#villain writing a note threatening someone

[miniimight]

first off, I just wanna say how I love how you write izuku like??? my sweet boy doesn't get much appreciation and I'm just obsessed with the scenarios you've made with him 🤭💜 second, would it be okay to request a scenario in which the bnha boys (Deku, Bakugo, any other if you want!) who's been dating the reader for a while but it's a secret relationship- which suddenly gets revealed?

thank you! can't wait for more of your writing! 💜

SECRET RELATIONSHIP GETS REVEALED ! the secret relationship between you and your pro-hero boyfriend gets revealed to the public

with deku, bakugo ( pro heroes )

notes ahaha izuku is definitely one of my favs and ur so right when u say he doesn't get enough appreciation :( but i'm here to change that lol ! thanks for requesting ! idk if this is what you had in mind but i hope you enjoy it nonetheless <3

your boyfriend didn't want his relationship with you to go live because one, he's legitimately one of the most hated heroes by villains and two, the media won't ever leave you alone. he found it better this way, for both of your sakes.

it worked for a while, and though the both of you had to make little sacrifices here and there, the arrangement was more than perfect. that was until someone tipped the media off with one (1) very rare photo of you and boyfie out and about in disguise (a terrible one, at that).

photos of the pro-hero's new companion dominated the internet and everyone was wondering who the mystery person was.

it happened so fast that you and your boyfriend were out of the loop. in fact, you and your boyfriend were out on a secret date when the news exploded.

IZUKU

izuku zipped his crossbody bag up and fitted a black baseball cap tightly on his head. his green curls were hard to miss regardless of any disguise he thought up. he flashed you a determined smile. "ready for our day out, love?"

"born ready," you mimicked his way-too-serious tone. "but won't you relax a bit?"

at your comment, his shoulders stiffened. "why, do i not look relaxed?"

he was standing like his friend, iida—almost robotically, like a sentry who was on high alert. you could see the tired circles under his eyes though the shadow of the cap made them almost invisible. his casual outfit covered one of the essential pieces of hero gear; his gloves. it was almost as if he was expecting something bad to happen.

you drifted to his side, an amused smile on your face. "we've done this before, izu. nobody will notice!"

"at least i have a better chance," he raised an eyebrow at you, spinning you around in his arms. "your disguise is non-existent."

"hey, i'm not the super-famous pro-hero that everyone adores." you stuck your tongue at him, making him smile reflexively.

"it's not my fault i'm so charming."

"oh my god."

a little more bickering and a car ride later, you both arrived at the museum you had planned to tour. the guide handed you pamphlets after welcoming you to the grounds, informing you that she'd take you around the exhibits in a short moment.

"oooh..." you flipped through the brochure, excitement bubbling through you. "there's a lot of things in here."

izuku rested his chin on your shoulder, trying to read as fast as you were flipping pages. his hand enveloped yours in an effort to stop you from turning the pages at a lightning pace— "honey, can you go slower?"

you giggled and thumbed the whole pamphlet, making a little buzzz sound as you did so. "weren't you at the top of your class, izu?" you shrugged nonchalantly. "just read faster."

his hands snaked to clasp around your stomach from where they rested on your waist. an uncontrollable laugh threatened to bubble out of you. "really, 'just read faster'? a little cheeky today, aren't you, love—?"

"uhm... couple at the back, please refrain from pda as there are children around." the tour guide cleared her throat. a crowd had gathered for the next tour around the museum and it appeared as though they were ready to start.

you and izuku jumped away from each other as if you were caught by a teacher in high school, your cheeks heating up from embarrassment.

"sorry, miss." izuku mumbled in a low voice, head hanging. he gave you an amused smile that you returned with a huge grin, accepting the hand he held out for you.

halfway into the tour, the group grew so bored they retreated to the comfort of their phones. hanging around the back, you thought it unusual that so many people began to glance backwards at you and your boyfriend, whispering among themselves.

you caught glimpses of their phone screens, questioning why the hell your face was on them.

you nudged izuku's side to tell him just as the teens in front of you spun around, screaming "it's deku and his s/o!"

you and izuku froze like deers in headlights as the commotion spread through the group.

wait, how do you know? the news just made a story about it today. there's a picture of them here! and besides, he's wearing the same disguise.

you gave izuku a pointed look and he smiled sheepishly at you. "what the heck should we do?!"

"deny it??" he said, though he didn't seem sure of his answer. "that photo?" he talked to the crowd again. "not her."

"yeah, i get it all the time," you chuckle nervously, playing along. you shrunk into his side. the attention was sending shockwaves through your body.

the kids weren't buying it. "well, you're obviously deku." one deadpanned.

"me?" a boxy grin spread on his face as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "no, i'm just... not him..."

seriously, didn't they have specific media training classes at UA for this kinda thing? you rolled your eyes at his response.

"who else has green hair?!" another crossed their arms. "you're so deku."

you both held up your hands, as if caught red-handed by the police. you squeaked, "we're just two random, normal strangers having a date in a museum, promise—"

a kid waddled up to deku's side and pulled his signature gloves out of his pants' pockets, holding them up triumphantly. yours and deku's head slowly turned to watch it unfold before looking at each other almost comically. a long pause followed.

"it's deku and his s/o!" the kid yelled, pointing a chubby finger at the two of you. the whole vicinity was alerted to the famous hero's presence.

you clung to izuku's arms and the swarm encroached on your space, clamoring for autographs, information, pictures—anything they could get their hands on.

to your surprise, deku wasn't the only center of attention. you were asked your name, age, and occupation, where you grew up, if you knew 'their' deku in high school—

izuku's upper arm came under your bum as he leapt back from the crowd at lightning speed, yelling a very apologetic sorry! as he zoomed the both of you away to safety. you screamed as you hung over his shoulder.

he parkoured his way up the museum building, crouching on the roof. it wasn't the first time izuku used his super speed with you in his arms, but holding you like a sack of potatoes wasn't the best position—not if you liked your neck.

he set you down and smoothed your clothes, his hands flying everywhere accompanied by a thousand apologies.

your hands caught his wrist and you gave him a pointed look. "how did they find out? we were super careful."

his concerned expression quickly turned unimpressed. "sweetheart, you have no disguise."

"they believed i was just some random person after we denied it. they already knew you were deku!" you retorted, flicking his cap upwards and allowing the tufts of green to spring out.

he opened his mouth to respond before he snapped it shut. "it's not my fault i'm hard to miss..." he muttered.

you softened and moved closer, wrapping your arms around his waist and leaning into his chest. "i'm sorry, jus' a little on edge."

his hands rubbed your back soothingly before he hugged you back. "it'll be okay." he felt something cold against him and he looked down to see you pull out your phone, pressing it against his body as you got to the bottom of this. "hey—"

"it's all over the news, along with katsuki and his s/o." you hummed, scrolling through article after article.

"hey." he repeated firmly. he gently tugged the phone from your hands, slipping it in his pocket. "it'll be okay. i'll make sure you're protected, not that you aren't already, and we'll get you a new apartment, closer to mine."

you sighed. "i'm not really worried about that."

he gave you a concerned look, wondering if he needed to look into your lack of self-preservation. "...you're not worried about someone potentially attacking you?"

you rolled your eyes, lightly swatting his chest. "well, duh, but i know no one can really get past you and your brigade of hero friends." you waved off his concern. "i'm worried about the paparazzi and gossip channels—what if everyone decides i'm not good enough and they pressure you to leave me? what if—"

"i'm going to have to stop you right there," he gave one of those self-proclaimed (but also, he wasn't wrong) 'charming' smiles as he cut into your rambling. "being with you is my conviction. no one's gonna pressure me to do anything except marry you one day."

you blinked, a huge grin spreading on your face. all your worries were gone when you let his words sink in.

izuku realized what he really said. "or... something like that, you know?" he muttered under his breath, color rising to his cheeks as he looked away.

a moment passed as he held you on the museum rooftop, the date turning out much different than expected. he gasped out of nowhere, jostling you out of your thoughts. his little giggle made you suspicious.

"kacchan just texted me something really interesting; he got stuck in traffic and is trying to hide out in his car—oh."

"what?"

he turned his phone to you. it was a post titled 'NEW!" and underneath was a very blurry photo of you and izuku on the rooftop at that very moment.

you scrunched up your face. "your fans are weird."

he laughed openly. you stared at him with such adoration that you hoped the press got a picture of his blissful face so you could fawn over it later. "have you even read the things they're saying about you?" he kissed your forehead. "i have a feeling they're gonna grow to obsess over you more than me."

BAKUGO

you heard the impatient jangle of keys as bakugo called after you. "we're gonna be late for our res, baby, get your beautiful ass in the car."

you giggled as you stuffed the last of the stuff you needed in your bag. you exaggerated a gasp and wagged a finger at him. "take me on a date first, mister."

he rolled his eyes. "i am literally trying to do that right now, but someone ain't listenin."

"fine, damn, i'll go on a date with you." you huffed, keeping up with the bit as you walked past him, tossing him a playful look over your shoulder. he smiled softly, following closely.

you got in the car and watched him with starry eyes. he was focused on starting the car and setting the music, but all you could think of was how good he looked in a turtleneck. he had so much faith in that face mask, though, as you'd told him multiple times that it was a really bad disguise.

"you're starin'." he glanced out his window before pulling out the parking spot.

heat rose to your cheeks. he held his hand out and you laced your fingers in them. he squeezed your hand.

the ride was smooth and calm, the hum of the engine complimenting the mellow yet catchy songs playing. you were jamming out until you realized you hadn't moved in a while.

you ducked closer to the windshield. the light was red, and the traffic was piling up. you pursed your lips, glimpsing at the irritated drivers around you.

"looks like we might not make our res, huh?" you mused. bakugo hummed.

"it's whatever, betcha they'll still take us anyway." he grinned mischievously.

you squeezed his hand, chastising him. "kats, you can't use your 'i'm a famous hero' card on date nights."

"m'just teasing, baby." he chuckled softly, leaning back in his seat. his head rested on his shoulder as he gave you a look. "better get comfortable."

you laughed and let go of his hand, turning fully in your seat to face him. "kats! keep your eyes on the road!"

"why? i wanna look at you." he smirked.

snap!

a bright flash made both of you freeze, though bakugo reacted quicker. he sat up in his seat, leaning over the wheel as he peered out your window at the car beside you. the two girls in the front row were fawning over the picture they just took.

he glared. "a couple of fans, i guess?"

you breathed out a sigh of relief. "thank god i was facing away from—"

snap!

you squeaked in surprise and reflexively covered your face. you leaned back in the seat to see a couple other teens laughing triumphantly over their rare photo.

bakugo observed your shock and panic silently before he laughed, thoroughly amused.

you groaned, slumping below the windows. "i was talking when they took that picture, i'll look distorted." you whined, voice muffled behind your hands.

he tsked. "i'm sure they got your good side, babe." he was trying to act calm but really his mind was racing at a million thoughts per minute. he had tinted windows. he made sure to make an appearance this morning so people would think he was out hero-ing for the whole day. was this a freak occurance, or...?

you opened your phone and were flooded with articles upon articles of you and bakugo on your dates. in hindsight, yes, those disguises were really bad. those pictures were low-quality but anyone who was anyone would be able to recognize bakugo's spiky blond hair.

everyone was speculating who the mystery person was and how their relationship would be, etc etc. you groaned again as you held up your phone to bakugo.

"what?" he whispered, breaking out of his thoughts.

"come down here," you motioned for him to join you below the window.

he scrunched up his face. "... i'm not doing—"

"come down here." you hissed, pulling him by his shoulder to crouch below the window's line of sight. he blinked, not entirely surprised or against the action. "look!"

he scrolled through, some news pages looking familiar. he sighed. "my agency was starting to talk about these rumors."

"why didn't you tell me?!"

"i thought they'd handle it!"

you pouted and he softened, kissing your cheek. "no one's gonna get a hold of any bad pictures of you, promise. i'll make sure of it."

you smiled. "really?"

he grinned, lovesick. "yeah." so what if the whole world would know you're his? he could deal with the details later.

muddled banging made you jump.

"dynamight, is that your s/o?!" the girls from the car over squashed their faces to the window, cupping their hands around their eyes.

you screamed and dynamight gave them a what the hell look.

he blast through the car roof, holding you by the waist as he soared upwards with loud pops behind him. landing on a nearby roof, he checked to make sure you were okay. all he was concerned about was the frown on your face.

"what, you not comfortable with everyone knowin' bout us?" he asked, voice soft.

you perked up, shaking your head. "no! obviously not. i'm just..." you curled your knees to your chest. "you're a hotshot and you have so many people after you. dunno if i meet expectations."

"who cares?" he scoffed indignantly. "you exceed mine. that's all that matters."

you giggled, your sad disposition quickly morphing into a smile. "yeah?"

"yeah." he assured you, pushing your knees down and swinging them to the side. the momentum made your whole body twist so that you were parallel to him. he wrapped an arm around your shoulders and you leaned into his embrace.

"now i gotta call that nerd so he can move our car. we're causin' more traffic."

bonus:

"kacchan!" izuku chirped, his s/o on his back as he floated in the air. bakugo's face twisted up as if the green-haired boy wasn't one of his best friends.

"hey." bakugo jerked a thumb at his very broken car. "can you take care of that for me?"

"yeah, i got it." with his gloves on, izuku initiated blackwhip. the tendrils snaked around the car and hoisted it into the air, freeing up that lane once again. "did you suddenly get exposed out of nowhere, too?"

bakugo snorted. "yeah, ain't that a coincidence?"

izuku chuckled softly as he nodded. "yeah, super weird."

who could've gotten the jump on two of the most famous heroes' love lives, anyway?

© miniimight ! thanks for reading <3

[grimalkinmessor]

MP100 Characters Ranked on How Likely I Think They Would Be To Use The Death Note:

(because I like combining my hyperfixations ✨)

Mogami. I don't think I have to explain this one.

Ritsu. He is going on a killing spree IMMEDIATELY the boy practically IS Light Yagami, his name is literally spelled with the kanji for justice and he already went on one power-hungry crusade, he is RIPE on the Kira tree og

Dimple. He already has the god complex down, he just has to get on board with the whole killing people thing—considering he's already an evil spirit, it wouldn't take much convincing tbh

Shou. He would cause SO much havoc with it but only for fun. For the meme. For the vine. He kills the Queen of England with it and cackles as he watches the ensuing flood of Megamind memes. He would also threaten his dad into compliance with it because the Death Note isn't Battle Based, it's Instadeath. "Ever go on TV and embarrass me like that again and you're going out by dysentery."

Takenaka. He's not a bad kid, but being telepathic would make him incredibly susceptible to wanting to take bad people out before they did anything wrong. Plus just getting them to shut up. That idiot that keeps having vivid erotic fantasy in the middle of science class has ONE more again before Takenaka would embrace his villain arc whole-heartedly. The only reason he's this far down is because I think he'd hesitate.

Tsubomi. I think she'd kill someone just to see if she could get away with it. Then she'd put it away and only bring it out when certain situations arose that needed a Quick Solution™. That girl knows what needs to be done and she does it—she decisive. Anything like Suzuki happens again and she just drops them dead on live television Lind L. Tailor style and then goes on about her day like nothing happened. All heroes wear pretty hair clips 🙏

Tome. I don't know how to explain this one. Vibes. She feels like she'd be gripped by the powerful urge to kill someone but it would take her a lot to go through with actually writing someone's name down. She'd want to test the Death Note first to see if it worked, so that's one person down, but anyone else would need to have either hurt her or her friends irreversibly, and even then it would probably be a one time thing. She'd use it far less than Tsubomi—two people might actually be her max.

Serizawa. I hc that people with psychic powers can see the Death Note's bad jujus or whatever, so he wouldn't have to test it to know it would work, but I still think he'd use it. If he found it while he was still with Claw, he'd use it because it was easier to kill someone that way than with his psychic powers. Even if it he found it after Claw, it'd be the same reasoning. He's definitely killed people in the past and if someone hurt his friends or his mother he'd very much take the easy out of simply writing down a name rather than going for a fight. He'd still feel really bad about it though, so it'd probably only happen once.

Minori. She uses it to see if it's real, finds that it very much is, and then locks it away in her room. She won't use it, but it'll be a constant thought in her mind. A very real temptation.

Emi. She uses it once out of curiosity to see if it's real, then buries it in the woods where no one will ever find it...but she can go back for it if she ever needs it.

Hanazawa. He's reformed but his temper is still something to behold. He's only this far down the list because he's got that "I could kill you with my powers why would I need a book to do it for me" swag ✨

Shimazaki. Similar to Teru but less reformed. "I would just kill you with my powers why would I need a notebook" two electric boogaloo. Plus he's blind and idk if the Death Note takes braille or morse code.

Toichiro. The ULTIMATE "I'll just kill you with my powers I don't fucking need that thing"

Shinra. He wouldn't use it, but he'd absolutely make the mistake of picking it up and handing it over to someone that WOULD use it (cough rising sun psychic division cOugh)

Onigawara. Talks big shit about using it, but would never. Likes to think he COULD use it though, even though he's too upright for it.

Reigen. Picks it up out of curiosity and gets a laugh out of it, but doesn't test it. He's seen enough shit to be cautious though, so he has Mob look it over and then burns it once Mob confirms it's got bad vibes.

Mob. Sees bad vibes. Doesn't even pick it up. Blasts it into ash and goes home without thinking about it again. Buys milk on the way there.

[mochiajclayne]

Hi there,

I hope you're doing well.

i read your post regarding SasuSaku and Sarada as a family and you stole the words right off my mouth.

I'd like to know your thoughts and opinions on Sasuke Retsiden because from what I can see, its only Jun Esaka (a mere light novel writer that writes non canon stuff) all over the internet being equally all over about her Sasuke Retsuden. I haven't seen any other light novel writer being more active about something non canon. Even kishimoto himself doesnt behave like this regarding his own work.

I'd like to also know about your opinions regarding Jun Esaka ATTEMPTING to remove or metaphorically kill Karin Uzumaki by making the main villain a Karin look alike and giving her sensory abilities to Sakura, which again, makes no sense. Does that woman hate Karin and SK so much? Is that woman so threatened by the very thought of SK as a couple that she had to incorporate a villain that looks like Karin Uzumaki down to a tee?

These are just my thoughts and speculations but I'm also really interested in knowing your side of the story.

Thanks for reading my long comment and i wish you a wonder day/afternoon/evening/night

Hi, @theuntamedangel! I appreciate the long comment! I hope you have a wonderful day/afternoon/evening/night, too!

Before I share my thoughts about Sasuke Retsuden, let me share that I did, unfortunately, have a sasusaku phase. I know. Shocker. The entire lore is here in case you're interested (promise it's relevant to my explanation).

I did hear about Sasuke Retsuden when I was still in college. Bits of information, specifically, about the chakra ring and from a perspective of someone who used to ship sasusaku casually, my initial reaction was okay good for them and I went on with my day. Note that I wasn't as heavily engaged in the Naruto fandom like I do now so for me to isn't active back then, hearing about Sasuke Retsuden, speaks volume on how it is over the internet that it even reached me.

I hate Sasuke Retsuden. It's badly written, it's OOC especially for OG Naruto characters, and the canon inaccuracies are more than enough to drive me into aneurysm.

Below this cut is my detailed thoughts about Sasuke Retsuden.

The villain looking like the male version of Karin caught me off guard. I don't know what the intentions behind the character design but I think they aimed for association as Jiji, one of the characters from this godforsaken novel, reminded me of Juugo.

I am not a sasukarin shipper but I do understand where the shippers are speaking from. I think they'll make a cool couple because Karin actually freaking cares about Sasuke when shit gets serious and outside of her "gag", she respects Sasuke's boundaries. Might be speaking out of the box but this novel in its existence was meant to be sasusaku-centric so the possibility of being threatened by all Sasuke-related ships, especially those making far more sense than SS, is high. I don't think Jun Esaka hates Karin. I would dare say that she picked a random character that could work as a direct contender to Sakura and unfortunately, she decided to scapegoat Karin. Moreover, the entire sensory ability shtick added to Sakura was uncalled for. I would go even further and say that Esaka's version of Sakura is what her stans hailed her to be--a superior version of [insert any Naruto's female character]. Even their pink haired kunoichi is incredibly OOC here and you expect me to take her seriously?

The funniest thing about Sasuke Retsuden is the way that they had to use SNS at first, specifically, Sasuke's mission is to find a cure for that chakra illness that Naruto alone suffers. Sure, this is SS centric but it all comes down to Sasuke and Sakura working together to find a cure for Naruto. Now, she could just write a novel about SS without using Naruto's "sickness" as some kind of a plot device, right? But no, she had to convince us somehow and an effective way to do that is literally Naruto and Sasuke.

The dinosaur. Don't even get me started. Even tailed beasts cannot fight against Sharingan to the point that canon graciously provided us evidence of both Madara and Obito controlling the Nine Tailed Beast. The very same Sharingan that made the higher ups of Konoha suspect the Uchiha clan as mastermind for that same incident. We're talking about the same dojutsu that manipulated the Fourth Mizukage. The canon inaccuracy throws me off the loop.

More inaccuracies. Suddenly Sasuke is an Earth and Ice Style user. Wow. Conveniently forgetting about Kakashi mentioning in Part 1 how Ice Style is a Kekkei Genkai that even Sharingan can't copy. As far as Naruto canon goes, Sasuke is a Fire and Lightning Style user. I don't consider Boruto as canon but even that animanga doesn't show any moment of Sasuke using Earth Style. It's insane that people claimed this as canon.

THIS DISTURBING INTERACTION. I did say that the OG Naruto characters are OOC in this shitshow novel and yes, unfortunately that includes Sakura. We've seen the way she react around Naruto's sexy ninjutsu antics. Unless objectification of women or the mere implication of it doesn't perturb her, then it says more about how Esaka portrayed her. I'd personally file a restraining order when a guy says he'd settle for my old, half smoked cigarette butts. I'm surprised that she didn't throw any snide remarks here.

WHO IS THIS SASUKE AND WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM. This panel made me laugh so hard because I feel like Esaka straight up ignored that Sasuke canonically spent years with his family before the Uchiha downfall happened. I don't think he'd be this clueless about how a married couple acts. Even in flashbacks, Sasuke was shown around his parents or Itachi, literally with his family. I think he knows well enough about married couples.

The ring part as well makes me cackle because Kurenai literally wears a ring in Shippuden. Trust me, Juugo-look-a-like, rings are used in Konoha by couples.

The Uchiha clan symbol takes me out because AREN'T YOU GOING UNDERCOVER IN THIS PRISON? WHY ARE YOU SHOWING THAT OFF?

The Chakra ring in question. Finding out the lore behind this further upset me and I am thankful that I no longer ship sasusaku. Show these panels out of context to someone with little to no exposure to canon and it would be romantic but if you know Narutoverse like the back of your hand, this novel served nothing. Seriously, the fact that Sasuke is incredibly OOC on this novel speak volumes. Imagine annihilating Sasuke's character to make SS work? Insanity.

Writing Edo Tensei with rose tinted glasses disgust me. That jutsu is straight up manipulating a dead body at your bidding. Tobirama shouldn't have invented that jutsu. Hinting that jutsu to be used to revive a loved one that passed away is vile and disgusting. The lack of attention to canon isn't a new thing for Esaka at this point.

Even this novel can't cover up the fact that Sakura doesn't know Sasuke well. If there's one thing that's consistent in the prequel, it was Naruto that gets into trouble. Sasuke doesn't use honorifics and he got away with it. His bluntness doesn't get him and everyone around him in trouble. Sasuke only began resorted to extremes when he was batshit blind and sinking into the unhinged depths of his hatred. Probably the only things that Sakura got correctly was Sasuke's kindness and his nonchalance about his looks but that's it. So the claim of knowing Sasuke inside and out is preposterous. The one who can say that is, guess who? Naruto.

Ending this long analysis with this panel because honestly, Ino is asking the questions for me. Unfortunately, despite being "married", their dynamic stayed the same. Sakura is still that same girl that has a crush on Sasuke, except she's in her 30s and Sasuke is still the same boy that rejected her date offers and the idea of being together with her, even reaching the point that he's away from her a lot.

I do apologize for going off to the point that I decided to pull a meta post about this. I do hope you're doing well and I appreciate the ask!

[carrymelikeimcute]

The izcourse continues...

When did people stop saying 'in my opinion'? because lord above would that simple phrase have stopped me getting so mad this morning.

I have no interest in reblogging the posts and starting drama, but some izzy takes I've seen this morning have made me want to chew through rawhide, and here's my opinion on why these 'factual statements' are wrong.

Izzy fans shouldn't be upset by his death because he's not a main character, he is a plot device to further the story of the main characters.

I'm a professional writer btw and to me a 'plot device' character is the barista who's in one scene. To me, if a named character with backstory and complicated interpersonal history with one or more main characters is just 'a plot device' - that's a waste of a character and shitty writing. I don't think ofmd is shittily written so this annoys me on two levels - disrespecting the show, and the character. Because in my view if Izzy is 'just a plot device' that's someone insulting the show.

2. Izzy was an antagonist and antagonists can only ever be redeemed and then die, or become a villain.

Not even true of ofmd and certainly not of media in general, yet stated as fact with nothing to back it up. This is NOT an opinion btw - you only have to look at Zheng and Jackie to know it's not true within the context of the show.

Jackie dobs Stede in to the British just as much as Izzy does, and she threatens them with vengeance again over the indigo - does she die? Does she become a villain? No, she's a guest at the lupete wedding for fuck sake.

Zheng insults Ed and attempts to kill Stede, two things Izzy was vilified for, gosh it was so sad when she died in the finale wasn't it? Oh no wait, she became their ally and sailed away on The Revenge!

'Have to die or become villains' is just...incomprehensible to me. The only way I can see it working in someone's head is if they think character like Jackie and Zheng did nothing wrong, when Izzy was evil, for doing the same things - albeit for more personally passionate reasons.

3. Izzy telling Ed that the ship's atmosphere was poison because of 'his feelings for Stede' was Izzy 'blaming Ed's actions on love again, just like he did in s1.e10 because Izzy is just one-note evil and only ever has that one thing to say.

To me, s1 Izzy is absolutely thrilled to have managed to bait Ed to anger, to have brought this out of him. He thinks he knows what he's just unleashed, but as we soon discover, he has no idea - because Ed had never cut off one of his extremities before. He poked the bear, but the bear was actually a fucking kraken.

s2 Izzy, in my opinion, looking at his expression above, is sad, resigned, he is saying Stede's name (which it's already established even obliquely mentioning him is a BAD IDEA with the whole 'talk it through' thing, after which Izzy sounds panicked) but he is specifically trying to make Ed see that he is not himself - that what he is doing to the crew is toxic.

Just because he's essentially saying 'This isn't you' in both scenes, doesn't mean the tone or the meaning of those scenes is the same. One scene ends with Izzy gleeful, victorious. One ends with him screaming on the deck, bleeding out.

I am happy for people to have these opinions, and for me to vehemently disagree with them, but they ARE opinions. And Izzy 'fans' or you know, people who see the show differently to you, are not stupid, racist, immature or whatever else you want to call us.

We just have a different opinion. If you're going to share your opinion, great! But it's still just your opinion.

[eclipse-song]

Episode 230 Director's Notes

Wanted to share these ones since I really enjoyed reading Joseph's thoughts.

Ok, so this was a mean little trick.

Quite some time ago, we came up with the idea of Dr. Lubelle explaining away Night Vale. First, we had poor Sarah Sultan, under the title "Sarah Sultan, Explained". Then I knew I wanted to go after someone really big. An iconic character. Thus "The Glow Cloud, Explained." And we always knew there would be one last episode with this title format, and it would, based on the previous pattern, establish an existential threat against our sweet Carlos.

But at no point did we consider actually explaining him away. Because, as Carlos points out in this episode:

a) explanations are not inherently threatening. It is how they are wielded, and who wields them, that can do damage

and 

b) a lot of Dr. Lubelle's explanations didn't really hold water anyway.

I knew for this confrontation to work, we would need to hear from both Carlos and Dr. Lubelle themselves. It is always a joy and a privilege when Dylan takes the time from his busy schedule of, most recently, writing on Ted Lasso and creating a new podcast about Jar Jar Binks for TED, to record for us. 

And what can be said about Janet Varney that isn't just a lot of incoherent gushing? She is an expert at voice performance. For her final section, I let her know it was her character's big villain monologue before she gets squashed by a cow and to really go for it. I'm actually writing these notes before I get to hear what she did, but I have complete confidence that she will swing for the fences in the best way possible. 

In this era of science-denial, it can be tricky to try to tell a nuanced story about science. One that acknowledges the very real harms caused by western capitalism through the tool of science, while also keeping in mind that much of what makes our lives wonderful was also discovered through the same tool. Science has no morality. Morality is simply not what science is set up to do. So the ideas of right and wrong, harmful and helpful, those must come from the human being doing the science. 

America has become obsessed with STEM, but when we only teach STEM to the exclusion of the humanties, we get Silicon Valley. A heartless place where very smart people use their knowledge of computers to, generally, make our lives much, much worse, often without knowing they are doing that, because at no point have they been trained to think about the importance of considering the bigger picture and the moral implications of what they are doing. 

Anyway, it's a hard topic to write about, and I can't say we 100% pulled it off. But hey, I hope we at least enjoyed the bad guy getting a dead cow dropped on them.

We'll be taking July off as always, so see you in August with whatever is going to happen next year in Night Vale (genuinely we haven't talked about it yet so I don't know). 

-Joseph Fink

[theromanticscrooge]

Lord Boxman, the Lonely Tyrant of Boxmore

Note: I've been wanting to return to writing beefy character essays for awhile and I was finally able to start back up after rewatching O.K. K.O.

Lord Boxman started out wanting to build a robot army strong enough to defeat POINT. Look at his early interactions with his first sapient robot Mr. Logic. This was his original business partner; someone he 'invented' to help fill in what gaps and blind spots he might have. Someone he wanted active feedback and suggestions from. Boxman himself was a lot more open-minded, patient, and collaborative at this point in time. He immediately called Mr. Logic his 'best friend' and treated him with warm, open affection.

Mr. Logic advised Boxman that he shouldn't immediately jump at his goal because he didn't yet have the manpower or resources to pose a legitimate threat. Instead, Mr. Logic proposed using Boxman's inventing abilities to tweak and improve upon his current inventions, to sell these inventions to other villains, and build a villain supply chain store. With time, hard work, and concentrated efforts, Boxman would eventually have the resources and power to successfully launch an attack later. It was a big-picture, long-haul plan. The Mr. Logic-Boxman team led to building the main Boxmore company headquarters and establishing Boxman as a trusted robot minion supplier.

Unfortunately, Boxman isn't a big-picture man. He didn't stop to consider that heroes could also start up and maintain a hero supply chain. Suddenly, POINT wasn't an abstract, 'someday' goal-post anymore. The heroes were right in Boxman's backyard with the presence of Mr. Gar and the developing Lakewood Plaza Turbo. Boxman thought he had ample time to become an indomitable powerhouse, but if the heroes had the same advantage, he'd never be able to catch up and had to address that problem now. When Mr. Logic said to "ignore Lakewood Plaza," Boxman was too lost in himself to listen. He felt threatened and intimidated enough that it stoked his insecurities and anxieties.

When Mr. Logic ventured out to investigate Lakewood Plaza, it could be seen as someone talking to the "other" that their parent, friends, or whomever painted with broad strokes and demonized. Boxman told Mr. Logic that his role was to fill in the "logical inconsistencies" with his plans, but he never asked Mr. Logic what he wanted to do with his life. With Boxman, everything was tailored to realizing Boxman's dreams and ambitions. When Mr. Logic spoke to Mr. Gar, it was a partly about what the Plaza was for and what Mr. Gar hoped for the future with the other part inviting Mr. Logic to share his plans for the future; plans about and for himself, not just the sustainability of Boxmore.

After Mr. Logic had his perspective broadened and returned to Boxmore wanting something fundamentally different from Boxman's new "Destroy the Plaza!" direction, it was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back. Boxman was already knee-deep in plans to stop this new existential threat; to have full control over his environment and his life. When Mr. Logic challenged Boxman's worldview, Boxman saw it as a challenge to him personally. Seriously considering Mr. Logic's arguments here meant that Boxman would have to self-reflect in a way he wasn't equipped to. So if Boxman had to shave down Mr. Logic's personhood to a black and white concept of "obstacle in my way" to safeguard his ego, that's what needed to be done.

GIF by zevzevarainai

The episode "Lad & Logic" is a fantastic launchpad to unpacking Boxman's screwed-up dynamic with his other children. His creator-robot minion dynamic is an allegory for an emotionally abusive parent that sees their children as extensions of themselves rather than full, autonomous beings with their own wants and desires. Mr. Logic was fully self-actualized and wanted something different than Boxman. Despite what he said out loud, Boxman knew that Mr. Logic was on even footing with him. Everything came down to power dynamics. So, when Boxman invented his next set of robots, he opted to be their "parent" because of the power imbalance he could exploit.

Shannon, Darrell, Raymond, and others strictly and obediently follow their father's wishes because they were deliberately conditioned and threatened to. Boxman pits them against each other to vie for his favor. The only TV they're allowed to watch at home are movies he carefully filmed to reinforce his "father knows best" agenda. It's similar to strict Christian parents banning their kids from watching certain shows or reading certain books because they may contain "undesirable" properties. Anything that encourages their child to question Christianity or endorses more critical thinking about their household values period is a threat to their authority and maintaining a "functional" household.

While Darrell, Shannon, and Raymond seem satisfied with their lives, unconditionally love their father, and gleefully attack the plaza, every time Boxman threatens them with the "furnace" or yells at them for failing, it's an exaggerated, blunt example of bad parenting. The "furnace" is a catch-all punishment for not being able to meet or exceed Boxman's expectations with anything and everything. He leaves some amount of ambiguity in his demands so that he can tug the proverbial leash every time he feels he needs to.

Granted, it's important to look at everything that led up to Lord Cowboy Darrell. Boxman's most egregious display of favoritism was when he built Boxman Jr. and refused to acknowledge how stung Darrell was. He kept pushing how much stronger, more competent, and better Boxman Jr. was overall. Generally, Darrell's respective relationships with Shannon and Raymond were strong enough to buffer against Boxman's picking favorites tactic. They'll fight each other for Dad's affection, but there was always an implicit understanding that they had each other's backs under normal circumstances. Jr. is different in that he had no significant relationship with his other siblings, only Boxman. And Boxman blatantly showered the newest addition with praise and affection the others never received.

Pushed to his limit, Darrell took matters into his own hands and staged an effective coup d'etat against Boxman. Through his disillusionment with his father, Darrell stepped up and became the focused, tight-knuckled business operator that Boxman could never be. Boxman tried to fill the mold that Mr. Logic helped him create and focus on appeasing his board of directors. But his all-consuming obsession with destroying the Plaza was always his true life's goal and work. This was such a core part of his character that he was miserable and hollow if he gave up on that goal. In contrast, Darrell can follow orders and do what needs to be done with whatever task he's given. The result of Lord Cowboy Darrell was one potential future of Darrell as a self-actualized villain without Boxman putting him down and actively demoralizing him.

After K.O. convinces Boxman to talk to Darrell and tell him he's proud of his achievements, it leads to the pivotal moment that Boxman couldn't give Mr. Logic. For once, Boxman looked at one of his kids and saw them as a separate, autonomous being rather than an extension of him. For that brief moment, he placed Darrell on equal footing. Darrell took over Boxmore partly out of spite but also out of an earnest interest in following in Boxman's footsteps. Without Boxman, he's a better Boxman; with Boxman, he's a co-conspirator that's as eager to destroy the Plaza as Boxman is.

GIF by the-green-sailor

Enter Professor Venomous. In stark contrast to Lord Boxman, Professor Venomous and Fink call themselves "boss" and "minion" respectively but it's really a father-daughter relationship. Venomous makes a point of bringing Fink along to important events or letting her tag along where relevant. He brings along what extras are needed to accommodate Fink whether it's a high chair, crayons, or even glorbs for a high-powered attack on some heroes. At their best, Venomous makes a point to talk to Fink on her level and she speaks very highly of what kind, affectionate gestures he does for her. Where Venomous trips up is discipline. Fink can do whatever she wants. Babysitters are run over by her reckless energy and disregard for other people that aren't Venomous. Any sign of a complaint or a tantrum is pacified with an expensive gift. When Venomous starts getting overwhelmed, the gifts replace all usual attempts at parenting or communication period.

After re-watching O.K. K.O. recently knowing that Professor Venomous was K.O.'s biological father from the jump, perhaps the "boss" and "minion" labels were Venomous' coping mechanism for knowing he abandoned one of his kids. It was easier to interact with and care for Fink as long as she was his "minion." That's a different enough relationship that he can compartmentalize it and distance it from what guilt or regrets he had from his past as Laser Blast.

When Boxman became business partners with Professor Venomous, it led to obvious shifts in his approach to parenting. After his night out with Venomous and Darrell and Shannon babysitting, he gave them T-shirts as rewards for their efforts. No pushes at playing favorites or nitpicking for once.

GIF by loser-jpg

With Professor Venomous in the picture, Boxman finally had the business partner he wanted and needed. While Mr. Logic's approach worked beautifully for kickstarting Boxmore, Boxman needed Venomous to cultivate it into exactly what he wanted vs what it was when tied to a board of directors. For a short time, Boxman and Venomous were building a blended family that was more successful together than separately. Boxman encouraged exercises and attempts towards Fink and Darrell getting along better. The Boxbots all received personalized upgrades from Venomous to improve and augment what weaponry or abilities they had. Fink now had access to what 'toys' Boxman could invent that were several grades above what Venomous could just buy. In short, Boxman dating Venomous led to him becoming a more proactive parent in a surprisingly organic way.

Venemous' intense self-destructive and literally destructive stint as Shadowy Venomous further elucidated what impact he had on Boxman. When Boxman had to step up as the responsible parent, the first problem he addressed with Venomous was how he'd been failing Fink recently with the "You missed Fink's recorder recital" comment. He was also emotionally strong enough to realize that Venomous was causing enough problems in the household that things had reached a boiling point and he had to leave. Breaking up would be emotionally devastating for him but Boxman was prioritizing the emotional well-being of his house and kids overall.

Even the devastating scene where Boxman leaves his kids to go off on an ambiguous "finding myself" quest was meaningful improvement on his part. Similarly to his confrontation with Lord Cowboy Darrell but with all of his kids this time, Boxman told them that they didn't need him. He was cutting the dependent and toxic grip on his apron strings. The Box kids are resilient and capable enough that they could carve out their own path.

There's a quote that Boxman brings up in another episode: "I'm a villain. I'm not a monster." In context, the quote was a punchline for a dark joke about Boxman potentially being a cannibal. Though, it interestingly applies when looking at Boxman's actions during his confrontations with Shadowy Venomous. Shadowy was the kind of monstrous villain that wanted mindless destruction and to see the world burn. Seeing the absolute lowest his partner could reach led to Boxman establishing what lines he wouldn't cross.

He wants to destroy the Plaza, not the world, and a pretty face isn't enough to convince him otherwise when he finds the self-assurance and confidence he needed. It's the pique of his character development as a father. While there is a lot more room for exploring this part of Boxman's character, there's enough substantial story here that it's an interesting look at a "bad dad" that was actively working on becoming better. Boxman and Venomous get back together later but only after Venomous proves that he's working through his bigger issues in a meaningful way with real, tangible results.

Over the last several years, there have been several stories tackling generational trauma that include parents realizing their failings and working on course-correcting with those failings. This has been a point of contention about a recurring to the point of tired stories in recent Pixar animated movies and the core of what made Everything, Everywhere, All at Once the powerhouse that it is. It's not too far of a reach to include Boxman as another one of these stories or even a decent starting place for digging into stories or characters dealing with generational trauma.

In Boxman's case, he could be seen as an example of an insecure parent that uses their role as a parent to reassure themselves in a constantly changing, unpredictable world. He only starts to get better when he starts changing and adapting to fit into that unpredictable world rather than trying to make his little corner of the world continue to conform to just him alone.

[iamnmbr3]

you know what's sooo stupid to me that it's almost bound to drive me crazy?!

The fact that whenever i see you sharing tom riddle metas about how traumatized he was and trying to look from his pov, i think that FUCKING MAIN VILLAIN, lunatic voldemort who was a reason for so many deaths and did everything to achieve his end is vastly understood. bellatrix, the cruelest witch(after umbridge lol), who knows nothing but voldemort has a not lil fandom

BUT jkr says Draco doesn't deserve fans' love & THERE IS NO GOOD INSIDE HIM (says about the guy who despite his environment and his own desire couldn't be bad & cruel..even if coward, still he didn't do several things in spite of his fears) so we shouldn't be that attached to him!!!!

And many people agree!!!! Like is Draco the only bad guy here? Is he actually a bad guy?

Like🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

(i don't have any problem with you guys talking about tom riddle or bellatrix having fans, just the injustice of it makes me insane)

First off, thanks for your patience in waiting for an answer to this ask! Second of all, I think two things are going on here. On the one hand, we have the fandom response to the series. On the other hand we've got JKR's response. While it's true that Tom Riddle and Bellatrix both have their fans (most of whom acknowledge the problematic things their faves have done - and indeed find their flawed actions and complexity to be part of their appeal) within fandom spaces the same is very much true of Draco. He is an extremely popular character within fandom. On AO3 he is the third most tagged character (after Harry and Hermione), drarry is the number one most written about ship, and dramione comes in at number 3. So I think in fandom spaces Draco gets a lot of attention and there's generally an interest in and understanding of the fact that he's a complex and grey character and not by any means a one-note bad guy.

However, JK Rowling does not seem to share that view at all. She's been very dismissive of his character and of fans who like him on a number of occasions and indeed seems irritated by his popularity - even though it is driven by writing choices SHE made. She claims Draco never got a redemption arc even though she herself wrote that he ultimately changed his opinions and behaviors...aka had a redemption arc. She seems to be someone who has a great deal of trouble admitting she was wrong and who is also very threatened by anyone having a different interpretation or view of something that what she wants. So I think she's especially bothered by people responding to Draco - particularly because she's on such shaky ground. Most Bellatrix fans admit she was a die-hard Death Eater - and indeed that's something they embrace about her character - so that's probably not as threatening to JKR as people pointing out that Draco changed his mind is. I think she also hates drarry.

And yeah it strikes me as really unfair that she singles out Draco fans and claims anyone who likes him is just a girl who is confused due to being attracted to the actor (wow. way to be heteronormative, misogynist, and a misandrist all in one go). Which is bizarre and problematic on so many levels and also especially weird when she has no problem with Snape fans or Regulus fans and doesn't seem to think that a similar problem could occur with people thinking Tom Riddle had a redemption arc just bc the character is canonically attractive and played by an actor generally considered to be attractive in the second film for example.

[arceus-insanity]

Two Series Recommendations

So My Hero Academia is ending

I have two series I would recommend

First on a light note:

Psych House, it is a new series only having 12 chapters as I'm writing this, accessable on Viz with a Shonen Jump subscription, which I'm sure many people already have as it's one of the ways to read MHA, it even comes out on Sundays as well

The story so far is light hearted following Kotone a high school girl with the power to teleport objects, joining a house for people with powers. The setting has it so only a few people have powers, or as they call them psychs, they aren't being hunted down or going to large lengths to hide them, they just aren't well known

Now especially for my fellow disappointed villain Stans I recommend Empowered by Adam Warren

Now heads up the series starts as a bondage fetish comic with hints of meta-awareness and seriousness, but much like how Bojack Horseman started as a comedy that turned into a serious drama, it is now a much more serious meta comic with hints of the bondage

It does a much better job of presenting its protagonist as an underdog as while they give their protagonist Empowered (or Emp for short) threatening villains, she is presented as the underdog to other heroes. They do a good job balancing her powers so it feels realistic both when she's struggling and when she does win. This is largely because she's set up as a glass cannon with a lot of mystery around her powers.

Emp wants to save everyone, not just the convenient, she treats her villains and fellow heroes with respect even when no one else does and she isn't. One of the other characters has capitán as part of their name, and while everyone else goes to the English pronunciation, Emp calls him his proper title.

Emp is also capable of being made and upset at her situation and being screwed over, and who screw her over. If she forgives someone, it's because they earn it, not some halfassed and performative apology.

With big bads there are three roles that they filled out a lot better. A mysterious and incredibly dangerous threat, well Willy Pete just wiped out a lot of capes, and remains an ongoing threat. A tragic villain that can't be saved, how about a telepath that started making edits to his perceived flaws, removing things like empathy, fear, and compassion. A hypocrite, how about a guy who has been bullying Emp right along side everyone else, and when he claims it was her suffering that inspired him to take revenge, he demands sexual favors to not kill her boyfriend and best friend who never joined in with and was against the bullying

[itsabouttimex2]

I been kinda busy so I'm late to the party but i came back to fulfill my duty of rambling about ABNJ. I hope your sister's recover is going (or already went) well. Gonna try to make this one brief since i see i have a lot of posts to catch up to!

- the whole moment with indirect declaration of love is so good and the insight into Macaques thoughts is really nice! Seeing characters thoughts and generally introspections is one of my fav things in writing tbh

- a vulnerable moment followed up by a shove. Is it just excitement to give them the clothes or some form of guilt?? Both maybe (This is probably overinterpration so in that case ignore it)

- flower symbolism my beloved <333 roses sprouting showing how Macaque starts to feel loved and Y/n is one taking care of them. (i didn't see them mentioned in fourth part but there is a big chance i could be misremembering. Did Rumble and Savage plant them? 👀). Also Dahlias and Tansies being in bloom emphasizing already negative feelings that exist in Macaque.

- are Savage and Rumble going after MK?? Hopefully they will just steal his phone or something because i doubt they would be on the winning side in actual physical fight with him.

That's all from me for now! At this point i should make account for commenting so i don't spam your askbox. Thank you for the work you put in and have fun watching season 5! Remember to stay hydrated! :]

I always love to hear your thoughts on A Brand New Journey! I intend to put out Part Seven soon- and I’m sorry that they take so long!

Ok, so a big part in general of this chosen route- Fatherly!Macaque as your mentor, that is- was literally built around this note that I’ve been sitting on for a while:

“Macaque has no one. Not since Wukong. Probably no one before that, and barely anyone afterwards. He has no family. He has no friends. Macaque is alone.

His own “Sworn Brothers” didn’t like him. Note that he has zero interactions with the Brotherhood outside of Wukong and Peng! Note that not even one of them calls him “brother”! They didn’t care about him!

Wukong wasn’t the most understanding of individuals, and Macaque ended up acting as a blind enabler instead of a friend. Together, hand in hand, they ruined probably the only genuine friendship either one had at that point.

Wukong found people who helped him grow. Macaque refused to leave the side of people who didn’t care for him, even if he wanted to at least hear out Wukong. Good influences and bad, one simian with a brash will to change and the other too cowardly to even run.

They deviated further from one another- fatally, this time.

Centuries spent dead and alone.

Then he’s back.

After so very long, Macaque is returned to life.

And he finds someone. And that someone cares enough to share their food, to share his home, to share their time, to share memories and warmth and company.

Macaque finds someone who cares about him, and he cares right back, so deeply that his feelings threaten to swallow him..

And then, for the very first time in all of his many centuries-

Macaque gets an “I love you”.

Who wouldn’t that break?

And then Macaque has himself a little internal monologue (signified by paragraphs and unflattering descriptions of himself) about how he views himself as a monster and doesn’t deserve Y/N…

And then justifies his actions by internally declaring himself a “villain” and pushing his cherished student away. But he also spends the rest of the chapter grabbing and pushing and pulling- because this is his kid, and he loves them (gods above, how he loves them!) so much that he doesn’t want to let go.

Y/N planted the roses themself, actually- roses symbolize fatherhood- they’re the official flower of Father’s Day, even! The tansies and dahlias are in bloom- this time with Macaque’s negative feelings towards himself!

Rumble and Savage aren’t going to do anything too bold without permission… but they are getting very antsy about all of this.

As always, thank you for the comments! I adore you sharing your thoughts with me!

[hanrinz]

midnights with them

includes — dabi and hawks

content warning — angst for dabi, fluff for hawks.

notes: i wrote this again with a spark of inspiration. finally writing for hawks?? paying tribute for a fluffy keigo. not proofread. more below cut.

# 𝐃𝐀𝐁𝐈

midnights have been a terror for dabi in his younger years and he has grown to live with it, to wake up every night heavy breathing, drench in cold sweat, but never tears. it's been so long since his tear ducts have been burned off and no matter how much he tries, it just burns his eyes more. dabi have learned to live with it.

and when you walk into his life, it becomes bearable. he never told you what those nightmares were and how much it haunts him. how difficult it is to calm himself, to stop the shaking and he hates it. it was years ago and it still comes back to him.

you were patient, you were understanding and it made his heart so full and he can't explain it, he wants to cry, he wants to be vulnerable, he wants to tell you how much he loves you, but he can't. and you understand yet again, because when he clings to you like you were going to disappear, when he holds you just to feel like you were there, just to feel that you were real and not a figment of his imagination, that you were never going to leave, you understand.

you would tread your hands through his hair and kiss him on his head, with your comforting presence. suddenly, he feels like he's home, his safe haven, his sanctuary. and he doesn't understand, how he deserves all of your affections and love. how you can be with someone like him? he was selfish, how can you stay with him? why can't you be with someone who can walk out in daylight without being wanted? and he knows the answer.

with you, he can be himself, he can be selfish, he never knew that love could be so calm, so enchanting and serene. like the sun streams in the morning. he can love you without being afraid. afraid — of whatever consequences come to loving you, that anytime you could just be taken away from his grasp. And he can't bear to think of it. he can't bring himself to ever imagine you gone, without him by your side. but in the end, he knows the truth

he knows

he knows and yet he can't help himself to be strong enough to let go, to let go of the one good thing in his life.

he's selfish and he knows that, he's always been the first one to leave.

# 𝐇𝐀𝐖𝐊𝐒

midnights have become a sacred routine for the two of you, the only time you're alone. being the no. 2 hero have its own cons and that includes not being able to see you at day time. with him being occupied saving people and over working himself, the only time given for you was midnight. you were worried for his health, this unhealthy cycle of him working until he can't move anymore, it does his body more damage than any villain will.

even, mirko and endeavor was concerned for his health. it pains you so much to see him like this, so whenever it clocks midnight, with him staggering to the balcony, you were immediately to his side, helping him. you can almost feel the exhaustion coming off of his body, you can try to get mad at him but his tired face and eyes threatening to fall was keeping you from it. you would always be there to greet him.

"welcome home, keigo", with a soft smile and he would give you a small smile too. like every burden from his shoulders are finally lifted. you would get him to eat his favorite meal and make him go to shower before he crashes the bed.

if you're lucky, he would be coming home earlier. you and him could just sit in the living room and watch movies, you can cuddle in the bed for the rest of the day.

but your favorite time is whenever you were at the kitchen dancing to a silent melody. those times, where keigo felt like he was at peace. like everything just slows down and tunes out, only your heartbeats at sync.

he's sorry for all the time he missed because of his job and he whispers his love to you and it was endless. he didn't know he was capable of loving someone so much, that it hurts. it hurts a lot. that he wants to give you the world, he wants to fly so high he could just fall and be at peace about it.

and whenever he's apart from you, he just pulls out a picture of you in his jacket, that was enough to get him through the day. he did promise that he would always be coming back home to you.

and every time he flies on that balcony of yours, you're grateful. you are finally able to breathe normally. you would give him a tight hug and just sigh contently.

because all you want, is for him to come home to you

— ♡

[that-ari-blogger]

A Special Kind of Hypocrisy (Stayed Gone)

If you have been following my blog for a while, the fact that I take issue with the rules of writing will probably not be a surprise. I think that there are generally accepted guidelines, but these are tools and the best stories use them in unexpected ways.

“Put your readers in the action,” Darksouls is phenomenal and most of the stuff in that story has already happened. “Make your writing flow,” Turtles All The Way Down goes out of its way to feel jagged in order to portray the discomfort of its protagonist’s mind, and that is a book that shattered me for a solid week and a half.

“Show don’t tell”. That one is tricky. If an audience sees something, they are more likely to believe it, so it isn’t a tool for good writing, it’s a tool for making writing feel real. If it’s played straight, it can evoke a feeling of safety and trust, or can evoke emotions in a reader that are difficult to achieve otherwise. If subverted, this idea can present unease, deceit, or even hypocrisy.

Let me explain.

CONTENT WARNING: Not much in this one, but a standard warning because of the show I’m analysing. Gore, foul language, etc. Read at your own peril.

SPOILERS AHEAD: (Hazbin Hotel, The Family Plan)

I feel like clarifying everything I am about to say with the fact that tropes aren’t bad, and that subverting everything doesn’t make for good writing. Stories are about using what you have to build something, and if that something is just a box you can put things in, it doesn’t need to be complicated.

For example, The Family Plan is a perfectly fun movie that I really enjoyed, and it doesn’t push any boundaries at all. It’s just got Mark Wahlberg playing a cooler version of himself and some road trip shenanigans crossed with a spy thriller. It doesn’t invent at all, but its tightly written, well shot, and genuinely quite funny.

I think we look at art these days from an overly critical fashion, evaluating how it contradicts tradition or makes a point that will be remembered for generations, and some stories are aiming for that, but some just want to be a fun ride, and that’s ok.

Some stories, however, want to be controversial, and want to ask questions. Most notably in this context, Hazbin Hotel.

Hazbin Hotel’s selling point is that it dissects morality on an intrinsic level, and part of this is done by the character of Alastor, whom is objectively a villainous character, but who serves as a protagonist for the majority of the season.

Alastor has a song in the pilot, but because I’m not covering that for my own reasons, let’s talk about his musical introduction to the actual series, Stayed Gone.

This song introduces Alastor as a villain, but not an especially powerful one, and I feel like that’s kind of the point. Alastor certainly has an ego, but he’s a parasite. He works by twisting people’s intentions into benefiting him. He’s a schemer, a talker, a forger of Faustian bargains. This song sets up what kind of evil Alastor works with, and it isn’t brute force.

This is exemplified by the music choice, in that Alastor doesn’t add anything at all to it. This is Vox’s song; Alastor just changes the direction a little.

From that perspective, this song depicts Vox more than Alastor, and explores how he causes his own downfall with the barest of inputs from his ex. Remember what I said in the start about show don’t tell? Let’s observe it in action.

Starting with the runup, because this feels heavy, right? It feels like someone is marching with that Mortal Combat style of walk that lets you know they mean to mess someone up. This sound is implicitly threatening.

Part of that is that it is so calm. There is nothing going on here, no fancy movements or anything of the sorts. The base line is the same two notes played an octave apart on repeat. It’s an A then an E played twice, then a few lower notes that rise higher before resolving back to that E. It's like the creature is taking a breath as it moves. A big, lumbering breath for a massive creature. It feels steady and adds variation.

Meanwhile, the higher chords are exactly the same as each other. A Major repeated four times, then the bottom two notes shift down by a semitone each, to throw the listener off balance.

But its more than that, right? These notes make you feel unsafe, there is intrinsic malice to the steadiness. I sent a friend of mine who knows music better than I do a message to try and work this out, and they mentioned that the higher notes give add suspense, which I think serves to make the bass part feel even heavier by comparison. They give you a moment to weight for that strike, like pulling back a bow string, and they give you something higher to contrast that low tone.

Then we get Vox’s singing voice. He’s been talking and vaguely rhyming up to this point, but now we get a song.

Also, there's a drum now. You would think this creates cohesion, but its offset, adding to that feeling of unease. It matches the second note of each bar to further accent the force of that first step by giving it some backwards force, then the same drum plays twice, once off the beat, once back on. Again, we’re lurching.

But notice how Vox’s sentences interact with the bars. Vox is the only thing that messes with the standard rhythm established by the backing music. Where everything is the same beat repeated each bar, Vox talks quickly for a bar then regains composure.

This is enjambment, linking ideas between thoughts and giving vox momentum. Now that weight has direction behind it, and judging by his word choice, that being the repeated use of the pronoun “you”, that direction is towards you.

Skipping ahead for a moment, I’ve found a ton of disagreement in the online sheet music for this song as to whether there is a tempo change for when the TV goes live.

If there is, you could analyse it and point out how it portrays the superficiality of Vox as a person and how he presents as someone less in control of himself when on camera. Maybe there is a question of which the real Vox is, the composed version or the manic newscaster. Maybe.

On the other hand, maybe there is nothing there, and I am going to wield executive privileges gained from this being my blog and go with my favourite one, this one. (I also used this one, for the record, I just prefer the first)

The score I followed gets so much more complicated once the television starts going, and so do the visuals, honestly. Everything about Vox gets so much more complicated, every joke is earning your attention like a TikTok, terrified you’ll look away. This is how advertising works on YouTube by the way, at least the adds that have to contend with the skip button. They compress everything into five second chunks because they need your full focus.

There are a few jokes in here of note. I would be foolish to not mention the venison pun, but none of them are of particular importance, which paradoxically makes them extremely important.

Notice here, he presents two versions of himself. The purpose of a conversation is to have two different perspectives come together, even if they are similar. But this is the same guy pretending to be varied.

Nothing that Vox says means anything at all. It is all one liners and insults, there is nothing going on behind those eyes, and that is exactly the point. He is all talk, no show.

Vox says he’s powerful, he says he will mess up Alastor’s day, his music makes you feel scared, and yet he is empty.

There is a disconnect between what he tells you and he shows you, which is made even more obvious by his obsession with Alastor. Everything he is saying is “Alastor doesn’t matter, he’s insignificant, meaningless, that’s why I wrote this song to tell him as such.” It’s like an ex who is insisting the breakup hasn’t affected him.

Which, side note, sets Vox up as the type of villain who doesn’t respect boundaries. He’s a stalker obsessed with someone who will not reciprocate his affection.

Vox is the personification of those “I can fix him” twitter incels that view sexuality as a challenge to be overcome. He’s one of a triumvirate of chronically online villains, and trust me, there are people out there in real life who are worse than him.

In his watch through and analysis of Hazbin Hotel, @ohnoitstbskyen posited the idea that, since Alastor doesn’t sing his own song at any point in the actual series, we don’t get any moments of interiority. I would like to politely disagree.

Alastor’s entire deal, as presented in this show, is being a Machiavellian schemer. Like I said earlier, he’s a parasite. What we learn about his interiority here is that he doesn’t ever bother to create, he just steals and repurposes.

It’s that thing about Alastor where the show doesn’t tell you what he wants, it just shows you how he works as a person and how he moves towards his goals.

Case and point, here Alastor just takes Vox’s song and makes it his own, offering questions about Vox’s strengths and pointing out the hypocrisy. Although it's interesting what Alastor choses to highlight, because that does shed some interiority.

“Is Vox as strong as he proports? Or is it based off his support? He’d be powerless without the other Vees”

In other words: look at this guy, he has friends that he relies on.

Now, the Vees are awful human beings, Valentino especially but Vox isn’t too great either. But by far their least bad trait is the fact that they support each other. Again, they are cruel, vile entities, but they are cruel vile entities together.

To my knowledge, Vox doesn’t ever deny that he is working with others, or even obfuscate that knowledge.

It would seem that Alastor, in his attempt to criticize his opponent, has revealed something about himself. That sounds a bit hypocritical to me.

Speaking of which, Alastor is entirely hypocrisy. He spends the entirety of the series talking a big game about how strong and powerful he is, but he never actually demonstrates that. He turns off the electricity in the city, but that’s not strength, that’s flicking a switch. He makes threats, and yet doesn’t back any of them up.

“You still pissed he almost beat you that time?”

“Almost” is a key word in that question, it would seem Alastor has a bit of an ego problem.

Which leads me back to the concept of tell don’t show, because if you don’t show your audience something, they don’t trust it. Alastor and Vox are paired up because they both keep talking and proclaiming their intimidation factor, and yet neither of them actually demonstrate any power beyond that which is normal.

Yes, they mow down mooks, but so do Angel Dust, and Husk, and Sir Pentious.

Before I finish up, I want to talk a bit about how performance can affect personality, and with that I want to contrast a cover with the original.

This is a cover by Annapantsu, Cami-cat, and Chloe Breez. I highly recommend checking it out.

But I want to note how different the acting choices are to the original. I’m not saying one is better, I’m saying they are different.

First, Anna’s version of Vox is so much wilder than the original. Like, the version in the actual series rockets between emotions like a greyhound on skates, but when he is in control, he usually has that malevolent smile that tells you he enjoys messing with your perceptions. I don’t think Anna’s version of the character would ever smile except in that forced, news presenter way. This character seems permanently unbalanced and making only the barest effort to present as otherwise.

She also seems like a more active character than the original, who can only react to Alastor’s advances. This version of the character might make an appearance in a later episode beyond the gratuitous dad-watching-the-big-game commentary of the final fight. Maybe she rocks up to the hotel while Charlie, Vaggie and Alastor are on their quests for allegiances in order to just menace the characters in a way they are completely unprepared for.

Meanwhile, all that posturing has been put onto Alastor. Who has one main difference in performance, but one that shakes up the rest of the song. This version of Alastor is put together, just like the show. She’s casual and almost disinterested, just like the show. She’s detached and hands off, just like the show. Until that final verse.

Then she growls, and that little break in character implies that this version is concealing a much more physical menace. The best way I can put the difference is this: For the original version, it seems like transforming is an effort and something that he becomes. For this version, I think the transformation is Alastor’s natural state, and it is taking every fibre of her being to hold together the façade of civility.

Final Thoughts

I despise the concept of genre, and this is actually a good example of why, because… what is this song? Is it pop? Is it rock? Is it jazz? You could argue it is anything, but I would argue it doesn’t matter.

This song is fun, that’s all that matters. It sets up two villains, one of whom I think could have used more screen time in the series, but ho hum, and the other who got so much screen time and yet remains so mysterious.

Next week, I’ll be covering It Starts With Sorry, and I am genuinely shocked by how many people don’t like that number. I think it’s great. Stick around if seeing me argue that point interests you.

Previous - Next

[wuxiaphoenix]

On Writing: Character Anchors

What does your character need to survive as who they are?

We’re not talking about physical aspects of survival such as food, water, and shelter. Lacking those will kill you, but it won’t destroy who you are. Humans are social creatures. We need more than just our physical needs met to survive. We need an anchor for our sense of self; a social identity, a place to belong. Even the most introverted human needs some minimal interaction with other people to stay sane. Letters, emails, even notes dropped through the mail-slot; something that makes it clear you matter to another living soul.

Or, possibly, a dead one. Humans are odd that way. Just being dead isn’t enough to drop you out of the social network. And this is what gives the Roaring Rampage of Revenge its horrible punch.

On the surface, it looks simple: the villain’s killed someone the hero cares about, they have to pay.

Look deeper, though, and it may not be simple at all. The villain has damaged the hero’s social network, and possibly dealt a crushing blow to the hero’s sense of who they are. If those you loved and protected are dead, who are you? If those who reminded you to stay your hand, to act within the law, to be a better person, are all gone....

Someone who’s lost a huge chunk of their identity may be thinking logically, but their emotions will be flailing around; they might try anything to shore up their certainty of who they are and have been. This makes them unpredictable. And the most dangerous enemy is the one where you don’t know what he’s going to do.

Odds are your villain will have a very bad day, indeed.

What does your hero need to be the person he thinks he is? Could be his family, a stable job, a home port; the church he was born into or beliefs he converted to after long and difficult soul-searching. It could be an idea; nostalgic memories of times and places long gone, a founding creed, a vision of a possible future - colonies on Mars, spaceships traveling the galaxy. It could be something that gives your hero a greater purpose, or just a regular schedule for the week. Tuesday’s time to make tuna salad, while Friday we splurge on takeout pizza. Whatever it is, your character relies on this is going to go right.

Which means, if you have a smart and vicious villain, this is exactly what they’ll target to make things go wrong.

Too often people think of anchors as weighing you down. But an anchor is meant to give safety. To keep a ship steady while repairs are being made; to hold a storm-tossed vessel off reefs and shoals no matter how the winds howl.

Give your characters anchors. And give them villains who know just enough to threaten them.

You might want to stand way back....

[vegaly-art]

Vegaly Art's Giant Vega Masterpost

Due to recent events in the Vega fandom, which my heart was not prepared for, I have elected to make a cohesive Vega lore post <3. This will be updated with new discoveries with time, and I will keep it as up-to-date as possible. Also be warned this post is VERY long and extensive, and contains much speculation, opinions, and theories, as well as facts, so please make sure to take what I write here with a grain of salt as it is my interpretation of the character/events. Last updated: July 29, 2024. Note, this post contains direct spoilers for Carpe Deus, Imperium Cataclysm, Hush, and Sovereign State, as well as the lore videos and Reductive Audio #7. And also minor spoilers for Sadism's Hold, and potentially other videos/series on the channel. The parts so far are as follows: Part 1: Covers Vega's changing views towards violence against Fellow Demons Part 2: Timeline theories of mine related to when Deferred Judgement took place Part 3: Analysing Carpe Deus, Vega's characterisation, interactions with Hush and potential for his future story Part 4: Analysing Imperium Vega, and what we can learn about both how Imperium functions, and Vega himself thanks to Imperium Part 5: He would sacrifice you to save the world. Part 6: Additional Thoughts that do not fit prior categories

Vega, Vega, Vega. Stellar Formed, First Formed of Gravity, Congruent of D'Deridahn, Bound in his Madrigal. The man, the myth, the legend... There is so much interesting shit about this man to discuss, and I want to cover it ALL because... I am in mourning man.

Today I'll be going over his videos, and in later updates, I'll make new sections that go more into his lore, characterisation in Imperium, etc.

Part 1: Sadism's Hold and Demonic Alliance

Vega was first introduced not in his own series, but instead as a likely one-off or short-term villain in Sadism's Hold, having been the one behind Ivan's behaviour. I find it quite interesting actually how his characterisation then was, especially when trying to put it into context with his later ideals shown in Carpe Deus. Specifically, knowing what we know now about what he was doing with Ivan, AND that he believes Daemons should help one another, his treatment of Caelum is really fucking interesting.

Vega said in Under a Sadistic Demon's Care, "to attack a fellow Demon as they did… well. Let’s just say they got what was coming to them", when referencing the Solitaires' attack on Warden. But it is curious that he seemed so unphased attacking Caelum, and later Gavin as well. Why is that?

Well, I think it's for a few reasons. Firstly, logically speaking, Vega was trying to defend his turf and his project from Caelum, and later Gavin who began to get in his way. Vega is shown later down the line to not at all be opposed to harming others who get in his way, especially when related to Hush. Though he does not really explicitly threaten Hush in the same way Hush did him, he does make it very clear he WILL turn violent if need be, in a less direct way. And his project with Ivan and Baby 2.0 was very VERY important to his plan, so he may feel defensive of it. But this is just the logical justification, which I don't actually thing is sufficient. While true, I think it's actually not the main reason he changed his opinion so much, that can be seen as reasonable in the text.

I actually thing the main reason he changed his opinion was because he was lying. In part. I do think he saved Warden, but not because he believed it wrong for demons to attack fellow demons for their own goals, especially when Warden stood in the way of the Solitaires' plans. No. I think he protected Warden because he grew mildly fond of them, and also believed they could be useful for his plans/investigations, and so did not want them to die, because they had utility. I will expand upon this more in the Vega/Warden relationship analysis section which I plan to make, but he clearly holds Warden as someone very interesting and very dear to him. Of course he would protect Warden, and also lie about why to make himself seem a bit more noble and moral, to warm them up to him. He wants their trust, he NEEDS their trust/compliance actually, to stop them from going back to the department. So, he lied, and he manipulated, and he gaslit, until he saw Warden trusted him and he no longer had to twist the truth, and could be somewhat genuine... it's fucked up, but I think it makes sense of the retcon in character, AND has metatextual evidence through the content warnings on his videos. :P

Part 2: The Timeline

Most of Carpe Deus, up until Deferred Judgement, has been posted on Erik's lore site, which is really nice because it allows me to have a clear idea of when things take place. Only issue is... well... the date for Deferred Judgement is NOT on there (Update: Still isn't. Sobs.) so I have to do some guesswork.

I think there are 2 main possibilities, both of which are equally likely to me.

The first is that this all took place slightly before Inversion, likely sometime in December. This is my personal opinion but not the most popular take. I believe this based on a few factors. Mostly travel time. Would it really take several months for Vega/Warden to get from their hideout (I believed it to be Ivan's place but technically this is never stated, and I ended up changing my mind more recently with new evidence) back to Dahlia?? They could not have rifted since Vega took a human with the pair of them, so unless they were outside of Dahlia and had a long way to go, or got caught up in a bunch of shit like being tracked, etc, it is hard to believe. Especially since on their own, they can rift. Also I think that the Inversion could be a great time for Vega to return since he would have a lot to feed on. The playlist does not say completed so I do assume by some means Vega will come back. Maybe he comes from the river with the shades and has a feast within the bubble. Maybe some magic brings him back?? Idk. But regardless, Inversion would be a place/time that can really progress Vega AND Warden in terms of the power they have on hand thanks to all those emotions. It just feels... thematic.

The other option, which has some more support from the timeline is that this took place right after Inversion and the raid on Closeknit. Obviously, the fact they were exploring an abandoned Closeknit facility is the main reasoning for this. (Also, Hush could have reason to stop Vega because Blake had not yet finished conversing with D'Deridhan and likely returning to the land of the living. This is something we learn about a bit after I wrote this but it supports this interpretation heavily). And the main caveat here would be that for this to be the case, Vega and Warden would both have needed to be stations well outside of Dahlia, and likely taken their time and not rifted to get back there. Probably to preserve energy, avoid Solitaire, Department or Chorus detection, feed, etc. It is possible for them to have taken 2-3 months, but it is... not something I think is super likely? Especially since Warden seems to treat Dahlia like home. Granted, the Solitaires broke into the Dahlia Department facility during Inversion so I could see that they did the facility Vega/Warden were in as a test run, and then the Dahlia one which is likely even higher security, as their big move. But it seems to be the consensus in the fandom and I will defend my theory that this was before inversion until I am proven wrong. (You were proven wrong indirectly bud. So sorry <3. You tried your best though.)

Part 3: Carpe Deus/Vega's Death

Carpe Deus showed a very nice and interesting side of Vega, and I am so glad we got to see it. It was fun to see him be scheming, to see him slowly open up in a way Imperium, due to the constraints of the original videos, did not really have the chance to do with him and Pet. Seeing him develop a rapport and show off some of his past was so sweet... and what he explained is fascinating.

Obviously, the Sovereign stuff is fucking WILD. (And this is from the future, but now, seeing what is happening with Blake, the fact this knowledge is currently lost makes the stakes SO much higher). We did know that they were real beforehand due to Sovereign State, of course, and other videos like Regulus and whatnot, but it was interesting to have a character who literally LIVED THROUGH IT. Someone so intimately familiar with the past.

And also, what I love about him is his moral alignment and his goals. Vega believes that pain and suffering is necessary, important, and something that must be remembered. He clearly values his own memory of the past, even if it's imperfect. And he believed he must preserve it to be able to learn from history. And in Imperium the same trait is carried through which I WILL GET TO when I write about Imp!Vega <3 <3. My beloved. But anyhow- yeah. He values memory, and he is clearly a very strategic, rational thinker. Yknow, I had the thought that he seemed like a General, and Imperium basically confirmed that in my head. That is my headcanon. He has a very... Odysseus like vibe to him. This wise and cunning leader, who is willing to make great sacrifices and has likely lost so much, and is willing to make others lose things too for what is, at the end of the day, the greater good.

He is cruel but not needlessly. He is cold and distant, but he cares about preserving the world and making sure it keeps going. It may be because he plans to live eternally and wants Eternity to be nice for him but, even if his intentions were 100% selfish (I do not think they are/were, I think he was projecting an image with that line), it still betters the world. Which is amazing <3. And makes him really nuanced. <3 <3

Now, on the subject of the most recent video, I have an interesting thought that will get it's own mini section sooo

Part 3.5: Deferred Judgement

I find the title of this video to be... really odd. Deferred judgment cannot really relate to Warden nor Hush. Hush did not defer judgment, since he is so trigger-happy, and Warden doubtfully could provide judgment. So applying the title to Vega, it would make sense that his judgement would be deferred because he was removed from Elegy for potentially a while. Also, the fact that the series title, "Carpe Deus", which... has only happened with this one video, and makes me think that it is part of the point of the video or something going on in the background. Maybe Hush is a god of sorts, or some other shit??? Idk. But its a really odd choice and I need to think on it more.... (Mini update, I made a Hush post. You can find it here <3. It also covers some stuff about Vega but it is more rambling so I think it is good that it is separate.)

Part 3.6: Reforming a Sadism Demon

So... update, update, Vega is back!! But... very broken :(((. Which is so fucking sad. And also makes complete sense considering... well... that Hush basically exploded him. Also now that we know a bit more about Hush, and that he is an Egregore of Sovereigns (Likely Min'Ara and E'Laetum but I have another post about that up), it's making me rethink my analysis of the prior title. It seems I was right on the front that Vega was the one whose judgement was deferred. He has not only been stopped from pursuing what/who is likely... what remains of Blake down under the Closeknit HQ, but also his memory needs rebuilding so his judgement of the Sovereigns is also on pause for a while as he pieces himself together. (I used to think that it was another HQ, since the timeline did not add up, but now we basically know for sure thanks to Hush's comments that this is the one Closeknit location in Dahlia and so this stuff happened a bit after Inversion and the Raid in January.)

Also, I made a post theorising about the signification of Vega's name, regarding D'Deridhan being the Sovereign of Gravity (Later confirmed), as well as Vega being the first Sadism Demon and my thoughts on that, and other lore shit. I forgot this post existed by that point, but to be fair that other one was way more rambly so I think it's ok. You can find it here if you would like to read more on my thoughts on this video specifically, in a less structured format.

But anyhow, yeah... not much more to say on this besides I cannot wait for Vega to meet Warden. And also I wonder if Warden may have gotten some of Vega's memories when his physical shell was ripped open and his magic spilled out. It could be a really cool way to learn a bit about his memories, and it also could just be... kind of a cute plot device??? We shall see. <3 <3 <3 I cannot wait to see more of him <3.

Part 4: Imperium Vega, the General

Imperium was a wonderful story and a wonderful AU, especially because it let us see some inherent and variable traits of each character, how they dealt with new situations, and what their 'worst selves' could be. With one odd, and notable exception.

Vega.

Vega... barely changed between the two versions of the story, with the main difference simply being his not having a strong distaste for humanity. Which actually says a lot about how Imperium functions.

So, in Imperium, the Sovereigns were caged in Aria, and most daemons elected to stay there, while others appear to have been booted out and, due to not knowing how to rift, were unable to return and had to feed on emotions entirely to survive. As such, the concentration of Daemons is FAR lower, the security needed for them is basically the same as that for a person because... well... they can't rift (besides Vega. We will get to that). And ironically, Vega seemed the best poised of anyone to thrive there. The Imperium gave him a constant food source, in comparison to someone like Vindemiator or Brachium who had to take what they could get. And so, surrounded by humanity, Vega likely learned to rely more on them.

My theory personally as to why he is so similar is that his history was relatively unchanged. He was alive for the Cacophony, he experienced the cruelty of the Sovereigns and them being put away, and he left Aria to live amongst humanity without giving up his daemonic nature. Only difference now is that... well... there were so many fewer daemons, and he likely could never return to Aria for his own safety. Or if he did return, I expect he did not stay long enough to build rapport. So, he grew fond of humans, and even after seeing them at their worst, found they were unfortunately all he had to rely on. And he knew the Sovereigns were still a source of magical fuel, so he may feel that independence from humanity ALREADY EXISTED for daemonkind, they just had to learn to rift and they would be set and would not have to think about humans.

But clearly... he grew fond. Fond enough to take a human, who he would outlive thousands of times over, and who he HAS outlived thousands of times already, as a partner. He took it upon himself to help protect the resistance and random people like Freelancer. He made a whole set of plans, a whole way of attack. He pulled strings to get Vampires on their side. And the only reason his plan went sideways was because of Brachium's selfishness, callousness and lack of ability to listen to reason. Imperium Brachium drives me up the walls, but this is not about him... or Vindemiator who is also really bad but at least his actions did not have major consequences. Woo...

But yeah. The man is a strategist. He is clearly very good at planning, and his goals, while differing, did not change him much. Because he was formed by thousands of years of seeing humanity at its worst, so of course in Imperium he would have been unchanged. He would still be cold, and willing to risk the lives of others, and generally a cruel, but... not unnecessarily cruel individual, who wishes for a greater good and moves heaven and earth to do that. But sadly... Brachium fucked up. And Avior and Starlight got caught by Min'Ara and E'Laetum and had NO CHOICE but to follow their commands. While what they did was arguably more risky than Brachium they have much more leeway because of the duress they were under and all that. And now with the Sovereigns GONE... I wonder what Vega would do. I wonder how he would try to find independence for Daemons, or if he even would since he spent so long with humans. Would he instead think to try and have the pair coexist, since the Meridian is... kind of a non-issue for the foreseeable... functionally forever. Not literally but... functionally.

I doubt we will get more Imperium content but it is incredible to think that in two different worlds like that, Vega ended up being so similar. It says a lot about him, his principles, and what not. It... it makes me adore him... a lot. He is consistent and he is strong and he is smart and I cannot wait for what he and Warden get up to. Especially since they have the capacity for a much closer bond than Vega and Pet.

Vega and Pet are... so cute... and so sweet... but tragic. Because again, Pet WILL die... if not by Vampires then by old age or accidents or something or other. Warden can stay alongside Vega and truly understand him in a way few can. I hope that comes to something.

Part 5: He Would Sacrifice You to Save the World

Vega is clearly a man willing to give up a LOT for his mission. He is a slave to his ambition, who hurt likely quite a number of people directly or not for his goals and will likely continue to do so. He manipulates and he clearly tries to minimise damages (I believe that is PURELY for pragmatic 'I don't want to get caught' reasons but that is a whole other thing) but it's clear based on Imperium where he is… almost entirely unchanged, besides the fact his ambitions are different, that he is willing to sacrifice a LOT, including people he GENUINELY cares a lot about or respects, like Avior.

And it gave me the thought: IF he had not been ripped and reformed by Hush. IF he did not lose all his memories. IF he did not now have to rely on Warden to piece together his plans and make them function because his mind is so scattered and they are his only lead… and IF it ever came down to a choice between saving their life, or saving his own/preserving his mission/some other major success in his plans… He would give them up. He would let them die. He would sacrifice them for the sake of his future.

Because 1 life, even if it is a life of the only person who has treated him like a person in so so long… is not worth the lives of thousands. Vega is a slave to his ambition. Unlike Blake, or Avior, or even Brachium, with whom he shares some fundamental traits, histories, or new circumstances… he is not a slave to emotion and to care.

In Imperium, Pet did not aid his goal, so he did not have to risk their life. Warden is different. And I hope he relies on them too much to give them up now.

Because if not I do not know if my heart could handle it.

Would it have happened metatextually??? Probably not. No. Having a speaker kill off, abandon or otherwise remove their listener from the picture would probably be unsatisfying from a narrative and relationship perspective. At best we could see Vega break/cry/get emotional at the loss, but he would then keep moving. But I think character-wise it is truly the only option he would even CONSIDER… and only now is that different because he is so low and so weak, and he has no other choice but to keep Warden alive to keep his own plans and his own ambitions alive.

Part 6: Assorted Other Thoughts

This section will be about any lingering thoughts that do not fit into all these other sections and will be much less organised sooo- let's go!

Sooo- Vega was the second Daemon EVER MADE. FUCKING INSANE. And also makes me think he was a general even more because he had so much seniority, and Polaris is fucking... dead. Rip. Also fun to know that he was not formed in the Elission well! Because it was not made yet. Idk. Fun tid bits from the Daemon lore video <3.

In the most recent Reductive Audios, we learn about how E'Laetum kind of hates Vega which I find fucking hilarious. And considering I think Hush is made from E'Laetum and Min'Ara's thoughts, I have to assume Min'Ara was a bigger basis for him because man... he would NOT have tried to revive Vega otherwise. Same if D'Deridhan was a big part of Hush's creation. I can only imagine that Sovereigned up Blake and Vega would have the most... tense and horribly cruel dynamic if they ever met. Best of luck Blake because you get the short end of the stick.

Vega's Odysseus connections run so deep to me. I discussed them previously and I may well be projecting because I love Epic the Musical right now but I can't be the only one who sees it. Especially because in the Odyssey, Odysseus is forced to learn to put down his pride and use cunning rather than violence and cruelty to get through encounters in his life, but ALSO learn to be ok with loss and with being cruel. Vega I think has learned most of these lessons already and will likely relearn them as he gets back his memories. Right now he seems... emotional, and somewhat logical, but clearly missing large parts of his scheming persona, and potentially his propensity for violence and willingness to be cruel to humanity. I think it would be interesting to see him go through learning about both cunning like Odysseus in The Odyssey, and Ruthlessness like Odysseus in EPIC, but from the perspective of someone like Warden. Also potentially learning about him being a general would be... some very nice fanservice Erik <3. I am not trying to say anything buuuuuut- /s

I really hope Vega and Brachium get a chance to interact. Brachium was the last daemon made by Min'Ara herself, and thus likely the youngest or one of the youngest daemons around in the cacophony, so I wonder if he and Vega knew each other... I wonder what history they may have... I wonder... I wonder if Vega hated him for his recklessness, or admired him for his quick thinking, or if Brachium liked Vega's seriousness and strategy, or found him too cruel. Their relationship as well as Vega's potential relationships with members of the Chorus are fascinating to me. I hope we see more of that.

[little-teacupss]

The trapped Fairy.

Note: To be clear, this is a darker fic because this had yanderes. Now, if you're uncomfortable with reading this kind of thing, don't read it. I want to give a special thank you to @brokenmilkcrates for helping me build up this story and contributing!

Warnings: Kidnapping, implied drugging, manipulation, Hook, and Morgie are actually villains in this story and not just angsty teens.

Note 2: I hope to start writing the finale to "Their good Fairy" soon, but it's not gonna be posted for a while still gathering ideas and getting ideas from @giveityourworst, my co-founder for the ship and the reason I'm even posting in the first place, so a special thank you to them and go show them much love and support they are amazing and are an amazing creator!

Summary: After a year of dating Fay, Hook and Morgie decide it's time to bring her home to Neverland.

Note 2: Part two here

___________________________________________

Morgie watched Hook pace around his cabin on the ship while running his hands through his hair clearly having a breakdown after Fay had told them she no longer thought they were right for each other and that she was tired of them constantly threatening people and driving her friends away, which they thought was completely absurd as they believe those people were the ones in wrong for always hanging around Fay and taking her attention, she spent so much time with the AK's she barely found time for Harriet anymore.

Hook let out a sigh as he sat on his bed and began tapping his foot, trying to come up with an idea to get Fay back to them, Morgie who'd been more reserved about how he felt about Fay leaving them, pitched in. "What if we stole one of Merlin's cookbooks like we did two years ago to prank the wonderland girl, if they have a spell to turn a girl into a beast, then they have a spell to make someone go into a long slumber?"

The shape shifter suggested as he thought back to two years ago, around the time they're obsession with the fairy had started when she had countered the spell after Bridget had gotten turned into an old hag at castlecoming.

He heard another sigh come from Hook before he said. "That's a good idea, I'll call Uliana and the others."

The Sea Captain was visibly still processing what had happened, but it got even worse when they heard little pitter pattering come into range before a little girl ran into the room excitedly jumping up and down while squealing. "Where's mama, I have a drawing I want to show her!"

She waved the piece of paper around like a flag on a ship while looking around frantically for Fay, Morgie being more level-headed at the moment squatted down to Harriet's level and gently said. "You see mommy's playing a little game, of hide and go seek, but when you find her she gets a prize, but we have to wait a little while before we can go find her okay?"

James' hands tightened before he let out a breath and walked over and ruffled Harriet's hair and said. "Don't worry, she'll love your drawing once she gets found."

Harriet smiled and playfully pushed her dad's hand away from messing her hair up before she let out a shrill squeak before running off shouting. "Grandpa Smee, I have something to show you!"

The two watched her run up the stairs and out of view before turning to each other, Morgie continued. "I'll get all of her things on the ship, you and the others just worry about getting that spell ready."

Hook nodded as the two went up the stairs and to the top of the ship before going down the ramp and going separate directions, Hook met up with Uliana, Hades and Maleficent who all stood with crossed arms outside of Merlin's office.

After about thirty minutes of fighting and defeating Merlin's traps, Uliana grabs the cookbook as they head to the schools baking class and get to work on a brownie to give to Fay.

It took a ridiculous amount of time baking brownies. First, Hades dropped the flour all over himself, and Uliana, Hook dropped three eggs. The only one who did a decent job was Maleficent after she made them step aside and did it herself after all the chaos, came in Morgie while he held Harriet's hand and stepped into the baking room and saw the three covered in flour, while Maleficent was spotless.

"Don't ask." .Was all Uliana said as she continued to pat flour off of herself. Finally, the timer dinged, and Maleficent quickly took out the pan and brought the book over to Harriet, who looked at the book curiously, while Hook encouraged her. "Me, Hearty, open the book. We need it opened to get Mama back."

Harriet's eyes lit up when he mentioned Fay quickly she opened it to a random page meaning they could freely flip through it without worrying about being frozen in place, Morgie lifted Harriet onto his shoulders as they looked for the right page.

Finally, Maleficent tapped her nails against one as she lifted it up close to read each word very carefully, so she knew she had the right spell in mind before turning to Hook and Morgie to ask. "Are you sure, this is what you want?"

The two look to each other before giving a firm nod in her direction. The sorceress grabbed her staff and began to chant what the book said, waving her hand over the pan of brownies. The group watched as a green mist appeared before dissolving into the brownies that looked the exact same as before, Maleficent carefully cut a corner piece off and put it onto a plate, before handing it over to Hook.

"Well, see you guys around?" .Uliana asked as they walked out of the academy and made their way towards the Fae Dormitory.

Morgie smiled at them as he added a bounce to his step to entertain Harriet, who was riding on his shoulders as he explained. "Eventually, yeah, but right now, I think we just need to get away from everything, I think it's made Fay a little stir crazy."

His friends nodded as he explained why they'd be leaving soon to Neverland, as they made their way inside of the dormitory and down the hallway, before stopping in front of a one that had the name "Fay Godmother" written on a paper on the wall, Morgie gently set Harriet down as James went down to her level as he gave her the plate with the sweet treat on it and explained to her. "Now Mama has to eat all of it for you to win the game, but be carefully she may go to sleep, we don't want either of you getting hurt now."

He lovingly ruffled her wavy dark hair before gently knocking his hand against the door that led to Fay's dorm. Quickly, he made his way to one of the walls and pressed against it so Fay wouldn't see him when she opened the door for Harriet.

The door cracked open, and a nervous fairy poked her head out before looking down and smiling as she said. "Harr', hey sweety, what are you doing here?"

Harriet squealed and wrapped her arm around Fay's legs before showing her the plate and saying. "Look! Look what I brought you mama."

Fay giggled at the little girl as she carefully took the plate from her, Harriet looked up at her waiting for her to bite into to the brownie, letting out a tired sigh, Fay picked up the brownie and bit into it, making the little girl squeal excitedly and clap her hands, as she watched Fay eat the rest, who's eyes began to flutter the more she stood, before bringing a hand up to her mouth and saying. "Sweety, what- what's in this?"

The fairy asked as she began to uncontrollably yawn before dropping the plate and leaning back against the door, all the while little Harriet was unaware of what was really going on as she squeaked. "I won! I won!"

Fay furrowed her brows as she let out another yawn before asking. "What did you win, Harriet?"

Finally, after trying to regain her composer, Fay clasped. She fell rather quickly if it hadn't been for Hook coming out in time to catch her she would've banged her head against the floor. He looked at Harriet and smiled at her while whispering. "You did such a good job, I'm so proud of you, my wee duckling."

Hook signaled for Morgie to come carry Fay, seeing as he was missing a hand to help carry her himself, Harriet quickly ran over and held onto her father's hand as they made their way back to the Jolly Roger, Morgie carried Fay bridal style as they got closer to the dock they could see James' crew loading the last of the stuff they'd bought from the market to their trip to Neverland.

Carefully, he walked up the ramp of the boat and then made his way into James' cabin, where he laid Fay onto the Captain's bed where he pulled the sheet up to her chest, gently tucking her in before grabbing the piano bench and bringing it over to where Fay was laying, he took a seat and gazed at her sleeping form, she'd still be out for hours, but Morgie wasn't going to take any chances after the stunt she'd pulled yesterday, breaking up with them infront of their crew and some of her friends.

Meanwhile, Hook walked around his ship, giving orders. "Hands onto the canons! You work on haul wind, Jack Tar stop listing around and belay the lines!"

He shouted random orders as he was set in his environment before making his way to the helm and shouting. "Pull the anchor! And direct the main sheet! The Jolly Roger sails tonight!"

The entire crew worked in tandem as they listened to their captain's every word. They all had a mutual fear, trust, and love for their captain, for he held power with a firm hand but cared for every one of them. "Hands, one of you lots go up to lookout!"

Captian James shouted another command to one of his subordinates as he turned the helm of the ship before pulling his compass out of his pocket.

"Back to Neverland, we sail!" .He shouted as before letting out a deep chuckle as the wind changed in the perfect direction they'd need to travel.

Meanwhile, as Morgie watched Fay slumber in the Captain's bed, he heard a tiny knock against the door before a small pitter pattering came closer to him, looking down Harriet held the drawing she'd made for Fay as she excited look to where Fay was sleeping, Morgie smiled at her before saying. "Mommy's asleep right now, but I promise the first thing she'll see when she wakes up is wha you made her."

He gently patted her back and placed the drawing on Hook's nightstand where it'd wait for Fay to awake and see, Harriet climbed up to the bed, and laid next to Fay as Morgie fixed the sheet over the two of them, he gave her a smile as he tilted his head at the pair, and watched as Harriet fell asleep cuddled up to Fay.

- 7 hours later, Thursday 8:20 am -

Fay awoke and basically jumped into a seated position, as she looked around her surroundings, Harriet was laid on the side of the bed pressed against the wall next to her asleep, but as she looked to her right she was met with Morgie who had a rather crazed look in his eye now as they turned to an amber like color and slitted, as he smiled at her and said. "Good morning, Fay."

Fay gulped before frantically asking. "Where are we what happened!"

He gave a dark chuckle as he looked down before looking back up at her, reaching a hand up the caress her cheek before letting his fingers ghost over her jaw and chin as he spoke. "We're going home to be a proper family."

Morgie smiled at her as he took his hand away as he reached over, handing Fay a piece of paper and said. "Harr' made it for you, remember to smile, love."

He leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on her the corner of her lips before heading to the door and calling for James to come down.

"Aye! Me Corsair, how was your wee nap?" .She heard as he came down the stairs before appearing in the doorway with crossed arms, but his hook raised close to his face, as he gave her a similar sickening sweet smile that Morgie had given her early.

He marched over to her, leaning close to her. A part of him enjoyed seeing the fear circle in her eyes as he ran his hook from her jaw, down to her collar bone, but he paused when he saw tears begin to well up in her eyes, gently he brought his hook up and brushed them away, but as he did so she jerked back, her breath becoming slightly uneven as her eyes dilated.

James' eyes narrowed at her into a firm glare before he stood back up and made his way to the door before slamming it, making the walls shake as they heard loud stomping from the stairs till it began above them, Morgie let out a sigh before he looked back at Fay and said. "Now all he was trying to do was comfort you, Fay, like any good boyfriend would."

He crossed his arms, giving her a pointed look before letting out a sigh, Fay's gaze locked onto him fearfully as his eyes were still a brilliant amber color and slitted to needle pins in an almost animalistic manner, but it only added onto the crazied look, Morgie reached over and twirled a lock of her hair, before his eyes met hers again and he gave her a dangerous smirk that told her that this was only the beginning of entirety.

After a while of simply watching Fay, Morgie left the room not before locking it, of course, and back up to the deck of the ship where he saw James listed against the railing of the ship.

James looked up at Morgie and jerked his head, beckoning him over as he asked. "Is she still overreacting?"

Morgie let out a small laugh before nodding and leaning against the railing himself and said. "She'll figure out we're only doing it for her own good eventually. If she stayed there any longer, who knows what crazy stunts she would've pulled, hopefully soon she'll learn being with us is the safest option for her in life."

The two talked about how they could get her to calm down or come to reason. Before the wind began to pick up and rain began to pour down, James jumped back into being the Captain as he began to shout out orders to the crew. "Reef the sails, we don't want to go off coarse!"

The boat rocked as it strained against the roaring waves that battered it back and forth, then one wave flooded most of the top of the ship as James exclaimed. "Shiver me timbers! Mr. Smee, get all the gun powder to amidship."

He shouted out the command as he ran up to the bow of the ship and took control of the helm, stirring it in a better direction, but it seemed harder now as if the helm was now weighted as he directed it in a new direction, while Hook fought the forces if nature, Morgie made his way back inside to the Captain's Cabin where Fay was laying on the bed in shock holding Harriet close to her, she let out a small scream when a wave crashed against the windows of James' room, they didn't break or even crack, but it was jarring nonetheless.

"Hey! It's alright, just a little rough turbulence." .He said to Fay and Harriet as he came to sit on the bed next to them and rested a gentle hand on Fay's shoulders, even though she was still angry with him and she had no clue if she could ever look at him the same again, he was all she had as a source of comfort along with little Harriet, so she crawled closer to him and gently placed Harriet between them, Morgie put his arm around Fay's shoulders bringing her closer to him, as they road out the storm for what could be hours or days.

Fay rested her head against his chest as she laid against him on the bed, with Harriet cuddled up to her side, as she fought with herself that she should be pushing Morgie away, but in this moment it was almost like he was the boy she fell in love with all over again before they changed.

After a few hours, the door opened, and in came Hook, who was completely drenched. He took his hat off and put it on a random hook as he approached the bed and began to let out a wolf whistle.

Fay nervously looked up at him as he kneeled down close to the bed and ran his hand along Harriet's sleeping face and tucked her head to the side before his gaze traveled up to where Fay was rested against Morgie, who's hands were firmly wrapped around her waist daring her to try and escape, while her arms were wrapped around little Harriet who was dozed off, James brought his hand up to Fay's face and gently caressed her cheek, she shudder a little, but didn't want to anger the pirate like she had last time he'd touched her, so she leaned into a little which brought a smile to the crazed pirate who whispered to her. "We'll be home soon my love."

He then leaned up and gently pecked her lips before giving her a mocking smirk as he gazed down at her and continued. "You can't leave after all once a pirate bride always a pirate bride."

Morgie chuckled behind her and turned her face towards him, but he simply smiled at her and played with her hair and said. "Would you really leave Harriet?"

The two continued to give taunts and asked questions that'd make her look bad if she answered them a different way, but this was only the first day of the trip, can't wait to see what happens next.

___________________________________________

Thank you, everyone, for reading this. It's not my usual writing it's not as fluff driven, but I hope you like it! Anyway, big thank you too, @brokenmilkcrates, truly a big inspiration. A lot of his ideas and headcanons went into this go show Milkc some love! There will be a part two to this!

If you want to be on the tag list, just put mail in the mailbox!

Anyways, till the next story! Ba bye!

Tag list: @giveityourworst, @brokenmilkcrates, and @skellseerwriting/ @skellseer!

@jupiterisaroace and @saturnisaroace

[postguiltypleasures]

Betty La Fea La Historia Continua -Trailer breakdowns and Speculation

As you may have guessed from other posts hears, I am so excited for this series. Been watching the various promo videos and pictures. I decided to to a breakdown based what I have gleaned from all of them.

But first, embedding the videos I am talking about:

Red carpet announcement:

Teaser scene with date:

The Trailer:

The Names:

I am going to use the first teaser as a guide and information I have gleaned from subsequent ones.

The read carpet teaser starts with Marcela, who soon accompanied by Patricia, vamping towards the camera. Patricia knocks into Marcela and they laugh.

It is kind of negates the way that they were threatening moments before. I also want to highlight that in the subsequent promos they are rarely together. Instead Patricia is with Nicolas and Marcela seems to mostly confide in Nacho. 

These two are followed by Mario, who is notably alone.

There are rumors that in this version he will be more overtly villainous than in the original, and it seems in the promotions department is keeping this close to the vest. He is also alone in the names promo

(possibly taking a fake phone call like Nicolás frequently did in the original) and he doesn’t have any dialogue in either date announcement scene, nor the official trailer, though he appears in both of those.

He seems to be Armando’s friend again, but how close they are and if Mario continues to manipulate Armando in any way, the reasons are unclear.

Which brings me to the next grouping, the first group of all new characters. These ones are the members of Gen Z and they are Betty and Armando’s daughter Mila, Marcela’s protege Nacho, and Jeff, who from later appearances seems to work directly with Hugo.

(I think What We Do in the Shadows ruined the name Jeff for me.) I have a lot of questions about Jeff’s relationship with Hugo, starting with is this some kind apprentice ship? Does Ecomoda have lines that are now designed by someone other than Hugo?  I guess we will find these things out soon enough… Mila and Jeff seem to be romantically involved,

but where does Nacho fit in?

The next group is who I’m going to call the New Love Interests for the Old Love Triangle:

I only landed on calling them this after the Names teaser where we get this interaction:

Other than that, Pascual, who I sincerely believe is Marcela’s new love interest, is mostly not in these promotional videos. Note how Pascual gestures as to keep the attention on Majo and Esteban. Also note what a vamp Majo is!

As a love interest for Armando, she is something of a regression. Flaunting her sexiness and using PDA to establish control.

Her appearance makes us wonder is Armando really is capable of being in relationships unlike most of the one he had the original? (Despite the fact that he really wants to be with Betty). While watching these and preparing to write I thought of how different a “not Armando” love interest for Betty and Marcela is. Both need someone they don’t associate with the hurt they feel from Armando, but Marcela needs to learn new ways to be in a relationship, someone who is good a de-escalating and of course has minimal interaction with how the Mendoza/Valencia family/business dynamic. Betty needs someone she can have fun with, Marcela needs a whole new definition of fun. I can’t tell if Esteban is any kind of fun, but he is handsome and he and Betty are intrigued by each other.

Next appears Gutierez. He is mostly alone in the promotional material, a sign of Ecomoda not changing much over the years. (Though I do need to mention that in the main trailer, he appears to be reintroducing Freddy to Ecomoda, which implies that Freddy has left, but returns in some manner.) Honestly, he looks weirdly good in the cast returns video. Every other appearance he makes is a reminder of how much Ecomoda doesn’t care about being a healthy work environment. 

The next group is what I’m calling El Cuartel +.

We have three members of the original Cuartel, minus Ines, Sofia and Mariana. Plus Freddy and new cast member Carmen. When it came out I assume that the new member, Carmen would be a secretary, like most of the members. But later footage reveals that she is clearly Hugo’s current “modelo de tallaje”/ fit model.

As the previous series’ fit model was Jenny, a baby-talking-sadist often in conflict with the cuartel. It makes one wonder, what exactly is her relationship with the group? As a corollary, does the fact that Aura Maria is in the made to be promos footage, but no trailers made from actual footage, should we infer that she no longer works for Ecomoda? At least directly? I hope she and Betty are still friends, they have one of the most interesting dynamics in the Cuartel . And how about Freddy, their relationship, and his professional connection to Ecomoda?

The next entrance is for Hermes Pinzón and Nicolás Mora.

This is the most familiarly delightful interaction since Marcela and Patricia. They still have that the more things change, the more they stay they same thing with Hermes as the old fashioned patriarch, and Nicolás as the unofficial son, with all the complications that involved. It just also makes me miss Julia. Mario Duarte looks really good out of his Nicolás costume.

Then Hugo, walks the red carpet alone.

While later promos for that Jeff and Carmen now work in his studio, they didn’t hint at that at all here which could because they’re more interested in how those characters interact with the groups they were paired with and/or because any indication of what’s going on in that studio is too spoilery for the plot.

In any case I doubt Hugo gets along that well with his new colleagues. Not only does he have a history of being verbally abusive, but both the main trailer and the later names trailer it appears he has started venerating his late aide from the first series, Ines.

This is nice for nostalgic fans, but could be a pain to work with for new characters who just can’t live up to it. In the names promo Hugo’s Ines-branded poncho effectively covers Jeff and Carmen’s appearances.

Will this be explicit in the text?

Finally, there are Betty and Armando. It’s their story that we’re continuing to follow.

They both wear t-shirts which Ana Maria Orozco’ face getting into her Betty makeup printed on it. The come from different directions, quickly link arms and head down the read carpet.

Betty trips a bit and they laugh it off. I am sure that for whatever estrangement they have, this is a story of remarriage. They have a lot to renegotiate, but their connection is real, if also with a really messed up beginning.

So some further thoughts on the promos:

I am excited to find out what happened to Daniel. Is he dead? In prison? In any case I think his shares in Ecomoda went to his sisters and that was part of how Marcela was able to force Betty out.

But did Betty or Armando have anything to do with Daniel’s demise? Or was Marcela just taking it out on someone who she never liked? In any case I am speculating that Don Roberto’s divisions of share in his will is some attempt to even the playing field after realizing all the destructive power plays going on in that generation. Trying to get the best out everyone through manipulation. Classic Don Roberto. 

There is a cut in the trailer from Betty’s shocked face to Marcella’s angry face and I always have to do a double take on who I am looking at, because when the both have the straight, long black hair like that, it makes them look similar. It makes me wonder if one of the reasons for Betty bringing back parts of her old look is to separate herself from Marcela? Or feeling like Marcela once did regarding Armando.

There were famous fantasy sequences in the the original, which makes me wonder if their will be any in the new one and if so is anything we see in the trailers actually part of a fantasy sequence?  How many flashbacks to pre estrangement Betty and Armando do we get?

Has Nicolás been at Ecomoda this whole time? How long have Marcela and Patricia been back? While Nicolás and Patricia’s story feels like one of the more abruptly ended one in the original, how will the passage of decade affect picking this up?

[not-poignant]

hi there! i just wanted to say i love your writing sooo much, i started out reading your fandom works a few months ago (palmarosa is absolutely delectable) but after dipping my toes into your original work via underline the blue i decided to delve into it more deeply. your universe was hella intimidating ngl (2.6 million words just for the core texts of spoils & fae tales is insane and also very impressive!) but i started with falling falling stars since it appealed to me the most and i’ve read almost the whole thing in the past 4 days. it’s just THAT GOOD.

anyways i suppose i don’t really have a proper question except… in falling falling stars, augus comes across as kinda horrible. i can’t possibly wrap my head around him and gwyn being the “original main couple” or main characters i’m supposed to root for in the rest of the series. is augus really that much of a dickhead in the spoils of the spoiled as well? it seems like that fic must present an entirely different perspective on the character for it to even make sense to root for him. (i hope it wasn’t silly of me to read falling falling stars before the spoils of the spoiled!)

reading underline the blue and then meeting nate in falling falling stars was also like… whiplash. the character seems so incredibly different. is this something i should take into account when it comes to your other verses? underline the rainbow versus spoils versus fae tales i mean. are the stories and plotlines and characters completely different and there’s only internal consistency within each individual universe so to speak?

anyways, reading your author’s notes about your health is so stereotypically ao3 and makes me incredibly grateful that you still take the time to write all this for FREE for us! i wish you the best n hope you don’t take offense to my questions, i really am just curious. you’re a fantastic writer and the way you tackle these difficult subjects is often very cathartic for me to read. i sincerely appreciate everything you do n hope you have a great day whenever you’re reading this :)

Hi anon!

So Falling Falling Stars is like a role reversal of Spoils of the Spoiled. Spoils of the Spoiled actually came many years before, and in that, Efnisien was such a villain that quite a lot of people have never been able to read Falling Falling Stars, or they had to wait a long time to see if it would be worth reading.

Both stories kind of function as 'the main character is the hero of his own story.' Or 'the person who is a villain to one person is a hero to another.'

Augus does do some pretty bad things in Spoils of the Spoiled, but he shows he's capable of growth, he saves Gwyn's life, he's molested by Efnisien (unprovoked), and he's a victim of a lot of circumstances. Much like Efnisien in Falling Falling Stars, he's complicated.

Characters aren't black and white, anon, they have nuance. Someone can do something bad to one person, but still be wonderful to another. Efnisien is actually a great example of this. We're rooting for him. The people who know the people who hurt, might want him dead. Both of those things are true and both of things can be valid. I find that a really interesting grey area to write within! But Augus is very much in that area as well.

Falling Falling Stars and Efnisien's journey would never exist if it wasn't for Augus saving Gwyn's life in Spoils of the Spoiled. In a way, Efnisien - though he'll never realise it - is indebted to Augus for his actions in helping and galvanising Gwyn into the emancipation case that got him away from his abusive family (which very much included Efnisien at the time). And Augus was hurt and threatened by Efnisien for it, more than once.

It's funny reading this though, and I think a few other readers might feel that way. Your feelings about Augus and Gwyn and not being able to 'wrap your head around' them as the good guys / protagonists in the rest of the series is actually how everyone felt about Efnisien.

Like, literally. You're just...on the other end of something everyone else has felt for the character you like.

So we know it's possible, because we all went through it re: learning to care for this version of Efnisien lol.

I will say canon Efnisien in the Fae Tales canon is literally an irredeemable monster, capable of no compassion, who glories in defilement, degradation and torture. He's really not comparable to his human counterpart.

is augus really that much of a dickhead in the spoils of the spoiled as well?

I mean no. Otherwise no one would read the story. He has his dickhead moments, especially in the beginning, just like Efnisien had his dickhead moments in the beginning when he was thinking of torturing Gary and animals and children and other people.

reading underline the blue and then meeting nate in falling falling stars was also like… whiplash. the character seems so incredibly different. is this something i should take into account when it comes to your other verses?

Yes, absolutely.

are the stories and plotlines and characters completely different and there’s only internal consistency within each individual universe so to speak?

It sounds like this might be the first time you've encountered the concept of an Alternative Universe! An Alternative Universe in fandom tends to keep the characters (generally) and changes everything or some other things around them as a way of exploring new scenarios, but also seeing how those scenarios impact the characters.

For example Falling Falling Stars and Spoils of the Spoiled both explored 'what if these characters were human' 'what if they didn't have magical healing' 'what if Gwyn managed to get away from his family.' The characters preserve some aspects of themselves, but not others, as a result.

It's logical that if you take a character that's one thing, and put them in a world where their job, their friends, even their partners change, then aspects of their personality will change! And then the challenge (and fun for us as readers and writers) is to see where they're the same, why they're the same, and where they're different, and why they're different.

What's cathartic about AUs (alternate universes) is we often still get to hit very meaningful moments over and over again in different ways - for example Augus and Gwyn falling in love, or Efnisien making a connection with Gary, or Efnisien starting out very abrasive and hostile and becoming softer and more caring over time etc. The themes are similar, but there's different reasons for these big moments to be happening, and so they happen in different ways, with different dialogue etc.

Meanwhile Nate, as an example, is someone in FFS who we only ever see as an outsider. We don't know how soft he is with Janusz at home. Or with his friends. We only see him in response to a trigger (PTSD), and see him in a very limited way. Of course he will be different when we see a story from his perspective! He's not going to see himself the way someone who hardly knows him and has never seen him vulnerable sees him. Even without him being an omega etc. in Underline the Blue, how Nate lives his life and sees himself has nothing to do with Efnisien. Efnisien has seen maybe 0.00000001% of his entire life and personality (I don't know how numbers work, but trust me, we can't get an accurate read through 'Efnisien the unreliable narrator'), Nate's the one who has to live it. In that sense, it's easier to trust Nate and his loved ones re: what he's really like, than Efnisien.

Likewise, it's easier to trust Augus and Gwyn over what Augus is really like, than Efnisien. And it's easier for us to trust Efnisien and Arden and Kadek over what Efnisien's really like, instead of Augus' perspective, or even Gwyn's.

Efnisien in the Fae Tales canon is only ever an outsider. In fact he's dead by like chapter 15 of Game Theory. Which is good, because he's awful and incapable of being redeemed in any way. He's a torturer in The Wildness Within. Obviously that's quite different to who we end up with, in Falling Falling Stars, and we only end up with him because of Augus and Gwyn's journey in Spoils of the Spoiled. (If you'd read Spoils first anon, trust me, you'd be asking yourself 'I don't know how I could ever want to read a story about Efnisien he seems so awful' instead lol - but I like...the journey, and the challenge, to see if I can guide a reader through someone's inner universe so they can trust a character's growth, even if they don't like them in the beginning).

Anyway, degrees of separation impact how we see the people around us. We as readers are extremely separate from Nate in FFS because Efnisien is. So...yeah, he feels different when we get a story from his perspective! The whiplash is real. Because he becomes a developed character, and not just a 'bad impression' in Efnisien's insecure, sensitive mind. That's the same with Spoils and Falling Falling Stars, we never see Augus' perspective in FFS, we never see Efnisien's in Spoils. That matters.

Sometimes seeing the character's perspective changes everything! I hope that helps :D