#ANYWAY I just want to see it. I wanna see what caleb looks like when he has absolute freedom before him.

[essektheylyss]

Honestly, I'm very excited to find out what happened to Caleb and Beau, but specifically because Ludinus's current status is WILD for Caleb's epilogue in particular. It means his boyfriend is basically free and clear of everyone who has explicit material knowledge of the deal he made. It means the goal he planned to dedicate his life to is basically complete within six years. It means that virtually no one left on the Assembly cares much what kinds of changes he makes to Soltryce from here on out.

Ludinus is on the moon and probably not coming back, given the general expectations of the heroic fantasy genre, and the rest of it is a whole lot of "not Caleb's problem".

What does this man even do with the rest of his life?

[bibibbon]

eveyone calling dabi touya after the reveal is making me wanna claw my eyes out because HOW IS EVERYONE MISSING THE POINT SO FUCKING BADLY

THE POINT IS THAT HE ISN’T TOUYA AND HE NEVER WILL BE AGAIN BECAUSE TOUYA IS DEAD

dabi was created from the ashes of touya and that’s literally the whole point

he can never BE touya again because of the things he’s done and the small issue that touya is legally dead

AND WHAT MAKES YOU THINK HE WANTS TO BE TOUYA AGAIN??????

he wants NOTHING to do with the todoroki’s and tries to actively distance himself from his family

ik he is so fucking pissed in the afterlife because everyone is calling him touya when he’s not touya he’s DABI

same with shigaraki. this one is definitely an unpopular opinion but people calling him tenko just feels so wrong to me

i just hate it when people think that just bc it’s technically their real names is means is *their name*

like sure my legal name is my legal name but *my name* is caleb

anyway i just wanna scream sometimes

You bring a very interesting point!!

This is something I haven't really realised, but now that you mentioned it and now that I am looking back at various different posts, I can tell how different people sometimes use dabi and touya interchangeably and yeah actually it makes sense why you're mad about it.

A core part of Dabi's character is that he is no longer Touya. Touya died the minute he went back to his old home, and everyone forgot about him, and nothing changed. The greif and emotions that young touya held to try and appease to his father burned away turning touya into ashes and that's how dabi was born.

Yes, the phoenix imagery with Dabi is strong. The death of touya, where touya turns into ashes and dabi is born from those ashes, is something so slept on by the fandom!!

People using dabi and touya interchangeably is like someone using jink and powder interchangeably. The plot for both mha and arcane has made it clear that those characters are two different people.

Jink isn't powder, and powder isn't jink. They might be the same person genetically speaking, but they aren't the same when it comes to character and personality.

The same thing goes for dabi and shigaraki. However, the plot of Mha does make it an integral part of Dabi's character it literally focuses and says it directly on chapter 350!!

Dabi, like you said, will never be touya, and touya will never be dabi. I have noticed that even when it comes to me writing my analysis, I have never really used dabi and touya interchangeably. When it comes to me talking about touya, I talk about touya, and when I talk about dabi, I talk about dabi (this doesn't make sense, but I have no way of fully explaining it tbh)

Shigaraki is a bit more complicated and a bit of a grey area. Yes, he also has the same thing as both dabi and jink, yet it's not made or focused to be an integral part of his character. I personally blame the writing for that instead.

With shigarakis character, it's kind of the opposite of jink and dabi. What I mean is that the narrative kind of goes out of its way to make it clear that shigaraki will always be tenko even if he tries to reject that. This can be seen with izuku seeing tenko or during shigaraki's fight with afo and mirio he mentions HIS backstory with HIS friends.

As much as shigaraki may try to reject it, he is tenko, and in the end, he acknowledges that. He dies as both tenko and as the leader of the leauge of villains.

[laughingphoenixleader]

also. kanera on an airplane for the three sentence fics.

behold, Kanairplane (as @accidental-spice called it one time and it never left my brain)

Kanan settles into his seat on the plane, but his spirit is far from settled.

Restlessness fills every nerve within him, as per usual, especially when he's in a plane. He squeezes his eyes shut, attempting to block out the waves of memories that come crashing in. "GO, CALEB!"

General Billaba's voice rings through his mind, the memory like a knife in his gut. For the umpteenth time, he curses the no-alcohol policy that goes for every airline. He would know. He researched all of them in pursuit of one that would let him bring a drink on his flight, but, alas and, similarly, alack, he found nothing but disappointment.

So here he is, with a two-hour flight straight through Misery Lane to look forward to. I hate it here.

"I'd consider buckling your seatbelt, mate," a cool, Irish-accented voice recommends from the window seat to his left. Kanan glances over at the ebony-skinned man with waist-length, pitch-black braids next to him, who wears an unbothered expression paired with a raised eyebrow. He has a cool, unaffected air, like you could throw a brick at him and he’d just catch it and ask “is that all you’ve got?”

Kanan nods, pulling the seat belt and shoving the silver end intothe…. well, other silver end, but it's the actual buckle, so it's different.

When he glances out the window, it isn’t the pavement of the airport that he sees, it’s air filled with ash and fire. He curses under his breath, dragging his gaze away, wishing for something, anything to distract him from the memories that keep crashing in over the next indeterminate amount of time.

But then his prayer is answered. A voice sounds over the loudspeaker, one that pulls Kanan straight out of his flashback and back into the present, and he feels like he’s just been dragged out of water that had been drowning him. He sucks in a deep breath, but it catches in his throat as he listens. The voice is warm, musical, and distinctly feminine. He’s never heard anything like it.

“This is your pilot speaking,” the voice announces in a friendly tone, so different from the impersonal one so often used by airline pilots. Different in more ways than one. “And I like to do things a little differently around here—I’ll be conducting your flight safety announcement this afternoon.”

Kanan’s spirits rise way more than they should at the knowledge that he’ll be hearing a lot more of this voice. He’s not sure exactly what it is that has him so spellbound—something about it makes him want to follow it anywhere.

The pilot scatters little witticisms throughout her flight safety announcements—“keep your seatbelts fastened, because I just rewatched Top Gun: Maverick and got inspired”—“put the oxygen mask on anyone who is a child or is acting like a child first”—“this is not a toilet seat cover it is a life jacket”—that have Kanan chuckling to himself all during what is the most entertaining beginning to a flight he has ever experienced.

“She’s a fun one, isn’t she?” the Irish guy comments from nearby.

“Yeah,” Kanan replies, a smile tugging on one end of his mouth. “Seems like it.”

“Text people—tell them that you love them, or never wanna see them again. or whatever,” the pilot adds when she’s telling them to turn their phones on airplane mode. Kanan snorts at that. He desperately wants to meet this woman—or at least see who could be attached to a voice and sense of humor like that.

He ponders this as he stares out the window for the next long while, actually seeing the fluffy clouds blanketing the area underneath their plane rather than smoke-streaked sky, for once. Somehow, this woman has eased and pacified his ravaged, PTSD-ridden mind that he hasn’t gotten therapy for, both because he isn’t interested and because he can’t afford it anyway. What money he has, he spends on alcohol and buying things for whatever girl he might be spending time with, which changes often. As does his place where he’s living—hence the secret third thing that saps his bank account—flights away. Away from the suspicious Imperial gazes that’ve been following him all too much lately, in this case. As per usual.

Then the plane is shuddering, and warning sirens start blaring, and Kanan thinks he’s just lost it again. But the screams from the passengers around him and, especially, the shouted curses that he’s never heard before in his life from the nearby Irish guy convince him that, somehow, this is real. As is the smoke covering the windows of the right side of the plane as it leans to one side.

We’ve been hit.

Somehow, impossibly, their commercial airplane has been hit.

The voice shouts over the loudspeakers now, its musical tones now strained, yet firm and strong. “Everyone remain calm! Follow safety protocols—evacuate from the plane!”

People begin grabbing their lifesaving devices, scrambling for oxygen masks, and generally panicking. Kanan shoves a mask onto his face and breathes in deeply, then springs into action, helping people put on their oxygen masks, placing comforting hands on people’s shoulders—but then the loudspeakers fill with that amazing voice, now tinged with urgency. “If anyone has any piloting experience, I need you up here now.”

Kanan stops short. He’s definitely got piloting experience. But the idea of getting into a cockpit again…he doesn’t have the courage for that. Not after the last time he was in one. General Billaba’s screams echo through his mind for what feels like the thousandth time.

But these people need him. And the owner of that voice needs him.

So Kanan finds himself stumbling up the aisle, the plane lurching beneath his feet. Hours seem to drag by as he makes his way to the cockpit door. He hears more explosions outside that he doubts are real, but he finds himself wondering if they might be. He always does. Trauma that deep can’t be reasoned away.

He yanks the door open and catches a glimpse of the most stunning person he has ever seen—but he forces himself not to focus on that right now. He takes in the scene—red lights flashing, copilot passed out on the console, vibrantly purple hair splayed all over it—and tells the pilot, keeping it brief, “Air Force vet. What do you need?”

The next indeterminate amount of time is a whirlwind of shouting things back and forth, pressing buttons, pulling levers, and managing communications with towers and other planes. The pilot and Kanan somehow slip into a rhythm, working together to keep the plane upright and figuring out exactly what the problem is. They discover that the plane has been grazed by what seems to be some sort of missile. Nothing vital on the inside of the plane was hit, but the same can’t be said for the right wing.

The Imperials don’t exactly clear areas when they conduct training exercises. They aren’t that cautious, and they don’t care that much.

It takes every ounce of Kanan and the captain’s combined concentration to keep the plane stable, but they manage it somehow. They find the closest runway possible and haphazardly land the plane. Well. It’s more of a crash than a landing. But the plane’s in one piece, and there are no worrying sounds from the passengers, and there are already people running up to help.

The pilot next to Kanan lets out a breath that it sounds like she’s been holding for a while and falls back into her seat. She sticks out her hand for him to shake. “Captain Hera Syndulla.”

Kanan shakes it, finally taking a good look at her. Captain Syndulla is as beautiful as her voice, which is saying something. She has stunningly jade-green eyes, two dark, thick braids streaming down her back, ending in spiraling curls dyed as green as her eyes. Her warm tan skin about the same shade as Kanan’s glows next to the crisp white uniform she absolutely rocks. Confidence and capability practically pour off of her, and the relieved, exhausted smile she throws him as they shake hands lights up the cockpit. The golden wings pinned right above her heart gleam as brightly as her eyes are. “Kanan Jarrus,” he tells her, after he realizes that he’s been staring for what hopefully wasn’t too long. Nice to meet you, Captain Syndulla.”

She scoffs. “I just trusted you to help fly a plane with me. Call me Hera.”

“Okay, Captain Hera,” Kanan quips with a grin. She rolls her eyes.

“I guess I can live with that,” she tells him, a smile tugging at her lips. Her gaze shifts to the window.

“I like to call things like this “very exciting landings,”” Captain Hera explains, gesturing towards the window.

“You mean, crashes?” Kanan asks helpfully.

The captain turns to him and narrows her eyes, her expression and flat voice one of the most terrifying things Kanan has ever experienced, and that’s saying a lot. “I never crash.”

Startled and fearing for his life, Kanan gives her a respectful two-fingered salute. “Yes, ma’am.”

She nods approvingly. Then her expression softens. “We make a pretty good team,” the pilot remarks, her voice warm and pleasant (read: heavenly and angelic).

“Yeah,” Kanan says with a smile. “Yeah, we do. And it’s an honor, Captain.” He might have added juuuust a bit of flirtation into that last bit.

“Thank you,” she tells him, placing a hand on his arm. He goes very, very still, and has to remind himself to breathe. “Not just anyone could have or would have stepped in like you did.” Her voice is overflowing with gratitude, and he is absolutely overjoyed to have brought that kind of gratitude to her.

“Any way I can repay you?” she asks, her question genuine, and it sends Kanan’s heart pounding.

He considers.

He second-guesses.

Then he goes for it.

“Can I treat you to dinner?”

She doesn’t seem altogether surprised by this. But what he’s holding out for is if she seems displeased by it.

So far, so good.

Captain Hera tilts her head to the side, considering. “I don’t go on dates with just anyone,” she tells him, her voice neutral, and Kanan isn’t sure whether to set his hopes lower or higher. But when a smile lights her face, it doesn’t even matter whether she says yes or no, because he’s just happy to have made her smile.

“But you’re clearly not just anyone,” she finishes, and his heart skips several beats. His stomach flips. This is the best moment of my life.

Okay, that last thing’s kind of concerning.

“It’s a deal, then, Captain Hera,” he replies, smiling crookedly at her, attempting to ignore the way his heart is thundering. Giddiness fills him. He feels like a teenager again, even though he’s successfully asked out so many different women. Somehow, this Captain Hera is different. Special.

Years later, sitting across from her at dinner in their dining room in their home, wedding rings on their hands, that’s truer than ever.

[innytoes]

Dark fantasy AU?

-In hindsight, as he's being chased through the forest, hunted by mythical creatures is not where Reggie thought he'd end up when his folks told him they were moving to Los Angeles. Honestly, considering how he used to roam the woods and fields near his Meemaw's farm, the fact that he'd stumbled into a fairy circle near the beach was almost insulting.

-It's not even that he manages to outrun them. It's that one night (he thinks it's night, though time moves differently here and light and dark are all tangled up and is the purple haze of the sky supposed to be dusk or dawn or just a dark stop of the forest?) he'd decided to just... give up.

He couldn't remember how long he'd been running, running from the pounding of hooves and the yapping of dogs that did not look anything like what a dog should look like. He couldn't remember a time where he wasn't hungry, or thirsty, or tired, but something inside of him just kept making him run and run and run

-But he'd had enough. So he just sat down, with his back towards the noise, and hoped they'll kill him quickly. And to comfort himself, he sang the lullaby his Meemaw used to sing when he was scared of the thunder.

-That's what saved him. One of the fae, Caleb, was so charmed by the song that instead of doing whatever it is they did with their prey, he bundled Reggie up and took him to his... castle. Dwelling. Domain.

-He was dressed in finery and made to sing as Caleb and the other fae danced and ate and did things that Reggie very much had not wanted to see, thank you very much. But eventually, they slept, and Reggie met... the other humans who were trapped here.

-Luke, a young boy who had run away from home to become a musician in 1875. He was distraught to hear Reggie tell him it was the nineties now. Even more distraught when Reggie clarified it was the 1990s.

-There was Alex, who had been cast out of his village for reasons he did not want to share, but that Reggie figured out pretty quickly when he saw the way he looked at Willie. He'd fallen asleep near a fairy circle, and the promises he'd been made had been so tempting, he'd said yes before he fully understood the deal.

-And then there was Willie. The boy who had been stolen from his parents, a changeling left in his place. Who had grown up here, a part of this world yet not really. Who did not know what the other boys meant when they talked about years, or America, or really the whole concept of 'family'.

-Luke's the one who tells them of their escape plan. Alex is worried they can't trust Reggie not to rat him out to Caleb, and Reggie is like: um excuse me I was just hunted for sport for who knows how long you think I wanna help that guy?

-But before he can Willie just tilts his head and says: his heart is pure.

-Which is very sweet but also a little creepy.

-Anyway, they do manage to escape Caleb's clutches somehow, and end up back in the human world.

-Being yeeted out of a little ring of mushrooms in the soil of a plant Ray overwatered in the big plant wall of the Molina studio was not particularly pleasant, okay. Considering a real human should not be able to fit through that. But Willie explained that as soon as a fairy portal grew, it was only a manner of time that the fairies would notice it and stake it out to see what they could lure to their realm.

-Somehow, Luke and Alex get thrown clear across the room, Luke slamming against the door, Alex dropping onto the concrete floor.

-Reggie's not sure if him crashing against a pretty wooden piano is better or worse. The sound it made was definitely worse.

-Somehow, Willie ends up sitting crosslegged on the little piano bench, and he turns and quickly crushes up the mushrooms to destroy the portal.

-Julie, of course, is screaming, Alex and Luke and Reggie are screaming. Willie is trying to explain to Julie she over-watered her fern and pouts when she runs away.

-No they're not ghosts but they are changed and they all have weird powers. Luke nearly cries with joy that he can still summon his guitar. Alex is really not okay with this whole 'walking through walls' thing. Reggie is sad he cannot summon a puppy or a pizza.

-Willie can teleport short distances and is shocked to learn humans can't just do that? You have to walk everywhere? Or ride a horse. What's a car? What's roller skates? He needs to see one of these skateboad things immediately, let's summon the human girl back to ask for one. What can they trade for a skateboard?

-They're kind of freaked out at the whole 2020 thing, but hey, Reggie's like: at least it hasn't been a hundred years like when I told Luke about the 90s.

-Queue canon but it's even worse and more chaotic.

[sothera]

Soth answered the door as David and William looked on...

"Sothera Vidar: it is agreeable to see you again." Joey deadpanned.

"Joseph Pierce: your presence is acceptable." Soth couldn't quite hide his smile at seeing his friend.

"I would enter the domain at this time." Joey said, without emotion.

"Very well." Soth answered as he stepped aside, trying hard to match Joey's tone.

Then, the door shut...

"Hello, Pack-Bro!" Joey yelled.

"Hello back, J-Attack!" Soth yelped back.

"ARRR-WOOOOO!" 🐺🐺

"How are you? Did they treat you well? Let me look at you..." Soth said as he looked Joey over.

"I'm fine, dad, how've you been?" Joey asked.

"I'm well...sorry...you were gone for a while..I was..." Soth began, his face red.

"I'm fine too, Soth, would you like to check? William asked as he turned in a circle.

"I know you're fine; nothing could get through that thick red hair...you are okay, right?" Soth asked.

"Yes father, I'm fine..." William answered.

"Ooh! Bacon!" Joey said as he smelled and saw it.

"Yes, and hotcakes too, we have plenty, please eat!" Soth said.

"That's not an offer he makes frequently." William said.

"That's because until recently, I was concerned that your cookery might be dangerous to the more delicate among us." Soth said.

"Was that some kind of remark?" William asked.

"No...it would be a 'remark' if I told everyone your food should be Blessed by a Cleric prior to ingestion..." Soth said.

"That was a remark..." William said, amazed again at how far, how confident, Soth had become after just a few months in this New World... (thank Gods)

"Don't worry, Sir Knight, I shall subdue this unruly, overgrown, unsightly beast in good time." Joey said.

"Hey, who you callin' unruly?...Why aren't you eating? Eat!, do you want some milk?" Soth asked.

"Yeah...I can get it, oh...thanks...why are you so wild about me eating?" Joey asked.

"You'll need a full belly, Nelly, a lot's happened since you started your new job..." Soth began.

"Which is now over, thank God, the old guy came back, apparently he has the same 'anomaly' as I do, but one of us is all they need." Joey said.

"Good, I didn't like the thought of you being there anyway." Soth said.

"Oh, before I forget, do you wanna see it?" Joey asked.

"Yes; I've never seen a Fae invitation before." Soth answered.

"Hmm...I expected..." Soth began.

"Touch the Ivy..." Joey suggested.

Soth did so...

🎵 Come on down, come on down, bring the demon boy, and the fourth for the Crown!🎵(oompa loompa oompa loompa)....

"So you, William and me..." Soth said, giving the invitation back to Joey before it could do anything else.

"Sounds that way, no pun intended." Joey said.

"The Fae are very picky about whom they let in and out of their town; the fact that we were invited at all..." William said.

"Yeah...you made an impression. Do you think she'll really help us...help me?" Soth asked.

"I think so; something in me just says she will." Joey said.

William and Soth looked at each other...

"They're stories, nothing more." Soth said.

"I want to believe that..." William said.

"They're brought to us by the same type of people that think it's fine to parade me through a town shirtless with a hand on the back of my neck." Soth said.

"Except there are Treaties; they exist for a reason." William reminded him.

"Guys..." David said, "just go with your minds open and your eyes too; it worked for my dad, it'll work for you too, okay?"

They all fell silent...

"Maybe we should get Joey up and running on what's been going on here while he was gonel." David said.

"That's why I wanted you to have a full belly; there's a lot to cover." Soth said.

In turns, they told Joey about what had been happening since he was out of the loop.

"Wow...okay.." "We'll redo the Home page when I get back, Ryder bought the house? He's gonna what? Did she ever show up?"

"Well, at least Caleb is kinda cool, I sorta remember him, he was into gymnastics, he must've had a glow-up since I knew him." Joey said...

"Well, that's the last time I leave without checking in..." Joey finished.

"Uhh...more hotcakes?" Soth asked.

"No... between the sugar and everything else, I'm almost in a coma as it is..." Joey said.

[my-toh-theories-2]

Quick lil theory but this has been on my mind for a while. But, why did Belos give SO much leniency for Lilith? She's the only character we see him give that kind of treatment to. She got to keep her Palismen (the only one he didn't steal/eat barring Eda) and let her fail for over a MONTH in capturing Eda. OVER A MONTH. Anyone else they'd be fucking fired or dead. So, why?? Well, I have an idea.

Firstly no, I don't think Belos was born evil. His own mindscape reflects this as his child aura was purple before it turns into a sinister red later in life. He n Evelyn could've actually been friends? mabye? Eh I lean more towards acquaintance/friend-ish kinda but you get my point lol.

Ok so hurray they once were friends, mabye. Well now I gotta describe another theory. My own lil personal theory I wrote up that was apart of one stupid long post like a week before s3 ep1 dropped. It is very long ripp but if you wanna read it go nuts. Bit out of date n got some stuff wrong but yeah

Anyways, my Evelyn was royalty in someway theory before giving up her throne!! Imo a queen cuz well...

"Little prince..."

There's more evidence supporting this there are ruins on the knee that imply a grand structure once lived there. And that Belos destroyed these now ruins (he is the kind of petty bitch to do that too). And Bill in Edge of The World calls the Boiling Isles the "Carcass Kingdom" instead of an Empire which is what it technically is.

Also this thing. It shows up ALL the fucking time on Eda's ceiling and it has a crown...

Also also!! This stupid soap drama parody! It's from the Owl Pellets from s1. It's about an upper class woman having to choose between a vain man who only wants her for the power she'd give him and a poor farmer boy that actually loves her. Also that egg's wearing Caleb's outfit dnsksk minus the shirt being white. Anyways, look at her dress compared to S1 Lilith's dress. Shares the same silhouette, a form fitting, floor length, A line dress with poofy, circular, sleeves. And while the hair isn't exactly the same... it's got the same vibe if you know what I mean...

Anyways... Belos has STRONG main character syndrome n, like his journal shows, needs to have a good story. A good fantasy. He's Luz that never got his Witches Before Wizards lesson (or did but it never stuck) And hey, what's a better story n fantasy then hey your brother n the FUCKING QUEEN lol. But, that's not how it played out. This is TOH. It's a fantasy show that breaks the fantasy genre. Evelyn and Caleb were both just, people. And from looking at the owl house tower they were people that just wanted a simple, quiet life together alone in the woods. Something that would both break the fantasy with us the audience and with Philip...

TL;DR basically coven head Lilith is who Evelyn was when she was still queen. Eda is who she became (more likely who she really was all along) when she finally gave up her throne. Which is why he's so lenient/ok with Lilith and fucking hates Eda lol

[thatssonanii]

Like Mother

HAHN not so AU Fic

Treasure laid across her bed watching television until her phone rung. She thought about ignoring it in case it was Marco but looked just in case. Slowly, her smile grew wide when she saw her Daddy's picture and name. She answered excitedly putting the call on speaker.

"Hey, Daddy!"

"Hey, beautiful. How's my favorite girl?"

She laughed. "I'm... I'm okay, Daddy. How are you?"

"Nope, don't like that pause. What's going on?"

She sighed picking at her nails.

"Marco. He's annoying me."

A low chuckle escaped him. "Why is he even still around? You showed him that you are your mother's child and he's still trying."

"Don't know, Daddy. I turned down his date invitation to talk things out then he invited himself over here."

Mitch mumbled a few things under his breath.

"I know that your uncles and Caleb are there and you know me, your mom and your other dad like to let you handle things yourself but if need be, I can be there."

"No, no. It's bad enough Dad is gonna be here. The two of you together are far worse," she laughed.

"Thank you. We try," he chuckled. "But if you change your mind Daddy's always here. Other than that boy, everything okay?"

"Yeah everything is good. Oh, Dad wanted to know are you gonna go to the game with him?"

"Tell him I'll be there. I gotta go but I love you sweetheart."

"Love you back, Daddy."

As they were ending their phone call, there was a knock at the door and the doorbell went off. Cameron, Zion, Eddie and Benny sat around the living room with confused faces. Everybody that was supposed to be there just walked in so this was someone without an invite. They didn't like guests coming without an invite.

"I'll grab my gun," Eddie shrugged.

Zion laughed hurrying to get up. "Nope, I got it. If I need you, I'll call."

Again, Eddie shrugged, "Still gonna get it anyway."

Zion's laughter stopped when he laid eyes on the person on the other side of the door.

Marco.

Marco and his smug smile.

Chuckling, Zion leaned against the doorframe.

"What ya ass want? Cause it damn sure ain't my niece."

He chuckled attempting to step in, only to be pushed back by Zion. "Are we gonna do this every time I come over? I'm practically your nephew."

"Look like your eye healed up pretty good. I need to teach her to hit a little harder, maybe you'll get the message then."

"As I told my girlfriend, violence is never the answer, Uncle."

"It's gon be if you don't get the hell away from this house," Cameron threatened as he approached the door. "Take your ass on, little boy. No thank you, we don't want anything you got."

Marco shook his head. "No. I didn't come here to see any of you, I came to see Treasure and she knows I'm coming. Just take a deep breath, step back and let me through."

"Yo who the fu," Cameron started before Zion cut him off.

"Eddie! B! Come 'ere!" He yelled out.

Just as they approached the door, Treasure came running down the stairs. She ran to the door as she called for Caleb. After attempting to push them apart to get to the front didn't work, she huffed and called for him once more.

Eddie glared at the boy. "You got a lot of nerve showing your face over here. You must want me to shoot you. That what you want?"

"Alright, that protective Uncle stuff was real cute at first," Marco laughed, "It's not cute anymore. Just let us be."

"Yo, my man, you really wanna do this?" Benny asked adjusting his hat.

Caleb finally came from his mancave, he carefully moved his granddaughter out the way then easily moved through his sons to the front. Needless to say, he was less than pleased to see Marco.

"I think that you think because you're in high school that the rules don't apply to you. And if you do think that, I'm here to tell you that you're wrong." Caleb explained calmly. "When you stepped your ass up these steps and rung my doorbell, you decided that you wanted to play these stupid games. And what did I tell you about stupid games?"

"Umm ... umm."

"Spit it out." Zion barked. "You had all that mouth a minute ago."

"You said play stupid games and win stupid prizes."

"Yeah exactly and it don't get much more stupid than what my boys can and will do to you. Do you understand that?"

"Uh, I ... yes sir."

Caleb stared at him as he spoke. "Babygirl, do you want to talk to him?"

"I don't want to but I was going to, PopPop." She answered from behind her uncles.

"Whatever you want, babygirl. But you know to call us if anything. Right?"

"Yes sir."

Caleb nodded stepping slightly out of the way. "Come in, Marco."

Nervously, Marco passed Caleb and his boys flinching when Cameron jumped at him. He turned red when they began to laugh. His attempt to get a hug was thwarted by Treasure pushing him back and scoffing.

"I said I would talk to you. Not that you could touch me." She explained rolling her eyes. "Uuh we're gonna go to the patio, PopPop. That okay?"

He winked and smiled at her in response.

"Why can't we talk in your room?"

Treasure's frowned deepened but Benny spoke up before she could.

"You worried about the wrong thing, you need to be grateful she even agreed. And whatever you thought was gonna happen ain't happenin, my man."

Pushing him in front of her, Treasure hugged them and thanked them. The talking and laughing Marco could hear coming from the kitchen stopped as soon as his feet crossed the threshold. He gave the women standing around the island and stove a smile and waved his hand.

"Hey, Ms. Hanna and Aunties."

Cheyenne eyed him then went back to what she was doing. Marissa and Melissa hummed out a haphazard greeting.

"We are not your aunties, boy." Marcie spat as she chopped vegetables.

"Don't be like that. I'm trying to do better, I'm here to talk, aren't I? I'm working on getting things back to normal." He explained still smiling.

Treasure sucked her teeth. "No, you're here cause you clearly didn't understand that I broke up with you. Don't lie in my Nana Christian home like that."

"You're just saying that, I can make you change your mind."

"Sounds to me like you don't understand the word no," Hanna pointed out leaning on the island staring at him, "And that right there is a problem in itself."

Marco looked between them, his mouth opening and closing. "No, I do that's not.... I'm sorry."

"You're always sorry. You just a sorry ass lil boy, huh?" Marcie said with a raise of her brow. Her sisters couldn't help but laugh. Her and Marissa were the calm and nice ones, usually anyway. But with Marco around, that all went out the window.

"We're going to the patio. Won't be long." Treasure told them, pushing Marco once more.

The women waited until the door closed to continue their conversation.

"How did she even end up with that ... that boy?" Cheyenne asked.

"They went to middle school together. He didn't come into his f-boy ways until he got them braces off and his acne cleared up." Marissa explained. "I honestly don't think Treasure actually ever liked him or if she did, once they got together she changed her mind."

Hanna chuckled, "And that boy think if he keeps pushing that she'll change her mind."

"But she won't," Melissa laughed, "The only thing it's gonna do is piss her off. And if nothing else, she is a mini version of Lainey so pissing her off ain't a good idea."

Treasure sat on the patio banister with her arms folded waiting for him to speak. She stared a hole in him that quite frankly scared the shit out of him.

"You got ten seconds to start talking or I'm getting my uncles to put you out."

"Okay okay ... listen I don't wanna break up, Treasure. What I did was dumb but I'm dumb, okay? I'm dumb and I wasn't thinking."

"It's not even the fact that you did it, it's the fact that you're insulting my intelligence. How stupid do you think I am that I would believe anything you say?"

Marco started to approach her but thought better. "I'm not, I don't think you're stupid, T. I just," he sighed running a hand through his hair, "It's just our relationship can never be just us, ya know? It's you, me, your family and Josh. They always have their nose in our business."

A low groan escaped her as she counted backwards from ten. She was trying not to hit him again but he was slowly starting to ask for it.

As Marco went on and on unknowingly adding fuel to the fire, Charles and Lainey were walking to the front door with eleven year old Diego and nine year old Charleigh behind them.

"I had to mute the brother group chat and the sister one too," Lainey chuckled looking at her phone. "Marco is here and no one is happy about it."

Charles glanced behind him at their kids smiling. "Yeah, Mitch was texting me and so were your brothers. Gotta give it to em ... he's brave. Or stupid."

"My guess is stupid." Lainey laughed digging her key out of her purse.

Josh snuck up behind the kids and pulled Charleigh off the steps and picked her up. Her squealing made them all turn around but they all let out the breath they were holding when they saw who it was and Charleigh laughing. He sat her down just as Lainey got the door open and kissed her head then dapped Diego up.

"Josh, ima get you! You scared me!" She laughed clinging to him.

He laughed draping an arm around her. "That's payback for when you scared me the other night, lil one. What's up, Chuck? Hey, Mama. How you doing?

Charles slapped hands with him. "Nothing much. You came cause Marco here?"

"Nope, he's here to see his girlfriend," Lainey laughed opening the door.

Josh let the kids go ahead of him then followed the adults into the house. He did a fake laugh as he hugged Lainey.

"You and Aunties think yall funny with that, Ma." He told her pulling away from the hug. "I came to give Treasure something, Marco being here was just extra."

Lainey shrugged playfully. "Just saying. Di and Charleigh, go change your clothes and put your stuff away please. You can come back down when you're finished."

Charleigh pouted going to hold onto Josh. "Can I do it later, Mommy? Josh just got here and I didn't even get to speak to PopPop yet. Him and Di always outside with the cars."

Diego looked between them laughing a little. "I'm going right now, Mama. I don't want none of that."

Charles watched him run upstairs with a smile on his face. He slid between them, headed for the living room.

"I'm not in it," he called over his shoulder.

"You could always stay up there the rest of the day and night, Charleigh."

Josh squeezed her tight and kissed her head. "Ima be here for a long while, lil one. Go ahead and do what Ma asked you do to do then maybe she'll let me take yall for ice cream later. Deal?"

Squealing, Charleigh ran up the stairs so the way to her bedroom. Feeling her eyes on him, Josh smiled wide at Lainey and made a heart with his hands.

"Love you, Ma!"

Lainey couldn't help but laugh. "Uhuh, come on here."

As soon as Lainey and Josh walked through the living room Eddie jumped up. He safely put his gun away for the moment then approached them with a smile on his face.

"Boy, where has your ass been? I missed you and you ain't showed your face in a week."

Josh laughed as they hugged. "My bad, E. Every time I came only Pop and Nana was here with Babybop. I'll let you know next time I come so you can be here."

"You know you always welcome at my house. Don't even have to call." Eddie told him going back to sit down.

The brothers laughed. You have to be a great person for Eddie to invite you to his house with no heads up, without the intention of shooting you. Josh slapped hands with the other brothers then went to speak to Caleb.

"Pop, what's up? Heard you got a new car."

Caleb grinned. "I did, I did. I had to do a lot of making up after I got it but it was worth it. Babygirl showed you pictures?"

He nodded. "Yeah, it's tough too. I know Di and Uncle Zi loved riding in it."

Caleb frowned looking over at his grinning son. "Di will and so will you but Zion better not even think about it."

Zion threw his hands up laughing. "That's cold, Pop. Real cold. I like cars too!"

"Uhuh and you also like stealing."

"Mama said not to say that about me," he laughed, "Aye, nephew. Them some nice shoes. What size you wear?"

Cameron cut in.

"Do not answer that, Josh. He gon steal your shit."

Josh laughed. "I'm not, he already got me for two pairs. Unc, I found the caps you was ... nevermind."

Benny tried to stop him before Lainey caught on but it was too late. She looked between them.

"If you bring him anymore stocking caps, I know something, Joshua. Don't bring those in here."

Josh laughed choosing not to respond.

"Fine, he can drop em off to my house then," Benny joked dodging her hits.

Jumping at her brother, Lainey walked with Josh to the kitchen. Charles, her brothers and Caleb obviously wanted to talk to one another without either of them in the room. Mainly her. The women all smiled a little wider when they laid eyes on him. He made his way around the kitchen hugging and kissing their cheeks.

Hanna put her hands on his face, smiling up at him.

"You look tired, baby. You been sleeping?"

"Dang, Mama. How you smile and insult him like that," Melissa laughed.

"Wanna see me smile and hit you?" Hanna asked quickly.

The sisters all 'ooohed' childishly then laughed.

Melissa shook her head. "Nope, I'm okay with Benny getting hit and not me. I'm good."

"That's what I thought. Now back to you," she smiled again at Josh making him smile, "Have you been sleeping?"

He nodded even though he knew he was lying. "Yes ma'am, I been sleeping."

She smiled a little longer then snacked his neck making him hiss and the other women flinch. "I told you about lying to me, didn't I?"

"My bad, Nana. My bad. I just don't want you to worry your pretty head about me."

Quickly, he moved away to dodge the next hit that he knew was coming and went to his behind Marcie and Marissa laughing. The women laughed and Hanna couldn't hello but to join them.

"If I didn't know any better I'd swear you belong to one of my slick ass son's or my slick ass brother." She chuckled going check on the food.

He grinned.

"Thank you, Nana. That's so sweet."

"I ... you would take it as a compliment."

While he did enjoy being playful and talking to them, Josh used that moment to get their mind off of him not sleeping because that would lead to questions about whether he's been out working all night or not. With Marco here, they didn't need anymore unpleasant things or people around. Their laughter and talking was mostly covering the argument going on a few feet away on the patio.

"And I don't even know why of all people you let Josh into our business anyway," he ranted moving his hands as he spoke, "Why does your family even let him around you? They really believe he's your best friend and think it's okay."

Her eyes met his, he was too busy going on and on to notice the fire building in them.

"He's 18 for Christ sake! And he's hanging around a 16 year old! Nobody sees anything wrong with that!"

"I don't see anything wrong with it." She responded softly trying not to yell.

"I expected that from you."

Her head tilted and her eyes narrowed. "And what does that mean?"

He scoffed, frowning his face up.

"Seriously? Your dad is a freaking Malone, he's what ... 4 or 5 years older than your mom and your family didn't see anything wrong with that! They clearly want the same thing for you! They want you to be some criminal's baby mama too!"

"What?"

She heard him. She heard every single thing he said. All she was doing was giving him a chance to take it back or change it which he didn't take.

"You heard me! You're too blind to see it! And newsflash for everybody, if your Dad's looking for his replacement they'll never accept Josh as the head of the family." He spat with disgust. "They barely accepted your Mom. But you and Di pass the paper bag test so she skated by!"

In a flash, Marco hit the ground with a thud, holding his gushing nose. Treasure kicked him in his side a few times then jumped on top of him landing punches wherever she could. His yells for help caught Josh and the women's attention, prompting them to call out for the men and rush to the backyard.

Marcie laughed loudly as soon as she laid eyes on them. Marissa had to step away from a moment to catch her breath from laughing so hard. Melissa was wrestling with whether she should record or not.

Cheyenne cursed under her breath. "She is definitely your child, Lainey."

"Thank you," Lainey said breaming with pride.

Josh knew he should stop it but the last time he tried that she bit him.

The men rushed out, immediately busting out into laughter. Caleb tried to keep from laughing but failed causing his wife to pop his arm.

"You know that's not right. Stop her." Hanna chuckled.

"You're laughing too, lil mama but okay okay." He watched a few more minutes before tapping Benny. "Get her off of him, please."

Benny laughed. "You see what I see, she's just like her mama. Nope. Sorry, Pop."

Zion tried to cover his laugh, "I think the person that pulls Lainey off people should pull her daughter off."

Cameron stopped laughing and stared at his brother, "You mutha ... no. Since I have to pull Lainey off someone else has to get baby Mayweather. Charles, you her dad too. Get in there."

Charles looked at the beating then at Cameron and laughed. "Absolutely not but I'll get the person I would call. One of em anyways."

Everybody turned to Eddie, who had zoned out and into Treasure beating Marco's ass. He was living vicariously through her in that moment until he noticed they were starting at him.

"What? We were all laughing."

Charles laughed a little, "This is technically what you get paid to do. Soooo ... if you could. Please."

Sucking his teeth, Eddie mumbled under his breath going over to them. Quickly, he grabbed around her arms putting her into a bear hug and pulled her away from him.

"Calm your little ass down, Treasure. Yo mama can't ever deny you," he groaned trying to keep her from moving so much "Next time, Baby Danny better have his ass here! Aht, aye! If you bite me I swear I will ruin the rest of your summer!"

Cheyenne laughed, "I don't know why he lying he ain't gonna do that."

Benny snatched Marco up from the ground pushing him towards the patio steps. He raised his fist when Marco tried to turn around.

"Boy, what you gon do? What?"

Marco huffed as blood dripped from his nose and mouth. Both eyes were staring to turn purple.

"Look at my face! Look at what she did to my face!"

Zion and Cameron approached them to stand behind Benny.

"And if you keep yelling like you wanna do something to my niece your face gon be the least of your worries." Zion warned staring at the teenager.

Treasure attempted to get out of her uncle's hold. "Let me go! Let me beat him until he can't pass a paper bag test! Let's see how he likes it! Let go!"

Caleb frowned. "What? How do you even know about that?"

"Cause he said the Malones won't accept Josh obviously cause he's black and that they didn't wanna accept my mama but since me and Di passed the paper bag test they let her!" She huffed still trying to get loose. "And for your information, Marco, my daddy ain't just a Malone, my daddy is the Malone and don't you forget it!"

Marcie wiped tears from her eyes still laughing. "Not babygirl throwing her weight around."

"I've never been so proud," Lainey joked. "Almost makes me not wanna beat his ass. Still want to though."

"Between my daddy, my dad, my PopPop and my uncles, I can make you disappear! I told you," she huffed loudly as Eddie tried to take her in the house, "I told you not to mess with me! Nobody talks to me that way or about my family like that! You're done! You hear me? You're done!"

Her yelling turned to muffles when Melissa, Marcie and Cheyenne followed them in the house and closed the door. Josh stood back slightly in awe. He knew his best friend didn't play but he'd never seen her go to this place. Benny, Zion and Cameron ushered Marco out of the backyard with a few parting words.

"Okay, come on, Lainey. Let's go calm your baby down so Marissa can check for cuts and all that." Hanna said letting out a sigh. She stopped by Josh before going inside. "I didn't forget either. Don't leave without talking to me. Yes?"

He nodded.

"Yes ma'am." He answered quickly.

The door closed behind them, leaving Josh with Charles and Caleb. The latter out his arm around the young man, squeezing his shoulder tight.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Just uh," he paused to wipe his face, "Just never seen her that upset before. I don't ever wanna be on that side of her and don't plan to be."

"That's a smart idea. Very smart. Regardless of if you two actually like each other or doing anything about it, you're still her friend which means you have to make sure you can do what you need to do if she gets upset like that," Charles explained going to lean against the banister.

Josh chuckled.

"Yeah I know. I gotta get E to teach me how to do that hold and not get bit. Last time she almost bit a chunk outta my arm."

Laughing, Caleb adjusted his hat and his shirt. "Lainey got Cam like that a few times before he learned. Along with knowing what to do if that happens again, you gotta protect her the way you always have. Aight?"

"Yes sir, of course. Yall don't have to worry about that."

"We hope not. Caleb and I are probably gonna go talk to Mitch tonight. You wanna go?"

"Um yeah. When though? I promised Charleigh I'd take them for ice cream."

"Don't worry about that," Caleb told him. "I'll take care of smoothing that over. You just be ready to ride. Okay?"

[legolasghosty]

ahh yes wip tag game!! i’m physically incapable of not asking about “IKEA Meetcute Willex” but also “Willie Touch Issues Ace Stuff” sounds interesting👀 hope you’re doing well!!

Heheheheheh IKEA Willex!!!! My beloved that I really need to finish!

For anyone who isn't familiar, IKEA Willex is a meetcute setup where Alex is at IKEA looking for a new bedframe(Cause Luke and Reggie broke his old one by jumping on it whenever he wasn't home), and runs into Willie, who is attempting to get a race car bed as a combo of getting furniture for his new apartment and 'healing his inner child' or whatever his therapist kept calling it. They end up searching together :D

Let's see, random facts you don't already know about it.... I guess this is more about the extended universe than this fic itself, but please know that Alex and Willie get a giant race car bed when they move in together eventually! Cause YES!

Snippet!

"How goes the search?" Alex asks.

"Not good," Willie sighs, leaning back against the fake wall. "I know they have them here cause I looked online, but I haven't found any yet and I've been here for an hour."

Alex winces sympathetically. "When did you get here?"

"Like… 11:30?" Willie answers.

Alex glances down at his watch, then back at Willie, then back at the watch. "Ummm, you've only been here for like 20 minutes then," he informs them.

Willie stares at him for a solid minute, then drops his head back against the wall and groans again. "I'm doomed."

(I fully pulled that bit from a show called Ordinary Days.)

Okay! Willie Touch Issues Ace Stuffs!

This one takes place post canon sometime and was born from the idea that Caleb tended to use touch to manipulate Willie. Caleb is gone now and Willie is free, but like... the boy has some trauma. And sometimes he has moments of being terrified of turning out to be just like Caleb. Sooooo he has a bad day where he sort of can't stand to touch Alex or anyone else cause he's terrified that he's somehow manipulating them just like Caleb did.

And there's a whole other level to it with Alex cause Willie is ace and sex repulsed. Alex is probably ace too, cause I can't write allo characters to save my life, but maybe more sex neutral/favorable. So Willie is freaking out that maybe he's manipulating Alex by touching him cause somehow he's promising something he doesn't actually want. It's a whole thing. Anyways, Alex finds him and they'll be okay. When I actually finish writing it.

Snippet!

No, no thinking about him. Today was supposed to be good. He had to focus on something else. They hung a tight left, not even sure where they were anymore, and swerved a little to avoid some more lifers. Maybe tonight Reggie would talk the rest of the gang into watching A New Hope again. While Star Wars wasn't Willie's main thing, he could appreciate the art form, and it always made Reggie happy. But did Willie really think it sounded fun to watch something just because it made his friend happy? Had Caleb been right all along? Was Willie like him? Willing to do whatever it took to get what he wanted, even if it involved hurting people or forcing them to do things they didn't want?

Suddenly, Willie collided with something solid, tumbling to the ground as their board slid out from under their feet. He groaned, rolling onto his back on the cold sidewalk, looking around for whatever it was he’d run into. They froze as their eyes locked on blonde hair and pink fabric.

“Hey Wils,” Alex groaned, sitting up and looking down at him. “Sorry, I didn’t even think about how that would go if you were moving.”

Thanks for the ask!!! Gosh I really wanna go back to both of these now!

(Ask me questions about any of my wips that intrigue you!)

[kazumahashimoto]

omgggg ok category 5 autism moment incoming i just feel CRAZED like omg. voice direction is something i feel i care perhaps an above average amount about so of course i'm like paying super attention to all that but also i'm just so confused like the way in which caleb performs as zack is so. not zack. like i'll disregard the pitch thing for right now even if they were trying to get someone that hit closer to zack's japanese voice actor's range why wouldn't they get. a Voice actor? like caleb pierce has had a number of on camera rolls but this was his first voice acting roll. and sure like aerith's new va hadn't done voice acting either but she's like. good at it? i don't know how to say this lightly but he's bad. or at least for the character he's bad. there are plenty PLENTY of voice actors in that mid high range with all the levels of nasal and scratch you could ever dream of that can give you the emotional range and growth zack goes through. caleb just doesn't perform that. we see this in scenes where he's meant to be yelling yet he puts no strain in his voice or in scenes where he's meant to be calm and understanding where he still has a snarky bite.

another thing that comes to mind for me to show just how different they play the character is the scene where zack meets aerith for the first time. once he collects himself, rick has zack deepen his voice a bit to put up a sort of bravado, he's just met this cute girl you see, zack is something of a flirt, he's just made a fool of himself falling through her roof and he's compensating. what a nice moment of ACTING!!!!! that is TONE that is ALL rick and/or the director. that wasn't the script. caleb reads those lines the same way he reads everything else. there isn't the same nuance and intrigue in performance, to me anyway. i find watching caleb perform boring to listen to honestly. like he's too afraid to get a little silly or a little ugly. no mess. all snark. and sure up to a point you can get away with that i Guess but it's not a terribly long time. once angeal starts pulling away zack gets more serious. he's still goofy and silly but he's also angry and loud and confused and he doesn't know how to deal with any of it. caleb not getting more rough with his voice takes the emotion out of these scenes. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO ANGEAL?" stops sounding like an angry and horrified boy who thinks his mentor just killed his mom, and starts sounding like someone scolding their dog or something. like this was a failing of the director if nothing else.

but let's get back to the pitch because i am so serious it makes a difference!!!!!! even if caleb had STARTED at the same place he should have ENDED putting on at least a Little bit of a deeper voice? like am i supposed to assume this man has No range? i don't wanna assume that i don't fucking know this guy!!!! but like man. angeal is Such an important person to zack. zack sees angeal in EVERYTHING. one of the first scenes is angeal saving zack and grabbing his hand to pull him up. zack is the one who ends up killing angeal. angeal chose him because he knew he was going to die anyway and he didn't want it to be at the hands of shinra by any means. zack is not shinra to him. zack is his cherished friend and mentee. zack kills angeal and is gifted his sword. zack mourns angeal. cissnei tells him wings don't signify a monster, they symbolize freedom. zack looks up to the sky as white feathers fall around him. he catches one in his hand and says, "those wings, i want them too." when zack dies it's angeal we hear his final message to, and we see him reach his hand out to be pulled up by angeal. he smiles as he goes. the main theme of crisis core is dreams and honor. dreams and honor is angeal's theme, angeal's leitmotif. we hear dreams and honor in nearly every song in the soundtrack, even including cloud's. most importantly zack's theme, the actual main character of this video game, is dreams and honor with an electric guitar. zack sees angeal in EVERYTHING. zack thinks the entire world of angeal. in nibelheim he tries to fulfill a similar role in that moment that he had with cloud. he tries to be the rock. when cloud shifts the conversation to be about zack, zack breaks. he lets out a bit of that frustration and confusion at what shinra is forcing him to do. when cloud brings up his sword he suddenly remembers angeal again. not just that he was his mentor and he was grounding, but his strong sense of morals and ideals. his dreams and honor. it is in this moment i believe zack stops seeing "SOLDIER" as SHINRA and starts seeing it as angeal. angeal stopped seeing zack as shinra long ago. before zack kills all those infantrymen he repeats angeal's mantra. embrace your dreams and whatever you do, protect your honor, as SOLDIER. zack is not still attached to the military he's currently slaughtering the lowest members of. he's not desperately clinging to a title of power he once held. he's reclaimed it and given it to angeal.

ALL THIS TO SAY I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT HE CHANGES HIS VOICE TO SOUND MORE LIKE ANGEAL'S AS HE GETS OLDER. like from a character perspective it makes no sense he wouldn't have a vocal change At All after so much has happened like that's a super easy thing you can give to a character to show growth. AND ZACK HAD THAT. BEFORE. i'm running out of steam. it's just kind of crazy to me like even separating rick gomez from the equation caleb pierce plays zack in such a boring unnuanced way. but anyway. heart<3

[sinsofsinister]

— what form of love does your ship embody?

snagged this from @chuckhansen bc it looked fun. i always love going insane for ocs and this is just more of that. basically just putting some ships through this quiz and posting the results :)

[FFXIV] Hawu x G'raha ; love as light [ love as a luminous force—warm, radiant, and golden ] when mary oliver wrote "light of the world hold me” and when charles bukowski said “I look at her and light goes all through me” and when david viscott said “to love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides”and when e. e. cummings said “lovers alone wear sunlight”

[SKYRIM] Farathilith x Veezara ; love as violence [ love as bloodshed, crimson as a knife slipped between your ribs ] when ocean vuong said "to arrive at love, then, is to arrive through obliteration" and when franz kafka said "you are the knife i turn inside myself; that is love" and when ada limon said "how do you love? like a fist. like a knife" and when richard siken said "sorry about the blood in your mouth. i wish it was mine"

[NEVERWINTER] Lorakalyn x Belxiron ; love as religion [ love as the sole object of your reverence--nothing about you is holy, but maybe your love for another is ] when sappho said "in the crooks of your body i find my religion" and when the cast of les mis sang "to love another person is to see the face of God" and when halsey said "i found God, i found him in a lover" and when katherine philips wrote "to the dull angry world let's prove there's a religion in our love"

[D&D AU] Baha x Eli ; love as a choice [ love is beautiful because it's built deliberately ] when casey mcquinston wrote "that's the choice. i love him, with all that, because of all that, on purpose. i love him on purpose" and when jenny slate tweeted "i just want someone to grab my little face and scream on purpose, on purpose i am going to care about you" and when jodi picoult wrote "after fifteen years, love isn't just a feeling. it's a choice" and when the good place said "if soulmates do exist, they're not found they're made"

[D&D AU] Baha x Caleb ; love as being known [ love is knowing all of someone and loving them anyway ] when tim kreider said "if we want the rewards of being loved we have to submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known" and when joe wright said "The idea that these two people know each other, knew each other when they first saw each other. That they recognized each other from their future" and when micah nemerever said "it was a relief and a horror to be known so perfectly"

[DESTINY 2] Vasra x Soph/Volri/Crow ; love as tenderness [ love as gentleness after a lifetime of cruelty ] when ocean vuong said "sometimes being offered tenderness feels like the very proof that you've been ruined" and when pablo neruda said "like a jar you housed the infinite tenderness and the infinite oblivion shattered you like a jar" and when anais mitchell wrote "all i've ever known is how to hold my own, and now i wanna hold you, too”

[grayintogreen]

WIP Wednesday

I'm plugging away at chapter six right now. I'm not gonna hit 75k before tomorrow, but I DID hit 50k mid-month so I absolutely was successful at NaNo. Also the first arc of this fic and the prologue is going to be over 100k, so uh... I'm sorry? You knew what you were getting into.

ANYWAY. Here's a bit of a Widomauk scene from Chapter Five, featuring Czech as Infernal, since the Jester comic decided it and I'm chill enough to adapt it into my lexicon and give it an explanation.

There were some things you just couldn’t say in Common that would have the same effect as they would in another language, so Molly swore under his breath and said, “Jeden myslel, že si uprdne a posral se.”

Caleb looked momentarily alarmed at the guttural words that somehow managed to always sound like a threat even when all he was saying was nonsense. “Was?”

“’Once a man thought he would fart and then he shit himself instead,’” Molly translated with a twist of his upper lip. “Does not have the same ring to it in Common as it does in Infernal, but it’s true enough. You can’t spend your whole life contemplating your navel about what you thought should happen because thinking is useless. It happened. We’re here. This is what we’re dealing with. It’s not ideal, but it’s not terrible either.”

Caleb slowly blinked at him, as if he was missing the point entirely, and so Molly added, leaning closer with a wry little smirk and a casual flick of his tail so that he would get the full weight of his meaning. “So, Mr. Caleb, maybe look at the ocean and just see the ocean.”

The laugh that came from the wizard- his wizard- was more musical than it had any right to be. He caught Molly’s flicking tail and traced the ridges with a calloused thumb in a way that made his toes curl unfairly in his boots. “Will you be saying that when we have nothing but ocean and all of the time in the world to think about what we could have done better and how much more we have yet to do?”

Molly shrugged. “Thinking never gets me anywhere. I do a lot more of it than I once did, but gods does it just bring down the whole vibe of a moment.” He rested his chin on Caleb’s shoulder, tilting his head so not to stab him with his horns while Caleb continued to massage the sensitive flesh of his tail, sending little shockwaves of pleasure up his spine. He bit his lip, his eyes going half-lidded in coquettish glee. “Wanna hear something else in Infernal?”

“Does it involve shitting yourself?” Caleb lifted an eyebrow, his blue eyes sparkling with a bit of mischief. He looked so much lighter than he had when they first entered Nicodranas. If Molly wanted to overthink it, he’d probably place the cause on Jester and Marion- he’d burned their home down and yet they were still together, stronger than ever. He wasn’t the monster that destroyed families. He wasn’t a monster at all.

And yet every decision he made seemed to come from a place of either wanting to prove it or ramming himself against the temptation to prove that a few good turns would not undo years of mistakes and poor choices and conditioning.

But he didn’t want to think about any of that. If it became a pattern, then perhaps a little cornering, a little corralling back towards the light, but why ruin a moment by trying to explain away the light or fear what would dim it?

“Láska je láska. To se nedá vysvětlit,” he recited. He’d learned both phrases from Jester during a time when it became extremely obvious that everything he knew about Infernal and his own heritage was instinct. He understood the words and spoke them fine, but there were a few turns of phrase that didn’t come easily to his instinctual memory that made him squint when Jester used them. She had said it wasn’t necessarily his fault (or Lucien’s for that matter)- she knew these things because she was an eighth generation tiefling on her mother’s side. They still carried Infernal culturally, right down to the accent, rather than merely as part and parcel to their natural lineage.

Love is just love. It can never be explained. It was her favorite phrase. Her mother had taught it to her over and over again until she knew it by rote and could recite it like a daily prayer. You didn’t think about love. You didn’t analyze it. You didn’t worry about it. You just let it be.

Caleb, despite his love for the spoken and written word, didn’t ask for the translation, which seemed appropriate. Even in a foreign tongue, the meaning was clear and to ask would be to contradict it.

And there were some things Molly wasn’t willing to let be contradictory.

[jaggedwolf]

pll rewatch 2x15

THESE AREN’T HIGHLIGHTS HANNA, I HAVE GLASS IN MY HAIR

Aria immediately scampers over and picks the glass out of Emily’s hair. Very cute

Hanna responds to everyone’s freakout by saying Isabel and Kate are moving to town. Girl, that is the least important drama in your life rn.

Emily says she has Caleb’s number so Hanna’s opinion doesn’t matter. Do Emily and Caleb hang out? I would like them to. Emily likes Caleb because he votes in favor of her suggestion of slashers for group movie nights.

Byron loses all points he gained with me last episode by taking his rage out on Aria’s outfit. (1) Your daughter has never dressed appropriately (2) It is very weird to jump from Aria/Ezra to Aria must be dressing slutty for the teachers at her high school, none of whom are Ezra

Did Spencer know she was going to make out with Toby when she went to go see him? Unclear, but it leads to another makeout->spy sequence for Spoby

Lucas is so obviously still into Hanna that this entire thing makes me cringe. He doesn’t have enough of a spine to say no to her. She can tell he doesn’t want to hang out with her but pushes him anyway. No one is appealing to me here, including Caleb randomly going “You’re a good man, Lucas”

I was relieved at the possibility of this being A-related and not friendzone related. 

Ella is ridiculously lax in letting Emily continue a makeup test on yet another day. Emily’s already seen the test! This is wild! 

Ella then asks Emily what else she doesn’t know about her daughter, though she does acknowledge she’s being unfair. 

I get distracted by the blackboard writing behind Ella, given that I’ve read The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter. Good book.

Emily: They’ve already made some memories on that couch in the living room 

Spencer: -looks aghast-

Emily: She—she didn’t tell you?

Spencer, horrified: That was my nana’s couch.

Back in the day Emily would sometimes get framed by fandom as being grossed out at having to hear about Haleb makeouts, because gay. Rewatch is definitely proving that wrong. Between her :D at relaying the above and that her response to Haleb banging in S1 was to ask Hanna when they’d get the chance to do it again, Emily is here to hear these deets and Hanna is here to share.

Spencer is not here to hear this shit or that it happened on her nana’s couch. Very funny to compare how horny Spencer is over Ezria to how uninterested in Haleb she is. I will have thoughts on Emily ships here in the future.

Anyway, Spencer does offer Hanna the lakehouse

The girls should tell Caleb at this point. He’s doing hacking work for them, if A is smart he would be at risk anyway, Caleb is not inclined to trust the authorities so he won’t spill. 

A doesn’t even send them messages going DON’T TELL CALEB BOOOO

Instead Caleb gets a surprise birthday party. Does Caleb even know any of these people? Does Caleb even like surprise parties? I feel like he’d just wanna hang out with his girlfriend and maybe their friends.

This will not be the last time on this show someone throws a surprise birthday party for their significant other while I frown in judgement. 

The Montgomeries continue to leave me with so many questions about their parenting. Byron storms into Ezra’s apartment without his wife or even telling her, Ella decides Aria/Ezra must be connected to Byron/Meredith. (Which again convinces me they never had an actual conversation about the affair while getting back together, they just got horny and decided, well, back to normal!)

Ella does not want to go to the police over Ezra. I’m...inclined to side with her. Less so about Aria’s reputation, because there are already rumours and the entire student body of Rosewood High, if not Hollis, knows about this. Just that uh, I don’t think it’s illegal for them to date, even if they were having sex that’s difficult to prove when Aria won’t co-operate. Little chance of Ezra facing consequences, more chance of cops being unhelpful.

You know what they could do that no one mentions? Talk to the school, which already should have been Ella’s responsibility as a teacher. Yeah, he’s not at Rosewood anymore but he has some kind of teaching certification, right? Get that shit off of him. Lower threshhold of evidence, ruin his reputation, incentivize Hollis to fire him too. 

Sorry I briefly imagined a world where Coach Fulton walked by one of those classrooms Ezria love to have dramatic conversations in and she goes WTF??? And straight to the principal. Because Coach Fulton would. 

Ella says something about how they raised Aria to be open-minded and I’m like Ella...girl...no...

Hanna stops by Ezra’s office to say she supports him. This is in-character, unfortunately

I completely forgot that the mystery caller was Lucas.

BTW, the contemporaneous podcast I listen to called this the Worst Crisis Hotline Ever and they are not wrong, the way this place is run.

Something I really appreciate about S2  is that we’ve gotten a lot of Spemily teaming up as the investigative leaders, really trying to push the investigation forward. They confront Hanna about Lucas together, and Hanna goes full denial.

Garrett whines to Toby like a crybaby about Toby’s step-sister dumping him. Toby looks at him like a guy who got crept on by said step-sister. 

Spencer says they have tiki torches left over from her dad’s 40th. I would love to know how that party went.

Lucas creeps Spencer out, who seems physically afraid of him. The way this episode and the next frame Lucas as a physical threat is interesting, in that all our previous A suspects have felt more imposing in attitude or stature. 

Byron and Ella think shoving an age-appropriate boy at Aria is the solution. Okay, I get that they’re trying to supervise Aria more, but why keep her away from her friends? They should get her to have her friends over sometimes at least so it feels less like a punishment.

Spencer is so happy to have Emily return to play buddy cop with her but oh no! Hanna’s on a boat! With Lucas! And then she uh hits him in the back of the head with an oar.

Spencer cradles Hanna for a while post-lake, I just think we should all note that. 

DUN DUN DUN A has fished out...Lucas’s shoe. Bummer, can’t eat that.

[dhampiravidi]

❛ i think i'm caught between who i am and who i want to be ❜ (Pogue to Jayn)

She knew he'd seen the picture Cass had texted her. It was their celeb crush--the lead singer of a band the girls liked. He was about thirty, with soft, chin-length hair, piercings, and a gorgeous collage of tattoos decorating his toned body. But Cass hadn't sent Jayn the picture to discuss those lovely physical features. No, she'd sent it so they could giggle about the guy's eyeliner. Black eyeliner, glasses, and button-downs with the sleeves rolled up were just a few of the things that always made hot guys look even hotter.

Anyway, Jayn had been sitting on the bed, practically cackling as she texted Cass. In the meantime, Pogue was using the bathroom. She hadn't heard the toilet flush, what with how distracted she was. So she didn't know that Pogue was behind her until he cleared his throat.

"Who's he?" Crap. Between she, Pogue, Cass, and Caleb, Pogue was always the most likely to get jealous. His temperament probably stemmed from how he'd grown up, with a dad who randomly blew up over fairly small issues, and a mom who never really told her son that she loved him. Oh, and his longtime girlfriend (now ex), Kate, had repeatedly cheated on him. In other words, he was affection-starved, and when he didn't get what he needed, or he thought his partner(s) was planning to leave him, he got really upset.

"Oh, him? He's just a guy from a band that me and Cass like," Jayn quickly explained, scrambling to face Pogue, "She wanted me to see what the eyeliner does for him." Not a complete lie.

"Huh..." He plopped down next to her, glancing over at the picture. "You really like that stuff, don't you? Eyeliner's the only makeup I see you with." Jayn was surprised that he hadn't huffed or started an interrogation.

"Yeah. I mean, I guess. I mess mine up a lot, but if you're already doing it thin, it doesn't matter."

"..show me. Please?" he asked in a whisper. She blinked.

"I'm wearing some right now."

"I meant, on me." He was gritting his teeth, then biting his lip, then looking away, as if he enjoyed studying the floor. In other words, Pogue was trying very hard not to cry. "I-'m always...think I'm caught between who I am, a-and who I wanna be..."

"Sweetheart. Look at me...please?" Just getting him to understand that keeping his hair long had been a bit of a struggle. Jayn knew how many years it'd taken Pogue to admit he loved Caleb and actually openly date him, much less move out of his parents' house (he had the money, he'd just always feared what they would do when he left planning to enter a polycule with his boyfriend).

She carefully rested her hand on his cheek, and let him turn to face her when he was ready. Gods, seeing those beautiful hazel eyes burdened with tears would never stop hurting her. He swallowed down a sob, hands in the pockets of his leather jacket.

"Jay--"

"We can take it off if you don't like how it looks." She softly pecked him on the lips. "You know I already think you're hot, right?" He smiled a little.

"Yeah, babygirl. You tell me all the time." Jayn pulled him into a fierce hug, only pulling away when his breathing had steadied. Then she grabbed a bag of M&Ms from her drawer and tossed it onto his lap, giggling at how eagerly he opened it.

"I'll be right back." She went to her bathroom and got her eyeliner pencil, a damp (warm) washcloth, and a soft dry cloth, then returned to where Pogue was looking intently at the picture on her phone. Hehe, he's got a crush too. "Hey. We can do this two ways: you turn to face me, or you lie down and I straddle you. Whatever's--" He'd already flopped onto his back, arms wide and face silly. "Oh my gosh," Jayn mumbled, "What am I going to do with you?...Alright, but you gotta stay still until I'm done." He nodded.

She sat on his hips, then leaned down. He immediately grabbed her boobs, because Pogue was a little shit. "Hi," he said, flashing a cocky grin. He only let go when she tried to get back up. "OK, OK." He moved his hands to her hips, so he could keep her steady. Once she knew he wasn't going to squirm, Jayn gently touched under his eye with her free hand.

"It'll feel weird while I'm drawing, because I have to touch your bottom eyelid..." Somehow he managed to stay perfectly still while she applied the black liner, and she managed to do it without messing up on either eye. "Oh, shit."

"What?"

"C'mere!" Jayn tossed everything to the side, took Pogue's hand, and led him into the bathroom, in front of the big mirror. His eyes widened as soon as he saw himself. He blinked experimentally, like he was trying his face out for the first time. And then, slowly but surely, he smiled. He grabbed Jayn, spinning her around as she screeched. Then he carried her back to bed, kissing her passionately. When she was dazed, he took pictures of both of them, sending them to Cass and Caleb via their group chat.

"You were right: hot guys look hotter with eyeliner," Pogue said mischievously. "Now c'mon, we're gonna be late."

[speaking-at-the-theater]

TOH REACTION

so first thing first: i misspell a lot. i also swear a lot, if that bothers you, sorry

i havent watched the last two eps of toh so heres me doing it. i’ll compile it all in one post so i wont have to tag 300+ posts, i also use caps a lot.

anyway, let’s go! QUICK DETAIL I ACCIDENTALLY REFER TO COLLECTOR AS HIM HERE I DIDNT NOTICE HE WAS THEY THEM I'LL CORRECT IT AS SOON AS POSIBLE

FOR THE FUTURE! here we go

collector’s happiness overlaid with everyone else’s suffering is so…funny??? idk also ‘it’s like the whole world is singing’ is a cool phrase if it weren’t for the context XD

–

aunt lily to the rescue!!

–

LILY NO

–

‘now, what part do i get to play’ horrific scene i want more

also: this is why you don’t give children godly powers. it ends badly!

–

oddly beautiful if not for the corpses

-

i want that as my wallpaper

—

EDA’S REQUIEM!!!!!!

–

you know things are bad when the logo/intro changes

—

‘it’s not like he’ll inexplicably appear if you say his name!!’ hunter have you ever read a fairytale? a myth? the bible??? names have power.

—

oh yeah never mess with a latina mama.

–

it’s cute seeing the kids miss their home

–

through the face??? count me in!!

–

luz is smitten

–

noooooo luz :((((( you’re happier sharing both realms everyone can see it

—

—

anyone know what these are??

–

ah. the bastard is here.

–

CALEB???

–

nooo gus youre making me cryy

–

‘i’m fine, really’ said every character who is not fine in the story of ever

–

the soundtrack in eda’s room scene!!!! i need it!!!!

–

amity’s palisman being a cat fits so well bc cats choose where they go. you cant control them the way you might a dog or a bird, which fits well with the idea of choosing your own path.

—

camila is taking everything so well!! my mom wouldnt last two seconds in the boiling isles. neither would i ofc.

–

is this an animation error or….??

–

some graffiti messages i managed to read:

-(do not) celebrate the day of unity! :( 

- boo belos

-hide ur kids

-run

-they’ll find you!!

-hide

-nope, no, go away

-closed forever

-help

-run

and general sun and moon symbols

-beware the collector

-amelia, cat! (general stuff i cant make out) (infinity train???)

-where is the titan now?

-belos lied

-

these are cute

–

wow that’s creepy

-

i know it’s supposed to be creepy about the collector playing pretend while everyone suffers but- i can’t. the secondhand embarrassment is too much for me.

-

light glyph go??????

-

collectors ‘cool aunt vibe who pretends to be coldhearted but actually cares a lot’ vs luz’s ‘bad but sad boy’

parallels? ey?

-

hmmm yeah that was creepy

-

‘little space cherub’ XDD

-

love how we go from funny new hexside to (ughhhh) belos. 

—

hmm  i would love to analyze the composition of this glyph

–

all the bastard adults trying to take advantage of the collector ughhhhhh

also love the space palace

plus: ‘what do mortals eat again? rocks? fire? gravity?’, unfortunately, collector, we are not stars

–

of course the book is made of rocks. of course.

also king seems…practiced, on reading the book. you gotta wonder how much he knows now about collectors

-

cool how collector is both evil and, yk, a child. bc children are not always innocent. they can be some of the cruelest creatures on the universe (i would know)

–

one has got to wonder about the history told in those walls, meaning i will wonder and theorize. bc that’s what i do.

ok it seems like collector was…surrounded by titans. baby titans, and then a group of older collectors took him in, seeing as theyre smiling and reaching out a hand, instead of banishing him away. they dont look friendly, but it might just be the portrait.

although those first two portraits reveal themselves, at the very end there’s something else

 unfortunately i have no idea what it is. i dont think the repetition is an animation error or shortcut. if it were, why only repeat two times and change at the very end, where it is unlikely to be noticed??

 again, portraits repeat, except for a star in the middle.

......i wanna theorize on this. maybe on another post.

collectors doing something to a planet and our collector watching, wanting to join in, but probably rejected (the whole portrait section had a lot of images but it surpassed tumblrs limit so i deleted them, more on another post, maybe

–

—

—-

—

–

poor raine tho. what’s up with them and people trying to mindcontrol them????

—

poor hooty

–

what’s this, rapunzel?? a tear saves the guy???

–

poor willow tho

–

‘’im gonna assume those are clean’ ma’am cleanness is the last thing you need to worry about now

–

that’s two simultaneous mindcontrollings! raine is on a roll!!

—

“trouble with your team, captain half-a-witch? leading isnt easy is it? all your time is spent helping the team, keeping people from fighting, planning your next move, and titan forbid you show any weakness! everyone else falls apart.

-

fucking kikimora

-

cuando no tienes la chancla, un bate sirve

-

boscha is….ugh. i’m conflicted. i get it but also.she annoys me.

–

everything is under control when everything is not undercontrol my favorite trope

–

poor (????) collector. i know he’s not good but….idk, i feel for him

–

ITSHATCHINGITSHATCHINGHATCHIHATCHINGAAAAAAAAA

—

poor willowwwwww poor kids everyone needs therapy here

—

“luz has a staff, why does that make me nervous?” considering the first impression you got of it……

–

SNAKESHIFTER YESSSSSS ALSO SNAKE PALISMAN FOR LUZ WE WINNIN

i could write poems about how it fits her but just- look. it fits.

-

END CREDITS WHERE AWESOME!!!! Love the snapshots of the things that werent fully explained!! kikimora manipulating boscha during the attack, king being sad at losing eda and lilith and the collector…..emphathizing?? of a sort??? anyway yeah

[barry-j-blupjeans]

38 and Merle for the fluff prompts? :0

(I'm really missin Merle today </3 )

38. "May I have this dance?"

--

The sun was setting over the forest that lined the horizon, but the wedding reception for Carey and Killian was still in full swing. For the adults, at least. Mavis and Angus had taken up one of the tables in the back to stay away from the crowd at large. Angus had brought a few books along, as he promised he would last week when they talked over their Stones. Mavis would have brought her own books, but she wasn't really sure if she'd be allowed. A lot of the weddings at the Coralheart Clan were kind of stuffy and loud, and Mavis was told several times that "reading during an important event was rude". Mom defended her a lot, but it didn't always get through people's heads.

But this wedding, no one really commented on it. Maybe that's because they didn't have the Coralheart Clan's explanation, or maybe it was because they were too busy celebrating, but Mavis definitely wasn't going to complain. She was almost caught up with Caleb Cleveland, Kid Cop again and with the next book coming out this fall, she wanted to be ready.

Mookie had drained his energy out within the last few hours and now, he was on the chair next to Mavis, his head pressed against the table, fast asleep. He had one thumb in his mouth, a habit that Mom was trying to train him out of, and his shoes had been kicked off. Angus had already left because he had a "very important job interview for a very important job!" to get to tomorrow morning. He had left three books with her and, while Mavis was pretty tired herself, she was determined to get through this next one before going home.

"You doin' alright, pumpkin?" said a voice from her right. Mavis looked up to see Merle standing there. He had abandoned his bowtie and suit jacket directly after the ceremony and Mavis didn't know where his shirt and shoes had ended up, but they weren't with him now.

"I'm okay," Mavis said, voice low. She glanced over at Mookie and Merle followed her gaze.

"Might be time to get home soon," Merle said. "Don't wanna give a grumpy Mookie back to your mom, huh?"

"I just want to finish this book first," Mavis said. "I've got five more chapters."

"Gotcha," Merle said. Mavis lifted the book back up to read, but she didn't get past one line before Merle said, "If you got time for five more chapters, d'you think you've got time to for a dance with your old man?"

Mavis glanced at her books. And then at Mookie, who snorted in his sleep. Then, back at Merle, who was smiling at her hopefully.

"Yeah," Mavis said, slipping an unused napkin between the pages (she'd normally dogear the page but these were Angus's books, after all). "I think I can do that."

"Well then," Merle said, holding out a hand. "May I have this dance?"

Mavis grinned, cheeks a little flushed. She took Merle's hand and hopped out of her seat. Her feet were aching and she was thankful Mom made her pack flat so she was able to take off her heels earlier. She followed Merle out to the middle of the dance floor, where he waved at somewhere behind her and lifted a thumbs up into the air. The music quieted and then stopped completely. And then, in place of the drums-heavy song they had had before, someone started to play the piano.

"It's a better vibe," Merle said, doing what might have been a wink, but with the one eye, it just looked like he was blinking at Mavis with intention. A violin joined in. Mavis's eyebrows shot up and Merle grinned. "Look, Killian asked 'em to play it anyway. Anyone ever teach you how to waltz, Mavvie?"

"Glymeth tried," Mavis said. "But it didn't work out too well."

"That's alright," Merle said. "Here, we're gonna divide it into little steps like this. Put your hands like this-" Merle moved Mavis's hands into position and she felt a little bit silly, but didn't comment on it. "And then we step this way, and then that way. One, two, yeah? And then-"

"Sorry!" Mavis said, retracting her foot from where she had stepped on Merle's.

"You're good!" Merle said. "Takes a while! Try again."

They repeated a simple motion a few times, Merle leading. Sometimes, Mavis would step on his foot and try to stop, but he'd just shake his head and smile. They spun as they danced, nearly crashing into a few of the other people around them. Mavis could see Aunt Lup and Uncle Barry playing their instruments on the stage when they turned one way. She could see Carey and Killian swaying softly, much less chaotic than earlier, when they turned the other.

When the song finally came to an end, Mavis was sweaty and out of breath, but she felt lighter than she had all day. Merle brought their hands down and they escaped off the dance floor, past Uncle Taako who was attempting to drag Mr. Kravitz into a salsa that seemed way too fast for the next song that began.

"I'll leave ya to your book," Merle said, voice lowering again as they got to Mookie. "And your done come find me, okay? I'll get'cha home."

"Okay," Mavis said, hopping back up onto her seat. Merle smiled and squeezed her shoulder, saying,

"Love ya, Mavvie."

Love you too, dad."

[my-toh-theories-2]

So, so, so sorry in advance but this is gonna be a DUMB long post as I have So Many Thoughts that led into So Many Different Tangents but, some Belos, Caleb and his partner thoughts!!! Just the past for right now. This post was originally going to be about both the past and where I think TOH will go from there but honestly, I've been working on this stupid fucking post since early June. Idk why but I just keep hitting writing blocks writing about the future. I think it'd just be best to crank this one out now and hopefully some feedback will help me write about the future. Also I REALLY wanna get this out before S3 comes out djsjsk

Oh, and disclaimer. When talking about past Philip am I in no way trying to excuse any of the shit he pulled as Belos. Lmao no. Fuck him. This man lived for 300+ years and still didn't learn that genocide, colonization, bigotry, abuse, murder, etc. is bad, actually. He is a grown ass man capable of making his own choices and he chose to do this. To be like this. Only he and he alone is complicit in his own damnation and I hope he gets hit by a fucking truck lmao 

Anyways, onto the post!! 

Ok firstly just getting this out of the way, no, I don't think Caleb is inherently good and that Belos was just born evil (like look at child him in Hollow Mind his aura was purple before it became red). I think they're both just: people, who did both good and bad things. Just, were, y'know? What separates them I think is choice and the ability to change. When Caleb learned that witch hunting was actually wrong he chose to not want to become a witch hunter and changed for the better. When Philip learned it was wrong he chose to double down on his bigoted beliefs (well I think it's a bit more complex than that but I'll talk about it later lmao). They were just, both people, both kids, that came from the same fucked up environment. It's what they chose to do after they learned the truth and left that environment that differentiates them. 

Ok so, onto their childhood in the Human Realm. Something right off the bat that strikes me is how just, alone the two are. 

Sure they're having fun but it's just them. The only other people we see are just silhouettes in the background. We don't even see their parents!! Where are they? Hello??? I do think like Eda and Lilith they were each other's only friends. Also personal lil’ head cannon but I do think some parentification happened on Caleb's part and he was forced to act as a parental figure to Philip due to their parent's absence/neglect. Like, they're both figuratively and literally out of these pictures!!! This isn't even touching on the religious trauma these two most definitely have (lmaoo like look at Belos). God these kids came from such a fucked up home.

Also I think how the Emperor's Coven operates gives us a good picture on what their home life was like. Like look at this man that religious trauma had to have come from somewhere lol. In all seriousness tho Belos does have a major theme of the cycle of abuse (esp with the grimwalkers). Sometimes, when the cycle continues the abused turned abuser does so as a way to reclaim power. I feel small so I'm going to make you feel even smaller. Remember how he used his curse goo to make himself MASSIVE in Young Blood Old Souls? He is both figuratively and literally making himself bigger. To reclaim that power. He made Luz KNEEL before him. Made everyone else smaller.

I also noticed that sometimes when he does something horrible it looks just so goddamn cathartic to him. Like he's scratching some very deep wounds.

Ok back to their childhood djsjsks (I told you there were gonna be So Many Tangents fjskssk). But, now looking at the Gravesfeild crest: I think it gives us a pretty good look at how they felt about Gravesfeild/how they were perceived by their town. There are 3 variations in show. The golden guard crest which is just a bird in an outline that looks like a bird cage (like all it's missing is bars and the loop at top to hang it), Philip’s version that just has the wings under it no bird up top on his explorer jacket and the one in Gravesfeild that has both.

Considering that the version without wings is worn by Hunter and was the old Golden Guard sigil I think it's safe to say that Caleb is the bird in the bird cage. Philip also has a wing motif as Belos seen with his staff, coven sigil and rebuilt portal so yeah he's the wings. I do think the both of them didn't fit in in Gravesfeild but Caleb in particular really felt like he didn't fit in/belong there. Which, now that I think about it, yeah, makes sense. This kid is so happy go lucky and looks like he'd sob if he accidentally stepped on a bird lol. His name, Caleb, means wholehearted too. (It could also mean dog idk every website I looked at kept contradicting each other saying “oh it’s wholehearted,” “NO it actually means DOG the other website was wrong,” “ACTUALLY-” DJFJFJ. I digress lol. I’m just gonna view it as both sdkfsj.) Anyways, he really just doesn't look like witch hunting material. On the other hand I don't think Philip (and Belos now) feels the same way as his adventuring outfit does have a simplified logo of the crest on his jacket only without the bird (Caleb) in the bird cage. But that doesn't change the fact that the pair of wings are still under the birdcage... he was just as trapped as Caleb. Imo Philip gives me the vibes of someone who doesn’t fit into society in one way or another yet desperately wants to.

Now one last tidbit about their childhood before I move on to them entering the demon realm. Philip and Belos are shown in show to be ambidextrous but left-hand dominant. And, in childhood is shown only using his right hand. Considering his time period... yeah they forced this kid to be right-handed didn’t they? And considering how the left hand was believed to be the “devil’s hand” or smthing I wouldn’t be surprised if he developed a lot of self loathing and self hatred from that that would then, to him, be later used to justify his horrible actions. “I’m already an evil sinner for being left handed so why even try be good? There’s no point.” A very nasty self fulfilling prophecy. Idk Just a thought.

Also I think it's super interesting how Belos has a bird motif but only as wings. Never an actual bird of his own. Nor does he fully become left-handed. He never really fully self actualized nor healed huh. Which, yeah Hollow Mind basically confirmed that with inner kid Belos. The guy was crying alone when we first met him. Plus that painting of adult him post fratricide wearing his childhood mask Caleb made of him. He really is just a giant man child huh? 

Ok now onto them entering the demon realm. Firstly, I do think they were "lured in by a real witch." It's both what the historical account says and what Philip's own memories show. Only Philip's journal says otherwise and well, we know he lied a FUCK TON in that journal I wouldn't really trust anything he says in that unless shown otherwise (and I'm not really gonna rely on that for this post). Also Philip’s journal explanation of how he got there reeks of bullshit.

“After 5 years I have finally found it. A power source so potent it can pierce through realms: Titan’s blood. There are old tales of lakes reflecting green trees and blue skies. The Titan’s veins run through the land and many believe these wild portals are made when a little of it’s blood leaks into the water. That is how I came here, so that is the first place I shall look. I will journey back to Eclipse Lake.” Belos, Eclipse Lake

So you’re telling me that you came through a wild portal and only NOW after trying to make a portal door for 5 YEARS you just thought to look into wild portals???? Only NOW?????? Dude if someone got isekai-ed to the demon realm through a wild portal and wanted to get back home they would IMEDITALLY look into wild portals to figure out how they worked to get back home. You’re telling me you only thought to look into these wild portals NOW?????? AFTER 5 YEARS????? Yeah no I’m calling bullshit.

Ok, lil’ side rant tangent done. But, I do think the memories are biased from Philip's perspective and I don't think that's quite how it went down. Mindscapes do reflect the individual after all. Anyways, there looks to be 2 paintings of the event and the historical depictions in Yesterday’s Lie.

This, what I think is most likely right before them entering the demon realm, and them being “lured in by a witch.” It’s honestly interesting how Caleb is framed from Philip’s perspective; it's like he’s on “his side” one minute then “on the side of the witches,” the next. Choosing them over him. This encounter in both the historical account and in Philip’s memories is framed as a deal with the devil of sorts. A temptation of sin. A corruption of Caleb.

But, I don’t think that fast “switch” is what happened for Caleb. That’s not how it happens for ex-cult members/deradicalization. It’s a very long process. And within the historical account he’s pretty friendly with the witch, shaking their hand and he already has Flapjack on his shoulder. Going off of this he could’ve already been “on their side” for years at this point. This day is just the first time Philip found out about it. Which is why he’s on “his side” one minute and then “the witches side” the next.

When Luz first enters the Demon Realm not really of her own choice, her Azura book is almost burned by Eda. Mirroring Philip's journal almost being burned in Elsewhere and Elsewhen. However, when Luz chooses to stay at the end of the episode, the eye from “Del's tower” blinks. The first and only time it's done that.

Anyways, when they enter the demon realm Caleb looks 18/19 and Philip looks mid-teens. And then there's just a huge time skip to young adult Philip traveling the Boiling Isles?? Girl what happened during that time period??? Well, I'd like to propose an idea. 

A while back I made a speculative post wondering that, hey, considering that this show loves to do parallels what if the Wittebane brothers were once in a trio similar to our modern day trio of Eda, King and Luz? Caleb is Luz, Philip is King and that "witch that lured them in" is Eda. Belos already feels like a worse case scenario of King. And well, since then we learned more (like Luz really parallels Caleb now) + we know this hole in time exists, yeah l really think this is what happened lol.

Starting off with Philip again he does feel like he’s a worst case senario of King. Mainly season 1 King. Like this man became an actual tyrant. It’s like he never got his own Echoes of The Past moment (or he could’ve and it just never stuck). 

They’re both little guys with big Napoleon complexes that want to be taken seriously. They crave power, have main character syndrome and treat people like minions (with Philip specifically treating others like NPCs). Season 1 King had this King of Demons fantasy and a lot of his own self worth was tied up into this story. Which hey, sounds a lot like a certain someone’s journal.

Imo I think his own fantasy was a “chosen one” fantasy. There’s a lot of little references to him in Witches Before Wizards. Luz’s toy sword’s hilt has a crown on top like the Emperor’s sigil, the chosen one map has a bunch of lil’ suns on it (as Belos he has a sun motif seen in propaganda paintings I’d show them but posts have a 30 pic post limit sflakjzjk), and Azura shares a lot of design similarities with Belos. 

They also share possessiveness and a fear of being abandoned. Remember when King shrunk down Willow and Gus due to his jealousy and possessiveness of Luz in Really Small Problems? When they all get shrunk down and Tibbles throw them into the tent of tiny terrors they (and by they I mean more specifically King) have to fight against horses with blue eyes. (If you didn't know the name Philip means friend of horses which yeah, that's pretty self explanatory).

As much as I just harped on him (I mean it's very easy and fun to bully this senior citizen) I do actually think this lil trio did him some good. Remember my whole spiel about the wings? I personally think it came from here. Whether he was actually putting in the effort or it was better, not abusive, environment + Caleb, like Luz, bringing the best out of everyone I'm unsure. Could be both. I do 100% think Caleb brought out the best in Philip and that's why he went downhill fast without him.

With Caleb while yeah he def parallels Luz by falling in love with a witch but I also think they parallel in spirit, falling in love with the demon realm + wanting to stay and in their affinity for magic. Like, Belos straight up tells Luz, "I like your spirit," in Young Blood Old Souls dhsnsj yeah.

In terms of magic remember this man made Flapjack. Which is, y’know, a right of passage for a witch. Also this is a show about witches, demons and magic with the main villain being a puritanical 1600s witch hunter. So his brother both falling in love with a witch and becoming one is very fitting lol.

Bit of a tangent but I wanna talk about what kind of magic he practiced cuz I think I cracked it lol. It definitely wasn't glyphs cuz Belos had to learn that on his own (and remember had a very difficult time with it it took him years to find those glyphs). Knowing Caleb he probably would've just, shared that knowledge with his brother. I think he practiced elemental magic instead. And I don't think it's a coincidence that the first time we heard of it being a thing is when Hunter mentioned it in Hunting Palismen. 

When Hunter fights with Flapjack in Eclipse Lake the attacks he used is elemental in nature. Lighting bolt shower (fire), a stone fist (earth) and his teleportation which feels very electric. Tying it back to that lighting bolt shower. But Belos never really uses any spells like that just sticking to glyphs (except that one time he moved rock in Young Blood; Old Souls but remember with the right combination you can cast anything). This... has some interesting implications. Firstly, we know magic is a gift from the isles. The Titan will tell it to you, you just gotta listen. So, if I'm right about Caleb practicing elemental magic, why show that to Caleb and not to either Philip or Luz? And why doesn't Belos use it? He does want to definitely wants to look at these unfinished glyph combos in Them’s The Breaks, Kid. They’re all elemental in nature...

Windy is air, the water fountain is water, petrification is stone. There isn't a fire one cuz it already exists in glyph form. The envy here is pulpable lol

Also remember how Philip called glyphs picto-glyphs in Elsewhere and Elsewhen? If you look into the etymology of the word picto it derives from Latin, meaning panting/to paint. On the contrary we know spoken spells are a thing and thanks to Hooty's Moving Castle we know a human too can cast a spoken spell. Mabye it's a language barrier? That's why the Titan only showed Caleb elemental magic to stop Philip and showed Luz glyph magic cuz it's much eaiser to learn for a beginner compared to elemental magic? Just an idea but yeah. But I do think he practiced elemental magic tho. Elemental magic user Caleb truther.

Oh and one more Luz and Caleb parallel I wanna talk about. "You witches come up with the worst lies." Belos, Elsewhere and Elsewhen. Considering that he parallels both Luz and Eda (I will talk about the latter’s parallels soon) and that both have lied/withheld the truth in the past.... That line was also about Caleb wasn't it Philip? I mean the episode where we learned that Caleb existed was the same one where Luz told her mom the truth about where she’s actually been (Yesterday’s Lie) … Idk just wanted to put this here cuz this line has always stuck out to me as having a double meaning.

Again, hard to really write anything for their Eda but considering how she had that portal door for years and freely traveled back and forth for decades; I'd assume their version of Eda had their own door that later got destroyed (like how Eda's door got destroyed) trapping the Wittebane brothers in the demon realm.

Before we go back into the timeline I wanna go over their Clawthorne sisters parallels. Cuz yeah, it's pretty obvi they parallel them too (GOD this show loves doing parallels fjsksk). In Them’s The Breaks, Kid we actually learn that joining the Emperor’s Coven was more Lilith’s dream and Eda only tagged along because she didn’t want to be separated from Lilith. But, when she met Raine and learned how fucked up covens actually were thanks to Terra she realized that she that she could actually decide for herself. That joining the Emperor’s Coven wasn’t her only path in life she had options. And months later she made that choice. I think Caleb was the same way. 

Like yeah he’s having fun but he’s not looking up at the witch hunters in the same aspirational awe like Philip is. Again, I think Caleb was “on the witches’ side” before entering the demon realm. Unsure when this change began to happen for Caleb but I do think it was a process (I mean this kind of deradicalization is always a progress but I digress.)

After Eda made her choice the sisters then stopped talking: becoming foils to one another as well as ideologically opposing each other. Eda the free wild witch who refuses to join a coven vs Lilith the tamed and subdued Coven witch. A big S1 main plot point was Lilith trying to tame Eda and force her to join the Emperor’s Coven thinking that it’d be both for her good and that Belos would heal her.

Ngl I think this happened to the Wittebane brothers when they first entered the demon realm. Becoming foils and ideologically opposing each other. Specifically about their thoughts about the demon realm, magic and witches. Philip saw the demon realm as his fantasy world to conquer and colonize. Magic as dangerous (a LOT of his propaganda is about how magic/wild magic is dangerous. As bullshit as his propaganda is I do think there’s little nuggets of truths in said propaganda.) And witches as subhuman. Caleb however saw the demon realm as just another place that he eventually wanted to live in, magic as beautiful and witches as equals.

Now, back to the timeline and to when Philip's traveling the Demon Realm. Again, I'm taking the journal with a HUGE grain of salt and I'll mostly be focusing on the paintings but, looking at them I get the vibe that Philip traveled alone?

I wouldn’t put it past him to want to do his “hero’s journey” alone. But it could also just be him being egotistical again and making the story in his journal all about him. He also could’ve split from everyone else at some point before the fratricide. Eclipse Lake seems like a good point for him to do that. That is when he started growing a beard which symbolizes that a character isn’t doing too hot. Also during these travels is when he carved those glyphs into his skin and cursed himself… god he was Going Through It. I wouldn’t be surprised if this curse made him return back to and/or even doubled down on his childhood, witch hunting bigoted beleifs.

I also think Philip bottled up all of these negative feelings during this time too. Like, look at his expression when Caleb’s hugging/supporting Philip. He’s just, standing there; not allowing himself to accept this love and support with his curse. Not accepting help. And when you bottle up all of your emotions like that well... (heheh post foreshadowing).

Ok now onto Caleb cuz while his brother is off loosing his fucking mind he's off GETTING IT LMAOO. Anyways, these two. There's not much to go on cuz we don't know that much but I think that owl crest and Caleb's Alador connections can tell us some things. 

Oh also I do think they're Clawthorne ancestors. There's just so, so many little things tying the Wittebane brothers to the Clawthornes. How Eda and Hunter both say bye the same way (they also snort when they laugh), Eda's cloak has a little owl clasp that looks like Hunter's GG mask, Dell. Just, Dell fjsks. When Belos tries to flee back to the human realm after the Day of Unity his hair looks a bit like Eda's and Dell's. That reddit QNA where Dana said "bird themed houses are a Clawthorne thing." Fisksok there's more but I can't remember them all. But, you get my jist.

So something I’d like to start off with is all of Caleb’s Alador connections?? Same nose shape, same widows peak, they both had long hair in low ponytails before chopping it off. Also Alador’s Bonesborough brawl outfit had a lot of similarities to Caleb’s outfit. Why these connections? What do they mean? Off the bat I wondered if he and Wittewife were either parallels or foils to Alador and Odalia? I particularly lean more towards them being foils. Girlboss x malewife: healthy edition I guess? Also a while back round the end of S2 I speculated if Caleb made the Jean-Lucs and that “King’s castle” was just a Titan hatchery/daycare because of this connection (I mean it is something he could make without a bile sack lol. Stone + glyph abomination). Another potential foil.

But I think this connection could also mean something else. It could show us what it’d look like if Philip got his way. That Caleb instead just became Philip’s right hand man/side kick instead of wanting to choose his own life for himself and settling down with Wittewife. And what that’d specifically look like for Caleb too. Which is fucking miserable to say the least lol

Not much else to go off here cuz there’s so little to work with yeah. Also what this means for Wittewife and Odalia??? Too early to say lol. I’m gonna talk more about this in a bit but if they are foils then maybe a reverse Odalia? Instead of someone who claws her way to the top she was already on the top who then relinquished that privilege to live a more simple life? (I promise I am not pulling this out of my ass here there is some precedent here dsjsdkj).

Also I’d like to talk about Caleb’s Titan connections cuz there wow he Has Them? The first obvious one is the Titan death pose but they’re also both fathers and like the Titans, life too sprung from Caleb’s corpse (grimwalkers). 

Also the yellow sclarea and black pupil slit found on the portal door shows up fucking everywhere and is connected to the Titan’s via Eda’s wanted poster??? Like c’mon it’s most likely at this point that Caleb made this stupid fucking door (imo with Wittewife too cuz remember 2 people made the door) so that’s another connection??? Idk what any of this means just putting these observations on the table.

Almost forgot but when King was having his identity crisis in Knock Knock Knockin on Hooty's Door it happened in "Del's old tower." Which I'm pretty damn sure is the first and only time we're actually in that stupid tower.

Ok now, this thing. This thing shows up ALL the god damn time throughout the show. Only in Eda's home on her living room ceiling. But like seriously in rewatching episodes to write this stupid fucking post I realized how often this guy shows up. He also sometimes glows gold. This and all the little connections tieing the Wittebane brothers with the Clawthornes I think this guy was Caleb's and his partner's family crest that then became the Clawthorne family crest. Also, I have no basis for this, this is just my own dumb lil’ headcannon but I’d like to think they made the last name Clawthorne together. She’s the claw and he’s the thorne. They’re the start of the Clawthornes. Idk I just think it’s cute :3. Plus that’s how Belos would know that Eda and Lilith are descendants cuz it’s a name they made up so if someone has that last name, yeah, they’re most likely related. Remember he doesn’t eat both of their palismen and he’s pretty lenient with them whereas he’s much more cut throat with everyone else. So…

Ok back on track with this stupid fucking crest but something really interesting about it is it has a crown… why?? What??? This, led me down a fucking rabbit hole and I have SO many thoughts. Mayhaps a queen or something who then gave up her crown to live her life how she saw fit???? A reverse Odalia? (Also Odalia thought the day of unity would’ve made her family royalty and her a queen). I know that's a huge claim to make but hear me out.

Firstly there’s ruins on the knee that imply some grand/big structures and we see in Hollow Mind Belos destroying these now ruins. He is known to rewrite history and is the kind of petty bitch to completely erase her specifically from the history books. LMAO cope n sethe harder Bitchlos. However, let's look more closely at the ruins from Hollow Mind to Adventures In The Elements, from past to present.

That same archway with that dangling chain is in both past and present but if you look closely there is a big structure behind that archway in Hollow Mind that is now completely gone today… and Bill in Edge of The World called the Boiling Isles the “Carcass Kingdom '' instead of an Empire which is what it is now.

Also this. It's from the Owl pellets shorts from S1. It's a soap opera parody of a young, high class woman having to choose between a vain man who only wants her for the power she'd give him and a down to earth farm boy who actually loves her. That, Fucking Egg is wearing Caleb's outfit minus the shirt being white fjsjsk. Also those stupid fucking eyes are back GOD I think this is the smoking gun that show that yeah these eyes and Caleb are in some way connected fjsjsk.

Also this lol. “Little Prince...”

If I'm right and Wittewife was the queen who gave up her throne in some way I'm then in turn not insinuating that Caleb is now The True Good King or smthing. I really don't think TOH would go there. This is a fantasy show that breaks the fantasy genre. They're both just, people. And Caleb didn't fall in love with her because she is The Queen and wanted to be The King (like look at how he dresses he's pretty down to earth). He fell in love with Wittewife, not the queen. And they both just wanted to live a simple life together in the woods.

But I don't think that's how Philip saw it. He can't pull himself out of the fantasy. Out of his little power fantasy. And here's Caleb is who Stole His Dream. Absolute, pulpable envy.

Ok before we get onto the fratricide, the grimwalkers and what that all means I wanna talk about Belos for a bit. Specifically about why he became Belos. Again I don't think he was just born evil (nobody is). His child self's aura in his mindscape was purple after all. And in writing this post I think I finally get why he became Belos. He 1. can't accept help 2. he can't admit to fault and 3. aggrieved entitlement.

Firstly with being unable to accept help. I think his curse shows this off pretty well. Any and all offers of help from Hunter about his curse are quickly and violently shot down. And when Caleb supports Philip with his curse he doesn't even hug him back. He's just, standing there. Not allowing himself to be vulnerable and accept Caleb's love and support. Of course when you don't allow yourself to open up with your emotions well, things bottle up...

Secondly he can't admit to any faults. Think about the grimwalkers. It's always them betraying him. When in reality it sounds like they wanted to either leave or opposed him cuz they found out either about the other grimwalkers or more out about him. This motherfucker has SO many both metaphorical and LITERAL skeletons in his closet that when your average person finds out about them they OBVIOUSLY bail. Dude it’s you dsjhdj. You’re the problem. Incel-esque motherfucker.

"You know. Unfettered wild magic wiped out our family. Everyone knew too much and got themselves hurt." Hunter, Hollow Mind

“Not unless he stays on the right path. I tell him, “the Titan has big plans for you,” and he does what he’s told. Unlike the previous attempts.” Belos, Hollow Mind

Also think about how he acts when confronted with an angry Luz and Lilith after he just tried sacrificing them in Elsewhere and Elsewhen. This man just casually brushes off their rightful anger about him almost killing them. And, after they demand info from him he has the GAUL to say that they need to further work for him before he’ll give that info. Then he goes full mask off with a childish temper tantrum in his little cuck no bitches cave after Lilith decked him. “Those barbarian witches!” DUDE!! Lilith baby girl PLEASE punch him again I am BEGGING YOU.

And finally, Aggrieved entitlement. God I love this word and I'm so glad I found it while writing this stupid fucking post cuz it describes both Belos and well, fucking everything SO WELL. It's a pretty broad word but it's specifically relating to men. Broadly, it's when men in general feel like their "rightful place" as men is challenged and their access to their "rightful things" such as money, power and/or women is diminished or denied. It's humiliation that eventually turns itself into violence. Y'know, incels! The manosphere, MRAs etc!! It is why they are Like That.

This ties into Philip and both his main character syndrome + his eventual colonization of the Boiling Isles. He feels that, as a white cishet man, he ought to be the main character. That this is his fantasy story. His world. And in any other fantasy story it would be. But not here. Luz, a bi, poc and gnc girl is the main character. And the Demon Realm isn't going to give him special treatment just cause he's a white human man. He's not special. That's not what the Demon Realm is. And in fact his lack of a bile sack actually puts him lower on the totem pole in this society and it's very clear that this pisses him off. "Here to gawk? I may not have a bile sack but I still have dignity." This envy then turns inwards as he carves glyphs into his skin; cursing himself in the process.

Wonder if they’ll discuss toxic masculinity with Belos too. Cuz all 3 of these problems are PEAK toxic masculinity. Knowing this show possibly. I’d personally would like to see it lol.

OK! Fratricide time! Hurray!! Ok firstly I don't think this was just all over Caleb being with a witch. Well, that was what was apart of it yes but it's not all of it. I think this particular moment was the culmination of all of the things Belos hated about Caleb. A nasty tipping point.

Firstly I wanna talk about the portal door. "Two people made it," either Caleb and Belos made it or Caleb and his partner made it (I strongly lean towards the latter). Someone had to have had made this fucking thing. And remember, Eda found the portal door buried in dirt in the ruins of a structure. That same structure surrounds the Emperor's Castle today. With these 2 connections I think it's pretty safe to say the fight happened in those ruins. Portal door + those ruins paints a fight not just about him being with a witch but also Caleb not going home with him. “We don’t belong here.” Belos to Luz, King’s Tide. Belos is really, weirdly, obsessive and possessive of Caleb (cough cough grimwalkers). To Belos, this feels like a betrayal. Like Caleb is choosing them, choosing sin over him. Replacing him with Wittewife. Look at this painting they both have the same lil front hair cow lick.

Choosing to become a witch rather then become a witch hunter with him.

Of course this all doesn't mean Caleb wouldn't still visit/keep in touch he definitely loves his brother. Like think about that panting of Caleb supporting Philip while he's suffering from his curse. That pure love and support on his face for his baby brother. He'd never abandon him. Nor choose someone else over him. And hey they got that portal door now he'd obviously come and visit you, Philip. This is just Philip's worst fears which he feels has just come to fruition. That Caleb is abandoning and replacing him with Wittewife.

But I don’t really think that’s the end of it though. People are messy. And even the most evil of people feel. And it's pretty clear that he does feel guilty about this. It is his worst memory after all.

The shock and fear of being forced to relive those memories again. The grief of seeing Caleb’s dead body. And finally, curiously, him making a grimwalker. Where he then screams. Imo I think this was the first grimwalker and he thought he was bringing Caleb back. Not making a clone. Which is why he then screams. Caleb’s gone.

I think the panting of Ivan The Terrible killing his own son describes the soul crushing guilt here better then I ever could. 

Before I end this post here I want to talk a bit about the grimwalkers and what they mean. Like yeah at first glance it’s a metaphor for the cycle of abuse. But, what does this mean for Belos? Why add this to his character? He knows they’re not Caleb, they’re all their own people but he keeps going. He keeps making them. And he keeps killing them once they "betray" him. Why? Again, I think it’s because he can’t bare to live his life without Caleb.

Think about how he kills off all the grimwalkers when they “betray” him. How he tried trapping Hunter, alone, forever, in his subconscious while he and Luz were trapped in his mindscape. How even though he knew Hunter’s sigil would kill him in a week’s time he was still on the hunt for him. It's because like how Belos can't bare to live his life without Caleb, none of the grimwalkers are allowed to live their own lives without Belos.

"You know, unfettered wild magic wiped out our family. Everyone knew too much and got themselves hurt." Hunter, Hollow Mind

"I say, the Titan has big plans for you. And he does what he's told. Unlike the previous attempts." Belos about Hunter, Hollow Mind. Again, cuz it bares repeating.

And just a lil note about the grimwalkers. It's not that the grimwalkers have Caleb's Good Gene or some other weird bio-essentialist thought that makes them "rebel." The problem is Belos. He only uses people then throws them away once he's done. Nobody is gonna wanna stick around with a person who treats them like that. And nobody is gonna wanna stick around when they find the numerous skeletons in his closet too. He's always been the problem. (Baring Kikimora but I think what she represents is what he's looking for in a Caleb sidekick. He just doesn't notice cuz 1. Demon and 2. Not Caleb. His head is stuck pretty far up his own ass I noticed).

Oh and one last thing before I end this but like a little taste for the future post...

I really don’t think the Day of Unity is the end of Belos’ plans. I didn’t then and I still don’t. Look at this man he thrives off of his own bullshit you seriously think he’s gonna stop now lol? And Caleb. Why add him to Belos’ story? We know he desperately wants him back... and we know he knows the time pools exist...

“Witches and demons are real. And they’re all sent from Mars to harvest human teeth to power their time machine.” Jacob, Yesterday’s Lie

OK DONE.