#he's actually a lot more capable than what he makes himself appear as. but its like part of the plan on getting the others

[aria0fgold]

My headcanons for the named trio in The Cursing of Chateau Castle series:

Josephandre is a big bear. It just fits for him I think! He gets he/him pronouns, and as a way to make him a liiiil more relatable for Mira, he'd have two craft types (Rock type being his main one and paper craft for the other). Battle style wise, I think it fits him to be more of a self-sustaining tank. He buffs defense, heals, and puts up shields. For his weapon, he'd use his fists like Isabeau. He'll be the second fastest in the trio.

Lady Irene-Janine-Kanine looks like an elegant noblewoman on the outside but she has vibes similar to Euphrasie! She gets she/her pronouns. Her craft type is Paper. Battle style wise, she's more on the offensive side, a main dps kind of thing. Most of her skills focus on buffing attack and speed, she'd have an item that helps regen her hp a lil bit and her chosen weapon is an umbrella. The tip is a sharp blade so it's used like a spear that has a hidden sword in its handle. Open it, and it becomes a shield! That'd be one of her skills too, although it's only applicable to her. She's the fastest one of the trio.

Pierre-Jacques-Erneste looks like a nobleman and carries himself as such! He gets he/they pronouns. Their craft type is Scissors. Battle style wise, he's more of a debuffer, skills focusing on weakening the enemies, slowing them down, poisoning them. Their weapon is a sword dagger, though he doesn't seem to be able to handle it well, how clumsy! But he Is a nobleman so it makes sense! Oh but... why doesn't he have a title? They're the slowest one of the trio, how strange, he seemed to be faster than Lady Irene-Janine-Karine that one time though.

[kayunivy]

Okay.... Let's analyze what happened in dcmk these last few weeks. Obvious SPOLIERS will be commented so you know.

> Appearance of Aoko's mother in Magic Kaito.

Where was she all this time? Why did she never appear or even show a sign of life? She didn't even call her daughter on her birthday... She appears so oblivious to everything, she didn't even know who Kaitou Kid was since her husband has always been obsessed with trying to catch this thief for YEARS. It seems like Gosho just randomly placed her in the story without trying to connect with the canon, it's almost as if she was a character outside of her original manga.

> Film 27 and its breaks in logic and common sense.

After all these years, Gosho decided to go against everything he had already said and made the Kaishin to be cousins, not only ruining a unique relationship (whether you shipped or not) but also bringing plot holes and contradictions in the story. If they are cousins ​​what's the excuse for them never trying to even interact before? Why was it that when Yukiko first met Kaito, she never acted like she was related to her? The same with Toichi, she always talked about him as just her teacher and NOTHING more than that, it doesn't make sense to put that in the story now. Why did Kaito never even have support from his family? Not even showing up at Toichi's symbolic funeral? How come Yusaku never went to talk to his late brother's family, even if he knew the truth KAITO DIDN'T KNOW...

No one even considered his feelings...

> All the bullshit involving Kaishin.

The biggest problem for me about them being cousins ​​is not just because of the ship but because of all the history and construction they had. It's as if everything that's different about them is summed up in the simple fact that they're related. But Kaishin has always had something unique, something that Gosho himself defined as "a mysterious bond". Them not having the slightest type of relationship made everything so unique, a connection that only the two of them could have together, one would easily understand the other even though they were complete strangers. Now I feel like they want to throw that away.

> TOICHI KUROBA AND MY HATE FOR HIM.

Gosho had already said that Toichi was possibly alive but the confirmation brought me a wave of anger and contempt that I had never felt for any other dcmk character (even bo). Let's think about Kaito in this whole story:

• lost his father when he was just a child and is still traumatized by it today.

• for 8 FUCKING YEARS he discovers that his father's death was never an accident but a murder.

• His father was actually an internationally wanted thief who was after a precious stone capable of bringing immortality.

• he steps into his father's shoes as KID and decides to try to find out for himself what happened to his father, who killed him and why.

• now there is a criminal organization that thinks he is the KID who didn't really die and they are trying to kill him once and for all.

• he decides to put himself at risk looking for Pandora, being something belonging to the organization and the police themselves.

• a lot of people hate him, regardless of whether he hurts people or not.

• more and more he becomes more and more removed from everything and becomes burdened with the KID charade.

• his own mother doesn't care about him, on the contrary, it seems like she likes to make things even more difficult for her son (she disguised herself as her dead ex-husband just to screw with her son's head, that's sickening to say the least).

• everything Kaito does is because of his father's murder, he never wanted to be KID, he never liked stealing, he doesn't do any of that for pleasure (except when it involves a certain mini detective but that's not the focus now ).

• and in the end his father was ALIVE all this time, doing who knows what while his son was risking his life because of him... BRO...

This whole thing is insane. And not in a good way.

[the-s1lly-corner]

I was rewatching the Mulan films to get that childhood nostalgia, and I remembered how much I love Mushu...

So I thought "what would the cast of TADC x reader be like, who is practically a copy of Mushu's personality", I imagine that in appearance he would be a Chinese dragon humanoid but with his personality

TADC cast x mushu type! reader !

im finally back on my computer, woohoo! ill probably answer a few requests, since i wanna draw stuff today </3 i dont really like leaving my wips unfinished for more than a few days TToTT side note i gotta rewatch mulan, used to be one of my favorite movies as a kid (though i barely watched movies back then so uh uh its not like there were many contenders </3) relying on the good ol character wiki to help me through this because its been so long since ive watched the movie

CAINE:

i think caine would actually really enjoy you, a lot! in a weird way caine gives off similar energy, with the confidence and such you know? so you two probably bounce right off each other and build one another up... though sometimes this leads to more insane IHAs because you insist to caine that youre more capable than you actually are... as mean as that sounds... the only reason that things dont get too too chaotic is because caine, in my opinion, does hold some significant level of care for the circus members (at least as it stands for the pilot)

like would he die for them? probably not.. but he cares enough to keep the circus (mostly) safe and bothers with keeping them mentally stimulated and entertained; he doesnt even watch the IHAs himself so its likely that its not for his own entertainment

ponders

im getting off topic, though, point is i think you two would be friends !

POMNI:

honestly i struggle a lot with writing pomni, but i think the two of you would be friendly with one another ! i think she might be a little taken aback by your confidence, but hey, its not like its to anyones detriment, right? well... IHAs can get interesting, with you either insisting to run in, leroy jenkins style, into the conflict; or trying to push someone else to do (oftentimes ragatha, who i feel would be the most likely to do the most in IHAs if theres nothing pulling her away from it (cough cough checking on kaufmo cough cough)

honestly my brains a little fuzzy trying to remember mulan, but i feel like you and pomni would have a similar dynamic to mulan and mushu as well

JAX:

i think jax would try to push you more than he does the others since oftentimes your reactions are more... out there, youre so desperate to prove yourself as this big strong individual that you kind of make an ass out of yourself. and jax revels in your humiliation everytime someone manages to humble you.. in terms of the other stuff, i think he would tease and make fun of any abilities you have.. assuming you also have (some) fire abilities like mushu, jax would just call you names like "matchstick" and "lighter boy", making fun of your weak fire powers

RAGATHA:

as mentioned in pomnis part, you and ragatha have... an interesting dynamic... but i can also see you two having a similar dynamic to mushu and cri-kee . with you being bold and ragatha keeping you grounded. often you two end up together during IHAs with either ragatha seeking you out or someone pushing you to her

not much to be said, i think ! very similar dynamic, ragatha keeps you in check, though i think she would occasionally scold you if you did something particularly reckless

KINGER:

ooo this ones a hard one, but i think it would be similar to my personal take on what his and caines dynamic would be but with you as a fellow circus member rather than the ring master... has respect for you (though i think kinger would have respect for just about everyone who has come and gone to the circus, he doesnt strike me as the type to just diss others unless theres a reason he doesnt like the person... and even then he would mind his own business, i think) which... honestly, i can see this either making your ego more intense or actually mean something to have someone actually respect you.. ponders... character degradation(?) or character growth.. both are fun routes, i think! ill leave this one up to you...

slides my favorite kinger thing

you guys tell each other stories about your adventures, both of you hyping them up way more than they need to be

ZOOBLE:

writing zoobles part first because i think that they may be the hardest, but in the kindest way possible i dont think they would be able to stand your personality... maybe youre a little loud and out there, or maybe they just dont like your humor or often times self centered nature... i think they would tolerate you just enough to get through IHA but forming a friendship with zooble is going to be tough... though, they do find it amusing when you and jax butt heads

GANGLE:

very similar to pomnis part, i think... but like, gangle is shy whereas pomni is nervous so things are a little different... i think gangle would just along with most stuff you decide to do, that you rope her into, because she doesnt have a backbone to say no or suggest something else.. well she doesnt have bones in general but... you know? honestly she kind of envies you in a weird way, she wishes she had the confidence you have so sometimes she probably approaches you for advice.. how this ends up is up to you !

[lassieposting]

So like, Poppy Playtime is one of those things that I enjoy watching whenever a new section drops, but don't usually get particularly invested in, but if there's one thing guaranteed to give me brainrot, it's a codependent friendship between a deeply damaged, morally questionable killer and a lonely, mixed-up kid who idolises him. So naturally Chapter 3 has me in my feelings about the Prototype and Theodore Grambell.

And that got me thinking in general, which gave me a theory.

The Prototype - or, at least, whoever became the Prototype - had a military background.

If you think about it, the Prototype's skillset - while horrifying in an escaped monster on the rampage - would be an asset in a soldier, and more than once we see him use abilities that would probably be best explained by military training.

We know he's tech-savvy, mechanically skilled and good at improvising under pressure and time limits: he strips down an alarm clock in his cell - which he'd have to do quickly, because he's under constant surveillance - and makes a laser pointer from its parts to disable the cameras. These seem like skills that would benefit a soldier, who would be familiar with stripping his equipment - his gun, for example - down to parts to clean and reassemble them, and who might need to know how to fix a vehicle or a radio or use improvised parts in an escape from hostile territory.

Based on the fact that he's appeared unexpectedly multiple times now to claim the bodies of dead and dying mascots at exactly the right time, it's likely that he's been tracking the Player - silently and without being seen - since they entered the facility. He's doing recon, watching to see what the Player does, what their goals are, whether he needs to worry about them, and whether or how he can use them to his own benefit.

He can stay silent under torture. The tapes confirm that Sawyer continued experimenting on him even post-transformation, and the Prototype's description of these sessions makes it clear that there is nothing ethical or humane about them: "You stick us...beat us...tear at flesh." But Sawyer himself confirms that - other than snarking at him on that one tape we see - the Prototype has been silent, stubborn and uncooperative throughout. Soldiers can undergo Resistance to Interrogation training to teach them to cope with torture tactics; the only thing they're allowed to reveal is their name, rank and ID number. If the Prototype has already had this kind of training, it would make a lot more sense why he's able to keep silent when most people, adult or no, would be desperately cooperating and begging for mercy.

He's fiercely intelligent, excels at manipulating situations to his advantage, and is shown in Project Playtime to be capable of marshalling and directing the other fight-capable mascots. He's also a creative, ruthless tactician who seems to favour surprise attacks - the Hour of Joy works because it takes the entire facility unawares. The escape attempt where he hides from the camera relies on the security specialists panicking at his having vanished in a matter of seconds and rushing to do damage control, forgetting the camera has a blind spot. This thing is a strategist, and he's good at it.

Now, from what I've seen, it seems to be a popular theory that the Prototype was created from Elliot Ludwig. I'm not sure whether I really buy into that, but if it were true, it would actually work well with this little theory of mine.

We know that Ludwig was a young adult - probably in his 20s and 30s - in the 1930s and 1940s. He's old enough to have gotten married and to get divorced, and to have started his own company.

And where were all the 20- and 30-something men of America during the 1930s and 40s?

Conscripted. Fighting World War II.

So if he was created from Ludwig, or from any adult in Ludwig's age bracket, it is very likely that this is not the Prototype's first ugly war. Playtime Co are not the first monsters he's ever seen doing horrific human experimentation on captives and trying to cover it up. He'd have seen it all before, and he'd know there would be no stopping any of it without collateral damage. So when he gets his opportunity - the Hour of Joy - he's ruthless about it. He wipes out every human in the Playtime factory. If he fought in one of the major wars of the 20th century - WWII, Vietnam, etc, depending on the age of whoever was used - that would also explain why he goes to that extreme. Plenty of guilty, awful people escaped justice after those major conflicts, and he doesn't want that for the Playtime scientists. He'd rather massacre every employee, whether or not they knew about the experiments, than risk one who deserves death getting away.

idk I just think that whole idea makes his behaviour and motivations make a lot more sense

[karamazovposting]

On Ivan and bipolar disorder (part one)

I've never seen anyone talk about this and it doesn't surprise me considering most people don't really know what bipolar disorder actually is (the stereotypes are all wrong and good representation in media is rare, sigh) and while I'm not saying my interpretation is the only correct one as I'm a firm believer that anyone can see whatever they want in art and that's a beautiful thing, in my opinion there are enough things about Ivan's behaviour and character that make my bipolar Ivan Karamazov agenda worthy of being pushed a little.

This first part will be more of an introduction where I'll just talk, in general, about what I picked up on in the first half of the novel and then in the next parts (I don't know how many there'll be yet, there's a lot of stuff to say) I'll get more specific by going over Ivan's inner world and the more significant events that made me think yeah this young man definitely needs some lithium.

Let's start with this: I know every Dostoevsky character is fucked up in their own way, that's pretty much his thing, but there is a difference between being a little fucked up and being actually mentally ill. There's just something about Ivan that made something in my brain click and go bipolar, which has never really happened before.

Do I think Dostoevsky deliberately chose to make Ivan so bipolar coded? Considering at the time there was barely a name for this disorder (which isn't even the same name we use today), let alone an actual diagnosis, no. But as someone who is diagnosed with bipolar disorder, I think his character makes a lot more sense if we see him as suffering from it. I even talked about this to my therapist who has read the book and he sees my vision too (lmao).

The thing that I'm sure jumps to someone's mind when it comes to Ivan and the topic of mental illness is the psychotic episode he goes through after Fyodor's murder, and while it kind of sustains my thesis on its own already, I thought he was bipolar coded way before that, because in my opinion there are a lot of subtle signs and behaviours that are kind of like little puzzle pieces that need to be put together to get to see the bigger picture, as bipolar disorder is not just the episodes someone goes through but also the impact those episodes have on them. It's a disorder that shapes the person, their brain chemistry and patterns and therefore their life in an irreversible way.

What initially struck me was how angry Ivan actually is. We don't really see it at first solely because we don't really see much of him in general, but I think that after he pushes Maksimov off the carriage without saying a word or explaining himself to his father we open some sort of Pandora's box. After that, almost every time he appears in the first half of the novel, he's angry. At the top of my head I can only think of two instances where he's not: when talking to Katerina before leaving for Moscow, which is also the first time we see him show an emotion other than anger (and it only took him, what? More than 300 pages? Yeah, relatable), and when he's at lunch with Alyosha shortly after. Other than that, he's always angry, and it's so visceral that I couldn't help but think that he feels that particular kind of deep rage only someone with bipolar disorder is capable of feeling (I personally nicknamed bipolar disorder the always fucking angry disorder). The way he's so deeply and irrationally angry that he feels himself shake and has to collect himself in order to not beat up Smerdyakov? The way he can't let it go and engages in conversation with him even though he himself doesn't even know why he's feeling or doing any of that? The way he treats his father? That's undiagnosed/untreated behaviour, I've been there. It may feel weird or even absurd if you're not familiar with this disorder, but there's a reason why the term bipolar rage is a thing: it is indeed on another level. It also seems like the only emotion he's comfortable with showing is anger and that's why it seems to be his only emotional outlet, as he didn't seem that eager to open up in front of Katerina and even when alone with his own brother you can feel some sort of awkwardness coming from him. I'll go into the specifics of that particular interaction with Alyosha in the future, but I think that after that Ivan's, very emotion-centered, character arc officially starts to develop as his relationship with his own feelings finally and slowly starts to change and becomes a tool to get him closer to the other characters. It's obviously not linear and I really like that, it feels very realistic.

Anyway, at first I thought I was just projecting, lots of people have anger issues and showing one symptom of something doesn't mean you have it, diagnostic criterias exist for a reason. The thing is, the more I read the more I noticed that not only Ivan happens to meet a lot of them, but he also shows some behaviors and has some personality traits that can easily be interpreted as bipolar coded (as I said a few paragraphs ago): his complex and peculiar type of loneliness, the emotional outbursts, his own perception of himself compared to how the other characters speak of him, his traumatic childhood, his attitude towards life (and death), the reasons behind his relationship with God and religion, his curated persona, the fact that no one seems to understand him. Not to mention he's described as having experienced depression and anguish multiple times in the past, and in a particular occasion in the novel not even knowing why (this one point in particular is very important as it connects to his attitude towards life and death, which is the most bipolar coded thing about him to me). All things I'll go over with more detail in the future when I'll get to his inner world.

For now I'll say that the main thing about bipolar disorder is that it fucks up one's emotions a lot, causing "inappropriate" or "abnormal" (for a lack of better terms) and exaggerated emotional responses and reactions in the people who have it (which usually manifest as the epic highs and lows the average person has at least heard of, but it can and does get more complicated than that) and I genuinely don't think Ivan reacts normally to anything, ever; the most noticeable thing to me is that his default reaction to anything, no matter what it is, is laughter. We also see him get extremely anxious to the point of being physically unwell and spiral a little after Smerdyakov and Fyodor tell him to go to Cermašnja due to what the former told him, which made me go damn, no one died yet and he's already paranoid?. His emotional regulation is a mess and he's so real (and bipolar) for that.

Another quite important thing about bipolar disorder is that it makes every emotion more intense to the point of confusion and being all over the place, which causes a person with bipolar disorder's emotional responses and reactions to be the way they are. Now, I'm not proclaiming myself as the one and only True Ivan Karamazov Understander, but I do think people tend to focus too much on his façade of coldness and on the darker side of his story, causing them to forget about how actually fun, passionate and almost childish he is at times. Ivan feels, and he feels deeply, and it isn't fair to overlook that just because he rarely shows it. Extreme rationality and collectedness can often also be a way to try to gain control over your symptoms (I'm guilty of that). We get to see some of his less collected emotionality in how dramatic he gets (like a true Karamazov) when reciting poetry in German to Katerina and in The brothers get acquainted, Rebellion and The Grand Inquisitor, as I already mentioned. At this point of the novel, something in particular happens and at this point in the novel I decide that yes, Ivan is bipolar coded.

I think I'll stop here at this sort of "cliffhanger" because this got quite long and I need one post only to elaborate that last paragraph. This isn't as coherent as I hoped it would be and, honestly, I kind of feel stupid, like I read too much into this and am seeing things that aren't there (how familiar, how fitting), but I wanted to share my perspective (and I'm also open to discussion!). Also, I won't lie, Ivan is my favorite character of The Brothers Karamazov and I don't think he's talked about enough, I've even seen people say he's the least interesting one out of the brothers which kind of broke my heart because I personally think he's the most interesting (no shade to the uninteresting Ivan gang of course). I don't know if I feel like that towards him because for the first time ever I got to see myself in a character and it was very important to me, but I don't think it really matters, "meeting" him made me happy and he will always be special to me, even if his story has its fair share of tragedy. Or maybe because of it. I'm planning on making a post about that and his ending in particular, but for now I'll focus on finishing this bipolar Ivan Karamazov essay.

No idea when I'll write the rest though, but I will.

[icedragonlizard]

Headcanons for certain Magoland masks

I'm aware that Merry Magoland is not 100% canon, but screw it. I implement it and its masks into my headcanon universe anyways.

... And at that point, it begs the question as to how Magolor knew about certain people to be capable of making masks out of them.

Of course, one could easily interpret Magolor just traveling across dimensions and through the timeline to find out himself, but I prefer to go with a more fun route for my interpretation instead.

I'm more than glad to share my headcanons for certain masks:

-The blue, green and yellow Kirbies were literally just Magolor giving more color palettes for Kirby because he thinks Kirby is very special and decided to give him utmost privileges. Lol.

-How did Magolor find out about Nightmare? Here's how: King Dedede has a photo of Nightmare somewhere in his castle. It's there to spread awareness to one of Popstar's earliest threats, and it's also there for the waddle dees in the castle to make fun of. Magolor encountered the photo when he came by Dedede's castle one time.

-"Gray Coo" was the result of Magolor trying to create a fake love interest for Coo to go along with Rick's and Kine's love interests. Magolor was originally going to call it "Poo" until the waddle dee staffers for the park turned that down and instead suggested it to be named "Gray Coo" or else they wouldn't put it up, which Magolor reluctantly agreed. Coo felt embarrassed and awkward when he saw the mask and was told about its purpose, while the rest of the animal friends laughed their butts off as they think that the mask is hilarious.

-How did Magolor find out about Dark Matter to make masks for Dark Matter Swordsman and Zero? Dedede and the animal friends told him about it. When Magolor first met Gooey and learned his origins, he was fascinated to learn more about Dark Matter, so those guys told him more. Dedede has a photo of DMS in the castle, while saying that Zero was super easy to remember the appearance of.

-My headcanon universe disregards a lot of True Arena content from many games, so this means that the Marx Soul stuff does not exist in my headcanons. I interpret that the Marx Soul mask came 100% out of Magolor's own twisted mind. His own invention. He thought of making an alt mask for his buddy Marx and decided to make a more menacing version of him. Marx was ecstatic when he saw the mask.

-Magolor didn't physically encounter a clockwork star himself, but Marx and Susie were able to walk him through about what they look like, allowing him to piece together the appearance of Nova to make a mask for it.

-The alternate Ribbon mask (friend's hairstyle) was a recent hairstyle that Adeleine gave Ribbon. Magolor was interested in giving Ribbon a second mask, and so she and Adeleine told him about the alternate hairstyle to make a mask for.

-The alternate DMK design (dark mirror) was not actually something that Magolor learned about, but made on his own. He didn't plan to make a secondary DMK mask (because they're not friends) until he noticed all the other star allies had secondary masks, so he figured he'd do the same for DMK, albeit just a lazy color hue change. He sometimes look at both DMK masks to laugh at their edginess.

-How did Magolor find out about Drawcia? Drawcia is known amongst Vividria individuals across Popstar. A Vividria slipped out information about Drawcia and depicted her in a painting to show to Magolor, giving him the opportunity to make a mask of her.

-Dark Daroach and Dark Nebula were things that Daroach told Magolor about. When Daroach first came to Magoland to see the masks, he thought it was both hilarious and ironic for the masks to exist. He pointed out that he didn't see a mask depicting Magolor being possessed by a cursed artifact (there's the master crown mask, but that's the phase where he hadn't been possessed yet).

-How did Magolor know about Galacta Knight? Hyness told him.

-Magolor was trying to fill up some slots with alt color swaps, explaining the "EX" masks for Whispy Woods, Mr. Dooter, Fatty Puffer, Goriath, Grand Doomer, Metal General, Landia and Traitor Magolor.

-How in the heck did Magolor find out about Sectonia, and not just that, but her original Joronia form as well? Taranza has photos and paintings of her all over the Royal Road castle. That's how Magolor found out. He decided to make the masks to honor the memory of Joronia/Sectonia and he'd figure Taranza would be grateful to the masks. Uhhh.... he eventually did, but initially he had an outrage because Magolor did it without permission. It's fine now, though.

-Magolor saw the Robobot Armor turned pink one time. It was during one time when he and Kirby simultaneously visited Susie in her home planet that contains the HWC headquarters. Magolor wanted to see Kirby ride around in Invader Armors, so Susie let that happen for him to see. That's how he knew to make a Robobot Armor mask.

-Susie's weekend outfit is, indeed, an outfit that she likes to wear on the weekends. Magolor was physically seen her wearing it, giving him the idea to make a mask for it.

-Susie has photos of her dad in the company's headquarters. Magolor briefly had a weird fixation on Haltmann by virtue of being a fellow egg-shaped money liker, just like he is. This made it a no brainer that he was going to make a Haltmann mask for the park.

Susie was initially not happy to see the weekend outfit and Haltmann masks because Magolor made them both without permission. She was getting close to threatening to sue him until he apologized and said he did it for honorable and celebrative purposes. Eventually, Susie relented and became perfectly fine with the masks existing, but she really wishes that Magolor had asked for permission first.

-Morpho Knight is very elusive in my headcanons, so how did Magolor find out about him? He found out through Elfilin and Leon. They remembered what he looks like and were glad to tell Magolor when he expressed wanting to know.

-I'll make it clear that while I headcanon the games mostly happening by order, Merry Magoland opens after Forgotten Land's events for me. This explains how Magolor knew about New World inhabitants such as Elfilin, awoofies, Carol and Leon to make masks of them. He also watched Kirby perform his mouthful mode stuff when he visited the New World, giving him the chance to make a mask of that too.

-Wait... Forgo Dedede is among the New World masks. How did Magolor find out about that when Dedede is back to normal now? Elfilin told him about the incident. He vividly remembers what Dedede looked like when Fecto Forgo further possessed him.

-----

Ok... that's all of the more questionable masks covered in my headcanons! Thanks for reading if you made it through all of this.

[vintagebunnies]

as above, so below

part i | part ii

eddie munson x succubus!fem!reader

Eddie summons you back, but this time it’s for revenge. (3.9k)

mean dom eddie, rough sex, choking, hair pulling, face slapping, spitting, succubus reader, fem reader, demon sex, mentions of gore (nothing happens), handcuffs, slight dacryphilia, mdni 18+!

ཐི♡ཋྀ

It’s been about a week since Eddie has last seen you. All that was left of you were the everlasting marks around his body, and the smoky message left on the bathroom mirror.

Well, the red and purple surrounding his neck and collarbones are lasting a lot longer than your little message. As soon as he saw the foreign words on his mirror, he immediately wiped them away. Not wanting Wayne to see it, but also how the hell would he explain that?

The book he checked out of the library needed to be sent back soon, only one more day with the book in his ownership. In its old and crumbling glory, it was sitting right on top of his desk. He kept eyeing it as if it’d grow legs and walk away.

With the way things played out that night, he wouldn’t be surprised.

Eddie knew you were dangerous. The strength you showed that night was unrivaled, you were capable of doing whatever you pleased. Hell, you could’ve fucking killed him! But you didn’t.

That’s what confused him the most—you are a supernatural being who spared his life—why him? Was it because he summoned you? Did you find him interesting? What made you choose Eddie and let him live?

As scary as Eddie looked, he didn’t know much about demons or anything paranormal, so it was just odd to him. The main source of his knowledge about this kind of stuff was just from horror movies. Fiction. Everyone knew those movies were fake, made straight from the glitz and glam of Hollywood.

But he couldn’t help himself from constantly thinking about you. He would spend hours in his room just analyzing the abundance of marks left on his pale skin.

Eddie was sitting on his bed, eyeing the book.

He knew he was stupid for what he was about to do, but he couldn’t stop thinking of all of the pain and pleasure he received that night.

Yeah, you were dangerous or whatever, but fuck, did he miss you.

He stood up from his bed after being lost in thought, heading straight for the book. Eddie grabbed the book but didn’t immediately open it, instead just analyzed the front cover.

Eddie thought back to the day at the library. When he first came up with the idea of partaking in a ritual, it was supposed to be harmless fun. He didn’t expect for what happened to actually happen.

He opened to the front page of the book, the contents of each chapter laid out in front of him on the yellowing pages.

The dog eared page was still marked.

With that page still being partially unread, since he only read about how to actually perform the ritual, he decided it was time to find out what you really were.

Eddie made his way back over to his bed, not paying attention to his surroundings.

“What’cha got there boy?” Wayne asked, making Eddie jump.

“Shit!” Eddie was so spooked by Wayne’s sudden appearance, he stubbed his toe right on the legs of his bed frame.

From the adrenaline of being snuck up on, he dropped his book, and it landed with the cover right side up, exposing the title of it to Wayne.

Wayne never was one to snoop, knowing Eddie was a grown adult and had the right to privacy. But he couldn’t help being curious on what Eddie was getting up to.

Wayne grabbed the book off of the floor, reading the title aloud. “The Grand Grimoire,” Immediately noticing the illustrated devil on the title, he stared Eddie down, who was still cradling his sore toe.

“D’you mind telling me why you have this?” He flipped the open book towards Eddie, who was now derived from any color in his face.

“Uh- it’s uh, just for research. Y’know, just a little curious,” Eddie gave Wayne an awkward chuckle, trying to lie his way out of it. But Wayne wasn’t stupid. He could see right through Eddie like he was transparent.

“Boy, I don’t know how dense you think I am, but why the hell would you need research on this?” Wayne shook the book around in his hand, trying to enunciate his point. “Listen, you’re old enough to know better. Don’t be messin’ around with this. Return it.” He gave Eddie a stern look.

Eddie knew Wayne was right, but was he gonna listen? No.

“I’ll uh, return it tomorrow. Promise. The library is closed by now, so I kinda have’ta wait,” Eddie wasn’t planning on Wayne finding out about this at all, so he’s at a complete loss for words.

“You better. Came in here to tell ya I’m leaving now, but then I saw this. Just please, think twice before you do this kinda stuff.” With that, Wayne turned to leave.

“Yeah, yeah of course! Don’t worry,” Eddie followed Wayne out into the living area, seeing him out.

Eddie and Wayne bid their farewells to each other, Wayne giving Eddie a hard-nosed stare as he walked out of the trailer.

As soon as Eddie shut the steel door, he exhaled a big breath. Not realizing he was even holding it.

His heart was beating a mile a minute. There was a reason why he got the book when Wayne wasn’t home, afraid of this interaction.

After all, Wayne was right. Eddie shouldn’t be messing with stuff like this, it’s too dangerous and you never know what you might conjure.

Eddie walked back into his bedroom, staring hard at the book that was now on his bed. He had to take a moment to think about it, if he should still try to get into contact with you again.

Fuck it.

He was gonna do it no matter what anyone says, he knows the risks. But he also knows the good that’ll come out of this. Seeing you, in all of your dangerous ways.

He could feel himself get hard again from the thought of you.

“Jesus.” Eddie whispered to himself, he felt like a hormonal teenager again. Getting aroused from the mere thought of you, to the thought of your body and your voice.

God, your voice.

Your voice was painfully sweet sounding. The way you spoke to him. The way your sharp teeth gleamed under the warm candlelight every time you opened your mouth.

This was it.

Eddie was going to perform the ritual whether Wayne liked it or not.

He hated disobeying Wayne, but he knew to be cautious. Or cautiously stupid.

Eddie picked up the book and finally thought it was time to stop beating around the bush and just do it.

He finished setting everything up, now sitting in the center of the salt pentagram, open book in hand, reading over the pages one last time.

Eddie took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to ground himself. He was more nervous this time around than he was the last time. Tense from the possible outcome.

He repeated the trigger words over and over for a solid minute. Nothing. It was taking a lot longer than it did the last time, you showed up almost immediately last week.

Eddie was constantly checking around his room, seeing if you were anywhere to be seen. He even reread the words that were supposed to evoke you, nothing was wrong.

He tried it once more, and all he got was a few candles to flicker.

Eddie started to grow frustrated, rubbing his hands down his face.

“Fuck this shit.” Eddie was fed up. It was a bunch of bullshit. At this point Eddie was sure he came home obliterated last week and gave himself the scare with the message on the bathroom mirror.

The marks on his body? Probably some shitty hookup.

He stood up and blew out all of the candles, swept up all of the salt, and he chucked the book across the room making it leave a resounding thud against the plaster walls.

Eddie doesn’t know why he was so mad, he always believed in the supernatural and paranormal beings, but now he thinks it was all just bogus. All glorified in the movies.

Sitting back onto his bed, the old rusty springs creaking under his weight, he rested his head in his hands.

You were just a figment of his imagination, something he made up in a fake fantasy world when he was horny just so he can get himself off.

He decided it was time to just forget about you and everything, and just sleep.

Eddie turned off all of his bedroom lights and just laid back in bed, staring up at the pitch black ceiling.

At first he thought there was a chance that you were real, that what he experienced was real. But it just doesn’t add up, so he made every scenario he possibly could to explain how it was all fraud. The book was a fraud.

He did everything in the ritual the same as he did the last time, so there was no explanation he could give himself to point at the book giving answers or demon summoning even being existent.

Eddie finally gave up fighting with his thoughts and just closed his eyes, ready to just ignore this all.

Almost falling asleep, he was shivering because of the room dropping about ten degrees. There was cold air that just started to surround his body, like a sheet of ice forming over water in winter.

He pulled his blankets around himself tighter, hoping to fight off the freezing air.

The warmth from the blanket wasn’t helping, now the wintry air was coming from under the blanket. Eddie looked around from where he was faced on the side of the bed, trying to find the culprit of what was making him frigid.

Eddie decided that it was probably air coming from the open door to his bedroom, maybe a window was open somewhere out in the living area. So he turned over. But right as he did so, he felt his heart drop.

There you were.

Sitting on the right side of his bed, head resting in your hand from your arm that was propped up on your elbow.

That’s why it was cold.

Eddie tried pinching himself, pulling his hair, anything that could potentially wake him up from a dream. This was real this time.

You were right in front of his very eyes, and very real.

“Salve, mortalis.” You were giving him a malicious smile, but your inky black eyes were looking up at him with affection.

All Eddie could do was stare at you, you scared the everloving shit out of him, showing up like that. But he was thrilled to see you again.

“I can feel your eyes burning into me, Eddie.” Your voice was still as soft as ever. Like a fuzzy warm blanket fresh out of the dryer.

Eddie sat up, facing himself towards you. You sat up too, leaning up on your elbows and sitting with your knees slightly bent in front of you

“You’re back.” Eddie says incredulously. “I didn’t think you were going to come back, you didn’t show up before.”

“O mortalem miserum, you missed me,” Your tone was dripping in sarcasm, clearly amused.

“Why didn’t you show up?” Eddie was tired of your constant laid back attitude, as if you weren’t a fucking demon. “Isn’t that like, your fucking job? To show up when someone performs this shit ritual?” Eddie was infuriated, he doesn’t know why he felt such malice towards you this time.

You weren’t some chick from the bar, waiting to get fucked by the next rockstar to cross your path. You were a disciple of the devil!

Your face dropped to something akin to anger, clearly showing your distaste of his tones. “How dare you speak to me like that, mortal?” You sat up. “After I gave you such pleasure, you treat me like this.”

Sitting up on your knees, you crawled closer to Eddie. “You should be punished, stultum hominem.”

You were practically nose to nose with Eddie now, but what came next is what shocked him the most. You suddenly lunged, slapping Eddie hard across the face then pinning him down to his stained sheets by his neck.

Eddie gasped, waiting for you to just snap his neck, maybe cut right into his jugular, watch him choke on his own blood.

Something else caught your attention though, making you smile wickedly.

You could feel Eddie’s cock grow hard under you from where you were straddling his lap, making you squeeze his neck.

Eddie’s eyes rolled back into his head from the pressure right on his larynx. He felt disgusting for being turned on. This was probably how he’d get killed, strangled to death because he was thinking with the wrong head.

Fortunately, you weren’t planning on killing him tonight, releasing your grip on his neck and putting your hand right on his cheek, the cheek where your hand print is starting to flourish with red.

“Silly man, getting aroused from pain,” You whispered the last part. “What shall I do with you?” You tilted your head like a curious dog, similar to Eddie’s puppy dog eyes staring right back at you.

“You could um- start by getting off of me,” Even Eddie was surprised by his sudden boldness, if this was his first time meeting you he wouldn’t have dared to say something like that.

But all you did was laugh, a maniacal laugh. “Ut obliviscatur qui in crimen videris.” Your voice lowered into a deeper octave, leaning down to be face to face with Eddie.

Eddie still has no clue what you said, but it just provoked him to tease you more. “Yeah, I’m not your bitch,” He suddenly switched positions, pushing you off of him to now be under him, the movement made you let out a gasp, eliciting a smile out of Eddie from catching you off guard. “But tonight you will be.”

He was leant over you, his breath fanning over your ear.

Eddie moved his hand to rest over your throat, identical to the way yours was before.

He nibbled on the skin right under your ear, soothing the bite with a swipe of his tongue. You closed your eyes and let out a quiet groan from the sensation.

Eddie squeezed his hand tighter around your throat, not even sure if it’s doing anything to control your breathing. Even if it didn’t, it still made your breathing slightly accelerate.

He started to kiss from your jaw down to your neck. “I’m,” Kiss. “Going to,” Another kiss. “Fuck you stupid.” Bite.

Eddie could feel your legs move from where they were pinned under him, he was sat right over your lap just like how you were sat over his. He had you completely trapped under him.

He let go of your neck, not even seeing you take a deep inhale to catch your breath.

Slowly sitting up from his position, he reared his hand back and slapped you right in the face, just like what you did to him. The momentum from the slap made your head move to the side. You had a grin on your face from the sudden act of dominance from Eddie, a complete different contrast to how he was the last time.

You were biting your lip when you went to face him again, but when you went to look at him he was standing up from his bed, going towards the silver handcuffs hanging on his wall.

He slowly sauntered back over to the bed, looking down at the handcuffs in this hand, then back at you. “You’re not going to use your hands, I’ve had enough of you having your way with me.” When he got closer to where your head was resting on the bed, he grabbed both of your hands, and cuffed them to the bedpost above your head.

You were just staring up at him with this sick look on your face, clearly enjoying every second of this. You had an everlasting smirk engraved on your face.

“Fac tibi pessimi.” You whispered.

Eddie gave you a small smack on the side of your face, not enough to rear your head to the side but enough to catch your attention. “Shut the fuck up.”

He crawled back onto the bed, slowly stripping off his clothes as he did so. Eddie moved to spread your legs to bracket his hips, hands right on the underside of your knees.

Eddie grasped his cock and tapped it right over your dripping pussy, making your hips jump from the heaviness of it.

“I’m not giving you the satisfaction of fucking you yet,” He dropped your legs back onto the bed. “You’re going to suck my cock.” As Eddie said that, he made his way to where your head was resting, his leaking cock now leveled with your mouth.

“Open your fucking mouth, whore.” His hand gripped the top of your scalp, moving your head side to side trying to enunciate his point.

You obliged, opening your mouth and sticking out your tongue. Eddie didn’t waste any time, and shoved his entire length down your throat.

Just like the first time you sucked him off, you didn’t gag. Taking him all the way to the hilt with no issue.

“Yeah—mm—take my fucking cock,” Eddie groaned. He had an unyielding grip on your hair, guiding your head up and down.

You were slobbering all over his dick, but you fucking loved it. The roughness, and messiness of it all was perfect. You never expected him to snap, he was terrified of you, you can sense it. But you wanted him to use you, use your body like it’s a temple. Giving him all the pleasure he desires.

“Shit—“ Eddie’s voice was getting weak, indicating he was close to his release so you sucked harder, your cheeks hollowing. “Fucking dirty slut,” He pulled out of your mouth, slapping you across the face.

Eddie grabbed your jaw before you could face the impact of his slap, tucking his thumb into your mouth right behind your teeth, spitting in your mouth, then forcing your mouth shut. Before you could even swallow, Eddie spit right over your closed mouth, then smearing it across the bottom half of your face.

“Yeah? You like being treated like this? Like being used?” You nodded with a smile on your face, opening your mouth and sticking your tongue back out. Eddie spit right back into your open mouth, bending down to bite the side of your neck.

You gasped and pulled on your binds. You knew if you wanted to, you could easily snap the metal chains holding the cuffs together, but you were also curious to see where he’d take this.

Eddie trailed kisses down to your chest, biting the plush skin around your breast, then leaving a bite right over your nipple making you moan aloud. Eddie slapped your tit in retaliation, watching the flesh jiggle from the force.

Eddie crawled back down so now he was back to being right in between your legs. He sat up straight and spit right onto your cunt, then taking his fingers and forcefully spreading it around your clit.

“Oh— Eddie,” You gasped.

“Hm? It’s Eddie now? What about the other names you called me before, huh?” He was looking down at you from the slope of his nose.

Eddie dragged his middle and index finger towards your dripping hole, and pushed them both in with no resistance, making your legs push against your chest and knocking your knees together.

You threw your head back from the pressure and the pleasure, your mouth opening to make way for quiet moans.

Eddie‘s pace gradually got faster, adding his thumb in the mix to rub your clit.

You could feel your release hurriedly coming closer, making your cunt clench and convulse over Eddie’s fingers.

“Yeah, fucking squirt all over me bitch,” Eddie seethed through gritted teeth, pulling his fingers out of your cunt with a wet squelch and landing a few slaps over your soaked clit.

Eddie’s harsh words and his onslaught on your cunt made your release spray all over his pelvis, and you let out a scream in response.

Your legs were continuously shaking from his rough fingers, and your breathing grew heavy.

“I’m not fucking done with you.” Eddie spread your legs wider, positioning himself right in between them and rubbing his hard cock over your quivering cunt, smearing your release.

Eddie tapped the tip of his dick over your swollen clit, making your hips jump away from the sensation.

He gave you no reprieve before he was shoving his entire length into your sore cunt, making you moan out loud and your brow furrow.

Eddie grabbed onto your neck with his right hand, slapping you across the face with his left.

His starting pace was furious. Not giving your cunt a break, slamming in and out of you, making you let out a moan with each thrust.

Eddie’s hand squeezed around your neck as your cunt clenched around his cock, making him groan.

“Fuck yeah—squeeze my cock you slut,” His words were shakey from his pace and your quick submission. Eddie looked down at your face; your cheek was a dark red from how many times he’s slapped you, your chin was shiny with yours and Eddie’s mixed saliva, and your eyes were squinted from his cock.

You felt like Eddie’s cock was jabbing your cervix, making tears spring in the corner of your eyes. This didn’t go unnoticed by Eddie, he smiled at the thought of making you cry just like how you made him.

“Cry me a fucking river, you did this to yourself.” Eddie gripped the underside of your thighs, pushing them both to your chest, contorting your body.

The new position made Eddie push deeper into your warm walls, hitting that spot perfectly.

You bit your lip so hard you drew blood, squeezing your eyes shut making the tears fall down your cheeks. Eddie bent down over you, licking the tears off your face then landing a slap on your thigh, close to your ass.

The feeling of Eddie’s palm slapping you made you arch your back, letting out garbled moans and cumming on his cock a second time.

“Cum in me Eddie, quaeso.” You were staring up at him with glassy eyes, and a flushed face.

Your demand made Eddie sit up straight, thrusting into you harder and grinding his cock in your spent hole.

It wasn’t long before Eddie was cumming inside of you, a dam bursting and filling you to the brim with his warm spend. Eddie gave a few more rough thrusts into your sopping cunt, riding out his orgasm.

He leant down over you, holding himself up with his hand next to your head, trying to catch his breath.

Eddie completely forgot about the cuffs that were wrapped around your wrists until he heard the snap of the chains holding them together snap. He looked up from his position and saw that you broke out of them, trailing your hands up and down his back and petting his hair, letting him come down from the high.

Eddie didn’t even bat an eye, just collapsed back over you enjoying the warmth of contact with another.

A few minutes passed, Eddie was passed out and you were able to move yourself without waking him up.

Eddie was laying on his stomach, his hair all over the place and damp from sweat. He looked truly beautiful. You gave a genuine smile from how peaceful he looked.

Before leaving you made sure to leave a small kiss on the back of his head.

Making sure to leave a note that said, “Iterum revertar, Eddie.”

ཐི♡ཋྀ

[mdhwrites]

How similar is Belos is to Frollo really? Are they really that similar or is it just fans comparing them because there the only 2 main religious theme villains in a Disney universe ever

This is kind of a rough one because there is certainly a case to be had. The two are cut from a very similar cloth where they are meant to be religious men who have black souls and use the scripture to justify their hate. The big difference for why one is good and one is not is... I believe Frollo is actually dealing with this inherent conflict within him because of temptation.

Belos has no Hellfire... Because he has no fire in him. He is a shell. Not a shell of a man, that's interesting, but a shell of a character. His religious motivation should lead to more extremism, more hate, etc. like that but that would also mean that, like Frollo, he'd have to be active in his hate and pain he causes. After all, from literally the first scene, Frollo is murdering people and trying to kill a baby. He is only stopped when a man more genuinely holy than him calls him out for thinking that even an innocent like a baby deserves death and damnation. It is a moment of weakness from a man who is already hateful and it marks how bad things are for the Romani in the movie. They are NEVER having a good time because Frollo has actively made society and its systems actively destroy who they are. His hate is omnipresent.

Belos' is... *shrug* Like literally until "I am trying to save your souls!" in Thanks to Them, Belos never seems religious in even the slightest. Until we know what the Day of Unity is, it appears he's actually made a pretty good place to live. He's made people safer, he's given structure and community to a world that didn't have it because otherwise his actions before his rise to power would have been found out, and he asks genuinely VERY little of people, even allowing forgiveness to those who have been away from the Coven System for potentially decades like Eda's Friend in Hollow Mind to come back with zero consequences. Even members of his own coven who leave deal with no consequences (which really makes Eclipse Lake feel WRONG in hindsight.)

There is no hate here. There is no motivation. He is evil... Because he is evil. Hell, we even see this with the difference between Quasimodo and Hunter. Frollo keeps Quasi under control by making him genuinely hate himself. By tearing who he is down until he would almost never even question the idea of going against Frollo, especially long term. Disobeying him is terrifying, especially because in Quasi's eyes, no one can replace Frollo for no one will ever be capable of liking him. Not just liking him like Frollo does but liking him AT ALL. And this is all done because while Quasi is Frollo's penance for what he tried to do on the steps, he is also indicative of so much that Frollo hates so he is better treated as an animal than anything approaching a human being. After all, even if he isn't in touch with his heritage, just being tangentially close to the Romani or sympathetic to them is enough to make Frollo hate you and wish to see you erased.

Meanwhile, Hunter is number 489244502 attempt at using magic, which Belos supposedly hates, to create a right hand man of someone who betrayed him for witches! FUCKING AMAZING! Not only that but instead of genuinely trying to isolate and control him, Belos is easily replaced motivationally by Darius for an episode because Hunter easily sees people as able to replace Belos for giving him approval and there's no actual reason Hunter should think himself lesser than others. He literally replaced Lilith in the fiction as the poster person of the Isles. Literally his face was EVERYWHERE shortly after the execution. He holds a lot of power and is given a lot of importance and yet no one in the EC seems to like him WHATSOEVER. Not because of his attitude, personality or lack of magic but because apparently Hunter, who walks around the castle without his mask ALL THE TIME, is known by literally no one in the EC because he's easily forgotten... Until Labyrinth Runners where every scout can now easily identify him immediately.

It makes it so that Frollo appears to genuinely have a conflicted nature... While Belos is just a bad man who is bad at his job and even worse at actually using his religious motivation to justify what he's doing because he's so inconsistent and seems to have no idea what he's actually doing. Like I said: Belos has no Hellfire in him because I never believe he's actually religious. Frollo on the other hand is shown from the first sequence to GENUINELY be God fearing. He uses God to also hurt but his convictions are real and that's part of what makes him so terrifying because only a moment like Hellfire could ever change things with him. Nothing else but his own piety could ever change how he treats the world because so long as he has that conviction of faith, he will never waver. This also makes him actually MUCH more cutting as far as religious critiques go because it's easy to point at the leaders of the Crusades and goes, "Those men were greedy assholes who wanted power." It's a lot harder to genuinely depict the TERROR of what holy motivation does to a person, like why the common soldiers of the Crusades were willing to go so far just for their faith and a chance to not end up damned for that which they were good at.

Meanwhile, I only say nothing could ever stop Belos' rage because that is simply his narrative role. Because he is just a conman who seems to do nothing, part of me assumes, honestly, that an Esmerelda coming into his life would actually make him turn native. He would chain her up and enslave her, sure, but all he wants is glory and praise. He wants a title, not moral superiority. As such... Why wouldn't he make the same choice his brother did if a hot enough witch offered up her ass? Maybe he just gets turned off by the pointy ears?

Like I can't tell you, besides rage about his brother for literally FOUR. HUNDRED. YEARS. why Belos goes to the extremes he does because for as extreme as his hypocrisy... He isn't extreme in action. He doesn't seem to mostly care about what's going on in the Isles, even as he has to wait FIFTY YEARS after coming to power to kill... Like 70% maybe of the population since apparently during that entire time, he never once thought about how he'd go about killing the kids.

It's not compelling and it's not interesting but this is one TOH's inherent issues. It knows really cool ideas and examples. Frollo is a great Disney villain for a reason (and also proof that Disney WILL theoretically let you tackle this subject matter and TOH didn't even do a tenth of what Hunchback did with its religious stuff. In fact, I need to do a blog on how I think the Titan actually reinforces Christian Fundamentalism.) But... TOH doesn't understand what makes the source material compelling. It's not willing to put in the work or the clever writing to really sell why these characters are the way they are. They're just instead character types and tropes that Tumblr and Twitter like thrown in because that's what's in a good story right?

And so we have shells of much better characters, just like Belos wears Frollo like a cheap skin.

======+++++======

I have admittedly not seen Hunchback of Notre Dame in SO. LONG. so this might not be 100% right and sorry about that.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[velvetshirtnumber3]

Predictions for DFF:

Por is already dead.

Fluke’s paranoia is gonna get him killed.

White is going to save himself (heavy final girl vibes)

Tee gets killed in an act of bravery to make up for his transgressions.

Top gets killed while possessed.

Tan and Phee were not involved in Non’s diss appearance. One of them is collateral damage, or the other one is the second killer.

Jin is being haunted by Non’s spirit who had a crush on him. He will probably have to make a sacrifice in some way to be free from it.

These are great predictions, and having watched episode 4 its really interesting to see how they've panned out!

Poor Por....he's certainly dead now. Though I will not entirely rule out Non's spirit possessing his body and using it to try to kill the others, because I think that would be equally interesting and disturbing.

Fluke's paranoia definitely will hurt him at some point...I don't think he fully trusts anyone anymore, and separating himself in any way from the rest of the group won't end well for him. I thought that with Por's death he might change his behavior, but nope. He might care about his friends, but it seems not more than saving himself and his future.

You know, I really hope White does save himself. I think he's definitely capable of it, plus he seems like a genuinely nice person and I don't want anything to happen to him.

I really think Tee would be willing to die to save White, at least. Over the course of the series so far, he has become less and less likable, with his implied actions in the past. His only redeeming trait is that he seems like a decent boyfriend. Those I think it would be more meaningful for his character to sacrifice himself to save his friends or because he was truly remorseful. I think the sole reason I kind of want him to survive (at least for the moment) is because him dying would really hurt White. Plus at this point in the story, I think White's grief would make him more susceptible to getting killed (as anyone's would) and I really don't want that.

So you seem to be right on the mark about Top! Possessed ✔, Shot (apparently) ✔. Honestly the fact that they cut right before seeing if Fluke shot him doesn't give me confidence that he actually killed him but that is next week's episode so for now that is what happened and there is no evidence to the contrary.

I think you are correct about Tan and Phee not being involved in the disappearance of Non. I don't think either of them has really been targeted specifically. The only times the figure has gone after them has been when they were with someone else (I think). As for the other part, I feel like Tan just gives off collateral damage vibes...like you just look at him and think, "There's a good chance that you would not survive in a horror movie" and that is essentially what they are in. I have definitely seen a lot of posts about some of Phee's suspicious behavior so he definitely could be the second killer. He is at the least hiding something that is causing him to act weird. I kind of feel like if he is the second killer that there will be some people who survive. He just seems like he wouldn't kill people who don't deserve it (like White), at least to me.

One think I really wonder about Jin is his place in all this, which I think will become more clear as we see more about the past. Jin was part of the group in the past involved in something happening to Non, so depending on his part in it, he could be one of the targets. But it does seem like Non had a crush on him, so he might not be a target. I don't how much Jin cared about him; Jin was one of the people in the beginning insisting on not watching the old tape so he definitely knows something about what happened to Non, and it hasn't really stopped him being friends with the group. Though Jin leaving to go the U.S. (if I remember correctly) could be him trying to leave them behind. As for a sacrifice, I wonder what it would be....

Thank you so much for the ask!

[theboy-thebitch-thelegend]

if u dont want my long ass rambling about Alastor, and some minor spoilers, dont look 😅 but he's my blorbo and therefore i'm studying him like a fucked up little bug (affectionate)

I see Alastor's character as a combination, mainly, of three main traits/motivations, plus one that i'm more guessing on but wouldnt surprise me:

1. he lacks empathy. this isn't a moral judgment, just a trait he displays

2. he seeks freedom above all else, but if asked, would rather admit to seeking power above all else. i believe his attempts to gain power are (consciously or not) a means to the end of freedom, not vice versa

3. he sorts people (demons, angels, whatever) into two categories: those he has control over, and those he doesnt. he is capable of respecting and forming relationships with only the latter category. not saying theyre healthy relationships, but they are often at least somewhat functional and prove lasting

...

the fourth (speculation) is that he hates himself lmao. which i think gets very intertwined with number 3. he's very self centered, that's just his view of the world(s). he has more respect for people who he has trouble controlling because he sees them as being in the same category as himself (as opposed to them being in the broader general category of a puppet audience beneath him). however he's not able to feel anything much deeper for them, because if his only lenses are "idiots" vs. "people like me", well. he has no respect for the former and no capability for love of the latter.

...

i think his inability to feel empathy or love leads him to have interesting motivations. freedom through power is perhaps the main one, as i mentioned. but when he first came to the hotel he stated his main goal was to be entertained. while he definitely had additional motives, i do think that was a true statement.

i think he's fascinated by Charlie because, well. she's the princess of hell. she should theoretically be one of the most powerful beings there. she *could* rule hell with an iron fist, if she wanted. but she doesnt. and i think Alastor wanted to see what that was about, i think it intrigued him.

right off the bat, she refuses to make a deal with him. that choice solidly places her in the "people he respects" category, by virtue of her keeping grasp on her own power and freedom. since that's Alastor's main goal for himself, it makes sense that he is drawn to others who manage to achieve it. if she'd taken a deal, the rest of the season wouldve gone way differently.

and probably, not as entertainingly.

one of the key parts of entertainment is that you don't quite know what's going to happen next. for a control freak like Alastor, that's hard to come by, unless he himself *is* the entertainment (which is a big part of his character). but he stated he came to the hotel to BE entertained. i see that as an admission that he didnt know what to expect from the hotel. which, coming from a powerful being, is quite a compliment- almost a statement that he believes in them.

i think Charlie challenges those fundamental categories that he puts people in. he can't sort her into either one. he can't control her, but she's nothing like himself. he knows she has something he doesn't. and unlike most other people, it's not something he can take from her to acquire for himself:

the ability to love.

as i said in the tags of a post i just reblogged:

#i think its interesting that the night before the fight tho when he's talking about getting used to the lot of them #it almost seemed a bit wistful #like i always knew he was fighting for his own goal whatever that may be #and yes he'll make alliances and stay loyal to them #but i really do think he was starting to wish it could be deeper than that #i dont know if he considers himself capable of it #we know he has old friends #not just strategic alliances but what actually appear to be friendships by every outward definition #but i dont think he's allowed himself (or believed himself able to) actually *feel* something for them #even when he can and will play the role of a friend and ally for various reasons #i think the hotel started to 'work' on him more than he anticipated #he didnt quite get to the point of truly feeling love for them #loyalty, protectiveness, willingness to avenge- yes. but he didnt feel love for them quite yet #but i think he wanted to. #ultimately he still was fighting for freedom (and i think his attempts to gain power are to that end, not vice versa). but i think he #did at least *want* to feel love even if he wasnt quite able to yet #and i think thats the only reason he didnt die.

in the battle, he lost his microphone, which represented his power, the measure of freedom and control he was able to claim: it's literally a tool to amplify and broadcast one's voice. by most reasonable calculations, he shouldve died. instead, his power and freedom was "killed"- but yet he wasn't.

the hotel didn't quite redeem him just yet: but i think it made him consider things he never had before.

...

i found it interesting that there was no big fuss about his return. they had to all assume he was either dead, or deserted them. he had to know that they would assume one or the other: and neither one looks good on him. yet he confidently just shows up again and falls right back into the group. whether he realizes it or not, he knows on some level that they will accept him back.

he might not be able to love himself, and he might not be able to love them- maybe not yet, or maybe even not ever. but some part of him knows that they love him. and accepts it enough to go back without shame.

some might read that as more of a strategic move to keep furthering his own ends. and actually tbh i think *he* only sees it as that.

but there *is* more to it than that. there *is* love there, and he's connected to it in some way, which is probably a first for him. and i think/hope that *thats* what will end up being the key to his freedom.

[petit-papillion]

https://www.tumblr.com/petit-papillion/742595050403446784?source=share

Its sad that they didn't trust charles to be the leader of the project. Now they're talking about him learning like he was some rookie. He will be 28 when lewis arrive, in his seven season at f1. That's his prime

The story of an unexperienced charles learning by having a wdc teammate already happened in 2019. They decided to send the wdc away and supposedly were going to focus on charles as the new leader, but that never happened. And now they're selling this lewis move with the same story again, "a opportunity for charles" he will learn", as if time hasn't passed. Maybe it's because charles looks very boyish still so it's easy to sell the apprentice narrative.

Honesty I wouldn't be surprised if after 2028 max eventually decides to try ferrari, they will boot charles away without ever actually giving him the car to win and trusting him to lead the project.

Hi Anon! Respectfully, hard disagree. I don't think this is a matter of Charles being inexperienced/an apprentice, who needs someone to learn from. Charles is a very capable and accomplished driver himself. That doesn't mean there aren't still things he can learn from someone with many more years of driving experience (in a championship-winning car no less) than him. It would be the same if Alonso had joined the team. Fernando is a very cunning driver who has often used his seniority in driving experience to his advantage. To not see it as an opportunity to learn new or improve existing skills, would be foolish.

I think Ferrari also hopes Lewis' knowledge of how Mercedes operates as a team, comparing their car to the ones he drove for Merc, etc. will be beneficial to help the Ferrari team grow. There are many reasons for Ferrari to want Lewis on their team, that are not needing someone else to lead the project.

Time will tell whether I am right in my assumptions, but I truly believe that they are not discarding Charles as their hope for next WDC. They know that Charles is extremely well liked all around, he is a marketing dream, the tifosi worship the ground he walks on, and after everything he has been through (both in his personal life and with Ferrari), it would be a true fairy tale if he was the one to bring the championship home again at last.

As for Ferrari booting Charles out for Max... Not going to say "inconceivable", because stranger things have happened in F1, but I'd find it highly unlikely with the current people in place at Ferrari, and what I know about Max (which, granted, is not a lot). Let's not forget they were at risk of losing Charles after Silverstone, and they ended up replacing Binotto with Fred, who has a strong relationship with Charles (and Lewis for that matter). And then they gave Fred pretty much free rein to hire/fire as he saw fit to make the team stronger, (with some of the first people to go being those who did not appear to be supporting Charles as the #1 driver).

I do feel like there is a risk of Lewis getting credit for turning the team around when he arrives in 2025, when it is clear that Fred has been working hard to make changes since he started last year. And Charles's input is clearly more valued now. His feedback/suggestions being implemented in car development, strategy, etc. So I really hope that Ferrari can already show this year that they are making giant steps forward, and Charles can pocket a decent number of podiums/wins. Of course there's no telling how dominant the Newey/RB/Max combo will be this year. We may just be looking at another season ending with 23/24 wins by RBR...

In closing, here is a lovely quote from John Elkann at the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix: "Charles is a very strong driver with enormous potential, and there is no reason why he cannot become world champion."

[thequeenofthewinter]

I come bearing corvid questions of the what if variety. A sociological question for you. What do you think the Nord concept of "honor" might be, and what are its cultural implications? If you were to elaborate on what TES gives us (or extrapolate athwart to it), what might you come away with? Take it as an invitation for wild meta XD

Very sorry it took me so long to get to this, Para, but it has been rattling around in my brain for the last week. I hope that any of this also makes sense at all because I think I started rambling at the end.

I think there are a myriad of ways that one could think about honor and its role in Nord society at different levels or rather, how we can see how this concept affects everyday society/culture from the top down.

Take for instance one of our favorite Nordic insults: “milk-drinker.” Why is it there and how is it used in order to classify who or what is seen as honorable—or conversely in this case DIShonorable: drinking milk. Why? There has to be some concept there which is related to the simple act of an apparent beverage choice. Seems very innocuous, doesn’t it? There has to be something behind it because why else would random bandit chief #76 insult is in this way. What can this language choice tell us? This could go many ways and I don’t pretend to have the answer to this, but my best guess is that milkdrinking is seen as an activity for infants. (Obviously cheese is for real honorable macho adults.) So…what is there with the implication? You are a baby. You are incapable of taking care of yourself or swinging around your big burly battleaxe or maybe that you’re even taking the easy road out by accepting some of the most readily-available food source available in Skyrim. Honor is seen in strong action and proving oneself as being capable.

I’ll let you stew on that for a second as we look at something else.

On a similar note, finding a partner in Skyrim is much the same thing. How does one go about doing it? While we might find the whole system of, “Go fetch me X thing in Y creepy frostbite spider infested cave” to be laughable, there is also a lot to be said about Nordic culture and their beliefs about honor as well. I mean, who wouldn’t want a good and honorable husband or wife? It would appear that they place a higher priority on actions than romantics. (Although, we can find romantics there! Think of Jon and Olfina.) It’s stated by Maramal himself that life is ”hard and short” for the “earnest” people of Skyrim, so by wearing an amulet of Mara and then having potential marriage candidates respond to it only after certain actions…well, I think that speaks a lot about what is honorable. 

…Or perhaps what we really should talk about is my pet “blorbo,” Ulfric. What is honor and how do the people respond to him and his actions? We know that there is a huge dichotomy of Empire vs Stormcloak and implications, opinions, and the dreaded discourse depending on whose side you are on. What’s the main problem with the man? Why is or isn’t he honorable? I’m not going to touch the whole thing here because I don’t have any wish to stir the bees. I only want to look at two particular:

The Challenging of High King Torygg

Skyrim’s Civil War

A lot of how you’re going to view Ulfric’s actions as honorable or dishonorable is going to heavily lean on what your personal belief system is in relation to morality (even if most of it is really very grey in Skyrim) and the concept of what is right and wrong. (And it’s not about who you think is going to actually win the war at all.) Is it moral that Ulfric used his ability to Shout to challenge High King Torygg? Depends on who you ask. I don’t want to go too far down this rabbit hole right now because I would write a whole 5 paragraph essay (actually probably more) about it and I’m not prepared to do that at the moment. But let’s just suffice it to say it all boils down to actions. Is it honorable that Ulfric stands up to defend the people of Skyrim and take it back from a clearly crumbing Empire to save their province? Or is dishonorable that he slaughters a young and naïve ruler to pave the way for his own coronation? Is he a hero or is he an egotistical megalomaniac? Is he perhaps both? I can’t tell you. Only YOU can tell yourself that and it’s the beauty to the TES universe. We can pick, decide, and choose what is and isn’t honorable just as much as the people who are in Skyrim. We can imagine what they think or feel and make deductions based on what we do or do not see in the context.

Anyway, I think all of this at its essence comes back to the same thing: Respect. Do you respect the other person you are in combat with? Do you respect the person proposing marriage to you? Do you respect Ulfric’s decisions and actions?

Being able to prove oneself as strong and capable and having traits which demonstrate to that you are reliable, I believe, is part of this. At the end of the day, people respond to actions and people respect or honor you based on that.

[12pt-times-new-roman]

some observations on the recent lore drop:

It's definitely very interesting to note which provinces were left behind by the consumed gods. Darkness and order are both covered pretty thoroughly by the rest of the pantheon (by Tharizdun and Erathis, respetively), but fate and winter are both entirely absent from the rest of the pantheon until we get to the Matron of Ravens, eons after Ethedok and Vordo were consumed. So it sounds like to me that the Matron, when she ascended, got the scraps of what those gods left behind -- winter from Ethedok, fate from Vordo, and death from the previous god of death. If those domains were considered "taboo" or "tainted" among the pantheon, that could help to explain why the Matron was sort of scorned by the rest of the gods.

Given its description, I think Predathos is definitely an elder evil, or something even older than them. But if it is capable of entirely consuming and destroying two whole-ass gods, who knows.

Predathos, Vordo, and Ethedok all appear to be unique creations of Matt's. Their names don't match anything from existing D&D or Pathfinder lore like the rest of the pantheon.

Predathos was referred to multiple times as being, specifically, from "beyond the stars." Which is the exact wording that Evandrin used to describe the power Zerxus drew from and the power that he himself would seek out to bring Zerxus home. And if Zerxus is at the right hand of the Lord of the Hells and the only way to break that bond is to destroy the Lord of the Hells, well then... you see where this is going.

It's also worth noting that Ruidus' influence seems to incite things having to do with all three entities' domains, not just Predathos'. And this makes a lot of sense, given that, from C1, we know that gods aren't just creatures, they tend to be entire swaths of planes; so if that is the case, Predathos would've had to consume both the gods themselves and their domains.

Ruidus flares started becoming exponentially more frequent in the past decade, but the Verity only knows this because more Ruidus-born people had been showing up at the Omen Archive. This suggests that the flares increased in frequency around 30 years ago, so it could correlate with Vecna's ascension to godhood. (That's not to say that Vecna is involved, 'cause I don't think he is, but the cosmos rearranging themselves to accommodate an entire new god had to effect some things.)

The Nightmare King apparently revels in chaos, which is something I might've missed but that the cast seems to have picked up on. And that's certainly Something. Because guess what? The only elder evil besides Tharizdun we really know anything else about is Ceratos of Many Minds, who is a lesser idol (CN, great old one) who instructs their followers to incite chaos in the world so that they may reunite their many minds deep within Exandria and who teaches their followers that "chaos brings clarity and destruction brings rebirth."

and some etymology:

Vordo is an obsolete plural conjugation of the Swedish varda, "to become." It could also be related to the Catalan bordar, "to incite."

Ethedok is more obscure and I can't really find anything on it.

Predathos is probably derived from predation and variants. Given this, I think it's fair to assume that no one knows what Predathos' name actually is, only that the gods called it what it was: a predator.

[soullessjack]

so uh suncaptor blocked me and although they can’t see it, i do first want to say i am sorry if I’ve upset them or made them feel like they’re being accused of anything. that wasn’t my intent and never is. but I rlly can’t stress enough that the forefront of the problem with their perspective is inherently seeing jack as an infant within canon. like this isn’t an ableism thing, it’s just a factually wrong thing.

Asmodeus says that Jack is new to the world, but not a child.

Jack says twice that he could not be and is not a child.

The only person to ever call Jack a child is Michael, and he explicitly says so to belittle Jack and make him feel weak.

There is plenty of merit in discussing Jack’s limited experience as a factor in his character, but I’ve only ever seen it taken in the vein that he is infantile and therefore a perpetual victim of everything because of it is, which just wrong by the show’s own portrayal. Not only that, but it does it disregard the actual power imbalance he has with TFW, and how that itself so factors into his character. I don’t know how or why it’s brushed off so much, but Jack is literally “the most powerful being in the universe.” He’s regarded as a threat constantly, and repeatedly expresses the very real fear that he might hurt his family or anybody else in a moment of lost control.

I also feel that the idea of his dynamic being considered as exclusively mistreatment by TFW/the other hunters is just. Not true. Like, Dean’s bullshit lasted for two weeks before he got over himself and he canonically never forgave himself for it for the entire two years he got to know Jack better. And again, Jack is the strongest person in the team. Nothing they have can remotely hurt him, and he’s very much aware of it, hence the sunshiny golden boy act. Jack is constantly trying to make himself appear safer. It’s about being liked, of course, but it’s also about being distinctly Not A Threat Because to jack, That’s Why He’s Hated.

when Mrs Butters states that Jack is so powerful Sam and Dean should be afraid of him, he never outwardly refutes that he’s powerful. he only says “but I would never hurt them.” when Michael is monologuing to him about how powerful he’ll become with age, he “doesn’t want to admit that could be possible.” Jack is very painfully aware of his power and what it means for the people around him, and he’s also very aware of their fear when it’s directed at him. He’s felt that fear.

Jack has an interesting and confusing dynamic with TFW from the start: that he must be protected from harm while also being kept from causing harm himself. re this post about his autonomy, and how he wants to be seen as trustworthy and safe, it’s extremely upsetting to Jack when he thinks that dynamic has shifted or changed. he’s blatantly annoyed to have everybody check up on him and look over his shoulder, to give him food tests for his morality; to not really trust him, especially after all he does for them and to belong with them.

I know a LOT of this stuff stems from Jack In The Box and I understand how and why it did and frankly that episode is its own can of worms so ill be as brief as I can and highlight a few things about JITB first:

• re his limited experience being a factor in his character, jack is incredibly naive to the point of it being a fatal flaw, one he cannot afford to have and is very aware of the cost it comes with. he views his naivety as a weakness, as stupidity, and him “sucking when it matters,” and per his need to be Safe and Trustworthy he is always trying to be Smarter and Stronger and Better and More Capable than his flaws or perceived weaknesses. that is one of the horrors of his character, and one which inherently drives him through all of his arcs, especially agreeing to be locked up under false pretenses because, again, HE KNOWS HE IS DANGEROUS AND WANTS TO BE SAFE.

Dean was reliving his childhood trauma after decades of living with it and never fully recovering from it; he had every reason to be behaving the way he did. His conflict with Jack is very easily summarized as two insanely unstable guys spiraling and hurting each other in their own grief. And again, he spent two years regretting and unforgiving what he did to Jack early on and making concerted efforts to amend for it as a father/friend/mentor. He’s a better parent than he’s given credit for is what I’ll end with.

The box was never going to keep Jack forever. We already knew he would get out. It’s hard to say this in a way that doesn’t undermine the trauma Jack indefinitely has from it, but it cannot physically hurt him and cannot kill him. Sam and Dean tricking him into it is not a threat or imbalanced abuse (and I cannot stress enough, these are not normal healthy people with normal problems or normal healthy solutions). In fact, the entire scene of him breaking out and leering out at them through smoke with pure hatred in his eyes just shows that he is the one on the other side of the imbalance, not them. Jack is the threat, and the dynamic is tense because of it.

I’m kind of losing myself in the ramble, but what I am trying to say is that

A) Jack is not an infant. Never was one, never will be, and he hates being called one because it’s almost always in the context of belittlement and him being weak/incapable. he shows sexual and romantic interest, he has a love interest, he’s regarded as a young adult by everybody who respects him (so not Michael). he wants to pull his own weight, and resents being considered a burden.

B) Jack is not helpless; he is a nigh-omnipotent demigod with apocalyptic levels of power, especially in the case of mental/emotional instability. He deeply fears hurting his loved ones, and strives to have constant control over himself so that he can be safe for them. The power imbalance only lies in his choice to not hurt them, which he has chosen against in those silly fits of rage that nobody ever acknowledges

B+ ) and he isn’t a helpless victim of child abuse either; for all of their dysfunctions and “I might have to kill you”s (which have always been there pre-jack), TFW2.0 does genuinely love each other as a family and make efforts to be better for each other. They’ve faltered before, but again, they aren’t normal people dealing with normal situations and they do not have the liberty to respond normally or even appropriately.

C) Jack’s lack of experience and knowledge is a very real thing, but it’s more about him constantly trying to make the right decisions and earn peoples’ trust in him that he will make them, as well as avoid making the wrong ones because that consistently leads to him hurting people who don’t deserve it. All of which is wrapped up in a little pink bow as to Jack asserting his autonomy/personhood and arguing for his capability/responsibility at any chance.

••

I’m not angry and I’m not ever trying to attack anyone. It’s just incredibly frustrating that this specific misconception fumbles the rest of the discussions people have around jack and only ever makes it harder to have them. which in turn is even more frustrating on a personal level because he’s my special interest and I can never not think about him, but there’s hardly anything to engage with on a broader level

[officiallralsei]

you've mentioned that you've been thinking about a specific au lately on the blog 👀 whats the deal there

well me and @gasterofficial were talking about what would happen if gaster's version of ralsei WASN'T successfully made to be able to handle eldritch knowledge. I've discussed it before on the blog, but I have the headcanon that the light can literally burn darkners who aren't prepared for it. (this comes from spamton having quite a bit of dialogue implying that he was burned/changed in some way by the knowledge he gained.) in blogverse canon, ralsei's got very sensitive eyes because he's still recovering from his initial exposure to that knowledge.

so if he wasn't successfully built to handle more Light Exposure than your average darkner... the logical conclusion is that gaining too much knowledge would blind him. after researching, i don't think it would be full blindness as that's kind of rare, but it would impair him badly enough that he would have trouble navigating on his own.

this is a problem for gaster. he needs to have a darkner guide, and now he's got EIGHT busted little guys. ralsei's certainly clever and adaptable, but he is NOT used to functioning blind just yet and there's not much time left before the game absolutely needs to start. a functional guide is a critical necessity to save the world of deltarune. and gaster just does not have the resources to try again.

so, out of luck and out of options, gaster becomes the worlds worst Ghost Guide to assist ralsei in his Actual Guide duties. guy who tells ralsei about his surroundings and also never shuts the fuck up. and is also his ghost dad who can't be perceived by others unless they're in a truly liminal space.

so what arises is a truly dysfunctional and codependent parent-child dynamic between these two. gaster likes ralsei but like... never really gives him room to make decisions on his own since hes constantly telling him what to do. ultimately he believes ralsei just kind of has to be a means to an end, no matter how much personal affection gaster has for him, due to the nature of ralsei being Born To Save The World, and that makes their relationship deeply unhealthy. meanwhile ralsei, who is a bit traumatized from being Literally Scorched By Horrible Knowledge in the first minute of his existence, is pretty happy to just let himself be directed constantly by someone who is kind to him and appears to have his best interests at heart. he ends up being quite sheltered due to all this. plus gaster also keeps telling him constantly Not To Think Too Much About The Fucked Up Things so he's gotten good at that.

thematically, the entire thing, at least for me, is another lens through which to look at deltarune's themes of agency and personhood. children, particularly disabled children, frequently have their personhood and agency denied to them because of the idea that they aren't capable of handling themselves. that's not to say that children and disabled people don't need SUPPORT, of course, but that support should be enabling them to make decisions for themselves when possible and appropriate, rather than denying them opportunities for agency. adding those particular lenses onto ralsei's canonical status as a darkner (which is a category of Unperson within the narrative) provides a lot of interesting ground with which to explore his emerging independence and self-actualization. also I just think its rad to think about weird Fucked Up Ghost Dad shenanigans

tldr:

[subatoism]

God okay so another thing that gets my gears turning is that one bit in Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges when Julian says he’s incapable of making a diagnosis by simply looking at a man, to which Sloan replies, “Oh, your genetically enhanced friends determined that Gul Damar killed a woman just by watching him give a political speech. I’m sure you can do better than that.” Which he then very much does.

Because like,, up to this point in the series, I was kind of writing off the discrepancy between the abilities the other Augments have (learning Dominionese in one day, reading Damar’s entire backstory from his nonverbals, etc) and what we see from Julian both before and after Doctor Bashir, I Presume as purely a result of the writing problems that inevitably occur when you throw in a revelation like that so late in a show.

Which, yeah, I still think it is that. But in-universe, it makes the question of how Julian has so thoroughly managed to hide any signs of his augmentation this whole time much more immediate. Obviously this is something that a lot of other people have already examined, and probably more eloquently than I can, but I just want to work through my own thoughts on the topic.

So, assuming that Julian has roughly the same intellectual capacities as the other Augments, there are a couple possibilities:

[1] Julian is a brilliant actor. Since the very beginning of the show, he has been subtly playing up his own spotty observational/deductive skills in certain areas specifically to maintain his cover. This, of course, has profound implications for interpreting almost any scene he is in pre-DBIP (and particularly for all of his relationships with people who only ever see this persona). I mean god!! Confronting how complete an enigma the real Julian Bashir is if you accept this interpretation makes me feel insane.

But it also says something about all of his scenes after DBIP: That he can’t let it go. Can’t drop the façade, either because it’s ingrained habit to pretend or because he still believes (rightly or wrongly) that displaying his full potential will eventually lead to Starfleet changing its mind about letting him go free. Like, this guy is 3x more traumatized than he appears at any given moment.

[2] Julian intentionally avoids knowing/paying attention to things.

Not when it comes to medicine, for the most part. Sacrificing the well-being of a patient to keep his own secret is absolutely antithetical to his core values, and I’m unwilling to entertain the idea that his fundamental motives are a falsehood. At the very least, if he did ever hold himself back out of fear and put someone else at risk by doing so, it would eat him alive for the rest of his life. So that’s a whole ‘nother level of trauma that the show never gets a chance to address.

But, anyway, he avoids thinking too hard about what he’s capable of— forces himself not to think through problems that it would be suspicious for him to solve; possibly even denies himself access to information that it would be alarming for him to memorize too quickly which, given his deep curiosity and hunger for knowledge, would be an almost painful act of self-denial. And, again, this behavior is so ingrained that he keeps doing it even after his secret is out. He doesn’t even think to try doing what the other Augments have clearly demonstrated they can do (at least, not outside the events of Statistical Probabilities, which may have actually reinforced his self-limitation given how all that turned out).

So, yeah, both of these options are just absolutely fucking tragic and make me want to cry but I cannot stop thinking about either one.