#ask wrath

[a-most-beloved-fool]

"You have never faced a death" is possibly the most patently insane thing possible to say to James T. Kirk, who has

survived a famine and genocide at age 13, in which over 4000 people died

survived an attack on the Farragut which killed half the crew, including a captain who he cared about, and which he blamed himself for failing to stop

been forced to kill Gary Mitchell, an old friend of his

lost numerous lovers, including a woman carrying his child, and including some he was at least partially responsible for the deaths of

arrived too late to save the lives of his brother and sister-in-law

lost too many crewmembers to count, and you know he held himself personally responsible for each and every one of those

probably more that I'm forgetting about

and then Spock dies, and Kirk fucking AGREES.

He says, yes, you're right. I haven't faced death. Not like this.

Not like this.

All of those deaths he's lived through, and blamed himself for? You're telling me that none of them mean as much to him as the death of Spock? And you want me to read this as. what. Normal friend things?? When he calls Spock the more noble half of his soul?? And says that Spock's katra is his responsibility, just as much as if it were his own???

And what if I screamed??!???

[barely-getting-bi]

spock with his hair that looks like a lego piece taking in a child with really curly hair and having to figure out how to properly take care of her curls and then having to figure out how to get saavik to be still long enough for him to actually take care of them

[lilislegacy]

Hello everyone! I just want to say one thing real quick. If you are disappointed by Wrath of the Triple Goddess, you are allowed to feel that way and you are allowed to speak out about it. And if you want there to be a chance at change in the future, I advise trying to tell Rick in some way. As other people have said, the nice thing about Rick is that if we tell him about something we don’t like, he often fixes it. But first we actually have to tell him. It doesn’t mean you are entitled or think he works for you, but he writes the books for your enjoyment, right? So why wouldn’t he want to hear your honest feedback? Personally, if I was writing a book and 70% of my fans hated some things I was doing, I would want to know. We want him to be successful! And it doesn’t have to be all negative! You can go tell him what you like, too! But all I will say is that right now, WOTTG has nothing but shining reviews from super loyal fans. 4.4/5 stars on average. Which tells Rick one thing: keep doing exactly what you’re doing. But if we want him to understand that we don’t like certain things, like how Annabeth suddenly treats Percy like an idiot, or how Percy now constantly degrades himself and acts incompetent, a hell of a lot of people need to tell him.

Unfortunately (and completely understandably), Rick has made himself virtually unreachable by fans. He doesn’t run his own social media, he doesn’t accept fan mail or emails, and he doesn’t have a place for us to contact him.

So that only leaves 2 easy, accessible options that I can think of:

1. Leave a rating and review on Goodreads. If you would like to, go to goodreads (and any other review sites that you want), take 2 minutes to make an account, and give your thoughts. Be RESPECTFUL and civil. If you are rude and disrespectful, it helps no one. The only way to actually get his attention is to lower the rating, so, if you really want to reach him, give it 1-2 stars. Then leave a review giving your feedback, both the positive and the negative!

2. Make a tik tok. This fanbase is so loyal to Rick that I think everyone is scared to speak up. But if you make some kind of tik tok, even if it’s just showing quotes and captioning it “Separate the books and TV show” or “Stop writing Annabeth thinking Percy is dumb” or something like that, that still works. Or you can do a full sit-down review lol. Up to you. The thing about tik tok is that if one blows up, it will at least get back to someone close to Rick. And again, BE RESPECTFUL!!!!

I am sure there are more complicated ways, like emailing specific people who can reach Rick, but the ways I listed seem more realistic to me. If anyone has other ideas, please share! (AND DO NOT TRY AND REACH OUT TO THE ACTORS!! KEEP THOSE KIDS OUT OF IT!)

I am not forcing or guilting anyone into doing any of this. I’m not trying to rally troops against Rick. I’m just reminding everyone that if you don’t want to, you don’t have to suffer in silence. If you would like to give Rick your feedback in a respectful way, there are ways to do it. I’d rather he know now and be able to change things for the next book than us all stay silent and everyone despise the next one even more. Which could lead to the downfall of the whole series. And I really don’t want that.

Everyone can do what they want. If you want to go leave a big review for Rick to read, do it. If you want to make a tik tok, do it. If you just want to post about it on here, do it. If you don’t want to do any of that, don’t do any of it! No shame no matter what.

Have a wonderful day, everyone ❤️

[blighted-elf]

Re-creating my favourite Wrath of the Righteous party in BG3

[jean-dieu]

Pathfinder : Wrath of the Righteous, an Ask Game for your Knight-Commander

Hello fellow crusaders! Here's a little ask game that is specifically aimed at your Knight Commander from Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. Have fun!

Do they think they're going to make it out alive?

How do they feel about Areelu Vorlesh?

Who is/are their best friend(s) among companions and why?

What did they do before they became a crusader? Did they have a job, an occupation?

Do they have a family? If so, what kind? Do they miss them? Do they still have hope to see them again?

Which mythic path did they choose and why? Do they regret it?

Is your KC religious? If yes, which deity do they follow? If not, what is their view on religion?

What do they desire the most?

Do they have hobbies beside the crusade? Any passions or skills they have?

What would be the meal that give them a little ability bonus?

For martial KCs, favorite weapon? For spellcasters, favorite spell?

What is their alignment, and why? How do they feel about it? Do they change alignment at one point?

What is their biggest regret regarding their time as the KC?

Which companion is their closest friend?

Which companion do they hate/really don't like?

If applicable, who did they romance and why? If no one, why?

Which non-companion NPC do they really like?

If they survived, what is their life post crusade?

How did they feel during their time in the Abyss?

Which event of the crusade traumatized them?

Did they actually like something about being the KC?

Who was their favorite advisor during crusade council?

Where did they get their name from? Family, themselves? Does their name have a particular meaning?

Where do they come from in Golarion? Do they miss their homeland? How do they feel about their homeland, its politics and current state?

How did they welcome the physical change that came with their mythic powers? Did they embrace it/reject it?

Did they separate from any companions? Why? (Consider killing a companion too for this question)

Favorite animal companion?

Would they be a companion instead of the KC? What would their storyline and personal quest be?

What would their domains be after a potential ascension?

Did they chose to take the crossbow or the scroll to run away from Deskari right at the begining?

[butchspock02]

The decision to not include a shot of Bones' crying face during the funeral scene in wok has set the spones angst community back 300 years

[arttsuka]

Congratulations you did it

Your constant night at the museum posting convinced me to finally watch the movie

I now understand why you draw Jedediah and Octavius so often I really like them they are so cute and tiny AND CUTE definitely not me having cuteness aggression again

now I'm finally able to consume your gorgeous art with context <3

Sorry 😭 welcome to the fandom

Here's a drawing for you

[aroaceleovaldez]

he

he said

he said Clovis

from the

the Morpheus cabin

Clovis from the Morpheus cabin

he

why

TA server joked too loudly about how Morpheus was snubbed of a cabin with Rick confusing him with Hypnos until TSATS one too many times and the ReadRiordan listening device tapping the server went

and retconned it cause retconning is Rick's favorite pasttime these days, alongside writing stuff about piss

[demigods-posts]

Hi 👋👋

I dont typically send asks, and especially not without being anon. I am a mostly silent participant on tumblr and I have been for years. But I have to say something

It is so refreshing seeing big pro pjo posters able to criticize Riordan. I am not sure if this is just in my little corner of tumblr and maybe other people can tell me if it is the same for them but as far as I can see, you and lilislegacy are the big pjo posters on here. Is that just my dash? But I feel like mostly everyone in the tumblr fandom knows you guys, though I have known about you for longer. And when the book came out and I saw all the issues I fully expected everyone, especially you guys, throwing your full support behind the book and Riordan. So I cant tell you how happy I am that you are calling him out. The post you made today about not understanding why he is making Percy dumb again is so true! It’s not ok because self deprecation shouldnt be glorified. When he wrote Percy has a powerful hero, nobody was upset about it. Adult readers loved how much he had grown and kid readers looked up to him and found it exciting. In the last PJO book and in all Heroes of Olympus Riordan made Percy strong and heroic in addition to kind and funny, which made people happy. It made kids want to be like that. But now these kids are reading about him being so mean to himself. This is not okay! This should not be the example! Kids should not be reading that it’s ok for your friends and loved ones to treat you like an idiot. Riordan should be continuing to write about Percy growing up and maturing and becoming a good man who is content with who he is, not becoming more immature and more self deprecating and treated worse by his friends.

Sorry, I didnt mean to go off. But I just think its refreshing and brave how you are calling him out, no matter how much you have praised him and his books in the past. This fandom is dangerously loyal to him, and it quickly can become toxic and problematic when no one can criticize the author himself. So thank you for what you are doing. I admire it a lot and I hope you keep it up to some extent because we need it so bad

@lilislegacy if you want to add to this, feel free <3

Thank you so much for reaching out, and for being so kind! I hold the series in such high regard, so critiquing it makes me so nervous, especially since my blog is fairly well-known throughout the fandom. I really do love the series and I stand by the fact that there is so much good to come from the recent books, but with that comes some not-so-good. The consistent mockery of Percy's intelligence, the satirical characterization of Percy and Annabeth, and the seeming erasure of certain character and story arcs in the recent books are disappointing, and I enjoy having the space to express my opinion. While I have such love the series, I am open to having respectful discourse about Rick's recent writing choices, and I will engage in more in due time. Thank you again for your kind words and support!

[lanterns-and-daydreams]

Landon and Brandon: *sitting together*

Remi:

Remi:

Remi: 9/11

Remi: *throws a paper airplane at them*

[wayrad]

20 plsssss

of course, anon! i turned this prompt into a #the wrath of the lamb what-if. enjoy!!

for prompt 20: “get away! you’re hurting him!”

Gale’s mouth fills with spit. They’re holding him down, two German officers on both limbs, their fingernails pressing crescent moons into his flesh. He’s gagged with the collar they usually keep around his neck. Salty leather bites into his tongue, saliva-slick. His yells are choked back into his throat.

Haussmann nods his head. His specs fall down the bridge of his nose.

A Luftwaffe grunt pulls the metal rod out of the fire. It’s black burnt, edged red with fire, a heat Gale knows all too well. Reminds him of before, of cigarettes snuffed against his forearm, the fire of whiskey down his throat. The sweltering air during his heats in the omegahouse, before.

The grunt edges closer.

“Don’t,” John yells, muscles shaking where he’s strapped to his chair. The smoke of his scent fills the room entirely. “I’ll fucking kill you, I swear to God, all of you—”

“Do we need to muzzle you too, Major Egan?” Haussmann asks, smiling. Gale pulls his arms again; more of an automatic movement at this point. “Because that can be arranged.”

John hacks against the concrete floor. “Fuck you.”

The grunt is standing in front of Gale now. He looks to Haussmann for something. A message, a word, the snap of his fingers.

Gale’s eyes slam shut. Maybe he can think himself somewhere else. Somewhere nice. If he’d let himself go to London with John, to some hotel, with some king sized bed. Somewhere far from here. If he can think it, he can almost believe it.

Haussmann pulls his shirt higher. Exposes the vulnerable flesh over his spine, the very top where his vertebrae protrude from his skin. “Now you’ll really belong the Reich, hm, Major?”

Gale can feel a tear burn its path down his cheek. His legs kick pathetically. “Stop,” he gasps, muffled, incoherent. He wants to plead with them, but knows pleading’s never gotten him anywhere.

Haussmann cups his chin. His hands are warm and tender, his smile saccharine. And then he looks to his subordinate. “Do it.”

Gale feels the cry rip from his chest before ever hearing it. Smells it, his skin, blistering beneath the hot iron. Nothings ever smelt this bad in his life.

“Get away!” John screams, chair legs thumping against the floor. He’s going to break out of it. Gale needs- needs him to break out of it. “You’re hurting him!”

Haussmann laughs, because that’s the point, laughs because he’s got all the power and he’s swelling with it. Having John’s omega, Harding’s property, here, wearing his mark. Fucking alpha head games; anything to get his knot up.

Haussmann doesn’t move his fingers from Gale’s chin. He spreads the drool around with the pad of his thumb, tracking his mess everywhere. “How do you still smell so sweet?” he asks,

John’s hands are fisted against the chair’s arms. His biceps pull the uniform jacket taut, the binding rope across his chest and legs thick and unbreakable. He’s stinking up the place, maybe even worse than Gale is.

“I’ll kill you for this,” John says, his lip curled in a snarl.

The grunt pulls the branding iron from Gale’s skin. For a sick moment it sticks; pulls, then releases. Gale mewls beneath the gag.

Haussmann smooths a hand over his hair, gold streaked with grime and worse. “I bet,” he says.

[lilislegacy]

wait wtf you’re right. how does triple goddess have such a high rating on goodreads? what the hell are people doing?!??? there are a massive ton of people who gave it 5 stars before even reading it! and there are a ton of 5 star reviews just basically saying they didn’t like parts but they give it 5 stars anyway because they love rick and want more!

i am starting to freak out a tad. rick has no idea that there’s a single problem, does he? we are going to get a whole other book with percy being an idiot and annabeth being controlling and none of them acting like themselves because everyone is either too blindly loyal to rick or too scared to tell him the truth 🤯🤯

i wish i could console you… but yeah. that’s exactly what’s going to happen

i tried making a post recommending that people go to goodreads, give a low rating (simply because that’s all he will actually pay attention to) and then give all their feedback to rick, both positive and negative.

it was the only post i’ve ever asked that people get around, and as a result it doesn’t even have 100 notes LOL

so i’m sorry i don’t know what to tell you. other than you’re right. unless we get a few thousand people to go give it a 1-2 star review and give him respectful feedback, he’s never gonna have any idea that people are upset about things. but you know, i did by best to spread the word. i don’t think there’s anything left i can do. i’m sorry :(

[wrathofrats]

Wrath I humbly ask you go into insane detail about your characterization for Alpha

OH YOUVE FUCKED UP

Welcome to wrath’s in depth guide to alpha ghoul and his story as I currently believe it to be and usually write it. Subject to change during random fics for my convenience or if I decide differently in the future but this is currently how the story goes

Including omega, delta and pebble details because I find it important to the story.

Idk how long this is going to be, probably very. I apologize in advance.

Alpha was summoned alongside omega. Two ghouls bonded from the start. Alpha to be a guard and omega to book keep and run the infirmary when they weren’t busy with the band. Primo found them to be sweet, good company while he summoned water earth and air to complete the band. Omega and alpha didn’t talk much to them at first, at least alpha didn’t. Omega was friendly, welcomed them with open arms. But alpha was stoic, and only kept to omega most of the time. He was meant to be menacing, not to mess around.

He was in love with omega. Time spent in practice close to his side, and outside of guarding primo he would sit in the library while omega made records of new and old important information about ghouls that the ministry could use. Helping him find the books he needed or sneaking kisses behind the shelves, they were borderline disgusting in their behavior, but primo and the other ghouls found it endearing, so no one mentioned it.

When secondo was sworn in he promised heavy changes to the ministry. The band hadn’t taken off like he wanted it to. Primo was soft, didn’t have the backbone needed for the job. Secondo though had the heavy hand to make them great.

Alpha was to stay by his side at all times. Almost no break from being his ghoul. By his side at the pulpit, outside his door, he was summoned for the purpose of protecting his papa. Omega stayed doing the jobs he was assigned, only seeing alpha when with secondo or late in the middle of the night.

They were forbidden from seeing each other outside of band purposes. It was a distraction, the ghouls shouldn’t be in relationships with each other, they’re religious servants and not much more. Lake and River got away with their relationship because truly secondo didn’t pay much attention to earth, air, and the constant rotation of water ghouls. But alpha and omega? They were distracting to everyone.

They would sneak off in the middle of the night to spend the twilight in each others arms before the sun would inevitably rise and they’d have to sadly walk feet away from each other in order to be at mass on time. Sometimes alpha would fake a cough or a sprained ankle just to feel omegas touch again.

Secondo eventually stepped down and was replaced with Terzo, along with two new summons. Delta, and pebble. Terzo did away with the harsh rules, and alpha and omega could be together once again.

Delta and pebble ended up being more … interesting new summons. Delta didn’t like to be touched or talked to much, mostly sticking around pebble. While pebble was loud and rebellious, much to omega and terzos dismay as he wreaked havoc around the ministry with delta in tow.

Omega wanted to retire, it was all becoming too much, and now that he had alpha back he wanted to spend all the time he could with him.

Delta was wrong, like any other water ghoul was. Something off about his demeanor that made omega sick to his stomach to witness. He would go feral, it was only a matter of time.

Delta begged, pleaded with omega to change his element, even though omega constantly denied him because it was too dangerous. Delta didn’t care, he didn’t want to succumb to the fate of the others. He stole books and whatever he could find from the library, and locked himself away to do it himself

The transition worked, but only barely. His eyes went dark, his personality changing, the quintessence eating away at him, killing him from the inside. Omega tried every spell he could to help, but all of the fixes never lasted more than a day.

Pebble blamed him, omega could’ve stopped delta. He could’ve just given him what he wanted instead of watching him do it himself because he knew he would fuck it up, pebble was convinced omega could’ve saved him if he tried. Hell, delta was omegas replacement. If omega just decided to keep performing they wouldn’t be in this mess.

Omega went to Terzo for help, begging for whatever forgiveness he could. Day after day not sleeping in his bed with alpha, going back to Terzo to be comforted. It wasn’t a problem at first, alpha understood why omega was upset. But the bed no longer smelled like him, his clothes were halved because he kept taking them to where Terzo stayed. It hurt, that was his mate, and now he’s found someone else?

Alpha would use pebble to fill in the gap, at least sexually. Pebble was easy, and a shithead, someone he could take his frustrations out on and he would continue to ask for more. It didn’t fill the hole in his heart, he never felt better afterwards either. But it was physical touch, he could feel needed for the hour and that’s what he really was after.

Pebble told him to leave omega, he didn’t deserve to be treated like that. Omega killed delta, and was now abandoning alpha? It wasn’t fair. How could he make all the mistakes just for the consequences to come down on everyone else. He told him to go to earth, hell even air. Anyone else, leave omega in the dust.

But alpha didn’t. He sat, and waited for his mate to return to him.

Ivy was summoned along with a plethora of new ghouls, including one to replace alpha as he had decided to retire.

Pebble found solace and love in Ivy, now spending all his time with him instead of alpha. And omega never came home. He was left alone to talk to mist sometimes and watch pebble and ivy fawn over each other while his room became his once again instead of sharing it.

Terzo is killed. Taken and beheaded in front of his band. News spread to the ministry before the clock struck midnight.

Omega was distraught. Destroyed what he could get his hands on in the chapel while alpha stood and watched, let him take out his emotions in whatever way he could. Omega returned to alphas room, night’s that weren’t spent at Terzo grave instead spent in alphas arms while he let him. He never mentioned the past. He never held it against him that he left. He was back. And that’s what mattered.

And omega would eventually heal, he would spend more and more time telling alpha he loves him instead of saying how much he missed Terzo, and with every I love you alpha forgot more and more of how they had gotten to this point. It didn’t matter anymore, he had omega back.

That’s how they stayed. The ministry’s resident old married couple. Often flirting with their arms wrapped around each other in the common rooms or making inappropriate comments just to hear the newer ghouls whine in disgust. They were cute, in love, and only those who had been there really knew what happened.

Alphas an old grandpa who shows he cares for his fellow ghouls with food and remembering their favorite colors and animals, and carrying them to bed when they fall asleep in weird places, but can’t voice his own feelings with words.

I hope this helped! Sorry for the … very very long ramble

[wickmitz]

I decided to start talking about Wick and Rocky's relationship because I like their dynamics too, I like seeing Wick scared of Rocky and Rocky being aggressive with him, which is unusual because Rocky is rarely aggressive with anyone, but of course Wick is an exception to rule

Also my mini opinion about their possible relationship, I think that if Rocky didn't have to fight for his place, then he and Wick could become friends, or at least tolerate each other a little, I also see some superficial similarities, their gentlemanly and romantic natures, and their common love for explosions (remembering the quarrymen chapter), but this is my assumption, I think that I don't understand the characters' personalities well, so I can be wrong in this assumption, something like that. So, what do you think about their relationship?

for starters, i cannot thank you enough for this ask! as i’ve said previously, i have many thoughts on these two, so it’s nice to finally be able to share some of them. although given the extent to which i think about them, i apologize in advance if this is sloppy and sort of everywhere … while i’ll try to structure things the best i can, i cannot promise i’ll succeed! but hopefully this is an enjoyable reply nonetheless.

one of my favorite things about rocky and wick’s relationship is absolutely how aggressive rocky is towards the aristocrat ; he is prone to glares and cruel jokes and borderline hissing whenever the man is within his line of sight, or can be brought to a wailing-fit over the mere mention of his name from miss m’s mouth. there is a childishness to it, but a very prominent threat as well in spite of rocky’s usual incompetence. so he goes out of his way to posture around wick, readily lying and adorning himself with the gangster drapes he so badly wants to wear, in the hopes that it intimidates … will even badmouth wick’s family and make fun of his name and rock related obsession to mitzi, and so on so forth! yet all of this is very reminiscent of schoolyard bullying rather than anything too severe, though we as the audience understand rather quickly that rocky would bash wick’s head in with a tire iron if he could. ( translation : if it wouldn’t earn the tears or hate of a certain beloved mitzi may ) and it’s all very intense despite the absence of actual violence! and i understand why many fans see this as unusual for rocky and believe that it’s only wick who makes him act so aggressively, but i’d argue it isn’t really wick at all that prompts such scary reactions from him … and that rocky is a deeply angry character who’s a.) been boiling quietly for a long, long time and b.) has turned wick into a punching bag of sorts for this inner world of resentment and hurt. basically, when he’s judging the well-to-do or poking fun, his eyes don’t look at wick and actually acknowledge him as sedgewick sable ; instead this is a being, something vague and metaphorical, who threatens to upseat rocky’s permanence in the lackadaisy and steal away his savior, and he’s had a hand in the violinist’s misfortune for a long time.

obviously, rocky doesn’t think wick robbed him of his family twice over and made him homeless, but he is channeling the fear and anguish of those events into his loathing for wick, if that makes sense? it’s easier that way -- to finally have an outlet for everything bleeding inside of you, to be able to bite and claw at something without feeling conflicted or having to take personal accountability for your own mistakes … which is something that i think rocky does struggle with to a degree. he is sort of a finger pointer! his pain has to be worth something, it has to be for someone else ; spending years homeless and losing his last bit of family was for freckle, and the scrambling of his literal brain was for mitzi, and that means he can’t ever be angry with them! well, except that he is, somewhat, but he buries it deep down instead of feeling it. with freckle there is a sense of strain between them -- an air of ‘you owe me’ from rocky to freckle as he uses freckle to appease miss m, and he constantly pokes fun at his cousin too. it’s lighter than his jabs at wick, but there’s a constant pestering, a reminder of how good freckle has it : how he’s got the mom and the house and the job and the girl most notably. i don’t think rocky is intending to come across as mean, and to his credit he hardly does! but it’s rather clear to me that some part of him, some hidden and deeply hurt part, is rather indignant about taking the fall for freckle all those years ago. which he can’t understand, because how could he? he made that choice, he decided to take accountability for something he didn’t do because he loves freckle and knows it’d be so easy to believe this family tragedy was roark’s fault ; the devilish child he was, all troublesome and too broken to properly fit anywhere. so there is a disconnect born here, where rocky can’t comprehend that he’d be angry at freckle, so instead these not so great feelings are placed elsewhere and silently boil over time. and with mitzi … i don’t think he’s angry at her per se, but there is a frustrated and desperate chorus of : why him and why not me, when i’m the one out here dying for you? which is certainly unpleasant. of course, rather than allowing those feelings to be more aimed at miss m, whom he feels unloved by, he ( again! ) represses these emotions and allows them to fester into his greatest fears and fantastical complexes. i think there is a lot of other miscellaneous anger he could have towards others too … perhaps some part of him is sore upon seeing ivy’s normal lifestyle, watching her go to university and knowing that’s been taken from him. or an ache felt when hearing stories from zib and the band and how they used to travel successfully, living as nomads, and rocky is all too reminded of his similar lifestyle and how he couldn’t make it work as effortlessly. people with immense trauma are more prone to irrational anger and jealousy, to viewing everything around them as unfair and believing it’s even more unjust that so many people get to live comfortably while they’ve suffered. a situation that gets more messy when you’re someone like rocky, a man who’s willingly made choices that have harmed himself and wants to continue on with his smiling, bumbling fool of an act. he does not want to be angry, does not want to see it within himself, i think, which leads to an accidental increase of it.

all of this is to reiterate that wick is a scapegoat for rocky and nothing more. it’s why he’s rather hypocritical whenever it concerns the man. for example, it was stated by tracy that he looks down upon wick for his excessive presence at the bar, yet he appears to enjoy hanging out with zib -- who drinks just as often! he makes fun of how all wick ever talks about is rocks, when he himself is prone to poetry rambles that people find irritating or boring, and etc etc. this is also just a human nature thing, to critique someone you heavily dislike and even going as far as to belittle things you love or do in your own day to day because you just hate them that bad! but given rocky’s willingness to befriend anyone, it more so reeks of a dehumanization element. wick is every obstacle in his way, every divine force that threatens to send him packing again, so he is equal parts unnerved by wick’s presence and angry about it. it is mostly a fear response we are seeing, an emotion that’s morphed into long held resentment and anger. so his actions are extremely defensive, with him trying to push wick far away and keep him and mitzi separate, like some sort of animal attempting to ward off a threat that’s come too close to their home. despite the loaded animosity there, this hate has hardly reached its peak … but it shall only grow more intense as things continue onward i’m afraid, since as it stands ( in the comic at least ) rocky is at an all time low … and is ten times more desperate. i’d honestly say wick has become so warped in his mind’s eye that he can only strive towards ‘winning’ over the other man, because that’s all he can see anymore. i think mitzi implying that wick willingly helped her out, the intense head injury, and rocky’s fragile emotional state is exactly what pushes him towards premeditated murder in look-see. i don’t know how people perceive that arc, but to me it’s very clear that rocky actively sought to see the deaths of wes and fish that night. going as far as to lament that he’d be, “very disappointed if ( he ) dreamed them,” and purposefully luring the marigold duo away to have freckle pick them off. while you could argue that this was a smart move, in a gangster sort of sense, there’s still no denying that rocky is oddly chipper about the whole thing and is now seeking death out ; whereas before his methods of vengeance were just, well, ruining people’s livelihood but ultimately leaving them alive. this isn’t to discredit the fact that rocky is going through something! he is in a very muddled and dark place, mentally and physically, but even tracy has said that the head injury hasn’t changed rocky’s personality -- it’s only brought things to the surface.

source : q&a with tracy .

which, yeah! makes sense! head trauma can cause a person to become a wreck emotionally ( think mood swings, irritability, etc ) but it doesn’t completely morph someone either. personality changes may occur, but it’s not like you’re being rewritten entirely, you know? and given tracy’s old statement, it’s clear that ‘personality changes’ aren’t a side effect he’s suffering from. something that adds to my beginning statement, which is that rocky is a deeply angry and troubled person, more so than fans give him any credit for.

however, to touch upon your mini opinion about these two, i actually wholeheartedly agree that rocky and wick could become friends if circumstances were different. they do in fact have many superficial similarities, but one of the more prominent things they deeply share is never really belonging in the groups they frequent. this is more overt with rocky’s character, yet wick faces it too in subtle ways. the well-to-do crowd, seen through the investors, find the gentleman to be lacking in about every place imaginable ; to them he is an obsessive freak who cares too deeply for meager rocks, something they constantly mock him for, while he’s also being noticeably set apart from the rest of them … he seems younger than the investors, more excitable, passionate, and a little less experienced, and doesn’t seem to care for money or reputation as much as them either. there is a constant rubbing between him and them, where what he enjoys is seen as wrong, such as his love for the lackadaisy and his choice in paramor, a grieving widow with extremely dangerous ties. we also know that wick doesn’t have many friends at all, with the only two he has being lacy and church ( church is listed as such on his character profile, in a sort of tongue-in-cheek way ), both of whom work for or with him. they are obliged to hang around, and while they care in varying ways, they are prone to judging him just as much. honestly, it’s not shocking that wick seeks refuge at his chosen speakeasy! but even there he is rather distant from everyone else. he doesn’t speak to zib ever in the comics, nor seems all too close with viktor, ivy, or horatio … it is merely mitzi he is close to, even if he knows of the other people who work there. and, once again, wick very obviously doesn’t fit in. he is not gangster material, could never be an atlas may replacement, much less someone who could get his paws dirty in such an active way. so he has his feet in two different worlds and doesn’t know how to fit into either of them, or which one he actually wants to fit into more. i think in many ways rocky could relate -- these are two very lonely people who wish to belong somewhere and be accepted by some group or another but go about it in all the wrong ways. wick, who is too hesitant to fully commit to what he wants and is worse off for it, and then rocky, who obsessively throws himself against what he wants until he breaks every bone in his body. they also have explosives to bond over, lol, and other miscellaneous things like their taste in women i suppose … but this potential bond adds to the tragedy of lackadaisy, where we see two people who on every level should get along but we’re burdened with the knowledge that it’s an impossibility anyway, because there’s no removing the circumstance of which they’re in.

though i like to believe that despite wick’s fear of rocky, he maintains a kindness towards him regardless. i think his worries about rocky are rather surface level … he doesn’t know the boy at all, really, and thus can’t make heads or tails of him, hence him believing the lie in balderdash. so when i’m feeling particularly self indulgent, i like imagining a world where they’re forced together and sort of ‘stuck’ together ; to which rocky finally breaks and exposes his wounds to wick, in every sense of the word, and wick finally gets him. the aggression, the possessiveness of mitzi … it is all fear and desperation and a profound sadness, things he’d sympathize with. if rocky was able to explain that he loathes wick because if he saves the lackadaisy then mitzi won’t need him anymore and that it’s not fair that wick gets to so easily fix things when rocky would give his soul for his home, for her, and how wick could render every sacrifice he’s already made for naught by smoothing things over with some greenbacks and he can’t lose this, he just can’t --! … which, well, wick is too kind of a man to be able to do anything except feel awful, even though it’s not his fault at all. here we have two people who could coexist! and they should, since rocky logically can’t do every speakeasy job ( band member, rumrunner, mitzi’s shadow, also the guy who gets the money for the hooch ) by himself, just like how wick can’t save the lackadaisy with only his cash and limited booze stash. it’d be a joint cooperation, a collaboration between them, both equally important in the grand scheme of crime’s every turning wheel … but rocky’s rage and fear won’t let him see that, and likely never will. still, in scenarios where everything ends up alright for the lackadaisy and the people involved in it ( which is not how canon will go, by the way ), i fancy wick and rocky getting better within their relationship. rocky will always be prickly and quick to upset around the other man sadly, but perhaps he could see wick in a softer kind of light. or at least understand vaguely enough that he isn’t out to get rocky, so to speak. and then maybe wick learns that pancakes soothe rocky’s ire and poorly makes them anytime he wishes to talk to the man, and other fun things like that! but you should have more confidence in your character analysis skills, because you were spot on ( at least in my eyes ) about them potentially getting along if things were different. it’s certainly a fun aspect to play around with, and is important to note when discussing their relationship so you can fully understand just how warped rocky’s perspective on things are. and how unstable and traumatized he is too, of course </3 sidenote, but i also hope that throughout everything i’ve said here, or anything i’ve said before on my blog, that my love for rocky and my own sympathy for him comes across well enough. while he’s deeply flawed and i have no qualms discussing said flaws in depth, i also don’t think of him as some insane freak who’s evil at his core or anything like that. honestly, i adore analyzing him so much as a character because of how far down his issues go! he’s very well written, i’ll say, as is wick and many of the other characters, but i digress.

once more, thank you for the ask! i’ll end this here because i fear if i don’t i’ll start going in circles, since their relationship is so vast and very important for rocky in a character sense. hopefully i shed some more light on it though! i love these two to bits and pieces and i wouldn’t be half as invested in lackadaisy if their dynamic wasn’t so monumental -- at least to me.

[infernal-lamb]

Hey, I've seen your drawings from Neves. They are brilliant. I like her a lot, and are you writing fanfic about her?

Ahh thank you!!! That's really flattering fkljgfjf....It's always a pleasant surprise that people like Neves :'-) (and I love when I get an excuse to post my doodles of her and the Lamb lol)

I am in the works of trying to write a cotl fanfic abt this specific au (I call it The Apostate & The Martyr in my head lol), but writing doesn't come as easily as drawing to me SIGH. I've actually written quite a bit, but the problem is putting all these random excerpts together to make something coherent LOL. But yes, the fic is intended to be the story of The Lamb and Neves' friendship amidst the brutality and terror of the Lands of the Old Faith, how to deal with the consequences of their choices, and the mutual alienation they experience in their positions....as silly as that sounds lol. It's very self-indulgent! I just liked the concept of the "Outsider" POV, so to speak, being subjected to the sort of normalized violence that exists in cotl. Though, I might end up just making comics if I can't pan out this fanfic well enough!

[iamthecomet]

Should …. Should I ask about the Dewther thoughts that were probably worse ….

So, imagine with me, that Aether didn't retire. That he isn't waiting for the pack when they get back from tour.

That he's gone.

That Dew wakes up to a cold bed every morning and for a second he forgets. For a second Aether is working an early shift. He's taking a piss or getting a glass of water.

In those slow moments before Dew opens his eyes, Aether is coming back.

And then it comes back. All of it. Washing over him in one overbearing wave.

The smell of him has faded from the sheets. He wasn't there to wrap Dew in a bear hug when they got back. He didn't kiss him one last time before they fell asleep last night. And Dew squeezes his eyes shut and hopes that this part is the bad dream.

Dew doesn't know how to be himself without Aether, without the other half of him.

He keeps busy. He tries not to think about it. About all of the empty space now that he's gone. Tries not to bury his face in Aethers shirts just in case the barest bit of his scent still lingers.

Dew feels like part of him has been severed. Like the part of him that made him whole when he met Aether is gone too. Like he is hollow. Scraped clean.

And he thinks about how they used to talk about it. Humans and their soul mate concepts. Dew laughed at it. Aether shrugged. Said maybe. Said how else could Dew explain this? Them? The way they felt like they were two jagged halves of the same heart.

And Dew doesn't know if he believes it. And he doesn't know if it's even worth it, if this is how it ends. But he knows, in those moments just after he wakes. When he wallows in the empty ache in his chest. He knows that he will never stop looking for Aether.

Even if it always ends like this. Even if he gets left behind again and again. Even if it takes eternity. The option that this is it? Impossible. Unthinkable. Dew can't live with that--cannot accept it. If he does, if he stops imagining a future where he descends into the pit and finds Aether again, the grief will burn him to ash. So he persists. He holds on to Aethers belief in fate. In soul mates. In eternity.

He knows he will never stop searching for Aether. That he is Dew's North Star. And as much as it hurts, as futile as he knows it is, it's all he has left to hang on to.