#and apparently accepts this as not a threat to him on the basis of the Doctor being an untouchable alien incapable of loving her back

[reachexceedinggrasp]

Danny 'I don't do weird' Pink frustrates me as a character, because I'm honestly not sure whether he was supposed to have an arc or not.

His primary role is as a foil for Clara's arc and, in aid of that, as a mirror to the Doctor. A solider with survivor's guilt and a man of action who can't stand by when people need help etc., in some ways he and the Doctor have a lot in common, but he's also a very grounded and circumspect personality versus the Doctor's being fantastical and adventurous. Danny isn't curious and doesn't want to pursue new things or experiences, instead he wants to be fully present with and grateful for what he already has. The Doctor is incorrigibly curious and always interested in new things.

Danny is someone who desires nothing more than an ordinary life, and looks for beauty and satisfaction in the normal things and people around him. He wants his world to be small and quiet, he values the mundane things others might take for granted. He's normal, patient, dependable, simple, honest, etc. His reaction to trauma hasn't been to disavow the things which lead him to that event, or to seek out stimulation to avoid thinking about it, it's to be thoughtful and cautious and somewhat rigid so he can always apply the mindset and skills he retained from before he was traumatised.

He's very firm and unbending in his worldview and in his self-image. He doesn't seem to ever reassess people once he's decided what he thinks of them. He's not unreasonable or unwilling to compromise, he is in fact maybe too reasonable, but he is implastic. He's extremely even-tempered except for around his identity as a soldier, which he's prickly about, but still pretty quick to let it go as long as he's not being deliberately antagonised.

So anyway Danny represents this other path, and this opposite response to the horror of war and making a catastrophic mistake, but he never learns, he never grows and he and Clara are never much on the same wavelength about anything. He's supposed to be stability, the things she 'should' want, the 'person she's supposed to like', the safe choice, the presentable life which Clara feels like she has to have. He's orderly and ordinary and that's what she wants from him. She has to control her image, her future, and her options.

And their simple relationship, once it exists, functions well as the contrast to her complicated and tumultuous relationship with the Doctor while the companion power dynamic is being dismantled and rebuilt so they can be emotional equals. But like, the set up is confusingly executed.

Listen- they have zero chemistry, they have nothing to talk about and have to resort to talking about work, every conversation goes instantly off the rails, they rub each other the wrong way, there is never any reason for them to keep reconciling and trying again to connect. Like. You are not hitting it off! and keep offending each other bc you're not compatible! Quit!!

Clara is forcing it, that makes complete sense with what she's going through, she's trying to take control of her life and her emotions, trying to prove to herself she's not pining for the Doctor and at the mercy of his whims for her life to be full and complete. She doesn't want to need him or to be dependant on him. She doesn't want to be the heartbroken sadsack whom he abandoned at Christmas or who will take whatever scraps he'll throw her. She wants to control his position in her life and control how she feels about him. Hence her assigning him a specific day and confining their adventures on her own terms. She's trying to keep the Doctor compartmentalised. Having an Appropriate Human Relationship means she's successfully put the Doctor in his box (lol) and neutralised the chaotic power of her feelings for him. I mean, obviously not, but that's what she tells herself.

But what is Danny doing? Why does he keep pursuing this when it's so clearly not a good match?

Again in Listen, and much more so The Caretaker, Danny illustrates that he does not know who Clara is, he's wildly wrong about her and what she's like, and he's very high handed about it as well. He's convinced that the Doctor is taking advantage of her, that the Doctor is domineering in their relationship, that she is not a person who wants to be put into challenging or dangerous positions, that the Doctor is pushing her to takes risks and become a leader where that's not her nature. None of this is true. Clara was always a decisive, assertive, strongly driven person who seeks out new experiences and naturally assumes a leadership role any time that's necessary; she relishes being challenged and facing the unknown. Her blow up with the Doctor wasn't about him 'pushing her too far', it was about him failing to support her when she needed him and condescending to her as a human rather than treating her with the intimacy and equity their bond and history together demands. It's personal and it's about their emotional relationship. It's not about making hard choices, it's about having to make hard choices without her partner being honest with and emotionally available to her.

Clara was always an adventurous person, willing to be spontaneous as long as it's on her terms, and excited by the prospect of authority and responsibility. The danger and challenge isn't an unfortunate side effect or a risk she has to take to see amazing sights, it's part of the appeal. She lied to Danny by omission when she said she went off in the box to 'see wonders', not just because the real reason is that she's in love with Doctor, but also because she doesn't just want to be a tourist. She wants to get involved and save people, she wants things to sometimes go pear shaped. She enjoys and craves that part of it too.

Danny is also wildly wrong about the Doctor, but this is understandable and would be fine except that he's never corrected? He never learns better? What's the point?

In Death in Heaven Danny goes out still wrong about the Doctor, still condemning him cruelly and unfairly while knowing nothing about him. He had a point with some of his original rant, there was actual insight there, but it's buried in assumptions and bitterness and then Danny keeps tripling down on the assumption. The one which doesn't understand that the very thing he's shitting on the Doctor for (being willing to lead and make hard choices that must be made in order to save people) is something the Doctor has in common with Clara. And always has. The Doctor didn't change her or push her into that, that's who she's always been.

What is the point of Danny calling him a blood-soaked general and mocking him, calling him an officer as a pejorative again, and again because the Doctor is trying to save the planet. Like, memory check, that's what Danny is mad about. The Doctor doing everything in his power to save literal billions of lives. Doing it for no reason, out of altruism. Doing it while always trying very hard not to fight or kill anyone. Doing it even at enormous spiritual cost to himself.

I don't understand how we're meant to find Danny sympathetic in that moment, because he comes off like a complete dickhead. And it's all the more frustrating because in the intervening episodes Danny has been eminently reasonable. As I've discussed before, we're exhaustively shown that Danny is 100% okay with what Clara claims is going on, that he doesn't want to get in the way of her friendship with the Doctor, that if it really were only the relationship she's pretending it is, there would be no conflict. He's the one who encourages her to make up with him after Kill the Moon! He tells her to go on travelling and it's fine!

Even when he discovers she's been lying to him and cavorting with the Doctor behind his back (again despite him telling her it was fine with him!), he's calm about it and repeats for the millionth time that all he wants from her is honesty. The truth. Which is the one thing she can't give him because Clara knows their entire relationship is built on the lie, they're only together because of the lie. The truth is, as Moffatt said, that Danny never stood a chance. There is a conflict between the two relationships and she's always going to choose the Doctor.

And that does come out, she gives the whole speech to Danny, not knowing it's him, finally being honest. And he seems unsurprised by it, which makes sense because on some level he definitely always knew ('do you love him?' 'no' 'really had enough of the lies'), but then nothing comes of that. Clara just soldiers on, going right back to pretending this relationship wasn't a façade doomed from the start, and Danny allows her to pretend. He goes off on the Doctor, but not in a way the Doctor actually deserves at all, and just sweeps her confession under the carpet. Letting her get away with it again. True to form, I guess! he always did. But shouldn't we make progress?

And it's like... I hate that he dies on that note. It feels like he dies in denial. I guess you could argue it contributes to his decision to not come back, but that feels like a disservice to the character. Saving the kid is important to Danny, it allows him to atone for his greatest mistake, but he didn't need to change or grow to accomplish that and it doesn't provide any closure to his actual role in the narrative, which was as Clara's foil. Clara is off the hook, free to go on lying to herself about their relationship. It's not addressed in Last Christmas, either, it's only barely hinted at.

[y-rhywbeth2]

I said before Jan should've been a returning companion for BG3 - because we have absolutely no small companions; for the purposes of giving the companions a good mocking; and also because Astarion's irrational hatred of gnomes and his history as a magistrate will undoubtedly overlap so well with the Jansen criminal empire and ability to get away with it via charm and talking you to death.

But also the Jansens have that absolutely random and unexplained alliance with the illithid living in the Athkatlan sewer system that could've been made relevant.

Also I'd like to know what Bane would make of that story where Jan apparently took his job for a while that was probably bullshit, but you never know...

'Well, you know, it's funny that this situation should come up [Charname having the option to ascend as god of death/murder]. It's not something I like to think about much, but I spent a whole year as a god back in '03. Oh, I know what you're thinking... why only a year? It's a touching and involved tale, but I'm happy to shed some light on it if it helps with your predicament. [...] 'It's nice to hear you eager, for once. It's not every day that a gnome finds himself in the middle of [Gehenna] fighting an avatar and talking to a solar, you know. I haven't done that for at least a year, now… although to be honest, the last time was only in the company of Aunt Patty and we all know what a pushover her Larry was… and it's nice to see that my tribulations in this party are recognized. Anyway, it was during the Time of Troubles that I'd run afoul of some Banite cultists who accidentally mistook me for Bane's earthly avatar. Don't ask. Maybe they didn't have a picture. I wasn't sure what to think, myself, and resolved to spend more attention towards my breath in the future. It wasn't long before I was worshipped by thousands on a regular basis. They made good stew and the constant chanting wasn't unpleasant, so I decided to play along. No one grows turnips under threat of eternal torment quite as well as a Dreadmaster, and I'll stand by that statement to this day. Well, it wasn't long before the whole Time of Troubles thing was over and suddenly little old worshipped me found myself up in the heavens before the Overfather, himself. Seems they were short of death gods at the time, and it didn't seem like such a bad gig, so I took him up on his offer. Plus, the dental plan was extraordinary. Being a god isn't what you'd expect, though. Sune was all over me from day one… I hear she developed a thing for turnips about a decade ago. She just wouldn't leave me alone! There were parties at all hours of the night, Lliira would get plastered and fall into the lily pond and eventually Torm would start a brawl with somebody. Did you know what it's like to have Helm pounding on your door at three in the morning? I could never get any sleep at all. If it wasn't one thing it was getting slapped by Umberlee or hit on by Loviatar. All night long… and in the morning, all the gods would be in a foul mood. Terrible. I couldn't find anything good about the experience at all. No wonder Ao kicked them all out. He probably had to catch up on his housekeeping, of all things. Well, after all of that I was more than happy to let Cyric have the job, eager puppy that he was. Left it behind me for a turnip farm and a nice pension, and gladly… although I eventually traded the pension for some stock in a Spelljammer trading cruiser, which was a bad decision but all us mortals aren't immune to that, of course. Lost the farm, too, in a game of checkers to Uncle Fibbert. But that turned out all right, as the turnips got a bad rot that year and Uncle Fibbert died of too much intestinal gas. Poor man. Anyhow, I hope all my experience has been of some help. Ummm… feel free to accept other opinions. Ummm… no need to stare, now. Move on, move on.'

[thequibblah]

one saturday in january, a gryffindor quidditch team choose-your-own-adventure disaster

Previously…

The silence following Percy’s question had sunken in long before his words actually clicked in Germaine King’s mind. In charge. That’s you, idiot. The notion was so worrying that for a moment she wondered if she could dodge the responsibility. But that was, of course, only a fantasy. James would be absent from practice for an entire month. Glumly, she accepted her fate.

“Er, I am, actually,” she said, with a nervous cough.

They’d all been her teammates for months at least, and they were all younger than her — but it struck her only now how much smaller she was than the two older boys, and even Lisa Kelsoe. James always brought an air of authority with him, it was true, but he did at least not have to suffer the indignity of looking up at Percy and Quentin.

But it seemed (as it so often seemed) that she’d worried herself for no reason. The others brightened, apparently relieved that none of them would need to lead the practice.

“Excellent,” said Lisa Kelsoe. “You won’t make us do daggers, will you?”

Germaine began to say no, of course not, but — pausing to take in the eager faces around her — decided it might be best to keep the possibility in the mix, so to speak. Not as a threat or anything. But just in case things went disastrously.

Merlin, it was no wonder James was the way he was. Power went to one’s head awfully quickly.

“We’ll see how tired we are by the end of it,” Germaine said airily. “Whose turn is it to get the equipment out?”

“Nose goes,” said Quentin.

This was not how the team chose who did the equipment — at least, not to James’s knowledge. Some things, it was agreed, could be kept among the junior team members. Sheer instinct saw all the first-string players immediately touch their noses.

Eddie McKinnon glanced around, perplexed. “Nose what?”

Percy sighed, already looking guilty. “He’s never done it before. It’s not fair—”

It was a pity Percy was honestly, wholly ignorant of reverse psychology. Eddie — the youngest of them and well aware of it — went pink at this.

“I’ve seen Potter do it. How difficult can it be? I’ll be right back.”

Germaine gnawed at her bottom lip. What would James do? But she wasn’t him, and she couldn’t be the sort of captain he was — not even on an interim basis. And before she could tell Eddie to wait, and send someone with him, he’d already jogged off towards the changing rooms.

Blast, she thought. “Anyone want to go with him and make sure everything’s all right?”

[the-firebird69]

Watch "Darth Maul is Jealous of Ray Park!🤣" on YouTube

Ray parks is actually Tommy f and there's a Darth maul there, and he says it's not him, but we thought it might be and he says I was watching him doing it I thought would you be doing that was a real lightsaber and insane no when I see him train it was a light sword, there's actually good with it and dangerous and then we actually and he kept challenging myself, to a dual. So I said okay the skelleg then. And people heard me challenge he back and he accepted and they're trying to discuss when and it didn't work out that great, and when it happens there and tons of people see it looks like there's a whole bunch of people that go out there because of it and he gets it and he says this is how the monster is raised and I hear him this is all the monster and serious and I don't want you to have a real lightsaber. So you got really mad and said when and he said within the month. And he couldn't have said it and he's jumping up and down he said you won't raise the cage you using me you said you won't show up chicken s*** I said I'll be there but you tell me when. And it's on and yeah that's our soldier right there and sure your views can mutate and as the cities are destroyed they are mutating or as yours are killed in the cities and it's happening over the next week or two they will do it all sorts of superhero tricks and then they'll be done

Hera Zues

I am here and he is my father and he is trying to rest and you are disturbing him as usual. And we will defeat you and it is happening and you warlock will be defeated early on and are going to be out in a week or so fully

Darth Maul Darth Talon

We need to get rid of you morlock and your gross and the stupid and you're lame and you're in the way and it's right in the crap out of everyone for just about nothing so we're going to get to the cities we're going to tear you out

Savage Oppress

I'm here too I'm sick of these people tired of them tell me what to do and I do understand what the threat is at this time and we're going to get them out in this stan guy is sick. He keeps on saying that he's going to push back and all this other crap and we're not doing anything he's doing to our son too to get it up or something and he's lost he is now the proud owner of three ships and half a death Star and the others too have about the same it's only five of them and pretty soon it will be over. There are other things that happen because of that they begin attacks on the empire ships and they have started already and they do go after the star killer base. And the frame VG because I can apparently not so well and I do see that we're both going to be in the receiver at the same time and I'll probably find out pretty quick like already I'm going to the museum after the start killer which is probably going to start up pretty soon

I do realize what you're saying at some point they may hit us in the cities and because it's probably a ton of us there. They also give out an order that if we bunch up or try and form basis to destroy them and they're doing that constantly bja says.

Valley of the right to inform people what's going on and we're not telling these people but we're telling ours and people keep interrupting me was ridiculous statements too and we're going to make you pay for it

Swamp Thing and She Swamp Thing

[fantastic-nonsense]

Okay, apparently this response got bumped somewhere and it's in my notifications again, so I took a second look at it. I have thoughts. Namely: you come from an understandable place. But it's one that is not reflective of comics canon because you're letting your bias for Damian and against Tim get in the way of an accurate reading of both characters.

First, let me just get this out of the way: you reblogged this post from me while I was in the process of editing it to be more reflective, and thus missed my edited intro, which read "Is the Tim-Damian conflict in WFA the same as it is in canon? No. Does it have a solid, factual basis in Tim and Damian’s canon issues? Yes."

This post was originally intended as a reflection on Tim and Damian's canonical relationship in the post-Crisis universe and how WFA was picking up a valid interpersonal conflict to examine, not an examination of whether WFA accurately portrayed the exact nature of their conflict as it occurred in canon. Which, by its very nature as a slice-of-life all-ages Elseworlds comic that's working with a "softer" canon, is impossible to do. It doesn't exactly reflect Tim or Damian's own canon issues, just like WFA doesn't exactly reflect any of the other Batfam members' issues; instead, the creative team took Tim and Damian's contentious post-Crisis canon relationship and worked it into WFA in a way that made sense for the comic.

Putting the rest of this response behind a cut because I wanted to respond fully to your comments, which ended up being pretty long due to the inclusion of quite a bit of analysis and several panels:

Regarding your comments about Damian not being jealous: they're objectively wrong. Prior to and during the Reborn era, Damian views Tim as a direct threat to his place in the family and for Bruce’s attention in a specific, pointed, and explicit way that he does not view anyone else (for example, Dick). It’s usually not explicitly spelled out outside of #657, but it’s still extremely clear that he feels that way into the Reborn era:

"Now that I'm here, he doesn't need a surrogate son." -Batman #657 (Batman and Son)

"Why are you acting like such a little jerk?" "Because you don't deserve any of this. You're adopted! But when you're gone, I'll take my rightful place at my father's side...as Batman's son!" -Batman #657 (Batman and Son)

"You're just trying to keep him all to yourself! Can't stand the fact that he's my father! Something you don't have!" -Robin #168 (Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul Part 1)

"I know he thinks it's so great for me being his real son...but sometimes I wonder if Batman gives a damn about me...and that kinda hurts, you know?" -Robin #168

"You think Batman will leave all this to a hanger-on like you...instead of his own flesh and blood?! A little orphan boy looking for a substitute dad. Pa-thetic." "He doesn't want to know you!" -Robin #168

[Dick notices Damian wearing a Robin tunic, which he's been wearing since the arc's prologue when he first declared to Ra's that Bruce "gave them" to him...which he didn't] Notice Damian's costume. Note to self: smack a clue into this kid. -Nightwing #138 (Resurrection Part 2)

[Damian recieves what he thinks is Bruce's approval and happily goes off to fight his Ra's' ninjas over Talia's protests, because he's happy to get Bruce's acceptance and approval as his son] -Detective Comics #839 (Resurrection Part 7)

"Don't be so sensitive, Drake." "Damian, shut up. Now." "Sorry, Drake. You're still part of the team–maybe the Batgirl costume is available." [Tim punches Damian] "My name is Tim Wayne!" -Red Robin #1 (2009)

It is astoundingly and explicitly clear that Damian is jealous of Tim and thinks he doesn’t deserve to be part of the family and that this jealousy is specifically due to Tim being adopted and a threat to what Damian views as his “rightful inheritance.” His initial desire to be Robin is only important to him insofar as it signifies that Bruce has accepted him as his son and heir over Tim, because what he really wants is the inheritance of being Batman’s son. Which Tim has and he seemingly doesn't. His rivalry with Tim is explicitly rooted in this struggle. The dinosaur incident is just the most ruthless way he tried to secure his status as Bruce’s son, because, as you note, it’s how he was taught to deal with rivals by the League.

But he IS jealous of Tim; it’s a canonical fact. He wouldn’t treat Tim the way he does and say the things he does to Tim if he wasn’t. I'm not "centering Tim in what's going on with Damian" any more than the comics themselves do. He doesn't treat Dick or Cass the way he treats Tim; his barbs towards them are significantly less personal and he never tries to explictly deny them the right to exist as his father's heirs the way he does Tim. So I can't agree with your comments about Tim's jealousy being "more apparent" than Damian's, because it's pretty obvious via canon that they're both jealous of each other. Basically the only exception you can pull out is maybe Battle for the Cowl, which is largely a complete wash analysis-wise because everyone's ridiculously OOC in that book.

Nor can I agree with your assertion that Damian doesn't have an issue with Tim specifically, though Damian's specific issues with Tim are really less about Tim and more about what Tim represents. Tim’s relationship with Bruce when Damian is introduced is objectively good. While Tim may be insecure about his place, he knows that Bruce loves him and it’s pretty clear to everyone else around them that Bruce loves Tim and is genuinely attempting to be a good father to him. Additionally, before Bruce’s death, Tim’s place as Robin is secure. Bruce has zero intention of letting Damian be Robin and everyone knows it. It takes Damian no time to pick up on this, and despite knowing it he deliberately chooses to inflame those tensions anyway (see: wearing the Robin tunic and making various comments to and about Tim in Resurrection).

Bruce, of course, doesn't choose either one over the other when offered the choice during Resurrection and never really appears to consider that as an option in the first place (which, good). But it IS an explicit issue that both Tim and Damian are dealing with throughout that arc: they both view the other as a direct rival for Bruce’s affections and their place within his household and are hostile to each other because of it.

Throughout his early appearances and into the Reborn era, Damian repeatedly and consistently goes after Tim’s status as Bruce’s adopted son because he’s jealous that Tim visibly has Bruce’s love whereas he had Bruce’s grudging acceptance at best. It’s baked into how Damian talks to and about Tim, how he talks about his own relationship with Bruce throughout the Reborn era to Dick, and things like his worry over whether his father would allow him to remain Robin if he returned. Damian wanted a place in his father’s legacy and was jealous of Tim because Tim already explicitly had it; he was Robin, he was a Wayne, and (later on) Bruce defaulted the position of WE majority shareholder to him. Tim has what Damian wants: Bruce’s love, trust, respect, and pride.

That's the core of Damian's beef with him specifically, and it is a specific beef he has with Tim that he doesn't appear to have with anyone else (despite all those things also being applicable to Dick). WFA chose to slightly change that to Damian feeling insecure in the face of Tim's legacy rather than Tim's secure place in the family due to the "softer world" nature of the comic, but it's not a large enough drift from comics canon to justify your anger, especially considering how other all-ages comics like Tiny Titans and Li'l Gotham have adapted canon interpersonal dynamics to fit their needs.

As for the rest of your notes, I largely agree that otherwise, Tim and Damian's issues were largely a complicated case of getting off on the wrong foot. Their personal relationship is largely founded on two incidents that give the other a terrible understanding and deep mistrust of each other: the Spook beheading/dinosaur incident in Batman and Son (on Tim’s end) and the confrontation in the Batcave and Wayne Manor at the beginning of Resurrection of Ra’s al Ghul (on Damian’s end).

Tim fundamentally does not trust Damian due to the dinosaur incident. His previous experience with him in Batman and Son leaves him incapable of believing that Damian is telling the truth and really does need Bruce’s help. Tim is wrong, and stubborn, and frankly rather cruel during this encounter, but his disbelief that Damian needs help is directly based on the time Tim previously spent with him. It is a massive and misguided miscommunication incident that then feeds the resentment and dislike on both sides of the conflict.

We do both seem to agree that at the end of the day, Tim and Damian’s conflict isn’t really personal: while there are certain individual incidents where it became personal (their confrontation in Wayne Manor at the beginning of Resurrection and the Hit List cut line fight, for example), ultimately their core beef isn't really with each other and is rather a) based on their initial inflammatory interactions and b) the fact that they viewed each other as direct threats and rivals for Bruce's attention as a father (and to a lesser extent, Dick as a brother) and were acting out in response to that threat. Therefore, once they got over those two humps, their relationship got significantly better (see: the bit in my original post about how they act towards each other by the time Gates of Gotham rolls around).

Finally, I disagree that WFA completely absolved Tim of wrongdoing the way you seem to think it did. Tim actively admits to not handling things well and explicitly says that he thinks he's "still holding on to old resentments" throughout both parts of the story:

It's very much not portrayed as a "one-sided" conflict; that's an active admission that he didn't handle Damian's introduction to the family well and that it's still flavoring his interactions with Damian. Damian is (theoretically) 9 in the WFA universe; of course he's going to be more outwardly antagonistic than Tim is even as Tim freely admits to both Steph and Damian that he's still "holding onto old resentments." I'm not sure where the miscommunication is happening here, but Tim shouldn't have to explicitly say "I fucked up too" for that to be the clear reading of his words, especially when previous chapters have already covered Tim's poor handling of that relationship (see Eps. 27-28, "Big Brother," for example).

Honestly I'm reading the last two paragraphs of your response and trying to figure out what you actually want. Because you say you want Tim to be mature and take responsibility for his part of his conflict with Damian, but when WFA did that you complain that he was portrayed as being mature enough to take responsibility for his part in the conflict with Damian and try to fix it.

And frankly, Damian was largely the instigator of most of the active conflict between them during the Reborn era; WFA is a fairly accurate reflection of that dynamic. For example, Tim's problem in RR #1 was with Dick before Damian got involved and started insulting him, not Damian. That's a very clear instance of instigation. As is his behavior towards Tim during the Hit List arc before he finds out about the list (which makes him very rightfully upset and angry) and then cutting Tim's line and attacking him when he finds out instead of just talking with him about it in the Cave. Also, Tim does canonically reach out to Damian at various points, like offering to take him out on patrol during the Hit List arc. So you're letting your personal dislike of Tim color your interpretation of canon to the point where you're flat-out ignoring their post-Crisis canon dynamics...which is what WFA clearly based this arc on to the point of echoing their combined monologue from Teen Titans #92 during Eps. 64 and 65.

So I'm just...not sure what you want. Your whole last paragraph is a complaint about the fandom infantilizing Tim, but that's not a problem showcased by the new episodes of WFA. You can't simultaneously complain that Tim is infantilized by the perpetuation of this conflict while also complaining that WFA is portraying him as "too mature" in the handling of it. Nor are your complaints about their early days conflict being continually dragged up by the fandom useful in a discussion about WFA, which you should be well aware of going in that it's going to cover things like that due to the nature of the comic (did you have these same complaints during Steph's insecurity arc?). It sounds like the only thing that would make you happy is for the narrative to demonize Tim and completely exonerate Damian instead, which...just isn't an accurate reflection of either their canon dynamic or of how they both have grown beyond those lingering issues with each other.

I get it: you don’t like Tim. That’s fine. You don’t need to. But you do need to realize that it is canon that Damian was jealous of him and that WFA based their episodes on a solid canonical foundation even if it's not an exact reflection of canon. You can dislike the reasoning behind it; you can think it’s dumb. But it is a canon fact and denying it because you personally hate Tim is no better than the people who demonize Damian and erase Tim's contributions to their early conflict.

yeah I’m just going to swing a bat at the hornet’s nest and wade into the discourse: Tim and Damian were canonically mutually jealous of each other during the pre-reboot era for (ironically) pretty similar reasons, and getting mad about WFA acknowledging it is an indication that you care more about defending your fave than you do about actually understanding what happened and how they’ve both grown beyond it since then

Keep reading

[broomsick]

Personal notes concerning Týr’s justice-related aspects

Granted, Týr is most often associated with war, battle, victory and honor. However in contrast to this, he is also viewed as a god of justice and law. Indeed, numerous sources cite him as the patron of the Alþing, which reinforces the image of an impartial judge, exactor of fairness. This association with the þing arose with roman reports of the germanic religions which named him Mars Thincsus, or “Mars of the þing”, suggesting a connection to both war (Mars) AND the norse legal assembly. Such associations evoke a figure who is a lot more complex than one would expect for a simple warrior deity. The myths almost always depict him as fair and prudent, and concerning this, I am particularly fond of these lines from the Hymiskviða:

Thor spake: "May we win, dost thou think, this whirler of water?"

Tyr spake: "Aye, friend, we can, if cunning we are." (stanza 6)

In the situation when he and Thórr are meant to retrieve a giant’s kettle, Týr is portrayed as the sensible one who suggests a plan. Though I don’t like using Snorri’s writings too much, I think it’s interesting to note his report of the idiom “Tyr-prudent” as a way to refer to a wise individual. These few clues hint at the Lord of Swords’ tight association with fairness and wisdom.

On another hand, we are familiar with the story of Fenrir and just by the role he played in it are we able to assess his cool-headedness and the value he sees in fair bargains. Georges Dumézil, scholar of comparative religion, makes an interesting parallel between this story and Óðinn’s in his Essay on Two Indo-European Representations of Sovereignty. Óðinn who is a god of knowledge amongst other things, sacrificed his eye to gain more wisdom. In the same manner, Týr, who was potentially associated with justice, sacrificed an arm to uphold fairness. The Æsir bound Fenrir because they believed he posed a threat to them though with the evidence we have concerning this story, we can suppose he hadn’t yet acted dangerously. Therefore, Týr volunteered to make a heavy personal sacrifice in order for the wolf to be restrained. This can be viewed as a gesture of compensation, a sort of price paid. The wolf himself had asked for someone’s arm to be put between his teeth to prove the Æsir’s goodwill. With them having broken his trust, Fenrir was allowed to bite the arm off. Instead of trying to fight, Týr accepted his fate without hesitation because the arrangement (Fenrir’s freedom for an arm) had been agreed upon as a basis for justice.

Using these attributes, it isn’t difficult to make the following hypothesis: Týr as a war god could have potentially represented justice in conflict settings. Indeed, numerous deities from the norse pantheon were associated with war in one way or another. For example, both Thórr and Óðinn were invoked before battle: the former for protection and health and the latter for battle rage. Týr’s apparent cautiousness and fair-mindedness has led a lot of scholars to associate him with another important aspect of war: strategy. This last correspondence would not only make him a war god but in broader terms, a god of conflict. For the ancient germanic peoples, war wasn’t lawless. It had rules and required proper preparation. Victory itself was determined using unspoken standards. Týr could be regarded as warrior deity but also as a sort of judge, who is behind a party’s victory over another. I would think of him as the guardian of honor in conflicts and of the principles that uphold justice.

[absolutepokemontrash]

Okay, I've sent this request to a different person before and it's just lovely. Gender neutral Mc who's blatantly a magical girl, everyone knows that Mc is gender neutral in their magical girl group and still let them participate; but then there's Solomon crossdressing and joking around while the magical girl group is trying to defeat a viscious demon who acts like a high-school bully, and the demons possy. Solomon takes none of this seriously and told no one he's not a magical girl with the epic transformations and then Mc's there listening to everything laughing their butt off because this situation is ridiculous, and getting context explains why Solomon acted so weird.

And there's just the brothers, and the dateables reacting to the chaos of Solomon and Mc bring pals, and finding out that Solomon likes to crossdress on a regular basis.

GN!Magical Girl MC! :D

(I cut down on the Solomon stuff if that’s okay! The first person to guess all the magical girl show references in Levi’s section gets a priiiiiiize! 👀)

Lucifer

A normal human… that’s all he asked for, and that’s what he thought he got, until of course, an incident at lunch on the fourth day of the exchange program. Some demon had made the fatal (emphasis on fatal) error of trying to mess with the exchange students. Now what Lucifer expected to happen was MC was going to end up a bloody smear on the cold stone floors of RAD and Lucifer would have to call in a backup human… that didn’t end up happening.

With a twirl of what looked like a children’s toy and a battle cry that could only be described as adorable, MC leapt up in the air, and in a flash of light, was wearing brand new clothes and was beating the ever loving shit out of the demon who had deigned to attack them.

As Lucifer looked on, his jaw almost hitting the floor, he noticed that he wasn’t the only one in a state of complete and utter shock due to what was going on. When MC… uh… finished, they gave a final stomp on the bloodied lump on the floor that was once a demon, and gave their audience a bloody peace sign and a sweet little giggle. “Pick on someone your own size next time, ‘kay?” And with a swish of their frilly outfit, they were skipping down the hall like nothing happened.

Shaking off his state of absolute shock, Lucifer then bolted after MC. That’s not something you see everyday, the Avatar of Pride sprinting and following some bloody high heeled footprints… it only happened one other time and Asmo learned his lesson about tracking blood into the house. When Luci eventually catches up to MC, he’s given a shrug and a hand waved explanation.

…which he does not accept. He drags them to his office and has them explain their magical origins in detail. Listen, they’re apparently not a sorcerer or witch, so they need to identify themselves immediately!

After the initial freak out, Lucifer is more… cautious around MC. He wants to know if their powers will ever be a threat to the Devildom, but once MC catches on, he gets the same smile and peace sign. “Don’t worry, Lucifer! As a magical guardian, It’s my duty to protect my temporary home until I return to the human world! ✨!”

Great… now he has a little superhero on his hands.

But he finds himself strangely… admiring MC. The way they jump headfirst into danger is annoying, yes, but it’s in order to help others. Such selflessness is almost unseen in the Devildom.

That and… maybe Levi was right to love the Magical Girl Genre… MC’s outfit is so cute…

Hm… perhaps with a bit of polish, MC could fight next to him, if need be. Wouldn’t that be a sight? A cutesy magical human and an angry Lucifer ready to end your miserable existence.

But the most recent fight with a particularly nasty demon… who knew Solomon liked to dress on the more feminine side too? Huh. Must be one of the reasons Asmo wuvs him so much.

Mammon

Okay, so the human he was told to babysit would not stop carrying around this sparkly lookin’ sheep plushie, and Mammon was getting annoyed. Who did this human think they were?! Bein’ all cute like that! Huh?! Tryna make him all blushy or some shit?!

And Mammon got the fright of his life when he found out that no, the sheep plushie is not in fact a plush toy, no no no, it’s MC’s magical companion. Okay his human has magic powers… cool cool cool cool…

“Why didntcha tell me?! Stupid human!” “It’s been three days and you’ve been nothing but mean to me!” “Pfft… I’ve been a real gentleman! I haven’t even taken a bite out of ya.” “Make another vore threat and I’ll bash your brains in!”

Death by cutesy magical girl wand was not how Mammon wanted to go. (He wanted to die next to a giant pile of Grimm thank you very much)

Speaking of the wand, Mammon had tried to swipe it on many occasions (before he ends up falling for MC, of course) and that’s when he learned that the sheep-companion has NIGHTMARE TEETH.

“WHAT KIND OF MAGICAL GIRL ARE YA MC?! I THOUGHT YA WERE SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP AND ALL THAT SHIT-“

“Yeah, I’m all about that until you cross me.”

“🥺”

Look at how pathetic he looks, get him a bandaid, MC…

Mammon simmers down and ends up quite liking his magical little human. I mean, they sparkle. Mammon loves things that sparkle. *ahem* hey human, how would you feel about being a permanent fixture in Mammon’s giant pile of riches? (Well, he doesn’t have any riches right now, but MC will be the prized first addition!)

When MC gets into a fight, you better believe Mammon is jumping in to fight too. Nobody bothers his sparkly human and gets away with it!

Listen, he’s totally not jealous that Solomon can pull off the magical girl look marginally better than he can… Mammon is just giving him a normal death glare.

Leviathan

When MC was first kidnapped- I mean… escorted into Levi’s room after Mammon abandoned them, he brought up Ruri-Chan, and as a Magical Girl, MC knows who that is. (They gotta watch the TV shows that people make based off their work!)

“I love Ruri Hana! You like magical girl shows??” “Wha-what?! You’re a f-fan too?! A fellow otaku?!”

The kidnapping then turns into a anime fan meetup. They exchange favourite magical girl shows and talk about things that define the genre, like cute outfits, colour language, and lightly censored wlw subtext.

But Levi doesn’t find out that MC is an actual magical girl until Mammon bursts through his door and screams “BRO DID YA FUCKIN KNOW ABOUT THE HUMAN?!”

After wrestling a proper explanation out of Mammon, Levi then books it to find MC. No one has ever seen Levi run that fast before.

Once he finds MC, he is slamming them with questions left right and centre. “Do you have a team? What are your powers? Are you the moon princess? Did your magical girl companion steal your soul and place it in a gem turning you into a meat puppet that you believe makes you unworthy of love?”

Once MC answers all his questions, he is just fanboying like a maniac. I mean- he was in the presence of a real magical girl! That’s amazing!! Honestly, he should have seen this coming! They have the look of a protagonist! And Levi’s been watching magical girl shows since Sally Yumeno first graced the screens of Japan back in the sixties!

But once MC starts using their powers to fight evil (like a magical girl SHOULD!) and comes out of battles bloody and terrifying, Levi’s mind starts to wander into the deep dark disgusting pits of the genre… edgy magical girls… he begins to worry about what MC may be sacrificing in order to fight the injustices of the world.

“So um… you didn’t get your powers from a creepy web popup because your life sucks… right? And your wand isn’t siphoning away your life..?” “…Levi I’m not some misery porn magical girl! I’m only a little depressed!”

He also wants to know what MC fights in the human world. Demons? Playing cards? Aliens that have very weird names in the English dub?

As time goes on, Levi begins to slowly replace Ruri-chan with MC as his favourite magical girl. N-NOT THAT HE’S FORGETTING ABOUT RURI-CHAN OR ANYTHING! SHE’S STILL HIS SECOND FAVOURITE!

Whenever MC fights, Levi is usually too starstruck to help too much… but that didn’t stop him from wrapping his tail around some assailant’s neck and popping his head off in order to save MC. Keep in mind he did that without breaking stride in his little “GO MC!” glow stick dance. We stan our deadly snake otaku.

Solomon helping out? Psh, Levi’s cosplayed plenty of magical girl characters, he can pull off the look damn well! Solomon’s got nothing on him!

Levi’s biggest worry isn’t MC getting stolen by Solomon… it’s more about them getting hit by Truck-Kun in the final episode as a big “fuck you” to toy companies…

Satan

Hm… there’s something distinctly off about this human and Satan just can’t put his finger on it. The human carries around a plush toy, a pen that looks like a wand, and seems to be excited by the idea of a demon attacking them. Satan has been alive for a very long time, and never in his long life had he seen a non-suicidal human get excited at the idea of fighting a demon.

He began to covertly follow MC around during those first few days, gathering data and intel as time went on. But all that time went to waste when MC and their companion transformed and laid absolute waste to a group of demons who decided to mess with them.

Satan was no stranger to bloodbaths, but damn, the human was as efficient as could be, even in their sparkly little outfit…

Hm… the outfit…

Now Satan isn’t a simp… but he loves cute things…It’s a shame MC’s outfit seems to be more sheep themed than cat themed though…

Satan quickly tries to strike up some kind of friendship with MC, he loves to learn and he’s never seen anything like MC out of fiction. But as he learns more and more about this human, he kind of begins to fall for them.

Ugh… he’s a simp for cute things…

Satan’s one of the few that actually tries to get on the good side of MC’s animal companion. He brings it treats and brushes it’s wool and tells it what a good job it does helping MC. The sheep tells him to stop patronizing it. Satan gets over that quickly and continues to baby it.

Satan isn’t too bothered by Solomon, mainly because he’s wreaking bloody vengeance down on whomever decided to interrupt his and MC’s hangout session/date. Honestly, with Satan around MC barely even needs to fight, they can just watch the Avatar of Wrath do his thing.

Asmodeus

Asmo is just so happy that Lucifer picked such a cute human for the exchange program! Cute knows cute, and Asmo’s alarms were ringing!

After a few failed attempts to charm MC and… *ahem*… invite them to an “Asmo gathering” during the first few days, the Avatar of Lust just gives up. Ugh, lame.

Until of course, a post on Devilgram goes absolutely viral and Asmo takes a look at it. Was that… the human? Kicking ass in high heels?! GASP! A KINDRED SPIRIT! He must find them and ask what their secret is!

He doesn’t even register that they’re a proper magical girl until Levi explains. Asmo deadass just thought MC was a sorcerer with style.

Asmo’s another brother who takes an interest in the little magical girl companion. It’s just so so sooooo cute!! And it gives honest fashion advice! Very few give Asmo honest critiques these days…

But anyway~ back to MC. When it comes to their outfit, Asmo absolutely adores it don’t get him wrong, it’s just that… why doesn’t the look, y’know, update with current trends? It’s going to look awful stale in the next couple of years and Asmo’s just trying to help!

And about MC and Solomon teaming up to fight some bitches, yeah, Asmo already knew that Solomon could rock a skirt and some extensions, and listen, Asmo would join in with the fight but his nails haven’t finished drying… give him a minute dammit!

Once he does join in, MC makes a note that Asmo would be absolutely fantastic as a Magical girl. A very violent magical girl, but a fantastic one nonetheless.

Beelzebub

Okay, Beel was very distracted with thinking about his next meal when he met MC for the first time, and he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why everyone seemed so interested in them. They smelled a bit like dollar store glitter, and it’s really unappetizing :/

But the human’s nice, and that’s good. Nothing too notable other than that.

…until the display in the cafeteria where MC absolutely decimated some rando. The spectacle allowed Beel to snag some extra tater tots, which was much appreciated! :D

Seeing MC selflessly fly headfirst into danger to help others is really inspiring! It reminds him a bit of how he’ll go in to protect his brothers in battle if necessary.

…the fights are also great lunchtime entertainment so keep it up, MC.

Tragically, Beel saw the magical girl wand and… he just… he just took a bite out of it. He said it looked like a lollipop! He couldn’t help it! He was hungry and it looked just so delicious…

Beel got an earful from both the sheep companion, and MC.

At least Beel didn’t try and eat the sheep companion…

…more than once.

When Beel helps out with fights, it’s less… bloody. Mainly because he just unhinges his jaw and eats people whole. Terrifying, efficient, but not very magical girl-y.

Belphegor

Belphie knew something was up with that human the moment they stepped foot in the attic. The way they… sparkled, was just weird. As much as Belphie hated to remember, he spent a damn lot of time around humans and none of them did that.

Well, except for the magical ones, but even then…

Belphie toyed with the human like normal, appealing to their sense of decency to pwease get him out of the attic 🥺 he just made a widdle mistake… he wouldn’t hurt a fly…

Yeah, he wouldn’t hurt a fly because those are his brother’s familiars, MC however, he would just love to maim.

Them and their stupid sparkly sheep plushie…

When Lesson 16 rolled around, Belphie got the shock of a lifetime when the human transformed into some frilly outfit (complete with heels) and gave him a kick to the gut that sent him sprawling.

The fight was brief, and Belphie’s years of experience and sheer amount of bloodlust ended up winning him the battle, but he didn’t exactly leave unscathed either.

But after all that nonsense, Belphie can’t help but follow in his twin’s footsteps and admire MC.

While their costume is quite… extravagant… Belphie would rather cuddle MC in their normal outfit. There’s less of a chance of getting a ribbon stuck in his mouth that way.

He also cuddles the crap out of the little magical sheep companion, much to its chagrin.

While MC fights, Belphie’s happy to sit on the sidelines with Levi and cheer. He’s far too sleepy for fighting… he just hopes that MC won’t be too covered in blood and gore that it stains his bedsheets and makes them all crusty :/

———————

Author’s note

This was really fun! Thanks for the request!! We stan violent magical girl MC!

[troquantary]

Edward Cullen: That Boy Ain’t Right

So I was doing a reread of @therealvinelle 's collection of Twilight metas, as one does, and in "Edward, Denial, and a Human Girlfriend" she mentions that she doesn't believe Edward is sane. I thought, "ha, yeah, he's definitely not," and also, "but wait, what does that mean exactly, please say more about that." But since she's already inundated with asks, I've decided to use my own head-muscle and explore this idea. (TL;DR: I start out more or less organized, synthesize some points Vinelle has made across several posts (and have hopefully linked to them all where relevant but please tell me if not), touch a little on narcissism, then take a hard left into the negative effects of being a telepath.)

Just a couple things to note at the outset, though. Theses have been written already (probably) about Edward as an abuser. Edward being insane doesn't negate that at all; he's definitely an asshole and just...a disaster of a human being. (I find it more funny than anything, but YMMV.) I'm also going to try to avoid talking specifically about mental illness and how it relates (or doesn't relate) to abusive behavior -- that's territory I'm not really equipped to discuss, like at all. My starting point is "Edward has a deeply warped perception of reality," not "Edward has X disorder."

So: deeply warped perception of reality. The evidence? Goes behind a cut, because my one character trait is Verbose.

Vinelle provides a great example of it in the post linked above, which I'll just quote because she does words good: "[Edward] keeps acting like his romance with Bella is a romantic tragedy, and all the cast of Twilight are actors on a stage making it as sublime as possible." Edward's the one to pursue Bella, but he does so with the full belief, from the very beginning, that it will never last; Bella will "outgrow" him, go on her human way, and he can spend the rest of eternity brooding magnificently over his too-short romantic bliss. [Insert premature ejaculation joke.] Turning her is never an option, even though Alice, Noted Psychic, says that romancing Bella will either end with her dead (exsanguinated) or dead (vampire).

This framing, where he's a dark anti-hero in love with -- but never tainting! -- the pure maiden and eventually leaving her in a grand, tragic sacrifice to preserve her soul? It's fucking bonkers. Bella isn't a person to him in this scenario. As Vinelle points out, Bella's never really a person to him at all; he falls in love with his own mental construct, cherry-picking from what he observes of her behavior and her responses to his 20 (thousand) Questions to convince himself that she is the ideal woman.

Bella's not the only one who gets the projection/cardboard-cutout treatment. Edward sees everything and everyone through a highly particular, personalized lens. He filters his entire reality, which we all do to an extent, but the thing with Edward is that he starts with his conclusions and then only pays attention to the evidence that supports those conclusions. Often that evidence consists of what he admits in New Moon are only "surface" thoughts -- but recognizing that limitation doesn't keep him from taking those thoughts as representative of what people are. Edward then becomes absolutely convinced by his own "reasoning" and won't be swayed from what he has decided is Objectively True. It's obvious with Bella; it's also painfully obvious with Rosalie. (Vinelle explains this and brings up Edward's raging Madonna/Whore complex in the same post, so refer to that again -- she's right.)

He also catastrophizes. Everything. Bella's just vibing in her room, rereading Wuthering Heights for the 87th time? She's gonna be hit by a meteor, better sneak into her room while she sleeps. Bella's going to the beach with the filthy mundanes their human classmates? She's gonna fall in the ocean. Jasper's cannibal pals are stopping by for a visit, but know not to hunt in the area? DISASTER, DEFCON 1, ALSO FUCK YOU JASPER FOR EVEN EXISTING IN MY AND BELLA'S SPHERE YOU UNSPEAKABLE BURDEN. Edward must believe that Bella is vulnerable and in near-constant peril, to support the reality he has created in which he is the villain turned protector and maybe?? hero??? (!!!) for his beloved. So when the actual, James-shaped danger arrives, he goes berserk, snarling and flipping his shit and generally not helping the situation. His fantasy demands that Bella remain human, so instead of doing the very thing Alice, Noted Psychic, assures him will neutralize the threat (and not just a threat to Bella, either, but to Bella's family and any other human James might decide to include in the "game"), he vetoes it immediately, no discussion. Bella Must Not Turn, and he sticks to those guns despite James nearly reducing her to ground beef, despite leaving Bella catatonic with depression (but human! success!) in New Moon, despite Aro's order and his family's vote and, let's not forget, Bella's clearly and repeatedly stated desire to be a vampire. It's going to happen. But he doesn't accept it until Renesmee busts out of Bella like the Kool-Aid man and the poor girl's heart finally, unequivocally stops.

Sane people don't behave this way. I don't want to slap labels on Edward, but I can't help but note that he comes across as highly narcissistic. He's the only real person in his universe, the lone player among us NPCs. That probably has a lot to do with him being frozen in the mindset and maturity of a seventeen-year-old boy, but I think it's also just...him, on some fundamental level. His failure to connect with others and recognize them as full, independent beings with their own wants and priorities isn't like Bella's failure -- she's badly depressed. Edward is...something else, and I get the sense that his sanity has been steadily deteriorating over time. And a cursory google of narcissistic traits turns up some familiar-looking stuff. He's self-loathing, yes, but also grandiose; he hates himself for the monster he is (and hates most vampires besides Esme and Carlisle for their monstrosity, too) but still feels superior to humans, to the extent that he felt entitled to human blood and resented Carlisle for depriving him of his "proper" diet. He eventually returns to Carlisle, but he's far from content -- the beginning of Midnight Sun finds him in a state of ennui, bored and dismissive of (if not outright disgusted by) everyone around him, that has apparently persisted for years and years. He doesn't play the piano, he doesn't compose, he doesn't enjoy anything...at least until Bella comes along and then he becomes obsessed to a disturbing degree with her and his new, romantic tragedy spin on reality.

[Next-day edit: I’m not sure where else to fit this in, but the way Edward casually contemplates violence against people who have, at best, mildly annoyed him is...chilling. I have a hard time writing off his strategizing how to murder the entire Biology class as a result of bloodlust -- it’s so calculated, nothing like the blackout state of thirst Emmett describes when he encountered his own “singer,” and that is probably the default for when a vampire is extremely thirsty. But even ignoring the Biology class incident, Edward still does things like consider, with disturbing frequency, how he might grievously injure or kill Mike Newton, all because...Edward considers him his romantic rival (despite Bella barely giving the kid the time of day). He thinks about slapping Mike through a wall, which might be an amusing slapstick image, except as a vampire Edward’s actually capable of turning this boy’s skeleton to a fine powder. So it’s, y’know, kind of sick when you think about it.

But even worse than that, when Bella tells Edward about how she flirted with Jacob to get at that sweet, sweet vampire lore, Edward chuckles and then, after dropping Bella home, flippantly observes that now that the treaty’s broken, why not genocide? I’m not even kidding, it’s right there in Midnight Sun; he seriously thinks about the fact that he’d be technically justified now in wiping out the entire tribe because a teenager tried to impress a girl with a spooky story. That is fucked. Remember, Edward was there with Carlisle when the treaty was first established. He knows how remarkable it is that they even came to a truce in the first place, that it was only ever possible because Carlisle is...well, Carlisle, and that it marks a pretty significant moment in supernatural history. He doesn’t care; he doesn’t respect it, or he’d never think something like “Ha ha, if I went and killed them all, I wouldn’t even be wrong. I mean, I won’t do it, but I’m just saying, I wouldn’t be wrong.”

Again: not the thought process or behavior of a sane person. (Or a person that respects life in general -- sorry Carlisle, big L.)]

Finally, whether he's a narcissist or not, I think the fact that Edward has constant, unavoidable access to everyone's thoughts is a powerful contributing factor to his instability. He can tune out the mental noise to an extent, but he can't stop it -- so he comes to rely on it like another sense. This causes issues with disconnect and lack of empathy, of course, but there's another facet to this shit diamond: he's basically experiencing a ceaseless flow of intrusive thoughts. His narration in Midnight Sun suggests that he "hears" the words people think, can "see" what they visualize in their mind's eye, and can sense the emotional "tone" and intensity of their thoughts. Therefore, perceiving Jasper's thirst through his thoughts makes Edward more aware of his own, "doubling" the discomfort. This would be a lot to deal with even from just his immediate coven members, but Edward gets all of this pouring into his head like a firehose on a day-to-day basis because the Cullens live right alongside humans. I know Meyerpires have galaxy brains or whatever, but that's a ton to process.

Besides the compounding effect on his own thirst when he "feels" the thirst of others, Meyer never suggests that Edward has difficulty separating his own thoughts from other people's; even when he was newly turned, he recognized Carlisle's "voice" in his head as Carlisle's. That would create a whole different host of issues around identity, but it looks like Edward's escaped that particular torment. However, I can easily imagine that what he does experience is just shy of unbearable nonetheless, with an eroding effect on his sanity over decades. He can't sleep to escape it; he's on a dishwater diet and probably (like the rest of his family) experiencing a perpetual, low-grade physical discomfort due to his thirst never being fully satisfied; and he's around far more people than is the norm for vampires -- even discounting all the humans, his own coven is unusually large -- meaning more noise.

Honestly, it would be weirder if he were all there, considering.

And even though I feel like I lost a sense of structure around where I started ranting about telepathy, I've written like 1.5k words about Edward fucking Cullen and I think that's enough for one post.

[darkshrimpemotions]

i don't want to be rude or sound classist or some other form of assholishness but you can literally see the people who are too young to have ever had a non - summer gig job in their life on the internet everytime actors/networks relationships are discussed and it's not specific to the spn fandom

Yeah like. Okay I don't know a TON about the ins and outs of television specifically but I know enough about gig work to know that it's NOT as autonomous as people who've never done it like to think it is.

I also think there's this idea that because actors generally have a high net worth that they can do whatever they want. And while that might be true to an extent for like, an A-list celebrity with hundreds of millions of dollars to their name (though ask ScarJo about the limits of that), it's not necessarily true for a television actor.

And like. Yes. Jensen Ackles makes more money than I will ever see in my life, but he doesn't make remotely enough to justify skipping offered jobs when he's essentially a very well-paid gig worker who no longer has a steady guaranteed year-to-year paycheck coming, and that's assuming there's nothing in his contract with Warner Brothers to prevent him from saying no.

Even if there isn't, office politics don't disappear just because you don't work in a literal office. If anything, I imagine they're stickier than ever for a gig worker in an industry where everybody knows each other and everybody talks to the press on a regular basis.

Not to mention one of the key people involved is well known for a) being unable to keep his mouth shut on social media and b) having a fanbase that thinks death threats, stalking, doxxing, and organizing targeted smear campaigns to get actors fired are perfectly acceptable reactions to anything they feel threatens or mildly inconveniences their fave.

Can you imagine a scenario where Jensen turns down another offer to participate on Walker flat and J*red doesn't take it personally and make a stink about it on social media? Especially after the very public temper tantrum he threw over not being in the know about the prequel which then necessitated the hasty PR crap to make it seem like they're still Bestest Brothers? Because I can't.

It's entirely possible that Jensen jumped eagerly at the chance to direct an episode of Walker and just couldn't wait to work with J*red again.

But given the fact he's already turned J*red down at least twice with regards to Walker, that J*red has not been involved (or informed earlier than the general public) of any of his other projects, and that he moved several states away for apparently no reason despite lifelong personal and active business ties to Texas, to me it seems far more likely that it was just easier to appease J*red by directing an episode than deal with the fallout of refusing.

EDIT: To be clear, none of this is meant to justify participation in/profiting from racist propaganda. This is strictly about the "Jensen was forced/Jensen was eager to do it" argument. At the end of the day regardless of the truth, to quote Taylor Swift, he should've said no.

[beardedmrbean]

The Idaho chapter of The Satanic Temple (TST) withdrew from a Pride Month event for families and children after other sponsors dropped out following local news reports on the temple's intention to offer renunciations of Christian baptisms.

"We are so excited to announce that we will have a booth and be participating Coeur D'Alene's ‘Pride in the Park’ event next Saturday, June 11th from 10am-3pm!," Idaho TST wrote in now-deleted Facebook post reported on by NBC affiliate KOBI. "We will have merchandise for sale, be offering support to our community and performing unbaptisms for those interested! Just know, Satan loves you for you! Hail Satan!"

The "family-friendly" celebration, called "Pride in the Park," was hosted by the North Idaho Pride Alliance (NIPA) in Coeur d'Alene on Saturday. Dozens of masked men, suspected of being tied to a White nationalist group, were arrested near the event after they were found packed in the back of a U-Haul truck.

The Satanic Temple Idaho initially joined the ACLU of Idaho, Everytown for Gun Safety, Citizens' Climate Lobby, Ecumenical Catholic Communion Church, Idaho State Police District 1 and a local public library in sponsoring the event.

SATANIC TEMPLE TO SEND ‘HAIL SATAN’ DECALS TO KANSAS TOWN THAT REVERSED BAN ON ‘GOD’ FROM POLICE CARS

A spokesperson for NIPA told Fox News Digital that the Idaho Satanic Temple "dropped out of the event on their own accord and will not be present at Pride in the Park."

NIPA did not immediately respond to a follow-up query asking if their organization received backlash for TST's involvement in their event.

TST spokesperson Lucien Greaves told Fox News that TST's Idaho congregation pulled out of the event after receiving "a high volume of threats and harassing messages regarding their involvement," but said he heard they ultimately decided to withdraw in response to other sponsors pulling out in protest against TST being a part of it.

SATANIC TEMPLE REQUESTS BOSTON CITY HALL FLY FLAG CELEBRATING ‘SATANIC APPRECIATION WEEK’

"Apparently these sponsors are not willing to support the LGBTQ community if The Satanic Temple supports them too," said Greaves. "Having sought to assist with Pride, rather than cause conflict within it, our congregation opted to pull out so as not force organizers to accept that their real dedication to inclusion would deprive them of sponsorship from spineless, opportunistic corporations that seek to purchase an unjustified image of inclusivity, so long as it appears relatively uncontroversial to the mainstream consumer."

TEXAS LEGISLATOR TO INTRODUCE BILL BANNING CHILDREN FROM DRAG SHOWS AFTER ‘DRAG THE KIDS TO PRIDE’ EVENT

One of the events at "Pride in the Park" specifically promoted by TST included an offering of "unbaptisms." According to an explanation from TST of Austin, the ritual of unbaptism aligns with the Third Tenet of The Satanic Temple, which says: "One's body is inviolable, subject to one's own will alone."

Unbaptism is "an opportunity for those in the community who feel they were baptized without their consent to revoke their baptisms," according to TST Austin. "This ritual is intended to provide bodily liberation and catharsis to those who have been subjected to unwanted religious indoctrination."

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says baptism "is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit, and the door which gives access to the other sacraments."

Baptism for a Christian symbolizes "burial into Christ's death, from which he rises up by resurrection with him, as ‘a new creature,’" according to the catechism, which says Christians through baptism "are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission."

[scotianostra]

23rd August 1305 saw the trial and execution in London of Sir William Wallace, one time Guardian of Scotland.

I posted yesterday stating the trial happened then, it came u in a source I was reading about Wallace, sometimes the historians can get it wrong, but the post yesterday served as more of prelude and a taster of todays more detailed one. Wallace is said to have accepted his execution without resistance and a brave heart. He even made a final confession to a priest and read from the book of Psalms before his punishment.

Types of execution at The Elms ranged from burning at the stake (for heretics) to the tried and tested hanged-drawn-and-quartered method for those convicted of high treason. For those unfamiliar with this method, it involves being dragged by a horse to the place of execution, hanged  until almost dead, then disembowelled whilst still conscious, beheaded, and finally being chopped into four pieces (i.e. ‘quartered) and subsequently having these pieces put on display across the city, or in Sir William Wallace’s case, the country.

I think it only right to give a background post about Sir William Wallace so hang on to your hats, there’ll be no mention of French Princess’s, Blue painted Australians or the like. 

Much of what we know about Wallace comes from  Blind Harry, also known as Harry, Hary or Henry the Minstrel, is renowned as the author of The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace, more commonly known as The Wallace. The trouble is how reliable can Blind Harry’s account be, it was written over 150 years after Wallace's grisly demise, the stories about oor erstwhile hero would have been handed down through  word of mouth, possibly even in song. 

Harty claims that Wallace's father was named Malcolm, and on this basis Wallace has traditionally been identified as Sir Malcolm Wallace, a minor landowner from Renfrewshire. Sir Malcolm was a descendant of Richard Wallace, a native of the lordship of Oswestry on the Welsh border, (Wallace itself meaning Welshman),  who first came to Scotland in the twelfth-century in the service of Walter Fitz Alan, first High Steward of Scotland. This Stewart connection has also been used by historians to explain Wallace's place in the 'patriotic' struggle of the 1290s.

But  Harry’s story has some flaws, now I’m not decrying the story, just some details like his age.

No reliable evidence exists to gives us an estimate of his age. Harry claims that Wallace was 'forty and five [years] of age' when he was executed,  but also states that he was 'bot eighteen yer auld' shortly before the Battle of Stirling Bridge, which would place the year of his birth around 1278/9.

It shows how difficult it is to build a picture of Sir William.

The contemporary English chronicler William Rishanger implies that Wallace was a young man when he emerged as the leader of armed resistance to the English in southern Scotland in 1297, but this does little to narrow things down. According to Hary, Wallace was raised by his two uncles - both clerics - who saw to his education after his father was killed by an English knight named Fenwick

 One of his uncles was from Dunipace, a wee town not far from my home in Falkirk, it is through this uncle we get an oft quoted phrase  “This is the truth I tell you: of all things freedom’s most fine. Never submit to live, my son, in the bonds of slavery entwined.” The second pic shows part of the quote, it is on a paving stone on Falkirk High Street  that I often walk past.

He does seem to have had two brothers, Malcolm - who would provide Wallace with much-needed support in the later part of his career - and John - who would later be executed for supporting Robert Bruce after 1306. His activities before 1297 are also uncertain, but they may have been less than wholesome. Contemporary English accounts describe him as a 'brigand' and a 'thief', suggesting he may have lived outside the law even before the English invaded. Of course, these may simply be attempts by hostile writers to blacken his reputation. However, a legal document of August 1296 mentions 'a thief, one William le Waleys' as an accomplice of a cleric named Matthew of York who had in June of that year been convicted of robbery at Perth. This could well be our William.

Again I am not trying to blacken his character, I am merely pointing out the difficult job that historians have when piecing together his life. 

Whatever the details of his early life, following the English invasion of 1296 that Wallace first emerged into the mainstream of Scottish affairs in a big way. The death of King Alexander III in 1286, followed by the death of his granddaughter Margaret of Norway in 1290, had provoked a major succession crisis in Scotland. Efforts to settle the ongoing dispute between the competing Balliol and Bruce factions had led to increasing English interference in the governance of Scotland, culminating in a full-scale invasion of the kingdom in 1296. I’ve covered all this in posts regarding King John Balliol, the sacking of Berwick and  the first Battle of Dunbar all in 1296.

One of Wallace’s first encounters with the English is told in typically dramatic form by Blind Harry, the story goes that William was fishing  when he is accosted by five soldiers in the service of 'lorde Persye'  Henry Percy, 1st Baron Percy who was the warden of Galloway and Ayrshire .  The honest, unsuspecting Wallace offers them some of his fish so long as they leave the rest for his uncle - 'ane agyt knycht' - Wallace hopes to feed, but the soldiers demand all of his fish and attack him when he refuses them. Remarkably, Wallace disarms the first attacker using only a 'poutstaff' ('fishing pole'), seizes the discarded sword, kills two of the soldiers, severs the hand of another, and chases the survivors off! 

The earliest confirmed encounter between Wallace and the English administration occurred in May 1297, when Wallace and a small band of supporters killed William Heselrig, the English sheriff of Lanark, shortly before an assize was due to be held in the town. According to the indictment against him in 1305, Wallace and his men also dismembered Helelrig's corpse. Famously, Hary claims that Wallace's attack on Heselrig was in retribution for the killing of Wallace's wife - Marion Braidfute, as Harry identifies her. 

It is apparent from contemporary English accounts of the incident at Lanark that it proved to be a powerful recruiting tool for Wallace's rebellion. As Walter Guisborough put it, 'the common folk of the land followed him as their leader and ruler; the retainers of the great lords adhered to him; and even though the lords themselves were present with the English king in body, at heart they were on the opposite side'.

What I find remarkable is that the killing of the soldiers and then Heselrig kickstarted, the uprising against Edwards army and around 4 months Wallace and Andrew de Moray had assembled a combined army of over 6 thousand troops that ambushed the English as they crossed the Forth at Stirling.

Before Stirling we also had the capitulation of the Nobility at Irvine, I have also covered this in a previous post.

In the wake of the Scottish victory at Stirling Bridge, the English administration in Scotland all but collapsed. The Scots were once again able to form a government of their own, and at its head - now as Guardians of Scotland - were Wallace and Murray, although Murray's tenure was cut short when he died - probably of wounds sustained at Stirling Bridge - in November.

This was the zenith of Wallace's career. He had emerged from obscurity to the very summit of Scottish society, all in the space of a year. It also meant he had a price on his head and was the most wanted man in Scotland.

Edward I returned from the Continent in March 1298 and set his sights on Scotland, he marched with an army North in late June and quickly discovered that Wallace's response to the threat had been to devastate southern Scotland and withdraw with his army out of reach of the English. A bitter and frustrating campaign followed, with Edward almost abandoning the chase altogether. However, in late July Edward got wind that the Scots had been sighted near Falkirk, and hurriedly moved his army to meet them. 

Precisely why the confrontation at Falkirk happened is, as with so much of Wallace's career, uncertain. Until this point in the campaign Wallace had carefully avoided the English army, a prudent strategy that would later pay off for the Scots under Bruce. Guisborough claims that Wallace had learned that Edward planned to withdraw and hoped to attack the English in the rear. This would at least explain why Wallace so suddenly abandoned his previously cautious strategy. However, given the potential challenges he was facing from the nobility of Scotland it may equally have been the case that Wallace felt compelled to face the English in open battle sooner or later and prove that his success at Stirling Bridge - which was after all arguably at least as much Murray's as it was Wallace's - was not just a lucky accident. 

Whatever the case, the battle that followed was an utter catastrophe for the guardian. Abandoned by the cavalry, who may have lost their nerve as they had at Irvine or - as claimed by subsequent Scottish chroniclers - betrayed Wallace, Wallace's schiltrons - tightly-packed bodies of infantry armed with long spearmen - repelled the English cavalry but fell prey to English archery, which broke up their formations and left them vulnerable to a renewed assault by the cavalry. Wallace escaped the battle with his life, but his position as guardian had been irrevocably damaged. It is not entirely clear precisely when or where he resigned the guardianship, but by the end of 1298 Robert Bruce, earl of Carrick (the future king), and John Comyn, lord of Badenoch, were jointly exercising the office of guardian.

Wallace's time as guardian may have been decisively ended, but he remained an active opponent of the English in Scotland. The resistance he offered to the English in this period was not always in keeping with the wishes of the guardians. For instance, in August 1299 an altercation took place at a council at Peebles at which Wallace's plan to travel to France was condemned by Sir David Graham as being 'without the leave or approval of the Guardians'. Wallace's plans were defended by his brother Malcolm, who argued that they were at least 'for the good of the kingdom'

Wallace did indeed leave for France in 1299, apparently on a diplomatic mission to seek the support of King Philip IV against Edward I. Wallace's reception in France was initially hostile, since at the time Philip was himself seeking peaceful relations with Edward I, and Wallace was briefly incarcerated by the French king. However, in November 1300 Philip was writing to his envoys to the pope asking them to promote Wallace's case at the papal court. It is possible that Wallace himself visited to Rome assist in making the Scottish case to the pope in person, and the fact that when he was eventually he reportedly had on his person a safe-conduct from King Hakon V of Norway may suggest he also travelled to Norway on diplomatic business (although he may simply have planned to do so at some point). By 1303 - possibly earlier - he was back in Scotland and again involved in armed resistance to the English

By this point the tide in the war was slowly turning against the Scots. The French were once again pursuing a peaceful policy towards the English following their own military reversal at Courtrai in 1302. Scottish nobles were gradually making their peace with the English, and the surrender of Stirling Castle marked the effective end to organised Scottish resistance on a large scale. In light of his increasing success, Edward I was generally willing to be fairly accommodating towards those Scots who were willing to submit to him, but this was not so with Wallace. Indeed, in the general amnesty offered to the Scots by the English, Wallace might at best 'render himself up to the will and mercy of our sovereign lord the king, if it shall seem good to him' - hardly an encouraging prospect. When Wallace's long-standing cohort Simon Fraser submitted to Edward in July 1304, he was welcomed into the king's peace only on the understanding that he would assist in the ever-intensifying hunt for the fugitive Wallace. Nevertheless, Wallace remained at large until 3rd August 1305, when he was seized near Glasgow by men in the service of Sir John Menteith, keeper of Dumbarton Castle on behalf of King Edward. Menteith - identified as Wallace's 'gossop' ('godfather') by Harry.

Having finally captured Wallace, Edward I refused even to see him. Instead, Wallace was taken to London for what for want of a better word might be called a trial.

Sir Peter Malory, one of the king's justices, presided over the proceedings, which were little more than a formality. The charges were considerable. Wallace had, according his accusers, been a traitor to King Edward, perpetrated armed resistance against him and slain the king's officers (William Heselrig was mentioned by name), assumed the authority of 'a superior' of Scotland, submitted 'to the fealty and lordship of the lord king of France and [gave] him help to the destruction of the kingdom of England', made war on the northern counties of England, 'feloniously and seditiously assaulted, burned and devastated religious men and nuns...[and] inflicted [upon] all, old and young, wives and widows, children and babes the worst death which he could devise', and 'harmoniously and eagerly...refused to submit himself to the lord king's peace' even after being defeated at Falkirk. According to the Annals of London, he 'answered that he had never been a traitor to the king of England, but granted the other crimes charged against him'.

In the eyes of the English as an outlaw, Wallace had no recourse to a defence. Instead, he was summarily sentenced to be executed in the manner reserved for traitors. Wallace was thus 'dispolyeid of his weid' as Hary puts it and dragged naked on a hurdle through the streets of London. At Smithfield he was hanged by the neck 'for the robberies, homicides and felonies which he carried out in the kingdom of England and the land of Scotland'

Before he could suffocate he was taken down and emasculated and disembowelled 'for the dreadful wickedness which he did to the church'. His 'heart, liver and lungs and all the bowels...from which such perverse thoughts proceeded' were then burned. Presumably now dead, Wallace was beheaded - the punishment for outlawry - and his body was divided into four parts. His head was to be displayed on London Bridge (where it remained until at least September the following year, when it was joined by that of his former comrade Simon Fraser). The remaining quarters were to be displayed on gibbets at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Stirling and Perth, 'to put dread in and to warn all by-passers and observers'.

The savagery with which Wallace was dispatched contrasts sharply with Edward I's attitude toward the Scots in general, but let’s not forget it was the usual punishment for any person deemed to be a traitor.

However it appeared that Longshanks earlier experiences with the Scots had convinced the ageing English king that a more conciliatory approach to establishing a lasting English administration in the kingdom. Edward's new plan for the settlement of Scotland envisaged a ruling council composed primarily of Scots - including the likes of Bruce and Comyn - which would advise an English lieutenant who would retain overall authority. Scots law and custom was to be respected, at least in the short term, and it may have seemed to many at the time that the objections that had fuelled Wallace's original rebellion in 1297 had been addressed. 

As we know, the matter would be rendered moot less than six months after Wallace's death when Robert Bruce killed Comyn, forcing him to make public his ambition to become King of Scots. In many senses Bruce's struggle was quite unlike Wallace's, being primarily motivated by his own ambitions and perception of his rights. That being said, if Wallace had not maintained the momentum behind Scottish resistance to the English, particularly in the crucial year of 1297, then Bruce may never have had his opportunity to make his successful bid for power.

Pics are statues of Sir William Wallace around Scotland in order, Bemersyde near Dryburgh, Aberdeen, opposite His Majesty's Theatre,  Edinburgh Castle, Newmarket Street Ayr, St Nicholas Church, Lanark, Stirling Town Centre, The National Wallace Monument Abbey Craig, Stirling, showing it before and after it’s recent restoration,  Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh and his memorial at Smithfield, London. There are others around the world that remember the Scots Patriot who so bravely stood up to fight for his country.

[going-dead]

Lightning Scars and Listening Ears

Phic phight prompt by @datawyrms : Danny Phantom's jumpsuit is hiding a secret he'd rather not reveal to anyone. (feel free to be metaphorical if you want.) l

Team Human: @currentlylurking​

Most citizens of Amity Park often forgot that Phantom wasn’t human. Sure he would fly through the skies, turn invisible, and shoot ectoplasm at the ghosts who would attack the city on a daily basis, but the way he acted when not saving the city always seemed so alive. That’s where the problem lied though. The ghost kid wasn’t alive, a fact that Amity Park never actually thought much about.

Phantom was playing around with some kids in the park when it all happened. It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence to see the boy play with the younger citizens of the city, under their parents supervision most of the time. Seeing him give them piggyback rides and playing tag was actually a common sight when there were no ghosts to fight. Phantom had six different kids hanging off of his arms and legs, apparently trying to tackle him and get him to fall down. The group of parents laughed at the sight as the teenage hero fell to the ground admitting his defeat in a dramatic flourish. “Ahh you got me! Foul villains, you will regret this!” He laughed as he lunged at the closest kid and launched a tickle attack. Childish squeels rang out as the uncaptured children ran trying to avoid being tickled. The little girl in his arms was finally released from her attacker when she turned on Phantom and started to tickle him back. His laughter attracted the other kids who scattered and they joined the counter attack.

“I yield I yield!” He flailed his arms as a dozen little hands tickled any spot they could reach. The kids slowly let up their assault leaving the teen gasping for breath.

One of the children, the girl who started the attack on Phantom, pulled on his arm. “Mr. Phantom? What’s that did you get a owie?” She asked pointing to his neck where part of his jumpsuit wrinkled down revealing a few red raised streaks maring his skin.

Phantom froze eyes jumping over to the adults just a few feet over who had stopped their conversation to try to see what the young girl was asking about. He quickly pulled the collar of his suit back into place. He gave the girl and the other kids surrounding him a pained smile. “Yeah I did get an owie. Don’t worry though I’m fine, doesn’t even hurt anymore.” Suddenly blue frost escaped his lips, the adults sitting nearby never saw him more relieved to have a ghost show up than in that moment. He gave quick goodbyes to the kids before shooting off to find the day's threat to the city.

All the adults gathered waved over their respective kids. While they trusted Phantom to get rid of the threat it was always smart to stay inside during a ghost attack. A loud boom sounded in the direction where Phantom flew off, shaking the ground. They all gave each other uncertain looks. “My house is closest we can take shelter there.” One of the men said leading everyone away.

After a block of running the group was almost to shelter when the ghost fight moved over their heads. The adults grabbed onto the children doing their best to shield them from the flying debris. They held the kids against their chests as they watched the sky in horror. They didn’t recognize the attacking ghost, but it was certainly doing a number on Phantom. The rest of the battle lasted at most a minute when Phantom managed to suck up the ghost into his thermos before he seemed to wobble in the sky and falling to the ground creating a small crater where he landed.

The man who was leading the group passed off the kid he was holding to the man next to him. “David what are you-?”

“Brian just hold her.” He ran over to the fallen teen and picked him up in a fireman's carry and rushed the rest of the way to his house.

Once he arrived he kicked open the door and placed the teen onto the couch in his living room. He looked down trying to assess the situation. Phantom’s jumpsuit was torn in numerous places exposing spots of his arms, neck, and chest that had splatterings of green ectoplasm across the exposed flesh. He started taking the rest of the jumpsuit off of the teen wanting to make sure there were no hidden injuries underneath. Behind him he could hear his husband and the other parents come through the door. “Get me a wet rag and some warm water!” He yelled behind him.

Once he was handed the items he started working on cleaning up the cuts and wiping off the ectoplasm. He silently thanked any higher being out there that he took a first aid class a few years back. The wounds actually seemed less severe than what David initially thought, that or the kid had some seriously advanced healing. One of the parents led the kids upstairs while the rest of them crowded around David and Phantom.

Once Phantom was as patched up as he could be David finally sat back and actually took a full look at the boy. His breath caught in his throat as he examined the body infront of him. In the end all he could get out was.“Oh my god. He’s- he’s dead.”

“What the hell do you mean? Of course he’s not, I can clearly see him breathing right now.” One of the parents protested.

David shook his head. “No.” He went to run his hands down his face before spotting the blood- no the ectoplasm covering them and settled for grabbing onto his husband for support. “No, I mean he’s a ghost.”

“Well yeah he’s a ghost it’s not like that’s news now is it?” Brian said running his hand up and down his husband's back.

“You guys don’t get it.” David pulled back. “Think! Look!” He ran his hand through his hair, staining it green. “Look at him.” He pointed at the teen’s unconscious body. There were lightning shaped scars running all over the boy’s body, from the base of his neck trailing all the way down to his ankles. Those weren’t the only scars marring his body though, small scars were scattered all over his body, there was a rather large one on his abdomen in the same spot where he was hit the other week fighting off a ghost who was attacking the high school. The gathered adults looked back at Phantom’s face. As he slept he almost looked like a normal teenager, there were small bags under his eyes, his closed eyes hid the toxic green color, and the glow surrounding him was almost nonexistent.

Three things seemed to dawn on the parents all at once.

1: Phantom at some point had died

2: He died young, at most he was just out of middle school when it happened.

3: From the looks of it he didn’t die in his sleep but painfully. They all silently hoped that at least it wasn’t drawn out.

As they all looked at each other they couldn’t help but think of their own children who were just upstairs. Did Phantom have a family? Did his parents miss their little boy? Do they know that Phantom was their son? Even worse, the boy had a jumpsuit on when he died, was his parents the cause of his premature death?

Of course if Phantom was conscious, didn’t have to worry about the whole identity thing, and could read their minds the boy would quickly put their minds to rest responding; yes, no he sees them daily, god no, and sorta it really was more of a case of teenage stupidity than his parents fault though.

Two of those issues though were quickly resolved as two white rings shocked the group out of their grief for a boy they hardly knew. The rings traveled across the boy’s body replacing bare skin with street clothes and white hair with black. Everyone looked at Phantom(?) confused, the boy in front of them was very unghost-like and the scratch on his face that was previously bleeding green now had a red where the scab was forming.

“What the fu- wait isn’t that the Fenton kid, Danny I think?” David asked looking back at the other parents who were in the same amount of shock that he was. Actually he was positive it was him, his older sister Jazz used to babysit their daughter and he would sometimes come along. If someone was going to respond they were cut off as the boy in front of them started to stir and open his eyes. He sat up almost falling off the couch in his panic, thankfully David was quick enough to catch him. “Woah there Danny, be careful you took a pretty bad beating out there. Hell I’m surprised you’re already awake to be honest kid.”

Danny gave him a thankful smile as he steadied himself. He froze once he caught a glimpse of his hair, his eyes shot down to his clothes. He looked back up and noticed the group of adults in front of him. “Now before you jump to any conclusions there’s a very reasonable explanation for this, or there will be just give me a few minutes.” “Wait so does this mean you’re not dead?” Brian asked.

“Brian you can’t just ask that! What if it’s a sensitive subject?” David scolded his husband then looked over at Danny. “Sorry about him.”

Danny looked over to the men who for some reason had hope in their eyes. “What? It’s fine. I mean I guess no- well yes- no- sorta- it’s complicated.”

As Danny looked at the numerous questioning eyes he sighed. It’s not like he could convince them that it was a trick of the light or something. And he did owe them since they patched him up better than he would have been able to at home in his bedroom. But before he could start he turned to David. “I’ll tell you guys everything but first um… is that my ectoplasm in your hair and on your hands? Because if so you probably should wash that off, prolonged exposure isn’t harmful per say but you could start to glow or something if you don’t wash it off soon.”

David looked down to his hands, apparently just now remembering he was still covered in the boy’s ectoplasm and rushed to the bathroom to wash it off. He’d worry about why the sight of his own blood- ectoplasm didn’t phase Danny at all later.

Once David returned, now free of ectoplasm, Danny sat down and started from the beginning. At one point in the story he must have started to cry because he was handed a tissue box, which he accepted with a thanks. By the end he wasn’t the only one with tears in his eyes, one of the adults had to go into the kitchen to compose themselves. Danny didn’t really understand why though, sure he sort of half died, but he didn’t see why it would affect any of them. “Hey! It’s fine, I’m fine it’s not a big deal! I mean it’s not like it only happened to me. Vlad went through it too like 20 years ago.” Danny seized up after he said that. “Don’t tell him you know about him though! Me not telling anyone about him is the only reason he’s not trying to fully kill me when we fight. That and he has a weird obsession with my mom and me.”

David paused at that. “So you’re telling us that not only did you go through a highly traumatic situation at a young age, but the only adult that even knows about it has tried to kill you multiple times?”

“I mean I guess but Jazz, my sister, knows about it too and she’s older than me and my friends.”

“Danny she’s also still a kid, an older one sure, but she is not an adult. Even if you didn’t go to your parents, was there no one else you could have talked to about it with? A therapist maybe?” David asked.

Danny laughed. “Ah no, Jazz tried having me go to the school therapist but she turned out to be a ghost who wanted to try to cause as much pain as possible. She even almost killed Jazz in front of the whole school.”

“Dear god.” David sighed. “All right, we will all keep your secret on one condition.”  Danny cringed and looked down at his lap, of course there was a catch. He just hoped it wasn’t anything too bad like letting them run a bunch of experiments on him whenever they wanted to. His ghost injuries were bad enough to hide from others, he didn’t need to have to explain away needle marks or something. “You’ll see Brian once a week for therapy sessions. He’s a licensed psychiatrist.”

“Wait what?” Danny looked up confused.

“Oh don’t worry I won’t charge you of course since we are forcing you to do this, and obviously you can choose the day of the week. I usually don't work fridays or the weekends but if those are the only days that work I’m sure we can rearrange some of our family time to make room for you.” Brian smiled. “Now it’s getting pretty late isn’t it? I’m sure it’s about time everyone here starts to head home now hmm? Of course if you aren’t feeling well enough Danny I can call your parent’s up and just let them know you’ll be staying here. I’ll just tell them you were injured in a ghost fight, not exactly lying now is it?”

“Um no I’m fine enough to walk home thank you though.” Danny said. Everyone started saying their goodbyes and calling the children down to get them ready to leave. Danny was the last one left, he was almost out the door when he was stopped by David handing him a piece of paper.

“Here are our numbers, I also wrote down where Brian’s office is, you can set up your appointment over text. As well as our address, you can stop by or call us for any reason Danny and I mean it okay, any.”

Danny looked down at the paper and pocketed it with a nod. As he left he felt almost lighter for some reason. Maybe having adults who knew and didn’t want to kill him but actually wanted to help him wasn’t so bad after all.

[247megamania]

Anyone else think it’s weird that Alfendi admitted to shooting someone and suffered virtually no consequences? No? Just me? Well I need to get this off my chest so I’m going to make a post about it. 

Let’s define the apparent facts of the case. DCI (Detective Chief Inspector) Alfendi Layton went alone without his team or superior’s authorization or knowledge to apprehend Keelan Makepeace, who was a suspected serial killer. The two men ended up on a tower in a castle in the rain with their guns drawn on each other. Alfendi shot Makepeace twice, killing him, and Makepeace shot Alfendi once, putting him in a coma for an unspecified length of time.

Alfendi probably faced criminal charges for the death of Makepeace. He even tells us in game that when he woke up from his coma, he went to court and confessed to the shooting. To see how this would play out for him, let’s compare it to a real life case.

In 1998 in the UK, a man named James Ashley was shot and killed by police in his flat. The police were there on a raid, having received information that there were drugs and a gun in the apartment, and to arrest the man in question for his possible involvement in a stabbing. James Ashley was unarmed and not aggressive. The officer who shot him faced murder charges but was acquitted on grounds of self defense. If you want to read more, check out the Wikipedia article, it’s very interesting. 

Given that Makepeace not only had a firearm but was wielding it at the time and actually shot Alfendi, getting Alfendi off the hook on the basis of self defense would be pretty simple, and that’s likely what his lawyer did. Whoever his lawyer was. Probably not Pheonix Wright, who would have pursued a not guilty verdict no matter what his client said. 

So Alfendi didn’t have to go to jail. But that doesn’t mean he got off scot free. His actions would have been scrutinized by his superiors and would have reflected very badly on him. He left on his own to chase down a dangerous criminal, an action which endangered him, his team, and the criminal. He did not respond to Justin Lawson’s explicit instructions to stand down and engaged in an extremely stupid stand off with an armed suspect, throwing protocol completely out the window. As a result, he was demoted from DCI to DI (Detective Inspector) and stuffed in a back office, which is where Lucy finds him at the start of Layton Brothers: Mystery Room. A fairly light punishment, all things considered, but perhaps his near death was taken into account when the decision was made.

After the truth of the matter came out, would Alfendi be restored to his previous rank? Probably not. It was proved he didn’t kill Makepeace, but no acceptable explanation was discovered for why he took off alone. We still don’t know why he did. Alfendi either doesn’t remember or won’t tell us, and Justin just says that he was trying to be a hero. People probably thought he was glory-hungry, impatient, or obsessed. Maybe he was. But I like to think he was smart enough not to try to chase down a known serial killer in a mysterious abandoned castle alone, at least not without a good reason. Here are my theories:

1. Justin manipulated him into going ahead alone in order to frame him for the death of Makepeace. This one is tricky to pull off but not impossible. Maybe Justin discussed the raid with Makepeace beforehand, making the serial killer believe that he’d arrange a way for him to escape. Then, when Makepeace and Alfendi were just where he wanted them, he betrayed and shot Keelan but was unable to bring himself to finish off Alfendi. I like this but I think it gives Justin too much credit. I think the majority of what happened at Forbodium was improvisation rather than planned.

2. Keelan (by threats or by trickery) manipulated Alfendi into meeting him there alone. Maybe, since Alfendi was the one to solve the case and identify Makepeace as the killer, Keelan wanted to meet and kill him in person. Or maybe Makepeace took an interest in the son of the illustrious Professor Layton, going so far as to wear the trademark orange shirt with brown jacket for the event. This would be cool because it means Diane was echoing her father when she blackmailed Alfendi into coming alone to Forbodium for her “tea party”. She forced him to knowingly walk into a trap. Wouldn’t it be neat if her father did the same thing? 

3. Alfendi discovered on the day of the raid that someone was sabotaging the investigation. If he told Commissioner Barton about the saboteur, the raid could get called off, allowing Makepeace escape to kill again, but if the raid was allowed to proceed as planned, the saboteur could manipulate the situation to ensure Makepeace’s escape or death. Alfendi honestly thought his best option would be to bring Makepeace in himself. That was the only plan he could think of where he could be sure no one would die. It didn’t work, obviously, but it was worth a shot (no pun intended) (nevermind pun absolutely intended).

What are your theories? I’d love to hear them. Thank you for reading this long post and have a fantastic day.

Edit 1/22/22: I fixed a typo and added a phrase.

[astradrifting]

This is kind of inspired by this recent ask I sent to @esther-dot about Jon’s characterisation and Jonsa shippers’ apparent disregard for it, because it made me think of another part of Jon’s characterisation that is really integral to who he is. Mainly, that Jon really loves his brothers. Especially Robb. His rival and best friend and constant companion. Jon envies him, competes with him, buried a formative traumatic memory where he was deeply hurt by him... but ultimately loves him. Complex relationships with his brothers, both the Starks and his Night’s Watch brothers, are a running theme in Jon’s chapters.

Speaking of Jon’s brothers...

Aegon VI and Robb have a lot of potential parallels, actually. The “Young” moniker, red-haired counselors who are also their parents, trained to be the heir to a great kingdom from a young age, the barely younger half-brother Jon borne of their father’s dishonour of their mother… one that they might both have a good relationship with despite that?

The show tried to play with Jon ‘accepting’ his Targaryen lineage through the jonerice romance, very unconvincingly because it was simultaneously undermining it at every opportunity, in what was maybe a half-assed attempt at Pol!Jon (”They’ll all come to see you for what you are” isn’t anything but a threat in all contexts).

Jon will ultimately choose the Starks over everything else, that’s not really a question. But if Jon were to genuinely connect with another Targaryen, it’d likely be easier for him to find kinship with a half-brother than with an aunt - he has a basis for positive relationships with trueborn half-brothers, while the only aunt figure he’s ever known about is a) long dead and b) actually his mother. I think it’d both make more sense and be more compelling for GRRM to leverage Jon’s existing complex relationships with brotherhood by having him interact with and build a relationship with Aegon, than a rushed and out-of-character romance with Dany. 

Jon also is already primed to believe that Aegon is the real deal, that he was saved as a baby, because he’s already done the exact same thing himself - he swapped out a baby of royal blood who was in danger for a common-born boy, and then sent him halfway across the world for safety (side note: if Septa Lemore is Ashara, and if the baby was actually Ashara’s son as theorised here by @agentrouka-blog, that would just strengthen the parallel, because it would be his body double’s mother caring for him, as Gilly has to do for Mance’s son).

They’re definitely going to come into conflict first - politically, Jon will likely be in a position of power in the North by the time they meet, maybe as the KitN through Robb’s will or regent for Rickon, and probably will fight for Northern independence, while Aegon is fighting to be king of the Seven Kingdoms, not 6. Personally, it will be hard to get past the fact that Jon is the direct result of Rhaegar dishonouring Elia, plus that the Kingsguard who should have been protecting her were all stationed in Dorne, guarding Jon’s mother (in whatever capacity). But these interactions, a conflict and eventual friendship/brotherhood between them, would all be a lot more layered than jonerice can really offer. If a relationship between Jon and Dany was truly all that GRRM has been building up to, then there would have been no need for R+L=J - it adds nothing to that storyline, it doesn’t even make it a forbidden romance, because aunt-nephew is hardly the worst incest the Targaryens have engaged in.

It’s almost inevitable that Da*nerys is going to kill Aegon VI/Young Griff in the books, likely by burning him with dragonfire, in the Second Dance of the Dragons. The weird Dragonpit meeting in the show was very contrived, but it does make sense for Dany to meet the ruler on the Iron Throne at least once in a semi-peaceful context. In the show, she used her dragons only to intimidate Cersei, but she didn’t have a personal grievance with her. Aegon is in much more danger during such a meeting. After all she will think he is a pretender, and she doesn’t much care for the rules of safe conduct, as she showed to the envoys from Yunkai.

Dany shrugged, and said, "Dracarys."

The dragons answered. Rhaegal hissed and smoked, Viserion snapped, and Drogon spat swirling red-black flame. It touched the drape of Grazdan's tokar, and the silk caught in half a heartbeat. 

[...]

"You swore I should have safe conduct!" the Yunkish envoy wailed.

"Do all the Yunkai'i whine so over a singed tokar? I shall buy you a new one... if you deliver up your slaves within three days. Elsewise, Drogon shall give you a warmer kiss." She wrinkled her nose. "You've soiled yourself. Take your gold and go, and see that the Wise Masters hear my message."

(ASOS, Dany IV)

"Ah, there is the thorn in the bower, my queen," said Hizdahr zo Loraq. "Sad to say, Yunkai has no faith in your promises. They keep plucking the same string on the harp, about some envoy that your dragons set on fire."

"Only his tokar was burned," said Dany scornfully.

(ADWD, Dany VI)

So Dany will burn the Blackfyre pretender, and everyone will be happy and cheer to see the rightful queen, the last Targaryen, Slayer of Lies, Breaker of Chains, Insert-The-Million-Other-Titles-Here. Right?

Except how would she prove that he’s an imposter? She can’t exactly roll up with an Alt Shift X video pointing out that Illyrio has said some weird things about Aegon. Is Varys going to have an attack of remorse and explain his whole plot, complete with Blackfyre family tree? Or maybe she’ll explain that she went on a vision quest in Qarth and Aegon totally matches up with the vague symbolism that a bunch of drugged up warlocks told her before she set them on fire?

I don’t think it’s going to matter if Aegon is fake or not, and we might never find out either way. The mystery of his identity isn’t his main narrative, and all of his significance to the story and to multiple other characters is removed if he’s proved to not be Aegon VI. Him being proved fake would just make this plotline a weird, unnecessary digression on Dany’s journey to being the righteous and true queen, his death just another #girlboss moment for her. That’s definitely going to be her perception of it, but once she reaches Westeros we won’t have to rely on only her POV of her actions. History is written by the winners, and no one’s going to miss that it’s a lot more convenient for Dany if the boy with a stronger claim than her turns out to have been fake all along. Arianne and the Dornish are definitely not going to take it lying down, and neither is Jon. He’s not going to fall in love with the woman who murdered his brother, especially by burning him alive. ADWD has plenty to say about how much he hates death by fire.

“Men say that freezing to death is almost peaceful. Fire, though … do you see the candle, Gilly?”

She looked at the flame. “Yes.”

“Touch it. Put your hand over the flame.”

Her big brown eyes grew bigger still. She did not move.

“Do it.” Kill the boy. “Now.”

Trembling, the girl reached out her hand, held it well above the flickering candle flame.

“Down. Let it kiss you.”

Gilly lowered her hand. An inch. Another. When the flame licked her flesh, she snatched her hand back and began to sob.

“Fire is a cruel way to die. Dalla died to give this child life, but you have nourished him, cherished him. You saved your own boy from the ice. Now save hers from the fire.”

(ADWD, Jon II)

Funnily enough, the same fire as a kiss imagery from Dany burning the envoy’s tokar appeared there too, also used as a threat. 

If he is not a kinslayer, he is the next best thing. [...] What sort of man can stand by idly and watch his own brother being burned alive?

(ADWD, Jon IX)

So Aegon’s death is not going to be a triumphant victory for Dany, after which everyone proclaims her the true queen. It’s likely to just solidify opposition to her, from every corner of Westeros. If it happens during a summit or negotiation, it’d be even more of a tragic parallel to Robb and the Red Wedding; the young king murdered off of the battlefield, at an event where he was promised safe conduct. Featuring Dany in the role of Roose Bolton and Tywin Lannister. Tywin’s already died a very undignified death, and Roose Bolton looks to be on his way too.

I think the tragedy of Aegon’s death would also hit harder if we see it through Jon, as a main POV, or at least the aftermath of it. Jon was integral at the Dragonpit meeting after all, and probably would be at a peace summit or negotiation between the leaders of Westeros and the invading force.

In ASOS, there’s a curious lack of Jon’s reaction to Robb’s death. We see his initial reaction to Bran and Rickon’s supposed deaths when he gets back to Castle Black, but he doesn’t even know about Robb’s death until Stannis arrives to defeat the wildlings, and we’re not shown the moment he’s told about it. He barely even thinks about it, not even a mention until he meets with Stannis on top of the Wall:

“Your brother was the rightful Lord of Winterfell. If he had stayed home and done his duty, instead of crowning himself and riding off to conquer the riverlands, he might be alive today. Be that as it may. You are not Robb, no more than I am Robert.”

The harsh words had blown away whatever sympathy Jon might have had for Stannis. “I loved my brother,” he said.

(ASOS, Jon XI)

And that’s literally all we get that is specifically about Robb’s death - the rest of Jon’s chapters, his guilt and grief is about the loss of all his siblings, and the idea of stealing Winterfell from them. It doesn’t really make sense for him to not think about it at all, considering how close they were. This reminds me of how he has a non-reaction to Sansa’s marriage to Tyrion as well, as talked about in this post by @agentrouka-blog. Part of this could be Jon’s tendency towards denial and suppression of all his feelings, but it also points to GRRM explicitly obscuring his reaction - perhaps because he’s going to explore it in the wake of another brother dying a very similar death? One that this time he’ll be there to witness?

[robininthelabyrinth]

Spilled Pearls

- Chapter 27 - ao3 -

Matters settled, eventually, and just as eventually, it started getting better.

At first, Lan Qiren wasn’t sure if matters were actually better, or if he’d just grown numb and accustomed, but after the past year and more he thought that there was a serious possibility of it being the former rather than the latter.

Probably the biggest difference was the birth of little Lan Huan, who’d joined the world as a fat and squalling infant that Lan Qiren had loved at first sight and sleepless night – he was still too young to be separated from his mother, or at minimum his wetnurse, but Lan Qiren made a practice of visiting every few days to try to prepare himself for caring for him. The women were generally happy to shove the baby into his arms and let him play guqin or xiao for him until he fell asleep. Apparently Lan Huan was actually a very peaceable baby, an assertion which Lan Qiren had initially doubted on account of the circles under everyone’s eyes, but when he’d said so, the wetnurse had glared at him and pronounced that saying such things meant that the next child would be a true wild terror, and probably a biter to boot.

The frequency of Lan Qiren’s visits was actually less about Lan Huan, although he liked his nephew very much, and more about trying to establish a precedent for visitation. He hoped, eventually, to be able to bring Lan Huan to see his mother on such a frequent basis, once or even twice a week, knowing as he did that He Kexin lacked the temperament for seclusion. To his regret, she’d ended up spoiling that plan not long after she’d recovered from her pregnancy, misinterpreting his frequent visits as an interest in her, and he’d been forced to cut back for a while out of sheer disgust at the mere concept. He bitterly scolded her in his mind for being seemingly incapable of seeing any other reason that he would visit so often, especially during the times that Lan Huan was already asleep, although he suspected in his heart that the real reason was simply likely a longing for a connection with the only other person she regularly saw. 

He still had hope of negotiating regular visits with his sect elders, eventually, but now he knew he’d probably be lucky if he managed to make it once every fortnight, when originally he’d hoped for twice a week.

Disturbing female disciples is prohibited, after all. Lan Qiren had a very good reputation, being widely known to be frigid as a stick of ice, using his brother’s terms, but there was only so much he could do when there was known to be an expressed interest on the other side, especially an interest of adulterous nature. And couple that with what had happened between them before…

At least she’d restrained herself to only making a verbal offer, this time.

Lan Qiren did not know how to explain to He Kexin in a way that she would understand that although he visited her regularly as a matter of duty, and although he was the only person other than his brother with whom she regularly conversed, he did not enjoy his time with her – that he blamed her in part for the destruction of his dreams, the shattering of his heart in a way that would likely never heal, even though he did not blame her for his brother’s obsession with her. It was not her fault that his brother had fallen in love with her, or that he had taken such extreme measures for her, and yet…

“She’s still a bitch,” Cangse Sanren announced, and her new husband smothered a snicker in his sleeve. “What? She is.”

Lan Qiren sighed, and Wei Changze, smiling, made an excuse to depart and let them talk between themselves. He was a good man, with an irrepressible sense of humor that regularly made Cangse Sanren laugh without any shame at all, howling and hooting like a monkey. He had courted her assiduously even after she’d departed the Lotus Pier, headed off to complete her education regarding the mortal world in the various Great Sects, and yet had been oblivious to the fact that she treated their liaison as a serious one – perhaps he had only truly believed that she would give herself to him when they actually married, their interminably long courtship finally ending the way any blind man would have guessed it would from the very beginning.

“I asked you to come here so that you could meet A-Huan,” Lan Qiren said. “Not to relitigate the matter of He Kexin, who at any rate is already suffering the punishment for her unwise actions.”

“Unwise is an understatement. She killed a man! On no basis, and without even a formal challenge! If she’d just kept her sword in her sheath and not jumped ahead three steps –”

“I’m aware.”

Cangse Sanren made a rude noise, but settled back, grumbling. “The baby’s cute, though,” she added begrudgingly. “Looks like you.”

Lan Qiren rolled his eyes. “Yes, thank you, he is my nephew. To the extent you can identify any traits whatsoever in a roly-poly puppy like A-Huan, they’re family features.”

“Of which you’re the finest representative!”

Lan Qiren gave her a look, and she grinned unrepentantly at him. “Heartbreaker,” she teased, but a moment later her smile faded. “Have you spoken with your brother?”

Lan Qiren’s gaze dropped to the table. “There’s no need,” he said. “He has always been torn between pride in his capability and the admiration of others on one hand, and a yearning to retreat from the world and its annoyances in order to focus fully on his cultivation on the other. Other than occasionally meeting with his wife, he is now able to wholly focus on the latter, and unlike He Kexin, his temperament is suited to the strictness of our seclusion practices.”

“There might not be a need,” Cangse Sanren agreed. “Did you speak with him anyway?”

“Once,” Lan Qiren said, voice short. After a few long moments, he added, a little painfully: “He said that our father had always seen seclusion as a means to reunite with his wife.”

Cangse Sanren hissed in a manner not unlike a very angry cat, or possibly an agitated snake, her eyes very nearly turning red from rage: naturally she knew about the whole awful background, the many years of age between Lan Qiren and his brother and the way his brother had always blamed Lan Qiren’s belated birth for the death of their mother, and by extension the shattering of their father’s heart when she left him behind, gone too early.

Lan Qiren’s brother had also said other things, mad things, things that Lan Qiren sought to forget as soon as he’d heard them but which he knew would likely haunt him in the dark of sleepless nights for the rest of his life. The worst of it was that Lan Qiren still loved his brother, who he’d idolized for so long: his brother who was the perfect gentleman when he wanted to be, capable of being kind and charming and generous, of excellent cultivation and who excelled in each talent, who was thoughtful and reserved and in his own way a very good sect leader – the Qingheng-jun that the rest of the world had seen, the one that Lao Nie had befriended, the one so much of his sect had pinned their hopes on.

Lan Qiren felt, as always, like an inferior substitute.

No one had made his brother fall in love, nor to take such terrible actions to protect his love from her own foolishness, and yet, if Lan Qiren could have found another way out that the sect would have accepted, he would have. It would have been better, in his view, to lash them both with the discipline whip until they lacked flesh if it meant that they would stay free. A human could live with pain, but he wasn’t so sure they could do without freedom or hope…

Aren’t you just the same as me, his brother had sneered at him through the door that would part them for the rest of their lives, lashing out like a rabid dog that sought to hurt others in order to ease its own hurt, or else would you snap yourself into a thousand pieces begging for a scrap of my approval, which you will never receive, or whoring your vaunted righteousness out for a smile from your ‘sworn brother’?

Lan Qiren hadn’t done that, and wouldn’t. Unbelievable as it seemed, his stubbornness had stood up against Wen Ruohan’s and won; it had been Wen Ruohan who had changed to match him, rather than the other way around. He had vowed that the Fire Palace remained useless, and Lan Qiren believed him, especially when even Lao Nie confirmed it to be true. They had taken to exchanging letters this past year, since Lan Qiren could not visit the Nightless City until he had stabilized the Cloud Recesses and – sworn brotherhood or no – a visit by Wen Ruohan to the Cloud Recesses would be taken as a formal exchange, sect leader visiting sect leader.

Perhaps now, after a year, when he had more fully settled into his role…

“Did the trash say anything else?”

For a moment Lan Qiren was unsure whether Cangse Sanren had somehow managed to follow his thoughts and was now referring to Wen Ruohan, against whom she still bore something of a grudge, but then he realized that she meant his brother.

“Anything of value, anyway,” she huffed, tossing her hair and baring her teeth in the way she used to do before she realized that human beings didn’t use threat displays in that manner.

“He picked a courtesy name for A-Huan,” Lan Qiren said. “As is his right, of course.”

That had been Lan Qiren’s true motive in going to see his brother, in fact. He had refused to go see his brother for months, even if etiquette suggested he should go to pay his respects; it was only after A-Huan was born that he had finally yielded. It was only upon seeing the round and innocent face of little A-Huan starting to smile that he felt compelled to bend his stubborn back and compromise himself to reach out – there was very little, he found, that he wouldn’t do for his little nephew, who had no one else in the world.

His brother had been largely disinterested, though, even when Lan Qiren had inappropriately brought the child over for him to see – it had been too early for propriety, before the first month ceremony which marked the moment when the child could be exhibited more broadly, but Lan Qiren’s heart had hurt at the idea of his brother not seeing his son before the rest of the world had had a chance. It was not a large distance between the seclusion house his brother had chosen for himself, the same one that their father had planned to use before his suicide, and the house set aside for He Kexin, which Lan Qiren had taken to privately calling the Gentian House on account of the flowers that crowded around it. 

Everyone had turned a blind eye to Lan Qiren’s little excursion – but his brother hadn’t cared.

It was He Kexin that he loved, that he was mad for, and in his selfishness he could not see extending that love to anyone beyond her. Lan Qiren was resolved to teach A-Huan to do better, to think of others first, to care for other people and think not only of them but of the people beyond them, just as he looked at He Kexin and thought to teach him to make his own judgments of people, to listen to their side of the story and analyze it carefully based on what he knew.

He could only hope that it would help.

When his brother had told him to leave, that he didn’t care to see the child, Lan Qiren had left, returning Lan Huan to his mother’s care, and returned himself to his brother’s door, boiling over with rage, to give him a piece of his mind. 

It had backfired on him, of course. He would have been better off not going back at all – the rules said Do not succumb to rage, and they were right. All he had managed to obtain was a sore throat from all the yelling and a fresh set of nightmares.

And a name.

At least he had gotten Lan Huan a name bestowed upon him by his father, as he deserved.

“He selected ‘Xichen’,” Lan Qiren said, drawing out the characters and passing it over for Cangse Sanren to see. “It’s a good name.”

“Lan Xichen,” Cangse Sanren said, sounding it out and thinking over the meaning of the characters. “Yes, that’s a good name. Full of ambition and well-wishes…I bet the rotten trash-heap sees A-Huan as another incarnation of himself.”

Lan Qiren didn’t exactly disagree. Still, it would be rude to say so; he coughed and shook his head. “What about you?” he asked instead. “Are you and Wei Changze planning on giving A-Huan a playmate?”

And himself a student, in a dozen years or so. He’d started accepting students from rogue cultivators and other sects, just the way he’d planned; it was still in the early stages. He was still writing to small sects with fewer resources and offering to take their problem children because he knew that that was all they’d be willing to send to him, an outsider – there had always been lectures offered by the Great Sects, but they were one-off things, often accompaniments to discussion conferences or else excuses for the sects’ adults to gather and socialize while the children learned a few days’ worth of material. Taking another sect’s child for a full season, the way he planned to, was a much bigger ask. Much less to teach them his Lan sect rules, which weren’t even seen as applicable by the rest of the world…

Still, Lan Qiren had hope that eventually he would be able to demonstrate his merit; if his teaching worked with this first set of children, he hoped that it would work in the future for more of them. He hoped he’d be able to help them learn something, but even if he didn’t, they would at least have the experience of traveling – of visiting another place all on their own – so that if something happened in their lives to rob them of their freedom, they would at least have that much to remember. And in return, he would have them, his students, the feathers to brighten and color his dull nest and let him experience a little of what the world was still available to him.

Cangse Sanren laughed. “Not for a few years yet,” she said, eyes dancing. “You’re still safe! We want to have some time for ourselves, first – we’re going to travel around as rogue cultivators. I’ll write to you from every city, and send you things!”

Lan Qiren smiled.

“But only,” she said primly, “only if you promise me you’re not actually going to go through with growing that awful beard of yours again –”

“I’m a teacher now. I’m entitled!”

“You’re too young! You have to wait until you’re at least thirty for a beard.”

“By what rule?”

“My rule! Also my aesthetics; you’re so pretty –”

“I explained to you my reasoning already,” Lan Qiren complained. “What do you have against it, other than an aesthetic preference which is completely irrelevant to me?”

“I’m a rogue cultivator from Baoshan Sanren’s immortal mountain,” she proclaimed. “I seek to improve the world wherever it may be, fight evil and promote good, and keeping you clean-shaven is such a clear and vast improvement to the beauty of the world that it must be fiercely fought for –”

“Cangse Sanren!”

She burst out laughing. “How about this?” she giggled. “You can grow it after you’re thirty, or else whenever I’m not here, so that you can have it when you’re teaching your classes.”

“Thank you for your generous permission,” he drawled.

“No, no, it’ll be good!” she beamed at him. “That means that when I’m gone for good, you’ll have something to remember me by.”

Lan Qiren’s smile disappeared. “Cangse Sanren –”

“I told you long ago that I was doomed,” she reminded him. “Anyway, I’ve kept a low profile, haven’t I? I’m not dead yet, and you never know what might happen. And anyway, like I always said, a short life in exchange for a good life is a bargain I’m willing to strike…anyway, enough about me. Tell me about your children! The students, I mean; are they really all terrible bear children, without a single good trait between them?”

“They’re fine,” Lan Qiren said, distracted by what was quickly proving to be a new favorite subject. “I don’t know what everyone complains about with them. So what if they’re mischievous at first? In the end they all learn, you just have to give them attention and figure out what it is that they like, what will work to give them a basis to use in the future…”

“Surely some of them have to be disasters.”

“Don’t worry, I’m certain that your future child will be a fiend in human flesh born for the sole purpose of wreaking havoc on the serenity of my classroom,” Lan Qiren said dryly. “To be matched only by the inevitable offspring of Lan Yueheng and Zhang Xin, should they ever choose to put aside their furnaces and chemicals long enough to have them.”

Cangse Sanren giggled. “Just you wait,” she warned. “They’ll have a whole host of children, just like the common folk do; none of this two-and-done that you noble scions of the Lan sect prefer. They’ll have an entire horde for the next generation, and just when you think that you’re finally done with them, they’ll have an ‘accident’ twenty years too late, a child of their old age, and you’ll have to teach them alongside children young enough to be A-Huan’s heirs…”

“Why must you curse me?” Lan Qiren complained. “What have I ever done to you?”

It had been a good visit.

Yes, Lan Qiren thought, he was starting to adjust, little by little. The life he had now was not what he wanted, not what he’d dreamed of, but he could live with it – he had to, of course, but he thought that he also could. He would play for his nephew instead of a nameless crowd in a distant city, he would teach students a generation too early, he would only leave the Cloud Recesses on short excursions – night-hunting, or discussion conferences, or visits to his friends, to play with little A-Jue over in the Unclean Realm or the slightly older A-Xu in the Nightless City, whose would-be sibling had not made it despite Wen Ruohan’s concubine’s best effort. Wen Ruohan had written in his letter that he had promised her another as compensation, but only in a few years, once her body had fully recovered and A-Xu was old enough that another child wouldn’t be seen as a threat, which seemed fair to Lan Qiren.

He would live.

He might even enjoy it.

He only wondered a little, about Wen Ruohan – his sworn brother had, he thought, expressed some mangled version of feelings towards him, feelings that well exceeded the ordinary course for sworn brothers and which he thought he had made clear were not unwelcome, but amidst the hubbub that had later ensued Wen Ruohan had not spoken of it again. Lan Qiren could understand that he had been distracted, first by Lao Nie’s marriage – now ended, according to Lao Nie, who seemed as unperturbed by his announcement that his wife had disappeared permanently and would likely never be returning as he had by anything else about this mysterious woman that Lan Qiren had never had the chance to meet and now never would – and then by Lan Qiren’s brother’s situation. 

And yet, he would have thought that there would be something…

Wen Ruohan has lived for generations, he reminded himself. He is an ancient monster of the old sort, unmatched by any other living being, excepting only perhaps those that long ago retreated into seclusion or the mountains. Waiting a year or even a few is for him little more than a brief pause. He may yet reach out again – and, of course, you could do the reaching out yourself, if you weren’t such a coward.

It wasn’t cowardice that stopped him, of course, no matter what names he called himself. It was uncertainty, and also, in his own way, a form of care – it was the Lan sect’s curse to love too strongly, to prioritize their hearts above all common sense. Lan Qiren did not want to burden Wen Ruohan with an offer that would not satisfy him, to hang around his neck an obligation of unwanted feelings the way his brother had done to He Kexin.

Lan Qiren could not see a way in which he could offer Wen Ruohan his heart and not his body, yet he knew himself well enough to know that he would be unhappy if he tried to offer both. He could exert himself if he really had to, force himself to go through the motions that seemed so dull and unpleasant, all squelching amidst bodily fluids and inelegant grunting and none of the attraction that other people had to compensate for it. But he couldn’t do so sincerely, and he wouldn’t be able to do it for very long without developing resentment at being forced to endure such a task routinely – and it did seem that regular people wanted it all the time.

Such a feeling, if ignored, would breed disorder between them, poisoning their hearts…no, Lan Qiren could not make the first move, to take the step that would breach the paper between them, change them from their current status as brothers and nothing more. 

He had made his position clear.

The only question was – what would Wen Ruohan do about it?

[electricbluebutterflies]

Duende. Seems like it might be clever. (would've chosen a more serious one, but I suddenly feel terrible, and imagining what you'll do with this is fun)

This has been in my drafts for literally 8 years and I’m finally knocking it out... based on timing and person, this was definitely meant as a Charloe prompt, sooo... PG-ish, also on ao3.

Duende - Unusual power to attract or charm.

Hearing rumors about someone and having to deal with theactual person are, it turns out, two wildly different things.

Charlie does not want to be on this roadtrip. Charlie doesnot want a lot of the current factors of her life right now, thank you verymuch. But if ever there were a time to realize she’d misjudged a situation,well… this is a fun one.

See, the thing is, she’d always assumed Monroe had the kindof power he did until all too recently because he was… maybe not brilliant,even thinking that word around that man feels wrong, but at least the rightlevel of intelligent mixed with opportunistic and manipulative. The relativeacceptability of that leadership strategy, and for the record she has nopositive feelings about it, does not change the fact that it worked. Maybe hewas in the right place at the right time and just kept getting lucky, but-

They’re on the road for what feels like two weeks, and asthose days pass she gets a different picture.

He’s not actually a bad traveling companion. Likes the soundof his own voice a little too much, maybe, but it’s a good voice. She getsquieter, and it feels alright like that. Easier for her to shut up and listento stories about people who it turns out she doesn’t really know at all and-

Everyone’s biased, she knows. Monroe has some strong opinions,some of them on the edge of full-on emotional wounds. He isn’t necessarily rightabout anything. But it’s at least different, and makes her feel seen, and-

It is a whole other thing when they have to deal with otherpeople.

Again, instinct says to keep her mouth shut so she does. Herabilities to get out of situations tend to rely on the fact that she’s youngand pretty and female and a good shot and has recently learned she enjoys roughsex, some combination of those factors working in her favor to at least keepher alive so far. Monroe has three out of five there – well, two she canconfirm and one she’d bet everything she has on but for the moment she’s finewith not knowing – but that’s not where he starts. In a given situation,without any threats made just yet, he’s more…

There’s something magnetic in him, and he’s clearly got decadesof practice talking his way out of things, and for the most part it works.

Biased as she is, and distant as she tries to make herself, evenshe gets a little drawn in.

Nothing that happens in these weeks means she likes him, orwould even voluntarily tolerate him if they weren’t establishing this routineof saving each other’s asses on a regular basis for no apparent ulterior motiveson either side. But she can understand why other people have. She canunderstand, more than she ever thought she would, how the world changed how it did.

She doesn’t like him, she reminds herself as she curls upand lets him take watch. But that could change.