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#FOR LEGAL REASONS THUS IS A JOKE

augustjustice · 10 months

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The definitive and very accurate ranking of Steve's favorite children goes as follows:

Dustin. Technically, shouldn't even be counted on the list because he is Steve's little brother and thus exists in an entirely different category from everybody else.

Erica, Max, and Lucas are all tied for first place (due to the aforementioned fact that Dustin is in his own separate category). He loves them all equally in different ways. If you put a gun to his head to pick one, you'd just have to pull the trigger, because he couldn't manage it.

El and Will. Circumstances mean Steve hasn't gotten the chance to know either of them as well as the others, but they are for the most part polite and well-behaved (with the exception of Will's sarcastic comments and El's tendency to go along with Max's shenanigans) in big group settings. When Steve claims to have a favorite because the party is driving him up the wall (often), he usually says it's one of these two.

...Michael Wheeler.

#for legal reasons this post is just a JOKE #everyone is free to have their own headcanons around who in the party are Steve's favorites. these are just mine #stranger things #steve harrington #dustin henderson #erica sinclair #lucas sinclair #max mayfield #el hopper #will byers #mike wheeler #the party #brotp: babysitter's club #i'm picking on mike here but actually i don't think steve dislikes mike #i DO think steve thinks that mike can't stand HIM and thus gives the kid a wide berth #the truth is a lot more complicated (and probably involves just a smidge of belligerent hate crush) but mike absolutely isn't interested in #dissuading steve from that notion #tw: gun mention #in a joking manner but just in case

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mugentakeda · 4 months

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some random lighthearted hcs ^_^ 👍👍 cus all ive been posting is angst shit tralalalaaa

-iroh and lu tens biggest beef (satirical exaggeration) was always over tea preferences. they both love it- but in just wildly different ways. lu ten liked tea with milk and ginger and cardamom and sugar and black pepper and all kinds of other spices and shit (aka saffron chai). meanwhile his father is, as we all know, one of those snobs that dies on the hill of appreciating tea with its delicate and natural flavors alone. even if it just tasted like grass. one time, though, iroh was overjoyed to hear lu ten found a tea he liked just on its own (aka hibiscus tea), without add ons. but then was dismayed to immediately discover that lu ten liked it served cold (aka karkadeh). later, just to fuck with his dad, lu ten announced that he discovered its even better with the additions of citrus juice, honey, and mint. iroh just cant ever win with his boys

-azula is the youngest so its like instinct to be annoying. like shed get genuine urges to go and annoy zuko somehow someway. not all the times shes annoyed him are malicious- sometimes shed go in his room and if he was at his desk shed pluck the brush out of his hand and throw it across the room and take all the candles out and leave without closing the door behind her. or if he was laying down shed pull his socks halfway off throw his blanket on the floor and leave. she did it all wordlessly for comedic effect until he was like “why.” and then shed start cackling like a maniac

-lu ten enjoyed engaging in little kid activities with azula and zuko. hed sit on his stomach and kick his feet while finger painting. hed play whatever the fire nation version of hopscotch is with them, along with mai and ty lee. when azula covered his mouth before he said something to embarrass her in front of ty lee hed lick her hand and shed start screeching. hed make jokes about zuko being short even though lu ten could legally drink and zuko was like 10 so it didnt even make sense

-lu tens azula nicknames: lala (naturally), pumpkin, crab cake, sweetheart, baby (the last two only come out when its just the two of them or if shes upset. she has a reputation.)

lu tens zuko nicknames: zuzu (naturally), turtleduck (also naturally), princeling, squirt, shrimpmunk (note how most of these are a cute joke about him being Tiny and Small)

the kids called him lulu when he called them zuzu and lala. when he was teaching azula how to talk she called him baba for like a week to his dismay and panic, even if she didnt know what that meant, until he got it through her head that he wasnt the one to be called that. and ozai wasnt either because unfortunately he isnt the casual type

(he also called ursa auntie in front of anyone. to his great joy, ursa told him that ozai complained about it to her. thus, he continued to do it)

-lu ten made time for the kids not by ignoring his duties in their favor but by overachieving and overworking to stay as far ahead of his duties as possible. the faster he got shit done the more time leftover he had. his favorite thing to do with them aside from ember island was sneak them out of the palace and into the town during the evening, when they had all the best street food and outdoor theater set out

-roughhousing and chasing each other around was always a thing iroh and lu ten did before things got awkward and sour. their pai sho games- when they werent using it as a vessel for serious conversations- were loud, dramatic, and funny to witness. like iroh would be swearing and lu ten would be laughing hysterically. the servants would come and go with refreshments while giggling

-iroh and lu ten also engaged in Old Man Activities together. like you know how old folks just sit on porches for hours for no reason??? iroh and lu ten would do that together in the palace garden. they also did morning meditation and prayer at the ass crack of dawn

-before zuko was born and it was for the most part just ursa and lu ten, she got homesick a lot, and taught lu ten some of the stuff she did before marrying into the family. so lu ten knew how to make shit like jewelry, clay masks, and embroidered fans

-on ember island trips the three did a lot of cooking together. azula liked making sweet treats and fruit platters, zuko liked making kimchi and fried snacks. cleaning the mess is just as much a bonding activity as making the mess

-lu ten managed to keep whatever the hell he had going on with zhao a complete secret from iroh and ursa, zuko was just oblivious, but azula… is perceptive. and nosy. and protective. so one day when zhao leaves the palace azula approaches lu ten from out of nowhere and is basically like “(Katt Williams voice) You have an unnatural allegiance to losers and its not like you 😐”. he has no clue what to say to that

(it was not to azulas knowledge that zhao was harassing zuko constantly during his banishment. had she known, she wouldve done something about it. Not something that would inconvenience her father or the navy, obviously, but she wouldve definitely done something. #Trust.)

#atla #fire family #iroh #azula #zuko #lu ten #ursa #alicias writing stuff

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goldenpinof · 6 months

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curious about your perspective – what do you think is the primary reason for the current comeback, and for the large scale of it (daily videos, new heavily marketed merch, etc)? are they trying to make up some monetary loss? is it true revitalized passion? the influence of the new management? lead-up to a major project/announcement? i'm guessing there's an element of at least the first three, but interested in your opinion as a noted non-cynical cynic (compliment btw)

under the cut because that's a lot. and it's not even all of my thoughts, unfortunately.

no one is gonna read it. but if you are, i'm sorry in advance.

ahaha. about merch. did you notice how they just continue to promote the calendar and the catboy sweater even though the initial release and promo had a deadline aka till December 1st? this is a fishy marketing right there. and i would love to know: why they did what they did (i'd assume they printed more calendars than people ordered by Dec 1st, but that's not our problem as customers. we shouldn't have been put into a framework in the 1st place if there was a chance for this shit to go south. this theory goes against the "pre-order" with a start of shipping in 2-3 weeks); why their managers allowed it (from a legal perspective); and why dnp didn't say anything. anyways.

i do think that Dan is trying to compensate for wad losses. and i know that he was "joking" about not making money or making negative money on tour. but i saw ticket sales a day before each show (only public information, not the inside official data from venues), it's still on my blog. and the sales didn't look good. so, how much of it was a joke? and compensating by making content that we and they enjoy isn't a bad thing, btw! i also think that he feels guilty for leaving us and the dnp brand behind for so long without actually giving us anything in return. thus so many comments on this 5-year hiatus and potential future ones. blame youtube originals, i know. not really his fault, but his choice of (the lack of) communication is his fault. and again, i always come back to wad. something fucking clicked in his head when he saw not as many people as he hoped for (or expected), how dedicated were some of those who still supported him during wad, and also he realised that without stronger managers he was not gonna make it solo. and he dragged Phil along because they do everything together and only then it works the best, and also dnpg's return in full force needed new energy for the amount of sponsorships they decided to do (i think, it's mainly Phil's pushing, because he is pro-sponsorships, they just need to be more careful with it on dnpg because Dan (hopefully) has principles when it comes to this. which is amazing. you go, girl!)

i'm very suspicious of dnp's new management right now. so idk. i think, again, most of it comes from Phil, because Phil thrives on their gaming channel, and that's basically the only easy way to survive on youtube and make money right now (for him). i'm glad dnp separated dnpg from their solo careers at least on the management and content levels. it gives Phil the room to use dnpg as a brand to pitch and fund his ideas/projects if it's ever needed. and now, after we survived the hiatus, they can pause dnpg for a couple of months to focus on their solo projects without losing the majority of the audience because technically we would know the reason and also we grew a thicker skin.

i do think that Dan is using dnpg to later help himself with a stand-up special or tour or some sort of series (danisnotokay). i also think he will use it to promote wad dvd (which is good. i will be disappointed if he doesn't use dnpg. like, bitch, why are we even here then? those who went through wad with him, i mean). i wonder if Inter Talent (i'm separating their name intentionally at his point because they piss me off) was smart enough to announce Dan and Phil's signings 2 weeks after UTA announced Dan to just make us pay attention to Dan's solo career again. as a hint of something coming our way. you know what i mean? i wonder if it was intentional. like UTA made a huge announcement, Dan retweeted it and posted it on instagram stories. it was a big deal. meanwhile, dnpg began thriving again and our eyes were on Dan anyway, so of course we noticed that solo career was on the maps again. Inter Talent was basically silent as another representative of Dan (and Phil), despite having them on the website for at least a month. and now 2 weeks after UTA's announcement (which was on November 22, 2023) Inter Talent was like, "hello? do you remember we signed Dan? and also Phil, and their joint channel?" Dan said wad dvd is almost cooked. wouldn't it be genius to stir our interest up step by step? (a part of me still thinks that Inter Talent's social media managers are just slow as fuck though. also they don't even care to check facts about their clients. UTA didn't fuck the announcement up like that, btw. and i doubt Inter Talent realises how nosy dnp's audience is, and that we are very likely gonna notice and spread even this stupid announcement. maybe they are dumb and it's me who is a fucking genius planning steps to present wad dvd to the masses, ugh. when will Dan pay me, like for real.)

i'm surprised you don't think it's heavily connected to new projects. i would bet my kidney it does. Dan will fuck off the moment he needs to focus on danisnotokay or someone offers to sponsor another tour (which, please, someone do. i need to see him for professional reasons). the question is, fuck off for how long and if it's gonna be communicated thoroughly or not. i'm not saying he will leave for 6 months without giving us something in return to balance things out. no, no, no. i don't think he would dare. but 3-4 weeks, maybe 2 months? sure.

is it true revitalized passion? well. *nervous laughter* i'm gonna defend Phil like i'm a phillie, even tho i'm not. he wanted it just as much as we did. so i believe it's a true revitalized passion at least on his part. i hope he fights for it if it's necessary, i hope he asks us for help if needed. i hope he threatens Dan with an actual divorce and forever home if needed. like, bitch, if there's a chance to keep dnpg alive without Dan actually losing his will to live, we should use that chance. Dan's stubbornness and delulus are not the reason to kill the most fun and profitable thing they ever created aka dnp brand. let it exist, even if alongside solo projects, even if it's 2-3 videos a month. damn, even 1 video (i don't mean during pauses made specifically for the peaks of solo projects). i do think Dan enjoys the attention, money, and possibilities their returned audience can give him. he also enjoys working with Phil. he certainly does not enjoy promoting their videos. and he is lucky he has Phil for that. is it a true passion for the gaming channel and joint branding solemnly? i genuinely don't think so. now, this dnp brand puts Dan into a framework, unfortunately. and i understand his desire to grow as a "strong independent Dan", and i wish him the best. i will root for him no matter how much of a floppy-ding-dong it can potentially be. i want him to fulfill his dreams and have a team that will fight for his interests. and i hope to god, UTA and Inter Talent are the ones. don't fucking tempt me with your unprofessionalism. but do i think Dan's head and heart belong to dnpg or dnp brand? no. i'm happy that he is at least trying. a part of me doesn't even care about the reason. i'm curious, but in hindsight, it wouldn't matter or change anything.

other thoughts, because apparently i decided to vomit on a keyboard tonight:

i'm glad dnp took back a bit of control over the editing on dnpg. i hope they will try to edit more themselves when gamingmas is over. or they will teach their editors better. because man, we need to slow down with these cuts.

i do think that dnp brand will expand, and dnpg and merch aren't the only things we should expect. (twitch, podcast or liveshows, onlyfans or its equivalent, vlogging series not limited by ditl, and other things that i forgot). reaction videos are already a thing and it's very funny because it's what youtube wants, so Dan must feel amazing right now falling for it :)) it's good thought because it's fun and torture for all parties involved.

i think by these reaction videos they are trying to rewrite their internet history a little bit for those who are new. it's not gonna work with us but at least dnp can control the narrative in new people's heads (i wonder for how long though).

with new people, the phandom will become more generic and dnp will love that. it can actually help Dan with new projects i think. Phil as well, but we don't know shit about it right now.

i wonder if Dan returns to working with charities.

if they involve more phannies, not only artists, it's gonna be interesting.

in case i'm wrong, don't step on my neck, i don't know anything for a fact. half of it is alleged, the other half is wishful thinking <3

#answered #wad #wad dvd #inter talent #uta #dan and phil #ahahah suffer yall #dnpgames #dan and phil's merch

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blortch · 7 months

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Best of the Worst: Junka 4 Description

Best of the Worst is BACK! After an embarrassing Halloween booze fest, we decide to stack up the old black spine tapes and play a game of Junka™! Heaven and help us!! This time legendary Hollyweird celebrity Milwaukee Culkin appears from behind a wooden thing. When he's in town he's known as Milwaukee Milwaukee Culkin Culkin (legal name change). What’s Junka™ you ask? Well I’m glad you didn’t. Junka™ is a game where we stack up tapes in rows of 7 or 8 or something like that. I think 7. I don't care. And then pull tapes out, replacing them on the top of the pile with a spray painted tape. We used to use Nukie tapes until we put them all in a wood chipper. Now they is dust. Rich “The Barf Bag” Evans joins Mr. McCulkin in a pointless battle of tapes, wits, and skills that's certain to be more difficult than Celebrity Jeopardy! While the last winner was Tim, he wasn’t around so we had Rich Evans battle Milwaukee. Milwaukee came prepared though. Bolstered by a healthy dose of Ego and anti-shaky hand medication, Milwaukee plans to defeat Rich “The Diaper Clown” Evans in this battle, thus forcing the gang (including himself) to watch ALL the tapes he was pulled out of them Junka™ pile. This is, of course, after the pile has fallen and a winner is declared. This game doesn't make any cents! A new feature will also be added to Junka™ it’s called Poach-a-Pick™. This exciting new feature allows the winner to choose tapes from the loser’s pile for added misery! Ow! My Bladder! This spine-tingling episode also stars Jay “The Creep” Bauman and Mike “Lardo Boozer” Stoklasa as he eyes up the prize of the day: more beer to soak into his brain during the screening and subsequent discussions. You see, Mike once had a sweatshirt that said “I’m just here for the boos” with a photograph of a ghost on it. While a delicious pun indeed, this shirt harbored the terrible truth that Mike is truly just there “for the booze”. Mike films with the camera as does Jay and then makes the jokes, but really he’s there to consume so much alcohol he has to be carried up the stairs to his bedroom by several fire fighters. Jay also gets carried up to his bedroom by several fire fighters, but that’s for a totally different reason. Can Rich “The Adult Toddler” Evans defeat Mack is Back with the Hacks Culkin? I mean Milwaukee Culkin? I don’t know. You tell me when the first segment of the video is over. I know the answer already. I put my bets on Rich "The Man-Ape" Evans. While he appears oafish and dumb, this kid does have skills with his hands, cock, and sharp mental focus. MaClunken Culkin has that star-power though, which may intimidate a mentally decrepit witless circus freak like Evans (46-year old toddler). Now, the thing with Junka™ is that while the pile is large and we do watch EVERY tape we doesn't always place them on the table to talk about. Only the best are selected. This is the danger with watching a bunch of rando tapes. However, these boys are professionals and can usually talk about anything. They power through their injuries. Rich's back hurts him 24/7. Jay just wants to be home watching weirdo movies with his cats. Mike drinks to forget and Magulkin Milwagon McCulkin counts the seconds down to when he can return to the warmth of Los Angeles where he doesn't have to smell the rotting stench of failure bellowing from three mid-west losers.

#rlm #mike #jay #rich #macaulay #blortchmod #just wanted to erm. highlight... whatever is going on here

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itsnothingofinterest · 11 months

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So, overall thoughts on 393 & predictions for 394:

I really liked 393 for the most part. I do have one gripe/concern with the current situation (and I’m gonna talk a lot more about that than anything else; that’s just how the internet is sometimes); but overall I really liked a lot of what this chapter did.

First off, the flashback to the League; the camaraderie, the stupid jokes, Dabi being a pretentious jerk who thinks these people aren’t his friends when they totally are. It’s all just *chef’s kiss* perfect, no notes. Other’s have gushed enough for this scene and analyzed all the interesting things it says about these characters so I’ll just add:

“Dudes...Being Dudes!” Can’t believe I didn't see that until now.

But moving on from the “dudes”: Uraraka has earned my praise for having done easily the best to reach out to her villain of any hero kid in the entire arc; not least of which because she’s the only one having any back and forth, and because she seems to be genuinely trying to help Toga. Uraraka’s position isn’t quite perfect, still room to improve for reasons we’ll get too; but she has by far done the best at talking to her villain out of the entire class thus far. Her blood offering™ especially is really big for Toga.

Although, briefly moving on to predictions for the next chapter: my hottest take of a theory is that...I’m honestly not sure how Toga will take Uraraka’s offer. Because having someone in her life who understands her and is willing to offer her blood was, once upon a time, everything Toga ever wanted. But now there’s a bigger question on her mind that Uraraka hasn’t really answered properly yet.

What will she do with Toga? What will happen to Toga if she goes along with whatever Uraraka wants her to do now?

This is basically my biggest and only remaining concern for this plot-line: Toga still absolutely believes she’ll be sent to death row if she’s captured, and her prospects genuinely don’t look good from an objective view. And when Toga brings this up, Uraraka…doesn’t really go against her claim. I mean she makes clear she doesn’t want to murder Toga like Hawks did Jin; but her still going to death row seems a part “the obvious truth for both of [them]” and she “can’t wipe [Toga’s] slate clean”. So what will/can she do for Toga’s very real fear for her life?

It's possible Uraraka doesn’t have any good answer for that. I know some readers are interpreting the dialogue to think she does, that she’ll keep Toga from going to prison if Toga gives up; but putting myself in Toga’s shoes, it doesn’t sound like she’s willing or ready to go against the legal grain like that. And if she doesn’t then, for as much as she’d like that lifetime’s worth of blood, Toga may not give up here if she thinks her lifetime will be a few weeks that way. Heartbreaking as that’d be for her. (Which makes the drama queen in me consider this outcome even more.)

And also just in general, when the Todoroki’s fumbled saving Dabi as bad as they did; I can’t help but doubt Ochako’s chances of fully reaching to Toga in turn just a little.

Although…all that being said; Uraraka’s specific terms on the blood offering™ aren’t for Toga’s surrender. That’s just all of us reading between the lines, and maybe even jumping the gun. Ochako is asking to talk about love, so there may be a twist to expectations there where Toga still fulfills her end of the bargain without just giving up the fight for her life in exchange for blood.

What might come from that I can’t say. Well besides maybe discussing Uraraka’s feelings for Deku but I don’t know anything interesting that’d come from that. Although, maybe it’ll come back around to Toga’s fear for her life if she brings up her loved one, Twice, getting killed by a hero and who Toga is trying to avenge. And maybe this’ll get Uraraka to contemplate the kind of double standard she & her side have been applying to which actions warrant consequences. I mean if Hawks & Endeavor got off scot-free for their wrong doings (not to mention the currently ongoing Operation: Kill Shigaraki); maybe being lenient with the League in turn would be fair. That’s one way I think their conversation could go anyway.

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darkstarofchaos · 4 months

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For the character ask game, I'm not sure how many numbers you're willing to do for a single ask, so you can just do as much as you want from this. For Prowl - 2, 3, 7, 8, 12, 15, 16, 23, 25

I don't mind a bunch of numbers! Gives me an excuse to ramble, lol. And to rant, because Prowl deserves better.

2: Favorite canon thing about this character?

His willingness to look Optimus in the face and tell him he's being stupid, and to do his own thing to mitigate the stupidity if he has to. Mostly applicable to IDW, but Optimus needs a foil so badly in G1 that I've pretty much transplanted it into G1 Prowl when I write him. Not in its entirety, because G1 Prowl isn't IDW Prowl, but I like that he has his own opinions on tactics and morality and doesn't just go with the Autobot collective. His job is not to be a yes-mech; it's to keep people alive and win battles. If his commander is making stupid decisions, what benefit is there in standing back and letting it happen?

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

Making the police car an actual cop was the most boring decision anyone could have made. In stories where the Cybertronians choose their alts, especially, there are so many more interesting things you could say about his character by giving him a pre-war job that's completely unrelated to his Earth alt. For example, I like to think he chose it for tactical reasons: it's a common black and white vehicle, thus perfect as a disguise, and the sirens let him "legally" break Earth traffic laws in an emergency. It's far more interesting if his alt is a result of strategy and reasoning instead of, "I guess I'll take the one that matches my old job description."

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

I like that people took the little tidbit about Prowl having trouble with the unexpected that has exclusively appeared in two bios (that I'm aware of) and made it reasonably common. Would be really nice if they treated it seriously instead of making it comic relief, but maybe it does get treated more seriously these days. I don't read a lot of Prowl fic.

Let's talk about why.

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

The image compilations of Prowl getting punched. The prick jokes that litter every TF Wiki page for every G1-based Prowl. The fanfics where Prowl is an uncompromising jerk or straight-up hate sink because the author needed a mean Autobot. The conversations and hypotheticals that make Prowl the source of any amoral action the Autobots take. The people who distill him down into Essence of Asshole and strip out every positive or sympathetic quality he has.

"Prowl gets villainized for being sensible" is one of my most hated fanfic tropes. Grab just about any fic where a Decepticon defects or earns the Autobots' sympathy in some way, and Prowl will be the only one who's unhappy with the situation. Which is perfectly reasonable because that is an enemy and he has no reason to trust them, let alone like them. But because we're supposed to sympathize with the Decepticon, that makes Prowl the villain. The other Autobots aren't naive and unreasonably forgiving, Prowl is just a bad person.

And it's not just IDW fics. G1 Prowl didn't get a whole lot of screen time, and thus no chance to develop his own personality, so he gets slapped with the same portrayal. Never mind the fact that when he does show up, he's one of the nicest characters - sure, he gets in on trash talking the Decepticons (though far less than some of the Autobots), but he's always helping out around base, shows concern for others, and pretty much stays out of interpersonal conflict. And yet, in stories based on a cartoon that has Powerglide, Gears, Cliffjumper, and Optimus Prime himself, I am expected to believe Prowl is the Autobots' resident jerk. Not gonna happen.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

As I mentioned earlier, it's kind of quasi-canon that Prowl has trouble dealing with the unexpected. It's never appeared in any actual media, but it does come from official sources, so I wouldn't call it a headcanon. But I do headcanon that he has some pretty severe anxiety in dealing with people because of it. Things like math and physics are reliable; if something doesn't do what you expect it to, it's because you lacked information, and you can remedy that. You can update your calculations based on the results you actually got, or try to find out what you were missing the first time. Given enough data, you can predict just about anything as long as the results are consistent.

People are not consistent. You can make some sweeping generalizations about them based on categories - social groups, behaviors, readily obvious personality traits - but you can never say with certainty that someone will react in a specific way to something. Once you've known them for a while, you start to understand them and can anticipate them with a reasonable degree of accuracy, but that's assuming their behavior is genuine and consistent. If they're messing with you or pretending to be something they aren't, your data is inaccurate, and you can't correct it unless you know it's inaccurate.

People are the only things in the natural world that can deliberately give you false data about what to expect from them. So yes, I think Prowl has social anxiety. And probably some form of people-centric agoraphobia or anthropophobia.

(I also headcanon him as biromantic asexual. It has nothing to do with the above, and actually predates the anxiety headcanon).

15. What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

If I had to pick just one pairing, I guess I would say Jazz/Prowl. Which is ironic, because for a long time, it was one of my least favorite Prowl pairings. Not because it was particularly objectionable; it was just everywhere, and I couldn't see it working. I think of Prowl as the kind of person who needs a steady, reliable partner who will let him have his routines and respect his desire to plan things before doing them, and Jazz's thing is more spontaneity and flexibility. He seemed like one of the worst partners for Prowl, especially with how I developed Prowl's disorders over the years.

In the end, though, that spontaneity is what brought them full circle to a pairing I can support. Because I do think Jazz would be willing to compromise and accommodate for Prowl's needs, and that Prowl could eventually trust that he's not going to suddenly change how he acts around him. It's a rather tenuous case of opposites attract, and requires patience from both parties, but I can see it working now.

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

First, an honorable mention goes to my immediate impulse, which was Constructicons/Prowl. I get why people want IDW Prowl to have someone on his side, and I don't think the Constructicons meant any harm. But Prowl was forced into the team through a series of traumatic events, the Constructicons like him for things he hates about himself, and being a part of Devastator seems to have contributed to his psychological decline. It wasn't a good or healthy situation for him, and I feel like the Constructicons having romantic feelings for him actually makes it more uncomfortable for me.

That being said, I'm going to have to go with Optimus/Prowl as my absolute least favorite ship. Optimus is very strongly motivated by morality and will generally take what he perceives to be the most moral action in a given situation. Pair that with someone like Prowl, who is willing to cross lines when he feels he has to, and you already have a relationship on rough ground. The only way things can work between them is either for Optimus to accept Prowl's "moral failings", or for Prowl to change a fundamental part of himself. There is literally no option that doesn't require one of them to compromise their principles or change who they are. And since Optimus isn't the kind of person who will do that, the only hope for a relationship is to "fix" Prowl. And that gets into abusive territory, because Optimus has power over Prowl in both the physical sense and in their professional relationship. He also has social power, because because Prowl is unpopular and Optimus is exactly the kind of person you wouldn't expect to be capable of abuse.

And yes. For the sake of argument, it could be toxic from Prowl's side too. He could try to hurt Optimus by throwing his mistakes in his face, or by blaming him for everything that goes wrong. But Optimus has a great deal of confidence in himself and the support of pretty much everyone, while Prowl is isolated and already isn't proud of things he's done. He is far more vulnerable to abuse than Optimus is, socially and psychologically, and he just doesn't deserve that.

23. Favorite picture of this character?

Mmm. I guess I would have to say this one, since it inspired an entire story that I'm still working on. There's actually another one that I like better (which also spawned an in-progress story), but I'd have to do more digging to find the link for that one. Might do it later.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

When I started watching G1, the Autobots were just a conglomerate of near-identical personalities to me. Prowl was just one of the generic background bots who got a few minutes of screentime in one episode and was otherwise relegated to a support role. I was mildly interested by some of the fanfic portrayals I saw, but I definitely preferred the Decepticons, so I didn't read much where he was a main character unless there were Decepticon MCs too. And most of those fics were written by a couple authors whose endings were consistently disappointing, so after I stopped reading their stuff, Prowl just dropped off my radar.

Nowadays, Prowl is my favorite Autobot (well, second favorite after Skyfire). Thanks to IDW, I kind of see him as the Autobot version of Starscream (narratively if not in personality), but he's also a fascinating character in his own right. I love that he doesn't conform to the Autobots as a whole, he's fun to write and analyze, and he was the one good thing I got out of the IDW comics. 10/10 character, deserves better.

#transformers #Prowl #unpopular opinions

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yourlocalmechanism-dr-carmilla · 9 days

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Ill be talking abit about my trans experience, first some facts:

-i only want top surgery, no bottom surgery or hormone therapy

-my name isnt legally changed, sadly. I currently habe a first and a second name(more to my name later)

-i use he/they/it- i try it/its out so it may be temporary ^^

-i dont have a binder or tape(i meed to buy myslef tape goddammit)

-i luckily dont suffer from voice dysphoria or body dysphoria; idc about my boobs(they are a tool for me when i cosplay female characters, i am good at really drawing the line between character and me). Also i just want my uterus gone cause periods SUCK.

Sooo.. my sister was abit sleptical at first, as i wasnt the "typical trans guy" ..which was kinda not very nice, like i felt mot taken serious. And her and my younger sister did amde clmments "thats not very masculine" when i wore make up or "feminkne" clothes- they meant it as a joke but its annoying. I5 went quite quick with my parents, they adjusted and accept. But i jsut say i use he/him (as kn german tehre aint a term for they/them and i dont think they would go with it/its). Now i did had my fair share of names whuch i am not proud lf. Yes one of my current names is from a podcast i like- but my family outright refuses to use it. They use a outdated name i dont use anymore(not my deadname) which is like...it could be worse yet it still hurts. I think they will onyl avvept a name that "i picked oit myself and that ksnt from a fictional character i like" and then my dad ks like "you dont know who you are really..." which is like..oh thanks, now i have a identity crisis, well done! Or when he said that (the topic was therapy) "adhd isnt your biggest problem, you dint know who you are right nwo, you are in a transition" and its like..thanks parents. Hwo will i ever KNOW a name i like if you refuse tl adapt?theres a reason why i dlnt share stuff that bothers me with them, they wouldnt understand...atleast they accept my pronouns. Butnalso, thus causes me to invalidate myself sometimes...yea its not great

#trans story #transgender #parents #if you have any comfort do tell ♡

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redlettermediathings · 7 months

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youtube

#youtube #redlettermedia #red letter media #rich evans #jay bauman #gorilla interrupted #half in the bag #mike stoklasa #best of the worst #jack packard

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imu-chan · 1 year

Text

As the morning wound away into afternoon, Kyojuro considered, not for the first time, his good fortune that none of his family had ever been slain by demons in front of his eyes.

He was no stranger to death, nor violence, but both phenomena tended to haunt people, to float just out of thought, and kept their hooks in the brains of those they had victimized. While death hovered on his shoulder, violence had no grasp on him. He was grateful for that. He must have been in a very contemplative mood today.

With the exception of Mitsuri, he felt he was in a unique position among his fellow slayers. He had grown up strong, not because he had to or was forced to, but because he was strong. He didn’t have to do what he did, but that was why he did it. He wanted those who had no choice to have one offered. He wanted to be the kind of person his mother had been for him.

Sometimes, however, that was easier said than done. He may be an accomplished demon slayer, but his social and domestic skills were in need of a tune-up (or so he had been told).

He’d spent the morning recounting his last mission (his first since his battle with Akaza). Kyojuro had griped about it a little, how he wanted a challenge, and Senjuro had poked him menacingly with a kitchen utensil. Ever since he’d started helping and hanging out at Kocho’s, he had gotten much more talkative and confident. Kyojuro didn’t mind this, but he also didn’t necessarily need a 13-year-old sassing him on his own health.

Nevertheless, he acquiesced, and he and Senjuro had spent most of the afternoon out in town, Senjuro gathering ingredients for some kind of meal he wanted to make, himself picking up some Dutch historical texts he knew deep down he wouldn’t be able to read until he saw either Mitsuri or Giyuu again.

The two of them had become somewhat of a dangerous duo, the only Hashira with fluency in two languages, allowing them to gossip and joke without anyone knowing what they said. Kyojuro had to admit he was eager for the two of them to get along, with Mitsuri much like a sister to him and Giyuu with Kyojuro wrapped around his little finger.

Only Iguro seemed to be opposed (what else was new), as he hated sharing Mitsuri with anyone, especially Giyuu, who he hadn’t quite warmed up to yet. To that effect, the Serpent Hashira bristled every time he heard even a lick of Dutch from his sweetheart; even if it was nothing more than a simple greeting or exclamation.

Quite the opposite was true for Kyojuro, who unabashedly melted whenever Giyuu mumbled something foreign under his breath. Then again, Kyojuro would listen to Giyuu dictate legal statutes if he so desired. His voice, breathy and quiet as it was, had become one of Kyojuro’s favorite sounds.

He was jolted from his pleasant thoughts when Senjuro elbowed him. “Aniki, it’s almost five.”

Kyojuro glanced at the bundle of ingredients in his brother’s arms. “So it is! I suppose the rice needs to be started?”

Senjuro nodded, and not very subtly passed the bundle of rice, nori and noodles to his aniki. “Maybe.”

Kyojuro caught on and grinned. “And I suppose you have more shopping to do?”

“Maybe.”

“Is this you telling me to go home and make my world-famous rice?”

“I don’t think you’re the reason rice is world-famous,” Senjuro joked, but nodded again. “Please? I didn’t realize how many things I needed to get.”

Kyojuro puffed out his chest. “Say no more! Don’t be too late, now! And don’t talk to strangers!”

“I probably will.” Senjuro replied flatly.

“Stranger danger is a very serious social issue, Senjuro—“

“Good-bye, Kyojuro.”

By the time he had all his supplies, it was nearly six, and thus the youngest Rengoku hurried along the frozen path towards his home. His basket was heavy with goods, but it didn’t distract from the gentleness of the darkening night around him.

The market was only a few city blocks length from the Flame Estate, so it wasn’t an arduous walk in the slightest. Senjuro rounded the bend in the path at the edge of the woods, noting how much quicker the wind whipped out in the open air.

He caught only a brief glimpse of a breathtaking sunset sky before someone slammed into him from the opposite direction, knocking the basket out of his hands. Thankfully, it landed upright in the loose snow and suffered no losses.

Senjuro hadn’t fallen, but he had stumbled back a bit, and, trying to regain balance, his hands gripped dusty fabric. He blinked, took a look at the person whose haori he had caught hold of, who now bent forward, catching their breath in front of him.

“Tanjiro!” He beamed, moving his hand to the other boy’s shoulder. When maroon eyes lifted, however, Senjuro’s smile fell, and he felt a twinge of nerves in his gut. “Tanjiro?”

A dry cough. A small smile.

“Senjuro, hey,” Tanjiro’s voice wobbled. He looked fresh from combat, dirty and bruised, his uniform knees torn through. “Good to see a friendly face.”

“Hey yourself. Ara ara,” Senjuro inhaled quietly, his hand coming away from Tanjiro’s shoulder with a faint shadow of blood across it. “Geez, let’s get home, you’re a mess.”

Tanjiro nodded, and accepted Senjuro’s offer to carry Nezuko’s box. He scooped up Senjuro’s basket of goods, and the two set out on the final stretch of road.

“We didn’t receive your crow, I thought you were still on mission.” Senjuro hummed. “Did you run all the way here?”

Tanjiro shook his head, sending snowflakes off in clumps. “I passed out at one point. I think I ran into a tree or something.”

“Ara ara. I know you say you have a hard head, but you’re gonna give yourself another concussion.” Senjuro gently scolded, rubbing his dull fingernails back and forth over the leather strap of Nezuko’s box. Tanjiro cracked a smile at that.

“You’ve been spending too much time at the Butterfly Mansion, you’re starting to sound like Kocho-San!”

“I’ll be sure to tell her you think so.” Senjuro countered, enjoying the glint of surprise in Tanjiro’s eyes.

“You wouldn’t. Would you? Oh man, you totally would. I’ll be dead before dawn.”

Nezuko stirred in her box, perhaps turning in circles, as if defying the thought.

“I think you have half a shot with Nezuko-chan’s help.”

“I think you underestimate Kocho-san’s willingness to poison people.”

Senjuro laughed knowingly at that. “You’re going to see her soon anyway, from the looks of you. You know Aniki is a terrible nurse.”

“I guess she’ll be miffed no matter what happens,” Tanjiro frowned. “Um…especially with me.”

Senjuro glanced at him. “Don’t tell me you’re worse off than Giyuu-San? I figured he must already be there or something.”

It took a moment before Senjuro realized his own footsteps were the only ones he could hear crunching in the snow, so he turned. Tanjiro had his head low again, exhausted out of nowhere. Senjuro halted.

“Tan?”

Tanjiro’s fists clenched, unclenched. They began shivering, pink with cold.

“…you lost your gloves, huh?”

Tanjiro shook his head, began walking again, his face still turned to the ground. “I still have them.”

“Well then why — hey.” Senjuro grabbed his friend’s cold hand and made them stop again. “Did something happen to Giyuu-San?”

His hand was squeezed tight, grip more fierce than the cold. “He’s — alive.” Tanjiro shuddered, as if just now experiencing the winter weather around them for the first time. “But — I’ll tell you at home, I…don’t think I can repeat myself.”

Senjuro’s stomach flipped a little at the way Tanjiro was speaking, so quiet and worn. He wrapped his arm around his friend and hurried them as fast as was manageable back to the house, where his aniki was clumsily attempting to pour an insane amount of brown rice into a serving dish.

Kyojuro turned around as he heard the doors close, and upon seeing the boys, he quickly dried his hands on his black apron. His eyes, bright as usual, then became concerned, narrowing as Senjuro carefully set Nezuko’s box on the ground before darting out of the room to retrieve their stash of medical supplies.

Tanjiro looked like he’d been hit by a wagon, and he stood still, his breath still cold enough to puff into steam as he exhaled. He wouldn’t lift his gaze up from the floor mats.

Kyojuro took the two Kamados in as he approached them, already getting the heavy sensation that tonight wasn’t going to be the happiest of returns. Nezuko, adorable as ever, was snoring rather softly, half-asleep and dazed on the floor, her injuries all but gone thanks to her healing factor.

While he cared for her deeply, Kyojuro had witnessed her demonic battle prowess many times now, and knew by her sleepy state that she was no worse for wear. Her brother, however, was very human, required more care, and by the way he swayed on his feet, it seemed that something very unfortunate had happened to him on his mission.

Tanjiro was still shivering from his travels outside in the winter, and was stubbornly standing, not even reacting to the warm crackling of the fire nor the sound of Kyojuro’s approaching footsteps. He did finally speak, when Kyojuro was close enough to him for his shadow to catch the firelight.

“Kyo-San?”

Kyojuro folded down, balancing on the balls of his feet, and reached out to take one of his tsuguko’s frigid, scabbing hands.

“Welcome back!” Kyojuro began with his usual gusto. “Both of you!”

Nezuko rolled onto her back, and her little demon hand patted Kyojuro’s ankle in acknowledgement. Kyojuro sent her a smile, then focused on her brother.

“Tanjiro-Chan, I’m very glad you’re home,” he carried on steadily, keeping his voice low but warm. “What a state you’re in! Let’s get you fixed up, how about that?”

“Can…I need to send a letter first. To Ubuyashiki-sama.” Tanjiro croaked, sounding on the verge of collapse. His harsh breathing sounded borderline phlegmatic, which Kyojuro tucked away for later thought.

Kyojuro placed his other hand on the boy’s shoulder, steadying him. “Alright,” he answered, not pushing for more information. “We can certainly do that! Use your breathing first, though, you’re still bleeding. Looks like you have a broken rib that’ll need some mending as well.”

Tanjiro nodded, but his nose started to crinkle, so tears weren’t far off. He took in a deep breath, but his exhale slipped into a thin wheeze. “Hurts.”

“Forget Total Concentration, then. Just do what you can.”

Senjuro returned then, with a basin of water and the medical bag over his shoulder. He pulled at Tanjiro’s other shoulder to get him to sit, but Tanjiro didn’t budge. Senjuro began gently dabbing at the blood on Tanjiro’s damaged shoulder, and sent a cautioning look his brother’s way.

“Aniki, something happened to Giyuu-San.”

Well, that certainly sent Kyojuro’s gut into twists. “To…”

Thankfully, Tanjiro distracted him with his first small tears. “Giyuu-u-uu….” He warbled, blinking rapidly. “G-Giyuu got hurt. We got ambushed by an Upper Rank— Upper 2, in the forest…there were a lot of them…”

Kyojuro forced himself to keep calm. “Where is he right now?”

The dam broke. Tanjiro’s next exhale shattered the resistance left, sent him falling forward, into Kyojuro’s arms, his burning muscles giving out and his tears flowing fast. “Upper Two took him—he came out of nowhere—he wants something from — from — I couldn’t do anyth-thing I couldn’t get him out, hah, my sword…”

Tanjiro dissolved into half-sobs, letting Kyojuro and Senjuro smother him in a hug. “I’m so-sohorry…” he gasped, his throat closing, his lungs wheezing with the effort of crying. The hug softly broke.

“It’s not your fault. You mustn’t apologize. Tanjiro,” Kyojuro forced Tanjiro’s teary gaze to meet his own lone eye, sending goosebumps of realization down the boy’s skin. He made his meaning plain. “You are very, very lucky that you weren’t killed. That is not something to apologize for. It is the most important thing you can do.”

“But Giyuu—“

“Giyuu-San,” Kyojuro cut him off, even though his voice quieted a bit, “Protected you. That is the duty of a Hashira. If he weren’t with you…If either of you were alone…you’d be dead. But because you were together, you helped each other, just with your presence.”

Tanjiro sniffled, though he seemed to be calming a little. “I don’t get it.”

Kyojuro sensed a significant depth to this particular sentiment, and did his best to quell his own worries. He squeezed his tsuguko’s hand. “I’ll tell you later. You need some rest.”

“The letter—“

“I’ll take care of it. You’re not writing anything in this state, youngster. We’re going to pay Kocho-San a visit if your wounds start getting infected, so let’s not let that happen.”

Senjuro nudged him again. “Aniki, can you start a bath?”

“On it!” Kyojuro gently patted both of his little brothers on their heads before setting off to do just that. Senjuro pressed the wet washcloth to Tanjiro’s eyebrow, carefully wiping away the dried blood from a slash there.

“He’s right, you know.” Senjuro soothed.

“I know he is,” Tanjiro croaked, his heart feeling raw and small. “I wish he wasn’t.”

And, across the house, heart pounding violently, Kyojuro held his arm under running water, barely feeling it, and considered, not for the first time, his good fortune that none of his family had ever been slain by demons in front of his eyes.

He was grateful for that.

————————

Pt. 2 of Pretty Boy Down

I hope you guys like!

#kny #kimetsu no yaiba #rengiyuu #kyojuro rengoku #giyu tomioka #kamado nezuko #kamado tanjiro #kamado siblings #rengoku brothers #found family #angst #pretty boy down #my writing #demon slayer #rengoku senjuro

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fanonical · 1 year

Note

So in your mind what’s w the garudo? To me they seem to think presentation = gender way more than the other peoples.

But in your version what’ll you be doing? Sorry if this one’s a bit blugh

no, i think you hit it square on the head. there is some semblance of a gender binary culturally recognised by the gerudo (they, after all, interact with men all the time) but as of BOTW/TOTK, the traditional gerudo culture dictates young gerudo girls of a certain age move to Gerudo City, which forbids men from entry. that's how it is on paper, anyway -- in actual fact, Link can walk right up to the guards in front of Gerudo City, be perceived as a "guy" and thus refused entry, then change into women's clothing IN FRONT OF THEM, and be allowed in, whereupon there is nothing Link can do to be kicked out from Gerudo City other than change out of the outfit.

In reality, the Doylist answer to this is it's a videogame abstraction -- and the whole thing is rather transphobic & racist too; a lot of the stuff going on with the Gerudo is between "kinda" and "very" racist just in general. i don't know how to (or if i adequately can?) address all of the problems there in my fic? . "desert race of giantess middle eastern warrior women" goes pretty deep to the core with this one, and that's before you get onto Ganondorf. and the whole stuff with the crossdressing... look man, if other people thought the Vilia storyline was meant to be progressive or sympathetic, i guess i'm glad they got that out of it, but it felt like a big transphobic joke to me. i'm changing pretty much all of this, and a bunch of other stuff. i still think it's not gonna be perfect (not really for me to say how unsalvageable some of the Gerudo stuff is in terms of racism, but i think i'm gonna reach out and talk to a couple of my friends about it and how they feel and what they might do etc) but i'll be changing stuff, and emphasising the good changes Nintendo has made over time whilst rejecting the worse ones

one thing i think i will do on the transphobia front is change it so that Gerudo City will allow trans women inside the walls if we are actively performing femininity to some degree. now, this is of course transphobic too, but i think it's kind of interesting to explore a more complex situation where trans women are a recognised type of person, and by the official legal policies of Gerudo City accepted in as women, but because of overtly binaristic, cisnormative overtones to the society, culture, politics & history there are probably still quite varying reactions, responses to transfemininity etc. because, well, that's my experience in a lot of gendered/women-only spaces! and i'd love to explore that through Link.

i also think that just before the Great Calamity, maybe there weren't as many openly trans people across Hyrule, perhaps due to social conceptions about gender at the time; i think maybe in the pockets of surviving towns and cities and villages 100 years later whilst Link has been asleep, trans people have become more recognised and embraced to some extent -- including in Gerudo City -- but, like in the real world, the change is slow, and some people struggle to see past their preconceived notions about gender. i just think it's more interesting to relate aspects of a #trans Hyrule to the trans experience now (i.e. in a time of great cultural shift for trans people both for good and for bad) but also exploring how and why it would be different in a fantasy post-apocalypse lol. i also don't want to overdo it into a depressive circlejerk of trans misery, either though, so don't worry, it won't be like that, i am making sure to steer very very clear of this.

i do also have maybe some potential reasons as to why there's been a cultural shift on transness in Hyrule (and particularly Gerudo City) in the 100 years after the Calamity though -- and i'd love to say more, but unfortunately, i've already said too much 🤐 gotta leave soooome stuff for the fic, and i have to check some stuff against lore before i commit to it.

great question!

#trans hyrule

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roxxeatzgravel · 4 months

Text

felt silly so-

Introduction Post! 2024 editon

Basic Info

Name: Romeo (or Roxx) Age: 15 Gender: Genderqueer + Non-Binary Birthday: Feb|16th|2009 Pronouns: they/them + He/it Sexuality: Butch Dyke Ethnicity: Scandinavian + Plains Cree Nationality: Canadian

My other socials

Facts about me;

Since I was born on the 16 in Feb, I'm an Aquarius

I am 5"8” and thus taller than John Leguizamo, my favourite actor

I love 2 headcanon characters I think r cool as Queer

I kin both Queen Barb (from trolls) and Roxie Richter (from Scott Pilgrim)

I like to call my favourite characters (who I hc as gay) faggots. IDK why

I hate tomatos

I'm possibly Autistic, but I definitely have ADHD

My dog is old and stupid (/j /lh)

sometimes I like to use Z instead of S, just to be silly

DNI:

N$FW accounts

Cishets

AroAce deniers

Facist + Bigots

Z10n1sts and N@z1s

Wally x Julie and Wally x Eddie/Frank shippers

Pr0/C0mshippers

Butch/Masc/Stem haters we’re beefing

Femme4Femme only Lesbians all of my WLW/NMLNM content is Butch4Butch or Butch4Femme

LGB without the T supporters

Z00s and P3d0s

Zionists

Thin ice:

Oda defenders

Danganronpa fans

Montague’s 🖕🏼🖕🏼 /j

Cishet LGBTQ+ allies

MSPEC Lesbians idk how to feel about y’all

French People /j

Interact:

Queer/LGBTQ+ people

Butches, Mascs, and Studs

Sapphics and Lesbians

Juggalos and/or Juggalettes

Punks, Goths, Emos, and Anarchists

Furries + Therians

John Leguizamo fans

Neurodivergent folks

Artists any form

Fans of “Sorry Mom”

My fandoms:

ATHF (Aqua Teen Hunger Force)

Welcome Home Puppet show

R+J (1996) any other version too

ASTV

TF2

SHH (Strange Hill High)

Warrior Cats

Frankenweenie

One Piece to some extent?

My Welcome Home AUs

Trad goth Wally + Juggalo Barnaby

Thriller AU (WH)

Highschool AU

17 AU

Boundaries:

I am comfortable with;

Being called a Dyke

Tagging me in art (this is heavily encouraged!! Please tag me in any sort of fan content, I’d love to see it!!)

Being referred to with masculine, feminine, and androgynous terms

Being called a creature/thing

DM-ing if we’re mutuals

Romantic or sexually suggestive comments directed at my OCs and AUs if the characters are 20 or older

Headcanoning my OCs/AUs if it doesn’t diverge from the canon too much

N$FW content being made of the Thriller!AU and the Trad goth!Wally + Juggalo!Barnaby AU

Saying KYS in a joking way (just please make it clear it is a joke)

Please ask/inform me, before;

Creating N$FW or heavily sexually suggestive content of my AUs + OCs

Making AI bots of my AUs + OCs (especially if they’re N$FW ones)

DM-ing me if we’re aren’t mutuals unless it’s for a reason other than to say hi

Bringing up sexually suggestive topics, unless I have already told you it is okay (specifically topics that aren’t too heavily explicit, like mentioning sex is okay but please do not go into heavy detail)

Making sexually explicit (like somewhat detailed descriptions of sexual acts) comments about my OCs

I am NOT comfortable with;

Sexually explicit comments/asks directed at me or my personas

Exclusively using She/her for me

Fetishizing/making fetishistic content of my characters

People using my legal name online (please only call me Roxx, Roxxi or Romeo)

Have a good day, Be gay Do crime

#intro post

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ayuki-ikuya · 2 years

Note

I’ve read your ennead fanfic and i’m already in love with your writing😭 pls i need more ennead content 🫀❤️‍🔥

Tbh, I wasn't sure on how people would like Ennead Fanfic content since it's originally a BL, and people (specially in genshib fandom) that finds anything canon or close to being canon, will get offended by people making Fanfic that isn't GL or BL like the canon and will attack them for it.

While understandable, it is a FANFIC for a reason. A Fanfic is a person own interpretation which could be also seen as a timeline. By changing events to something else, it branches from the original to create something entirely different from what it was intended, which doesn't harm the canon version as it's all FICTIONAL.

If a person feels like their ship isn't getting represented, make the content yourself rather than bashing the people for it.

BTW, this is regarding about Yae Miko x Ayato and Yae Miko x Ei. I'm not a shipper myself because genshin is a fairly messy fandom regardless. Majority of the fights going on are literally going straight into "He said she said" fights. Lesbian Coded, that's fine, but unless explicitly said by the company themselves, it is merely there. And Proshipping (if you don't know is where an adult watches over a child until they are a legalized adult and enters a romantic relationship) is a common trope that is used in some fictions. If you don't like the content, don't attack or harass them about it. It's all fiction, they're simply characters that you don't know personally and they don't know you. Joke or not.

Anyways, sorry for my ranting, I'm just tired of all the shit going on in Genshin fandom about their ships.

Anyways, onto the ENNEAD content Anon has requested!

I'm gonna be fairly honest tho, I didn't know what fiction to write for ENNEAD, so I just wanted to establish who Apep/Apophis!Reader is.

Before I get straight into about Reader's character, I'm going to say that I combined Apophis/Apep with Nehebkau.

Nehebkau is a snake god who is considered a funeral god connected with the afterlife before they ended up considered an evil spirit. This god fitted nicely with the theme I had going on, which was Apep/Apophis originally being Nehebkau before ending up corrupted.

I'm just going to spit it out here, and I apologise, but you're name is going to be considered your sacred name, Nehebkau is your human name, Apep is your god name and Apophis is your fallen god name

Originally, you were named Nehebkau when you were human, but God had decided to bless you, and upon you reaching god hood thanks to Seth's curse and Ra, he renamed you Apep/Apophis.

Originally you had shoulder length hair that was the color of the sea. Although it was unfornately dirty since you were in poverty due to Seth. Now as a god, you're hair grew to the floor, and thankfully, you had managed to braid it to where it reached to the back of your knees. It maintains it's blue color, however, there is golden highlights amongst the blue.

Ra had blessed you with golden eyes to withstand the sun and see everything within the past in an individual along with being able to predict the future. This became difficult for you when you became god, and ended up wearing a veil to cover your face to obscure seeing the person directly despite the see through cloth. (The veil was actually made from the Ra's hair who found this amusing) You also have small faded blue scales around your body (underneath the eyes, your shoulders, sides)

Your headdress is much like the others except a cobra snake's head covering over your head with a veil hanging from it's fangs and sides.

As the story progresses, nearing about towards the end, you had accumulated a lot of chaotic energy to the point of no return. Thus, putting you in agony for days on end as you began to change, your hair had turned into a golden color, and the small blue scales are now fairly large and golden. You're eyes which used to be pure gold are now twinged with an amber red, resembling the sun. You had forgo the headdress and braid, your hair is moving and coiling even without the wind.

Even though you're a fallen god filled to the brim with Chaotic energy, you maintain rationality which is shocking as most who ended up becoming a fallen god, go insane and attack others. You? No. You are as calm and calculating as always.

Except, your aim is to attack Ra and fulfill your true duty as the true oppressor in order for Seth to become the hero. (And thus leading to where Seth protects the sun boat by fending off the snake)

And now onto you as a character.

In the beginning, you're shown to be a bit of an outcast, as there aren't a lot of snake gods, and snakes are often the sign of a bad omen. You're childhood friends with Horus, which is how you ended up meeting Seth when you were young.

When you met Seth again, you were merely watching from the sidelines, occasionally appearing alongside Horus or Isis depending on what fortunes you've have seen. So unfornately, Seth didn't have a very strong opinion in the beginning until during the trial as you were also an unknown god who isn't born a god.

both you and Horus undertook the trials together as one, occasionally splitting apart to do the trial in fairness. The trial you did was the water breathing trial. Which is fairly easy for you since you're pretty much a snake.

Unfornately, this lead to a draw as you both injured each other pretty well since your own ability is able to control snakes and able to shift into a snake. However, instead of a normal sized snake, you turn into a giant golden snake that reached across the entire Nile river, putting Seth under pressure as you were too large for him to take on, but because you haven't angered him nor cheated, he was particularly peachy, but okay with the draw if it was you.

The boat race turned to be the same since it's Horus.

During THAT night, you were in serious pain due to the chaotic energy you kept to yourself, and Horus offered you to sleep with him like you two did often when you were younger, which you agreed to since it would provide some comfort even though you're still in pain. (If you're a woman, think of having a cramp, but 10× worse. For men, think of a pounding headache but 20× worse.)

Horus became overly alert before you did as you were too focused in on the pain to notice anything. But when the covers were pulled off you, you had squinted to see who had lifted the blanket to see Seth there, staring at you.

But you turned away and ignored him with gritted teeth while you continued suffering until you were pulled on top of Horus and then yeah. NSFW content from there until Seth became fearful due to Horus being like his father and had unfortunately swept you along with him since he was still in you. And then so on forth with NSFW content.

I'm not gonna delve into all of it, but if you guys are heavily interested in this idea, I can start up a book on Wattpad!

#ENNEAD #reader insert #seth x reader #horus x reader #boo we hate osiris #ranting #mentions of ships

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ionlydrinkhotwater · 1 year

Text

TEARS WAITING TO BE DIAMONDS ESSAY BY @pap3r-cr0wn

It's long but worth it

Unearthing Diamonds:

Discovering the Hidden Storyline within TWTBD

This meta is based on my interpretation and reading of TWTBD, IOL, etc. Your mileage may vary.

I also wrote this while sick and during breaks at work, so I apologize for how rushed and messy it is.

Scope:

I will rely exclusively on what is written in IOL and TWTBD to support my arguments. I know that SRB has commented on her stories and answered fan questions, but I won’t be using those. Unlike her published stories which have gone through her drafting and editorial process, her responses to fans have not and are therefore, subject to change. Therefore, I consider only the published stories canon and author comments as highly persuasive, but non-canon.

On Elliot Being a Traitor:

Upon hearing the leader of the cart soldiers refer to the imprisoned dwarves as traitors, Elliot expresses skepticism towards the use of this label and invites the assembled soldiers, as well as the audience, to consider the following:

“What do we know about their trial?”

“Who’s to say they’re even traitors?”

Elliot Schafer in TWTBD

Thus, when the same label is applied to Elliot (in some cases, by Elliot himself), it should be remembered that the reader was encouraged at the start of the story to not simply accept the accusation of treason at face value. In fact, I will argue that almost nothing in TWTBD should be taken at face value.

On the Crime of Treason:

Treason is an attention-grabbing crime that most people think they understand, and, if the casual way it’s invoked by the media is any indication, almost no one actually does. It also has two dimensions to it: the legal and the political. I will begin by explaining the crime of treason from a legal perspective (both in the real world and within the story) and then I will move on to its use as a political tool. I will show that Elliot is not a traitor and that his admission of guilt is suspicious.

How is the crime of treason defined in the Borderlands? We cannot know for sure, but we can infer that the legal system within the Borderlands probably bears some resemblance to the UK legal system with some influences from Ancient Greece and Rome. Here is a quick list of text-based reasons for why I believe this is the case:

We know that within the Borderlands camp, most of the humans who immigrate from the other side of the wall are from the UK. The UK students, including Elliot, encounter no significant language barrier when they enter the Borderlands, and the nomenclature, slang, and even D&D-inspired surnames are reflective of UK/Western European conventions.

The sport of Trigon has its origins in Ancient Rome.

Adara mentions using silphium as a contraceptive in IOL which is one of the uses the Ancient Greeks and Romans used it for (among many other things).

Rachel Sunborn is an archetypal Spartan mother from those ancient joke books (I admit, this point is not dispositive, but I wanted to point this out because it’s funny).

NOTE: I will dispense with the treason laws in the UK that are tied specifically to actions against the monarch and their family.

For the sake of this analysis, the definitions of treason in ancient Greece, ancient Rome and the UK that actually apply to Elliot’s so-called treasonous acts in TWTBD are not so different that I need to deal with each individually. Instead, it’s more useful to look at their essential components to see if Elliot meets the definition of traitor under the law. For that reason, I will use the UK’s Treason Act 1351 since the elements of the crime are similar.

The Treason Act 1351 from the UK states that an individual is guilty of treason:

“if a[n] [individual] do levy war against [the state] in [the] realm or be adherent to the [state’s] enemies in [the] realm, giving to them aid and comfort in the realm, or elsewhere”. (I changed any reference to gender and to the King).

Elliot states the following in TWTBD:

“I’m guilty. Our side was wrong. So I gave away military secrets. I stopped a war. I’m a traitor and I should be executed….”

So, Elliot’s guilty as charged, right? Well, not necessarily.

Legally, the crime of treason is actually very narrowly defined, and, considering the severity of the punishment and the scope of the crime, it’s not without good reason. To quote the famous English jurist and judge, Sir William Blackstone in his Commentaries on the Laws of England and, specifically, on his commentary on high treason: “b[y] enemies are here understood the subjects of foreign powers with whom we are at open war.”

Incidentally, this is also how the term “enemies” (or sometimes “aggressors”), when used to define the crime of treason, is generally understood in many other jurisdictions (including the U.S.). This is why I said that most people don’t really understand the crime of treason because they don’t realize just how specific the set of circumstances must be for someone to meet the definition of treason under the law. Elliot states that he stopped a war so he certainly didn’t levy it against the Borderlands. Additionally, it is not enough for Elliot to aid a foreign power to be guilty of treason, he had to aid a foreign power with whom the Borderlands was in an open war, and textual evidence in TWTBD does not support that conclusion. Surprisingly, a key witness testimony for the Elliot’s defence comes from Prince Mark. While describing Luke, Mark says:

“The champion had brought a golden age of peace to the Borderlands.”

Based on this piece of testimony, we can conclude that the Borderlands was not in open war with anyone recently since that would be incompatible with the idea of a “golden era of peace”. We also don’t need to rely exclusively on Mark’s word either. If the Borderlands was involved in a war recently, I would assume that someone in the story would mention it (considering we’re in a military settlement, in a military-run state) or even make a passing reference to it. Recall that Elliot stated that the Borderlands was in the wrong, and that by passing along military secrets, he stopped a war. If we entertain the scenario that the Borderlands was in open war with a foreign power, and if these military secrets are so significant that possession of them by that foreign power can end the war, then Elliot’s actions either forced the Borderlands to surrender or resulted in a military loss. This is very unlikely. Aside from how dangerous this would be for Borderlands soldiers against whom the military secrets would be used if they were in open conflict (which Elliot would not let happen), it also would not fail to be huge news. Moreover, it would be odd for Mark to omit a recent military loss when speaking about the accomplishments of the Sunborn champion or even Commander Woodsinger, for whom he also expresses admiration. Instead, everyone, even those close to Elliot (like Myra) seem to have very little idea about what really happened. Elliot’s confession is also suspiciously lacking in details when he describes his so-called treason. Therefore, when Elliot says that he “stopped a war”, he means that by divulging military secrets to the other side, he prevented one from happening. This is the explanation that aligns best with the circumstances described in the story of TWTBD and what we know of Elliot.

But it also means that Elliot didn’t commit treason.

I can now imagine that some readers might reasonably point out that my argument so far relies on a legal definition of treason that may not apply at all in this fictional world. It’s possible that Elliot’s actions meet the definition of treason under the law of the Borderlands because it does not require the side to whom Elliot gave the military secrets to be in open war with the Borderlands.

Fair enough. Regardless of whether Elliot is actually guilty of treason or not (he isn’t), I will now argue that Elliot’s attitude of contrition and his confession of guilt are suspicious in light of the events of IOL and when the political dimension of the crime of treason is considered.

There are two salient incidents in IOL that illustrate Elliot’s relationship to the Borderlands justice system, the politics of the Borderlands and the state.

The first incident is when Elliot, Luke and Serene prevent a war between the human and elf alliance and the dwarves by stealing a treaty from Commander Rayburn’s office and showing it to the elves. In law, we have something called precedent. A precedent, in extremely simplified terms, is a previous court decision which is used as either a binding or persuasive authority to determine a ruling for a subsequent case involving similar facts and/or legal issues. Building on our previous discussion about the surrounding facts involved in Elliot’s so-called treason, we can draw a fairly strong comparison between the facts involved in this incident and what Elliot describes in TWTBD: the Borderlands were wrong, Elliot (along with Serene and Luke) delivered information to a foreign power, and they stopped a war.

When Elliot and company are confronted with how they obtained the treaty, Luke lies and says that they found it in the Sunborn library. Interestingly, the only consequence Elliot fears he and the others will suffer for what he terms as “technical treason”, is expulsion. Elliot also thinks this:

“…nobody wanted to discuss where the treaty had actually been. And nobody was going to expel a Sunborn.”

The second incident in IOL that illustrates Elliot’s relationship with the Borderlands’ legal and political system is Colonel Whiteleaf’s rebellion. Arguably, Whiteleaf’s actions are far closer to treasonous than anything Elliot does (levying war) and Whiteleaf’s reasons are far less sympathetic (entitlement and misogyny). As a member of the military, Whiteleaf is at least guilty of mutiny. Despite this, Whiteleaf suffers no legal consequences for mounting two violent attacks on the Borderlands camp and attempting a coup. Elliot uses the information he and Myra found about Whiteleaf’s family to blackmail the colonel into surrendering peacefully. While it’s annoying that Whiteleaf can walk away relatively unscathed from what he did, the system of the Borderlands protects people like Whiteleaf so he would have gotten away with it even if Elliot and Woodsinger attempted to bring him to justice. I think both Elliot and Woodsinger understood that the legal system in the Borderlands is a sad joke. This is why neither of them weaponized it when they had the chance. For better or worse, the laws of the Borderlands do not apply equally to all citizens. If you have the right last name (like Sunborn or Whiteleaf), even treason (technical or actual) can be hand-waved away. Instead, knowing that Whiteleaf would walk away from his actions without facing any real consequences, Elliot was able to eke out the only win he could get. In order for Elliot and Woodsinger to create a Borderlands where there is equal accountability, they have to play within the system for now. While I tend to roll my eyes when I hear things like “incremental change” and “working within the system”, it would be unfair to impose the way our world works on the Borderlands. Recall in IOL when Dale said:

“…the Border guard established a law that must be kept throughout the land, and enforce that law.” and “The backbone of the Border guard are the families who settled in the fortresses built along the Border itself centuries ago…”.

NOTE: Dale is a moron, so I assume, considering the many influences from Ancient Greece and Rome in the Borderlands, that when he says “centuries”, he is referring to a time period spanning thousands of years, not merely hundreds. While it is also possible that time is reckoned differently in the Borderlands, I doubt this considering the timing of the “school year” and Christmas celebrations align with our world.

Elliot has no choice but to work slowly and use the system since there is almost no infrastructure in place to support really significant reforms and even if there were, the populace of the Borderlands appear to lack any real political imagination or even political consciousness that would support huge societal/political reforms. This makes some sense when we consider that they have lived under the same system of military-run governance for centuries, under the same old families, and that, for those who come from the other side of the wall and who have lived under different systems than those of the Borderlands, they can always leave or turn to banditry. When marginalized groups in the Borderlands face hardships due to social inequality, their reaction isn’t anger towards the system, instead, they are socialized to view it as a result of a personal failing. Hence the defeatist attitude of the council course teachers.

This is why Elliot blackmailed Whiteleaf into performing a bit of political theatre because Elliot actually understands how Borderlands politics work. The people of the Borderlands seem to enjoy (and fall for) fairytales. Therefore, Elliot re-directed Whiteleaf’s (unearned) prestige and privilege into crafting a tale where a worthy warrior of an old family concedes to the superior leadership skills of his female rival-foe and they put aside their differences and a general amnesty is declared. It works. Not only does this stop the violence, but this actually helps to create a legitimizing story for Woodsinger’s regime as well as act as a deterrent to others who want to attempt a coup. It would be easy for Elliot and Woodsinger to give into a justifiable desire for personal vengeance (like when Adara tried to avenge Ben), but as we saw with that situation, this only results in never-ending cycles of violence and nothing changes.

Treason as a Political Tool

Treason is a political crime. Historically, it was used to legitimize and lionize the state. As a weapon of the state, it’s almost always ill-suited to purpose. When it is used in a court of law where the rule of law actually prevails, it usually fails because there are other crimes that fit the actions of the accused better. The main reason treason is brought up is as a form of political theatre. Usually, the times when people were successfully tried and found guilty of treason were when the treason laws were wielded by tyrants and/or in a climate where the rights of the accused and procedural justice were put aside in favour of high emotions and political fervour. A good example of this is how Henry VIII (and other English kings) used treason laws.

The Elliot Schafer we know has a healthy skepticism towards institutions, talks openly of revolution and, considering his cultural identity, probably has a justifiable dislike for zealous nationalism and capital punishment. Even if he was guilty of treason under the law of the Borderlands (and I still think he isn’t), he would be more likely to denounce such a broadly-worded treason law as corruptible and a tool for the state to exercise arbitrary violence on its citizens.

So why would he suddenly say out-of-character things like: “I’m a traitor and I should be executed.”?

Why would he offer his life to legitimize a legal system he knows is broken and biased?

Why would he want an execution to put an end to his dreams of peace and revolution?

Why would he want his execution to serve as a deterrent to others from doing the morally right thing when the state is in the wrong?

He wouldn’t. So, what’s going on here?

“What do we know about their trial?”

“Who’s to say they’re even traitors?”

Elliot Schafer in TWTBD

The Smokescreen

The interesting thing about confessing to a crime is that, in most legal systems, you avoid a full-blown trial and go straight to sentencing. Without a full-blown trial, there are no witnesses, no discovery process to find the facts of the case, and any on-going investigations are closed so that resources can go to other unsolved cases. I bring this up because I think it is relevant to Elliot’s case.

Here is my theory:

Elliot Schafer is not guilty of treason. He is guilty of a different crime and, in order to avoid the scrutiny and investigation that would commence if he was charged with that crime, Elliot with Woodsinger’s cooperation, confessed to committing treason in order to create a smokescreen to hide his true crime, a smokescreen he continues to utilize.

Recall what I said:

Treason is an attention-grabbing crime.

The people of the Borderlands lack intellectual and political curiosity (“…nobody wanted to discuss where the treaty had actually been.”)

People in the Borderlands don’t seem to understand what the crime of treason actually entails so they would accept Elliot and Woodsinger’s story at face value.

BOTH Elliot and Woodsinger understand the system and people of the Borderlands. They know that if Elliot says he’s guilty of treason, all people will care and gossip about is how he avoided execution.

What is the crime that Elliot Schafer committed?

What would merit a smokescreen like this?

The answer reveals the entire hidden plot line to TWTBD:

Elliot is guilty of espionage. To be honest, the type of espionage that Elliot committed may only amount to a misdemeanour, since the foreign agent to which he gave the military secrets was not an “enemy”.

“Confusion and misdirection were coward’s weapons…. Mark saw right through Mr. Schafer.”

Why would Woodsinger cooperate?

When Elliot has an emotional meltdown in Woodsinger’s office, Woodsinger says this to him:

“It is possible that I believe you might - might - have the potential to be even more useful than a capable medic,.”

In the Borderlands, Luke and Serene are heroes because they protect people and save lives. Woodsinger, whose politics are more aligned to Elliot’s than any other character in the series, recognizes that Elliot is a hero too. In fact, in terms of numbers, Elliot has saved more lives with his treaties and blackmail than any individual warrior could hope to do.

Recall that Woodsinger also appointed Elliot to be a teacher, which is a job he still has in TWTWB. Even before Elliot realized it, she was helping Elliot to plant the seeds of revolution and reform in the younger generation, before time could calcify their worldview. Even though Woodsinger is firmly fixed within the establishment, I think she is a revolutionary and a reformist herself and Elliot’s actions reignited that spark in her.

Basically, they’re a less problematic M and Bond.

Why would treason be preferable to espionage?

Elliot stated that he gave away military secrets. This raises a few questions: How did he get his hands on these secrets? How did he get the information to the other side? Who was his contact on the other side?

Even the charge of espionage would draw attention to Elliot’s and Commander Woodsinger’s operation. While it’s true that people in the Borderlands are shockingly uncurious, I think anyone would be curious about an underground spy network with potential connections to Commander Woodsinger.

Here is what I think occurred:

Luke and Serene were off on a mission, so Elliot could not rely on them. The Border guards were doing something suspicious. I assume they were doing something that would create a misunderstanding that could then be used to justify a war. Elliot had to act quickly to stop this, and so, his methods had to be cruder than usual. As a result, Elliot, Woodsinger and their contacts were almost compromised. Elliot and Woodsinger used “confusion and misdirection” to protect their contacts and their intelligence network by having Elliot confess to treason and claim responsibility for the entire thing. They were also careful to keep their story as vague as possible to avoid too much scrutiny. Woodsinger capitalized on the fact that Elliot confessed to the crime to lessen his punishment to exile. Elliot’s exile to Westering is now his cover so that he can get on with his real mission which is to run an intelligence network bent on achieving world peace, investigate criminal activities occurring in the more remote and lawless fortresses, and radicalize school children on the side.

Apparent Discrepancies in TWTBD:

In this part of the meta, I’m going to go through the story of TWTBD and point out strange moments, questions, and discrepancies that hint that things are not what they seem and also, that knowing how doors work is the key to unlocking (pun intended) the real story of TWTBD.

And don’t worry, I will address the Luke and Elliot thing too.

I will then provide my reading of the story which explains how everything actually makes sense.

The World Through a Keyhole:

We are told the story through the limited perspective of Prince Mark, a sheltered royal living under a rock and everything he sees is filtered through his myopic worldview and trauma.

When the story opens, he mentions that his nurse is speaking to him from behind a locked door. Mark also mentions that his key is the only one that opens his door.

The order of events after Mark opens his door is important and I will bullet point them here:

The door swings open;

Mark looks around and sees all the entrances cut off by his uncle’s men who are ready to kill him; “Mark attempted no escape”.

He pivots and kills his nurse.

Mark is attacked from behind and knocked unconscious.

QUESTION: How was Mark attacked from behind when he is standing at the entrance of his room that only his key can open?

When Mark temporarily regains consciousness, he feels himself being bundled onto a cart and one of the voices says this line to him:

“This is all I can do for you. Courage, my prince. You’ll need it where you’re going.”

QUESTION: Does Mark’s rescuer know where he’s headed?

When Mark recovers, he steals keys from the guard and feels ashamed about it. The text says this:

“A true prince would find a way to free his people, not only himself. A sergeant at arms helped Mark unloop the chains from around his chest and a private kicked him roughly off the cart.”

“Run fast, my prince!” shouted the sergeant. “Run far!”

QUESTION: Why didn’t they unlock all of their chains and then attack the cart soldiers and flee as a group?

It’s not as though each lock has its own special key (that wouldn’t make sense at all, and even if we allow for that absurdity, why wouldn’t they steal all the keys? Why wouldn’t all the keys be on the same ring?). Also, if they had unlocked everyone’s chains, it would’ve been easier to attempt an escape since all the dwarves on the cart are members of a troop and are capable fighters.

QUESTION: Why kick him off the cart and then shout about it?

They completely sabotaged Mark’s attempted escape.

When they arrive at Westering, the leader of the cart soldiers says about the dwarves in the cart:

“…. A troop of dwarves!….their king wants them to serve life for treason.”

QUESTION: Are we really supposed to believe that the baby-murdering usurper king is anti-capital punishment or something? Also, if the cart soldiers are soldiers, to which fortress are they affiliated? Obviously, they can’t be operating independently or they would be mercenaries.

Mark says “Surely traitors are executed.” when he finds out that Elliot was exiled for treason, so we know that in his kingdom, traitors are executed. So why wasn’t he? His uncle murdered all of Mark’s siblings-including his little sisters- because even an infant legitimate heir is enough to topple his plans. His uncle is brutal and thorough and yet he seemingly makes the colossal tactical error of letting a legitimate heir and a group of seasoned warriors out of his sight. Also, there’s no mention of the troop having any serious injuries, so are we to believe they surrendered and consigned themselves to slaving away in a mine without a fight?

The redheaded man had a ledger with him, and an extremely peculiar writing implement. The ledger crashed against the side of the cart.

QUESTION: Why did Elliot throw or smash his ledger against the side of the cart?

I know he’s melodramatic but what is this? He’ll even go so far as to climb the side of the cart too. What are you up to, Elliot?

Despite Arch’s offer to buy a few of the dwarves’ contracts, Elliot only takes Mark.

QUESTION: We know that Elliot ultimately saves them, but why didn’t he take a few of them anyway? Wouldn’t they have been helpful allies?

According to Piper, she was sent to the fortress with Elliot because she kept causing explosions.

QUESTION: Since when did that become an issue at the Border camp?

Elliot caused explosions all the time with his otherland gadgets.

Mark recalls this about the Sunborn Champion:

“Unrivalled in war, friend to elves and mermaids, hero of land and sea…. The champion had brought a golden age of peace to the Borderlands.”

QUESTION: So Elliot is a no-name traitor and Luke single-handedly brought peace and friendship to the land through the power of handsomeness?

It’s been seven years, so how’s the revolution going, Comrade Schafer?

When discussing whether Elliot knows the Sunborn Champion, Piper says:

“…but Mr. Schafer used to get letters from a lot of important people.”

To which, Illyria responds:

“Or does he say they’re from a lot of important people.”

QUESTION: How does Piper know about Elliot’s correspondence? Also, if she knows at least this much, why doesn’t she provide any names to help support her story? How would you know that someone is important if you don’t know who they are?

When Myra arrives at Westering, she is surprised when Mark refers to himself as a prince. Later, when Mark, Illyria and Piper break into Elliot’s office, they hear Myra say the following:

“-where could he be? asked Myra. “I have to explain. We never talked about the dwarven side of the family. We had a lot of impressive jewelry, but I thought perhaps that was normal for dwarves. I knew my parents married in spite of family opposition, but then- they weren’t happy.”

QUESTION: So what was the point of Myra in this story? To have her name invoked to gain the trust of a prince, arrive in person and have a disastrous interaction with that prince, feel bad about it, know nothing of her dwarven heritage and then, after feeling sad for Elliot, disappear from the story?

Recall that Myra says this in IOL: “We’re going to be sent to our new postings, and we have to decide where to apply.” and “I want to go live among the dwarves,…”.

This was an important part of Myra’s character arc in IOL. Her dwarven identity caused her a lot of hardship in IOL. She faced bullying and hid her face during the incident when the humans almost went to war with the dwarves. She mentions how dismissively Dale Wavechaser treated her because of her dwarven heritage. It was admirable that Myra wanted to live with the dwarves and to embrace that part of her identity and shed the human supremacist nonsense she experienced at Border camp.

I also refuse to believe that the Myra who helped Elliot investigate the discrepancies in Whiteleaf’s war stories (which Elliot used to blackmail Whiteleaf), would be so useless.

Elliot responds to Myra’s question about Luke’s letters:

“I haven’t read his letters. What’s the point? I know what they say. I chose to be a traitor to everyone. I chose the end of everything. I don’t need to torture myself past the end.”

QUESTION: But he’s still friends with Myra? What about Serene? Why is it only Luke who would care about the traitor thing?

Also, as I’ve established, Elliot is not a traitor, and in this scene, he describes a scenario which sounds a lot like what he, Luke and Serene did when they were kids.

When Piper finds a map she says:

“Mark!” Piper held up a map. “A days march from our Westering fortress is Deepfort. There’s a mine by Deepfort. Mr. Schafer noted it’s a gold mine.”

QUESTION: Recall when I said that knowing how doors work is important to this story? How did Elliot and Myra not hear Piper basically yelling out the details of their plan to storm a fortress when it is very clear that the kids could hear the literal emotions in Elliot and Myra’s voices when they spoke in low conversational tones?

“They (meaning the kids) froze on hearing Myra of the Diamond Clan’s voice, sweet and low…”.

Also, the scene immediately cuts to the kids at the fortress. Elliot had his hand on the doorknob (they saw it turn), so how did they get out of the office before he came inside?

When the dwarves leave the mine, a dwarven girl presented Mark with a battle axe that the dwarves made in secret.

QUESTION: What? How? Wouldn’t the dwarven prisoners be searched? Isn’t this a gold mine? What’s the axe made of? Gold? Humans wouldn’t have a weapon’s forge in a mine and certainly not a gold mine. Also, if the dwarves could make and hide weapons, why wouldn’t they use them to escape?

Also, the dwarves poured out of the mine after Mark shouts his family’s words (Light in the dark; clear as a diamond) at them.

QUESTION: Were there no guards down there? Aren’t gold mines deep and big? They may be familiar with the significance of those words, but how did they recognize it as a signal that they were being rescued?

Also, there is this line:

“Sword clashed against axe. Their cry rang out in defiance against the terrifying sky. “Light in the dark! Clear as a diamond!”

Mark also mentions that a Westering guard struck the axe from his hand, but the guard was killed in the next moment. Mark feared he wouldn’t get the chance to pick his weapon up.

QUESTION: So are the dwarves fighting alongside the kids? That would make more sense than Ilyria and Mark fighting entire groups of guards alone. But then, what weapons are the dwarves using to fight? More secret battle-axes? Again, if the dwarves had access to weapons, why didn’t they use them to fight the humans and escape?

Piper asks: “Can someone take me to materials I might fashion into explosives?”

QUESTION: Didn’t Piper explode two fortified doors and part of the fortress’s wall? Did she already run out of explosives? How did she transport all the explosives she used before?

“There were more soldiers than Deepfort ones here. The men of Westering fortress must have missed them far more swiftly than Mark had hoped.”

QUESTION: Why would they send so many men to go after three missing kids?

Elliot says this to Captain Arch:

“I’ve gathered evidence of you skimming off the top, selling off weapons and grain supplements.”

Then Luke shows up and Elliot says:

“He’s only committed petty crimes…. He and most of his men need to be fined,….”

QUESTION: Since when is arms trafficking a petty crime? To whom were they selling the weapons?

Elliot says this to Luke:

“This is my pupil, Prince Marcus of the Diamond Clan….”

QUESTION: Why didn’t Elliot just introduce Mark as a prince like this to the class at the Westering fortress? Why didn’t he introduce Mark like this in his letters to Myra and spare her and Mark the embarrassment?

“It seemed Mr. Schafer had summoned forces from the Border camp…”

QUESTION: If Westering and Deepfort are remote fortresses, how did the Border camp forces arrive at such a convenient time? Presumably, Westering is closer to Deepfort than the Border camp.

“He would have to stay, with his strange new friends.”

QUESTION: So Captain Arch and his men had to pay fines for their petty crimes, but they are still at the fortress, right? Aren’t things at the fortress going to be really awkward for Mark and Elliot? Especially with Captain Arch?

The big picture questions I have are this:

What do Mark and Elliot’s stories have to do with each other?

What was the point of Myra in this story?

What can we learn about the 7 year gap between IOL and TWTBD?

The Hidden Story of TWTBD

For the first part of this, I need you to suspend your disbelief since it will seem as though I am making things up from thin air. Stick with me, and hopefully it will all come together in the end. Also, if you find this a bit confusing, I will have a summary of my full theory at the end.

The Timing of the Coup

Unlike the rest of his family, Mark is the only one who did not have an assassin planted in his bedroom. His baby sisters had their nurses, his older brothers and father had lovers (no mention of his mom). Why would Mark’s uncle choose to make his move now when he’d been so careful to plant spies and assassins in his family’s inner circle for years? Why didn’t he wait a few years for Mark to have a lover? Mark’s little sisters were infants so even in two to three years, they would still have live-in nurses.

I have a theory for why Mark’s uncle felt he had to seize the throne when he did. The first answer is that the king (under the influence of certain forces which I will explain later) has been looking into the issue of dwarf trafficking. Mark’s uncle knew his name would come up

(“…dwarves this fortress had been collecting for years. Perhaps his uncle had handed some over”),

and his brother would turn on him. The second answer is that a troop of highly skilled, loyal dwarves who Mark’s uncle couldn’t persuade to take bribes and who he could not count on defeating were enlisted by his brother, the late king, to go on a certain secret mission. That mission was to allow themselves to be captured by traffickers, pretend to be prisoners and, when the time was right, they would mount a rescue. If one of his main obstacles to usurping the throne was going to let themselves be hauled off by humans, especially humans he’s had dealings with before, then he would he would take this boon and welcome. There would be no rescue and he would abandon the troop to their fate.

Why would the late king sent the troop of dwarves on this mission and who influenced this decision?

Myra of the Diamond Clan. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

Myra is a former council course student, like Elliot;

She lived with the dwarves for a few years after completing her training at the Border camp;

We also know, from what Mark realizes when he sees the dwarves at Deepfort, that the capture and enslavement of dwarves in human mines has gone on for years. It also may go both ways as Celaeno says in IOL regarding the human prisoners: “We could sell them as slaves to the dwarves…”.

We are not told what Myra’s job or rank is in TWTBD.

Elliot has been collecting information on the Deepfort’s trafficking before the story of TWTBD started.

There is more and I will also address what Mark overheard Myra saying outside Elliot’s office, but I will get to that in a bit.

For now, here is what I think happened:

Myra, Elliot and Woodsinger all have their own very good reasons to be ideologically opposed to the trafficking and slavery going on between the dwarves and the humans (a de facto slave trade with the label of penal servitude slapped on top). On the surface, Myra, like most council course members, probably performs administrative duties and accompanies military officers on official diplomatic missions and negotiations involving humans and dwarves. In reality, Myra, a shrewd and brilliant scholar, serves as a diplomatic liaison between the dwarves and humans as a member of Elliot and Woodsinger’s intelligence network.

Let’s assume that Mark’s rescuer (who probably used a secret entrance or passage to get into Mark’s room to “attack” him from behind) is in contact with Myra and knows about the secret mission the late king gave to the troop of dwarves. He knows the cart left before the coup started. The rescuer used the secret passage to sneak Mark out of his home (and probably changed his clothes so he wouldn’t stand out). The rescuer intercepted the cart and told the cart soldiers -and by extension, the troop of dwarves- about the coup, the dead royal family, and the new king. The cart soldiers needn’t fear reprisal from the current regime since the new king considers these dwarves traitors who should spend the rest of their lives in servitude…and also take this other, unconscious dwarf. Then he put Mark in the cart, where Mark temporarily regained consciousness and said his line (“Courage, my prince…”).

The Behaviour of the Troop

The troop of dwarves found themselves in a pickle. Not only were they unable to prevent the coup and save the royal family, but now they can’t go back home. Their mission is also in a state of limbo and they also have the last surviving member of the royal family on their hands. If they wanted to, they could use their skills to attempt an escape, but they wouldn’t. They owed it to their people and late king to see this mission through and they had to be careful not to draw too much attention to Mark in case his uncle found out he was alive and tried to assassinate him. On the other hand, if the humans in Deepfort find out that they have the last surviving heir to the throne, Mark would become a valuable hostage. The humans might offer to “take care” of Mark for his uncle in exchange for the uncle giving them huge amounts of wealth or more slaves or they might keep Mark and make him a puppet king through which they can exercise undue influence on the dwarven kingdom and incite wars all of which will only benefit the humans.

Unfortunately, Mark’s just a sheltered prince with poor self-preservation skills. He is clueless about the mission he’s complicating with his presence. He also fails to realize that his existence is a potentially destabilizing force for both the dwarves and the humans.

So the kid steals the guard’s keys and tries to escape.

The troop of dwarves don’t bother to unlock their own chains or try to escape because they’re determined to see their mission through, but they let Mark believe they are helping him escape. The truth is, Mark, who is unused to the surface world, would probably just get captured again, and if he tries to return home, his uncle will murder him. A private kicks Mark off the cart and the sergeant shouts for him to run. I find it odd and careless that the sergeant refers to Mark as a prince here, but considering that the humans don’t show any indication that they know that Mark is a prince, then the sergeant was either careful not to say “prince” loudly, or maybe he used the dwarven term for prince? I can’t really explain that part. Anyway, I do think the troop intentionally spoiled Mark’s escape attempt in order to keep him alive. Yes, he and sergeant were beaten, but better beaten than dead.

When the cart arrives at Westering, Elliot immediately goes on an anti-trafficking spiel, crashes his ledger against the cart and singles out Mark.

Elliot knows about the mission (he is working with Myra and he is investigating Deepfort, after all). He sees Mark, and recognizes that he should not be there. There is something interesting in how Elliot immediately asks Mark if he’s twelve. It is as though he suspects something about Mark’s identity.

Mark mentions his affiliation to the Diamond clan right away, but Elliot only interrupts him when he refers to himself as a prince, as though he wants to undermine that statement and use the interruption as a distraction. More importantly, Elliot says:

“Any relation to Myra of the Diamond Clan?…”. I think Elliot’s interruption serves a lot of purposes here. It deflects attention from Mark referring to himself as a prince and I think that by invoking Myra’s name, he’s not only making a connection with Mark, Elliot is also letting the troop of dwarves know that he is part of the mission, that despite all the setbacks, the mission is still on and that he and Myra will be in contact with them. I also think that Elliot crashed his ledger into the cart and then climbed into the cart on purpose. To the Westering soldiers, Elliot is just being his usual melodramatic self, but I think he used his opportunity to pass a message to the troop of dwarves.

This is why the troop of dwarves are so silent throughout this exchange, why the sergeant turned from Mark and why Elliot didn’t take up Arch’s offer to buy a few of the prisoner’s contracts. Elliot basically let them know that he will look after the prince so they can get on with the mission.

A Little Bird Told Me…

Was anyone else suspicious about the private?

“We’re not unexcel.”

“Unethical,” hissed a private at Arch’s back.

“Funnily enough, when systems rely on free labour from prisoners, many get unjustly convicted. That is, say it with me now-“

“Unethical,” murmured the private.

“…a private appeared reporting a tally of the grain delivery from the villagers.”

This private is absolutely Elliot’s agent. Arch thinks that the private is under his command, but I believe that this private (and I imagine many people in various fortresses in the Borderlands) are actually agents of Woodsinger and Elliot’s network. It make sense as well since there are a lot events that come up later that would require Elliot to have someone who is an insider (or rather, infiltrator) in Westering. Also, upon mentioning my theory about the private to my twin, ionlydrinkhotwater, she brilliantly suggested that this could be Cyril Leigh from IOL. I have no proof for this, but I want it to be true. Also, considering that Elliot made Cyril take out library books for him, collect letters for him, and was probably one of the people Elliot had in mind when he told Woodsinger about the people he terrorized into spying for him, it would fit. It doesn’t matter who this private is though, because what’s significant is that this character shows how Elliot’s reformist politics have gained traction in the Borderlands, and that Elliot has someone planted within Westering’s power structure who can assist him with his investigations. It also makes Arch’s posturing about being in command of the fortress even funnier.

Speaking of Elliot’s agents, I also want to talk about Piper.

Piper and Elliot came from the Border camp together:

“After more incidents at the Border camp, I was sent away. Mr. Schafer was exiled here, so it worked out.”

“Certainly more peaceful than before you came with your explosions, and Mr. Schafer was exiled here for treason.”

I am suspicious that Elliot allowed his student to be sent away for causing explosions when he used to do the same thing when he was in training and he was never sent away. As I’ve already stated, Elliot is not actually a traitor and I don’t think Piper is at Westering because she was sent away as punishment. Piper is with Elliot because she is his protege and spy.

Like Woodsinger, Piper shares Elliot’s political views and unlike most people in the Borderlands, Piper seems to possess intellectual and scientific curiosity. Where else have we seen explosions occur in the Borderlands? The wall. In IOL, Elliot mentions that he was probably the only one who conducted experiments with the wall. I imagine that Piper has taken over that project. It also makes sense that Piper would go with Elliot to Westering. Not only because of mutual affection, but because Elliot knows that someone less scrupulous may try to use Piper’s scientific (and destructive) talent. The last thing he wants is for her to end up part of a Borderlands version of the Manhattan Project.

As a character, Piper seems to know everyone’s business. She succinctly summarizes her and Elliot’s situation - providing very little detail - as if she was reciting the cover story she is supposed to tell. She also knows Ilyria’s backstory in detail as well and she is immediately interested in Mark’s story too. Piper is like Elliot, if Elliot was instantly likeable and enjoyed explosions.

Even though Mark thinks Piper is skeptical about his story about being a prince, on re-read, that is only Mark’s interpretation. Unlike Illyria, Piper never says that she does not believe him. In fact, her first words to him are: “So you’re from the dwarven kingdom underground?” after he went into his spiel. Mark does notice that Piper stares at him in a wondering manner, the same way people do when he talks about being a prince, but Piper stares at him and Illyria that way for lots of reasons.

“Piper stared at them in a wondering manner. Usually Mr. Schafer did this too…”

Also recall that Piper asks Mark if he knows why people stare at him when he talks about being a prince. Both Elliot and Piper are interested in his answer. It’s clear from this exchange that Elliot knows that no one believes Mark, so it’s interesting that he doesn’t “defend” his student who is being treated as a liar and, from what Mark says here-

“…being surrounded by disbelief made Mark feel as if it weren’t real…”

He’s getting gaslit constantly. Elliot’s reasons are understandable for the reasons I outlined earlier. I think Piper was instructed by Elliot not to talk about Mark’s real identity and to keep an eye on any student who might suspect that Mark is telling the truth and try to use that information.

There is also this exchange:

Illyria says this to Mark and Piper:

“Mr. Schafer started the rumours he has been exiled to teach in this fortress outpost for a grand crime.”

Illyria’s getting a little close to the truth and it makes Piper uncomfortable.

“I don’t know,” murmured Piper.

She also says this:

“…Mr. Schafer used to get letters from a lot of important people.”

Firstly, it’s significant that Piper knows about Elliot’s letters. Elliot used to know about Woodsinger’s letters because he terrorized (Cyril, probably) his students to keep an eye on them for him and report anything interesting. It is how he knew that Woodsinger had reached out to Calaeno. Either Piper is one of Elliot’s messengers or she is spying on him. I don’t think Piper is sneaking around and finding out about Elliot’s letters behind his back though, because if that was so, then why, when Illyria expresses skepticism about Elliot getting letters from important people, does Piper not name anyone? She could have said: I saw his letters. He got a letter from so-and-so. Instead, Piper stays silent. Also, I doubt that Elliot goes around talking about how he gets letters from important people, as Illyria suggests. That’s really out of character. What I think happened here is that Piper felt a protective urge to defend Elliot when he was being badmouthed and because Illyria is sort of right about Elliot pretending to be a traitor, but then Piper realized she may have said too much and clammed up.

Recall that Mark barely needed to convince Piper to join his cause, unlike Ilyria who he had to convince. Her politics are an echo of Elliot’s and I also think she knows about Elliot’s plans for the dwarven prisoners (I’ll get to that later).

Mark, Illyria and Piper made plans to break into Elliot’s office when the opportunity arose. The text says: “Mark’s chance came when a visitor arrived.”

What was it about Myra’s visit that created an opportunity for Mark and friends to break into Elliot’s office? It’s especially odd since Mark left the room in an emotional and dramatic state after his brief encounter with Myra. Not to mention that Elliot came to his office shortly after the kids broke in. It doesn’t seem like Myra’s visit was that great of an opportunity so much as that Mark was at the end of his rope.

Here is my theory about Piper:

Piper knew about the mission involving the dwarves. She knew that Elliot already had the Border guard stationed near Deepfort. She knew that the Deepfort prisoner revolt (yes, that was going to happen regardless of whether Mark was there or not), was scheduled to happen tomorrow. Myra showing up to Westering was the signal that things were a go for tomorrow. That’s why Piper is the one who suggested they break into the office. She wanted her, Mark and Illyria to be the ones who kickstarted the revolt: to save Illyria’s reputation and to let Mark be the one to help free his people.

When Elliot and Myra reach his office, the kids can hear their conversation outside the door with amazing clarity. Presumably, Elliot and Myra could hear them just as well.

Interestingly, Mark states that Piper “roamed Mr. Schafer’s office at random”. She is also the one who just so happens to find exactly what they needed:

“Mark!” Piper held up a map. “A day’s march from our Westering fortress is Deepfort. There’s a mine by Deepfort. Mr. Schafer noted it’s a gold mine.”

Mark assumed Piper was searching at random, but that’s only what it looks like to him because he doesn’t suspect that Piper knows any more than he does about where his men are. I think that Piper looked in seemingly random (but actually very specific) places in Elliot’s office because she was looking for the map.

Not only does she happen to find the conveniently-marked map they need, she even knew it was a day’s march from Westering. Also I guess Piper put on her best NPC-exposition voice when she said her lines. Elliot and Myra definitely heard her and I think that was what she intended (once again, knowing how doors work helps us solve the puzzle).

At that point, I imagine Elliot and Myra had to engage in some awkward and loud small talk until they were certain the kids had escaped the office. I will get to what I think Myra and Elliot did later.

We can’t underestimate just how smart Piper actually is. Recall that Piper set up multiple timed explosives at Deepfort without the benefit of clocks or gadgets. She had to calculate and keep track of the rate at which her fuses would burn and when detonation would occur for each explosive in her head, in the middle of battle. She is also both confident and unfazed during the battle at Deepfort.

Finally, I want to address Elliot and Piper’s relationship. Woodsinger made Elliot feel like his skills were valuable, his interest in culture and peace were valid and she used her position of authority to protect him and give him the space to use those skills to make the Borderlands a better place. I think it’s sweet that Elliot is doing the same for Piper. In many ways, Elliot is keeping the promising to Piper that he Borderlands breaks with so many other kids. Otherland kids are lured by the promise that they are going to be badass heroes in a magical fantasy land and by the time they realize it’s never going to happen, they are jaded and bitter. With Piper, Elliot offered her the chance to join his intelligence network whose goals are social reform, justice and world peace which she can help achieve by using the skills everyone else dismisses. Piper is misunderstood and a displaced orphan. She’s living in a world that’s alien to her and fears her skills. It says a lot about her and about Elliot that despite all that, she manages to be one of the most cheerful, kind and brave people in the story.

What’s Going On With the Revolution?

The thing about agitators, reformers and revolutionaries is that once they start to gain real momentum, they get a target on their backs. It seems odd that Elliot isn’t dealing with assassination attempts all the time and that he isn’t famous either. The Borderlands has had the same system of governance for centuries (and probably longer). The old families should be horrified by Elliot and Woodsinger’s reforms. In a world in which there is lasting and substantial peace, the power and influence of the military will fade, giving way to a new power structure (hopefully more representative and egalitarian). Elliot threatens the power of the old families. He threatens to destroy the only system they have ever known and the privileges they didn’t even realize they enjoyed. I imagine he isn’t only trying to create lasting peace, either. I think that he, and his students (many of whom would be adults by now) are tackling social justice reforms on various fronts: gender, culture, science, justice, etc.. Are some of Elliot’s students writing best-selling anti-war fiction? Are some lobbying for reforms to the justice system? Are Elliot’s allies trying to motivate the villagers to consider other forms of governance that don’t privilege the interests of the military over their interests? What about worker’s unions? The traditionalists should be worried. It’s not just the human power structures that are under threat. I suspect Elliot is assisting Golden with the suffrage-elf movement and as I’ve argued here, he’s also helping Myra to abolish penal servitude and trafficking between the dwarves and humans. Yet, the only time we see Elliot in danger is when he specifically places himself in danger.

So, is the revolution a bust? Is the reason that Elliot is not a target, or even well-known because he hasn’t accomplished anything and he isn’t really trying to do any sweeping reforms?

Hell no.

Firstly, one of the reasons the traditionalists don’t know about the revolutions slowly spreading throughout the Borderlands is that I think at this point, they are underground movements.

Secondly, the reason Elliot is not a known figure, despite the reforms that have already taken place, is because Elliot pins them all on Luke.

Recall what I said earlier about Elliot knowing the Borderlands and how its people think and how they love fairytales. Remember how Elliot handled the diplomatic incident with the Elf-Dwarf treaty and Whiteleaf’s mutiny. Luke is a universally loved figure in the Borderlands.

“Unrivalled in war, friend to elves and mermaids, hero of land and sea…. The champion had brought a golden age of peace to the Borderlands.” - Mark, TWTBD

“I wish you would not start a revolution” - Luke Sunborn, IOL

Luke supports Elliot, but he is not responsible for the Borderland’s age of peace, the alliances between the mermaids and humans, and the many other things for which he is given credit and which is almost certainly the result of the hard work done by Elliot and many nameless others. I also don’t think Elliot gives Luke the credit because he loves him or thinks that Luke needs even more privilege and credit than he already has. It’s funny that Luke is known as the Sunborn Champion and held up as the ideal Sunborn son when he is actually the outlier of his family. Luke is actually the ideal son of the Borderlands: a good soldier, non-political, respectful to authority, patriotic and brave. If America’s highly mythologized version of George Washington was real, that would be what Luke is to the Borderlands. Elliot is more than happy to wield Luke’s privilege because it’s effective.

Luke flattens nicely into an uncontroversial symbol upon which anyone can impose their preferred worldview. The old families see Luke as the ideal scion of the oldest family and advocate for their interests. Nothing Luke Sunborn does could possibly threaten the power and security of the old families and the traditionalists, because he’s their man and one of them. For the non-political crowd, Luke Sunborn is a fairy tale hero. Whatever he does, it’s good and just and there’s no need for any deeper scrutiny. For those who actually support political reforms, Luke is a valuable ally who is willing to look past his position of privilege and throw his support behind reforms that will topple the system that has always benefited him. Finally, for those who violently oppose reform and threats to the oppressive status quo, the threat of violence from the Sunborn Champion will force them to think twice about trying to resist. Elliot may be a pacifist, but he doesn’t force that decision on others, and in international politics, the fear of war and threat of violence is one of the inescapable ways to enforce peace.

With Luke as a symbol, Elliot and Woodsinger have a lot of latitude to enact significant reforms in the Borderlands in the background before the old families have a chance to realize what’s going on. This may seem dishonest and manipulative, and it is, but the Borderlands does not seem to have the concept of transparency in governance, and popular voting. The idea of a woman of colour in power almost sparked a civil war that only ended through when Elliot blackmailed Colonel Whiteleaf. The methods are not ideal, but we know that Elliot and Woodsinger are sincere in their beliefs and that the other side is not willing to engage with them in good faith (or at all, really), so they have no choice.

I also think it’s interesting to note who is known in the Borderlands and who isn’t. Based on what Mark says, Luke Sunborn is famous, Elliot is not, Serene is famous, Golden is not, and he knows about Woodsinger, but he didn’t know about his cousin Myra. I think this is intentional. I think Elliot, Myra, and Golden are revolutionary leaders and effective reformists, but they use Luke, Serene, (sometimes) Woodsinger, and (eventually) Mark as public faces to sell their reforms to the general public.

Maybe someday when there’s a Borderlands University, there will be students writing papers on how history totally erased the actions of marginalized people like Elliot and Myra and Golden, and then they’ll de-platform some Whiteleaf apologist who’s invited to give a talk in DeWitt Hall on why the Colonel Whiteleaf Library should keep its name and not be changed to the Cyril Leigh Library, because history. Could happen.

What’s Going On With Elliot and Luke?

“But life teaches us that sometimes we must make compromises.”

It’s interesting that Elliot has both a personal and a political relationship with Luke. For almost seven years, he was able to have it both ways. He could utilize Luke as a symbol for his reforms and also just have Luke be his boyfriend. I think the he knew this was a delicate balance to maintain. I mentioned earlier in this meta that I think Elliot had to take on the mantle of traitor to protect his job (his real job: revolutionary leader, political reformer, diplomat/spy) and those who work for and with him (his network and contacts). Elliot realized that his symbol, Luke Sunborn, should not be attainted by association with a known traitor. The balance was destroyed and now Elliot had to make a compromise. He either sacrificed his professional and moral integrity by staying with Luke and jeopardize everything for which he’s worked all these years, or he can end his personal relationship with Luke and maintain Luke’s public image for the sake of the revolution.

Elliot chose.

Except he didn’t. I personally believe that in the seven years they’ve had to grow and cultivate their skills, Elliot and Luke became equally hyper-competent at their respective jobs. Luke is a superhero and Elliot is a master of intrigues. I also believe despite the passage of seven years, there’s some strains of stupidity that are chronic.

If Elliot wanted, he could have actually broken up with Luke. Instead, Elliot assumed that if he went off in exile and stopped answering Luke’s letters, Luke would eventually end things with him. He also refused to read Luke’s letters to confirm this.

Does any of this sound kind of familiar?

Recall in IOL that Elliot believed he would be doing the just and valiant thing if he broke up with Luke. Then he didn’t.

Elliot didn’t break up with Luke during his exile and he didn’t read Luke’s “break up” letters either. In that way, he kept their relationship in a Schrodinger’s box-like limbo.

Elliot has integrity and sincere political beliefs. I think he is willing to die or endure any number of hardships for the sake of his beliefs. Elliot is also human. So it’s really funny that breaking up with Luke seems to be the one line he can’t bring himself to cross and the one compromise he can’t bring himself to make.

I think when Luke appears and Elliot can’t help but call him by the endearment, “Loser”, it was Elliot’s way of giving up on trying to compromise between his beliefs and his personal attachment to Luke. I also think that seeing Luke have a big hero moment reminded Elliot that Sunborn charisma is a law of nature in the Borderlands and Luke cannot be cancelled so maybe he shouldn’t overthink this.

I also think Elliot is absolutely overestimating the political acuity of his opponents. He’s out here playing 4D chess and they’re choking on checker pieces.

“But I thought you said when you’re an adult, you must learn how to compromise?” When he looked around, Mr. Schafer was grinning.

“I didn’t say I was good at it.”

Why Did Elliot and Myra Say That?

“I’m guilty. Our side was wrong. So I gave away military secrets. I stopped a war. I’m a traitor and I should be executed….”

If Elliot and Myra were having a private discussion together, why would they say these things unless they meant them?

From Mark’s point of view, Myra appears to feel bad about not knowing her dwarven heritage and embarrassing Mark. However, based on what we know about Myra from IOL, we know that it’s unlikely that she didn’t know about her dwarven heritage since she lived amongst the dwarves after her training and, therefore, she would have known about Mark and the Diamond Clan. According to my theory, she is also involved in dwarven politics, as well.

I believe, like Elliot and Piper, Myra knows that Mark is a prince, but in order to protect him, she had to act like she didn’t. She feels guilty about having to be cruel to be kind. Another way to understand Myra’s words is to remember that she is now in a precarious position… politically. If Myra and the humans recognize Mark and it gets back to Mark’s uncle, not only would there be upheaval such as I described earlier, but the act of harbouring a royal fugitive could become the justification for a war between the humans and dwarves. Mark’s uncle is also Myra’s uncle and Myra and her dwarven parent may be seen as either a potential ally to the usurper king (as a diplomat who can get the human government to recognize his regime as legitimate) or as yet another enemy he needs to eliminate. I read Myra’s words as her explaining why she never had the chance to become close to her late relatives growing up. She may also be talk about whether her dwarven parent is in danger, or concerned about what happened to their relatives, or even whether her dwarven parent could have provided any information about what was happening with the royal family that led to the coup. At no point does Myra say that she didn’t know who Mark was nor does she reproach Elliot for not telling her about Mark’s identity. Most of their conversation is about romantic drama anyway.

As for what Elliot says, recall that Mark doesn’t note any emotion in his voice the way he does when Elliot speaks in the rest of the conversation. I think Elliot is wryly going through his cover story for Myra to demonstrate that he’s made his decision and he’s prepared to live with it. That’s why these lines so clipped, matter-of-fact and detail-free and it’s also why he ends them with a joke. He’s not confessing his sins, he’s going over the role he’s chosen to play, which is interesting because he and Myra were part of a play back at school, so this can be a tongue-in-cheek callback.

Elliot then refers to himself as a traitor a second time after Myra asks about Luke’s letters and this time, Mark notes the emotions in Elliot’s voice. The reason is that when Elliot called himself a traitor before, he was being glib because he (and Myra) knew it was just a cover story. This time, Elliot isn’t confessing to treason against the Borderlands, he’s confessing to betrayal against Luke (and presumably, Serene). He chose his political ideals over the two people he loved most, so naturally, he feels sincere regret about that.

The Deepfort Revolt

“…. Mr. Schafer frequently became distracted from lessons to stick his nose in things that were none of his business: grain, armaments.”

I am going to go over what I believe was Elliot and Myra’s plan in full (the kids are not involved):

Myra, through her contacts in the underground dwarven kingdom, convinced the king to join her, Woodsinger and Elliot in their plans to end dwarf-human trafficking. The King sends his most trusted troop to infiltrate Deepfort where it is suspected that dwarves have been kidnapped and sold for years now. When the troop eventually arrives at the gold mine, they get in contact with Myra and Elliot and confirm that not all the dwarves are condemned prisoners (penal servitude is unethical, but it’s not necessarily illegal, unfortunately) and many are actually kidnapped and enslaved dwarves (both unethical AND very illegal).

Meanwhile, Elliot connects the traffickers (the ones who operate the carts) with Deepfort. I suspect they are since they already promised most of the troop to Deepfort, which suggests they have an ongoing business relationship. I believe the cart soldiers are actually part of Deepfort, but their duties are probably listed as “delivering provisions” (hence the cart) or something innocuous on the records. Elliot’s spies tell him that the Deepfort has a lot of weapons despite the fact that the Borderlands is in peace time and a lot of weapons are in the hands of the cart soldiers. Elliot realizes that Westering, a “poorly provisioned” fortress, has been selling weapons (and grain) to Deepfort.

Elliot dispatches Private Cyril to Deepfort to tell them that their “redheaded trouble” (Cyril started the rumour in my theory and it’s why the cart soldiers had heard about Elliot) is keeping an eye on the books so they won’t be able to continue their arrangement for the foreseeable future. They can still sell them grain (helps maintain the illusion that the deal is still in place to the men of Westering, and allows Elliot’s spies to deliver a cart full of weapons to Deepfort). Meanwhile, Arch has no idea this happened and continues to send weapons and grain to Deepfort. Elliot cooks the books so Arch and the others don’t notice they aren’t getting money for the misappropriated weapons. The weapons that are sent to Deepfort (in the grain cart) are diverted to the dwarven prisoners in preparation for the day of the revolt. Recall what I said about Elliot probably having contacts in multiple fortresses? I have no doubt that he has one in Deepfort who is the liaison between the dwarves, Elliot and Myra. Remember how Mark thought the dwarves in the gold mines had fashioned weapons in secret from their captors? Remember how I said that wouldn’t make a lot of sense? Since the dwarves would be searched, there would be no weapons forge in a gold mine, and we don’t know whether the gold mine would yield a sufficient amount of other kinds of ore to create weapons. What would make more sense is if the dwarves received the diverted human weapons from Westering and re-fashioned those into crude versions of dwarven weapons using the tools they have on hand.

I’ll pause here to explain why all this cloak and dagger is necessary and why Woodsinger couldn’t just have the Border camp raid Deepfort and free the prisoners. The methods by which Elliot and Myra are obtaining this evidence is illegal and also involves a lot of espionage. In order to properly and justly convict the men of Deepfort and put an end to the trafficking, Elliot has to create a situation in which the Border camp has “just cause” to raid Deepfort and “stumble” onto the proof that the dwarves in the gold mines are not convicted criminals, but kidnapped slaves. If the dwarves in the mines just happen to revolt against Deepfort while the Border camp forces just happen to be nearby to provide aid (to Deepfort, on the official record) and they just happen to stumble on Deepfort’s dirty secret in the process, well, that would be a great bit of luck, wouldn’t it? I also think Elliot and Myra would want to give the dwarves an opportunity to practice some self-determination (through a revolt) rather than create a human saviour story.

As for why Elliot the pacifist would arm the prisoners, let’s recall that against a force of armed soldiers who do not recognize the personhood of their prisoners, the only viable way for the prisoners to have any chance at all of resisting their captors is if they are armed and able to put up a fight.

-Elliot wrote to Woodsinger to have the Border camp forces camped near Deepfort (not too close to raise suspicion; and with another mission as a cover to create plausible deniability).

-If Mark, Piper and Illyria hadn’t gotten involved, the plan would have gone like this: the dwarves would get some sort of signal to start the revolt (when the Border camp forces were already on the move), by the time the Deepfort men got their act together, the Border camp would arrive and force a surrender by Deepfort (Elliot would want to minimize the loss of life and violence). Meanwhile, at Westering, they would receive word that there was trouble at Deepfort and that the Border camp was getting involved. Since the men at Westering wouldn’t necessarily know about the trafficking stuff, they would assume that the Border camp was just helping Deepfort. However, what if the Border camp forces find out about the illegal weapons and grain? Maybe they should send a force over to Deepfort with the stated purpose of offering aid, but whose real purpose is to hide evidence. Elliot makes a note of which Westering men go to Deepfort so he knows who to bring in for questioning (since Arch would only bring those who know about the evidence to come with him to hide said evidence). Elliot knows that Arch is the ringleader, but it would be a good way for his accomplices to reveal themselves too.

-By the time the Westering forces arrive, the men of Deepfort are already under arrest, the dwarven prisoners are free, and also, they have some questions for the Westering men who’ve just arrived.

Things don’t always go the way you planned though. When Woodsinger hears the report of what happened from Elliot, I hope she reminds Elliot that karma is a bitch.

I want to be clear, I don’t blame Mark, Piper and Illyria for getting involved and messing up the timing. I said that I believe Piper knew (vaguely) about the date of the revolt, or rather, that Myra coming to Westering was the signal that the revolt was going to happen the next day. I do not think she knew about what role the Westering fortress was going to play. I think Piper knew that Westering fortress was engaged in financial grift, but I don’t think she knew that they were going to get involved in the revolt. Piper genuinely cared about Illyria and Mark, and like the mini-Elliot that she is, she schemed to get them involved in the revolt because she knew that it would provide them an opportunity to be heroes (they are her Serene and Luke) and redeem their reputations. Piper also wanted to join the fun because of her own politics and, she wanted the opportunity to set off a bunch of explosives in a fortress. I think she does not tell Illyria and Mark about Elliot’s plan because she, still a kid at heart, believes that she and her friends will have the situation settled nicely by the time the Border camp appears so they they can be the heroes. She, Illyria and Mark still have a lot to learn.

When she shouted about the map to Elliot, she was letting him know that she, Illyria and Mark would be at Deepfort within a day. It’s funny because she’s an explosives expert and she gave Elliot a countdown to get his ducks in a row before the blows the doors off his plans. She’s putting Elliot through the same crap he put Woodsinger through back in IOL. Elliot only has himself to blame for the fact that Piper subscribes to the Ask-For-Forgiveness-Instead-Of-Permission-school of dealing with authority figures.

Here is how the plan actually went down:

Upon realizing that the kids were going to get involved, Elliot and Myra have to scramble. Elliot couldn’t just prevent them from leaving because: he wouldn’t physically fight them to keep them there, he couldn’t get the Westering men to hold them in custody (they aren’t on the same side, and they would be put on their guard), if he did snitch on the kids, their already tattered reputations would suffer even more, the plans are already in place and they can’t delay them because of this disruption, and finally, he cares about Mark, Piper and Illyria and he understands they need to do this because it really would help them redeem their reputations. All he can do is what Woodsinger used to do for him: be really pissed off and do what he can to protect and support the kids.

Myra immediately leaves Westering and heads to the Border camp to let them know that the timing has moved up. Elliot tries to cover for the kids going missing, but it’s impossible. Unfortunately, Mark the “pretend prince”, beautiful, dangerous Illyria, and Piper the pyromaniac, are too inconspicuous for their absence to go unnoticed for long. Knowing that Mark is probably headed towards Deepfort to rescue the other dwarves and knowing that Myra has left for the Border camp (who are suspiciously close by), Arch and the other Westering men come to the conclusion that Elliot hoped they would (get to Deepfort; hide evidence of wrongdoing). The problem is that this happens way too fast and a force of soldiers are sent to Deepfort in pursuit of the missing kids. Remember when I said it was odd that Westering sent so many men after three missing kids? This is why they did so.

When Mark shouts “Light in the dark!” into the mine. The dwarves assume that this is the signal for which they were waiting. The sergeant, suspecting something is off, “shows no relief at the sight of Mark” and he says:

“My prince. I knew you would come. But I hoped you wouldn’t.”

This is an important character moment for Mark. He realizes his perception of the situation is catastrophically off, and that, once again, just like in the cart so long ago, he is forcing his people to go along with his dramatic, but ineffective attempts to rescue them.

Mark basically confirms that he is not part of the planned revolt when he admits: “I-I didn’t know there would be so many. I fear- we cannot all escape.”

The sergeant offers to give Mark a chance to retreat, but Mark, Illyria and Piper reject this. Mark (a noble himbo), decides that he’s going to fight with his people and die for them if need be, Ilyria (a marvellous them-bo) is confident in her martial prowess and Piper (keeper of the braincell), knows that reinforcements are on the way.

At first things are going okay, but then the Westering men arrive before the Border camp forces do. Elliot stops Arch from killing Mark. Mark assumes that Elliot is surprised that he got hit. We’ve seen in IOL that Elliot is very used to getting hit. At one point in the story, he basically goads some bullies into hitting him. I think the source of Elliot’s surprise is the realization that the Border camp forces are still not here, his students’ lives are in danger and his scheme is on the brink of falling apart in the worst way possible.

Elliot has to think fast to save his student. He knows that Arch is capable of reckless violence, so he knows there’s a chance that his words will result in his death, but he has to buy time for Mark to escape and for the Border camp forces to arrive. He plays the card he’d hoped he didn’t have to play.

“Stand back, Captain. I’ve gathered evidence of you skimming off the top, selling off weapons, and grain supplements. I will talk.”

Incidentally, Elliot isn’t just threatening Arch, he’s bluffing. I’ll explain how in a bit. It’s also important that Mark heard Elliot say this.

Luckily, the bid for time works and Luke-ex-machina (king of the himbos), arrives with the Border camp forces (finally!) and things come to an end.

Interestingly, Elliot says this to Luke:

“Don’t kill him,” commanded Mr. Schafer. “He’s only committed petty crimes…. He and most of his men need to be fined,…”

As I’ve said, arms trafficking isn’t really a petty crime and if he and his men were skimming off the top for months (or years), then it’s possible the theft here could rise to the level of larceny. Both crimes carry potential prison sentences. Depending on how you spin it, if the weapons were used by traffickers, then there are other crimes they can be charged with. Not to mention, is it really worth riding out and almost murdering a child and a well-connected individual (they’ve heard the rumours that Woodsinger reduced his sentence)?

Also, recall when I said that things at Westering should be awkward, and potentially dangerous for Elliot and Mark because Arch and most of his men were charged with petty crimes and made to pay a fine because of them.

But things won’t be awkward, because Elliot (and Mark) have leverage over Arch and his men. They can reveal that Arch and his men are guilty of far more serious crimes than they’ve been charged with, so the men of Westering better play nice.

This is going to be a bit complicated, so bear with me. Elliot diverted the stolen weapons and maintained the illusion that Arch and his men’s arms trafficking scheme was ongoing. To arrest them for this is flirting with entrapment, which I don’t think Elliot would do and anyway, Elliot essentially neutralized whatever material harm was created by Arch and his men’s crimes when he diverted the weapons. Also, Elliot is the one who downgraded Arch and his men’s crimes and it can be argued that makes him guilty of obstruction. This is fine, because Arch and his men are dumb, and even if they were smart, they would know that they can’t take Elliot down without taking themselves down (and their downfall would be worse). Elliot can now blackmail them into doing good for the community despite themselves. It’s better than forcing them to languish in jail cells (dungeons?) doing no good to anyone. Maybe after being forced to do good, some might rehabilitate and choose to do good. Also, we know that Westering is poorly provisioned. Maybe Elliot doesn’t want to unduly punish the soldiers for their economic crime because he knows the incentive for grift only exists because of the unfair distribution of resources amongst the fortresses.

Is this underhanded and manipulative? Yes. But that’s what make IOL and TWTBD so interesting. All the characters are jerks, but it’s their motivations that separate the good jerks from the bad jerks. Elliot manipulates, lies and schemes in order to force people to help marginalized communities, be more respectful and inclusive and to save lives. Luke’s methods are more straightforward, but straightforward violence is still violence. He threatens violence against Arch to protect Elliot, who he loves. Arch uses violence and schemes to steal because he’s greedy and dumb.

Mr. Schafer: Mark’s Merlin

I can imagine someone asking, if Elliot and Myra were going to rescue the dwarves anyway, then what was the point of Mark’s actions? What is the point of Mark’s story?

IOL and TWTBD is not a typical mainstream fantasy where the hero solves problems with grand gestures and sword fighting.

Who was the main antagonist of IOL? It was trauma, and war and societal oppression. The battles and schemes are set dressings. Pivotal plot moments were when Elliot, Luke, and Serene made sincere connections with one another and others, overcame their prejudices, unlearned the things trauma and oppression taught them.

At first, Mark’s story is set up to be a mainstream story. But if it really was, the story would end with him leading his freed warriors into battle to take back his kingdom from his uncle.

Remember what I said about how Mark started the story as a sheltered prince, living under a rock? The title ‘Tears Waiting to Become Diamonds” is interesting when we consider the phrase: “Clear as a diamond”. Mark’s worldview is narrow and rigid at the beginning of the story. The light blinds him, the vastness of the world scares him and he operates from a sheltered, fairytale worldview. He doesn’t object to trafficking on principle, he objects to it because it impacts him personally, and he can’t comprehend the bigger politics and machinations going on around him. The “tears” in TWTBD obscure his sight. They blind him and force his perception into a limited fish-eye lens. Everything is either about him or it is incomprehensible and dismissible. In fairness to the kid, his whole family is dead, so I don’t want to unduly blame him for retreating into familiar patterns at the beginning of the story.

At the beginning of the story, Elliot is very Merlin-like (in the popular imagination of Merlin). He’s a scholarly, enigmatic figure from outside time. Of course, unlike with Arthur, I feel like instead of convincing Mark that he’s the one true king, Elliot would try to incept Mark with the idea of getting rid of the monarchy and having an elected, representative government or something.

It’s interesting that Mark says that Elliot is a bad teacher compared to Applegold. I’m sure Applegold is a fine teacher, but it’s Elliot’s words and lessons that Ilyria, Piper and Mark absorbed throughout the story. It’s cute how they echo his words like a bunch of undergrads after their first philosophy 101 lecture.

“You said freedom of expression is vital for the young mind!”

“Mr. Schafer’s ethics classes say the Border camp has strict regulations regarding prisoners,…”

“Someone should liberate prisoners put to work. It’s wrong to capture people for your own benefit,…”

The climax of Mark’s character development and his story is when he realizes he misunderstood how widespread and long-standing the dwarf-human trafficking actually was,, when Ilyria shared her story with him and when he was willing to intercede Arch’s attack to save Elliot, a human.

I also want to highlight an important moment when Elliot introduces Mark as “Prince Marcus” to Luke. Until this moment, Elliot was careful to hide Mark’s identity for his safety. I think Elliot told Luke who Mark was for two reasons. Firstly, associating Mark with Luke is a form of protection (that Sunborn name is really something), secondly, and more significantly, I think this was Elliot giving Mark a chance to decide what his future will be for himself. Elliot acknowledges that Mark has grown and learned a lot and now it’s up to him to determine what the next steps are. Mark could publicly proclaim himself a prince, ally himself with the Sunborn Champion and seek vengeance on his uncle. Instead, Mark proves that he really is Elliot’s student.

“Go back to my mines…. Claim you escaped from the humans. Go about your lives, but when you find loyal souls in our caverns, tell them your prince is coming.”

Well, well, well, look who’s showing an interest in popular underground movements and scheming. Mark now understands that as a prince, his actions have widespread repercussions. He also knows that his people deserve to live their lives and he won’t ask them to place themselves or their loved ones in unnecessary peril. Mark went from living under a rock to watching his people go back to their lives from the high vantage of a tower, under a vast sky. His perspective is wider, vaster and more inclusive of the rest of the Borderlands. Mark’s conception of home is also broader than before. Where once his idea of home was his home underground in his insulated kingdom, now it includes the surface, where his friends and allies and enemies are, Westering, the Otherlands. His view is unobscured and multi-faceted. It’s clear as diamond.

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afterdarkprincess · 7 months

Text

Can't Keep My Hands To Myself- Part 2

Relationship: Sami/Jey/Cody Rating: Explicit Summary: Sami and Jey take Cody back to their hotel room after Monday Night Raw for a little fun _____

Back with the ending of this fic!! Will definitely have more for these three soon though :)

This fic is Explicit and Contains: Threesomes, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Voyeurism, Daddy Kink, Praise Kink.

Tags for @elementaldoughnut12 @feelschicken @harmshake @southerngirl41 and @jeysbvck 💖

Part One Here AO3 Link

Monday afternoon sees Jey and Sami arriving to the venue in Omaha separately, which isn’t ideal for either of them but in a few more weeks they won’t have to be as secretive anymore.

Management had been made aware of their relationship after an unfortunate incident backstage after a show involving a storage closet and traumatized event staff, and thus measures had been taken to tie their stories together. They had to keep the true nature of their relationship under wraps, but at least they would have reasons to come and go together.

Jey arrived with Cody, still riding high from their win and the feel of the belts in his arms again. Things had been a little awkward the morning after, both of them with raging headaches and fuzzy memories of their heated exchange the night before. Cody made a joke over their coffee about finally finding a good use for Jey’s mouth and the tension dissipated, both of them breaking down into giggles.

The rest of the weekend was spent on the road, without much to speak of, with Cody only mentioning it again once as they approached the arena in the bus.

“Let Sami know I’m still interested, yeah Uce?”

Jey raised his eyebrows but nodded, shooting off a text to Sami that their plans for the night were a go.

Sami arrived with Kevin, both wanting the show to be over and to never end. On the one hand, he’s antsy to reunite with Jey and have some fun with him and Cody later, but it’s bittersweet. It hasn’t been announced, but the deal for Jey’s trade to Raw has finally been made official, and it’s the last night he’ll get to fight with Kevin as a tag team.

It’s been a joy to reconnect with his long time friend again, but when it had come down to it, choosing Jey had been all too easy when it didn’t mean having to put up with Roman and Paul’s bullshit.

They were scheduled for one last match, a title contest against Jey and Cody, which was sure to be exquisite torture for Sami, though Kev’s already reassured him that he’d tag in whenever Jey is legal. They’ve dealt enough blows to each other over the past year, Sami just wants to get through the match so they can all put this behind them.

He and Kevin watch as Michael Cole introduces the tag team champions, his heart swelling at the crowd’s reactions to Jey, the mesmerizing waves of arms bobbing up and down with him, the shouts and cheers just for him. It’s everything that Jey’s deserved for years, and it makes him so happy.

Cody goes out after Jey, Michael grilling him about “finishing the story” and thats their cue to head out, Kevin’s music blasting.

Sami plays the peacemaker, keeping himself between Kevin and Jey as much as possible. They get the match confirmed, and they all get to cool their heels backstage for a bit until it’s time for the main event.

He has one more segment with Jey before that, catching him and Drew McIntyre toe to toe. Despite the camera on them, the comfort of backstage has him a little more hands on with Jey than he often lets himself be, but it’s hard to contain himself.

Sami reminds himself that in just a few hours he can put his mouth and hands all over Jey, just the way he wants to, in the safety and security of a hotel room. He’ll get to see his sweet boy come undone, pretty and needy, beneath his and Cody’s hands.

—

The match goes according to plan, Sami and Jey never really facing off against each other. The worst Sami gets is a pulled Superkick to the face, but it’s an easy price to pay for a 20 minute match. Avoiding them touching each other at all would have been a hard sell.

Kevin takes the pin, holds Jey’s hand aloft in a show of good will and sportmanship. The audience doesn’t know it’s their last match together, so they don’t make a big deal about it, but there’s an air of finality and change.

As the show goes off the air, they rile up the crowd for some dark matches, but Sami is just counting the minutes until they can all leave.

Finally they all head backstage, and Sami shares a bittersweet hug with Kevin before he heads off to talk logistics of Friday with Adam Pearce. He returns to the locker room then, finding Jey and Cody there waiting for him.

The room is empty, having cleared out while the dark matches were going, so Sami feels okay enough to crash into Jey’s arms, pressing a kiss against his temple.

“Missed you baby,” Sami mumbles into Jey’s skin, feeling his arms wrap around and hold him tight.

“Ey boo, Missed you too,” Jey rubs his forehead against Sami’s neck, melting into his touch.

“So uh,” Cody interrupts awkwardly. “What’s the plan here, uce? If y’all still want me here.”

Sami stands to face him, laughing. “Well, we’ve got a room tonight with a nice big bed, thought we’d head back there and see where the night takes us?”

Cody nods, laughing as Jey adds an enthusiastic “Yeet!”, the group of them gathering their bags to head out of the arena.

It isn’t far to the hotel, and they banter playfully in the car and through the hotel. They tumble into the room, laughing at Jey’s terrible Finn Balor impression.

There’s a few bottles of liquor waiting for them, purchased earlier by Sami and left in the room during the show and he pours everyone a stiff drink.

Sami holds his glass aloft, Jey and Cody following suit. “To the reigning Tag Team Champions, you deserve it.”

They clink glasses and finish the drinks in short order. Jey pulls Sami in for a kiss, at first slow and sweet, but it turns heated quickly with Cody looking on, watching them intently.

When they part, Jey looks at Sami with his best puppy face. “Can I, Sami?”

“Yeah,” Sami laughs, rubbing his hands on Jey’s back. “Go ahead baby, give Cody a taste too.”

Jey extricates himself from Sami and moves to Cody, cautiously pulling him in for a kiss. Cody takes Jey into his arms, holding him close as he deepens the kiss, nudging Jey’s plush lips open to explore his mouth. It’s sloppy and filthy, but it’s exactly what he’s been craving since Saturday night.

Cody locks eyes with Sami, who nods in approval, before moving his hands to the frayed edges of Jey’s crop top, pushing it up and guiding it over his head, exposing all that beautiful brown skin and the detailed line work of his tattoos. Jey is a vision in the low light of the hotel room, head ducked and bashful at the way Cody openly stares at him.

Sami comes behind Jey, pressing up against his back and resting his chin on Jey’s shoulder. He snakes his hands around Jey’s waist and grabs ahold of Cody’s wrists, pulling them to place Cody’s hands on Jey; one on the hard planes of Jey’s stomach, the other on the supple heft of his pec, cupping it like a tit. Cody’s thumb moves on it’s own to rub slow circles over Jey’s nipple before rubbing the hard nub between his fingers and tugging.

Jey tips his head back to rest against Sami, letting out a little breathy sigh as Cody’s hands explore and pleasure his torso.

Sami hums in approval, “Thats right baby, feels good huh?”

Jey nods, hips jutting as he feels Sami’s erection digging into his ass. He grinds back, but Sami tuts.

“No, sweetheart. Cody’s gonna be the one to fuck your little ass tonight.”

Cody’s eyes snap up from where they’d been getting lost in Jey’s tattoos, meeting Sami’s intense gaze. “R-really?”

Sami just nods. “M’gonna watch for a while, why don’t you get him on the bed?”

Cody blinks a few times, taking a few moments to process what Sami’s said. When his brain comes back online, he sweeps Jey up into his arms in a bridal carry.

Jey instinctively wraps his arms around Cody’s neck for stability. “Damn, Uce! Didn’t know you was gonna do me like that.”

“Are you complaining?” Cody cocks an eyebrow and laughs as Jey shakes his head no.

They cross the room to the bed, Cody depositing Jey down onto the sheets delicately, gripping the waistband of his bright blue ring gear and giving it a tug. The pants and Jey’s tight underwear come down together, freeing his sizable length, thick with arousal. Cody historically hasn’t made it a habit to look at other guys dicks, but Jey’s might be the prettiest he’s ever seen.

His mouth waters at the sight of Jey’s skin against the white of the sheets, he looks like a buffet laid out before him, all for the taking. His hands trailed over Jey’s stomach again, drifting low to tease at his hips, listening to Jey’s whines as he ignores his twitching dick.

“Patience, Uce,” Cody laughs, hearing Sami chuckle over his shoulder as the ginger gets comfortable on the desk chair in the corner of the room, turned to face the bed.

Cody pulls his hands down to brace against the jut of Jey’s hips, holding him steadily as he lowers his face to ghost hot breath against the weeping head of Jey’s cock.

“Fuuuuuck,” Jey groans, fighting to buck his hips forward, stopped by Cody’s hands, so close but so far from what he needs. “Please, uce?”

Cody teases him for a few more moments, breathing all over the hard length of him before taking the tip into his mouth with no warning. Jey’s startled cry is music to his ears, creeping higher in pitch as Cody runs his tongue along the ridge of Jey’s cock head.

Sami enjoys the view from his vantage point in the chair, spreading his knees wide and palming his aching dick through his sweats. Jey looks gorgeous, head thrown back in pleasure as Cody takes more of that gorgeous brown dick into his mouth.

Like everyone else, he’d been surprised and dubious at the teaming up of his boyfriend and Cody Rhodes. He’d known Cody a while, and thought the man completely incompatible with his passionate and hot headed Jey Uso, let alone any hurt feelings from Jey’s interference in Cody’s wrestlemania match against Roman.

But they proved everyone wrong, winning those tag belts at Fastlane, and then everything that happened after. Thankfully Sami has never minded sharing, loves watching his lover get taken apart even it’s by someone else, but he thinks tonight he might join in too.

Jey tosses his head against the sheets, Cody bobbing his head to wring more pleasure out of him, and Sami can deny himself no longer. He lifts his hips and shoves the waistband of his sweatpants down to free his erection, giving himself a few strokes to relieve some of the ache in him.

He catches Jey’s eyes, just barely open as his head lolled in Sami’s direction and the look in those devastatingly beautiful eyes is hungry.

Thankfully Sami knows how to sate his boy.

His hand darts to the bottle of lubricant he set out on the desk earlier, whistling to get Cody’s attention.

Cody pulls off of Jey, licking his lips as he looks at Sami.

Sami tosses the bottle, Cody catching it with ease and needing no instruction as to what Sami wants him to do with it.

Cody flicks the cap open, pouring the liquid to coat two of his fingers. Jey stares up at Cody, puppy eyes in full effect as watches the other man cover his fingers in slick.

He drops the bottle onto the bed, moving to settle himself again between Jey’s splayed thighs.

Jey’s wiggling and bucking his hips, impatient to get Cody’s attention where he wants it. “C’mon uce, don’ make me beg for it,”

Cody just smirks in response, dropping his head to take Jey’s cock into his mouth again. He picks up where he left of, taking as much of him into his mouth as he can, getting drunk on the heavy feel of Jey on his tongue.

He keeps at it, letting Jey get lost in the sensation again before he brings his slick fingers between Jey’s thighs, finding his tight hole and applying light pressure to start.

Jey’s dick twitches hard and his thighs shake, but Cody doesn’t want him to fall over the edge quite yet, so he pulls off again, keeping his fingers at his hole, circling lightly.

Jey groans in frustration, but it’s hard to be sympathetic when Cody’s dick is aching and hard and still trapped in his pants.

Cody finally caves to give the Samoan a little of what he wants, sinking his middle finger into Jey’s hole up the second knuckle, marveling at the tight heat of him and thinking about how incredible it’ll feel to sink his dick inside.

Jey whines, clenching around Cody’s finger, the feeling too much and not enough at the same time.

Cody decides he’s teased Jey for long enough this evening, spurred on by the throb of his impatient erection. He stretches Jey efficiently, first with the one finger gently exploring his hole, then another. He grazes against Jey’s prostate, his broken moan and twitching legs a dead give away, and keeps his fingers there for a moment, rubbing against the sweet spot slowly.

“Ah, Ah, fuck, C’mon Uce- ah, m’ready now.” Jey’s practically begging, painfully hard and close to the edge again. His eyes wander from the top of Cody’s head and back to Sami, watching him work his dick in tandem to the rhythm of Cody’s fingers.

Instead of responding, Cody runs a third finger through the mess around Jey’s hole and presses in, stretching him further. Despite what Jey may say, 2 fingers would definitely not be enough to ease him in taking Cody. He thrusts the three fingers together, flexing and stretching deep inside Jey despite how the muscles keep clamping down on him.

Cody grabs the bottle of lube with his free hand, drizzling more onto Jey’s hole as he works his pinky in to join the others, watching it disappear into Jey’s body.

Jey howls at the feeling, breathing heavily. “Please, fuck please, Cody. Fuck me, man. I’m past ready, Uce.”

He gives a few more thrusts with his fingers, letting his middle finger drag against Jey’s prostate at each pass before finally removing his fingers. Cody watches Jey’s hole wink shut as he shoves his pants down to his knees, freeing his angry red dick. His head leaks steadily as he gives his dick a few tugs, coating it in a mixture of his pre and the leftover lubricant from his fingers.

Cody looks back at Sami, who’s still watching intently. “Condoms?”

Sami shrugs, “We’re good if you’re good. We know you gotta be clean just like we are.”

He can’t deny he’s delighted. “Alright,” Cody grabs a pillow from the top of the bed, lifting Jey’s hips to shove it underneath, propping his hips up. He lines the head of his dick against Jey’s sweet little hole, teasing with gentle pressure. He rubs the head around, gently slapping it against the skin, watching Jey squirm beneath him.

“C’mon, c’mon, give it to me, Uce.” Jey bites his lips in anticipation, staring up at Cody and it’s the last straw for him.

Cody drills his hips forward, pressing in with his dick and watching Jey’s hole take him inch by inch.

Jey feels his eyes roll back into his head, overcome at the stretch. He remembered the girth of Cody’s cock, his fuzzy memory at the stretch of his mouth as he blew him in the bus. But Cody felt absolutely huge inside of him, despite the amount of prep he was given. Distantly Jey is thankful that Cody hadn’t listened when he swore he was ready after two fingers.

What Cody lacked in length he more than made up for between the thickness of him and the precision with which he bore his hips into Jey, setting a rough pace. He snaked one arm around Jey’s hip, grabbing him and pulling his hips to meet his own, grinding their hips together at each thrust. Jey clenches around him like a vice and he feels so good that Cody can’t help but fuck into him harder.

Jey’s fingers clutch at the sheets, his erection slapping against his stomach with the force of Cody’s thrusts. The angle causes the thick head of Cody’s dick to drag against his prostate and Jey’s already close to the edge again, tears leaking from his eyes.

Suddenly there’s movement above him on the bed and a hand threading in his own, Sami’s face coming into view as he kisses away the tears on Jey’s cheeks.

“Doing so good baby, look at you taking Cody so well.” Sami’s free hand roams Jey’s chest, tweaking his nipples.

“Unhhh… Sami,” Jey moans pitifully, barely able to form words, the coil in his stomach so tight.

Sami cuts him off with a searing kiss. “Good boy, you gonna come for us? Go ahead baby, let it go.”

Cody snaps his hips, hitting Jey’s prostate with deadly precision and it sends him right over the edge, vision whiting out as he shoots cum across his stomach. Each of Cody’s thrusts push more out of him, wringing him for all he’s worth, the shockwaves curling his toes. His fingers tighten around Sami’s, holding onto him like a lifeline as he falls apart.

The spasming of Jey’s inner walls send Cody barreling into his orgasm like a train, pulling out at the last second to add his cum to the mess on Jey’s stomach.

As Jey’s brain comes back online, he fights back the urge to whine about Cody not coming inside of him, after all he hadn’t asked for it, no sense in complaining.

Sami, as usual, knows him too well. “Oh baby, did you not get what you wanted?” He presses a kiss to Jey’s forehead as he watches Cody roll to the side, catching his breath. “Lucky for you, Daddy’s still hard. I’ll give you what you need, sweetheart.” The ginger maneuvers himself around to fill the space that Cody left behind, but it’s not quite right. “Can you get on your hands and knees for me?”

Jey keens at the thought, scrambling to flip himself over and present himself the way he knows drives Sami crazy. He moves the pillow up to support his chest, propping his hips up and arching his back as he rests down on his elbow.s

Sami’s mouth waters at the tantalizing display, giving himself a few more strokes before pressing himself against Jey’s hole and sliding in with one powerful thrust.

He knows by now what his boy can take, the rough treatment he prefers, especially after a night in the ring. Sami roughly drives into him, driving his longer dick deep into Jey’s hole, watching as it swallows him up each time he presses in.

Jey’s overstimulated and sensitive but his dick is rapidly filling again from Sami’s treatment, his fingers hard and bruising against his thighs as he fills Jey up over and over again.

It’s been the best of both worlds for Jey, who’s always had a thing for rough sex, picking up strangers in bars to fuck him rough in dirty bathrooms. But on the other hand, after his time with the bloodline he’d yearned for a soft and loving touch like Sami’s.

As with the rest of their relationship, Sami’s always been able to read him, to know what Jey needs in each moment. Jey loves him more than words can describe.

Cody watches them lazily, still coming down from his own orgasm and still not quite believing he’s been allowed to participate in all this, but he gets the appeal from Sami’s perspective earlier. Watching them, watching Jey rapidly come undone underneath Sami’s capable hands, is one of the hottest things he’s ever seen.

Sami increases his pace as he feels his stomach tense up, getting close to the edge. Jey’s breathing stutters giving away how close he is, so Sami reaches around to stroke him in time with his thrusts, getting them to the edge together.

“Fuck that’s it baby, come for me, you’ve done so well,” Sami’s voice pushes Jey over the edge, spurting cum all over the bedsheets beneath him.

Sami buries himself inside Jey as he falls over the edge, spending deep inside of him, filling his boy up.

Jey sags into the mattress, boneless and pleased. He mewls, “Mmm, Sami…”

The ginger runs his hands up and down the tattoos along Jey’s spine before he pulls out. A dribble of cum leaks out behind him, and Sami gently pushes it back in with his thumb.

“So good, Jey. Love you so much.” Sami blankets himself over Jey, pressing kisses all over his back and anywhere he can reach. “Cody, could you get some towels?” Jey struggles when Sami leaves right after to get them cleaned up, but also hates the feeling of cum drying down on his skin, so this is really the best of both worlds.

Cody disappears into the bathroom, wetting down a cloth and wringing it out, bringing a dry one as well as he returns to the bed. He hands them over to Sami and situates himself back on the bed, near the couple but not too close. It feels rather awkward for him now that things are winding down, but he’s committed to this now and might as well see it through.

Sami makes quick work of cleaning himself and Jey, turning the Samoan over to clean the mess on his stomach as well. He gets up as much of the mess on the bed as he can, and motions Jey to settle into the bed.

He notices the unease on Cody’s face and motions him closer. “C’mon, this one’s a cuddler, but I think you knew that from the bus.”

Cody laughs, relieved to no longer feel out of place and moves to lay next to Jey as Sami crashes down on his other side.

“Lil uce sandwich,” Jey giggles softly, wrapping his arms around Sami and wiggling back against Cody.

There’s a moment of quiet in the still of the room until Cody breaks the silence with a quiet “Yeet.”

They all burst into laughter. ----- Thank you for reading :)

#samijey #jeysami #jody #jey/cody #sami x jey #jey x cody #sami/cody/jey #cody rhodes #jey uso #sami zayn #my wiritng

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