The OBELISK Cometh
Gentle Readers,
The Time has Come. We endeavour, in Light of Crushing Defeats and Curious Happenings, to build a Respectable TWO-TONNE OBELISK. It is a Grave and Crucial Task, to be Sure. It is not to be Undertaken Lightly; We must proceed with Great Caution to ensure the TWO-TONNE OBELISK does all it is Meant to do, Insofar as it will Soothe my Pains at the Hands of the Fraudulent Secret Book-seller.
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was thinking about takeshi and how he's my favorite brand of unconditional devotion btw. the utter and absolute and all-consuming kind that runs so deep to the very core and is so intrinsic and fundamental to it, it can only express itself in the most casual and natural and certain way. without second thoughts, without any room for doubts or for any moral dilemma to be had over it, because of course he ought to always be breathing and living for his chosen person first and foremost. of course he ought to hang on their every word and make them true no matter what, no matter what he has to do to make it happen, no matter what he has to do to other people to make it happen, and no matter what it might turn him into in the process. because it's obviously the way the world should be for his chosen person. at their feet, ready to bend over backwards and break and build itself again to better answer to all their needs even if they don't ask it for it. it's the only right way it should be for them, and of course takeshi's going to do his utmost at all times to make it a reality as much as possible.
and his devotion comes out as naturally as breathing, comes out lighthearted and nonchalant like he might as well be talking about the weather, but it's not unaware of itself. it's not that takeshi doesn't know it's unhealthy and wrong and that he's willing to go entirely too far in its name for anyone's good. it's not that he wouldn't hear you out if you were to sit him down and explain to him just why he needs to tone it down a little (a lot). logically, he'd agree with you and know you're right. and then he'd tell you he's still not going to do anything whatsoever about it. that he's not bothered by it and doesn't feel the need to change anything to his attitude. makes it a point to never let anyone or anything sway him even an inch in the stand he took when it comes to that, no matter how many thousand of times you might go over the subject with him.
because the morality of his devotion isn't the point at all. is entirely irrelevant to it and doesn't affect the way he expresses it all. it's not the metric with which he draws a line in the sand to hold it accountable to. because the thing is, takeshi's entire world revolves around tsuna--tsuna is his entire world altogether, and it's just a matter of fact, that simple. to him it's a truth as unchanging as the sky being blue, and so being the way he is according to that truth is the only way he can imagine being that'd feel right to him. and so the actual and only metric that matters here is "would tsuna be happier if i were to do this?" and/or "is this something tsuna needs me to do?"
and like. i don't think takeshi ever stops being a kind person capable of compassion and understanding and mercy and forgiveness even ten years later once they became mafia through and through. and i don't think either he grows up to be feared and called a monster per se despite the things they inevitably had to do during those ten years (and the things they'll inevitably keep having to do as long as they keep being mafia), at least not in the way, for example, they'll never stop fearing and calling mukuro one. but i do think that among the tenth gen, he ends up being the one with the most ruthless, merciless and horrific blood on his hands of that particular and distinct loving kind. you know the one i mean, right? he comes to be the one most expected and the one first expected to be willing and to take it upon himself to go through with it when the need arises. and to think little of it after, if anything at all. all in the name of making tsuna's reign as easy on him as possible.
and it's to the point where it's the kind of blood that makes even mukuro pause at times. or, when takeshi is the one coming up with solutions himself during meetings, makes even reborn blink. not because it's unjustified or wouldn't be safe or efficient or anything of the sort, but because it is unwarrantedly thorough in its retaliation. and sometimes, at times like this, he's the one tsuna needs to step in for the most, because he's the only one who can reason with him that "yes, this would work in getting rid of our problem" but "no, please, don't do that takeshi". because if tsuna is the only thing that infers on just how much and in what ways he'll let himself be devoted to him, then of course, he's also the only one takeshi's willing to reign himself in for without second thoughts. because he'd hate to ever do something tsuna would disapprove of or wouldn't want him to do. or do something that'd make tsuna see him differently or love him back less even in the slightest.
and it's also like. his devotion isn't an undisciplined one. it's not one he doesn't have control over, the very opposite. it's a very purposeful and conscious choice he chooses to keep making over and over again every step of the way, and he taught himself to have control over it, to know when it's needed and/or wanted, and how much and in which ways it is when it happens, and to keep it down otherwise. and, yes, to also reign it back in at tsuna's request at times when it still slips past his control. because it's all about making tsuna's happiness easier and secure and long-lasting, and never about burdening him with just how committed he is to do that.
so it comes down to this: takeshi willing to go above and beyond and more for tsuna unless tsuna explicitly asks him not to. and to tsuna needing to ask him not to every now and then. and to other people pointing out to him how too many times tsuna's already needed to stop him, and that maybe there's a hint for him to take there. and to takeshi seeing the hint, looking it straight in the eye and recognizing it for what it is and just. deciding it doesn't apply to him because it's all perfectly normal behavior to him. because it's the only kind of behavior that makes sense to him and feels right.
and so—to circle back to my first point—he can only express his devotion as naturally as breathing, so casually, almost like it's something inconsequential and not worth talking about despite how unmistakably it couldn't be further away from being the truth. it's the only way he could have always known how to express it, because, after all, who has ever taken time to ponder about the details and the hows of the way they breathe?
and i, for one, absolutely eat that shit up every time, thanks for coming to my ted talk <3
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i’ve seen many people interpret gale’s outrage at nettie poisoning the player as concern for them. that it’s super sweet how much he cares and how protective he is over tav after they had just met. while he (naturally) does care about his companions, it should be pretty obvious that he is mostly projecting here. he states so himself:
player: are you all right, gale?
gale: yes. yes, i am. it's just that, had it been me... had it been...
gale is terrified of what would’ve happened if he had met the same fate. if all of his precautions had been rendered irrelevant merely due to the self-righteousness of some healer, acting as a judge over another’s life without being aware of the consequences. the destruction nettie would’ve unleashed, how many innocents she would’ve doomed to death, merely because she believed she was doing the right thing.
gale is furious at nettie’s ignorance.
gale: how dare she snuff out life with as much thought as snuffing out a bloody candle?
player: she thought she was doing the right thing.
gale: right? she had no right!
player: it was one hell of a surprise, but nettie came around!
gale: yes - against her will, without rhyme or reason!
gale: it's not right to feel the cold breath of death in your neck, then move on as if it was nothing but a soothing breeze.
gale: one respects life by fighting for it, and one respects death by fearing it.
once the orb becomes too unstable (if tav refuses to help gale with his condition and elminster doesn't stabilize the orb) he will state that he can’t stay any longer with good conscience. he will then leave the party immediately, search for a secluded place and wait for death to take him.
gale: i'm afraid this is where we part ways - my condition's deteriorated beyond even my capacity to salvage.
gale: it would be selfish of me to stay, when in doing so i'd be putting you, and everyone else within spitting distance in catastrophic peril.
[nodecontext: saddened - he's about to wander off into the wilderness to die, essentially]
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while i’m not a big fan of this annual as the core robin origin story, i love this panel of dick meeting alfred— just something about how it took time for alfred to warm up to dick because he didn’t think bruce was responsible or committed enough to taking in a freshly orphaned, grieving, hurting child. and how one of the main reasons he came around to it was because he saw what having dick around did for bruce!!!
robin (1993) annual 4
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While I'm thinking about it, the thing about Civil War is that it's an event that conceptually makes total sense as something that would eventually happen in the Marvel Comics universe as it had been depicted up until that point, particularly in the early oughts- the center obviously was not gonna hold. The hammer eventually coming down is inevitable, the tension between the wild cowboy soap opera antics of the superheroes and the government trying to reign them was well-established by 2007.
The problem is that once you pull the trigger on it, you can basically never go back. You can never plausibly have Iron Man or Mr. Fantastic or Captain Marvel return to a working relationship with any of the antireg people ever again after they spend a year and change running the extradimensional virtual reality gulag for all of their colleagues who wouldn't kiss the ring. A bunch of people died and a couple of the less popular ones even stayed dead. It's the kind of thing that happens in a bad future that you have to send Kitty Pryde back in time to prevent because it would so obviously be an irreparable annihilation of the status quo were it to happen in the main timeline. And yet, after a few greater-scope threats and a reconciliatory whimper, to the status quo we inevitably return. Comic Books Babey
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