#Bertie knows and feels Hella guilty

[hotcupoteckla]

Benevolio didn't ask for much from life, really.

He was Charming's right hand, and got to adventure nearly all the time. He was fed & clothed each day. He even enjoyed helping Charming as a squire, even though he technically was a knight, and no longer had to do that.

Charming had Never allowed him to be treated as the Whipping Boy, even when both of them were in the wrong. Ben smiled. In fact the King was SO impressed with Charming's ability to reason, as well as Charming's upholding the chivalry that was key to his being a great king, that he outright banned the practice at court.

So, no. There wasn't much to ask for at all... except...

Did it have to be a full moon /quite/ so often?

He felt it for the past 3 days now: his temper becoming shorter, snapping at the squire who was mishandling the swords AGAIN, but you Cannot! Hand! A! Sword! Unsheathed! BLADE FIRST! It's just asking for someone to get injured.

"Go! Practice in the scullery with the knives! At least there will be clean dishes!"

"But sire, Sir Cuthbert & Sir Chauncey-"

Sir Benevolio said nothing, just looked. Just gazed into the soul of the young squire, and saw him as a wolf had spied a hare. Intensely & intently peered into the brush colored eyes of the /child/ that trembled before him.

"Hie. Away. Squire."

Off the hare-child scampered, caught without the secret they carried so near to their heart it could have burst the binding cross their ribcage with each beat.

Benevolio changed his wish that moment as he stood staring across the grounds after the squireling.

He dreamed to dare live a life without secrets.

"Ho, there! Bennie! What troubles you so?"

Ah, Cuthbert. WithOUT Chauncey, a relief.

"Nothing, really. Just caught Squire Harry trying to pass a sword to Squire Damian without a sheath, tip first."

"What? Such small concerns for such dire eyebrows, Bennie Goodbean! Surely there is something else that holds a sway over your wretched puss?!" Bennie reached out to smack Bertie upside the head, but missed as the rogue ducked and laughed slackjawed.

"If I'm to be Charming's friend, I need to guide the youth to safety and level headedness, lead by example," Ben clarified for his friend.

" Then you should stop acting as though you have a death wish, Bennie."

Ben started, and glanced back - Bert had stopped mid-stride, grabbing Ben's hand. There was a certain sort of sadness & helplessness - both looked at the hands between them, not knowing where else to start.

"Bertie, I'm not-"

"Have you told Charming about the attacks?"

Ben drew his hand away, as the sun passed behind a cloud, and started marching to the stables.

"Ben, you have to tell him." Bertie followed behind. Ben walked faster.

"You know what happens in court to the Cursed-" Ben walked /faster/

"-and Now his Fiance is One of Them, and Somebody Will Figure It Out and Tell Her, or Tell Him without you," Ben stopped, and Bertie crashed into him from jogging to keep stride.

"No. They won't. I'll be in armor during the ball. We'll leave shortly thereafter for the dragon's lair. Then I'll be /injured/ again, and will go to worry about the other side during my recuperation. Nobody Knows."

Bert wrapped an arm around his friend and spun Ben around until they were face to face. Bert stared at Ben's chest as he whispered,

" Ben, I think the King knows. He knew you were involved slaying the beast. He knew it was Cursed. He knows you were injured, and now he knows that you get injured... for a week... a lot " Bert's lower lip trembled.

"Posh! That's nothing. What has he done about anything? I'm still here. Im still in charge of squire training. He hasn't called upon me in court. Even if he suspects-"

"BEN, it was HIS idea for Charming's Engagement!" Bert's shout drew eyes & glances from the courtyard upon them. They turned away to face the wall and bowed their heads as though in conference. Ben sighed in frustrated exhaustion. The rumor mill has been set to turn and grind their feet.

Ben heard a choked sob from Bertie, but he couldn't look. He was too afraid to face his brother in arms as he worried.

Over nothing. Yes, Bertie was always a worrywort.

Ben put his right arm around Bert's shoulders as Bert shook his head, as though that would shut the gates of welling tears. As though they didn't leak through.

The clouded cover grew thicker and the wind had become chilled.

Benevolio assured his friend that there was nothing to fear. He would tell Charming when the time was right, and the Fiance seemed to be ensorcelled by him rather than the other way around, so wouldn't say a word either.

Eventually, they would live in a court where that sort of shit wouldn't matter, or could possibly be cured.

Bertie wiped his cheeks and his eyes from the tears, and started nodding & agreeing everything would be okay, when Chauncey jumped in a crouched position in front of them, hands splayed wide, tongue out in a grotesque smile, his red hair flouncing into his open mouth as he did so.

"Mleahhhhhh, Gits & Gamblers! Did you wee your pants?! Are you in tears because I scared you?!"

Benevolio stoically replied, "Nope. He's in tears from a joke I just told him." Bertie nodded, wiping some snots into his jerkin's collar.

"Ooo, what fun," Chauncey punched Ben in the arm, rather hard for a comrade in arms should. "Who knew Bennie had a sense of humor, eh?"

"Your mother did."

"What-"

"Your mother knew I had a sense of humor."

"When would she know of such sorcery-"

"When I was done /enchanting/ her last night!"

Ben ran for the stables, Chauncey close on his heels, Cuthbert shortly behind them.

He has to keep Chauncey fit somehow - otherwise wine & goose livers would cause him to lag behind & be a sore spot for Charming's accoutrement. This way was usually the most effective, even if it was uncouth.

Ben could also tell if Chauncey was left behind there would be little else to stop his plots, and given Ben's current... entanglement, he couldn't keep an eye on him in court. It would just... there would be too many eyes, too many lives- too many complications. It was better like this until he could tell Charming.

Bertie was right, though.

It had to be soon.

Daughter of fantasy villains decides to rebel against her parents by actually going through with her arranged marriage to a local golden retriever of a prince instead of running off with some local villain-to-be or conquering said golden retriever’s kingdom and ruling it solo like her parents expect her to. Plus, sue her, she’s into the clean-cut earnest look.

At the same time, local prince charming discovers that he’s actually very into the gothic fiance his parents have landed him with in order to try and establish peace with the local evil lair down the lane, he would never have guessed a spiderweb pattern could look so fetching on a ball gown…?

Meanwhile, two pairs of parents in a tizzy because they both expected their offspring to whole-heartedly reject this union and give them an excuse to conquer their goody-two-shoes/evil neighbours, they’re not supposed to actually like each other-!

[quiveringdeer]

9 year old Annie tried to jump out of a two story window when playing tag with Reiner and Bertholdt, she was THAT determined to avoid being it.

Girl has always had her priorities straight 💁🏽‍♀️

And you know what, she woulda made it to that large tree branch not 10 feet away and parkor-ed herself down safely I'd Bertholdt hadn't grabbed her by the ankle with those ridiculous, abnormally long arms of his 😕

But noooooo, he grabbed her and then she slipped and hit the window sill so hard she blacked out cold. Waking up sometime later to a distraught Bertie and Reiner crying over her cause Bert thought he'd killed her. 🥺

She still has a faint scar on her forehead, just below her hairline from where her head collided with the sill. But while Bert and Reiner were occupied with being distraught, she gathered up her energy and bolted up and away, leaving them both hella confused. They're all hella lucky she didn't suffer from a concussion tbh. Bert still feels guilty about it and never reaches out to grab Annie that quickly anymore. Even if it was cause he was scared she was gonna jump out the window and break some bones, at very least. 😟

[rizah]

OK, Berthold used his daughter and Grumman is ambitious, and they both underrated Riza. But what about Roy ? He used her too, if we're being honest : if they hadn't met again in Ishval, would he have come back to her or got in touch with her after that? It seems he hires her because he feels guilty, ashamed, and wants to atone for Ishval, like she does. We always blame Berthold, but Roy isn't better - in the beginning, at least. No?

sorry i got to this weeks later, i’ve been super busy with uni and firefighting and staring deeply at the wall wondering if my existence should even be here ANYWAY

i like the cut of ur jib anon, i really like the cut of ur jib

i totally agree, from the outset it really looks like that. BUT i can’t really think of a ‘good’ way to spin an alchemy like flame alchemy without the whole destructive aspect of it being Blatantly Obvious - so i’m loathe to say that roy was 100% manipulating/using her in the same way i see berthold doing and grumman trying. riza chose to divulge that knowledge to him and she acknowledges that she has to accept some responsibility in the aftermath of creating a new flame alchemist. 

i do like the angst of them being caught up in that whole ‘young love’ affection stuff, and a naughty part of me really likes the idea of exploring a roy who is scrabbling for whatever power he can find at 19/20 to make a point to the military, but even that’s veering into ooc territory for him. ultimately i think they were young ppl who were very idealistic about the world and it took the war for the years of propaganda and naivete to be stripped away. what i love about roy’s character is that despite those horrors he’s left with grit determination to be the change he wants to see, and riza follows him to atone for the consequences of those choices.

i think her choosing to go to ishval hinges purely on learning (or perhaps realising) that flame alchemy has some uses when it comes to Exploding Ppl and Things. i think roy would’ve tried to find her afterwards, but riza struck me as somewhat aimless at the funeral so who knows where she would’ve ended up if not in the military. however - @hlwim​ did a lovely story called ‘homefront’ which explores that premise a bit (go read it. it’s hella).

it’s super easy to blame bertie bc we see the dude for like 10 panels at best but to marry someone and have a kid with them... he’s got to have some redeeming characteristics tucked away somewhere. i would really like to see a fic or even some character studies which flesh him out a bit more and give him some humanity.

ultimately tho, roy is better simply bc we get to see him change. there’s an argument to be made that his intentions were more noble (than say, the more neutral ones of bertie preserving knowledge for knowledge’s sake) but we all know that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. 

[sadbi-hours]

Well, I watched 9x04 of ahs...and...there just isn't any words to express how I feel.

Umm, I really dug the Freddy Vs Jason element that they gave RR and Mr. Jingles this episode. That movie is a big guilty pleasure of mine and I would love to see more of it...but with RR being, well, you know, touched by satan--and that's putting it lightly-- and I think Mr. Jingles is going to devote his time to taking Margret down now. I don't see anymore showdowns happening between them, which is a shame too. It'd be hella cool to see them go full 'only one can live!' type of shit!

And speaking of 'only one must live'!, I loved loved the little showdown we got between Donna and Montana! I feel like they are the only two who can match each other in clever and craziness and it was cool to see them throw down while the two main killers were too...and fuck Margret! That bitch is on a whole other level of insane! And yes, I know Montana is too...but despite the fact I call bs on the backstory about why Montana is after Brooke--even though why they hadn't met each other before now makes a little sense since she is the best mans' sister and not the grooms--Billie Lourd pulled off f*cked up beauitfully here! God, I swear her acting is a gift this season!

And I gotta give Lesile Grossman props to. Her acting is so freaking good...i wouldn't want her dead as much as I do, if she wasn't doing her job! So kudos to her...but since her reveal wasn't a shock because I always knew she killed those people all those years go, I'd just rather see more of Donna and Montana. I'm too invested in seeing more of what makes them tick.

And yo, Brooke! I still got my eye on you chica! Your ass was way too calm and resourceful for the timid, sheltered act that you're giving me...i know it could just be the final girl troupe coming out in you, but still, you're on my list!

And poor Trevor! You truly were just an innocent by-stander to all this f*ckshit and I'm sorry to see you go! I was really starting to dig your character. Oh well...and the next time I eat a PB&J sandwich, I'll think of you chef Bertie! Your sacrifice will not be in vain!

And Xavier, well..at least you're alive sweetheart, but I think my sweet protective baby boi is gone...especially after what i saw in next weeks promo! I don't see him coming out of this sane! Well at least Montana might get herself an extra partner if it goes there...