made attempts to converse whenever she could. You can claim he never owed her a conversation - but in that case she doesn't owe him a complete understanding of his wants either. He could have just politely answered the question and changed the subject, or quickly took his leave.

He is well-versed enough in court etiquette by this point that he could have managed to sound civil enough. That he could have made a quick, polite exit. But no, he gave her the kind of anger that one reserves for someone who is kicking a puppy or stealing candy from a child, instead. And it was Kiara's grace that allowed her to view that awful behaviour in a more positive light.

It's pretty clear this scene - and to some extent the framing of the next - was made specifically for those Drake stans who were screaming and throwing tantrums about a possible affair. It was to highlight that there was no way Drake could ever return Kiara's feelings - and the only way they could do that was by making sure he treated her as rudely and inhumanely as possible.

I didn't think it could get any worse than this, when I saw this version of the scene...but then I saw Ch 12.

The Talk

If you were to speak just about fandom reactions to this scene...the responses to Kiara chronicling her trauma after Homecoming Ball, were pretty positive. Plenty chose the middle option "You're suffering from the trauma of the event. You need help", and cooed over Drake's touching little monologue about "taking it one day at a time".

I admit at the time I was fooled too. But one thing did niggle at me as I played both this option, and the "understandably cautious" one (I would later understand that the latter was not very good either - it has a thin veneer of "validating" Kiara's feelings, but it still has the MC and Drake expecting her to put their needs before her own safety and sanity).

Drake was reassuring to an extent in both options, sure. But why were his responses so different? Why was his answer to Kiara so closely tied to whatever point the MC was making, rather than independent of it? After all, he was the one who should be able to better relate to Kiara - wouldn't he have thoughts of his own here? If the MC chose that horrible final option, Drake would correct her and comfort Kiara instead, wouldn't he? Wouldn't he???

It was only when I (reluctantly) pressed that third option ("not as driven as I thought you were") that I understood what Drake's role in this scene was.

He wasn't going to be there for Kiara. He wasn't even sympathetic to her! It wasn't even going to be about two traumatized people connecting over their trauma. Drake was a puppet. He was there to parrot whatever garbage came out of the MC's mouth.

Because in the third - and most horrific - option, the MC is allowed to minimize Kiara's trauma, and mock her ambitions in the face of what she has just gone through. Drake is allowed to agree with her ("sometimes ambassadors have to work in dangerous areas"). Kiara is forced by the same narrative to find value in these words.

And all of this, stems from a scenario where Drake and the MC go in suspecting this woman from the jump. Where Maxwell is happy to make jokes about her being a suspect. Where the only two decent people in this group - Liam and Hana - are conveniently written out of the scene, ensuring that these ghouls can act the way they want around Kiara, and get away with it.

Not once is Kiara herself ever allowed to know that the group suspected her by default, nor is she allowed to go through with her intention to leave court. The very roots of this scene are rotten.

Very often, when this scene in particular is addressed, not many people actually address Drake's behaviour here - or in the previous chapter. Stans will vaguely, and conveniently, blame the group as a whole rather than their favourites. Such a tactic allows them to never name the specific people or specific actions, and therefore the main people involved in speaking to Kiara the way they did never have to be held accountable. This is particularly relevant in the case of Drake.

It was Drake's idea to interrogate her. He was the one constantly harping about her "suspicious behaviour". He was the one aware of what happened to her yet chose to think of her as shady. He was the one who should have known better, yet was absolutely game to minimize her trauma or engage in emotional blackmail. And neither he nor the MC came out of this conversation feeling anything resembling remorse. Because, apparently, they never did anything wrong.

They got what they wanted. At best, Drake and the MC manipulated this woman (again) into returning to their court. At worst, they badgered and bullied her into that decision. Either way, she was going to return, and the narrative was going to pretend that the MC and Drake were great people for making it happen.

I have heard some justifications over the years for Drake's behaviour here. One is that he "tends to act like an asshole to everyone". Another is that Kiara is a noble so he was never going to see her in a positive light. Which is hilarious to me, honestly, because in the same book you have Drake reassure Penelope - the woman who had made the MC the target of a reputation-ending scandal - and comfort her when she sees Madeleine. If this was really about the chip on the shoulder he had for nobility, why was he so kind to Penelope? And if Penelope's mental health warranted a change in mindset and behaviour from Drake's end, why was Kiara not worthy of that as well?

The truth is this. Drake was allowed to express his mean streak to a black woman, bully a black woman (the pranks), lash out at a black woman (the conversation at the Lythikos Ball), suspect a black woman, and finally minimize her trauma if the Duchess he had a crush on wanted to. While being overly protective and chivalrous to the white woman who actually did harm her. No matter what way you spin it, that is what Drake's behaviour - especially in TRR3 - is.

The way the team trampled over this "pairing" post that miniscule hint in TRR3 Ch 7, would make a rampaging elephant look like a ballerina in comparison. They wanted to make it clear after the hiatus that Drake x Kiara would never happen, in any eventuality, in any future, in any universe. And no matter how much we pin this on "crazy stans" (who do hold some responsibility for sure, for their own veiled racism), it's a fact that the writing team was comfortable doing this. They had already found other ways to pile disrespect on their sole recurring black female character - what was a little more?

TRH and Beyond: Taking Away What Was Left of Kiara's Remaining Fanbase

Given all the narrative back-and-forth and shadiness, I'd have to say the end Kiara got in TRR3 was comparatively...decent. Not great...not exactly satisfying...decent.

Her fighting off the assassins at the boutique ("not again...not again!!") was the highlight of that scene. In Hana's playthrough, Kiara was her MOH by default, and the lines the MC could give if you chose her in other playthroughs was pretty sweet. At the end of the book, her father would make Kiara his heir, after her older brother Ezekiel abdicated. There were still things I was always going to hate (such as the fact that we could lie about "having Kiara's back" - we absolutely did not) about the aftermath, but all in all as a fan...I could maybe envision a fairly happy ending for her with what we got.

The next series, The Royal Heir, would debut on June 2019, almost a year after TRR3's own debut. This would be the first series that would go completely LI-divergent, spanning four books. It started out as an attempt to envision the future (and pasts) of the main characters, as well as tie loose ends...but descended into an incoherent, retconning mess with each book.

Kiara doesn't feature much in Book 1, but is pretty prominent in certain chapters like Ch 7 (Savannah's bachelorette), Savannah's wedding, and the Apple Ball in the finale. You'll often find a marked difference between the way she is looked at for most of the book, and how the MC speaks to her in TRH1's finale.

Savannah's bachelorette, for instance, features all the ladies of the court in Texas, with new "country" looks and engaging with Texan culture. Here, too, you see a sign of PB leaning into popular perceptions of Kiara rather than remembering their own writing, when we see how Savannah praises the MC by default but has very little to say about her former friend Kiara. Since Savannah's return to court in TRR3, the team seemed to have forgotten that other ladies of the court weren't very nice to her, and Kiara was the only one concerned for her. They have Olivia act sweet and caring towards Savannah in both TRR3 Ch 17 and TRH1 Ch 7, conveniently forgetting the insults she piled upon Drake's sister in the first book. Savannah never has to talk about Kiara's friendship at all, other than a teasing comment hinting at her French lessons. Savannah was never expected to have any gratitude or affection towards Kiara even though she was the only woman who cared about her in court before she left.

An interesting thing to note in the diamond scene of the bachelorette is the way the courtly ladies' previous/current "romances" are framed. Kiara's, in particular, warrants a lot of discussion. Unlike Olivia (who can address her feelings for Liam regardless of playthrough, if asked, and can actually show some level of resentment towards him for not picking her), Kiara's feelings are addressed only if the MC isn't married to Drake. If she is, Kiara mentions a fondness for "rugged, down-to-earth men" (which the MC and Penelope perceive to mean hunky and muscular), and avoids mentioning his name at all.

There are two very interesting things to note about this sequence. One is the pattern of how, and how far, are Olivia and Kiara are allowed to address their feelings for these men. Not only is Olivia allowed to be open about her feelings and her bitterness (despite Liam actually romancing her in TRR3!), the narrative demands our respect for her position and plight. The Liam MC lauds her honesty and her decision to move ahead, unfazed even by her anger for something Liam didn't even owe her. In contrast, in the Drake playthrough, the writing makes sure Kiara never mentions him by name. And not only that, when the MC and Penelope tease her about her romantic preference, she is shown to stammer and seems downright afraid of the MC.

The fact that there is such a gap in how Olivia and Kiara are allowed to act about the men they love, and the fact that this gap was normalized so much in fandom discourse that it didn't even warrant a discussion, tells us plenty about the fandom too. The fandom position has almost always been that Liam owes Olivia love, appreciation, kindness. And that Drake owes Kiara nothing, not even common human decency. Which is why the fandom wants Liam punished for the high crime of not loving Olivia back. Which is why Drake is allowed to treat Kiara like an irritating pest at his best, and like utter garbage at his worst...and almost no one so much as bats an eyelid.

Since most of the story of TRH1 seemed to revolve around the ranch, the ladies of the court made minimal appearances and most of those were in keeping with patterns established in TRR3 (except for maybe Olivia's spy scenes). Some of their parents - too - feature in Royal Council scenes: Godfrey and Landon are part of this council and are seen during the MC's announcement - no one from Kiara's family, besides her brother Ezekiel who is dating Penelope, make any appearances in this book. Towards the end of the book, however, you suddenly find a scene or two where the narrative is suddenly, and inexplicably, syrupy sweet to Kiara:

(Screenshots from the Skylia YouTube Channel. 1-5 are from Ch 18, during the council meeting. 7-10 are also from Ch 18, at the start of the ball. The last two are from the finale as buildup for the pregnancy photoshoot)

There are indications of Kiara's diplomacy and good advice in other parts of the book too (such as her suggestions for dealing with the foreign royals at the baby shower) but never were the praise and compliments as obvious as they were in the last two chapters of TRH1. Kiara was given a quippy dialogue to spout at Godfrey, who would later be revealed as the murderer of Queen Eleanor. All three of the MC's dialogue options in response would praise Kiara by default (a rarity). King Bradshaw would shower her with compliments too about her talent and expertise. And when Kiara approached us with an offer for a pregnancy photoshoot, the MC could cheerfully say "for you, Kiara? Of course!" as if they'd been bffs from the beginning.

There isn't any obvious reason why we saw this sudden change, but I can make an educated guess or two. A pattern that commonly emerges with attempts to address something that would benefit Kiara, is that the writers often only do it when enough people complain; that was how we got the horrible Lythikos sequence. Midway through TRH1, I managed to put up an essay exploring Kiara's treatment (centered around the Lythikos sequence in TRR3 Ch 12) in comparison to Penelope's and Madeleine's. It did not receive an immediate fandom wide response, but several readers did come away from that essay feeling like Kiara really got the short end of the stick, compared to all the other court ladies. I'm not sure whether that essay had a direct impact, but those three scenes PB added to the finale chapters do make me wonder. Was the team trying to prove to the fandom that they did like Kiara and wouldn't personally sabotage her, either for their own enjoyment or to pander to a section of the fandom?

If they did, then that plan didn't last beyond these two chapters.

Another possibility of course was to give Kiara something slightly positive before they did her dirty - again - in TRH2 and 3. Because in those two books, they managed to first make her - along with the rest of the council - party to a vote (that everyone was involved in, including the LIs!) that would later prove detrimental for the country. They would then have her be the only heir involved in the notorious Coventus Nobilis, which ensured that anyone who wanted to hate Kiara could tie her to her vote in favour of Bartie Sr, without ever asking any further questions. This was a far more successful attempt, because most of the fandom already believed the misconceptions of Kiara's characterization to be truth, and these storylines simply added fuel to the fire.

Kiara's biggest supporters tended to be a section of the Liam fandom, as well as wlw stans who tended to like most of the courtly women. Having her vote for Bartie at the end of TRH2, and her explanations in TRH3 about the "MC's ruling style" (which was really canon's way of making sure she did more a silent diss on Liam) was written specifically to place a serious dent among her fans who liked Liam. And sadly, it worked in part. Because even if one considered Kiara's thoughts on "reactive ruling" accurate, it was a fact that the nobility (she included) would have to be blaming Liam for something that the entire Council voted for, and that Liam and his friends fixed on their own.

Making Kiara the lone person to voice this argument, made her a target in this fandom. I mean, people were ready to praise Madeleine and speak of her as loyal (eagerly ignoring that she was actively involved in the child's kidnapping if you didn't coddle her enough), and badmouth Kiara in the same breath, claiming that Kiara wasn't worth forgiving and people should just get over Madeleine's deeds in the past.

This resurgence of hate didn't just erupt out of nowhere. Once they finished spending two chapters on two-second compliments to Kiara, PB reverted in the next two books to some of their usual patterns with her. For instance, remember how I mentioned that PB had an obsession with never letting Kiara and Liam interact? In TRH, they repeated this pattern, but with the Heir. The only scene Kiara has where she can so much as touch the heir is in the last part of TRH3, if you choose for Kiara to read to her. Penelope is regularly allowed to hold her even though she has often placed this child in dangerous situations (on one occasion, Kiara herself had to stop her) - even Madeleine is given an entire babysitting scene to win her favour. But Kiara is the only lady of the court who is made to stay away or care for the child from a distance.

Kiara's family (besides Zeke, and just because he is Penelope's fiance/husband) is subject to disrespect in this book too. Hakim and Joelle were both conspicuously absent from the pregnancy announcement presscon in TRH1 (where Landon, Godfrey and Bartie Sr somehow featured!!), and future books would either retcon the family or force them to do things the other families didn't have to do. In TRH2, the MC takes a tour of the Great Houses with her newborn daughter, and each house is expected to pledge loyalty to her and the crown in different ways. Hakim is written as "bending to his knees" for the child. This is something only Adeleide and Madeleine - whose house, might I remind you, are considered the house of traitors at this point - have to do. Landon and Emmeline are never expected to express their loyalty to this extent.

In TRH3, the narrative callously pushes the Therons under the bus to make the Ebrim family's reluctance to help the MC make sense - the Therons are now "traditionalists" who frown upon scandals and may not allow Zeke to marry Penelope on the account of her past annulled marriage (this makes no sense when you take a closer look at the Therons themselves in TRR3 - they're a far more balanced, far more progressive family than any of the other Great Houses. They even took Zeke's abdication well!). Furthermore, you'll notice that the framing of Penelope's past with Guy is worlds apart from the disdain the narrative shows for the Therons during the flower festival. It is notable that in the latter, the black women are depicted very negatively - Kiara is shown unable to manage her own competition, Joelle is depicted as pompous and incapable of losing gracefully, Drake gets to take sarcastic potshots at Lerato for trying to charm the MC into voting for her and Drake into convincing her to vote. Meanwhile white people like Landon and Marguerite are presented in a just as humourous but less mocking light (eg. Landon moving his table courteously before flipping it in the flashback).

Even into TRF (Ch12), the narrative gives us choices where we can stand up to people criticizing Landon and Emmeline's parenting ("Duke Landon and his wife raised a kind, generous daughter..."). We are allowed to be far less critical of the Ebrims overall, we are allowed to be more charitable even in the dialogue options for suspecting Landon than we are of Kiara (think of how Maxwell can suspect that Kiara was planning to betray us all along). At the end of the Flower Festival, Kiara is made to appear contrite as the MC can choose to either demand she make this right before the latter can forgive her, or indicate that she never will. Ironically, a Penelope who can choose her fancy wedding over the safety of the MC's child never has to face words that harsh.

You will also notice if you look more closely, that the narrative continues to frame events surrounding Penelope and Kiara in opposing ways. Penelope is perpetually viewed as a victim, and Kiara constantly as a suspect.

We are expected to support Penelope, and to mistrust Kiara. And even though Kiara's feelings had long since become a thing of the past, Drake still maintains his animosity towards her and her family. And like everything else, it is so normalized at this point that you barely even notice it anymore.

In TRH2, Drake is allowed to tar all nobles with the same brush because of Godfrey's actions. Though his statement about the nobility ("We can't trust any of them to have Liam's back...not unless it's in their own selfish interests") is about the entire nobility, it is striking that he says this just before they go to Castelserraillan. The Therons are also the only noble family that Drake makes sarcastic comments about (in reference to Liam informing us that their province is a trade hub, Drake quips that "they are going to want to trade babies with us"). These snide comments he rarely makes about other noble families, and serves as a sharp contrast to how he treats the Ebrims (during Penelope's wedding festivities, he is unnaturally invested in Penelope getting a happy ending with Ezekiel). We can't even claim that his behaviour towards Kiara is in line with his disdain for nobles, because Penelope is proof that he is perfectly capable of showing compassion to most of them!

TRH3 ends with Kiara doing an apology tour of sorts - diplomatic missions aimed at improving Cordonia's international relations. TRF finds almost all the ladies of the court - even Olivia - in very minimal roles, as the focus shifts to the Via Imperii. Still, the narrative makes more references to Penelope than to Kiara, to the extent that the epilogue ends on both the MC and Penelope celebrating their pregnancies (Penelope's first and the MC's second) together.

Overall, you will find that the narrative repeated certain patterns with Kiara - the tendency to find her suspicious, purposely limiting scenes with important characters like Liam (TRR) and the heir (TRH) while the white courtiers get almost unlimited access, the discrepancies in expectations for her vs other ladies (eg. Madeleine is hailed for being "good" even though that is solely dependent on how you treat her. Kiara is largely ignored whenever she does help, and attacked when she is written to support the enemy). Drake - even as a former alternative to her, who should have gotten over whatever nonsense beef he'd had with her earlier - is allowed to make snide remarks about her home and family.

It's pretty clear they could do this because they could get away with it... because most of the fandom made it so easy for them to get away with it.

Fandom

When I look back at how the perception of Kiara in the fandom progressed over the years, I find it half-amusing, half-sad how much of it is rooted more in fanlore, and how little in actual fact. And this is something you couldn't just pin on "crazy Drake stans" - they were the biggest promoters of these lies and misconceptions, sure, but normally analytical, commonsense readers often believed that Kiara was fake and a snob and awful to Penelope too.

I get some of it, given the timing of Kiara and Penelope's scene at the beginning of TRR2. It takes place at a low point in the MC's story, a time when she isn't even sure the LIs want to support her. Coupled with that is the lasting image of Penelope hugging you and complaining about Madeleine, making you feel like she's more willing to give you a sliver of solidarity. Coupled with that, is Olivia's newfound popularity in the fandom - once she emerges in Ch 5 of that book, fans believed they found their wildcard who would stand by them in complete solidarity among the ladies of the court (did they ignore Hana's already massive contributions to the investigation? Yes they did. Yes they did). Madeleine herself is shown giving quotable quotes about female solidarity and Tariq's guilt in TRR2 Ch 7, which - coupled with Justin's high praise of her - made people want to find things to like about her too. Penelope's own betrayal was overshadowed by an expectation to support a person with serious mental health struggles.

Kiara's the only one who doesn't get such backstories or explanations. So at least in the heat of the moment, in reading those chapters between weekly gaps, it makes sense that a false impression of her got somewhat solidified.

But when you build your interpretations out of lies and misinterpretations, how does it become so valid that even the writers bend to it and prefer to show that?

Every fandom has its "crazy stans". And this instance wouldn't be the first or last time they are pandered to. But when the same stans get backed up by the "saner", more commonsense members of fandom; when even neutral readers promote versions of a story without actually looking at the scenes in question - that's when a fandom is in danger of turning a "headcanon" into canon.

Kiara being a horrible friend to Penelope wasn't canon. Kiara being a snob was not canon. Kiara being creepy towards Drake wasn't canon either. Especially when you take the fandom response to Olivia's forced kiss on Liam into account.

And that brings me to another point. I had been asked once why I felt the need to compare Kiara to the other ladies in my defenses of her. It's important, when we speak of the kind of hate Kiara received, to understand how a lot of flaws that the entire court has (eg classism) is often pinned onto a lone person, and how several white female characters could get away with worse behaviour while Kiara alone was slammed for harmless interactions.

This is most apparent when you look at how Olivia's violation of Liam's consent is perceived, vs Kiara's harmless flirtation with Drake in TRR2. Which woman had fans foaming at the mouth and wanting to kill her? Which woman was given dozens and dozens of fanfic and content that depicted her as creepy, desperate, downright obsessed with their man? Which woman got the "oh well, he doesn't owe her anything 🤷🏽‍♀️" vs a "he doesn't love her back?? WHAT AN INSENSITIVE ASSHOLE!!1111"?

Perhaps this Olivia/Kiara comparison is where the fandom's tendency to cast Kiara into the Jezebel stereotype is the most visible. Kiara's very act of talking to Drake sometimes is registered as a threat to those stans, and it reflects in the way they speak of her, the way they speak of their MC's own relationship with Drake in association with her (eg. the number of posts rejoicing at the thought of showing off their "engaged to Drake" status at Kiara's estate), the way they're allowed to dehumanize her and villify her (eg. The edit I mentioned at the beginning). This is often encouraged by their friends who are fans of other characters, and you can see that in sharp contrast, Olivia - despite her actions in Book 1 and her resentment of Liam for not loving her back in other books - is still often viewed with sympathy and respect. Her feelings - still viewed as genuine, even pure. To the point where PB eventually allows Olivia to constantly address her feelings about the MC's and Liam's relationship, while forcing Kiara to not even utter Drake's name in his playthrough.

But you see this with other characters, and in other contexts too. Particularly how Madeleine can be duplicitous, hypocritical, and power-hungry, and it's Kiara who is called these things despite her actual honesty in canon. Madeleine can get away with actually helping Bartie Sr kidnap the MC's daughter in TRH3 without a murmur, in the same fandom where people can curse Kiara for voting for Bartie Sr "to take the child away" (despite her telling the MC and spouse that she was promised they would have custody of the child, therefore the claim that she "voted to take the child away from their parent" is inaccurate).

You saw some of these discrepancies in how Penelope and Kiara were spoken about too - Penelope's crime in TRR2 was considered easily forgiveable, while Kiara's innocence is constantly called into question. Kiara was often viewed negatively for what the fandom perceived as "meanness" to Penelope (when it was in fact Kiara worrying about how Penelope would fare when she wasn't around) while Penelope herself was never expected to be a good friend to Kiara. An interesting thing to note about the fandom response to Penelope and Kiara showed that often when posters wanted to hate on Penelope, she and Kiara would be clubbed together, almost as a unit. This was especially prevalent in TRH3. It was easy to express hatred for Kiara independently, but most posts that showed a dislike for Penelope (besides from specific Kiara stans) would often tie her with Kiara, as if there wasn't much to hate about her otherwise.

It is important to line up whatever hate Kiara gets with the responses to the other women - especially in the face of what the latter are allowed to get away with. In doing so, you get a better sense of what is allowed for a certain subset of women, and what isn't allowed or permitted for black women specifically.

Often, the fans who would not hesitate to call her alone fake, opportunistic and creepy were WOC, and there have been cases where some would use their identity as WOC to shield themselves from the criticism concerning their vitriol. It would often descend into "I don't hate her because she is black, I hate her because {insert inaccurate/false/convoluted justification here}". It didn't matter that much of this information wasn't based in fact, or had a heavy bias that they never applied to anyone else. It only mattered that because they were WOC, somehow that meant that they couldn't possibly be racist. That their unfounded hatred for Kiara had to be legitimate. As if there was no chance that someone who was WOC couldn't be antiblack too. I mean, the ultimate proof of this could be found in TRR itself - the two head writers of the TRR/H/F series' are Asian women - who have a pattern of liking mean (white) women, and who didn't mind throwing the black woman and her black family in their story repeatedly under the bus, who didn't mind minimizing and retconning the abuse and childhood trauma that the darker-skinned Asian woman in their story went through.

Overall, it is possible that the fandom did take some of their cues (for their impression of Kiara) from the inherent disdain found in canon itself. But many of them also misinterpreted several things about Kiara, then didn't bother to revisit those biases with a critical eye, or even try to see if they were wrong. And that baseless hatred fed the already-existing disdain that Kiara's own writers had towards her. Resulting in the kind of horrific, racist garbage that we got to see in TRR3, and the constant attempts in canon to pull her down in TRH.

Did Drake and Kiara Ever Have A Chance?

There have been various opinions - from both Kiara fans and haters - for why a Driara ship would never work. He hates nobles, she won't like his disdain for art and culture, he likes the simpler life, she's a snob...so on and so forth. Many people will agree it's not a great ship, but of course with differing opinions on why.

I, however, often wondered at possible scenarios where such a pairing could work. The magic of shipping is often that you can play around with personalities and pair almost anyone, and find enough reasons to explain why they would tick. And in Drake and Kiara's case, personally, I do feel like it's a complicated question to answer - primarily because I feel like the authorial intent at the beginning may have been very, very different to what finally happened in Drake's story.

A lot of Drake's early writing focused on the reasons behind his mistrust of the court and his tendency to view the people he loves who are part of it (eg. Liam and later the group) as anomalies. There are two ways you could take such a story in TRR2 - you could either get him to admit to the flaws in his own thinking (thereby providing a more nuanced insight) and allow him to grow from there, or you could just have him double down on his biases and never change beyond the superficial. The team of TRR - esp the head writers, Kara and Jen who were both v fond of him - definitely seemed to go in the latter direction.

Drake's prediction in Coney Island does indicate that he should let go of the past, and I honestly feel like the sequences where he learned about Maxwell straining House Beaumont's finances to help her, and Kiara and Savannah's friendship, could have been turning points for him if the writers weren't so obsessed with proving him right all the time - even when he was supposed to be wrong. Maxwell and Kiara, in their own ways, were proof that not every noble was the same, nor would every noble treat the commoners around them all the same way. However, the narrative trampled all over this possibility in TRR2 Ch 9, where Drake could optionally claim that the Beaumont brothers (among others) were "just looking out for themselves, no matter the consequences", or later when the narrative had Savannah be grateful to him for breaking her confidence to Bertrand, and have Maxwell try to earn his forgiveness in Ch 12 rather than the other way around. It allowed Drake to be selective about the nobles he admired or defended, while still free to treat certain others like garbage.

I could easily envision a Driara pairing for most of TRR2. I could even see it as potentially salvageable in certain parts of TRR3. But the moment they had Drake readily suspect her, the moment the team thought it would be okay for Drake to even suggest minimizing her trauma...that option was no longer worth seeing. Not for Drake, but for Kiara. Drake would have to be the worst possible guy I could find for her, in such a scenario.

But I could see potential in a storyline that had Drake understand that some of these people weren't the monsters he so desperately wanted them to be. In one where he could hear about Kiara's friendship with his sister, and learn about a whole new side of her. One where he maybe felt insecure ("I'm not her type") and could be reassured by a woman who had likely held a torch for him since they were teens/young adults. One where they could reach out to each other in their pain and trauma, and find solace. One where Drake knew that the family he may be marrying into would respect him, and his father too. There were possibilities there.

It would still take more work - his mean streak for one would need to be reduced by more than a half. A lot of it, of course, was kept for the Drake stans, but it really doesn't add much to Drake's character besides making him a mean-spirited, hypocritical bitch who only targets the lone black woman this way (and Olivia occasionally, if she goads him). If the narrative did want to keep a characterization where Drake acts weird around the girl he likes, they could - but that story would need a lot more work to be palatable.

All of this is to say that regardless of personal bias, there were possibilities there. There was a sliver of potential. And if they wanted to let go of that potential midway, they didn't have to go about that the way they finally did. They could have just worked on creating another love interest for her. They managed to create a brother for her overnight just so Penelope could have a boyfriend; they could have easily done the same for Kiara.

Multiple factors went down that explain why the Driara ship didn't take off. But many of them boil down to one specific root cause - the white women (whether they caused actual harm or not) needed to be protected, needed to be cherished. The black woman who dared to ask for the same things from their pet LI, would be viewed as a threat, a villain, a creep...just for breathing in his direction.

And her writers cared so little, that they took the fanon perception for her and stamped it onto their canon, like it was the truth.

They didn't do any of this for the woman who forced a kiss on a prominent LI. They didn't do this on the woman who betrayed the MC and set her up for assault. They didn't do this to the woman who bullied the lone female LI, and swore to continue doing so till she broke.

They did this for the one woman who was fairly innocent of most of these crimes, actually respected the LI and treated him well.

They did this because they could get away with it. Because they were confident that the fandom they wrote the story for, would let them get away with it. And tragically...they were right.

--

Resources I used to learn about the Jezebel stereotype:

The "Offending" Breast of Janet Jackson: Public Discourse Surrounding the Jackson/Timberlake Performance at Super Bowl XXXVIII by Dr Shannon Holland

Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, the Jezebel and white masculinity by Khadija Mbowe (I actually got the recommendation for the first paper from this video essay).

From Mammy to Jezebel: The Portrayal of Black Women in American Cinema from the BlackThen website

[bumblesimagines]

A not so brief summary on my thoughts on House of The Dragon S2:

This finale makes me want to go outside and reconnect with nature 'cause why the hell did they make us wait so long just for a bunch of filler episodes and what was basically a trailer for season 3?

Spoilers for the show AND book which includes the deaths of characters and the arcs they had in the book.

Right off the bat, I'm just going to say that this post, this post, and this post sum up some of my thoughts. It truly feels like Ryan Condal (as well as others in production) had someone else give him a rundown of what happened in the book and just went off on that alone. I admit, I like some changes made from the book specifically with Alicent being Rhaenyra's childhood friend but at some point it just diverged from an adaptation to a fanfiction.

I know people whine and complain that it's 'nOt GoNnA bE eXaCtLy LiKe ThE bOoK' but if that's the case, stop calling it an adaptation and start saying it's based off the book. Of course, people are going to be annoyed when changes are made when they step in with the expectation/hope it'll be like the first few seasons of GoT.

Season 1 was good but rushed and had far too many timeskips that skipped needed character development. We never got to see Rhaenyra shift away from 'I don't want children' to learning of her first pregnancy. We never got to see Alicent fully turn away from Rhaenyra and stew in her resentment over being stuck in a marriage she never wanted while watching Rhaenyra be free enough to have multiple sons with a man who wasn't her husband. Laena, Laenor, and Harwin had little impact because we saw so little of them. We never got to see if Rhaenyra loved Harwin or if she saw him as a fwb.

It was rushed but the characters felt alright.

And then in comes season 2 and we can see that they were too afraid of being called out to write proper female characters. I've said this before when answering an ask but HOTD only has two types of women: rebellious, headstrong, stubborn, warrior girls and sensitive, withdrawn, submissive, rule followers. This is Arya vs Sansa all over again. Women can be multiple things at once. Not every Team Black girl has to be a fighter, not every Team Green girl has to be quiet and faithful.

Why wasn't Rhaenyra angry about Luke's death? She left S1 looking enraged and started S2 off strong in her grief but then Luke was never mentioned by name ever again. I understand burying down the grief and anger to rule but we should've seen her continue to break down in private throughout the season. Her SON was MURDERED and you're telling me she's not going to continue grieving him when she didn't even do anything for half the season? All she did was run off leaving Jace and the Council scrambling to stay together or get consistently spoken over again and again and again. And now suddenly Ryan wants her to be this calculated meticulous cult leader? Rhaenyra's downfall is descending into paranoia and letting her emotions and worries get the best of her (WHICH NETTLES WAS A BIG PART OF). She loses and flees King's Landing because of it.

Why was Alicent's plot mostly revolving around Cole? Why did they choose to have her sleeping with him while B&C happened? In the book, Alicent is essentially taken hostage because B&C knew Helaena took her children to visit their grandmother and say goodnight. She watches her daughter be forced to choose between her two sons only for the son she chose to save be killed. Instead of feeling grief for her grandson's death, she feels guilty for... having slept with Cole. No real thoughts or feelings over her GRANDCHILD being MURDERED. Look, I love the Rhaenyra x Alicent ship but it was doomed from the start. Instead of trying to make it seem like there's a chance, complicate it more! The complexities is what makes the ship good! But no, let's have Alicent, mother of the king and a big part of what started the war, mope around and fuck this dude. Hello?? Are they also setting her up to poison Aegon at the end when she spent half of season 1 saying she needed to protect her children from Rhaenyra???

Why did Helaena mourn her son for an episode and then move on? Are ya'll seeing this pattern or am I crazy? Helaena is supposed to descend into madness over her grief and guilt. She can't look her remaining son in the face because she'd chosen him to die. She's so consumed by this that she ends up impaling herself in spikes after throwing herself from a window. Are they setting her up to be murdered? To do it just because? And what do you mean 'Helaena doesn't ride. She has no taste for it'? Helaena LOVED to ride. Her love for her dragon is the reason Dreamfyre breaks free from her chains in the Dragonpit when she senses Helaena has died. But of course, Helaena is a Team Green girl and only warrior girls ride dragons, right Ryan? And she's Team Green so obviously unlike in the books, the smallfolk despise her as much as the others? They took the devastating choice of B&C and gave it to Alicent in the last episode which makes the death of Helaena's son's absolutely meaningless and unneeded as well as her own death. And also? all of a sudden Helaena can now understand her prophecies and speak them clearly? So why didn't she tell anyone of B&C? Surely a mother would try to break away from fate to save her children?

Aemond, Aegon, Cole, and even Daemon were given more complexities and plotlines than the main women, Alicent and Rhaenyra, were lmao. While the faces of the war were cast aside to be one stereotype or the other, we got to see the men be messy and chaotic and full of emotions. Aegon got to be angry and defensive over his son's death but not Rhaenyra. Cole got to be conflicted over his doings but Alicent was just meh about it. Daemon had so much unnecessary hallucinations lmao. Was it even character development if after every hallucination he still beat his chest and called himself king? He learned nothing but suddenly he sees a horribly CGI put together vision of GoT and he's fine putting away what he's been saying all season long? Come on now.

Jace, Baela, and Rhaena were massively underused. In the posts I linked, it explains my issue with Rhaena taking over Nettles. It's stupid and unneeded. We get to sympathize with Hugh and watch Daemon bang his mom but there's no need for the ONLY WOC IN THE BOOK to be seen? Not even his clear bias for Team Black will allow him to bring in Nettles and let Rhaena be one of the few Team Black girls who isn't a fighter and a Strong Female Lead? Okay.

Jace and Baela were. there. I guess. We could've cut back a lot more of Daemon to show Jace in the North winning over Cregan or even having him return mid-season. He did nothing but serve face and have a few lines of being annoyed. And, it was his idea for the dragonseeds, both highborn and lowborn. And Baela was just there to be his voice of reason. The rational girlfriend who pulls her boyfriend out of his head. She had one good scene where she wasn't just Daemon's daughter or Jace's love interest (they never even did or say anything remotely romantic. They feel like friends over two people in love) and then she just. existed to be there for Jace.

The dragons were great and I loved their designs. I loved that their dancing is based on the birds of prey death drop(?) and I clocked it instantly when I watched Rook's Nest. However, I really hope Aegon belives Sunfyre is dead because of a weakened bond and not that he's actually dead considering Sunfyre burns and eats Rhaenyra alive?? That's his whole thing??

I did not care for Tyland and the pirate chick. We had a full fledged BATTLE be offscreen but we had to see Tyland get tossed around in mud? Okay. Sure. Uh huh.

Like... what was this? It was like hours long filler episode. 'It's setting up for season three!! that's why it sucked!!' but we still had needed action and characters that were brushed over? We could've had the battle between the Blackwoods and the other idiots, we could've had Nettles taming Sheepstealer, we could've had the women feel like real people instead of being one dimensional characters, we COULD'VE HAD RHAENYS HAVE EMOTIONAL SCENES WITH HER BELOVED GRANDDAUGHTER(S) BEFORE FLYING OFF TO BATTLE.

Anyways, honestly, 4 or 5 out of 10 for this season. I was bored for most of it and it was massively underwhelming. I expected this season to end with the Gullet and Jace's death being the straw that finally broke the camals back in Rhaenyra which would've had her take King's Landing in a fit of rage and grief. I also expected Daeron to at least have some sort of appearance? He gets mentioned twice and we see Tessarion briefly but no sign of the missing TargTower son and no Maelor? Okay. Sure. Let's just call this House of The Dragon: The Poorly Written Fix It Fic Brought To Life Instead Of Being Left On AO3. No wonder GRRM isn't going to be involved anymore.

This doesn't read like an adaptation brought to life by a passionate fan. It reads like an adaptation created purely to reach Game of Thrones level of fame and popularity. GoT earned it's popularity in the first few seasons. HOTD is merely piggybacking off it's success and failing at being anything other than a boring high budget show that happens to have dragons.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Let's keep twlkimg aboit the House of Black cause I'm obsessed with them too! Mgl it makes me kinda sad that there are almost mone left after the 2nd war, I think born Black there's only Narcissa and Andromeda left, and because they're women they don't get to keep the name. Idr now if this is canon or Ive reas too many fics, is Harry the new owner of Grimmauld Place now? I think Sirius left it to him am I right? Does that mean he's also the head od the house now? Is he head of both the Blacks and the Potters now?

Have a nice day!

Anonymous asked: About the post on Black family (which I truly loved😍) I've few questions: 1. when Sirius died did Harry inherit every penny that was in the black vault and every manor they had? Or just what Sirius' uncle has left to him? 2. Do you think Harry when he gets older sits in the wizengamot and has a title?

Hi, thank you both so much! 💓

I'm answering the asks together as they're kinda similar.

So, I mentioned in the Wizengamot post that I think the Potters also have a Wizengamot position since at least two Potters have been mentioned to sit on the council. So, Harry should have that position from the Potters anyway. Well, he gets the seat, he doesn't have to use it as it seems you can opt-out from what little is written about the Potter family on Pottermore:

Occasionally, a Potter made it all the way to London, and a member of the family has twice sat on the Wizengamot...

(From Pottermore)

It seems the Potters opted out more often than not. I guess the Blacks, who had a house in London for the parliament season (the social season for the aristocrats in London in the past was for the season the Parliament — in our case, the Wizengamot — was in session) probably involved themselves in the Wizengamot more.

As for what Sirius inherited from his family, well, I'll say all of it. He wasn't officially disowned, it seems, since after he dies, Harry gets Grimmauld Place and Kreature, both not left to Sirius by his uncle:

“Yes,” said Dumbledore. He did not ask Harry why he had not confided in the Dursleys. “Our problem,” he continued to Harry, as if there had been no interruption, “is that Sirius also left you number twelve, Grimmauld Place.”

(HBP, 49)

The house and Kreature weren't Alphard's to give, therefore Sirius was likely never disowned and as the last remaining Black by name (very sad), received all of it. I always headcanoned it as his mother burning him off the family tapestry as she did Alphard without officially disowning him since she didn't have the authority to do so. Also, I think Walburga never really stopped loving Sirius in her own way, even after he ran away. Like, I think she burned him and Alphard off the tapestry in a moment of anger and made it permanent magically, but she tried to return Sirius a few times. Like, I truly think she didn't really mean to disown him when she did that. I think Walburga's and Sirius' relationship was a very complicated one and as much as they both claim to hate each other, they don't.

As for whether Harry is the head of both Potters and Blacks and gets two Wizengamot seats... I'll guess no. Like, he got all the money and houses and while we don't know much about Wizengamot law if it indeed has seats for certain families, I think there would be some rule in place that won't allow a single member more than one seat. There isn't really evidence for it, just my personal headcanon. So, in my head, Harry gets the Potter seat and the Black family gets replaced with a new family, which probably happened to other families in the past. I mean, if Hufflepuff had a seat, I assume in the books the Smith family got that seat through marriage at some point in the past. Same with Slytherin and the Gaunts, where the seat passed through the female line. Then when the Gaunts fell from grace they were voted out and replaced by another family (at least in my headcanon). So, in the case of the Black family seat, the Malfoys (the books mention Lucius isn't on the Wizengamot) might get it through Narcissa or a completely new family would get voted in (like what I headcanon happened with the Gaunts). Like, I have a lot of headcanons about how the Wizengamot works, but not much evidence, unfortunately.

[tododeku-or-bust]

I noticed your "fill my inbox" post so i wanted to tell you about my OCs that i've been working on lately, it might come across weird or maybe much and I'm probably going to seriously expose myself out of anonymity with the details but i hope you'll like to hear it anyways -- I saw a post that suggested more representation for fat emo girls (i misremembered it as "i want to see more fat emo girls") and I became really inspired so i made a sketch of a fat black emo girl. Her being black was just another case of my brain going "*hand raise* Do they have to be white/Would it hurt if they were black?" and the response is often "no" even "that would be more interesting" so I switch it up, and after searching through names, the name Ada stuck. I wanted to give her a distinctly black name because I felt like that isn't done enough and that it wasn't fair, but anyways. I had a character that I made previously, named Nia the Swift, made because I had a lesbian JoJo OC named Vivian (lost sister of Dio) and she totally kicked ass and tugged at my heart strings but I realized that she was the only confirmed lesbian OC I had, so I thought "I need to make another one" so I made him and I made him black and masc and I couldn't resist making him a fancy-dancy cunning vampire. Anyhow, I was thinking about Ada a lot because I got interested in emo subculture so whenever I would think about emo stuff, I'd think about her too. She's a gloomy character, but I didn't like seeing her sad/out of it all the time. A silly idea came up in my head of her getting her hand kissed by Nia and thinking "am i goth?" (subtext: because i think i'm falling in love with a vampire) and I thought it was great. When I made Nia, I didn't really think up any Scenarios for him for a little too long and I felt like he needed to be part of a duo, but I couldn't come up with any solid ideas yet, so I felt like Ada would make an excellent match. I'm swamped with a lot of big stressful things this month but I'm hoping to squeeze in drawing him being very very sweet and gentlemanly to her and her making cute meme emoji faces about it, and maybe some other things involving them. I've been learning a lot about hair lately for it (which is good bc my career seems like it could loom unexpectedly into the "hair" area) and it was nice listening to a tutorial on how to get good box braids while i was on an errand walk. I thought previously that box braids had more than 3 strands, maybe 4 hence the name "box" braids (no, also on closer inspection, no). Sorry for sending you so many big paragraphs and run-on sentences, but I hope maybe you can have my two vaguely described women living in your head rent free now

Yeah lol, I do recognize who you are now 🤣

Well, I'm glad you took the time to stop yourself and decide that she didn't have to be white! That is definitely the first step that very many people don't take!

As for "that would be more interesting", I encourage you to take those next steps and determine why. Why would it be more interesting? Them being Black shouldn't be the interesting part- that would make them sound like they're a token!

Have you done research in Black emo culture? Have you done research into fatness while being Black? Are those things that affect your character's life? Her decisions and her personality? Does it play into how people treat her? That's where we get into the intent! Because I'm not Black and emo, but I can tell you right now her being "gloomy" would definitely affect the way people treat her as a Black woman in reality. I do appreciate that you let her have other emotions though!

I do have an Auntie Ada (rip), and Nia is also a Black African name (it means 'purpose'). Did you know that when you named him?

And no lmao that is not why they're called box braids. I am very glad you took the time to look that up before saying it out loud, because that would have been quite embarrassing in front of the right (Black) people 🤣

Thank you for sharing your Black OCs with me, and I hope you continue to care for them!

[siriuslysatorusimping]

Another Level Masterlist

I'll do my best to keep this as up-to-date as possible!! 😊

Status: Complete

“You’re a Zenin.”

More like an unwanted mistake. Which, funny enough, had actually been the first words she ever heard her father say to her.

-

Kurisaki Rinko was born an unwanted bastard child to the Zenin clan, having since grown into an unwanted bastard adult. Her stubborn refusal to be discarded resulted in a display of strength that many would call (they had, many times to her face, in fact) an unhinged lack of self-preservation. But lucky for her, that unhinged display caught the attention of a particular blue-eyed menace who happens to be more fun to rile up than anyone she’s ever met.

Read Another Level on AO3

More links below the cut 💕

Installments

Author Discussions

Rinko Kurisaki Profile

Another Level Playlist

Song Commentaries

Kiko's Miso Butter Cookie Recipes

Fun Extras

What is Rinko in Gojo’s phone?

Phone contact update: Yuuta in Rinko’s phone

What would Yuzuki have thought of Gojo?

Rinko and Toge's Route in Shibuya (Map)

Yuuta asking Gojo if he's marrying Rinko

Kurisaki Rinko: What is Gojo Satoru to You?

If Rinko were in the Specialz OP

The big header change

Rinko's Engagement Ring

Another header change 👀

Kiko made the Caramel Miso Butter Cookies

What is Kurisaki Rinko to you?

Extras and Blurbs

I Like the Shirt (Rinko is a horny girl for Gojo. The Sukuna fight wasn't the first time she saw him in a tight black t-shirt)

Menace (Gojo's POV of the 2006 Goodwill Event)

Ruined Evening (Rinko called Gojo while he was in a compromising situation)

I’ll Take Care of Her (Gojo visited Yuzuki’a grave once without Rinko)

Memorable Firsts (Gojo and Rinko go on a Ferris wheel)

Random Question (set the day after Let’s Get Lost)

Overboard (Valentine's Day blurb)

(Not) Family (Megumi lashes out after Tsumiki falls into a coma)

Tumblr Exclusives

Above Or Below? (Jinichi gets his shit rocked)

*old version* I Want Forever (kiko posted in anger after 236 dropped, part of the happy ending)

Okaeri (scrapped post-Prison Realm reunion scene)

Shattered Existence Deleted Scene

Five Years Later (Halloween 2023)

Let's Chat (Meeting Toji)

Installment Previews

Q&As

What's Rinko's Style?

What's Rinko's body type?

Rinko as an OC, Trauma, Rinko/Gojo dynamic

What did Megumi think of Rinko and Gojo's relationship early on?

Does Rinko ever call Gojo pet names?

Did Gojo ever sleep with other sorcerers?

When did Gojo stop sleeping with other women?

What did Megumi think of Rinko and Gojo's relationship right before Shibuya?

Would Rinko ever 'punish' Gojo?

What does Gojo feel when he wakes up next to Rinko?

How was Rinko okay with FWB for so long?

sweet messages for Kiko's rainy days

[bohemian-nights]

i’m so excited for part two, i’m skipping all the way to end to see masali like idc about anything else! and i have no doubt in my mind that she’s sophie, you can tell her and luke are a perfect chemistry match without even seeing them together like i need this fandom to be fr…. also i expect her role announcement and a season 4 benedict season announcement by 9AM EST from netflix!

Quite frankly it’s because of how disgustingly anti-Black these “leakers” have been that is keeping me from believing them. The ring leaders behind this have either outright said they don’t want Sophie to be Black or have weaponized homophobia and in some cases racism(which is ironic given these people are racist pieces of shit) to silence Black women when we call them out for them ignoring the obvious signs that they have cast a Black woman in the role of Sophie Beckett(and that woman is likely Masali) and how problematic it would be to cast a dark skinned Black woman in a masculine role.

And yes, I do have screenshots in case anybody thinks I’m fucking exaggerating:

Lets start with anyyyyb. She’s deleted her account, but this is the one with the Irish journalist “source”(lie because no journalist had access to those episodes on May 16th when she posted her “spoilers”). Despite that though she claimed that Michaela was John’s sister(lie cause John is a confirmed only child) and that she didn’t know who Masali is. Which was another lie because she wrote this under my mutals post almost a month before part 1 even aired:

I’m pretty sure that she was Cass the morons “source” because anyyyyb was the first of the new “leakers” who mentioned the sister thing and Cass self-admitted to not knowing if her source is credible or not:

This same woman dared to get pissy when she was called out for blatantly lying(sister thing) and spreading shit that hasn’t and will never be confirmed which caused Masali to be unnecessarily attacked:

Cass has independently been trying to push the Michaela “theory”(which is a name made up by the fandom) for a while now because her dumb ass thinks all Black people look alike:

Mind you the woman in the carriage is a crew member(Shanika Ocean) who doesn’t even have the same skin tone as Masali(she’s lighter), Masali also has never been seen on set, but Cass the moron thinks they are the same woman because they are both Black.

And if that’s not enough for you she also wrote this when people were calling her ignorant behind out to try and save face:

The other Tumblr account that claims to have a Netflix employee camped in their inbox willing to feed them info and risk losing their job in today’s economy to do so, is a racist and a colorist who has been against Sophie Beckett being Black since September at the least. She tried to play it cool, but the day part 1 came out she started spazzing the fuck out when people didn’t automatically believe her lies I mean leaks, and said this:

She like anyyyyb has been pushing for an Asian woman to play Sophie which is okay, but when you start saying there are “too many Black people” on a show produced by a Black woman, that she needs to stop casting Black people, and that is why Sophie “can’t be Black” you have lost your fucking mind.

Bitch doesn't think its okay for a Black woman to play Cinderella who gets her prince in the end, but she's a okay with a Black woman playing a role meant for a man where shell have to chase after a while woman and will not be afforded the fairytale happy ending every other woman. Sure Jan, you definitely care about Black women 👍🏽

Again, if that wasn't enough, she’s a fucking colorist because in her racist mind, Indians aren't Asian 🤷🏽‍♀️

Her ass has also tried to use a variation of all Black people look alike just like Cass the fucking Moron to connect Masali to Victor Ali ever since she learned who Masali was back in December/January.

(If she hasn’t deleted it yet like the goofy ass remedial bitch she is it should still be up on her little hate blog).

I could say way more about this one and leak her twitter and her other tumblr(which I know she’ll try to crawl back to once she’s fucking called out for what she is), and there are also the twitter people who I’m sure are feeding “intel” to Cass and both tumblr accounts meanwhile their alleged “source” hasn’t seen all the episodes, but I’ll it there for now.

All I’ll say is that these “rumors” are being fueled by butthurt anti-Black racists who have never wanted Masali to be Sophie and the fandom is so gung-ho about believing these cave dwellers because they too are racist pieces of shit.

Why they are watching a Shonda Rhimes production and begging her to stop casting Black people, her own people, in lead roles I will never know….

Because I’m not a fucking butterface racist ass bitch who has nothing better to do with my life than to try and tear another race down and dictate what they do just to feel better about my pathetic existence.

The fact of the matter is no one has posted shit other than anonymous messages or claiming they know someone or they know someone who knows someone. The fact that these people can’t post a still or audio recording yet they all supposedly have evidence and have seen shit…

[captainjacklyn]

Idia Shroud Series PART 1 :

A/N : reader for this series is female (I originally wanted it to be gender neutral but I don't like to imagine men giving birth so- I'm really sorry), this is an apology series due to my tardiness with the dragon!yuu fic. I hope you enjoy this first part because more is to come soon.

[Name] [L/N] is a victim of a severe case of overblot, this unfortunate event had been inflicted onto her when she was still very young. After the worst had stopped, she was sent to S.T.Y.X to recover. However, the blot created by an unknown source of magic had accumulated itself into her vital organs including, her heart. This created a black tumor in the center of her chest, vein-like black stripes on her arms and legs. The white sclera of her [E/C] eyes became as dark as night, giving them a monstrous gaze despite her gentle nature.

After countless surgeries and operations, the S.T.Y.X foundation’s best scientists were able to put her blot in a stable state.

Ever since that day, she has never once left the Island of Woe. Being considered far too dangerous/unstable for a ‘normal’ life in society. Or at least it was what she was told. Her so called parents never even bothered to visit their child, they were far too 'busy' to visit a monster.

If her life could be laid out on a schedule, then all there could be is examinations and surgeries to improve her health, she was also provided with education here and there but...that was it. The tumor of blot found in the center of her chest were to be removed, [name] would die. The use of magic for her was fatal as it would burn her life even quicker than it was already fading...

“The results have gotten a lot clearer since the last test run ! We’ll finally be able to stabilize her condition for president Shroud.” One of the staff members spoke through the glass room you were sitting in, everything was blindingly white, quiet and cold. The only noise that could be heard were the beeping of your heart monitor, the sound of your slow breathing and the muffled speech of the doctors.

Eyes closed, you patiently listened to every piece of information you could hear. They never realized, but you could hear everything they were saying. Most of their jobs were to keep you calm and away from a possible dysfunction which included the many causes of overblotting : great emotional stress, like despair, fear and doubt.

Following your arrival in this, in a way ‘hospital’, the cases of dysfunction were small but never zero as you were one to cause most of these calamitous incidents. One trigger…And the lab you had your stay in would be destroyed in an instant. 

81 examinations, 67 surgeries and 9 years have passed since your arrival. Regardless of your condition, this ‘shroud’ has been one of the many names you’ve heard but the one that was used rather frequently.

‘For president Shroud ?’, ‘tell president shroud’, ‘the shroud family’, on and on this name was repeatedly said by the staff. Though it strangely never made you sick nor did it bother you, instead, you were curious.

Who was this person ? Or who were they ?

You slowly opened your eyes, once a random staff member immediately noticed and alerted the rest of them. “[L/N] has woken up ! everyone at your post at once, her mood must not be disturbed.”

Mmh…It wasn't like you were able to destroy the place this time anyway..they learn quickly when it comes to catastrophes... 

“It has been 4 years since her last malfunction, sir. I doubt her behavior is any different than before.” A lady’s voice resonated to your right side.

“We can never be too careful…she's practically inhuman at this point, the fact that her choice of action has always been unpredictable, it makes the situation twice as dangerous…” Another man responded to the women's statement almost instantly. 

"Although I ignore why his parents chose her of all people, but despite all of our doubts we must stabilizes [L/N] as soon as possible."

“Afterall, they are to become the bride of our future commander. Idia shroud.”

Part 2 can be found here and part 3 on its way.

[horizon-verizon]

At the end of the day, Rhaenyra went down in history as a traitor and dismissed as nothing more than a usurper and a pretender. Even her own sons didn’t move a finger to give her a place as ruler of the Seven Kingdoms in history. In The World of Ice and Fire, Yandel doesn’t give Rhaenyra a chapter for her short-lived reign while he does give one to the similarly short-reigning Aegon II. In The Princess And The Queen, Maester Gyldayn exalts the Blacks and her children’s qualities (even the Velaryons) while still disliking her. And no other Targaryen that we know of has been called ‘Rhaenyra’ because the infamy she gained has tainted the name for future generations. Planning lavish feasts for herself and her son while King’s Landing suffered under her crippling taxes. A cartoonish villain with staggering, jaw-dropping incompetence and stupidity.

Pfft.

You: "At the end of the day, Rhaenyra went down in history as a traitor and dismissed as nothing more than a usurper and a pretender."

LINK AS ANSWER (merely one of many posts I wrote regarding biased maesters, unreliable narrators defined by misogyny and ambition; how Viserys failed her; men and women who wanted to seize power for themselves and used Rhaenyra's social disadvantages being a woman in a patriarchal world; etc.....each post is linked to another, earlier post regarding this topic)

You: "Even her own sons didn’t move a finger to give her a place as ruler of the Seven Kingdoms in history"

LINK AS ANSWER

You: "In The World of Ice and Fire, Yandel doesn’t give Rhaenyra a chapter for her short-lived reign while he does give one to the similarly short-reigning Aegon II. In The Princess And The Queen, Maester Gyldayn exalts the Blacks and her children’s qualities (even the Velaryons) while still disliking her."

Other than me already giving the links to other posts above to my answers to these thoughts (bc you're just that unoriginal)...

that was decided by a group of mostly men who do not and never would have cared to inspect a woman's trials and tribulations, esp after seeing how they "reasoned" out Baela being Aegon III's heir by basically saying she is too disobedient and nonconforming of sexually-and-psychologically constraining gender norms used against women so men like these can more easily control them ("The Hooded Hand"):

and clearly:

All the reasons they listed out had more to do with how much of a hand they themselves could have in how the dynasty would look for their own interests rather than anything that reflects on Baela's character...which was actually very solutions and clever as well as brave and self-determined without being oppressive towards the little guy. Stuff very good in a ruler. Baela had all the makings of a good ruler...but she is passed over for superficial and sexist reasons hinting they wanted her to act "like a good girl". So that means that Rhaenyra was not hated or excluded from some lists of Westerosi rulers for her personality, not competency or performance as a ruler. She's excluded bc the maesters and lords and septons all agreed that they must maintain the primacy of male primogeniture.

Now Rhaenyra towards the end became a tyrant, but she wasn't always that way as I already said in many posts. Yes, she was already likely elitist but 1) this doesn't mark her as different from most everyone (nobles) around her, so why do people single her out esp when Alicent, Aemond, and Aegon all performed heinous deeds themselves unprovoked? 2) She became the worst version of herself after losing several things AND trying to "get her lick back" in trying for her throne.

In lieu of all these, it is very clear that the main problem Rhaenyra had & why she found so much trouble and tragedy just trying to become queen was bc people took advantage of the fact that she, as a woman, was not given the grace nor confidence of leadership as men get. Men like Maegor I, Jaehaerys I, Aegon the son of Aenys, Aenys I, Aegon IV, etc.

You: "And no other Targaryen that we know of has been called ‘Rhaenyra’ because the infamy she gained has tainted the name for future generations."

Basically already answered this.

You: "Planning lavish feasts for herself and her son while King’s Landing suffered under her crippling taxes."

LINK AS ANSWER (Scroll down to where I requote "Rhaenyra instead planned a lavish induction")

Also, Aegon built two golden statues...in wartime...this also took money.

You: "A cartoonish villain with staggering, jaw-dropping incompetence and stupidity."

Well, that honor more goes to Aemond, who literally decides to kill both grown men and children in the open yard of their former castle to make a point about his own strength and later takes one of their bastard relatives as his war prize/sex slave despite him killing another of their (alleged and who he thinks bc Harwin is told to be the parent) relatives for being a bastard...Lucerys. Also for not going down to fight with Criston when Criston advised him to join Daeron & the Hightower host, joining strengths so they could then retake KL. Aemond openly refused, saying he saw that as the "coward's" way and that he didn't want to share the glory with either of his brothers. So he just stayed back at Harrenhal with Alys until he flamed down several riverland towns and villages hoping to draw any black out to meet him in a "glorious" battle. Also, the same guy who got tricked easily by Daemon into leaving KL and making the greens lose KL.

[irithnova]

In your opinion, what is female Mongolia like?

If I'm being quite honest? If I were to envision a female Mongolia, I wouldn't make her personality that much different from her male counterpart!

I think I'd give her the name Sarangerel - meaning moonlight (sorry, my goth side is showing but it's also a very pretty name).

The reason why I say this is because often... What I've noticed anyways, is that when people make female Mongolia ocs they tend to hypermasculinise her or use her as a means to insert pretty generic "step on me" girlboss rhetoric onto her. Of course, a female Mongolia would be a strong woman (especially given the history which I explain later in this post) however there is a difference between making her a strong woman and straight up hypermasculinising her. Of course this isn't always the case, I've seen good female Mongolia ocs! However I've seen it too many times considering how obscure Mongolia is as a character anyways, let alone female Mongolia ocs.

When people do this, they usually think they're doing something groundbreaking, but really - they're not. Mongol women and Northern Asian women in general are hypermasculinised along with their male counterparts, lol. It's kind of comparable to how black women are hypermasculinised and the "strong black woman" trope, this time the "strong Mongol woman" trope.

Time to talk about women in Mongol culture!

Mongol women and men back in the day shared a lot of the same chores! Women did bear a greater responsibility with tasks such as cooking, cleaning and child rearing, however it was vital that both men and women were skilled in all aspects of nomadic life. This is because if one parent died, the other parent would then have to fulfil the role of the deceased one. It would be utterly useless if one died and only knew how to do half the chores which are needed for survival on the steppe!

Further, Mongol women had more rights and say in certain things compared to their foreign counterparts. Mongol women were able to become shamans and participate in religious ceremonies, they were able to own and inherit property. They were even allowed to divorce! Their opinions were also valued in court - the wives of higher ranking Mongol men were allowed to give their say. Further, if their husbands were away, sick, or deceased, they could speak on behalf of them.

This is impressive: Mongol women were also responsibile for packing up and setting up camps, making sure all the family's belongings were put safely on a cart, and actually driving the carts - several of them, actually!

They truly were masters of their craft, and their impressive speed at which they could do this was a huge reason as to why Mongol warfare was so light on its feet.

Further, the consumption of alcohol was a vital element in Mongol celebration. Both women and men were free to drink as much as they wished during feasts, and there was no stigma attached to a woman getting drunk.

Accounts from William of Rubruck:

"And all the women sit their horses astraddle like men."

"It is the duty of the women to drive the carts, get the dwellings on and off them, milk the cows, make butter and gruit, and to dress and sew skins, which they do with a thread made of tendons"

"Then they all drink in turn, men and women alike, and at times compete with one another in quaffing in a thoroughly distasteful and greedy fashion" (he wasn't exactly the biggest fan of the Mongols).

Mongol women played in active role in invigorating the Mongol morale. The Secret History of the Mongols details how the wives of rulers would deliver impressive speeches to warriors in order to encourage them to fight diligently.

There are many famous Mongol women, who were known for their intelligence, shrewdness, and strength:

Queen Manduhai:

Manduhai was born into an aristocratic family, and she married Manduul Khan at 18 and had a daughter (not named). After Manduul Khan's death, she adopted Batmunkh, the last descendant of Genghis Khan, and named him Dayan Khan. When Dayan Khan came of age, she married him and became Empress. Despite her experience, Manduhai supported Dayan Khan and played a crucial role in reuniting the Mongol retainers. Remarkably, she fought in battles even while pregnant, enduring injuries and achieving victory. By establishing Dayan Khan as the rightful descendant of Genghis Khan and defeating the Oirats. Manduhai became a legendary figure.

Hoelun (Chinggis Khan's mother):

After her husband, Yesugei, the tribal leader, was poisoned by a rival, Hoelun fled with her son into the wilderness. At the time, Chinggis Khan, who was known as Temujin, was a young child, somewhere between the ages of nine and twelve. Unable to maintain the allegiance of his father's followers, they were abandoned. Nevertheless, despite their ostracised status, the family managed to survive by scavenging and relying on the resources of the land. Hoelun, portrayed as a resilient and determined woman, gathered her children and established a new life for themselves. Her son would later go on to establish one of the most magnificent empires in history. It's even said that Chinggis Khan was only scared of two things, dogs - and his mother's temper!

Khutulun:

Khutulun was known in Mongolia to be an impressive athlete and fighter. She was born in 1260, and was the daughter of Qaidu, and a great granddaughter to Chinggis Khan. During this time, a civil war was brewing amongst the Mongols. Khublai, who later became the emperor of the famous yuan dynasty, was enthusiastic about pushing the empire forward when it came to governing, politics and the likes. Qaidu on the other hand was not impressed by this, and favoured more traditional Mongol values. Qaidu had 14 sons - however it was his one daughter, Khutulun, whom he relied on the most when it came to military expertise.

Marco Polo has this to say about her:

“Sometimes she would quit her father’s side, and make a dash at the host of the enemy, and seize some man thereout, as deftly as a hawk pounces on a bird, and carry him to her father; and this she did many a time.”

Khutulun was a formidable wrestler - and was adamant about not marrying a man unless he could beat her at wrestling. For every match she'd won - she'd be given 100 horses by the loser. It is said she ended up with 10,000 horses.

Did she actually end up with 10,000 horses? It could be somewhat of an exaggeration, as back then 10,000 was a number that was given to mean "a lot", kind of like how we use the word "a million" today. Nevertheless - she was unbeaten.

Her influence is so great in Mongol culture even now. When you look at male Mongolian wrestling outfits - it leaves the chest exposed. This is in reference to Khutulun - to show that the wrestler is indeed, not a woman.

So in conclusion, I personally wouldn't make a female Mongolia's personality that much different to what I envision my male Mongolia's personality to be like, I certainly wouldn't make her more demure by virtue of her being a woman. Mongol society was quite fair to Mongol women anyways, and has been quite consistently egalitarian (I'm definitely not saying things were/are perfect or that it was a feminist paradise, of course). She'd definitely know her worth, and yes, she would be strong - just like her male counterpart.

I also wouldn't want to risk hypermasculinising her because well, as I said before, both Mongol men and women are hypermasculinised (Northern Asian people are in general) and reducing a female Mongolia to a cheap girlboss type doesn't do justice to that character or Mongol history and culture anyways.

[pumpumdemsugah]

Are there any black women YouTubers you watch at times? I used to love ForHarriet in college but I haven’t caught up with her in a while though I know black men were dog piling on her a lot. I don’t even recall her being particularly critical of them but it seems par for the course being a black woman online. I catch up with random videos once in a while—my guilty pleasure is codependent black lesbian couple channels living their best lives and being sexy about it can’t lie lol—but so many general black women channels will start of strong and then slip into manifestation/god/traditional living and like. Ew lmao

ForHarriet is the only Black woman on YouTube I actively go out my way to catch up on what she has to say because even if I don't exactly agree with her, she's thought about what she has to say is a very well read woman who wasn't educated by the university of twitter hottakes and Tumblr posts. It's always obvious when someone is cough*shanesphere*cough

Now and again I might watch a video by Joulzey ( however you spell it ) or nappyheadedjojoba but that's really it. There's this dark skin woman and her name starts with M, her videos are fine and seem well researched but I'm just not interested in what she has to say. I don't mean in a rude way lol

There isn't a Black woman on YouTube that posts about women's issues etc that I think makes anything that's really worth shit ( minus ForHarriet ) but I feel like that about everyone on YouTube.

[servenas-inner-fangirl]

Watching Black Sails 3x7

My watching is picking up pace again, maybe because I'm procrastinating other things with it... like doing my taxes.

Oh damn, did Max know exactly where to find her?? - Pls don't fight, pls don't fight...

Oh, okay, this is a planned meet-up. Also Anne on a horse is doing things to me. She looks so cool!

"Fuck what he needs." My thoughts exactly.

Well that went well. But also I'm confused - what was the night at the cave Anne was referring to? Because the last time we've seen them together, Jack had definitely not been arrested yet.

Also Max arguing for Jack's life (and, granted, probably her own ambitions for Nassau...) is maybe a bit ironic?

"it will tear her to pieces." I just want my lesbians to be happy, is that too much to ask?? Appearantly...

"Now you come back with nothing but him -" Well, I for once am happy he did!! But the ships would've been nice as well.

Vane seems as into Flint's military speeches as the rest of us.

"I don't know yet." Not what you want to hear from your most important ally in that kind of situation! But the queen seems to know quite a bit about military strategy herself.

Man, I wish Jack were long gone by now! Alas...

Yes, pirate queen Madi soon!!

That man does not look healthy at all. A plague in Nassau is the last thing we need right now... or is it?

Yay, Jack is not being tortured!! - Wait, Rogers is married??

Nooo, don't give Jack to the Spanish!! Bad, bad governor! (And Max is genuinely upset. .__.)

Haha, I bet I know what Featherstone is thinking right now!

I don't think the Spanish need to provoke Anne at all, when they meet up with her without Jack, she will tear into them like a rabid dog.

Yes, wlw solidarity! Or something.

"I don't know what is worse, Anne dying for Jack or surviving without him." T_T

Oh, a peace offering!

Hm, maybe I don't know what Featherstone was thinking.

Vane is still really pissed about the whole thing, huh? That really got under his skin.

Oh wow, is Billy actually being helpful?? - Yes, Silver is back!!

I love every single sentence of that conversation between Max and Eleanor. God, this show does relationships between women so well even though there aren't that many.

Eleanor playing with fire, nothing new here...

Okay, maybe I feel for Rogers a bit. Who could resist a woman like her? - And it's been a while since the show has been that explicit, right? I kinda missed it. It somehow feels different than in a lot of other shows, more interesting.

Okay, that's an interesting post-sex topic. But it kind of feels like Nassau itself is fighting back against the foreign invaders.

"You're one of them." Man, you have no idea how much. Or do you?

And I don't really believe Eleanor when she says she no longer wishes to be that way. But Rogers appearantly does.

Love Vane being all sneaky. And Featherstone's "Hand over Jack or Nassau burns. This is a dilemma to us how?" is really funny.

Roger's dream of a new Nassau is already falling apart, one Featherstone at a time.

"He's fine. - He's dying." From falsehood to truth in under 5 seconds flat. But love for the slave girl from season 1 (who's appearantly named Eme, which I had forgotten) to get some plot! I always felt like she would be a bigger part of the narrative, and then she wasn't.

That's not a very full tavern for Silver's show. But it's probably safer that way.

Oof, and he's immediately back to insulting his audience. But I love that he's basically telling the ghost story Flint wrote for himself so long ago.

Oh, of course Madi knows Eleanor, they grew up together! But Madi should be careful about what she says, Eleanor did free Eme from slavery after all, there might still be some loyalty there...

Guess we're gonna find out who is already sick of civilized life and would rather go back on the account (or is simply more terrified of Flint than England).

It is such a delight to see Silver work. The man definitely has a way with words.

UGH, Dufresne. Somebody finally kill that guy.

I think he's making a mistake underestimating Silver here. A lot has happened since they last saw each other.

YES! (They're really controlling the room well with just a handful of men.)

Ewwwww. But yeah, that'll send a message. They couldn't have planned this better. (Also the Silver of S1 would have never. - Although - he did stab a man in the first episode.)

Aww, Flint checking up on Silver! - Ugh, these two are so co-dependent. No wonder everybody is insane over them.

Everybody like: Oh shit, Flint is alive! Rogers is about to find out Eleanor named the wrong pirate as the most dangerous one.

Rogers playing 5d chess in regards of how to (not) react to this newest development, and probably still coming up short in the end. There is no way Flint isn't already two steps ahead.

Idk if Max wants to help with this. Isn't this a way to get Anne (and Jack) out of harms way? She's gotta see this.

Either way, Idelle is not wholy on board, I think. But I love how much influence the whores have in this show because everybody always underestimates them.

Ugh, she is back. Is that wise? She wasn't very nice to the girls who do remember her. Why not Idelle?

But Max doesn't want some random whore, she wants Anne. ;_;

Huh, Flint is impressed. Maybe I did underestimate Rogers. Either way, this will certainly be a meeting to remember.

Oh god, Rogers immediately twists the knife that is Thomas Hamilton. Let's hope Flint won't jump over the table and try to strangle him. (And how much does Eleanor know about that whole story? Certainly not everything.)

"Nobody's being hanged." Well, except for Jack maybe?? Since you're giving him to the Spanish??

"So what is it you're fighting for that we're not already offering?" Revenge.

Also they're just gonna pardon the burning of Charlestown? Or did they blame all of that on Vane?

"I no longer seek anything from England except her departure from my island." Flint really has the best lines.

Featherstone trying to bring some brain cells to Vane's single-minded pursuit of Anne Bonny and the cache... but maybe in vain (haha).

If this gives me just one actual interaction between Charles and Anne, instead of them merely existing in the same space, I will be happy.

Those are maybe too many men to kill even for Bonny. But maybe not for the both of them?

Oh Anne! She's gonna think Max betrayed her! This is breaking my heart.

So this was the plan? Let the money get away and leave Anne ready for anything? Not a bad plan, but still.

Oh, they had already met up before! So Anne was playing a role. That explains how she gave up rather easily.

Vane has actually though this through!! Or maybe somebody else thought it through for him. And this also means that they're forcing Flint's hand, who might otherwise not be so interested in Jack's rescue.

I approve. Surely nothing will go wrong...