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jq37 · 9 days

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Just to throw my two cents on the Rat Grinder discourse: They weren't worth the Intrepid Heroes' time. We didn't get the full picture of what's going on with the Grinders until the last quarter of the season. Before that they were just this other clique that hate the main characters, so in-character why would the Bad Kids bother giving them so much attention when they've got so much of their own crap going on. Kristens quest to get Cassandra back and her presidential campaign, Gorgugs courseload, Riz's million and one plates that he's been spinning all season, Adaines financial problems, Figs curse and her doubts about what she wants to do with her life. Fabian's the only one who might have had the time, but he had to be Maximum Legend. There genuinely was no time or even an incentive on the IH's side to develop the Rat Grinders characters.

I still think it's fucked up that these teenagers got taken advantage of by adults they trusted, but we didn't learn any of that until we only had two roleplay episodes left. Too little too late to even try anything diplomatic even if they didn't spend all their time after the Last Stand in hiding.

And a thing about Ivy that no one is roasting her about and really should: An elven archer? Really? Wow, never seen that before.

Yeah totally. Like, from a meta level, I see where the players themselves could have been more curious about the Rat Grinders. There are obvious plot threads that could have been teased out there (though, in fairness to the cast, the adult manipulation aspect didn't become clear until way later in the season--the rivalry and foil aspects were more obvious). This final confrontation could look really different if they'd played that all the way out all season.

But in character? The Bad Kids really didn't have a good reason to waste time on the Rat Grinders. They came into this school year already burnt out from their Night Yorb quest and wanting a break. But they don't get that because they immediately are beset by problems they have to deal with--Kristen's god is on death's door from neglect and she's on the brink of expulsion, Riz is running himself ragged trying to boost his resume for college, Fig is having a whole ass existential crisis, Adaine is struggling with money issues she doesn't want to talk about, Gorgug is taking FOUR YEARS of school at the same time, and Fabian is multiclassing and dealing with his empty house/not having parental support (or Cathilda's support) for the first time. They are dealing with SO MUCH high stakes, personal stuff before the plot even kicks in. And, mechanics-wise, this is represented with the downtime system that means that any time they spend on the RG's is time they can't spend on something that matters more to them. IMO, not prioritizing your haters is actually pretty mature. Like, they weren't proactively using their free time to bully them or anything (except for arguably Fig). They were snippy with them when they crossed their paths and that was it. As opposed to the Rat Grinders who literally had to be told by Jace to stop antagonizing the Bad Kids (though they must have been pretty ineffectual at it because the Bad Kids hardly noticed, which I bet stung considering they were so obsessed).

And also, it's not like they didn't try at all with the Rat Grinders. Early Insight checks on Kipperlilly just got, "This is a polished steel orb of a personality" which doesn't sound very worth interacting with in a sympathetic way if at all and then the next big thing they learn is that she had hated Riz since Freshman Year and that she wants Riz and Kristen dead. And that's AFTER we saw her smile and kill her party cleric. In their position I'm not spending further time trying to empathize with this person, I have made my judgement and it's up to the Jawbones of the world to find if there's something in there to be rehabilitated.

And that's not the only case. Adaine straight up saved Ruben from disintegration during the Frosty Folk battle when she easily could have saved the spell slot, but that didn't soften him towards the Bad Kids any. Adaine also was really keen to Scry on the Rat Grinders to find out what was happening at their meetings. But, in scene at least, she was never able to do that so we never got a scene of them, huddled together, clearly unsure about the path they're on but not feeling like they can walk it back or say no to the authority figures in their lives. She didn't get anything humanizing that would cause her to rethink their position on them the way that she did with Aelwyn for instance. So why would they think they're anything but gleeful co-conspirators?

Hell, the one RG Adaine was even slightly curious about was Oisin and now we know that he was feigning interest in her which, man, can you imagine how much worse that would have felt if she'd actually taken the bait and pursued him beyond just thinking he was cute? Of course, it's possible that her interacting with him more along with some good charm rolls could have changed the narrative in some way but we can only go off of what we know to be true in canon and those facts are (1) He tried to get closer to Adaine while actively planning the downfall of her and her friends, (2) he (along with Ivy) was mean to Buddy behind his back while tricking him into a plan that would force him to go against his religious beliefs, and (3) he called his KVX related dragon ancestors to try to kill the Bad Kids and endanger the entire student body population. Three strikes, you're out. If I'm a Bad Kid I'm not super interested in whatever else is going on with him. And again, literally all of Adaine's friends (except Riz) gave her help to do an Insight check on him during their confrontation in the hallway so she was looking for something there worth engaging with, but she didn't get much.

Fig was fully doing CIA, MKUltra, Fantasy Geneva Convention violations on Ruben to try see if she could get information or flip him. I think she did it in an objectively insane way so I'm not entirely shocked that it didn't yield the exact results she was looking for. But she never found the smoking gun (or whatever the opposite of that is) in his head that would absolve him/show the Rat Grinders were being controlled and her messing with his dreams never flared his conscience enough to make him try to break free (as far as we know) which is what I assume she was going for. If I was Ruben looking for a way out but scared of the repercussions, I might go to Adaine who saved me from certain death earlier the same year and has helped saved the world 3 times with her party and their friends in high (and low) places. Maybe that's what Fig thought might happen but it didn't so from Fig's POV? Gave him a chance. Time to start blasting. And again, at that age, if I walked in to the first day of class and the first thing this random boy does is sneer at me and flaunt his musical success, I'm popping up on his Nemesis Alert at that moment. Doubly so after he tries to trick me and my friends into doing drugs so we get expelled. I'm surprised she tried at all with him.

Fabian absolutely tried to interact with Ivy--in large part for self interested reasons of course, but that doesn't change that he did it. And she came across as callous and unkind from the jump. Their final conversation before the latest episode is the one where she talks about wearing Mazey like a sweater and then says that Fabian missed his chance with her before stalking off. That's a pretty open and shut interaction. No way 17 year old me is like, "Hmm, but why is she acting so mean? Perhaps I should examine that more closely to further understand her." Nah, I've decided she sucks.

And Kristen has tried with Buddy literally up until the last moment. She rolled an Insight check on him right before the fight started and she got a 1. She got nothing from him.

Mary Ann is actually the only Rat Grinder who hasn't done anything to make a bad impression on the Bad Kids--the only thing she did was have a really good Bloodrush tryout. So no reason to hate her specifically (and, in fact, she is also the only Rat Grinder that at least half of them are positively obsessed with), but no reason to explore her further. And Kristen still tried giving her a stuffed animal and her response was that she already had that one and that she was going to give it away. What are they supposed to do with that?

Even when they tried, they didn't get information that was worth chasing when they were so busy and had to manage their free time. Gorgug didn't even slot in downtime to talk to his bio parents when they visited. Why would he spend any time on Mary Ann to figure out her deal? Maybe if they were given more explicit opportunities to interact with them in passing. If Mary Ann was shown at Bloodrush Games. If during class time Oisin tried to interact with Adaine. If Kristen ran into Buddy and Bucky talking. If any of their forays into talking to them or looking into them yielded anything actionable or that piqued their interest--they opened the door for Brennan to give them something more than once. But they never got anything that was worth investing more of their limited time into.

(And also, they didn't learn that Porter was involved until WAY into the last quarter of the episodes. Which absolutely could have changed things since, as far as they knew the RG's were working alone to raise this god which isn't crazy for them to think because Kristen literally did that last year and it was of her own free will. If they knew early that the RG's were smaller players in Porter's plot then maybe they would have been in more of a rescue mindset--especially since Fig has always mistrusted him--but that's not information they had and by the time they got it, the RG's were in deep hiding, like you said.)

And so, coming into the last few episodes, that's who the Rat Grinders are to the Bad Kids. A group of kids who they first heard about in the context of, "they famously hate you," even though they'd never interacted before. A group of kids who they already thought sucked even before they tried to kill the entire study body an hour ago. A group of kids who are trying to doom all of Elmville to eternal rage and who are willing and ready to kill them to do it.

With that context, yeah I think their actions are pretty understandable.

(Also, lmao. Yeah, I think calling Ivy basic would probably hurt her more than most things you could say to her.)

#asks #farmer-10 #dimension 20 #fantasy high #d20 #spoilers #d20 spoilers #dimension 20 spoilers #dimension 20 fhjy #fhjy #and they knew the rage crystals existed for a while #but they had no reason to believe that the rage crystals are a thing that happened *to* the RG's #rather than being a thing that they're doing to others #so like yeah I totally get it wishing that they players had delved deeper into their whole situations #that's the fun of narrative foils after all #but I don't think the bad kids themselves handled this situation unreasonably #when ppl rub me the wrong way/are rude to me irl I avoid them #if they have hidden struggles that's between them and their loved ones and their therapist #and if I was a bad kid after such a stressful year even if I heard their tragic backstories at this point I'd be like #cool motive still murder

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asleepinawell · 4 months

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interesting....

#fallen london #mask of the rose #going back and playing this again after delving deeper into fl lore is very interesting #flmp #mp #i haven't finished nemesis yet due to knifegate so i may be missing some info related to this

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motelofmermaids · 5 months

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keegan russ who fucks you when he’s jealous.

(task force 141!keegan russ)

you could be smiling at johnny mid-conversation, maintaining eye contact or patting simon’s arm in acknowledgment—hell, you could be standing in the kitchen with kyle, having a cup of coffee. it didn’t matter, not to keegan, especially when he ended up between your legs. he’d take you in any way possible, fucking you until you’re nothing but drunk and stupid off of him.

he would grin as he bit at your inner thighs, legs twitching to close shut around his head when he’d abuse your clit with his tongue. he’d go slow, only so he could drink up the sighs of his name and slurred begs coming from you. feigning sympathy, he’d knit his brows together as your frustrated moans sung against his lips, mask pulled up to his nose so he could taste you—thighs shaking as you rode him. he’d ask you, “what’s wrong, sweetheart?” and, “thought you could take me.” keegan would definitely click his tongue as you gripped onto his mask at the back of his neck; his eyes tearing your soul apart, as if it were judgment day and you wouldn’t make it to that sweet, sweet paradise.

he’d pant against your ear, his mask tickling the sensitive skin there, “fuck… pretty girl, you were made for me.” because he wouldn’t let his frustration out on your divine body, wouldn’t treat you poorly. no, keegan would show you how much he desired you—remind you how perfect you were for him, as if the heavens created you just for him, for his cock. and you’d sob into the thick air as he fingered you. he’d play at your hot and bothered bundle of nerves, run his calloused fingers through your wet folds—and you’d let him, allowing him to take you in any way he pleased. it was a sick and twisted indication that he knew you more than yourself, and that you needed him.

and it was all because of pure bitterness. he’d take you apart just to put you back together—an impure routine. it didn’t matter to keegan russ, as long as you were crying out his name in incoherent pleas and prayers.

#kel’s concepts ♡︎#keegan x you #keegan russ smut #keegan russ x reader #keegan x reader #call of duty fanfic #keegan p russ #cod keegan #keegan cod #this is just a short drabble that i should definitely delve deeper into #but i hope ya’ll enjoy this!

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autisticlancemcclain · 6 months

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Lance flicks on the lights and his soul damn near leaves his body.

“Jesus H. Christ one a one-wheeled motorbike, Pidge,” he gasps, hand pressed to his galloping heart. She doesn’t laugh — Pidge doesn’t laugh often — but Lance has learned to read her, in the year or so they’ve been in space. He recognises the twitch of her mouth, the flash in her eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“Your lock code is embarrassingly easy to guess,” she says in lieu of an answer. Lance smiles reflexively at the matter-of-fact, half chiding tone. He pulls finally away from the wall, having caught his breath, and starts rifling through his cabinet.

“Yeah?”

He hears the shuffle of blankets, the muffled hits on a pillow being shoved into a lap. When he glances out of the corner of his eyes, he finds her sat comfortably in the dead centre of his bed, criss-cross-applesauce, nails picking at the threads of his pillowcase and eyes blinking owlishly behind her glasses.

“Yes. Fifty eighth most common four letter password.” She pauses a moment. “Spelling F-A-R-T with numbers is very immature.”

Lance snickers. He’d forgotten what his password spelt, he’s used the same combo so long. “Is that right?”

“Yes. You should come up with something more secure. It was my second guess.”

“What was the first?”

Pidge doesn’t seem to notice his curious look. Her eyes are focused on the items in his hands, watching diligently as he sits on the floor next to a dish of water, squeezing some soap into his hands and rubbing it all over his bare legs. Her head is tilted with a similar look of inquiry.

“Your birthday. What are you doing?”

Instead of answering, Lance removes the cap from his razor and starts to carefully drag it down his calfs, rinsing it every two strokes in the water. Pidge watches with rapt attention.

Weirdo, Lance thinks, fondly and hypocritically.

It doesn’t take long for the questions to start firing off.

“What’s the point of shaving your legs?”

“Gets rid of the hair.”

“Why do you want to get rid of the hair?”

Lance takes a moment to gather his thoughts, answering truthfully. “Lots of reasons. Not all of them I’m proud of. I started mostly ‘cause Veronica did it and I used to do everything she did.” He pauses. A sad smile pulls on his lips, and he swallows around the comfortingly familiar lump in his throat. “Well. ‘Used to’. If she was here I’d probably still be puttering around after her.” He finds Pidge’s eyes and smiles at her, winking. “Older siblings are easy to hang off of, huh?”

Her mouth twitches. She breaks eye contact, resting her chin on her knees and moving the pillow under her legs. “No. Older siblings are annoying. And ridiculous. I once followed Matt around all day and wrote down every single time he said ‘ow’. He said in on average twenty-three times an hour.” She meets his eyes again, mouth pinched and eyebrows raised. “Your average is twenty-four.”

“I see.”

“You should tie your shoes.”

“Nah.” He taps the razor on the side of the dish, gently sliding it to the other side of him and switching his razor to his left hand. “Anyways. When I was your age I mostly did it ‘cause Ronnie did it. Helped with swimming, too. But as I got older…” He frowns. “As I got older, I started feeling like I had to, I guess. Like I was ugly if I didn’t.”

A pinprick of pain makes his hand still, lifting the blade from around his ankle. A tiny drop of blood swells at the base of it. He sets the razor down, quickly grabbing a towel and dabbing at the nick. Ankle wounds always bleed so much — it doesn’t even hurt anymore, but he can’t pull the towel away or he’ll stain the floor.

“…Do you feel that way now?”

Lance doesn��t answer for a long moment. He hears Pidge fidget, clicking her nails together. The blood finally slows enough for him to pull away the towel, and he resumes shaving the last half of his leg — much more slowly, this time.

“Not exactly,” he says carefully. “I recognize why I feel that way. I know where that pressure comes from, why it’s harmful. But it’s still…there. I still catch myself thinking cruel things; I have to spend a few minutes talking myself out of them. I tried stopping for about a year. I didn’t like it.”

He finally finishes swiping up the last line of soap, rinsing off his razor and then gently running a cold, wet cloth over his legs to get rid of any lingering suds.

“Do you think you’ll try to stop again?”

“Hm. I don’t think so. I like the feeling of smooth skin more than hairy skin, I’ve found. It’s nice on fresh sheets, plus sometimes hair tickles me and makes me jumpy. Plus, it’s easier to moisturize.”

“Ohhh,” Pidge says, and when Lance looks up there’s a real look of understanding on her face — not the practiced one she puts on when she doesn’t actually get something but doesn’t want to look dumb. “Like — it’s the same as why you don’t like jeans and socks.”

Lance smiles. “Exactly. I’d walk around in nothing but shorts and a big t-shirt, if I had the choice.” Legs clean and clean-shaven, he picks up his tube of lotion and starts dabbing dollops all over the skin. “That’s all I ever wore back home.”

“Arizona is freezing half the time!”

“Cuba,” Lance reminds her.

“Oh yeah,” she says again. “But what about when it rained?”

Lance shrugs. “Better to wear flip flops and get wet feet than wet socks. Wet socks are the worst.”

“Yeah.” She shudders. “Like prickly sweaters.”

He hums. The lotion smells like juniberries, which kind of smells like pineapple and hibiscus mixed with a strange, almost spicy scent. Not quite home, but close enough to be nice.

He doesn’t ask Pidge why she broke into his room while he was in the showers and sat in the dark waiting for him to get back. The same way he doesn’t press when she follows him down the halls, disappearing behind corners when he turns to look, or sits by his feet during movie night. He lets her be prickly with affection and learns to hear the undercurrent in her constant comments and rambles, learns to read her questions about every thing he does as curious rather than judgemental.

She would ice him out for weeks if he said it out loud, but there was this stray cat that lived near his house, when he was young. It hissed and spit and clawed if you came halfway near it; Mamá had forbidden him from trying in case it was sick. But he used to leave out water for it at night and sometimes even sneak Abuelo’s heating pad, and every once in a while it would let Lance sit near it without clawing him. Once it even attacked one of the older kids who used to chase him after school.

It’s no coincidence that Pidge always happens to be in the same room as him 90% of the time. Or that she can guess his passcode easily.

“Hey, Pidgeon,” he says, unwrapping the towel from his hair and starting to work in the leave in conditioner. “The lockcode on my snack drawer is the same as the room code. Just so you know.”

She stares at him for several minutes.

Her mouth twitches.

“I could have figured that out myself.”

“I know.”

“You’re weird.”

He smiles. “You too, nerd.”

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emaginenations · 1 year

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What if Aloy was in the world of The Last Of Us? Some of the sketches and the before and after of my Aloy x TLOU design from two years ago.

#aloy #tlou #hzd #hfw #the last of us #the last of us part 2 #horizon zero dawn #horizon forbidden west #fanart #digital #god i love aloy #added the final to this post bc it started to get reblogged for some reason xD #anyway #started HFW #and damn is it beautiful #cant wait to delve deeper

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jamiesfootball · 6 months

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Do you think Ted knows he's complicit in aiding in Jamie's abuse? What about Rebecca?

Ngl I don’t even think Ted realized it is that bad. As far as Jamie goes, he has a huge blind spot in regards to this topic. This could be for a multitude of reasons: the generation he was born into. The fact that he himself used to play sports and may have internalized the idea that ‘sports dads can be like that’ without ever looking deeper. The fact that his own childhood contained a different sort of trauma, watching his own father struggle with mental illness. Then his trauma with how he lost his father. In a way, Ted follows the opposite of Occam’s Razor- when he looks at Jamie’s relationship with his dad, he sees complexity, he sees zebras.

He doesn’t see the simple facts, the hoof of the matter: that this is a mean person who hurts his kid with the intent to do so.

So before Ted has any realization about how his actions might have exacerbated the situation between Jamie and his dad, Ted would first have to come to terms with how he failed to recognize how bad it was in the first place.

I’d also throw in here that part of the tragedy of all this is how there’s no one character who actually has the full Jamie Tartt backstory cheatsheet- it’s spread out amongst Ted, Roy, Keeley, Jamie’s mum. And Jamie’s not good at asking for help, let alone accepting help.

I do think that of the immediate people in his life, the ones who have the clearest idea of Jamie’s abuse are Roy ‘he’s a living piece of shit’ Kent and Willis ‘alright that’s enough / *head smash* / I’m gonna take a walk’ Beard. They might not have the full story, but something about the way they react has a ‘well that’s all that I need to see’ vibe to it.

(In a darker speculative turn, I do wonder if maybe Beard has mentioned some of his own experiences to Ted. If knowing about Beard’s own experiences with (what I imagine) was also an abusive upbringing may have given Ted the wrong impression about What Abuse Looks Like and how people react to it, and if that plays into his impression of Jamie’s dad maybe not being that bad if Jamie himself appears confident and well-adjusted. A sort of unconscious bias if you will, the kind of paper-thin reasoning that doesn’t hold water when examined but if Ted’s never had reason to examine it…)

Oh. You also asked about Rebecca. Honestly, unless Keeley is talking about him, they’re talking about him in terms of the club, or he is literally standing in front of her, I don’t think Rebecca thinks of him much at all. Not cruelly. It’s just- she mainly knows him as a player and through Keeley. She’s picked up a bit about him, she cares for him the same way she cares for all her players, maybe a little more because of Keeley, but he’s not really a part of her life, nor is she a part of his.

She’s does wonder sometimes, what might’ve happened if she’d never sent him back to Manchester, but that’s from the perspective of the club. I don’t think she knows what that cost him. I think she’d feel awful if she did know.

That’s the other tragedy of Jamie’s story- for any of this to get resolved, someone would have to talk about it. And no one’s talking.

#did not mean for this to get long #thank you for the ask!#ask box is always open #this is also why I LOVE fics that delve in deeper on this topic #there was just so much left unexplored #jamie tartt #ted lasso #rebecca welton #coach beard #roy kent #abuse mention

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gavin-reed-is-gay · 2 months

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Considering that androids were created to follow orders and deviants, who have been reported injuring/murdering people, don’t do that, I can see why Gavin was so antagonistic towards Connor and responded to Connor with violence when Connor didn’t follow orders.

Regular household androids could kill humans. What could an android created to be a one man army do if it turned deviant?

What if Connor became deviant and chose a violent route like Markus could? Humanity would be screwed.

Yes, Gavin was scared of androids taking jobs, which again, considering the ai dilemma we’re living through right now, is a valid concern but there was also a legitimate fear there of “what happens if Connor turns deviant?”

#detroit: become human #dbh #gavin reed #I like how Gavin is supposed to be just an asshole who is in Connor’s way #but if you really think #like legit delve deeper #Gavin has many good points #it’s like he was supposed to be a ‘bad guy’#but he’s just someone who is wary of what ai is truly capable of #the the repercussions to humanity #which again we are living through right now #mine #mine: texts #mine: dbh

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skymantle · 2 years

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dess leading to a functional page but december not... hometowns spelling bee using december despite a girl with that name just disappearing... what if she just hated her family's christmas gimmick and just never gave away her full name. there's so many themes of alienation in the game including kris and susie so it's very well possible

#logs #deltarune #dess holiday #utdr #that reminds me.. i was doing a full drawing with gaster and dess at one point #but it got corrupted when i was almost done so i just gave up on it.. (which. to be fair. very on brand)#it was just a dumb joke like 'would you like (obscure tea) or (obscure tea)' 'um. do you have nutmeg' 'no <3'#but now im thinking i could do something more with it #like #''you know #i always hated this constant... christmas theme our whole family had. it always felt so gimmicky.#and it still does. but now... id give anything to go back to it #just for a moment''#something like that. and gaster is like well i do not know how to handle that My Apologies #also it could delve deeper into the holiday family dynamic as a whole as well!!!#deltarune theory #metatext #spamsweep

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thatonefandomjumper · 2 years

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I feel like a big part of Heroes of Olympus was influenced by audience reaction.

I don’t think I’m grasping at straws here. I genuinely just don’t get why some decisions were made if this wasn’t the case.

The plot of the books themselves has always felt very muddled to me and that’s why it always feels like it’s supposed to be a story about characters and relationships, but it just kind of isn’t. Sure, on a surface level, yes, and we get some very lovely character dynamics, but it also feels slightly artificial in a way? The plot was built first and the characters thrown into it, but there wasn’t much thought given too how the characters should be with each other. Even the romantic ones.

Though I feel that I could tie this idea into pretty much every part of the books, there are two things that I personally think of the most while discussing this idea.

For one, there’s Octavian’s entire character.

I have always been confused as to what exactly Riordan wanted from Octavian. He really feels like a plot device most times, made solely for the purpose of stirring conflict between the Greeks and Romans. He as an individual never really mattered. Now, there are some very cool people on this website that have managed to squeeze a decent character out of the scenes we got, but with the way he was written, that in itself is a challenge, as post SoN, it feels like the only intent behind his character was to make him as unlikable as possible. He really was a real character in SoN, despite weird decisions here and there (The killing Gwen scene for example was purely to establish that the doors of death weren't working, and to make Octavian unlikable, but Octavian himself really didn’t have any motive for the killing. It benefitted him in no way.)

In SoN, Octavian is manipulative and well spoken, but after that, he is portrayed as some sort of dim witted idiot, clouded by his desire for personal glory.

The only way I can rationalize this shift in character is in the truly visceral reaction the then fanbase had to his character. They loathed him, taking not a second to rationalize his actions, but simply hate. It also made it so Octavian became the but of a lot of jokes. Those jokes characterizing him as his idiot and megalomaniac that it he shown as in Mark of Athena, House of Hades and Blood of Olympus.

I always suspected Octavian was supposed to serve some sort of grander purpose, or his role in HoO was supposed to be at least a little more dignified or dare I say sympathetic, but there really was no turning back with how hated he was, making Riordan embrace it rather than giving him actual human qualities.

Then on the other hand, there’s also Leo and his relationship with romance in general.

I’ve touched upon it in my Caleo essay (That I kind of wanna redo with more points and evidence to back up my claims, because I am unhappy with certain aspects but I still stand by all I said) that Leo is a character that was written in such a way that getting a romantic partner before resolving certain things would actively detriment the development of his character, including healing from his trauma. The way he was written was just not meant for romance and I will take this to my grave. I’m not saying there was no room for romance, but the way they went about it was... very bad. (A girlfriend will fix my problems. That is his mindset. But he doesn’t grow out of it. Instead he gets a girlfriend. A girlfriend that he treats as a fix to his problems when she is not. A girlfriend that is bad to and for him in so many ways.)

But it is very interesting to note, that especially after Mark of Athena, the speculations and demands for Leo’s future girlfriend went absolutely crazy. I can’t speak from experience but from the tweets from Riordan and fanarts from that time that I've seen it was at least to the point that he took active notice of it.

Besides Nico and Reyna, there weren’t really any other characters just lying around to pair Leo monogamously up with (I doubt Riordan be willing to make any characters besides Nico explicitly queer at the time and then in the next book he decided to pick up one of the background characters and said, you will do, when pairing Nico up with someone. )

There are many more examples I could go into. The universe suffered in many ways from this. Sure, it’s not the only problem that were detrimental. I believe Riordan had a plan from the beginning with all the main plot points of the series, but I feel he didn’t exactly know where he was going with the characters besides the basics. Don’t get me wrong, I love all the HoO characters. That is why I spend so much time talking and thinking about them, but the issues with the series and characters are so many that it’s borderline ridiculous.

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revenantlore · 1 month

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. WIP introduction .

a neon bloodlust spin-off / sequel

In the shadowy outskirts of Nocturna City, Vega Esperon earns his living by sentencing people to an early grave. His latest assignment from the syndicate narrows a target over the head of Prism Nightingale, the owner of Club Bloodlust and leader of the vampire coven nesting within its walls.

Vega is quick to discover that he is not alone in his pursuit of Prism: 86, a rival hitman with a cybernetic arm and fragmented memories, is always one step ahead, complicating Vega’s mission and temporarily redirecting his mark to 86.

Whatever it takes to keep Prism his.

Their rivalry takes an unexpected turn when they learn Prism is seeking the location of a technological artifact known only as The Ruby, an item said to contain the power to amplify Prism’s hypnotic abilities and potential to enslave both vampires and humans.

Faced with a common enemy and the looming threat of The Ruby falling into the wrong—or any—hands, Vega and 86 form a reluctant alliance. Together, they embark on a perilous espionage to infiltrate Club Bloodlust, navigate its bloodthirsty thralls, and uncover the truth behind The Ruby’s location.

As they navigate the perilous world of vampires and technology, Vega and 86 find themselves drawn to each other in unexpected ways, but will it withstand the challenges ahead once The Ruby is secured and their focus returns to eliminating Prism?

[more details on vega and 86 to come]

@winterandwords and @indecentpause probably want to know about this

#more an idea in progress than an actual work #trying to ignore the temptation to delve any deeper into this before i finish neon bloodlust haha #occurs on the same timeline and some events overlap #detroit plays an important role in both stories #because of course he does #he is best android boy after all #wip : ruby vendetta #wip : rv #wip introduction #wip intro #my edits

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dollfishu · 1 year

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Can’t help but think how Kalego does his weird wing-like bangs just like Narnia. I was re-reading Kalego Gaiden and I noticed how his signature bangs weren’t a part of his ‘schtick’ as a child.

Nor at the time when he was chosen to be the next watchdog of Babyls.

At first I thought everyone in the Naberius clan might have the same hairstyle as Narnia and current adult Kalego, but Kalego’s Uncle didn’t. It’s just an adorable fluffy and messy tuft. (I’m not counting the horn-like cowlicks since these are a signature trait of all the Naberius’s as confirmed by Osamu Nishi)

During his time as a student in Babyls, you can see a bit of a ’style change’ in his hair.

Even the thought of changing his hairstyle from the one he is currently adopting was out of the question!

During the flashback sequence after Opera’s punch, he remembers his older brother’s words:

Narnia being the first person he thought off before he was about to ‘lose consciousness’ means that he obviously holds him in extremely high regard and respect. All younger brothers admire their older siblings.

Osamu Nishi confirmed that the Naberius household consists of Kalego, Narnia, their uncle, and their father. Since it is evident that their father worked in Border Patrol that means he clearly wouldn’t have the time to take care of his children. Also assuming that their is no Naberius mother in the equation, and knowing that the Uncle is an irresponsible deadbeat, the brunt of the household was left on Narnia’s shoulders. Being the eldest sibling holds enough responsibility on its own with a level of duty and dependability that comes with it.

This is why Kalego obviously sees Narnia as a responsible, calm and collected individual. Even their Uncle was intimidated by his authoritarian behavior.

Essentially, almost all younger siblings have the innate desire to mimic their older sibling. They want to look like them, act like them and mostly want their approval. The first time Kalego fully adopted Narnia’s hairstyle with the side swept bangs were during his youngin days as a school-teacher trainee. Ponytail included.

And in the end we ended up with the full package (sans ponytail):

That’s why a part of me is extremely fearful about how Kalego would react if Narnia were to have returned to his demonic origins. It would be a major blow to him seeing the person whom he follows by example reduced to someone that succumbed to primal desires. His older brother, Narnia, whom he placed on a pedestal, whose existence is probably vital for his own sense of self - has let him down. I can't even imagine the whirlwind of emotions he will go through if that were true...

#M!IK #Kalego #Mairimashita! Iruma-kun #Naberius Kalego #Naberius Narnia #Iruma-kun #Welcome to the Demon School #Yoooooooooooooo I'm so scared #D=#I'm still crossing my fingers about whether Narnia is sent as a sleeper agent to delve deeper into the Six Finger's plans #Please my heart won't be able to stand the angst #T_T #Kalego sensei #Kalego Naberius

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