#-when roman already knows and LIKES who he is. hes not good and he doesnt wanna change. he just wants Neo back.

[maskyartist]

almost done with V9 officially, its fuckin awesome i love every second of this heartache but yall know me well enough

i already have an AU planned out to make Roman live in that bitch.

[deeply-unserious-fellow]

HOLY FUCKING SHIT HAZBIN WAS SO FUCKING GOOD IM GOING INSANE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKENFKCMKWJRKFNSMSMDMSMDN-

Okay. Okay deep breaths. Time for some cool and collected comentary. Okay.

Putting it under the cut so ppl can avoid spoilers :)

HUSK USED TO BE AN OVERLORD!?!?!?!?!? HELLO!?!?!?!?!? FUCKIN PLOTTWIST OF THE CENTURY WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!?!?!?

Huskerdust my beloved

SIR PENTIOUS MY BELOVED

Vox was great. I love him he's so fucking cool-

If Vox wasn't already a Tumblr sexyman he's definitely gonna be one now. He's so fucking Onceler coded it's insane.

Velvette was amazing too. It's so funny that she's British lmao I was not expecting that

Velvette is also very Anne Boelyne(like from SIX not from Real Life) coded it's wild. Her part in that song with Carmila was giving so much Don't Lose Your Head

I swear I'll stop comparing them to other characters I SWEAR

Okay but me and my brother are working on a Hazbin Hotel swap AU where we swap the main cast with the overlords and in that AU we swapped Husk and Vox. The Husk used to be an overlord reveal is gonna make that AU soooooo much easier lmao

ADAM IS REALLY GOOD I promised I would stop comparing to other characters but he was giving SO MUCH Hades from Disney's Hercules like its insane

I think we should let Alex Brightman sing rocj and roll more often that song was such a fucking BANGER

SPEAKING OF THE SONGS- oh my god I love the soundtrack so fucking much-

Stayed Gone was a lil less hype then I was expecting but thats okay cuz it was still a banger and I loved the visuals

That song battle between Carmilla and Velvette????? Oh my god??????

Carmilla and Vaggie's song was also amazing but I think I know why they didn't have Stephanie Beatriz sing her own song in Elena of Avalor y'know, girl cannot hold a character voice while singing

LOSER WAS SO FUCKING GOOD- I love Huskerdust so much. I love Keith David so much. Blake Roman is such a phenomenal Angel Dust.

SPEAKING OF all the voice actors are amazing. Blake Roman, Brightman as Pentious and Joel Perez were the ones I was the most worried abt but I loved all their preformances so much it was fucking fantastic

Valentino can go die in a fucking hole <3

The other Vees are cool and fun to watch but I hope Valentino fucking dies

Okay to be fair he's also fun to watch when he's not in the same room as Angel Dust but tHAT DOESNT SUPERSEID MY HATRED FUCK 👏 THAT 👏 GUY 👏👏👏👏

Speaking of the Vees tho I do love their dynamic

My favorite episode was probably Radio Killed the Video Star bcuz of mY BOYS PENTIOUS AND VOX!!!!!!!!

And the most painful episode to watch was- no surprise- Masquerade

That episode was a fucking rollercoaster Jesus fucking Christ...

Those scenes with Angel and Valentino where so fucking visceral... like. Who the fuck wrote that. Who are you. Are you okay. Do you need help-

Tho I'm not sure abt how they're handling the ah- more serious bits of Angel's character. It is WAYYYYYY to early to tell and I think Loser wasn't like. Trying to downplay the situation. But the writers better have been careful moving foreward bcuz I can def see a world where Angel's arc goes very wrong very fast-

Also while we're criticizing: wasn't a fan of the pacing. Especially in episode two. Like I can look past it, but the way they breeze past some plot points kinda bugged me

Otherwise it was sooooooo fucking good man oh my god

THE HUMOR WAS SO MUCH BETTER THAN PPL MAKE IT OUT TO BEEEEEE PPL NEED TO STOP SHITTING ON THE COMEDY IN THESE SHOWS MAN-

The gag where Niffty just fucking stopped thinking every time the camera turned on was so fucking good

Niffty in general was really fuckin funny

Alastor was a lot less prominent of a character then I thought he would be but tbh I think that's for the best. He's like Discord from My Little Pony, fun in small doses but if you don't set perameters for how often he appears and when he's willing to help it kinda breaks the show

Chaggie is adorable and I love them <3

I think this show does a really good job balancing the focus on the whole cast! These first 4 episodes seem to be pretty Charlie, Angel and kind of Vaggie heavy but everybody still gets their fair share of attention!

THE ANIMATIOJ OH MY GOD- IT WAS FUCKING PHENOMENAL IM LOSING MY M I N D

Im going feral IM GOING FERAL THIS EXCEEDED MY EXPECTATIONS AKFNVKKENFEKFNDN

I love comedy. I love musicals. I love drama. I love silly characters. I LOVE ANIMATION!!!!!!!

It's like the South Park movie but longer and better animated and IVE BEEN WAITING FOUR FUCKING YEARS-

Just. So excited overall. Can't wait to see where it goes. May make more posts abt my thoughts in tbe future.

[gilverrwrites]

This isn’t necessarily a request, just an idea I can’t get out of my head: Black Mask x Batfam!Reader in a Hades and Persephone AU

Oh my god this is so good.

Like Roman is a simp, but it does no escape him that he’s managed to sink his teeth into one of Bruce Wayne’s strays.

Ain’t that a kick in the teeth Brucie.

But the cherry on top, he doesn’t know, he DOESNT EVEN KNOW that one of fuckin’ BATMANS kids.

Ugh, and when it starts he thinks he’s getting a spoiled, naive little prince/princess who will do whatever he says cause they don’t know better.

BUT he’s actually signing himself up for someone who is way fitter than him (not just because they’re younger), trained in almost every martial art, who is having none of his shit.

OR flip the switch, he thinks he’s tricked a superhero, a sidekick into signing up for the wrong team, either way!

But most importantly, someone who has read his files over and over, who already know every intimate detail about who he is, but falls for him anyway, who sees him.

And Bruce who doesn’t trust anyone DOES NOT trust this at all. He’s so doting, texting and calling constantly cause this was not part of any plan, you did not get his permission. “This is not the same as going under cover, this is a bad idea and you’re going to get yourself found out or killed, come home!”

“What did you just say? No, NoYouDoNotLoveHim, hang on I’m opening the line for Alfred”

Omg I could go on

I might need to write this

[otsukare-katsukare]

So I came across this blog and found it quite interesting. I also agree with a lot of it. I like hearing your opinions on things as well, especially these particular topics. So I was wondering - What do you think?

https://www.tumblr.com/wwerasliin-sideblog

hello to you! very glad you came to my blog and liked my opinions. thats all i can ask for as a tumblr user. your link doesnt go to a specific post but judging from the discussion on your blog im guessing youre asking my opinion on sami's potential involvement in the bloodline story and whether roman should apologise to him or not.

(sorry if this is not at all what you were asking. i ended up writing an essay here im afraid.)

i have my own general opinions on what my ideal face turn for roman would have looked like and it's already quite different in reality, but the general gist is yeah, an apology to sami would be, like, thing one. at this point, however, with kevin's heel turn, i just dont know. the way it's played out till this point my heart just doesnt want sami anywhere near roman, because unlike jey, sami really does not have any good reason to go back based on family ties. and roman should not want him back, either. from roman's POV sami was the first brick to fall in his family falling apart, and he betrayed him when he gave him so much. and as far as sami's concerned, the best friend/soulmate that he literally betrayed roman for is currently at his lowest emotional point because his two other closest friends have sided with a man who was his sworn enemy for three years and terrorised both him and his loved ones. for sami to go to roman now, no matter what the guy says, would just feel so cruelly thoughtless to kevin. but very on brand for wwe.

but there was a world where i was completely on board with the 'sami forgives roman' narrative, if roman had come back after losing the title completely alone and ostracised, for the first time in his life. his bloodline scattered, abandoned by his wiseman, justifiably hated by nearly everybody on the roster, and no gold to make him feel better about everything. if he spent some time as a desperate and pathetic heel, trying to win back his old family members using his old gaslighty tricks that don't work anymore, taking on opponents who he'd been mowing through before with the help of the numbers game, but who now smelled blood in the water and got their vengeance, only getting sparing wins. slowly learning what he'd put everyone else through and starting to feel genuine remorse - in that scenario, i would have actually loved to see sami be the first of roman's victims to see him as a genuinely changed man and accept the olive branch. not joining his bloodline (concept should just not exist at this point) but being his optimistic and forgiving self that sees the best in people. in this scenario, roman asking for sami's forgiveness in the first place would also make more sense, as he would realise that he's no longer entitled to his family just on the basis of blood, and that with sami, the wounds arent as deep, and maybe sami could help him be a better person.

(in this fantasy scenario seth is also involved, and the first person who actually reconnects with roman again. cause the shield bond is binding and what happened at wm40 finally buried the last of the resentment between them. but he cant make roman better the way sami can.)

unfortunately while i think this would be a good character arc and story, it is not a good wrestling story, formally. there's no way that people werent going to cheer vociferously for roman, and that's kind of all that matters at the end of the day with this medium. they just happened to make a story with the bloodline that's a bit too nuanced and genuninely fiction-esque for the wwe formula. ah well. but the way things are now if sami goes back to roman without roman apologising then i'll stand by kevin whatever he decides to do in reponse including but not limited to apron powerbombs.

thanks for asking me my wrestling opinions! if this is in fact what you wanted to hear, if not, then i hope it was of interest anyway.

[tryhardgwen]

rs archive 10/26/2024:

hiii i just want to start this by saying that ur amazing kdjfsfhks already commented on ur fic 'all my love' but i want to yap more so here i am bothering u hahahaha when isay that that fic is my roman empire, i mean it. bec these are some of the things that suddenly crossed my mind regarding ur fic fkdjjhk

hyunjoon asking minhyung if he was sure about the promise ring and mentioning it in his best man speech, like oh my god. i know hyunjoon with his bleeding heart didn't mean it maliciously but wooje is stronger than me bec personally that shit would just kill me ksdjfhsk i would cry hahaha like damn, that was something AHAHAHAHHA that would keep me awake at night, i would have high-tailed it and never come back. screaming crying breaking down skfujhkd it was a shot straight to insecurities 😭

pls hyukkyu and sanghyeok is just <333 i love them, i will give them all my mortal possessions, i will jump in front of a bus for them. pls tell me they end up together forever happy ending period 😭 i know its not possible for everyone to just have a happy ending, bec that's really not how it goes, but plssssss tell meeee they end uppp happpyyy annddd not separateddd 😭😭😭

minhyung and minseok, i love them, go my children, be happy. so soulmate!! i cant believe gumakeria just invented love <333 butt i have a question since these two are so soulmate, did they have any instances where they got jealous of another person?? or are they literally a match made in heaven forged by god himself the angels are protecting them, that they are so secure in their relationship?? (did that make sense 😭)

ur just so awesome. if u have a fanclub, i am part of it, i will be the president hahaha like, people always say that to be a good writer 'show dont tell' and thats something that u got in the bad. like 10/10 everything is just so vivid and real!! anyy tips or advice to us fic writers who strive to be like uuuu?? hahaha

(sorry if this is too long kjfksdf)

hii!! sorry for the late response ;A; but omg thank you so much!! yes, you can yap to me anytime. i love yapping about my fics soo much and going on tangents. (roman empire is so flattering and too high praise thanK YOU???)

hyunjoon asking minhyung if he was sure about the promise ring is a fucking slap to the face HAHAHAHAH. but i think it correctly portrayed (wow "i think" as if im not the author) the confusing feelings and whatnot. like, at the time, wooje thought him and hyunjoon would be together forever. yet shown in homemade dynamite, even though he thought that he still wanted more and still wanted to leave. it was almost an acceptance but not quite what he wanted? wooje has always been envious of minhyung and minseok. hyunjoon didn't start until after he asked that and after minhyung answered. hyunjoon was going through a lot of ?? doubts at the time, because, typically dont people want more experience in romance? in the passage after, i also think its interesting because it shows that growing up everyone assumed hyunjoon was the flighty one and the one that was going to leave. wooje was the one that thought they would stay tgt forever, and hyunjoon wasnt sure. but the thing is in his mind, wooje also wanted to leave. hence why he did right? ppl were surprised bc.. well wooje doesnt tell people these things. as for woojes reaction to learning the information, hes stunned for a while. i think its a little ironic how he's hurt by it, in a way. like "what do you mean you didnt think we were going to be together forever?" when he was the one that ended up leaving. its almost selfish how he asks later--“Did you say those things to shame me?” as if it was about him. (it wasnt. sharing the story it was about minhyung + minseok and their dedication to each other, and hyunjoons envy). idk i think it was a very poignant moment i put in and im a little obsessed with it (im not narcissistic i swear im just intrigued by the things i write)

im not going to say a thing about sanghyeok and hyeokgyu. i do not want to get in trouble HAHAHAHHA . however, sanghyeok does have a spinoff in the drafts. this does not mean its coming out soon though because i have 18738234 wips.

minhyung and minseok are so sweet i finally freed gumakeria from the pain i give them in my other fics. when it comes to getting jealous of other people, nah. i dont think outright jealousy ever happened. maybe more of "spend more time with me?" from guma but not the insecurity and eating away feeling that jealousy gives. its definitely never from a place of insecurity.

as for tips and advice kajhahkr well you didnt ask advice on an indepth topic like description or dialogue so imma just skim over them all and say the stuff off the top of my head. theres the basics first. essentially, proper grammar and punctuation. every writer needs a good baseline. if you read my older fics, i struggled with this a bit--starting sentences with verbs (?? gwen why???) and having runons and such. after that its just a matter of figuring out what tone you want to convey and word choice. thesauruses are ur best friend if youre constantly looking for more specific descriptive words to use but make sure to define and make sentences if you dont know a word bcus u wanna learn it! that helps when it comes to description. sometimes when u get in the flow of a fic really fast its hard to do description so reading + rereading and adding more description as you read is a good tip! i do that a lot. figurative language is a broad field and it depends whether or not you like it but playing around with similes and metaphors can be fun! like you said, showing and not telling is important. when it comes to dialogue keep it simple and remember to properly format your dialogue..! its a big help with characterization; figuring out who would say what and who wouldnt is pretty important with that. keeping in mind characterization and dynamic between characters helps dialogue a lot too. i go back and forth in my head a lot when i write dialogue, and i also consider how i would respond as well or whats natural. as for characterization!! highlighting character motivations is important! what is their gOAL in the story, what do they want in the conversation. everything they say or do is trying to get what they want, whether its "to give up a secret" (minseok trying to talk to wooje about his college pre-reveal that he dropped out) or "to hang out."

um i spieled a lot im sorry. i too, am a yapper. but if u have any more specific questions feel free to shoot them here hehe. thank you THANK YOU for this <3 i had a lot of fun reading and respondng. i hope you have an amazing day <3

[crossdressingdeath]

#also like that would mean 6 months for Jason with Nico pretending he doesnt know him#and the betrayal that Nico who knew him before never helped his revovery#and never helped his disorientation or checking on New Rome for him#like the kid knew#and left Jason dangling#(or that could be an added subtext)#especially if Nico sees Jason and Piper start dating#AND NEVER MENTIONS THAT THEY WERE DATING (tags via @overanalyzer)

To be fair, it's a little more complicated than just not telling him. First off, all the original points re why Nico wouldn't tell anyone still stand; it's especially unreasonable and slightly funny that Percy gets all fussy about Nico keeping his mouth shut when they aren't even friends, but no one could reasonably expect him to share this secret that even the gods have kept completely silent! And while we don't know when exactly Nico was told about Jason's arrival at Camp Half-Blood and the whole Camp Jupiter thing I'd argue it likely wasn't until at least after Jason, Piper and Leo left on their quest, and probably not until after they got back; the Camp Half-Blood cast probably wouldn't want to distract him from looking for Percy until it became clear that Percy's situation was tied into the whole thing. (It's actually possible he was never informed at all and just has a really good poker face when Percy shows up, but that's unlikely.) We can also be pretty sure that at least in canon Nico didn't return to Camp Half-Blood at any point between TLH and SoN, since Piper and Leo first meet him in MoA. That means that Nico wouldn't have gotten the chance to talk to Jason until after he started regaining his memories and after he started dating Piper at the earliest, which would very much complicate the situation! Especially if it then became clear that Jason wasn't regaining his memories of Nico, because the Camp Half-Blood cast tried everything they could to get Jason's memory back right at the start of TLH and accomplished jack; what could Nico have done, walk up to this guy who sees him as a total stranger and say "Hey so you don't remember me and you have a girlfriend now but we were totally dating before you lost your memory, trust me"? Jason wouldn't actually have any reason to believe him, and if he didn't remember the whole situation it would just be super uncomfortable for everyone involved either way. And re recovery, every time Percy sees something that reminds him of his past it seems to more cause splitting headaches and nausea more than it helps him remember, and seeing Nico just gives him the sense they've met before rather than reminding him of anything; it's the gorgon's blood that heals him. So it's entirely possible seeing Nico would've caused more problems for Jason than it solved.

And honestly I don't think Jason would feel betrayed by Nico not saying anything, for the same reason Percy doesn't feel betrayed by Annabeth not running to New Rome the moment she found out what was going on even though if she had she could've already been there when Percy arrived: breaking the silence between the Greek and Roman camps is considerably easier said than done. Not even gods can just tell people about there being two camps! No matter how much Nico wanted to tell Jason, he probably couldn't! Even if he didn't swear a binding oath to keep the secret until/unless it came out on its own (which is pretty likely considering everyone else who knows the secret seems to have done so), the odds of a demigod Zeus already hates for being the son of Hades getting smote for spilling the big secret are... quite high. I feel like the feelings involved would be less betrayal and more Everything Is Bad For Everyone And No One Is Happy, since there was basically no way for anyone to get mad at Nico for keeping quiet that isn't wildly unfair. ...Plus. y'know. the first time Jason saw Nico again after regaining his memories would still be MoA with Nico immediately post-jar, so getting mad at him wouldn't exactly be top priority.

After reading that bit during the Tartarus flashback where (in classic Riordanverse fashion) they forgot the timeline and had Nico thinking about Jason as a close friend even though canonically they were only vaguely acquainted at that point I've been thinking... why weren't they friends before Nico's first trip to Tartarus?

I mean, both of them have very good reason to want to be on the other's good side: as praetor Jason would logically want to be on good terms with the direct ambassador of a god, and Nico would logically want to be on good terms with the leaders of the group he's lowkey spying on. And we know from canon that once they start actually interacting they get on super well! And it would help explain why Nico could just show up at camp with Hazel like "Hey so this is my sister don't mind how she has no records and acts like she's from the '30s she's one of you now 'kay bye" and that was just accepted if he was close to the praetors instead of canon's impression of him being vaguely tolerated in New Rome at most and only respected at all because fucking with Pluto's ambassador would be... unwise. It would just in general make more sense for them to be at least friendly acquaintances, and given Nico's canon relationships with both Jason and Reyna "friendly acquaintances" would absolutely quickly transition into full friendship.

And honestly Jason and Nico being friends pre-TLH would make the bit in MoA where the Seven argue about whether or not Nico can be trusted so much more interesting and so much less infuriating. As it is in canon it just feels super unfair, because the only evidence any of them give for him being untrustworthy is "Well he knew about both camps" when all the gods and Chiron and Lupa also knew about both camps and also said nothing despite them being at a much lower risk of being smote for blabbing than Nico would be, and it's confirmed that Chiron at least swore to keep the secret and there's no evidence that Nico didn't. The only character who actually has the right to feel at all betrayed on a personal level is Hazel, and she doesn't because she loves and trusts her brother and also seems to grasp that the secret wasn't actually Nico's to share; even with Percy (and Annabeth, although unless I'm forgetting something she never really comments on it), Nico's never actually willingly confided in him even about minor things so I don't see why he's getting so butthurt about Nico not telling him one of the biggest known secrets of the modern age that the gods have. Percy and Nico aren't actually friends, they're friendly acquaintances at best, I don't see why Percy gets so pissy that Nico didn't break what is clearly a pretty major rule (given even the gods follow it without any fuss until it becomes obvious that the secret's going to come out anyway) for him. But if Nico and Jason were friends that would open up a much more interesting angle for the argument than just "How dare he keep this secret that literally everyone else who knew about it has kept for over a century"! "I thought he was my friend and he was lying to me about who he was the whole time" is a much more understandable and interesting reason to question someone than just him not telling everyone something that he wasn't even supposed to know! Hazel knew that there was something up with Nico from the start and Percy and Annabeth at least knew he was a son of Hades rather than Pluto (and again were not his friends and so shouldn't have expected him to confide in them anyway), but if Nico had actual friends in Camp Jupiter who really did think he was an ambassador from Pluto they would have every right to feel at least a little betrayed and question what else he might have been hiding from them. Jason absolutely wanting to save Nico but also feeling betrayed that his close friend had been lying about who he was the entire time they'd known each other would be much stronger and more compelling than canon's "He did this thing that basically every immortal we're on speaking terms with also did but he is uniquely untrustworthy because of it".

Also it would open up some fun possibilities for scenes. For example, I love the idea of one of the Greek cast mentioning Nico after Jason regains his memories and Jason just going "Wait you mean Nico like our Nico?" and everyone else going "What do you mean your Nico?" It would also give Nico friends and a place where he felt reasonably welcome, which would be nice and could've been used as evidence for the "You pushed away people who wanted to be your friend" angle Rick went with from BoO onwards, since him having people who cared about him (who he initially was friendly with primarily because he kind of had to be, which would justify what made Jason and Reyna different from everyone else he interacts with) would show that yeah, Nico had proof people wanted to be around him which he very much does not in canon. Plus it would be an opportunity to get into what Nico was thinking and feeling re knowing this huge secret that he couldn't tell anyone and having to keep it from people he cared about and didn't want to lie to (side note, I am now wondering if Rick didn't go into that because there was really no way to interrogate a traumatized fourteen year old in terms of "Why didn't you share this huge secret that not even the gods breathed a word of in over a century" that would make the interrogators look good and none of the Seven show any interest in the matter outside of those terms).

...Also. y'know. a Jasico fic featuring them dating prior to TLH and Hera wiping Jason's memories of having a boyfriend and still giving Piper and Leo false memories of Piper and Jason dating would both be very fun and angsty as a concept and would play very nicely into the themes of comphet in Jason and Piper's relationship. And would fit the way Hera very openly thinks that Nico isn't part of "her family" in BotL! So there's that also.

[literallyshiv]

what r ur main character age hcs 👀! by main i mean your regular hcs

HEEHEE i was already halfway through a draft of this when i got this message get ready for a really long answer. for clarity's sake, all birth years are based on the succesion universe starting in fall 2018 and ending up in summer 2019 at the end of season three

starting with what we know for certain: kendall is 40 (born in spring 1979) and logan is 80 (b. 1938), making logan 40 when kendall was born.

with roman and shiv, i was a youngest sibling roman truther until i found out that the writers actually have shiv as the youngest (and also specifically said in the pilot script that roman is 38 lol), SO, the closest i can get to remedy this making them irish twins, roman age 37 (october 1981) and shiv age 36 (september 1982). they would have been in the same grade of school throughout their childhood.

connor is a little bit harder because of alan ruck's age, and while characters and actors don't have to be the same age, i absolutely cannot see him playing any younger than mid fifties. i like to put a definitive number on things though, so I'll say 55 (b. 1963), so that would make logan 25 when connor was born and i could see logan following the traditional route for when he was raised to marry and start a family early on in life. plus it makes connor about eighteen years older than shiv and roman, which i think works out nicely for him to have gone off to college just as shiv and roman were born and graduate just in time to come back into their lives when they are just old enough to have conscious memories and play a significant part in raising them

where this REALLY gets fun for me is to take ewan and marianne into account, because i think it's very fun to imagine that marianne and connor were close throughout their childhood. so what we know about logan and ewan's youth is that ewan is the older brother, and at some point he enlisted in the military during the vietnam war, according to logan, with the motivation to impress some girl. SO. i think that it easily could check out that ewan saw his younger brother get married and have a child before he did, felt extra motivation to commit to a partner himself, and enlist in the military while he was with the woman who would be marianne's mother.

im making this up wholecloth at this point, but i like the idea of him being with his girlfriend/wife while still serving in the war but occasionally coming home, and she becomes pregnant while he's still active, so she relies a lot on logan's family to help with her responsibilities on top of raising a child while ewan is away. this also provides a really good basis for the rift between logan and ewan because his entire motivation for enlisting in the first place would have been with the end goal of starting his own family, and then he misses out on a significant amount of that because he's on duty while his wife and child are in canada meanwhile logan IS there while ewan's child is growing up. and just for extra pizazz, lets say ewan was still active when logan starts waystar (we know that logan has been ceo of waystar for 50 years, making him 30 when it he started the company) and throw in one more year of active duty for logan to get the business off the ground to really rub salt in the wound.

to sort out the years: 1963 connor is born, 1964 ewan enlists, 1965 ewan gets married and they become pregnant, 1966 marianne is born, 1968 waystar is formally started, and 1969 ewan finishes his time in the military. SO: when ewan returns to canada to stay this time, he missed the first three years of his child growing up, his wife and daughter have spent the majority of the time with logan's family, and on top of it all logan has started a burgeoning business. that'd be a strong basis for ewan to harbor some bitterness for logan i think, even if their actual falling out doesnt occur for several more years, possibly decades, after all of that goes down.

ALRIGHT. MOVING ON. in the pilot script, we get the following ages: greg early 20s, shiv late 20s, tom late 30s. obviously i don't think these are accurate to what the character ended up being, but i do think the age gaps remained relatively the same, with each of them being just under a decade older. i already said i put shiv at 36, and i like to stick with ten years between her and tom, so i have him at 46 turning 47 soon (b. 1972)

with greg i like to imagine he specifically hasn't hit 30 yet mostly because i think it's funny to imagine the ordeal of his actual thirtieth birthday happening. i also already said i have marianne born in 1966 and i imagine she and greg's dad weren't initially together for very long given the whole "he's gay" thing, (timeline-wise it would also check out if his motivation for being with her was the homophobia towards young gay men in the late 80s early 90s), but then she gets pregnant and he feels some commitment to not just abandon her (and, personally, I don't think he ever straight up abandoned her and greg. they probably had a somewhat painful seperation given how greg never mentions him throughout the series but he does mention his mother, but i don't think he was some deadbeat or that he left to 'go to the store' and never came back. again— im entirely making this up lol this is just the version of events that exist in my mind) SO all that said, i think greg turned 28 sometime over the course of the series so far, putting his birthday in late 1990 or early 1991, making marianne 25 when she had him.

AND FINALLY. honorable mention to willa who we have no context for her age whatsoever other than the actress's age. i have her at 31 (b. 1987)— i think she's at the age where she's starting to think about the long term sustainability of escorting for her personally (whether she'll be able to continue making as much money as she does now), which makes the idea of committing to be exclusive with connor much more appealing in spite of the fact that she doesn't seem too excited about the prospect of doing so in season one

[that-sarcastic-writer]

Coach (3)

Fandom: Dylan O'Brien

Pairing: AU!Dylan X Fem!Reader

Summary: after working things out with Roman, Dylan makes you a proposition that will be hard to decline

Warnings: nothing majors, not even cursing. Some angst

WC: 2.1k

Series masterlist

Part 4

It wasn't long before you and Dylan had to part ways. With your children asking 'when are we leaving' every five minutes, you had to cut your conversation short. You ended up submitting to your children's wishes in fear that Roman would end up hot wiring your car and drive off himself. Yes, he was capable of doing that. You were a bit disappointed to say the least. You were enjoying Dylan's company. It was one thing to be around Liz or at work all the time, but it was a completely different thing to be around a man you were attracted to, even if there was nothing sexual to it, the change in air felt nice. It was nice to have a conversation with a man who genuinely cared about what you were saying, who genuinely listened. Dylan did just that, every word you said to him he would listen to like he was actually interested. Definitely something your ex husband didn't actually do. 

But of course, you eventually had to leave and so did he. You were now dreading the conversation that followed. You had to confront Roman about what happened, and you honestly had no idea how to. You didn't want to seem too intrusive but you didn't want to let him off the hook that easily. You didn't know how you were going to address it honestly.

Soon enough, the time came.

After you finally managed to put Athena to bed, you made your way to Roman's room. You peeked the door open and slightly knocked. Roman was already in bed, reading one of his superhero comics — you assumed. He looked up when he heard you knock. 

"Hey baby. Can I come in?" You said softly as you stood by the half opened door, waiting for your son's response. He simply nodded.

You half smiled as you stepped into the room and made your short way towards Roman's bed and took a seat on the edge of it.

Here we go.

"So.. Coach Dylan told me about your fight." You spoke calmly while also giving him a stern look.

His mouth went in an 'o' shape and his gaze dropped to the sheets in front of him. "Oh.."

"So, could you tell me why you did it?" You asked carefully and raised an eyebrow at the young boy as he avoided all eye contact.

Do not say 'I don't know'.

Roman simply shrugged in response, muttering a low, "I don't know."

And there it was.

You exhaled deeply through your nose as you attempted to say calm and passive, "Roman, look at me." You spoke sternly as you lifted his head up, making him look at you. "Talk to me baby, I won't get mad, I promise." 

There was that look again, like the one he had at the restaurant. Like something in his eyes lit up, but not in a good way, in the sad and broken kind of way. Like something in him said 'it's okay, you can let go' and so he did. His eyes quickly filled with tears and choked out a sob. 

"I'm sorry—I'm sorry mom I just— he kept talking about dad, about you, about how my dad would never show up to practice or to a game like his did. And-And he said that if my own dad didn't care to play with me, to watch me play then nobody did," he finally spilled, tears flowing down his face as fast as his words came out of his mouth. And it killed you. "A-And it hurt mom. It really hurt. I-I don't know. It hurts that dad doesnt love us, that he doesn't love me, Athena or you. I don't have a dad and it just hurts so much."

Now it was your turn to cry. There is nothing that hurts you more than seeing your children hurting, completely and utterly broken just like Roman was in that moment. Seeing him break down to tears, tell you the things he has been keeping deep inside his chest for months, it broke you, too. 

"Oh Roman." You said shakily and wrapped your arms around the small boy, not caring if he didn't want your touch. But surprisingly enough he accepted it, he went right into your embrace and hugged you tight as he cried into your chest. "Baby I know your dad and I made you go through a lot, I have no excuse for that. But I can tell you that your dad and I love you more than anything in the world. You and your sister are the best thing that has happened to us and we will always love you both, even if we aren't together anymore. Okay baby? It's okay." 

You pressed a kiss to his head and ran your fingers through his hair as you rocked him softly until you felt him sniffle into your chest and nod slowly.

"I'm really sorry mom. I didn't mean to hit him. Please don't take me off the team." He practically begged, looking up at you with his crystalized eyes. 

"I won't, I already talked to coach Dylan and he said he won't take you off the team. But you have to apologize to the kid and his parents. And I need you to promise me you will never do that again, because coach Dylan let it slide this time, but he won't do it twice, okay? " You ran your fingers over his face, drying off his tears as he nodded in defeat. 

"Okay mom, I promise I won't. It was stupid." He sniffled, for the first time in months showing genuine emotions. "Mom?" 

"Yeah baby?"

"Can you please stay until I fall asleep?" He looked down, almost as if he was embarrassed to ask. You were about to cry again, but for completely different reasons. This was the first time in months he asked you to be around. He actually still wanted you around. 

"Oh Rome, of course. I'll stay with you for as long as you want." You pressed a long loving kiss to his forehead before settling into bed with Roman. You stayed sitting up against the headboard while Roman curled up against your side and laid his head on your lap. And you could've sworn you heard a very quiet and almost inaudible 'I love you' before he was sound asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Roman, you promised you would apologize, come on." You sighed heavily as you dragged your son to the other side of the bleachers where you assumed were the parents of the kid Roman punched. 

"Mom—" he all but whined, slightly kicking his feet into the sand but you turned your head and raised an eyebrow at him sternly. He slightly pouted and slouched but he still followed you without another protest. You hummed and nodded. 

"Hey, excuse me, ma'am?" You called out to the tall blonde woman who was standing next to another mom, both of their children talking to themselves. The woman turned around at the call and instantly scoffed. 

"I hope your son has come to apologize after what he did to my son." She huffed, her face stuck in a perpetual bitchy frown as she looked at you and then Roman with a glare. You wondered how the hell does her husband bear to live with her. 

You sighed heavily and simply nodded, stepping aside so she could see Roman.

"Yeah, I'm truly truly sorry about that, it was completely wrong and unacceptable on Roman's behalf. And we're here to apologize, right Roman?" You looked down at your son, who was practically begging you not to with his eyes, but he sighed out heavily and nodded, turning to the woman and the blonde boy behind her. 

"Yeah… I'm really sorry Chris. And I'm really sorry ma'am, I promise I won't do it again." Roman mumbled, his eyes glued to the ground and his hands dug deep into his pocket. You slightly cleared your throat and Roman stuck out his hand for the blonde boy to shake. 

The boy looked just as mortified as Roman did, and he looked up at his mom, who simply scoffed loudly but nodded at her son nonetheless. Both boys shook hands as a silent peace offering and took off to the field. But not before you leaned down and pressed a kiss to Roman's cheek.

"I'll see you in a bit, baby, go warm up." You smiled and messed with his baseball hat before he ran off to the field. When you turned around, you greeted the woman with a bitchy smile, one almost as bitchy as the scowl on her face.

"Look, I understand boys are boys, and they may say harsh things without thinking, but when a grown woman gossips and spreads rumors about another kid's parents, then that's just childish." You smiled, cynically almost, as if you weren't calling her out, because you knew perfectly who talked shit and who didn't. "Kids repeat what they hear at home, so maybe be mindful of the things you say about others around your kid, 'cause then you won't have to complain to the coach when my kid snaps. Take care now." 

When you turned around and walked away, all you heard were loud scoffs and cursing directed at you. You were so occupied trying not to laugh that you didn't notice the tall frame that stood in your way. And when you looked up you saw Dylan, with a hand over his mouth, mostly likely covering the snicker on his face. You weren't exactly quiet and he was close by, so he probably heard everything. 

"You know, if coaching kids has taught me something, it is definitely that adults can be more immature than 10 year old boys. Especially middle aged, rich moms." He laughed, the smile on his face and the glow in his whiskey eyes making your stomach turn.

"Well thank god I'm not middle aged yet, I'd hate to turn into that." You laughed, biting your lip to hide the small smile on your face.

"See, I always thought you were way too beautiful and sweet to be one of these middle aged moms, guess I was right." Dylan smiled with a playful glint and slightly leaned closer to you. You swallowed thickly, your throat suddenly becoming dry, you looked at the field where all of the boys were, his bright eyes and playful smile becoming too distracting to actually think.

"Coach Dylan—"

"Dylan. I told you, it's just Dylan." 

"Coach Dylan," you repeated, taking a step back and shaking your head, "I'm sorry if I might've given you the wrong idea, but you're my son's baseball coach, you're literally the only male figure he has in his life right now and he respects you a lot. And I'd hate to do something that would change that for him. It's not right."

No matter how much you might like Dylan, how much you would love to kiss his lips raw or stare into his whiskey eyes until you fell asleep, you couldn't. Not now, and definitely not with him. It wasn't right. You couldn't do that to Roman. It just wouldn't be right. 

"Well why not? Look I'm sorry if this comes off as straightforward but, I like you, Y/N. You're like my favourite of the moms here because despite everything you got going on in your life, you're always here with Roman at practice and at every game. You've raised an awesome kid and I would love to get to know the amazing human being raising that kid. So I would love to take you on a date sometime, really." Your face almost fell at the invitation, your mouth slightly fell open and your eyes grew wide. He must've noticed the way your face twisted because when you opened your mouth to protest he cut you off, "could I possibly see your phone for just a moment please?" 

You frowned and stared at him a bit confused but he simply smiled sweetly and nodded as if to say 'just trust me'. You were a bit skeptical, but you grabbed your phone from your pocket and handed it to him nonetheless. Dylan didn't speak as he looked at your phone for a few seconds then typed something into it you couldn't quite tell from your angle. He then handed you back your phone, his fingers brushing yours for a split second, the contact sending a small shock through your skin. 

"Uhm, what's this?" You questioned, looking at your phone and seeing his number saved in your contacts. You looked at him with an uncertain look. He ran his tongue over his pink lips, wetting them slowly and ran a hand through his hair under his baseball cap before shrugging.

"Just in case you need someone to talk to. Call me." He winked, the grin on his face never leaving his lips. And before you could speak, he was running off to the field to join his team for today's practice.

Your son's coach was going to be the death of you. 

[wrdn-tabris]

hi! i just found about your blog and about your oc, nico, and i am obsessed already :D! could you tell me more about nico, and what his relationship with jason is like?

WAH THANK YOU sorry for the late response, i was working all day and then i took a nap fdjsl

NICO IS MY SWEET BABY he was a weird little kid who grew up to become a weird adult. he and jason were childhood friends who were both very small kids, tho jason was a little bigger than nico, so he tried to look out for them.

they ended up separated when jason ended up homeless after his mother passed, and during that time nico started coming into his sort of natural 'magic' in a sense.

his family is apart of a magic cult and bc of their connection with that hes got sort of a spooky connection to the afterlife, so it started when he was younger by hearing things, sort of seeing things, and seeing visions in mirrors of people who were going to die (he saw jasons death before it happened! actually! or an apparition of his dead body), usually violently OR near him. this understandably caused him a lot of stress.

i think his mother who really had no idea about the cult stuff:tm: tried to get him help. nico was medicated for a while, tho im not sure if it helped or not. he just learned to sort of stop talking about what he was seeing and hearing, kept his head down.

nicos very much a quiet and friendly person. hes sort of shy, not used to people, but enjoys talking about his interests. before he 'died' he really enjoyed like. exploring abandoned places and walking in the woods and things like tht, nico likes to write and play video games and is a horrible cook. aside from his total anxiety about going outside sometimes hes a v happy person!

and so him and jason! they meet again sometime after utrh maybe in ocverse sandbox haha, get to know each other again. jason has no idea who nico is at first bc he remembers a weird little girl who went by a different name and not who nico is now, but hes privately excited to get to know them again. and also to have someone whose totally separate from the whole vigilante thing

they got a good amount of trust with each other for a while, until nico DOES find out abt the vigilante thing and gets a wee bit upset. he doesnt tlk to jason for a while UNTIL the cult finally needs him for their whole ritualistic summoning of their demon god and asks jason for help. and he tries. jason tries really really hard, but with him trying to keep nico safe from cult stuff + batman whose investigating this new group in his city, the chips r kinda stacked against him. nico sees a vision of jason dead again, and he cant kill his friend, so he ends up slipping out n contacting his father and ends up sacrificed and killed.

he comes back! spends like 4 months trying to get back to gotham and sometime after coming back and learning tht he is like. perma possessed and stuff, he n jason end up dating n nico starts learning how to use his own magic and etc

he and jason r very sweet. jasons a lil protective over him, and vice versa with nico, whose a lil paranoid and wants to make sure his loved ones are safe constantly. he doesnt sleep much, because the demon gives him bad dreams, so he stays up until jason comes home from patrol. theyre just very sickeningly cute.

and id be remiss if i didnt mention my friend kits oc keeva, whose nicos cousin, or my friend romans oc isaac, who nico is also dating. ot3 polycule baby.

[appendectomy]

i have this very very specific vision of show marius in my head, which i may adjust as i continue to read the books. and i am trying to temper my expectations so im not dissapointed when the writers inevitably can't read my mind lol. but basically

i want marius to be a middle aged white guy. i want him to be charming, handsome, generous. i want him to have moments of genuine tenderness with armand. i want the audience to be lulled into a false sense of security with him, just like armand was. i want the audience to understand why armand feels such attachment to him, and the safety he thought he had found in marius. and i specifically want him to be cast as a white guy because i think that dynamic would specifically inform a lot of show armand's current identity issues especially in regards to his ethnic identity (or lack thereof). but at the same time, i want the show to be unapologetic in their depiction and damnation of his abuse. i want his charisma AND his abuse to exist hand in hand. i know inevitably this will breed marius apologists but i think this would be such a good opportunity to continue the abuse commentary and racial commentary the show has already engaged in regardless. if the show does it right, most people won't think that way and will instead come away questioning their own biases.

i think because of the show's explicit pivot of armand from a very young white boy to a young indian man, an avenue has opened up which explicitly allows for marius' abuse to become an allegory for European colonial violence. like it would already serve as a commentary on interpersonal abuse anyway, but engaging with the racial dynamic could add another interesting layer to it all. this would help explore armand as a character too. i understand that in the books, anne rice kind of portrayed marius as this tortured, largely sympathetic character who was emblematic of white Roman society, something anne rice saw as romantic and noble. and so i think by engaging with orientalist theory when writing armand and marius' dynamic the writers could easily interrogate this textual depiction of whiteness, which is something they've already shown they're interested in doing with seasons 1 and 2. by leaning in to and not apologising for his abusiveness they could esentially say yeah anne rice thought this was ok but WE DON'T! she excused his abuse by making him 'likeable' but we're going to show you that's not how it works!

i think by making marius appear both charming AND abusive, not only are you deconstructing stereotypical depictions of abusers as one-dimensional cartoon villains, but you're also creating an allegory out of the interpersonal abuse between marius and armand; marius genuinely thinks he is good for armand, saving armand, and other people think that too because he comes across likeable, just like those who enact orientalist colonial violence believe they are acting in the best interests of those they are colonising due to the delusion of a 'civilising mission.' i think this cognitive dissonance being written into marius on the show could easily symbolise the cognitive dissonance that is at the heart of a lot of orientalist fantasy.

i think characterising marius as someone who engages with orientalist fantasy, someone who views himself as a saviour, a civiliser, an appreciator of asian cultures, while he enacts such horrific violence on armand also already fits quite well with what we already know of show armand's backstory. he was 'rescued' by marius from a brothel and abused by him while still a child. he believed marius to be his merciful saviour, even hundreds of years later. he has a severe disconnect from his ethnic identity, doesnt even remember for sure if the name he had as a child was the name his indian parents gave him. this not only paints the picture of a complex abuse victim, but also could be used to symbolise the wider material and psychologically consequences of colonial violence on a person.

I'm gonna need the entire iwtv writers room to read orientalism by edward said before they start writing armand and marius' show dynamic Tbh

[pacifymebby]

Not an ask but I love how you and B are the perfect companions/partners/lovers. The way you talk about him is so romanic. Tell us your secret to love haha?

Aw bestie this is cute <3

I mean we're not the perfect couple, we do argue sometimes and its not always easy but i guess we do have a very calm and lovely little relationship.

I think a lot of it works just because we're well matched? Im a very anxious, over-thinker who struggles to stand up for herself. Im one of those vague wishy washy creatives that gets dubbed "too empathetic" and B is a very sturdy and earthy kind of boy, hes a logical thinker and although he has empathy he doesnt let people take the piss/knows how to stand up for himself. Like our differences make us fit together like a little jigsaw.

Hes also just really really kind and warm and like, just a really lovely boy. Wouldnt hurt a fly (litterally will not hurt any living creature, when he gets rid of spiders for me he picks them up so carefully and has whole conversations with them whilst hes taking them outside. He'll even pick a perfect spot to put them down as well) he a very pure man i guess haha.

I phoned him the other day when i was feeling super anxious and the minute i heard his voice i just immediately calmed down it was like a wave washing over me. And when i told him he couldnt even understand why he was just like "oh... Thats good im glad.." now every time he answers the phone he asks me "did it happen again?" like hes really proud of the fact its so cute.

Idk though i think relationships have to be about friendship and mutual respect, nothing is better than feeling both loved and respected, knowing someone cares about you in that way is very important and i think the only way you can have a healthy relationship.

I think sometimes falling in love with your best friend is actually the right thing to do and very much worth the risk.

This is definitely the happiest healthiest relationship ive ever had and i think its because the physical and sexual attraction came when we'd already been friends for like 2 years.

Idk, i guess some of its just nature and how we are, and i do kind of believe in soulmates and that everything in my life was leading me to meet him... But then also staying together and maintaining a loving relationship is about persevering and sticking it out through difficult patches.

B puts up with a lot of shit because i am very much not mentally well, and we do have differences of opinion/temperament and like expectations sometimes. So we both have to be determined you know?

Like i think maybe being determined to love is something important?

Sorry i feel like theres 0 advice or insight here and just me talking about how lovely B is haha

[kendallsdreamsong]

ummm names in succession. thinkin about em

in episode 1, greg is introduced as "cousin craig". this is the most blatant example of how names are used to show someones value- or rather, lackthereof- of another. logan doesnt give a shit about greg, so even keeping his name in mind is a hassle. shiv speaks up, says that his name is actually greg, and he insists that its fine and he'll answer to both. this reads as him saying that his devaluation is fine, so long as he is Acknowledged by logan (and thus has an in to the family). hes willing to be respected, or not, and he wont let it show that it bugs him. its also just funny

logan calls shiv "pinkie", particularly throughout season 2 & 3 as he is trying to manipulate her. this is ostensibly a term of endearment, an encouragement of shivs desperate hope that his promise is real. it also reminds her very distinctively of her place within the roy family and within waystar - pink is stereotypically associated with women, and fuck knows waystar is a boys club. it also brings to mind the pinkie finger, which is used (usually by children) to seal promises

roman has a complex relationship with names. logan calls him romulus, but only ever to his face - when he is around other people, logan calls him roman. we can also gather that "romulus" is meant to be demeaning, the most obvious example being "you better be smelling your fuckin' armpit, romulus". romulus, as you can imagine, is one of the twins who, according to myth, founded rome. the original romulus killed his sibling, which shows logans expectation of him. combined with how the nickname is used to intimidate him, it shows logans anger that roman wasnt the successor he thought he'd be. to contrast, his siblings often call him rome, particularly when theyre trying to be vulnerable with him (or at least as vulnerable as roy siblings can be) or appeal to him. rome is one letter off from rose, logans dead sister. this starts to get into fantheories & season 4 predictions, so im not gonna look at it too much, but it does serve as good leeway into my final point; roman is two letters off from logan. especially considering how roman is called "bootleg logan" in season 3, this shows the similarities between roman and logan. the difference is, of course, romans inability to hide his love <- im not gonna go too in-depth bc thatd be a whole analysis in and of itself but that was pretty much the point of the season 3 finale

anyways. roy kids name origins ! why not. just for fun. connor is a celtic name derived from "conchobhar" which means "lover of wolves". this reflects his love of nature, his love of his siblings (or wolves, see: dog/wolf motif) and more metaphorically, his "lone wolf" place within the family. kendall seems to be an english name meaning "of the river kent", however it also can also be an anglicized version of the welsh name "cynddelw", which in itself might be derived from a celtic word meaning "exalted", "high", "effigy". im leaning more towards the latter because i cant find anything of note in the history of the river kent, and it shows kendalls almost like. deification? as logans "number one boy". siobhan is an irish name meaning "god is gracious". im struggling to find anything i can relate to her, aside from the fact that its a cognate of the welsh name siân and the english name joan, which brings to mind joan of arc. there are also a couple british politicians named siobhan, and we know a good portion of the writing team is british. aside from that, though, i rlly dont know. i already discussed the origin of romulus, but i thought i'd note that roman is a latin name where the rest are either celtic or english. this is the language of the romans, who conquered the british isles in ancient times. plus his name is literally roman. hes plainly not a "conquerer" of any kind, but he does display a capacity for deliberate cruelty that arguably the rest of the siblings dont have - "im the only child you'll ever need, you can kill the others. love you!" "fascism is kinda cool" etc

okay. infodump over. you can all go home now

[valcalico]

Athena and Ares

(Just my thoughts on them and their relationship)

I have a lot of feelings about these two. They have a very complex dynamic, where they don’t really like each other, but they can’t work without each other either.

Athena provides rationality to the cruelty of war. She is the strategy and logic behind it. The objective. One might say she represents the generals, and the politicians and the main heroes. Basically the big players.

And Ares? He’s the opposite. He represents the emotion associated with war. He is the bloodlust and the desperate fight. Where the battle is thickest, where there is no room for thought, and when its pure survival instinct that drives you, that’s Ares. He represents the worst parts: the blood and the violence and the cruelty. He is accompanied by fear and terror (Phobos and Deimos). One might say he is the god of soldiers.

So they need each other. If they actually worked together, they’d be one of the dangerous forces ever, even in god circles. But they don’t. Not only because of how differently they view the world, but also because of deeper nuances in their relationship.

Athena is beloved. She is Zeus’ favourite child and his right hand goddess. The people love her. She is the patron of one of the most powerful, influential cities, Athens. She is highly respected everywhere else too. A protector of heroes and a friend to humanity.

Ares, on the other hand, is disliked by many. Zeus says he is “the most hateful of all gods” and says he would have thrown him into Tartarus if he wasn’t his and Hera’s son. (Its in the Iliad) (This part always makes me sad poor ares) He is highly respected in Thrace and Sparta. But Athens dislikes him and worships him out of necessity only.

Even in modern times, Athena is considered a feminist icon and badass lady, while Ares is labelled a brute.

Most people know this. So why did I just type out all that? Cause context is important when delving into the myths.

So first of all, let’s debunk that last point I made. In the ancient myths (and I’ll try not to include romans esp. Ovid), it didn’t work that way at all. Of course it’s important to keep in mind that ancient Greece was very misogynistic. But still, Athena was not feminist at all. Her being a “masculine” woman (mostly) was what made her so acceptable to Athens and she was regularly used to shut down other women. Also:

(The actual translation of this scene was circulated a while back. So you’re probably familiar with this. Also I’m not saying this to offend any worshippers of Athena or anyone who admires her. There are a lot of bad things in greek mythology and Athena’s internal and external misogyny is probably the least of my concerns. Plus if the greek gods did exist, i believe they change with the society, so they will no longer be Like That in the present day.)

Ares, on the other hand, was incredibly feminist, especially for that time. He surrounded himself with women he loved and respected. (Aphrodite, Eris, Enyo, etc). His lovers were often famously women who challenged the status quo (Otrera, Cyrene). He was regularly show to be a good father to all his daughters, immortal and mortal. (Harmonia, Hippolyta, Penthesilia, Alkippe). Also:

If that isn’t the coolest thing EVER-

Anyway, I won’t delve deep into that (well, any more than I’ve already rambled about it).

Now that we have gotten that out of the way, we can get to the hypotheticals.

I headcanon that despite ALL the evidence to the contrary, they maybe don’t despise each other completely. I see them having more of a love-hate relationship.

The thing is, gods are very contrary creatures. Zeus and Hera’s fights shake the world one moment, and in the next, they are as loving as any. Apollo is smiling and singing in one moment and skinning a satyr alive in the next. This complexity should be given this relationship too.

Like I said above, they need each other. Both general and soldier are equally important in war. And I don’t think you can completely truly need someone and hate their existence at the same time. (There are exceptions)

This scene in the Iliad really got me thinking:

If you take the scene at face value, this is probably not something to think too much about. Its Athena going to Ares, insulting him a bit, and taking him away from the war.

But its more than that. First off, Athena goes upto Ares and can calmly convince him to listen to her. Second, look how she frames the question. She says “shall we” which i think is pretty important. Athena doesn’t need to worry about Zeus’ anger or his rules, as she shows later on in the Iliad, and before, during the Rebellion. Both Athena and Ares knows this well. So why does she also need to withdraw? She can make the point without adding herself to the equation. She can also fairly easily run him off the battlefield like she does later. But she doesn’t. And there isnt any hostility from Ares.

Instead, they go together, away from the battlefield and...sit down near a river bank? Basically relax as much as they can? That doesn’t sound like a hateful relationship.

There is also the fact that Ares was going to join sides with the greeks (aka on Athena and Hera’s side) until Aphrodite convinced him to join her instead.

Its clear from this that Ares doesn’t really have much of a stake in this fight. He doesn’t care much about the greater objectives of the war. The only thing that can convince him to take a side is the people one the sides. He fights for the people he cares about, not for any greater good. He easily changes his loyalty because of his love for Aphrodite. He frequently gets into fights to save his children. He goes against Diomedes partly because of how he wounded Aphrodite. All of this means that he cares for Athena too. (And for Hera ofc). Maybe he doesn’t care for her as much as he cares for Aphrodite, but its not really fair to expect him to.

I like to think they genuinely do care for each other a great deal, they just kinda suck at showing it. Maybe that changes as time passes. I can see Athena being quietly protective of Ares (maybe she makes up an excuse to send him away during the Rebellion because she knows he will be in danger otherwise). I definitely think she felt a little guilt (guilt, not regret) at stabbing Ares, seeing as it wasn’t really fair. Ares didn’t know she was there.

I also think that Ares, who spends a lot of time with awesome women and is very fierce in standing up for them if the need arises, will be the one who calls her out a lot of the time on her misogyny or hypocrisy. Athena also has a habit of suppressing any “vulnerable” emotion. She likes to keep all her guilt, sadness, fear, hurt, and regret all locked up tight. I feel like Ares is one of the few people she lets a few of those emotions out around, even if she still tries not to. And in the lighter moments, in private, maybe they joke around a bit and laugh, too.

Okay, now for the heavier bit. While i do think they care for each other, there is also a lot of resentment there. A lot of it, unfortunately, comes from how they are treated by their peers and elders. They like different people, they are liked by different people and they are liked to different degrees. Let’s talk about 3 of the main players.

1) Zeus. Does this surprise you?

I do think Zeus loves all his kids. He doesn’t like some of them, but he does love all of them. And he isn’t as bad of a father as everyone thinks. People have discussed that better so I’ll not rant about it here.

All that aside, he definitely has favourites. Athena is his favourite child (Apollo, I think, being his second). And this favouritism is SUPER OBVIOUS. Its like none of the rules apply to Athena, which is weird considering Zeus isn’t forgiving of those who defy his authority (did someone say Prometheus?)

Ares, on the other hand, is on the other side of the spectrum. The one Zeus dislikes the most.

We can see how this affects them in several instances. The most notable is probably in the Iliad, after Athena deceitfully stabs Ares and forces him to flee to Olympus, injured.

Ares calls Zeus out on his favouritism. He says that gods weren’t allowed to fight each other and if it were anyone else, they would have been punished. He says Zeus always does this, always lets Athena get away with everything, and that he needs to start getting his daughter under control.

Zeus doesnt like this too much and basically tells Ares to stop whining and that he isn’t much better when it comes to destruction. He says Ares is the most hateful of all gods and loves bloodshed. He says he would have gotten rid of him if he weren’t his son, but seeing as he was, Zeus cannot bear to see Ares in pain. He then gets Ares healed.

I can definitely see how this kind of blatant favouritism from someone who should be better to Ares would affect him. Ares is the firstborn son of Zeus and Hera. He should be getting a lot of respect, as per ancient standards but instead, he is overtaken by his virgin half sister from Zeus’ previous marriage, and many bastard half siblings.

Athena being able to break rules left and right, and Ares having to be nervous about even toeing the line will cause distance between them.

This in addition to his position as a god of civil order is a reason that i think he wouldn’t want to break any rule until he deems it absolutely necessary, like if someone he cared about were in danger.

I can totally see a situation where both of them try to help a hero but Zeus orders them not to. Athena then wants to break the rules, but Ares is very hesitant about doing so. Athena convinces him, either by taunting or by calmly urging him, to go along with it. They get caught but only Ares gets punished. Ares can then truly show Athena the difference between her and everyone else.

Remember when i headcanoned earlier that Athena sends Ares away during the Rebellion? That ties into this. She knows that if they get caught, ares could get into trouble whether or not he did anything. I expect Ares will be furious about it when he returns and finds out what happened though, thinking it was just to get him out of the way, until its revealed why she did it. Then he’ll probably be super awkward.

2) Poseidon

The equal and opposite force to Zeus.

Well, maybe not equal, but quite close.

Lets start with the canon. Poseidon HATES Athena, despises her completely, and he frequently clashes with her father too. They worked together one (1) time and as a result, Athena wasnt punished while Poseidon was enslaved for years. Then there is the fight for Athens, the whole epic of the Odyssey, and so on.

Meanwhile he and Ares are actually shown to be close. Other than the Halirhothius incident, they are pretty chill. Poseidon is the one who vouched for him after the Net Thing With Hephaestus. Poseidon is also pretty cool with Aphrodite and they work together occasionally.

I think Poseidon thinks of Athena as this bratty kid of his brother, who is constantly working against him. You know that one annoying cousin you have who you try to avoid during family reunions because you KNOW you will clash? This is that, but a thousand times worse.

Meanwhile Poseidon really cares for Ares, and Ares takes fatherly affection from anywhere he can get it. Poseidon maintains a good relationship with both Aphrodite and Ares. He is closer with Aphrodite and doesnt love Ares quite as much as Zeus loves Athena, but he still cares a lot.

3) Aphrodite

It is no secret that Athena hates Aphrodite. Even when Athena warns Diomedes not to harm any god, she says Aphrodite is the exception. Athena, along with many of the other Olympians, see her as nothing but a silly, flighty, hysterical goddess.

On the other hand, Aphrodite and Ares are known for their intense love for each other, from even before her arranged marriage. They have a lot of kids together, and are shown to be close with all of them. They each have like one story of jealousy/one story where they are at odds with each other, which is pretty good for such a high-profile couple (Aphrodite curses Eos and Ares kills Adonis). They are there for each other, like in the trojan war, when Aphrodite was wounded and Ares gave her his chariot to go back to Olympus. He also changed sides very soon, just because Aphrodite asked. Athena complains about this too.

I think I wouldn’t be far off in saying that Athena is definitely resentful of how close they are, and how much sway Aphrodite has over her brother.

While Athena definitely doesn’t see eye to eye with Ares, and disagrees with his domain, she still sees him as a War God. One of her kind. And she just doesn’t see how a War God can go for someone like Aphrodite. Basically, she doesn’t think Aphrodite is, for lack of a better term, good enough for Ares, seeing as she is a Love Goddess.

Ares, on the other hand, does not want to hear anything like this. He is fiercely defensive of Aphrodite. He defends her warlike aspect (Aphrodite Areia), while everyone else tells her that she has no place in the battlefield. He sees Aphrodite as more than what people have labelled her to be. Which is why I believe (other than Eos and Adonis), they have one of the healthiest open relationships in greek mythology.

This can definitely cause animosity between Athena and Ares, because of Athena’s scorn and Ares’ temper. It can also increase the conflict between Athena and Aphrodite.

Maybe as time goes on, Athena can start seeing Aphrodite as having more depth. I certainly hope so. While they wouldn’t be best friends, I don’t see why they can’t learn to get along. This could also strengthen Athena and Ares’ bond. As long as people don’t insult her or lay their claim on her domain of Love and Beauty, Aphrodite is often very supportive. I truly think Aphrodite can help Athena overcome her misogyny, with Ares.

In conclusion, Athena and Ares have a very complex relationship. They do not simply hate each other, and neither do they have the most loving relationship. But they do care for each other. But strain can often be put on their relationship from their relationship to other people as well. Hopefully as time passes, they can overcome that, and have a healthier relationship, instead of sharing a good moment and then proceeding to fight each other for the next 500 years.

[adampage]

Why do ppl hate cody?

i can't speak for everyone, but i can speak for myself.

under the cut bc it's a long one. i also toe the line of kayfabe and not kayfabe quite a bit but just know that i'm always open to changing my opinions on people. i am a fickle bitch.

a) the first time i ever encountered him in wrestling, he was a heel creating a civil war within the bullet club. first impression? cody bad.

b) the next time i saw him, he was in aew. i already knew he was an evp, i already knew he was part of the elite, or had been. evps = authority = i'm not a fan. the same way i dislike stephanie mcmahon or shane mcmahon. i dislike authority figures, especially if i feel that they will use their authority to either use up valuable tv time or put themselves in matches i do not feel they deserve to be in. i felt the same way when i thought the bucks were gonna win the first tag team tournament aew had in fall of 2019.

b part 2) unprotected chair shot

b part 3) pharaoh the dog brought to a show where they did pyro and was visibly upset by this

c) no matter what, for the first many months of dynamite, cody ALWAYS had a segment. and his entrance took up like three extra minutes than anyone else on the card. however, i will say that he did a great job of showcasing the young talent; many of the wrestlers who had matches against cody in the first two quarters are now some of aew's biggest young stars.

d) the bucks gave hangman shit for not showing up to help them in a few instances on television in those first couple episodes and didnt say shit about cody not being there -even though he did eventually show up to help once or twice. this could just be because they werent certain whether cody was going to continue to be in the actual elite. but regardless, it pissed me off.

e) during all of this, i do believe there was a moment on twitter where people thought they found his personal anonymous twitter and he was talkin some mad controversial shit that i cant honeslty remember anymore so you can feel free to ignore this one

f) genuinely tired of seeing him on tv and taking up time, especially when there were so many talented wrestlers they had on their roster that were on dark mainly that needed time on television

g) when malakai black showed up and cody got boo'd and then beaten, live in front of my eyes, it felt like the narrative was that he was so shocked and upset by the loss and the fans' reactions that he decided he was gonna retire right then and there. which is bullshit because you just made a new wrestler's win all about you. to me it felt like he was so emasculated by the loss that he was just gonna give up and that's dumb as hell. arn actually ended up taking up the same opinion as me which was cool as heck :)

h) after the promo on dynamite this week talking about how he will not turn, and then the rhodes to the top episode from tonight basically confirming this, that he doesnt want to turn heel, or at least faux-shooting that he doesnt want to become heel, i'm upset because it feels like he wants to ram down my throat that he is a babyface like his father before him and i do not and cannot accept this. you do not have to be the good guy to become a legend. most of the best babyfaces i've ever seen were heels first. because a heel has a whole lot more range!!!! it gives the wrestler so much more creatively to work with and being a dick is just fucking fun like??? who doesnt like seeing a wrestler have fun??? i guarantee you, you give cody a long ass heel run, that man becomes babyface in a couple years and we'll cheer him again. like tf. it's like roman. they tried to make roman the babyface guy for years and it just didnt work. turn him heel? bruh. he made my HUSband, who absolutely DESPISED him, into a roman fan. and if he turned face again?? he'd still love him. it is what it is, man. learn what works and what doesn't like. idk.

please note: there are also lots of things that i like about cody. i like that he is a great promo and a great wrestler. im never bored when he's on screen except that one feud with ogogo bc i just disliked the whole premise. and he always makes me cry when he cries and i do believe that's because of his great speaking ability. i saw him live in atlanta for the cage match against wardlow and i thought it was brilliant, really put wardlow over even though he lost i think, and the off-air speech he gave to his hometown was once again a tear jerker. i love to hate him, and i just wish that he would give me the chance to boo him like i want to.

but anyway this is just me and idk about everyone else. hope this makes even a crumb of sense.

[anxiousgaypanicking]

okay so i recently watched the metal family (the english dub) on youtube and i sent my friend a ton of information on it - my thoughts, my theories, etc, and then i thought of a sanders sides related universe for it 

technically some things differ, as in the part i wrote glam and chive (who ive assigned to logan and remus) eventually end up together, but whatever 

and, because im a whore for attention im going to post here exactly what i rambled about because i was spilling out thoughts that just made my heart beat faster. so basically, the metal family: sanders sides edition 

spoilers for the metal family. 

basically i was thinking of logan and remus basically as these two characters, with logan as glam/sebastian and remus as chive, and logans parents putting a lot of pressure on him as their only child, and his dad is suffering abuse to so he cant even stick up for logan, and when he does bad he has to put out his arm and roll his sleeve up and his moms hits it repeatedly, and in the show glam doesnt react until he showers bc thats when it stings (until a certain scene where glams dad slaps it so hard he fucking bleeds a lot and starts sobbing and its like part of when he snapped) but thats probably what he does, and obviously the butler also gets mad and snaps on him a lot too, but when he goes to that music exam and gets second place to remus (who he met briefly on the way to the music exam - youll understand this more if you end up watching the series), hes shocked, and as remus walks him home he explains what he did on the guitar, and gives him the bach vinyl and logan squints but takes it anyway, and when he announces he got second he gets scolded, they mock him for who he lost too, and the back vinyl is taken by his mother, hes scolded for thinking he could ever be on par (logan plays the violen btw - he entered the music exam with a violen and its what his mouther abuses him for when he plays wrong or doesnt answer right/right away to note related questions) with bach, and then hes hit with the ruler and sent back to his room, where he plays the bach vinyl thinking it will be bach but then its metal and it sort of awakens something in logan and he sort of snaps

when he runs into remus again remus offers to teach him, steals an amp and guitar from the observatory, and then when he goes home then this is where hes hit until his forearm is literally dripping with blood and hes sobbing, but sort of that unhinged sort of sobbing where hes like :) while sobbing and bleeding, and his mom is saying hes no longer allowed to take walks because he was late, went through the park, ran in a suit, etc, and how logan will be studying with her daily from now on, and through gritted teeth, a sob, and a smile, as he clutches his bloody wrist hes like "yes mother, ill study under you every day. every day. every day." and he and remus had luckily agreed already to meet by the dumpster at midnight, and thats what they start doing

remus teaches him how to play, and logan literally gets no fucking sleep and becomes more and more sleep deprived as hes taught more and more and it makes him more and more manic and unhinged, and he has periods where he fucking snaps and can play the bass super well because hes fueling his anger and his trauma into how aggressively he plays and is actually super good, and eventually he and remus get a gig with these two other bandmates 

and that happens to be the day that the way he hides his diary (where he gets out his murderous thoughts over his father, writes about lying to him, and writes down notes for music he wants to make) and his model of the city (which hed spent a lot of time on and cared about a lot and made out of every day things like lightbulbs and pencil shavers and had to keep hidden) were revealed and his mother found them, and she threw it into the trash where logan saw it crumbled as he walked home in the rain, and while his mother is aggressively shouting at him she says something along the lines of "who are you going to choose. your family, or some vagrants!?" and logan sort of snaps, goes wide eyed, and walks the other way, despite the fact its rianing and his mother demands him to come back, and then starst screaming about how if he ever comes back to the door hell never be allowed back inside, and thats where that episode ends

and basically i was thinking that logan leaves, and sort of walks around in his suit with his violen for a while, before he goes back to the alley where he hides his guitar that remus stole for him and his punk clothes, and he grabs them both and sort of mindlessly wanders until he ends up back in front of remuss trailer

when logan shows up remus doesnt realize until he opens the door of his trailer and prepares to leave and logans just standing there staring, utterly soaked, and he craves his neck up when remus walks out and remus is like "holy shit dude, you scared me. its not even midnight here. how long have you been here?" and logan doesnt answer, and hess not used to tocuhing people or being touched gently, but he sort of falls into remus, and collapses against him, and he starts sobbing because he just lost his family, and he left his dad all alone, but ehs finally free from the abuse, and hes so tired and so confused and hes never felt so unsure of his next move but remus just pulls him inside, brings his stuff inside, they step over his sleeping and drunk parent, and remus takes logan to his room (possibly the one he shares with roman ?) and basically just hugs logan as he sobs and cries and eventually passes out against him because hes literally so fucking sleep deprived, and remus takes liberty to change logan out of his sopping wet clothes, but then both of logans arms are covered in scars, some of them still scabbed, and remus is immediately concerned but he decides hell ask about it when logan wakes up, and basically ust goes out and shoplifts some food or steals from his parent to buy shit, and when logan wakes up hes given low quality food that he accepts gratefully, apologizes for showing up unceremoniously and being so informal, but remus just hesitantly wraps an arm around him, and logan accepts it, and remus says its fine while cuddling with him and then again hesitantly asks what happened

and logan sort of goes silent and doesnt talk about it, but clears his throat and asks if its okay he stays here, and theres already three people living in this trailer so he feels bad for asking, but remus just pulls him closer and is like "yeah man! of course you can stay!" because obviously hes not going to tell logan no after what he just pulled, so he lets logan stay, and remus and roman bicker for it a bit when logan uses their small ass bathroom to shower, and by the end remus has basically bribed roman into going along with it

and logan has to adjust to not being a wealthy - althought not spoiled - person anymore, and sometimes he reacts to things on instinct. he breaks something and remus comes up behind him and asks what happened and logan just sort of stares straight ahead, rolls up his sleeve, and sticks out his arm, and remus is like  logan?? and it takes logan a few seconds to snap out of it and he sort of gazes at remus, goes wide eyed, and then apologizes as he brings his arm back in and rolls down his sleeve, and he seems really awkward but also quite relieved, and remus has never hurt him before, but it was just sort of that reactive thing, and that happens to be the day where remus decides to ask what those scars are, and asks to finally treat them properly because he hears logans whimpers and hisses in the shower

he and roman have their fair share of scars from their own shitty drunk parent, so they know pretty damn well how to take care of them, and how to steal bandages and shit, so remus helps clean them out and up while logan sort of quietly tells remus all about his life, why the music exam was such a big deal, and how remus basically changed his life, and how hes still confused and doesnt know if he made the right decision, and remus doesnt respond until the end where he bandages up logans arms and then gently grabs his hand and tells logan that hes safe now, and that being surronded by people who only put you down and more so hurt you isnt good, and that he believes logan made the right decision because hes safe here with them (the twins make sure to keep him guarded from the drunk parent) and roman seconds that from his spot on the bed, and so logan tries to put his past behind him and instead focus on playing music with remus, and playing shows at bars and stuff where they slowly gain a larger and larger fan base, and they make more and more money from the awesome music they play, and eventually use that money to buy their own house

i know its a lot, but just imagine. imagine

[princeanxious]

I always have this like. One song that i listen to on one of my playlists, that without fail i imagine this animation/animatic idea with the sides in a winged au, doing some kind of tag-team olympic-like race of some sort, where it involves a ton of dofferent kinds of obstacles that need to be maneuvered around with expert skill, speed, and grace(each being separately counted with their own points catagory to add together for each team's final score) and like

(Ive also had this animatic idea since before janus and remus were revealed so they werent originally imagined as part of this idea but I can make it work just fine)

It starts off pretty simple with Patton leading the take off of the race, as his area of specialty is flying with grace(hes pretty clumsy otherwise, outside of flying, for contrast) and so it starts off with pretty visual manuveres that involve a seriously practiced skill to pull off, both while flying at a quick speed, and while flying around other contestants, but its the shortest part of the race because his not high on stamina to begin with

Then he taps Romans shoulder as he lands and then Roman takes off to the second portion of the race, quick reaction time, agility, and strong manuverability. There are lots more obstacles to avoid or pass through in this catagory, and Roman has large wings so many expect him to struggle with manuverability, but of course he nails it, able to dip low to pass through a small hoop without brushing against it and then lauch high to crest over a bar and then dip low, all at a high speed. Logan is already running for take off as Roman is slowing to land when they high five the trade off

Logan's wings are small and agile, and his area of skill involves quick thinking, agility, and problem solving skills. Some obstacles have false leads that could lose one time as they have to turn back from dead ends or go through even more complicated parts of the course, some are angled weirdly and require an altered version of a vommon manuver to pass through, so on and so forth, and at this point their team is gaining a bit of a lead when he passes the touch to Janus.

Janus's wings are partially damaged, and thought he can still fly just fine, hes more skilled with graceful moves like patton, but the twist is that these moves and maneuveres have to make it through certain obstacles, like hoops and weaving back and forth between a line of metal poles to count for points. He manages it alright but some other winged player, a bad sport, just barely whips past and against the tip his bad wing and disbalances him a bit, loosing their team precious seconds as he has to struggle to right himself to tag Remus in on time

Remus has to focus not to go after the bad sport and instead puts all his effort into the next course, which infact is the one course of the race where flying isnt the main goal, its allowed, but flying 100% of it makes the whole course more difficult. Its infact more of a parcore course, with passing targets to hit and checkpoint flags to grab as you pass, wall climbing up tight walls that are too narrow to fly up and dropping down slopes and weaving between pillars and corners that are too tight to safely pull ones wings out. This, Remus dominates at. Once hes finally out of the course, he tags Virgil, and now their team is on the final stretch of the race.

(This is also where the music of the song starts the crescendo before the pause before beat drops)

Virgil, who is the newest and smallest of the team, is nervous, and hasn't had long to prove to their team that he's good. This is his first year truly participating in an event like this too so his teammates are all gathering at the finish line, waiting in anticipation. Virgil has never boasted about his talents, and struggles to practice with them because his expertise is speed, agility and stamina, and the practice required for that is much more solo. So the team doesnt really know what to expect from him because this last part of the course is the most difficult for anyone with wings in general, even those who train for years because this final course makes it easy to lose speed and stamina fast, and its very common for contestants wings to give out or cramp up mid flight from the strain of keeping a steady altitude, making it a very dangerous drop into the stretch of ocean below.(not to worry, as theres stand-by medical teams to immediately rescue those who drop, and the worst that comes of these is usually strained/sprained wing muscles and shoulder muscles and some bruising.)

its a very long stretch of 'track' from the starting point being at the drop off of an extremely large cliff(the entire race has been using each course to climb up a mountain section by section) right into the ocean, and the entire stretch of flight is completely over deep water, and the finish line is on a large cruiz ship to kick off celebrations once the race is over.

And well, Virgil is small, shorter than his rival contestants, and kind of stout but not by much. But this entire time up till this point you never see his wings, theyre a pitch black lump on his back, naturally pulled tight from anxiety, while the other contestants are stretching their large and small wings out for the long dangerous flight ahead of them.

And just as Remus comes into view, Virgil takes a deep breath and relaxes, though his wings stay pulled tight. The trade off from Remus to Virgil is smooth, though a few other contestants are already taking off ahead of him, but he pays it no mind.

The strip of land he starts at is long enough to get up to a running speed, but instead of leaping up to unfurl his wings and take off or glide off, he takes the entire strip of land to sprint to the cliff,

And then he dives.

And by this point there are snippets of judges and contestants and his team gasping or staring in shock as this is not a normal strat and is infact extremely dangerous for even the most skilled of strong flyers. And Virgil has never particularly come off as a strong or skilled flyer, cautious and fast yes, but skilled?

(This is where the songs tempo starts to pick up to the fullest part of the first beat drops crescendo before lulling-)

And to top it all off, this clif is at least a mile or two high. For the first mile down, first still doesnt open his wings, but instead of looking panicked, he looks calm, his eyes closed and his arms at his side as the wind whips through his face, but its a perfect dive, and the wind fails to throw him off course like people expect it to.

And finally, just as it looks like hes about to dive headfirst into the ocean at full speed, his body doing a few twirls,

His long raven black wings unfurl-

And he soars.

(And the second beat drop hits and erupts into a dramatically energized beat)

Whatever the distance was that he fell behind the other contestants from the time it took to drop is easily lost as the momentum of his drop and the pushing currents of the ocean air send him rocketing towards the finishline, barely losing momentum the way his opponents do with their flapping while his sleek wings cut and glide through the air currents; every once in a while tipping his wings one way the other to catch on the ocean surface to maintain balance

Before you know it, he's close to the finish line of the race, and it takes one solid angles flap to pull him up enough to fly through the finish line with first place at a speed unheard of for this kind of race course, still meters ahead of the contestant to get second place.

Everyones in awe, people are cheering, and Virgil is smiling bashfully, and his team croud around him and are complimenting him

And, of course, because of Virgil's near world record-breaking preformance, their team wins.