#but it is actually this beautiful story of hope and sacrificial love

[e-louise-bates]

🎭

[nix-xin-art]

//SPOILERS FOR HSR 2.2 STORY

It’s 1AM and I’ve finished the latest update for HSR

So let’s talk about it, and by talk I mean let’s write out a few paragraphs about my wildly running thoughts and feelings about my husbands

FIRST OF ALL, let’s talk about Gallagher. The man that you are, I never stopped being a Gallagher apologist and I’m so happy I didn’t. The fact he’s so laid back and nonchalant about having dormancy as a pet is actually such a serve on his part.

I think Gallagher in particular had a cool little story here, with the introduction of his actual connection to Mikhail being so fucking sad man, I need to give this guy a cwtch because Oml. The scene where he showed his frustrations towards Mikhail were some of my favourites, he gets a little bitter about Mikhails unwavering faith in the express. And in my brain I’ve interpreted that bitterness as a regret that maybe he could’ve done more for him, maybe been something else to have faith in dispite Gallagher not having a faith for himself.

A tasty tidbit that I enjoy from Gallagher is also the fact he calls Sunday ‘Mr Wings’ as a snarky nickname. As a Gallgher enjoyer and a Sunday slapper I enjoy that.

As for why I have ended my friendship with Sunday: Welt.

This is all I have to say, my man wholly trapped welts consciousness in his own to take him as a bargaining chip for the express, eventually hoping to trap the rest of the crew too. I don’t like that.

Im all seriousness though I do like the way all of that was handled. Welt was on his self sacrificial bullshit again and ended up getting himself into possibly detrimental trouble AGAIN. When will this man learn? It’s been 80 something years mr yang, reflect, I beg of you.

Another side tangent. The fact welt immediately understood something was up with Sunday? The fact welt immediately understood there was something wrong with gopherwood. This man never misses and I love it. I’m convinced that the reason he had to be split from the main group in 2.1 was because he would’ve seen through Gallaghers lies in an instant.

Especially since he brought up Gallaghers suspicious history lesson detour as soon as he heard about it.

Im so normal right now oh my god I need to go bounce around the walls for a bit

Also, side side tangent. The scene with the trailblazers and Mica? (Was that his name? The grave keeper in the dreamfulx reef) When welt is mumbling and he just says “huh? Were you talking to me?” I know for a fact that hoyo doesn’t skimp out on the tiny details and even himeko made a noise of confusion in that scene (if I remember correctly of course) but I might be looking too deeply into that.

Also. What is with penacony and having such plot relevant 4* characters. First it was Gallagher, now it’s Misha??? Hello??? I’m loving this 4* love.

NOW ONTO BOOTHILL. I love that guy he’s such a dumbass in all the best ways. I’ve read through the leaks of his story and… oh boy… knowing what k know… ‘I wouldn’t want to interrupt such a long awaited reunion’… currently kaying my ess.

Then there’s Acheron. Acheron has played a huge part in all the story quests of penacony so far and I’m actually starting to really warm up to her, it might’ve been mostly because abuse of her cutscene with Tiernan. That shit pulled at my heartstrings in all the most painful ways. Also the art in these cutscenes???? Hello??? Hoyo are really popping off with these. I was looking at all the little rendering details like a goddamn owl.

Lastly I wanna talk a little bit about the boss battle for this update… specifically the design of that thing… oh my god it’s gorgeous… this massive robot angel that’s also a conductor, it’s such a gorgeous design I just start kicking my feet and rolling around the floor, the boss design in this game is goddamn beautiful. First Phantilia now this.

[puppetwoman17]

So far, for my one shot on the Batsons being a sacrificial family for Magic, these are the family members I’m planning on writing in the perspective of:

Oldest documented Batson member(chosen as a woman from the 1600s, so close to the Salem Witch Trials). Tbh I don’t have a good backstory to the curse in general. I’m thinking about just having it be so long ago, and the papers being so worn out, and the povs so extensive, that no one can learn why or how anything happened. It might add another layer of mystery.

CC Batson’s father; I named him Everett. Despite only having a mention of him in the PoS comics, I wanted to add him in. I decided to make him a man who obsessed over finding a cure to his family’s curse. The entire reason he became an archeologist was so he could find an artifact or object that could take the curse away. I’m not sure yet if he simply dies some time after Billy is born, or if he disappears, too into his work to be with his family. OR, another more juicier alternative, he senses the destiny Billy has, tries to kill his grandson in the hopes of saving him, and THEN disappears! 😀

Ebenezer Batson. I headcanon him as CC’s OLDER brother. He was the first person to see the changes in Everett. Despite wanting to save his family, he grew distant. Because of this, Ebenezer hates Magic and all mention of it. He grew up defeating it even more when heroes and villains alike started using them, and hates Fawcett even more for basically being its epicenter. He hates it so much that he decides to use it to create a family he actually wants. Enter, Lady Blaze, a contract, and Sinclair.

CC Batson. Now, he also grew up seeing his father deteriorate. But, he also ends up having a love for archaeology. It annoys his brother to no end. CC sees the beauty in the arcane, becoming friends with Shazam and other Fawcett heroes. At some point, Shazam is convinced that Magic wants to choose CC as its Champion. And maybe it did. But then Billy and Mary were born, and Magic set its sights on them. Magic needs to kill him now. With all his exposure to Magic, he could make a great lure for Billy when he’s older. A reason for him to follow someone to the Rock. And said exposure to Magic could become a great burst of power for it and its new champion.

Thinking of adding a Marilyn section but I don’t know what to put yet.

This is part 1, and I’ll be making a part 2 about Sinclair and the twins tomorrow or the day after. If anyone has suggestions for other Batsons to use or story beats, I’d love to know! I haven’t started on the writing yet, as the ideas are still running and already have 2 other fics in my belt!

[dekusleftsock]

Turning tragedy into hope-Let him lose those arms

I’ve tried making this post three times so let’s hope that third times the charm y’all.

I’m just gonna come out and say it but when I saw that panel where Izuku doesn’t have any hands I literally got so excited.

AND ITS NOT BECAUSE I LIKE MY FAVORITE CHARACTER GETTING BRUTALIZED (well? I do think it’s a little funny but shhh)

But it’s because this has been foreshadowed almost as much as the handhold itself between Izuku and Katsuki. And it’s wonderfully tragic in the best of ways. Literally half of the commentary surrounding it when it came out in the leaks was “omg I thought of that!” Because literally everyone and their mother KNEW this was coming in some form. Izuku was going to lose an arm, and that would be the case.

Hell, even outside of the story the amount of official art and AU’s Horikoshi drew that had Izuku without an arm is astounding. Like it’s so painfully obvious that this was coming, and so he upped the shock when he made Izuku lose them both.

Izuku is even doing his white eye thing, he isn’t shocked, he’s angry. My dude is pissed. Clearly, to me at least, the loss of his hands is less of a shock to him and more so that he’s angry that afo took away the reason he lost them in the first place—Tenko.

Y’all gotta remember who Izuku is, he’s the stubborn motherfucker that refused time and time again to give up on his dreams, he’s the one that illegally saved Iida and Katsuki, he’s the one that refused to let go of Tenko’s hands because when he was in his time of need, it comforted him.

Izuku has been told by his doctors for over a year atp that he was going to eventually either lose his hands, or lose the function within them. He’s accepted that. He can try to stop it, hold it off through equipment and treatment, but at the end of the day, everything breaks eventually. He knows that. We know that.

So if he was going to lose his arms in some way, it’d be through this: saving someone, holding their hands, never letting go, comforting them.

It’s tragic and sacrificial, but Aizawa’s the same. Did we make theories about how Eri is gonna heal him from being an amputee? Did the story say “actually due to this cool magical illusion/quirk it was all a mirage/eri could heal it”? No, it didn’t. Did Mirko somehow get her arms and legs back because they’re tied to how she views her strength? No, she didn’t.

And there’s a reason they didn’t. Multiple reasons they didn’t. They’re heroes, their scars tell their stories.

Not even mentioning how that’s such a trope (“everyone else keeps their long term injuries except for the main character because he’s special and gets main character powers, like not getting a disability from a dangerous job! :)”), but why should eri, a little girl, be responsible for everyone’s injuries? She doesn’t even have full control yet, she’s playing it by day. (People LOVE to talk about how all the 1-A kids are just kids fighting in a war, except when it comes to a little girl being responsible for everyone’s injuries, somehow)

The reason eri was shown wasn’t because she was going to somehow save the day, but because she wasn’t. It was supposed to stop those theories from having actual merit, because eri doesn’t actually have the built up strength to help.

So, with that out of the way, I wanted to say how this is so fucking beautiful. It’s tragic yes, Izuku and Katsuki never got to hold hands, not properly, but maybe the measure of their trust is beyond that. Maybe, an embrace could suffice—this would go back to Izuku’s vigilante arc. Where, instead of holding hands, Katsuki caught him when he needed to. And he’s going to do it, again and again.

Maybe holding a robot or silicone arm won’t feel the same, but it’s the feelings surrounding it that matters, not the act itself. The hand hold is still there, the hands still haunt the narrative like a mouse within the walls. It bites at cords like their own emotional walls.

Katsuki missed his chance, over and over again, and he’s going to have to come to terms with that. But that’s not to say that the story won’t let this aspect haunt the narrative like it always has. It’s still THERE, and I believe in Horikoshi to continue to write a story about hands while the main character doesn’t even have them.

Izuku’s hands are tied to his strength, physically and emotionally. He views them has the glue that ties his heroics to himself. His hands have always reached out to others, his hands have always punched those who were wrong, and even when he had to switch fighting styles he still saw them as the reason he was able to fight at all. They represent OFA, his love, his anger, his weakness, his strength. They represent his sense of self, and yet he’s more outraged than hurt that he lost them for Tenko to be free—only for AFO to take away that freedom all over again.

THATS why the loss had to happen. THIS. He lost something so incredibly valuable to himself, but he lost them of his own accord. He could have let go of Tenko at any moment, yet he didn’t because he wanted Tenko to know comfort and freedom. He wanted him to be free.

You could say that Tenko was telling Izuku to let go because he was breaking down his emotional resolve, and I believe you could also say that he was telling Izuku to let go so he doesn’t hurt someone who tried to help him all over again. You could say it’s both. It’s selfish and selfless, like everything in this story is. But Izuku refused to, and that was a choice Tenko could never take away from him.

So, that’s how I’ll turn this tragedy to hope, because this was done out of Izuku’s love, why take away that meaning?

Why put them back?

Why take away those scars?

Scars tell stories, they tell you how we became the greatest heroes.

[theoldoor]

fenrir lore maybe

“those eyes, child. who did you steal from?”

left over crumbs of a thief

—- fenrir lore time :3

two thieves with weird ass eyes

sooo fenrir lore timeee :3

i wanted to make his eyes similar to that andalusite over there but keeping a cooler colors because, well, kiwis LOL

i was on a hiking trail and then i stopped by a kiwi stand and i was like “hold on that looked like fenrir’s eyes” and it actually works so well as his eyes cuz this is what i planned to make his eyes to be LOL

but lore time,

I rewrote fenrir’s lore a bit so his origin is a weebit different now,

>group of people following harmony decided to be evil and borrowed powers from the abundance to mix species together to in hope, make a superior humanoid and piss off the aeons

>kinda success but they gotta borrow powers from obsidian’s race (vampires and shi)

>they make a deal like “ok we throw all the waste babies to you to eat alr you vampies”

>fucked up chimera human babies thats get fed to the vampires like a bunch of them

>those that can function gets sold off

>getting more success and selling these fucked up chimera babies off/human trafficking cuz theyre versatile with genetics and shit

>commissioned by a big vampire family to fulfill their weird little fantasy story

>>”hey so i want you to make my family generation’s oc come alive but we this gotta follow this weird ritual too cuz its my family prophecy to piss off the harmony”

>the ritual involved a bunch of sacrificial babies and even more fucked up chimera babies and like 34 people died and have a part of them taken off to merge into this living thing

>weird ass abomination of a baby, barely functional

>”ok chat this is going well we need the last step who got the gems”

>”oh shit the gems is in another persons hand”

>so they went and stole the gem from obsidian’s family / at the same time making contract with this weird entity that has something to do with destruction path

>>”ok i give you gems but you gotta let me have a piece of that weird baby thing youre making too.”

>>”alright what do you want”

>>”give him horns and make him real sexy ok”

>>”what”

>>”pls”

>>”why”

>>”i want to take him after the vampires died out and i dont want this ugly slug of meat in my basement”

>>”ok”

>with the power of destruction he became his beautiful entity that the family drooled on cuz how can someone be so angelic looking yet bear the traits of the devil? “DAAYUMMNN U FINE ASF BABYYY” “what im a literal baby” “we’ll wait for u to grow up” “w h a t t h e f u c k”

>>”hi im daughter i will be your mom but i am like 6 years older than you”

>>”ok i will expect you for love and attention”

>>”sorry i am being manipulated by my own family so i disregards my actions even though i knew its wrong but i seek comfort in it”

>>”ok your actions are normal to me”

>>’thanks son”

>>”YAYY IM YOUR SON!!!”

>>abusive family can provide a roof, they provide all the physical necessities for him to live but shunned him out until theyre bored and they wanna play (like a pet lolol)

>live with the rich family as a premium house pet now but doesnt realized it CUZ BRO HE WAS A KIDD

>before he was frail so he has to rely on understanding ppl to get attention, develop weird obsession w it. became close with other servants/slave of the said family.

>ok but grow strong and now physically capable harhar

>put through extensive training and shii so he grew even more desperate and attached to the family out of fear

> other servants jealous GET HIS ASS!!!

> oh shit the daughter is doing smth

> fenrir gets more scared and overly dependent on the daughter cuz in his eyes she was the figure he could rely on

>the daughter’s mental conditions gets worse and she wanted her moms attention too so she jus started gambling, (hurt ppl hurt ppl lol)

>>generational trauma ahh

>puts fenrir as a bet

>FUCKK SHE LOSTTT

>fenrir was passed and used around as a premium house pet, “magazine model”

(BLOOD WARNING NEXT DOODLE)

>>(this is heavily implied but not explicitly stated) “convincing” other people to join the vampire household as a cattle/slave etc, contributing in its human trafficking business (astarion?!??!)

>was first auctioned for thousands of credits but after a lot of events, which he had marred himself in hope of either getting cared for or totally discarded away, the price was reduce to less than a hundred credit on his last ‘sale’

>>tried to kill himself but cant die cuz they keep reviving him cuz he’s this chimera superior humanoid baby

>”fuck yall ima pray to the lord (random god he found i havent decide yet I was thinking Ena) answer me pls save me chat- OOOUHHH SHITTT”

>container carrying him crashed, landed in Wasteland of the Galaxy, Talia

>nomadic clan Avidity was passing by, “Ayo who is that baddie” - Aelyn (another oc)

>picks up fenrir and realized he could read so he joining the team now

>well respected for his work rather an appearance, hell yeah jigsaw u da goat

>talia lore I LOVE THIS BUM

[brandileigh2003]

Ok. But like?

I'm cool with remus not being traditionally beautiful. But Sirius still thinking he's the best thing ever. I think that he has certain attractive features, but he's def not some rockstar and most ppl don't take a second glance. But you need that to see the shade of his eyes, his crooked smile. Sirius loves him and finds beauty because of not despite of his scars. Bc they show strength and tell a story.

Mid level I think someone put it. Sure, I get why that can be a thing.

But. I think he can have sex appeal in other ways. His smile, his voice, a look in his eyes, muscles in certain places that defies him being otherwise skinny.

I'm fine with sirius being super intelligent and quick. Its canon after all. I love how him and James have this quality. But I don't think that means that remus liking to read or studying a lot takes that away from Sirius. I think that he likes academic validation, and he needs to read and study to stay caught up. He wants to prove he's worthy to be at school and has to work for it. I do think that he's smart though, and adds to group dynamics.

I don't think that he's just a downer and boring persay, otherwise why would they want to be with him. I think that he'll do the research maybe on the great idea that Sirius and James had and they will later carry it out flawlessly. Or sees some kind of gap in the plan and can think quick to help patch it up.

I do think he probably gets so hyperfixated on things which some people can't stand. but sirius loves to hear him talk about it. Just like remus is obsessed with everything sirius has to say. He's totally a nerd but I don't think he's just pathetic or a loser. Or maybe I just don't see those words the same as the recent posts have been using for him.

I think he's extraordinarily kind. he worships sirius, who in turn thinks remus is also the best. He's not rude to him even though I really do think they fight. But can't stay mad at each other long.

I do think that he can be angry, but I also think that a lot of times it's just at himself or crappy life circumstances. He's normally careful to keep any anger controlled bc he's worried about perception.

he's shy and and awkward and deals with a lot. He loves to help the younger students, and he uses above hard earned study methods to help them bc everything doesn't just come naturally or can share how he overcame it.

If everyone has a crush it's not bc he's completely hot or any of that. He's a soft boy with big comfy sweaters that gives good hugs. He's a good listener, a good teacher, shares anything he has, especially the chocolate that seems to be never ending in his bag. Bc he believes that it'll make you feel better. He has a kind word or compliment and can make you feel better.

I think he can be a momma's boy. And wants hope or poppy to hug him, and give him a space to cry and be weak. Otherwise I think that he likes to try to hide his pain bc he doesn't want to be a burden.

And ... That all said. I think that CR remus is different than a lot of this and hes absolutely perfect and I love him and I'd do insane things for this fictional man. It's one of my favorite ways to read about him. But something that carries over there from everything else I said is how enamored he is with Sirius Black. And how much he loves his inner circle. How he has this sacrificial love.

But anyways, I could go on about CR but that's totally not the point. Ive just seen a few things and wanted to say some things about how I see him a lot. And maybe the posts that have me feeling kind of sad talking about him are actually saying some of the same things I'm just negatively associating some words or ideas bc I know personally I can also interpret things completely the wrong way or not read into the subtext well enough

Let me know what you think. But if you think this is wrong; be kind.

And the people who like to come all up in my inbox about hating Sirius-- this isnt that. To be clear. I don't want remus to take over any traits of Sirius or whatever else you accuse me of. This has to do mostly with remus except me saying that sirius sees something in remus that a lot of people don't, that they're in love and adore each other.

I do in fact love Sirius Black and think he's wonderful. And you're missing the point if you think I hate that man. But I want to talk about remus rn and if you want something talking about Sirius, so many other wonderful people on here do that, so let's find that instead and let me hyperfixate and talk about remus.

Other random things I'll probably add to that really are prb just me.

-he is a horrible dancer. But he'll do it for sirius

-he'd do almost anything for Sirius.

-he's a music snob. But he'll read anything

-he is super annoying in class bc he shakes his leg or taps his quill. Sirius thinks it's adorable though.

-he needs a cane around the full. But he doesn't like to use it.

-the man loves weed. Him and hope smoke together.

-he has no idea how to take care of his hair

-to me he's associated with chronic illness, pain or disability in every universe. Or some mix or variation. (Ofc authors have free choice it's their story and I have no right for demands or anything) but I write him that way, hc him that way, get stupidly happy when I read it bc I feel so seen, search AO3 tags regularly for these portrayals.

-remus has no sense of style. But sirius doesn't care, he's so soft and cozy with his sweaters. The only thing about that is that I'm personally convinced hope bought remus a leather jacket, he shows up wearing it on the train, Sirius somehow gets his hands on it... Remus' eyes pop out of his head, maybe drools a bit- and it becomes Sirius' trademark

[angelthefirst1]

01x01 ♾️ 10x10

YEARS...

TOWL

First off, I loved episode one, and I hope you all enjoyed it too.

I very much believe the title is linked to Beth - The one who lives.

I mentioned in previous posts that we would be heading back to repeat season 1 of the walking dead. We got many callbacks in episode 1 of TOWL. Such as Rick stepping into Merle's role of being handcuffed because he is "difficult."

Like Merle, Rick has to chop his own hand off to escape.

The callbacks are quite detailed. If you remember back, Merle was horrible to T-dog, refusing to take any direction from him because of his skin colour. He almost kills T-dog and wants to become the leader of the group, which leads to Rick handcuffing him.

Whereas to contrast, Rick wants to escape the CRM to get back to Michonne, whom he loves.

Rick also doesn't desire power in the CRM at all and even says so to Okafor.

Rick, in season one, is also looking for Lori his wife.

Merle and Daryl (the brothers) are separated.

It's a beautiful rework of that time around the rooftop scene in Atlanta...

The exciting thing about all this is that Andrea was first introduced just prior to Merle (Daryl's brother) being handcuffed on that rooftop.

They are reversing and reworking season one and season 5 scenes combined (I'll get to the season 5 patterns soon), so Beth (a reworked Andrea) is close...

We even saw Rick's own version of a Brulent (burner) walker that leads to cauterization...

I talk about the cauterization theme at length here from DD1.

The cauterization theme is related to walking away from God, which is interesting with Rick specifically because Rick is "walking away" from or running away from the CRM.

The CRM logo is a representation of God.

The Borromean rings have been used in different contexts to indicate strength in unity. In particular, some have used the design to symbolize the Trinity.

The end is the beginning theme ♾️

This theme reveals a major clue to the story and what they are drawing from, and that is the Revelation or revealing of Jesus Christ.

Beth's revealing is symbolic of this...

The book of Revelation is known as a book about the end of all things but also the beginning of something new.

To remind you, not that you need it, this is a show about the end of the world, and the writers are heavily incorporating biblical end time events into the show.

Jesus describes one of his characteristics in the book of Revelation, he says:

��‭Revelation 22:13

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

The beginning and the end theme, will eventually reveal Beth. 01x01 ♾️ 10x10 get well soon.

The symbolism around her character is used to link her symbolically to Christ, I've mentioned this many times before. As a reminder, some aspects of this are:

She dies wearing a cross.

She dies sacrificially (goes all in) to save Noah.

The bible says Noah walked with God, so God saved him from the biblical flood. In the cauterization post i linked above, i go into how 510 events when it rained and they hide in the barn (Ark) was a rework of the biblical flood.

Beth was also the only character given the symbolism of an "empty" or missing body/grave.

She was innocent and considered "good" as Daryl was trying to indicate at the "oh" moment (and yes, he was also saying he loves her 😉)

Jesus was also called good by his disciples. The real definition actually means morally perfect, so while back in Alone the writers were using the "good people theme" to indicate someone that hasn't become out-rightly evil in these evil times, with Beth, it was just one more way of linking her symbolically to Jesus as morally perfect.

Seeing what Rick has experienced with the CRM is a shadow of Beth.

Now let's talk about how season 5 Grady has been reworked.

While we are back in season 1, they are also showing us Rick's version of being at Grady.

Dawn is Thorne, and yes, we're rhyming names now it's becoming that obvious.

Rick (Beth) and Thorne (Dawn) play a game of Poker, and Rick goes all in... Thorne folds.

Thorne tells Rick she's great at poker, but she loses.

Dawn also liked to play poker... Poker is about holding the right cards, having the upper hand, and even bluffing your way to a win.

Remember the hostage trade at Grady? They focused a large amount of time on the numbers of cops to trade with Dawn.

Daryl says to Rick, "3s better than 2" talking about the 3 cops they have to trade back for Beth and Carol. 3 cops gives them the winning hand...

Now, in poker, that's a true statement. All you need to win is a better hand than your opponent.

Well...in fact Dawn and Beth were playing poker in that hallway at Grady.

Beth made the choice to go all in like Rick did. Dawn dies (folds)

It's a big risk to go all in, but the pay-off can be huge. Dawn got nothing in the end.

While Beth is the one who lives and survives a bullet to the forehead. This is actually confirmed in this episode twice, so read on.

A shadow of this is shown with Rick...

In the very next scene after the poker game where Thorne (Dawn) folds, we see Rick hold the bullet right to his forehead. It's not a coincidence...

In that defining moment, you'll make the right choice...

Beth made the right choice.

Beth won and it was lights out for Dawn before she even got to play... just like Thorne said...

Confirming the poker theme and bullet graze theme.

This combination is actually reinforced as it's mentioned in sequence twice in this episode.

Rick and Thorne both sign up to the CRM, and Okafor asks them to work secretly for him. Afterwards, Thorne talks with Rick, and Rick asks her if she gave Okafor the scar on his forehead (a shadow of Beth's scar)

It's then she admits to shooting Okafor in the head, but the bullet just grazed him, she missed. Rick then asks if she will shoot him, too...

Then, she stops and seemingly very randomly brings up the topic of playing poker. But it's not random at all.

It's a reworked reverse shadow of what happened at Grady.

Bullet graze to the head, missed didn't make the kill but it did leave a scar, poker and lights out for Thorne/Dawn. All while Rick (Beth) asks if she will shoot him too.

And all while Rick (Beth) is trapped in the CRM (Grady) away from the love of his life.

Thorne also gives us more hints that she is a new version of Dawn back at Grady. She thinks the system of the CRM is working fine and it doesn't need to change.

Rick disagrees as no one is free to leave.

Beth kept telling Dawn that she wasn't staying any longer than they made her. She wasn't free to leave either, and Dawn told her she shouldn't see it as a sentence. That out there, she would be dead.

This whole rework also gives us insight into Beth's mindset. Just as Rick was trying to escape to get to someone he loves, so was Beth trying to get back to Daryl.

The A's and B's - a repeat of Grady only taking in the ones who they thought were weak. In Beth's case, they got it wrong, she thought for herself, which classified her a an A.

They thought she was a B but she was an A

The man i was with, is he here?

They thought Daryl was an A and same with Noah's Dad so they left them out in the world to die.

Okafor, Thorne and Rick are a reworked version of Beth, Dawn and Noah.

The repeats in this story should give hope that Beth survived that bullet and just like the end of this episode with Rick and Michonne, the story will eventually lead to two people who love each other reuniting. One of whom thought the other died but could never find the body...

[pagodazz]

rotating ur post abt vinnie as a sacrificial lamb in my mind rn it is sooo T_T could u elaborate on it? ^~^

YESSSSSSS I ABSOLUTELY CAN!!!!!!!!

So I associate Vinny with the sacrificial lamb because not only was he also effected by slenderman, habit and the rake for the entire duration of ANY LIFE HES LIVED, literally this works for basically every iteration of Vinnie.

He was blindly lead along until his inevitable death that he was unknowingly helping with. He was basically tagged as "Prime meat" for all 3 of them.

He was so blindly loyal, he did what he was told to do, what he thought was best, just to be lead to death. And HIS death was the one that was needed, it's ALWAYS Vinnie.

Vinnie is the one with the disease, VINNIE is the one spreading it to others, to put an end to it HE needs to die for the sake of others. For the sake of himself, For Evans sake, For HABITS sake.

and if we use the Wikipedia description of "Sacrificial lamb,"

"In cinema and literature, the term sacrificial lamb refers to a supporting character whose sole dramatic purpose is to die, thus galvanizing the protagonist to action and simultaneously demonstrating how evil the villain is. Very often, the sacrificial lamb is a family member, partner, or "old buddy" of the protagonist."

and I like to think everymanHYBRID took that AND MADE IT EVEN MOEE BEAUTIFUL (Atleast to me personally)

Where the antagonist leads the lamb to the protagonist to slaughter each other.

Evan is such a perfect protagonist, he's strong, determined and hes been set on the right path since the beginning, I honestly wish we got way more screen time of him struggling to deal with the possession and how it effects him mentally but we didn't and I can live with that. Unfortunately for him, he was doomed to be in the same body as the antagonist, who is MUCH stronger and way more determined.

From the very beginning Evan has been on vinnies side, loving him, protecting him, defending him even though he wasnt exactly in the right.

All while Vinny was being prepped for killing and he didn't even know it, he thought he was safe, he thought if he bonded with the butcher he wouldn't get killed. He blindly lead others to their deaths all while believing he was just, "doing everything he could."

Vinny was always trying to find some other sort of explanation for something instead of just blaming habit, while Evan was quick to immediately blame him.

Vinnie is convinced slenderman is the real main bad, while Evan is almost firmly believing that it's all habit.

Vinny is literally kept away from everyone in order to prepare for the event that is All good things, and In order to wrap up the story and move onto the next iteration, Vinnie needs to die. And Evan needs to die for Vinnie to be able to die. And that's precisely what happens. Evan even says he has to kill Vinnie first before he will be able to forgive him, which is only achieved after Vinny kills Evan as well.

honestly I don't even know if I'm making any sense right now, I get so overwhelmed talking about Vinnie because he's my absolute favorite and I'm so nervous to accidentally say something that's not actually correct lore wise. BUT !!#!@++[%[(#($(*;: OKAY I'VE BEEN WRITING FOR SO LONH I CANT EVEN GO BACK TO LOOK TO SEE IF I MADE ANY TYPOS.

I hope HOPE HOPE this made sense.

[dragynkeep]

Idk who it was, but I remember seeing a post about how the songs are weirdly implemented into the show and how “Guide My Way” doesn’t fit with Ruby’s arc by breaking down the lyrics. I can’t find the OP yet but I think you’d find it interesting to discuss here. I compared the scene where Ruby’s revived in V9 and Honkai Impact’s animated short called “Everlasting Flames” because both scenes have the protagonist suffering from depression regaining hope and overcoming their enemies with a cool song.

The difference I think is that with the latter, we get to see Kiana actually struggle throughout the course of the game’s story. She also almost commits suicide twice but, unlike Ruby, is stopped by two of her friends and gradually learns not to so self sacrificial at the cost of her own life while processing her guilt and grief for her mentor Himeko, who sacrificed herself for her sake and told her to live as the final lesson she taught her. Kiana telling the antagonist, “there are people who’ve taught me to never give up and showing me all the beautiful things in the world. I love them and I love what they love” never fails to make me shed a few tears.

When we hit the climax and the ost reaches its peak with the words “Wave goodbye to the past when hope and faith have grown so strong and sound,” it’s so fucking cathartic. My words can’t do the video justice so I recommend you check it out along with the song “Moon Halo” that plays during it. The song has several callbacks to other songs in the series which has their own animated cutscenes you can find on YouTube. It kinda sucks in a way because Ruby’s resuscitation is so bland and hollow. Where the catharsis? Where’s the bit where she realizes her team cares for her and decide to keep living for them??? “Guide My Way” is cool and all but there’s barely anything in it that connects with what we’re shown in the story. Where in V9 do we see Ruby struggle with being more than Summer? It’s like Casey wrote this for a completely different show and that frustrates me. We could’ve had such a beautiful scene but CWBY doesn’t know how to write.

Anyway, sorry for the ramble. I just really love it when characters songs are written well and weaved seamlessly into emotional scenes. There’s a lot of context missing from the “Everlasting Flames” cus it’d take forever to explain but I hope you can still get what I’m trying to say.

Guide My Way struggles with the same issues as Red Like Roses II. The song is telling us something different to what the show is showing us.

I do know the post you're talking about, anon, I've seen it, but I can't for the life of me find it so follower besties, you know what to do.

[doizy]

BASARA Gaiden-KATANA Rainbow Story-Ginkgo : A review (?)

When I first read the Katana Short Story in volume 26 of Yumi Tamura's Basara I had the thought that in a fair universe where Basara has the high budget anime adaptation it deserves this story would have had it's own stand alone-ish movie adaptation.

The people who adapted Basara to the stage must have had a similar idea because they chose to adapt this story for the stage.

Like all 2.5 play this play was performed for a limited time, in february 2019 (i think they were only 7 performances in total).

I was pretty curious to watch it so i ordered a dvd off yahoo auctions, and watched it yesterday.

Obviously this didn't come with subtitles, and my Japanese it still very rudimentary so this review is going to be quite superficial, but I was still able to to follow the play pretty well having read the short story it's adapting twice before.

For a refresher Katana is the story of the failed rebellion led by the generation of Sarasa's great grandparents against the cruel and sadistic Lion King, 100 years before the events of Basara.

Our protagonist Tara is a young woman who grew up as an orphan and was painfully rejected and abused by her community as they believed her to be cursed which means that she had grow up without ever feeling love or comfort. She was about to be killed in a sacrificial ritual but is rescued by the rebellion led by Gensho (Tatara and Sarasa's ancestor). She then joins the rebellion, where she for the first time find meaning and a place where she belongs, and we follow her and her companions doomed efforts in their battle against the Lion King.

The story is pretty short (about a 100 pages), which means that the stage play is able to adapt it really well without having to take big shortcuts, and it's folktale like narrative worked very well on the stage i thought. The play is even able to flesh out some bits, which was very nice, they added a lot of banter between our rebels which highlighted their relationship as brothers in arms (even if i couldn't understand most of it...).

Notably we see a lot more of the Lion King (who by the way is played by a woman, a former Takarazuka actress which i thought was neat), with little comedic scene which really show him a a despotic and cruel but also very bored ruler. By his side are two original characters and given their color coding i assume that must be the then Red and Blue Kings, which is the nice touch, they don't really do much in the story though, apart for acting as a leader of enemy troops in battle.

Speaking of battles those were really fun to watch! The choreography felt really dynamic, I loved the scenes with the lions in particular , i think they were inspired by traditional performances and used puppet and traditional sounding music with some nice drums. They were really cool to see!

Something else that was fleshed out in this adaptation is the relationship between Tanmanya and Iris, the stranded European woman he falls in love with. I think this was my favorite part of the show (maybe because i could actually understand some of it since Iris spoke english), it felt very sweet and beautiful (and you know, sad...).

Asahiko also get a flashback scene featuring his little sister that makes the scene where he's tricked into killing her all the more tragic (the flashback scene i wasn't quite able to follow but I'm a bit worried that it had some weirdly incestuous undertone since what i understood of it was Asahiko telling his sister that she's beautiful before she tells him that she wants to become a bride, doesn't seems very tamura esque though, so i might be completely off).

The finale was was very emotional with the tragedy of seing our heroes fails and their swords be scattered across the Japan, but with an added touch of hope conveyed by a cameo by Sarasa and the other heirs of the legendary swords.

If there was something i liked less it was the over reliance on pre recorded lines used for the characters inner monologues, since those are usually some very important lines and it would have been better to see the actors actually perform them in my opinion.

Other than that i thought the performance were pretty good, but without really understanding them i can't really judge, the music was great and really one of the highlights for me. The costume were simple but pretty nice (why didn't they let Asahiko wear crop tops like he does in the mnga though...), i wasn't much a fan of the costume of the King's harem (?) women though, it felt a bit to orientalist sexy costume and less like the interesting byzantine and Japanese style fusion Basara is usually going for.

It was really fun to watch and if you like Basara i can only encourage you to check it out! I think it's available on amazon Prime in japan, so if you have a subscription and a VPN you might be able to watch it there.

It left me very interested to check out the three other stage play that adapt the main story!

[marimopeace]

"And at last, I am here."

-"Here" by Junna (aka the greatest Yuki Kajiura-esque song that a teenager could have ever sung my girl Junna is my age and I will forever gas her up!)

i guess i can't escape animanga tumblr at all the second i saw this trailer on twitter i screamed bc 1.) i was thinking about ancient magus bride when i celebrated the beautiful ending of sacrificial princess a few weeks ago and 2.) ?!?! ppl aren't really talking about it on anitwitter?

i'll never forget how thrilled i was when i stumbled upon the curious thumbnail of mahou tsukai no yome online and found it to be my perfect spiritual successor to the "earl and fairy" celtic lore of my youth. double that emotion when its first anime adaptation came onto my screen (somewhere in that video i linked is a mini essay comment of my thrills LOL) and led to many excited moments of pretty colors and sequences.

now i'm not even just thrilled i feel super satisfied (^-^) people love the world kore yamazaki has created with its odes to different mythologies and story that has so many cheering on precious chise's happiness. i'm hoping the fact that the original season 1 staff are making their own studio to produce season 2 means the series is having natsume yuujinchou-level projections of success--will forever stan brain's base for natsume + its offshoot studio shuka!

hope all the shoujo + fantasy fans on tumblr are having a field day bc i know i'm most definitely ready to see chise's college days come to life 🥺 so excited to see all the fellow students! am also again really really hoping the formation of studio kafka signifies ancient magus' bride's ability to succeed in the mainstream (>.<)/ fingers crossed here! (there was even actual fantasy erotica inspired by it so you never know--LMAO i'd read the actual book on KU before seeing vtuber twitter explode over it so if ppl are curious look up duskwalker brides)

marimoirl moment: i'm in a really weird limbo stage right now in life trying to job-hunt while staying afloat money/mental-wise but i was happy to not feel super existential over something happening next spring for once aha. i'm really looking forward to having the whimsical-magic-and-peaceful-yet-melancholic-atmosphere of ancient magus bride 2 come into the world next year 🥺🤞 am also keeping my fingers crossed that my life will look a bit different in the right direction by then!

manifesting, manifesting; but also working, and most importantly, hoping with all my heart 💗🙏

[actualbird]

Oh god!

I really love the poly headcanons they are so sweet.... (or don't but that's part of it and i think the tot boys+MC deserve all the love the world has to give).

But, liking it or not, our 4 beloved boys are kinda complicated (that's what makes them perfect). Plus I never thought about how people get in poly relationships. So i was thinking, how do you think they all get into a polyrelationship together?

(I really have no idea of how that would happen)

hi, two anons!! im glad you guys liked my nxx team polycule stuff!! i'll answer these in one go, my "headcanon" (in quotes because i think this kinda turned into a character analysis/minific of sorts HAHA) being what first anon asked, How They Get Together.

heads up, wc of this is 1.9k words long so buckle up for a bit of a read jfsjdfkjbf

because first anon, youre right!!! the boys are stupendously complicated which i love so so much but canon has also shown us clearly that each of the boys' quirks and habits and tendencies causes a lot of (mostly played for laughs) friction. the bickering, the backhanded insults, the "im the best one here" preening contests. theyre all SOOOO RIDICULOUS and it is hilarious but yep! the boys r complex!! and that means this beautiful ship, imo, has a lot of phases to get to the actual romantic relationship bit.

how they get together, in my opinion, starts because of mc.

not in the sense that she matchmakes them all, but like.

phase 1 of the nxx team polycule is this:

through being in love with her (which we all know the boys 100% are), each of the boys come to terms with their own flaws and weaknesses. it's very apparent to me in all the story thus far that these boys are flawed as hell, it's very compelling but even more compelling to me is how all of them also do intense mental gymnastics to Not Confront Those Flaws. like, marius is a dickbag always teasing and toeing the line of insincerity, vyn is a controlling mf who always tries to sway situations to his benefit, artem is so repressed to the point that he has genuine trouble with emotions, luke is a self sacrificial bastard and also a huge hypocrite about how no, actually, hes the only one that should be hiding his pain and being dishonest, no dishonesty from other people!! in the beginning of the story, all the boys have their flaws and seem to have just kinda...not addressed how those flaws are harming them and the people around them.

and then mc rolls around and they all fall in love with her. and she sees those flaws and she doesnt let them slide. she challenges the boys in her own ways to see another side of the situation, to acknowledge what theyre doing. she doesnt want to get rid of flaws, thats impossible and also not cool. she just has this beautiful hope for like, all of humanity, that goodness can prevail with the right work. so when she sees her beloved nxx boys, she believes that for them as well.

which leads to phase 2 of the nxx team polycule:

the boys, more aware of themselves, become more aware of each other.

they werent Unaware of the others of course. it's just that they didnt like...truly connect on a personal level just yet. they saw the other teammembers with their emotional armor and flaws and saw a wall that wasnt worth looking past.

but after mc makes them realize that hey, flaws arent the end of the world actually, it's alright and the person behind them may just be worth it, the boys like. end up understanding the others. A LOT OF THIS BIT IS UNINTENTIONAL, ON THEIR PARTS KJDSBFS. like they stumble into understanding each other by accident, they didnt plan it, but over the course of nxx investigations, it's inevitable that they end up seeing the depths of the others. i delve into this a little bit in my fanfic "filler eps of the lost gold" where the boys are just going thru their actions and then trip over another boy's fears or desires and through that, gain a deeper understanding mutually.

and with understanding, sometimes, comes trust.

phase 3 of the nxx team polycule goes like this:

everybody in this team, whether they like it or not, whether they know it or not, has a heart that wants to give love so desperately.

marius lives in a world full of snakes so he cant have his heart on his sleeve for his own protection. vyn wants to be seen as perfect and the heart is inherently messy so he holds it back. artem for a very very long time was focused on work and success and achievement that he neglected his heart. and luke has been giving love all his life in a sense but in a way thats hidden.

all these tendencies that are brought upon their life circumstances results in this: they want to love honestly but they havent been able to do this

until mc. and all of them want to push back whatever fears or patterns their life has instilled in them because they see her and see somebody so unwaveringly good that all their hearts begin giving love to her to make her happy and to make themselves happy as well.

but heres the thing. the boys dont just see mc. by this point, they have connected and understood and come to trust each other as well, and the consequence of that is that They Can See Each Other Now Too, Truly.

and heres the thing. all of the boys are unwaveringly good as well.

one by one, each of the boys realize that what they feel for the other boys in the team starts to...change. yeah theyre all friends, they pick on each other a lot of the time, but the bedrock of the relationship is solid and strong now. but when marius is with luke, marius sees a light inside of luke so bright that he seems unaware that he gives off. when artem is with vyn, artem sees a goodness inside of vyn that hesitates to make itself obvious and known because vyn is scared of getting hurt thanks to it. all of them see the other and their goodness and, unbidden, their hearts want to give love to each other as well.

and because theyre all a bit stupid in their own way theyre like, huh, weird! wonder why this feeling is so familiar! and yet i cant seem to name it...and then they all independently compare these feeling with the feelings they have for mc, a feeling they do know the name of, and theyre like.

WAIT.

THESE FEELINGS ARE...VERY BASICALLY EXACTLY WHAT I FEEL FOR MC.

which only means one thing: theyve fallen in love with everybody else

marius: //goes to his studio to Think and sees that a bunch of his recent art actually had little crumbs of these feelings already, etched into the brushstrokes and scenes. has an emotional crisis about it

vyn: //records a 1 hour long entry in his audio diary to examine and gain control of his feelings but by the end of the hour all he knows is that he wants to hold these people and be held by them

artem: //quite literally just bluescreens, artem.exe has stopped working, sits at his study and slowly, slowly, thunks his head down onto his desk, valiantly trying to ignore the fast pulse of his heart

luke: //manically vents about it to peanut who, by virtue of being a bird, doesnt get it. just keeps talking at peanut to get a grasp of it all and then lies down on the floor, overwhelmed

mc, sitting in her apartment watching some netflix: ...why do i inexplicably feel as if something very, very important has just happened?

phase 4 of the nxx team polycule is basically:

pining: extreme difficulty level

because pining is already hard when ur pining for one person. what more for an additional 3 more people. and those additional 3 more people are pining back.

and all these boys are SOOOO OBVIOUS with their romantic feelings, in their own special way. the way they show their affection to mc starts to bleed into their interactions with the others and everybody can CLEARLY SEE WHAT IS GOING ON, LOL, but also all the boys are too chickenshit to confront it, because if they confront it, what will even happen??? being in love with each other, all of them, thats going to be such a complicated fucking relationship, holy shit. it's 2030, yeah, being a polyamorous group relationship isnt completely unheard of, but sue them, theyre scared.

but mc (who i forgot to mention already knows of the boys' romantic feelings for her, shes just hasnt made a move yet on any of them because SHES IN LOVE WITH ALL OF THEM AS WELL and shes been trying to figure out how the hell to make that work, she cant bear to choose just one of them, she'd be heartbroken over leaving the rest of them behind) sees that the nxx investigation team is now all pining for each other FULLY and she kinda wants to laugh when she realizes whats going on because like, what are the chances? that this would happen? that they all found each other and their feelings fell into just the right place for nobody to be left behind?

theyre all scared, she can tell. and she is as well, she wont lie.

but shes always had a belief that goodness can prevail with the right work.

and love is one of the greatest goods out there.

phase 5 of the nxx team polycule:

It's Time For Communication, Baby!!!!!

the exact scenes of how this happens is a bit vague to me. it could go two ways: mc going to each of the boys independently to talk about feelings, hers about everybodys and his about everybodys as well. OR they have a fucking meeting about it all together and artem literally schedules it in his google calendar, or something.

either way, they like, actually talk about this. starts casual, maybe over a chill date, maybe over dinner at a nice restaurant, maybe over a walk in the park as the sun is starting to set. but where ever it happens, the end result is the same: a heart is laid out bare and it is taken in gentle, grateful hands.

marius: OKAY, NOW THAT THE FEELINGS ARE OUT OF THE WAY, CAN I PLEASE KISS ONE OR ALL OF YOU, PLEASE, IVE BEEN WANTING TO KISS U GUYS FOR FOREVER

vyn, laughing fondly: has anybody ever told you patience is a virtue? we quite literally just talked it all out.

marius: //needy whining noises

artem, embarrassed: ive...never kissed anybody before

luke, embarrassed but trying to play it Cool: ....same here

mc: kissing is great, you two will love it!

marius: awesome, awesome, so is ANYBODY going to give me a go ahead or WHAT????

phase 6 of the nxx team polycule:

i dont want to say it's happily ever after, once they all get together. thats not really realistic.

they all have their quirks and tendencies and habits. and those will inevitable clash against each other. theyll have their arguments, theyll get upset, theyll sulk and be angry, sometimes. but also...

theyll see each other smile and feel like their love shining so brightly. theyll reach out for another's hand and be held in such a way that makes them think that their heart is in a safe place. theyll love each other and theyll put in the work to continue loving each other. because goodness will prevail.

and they all see each other as the most good people in the world.

so whatever happens, theyll get through it together.

[thefloralhut]

Morning Glory

🌱 common morning glory

General symbolism

Human life, as it rises each morning and sleeps each evening.

Resilience, as they thrive in harsh conditions.

Life, death and resurrection. As they wither each night, they rise again in the morning.

Creativity and using own means to survive, even if it is alternate from popular choices. They twirl their tendrils around nearby supports to rise up to meet the sun.

The soft, healing power of the sun.

Its short lifespan denotes the fleeting nature of love. Its daily renewal denotes how love can be revived just as easily.

An undying love despite life's challenges.

Unrequited love and obsession, because of their clinging nature.

🌱 moonflower

Historical & Cultural Association

One of September's birth flowers, the other one is the aster.

Symbolises the 11th wedding anniversary, along with aster and tulip.

In Victorian era, it carries the symbol of love and death. Morning glory vines have been pictured growing on tombstones. It represents mourning, short life and in some cases, resurrection. In Victorian love language, it symbolises love in vain.

The Aztecs used the juice of morning glories to create a substance similar to rubber. Before a sacrifice, the seeds were mixed with insects and tobacco, then rubbed all over their bodies. This mixture was believed to help the sacrificial victim in finding the afterlife and being reborn.

In Japan, the flower is a symbol of innocence and love.

In rural England, morning glories are also called Life of Man, as they symbolise human lives.

In China, morning glories are associated with a mythical love story, where Chien Niu (name meaning: the one who guides/shepherds the cows) and Chih Neu (name meaning: the one who knits) are allowed to meet only once a year as they have neglected their duties and were punished by a God.

The Chinese also used this flower as a powerful laxative, although consuming high dosages would result in hallucinations.

Many Chinese poets praised this flower in their poems, often associating it with hardworking and optimistic qualities.

Christians believe that the morning glory resembles the short time we spend on earth.

🌱 cardinal climber

Facts & Trivia

There are 1,000 different species of morning glories found all over the world except Antarctica.

Every time after it blooms for two hours, the flower petals will curl outwards as if it is greeting everyone good morning. This is how it gets its name.

Despite the name, many varieties of morning glories actually bloom at night.

Almost all parts of this plant are poisonous, so shouldn't be used for tea or medicine. They can have serious effects on the kidneys and lungs.

Morning glory seeds are poisonous (especially in large quantities), so please keep out of reach from children and pets. Symptoms range widely from diarrhea to hallucinations.

Blooms from early summer to the first frost of fall.

Some species are creepers and some are climbers.

Bees, butterflies and hummingbirds love them.

🌱 blue skyflower

Colour symbolism

White - purity, spirituality, innocence, youth, rebirth

Pink - love, romance, gentleness, thoughtfulness, gratitude, joy, playfulness, peace

Blue - deep emotions, infinite love, trust, respect, honesty, intuition, intelligence, power

Purple - beauty, nobility, royalty, wealth, healing, hopefulness

Red - passion, a strong heart, strength, wealth, seduction, desire

Yellow - warmth, joy, fresh beginnings, healing

🌱 flying saucers

Sources

Almanac

Poison

Truly Experiences

Petal Republic

Garden Lovers Club

Picture This

Disclaimer

All photos and information published within this post are sourced from these websites and Pinterest.

🌱 scarlett o' hara morning glory

[river-bottom-nightmare]

hello - do you have any dick grayson-centric fic recs?

do i-do i have any dick grayson centric fic recs?? oh babe you have come to the riGHT PLACE. as any of my mutuals could tell you, i have so many goddamn fic recs it’s not even funny anymore. here are some of my personal top favourites:

1. And The World Came Crashing Down by @zhe-angst-diary  ~5k. a fic centered around dick’s self-sacrificial tendencies, especially for the batfam. a bit angsty, very much feels, a tad ooc, but i really did love it

2. bad signal by @prismatic-et-al 38k. the plotfic to end all plotfics. this author is one of the most brilliant dc fic authors i have ever come across, and the way they weave this dark, mysterious story is nothing short of ingenious. i was on the edge of my seat the entire time. again, brilliant.

3. Breathe In, Breathe Out by @kirazalea ~20k. this woman is one of my all time favourite writers for just some really really good stories about the batfam working through and overcoming their issues. this series is comprised of 2 fics that deal with the batfam discovering how much of an impact other people’s blatant sexualization and dehumanization of dick does to him, and how, over time and with help from his family, he picks himself up and starts to defend himself. really just a wonderful series

4. Declensions by @dustorange 13k. the best rom dick grayson fic to ever exist ever. you ever look at dc making dick romani and how they fuck up all the time and think “this could have had so much potential?” this work of art tackles that issue and creates something spectacular. each line of this fic had me screaming with joy. the robin cape symbolism? beautiful. i reread it all. the. time.

5. Don’t by @haunt-the-stars ~4k. do i have too many fics on here about dick dealing with + recovering from sexual assault and rape? probably. do i care? no. this fic takes a dive into trauma and how it can affect victims. it was absolutely heartbreaking, but also has the actual best wally + dick friendship i’ve ever read ever. seriously. if “wally west is a Good Bro” could be condensed into one fic, it would be this one. 

6. the fit of the cowl by @quillium ~4k. some people could argue dick was the best batman. other could argue the cowl only hurt dick. still others say dick could’ve been a much better batman if was better written. regardless of your opinion, you should definitely read this fic. it delves into the different reactions the batfam have to batman!dick. the family dynamics in this one were super interesting, and it’s always wonderful to read a fic about dick grayson  but from someone else’s eyes

7. Hard Truths and Other Realities by @ckbookish  ~108k. a series about dick feeling lost after being fired from robin and eventually finding his way again. featuring very very much wonderful uncle clark, and bruce isn’t an asshole, he’s just a worried dad that fucks up a lot but tries his best to make amends. also, dick bonding with jason. it basically takes you through that time period from the end of dick’s robin to him solidly affirming himself as nightwing and starting to forgive bruce. a really cool take on canon, loved this series!

8. Job Performance by @i-just-want-to-destroy ~3k. ohhhhhh dear god does this fic give me the feels. set during s1 yj, it shows what being a vigilante since the grand age of 9 does to someone, how much it hurts dick to compartmentalize, how much he doesn’t even realize it. this fic leaves you with a sense of “wow. this child. he’s really fucked up.” in a heartwrenching way.

9. a soft place to land by @bluebeauregard 3k. the best dick + tim being brothers fic i’ve ever read. people like to expand on his gradual acceptance and love of jason, people go batshit crazy over him practically parenting damian. and while i do love those, dick and tim had the best canon sibling relationship in the comics (at least, in pre52). this fic takes that and runs with it, and it’s so goddamn unique. i have literally never read this idea anywhere, so i was blown away by both the fic and the way the author wrote it. 

10. touch starved by @iwhumpyou ~4k. we’ve all seen fics where timmy’s touch starved from not receiving much affection from his parents growing up and the rest of the batfam smothers him in hugs. but what i really want is a fic where dick’s the one touchstarved because he grew up in the goddamn circus where everyone was close, but ever since he came to live with bruce, he’s been starved of the affection he used to so freely get, because his entire family is most certainly not the touchy-feely type. and for added angst, he doesn’t do anything about it because he knows his family has issues with trust/intimacy and he wants to make them as comfortable as possible. anyway apparently that fic exists and it’s this one read it and sob with me will you?

11. you gotta tip on the tightrope by Anonymous 12k. for people that don’t actually know much about comics canon and why exactly dick went undercover at spyral, this fic is absolutely wonderful. it shows the lead up of events that led to dick faking his death and leaving, and why exactly he chose to listen to bruce. (i’m using “chose” liberally here). plus, sibling bonding!! specifically with jason!

12. young volcanoes by @dottie-wan-kenobi 3k. i haven’t read this fic in a while, so i don’t remember some of the finer details, but i do remember loving it. also i have it bookmarked on ao3 with the tag “THIS!!!!!!!” so that counts for something. this fic focuses more on dick’s relationship with the titans rather than bruce or the jl, and centers around what their friendship has done for dick/how it’s helped him, and how much he loves them. a wonderful team fic. 

anyway, i hope you enjoy these babe!! these fics are all so so incredible, and i just want to give all of these amazingly talented authors one big incredible hug. 

[theatlanticaprincess]

Me: People are so quick to dismiss Sleeping Beauty as boring or Aurora as passive but they don’t understand what a beautiful testament the movie is to the sacrificial power of love. Aurora’s curse is not just broken by Philip’s kiss, it’s broken by the constant efforts and the love of her parents and her friends.

Aurora’s friends and family are willing to do anything to protect her. The fairies use the full extent of their power to dilute the curse, but they also conceal her in the woods for sixteen years, giving up their power in order to give Aurora the most normal and risk-free life possible. 

Aurora grows up in the woods, raised on stories and fairy tales, never even knowing what another human being looks like. Can you imagine a human experience with such a sliver of the population, to grow and live only with people who love you unconditionally? She is not chided or hit or abused, she is loved and protected and prioritized for her entire life. She knows of love, they teach her love through what they show and the stories they tell her. Is it no wonder she falls in love with Philip so quickly? She’s never had a chance to fear being hurt because that has not been a reality for her. He’s the first man she ever meets and he’s just as kind as she understands a being should be, and she thinks he’s beautiful.

Her parents give up their daughter for her own safety, through all we truly know of them from the movie is that they’ve hoped and prayed for a daughter for so long, and that while she’s gone they pass the time by missing her and planning for her return. To have your one wish come true and then to give it away - that takes love. They don’t have any more children; they never get to spend her childhood with her. It does not even guarantee her safety, just increases it. That’s enough. Their love is so clear that when Aurora sees them for the first time, descending down the stairs with Philip on her arm, she runs right for them, because even a lifetime apart could not make them strangers.

In all reality, Maleficent is not truly foiled by that sword in her belly - her true fate is highlighted when she declares ���no! It cannot be!” when she sees Philip’s determination and the fairies’ aid in hacking through the forest of thorns. Maleficent fails because she does not understand love, and kindness, and the joy of helping others. Without the sacrifice of the parents, Aurora would never have stayed hidden. Without the fairies’ aid she would not have been safe, and Philip would not have been sprung from prison. Without Philip’s bravery, he would not have been able to fight his way through her traps to kiss Aurora awake. Each contribution is as important as the last. Each one is a product of deep, steadfast love. 

The girl I’m talking to at the bar: um actually I think I see my friends over there-

[horde-princess]

i should be going to bed but instead i think i am going to talk about how despondos is a metaphor about accepting your sexuality and coming out of the closet 😌😌

quick recap the first ones and the horde both represent evangelical christianity (not gonna get into that right now ldkfjdljf just trust me ok). mara led a group of rebel fighters to try and stop these empires from destroying etheria. but the rebels were losing so mara did the only thing she could to save everyone--she transported them to an empty dimension, away from the war... but also away from the magic of the stars and the rest of the universe.

i think the reason they included "friends of mara” as a nod to the old-school gay euphemism “friends of dorothy” is because mara’s rebels are meant to represent older generations of the lgbt community. we were fighting back then too but we also had to hide, as an act of survival against a society and religion that hated our existence. and that’s how it was for centuries.

she-ra is the story of a girl who grew up in despondos, literally and figuratively. her community (the fright zone) taught her to suppress her personal desires / hide in the closet. things only get worse when light hope reinforces these ideas, training her to repress her emotions and especially her sexuality in order to be a good sacrificial christian who would follow the “destiny” that god (the first ones) had planned for her.

what im trying to get at is that despondos is actually a big-picture metaphor for adora’s emotional state throughout the show!! s1-s4 she was trapped in an empty dimension, a closet u might say.... then the stars return, etheria is brought back into the wider universe just moments before she breaks the sword. its one of many examples where she-ra’s setting contributes to character development and here its creating a beautiful backdrop to emphasize that theme of breaking free of religious oppression

one of the final shots of s4 shows adora gazing up at the stars, a visual of how tiny and lost she feels after losing her faith -- but also the wonder of having the whole universe opened up to her after a lifetime of staring into an empty void.

of course as soon as etheria is transported out of despondos / the closet, horde prime is there waiting to attack. 

the crew has mentioned before that the stars in she-ra are kind of a larger metaphor for the political climate in the U.S. The lgbt rights movement here really only gained traction a few years ago and for the first time in modern history our community is starting to feel safe enough to share our identities. but that openness also feels really scary and vulnerable. ik i dont have to remind anyone about the anti-lgbt stance of our last administration, elected by the christian right as a sort of retaliation against recent social progress. every day there seems to be some new headline that treats our existence like a controversy. in some ways it feels like /we/ have just been transported out of despondos..... out of a false sense of stability and now we’re facing a war with a giant horde army lol. ofc other places may have it better or worse and there’s still a lot of work ahead but we’ve seen the she-ra finale so we know how it ends right!! [queue she-ra theme song we must be strong we must be brave!!!!] 🌈💘

ok one more little fun fact and this could just be a coincidence but- this is the first thing anyone says right after etheria goes through the portal, and to me it appears to reference dorothy’s famous first line when she leaves her black and white world and takes her first steps in the land of gay oz

so if you’re buying into my absolutely wild theories here then despondos = kansas and the universe = oz and basically she-ra is a wizard of oz au lsdjkdjldjkfkl

in conclusion!!! despondos is so cool i love it. even without analyzing the details you can kind of intuitively understand the metaphor and it really underscores a lot of different themes in the show, so much so that the setting feels like a character itself which i think is something every story strives for but few have done as well as she-ra imo. i’ll never not be amazed by the writing in this show. ok its 2am hopefully i can fall asleep now thx for reading!! 💖