So I Know That You Hc Nat As Being The One To Pickup Tony From Siberia, Do You Think There's Any Other

Y'all remember that scene in phase 1 where Val aknowledges that the thing that most sets her apart from other people her age isn't magic but knowing what she wants to do with her life?

That shit hits way too close home.

I'm about to graduate amd I have like no idea what I wanna do... it's kinda scary. Like how am I supposed to chose sth to do for the rest of my life when I can't even remember the last thing that actually made me happy

sp as scottish tweets pt. 1: val’s family

this may be the best post idea i’ve had yet

val:

desmond:

melissa:

beryl & the twins:

alice:

fergus:

gordon:

Giveaway Contest: We’re giving away fifteen paperback classics featuring Richard Adams, Edgar Allan Poe, Simone de Beauvoir, J.R.R. Tolkien, Richard Wright, Harper Lee, and others! Won’t this collection look lovely on your shelf? :D To win these classics, you must: 1) be following macrolit on Tumblr (yes, we will check. :P), and 2) reblog this post. We will choose a random winner on May 9, at which time we’ll start a new giveaway. And yes, we’ll ship to any country. Easy, right? Good luck!

Okay, but can we all just appreciate how fluffy and soft Sanguine looks even though he´s drawn in red and black only? 

I doodled Billy-Ray and Dusk on my to do board

Y'all if you're a Star Wars fan who likes Time Travel Fix-It fics, PLEASE check out @this-acuteneurosis (acuteneurosis on Ao3). They have a series called Don't Look Back where Leia gets sent back in time to Pre-Attack of the Clones to try to keep the Empire from rising. It's SO well written and consumed my brain for a solid week while I was on vacation XD

This is a poster idea based on the third installment in the story, Duty Bound (mostly because I was OBSESSED with the idea of Leia with the Iconic Anakin scar)

(I originally had the handmaidens on here too, but didn't like how the final composition looked)

I fully agree with 2&3, but as a fanfic writer i actually find Dexter interesting to write and read about because we don't know a lot about him.

In the books he's witty and often seems to be untroubled by traumatic experiences but it's also hinted that there's a lot of depth to his character. So, it's really interesting to kinda fill in the gaps that Landy leaves.

I guess, that means that I'm more interested in the idea of him as a character than his actual character in the books because there's really not a lot about him there... (it´s the same with Saracen, Aurora and the Monsterhunters)

The few scenes where we can catch a glimpse at his character are really interesting. Take TM7 for example: He could have told Skulduggery about the god killers and let him deal with them but instead he assembled a team and took care of it himself. If you combine that with him constantly seeking out adventures all over the world, it shows that he needs to be constantly fighting for what he believes is right - even after the war is over. The other dead men (except for Skulduggery) all settled down but not him. Skulduggery fights because of his guilt and his need for revenge. So what about Dexter? There must be something in his past that drives him. Maybe war is all he´s ever known, so he doesn´t know who he is or what to do after it ended or maybe there´s something dark in his past, too. We don´t know, but that makes him interesting. 

That´s where my personal headcanon sets in: His father fought against Mevolent. While he was away, his mother raised him and his siblings, but due to the high child mortality rate he´s the only one who made it past the age of ten. His siblings all died. Anyway, while his father was fighting, his mother got killed by the mortals in their village for being a witch. Dexter had to watch helplessly. It made him so angry that he lost his way for a couple of years. He ran away, until he was taken in by a family that supported Mevolent. They raised him, so he took on their beliefs. Only several years later when he saw a whole village of mortals get slaughtered, he remembered how his biological parents raised him. He ran away again. This time in search of the resistance, but when he finally found it, he had to find out that his father had recently died in battle. That´s when the guilt and the self loathing began. He joined the suicide mission with the other dead men as a way to punish himself. Obviously, it didn´t work out. Not that time and not after. Then the war was over and he still felt like he needed to make up for his mistakes. That´s why he takes on missions by the sanctuaries all over the world, why he helps wherever he can. Sometimes that´s enough, sometimes it isn´t. It´s always been this way, but know he doesn´t have the other dead men to talk to anymore. They all drifted apart after the end of the war. So he has to find other, less healthy coping mechanisms. They don´t work, but he puts on a brave face and laughs it off. Then the war between the sanctuaries starts. He would never admit it, but fighting alongside his brothers again is the best thing that could have happened. Until they die, one after another. First Ghastly and Anton. Then Ravel. Even though he´s a traitor it still hurts. He gets possessed by a remnant. Just one more thing to feel guilty about. It doesn´t matter, he can handle it. But then Saracen dies. His best friend for centuries dies and he can´t handle it anymore. It´s all too much. He doesn´t want to fight anymore. Skulduggery is the only one who´s left but he only ever cares about Valkyrie nowadays. Tanith tries to cheer him up. She really really tries. It doesn´t work. Saracens death is what finally broke him.

unpopular sp opinions?

1- If Dexter wasn’t hot, people wouldn’t find him nearly as interesting - not his fault, but the lack of actual characterisation of any characters after book 7, with everyone becoming the same generic sorcerer, is pretty awful.

2- Tanith and Ghastly never even went on a date and y’all made out that they were soulmates -_- Like feel free to ship them but I feel like after Ghastly’s death everyone was like oh my god how is Tanith ever gonna get over the death of a man who she only spent four books with, when surely we should be focusing on the dead men who’d lost their best friend of FOUR CENTURIES

3- Militsia + Val are actually cute together and I quite like the reality check she’s giving Val

ya know like….you always hear about the classics™ authors having stupid wild shenanigans with each other. they all banded together to be dumbass chaotic english majors together. the stories are great and they’re all considered timeless genius writers….we don’t have that with modern age authors? where’s the goddamn sense of community? where’s the saucy tales of jk rowling, stephen king, james patterson and nicholas sparks locked up in an orgy cabin during a hurricane and having a writing contest. no one’s ever gotten in a fist fight with stephanie meyer. rick riordan didn’t cry face down in george r r martin’s garden after no one liked blood of olympus. jodi picoult doesn’t have a single damn calcified heart in her possession. cassandra clare and suzanne collins never had sex on a grave. neil gaiman has never gone on a week long sex-binge that would have killed him if r l stine didn’t intervene. john green has never written a book in two weeks while snorting massive amounts of cocaine. where’s the drama!!! where’s the scandal!!!! where’s the intrigue!!! modern day authors have to step it UP a notch, God dammit.

This made me sad, because it is so true :(

I still remember hero worshipping Val and Skul when I was younger (I guess to some degree I still do) and now that I´m older I´m seeing all the flaws in their characters and their relationship... I guess Val did, too, in phase 2 and that´s a part of what caused her depression... Growing up sucks 

Hey, I just saw your post claiming Val and Skul's relationship is an unhealthy one. It confused me. Can you explain? (I feel like I have to clarify that I am not criticising you, I'm just genuinely curious since I've never heard this opinion before.)

[ kicks down door ]

Hi there :D

I’d just like to say that on some level, D.Lands planned this relationship while writing them. I personally believe around the fifth or forth book. Or it at least became more apparent.

It should also be noted D.Lands has a “”“"thing”“”“ on some level for age gaps.

Anyways, there are a few things wrong with the relationship.

One thing is the giant age gap. Skulduggery has never, to my knowledge, admit he was mentoring Valkyrie. He has always called her his partner. However, it is clear who hold the power in the relationship.

Skulduggery is a wealth of knowledge and adult experiences. He has lived several lifetimes-worth. You can see this ; Valkyrie doesn’t even know how to drive, let alone anything of the “world” he introduces her to. She relies on him for access to this world, to feel “adult,” in a sense. To teach her magic, yadda yadda.

The real issue here is that Skulduggery can be seen as “grooming” Valkyrie.

I mean grooming in this sense : Valkyrie is rewarded with something she wants ( access to this world, exciting adventures, magic ) by acting a certain way.

You can see this behavior in the first book: she didn’t want to let the death of a room full of people to affect her, because she wanted to be seen as “brave” in Skulduggery’s eyes ; not a child or a 12-year-old.

On some level, Skulduggery didn’t want an actual child following him around. If she had burst into tears ( like I know I would have at twelve ) he would have immediately changed his decision to let her follow around. I remember vividly how weirded out Skulduggery got when Valkyrie cried after her TOOTH got knocked out of her HEAD. I think she was 13 or 14 at the time, but he literally doesn’t know how to react when Valkyrie actually acts her age.

Not to mention, Skulduggery encourages her to not attend school, or interact with people her age. This is on top of the fact Valkyrie never tells her parents about Skulduggery or his tutoring ; she has no insight from actual adults who would see immediate red flags at how Skulduggery is treating her. ( This is also why I headcanon Melissa as low keyhating Skulduggery / not allowing Alice to participate in the world. )

She also mimics her behavior off of Skulduggery. In the first book, she is much quieter, in wonder, rather dorky. She thinks she’s really cool ( as all twelve-year-olds do lol ) and Skulduggery subtly makes fun of her. For instance, telling her about octopus-people or whatever, telling her that it’s funny some people ( the unlucky ones who DON’T meet a cool skeleton ) die without knowing about magic.

By the… third book, she is snappy and sarcastic and biting. She becomes reserved with people her age, haughty with others. Not to mention, Skulduggery pretty much talks for the both of them to EVERYONE, bringing Valkyrie along just for funsies. ( This is acknowledged in-text by various people. )

She models her behavior and actions off of Skulduggery to get his approval ( that is, more sarcastic, more stoic, etc. ). Not to mention, he explicitly comments on her “tight trousers,” mocking but at the same time rewarding her ( by noticing her ) for wearing them. Concerning stuff from an extremely older man in any other context.

He also buys her expensive things, like a room in his house, new clothes, etc., partially rewarding, partially to have her around him more.

I fully blame Valkyrie’s modeling on Skulduggery as the reason for her breakdown. She has never seen ( or really interacted ) with someone who shows emotions like a normal, functioning adult. She has never seen Skulduggery cry, or even get scolded for his actions, and she has seen this as THE behavior to emulate.

And then she’s suddenly the destroyer of the world, and she doesn’t have the ability to handle that. Weakness / evilness is something bad, to be looked down upon. She was scared she was going to mess up big time, and she didn’t tell Skulduggery because he’s never scared, and he would have never befriended her in the first place if she was EVER scared, or admitted to it.

But even then, she doesn’t have the structures in place to handle large emotional burdens.

AND ALL THIS IS FINE IN A NARRATIVE SENSE, EXCEPT :

1) The age range this is marketed towards ( young adult ) IS EXACTLY the age where this sort of grooming behavior begins.

2) IT IS NEVER ACKNOWLEDGED IN THE TEXT THAT THIS IS A HORRIFIC POWER DYNAMIC, IDEALIZES IT, SETTING BAD EXAMPLE FOR TARGET MARKET.

Your one exception is Kenspeckle ( the bae ), who vividly hates Skulduggery ( for good reason ) and loves Valkyrie, but this is NEVER explained. The above power dynamic was clear to Kenspeckle, not to Valkyrie or the readers. It came off as Kenspecks being a total douche for no reason, or the “grumpy father who disapproves of his daughter’s boyfriend.” When in reality, Kenspeckle is the ONLY ADULT who EVER realizes the situation Valkyrie is in, and tries to help her.

3) That codependency thing…

AND NOW, TO THE CRUX OF THE MATTER. This grooming is exactly why Valkyrie is codependent upon Skulduggery.

To recap : Skulduggery is the one who introduced her into the magical world, shaped her view and experience of it, and who continues to be her main access to this world.

Skulduggery, and Valkyrie’s want of this world, shaped Valkyrie’s behavior by : encouraging isolation from children her age, her parents, gentle but suggestive mocking, inappropriate comments, rewarding with his “”“time”“”“ and ”“”“attention”“”“.

Valkyrie, in a need to please Skulduggery : changed to become more like Skulduggery, models her behavior off Skulduggery. This includes : haughty behavior, superiority, isolation from friends and family, emotionlessness–or as closes as she can get, options on topics, places herself in danger to please Skulduggery, and going out of her way to learn about topics to feel she “impresses” Skulduggery and “fits into” the world.

( Not to mention, she is ALWAYS hesitant to discuss her personal, romantic relationships, because this might piss him off and he’ll cut her off. )

Literally, her whole life ( magic, personality, occupation ) comes from Skulduggery. She NEEDS him as a constant source of validation for this behavior, as well as a constant model to go off.

Hence : codependency. She needs him.

Skulduggery, meanwhile, likes Valkyrie because of her “innocence.” She knows nothing about his past ( blank slate ), and is literally in love with him and his style and his WORLD. This pleases his egocentrism. This is why he lets her follow him around. Because she adored what he introduced to her, and he is her number one source for continuing to learn, and she adores him.

Skulduggery is dependent on her for his ego. She is dependent on him for… a lot.

So, anyways, that’s why it’s unhealthy.

And that’s why I made that post ; I know that young readers ( like I was when I started ) see nothing wrong with the model presented in the books. Hell, when I started reading the books, I wanted EXACTLY what Valkyrie had. I wanted to be special, and hot, and smart, and have attention from adults.

The books ( and D.Lands by extension ) pretty much endorses it, shows why it’s bad, AND NEVER EXPLAINS WHY VALKYRIE WENT OFF THE DEEP END IN THE LAST 2 BOOKS.

Skulduggery emotionally stunted her. All that fear, and rage, and mostly, mostly self-doubt because she had FEELINGS, manifested in Darquesse.

Because Darquesse is what Valkyrie wanted to be. Untouchable. Emotionless. Powerful.

And that’s HOW Darquesse took over. She always insulted Valkyrie, offered violent solutions some part of her thought SKULDUGGERY would suggest. But mainly ? Darquesse just created self-doubt, until Valkyrie began to rely on her ( this emotionless powerhouse ), and then took over.

( This also falls into my headcanon that Darquesse’s voice never went away, just the power. Valkyrie still craves to be emotionless ( as Skulduggery taught her ) and powerful. So she doesn’t have to be human, so she can be COOL, like Skulduggery, and not be scared and afraid. It’s this smothering of emotion that led to Darquesse’s creation, anyways. )

But mainly, D.Lands NEVER EVER explained why Val and Skul’s relationship was unhealthy. Fuck, the books condone it.

This is also why the fandom reacted so viscerally to D.Lands dating a super young fan. It’s one thing to idealize, another to see it happen in real life, and realize the books condone that behavior.

( Just throwing it out there I ship Val // Dug so I am aware of these problems. That’s why it’s important for me to ship but also point out the problems. )

Anyways, please PLEASE let me know if you have any more questions. :)

Blake Carrington answers to no one ... and consequently has to reap what he sows. Or rather Fallon does.

AU of s01e11 I answer to no man - Because the writers downplayed not only the side effects of being knocked out with chloroform but also Alejandro´s violence.