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mysticsublimeperson · 2 months

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<< part 2 >>

Merlin woke up feeling cranky, he didn't exactly sleep. It resembled more to several disgusting and sweaty naps, and a lot of self deprecating introspection in between.

So Merlin decided to stop trying around 10 am, and moved to the sofa. He didn't have anything to do that day, they weren't waiting for him in the lab, nor in the office, they all thought he would have been too hangover. Funny.

He needed to get out, to get coffee, to try and look for a new perspective, or at least a solution, so he got up and dressed and went to open the door.

A sharp thud sounded when something collide to the ground.

"Arthur?"

"Shit, er... Merlin, sorry, good morning?" Arthur was trying to blink away the heaviness.

"Were you sleeping in my hallway?" Merlin was really confused now. Arthur had always been a bit of a prat, and he grew up rich (and still was very rich, even if he denied it) so he was posh. In all the years he knew him, Arthur had never volunteered himself to discomfort, because he could afford not to.

"Yeah, I.. Well, you told me to go, but then I thought that if I went then I would have to come back in a few hours, and well it was really early in the morning, and I didn't bring my car, so I would have to call for a car and then, well come back, and wold spend like a proper half hour just pacing around my flat, just so far away from you... guessed you also wouldn't be answering your phone, so waiting here seemed like the better option. But now that I say it out loud, it sounds kinda stalk-ish" He said sheepishly, his voice was still deep, and slow. Trying to recover from sleep. He stood up, but was supporting in the door frame. "It's just... you seemed really upset. I know I was the reason, but" he gulped "you are always for me when I'm like that..." Merlin sighed.

"Come in" Merlin talked with a controlled voice. He would have wished for a little more time to figure this out, but if he was honest maybe more time would have only made him more paranoid.

"I, er, yeah, thank you" It was extremely strange to hear Arthur so insecure, but Merlin needed to focus on his situation, and not fall into old habits. "How.. How did it go? Yesterday I mean, sorry I didn't ask sooner"

Bad, he wanted to say.

You ruined it, he wanted to shout.

I missed you, he wanted to cry.

"Fine, I guess" he didn't want to offer information, he sat in the sofa again.

Arthur gulped again and put on a tight smile. "I see" sitting beside him.

"And you? How was your dinner?" Merlin suddenly felt tired again, he didn't want to shout, or yell, he didn't want to incriminate or fight, he just wanted this situation to be over. "Aren't you supposed to be at work?"

Arthur opened and closed his mouth several

"Merlin. I am so sorry" he said after a while. Without looking at him. "I know there's no excuse... and the way I treated you when you arrived here too... you didn't deserved that" his voices sounded tight.

If this had been any other day, Merlin would have folded, he would have told him that it was forgotten. Any other day, Merlin would have bitten the bullet of disappointment, and would have try to understand his point of view, his situation. Any other day...

"Arthur" he said after a long silence "I think it's time for us to rethink about what we want from this relationship" he could see the moment all the muscles in Arthur's body tensed up.

"What do you mean?" He sounded so scared, and Merlin fought the urge to hold him.

"What I mean Arthur it's that, this relationship can't go on like this forever" Merlin breathed slowly, trying to express himself as accurately as posible "I feel like im living on borrowed time with you, and even if you are the one in the wrong, I feel like I should just be grateful to have you a little longer, no matter how you much you may hurt me"

"That's not true Merlin, please, I would never intentionally hurt you. how can you think that? I love you" he finally looked Merlin in the eye. They were red and swollen, and a bit desperate.

"I know you love me Arthur, I believe you" he tried to swallow the knot in his throat "but sometimes that's just not enough" Merlin sat back at the sofa, looking at the ceiling. The same ceiling he had been looking since he arrived yesterday, thinking the same things, over and over. "I know you love me, and I love you, more than anything. But I also know that you would never invite me to a company dinner, you would never even acknowledge me in front of your coworkers, you would purposely hide me from your dad..."

"Merlin" Arthur said his name like a warning.

"Im not trying to be resentful Arthur" Merlin spat "they're just facts. Like the fact that you hate your job, and it makes you miserable. But you would never leave. Even if it's a shit job, at a horrible and inmoral company" he kept his tone neutral, he wanted to make a point "I would never ask you to leave, because a would never want to put you in a position where you would need to choose"

"Merlin" now his name sounded like a prayer, and a question.

"I think I always knew that I really never had a chance if you had to choose" suddenly his voice quivered.

"That's not..."

"Arthur please!" he really didn't want to hear empty promises, so he made a gesture for him to wait "I told you that yesterday was important, you knew that. And you choose him" he will not cry, no more "You ditched me, last minute. You left me alone even though I told you I Wanted you with me" his words bouncing on the walls.

"I didn't think..." Arthur was trembling a bit. And he looked like his world had been rocked and put upside-down.

"Arthur, you already have a life planed out. And you are the one that's choosing to keep it that way, you are going with the plan. And one day I will have to see how the papers and magazines cover the stories of you ascending to CEO of the world's most evil construction company, and marrying a young nice pretty girl, who is really boring and bratty but also insanely rich and has good connections, and have three beautiful very normal and healthy kids... all while I keep fighting with my little NGO to change the status quo that you reinforce. Don't you see that you don't have space for me in your future?" all the resolve to keep his cool abandoned him mid speech but at least he got it out. Arthur was looking at him like he had just told him that he only had a minute to live.

"I don't see a future without you Merlin" Arthur said, really softly, eyes shining with soon to be shed tears.

It hurt Merlin to hurt Arthur.

He never wanted to hurt Arthur.

Merlin brought up his legs and hugged his knees, hiding his face momentarily biting his lips hard, while blinking away the tears. "I love you Arthur, and I don't think I could leave you alone if I wanted to. But I think this relationship... it puts unfair expectations, for both of us" Merlin swallowed "It's not fair for me to expect something you are not ready, nor willing to give" he argued as calmly as he could. "I suppose we work better as friends"

He could see Arthur wanted to fight.

He also could see that Arthur had seen his point.

"What if...?" Arthur started, shaky. "What if I leave?" Merlin's brows furrowed confused. "My father, I mean. What If I leave him? What If I leave Pendragon Constructions? Everything... what if i..." he was starting to stammer and was not making sense. So Merlin took his hands.

"Why would you do that?" I was the genuine confusion in his expression that made Arthur sob.

"Because I love you Merlin!" he practically screamed with broken voice and desperate eyes. "please" begged silently.

"I think that if you do that. You'll resent me, eventually" he tried to reason while giving a reassuring squeeze to his hold "He is your father Arthur, you love him, and you want to make him proud, I understand that" even when he knew what it meant for himself "But you also are better than he could ever be" he assured "You won't ever lose me, I'll just need some space"

"I don't think I can do that" Arthur spoke carefully while caressing his hand "I don't know how to, I don't want to" he breathed trying to calm himself. "But I will try for you if you want me to" he swallowed "But don't misunderstand. I am not giving up on us. I won't" using his hold he pulled Merlin in for a hug. "I am sorry, I am sorry I disappointed you, I am sorry you felt like that, but above all I am sorry that you are right" he hugged him strongly and Merlin tried and failed nor to melt in his arms. "But this won't be the end Merlin, you are right for now. I will work, everyday, every moment to deserve you, to make you feel loved, to prove to you and to myself that I can become the man that you think I can be, and when that day arrives, Merlin I will sweep you off your feet" he talked those words like it was a threat, directly in his ear, while holding him close, so Merlin decided that just one last time, he would believe in him.

He would keep hoping.

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inbarfink · 8 months

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Apparently some Ace Attorney fans don’t like this Plot Beat in the PLVSAA game? Like, they feel that it disrespects Phoenix or puts in on a lower rung of importance compared to Layton? But I really disagree, I have some other issues with PLVSAA, but this moment? That’s a perfect Phoenix Wright moment that shows a real understanding of his character and his appeal.

Because Phoenix Wright always shoves his nose right into the center of stories where he was not supposed to be in. That’s what he’s been doing since the beginning.

Just look at the plot of the very first game! It’s all about Manfred von Karma and his Big Ass Weirdo Grudge against the whole Edgeworth family all two of them. In many ways, even if the AA narrative doesn’t typically use that framing - Manfred is kind of a Storyteller in a way, creating the Story of Miles Edgeworth’s tragedy and patricide.

And in that ‘Story’, Phoenix was a minor character at best. He was just an ordinary kid who knew Miles for a few months in fourth grade, He’s not tied in with the Family Drama, he doesn't have any obvious special talents or anything. From any outsider's perspective on Miles' whole life, there's no reason to think his 4th Grade Best Friend would by in any way Important for anything but Tragic Flasbacks. But Phoenix put himself into that narrative. For him, Miles’ kindness and friendship for these few months of childhood are just as important as anything in Manfred’s Story.

He got himself into law and shoved himself right into Miles Edgeworth’s story despite how ridiculous it all is. And so, even as Manfred disregarded him as just yet another unimportant interchangeable Defense Attorney to be crashed under his heel - didn’t even remember his name and face- Phoenix was still the one to defeat him. Even as Manfred left the courtroom still cursing Edgeworth’s name - Phoenix has made himself, by choice, into the Hero of that Story.

Miles and Maya would be Main Characters in anything related to the DL-6 mess whatever they’d like to or not, it’s just tied-up so heavily into their life and their traumas. Phoenix is the one who chose to be a Main Character in that Story.

And that’s something that kind of repeats with a lot of the narratives Phoenix gets into. Because he’s, like, the one AA character without a Dramatic Backstory outside of the Class Trial, Phoenix is usually either playing backup to the real main characters of the narrative - or once again, making himself the Main Character out of sheer determination and love and desire to help others and choice.

And doing it again in PLvsPW, establishing that he and Maya butted into both the Storyteller and Darklaw’d Stories just because they were both driven and curious and kind and wanted to help Espella so bad… that’s just perfect, especially for a story all about Stories that’s just perfect.

The thing that I keep thinking about is the few times AA has Stories that are definitively about Phoenix without him butting in or stumbling into someone else’s Story. ‘Justice for All’ is one, but it doesn’t really have a Grand Overarching Narrative. It’s more of a Phoenix Wright Character Study via a series of vignettes. The AA game that really has Phoenix at the center of a Story is ‘Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney’.

To continue the PLvsPW metaphor, AJAA is really the game between a bunch of rival Storytellers - PLvsPW had Arthur Vs. Evelyn, AJAA has Kristoph Vs Phoenix. Kristoph weaved a Story with Phoenix’s downfall at its center - and Phoenix waited until he had the chance to return the favor. I mean, I dunno, maybe my metaphor is a touch stretched but… Hobonick really is the closest thing to the Storyteller in the mainline AA games. The final AJAA case is almost literally him ‘designing’ a trial for his own purposes.

And the interesting thing is how controlling and railroading he is as a Storyteller figure. For someone who’s based his own entire damn life on defying the Stories and plans of others, he really does not let his own ‘Main Characters’ - least of all Apollo - that same sort of metanarrative agency.

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ghastmaskzombie · 4 months

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The plot of Dr. Stone is so absolutely insane if you think about it from the perspective of the villagers. I mean it's seriously like, "second coming of Christ" levels of magical. Like "King Arthur returns from Avalon and gives every briton their own hovercraft" kinda magical.

Like, picture this: you've grown up in a little village on a lake. Your people survive on fishing and foraging, like people have done since the dawn of time. As far as you know, your village is the only one in the world. The wilderness is full of stones that look just like people, but they're not people. No one has ever known why.

All your life, the priestess has told the people stories of ancient times. She's told you about fantastic creatures and great adventures. And magic. She says your very first ancestors came down to earth from the sky. You always wondered how much of it was true.

But the next generation's priestess is sick. She's sick and everyone says she's never getting better. Her sister and the weird kid on the edge of the village hope to cure her someday, but you're not holding your breath.

But then they bring home a strange man from outside the village. Which is weird, because you didn't think there were people outside the village. He's supposed to be some kind of sorcerer. They say he first appeared in an eruption of fire on a hilltop. Then he was murdered and came back from the dead, and lifted an entire tree by himself. All in one day.

And then he makes an elixir that he says can cure any disease, and gives it to the priestess. And it works, somehow??? And then everyone starts to look at what he's been working on. It's crazy. He turned sand into new kinds of stone, and one of them can cure eye diseases and start fires, and apparently he used lightning to give the other one telekinesis. Which he uses to make lightning at home.

And then the priestess says she knows who he is. He's the chosen one from the prophecy. He's the son of one the first ancestors who came down from the sky. And he adds that he's also one of the stone people, come back to life. And he can bring the others back to life. Which means they used to be alive. Which is crazy. You don't even have a word for how many of them there are. There used to be that many people?

This guy is literally going to resurrect a civilisation of incomprehensible miracles from before what you thought was the dawn of time. And you've just gotta deal with that.

And then a couple months later, he cracks open the founders' gravestones and finds their voices trapped in a crystal, and brings it back for everyone to hear. Because of course he can.

Next thing you know he's made a boat that runs across the ground like an animal, and a box that sends voices across the sky, and a little ship that can actually fly. He's given your people more food and warmer homes and softer clothes and stronger weapons than anyone ever imagined.

He says he's going to the moon, and you believe him.

#dr. stone

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bluejayblueskies · 2 years

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on the one hand i really enjoy romantic john/arthur esp. in nuanced ways where it explores like. what does romantic love mean for john, who maybe hasn't experienced it before? what does a romantic relationship look like when the two people involved share one body? what are arthur's feelings about being with another man, and how does the time period he grew up in influence those feelings?

but on the other hand, the fact that canonically john and arthur aren't in a romantic relationship and won't be in the future is very important to me (and i know a lot of other people as well). a large part of it is of course that as an aromantic person, it's so refreshing to have the main pairing in a piece of media be both a) extremely close and intimate with each other, as well as loving one another and b) not involved romantically. body sharing aside, relationships like john and arthur's are rare in media, and it's really nice to know that it's going to stay that way and isn't going to 'take the next step' [derogatory] into a romantic relationship at some future date.

even from a non-aromantic perspective (because i'm not trying to say that either john or arthur are canonically aromantic, just that it's nice that i can headcanon them that way and it fits into the canon narrative), a platonic relationship (and esp. one between two men!) being the main focus of malevolent is a choice i'm really glad harlan made. i'm not going to delve too much into this because his explanation is better than mine, but essentially, two male characters being vulnerable with one another and putting their trust in one another while not being romantically involved is something i definitely think we could use more of in media as a whole.

finally, i wanted to talk about the 'and yet you love him' 'i suppose so' dialogue between arthur and the king in ep. 20. (i think about this exchange a lot y'all--one of the best moments of the podcast imo.) 'love' is such a romantically charged word, especially when used in situations similar to this in other pieces of media. for complete transparency, the very first time i heard this scene, i thought it was meant to be romantic love because that's the kind of weight i ascribed to 'love confessions' based on the precedent set by other media and by real life as well. (i consider this moment a love confession because it's the first time arthur uses that word to describe his feelings toward john, even if he himself doesn't actually say it--literally a confession of love.)

finding out that it wasn't was a 'huh, interesting' moment for me, because i just hadn't really seen anything like it before! there was no precedent! hearing a love confession used in a context like this, where arthur's love for john is narratively important and something that can be used against him but is also platonic, not romantic, just ... it blows me away every single time i relisten to this episode.

in conclusion: i love them <3

#malevolent spoilers #malevolent #malevolent podcast #i am of course coming at this from the perspective of an aroace person so ymmv #but (without getting too discoursy) i can get a bit frustrated with people who complain about non-canonical romantic jarthur #i get it i do! queer rep is important and podcasts are my current choice of media in part because of the excellent queer rep #but also. aromantic and asexual people are queer and if john and arthur were canonically aro and in a qpp #it /would/ be a queer relationship #(i think we could actually argue that their canonical relationship /is/ queer already solely because of how non-standard it is #but that's a different post lol)#also if you are reading this and are like 'hey jay there's another piece of media that also has this kind of relationship dynamic!'#i am making grabby hands at you

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saintsenara · 6 days

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always wondered how Snape never clocked that the diary/ring/Harry was a horcrux (other than the plot needed him to remain in the dark). Doesn’t add up that teen Regulus knew what it was and the 38 year old Dark Arts expert and professional double agent who has seen Voldy fail to die never worked it out

honestly, anon? same.

although i think we can work our way around this with a bit of canon-wrangling...

we can probably justify snape not clocking that harry's a horcrux during order of the phoenix, on account of the fact that he's presumably the only human horcrux in existence.

dumbledore says in half-blood prince that using animals as horcruxes is unusual because it's inadvisable, because the behaviour of a sentient horcrux can't be predicted or controlled [and it may, i suppose the implication is, therefore destroy itself, thus defeating the purpose of making it] - and snape is certainly taken aback by dumbledore asking him to keep an eye on nagini.

this could, however, be interpreted as snape being surprised that voldemort - who is highly-strung even by the standards of people who might encase their souls in inanimate objects - would have made an animal horcrux, even though he knows voldemort is able to control nagini through virtue of being a parselmouth.

connected to this, snape's understanding of the attack which harry witnesses on arthur weasley is that voldemort was mentally present in nagini when the attack took place:

“You seem to have visited the snake’s mind because that was where the Dark Lord was at that particular moment,” snarled Snape. “He was possessing the snake at the time and so you dreamed you were inside it too...”

voldemort is canonically known to be able to possess people - ginny weasley chief among them - and also, by his own admission in goblet of fire, to possess snakes. the assumption snape is making is that voldemort's control over nagini is one of the "standard" possessions the dark lord is capable of - and he must also assume, as mad-eye moody does and as the rest of the order accepts moody's account of, that harry's visions are the result of voldemort possessing or attempting to possess him.

indeed, there's an interesting sense in canon that many of the adult characters don't understand that harry's visions don't resemble what possession typically looks like - which is a genre convention which is in keeping with the overall narrative arc of the series as children's literature. the child-heroes need to be able to work everything out and the adults need to be, at best, politely disinterested - and this manifests itself throughout the seven-book canon in the fact that the child characters understand voldemort considerably better than any of the adult ones.

after all, the only person who points out that harry's experience isn't standard possession is also a child:

“Well, that was a bit stupid of you,” said Ginny angrily, “seeing as you don’t know anyone but me who’s been possessed by You-Know-Who, and I can tell you how it feels.” Harry remained quite still as the impact of these words hit him. Then he turned on the spot to face her. “I forgot,” he said. “Lucky you,” said Ginny coolly. “I’m sorry,” Harry said, and he meant it. “So... so do you think I’m being possessed, then?” “Well, can you remember everything you’ve been doing?” Ginny asked. “Are there big blank periods where you don’t know what you’ve been up to?” “No,” he said. “Then You-Know-Who hasn’t ever possessed you,” said Ginny simply. “When he did it to me, I couldn’t remember what I’d been doing for hours at a time. I’d find myself somewhere and not know how I got there.”

from snape's perspective, then, the idea that nagini and harry are simply being possessed by voldemort - rather than that they're sentient horcruxes [and that harry is a unique type of sentient horcrux, and that voldemort could have been stupid enough to intentionally make his child-enemy who hates him into a receptacle for his soul] - is the result of him applying the principle of occam's razor: that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one.

snape does, however, acknowledge that harry and voldemort's mental connection is unusual:

“The Dark Lord is at a considerable distance and the walls and grounds of Hogwarts are guarded by many ancient spells and charms to ensure the bodily and mental safety of those who dwell within them,” said Snape. “Time and space matter in magic, Potter. Eye contact is often essential to Legilimency.” “Well then, why do I have to learn Occlumency?” Snape eyed Harry, tracing his mouth with one long, thin finger as he did so. “The usual rules do not seem to apply with you, Potter. The curse that failed to kill you seems to have forged some kind of connection between you and the Dark Lord. The evidence suggests that at times, when your mind is most relaxed and vulnerable - when you are asleep, for instance - you are sharing the Dark Lord’s thoughts and emotions. The headmaster thinks it inadvisable for this to continue. He wishes me to teach you how to close your mind to the Dark Lord.”

obviously, we know that the connection forged between harry and voldemort is that harry's a horcrux. but it's also the case that harry doesn't have the ability to see into voldemort's mind before voldemort is corporeal again. if we assume that dumbledore keeps harry's visions from the earlier parts of goblet of fire secret from snape - and there's no reason why this wouldn't be the case - then snape's understanding of the mental connection between harry and voldemort is presumably that it was caused by voldemort using harry's blood to resurrect himself.

after all, snape must know about the blood protection established by lily's death, since not only the full order [moody mentions it in deathly hallows] but the death eaters also know about it. he will also know that voldemort used harry's blood for the ritual because voldemort did this in order to show off - he's proud of the symbolism, and you can tell he was dining out on it right up until it spectacularly backfired...

the question then becomes whether snape truly deeps what dumbledore's saying when he tells him - during the half-blood prince timeline, but not revealed to us until the end of deathly hallows - that:

“On the night Lord Voldemort tried to kill him, when Lily cast her own life between them as a shield, the Killing Curse rebounded upon Lord Voldemort, and a fragment of Voldemort’s soul was blasted apart from the whole, and latched itself onto the only living soul left in that collapsing building. Part of Lord Voldemort lives inside Harry, and it is that which gives him the power of speech with snakes, and a connection with Lord Voldemort’s mind that he has never understood. And while that fragment of soul, unmissed by Voldemort, remains attached to and protected by Harry, Lord Voldemort cannot die.”

snape realises, without dumbledore prompting him further, that this means harry has to die. which means, i think, that we can justifiably suggest that snape has twigged that harry needs to die because - in order for a horcrux to be destroyed - the container needs to be damaged beyond all repair...

and - let's be frank - his little argument with dumbledore after this revelation makes perfect sense if he knows that dumbledore is speaking about harry as a horcrux:

“I have spied for you and lied for you, put myself in mortal danger for you. Everything was supposed to be to keep Lily Potter’s son safe. Now you tell me you have been raising him like a pig for slaughter - ”

snape's beef is that dumbledore secured his cooperation as a spy on the pretence that he could atone for his role in lily's death by protecting harry from voldemort, while dumbledore knew all along that this was never going to happen [snape does not, of course, know that dumbledore reckons harry will be able to return]. clearly, he would have preferred dumbledore to have just smothered harry as a baby, destroyed the horcrux, and saved them all the agony.

and so i think that it's canonically impossible that snape doesn't understand - eventually - that harry's a horcrux.

and i also think that it's canonically impossible that snape doesn't clock the others well before this.

after all, voldemort states in goblet of fire that the reason he's so pissed off by the death eaters who pretended to have renounced him after 1981 is because they knew he couldn't die:

“I was ripped from my body, I was less than spirit, less than the meanest ghost... but still, I was alive. What I was, even I do not know... I, who have gone further than anybody along the path that leads to immortality. You know my goal - to conquer death. And now, I was tested, and it appeared that one or more of my experiments had worked... for I had not been killed, though the curse should have done it. Nevertheless, I was as powerless as the weakest creature alive, and without the means to help myself... for I had no body, and every spell that might have helped me required the use of a wand... “I remember only forcing myself, sleeplessly, endlessly, second by second, to exist... I settled in a faraway place, in a forest, and I waited... Surely, one of my faithful Death Eaters would try and find me... one of them would come and perform the magic I could not, to restore me to a body... but I waited in vain...”

[he is hamming it up so much here. the man understands camp.]

what he means by this - clearly - is that the fact that he'd made at least one horcrux was common knowledge among his minions, which provides the explanation for why regulus knew what was going on [which i've gone into more detail about here].

which makes sense - voldemort actually tells us in canon that his safeguards aren't that nobody knows he created the horcruxes [and also, if that's what he'd been going for, he'd almost certainly have killed slughorn.]

the section is too long to quote, but if you look at the bit in chapter twenty-seven of deathly hallows when he's panicking that harry and dumbledore have figured out his secrets, the thing he's afraid of isn't that they know he's made horcruxes, but that they've worked out what the objects are and where they might be hidden, something he was certain nobody other than himself would ever be able to discover.

the ring - for example - could only be located by someone who knew voldemort's full birth name, who knew that the name "marvolo" was associated with the gaunts, and who knew where the gaunts had once lived.

the locket - as voldemort understands it, since he assumes kreacher is drowned by the inferi - could only be located by someone who knew that voldemort had, as a child, been taken on an outing to the coast and had lured two children into a cave to torture them.

the diadem could only be located by someone who knew that it wasn't actually lost, knew that helena ravenclaw could be manipulated into revealing where it was, and knew how to open the room of requirement - which voldemort canonically believes is impossible for anyone other than him [even though this makes absolutely no sense to me - there's furniture everywhere, babe?].

the cup could only be located by someone who managed to bypass gringotts' famously tight security, gain access to the lestranges' vault, pick out the cup from among all the other objects stored within [which would also require them to know that a shop-boy called tom riddle stole it from a woman called hepzibah smith] and then not get crushed to death by a rising tide of molten metal.

the diary is much less closely guarded - although voldemort evidently believes that lucius malfoy can be trusted to keep it safe until he tells him otherwise. but this - as dumbledore tells us in half-blood prince - is because voldemort wants it to be used, so that the chamber of secrets can be reopened, and that he's therefore prepared to take the risk of it being destroyed because he believes that his other horcruxes are so secure that the loss of the diary won't matter. this is also, i suspect, his view of nagini - which is why him moving to protect her is taken by both dumbledore and harry as the signal that no other horcruxes remain.

snape must know, then, that voldemort has made horcruxes, because voldemort must, however obliquely, have told him so.

and he must figure out that the diary and the ring are horcruxes specifically. he's clearly the source of dumbledore's information that voldemort's fury when he discovered the diary had been destroyed was "terrible to behold".

and he must be the person who prompts phineas nigellus black to drop the info that dumbledore used the sword of gryffindor to break open the ring. harry and hermione assume this is something black lets slip without knowing its significance, but we know from the prince's tale that he visits them at snape's request in order to find out how the horcrux hunt is going.

[on the sword of gryffindor, snape's statement - "and you won't tell me why it's so important to give potter the sword?" - has to be taken as asking why the sword is so crucial to the destruction of a horcrux that he's being forced to go to great personal risk to give it to harry in order for this overall argument to work... but i think this reading is plausible - not least because voldemort knows that harry was left the sword in dumbledore's will, since wizarding wills are examined by the ministry, and could undoubtedly find out very easily if he wanted to that the sword snape places in the lestranges' vault is a fake.]

the reason that snape doesn't participate in the horcrux hunt in any more specific way relates to the point about genre conventions and child-heroes made above.

the reason that the horcrux hunt takes the form it takes isn't because horcruxes themselves are magic so arcane and unknowable that only the trio, dumbledore, and voldemort are aware they exist. it's because harry - even more than dumbledore - is the only person who knows voldemort well enough to figure out what the horcruxes are made from and where they are.

[this is why i don't vibe with stories which assume the hunt goes quicker if snape - or sirius or anyone - helps the trio. the point is that nobody but harry could figure out that voldemort would be seething about not having a vault at gringotts, or that he would have hidden the diadem the night of his failed job interview.]

snape appears to know the adult voldemort reasonably well, but there's no evidence at all that he knows anything about his life prior to c.1970 - either from dumbledore or from voldemort himself. this means that he would be absolutely no help when it came to guessing what the horcruxes were - the diary, ring, cup, diadem, and locket all presuppose the knowledge that voldemort was once called tom riddle, after all.

which makes him useless to harry when it comes to hunting them down. by the time dumbledore dies, harry knows with near-absolute certainty what five of the horcruxes are: the diary, ring, cup, locket, and snake. he knows for a fact that two of these have been destroyed, he and dumbledore believe they've just got their hands on a third, and he knows where a fourth is [nagini, next to voldemort]. the location of the cup - and the form and location of the sixth horcrux, the diadem - is something only harry has the ability to work out. the seventh - harry himself - is information dumbledore has ordered snape to keep hidden until the appointed time.

meaning that snape clearly does know what a horcrux is - both in theory and when four [diary, ring, nagini, harry] of voldemort's own are put in front of him - but that this knowledge is sufficiently incomplete as to be irrelevant to the quest harry's engaged in which takes up the narrative's time.

#asks answered #asenora meta #severus snape #horcrux nonsense for fun and profit

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sushisocks · 6 months

Note

cmon you cant just say how queercoded sean is and then not expand on itผ(•̀_•́ผ)

/lh

My need to constantly talk about Sean MacGuire is really being indulged lately jnhbvbjnbh Thank u dear anon <3

oKAY so like, anon, I will be the FIRST to admit that me calling Sean queercoded might've been a strong choice of words all things considered (especially compared to ACTUALLY explicitly gay Bill Williamson which could go for queercoding considering it's only really explicit if you look for it or catch it). I read Sean as queer in a lot of ways, and that is probably in no small part because I'm queer myself. BUT in my defense, what am I supposed to take away from the developers cuffing Sean's jeans like that?? His queer little swagger???? The outfit with that haircut?????? That is a BISEXUAL MAN if I've ever seen one!!!

^me rn fr (always, about Sean and Lenny in particular. My gay Lenny headcanon is a lot more solid though, I'll be frank, and I'm honestly waiting to go the fuck off about it properly here some day lmao)

On a more serious note though, I definitely think Sean's admiration for Arthur can be read as a little bit of a crush in certain instances. Not that I particularly ship that pairing, but certain ways Sean responds to Arthur has always had me 🤔🤔 For example (and I'm really gonna out myself and how often i rewatch his missions here) in pouring forth oil, when Arthur gets mad forreal for a sec and threatens Sean (after Sean has a tantrum abt not being invited along which.... come on), and Sean laughs, there is DEFINITELY a crush-related way of reading that interaction & Sean's response. Not to mention the lil lookover Sean gives him I mean COME ON he's not even that subtle!

Not to speak of the fact that the first thing he does after being rescued from bounty hunters is ask Arthur for a hug - how many of yall Arthur Morgan horny ppl wouldn't die to do the same? Sean was ahead of the game. He's one of you, I swear.

I think Sean being queer makes sense with his personality too, as the sort of laid-back and easy-going one. Though I also think, given the time and the fact that I think he's bi, it's probably not smth he's ever thought very hard about? You know, heteronormativity etc etc, him and Karen having their messy thing going on etc etc, but Sean WOULD kiss a homie and not really have a problem with it. He'd just -- not think about it much harder, you know?

It's that same attitude he has, which leads me to believing if given the chance he'd be very gnc. I know I've said it before but I do headcanon that modern au Sean would def fuck around with skirts and makeup and nailpolish, and have a very loose relationship with his gender as a man at best. It makes sense to me, for someone who is both that easygoing, and has that sense of interest in societal issues, to at some point have the realization of 'oh gender roles are made up' and act accordingly, you know?

And then I'm also taken with, and sort of speaking from, this sort of perspective of the gang at large as very queer. Speaking of it in that academic way, as a sort of rejection of normative society - heteronormative society in particular - there's absolutely an inherent queerness to this entire gang of outlaws doing as they will. When being queer has always meant being ostracized from society, it is easy to read characters ostracized from society as queer; in this way, and in my opinion, the queercoding is inherent to this game, and these characters. It's there at the very foundation of their situation and way of living, and it's why I personally am never going to argue against any type of queer headcanon (and why I'm a proponent of many of them myself lol). Me seeing queerness in Sean and Lenny, is no different from me seeing it in Arthur and Charles, or Sadie and Karen, or Hosea and Dutch, or literally ANY other gangmember.

I feel like I went on a tangent here, again, as I am prone to do, BUT my main point is: Sean MacGuire is so so queer bcz I said so, and becuase why the fuck else would he be like that?

#JOKING at the end there but also absolutely not #thank u anon for asking me abt this lmao #ultimately sean is harder to argue for as queer bcz he has the least amount of screentime of the gang members. we have crumbs to work with #but i SWEAR he has been reading as queer to me from the moment i first saw him #mf 'can i get a hug arthur?' DUDE who the FUCK else asks that 😭#sean macguire #rdr2 #red dead redemption meta #red dead redemption 2 #rdr2 meta #arthur morgan #lenny summers #teki talks #rdr thoughts #asks #rdr asks #meta asks

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alphashley14 · 9 months

Text

One of Us

A Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated/Mystery Skulls Crossover

Chapter 21

Pay For My Sins

What happened?

Ah, yes. He was in Shaggy’s body. And that was probably freaking her out just as much as her being alive was freaking him out.

Where was he even supposed to begin answering that question? Ricky was still working out ‘what happened’ for himself. And he didn’t even know where to start with what he did know. With waking up in Shaggy’s body? No - he needed to tell her about the sitting room. And to tell her about that he needed to tell her about Nova and the Annunaki. But wait - Nova had wound up in a coma after Cassidy left. So he’d need to tell her about the Horrible Herd… and about the fact that he’d nearly helped Pericles destroy Crystal Cove.

Uggghhhh there was too much… he didn’t want to talk about this. What he really wanted to know was, “How are you alive?” He croaked.

“You first,” Cassidy bumped the floor back to him.

“Well I don’t even know where to begin. You- *sniff* You died, Cassidy. You were dead. Velma told me how it happened. There was no way out of there, and yet you found one. So how?”

“Well I don’t know either and what I do know is a long story,” Cassidy retorted, once again bouncing the demand for an explanation back at him like a game of ping-pong.

“Try me,” Ricky dared, bouncing it back a little too aggressively.

“You- just- please Ricky,” She pleaded, raising their joined fingers to hold his hand with both of hers. “At least tell me why you look… not like yourself.”

Ricky swallowed down the butterflies dancing in his stomach and sighed. She’d been back from the dead for all of what? Fifteen minutes? And already they were… fuck, he didn’t want to argue with her. And she was right, really. Her being alive was unlikely. His current state was- should be impossible.

“I’ve been… body-swapped,” Ricky admitted. “With Shaggy and Arthur.”

Cassidy was so surprised she dropped his hand. “Shaggy… and Arthur?”

Ricky shook his head incredulously. “Yep,” he half-laughed, popping the p. He’d kind of gotten used to it, but explaining it out loud to someone really put the ridiculousness in perspective all over again. “I’m in Shaggy’s body, Shaggy is in Arthur’s, and Arthur is in mine.”

“Arthur was with the kids just now,” Cassidy said, thinking out loud. “So you mean to tell me that was-”

“That was Shaggy, yes.”

“Ohhh I was wondering what he was doing, and why he was wearing- where did you get this?” Cassidy asked, looking at his yellow and white striped shirt and lightly poking his jacket.

“Daphne,” Ricky replied, as if that explained everything.

“Ah,” Cassidy said, because that did explain everything.

“We kept getting called by the wrong names,” Ricky shrugged. “The shirts-” He cleared his throat, trying to remedy the hoarseness from all the crying. “-The shirts remind everyone who’s who.”

“Uh-huh… I can uh… see how that would be confusing but just- how did this even happen???”

“That is… a perfectly reasonable question,” Ricky said perfectly evenly, pointing at her with a shaking finger. “And I’ll tell ya,” he laughed in spite of himself, “I just need you to keep in mind here… that I am completely serious about everything I am about to tell you. And it’s gonna sound insane. I’m gonna sound insane. Just know that I am not fucking with you.”

“Baby. I survived killer robots and an exploding underwater lab, only to almost immediately meet a kitsune, a ghost, a girl with a magic ice bat, and a kid with a metal arm. Try me.”

Ricky sighed and nervously rubbed the back of his neck. “I… guess it all started-” But Ricky was cut off mid-sentence by his own stomach growling.

Fuck. Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuuuck! Not now! But his stomach growled again. Louder. Angrier. Hungrier. It was just like yesterday morning. In all the excitement, Ricky hadn’t realized just how hungry he was. It felt like his stomach was trying to eat itself. Was it like this for Shaggy every morning? Once again, his stomach snarled in ‘how-dare-you-go-this-long-without-food’. And Cassidy looked at his stomach like, ‘oh my God was that you?’ And his blood rushed to his face in ‘why-are-you-like-this?’ and his brain thought to itself: ‘can we just self-destruct on the spot please? Thank youuuu…’

“Uh… Shaggy’s body- comes with its challenges,” Ricky tried to laugh it off.

But that was when Cassidy’s stomach growled. “I uh… haven’t eaten since the meal they gave us on the plane.”

Ricky snorted. Cassidy giggled. And then they were laughing together in a way that they hadn’t since they were teenagers. Ricky doubled over, and Cassidy leaned back and clapped her hands.

“This- haha- this is ridiculous!” Ricky cried between his laughter.

“We’re ridiculous,” Cassidy agreed.

That only made Ricky laugh harder until before he knew it, his guffaws gave way into sobs and-

He was crying again.

Why the fuck are you crying again?!

And of course, Cassidy noticed.

“It- It really is you,” Ricky gasped, wiping his eyes. “I’m sorry- I don’t know- *sniff* I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Just- I’m sorry.”

“Ricky… it’s fine.” Cassidy put a hand on his shoulder, but he jerked away. He didn’t deserve it.

“It’s not fine, Cassidy! Wait- sorry. I- I didn’t mean to snap. That came out wrong. I just meant… that’s not what I meant. Sorry…” Ricky put his head between his knees, his fingers in his hair, and forced himself to take deep breaths.

You’re being ridiculous. You can’t talk when you’re hysterical like this. It’s stupid that you’re even crying. You’re a grown man, dammmit! Well- okay maybe not at this exact moment but on the inside you are what the fuck is wrong with you get a grip-

Cassidy was touching him. Her hand was on his back, rubbing circles.

He didn’t pull away this time.

༻˚⁺･⚉｡○✼༓☾⦾♫෴♡💛♡෴♫⦾☽༓✼○｡⚉･⁺˚༺

Another song had begun to play quietly from the dark recesses of the manor, harsh echoing beats of the keyboard like static with clashing crescendoing notes was the perfect accompaniment to the unease twisting her guts into knots.

What happened to you?

The question stirring in Cassidy’s mind had made its way into her very bones. It was like there was a shaken soda can in her chest, the pressure building, expanding, steadily making its way towards that inevitable explosion.

But she held it in. She watched. She listened. Because that was the only power she had right now.

He jerked away at first, but Cassidy could tell - because she knew him, she knew him better than she had ever known anyone besides herself - that there wasn’t any anger behind it anymore. He was hurting, and he was scared, but this time he was trying not to push her away.

“Ba-by, I’ve been tryin’ to make shit right… For eeevry-one I’ve ever lied to…”

His snarky mask was the only way Mr. E knew how to deal with his pain. But Ricky Owens - Ricky used to talk to her. And maybe it was because he was technically seventeen again, but right now…

Right now he didn’t look much like Mr. E at all.

“With Mom and Dad, it was all fights… But in the end it’s family that we are tied to…”

She waited for him to settle a little. Then she put her hand on his back.

He jumped. But he didn’t pull away this time.

“Lately I’ve been thinkin’ I’ve been too far gone, uh

“See, I’ve been tryin’ to pay for my sins. But they won’t take my money, baby…”

“Oh, I’ve been tryna pay for my sins! Mh, but they won’t take my money, baby, oooh~”

Ricky finally sat up and licked his lips, but he didn’t look at her. “What I… what I was trying to say was…”

“Oh, I’ve been tryna pay for my sins! Mh, but they won’t take my money, baby, oooh~”

He swallowed and sniffed, then briefly wiped his nose with his sleeve. “What I um- what I said before… I’m sorry for exploding all over you like that. But uh… what I said. I know it didn’t come out right but… I need you to know. I meant every word.”

Then he looked at her… suddenly she could hardly hear the music at all. Puffy eyed. Flushed. Tear stained. Broken, yet still going. The way he looked at her… she could see his very soul bared to her on that face. Every crack, scar, and open wound. Burdens as heavy as the sky itself.

Most of them, Cassidy knew.

Some of them, she carried too.

But others… others were new.

She asked herself again: What happened to you?

“Cassidy I am so sorry,” Ricky said hoarsely, “For all of it. You were right about everything.” And the way he said it- the way he looked at her… as if he’d never meant anything more in his entire life.

“Just give it a chance. Just give me a chance. Just give me a chance.”

“I was- I was wrong, and I should have listened to you. I- I don’t know what happened. It all went from protecting the kids to fighting Pericles, and then suddenly it became about the treasure. Mystery uh… The Mystery Skulls keep telling me I’m cursed. Or that I- that I was cursed. But… I don’t think that’s an excuse. I was selfish. And stupid. So, so fucking stupid. And because of me, people got hurt. You got hurt. I… Hurt you…”

He trailed off, but she could see the horror written on his face.

One of his burdens gained a name.

Ricky shook his head and cleared his throat. “And there’s… there’s only one thing I said earlier that I’ll take back. And that’s when I asked you how you could ever forgive me. Okay? Don’t-... Don’t forgive me… Just don’t. Because I don’t deserve it. And I’m never going to forgive myself.”

Cassidy was so stunned that at first she didn’t say anything.

He apologized. He apologized! There was a time not so long ago when Cassidy thought she would never see the day.

‘Don’t forgive me. I don’t deserve it. And I’m never going to forgive myself.’

The latter, she believed.

But that face- ‘Don’t forgive me.’ His mouth said one thing but his eyes said something else. She could see guilt - but also that selfish wish we all have, for another chance.

Maybe he didn’t deserve it. And Cassidy was still angry with him. One apology, no matter how sincere, wasn’t enough to change that. So for now at least, she did not forgive him.

But if he kept up whatever this was… then maybe one day she would.

“Then I won’t.” And the way he deflated when she said it struck her right in the heart. But she wasn’t done yet. Once more, she took his hand in hers. “-But you’ve been one of the most important people in my life for over twenty years. I lost you for long enough - or maybe you lost yourself. Either way, I’m moving forward.” She lightly squeezed his hand. “-And this time I’m taking you with me.”

Ricky let out a choked, strangled noise and looked away, fast blinking before his emotions spilled out again.

Finally, not meeting her eyes he croaked, “... Why?”

Cassidy took a while to answer that. Finally, she replied. “There was this kid I knew once. But someone hurt him, and he lost… everything. And the person he became as a result was very different from the boy I loved.”

Ricky gulped. “... And what happened to that boy you knew?”

“The rest of the world forgot about him, as if the man he became just appeared from thin air one day. But I never forgot about him. And as different as he was… he was still important to me. That’s why I stayed. Even though he was… lost. And made some pretty dumbass decisions. But I had hope that he’d get his shit together. And now that I think he has…” Cassidy trailed off, unblinking, staring pointedly at Ricky. “He doesn’t exactly look the same as I remember right now… but I’d know him anywhere."

“... I think he’s gone Cassidy,” Ricky whispered.

“I don’t think that’s true,” Cassidy disagreed firmly. “You look more like the real Ricky Owens right now than you have in over a decade, Ricky. Twenty years, and you finally get your shit together? I know what you’ve done… But I did not just get you back, only to shove you away.”

“Maybe you should.”

“Maybe I know that. And maybe don’t give a fuck.”

Ricky looked away sharply. They didn’t say anything for a few seconds. Then he whispered, “I thought I killed you…”

Again, Cassidy had to take a minute before she knew what to say to that.

“... Mystery told me that you had nothing to do with it… Is that true? Did you really not know?”

Ricky shook his head, and his voice cracked. “No… And I swear I never would’ve let him if I knew. I’d’ve thrown him out… and he knew that.” Ricky’s voice hardened with rage as he gripped the edge of the step upon which he sat hard enough to turn his knuckles white. “He had to have fucking known that, because if he didn’t he wouldn’t have kept it from me!” Ricky started to shout, but he took a deep breath and checked his tone.

“Cassidy,” he began again, “I swear. On. My. Mother’s. Grave. I didn’t know. About the robots or the fact that he was using them to attack you. Hell - I bet that’s why he used the damn robots. They weren’t Destroido assets, so there wouldn’t’ve been any way for me to find out what he was doing with them until he barged into my company with them!”

Again, Ricky checked his tone. “-Sorry… the more I think about it, the angrier I get. But still… none of that changes the fact that your death… it would’ve been on me, Cassidy. You almost died. Because of me. And I’m going to have to live with that… for the rest of my days.”

“Then explain it to me,” Cassidy said. “If you didn’t know, then tell me how it was your fault.”

“I gave him the tools,” Ricky sighed. “He never would’ve had the resources to do what he did if it weren’t for me. The factory wasn’t mine and he did it behind my back, but he would’ve needed to use my assets to get it up and running again. Money, equipment, a submarine so that he could get down there to begin with… And secondly…”

His whole body tensed. “-Because he said something needed to be done about you,” And he refused, refused to look at her when he confessed this sin. “... And I agreed with him."

"I don’t know what the wool over my eyes was made of. Was I so hopeful that I had my friend back? Did I just want so badly to think the best of him? Was I delusional? Stupid? Cursed? I don’t know! But I swear Cassidy, I swear on everything I hold dear. Somehow, it never even crossed my mind that- that he’d…”

Ricky took a shuddering breath and swallowed before he continued. “I thought we were going to convince you to join us. Maybe threaten you. Convince you to leave town. And I know- I know how awful that sounds. It was awful. I’m awful. But at the time- at the time it seemed like what was best for everyone. But then he never said anything to me about it again, and eventually I noticed that it had been a while since I’d heard from you… then that you’d never gone so long without contacting me. And I- I was terrified, Cassidy. But for some reason I still told myself that you weren’t dead. That you couldn’t be dead. Because you’re… you’re…”

“... I’m what?” Cassidy demanded coldly.

Ricky’s face burned red with shame and as livid as she was, Cassidy couldn’t help but be reminded distinctly of how cute he’d once been - the way his whole face blushed when he was young. He looked away when he answered her.

“... Because you’re the most powerful person I’ve ever known.”

God. Fucking. Dammit.

I’m angry. So fucking angry. Be angry with him, dammit!

But fuck, he was making that difficult. Anything Cassidy had been bracing herself for, it wasn’t this. And he was still adding icing to the damn cake.

“I took you for granted Cassidy,” he sighed. “When we uh… before we broke up, I was… I was such a jerk to you. And still, when I asked you to, you uprooted the life you’d built and you came back here for me. I never properly thanked you for that. And I never told you… how much respect I really have for you. Because you really are… the most incredible person I’ve ever met. And I’m sorry, because I guess that I sort of had you on a pedestal. So it didn’t occur to me that you were just as human as I was and that you could-” His voice hitched- “That what I was doing could get you killed… and I know ‘sorry’ is just an empty word… but I am so, so sorry for that, Cassidy…”

STOP MAKING IT SO HARD TO BE MAD AT YOU!

Cassidy was just… stunned. It was such a drastic, drastic change from the man she’d left in the woods months ago. Once again, a question came to mind. And this time, she whispered it aloud.

“... What happened to you?”

He processed the question, and his face transformed. The sadness, the regret, the guilt all at once became deep shame and fear. Fear the likes of which she had only seen on his face a handful of times, even with how long she’d known him and all that they’d been through together. She could almost see the words forming on his tongue, but his lips just wouldn’t move.

He wants to tell me, she realized. But he’s terrified to.

༻˚⁺･⚉｡○✼༓☾⦾♫෴♡💛♡෴♫⦾☽༓✼○｡⚉･⁺˚༺

What happened to you?

Had he really been so changed that his scars were so easily visible to her eyes?

At once, Ricky’s whole body tightened as if he expected mutant venom to start coursing through his veins at any moment. Horrible images flashed before Ricky’s eyes, ghosts of cruel words echoing in his ears.

“Oh Ricky, Ricky…” “-an idiotic human mascot!” “-Anyone who crosses me gets-” “You are in charge of nothing!” “eliminated.” “-A shoulder for me to perch upon!” “You do. As I say.”

‘Tell her…’ A putrid, pitiful, desperate part of him begged. ‘Just tell her!... Please…’

And he wanted to. God, he wanted to…

But how could he?

“Perhaps… after breakfast, yes?”

Both of them jumped and turned around to see Mystery sitting on the steps above them.

Suddenly Ricky was back in the here and now. That frightened part of him went back into the box from whence it came and anger welled up instead.

“Youuuuu…”

“Good morning Ricky,” the kitsune said pleasantly with a flick of his tails.

“YOU COULD’VE TOLD ME SHE WASN’T DEAD MYSTERY!” Ricky shouted!

“You’re right. I could have,” Mystery replied calmly.

“SHE’S BEEN ALIVE THIS WHOLE TIME?! YOU KNEW THAT! AND I- YOU KNOW WHAT I WENT THROUGH! YOU WERE THERE!!!!”

“I was,” Mystery replied, his pleasant tone unchanging.

“YOU SHOULD HAVE FUCKING TOLD ME!”

“You’re right. I should have.”

“A FUCKING WARNING AT LEAST! What’s the use of having telepathy- WHYDIDN’TYOUWARNME?!”

“Because I was a coward.”

It was said with such ease and sincerity that it threw Ricky right out of shouting mode. “YOU- what?”

“I was a coward,” the kitsune shrugged with a sad smile. “And you’re right. I should have told you. In fact that was my intent. But I knew it would hurt you, and I was afraid. So in the end… For all my talk of lessening the shock for you, I let you see it for yourself. I shouldn’t have done that, Ricky. I’m sorry.”

Ricky blinked at him. Raised an indignant finger. Opened his mouth with a deep inhale as if he wanted to yell… then let it out, defeated. “There were literally dozens of opportunities yesterday for you to have told me, Mystery. For any of you to have told me! So why didn’t you?”

“Because we were worried about Arthur,” the kitsune answered honestly. “At least at first, that was the answer. We believed disclosing the fact that Cassidy was alive would hinder any efforts to rescue Arthur. But even after it became clear that no ‘rescue’ would be taking place, we knew we needed to come clean about our…” Mystery gave them a look and used a paw to gesture to himself and the very haunted mansion. “And if we told you about all of that and that Cassidy was alive, combined with everything else that happened yesterday, we believed it would have been too much for you. The plan really was to tell you about it this morning over breakfast. Cassidy wasn’t expected to arrive for almost another two hours.”

“Dog. Do not put that on me. Vivi made it sound like-” But Cassidy glanced at Ricky and nervously cleared her throat. “-She said it was urgent. So I took shortcuts. No breaks… may have taken the speed limit as a suggestion.”

“I wasn’t, as you say, ‘putting it on you’,” the kitsune sighed. “You’re both right. We should have planned for this. But we did not, and the result was a rather nasty shock. Vivi and Lewis will apologize personally as well, but at the moment they are in the kitchen with the kids, making breakfast. When you’re ready, I’d like very much for you to join us.”

Ricky was staring at Mystery, dumbfounded. “... What’s the catch?” he asked suspiciously.

“No catch,” Mystery said pleasantly. “I made a mistake. An apology is the least you deserve.”

“So… that’s it? You’re just… you were wrong?”

“I was wrong,” Mystery confirmed.

“And you’re just going to admit it and apologize just like that?”

“Just like that,” he nodded.

Ricky could scarcely believe it. Where was the digging in? The dismissal? The gaslighting? To just… receive a genuine apology like this so easily was… weird.

Dammit. Mystery had proven himself over and over again, and yet here Ricky was, once again comparing him to Pericles.

And clearly Mystery realized this, not that he took it to heart. But, he couldn’t resist the opportunity to insert a jab at the parrot. He tilted his head and asked passive-aggressively, “What kind of egotistical, feather-brained cockalorum would do otherwise?”

“Shaddup! I’m not used to this!”

Mystery just laughed, tails wagging. And that’s the moment Ricky’s stomach decided to roar in protest once again.

Uuuuugh… bury me… Ricky pulled his hood over his head with embarrassment and tugged on the strings to close it.

“Breakfast?” Mystery chuckled.

“Yez please…” Ricky grumbled, muffled through his jacket.

The kitsune laughed again and affectionately nuzzled him on the top of the head with his nose. “Come,” he said, stepping over Ricky and Cassidy to lead the way down the stairs. And Cassidy’s eyes followed him in utter amazement, hardly believing the interaction she’d just witnessed. But Mystery’s voice snapped her out of her daze.

“We’re in for a treat. Lewis is making crepes in honor of your return Cassidy, he began making preparations early this morning. The Peppers run a restaurant as you know, and the crepes are positively delectable. Lewis hasn’t told me what kind he’s making though. The nutella filling with banana is divine, but a bit too much sugar for my taste. Then there’s the more pleasant tang of lemon and blueberry, or the subtle sweetness of vanilla and strawberry. My personal favorite is chicken, spinach, and basil sprinkled with cheese, but then again I am primarily a carnivore by nature so it is sensible that my palette would lean more on the savory side. Then there’s when he substitutes chicken for steak…”

Smiling, Cassidy made eye contact with Ricky over Mystery’s tails as they followed him, and Ricky snorted when she shook her head and rolled her eyes fondly at the kitsune’s ramblings.

Crepes really weren’t what was important right now, but Mystery seemed to have a mysterious way of knowing exactly what to say to make his friends feel better. The talk of food was entirely irrelevant to the issues at hand, and if anything it was just making Ricky hungrier. But the kitsune seemed so nonchalant, his rambling so utterly domestic, that as uncertain as what lay ahead was…

He truly made it seem as if everything was going to be okay.

༻˚⁺･⚉｡○✼༓☾⦾♫෴♡💛♡෴♫⦾☽༓✼○｡⚉･⁺˚༺

Vivi and Lewis were waiting for them outside the kitchen area, and Cassidy went inside while Ricky stood, arms crossed, and waited for the inevitable apology.

They didn’t say anything for a couple of moments, the Mystery Skulls at a loss at how to begin, before Ricky grew bored of their squirming, pursed his lips, and said, “So. She’s alive.”

Both of them gulped. “Yeah. Yeah, she is.” Lewis said.

Vivi cringed, “We really did want to tell you-”

“Save it,” Ricky interrupted her. “Mystery already told me why you didn’t tell me. And I…” Ricky groaned, frustrated, and ran his fingers through his hair. “I get why you did it. And it makes- sense. But dammit the more I think about it the more opportunities I think of for you to have told me, and the madder I get at you!”

“Which is totally valid-”

“And you’re just- accepting that you messed up, and owning up to it, and it’s weird!”

Vivi and Lewis gave him a look. “Dude. Do the people around you usually… not?”

Ricky opened and closed his mouth, realizing there was nothing he could say without giving away yet another thing to make the Mystery Skulls feel sorry for him. So he just growled, frustrated, and marched into the kitchen.

As mad as he was at the Mystery Skulls, his brain compartmentalized his anger the second he walked into the kitchen.

Wow, am I happy to not be Cassidy right now.

No one was eating yet, as Lewis still wasn’t quite done with breakfast. But Ricky didn’t think they’d be eating even if the food was ready. Nope. Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby were doing the very same thing he’d been doing to Vivi and Lewis a moment ago: wordlessly glaring as both parties silently battled over who would talk first, and what would be said when they did.

Ricky knew the feeling. He’d been in that very same position this time yesterday, when he’d awoken in Shaggy’s body. And now, it was Cassidy’s turn.

The difference was that while they’d looked at him with confusion, anger, distrust, and dislike, the kids looked at Angel… hurt. Confused. Needing an explanation before they could move forward.

And honestly, Ricky felt the same way to an extent. She was alive. It was a miracle, almost too good to be true. But there was an explanation for everything, rational or supernatural. Whatever had happened, to allow her to remain alive on the same Earth as him, he was grateful for it.

And yet, he still needed to know: how?

As Ricky nervously approached, Cassidy was seated at the head of the table, and he got the impression that the kids had put her there based on the way they were sitting around her. Save one empty seat right beside her, which Daphne pulled out for him when he got close enough.

Oh dear, they’ve put me right at the heart of it, Ricky realized with a gulp, sitting down in the seat they’d saved for him. Ricky tried to appear small as the tension in the room mounted. He felt his stomach twinge. Please do not growl right now, he begged himself quietly.

Angel started to say, “Babies-”

“How are you alive?!” Velma demanded loudly.

Ricky jumped and suddenly didn’t feel quite as hungry.

“Yeah. Like, what gives? Like I thought you weren’t gonna lie to us anymore!” Shaggy said, hurt.

“Hold on guys, give her a chance to explain herself,” Vivi said, sitting at the table next to Mystery, who had turned back into a dog for the sake of fitting at the table.

“You have no room to talk!” Fred snapped. “You knew about this, too! You’ve known since before you came to Crystal Cove! Why should we listen to you when you’ve been lying to us since the beginning?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because the town is cursed and we’d literally just met you,” Vivi said pointedly. “It wasn't safe yet for Cassidy to come back into the fold. We couldn’t risk telling anyone until we were formally working together and had some trust built between us.”

“Fine. That I can understand,” Daphne sighed. “But Cassidy… we cried for you. We’d just started trusting you again. You couldn’t have sent us a message? Something to let us know you were okay? How could you do this?”

“I know, I know. Believe me, I had meant to never lie to you again. But then… you don’t understand-”

“Then make us understand.” Velma demanded.

Cassidy sighed, and began to tell her story.

Another short-ish chapter, but Chapter 22 is already well in the works and I've been working on something else as well that I really wanted to have done before I posted 21, but I'm at an art block rn and didn't want to make ya'all wait. I know a lot of you probably wanted to find out how Cassidy survived in this chapter, or for Cassidy to be caught up on a certain thing... but I thought that they needed to clear the air on some other things first. And the heartfelt reunion part 2/apology turned out a bit longer than I expected. So here we are. The next chapter tho, I will tell you, is dedicated entirely to how Cassidy survived and met the Mystery Skulls. It's going to answer a lot of questions, for sure... but will it raise even more? 😈 And uuuugh - again I need to write an entire post about why I picked this song for this chapter, but I just haven't! I haven't for 'God' yet either, but I really need to! Anyway - I hope you loved this chapter as much as I liked writing it!!! 😄

Chapters 1-20 of ‘One of Us’ are presently posted on Archive of Our Own!

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fdelopera · 2 years

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okay okay so i was re-watching mk with a couple friends a lil bit ago and my jewish friend raised the point of marc sparing harrow because (im paraphrasing here and my memory is sketchy but,) judaism values all lives and the potential that people can change.

and that made me think about marc's relationship to his religion and god. marc having distanced himself from his jewish heritage because of the abuse he suffered and because of the passiveness of his father (and potentially other family members/community) in dealing with + protecting him from wendy's abuse.

tying that in to the deleted scene with wendy—marc deciding not to kill arthur and ammit stemming from reconciling (and/or releasing) the guilt (ammit/harrow) and anger (khonshu) he's held for so long, and in doing so, reclaiming his jewish heritage. (it's clearly something that's important with him given That Scene in ep 5; the trauma and grief surrounding wendy's death being confronted and managed during deleted scene helps him reclaim it for himself?)

i'm not jewish myself so i wanted to ask someone with that perspective about this aksdxjl -khonshoe

YESSSS!!! Yes, exactly. Judaism has no afterlife, and so we strive to always be better and do better here on earth. Life is for living. The goal is to be buried in Jewish soil in a Jewish cemetery, but the dead live on in our remembrance of them, not in a literal, physical heaven or hell, like in the Christian tradition.

In Episode 5, Marc is confused by the Egyptian afterlife, while Steven geeks out about it because he’s face to face with one of his areas of special interest, but neither of them feel a sense of BELONGING in the journey. Even when Marc reaches the Field of Reeds, he doesn’t know what to do with himself there. Not just because he has been separated from Steven, which is of course his greatest source of pain, but also because this is not the way it is supposed to be. Jewish people don’t live on like this after death. Life is where we experience change and growth and redemption; death is not.

Marc finally saying NO to Khonshu is his act of reclaiming his agency over his ability to choose, which reconnects him to his faith. Judaism is a religion that values free will. It is about choice, consequence, and the ability to change. I think that it is no coincidence that Marc is only able to reconnect with this aspect of his faith after he has connected with Steven. Without Steven, he wouldn’t have been able to defeat Ammit (the goddess of deterministic prejudgment).

Remember in Episode 2, when Steven has a full-on philosophical rant to Harrow about the nature of free will and the dangers of deterministic prejudgment? That’s also the first scene where we see Steven become Marc’s emotional protector. I’m writing a whole other essay on that. Stay tuned.

Steven is the one who maintains the strongest connection to their Judaism. Steven is the one who keeps kosher (trust me, it’s so much easier to say to someone like Donna that you’re a vegan than you keep kosher — that’s what most of my friends who keep kosher do). He’s the one who has a mezuzah on his door.

Layla reminds Marc that he has a choice, and indeed he does. He tells Khonshu NO. He chooses not to take another life. And yes, that leaves Jake, the physical protector of the system, to make sure that Marc is never hurt by Harrow or Ammit again, but it does not diminish the fact that Marc has made the choice of his own free will.

This is why I say that Moon Knight is a Jewish show. But you kind of have to be Jewish to know what to look for.

And trust me, I would so much rather have THIS kind of Jewish storyline — a philosophical debate between Free Will and Determinism — than one where a Nazi child killer posing as a Rabbi “gives” Marc DID. Because not only is that insensitive to systems (and also inaccurate to how DID is formed), it is also incredibly antisemitic. After the Holocaust, Jews were accused of allowing the Nazis to rise to power without doing enough to stop them (as if an ethnic and religious minority could have done anything). Yes, Bemis is Jewish by birth (not sure if he’s practicing), but it doesn’t change the fact that this storyline is terrible by any Jewish standards. Because the implication is that Elias and the Jewish community that the Spectors were part of didn’t do a good enough job of rooting out the Nazis in their midst. Which, again, is what Jews were accused of after WWII.

I’m also glad that we didn’t get the storyline where Marc gives up on God and joins with Khonshu (a deity of the Biblical enemy) because Marc views God as being weak for allowing Jews to suffer for millennia. Like, yes, that is a huge Jewish pain point. It totally is. Do I really want the discussion of that pain point in a mainstream television show where non-Jewish people delve into it? Honestly, I really don’t. It is still an incredibly sensitive topic, because Jewish people are still recovering after the Holocaust. One of my uncles was born in a displaced persons camp in Germany after the War. The family were in hiding, and so they managed to escape the concentration camps, but because of his mother’s malnutrition during her pregnancy, my uncle has no fingernails or toenails, and he has ongoing major health problems. Do I want a Marvel show delving into that, and getting it wrong? Nope, nope I don’t.

OKAY, I’ve rambled on for way too long now.

THANK YOU for your Ask!

#moon knight #marc spector #steven grant #jake lockley #oscar isaac #khonshoe

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mpreg-nouveau · 29 days

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Turn of the century omegaverse thoughts

Cause I'm a huge fucking history nerd and I was thinking about, what would omegaverse look like at different points in history/how would it effect history, and given the motif of this blog I thought I'd share some from 1900s-1910s.

Note, this is not me romanticising these concepts, just thinking about potential plotlines or ideas that COULD result from omegaverse being part of this point in the human time line, both good, bad, and just weird:

–omega sufferage movement along side women's sufferage

–the overlap between women’s rights movement and the issues of A/B/O hierarchies creating a lot of fuss and questions during the time, especially with news print and communication getting more and more wide spread.

–ex, it being considered ok for an alpha female to dress in men's clothing and do work as the primary breadwinner when her husband or wife is an omega, but what happens when she is with an alpha male who is socially EXPECTED to be the primary bread winner at the time? Is the woman supposed to quit her job and become a house wife upon marriage? She certainly doesn't think so and neither does her husband.

–i feel like the American hierarchy at the time is alpha male>alpha female=beta male>beta female=omega male=omega female.

–omegas using labor unions to fight for equal treatment and pay in new industrial settings.

--factories are hesitant to hire them because fearing their workers will go on heat regularly and slow down production. People having to hide that they are omegas to get work as a result. This was the time period where you could get fired for a work place injury after all.

–people coming to the States for the first time with different cultural expectations for the a/b/o dynamics and getting some culture shock from American life, whether american standards are stricter, less strict, or entirely flipped from their home perspectives.

–along with with the Gibson girl there's also the Gibson boy representing the dainty stereotype of omegas.

–the new middle class and upper middle class suddenly being targeted by mass production industrial giants advertising new, useless creature comforts to build extravagant and gorgeous nests and dens

–patent medicines that are utterly worthless but advertise to act as heat suppressants, rut control, and to make your scent more appealing to others

–in order to pander to ideals of modernization and “civility” american upper crusts comparing their a/b/o status to various dog breeds instead of wolves. There's essentially a horoscope of sorts they've come up with to align themselves with specific dog breeds and the stereotypes there off.

– ex: “my father was an alpha bulldog type, and my mother a beta beagle designation, and because I was born on the 3rd Sunday in August as an omega, I am a jack Russell terrier designation.

–people keep harassing Arthur Conan Doyle for Watson and Sherlock’s canonic designation. This is what causes the poor man to lose it and start believing in fairies.

–omega heat cars on trains for single individuals to hang out in and avoid perverts. Its meant as a kind gesture but instead just ends up playing into puritan culture surrounding omega bodies.

–as electricity is being installed in more and more homes there's an irrational worry that the electrical circuits in the walls will mess with the cycles of heat and rut among some.

–its completely unfounded but causes people to resist the switch anyways

–meanwhile there IS evidence that gas based light fixtures DO have negative effects on the body but everyone grew up with them “and I turned out ok so it must be fine”

–advent of widespread vaccines and better standards of sanitation means that entire litters of pups are surviving childhood now

–families that worried to name pups after they were born, as back in their home land it was rare for more than one per litter to survive, suddenly are having miracle litters. Every single pup is ending up getting spoiled by these families who expected the worst.

–new ridiculous electric inventions come out catering to beautification and a/b/o fertility care. One is a body massage device that supposedly increases the chances of having a healthy and fruitful pregnancy….it's essentially a hand held belly rub machine.

– most of the US was still rural and isolated from the cities at this time. Few had ventured 20 miles from their home town. Rural parents worrying about their omega children marrying people from the city…because of a genuine yet misguided fear of their kids getting so overwhelmed by all the new scents in the city that they will immediately have a seizure and die.

–during the turn of the century it was already fairly common for kids to wear gender neutral, play safe clothing like gowns all the way up to 8 years old, so gender neutral clothing being common until a kid presents for the first time.

–classes getting divided into alphas, omegas, and betas in some puritanical schools in order to “protect the children” as the new US mandatory public school system is getting hammered out

–packs becoming a looser term for more wide social circles rather than relatives or clans due to migration of people both into the nation and throughout.

–Ex: woman forming packs based on sharing supplies in a new city with each other, or packs surrounding shared interest in activities like sewing or books

–the Boston Red Sox declare themselves a pack one day.

–I feel like a lot of politicians pretend to be alphas for status

–teddy Roosevelt secretly being an omega but nobody realizes this cause he's constantly covered in wood ash and various funk from his game hunting and overtly manly activities. Everyone just assumes he's an alpha between that and his personality.

(Edit: clarification on the last one, this is a joke about how the guy had horrible asthma and other chronic health issues especially while young, which for most people at the time would mean a very short life span, but no one knew because the dude compensated with so much exercise and other extreme health stuff you could do at the time you could not tell. Dude even took a bullet to the chest midway through a speech and then finished said speech. Dude basically made himself a stereotype of an "alpha male")

#omegaverse #a/b/o dynamics #turn of the century #alternate history #historical fantasy #a/b/o

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fuckyeaharthuriana · 6 months

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The Winter King episode 1

First of all I need to add this small warning premise: I read Bernard Cornwell's novels so far ago, and I have been too in the grasp of my adhd to be able to focus on much, so rereading them would be impossible for me at the moment.

I guess this means I will talk about the show from a "ignorant" perspective, without talking too much about the differences between the novel and the actual show. I will judge it for what it is, ignoring that it is part of an adaptation.

Still, I remember a little, so I can confirm that the show starts the same way. Arthur is a bastard, when his father accuses him of having caused the heir's death, he is exiled, thanks to Merlin's intervention. There is also Arthur's sister (no name yet) who pleaded for mercy. Arthur saves a young Derfel and then we are jumped in a timeskip.

The rest of the episode sees some vague establishing of what "the gods" are and Avalon is. It is not clear at all, just the usual "we follow the GODS" (which gods?? who knows). Derfel is not a young adult, and he is in love with Nimue - who suddenly has to choose between the gods and that guy.

It is all very dramatic, she cannot "deny her past", but given we had known these characters for less than 20 minutes, it all falls flat. The episode RUNS, runs like the wind, trying to introduce all the possible plots around Derfel. I barely had the time to breath and understand what main plot the episode was trying to establish, the truth being that I still don't know.

I fully believe it would have simply been better to start directly with Derfel, sees him as a kid, let us know him in the classic way "past-family-what he went through" and then see Arthur save him, and introduce his conflict between wanting to stay at Avalon and wanting to be a warrior, just like Arthur.

The plot instead rolls and rolls - suddenly Queen Norwenna is in labour, Merlin and Morgana rush to her side - and for some reason they ask Derfel to come for the extra help (what extra help is not clear). Merlin has a horrible vision of the future when he holds the baby. Uther is happy to have a new son, but Merlin warns him that the child has a twisted foot and a twisted nature (?? the need to offer both at the same time... weird, very weird). Merlin says he saw the end of the whole of Britan in this kid, but Uther ignores him and cuddles the baby.

I know we are supposed to root for Merlin, and see that Uther is foolish for accepting this baby and not Arthur, his other son, but the truth is - the baby is a baby. I don't think the tv show convey the danger, or managed to get me on the side of Merlin because that baby is so SMALL? and innocent? And the show is so fast we never had the chance to trust Merlin, to see him struggle or actually care for Britain, we do not know much of what he cares for (the vague gods).

Suddenly - so fast - Merlin leaves for Arthur, and Derfel says he is gonna stay there while Nimue goes to Avalon. Derfel found a job (in the span of a night?? few days??) and decided (after a nightmare/flashback) to want to become a warrior. The sad music almost made me laugh, I have to be honest, while looking at Derfel leave Nimue behind, as the show spends zero attempts in trying to making us invested in their relationship.

Also I cannot really judge actors, I am not that good at catching who is a good actor or not, but I could barely hear what Nimue was saying, she always seemed almost drunk.

Luckily, among all characters, Derfel seemed to have the best actor to be able to do quite a lot with little. He had a boyish naive quality that made me believe he DID find work overnight, and he did decide to become a warrior just because Arthur told him. I will definitely try to continue watching, as I am curious to see how they are going to make this Derfel into the Derfel I vaguely remember form the books.

Other positive comments I have for the show would mainly be about how well it convey the arthurian feelings of a historial novel like Bernard Cornwell's. I cannot speak about how historically accurate the clothes, weapons and buildings are, but for an untrained eye like mine they all did a lot to world-build, to give me the idea of a prosperous kingdom on the verge of wars.

#the winter king #derfel #it was almost fun the way derfel was thrown from plot to plot...

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skayafair · 9 months

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I have to admit I miss season 1 and 2 atmosphere. I fell in love with this podcast as my most comfort one because it had everything I love - lots of supernatural stuff, a very mysterious air - not horror one, really, - a thick plot and two very imperfect characters growing as the action went, good character studies - and it was very well-balanced.

I think going downhill started back in the pits time, the balance tipped quite considerably to the macabre side. But it was still mostly alright, season 2 is my favorite.

The real change happened in season 3.

Firstly, the enemy weren't some supernatural beings anymore - it's humans now. Using some otherwordly technics and creating monsters, sure, but still humans. The town's folk, Uncle, Larson, people in the mines (weren't exactly enemies but they were considered a possible threat for some time). When it was going on for just one season, it was okay - felt different, not as nice and comforting as the first 2, but okay. But now in season 4 there's a heavy focus on the Butcher (who is just revolting to me even as an enemy), who has been appearing as a human so far, although now we know there might be some supernaturally weird shit going on with him either. And... If I wanted to listen to a true crime or be reminded how cruel people are, how they can enjoy hurting and killing others, I'd just listen to a true crime or open any news website. The place I live in won't let me forget anyway. Podcasts are my escape.

Secondly, the drama or even tragedy level. The balance between the lighthearted or not as emotionally charged parts and the dramatical ones used to be very good, but in season 3 it dipped VERY much. I mean it's great to have emotionally intense episodes from time to time - season 2 was edging on its limits but still held the balance, but almost the whole season 3 is just an emotional wringer. I love the episodes with Yellow, they were GREAT, but soon enough afterwards I've noticed for the first time that I was postponing listening to the new episodes because I was dreading of how emotionally intense and draining they were going to be. This podcast was supposed to restore my energy like it did for 2 seasons, not drain it. While I'm glad we had so much character development for Arthur, I wish the mood of the season was balanced much better than it actually was. The 4th one started well in this regard, but the nightmares episode and the last one were too much for me. I think it has to do with the torture - emotional or physical one, doesn't matter. It happens too often now, and I don't respond well to it. It's too intense.

And lastly, the pacing. This is my beef mostly with season 4 and probably with the 2nd half of season 3 as well - it's slow. The mines part was just too dragged out for me, and now the events sort of happen but also it didn't feel much like it for the last few episodes. Half of the nightmares ep was just boring (probably the fact that I don't like Kellin one bit contributed to the impression as well), the 33rd was nice to have character development-wise but not much in any other regard and the 34th is just insufferable for 2 reasons: I can't stand the Butcher (he was more or less ok in ep 1 because there wasn't much of him, but listening to a narcissist for 45 minutes straight? No thanks) and the chase is... well, mostly running and chasing, which is plain boring to me. Characters interactions weren't much to me either, I don't see any common points between them, any chemistry, and they don't work as mirrors like it was with Larson. I mean looking at Arthur from an outside perspective was nice, but that was the only interesting thing there. Season 1 was quite like season 4 with the investigation and a lot of human characters, but it had crazy pacing and frankly that was the only thing that saved it initially for me (I enjoyed it properly later, but when I just began to listen it took quite a while to draw me in). Season 2 was thankfully slower, more introspective, which was great, but it was great thanks to a very good balance of what was going on in both inner and outer worlds. The Dreamlands itself as a location with completely unknown rules and plenty of various creatures, when one could never know if it was going to be a friend or a foe, was dynamic enough to keep just the right pacing.

I'm not looking for a discussion and not trying to berate the podcast, not dropping it either - I mean it's just about an hour once a month at most and the plot is still interesting to me, so no reason to drop it. But I really miss the way it used to be, I want my comfort series back - monsters don't scare me, people do, so I wish we went back to cosmic horror instead of a very real one.

#malevolent podcast #masked

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historia-vitae-magistras · 11 months

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He was only somewhat familiar to Arthur, as Alfred had been on his best behaviour lately, studying hard to fling himself off the planet again. No one serious had been given the post for some time.

Again, very intrigued by the implication that Alfred's behavior needs to be managed and that controlling him when he's not feeling cooperative requires "serious" people (and that they're in contact with Arthur???) If you have anything else about this, I would LOVE to read it!

“I haven’t heard from my son, your chief responsibility, in some time.” Arthur had not sat. He ran a finger through some dust on a shelf holding official-looking framed certificates and made a face—Corcoran sweat. Arthur squashed his pleasure. “Now, why would that be?”

Good lord, this is threatening. The image of Arthur calmly asking why he hasn't heard from Alfred while he subtly investigates to see how Corcoran will respond to their plans... it's terrifying and also incredibly cool. I am SO EXCITED about seeing Arthur "in action", as it were - we know he raises hypercompetent children who can do this sort of thing, but it's so cool to see him doing it.

“You’re dead, they dragged you out of Hudson Bay!” Oh, this was going to be fun.

"Is that right?" Arthur glanced at Matthew. It was more difficult to keep him alive now that he was grown, overgrown; he took in the lad's height. But it was more challenging than when he was small. They would have to talk about that.

“Well, that would explain how uncontrollable he’s become! Made quite a mess. Come back wrong, did you lad?”

HELP I AM SHORT CIRCUITING. I just... the switching between Arthur registering something he can use, then worrying about Matt, then back to task... it's killing me. The empire side and the parental side at war, and as usual the empire wins (though, justified. They're in an active interrogation.)

Also killing me in an entirely different way - "Come back wrong, did you lad?" HE'S SO FUCKING NONCHALANT. Like... the thought process involved there. "Okay, this man knows Matt was dead. Matt looks dead. Revenants scare people. I'm going to imply that the kid is a revenant on a rampage." Like... I'm not sure 'chutzpah' fully applies here but that's all I can come up with. Only Arthur Kirkland has the something needed to hear "Matt got dragged out of Hudson Bay" and immediately and casually use it to turn up the terror in an interrogation.

That section is probably one of my favorite things in all of your writing - the softness of Arthur thinking about how it's so hard to keep Matt alive now and how they'll have to talk about it vs. him casually asking Matt if he came back wrong to scare the human they're threatening feels like the most weirdly perfect encapsulation of their relationship, and their relationship is one of my favorites.

It was Matthew’s favourite grapple. The maneuver didn’t require strength, and he efficiently used his stronger left hand and great height. Smart lad.

Middle of breaking into a secure facility and threatening a US government employee with exsanguination in order to find Alfred - "Ah, Matt is so smart and efficient at this. Good boy." Arthur's parental pride is... quite a thing.

"I'm afraid the lad is rather handy with his whittling." Arthur added as if noting the weather was particularly pleasant that day. He pulled the points of his waistcoat down and leaned over. “Won medals when he was a lad. I suggest doing as asked.”

I wish to take a moment to acknowledge Corcoran's perspective. A super-old-money Englishman in a waistcoat just turned up and politely asked for answers as to his son's whereabouts, then brought in his other son - who's supposed to be dead - asked his dead son if he's been "making quite a mess" because he came back wrong, and is now nonchalantly adjusting his suit and suggesting that he cooperate because the dead-and-came-back-wrong son is really good with the knife being held to Corcoran's throat. Like... fucking points for holding out past Matt appearing, honestly. The fact that it took until Matt threatening his family is super impressive.

Shot through with pride, Arthur suppressed a smile and clicked his tongue in a scolding way, and shook his head, like Matthew was being petulant about naptime. “Just answer a few questions, and this will all go away.”

Seriously, the good-vigilante bad-vigilante routine they've got is killing. me. Have they done this before??? Is this a bit they've practiced? Or can they just play off each other that well? I love it. I hate Arthur's pride in Matt's violence, but I love how well they're working together.

“You did something to my brother. My brother. His laughter was the first thing I knew of humanity. And you’re going to tell me where the fuck he is or you will never hear another laugh. Neither will your wife or your children. Anyone who ever knew you will know nothing but the silence I have endured. There will be nothing but winter where you once knew joy.”

Sobbing screaming dying Poor fucking Matt. I was so caught up in the spy thriller type stuff, but Matt's in so much pain. Alfred's a neglectful brother a lot of the time, but he's still Matt's big brother who took care of him when they were little and comes through when Matt really needs him. And he's gone. This passage harmed me.

Jesus Christ. Arthur blinked for a moment. Well, the boys had always been fond of each other.

YEAH, "FOND". YOU COULD FUCKING SAY THAT. English understatement is a hell of a thing.

I am so very, very, very in love with this chapter. Excellent piece by an excellent writer who's even better with her pen than Matt is with his knife.

(Also, I hope you're feeling as okay as you can and taking care of yourself! You've been in my thoughts a lot <3)

None thats in coherent prose format but I’ve got a feverish jumble of thoughts in my brain.

They have done this a few times before. The first time I wrote it was 3 years ago, but it was Matt and Arthur working to locate Francois in occupied France ahead of the 1944 Normandy invasions. Arthur is very good at being a controlled, polite sadist, and Matthew is very good at looking about 10 seconds from having the more violent mental breakdowns. Matt’s a better hunter than he is a soldier, too, so… rest in piss any nazi he came across in the 40s. A real case of “would you please cease your murdering of all the possible interrogation targets, matthew!”

And thank you it's been rough. <3

#the ask box || probis pateo #why i write #naxos

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