#and just keeps holding himself back

[dent-de-leon]

It shatters my whole heart that Caleb was the one who fought the hardest to save Molly in that final battle, that Caleb is the one who dreams of “reunion.” Tries to dig Molly’s corpse up with his bare hands because he believes he’s already damned, because he thinks his soul is beyond saving but Molly isn’t. “I’m already going to hell anyway.”

Caleb feeling lost and aching and directionless in Aeor, his only guiding light Mollymauk. “I know that we are supposed to go where Molly is, or we wouldn’t have seen the things we’ve seen. We wouldn’t be the Mighty Nein.” “Why did we come all this way, if not for this? Why did we go so far, and fight so hard…?”

Caleb pleading with the rest of the Nein to give Molly one last chance, to try and risk a resurrection. Caleb being the one to cast the spell, perform the ritual, and still…even as Caleb promises Molly, “Empty no longer, Mr. Tealeaf,” he still doesn’t let himself give one of the offerings. He lets other members of the Nein have that moment to reach out to Molly and connect, to bargain with his soul and try to convince him to return to them.

Caleb wanted the rest of the Nein to have that, because he cared so much for all of them. Because he knows how important Molly is to Yasha, Beau, Jester—how badly they’d want to tell him that. And yet…it’s tragic, that Caleb starts this ritual, pours all his heart and soul into it, and then doesn’t let himself take an active part it. How it mirrors the way Caleb just happily watches Molly reunite with the rest of the Nein from afar, content to just stand by and watch the others “descend on Mollymauk” and embrace him. Caleb who has such deeply intense feelings about Mollymauk, who longs so badly to bring him home, and yet. He’s always holding himself back.

Caleb not letting himself tell Molly how badly he misses him until after he’s already lost him. Caleb only returning Molly’s forehead kiss when he thinks he’s gone for good, when he’s afraid he’ll never get another chance to return Molly’s affection…

Do you think the ritual could’ve gone differently if Caleb had let himself give an offering too? If he kissed Molly back before the spell was over, would it have made a difference—

[divineandmajesticinone]

THE HEART KILLERS (2024) I EP. 3 "I want you. Nothing more than that."

[corallapis]

[tempests-bards-and-birds]

please god make the "three time winner of the best bard of mondstadt" one of the earliest pieces of evidence we got for the samsara without us knowing it at the time because it would be so fucking funny

[trekkerac]

htinkign about.... the better world dimension from journal 3.... i hope it gets revisited somehow because there's no fucking way it's all fine and dandy over there.

[lotus-pear]

guys idk about you but i am NOT ready to delve into uncharted waters as we move into new content with bsd in the upcoming chapter.

this new chapter could include anywhere from ada reunion and a return back to yokohama OR to a new horrible twist after fyodor’s death, ensuring that if he lost then dazai would too. taking dazai down with him.

not to mention if we return back to yokohama that’s a whole other gut wrenching story as one ada member is selected to go to the port mafia. i am not ready to see the futile and tragic looks on the other agency members as they grit their teeth and watch one of their own step into the world of darkness. the tragedy of letting someone go after they have all reconciled. being separated again, but for good this time

[pergaminaa]

Dorian Havilliard Manon Blackbeak

[crystal-verse]

god i want. an au where it dosn't work. where it's just arr g'raha who's woken up, and he doesn't have all these memories and all these people keep looking at him like they're mourning someone. the world has changed and time has changed and all the people he knows have changed, but he hasn't changed, he was just sleeping, just sleeping, and the world nearly ended several times and apparently he helped prevent yet another end but he has no memory of this. they want him to join the scions. he does not know these people. (he barely knows the warrior of light, now, but did he ever truly know them in the first place?) his little sister is alive and well. she looks at him like a ghost. she's changed, and she's older than him now. he acts bratty and loud and brash to cover up the fact that he does not know anything it seems, and he is tired but he was sleeping for so long, so how could he be tired?

he doesn't know these people. they seem to know him. he wonders if he'd killed someone, when it was him and not that exarch who woke up. he wonders if it should have been him who was "killed" in that way, if it is him that lives and not that man who had known and become friends with all these figures from legend. he wonders if he'll always be fated to be a historian one step back from everything, because he simply cannot be a hero.

[s0fter-sin]

thinking about the way ghost doesn't hesitate to start killing shadows when graves betrays them but soap only takes one hostage

you can almost hear the voice in his head telling him it doesn't have to be this way; they can still talk it out

"i'm calling shepherd"

his first instinct when confronted with betrayal is to play it by the books; to go up the chain and sort it out democratically. that goes against everything we've seen him do; he’s quick to drop his enemies and bucks authority at every chance except for the one time he's confronted with the barrels of his allies' guns

he wants a peaceful resolution; for the first time we've ever seen, he doesn't want violence to be the answer

there has to be another fix, a solution that doesn't end with him killing the same men he's been working with; his friends

nothing's happened yet

it doesn't have to go this way

but ghost has been betrayed before. he knows the way this ends; either with him six feet under or his enemy

he doesn't hesitate

it's only when they knock alejandro out that soap shoots; when they spill the first blood and cross a line they can never come back from

only when ghost orders him to run and he has to cover his retreat

and somewhere along the line, between civilians’ screams and taunting voices, between his shaking breath and ghost steady in his ear, that naivety is stripped away; his trust turned to teeth that he uses to sink into throats of men he'd have given his life for

"be careful who you trust, sergeant; people you know can hurt you the most"

he's learned the price of trust

just like ghost did

but unlike ghost, he has someone to guide him through the aftermath

"good advice, It"

[bericas]

isaac & scott / mason & theo | sometimes all i think about is you

[shadowuserannie]

Unreal

You know what would've been fun? If the elves had indefinite lifespans but not indefinite bodies. and them just like. not talking about it it being sort of an open secret that your parents take you aside to quietly explain, then make sure to say 'never mention this again'

Because just think about it. Elves taking a special elixir that maintains their body in its prime state. Skip a day and the decay is obvious, especially if you're already centuries old.

Some of the older elves obsessing because the elixir isn't perfect, it staves it off but they're not eternally twenty anymore, they look human forty now and forty is too much by elvin standards so they get plastic surgery.

Except elves' surgery consists of more elixirs. And the elixirs are almost perfect, too. They don't have the plastic botox effect that humans' plastic surgery does, that makes their face harder to move. The elves just...have this weird feeling about them. Like there's no obvious plastic surgery effect. It's just that uncanny valley feeling of 'face too perfect, too unreal.'

Elves obsessing over taking their elixirs, because there's a single Wanderling of an elf who was an Ancient. She lived in isolation. One day someone visited her and screamed because all that was left was a pile of ashes on the floor within a dress. She didn't want to live anymore and skipped a single day of her elixirs.

Elves can live forever, but unless they use elixirs to maintain their body then they will die. Except this contradicts itself, doesn't it? The very definition of quasi-immortality is living unless an outside force kills you. Your own body shouldn't qualify. And of course it's Sophie who brings this into question when she first hears it.

So what's happening is that elves aren't actually immortal. They just take elixirs to stop their bodies from aging and decaying to nothing. Otherwise, they have a lifespan just longer than a human.

And the very first elixir one takes to slow their aging, preparing your body for the rest, is Youth.

[freyadragonlord]

I strongly believe every version of Yoo Joonghyuk needs a version of Kim Dokja (and vice versa) and I will say, 41!Joonghyuk and Lee Hakhyun are particularly precious to me

[daily-hanamura]

[rosemaryreality]

So...

holy shit this conversation, i have. so many thoughts.

i'm like, 80% sonic is gonna face some kind of betrayal from either dread or nine

[seriousbrat]

some thoughts on Snape and James

Dumbledore explains this to Harry after we've just found out how exactly James saved Severus, and I think that's important. As we know, his prediction about Wormtail came true in DH. Severus believed that James had just done it to save his friends from expulsion, but I don't think this is true, I think it's a product of his (understandable) bias towards James. Dumbledore (whatever his faults) is generally a very good judge of character in his later life:

He accepts Sirius's story in PoA without proof because it simply makes more sense to him given what he knows about the characters involved. He accepts Sev's claim that he wants to protect Lily when it could be a trick, as Sev is very good at Occlumency. He knows Draco won't be capable of murdering him. He knows exactly the ways that each member of the trio will act in their search for the Hallows.

So I think it's fair to say that Dumbledore knew that James was NOT just risking his life out of selfish reasons. I think this is a big reason Dumbledore holds James in such high esteem. Even at his worst, James wasn't willing to let his enemy die. Therefore the same bond that exists between Pettigrew and Harry also exists between Sev and James. They'd probably be as happy about that as Harry is about Pettigrew, but, to paraphrase Dumbledore, too bad lol. Anyway:

So where does this bond come in for Snape and James? Imo, it's in Severus dedicating his life to protect James Potter's son. Yes, he did it for Lily. But I also think the bond had something to do with it. Possibly if he had just been in love with Lily that wouldn't have been strong enough, he could have just retreated into the shadows to mourn her. Maybe he wouldn't have, but imo it's a factor as well, whether he's aware of it or not. (probably not) And also somewhat a factor in why he agrees pretty quickly to hiding all the Potters, not just Lily.

This is my hc but I think Snape, despite his hatred for James, despite what James put him through, almost kind of ... trusted him to keep Lily safe when they went their separate ways after school. He knows firsthand that James is a capable duellist, and there's almost this sort of... seething respect there going both ways idk. I absolutely think Severus blamed James for not living up to this, first by knocking her up lol and then by failing to protect her the night of her death. ALTHOUGH I think he would have, in his own way, grudgingly respected the bravery of James facing Voldemort without his wand so Lily could escape, had he known about it, because imo Severus would have done the same, both men would knowingly lay down their life for Lily.

With the war and the end of school, things are shifting between them. Both have chosen opposite sides of the conflict. They've grown up, and Sev is now able to give as good as he gets. (none of this is excusing James's bullying btw I don't believe in that) but I think they leave school on more equal footing than they've ever had. Out in the real world, popularity and being a quidditch star and whatever don't matter. It's gone, and there's just the war.

I think Sev's relationship with James is very different than it is with Sirius. With Sirius they never really grow out of that schoolboy hatred, and both of them would happily see each other drop dead without blinking an eye. With James I think it's much more complex. His hatred for James is deeply uniquely personal and completely colours the way he treats Harry. Like the real rivalry is between James and Snape, Sirius is just sort of an add-on to this. Snape brings up James constantly, like bro is a little obsessed but whatever. The bond, to Sev's eternal frustration, is always there.

I've said this before but my personal opinion is that James would have forgiven Sev had he known about everything he did to protect Harry. I don't think they'd ever have been friends lol but unlike Sirius (and Remus imo) I think James would have respected him for it, for his bravery. For doing exactly as he would have if their places had been reversed (that would be an interesting fic tbh I'm sure someone's done that)

I'll sort of bring this up in my own fic in one of my fave scenes I've written between them:

“Just—” Sev stops, unable to force the words out, so sickened is he by the thought of what he has to say. “Just what?” Potter says coldly. “Just— keep her safe.” A flicker of surprise passes over Potter’s face, but it quickly pulls back into a frown. He nods, tightly. “And you. You stay away from her. You know what they are. You know what they’ll do to her.” It costs him everything he has, but, finally, Severus jerks his head.

Anyway I find their dynamic super interesting, as they are both two of my favourite characters. Obviously James bullying Sev is totally unjustified, as is Sev bullying his son years later (clearly as revenge, now that he finally finds himself with the upper hand). They're compared to Draco and Harry a few times I think, and I think Harry doesn't see this because he wrongly identifies as his father when actually his role was much more like Snape's in this dynamic, which is what he sees in SWM. A lot of jealousy going both ways, but one of them (at first) clearly has more privilege and is much more vindictive and cruel to the other. Draco and Harry nodding at each other on the platform is on some level representative of the "moving on" that Severus and James never achieved.

[starscelly]

miro experiencing unprecedentedly high levels of frustration

10.12.23