#after the first part this is just bad

[algumaideia]

The scene where Nico told Percy he had a crush on him was so terrible. I mean the entire arc was a dumpster fire in my opinion, but this is one of the few aspects I can tell everything that bothered me.

Also those are just my opinions.

Nico and Percy's relationship

In my opinion the beginning of their relationship is marked by Percy's sense of responsibility for Nico. He promised he would try his best to keep Bianca alive, he saw her dying, Nico put all the blame of her death on him. Percy decided to be the child of the prophecy so Nico wouldn't be. One of the reasons Percy entered the labyrinth was because Nico was in danger. Throughout the battle of labyrinth, Percy constantly tried to help Nico, be there for him.

For Nico things were a little different. One of the few things (maybe the only thing) I think the cupid scene got right was how amazed Nico was by Percy the first time he saw him. Percy was like a fantasy hero coming to real life. He was so excited. Then it makes sense Nico would trust Bianca with Percy. Percy was a hero, he fought monsters, Nico saw him in action and he was incredible. When Percy told Nico about Bianca's death, Nico put all the bad emotions he had about his sister's death and abandonment into Percy. It was an easier way to deal with the situation. After that Minus fomented the resentment Nico felt for some time.

Basically Nico was very antagonistic towards Percy and Percy was very protective of Nico. But after Nico talked with Bianca and then processed his feelings, he and Percy bonded. Percy encouraged Nico to feel more free to be a kid, he made it clear he was on Nico's side.

I believe Percy started seeing Nico as more than a little kid to protect on his birthday when Nico came with the information about Luke. I mean, the sense of responsibility and protection was still there, but it was like Nico gained more agency in Percy's eyes?? He was more than just a child who liked cards and lost his sister. He was traveling alone in the world getting information about a war.

And I just would like to say that I'm aware that Percy wasn't really good at this thing of being there to Nico (like when Nico told Percy he didn't belong and no one wanted him and Percy was like: you're right) but Percy was also a kid.

In the last Olympian we see their relationship have a problem: Nico lied to Percy. This obviously hurt and angered him. The war was about to start and Nico made the deliberate choice to lie to Percy, to fool him. And of course that Percy, whose fatal flaw was loyalty, would have a problem with any sort of betrayal (that is why i think he should be angrier about Silena).

For Percy, their relationship couldn't go back to what it was, they needed to be apart. Percy didn't trust Nico anymore and for him that is an integral part of a relationship.

As for Nico I think he was already preparing himself for the consequences. Again, he made the deliberate choice to lie to Percy. He could've told the deal so he and Percy could come up with something together, so Percy would go to Hades voluntarily. But he didn't. So I do think Nico was ready to deal with the consequences although he didn't expect such an emotional response (or his father fooling him). I also believe that if Hades had stuck to the deal, Nico wouldn't regret his decisions. Just like what happened in the books, he would accept Percy didn't trust him and try to gain Percy's trust again.

I think in the end of pjo, their relationship was on good terms. We don't get closure, but the set up to a future where they become close friends again. Percy also asked Nico to convince Hades to help them and saw Nico courageously and fiercely doing so. Besides, when Percy, Nico, Annabeth and Rachel interact in the end they kind of feel like a team to me, like Grover, Annabeth and Percy are.

The ending was written in a way that a happy ending would be the natural progression of their relationship. Actually that was the case of everything related to Nico, his arc ended with him not being alone, deciding to be at chb, having support, and being in a place where he could deal with his trauma properly. The ending was tied with a bow in a satisfactory way at least for me.

And then hoo comes.

For me when it is about Nico and hoo, it feels like Rick killed all arcs Nico had and then spit on their graves. It is not different with Percy and Nico's relationship.

The build up pjo had and what we should have explored was their journey to be on good terms again. But no Rick decided to make Nico lie to Percy again (I don't understand Nico's behavior on son, someone please enlighten me bc it makes no sense) and cause friction on their relationship again. But in my opinion he just remade it worse (like all of the other arcs Nico had).

I don't have much more to say about their relationship because it involves the crush storyline and I'm gonna talk about it later in the post.

I just would like to end this part saying that Nico and Percy's relationship is complicated and complex. It is important and impactful for both characters, although in different ways.

The traumatic outing

My problem with the outing scene is not that Nico is outed, but how it didn't have a purpose and the impact it had on Nico wasn’t explored. 

In the Cupid scene Nico was physically assaulted, Cupid forced him to talk about his crush when he wasn’t ready in front of someone Nico didn’t want knowing about his feelings, made it look like it was Nico’s fault he was lonely, called him a coward, mocked him.

I don’t see how after an experience like that Nico would be able to talk about his feelings again without problems. It seems it was his first time talking about it and he did it while being attacked. It was obvious Nico was struggling to admit to himself he liked Percy.

After this experience I believe the weight of Nico’s crush on Percy should go heavier. The interaction with Cupid was marked by violence because Nico liked Percy and how he felt about his feelings. How could he feel secure talking about it again if even the Love god was so aggressive? 

That was just another unnecessary traumatic event Nico experienced who wasn’t written well in the story.

Nico's love for Percy

I’m aromantic and it is not like I understand much about romantic love and crushes but I guess it makes sense Nico had a crush on Percy. He was a person who was friendly, his support, nice, and well a hero, someone Nico looked up to. But I deeply dislike how the crush became such an essential part to Nico’s decisions and his relationship with Percy.

For example Hades commented how Nico talked a lot about Percy when he was trying to convince his father to help in the last olympian, and, for me at least, it is implied that Nico’s crush on Percy was a key factor on how fiercely he tried to convince Hades. And that bothers me because before it was about Nico trying to regain Percy’s trust. When Nico decided to guide the crew to the Death Doors the impression was that Nico said yes because of his crush and not because of the complicated story he had with Percy or because it was the right thing to do.

It is like the love story corrupts Percy and Nico’s relationship, at least on Nico’s side. Because, yes Percy is important to Nico, but reducing this importance to a crush diminishes their complicated story.

Percy was the first real life Greek hero Nico saw, Percy was linked to Bianca’s death and Nico’s negative feelings about it, Percy was linked to the end of Nico’s toxic relationship with Minos, Percy was linked to Nico improving his relationship with Hades. Percy was nice to Nico, supported him, and tried to help him. Percy is the only person we see Nico bonding with in pjo the rest are just off screen scenes.

Nico having a crush on Percy is not the problem, but making his relationship with him revolve around the crush is ridiculous.

Why those things make the confessing scene horrible

Considering how important Percy is to Nico, how traumatizing his outing was, how Rick tried to reframe many things to the crush, how Nico was barely able to admit to himself he liked Percy, this scene being treated as a joke is a punch in the stomach. Not only his arc of getting over Percy was terribly done, but considering all the story Nico had with Percy and all the things Rick did on hoo, it just doesn’t make sense to it be treated so lightly.

Why is Nico suddenly totally okay with talking about his crush to Percy? In public? Nico, who has a problem with rejection?? With people not wanting him?? Who had such a traumatic outing?? Why was his crush being treated as a small thing when Cupid said it was the reason Nico was lonely and didn’t stay at Camp Jupiter?? Why Nico and Percy did not even talk about the situation?? When their relationship was in such a bad place in hoo and had no closure or nothing near to it?? 

It was just such a bad way to end the arc that didn’t respect or paid off neither the things established on pjo nor on hoo.

[bet-on-me-13]

Vampire Misunderstanding

So! Danny got adopted by Bruce Wayne, but he doesn't know that Bruce is the Batman. He is just supernaturally oblivious to all things Batman related going on in the House.

But he does notice that Bruce leaves home a lot at night, that he doesn't like to go out in the day and often has his parties at night, and once or twice he's caught Bruce with a bit if blood still splattered on his cheek.

So he comes to the only plausible conclusion. Bruce is a Vampire.

He starts trying to hint at the fact that he knows, but doesn't want to just go out and say it. What if Bruce reacts negatively to him knowing? He's dealt with enough Supernatural Beings to know that they don't like other people (and especially other supernatural beings) intruding on their lives.

So Danny decided to subtly hint at it.

He started asking questions like "So hypothetically, how would you deal with having a Garlic Allergy in Gotham?" Or "So if you had very sensitive skin that could sunburn extremely easily, how much cloud cover would you need to go outside?" And "So what's your opinion on a High-Iron Diet?"

Basically just tossing out questions and trying to Guage Bruce's reaction.

He thinks he's doing a good job!

...

Bruce is certain that he has adopted a Vampire.

Danny is a good kid, but he has a few oddities that are hard to ignore.

For one, his skin is constantly Ice Cold, but he never seens to be bothered by it. As if he was an Undead that didn't require Body Heat anymore.

He also seems to like Hanging out in the Graveyard outside, and when asked about it he says that he is comforted by the place. Just like the Vampires he has met in the past, who feel comfortable when surrounded by Death.

And of course the biggest reason for suspicion is the fact that Danny seems to be hinting at it to him.

He keeps asking stuff like "How would you deal with a Garlic Allergy in Gotham?", probably trying to hint that he is a Vampire who can't eat Garlic, or asking about easy to sunburn skin, saying that he is probably not a Daywalker.

Bruce hopes Danny will just come clean about it soon, he doesn't want to intrude upon the kid when he is so obviously nervous about how he will react.

[starry-bi-sky]

tales of the passerine - danny fenton being bruce wayne's first kid

okay okay. so this is like a continuation/elaboration of my oneshot/prompt i wrote about the idea that Danny was the first batkid. We have a lot of aus where he joins the family after the rest of the bats do, right? So hey! Lets shake things up a bit. Danny is the first to be adopted by Bruce Wayne.

Danny's parents and unfortunately Jazz die shortly after the events of TUE -- how so? I was gonna say an ecto-filter explosion, that would call back to the TUE explosion and trauma behind that. But lets do something new! Carbon-monoxide poisoning.

It's not too unexpected for something to break in the Fenton house, especially with the Fenton parents' questionable understanding of proper weapon handling and lab safety. The water heater broke from a stray shot by one of the weapons, and was promptly MacGyver'd incorrectly. Danny went to stay with Tucker for a guys' night, and came back to a dead silent house.

(Danny's neighbors got a very unfortunate shock when he ran to the next house over in hysterics.)

There was a lot of shuffling around with CPS, the police. People had to be called in to handle the equipment in the lab, and the GIW was rumoring to show up in aid to clearing the scene. When Danny heard of that, he immediately went and dismantled the ghost portal to the best of his abilities. He burned the physical blueprints of all his parents' inventions, their blueprints on the ghost portal, and their most dangerous weapons were destroyed beyond recognition. Anything to prevent the GIW from getting their hands on his parents' tech.

It opened up another investigation, but he was not under the list of suspects. He was placed in the care of Vlad Masters, where they then went back to the rebuilt castle mansion in Wisconsin. Danny, terrified of the future that has once passed and may do so again, shuts down in his grief. Inadvertently, he ends up somewhat repressing his ghost half. Something Vlad, who is grieving Madeline but relishing in Jack's demise and his custody of Daniel, is not very happy with.

Vlad's... gone into a bit of a mental health spiral. He's becoming increasingly possessive over Daniel, the final remnants of his friends and a liminal being like him. He doesn't like that Danny's repressing his ghost half -- both out of genuine concern as a ghost, but also because of his desire to control Danny and groom him into the perfect son. If you ever had a phase where you read Dark SBI found family fics, first off; me too bro, and second off; those are the vibes I'm thinking of.

Danny's mentally shut down from grief! And fear. He's dropped into a bad depressive state -- paralyzed with grief and the terror of the inevitable. Clockwork saved his parents because he believes in second chances, but what's the point of that when his family ended up dead anyways? Danny doesn't wanna believe that he's destined to become evil, and he's holding out onto that hope, but it's a thin line, and he feels utterly hopeless and trapped. He hasn't used his powers or ghost form since he trashed the lab, and Vlad has alarms set up to prevent him from trying to escape.

He's also unintentionally cut off Sam and Tucker -- both of whom are so scared and concerned for Danny too, and are trying their damndest to reach out to him. He keeps ignoring their texts. Danny basically haunts Vlad's manor. He goes out to eat if he has to, attends parties Vlad drags him to, and stays in his room all day if he can.

At parties, Vlad doesn't allow Danny to leave his side, or really talk to anyone -- not that Danny wants to. A product of Vlad's increasing possessiveness. Well, he almost doesn't let Danny leave his side. Danny has a habit of slipping off to hide somewhere for the parties whenever he can, and Vlad reluctantly allows it so long as he stays alone.

This becomes an advantage when eventually, Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham after missing for years, and holds a bright charity ball to celebrate the return. Vlad has been chomping at the bits to get his hands on Wayne Industries, and with the return of its owner there is no better opportunity to wipe out his rival. He goes, and he as normal, brings Daniel with him.

Vlad thinks Wayne will bleed his little heart out for Daniel's poor orphan sob story -- he's a fellow orphan himself, after all. He's not wrong; Wayne's little heart will bleed, just not in the way that benefits him.

Bruce sees Vlad and Danny approaching before they're even close enough to introduce themselves - and like with many of the children he will soon come to care for, it's like someone set a mirror into the past right in front of him.

Danny Fenton's suit is tailor-made for him, and despite the fact that it's his perfect size, the sag in his shoulders, the ducked down head, and the way he hunches into himself all pictures the image of a child in shoes too big for him. There's a far away, glazed over look in his eyes and grief marble-cut into the lines of his face. There's not enough makeup in the world that will hide the dark circles under his eyes.

("My nephew, Daniel Fenton." Vlad's hands are possessive on Danny's shoulders. Bruce immediately notices the way the boy tenses under his touch. "His parents passed recently, and as his godfather I was designated his guardian.") ("I'm so sorry, the loss must've been terrible.") ("Yes, carbon-monoxide poisoning caused it. Daniel was out with friends, when he came home... they had already passed.") (Bruce immediately dislikes that Vlad shared the details of their death unprompted -- he likes it even less when Danny flinches at the reminder and hunches into himself.)

Danny runs off at some point earlier into the charity. At this point, parties are still being held at Wayne Manor (because iirc google search mentioned that was a thing at first before it was changed), so he disappears and hides in one of the empty rooms nearby. It just so happens to be the same room Bruce Wayne hides in when he needs a break from all of the socialization.

Thus begins a long, long process of trust. Bruce can't reveal his hand as being smarter than he looks, but he can be compassionate. Kindness needs no measure of intelligence. He keeps Danny company for as long as he can before he runs the risk of being found.

Rinse and repeat. Vlad insistently wants Wayne Industries, and he'll go to as many Wayne parties as he can to get his hooks into the man. The problem is that Bruce Wayne is never alone, and getting him alone is impossible. Finding him too. It's like the man never stops moving. Always talking to someone, always circling somewhere. He orbits around the room as if he isn't the sun of the Gotham Elite's solar system.

Danny's had such repetitive behavior that Vlad never thinks to believe that Bruce Wayne is disappearing to go talk to him. That "Vlad's" son is even interacting with him at all. Danny never gives him a reason to think so, and neither does Bruce.

Danny doesn't actually acknowledge Bruce until a handful of parties in, where he hands Bruce a small slip of paper he smuggled in that says; "don't trust Vlad". Danny's face stays carefully blank, but he's so tense that his hands are trembling, and he's purposely looking away from him. Bruce plasters a smile onto his face, slips the paper into his pocket, and tells him "okay".

(he's been busy with his own goals with the mafia, but he sets aside time to investigate Vlad Masters. He was holding off. Until now.)

Danny does eventually start speaking to Bruce, he's starting to really like the guy. He's starting to see a little hope, even as Vlad is starting to get more and more agitated with him the more he refuses to use his powers.

He reaches out to Sam and Tucker again, and starts trying to reconnect with them. Vlad has spyware on his phone, and he limits the amount of times he can talk to them. A weird parental control lock of some sort that leaves a time limit on how long he can talk to them for. 30 minutes. Danny doesn't tell them anything about Mr. Wayne.

Danny, slowly, wants out of here, and he's slowly gathering the motivation to do it. Vlad is genuinely scaring him -- and Danny wonders just how truthful the past-future Vlad was when he told him that Danny wanted his ghost half separate. He starts trying to come up with an escape plan.

Vlad has anti-ghost wards everywhere around the mansion, and while they're always on, they boost to full power at sunset. The doors and windows are always locked, all main exits have alarms set on them. The only reason it's not super extensive is because Danny hasn't tried leaving at all yet, so Vlad hasn't had to tighten anything.

At night, Vlad locks the door to his room and puts up an anti-ghost ward around the room. The mansion is on the outside westward side of Madison, more entrenched in rural Wisconsin. The closest town is a four-way stop sign with one house on three corners, and an open bar on the fourth. Not much to go.

He refuses to go to Sam and Tucker; Vlad would look there first. It's too dangerous. Vlad would sound alarm bells and have a manhunt looking for him, Danny can't risk going just anywhere. Too much risk of being found, sold out, or caught. There's really nowhere for him to hide.

Until there is. Bruce is telling Danny about the history of Wayne Manor, and says, as casually as saying the weather; "The manor has dozens of empty rooms, I'm sure Alfred wouldn't mind filling another one if he could." And quietly, hesitantly, Bruce places a careful hand on Danny's shoulder, unrestrictive and gentle; "He wouldn't mind getting one ready for you if you need one."

And there it is. There's his out.

Danny, just as quietly, replies; "I'll keep that in mind."

The ball starts rolling.

Now I've been trying to summarize this au as much as possible for length convenience, but Vlad has been steadily growing more and more controlling. More emotionally manipulative. More agitated at Danny for not using his powers.

He wants Wayne Industries under his thumb but he's been steadily growing more and more concerned with Danny. He's started grabbing him, yanking him around, shaking him; trying to goad him into using his powers. He gets angry when Danny doesn't react, or tells him he doesn't want to use his powers. He hasn't outright attacked him, but he's getting there. This has been happening over the time it takes for Bruce to indirectly offer Danny sanctuary at his home.

It all comes to a head when Vlad stops going to parties at all -- something Danny has to pretend he isn't upset about -- because Vlad doesn't want him around other people anymore. Vlad rarely goes now without him, and only leaves to go to a Wayne function or to handle something at VladCo.

Danny can't wait for Vlad to leave long enough to escape. So he leaves during the night of a big storm. Vlad's locked him in his room, but Danny doesn't bother trying to go for it; he goes to the alarmed window instead. Danny's been repressing his ghost half so long that he can't access his powers immediately anymore -- he can feel it, he knows its there, but he can't quite reach it.

He breaks the lock by hand.

Immediately the alarm goes off through the entire castle, filling the room with red, and he scrambles for the rope the Wisconsin Ghost left for him a few months back. Danny's already out and climbing down the side of the castle before Vlad even reaches his door -- the only good thing about the entire room being ghost-proof is that Vlad can't get in that way.

The rope ends before it reaches the bottom, and he's still twenty feet in the air. It won't kill him if he lands it right. Danny takes his chances, and drops. He breaks his ankle, but he survives.

And he fucking books it to the back garden. He hears Vlad shrieking over the thunder and rain.

I'll save the full experience for a future oneshot, but Danny makes it out into the nearby woods and forcibly experiences what it's like to be in a horror game, trying to hide from the thing that's hunting you. There's only one thing going through his mind; "i'm going to die"

I have this mental image for this scene. Very stereotypical horror imo. Where Danny is hiding behind a tree, with a hand over his mouth, and Vlad is a few feet away from him, glowing ominously red through the trees, trying to search for him.

Danny doesn't get away from this unscathed, but he does get away alive. That's all he could ask for. He gets away by getting his ghost half awakened long enough to transform into Phantom and fly to Gotham.

But he gets to Wayne Manor, he gets to Bruce. Or, at least, Alfred answers the door from his insistent pounding. Danny's just in tears and Alfred gets him in the living room, wrapped in a towel, with ice on his swollen leg before he has to step out and alert Bruce.

Bruce already breaks multiple traffic laws on a nightly basis. And that's just with the sheer existence of the batmobile itself, not including the speeding and military artillery attached. He breaks double the amount trying to speed back to the cave and get out of the suit.

Right off the bat: Bruce will know, at least before Dick enters the picture, about danny's powers. He'll figure out something considering the fact that Danny traveled from Wisconsin to New York in a single night. That'll be a bit of complicated affair, but I've already got something in mind.

Actually it'll probably be very soon after Danny joins the family, because Bruce tries to offer to fight for custody for Danny - the state Danny was in at arrival is clear enough evidence for a trial. But Danny immediately shuts it down, says it's not going to work and then Vlad will know Danny's with him and he won't be safe. He tells him that Vlad cannot know Danny was with Bruce.

Danny's biggest regret was not telling his parents he was a halfa, and while he doesn't want to tell mister wayne (yet), he does tell him about Vlad being one. He needs to know why Danny can't be seen with Bruce. So he tells him, and Danny's current plan is to just hide out from Vlad until he turns 18. That way, he has no more legal jurisdiction over him. After that? He's not sure.

And to wrap this up, since this has already gotten very long and I can make more posts about this au later; I've thought about it, and I'm going to say that Danny does become a vigilante before Dick enters the scene. He goes by, as you probably guessed; Nightingale. "Gale" for short.

[vaguely-concerned]

there are a lot of daddy issues to go around on DS9 in general, but odo, bashir and garak are really in their own special little fucked up 'what am I but wrought in my father's image' club

[pastafossa]

I love you guys. I hope you know that.

Like.

Ok so I posted the new TRT chapter the other day. Obviously. And I had to force myself to do it, to click that final, 'post' button because at that last moment, this big wave of imposter syndrome hit (that had already hit on and off as I'd started working on the chapter again). And it was just this cycle of, 'It's been like 6 months since you posted a chapter or anything other than a couple one-shots and you're out of practice, I bet it's bad, it's probably terrible, I bet everyone's left and no one cares about this thing you love so why do you? What if no one likes it, you're gonna drop this and everyone's gonna god 'wtf is this, pasta? what happened?'' And so I forced myself to post it, took my meds to ensure I slept, and then kinda just bunkered down and slept/hid because I was halfway convinced that all the trauma in the previous six months had just bopped any ability I had to write.

Instead I got this outpouring, of just like, 'WELCOME BACK' and people telling me they're happy that mom is ok (which made me cry but in a good way) and they're sorry Cato passed away (more tears, but comforted tears), but also delightful jokes about the funny lines I put in or screaming over that romantic line or about missing Jane and the dynamics and comments about being eager for the next chapter, and how now I can be one of those AO3 authors with those notes of 'yeah my life blew up so I was delayed, but hey I'm back!' which... yeah. And much like when I first started TRT, I didn't... really expect that at all, and it's made me really emotional.

So if you've dropped into my ask box or the comments or the replies, seriously, from the bottom of my heart, thank you, because the excitement and love and just you all being the best little fam and continuing on this journey of TRT with me - a journey that has now included both Matt and Jane's journey, and a real life journey through a pandemic, a huge move, a passing of two of my pets, my mom's hospitalization and recovery, some heart issues, the cancellation and resurrection of the show, me meeting Charlie Cox and getting him to hold a red thread, my first wood carving event, etc - and I know I say this a lot, but you all really, really help me keep going when things get hard. I'd write TRT for nothing, I would, because I love this story and I intend to see it through, but ya'll just... I love you all tons. I'm hoping to get through the asks and fic comments and replies in the next few days, but I just wanted you guys to know that.

[ganondoodle]

1 year since i got scammed by nintedno leaving me forever yearning for a game we will never get and an extreme worry for the future

[front-facing-pokemon]

[maxthesillyy]

thinking about. i dont know how to phrase this really but. chloe and frank.

like. when Chloe killed Frank i (, personally,) feel like her guilt from it was less because she killed Frank, and More because she Killed Someone (and their dog).

but!!! thats not to say she didnt feel guilty for killing Frank. because she definitely did. because on some level. despite everything. despite all of his shitty behavior. a part of her still cared for him. that tiny 15-17ish year old part in her still cared for him.

because that 15-17ish year old with intense abandonment issues in her only had. a small handful of people in her life that actually cared for her, and when THOSE few people aren’t even doing the best job at it— it’s no shit that Chloe’s standards for Good Friends are going to be Immensely dropped.

and so. it’s kind of like what happened with Rachel, but WAY less intense. when she found someone who didn’t hate her, and was willing to hang around her—after so so long of people hating her and not wanting to be around her— it makes sense that part of her would kinda latch onto them a little bit.

and so, even after all of the shit she’s learned he did— even when Frank starts to hate her��� even when he threatens Max and her’s lives— part of her keeps remembering him as one of the few guys who stuck around when no one else did.

it’s just that. no matter how bad the person— if you’ve known someone for years, and they were one of the only nice people to you in a town where theres like. four people that are nice to you— it’s gonna hurt if you kill them. even if it was self defense. even if it was entirely their own fault— even if you two aren’t on even remotely good terms anymore.

ESPECIALLY for such a sentimental person like Chloe. taking that in consideration it makes me wonder. maybe she didn’t feel bad for killing Frank. maybe she felt bad for killing the person Frank used to be to her. but maybe she realized that That Frank already died long ago.

but yeah. im mentally ill. take everything i said with a grain of salt considering it is 12:07 AM.

[thats-a-lot-of-cortisol]

I've been thinking about names re: durges (and especially Corentin)

I haven't really liked the whole "this character's name is The Dark Urge" because it's honestly...silly to me? A bit? But I saw someone else discussing their durge's backstory today and it got me thinking about the function of names a bit more.

Naming someone "The Dark Urge" is super dehumanizing. And, like, that's the point, of course. But Corentin, even at their most compliant, was always trying to eek out some semblance of individuality or control or rebellion. They were kidnapped brought to the Bhaalists at 15, after all. Even with the cult's (and Bhaal's) efforts, it's difficult to completely rewire someone who's nearly a grown adult, especially one who's fighting it kicking and screaming most of the time.

So while they lose their memories of their family due to the constant trauma, they do manage to hold on to some things. Their refusal to eat bog body stays the entire time, as does their insistence on maintaining a hair care routine (which is when they start braiding Orin's hair, too). But after they break, other aspects of cleanliness they'd managed to hold onto until that point fall to the wayside, and they stop resisting when Savorak, and Fel, and the Bhaalists call them "The Dark Urge" instead of their name. Orin still calls them Corentin for a little bit, but she stops eventually too as she gets more and more restless and insistent on gaining power.

And then they meet Gortash who, despite also being a horrible person, isn't as bad as the people Corentin had been forced to lead. At this point they know what the likely ending of the Absolutist plot is going to be (though they're still in the early stages of the plan) but being able to work so closely with someone who's sincere and, more importantly, isn't going to stab them the moment they turn their back to him, is like breathing in fresh air for the first time in a decade or more (both figuratively and literally). And they dare to hope that there's an actual, true way out of the hell they'd been living in.

So when Gortash eventually asks if The Dark Urge is really their name, they tell him no.

[skunkes]

^_^

[brainrotcharacters]

"Mutiny" or as I'd like to call it "Say It Ain't So"

[isp-annafer]

Been thinking about the transition between Open Arms and Polyphemus (technically, Warrior of the Mind is in the middle, but it only happens to Odysseus in Athena's time pause powers or whatever its called, so it doesn't count).

The fun thing about it is that I can imagine the debate they had on what to do with the information about the 'cave to the east'

Like, Eurylochus probably argued something like, "You can't trust the creatures that almost drugged you!" and he's right. But they're out of supplies. Everyone's either hungry, or going to be. Now, they can either sail to a different direction and hope they come across another island (which I imagine they had trouble with since they had to follow the birds in Full Speed Ahead), or to the island the lotus eaters told them about.

There's a high chance they'd starve to death if they go back to the open sea, so they chance it on the 'island', which they eventually find (and Polites is probably smug about. See? The lotus eaters weren't lying).

And because of the whole 'getting almost drugged thing', I can see Eurylochus prints on making sure Polites and Odysseus have back up with them this time, hence the additional (including Eurylochus himself) men going with them to the cave.

They were cautious. They were careful.

Unfortunately, a cyclops isn't exactly something anyone can prepare for.

Idk. Just fun to think about.

[shalom-iamcominghome]

Since you’re really getting into the world of Jewish music, have you heard of chilik frank ? He’s a chossid who does ashkenaz/Klezmer. My absolute fav song from him is a song called ‘Rabi meir omer’ !

Ughh one thing I love about kletzmer is the emphasis on clarinet so many songs have. It makes me want to pick mine back up and play this by ear...

As well, this is how it feels to play clarinet:

[bowl-of-fruit-loops]

hey why did bill’s ex-wife move to clivesdale? literally no one from hatchetfield would do that. people die and go missing all the time and they refuse to leave. and if they do they don’t move to fucking clivesdale

[cherry-flavored-sigh]

baby goat tinky doodles 🐐💛

clock and hourglass/infinity symbol jammies

curled up (and judging you)

[crunchycrystals]

still can't get over the stupid goddamn anthpo video. genuinely fucking disgusted thinking ab it