#Great point I didn't think about

[captain-krow-drozdov]

Danny Is An Alternate Version Of Ra's Al Ghul And Flash Already Called Dibs On Adopting Him

Danny In All His Sleep Deprived Slightly Scuffed Up From A Fight Glory Is On His Way To Clockworks Tower To Hopefully Get A Nap And Maybe Some Homework Done When A Natural Portal Opens Up In Front Of Him And Proceeds To Unceremoniously Drop Him In The DC Verse Just Outside Of Central City Before Promptly Closing Leaving A Tired Danny Behind In A Run Down Abandoned Parking Lot.

It's Times Like This When Danny Regrets Putting Off Learning How To Make His Own Portals, Cause Now He Is Very Much Stuck For The Foreseeable Future And He Has No Idea Where Or When He Is. Luckily For Him However Central City Isn't Too Far Away, Unlucky For Him However Is That Once In The City He Realizes This Isn't His Dimension. He's Pretty Sure He'd Remember Something Called The Justice League.

So What Do You Do When Supernatural Bullshit Fails You? You Fall Back On Your Mad Scientist Roots And You Make A Portal Gun. So That's Exactly What Danny Plans To Do.

Unfortunately Staying Alive And Building Questionably Safe Portal Technology Requires Money And Supplies, So He Ends Up Wandering From City To City Doing Odd Jobs/Fixing Up Busted Tech For Cash Or Unwanted Electronics For His "Operation: Get Home" Needs. This Obviously Ends In A Few Superhero Encounter Shenanigans.

Though He Always Ends Up Back Near Central City, Both On The Off Chance The Natural Portal Will Open Up Again And Because Out Of All The Superheroes That Apparently Exist In This Universe The Speedsters Are His Favorite (Red Robin Is Solidly His Second Favorite Ever Since The Gotham Vigilante Gave Him A Large Coffee Filled With Enough Caffeine To Kill A Man).

Unbeknownst To Danny However Is That Every Hero/Vigilante He Has Encountered Has Come To At Least One Of The Following Conclusions; 1. Run Away Meta Who Is In Desperate Need Of A Good Meal/Adoption Bait. 2. Possibly Red Robin/Tim Drake Clone 3. A Good Kid But Could Possibly Be A Future Rouge If Left Unsupervised. 4. Did Bats Get A New Kid And Why Is He Here?

All Flash Knows Is That He Saw The Kid First And Therefore Has Dibs. Suck It Bruce.

Fast-forward A Few Months And Danny Gets Hurt During A Rogue Attack While Trying To Help Some Civilians Get To Safety (Old Hero Habits Die Hard (Ha Die Hard) And All That Jazz) And He Nopes Out Once Everyone Is Safe And When The Paramedics Are Busy With Other People Unaware He Left A Blood Sample Behind.

One DNA Test Brought To You By Paranoid Bat Concerns Of A Possible Red Robin Clone Later And They Find Out That Dannys DNA Matches One Ra's Al Ghul.

They Now Think Danny Is An Escaped Ra's Al Ghul Clone.

Memes For The Vibes:

[off-mozzarella]

Just a small boy and his giant hammer <3

[zooofgod]

This addition is so good to not reblog ❤️

When I said I love character development is in the Tanaka Suzuki type, where a character that is mean to be an almost unidimensional parody of a pretty boy with a sadistic side trope…

becomes one of the most expressive and human characters in the story.

[gcballet]

Red Dwarf as tweets/textposts pt.7

<- | RD | ->

[bumblingbabooshka]

Tuvok & Seven co-parenting the borg children should've been real and canon like it is in my heart. It makes sense that Seven suggests Neelix as a good possible caregiver but with how ready Tuvok was to take responsibility for Tressa in 'Innocence' it seems to me like such a wasted opportunity that he doesn't really seem involved at all with the Borg children. With my ha-ha glasses on, there's comedic potential in their dynamic and I think certain people on the ship would hint that it might be the catalyst for a romance but there is 0 romance between them. They're both such proud, I'm-better-than-you type people and I know they'd have strong opinions on how to raise the Borg children that sometimes conflict. 'My Ex-Borg Drone is an Honor Student' type PTA parents. The potential for Tuvok being the (comparatively) more easygoing one is also quite funny. Also, with my sincerity goggles on, I can easily imagine Seven becoming overwhelmed with the sudden responsibility of caring for four children. I understand that everyone on Voyager sort of cares for all the children but Seven is placed as their primary guardian/mother-figure which is a lot to put on someone who's only been fully sentient for a few years herself. Just learned how to eat solid foods semi-recently and now she's a single mom? I think there could be an episode where Seven is clearly struggling with managing four children, her own work duties, her desire to be alone/pursue her own interests, and everyone's expectations for her (womanhood, humanity etc). No one's behind malicious but it's a lot of critiques coming from all sides. Then one evening she's working in astrometrics before someone...B'Elanna? Comes in for some work thing and is like "So, how did the bedtime story go?" because the kids were excited for Seven to read them to sleep and Seven's like I Have To Go Right Now so she rushes to the cargo bay expecting to see a lot of disappointed faces but instead Tuvok's in there, reading aloud. Tuvok gestures for her to stay quiet and finishes the last line. Mezoti, the last clinger-on, finally lets herself regenerate. Seven and Tuvok talk in his quarters about how difficult Seven's been finding the task of essentially raising four kids because I think she'd put a lot pressure on herself because of her personality + Janeway's expectations since she was the one who said Seven should be their guardian. I also think she'd be bewildered by not being able to do this 'task' efficiently. Tuvok talks about how he also found the experience of being a father difficult and bewildering, and he only had one child at the start. He encourages Seven to rely even more on others, that it won't make anyone think less of her for "not being able to handle it" and gives examples from his own life. He makes a point to tell her about how Janeway also helped from time to time - covering his shift or picking up one of his kids etc, to show Seven that he doesn't believe Janeway wants her to try to do everything alone. Seven thinks about this for the night. The next day, in the mess hall, she suggests in front of everyone "We should raise the children together. As a unit." Tuvok's confused. Seven says she noticed a lot of responsibility was shared between Tuvok and his wife. A parental unit. It also leaves the children with another primary caregiver in case one of them dies. ("Dies?" Mezoti asks so Tuvok pulls Seven away). Tuvok tries to explain that he meant more 'it takes a village' (in his Vulcan way) but Seven is like "You like the children. You've raised children. You are reliable. You are more knowledgeable in certain aspects of this general process while I possess superior knowledge of their unique ex-Borg needs. You told me to rely on others. The children can't stop talking about story time. Are you in?" and Tuvok, somewhat dazed, agrees. Seven says Good. Then she leaves. Tom claps Tuvok on the shoulder. "Congratulations, Dad!"

[sysig]

You're still standing off to the side. Somehow, center stage has shifted from under your feet without you realizing, and you're standing in the wings, performing to no one.

Starring Role (Patreon)

[trentcrimminallybeautiful]

something something au where recently divorced but still extremely closeted trent walks into a bar owned by beard and frequently bartended by ted

[pronouncingitwang]

adam scott says in the "inside the episode" of 2.07 that it allows the audience to "see the magic of gemma and why she immediately took over [mark's] life and his heart" and dichen lachman describes the ep in the severance podcast as "the audience getting to know [gemma] and everyone seeing what mark had that he lost." well, what about gemma? how much do we really get to know her? what did she lose? why did mark take over her heart?

they had 50 minutes for a Gemma Episode and they spent half of it on dead wife tropes and her smiling at mark with come-hither eyes while not giving us a single new fact* about her or a relationship outside of mark and mark's family. a subversion of the dead wife trope is not just scenes later showing they had an imperfect marriage bc mark (or nobody) is the problem in all of those scenes; you need to disrupt the idea that she was the perfect wife, and i don't think we get that. so much of it is explicitly presented through mark's pov. she doesn't hurt him at any point. she's just there being lovely or victimized as he loves or neglects her. everything we learned about her past gives more depth to his current grief but contributes little to our understanding of her current suffering or motivations. that could change with time, but for a first try, i think it's an abysmally bad showing

* that wasn't in mark's 1.07 monologue, his conversations with devon and alexa, or the the you you are pdf, all of which i think did a better job than this episode

[teapetal44]

The state of the league of villains during act 3 is so sad man. Compress literally gave his ass for the league, got arrested and nobody gaf. Twice’s demise amounted to nothing, nobody cared. The whole discrimination arc Spinner was involved in was a mess. Suddenly Hori decided he cared about realism in his story so Toga dropped like a fly from a simple blood transfusion. Dabi is forced to sit and listen to Endeavor whine and yap about how sad he is about being an abusive pos, all the while nobody actually cares and he never got any real repercussions besides his family being (justifyingly) mean to him. Shigaraki was sidelined for a boring villain and was stripped off all his autonomy and agency.

[taraxippos]

I never touched it but I feel like i only ever hear positive things said about song of achilles.. in (rough strokes at least) what makes it dogshit to you?

Okay it's been a while since I actually read it so some of this might not be spot on accurate. Sorry if at any point I say 'the book never does xyz' and it actually does once or twice but I think my underlying criticisms are accurate

-Patroclus is made into like this soft gentle tender quivering little yaoi boy. In the source text, he's shown as compassionate and moved by the suffering of his own men (and apparently having some medical skill, tending to the wounded in the camp), but very much invested n combat and very, very good at it (pages worth of descriptions of the guys he's killing left and right). In this, the arguably more complex character from this 8th century BC text is flattened into Being A Healer, he doesn't want to go to war he just wants to help people, he only goes because Achilles has to but he doesn't want to fight he's a HEALER he's a gentle lover NOT A FIGHTER who just wants to help he just wants to help everyone around him he HEALS while Achilles is a doomed warrior who is so good at fighting and KILLING its a DICHOTOMY GUYS!!!LIKE THE BEAUTIFUL SUN AND MOON DOOMED LOVERS SO SAD patocluse HEALER . (I Think he's specifically characterized as being BAD at fighting but might be misremembering)

-I don't remember much about Achilles' characterization I think it just makes him less of a jackass while not adding anything of interest and levels out into being mad boring.

-Not getting into the literal millenias old debate whether the mythological characters Achilles and Patroclus were being characterized as some type of lover by the original oral sources of the Iliad or its Homeric writers. We will never know. We don't even know what (if any) culturally accepted conventions of male homosexuality existed in bronze age Greece (we know much more about their descendants). But there are some interesting elements of their characterization in this direction, with how unconventional their relationship is WITHIN the text itself- Patroclus is described as cooking for Achilles and his guests (very specifically a woman/wife's job), Achilles chides Patroclus like a father, but there's also scene where Achilles' mourning of him directly echoes a passage of Hector's wife mourning her husband, Patroclus is explicitly stated to Achilles' elder, and is overall treated as his equal or near-equal, closest confidant and most beloved friend (to the point that pederastic classical Greeks would debate over who was erastes (older authority figure lover) and who was eromenos (adolescent 'beloved')- many took it as a given that this text depicted their present-day cultural norms of homosexual behavior but it existed so Outside of these norms that it had to be debated who was who). Their relationship is non-standard both within the text and to the descendants of the civilization that wrote them.

Basically what I'm saying is this book had opportunities to like, explore the unconventionality of the relationship (being presented here as explicitly lovers), explore the dynamics of why Patroclus wants to do 'women's work' (besides being a tenderhearted softboy), the weird dynamics where they take on paternal roles to each other but also roles of wives, how they feel about being this way, and just kind of Doesn't. Which I guess isn't an intrinsic fault (because it omits much of what I just talked about to begin with). it's just like.... Lame. This book takes jsut abandons everything interesting about the source text in favor of flattening it into bland Doomed Yaoi.

-The conflict that sets off the core story of the Iliad is Achilles and Agamemnon fighting over Briseis, an enslaved Trojan woman taken by Achilles as a war-trophy, Achilles spends most of the story moping because he was dishonored by his 'trophy' being taken. Achilles and Patroclus and everyone else are raping their captives, all the women in the story are either captured Trojans (or in the case of the free women within the walls of Troy, soon to be enslaved, and are slave owners themselves). Slavery as an institution and extreme patriarchal conventions are innate to the text and reflective of the context in which it was developed. You cannot avoid it.

But obviously you can't have your soft yaoi boys doing this, so the author has them capturing women to Protect Them from the other men. Their slaves are UNDER THEIR PROTECTION and VERY SAFE (and they might even Like And Befriend Them but I might be misremembering that. Briseis does though). Our heroes have apparently absorbed none of the ideals of the culture they exist in and the author seems to think "they're gay and aren't sexually attracted to their captives" would translate to them being outright benevolent (also as if wartime sexual violence is just about attraction and not part of a wider spectrum of violent acts to dehumanize and brutalize an accepted 'enemy')

In the source text, Briseis mourns Patroclus as being the kindest to her of her captors, who tried to get her a slightly better outcome by getting her married to Achilles (which probably would be the Least Bad of all possible outcomes for a woman in that situation, becoming a legal wife instead of a slave), and wonders what will happen to her now that he's gone. This is a really really sad, horrible, and compelling dynamic which could be fleshed out in very interesting ways but is instead is tossed entirely aside in favor of them being Besties. Like brother and sister.

All of the above pisses me off so much. If you don't want to engage in the icky parts of ancient/bronze age Greece then don't write a retelling of a story taking place in bronze age Greece. I'm not gonna get mad at children's adaptations of Greek myths or silly fun stories loosely based on them for omitting the rape and slavery but it is SO fundamental to the Iliad. If you're not willing to handle it, either fully omit it or better yet set your Iliad inspired yaoi in an invented swords-and-sandals setting where you can have all your heartbreaking tragic doomed lovers plot beats and not have to clumsily write around the women they're brutalizing.

-The author didn't seem to know what to do with Thetis and she made her just like, Achilles bitch mother who spends most of the story trying to separate our Yaoi Boys (iirc her disguising Achilles as a girl and hiding him on Scyros is made to be more about getting him away from Patroclus than trying to save her son from his prophesied doom in the Trojan War) until she sees how much they loooove each other and I think helps Patroclus' spirit get to the afterlife or something in the end?

-This is more of a personal taste gripe but it has that writing style I loathe where the prose feels less like a story and more like an attempt to string together Deep Beautiful Hard Hitting Poetic Lines that will look great as excerpts on booktok (might predate booktok but same vibe). It's all very Pretty and Haunting and Deep but feels devoid of real substance.

I really like The Iliad and The Odyssey in of themselves. They're fascinating historical texts that give a window into how 8th century BC Greeks told their stories, saw their world, interpreted their ancestors, etc. And genuinely I think these texts have 'good' characters, there's a lot of complexity and humanity to it.

WRT the Iliad- all of the main Achaeans are pretty fascinating, the one singular part where Briseis Gets To Talk and laments her situation is great, Achilles fantasizing that all of the Trojans AND the Achaeans die so he and Patroclus alone can have the glory of conquering Troy (wild), Achilles asking to embrace Patroclus' shade and reaching out for him but it's immaterial (and the shade being sucked back underground with a 'squeak' (the squeak kinda gets me it's disturbing and sad)), Hecuba talking about wanting to tear out Achilles' liver and eat it in a (taboo, exceptioally pointed) expression of rage and grief for his mutilation of her son's corpse, just one tiny line where the enslaved women performing ritual wailing for their dead captors are described as using it as an outlet to 'grieve for their own troubles' is heartrending, etc. A lot of grappling with anger and grief and the inevitability of death, a lot of groundwork laid for characters that could be very interesting when expanded upon in the framework of a conventional novel.

And Song Of Achilles really doesn't do much with all that. I know a lot of my gripes here are kind of just "It's different from the Iliad", I would have thought of it as mostly mediocre and forgettable rather than infuriating if it wasn't a retelling (and I DEFINITELY have strong biases here). But I think the ways in which it is different are less just a product of a retelling (of course there's going to be omissions and differences) and more a complete and utter disinterest in vast majority of its own subject matter, to the book's detriment. I think a retelling has a point when it EXPANDS on the source, or provides a NEW ANGLE to the source. This book doesn't Really do either, it just shaves off the complexity of its source material, renders the characters into a really boring archetype of a gay relationship, and gives very little else. Its content boils down to a middling tragic romance that has been inserted into the hollowed out defleshed skeleton of the Iliad.

Bottom line: I definitely would not be as mad about it if I wasn't familiar with the source material but I think it's fair to expect a retelling to Engage with/expand on its source, and I also think it's weak purely on its own merits. This book was set up to disappoint Me specifically.

[softquietsteadylove]

Hello love, how are you?

I have a little request for the Arranged marriage Au. What if insted of getting a job, Thena goes to some classes, like fashion dessing or something with art. Maybe something she did not have the resources for before. And i also think she would be very good for something creative/artistic and Gil would be her biggest fan and love everithing she does.

As always thank you for your works 🩷🤍

"Need some help?"

Thena looked away from the map of the sprawling campus. Of course even the smallest university had a complex system of halls, whether just to host basic open classes or not.

"Are you enrolling this year?"

Heavens no, and it was entirely because of teenagers and twenty-somethings - like him - that she wasn't. "No, I'm looking for the open classes that are being held-"

"Oh yes, the community workshops!" the young man beamed with excitement. He was still hovering a little close for her taste, though. "Wonderful idea, if I do say so myself."

"Were they your idea?" she droned, uninterested in speaking with anyone except the actual workshop instructors. She looked behind her.

Gil was parking the car.

He had insisted on driving her to and from, which she had tried to decline. He usually would just send her with a personal driver, perhaps a bodyguard or two. But Gil insisted he do it himself.

He wanted her to have the normal life experience, he said. If she wanted to take a sewing or a drawing class, then he wanted to take her, as a dutiful husband should. She wasn't sure if that was necessary, but she knew it was sweetly intended.

"I'm a graduate, but I still lead the odd lab here and there," the ball of hair continued to try and charm her. He was making it clear he wasn't a student, maybe in hopes of enticing her.

"Congratulations," she grumbled. She still couldn't find what building her basic seamstress lessons would be in, but asking this peacock was simply not an option. Maybe Gil would know. She looked behind her again.

"Waiting for someone?" he asked, even more brazenly, leaning against the map signage. "Partner? Boyfriend--girlfriend?"

She glared at him. She didn't know what had made her seem so approachable to this boy and his hair but she would have to figure it out and dispose of it immediately. "Husband."

"Ah!" his eyes lit up, but she got the distinct impression that it was only because it made her more of a challenge in his eyes. "Married young?--school sweethearts or childhood chums?"

That wasn't any of his goddamn business, now was it? Thena gripped the strap of the bag extending from her far shoulder over to her other hip. "He's...older."

And he was going to cause quite a scene if he arrived to her being harassed.

"Hm," the Little Prince shifted against the sign, sprawling out against the post. He was quite tall, she had to concede, although with Gil in her mind he seemed lanky and stretched out in comparison. "Ever had a craving for something...younger?"

She stepped away from the map. Perhaps it would be better just to wander around until she found where she was looking for, even if it made her late. She could excuse herself upon the mistake, surely.

The last time she took a class of any kind was for basic administrative training, and that was really more about keeping a closer eye on her father than for her own betterment. She had never thought of expanding her own horizons--no time for such things.

"Are you sure you're married?"

She took the bait (unfortunately), spinning around to glare at him. Something about his tone had annoyed her so sharply it was as if he'd poked his finger right into a soft spot. "What?"

He shrugged at her once he had her attention, though. It was like a tactic a little boy would use, annoying her for her attention whether it was positive or negative. He ran his fingers through his hair (he was probably quite popular with the young pups around here). "You've no ring, you're here on your own. I'm starting to think you're just trying to get rid of me."

She didn't have a wedding ring, that was true. Well, they didn't exactly have a wedding, in a sense. She had a piece of paper with their names on it. "Not everyone sees the need for such things."

"I would think a flower like you deserves to be gilded with the finest of treasures," he schmoozed.

"I am not a flower," she turned away from him again, determined to wait for Gil to join her. How far away had he parked the car?!

"No, you are a masterpiece."

Thena bristled. He sounded closer to her, no matter how much she refused to look and verify. "Is telling you I'm not interested not enough?"

"Would your husband let it deter him?"

He had some gall comparing himself to Gil. Gil was many things, and being a law-abiding citizen was not one of them. But she would take his ridiculous penchant for spoiling her any day, only because he was so genuinely kind at heart. And he didn't lean himself into her personal space liberally.

"Maybe he's more boyfriend material," the hairball chuckled at the thought.

"Y'okay, sweetheart?"

Thena brightened as Gil finally strode over. He had his hands in his pockets, but she knew they were balled up into fists. He looked good in the casual clothes she had picked out for him.

In her own words, he couldn't be wearing suits all day, everyday, everywhere; he looked like a mob boss.

"Darling," she smiled at him, and it wouldn't have taken someone who lived with her to see how strained it was.

"Hm," Gil puffed through tight lips. He came right over, extracting his hand to pull her closer to him by the waist. "Who's this?"

"Just offering to show her around," the young upstart spoke for himself, determined not to back down from Gil's intimidation. "I'm Eros."

"Gilgamesh." Thena watched on, some of her annoyance giving way to amusement as the two shook hands. Gil made it clear that he was going to crush this kid into dust if need be. "I'm her husband."

"Ah," Eros made a civil smile, trying not to seem like he was massaging his sore hand. "She mentioned she was married; I admit, I looked for a ring."

"I'm having them polished," Gil was quick to answer. He looked at her with that glint in his eye--the dangerous one. "Our anniversary is coming up."

She shook her head at him microscopically. What a liar he was.

"Shall we?" Gil released her waist only to offer his arm more formally. "Don't wanna be late, hon."

"Of course," she took Gil's elbow, which still required both hands to get around. She nudged him, swerving them away from her new acquaintance.

"I'll be seeing you, lovely!"

"Does he not know how to take a hint?" Gil snarled openly, looking over their shoulders to glare at him and everything.

"Obviously not," Thena tugged at his jacket to turn him around again. This was a good choice; the fabric was heavy but not stiff and the rich black brought out the shades of brown in his eyes and even his hair in the right light.

"Are you okay?"

She smiled at him. He had on his puppy dog eyes, regretting having to leave her side for any reason. "Gil-"

"I should have known you'd draw attention," he lamented, his eyes drifting over her face, making a visible stop at her lips before drifting down her neck and her long hair drifting over her shoulder.

Thena let him lift her bag to pull it out from under the strap for her.

"I was looking at the layout of the school. I never imagined it was quite so vast."

"We're looking for the east hall, named after some old dude named Arishem," Gil snorted. But of course he had memorized the locations of each of her classes.

"I knew you would know."

Gil peeked at her, although she made an effort not to look at him. Sometimes when she did she would feel a little...funny--a little twisting sensation in her naval. It was as uncomfortable as it was intriguing. "You ready?"

She sighed faintly. In truth, she didn't know. But if she didn't do something, Gil would either buy her a business to run or a university to attend, neither of which were appealing. This was simple enough, to learn some basic skills, explore some interests.

He nudged her with his elbow, trying to pull her out of any negatively tinged thoughts. "You'll be designing my suits in no time."

She laughed, nudging him in return. "I will not. I might be able to repair a rip and tear on occasion, at best."

"Well, picking out my clothes is good practice, right?"

She smiled at him again. She was rather proud of her selections for him, actually. He obviously knew it, too, letting her tug at the collar of his jacket. "I won't deny that."

He pouted at her. "Guess I don't look good enough to keep the wolves away from you, though."

She shook her head at him. "I'm sure you scared him well, enough."

"Apparently I have to get you a big, fat diamond for that."

"Gil," she chided him immediately. "Don't--you know very well that I'm not going to wear some behemoth on my finger anyway, so don't bother."

"Fine," he sighed, as if she were telling him to take out the garbage, rather than advising against an engagement ring worth thousands of pounds. "Just a plain wedding ring, got it."

"Gil-"

"We're here!"

She eyed him; she wasn't going to forget this. But he opened the door for her, ushering her inside. "I know what you're trying to do."

"Don't wanna be late," he grinned at her, taking her hand and walking just faster than her by enough to make her have to trot to keep up.

"You've dropped me off, you can go," she urged, before he could introduce himself and make a big show of being her husband to anyone else.

If he wanted her to live a normal, inconspicuous life then he had to stop drawing attention to them.

"What, you don't wanna show off your husband to the other ladies?" he grinned.

"It may not just be ladies," she corrected him, although that apparently was an entirely different trap laid by him.

"Then I've really gotta make sure I walk you to the door."

"Gil," she rolled her eyes at him. But he gave her hand a squeeze.

"Don't be nervous."

He knew her too well. She looked at the walls, with the occasional bulletin board or display of the school's accolades. "I'm not."

"You're terrible at lying, sweetheart," he chuckled and leaned in to kiss her cheek. "You're gonna do great."

She refused to admit that she liked his little affection. Her hand patted his chest. "I'll text you when I'm done."

"Sure thing." He liked living the casual life, she could tell. He liked not having to be 'Boss' or appear cold and dangerous. "Hey."

Thena's eyes went wide, and then closed completely as he pulled her into a real kiss--a much deeper one. Her hand slid up his chest. It gripped his collar at first, but then the kiss made all thoughts leave her mind. Her tongue mingled with his and a sound escaped her that she would not be acknowledging.

Gil pulled away, giving her such a devillish grin that he was looking more like his mob boss self. "Have fun, sweetie."

She huffed, releasing him with a bit of a push. Her face was flushed hot, but she glared at him. "Inconspicuous my ass."

[fuckmeyer]

Jasper as a character is so interesting because he ends up a Confederate because he can't actually empathise with the slaves and because he simply accepts cruelty around him, and then when he becomes a vampire he literally can't ignore others suffering because it hurts him, but even decades after he becomes a Vegetarian he still can't get a hang of it partially because he still can't see humans as *people*. Idk there's smth to be said about him becoming a vampire because of his own cruelty and then being eternally in horrific pain because of said cruelty that fucks.

Jasper's whole life is a curse & i love to see it

here we have a Confederate supposedly so empathetic that he acquired a "gift"... yet not so empathetic as to recognize he was fighting for the enslavement of an entire race. despite seeing the consequences of slavery literally every day. now, the man who spent his last human days denying the humanity in others is forced to spend his immortal life being slapped in the face with their emotions. forever. hueeueueueu-

yeah, i would call that "gift" a curse, actually.

if Twilight weren't a horror story, we might see a discussion between Jasper/Bella about how immortality forces you to confront the darker side of your nature (e.g. "there will come a day when the societal beliefs imbued unto you leaves you standing on the wrong side of history"), & Jasper's journey with finding love & humanity. OR, y'know, he could've just had ONE (1) line where he says "yeah i'm not proud of my service." simply, if Twilight weren't a horror, Jasper could see the error of his ways & change for the better.

HOWEVER. Twilight vampires are "mentally frozen" when they turn, so Jasper is likely still a racist who does not regret his service. no matter how many times he is confronted with his cruelty, he won't change. meaning whatever life he chooses, his gift dooms him.

wow! eternal curse!

we see evidence of this frozen mental state in his decision to go vegetarian. he doesn't switch bc he feels bad about killing humans:

"I could feel everything my prey was feeling. And I lived their emotions as I killed them. [...] You've experienced the way I can manipulate the emotions around myself, Bella, but I wonder if you realize how the feelings in a room affect me." (Eclipse, Ch 13)

note the dehumanizing term "prey" & the focus on himself. he laments not that the human lives he's taking have value but that their dying moments harsh his vibe.

the irony! trapped as an empath while never possessing the ability to be an empath! CURSE CURSE C-

herein lies a bigger, juicier curse: Jasper is, himself, (hot take) enslaved in the sense that he will never know freedom, philosophically speaking, due to the choices he made in life. the series tries to paint him as a master tactician & competent leader; fanon often paints him as a free-thinking amoral black sheep. in reality, he simply obeys the commands of higher authorities & abides by their worldview regardless of how toxic it is to himself or others.

in the beginning, he had María.

he entered the Southern Vampire Wars not by his own volition but stayed because he was content not having a choice. however one feels about María, the fact of the matter is 1) as a newborn he was stronger, bigger, & faster than her & could have run away or overpowered her, 2) had the "gift" to identify emotions & could KNOW when/if she was malicious or manipulating him, & 3) could have escaped by influencing her emotions to make her disinterested in him. at any time in the 100 years they were together, he could have left. he talks about never knowing a life outside the war & discovering "options I'd never dreamed I had." ok???? run 100 miles in any direction & you would have seen a life outside of war. BOI-

instead, he took comfort in being submissive & adopting someone else's ideology. not only did it remind him of his past, but it meant he had no need to reflect on his actions or beliefs. he prefers others dictate his worldview & order him around even if it means being unhappy. he only left because he was going to be assassinated, & even then, it wasn't until someone else told him another life was possible that he "realized" another life was possible.

notably, the period where he's most free— living with Peter & Charlotte— is his rock-bottom where "the depression got worse." but, again, not because he realized the value of human life: "I was so wearied by killing [...] even mere humans."

then he meets Alice.

Alice, who has visions of being vegetarian & converts him so they can live with the Cullens. Alice, who dictates how her family should live their lives to the point where she manipulates them. Alice, who goes so far as to dress the Cullens, who orders Jasper to wait in the car while she & Bella go shopping, who Jasper refers to as "truly [...] one frightening little monster" because for all his experience she can still beat him in combat.

his eternal soulmate is authority.

despite being unhappy with his vegetarian life, as it makes him feel weak & coddled & a liability to everyone around him, he follows the lifestyle because Alice tells him to.

then there's the Volturi, another authoritative body. "We owe the Volturi for our present way of life," says acclaimed bootlicker Jasper Hale, who in the same moment shudders at the atrocities they committed, yet strangely sees no other way for a governing body to keep the peace... so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

but, since Carlisle outranks the Volturi as an authoritative figure in that he more closely aligns with Jasper's new worldview, Jasper sees no problem deposing the vampiric governing body if it means his sister-in-law of like 2 months can keep her demonic spawn. so i guess we don't really owe the Volturi that much

to his credit, we see glimmers of him questioning his leaders: 1) his decision to leave Maria, 2) his considering switching diets to defeat Victoria, & 3) going against the Volturi. but, again, these decisions are all just a result of his self-preservation & submitting to the higher authority du jour.

in the end, he has the perfect storm of conditions that would allow him to escape the prison he's created, to find freedom & to love humanity unconditionally... but he won't. Jasper's ultimate curse is that regardless of whether he realizes the enslavement of his own self, he will never leave his cage because it's cozy & easy & allows him to never think for himself.

AAAANYWAY Jasper's life sucks & he's trapped in an eternal prison of his own making. lol

[birdmenmanga]

A while ago I received a beautiful painting of Eishi in the mail from @kitsoa!! I've been meaning to post pictures of it but I so rarely have physical objects I wanted a proper photoshoot to do it justice <3

When I first saw this I was absolutely blown away by the colors. These magenta-maroon hues aren't ones I associate with urban cityscapes at all and yet it's beautiful and dreamlike. There are a lot of poignant moments of loneliness in this series and this piece really captures that feeling, in my opinion. I almost feel like crying when I look at it sometimes. Kitsoa just has a way with color I can never hope of coming close to; I often look at her artworks and think, "Ah, her brain's just wired in a fundamentally different way from mine." (NOT a lamentation btw-- I consider it a blessing that we are put on this earth to show each other pictures of that which the other could not conceive of)

I have it up on my wall with sticky tack (didn't want to put tape on the front in case it got damaged when I inevitably have to move away) and I look at it all the time. I love it so much!! Thank you!!

[meraki-yao]

RWRB: Prince Henry = Princess Diana

If someone were to compare Henry to an irl royalty, many would immediately say Prince Harry. In that Variety interview with Nick, even the interviewer asked Nick if Henry was a gay version of Harry. And the association is understandable, the clearest similarity being falling for an American, and being the spare.

But hear me out.

I think Henry's counterpart is actually Princess Diana.

I went to visit my high school two weeks ago and had a chat with my best friend (a budding actress studying at NYU Tisch) and the principal (a lovely British gentleman who's willing to spend time talking to students, he greets us at the school gate every morning, and I really like and respect him) and we talked a bit about the British monarchy because we were talking about historical fiction and I mentioned the crown

And my principal (who was still living in the UK and presumably a young adult when the whole Diana thing was happening) mentioned that the monarchy used to be really isolated and closed off (granted except for state events which are still not that accessible, and occasional rebels like the Duke of Windsor and Princess Margaret) But when Diana joined the royal family, she brought a lot more public attention to the monarchy. People started paying more attention to the royal family because of her.

And she used that extra attention to shed light on causes that the crown previously didn't touch on, perhaps most notably AIDS by hugging a patient during a time when people were afraid to even approach them.

Diana didn't fit into the pre-existing, and perhaps cold mould of the monarchy. She wasn't a typical bride for the heir. (No queen consort is truly "weak" but Diana was really stubborn especially regarding how to raise her children) And honestly, while personally I think the whole marriage issue is really unfortunate circumstances and there's no singular villain, the royal family could have been a lot kinder to her.

But despite everything, and perhaps partly because she didn't fit in as well, she managed to change things for the better.

Prince William took after his mother's efforts to shed light on marginalized groups or topics that need to be addressed: he's the first royal to appear in a gay magazine, he's currently doing a couple projects tackling homelessness, he and Princess Kate have a couple of projects regarding mental health and anti-bullying, he founded the earth-shot prize etc. And so much of what he (and his wife) does is following Diana's footsteps. The monarchy, at the very least the Wales is more of a public servant than a mere figurehead now.

Now let's look at Henry.

Henry's the odd one out by being gay, but also by not being the traditional figure of masculinity that his monarchy held by: Henry's a writer, a historian, a hapless romantic. It's harsher in the book (and I've written an essay before on the movie's version of Henry's grandfather being genuinely worried about Henry not being accepted by the public and getting hurt as opposed to the Queen in the book who's just a homophobic bitch for the sake of it), but in both, we see how terrible Philip and the Queen's insults to him was. In both, the monarchy was not accepting of his differences, and in the book, they were straight-up cruel. They very deliberately hurt them. (His situation in the books is more black and white than Diana's situation)

He wanted to work with Pez's foundation on LGBT youth shelters long before he came out. His outing, despite being an invasion of privacy, led to the mass pride protests. By officially announcing Alex as his boyfriend/suitor, and later creating/joining LGBT charities, he's giving support and a platform for the LGBT community.

In the movie it's implied that their monarchy is more closed off and like our world's old monarchy (Henry's children's hospital visits are private endeavours, and he mentioned being stuck "doing mindless ribbon-cutting" while Alex is out there changing the world, which implies his jobs is more the ceremonial stuff)

So just like Diana, Henry was not accepted by the monarchy/royal family but eventually used his position to shed light on those in need, using the monarchy's influence for positive change.

There are a couple more parallels:

In the book, Henry has blonde hair and blue eyes and so does Diana

In the movie, Henry was named "the Prince of England's Heart" just as Diana was called "the Queen of People's Hearts"

And I don't know if this was a deliberate design on Nick's part but

(these are the best gifs I can find that demonstrate what I'm trying to show, a better parallel would be the shot of Henry looking at Alex through his eyelashes when Pez was introducing himself to Nora but I can't find a gif of it)

TL DR: Henry will have the same role/position/significance to his world's monarchy as Diana did with our world's royal family

And honestly, I think Diana would have loved him.

tagging @lfg1986-2 because you mentioned you were looking forward to this one, hope you like it!

[galedekarios]

the plagiarist posting an "apology" to creators, including myself, who he has ripped for months on end despite us asking him not to while he still has us all blocked is... a choice

[frereamour]

Regarding the brothers tho, I was totally seeing it until, spoiler below

Why didn't stack turn smoke? That's insane to me that's obsessive brother 101 I think that ruins a little bit of the twincest magic for me