#ill do a recap about what's been going on

[ramblings-of-a-chaotic-neutral]

Hello again everyone! Since the "Merlin accidentally conquers Camelot" au won the continuation poll, here's part 2!

NOTE: Part 1 can be found here!

EDIT: Part 3 can be found here!

As a quick recap of this au, during the season 4 finale Merlin was caught by Morgana while trying to plant the burning doll curse that would temporarily lock away her powers, and they have a magic battle that ends with both Morgana and her army slain. Merlin thought that no one saw what happened, but Camelot's lords who serve on the council secretly saw everything. So, when Arthur storms Camelot, ready to take back his throne, he's met with the news that Morgana's already dead and a new sorcerer has claimed the throne of Camelot through the right of conquest, and the lords have unanimously agreed to make this powerful sorcerer king in order to appease him. To everyone's shock, Geoffrey then puts the crown of Camelot on Merlin's head, and Merlin promptly passes out.

And now, onto the new stuff!

When Merlin finally woke up, he jolted awake with a start, frightened by what must have been a terrible nightmare! And truly, it was one of the most horrifying scenarios Merlin's sleeping mind had ever conjured to torture himself with: everyone finding out about his magic, Arthur thinking that Merlin betrayed him, and unintentionally stealing Arthur's kingship!

If the idea wasn't so frightening, Merlin would almost laugh at the absurdity of it: Merlin, king of Camelot! What nonsense! Merlin was Emrys, the other side of the coin to the king; he was certainly never meant to be king himself.

Still, the idea gave Merlin a slight chuckle as he climbed out of his bed and changed into his usual clothes, the soft light of the dawn flittering in through his window. Thank every god out there that his outfit didn't involve a crown!

After he finished tying his neckerchief and pulling on his boots, Merlin opened the door into the main area of Gaius's chambers, ready to eat a quick breakfast with Gaius before collecting Arthur's breakfast and starting his work for the day.

Stepping out into the main chamber, he couldn't find Gaius anywhere, but that wasn't too unusual, given how busy Gaius could be with sudden injuries or illnesses popping up in the lower town at all hours of the night. Humming a bit to himself, Merlin began fixing himself a small bowl of porridge in the chamber's cooking pot, making sure to leave an extra portion for Gaius whenever he returned from his duties.

Merlin ate his breakfast quickly, enjoying the birdsong outside and the beautiful sunrise. Yes, this was exactly what he needed to wash away the awful ideas that his nightmare had conjured up.

After cleaning up their dining table, Merlin made his way towards the door, ready go about his day and do his job as a manservant to moderately acceptable standards! Besides, on the heels of Morgana's invasion, Arthur would need a supportive friend far more than a manservant today.

As Merlin opened the door from Gaius's chambers, however, something was conspicuously different. Namely, the fact that there were two armed guards standing on either side of the door, standing with their backs to the door.

The two guards stiffened and stood at attention as soon as he opened the door, uncrossing their polearms so that they would not be blocking his path as he left Gaius's chambers. Merlin froze at the sight of the guards, staring at their backs. What... what was going on?

"Is... is everything alright? What's this about?"

Was it just him, or did the two guards somehow stiffen up even more at Merlin's words?

After a tense beat of silence, one of the guards cleared his throat and replied, "We were assigned to stand guard over these chambers."

Merlin's brows furrowed with confusion for a moment before he figured out what must have happened, realization dawning on his face.

"Oh, I see! Arthur must have increased security around the castle since Morgana's latest attack. I'm not sure why he considers the physician's quarters to be a potential target, but I'll ask him about it later. Well, I'd better get going or else I'll be late to wake the prat up. Say hello to Gaius for me when he gets back!"

The guards looks confused at his words and opened their mouths to call something out to Merlin, but Merlin was already down the stairs and halfway down the hall before either of them could blink.

Merlin got a lot more strange stares than usual today as he made his way towards the kitchens, with many people outright stopping to gawk at him as he passed. Did he have something odd stuck to his hair or something?

Merlin shrugged off the strange stares for now. He'd have time to look in a mirror and figure out what was so odd about how he looked later, after Arthur had eaten and gotten dressed.

Merlin was still a few minutes away from the kitchens when a caped figure emerged from a servant's passageway and barreled into him, drawing him into a sudden hug. Instinctively, Merlin tensed up at the perceived attack, but he quickly relaxed at the familiar smell of ale and apples that surrounded his laughing "attacker".

"There you are! I've been looking all over for you, Merls!"

Merlin sighed with both relief at seeing his friend in one piece and in high spirits, but also is exasperation.

"Gwaine, I'm very glad to see you again, but what are you doing here? You just spent a week in captivity under Morgana, you're supposed to be resting and recovering, not ambushing unsuspecting servants!"

Gwaine pulled back at Merlin's words, wearing a look of confusion as he studied Merlin's face.

"Ah, but I'm not ambushing a servant, am I?"

"Yes, yes, you're ambushing your friend, since friendship gives you more rights to pull stunts like this and give me more reason to worry over your health."

At that, Gwaine's face pulled into an outright frown, a rare sight to see on the perpetually-grinning knight. Merlin shifted around a bit nervously, unsure of what exactly was happening. Finally, Gwaine spoke again, this time very slowly and gently, as if he was trying to calm down a spooked horse.

"Merlin, what do you remember from yesterday? What was the last thing you remember before falling asleep?"

This time, it was Merlin's turn to frown in confusion at Gwaine's odd questions. What did any of that matter?

"Well, I suppose the last thing I remember was... was storming into the throne room with Arthur and Gwen and being informed of Morgana's death anything after that... I don't quite recall."

He must have hit his head or something after that point, because everything after that was what happened in his nightmare, and there was no way any of that was real. Right?

Merlin watched as Gwaine's frown pulled into a strained smile, his confusion only growing. What was Gwaine so nervous about?

"Well, Merls," Gwaine began, slinging an arm around Merlin's shoulders as he started to lead Merlin away from the kitchens, "a lot happened in between then and now, including some great news!"

Gwaine turned to face Merlin, his smile genuine and mischievous this time, and Merlin knew that grin. That was the grin Gwaine wore right before he was about to get himself into some trouble for a noble cause but would hide it under the guise of "fun".

Merlin sighed deeply, not awake enough to deal Gwaine's antics, even if they was coming from a good place.

"Alright, what's this news of yours?"

If it was possible, Gwaine's mischievous grin grew wider.

"For starters, I got a promotion!"

Merlin stopped in his tracks with shock, halting their walk to... wherever Gwaine was leading him.

"A promotion?! How? Why? What's your new title? Will you be leading other knights?"

Gwaine just shook his head, his hair whipping around and smile still present on his face. He started leading Merlin again as he answered Merlin's questions.

"I know, I had hardly believe it myself! But I took some initiative when it really mattered, and I landed myself this new job! It's not really a leadership role, but I might be leading some knights, and probably some guards too!"

Gwaine finally started to slow their march down as they reached what Merlin assumed was their destination: the doors to the main throne room, where Arthur took his audiences.

As Gwaine stopped before the doors, he turned to look at Merlin again, his smile still bright, but his eyes, Merlin noticed, growing strained again, like there was something greatly troubling him.

"You still haven't told me what this new job actually is though."

This time, Gwaine's smile faltered a bit, and Merlin knew at once that this new job was what was causing Gwaine so much inner turmoil. What job could possibly give Gwaine of all people so much stress?

"Ah, silly me, how could I forget! You'll want to hold onto something before I tell you this, because this will blow you away my friend! I got promoted..."

Gwaine leaned in close, almost like he was about to share a secret with Merlin. Merlin leaned in as well, curious about what position Gwaine's surprising promotion had been to.

"to the king's official bodyguard!" Gwaine revealed in a stage whisper, playing the moment up for dramatic effect in a very Gwaine-like manner.

Merlin jerked backwards in surprise, startled by such unexpected news, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense.

Arthur did seem to be stepping up security in the aftermath of Morgana's latest invasion, so it made sense for him to appoint a loyal and trusted knight to look after Arthur's own safety.

Merlin was strangely pleased with Arthur's decision on this. Arthur was finally prioritizing his own safety, and he had picked a great knight for the job! This might make Merlin's own secret job of protecting Arthur much easier! Gwaine would certainly take any of Merlin's warnings of danger to Arthur seriously, and he trusted Merlin enough that he wouldn't question where Merlin got any of his information.

Merlin smiled back at his friend, happy about both this new opportunity for his friend and about the changes it would bring. Yes, this was great!

"That's amazing Gwaine! Do you want to stop by the tavern tonight to celebrate?"

Gwaine laughed a bit at that, still looking oddly tense. For some unknown reason, apprehension started pooling in Merlin's stomach, telling him that something wasn't right here. No, there was something else going on.

"Thanks for the offer mate, but I'm afraid that it wouldn't be a good look for me to be seen drinking on my first night on the job. Besides, I have a feeling that you'll be a little busy this evening too."

Merlin's confusion only grew with each passing second.

"What do you mean by that?"

Gwaine didn't answer him, only giving Merlin a small, almost sad smile. It looked disturbingly out of place on the boisterous Gwaine, ratchetting Merlin's confusion and dread up even further.

Without another word, Gwaine turned and opened the doors to the throne room, revealing the entire council of lords congregated within, giving Merlin rather violent flashbacks to his nightmare.

No, no, nothing as disastrous as Merlin being publicly announced as a sorcerer and then getting crowned king in front of Arthur and Gwen could ever happen in real life. It was simply too absurd.

Merlin watched, frozen at the threshold of the room, as the lords' heads all turned towards the door at the sound of it swinging open. To Merlin's rising dread, they all rose from their seats at the sight of him.

No no no no....

Merlin frantically looked around, hoping to all of the gods of the Old Religion that Arthur was somewhere nearby, because the council only rose for the entrance of the king...

Merlin turned around, hoping to find Arthur standing around somewhere, anywhere, as dread began closing its claws around his heart, which was beating at the rating that Merlin would be concerned about if he could process anything other than his own all-consuming terror at that moment.

Because it wasn't a nightmare, was it? No, that was real. His worst fears had come to life in the most horrifying way possible, and he was powerless to stop it now.

If the lords of the council noticed Merlin's frantic terror, they didn't acknowledge it. Instead, apparently, they decided to only confirm Merlin's deepest fears. After a tense moment of utter silence in the room, broken only by Merlin's jagged breathing, Geoffrey finally stepped forward.

"Ah, welcome Your Majesty! I hope you're feeling better now after you've rested and recovered from your battle against Morgana. There is much to discuss concerning these first crucial days of your reign, including your public coronation, having all knights who are willing to renounce the Pendragon line swear their fealty to you, and determining the fates of those who already refuse to accept your rule."

For what felt like an eternity, Merlin simply stood there, his mind refusing to cooperate or even process what he was being told. He couldn't move a single muscle in his body, paralyzed by horror. He was only snapped out of his fugue state by Gwaine taking ahold of his arm and guiding him towards the table.

Inhaling sharply as he was pushed by Gwaine closer to the lords, he finally processed what Geoffrey had told him. Oh gods, a coronation?! So all of Arthur's kingdom could see how he had stolen Arthur's throne?! Forcing knights to turn their backs on Arthur and renounce their loyalty to him?! This was madness and, not to mention, the exact opposite of what Merlin wanted!

And what was that about punishing people for refusing to accept him as king? Hell, Merlin should reward the dissenters if anything, since they were apparently the only ones who still had any good sense left in this kingdom! Who in their right mind would immediately accept Merlin as their king anyway?!

Right, Merlin thought as his eyes wandered over the faces of the lords, spineless cowards with no loyalty who would turn their backs on their true king to save their own hides, that's who.

Well, the applied to the lords at least, but that still didn't explain what Gwaine was doing here, by Merlin's side, when he should be with Arthur and the other knights!

... Where were Arthur and the other knights?

A jolt of fear once again shot through Merlin, this time alongside guilt. Where was Arthur? What had happened to him? The council had foolishly stripped him of his title, and then what?

Clearing his dry throat, Merlin finally responded, "Geoffrey, what happened after I lost consciousness yesterday? Where is Arthur?"

After Merlin was finished speaking, the lords started shifting around nervously, which began to set of warning bells in Merlin's mind.

Something had happened after he fainted yesterday. Something that involved Arthur.

"Well, Your Majesty, following your loss of consciousness yesterday, the former King Arthur lost his temper and began yelling, shouting everything from accusing us of lies and treason to cursing out the sacred laws of the land. He then ran throughout the castle and began calling upon his knights for aid, explaining the situation to them in crude terms and demanding that they take back the crown from you by force."

Merlin grimaced at Geoffrey's monotone explanation, horrific visions of Arthur calling for his execution as a sorcerer and traitor running through his mind.

"Many of Arthur's knights rallied to his cause, but there were some who were hesitant to turn their blades against you, no doubt recognizing your power and your true claim to the throne. It was from that group that your loyal Sir Gwaine arose, leading a small group of knights and guards in a surprise attack that concluded with the former king and his knights locked in the dungeon cells, awaiting your judgement."

Merlin eyes flew wide at Geoffrey's words, his heading whipping around to meet Gwaine's gaze. Gwaine had betrayed Arthur in such a terrible way? For him?

In response to Merlin's horrified stare, Gwaine simply gave him his most innocent smile, as if nothing was wrong at all and Merlin's world wasn't crumbling around him.

No, this wasn't happening. Merlin had to fix this, and he had to fix it now.

"Look, Geoffrey, I am honored that you and the other lords feel so strongly that I am supposed to be Camelot's king, but that is not meant to be. I was never meant to rule over anything. This is Arthur's kingdom, and I will not be the one to take it from him."

All of the lords around the table look utterly confused, as if Merlin was speaking a completely different language. That was expected, Merlin supposed, if they had never seen anyone willingly give up power. Gwaine, however, just looked amused, like he knew that this was exactly what would happen.

"While that is a most gracious sentiment Your Majesty, I'm afraid that it isn't that simple."

Merlin groaned at Geoffrey's words, bemoaning the fact that the world could never let anything in his life be simple.

"Shouldn't it be?! I'm apparently the king now, so I order you to release Arthur and the knights from the dungeons and to give Arthur his kingship back!"

This time, it was Geoffrey's turn to sigh deeply, as the old man pulled a rather hefty- and dusty- scroll from his bag.

"This," Geoffrey began as he unrolled the yellowed parchment, "is Bruta's code, written by the Great King himself. This set of laws are the foundation on which all of the five kingdoms are governed, and Camelot is no exception. All kings of this Isle, no matter how powerful, are subject to these laws, lest the entire realm fall into anarchy."

Merlin was valiantly holding back the urge to bash his head into the council table. Why couldn't he clear this situation up as painlessly as possible?!

"The code addresses many subjects, and both the right of conquest and the rules of succession are outlined within. I'm terribly sorry Your Majesty, but the code clearly states that when a king who is not of royal blood ascends to the throne through the right of conquest, the previous royal family loses any and all claim to the throne, alongside their lands and wealth, essentially leaving them with no titles or claim to nobility at all. This measure was originally put in place to ban the defeated family from endlessly challenging the victor of the conquest in a bid to regain their former throne and wasting the new ruler's precious time."

Merlin's heart dropped even more at Geoffrey's words. Great, he had not only stolen Arthur's kingdom, but he had also stolen everything Arthur owned! Gods, what did Arthur hate Merlin more for at the moment, being a secret powerful sorcerer ever since they met or inadvertently stripping him of his title, lands, and all his possessions?

"I still don't see why this would forbid me from freely giving Arthur the throne back."

"Your Majesty, the former king is no longer a noble, as the Pendragon line is no longer recognized as a noble house. As such, Arthur is now, by law, a peasant, and it is against Bruta's code for a ruler to cede their throne to anyone but a noble for any period of time."

Merlin bit back a frustrated scream. Why, why?! Why couldn't he just make Arthur a noble again and be done with this farce and-

Wait a minute.

There was a way to make Arthur a noble.

Oh no, Arthur was going to hate this. But, Merlin steeled himself, this was the only way to make things right.

And that's all for now! I had a lot of fun making Gwaine the ultimate "ride or die" bestie for Merlin in this situation lol! I'll definitely be doing a part three of this au soon to resolve this cliffhanger!

Please let me know what you all thought of this continuation!

A huge thank you to everyone who supported my last au post and asked for this continuation! I'll try to tag you all here, my apologies if I missed anyone!

@cookie-player , @miyriu , @nebulousconstellationwriter , @insane-multifandom-brainrot , @elementalpirate4 ,

@tidalwavesandthunderstorms , @gaiussleechtank , @arrowlovesdragons , @lordmushroomkat , @bucketheadpunk14 ,

@retro-wallflower , @ryeallytired , @verxen , @mind-of-a-crow , @aostrek-236 ,

@thedragonkinproject , @orliththedragon , @theroundbartable , @my-own-quiet-corner , @tireddruid ,

@coffee-shop-gay , @sable-nakahara , @deadhotpocket , @bennedict , @samwinjester ,

@linotheghost , @aerismoon , @merthurogies , @ahumoki0 , @chairwiththreelegs ,

@achillesuwu , @pancakesandpigs , @the-king-and-the-druidess , @sugar-coated-prat-dragon , @isaidno ,

@justaz , @auldsusie

And, as always, thank you for reading through my ramblings! :D

EDIT: A question for those of you I'm tagging, I'm not sure if this is a tumblr issue or if I'm screwing something up on my end, but after the first few tagged blogs, it shows up on my screen like the tags are just plain text and not linked to anything. So, for those of you that are tagged, can you confirm that you're getting a notification when I tag you? I want to make sure everyone who requested a continuation knows when it's posted!

2nd EDIT: I've tried to fix the tag problem, I'm very sorry if you already saw this post and then got a notification!

[lostwords-found]

Oh god. Okay. SO. The Protocol red string board is going places and I am chewing drywall.

Note: I've been working on this post for a few days and nothing in here involves episode 27--I don't talk about episodes before they're out for everyone, so no worries about patreon spoilers.

Quick recap of some suspicions about Protocolverse I've written about previously:

1. I think this universe runs on a kind of balance of good & bad luck (or suffering and happiness), and that it's possible--under certain circumstances--to pawn the bad stuff off on other people and keep the good that arises to balance it out. I suspect a big piece of Protocol's overarching plot is going to be about the different ways people go about trying to come out ahead in that bargain.

2. I think some alchemists figured out how to attach bad luck and/or other similarly abstract ills into physical form.

3. I think they were trying to use this to cast out bad luck to other worlds (including that of Archives) and get good luck back. I think this is how the Fears got to Archives in the first place.

4. I think the books and coin in the tomb from MAG 23 got there this way, probably with the involvement of Protocolverse Albertus Magnus. The year on the coin -- 1279 -- is the year before Albertus Magnus died.

We'll come back to that stuff in a bit.

There's an apparently minor detail that was nagging at me recently: in TMAGP 22 Hans Berger specifically mentions having switched to silver wires in his experiments, and this change enabling his breakthroughs. It's through these silver wires, implanted directly into Herr Schmidt's brain, that he later receives the desperate telegraph signals that appear to be from a previously unheard part of Schmidt's brain.

By itself, that wouldn't ping any alarms. Silver wires are in fact what Berger used in real life; silver's highly conductive so if you're trying to read electrical impulses from the brain, probably a good choice of material. But the writing is very deliberate about mentioning them, and coming only three episodes after another historical letter about a scientist also working with silver -- Newton's tree in TMAGP 19 was a fantastical variant of a Tree of Diana, dendritic silver -- Berger's wires start feeling like maybe they're not just there for accuracy.

If, as it appears from Newton's work, consuming silver in certain forms can cause a new kind of consciousness to arise--and also, uh, turn you into a tree--what might implanting silver wires in a human brain do? Is the silver contacting or awakening something that was already there, or is it putting something there? Was that desperate OUT OUT OUT message really from half of Herr Schmidt's mind--or from something in the wire itself that was trying to get out?

That would be weird though. I mean--what, Protocolverse silver's inherently evil or something? But then I got back to thinking about alchemists trying to transmute things into precious metals. Gold's the one we mostly think of, but silver was also of interest. Which in real life is where you got stuff like the tree of Diana--alchemists thought that was a precursor to the philosopher's stone.

So... then I start thinking, if I was right in my other post that alchemists were figuring out how to put evil / misfortune / suffering into a physical form that could be used to transfer it somewhere else, what if silver was involved in that? What if they were either turning misfortune into silver, or trapping it in silver that already existed?

What if they did that, meaning to send it away, and some of that silver made its way into use?

Then I started looking some stuff up.

Did you know silver used to be mined in the Black Forest, in Germany? One mine there had a name meaning "Blessing of God." That mine dates back to the 1200s--Albertus Magnus's lifetime.

Did you know that starting in the 1600s, the G strings on high quality violins were typically wrapped in silver wire?

Do you know why movies are called the silver screen? In the 1920s, literal silver was used to make cinema screens. This fell out of favor as other cheaper designs were worked out, BUT in the 2000s silver has come back into use a bit because it works well for 3D movies. I would not be surprised at all if the screen that Tom went to see Voyeur on had silver in it.

Did you know that in the early 90s there was a specific plant in the UK that manufactured CDs covered with a layer of silver? This later turned out to cause some problems as the silver reacted with sulfur (oh hai, another alchemically significant substance!) and slowly degraded the discs. In real life these CDs were manufactured up through 1993. Per TMAGP 10, Mr Bonzo made his debut in '96 (the interview is from 2021 and is the 25th anniversary of Mr Bonzo's first appearance). The two times Mr Bonzo has appeared in person he's been summoned by playing a CD of his theme song. I wonder where and when those CDs were manufactured...

Did you notice the caterer Lady Mowbray hired in TMAGP 15 mentions that his company did silver service events? Betcha that particular feast was served on literal silver platters.

...I'm starting to think it's a really good thing ink5oul didn't end up tattooing Gwen with that silver spoon.

Okay. This all seems like there's maybe a theme here, but let's take a step back. Some materials have just been used for a lot of things throughout history; it could be coincidence. IF the above is actually on the mark--IF these were all intentional majorly-plot-relevant inclusions of Things Wot Involve Silver--where else would we expect to see this cropping up in the story? Because the topic of silver has barely been raised directly at all; I'm extrapolating wildly here, mostly on the basis of a couple episodes.

Well, here's a thought: silver was used in everyday currency for a long, long time. If there was a bunch of Evil Silver floating around surely someone would have stuck it into some money at some point. "Ill fortune" in the most literal possible sense, or whole new meaning to the phrase "bad penny" -- there are various bad jokes there that more or less write themselves. Though whoever was doing this would have had to to mark the bad money somehow so that they could avoid it...

Hey, um, remember how the OIAR's offices are in the building that housed the Royal Mint for like 150 years?

Actually, while we're on that subject, here's a funny little tidbit: Before it moved to Royal Mint Court, the Royal Mint was in the Tower of London for several centuries--its first home after being centralized. Wanna guess what year the Royal Mint was established in the Tower of London? Go on. Guess.

1279.

The same. Fucking. Year. As was on that coin waaaaaay back in MAG 23. Which was a thing I had noticed a while back when looking at the Germany eps, but I hadn't been considering a "what if some metals can be Bad" angle at that point and had just written it off as an odd coincidence.

Which I mean, it's probably still just a weird coincidence, I'm building this entire elaborate framework out of assumptions on top of assumptions on top of -- hang the fuck on, let me look something up real quick, I've gotta be misremembering--

I'm not misremembering! Isaac Newton was the Master of the Royal Mint for the last 30 years of his life.

Cool. Okay. So that's--hm. I think I'm genuinely starting to convince myself none of this is a coincidence.

Then I start poking through Wikipedia, and you wanna know some other interesting things? One, Newton himself apparently saw his work in economics as a continuation of his alchemical work. And two, during his tenure at the Royal Mint, he put limits on how much gold people were allowed to exchange for silver, and this led to a silver shortage. Because apparently, when other countries imported goods to them, the British paid for those goods in silver coins. When they exported goods to other countries, though?

They would only take payment in gold.

And there it is--there's the exact outsourcing scheme I was looking for. Stick all your suffering and pain and misfortune into your money, use that money to pay other countries, and get only the good stuff back. That... sounds really believable for the British Empire, honestly.

So I really think I might have some decent guesses on the historical stuff at play here. That only goes just so far though, because these days, silver doesn't really get used in coinage much.

Know where it does get used? Circuits. Electronics.

Computers.

If I'm right, whatever machinery the Mint used to store the intangible evils of the world in physical coinage for exportation, I would guess the OIAR is now using to instill all of those evils into FR3-D1 instead. One all-containing artifact of misfortune.

What the endgame is there, what the government gets out of it, I'm still not 100% sure--but I can't help thinking about Jonah's line in MAG 160 that Jon is not the Archivist but the Archive. That he is the record of fear, the physical embodiment of it.

There's people wanting to outsource absolutely fucking everything to AI these days, I guess.

SO THAT'S BEEN MY WEEK this is what my brain does when I have to drive all the way across the US alone, apparently. How are you all?

[autisticlalna]

don’t have the braincells to do anything with this, so i figure i could just throw this out there for, like. the five people who’d know what this is.

anyway: sbk shadow people au 👀?

YOU HAVE GIVEN ME INFINITE POWER

a quick recap of what Shadow People AU is: alternate universe where 1.15, on top of everythin else it Actually added, included a poorly-documented new mechanic where you could summon a black-and-yellow shadow copy of yourself. if you killed your shadow you would get a copy of everything you had in your inventory when you summoned it, but it would also be stronger with each death. if a shadow dies enough times, they can evolve to the point of being able to strategize, to build, and to communicate. oops! theyre self-aware!

there's a lot more to it than that, but ill explain as we go. because my favorite thing to do ever is apply this concept to different mcyt series and explore what might happen, and ive been toying with makin a variant for sbk. SO LETS GOOOOOOO

Viking would use his shadow to dupe materials and as an extra hand when buildin farms, so his shadow would develop to be more work-focused i think. zeroes in hard on a task and will not give up until its done. leave him alone he's got Shit To Do. either Viking gives him a cool mythology name, he continues the season nicknamin scheme to match Summertime, or Avid calls him somethin dumb and it sticks.

Vintage gets Antique. bottom text. i can actually just point at Antique as-is and go "yeah that's her shadow" LMAO. recolor the colored bits yellow and give her her eyes back and Antique is good to go. fun fact: the only* thing that can kill a shadow is their summoner or another shadow. run.

(* theres more than that but this post is already pretty long. spau is Big.)

Ruby is probably where we first run into the idea of "entity corruption", because god knows whats going on with Cherruby. basically if you've gotten corrupted by an entity in any way (eg Scar and Cub havin Vex magic, Watcher Grian, Karl Jacobs gettin put in the time travel blender), that bleeds over to your shadow and can cause... problems. i have a lot of thoughts about how this applies to TSMP specifically, but im squintin at Cherruby going what is your deal because there is SOMETHING messin with zhem and whatever it is is gonna mess with xis shadow too.

Avid would not risk havin a shadow. the most obvious reason is bc his shadow would be Super corrupted bc of basically everythin that happened in Nightmares, but the actual reason is that it would look like Avoid and that would freak Avid out too much :,D

rose suggested Marmalade would have the Old Shadows and OOGHGHHHHH FUCK . that goes hard. basically there's an associated dimension called the Shadowlands, and you can royally screw up your shadow's data by goin there before theyve finished forming for the first time. the outcome is a maxed-out shadow with a god complex that is capable of whatever you think its capable of. Marm might've drawn a connection between the Shadowlands and the Void, tried to use it as another way to get down to the Limbo border when the Void wasn't lettin her in, and instead got the Abyss equivalent. probably just named Void because of initially assuming theyre an extension of the Void itself.

Trog would be the runner-up for the Old Shadows, i think, but also they probably thought about it and went "nah" and forgot to warn anyone else that thats a thing. continues the trend with my Trog hcs of lookin perfectly normal and Not Being Normal At All. not entity corruption, just, like. corruption corruption. somethin broke here.

wait lmao i just realized something really funny and its that Fool's shadow would literally just look like him but all shadow-y. bc Fool already normally has the yellow/gold cracks. solar probably will have more ideas on what to do with this guy but i am proudly announcing that it is now Two Of Them Thursday

i cant decide if Leon's shadow shows signs of ender-ification before he does, or if he stays Completely Normal while Leon mutates. the latter is probably more interestin bc shadows gettin messed with is a pretty common trait in the au so havin a situation of "the shadow is normal while their summoner gets more and more fucked up" is fun. also: shitpost incarnate. this penguin cannot be stopped by any mortal means

i dont know how the tube thing would affect the shadows, is the fun part. like, "mechanically" the way the shadows work is they're tied to playerdata, so the likely idea is that Cloneby would have Cherruby's shadow. that's fun and fucked up!

fun side note: shadows are ground bound. they can do the kingdom hearts heartless thing of going flat to travel up surfaces and fit through spaces but they cannot jump over gaps. skyblock is maybe the worst experience for a shadow ever LMAO

[hatopixlriffs]

This week, on CHC:

Flowers, trees, and dragons, Oh My!

Welcome to the CHC recap, my name is Pixlriffs, our writer is ZloyXP, our physical copies printed by Lyarrah. So much has happened in the past week and a half since the last recap, so without further ado:

Let's take a look at all the events and mishaps that occurred on Camp Hermitcraft, this week!

Starting with @gem-the-oracle, who caught a nasty bug, and spent most of the week ill in the Big House. Being the Oracle of Delphi of course, absolutely nothing could go wrong! Besides, it couldn't be weirder than her vision of purple flowers that were quickly identified as Hyacinths, the same kind of flower plaguing every Apollo kid and especially Apollo himself! This spirals into madness as @sungod7-fuckyoupearl starts getting texts from none other than Daphne, known to her account name @notoriginallyatreenypmh and the sun god as "The One Who Got Away". Apollo quickly undergoes the five stages of grief as he realizes this isn't a prank and @boatboynr1- who was turned into a cat by Apollo literally ten minutes prior- berates him with yowls.

Oh, and Apollo's dead boyfriend Hyacinthus seems to have been the one sending all the flowers. How @hyancithus is doing this beats all reason as he is stuck as a Hyacinth flower and can only communicate in 🪻 emojis. Daphne claims he's able to channel energy through her and the phone she stole but refuses to elaborate further. After a minor breakdown, Apollo teleports Daphne and Hya from their temporary prison of Italy to Camp Hermitcraft, where Daphne takes her axe- also stolen- and takes a breather in the camp lake. Apollo's hands are full as he does his best to take care of his dead boyfriend, whom is still stuck as a flower. A similar rescue mission is still ongoing, as @askhermesgrian, @camphermithater, and Joel have left on a quest to go retrieve @pearl-likes-hunting from some myserious woods. All at the request of @shutupapolloplease, of course.

And what do you know, a third retrieval is also ongoing! @hatotangoftek's metal dragon, Fotia, is loose in NYC and he scrambles to get her back before he ends up in more trouble than he already is.

@undead-daughter-of-heb attempts to help Tango, but not before blacking out and waking up hours later, with the Hebe cabin rearranged, nice notes everywhere, and people claiming that Gem had briefly possessed her. The strangeness doesn't end there, as she finds and almost adopts a stray cat in camp, before eventually realizing it was @askxisumachc who'd gotten cursed while shifted and couldn't change back. Cleo takes X to Camp Jupiter, where @lovemushroomsandflowers successfully returns him to human form. Ignoring the purring, cat tail, and cat ears that stayed behind, of course. And according to Scott, Xisuma also seems to have retained cat-like attributes, such as the innate need to chase a laser pointer.

(click for better size- couldn't enlarge it w/o crunchiness) Unluckily for Scott, or maybe luckily for X, @goldenqueenfalse ended up putting him in the hospital before he could test catnip on the acting camp director. This does mean that the fashion show, which most demigods have agreed to simply call "Prom", will be delayed some time, which is fine as some campers have yet to pick out outfits.

Some campers may need to re-choose outfits after ending up back as adults, as Cleo has figured out how to control her powers! Yay for Cleo!

Chaos isn't the only thing going on, as @asktheshreeper and @boatboynr2 spend the week hanging out and even make some shopping plans!

@askscarpjo makes head bead bracelets :)

@hatorendiggitydog also wants head bead bracelets. He then proceeds to dream about Tartarus and acts like thats normal. Etho is not convinced.

@askhatoskizz is not immune to his dad's dead boyfriend and after receiving Hyacinths, decides to do something else. He decides to take @erempulse to a musical and manages to get tickets from Apollo before the whole shrubbery shenanigans (see: above) go down.

@spoonsandmustaches spends his free time playing tech support for @hato-grumbot (ooc- run by the creator of the au himself: @ahllohehn).

@askhatokeralis spends the week running camp in Xisuma's absence. He's doing fantastic.

And finally there's @askluckskall, who's been contemplating his gender identity and is seeking help from Cleo. As of writing this, we have yet to see where this is headed.

AND that's about it for this weeks recap, our writer is ZloyXP, and my name is Pixlriff, physical copies printed by Lyarrah. Don't forget to leave a like while you're here, and follow so you don't miss future recaps. Thanks for reading, and we'll see you next week.

[pinkeoni]

The Big AIDS Metaphor Post

In her essay "Why Are Americans Afraid of Dragons?" from her book The Language of the Night: Essays of Fantasy and Science Fiction, science-fiction and fantasy writer Ursula K. Le Guin writes—

"The use of imaginative fiction is to deepen your understanding of your world, of your fellow men, and your own feelings, and your destiny."

It would be easy for me to claim that Stranger Things is a show that utilizes its science-fiction elements as an AIDS metaphor, but that only goes so far without being able to prove that the show is in fact employing said metaphor. "The show takes place in the 80's -> AIDS was a big part of the 80's -> therefore the show is about AIDS" isn't an airtight argument in itself. I can quote famous sci-fi writers all day but that still wouldn't prove that the Duffers themselves are actually following similar trains of thought.

So here's my big long post about why the show is utilizing it's science-fiction elements as an AIDS metaphor.

Lengthy discussion of rape, violent homophobia and drug use below the cut.

A Brief History of HIV/AIDS in America

For those not in the know about HIV/AIDS, and in order to all get on the same page, here is a short recap. For my information, I will be this timeline from hiv.gov as well as this timeline created by History Channel, as well as some of the supplemental hyperlinks provided. Any other sources I use will be linked throughout.

HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus is a virus that attacks the body's immune system, making it highly susceptible to infection and cancers. The virus can progress to a more severe version of the infection, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or AIDS. The virus spreads through bodily fluids such as semen and blood. The most common ways for HIV/AIDS to spread was through unprotected sex and sharing needles while using drugs.

The initial cases of HIV were present in America in the 70's but become much more rampant starting in the early 1980s. Because cases of AIDS were most commonly seen in gay and bisexual men, there was a large misconception that AIDS was a "gay plague" or a "gay disease" as it was nicknamed. By 1984, 3,500 Americans had died from AIDS related illnesses.

The reason that AIDS epidemic got as deadly as it did is often attributed to the Reagan Administration's failure to act, something that President Reagan denied. Reagan would not publicly acknowledge AIDS until 1985, despite U.S. health officials being aware of AIDS since 1981.

Understanding just how entrenched this metaphor is in the story will include going through each season and examining in detail how each one plays into this metaphor.

Season One: Establishing Metaphor & Government Cover Up in Early Years of Epidemic

The AIDS metaphor is most closely connected with Will's storyline, although it's not exclusive to Will nor is his storyline exclusive to AIDS. Furthermore, the supernatural elements of this show are multifaceted. AIDS is but just one of the metaphors expressed in the show, but for the sake of this post it's what I will be focusing on.

The setup begins following Will's disappearance in episode 1, when Joyce introduces Will's queer coding to us.

By 1983 the terms "gay disease" and "gay cancer" had been in the public vocabulary for a couple years now. So when Joyce brings up his queerness in regards to to his disappearance in a show that takes place in the early 1980s, there is a subconscious correlation that can be made in the watchers mind. His sexuality is significant to the why he went missing, otherwise why bring it up?

We then hear through Troy exactly what the town believes happened to Will.

I think that Troy essentially being a mouthpiece for his father is significant to show that Troy's beliefs are not exclusive to him and they do not exist in a vacuum. Troy's homophobia is a product of his environment, which includes his home and by extension, Hawkins.

The specification that Will was killed by "some other queer" adds another layer under the surface of Troy's statement, one that implies that Will was raped before he was kill, otherwise, again, why bring up sexuality in the first place? This was the attitude toward gay men— they rape and kill little boys.

In early 1984, there was a study conducted by the American Journal of Medicine to trace the sexual partners of a cluster of patients with Kaposi Sarcoma, one of the common cancers that killed AIDS patients. The study identified a flight attendant as "Patient O" who was among the first to exhibit symptoms of HIV/AIDS and had a rather active sex life with a multitude of sexual partners. The study was soon misconstrued by the public to claim that there was a Patient Zero who was "a promiscuous or even malicious gay man who single-handedly and knowingly touched off the AIDS pandemic in the United States."

Another crucial factor of the metaphor is the cover-up and blame shifting from the government lab, the exact thing that allowed the problem to escalate and become as deadly as it did to begin with. In the early years of the epidemic, Reagan slashed the budget of public health agencies like the CDC, and it would be years until he ever made a speech about it let alone even mentioned AIDS publicly.

We see how adamant the lab is to cover up any supernatural involvement with Will's disappearance in an attempt to cover their own asses. Framing his death as an accident was their call, all while being acutely aware of what the actual problem was. This confrontation from Joyce to Brenner puts it pretty aptly.

Tangent About Barb

This AIDS metaphor is something that I thought of when I first watched the show back in 2016 (humble brag) but what tipped me off the most wasn't Will or the lab but it was the fact that Barb was the other victim shown.

Barb's queer coding was clear to everyone and their mother. Hell, there's even a joke about it in the Bad Lip Reading of the first season. Barb, Nancy's short haired female friend who takes issue with Nancy's new relationship and has a hard time fitting in with with all of the heterosexual antics of Steve's house party. She's singled out, and while the rest of the gang get to casually enjoy the pleasures of sex, while Barb, another member of the queer community, sadly loses her life. The show cuts between Nancy having sex with Steve with Barb being killed to emphasize this stark contrast.

Season Two: Personal Effects of HIV/AIDS & Social Stigmatization

Season one was surrounding Will while not really showing us much of his pov, but season two dives right in to his perspective.

So, remember when I talked earlier about how Troy, and by extension the town, believed that Will was raped? Well, he wasn't exactly wrong.

This moment wasn't lost on me when I originally watched the show, although I think I ignored the implications because I didn't want to believe what I was seeing. But it's pretty well spelled out— A long, tentacle-like organ used for the sake of reproduction (Will "births" D'Art as a result of this), is inserted inside of Will's mouth without consent.

It's been a year, and Will is still dealing with the trauma of what happened, along with all of these new changes to his life. Will frequently attends doctors appointments at the lab, where the lab themselves aren't completely confident what is happening with him either.

When cases of HIV/AIDS were first appearing in the U.S., health officials were unclear as to what exactly this virus was and how it worked, only that clusters of otherwise healthy gay men were suddenly developing rare and aggressive infections and cancers.

Owens refers to the spread of the Upside Down very clinically— describing it as some cancer. One of the first articles published about HIV/AIDS in America before more information was known was a New York Times article titled "Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals." The cancer the headline refers to being Karposi Sarcoma, the rare skin cancer developing due to their weakened immune system.

HIV/AIDS in itself isn’t the disease that patients die from, but instead the weakened immune system allows for diseases to take over the body without much defense. After his visit to the Upside Down, Will faces a series of “True Sight” visions as Mike puts it, which allows for a destructive foreign entity to invade Will's body and slowly take it over.

HIV.gov lists the following as some of the symptoms of AIDS:

"Rapid weight loss"

"Profuse night sweats"

and "Memory loss"

To the government agents in the lab, we see just how disposable Will is to them. In their words, if it kills him, it kills him. (thank you to @emblazons for being the one to point this out to me)

Owens may have held more concern for Will, but he still continues the government cover-up started by Brenner in season one. We also see the fallout of Barb's death, with Nancy and Jonathan fighting to uncover and reveal the truth. Owens is the one who tries to put a stop to their exposé of events to Barb's mom.

Not only is Will facing trauma and his body being ravaged by this new illness, but he's also facing social stigmatization, something common among gay men with positive HIV statuses at this time. There seemed to be some sympathy from the townsfolk when Will was missing and presumed dead, yet he faces animosity almost seemingly because he came back.

The "Zombie Boy" Nickname

I once made a whole separate post about this, but Will's "Zombie Boy" nickname from season two fits in with this AIDS metaphor.

On a surface level, the nickname is in reference to the fact that Will seemed to come back to life despite having a funeral and being buried. In a literal sense, however, his peers are quite literally referring to him a walking corpse that spreads disease. Individuals suffering from AIDS often have very short life expectancies, and zombies are the re-animated dead that aim to infect and kill as many people as possible. It is a very coded nickname.

In the post that I linked, I speculate the possibility that some people in town may even believe that Will has HIV. Remember earlier when I mentioned Troy's comment "he was probably killed by some other queer" which implies a belief that Will was raped. The town don't know about any of the supernatural goings-on, but they do know that Will went missing, was found in a cabin a week later, was hospitalized shortly after and attended frequent doctor visits through the following year. I don't see a reason that malicious rumors would cease, especially considering that they already continue to be cruel and ostracizing with the Zombie Boy nickname.

Look also at this moment of Will getting weird looks as he is being pulled from school to attend his doctors appointment. Why so much stigma around simply going to the doctor?

The 1984 Reelection of Ronald Reagan

In 1984, Ronald Reagan won reelection in one of the biggest election wins in history. And— subsequently continuing his and the governments silence towards the AIDS epidemic.

Season two takes place in the week leading up to the reelection. There are small set pieces that draw attention to this, such as this election sign in front of the library.

If the date November 6th sounds familiar, it should.

Dr. Owens mentions the anniversary of Will's disappearance. The one year anniversary of Will's disappearance is the same day that Ronald Reagan was reelected. Will's trauma is being purposefully associated with that day.

I've also made a separate post before just about the Reagan/Bush '84 signs that litter the lawns of Hawkins houses. They appear most notably in the Halloween episode, building to when Will has his true sight episode that night. There is one clearly in frame just before Will is separated from the group, called a "Zombie Boy" and a "freak" (two very coded nicknames) before he falls into his vision.

We also get a clear view of the Reagan/Bush sign outside of the Wheeler house before Will describes his experience to Mike.

A Tangent About the Wheelers

And now the question on everyone's mind: Are the Wheeler's homophobic?

Ted and Karen Wheeler are not violent, homophobic bullies. That would be a massive reach. But it would also be a reach to say that they are vocal allies. And maybe that's just what the average middle class family

In the very least, the Wheelers are passively contributing to a system that enables homophobia. To be honest, they are probably just going along with what everyone else is doing. Like I said earlier, Reagan was an incredibly popular candidate for the 1984 reelection. The Wheelers have the privilege of being able to comfortably conform without having to worry about much of the consequences. (I'll talk more about the Wheelers later)

In the episode where Will is possessed by the Mind Flayer, Joyce calls the school and we get an extended shot with Reagan's portrait in the background. The shot begins with the portrait slightly obscured, then the camera dolly's in towards the receptionist with the portrait still in frame. Shortly after this Will is possessed in the field. Here is one of the camera begins the shot and where the camera ends the shot.

I also wanna note that when Joyce calls in this scene, the receptionist makes a side comment about her and rolls her eyes. There's a clear animosity towards not only Will, but the whole Byers family, including the adults of the town. Including Reagan's portrait in this shot is meant to create a subtle correlation between him and the stigma that the Byers' face.

Season Three: The Façade of Patriotism Over a Dying Nation

It's 1985, Ronald Reagan has been reelected, and this season introduces Hawkins Mayor Larry Kline.

Is Larry Kline meant to be Ronald Reagan?

I would say that Mayor Kline is probably exemplary of American politicians in a broader sense (in fact the Duffers may have been making allusions to Trump with his connection to the Russians) although the fact that he's in office the same time as Reagan is still significant.

In the beginning of the season, Mayor Kline is being met with protesters outside his house, not unlike many of the AIDS awareness protests from the 80's.

The townsfolk are angered with Kline for building the mall and running some of the small businesses into the ground. During Reagan's run, he implemented a system of economics called "Reaganomics," which aimed to cut taxes and support economic growth. Although critics of Reaganomics will point out that his policies had actually increased the wealth gap, making the rich richer and the poor, poor. I want to keep this post about the AIDS metaphor, although I wanted to point this out as it is a connection between Kline and Reagan. And as I said earlier in this post, the metaphors are multifaceted and not just about AIDS.

But continuing, later in the season Kline puts on a big 4th of July festival to celebrate the independence of his country with neon lights and flashy fireworks. Meanwhile, the people of his town are dying right under his political reign.

During season 3, the AIDS metaphor actually moves away from Will, with the focus of his story shifting slowly to romance. This was setup at the Snowball at the end of season 2, and season 3 hints at some of Will's feelings for Mike which will be carried into season 4.

But the metaphor is carried on by Will's name twin, Billy.

Billy and Will sharing the same first name, that being William, feels significant as Will basically passes the baton to him and Billy now becomes the focus for this metaphor. We learn from Max that Billy is very sexually active, and in the beginning of the season he has eyes for Karen Wheeler. It is while he is on his way to this illicit sexual affair when he is "infected" by the Mind Flayer. (this was pointed out to me in the comment of one of my posts, but have since lost it. If you are reading this— thank you.)

Billy then passes the "infection" along to a girl he was flirtatious with, before the "virus" begins spreading over town.

There is also language and rape imagery associated with being flayed. There is the repeated lines "hold still" and "it'll all be over soon." When Heather's parents are flayed, they are tied up something is forcefully inserted orally, not unlike what we saw with the tentacle inside of Will in season one and his possession in season two. (I first saw this pointed out by @kaypeace21

The flayed begin to eat chemicals, and Nancy makes the comment that Tom, one of the flayed, appears to have been on drugs. Another common way that HIV is spread is through the sharing of drug needles.

HIV/AIDS in the Press

Nancy's arc with the newspaper this season reminds me a lot of how AIDS was first being reported in the press. Nancy begins her search for a story with stolen fertilizer and diseased rats, not realizing that there was a much bigger and much more dangerous story at hand. One of the first reports HIV in the media was from a CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from 1981, which cited five cases of pneumonia in previously healthy gay men in Los Angeles. While still a deadly number, it was relatively small compared to the massive number of AIDS cases and deaths that would soon follow.

When Nancy brings her story to work, Bruce, one of her higher-ups, sips from this rather patriotic coffee mug before telling Nancy to drop the story.

At the end of the 1985 summer in Hawkins, the flayed have died in a "mall fire" and Larry Kline is arrested for colluding with the Russians, and their patriotic façade is shattered.

In September 1985, shortly after actor and close friend of Ronald Reagan, Rock Hudson dies, of an AIDS related illness, Reagan makes his first public acknowledgement of AIDS.

Season Four: Further Stigmatization & LGBT Witch Hunting

In season four the town is finally privy to the fact that there is something wrong going on, although they are unsure of exactly what. When things begin to escalate, instead of blaming the actual guilty party, they go on an all-out witch hunt.

Once again, Will's pretty removed from the AIDS storyline in this season with his arc focusing on his romantic feelings for Mike. With Billy dead and Will out of town, the baton passes once again for the metaphor to be carried by Eddie Munson.

In the first episode of season 4, Eddie is reading a magazine with an article about the Satanic Panic, a real case of wide-spread hysteria in the 1980's regarding the fear of rising Satanism, supposedly promoted by D&D. The article links the game to violent behavior, Satanic worship, sodomy and murder.

Tangent on Sodomy and Sodomy Laws

Merriam-Webster defines sodomy as "anal or oral copulation with another person." The definition is often expanded to include copulation with animals, although the term sodomy, according to Merriam-Webster, means "especially: anal or oral copulation with a member of the same sex."

While definitions may vary depending on states, some states have specific laws outlawing sodomy, even between consenting adults. In 1986, the Supreme Court upheld Georgia's anti-sodomy laws in Bowers v. Hardwick, after a homosexual man and his partner were arrested after being caught while having sex in his own home. Sodomy laws would eventually be challenged again in 2002 with the Lawrence v. Texas case.

While sodomy can technically can refer to both homosexual and heterosexuals, it is especially and historically has been used in regards to homosexual sex. When Eddie reads the word sodomy here, gay sex is being lumped in and made equivalent to violent behavior, Satanic worship, and murder. Quite literally in season four, Hellfire Club is seen as the evil Satanic sodomizers who bring death to their town.

While trying to find a substitute for the D&D game, one of kids Mike asks mentions 60 Minutes in his rebuttal of Mike's request. This episode takes place on March 21st, 1986. On March 16th, 1986, 60 Minutes played a segment called "Life and Death in San Fransisco," a segment about the AIDS virus on CBS. (EDIT: I originally attributed this to the wrong person, but thank you to @aemiron-main for being the one to point this out. Apologies for my memory mixing up my ST analysts in my head 😔) The archived footage can be viewed on YouTube.

When Chrissy is killed by Vecna inside of Eddie's trailer, leading the town to suspect that Eddie was the killer, she was going there to do drugs. Again, a common way for AIDS to be spread was through the sharing of drug needles. After the town and cops suspect Eddie, the town goes on an all-out witch hunt for him and other members of Hellfire, invoking Christianity as their reasoning. In Eddie's words— "Hunt the freak, right?"

Does this mean that Eddie is queer?

The black handkerchief in his back pocket and Joseph Quinn's flirtatious ad-libs with Steve are not completely lost on me. And the AIDS coding here does seem to be pointing in that direction, but here's what I think.

Eddie's actual sexual orientation, and by extension that of Hellfire, is beside the point and doesn't actually matter in the eyes of the town. Every member of Hellfire could be straight and every member of Hellfire could be gay, but what matters is that Hellfire Club is a group of outsiders that participate in recreational activity that is deemed dangerous, and that in itself is queer, regardless of who they may actually be attracted to.

Another Tangent on The Wheelers

During Jason's religious spiel in town hall which invoked the witch hunt against Eddie and Hellfire, we get this shot of Ted and Karen Wheeler upon remembering that Mike is a part of Hellfire. And boy do they look terrified.

This moment, right here, is what I believe to be the Wheeler rug pull. They may not have been signing up to witch hunt their son when they put that Reagan sign in their front lawn, but this is what it leads to. They're being confronted with the most extreme end of their forced conformity and they fear what they see. I think part of what causes this change in character is because they know Mike, had Mike not been a Hellfire member, who is to say if they would have changed their tune or join in the witch hunt. At the end of the season, when the news reports that the giant gate in town is a "doorway to Hell," both Ted and Karen scoff at the report, calling it "hysteria." The conformists are beginning to un-conform.

Concluding Thoughts & Season Five

Providing a story about HIV/AIDS through a science-fiction metaphor is both practical and ethical. The metaphor allows the show to tell the story to a wide audience without the reliance on outside knowledge. You don't have to be an expert in HIV/AIDS history to understand the story that it's trying to tell. It's ethical as well in that it doesn't force it's incredibly young actors to have to act out being raped and developing HIV/AIDS.

With Eddie Munson dead and Zombie Boy back in town, I think that the AIDS metaphor will shift it's focus back to Will. I think we may see a colliding of the AIDS plot with his romance plot. How do you pursue romance with a HIV+ status? Can you?

The way I see, season 5 has the choice to go in one of two directions:

But first, a short tangent about my uncle

In recent years, I came to learn that my uncle was HIV+, something that wasn't known to me when I was younger. Him and his partner are both in their sixties, and they currently bought a plot of land in which they plan on building their dream house together.

But anyways, the two choices are this:

Will dies by the end of the season. He becomes one of the many gay men with HIV/AIDS who lived a short life, unable to grow into adulthood and pursue his love life. His story is a tragedy.

Will lives. He becomes one of the many gay men with HIV/AIDS who survived and is able to live a long and happy life full of love. His story is an uplifting one full of hope.

Tagging: @emblazons @italiantv @gaysmindpalace @ven0moir @punkwillbyers @mikesbasementbeets @quinterobb @drangues @basiltonpitch @howtobecomeadragon

[babydollmarauders]

MEDIA MANAGEMENT — JACK HUGHES (PART SEVEN)

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5- 5.5 - 6 - 7

y/ndevils00

liked by jackhughes, ehaula, and 28,628 others

y/ndevils00 hello everyone, welcome back to your postgame recap: blackhawks edition! unfortunately everyone’s favorite WAG (sorry girls) and social media manager: me, was unable to attend this road-trip due to illness. however, i, of course, still watched this game and have many a comments!

first, what the hell were these boys doing in first period that they couldn’t get a single goal against the blackhawks? had me yelling at the tv!

however, my favorite gingersnap got the first goal of the night 6:19 into the second period! GO HAM! I’M SO PROUD!

following that up, my uncle (we are still not related in any way) got his 11th goal of the season, tying up the game! really had me haula-ing! (get it? haula-ing? hollering? whatever!)

mere minutes after, my dear sweet boqy scored, making us end the second period up by 1!

we opened 3rd period with a camera shot of my boyfriend. that is the face of someone who misses his wonderful girlfriend and cannot wait to come home and take care of her while she is sick (jack come home. i think i need you more than they do.)

we kicked off 3rd period scoring with a goal by mr. edward cullen himself! he really does sparkle, doesn’t he! who knew vamps were so good at hockey?

with not even 4 minutes left in the game, we got an amazing wrap around shot by timo, who has yet to insult me again! i feel like a proud mother!

and lastly, my sweet baby, mercy put the nail in the coffin for this game with an empty net goal, bringing the final score to 6-3! dawson, you have never let me down, unlike your brother, john.

closing off this post, we have some adorable shots of captain swiss and lil jizzy with blackwood.

p.s. i’d like to bring everyone’s attention to my boyfriend’s hand. that’s my favorite hand, because it holds mine <3 jack come home, i have separation anxiety

tagged dougieham, ehaula, jesperboqvist, jackhughes, ryangraves27, tmeier96, dawson1417 and nicohischier

user oh no! i hope you feel better :(

john.marino97 i didn’t even do anything in this game and you still find a way to insult me

y/ndevils00 that’s exactly WHY i insulted you. do better.

jackhughes for once, you actually got what i was thinking about right

y/ndevils00 i’ve been saying you were thinking about me for so long, i was bound to be right eventually

jackhughes i miss you pretty girl

y/ndevils00 aww shucks, you’re making me blush 🤭

jackhughes nevermind never say that again

jackhughes you like my hand? you’re such a sap

y/ndevils00 let’s try that again

jackhughes i like your hand too?

y/ndevils00 why thank you! is it because it holds yours?

jackhughes dawson tells me i should say yes

y/ndevils00 well at least dawson understands how to be affectionate

ehaula i’m begging you to stop using my name as a pun

y/ndevils00 and i’m begging you to hop off my dick

dawson1417 @/y/ndevils00 y/n….

y/ndevils00 i mean, no, thank you. i would like to keep making my puns if that’s okay with you

ehaula since you asked so nicely.. still no

y/ndevils00 @/dawson1417 how do i work with this?

dawson1417 @/y/ndevils00 you stop making the puns?

y/ndevils00 @/dawson1417 i can’t do that

user67 sick y/n is so lovey, jack better get home asap

dougieham thank you, y/n!

y/ndevils00 you’re so welcome! now, will you bring me wawa when you guys get back?

dougieham i will. but does jack not feed you?

y/ndevils00 i don’t like his food

jackhughes @/y/ndevils00 you know i can see this right?

y/ndevils00 @/jackhughes no you can’t. this is a private conversation

jackhughes @/y/ndevils00 it’s really not

ryangraves27 i’m still not a vampire

y/ndevils00 i’ve never seen you eat garlic so i cannot rule it out as a possibility

ryangraves27 you’ve also never seen me drink blood though

y/ndevils00 look, i don’t know what you’re into

ryangraves27 i’m so confused

dawson1417 y/n, what do we say to marino?

y/ndevils00 @/john.marino97 i’m sorry and i love you both equally 🙄

john.marino97 @/y/ndevils00 this seems anything but genuine

y/ndevils00 dawson, he’s onto us! what do i do?

dawson1417 well i can tell you what you don’t do: that!

tmeier96 i think i learned my lesson from last time. i’ll never insult you again

y/ndevils00 good. actions have consequences and you’d do good to remember that!

nicohischier ❤️❤️

y/ndevils00 you are my favorite, swiss cheese

nicohischier i’m revoking my hearts

y/ndevils00 it’s too late, i already have them they’re mine now

[the-crimson]

I was thinking about this while falling asleep last night so I want to try and untangle the web Bad has been spinning to better understand what he’s doing cuz in some aspects it seems completely random and disconnected

Bad’s plan rn is to disseminate a bunch of different - at times contradictory- information across the island and watch how it spreads. The goal of this is two fold; to discover who is trustworthy and to find the (probably unknowing) federation spy.

His plan began way back with the magma cube prank. At the time he said he wanted to pin the prank on the fed to turn everyone against them but… the way he went about it didn’t make sense? Giving a cube to everyone at once pretty much confirmed it was a prank - fit recognized that immediately - as well as writing the books in French and Portuguese. Not to mention Tina would clock him immediately since he pulled this prank on her before. So what was the point?

So Bad could watch/listen to the islanders as they tried to figure out who it was. Many of them immediately clocked bbh for a number of different reasons and he confessed to several different people (mainly the French) that it was indeed him. He could watch the web of information spread to discover who talked to who and who could keep secrets.

Over the last few weeks Bad’s been much more subtle with this. He’s told conflicting information about various things to a bunch of people - telling some people he is the one responsible for the mines at spawn and others that he isn’t - and the web has just gotten more and more complex.

Then on top of all of this, he’s testing people with very specific and unique obstacles.

Bagi’s test was the first one I noticed several days ago and is what got me paying closure attention. Bad pretty much explained it yesterday but I’ll recap. He knew Bagi was worried about him so he told her he was seeing a ghost (which was true) and asked her to keep it a secret. She did not - as Bad predicted - and you can tell in the conversation that Bad knew she didn’t and was giving her the opportunity to come clean - which she did. He praised her and thanked her out of no where for keeping this secret (I thought this was weird at the time, the way he was talking, and this is why) and she told him that she didn’t. This proved to Bad that Bagi was more interested in being honest then trusted which meant that she passed the test.

The next obvious one is Baghera. Bad is testing Baghera’s resolve and trust. He showed her Ron knowing full well that Baghera could have turned on him and tried to interfere but he trusted that her sense of justice and care for him would balance out and that she’d find a solution where they both would be happy. He knows he is hurting her but it’s necessary in his eyes.

Then is Forever. This one is a bit more tricky. I don’t think Bad has really started testing Forever before the gun theft. This felt like an improvised test to see how far Bad could gaslight and push Forever before Forever gave up on their relationship. The gun was returned before we reached that point but there was another immediate point of contention that - again - was out of Bad’s control. Tubbo. Forever correctly believing Tubbo that bbh kidnapped the worker was the pay off for Bad’s previous abuse. Forever doesn’t believe a thing that comes out of Bad’s mouth anymore. The nail in the coffin for this test is Forever thinking that Bad is ill and needs to be saved, which means Bad is probably never going to bring Forever into his plans like he did Baghera. Forever wants to save him but Bad doesn’t want to be saved. He walked into this hell with eyes wide open and it’s far too late to turn back.

Aypierre’s test began yesterday. Not only did Bad “confess” to having a fed worker in his custody, he also tasked Aypierre with spying on Tubbo. Bad trusts the French as a whole more than anyone on the island (I’ll come back to foolish in a minute) and he knows that Aypierre, Antoine, and Etoiles would either be ambivalent or positive about the man in Bad’s basement. Bad would never straight up confess to this crime “I would never touch the federation” but he’s willing to confirm their suspicions. He also told Aypierre to be wary because someone is protecting Forever and… I’m pretty sure this is a lie. A lie to test what Aypierre does. Who does he tell. If the feds find out and start snooping. I think Aypierre’s test is to prove without a doubt if he can be trusted/who he trusts and that he isn’t a fed plant/hasn’t been bugged.

Lastly, and most interestingly, we have Foolish. Foolish is the only one Bad has told everything to. Sure, it’s through three layers of obscurity and metaphor but these two only know how to communicate through mind games. Bad knows how intelligent Foolish is and he knows what Foolish wants. Yes Foolish is a snitch but he has no loyalties to the fed, only to his family and himself. Foolish would be the obvious spy but Bad knows Foolish is just chasing the rush of excitement and entertainment and that watching Bad stop holding back is prime time entertainment. He knows Foolish will eventually turn him over to the feds but that’s what Bad wants. Foolish will be up front about it and will want a front row seat so if Bad gets arrested without the fan fair, then it proves that someone else is the puppet (if bad gets arrested at all)

Lastly lastly, I think Bad has caught onto the fact that the federation doesn’t want to touch him. First giving him a slap on the wrist for griefing the presidential office then warning workers to stay away from him instead of removing him as a threat. Bad wants to push them. Ever since Tubbo spilled the beans about the worker going missing, Bad has been acting so much more suspicious and threatening than before. He’s intentionally making himself look more guilty without out right stating that he is guilty. The federation has to know it’s him right? They have all the pieces they had to have been able to put it together so why? Why haven’t they acted?

Well, Foolish promised Bad he’d be getting arrested soon and Bad keeps making himself look more sus to Tubbo who has a friend in the fed - who resembles the exact person Bad wants to nab - so Bad is also probably keeping an eye on Tubbo if he snitches (which he did lol). If the federation continues to do nothing that’ll give Bad massive leverage over them while also giving him another mystery to solve.

Bad said his plan is almost complete, he just needs a few more pieces to fall into place before he can find the puppet and follow its strings back to its master. I have no idea what’s going to happen or what pieces need to fall into place but i am so curious to see what he does next. Is capturing Fred still part of his plans? Is he still banking on getting put in jail? How is he going to narrow down who is the puppet when he hasn’t tested more than half of the server? Hopefully we’ll get some answers today.

[ofmdrecaps]

08/03-04/2024 Weekend OFMD Recap

TLDR; David Jenkins; Rhys Darby; Taika Waititi; Samba Schutte; Ruibo Qian; Rachel House Dominic Burgess; Nathan Foad; Articles; Fan Spotlight; OFMD Colouring Pages; Our Flag Means Fanfiction; Love Notes; Daily Darby/Today's Taika

Okay yall, I ended up being up all night for days with a grumpy kiddo so I am yet again behind, I'm really sorry. Here's the weekend recap. Aug 5 will go out tonight if I have to chug espresso for the next 4 hours!

== David Jenkins ==

Source: David Jenkins Twitter

== Rhys Darby ==

Our Captain is out in Edinburgh Scotland! Doing his Live Cryptid Factor show with Dan Scheiber and Buttons!

Lots of short videos on his Instagram Stories:

The Cryptid Factor Live - Edinburgh - Buttons CraftTime

The Cryptid Factor Live in Edinburgh - Dan's Book

The Cryptid Factor Live In Edinburgh - The Crypid Factor

The Cryptid Factor Live In Edinburgh - The Caves

Source: Rhys Darby's Instagram

Source: petrichorpond On Twitter (per @mon-ster-chen's Post)

= Astras TV Awards Nominee =

Rhys has been Nominated for BEST ACTOR in a Streaming Comedy Series in the Astra TV Awards! The TV Awards ill be held on Aug 18th so keep your eyes peeled around then!

Source: Hollywood Creative Alliance Instagram

== Taika Waititi ==

Happy Wedding Anniversary to Taika and Rita! (Aug 4th 2022). They were caught smooching out in London recently <3

Source: Instagram

== Samba Schutte ==

No context, but Samba called it "Man in the Mirror"

Source: Samba Schutte's Instagram

== Nathan Foad ==

Nathan's weekly Saturday Celebration

Source: Nathan Foad's Instagram Stories

= Ruibo Qian =

Just some stills from the Ms. Holmes/Ms. Watson BTS I wanted to include cause they're adorable.

Source: OldGlobe's BTS Video

= Rachel House =

So these are a week old but I found them via a more recent post from someone else there, so putting them in today! Rachel out with friends <3

Source: Instagram

= Dominic Burgess =

Dominic sending us goodnight cat pictures. What a guy <3

Source: Dominic Burgess' Twitter

== Articles ==

Thank you to @adoptourcrew for highlighting this article!

https://telltaletv.com/2024/03/20-iconic-queer-and-trans-characters-of-color-on-tv/

Source: Adopt Our Crew Twitter

https://screenrant.com/tv-shows-always-recommend-good-regardless-genre/

Source: Adopt Our Crew Twitter

== Fan Spotlight ==

= OFMD Colouring Pages =

Another set of colouring pages from our fab friend @patchworkpiratebear - I love that we're getting multiple versions each time now! These are super cool!

Source: PatchworkPirateBears Tumblr: Teacups / Flag

= Our Flag Means Fanfiction =

Another episode of the Omegaverse! This time hosted by Tessa! Check them out on your favorite listening platforms here!

Source: Our Flag Means Fanfiction Instagram

== Love Notes ==

Hey Lovelies!!! Found this really adorable artist this weekend and I thought I'd share them with you because they really express a lot of things that I tend to think--- like how much I love you all, seriously, did you know you're fucking FANTASTIC?? and fucking BRILLIANT AND AMAZING AND TALENTED!?

Whenever I'm stuck doing work, or other family/life stuff, I always come back to thinking about this awesome fandom, and how much I miss talking too you all and how much I love all the crazy stuff you all get up to every day! I haven't been interacting as much because it's really hard for me to focus with so much going on (yay neurodivergence!)-- but please know I'm watching and laughing, and crying and smiling, and wishing you all the best and cheering you on! Hope the end of the weekend and beginning of the week is treating you wonderfully <3 Take care lovelies!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by James (@sunlightafterdark)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by James (@sunlightafterdark)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by James (@sunlightafterdark)

== Daily Darby / Today's Taika ==

Just needing some of the Cinnamon Sugar, Salt and Pepper boys smiling together for this one <3 Gifs courtesy of more of our gif-masters @eddie-redcliffe and @thunderwingdoomslayer!

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

maggot newt pulsifer: the draw battle recap

The maggots asked and the maggots shall receive. Helloo it's the Good Omens Mascot and the uh Maggot Prince (...) anyway it's Asmi and as many of you now know, we have a Discord server. It is called The Official Maggots Server of Doom.

So far, it has lived up to its name, with discussions of whether human flesh is healthy food if locally sourced and consensual, tears about good omens, gartic phone horrors and the infamous Draw Battle Team of Valerie and Coel. If you don't have Discord or weren't there, never fear! That last Incident is the one I am here to recount to you. We all know I love summaries.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Coel @dieamarjla: The Newt Puslifer Maggot, whose phone hanged, nearly burned up, closed several tabs and then gave up on him entirely Valerie @good-usernames-were-taken: His unfortunate teammate I, Asmi @weirdly-specific-but-ok: Their gleeful opponent Vanny @lxvenderjewel: My equally gleeful teammate Vel @orpiknight: Sane person cameo, joined next game Jay @voids-ideas: Joined next game Tefi @patoslover: Gleeful spectator cameo

And so we begin... with the snippets from the Discord channel as the game went on. A lot has been edited out, but rest assured, you are receiving the delicious necessities.

Valerie: GUYS IT'S STARTING Coel: its so over Valerie: COSL PLEASE DRAW Valerie: COEL Valerie: HELLO IM ON YOUR TEAM Coel: oh dear god Coel: im on phone lmao my fingers Valerie: COEL GET BACK HERE Valerie: GUESS Valerie: COEL DONT LEAVE ME KN MY OWN LIKE THIS

Valerie: NO COEL HAS FUCKING VANISHED Coel: wait wbat??

[continues below cut :")]

Coel: gonna vanish from discord cos my phone keeps refreshing my tab Valerie: coel I'm not on your team next time Coel: fair fair idk what im doi g sob Valerie: COEL GUESS Valerie: GUESS COEL Valerie: YOU WRITE WHAT YOU THINK IT IS Coel: I CANT SEE THE THING Valerie: WHAT Coel: MY TAB Valerie: OKAY COEL GET READY Valerie: WE CAN DO THIS Valerie: LETS SHOW THEM Coel: my tab is fucking frozen its stucm on round 3 Valerie: OH MY GOD Coel: im sorry ghfjgngnf Valerie: I GUESSED IT PURELY BASED ON WORD LENGTH Vel: What is happening right now. Coel: i dont know :sobbing Valerie: IM SORRY COEL

Vanny: FUCK Asmi: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Valerie: WHOS THE SUCKER NOW Vanny: WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS Vanny: WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT COEL Valerie: WTF Asmi: WE ARE FAILURES OF THE LOWEST ORDER Vanny: FUCK SORRY Asmi: WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY Valerie: WHOEVER IS PLAYING FOR COEL HIGH FUCKING FIVE Asmi: WE CAN'T LOSE TO VALERIE Valerie: TF IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN Valerie: COEL?!?? Coel: link pls it crashed Coel: my phone is having seizures Coel: ghghgjgjgjk Coel: after this ill keep out of the games lmao Valerie: COEL the word is cheeks Valerie: or cheeks Coel: i cant get in bro the link just doesnt open tho theres nothing wrong w it Coel: aaaaaa

[Finally new game is initiated, Vel, terrified, agrees to join, Jay is hesitant] Jay: How much English do I need? HAHAHA Asmi: NONE IF YOU'RE PLAYING AGAINST VALERIE AND COEL IM SO HAPPY Jay: I know how to read them, write them? Idk HAHAHAHAHA Valerie: THATS A STEP UP !! Valerie: no offense coel Valerie: your were brilliant Valerie: your phone have exploded though Coel: yeah it's uncomfy warm now lmaoo Vanny: WAIT IS COEL JOINING Coel: no Valerie: HELP Coel: im literally Newton Pulsifer tonight

And a bonus...

Also, let's go back a bit to what led to this post in the first place, thanks @good-usernames-were-taken... thanks... :")

Vel: oooh we're doing a drawing game Asmi: WELL KIND OF IT'S MORE LAUGHING AT VALERIE GAME Valerie: PLEASE Valerie: SHUT UP Asmi: THERE ARE TEARS IN MY EYES GOOD GOD Tefi: Poor valerie Vanny: I'M LAUGHING SO HAD Valerie: YOU BETTER NOT MAKE A POST ABOUT THIS ON TUMBLR SHAMING ME

...wHaT cAn i sAy eXcEPt yOu'Re wElcOmE, vAlEriE?

[nautiscarader]

Announcing my semi-retirement

This is a post I have been putting of writing for quite some time, and I make it with heavy heart... But first, tl;dr!

Most importantly, Don't Panic!

No, I'm not going anywhere.

I am also not deleting anything.

I simply don't want to give you false expectations about my activity here. I will keep writing, just at my (very) own pace.

Right, do we all have towels, and some refreshments of your choice?

Cool, let's dive right in - it will be over soon.

(oh and usual minor content warning regarding health stuff applies)

...what have I just said? I am not going anywhere! ...or at least not by my choice.

Yeah, in the past 10 months I have disappeared without a trace to the point that some of you thought I have snuffed it. 2.5 months, two weeks here or there, month and then another month out of nowhere...

The sad truth is that my illness, multiple sclerosis, is spreading, plus I have some other health issues that do need looking at occasionally. In fact, I might be going to some new clinic in September/October, but that's TBA.

As a result, I have become steadily more and more unreliable when it comes to delivering prompts, or even basic asks - and I cannot let that stay. Not to mention the length and quality of my works got hit by that - some of you have noticed that and pointed out/asked me about it in the most delicate way - and I thank you deeply for that.

me_irl

And I can already hear you...err...type: "We don't care! Take your time!" Guys, I have taken so much time that the Time Lords will soon be on my ass asking for it back with interest.

I... simply don't want to give you guys false hope and expectations.

I believe I heard it in Hank Green's cancer vlog that once such illness hits you, it "becomes your job". So think of it like that. Me having a really taxing job, often requiring my presence at inconvenient times.

Or maybe think of me going on holidays! To... hospitals...

So that is it, from now, I free myself from the shackles and obligations of prompts and writing weeks... though of course I have been falling out of rhythm for a loooong time, so... I think it is fair to say you are already used to it...

I will keep writing and publishing stuff... very occasionally, though. And I may one day just decide I am feeling strong enough for some quick round of prompts. In fact I will be updating some prompt hubs with old tumblr asks, so keep an eye on that.

Aaand of course I am not leaving you alone!

I can wholeheartedly recommend @fereality-indy, @animation-recaps-by-sean, @noblechaton, @billythsquid, @noblesnook, @thatguywiththefaceog and so many more writers here and on Ao3 - feel free to browse my bookmarks there!

Oh, and speaking of Ao3, don't forget it that it has excellent backup function! As for tumblr, there is tumblrThree, a program to back up any blog, if you are afraid of someone disappearing! You can download mine! it only weights...

...seventy-seven gigabytes, that is a lot of lolcats.

Anyway, that is it. Honestly, not much is going to change. I have been barely writing, and I will continue to do so - it's just I now have medical papers as an excuse.

Thanks to all of you for understanding and for your many messages of concern and support!

Oh, one more thing - H-Hotel!

Feel free to invite your own crazy crossover couples there and use this gif, I mean it, just credit and tag me.

...the only thing is, there is this huge boiler in the basement, and someone will need to check if it doesn't overheat. And since it runs on stardust, it would be bad for the multiverse if it exploded.

But I'm sure you will remember.

Anyway, see you later!

[youthofpandas]

Cathy and The Mirror; what's up with that?

spoilers for Part 1 (and only part 1) ahead!

Okay so Catherine and her mirror has been on my mind nonstop since I finished Part 1. Quick recap, after falling into a near madness like depression after marrying Linton, one day she is back to normal (mostly) just like that. We see in her diary that at some point she was visited by a 'guest' and after that was able to clear her head and see her reflection again normally. It's unclear when exactly this happens in relation to Linton's gift of a flower that Nelly says was the point Cathy's illness went away, but given the fact Nelly was unaware of the diary, I think that these two events were relatively close to each other.

This bit is inspired by the point in the book when Catherine came down with a similar sort of illness after Edgar attempts her to have her pick between their relationship continuing and her friendship with Heathcliff. The thought of being forced to give up one terrifies and upsets her, and she stops eating and locks herself in her room. When Nelly checks on her, she cannot recognize herself in the mirror.

“Don’t you see that face?” she inquired, gazing earnestly at the mirror. And say what I could, I was incapable of making her comprehend it to be her own; so I rose and covered it with a shawl. “It’s behind there still!” she pursued, anxiously. “And it stirred. Who is it? I hope it will not come out when you are gone! Oh! Nelly, the room is haunted! I’m afraid of being alone!” I took her hand in mine, and bid her be composed; for a succession of shudders convulsed her frame, and she would keep straining her gaze towards the glass. “There’s nobody here!” I insisted. “It was yourself, Mrs. Linton: you knew it a while since.” “Myself!” she gasped, “and the clock is striking twelve! It’s true, then! that’s dreadful!” Her fingers clutched the clothes, and gathered them over her eyes. I attempted to steal to the door with an intention of calling her husband; but I was summoned back by a piercing shriek—the shawl had dropped from the frame. “Why, what is the matter?” cried I. “Who is coward now? Wake up! That is the glass—the mirror, Mrs. Linton; and you see yourself in it, and there am I too by your side.”

There's a lot we could talk about here, but for this I'm going to focus on the theme of her losing her identity when she is confronted with the thought of losing Heathcliff. The two are, of course, constantly referring to each other as the holder of their heart, that their souls are made of the same thing, etc. They are not the same person but they are very deeply linked, and without the other they lose themself too.

I believe this idea is relevant to Limbus Cathy because well, the theme of Identity is very strong throughout the game, your relationship to yourself and your dreams is where both EGOs and Distortions stem from + Mirror Worlds are of course massive in this game, there are worlds where things went just a little differently and ones where roles are reversed and etc. So for Cathy to find herself again and then have a line like "I know what to do now. The basement. We… must descend there." is a bit concerning for her! and Heathcliff!

Real quick I need to mention the obvious comparison to be made here: Yi Sang and Sang Yi

There's been a lot of references to The Ring and The Glass Mirror/Window in this Canto, calling back to their experiments in Leviathan where they attempted to superimpose countless Identities on a single person - the Dead Rabbits with their masks full of mirrors that shatter when defeated have a unique animation showing off glass shards. Not to mention the hallways of the mansion being like the Corridors that the Ring uses, alterations that Catherine and Linton put in place. I think it's incredibly likely that the 'guest' who visited was a member of the Ring.

Now, Cathy's relationship with her reflection hasn't been fully explored quite yet, but much like Yi Sang after he lost the League, Cathy was incredibly depressed after Heathcliff left - becoming apathetic and finding it difficult to find anything worth caring about. So it's !! It's interesting that we are bringing back up the Mirror right now. Cathy's reflection might not be quite like Yeonsim, but they are certainty filling similar narrative roles of finding comfort in yourself to cope with grief.

I'd also like to bring up the fact we have the Dead Rabbits and pocket watches and a mirror and it all really makes me think of Alice in Wonderland (thank you bell @sunshades for bringing this to my attention when we were theory crafting before the canto came out. ily) and I could very easily see us getting some more Alice stuff in the same way we got Peter Pan references in Canto V. The Ring's corridor technology and whatever is happening in the basement could lead to a lot of wacky environments like Alice goes through in the book and it would be a fun setting to explore!

Now where does this leave us with theories? Well, with all of the Leviathan stuff we could suggest that Cathy is not dead, and has been superimposed with a mirror world Cathy instead making her only effectively dead in the same way Lapis currently is. Or perhaps only the mirror Cathy is left? There is also the relationship The Ring has to the creation of the Peccatulum and the fact the Envy type is still missing - Envy being the sin associated with Heathcliff and if they do have some strange lab situation down there I think we're likely to meet them + Distortion bosses from previous Cantos had designs inspired by the Peccatulum so if anyone but especially Cathy does distort, it's going to be based off of them. And for Cathy I wonder if she is more envious of another Self than of any other person...?

Also for Cathy IDs if it doesn't go to Heathcliff (and seeing that Heathcliff seemed to be...? Normal?? Heathcliff? in the Rabbit Boss Meursault UT story, there's a solid chance they do something weird with his ID this season anyways) I think Yi Sang is the obvious choice. Shout out to Yi Sang Cathy parallels... Makes Sunshower Heathcliff being crazy good in this Canto thanks to the grief all start to make sense now doesn't it? #PotentialManSweep

[wanderingmind867]

This is part one of a new Howard the Duck story idea of mine: One big problem that's always existed in society has been the unfair influence of companies promoting vices. Those men who promote and deal in tobacco, alcohol, gambling, etc have hounded society for far too long. So i want to write a Howard the Duck saga condemning these things. And to do it, we'll have to bring back the adventuring group of Jennifer Kale, Korrek, Howard the Duck and Man-Thing.

In any case, our story begins in Cleveland. Howard complains about the prevalence of legalized gambling and of other vices. Beverly, Paul and Winda all call him out on his hypocrisy. Howard hates the glamorization of vices in society, yet he's still a consummate smoker. So Howard ends up entering a bet with his friends: if he can go a whole month without smoking, they'll listen to his long rant on society's ills.

So Howard quits smoking. But the entire month, he sees ads and signs that almost seem designed to appeal to him. He keeps running into smokers, finding ads for cigars, etc. It's eerie, but Howard fights it and manages to go almost a whole month without smoking. But then fate seems to take a hand. On the last day of the month, a giant walking cigar begins menacing Cleveland. And before you can ask what on earth's going on, Howard's summoned across dimensions again. Jennifer Kale summoned Korrek, Howard and Man-Thing. Dakimh's spirit warned her of dire tidings. The Celestial Propagandist is waking.

Howard is, naturally, angry and confused. The Celestial what!? Thankfully, Jen recaps what Dakimh told her: The Celestial Propagandist is a god far beyond mortal understanding. An ancient, primordial being, the Celestial Propagandist is in charge of all the vices and negative impulses of humanity. Whenever people exhibit cruelty to each other, whenever they give in to their temptations, whenever they gamble or drink or smoke, they give the celestial propagandist power. And after millenia of accidental worship, he's now waking.

And when the celestial propagandist wakes…well, he'll be able to reshape the cosmos in his image. The multiverse will become his own private casino, a home for all the world's negative impulses. Impulses like materialism, nymphomania, prejudice and hatred. And in order to stop him…we must awaken the ascetic one. Who is he? Nobody knows. He dwells on the farthest reaches of the cosmos, but he is the only one capable of saving the multiverse with his wisdom.

So now Howard has to go on yet another cosmic quest with Jennifer Kale, Korrek and Man-Thing. They have to hunt the ascetic one and acquire his knowledge. But first, the celestial propagandist tries to tempt our heroes with clever illusions. He sends out a minion to trap Howard, Jennifer and Korrek in dreamlike visions of their ideal worlds. But then his plan quickly crumbles under the influence of Man-Thing.

[italianpersonwithashippersheart]

Dead Friend Forever - Post Ep 8 Theory Recap

This has taken a few days because I wanted to get all my thoughts in order. This show continues to be amazing and it continues to make wheels spin in my head. I am very happy that more people are starting to watch this amazing show.

Firstly I wanted to shout out some amazing post I have seen since episode 8 came out:

First this post for all the people readings this that have not caught up with DFF and are worried about Triggers/Squicks and the horror stuff there is this post by @wen-kexing-apologist

This post about the argument between Non's parents by @fracturediron

This post analyzing the movie posters in Non and Jin's room and what that might mean for the plot @lukaherehelp and this other post about the posters here by @syrena-del-mar

These two posts by @mikuni14 here (which raises an important point I will eleborate on later) and here (about Non's fate, an opinion I share, aka Non is dead - Although I wouldn't personally put it past Dr Sammon to find a way to have kept him alive that makes sense, like @respectthepetty point out here both Dr Sammon and the Pit Babe writers are not strangers to a character being "dead" then revealed to be alive. Of course both writers have killed a character before, but under very different circumstances, so it's not like there is no hope at all)

And finally last but not least this theory about Tan being New that I find very interesting here by @tbhimnoteasyonmyself

Ok now onto my thoughts.

I wanted to take a moment to appriciate how nuanced the depiction of Non's breakdown was this episode. So many horror stories relay on mental illness and disability to make their killers scary or crazy or deformed, that I have been worried about how this story will use those aspect of Non going further. While those worries have not gone away completely. They have significantly calmed down.

The writing makes it really obvious that it wants us to root for Non, and wants us to be at his side, and it's also makes it very clear that Non's breakdown this episode was due to all the factors componding, the bullying, the thing with the mafia and the cops, the money, family pressure, the thing with the teacher, the thing with Phee, it all just came to a head together. The breakdown doesn't rely soley on his mental illness.

The next part I found very interesting this episode was the argument between the parents and the absense of Non's brother still.

I think the fact that we have not seen Non try to reach out to his brother for comfort at all makes me think that their parents (especially their Mom) different treatment of the two of them drove a wedge between them. Which is probably going to make New even more angry and guilty. @tbhimnoteasyonmyself pointed this out in his post and I agree I do not think New has been told about anything before Non went missing, and given the fact that he is abroad, he might have not have had the oppurtinity to come back before. Althought if he is in the USA then there should be a way for him to say to the University, my brother went missing I have to go back and be allowed to do that witouth a major impact on his school. So I am assuming he went back after Non was called missing. Either his parents caved and told him, or someone send him either the news or the video of his brother online and then he got his parents to tell him the truth.

I am very curious about his mental state and why he is being kept so secret. The fact that there are no pictures and Non doesn't talk about him can be explained by the extrangment in universe, but I am more curious about the narrative/out of universe benefits/reasons for introducing New so late in the game. If he is Tan then we lost valuable time with a memeber of the cast, and if he is not then that actor is going to have to work double time to sell us on his character in such a short ammount of time.

Which brings us to the big mysteries, the things I am most curious about besides New, which are 1) Why did it take them so long to get revenge? 2) How many killers are there, and what is their plan exactly?

Like @mikuni14 pointed out in the post I linked above, it seems really weird that it would take them 3 years to get to their revenge plan. It doesn't really feel like it would be all that complicated to get that bunch of boys drunk or high and get some information out of them. So why wait? What killed their momentum?

I read a post (that I can't find anymore sorry) talking about how Keng seem to be working for someone to get information on Tee's Uncle. And that got me thinking about the shot of the newspaper with the news about Tee's Uncle

Which I can't translate fully but seems to hint that the uncle is being investigated about money laundry.

So, what if whover was working with Keng (probably journalist) are helping Phee and New/Tan (writing them like that because I am not sure if they are the same person or not) investing their brother but in turn they have to help them with Tee's Uncle. I'll explain.

If my theory about three killers is correct, then New is going to be someone else, someone older. He and Phee are going to connect first. Then they are going to get caught snooping by whover is building a case against Tee's Uncle (I am leaning towards journalists, Dr. Sammon as used the investigative journalist characters before), in which case Tan could be working with this other person. And this person team (side not Perth, could be a member of this other team as well, he went from background in a shot to rubbing Tee's Uncle shoulders in the most recent episode) could coinvince Phee and New to help them, you help us with the this mafia guy we help you find out what happened to Non.

I think this theory works both with New being a third person and with Tan being the brother. It would just mean that they are getting helped by someone from this other team. I am voting for Perth because he has a connection to Tee and I have seen a lot of reactions video clips from the cast to various episodes and he is always with them, like he is playing an important role not just a random side character.

It could explain why it's taking them so long, they have to take out the Uncle first, he is the big shot, the real criminal, the one with the weapons. The one that actually knows what happened to Non. Which means that if he is dead, Phi and New might have just gotten confirmation on it, which would made them pretty damn angry. And it would mean that them asking questions to the boys was less about figuring out what they did and more get them to confess.

That is all I have for now. I really love how much this show is getting me to ask questions and giving me a push to make more posts. This show continues to be great and I can't wait to see the finale.

EDIT: Literally just saw this post on @respectthepetty's blong but apparently the Uncle is dead. I am going insane.

I think my theory still holds. I am definately sure there are three killers and Perth is helping the third killer or is the third killer (depending on If Non is alive, which is looking a bit more likely, if Tan is New or if New is someone else).

I now think that this other team/person that was getting Keng to help was not a journalist but had their own motivations. Like a vigilante maybe, someone who killed before and who would be 100% comfartable taking out a guy by decapitating him, like with Uncle Dang??

But it does makes sense it's taking them this long, Tee's uncle look like a big shot it must not be easy to take him out.

[dorkfruit]

i put this together using my computer's trackpad so the new year is already starting out . bad .

posts: J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D

template

reflections on the year, my plans for the future, some studies i did, and wips for the next year all down below for those who are interested

tldr; we will be ianthing next year so watch out!!

oh dear lord it's been another year. 2024! can you believe it! i don't talk much on this blog because i have a tendency to talk too much, but it's my little new year's treat, so here we go.

RECAP

i started taking drawing "seriously" in December of 2020, starting to do studies and stuff, and each year since i've ramped it up more and more. this year, i did. a lot of studies. there's probably like at least 200 more in my folder now (not including the 300 days worth of gesture drawings i did), with things like painting, faces, feet, poses, etc. anything i was struggling with, i went right into studying it. my art has been mediocre for a pretty long time now, and it's only the past few months where i feel i'm starting to get the hang of it, which is exciting!

more importantly, i started posting a lot more on this blog. i really like documenting my progress, looking on where i was before and seeing how i've improved. everytime i draw some fanart, im like, oooghh i can't wait to show my (: followers (: !! lots of locked tomb art of course. i've been trying to nail the energy of the different characters, which is why i enjoy books so much, because you get a lot of creative control. drawing ianthe is my fav of course, cause she's my lil nasty, but also i enjoyed doing designs for characters i hadnt thought about before, like judith.

in addition to the locked tomb, we had some new fandoms that got brief moments in between iantheposting: Fear and Hunger, Postal, Faith The Unholy Trinity, and a couple of old ones too, like We Have Always Lived In The Castle and The Merciless.

i posted about 115 times this year, although most of those are shitposts LOL i love posting stuff on my blog and showing people my stuff <3

THE FUTURE

my plans? do more ianthe art, of course. ill be working on more studies, probably going to work on developing a style, and figuring out how to paint. i'd like to do more actually finished pieces, but let's be honest, it'll still be mostly shitpost doodles. i'd like to do more weird stuff. i've been messing around with some gore and NSFW near the end of the year, and it's fun to draw for me. i like idk art that evokes some type of emotion, especially discomfort, and so i find that type of art fun to do, so if you don't enjoy what i've done thus far in that direction, perhaps this isn't the blog for you. i really like horror media, and so i want to do some stuff like that too.

for specifics, i like western type art, a comic book-esque style i'd like to aim for. but i'd like it to be a little more. weird with it. i find comic books often draw all the characters the same, and make all the characters traditionally attractive, and that's boring to me so i'll have to work on finding a way to keep things weird, while also appealing in a graphic sense. the worst thing my art could be is bland and forgettable.

locked tomb wise... more tridentarii art. need to be really weird with it. i have lots of wips planned, like i have a whole page worth of just thumbnails, so i wanna get some of those done. also i had a few animatics i wanted to do. mostly stupid shit, once i learn how to do animatics, then we'll do actual serious ones. id also like to do more comics. i have some comics storyboarded out with my girlies, i like telling a story so, need practice on that. id also like to develop a way to consistently draw them, for convenience sakes, so i'm not fighting for my life every single time i draw these characters. oh and i wanna do some outfit stuff. i draw them in like. generic clothes everytime but i'd like to come up with a few actual outfit designs, that i can just reference back to. and, of course, more shitposts. lots of stupid shit in 2024 for sure. there was something else i wanted to say here but i can't remember.

ART

oki enough rambling, here's some IMAGES for yall to look at i know everyone loves to look at images.

began this year by warming up with gesture sketches (almost) every day. i started with 20 poses (30 seconds each), and then in november i was like. ugh my hands suck i need to get better at hands, so i switched to doing 10 hand sketches (60 seconds each). i want my art to be very energetic so it's important that i do these !!

anatomy studies of extremities because i'm flopping at those -_- ive gotten better with hands but they're still a struggle. i hate feet tho still

need to get my painting game up. i joined an art forum to get advice, and the biggest suggestion i got was working on my values, so i did various value studies. also lots of faces because my faces flop !!

random doodles to work on drawing from imagination. on my "sketchbook" pages, as i like to call them, i'm usually pretty loose and messy, since the point is just to be drawing so often these will suck, but that's fine. i don't think very much when i draw faces on here either so they end up being in my Instinctive Style i suppose you could say

ianthe wip. i was planning to do a few drawings based on the idea of her having Missing Arm nightmares, but the lineart was intimidating to me so i haven't worked on this one more yet /: also there was going to be a toontown gay homosexual toxic yuri comic that i was gonna put here with it but the page is way too long so umm guess that'll have to wait.

...

anyways. thank you for reading if you got to the bottom of this! i appreciate all the support that i've been getting lately (extra big kissies for the same like 5 people who always reblog my posts youre the best). and we will be ianthing soo hard in 2024 so watch out!!

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

Six of Crows fan-written Script

Thanks to everyone who voted in the poll to see if you guys wanted to keep this going!! 🖤

Hi, so in true me style I still haven't got around to organising these posts into scene breakdowns so this is the next part of episode 1 scene 5, I'm hoping that I can get the end of scene 5 out in the next post and then from that point forwards I'll be able to post it scene by scene. I hope that makes sense.

Same reminder as usual: I'm trying to be as true to the books as possible whilst also matching Show!canon but I've also taken the occasional bit of artistic licence as to how I would imagine producing the show myself, for example inserting my personal headcanon about Anya in the opening scene of episode one. Also, I have never written a script before so the formatting is my own made-up method; if it doesn't make sense please let me know and I'll adapt it :)

Side note: Would it be helpful for me to make a masterlist with links to the parts I've already posted?

Recap since it's been a while - Kaz is with Van Eck at the Hoede house and is holding a knife to the merch's throat when Mika walks through the wall, frightening Kaz because he thinks he's hallucinating from a drug Van Eck has given him

EPISODE ONE SCENE FIVE (PART 2)

KAZ: What the hell is this?

VAN ECK: Let me go and I’ll explain

KAZ: You can explain right where you are

VAN ECK: What you’re seeing are the effects of jurda parem

KAZ: Jurda’s just a stimulant. It’s harmless

VAN ECK: Ordinary jurda, yes. Jurda parem is completely different - and most definitely not harmless

KAZ: So you did drug me?

VAN ECK: Not you, mister Brekker. Mika

[KAZ turns and looks at MIKA. The camera moves slowly up the Tidemaker’s figure; his hands are trembling, the dark circles beneath his eyes are pronounced, and his kefta is slightly ill-fitting as though he has lost a lot of weight since it was last altered]

VAN ECK: Jurda parem is a cousin to ordinary jurda - from the same plant. We aren’t sure of the production process, but a sample was sent to the Merchant Council by a scientist named Bo Yul-Bayurr

KAZ: Shu?

VAN ECK: Yes. He wished to defect, so he sent the sample to prove his claims regarding the drug’s extraordinary effects - Please, mister Brekker, this is a most uncomfortable position. If you’d like, I can give you a pistol and we can sit and discuss this in a more civilised fashion

KAZ: A pistol and my cane

[VAN ECK gestures to one of the stadwatch guards by the door, who leaves briefly and returns with KAZ’s cane]

KAZ: Pistol first. Slowly

[The guard unholsters his own gun and hands it to KAZ by the grip. KAZ grabs the gun and cocks it in one swift movement, then releases VAN ECK and throws the letter opener onto the desk before snatching his cane from the guard’s hand. He is immediately more comfortable. VAN ECK paces backwards and KAZ moves slowly towards the window]

VAN ECK: That cane is quite a piece of hardware, Mr Brekker. Is it Fabrikator made?

KAZ: None of your business. Get talking, Van Eck

VAN ECK: When Bo Yul-Bayur sent us the sample of jurda parem, we tested it on three Grisha - one from each order. 

KAZ: Happy volunteers?

VAN ECK: Indentures. The first two were a Fabrikator and a Healer indentured to Councilman Hoede,

[KAZ frowns; he recalls hearing the name recently but cannot remember why]

and Mika is a Tidemaker. He’s mine. You’ve seen what he can do using the drug.

KAZ: I don’t know what I’ve seen.

[KAZ looks back at MIKA, and the camera follows his gaze. MIKA is focused intently on VAN ECK as though he is unaware of anything else in the room, his expression one of desperation]

VAN ECK: An ordinary Tidemaker can control currents, summon water or moisture from the air, or a nearby source. They manage the tides in our harbours. But under the influence of parem, a Tidemaker can alter their own state from solid, to liquid, to gas and back again and do the same with other objects - even a wall.

[KAZ frowns. He isn’t convinced, but he has no other explanation for what he’s seen]

KAZ: How?

VAN ECK: It’s hard to say. You’re aware of the amplifiers some Grisha wear?

KAZ: I’ve seen them - animal bones, and such. I hear they’re hard to come by.

VAN ECK: Very. But they only increase a Grisha’s power. Jurda parem alters a Grisha’s perception.

KAZ: So?

VAN ECK: Grisha manipulate matter at its most fundamental metals - they call it the Small Science. Under the influence of parem, those manipulations become faster and far more precise. In theory jurda parem is just a stimulant like its ordinary cousin, but it seems to sharpen and hone a Grisha’s senses. Things become possible that simply shouldn’t be. 

KAZ: What does it do to sorry sobs like you and me?

[VAN ECK is marginally offended to be aligned with KAZ]

VAN ECK: It’s lethal. An ordinary mind cannot tolerate parem in even the lowest doses.

KAZ: You said you gave it to three Grisha. What can the others do?

VAN ECK: Here

[He begins to open one of his desk drawers and KAZ raises his pistol slightly]

KAZ: Easy

[VAN ECK opens the drawer with exaggerated slowness and pulls out a lump of gold the size of his palm]

VAC ECK: This started as lead.

KAZ: Like hell it did.

[VAN ECK shrugs]

VAN ECK: I can only tell you what I saw. The Fabrikator took a piece of lead in his hands, and moments later we had this.

KAZ: How do you even know it's real?

VAN ECK: It was the same melting point as gold, the same weight, the same malleability. If it’s not identical to gold in every way the difference has eluded us.

[He holds it out for KAZ to take]

VAN ECK: Have it tested, if you like. 

[KAZ inspects the gold for a moment, then slips it into his pocket. He’s decided that even if it's an imitation, it's convincing enough for him to find it a purpose]

KAZ: You could’ve gotten that anywhere.

VAN ECK: I would bring you Hoede’s Fabrikator here to show you himself, but he isn’t well.

[KAZ glances at MIKA again, and the camera once more notes his sickly pallor and the dark circles beneath his eyes]

KAZ: Let’s say this is all real and not cheap coin trick magic. What does it have to do with me?

VAN ECK: Perhaps you heard of the Shu paying off the entirety of their debt to Kerch with a sudden influx of gold? The assassination of the trade ambassador from Novyi Zem? The theft of documents from a military base in Ravka?

[KAZ nods. He is glad to know the secret of the Zemeni Ambassador’s death and remembers JESPER talking about the three Shu ships filled with gold. Although he has heard nothing of the Ravkan documents, he doesn’t want VAN ECK to know that and so acts as if he is more than aware]

VAN ECK: We believe that all of these occurrences are the work of Grisha under the control of the Shu government and under the influence of jurda parem. Mr Brekker, I want you to think for a moment about what I’m telling you: Men who can walk through walls. No vault or fortress will ever be safe again. People who can make gold from lead - or anything else for that matter - who can alter the very material of the world. Financial markets will be thrown into chaos, the world economy would collapse.

KAZZ: Very exciting. What is it you want from me, Van Eck? To steal a shipment? The formula?

VAN ECK: No. I want you to steal the man.

KAZ: Kidnap Bo Yul-Bayur?

VAN ECK: Save him. A month ago we received a message from Yul-Bayur begging for asylum, he was concerned about his government’s plans for jurda parem, and we agreed to help him defect. We set up a rendez-vous, but there was a skirmish at the drop point.

KAZ: With the Shu?

VAN ECK: With Fjerdans.

[KAZ raises an eyebrow - the Fjerdans must have spies deep in Shu Han or Kerch, or both]

VAN ECK: The diplomatic situation is somewhat delicate, and it is essential that our government not be tied to Yul-Bayur in any way.

KAZ: You have to know he’s probably dead. Fjerdans hate Grisha; there’s no way they’d let knowledge of this drug get out.

VAN ECK: Our sources say he’s very much alive and that he’s awaiting trial.

[VAN ECK clears his throat]

VAN ECK: At the Ice Court.

[KAZ stares at him for a moment, then bursts out laughing]

KAZ: Well, it’s been a pleasure being knocked unconscious and taken caprice by you Van Eck - you can assure your hospitality will be repaid when the time is right. Have one of your lackeys show me to the door.

VAN ECK: We’re prepared to offer you five million kruge.

[KAZ pockets the stadwatch officer’s pistol. He is no longer afraid for his life, but he’s furious to have had his time wasted so tremendously]

KAZ: This may come as a surprise to you, Van Eck, but we canal rats value our lives just as much as you do yours.

VAN ECK: Ten million.

KAZ: There’s no point to a fortune I won’t be alive to spend. Where’s my hat? Did your Tidemaker leave it behind in the alley?

[KAZ begins to walk towards the door and the camera follows behind him]

VAN ECK: Twenty.

[KAZ pauses, and slowly lifts his head - an image mimicking that of season one of Shadow and Bone when he heard the offer of one million kruge. He turns slowly to face VAN ECK]

INEJ voiceover, a reminder of what she told him in Scene Three: Greed is your god, Kaz.

KAZ: Twenty million kruge?

KAz voicover from Scene Three: Greed bows to me. 

[VAN ECK nods, but he doesn’t look happy about having raised the offer so much higher]

KAZ: I’d need to convince a team to walk into a suicide mission - that doesn’t come cheap.

VAN ECK: Twenty million kruge is hardly cheap.

KAZ: The Ice Court has never been breached. 

VAN ECK: That’s why we need you, Mr Brekker. It’s possible Bo Yul-Bayur is already dead, or that he’s given up his secrets to Fjerdans, but we think we have at least a little time to act before jurda parem is put into play. 

KAZ: If the Shu have the formula-

VAN ECK: Yul-Bayur claimed he’d managed to keep the specifics secret - we believe they’re limiting from whatever limited supply he left behind. 

[KAZ has already started thinking about the job, and who he’ll need on his team - and what he’ll be able to do with the money. He pauses, and frowns]

KAZ: Why me? Why the Dregs? There are more experienced crews out there.

[MIKA has a sudden coughing fit, and VAN ECK helps him into a chai and offers him his handkerchief. He snaps his fingers at one of the guards]

VAN ECK: Some water

[The guard exits]

[babyboiboyega]

The Study Room Pt. 7 (Shuri x Black!Fem!Reader)

HBCU!Shuri x Black!Fem!Reader

Word Count: 6.7k

Content: minor angst, mention of character death, mention of illness, but fluff

Babyboiboyega’s Marvel Masterlist

Babyboiboyega’s Masterlist of Masterlists

Series Masterlist

A/N: IT’S HERE! I’M ON TIME (DONT LOOK AT THE TIME), HERE YALL GO LMAO GO GO GO

Recap:

If she didn’t want you to know her real thoughts right now, then you’d wait until she was ready. You had no problem waiting- not when it came to Shuri. 

Shuri could feel you relax more into her as the minutes went by until you were breathing deeply and evenly. She didn’t have to look to know that you were fast asleep. 

As she let her own eyes close, she couldn’t help but pull you closer. The feeling of you breathing, warm, and alive in her arms would be enough to keep the nightmare at bay; at least she hoped so. She’d certainly find out sooner or later, but for right now, she enjoyed the peace and reassurance that your presence brought her. 

**********

It wasn’t the sun’s bright rays filtering into your room that woke you up the next morning; it wasn’t even the sound of soft music being played in the streets of Wakanda that woke you up; instead, it was the lack of one person’s presence that had you turning around in bed, eyes half lidded and eyebrows furrowed. The sun illuminated the empty spot beside you while also warming your skin, only reminding you more of the way Shuri’s arms had been wrapped around you the night before. 

With a yawn, you slowly sat up in the huge bed you still couldn’t quite wrap your head around. Your tired eyes scanned the room only to quickly come to the conclusion that Shuri was, in fact, nowhere to be found. At least not in your room. 

You weren’t prepared for the small, flustered feeling that went through you at the realization. Against your own wishes, your mind immediately started going to war with itself; part of it replaying every word and actions of yours from the night before, looking for something you could have done or said, while the other part chastised you for being a little selfish.

Maybe your true feelings - feelings you had yet to confront- had leaked too much into your words last night. 

“I’m just glad you’re here and that you know you can come to me for anything.” Had that been too much? Too sentimental? You had simply been speaking the truth, wanting her to know that you were there- especially in the face of her distraction from something you still had no clue about. 

Or, wait…was that it? What if she felt as if she couldn’t come to you for anything? You quite literally couldn’t imagine what she had to go through being the ruler of a country who had suffered the loss of not one, but two of their rulers in the span of a year. Add on the fact that the loss she had felt in the face of her brother and her mother’s deaths were insurmountable, yet she had been forced to carry on quickly afterwards. 

How in the hell could you understand and empathize with what she had gone through?

At some point during your busy thoughts, you slipped out of bed. Your morning routine was done with little acknowledgement, letting your limbs do what they were accustomed to doing: showering, washing your face, brushing your teeth, getting dressed.  In the midst of all of these actions, your mind still ran on overdrive. Except this time, the other part of your brain, the one adamant on calling you selfish, took over. 

Did you forget that she’s the Queen? She’s the actual Queen of the country you’re currently in; maybe she had royal duties or something important to do- something more important than laying in bed all day with you. You’re already taking up one of the bedrooms in the palace; you want her to spend every second of every waking day with you?

Of course you didn’t expect her to spend all of her time with you, as she had already given up a lot of it in order to keep you safe; but it wasn’t hard to admit to yourself that you immensely enjoyed her presence…almost a little too much for you to claim that you two were just ‘close friends’, and it seemed to you that she also enjoyed your presence. You were a little…hesitant, nervous even, to apply any other word except ‘friends’ to you and Shuri…but the events and actions that had taken place between you two almost made it easy to do exactly that. 

She has enough on her plate. Keeping you safe, running a country, her education.

The thought made you pause in your actions of making the bed, your eyes lingering reflexively on the spot she had been in. It was true; she did have a lot on her plate. But you didn’t know if you could just ignore the bond you two had created- the same bond that definitely crossed the line that two friends usually stayed behind. 

“Miss Y/L/N, the General wishes to speak with you. She is currently outside of your room.”

If anything could have broken you out of your thoughts, it was the sudden sound of Shuri’s AI coming from seemingly nowhere and everywhere at the same time. You couldn’t help glancing around quickly before replying, as if the voice had a body to match it.

“Uh, thank you…Griot.”

“You are most welcome.”

Maybe the earlier statement was a lie, because if there was anything that could have truly broken you out of your reverie, it was the news that the General was not only outside of your door, but that she also wanted to speak to you.

Your steps were somehow both quick and hesitant as you approached the door, looking around as if you were a child afraid of being chastised for having a messy room despite not a single thing being out of place. A number of different concerns raced through your mind as you opened the door, coming face to face with Okoye. Her head was tilted as she regarded you, an eyebrow raised in slight suspicion. What could you have possibly done already to receive this look-

“I have been knocking for the past minute.”

Her words took a second to register and when they did, your head tilted in a manner similar to hers. Eyebrows furrowed, you wracked your brain for the memory of hearing a knock or anything similar only to come up empty. You shook your head slowly.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you. I must have been in the bathroom.” Or confusing myself with contradicting thoughts that regard your queen and how I feel about her, you added internally. “Is something wrong?”

She stayed silent for just a second too long, simply looking at you. It only reminded you that she was the General for a reason, and the way she could intimidate someone with a simple look was only one of those reasons. You were perfectly and entirely fine with not being on the end of any of the other reasons. 

You had just started shuffling slightly on your feet because of the silence when she decided to have mercy and break it. 

“Follow me. I have something to show you.”

One thing, amongst the many,  you could easily admire about Okoye was the way she could give a command while simultaneously sounding…not exactly gentle, but still showing those she spoke to respect. It was easy for someone in her position to look down on those beneath them, speaking to them as if they were a petulant child; but so far, despite being a stranger to her and her home, Okoye hasn’t made you feel…unwanted or as if you were a bother. She doesn’t exactly hide her suspicions of you, but you could understand why.

Your trust in her was enough for you to nod in understanding, quickly slipping on your shoes that sat just inside the door. Your trust, however, didn’t lessen your nervousness as you followed her words, letting the door close behind you with a soft click. You turned to her, opting to send a half-confused, half-nervous smile her way in lieu of asking questions. In response, she let out a near silent huff that could have been in annoyance or amusement before turning and once again motioning for you to follow her.

You managed to match her pace, walking not completely beside her but not completely behind her. The path she took led you past a door that was shut and had elaborate carvings in it, automatically making you assume that it was Shuri’s. Every thought you had just managed to ignore upon Okoye’s arrival seemed to rush to the front, and with a tiny headshake, you continued following the General. 

Every person you passed, whether it be other Doras, scientists, doctors, or any other person working in the palace nodded in acknowledgement and respect as Okoye passed them. Most of them nodded to you as well, some of them even offering small smiles. It only reminded you that the entire time you had been in the palace, not once had you been made to believe that you were a hindrance or unwelcome.

“How’s your day been?”

Okoye turned to you at your question, her eyebrows raising slightly to show her surprise. Hell, you were pretty surprised at your own attempt to make conversation, but you had already asked it and there was no taking it back. You bit the inside of your cheek as you waited nervously for her reply. When she gave one, she seemed to be choosing her words carefully in a voice that was both strong and patient.

“My day has been okay.”

There was no surprise at all that she kept her answer short and straight to the point. It spoke perfectly to who she was, or who she presented herself to be; straightforward, not playing any games, not there for the bullshit. You couldn’t even be mad at it.

You nodded, mumbling a soft ‘that’s good’ under your breath in response. It wasn’t until she had led you to an elevator and you two had stepped in did she speak once again.

“How has your day been?���

“Good! Well, I mean, I had just woken up not too long before you had come to get me- but so far, it’s been okay!” 

A noise that sounded close to a huff left her, and a quick glance over at her showed that she had the smallest grin curving the corner of her lips. Your eyes almost widened at the sight, but you managed to contain your surprise…and the small bout of pride you felt.

It was only a matter of mere seconds before the elevator doors were opening on a new floor, causing you to look out in confusion. The ride had been so smooth that you had barely even known you were moving, which wasn’t a surprising feat when it came to Wakanda’s tech. 

The doors opening were followed by the sound of music that seemed to surround you as soon as you stepped out. You quickly recognized the interior of Shuri’s lab- or rather, her secondary lab. Her first and main one was located under Mount Bashenga, the beautiful towering mountain that held a panther statue on top of it. You hadn’t been to it, but your curiosity had certainly grown as Shuri described it to you during your short tour. You didn’t bother asking when you could visit; the way she described it made it obvious that the lab was one of the most important things to her and that it was a safe space. The only way you’d get there was if she invited you personally, and you were okay with that. The last thing you wanted was to encroach upon a space she deemed safe, secure, and intimate without her permission or explicit invitation. 

This lab, however, had been one of the first things you had seen upon waking up. It was the same lab where you had received previous updates about you and Shuri’s mutual menace, which is what your mind immediately went to as Okoye led you further inside. 

“Is there an update on Shuri’s stalker?”

Okoye shook her head silently, continuing to lead you past several engineers who were so engrossed in their work, that they didn’t bother looking up. Your eyes lingered on the projects sitting in front of each of them, knowing enough to recognize what they were using, but not knowing enough to recognize how they were using it. You were in school for biophysics, so your range of knowledge extended to knowing how to use different physiological theories and concepts in order to analyze and understand biological phenomena; the projects you walked past were the exact opposite of biophysics. They looked technological, unsurprisingly; but none of them looked done, that much you could tell. 

You found yourself slowing down as you walked past, your head tilting just slightly in curiosity. They may have not looked finished, but upon closer inspection, it was obvious that each piece complimented another in some way, shape, or form. Whatever they were building was big and complex enough to need at least 5 engineers working on it at the same time. 

“What are they working on-”

Your words faded upon turning around and finding that Okoye had continued walking without you only to stop in front of a set of double doors. An eyebrow was raised as she stared at you, her lips pursed slightly and an unimpressed look on her face. It was enough for you to grimace sheepishly before quickly walking over, your mouth opening to offer an apology. It quickly closed as Okoye opened the door, motioning for you to go in ahead of her. 

“We will be in here.”

You had no idea what you’d be walking into once you stepped past the threshold; however, a nearly empty room save for the multiple racks of spears lining the walls and a cushioned floor was the last thing you had expected. 

There weren’t any windows, but the light that filled the room seemed almost soft and natural; it did nothing to ease your nerves, though. You didn’t know whether you wanted to touch the spears in childlike wonder, or stay far away from them and voice the question that had been on your mind since being picked up from your room…so you chose the latter option. 

“What exactly are we about to get into?”

Your question hung in the air as Okoye closed the doors with a resounding thud before walking over to one of the racks which held multiple spears. She set her own against the wall before turning and making her way to the middle of the room and the padded floor. 

The longer you stood there, the more pieces your brain connected, and soon you were able to answer your own question. Why else would Okoye, the incredibly skilled, incredibly badass General of the Wakandan army bring you to a room that looked close to a training room? And why else would she be motioning for you to join her? 

Your steps were slow as you walked towards her, stepping onto the padded area. It was soft enough for your feet to leave small impressions, but firm enough that you knew should you be slammed into it, you’d have bruises and aches for at least a day. 

“General Okoye…can I ask why we’re here-”

“Tell me, Miss Y/L/N, have you ever been in a physical confrontation?”

You had already held suspicions about the reason behind you two being here, but her question only confirmed them. Fully expecting her to laugh at the fight you had been in, especially when compared to the battles she had been in, you let out a breath before explaining. 

“I…fought this girl who was bullying my friend. Of course, it was nothing compared to the fights I’m sure you’ve been in, but I got suspended for a few days.”

Okoye looked incredibly unimpressed at your story; so much so that you felt the need to clarify and further explain yourself. The more you spoke, the more vivid the memory became. You weren’t one to hold grudges, but you had a sneaking suspicion that if you were to ever see that girl again, you’d probably say something so incredibly out of pocket. 

“My friend, Alice, was in a wheelchair, and this girl who was new, Lilliana McMillan,” the girl’s name left your mouth with an air of annoyance, “kept messing with her. She’d stick things into her wheels, move desks and other objects just to make it harder for Alice to move around. Just being an entire bitch to one of the nicest people in the school.”

Okoye’s eyebrows raised slightly at your choice of words, though she didn’t comment; she’d heard worse from Shuri. Hell, she had said worse herself. 

“I wanted to fight her much sooner, but Alice kept telling me that it wasn’t worth it. ‘Take the high road’, she’d say. ‘She’s not worth it’...and I listened.” 

A short, unamused laugh left your mouth as you shook your head. Even after years of being out of high school, you could still feel the anger from that day as if it were yesterday. 

“But then, Lilliana pushed Alice so hard one day that her chair tipped sideways. Alice’s elbow was busted up and her chair- a wheelchair that cost her family thousands of dollars- broke. All because Lilliana Mc-fucking-Millan thought it was cool to pick on a person who was too nice to fight back.”

As you explained the events of that day, Okoye’s face changed from being impassive to what looked like a barely perceptible look of understanding. You didn’t know Okoye well, or really at all, but you could tell that she didn’t take too lightly to bullies. 

“As soon as I walked around the corner and saw Alice on the ground, crying, with Lilliana’s flat footed ass standing over her, I saw red. I checked on Alice first, made sure she was okay…then I turned to Lilliana…and I just went in.”

You shrugged, taking a deep breath. Looking back, you remembered the events leading up to the fight, and the events following the fight. The fight itself was just a blur of anger, thrown fists and feet, and handfuls of hair.

“It was the first real, and worst, fist fight I’ve been in.”

Okoye nodded in acknowledgement, crossing her arms and looking at you with an expression you couldn’t place. You’d liken it to being inspected for a job or even being appraised to see if you’d be able to do something. The regret at telling her the story of the fight started to build in your body, but just like those years ago, you couldn’t find a hint of regret at your actions back then. 

That small bit of regret grew as Okoye walked forward, still looking at you peculiarly; but it disappeared completely at her next words.

“Did you win?”

You couldn’t stop the self satisfied smile from appearing on your face as you nodded, and admittedly, you felt a pang of pride as the corner of Okoye’s mouth twitched up slightly.

“I did. Alice got on me about it, though. I think she was more upset at the fact that I had busted my wrist up.” You shrugged, glancing at the wrist that you had worn a cast on for a good bit afterwards. 

 Either you were trippin’, or there was actually a proud look on her face as you looked back at her. 

“Good,” but then she stepped back, her usual stoicness returning, “but that was a high school fight. You’re not in high school anymore, and now you have an unnamed , faceless person pursuing you who has already made one attempt on your life.”

Her statement was rather obvious, yet it still made your smile drop quickly. There was nothing quite like being reminded that if you weren’t in Wakanda, you’d probably be dead. 

“And that is precisely why we are here, today. After all of this is over, these skills will still come in handy as basic self defense.”

She walked towards you, motioning for you to presumably get into a fighting stance. You paused, your mind momentarily going blank as the thoughts of simultaneously embarrassing yourself and looking like a fool in front of Okoye ran through it. 

You weren’t in the MMA by any means, but you had always felt that if need be, you’d be able to defend yourself; the whole fight or flight thing. That was until you got to Wakanda and witnessed the Dora Milaje and how lethal they were firsthand. 

With a quick prayer to whoever was listening, you raised your fists and situated your feet in a position you hoped was right…only for Okoye’s eyes to furrow as she tilted her head.

“What in Bast’s name are you doing?” 

You looked quizzically at your hands, growing confused at the exasperated look on her face. Hands covering your face, thumb on the outside of your fingers, thumbs folded down, feet parted, knees bent…what were you missing?

The confusion must have been obvious on your face, as Okoye held back a sigh before copying you, holding her arms up and blocking her face. With one closed fist, she motioned toward you again. 

“Throw a punch.”

…

“You want me to punch you?” 

She had the nerve to let out a quick laugh at your words, her head shaking quickly. She shuffled closer to you and almost on instinct, you shuffled backwards. Instead of stopping, she continued getting closer…and instead of stopping, you continued to back away.

“You’ll never land a punch, but I need to make sure you know how to throw one.”

Not giving yourself time to hesitate or overthink it (and maybe thinking you would catch Okoye, the General of an army, off guard), you quickly threw a punch. 

One second, you’re on your feet, punching at Okoye, and the next you’re on your back. It takes a while for your brain to catch up with what happened, but when it does, your body’s reaction isn’t far behind. 

All the air in your body had left as soon as you hit the ground, and it was hard as hell to draw another breath in. Once you did, though, the only thing that came out of your mouth was a drawn out groan; one that Okoye paid no heed to as she crouched beside your laid out figure. You could see her out of the corner of your eye, though you kept your eyes fixated on a detail in the ceiling in an attempt to let the room stop spinning.

“Do you know what you did wrong?” 

Her voice didn’t seem mocking or sarcastic, but there was humor in it. You shut your eyes, the sudden thought that Okoye had to have started somewhere popping up in your mind. She wasn’t just born as the general of the Wakandan army, and you were pretty sure she wasn’t born a Dora, so the thought of her at one point being in your exact position was enough for you to finally open your eyes and look at her.

“You deadass?” 

Your voice was still winded, but your question was exactly that: deadass. Completely serious. Because how would you know what you did wrong if you barely saw her move in the first place?

She nodded in response, her expression a mixture of seriousness and that of a teacher who got on you for not ‘applying yourself’. 

“I am completely…’deadass’. What did you do wrong?”

You’d definitely be telling Shuri that you got Okoye to say the words “deadass”.

“Well, for one, I followed you in here. That was a mistake. If I would’ve known that I was just going to get thrown around like a damn rag doll- how’d you even do that, first of all? I didn’t even see you move-”

Okoye held a hand out, effectively silencing your words while also offering a hand for you to get up. You took a few more breaths, savoring them as it’d probably be the last time doing so, before grabbing her hand and letting her pull you up.

“Learning how to defend yourself is not a ‘mistake’. Shuri doesn’t seem to think so, and neither should you.”

You weren’t surprised in the least bit at learning that Shuri may have been the one to put Okoye up to this, nor were you surprised at the fact that if there was one thing Shuri would make sure you could do was defend yourself. You didn’t know whether to feel giddy at the reminder that she cared for you in some way, or like a burden because maybe she had no other choice. It was a quick callback to the thoughts you had had after just waking up, but you managed to keep them at bay. It was rather easy to do so when Okoye once again walked closer to you, your heart spiking on its own accord. 

“I never said learning self defense is a ‘mistake’; I said learning self defense with you may be a mistake, as in ‘I’m not ready to get my ass handed to me multiple times today’.”

Okoye reached forward, faster than you could track, her hands latching around your wrists. On instinct, you tried to wrench your hands away, struggling only for a moment before realizing that you weren’t going anywhere unless Okoye let you.

Her eyes stared pointedly at you, waiting for you to stop struggling, and only then did she continue speaking. 

“That won’t happen if you pay attention and learn what I teach you. What would Alice say? I’m sure she would appreciate you learning what is needed in order to not ‘bust your wrist up’ again.”

Her words made you stop, your eyes glancing away for a second as a quick surge of anger ran through you. It only took a second for you to remind yourself that she didn’t know that Alice had passed only earlier in the year, so you couldn’t exactly fault her for her unintentional guilt-tripping. 

Feelings that you had long since come to terms with regarding your old best friend resurfaced quickly, and you tried your best to keep them from showing on your face; but this was Okoye. What the hell couldn’t she see? Might as well rip the bandaid off. 

“She passed earlier this year. Osteosarcomas- bone cancer.” Okoye’s grip on your wrists slackened, her face falling in the slightest. You hurried to respond despite having a feeling that she was a person who would offer sympathies, but who wouldn’t dwell on them.

“But I’m sure she would tell you to kick my ass and to do whatever you need to do to teach me.”

The more you thought about it, the more appealing the idea of actually being able to take care of yourself became. It certainly made you feel slightly better in yourself; stronger; maybe Shuri would stop worrying so much and focus on things more important…like her own damn safety. 

Okoye gave a small grin, directing your hands to a position that was better than your last one had been. Once she was satisfied, she let go and stepped back. 

“Oh, I had already planned on doing that.”

You believed her, however, with a small thought that maybe…just maybe she’d go a little easy on you, seeing as you had only been in one real altercation. That couldn’t have been further from the truth, and you found out the hard way during the next few hours.

Despite Okoye’s tendency to knock your ass to the floor first and then tell you what you did wrong, you found that it was almost surprisingly getting you to learn the small things. The first things she focused on were learning your strengths and your weaknesses. It was fair to say that in this specific activity, your weaknesses outnumbered your strengths, but she was good at pointing out both. 

She had her own way of commending you for doing something right, and in the beginning, it had involved her nodding her head with a look that wasn’t as exasperated. Sometimes she’d even let out a surprised ‘hmm’. It admittedly boosted your pride each time. However, as the hours passed, it was evident that the two of you grew more…agreeable being around each other. Or maybe her frustration had just gotten to a point where she didn’t bother hiding it anymore, instead, letting her more sarcastic side show.

Whatever the cause, the change in her demeanor had made your little ‘training session’ a little more bearable. You no longer felt the need to walk on eggshells around her or even hold in your comments. It had resulted in her hearing you let loose a few choice words in weird combinations spurred on by your own pain and frustration. There had even been a few times where she had mumbled a sarcastic comment under her breath in response to a question you had or if you did something wrong. 

Her comments had only made her appear more…human, to you at least. It didn’t make anything weird and it didn’t make you any less enthusiastic. Regardless of this, there eventually came a time where you both could tell that you had been training enough. It became obvious to Okoye after you failed to block an easy jab that you had blocked easily an hour ago, and it became obvious to you after you fell unceremoniously to the mat as Okoye told you that you were done. 

You leaned against the wall, letting your head rest back as you focused on taking deep breaths. Every breath was shaky, but they were slowly becoming more steady. Your limbs shook, even as you sat still, and the mere thought of waking up tomorrow and having to do anything made a small groan leave your mouth.

All of your ailments were completely disregarded, though, as Okoye asked a question that had your eyes snapping open. 

“How exactly did you and Shuri meet?”

Your eyes trailed over to land on Okoye who busied herself with reattaching her arm cuffs that she had, thankfully, taken off before beginning. You thought over your response under the guise of still trying to catch your breath. 

There truly wasn’t a reason behind being so nervous to answer her question; you two had met in one of the most mundane ways. But it was the way Okoye asked the question coupled with the look on her face as she gazed at you. 

That same calculating look was in her eyes as she waited for your answer, except this time, it seemed as if she were trying to clock a potential lie that you could tell. The agreeableness from earlier hadn’t completely vanished, but it was eclipsed by an air of skepticism. 

“We met in the campus library. I accidentally took her study room, and after I offered to leave, she insisted that I stay. Then she…uh…helped me with my homework.” 

It almost seemed laughable; such a mundane and…normal meeting that involved the monarch of an entire country. Okoye seemed to think so as well. In fact, she seemed to think that it was a little too normal as she tilted her head slightly and narrowed her eyes. Just that quick, you felt like you were back under a microscope she was looking into. 

“Did you know of her status as Queen at the time of your meeting?”

You sat up more at her question, already sensing where she was going, and instantly becoming nervous. Had any of your words or any of your actions raised suspicion with the General? Who else shared her suspicion? 

Did…Shuri? Was that the reason behind her absence earlier? Was this entire ‘training session’ just a chance for Okoye to get into your mind and see if you had ulterior motives?

Who else shared her suspicion? Had you been walking around the entire time, comfortable, feeling welcomed…while simultaneously being looked into?

“I did- everyone did. As soon as she arrived on campus, everyone knew who she was. It’s hard not to recognize the Queen of Wakanda when she shows up on your campus.” You swallowed hard, willing your heart to slow down because you had nothing to be guilty of. 

“What the hell is this about, Okoye? Am I a suspect?”

“Of course, you aren’t a suspect,” She spoke quickly, stepping towards you, “if I considered you a suspect, you wouldn’t be free to walk around this palace.”

There was a promise of a threat behind her words, and you believed her. Any person who dared to go after the princess wouldn’t have gotten nearly any of the same courtesy as you had received while in Wakanda. 

“I am asking because I have noticed that…you two are pretty close. Closer than normal friends are. And as someone who cares about her and wants only the best for her, I feel the need to-”

Your eyes widened a comical amount as she continued speaking, the pieces clicking together in your mind and causing your face to heat up. What made it worse was that Okoye didn’t look any more comfortable, as her eyes flickered between her metal braces and your face. 

“Okoye. Wait a minute, are you…giving me the talk?” 

Her eyebrows furrowed as she went to speak, her mouth opening and closing for a second. You beat her to it, your words coming out rushed. 

“I got it, okay? You’re protective of Shuri, that’s understandable. I haven’t known her for a very long time, but I can say that I am, too. But I promise you, you don’t have to worry about me doing anything to put her in any type of jeopardy or risk.”

You struggled to your feet, holding onto the wall for balance as you stood on shaky legs. There was no point in hiding the confused, albeit present, feelings you had for Shuri; especially not from someone who loved her as much as Okoye did. 

“I want the best for Shuri as well, even if that isn’t me.” You prayed that she chalked the shakiness of your voice up to your fatigue, “And if it isn’t me, then I’ll go ahead and move on after all of this is over. But until then, I’m like you: I just want her to be safe.”

Okoye’s expression softened at your words, and you took it as a sign to keep going, no matter how much of a hole you were digging yourself into.

“She has this wild idea that it’s her responsibility to keep me safe, when in reality, this stalker is after her. I’m only an obstacle in their way to get to her- she’s their endgame, and we still don’t even know what they want with her!” 

The quick laugh that left your mouth was humorless and bitter, a good representation of how you were feeling with the entire situation. 

“I’ve told her that between the two of us, her safety takes priority, and I’m sure you can agree.” Okoye wordlessly nodded in agreement before you continued, “but we know how stubborn and hard-headed she can be. That’s part of the reason why I’m even trying to learn all of…this!” 

Your arms raised, motioning aimlessly around the room in reference to your training.

“Maybe if I learn how to take care of myself, she’ll start to care more about her own safety.”

Okoye’s eyes seemed to take on an understanding look right before they connected with something over your shoulder. She cleared her throat and motioned to whatever was behind you, prompting you to turn around. 

The universe liked to play jokes, sometimes. And sometimes, you were the butt of those jokes, because of course Shuri had to be standing in the doorway to the room after your little tirade.

Her eyebrows were scrunched together slightly and she held a bag in her hands. You froze at the sight of her, your eyes widening and your heart literally skipping a beat at the thought that she had heard…well..any of that.

“How much of that did you hear?”

Your question sounded panicked, even to your own ears, as you asked it. 

“I heard enough.” You should just run out of the damn room. “General Okoye, do you mind giving us a second? I’d like to speak with Y/N.” 

The worry that shot through your body was enough for you to take a deep, shaky breath. You never would have thought that this kind of nervousness would plague you, especially when it came to Shuri and having to speak with her. 

She doesn’t look mad…not really.

But there was still a slight frown on her lips as Okoye nodded, quickly retrieving her spear before walking past you and towards the door Shuri stood in front of. She had the decency to stop at the door and look back at you, providing what could’ve been an encouraging nod, before stepping out and closing the door behind her. 

The silence that enveloped the two of you was so heavy that you immediately wanted to break it, but doing so would open the possibility of saying something embarrassing. So with fidgety hands and a racing heart, you waited for Shuri to speak first. She did so not too long after Okoye left, walking towards where you stood in the middle of the mat.

“Do you really see yourself as some ‘obstacle’?” So she had heard that part.

Her voice was low, almost hesitant as she spoke. Her eyes didn’t leave your figure, even as yours darted around slightly.

“Maybe not an obstacle…” you trailed off, letting out a sigh as she continued to approach you. Unlike Okoye, you didn’t feel the need to move; you didn’t want to move. 

“Just…not as important.” 

Her frown deepened at your words and she shook her head, looking away for a second and letting out a heavy sigh. 

“Y/N, we talked about this.”

Regardless of how nervous you were, you still held true to your words, believing them wholeheartedly and genuinely. No matter how nervous she made you, you’d continue to fight her about her safety.

“We did, and my thoughts are still the same.” The longer you spoke, the more steadier your words became. “I don’t think there’s anything you can do or say to change my mind.”

She stayed silent for a while, almost seeming to hold her breath as she thought something over. After a few seconds of silence, she finally faced you once again, letting out another sigh and nodding in resignation. 

“There isn’t anything you can do or say to change my mind about your safety, Y/N. There never will be. We’ll both have to live with it.”

She held the bag in her hand out to you…and it honestly threw you for a loop. You had expected her to argue you up and down, again, about your safety and where it was in relation to her own…but she hadn’t. It relieved you while also making you suspicious.

It must have shown on your face because a grin curved her lips as she pushed the bag more towards you, encouraging you to take it. You took it, instantly opening it and taking a look inside. At the sight of clothes, you raised a quizzitive eyebrow and looked back at her. She instantly understood your silent question, letting out a soft laugh.

“Clothes for you to change into;” She paused, having the audacity to look slightly nervous before she continued, “I’d like to take you somewhere. Only if you’re okay with it.”

If you thought your heart had been racing at her arrival, it was nothing compared to the way it raced now. She wanted to take you somewhere?

Her nervousness paired with her request to take you somewhere had a bashful, yet excited look appearing on your face as you nodded quickly. You didn’t dare think about the implications behind her request; the last thing you wanted was to think too much into everything and then either disappoint yourself or disappoint her when the truth came to light. 

But you could let yourself enjoy one night with her…right?

A/N: sorry for the wait y’all lmaoooo

BUT I hope you all enjoyed this part! Part 8 should actually be out later this week if my timing is right!

Please like, reblog, and/or comment! Y’all’s comments are the best part of my day, honestly, I love reading y’alls comments <3

Stay safe, y’all!

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