#also by making every assassin immortal

[teecupangel]

According to the AC Revelations novel (from AC wiki):

In the center of the garden courtyard, situated in a fountain, was a statue of the First Civilization goddess Minerva

So if you wish for the Assassins to be formed by a god, Minerva/Athena is an easy answer to use (maybe she even created them as her own version of Artemis’ Hunters)

If you wish to go down the ‘minor god’ route, Erichthonius is considered to be Athena’s adopted son, connecting him to Minerva/Athena without being part of the Capitoline Triad (especially with how Athena wished to keep Erichthonius a secret).

Of course, if you want to tie this with Origins, you can just make the Brotherhood be formed by Amun/Amunet. Perhaps even talk about how their ‘founders’ liked to take human forms at times, using different names and not telling anybody else that they were there.

Perhaps the point is that the Brotherhood rarely has any demigods. They’re mainly humans given gifts of their founding gods in exchange for their loyalty to the Creed. They accept anyone in the Brotherhood, even demigods, but they’re mostly composed of humans that found or had been seeking the Brotherhood, perhaps even humans that have had ties with the Brotherhood for centuries.

And the Templar Order could be the opposite of them. An order that had been created by King Ælfred for the whole “there is only one true god” propaganda and their historical mission had been to destroy the demigods because their very existence is blasphemy to their god. The passage of time and the changing desires of the people on the top of the Order had changed this to them wishing to control the world, even if it means using the demigods and any weapons or artifacts they may come.

As for the POEs, it would be easy to just change them to be weapons left over from another war between gods, especially considering Valhalla gives us an easy excuse with the Aesir against the Jotnars (which are the Roman/Greek Gods seen in Eivor’s eyes).

You can even mesh the two ideas into one by making Desmond get isekai’ed into this world and trying to give some ‘normalcy’ to the camp and a certain incident made him realize that there is a Brotherhood in this world.

Perhaps he hears a rumor from one of the older children (“It’s pretty much just a ghost story they tell us to make us behave”) and he tries to go find the Brotherhood, only to find out that it’s not exactly the Brotherhood he knows of.

Time for the current crossover stuck in my head:

Assassin’s Creed x Percy Jackson

Because no duh. Now the question is how would this work?

Assassin at Camp: isekai Desmond

- reborn as the son of Minerva/Athena or maybe Apollo (because of the sun shit and ha ha irony that the assassin is now a healer lmao)

- becomes a new minor god that builds up his own faction of assassins to help the demigods when he realized how unfair it is for them

- an immortal that trains the demigods at camp and definitely smuggles in some of the more mortal luxuries of life because fuck you gods let the kids be kids and enjoy things

- it’s just Desmond getting wrapped up in this shit and accidentally forms a new Brotherhood with demigods because he sees them and go “is anyone gonna parent them? No? Alright, mine now” or at least trains them with Assassin skills and hang out with Chiron and Mr D, who just sees this random ass man with suspicious glowing eyes and a knife strapped to his arm go “tf?”

Gods + Assassins: gods have always existed

- Assassins are a whole faction who focus their skills on mortal threats (the PoE shit), but are willing to assist the demigods occasionally because holy shit those are actual children

(maybe the PoE are left overs of another petty war the gods had? More lore needed)

- the Assassins were formed by a minor god (sort of like Artemis and her Hunters) who passed down the Eagle Eye trait and was determined to help humanity regardless of what the other gods say, because fuck y’all and the Templars

- maybe the Templars also aren’t a fan of the gods, but got their own god complex going on and said gods didn’t care enough to stop them, so the Assassins have to clean up that mess

- what pantheon was the minor god from? Who tf knows, I don’t know enough about the origins of the Brotherhood and the gods to know how to write this shit properly, maybe an interesting point could be that this minor god has turned their back on the gods so long ago that even they forgot their own origins, that’d be cool

- I think it’s fair to say that if this did function sort of like Artemis’ hunters, then they would pledge to the creed instead to one person, but whether they would be immortal or not is up to y’all

- considering that the Assassins are pretty big on Choice (at least the fanfics I read, lmao) if they do decide to leave the brotherhood, then the others have to respect that decision, but if they break the creed then either that immortality is broken, they get let go (or are stripped of their rank Idk), or are put to the blade (last one is unlikely, unless it’s something big)

- I imagine that they can be given a second chance, but shit like that requires a really big “prove yourself” mission (cough cough Altair and Arno cough)

- omg assassins all over the world seeing this godly bullshit all the time and go “oh wtf, anyway”

Everything else is up to y’all I just think it’d be fun to see how they’d interact with the Demigods and maybe Percy and his friends, Idk

[noisilyscreechingsong]

As the (for a lack of a better word) Ancient of balance and space, and being a halfa that is arguably immortal, Danny has the rare opportunity to reincarnate. Live again. Start over.

When Clockwork had originally told him he was immortal, he (understandably) assumed he meant he, Danny Fenton, could not die. He was wrong. As usual. Instead, it was that he, his soul, could not parish or cease to exist. Two very different things that he was forced to learn through experience when Danny Fenton died at the age of 64 from a car accident as mundane as that is, and ended up in the Ghost Zone to, presumably, ‘live’ the rest of his afterlife. It wasn’t until later when he fell asleep in his lair (first sign something was happening, ghosts don’t need to sleep) and woke up with his head fuzzy and body clumsy. He was a baby and it wasn’t until his mind was old enough to comprehend who he was that he understood he was living life again, this time as child in a different universe and different time.

And when he died again, this time very young from a sickness traveling through his village, he ended up in his lair again, as if he never left. The other ghosts understood after a brief explanation, but the process was still disorienting. Even if it happened again and again.

This time he was born into an odd place. He awoke from a large tube of green liquid. He had a mother named Talia and a Grandfather. He also had a father and older brother named Damian, but they lived in a different country and weren’t really on speaking terms it seemed. It also appeared he was born into a cult of some kind. Mother called it the League of Assassins and Grandfather called it his Legacy, the organization he built from the ground up. Oh and it all revolved around the green, bubbling pit below their home that had resurrection powers that may or may not make someone insane.

A connection to the dead in the basement, a family business, and a Frootloop with too much power. This was turning out to be a lot like his first life.

It’s the assassinations that bother him. He’s fine with killing to protect himself and to protect others. He’s even fine with mercy killings, but to kill someone who is unarmed and can’t even put up a fight is crossing a line.

Grandfather doesn’t like that. He doesn’t like a lot of what Danny does. He talks back too much, he doesn’t follow orders, he has too much of an imagination, he has a weak stomach and can’t see the big picture, he’s never good enough. He’s also compared to his big brother Damian a lot. He’s never even met the guy but knows he has a better fighting stance and climbed the mountain faster when he was Danny’s age. Danny doesn’t know if he wants to met Damian at all after hearing his name every time Grandfather criticizes him. The only thing Damian is to him is a standard to exceed.

And don’t get him started on his Father. Mother brags about him enough, but he’s obviously not here for a reason. He stole Damian from the family, Grandfather says, his golden heir. Danny is just the spare, filling in for his older brother who doesn’t want to come home. Of course, he takes everything with a grain of salt. Danny’s family also brainwashes and conditions people to follow them and die for them, it’s all twisted and manipulative. However, there’s bound to be some truth woven in there somewhere and it doesn’t look good for his biological father.

When Danny becomes the Demon’s Head, and with everything he’s been training for he WILL be the Head, the first thing he’s doing is cutting Grandfather’s head right off his shoulders and feeding it to the dogs. He’ll run this cult thing with actual morals and better management. Not too much change because then his position will be questioned, but over time he’ll bring about some good outcomes.

He does think his family believes they are doing things for the greater good, he just thinks they’ve lost sight of what’s important.

Danny’s not even bothered with not having a normal childhood. He’s lived it once or twice, it was quiet, nice, but ultimately boring. He enjoys the adventure and thrives on the action. He gets excited when he learns a new weapon and celebrates when he finally perfects that technique he’s been practicing. He’s proud when his mother compliments his precise aim in her own weird roundabout way of speaking and is awfully smug when Grandfather doesn’t say a word of criticism when he slaughters his opponents efficiently.

He has a crazy family, but it’s his. So it comes to no surprise that he feels a little unbalanced when his mother takes him to Gotham after some political tension between Grandfather and some group he’s not important enough to know.

He’s seven and has lived this entire life in Nanda Parbat, only visiting the other League locations a few times, where the weather is warm and the air is clean. Gotham is the opposite of his home. He remembers a life in Chicago, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as the permanent smog covering the sky. Even if it was clear, the light pollution would hinder his view of the stars.

He already hated this place and was actively counting down the minutes until they could leave. Although he had a suspicion of why they were here. The tight lines beside his mother’s eyes gave away her reluctance, but her confident stance didn’t falter.

Danny watches as she meets with a man in a black superhero suit and what looks like a teenager in a different uniform. The pieces were finally coming together when Mother calls him to come out and he drops from the rafters to land on his feet like a cat.

Their two visitors stare hard at him and if he was in a different life he might have fidgeted under their intense attention. He does not.

“My son, this is your father and older brother.”

“Mother,” the teen- Danny’s brother, Damian, objects, “since when do I have a brother? Have you adopted like Father?”

In response, Danny pulls down the black mask to show the rest of his face and the clear resemblance between the two. Danny had more blue mixed with his green eyes to give a marbled effect and he had his mother’s jaw line but he still had his father’s lips and- actually that was all he could see, the cowl obstructing the rest of his features. Either way, there was no mistaking Danny and Damian as anything but brothers.

“Damian, meet your brother. I hope the two of you will get along and look out for one another.”

Like hell they will, Danny thinks bitterly. He’s spent pretty much this whole life being compared to the boy in front of him, there’s bound to be some resentment on his part.

“I thought he’d be taller,” he tells his mother, eyeing Damian up and down unimpressed.

Damian actually sputters.

“Talia,” his father says, demands, as if asking twenty questions in that one word.

“You will care for him while I’m away. It isn’t safe for him and I have work to do.”

Danny knew it was coming and yet he still felt the squeeze of panic and betrayal in his chest.

“Mother, don’t leave me here,” he almost whines but just manages to keep his voice steady. “I can stay in Switzerland or the Alps or somewhere else that is not here.”

Mother says his name with that amount of sharpness that lets him know she wasn’t changing her mind. He huffs angrily and glares at the two in front of him like it was their fault his was here in this disgusting city.

They don’t talk for much longer before Danny is following them back to a black suped-up car and Mother is nowhere in sight. The ride is silent, the others’ thoughts loud and leaving the vehicle suffocating.

Danny decides to make the process difficult for them, arguing when they ask for a blood sample to confirm, getting into things he clearly shouldn’t when he got bored, and being a little shit to anyone else that shows up in his path.

He knew nothing of this side of his family, his Mother only telling him how strong and honorable his father is and how proud she is of Damian despite his decision to not become the Demon’s Heir. This was his opportunity to watch and learn and maybe test their patience here and there. He didn’t want to be there, they didn’t want him there, so he was going to make this everyone’s problem and maybe formulate his own opinion of his father and brother in the meantime.

It doesn’t take much for him to tolerate the others Father has brought into his side of the family because he had no prior knowledge of them.

He respects Alfred, he can relate to Tim, Dick is a pun master that Danny can’t help but contribute, Jason is too cool not to like, Cass is kind, Steph is bubbly, Duke is probably the most normal, and Selina has a mischievousness to her that Danny can get behind.

Father is gruff. He always looks like he wants to say something but doesn’t. Danny isn’t used to that. Mother and Grandfather and even himself have the position of power to say what they want without much consequence. What’s stopping him?

It gets to a point where Danny snaps and demands he speak his mind or say what he’s feeling. It doesn’t go well but he thinks there might have been some progress in the days afterwards.

Damian is a different story. Danny doesn’t hate his brother, but he certainly doesn’t like him. He makes a point to show it through pranks on the older boy and trying to outplay him in competitions and bets the other sometimes doesn’t even agree to.

Danny can admire how passionate he is in his art and how devoted he is to caring for his animals, and even how much he reminds him of Sam from his first life, but it doesn’t erase the years of feeling less than the perfect first son.

This doesn’t really change until Damian comes back and goes directly to the medbay after a mission gone wrong. It takes Danny a moment to realize that he’s worried for his big brother. Damian is in pain and Danny does not like it. He wants to go out and kill the men who hurt his brother, make them pay for what they’ve done. He wants to be the one to stitch up his wounds and bring him soup.

It’s truly unfortunate that his obsession is protection, particularly around those he considers friends and family.

Danny tones down on the aggression towards Damian after that. He still pranks the teenager and teases him and challenges him to competitions and duels, but it’s more in a brotherly way than showing resentment. Damian definitely notices, but wisely doesn’t address it. Instead, Damian quietly talks about what he remembers and misses of Nanda Parbat when the two of them are alone, both of them actually having a conversation without raised voices or tense shoulders.

After a while Danny doesn’t even realize he isn’t counting the days anymore.

[rainynightmoonlight]

Brimstone Heartbeats || Yan Fire Dragon x GN Reader

Characters: Solaris

Summary: A fire dragon that wants to court you.

Warnings: Yandere themes, possessiveness, violence, kidnapping

a/n: DRAGONS DRAGONS DRAGONS!! Y'al are human in this but send me asks if you want alternative creature reader

꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦

Yan Fire Dragon who rules over the fire realm within the dragon territory. He doesn't get along with most dragons, his only ally being the wind dragons and their ruler. The Lava dragons' ruler would have been an ally if it weren't for his 'I'm better than thou' attitude. God did that piss off Solaris to no end.

Yan Fire Dragon who finds a creature wandering through his territory. He finds out from his guards that it was a mortal. Didn't the humans have enough land to themselves? Man he was already irritated with the mass amounts of council meetings and invitations from the other dragon rulers. Now he has to deal with a stray human?

Yan Fire Dragon who watches you from afar. You seemed innocent enough. All you were doing was wandering around the rocks and admiring the shiny small crystals of the terrain. You never took anything, just admiring. This was new for a mortal. Were you not sent by one of the kings?

Yan Fire Dragon who comes out from the brambles of burnt bushes when you get closer to his home. He's tall. Intimidating. But that didn't bother you it seems. You just marveled at his wings and tail. The horns were the most fascinating to you. He saw the urge to touch them in your eyes.

Yan Fire Dragon who keeps you around only to interrogate you. He just doesn't trust your answers. Every day it's the same questions. 'Are you working for the mortal kings?' 'What is your purpose within the dragon realm?' 'Did someone hire you to come and assassinate me?' With the same answers which were all no.

Yan Fire Dragon who comes to find out that you were on an epic travelling adventure. So you were a traveler? When he lets his guard down and let's go of the notion that you were out to hurt him and his realm he shows a bit of intrigue.

Yan Fire Dragon who finds himself staying next to you while you explain your travels and your reason for going to the other realms. You had a few notebooks and he loves reading them. He'll add his own notes to the section about his home, and he loves the way your handwriting mixes with his. And listening to you talk was enchanting.

Yan Fire Dragon who watches as his subjects watch you and him walk side by side while you explore and interview the other fire dragons. Many wonder how their ruler could find such company in a mortal. As you go around and ask about the lifestyle in the fire dragon realm, Solaris finds it adorable. Your curiosity is an oddity.

Yan Fire Dragon who hopes that the stigma with all dragons end with your travels and notebooks. For some reason though he can't take the thought of you going around interviewing the other dragons let alone the other rulers of the different realms. But that's silly. You could bring so much hope to the other species that are outcasted by the humans.

Yan Fire Dragon who finds himself becoming more angry when other fire dragons come up to you. You've become a realm icon amongst the other dragons, and no doubt the other dragon realms have heard of you. That also makes him so angry and huffs fire through his nose.

Yan Fire Dragon who lies awake at night, unable to sleep with his mind plagued with thoughts of you. Thoughts of keeping you here in his home. Locking you away for only him to see. You being mortal is a problem, but he'll find a way to make you immortal. For you to be his spouse and live beside him. He's interrupted by these thoughts when you come into his room and sleep beside him. Turns out you couldn't sleep alone.

Yan Fire Dragon who starts to court you after two months of staying within his care. You were only supposed to stay a month, but he couldn't have you leave. Not when he has so much to show you! And he couldn't have that damn lava dragon get his claws on you. Nope! No way! You're staying here, safe in the flames where he can court you.

Yan Fire Dragon who finds himself doing more domestic things with you. It's the perfect chance to show you how strong and capable he is. The servants are in awe when they watch the two of you cook together. He loves enjoying human meals with you, you're sharing your culture with him and he loves it. In turn, he tries to get you to try some of his meals. He doesn't understand that humans can't eat very charred meat.

Yan Fire Dragon who showcases his strength further by carrying you around everywhere and picking you up when you need to reach something. Sometimes he'll just walk around the towns with you on his shoulders. He doesn't complain when he gets the stares from his people. He's making sure every dragon knows that you're not to be touched unless they want to be burned.

Yan Fire Dragon who also courts you by giving gifts that show his appreciation within his culture. This is often the crystallized fire of his flame or a pendent that has been passed down through his family for years. He curses himself at your obliviousness when you just give him a thanks in return. Can't you see he wants your hand in marriage?

Yan Fire Dragon who becomes all pouty when you don't realize what he's been doing. Does all your interactions mean nothing to you? Then you bring in fairy tail books from the human realm that you had found in his library and start reading them to him. Now he understands. Your courting rituals are different from that of a dragon's. Why didn't he think of that before?

Yan Fire Dragon who you watch transform into the prince charmings and masculine characters from the stories you had read to him the last week. It was funny watching a huge dragon man try to impress you like you were a damsel in distress. You weren't which made it even more hilarious.

Yan Fire Dragon who loves transforming into his dragon form and being pampered by you. You scratching his scales and calling him a good dragon as him on his back and his large tail thumping on the ground. Big puppy vibes. He also loves having you on his back while he flies through the sky.

Yan Fire Dragon who snarls and burns your newly made maps when finds out that you had planned on leaving. When you ask him what happened to your maps that had burned holes in between the parchments, he simply said you must have left them next to the fire place. There is no fireplace.

Yan Fire Dragon who just grabs you by the waist and drags you back to his room. Big strong dragon cuddles to reassure his heart that you aren't leaving. That didn't stop you though. You had to depart a week later much to his disappointment.

Yan Fire Dragon who watches you leave with puppy like sadness. You promised to visit, and you were going to the wind dragon realm, the safest realm with the dragons he could think of! While you're there, he and the wind dragon ruler exchange letters of your health and such. Though he can smell the feelings the wind dragon has for you from the words. Soon the letters stop coming to Solaris.

꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦

Do not repost or translate without my explicit permission! Reblogs are welcome!

[lunisoular]

Hi!!! I was reading your latest ASL comic and i was wondering how Luffy would react when Ace said they were going to fight Whitebeard, and Ace was defeated

I imagine Luffy protecting Ace from the big old man, like "leave my brother alone, you bully!"

And more importantly, when Ace is isolated from his crew, what would happen to Luffy? Would Ace become part of the WB crew with Luffy there?

Sorry for the amount of questions but i really love ASL with little Luffy, and I have been reading a lot of fan fics like this. YOUR ART IS SO CUTE, THANKS YOU FOR SHARING!!

THANKYU SO MYCH, IM HAPPY U LIKE IT !!!!!

the comic is actually sorta the start of the split custody variant of babylu me and @immortal-raine made !!! when sabo and ace split off (cuz i wanted sabo to still be a rev), their plan is to pass luffy between them every two or so months because 1) it’s fun for him and 2) at least he’s not alone at dawn

before ace challenges whitebeard, he orders sabo to take him for an extra two months. he doesnt elaborate on what he’s gonna do, but sabo knows better than that, so he makes ace lower it to a month and a half and if he isnt back by then, he’s going off to find him and taking luffy with so you better be smart if you don’t want that kind of worry on your conscience, ace

n e ways the deadline passes, ace very obviously did not return, so sabo, fueled by worry and frustration because he’s making luffy sad damn it, sneaks off to find him. luffy’s so distressed by his missed time with ace that he actually listens to what sabo tells him to do and stays hidden

ace is very obviously still in his assassination phase when they show up. sabo, who is mortified that he managed to get himself stuck on an emperor’s ship, without his crew, drags him off to hide

luffy cries a little. ace cries a little because he made luffy cry and also he really missed his brothers. luffy’s stuck to his hip

for a while after sabo decides to stick by ace’s side to make sure he stays safe, luffy is surprisingly dismissive towards anyone other than his brothers. he’s okay with thatch, because he feeds them good, but he actively forces himself to ignore how fun they seem because they made ace upset and his brothers are always first. it’s kind of painful to watch because he’s so determined but also kind of miserable, but he refuses to play with them unless they either apologize or ace and sabo explicitly state they’re okay with them. he’s not built for holding grudges but he tries for their sake

of course, ace stops his assassination attempts when his brothers show up, so he gets the time to observe them better. sabo never leaves his side for the months he’s struggling with his thoughts and decisions, and for that he’s grateful. it’s sabo who ultimately pushes him to join because, after being here so long, he obviously enjoys their company

the day ace and sabo announce that they’re even and ace will join is the day the whitebeards first witness the hurricane that is a restless, understimulated luffy

[frownyalfred]

In eldritch horror / immortal creature of Gotham! Alfred AU: do you think the city requires her beings to have to give up someone, a sacrifice to maintain each of them alive and since Thomas, Martha, and Bruce became important to him, Gotham was going to take baby Bruce at first?

But then Thomas and Martha found out -not horrified of Alfred because they knew, and that there was no way out of it - thus they intentionally shielded Bruce That Night, and let Gotham take them instead?

They didn't want to live in a world where they lived and Bruce died, but also importantly let Alfred live with the guilt of having Bruce's blood on his hands? (I mean he gets blood on them anyway, years later... )

And Alfred subtly flinches every time Bruce says anything like "Gotham needs me" or "This is my city, its will sacrifice what I can for it". Cause he already did.

Since the Pennywaynes has been getting to me for the last 24 hours or so, let me propose: Eldritch!Alfred, deeply connected to Gotham, not quite her true face, but very very close. The Waynes know this, and accept this, because Alfred is Alfred and they know that he'd never hurt them.

But yes, eventually the bill comes due. The good they were funneling into Gotham (charity, new development, etc) sent things out of balance. It is a cursed city. There must be Balance. And so, the city knew that taking their child would hobble that goodness. It tasked Alfred to kill the boy, the heir, knowing that it would forever limit the ability of the Waynes to alter that balance ever again.

But Alfred had grown fond of the Waynes. He didn't know the boy yet, but the boy was sacred to them and what they wanted, he wanted. Inevitably. And so he told them, with the coldness, the detachment, of an assassin or executioner, what Gotham wanted from them. What he would be forced to do.

Thomas and Martha looked at each other, looked down at the sleeping baby in the bassinet, and bargained with the devil himself. They begged, and Alfred listened. He pleaded with Gotham himself, in private. But it was against his nature to do so. He dreaded the path forward, the one that didn't end with Bruce's blood on his hands, the sweet boy that Martha cherished and Thomas doted on.

Alfred was selfish. He knew the rules, and he refused. He didn't step into the shadows that night with a gun. But Gotham sent someone regardless. And this person took both of their lives, instead of just one. It took them instead, instead of the heir. It was a catastrophic blow to Gotham, one the city would never recover from.

Until Bruce came home, many many years later, and started speaking of his city. And there was a chill down Alfred's spine that only came from fellow Eldritch, fellow creatures, fellow non-humans. There was a strange weight in Bruce's eyes. This was what the city had been trying to prevent. This eventuality. And through Alfred's indecision, through Martha and Thomas' love, it had survived after all. Ra's had awakened it and the world had fed it. Gotham would hold onto him forever.

(this kind of identity porn -- Eldritch!Alfred and Eldritch!Bruce under the same roof, working against each other in Gotham's name, but with each other as people -- that makes me crazy)

[kissedbyaphrodite]

Damian Wayne al Ghul has magic, canonically, and I don't see it being used the way it could be

So, before I talk about this, yes, I do know that the continuity in DC comics is shaky to say the least and that they have characters change every other comic run, but this is something that has been used in three different comics (To my knowledge) made by different authors! Thus, I'm taking it as canon and I won't accept any word against it.

Okay? Okay! Now let's go. Spoiler alert:

So, to talk about Damian's magic use, we will need to go back some time, specifically, to his great grandmother, Rúh al Ghul. Making her first and only appearance in Robin volume 3. Ruh al Ghul is the mother of Ra's al Ghul, and the head of the League of Lazarus, which originated as a splinter organization of the League of Assassins, lead by Ra's, however, Rúh spread her faith and worship of a demon that inhibited the Lazarus Pit. Taking over the League of Lazarus. After this, the League of Assassins and the League of Shadows, teamed up to fight the League of Lazarus, which resulted in the defeat of the League of Lazarus. To ensure his mother couldn't escape, Ra's himself used magic to keep her locked in the island.

Of course, this could be just the fact that they lived multiple centuries (In Ra's first appearance, it's declared that he's around 700 years old, meaning he was born around the 1200's, though in Batman and Robin (vol 2) #30, he's said to have been looking for Themyschira for over 1000 years.) This means that, over the multiple centuries they've lived, they were bound to learn magic, but stay still. Because now, it comes to Damian's maternal grandmother and the fourth known partner of Ra's, Melisande al Ghul, the mother of Talia al Ghul.

To talk about Melisande, I will have to mix two canons from two different comics, since pre-crisis, Talia was said to have been older than 150 years old:

But this was later changed by Danny O’Neil changed this in 1992 with his Birth of the Demon storyline. In this one, Talia said she was conceived at Woodstock (1969), which would’ve put her birthday around May of 1970. Which made her 22 at that time. However, I follow the logic of "What is shown first, is canon", so let's say Talia is +150 years old, meaning she had to be conceived around 1821 (Since her first appearance was in 1971).

So, Melisande story differs in various universes and comics, in Batman: Son of the Demon, her and Ra's foster Ra's nephew, Qayin, who killed Melisande when she caught him in the room where the early version of the Lazarus Pit was being held. When Qayin saw Melisande he got frightened and started running, Melisande was pushed and she fell into the Lazarus Pit and met her death. All of that happened in front of Talia's eyes. But I'll take the Batman incorporated canon for this (And only this) argument. Where after Talia's birth, Melisande was cast out by Ra's and forbidden to see her daughter or from using the Lazarus put. She eventually meets a young Talia years later in her new role as a fortune teller. Of course we can say that she was maybe just doing the typical fortune seller scam to make money, but hey! Considering Ra's and Ruh did dip into the occult, why not consider that maybe Melisande also did learn some magic during the time she was with Ra's?.

Finally, we get to Damian.

Damian seems to be like Rúh, in which he learns/obtains magic by making deals with the devil/a demon, even though it's only been said twice. The first time we see Damian using magic is in Batman 666 (Even if it's written by my racist and sexist enemy G. M0rris0n). Where it's shown to us that Damian exchanged his soul in order to become immortal; of course, this may seem useless to some, because of the pit, but look, if we have to choose between being immortal and having to travel to an undisclosed location in the Middle East to dip into the pit and risk madness, I'd also choose immortality, and it also seems to make him invulnerable or have extremely rapid healing:

The next time we see Damian use magic is in WAY LESS dire situation, in Batman vol. 3 #77, when he's chasing Gotham girl

Again, we see that Damian explains he exchanged his soul (Or made a deal involving his soul) with a demon to obtain magic, however, it seems he's unable to use magic unless he's using a wand. And since wands are used as a way to channel magic from the user's core to the outside world, it's safe to say here, he's only obtained magic very recently, and needs the wand to use it. Or, it could be that he's simply joking, as he does tend to have a very dry and sarcastic humour, even early on, which makes many think he's being serious.

Finally, the most recent time we've seen Damian use magic, was in Wonder woman (2023) #13, where he makes a summoning circle to summon Zatanna (While also roasting Superboy)

Now, while we do only have three cases (Or at least that I remember) we also have another case that I think could be a sign of Damian's incline for the occult. His pets, specifically, his pet dragons. Goliath the dragon-bat (Robin: Son of Batman) and Wiggles (Nightwing #42)

The fact that he seems to be able to tame and even domesticate literal dragons cannot be just a "wink wink, nod nod" from the writers, especially since his name literally means "To tame". He also rides Wiggles almost as soon as he meets him, and I really doubt a dragon just lets people mount him easily.

Also, there are so many more occasions that I left out where Damian does something strange, such as the time he admits he's able to willingly move his organs around his body, or how he can imitate voices just after hearing them once, not to mention he managed to climb snowy mountains at four years old; plus, his strength that has allowed him to beat people three times his size and four times his body weight, as well as letting him kill hundreds of dragon-bats at age six.

And nowadays it is a pretty popular headcanon, even if I still think it's unpopular in the fandom. But it's still almost unused in the comics and in most works of fanfiction. Here we have a kid who has two dragons and twelve pets total, can imitate voices, move his organs around and has magic (Among other skills), yet his magic is almost never mentioned in fanfic that doesn't center around his magic, and his dragons are almost/often never shown at all! Come on people! You can like or dislike Damian, but you cannot deny that this kid clearly has magic.

Not to mention the potential for canon events, since Bruce does express a dislike towards magic, claiming it is unstable, and unexplainable by science and logic. Imagine all the potential it has! Especially since Bruce has been a pretty crappy dad to say the least towards Damian, since he first met him and even now (Except for that comic where Damian loses all his melanin and all trace of al Ghul from his blood and just looks like Ian Wayne). Imagine having him and Damian having the strained relationship they currently have, but trying to work towards a better one, only for Bruce to discover Damian's.agic and going back to square one? Or Damian becoming a vigilante of his own, since he has expressed desires to maybe stop or pause on being Robin. We already have Duke as a meta being (in my opinion) not used to his full potential, imagine a run where we see Duke and Damian bond due to Duke knowing the fear that lies when you are something Bruce himself disapproves of, since Bruce is also not the nicest to metas. Or Damian having his own team (The friends he made in Lazarus island + Maya and Colin) where he can finally explore his magic.

There are so many things you can do, yet nobody is even scraping the surface of it all.

[talistheintrovert]

Hi, Talis! I have a bit of a random question - do you have any sort of 'starter pack' recommendations for Chinese dramas? (I've really been enjoying Mysterious Lotus Casebook, but haven't been sure where to go from there.)

oooooh, EXCELLENT question!!

If we're going via "these men are in love but [CENSORSHIP SIREN RINGS LOUDLY]" then I'd go for

Guardian: semi-modern sci-fi/fantasy featuring a chaotic bisexual detective and the all-powerful god-like uptight professor he bothers into loving him. 10/10, bonkers CGI and ridiculous side characters only add to the enjoyment

2. Sound of Providence/Ultimate Note (really any of The Lost Tomb series but these are my personal favourites). Three idiots that call themselves The Iron Triangle (said idiots are a genius, a wiseguy, and a semi-immortal amnesiac) and their various tomb-raiding adventures!

Also has iconic side characters, might I add. The chronology of this whole series is so baffling and ridiculous I may have to make a video about it, but these two series hold a special place in my heart - they came out within weeks of each other, but in one the characters are in their 40s and in the other they're like... 22? at most? ICONIC, BEAUTIFUL, SHOWSTOPPING-

also the genius and the immortal amnesiac are in love, and the wiseguy is basically their third, it's a whole thing

3. Under the Skin

modern day crime series, featuring a detective and an artist. The artist is a SAVANT who can basically draw ANYTHING he puts his mind to, but in the past it meant he accidentally got an undercover cop killed without knowing. A few years later, he decides to become a police sketch artist as repentance. Said cop was our detective's mentor, and he's still salty about it but OH LOOK, THEY'VE BEEN PARTNERED UP!

4. WORD OF HONOR

my favourite of the fantasy homoerotic dramas, and the one that inspired me to start writing a video essay about them. Two soulmates meet who are destined for nothing but misery - one is trying to destroy the entire martial arts world for revenge and the other is an ex-assassin who's chosen to die slowly as penance for his murders. Through each other (and their idiot adopted son) they find happiness, kinda. This show is part of why I liked Mysterious Lotus Casebook so much - very similar found-family vibes, except they start out as enemies in MLC, whereas in this they start out as reluctant allies.

non-extremely-homoerotic recs:

Love Story Between Fairy and Devil

Evil being who has been trapped in a magical prison escapes said prison by accidentally body-swapping with an innocent fairy, but even after they swap back, he's tied to her (feels pain when she does, etc.) and so has to keep her around against his will. Enemies to lovers gorgeousness.

2. 19th Floor

fantasy/sci-fi drama where a group of strangers get thrust into an AI world (in a good way, the way AI ACTUALLY MEANS) where if you get hurt in the game, you go into a coma in real life. Every level has a different extremely fucked up mechanic to solve, and the cast are an absolute delight, also the main male lead is played by one of my favourite actors, so I'm slightly biased. Extremely cuntslay show.

3. My Journey to You

A group of female assassins go undercover in a kingdom to apply to be wives to the royals in order to take them down from the inside but OH NO, MIGHT THEY ACTUALLY FALL IN LOVE WITH THEIR TARGETS???? Also the female assassins are weirdly sapphic with each other, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and Esther Yu is one of the hottest women to ever exist and you may quote me on that.

gif from here: https://talistheintrovert.tumblr.com/post/730663645629054976 because it wouldn't let me do it properly (credit: @xiaolanhua )

4. You Are My Glory

dorky romance between two of the most stunningly beautiful people I've ever seen in my life, seriously, it's ridiculous. Their chemistry is good, the story is easy, and it's generally a fun, romantic watch.

5. Love You Seven Times

two gods(?) forced to live seven different lifetimes together because of a mishaps, it's glorious, it's gender envy, it's enemies to friends to lovers to enemies to lovers to friends to lovers excellence.

6. Till the End of the Moon

Did you like Love Between Fairy and Devil? then you'll LOVE this show, which has functionally the same plot, except that the female lead KNOWINGLY tries to seduce the future evil villain in order to either assassinate him or stop him from becoming evil, it's a coin toss for her. A brilliant show with fantastic performances and some of the best costume design on this list (which is a high bar, the costumes in all these shows serve unbelievable amounts of cunt).

I hope those are enough to keep you going for a little while! I'm always here to answer rec asks fr, it's one of my favourite things.

Anyway, I'm off to cross the nullabor, so I'll be out of range for the next few days, I hope you enjoy this nonsense!

[whoishotteranimepolls]

Welcome! Requests are Closed

I post a lot of polls, all in the name of some good fun. Please stick to the rules. If you made a request I'm getting to it, but I am a full-time college student, so I am very busy.

Propaganda is welcomed. However, please be respectful.

Disclaimer: My rules state characters must be canonically over the age of 15 or assumed high schooler or adult. Now that means minors can and probably will be matched up against each other and against 18+ characters. Please don't come at me about that choice. These characters are fictional. You can't hurt them, and a blog like this isn't going to normalize preying on minors. YES, it's wrong in real life, but anime teenagers are not normal teenagers. I literally just finished an anime about an assassin trying to get back to his wife. He was 16 and had a wife. I swore he was at least 20, but sometimes anime ages don't make sense. Please don't start anything, or I will start blocking. But for those of you who don't want to participate in those polls, I will tag them with #minor poll so you can block all polls that have confirmed 15-17-year-old characters. So if you have a problem with this decision, block the tag and don't participate. Don't start crap I have ways of punishing people even if they cause issues anonymously that's why there is fandom jail.

Now, that does mean please, in your request, mark that there is a 15-17-year-old so I can add the special tag for the sake of everyone that doesn't want to participate in these polls. To clarify, if they started the series at 14 and ended the series at 16, they will still qualify for my polls.

Now if you see a character that is a minor and the poll is not tagged, please let me know. You can politely leave a comment or shoot me an ask and I will add the tag. Some people are not the best at letting me know their poll has a minor in it and needs the tag when they request

Characters, where age verification is complicated due to magic, time travel, other universe shenanigans, or the immortal child trope are accepted on a case-by-case basis and will be tagged with the #schrodingers minor just to be safe

If the ship is incest, whether it be adopted or blood I will have to tag it with #incest ship so So people can filter it out if they don't want to see it. So if you see a poll that needs it. Let me know in the comments. However, this does not include found family. Please do not try to argue that ships like Naruto/Sasuke or Zoro/Sanji or somehow incest. I have seen things on the internet so I have to clarify.

If you have particular photos in mind, you can submit them through the inbox. Now if you send photos please no photo links. They are unreliable. They frequently do not work. And because I try to only use official photos, I do not accept links to Facebook or Pinterest for photos

Polls that contain spoilers relating to any fandom will be marked with the tag #spoiler poll so you can go ahead and block it now Now if you see a poll that contains a spoiler you can leave a comment and I will mark it. People are also terrible at letting me know if things are spoilers.

Not sure if the show counts here. Is it a list of cartoons and anime-like shows and if can they be requested before you ask

Please be aware sometimes people are degenerate and love to respond to things, with unhinged thirst so those posts will be tagged with #spicy or #nsft if you would like to block those tag

Non-Poll Series

These can all be found under their respective title tags

Poll Analysis, where I write down my thoughts about observations I have made about fandom behaviors and trends because some of you guys have interesting behavioral patterns, and I read every tag and comment left on my polls

Nicknames and Funny Tags, where I collect All those creative tags and comments that have been left on my polls for your viewing pleasure. I have posts dedicated to specific fandoms and their creativity, which I update whenever I have time

Fandoms vs Illiteracy, where I publish one of the many essays I receive asking me to ban certain characters or fandoms and due to their problematic nature or other stupid reasons. This can sometimes turn into a fierce debate

Defend Your Blurbo, (Series moved to sideblog) my bi-weekly series discussing how some people can find (insert Blorbo of the week) attractive. This can be funny. This can be stupid. Sometimes, this involves PHD level dissertations in defense of our favorite 2D characters. You never know what you're going to get. Also, look under the Defend your Blurbo response tag. That's where all my followers send their responses to the original Defend Your Blurbo post. Those can get wild! DyB Masterlist and Series rules and guidelines. This series is the reason I now have the #spicy and #nsft tags due to the amount of unhinged thirst that is NSFW so you can block those tags if you don't want to see it.

The Horny Scale (Series moved to sideblog) is a series where people ask where particular fandoms fall on the horny scale. I made details here, and the Masterlist. The series also use spicy tag system

Horny Jail's Anonymous: (Series moved to sideblog) Dyb and the horny scale's bastard child. For all the unhinged thirst and love letters to blorbos that I have received that do not fit dyb. Think of it as anonymous confessions. They come in two varieties: the Thirsties for all the thirsty confessions and the Fluffies for all the wholesome fluffy ones. They will be tagged with #thirsty and #fluffy accordingly, along with the usual spicy tags. More details here & here

Sideblog for the thirsty non poll series @welcometothehornyjail

Fandom Jail, aka the Wall of Shame

All fandoms listed below are serving their jail sentence due to bad behavior. Here are the dates of when you can expect to see polls from these fandoms again

The jail is empty. Everyone has been on their best behavior. Let's keep it that way

[teecupangel]

Haven’t seen someone suggest this yet. Velociraptor!Desmond. Ancient or modern, either works. Or he’s immortal. But I can just imagine the chaos that a velociraptor in the AC universe would bring. And make it Desmond, even more so.

Then there’s also the idea of whichever Assassins were around in 1924 (when velociraptors were officially categorized) being super confused about why ancient art in Masyaf and works by Leonardo DaVinci seem to depict this dinosaur that was just discovered. Insert 1920’s version of Shaun setting up a conspiracy board.

I had to make this meme…

The funny thing is… raptors are the size of a turkey so I’m just imagining Ratonhnhaké:ton returning to the homestead one day to find the Assassin turkey has made a friend.

Because of his actual size, he can be quite stealthy, making him a good Assassin companion. He also has a big appetite for meat and Leonardo found it fascinating to read an entire page dedicated to the ‘care’ of the creature Altaïr called ‘Desmond’.

Calling it ‘care’ is misleading because it was filled with observations and some complaints of Desmond’s habits, including how he liked to sleep on newly dried laundry.

Leonardo believes Ezio’s Desmond is a ‘descendant’ of Altaïr’s Desmond and paints him. He also wonders how they reproduce considering they are no records of Altaïr’s Desmond having any mate.

And that’s how Leonardo theorizes that Desmonds reproduces all by itself.

That’s right.

‘Desmond’ isn’t Desmond’s name.

‘Desmond’ is the name of the type of creature Desmond is.

Desmond turning into a raptor meant that velociraptors in AC world are now called…

“Desmonds”

No one is more embarrassed by this than Desmond.

But it’s not like he can tell anyone about it.

He was immortal but any time he tried to write by drawing on the ground, it’s just pure gibberish.

But hey…

He is now the ‘model’ of Leonardo’s greatest work titled “Desmond”.

The fact that the art world are actually still debating if Mona Lisa or Desmond is the far superior Da Vinci work only serves to make him all the more embarrassed.

Shaun isn’t helping at all because he keeps researching about Desmonds, all in the hopes of finding another Desmond for… Desmond.

Desmond’s head hurts from all the other Desmonds he had to hear every day.

Immortality truly has its downside.

[ace-s-fav-dp-posts]

So I've seen DPxDC stories where Danny is Damian's twin brother or just full blood sibling in general and not biologically a Fenton at all, where he's Bruce and Maddie's son, Talia and Jack's son, stories where he's either Bruce or Talia's kid with some other random person and was adopted by the Fentons.

Stories where either Jack or Maddie is Ra's kid and Danny (and Jazz) are thus Damian's maternal first cousins.

I've even seen a few stories where Danny was just literally Ra's son, either by blood or by adoption.

I know of one specific post where Danny is Dusan's son and Mara's older brother, but that's it.

I have yet to see a single prompt where either of Danny's parents are descended of either Dusan or Nyssa even though both of them are far more than old enough to be grandparents.

Hell, Dusan is calculated to be around 750 years old by some people, while Nyssa canonically had her bloodline wiped out by the Nazis, a bloodline that included a great grandson and she has a confirmed birth year of 1775 (so she'd be nearly 250 years old in modern day).

So the idea of Damian's first cousin being an adult pushing 50 with kids older than Damian himself would be completely logical (if you go ahead of sticking the show aged DP characters into the 2020s).

Though to be honest if we go this route I'd pick different Fenton Parents and generational displacement from Ra's depending on which of Ra's kids Danny and Jazz are descended from.

If they're descended from Dusan, then I'd pick Jack as being his son, and Mara's older half brother, who is older than her by like 46 years.

The Fenton's are actually aware of their connection to a quasi-immortal assassin, but Jack and Maddie do their best to keep their kids out of that life.

Which Dusan isn't supper accepting about. But he also only discovered Jack when he was already an adult, and if he wants to be invited to his grandkid's birthdays and be allowed to drop Mara off at the Fenton house to be watched he just kind of has to accept that his son and grandchildren aren't interested in the Al Ghul legacy.

While if it's Maddie who's descended from the Al Ghul bloodline, then I'd want her and Alicia to be descended from Nyssa's line, specifically Vasily Vasilevich, Nyssa's great grandson.

Nyssa thinks he's killed by the Nazi's like the rest of her descendants but because he's an infant someone actually manages to smuggle him away before he actually enters any camp. He eventually ends up smuggled all the way to the United States, where he's given a new name, and raised as an American by the family that took him as their own while fleeing from the Nazi's and smuggled him to the state's in the first place.

So Maddie and Alicia are both Nyssa's great great granddaughters, while Danny, Jazz, and Dani are Nyssa's great great great grandchildren. The Fenton's (and Walkers if we go ahead with making that Maddie and Alicia's maiden names), have no idea that they're descended from a weird eco terrorist assassin cult...

Until Jazz insists on the family doing one of those at home dna tests after Maddie casually dropped family lore about how her dad wasn't the biological child of her grandparents, and that they'd ended up taking him in when fleeing Europe from Nazi persecution, and no one knew who his birth parents were or if any of his biological family survived or not. Or even the name his biological parents gave him.

Jazz just thinks this is going to be a fun family history project where nothing weird will happen, unbeknownst to her Tim Drake has created backdoor access to every single one of those at home dna testing databases he can find, specifically looking for hits on the Al Ghul family tree.

That man might be old as fucking dirt, but Talia's existence (and backstory of being conceived at Woodstock with a random hippy lady) is proof that Ra's is more likely than not still producing swimmers and going around banging random women much to Tim's horror.

And Tim wants to know if any oopsie Al Ghuls pop out of the woodwork before Ra's does, at the very least to try and prevent any more from getting indoctrinated into the League of Assassins.

I just feel like either one of these would really hammer home that Ra's line really is comprised of largely unaging immortals (if they have access to a Lazarus pit and want to), who's outer age doesn't really reflect their actual age at all.

WIth Mara and Jack being half siblings but also like 40+ years apart in age, or Maddie being Nyssa's great great granddaughter but looking basically the same age.

Because DC's never really pushes that when it comes to Ra's. Sure all of his kids are adults, but all of them are also seem to be frozen between the ages of like 30 to 50 years old, with Ra's himself looking around 70-ish, and then all of his grandkids (who we get to see) are literal children.

So if you were to take a family picture of Ra's and the descendants (who matter and) we get to see in the comics, it would just look like a normal family portrait or family tree. The grandparent looks 20-30 years older then the Parents/Aunt/Uncle generation, who looks 20-30 years older than the child generation.

Like I just feel there should be more family line fuckery going on with the Al Ghul family than there is in canon.

Or hell you could make Jack or Maddie Talia's kid if you go with the really old canon of Talia also actually being a lot older but using the Lazarus Pits to stay physically young. I think she's like 150 in that continuity but using the pits to stay in her 30s or so.

Then you could just have Jazz or Danny show up and Damian introduce them to the Batfam as his niece and nephew, played best with Damian being around ten, but Danny and Jazz in their late teens or even early 20s.

[ondeemand]

Umbrella Academy Season 4 Review

I cannot understate how bad this season was, not just from a character writing angle, but from a world building one as well. Am I biased because Five is my favorite character and he, arguably, had the biggest character assassination this season? Maybe. But I'd still like to go over my analysis of the final season of Umbrella Academy despite the fact that I'm going to pretend it didn't happen.

Things that don't make sense with the logic they've established

Little to no explanation of the “upgrades” or changes in everyone’s powers. Only some got an actual upgrade (Allison, Klaus, Five, Viktor, and Lila), but Ben’s tentacles just changed positions with no explanation (likely so he didn’t have to wear that greenscreen torso setup), and Luther and Diego just stayed the same.

○ Why does Allison’s upgrade involve super strength and/or telekinesis? I could maybe see it working on people (a silent command for them to do physically impossible things like float), but why does her power make the lights flicker and furniture move? ○ Why does Lila have laser vision as her upgrade? Her power is to copy powers, no one here has laser eyes. If it’s meant to be an upgrade, why is her upgrade laser eyes of all things? You could have made it so she can use multiple powers at once instead. Not to mention that the laser vision played next to no important role in the entire show besides one attack in the final fight that Viktor could have done instead. ○ Luther mentioned in an episode that he’s been having problems with his powers? What problems? That was never shown and never elaborated on. Also, everyone has already mentioned this, but Luther getting his power back wouldn’t give him the ape DNA.

The show claims that Allison also lost her powers last season despite her not getting her Marigold taken out of her. This could have been a programming thing with Reginald’s universal reset, but it isn’t really established so we’re left to guess (or at least I am).

Why did the CIA hire an 18 year old (at most) looking boy and accept that his name is a number? Did they not question that he’s a Hargreeves and any relations he may have to Reginald? This could be explained that the CIA looked the other way because Five’s boss was a member of the Keepers and possibly knew he had something to do with the timeline being screwed up, but this isn’t ever confirmed.

I liked that Lila’s family was alive, but how? Why? How did they reconnect? Did Lila replace their daughter? Are everyone else’s parents alive? If so, why didn’t they go look for them (especially Klaus, who went out of his way to find his birth mother last season)? Are the other October 1st children alive in this universe? If so, why didn’t they look for Sloane, even if she’d have no memory of her time as a Sparrow? This plot point just creates so many questions that go unanswered.

Number inconsistency with the timeline (Five is 63 instead of 64 years old, saying they spent 5 years instead of 6, etc). The beginning of the show said it was a 6 year time-skip, but the end of the season said it was only about 5 1/2 years, which is likely what led to these inconsistencies. It’s a small detail, but all it would take to fix is to just say it was a 5 year time-skip from the start.

Ben on a subway train last season was seemingly not explained despite subway trains being a very important plot device this season. I get that they probably had to change the story because of Netflix canceling the show, but still.

What’s with the Jennifer portrait in Sparrow Ben’s room in season 3 if he’s never met her before? It was probably just meant to be a reference, but now it retroactively doesn’t make sense.

Why does Claire know that Klaus is immortal? Even if he told her, why would she believe him? They live in a world where they never had powers, and I don’t think anyone told her they got the powers back, let alone every detail of how Klaus’ work.

Five used the ability to go back in time in short bursts way back in season 2, why does he never use that power again? (The answer is that it was too convenient and could fix any plot point, but still)

No paradox psychosis symptoms in the deli full of Fives (because it’s in the subway? Unclear and unexplained).

Diego said that Lila hates bracelets and traded one that Diego got her, but she kept the one Diego made in the 1963 asylum and wore it for the rest of the season. It even made it to season 3 where Diego had kept it for most of the time, then returned it to Lila at the end. It’s such an important symbol of their relationship, but they just had to throw in a random reason that Diego would discover the affair that doesn’t even make logical sense.

Very small thing, but Viktor said he was going to pull out Ben’s Marigold but then they switched it to pulling out his/Jennifer’s Durango.

Klaus doesn’t have his Hello/Goodbye or cult tattoos but they do all have the umbrella tattoos? That doesn’t make sense.

Seeing all the kids being happy in the new timeline was nice, but I do have to point out that they wouldn’t exist if their parents didn’t, or it’d be incredibly unlikely that they’d turn out exactly the same and end up being all together.

Seeing Grace happy at the end was also really sweet, but it didn’t make logical sense because the real Grace is from Dallas in the 60s. She’d be old and/or dead by then, and if they showed her, why not also show Ray, Missy, and Harlan?

Things I just don't like about it

Where’s Ray? It was sad that he was so easily written out and delegated to just a few lines.

Klaus getting whored out is so uncomfortable. Thank god they cut away before it got too graphic, but it was still so bad.

Klaus overall was underutilized and given the short end of the stick this season. How it usually works is Five and Lila are the A Team, they have all the pieces put together and are making real progress. Everyone else is the B Team, they’re trying their best to solve the plot but sometimes make unnecessary moves because they don’t know everything. And then there’s Klaus on the C Team doing god knows what (and I love him for it). However, even if it’s silly, it always impacts the story in some sort of helpful way.

○ In season 1 he gets kidnapped and sent to Vietnam on his own side quest. The plot relevance is that now he learns more about Hazel and Cha Cha and learns how the briefcases work. This is also a somber character moment that forces him to mature through a traumatic event. More positively, it’s where he meets the love of his life that, in turn, has ties to season 2. ○ In season 2 he fucks off for 3 years to start a cult. This allows him time to really practice with his powers and has development for Ben, as well as getting him connections and experiences that help them later on. ○ In season 3, while the rest of the cast are dealing with the Sparrows, he and Five go on a road trip to Pennsylvania. This fun jaunt leads to the incredibly important revelation that their mothers died before they were born, and the discovery of the Kugelblitz. He later goes on another road trip side plot with Reginald where he actually trains his powers, which allows him to survive the Kugelblitz and reveal Reginald’s actions to everyone in the Hotel Oblivion. ○ In season 4, Klaus… gets kidnapped by a gang he owes money to and gets spiritually and physically whored out to people. He manages to escape by himself, is almost immediately found by the gang again, gets buried alive and left to die over and over again (incredibly similar trauma to the mausoleum that isn’t addressed), and is rescued by Allison and Claire. He gains nothing from this except for more trauma. It’s not plot relevant, he doesn’t learn anything or gain any new skills from it, and he doesn’t even get the money he dug up. It’s mind boggling how many plot irrelevant things got squeezed into the final season when the runtime was cut in half. I’d argue that maybe it would all be worth it if they included the cut scene where Klaus goes to an AA meeting.

Not the fault of the show, probably, but the captions weren’t always accurate.

Lila and Five romance which is gross both in-universe and between actors. Not to mention how allonormative it is that Five “had to have a love story,” because the show was already a familial love story. I really don't believe Five and Lila would get together, but even if they did, they would both drop it the moment they got back to their family.

○ I believe that they would grow very close, especially when they’re the only people together. It’s like a diet apocalypse (I’ll get back to this point later), so it makes sense that they’d grow closer on top of the relationship they had based on their established similar backstories and traumas. ○ Five would NEVER give up on finding his family. It’s his main motivation, the very core of his character. Would he want to take a break after 6 ½ years on top of his 45 previous years being stuck? Absolutely, that’s entirely plausible, but he’d want to leave the second he found the journal. ○ Five loves his family, full stop. He’d NEVER hate Diego for his reaction to getting cheated on, and he’d never want to “fucking kill him.” Have we forgotten how a young Five tried to shake Diego’s corpse awake when he first got to the apocalypse? ○ On top of it all, he would never just abandon everyone like that and fuck off to another timeline, and especially not because he got dumped.

I wish the show focused more on how visiting the apocalypse and getting stuck on in the subway would dredge up old memories for Five. He had a whole PTSD attack in season 1 and freaked out hard. I know it’s been a few years for him, but seeing any kind of reaction besides mild concern would have been nice. Same with Klaus and getting buried alive. I didn’t even know that he was dying over and over until I watched the cut AA scene. Robert Sheehan has so much range and I wish they let him shine in that more serious moment on top of how well he does the comedic stuff.

I get that Random Fire Boy from the Phoenix Academy timeline was likely just another one of the October 1st kids, but why create a whole new guy for just that scene? Why not use one of the other established Umbrellas or Sparrows to shoot an attack that took 2 seconds of screen time?

The CGI was bad ngl. I thought it looked worse than usual last season, but this was. Not good.

The final fight with the big glob monster felt kind of disjointed and awkward, both with the pacing, visuals, and dialogue.

Incredibly sad that Ben (and Jennifer, but we didn’t get enough time to really bond with her) died so horrifically. He died scared and alone, never having fully connected with the Umbrellas who only ever saw him as a replacement for their own dead brother.

The fact that there wasn’t a dance sequence this season is really telling. Someone online proposed the idea that they should have danced as they waited to die, and I think that would have been great. The soundtrack did use another version of “I Think We’re Alone Now” for the final scene, but I think this part would have benefited more. Five and Lila would get to join in, and it’d be nice because they weren’t alone anymore. Even if they were going to die, they’d be together. It would have added more sweetness to a bittersweet ending.

The Diego fat jokes weren’t funny. Fatphobia isn’t funny. He also isn’t fat??? He’s really fucking muscular as shown by him going shirtless in the CIA fight (the Marvel dehydrate+flex method strikes again). Maybe he gained some weight since previous seasons but not to an unhealthy degree. He’s a suburban father of 3 who sits in a van all day to deliver packages, of course he’s not as active as he used to be when he was a crime fighting vigilante.

They also never name Diego and Lila’s third child despite them being so important to Lila and why she chooses her family over her affair. Grace as their first daughter is sweet (Diego was a mama’s boy to the end), then Coco is nice (Spanish name like Diego’s), and then there’s Coco’s unnamed twin. It would have been nice to give them a more traditionally Punjabi name to even it out, or show interesting character psychology for Lila if they were named after someone like The Handler or AJ.

No Pogo except in a flashback? The gang that held Klaus hostage were the Mothers of Agony, so I thought he would be there and maybe help Klaus escape. I guess if Reginald had his wife and never made the Umbrella Academy, he wouldn’t have done the experiments that made Pogo into what he is? That either adds to how awful Reginald is, or it’s just another plot hole.

That whole vomit scene. Bad and Not Funny.

Baby shark was funny at first but got old and cringe incredibly fast.

Things I DO like about it because I want to stay at least a little positive

(It’s not in the show but conceptually, with Allison’s new powers, she could tell someone to kill themselves and they just would which is a funny visual)

The family photo was cute, I love looking at everyone’s individual reactions.

The episode 4 flashback sequence was great.

○ Good casting for the young versions of characters. ○ I love that it showed how close Viktor and Ben were as kids. It’s always been a strong headcanon within the fandom but I don’t know if it’s ever been established on screen before (besides Ben’s sacrifice in season 2). ○ POGO!!!!! ○ Ben said fuck!!!!! ○ Holy SHIT very good reveal of Ben’s death. It was super shocking and unexpected, and the fact that it was a big mystery for so long and ended up being something so simple really added to the tragedy.

Allison throwing a plate at Reggie lmao.

Viktor standing up to Reginald!!! Let it out king!!! And I love that his outburst shows even more how close he and Ben used to be.

Diego and Luther’s dumbassery, I love them so much. The two halves of a whole idiot are BACK. They’re besties and I love it.

Diego learned Punjabi for Lila and her family!!!!! That’s so fucking sweet of him!!!!!!

The soundtrack, as always, was a banger.

Most of the fight scenes are great, either hilarious or incredibly violent or a mix of both.

Hargreeves being an abusive father but not a transphobic one lmao.

I still love the umbrella shapes at the beginning of every episode, and the final one being inverted was sick.

I wasn’t sure about Gene and Jean at first but I love them. Great casting choices, great performances, they felt very reminiscent of the weird and unique aesthetic of season 1 that I’ve been missing.

Diego calling Five “Cinco” was so cute. Too bad this horrible version of Five didn’t deserve it.

I do like how Viktor and Reginald were paired up together when they had the most strained relationship at the start of the show. It felt like a sign that Viktor was stronger now and had been able to recover enough to do so.

○ I understand where people are coming from that it feels too much like forgiving Reginald and absolving him of all his abuse. But also, this is the show that forgets about all the bad things a character has done between seasons, let alone between several. Viktor slashed open Allison’s throat? Water under the bridge. Luther locked Viktor in the same chamber that Reginald did and gave him a mental breakdown? Forgiven and forgotten. Allison’s sexual assault on Luther? To them it’s been 5–6 years so he’s had time to process it but still, never brought up again. I’m not excusing these writing choices, just establishing that it’s been a pattern. At the very least, this one felt like there was closure because Viktor actually got to stand up for himself and his siblings.

They finally wrapped up the plot thread of Five creating the commission, even if it was just delegated to a throwaway line. The fact that they addressed it at all was satisfying enough to me, especially in comparison to everything else.

It’s a blink-and-you’ll- miss-it moment, but Five protected Luther’s head from bullets when the van was getting shot at. So funny that he keeps trying to use his small body to protect the actual tank that is Luther.

○ It’s similar to the scene in season 2 where Five (prepubescent body) pushes Luther (bulletproof ape body) out of the way of falling bricks and gets crushed. Luther is canonically bulletproof (maybe not in the head?) and Five KNOWS this because he saw him get shot by a tank in 1963. ○ Thank god at least SOME part of his love for his family and protective instincts survived this season’s character assassination.

I like that the final scene of them all in a circle kind of mimics the ending of season 1 (even if I wish it was a dance sequence instead).

I liked that the ending showed other characters getting to have normal lives (The Swedes, Hazel and Agnes, Grace (even though that doesn’t make sense), The Handler, Dot and Herb, etc). If it had to end in a bitter way, I like that we got even this small comfort.

TLDR

Overall, while the season wasn’t entirely unbearable to watch, the small, momentary Pros are heavily outweighed by the Cons that either break the show’s logic, assassinate the characters, or are storytelling choices that leave longtime fans like myself dissatisfied.

3.65/10

[fitzs-trained-monkey]

Bruised and Battered

Kol Mikaelson Helping You Through An Injury Headcanons :

(Prepare for immense fluff)

Sweet baby Kol...

First of all, this boi would feel sooooooo awful about you getting hurt.

(How could this happen??? He left you alone for five seconds???)

He doesn't blame you at all whatsoever. Even if you were being dumb.

If it was someone else's fault...

Well, let's just say that if you broke an arm, this person would find both arms freaking shattered beyond recognition.

Is that useless hunk of flesh even an arm anymore? Nobody knows.

He does get a little frustrated with you tho. Just a bit

Why won't you take his blood? It would make this so much easier!

(news flash: that's nasty and you don't want to take no chances!)

It physically pains him when the doctors won't let him go back with you for x-rays. He can hear your whimpers of pain through the walls and it makes him want to cry. He just curls up in a ball and waits it out.

If you have to get surgery??

Heaven help the poor hospital staff...

It KILLS him that he can't be by your side the whole time.

Kol would be pacing back and forth in the waiting room, tugging at his hair and telling himself all the reasons you're gonna be fine. Over and over and over again.

He is there the second you wake up.

Technically he's not supposed to be, but if compulsion can't keep the nurses and doctors quiet then the cold chilling glare he dishes out certainly will.

Once you're home, you will not be doing anything for yourself.

Movies.

Anything you want to watch. All day. Even if he hates it.

Unlimited popcorn supply!

He will get you whatever you want to eat or better yet he'll compel someone else to do it so he doesn't have to leave your side.

So. Many. Hugs.

Cuddles.

Cuddles all the time

All the cuddles.

Seeing you in pain tortures him.

If he accidentally bumps you he will apologize ENDLESSLY.

He's always asking what he can do to make it better

He can't really do anything and that's the worst part

You just ask him to stay

He's only too glad to do just that.

Though he certainly remembers to give you your medication. Even if it's 1 AM. He never forgets.

He stays with you all through the night. Every night.

If you wake up in tears from sleeping wrong, he's right there to hold you close.

If it were up to him, he would never let you go.

Scars from surgery?

Kol would make it his mission to keep you from hating them.

He would tell you how cool they look all the time

Also, the gentlest kisses.

He would kiss every inch of those scars.

Endless "I love you"s

Don't think for a second that you're a burden because he will go into a 20 minute speech about how he has literally nothing better to do with his immortal existence.

When it's time for physical therapy, he always makes sure you can get to your appointments.

Kol would 100% compel the therapists to let him come back with you and cheer you on (even though seeing you struggle makes him want to scoop you up and hold you until the tears go away)

He always makes sure you do your exercises too. There is no amount of bribing that can sway this man. You are doing those exercises.

End. Of. Story.

So encouraging tho. The complements are ever flowing from his lips.

And again, all the cuddles after you finish.

Constantly making jokes.

"If I rip off one of your arms, that will make it better right? I mean, it will certainly distract you from the pain!"

Kol would also help you come up with an excellent story for how it happened.

Whether it be jousting on unicorns, fencing with glass blades, or assassinating the president, there is no limit to his creativity.

Kol would do literally anything to see you smile.

Special thanks to: @space-princess-charming

[disillusioneddanny]

Help <3 DC x DP idea

Hi friends, I need help fleshing out this idea for a fanfic I want to write and figured I’d ask the masses! 

The idea is that Danny has been immortal for quite some time now. He’s lived millennia and at one point met his soulmate. The thing is, his soulmate keeps choosing to be reincarnated every time they die. Every time they get reincarnated they don’t remember Danny but he remembers them. Every reincarnation feels a pull to Danny, though. The more time they spend with one another, the more their memories of past lives come back piece by piece. When they die, Danny gets a few years with them before they get reincarnated. 

IDK if the soulmate just chooses to get reincarnated each time or if there’s a curse that forces it. I’m kinda leaning towards cursed. 

Whatever the reason, each time they’re reincarnated, Danny seeks them out because his core yearns for its mate but usually only when the soulmate hits the age twenty. 

For whatever reason, this time around, Danny finds them earlier than usual. He finds them as a small child. Now this is where I need opinions. 

Option 1. Dead Serious 

Danny finds Damian when he’s still a child training to be the Demon’s Head and decides that he has to protect his soul mate this time around, he realizes that Damian has no love from anyone and is like I need to show him he’s loved. he’s horrified that his soul mate is being raised as an assassin and decides to haunt him as his imaginary friend just until Damian is able to get away from the League safely. He cleans any wounds that Damian gets, he helps him when he can, basically tries his best to help Damian without getting in trouble too much for interfering. He stops haunting Damian when he’s taken to Wayne Manor and then he goes back to the realms until it’s time for him to actually seek Damian out. 

Option 2. Dead Tired 

Same concept but with Tim, except instead he sees that his soul mate is just insanely lonely and is left at home constantly so he just haunts Tim to be someone that the boy can rely on and not feel as lonely. He teaches Tim how to fight and defend himself from bullies, he teaches him tech, they just have fun together. Ofc same thing, when Tim goes to live with Bruce, Danny goes back to the realms knowing that his soul mate is going to be taken care of. 

Option 3. Dead on Main

Danny finds Jason and sees that his family is drug addicts and is like uh uh no way gotta take care of him. He gives Jason companionship, gives him food so he doesn’t starve and just generally makes sure that Jason’s taken care of. Once he’s adopted, he leaves. With this one though, when jason dies Danny finds him and is like noo, it’s way too early. Jason gets his memories back and is super happy to see Danny but Danny’s like it’s not your time, you need to go back and sends Jason back. He later finds Jason again when he becomes Red Hood and realizes that when Jason was sent back it caused him to be confused as heck and the pits are what keeps him from remembering Danny because him dying too early and being sent back broke the cycle somehow. but now Danny’s gotta help heal him from the pit rage and also help his soul mate because he’s a crime lord now and Danny wasn’t exactly expecting that this time around. 

Anyway, it won’t let me make this a poll without fucking up the post. So, if you would just reply or reblog with tags telling me which idea you think is best, that would be great. I really can’t decide and really wanna write this fic but I have sooo many ideas for all three. 

[badass-queer-couples-battle]

Sword gays showdown, round 1 of bracket one

Several different versions of Zorro were submitted, I decided to count them as one guy. I don't know enough about him to judge if there are any significant differences between those versions.

Propaganda:

For Zhou Zishu:

he has a magical sword that bends called a whip sword! he keeps it around his slutty waist! it's one of three legendary magical swords made by the (formerly) immortal "ghost hand" swordsmith! his love interest uses it to make dick jokes!

he's an unmatched swordsman that created and led a secret assasin organization and then he retired to get drunk and be gay. he's never lost a fight unless he was at ½ or less of his power (he got terminally ill for a hot second) and the only person that compares to his skill is his husband, the former leader of the ghost valley. he's so babygirl and so gorgeous and so swordy.

he's got a special little bendy sword and he's my girlfriend (don't tell his husband)

He's already super dangerous with just his hands and random objects he picks up (from a stone Buddha statue he throws at a bunch of assailants in early chapters to flinging a clothes button right /through/ a man's wrist), but once he pulls out a sword, you know it's for real. He's gonna disarm a dozen people in a few seconds - as in, literally, he cut off a bunch of people's arms because they were trying to kill his bf, - or cut a "十" into someone's throat. He's especially hot... ahem, proficient with his personal sword, Baiyi, which is a soft sword - allowing it to pass defenses by bending in motion. Very fitting for a sneaky assassin & spy like Zhou Zishu!

For Zorro:

Has been an iconic swordsman for over half a century. Ask any Spanish-speaking person and they'd tell you how loved he is. Has strong bisexual energy regardless of which version of him you're watching. His mask is very cool.

An entire arc is just him wondering about the risk/benefit balance of coming out (being able to openly be with the one he loves, but at the cost of lifelong danger for himself and everyone who associates with him). The inherent queerness of secret identities. The also inherent queerness of hiding your real self and opinions from everyone except your closest friend, only for your parent to later admit they knew about it for a long time and just waited for you to be ready to tell them. The swordiness? Being one of the best swordsmen around is fundamental to every version of Zorro. He's so famously known for being good with a sword that One Piece translators were worried their Zoro character would be mixed up with him so they changed that other guy's name to Zolo.

Zorro = Fox in Spanish

All you need is a gif of him making the 'Z' with his sword

[nevermindirah]

I have a hard to answer question how does one handle in a fanfic tog not going after shitler with Jewish!booker on the team without them coming off like assholes in regards to the human cost as well as the personal cost to booker, cause I'm drawing a blank

hi anon!

this is a super duper big large heavy question, and it's also one that might, depending on the context of your fic, have a very simple answer: the immortals are, other than their immortality, human, and therefore they can each only be in a single place at once.

they don't have superhuman strength or speed, they don't have magic, they don't have access to time-travel technology. I'm not an expert in ww2 military strategy but I'm sure allied governments looked into assassinating Hitler, and nobody managed to do it until the shitstain killed himself. the immortals are highly skilled and well-connected but not at the level of for example the agency that would go on to become the CIA, so who's to say they'd be successful in this assassination if they tried.

there's also the matter of when and for what reason the immortals might decide that killing this particular shitstain should go at the top of their to-do list. it's so easy for us to say in hindsight that a catastrophic volume of suffering could've been averted with this one person's death 10-15 years earlier than what happened in our timeline, but even with the strategic benefit of that hindsight, none of us can predict exactly what would've happened after a successful assassination in 1939, 1932, or even earlier. killing one leader doesn't ensure the movement he leads will stop with his death; someone even worse could have stepped in under the banner of a martyr.

things had gotten bad for Jews in a lot of places many times before things started getting real bad again in Germany. again, I'm not an expert, so I don't know when anyone outside of Nazi senior leadership knew anything about plans for the Holocaust — but would any of the immortals have learned about it sooner than international news media did? would they have known about it early enough that it was possible for a group of four immortals to stop? would they have believed such horrific plans if they'd seen them on paper? there's historical evidence that US officials didn't believe early reports could possibly be true.

there are photos on Copley's wall showing the immortals in Europe at several points during ww2 and there's that one panel from one of the comics of some of the boys being involved in liberating one of the camps. but we don't know details beyond that, and we don't know what the immortals were up to in the 1930s. they may have been very, very busy doing what they could to protect people from Japan's horrific war crimes of the same era, which started several years earlier than the Third Reich.

none of that is to say it would be easy for the immortals to know that the Holocaust was happening and not stop it. I'm sure it was devastating for all of them, who'd already seen so much needless painful death in their long lives, to see the ruthless mechanized efficiency of Nazi mass murder. it would be especially devastating for Booker, even without the Jewish Booker headcanon, bc his children died hating him bc he could not save them no matter how much they begged and no matter how hard he tried.

so my hope for the fic you're working on is that you'll show at least a little bit how their inability to stop these horrors weighs on the immortals. show the personal cost to Booker. do the others get why such horrors happening to his people, who are specifically being targeted because they are Jews, hurts him so badly? or does Andy make dark jokes about how God really must not exist or what did Booker do to piss him off.

does Andy make dark jokes like that bc she sees Quynh's face in every woman they rescue from the Japanese army's rape campaigns? it would have been just as impossible for the immortals alone to save every one of them as it would've been to stop the Holocaust. might their personal connections to victims thousands of miles apart in a war causing overwhelming suffering across most of the planet wear on the immortals' relationships with each other? they can only do but so much. how the hell do they choose which people to try to save?

now that I've thought about it, writing a fic where they do kill Hitler might actually be easier. you can just handwave the deeply frustrating logistical realities and make it so that conveniently killing the nightmare in charge happens to cause the whole house of nightmares to fall apart. (you can also handwave that in your new timeline non-Jews across Europe welcomed their Jewish neighbors home with open arms, when very often the opposite happened irl.)

this topic is so rich for all kinds of exploration in fic. you could end up with a long and plotty meditation on how painful it is for the immortals to have to choose between so many people who need their help. you might have only been asking for the sake of some references to this era of the past in a fic set during or after the movie where the historical timeline is set in stone, in which case I hope what I've shared here leads you to writing those passages with appropriate seriousness and care, even if it's ultimately a small part of a story mainly focused on other things.

this was hard to answer, but not intellectually, this kind of analysis is how my brain works. it just hurts my heart to think about how much my people have lost, how much pain so many people have suffered, and how much suffering is happening right now that there's so little I can do to stop. if I were immortal right now how the hell would I choose between Palestinians and Massalit people and Uyghurs and Rohingya and the multitude of Latin Americans suffering at the US border, all the Black Americans suffering systematically in US prisons, all the other people whose catastrophic suffering I don't even know about?

but I'm glad you asked bc this is such an under-considered element of TOG that's very worth the spotlight. I hope my thoughts here help you, and maybe others will see this and think about it as well.

[unironicallytes]

Also like, my reason for making Domitius' Vow is because I wanted to explore why vampires in the Dark Brotherhood are accepted, but on conditions. Why is it ok for Vicente Valtiere to be a vampire and share the gift, but not for Greywyn Blenwyth? Why is it ok for immortals themselves to exist within a faith that values mortality?

To be immortal is in itself an act that goes against my explanation of the Brotherhood's belief system in Dear Brother: they believe death is the natural state of the world, and life is but a brief anomaly. Pursuing immortality is disrespecting your Father, it's running away from home when all he does is try and provide for you! How dare you? To want the immortality itself seen as a selfish and naive blasphemy.

However, when approached from the angle of extending your service to the Brotherhood, it's regarded in the totally opposite light. Now, it's selfless of you to leave home on such a longer mission trip than the rest of us, because you've proven that you're using it towards our duty, rather than to gallivant. You caught a glimpse of the Void and can reaffirm the faith of those around you by speaking its truth louder.

But that contradiction is why The Black Hand wouldn't tolerate the formation of the Crimson Scars. From a player perspective, we're like "yeah why WOULDN'T they all be vampires? that makes their job easier. that's why I'm always a vampire archer assassin bro", but in the setting, the reason can be two-fold. To have too many immortals in the Brotherhood 1) threatens the powers-that-be and 2) goes against their very teachings. It disrupts the hierarchy and scripture all in one.

I wanted to have an in-universe fable to emphasize how seriously they regard this. It's something I would see people like Vicente, who was around through the Crimson Scar Purification mind you, holding close to help guide his behavior as a vampire. It's why he would be so particular about who he shares his Dark Gift with ... which, to be honest, he would probably need permission to share it in the first place. 3E433 Brotherhood is only 12 years out of the Second Purification, and its ruling council is probably really touchy about who gets vampirism. They will uplift a few who are pious and worthy of receiving the Gift (Vicente's route), but it's not something they can afford to give to just any and every Dark Sibling they find (Greywyn's route).

Anyways. Yeah. Tldr; Brotherhood vampires are only conditionally accepted and held up with respect, the condition being that they devote themselves to Brotherhood service and faith like an evil cult monk.