#SUCH A LONG POST

[theninth09]

ive been looking at liams room for funsies. as one does, right. anyway im gonna talk about what his room looks like in season 4 first. (please excuse the ugly fucking filter i put over the pics, i wanted to be able to actually see things and teen wolfs lighting is.. like that)

i find it interesting that they put a picture of a woman (im assuming its a woman?) with a surfboard and an actual surfboard in his room. does this imply that liam has an interest in surfing? i mean, he does live in california... i dont know where exactly beacon hills is located as it doesnt actually exist and i know nothing about surf culture, in california or otherwise, in general. i dont think this means liam knows how to surf or anything but i thought it was a fun detail. maybe he just likes the aesthetics. i personally often like to connect him to ocean/beach imagery so this makes me very happy.

another detail is that next to the picture of the woman at the beach is a picture of what im assuming is a model in a "sexy" outfit and pose holding a soccer ball. considering he gets together with hayden, who plays soccer, the next season, this was just kinda funny to me. apparently liam likes girls who play sports. also, on the floor behind mason theres a soccer ball as well. feels really random since liam is only really interested in lacrosse, but i guess he likes sports in general?

theres more posters above his bed:

you can see the one saying "blood brothers" better here. its pretty obviously a lacrosse thing, based on the guys in their jerseys and the sticks they're holding but i couldn't figure out what/who exactly it is. perhaps some players that liam likes/looks up to? no idea if they actually exist or if its just a random picture of lacrosse players.

even further up theres another poster of a woman in a bikini/underwear. lovely that they portray liam as this stereotypical teenage boy with half-naked women on his wall. personally i think its really funny. theres a few other posters but its simply too dark for me to be able to tell what they are. i think the one right above the blood brothers one could be lacrosse related as well? not sure.

other than that, theres not that much interesting to see. his closet is a literal cage which?? sure, why not. apparently he likes to wear caps as he has four of them hanging off of it. his closet actually changes in s6 to a regular dresser which you can very briefly see.

this is in no way serious but my friend cody and i came up with a silly little interpretation for this. his closet in s4 is a cage, but its also see-through. hes in the closet (not out about his bisexuality yet) even though its quite obvious (see-through closet.) pre-s4, brett and the lacrosse team put him in a cage at the zoo and hit him with lacrosse balls = he feels like an animal, a monster, he represses who he truly is. his last name is dunbar, like the bars of a cage; hes caged in by his past and his biological father. and in s6 he has a regular dresser: he manages to break free, he grows closer with theo... he comes out of his cage/the closet. again, we're not actually serious about this. this is just for funsies.

moving on. back to his room in s4. heres shots of his desk:

we could already tell that his pc is on the opposite wall of his bed due to his and masons position when playing video games, but theres definitive proof of that. his pc and printer on his desk and what seems to be a tv? to the right over there. theres a few more posters too, one of what seems to be a.. mountain bike? motor bike? something like that (i guess liam really is a fan of anything sport related.) i cant really figure out what the other posters are of, sorry. although theres a few framed pictures and just pictures attached to the wall as well, which i think are supposed to be of him and friends and/or family. the last interesting thing to me here is that theres at least three trophies on his shelves. lacrosse? or did he play soccer before his step-dad introduced him to lacrosse... i guess we'll never know.

thats it for s4, now lets look at the things that change for s6. his bed and the chair next to it are like the only things that stay the same.

first off, all his posters are gone and replaced instead by two framed pictures (which just look like generic decor to me) but theres also small pictures tucked into the window frame/attached to the wall. cant tell what exactly they are, but to me this seems like pics of him and his friends/family again. hes got a few new lamps, the red table that used to be his nightstand is now just a regular table where he puts stuff (it looks like the same table to me at least.) theres a corkboard on his wall, but we didnt get a good shot of that wall in s4 so maybe thats not new.

boring stuff, lets move on to slightly less boring stuff!

the door behind scott is interesting to me. one, this lets us know that liam has a bathroom adjoining his room (since the scene of mason and liam in s4 starts by the camera "entering" liams room through his door on the exact opposite side of his room.) two, the door changed. if you look back at the s4 pics, theres the door as well but it has glass panels instead of being solid wood like in s6. now, im aware this was just whatever department is responsible for making a set like that forgetting/not caring/etc and thats why the door is different. i dont fault them for that, i dont think anyone else has payed this much attention to it like me.

but! this allows me to speculate about canon reasons for that change. and me personally... i think it would make a lot of sense for liams character if he accidentally destroyed the door during an outburst. punching is one of liams common reactions when he starts struggling with his anger: he punches the wall when he's stuck in the well in s4, in s6ep12 he punches the locker until its dented and hanging off of the hinges after brett provokes him on the field, he punches the wall instead of nolan at the zoo. theres more than enough events between s4 and s6b where he could've destroyed his door, but it also just could've been a regular outburst due to his IED. either way, his door got replaced.

i wonder if liam is familiar with the difference between feeling glass splinters and wood splinters being stuck in his skin. i wonder if theres a constant ache in his knuckles. i wonder if when he calmed down and saw the aftermath, he panicked because his parents didnt know about him being a werewolf and how was he supposed to explain a broken door but no injury on his hands to match? i wonder a lot about liam dunbar. anyway.

lets talk about something lighthearted and fun: video games! i ignored the guitar (that you can see leaning against the wall behind scott) until now, because its not an actual guitar. its a guitar hero controller made to look like a black-white fender stratocaster. meaning, liam just likes to play guitar hero, and doesnt actually play the guitar. im still taking this as a win since i personally headcanon that he has a huge interest in music. (also if you're wondering how i knew that its a controller: my captain's friend is in a band and figured it out in like a minute. he says you can tell because of the black pad in the middle. shout out to him.)

heres another shot from s6, which also shows us that his room is a lot more boring now. why did they take his shelves and only give him those four lousy boxes omg... whatever. take a look:

thats mortal kombat. they're playing mortal kombat!!! im pretty sure its mortal kombat ll but gladly correct me if im wrong. i got extremely excited when i recognized it being MK because i made another post about thiam & video games and, unknowing that he canonically likes MK, claimed that its one of liams favorite games. anyway, we know that liam plays cage because the screen says "cage wins" and in the scene mason and liam talk about liam winning. which makes the way they're sitting really funny. it'd make more sense if liam was on the right, yknow, in front of the character hes playing as. ah well, tv logic. fun stuff.

one last detail and then im done yapping. first pic is from s6, the second one is from s4.

these look like xbox controllers to me. i dont have much more to say about that other than pointing it out. liam prefers xbox over playstation, good to know.

[sinful-lanterns]

On the topic of monster breeding, I would like to add in some more interesting information:

Do be wary though, this is pretty much a lore dump post for my AU 😅

There are only two ways to be a monster. 1. You were naturally born as a monster, or 2. You were unnaturally created to be a monster.

Monsters who are naturally born, are monsters who can be conceived by sexual intercourse, just like any other animal. However, there is a whole other category of monsters who are unnaturally created, those who weren’t born monsters but instead, were humans who have become monsters. Think ghosts, vampires, automatons, golems, chimeras, etc. beings who were created and changed into entities who aren’t considered human.

Most monsters who were unnaturally created are unable to produce offspring, even when having sexual intercourse with the same species or a human. An example of this would be that it’s impossible to be born a ghost, as ghosts are dead spirits that were formerly human.

This does of course mean that not every monster woman can “breed” with the Researcher, but adoption exists and many of them are alright caring for the other children that are procured from other monsters :)

Some extra detailed info about specific monsters and outliers:

- Fallen Angels are former Angel monsters who have committed grave sins and have become corrupted. Even though Fallen Angels are considered unnaturally created, they are still able to breed. Their offspring however, will be Angels as their parent was formerly an Angel. Whether or not they become Fallen Angels depends on what they do in their life.

- In this AU, Devils/Demons and Angels are not former humans. They are born as what they are, so they are able to procure offspring naturally.

- Eldritch Beings (such as Deren) are unable to produce offspring. It is currently unknown and impossible to find out how Eldritch Beings form, so many speculate they just exist.

- Plant-type monsters reproduce using sexual intercourse rather than how plants usually reproduce.

- Witches are just regular humans who are born with the capability to use magic. Because they are biologically still human, they are able to breed naturally with humans and different monster species alike.

- Luvia Ray specifically, who is a “Jekyll and Hyde” monster, is also able to produce offspring naturally. Although she is considered an “unnatural creation” her biology is still mostly human other than the fact she can transform into a monstrous “Ray” when provoked.

[essayofthoughts]

So I had a terrible terrible thought.

Oh Wise Friend of Paleopathology... what do you think you would be able to learn from Percy's tomb, whenever he kicks the bucket and ends up buried? Assuming a language barrier + at least a few thousand years (and Kiki can't just chime in if still alive).

What strains of his life would still be on his bones? What about the teeth? What do you think Whitestone’s burial customs would be like (and how would his status/history be conveyed in that context)? Would any fabrics used in funeral dress be likely to survive, or only his wedding ring + buttons + whatever that shiny thing is in his ascot?

What would you, future archeologist, make of that earring in just one ear???!

I would note that it has been several years since I properly studied the subject, but Palaeopathology and Skeletal Analysis were some of my favourite classes and I do remember a fair bit. But for any currently practicing Archaeologists - forgive my oversights. It has been Too Long.

Now. Before I get to anything else in this scenario, we have to think about the likely context. This word means different things in Archaeology and Anthropology but for our purposes here today the short definition is "What is he found with? Where do we find the body? Is there a tomb, a grave, grave goods? What is there here that is not the body, that can tell us about how the body got here?"

I don't know how to explain to you that this is one of my favourite parts of archaeological thought - everything matters, everything plays a part, everything is context enabling us to better understand a site or an artefact. Every new thing we discover is another datapoint to weave into a greater whole until the web resolves into something greater than the sum of it's parts.

So in this instance we're going to have to start with the following questions:

Where is his body interred?

What kind of inhumation is it? (graveyard, cemetery grave, wooden coffin or vault casket or leaded sealed, mausoleum, crypt, ossuary?)

How well preserved/damaged is it?

What are the burial customs of Whitestone nobility and how will that affect things?

Why am I exhuming it?

Now, we know a few things from canon, most namely that the de Rolos had a family mausoleum beneath their castle. This suggests a formal burial in a family crypt. We do not however know if the bodies were placed in coffins, or niches or even if they were cremated! From the transcript of Reunions Pt2:

MATT All right, so. You progress through the undercroft as quietly as possible. You notice as you get past the first section, you look to your right and left and the inside of these small like cubby offshoots that contain these separate ten by ten stone tombs. The walls have shelves burrowed into it, in which there are urns and small gems and offerings-- things that were buried alongside the family members as part of a remembrance. →

So it seems like some may have been cremated! Being adherents of Pelor, this doesn't actually surprise me - the sun burns, after all. But then again, neither would traditional burial - Pelor is also associated with agriculture and standard decomposition returns you to the earth that fed you.

Though... that would be a bit complicated in a sealed stone tomb.

Given also how I'd equate to modern time periods and technology levels... I'm inclined to say embalming hasn't taken off in Exandria at the time Percy dies. And... even if it was possible, I rather feel it'd be associated with Necromancy more than standard burial, plus Whitestone is predominantly Pelorian and Percy's wife is Champion of Pelor, and Pelor is god of agriculture. Embalming chemicals seep into the soil and are catastrophically bad for the environment - there's a reason American cemeteries expect caskets to be fully sealed and in a concrete vault - to prevent exactly that. I can't see Pelor being down with that kind of embalming, so most likely a body is neatened up, shown for funeral, and buried, with minimal messing about. Even nobles being buried in crypts where they won't immediately return to the soil, I imagine they'd want to stay true to the general idea.

Further, from Matt in that same episode:

#MATT Continuing down, a long set of whitestone-constructed stairs descend for about 45 feet before they level off into the de Rolo mausoleum. A long hallway continues forward that contains two ten-by-ten stone structures that contain the entombed bodies of previous generations of de Rolos, with six passages-- three on each side-- that split off of this main hallway that contain their own stone-encapsulated corpses. → This is a place of silent prayer and showing appreciation for the previous families. Not all of them are full, and there were extensions planned as the family grew, but the first thing you notice is all of the tomb doors are open. →

So the idea is that the graves stay in use! This isn't a case like Sedlec where bodies are periodically disinterred to be reinterred in an ossuary, these are meant to be lasting burials.

So... why am I excavating here?

Given Keyleth's lengthy lifespan I would assume that Whitestone likely survives quite well (yes, even with the Apogee, shush, I've only watched C1 so far). It's also a source of, well, whitestone and residuum, meaning it's likely to remain inhabited. Even given the significant shifts a thousand plus years bring - castles and keeps and forts are pretty good at lasting in some form! We have a lot of remnants of old castles (In Britain alone: Tintagel, Colchester Castle, Tower of London, the Roman Forts at Hadrian's Wall, various Caers throughout Wales), and they frequently get built on or rebuilt over time. In a case like Whitestone, with valuable resources and economic links, even if it were, say, invaded, colonised, etc. - the castle would be a good seat of administration or even just a tourist hotspot. And crypts are well down in the foundations: even if the castle was damaged or destroyed, it actually has good odds of staying intact. The Alabaster Sierras are mountainous, but given the ziggurat survived from the Calamity to when we see it well enough it only took the Briarwoods and Ripley a few years (minus the time excavating down to it) to restore it, it seems that they're not terribly tectonically active.

So... this is likely a very stable site, with good odds of at least 500 or so years of protection (Pike and Scanlan are set to have long lifespans, JB too seems set to live there, all would have reason to see it protected) even before we get to Keyleth's likely thousand-odd year protection. Given that much time to build itself stronger, I see Whitestone as most likely still existing, and the castle a significant historical site and cultural heritage.

I can see some degree of linguistic drift, but if the area has remained inhabited then there's good odds there'd be scholars of the area able to translate Pre-Apogee-Era Tal'Doreian Common. And, likewise, if the area has had so long protected then there's good odds the Chamber is still around, and so there's probably a good library and even recorded genealogy of the founding de Rolos, even if the family itself had died out. (Factual accuracy of these records might be suspect, but I'll get to that.) This kind of persistence of a culture would not be without IRL historical precedent - Ancient Egypt lasted for thousands of years using largely the same Hieroglyphics, even as Dynasties rose and fell. The culture absolutely changed, but good chunks of records were still around.

Given all of this, most likely I can see the reason being some kind of refurbishment of the castle prompting archaeologists to be called in for the safe disinterrment of the tombs and then some kind of funded study by the Chamber of Whitestone of the bodies in those tombs to help inform on who Whitestone's forebears were. This, again, is not without precedent - if I'm recalling my Sixth Form case studies correctly, Christ Church in Spitalfields had a massive crypt of lead caskets that were disinterred, catalogued, studied and, wherever possible, returned to relatives.

Let's return to those questions, yeah?

Where is his body interred?

Most likely in the de Rolo crypt under the castle.

What kind of inhumation is it? (graveyard, cemetery grave, wooden coffin or vault casket or leaded sealed, mausoleum, crypt, ossuary?)

Stone tomb burial - likely dry but not anaerobic. Reasonable odds of non-human disturbances (rats, flies, bugs, etc.)

How well preserved/damaged is it?

Good odds of reasonable preservation. Depending on how well and consistently the crypt is tended it could be best case for the scenario or somewhat less.

What are the burial customs of Whitestone nobility and how will that affect things?

Given Taliesin has said that the de Rolos took a bit from Prussian nobility in etiquette and manners, I'd be inclined to say probably similarly, with an eye towards our 1800s funerary practices simply because that's when the Pepperbox was prominent in our world.

So most likely, Sunday best, plush coffin, but - unless royalty - left to rot. Royals (in the UK at least) have historically been prone to leadlined caskets but that tends to lead to a specific kind of anaerobic putrefaction that results in something called corpse liquor.

Ick.

So let's hope that's not the case. Given Whitestone is primarily Pelorian in devotion, at least in Percy's day, I'd be inclined to say they're not completely sealed - possibly even just interred as bodies, but unlikely - plus the crypt is in the family castle and it seems that the crypts were visited periodically by family prior to the Briarwoods' attack - the odds of someone breaking in to try to steal royal relics is pretty low, unlike the public royal burials in Westminster Abbey.

Why am I exhuming it?

Castle refurbishments prompting a Chamber-sponsored study on the historic remains in the pre-Chamber de Rolo crypt.

OKAY. Now that's all out of the way, let's get into what I might discover, yes?

So most likely I've gone through several other bodies before I get to Percy. During exhumation the details of the tomb would have been recorded - it's placement in the tomb, which tombs it was next to. Now, I would imagine his tomb would be between Cassandra's and Vex's, but while working I likely wouldn't know that! Assuming linguistic drift and font changes, most likely the burials and tombs are labelled in the database something like T6E2 - Tomb 6 of the 2nd East Section. I would then have to find a scholar working on recording and identifying any inscriptions and translating them - so names, dates, quotes, etc.. And, most likely, I would be kept in the dark until I was done! Archaeology is best done without recorded human history to bias one and huge amounts of history have no contemporaneous record to speak of.

Now, if I'm just doing the Palaeopath then likely with a specialist in coffins, caskets and funerary fittings, I would record the state of the coffin and body inside, as well as the positioning of the body inside. Is the body extended (laid out flat as we tend to bury bodies now) or contracted (foetal position, very common prehistorically)? How intact are the remains?

And then, recording everything as I go, I would extract the body from the coffin, bit by bit. I would want to ensure that no bones were left inside the coffin, no tiny tatters of cloth - assuming any remained, cloth disintegrates shockingly quickly and if it wasn't fully sealed it's likely the moths got to it, let alone any rats - and that I didn't misplace any bones as I laid them out per diagram.

Jewellery, buckles - any metal grave goods would also be extracted here and recorded. Also, given Exandria - Detect Magic. Make sure anything enchanted is Identified so we know what it did (hello Earring of Whisper!). Again, I'd probably end up giving them over to someone who knows how to compare them to similar items to properly study them.

Now... Percy's fleshy bits would most likely be gone. Unless he mummified which is not impossible with a dry stone internment but between two thousand years, one's own gut bacteria (remember, modern embalming is unlikely), rats and bugs... yeah I can't see much remaining beyond fragments of cloth and bones.

Oh, and his glasses.

That would have been noted during removing the body from the coffin - this person wore glasses. From my colleague examining them, we'd be able to see if they were prescription (or as historically close as you could get) or if they were a stylistic choice - so we'd know this person had bad eyesight.

Now, the first step after checking every bone is present would be to sex it and to look for damage or signs of wear and tear. Given this is Exandria 1. Gender equality for ages and 2. Magical with options to trans one's gender. This is also a high-status burial so there's good odds this person was living as their chosen gender; and sexing the body could tell us what that was. Even if there's a mismatch - grave goods can also tell us. Is the jewellery more commonly seen on men or women of the era? Percy would likely have a pocket watch (he does make a clocktower! I'd be shocked if he didn't make himself a pocketwatch) which is often a more masculine item, and an ascot pin - ascots are a masculine fashion - and his Earring of Whisper, which is a bit more complicated. Any remnants of clothes could also tell us. And of course - the coffin furniture. Any plaque with inscription, or inscription on the tomb panel. After drawing my own conclusions I would ask my scholarly colleague if their findings lined up with my own.

Given also that this is Exandria, it'd probably also be very important to identify which (DnD) race he was. Elves seem to be more gracile than humans, half-elves likewise albeit to a lesser degree, genasi would likely have magical influences, likewise aasimar, tieflings having horns, tails, hooves, claws, dwarves being short and stocky, while halflings are short and comparatively gracile and gnomes are smaller still. Goblins would be ruled out by size alone, goliaths would be massive and probably have big muscle attachment marks and dragonborn would have very obvious conformation compared to a human.

I don't think identifying Percy as "Most likely human" would be hard - but we can confirm it later.

Now... damage.

Percy's torture would almost certainly show on his bones. Given it was torture, I highly doubt Ripley wasted magical healing on him. It was only a week or two, so likely no broken bones - unless she only wasted enough healing on him to keep him alive, in which case... yeah absolutely some wear and tear. Signs of partial healing, mixed damage. Scarring on the bones, evidence of dislocations, etc.. Likewise, injuries from his time with Vox Machina would show - him leaving his hand in a bulette's mouth probably left marks on those bones, his death at Ripley's hands probably is extremely interesting in the skeletal record - most of his pre-mortem injuries only partially healed if that, while the actual cause of death being healed up completely, a lacuna in the record. Likewise - Percy's cane. If he was buried with it we would probably look for some kind of leg injury. Was the cane an affectation or was there an injury it was compensating for? What injury might that be, what could have caused it? Or even... was he not buried with it? Would we see a leg injury that implies a need for a cane, but no cane to go with it? If so, we could assume that presentation in death had significance, and they were presenting a "perfect" "whole" version of him at death. Again, there's cultural precedent for this! Ancient Egyptians would provide wooden prosthetics and false eyes during mummification because of a belief that how one was interred was how one would arrive to the afterlife - they could be given limbs they had lost or even never had in life.

Just due to all of this I'd probably also take a close look for any evidence of malnutrition - though this might be significantly faded after his many comfortable years retired. That said, Percy was tortured and then washed up on a fishing boat and dissociated for two years. Given this was at the tail end of his puberty, I'd be shocked to find no sign at all of lasting physical trauma at that.

I'd also find he had one arm that was just. Fine. Factory reset perfect. Nothing wrong at all. What the hell. Did someone cast Regenerate on him? (If they did cast Regenerate: did that have an accelaratory effect on any bone remodelling his healing bones were going through after the Vecna fight?

Assuming I've studied some of the other crypt bodies before Percy's this would be very interesting! Most of those would be de Rolos who likely went through little to no hardship - Percy stands out.

I'd also want to check to see his teeth - what kind of teeth care is he getting? Any cavities, calculus build up, abscesses, missing teeth? How worn down are they? Are there any fake teeth? Given Vex would probably chivvy Percy to take care of himself (and wouldn't care for stinky breath) and they have Pike on hand for healing, I imagine he has very good teeth for his age.

This is a good thing.

You see, assuming this is a very thorough study and all of that time between Percy's era and know gives me access to modern technology or some equivalent I would want to a few destructive tests. Namely - carbon dating, isotope analysis and DNA testing.

And these are often best done with Teeth. Teeth are fun! They are growing bones which live in our bones! And we lose our milk teeth and gain our adult teeth on the same reliable time frame as we use to age infant skeletons (sealing of skull sutures in that case) which makes them really useful. Like. Unspeakably useful. Teeth are fantastic. Take care of your damn teeth.

Carbon dating would, obviously, give us a rough idea of how old the body was. This is easier the more recent it is, and much more exact. We can then cross-reference this with the scholar translating inscriptions and checking historical records to see how well the carbon date matches up with the historical record!

DNA testing is the thing that would tell us if he was human, and, depending on how advanced it is, might even be able to tell us a few phenotypic genes! Melanin levels for skin and hair, eye pigmentation - possibly if he was genetically predisposed towards a few diseases. It would also allow us to compare him to other bodies in the data set! We would find out that the female body interred on one side of him was most likely his sister, and while the woman interred on his other side shares no meaningful DNA with him, there are other nearby bodies which share DNA with both of them, being their children! And from those children we'd know that there was a tiefling in the family, which would allow us to infer that somewhere in this family there was some kind of infernal influence.

Isotope analysis - if I'm recalling correctly, you can use isotope analysis to both identify some part of a person's diet in life (carbon and nitrogen analysis, usually) and where they came from (strontium and oxygen analysis).

So we'd have some idea of Percy's general diet, and also know he was local! I imagine given, you know, Exandria, magic - we'd have not just strontium analysis to place him as a Whitestone native, but also likely some lingering magic from the local whitestone rock to further establish that. Now, if I recall rightly, strontium analysis only really works for childhood, but based on the injury and malnutrition pattern, the idea that he either went through hell locally or left in some relation to that is not an unlikely one - just hard to prove.

CONCLUSIONS

We would see from his grave goods and the circumstances of his burial that he was high born and likely associated with the de Rolo family. From DNA analysis we'd know he was related to a good number of people in the crypt and that his apparent spouse was not, meaning he is most likely the de Rolo of the pair. Plus the strontium analysis we'd know he was local and his likely spouse was not, again furthering the idea that he was the de Rolo.

We might also have some idea of how he'd look, and if we decided to try to do a digital or artistic facial reconstruction we'd likely have some pigmentation pointers. Also, we know he wore glasses and that he needed them - that they weren't a stylistic choice.

We'd know he'd been badly injured at various points in his life, and, depending on how severe his various post-Glintshore and post-Raishan injuries were, we might still be able to see the gap of the resurrections in his bones, which would further suggest he was someone of means to have afforded such a resurrection. A lot of his injuries could probably be put down to an adventuring lifestyle, which the resurrections and any evidence of magical healing would probably attest to, and without the kind of surface scarring torture leaves, while we'd know he was injured badly over the course of his life, I don't know if we'd be able to easily conclude it was all at once. Certainly some marks on the bones would seem older than others but bones remodel over time! Some of it might be damn near invisible, while others would remain obvious. He also has a mysteriously perfect arm for Some Fucking Reason.

We'd likely have his wedding ring (I'd be shocked if it didn't have some inscription on the inside; this was very common historically and Percy is a complete sap), an ascot pin, a belt buckle and some buttons or fasteners for his clothing, a pocketwatch and chain (and again, I'd be surprised if the pocketwatch didn't have an inscription or a hidden flap with a miniature of his family or something). We'd have his glasses and possibly even his cane. We'd likely have the Earring of Whisper and based on how well Purvan Suul's two magical items lasted - one of which was not a Vestige! - I'd be inclined to say an Identify would let us know what that was once Detect Magic turned up that it was enchanted.

I imagine someone would also have catalogued any offerings left outside his grave - keepsakes, mementos, inscribed tablets of memorial, etc. which would help to let us know not just who he was but what he meant to the community in which he lived.

After all, the dead do not bury themselves - this is what I meant at the start by context. He was buried by people around him - his community. They chose his grave and his grave goods, they chose the inscription of his tomb (he may have requested it, they chose whether or not to honour that) and they left offerings and markers of what he meant to them.

And... from all of this? Assuming Scanlan really went ham telling the Legend of Vox Machina and bards keep telling it? I'd think an in-world archaeologist could make a good guess as to who this body was even before getting it confirmed by the scholar checking the inscriptions. And with the Cobalt Soul storing information - good odds they'd have a record of Scanlan's version of the tale and their own additions (see also Chronicles of Exandria books, intended as being from the Cobalt Soul). And, also, of course, Tary's version too! There's likely to be several different contemporaneous sources, not to mention later additions from the Voice of the Tempest.

So... I imagine this would probably help to fill out things that weren't covered by Scanlan's tale, refute things in Tary's and generally do as finding Richard III's body did for Britain - give us more information about the person behind all the stories and propaganda. Flesh out their life, give us hints of the hardship they went through - if there's inscriptions on his ring or pocketwatch, give us a hint of the heart he shared with his family.

It certainly wouldn't be everything, but it would be enough to let you touch another's humanity across a thousand years or more.

[bsd-elle]

Thoughts on Buddy Daddies Episode 11

Because damn, what a whiplash of an episode.

This episode, if nothing, is a direct parallel of the first two episodes of the series.

But let's start from the beginning.

The episode starts with Kazurei living their lives, but in a monotonous beat. Kazuki continues his same routine of domestic activities, but as seen by the state of the house and how Rei said, he's definitely not the best.

Rei dedicates his nights to playing video games and sleeping in the morning. And I wonder if it's because of the prior episodes, knowing that Miri was in danger, and now Kazuki would be the next threat, he doesn't allow himself to sleep at night, because he wants to be alert and ready for anything, for Kazuki.

The moment that stood out to me was when they both sat on the couch and watched Miri's favourite show while reading cup ramen.

From what we've seen of the show, every time they have food, they sit at the dining table, but this is one of the first times we've seen both of them on the couch, watching TV.

They probably set an alarm on their phones, to watch the show, because they know that somewhere, out there, Miri is watching the same thing, and they could be connected to her in that sense.

They also both have cereal, the same one that Kazuki was against, at the table with the high chair that they never could find in their hearts to move.

When Kazuki goes through Miri's room, which as we see, most of the stuff has been sent over to her, this is one of the few times we witness Kazuki crying and feeling genuine hurt over the loss of his daughter, and the loss of his family.

Going through the process of losing your family all over again, a concept that he just recently decided to accept and feel happy about, most have sent him reeling.

Kazuki took this as a sign, "yes, I can't be a father, I can't have a family, it's just not in the books for someone like me, so why should I feel bad? I can't feel bad, because it wasn't even possible, so why care now?".

Rei, on the other hand, misses her so desperately, probably to a level he didn't even think he was capable of, holding her rubber duck close to him while he sleeps, because she was his sleep buddy.

Their conversation in the balcony was a turning point for both of them. We see Rei smoking after a long time, which according to him, he stopped because of Miri.

And I love that Miri inspired this good habit, because throughout this conversation, he never actually smoked.

Rei winners if Miri is eating well, and he expresses genuine concern for her, and wishes her the best, whereas Kazuki doesn't even stop to consider the possibility that she isn't being treated well, because that would break his entire heart.

To know that they let her go but she's still not living a good life.

Rei says that he's planning on returning to his father's place, to which Kazuki replies that there's no point in them staying together. Which I'm just going to accept as another coping mechanism.

We've seen from past episodes that Kazuki was really concerned about Rei and the chance that he would return to his father's house, because he knows that it would be detrimental for Rei.

But now, we see him, pretty nonchalantly say that it wouldn't matter.

Kazuki, who just lost his daughter, is losing his partner, someone who has been by his side for so many years, and someone he thinks would be better off without him. Someone who wouldn't be considered his family without Miri.

He doesn't think that he can put up a fight, he doesn't think that he has any right to stop Rei, to stop their family from breaking apart.

Which is why, when Rei offers him his apartment, he declines because 'he'd like something smaller', I attribute to the fact that this apartment contains past memories of his family, one he was unable to keep.

From Rei's perspective, I just love that he offered Kazuki his apartment without a second thought, the same person who referred to Kazuki as 'couch-crasher' in the first episode, has had his apartment, his routine, his life be completely altered with a Kazuki shaped impression (and Miri shaped), with clean floors and full fridges.

I also think it was his way for Kazuki to always remember him. He knows that moving to his father's place would potentially mean that they would never see each other again, especially with Miri's absence. He knows that his father is aware of Kazuki's presence in his life, and it would be, on paper, better for him and safer for him to be away.

But he couldn't resist, throwing him his lighter, a constant reminder that Kazuki decided to take in a child, that both of them grew to love and care for, that both of them decided to give up for her safety, a child for whom Rei decided to stop smoking, and hasn't yet, to this date.

We then move to Kazuki and Kyuu's conversation at the cafe, Kyuu understanding that Kazuki isn't in the best state of mind, and would probably revert back to his old tendencies of gambling, to drown his thoughts. We also see Kazuki talk about how Rei and his father 'rub him the wrong way', and I'm sure that's due to the fact that Rei quite clearly has a strained relationship with his father, and the byproduct of the fierce creature that is Shigeki Suwa is Rei Suwa, who was the perfect assassin, until Kazuki and eventually Miri showed up.

And he is the perfect assassin, because the second Miri is brought into the question, he's willing to become the person he was, to kill anyone just to ensure that Miri would be safe.

Skipping forward to Misaki's untimely death. Tbh, I really hated this plot point, at first. The fact that Kazuki and Rei seemingly had their paths cleared by the death of Miri's father and mother, irked me.

But I also completely understand, given there are only 12 episodes of content, they had to wrap things up quickly, I get why they decided to proceed the way they did.

And I'm glad they gave Misaki her moment to grieve and regret, because it's really unfortunate.

She went through so much throughout her life, finally had the chance to rewrite history and create a new future with her daughter, but her own past mistakes eventually hurt her.

Speaking of Misaki, even though it's clear that she's working really hard on trying to be a better mother, I also think that she's FAR from being a good mother, tbh.

The moment that really set me off, is even Miri is talking about her papas, to which Misaki completely turns the conversation around to be about how she should've never let Miri feel lonely. Which completely invalidates Miri's emotions considering the fact that she was happily talking about spending time with her papas, to hear her own mother say that she wouldn't let her feel lonely... Idk..

I think if Miri heard, 'oh, I'm so sorry I made you feel lonely, I'll try my best not to make you feel that way', she could internalize that as, 'Should I have felt lonely in that moment? Am I a bad person because I felt happy, even though my mom is telling me that I should've felt lonely?'.

And this same feeling is carried over to when Misaki says to Miri that she'll work hard to be a mother Miri can love, and we can see Miri in that moment look upset and cling to get and say that she does love her.

And again, it's very easy as a four year old, to internalised that as your mistake, that you aren't showing your love strong enough to the point that your mother doesn't recognise it.

Now, am I saying all this because I think Misaki deserves everything that happened to her?

Absolutely not.

She was genuinely trying her best to be a better parent, and was doing with what she had and the knowledge she possessed, and isn't that what both Kazuki and Rei are trying to do too?

Even with her dying breath, all she wanted was for Miri to be safe and be protected, that's all she ever wanted, and it's really unfortunate that her story had to the in this manner.

But, I do want to highlight that even though Misaki was trying her best, she's definitely not the perfect mother, and neither are Kazuki and Rei.

But what's interesting is that, the one time Kazuki teared up, he made sure to hide his face from Miri, and I think that comes from years of having to see pain upfront, that conditioned him like this, but it is interesting to point out, the contrast in the two.

Further along, we see that Misaki's dying wish was ingrained in Kazuki to the point that he's already formulated a plan to put Miri into an orphanage.

However, as my initial point at the start of this post, a parallel to the first few episodes, Rei is the one who wants to take care of Miri, Rei adamantly fights for them to take care of her.

When Kazuki, rightfully, asks him what he can do, we see Rei actually introspect, the decisions that had led to this moment, every single little thing, that brought his little girl into her life, and changed him inside and out.

He was comfortable with business transactions, cold bodies with no pulses, glove cladded, professional handshakes, but for the first time, he sees value in life, he sees value in people, he feels warmth.

He sees life in people, connections he's made and the impacts that they have had on him.

Both of them.

It's fascinating because I think Kazuki and Rei processes things in such different manners.

When Miri was in danger, Kazuki's reaction to shut down and logically try to distance himself from her, because he doesn't think that he deserves her, whereas Rei's reaction is to pull closer to her, to try and be there for her even more, to not let her out of his sight for a second (and how could he do that without his partner?).

And it's so interesting that he's the one who's thinking emotionally in this moment, wanting to preserve every essence of Miri, and recreate it.

Whereas, Kazuki, in his mind, is thinking in the most logical manner.

And I think Rei understood that, unfortunately Kazuki has closed off his walls, put up his mask again, and thinks that they can never be a family again.

So he switches strategies and asks Kazuki the most logical question, wouldn't it be unfair to leave Miri after killing both her parents and then abandoning her?

And I think Kazuki was able to see that point, which is why he got so angry, because it's painful.

It's painful to bring his family back up again, so he's trying every single thing to stop it from happening, because he thinks that Miri would be safer in orphanages, than without him, that he's just a curse for everything around him.

So when Rei adamantly tells him, we can change.

It hits him.

And UGGHH.. The writing is so flawless, because the first time Rei asked Kazuki if they could change in Episode 8, when they were in the car, Kazuki replies quite cheerfully, who knows.

Because he had hope, he had belief that they could change, and it would happen.

But in episode 10, when they're brought back to reality, out of the haze, he says to Rei that, guess they weren't able to change.

Because in that moment, they weren't able to keep their family together, HE wasn't able to protect all of them, and like last time, he lost them.

So, his immediate response is to go back to the start, back to 'normal', back to a reality where he didn't change, he didn't accept happiness, and he didn't think he COULD be happy.

So this time, seeing his partner, someone he's spent years with, someone who raised his child with him, someone who would never fight passionately or emotionally, someone who was the 'perfect assassin', tell him, point blank,

We can change.

He sees hope, he sees a future, he sees happiness, he sees SOMETHING in Rei and Miri, and their time together, and if his partner is telling him that he can change, well? Who's Kazuki to stop him.

And Kazuki confirms to Miri that they're back together again (looking so Godamn pretty, OMG).

And the episode ends with Kazuki and Rei declaring that they're both leaving the assassin world, to be an actual family, to be fathers for Miri.

A wonderful episode that I desperately wished could've been expanded even more, but sigh, we only have 12 episodes.

I hope the last episode either deals with them being a family on paper, with a timeskip to the future after they've successfully gotten away, OR, the better one, where we get badass kazurei beating everyone in the organization.

(I desperately hope for the second option, but tbh, since it's only one episode, I wouldn't mind either way♥️).

[levoneh]

books books

in 2021 i found reading again thru lots of romance novels

and in 2022 i would say i returned to eating a more hearty balanced diet 

here’s my most favorite to talk about

semiosis by sue burke - {SFF} generational tale of exodus ship settlers on hostile alien planet and their relationship with the sentient plant life there. oooh baby. this was the first really juicy book i read this year, and the first sci-fi i had really loved in a while. i kept thinking i knew what this book was going to be about, and then it kept pulling out the rug from under me in really satisfying ways. ended up being thematically related to a lot of other SFF i read thru the rest of the year in an exciting, brain-using way.

culture war lords by tal lavin - {non-fiction} i think part of this was so resonant bc of how i listened to it as an audiobook (in snatches while watching my nanny kids play on the playground, or while heaving their stroller up hill through the streets of jerusalem.) i wanted to talk about it with my mom, but i don’t want my mom to hear the awful things in this book.

the just city by jo walton - {SFF} athena takes nerds through time and kidnapped children to build plato’s just city. okay, so this was *~*THE YEAR OF JO*~* i first read jo walton’s books the previous year, and then became obsessed by her and am on a quest to read everything she’s written. another book i didn’t expect, very thematically connected to semiosis. what if our children don’t want what we build for them?  what if we were wrong? what will we they do with it after they decide that?

the bright ages by david m. perry + matthew gabriele - a really delightful,expansive, different kind of history book about the middle ages. set me on my obsessive medieval history streak this year (see below.) i listened to as an audiobook, but i’ll just have to reread in print to really absorb it

under the rainbow by celia laskey - {contemp fiction} members of gay rights advocacy group and their families settles in ‘the most homophobic small town in america.’ okay, i’m putting this on the list, bc i loved the premise, and there was something there!! critiques of liberal HRC gays, explorations of the relationships of children of queer parents with queerness, dark comedy potential galore. but i just felt like laskey kept pulling punches, kept going for the easy stereotype or cliché. i kept wanted it to be something it wasn’t, but i want someone else to read it so we can talk about how it could be better

 matrix by lauren groff - {historical fic} bastard daughter of the king is given a nepotism appointment as the abbess of a failing convent as an awkward teen. this falls in my absolute fave category of book, where there’s no plot but just an interesting character in interesting circumstances. deliciously meandering. tough, brilliant, prickly protagonist. 

agatha of little neon by claire luchette - {contemp fic} a nun finds herself questioning her life when she and her sisters are relocated and take up a new vocation at a halfway house. i read these two nun books close together, which was an interesting compare and contrast. this is such like a delicate book, like a crumbly, brown fall leaf. meditative, gentle and harsh all at once. really lovely. 

eat your heart out by kelly devos - {YA/horror} zombies come to fat camp.  i don’t really read YA anymore, but i’m glad i read this. not to be corny or on the nose but it was a YA book with bite. fun, sharp, by turns sweet and sincere when it needed to be, i spent a flight with this book and it was perfect. 

the space between worlds by micaiah johnson - {SFF} in a world where tech exists to enter parallel universes - if you’ve already died in them - a woman makes a career out of it because she’s died in so many of them. WOW. really gorgeous SFF in the tradition of social commentary without resorting to cheap allegory, but in a full, fascinating world. twists and excitement, heart-racing suspense. johnson is a star. 

we are watching eliza bright by a.e. osworth - {contemp fic.} female game programmer becomes the target of a gamergate-style mob. what a weird, cool book. lyrical, with interesting,unsual narrative choices and scary, i don’t think everyone would love this book, but i did. 

a river of stars by vanessa hua - {contemp fic} two chinese women flee a secretive maternity home in california and have to eke out a life for themselves and their children together. loved this for a lot of the same reasons i loved matrix, women learning to live with and for each other, no plot just people living through their circumstances, tough, brilliant protagonist. the book starts, if not fantastically, then certainly with a lot of energy and sensational events, and then settles into a grim, gripping fight for survival, but imo never enters the depressing or nihilistic. 

the monsters of templeton by lauren groff - {magical realism} a woman returns to her hometown and then the town sea monster dies and is found floating in the lake. i read this book while a only a small drive away from the town the town in this book is based off of, which was fun for me. because it really is a love letter to weird, small towns, and this weird small town in particular (cooperstown, ny) where groff grew up. it’s not an uncomplicated love letter either, there’s plenty to criticize. it was a dreamy, hold onto you kind of book. 

essential labor: mothering as social change - {non-fiction} i appropriately read the in snatches here and there during naptime in daycare. lots of juicy ideas in here, and i think it’s one of those things which everyone should probably read. another one to re-read so i can absorb it better. 

patricia wants to cuddle by samantha allen - {horror} contestants of a bachelor-type dating show get hunted by lesbian big foot. AHHH this was the most frustrasting book of the year. from the cover, to the plot summary, i wanted to read this book so bad i bought it in hardcover. the first half, which is mostly a satire of the bachelor is amazing, and i just couldn’t wait for patricia to show up. and then it all ends in a terrible rush. i remember so much the feeling of enjoying the book, and then thinking “i don’t know how this will get wrapped up satisfactorily in the amount of book she’s got left.” and she doesn’t, unforch. so close. i’m excited to read allen’s second book though. 

 doomsday book by connie willis - {SFF} due to academic red tape, a small scale pandemic, and the christmas season a graduate student is trapped in the black plague and her mentor desperate to bring her back. i just loved this book. i loved the vision of a future world of cozy, bumbling academic time travel interrupted by tragedy, i loved the technology (a tape recorder triggered by pressing the hands together so the time traveller can record her observations while seeming to pray.) i loved the catharsis and tragedy around sickness and confusion, and the way ultimately the villain of this book is pride, petty bureaucracy and a failure to care for people. so much love, noble sacrifice and care is in this book, so much friendship and charity in ways that feel special and uncheap and untrite. also somehow, for a lot of it, sort of a romp! 

the interior life by katherine blake - {SFF} sue, a homemaker is unhappy with her life. she begins imagining an elaborate fantasy world and is inspired by the heorines of that world to make small, but profound changes in her own.  what a weird book! that i’m totally obsessed with! this book changed my brain in ways i can’t fully explain. this book is half generic but good high fantasy epic, and half watching sue join the PTA, paint her kitchen, budget for classical music records, make female friends, reinvest in her marriage. the fantasy is good, but sue’s story is un-put-downable and this book was not what you are expecting it to be. the way this book talks about women and their lives is so unusual in SFF that it’s unbelievable (but not yk) that i’ve barely heard of this book. it’s hard to explain what’s so great about this book without waggling my hands around and sighing a lot but this is a really special one. 

the daughter of time by josephine tey - {mystery} a scotland yard detective laid up in a hospital bed solves the mystery of the princes in the tower. the character in another book i read read this book and then i found it on the free shelf! a funny little mystery with a classic rude detective. i don’t know if the historical research done in this book is true, but it really made me consider richard iii in a different light. so there’s that!

lent: a novel of many returns by jo walton - {historical/SFF} renaissance-era monk is not what he thinks he is, tries again and again and again.  okay, of all the groundhog days that are so popular right now, this is a groundhog day really worth your time. historically rich and fascinating, sad, funny. what a blast!

tam lin by pamela dean - {SFF lite} janet goes to small liberal arts college in the 70s, makes friends, learns about herself, reads a lot, enrolls in classes and meets some hot, weird boys. the title kind of gives away the game here, but it really takes its time getting there. lots of talk of books and homework and class schedule and campus geography and roommate politics which feels atmospheric and fun and yk academic aesthetic in a way you all would probably like. the fantasy really lays dormant a lot of the book, but i didn’t mind. dean captures being 18 and on your own for the first time so brilliantly that even if you’re not a fantasy reader and were just a kind of pretentious college kid i think you’ll love it. 

mystics, mavericks and merrymakers by stephanie wellen levine - {non-fiction} a sociological character study of some teenage girls in the lubavitch community in crown heights. i spent last shabbes reading the profiles aloud to my spouse on the couch and it was absolutely riveting. i’ve worked and socialized a lot alongside the chabad community, and so i felt like i really recognized some of the girls. at turns heartbreaking, hilarious, tender, tragic, adorable. if you (still) follow me, you’ll probably love this book. 

[hydrattan]

I was feeling agitated and artblocked yesterday so I decided to give my brain a rest by watching TV and then the next thing I knew these were in front of me

[climbingthefloors]

obsessed with this baby hippo from thailand's khao khew zoo.. she has been so utterly betrayed by the world

[sleeplessv0id]

what doesn't kill you makes you weird at intimacy

[bigskycastle]

school project, some drawings for my pretend game about a housefly girl called musca and her adventures in some creepy&wet place

[yumenikkii]

just another average day in gravity falls

[whiteshipnightjar]

Zoozve, my beloved

[valdotpng]

an accomplice turned victim his apology, long overdue

[nondivisable]

I need to say something and I need y'all to be calm

if it isn't actively bad or harmful, no representation should be called "too simple" or "too surface level"

I have a whole argument for this about the barbie movie but today I wanna talk about a show called "the babysitters club" on Netflix

(obligatory disclaimer that I watched only two episodes of this show so if it's super problematic I'm sorry) (yes. I know it's based on a book, this is about the show)

this is a silly 8+ show that my 9 year old sister is watching and it manages to tackle so many complex topics in such an easy way. basic premise is these 13 year old girls have a babysitting agency.

in one episode, a girl babysits this transfem kid. the approach is super simple, with the kid saying stuff like "oh no, those are my old boy clothes, these are my girl clothes". they have to go to the doctor and everyone is calling the kid by her dead name and using he/him and this 13 year old snaps at like a group of doctors and they all listen to her. it's pure fantasy and any person versed in trans theory would point out a bunch of mistakes.

but after watching this episode, my little sister started switching to my name instead of my dead name and intercalating he/him pronouns when talking about me.

one of the 13 years old is a diabetic and sometimes her whole personality is taken over by that. but she has this episode where she pushes herself to her limit and passes out and talks about being in a coma for a while because of not recognizing the limits of her disability.

and this allowed my 9 year old sister to understand me better when I say "I really want to play with you but right now my body physically can't do that" (I'm disabled). she has even asked me why I'm pushing myself, why I'm not using my crutches when I complain about pain.

my mom is 50 years old and watching this show with my sister. she said the episode about the diabetic girl helped her understand me and my disability better. she grew up disabled as well, but she was taught to shut up and power through.

yes, silly simple representation can annoy you if you've read thousands of pages about queer liberation or disability radical thought, but sometimes things are not for you.

[thankstothe]

folk hero really

[artsymeeshee]

Haven’t collabed with @renconner in a long while for a mini comic (minus our big one, Instinct). We were talking about one of Stan’s lowest moments involving being outside with that damn sign, so we decided to make a comic with Stan remembering it. I’ve also kinda of assumed Filbrick would lie to Ford about what’s going on with Stan (Stan probably did too to some extent).