Facts about The One True School Master of Vault 41

Tedros and Japeth-related things would entail too many major spoilers, so this is probably all you’re getting for now:

Rafal confesses to Sophie that he breathed part of his soul into her toward the end of the second Great War.

Rafal reads his own obituary. And also sees the multitude of vandalism that accompanies it.

Rafal attends a rather depressing, actually, positively dismal Ever tea party. Agatha insults him, despite the fact that he has better table manners than her. They mock each other. And he chokes on his finger sandwich. (But, I suppose genocide weighs more on the morality scale, in terms of minor infractions and major transgressions that will send Pollux rolling in his grave like a roast pig on a spit over subjects which mustn’t be discussed at tea parties.)

Agatha unnecessarily feeds her savior complex and plays chaperone.

Sophie is fashionable and traumatized. Business as usual.

Agatha commits a burglary.

Rafal trains the Nevers in classical dance. (I promise it’s vaguely plot-relevant.)

Agatha trains the Evers for war.

Sophie performs an archival search and reads Fala and His Brother.

The fic is still largely unwritten, so things may be subject to change later on.

intro post 👍

edit: wrote this in a place of anger. now writing from a place of fuck it we ball

I WILL BLOCK YOU IF: you ship raphie (pedophilia) or agaphie (incest) • post about or draw the sge student cast is sexual or suggestive ways (THEY'RE NOT EVEN EIGHTEEN.)

i reserve the right to have and change my own opinions and also this is my blog if i dont like you then leave. bye.

heyo im benny but you can call me miles. super dead on this blog but thats only bc school is killing me. most of the things i have posted/will post about are from my au/rewrite thats just for fun <3

ART TAG: #miles draws

FIC TAG: #miles writes

GENERAL TAG: #miles speaks

ASK TAG: #miles answers

an intro post!

thought I'd do this before the fandom gets [even more] chaotic. 3 days to go til the SGE movie officially comes out!!!

— Ella is the name, she/her, PH resident, and older than usual for my main fandom, The School for Good and Evil — aside from SGE, this is also a blog for the Grishaverse, the Osemanverse, Arcane, The Selection, OUAT, The Owl House, and a lot of Other Things — you will absolutely not find any Agaphie or Jaric or Raphie content here — but if you're a supporter of anything Tagatha, Hestadil, or anyone who wasn't mentioned in the previous bullet then u are especially welcome <3

so I finished my raphie fic, the one that snippet earlier was taken from. the fic is called A Promise of Forever, and I’m not honestly sure how I feel about it. It’s a lot shorter than my other oneshots, and the style, especially at the end, is really different than anything else I’ve written.

idk. it’s almost more like a poem than a fic? it feels a bit snooty, honestly, like it’s trying too hard to be deep or whatever. 

read it under the cut if you want to. I’m not totally sure about the ending and I might completely change it before posting on ao3, so we’ll see what happens there.

also, keep in mind that it’s not beta-ed, which might be why it feels so strange. 

hope you like it, and do tell me what you think of the ending.

Classical music plays as Sophie walks slowly down the aisle, golden hair caught in a bun encircled by intricate braids, green eyes gleaming beneath dark eyeshadow, lips stained the crimson red of fresh blood. The people in the pews turn, watching her with various expressions on their faces, and she smiles, her eyebrows narrowing wickedly. Her gray silk dress rustles around her feet, the billowy train supported by three rats. She looks forward, her gaze focusing on silver haired boy standing in the front of the ballroom. For a moment, she sees his hair curl and turn to gold, and she stumbles, memories flashing into her mind at dizzying speeds.

A ballroom much like this one. 

A golden boy on his knee.

An arrow turned to a daisy with a flash of pink.

A mother, begging for a kiss.

A ring of black swan gold, carrying a promise of forever.

A father, begging for his life.

A golden boy, not so golden anymore, lying in a pool of blood.

A dark haired girl screaming as she was sent back to a town that could barely hold her.

A silver boy on his knee, gazing up at a golden haired, silver souled girl.

And a yes.

When she looks back up, Rafal’s hair is back to silver. He’s as stunning as she is in a black suit with silver accents and a gem of black swan gold in his silver crown. Their outfits match. Matching outfits for matching Evil souls.

She continues walking, black high heels clicking on the polished wood. In the seats near her, Hester and Anadil are shooting fearful glances at each other, then Rafal, then Sophie, and back to each other. To think Sophie used to call them friends. When she’s Queen, there will be no friends. There will only be servants.

Rafal extends a hand to her once she’s only a few steps away from the raised dais at the end of the ballroom. She lays her hand in his, pale skin on pale skin, so unlike golden Tedros, and he pulls her up with a gleaming smile. At least his smile isn’t much different from Tedros’, with those white teeth and softening eyebrows. She knows Rafal’s Evil, just as Evil as she is, but when he smiles, it’s hard to remember. 

When he smiles, she can almost imagine he’s her happy ending.

He is her happy ending. He is her only happy ending now.

Now that Agatha’s gone.

She steps up and turns to face him, hoping her smile looks real. They stand, eyes locked onto each other, icy blue and emerald green. One of Anadil’s rats comes scampering up the aisle, holding the two rings, both made of shiny black swan gold, on a velvet cushion. They each take a ring without looking down, and Rafal takes Sophie’s free hand.

“With this ring, I thee wed,” he says. “I promise, Sophie, to give you forever.” His voice is soft as he slips the ring onto her finger, and she stares at it for a second before taking his hand.

“With this ring, I thee wed. And I promise, Rafal, to love you with all I am.” Thankfully, she’s pretty sure Rafal can’t feel the slight tremble in her hand as she puts the ring over his finger. They clasp hands and turn to face the audience.

“May I present,” Rafal says in his silky tone, “Queen Sophie of the Woods.”

At that, people start clapping, though Sophie thinks it’s not because they’re happy but because they’re scared of what she and Rafal will do if they don’t. She likes it that way. She is a Queen now, and that certainly warrants fear. 

She casts a smile into the pews, a gleaming smile of wickedness and true evil. Already she can feel the black swan gold of her new ring soaking into her skin, intoxicating her with the silky promise of forever.

~

Two days after the wedding, Sophie stands on the balcony of the School Master’s tower, Rafal behind her, staring out at the sky. The sun is just setting, filling the Woods - her Woods - with orange and pink and gold, like a beautiful fire burning the kingdoms to the ground. She turns to Rafal. “What are you thinking of?”

He hesitates before saying, “You. My beautiful bride.”

She knows he’s not telling the whole truth, but she doesn’t press. The feeling that filled her body when he called her his bride is threatening to make her explode. Because though she may be a Queen, she’s just a girl. She’s eighteen years old, and she’s in love, and that love will kill her, one way or another. Right now, she can’t bring herself to care. She feels so light, like she could go soaring into the air and never have to come back down.

As if Rafal hears her thoughts, he puts his hands on her waist. “Shall we?” he murmurs, and she nods, bringing her gaze upwards to the heavens. She hates to look at him when he’s flying. There’s something in his eyes, something she’s almost scared of.

After a few seconds, Sophie feels herself lifting up into the air, Rafal’s arms around her back, protecting her from the memories. When they’re so high up, nothing matters. There are no princes or princesses threatening to ruin Sophie now, just the rising moon, so close she feels like she could reach out and touch its silvery surface. 

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Rafal says, his words flecked with gold. She doesn’t quite know what he’s referring to, her or the sky or something else entirely, and she doesn’t answer. They gaze at the moon together, king and queen.

She should be happy.

~

Over the next few weeks, all Sophie can think about is that this is what she’s been dreaming of since she knew what happiness was, and yet. 

And yet it’s not enough.

Rafal isn’t the problem; she’s pretty sure about that. He’s everything a prince should be, charismatic and loving and of course, handsome, with those eyes made of ice and the hair, shining as silver as the glow of the moon. And of course, he loves her. Every night he takes her flying, whispering promises in her ear and kissing her neck, his lips warm and real and right there. 

Life is nice, too. Her days are spent in the School Master’s tower, and she has everything she might want there. A beautiful pink bathtub with a gold rim. Perfume in all the scents she can think of. One hundred pink gowns and heels that match each gown perfectly. A bed with the finest fluffy sheets and goose feather pillows. But for all her luxuries, she tosses and turns in her bed every night, with not even the melodies of the stars able to lull her to sleep.

So it’s her. Her doubts that are ruining her happily ever after. She misses Agatha with every fiber of her being. She knows she shouldn’t. This should be all she needs, Rafal and queen and her kingdom. But Agatha, greasy haired, bug eyed Agatha, is still holding on to her heart with those freakishly pale fingers, and as hard as Sophie tries, she can’t let her best friend go.

True love, she’s starting to realize, isn’t enough. 

~

The days have started to blur together. Rafal’s kisses taste like the bitter taste of sugary sweet licorice, leaving her craving more when he pulls away even though she knows she can’t last for much longer. When they go flying at night, she doesn’t feel light anymore - she feels heavy, fearing she’ll sink as soon as she looks away from Rafal. The hands that once protected her are now chains, grasping her so tightly that she can’t let go.

Does she want to let go?

She doesn’t know.

Without Rafal, she’d be nothing. Though he brings her into the night sky, he is the only thing keeping her grounded.   

Queens are not helpless. Queens are graceful but strong, always standing up to their enemies.

But Sophie’s never heard of a tale where your enemy is your true love.

~

And now she’s falling, she’s falling, she’s falling and she can’t even see what’s above her, only icy eyes capturing her in their gaze, surrounding her with frost, and she can’t do anything to stop its spread and she doesn’t even want to even though she knows she has to if she wants to survive--

-- but maybe she doesn’t want to survive --

-- and Rafal’s smiles aren’t kind anymore, they’re gleaming with evil --   

-- Agatha Agatha please come back please save me please --

-- but there’s no Agatha and wasn’t Sophie the one who banished Agatha back to Gavaldon so it’s her fault and she wouldn’t be here now if she’d just been better, it’s all her fault --

-- Agatha’s voice in her mind, telling her it’s too late --

-- and emerald eyes staring up at the sky because when did it get this cold? Her teeth are chattering, she’s freezing, and there’s a silver haired boy with fire in his palms, fire in his cheeks, fire rushing up to hold her, to embrace her, to protect her -- 

~

and if she turns her head ever so slightly and looks out the window where there used to be Woods, there is now only fire.

~

As she burns, she tries to remember what day it is. She is still as youthful as she was years ago, blonde hair and smooth skin untouched by the cruel waves of time, sustained by Rafal’s magic and the life of the Woods.

Try as she might, she cannot remember anything except sweet, sweet poison and icy eyes and silver hair and love that wasn’t really love, but she couldn’t tell the difference until it was too late, and it’s too late and things could have been better but they’re not, this is how it is and she can’t escape it.

Her breath is coming in raspy puffs now, hanging in the air for a moment before vanishing. She has to let go.

“Sophie.”

She looks forward and she’s catapulted to a moment, long ago, walking down an aisle in a beautiful ballroom, gray dress rustling around her legs, gazing at her true love. Her true love, who’s staring at her now, something like pity in his eyes.

“It’s sad it had to come to this. For a while, I thought you could be the one,” he muses, not trying to hypnotize her anymore. He doesn’t have to. She’s pulled in, and she’s not going to come back out.

“But I suppose it wasn’t to be.”

She crumples to the ground, gaze drifting in and out of focus. The fire has settled down to a warm feeling in her heart. It’s almost peaceful.

Slowly, she raises her arms, letting her eyelashes flutter closed, and welcomes his poison.

dear god sophie + rafal i want to sob what is this holy mess

rafal and sophie is a flaming hot mess

bored? send me serotonin please <3

Into the Woods au

I plan to write a full pledge fic on this and hopefully I achieve it

It's mostly kind of a Anti-Raphie fic or a Anti-Boys-x-Sophie fic and though there is gonna be some Tagatha, it might not be too much cause it's mostly Sophie realizing that she's horrible with Boys and could not be bothered.

I'm mostly gonna promote it as a Snow White & Rose Red kind of thing even though it doesn't involve the story, only because it's the common denominator for most of the stories mixed in and I wanna explore the sibling bond between Agatha and Sophie cause canon does not respect it.

Is mostly an excuse for me to write Agatha as Snow White because canon has starved me of some raven haired gothic beauty that we know Agatha is and Snow White in my opinion is a pretty gothic Grimms' princess so it fits

Is also an excuse for me to write Sophie as Red Riding Hood cause I feel like the fairy tale pretty much relates to Sophie the most and I wanna go all character study with that material

I actually plan of writing the whole Sophie's the 'key to evil's success' kind of thing cause canon has glazed over this brilliant idea till the very end of the story. (Like seriously why didn't Soman focus on this since book 1???)

Raphie's 'Love Story' is somewhat going to be inspired by both Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast.

Rafal's role is a mixed of the Wolf, the Huntsman, the Beast, and the Evil Queen.

Only some elements of Snow White's tale is gonna influence Agatha such as getting lost in the woods and wanting to be killed by someone and having seven companions on her journey (to save Sophie)

She could have a thing for apples too idk

Tedros's role might be big or it might not. I'm not really sure yet but imma provide the Tagatha development that canon did not deliver in book 1.

Sophie and Tedros had a thing and Agatha sorta hates him for it at first but well...

I might integrate Rhian into this only because I wanna go through all of Sophie's horrible ex-flames but I'm not sure yet how (I might make him the Huntsman instead)

Hort might be in here as the wolf but I just don't know yet

Mostly, this is gonna be an ode to Agatha's Gothic Snow White like features first and kind of like a deconstruction of Sophie's flings as second.

I,,,,,, Rafal is an actual fucking pedophile who groomed a twelve year old girl into a relationship and then mind controlled her with magic and pressured her into marriage who thought they would be a cute ship

what your favorite sge ship says about you 

tagatha: you’re a big fan of keeping things wholesome and keeping things canon/ your ideal relationship dynamic is jock/goth also TALL WOMEN 

nicphie: you just wanted good things for nicola. and really, who wouldn’t?

hestadil: you were thrilled when ‘be gay, do crimes’ became the hot new meme

reatrix: you believe there is no bond in this world stronger than that between two women who are sick of a man’s bullshit.

agaster: your ideal relationship dynamic is goth/goth 

hophie: You Are Heterosexual 

jaric: You Are Soman Chainani 

raphie: your ideal relationship dynamic is goth/ theater kid and also FBI OPEN UP 

horavan: your ideal relationship dynamic is that meme where it’s like 

my brain: hoe don’t do it

me: *does it* 

my brain: oh my god 

but both people are the hoe 

agaphie: your ideal relationship dynamic is theater kid/ goth. also why have a best friend if you’re not going to marry them? 

tophie: you think that the best way to solve a love triangle is by ignoring the axis. 

tagaphie: you are me you are a firm believer that the best way to solve a love triangle is to marry them all. after all, why chose? canon is dead to you

chadnick: your ideal relationship dynamic is TWO BROS, CHILLIN IN A HOT TUB.

keian: you see a slow burn and hurt/comfort fic at 2 am and you lose all control

dovesso: you didn’t get over agaphie

kido (kiko/dot): cute girls! you’re a completionist shipper. you saw that all the other characters in the main cast had a pairing you liked, so you took the two that were left over and put them together. everyone gets a ship. perfectly balanced, as all things should be.

Kiko/Yara:  you think that the concept of “opposites attract” is highly overrated. also you probably didn’t like the camelot years. 

anatrix: you think that the concept of “opposites attract” cannot be rated highly enough. also your ideal relationship dynamic is jock/goth but with lesbians 

bettophie: you, hypothetically,  want a girlfriend who could kick your ass, but like, realistically you just want to be bridal carried.

based off this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns_7ax-i3DE and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi6PQfFTMk0&list=PLQ49VxxncHR-oddu6L-Nrm-KQFJ0zPk99&index=184

an attack on rophie

so i posted this in the last ever after forum in response to all the rophie/raphie shippers and i think it’s actually a really funny post and i encourage you to please use it to combat any rophie shippers you see wandering the sge fandom :) i’m already on the hitlist of a bunch of rophie shippers on the website and i assume it’s in part because of this post. i did not edit this so it’s got some website references to forums but other than that please enjoy!

“hey y'all! it's my first post in the last ever after forum and i'm seeing a LOT of raphie shippers so i thought i'd give my opinion on this ship before i do my big "reviewing sge ships" post on the one true king forum. let's give everyone a reminder of what rafal looks like! in the last ever after, he is described as a lean boy with "hairless white skin, snug black breeches, his thick spiked hair the color of snow, his tight veined arms, his glacier-blue eyes" who doesn't look a day more than sixteen. cute, right? oh wait, that's actually NOT what rafal looks like. let's go to the back of the book, shall we? page 635! here we are: "He began to change. His face shriveled like rancid fruit; his thick white hair sloughed off in clumps over his mottled skull; his spine hunched with sickening crackles, jerking his body into ugly contortions. Liver spots rashed across decaying skin, his blue eyes clouding toxic gray, his muscled limbs shrinking to bony sticks. with each second, he grew older and older, thousands of years old, screams of rage tearing from inside of him, smoke spitting through his mummifying skin, until the School Master was unmasked at last, a naked corpse of blackened, hateful flesh." wow. that doesn't sound very handsome, right? not only is rafal THOUSANDS OF YEARS OLD (sophie is about... sixteen here? wonderful age difference), but he is literally not human. he is a mummified ugly evil spirit. not very fun for shipping, which is why i'm guessing people choose to describe the hot form instead of his true evil ugly form. if you're willing to ignore the "naked corpse of blackened, hateful flesh" part, maybe we can look at some other parts of the "wonderful" raphie relationship. gaslighting sophie into believing that agatha wants to kill her? check! (see pages 441-442 of the last ever after, where rafal convinces sophie that agatha has used her wish-granting ability to make sure tedros stayed in love with agatha instead of sophie) encouraging her to kill her other friends? check! (see pages 449-451 of the last ever after, where rafal has captured her friends after convincing her that the world is against her, and letting her make the decision to kill them even though he knows he is manipulating her. manipulating her into ending the balance between good and evil, putting the entire woods in danger? check! (see THE ENTIRETY OF THE LAST EVER AFTER) //content warning for //a*b*u*s*e// below this line!!!// if that's not enough to convince you yet, then let's go to the website "https://au.reachout.com/articles/signs-of-an-abusive-relationship" and go through some of the signs there. i'm not going to respond to all of them because there's SO MANY but i will choose a select few that should get my point across. 1. "They check on you all the time to see where you are, what you're doing and who you're with. They try to control where you go and who you see, and get angry if you don't do what they say." well, rafal does both of these things! he makes sophie a teacher so everyone can keep an eye on her, and he literally made a schedule for her so he'd know where she is at all times. 2. "They accuse you of being unfaithful or of flirting. They isolate you from family and friends, often by behaving rudely to them." rafal states on page 235 that sophie needs to kill tedros and agatha "or he'll know whose side she's really on". sounds like he's accusing her of being unfaithful (i know in the context of the article unfaithful means cheating but i'm using it in the way it applies). and i think threatening to kill them is definitely behaving rudely. 3. "They threaten to use violence against you, your family, friends or a pet." again, he's threatened to kill agatha and tedros/threatened her so she will kill them. pretty *horrible* to me!! 4. "They push, shove, hit or grab you." let's see! on page 231, rafal grabs sophie's hand so she'll show him her finger without her permission. that meets the criteria! 5. "They harm you, your pets or your family members." here i can use an example OTHER than rafal trying to kill tedros and agatha. remember when he allowed lady lesso to get stabbed? or dangled the coven over the brig? or allowed nicholas to get killed in the chaos of battle? those all sound like harmful things to me! not only is raphie super gross and downright pedophilic, but it's an //a*b*u*s*i*v*e// relationship as well! so that's why i don't ship raphie, folks. look out for my "reviewing sge ships" post coming soon on the otk forum >:)”

Rafal: How old do you think I am?

Sophie: Age doesn’t matter. You can die anytime.

Round VIII of Excerpts from The One True School Master of Vault 41

I'm only dropping a few short snippets from the draft (currently at around 178 pages—I haven't been doing much with it lately since the last update) because they connect in a very incorrect, misleading way, which I find funny, even if I already know the context with the redacted parts. Sorry (or not sorry)! Things aren't what they appear to be, and that's all I can say for now.

⸻

[When I re-read this part, it occurred to me that I had possibly written an unintentional but legitimate burn.]

[...]

Rafal stared at her in the mask. “What are you wearing that for?”

“I-I felt strange, looking in the mirror. And well, the mask makes me feel less like you…”

[...]

⸻

Rafal had made up his mind. He would execute his plan, no matter the consequences.

[...]

⸻

[...] Sophie really was timely. Or perhaps, she was watching him [...] The thought almost made him laugh.

[...]

"Death to the School Master!" He raised a fist, and led them to class.

"DEATH TO THE SCHOOL MASTER!" They chanted in unison.

All according to plan.

Round IV of an Excerpt from The One True School Master of Vault 41

Let’s just say I was inspired by Soman’s short story, “The Prince’s Club.”

⸻

“Yes,” she reasserted. “You’re dead. I know it. I’ve proved it again and again, every single time I’ve doubted it. Just because my senses are telling me you’re real doesn’t mean I can trust them or you. This hallucination will not undermine the truth. You can’t exist. You only exist in my head. You’re a product of my mind.”

Rafal decided to defer to her for the time being. “Well then, while I'm still here, as long as I last, for my temporary stay in… your head, why argue? Why not make the most of the time we have? And, why bother to send me away? Am I not fit to hold a simple conversation with you?”

“You inhabit my dreams and nightmares,” she scorched. “That’s it! I’m still not awake.”

“Really? What is it that you dream of, when you dream of me?”

“Ah, well… it usually vacillates between you kissing me and me killing you,” Sophie confided.

“What else? Go on,” Rafal prompted, treading lightly. “ I want to know.”

Sophie hesitated. “All right.” She looked away from him, and began her recitation.

“There have been others, far more bizarre ones, I suppose. Er, in one, I refused your ring and you jumped to your death. You’ve fed me to Stymphs, you’ve imprisoned me in an enormous bird cage, you’ve chained me to the ground by my ankles, and I don’t know why, it was not the worse one by far, but I wept, and you told me to shut up because you had a migraine. I kept sobbing, and finally, you handed me a pike and told me to run you through the head because you couldn’t take it anymore. You’ve driven a letter opener through my throat because you weren’t having enough reading my mind as it was and thought you could pry open my vocal cords and cut out my tongue. You’ve… ahem, taken me down with a literal scythe, you’ve flown me into the center of the sun… and uh, you’ve serenaded me with a lute while wearing these horrendously obsequious pantaloons. I was wearing a lovely, lavender hennin, decked with tulle in that one. Some of my classmates pelted you with spoiled fruit. And, in another, I stood by while Tedros carved out your eyes and then turned you into a stone statue for Merlin's Menagerie. I cleaved off your ears because you hadn’t listened to me about getting a haircut. Agatha did not partake in your mutilation, but she did cheer exuberantly. Can’t blame her though—it wasn’t the real Agatha. Then, I planted a pomegranate tree in your honor. That nightmare was rather lurid. It still haunts me. Come to think of it, your hair does fall into your eyes. I think it would look better if it hit a bit higher above your brows. Yet another time, you were unspeakably upset for no particular reason, stamped your foot until you opened a rift in the ground, tore yourself into two like you were made of gingerbread, and then, the split parts fell through the earth. I was also mad because you’d eaten the honeycomb for one of my beauty routines, but I didn’t get upset like you did,” she accused. “Another night, I tied you to a bedpost and gagged you with a satin pincushion. You looked quite comical, but wouldn’t stop mumbling. My nails were bloody and I had torn cuticles for some reason. I think you ruined my manicure. And all the Old villains and the New students besieged you and got a good whack in while you were restrained, and the whole bed frame creaked until the bed collapsed on itself. You’d broken free from the binds, splintering the wood. You blew them to ashes. Then, you put me in a glass bauble. Everything looked colorful and distorted, and I think I must’ve died of suffocation because I don’t seem to recall the rest. One night, we sat atop the framework of a gallows where the waxen corpses were still strung up, with very fine sewing thread, no less, and you told me you thought my glass slippers were a laughingstock and that I was no match for Cinderella. Then you smoked a pipe. We went ice-skating, and you fell through the solid ice and simply disappeared. Or was that the one where you drowned in a pit of ashes, compressed into diamond dust that I used to decorate the borders of my stationary with? All that aside, I laughed and then some force sucked me down after you, as if it were a portal to Hell. Agatha grew wings and tried to save me to no avail. I swallowed the glacial water and, and, um… then I woke up. And… uh, that’s most all of them. The recent ones, at least.”

She pinked egregiously, and glanced back at him nervously to gauge his reaction.

Rafal wore an exaggerated scowl, to keep his laughter at bay, and he’d bitten down on his lip hard, dribbling blood. He wiped the blood on his sleeve.

Sophie curled her lips at the sight of yet another stain, but it didn’t truly matter because his jacket was already doused in blood.

Rafal cleared his throat breathlessly, and tried to speak, but no words came out. He started again. “Hmm… well then. That confirms you’re a Reader.” Disarmed, he scratched his neck as it reddened.

“Yes,” she agreed awkwardly.

⸻

Any reactions anyone? And did you catch the references I made? I’d love to get concrit on this one.

Updates and Round V of Excerpts from The One True School Master of Vault 41

Draft 0 of TOTSMOV41 is at 171 pages or 54,527 words! (A lot of it is just notes, not actual story, so my bet is that it will turn out shorter than I may've led you to believe (still could be wrong though) but it's getting somewhere since I've last done some transferring of my notes into one, cohesive document.)

Not-so-fun fact about it: Rafal temporarily goes blind and deaf.

These contextless excerpts are shorter than usual, but I just realized I had written a trope I like in which couples indirectly, unintentionally clash, which I find funny and ironic.

Another fun fact: The song on my TOTSMOV41 playlist that vaguely fits the vibes around the time of these moments would be "All That Glitters" by Earl. I just discovered the song today! (Eventually, probably after I publish the fic, I'll post the fic's playlist.)

⸻

Should she have gone for something even harsher than what she'd written in a flourished, calligraphic hand?

I would snub my date if he ever dared have rotten breath. It would be pure humiliation. In fact, I'd address it directly, as an announcement to all, so I could gain in my social standing while I simultaneously lower his. No man with poor hygiene deserves me.

No, not Evil enough of a response, Sophie scrutinized. Just petty. Back to square one. She sighed.

⸻

Rafal thought he should change his shirt before their tower meeting tonight, but he was out of clean laundry and the spell to steam the blood out of his clothes would be too taxing on him in this state. Agatha wouldn't care and besides, they had work to do. But Sophie...

He took his black shirt to the sink and tried to scrub out as much of the blood as he could with a stiff brush. By the time he was done, there was one, even darker, rusted patch of blood blooming on his shirt and some flecks on the sleeves.

More mess—if only he weren't useless without his sorcery!

He clenched his fists in frustration, suddenly aware of his raw, cramped fingers and ragged, poorly groomed nails, ready to lob the bloody shirt out the tower window entirely, but no shirt with "Aggie darling" and her heightened suspicions around would be worse by about a thousandfold. He'd be a dead man walking as if he weren't one already.

Thus, he picked up the balled-up cloth from the sink in defeat. Wet shirt it was then. What other options did he have?

⸻

Incidentally, Agatha turned up with a waterlogged crystal ball that overshadowed the sorry sight of his stained and torn shirt.

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If anyone wants to know the symbolism behind this, I'll gladly explain it! Also, if anyone wants to, I invite you to guess at it.

Rafal as an Ever Student AU

I think I came up with a decent portion of this right before I read Rise, in the shower, and the rest of it manifested later on, after reading Rise.

Note: This concept is set as if he were in Sophie and Agatha's year.

He gets a different reception than Agatha despite being a bit like her but less coarse and more refined. He’s seen as broody and cool, not “moody,” “grumpy,” “sour,” and “unpleasant.” It is a total double standard for the Everboys that he benefits from.

Yes, he retains his personality from TLEA and Rise, just minus the Evilness. Aloof, grouchy, and quiet.

He’s not entirely an outcast even if he is unconventional, for a prince. The other Everboys hate him because he’s seen as competition. They poke fun at him and call him “as pale as a Crog’s underbelly.”

Some Evergirls are attracted to him. He sets their hearts aflutter, but most think he is the antithesis of Good in its typical definitions and forms. He is cold and pale, and leaner-built than most. He runs cold, unlike the warm-blooded, sweaty Everboys. (And, he and Sophie love each other. Although, being atypical examples of an Ever and Never as they are, they are quite a contrast and quite the power couple. Even though they are an Ever-Never couple, they have lots of commonalities. Maybe, they’d resemble Tophie, but their dynamic would be leagues better.)

Ironically, he performs badly at things that require true Goodness. The other Everboys mock him for being “impure” like the Nevers mocked Sophie.

Basically, Rafal is no good at doing performative Good. In the way that Sophie initially is bad at performative Evil, in practice.

However, he aces the Good theory lessons somehow. He probably got a 90% on Dovey's Good Deeds test. He just knows the Rules and how everything works really well. He's clever. That's obvious enough. (And, he was a prodigy in primary school.)

The two, Sophie and Rafal, are paradoxes. They are (oddly enough) desirable social-rejects.

One of their first interactions, after he performed badly in a class involving concrete action that Sophie witnessed:

Sophie: I thought you were Good.

Rafal: I am. In theory.

His ability to understand Good theory traces back to his Talent: how he already has a full understanding of how the Woods operate, and can read souls and intentions, meaning he can immediately sense who’s an Ever and who’s a Never, is a walking lie-detector, and senses a betrayal days before it happens. His weakness is that emotional attachment to people dulls his senses in regards to them specifically.

He’s also slightly prescient. He is not a Seer though. He can simply predict outcomes and movements with surprising accuracy. Plus, maybe, he's just observant and knows too much, more than he should, of the inner workings of the Schools’ system.

He probably cheats the system with his performance, anomalous with the actual impure inclinations of his soul. Like, he knows the correct, Good answers to the test. He just wouldn't be compelled to do all of it in reality. He doesn't care enough to. He doesn’t care enough for others. He doesn't care enough for what others think, at all, so that's part of the problem.

In reality, he’s on the less pure section of the Good continuum; he’s just incredibly competent at what he does to be tracked as a Leader. So, his morality is already greyish. But, he has no inclination to do Evil without provocation. He’s just capable of thinking exactly like a villain would, which both impresses and terrifies all the Evers. It looks suspicious, and Tedros is certain he’s secretly a Never.

This connects back to his Talent. Rafal can anticipate what Nevers will do. He’s always several steps ahead as a strategic, long-range planner.

Rafal’s Wish Fish vision is of Sophie. (He had seen her at the Welcoming, and cynically chalked her up to delusional Evil in love, like his Never brother once was. He did experience aesthetic attraction though.) He’s startled by the vision, and the Everboys jeer at him for being drawn to a Never.

Meanwhile, Agatha tries to tell Sophie to try and get him to kiss her, and tells her to wait for him to make the first move. Sophie doesn’t listen and approaches him. She had decided to lure him instead.

But she is not the only one with ulterior motives. At first, Rafal had selfish motives in pursuing Sophie. He, ever the control freak, decides to try and reform her. It would surely be an unforgettable accomplishment, and win him fame and influence as the first Ever to convert a Never to Good. Then, he’d take her as his queen.

And, yes, he admits, he does have feelings for her, but he is unable to process or decipher those feelings at the moment, and he stuffs them down, so he can conduct his morally-questionable experiment without interference.

He finds Sophie amusing and intriguing. Sometimes, he smiles knowingly at the lengths she goes to prove she's truly Good. Because, he once tried to love too and failed. His heart and soul failed him. And, it pains him to think about the Evil brother he had to kill in the purest self-defense a year ago. (Yeah, he's traumatized in this AU too.)

Eventually, he’s a prince lured onto Evil's side. She won their game, like a siren. And, both of them were already morally grey.

If the Storian were to write a fairy tale about them, the first triumph of both sides, it would be very radical for lack of a better word. Very good. Ahem. [Clears throat awkwardly.]

Round VII of Excerpts from The One True School Master of Vault 41

Someone has “revenge” on the brain. I thought the first excerpt might be funny and could stand on its own out of context. The actual context makes it funnier, in my opinion, but I unfortunately can’t spoil it because it involves possibly the most insane shock in the entire fic.

Admittedly, I’m slightly proud of myself for managing to not burst and to hold back on revealing the plot twists, particularly with major events #2, #3, and #4. Otherwise, there'd likely be zero surprises left.

Though, plot twist #1 is sort of foundational to the premise, so I gave it away! (Sophie is nominated for the position of School Master.)

Also, a strange observation about my own plot occurred to me: contrary to what I or others might think, the plot is actually quite simple. Or, at least, from my view at the moment, it is. I’d originally thought it was complicated, but no. Actually, it’s simple masquerading as complex because there are complications thrown into the story, like wrenches, via a few different elements/events. So, that’s something, I guess?

If I could summarize the plot in one sentence, it would be: three souls enter a crystal ball, and some of them emerged scathed, changed, or both at once.

That’s probably the easiest way to put it, without spoilers.

Anyway, here are the excerpts (from two entirely different sections of the fic):

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That was it. To say it irked her was to put it mildly.

Assuming they were both alive by the end of it, the first moment she got after all these crises were over with, she was taking him for a haircut, whether he liked it or not!

She would march him directly over to the finest salon she could find in the Woods, posthaste, like a prisoner if he resisted—all for the sake of a nice, neat trim.

So be it if it ended up botched. His Doom Room had done the same to her. So what did it matter?

⸻

Rafal glared at Agatha as if to signal: don’t let on that you’re hurt.

“Why are you both limping?”

Agatha stole a quick glance at Rafal who found himself turning to stare intently at a Stymph on high.

He shook his head with the slightest motion. She couldn’t know what it had cost them, or she would intervene.

The movement caught Sophie’s eye, and she turned her attention to Agatha for the truth.

Agatha shrugged wordlessly.

Sophie narrowed her eyes. “Well, it certainly wasn’t bird-watching, that much I can gather.”

Agatha shuffled, and Rafal observed her shove one foot behind her other ankle, but in her gaping, oversized clumps, one sock slid down to reveal an inflamed, red welt.

Unfortunately, Sophie traced his sightline to Agatha's foot. “Agatha? What happened?”

Aesthetic for the 1st Chapter of The One True School Master of Vault 41

It's probably too early for this, but I had an idea, and ran with it.