#as does Victor XD

[victorluvsalice]

Oh, and like last year, we have a bonus image to go with the Valicertines! This time it's not inspired by anything specific -- it's just something that occurred to me while looking at last year's stuff that I decided I wanted to do. Basically, it's OT3 math -- Alice: Madness Returns times Corpse Bride times The Smiler equals my OT3, get it?

Oh, and, uh, if you're looking at the trio of Sims 4 screenshots below and going "hey, wait a minute, I don't remember this from any of Vic's past Chill Valicer Save updates" -- I may have gone looking through past screenshots, realized that the only set that had the trio in the outfits I wanted (the celebratory pictures in front of Van Liddelton Groceries) did not have them in the ORDER I wanted (that is, none of them were Alice-Victor-Smiler), and -- rather than tweaking the image slightly to accommodate the screenshots I already had -- fired up my game, updated Victor's primary "everyday" outfit to that CC suit that looks the most like his in-movie one, and set up a new tripod photoshoot in the second floor hallway to get the pictures I wanted. ...and then ended up using THREE shots because I couldn't decide. *facepalm* Yeah. Don't judge me. (Or do, but just don't tell me.)

#valicer #OT3 #victor van dort #alice liddell #smiler alton #alice madness returns #corpse bride #the smiler #I am a NORMAL PERSON who does NORMAL THINGS #look what happened is I already had images for the A:MR box art #the Victor-only CB poster (I didn't want the classic one with Emily because I wanted to focus on the OT3) #and The Smiler logo #and I really wanted them in THAT ORDER because Victor is the hinge of the V polycule they're in #Alice and Smiler are both with him romantically while they see each other as simply friends #(or maybe something a bit more queerplatonic given how they team up to dom Victor #point is it's not truly romantic between them) #so when I realized I didn't have the screenshots I wanted in the clothes I wanted #well I HAD to go into my game and get the trio to take some new pictures #it was three am in-game they weren't doing anything important XD #look just enjoy the silly picture #queued

[texanmarcusdavenport]

i think it's funny how Douglas and Krane have been business partners for 16 years and they're not even on a first-name basis yet.

#they did matching halloween outfits and went on vacation together but not ONCE does douglas call him 'victor' #victor krane #douglas davenport #lab rats #lab rats disney xd #lref

[thevalicemultiverse]

My fellow Secundians, if elected mayor I vow to abolish the electoral system, and replace it with a King-Of-The-Castle style tournament. Where every election year, for 48 hours, participating Touched will be legally allow to to try and take over the city using insane inventions that fits their weirdly specific niches. With the winner being decided by whoever’s in the mayor’s office when the 48 hours are up and will be Mayor for one whole term. Also, all proceeds from the entree fees will go towards our local schools.

Marty: [making thoughtful faces] I dunno -- this feels like one of those things that works like once, maybe twice, then somebody ruins it by being a total asshole.

Victor: It is nice that they're explicit about this funding education, though.

#~M: I want some questions! now! (ask) #~M: grin without a cat (anon) #~V: Secundus #~T: We’re All Mad Here #Secundus Mayor Of The Castle #~C: Marty McFly #~C: Victor Van Dort #((this DOES feel like something that would happen in that city XD #and yes I suspect people cheating or getting a little too into it would quickly force a return of the electoral system #there's a reason they're all so keen on it being neutral ground #they all know what they're like)) #~M: with this hand I will lift your queue

[maysrinn]

Concept Art of Coryos & Lucy Grays Bedroom

It took almost a decade for them to get their own space with Lucy Gray insisting of not moving into the more wealthy parts of 12, one of the main reasons being the kids themself. Their bedroom is the biggest room in the simple cottage while also serving as a nursery, playroom, storage and Coriolanus study. Decorated with colorful carpets and wall rugs it does bring over a welcoming charm including added wildflowers in summer. Imagining Lucy Gray also having multiple blankets she collected over the years to build so called nests and keep herself and her kids warm during winter. She also needs something that is as heavy like coriolanus all around her to feel safe. No those are not all Lucy Grays pillows they belong to the kids XD

For the question of why they don’t move into the victors village, Lucy Gray could its her right as a victor but she doesn’t want to. It’s a lonely and miserable quiet place far from everything she loves. Coryo would live there asap. It’s the closest thing having a “fancy” place to live and lifestyle, but he can’t quite argue with his wife about it, not when it is in direct relation to the games.

___________

I’m not sure if I’ll ever finish this, but it’s sketched down. Also the little snuggled up bean is indeed Cedar Fern 🥀

Pls Excuse my possible perspective mistakes qwq

#snowbaird #lucy gray likes to snuggle #i dont make the rules #both twins and Rosalyn sleep a looooot in the room with her #babies are scared of the dark qwq #you can bet that momma allows pillow and blankets forts #she’s an active participant #lucy gray baird #coriolanus snow #the hunger games #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #tbosas

[secretmellowblog]

One thing I feel people almost always overlook about Javert is that:

The book’s narrator is usually harsh/sarcastic towards Javert, and that harshness is why his character has pathos. Javert is able to be sympathetic because Victor Hugo has basically no respect for his beliefs. Javert is so pitiable because Hugo mocks and drags him on basically every page he appears.

I’ve mentioned before that the message of Les Mis is (paraphrasing) that ACAB— Javert is the best police officer it is possible to be, and he is terrible, because the laws he enforces are terrible. His law & order ideology is terrible. Everything he believes is fundamentally wrong, and so deeply wrong that it deserves no respect.

Yes, Hugo acknowledges that Javert occasionally has a misguided kind of nobility— the nobility of holding yourself honestly to a set of bad rules, the nobility of following a terrible moral code even when it hurts you. But Hugo has no respect for Javert’s bigotry, or his bootlicking, or his deranged obsessive worship of law and order. Hugo portrays the way that Javert martyrs himself for his ideology as strangely honorable— but the ideology itself is mocked and condemned. Hugo thinks martyrdom is cool, but that Javert is martyring himself for a terrible cause.

In his most sympathetic moments, Javert’s worldview is portrayed as pitiable…. not a worldview that’s worthy of true total genuine respect, but a worldview that’s deeply pathetic in its wrongness.

Without himself suspecting the fact, Javert in his formidable happiness was to be pitied, as is every ignorant man who triumphs.

This is part of why those old 2012-era les mis fanfics always threw me off, if anyone remembers the fandom trends at the time. XD People used to write Valjean and pre-barricades Javert having political debates, as if the two of them could make arguments about law that were equally valid and worthy of respect, and pre-barricades Javert had a worthwhile set of beliefs that Valjean could learn from. But to me it’s personally kinda like, no XD. Nah. The whole thing about pre-barricades Javert is that he does not have any valid points to make. He has nothing resembling a point. He is “ignorant” and determined to stay that way because he literally believes that thinking is evil. He is a violent authoritarian whose worldview is just “mindless self-destructive bootlicking and bigotry.” I joked about it in a previous post but if we want a character who offers a genuinely meaningful counterpoint to Valjean’s philosophy, who could debate him on politics, and who could represent justice while Valjean represents mercy— that character is Enjolras, not Javert.

Valjean has a fascinating complicated relationship with law and politics and violence, but Javert is just a deeply pitiable brainwashed creature who martyrs himself for Wrong things.

Hugo pities Javert, but he does not treat Javert’s worldview --‘authority is always right, rigid social hierarchies must always be enforced, human life has no intrinsic value, the police must violently suppress any kind of crime or rebellion’— as something that deserves to be genuinely respected. It is not something that’s even worthy of debate. It is wrong, it is nonsense, it is an incoherent cruel self-contradicting ideology, and Javert only believes it because (to quote Hugo’s sarcastic narration) “thought was something to which he was unused.” (Or to be more charitable, Javert believes these terrible things because he was born inside a prison and has been brainwashed from birth into internalizing a cruel carceral view of the world.)

And I think Hugo generally does a good job of walking that tightrope — having pity for Javert without portraying Javert’s ideology as something worthy of genuine admiration. He sympathizes with how rigidly Javert holds himself to his own moral code, while condemning the moral code itself for being idiotic. He has empathy with Javert’s sincere self-destructive dedication to what he believes in, while pointing out the things he believes in are all stupid. He pities Javert’s martyrdom, while condemning the nonsense that Javert martyrs himself for.

One of my Top Ten Favorite Pathetic Javert Moments is this one, when Javert recognizes Marius’s body after the barricades:

A spy of the first quality, who had observed everything, listened to everything, and taken in everything, even when he thought that he was to die; who had played the spy even in his agony, and who, with his elbows leaning on the first step of the sepulchre, had taken notes.

Because Javert martyrs himself so earnestly for this terrible cause! He “takes notes” even when he believes he’s going to die and the notes cannot possibly be of any use to anyone, simply because taking notes is the thing he has been ordered to do. He’s so self-destructively dedicated to performing these useless pointless tasks because he believes there is real ~dignity~ to his mindless bootlicking— when there isn’t.

That’s why Javert’s emotional breakdown and suicide hit so hard for me, in a way that it wouldn’t if the narration was forgiving towards his stupid belief system. The contrast between Javert’s sheer pathetic terror and the often harsh/sarcastic narration is just….wild. It makes Javert sympathetic without making his awful ideology seem good, reasonable, or valuable. (And while this is only adjacent to the point I’m making- the harsh narration in Derailed also emphasizes the way Javert has been trained to view his own thoughts/emotions with contempt.) Javert is deeply pitiable/sympathetic without his ideology being framed as correct. And the whole tragedy of his character comes from the fact that he is utterly entirely wrong.

If I were to summarize the pathos of Javert, I wouldn’t say “he’s sympathetic because he’s a noble anti-hero with good strong morals who makes some valuable points about the importance of law” or w/e. I’d say that you can feel sorry for him because he’s a wretched brainwashed creature who’s never done anything right even though he wants to, and is deeply ridiculously pathetic without ever realizing it.

As Hugo puts it: “without himself suspecting the fact, Javert (…) was to be pitied.”

#send an ask if you want to know my other top ten favorite pathetic javert moments! #les mis #XD #it’s javert death day so I decided to make an overlong tumblr post for him #a very Vintage Mellow thing to do #but yeah #people always say I hate javert because I mock and drag him all the time #but like!!! #the reason javert is sympathetic is because Hugo’s always mocking and dragging him #I love it #that’s my take anyway #he’s just a horrible Creature #my complicated emotional relationship with javert #but yeee idk if this is coherent XD

[mellarked-katnisseverdeen]

It's Not Over (Till The Mockingjay Sings)

Summery: The day Katniss is meant to be reaped to go into the Quarter Quell changes when the fourth and first District 12 victor returns mysteriously. And takes her place. A/N- So. I could write this whole fic out and be neat about posting chapters. Or I could just hold myself accountable by giving you all my first chapter and allowing you all to pester me about. Meaning- YES! Please know there is more of this coming and my goal of posting this first part is to get bugged about finishing it quickly XD. Anyways, this is gonna be so much fun to write I am extreamly excited.

"I volunteer." The voice, older and worn but confident enough to be heard above the crowd.

Katniss is almost convinced she is dreaming. This isn't real; it can't be. She is the only living female victor of District 12 and would be going into the Games again. She'd use it to save Peeta. That was the plan. Since the announcement, it had been her unwavering goal. How could anyone volunteer for her?

The crowd parts, and who comes through makes her shock even worse. An older woman, olive-skinned like her, curly dark loose around her shoulders. All her clothes were solid grey, a simple jumpsuit. The stranger strides to the podium like she is half of the close to 80 years old she must be. The people seem to part for her. Guards and several others begin moving around the stage, and even more official-looking Capitolies rush behind the giant screen behind them. Other guards approach the woman and make her stop in her effort to get onto the stage. Effie, for her part, stammers for a moment.

"I am sorry, ma'am. This Quarter Quell will be between Victors only."

"I am." The woman replies. "I am Lucy Gray Baird. I won the 10th Hunger Games, and I volunteer for this girl."

The men holding her must either be stunned into uselessness or fear no threat from the elderly tribute as she climbs onto the stage with little trouble. The murmuring continues; however, Katniss can do nothing but look around. Peeta's eyes lock with hers, sharing the confusion between them. Most of them knew that District 12 at some point before Haymitch had won a Hunger Games, but no one could really say which or whom it was. The citizens have yet to calm before several people who disappeared behind the stage return. One of them, who looks sickly pale with nerves, comes to whisper something into Effie's ear.

"As it turns out, this is entirely correct. As a victor of District 12, Lucy Gray Baird will be allowed to volunteer for Miss. Katniss Everdeen."

There is a strange silence, almost like people digesting the information simultaneously. Then, an untited applause makes the older woman preen as Effie holds up her hand. Katniss allows the moment to try and breathe normally. Because even as soon as she realizes she won't be going in, the looming reality that Peeta still could be descends like a shadow over her and steals any shred of relief.

And like that, she woke up to an even worse nightmare.

Effie tries to calm everyone when they begin to settle themselves. Once she does, she becomes somber again, looking at the second bowl. She seems to be composed to anyone else, but Katniss can note the shaking in her voice.

"Now, for the boys." She utters and swirls the two pieces of paper in the second bowl around before picking a slip. She can't disguise the pain when she says the name, though. "Haymitch Abernathy."

On her other side, Katniss watches Haymitch take steps to the podium. Every bit of her wordlessly screamed at Peeta, telling him not to open his mouth or say anything. Somehow, she hoped he could hear her and would let Haymitch keep his promise to both of them. They would do anything in their power to save their mentor, but if Peeta goes in, she doesn't know if she could breathe, not with her ability to be in the arena with him taken.

Instead, she watches Peeta grab the arm of Haymitch's shirt. A look goes between them, and in the end, the older man shakes his head and steps toward the podium. Peeta doesn't say anything, and Katniss sucks in air she didn't know she was deprived of.

Effie barely holds it together, raising his hand, and things become even more chaotic after that. As it turns out, there will be no time to allow for goodbyes after the reaping. Just after Lucy takes Haymitch's hand to shake it, everyone on stage, plus her and Peeta, are surrounded by Peacekeepers and directed to the train. Lucy walks first of the pack, as proudly as an elderly woman could. Haymitch is saying something quietly to Effie. It looks like he may even be trying to calm her.

Peeta takes her hand and makes eye contact. "You're trembling, Katniss."

"We're not-"

"It doesn't look like it."

"How?"

"I don't know. But I think we're gonna get answers sooner rather than later." He whispers as they both board the train.

#Everlark #Yes I'mma get there I promise #Katniss Everdeen #Lucy Gray Baird #Peeta Mellark #Haymitch Abernathy #The Hunger Games #Ballad Of Songbirds and Snakes #AJ Writes

[per-the-jellicle-magician]

Cats Warsaw Merch

Aka all the Cats Warsaw merch things that I've found, at least so far

Starting with the stuff that I actually own:

CD Album

It's a highlights album containing 14 of the songs, sang by the main singing part of the cast, which mainly results in that some parts go to different people than later on stage, including Mistoffelees' part in "Mr M" being sang by the actor playing Victor (he does sing it as Misto). Also some of the songs in their arrangements are sounding closer to OBC than to how they would later sound on stage (mainly Jellicle Ball and Mr M).

The little booklet contains some basic information about the show, the songs included and the cast, as well as a few photos from the recording of the album

It was recorded in November 2003 and published/available for purchase with the premiere of the show on Jan 10, 2004

Programme

I got actually 2 of those, from 2004 and 2007. They are almost identical (only differences are ads and a bracket indicating one of the sponsors died by 2007). The actually different things are the cast inserts, both in the cast as well as the general formatting and rehearsal photos included

More photos of the 2004 version here

Book

Once again I have 2 of those, one came to me in its original protective sleeve and i'm keeping it safely tucked away. The other one is by now ever so slightly falling apart from how many times I've read it XD

The book contains interviews with: the set, costume and make up designers, the translator and some notes from the choreographers and cast members. It also includes quite a few photos (most of them from rehearsals) as well as fragments of song lyrics, some of the character descriptions and other general information about the show and its production

It was published in November 2004

Stuff that I know about from photos

Posters

I have a few such photos from a promo event for the CD album where people could get cds and posters, get them signed and there was face painting and some other activities including learning how to be a cat or smth

Umbrellas

This premiere photo is the only one that I got

A cup and a saucer

This is the only picture I have of it, and I am honestly not sure if it was actually sold or if it was custom made, but I'm gonna count it anyway

Pens

I don't actually have a photo of any, BUT the plaque over this lady's shoulder says "Długopis KOTY" aka "Pen CATS", and at this point that's all that I got (also there are CD albums on the top shelf)

Repertoire brochure

Distributed most likely sometime in December 2003, given it advertises the premiere and all the preview shows. Cats Warsaw had in total 6 preview shows, and it also had 2 premieres

The repertoire is for January and Febuary 2004, aka the original planned run of the show

Calendar

This is the only photo I have of it, possibly for June or July page, and curiously enough the same photo can be found in the Warsaw book, on Demeter's page. This suggests at least some other portrait photos from the book were originally taken for this calendar

Not merch but I thought they should be included

Cats Warsaw documentary "Ujażmić Koty" ("The taming of Cats")

Making of Cats Warsaw, which included some of the musical's history and the director's history with it; some interviews with the cast, mainly Damian Aleksander (Munkustrap), Ewa Lachowicz (Demeter), Grzegorz Suski (Macavity), Jakub Szydłowski and Paweł Podgórski (both Rum Tum Tugger); rehearsal, backstage and premiere footage

It had its premiere on December 20, 2004

2005 edition of the Poems (that I do own)

2005 edition of "Old Possum's" translated by Stanisław Barańczak, simply titled "Koty" ("Cats")

The only tie it has to the musical is the fact that the cover photo is a very edited fragment of a rehearsal photo featured in the middle spread of the programme mentioned in the beginning of this list

It's Tantomile plus Etcetera's leg

#and that's it #that's all the cats warsaw merch that i'm aware of #i believe there might have been some postcards or other small things too but i have zero solid proof of any kind #cats the musical #cats warsaw #koty musical #cats the musical merch #cats warsaw merch #jellicle cats #cats non replica

[delyth88]

Mid season trailer breakdown

Finally found some time (ha!) to take a closer look at the mid-season trailer.

It starts with a very brief shot of Loki time-slipping in a spaghettifying TVA that we've seen before, and then a split second shot of Loki walking into the pie room. But the lights in the pie dispensers are all off. Does this mean it's near the very end of the timeline where the power was cutting out? Or is there some other significance to this? Where is my anon who suggested they need to go through enough repetitions of the time loop to eat through all the pies...!

Then we move on to this scene of the gang in front of the model of the gantry and the Time Loom.

OB asks, "Loki, how much do you know?' and Loki replies "Lets assume I don't know much but I'm a fast learner, and I'm a god."

Timely is still holding his device, so this is towards the beginning of episode 4 shortly after Timely arrives in the TVA, and before the pie room or the Dox in a box.

I'm assuming Loki has just explained to them the situation and they're just going with it! :)

Then it skips to this scene where Loki says "Here we go".

Later in the trailer he follows on with a voiceover saying "Listen to me carefully, hit the green button", and then shows this shot again as he says "it can be a little sticky".

When he says "Hit the green button", Loki seems to be quite fearful and intense, with a slightly more whispery quality to the sentence, than the following shot where it's more light hearted when he says "It can be a little sticky".

Now if I'm not just reading too much into this (which to be honest that is exactly what I'm doing in this entire post, but its fun), it looks like this might be two different instances of the same event. Maybe the first is earlier on and the second is later on once it's resulted in destruction a few more times? Or perhaps the other way around once Loki's been through enough repetitions to be confident this bit will go well. *shrugs*

We then see what I assume is Timely again (because he's the only one missing from the shot above) out on the gantry having actually made it as far as the sphere at the end, pressing the green button.

However, we ALSO see this shot of what I again assume is Timely, but from behind this time. He's not wearing a helmet and we can see his hair, and the throughput multiplier is leaning against the wall. The airlock doors have been opened though and he's being spaghettified again.

So it looks like we're going to be seeing this attempt to fix the Loom multiple, presumably spectacularly unsuccessful, times. Poor Victor. :(

There's also shots in the operations centre (what are we calling the room looking out onto the Loom. Oh. Okay that just wrote itself, didn't it? XD). In the LOOM ROOM we have another shot of Loki saying "Here we go" and Mobius excitedly shouting "Yes!" as Loki drags him over towards the control panel / airlock. Which I'd guess is once they successfully manage to get a Timely out to the end of the gantry, or possibly even fire off the throughput multiplier.

There's a shot of Loki in the Loom Room turned back to face OB and the other while it looks like the Loom is exploding. He looks more dishevelled than he was in the scene we saw in episode 4. And I can't tell if he looks sad and defeated or suspicious. He's looking towards Sylvie, OB, Casey, and B-15. There was that whole weird moment with Casey and the throughput multiplier that just seemed off, so really putting my effort into leaping here, could this be that Loki's suspicious Casey sabotaged it?

Then outside the TVA we get those shots of Sylvie listening to music. I'm really not sure where she is - but I'm assuming since she looks to be wearing a T-shirt rather than her armour under her coat that she's on the timeline.

For Casey we get the shot we've seen of him in a tunnel, immediately preceded by this shot of what looks like a searchlight at a prison and audio of a siren. So is Casey escaping from prison? A POW camp?

They show Casey in two short shots in time with the music - does this mean anything? Like indicating the repeating of events? Or does it just look cool.

I do wonder if they're going to make some of the really likeable characters have a despicable past on the timeline and use that to further the discussion of free will and the power to choose to be different. That could be interesting. But I'd like Casey not to be a horrible person. :(

There's a couple of shots of a new location we've not been to, but one that still looks like it's within the TVA. There are pneumatic tubes behind Loki and great big fans. Some old armchairs on one side, and a pinboard on the other. The shot starts with what looks like spaghetti strands with Loki's magic radiating out from the centre.

As the magic fades we see the strands have disappeared and there are some other people in the room with him.

B-15 in plain clothes, and Sylvie just moving out of shot as the camera zooms in towards Loki. It also looks like Sylvie is in her outfit with the grey T-shirt.

So does this indicate Loki can use magic to hold things together to stop them from spaghettifying, even if only temporarily?

We get a fairly horrifying shot of Loki being distorted in front of spaghetti.

And I'm afraid this next image is going to give me nightmares, but it looks like this is in the same room - we can see the yellow on the wall and the same ceiling lights behind him.

By the time he's slipped away the spaghetti is gone. So again, is this because he somehow carries this destruction with him? Or is this a shot shown in reverse because time really got all timey-wimey on him and time is actually flowing backwards at points? (That would be pretty damn cool to see how he deals with it!)

Then we get another shot of that room and Casey, OB, and Mobius are there with Loki. All in their plain clothes. But this shot is flipped around from the one above that had the chairs on the other side of the room. Again, is that meaningful, or just somehow one of the versions looks cooler? Or does the room just have a pneumatic tube gizmo at both ends?

There's also this shot which I can't figure out where it is. Sylvie's still in her T-shirt, and Loki is either pointing at the ceiling or making some magical gesture. All around them are spaghettified strands. I still don't quite understand how it's possible for people to be in the same space as anything else that's spaghettifying (I never thought I'd need to use that as a verb so often!), without becoming spaghetti themselves.

It looks like that record player Sylvie was using might be in the background, if so does that mean the last thing Sylvie was doing while the universe crumbled around her was listening to music? And then Loki turns up to get her out of her timeline and take her to the TVA to help? Or is the spaghetti somehow related to Loki?

It looks like we get the final shot of episode 4 in reverse. My bet is this is the opening of episode 5.

And finally we get to see Mobius on the timeline. And the house he lives in.

Loki visits him at work and says "The TVA is gone."

Mobius has absolutely no idea what he's talking about. So I think we can assume that Mobius is the first person Loki tries to find on the timeline and he wasn't expecting Mobius not to know him. I wonder how on earth Loki manages to convince him about the madness that is the TVA!! I think that's going to be a fun conversation. :)

I also wonder how Loki is actually able to find them all? Does he jump back and look everyone up in the system? Does he use HWR's special tempad?

I'm not usually a big fan of trailers mid season, but there's still so much unknown at the point that I've really enjoyed looking through this and trying to work out what might be happening. :D

Tagging my partners in wild speculation @pinkpondofasgard @woodelf68.

#loki #loki series #loki series speculation #loki season 2 #loki s2 #loki trailer #loki mid season trailer #loki spoilers

[pilferingapples]

hey pilf a random question that I don’t know who else to ask? Why does it matter that enjolras is a rich only son? His introduction begins with it so it seems important but I don’t know why.

Oh, I like this question!

I like it because I have no answer at all XD

It's something that could be said of at least two other characters, Marius and Jean Prouvaire--and in fact it is said , directly, of Prouvaire! But it doesn't seem to be used to create any specific commonality between the three characters; they're all friends, but not with any special reference to that shared family situation.

It also might mean something about his relationship to his own family-- but that never seems to become relevant again, and "My Mother is the Republic" Enjolras in general seems to exist almost without a family of origin; is that the point? is the line just there to keep him from being completely ethereal? Hugo messing with my ability to make crack theories about Enjolras being an actual ethereal ability, Victor Hugo funkiller killer of fun

Is it a Saint Just thing? In that case, should we actually be reading that ( " fils unique et riche") with the emphasis on only son instead of only child (it can be either way!) ? Does he have siblings we never know about?? and in that case, why give the same descriptive to Prouvaire? Should we be reading it strongly as "only child", and it's meant to emphasize his isolation from social ties apart from the cause and his friends?

Is meant to be kind of a Jesus reference? an "only begotten son" thing? (again: why call back to it with Prouvaire then?)

...Is it--and this is a wild theory, bear with me-- is it just a bit of character flavor text? Something to round out a quick introductory overview? (in almost any other book I'd say this was actually the most likely but I no longer trust LM to be Like That , EVERYTHING IS SYMBOLISM )

Why do YOU think it's mentioned, Nonny? :D

#Enjolras talk #thank you Nonny this was fun

[dross-the-fish]

I'm gonna ask the question everyone is dying to know the answer too.

How big is Adam? Does he have an enormous Schwanzstuker?

I nearly choked on my coffee XD I knew it was only a matter of time before one of you went there but I was still caught off guard.

According to Victor "As the minuteness of the parts formed a great hindrance to my speed, I resolved, contrary to my first intention, to make the being of the gigantic stature; that is to say, about eight feet in height, and proportionaly large" Make of that what you will.

[sevi007]

Lies of P update -

Not only do we know have long, luscious locks any shampoo commercial would kill for, but also and more importantly

WE CAN PET THE CAT NOW!

Not a drill! Kitty is now pettable! Immediately abused that option

(Does that mean I‘m heading for a good ending? I want P to be happy and free.)

Oh, yeah, and I beat Victor and got to go to the swamp now. It looks like a labyrinth, ugh. XD But ever since practicing for the Romeo fight, I got much better at the game, so I should be fine

And I found the Saintess Statue and set about respecing my stats. Now it’s like this:

Vitality 32

Vigor 20

Capacity 16

Motivity 9

Technique 20

Advance 8

Most of my weapons scale with technique (ranking between B and A) so I figured leveling that would be best

#sevi plays lies of p #lies of p

[victorluvsalice]

Valicer OT3 Week, Day Two: The Cool Kid, The Jock, And The Nerd

OT3 Week (as per @ot3-week) continues with a prompt that definitely seemed suited for a High School AU -- "The cool kid, the jock, and the nerd!" I think we can all agree that would be Smiler, Alice, and Victor respectively. :p At any rate, here's a high school version of the trio hanging out together at lunch -- with Victor having a rather important question for Smiler...

--

“...why do you hang out with me?”

To Victor’s horror, Smiler looked up from their sandwich, confirming that he had indeed said that out loud. “Because...I like you?” they said once they’d finished chewing and swallowing. “Do I need a better reason than that?”

“I – um, it’s just...” Shut up shut up shut up – but now that the door had been opened, Victor found himself plunging onward, needing to know. “You’re easily the popular, well-liked person in this school. The coolest of the cool kids. People think you’re the greatest – and you are!” he hastened to add, waving his hands. “You’re funny, and friendly, and you really s-seem to take an interest in e-everyone – anybody and everyone likes to hang out with you! You could be friends with anyone! And – and I’m–” Victor swallowed, trying to find the words. “I’m – n-not that. I’m – me.”

Smiler gave him a long look – the kind of look that suggested some kind of “Victor Is Having Self-Esteem Issues Again” alarm was going off in their head. Then they put down their sandwich in favor of taking his hand. “And I like you,” they repeated, looking Victor in the eye. “Even if you’re nothing like me. Especially since you’re nothing like me! I don’t need another me in my life – I’ve already got me! But I didn’t have a ‘you’ until I met you. And now I do.” They shot him one of those stunning grins. “And I’m very happy about that.”

“I...” Victor pulled at his tie, trying not to think about how warm Smiler’s hand felt against his. This wouldn’t be half as hard if I hadn’t had a very enlightening dream about my romantic tastes last night, he groused to himself. Why couldn’t this have happened before I realized I had a crush? “I just – don’t get it? W-why you would want a me?”

“Well, for starters–”

“What’s going on?”

Victor looked up as Alice (aka the other person that he was crushing on, and who hopefully would never find out that fact) came over, carrying a tray. “I mean, I can guess from context that Victor just had a self-loathing moment, but fill me in on the specifics,” she continued, sitting down.

“Not much to fill in – Victor just asked me why I hang out with him, and I’m in the process of reminding him that he doesn’t have to be one of the ‘cool kids’ for people to like him,” Smiler told her.

“Ah.” Alice picked up a chip and popped it into her mouth. “Well, allow me to second the sentiment. I personally find ‘cool’ is often overrated.”

“Maybe, but...I-I just have a hard time seeing the a-appeal of me,” Victor said, looking between them. “Especially – Smiler, like I said, you’re already the most popular kid in school. You don’t need to hang out with someone like me if you want company. And Alice – you’re smart, you’re witty, you have an amazing imagination – oh, and you’re an incredible fencer. The absolute star of the team!”

“I’m also the girl who most people avoid because she spent the majority of her childhood in supervised hospitalization after her family died in a horrific house fire,” Alice retorted, taking a swig from her bottle of soda. “And the one who still talks to invisible creatures on the regular, because so far every medication I’ve tried has had side effects that just are not worth it. Just because I’m like, three percent jock doesn’t mean my social life is any better than yours.” She jerked her head to the side. “Do you think I understand why Smiler’s here? They could do damn better than hanging out with the local loony, that’s for sure.”

“What do I have to do to make you both understand I like you and that’s the end of it?” Smiler grumbled, folding their arms.

“Go back in time and stop the murder of my parents and sister,” Alice replied, waving a fry at them.

“Somehow convince my mother that I’m not a complete failure of a human being,” Victor muttered, looking at his feet.

Smiler sighed. “You two sometimes...look,” they said firmly, leaning across the table. “I think you’re both awesome people, all right? Alice, I agree with everything Victor said – you’re intelligent, you’ve got a great sarcastic sense of humor, and you’re frighteningly good with a sword. I respect that a lot. And Victor – you’re kind, and artistic, and really smart yourself! You know so much about butterflies, you could write your own encyclopedia! I’ve learned a lot, hanging around you!”

“Not to mention your piano skills,” Alice said, shooting Victor a little smile that made his stomach do flip-flops. “I know your parents have got you thinking that you’re not worth anything, but – you really are. To us, at least.”

“Yeah – so could you please stop trying to understand why we’re friends with you and just accept it?” Smiler added, reaching over and giving Victor’s wrist a little squeeze. Then they shot him a disarming grin. “Or do I have to kiss you silly to get that to happen?”

Victor felt himself go beet red as a certain bit of a certain dream started replaying itself in his head. “I – uh – you – um–”

“Who put you in charge of kissing him?” Alice asked, with a playful smirk that did not do anything for the images inside his brain. “Maybe I want a go at it.”

“Maybe we should just do it both at once then,” Smiler joked back. “That’d probably reset his brain.”

“...really?”

This time it was both Smiler and Alice blinking that alerted Victor to the fact that, once again, he’d said that out loud. He dropped his head, wincing. Oh no – that’s it, that’s the bridge too far, it doesn’t matter what they said before, me blurting out that I’d be open to kissing both of them at once is sure to make them –

There was another squeeze on his wrist, and he looked up to see Smiler and Alice looking at him with – not disgust, like he’d feared, but simple surprise. And – just perhaps, if he wasn’t seeing things – a bit of interest? Could they possibly... ? “Well,” Smiler finally said with a little wink. “Think that’s a discussion we should have after school.”

Hope alighted in Victor’s heart, chasing all the dark thoughts away. “Yes,” he breathed. “After school.”

#ot3week #valicer #prompt #fanfic #high school au #victor van dort #alice liddell #smiler alton #I mean you kind of have to do a High School AU with this prompt #fortunately I already have a High School AU for this trio over on my RP blog #so I was prepared XD #fun fact I originally wrote this from Smiler's POV #but for some reason it just didn't work from that angle #I think it needed the peek into Victor's head to bring home why Victor was asking this #and his feelings regarding these two #like 'you're both amazing so why are you here with ME' #I can confirm from the old Smiler POV version that Smiler DOES have a 'Victor Is Having Self Esteem Issues' alarm in their head #you spend enough time around Victor you get one installed automatically :p #fortunately they're only too happy to help him over these hurdles #Alice too #especially when it leads to potential relationship upgrades ;) #queued

[texanmarcusdavenport]

The way Sebastian talks about Krane really does come off like he was raised in a cult tbh

#like. the unerring devotion + belief system that conveniently cuts him off from everyone outside of krane's control #the lack of identity (numbers instead of names). smth smth #but despite it all i think Sebastian is a good person deep down #i think the conversation w chase jogged his memories of krane & ofc he felt betrayed. ofc he wanted justice #he's a brainwashed kid #& when he wasnt under krane's control the only thing he remembered was his name & his siblings #he called them to him & found them a home. he was kind. he saved leo's life. he put aside his differences w chase to save the academy #sebastian krane #i could talk abt him for hours (and i will) #...does anyone want to read my 'taylor visits sebastian in prison' fic? #taylor krane #lab rats disney xd #lref #victor krane

[thevalicemultiverse]

People who read and write Coffee Shop AUs have never worked in Coffee Shops before, otherwise every single one of those fics would be a snuff massacre fic

Smiler: [raising an eyebrow] I work in a coffee shop, and I don't want to murder every customer.

Alice: To be fair, Smiler, you're a bit of an outlier when it comes to how naturally cheery you are. . .that being said, there's a case to be made for coffee shop employees writing about what they WISH their jobs were like. For example, no Karens. Unless they have a special dramatic purpose.

Victor: [deadpan] Like giving your partner a really bad last ten minutes of their shift before they get to leave?

Smiler: I choose to look at it as the universe pre-warning me what your mother is like before I "officially" met her.

#~M: I want some questions! now! (ask) #~M: grin without a cat (anon) #~V: Cuddlepile #~T: Running Headlong Into The Bullshit #coffee shop aus versus real coffee shops #~C: Smiler Alton #~C: Victor Van Dort #~C: Alice Liddell #((yeah in this verse Smiler does in fact work in a coffee shop #and they did first meet Victor's parents as some customers from hell #check out the post I linked in Victor's dialogue and you'll see what happened XD #but yes Coffee Shop AUs may in fact be 'if only retail was REALLY like this' wish fulfillment #though you're probably right in a lot of them are written by people who don't work in coffee shops #also I'm sure there's probably at least one coffee shop massacre fic somewhere XD)) #~M: with this hand I will lift your queue

[daughterofhecata]

WIP asks

got tagged by @lalalenii - thanks for that <3

The WIP I’m actually “working on”: found a way to pirate the newest alex delaware novel so not much writing is going to happen til i'm done with it well, that changes very rapidly atm, yesterday it was the Justus/Cotta gym fic, the day before it was the reunion fake dating fic, today I had an idea for some lowkey toxic Cotta/Goodween I started a while ago under the influence of @wodkapudding's fic, sooo

WIP I keep open in the background so I don’t feel guilty: the reunion fic and the second chapter of the Cotta/Goodween D/s fic. also the story for the creative writing seminar

Imaginary project: keep turning over a possible Henry/Bill dynamic in my head, but so far nothing has come of it. also was musing about a possible thing with dommy Cotta & Bob and a subby Skinny a bit ago, but yeah, that's mostly imaginary as well. Also also finished Schrecken aus der Tiefe yesterday and uh. Justus *does* sound a bit gay talking about Fjodor xD

Passion project: The Dad!Skinny AU for sure. the next chapter is ready to go online, but i'm still trying to figure out which POV to go with for the one after that. Might go with Skinny and shove the bits I already have into the next chapter after that.

WIP from 3 months ago: I read another Arsène Lupin novel in Feburary and of course it spawned another Justus/Victor idea. I have a full outline and 5k text for it, really should get back to it tbh. It's... a romantic abduction, or something like that xD

I'm tagging @crazy-walls (if you want, I know you like keeping your ideas close to the chest xD), @pointwhitmark, @youcancallmekathyp & @auxiliarydetective, if you feel like it!

#i was tagged #thanks again! #but uuh yeah i am notorious for jumping quickly between wips #and sometimes i'll randomly decide to open something that has been sitting in my drafts for months or years and suddenly finish that #but yeah idk the state of feedback has been grinding on me the last few days and also i can finally read ghost orchid #so i'm up to my neck in that rn xD #wips

[secretmellowblog]

I noticed a bunch of new people in the Les Mis tag because of @lesmisletters, so I thought I’d share my Les Mis Blog recommendation list! If you’re looking for Les Mis blogs to follow, here are some people I recommend checking out! : D

Because Les Mis Letters is a readalong of the Brick I’m going to keep my recommendations to “currently active Les Mis blogs who focus on posting primarily canon era Brick-related things, are participating in the readalong in Some way, and post a lot of meta or academic analysis or information about historical context/political context/artistic movements relevant to Les Mis.” if I were to include every Les mis blog I enjoy this post would be 200 miles long XD.

1. @pilferingapples is basically the pillar of the Les Mis fandom on tumblr! They’ve been here for a decade and have an extremely organized blog that basically feels like an archive of the entire fandom- including everything from meta on all the different characters, information about lesser known adaptations like the anime Shoujo Cosette, and discussions about the historical context around the novel/French Romanticism/Victor Hugo’s life. I definitely recommend looking through the tags in their pinned post ajdjdjd. They are also just Very Nice.

2. @everyonewasabird is a Brick-Club member who has already done exhaustive chapter by chapter analyses of the entire book, and writes amazing intensely researched fanfiction. They are also very nice! (Just assume everyone on this list is nice)

3. @fremedon also has tons of exhaustive analysis/meta, and also writes great funny intensely researched fanfic that captures Hugo’s writing voice extremely well.

4. @bobcatmoran posts a lot of great things, but i especially love their recent posts about the Arai Manga and its translations!

5. @vapaus-ystavyys-tasaarvo has been posting tons of great historical context/footnotes lately—- and they’re also the number one source of Les-Mis-related maps!! So many high quality maps

6. @psalm22-6 posts translations of old 19th century reviews of Les Mis, as well as vintage advertisements and other weird ephemera. It’s very fun and often deeply cursed stuff.

7. @thevagueambition also does a lot of historical research (especially into things like queer history) and writes really great intensely researched Grantaire fic!

8. @persefoneshalott does a lot of great translations of Spanish adaptations of Les Mis, and has recently been posting about what things were removed in censored editions of the novel.

9. @alicedrawslesmis is a great Les Mis art blog that also dives into jokes/analysis too!

10. @shitpostingfromthebarricade posts a lot of brick-focused stuff, and does a lot of clever clever and thoughtful modernizations (ex. Retelling an entire chapter with nearly the exact wording Hugo uses, but changing the setting/historical references to modern day ones)

11. @ueinra posts illustrations from old editions of Les Mis across the world and screenshots of/ information about obscure adaptations. :3

I might add more later because I know I’m missing people, but these are just the first currently active brick-focused somewhat research-heavy blogs that came to my head! :D

#Les mis #les mis letters #and I hope no one is insulted by the way I described their blogs ? 😂 #But YEEE there are so many more blogs I could add #like there are people whose stuff I love but #who don’t primarily post Les mis right now #including some of my fandom friends …. #anyway I recommend following Everyone but this is just my non exhaustive top-of-my-head list #obviously there’s also pureanon and byjuxtaposition #and badlesmisimagines #and etc etc #but yeah i spent too long on this XD