#its not that black hawk won't discuss this | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

raayllum · 1 year

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you don’t have to answer this if its too discoursey but i’m too afraid to say it off anon cause I don’t wanna get yelled at, but I am not the biggest fan of emperor/king Callum fics, mainly since it feels out of character for me (since he feels more connected to magic than he does royalty as a whole, he’s only the crown prince because he & Ez don’t have any family left to take up that role)

and also because to me, as a black person, it feels really weird that it just sidelines Ezran, they always just kill him off for no reason except to put the white person in a position of power

Its okay as a concept, i suppose, say Ezran feels like he can’t bear the responsibility at his age, so Callum takes up the mantle, but it just feels Weird to me, and maybe I’m reaching but it does feel like there’s a hint of racism going on even if its not exactly the author’s intention

So back in like 2020 in the months following S3, Regent Amaya became a popular headcanon in the Janaya corner of the fandom (because they wanted to have to interact Politically with Janai rather than just personally? I don't know) and it never sat right with me for similar reasons. (Cue people complaining in S4 that Janay's plotline was more Janai centric than Amaya centric. Mmhm.)

Because here's the thing (and I've said this before) while Callum is not white (he is mixed, he's half Asian and half white) he is lighter skinned than his brother and I do understand why people think he's white at first glance (more discussion/perspectives on Callum's race in this tag) and Ezran very clearly is not, and it's also very clear how that can affect them sometimes fandom wise. Of the five like main Main characters (although that list is 100% expanding in S4), Ezran is one of two main characters of colour (bonus core protagonist points alongside his brother) and he is the only darker skinned character of colour, comparatively in the trio.

There are other reasons I think as well about why Ezran doesn't have as much fandom made about him (he's the youngest in the cast, most of the fandom is older; he's not part of a main ship, etc) but race absolutely affects a lot of the critique he (and Harrow) get as kings. I have seen people with their full chest go "I hate TDP's monarchy, they're such bad kings Viren was right" because their issue isn't at its core the monarchy, it's that their white fave's bloodline wasn't the one on the throne for once.

Also talking about race is never discoursey IMO so always feel free to drop stuff in my inbox about it. (I'll happily take getting yelled at for it, it's way easier to bear as a white person & it doesn't happen as often as a result.)

Since 2016, we've seen this mini trend of casts having one Black character, usually a boy who's a best friend of the protagonist, get routinely sidelined. Lucas had to carry Stranger Things on his back (although I think it's gotten better? Idk for sure I stopped watching the show after s2 for unrelated reasons), Finn from Star Wars deserved so much better (and I left the SW fandom bc the racism was so bad and he was my favourite after just six months), Bow from She-Ra got virtually nothing, and Gus from The Owl House actually did.

TDP, thankfully, does not fall into that trend (having more than like 1-2 Black characters in general also helps a great deal, JC) and I now no longer watch every season like a hawk to ensure that it won't, because I trust that it won't.

So. King Callum AUs. The first thing is that you're right, Callum isn't that interested in politics. While he has a mind for politics (he immediately realizes what the egg could mean globally) he's not motivated by them. In 1x06 he gets pissed & fed up because Rayla insists on giving him only the political reasonings for why she's travelling with them and not stealing the egg, and it's not enough (he wants the personal reasons). His Tales of Xadia bio reaffirms this, stating outright that he's "beholden to [his] inner circle, not some silly kingdom" in spite of being Crown Prince. I think in some ways if Callum was left alone as King, regent Amaya would be more likely, not less, even if Callum might resist out of a grief fuelled desperate "I have to do this" at first. Being King is genuinely liberating for Ezran in ways it'll just never be for his brother, thematically / personality wise

And Callum being king because Ezran died is, IMO, unnecessary and actually more restrictive for both of their characters. If you want Callum grieving but away from the throne off adventuring with Rayla in an angsty AU, you can just have him think Ez is dead and achieve the same aims. If you want Callum on the throne, you can just have him do it out of love/loyalty for his baby brother. Otherwise, Ezran actually being dead leaves Callum solely grieving and stranded away from magic (his true calling, or the temptation of dark magic). But if Callum becomes regent to try and shield his baby brother, it leaves a lot more for them to grow, disagree on and develop, etc. Just a lot more avenues. How I think this would go (honouring Ezran's role to play and how I think their dynamic would realistically develop with this addition) here.

Being aware of what does or doesn't displace a character can be tricky, but I always think of it in regards to "do you take something another character has earned and give it to another character with little consequence," killing a character off when it wouldn't change that much to keep them alive and just tweak other things (like the above), or "are you taking the challenge one character has set before them and giving it unequivocally to another".

For example I've thought about "is my theory of Callum sacrificing/handing over the Key of Aaravos for Rayla's life displacing him" but it's not, in my eyes, bc 1) all the repercussions that come from that action is still something he has to deal with, 2) he'd have a vested interest and arc in reclaiming the cube, 3) it highlights the tragedy of Callum regaining his agency from brainwashing and still being forced into Aaravos' tragedy, 4) still leaves Callum perfectly free and motivated to uncover the secrets of the key himself beforehand, it just won't end well for him. And if Callum was having big conflicts with Ezran RN, I'd probably swap in Ez as a possibility for who he'd hand the key over for too

Last but not least I do wonder if Callum will even remain his brother's High Mage. The symbolism of a brother on either side of the Border has always felt fitting to me, and I think Claudia would make a great high mage to Ez if/when she gets redeemed / she'll want to stick close to her brother. Now that Callum has Ibis' staff, I wonder if that'll also eventually include having Ibis' post, especially now that Soren has stepped up in S4 to really be Ez's protector (and Cal and Ez would still write letters all the time, of course <3 Ez checking in on him through his link with Zym).

But yeah I think if Callum did continue to be in a political role beyond high mage, he'd be best suited to be one of Ezran's top generals, and that would take its own interesting toll on Ezran's psyche

Anyway this is probs longer than you were expecting but thank you for sharing your perspective! It's something I think the bulk of the fandom has noticed and it's always good to look at areas of like, perhaps more casual than outright racism when it comes to characters of colour, and how we have a responsiblity to examine those areas when exploring things, even just in fanon

#in regards to #bc that's my tag for race things #thanks for asking #anonymous #ezran #tdp broyals #broyals #AU #canon divergence #tdp

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fernepurdy · 6 months

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Best Tactical Tomahawks of 2023: Top Picks for Every Budget and Need

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journey-to-the-attic · 3 years

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How well do you think Ik would have handled herself in the current event? On one hand, it may be doable with the help of the royals and other exchange students. But on the other hand i kinda want to see Ik in a sorta Coraline-esque adventure. (Sorry if that was a little specific, October has a way of making me feel nostalgic for the horror books i would read as a kid like goosebumps or scary stories to tell in the dark 😅)

the new costumes for the new event are genuinely SO cool??? the story itself was kind of eh but also asmo's outfit gave me the most Gender Envy i've had in my entire life so,,,,

i wasn't entirely sure what to do with this, so i just wrote out what a jtta version of the event would look like ^^ also, this takes place post-jtta! i also kind of got too into writing what was supposed to be a short set of notes, so this is a little long haha

unfortunately i've never watched coraline - only ever seen screenshots and stuff - so i couldn't do much with that, but i tried to keep its aesthetic in mind while writing

i will preface with this: ik is not good with horror. if given the choice, she'd basically never pick a horror movie over any other kind of movie, and she only ever 'plays' horror games by watching someone else (levi) do it and giving half-hearted encouragement from the sidelines

she can't even look at a still image of michael myers for too long without starting to feel on edge, and then there's a 50/50 chance that she'll end up having a nightmare afterwards

and guess what kind of horror trope she's most scared of? killers in creepy masks. +1000 fear points if the eyes are, like, blacked out.

so as you can guess she is... not having a good time

i think the idea in the original is that the masks somehow enhance their sins/evilness or something, and thus the demons are after mc's soul... and i guess that intensifies their feelings for them? it's a similar story to that with our version, except instead the hunger for a pure human soul intensifies the brothers' familial instincts instead

(solomon's soul doesn't count because... well, that's spoilers for my take on solomon's character and a revelation that's yet to be published in jtta, so......)

in our case, the brothers' intentions are genuine, but because there's the curse urging them to eat that human soul, their protective instincts increase ten-fold to attempt to drown the urge out

of course, the end result is that they start acting really quite creepy...

anyway it takes a while for anyone to notice that anything's up with the brothers, because by the time this happens it's pretty normal for them to be all doting with ik

except they're doing it to the point that it's just excessive... not to mention or pretty weird

at first the others write it off as them being more attentive because everything's scary and ik's kind of on edge

even if that's true, though, it... doesn't really justify the levels of unnecessary that the brothers are going to

like when lucifer's leading ik around the exhibits and he keeps a vice grip on her shoulder the entire time - he won't even let her walk across a room without tailing her the whole way there

or when ik visits asmo and satan's exhibit, and every time she tries to leave, one of them side-steps into the way and blocks the door

then solomon realises something's up when he accidentally knocks a prop over. the big bang it makes startles ik and upon seeing that, mammon immediately starts revving his chainsaw

like - a genuine, electric, will-cut-off-your-limbs chainsaw. mammon points it right at solomon and it's at that point that he gets the yikes

solomon: "hey, uh, ik.... i think something's wrong with those masks."

ik, who's had mammon and levi watching her every move like hawks for the past twenty minutes: "OH you THINK?????????"

solomon makes a bluff and the two humans get away to meet up with the royals and the angels, they discuss the situation and what they think might have happened, who might have sent those masks, how to break whatever spell has been cast over the brothers

diavolo surmises that getting the masks off them will probably break the curse, and of course that raises the question of how they're going to do that

barbatos suggests just running at them, taking them by surprise, and snatching it off of them, but solomon shuts the idea down

back when mammon revved that chainsaw at him, he had a very profound realisation that, under this curse, there's nothing stopping the brothers from unleashing their full violent capabilities on anyone who (presumably) isn't ik

even if diavolo could theoretically overpower any of them, he also has the fact that they're his friends to worry about, and he probably wouldn't be able to hurt them in good conscience, even if it was to protect himself if they went at him

whereas, for example, levi in this cursed state would probably shove his knife into his face without a second thought

then ik suggests that, if she's safe from whatever the masks are making the brothers do, why doesn't she take care of the masks situation?

simeon, immediately: "ABSOLUTELY not."

to be honest, ik was only saying it because someone else was going to eventually, and she wanted to just put the possibility out there. she doesn't actually really want to go after the masks on her own

which is understandable, since... well, the brothers as they are right now are kind of the MOST scary thing possible to her

because (and this is about to get just a little angsty) it's not just the fact that they're murderous and also in some really scary-looking masks

at this point (post jtta and also post some other stuff that i won't spoil), there's an absolute bond between ik and the brothers - like, no arguing, they are her family now, and she trusts them absolutely (and vice versa)

she's used to being familiar and more than friendly with them, but in the state that they are? they feel completely alien

ik values that familial bond like it's the most precious slab of gold in the entire world - i'd go so far as to say that, at this point, it's one of the central points of her life - so it's really terrifying to her that it's gone for as long as the brothers are wearing those masks

like, sure, their familial instincts are enhanced and in theory the masks are just going to make them weirdly overprotective over her, but the masks are also going to probably make them hurt one of the others if they aren't careful. what's more, they just don't... feel right.

whoever planned this - hats off, i guess?? you found a way to make this halloween the scariest possible for the poor kid

anyway, now that ik going alone is off the table, simeon suggests that they just all go in one big group to retrieve the masks

but then diavolo brings up that, as members of the celestial realm, there could be some BIG issues if luke or simeon get genuinely hurt by the brothers while down here, and that's a pretty big risk

in the end solomon and barbatos are selected to go with ik

diavolo's apprehensive about it, wanting to go himself, but agrees to it in the end

thus barbatos, solomon, and ik set off for the first part of the mission!

targets one and two: mammon and levi. their exhibit is closest, and barbatos also already has an idea of how to deal with them

the two are patrolling around when the rescue trio get there, each brandishing their own weapon and bickering occasionally

levi and mammon's exhibit is kind of like a mini town, so it's easy enough to manoeuvre around without them noticing - especially with solomon casting a silencing spell around them

so the three make their way to a little area just around the corner, where they proceed to put their plan into action

ik sits herself on the floor and, after a deep breath, nods to barbatos and solomon

so barbatos picks up and drops a nearby prop with a loud crash, and ik promptly goes "OW!" as loudly as possible

it works as expected: mammon and levi immediately hurry to the scene of the crash. ik's sitting on the floor, rubbing at her head and pretending that she's just been knocked over, and solomon and barbatos are nowhere to be seen...

mammon and levi come to a stop, dropping their weapons, and immediately start fussing around her

mammon's acting really feverishly and patting her down to check for injuries, while levi's kind of drifting around her, asking constant questions about what happened

it'd be sweet if there wasn't something so eerie about the way they speak, or if they didn't keep somehow relating ik's (fake) injury to her soul... or if they didn't, you know, look like horror film killers

mammon picks her up and sits himself on a crate nearby, dandling her on his knee like she's a tiny kid, while levi inspects her face carefully... and his mask is way too close right now and it feels like he's staring directly in ik's soul and also mammon's hold feels so unnaturally threatening and holy mother of god ik is about to DIE out of fear

barbatos and solomon are watching all of this from a hiding place off to the side, and they are one (1) second away from stepping in because ik genuinely looks like she thinks her life is in danger

but then ik attempts to collect herself, and slowly convinces mammon to let go of her... which he is, like, creepily unwilling to do.......

she tells the two brothers that something just flew out of nowhere and hit her in the head, indicating that it might have come from the general direction that solomon and barbatos just happen to be hiding in

then solomon, on cue, rustles his cloak a little

mammon and levi are immediately on the alert. realising something, while they're distracted, ik hurriedly kicks the chainsaw and knife off into the darkness somewhere - but then levi suddenly turns on her like "what do you think you're doing?"

ik tries playing it cool - "um— weapons are dangerous, aren't they...?"

mammon: "we need those weapons to protect you, remember? what if there's something dangerous around here?"

ik: "um... they're... they're kind of scary."

levi: "...scary?"

ik: "y...yeah?"

it seems to work! mammon and levi seem to exchange a look through their masks, then nod. "we don't want you getting spooked on us," says mammon.

ik can only manage a slightly ironic smile, because the truth is that she is extremely spooked

at that point solomon rustles his cloak again, adding a subtle cough for additional effect, and mammon and levi turn in its direction immediately. this time, with no interruptions, they begin advancing forward...

as soon as they're within an arm's reach of solomon and barbatos's hiding place, ik abruptly smacks herself on the leg to mimic being punched and goes 'OW' again

levi and mammon turn around again, but before they can run back to her, barbatos and solomon perform a tag-team ambush from behind

solomon knocks mammon's hat off with a well-timed gust of magic-wind and yanks his mask off by the strap while he's still disoriented, while barbatos smoothly pulls down levi's hood with one hand and snatches away his mask with the other

a dull grey smoke immediately starts curling up from the masks' eye holes; barbatos and solomon drop them to the ground, and mammon and levi promptly drop as well, free of the curse and also extremely disoriented

ik heaves out a looooong sigh of relief and kind of collapses onto the ground again - she just sits there for a moment, trying to regulate her breathing properly

solomon quickly runs through the situation with the two extremely disoriented brothers while barbatos helps ik up and sits her down somewhere cleaner than the floor

mammon and levi hurry over to check up on her after receiving the explanation, and ik abruptly jumps and almost bolts before realising that they're back to normal again

the two brothers are still wearing their halloween costumes, after all - the masks weren't conjuring up those - and ik sees those clothes and automatically thinks they're still cursed

it kind of hurts their hearts to see her look so scared of them for a split second, to be honest.....

she does allow a hug from both before they hurry off to get changed at least :)

barbatos suggests a break, but ik's determined to just get this done and over with as quickly as possible, so they head straight for asmo and satan's exhibition next

the difficult thing here is that they can't use the same trick again: levi and mammon's was enchanted/digitised to be like a whole mini town, but asmo and satan's (as well as beel and belphie's) is just a single room

solomon strongly advises that they strategise first, but ik's got her mind set on just hurrying through the task, so she charges straight in, taking a deep breath and steeling herself

what she isn't expecting is for asmo and satan to be waiting on either side of the door, and as soon as all three are inside, they abruptly come up behind solomon and barbatos... and hit them hard over the heads

both immediately collapse to the ground, ik PANICS and scrambles to hide behind the screen in the corner of the room before the two turn on her as well

asmo and satan stand back for a moment to admire their handiwork, then abruptly realise that the little human who was behind them a second ago has disappeared...

satan stations himself by barbatos and solomon's prone bodies like some kind of sentinel, while asmo slowly circles around the room, calling for ik in that kind of haunting voice you might expect to hear from a ghost

ik's peering out at everything from under the screen's legs, absolutely terrified

getting hit on the head hard enough to be knocked out means brain damage.... and brain damage is bad

but then she notices solomon's expression scrunch. his face is pressed to the ground, so they're on the right level to meet gazes when he cracks his eyes open a little - and then he winks

at which point ik realises that barbatos and solomon must be pretending to have been knocked out, which'll give them the perfect opportunity for a surprise attack

right as she thinks that, asmo performs a surprise attack of his own, and his face abruptly emerges around the side of the screen

he reaches out and grabs ik by the shoulder, and she actually screams out of sheer shock - after all, that was basically a real life jumpscare

(barbatos's hands twitch a little, but a warning tug on his tie on solomon's part (with magic, of course) reminds him to stay put for now)

asmo, meanwhile, tugs ik out from behind the screen, cooing all the while, "don't be scared, darling, it's just asmo. come on now, stop shaking like that! you're being silly, it's just us, there's no need to be scared..."

ik is half-dragged across the room to the little table in the middle, while asmo busies himself with retrieving a pot of tea and pouring a cup for her... except the 'tea' is just water

not just water - boiling water. and it's still bubbling and steaming in the cup.

asmo just sits himself across from ik, and tells her to drink up in a sickly-sweet kind of voice

all ik can do is sit there and stare down into the boiling cup, too scared to outright refuse, but also not very willing to scald her mouth possibly beyond repair... but asmo's starting to get impatient, if the way he keeps drumming his fingers on the tabletop is anything to go off of

at this point, still standing guard over by solomon and barbatos, satan asks irritatedly when he gets to switch places

then, while asmo's looking over at him, ik has a flash of genius

she knocks the cup over, intending to get asmo to come over to clean up the mess, at which point she could try to make a grab for his mask - unfortunately, she misjudges the force she hits the cup with, and ends up knocking it over... and burning herself with the boiling water

asmo practically dashes around the table as soon as she yelps in pain, cradling her hand and lamenting the damage - entirely too close and talking entirely too breathily......

but the opportunity is here, and ik gathers all her courage into one tiny but very dense ball, and makes a grab for his mask

her fingers slip, but she manages to hook them around the rim, and with one hard yank, she gets the mask clean off of asmo's face and, simultaneously, pushes him hard enough to topple him over completely

satan starts forward, alarmed, but it's at that point that barbatos and solomon leap up and take him down together

similarly to before, solomon catches the two up on the situation, and barbatos quickly hurries over to ik, who is not in a very good way

she's practically hyperventilating, and she's clutching her burnt hand (which really hurts, by the way)

satan comes over to try casting a soothing spell on it, and while she doesn't flinch this time, he can tell by how tense she is that she's on-edge

so he leans back and just holds out his arms

ik kind of deflates for a moment, breathing out a whole bunch of tension with a long sigh, and slowly leans forward to accept the hug he's offering

satan can feel her trembling slightly, and he tells barbatos and solomon sternly that there is no way they can put ik through retrieving another three masks like this

ik protests and tries to say that she'll be fine, but everyone in the room can tell that she absolutely is not and will not be fine

so instead of proceeding straight onto beel and belphie like she wants to, everyone heads back to rendezvous at the rad assembly hall

luke is beside himself with worry, while simeon masks his panic by going all business-like about healing ik's burn properly

asmo's beating himself up something fierce, fully aware that he was the factor in that situation that was scaring ik the most, but then ik reassures him that she's not mad at him - it was the mask's curse making him act all creepy, after all

mammon and levi back up satan in deciding that ik should stay behind while the rest of them try to get the masks off of the remaining three brothers. asmo, simeon and luke agree, but solomon, diavolo and barbatos are unsure

after all, without ik, how are they supposed to get the rest of the masks? asmo and satan just proved that the brothers are willing in this state to attack everyone else, after all.

then satan, thinking hard because he really doesn't want ik to obtain even MORE trauma than she already has, proposes something:

lucifer always listens to diavolo, so he might be able to keep him placid enough to get close and remove his mask. beel is intensely loyal to lucifer, so if they can get him on his own, lucifer might be able to get his mask off him. and belphie always has a soft spot for beel, so he in turn could get his twin's mask...

everyone agrees that this plan makes sense, but ik's also apprehensive - what's the lifeline if it doesn't work as expected, and the masked brothers get violent?

so diavolo suggests that she just follow along and hope that her presence will be enough to keep them down - except barbatos and solomon have proof that ik being there won't just stop the brothers attacking: the lump on the backs of their heads

but ik just will not listen to everyone telling her to stay back, and decides stubbornly that she's going anyway

it's hard to argue with her, knowing that she's still everyone's best bet of getting those masks, but the others still don't like it...

but, in the end, ik does head out to find lucifer with diavolo

the others just have to stay back on diavolo's command, twiddling their thumbs and hoping that everything will turn out alright

it turns out that lucifer is haunting the rad courtyards, making his rounds from one end to the other in steady, marching rhythm - he looks ahead the whole time, arms straight by his side, each step measured, never slowing down or speeding up

he walks so smoothly that he almost seems to glide, which is unnerving in and of itself. it doesn't help that ik takes one look at him and thinks 'jack the ripper'.

diavolo and ik have a hurried whisper-conference over the best course of action. neither are sure of what to do, but the general consensus is to just act natural and hope for the best

so, pretending that everything is normal, diavolo strides up to lucifer and asks how he's doing

lucifer completely ignores him at first, just continuing to stride forward, but then he turns his head sharply to the side and looks at him. his footsteps don't even falter.

then he sees ik half-hidden on diavolo's other side, and stops dead in his tracks.

somehow this is even scarier than anything that's happened so far, and ik's fight-or-flight response goes absolutely haywire

diavolo stops walking as well. sensing ik's rapidly growing panic, he holds out a hand, and she seizes it almost immediately

lucifer notices this, and suddenly his aura seems to darken. he asks, "what is the meaning of this?"

diavolo responds as heartily as possible, "well, we just wanted to check up on you! you've been walking around for an awfully long time."

he squeezes ik's hand, and she chimes in tentatively, "we... we thought you might be tired."

at first lucifer doesn't seem to know how to respond. he just stands there, staring at ik. his hands curl into and out of fists, and he seems to be struggling with something

then he abruptly spins on his heel, shoulders hunched, and grits out, "get away."

diavolo: "what?"

lucifer: "ik. she has to run as fast as—"

what ik and diavolo don't know is that lucifer's lucid for a brief moment there - free of the curse's effects for mere seconds - and that he can sense the curse suddenly intensifying

his warning is cut off as the mask wrenches back control again, and he abruptly whips around and seizes ik by the shoulders

"give—" his words are harried, almost desperate. "give it to me!"

diavolo attempts to wrench him off by force, but lucifer holds fast, practically shaking ik about like a maraca in his odd, crazed state - and so diavolo can only resign himself to using magic

his demon form bursts out with a sharp crack, and he shouts out a warning; lucifer pauses, some part of him recognising that tone...

and that brief slip-up is enough of an opening for diavolo to lash a stream of magic around him like a whip

he pulls lucifer away from ik and grabs at his mask, flinging him backwards in the same movement

result? the mask snaps off into diavolo's hand, and lucifer goes flying across the courtyard, then lands in a heap on the other side

diavolo didn't do this right off the bat because 1. it'd most certainly injure lucifer's pride, and 2. he didn't want to get him hurt

once diavolo and ik hurry over to him, though, lucifer isn't angry in the slightest

he just sits there for a moment, rubbing at his temples, and thanks diavolo for stepping in before he got out of hand

diavolo explains the plan going forward to him, and while he's listening, lucifer's also noticing that ik looks extremely rattled by what he just did

but then they're heading off to find beel and belphie, and he doesn't get the opportunity to try to make amends - not yet, anyway

beel and belphie's exhibit is also a single room, and ik makes sure this time to warn lucifer and diavolo of what had happened with satan and asmo - even if they didn't actually do much damage, it's better to be safe than sorry

they get into the room, and belphie's already there waiting for them

he immediately sets about ushering ik in and sitting her down on a suspiciously stained mattress (she knows that it's a prop for the exhibit, but she still can't help but feel unnerved)

diavolo and lucifer are also shoved forward, and under the blank and impossibly intimidating glare of belphie's mask, they can only obey his directions

belphie seems oddly excited about something - he keeps bustling back and forth, rummaging about in his pockets as if looking for something

diavolo asks him where beel is, and he stops short in his tracks, turns to look at him, and slowly shrugs

then lucifer hears something from above, and looks up to see beel hanging upside from the ceiling like a malevolent bat

(i'm thinking of the doctor from little nightmares 2 right now if y'all know what i'm talking about?? obviously beel doesn't look like him but that's the effect i was going for)

lucifer would never admit to this afterwards, but the sight genuinely disturbs him

beel's panting - everyone can hear his breaths rattling against his mask. he just hangs there, staring down at the three in the room, saying and doing nothing

ik's about to cry because how many more times does she need to be scared out of her mind before this ends

lucifer meanwhile collects himself and asks impetuously, "what are you doing up there?"

in response, beel pulls a syringe out of his front pocket

the trio below prepare to dodge a blow, but instead beel just... crushes the syringe in his hands??

he drops the crushed glass and needle, and it lands by lucifer's feet. still staring at him malevolently, beel slowly draws a finger over his throat and points at him

as if the message wasn't clear enough, belphie explains in a slow, lilting kind of tone that "he means you're going to end up like that needle if you don't behave."

ik is very much regretting EVER volunteering to have anything to do with this whole business in the first place, and both lucifer and diavolo are noticing

lucifer tries to subtly put an arm around her shoulder, but belphie notices, and he immediately hisses, "put that back where it came from before i cut it off"

then he switches, and he's all sweet-and-helpful-nurse again. "we can't do our work properly if you're in the way."

diavolo is very apprehensive over what 'our work' is supposed to mean, and he doesn't feel like drawing this out long enough to find out

he stands up. belphie glares at him, and he stares blankly back, holding his ground.

he's not tall enough to grab beel's mask from here. he turns and meets eyes with lucifer and ik, and in that moment all three understand what the plan is

within the next few split seconds, five things happen in very rapid succession:

lucifer and ik jump to their feet. diavolo lifts ik smoothly into the air. belphie turns and raises a hand to attack. lucifer deftly tackles him into a wall. now high enough, ik reaches up and grabs at beel's mask.

belphie, now maskless, is half-lying and half-sitting against the wall, groaning, while lucifer tosses the mask he'd been wearing across the room. beel, on the other hand, upon having his mask seized, promptly let himself fall... directly onto ik and diavolo

his mask is still half on, and suddenly it's right in ik's face, and she very nearly passes out in sheer terror right then and there

her fingers are numb, so as she reaches forward, her hands stiffen up a little - instead of grabbing at the mask properly, she essentially slaps it off of beel's face

but it works! and thus, the final mask has been gotten rid of!!!!

congratulations ik!!! i hope you enjoy the ten straight days of nightmares you're going to get after this!!!!!!!!!

poor baby's emotionally and physically exhausted, so she's like a little zombie as she follows everyone back to the assembly hall

she just kind of sits there as they all discuss the situation, trying her hardest not to remember everything that just happened

luke holds her hand in an effort to make her feel better and simeon tries to get her mind off of it by chatting about anything he can think of

they end up postponing the whole halloween event for a week or so, and everyone groups up at the house of lamentation just to relax a little

ik really doesn't want to be on her own right now, plus she's fully aware that any sleep she gets is going to be very nightmare-y for a good while, so at night everyone just crashes together in the common room

barbatos prepares some soothing tea, belphie sets up as comfy a sleeping space as he can with luke and simeon's help, beel brings a giant array of snacks, lucifer finds some nice music to play - everyone's just trying their best to make everything comfy and reassuring

satan picks out a nice fantasy novel and reads quietly to ik while everyone else chats amongst themselves :)

don't worry about the kiddo! she'll be alright in the end - she always is.

you know, even after an AWFUL day like this, one can still kind of say that the moment that's followed makes it worth it!

kind of, anyway.......

#jtta bonuses #obey me #journey to the attic #jtta ik #swd lucifer #swd mammon #swd leviathan #swd satan #swd asmodeus #swd beelzebub #swd belphegor #swd diavolo #swd barbatos #swd solomon #swd simeon #swd luke #a masked halloween

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lizzybeth1986 · 6 years

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Quick Thoughts on Book 3, Chapter 14

• Apologies for the delay, guys. Still recovering.

• It's time for our Ball! YAY.

• ...and for Hana's parents. Not so yay.

• Every LI in the group has at least one not-very-ideal parent. For Liam and Maxwell it's their dads (though Bartalemy seems to be the best of the four) and for Drake and Hana it's their mums.

• Title: Welcome, One and All!

• Alternate Titles should include This Chapter Is Brought To You By Jeffery.

• For those who don't remember the TRR pre-release interviews, Jeffery is the dude who loves hats:

I'm pretty sure this chapter is his baby.

• So technically Xinghai and Lorelai have not kept in touch with Hana since her fight with Xinghai in Shanghai (that rhymes). There is a hint that she might have tried to reach out to them before the tour if you were getting engaged to her (she asks Ana de Luca to send the copies of her shoot to an address, which I presume was her home in Shanghai).

•

You bet I slammed that last option.

• There's also not a lot of difference in this scene between the Hana playthrough and the non-Hana one, and there should have been. The dynamics of this discussion will - should - be different if you're Hana's fiancée. They have Lorelai and Hana's dialogues change if you're marrying her at the end, but technically that's unavoidable. There should have been an obvious difference in dialogue here as well.

• Bertrand has returned. Again.

• AND HE'S LATE. Apparently because his son needs to be coached on proper cutlery placement through the babysitter.

• We have a brief tete-a-tete about Savannah and Bartie before moving on to our OOTD:

Tbh I think I'm okay with both. I had my reservations about the neck but I also like capes so I will take it. The traditional dove one makes you look like Red Riding Hood.

If you choose the phoenix gown, you also get to don a humongous hat, and you get the option to take it off anytime.

Esther loves hats. She's a happy happy camper xD She may not have said those 'fancy hat's comments to Regina in Book 1 but you bet she was thinking them! So Esther - and I as Esther's creator - feel validated and vindicated and all other sorts of v words 😄

• Also yes, Esther, I'm pretty sure that hat ate every other hat in Cordonia before making its way to your head.

• It's now time for our Ball, and our LIs are waiting for us to make our entrance. Liam calls you 'a heroine of myth and song', Maxwell tells you you're 'on fire', Drake asks him if you're trying to give him a heart attack, and Hana settles for a very simple 'you look gorgeous'.

• Okay yadda yadda announcements, yadda yadda speech, yadda yadda complimentes from guests esp if you chose the phoenix decor, yadda accolades all around.

• Basically the main conversations taking place at the Ball are with Madeleine, Kiara, Regina, Mara and Olivia.

- Madeleine: Mainly to close the main loop of Madeleine's role as press secretary. The previous conversation with Liam/Drake at the Lythikos Ball is implied when you choose to call her a snake, even though she sees that as a compliment.

- Kiara: You get to either call her brave, or to ask her about her well-being. Thankfully, she is able to at least sleep at night now. They're definitely wrapping up Kiara's story here. Which is okay, I'm pretty certain it wasn't meant to be manifested in the first place and I suppose I'm expected to be grateful she got some attention. But I won't be, because she deserved this - and perhaps better. I couldn't care less for her brother and would rather not see him again but at least they had the decency to wrap up her storyline first this time rather than ignore it in favour of him completely.

- One of my favourite sequences is the one with Regina. She's clearly affected by Constantine's death and still hasn't recovered enough to get used to the idea of attending a Ball without his presence yet. But you also see her struggling with the stoicism she's been brought up on, and chastising herself because she can't. You have the choice of either asking her what Constantine would have told her if he were alive (like hell I'll choose that option!) or telling her she should allow herself to grieve. I thought her parting words in this conversation were beautiful.

- Mara: From Mara we learn that the Nevrakis family had connections with the Sons of Earth, and that in fact Anton is the son of the leader of that group. I've seen some interesting theories around this, one of which is (I believe this one is @alicars theory) that he is Francesco's son. Which...would make that first meeting in Italy quite interesting, as well as the reveal that Francesco was friends with Liam's mother. Will Liam's mother's background be brought up in future chapters??

- Olivia: So this is what all our efforts to win Olivia over culminates into! I have such Diavolos vibes with this scene (not the betrayal bit, but the winning their trust bit. Olivia I think sticks by Liam's side whether she likes you or not), because if you look at the TCaTF ally chart in Book 3, Diavolos' name is the last on the list of people to join you, even though he has spent time with you as an ally and been part of the rescue mission to save Mind Control!Dom. In a lot of ways, while Olivia has a huge connection to Liam and becomes your ally on that score, it requires effort and some ice-breaking to get her to fully support you.

• Say hello to my new pets y'all!

As of now Esther has a horse named Celestia, a corgi names Joy, a visiting hawk named Tiberius, a black panther named Cava and two red pandas she has named Hansel and Gretel.

• I wonder if you have the ensuing group scene if you don't choose to accept the red pandas (I'd see for myself but the red pandas have really adorable sad faces).

• The group scene is alright, it's a lot like the one in Shanghai with the pandas. Liam is adorable and holds them like a pro, Maxwell is super super SUPER excited, Hana is shocked by their lack of manners (Hana they're animals!) in comparison to pandas and Drake is a mean meanie. You have Zeke on the side giving us factual animal info.

• We're now back at the estate, and Hana's folks have arrived.

• TO TAKE HANA BACK???

• Hana puts up a good fight against her mum (let's be honest, Xinghai hardly seems to have a say in this. He looks sad about this and barely gets in a sentence. This show is all Lorelai's), and refuses to come with them, at which point Lorelai insists on taking her belongings away since they belong to the Lee family, and she isn't a Lee anymore.

• You know what I want Hana to say?

"FINE KEEP THE CRUMMY LUGGAGE MOM LETS SEE IF YOU CAN MAKE ANOTHER WHOLEASS CHILD OUT OF THAT"

• Please tell me she gets to kick Lorelai's ass this chapter. Please.

• So the Ball and festival will continue this chapter, and I'm guessing that any drama might happen later on in the Capitol if we go by the trajectory of the previous books. The places most closely connected to the MC - Ramsford, New York, Valtoria - are usually where you forget briefly the tension in the books, before being plunged into complete and total chaos.

• I still think there's a LOT we have left to find out. A LOT.

• There is a possibility that Hana will get a diamond scene post her confrontation with her parents. And as far as I can see it, this is the culmination of her entire journey, her entire struggle. This is the last shot the writers have at doing justice to her character, and giving her a good scene. If Hana doesn't get an extremely fulfilling, nuanced scene - one that has a marked difference between her as a fiancee and her as a friend - then I doubt she will get another one. They will have lost their chance to be fair to this character.

• And if they fail to do justice to this character...I'm afraid that will be the end for me. I may be chapter reviews and essays, I may still write stuff inspired by this book...but whatever love I still have for TRR will be lost for good.

• Because you know what you're telling me, a brown woman with an upbringing not entirely unlike Hana's? Who loves this character and has to now try to relate to her because her own writers didn't give me enough material? You're telling me that you don't think stories like Hana's - stories like mine - are worth attention, worth nuance, worth telling properly, worth telling with heart. You're telling me women like Hana are alright as tokens, but not important enough as characters. You're telling me you want the accolades that go with using women of colour in your stories, but don't want to put in the work. In fact...you're already telling me that. You've been telling me that for the last two books.

• I'm sincerely hoping this will change with the chapter I will play now, and that I and other Hana stans don't walk away from this chapter disappointed. I really, really do. It won't completely make up for the lack of care they have given this character...but it will be SOMETHING.

• With that, I'm going to go into this week's chapter, folks. Seeya!

#the royal romance #long post #king liam #drake walker #hana lee #maxwell beaumont #lady kiara #queen regina #olivia nevrakis #trr quick thoughts #quick thoughts #valtoria #cordonia

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