#but my parents are both writers

[ziekkfreak2-0]

Dear parents/parental figures,

Please stop recommending I use ChatGPT while I have a breakdown about my academic performance. I don't need to be reminded that my tuition is paid by blood anymore than I already do.

Thank you!

Sincerely,

Your artist-writer daughter.

[royalarchivist]

Ramon: So opinions on [Bagi]?

Fit: She's legit, we can trust her. We can trust her.

Ramon: Would you rather a dad or a mom [for me?]

Fit: Uh- I- no one! No one. Let's- let's get over to Felps' Square, Ramon. [They head to the warp at Spawn, then Fit hesitates] Um, wait- Ramon. [He pauses, briefly looks at the camera, then says in a rush] If I had to choose between the two, it'd be a dad. Alright, let's go. Let's go, let's go.

[twelvemartha]

Oh god, they'll never know. I... I'll just have disappeared. And they'll always be waiting. Call them.

[codenamethebird]

More Hades 2 rambles from me! Though this time round it's a continuation of a point I made in this post.

Specifically, that I think the final boss of the Surface will be a living human mortal.

A couple people on that post disagreed that it would be a human, mostly just because of boss fight mechanics. Which I do get, but this is my not so little refute of that idea (all in good fun of course, I very well might be wrong! I just have thought a bunch about it since then and wanted to ramble about it).

I'll be getting into later how the game could have a hard mechanically satisfying human final boss later, because first I want to talk about how it would make sense naratively. Not because anyone remotely argued this point, I just think it's interesting haha.

So let's go back for a moment to Hades 1, and it's final boss, Hades himself. On a mechanical sense, it makes total sense, Hades is the god and master of the underworld Zag is trying to escape. He would be the final obstacle. But what really makes Hades work as the final boss, is the story and emotional reason he's there.

The plot of Hades is ultimately about Zag's messy relationship with his dad. And that final boss fight is an ongoing conversation with him. While irl you and your questionable dad constantly fighting to death is not a great way to fix your problems, these are weird bound to underworld greek gods. Death is their weird love language for like half this cast haha. There is a reason Death is one of, if not the main love interest.

Okay now that I've established that, let's look at the one final boss we do know from Hades 2, Chronos. Now it's Grandpa's time to shine. Unlike Hades 1, he fits a lot cleaner into a more traditional villian role. The monster who literally takes over your house and takes your family hostage.

In that way, it is a personal fight for Mel to save her family, but Mel lacks a specific personal connection to Chronos himself. Obviously there's the whole Grandpa thing, but she wasn't like raised by him or anything. He is a convient big bad she can hate simply and wholeheartedly. While he does try to challenge her beliefs at times, Mel will never listen to him because of the whole family kidnapping thing, and Gramps equally doesn't want to engage with her either. He just wants to be a dick to her.

While I'm a firm believer in the "We (the gods) are actually the bad guys" theory, I don't think Chronos is secretly an angel. He did you know eat his kids and that entire scene with Hades and him just reeked of shitty dad vibes. While Chronos might be better for humanity, I think he really is using them as a prop and doesn't genuinely care about them. (This is a derail, but I do think the human army side of things including Prometheus will turn on Chronos at some point. Specifcally that they are already planning to).

But yes, basically, while I adore Chronos as a villain, you get none of the character growth from either party that you got between Zag and Hades in the first game. Obviously, we are still in early access, so there's more dialouge to be had. But from what we have seen, those two are not changing the other. So this is my roundabout way to say that must mean the Surface boss is the one that is going to be all about Melinoe's character growth.

I don't think I need to explain why fighting a human would be a fascinating place for character growth for humanities #1 hater Melinoe. Mel's the Hades equivalent in this game (not the Zag), who will not listen to anyone who disagrees with her. Getting beat up by a human might actually start to get it through her head.

But also I want to dig into why I don't think the final boss will be another Titan. I've seen Atlas thrown around a bunch as a possible final Surface boss. Also Typhon... I'm certain there are others. But I don't know what they would add to the narrative, especially as a final boss? I think there's more evidence for Atlas, so I'll focus on him.

It would make some sense, he was the leader of the titan rebellion and much like Prometheus, in certain versions of the myth he was also freed from his punishment by Heracles! Which considering Heracles suspicious lack of dialouge so far, and the dialouge he does have being a god hater, I do think he's the one who freed Prometheus in this game.

But other than those connections, what does Atlas add to make him an interesting antagonist to Mel? He's not particularly tied to humanity, and while his punishment sucked he did lead a rebellion against the gods (and traditionally the reasons have nothing to do with humans).

Mostly, in my opinion, if the game was going to have a titan also be the final boss for the Surface, it wouldn't be Atlas. It would be Prometheus. He's the powerful titan who has a legitimate gruge against the gods and who can engage with Mel in interesting ways, challenging her stance against the gods. But they have already used Prometheus, I don't know how they could write Atlas (or whatever titan/god) in a way that would be more interesting than Prometheus, and rival the Hades boss fight for thematic weight. Also, it would be 2 titans in a row, which isn't nessisarily a bad thing, but still.

I've also seen people throw around it might he Ares, which I will admit would I would be way more excited for that another titan. Theres some interesting ideas to be had with an Olympian who has betrayed the gods. But we already have dialouge with Athena where she says how Chronos' armies motivations wouldn't line up with Ares'. And I feel like going from a dude only obsessed with war to someone fighting for some kind of higher cause would be a jump in character. Not impossible, but a little weird.

And ultimately, I just think that a Human would serve the purpose better as an antagonist to Mel who would shake her worldview on living mortals in particular. A fight with Ares would mess with her relationship with the gods, but not as clearly with humans.

Okay now that I've talked about themes, how about what people actually had an issue with lol, how would a final boss with a human make sense from a boss fight perspective. I have three main ideas, that don't really contradict each other and could all exist in the fight.

1st idea: multiple enemies. We've heard that there are human armies, the final boss could possibly be a leader of them. We could have hords of enemies, could have select recognizable commanders that have different skill sets, etc. None of the Surface boss fights have multi bosses in them (they have random mobs but none like the sirens or Theseus and Asterius), so I don't think it would be strange to have it. And while stretching the definition of a human boss a bit, these other bosses could be ghosts and other kinds of beings (I just think the main boss should be a breathing human).

2nd idea and tbh my main one. Have them be a Witch! Or some other kind of magic user. I feel like this should be obvious, but a lot of the theming around Hades 2 is witchy/magic stuff and it's wild we don't have a major witch enemy yet (other than obviously Hecate, but for obvious reasons I don't count her).

I'm thinking some kind of High Priestess of Chronos kind of character, we still don't know exactly how Chronos was revived and this could tie in, but there's a bunch of ways you could spin a magic user! I think it would be a prime place to put a narrative foil to Melinoe. A fellow Witch whose family was stolen away by the gods who is looking for justice. Maybe when finally looking into a mirror, some of the stuff Melinoe's been told will finally breach her thick headed skull haha.

I don't think I really need to get into the technical about how a witch fight could be cool. But one idea, tying into my first point, a magic user could have mind powers and compell powerful beings to fight for them. This could be the Zag boss fight of borderline crack theories or even maybe the aforementioned Ares who maybe got captured during his war path. A magic fight doesn't need possessed enemies, but it could be cool.

And finally, my 3rd idea. You might be going, but how could a human be more powerful than Prometheus? Well first point magic, but more seriously, just have them be boosted by Chronos and/or other allies. I mentioned a theory about a high priestess sort of character (the power of God and ani--), but more specifically, if they do go the route of a foil to Melinoe, she has her boons from the gods. Much like Theseus in Hades 1, the final surface boss could gain the boons of Chronos/Prometheus/and the like. Maybe even a Chaos boon, they have already aided Chronos once, and there's a decent chance the humans might betray Chronos at some point so Chaos might be chill with them. This could also be a way to introduce more titan characters and the like without needing to make models for them haha.

But yes, tldr, magic human gives us both the thematic weight of it being a human, witch stuff to parallel Melinoe, and just cool powerful magic fight as a final boss (and it could parallel the Hecate boss fight, the first boss u fight and the last being magic based).

[elsannej]

VENOM WAR #1 Spoilers

Eddie: WDYM YOU LOST MY OTHER?! HE/YOU HAD ONE JOB!!!

Dylan: DAD I'M HOMELESS + LITERALLY DIED, CAN YOU GIVE A DAMN FR!!!?

Bren and Normie in the bg:

Sleeper:

[eywaseclipse]

He said: 😏😏😏😏

[littlebigmouse]

Something about AU Vander telling AU Powder she's "too smart to spend her life in a bar" vs telling AU Ekko (as far as he knows, anyway) that he thinks he'd be "running this place soon" makes the latter almost seem like an insult.

[kat-rose-griffith]

Something that I really appreciate about The Rookie is the very realistic way that they portray abusive/neglectful/or just generally shitty parents. Like they don’t ever magically change them for the purpose of wrapping up an episode, they don’t suddenly choose to be better, most of the time they stay shitty. Lucy’s parents are highly critical of her especially for being a cop, one even going as far as disowning her, and even though they do seem to still be in her life, they don’t magically change their treatment or stance on that no matter how great she does. Tim’s alcoholic abusive father is still an abuser even on his death bed and isn’t remorseful for any of it. Nolan’s mother is a lying con artist that pops in and out of his life as she pleases and directly causes him problems every time, even after her death, with no particular care for him only how she can use him.

The best part of these storylines for me is also that they don’t make the characters forgive their shitty parents, especially when they choose not to change. Nolan’s mother dies and even being the ultimate good guy of the show he doesn’t suddenly act like she was a different person just because she died, even in the face of other characters trying to do so, and that’s completely fine. Tims sister had different experiences with their father because Tim shielded her from a lot of it so they approach their father dying differently and even with her pushing him to act differently about it, he doesn’t ever forgive him or visit him for her sake. The only reason he sees him is because of a murder his father was involved in and to tell him off one last time. Tim walks away from that room not forgiving his abusive father but instead choosing to let go of the resentment he had been harboring for himself and for his sister. He didn’t want to be so angry anymore, he didn’t want to be like him, so he chose to work at being better and that is a far more worthy story to tell.

There’s no forgiving of the abuser in their storylines and I really appreciate that. I like it for its realism but I also like it because in a way it takes the power back from their terrible parents because the story is not about them, at its core it’s about the people that they hurt and how that affects them. It’s so much more compelling seeing the characters constantly working to overcome that to be the people they want to be than the parents magically becoming better because their kids had character development

I don’t want to make this post any longer so I won’t get into it but they also approach forgiveness and change, when it’s appropriate, really well too. The best example is with Tim’s ex wife Isabel. She’s kind of a combination of the stuff I described in this post and how well they do forgiveness on this show.

[queerfables]

.

[starliteonearth]

A lot of people are missing that this whole situation is basically Daemyra's midlife marriage crisis. Their honeymoon stage is over, shit hit the fan, things got real, things got heated, they had their first major fight, they split apart for some space (well Daemon did), and now they're seeking connection and support and intimacy from other people, because they're struggling terribly alone. Mysaria and Alys are those other people. However, the elephant in the room is that they desperately need to talk to each other and work out their problems, like everyone has been urging them to, but they've been avoiding doing so like it's the damn plague. They'd rather twist and untwist themselves into knots that admit they need each other. But make no mistake: they will reconcile, it's just going to take a minute.

[september-poetry]

a violent dog, a vitriol

what does it mean to exist

these bars that hold us in

this mortality that binds us

would you rather not

the confines of time

over the skin that keeps us held tight

within its grasp

i feel my flesh

it is raw and rotten

i see it fall apart

i sense my bones are breaking yet again

the blood spills from porcelain hands

ceramic stained red as love grows weary

do you not grow tired of holding up

a broken withered man

the puppets strings have broken off in your absence

and here he is

alone

empty

afraid

a dog without his owner

he bares his fangs and his torn and bloodied pelt

its scars permeate his grin

his maw is bruised and beaten down

as his skull glints in the light

and his tail is empty

it has used up all its energy

useless

limp and hollow

eyes of golden honey look into his cage

do you see my potential?

i can fight for you

i can die for you

tell me what to do and i'm yours

a violent animal

i will bite

i will tear at your softened flesh

i will break your skin with my lies

i will gnash and scream and howl

until there's nothing left

but a skeleton of broken dreams

and a lover who once was happy

euthanise me

smother my whines

ill whimper all night

i'll stay silent if you ask me to

im sorry

i'll offer you my neck

a sacrifice for what is holy

a martyr for my self worth

bite me

taste enough to satiate yourself

and leave my leftovers to rot

on the marble steps in which you lay me bare

chest exposed to the gods

ribs interlinked with your fingers as you pull

break them

crack me open

hear them fracture through your skull

taint these sacrilegious walls

that once held the intestines of your sacrificial lamb

an unworthy vessel for your virtue

let the sin spill out

and touch my lips as a final prayer

one last breath

another piece of me

fill your lungs with what is left of my body

and consume me whole

i love you

my oxygen

my owner

my everything

14 / 10 / 24

prompt: idol

week two: lights

from @lordsovorn darktober

[app1es0uce]

Oooooh I can’t wait to unpack and write up some Telemachus trauma

[chocolate-cream-soldier]

It is very exhausting to deal with mainstream mcu folks:

[cuteniarose]

As someone who has seen the LoK Book 4 finale, I can say with full confidence that if Korra was down, Kuvira would absolutely not say no to, at the very least, a one night stand

As someone who created Suiren and thus is the ultimate authority on every last thing about her, I can say with full confidence that hot and muscular is very much her type and if Korra was down, she'd absolutely go for it, shared history be damned

And as someone who has said before that at some point Suiren and Kuvira would like to try with a third, I can say with full confidence that they would both be down. Would Korra be? Idk, probably not, but for the sake of argument I could see it happening a few years post-LoK. Mostly because I need a Korviren threesome to happen at least once. For my mental health. It would be the equivalent of being sent to the seaside in the Victorian era. Please

[melmedardasworld]

The way the writers retconned Silas being the creator of the immortality spell failed hilariously.

Clearly, she was the better witch of the two, using traditional magic btw to steal her spell for him and Amara.

Hell, witch!Silas even used the Solar boundary spell she taught him to trap her and Sefan in the cabin.

Only thing I can attribute to him is him teaching Bonnie Expression, but I wonder if he’s actually used it himself (because it is the most powerful form of witchraft using only your will) during his time or if someone else he knew.

[colllateral2004]

thanks for tagging me @ergothereforethus 🕺 here are my 9 favorite books that i read this year!!! (really tried to strike a balance between fiction and non-fiction this year)

tagging @asilverspring @carmelas @satellitemp4 @reds1981 and whoever else wants to do it!!!!! 🤠🫶