#jamils having a great time. he loves scheming and plotting

[heartscrypt]

the immediate aftermath of this post. they sure did kiss

[villain-in-love]

Messy headcanon collection for Jamil/Prefect relationship

⬩ It’s calculated genius x chaotic genius duo. In other words, classic INTJ X INTP couple.

⬩ Katarina is absolutely smitten, and Jamil doesn’t know how to deal with it.

⬩ At this point it’s hard to tell which one of them is the bad influence. The correct answer is both – they are full of spite and only enable each other.

⬩ Both Jamil and Katarina are lowkey two-faced, putting up a friendly façade for their own benefit when in reality they are much meaner. When left alone together, though, they can be as honest and sassy as they want, complaining about the shared struggle of being surrounded by idiots.

⬩ The relationship that started with scheming, deception, and double-crossing, but I guess that’s just how life in the Night Raven College is…

⬩ Apparently, plotting against each other really brings people together.

⬩ Jamil was rightfully baffled when after all the trouble he put her through during winter holidays Katarina not only didn’t start hating him, but instead started to actively express interest in him, as if he wasn’t a traitor and a villain in this situation.

⬩ He asked her about this bizarre reaction, to which Katarina replied that she was only mad about him dragging her into his scheme without her consent and locking her up in Scarabia, but she already avenged herself by demolishing his plan, putting the trio from Octavinelle against him, and beating him up in his overblot. She couldn’t care less about him betraying Kalim’s and everyone else’s trust, along with using mind control on people.

⬩ Jamil started to suspect that she might have a few screws loose.

⬩ In any case, he’s in conflicted feelings – Katarina is one of the very few people whose company he actually enjoys, and he started respecting her more after she managed to destroy his plans and defeat him. On the other hand… she managed to destroy his plans and defeat him, and you can imagine what kind of damage it did to his ego. Not to mention, now that he knows that Katarina can be almost as cunning as he is, Jamil couldn’t help but trust her less. Plus being a direct target of her attention makes him anxious.

⬩ Being the only girl in all boy school is awkward enough, but can you guess what’s even more awkward? Being the guy with whom the only girl in school is in love with.

⬩ That’s one of the reasons why Jamil later insisted on their relationship being if not secret, then at least not as obvious to public.

⬩ But seriously, Chapter 4 turned out to be kinda hilarious in a way that when Katarina got stuck in Scarabia as a part of Jamil’s scheme, her thought process was like “I like spending time with Jamil, but why do I have the feeling that he’s screwing with me in some way?”. And when she escapes just to come back with Octatrio and their counterplan, this feeling starts to become reciprocated, because now it’s Jamil’s turn to think that, on the one hand, he likes spending time with her, but it feels like something is clearly wrong and the situation is rapidly getting out of his control.

⬩ Katarina befriended Kalim solely for the purpose of having more excuses to hang out with Jamil (Also because having a kind and dumb friend who is ridiculously rich is very convenient).

⬩ Only by the end of the first year Jamil finally admitted that he sees Katarina as a friend, which is a great achievement in itself, because Jamil barely considers anyone at Night Raven College to be his friend. In any case, he decided that he does not want to think of it as anything more at that moment.

⬩ The romantic tension between them was obvious for a while and watching them beat around the bush for two years was lowkey insufferable. It wouldn’t have happened any other way – even if they had feelings for each other, Katarina and Jamil are the type of people who prefer to form a proper friendship and trust first, instead of acting on emotions and getting into relationship with someone they don’t fully know.

⬩ Fun fact: while she’s not at fault for what happened and nobody knows about it, but Katarina actually personally added fuel to the fire by commenting one time that she sees Jamil as much better candidate to the Scarabia's housewarden position than Kalim. Which only served to convince Jamil further that what he’s doing was a good idea.

⬩ Because Jamil is perceptive, and Katarina isn’t actively trying to hide her feelings anyway, he quickly realised just what kind of influence he holds, and so he became the most insufferable (affectionately) tease on earth. He enjoys the indescribable look on Prefect’s face when he casually compliments her in some way or gets too close. Good job, Viper, Katarina.exe stopped working and we’re not even sure she’s breathing… And Jamil is terribly proud of himself. Yes, he started doing this even before they became an “official” couple because it’s fun.

⬩ Truth be told, it stopped working like it used to after the confession. Not that he can’t get her stunned or flustered anymore, but this reaction had a lot to do with the fact that Katarina just didn’t know what would be an appropriate response to what Jamil's actions. Now, when she knows for sure that he loves her, she just outright pounces on him whenever he shows her affection (because such thing causes her to become affectionate in response). Jamil might give her a soft kiss on the cheek, and a few moments later he’s pinned against the wall with Katarina showing her tongue down his throat. Now Jamil is the one who is dazed and flustered. Whatever shallow complains he has about it – they are not genuine.

⬩ Jamil gets embarrassed and might play a tsundere when Katarina is being affectionate towards him, but really, Jamil is very needy for her love and attention, he needs it to function properly. However, this couple generally dislikes pda or overall making their relationship too obvious in public, mostly preferring to keep it all behind closed doors.

⬩ When meeting in public they usually greet each other by casually bumping into each other, shoulder to shoulder, as if letting the other know “Hey, I’m here, I’m with you”.

⬩ From time to time, Jamil comes to the Ramshackle when he gets too tired of Kalim and the liveliness of Scarabia dorm. But more often than not Katarina and Jamil prefer to hang out in Scarabia and in Jamil’s room, as it’s generally cosier there.

⬩ While another of Kalim's parties is raging in Scarabia’s dorm, Jamil and Katarina can often be found aside from the crowd and the noise, drinking tea with sweets and talking somewhere by the window. That’s their definition of fun, so please, don’t interrupt.

⬩ Seriously, interrupt their alone time and they will be ready to kill you.

⬩ Who kills a bug in this relationship? Fucking no one, they both scramble away from the damn thing to hide on top of the cupboard, throwing shoes at it. If it doesn’t work and the bug is still alive, then someone would have to stop Jamil from setting the room on fire.

⬩ Spiders are the exception, though, at least for Katarina. When Jamil and the others were staying at her dorm in preparation to VDC, Katarina and Jamil argued a lot over spiders that live everywhere in the Ramshackle. Katarina insists that spiders are "friends" and can stay, while Jamil wants these hell spawns out of the damn house, the fact that they are not technically insects means nothing, he doesn't buy the idea that another pair of legs makes them better in some way.

⬩ Jamil: Do you even eat anything besides chocolate and apples?

   Katarina: *awkwardly looks away*

   Jamil: …now, I really don’t like this response.

   Later:

   Jamil, opening Katarina’s fridge: WHAT KIND OF BARCELOR’S FRIDGE IS THAT?! HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE WITH THIS DIET?

⬩ She didn’t want to tell him about not eating properly because he already works too much, but now Jamil knows and he’s lowkey horrified. They just agreed that whatever he’s cooking for himself or Kalim for lunch, he can just make an extra portion for her.

⬩ They are each other’s consultants when it comes to scheming and strategies. More often than not it’s Jamil who ends up helping Katarina, usually with predictions of all possible obstacles and outcomes, while Jamil himself is generally more secretive, especially when it comes to his schemes, but as he grows to trust Katarina more he also starts to ask her for critique of his plans.

⬩ If she has time for that, Katarina might join Jamil when he’s tutoring Kalim on some subject, out of curiosity and convenience (they are still a grade above her). Usually Katarina understands the theme first and then helps Jamil explaining it to Kalim.

⬩ As funny as it sounds, Jamil often holds Katarina’s grudges for her, if that makes sense. Because Katarina is terribly apathetic and hard to offend, while Jamil is… much pettier and vindictive. So if anyone wronged her and her reply is “lol, okay”, then Jamil might take the role of karma and get back at them himself.

⬩ While not exactly identical, their music tastes overlap a lot – generally speaking, they both prefer something dark and intense. It’s kind of their thing to share new songs that they found and think that the other might like, and they often listen to music together, sometimes by sharing earphones.

⬩ It took some time (and some manipulation because she refused at first) to teach Katarina how to dance, but now they can steal the show at every dancefloor. Jamil is lowkey proud of himself for being able to teach her how to dance, and proud of Katarina herself, of course.

⬩ Most of the time they won’t dance in public. If they end up at any sort of event Jamil and Katarina most likely going to stand apart from the crowd and just talk, maybe commenting on what is going on (and judging everyone). But if they see some couple of a prince and a princess, who obviously think that they are the main characters tonight, Jamil and Katarina will be strongly inclined to go on a dancefloor to completely steal the spotlight and make it obvious for everyone how much cooler they are. It’s a villain thing.

[britishassistant]

The Villainous Paranoiac Plots to Topple a Conglomerate

Some extra images that I couldn’t fit into “The Villainous Paranoiac Just Wants An Uneventful Holiday”, so I decided to drop them here!

Yuu is immediately on guard around Jamil at the start of Chapter 4. Partly because he and the other Scarabia students are there when everyone’s supposed have gone home for the holidays. Partly because he begins trying to butter the Prefect and Grim up after Grim boasts about how Crowley gave them chores.

Yuu hasn’t forgotten the lessons reinforced by Ace, Cater, Jade and Azul— when someone’s being this nice within seconds of meeting you, it means they want something. The nicer they are, the more troublesome the favor will be.

The Prefect feels unhappily vindicated once Jamil’s plot is revealed.

The funny thing is, when Jamil and Yuu swore to each other, both of them meant what they said...just not in the way each knew the other was going to interpret it. Jamil wasn’t going to let Yuu get hurt like that again, because he was going to remove Kalim from power entirely. Yuu wasn’t going to let Jamil get hurt by the overblot, because the Prefect was going to steal his magic pen and keep it from ever happening.

And then they both broke those promises. Funny how things work out, isn’t it?

Kalim is too bright. Yuu is an introvert who relies on high energy friends to help with social interactions, the Prefect has a hard time dealing with this sunshine child without someone else there to soak up some of Kalim’s attention. Grim is the unwitting sacrifice here.

Yuu was also sus of Kalim initially. Who is this nice to the magicless student and the monster cat who burned him at the entrance ceremony? Must be a cover up for something...

The revelation of his “tyrant” side at first appeared to justify these suspicions, until his behavior began making less sense given what his stated goals were, which lead Yuu to believe something else was going on underneath the surface.

Probably the only nice things Yuu ISN’T instantly suspicious of are the fairies.

The Paranoiac is enchanted by them, and was quite looking forward to bringing the fire fairies their wood during Winter Break.

Which makes Yuu even more irritated that Jamil decided to kidnap the Prefect and Grim to carry out his little scheme for basically all of the break.

If he had caused the two of them to miss their first proper family holiday feast with the ghosts, it’s unlikely Yuu would have ever forgiven him.

...Though that isn’t to say the Paranoiac is exactly pleased with Jamil’s poor excuse of a plan in the first place.

This is an opinion that Yuu is not shy about expressing once the antitoxin has flushed enough venom from the Paranoiac’s system. Normal cobra venom takes fifteen minutes to shut down the respiratory system and kill someone. The venom from Jamil’s blot snakes cuts that time in half, leading to a frantic dash to beat the overblot and get the antidote after the Prefect was bitten.

Azul now understands why Yuu is so desperate to try and prevent overblots before they happen. With every one, it seems like the Prefect’s brushes with death are just getting closer and closer...

Though he’s not entirely sure if that justifies the Paranoiac launching into a tirade about how Jamil isn’t clever, he’s just a very intelligent moron who doesn’t think through the most basic repercussions in his planning, which is infuriating. Like, what was Jamil going to do if he did get rid of Kalim anyway? Kalim has younger siblings, too many of them to count, so all that would happen is Jamil would be shuttled along to the new heir and have to do the whole servant rigmarole all over again with an even younger master! And all because of the Dorm Head title which has no power outside of Night Raven College anyway!

If you’re plotting to free yourself from an entity like the Asim family, you don’t go after the powerless figurehead (no offense Kalim) who’s more innocently annoying than actively malicious. You go after the family’s power structures and cripple them so that when you do take your freedom, they’re completely incapable of standing in your way or inflicting any repercussions! In fact, if Kalim lists out all the industries and royal courts his family is involved in, Yuu could probably come up with a much more effective plan than Jamil’s in thirty minutes, an hour tops!

Meanwhile, poor Kalim over here is listening to all this in a mess of tears. He’s already pretty weepy from the guilt of everything he did under Snake Whisper, Jamil overblotting and showing his true feelings for the first time, and Yuu getting poisoned by the overblot, but now the Paranoiac’s actively plotting the downfall of his family?? The family he loves even if he does admit they need to change the way they run things?? Kalim knows the Prefect may not mean it to come off as harsh as it sounds, but could you maybe not?? Please??

Grim pats his shoulder and consoles him that it’s not his fault the Prefect gets scary sometimes.

Jade and Floyd are very interested in the idea of bringing down such an influential and powerful group of people— it certainly wouldn’t be boring, that’s for sure. Azul has to work very hard to convince them that the whole thing would be more trouble than it’s worth, as they’re just high-school students who don’t have access to the necessary funds or connections needed to pull off such a scheme yet.

And as for Jamil?

Well he’s just. He’s infuriated, isn’t he?

All that trouble come to naught, and then the Prefect has the nerve to go and criticize his method? And begin plotting how to improve on his failure? Well that’s. That’s just rude, isn’t it?

It’s rude. And insensitive. Insulting, even. Kicking him while he’s down.

So what if Yuu’s throwing out some ideas that are beginning to sound somewhat feasible about bringing down the Asim’s monopoly, and trying to convince Kalim his family can handle a little bankruptcy? It’s only a response to Jamil’s situation. Just words. It doesn’t mean they’ll actually work. It isn’t like the Prefect knows what it feels like to be at the mercy of a group like the Asims.

Jamil’s just irritated. Peeved. Getting a little angry with the upstart Paranoiac, if he’s being honest with himself, judging by the way it feels like his stomach is tying itself in knots.

There are no other feelings there. None. Do you hear him? None.

He takes great delight in making the Prefect march to the oasis again the next day.

[wasiandonuts]

The Good Place Season 3 Finale: after-thoughts

*SPOILERS! duh..also it is very long, read at your own discretion*

So, that was a rollercoaster ride of a season. It started with Eleanor finding Chidi, for like the 803rd time, and it ended with Eleanor having to say goodbye to Chidi. After years of getting the soul squad back together, they are all having to face the torments of The Bad Place once again. Can’t they get a break?

Before getting in to Chidi and Eleanor’s storyline, I want to start with Michael, Janet, Tahani, and Jason. 

For Michael, he is just the sweetest demon in the entire universe. In the first season, he was not only an evil liar but also hated humans and did not want to do anything else in his immortal life other than to punish the four humans. Now, he literally is doing everything to save the four from eternal damnation while trying to fix the inevitably corrupt modern society we live in today. To me, he truly had the greatest glo-up. I am very hopeful to see Michael return to his Architect position and perhaps solve mankind’s greatest issues. In this episode, it was very insightful to see how he referred to himself as middle management because he technically is. The stress of the pressure of running this universe-changing experiment is insane and the humanity in Michael really showed during the finale.

Janet, too, had a great character arc within this season and throughout the show. She/It (remember she is not a girl!) was merely a physical version of Alexa and now, Janet is almost like the humans with feelings and the incredible ability to throw shade. I do feel bad about the situation with Jason. To be honest, I never really gave much importance to it until the finale. Going in to season 4, I see what the writers did there. They set up this supposedly insane love story between a Floridian DJ and a “Busty Alexa” (Eleanor’s words, not mine) who fell in love hundreds of years ago in literal hell. Now, Janet is going to play a much larger part in the new neighborhood but importantly, she/it is now a human-like member of the Soul Squad and will probably be Eleanor’s source of strength in the upcoming season(s). Woo go Janet!!

Tahani al-Jamil has been through a lot. Just this finale episode alone she was the first to be targeted by the Bad Place and their schemes. It was almost deja vu when she was planning to plant the ‘Marc Fake-obs’ joke on John, but then again, the Good Place reminds us of the evolution each of the characters went on. Though she is a supporting character, I would really like to see her play a bigger part with keeping the integrity of the soul squad together during the upcoming seasons and perhaps find love herself.

I felt kinda sad that Jason Mendoza wasn’t in this episode that much, but his character providing some much-needed comedy relief in all of the heaviness in the finale. I do wonder though why he is back in the monk outfit, maybe to keep him quiet for safety purposes. There must be a secret Schur reason why he is in different garb for this iteration of the Fake Good Place. Like with Janet, I think they are pretty cute together and I need at least some happiness. Also, he is also one of the remaining few to not have an ex or a gossip blogger in the new Good Place yet. It will be interesting to find out. I think it will either be his dad or an ex-dance crew member or even Pillboi.

Okay. Here we go. I just rewatched the episode a few times to not only feel the feels but also to catch any details that the podcast mentioned and I might have forgotten. Without knowing it, the entirety of the show’s plot relies heavily on the unlikely relationship between Chidi Anagonye and Eleanor Shellstrop. Looking back at this season, there were little hints that the writers planted that makes this ever the more heartbreaking.

In 3x08 (Worse Possible Use of Free Will), the entire episode is basically a flashback through cheleanor’s development in Reboot 112, a previously mentioned version in season 2. I was really excited to be fed that day and the subsequent episodes but I just rewatched it again and I noticed that the same type of situation happened again. (yes I know, reboots happen every second in this show) At the end, Eleanor promises Chidi that they will find each other again and that they are true soulmates. Even in the very first episode of season 3, Eleanor comes to Australia to ask Chidi for help to be a better person and the end of season 3, it once again is Eleanor in a doorway meeting Chidi. 

A lot of this season had to do with faith and memories. the Janet(s) episode reminded Eleanor, in this case, who she was because she did not remember and Chidi, like the amazing man he is, snapped her back to reality with a kiss and all was well (for a few eps). The sad part is that this time, when Chidi won’t remember Eleanor or any of the gang, Eleanor can’t just kiss him back to reality because he doesn’t even know how much she means to him. 

I cry a lot at very emotional things, but this episode was a kicker. It touched a lot of people since 1) the writers are very good and also very cruel, 2) the past few episodes saw a happy cheleanor, and 3) it was all very real in a way. We all have dealt with loss and love. Seeing one person love another and miss another but the partner doesn’t remember is so devastating. In all of the reboots, every one of them forgot everything. The sad thing is only one of them can’t remember the rest and that one is the moral glue that held all of the squad together. And looping back to a previous episode when Eleanor is crying and talking about how she is both happy and sad, she mentions something about love isn’t a sure thing and now, that love that she has been so afraid to give for the longest time was ripped away from her and now she has to watch and take care of the man she loves from a distance.

Going in to season 4, we are steering less towards philosophy and hard factual morals but rather towards the pathos side of things. What it means to be a human in the face of adversity and tragedy is the theme for upcoming seasons. I do hope the slow burn of Chidi finding Eleanor again is not so slow because they truly deserve to be happy in the little dot on top of the ‘i’. I also wish for less reboots now and tears because I never expected a comedy show that makes fart and sex jokes and puns all the time to make me sob over fictional characters but here I am and I don’t regret it.

Gah this whole episode was all too much. The memory video was touching and also very soft. The line that made me bawl was when Chidi said “I am gonna miss you” and his voice cracks, then Eleanor responds “but you won’t” and then “Bye, Chidi”. I felt that. To end, I just want to say thank you to Michael Schur, Megan Amram, and Jen Statsky for this episode and the entire crew for this crazy, funny, smart, and now very sad show that never fails to make my day. Also lots of hugs to Jameela, Manny, D’Arcy, Ted, and most especially Kristen and Will for gracing our screens. By the way, KB and WJH are two of the best actors I know and I love them as Chidi and Eleanor. Ok good night everyone and thanks for reading my braindump about my feelings. 

Everything is fine.