#also genuinely he is royalty and they are fucked in general

[fanthirtheen]

A long post really negates any statement of "but I don't actually care" so I'm not going to pretend I don't. On one hand I would love to have like, a real conversation with an anti-Stolas HB fan that's respectful because I'd love to question them and understand where they're coming from, but I feel anyone calm and respectful enough about it wouldn't have the flavor of anti-stolas I don't understand. I've never had a problem with anti-character rhetoric before, and I don't inherently hate this either, it just rubs me wrong 80% of the time.

Scrolling Tumblr like the morning newspaper while I wake up, fitting some serotonin into my brain before the sun comes up, and I'm once again seeing more anti-stolas stuff. Which is. Not terrible because I really don't care if people dislike him like/dislike whoever you want to. But, like, every point I see them make I can't really argue against aside from staring at them for a second and saying, out loud, "that's just factually wrong". Like, every point. Stolas coerced blitzo into sex from the beginning? No? Blitzo went to steal from him and he convinced Stolas it was a sexual thing. Stolas flirted with Blitz at first but admitted he was joking IMMEDIATELY when Blitz started coming onto him. Stolas was JUST pathetic enough for Blitz (bleeding heart Blitz who uses sex as a tool already and has no problem handing it out to get something in return Stolas isn't the only one he's fucked to get something out of) to decide to stay and fuck the guy once. But he didn't he stayed all night.

Also we've had two episodes about Stolas caring about his daughter? He isn't a perfect Dad but that would be so fucking weird if he were. Because. You know. He doesn't have a lot of role models on how to be a great dad. Or how to have a healthy loving relationship. But he's obviously trying and Octavia obviously has appreciated his effort. They still have progress to do but it is factually an ongoing show it isn't over yet that's kind of how story arcs work.

Mostly, I get the impression that anti-stolas people are just mad that he isn't the villain he was aimed at being in the pilot. Viv isn't a "coward" for changing some characters personalities. She also (in the pilot) had Millie antagonizing Loona like they were work-rivals and that's gone entirely. It was the pilot. Things change between the pilot and the show. I get being attached to a villain, but for fucks sake the criticism of "Stolas pity party" makes me think you're just an asshole that I would hate irl. Do you say that shit about irl people when they express trauma/depression/anxiety/sadness in a way that isn't suppressed or martyrdom? Y'all are upset by a character that doesn't exist.

(And also obsessed with a version of Stella that doesn't exist. Y'all keep wanting a more tender version of her that doesn't exist in the show. Which, I guess, is argument for criticism on the creator again but, like, if you don't like what exists in the show maybe you just don't like the show?)

[waywardsalt]

Ganonbeck has true Jessica & Roger Rabbit energy. A sublime immortal + some stinky sailor he found.

One of the Links, signing: "Seriously, why do you see in that guy?"

Ganondorf: "He makes me laugh"

Ganonbeck is a funny little ship and it is entertaining to think about what (any, I guess) of the various Links would think of it.

(I have not seen Who Framed Roger Rabbit so I can't say a whole lot on the comparison but I think I get it? I read the wikipedia page for it)

[lazyjellyfishcreation]

batman AU where everything is the same, exept that the Al Ghuls are the official royal family of the soverain city state of Nanda Parbat.

Like, its a very small country, but a powerful one and absolutely fuckall is known about their royal family, or the nation itself bc it's impossible to send spies inside without never hearing from them again. Nobody, exept for immidiate family even realizes that Damian is an actual crown prince of an actual country.

Like, just, him, on twitter. and then someone makes a joke about him and the way he is so overly formal in public. And Damian is like, 'yeah, I'm representing my whole country here, I'm the crown prince of my nation', and the person on twitter is like...

'Wat?'

And then Dick comes in the comments like. 'Look up the royal liniage of Nanda Parbat before you embarras yourself, I am begging you.' que a small twitter freakout bc holy shit, the youngest Wayne kid is actual fucking royalty, also, apparently Brucie Wayne fucked a princess, what's up with that?

the consequences this would have. Imagine this. They're at a gala, and IDK Black Mask shows up to rob/kidnap/kill them. The hired security never stood a chance. Bruce is there and is already making plans to slip out, and appear as batman.

interestingly enough, Damian is not making similar plans.

Damian just waits.

No more then two seconds later, at least 12 shadows crash trough the roof and absolutely massacre everyone there. No mercy, just murder, before making a protective ring around Damian, who is still completely cool and composed.

The cops try and make a stink about the 2 dozen dead henchmen and the dead Black Mask, but Crown Prince Damian just calmly walks over and tells commissioner Gordon that these were his body guards, and are therefore allowed to do these things if they judge it to be in favor of the crown prince's safety.

Nobody can really argue with that.

Two days later, at school, there are some upperclassmen who are being bitches, and are like. 'Where are your bodyguards now?'

'Just because you can't see them, doesn't mean they're not here.'

And a red dot appears on the boys forehead.

I just think it would be really funny if Damian Al Ghul was a genuine prince, in an official, international way. PS.

Even better if the Al Ghul's adopt Jason along the way, and Jason just, straight up also becomes a prince. He's not blood related tho, so he's still in line behind Damian, even though he is the oldest.

That would be insanity. After the Black mask fiasco, Jason just orders the shadows around like. 'okay, after we're done here, escort the crown prince to the secure location.' or whatever.

Someone films it. It goes viral.

People are like; 'what the fuck, why can you order them around like that.'

And Jason is like; 'I am the second prince, therefore, by tradition, the General. The Nanda Parbat fighting forces are under my command.'

and all of twitter is like; ????????

Do you see my vision here???

[yuri-is-online]

Hey, Yuri, do you think Yuu would ever run the risk of being put in danger by having a romantic relationship with any of the more high-profile members of the cast? I mean, we’ve got royalty, nobility, celebrities, and the very wealthy attending this school. I’ve just been rotating my brain about how these relationships would work out and Yuu is a pretty vulnerable target without NRC’s security. - 🦐

Hmmmmmm. I have a bunch of thoughts about this actually... I tried ranking them from least to most dangerous if that makes sense? But don't read too deeply into the bullet point placements they were mostly just a stream of consciousness thing.

Not that Risky (surprisingly)

Leona- we don't really have details about his brother's marriage, but I don't think his family has been shown to be overly keen on forming alliances with outside countries, the Savannah seems more concerned with itself. I don't think his family would be too fussed with his partner being a magicless person from outerspace, if anything this might be seen as a plus to the councilors that are always mocking Leona behind his back as his partner's lack of royal blood makes him even less fit for the throne. Not to mention Leona himself is more than enough to protect Yuu, he's the only royal at the school without a proper retainer (which you could argue is because no one at home likes him) but I doubt his family would let him do that if he was genuinely in danger.

Rook- he's Rook. His family does sound rather sweet from the very very very little we know about him (he also seems like he was kind of sheltered as a kid, something I should chew on sometime) so I doubt they would allow anything too bad to happen to Yuu.

Vil- his main issue is his contract, the Japanese Idol industry is cut throat and often sees things like bans on relationships as part of the contract. Vil doesn't want to risk his career or reputation, he mentions that he himself is a brand and I can't see him wanting to put that pressure on Yuu if they're not up for it. But... there are also celebrities who have really private personal lives and I sort of get the sense Vil is like that? And I don't think he would be too bothered if Yuu didn't want to be super public, it would certainly make it easier to keep you safe.

Idia- S.T.Y.X. might be a gloomy place but no one knows where it is

Medium Danger (danger is real but can be managed)

Jade and Floyd- we don't actually know what their family does, just that it's probably sketchy and that Mama Leech calls them every day, taught them self defense, and just generally seems to worry about them a lot. The danger is very real under the sea, but I also sort of get the sense that messing with the Leech family is skipping the fuck around and going straight to find out.

Azul- his business is going to make him enemies sooner or later, but at least during school Yuu should be more or less safe. Azul's able to keep on top of the students who mean Yuu harm, and Yuu is able to politely ignore their boyfriend's business (or maybe they have a knack for helping?) When you get older I can see Azul's need for a security team expanding, but he'll have money to get the best.

Riddle- ok so. I don't think his mom would try to kill you. But god she would be such a toxic person to manage. I'm actually working on a (very old) request atm that involves discussing what Riddle's mom might do if she finds Riddle with a partner instead of his studies (which I assume she's paying for) especially during his internship. She'd go full scorched earth and get very confused when Yuu doesn't back off like Trey did.

Huston We Have a Problem

Kalim- the amount of assassination attempts my poor boy has already canonically endured... I imagine there are probably going to be more in his future. I can see Yuu needing their own retainer (which could be a fun concept for an oc) to protect them and test their food. When Grim becomes a great mage I'm sure he could help with that actually, wouldn't that be cute?!

MALLEUS- acceptance of humans is virtually non existence in Briar Valley AND his mother hated humans so much she "blessed" her child to only be loved by fae. We don't actually know how the senate works but I imagine they would lose their ever loving shit if Malleus brought home a human as a friend and now he wants to make them his spouse? No. They say no. Time to show them what an absolute monarchy means I guess.

Assuming Yuu isn't in a relationship with Malleus I could see their friendship actually sort of being a boon to them, especially if Yuu was with Kalim or Azul. Pissing of the merchants is one thing, but the King of the Abyss? No thank you, they'll just take their losses and go.

[summer-nights19]

Hi! I was wondering how would GOM + Takao react to their s/o having mood swings during their period like one moment their s/o is normal and the next they are angry because their ice cream isn't cold enough to eat and it's melting and they put it in freezer and when they try to eat the ice cream again it's too cold to eat and their gums hurt. Sorry if it's confusing..

Hi anon ! No worries, I think I understood the assignment (hopefully), and I symparthise with you deeply. Period mood swings are the worst :< These kinda ended up being general period comfort hcs, hope that's ok too ! Anyway, here's some comfort with the boys <33

GoM + Takao x afab reader on their period

Aomine

When he sees how annoyed you get over your ice cream being half melted, he's a little taken aback. If you guys haven't been together for very long, he'd probably tell you to calm down or be confused. However, if it's been some time, he'll figure it out quickly enough.

Will put the ice cream back in the freezer for you and bring you some hot cocoa and a hot water bottle to help you feel more relaxed and to make the cramps more bearable.

When you take the ice cream out of the freezer again and hurt your gums, he probably tries to comfort you, although he isn't good with words

Instead, he brings you some other snack, like fruits or cake, and lets you snuggle with him.

Initially, he tries to get you to do a light work out with him to make the pain better, even if you aren't particularly athletic

Will definitely massage your uterus area and shoulders to help you relax, as well as stroke and kiss you all over (he's really good at it too)

Might make a joke about how orgasms are the best way to relieve period pains, but if you're in a truly terrible mood, he'll hold his tongue.

Still teases you, though he'll stop and apologize if you seem genuinely upset

Will make sure anyone who gives you grief or makes your mood swings worse regrets it really quickly

doesn't have pads in the bathroom for you but will happily go out to the store and get you anything you need

Still takes baths with you and will wash your hair and massage you in the bathtub- doesn't really give a fuck about the blood

"What size pussy do you have, babe ?"

Kise

When he sees how quickly your mood changes as a result of the ice cream being half melted, he figures it out pretty much right away.

He'll hug you and run his hands down your back, while reassuring you that it's not that serious, and that you can always eat something else. Puts the ice cream back in the freezer and comes up with skincare, makeup, candles, magazines... all the essentials for a self care night ! (If you ask nicely, he'l even let you do his makeup- he secretly loves it)

Lets you choose what show to watch and chats with you about anything and everything as you have your self care night with the show in the background

When you get the ice cream from the freezer again and your gums start to hurt, he'll kiss you better

Also strikes me as the kinda guy who would keep pads/tampons in his bathroom for you

Akashi

This man can pretty much sense when you're on your period, it's actually kinda unsettling

Anyway, as soon as he realizes you're having a bad day with your mood swings, he'll start treating you like royalty (even more so than normal)

Suggests that you eat something else and comes back with some warm noodles

He gives you massages all over- thighs, back, shoulders... all while reassuring you that you'll figure everything out, that it just seems like a massive deal now

Promises you that you can take one of his eyes if he ends up being wrong (yea this man is really something else)

Will bring you candles/flowers and just snuggle with you quietly as you rest

Happily listens to you vent if you feel the need to

Will be happy to help with any schoolwork you have due

Will personally see to it that anyone who tries bother you is too scared to talk to you ever again.

Like Kise, he also keeps pads in the bathroom for you

Murasakibara

Doesn't realize you're on your period until your cramps and mood swings get really bad

He's not particularly good at comforting you when you're in a bad mood, but he'll carry you upstairs to his bed and snuggle with you. He'll even get out of bed to get you a hot water bottle and some hot chocolate

Gives you one of his hoodies to sleep in. It's way too big for you and he thinks you look adorable in it

Stays and snuggles with you until you feel better (you end up falling asleep with your head on his chest and your limbs intertwined)

When you wake up, he'll bring some snacks from his personal stock and share them with you

Is too lazy to go to the store to buy you pads/tampons, so he'll just call Himuro and ask him to do it

Like Akashi and Aomine, he won't take kindly to people upsetting you, especially when you're on your period.

Kuroko

He's oblivious- he understands you're in a bad mood, and wants to help, but you have to spell it out for him before he realizes that you're on your period.

He's a little shy and awkward, partially because he isn't sure about what he should do, but he very much wants to make it better

Definitely asks Kagami and the Seirin guys for advice and they all look at him like wtf

Will listen to you rant for hours on end, and will be more than happy to comfort you and give you advice

Anything you ask him to do, he does- buy pads, make you dinner, put a specific programme on the TV... he's doing it as soon as you say the word

Also very happy to massage your shoulders and uterus, even tough he isn't really sure about how to do it

Will be very careful about how he talks to you and conducts himself- he doesn't accidentally want to make it worse

Literally your number one fan if you start to doubt yourself, he's so sweet

"You always look stunning, Y/N,"

Won't snuggle with you unless you ask for it because he doesn't want to invade your personal space too much (he's such a gentleman)

Midorima

God help you

He's really really awkward about it

Figures it out relatively quickly from your mood swings but pretends he doesn't because he has no clue how to act

Like Kuroko, he's really careful about how he behaves around you because he wants to avoid pissing you off

Will try to be patient and listen to you rant nonsensically- if he knows you're having a bad day, he'll do his best to comfort you, although he's mostly the kinda guy who tries to find rational solutions to problems instead of telling you what you want to hear

Reads your zodiac chart every day and gives you advice based off of it. Also brings you a lucky item of your own if you're really feeling down (at least he tried)

However, if someone tries to mess with you, his energy completely changes and he'll make sure they don't do it again

Will buy you pads/tampons, though he'll be really awkward about it

Takao

At first he just thought you were in a bad mood, then he suddenly realised that you were probably on your period

Teases you a lot less to avoid hurting your feelings

Like Aomine, he'll probably make a joke about how orgasms are the best way to cure period cramps, but he'll shut up if you tell him to

Comforts you for hours on end wen you're down - he couldn't live with himself if he knew you were sad and he wasn't there to support you

Laughter is a medically proven medicine

Will tell you jokes and funny stories to take your mind off of the mental (and physical) pain

Also spams you with memes and tiktoks

Very happy to take it easy and just cuddle in bed while watching shitty TV

Will go to the store and buy you pads/tampons without an ounce of hesitation

Masterlist

[charmixpower]

what are your hc's when it comes to the specialists hobbies? (+Nabu)

i'm kinda sad we don't really know a lot about them.

YEAH!!! Or if we know their hobbies, WE NEVER GET TO SEE THEM ENJOY THEM??? Unless ur Helia. Pretty people privilege

Sky

Listen, I need you to look at Erendor and Samara and tell me if Sky has a life or any real time for hobbies. The answer is no he does not

Listen dragon equestrian is a thing that exists in the magic dimension and he loves it do not argue with me this man loves it. Riding a dragon and doing tricks, what more could you want out of a sport???

He also spends so much time teaching Lady tricks you'd think he was entering her into a competition. He's not, he is simply having fun

Sky really likes running, and walking. With or without Lady, he is content to run around with this thoughts. It's his favorite form of exercise

I think Sky would enjoy at least some of the royalty approved activities pushed on him, like riding horses and dragons obviously, but also dancing. (Though he would hate learning how to play an instrument or something that required sitting without movement)

I think he'd like the fake duel's and mock battles like fencing over real combat but that's just my version of Sky that lives in my head talking

I don't think Sky is really snobby about anything that isn't tea. Does he argue with other people about which tea tastes the best? Maybe. It's like part because he and Diaspro have opposite tastes in tea and they will argue about anything, part because tea was the only meal he wasn't being hovered over because it's supposed to be a bit more informal than a real meal, half because magix doesn't have all that good tea options

Brandon

He suffers from has no life syndrome too but worse actually bc he's had a government job at 17!!!

Does crafting and maintaining an Instagram presence count as a hobby? I mean I do this as a hobby so I'm gonna say it counts. Making thinking your hot into a hobby, I wish I were him

I have no clue if Brandon genuinely enjoys weightlifting or gymnastics or if he does it because it's literally required of him but I DO think he'd enjoy exercise in general. Like?? He's getting hotter, better able to handle situations, AND it makes him feel great. 10/10 he loves it

I think Brandon would enjoy calligraphy. I have like multiple friends who are on their handwriting bullshit and Brandon would absolutely be one of these people. He'd write exclusively in fancy capital letters while pretending to be Sky, but he also like genuinely knows calligraphy and enjoys it. No one knows cept Sky until Stella wants to write something formally and he writes it for her

Brandon is way too chill of a person, and while I think he's like naturally good at controlling his emotions I also think he does SOMETHING for mindfulness. Reads self help books, does meditation, something that helps him stay so fucking chill all the time

On that topic I also think Brandon likes psychology, like the "why do people act the way they do?" side. Just a little bit, he gets along with way too many insane people to not have at least a little idea

Timmy

He's the least interesting specialist to me in canon so he's where I'm on my bullshit. Listen man we don't need TWO computer wizs, we can have one computer genius and an engineering nerd. For the sake of everyone around Tecna not being the exact same as her AND for my enrichment

Timmy is obsessed with their air crafts. He can talk for HOURS about types of planes, the Owl assigned to their squad is literally his fucking baby and Riven is NOT allowed to pilot it EVER. He lost his mind just a little bit when he's got to pilot a Hawk with Helia, he was so excited. This is definitely his main hobby and why he's in the RF air force track instead of the engineering track, he WILL fly and nothing will stop him

If Legos exist in the magical dimension he's obsessed with them and makes the most insane builds and you know I'm right

Riven absolutely gets Timmy into lock picking. Lock picking is just a logic puzzle that also has a real life application and they spend so much time trying to pick difficult locks when they need a no think thing to do

And speed running, all the specialists have a tendency to just watch him play a video game stupid fast and it's group bonding

Shooting is a sport and one that Timmy enjoys immensely

Riven

Reading. No I'm so serious he's the character shown holding a book the most often. This man reads. Tbh he's probably reading about types of magical animals that specialists are called in to deal with, and their behaviors. That and like lists of forgeable plants

Riven also sews and makes his own clothes! Like it's a restoration thing but also Riven just likes fashion and has very specific ideas for clothes so he just makes them himself.

Riven is the most passionate about sword play and combat. Like it's genuinely fun for him, I think if everyone was set loose they'd drift away from being in the military except Riven. This is his passion. Survivalist stuff is also a huge passion of his. It's his concentration at RF I will never shut up about that hc. His dream job is dealing with magical animal threats in the wilderness, everyone thinks he's just a little insane

That and podcasts. Oh my god the podcasts Riven would have listened to in middle school, cringe worthy, they're EXACTLY what your thinking and it's terrible. Thankfully he listens to calming podcasts and like educational podcasts now, and the occasional true crime one

I'm not sure if lock picking is a hobby for him or if it's just something he HAD to learn, but he takes a lot of pride in it so I'm assuming it's a hobby. Riven likes logic puzzles and that's what lock picking is

Does Riven have an interest in photography or did he print off pictures from Musa's Instagram, the world may never know

Helia

We know the most about his hobbies. Painting, origami, and poetry. Helia is well and truly vibing, and by that I mean I bet you he spends hours agonizing about every detail <3

He probably also has a bullet journal, it's the vibes, do you understand where I'm coming from?

I think Helia would be super into general DIY in every area and at one point he gets Timmy into helping refurbish a chair he found, sometimes he just wants to work on something and that something is a chair he picked up off the curb

Helia definitely picked up how to use his string gloves for fun and to have a body active hobby and he loves it? I think Helia would really enjoy doing things that challenge him and he has the most esoteric weapon so it fits

I also think Helia's glove string weapon is as much of a weapon as it can be used for string art? I think he'd like string art

Helia can parkour and that's on wanting to get the PERFECT angle for his reference piece and know he's 40 ft in the air, Saladin slowly lost his mind when he adopted Helia after his parents died because the kid would not stop climbing on RF

Helia is also a chronic people watcher. At least 70% time when he's people watching he's also drawing them but sometimes he's too tired for that XD

Nabu

Learning about his hyper fixation magic. Listen this man will DEMOLISH a library in a week to learn about the intricacies of runic magic, he is vibrating in his shoes

Okay I know Timmy is the one who you'd assume would like this the most, but I think if you put a ttrpg in front of Nabu he'd fucking love it??? He would either spend 2 million hours world building as the DM or get way into role playing

I think Nabu spends a lot more time fucking around and having fun with his magic than most magic users. Like learning how to make small intricate beautiful things with his magic. I definitely think there would be an art form based around magic that Nabu would be super into that

Nabu absolutely is a history buff too. Like knows about ancient techniques for making things off the top of his head can list most major developments in each century when prompted history buff and I love him

He probably also has a rock collection, this man is autistic and we have rock collections. Sometimes the rocks are magically and that's always exciting

Nabu and Flora spending hours researching a random ass specific phenomenon and having the time of their lives

[llondonfog]

let's make no mistake about it, i genuinely find lilia one of the most fascinating characters in twst— a 700 yr old fae who spent centuries as the most revered general of briar valley, confidant to the royal family, did an about-turn to fatherhood immediately upon finding an abandoned baby and now romps around a school campus with said son and the heir apparent to the draconia family pretending to be 680 years younger than he actually is???? fucking insane.

we know absolutely nothing about his own personal life; no immediate family to speak of (besides his adopted son), and we can safely assume they're no longer among the living. we have no idea what his own childhood was like, but i think we can extrapolate by the way that he initially raised silver that it wasn't conventional. were tensions always so high between fae and humans, did lilia simply grow up in a time where war was a common occurrence, that to serve in the briar valley army was the obvious path to take? we can only gather bits and pieces about his previous lifestyle from his card lines, and it would seem that his life prior to silver was a harsh one, with little to no time for personal amusement or exploration of interests.

and one doesn't just become a renown general fitting for the history books by simply leading an army for so many years— it's clear that he was so very good at it. did he too share the fae consensus that humans were not to be trusted, and if so, at what point did that begin to change? was it truly raising silver that altered his perspective? and more to that point, can we assume that he was truly looking for the boy as his new card title suggests? and if so, why? was it for silver's unique magic, did he really come from royalty, was he considered a threat to the draconias? does any of this have to do with the disappearance of malleus' parents so many centuries prior??

i'm so torn between the idea of lilia being instructed to find and raise silver for some greater purpose and over time, realizing how much he's grown to care and love the child, versus the idea of somehow this little baby being enough to give the fierce general pause, to take him in as his own. i also wonder if lilia even proclaimed himself as silver's father to begin with, or if that's simply a title silver gave him on his own and only then did the ramifications of what he meant to the boy truly sink in. it must have been such a shock, the realization that a human could look up at him with such pure love and think of him as a father— for what does he know of rearing a child, and a human one at that? lilia himself even admits this at countless points, and the more we learn of silver's childhood, the more clear it becomes that while the mutual affection is truly there, the understanding of how to properly care for another being of any kind is clearly lacking.

which is understandable when we think of lilia's past experiences— he was simply a guardian, a 'bodyguard' to an extent to malleus, and someone who intervened to provide the kind of life lessons and guidance that an absent father figure could no longer give. but he did not raise the prince, nor was he responsible for caring for him daily. if what we know so far is to be believed, there was little to no time of lilia's role as a general to his departure and caring for silver. for once in his life, he gets to taste the unfettered freedom of no longer shouldering the weight of a nation's protection, and to be frank, goes a little mad with it. it makes sense why he was cavorting around the world while leaving silver at home, he simply never got to enjoy these freedoms before and perhaps selfishly took advantage of that fact while neglecting the ramifications of leaving a child to care for itself (especially one with a narcoleptic condition).

(and even now he kind of seeks that familiar comfort of warfare— we see him gaming as a kind of warlord with idia, which makes sense that he was unable to fully part with that portion of his identity if it truly made up his entire persona for nearly 600 years.)

anyways all this to say that i have no doubt that lilia truly cares for silver. but i think there's something to be said for fae emotional differences, and that he massively underestimates or doesn't know how to acknowledge that silver loves him before even himself. that the things he does to his family (re halloween, his departure party) are ignorantly cruel at best. at the same time, how could you blame him? as a general and being accustomed to loss of life, what is the use of a long, drawn out goodbye? and to have spent the majority of his life in such a mindset, it's understandable, even if reprehensible, to apply this logic to silver, malleus, and sebek. on the flip side, how utterly fascinating how lilia seems to be fooling himself with these forced and abrupt goodbyes— he admits it himself that he fears becoming weak before his family, that vulnerability so at odds with the kind of power and strength he wielded for years.

i have absolutely no idea what the next part of ch7 will bring us, but i really cannot wait to explore more of lilia in his general years, at the height of his glory. and i really do hope that we get the truth of what we all know— his happiest dream, his sweetest memory, being that of when he found silver at last. how fitting would that be, especially for silver who had wept miserably to malleus about his failures to lilia as his son. how fitting to know that lilia does not see him in that way, that his happiest moment that he would choose to relive and dream is the one where he gathers up silver in his arms, and inevitably sets in motion his course to become his father.

[plasticfangtastic]

American Royalty ch. 5

A Homelander X F! Reader and Dadlander fic.

A/N: prev. chapters available in my pin post, if ya like to be added to my taglist feel free to drop a comment with a request. I wanted to post this tomorrow but yeah am a liar with ADHD UwU.

Tags: mild gore, angsts, lots of angst, slow burn, fluff, oc characther, child neglect, dadlander, romance... i guess i should also say unhealthy/toxic relationship.

Chapter five

Thick lines.

Ryan and Helena were exhausted, most of the obstacle course had been partially destroyed, the walls damaged quite severely, and the ceiling was dented, Homelander had learned two things: 1) Ryan holds back too much– too afraid to harm, too afraid to break things, too afraid of his own powers as if they would come right-back around and harm him, and 2) Helena’s forcefield could take a beating, it had taken Ryan quite a bit of rage for it to start cracking, the girl continued to taunt hi, calling him inept, throwing insults without care before it cracked down.

She had learned her limits, making notes for future reference.

So here he was putting pressure on her arm, as she bled profusely.

Ryan was crying blaming himself, while Homelander took her to the labs. The girl didn’t cry much, seemingly just angry, only wincing as her father squeezed her arm with curses in her lips.

You had run out of the kitchen, guards refusing you entry to the labs, while you demanded entry Homelander had emerged and ordered them to step aside, throwing daggers at them as he took your hand.

You cried as you saw the bandages on her arm, you cried harder when she wrapped her arms around you, bawling and shaking underneath them.

Homelander calmly explained that she ended up with twenty stitches and some blood transfusion, but she was fine, no bone had been touched and her body was healing slowly.

You barely listened.

When was the last time you saw her cry? She was a quiet baby, a perfect baby, by the time she could talk, crying seemed redundant when she could simply spell it out for you.

“What did you do!?” You picked your child, retreating from him– I fucking qu–

“It was my fault…” Ryan said drying his sobs– I’m sorry.”

“It was an accident. The kids got a little heated during training… I should’ve stepped in earlier.”

Homelander took Ryan under his arm.

You stared at the kid, then back at your own.

“Helena did you–” You stroke her back– Sorry that my daughter antagonized you… It won’t happen again.”

Your voice was quiet, unable to look at either child.

“Let’s go get your stuff. My apologies, Homelander but I won’t be able to continue my work today. She won’t be a cause of future concern…” You wanted to quit and leave this tower forever.

He lets you go, no doctor tried stopping you either, but you wouldn’t let your daughter stay at Vought, a nurse informed you to come back to change the bandages in two days but you rather take her to an actual hospital.

You looked at him knowing he was going to come around.

Coffee already on the stove and biscuits on the table already waiting for him.

“How is she?” He was genuine.

“She says it's too itchy… but her arm is alright.” you scratch at your head.

“You look tired.”

“I haven’t slept for almost a decade… that’s just my face now.”

“You didn’t quit.” He sat beside you on the big round-table, turning pale as you saw him sit on his cape, his eyes reddened as he tried to look calm– are you quitting?”

“I dunno. Helena can be pretty abrasive. I’m sorry your son fell for it, she doesn’t mean it…  she just thinks that people are going to be cruel, so she’s cruel first.”

“Why?” He presses taking a quick glance at the livingroom and the misplaced toys.

“Try being in a classroom full of teenagers and be the smartest one in the whole room, they just see a smug midget who thinks she’s better than anybody else– they’re mean… kids in general are mean… but she eventually just scares them enough… there were other kids she’d hurt, nothing too severe.”

You stayed in silence not knowing if you should ask him to leave or not. If you should let him be privy of those events.

“She knows.”

“You!”

“She either figured it out or used her powers to find out.” He rested his elbow on the table stroking his tired eyes– I didn’t tell her but she would’ve noticed there was something going on.”

You yawned, taking a couple sips of coffee as he copied you. The silence unbearable and your eyes heavy and aching, gawking at him made you think of her.

“Your eyes and lips are identical.” That was an unusual smile on your face– when she was born that was the first thing I noticed, the second was that mop of hair on her head… she had so much hair and it was so long, but those were your eyes… sadly, you know I always thought your nose was your best feature but she got mine.”

You stood up asking him to follow you to the living room with a finger, taking a seat on the same sofa you refused to throw away.

“Tell me about her… Becca never had the chance… I cleaned that house and found pictures and trinkets, but without the stories I can only speculate. I don’t know his first words, the first time he walked, his first time riding a bike… I don’t know anything. She never wanted to tell me.” He leaned closer, his hand close to yours but never touching– Ryan is sorry, he was quite shaken.”

“Her first word was ‘morning’.” You spoke wanting to indulge, wanting to seem better for some reason.

You told him stories, there had been a time when you fantasized sharing all these moments with him, when you were younger and stupider. When you two began to get too serious, when he had called you baby, darling and honey with genuine affection, when you watched him sleep and caressed his hair awake. You’d dreamed of drinking wine while your kids slept by his side at one point and in this forced intimacy you could be as deluded as he was just in case he was holding something nefarious over your head.

You let him know about her silly things, about her first love… the chemistry set you bought her when she was five. About how she lived in their local library and everybody knew her by name, about how some of the kids expected her to become Brooklyn’s finest, about her hatred of pistachio and strong emotions about bird keeping.

You never expected to talk to him like this after everything, but today has been a rollercoaster and you simply hadn't been in you to fight, not now when your daughter knew, you were doing this to yourself so you couldn’t fight it, you gave him morsels and crumbs because you had no one to talk about this things.

“Is Ryan alright?” You asked leaning away from him, the night was so dark and only the kitchen in the back lit the house– it must’ve been so scary.”

“He was pretty shaken. Took me a lot to get him to stop crying…”

“Helena won’t hold any grudges… I think… I got an idea… has Ryan ever been to Coney Island? Maybe we can take the kids to the boardwalk, have hotdogs and hit the aquarium, Helena will not misbehave in there.” You put your empty cup on the coffee table– they can make up.”

He gave you a tired smile, knowing he had to head home soon but wanting to talk some more.

“Are you angry at her?” He asks weakly.

“She would’ve hurt Ryan. I figured out she was forcing him to attack when you said things got a little heated, that’s how she dealt with bullies in the past.” you looked him straight in the eyes– I am upset.”

He found a way to touch your hand, giving it a light squeeze.

“Don’t be… I think Ryan would like the aquarium, he’s never been.” He seemed ashamed of that statement.

“Remember when we used to sneak out to Central Park?” You said suddenly with a chirp in your voice.

“Those were long nights.” He dares give you a flirty look.

“No… those handful of times where we went during daytime… ditch the suit… more witnesses, more likely to behave.”

You tried ignoring those sharp fangs, he was so good looking still and it had been so fucking long since you got laid, being forced to remember him, to interact with him, to let him touch you… some people like to be used… Helena had said it best, and in this nice house he bought you, and the nice stuff he got you all around you, you remember what he was trying to get out of you, and that was to play a role.

At the doctor’s office, Helena cried a lot when the doctor took her stitches out, it had taken a day to heal but she was left with a gnarly scar.

“Phantasma” You sit next to her while she eats some ice cream, she really did not like getting the stitches out, the visit had reduced her to an actual little girl, even after her words were incoherent, skipping words as she cried all the way out to the ice cream shop, Helena’s skin was hard not like her fathers but it was near impossible to penetrate it with a needle, forced to proceed without real anesthesia– sounds better than ‘Ghost Girl’, no?”

She looked up.

“Sounds cool. Why?” she sniffed hard.

“Your father did ask about it…”

“Huh?”

“Honey. He told me you figured it out. How?”

She licked her ice cream cone, as you tucked her under your arm. Scooting her closer on the park bench.

“I used Elmo to break into his apartment. I turned us both invisible and I went up there.” You pulled on her ear– ouch!”

“Helena!”

“He’s been following us for weeks!” you let her go– I was curious as to what he was doing… I was suspicious of his intentions, found the paperwork in his office and played stupid for a couple days.” She handed you her slobbered cover ice cream– Is not appropriate for a grown man to be following little girls.”

“You shouldn’t use Elmo like that!”

“You aren’t mad I broke into his house?” She looked perplexed.

“Nah… I could have given you the passcode it's the first thing they gave me when I started work. Don’t involve the kid!” You took a bite– Jesus Helena! You being invisible is hard enough… I don’t want you ending up like Translucent! Guy was so mentally ill.”

“You knew translucent?” her ear perked up.

“He would walk around naked in the bathrooms– I’ll explain to you when you’re older, honey.” you handed the ice cream back, your lips tight under your teeth– I knew your father for three years… So I got to meet some of The Seven. Either way leave the kid alone and for all intents and purposes you never told me about the stalking…”

“You got something in mind?”

“We’re going to play his game. You’re his daughter… so that tower should be yours, no?”

“There’s my older brother to worry about, too.”

“He’s just a little boy, riding thru life with only nepotism as his anchor” You stroke her hair pushing her bangs away from her beautiful eyes– but he’s not you.” You leaned into her ear– you are my daughter.”

Her smile was sickly sweet.

Here you were waiting for him at the entrance of the boardwalk, when you felt a light touch on your shoulder.

He looked uncomfortable and maybe too dressed up for the occasion, you took the lapel of his suit jacket. It was the nicest fabric you’ve touched in your entire life, surprised to see his hair not as gel-up and his eyes hiding behind versace sunnies.

“Did you raid Kendall Roy’s closet? I swear I saw this jacket in season 3.”

“Is a good show.” he laughs looking painfully stiff, his eyes moving rapidly behind his lenses– and yes.”

“Wait, is this actually from the show?”

“I just said yes.”

Your mouth dropped slightly, but you did like the feel of the jacket.

“You’re more Shiv.”

“Not Logan I hope?”

You snorted in horror, your daughter pretended to be confused by his appearance trying not to look at Ryan, who looked like a deer in front of a hummer.

“Are you doing okay, little guy?” You asked, making sure to lift his hat playfully– Ever had a Nathan’s glizzy? Is an institution.”

The kid looked so shy.

“No, I never had one…” He was one bad word away from sobbing.

“Is okay. My arm is all good again” Helena's adult size hoodie had a big enough collar for her to pull down and reveal nothing but a scar– I am not mad at you. It was an accident… Besides, you can’t be a supe if you’re afraid of getting boo-boos.”

Ryan seemed more shaken than anything, but before he could do his best sad little orphan boy impression, Helena took his hand and dragged him forward, telling him that he needed to try Nathan’s before doing anything, rambling about how good they are, and that she couldn’t wait to see the Aquarium.

Both you and Homelander stood a few steps behind as your daughter gave the kid no time to rest.

“She’s always been this pushy?” He whispered into your ear.

“She just found out that’s her brother… She's a tad excited.”

“You had the talk? Without me!?” He looked upset, staring at his kids with a bit of bitterness.

“I was ambushed. I swear to god you need to figure out a weakness with her damn bubble.”

“What's the limit before she runs out of oxygen?” he asks.

“1 minute and 46 seconds is her personal best.” you whispered back.

“What did you tell Helena was happening today?” He wrapped his arm around your waist pulling you close.

“That it was a play-date, to try to mend the situation… after all she instigated it.” You leaned against him tugging on his jacket with a cheeky smile– not whatever you were thinking this was… now… get your hand off my ass, John.”

“I told you. I have a story to sell. Both kids are in the same school, now they can start being friends and she knows I’m her dad. Let’s just skip to the good part.”

“You want to pretend we are dating?” If your teeth could separate and let you talk with ease, you would bite his nose off before finishing your next sentence– Did you run that past your team? Sure I wouldn’t rank higher than Maeve or Starlight in the fake girlfriend department… I think even Taylor would rank better… she did make a great single out of you.”

He cringed at that comment.

“You’ll do great in the fake mother department– The team has concocted something extra juicy, a real page turner. Way above Hallmark channel christmas movies, we are talking award circuit instead.”

You both did that fake little laugh that sounded more like a growl as your kids turned around after spotting the white, green and yellow hot dog restaurant.

As Helena headed to the line, with Ryan in tow. You played your role, Helena would have what she deserves– if he wanted to force you and her into his life, you were going to wrap those chains so tight around his neck, he would forget he ever lived without it.

Your mouth met his for a brief moment, startling him enough that his hand left your hips, he was left stuck in place as you went after the kids.

The breeze tousled his hair, as you looked back at him with a saddened smile.

“I haven’t forgiven you… but I want to give you a second chance… I want to put all those things behind us… if you are going to be here for her– for us.” You whispered from afar out of your kids reach as Helena took your wallet, knowing full well he was listening attentively– I’ve missed you. Even if I don’t want to admit it.”

The seagulls squealed as he took his place beside you, wrapping his arm again around your waist just to kiss you yet again.

The moment Helena saw a fish tank it was game over. All her ‘Wednesday’ facade had melted as she became an over excited amateur marine biologist, giving his eldest no time of rest as she explained as many animals she could to the child, he had learned an awful lot about corals and kelp as they moved from exhibit to exhibit, admittedly Ryan was having fun, hanging out with other kids as school had been a bit difficult, his socialization skills were poor from years of isolation and homeschooling but this was nice.

Homelander could only see a kodak moment ruined by the myriad of The Deep billboards staring at him.

It was a bizarre game of stealth kisses happening behind the kids, he was starving for you,  a desire he had put down in the cellar and today he found again, excited to play this game with you.

Wanting to feel your comfort, happy that you took his offer, now he only had to tell Ryan.

As you left for the bathroom he was left alone with the two kids, Ryan fixated on some animals and his mind elsewhere when Helena pulled at his sleeve.

“You look like you want to rip your skin off.”

“I don’t usually wear clothes like this?” he says politely– what about you? Why are you wearing that giant hoodie again? Don’t you own other stuff?”

It was big enough for an adult, her sleeves had been rolled up quite a bit and its length still touched her knees making her appear shorter than she already was, this had been the fifth time he had seen her in this fit, she wore black hoodies most of the times on top of her normal clothes– cheap thrifted clothes and hand-me downs somethign that irked the man; But this ridiculous hoodie seemed to be a favorite. The newest and nicest thing she owned was a pair of A-T Force 1, it pissed him off to watch her wear those shoes– why worship that fat slob when her father was the fucking Homelander! he thought.

“Is really nice… found it in an old box mother had with her while we were living in one of her cousin’s garage.” She stretched her arm urging the man to have a feel of the soft cotton fabric– She didn’t wanna throw it away ‘cuz she could sell it but I ended up wearing it a lot. I like it.”

The fabric was worn down but it was evidently of good quality, he spun the little girl around as he looked at the size tag, only to see the name of the brand… Brunello, his eyes widened as he noted that this hoodie easily cost over 1000 dollars, but as the girl glared at him a light sob escaped his lips as his eyes tingled– this had been his sweater. 

Of the few items of clothes he had owned over the years, he knew this was his.

In those secret dates in central park and escapes to Paris and Seoul, where he was forced to hide who he was just so you two could hold hands without causing a scene, he had bought this, you liked it enough to steal it from him from time to time.

Homelander had become John Gillman for you, he had never needed a secret identity before he met you, not even mulling on the idea for long. He only had to be the Homelander, but he had become a mild-mannered executive named Mr. John Gillman, to be with you– forcing himself to wear strange clothes and mingle with lowborn folks, just to hold your hands and kiss you.

This stupid hoodie that he had ordered an intern to buy only to arrive a size too big, that had gone missing years prior, now stood here wrapping his daughter.

“How did you find out about me?” He asks with shaky lips.

“After you showed up at Lucci’s… thought it was weird that you showed up at my house not long before… I suspected you knew my mom, and after she told me that she worked at Vought. Well, I looked at her resume and did some math. I only really began to suspect it after you broke into my house” She raised her chin– you left the window open by two inches, not enough to matter but enough for me to notice as I always leave them close all the way… you left my hairbrush in the sink’s and not the trolley. Why would you touch my hairbrush? Wonder what you could get out of it…”

The little shit turned around to spot her brother still admiring the clover reef while they waited for you.

“I was taking a gamble when I called you a ‘deadbeat’, dad.”

Homelander's heart skipped a beat when her mouth uttered the word, unsure if she was mocking him or otherwise, from her it was hard to tell.

“You don’t want him to know about me, right?” Her voice was quiet, a knot buried itself in her throat.

“What? No!” He said in a panic, getting on one knee to see her eye-to-eye– Helena… I … I want us to be a family, Ryan will understand but I have to wait… he’s not like you or me… he’s… sweet.”

She looked away squishing her little fist, hiding her beautiful kyanite stones behind those long bangs, his hand lifted her hair, trying to peek further into those beautiful skies, feeling the creamy skin under his palm, her warmth as her cheeks turn a new shade of pink.

“You’re my daughter… my blood… I am sorry… I was… I was an asshole for what I did, but I just want to be there for you now… so If I can… you can call me ‘Dad’ if you like.”

His voice quivering as he spoke, she was frail, he could feel it under his touch, how easy it would be for him to hurt her.

Little girls were to be handled with much more care, dainty things they were, she was a peony blooming in his hands, so he had to be soft and strong for her. she rested her cheek against his hand, his so warm and soft, surprised at the way he looked at her-- there was a twinkle of desperation behind his gaze.

She rested until her eyes didn’t sting anymore.

As you left the bathroom, you spotted the curious scene, biting at your lips as your guilt finally catched up to you, you didn’t need it, you would not allow yourself to be harmed but as you saw your daughter play her role, you knew… she would be lost inside the character… She was a lonely child, deprived of you and without him ever in the picture... she had a weakness.

You let them mingle from afar as they walked around towards some river exhibition, while Ryan made his way towards the duo, their hands intertwined as he turned calling for his boy.

For a moment you saw a glimpse of the life you always wanted… Revenge was a nasty game… could you really play it? You wondered as you fixed your clothes.

Before you could say anything, your sight followed a faceless passerby.

A service dog in tow.

The passerby had simply bumped into Helena, the dog had been just close enough, you didn't worry immediately, she had gotten used to dogs and you were certain she had been good and taken her allergy meds.

You were sure.

Helena turned but it was too late.

With a single sneeze the gates had opened.

The walls rumbled, as the pale blue wave of sharp wavering light exploded out of her body.

Everybody swallowed a shared gasp, as the glass began to crack.

taglist: hope y'all like the chapter @fromforeigntofamiliarity @immyowndefender @demodemo909

[iaminsideyourwalls]

Sorry for the ask so soon after my first one, but really, I would love to hear about any head canons you'd like to share! :O Do you have a favorite merc?

Don’t apologize for asks, I love asks! I even put it in my bio.

You couldn’t ask a parent to pick a favorite child could you??? ;_; (although I do think about sniper every day.) I’ll give you a headcanon for all of them then.

Scout

he retained some French from when he was little. He’s not good at it in general but is a lot better at understanding it than speaking it. He can eavesdrop on Spy but can’t conjugate être. I also like versions of Scout that speak Spanish when people hc his mom as Latina.

Sniper

one of my all time favorite headcanons is Māori Sniper. Also, if you’ve seen this blog you’ll know i believe he’s an autistic king.

Engineer

I know a lot of people tend to portray him as a tender, kind, empathetic guy but I genuinely don’t think he’s ever felt empathy or genuine compassion in his life. Sure he knows how to act sweet and polite and soft and nonthreatening all the time but no matter how long you’ve known him, if you get in his way he’s already designing a new machine in his head to blow you away into the last century.

Demoman

Objectum Demoman is one of my all-time favorites. For real. I will genuinely ship him with eyelander, idgaf.

Soldier

I really love trans soldier headcanons. His transmasc swag is off the charts. It’s hard to come up with hcs for Soldier because he’s so fucking wild you could put him in any situation and it could be true. Lived in a diving bell for two years? Sure. Favorite food is un-husked kernels of wheat? Absolutely. Replaced his dick with his big toe so he could use it to walk? I could go on.

Heavy

during and after he obtained his phd in Russian literature he published a number of fiction books under a pen name. They’re all tasteful romances with subplots of political intrigue. They gained high critical praise and are still moderately popular in bookstores in Russia and some neighboring countries. all the royalties from sales go to his family. He’s also an autistic king.

Pyro

I don’t have many headcanons for pyro because I like keeping the whole mystery. I don’t wonder what’s under the mask or come up with possible names because I think the whole of the character is that mystery. But I will say that as great as unicorns and rainbows and cupcakes are, there’s really nothing Pyro loves more than hanging out with Engie in his workshop and pretending to help.

Medic

as far as my own headcanons, I have a lot. Here’s some. He does not have a driver’s license—he taught himself to drive by stealing a car. He’s insecure about his voice but he talks too much to really care. He’s always wanted a motorcycle. He puts drugs in his morning coffee. He doesn’t like classical music, he listens to the top 40s on the radio and sings along. The peppier the better.

One of my favorite Medic headcanons I ever heard was that he only has medical training as a veterinarian and I think that’s hilarious because it could absolutely be real.

Spy

He’s smart but he’s not as highly educated as he wants people to think. He never went to a university and maybe never even finished school. Just like Scout, he’s so damn good at what he does that he can afford to be more concerned with appearance and showing off than anything else. They’re both committed to making people see what they want them to see and nothing deeper.

[violetsarepurple-fuckyou]

Gerard and Elody

I’m thinking about Elody and the Princesses. And how all of the princesses are not only the main characters of their stories, but also the ones in their stories who have to be rescued by true love. 

The psychology behind the Daughters of the Crown insane plan is simply this: they are the main characters and royalty -- there is an inherent privilege to that position and even if they don’t realize it, subconsciously they believe that they have the right to decide the fate of the world and all who live in it -- and they are experiencing suffering without an endgame of being saved. They are suicidal, and they wield independence for the first time, and they do not understand what it is to have to be their own source of hope. Their role in the story, their archetype, has always been that they should suffer nobly and then be saved, and now they are not going to be saved. Of COURSE their next logical step is martyrdom! Like Ylfa said, they are young and hot and badass... they don’t actually KNOW anything!

And now let’s talk about Elody, because Elody is the only princess in the group that isn’t actually a princess archetype. She isn’t the damsel waiting on true love to save her, she is the TRUE LOVE. 

Prince Charmings have been notably absent throughout the whole show, from Sleeping Beauty waking up by herself, to Snow White casually saying “Well we’ve killed a LOT of them”. And because Elody is a princess in the literal sense, she was brought into the Daughters of the Crown club without any of its members really questioning it, but in terms of archetype? That’s a Prince Charming babes! 

She finds a helpless, cursed royal, falls in love, saves him with true love’s kiss.  Brennan literally gave her golden plate; she’s a goddamn knight in shining armor.

So now let’s think about this whole thing from her perspective; the perspective of the Prince Charmings which is something we have not thought about at all up until this point. 

SO children in the Neverafter exist to suffer and be taught morals. Princesses exist to be saved. Prince Charmings exist to save the actually important people. I know all of us traumatized, people pleasing, therapist friend idiots understand how horrifying that it is. The scores of dead princes lining the briars of Rosamund’s castle, endlessly compelled to rescue her? Horrifying. They don’t have faces, they are just cardboard cutouts with generically handsome features doomed to chase acts of self-sacrifice and heroism without any real other choice. 

Elody at least has some defining characteristics: she is not shallow, she is lonely, she is the sort of person who could fall in love with a frog if only he could make her laugh. But she still has a heroic nature, a savior complex. 

Let’s think about this from her perspective. Elody loses her parents young. She meets a frog. He becomes her best friend. They fall in love, and it is genuinely sweet, founded upon FRIENDSHIP. And then her falling in love with him turns him back into a prince, and they live happily ever after. 

Except she finds it horrifying. The idea that their stories ended the day they were wed. The idea that she no longer has anything to fight for. No one to save. And then the corruption begins, war starts, and Elody is a knight in shining armor: of course she wants to fight to protect people. 

And she is torn about Gerard, both resenting him and not, because it is really fucking tough when you view yourself as entirely responsible for the wellbeing emotional and physical of someone who you love. It makes you feel superior to them, like there is a power imbalance. It’s a lot of pressure to put on yourself, and it also makes you feel shitty because you feel like you are stunting THEIR growth, and making them reliant on you, and you resent them for it, but also yourself because you kinda constructed the relationship this way yourself in the first place because it made you feel needed, and like even as you blame them for being so goddamn helpless, you also feel absolutely terrified of giving them any opportunities to get hurt and make mistakes and grow. 

So things are tense in Elody’s marriage. And THEN Gerard starts turning back into a frog. The thing that was literally her whole job in the story, she is visibly failing at. Now I think that Gerard’s curse is actually based on his self-worth, and I think that Elody still very much loves him, but the thing is that NEITHER of them know that! So Elody is walking around, a ruler locked in war with a growing rapidly more horrific world, and her husband is being transformed back into a body that is the visual representation of the most traumatic period of his life, and Elody thinks that it is HER FAULT. That her being angry at him, her not wanting the stagnancy of a happily ever after, is her not LOVING him enough. 

And that is so goddamn tragic because Gerard’s whole character arc is about learning not to cling to the safety post trauma, and that a relationship isn’t a happily ever after, it is a continuing collaboration. And he kind of needed her to leave to realize that, because she was too afraid of hurting him to let him grow in that way. But now they need to learn to find that balance together, and here is the thing...

Elody has learned her role in the story. 

She found Gerard’s body. It almost broke her. The princesses found her, got them to join their ranks, and she didn’t tell them she was married, because she wasn’t. Her husband was dead. And they explained the multiverse to her, and they were like “So see? You’re one of us!” and I think she must have realized then that she was not one of them. They didn’t know her story, obviously because they didn’t know she was married. But she must have heard all of their stories, how they were supposed to be saved by their true loves but never were, and listening to those I think she must have thought, “Oh, so that is what went wrong in my story too. I didn’t save Gerard. Look at all these traumatized, jaded princesses and how they hate the world because of the loves that failed them, I did that to my best friend.”

And then she was brought into the new world. I wonder if she got her memories of the current world in spite of not having died to get there. The memories where she transformed Gerard by hurling him into a WALL. If she did, can’t imagine that helped her self-image of how much she believes she hurt Gerard. 

And then Snow White is like “Hey, btw, you have a husband??? He’s traveling with a bunch of heroes from your world who died and came to this one, and he wants to find you.” And suddenly, Elody’s husband is not dead. He is alive. He is a hero now, maybe, because she abandoned him. 

Gerard arrives at the castle. He is apologizing to her SO much, and he is right to, and he is addressing problems that need to be addressed for their relationship to work, but the thing is Elody blames herself for a lot of this, and has been so afraid of letting Gerard get hurt for so long that even though he is the one bringing it up, it still feels wrong to talk about. Like she is going to hurt him. 

In the Adventuring Party, Brennan brought up the idea of power dynamics in relation to Elody, and it got mostly brushed over but it sounded so much like that was her concern during her talk with Gerard that it really stood out to me. Like, she has learned that she is his protector in a very literal sense. The man she loves, who was traumatized as a child, and he NEEDS her to save him. 

It is not necessary to the story of the Frog Prince for the Princess to fall in love with him, case and point the wall throwing. It is necessary for the frog to love and need her. 

We have heard Gerard telling Ylfa that he thinks he would have fallen in love Elody either way, that her being a princess and saving him has nothing to do with it. But from Elody’s perspective? Gerard is under an obligation to love her. The story made it that way. Every problem he has is directly because of Elody’s failures, and he never had a choice in any of it. 

And so when Gerard says that he would not have done the things he has done without her? Elody is seeing his body with a glass shard in his heart: he wouldn’t have done that if it weren’t for her. And when he says she inspires him?

He meant it so sweetly, because he is talking about all the ways he has grown on this adventure, but of all the compliments he could have chosen I think that is the one that would have hurt her the most, because it is such a direct reference to the status differential she feels she has over him, and to the insecurities she herself is so emersed in right now. 

Like Brennan said, sometimes “I’m proud of you” feels like such agony to hear if you don’t think the other person should be. 

I really really hope they find common ground and talk it all out. I really hope that their happy ending is learning that relationships have ups and downs and they can learn to navigate them together. Because I think they really do love each other so much, they just need to break free of themselves and the roles they feel locked in and embrace growth. I really hope that they learn their stories did not end on the day that they wed, but that rather the effort they put into this relationship going forward is an adventure that will last them for the rest of their lives.

Anywho, that is my two cents lol

[cyberdragoninfinity]

A while ago, you did a thread on Yugioh rival symbolism, but it was early enough in your Arc-V watch that you didn't have anything major to say on Reiji/Declan. Now that you've experienced Arc-V in full, what do you think about Declan and his symbolism?

OHHH GOOD QUESTION!! god i love declan so much. i feel like i still need to Really Ruminate on him to fully grip all of the potential symbolism he's got but there's definitely some stuff I'm already locked on that I really like.

I dont think I realized until someone pointed it out that the Akabas all have a card suite motif but it rules so hard; Declan's definitely got such a kickass design especially with that in ind... the diamond earrings, his bangs, the red in his color palette. It's subtle, it's tasteful, I really like it. I like that his character goes hand in hand with what the Diamond suite tends to symbolize too (progress, prosperity, career advancement--diamonds are also apparently associated with the element of air sometimes too, which is insanely funny considering Declan's scarf that can achieve flight in the manga (?!??!).)

In general it's really funny to me that Declan kind of has this "business and corporate hierarchy" motif, with the diamond symbolism and also that thing where D/D/Ds have like corporate titles and are just as much about the landscape of business as they are about Sickass Demons. And I think it's fun how even though Declan is a businessman first and foremost, he isn't really like.... a corrupt businessman, especially not in the way businessmen in yugioh can be. i could write an essay and a half about how declan is such a genuinely caring person but that's it's own story for another time. He's crafted his wealth and business connections into a weapon to fight his father and his deck also weaponizes contracts and businessmen to destroy opponent, it's a cool parallel.

GOD SO MUCH OF THIS IS JUST "WHY DO D/D/DS HAVE LIKE 8 MOTIFS GOING ON WITH THEM" but like practically all of them relate back to Declan as a character in some way! It's so cool! Cuz you have these Different Dimension Demons, but theyre all named after ancient kings and warriors and great scientists, and Declan in general has such a vast Medieval Warrior King/Prince/Royalty type symbolism. The Lancers are his knights right down to the logo. He assumes the 'throne' (LID Presidency) after his father fucks off to Evil Duel Academy. He fights a goddamn dragon (Zarc). Hell even the paler grey in his hair looks very crown like. It's making me a little sicko mode to think about especially through the lens of viewing Arc-V itself as a creation myth or a fairy tale. BUT THAT AGAIN IS ANOTHER KETTLE OF FISH.

hang on wtf is the symbolism of the King of Diamonds, actually

OH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALRIGHT!!!!! YEA THAT'S DECLAN BABEYYYY

hey haha also i didn't know Akaba means 'red horse.' hahah which horseman was that again

AH.

also. one more thing. does make me a bit ill thinking about how his deck is entirely Fiends and he uses them to spar with Yuya (who of course has devil motifs whether he wants them or not)....something in there maybe....blinks wet eyes

[yotsubaclover]

explaining my blorbo associations pt2: jules who i do not draw often im so sorry u look like that babygirl

song: i actually... have never made a jules playlist LMAO my jules brainrot is so academic i could spit theories for him but not songs. so i had to dive into my spotify likes and find something. goldilocks spot is actually from a very old jolyne playlist i made but i think it also fits jules. to me it's a song about being painfully aware of how... average? not-outstanding? just there? you are and the angst that comes with it, the bitterness towards other people (in jules' case, for not seeing him as who he knows himself to be—a noble). but there's also a stubborness and pride that keeps you from fully confronting those feelings/that dilemma and finding peace within it, which is fitting for the persistent turbulence within jules... a lot of this is my (quite liberal?) interpretation tho so yeah

color & object: purple is the color of royalty and lavender is pretty and calming and healing. quite the nice set of descriptions for someone like jules :)

animal: i dont kin assign animals often so this was hard. but i chose raven as a parallel to doves... because jules' dove of happiness was/is rosemarine, and because jules is almost like rose's shadow in many ways... also ravens are kinda bad omens i feel like for all the gentleness jules shows he is also obviously capable and willing to do terrible things, he's selfish and prideful and even a little greedy... and lol i think the negativity also fits some of his self-image

drink: tea! of course! what else would i put

aesthetic: i think classic dark academia with all its elite-ness and occult-ness and general fucked up-ness would be a very average jules genre. smack him in a dark academia plot a la secret history and he's right at home lol. even his fallen noble status makes for an interesting pov in a dark academia story. the genre's potential for class analysis and commentary too is jules de ferrier

other: i think it was a fic which was about jules and perfume which made me think about this association... lavender was the scent too so that is another explanation to the above lol. as for the shadows again it's cos of his duo thing with rosemarine but also everything he does is kind of... in the shadows... he has engaged in shady shit (gang moment???) and is often lurking/observing situations (as the right hand man yk) and also just him looking out for the people he cares about even if in incredibly convoluted ways (see: rosemarine and jules' deal with the thugs who wanted to beat him up when they first arrived at lacombrade). he does the dirty work in the dark or smth like that. tbh there are a lot of oppositions with rosejules, the light/shadow thing is pretty on the nose i think but my favorite is probably the feminine/masculine. (disclaimer thisis an idea spitball Only so pls do not sue me for incorrect use of terminology; im sorry feminist theory i promise ill read more of you BUT a lot of the ideas kind of branch out of 2nd wave ideas/concepts i believe)

because publicly rose seems to take the patriarchal role as the superintendent (ie. being the disciplinarian, having power, being the symbol of the institution) while jules assumes a more matriarchal role as advisor, someone more approachable and "kinder" than the patriarch... then it all gets skewed because of auguste's presence, so they actually switch with rose being "feminized" and jules being "masculinized" but anyway LOL i have many thoughts on this specific kind of. feminist/queer inspired reading of rosejules

i hate his ass so much cos it's so fucking hard to break his character down in a comprehensible way. the thesis topic thing is only partly a joke. i genuinely think with the depths i am going to look at this i can find something in him or maybe im just delusional lmao i probably am

[gentleeclipsey]

Hmmm, I've been listening to music again, I have thoughts about Jackie's fluffy trollish family, fair warning, it's long and things may change:

Ancient family curse, they're all fluffy, every generation or so there's always one that looks familiar to the ancient root ancestor, mostly referred to as Shardback

Shardback is called that because heartstone chunks rooted into her back, she only lived about 10,000 years but it was enough to have a few secret whelps which carried the family line from ancient times to modern times

The Shardback and Blackthroat families hated each other, but Penn, Jack's mom, is half Blackthroat, he's essentially merged the family trees and forced mercy between the two lines

Monsoon is Penn's late sister, now he only has his brother Haverwrath, but he's also got other relatives from his mom, Jack's grandma, that have kids his age, so the Shardback family tree is far from dying out, especially now that Blackthroats are involved

Those cursed, like Jack and her Grandma Jax, all look the same when young but as they age they all become different, new main and coat patterns arise around their mid 450s to 500s

On average they tend to live to about 1000 to 2000, of course there's outliers in every generation, Gran Jax is only about 900 herself so her marks have expressed themselves

Generally speaking a family reunion is the cutest thing to witness because they're a bunch of playful idiots big cats, and most are pettable if you ask nicely, and yes almost all of them purr and get happy taps

I have no idea who sired Penn or Jackie yet, only that Penn loves his stupid fluffy baby and genuinely did not expect her to marry into royalty, he's proud of all of his kids either way and is just happy Jackie will be taken care of if he dies young

While Gran Jax is only 900, Penn is about 600 himself, I believe Jackie to be around 400 to 500, just before she gets her marks, and yes Penn had her young

When born, they have a fever coat, a funky layer of miscolored fluff along the top of their pelts, generally it falls out before they turn 100, but it returns when they're sick for prolonged periods

They greet each other by nuzzling heads, they also peep, chirp, and squeak at each other frequently

The fluffiness is a highly dominant gene, in hundreds if not thousands of generations it hasn't faded and every new child born to the line is fluffy, even if they're a changeling, volcanic troll, sea troll, doesn't matter, they're getting fluff whether they like it or not

Things like scales, horns, and spikes aren't common in the family but they're not rare either, however when present they're usually not too large, for instance Kanjigar's horns may be possible but something like Draal's is highly unlikely, if they do have them it's likely these will show up later in life rather than immediately

Gran Jax should've had a black/grey coat with white marks or white fading, Jackie is hoping her real coat is pretty

All of them get heavier in winter and will grow out their coats, family snow beans are also common

Often they have different pawpads depending on what species sired them, however the heart Jackie has is new, it's likely a new mutation

Sal fucking cries seeing her family because he physically cannot withstand that amount of poof in one room, this idiot king will die because he finds them so fucking cute

I love to imagine in the afterlife Shardback terrorizing the Blackthroat ancestor who's absolutely PISSED the old hag's line finally won into their own, it's like a damn soap opera episode and it's hilarious

That's all I have thank you

Comfort combat, they fuckin invented it

They can have crunchy mews, like a funky or old cat, also, scraggly whiskers when they sleep too hard

[ad-hawkeye]

You can tag this under 50 Shades, but after I read this post from Hoyolab, hoyolab (.) com/#/article/19978642/, if this is true, I am very disappointed about this direction, though it is one I've seen coming. That being said, you've given your thoughts on the writing. In your ideal world, where would the cards post 2nd anniversary have gone, if you had to keep the general situation/environment, but could change up everything else about it?

holy fuck, the way i actually agree with everything in this post. here is the link for those curious, it's a fantastic read tbh.

a few of us in our tot discord have discussed this as well. here are a few brief snippets below.

sorry for the incoherent mess of thoughts below, words are Not coming easy HAHA.

but yeah... like the post said, barbie is a very good way of putting it.

i used to have the same issue with luke. i'm not a huge fan of characters being good at Too Many Things, especially when there's no flaws to balance it out. it really pulls me out of the story. so like. the more you try to impress me with a character, the less impressed i'll be. which. is why i haaaate artem's newer cards.

see, the thing is, the whole reason why i liked artem in the first place is because of how he felt like the down to earth option. he wasn't the childhood friend/undercover agent/detective/stem genius, he wasn't a ceo and son of the richest family in stellis, and he wasn't literal royalty. he was just a lawyer who worked with rosa. he was bad at talking to people. he was a bit of a homebody. he was LAME. completely inexperienced in romance. he was good at his job, but it was obvious he put all of his skill points into being a lawyer and no where else. his abilities with shooting and cooking were both important aspects to his character, but the skills hoyoverse added beyond that just baffle me.

he wasn't cool, but he was kind and genuine.

ever since second anniversary, there has been absolutely no consistency to artem's character whatsoever.

neil gets mentioned less and less even though he was a major part of artem's life AND character. neil was his father figure, since his parents were rarely, if ever, around. and yet, in recent cards, tot constantly goes out of its way to try and convince us artem's parents did nothing wrong. to add to that, we're lucky if neil is even mentioned.

in earlier cards, it was very clear artem was grieving neil's disappearance (see: entwined fate). it was also clear artem's childhood circumstances were extremely lonely and caused him to try and brush off the neglect because he didn't want to stress out his already busy parents (see: loving memories and his dreams of childhood sr)! earlier cards also hinted at traumatic events and a fear of firearms due to how dangerous neil's job as a lawyer was (see: focus fire).

but for god knows what reason, newer cards said well! fuck all of this! artem no longer gives one single shit about neil! also? honestly? the writers seem confused and disoriented by artem downplaying his childhood issues and just made it so he truly Had no issues with his childhood. which. ok. i guess.

in recent months, we have not had one single card where rosa and artem sit down to talk about how artem feels about neil's disappearance. one single card where artem even openly addresses any traumatic experiences. or emotional neglect in childhood.

remember when focus fire mentioned that a disgruntled mafia member held him and neil at gunpoint because he was pissed neil put everyone else in the gang behind bars?? no?? yeah, me neither! because it's never mentioned again! old tot content implies it was incidents like these, the general emotional neglect from his parents, and neil's disappearance that contributed to artem's closed off personality. but man, fuck that! for some reason!

this doesn't even touch upon artem's romantic and sexual inexperience, which has also been entirely undone. he's a sex god now, i guess.

and let us not forget how artem has learned and forgot the same lessons like, several times. artem did we not learn why jealousy and possessiveness are bullshit in atmospherics, por una cabeza, etc...??? are we really back at this again? and it's not even being addressed as a character flaw anymore? okay! okay. fine! whatever.

but okay. i'm getting off track. you asked me an entirely different question! where would i have liked to have seen the cards go? i think the cards following second anniversary are so... well, nothing that you could probably swap out the plots and avoid losing anything of importance.

honestly, i think artem's cards would have shined the best if they stuck to his original character. so when considering the confines we have now:

artem is extremely emotionally repressed. it'd take time for him to come out of his shell. and his early dating cards do begin like this! it's very endearing! several cards could focus on this progression as he becomes more comfortable and relaxed with rosa. progression into being engaged. living with someone for the first time. please.

rosa and artem's dynamic has like, vanished in recent cards. which is a goddamn shame, because their more comfortable dynamics in his railroad, revisiting youth, and snowfallen secrets cards are so charming! they joke around! artem's sense of humor pokes out! they act like real PEOPLE! they're silly! they're nerds! they're equals! i'd keep this dynamic instead of it just being artem flipping back and forth between sex god and "yes i will do whatever you want [insert player name here]"

neil. please, can we focus on neil. what being a lawyer means to artem. how neil influenced that. how artem feels about neil being gone, how artem feels about neil's possible betrayal of the nxx?? he could always have an arc of going through the stages of grief, or learning to look at things through a new lens. being sad neil won't be around for milestones. etc.

the incidents implied in focus fire. okay, being held at gunpoint is pretty uhhh fucking traumatic. did any other events happen bc of neil's status? his parents' statuses? is this why he is so emotionally repressed? is this why he takes the law so seriously?

his parents. can we stop acting like his parents did nothing wrong. please. his parents used to be portrayed under the "well meaning but ultimately very flawed" light, which i adored. it was grey. it was human. maybe artem could learn that it wasnt right of his parents to be so nonexistent in his life. his parents can still love him and make mistakes. maybe he could rebuild his relationship w his parents? maybe once he realizes what he went through wasn't normal, he can be angry, and work through it. idk! anything! please!

more focus on rosa. her studies. her exams. anything. her family. her past. her hobbies. her teaching artem something. rosa talking about her issues. pelase. Please.

it truly feels like his original writers got swapped out, and the new ones have no idea what artem's charm was in the first place. they have no idea how his character even works, so they're just desperately trying to attach Cool Hobbies to him bc they think he's more boring than the other boys when like. that's the fucking point, that IS his charm.

gosh this was so long and i'm sorry if it's like. UNREADABLE or if i totally missed the point but this was like. Freeing to type out. thank you for reaching out anon, it turns out i had more thoughts than i expected!! hope you're having a lovely day! : )

[johannestevans]

really interested in this swear allegiance at home thing bc some old people at The Firm are trying really hard to get ppl into the king bc everyone hates him and also hates that bald guy who's on next

and the thought seems to be. oh they clapped for nurses, won't they swear allegiance at their TV?

and its like. i get how their train of thought led them here, they're thinking about the audience participation, they're thinking about the sense of community many ppl felt at the clapping for the NHS thing (except NHS workers, who needed money and rest rather than claps)

but its like. people fucking liked the nurses and doctors. nurses and doctors, while flawed, as a rule do valuable things for their communities and our society

charles has been racist and weird for decades. no one respects or cares for him

there is a genuine fear amongst the royalists that charles taking the throne is going to be the end of an active monarchy in the UK, bc elizabeth had some of the highest approval ratings across the nations that make up the UK

ppl thought of her as a cute old lady like their gran

no one wants charles to be their grandad. no one has any affection for him in pop culture. he has generally been in the background - elizabeth's weird son, princess diana's abusive husband, harry and the bald guy's creepy dad

and even if ELIZABETH had asked, like, "allegiance" would have been a bit fucking much

ditto the inclusion of the celtic languages that royalists have been trying to eradicate for centuries, and in ireland still see as a symbol of "sectarian violence"

unlike english, which has never been utilised in brutal acts of sectarian violence at all (!)

its an attempt to claw back reputation via the shallowest means possible and its laughably ineffectual bc people arent actually THAT stupid

but whats interesting is that like. a lot of this weird unpopular shit can be trialled on charles bc the royalists are pretty much banking on him dying as soon as possible because the longer he's on the throne with his impossible to rehabilitate reputation, the less ppl respect the crown

even asking ppl in the street theyll be like "i think they should skip charles and go straight to the bald guy"

and the bald guy is no longer seen as desirable by the british ppl either? ppl used to want to fuck him, but they hate baldness more than they love royalty

(which come on now. there r absolutely hot bald guys, its just unlucky for him he's not one of them)

but like. his reputation was boosted by his marriage to his wife and ppl do love his wife

but the harry and meghan stuff has destabilised that

esp bc harry has walked away and has basically said "this institution raised me w a gun to my head and a cattle prod to my throat and killed my mother and i didn't have a good time actually", like. younger generations particularly neither respect nor romanticise the monarchy

BUT they'll have more chance of trying to market royalty as relatable or desirable if its the bald guy and his wife, not a racist old man and his even more racist wife who was a replacement for the woman known as the people's sweetheart

[the-type-a]

Gwen and Courtney friendship shit because canon ruined what could’ve been 💔

-Courtney definitely likes Goth music, I’m talking about actual goth music not heavy metal, punk or other genres/sub genres but actual goth, she also likes how gwen dances to it because she’s never seen dancing like that before lmao

-They’re both complete nerds who love reading dark literature and history(canon tho fr)

-They make it a goal to visit Dracula’s castle in Romania because of the history for Courtney and the spookies for Gwen lmao

-They both love Cathedrals, Gwen for the gothic architecture and Courtney for her religious views.

-Courtney celebrates Day of the Dead/Día de Muertos(sorry if I fucked that up) and Gwen was very happy the first time Courtney invited her. Cue Duncan and Gwen being absolute dumbasses “how many spirits do you think are eating with us rn” “idk probably a whole mob” “wicked.”

-Gwen definitely appreciates Courtney’s culture and traditions and is very invested whenever she does something involving either.

-Gwen definitely loves listening to Courtney play the Violin or Piano because she’s dramatic & wants to live out her wannabe vampire fantasies and needs background music.

-Both of them LOVE candles, tea parties, and the Victorian aesthetic.

-They both love the color purple, Gwen because of the dark aesthetics associated with it & Courtney because of the Royalty vibes.

-They both bully and gang up on Duncan when they feel like it & whenever he senses it coming he just dips out lmao

-They both just hate people in general 😂

They could’ve been amazing friends fr

Ugh I wish they would have never made the love triangle a thing because I swear we needed a genuine gwourtney friendship 😭

Like how funny would it be for Duncan to come back or whatever and just he so pissed at Gwen because “All Courtney does is talk about you. Get your own girlfriend.”

Gwen and Courtney would be such a dynamic duo!! 😭