#kaen rambles

[kaen-ace-of-diamonds]

okay but like, from early on in What Doesn't Break:

"Waking dreams of a conclave of academics, pleading with her to accept the natural order of things; of a handsome man being eaten away by a fever, his bones jutting through skin worn nearly to transparency; of a wedding and the cool weight of a ring on her finger; of asking for power; of finding enough to carry love home from the dark.”

assuming that that bolded part refers to the other members of the Cerberus Assembly: Delilah was really going around the office with a big neon “I’M GOING TO DO SOMETHING DRASTIC” sign over her head, I KNOW they got caught in five seconds flat

The rest of the Cerberus Assembly: DELILAH PLEASE DO NOT DO ANY STUPID SHIT YOU CAN FIND ANOTHER MAN WHO SUCKS WE NEED YOU TO 👏 LOCK 👏 IN

Vess who’s looking to make some career moves:

(honestly that probably just made it so much more suspicious when she suddenly came back into work like "actually I'm fine now <3 Sylas is feeling much better <3 <3 yes I am very into chokers and high collars lately don't read into it <3 <3 <3")

[kaen-ace-of-diamonds]

I didn't think Delilah's comic would have anything that'd *genuinely disturb* me in a new way at this point but the way it just outright frames her interactioms with Cass the same as her interactions with Sylas got my stomach doing backflips. every time we get something new with the Briarwoods I am unprepared for how much it is actually There on the intentional subtext level

like I cannot believe that just a day or so after I mentioned the “hey Sylas why do you touch your daughter the same way you touch your wife” parallel it was just

Marieke Nijkamp, Understander of the Dynamics At Play Here: oh I can do worse. do you want to see me do worse?

literally there is ONE PAGE separating

Delilah: awww this is my family that's my kid <3

Delilah: [DAMN NEAR GRABS HER ASS]

HEY DELILAH WHY DO YOU TOUCH YOUR DAUGHTER THE SAME WAY YOU TOUCH YOUR HUSBAND

WHY DO YOU TOUCH YOUR DAUGHTER THE SAME WAY YOUR HUSBAND TOUCHES YOU

[kaen-ace-of-diamonds]

Ripley in the last comic: [takes Percy out of the cell alone without saying why]

[kaen-ace-of-diamonds]

okay but the way she literally tries to hide under the blankets from Ripley I am going to fucking cry

like she doesn’t even know for sure that Ripley is the one who shot her until Delilah confirms it a second later, this is her remembering every time that Ripley coming through the door of her and Percy’s cell meant that she was about to be in pain like she’d never imagined and she’s just oh holy fuck no not again

“she hasn't noticed me yet, if she can’t see me she can’t hurt me”

meanwhile Ripley: [gives so little of a fuck that she doesn’t even register that Cass is conscious and reacting to her]

[kaen-ace-of-diamonds]

the way Delilah only responds to one of those accusations because she’s already planning to put all the blame for the physical pain Cass has been put through onto Ripley

[kaen-ace-of-diamonds]

the way “Why didn’t you say something?” is the one part of the dream where Jackie’s mean girl persona falters because deep down Shauna knows that Jackie loved her and didn’t want to hurt her lord I’m coming up

[kaen-ace-of-diamonds]

"Would you believe I had moral objections to their plans?"

see on the one hand I know that this line is almost definitely Anna teasing Percy (insane thing to do with a gun to your head, I say with barely controlled lust)

but going by her prequel comic, she's technically telling the truth, it's just that what she was morally objecting to wasn't the murder of a family and the torture of their surviving children, but to her not getting paid for it

Ripley: you know what the real evil in this world is, Percival? when people don't pay their contractors on time

Percy: took six months for my fingernails to grow back, but yes, of course, you are the wronged party here

Ripley: I knew you'd understand :)

[kaen-ace-of-diamonds]

once again losing it over Raven Branwen specifically Raven Branwen in Lighting the Fire

the softness and affection in her voice when she first says Yang's name, letting her daughter see her as a person and actually speaking to her for the first time in her life...for exactly one (1) second

then the way she raises her voice and starts putting on a show for her people, one in which Yang herself is secondary to Raven's own image, where every word she says feels so scripted because she's clearly been fantasizing about this moment for years: a personal triumph where the prodigal daughter returns, strong and determined and perfect (and without an ounce of time or effort on her part to make her so, which is incredibly convenient for her), and most importantly ready to fall in line and be part of Raven's life on Raven's terms

...and then how severely thrown off and then quietly furious she is when Yang, being Yang, does NOT follow her script AT ALL, and wants about as much to do with Raven as Raven always had to do with her

ma'am you have ZERO business being THIS indignant I don't know how or why you expected this to work out for you