The battle came to a swift end when the knights blade found my throat. It's tip rested at my neck and was held tryingly under my chin.
Its wielder scowled. Her words came with a hiss, "On your knees."
I did as asked, daring a small glance at my sword so disarmed, the reason I found myself in this predicament. I have to admit, I survived longer than I expect.
"What are you grinning about," the knight snapped. "Go on, give me another reason to run you through."
The blade of her sword forced my head up. The icy steel refused my chin any comfort and I could hardly swallow, as if she'd need any help adding to the cut that already drips blood down my throat.
"You've won," I said, careful not to move. "What other reasons do you need to kill me?"
I brought my hands carefully to her blade, holding it gently. "You are owed more lives than I can count, so take mine."
I saw it then, the hesitation I'd only seen once before: the night she lost the queen and the princess.
"You-" she growled. Tears pricked at her eyes and they stung mine as well.
"I cannot undo the death of my mother and sister, but I can let you be the reason for mine." I said.
"I loved her." She finally slipped. The seams that barely have been holding her together parted. They didn't burst, just slowly unknotted and pulled loose from their cloth.
The steel in her hands dropped with a clatter. She followed it, her armor clanging with the impact and finally she met me eye to eye.
"I cannot forgive you," she whispered.
"I know."
"This kingdom needs a ruler."
"I know."
Her jaw clenched tight. Then she grabbed my shoulder. "I cannot forgive you, but I will help you repair what has been broken."
Tears streamed down my face and I hold her arm. "You will be a most formidable advisor."
screaming at the idea of a dark academia steddie au (still in the 80s)
- steve being the one that lives in a deteriorating old apartment one winter because his parents cut him off, almost dies from the cold before eddie comes and gets him out of there
- steve being impressed by everything eddie knows bc he‘s used to being around pretentious know-it-alls and eddie isn‘t like that at all
- now listen it isn‘t dark academia without a little murder. sorry not sorry. hear me out - what if billy was in their friend group and they "accidentally" killed him because he‘s an asshole. and eddie gets pulled into it bc he‘s in their course
- said friendgroup obviously contains robin, nancy, steve and now eddie
- steve‘s the one that‘s used to showing off with his material possessions (and girlfriend, aka nancy) because he thinks that‘s all people really want from him, the only people he lets somewhat close being his friends, but only robin truly knows his real self (before eddie comes along)
- for robin i‘m thinking eleanor from do revenge. pretending to be rich so she fits in, but also just fascinated by the actual classes and everything they‘re studying. steve used to help her out with money, that‘s what made his parents cut him off. bonus if she has a huge crush on nancy and she‘s the only one that sees her as an actual person from the beginning whereas the guys just see her as ooh a girl for a while at the start usually (aka camila in tsh)
- jonathan as eddie’s dorm neighbor. he‘s chill and usually has good advice, knows basically everyone on campus but has his own separate group of friends (including argyle)
- nancy as the groups it girl. always dressed to impress, but upset that no one truly wants to get to know her. her and steve are the campus‘ hot couple, everyone knows them, wants to be them. but they have their issues, which come out once eddie‘s in the picture. she likes robin, maybe a little too much.
- eddie as the new student. originally only interested in his studies, because he really doesn’t want anything to distract him - once he’s distracted, it’s over - is immediately intrigued by the group, befriends robin, that‘s his in. get‘s sucked into the whole murder mystery, which forces them all closer. watches steve and nancy‘s relationship crumble, both of them needing support that the other one can‘t give.
- i‘m thinking wild parties in old buildings, dark furniture, secret glances, hungry kisses, denial. oh lord give me the denial. jealousy, rebounds, steve and nancy hooking up again -
- bonus points if eddie lives with steve for a while. and they get closer. steve has nightmares, terrified of the police finding them out, they share a bed? SLOWBURN though. very important
- listen i haven‘t thought about what they‘re studying but if they have a theatre class……. i neED steve to help eddie cover himself in fake blood for a play and just stare for a bit bc oh shit he‘s hot
- nancy gives robin a makeover, robin hates it, but loves spending time with her. robin supports nancy through her downward spiral after the murder and gets her out of it, with the support of eddie and steve.
- think long nights, windowsills, shared cigarettes and deep talks. the terrifying feeling of being known as a murderer to the person you love more than anything mixed with the knowledge that nothing will ever be the same again
I hate the idea that you’re only allowed to like villains that have been redeemed, and if you like villains that don’t join the hero’s in the end, then you’re a bad person. We need to reject the notion that villains have to be redeemed or have some sort of tragic backstory to it to be acceptable to like them. Anti-intellectualism has been on the rise lately (especially on tiktok, oh my god), and nobody has any nuance or media literacy anymore.
perhaps it is indeed a pleasant feeling, to be on top of the world. to know that you are unsurpassable, and that you will always have a spot amongst the winners, constantly threatening each and every one to steal their place. to be first. to leads and to guide. to be entirely and utterly unbeatable.
and perhaps it is indeed daunting to live, knowing that one day, it might all be taken away at once. yet perhaps it is even scarier to live without such an awareness, without the blessing of such a mere notion.
perhaps it is indeed gut-wrenching, when what should have been obvious occurs unexpectedly and pushes you over the edge. humiliates and shoves back. spits, laughs, points and mocks. uplifts someone else, worshipping him as your superior, when he is anything but.
and perhaps the sheer rage that this awakens is, in the heat of the moment, liberating, only to become dreadful and horrifying within the following second. perhaps it does send shivers down your spine - the realisation of your very own capabilities, your loathing, bitterness - and what they could unfold into, should they be left unsupervised, as a feisty toddler would. oh, but darling, that fear does not subject you to itself; it never did.
perhaps what is really liberating is to feel the water finally surround and embrace you. to feel his taunting gaze lingering on your own face, observing. studying. ridiculing. to invoke to your own contempt, to attempt to utilise it and abolish. yet all that you hear is a loud hitch of a breath - once coming in a voice that sounds way too familiar.
and all you know is that your paper crown has fallen off, soaked and torn to shreds in the hands of the enemy. the one who is and always has been better, though your resentful soul would never admit it.
one may think that death comes swiftly, stealing one's breath away in a gentle touch. leaving him alone in the darkness, filling his lungs not with air, but with an amalgam of thick water and his own thin blood. regretting all that his hands had brought upon his existence.
but that would never be the case. even in becoming one with the night, his spirit ranges for revenge - in spite, pure spite of the fact that the one he should be vengeful towards is his own self. finding comfort in repugnance. not lamenting, and not allowing himself to be mourned, preferring to be left at the mercy of the vulgarity of the circumstance.
the secret history vs if we were villains - part 2:
now in this part let's talk about the writing style and my final thoughts about both of these books nos which one i prefer.
writing style: Donna Tartt's writing style is very complex and long handed, she takes her time to tell the story, with very specific details and facts; with Richard as the narrator in TSH we have a lot of parts where he's describing what he was watching, feeling, smelling at the time of the events, some may find that interesting and very in character of him but others, like me, prefer to have the story more easily developed and with a constant flow around the events. In IWWV, M.L. Rio is more accessible with her writing, and even tho we still have the Shakespeare quotes to look out for, or maybe in some cases to find the explanation of them, the story has more lightness and follows a more known flow, 5 acts like in the Shakespeare plays they study, so for me it had more sense and it was easier to follow.
final thoughts: l'll be super honest here, they are both great books with very similar settings but they're clearly for two different kind of readers, probably because they've been published with 25 years of difference, but also because the writing styles are very different. If you have a harder time reading classics because of the writing, the complex words and long descriptions of everything, TSH is not really for you, but I would recommend giving a try to WWV. One thing you can find in both of them are life-changing quotes, that will stay with you forever. These books are so deeply beautiful in their individual way but for me IWWV is my favorite dark academia story and of course as a theater junkie it was obvious this will be my choice.
let me know if you guys decide to read one of these or both and if you wanna discuss my dms are open :)
In that one brief moment, I actually wondered if "okay" or something like it might still be possible. But that is how a tragedy like ours or King Lear breaks your heart—by making you believe that the ending might still be happy, until the very last minute.
here’s a random expert from a thing i’m writing <3
He’s beautiful.
He always has been, and David has always known it— how couldn’t he, when they spend so much time together? He knows Jack like he knows himself, and he knows that Jack’s stunningly handsome features contrast his own plain ones. He knows that if Jack were an actor, he’d be the leading man; he’d be the Antony to Katherine’s Cleopatra, the tragic hero that audiences can’t help but fall in love with. He’s full to the brim with passion and heart, and that’s part of what makes him so pretty— his love is tangible and visible, and it makes everyone want him to love them.
not once had eddie considered that one decision, made years ago, the one to study at the college he was by now so used to, would ever lead to this. his friends, the best ones he‘d had in years, were gathered around him in the common room of their shared living quarters.
and lastly, steve. if eddie wouldn't know any better he‘d have thought his roommate was calmer than the rest of them. but eddie knew him, inside and out, every inch of him, better than anyone. in a different situation, he would have been proud of that, of knowing what steve was feeling just by getting one look at him. but right now, he wished that that wouldn't be the case. maybe then he could simply enjoy the illusion of at least one of them being the picture of serenity.
steve‘s eyes were glazed over, elbows propped up on his legs, as he stared at the pictures above the fireplace, framed and put up there by the group during less troubled times. eddie could nearly hear the alarm bells going off in steve’s head as he mustered him from the side from the second armchair that he himself was sprawled out in.
on the living room table in front of them, an old plastic bag spread out underneath it, laid a wooden baseball bat.
it was steve‘s, hadn‘t been used by him since high school, simply brought with him for old times sake. normally, it was propped up in his room, next to an old basketball trophy. now, it was here in front of them.
there was blood slowly dripping from it onto the bag underneath while eddie willed any of them to speak first, fearing that his voice would simply cease to work.
there was blood slowly dripping from it onto the bag underneath while eddie willed any of them to speak first, fearing that his voice would simply cease to work.
there was blood slowly dripping from it onto the bag underneath while eddie willed any of them to speak first, fearing that his voice would simply cease to work.
„steve, you have to tell us what happened. we- i‘m sure we can help. just tell us what happened, please?“, nancy pleaded, voice soft, yet commanding, eyes drifting to steve's hands.
eddie‘d come to find nancy‘s usual tone of voice comforting, always there to guide him through rough times. yet right now, steve‘s hands bloody and beginning to shake in front of him, it didn‘t impact him quite as much as he‘d hoped it would.
I have been on a Willy Wonkified journey today and I need y'all to come with me
It started so innocently. Scrolling Google News I come across this article on Ars Technica:
At first glance I thought what happened was parents saw AI-generated images of an event their kids were at and became concerned, then realized it was fake. The reality? Oh so much better.
On Saturday, event organizers shut down a Glasgow-based "Willy's Chocolate Experience" after customers complained that the unofficial Wonka-inspired event, which took place in a sparsely decorated venue, did not match the lush AI-generated images listed on its official website.... According to Sky News, police were called to the event, and "advice was given."
Thing is, the people who paid to go were obviously not expecting exactly this:
But I can see how they'd be a bit pissed upon arriving to this:
It gets worse.
"Tempest, how could it possibly--"
source of this video that also includes this charming description:
Made up a villain called The Unknown — 'an evil chocolate maker who lives in the walls'
There is already a meme.
Oh yes, the Wish.com Oompa Loompa:
Who has already done an interview!
As bad (and hilarious) as this all is, I got curious about the company that put on this event. Did they somehow overreach? Did the actors they hired back out at the last minute? (Or after they saw the script...) Oddly enough, it doesn't seem so!
Given what I found when poking around I'm legit surprised there was an event at all. Cuz this outfit seems to be 100% a scam.
The website for this specific event is here and it has many AI generated images on it, as stated. I don't think anyone who bought tickets looked very closely at these images, otherwise they might have been concerned about how much Catgacating their children would be exposed to.
Yes, Catgacating. You know, CATgacating!
I personally don't think anyone should serve exarserdray flavored lollipops in public spaces given how many people are allergic to it. And the sweet teats might not have been age appropriate.
Though the Twilight Tunnel looks pretty cool:
I'm not sure that Dim Tight Twdrding is safe. I've also been warned that Vivue Sounds are in that weird frequency range that makes you poop your pants upon hearing them.
Yes, Virginia, these folks used an AI image generator for everything on the website and used Chat GPT for some of the text! From the FAQ:
Q: I cannot go on the available days. Will you have more dates in the future?
A: Should there be capacity when you arrive, then you will be able to enter without any problems. In the event that this is not the case, we may ask you to wait a bit.
Fear not, for this question is asked again a few lines down and the answer makes more sense.
Curious about the events company behind this disaster, I took myself over to the homepage of House of Illuminati and I was not disappointed.
I would 100% trust these people to plan my wedding.
This abomination of a website is a badly edited WordPress blog filled with AI art and just enough blog posts to make the casual viewer think that it's a legit business for about 0.0004 seconds.
Their attention to detail is stunning, from how they left up the default first post every WP blog gets to how they didn't bother changing the name on several images, thus revealing where they came from. Like this one:
With the lovely and compact filename "DALL·E-2024-01-30-09.50.54-Imagine-a-scene-where-fantasy-and-reality-merge-seamlessly.-In-the-foreground-a-grand-interactive-gala-is-taking-place-filled-with-elegant-guests-i.png"
"Concept.png" came from the same AI generator that gets text almost, but not quiiiiiite right:
There are a suspicious number of .webp images in the uploads, which makes me think they either stole them from other sites where AI "art" was uploaded or they didn't want to pay for the hi-res versions of some and just grabbed the preview image.
The real fun came when I noticed this filename: Before-and-After-Eventologists-Transformation-Edgbaston-Cricket-Ground-1024x1024-1.jpg and decided to do a Google image search. Friends, you will be shocked to hear that the image in question, found on this post touting how they can transform a boring warehouse into a fun event space, was stolen from this actual event planner.
Even better, this weirdly grainy image?
From a post that claims to be about the preparations for a "Willy Wonka" experience (we'll get to this in a minute), is not only NOT an actual image of anyone preparing anything for Illuminati's event, it is stolen from a YouTube thumbnail that's been chopped to remove the name of the company that actually made this. Here's the video.
If you actually read the blog posts they're all copypasta or some AI generated crap. To the point where this seems like not a real business at all. There's very specific business information at the bottom, but nothing else seems real.
As I said, I'm kinda surprised they put on an event at all. This has, "And then they ran off with all our money!" written all over it. I'm perplexed.
And also wondering when the copyright lawyers are gonna start calling, because...
This post explicitly says they're putting together a "Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory Experience" complete with golden tickets.
Somewhere along the line someone must have wised up, because the actual event was called "Willys Chocolate Experience" (note the lack of apostrophe) and the script they handed to the actors about 10 minutes before they were supposed to "perform" was about a "Willy McDuff" and his chocolate factory.
As I was going through this madness with friends in a chat, one pointed out that it took very little prompting to get the free Chat GPT to spit out an event description and such very similar to all this while avoiding copyrighted phrases. But he couldn't figure out where the McDuff came from since it wasn't the type of thing GPT would usually spit out...
Until he altered the prompt to include it would be happening in Glasgow, Scotland.
You cannot make this stuff up.
But truly, honestly, I do not even understand why they didn't take the money and run. Clearly this was all set up to be a scam. A lazy, AI generated scam.
Everything from the website to the event images to the copy to the "script" to the names of things was either stolen or AI generated (aka stolen). Hell, I'd be looking for some poor Japanese visitor wandering the streets of Glasgow, confused, after being jacked for his mascot costume.