#and part of that genuinely is because of his example

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

I think one of Stede's biggest strengths, genuinely, is that he's really really good at conflict resolution. Like he's brilliant at it.

We can see this starting in the pilot - like, one of the very first things that happens, Wee John describes Stede's pirating career so far as a fucking disgrace and Stede immediately and smoothly pivots into a "let's reframe that as a suggestion, what's one thing you'd change" approach without taking it personally. Immediately he's able to get the crew doing something constructive that they all enjoy (and yeah they're still planning on mutiny at this point but honestly it speaks very highly of him that he's able to get everyone doing arts and crafts while they're actively planning to murder him).

Pretty much every time Stede is in an argument with anyone throughout the show, he is just so very good at listening to their viewpoint, considering, and actively taking it into account, and all without taking things personally even if they're upsetting things to hear. His response to his argument with Ed in s2e7 is another of my favorite examples, because Ed's gunning for a fight and he's already decided to blow it up, but Stede is still just so patient and calm throughout. He correctly and sympathetically identifies that Ed's panicking and blowing things out of proportion, and even when Ed telling him that "maybe last night was a mistake" clearly hurts him, Stede is still so gentle with trying to reassure Ed, telling him "this can be whatever we want it to be," trying to help Ed see his own agency when Ed's freaking out. The only reason that argument ended so poorly was because Ed had already decided it would; for his part Stede couldn't have responded better.

Stede can be bitchy and sometimes selfish and he can get so caught up in himself that he can fail to consider the feelings and needs of others. But he's also very strongly emotionally intelligent, and he is amazing at de-escalating arguments and remaining calm, patient, and gentle throughout. We see so many times throughout the show that he's very good at choosing his battles and remaining calm and polite even when he would've been justified in getting upset or angry - like in the s2 pilot, when one of the guests at Spanish Jackie'z is rude to him, Stede is so unbothered when he just decides that guy's beneath him and he can calmly smooth over the situation. He's genuinely amazing at it.

(Of course, like any good character, this strength is also a weakness in a different light. We also see over and over again in arguments that Stede is prone to allowing all the blame to fall on his shoulders without defending himself, which isn't just unfair to him, it also denies the other person the chance to hear Stede's thoughts and rationale and get that closure.)

[avelera]

Hi, I wanna say I really like your posts and enjoy your meta's about jayce.

So I wanna ask a question: How do you interpret jayce's behaviour here?

Personally, I have always believed that since jayce came from a family of blacksmiths, he would at least know how to negotiate or essentially haggle to an extent so do you think that it's on purpose that jayce isn't particularly shown to haggle when it comes to his interactions with zaunites?

Also, aside from that I think silco and Jayce's last scene really goes unnoticed by many epssically when jayce genuinely chooses to be fully transparent and honest with silco admitting that he is scared.

Short answer: My interpretation of this scene is that it is meant to show how privileged and naive Jayce is.

Just to be clear, I adore Jayce, but I will still admit to his flaws as a character. But, I will also point out when "flaws" like privilege can also lead to generous or otherwise laudable behavior, because it's easy to be a saint in paradise.

As for the longer answer, Jayce doesn't haggle for a few reasons:

1 ) Jayce doesn't haggle because he's never known real hardship. He's from a family of blacksmiths, yes, but of a particular flavor. He's actually from a family of factory owners and toolmakers. He's middle class shading to upper middle class either by virtue of being the son of a factory owner or certainly by the time Hextech takes off. What Benzo was charging probably didn't cost that much to him, especially with Kiramman money backing him up. He needed the items more than he needed a bargain to have them. It probably didn't even occur to him to try to get a deal because of how little the items cost to him.

2 ) Jayce doesn't haggle because of cultural differences. To a Zaunite, it's unthinkable not to haggle. To a Piltoverian of a certain class, it's probably unthinkable to haggle.

I've felt this cultural difference as a person from the US while traveling. You would never haggle in the area I'm from (I don't claim to speak for the entire US), because most shops have an established price and that's what you pay. It would be incredibly rude in most instances to haggle. But when I've traveled to other parts of the world, Turkey for example, it's not considered rude at all, but expected. In places like the Istanbul Grand Bazaar, it's expected and there's etiquette governing it, and US customers are regularly fleeced for 10x the actual price if not more.

But you have to understand too, in relation to Jayce and as referenced in point 1, one reason US customers get fleeced in those places is because the amount being demanded as 10x more than the cost of the item is still a negligible amount for them. An item that they could haggle down to 50 cents costing $5 instead isn't really a big deal. Especially if you're on vacation anyway, you can afford to be generous, even if it means getting mocked behind your back as a sucker.

And for some there's an element of generosity to not haggling. Why would I haggle to get a $5 item down to $2, when it's a negligible difference for me, I want the item, and the person I'm haggling with needs the money more? Which leads into:

3 ) Jayce doesn't haggle because he's a good person at heart. Zaunites from Ekko to Silco are aghast at Jayce's lack of haggling, so it's not just a financial thing, it's a cultural thing. But even with the case of Silco, I'd argue one reason Jayce doesn't haggle is because he sees himself in a position of strength. He knows that independence matters more to Zaun than it matters to the Councilors in Piltover, who might whinge about it and the potential profit losses of losing sovereignty over Zaun, but they've been neglecting Zaun for years so boohoo, they can suck it up and get over it.

That to me is Jayce's view. Jayce admits that Zaun is asking for a lot of privileges that probably should be haggled over, like access to the Hexgates and blanket amnesty, but all that would do is drag out the process, possibly lead to more conflict if tensions rise again during the negotiations, and it would still lead to the same conclusion: Zaun deserves to be its own nation after Piltover neglected it. Jayce is a direct thinker and he decides it's better to just rip the bandaid off and let the chips fall where they may, rather than try to nickel and dime Zaun's negotiations when it would cost nothing AND be the morally correct choice for Piltover to just let them go.

One a final note: I think one reason we're seeing Jayce become a more beloved figure in S2 is because we can now see how radical and progressive his negotiated peace with Silco actually was.

When we only had the context of S1, Jayce's negotiation can come across as too little, too late, or even foolish. But when you see at the end of S2 that, as far as we can tell, without the negotiation going into place, Zaun doesn't have independence and only gains one seat on the Council, you can really see why Jayce using his position of authority while he had it to cut through the bullshit and right what he saw as a systemic wrong in one fell swoop might have been naive but it might have also been the radical change that the city desperately needed. Granted, we'lll never know if the Councilors were right and there could have been negative consequences to not negotiating more. Maybe handing an independent Zaun to Silco and the Chem Barons without haggling would have led to further disaster.

But as the show's theme constantly reiterates, "What could have been?" I think we can see better now that Zaun didn't get everything Jayce was willing to give them at the end of S1, and that's a tragedy. If nothing else, Jayce's willingness to not haggle even when he could wasn't just foolishness, it was because his heart was in the right place and he thought they deserved it. It might be a long time before there's another chance at that kind of progress again without the Man of Progress.

[tackykachowch]

OKAY CHAT I DIDN'T INTEND IT TO BE THIS WAY BUT THIS POST IS SUPER-HUGE. Read at your own risk lol

*taps the mic* Uh, welcome to Chili's. So, I mustered up the courage to finally make a post about how I view Silco and Jinx's relationship and why I think it is actually a lot better than it's commonly perceived. Please please please do not assume that I do this to specifically whitewash Silco or make him less morally gray, this is my genuine read on them based on my own experience and views. I do not claim that I don't have any bias at all, but I think that it didn't influence my opinion that much.

I am going to say this from the start: I don't have much negative to say about them and I don't think of their relationship as toxic. If this point of view is unacceptable to you, please disregard this post. However, if you want to discuss this topic with me and challenge my points, please be civil about it and don't insult me. I don't have any ill intentions, nor am I trying to normalize unhealthy behavior.

Okay, from this preamble to another. This analysis is going to be based entirely on season 1 and nothing else. Some of my points will address common perceptions about them in the fandom, some I'll write as a regular analysis.

Now let's start shall we (yes, this is going to be a one long post because they're so so important to me). In the second paragraph I said that I don't view their relationship as toxic. Let me explain. I think this is a very complex topic and opinions will vary from person to person. Considering that both Silco and Jinx are mentally ill this adds another layer to our already complicated cake. So, for me toxic relationships are those where at least one person almost always behaves in the way they see is right, disregarding other person's wants or needs. It also must include unhealthy/toxic behaviors, i. e. manipulation, gaslighting, possessiveness, control over other person's decisions, physical and/or emotional abuse etc etc. These behaviors must be routinely occurrences and not happen only once or twice. You can say: "But a lot of things you listed exactly describe how Silco behaves towards Jinx!" well. No but I'll get to this later.

There's also an elephant in the room we need to deal with: codependency. Now, I don't claim to be an expert on the topic or even well-informed, but I have a feeling that this term is a Bit overused. Terms, especially medical ones, are very useful for describing one specific thing. But as of late a lot of terms are used on things that are not. Well. The thing the term is describing. You don't need to go far for examples: hyperfixation, depression, panic attack, etc. When knowledge becomes widespread, things like that are inevitable, unfortunately. But back to the topic. Are Jinx and Silco's relationship codependent? I personally don't think so. One of the key characteristics of a codependent relationship is losing a sense of self and disregarding your wants/needs, and Jinx and Silco never display that. They are very self-driven characters. And while Jinx did do some things to impress Silco, it's not necessarily a symptom of a codependent relationship specifically. Again, I'll compare it to medical symptoms. If your right side hurts it doesn't mean you have appendicitis, if you have a short attention span it doesn't mean you have ADHD. Mental health problems Jinx and Silco have can be just that: mental health problems. Trust issues, low self-esteem, fear of abandonment, etc. They don't need to be a part of a bigger problem, even if there are some similarities. (Also just a side note: I got misdiagnosed with OCD this year, so I take correct descriptions and understanding of conditions/words very personally).

MAN THAT WAS TOO LONG. GET TO THE ACTUAL POINTS.

Alright. So first of all, Jinx and Silco are VERY trusting of each other. They both allow each other to enter their personal spaces, and feel comfortable and free in each other's presence. Silco allows Jinx to do his eye injections, to show him physical affection, he also trusts her with missions for his job, even when everyone else is against it. When Jinx in ep4 tells him that "(her screw up) won't happen again", he simply answers "I know". Despite Jinx's own insecurities Silco fully trusts her (sometimes even to his own detriment). And she fully trusts him as well (until the whole Vi shenanigans anyway), what can be seen in a way she's not afraid of his emotions or even to hurt him, because she knows perfectly well that he'll never harm her in any way (physical, I mean). And although there is a clear miscommunication between them in ep4 I don't think it's a common thing between them, and this specific case was caused by Jinx's deeply rooted trauma and low self-esteem, which Silco is unfortunately unable to fix.

Now onto the probably most common criticism of Silco specifically: that he made Jinx his weapon and raised her to be this bloodthirsty on purpose. And to this I say - no way. Silco DOES love Jinx and DOES trust her, but he's not blind and not an idiot. He perfectly knows that Jinx can cause a huge mess and potential troubles on the missions, his subordinates hate her, her mental state is unstable and therefore she's not the most reliable asset in the slightest, nor a necessary one. At no point do we get actual proof that Silco needs Jinx specifically for his operations, he seems to allow her to participate in them out of her own volition. After all, she does like being needed and included in the family business. You could argue that he needs Jinx for her gadgets and weapons, but nobody besides her uses them, so this option doesn't fit. "But he did request her to build Fishbones!" yeah. After Jinx stole the gemstone, again, out of her own choice. Silco is a swift strategist, if he sees an opportunity somewhere he takes it immediately. So there's nothing actually wrong with him asking Jinx to build a weapon with the use of gemstone. She didn't steal it for it to just. Lie there, after all. As to her bloodthirsty-ness I think he only nurtured what was already there. If you remember, in the very first episode Jinx made a bomb with NAILS in it. I don't think I need to tell you that it's just a horrible idea for a bomb, and she was only 9 at the time. As to Silco's "become what they fear" line. I don't think it indicates that he specifically raised Jinx to be a weapon, because he applied the same phrase to himself and we don't see him running around throwing glitter bombs at everyone (although it would've been cool to see ngl).

Next - Silco is very supportive of Jinx. His office is filled with things she drew all over, her inventions are tied to the ceiling. When Jinx is overwhelmed and upset about the failed mission he tells her to "focus on her gadgetry" and to "take some time". He clearly knows what she likes and what would put her in a better mood. He also doesn't restrict her self-expression, which can be seen in the way Jinx looks. I mean, you'd think that Silco would probably want for her to wear something more...classy? But he doesn't mind even one bit.

Another point I see a lot - that Silco loves Jinx but not Powder. I actually kiiinda understand where this point of view comes from, because the show does frame Vi and Silco as representatives of her Powder and Jinx persona respectively, but I don't think the text itself supports this. Let's take the river scene because it is the cause of this discussion in the first place after all. Silco tells Jinx that she needs "to let Powder die" and that "Jinx is perfect", but I don't necessarily agree that he meant it in a "choose between two of your personas" kind of way, because this conflict never existed between them in the first place. Vi does want "Powder" to come back, but Silco didn't show anything that would indicate of him disliking young Jinx in any way. He did adopt her when she was still Powder, after all. And even if she changed her name on the same night, her personality didn't, because that's not how humans work. So, he NEEDED to love Powder to raise her. Back to the river scene, he tells Jinx that she needs to let Powder die so "the fear of pain would no longer control (her)". "Powder" is tightly connected to Jinx's trauma of killing her entire family and Vi leaving her, i. e. the fear of pain of being betrayed again and the fear of messing up. In terms of psychology she really does need to live through this moment and properly process it, but unfortunately there's no psychologists in neither Piltover or Zaun, and Silco being mentally ill and not knowing better himself can only help her this way. "Jinx is perfect" also doesn't mean that he prefers Jinx over Powder, but rather "Jinx, the person you are right now, is perfect and strong. You need to let that weak part of you (Powder) die, so you can move on and become something greater". Jinx might've interpreted his line in the wrong way herself, but again, there's no actual evidence of Silco liking "Powder" less and only ever wanting "Jinx". And if we hop further into the finale, he literally says "YOU are perfect". Whatever seat she chooses, she will always be perfect to him. Even if she turns against him and everything he fights for, even if she kills him, even if she hates him, she remains perfect in his eyes. He might differentiate "Powder" and "Jinx" and a weaker/stronger part of her, but despite all that she's still his daughter.

Also. He's dealing with her mental health SOOOO great chat it's not even funny. I mean obviously he can't take care of it perfectly because again, psychology is non-existent in this world, but everything he CAN do he does just sooo good. He never lets other people berate or insult her, if he scolds her he only ever does this in private, he always tries to be patient and gentle with her, and the only time we seem him lash out at her is after Jinx stole the gemstone. He also seems to know what causes her psychosis and how to stop it, because he yells "Don't listen to her!" to Jinx when Vi triggers her, and then proceeds to try and shoot in Vi's direction to shut her up. We now know that this wasn't the best decision at all, but he literally goes feral when Jinx is hurt, so can you really blame him? There is of course an issue of him enabling her violence and letting her do everything she wants, but to cut Silco some slack he deals with a very mentally ill child, and as we saw in ep3 cutting Jinx off of something can easily cause her to have a mental breakdown. So I think partly his enabling was caused by his want not to hurt her.

Phew. I think we only need to get through the minor points now.

Manipulation: we only ever see Silco manipulate Jinx once, when he lied to her about Cait and Vi's reason for being in the Underground. Nothing indicates that he regularly manipulated her before.

Possessivness: I think this claim also doesn't have substantial evidence to back it up. We only see Silco being possessive of Jinx because of Vi, and even then it's not pure possessiveness. He literally doesn't want Jinx to be betrayed and possibly even killed like him. I think if Jinx just wanted to leave him on her own he would be a-okay with that. Also he doesn't watch over what she does/where she goes, which again reinforces his trust in her and him respecting her privacy.

Silco isolated Jinx from others: uhhh. See the end of the previous paragraph. If Jinx wanted to befriend someone she could've easily done that, and Silco wouldn't even know. The only person she couldn't befriend because of him is Ekko, but even he says to Vi that Jinx chose to be on Silco's side herself, so *shrugs*

And with that, I think I covered everything I wanted about their relationship. It's not perfect, but it's not bad either. Personally, I don't want to label it as anything, because minus the drug mafia and murders aspects they're just a regular father and daughter. There are no perfect parents, there are no perfect children, but if they try their hardest to love each other in a way they're both happy with, they're great in my book.

[hailturinturambar]

Thoughts on Charlie Vickers's interview

Once again I'm analyzing an interview! In addition to this one, I've already separated two others that I'm going to analyze. If I find more, I'll definitely publish them too! :)

What I love most about Halbrand is that not even Charlie knew Halbrand was a fake. That makes the story better, doesn't it? Everyone suspected Sauron would be present at the show, but no one knew when or where. Not even Sauron himself.

This raises the stakes. The suspicion is not just from the audience, but from the cast as well. And Charlie is being genuine in his portrayals. Because he doesn't know there's something going on, but he acts on his own suspicions. It makes the character ambiguous. A great addition, I'd say.

A very interesting point between the beginning of the first season and the prologue of the second is the change in Halbrand's attitude. Yes, he was a stranger and we suspected all the characters of being Sauron. But apart from small characteristics, which could have been put in the show just to deceive, we didn't have many clues against Halbrand.

It's Charlie's brilliant performance that makes us think, "Yes, this is Sauron. Look at the way he carries himself." Halbrand on the raft in season two had a dark weight that wasn't as present in season one. But it's Charlie's face, his gaze, his way of speaking that accentuates Sauron's presence.

Charlie as Annatar is like a new person. He is unrecognizable from Halbrand's appearance. Annatar reminds me more of Mairon from the early days, with his powerful, godlike aura and his cold, calculating manner. A far cry from the carefree mortal man.

Annatar is very god-like. Distant, powerful, feared, icy. Halbrand and Annatar could be two completely opposite people, but they are not. Not deep down. However, it is with mastery that the characters were portrayed in such an opposite way. Like Sun and Moon.

Who knows, Sauron himself may have been affected by his human representation. After all, being Halbrand was the lowest point in his life. After losing so much, he returned in the form of a mortal man. I believe that at that moment, at the beginning, not even Sauron understood his place in the world.

Medici and Alice Hart were examples of Charlie's brilliant acting. I watched both for their roles and was impressed with Charlie's performance. He always gives his soul on screen and even though his appearance doesn't always change that much, his essence is completely different.

Sauron is undoubtedly a challenge. He is a major character, the most beloved villain in Tolkien's books. A villain we have rarely seen on screen. In the LOTR trilogy and as a Necromancer in The Hobbit, Sauron is a very distant figure, because his essence is there, but not Sauron in his physical form.

“I think that that is just part and parcel of: he is the Lord of the Rings.”

Are you kidding me, Charlie? You completely understood the character and you're trying to kill me by saying this.

This always gets me. I love how they never know who they're going to play, it must make it more interesting and mysterious. Honestly, I can't imagine Charlie playing anyone else. He's Sauron through and through. There's no other character he would have suited more.

This news didn't just change your life, Charlie, it changed all of ours. The actors in TROP are truly rare gems. They dedicate themselves and delve deeply into Tolkien's books to portray them in the most honorable and faithful way possible.

Oh, I'd love to know how Charlie felt when he discovered that in addition to playing a character in the book, he was portraying one of Tolkien's most important characters.

Prime Video, please record moments like this. Can you imagine what that conversation was like? I need to know how it all happened, I would like to follow every moment of the production of the show.

Yes yes!! This dedication was noticeable on the screens.

I would say that Sauron as Halbrand lived his most vulnerable and humiliating moments. This connection between repentance and humiliation before the Valar and kneeling before Adar was a very good connection.

These humiliations, the moments when Sauron is plunged into his own disgrace, certainly encourage him to continue and come back worse than before, stronger than before.

Sauron is relieved to be back, Charlie portrayed this so well. After thousands of years without form, stripped of much of his power, crawling to survive, to be in form again, able to control the things around him, must have been Sauron's greatest relief.

It's amazing to see Sauron's form in his rebuilding process. From a great, powerful Maia destroyed, to a slimy, lifeless form that lives more humiliatingly than an animal, to a human form. Did Sauron feel this weight, all this humiliation? He lost a lot of grace from his past self, so I bet he did.

The duality and ambiguity between Galadriel and Sauron, in my opinion, is what keeps the audience's attention. Because we're constantly theorizing and thinking. We wonder if, after being at his worst, Sauron is being vulnerable for the first time in a long time.

Or we also wonder if all of this is just an illusion and he's understanding how Galadriel feels so he can manipulate her to his own advantage.

Not speaking romantically, I think it was a bit of both. That Sauron was vulnerable at times, after all, he had lost so much and was still not fully confident, like when he became Annatar. But also, as he did with Celebrimbor, he also used what Galadriel wanted to manipulate her and get her to follow his plan.

What I like about Sauron is that even when he's inside an illusion, when he's created a whole new form to deceive the people around him, he's still Sauron, he's still the same person.

The level of connection between Sauron/Galadriel/Celebrimbor, not only showed how the two manipulated elves felt, but also exposed parts of Sauron. Fears and vulnerabilities that I don't believe he wanted to share, but that ended up being revealed through the connection.

And the scenes remained completely the same. It almost seemed like they filmed everything in the first season, it was so similar. As I said a little above, the weight of the scene changes a lot, Charlie's entire posture changes when the audience and even he himself know who Sauron is now.

We are like Galadriel, looking back and noticing that while everything remains the same, everything is different now.

The prologue of the second season was like a dark retelling of the first. We have all the facts presented under a new perspective, under the understanding of who Sauron is and how he returned to Middle-earth.

Our entire perspective changes when we realize that Charlie is Sauron. The Mist lifts from our eyes and we see Halbrand's actions from a new perspective.

I like the idea of ​​Galadriel-Light (although she is partly grey) and Sauron-Darkness. It's like the attraction to darkness, a tug of war that we witness with the characters, seeing who will give in first.

Besides new scenes that aren't in the book, I can't think of how they could have made Galadriel and Sauron meet again. However, I have complete confidence in the producers and the team that everything will work out in the end.

[saintsenara]

This is too hopeful, but is there any chance Regulus was never invested in Voldemort's cause and always had grandiose ideas of taking him down from the inside? That the Voldemort-fangirl cutouts on his bedroom were actually research of patterns of activities?

This is the first thought I had when I read the book as a teenager, and maybe it's a simplistic and immature assessment - but what made sense to me was not the rosy idea that "he was good all along", but how I saw his potential relationship with Sirius.

I imagine Regulus did not have a happy childhood because his best friend was the house elf, and the Black home sounds like a horrible environment, even if you toe the line to do your best to live up to the name's expectations.

I just imagined him as a quieter younger sibling who wanted to prove himself smarter than the boisterous outspoken older sibling by approaching the situation completely differently. Failed dismally, obviously.

But again, I was a teenager, and I read many different meta pieces on Regulus, including some of yours (I think). Just wondering if you think there's space for this interpretation.

this is very cute, anon. the teenage commitment to wanting to see the best in a sad-eyed boy is universal, and i respect it enormously.

but no. it's not what's happening here.

regulus serves two very interesting purposes narratively.

the first is that - across order of the phoenix and half-blood prince - he serves as the narrative parallel to draco malfoy: someone whose interest in the death eaters is inextricable from his perception of his role as a pureblood son from an extremely class-conventional family; someone who wants to be perceived as important in contrast to a rather more impressive family member; someone whose blood-supremacist beliefs are completely sincere and whose support for voldemort is completely genuine, but whose understanding of how voldemort intends to achieve his aims is hopelessly naive; someone who gets in over his head and then panics; and someone whose relationship with voldemort is seen by harry as entirely subordinate.

[he never assumes draco will succeed in his mission, for example. nor that draco will be able to outfox voldemort in any way. why he pities him is because he thinks draco's going to be murdered by the dark lord any minute, but he also views this as - essentially - a skill issue, which wouldn't be a problem for him...]

but in deathly hallows, regulus' narrative purpose shifts. the revelations about his turn against voldemort become the dress rehearsal for the reveal of snape's true loyalties at the end of the book - he's someone who had a damascene conversion when voldemort threatened somebody he cared for, gave his life to bring the dark lord down, and did so in a clandestine way [i.e. by ordering kreacher not to reveal what he'd done] in order to protect the surviving member of the family he loved from voldemort's wrath.

[although the idea that kreacher was his best - or, indeed, only - friend isn't actually stated in the text. regulus is implied to be someone fairly lonely by the narrative - the photograph of him as seeker (the only player who acts alone) follows harry seeing the photograph of sirius and his friends - but all we ever learn about his relationship with kreacher is that it was kind. and, indeed, that it was similar to walburga, narcissa and bellatrix's treatment of him - which hermione says, and kreacher doesn't correct her.]

regulus' second narrative purpose - along with his parents - is to underscore that blood-supremacy is a mainstream political view.

the series dispenses with this in deathly hallows, when voldemort's malevolence becomes much more singular and the conflict narrows to the final confrontation between good and evil, but prior to this book it's clear that the death eaters' political rhetoric is just speaking the quiet part out loud. pretty much everyone thinks that being pureblood is better and there are too many muggleborns knocking about being annoying, they just don't say it.

orion and walburga don't support voldemort because they're uniquely immersed in dark magic. they support him because they're mainstream and conventional and conformist - while sirius, the family's free-thinker, is none of those things and therefore not a voldemort fan. the same thing is being implied by them supporting voldemort as by vernon reading the daily mail - that they're small-minded and conservative, but not radical. vernon would be horrified by a radical right-wing terror group who sought to destroy the status quo he values. orion and walburga pivoted away from voldemort because his violence became similarly radical.

regulus joins the death eaters, then, due to convention. he wants to prove himself - absolutely - but he wants to do so within a social structure he's familiar with and which he and his family value. his doubts about voldemort clearly begin when it becomes apparent to him that voldemort wants to destroy the wizarding social order and build it anew.

and his best parallel here is percy weasley.

percy is - by far - the most conventional of the weasleys. his estrangement from his family in the latter half of the series is meant as a criticism of this conventionality - percy believes what he's told and doesn't think for himself and conforms to the group and so on - and his estrangement from his family is also clearly intended by the text of order of the phoenix to provide more context than the surface-level narrative is able to about sirius and regulus' relationship:

"I'm just s-s-so worried," she said, tears spilling out of her eyes again. "Half the f-f-family's in the Order, it'll b-b-be a miracle if we all come through this... and P- P-Percy's not talking to us... What if something d-d- dreadful happens and we had never m-m-made up?"

percy gets written a lot by the fandom as someone who was a secret resistance fighter during the thicknesse regime. i'm afraid i've always thought this is nonsense - not because i think he was a death eater [i don't!] but because i think his position, as someone who clearly doesn't like to go against the crowd, would be to keep his head down and try to get through the war without rocking the boat.

his decision to fight in the battle of hogwarts is him rejecting his earlier conformity and taking a stand. so is regulus' decision to turn against voldemort. and the implication of the text is that both of these decisions are reasonably abrupt "shit or get off the pot" moments.

and this is why the narrative considers them impressive.

the central theme of the series is choice - and, specifically, the choice between what is right and what is easy. the narrative wouldn't care about snape if he'd always been a double agent, it cares because he had once sincerely believed in voldemort and then chose to do the right thing and reject him.

in the text's eyes, then, regulus' choice to sacrifice himself to defeat voldemort is actually much more impressive if we assume he was a loyal death eater than if we assume he saw through voldemort straight away. and notwithstanding the moral question, i also think it's much more interesting.

[sufferu]

Holy heck PLEASE tell me if Subaru’s insecurities are blinding him at LEAST a little bit

There’s NO WAY the others are messing up this BADLY, tell me a lie if you have to there’s no way they’re messing this up so much

How bad are they messing up? 😭😭 Surely not that bad right??? Right???

(This is about BTZ btw)

I DID tag that fic as “Unreliable Narrator” for a reason lol. The misunderstandings that the story hinges on are very much due in part to everyone else just — constantly rolling critical fails, but they’re also due to a whole spell of bad luck that means everything just has the worst possible timing, and also due to Subaru being both incredibly insecure and completely unwilling to let on to the fact that he’s actually feeling very hurt right now.

But — for some examples about how badly this disconnect is going…

Julius: Julius is fully under the impression that he and Subaru are buds. He did try to apologize at first, and pull back a bit, and when Wilhelm roped him into training as a way to try and scare Subaru away from the idea of being a swordsman he immediately protested out of concern for Subaru’s mental well-being — but then Subaru insisted on fighting him and that he totally wasn’t emotionally affected and also Julius is ugly and stupid and he’s totally gonna win this time. Julius genuinely came away from this interaction thinking that 1) Subaru just wants to move on already and trying to be apologetic about it would just be insulting, and 2) Subaru is not just unafraid, but is actively looking to roughhouse with him — an impression that completely falls in line with his memory of old-timeline!Subaru having been a massive masochist.

From here on, Julius feels that he’s constantly being encouraged to be rougher and rougher with Subaru due to Subaru not just never backing down, but also actively escalating situations in an effort to prove just how not-scared he is. He’s genuinely just following Subaru’s lead. But because Subaru is lying about his true feelings and what he actually wants, this arrangement is actively making Subaru’s mental health worse.

Things Julius does in service of this massive miscommunication:

Teases him almost constantly. It’s a lot meaner than he would be with anyone else, but this is SUBARU. He remembers damn well how disappointed and sulky Subaru would get in the old timeline if he didn’t bait him a little now and then. And this current Subaru gets riled up in much the same way, so it must be the same scenario.

Spars with him regularly. He’s terrible at losing on purpose, and also he’s a total show-off who likes taking Subaru by surprise — ie. bring out his spirits for a flashy new move in an eager desire to see Subaru’s reaction to something he has legitimately never witnessed before in his life. He thinks this is all in good fun and that Subaru is having just as good a time as he is (or even that Subaru is having even MORE fun than Julius, because a large part of why Julius likes this is specifically because he believes he is showing Subaru a good time).

Sneaks up behind him after a long shift patrolling in the cold and announces his presence by pressing his freezing hand against the back of his neck to make him scream.

Tries to instruct Subaru about good etiquette in the midst of “lighthearted banter.” He doesn’t realize that Subaru thinks he’s threatening him.

Sits on him at one point. See the Sparring Practice ficlet.

(The BTZ III reveal that Subaru was legitimately terrified of him this entire time HURTS, because it recontextualizes everything that the knight believed had been his way of showing Subaru affection and camaraderie. Julius never, ever wanted to make him feel this bad.)

Wilhelm: Subaru is now Wilhelm’s grandson. Wilhelm forgot to tell Subaru about this. —Well, it’s more accurate to say that he’s trying to prove his worth as a potential grandfather first by eliminating the Witch Cult, but because of this Subaru has no fucking clue that Wilhelm sees him as anything more than an unwelcome pest. This means that a lot of Wilhelm’s attempts to bond with him outside of dueling practice are interpreted…differently.

Wilhelm and Subaru go out for tea at a high-end establishment. Wilhelm spends so much time getting Subaru dressed properly in a suit and tries to use the opportunity as a way to teach him how to conduct himself in formal settings in an environment that is low-stakes and ultimately very much just for fun. Subaru does not understand what is happening and is so caught up in his impression of “Wilhelm hates me” that he interprets all of this in the most hostile light imaginable.

(Did not help that Wilhelm initially suggested that Subaru wear a dress. Wilhelm was just trying to coax out that interest in crossdressing that he already knows is a genuine part of Subaru’s identity. Subaru thought it was an insult about how badly he was failing as a prospective knight.)

He’s not the only one in charge of this, but Wilhelm spends a lot of time teaching Subaru how to read. He tries to be more lax and friendly here than he is during those swordsmanship lessons he wishes Subaru would stop insisting on. Subaru either does not notice or is so on-edge that he thinks Wilhelm is just being subtler, now that he doesn’t have a ready-made excuse to whack him over the head.

Wilhelm initially asked Julius to spar with Subaru in his stead in yet another attempt to scare Subaru off from the sport, but this quickly turned into him ALLOWING them to spar together because he thought Subaru genuinely liked sparring with Julius and caved at the idea of Subaru being able to actually play with a trusted knight in a controlled environment. Subaru interprets his motivations VERY differently here.

Wilhelm is gonna learn that Subaru thinks he despises him and die a little inside. He put off adopting him because he thought he had to prove himself first, but in doing so he may have just destroyed their relationship entirely. He wants to go back and kick himself.

Crusch: I haven’t spoken about Crusch a lot, but her role is fairly important here, even if she might not show up a WHOLE lot. Crusch’s relationship with Subaru is somewhat distant when compared to characters like Wilhelm, Ferris, Julius, and Reinhard — who interact with him almost constantly — but she’s technically the one “in charge” of him at the moment, and she’s prepared to take on that role up until the point Wilhelm finally formally adopts him into his household. This outcome is one that everyone BUT Subaru has accepted as an inevitability.

Crusch believes that her job is to make sure that Subaru has a stable, structured environment that can not just keep him safe, but also serve to instruct him on how to behave himself properly in this new world, because he was INFAMOUS for not being able to conduct himself in what would have been considered an appropriate manner in the old timeline. The only reason he got away with it was because of his many spectacular feats, and everyone knows that they absolutely cannot allow him to put himself in a position where he can accomplish feats like that again — but that also means he’s not going to have an excuse if he screws up and paints himself as a weirdo who should be avoided at best or a jerk who needs the shit kicked out of him at worst. Crusch is very much using a carrot-and-stick approach to try and train him up as a model citizen who won’t get himself in trouble quite so much — but she ends up using the carrot pretty rarely, and when she does he’s often not in a place where he can recognize that that’s what she’s doing.

Also, she’s straight up Not Around a lot of the time because she’s busy as both a Royal Candidate and one of the top leaders of the new Witch Cult Elimination Force. Otherwise…maybe her Divine Protection would clue her into what’s going on a little sooner than it does.

Reinhard: Subaru is now Reinhard’s little brother. Reinhard genuinely completely forgot to tell Subaru this.

Reinhard is now so insanely overprotective of Subaru because he just saw Subaru die…a LOT. And he was almost never there. He will NEVER not be there again, not if he has anything to say about it. And — and he’s going to be a good role model who can teach Subaru not to charge into dangerous situations, and to avoid assassins and mabeasts and archbishops, and to not do stupid stuff like leaping out of dragon carriages while they’re in motion —

Subaru thinks that Reinhard now sees him as a prisoner, or a future crook, or just some untrustworthy fuck who needs constant supervision. Every time Reinhard tries to do fun things like go out for lunch or visit the local gardens or play games in the courtyard, his overprotectiveness makes everything blow up in their faces and paints him as some sort of correctional officer — and Reinhard doesn’t have the emotional intelligence necessary to realize that he’s failing that hard in the first place.

[gay-dorito-dust]

Can we get a doctor phosphorus X reader where the reader has power similar to Deadpool. Example of unable to die and sometimes has ability to pull things out of thin air for comedic effect

You were a curious case to most, from your inability to die, to your unique ability to seemingly pull things that people needed out of thin air as though by pure coincidence. When asked about how you did what you did, you merely shrugged your shoulders - you sipped a drink you plucked out of thin air through a silly straw- and replied with something that only left the rest of the monsters even more confused;

‘Plot convenience and comedic effect for the audience reading this fanfic that author took far too long to actually get to writing.’

Many left you alone after that, deducing you a tad mentally unstable, all but Dr Phosphorus who also thrived off of the chaos and unpredictable nature that you brought to every situation you found yourself in. He found comradery in you and your ability to piss of basically everyone by getting under their skin, even him at times but he knows when to laugh with you as while everything that came from your mouth might sound insulting, that’s just how you came across and it only takes someone with a likemindedness to understand when you were being genuine or not.

Dr Phosphorus remembered the first time you interacted with one another when you scared him by accident, making him grab your shoulder with his exposed radiated hand, thinking you’ll die a violent death but imagine his surprise when you only shrug his hand off to reveal a healing shoulder where his hand once was. ‘Is it hot in here or is it just you? Oh who am I kidding it is you because of your…yeah.’ You said as you gestured to all of him and while he couldn’t smile since he was a literal skeleton, he couldn’t help but chuckle at your words now that the initial scare was over.

‘Oh you’re the wise ass who thought it’d be funny to scare the irradiated Skelton?’ Dr phosphorus says as he crosses his arms over his chest, tilting his head as he took you in and the burnt cloth at your shoulder from his touch, your skin however -now fully healed at this point- looked untouched as though he wasn’t close enough to even hurt you. ‘Who are you newbie, I would think that I would remember a person like you.’ He adds with an almost flirtatious purr.

You smiled as you offered out your hand. ‘Of course you wouldn’t as I was hauled off here just this morning, but for the sake of keeping this fanfic a reasonable length as to prevent the possibility of stretching the readers attention span too thin, I killed a bunch of bad guys and lost a couple of limbs in the process.’ You said as though it wasn’t as big of a deal as it would be to others, ‘people were screaming, I was screaming. and here I am being called a freak, monster and whatever even by people who should probably look in the mirror before saying shit. It’s like the pot calling the kettle black.’ You finished.

Dr phosphorus looked at you then back down at your hand before looking back at you once more, amused. ‘I’d take your hand sweetheart, but I don’t want to hurt you…again.’

‘Oh then take these gloves.’ You said.

‘What gloves-‘

‘These silly!’ You exclaimed as you shoved a pair of irradiation proof gloves against dr phosphorus’s chest.

‘How did you-‘ dr phosphorus tried to ask, only to then decide that logic wasn’t all that important to you when you seemingly worked outside of logic as a person, logic and sound decisions didn’t exist within you, and it shows in the most subtlest ways that one wouldn’t notice unless they were paying attention as to how you seemingly controlled an unforeseen narrative to your very will.

‘How did I what?’ You asked.

‘Pull shit out of thin air.’ Dr phosphorus replied as he slides the gloves over his hands.

‘Plot convenience and comedic effect for the them.’ You then pointed towards a part of the room, almost as though gesturing to an audience , only for there to be no one there at all but cold walls. You two were the only ones in the room and dr phosphorus thought he was the only mentally unstable one in this facility. ‘Who are we looking at sweets?’ Dr phosphorus says as he tried to see what you were seeing, but all he could see was the cold walls that he was far too familiar with then the outside of the very structure he was trapped within, which sounded sad but to his knowledge no sane mind would blink twice at the mistreatment of a monster.

‘The audience reading this very fan fic.’ You informed him with a smile before seeing that he had put on the gloves and boldly grabbed his hand, making the skeleton jolt as he then relaxed when remembering he did put on the gloves. ‘But never mind them, it’s good to meet you dr phosphorus.’ You add as though knowing his name without him telling you was all apart of your character and dr phosphorus had to say that he was liking you more and more you spoke.

‘I don’t think I disclosed that to you sweetheart, but it’s good to meet you too.’ He chuckled and in that moment he knew that your relationship was going to be unlike any other. And he was right.

There would be times where all of you were gathered in the cafeteria, where one of the monsters nudged past you rather rudely while sneering at you. You were use to this as technically while you had abilities that went beyond human comprehension, you were still the closest thing to being a human in comparison to those who had physical appearance that screamed monster.

‘Watch where you’re going human.’ They’d spit at you venomously.

You only smiled back at them while Dr Phosphorus looked between the two of you from the sidelines along with everyone else. ‘Someone who’s going to get bitchslapped by a fish says what.’

The bat like creature scrunched up their face. ‘What-‘ before they could finish their sentence, they were then smacked across the face with a fish rather violently as they were sent to the floor. They hold a hand to their cheek, clearly unaware of what had just happened along with the rest of the room, before looking at your hand that was once empty now was grasping the tail a dead fish the length of your arm; which explained the disgusting smell that soon hit their senses a second after they realised that they were hit in the face with a dead fish.

‘Where did you get that thing?!’ They’d spit exclaimed but you shrugged.

‘That’s on a need to know basis.’ You replied as you shoved the fish into the hands of a gargoyle like being as you took your place next to dr phosphorus, who had been trying to hold back his laughter but couldn’t when you were close enough if g for him to ask. ‘A fish? That’s what you come up with when insulated?!’ He wheezed. You shrugged ‘thought you would like the image of someone getting slapped with a fish and so I went with it.’ You explained as though it was something that happened on a daily basis for you.

‘Well it was definitely a sight to behold for not just me sweetheart.’ Dr phosphorus tells you as you both carried on with your day, all the while everyone else could only watch as the irradiated skeleton and you continue your conversation before being joined by weasel who had the fish firmly liked in his jaw.

[fookinhellcurly]

Larry discussions and why they matter

I got asked today by an older, new fan through the Larry Resources Compilation I made (also posted on Reddit):

"I am genuinely curious, though, like….. why does this matter?"

As a previous chill fan (a directioner, and a larrie, apparently god my brain gets foggy sometimes lol) who barely recounts my own Larrying back in the day (college was a whirlwind and a fever dream to me lol sorry) and came back after Liam's passing, I, myself, have consumed all these Larry information only recently. But from the get go, I knew my convictions.

There might be new ones here who'd come across my blog, so I thought I'd share my answer here as well. I ended up making a bulleted list, and it was the best way I thought I could address the question + the extra notes they left in their comment:

—

Baby larries and misinformation: Most baby larries likely learned about Larry through edits on YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram reels. They then decided to dive deeper, which led them down the Larry rabbit hole and eventually to Reddit and Tumblr. However, much of what’s on social media is taken out of context. There’s a lot of misinformation being spread (especially from bluegreeners), which is part of why non-larries in the fandom get annoyed with us. Some fans take things to extremes without understanding the reality of what H and L are going through. This is why it’s crucial to encourage research and healthy discussions. New information (in a sense that we might have failed to discuss it before; recent example is this post I made about Harry's lyric change to "Louis ONTO my drawers" which happened in 2020) is discovered—or debunked—daily, so having a platform to share and discuss these findings is vital. This Larry research I made is extensive, yes, but TONS of information have been scrubbed from the internet for unknown reasons (i.e, about babygate). Some people are actively trying to bury the truth about Larry. Without blogs and accounts archiving this data over the past decade, we wouldn’t know half of what we do today. My goal here is to make navigating 15 years’ worth of information easier.

The bigger picture: So, what’s the point of all this? In my opinion, it’s not just about proving a point. It’s about understanding the awful and harsh realities of an industry that profits off our support as fans while exploiting the very people we admire. It’s about acknowledging that there’s more to H and L than the clips we see online. They were just kids with dreams who were abused and manipulated by their management. They had to fight to maintain their identities while achieving their goals. It’s heartbreaking to realize that despite progress, the queer community still faces immense barriers (extra: I read the summary of Rock Hudson's battle back in the day—it's a perfect example of how we cannot trust the narrative media feed us). H and L have spent years signaling and coding, trying to break through their closet, and only us Larries could see the signs. Meanwhile, the media and management continue to box them into heteronormative narratives. It honestly breaks my heart seeing Harry get accused of queerbaiting and Louis forced into this Louis Tomlinson™ laddy-lad image, a far cry from the vibrant, flamboyant, happy young man he used to be (his words: "He were a lot sweeter, this lad"). To be clear, I love Lou the way he is but I agree to what this person said, I wish we had seen how the grown-up version of 2010-2012 Louis.

The denials: If HL had cut this shit from the beginning. If they had explicitly denied that their relationship was, in fact, not real (No, they have not straightforwardly denied it because they always redirect or play with words when asked in front of the camera; and that includes L's denial this year), we would have accepted it. But they didn't. THEY fed us all these things to pick on for the past few years. The songs (god, the songs) and the parallels, the use of blue and green (they know what those colors mean to us—they would not use them lightly if they want us to not believe), the coded clothing and the signaling, the acts of defiance, etc.—what are all those for? It's crazy to think that H and L would "bait" us just for the sake of sales.

Finally, the point of not letting the "ancient texts" die and keeping track even in the present: You see, all of us probably became genuinely invested because of the bigger story. In hindsight, everything MAKES SENSE, but in real-time unfolding during the 1D days, when H and L were fighting the most, it was harder to make sense of these things. But because we have these timelines, analyses, and proofs that sometimes even take years to be established (i.e., the McDonald's x Carpool Karaoke 2015 where HL supposedly shared the milkshake—but the clip didn't see the light of day until 2020 came around), we finally get to make sense of a decade+ worth of legitimate stories. As you would observe, there would always be a couple of larries who would ask, "Why do you think they're still together when they haven't been seen in public for so many years?" I want to add my answer from this post:

"[...] I’ve established that being a larrie, like a true larrie and not a chill larrie, you really have to be strong with your beliefs. I know those two try to keep their peace for as long as they want to. And I know we’d probably still get more denials and stunts along the way, but we have to remember that those shouldn’t invalidate the TONS of proofs/receipts that already exist, nor ignore the signals those two send in return when they have to be involved in bs narratives fed to the public. […] There’d be days when it’d be harder to defend HL themselves even bcs of their actions and words that could hurt larries - so on our end, we don’t necessarily have to tolerate that and we’re allowed to be mad or doubt what we’re supposed to be fighting for (not doubting them per se; just the situation and the cause). Though again, for me, by the end of the day, I know there are million other reasons why we cannot bend the truth (and we larries ourselves have always strived to stay analytical and logical when dealing with proofs), and I’d still choose to hold on bcs I know they still need us to believe - even if they decide to keep things quieter like this year or not come out at all."

If no one keeps track of these things (because as subtle as they are, HL still drops hints even once in a blue moon), other people would probably fail to notice them. But they are still just as loud, though not in a way that some 'fans' appreciate (like comparing now with the 1D days when, of course, you’d see them in the same room most of the time). And that’s when hate comes in. Because they fail to see it, they decide to 'overwrite' the past—when the closet was glass and when HL was free to show us their truth. They try to erase the fact that Harry and Louis were forced into a closet: one being labeled as the charming, womanizer man who likes 'girls of a certain age,' and the other as the laddy-lad guy who was a partygoer and then entered fatherhood.

This is the reason why, even though the topics could be repetitive, I personally try to engage, help out, and contribute—it also encourages others to do so. We need each other to keep believing despite the BS we’re thrown. And while Larry has stopped signaling as much, I know they truly appreciate Larries who support them on the sidelines.

There are so many more things my brain probably wants to say, but I literally just woke up when I started writing this lol. I hope that made sense. Again, I am not mad or trying to be rude, but I think these things needed pointing out. ♡

—

That's it. Sums up my beliefs and my convictions as a larrie.

[eiralunaire]

Headcanons of Damian Wayne. Part Two.

12. His Confusion About Love (But He Feels It Intensely).

Damian never understood how others could talk about love so easily. In his world, love wasn't a priority: it had always been training, fighting, and controlling. But with his girlfriend, things were different. Sometimes, in the midst of his emotional intensity, he didn't know how to handle his feelings. While he remained stoic on the outside, inside his head kept spinning: *“Is this love? Is it normal to want to be with someone all the time? It shouldn't be so complicated...”* However, what he did know, for sure, was that he had never felt something so strong for another person.

13. The Typical, but Different.

Although Damian is a reserved guy and doesn't usually make the typical romantic gestures, when he's with her, he feels weird, but happy to try. For example, one day, without warning, he takes her to an art exhibition that he knows she's interested in, or invites her to a park to see the stars, even if to him it all sounds a bit cheesy. He does it because he knows she likes it, and if it's something that makes her smile, then it's a worthwhile effort. Sometimes he catches himself thinking that, somehow, those little moments can be more important than a fight or a mission.

14. The Warrior Prince's Insecurity.

Even though Damian never says it out loud, there are times when he feels like he's not enough for his girlfriend. It's not because she's done anything to provoke him, but because, deep down, he can't help but compare himself to the perfection of what he thinks he should be. The son of Batman. The leader of the League of Assassins. The best fighter. And yet, sometimes, he feels out of place when he's by her side, because she has that ability to be light, cheerful, and genuine. He, on the other hand, is so used to carrying the weight of the world that it's hard for him to open up completely. But as she accepts him for who he is, he begins to learn that he doesn't need to be perfect to be enough for her.

15. Simple Details (That He Would Never Forget).

Damien is great at noticing details, and it's not just because he learned it as part of his training. In the case of his girlfriend, he pays attention to the little things that, to her, might seem insignificant: the brand of her perfume, the way she strokes her hair when she's nervous, or how she always has a habit of putting her coffee cup in an exact position on the table. While he won't say it out loud, Damian likes to know that, in those moments, he has a kind of silent power. Not just because he protects her, but because he understands what makes her who she is.

16. Escaping the Darkness Together.

Deep down, Damian is aware of the shadows that haunt him. The darkness of his family, of his training, of everything that comes with being the son of Bruce Wayne and Ra’s al Ghul. But in his girlfriend, he finds something that has nothing to do with that. With her, he can just be Damian: a boy who is falling in love, a boy who feels… good, without having to be the assassin or the leader of the League of Assassins. He likes how she gives him space to be himself, how she is able to bring something as essential as fresh air to his life, even when everything he knows is shrouded in layers of gray and complexity. With her, he feels less trapped in his destiny.

17. Any Excuse is Good to Be Near.

Damian is not the type to go out of his way for texts or calls, but when he is on a mission or out, he always finds the perfect excuse to send a message, even if it is just to say *"I'm here, everything is okay."* It is hard for him to admit it, but he needs to know that she is okay, that she is not alone. If she ever mentions something that's bothering her, he'll think about it for hours, searching for a way to fix it, even if it's something as small as the fact that she's out of his favorite marshmallows.

18. "Don't Let Me Go"

Sometimes, when the situation gets more tense or they're on a mission, Damian has moments where he unintentionally shows a more vulnerable side. "Don't let me go alone," he tells her quietly. He doesn't do it to sound weak, but because he doesn't want to face danger without her nearby. The funny thing is that, despite his image of a strong man, those moments serve to remind him that he doesn't always have to carry all the weight of the world. With her, he has an ally, and that's more than he ever thought he could have.

20. His Way of Saying "I Love You".

Damian would never say those two words in a conventional way. For him, love is not expressed with phrases. It is expressed with actions. It may be that, at the end of a long day, he surprises her with a cup of her favorite tea, or that he defends her from anything that bothers her without her asking. And when he finally says it, if the time comes, it will be something like, "I don't care what happens, but I will never let you get hurt." Because, in a way, that is his way of being vulnerable, of saying what he feels without saying it directly.

21. Being Together Is The Only Thing That Matters.

In moments of calm, when they are at home, everything else disappears. It doesn't matter what happened during the day, or the battles that Damian has faced. The only thing that matters is being near her. Whether it's watching a movie, having a coffee in silence or just talking about any nonsense, he values ​​those moments of simplicity. And although he never says it, in his mind, those are the moments that really make it all worth it. Being with her is his way of escaping, and despite all the chaos that surrounds him, he knows that, finally, he has something that truly belongs to him.

[mohntilyet]

is this a safe space to admit i really don't even like the lines in lucanis' first romance scene where he says something like "perfectly gathered clouds of doom" . but that does not stop me from loving him very much. i'm choosing to see this as a guy who is the terrible combo of reads romance novels, has never had a romantic relationship before AND his definition of 'good flirt' is synonymous with 'illario' so he's got an incorrect definition of what's actually romantic. the less lucanis is specifically trying to be romantic the more he becomes irresistible but i don't think he's caught onto that yet

[kagoutiss]

pays for his therapy

[rosenbraut]

Btw the boys is a great example of the state of sensuality in USAmerican culture. There is a very fine line of what kind of pleasure is acceptable to enjoy/crave/need, and it depends on who you are whether you’re crossing the line or not. Firstly, “deviant” sexual interests (kinks, fetishes, etc) are treated as both a freak show and something to be made fun of. Creepy, funny, weird, disgusting. But more importantly, sexual violence against men is treated as a joke, while male submission (or NEED in any way, sexual or not) is a sign of weakness and leads to ridicule. It’s so telling and so bleak. Sexual assault of course is one thing, but also just the fact that men are only allowed to express sensuality in very limited terms (passionate/rough sex where they play the dominant/active role) and that the very human need for affection is reduced to sexual need and/or ridiculed — it’s so narrow and tight a box and everything else is mocked. Not that I expect that much from that show but it’s REALLY interesting to see. They really live like this.

[the-terrible-theys]

found a tier list thing for ranking all the wks creature power suit designs and figured it’d be fun :)

tier list maker is linked here if you’re curious

anyway here’s mine!

edit: i keep getting notifs for this so i wanted to add that the tiermaker was done by @/galmiahthepigeon !

[dreamsy990]

my thoughts on ddd basically boil down to "great game! kill the story with fire and sticks." which i think is about the coldest take ever. do not get me started on how nobodies having hearts is a dumbfuck plot twist i am so full of rage over that.

[virmillion]

watched love simon again, had a breakdown, bon appetit.

something about how simon had (eventually) all that support - his mom told him he got to breathe now, his dad apologized for the jokes and for never seeing it, everyone said they loved him, that he was still him

anyway. rough never got the chance to do that (at least not to that extent, albeit also avoiding the wretched way it went down). at most, he came out to some friends at college, but not fully, not to everyone

and yeah, his parents might've been fine with it. emily probably would've. they would've all adjusted. eventually. but now he'll never know, is the issue. he won't get to tell them, and now everyone is going to remember him wrong. they are going to label and bury a casket containing a body that no longer belongs to him (and frankly, hasn't belonged to him in a long time)

functionally, he wasted his time. he Did School, then he graduated and Did College, then he died. he didn't get to Do a real relationship, or being himself. "you get to breathe now, you're still you" but is he? he never was himself, not all the way. "oh you're still yourself on the inside, no matter what other people saw or say" other people see him buried and mourn a girl who died years ago and he can't correct them

[idiaa-shroxd]

YOUR WRITING IS SO PRETTY I COULD EAT IT. YOU CHARACTERIZE THE CHARACTERS SO WELL TOO!!!

thank you so much!! ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ happy you think my writing is very pretty!! and also makes me happy you think my characterization was correct.

when writing for characters always take a bit of extra time to ensure they sound good? thinking about having an actual conversation with them for a minute and what they’d do! ♧ personally a big fan of viginettes since that reveals a lot of a character more than mainstory.

Σ('◉⌓◉’) mini (huge) rant within the tags of the way of my process to understand a character!!