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triflesandparsnips · 1 year

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(eta 10/10/23: Having just realized that this is now a very easy to google explainer, please also see the full end-of-game roundup here: "when something is definitely not a game, but most definitely a gift" or my related #definitely not a game tag. We now return you to your regularly scheduled nonsense, currently in progress.)

So... so.

So this just dropped.

And listen. LISTEN. For people who haven't been following this Our Flag Means Death-related alternate-reality-shenanigan fest, the following will make no sense to you-- or, wait, fuck it--

A Brief History of the Javid Denkins Alternate-Reality Game

(I didn't intend "overly long essays about in-depth fandom-related shenanigans" to be my brand, but by god I'm here now and I will make us all suffer through it.)

Reality (As We Know It)

Established and verified gay pirate showrunner David Jenkins is a regular shenanigineer on twitter: retweets fanart, retweets cosplays, calls fans sluts (endearment), has ongoing fight with medieval cats.

Back in 2022, David Jenkins implied heavily that he had joined tumblr, but did not cough up his account name.

This is the sum total of real and actual events and identities.

Through the Looking Glass

Fans started looking for David Jenkins's tumblr. What fans found is the tumblr of one Javid Denkins, who appeared to be new, had a variant of Jenkins's twitter icon, and seemed to be cheekily maintaining an incognito by steadfastly asserting that he is definitely not David Jenkins.

Fans got weird about it, because that is the nature of fandom. I said something about it here, because I have Feelings about the Rules of Incognito and also about Not Being Weird About People Who Make the Content We Like. I put it as a reblog to the post, as per regular tumblring, no response requested/required because babes, if I'm going to be perceived, I want it to be organic. (ahem... FOOTNOTE 1)

I kept a cursory eye on things, because it can be Really Lonely to be a famous person who just wants to have a regular online experience, and if that's what whoever was on the other end wanted, then that's what they should get to have imo. Unlike a regular tumblr that I might reply to directly or engage with on a same-level kinda way, I let them set the rules of engagement because unless/until they came clean, they would always be Schrodinger's Showrunner to me, and therefore subject to my internal Don't Be Creepy ruleset.

My second Javid reblog was pretty much what I would do to any other newbie tumblr person (as they professed to be): adding on to a gag by referencing the "color of the sky" meme and also a seagull, for OFMD-related reasons (which fit within the ruleset, because Javid was actively connecting himself with OFMD type things). And Javid reblogged it, so hey, I was winning at tumblr interactions, a thing that is normal to want and possible to achieve.

Time passed. Javid dropped (what will be revealed to be the first of many) photo manipulations. (FOOTNOTE 2)

On the same day, Javid posted what looked like an accidental smashkey. I reblogged with a seagull, because again, established rules of engagement and me winning at tumblr interactions. He reblogged himself, though, with what looked like another smashkey, but was actually a goddamn Caesar cipher-- and started using the tag #definitely not a game.

From there, Javid started up a stream of fairly fun puzzles. I didn't keep up with it fully, but since it looked like Javid wanted people to interact, I interacted (while trying to ensure that other people could keep having fun too). He also started subtly changing his icon, his tumblr header, etc., expanding the bounds of the puzzle space, as it were. (And if you want a complete rundown of the puzzle history and the associated answers, this twitter thread is enormous and thorough, thank you @eefaevie.)

The seagull made an appearance every once in a while; I threw together various season 2 bingo cards in response to these potential spoilers; I spent my time largely keeping back so I could eat popcorn and Not Be Creepy. But... but.

The thing was, Javid's method of posting (in a "heeeere fishy fishy fishy" manner) seemed, to me, to be the actions of someone trying to play with the audience and/or provide enrichment for the enclosure. So after some thought and, again, remembering the loneliness of being a Creative Person but trying to be mindful that this person was still incognito and could be the actual dude, I started using the seagull to reblog extra content, links, whathaveyou, with the tag #enrichment can go in BOTH enclosures-- with the idea that, if Javid wanted to look, he had the option to do so-- and if he did, he'd be rewarded with, again, no demands on him or his attention, but just: some content. Some enrichment. Some fun. A "picking up what you're putting down" kind of vibe from one person to another, both of whom are, at the very least, interested in communicating with an audience.

To be clear: For me, at the end of the day, it had to be a choice. I needed to provide room for Javid to choose to enter the magic circle of my additional game play-- but I also wasn't going to hold my breath about it. This was Javid's space, with intentions and purposes I had no way of knowing (nor should I)-- I was just, metaphorically, bringing another set of dice and maybe some graph paper with an extra room drawn on it that he could easily enter if he wanted, to play in a space intended to complement his. He was putting in a shitton of labor for what was essentially just a gift; I wanted to show appreciation for that labor, while putting in some of my own to gift back.

So when the first round of puzzles ended, and a new one began, I linked the answers to one of his anagram puzzles inside some seagull gifs-- but I figured, why not add something extra? I used his pigpen cipher to dare him to use a book code next. To even see the dare he'd have to want to decode the gifs-- and if he ultimately didn't want to engage, no skin off my nose. (That's why there's a border around the magic circle with clear entrances and exits.) Either way, I was having a nice time.

The next puzzle type was a stereogram. (Neat.) The puzzle after that, though? I get tagged and informed that Javid has, in fact, posted a motherfucking book code. (FOOTNOTE 3)

Enter the Thunder Parasocial Dome

This is the point where I first have to be pulled down from the curtains by rational people who have only my best interests at heart.

(Having a whole Thesis Statement about why I was engaging with Schrodinger's Showrunner is one thing. Having possible evidence that my engagement was, like, actually engaged with is quite another.)

By sweet and loving friends and family I was reminded that:

Other people are, in fact, allowed to be clever about things too.

That all sorts of pre-planning may have gone into all this, and that therefore the timing was a coincidence.

That there are a limited number of easily accessible ciphers out there, so the code type could also be a coincidence.

And that either way I still have my important Don't Be Creepy code of ethics.

So. I took a deep breath. Cool. I was totally and absolutely cool about this.

...And in a totally normal manner I proceeded to lay an elaborate trap.

AHAHAHA JUST JOKING what I mean is: I replied to the tagged post, acknowledging that the sphere of potential puzzling had now expanded beyond tumblr. I used Javid's own fake-link trick to link to a seagull laugh. And in the tags I threw in a lot of potential internet-related alternate reality stuff.

But also, crucially... some more ideas for Javid to use. (FOOTNOTE 4) If he wanted them. If he was actually looking.

Since I was now playing In Earnest, I spent some time putting together a youtube channel, an alternate tumblr, a neocities account -- a whole new field of play, if Javid wanted to engage there. I pulled out the dusty memories of a Yuletide fic I wrote several years ago that used similar shenanigans to tell an interactive fiction story about Monty Python. (Hilariously enough, my first RPF.) I continued to play with all these new and fascinating toys.

A Strange Ship on the Horizon

What with one thing and another three years pass, a Javid puzzle eventually lead to an AO3 account-- which to me definitively opened Schrodinger's box: maybe this was a member of the production playing with fire, more likely it was a clever fan whose brain is fucking fascinating, but it most definitely was not David Jenkins.

But. Javid was still in incognito. And I still don't know if I had been perceived.

I read the fic the Javid account is writing (which is still a work in progress and pretty great ngl)-- it's a fandom AU, where Ed and Stede are fans of a gay pirate romcom called Blow the Man Down, featuring Sam Bellamy and Olivier Levasseur. The showrunner is named Javid, who doesn't have social media but gets cornered into agreeing to join twitter (rather than our universe's tumblr). And Ed decides, on a lark, to start a fake twitter account, tag it #definitelynotjaviddenkins... and then freak out because a large contingent of fandom shows up on his metaphorical doorstep saying HELLO, JAVID.

As if this weren't enough: beyond the fic itself, suddenly a whole multimedia alternate universe suddenly appeared, with multiple twitter and AO3 accounts beyond just Stede and Ed, forming an entire fucking fandom, Goncharov-style, around Blow the Man Down. It was and continues to be fucking wild. It's also amazing. And the porn is surprisingly approachable. (BUT SEE AGAIN FOOTNOTE 1)

Grappling Hooks Breaching the Parasocial Divide

The thing is, though. The thing. That is.

I have officially reached Level 2 Curtain Clawing.

As I read the fic and the accompanying universe, I started to. Notice things.

References to soap (but... but surely that's normal. Many people talk about soap, not just amateur history enthusiasts like myself).

References to obscure scents (LABDANUM. Someone referenced labda-motherfucking-num. But surely. Surely it is not an entirely unheard of thing; I am not the first person to discover it or the fact that it gets combed from goats jesus christ the goat thing I forgot about that--)

References to the drilled coin from the wreck of Sam Bellamy's ship, which appeared as a random bit of possible future lore for Javid in this bit of enrichment (but I put in lots of possible lore! I had a whole thing going about figureheads! Bad luck to kill a seabird! I had a whole thing for a while where I thought maybe the digraph code Javid was hinting at was actually a Playfair cipher! I have been wrong many times before and added lots of random possible narratives. SO SURELY THE COIN IS A COINCIDENCE).

References to... okay not really references, and I've never articulated it quite like this (though this is definitely my vibe), but references to the idea of these puzzles and enrichment being a conversation in and of themselves, held at a remove and existing entirely in call (Javid) and response (the audience).

Finally... I started to notice that Stede decodes/interprets Ed-as-Javid's puzzles in a long twitter thread (like... like the one linked above) but also... sends back puzzles. Like, well, me.

"But STILL," I screech from the top of the curtain rail. "This could ALL BE COINCIDENCE," I yowl as friends and family try to bat me down with a broom. Even, by god, today's drop... which uses a password-protected url shortener. The exact same one I used in an earlier enrichment. But! It's not like there are a lot of those! Maybe this was just the first one that cropped up for Javid, just as it was the first that cropped up for me! (BUT THEN AGAIN, MAY I REFER YOU BACK TO FOOTNOTE 4)

The fic is at chapter 14. There are, if AO3 is to be believed, 7 more chapters to go, plus who knows how much additional extra-universe material. There is so. much. here.

...And so many more opportunities to climb all the curtains.

“It's a great huge game of chess that's being played—all over the world—if this is the world at all, you know.”

So at this point... what, in fact, is happening?

I'm inside a Schrodinger's box whose sides are entirely composed of parasocial uncertainty.

Maybe Javid is here. (HELLO, JAVID.)

Maybe he isn't! (HELLO, THE MIRROR IN MY ENCLOSURE.)

Maybe I'm not actually being referenced at all, but the writer of that twitter thead, @eefaevie, is (HI EEFAEVIE WHAT'S UP HOW'S THE PARASOCIAL AIR IN YOUR ENCLOSURE DOIN')

I don't know. I can't know. Unless someone opens the box.

and my god, what if they never do?

tl;dr. This is the most enriching fun I've had in months, and if the magic circle is going to widen to include me, then friend, I intend to BRING MY A-GAME.

---

FOOTNOTES

1. During the course of that mini-essay, I say the following:

"If it's someone who is not the dude but just a tumblrite who managed to catch on really quick? Well goddamn, good for them, and also A+ Wink-Nudge acrobatics. Real dude can have a peaceful time reading critical analyses of Goncharov, Javid here can quietly start introducing strange lore and running gags and other fun-with-plausible-deniability shenanigans".

One day later Javid starts answering questions about characters with enigmatic season 2 spoilery things; a little less than ten days later, we get the first fake link (which, imo, is the real start of the game).

2. This is now only 24 days after my "strange lore and fun with plausible deniability" post.

3. My dare: January 26. Javid's book code: February 4.

4. My tags on the post wherein I acknowledge that the dare has, possibly, been taken up, read: #you know what's cool? besides how #enrichment can go in BOTH enclosures #is how much you can do with html #like sure sure we've all seen the embedded links #but I remember the days of hidden source code messages #websites with delayed redirects #passwords hidden on one site to open the locked contents of another #you know #~normal things~ #I'm certain none of this will become relevant #because this is #definitely not a game

#OH HEY also eta 10/10/23: changed 'augmented' to 'alternate' because that's a more accurate description #definitely not a game #our flag means death #enrichment can go in BOTH enclosures #the absolute wildness of narrative and alternate reality games #a brief history of #javid denkins #and probably someone needs to start spritzing me with a spray bottle or something because this is #this is a lot

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fatheriimaginedyoutaller · 6 months

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(SCRIPT PREVIEW)

Hey ya'll. Hope you're all having a great afternoon! I'm here to bring you a little update about this post.

After watching some video essays for inspiration, I began developing a draft for a script about Robin: Son of Batman (2015). Analyzing the story implications, themes and motifs! :)

And because ya'll been so supportive of my nerdy endeavours, you guys are getting a special preview of the aforementioned draft! (criticisms accepted of course!)

Part of the script avaliable under cut

tagging in: @fancyfade @fluffykitty149 @cleoeatsit

The first issue of the comic run starts with Damiam returning some sort of cultural artifacts to their rightful owners; an order of monks in mainland China. So, immediately, we got this Tomb Raider/Indiana Jones kind of plot point.

(Man I sure hope it doesn’t get abandoned halfway through and pivots to portraying the replacement of an autocracy with another autocracy where the head of state its not even from the country as a good thing)

ahem…

He gets interrupted by League of Assassins members which he fights off with the help of his pet, Goliath the Bat-dragon. He wins said fight and is lavished for returning the sacred object by the locals

All while a masked figure is observing the scene while saying:

“(...) there cannot be redemption for the year of the blood”

This introduction to the comic is interesting because it highlights the main narrative theme and framing device of the whole story: The Quest for Redemption.

Before we even know exactly what Damian is doing and why he's doing it. We know he's looking to mend a rift. To make a past wrongdoing right. And then we find out someone wants to stop him…

This forms an interesting parallel with real life survivors of schoolyard abuse aka bullying.

Now, hear me out…

Many kids (especially those with conditions such as autism) are manipulated by their bullies into doing bad things to other children. They generally do this by preying on their loneliness and desire to be accepted by their peers. And so said kids carry out acts of hazing to other children, perpetuating a cycle of harm.

A cycle which is hard to escape from. Because if you hurt someone, regardless of if you were manipulated or not, that person will probably not trust you after the fact. And if you add into account the environment of a school, where rumors spread like wildfires, there's a high chance you develop a bad reputation. Cause other people have no way of knowing you did it while being threatened into being a social pariah. It's a no win situation.

Damian's story is simile to this. Sure, the acts he carried out were far more extreme and he was not manipulated by an outsider but by his own grandfather, Ra’s Al Ghul. But the effects of his psyche, development and public perception are all the same.

Think about it: His claims to being either the Blood Son or the Grandson of the Demon are basically him trying to justify his existence to a family that, for all he knows, could abuse him again. Which leads him to having a thought process where he has to be the best of the best in the room, cause the only other alternative is death. and for that he’s punished. Even though no one ever bothered to teach him the normal social protocols for a boy his age.

So when you make that reading of Damian, and put into the context of a story where he, by his own volition, decides he’s gonna try and reverse all the harm he caused while being essentially groomed. You get something really powerful.

Well…kind of…

There’s a few things that stuck out with the framing of this arc. The most glaring one being: this arc takes place after he comes back from the dead. After being trapped in hell for the better part of a year after being killed by his own clone.

By making Damian’s journey for redemption take place after he’s been through literal Hell, there’s the subtle implication that he’s not doing it out of his own free will, but to avoid some sort of celestial punishment.

And that’s not a bad idea per se, if the comic acknowledged that implication. Because it does put an interesting question into the table. “Does it matter why we do good things? As long as we do them?” Does it matter if Damian doesn’t kill anymore because of “selfish” reasons. After all, why would an orphan he saves from a fire care if he used to be bad or not? Should that matter to anyone?

That last part is a testament, I think, to how much better executed some ideas that writers at DC have would be if they played them straight. If they acknowledged the implications of their writing instead of just doing something because they thought it would be cool or dramatic.

#my post #batman #damian wayne #dc comics #batfamily #robin #batfam #bruce wayne #talia al ghul #rsob #robin: son of batman #dc meta #character analysis #media analysis #literary analysis #meta

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babacontainsmultitudes · 11 months

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always always thinking about your post that was like “normal has a very high threshold for being loved that is nearly impossible to meet and he will do *anything* to feel validated” and then today in the discord during the part where willy reveals it could’ve been either normal or scary, will said “willy fucked up normal would burn the entire world down for the tiniest crumb of validation” and just. screaming screaming forever about this boy’s inability to ever feel loved enough, he is every webweaving post about always devouring and never feeling full from love, this boy is RAVENOUS and it’s hard to understand how the oak good-boy morality can even supersede that, he has every trait imaginable to become a villain and it feels like the only thing preventing that is the desire to be good, bc tbh I don’t think he wants to be good more than he wants to be loved

SORRY FOR TAKING ALMOST TWO FUCKING WEEKS TO ANSWER THIS ANON!

Eheh, firstly *thank you* because this message is very sweet and made me extremely happy. The post you’re talking about took a good while to write and came with a lot of anxiety so it’s very nice to hear that you’ve kept fragments of it with you, I really do appreciate that!!! 💜

I’d debated for a bit on answering this privately to be honest with you, as not every fire I’ve sparked is one whose flames I wish to fan, so to speak, but everything you wrote is just so on-point and well-articulated that I couldn’t resist. Otherwise. *Ahem*. I know it's very very silly to respond to a response about an essay with what is essentially another essay, but you see, in thinking of how to answer your message, I got a little caught amongst many other things that have been on my mind... And I've seen some takes that have annoyed me for one reason or another and couldn't decide how to address those and. Well. Ultimately I decided that the stuff I wanted to talk about was connected *enough* to the stuff brought up in your message (as well as in my original post) that I could put it all together, soooooooo if you'll entertain me rambling once more~

Let's start by saying that, I recently saw a take going around stating that “Scary’s internal issues caused her external issues while Normal’s external issues caused his internal issues” (among a number of other statements that I frankly found pretty questionable), and I must say, for reasons that I hope to explain, I disagree with this assertion on both accounts!

In Scary’s case, this statement completely erases and undermines the trauma of her dad walking out, and what that does not only to her confidence and sense of self-worth, but to her relationship with her mother as well. And the degree of the impact of this external trauma on her internal view towards and treatment of herself is clear as day just by looking at the stark contrast between Terri and Scary. Scary (Terri) is someone who once had confidence in herself and could find validation and motivation internally, most recently evidenced by Terri's words of encouragement to Scary whilst under beacon of hope:

But then her dad leaves, and things get harder at home, and Scary starts to fight with her mom (her mom who she once called her best friend!!!), and she starts to feel worthless and unlovable- something that only gets worse with time as Willy alienates her from the rest of the group, case in point with this revealing exchange:

No one’s told her they’re proud of her in a long time (sound familiar??),

her teachers at school shut her down when she tries to speak her mind or otherwise dismiss her behavior as “acting out” seemingly without any sort of intervention or attempt to actually check in with her,

[the above teen fact is from episode 31]

Only then, in response to her diminished sense of self-worth does she begin to cut herself off from the rest of the world and from her former self, most importantly quitting soccer (which we know matters a lot to her!),

and those things leave her even more vulnerable and supportless and ashamed. Not to mention all the mixed emotions she must feel when Terry walks into the picture, between actually liking him but not being able to see his love as genuine due to her relationship with her bio dad and all the frustration and shame she must feel as a result.

This is not to claim that Scary’s internal struggles do not inform a lot of what happens to her and the people around her over the run of the season- of course they do! (In fact some of the later things mentioned above are examples of that- I guess I got a bit carried away). But Scary’s major internal struggles that affect her throughout the course of the adventure are preceded by a slew of important external events that negatively affect her psyche and are in many cases out of her control. Scary’s internal struggles did not originate in a vacuum, and I absolutely would not say that they “caused” the bulk of what she has been through.

Unlike Scary, Norm’s excessive dependency on external validation to feel like he’s worth anything begins when he is very young. [Emphasis on “excessive” here, since obviously everyone requires validation from others to some degree, the point being just that this trait is so very pronounced in Normal and, as I argued a bit in the post anon is referring to, usually the most important factor informing his courses of action, superseding (but not implying the absence of) any desire to be good and help those around him. Will’s statement (the one which anon quotes) seems to corroborate this.] We know that things go so far back from Sparrow’s account in episode 17:

It’s important that this is about Normal’s kindergarten experiences too, because it tells us that Normal’s predominant internal issues go back farther than this and hence were not caused in and of themselves by his peers- instead being perhaps more fundamental to who he is as a person.

This is not to say that external events do not exacerbate the state of Normal’s psyche. In his youth most notably, we can infer that he interpreted Hero’s treatment (which of course he did not understand at the time to be her training) as favoritism, and I think it’s pretty clear by this point that his resentment of her is tied to the degradation of self-esteem that he experienced as a result.

Then of course there is the dance. Sparrow’s words to Normal during the dance obviously consist of a very pivotal moment for Norm within the context of the season, but I think it’s important to remember and not erase the fact that Normal’s internal issues with validation do not begin at the dance, as established in the kindergarten case but also further exemplified by Norm’s primary motive in becoming the school’s mascot in the first place (to get everybody to like him). I think it’s important to remember this in part since it informs so much of Normal’s reaction to what his father has to say, immediately afterwards but also throughout the whole rest of the season. No kid wants to hear that their parent isn’t proud of them, but the severity of the response to this sort of statement is going to vary drastically depending on the person, and in Norm’s case, given his natural disposition, it’s devastating. [and I swear there’s a teen talk moment where Will says basically this but I can’t find it for the life of me rn damn it lol maybe I’ll edit in the clip later if I do]

Of course in this specific case, one can still mostly say that the problem stems from outside of Normal, and that his preexisting issues exacerbate his response but are definitely not the cause of it. Outside of this instance, however, this is not always true! In fact, Normal’s excessive dependency on external validation and related rejection sensitivity (negatively) inform a large amount of his interactions with those around him, particularly Lincoln and Taylor (imagine me underlining “Taylor” several times as I say this). Truthfully that’s a whole ramble on its own, but with respect to more recent events, I have to admit that I was genuinely quite irked to find a lot of people blaming Taylor and Lincoln for Norm’s response to their uh. mech shenanigans in episode 37, choosing to frame this as an act of moral failing or even malice on their part, rather than a reflection of Normal’s own issues and room for growth. Lincoln and Taylor were simply focused on the mission at hand, and there was no good reason realistically speaking to have expected them to be aware of Normal’s emotional state at that point in time (or in general, to be aware of the jealousy their bonding moments evoke within Norm- particularly when Normal consistently fails to communicate and address those emotions with them in a manner that is direct and not passive-aggressive). Lincoln in particular is very clearly stated as not even having fun in that moment, very understandably being focused instead on the fact that his friend Scary is around his father, who he just witnessed, you know, murder someone. This is not an instance of the world going against Norm for no good reason other than to put him through it, this is a very clear example of Normal’s internal issues affecting the way he perceives external events in a manner that is not actually very reflective of the reality of the situation, and which of course feeds in further to his cycle of self-loathing (and I won’t go into it here since I sort of did in the post anon is responding to- but Normal’s negative reaction to Lincoln breaking the pick to gain Scary’s trust is another important example of this [tbh all the more so now coupled with the hypocrisy of how he handles the anchor in Goofs but that’s a tangent]). As aforementioned, Norm also struggles a good chunk of the time to actually explain his feelings in a manner that is direct and does not rely on blaming others for not picking up on his dejection, as exemplified in how this discussion goes with Lincoln in the most recent episode:

The treatment from fandom of this whole instance being reflective of a reoccurring issue I tend to have with a large chunk of the fandom, wherein the collective memory of canon tends towards getting warped to account for Norm’s mental state. Sometimes that’s hailing him as some morally-perfect, emotional reincarnate of Henry (as though the pride layer didn’t happen, as though Goofs didn’t happen, as though all of Norm’s relationship with Taylor isn’t what it is- …I feel like I should stop implying stuff about the significance Taylor and Norm’s relationship and not elaborating but it really is an essay in and of itself LOL), other times it’s just downright turning everyone around Normal into a villain, a persistent phenomenon which I sort of illustrated in the above example but also touched upon in an earlier essay (arguing that despite the fandom’s quick jump to villainize him- Lincoln breaking the guitar pick would prove to be an act of love). Sparrow also takes a good brunt of the damage from this. Sparrow saying he’s not proud of Normal gets turned into Sparrow not loving Normal (despite an abundance of proof in canon to the contrary), his apology for what he said and the support he shows for Norm in light of his alternative plan on dealing with the Doodler are completely ignored by most of the fandom, as are any other demonstrations of emotional availability and shows of growth that he displays throughout the course of the season, and the true motives behind Sparrow’s insistence on Normal living a “normal” life- to protect him from the childhood that he but also that Hero had to undergo- is somehow framed as Sparrow actually holding some kind of favoritism for Hero. It’s as though there is a complete inability on a larger scale within the fandom to see Sparrow as separate character outside of the filter of Norm’s emotions, and the other teens (including Hermie) get a similar if less pronounced treatment.

[Actually, I would argue that to some degree all of the kiddads except Terry (and Lark since he’s not officially a dad) tend to be perceived and criticized predominantly through the noise of their respective child’s emotions/behavior. In Grant’s case, Lincoln 1. spends a good part of the earlier half of the season asserting that his dads are the best dads in the world despite everything going on and 2. has a very unfortunate tendency to compartmentalize and push down his negative emotions as much as possible- in typical Wilson fashion- so the complexity and severity of Lincoln’s issues with his dad generally go understated, and only now that Lincoln has begun to be more vocal and upfront about his issues has some of Grant’s parenting finally begun to come under fire, and even then mostly only his more recent transgressions. In Taylor’s case, Taylor’s emotional security/stability and general fondness for his dad mean that Nicky is being hailed by many people as “the best dad” where in fact Nicky- while certainly helping the teens out in many ways and perhaps even acting as a friend to them- has done just about jack shit for Taylor as a *father*, and really if Taylor has anyone to thank for being as well-adjusted as he is now, it’s definitely his mom! But I digress.]

Normal and Scary are very similar, but the way fandom treats them is very different. People (mostly) seem to be able to acknowledge that Scary, in spite of her mistakes and flaws, is a scared, tired kid with a good heart who is capable and deserving of love. In Normal’s case, I just can’t seem to shake the impression that the fandom (in general) would rather strip Norm of all the things that make his character complex, and nuanced, and flawed, reducing him to an utterly uninteresting husk of a character before depicting him as anything other than a perfect goody-two-shoes who has never hurt anybody in his entire life or daring to acknowledge the fact that “Normal has been through a lot, is hurt, and deserves a good support system and emotional validation” and “Normal can at many times be his own worst enemy, sometimes makes mistakes that affect those around him, and has room to grow emotionally” are notions that can and should coexist. Or at least, that's my two cents on the matter.

#dndads #thank fuck this draft actually saved I was so sad when I thought it didn't #dungeons and daddies #scary marlowe #normal oak #I know this post kind of goes a million different places- sorry about that haha.#Had a lot I wanted to get out but didn't have it in me to make these into separate posts #I hope people get where I'm coming from with this?? I didn't want to be too mean towards the fandom at the end aha #but I get irked what can I say #normally oak swallows garcia #normal #lincoln li wilson #taylor swift dndads #taylor swift #sparrow oak #sparrow oak garcia #dndads s2 ep 38 #I thought about linking the post I mentioned at the very beginning but decided against it... I actually hate targeting specific posts #(and in general try not to do that- feels a bit rude)#but also eh rules were made to be broken ig #long post #baba babbles

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wind-rider · 1 month

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hi hi! what are some fun facts about your wip? :3

Hi hi hello oh gods you have NO idea how enthusiastic I am to share the brainworms that have infested me for the past six years

Fun facts, you say? Hm, that implies they have to be fun, so I suppose my essay on how the environment the pov culture developed in influenced their culture and mythology and superstitions even into the more secular modern day will have to wait. I'll get back to you on that one (please ask me about this I am frothing at the mouth going insane-) Ahem. Anyway. Here we go:

The base concept is that there's a certain subset of humans that are born with the genetic potential to develop abilities! This is a recessive trait with far too much detail on the genetics front because genetics fixation? Aha what's that? In any case, these people are referred to as Cyrin!

These abilities can develop at any point in their lives- from the moment of birth to the golden years of old age. However, it is usually triggered by a period of high stress accompanied by an adrenaline response, and thus usually develops somewhere between preteen and late teenagehood, because school is hella stressful and so is Being A Teenager. Hormones have a little to do with it, but moreso that they facilitate the higher stress levels rather than trigger ability development (coloquially referred to as the Change, but in a scientific setting is called Metamorphosis)

Metamorphosis is, biologically, a massive spike of a hormone called Metamorphase (creative, I know), but colloquially shortened to the sort-of correct Biorase (which is, technically, the name for it after it's been extracted and processed. Which I will get to.) that a) triggers one's abilities and b) triggers the bodily changes to accommodate said abilities. It's a little like really horrible puberty that lasts about a week and can happen at any time in your life and has a high chance of Killing You, Actually

Metamorphosis, for a long time, was pretty lethal. Certain abilities' development is easier on the body, and so Cyrin with those abilities were vastly more common due to, well, Not Dying. Symptoms vary depending on the ability, but usually involve an extremely high fever, widespread autoimmune response against new tissue growth, severe migraines and occasionally swelling around the brain, dizziness, and severe nausea and digestive upset.

Modern medical advancements helped bring the death rate way down! But! In the process, they figured out what Metamorphase really is, and now it's... really valuable. Oops.

On the plus side, it's now in the government's best interest to keep all their Cyrin alive! The downside, however, is that all Cyrin basically have liquid gold in their veins that Everyone Wants.

Essentially, it's a catalyst of sorts that allows for widespread fine control over a body's cell growth, with the bonus ability to do fine pre-programmed adjustments to an organism's DNA and encourage the spread and growth of those modified cells. Useful for developing certain traits that allow a Cyrin to survive high temperatures or control flames with minimal skin damage- also very useful for a hell of a lot of medical applications. And it has proved almost impossible to synthesise. Oh dear.

Fast forward a couple decades, and here we have Protusol Labs, a government-run laboratory that the president sort-of heads and spends most of his time in because he doesn't really like being president that much. His son can handle the politics side of things for him! It's fine! This will have no lasting consequences!

Anyway one of Protusol's primary projects is Project Biomorph, aka, using Biorase (extracted and processed Metamorphase) to test directly on humans and Cyrin for applications of eliminating organ and limb rejection in transplants, and diagnosing and treating genetic disorders in developing embryos. The methods are questionable, but they do have good intentions. Mostly. Some of it is just 'fuck around and find out' and boy are they.

Each project is designated its own ID string! Because we love granular organization systems in this house yes we DO

One project, the one nominally testing limb and organ rejection, has the subject ID as follows: PB-GM-G(gen#)-M(mark#)

PB - Project Biomorph; GM - Grafted Metamorph; G - subject generation; M - mark, aka subject number within that generation, chronological.

One of our POVs, Aaron, is one of the GMs- one of the first, actually. He's also the president's son. This has absolutely no lasting consequences I assure you.

There's also another project, with the following ID: PB-CMW-G(gen#)-M(mark#)

CMW stands for Chimera Metamorph - Winged.

I wonder what that could be :)

Oh yeah there's also a guy who was designed and raised to be basically a fully biological android with no free will who follows orders unquestionably but his project was declared a failure when he imprinted on one of the scientist's kids as a toddler and developed free will and full sentience out of the power of We're Best Friends Now. He's fine don't worry about him there's absolutely no lasting consequences there either. None at all!

Said scientist's kid is an absolute ray of sunshine even as an adult now. Aaron fucking hates him. Their dynamic is glorious.

Hmm I think I might have lost track of the whole 'fun fact' format of this. Oh well.

I'll stop there before this gets stupid long because that's mostly just the stuff revolving around One Of The POVs. There's three others. Help.

Feel free to ask any follow-up questions, or poke me about other POVs or lore things or- anything, really. I can ramble about this story for hours. Clearly. Thanks for asking!!

#story stuff #I'm very normal about this as you can see #I can't remember what tag I use for asks uhhhhh #wind's rambles #that'll do

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chazzielynx · 4 months

Text

Assigning Sleep Token Songs to Redacted Characters.

Hashtag is this too niche, lmao.

Characters in this post: Brachium, Geordi, Vincent, Avior, James, Blake, Hush, Regulus, Anton, Sam, Milo

Note: I am mainly using their latest album. All of these are just my opinions.

TW: Vincent's one briefly mentions self harm. Also Sleep Token is the opposite of angst free so read with caution.

Brachium - Chokehold (this bitch is getting angrier and angrier and I am heeere for it. "We act out of our holy duty to be constantly awake" GRAA)

Geordi - Granite (now I'm not here to hate on Cutie. But this song screams Geordi to Cutie. But specifically "so keep an eye on the road or we will both be here forever"?!?! Crying, sobbing)

Gavin - DYWTYLM (Early Gavin in particular. I feel like he truly thought they were only fond of his sexual favors in the beginning. So this is him questioning everything "it's getting harder to be myself" yeah. Yeeeeah)

Avior - Take Me Back To Eden (there are so many lines I could use here like fr. But I'd say this is mostly his anger about being stuck in that hellscape "I don't know what's got its teeth in me but I'm about to bite back in anger" I have his "what mindless force of nature" speech memorised at this point lmao)

Vincent - Are you really okay? (Now this might be projecting, but I feel like Lovely struggled more with all of what they went through than we might know. And Vincent so desperate to help but doesn't know how "cutting deeper than the scars could run" why do I do this to myself)

Porter - The Summoning (we only really know his sassy and his sexual side so far. This song screams dom-masochist. "You've got my body, flesh and bone, the sky above, the earth below"...need I say more)

Blake - Vore (this whole song screams hehe get it cause it's a heavy screaming song anyway seer wanting to devote his life to change their lover's fate: "there is always sth in the way I wanna have you to myself for once" Change my mind.)

James - Aqua Regia (now this is purely based off of vibes GIVE ME MY HUSBAND BACK ahem but I feel like this man would use fancy science words to explain his love. Also "running to your heart when you're thinking of" AHH)

Hush - Rain (this man needed one hug from Doc and he felt better. LIKE SIR "touch me again, I feel my shadow dissolving" whole song feels like him)

Ivan - Ascensionism (I feel like I could write an essay on how this describes Sadism Hold Ivan. But to demonstrate: "half algorithm, half deity" = Vega, "blood stains on the collar means just don't ask" = Baby, "you want someone to be your reflection" = Ivan)

Regulus - The Apparition (now, this is a little bit of a shot in the dark because except for last year's Halloween audio, I haven't listened to his playlist yet. But based on vibes, this seems to match. Don't come for me)

Anton - Euclid (little bit of a stretch mayhaps but this could be Anton away from his partner "call me when you get the chance, I can feel the walls around me closing in" and a lot more angsty lines)

Bonus Songs (because I love them)

Sam - Blood Sport (specifically this is Darlin in the beginning of their relationship, feeling like they're just dragging Sam into their bloody trauma "Even if [...] the heavens just won't open up for me, would you invite me in again?" Hmm)

Milo - Drag Me Under Again (now technically this is such an Avior song, like hello. But this feisty werewolf is in awe with his partner to this day. And he may not call himself a poet but this mf literally said "you feel like forever in my arms" HELLO SIR. So the admiration in this song fits)

#i definitely have a problem #redactedaudio #redacted asmr #redacted audio #redacted #redactedverse #sleep token

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davnittbraes · 4 months

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Hi Davnitt!

I have come to your ask box today with 3 Marcus Pikes and I desperately need to know which one you like the best and why…

Thanks in advance for the essay you are about to write 😉😘

Me?? An essay??

My friend, I really don’t know why you’re under the impression that I wouldn’t simply respond to this lovely ask with a straightforward and succinct answer, that just doesn’t sound like me AT ALL.

So anyways -

In this essay I will demonstrate which of the three Marcus gifs submitted I like best and why.

In the first gif, we have post-Teresa Marcus, still carrying the weight of a broken heart while trying to put his life back together. See the sad puppy dog eyes? The nervous smile? That delectable beard isn’t for an undercover job, as he so claims. It’s obvious Poor Bébé is grasping at anything in his life that he can control, any way he can alter the present to be different than the future he dreamed of with her that he now realizes will never come to fruition.

And yet, as we know, Marcus is resilient, unable to stay down for long. There’s a glimpse of it in his gaze, the unwavering confidence that is already guiding him toward realizing the truth - that Teresa was an uninteresting, immature woman with sociopathic tendencies.

Also, that NECK omg I just wanna BITE it nom nom nom and the SMILE??? My heart 🥰🥰🥰

The second gif -

*pauses to physically and emotionally recover from Marcus Pike in a white t-shirt*

- gives us a slightly defensive Marcus, one who is confronted with a perceived threat to his happiness (aka the man he obviously suspects his girlfriend is in love with) and a particularly inspired choice of camera angle where the viewer is subjected to the very same broad chest and shoulders that have so many of us shifting in our seats.

Though on the surface he is displaying his typical politeness, there’s an underlying general aura of “back the fuck away from my girl” that, for those of us who find the idea of him metaphorically growling at anyone who might steal us away attractive (re: me) demands multiple replays of this particular gif.

Plus his hair is so fluffy here like it’s just begging for fingers to run through it and grip and pull -

Ahem okay anyways MOVING ON.

The last gif submitted for consideration is the essential Marcus Pike gif. Do I have a source to support this argument? Yes. Myself. Fight me.

The gentle gaze that radiates sincerity, the clearly and firmly stated reassurance that he is patient, forgiving, and will be ready whenever she is? His heart isn’t just on his sleeve, it’s in his eyes as he looks at her.

This is my favourite Marcus gif, ever. Not only because of the points stated above, but because this gif ultimately inspired my I’m Here series. I wanted to capture the essence of this gif and distill it in my own hurts and pains and flaws and see if the result was anything meaningful.

But when I went to write the first part of the series, I thought - my Marcus has lived so much since this gif. He’s been through heartbreak and betrayal, made rash decisions and put too much of himself in other people’s hands.

In my series, he’s worked through all of that in therapy, learned how to hold relationships without demanding everything from the other person - and himself - all at once, and how to find the validation he seeks in himself, not others. He’s no longer obsessed with obtaining his perception of a perfect life, focused so determinedly on the future that he misses the importance of the present.

I’m Here Marcus is grounded, centred in the moment. He knows what he truly wants, and that is a partner who will walk side by side with him along whatever path life lays out.

So, where once he said “I’ll be here,” implying he will wait for when she decides to come to him, now he says “I am here. For you. Be here with me, now.”

In conclusion, though all submissions resulted in me staring at gifs for much longer than is healthy, the third is my favourite 😊

And if you’ve read this far, I’d like you to know that you’ve read approximately 600 words of deranged rambling about a minor character in an objectively terrible television show. Do what you will with that information.

Thank you for the ask, my darling Katie 🐙

#another davnitt essay #this time upon request!#did I put too much thought into this #probably #marcus pike fanfiction

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1bringthesun · 1 year

Text

have any of you read “Dancing Girl?” gosh, it just made me sad. Mori Ougai is a really good author haha, hahaha. hah… h-

…

yeah i’m relating this to bsd! Mori. BITE ME!! ahem. so in this essay i will be talking about Elise and Mori’s relationship. i’ve already established i don’t see her as his “wife” or the object of his sexual desires, and i’ve also mentioned i like the “Elise is his daughter,” way of seeing things, however … well, there’s more than just that.

1) Elise represents his inner child

2) Elise preserves the memory of a dead lover and is his “partner”

3) Elise is a child-figure to him

those numbers will be reused in that order to mean the same thing later, but first, background and “Dancing Girl!”

so i think that, within the definition of his and Elise’s relationship, Mori embodies Toyotarou from “Dancing Girl” more than Kanei from “Vita Sexualis” (i think i learned which type of media went in italics and which sort in quotes some time in third grade, but it’s been entirely too long and therefore i’ve forgotten all of it and you’ll have to excuse my poor grammar if im messing it up). why, you may ask? well, first of all, Elise is literally from that novel. second of all, i’ve just skimmed vita sexualis (- an asexual) while “Dancing Girl” managed to catch my attention a lot more. plus, Mori was one of the characters that Asagiri explicitly stated he wanted to add in, and we all know just how evil Asagiri Kafka can be when he feels like it.

… why is the space so long ? why are these spaces different sizes?? this is really bugging me … but whatever, i’ll try my best to ignore it … (nevermind it looks perfectly normal when i post it i guess it’s just a. draft thing)

ahem, so, in “Dark Era,” Mori basically goes “damn Dazai you’re suicidal as hell! you remind me of myself hahah!” and i feel like that’s pretty concrete evidence Mori Did Not have a happy childhood (i mean, duh, considering he was trigger-happy to friendly fire as an important military man at 20 some years old) and was likely suicidal in the past too, to some extent. in that sense, the chains that tie Dazai down, if they’re Odasaku’s last words, are the Port Mafia for Mori. he cannot die as long as he’s sane and capable of leading the PM, because he’s basically the very embodiment of it.

⚠️SPOILERS FOR “DANCING GIRL!”⚠️

alright, onto “Dancing Girl.” i’ll give you a quick rundown. it’s basically about this college dude (25 or so) (haha that reminds me of the, “am i the asshole?” posts. i (M26) just fell in love with a girl (F18) of whom i’ve known since she was a minor and i was still an adult. i got her pregnant by some time after she became of-age, then i left her to pursue my career. am i the asshole?) (godamn it tai you just spoiled the whole novel) (i’ll put a spoiler warning up somewhere in the beginning) (bear with me) with depression who falls in love with a… looks at the parenthesis and sighs deeply.

he doesn’t see any point in anything because his life was just a glorified projection of his mother and school’s desires, so he starts being a little more hedonistic and learning about the arts instead of becoming a lawyer like they wanted him to. he meets Elise (her name) and basically immediately feels attracted to her in some way he can’t put into words (she’s 17ish when they meet btw) and starts teaching her things and basically acting like a sponsor to her. they don’t start getting romantic and/or sexual until some unsaid period of time passes. now i personally choose to interpret this as her turning 18 before they do all that stuff, but since it never explicitly says, well… yeah. Toyotarou is used to living his life in a cushy-ish manner as a child prodigy and what have you, but he eventually gives that away to live with Elise. that being said, his “giving it away” was less of a choice to be with her and more of a digression from a perfect machine into a person with his own stunted feelings.

she makes him satisfied, and he makes her very deeply happy, but eventually he chooses his career over her and she goes crazy because of how betrayed she feels- she really deeply loved him, after all. he pays her mother enough to keep her afloat and to take care of the baby he left in her stomach, and went back to Japan without another word. Toyotarou! you bastard!! (it’s not like he was without remorse, though)

anyway back to the numbers.

1) Mori’s past is pure speculation, but he was a military doctor ranked quite high as a very young man, one that didn’t hesitate to shoot someone on his own side no less (like i said) so it’s probably a given he didn’t have a stress-free childhood. this is an excerpt from “Dancing Girl,” in which i think explains the possibility that Elise represents the angry child inside of Mori that he never got to let out as a real child.

2) given what i said above, this also feels pretty self-explanatory. we basically only know two things about Mori, that he would do anything for the greater good (which is usually the PM/yokohama), and that he longs for a “partner” who will understand and not leave him. it’s possible Fukuzawa filled that role for a while, but Mori is a little unhinged and did some bad things out of obsession, which severed their ties because of Fukuzawa’s innate nature. Mori has called Elise his partner (tsuma, AKA person who stays by my side) (i know nobody says tsuma and means it that way but considering “Yatsugare san” exists (yes i’m looking straight at you, AKUTAGAWA RYUUNOSUKE), i wouldn’t put it past Asagiri to use tsuma in that manner) before and acts dramatic as all hell when she dies. it’s almost like … someone called Elise really DID die before?

3) this requires the least explanation. we already know Mori likes children in a non-pedo way, shown by things like how he helped Atsushi gather his courage in Anne’s room (which did nothing for him, btw) and his profession in the beast AU. but what sort of mafia don has a cute daughter?? that’s like ASKING for her to be killed. so Elise, the product of Vita Sexualis, is the next best thing he can have!

Elise also is a lot like the Toyotarou, while Mori acts more like Elise when they’re together. it’s just something i noticed watching the two interact in BSD and DG. the whole idea of having no autonomy is kinda Elise’s (BSD) thing, isn’t it?

my phone is now 20% and i have no charger. i have probably 69 viruses and also since i have apps like tiktok, wechat, and discord… you can imagine how much this poor device suffers, but i regret nothing. yahoo! hope you enjoyed my rant~

#bungou stray dogs #bsd #dancing girl #a german dancing girl specifically named Elise #bsd elise #bsd mori #mori ougai #Mori Elise #can i call her Mori Elise?? i mean she’s basically his daughter anyway so #Mori and Elise #toyotarou #god they make me sad #Mori is so traumatized and so babygirl #not all would understand #anyway i’m getting carried away even in the hashtags.. is this who we are???#AH MY PHONE IS AT 5% WHAT THE HELL.#okay i’m posting it now i hope this gets some attention because otherwise i might go crazy /j

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oldshrewsburyian · 2 years

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I am about to embark upon reading Jane Eyre for the first time. Do you have any opinions/knowledge to share about the book? all I know about it is something-something-colonialism, something-something-locked his wife in an attic. So I'm curious what other people think about it.

AHHHHHHHH. Ahem. I am delighted to be asked this question. I have numerous opinions, and some knowledge. Colonialism and the attic are of course part of it, but there is A Lot Going On Here. I shall attempt to be brief. I shall almost certainly fail. Here we go.

I think both Jane Eyre as a novel and Jane Eyre as a character are really great. And I think Charlotte Brontë is doing fascinating things in the novel with how she examines gender, religion, vocation, class, and -- not least -- colonialism. In fact, I’d be very comfortable saying that the novel is attuned to the structural sins of colonialism (and, for that matter, patriarchy. And, not least, organized Christianity) in ways that many adaptations have not been. Colonialism + Jane Eyre would be a whole essay (it is, in fact, a whole subfield) so I’m going to focus on Jane herself here.

Jane herself (who can certainly, I think, be read as both bisexual and biracial, or either) is one of the most satisfying fictional women I know. Her sense of self and her sense of ethics are at the steely core of this novel. To quote her own words, she is poor, plain, obscure, and little... and she is also extremely intelligent and extremely passionate. I firmly believe that she and Rochester have the kinkiest sex of any couple in 19th-century English literature. And yes, that includes John Thornton and Margaret Hale. Jane is, from a very early age, full of blazing anger against all systems of oppression, and has a very clear-eyed refusal to pretend that injustice is anything other than it is. Several decades before Huck Finn, she tells a clergyman to his face that by his standards, she probably is going to his hell, and she doesn’t care. I love her so so much. She is intelligent and wise, and also keenly aware of her unusual, almost liminal social status. She’s been raised in a household of the gentry, but treated there as a servant. At her boarding school, she was raised from a pupil to an instructor. And now, with her skills in art and history and languages, she’s a governess: not of the housekeeper’s station nor of her master’s. Jane is a very solitary little figure, until she meets the man who says to her “here is my equal and my likeness.” Hot damn, I would also marry anyone who said that to me, even if I were not a 19th-century governess, but I also believe it is important that Jane has time to be independent, to be on her own, to make a full and useful life in which she is “not unhappy” (sob) before she comes back to a life that is not only full but rich: in which she can say of her husband “we are flesh of each other’s flesh and bone of each other’s bone,” in which she can be happy in her friends and her home and her own household as a place of the kindness and generosity and joy that she was starved of for so long.

That was a run-on sentence, but you take, I trust, my point. I have not said much about Edward Fairfax Rochester, broody misanthropic problematic science nerd, but I have a whole mini-essay on him here. There is also some really interesting stuff going on with Romanticism and spirituality and religion, and also nature. The book in its first edition was condemned as irreligious, and Charlotte Brontë had to defend it in the second: “Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last.” Go OFF Charlotte. Anyway... I hope you love the book. It’s one of my favorites.

#jane eyre #jane jane jane jane!#charlotte brontë #asks and answers #gothic romance

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unpredictable-probabilities · 8 months

Text

Azul Ashengrotto of Royal Sword Academy || Chapter 12: Friendly Faces in Unexpected Places

Summary:

An impromptu visit by Azul gives Jamil the opportunity to show him around the Scarabia Dorm.

Despite their leader's willing hospitality, however, Azul feels all sorts of eyes on both of them from the other Scarabia students, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Word Count: 8,057

Jamil is sitting at a desk in the detention classroom, staring at the clock as it ticks away the minutes.

How was he supposed to know that Crowley went away somewhere and left the much more competent and strict Trein in charge?

He had barely returned to NRC for five minutes when an upperclassman approached him and said that Trein was looking for him.

Trein wanted to speak with the Prefects about the Halloween preparations, and Jamil was nowhere to be found.

Someone had reported seeing him fly off, and they were about to call him on his phone when his upperclassman found him.

Ruggie, sitting at the desk beside him, leaned over and whispered, "How is he?"

Apparently Ruggie is in detention along with Ace and Floyd because Trein caught them in the middle of a duel. Floyd had been in a bad mood and things escalated.

Jamil, who already finished his written essay of apology, looked at Ruggie. "Hm? If you're asking about Ace, he claims his black eye is making it hard for him to compose proper sentences."

"I can give 'im two black eyes for balance," Floyd says from another desk, glaring at Ace.

Ace returns the glare—which looks a little odd with the black eye—but quietly returns to his writing after a cautious look at Trein on his desk grading tests with Lucius beside the stack of papers.

"We're here for another half hour, Jamil," Ruggie says pointedly. "You really wanna be in-denial for that long?"

"I could. Why do you wanna know so badly?" Jamil asks.

Floyd, having barely even touched his essay, just sighs morosely from his slumped position against the desk. "I wish I could go and just swim all the way to the Coral Sea..."

"Hey, he's coming back next week, right?" Ruggie tries for a cheerful tone. "That's just a few more days, then you can fly to RSA just like this guy did." He turns to Jamil and speaks even more quietly. "And of course I wanna know!" he whisper-yells. "Last time he was here, he looked like he could Overblot. Damn right I wanna know how he is!" He kicks Jamil's chair leg.

"Awww, you care about him," Jamil coos, before emitting a smile. "You've got nothing to worry about. Azul's doing just fine. A little harried with work, but it doesn't seem to be anything serious."

"A'right, that's good," Ruggie says in relief, nodding. "And don't get up on my case about caring about him when you're the one who's got his scent all over you," he sniffs at Jamil pointedly before leaning back in his chair.

Jamil stares at him in bewilderment before giving his sleeves a tentative sniff. He doesn't smell anything. Damn. Beastmen noses really are something else.

"Geez, is there a whole lovebug epidemic going on or something?" Ace whispers. "One moment y'all were normal then I blink and you got boyfriends you hopelessly pine for."

"Azul's not my boyfriend." Jamil protests.

"Do ya want him to be?" Ace asks with a smirk.

"... Floyd, give him another black eye," Jamil mutters.

Floyd perks up a little.

"Ahem!" Trein clears his throat.

They flinch in their seats and turn back to their desks, though Floyd just slumps back on his essay face-first.

Then Jamil's phone vibrates in his pocket.

Trein gives all four of them a cross look before gazing back to his papers.

Jamil waits for a moment before he subtly brings his phone out to take a peek at the messages.

According to the screen, he had received a text message from 'Piano Man'.

Jamil glances up at Trein to make sure he's still busy and proceeds to open the text.

Jamil feels himself smile.

Ace and Ruggie notice that Jamil's texting. They raise an eyebrow at his happy expression, exchanging curious glances.

Jamil pockets the phone, and Ace and Ruggie quickly look away.

Jamil's smile freezes up when he notices that Trein is staring at him. With the expression on his face, there was no doubt that he saw Jamil using his phone.

The professor merely sighs and goes back to his papers.

Jamil purses his lips and turns his gaze to the desk, flustered.

Basketball practice has just ended and Jamil is packing up his things when his phone buzzes in his bag.

Jamil pauses and opens up the bag to take the phone out, wondering if it was Azul.

His screen displays 'Piano Man'.

"Hey, Jamil," Ace appears behind him. "You're picking up some Halloween decorations tomorrow, right?"

Jamil puts away the phone as inconspicuously as possible and looks at Ace. "Yes. Why do you ask?"

"Can you get some more of that sheer black fabric thingy for my dorm's costume? Like, a yard of it, prolly?" Ace makes gestures with his hands, clearly not knowing how long a yard is. "Vil had lent us some prototypes this morning and my veil kinda… got disintegrated by Grim's flames," he gives an attempt at an innocent smile. "I haven't told Vil and I'm hoping I can at least give him a replacement fabric before I do."

Jamil makes a long-suffering sigh. "One of these days your big mouth's gonna cost you your life, but sure. You owe me, though."

"My big mouth? I didn't even say anything to Grim!" Ace says. "I just wore the veil and snuck up behind him and yelled 'Boo!'. Then he shot blue flames at my face," he pouts. "Anyway thanks, man!" Ace quickly jogs away, not saying anything about owing Jamil.

That's fine. Jamil finds ways to make sure that debt is paid.

For now, he takes a seat on one of the benches and opens Piano Man's messages.

Jamil playfully replies.

Jamil smiles and begins to make his way out of the gym, only to stop and hide behind one of the doors that open into the building.

A few minutes pass, and some students see Jamil standing behind the door and give him questioning looks, but no one talks to him.

Then his phone buzzes continuously. He feels certain that Azul is calling him to find his location.

But what if it's actually important?

He lowers the call volume as quietly as possible before picking it up, holding it close to his ear yet saying nothing.

"Does this challenge have a time limit? Or do you plan on hiding away until evening if necessary?" Azul asks playfully.

"Possibly. I'm a patient man." Jamil shrugs, whispering. "If you take too long, I'll move on to another place. Maybe get myself a bite to eat and some sleep."

"Ah, you're a cruel one, Viper. Although if you do sleep, you'll be staying in one place for a long while. Yes, do that, and you'll wake up with me beside you."

Jamil's eyes widen and he goes quiet, lost in the newly-conjured image in his head.

"...Sounds horrifying," he quietly concludes, quick to go for snark.

Azul chuckles. "Better not fall asleep, then. Can't you give me a hint, at least?" he sounds like he's playfully pouting.

Meanwhile, the last of the students are beginning to file out of the gym.

"...Scars," Jamil vaguely replies.

Azul is silent for a few moments. Then he appears in front of Jamil, phone still to his ear. He smiles, and when he speaks, Jamil hears him both through the phone and in person.

"Ah, so I was right. I almost left with those other students just now, you know." He ends the call and pockets his phone. "I asked Floyd where I might find you, and he said you had practice today."

He didn't move the door at all when he appeared, so he and Jamil seem to be in a very narrow corridor right now, between the door and the wall.

Azul leans against the wall casually and crosses his arms.

"Sorry it took a while, as you know the library is quite far from here."

Jamil stares at Azul's lean figure practically cornering him against the door and wall. Normally he avoided feeling cornered at all costs, but right now he realized that he doesn't really mind when it's Azul.

"...Better late than never," he coolly replies.

Azul raises an eyebrow in amusement. "I was half-expecting you to call it cheating that I asked Floyd."

Jamil chuckles. "I would've done the same, though I certainly wouldn't have admitted it."

"I didn't want you to think I was tracking your phone or anything like that. That was a rather clever hint, though," Azul smiles.

Jamil smiles along. "You're welcome. You missed your chance to see my scars, though." Right now his dorm uniform is covering much more of his skin than his basketball jersey did.

"That only means I have an excuse to see you again next time," Azul says and straightens up. "Would you like to go anywhere in particular? Though I realize I probably shouldn't be the one to ask that, seeing as this is, as you would call it, your turf."

"Hmm... Since you showed me your dorm, I think it seems fair that I show you mine, though I can't guarantee we'll make it all the way into my room without running into trouble." Jamil ponders, holding a hand to his chin. "Where have you been holding your meetings with Jade?"

"Last time it was at the Octavinelle lounge, because he had shown me where he plans to put up the café. Today it was in one of those booths with glass walls at the library because Jade wanted to look up certain recipes." Azul tilts his head. "And what did you mean by possibly running into trouble at your dorm?"

"Well..." Jamil furrows his brows. He'd normally go vague and tell Azul he's got nothing to worry about as long as he sticks with him, but it'd prolly be better to give him a heads-up. "We have a silly habit of setting traps around the building. Helps keep intruders out and keep us alert and cautious."

Azul raises his eyebrows in interest. "Intriguing." He steps back and steps aside to make way for Jamil. "Lead the way, Prefect."

And so Jamil does, taking him through the mirror portal which lands them in the middle of a bright hot desert.

After a short walk, a palace of white stone rises, glowing under the heat of the sun.

"Wow," Azul smiles. "Your palace gleams."

"It's not my palace," Jamil shakes his head. "I'm its glorified babysitter. Come on, the sooner we get into the shade of the buildings, the better. If you feel uncomfortable with the heat in any way, you tell me, okay?"

He leads Azul forward through the sand dunes.

"Is it always this hot here?" Azul asks as he squints at the sky, putting his hand up to shield his face from the glare of the sun.

"Mostly around this time of the day. It cools down immensely when it's night."

Suddenly, Jamil stops and motions for Azul to do the same.

Before them lies an unassuming patch of sand. The only thing that seems off about it is that it slowly swirls against the wind in a clockwise circle.

Jamil just sighs and sidesteps it, muttering to himself. "I thought I told them not to do quicksands..."

Azul follows where Jamil sidesteps. "Are all the dorms lined with traps?" he asks curiously.

Jamil shakes his head. "Just ours. You've got places like Savanaclaw and Diasomnia that rely on sheer might and power to drive away intruders. We're a bit more crafty with our defenses. After all, it wouldn't be the first time students from other dorms would sneak in and steal or break something. People hold childish grudges... And as I said before, these things keep us on our toes. It wouldn't hurt to train our resourcefulness and perception. Some of these traps are targeted towards me specifically. If I wholly fall prey to one of these, the other members will see it as an opportunity to take my position." He shrugs. "You know, normal things."

Azul looks at him in mild surprise, but all he says is "I see," as he looks again in front of him, his expression unreadable. "Then I suppose your dorm isn't the place you go to when you want to relax," the playfulness is back in his voice, but there's something else to it, like he's thinking of something in the back of his mind.

Jamil glances at him, confused at the subtle change. "I... suppose not, but I'm used to it. In a weird way, it's comfortable because it's a familiar environment, though hardly anything's comfortable with temperatures like this."

They continue on their trek into the main courtyard inside the dorm walls, Jamil noticing and avoiding anything he was sure hadn't been there the day prior and telling Azul to do the same.

A few Scarabia students are milling around the fountain, pausing as they spotted the both of them.

"Hey, it's that guy you chucked your food at!" said one of them to Orfeo, the one who had thrown his sandwich at Azul. "Planning on a revenge round anytime soon?"

"Are you nuts!? And get the Prefect on my ass?! Hell no," Orfeo hisses.

"Oh, your friends," Azul says lightly to Jamil, keeping his eyes forward and not looking at any of the residents. "Seems like they aren't too happy seeing me here, though it's not surprising."

"As if they're acting any differently than usual," Jamil rolls his eyes. "I don't think they're unhappy to see you, though. Ever since the Ball, NRC's hostility towards your school has been… dwindling. They still think plenty of your schoolmates are annoying but they're a bit more tolerant now than they used to be."

They pass by the fountain and enter the double doors into a spacious hall, the temperatures notably cooling down.

"You feeling all right?" He asks the other, noticing the faraway look in Azul's eyes.

"Hm?" Azul blinks and looks at him, then he nods and smiles. "Yes. Though admittedly the trek under the sun was a bit more tiring than I had expected," he takes out a handkerchief from his pocket and wipes the beads of sweat from his forehead. "I'd never been in a desert before." He absently unclasps the top button of his RSA coat.

Jamil looks away and closes his eyes for a second, telling himself he shouldn’t let his mind wander at the simple sight of the dip in Azul’s collarbone.

Then, finding his composure, he opens his eyes and says, "Follow me."

They soon enter the main lounge, a wide open area with carpets, pillows, and low desks on the floor looking out into a landscape view of the desert and blue skies. Columns and pillars hold up a domed roof as lanterns and silk sashes adorn the area.

Jamil has Azul sit by one of the tables. A mild and relaxing breeze blows by as he excuses himself for a moment before he returns with a refreshing coconut drink.

"Here. Can't have you passing out on me from the heat now."

There are a few more Scarabia students here as well, either napping or studying together. They had turned and stared at Azul when they first came in, but after a while, they shrugged off his presence and returned to their own business.

"Oh, thank you," Azul smiles and accepts the drink, taking a sip. "Do you spend a lot of your time here? The ambience is quite comfortable," he says as he looks around.

"You think so, too? It's one of the few places where we've all collectively decided not to trap. It's a neutral zone," Jamil explains. "Because of that and the shade, yes, it's quite nice. The amount of times I find the members fall asleep in the middle of their schoolwork is more than I can count now."

Azul smiles, the uneasiness in his eyes from earlier seems to have dissipated. "That's good to know." He takes another sip of his drink then furrows his eyebrows. "You didn't get a drink for yourself?"

"Oh." Jamil mutters. He had been so focused on preventing Azul from having a heatstroke that he didn’t think to get a drink himself. "I hadn't realized. It's okay, I don't really need one right now. So… How have you been the past few days?"

"I…" Azul looks down at his drink and looks at Jamil again with a half-hearted smile. "I've been alright..." There's a hesitation in his voice, like he's contemplating whether or not to say anything more.

Jamil gives Azul an exasperated look, complete with an arched eyebrow.

Azul sees Jamil's expression and averts his eyes, pursing his lips. Then he glances around the room to make sure no one is within earshot.

He speaks quietly. "It's Rielle… He has not been alright. His father called me yesterday and said that he's been disappearing lately during his downtime, going off somewhere for long periods. We did that sometimes when we were kids, sneaking off somewhere to play with our friends when there wasn't anything to do. But we hadn't done that for the past two years, and Rielle had never gone on his own. I asked him about it, and he said he was fine and he just needs some time to himself." He shakes his head slightly, deep in thought. "I should have gone there with him," he mutters.

"What would you have done if you had been there?" Jamil asks, looking just as troubled about the news as much as Azul is.

"I could accompany him to make sure he doesn't get himself into trouble, and keep him from feeling like he's alone," Azul says, then he sighs and removes his glasses for a moment to run a hand down his face. He puts his glasses back on and sits up straighter. "But I can still do that even when I'm here on land. Last night we talked on the phone for a long time, and he seemed to have calmed down. I just need to make sure that I check on him everyday." He gives Jamil a small smile. "Sorry, I'm unloading my burdens on you again."

"I asked, so you don't need to apologize. As we've established before, he's my friend, too, kinda… Where do you think he goes on his own?"

Azul thinks about it. "The only place he ever went on his own was the surface. He would swim up to some shore and watch the landdwellers in fascination. We both knew that I couldn't go with him because my merform was too conspicuous; we didn't want to attract attention especially when the king didn't know about his ventures to the surface. Though now that we've lived on land for almost two years and he's no longer that curious child, I don't know if that's still where he goes," he shakes his head.

"Hm... Perhaps he'd go somewhere new. Do you think he'd go anywhere dangerous, though?"

"I don't think so, he's not the type to put himself in danger," Azul says, sounding relieved at that realization. He laces his fingers around his drink, twiddling his thumbs. "I just… worry."

"Is there anything that we can do so that your worries can ease up somehow?" Jamil asks. He doesn’t like seeing Azul so troubled.

Azul looks at him and smiles. "The hangout is already helping," he reaches over and places his hand on the table beside Jamil's hand. "And thank you for asking. Anyway, enough about me," Azul adapts a more cheerful tone and pulls his hand back to rest beside his cup. "How have you been the past few days? Floyd told me you got in detention when you came back from RSA two days ago."

"Ugh…" Can he hide nothing in this world? "Yeah. But detention is just whatever. Wrote stuff on paper and stayed still for a few hours."

Azul chuckles. "All right. How are the Halloween preparations coming along? Have you been busy?"

"Busy enough," Jamil nods, thinking back to the past few days. "Everything's coming along together nicely, though, and so far we haven't faced any major hiccups. We recently went around checking every dorm's booths and costumes - you've probably seen them around. Since you were at the Library, you must've seen Ignihyde's, if they had their projection mapping turned on, that is. Without it, the place looks pretty normal."

"Projection mapping? Interesting, I don't think it was on when I was there. I look forward to seeing it," Azul smiles. "Where's Scarabia's booth going to be?"

"At Sam's. We already finished setting everything up before we did the initial check-up, or Vil would've had our hides otherwise. We'll be doing another one on Sunday just to make sure nothing's out of place. What about you guys? What sort of preparations have the Headmages been making you do?"

"We've been collaborating with Vil in making the costumes, though I'm not directly in charge of that and I haven't personally spoken to him," Azul says. "I'm more focused on the catering and performances. There would be food stalls that would be co-managed by both NRC and RSA students; our Headmages said that it would be good practice for cooperation. Your Pop Music Club has volunteered to perform, though they haven't submitted any plans yet, and so far I don't know what they'll be performing. Our Music Club will be performing as well on the day of Halloween itself, as a sort of opening act to start the day."

"Oof, good luck to our Pop Music Club. May they come up with something soon." Jamil comments before he rests his chin on his hand. "Will you be playing the piano again that day?"

Azul smirks playfully. "Oh, you wouldn't want me to ruin the surprise now, would you? Though I will be performing, yes. That much I can tell you."

Jamil shoots Azul an intrigued smile. "Very well. It better not disappoint me now."

He very much doubts Azul ever could.

"By the way, how has Kalim been? I've been texting him, but it's been more of the usual."

His messages did seem to lack a bit of the usual energy, though…

"He hasn't had any more outbursts, fortunately. And he still has to report to the infirmary every day so they can monitor his Blot levels. Rahzel, my friend who's a student assistant there, said that they still remain normal," Azul says reassuringly. "He hasn't been as cheerful these days, though. I think he's having a hard time accepting it when he makes mistakes. I'd been eating lunch with him and accompanying him in some study sessions, and he doesn't seem to mind. Though I do get the impression that he avoids me sometimes. It seems like he's embarrassed that I saw what happened in the cafeteria last time, even though I've told him that it's perfectly all right and everyone makes mistakes like that."

"That's the thing, that doesn't sound like him at all," Jamil remarks, scowling at the very idea of it. "Kalim would pick himself up and dust himself off after every bungle and move on like it's nothing. Usually I'd be the one frazzled and bothered by the end of the day trying to fix his mistakes. I guess he's really trying to be more responsible, but it's concerning that he's holding onto that one small mistake for this long... All right, hold on, I'll be back."

Jamil stands up and leaves the lounge.

After a quiet moment, one of the Scarabia members lying down on the floor looks up at Azul. "Psst! Hey, you!"

Azul looks down at him. "Hello," he says in a polite and friendly tone, but he remains cautious. He has not forgotten the less than friendly treatment that he has gotten from NRC throughout the years.

"So, like, you and the Prefect are like a thing now, right?"

"A… thing?" Azul pretends to be confused. He has received similar questions countless times about him and Rielle; he knows exactly what this person is talking about. "We are friends, yes."

"Come on, man, you know what I mean," the guy complains, sitting up.

He's sitting with another Scarabia student, who's busy groaning over a pile of study sheets.

"There's something there, right? You can't honestly expect us to look at the both of you and not think you're more than friends?"

"Don't listen to him," mutters the groaning student. His eyes aren't leaving the test sheets. "He's just bored because he doesn't wanna study for the finals."

"I'll cram it all up after Halloween Week!" The gossipmonger rolls his eyes. "Come on, seriously. You're a special guy to Jamil, right? He doesn't just bring people here for nothing, and you don't sound like you're talking about Halloween preparations."

Azul can't deny the butterflies that came alive in his stomach at the Scarabian's remark. Fortunately, he's trained in maintaining a composed facade.

He smiles good-naturedly. "That's flattering, but Jamil himself hasn't said anything of the sort, and I don't want to assume."

It's true. He always enjoys spending time with Jamil, and if he's to be honest with himself, sometimes the way Jamil looks at him makes his heart flutter and gets him thinking…

But he'd rather not get his hopes up.

The gossipmonger waves his hand nonchalantly. "Okay, fine. But that means that you can sway him a bit, yeah?"

The test-groaner perks up at this, looking at Azul with newfound interest.

Azul narrows his eyes. "What do you mean?" he asks cautiously.

"Can you convince him to make our study sheets easier?" Gossipmonger begs. "He's an okay leader, but as soon as he tutors us, the stuff he gives are even more difficult than the actual exams!"

"I mean, we get that it's to help keep us on the up-and-up during the exam period, but..." Test-Groaner mutters.

"It's practically unnecessary!" Another student suddenly jumps in.

Azul thinks about it. He doesn't want to impose on how Jamil runs his dorm, but perhaps there's something he can do for these students.

"May I take a look at those study sheets?"

The three students blink at him in surprise and glance at each other before the gossipmonger takes his sheet and quietly passes it to the merman.

Azul takes it and reads through the questions. The material that Jamil gave them really is more advanced than the usual exams that Azul takes at RSA. However, the study sheets that he reviews with Rielle and their friends are about at the same level as this. Expectations for them are always higher, after all.

"This would be easier to digest if you narrow down the categories here," he points at the paper. "Jamil had mixed the questions of each subject altogether, that's why it looks more daunting. But if you write them down on a separate piece of paper and group the questions according to the subject, it's significantly less confusing."

He realizes what he just did and looks up at the students.

"Ah, apologies," he says sincerely. "I didn't mean to impose. I'm just used to studying with my friends, and I explain things like this to them sometimes." He hesitates before adding, "This looks very similar to the study sheets we use; we can figure it out together, if that's okay with you."

He knows that NRC students aren't naturally inclined to accept help, especially from an RSA student.

The students glance at each other again.

"... Are you offering to do this for us... for free?" Gossipmonger asks, suspicious.

Ah, there it is. If this were RSA, they'd just go through it together already. Although he does respect the cautiousness that these students have. He has been taught the same thing in Knight Class.

"I was," Azul smiles. "But if it would be easier for everyone if I were to ask a payment of sorts, there is one favor I'd like to ask."

"Aww," The student who had hopped in on the convo complains.

Gossipmonger ignores him, crossing his arms. "That's more like it. What're your terms?"

"From what I understand, all of you here lay traps for each other to keep your wits sharp, which is quite admirable, if I may say," he begins carefully. "The favor I'd like to ask is, when it comes to setting traps for Jamil, can you make sure they're non-lethal? Whether it's you setting them up or your fellow residents.

I'm not saying that you should investigate each trap that your dormmates are setting up, I just mean that should you ever notice that they're setting a trap for Jamil, do what you can so that it's not too dangerous. Instead of quicksands that can drown him, how about tripwires that can trigger binding spells that would simply incapacitate him? You don't have to kill him even if you want to take over his position, yes?"

He looks at them, gauging their reactions.

They stare back at him in shock.

"Kill Prefect?!" Gossipmonger repeats, horrified

"And stop eating all his delicious meals?!" Student-Hopper gasps. "No way!"

"Why'd we ever do that?" Test-Groaner adds. "We'd be idiots to get rid of someone so capable."

"Did you say quicksand?" a fourth student asks, scooting closer from his table and alerting the other students he had been studying with. "That's mine! What did you think of it? Wasn't it cool?"

"I thought we banned outside traps," Convo-Hopper points out.

"But how else is he gonna run into it? What do you want me to do? Put a tripwire on the main hall's carpet like everyone else? How'm I supposed to stand out and impress the Prefect with that?!"

Azul blinks, feeling a little embarrassed for all his worrying but mostly relieved that Jamil doesn't appear to be in any real danger here after all.

He adjusts his glasses as he gathers his thoughts.

"Perhaps you can impress him if you get a high score on that study sheet," he smiles at the student who just joined the conversation. "It's more difficult than the exams, right? And most of you have trouble with it. If you show him that you answered it much better than usual, then you'd definitely stand out and impress him." He relaxes his posture and looks at the first student. "Does this mean I have to think of a different favor?"

"Hmm..." Gossipmonger hums, then he clicks his fingers. "Got it! Maybe we can talk to you about the Prefect!"

This elicits a gasp from many of the students in the lounge and all of them begin to crowd around Azul.

"Jamil's super cool, but..." one of the students whispers towards Azul. "We rarely ever get to hang out with him."

"We host parties and games here from time to time but he never attends any of them!" another complains.

"Does he not like us or something?" wilts someone, looking morose.

"Hey! It's not like that, he's prolly got stuff to deal with! He ain't the most careful and crafty guy here for nothing!" Quicksand fellow reasons.

"Have you seen how he danced? The guy can totally throw down in a party if we just get him to open up more!"

"You know more about him than we do!" Convo-hopper concludes, looking up at Azul with hopeful eyes. "What's he like once you get to know him? Is there anything that he enjoys?"

"Guys, this makes no sense," Test-Groaner points out in exasperation. "How is this doing Mister Azul a favor? It sounds like he's just helping you some more, this time about Prefect rather than a test."

"One can argue that he is the hardest test question to decipher out of all of them," a student sagely nods.

Azul blinks, feeling bewildered. This was not what he had been picturing at all about Scarabia, what with Jamil talking about turncoats, the sandwich that flew at him, and Jamil saying just minutes ago that they want to overthrow him.

Then he smiles. It's clear how much these residents respect Jamil, and he can understand their desire to know more about him. He has the same desire, after all.

How could he possibly say no to their request?

"It would be a favor to me if you tell me about him too," he addresses Test-Groaner. "He doesn't tend to talk about himself, and I'd like to get to know him better. And talking to his residents that he cares so much about would be a good way to do that, right?" He extends a hand to the first student that spoke to him. "Do we have a deal?" he asks in a playful tone.

Gossip-Monger gives Azul a long contemplative stare before he nods and takes the merman's hand.

Then as many of the residents as possible, even the Test-Groaner, close in and put their hands on top of the handshake. Like a huddle, they push their hands down and raise it up high with a "Whoo!"

Azul's eyes widen in surprise, he had never been treated with such respect and warmth by a large group of NRC students before.

He laughs good-naturedly as everyone settles down.

"How shall we begin this?" he asks as he takes off his coat. The breeze had stopped, and Scarabia really is significantly warmer than the coastal climate of RSA. He rolls up the sleeves of his white dress shirt up to his elbows. "Do I explain the study sheets first, or do you want to ask questions about Jamil already?"

One of the students whistles, eyes following Azul’s movements. A student next to him slaps a hand over his eyes. "Stop that! Do you want the Prefect to stab you!?"

Before Azul could ask what that was about, Gossipmonger spoke. "Obviously we should start with the Prefect first!" He said it like it's a no-brainer.

The majority of the students nod in agreement.

"Is it really true that Mister Jamil stabs people that upset him?" asks a freshman with dark violet hair.

Azul very much doubts it, but he can't just say that without explanation. "Well, you might know that one of your dormmates threw a sandwich at me last time I was here. I don't know his name but Jamil was rather upset with him. He didn't stab him, though. Or harm him in any way as far as I know."

Some look relieved. Some look slightly disappointed.

"Maybe he punishes them another way…?"

"Maybe he makes people submit through sheer charisma?" Convo-Hopper hops in. "Like, he's such a quiet guy but have you looked at him? If he wanted to, he's got enough beauty to sway anyone to his side just like Vil."

"Excuse me, are you comparing someone to the Vil Schoenheit?!" gasps someone, sounding offended.

"But am I wrong!? Tell me you could look him right in his deep dark eyes and have the guts to refuse any of his requests?"

"Settle down, your thirst is showing."

"Speaking of the guy who threw a sandwich at you, I saw what you did!" Test-Groaner points out. "That was a pretty cool maneuver. Where'd you learn that? Do they teach you that stuff at RSA?"

"Oh, thank you," Azul says bashfully. "We have a class that teaches combat, yes. Though it's not mandatory. I didn't mean to hurt your friend, though, so I simply got his Magic Pen out of the way. Especially since the sandwich didn't harm me, anyway."

"You don't gotta apologize," Gossipmonger casually states. "Idiot deserved it."

"In fact, he's lucky you were so nice to him." Quicksands huffs. "If anyone threw a sandwich at me, I'd make sure I'd give them a sandwich back! A KNUCKLE SANDWICH!"

"That reminds me…" a junior remarks. "Someone has tried to pick a fight with Jamil earlier in the year. A Savanaclaw, I think..."

"Oh yeah, he looked real serious and determined about it, too. Thought a brawl was gonna happen," another says. "But.. it just took one conversation between them and then it was all fine and peachy."

"I kinda wish we saw him beat that guy up..."

"But that just means he's got such a way with words!" One of the other freshmen dreamily sighs, before perking up. "Does he talk to you a lot, Mister Azul? He's so quiet when he's around us."

"He does," Azul nods, a smile forming on his face at remembering how Jamil's eyes shine when talking about dancing, and when they looked at the stars in RSA’s observatory. "Not at first, though. Initially he was quiet too, and I even thought he disliked me. But when I started conversations and just honestly expressed myself, he eventually relaxed and started talking as well. I think he appreciates it when you're straightforward about what you want or what you're thinking about him." It still makes him smile whenever he remembers how Jamil reacts when Azul expresses how much he appreciates him.

"For example, if you set up a quicksand trap for him, he might think that you dislike him and set up that trap so you can take his position as Prefect. But if you tell him that you want to impress him because you respect him a lot, maybe he'd tell you what you can do to achieve just that."

He knows that honesty and expression of sentiments aren't NRC's strong points, but Jamil is getting the hang of it, and these students are being rather straightforward right now.

"So you… don’t set up traps to impress someone?" Quicksands asks, confused.

"Nah, man, you got me with your snare when I was entering our bathroom that one time. That was dope," says Quicksands' roommate. "But I can see why that'd come off as hostile..."

"I guess we haven't really tried saying how much we appreciate him to his face before..."

"Mister Azul, what more do you wanna know about our Prefect? You sound like you already know him more than all of us combined," the Violet Freshman says.

Azul takes a moment to think about it. "How is he as a Prefect? What makes all of you want to impress him?" he asks curiously.

Multiple students begin to talk all at once.

"He can control the tides of any game he gets challenged to, especially if it involves strategy!"

"He's got killer dance moves! I'd kill to get him to teach me some of them!"

"He knows exactly what to say to defuse a situation!"

"He works the hardest out of all of us to make sure our dorm's a powerhouse among powerhouses! He rarely takes the credit but we all see how much he takes care of his members!"

"His intelligence rivals that of Riddle's, one of the smartest kids in school, yet he still takes the time to give us tips whenever we need academic help."

"If you watch him play basketball, you can see how much he keeps the team together through his plans and leadership skills."

"He could stab me and I'd thank him for it."

"His cooking's SO good! Have you tried any of his curry!?"

"He's usually so quiet and neutral about everything, but when he REALLY gets pumped up, you can see it and it gets so inspiring to watch!"

"He's strong, handsome, smart, and maybe not kind but DEFINITELY dependable, how can you NOT wanna impress hi—"

"WHAT is going on here!?"

All the Scarabia students gasp and turn to find Jamil standing in the doorway, a small box in his hands as he glares at them in befuddlement.

Immediately, they all zip back to their tables and pretend like nothing happened.

Jamil hurriedly walks over to Azul, inspecting him from head to toe and noticing that he had shed his coat and rolled up his sleeves. "What were they doing? Are you hurt? If they had tried anything funny—"

Azul grasps Jamil's arm to calm him down.

"Jamil," Azul says, unable to keep the smile off his face. "Did you hear the things they were saying as you walked in?" He speaks clearly, making sure Jamil understands him.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Jamil asks in confusion.

Some of the students immediately try to hide or bury their heads in their study sheets out of embarrassment.

Azul sighs, still smiling, and does his best to keep himself from excitedly rambling like the Scarabians did mere moments ago.

"Well," he says as he calms down. "They were telling me about how much they appreciate you and want to impress you, and I was encouraging them to just tell you that, instead of setting traps for you that you think is designed to overthrow you."

Azul glances around at the embarrassed residents, remembering how long it took for Jamil to get used to expressing sentiments.

He smiles. "But perhaps they're not ready for that yet. It's all right, I'm sure that residents of a dorm as clever as this would figure it out eventually. You did, right? Oh and in exchange for them telling me about how much of a cool Prefect you are, I promised to help them with their study sheets. Would you mind giving me a copy of it later?"

"Huh? I… sure?" Jamil looks even more confused now. "... Did I miss something?" He throws his gaze around the whole room. Everyone avoids his eyes or pretends that they weren't involved.

"Are you sure you can trust them? What if they were only trying to get on your good side?" Jamil quietly mutters, beginning to sit back down on the floor, still looking uneasy.

"You missed quite a lot, actually," Azul takes a sip of his drink, but Jamil can still see his smile. "Do NRC students normally try to get on an RSA student's good side?" Azul asks as he puts his drink down. "Or is that exclusive to Scarabia? If that's the case, then you personally are doing a wonderful job," he says playfully.

"I-I suppose not, but then…" He casts another bewildered look around the room, as if anyone was gonna confirm Azul's statements this time.

No one budges.

"All right, let's say I believe you for now," Jamil sighs, still looking like he doubts it. "I'm just glad that they didn't do anything stupid, at least. If you're serious about the study sheets thing, I'll give you a copy. Are you... planning on tutoring them today or something?"

"Not today," Azul says. "Perhaps the day after Halloween, there'll be enough time for that. Today is reserved for you."

Azul is looking at him with a gleam in his eyes. Whatever happened here, Azul seems to have gained new knowledge about Jamil that made him pretty happy.

"Huh? For me?"

Several nearby Scarabia students give each other knowing glances and try not to give any emotion away as Jamil notices them.

Jamil stares at Azul in silence, unsure what to say, before he clears his throat and decides to move on. "Right... Well, anyway, here. If it's possible, can you give this to Kalim later?"

Inside the small crate is a makeshift care package, with drinks that look like more of the chilled coconut juice, some homemade snacks from the Scalding Sands, bath bombs, a scarf, and a small music player.

He slides it over to Azul. "I... can't be there to help him right now, but hopefully he can find something here that'll remind him of home."

Azul looks surprised for a moment, then he nods and smiles. "Of course. I'm sure he'll be glad just knowing you care enough to send him these gifts." He pulls the box closer to him. "... Are you feeling alright?" he asks Jamil.

Jamil glances at Azul. "Are you asking because of Kalim or because of these guys apparently talking about me when I'm not in the room?"

Azul gives a small smile. "Because of Kalim. And these guys only talk about you when you're not in the room because they're too intimidated to talk when you are in the room."

"Huh..." Jamil squints at the nearest table, where Gossipmonger and Test-Groaner sat. They pointedly do their best to ignore him. "Anyway, well... I'm all right. It's Kalim you should be worried about. I've just never seen him act like this before, so it's throwing me off a bit. I made this in case he could be feeling homesick and stressed out from taking up all those new responsibilities. It must be a lot to adjust to."

Azul nods. "It's the first time he's been apart from you for so long, right? Having to deal with all of his responsibilities without your guidance would understandably stress him out, so I believe your gift would mean a lot. I shall keep an eye on him as much as I can, and I'll be keeping you updated."

Jamil looks considerably calmer. "Thank you."

Silence falls between them…

"Did you take your coat off because it still feels uncomfortably hot for you in here?" Jamil asks.

"Why not wear one of our dorm uniforms, then?" Convo-Hopper speaks up, ducking under the table when Jamil turns to look his way.

"Yeah, they're made to regulate heat absorption," Gossipmonger mutters, but his back is turned from the both of them, so even when Jamil looks, he seems to still be staring at his (empty) study sheet.

Azul looks at the students that had been quite chipper with him earlier.

"For the old names of the formerly five cities on the southern side of the island before the Era of Sages, remember the mnemonic GREAT.

Gyrea Nionco, Radore, Edos Brumo, Andmico, and Tanvia.

And for the five boats that sailed to the Land of Dawning during Captain Maui's expedition, the mnemonic is SEVEN.

Swena, Ekoge, Viatheof, Ebru, and Naviet.

They're two of the most commonly asked questions in Magical History, and worth quite a few points."

Azul smiles at them. "I'm sorry I don't have time for a proper tutoring today, but I will do it after Halloween, you have my word."

He turns to Jamil, and his smile becomes shier. "Yes, I was feeling a little warm. Next time I should really bring an extra shirt whenever I visit."

Jamil stares at him in surprise as the Scarabia students within the lounge begin to double down on writing Azul's advice.

"Whoa…" says Scarabia's Prefect. "Guess you guys really have come to some kind of understanding… That's... a lot to think about. But for the time being, they're right. At least for the remainder of this visit, it wouldn't do for a guest to be uncomfortable in any way. Follow me. I'm certain we've got spares in the storage room if you don't mind wearing something out of your comfort zone. I don't think I've ever seen you wear anything without sleeves before." And he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t curious to see what a sleeveless shirt would look like on Azul.

"Alright," Azul nods. "Where shall I put this?" he raises his empty cup.

"Give it here. We'll deposit it in the kitchen on the way."

He takes the glass and begins to lead Azul out of the lounge and into the rest of the dorm.

"... They're totally gonna make-ou—" someone mutters before the lounge doors shut.

<- Chapter 11

Chapter 13 ->

(Masterlist)

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