#complicated sibling dynamics make me go insane

[men-written-by-women]

I’ve seen a few posts talking about how it’s such a tragedy that Sirius never got to know his brother died a hero.

But what if Sirius did know.

What if Sirius found out right before he died that Regulus tried to fix things. Tried to make things right.

And if the day Sirius found out also happened to be the day that he died, then doesn’t that hurt a little bit more?

Maybe he had woken up that morning, not yet ready to start the day, sleep still calling to him.

And maybe that sleep was rudely interrupted.

Because the incessant noise downstairs was too loud to ignore, and the tenth or so time Sirius heard it he had to go investigate.

When he found the source of the noise, he quickly went from annoyed to confused. Kreacher doing everything he could to spite him wasn’t anything new, but the strange object in his hand certainly was. It didn’t look anything like the other old family heirlooms lying around the house.

And when Kreacher quickly tried to hide the…the something, Sirius knew he wasn’t going to let up until he knew what it was.

A verbal game of chess was started then. Anyone else most likely would have given up after the many insults and vague responses. Not Sirius. He despised anything that connected him to his relatives, but he couldn’t deny the stubbornness was a Black trait through and through. Every time a question was evaded, he found a new way to make it so that he got the answers he wanted.

Or, the ones he thought he wanted.

Because as his questions started to be answered and the truth began to unfold, he started to regret ever prodding in the first place.

The thing, which Sirius discovered to be an enchanted locket, couldn’t have really been the reason his brother died.

Regulus would never sacrifice himself for something so ugly. He liked pretty things, Regulus, and would always collect them. Rocks. Seashells. Coins.

Sirius used to think it was adorable. And he had been sad when Regulus eventually stopped the habit. How strange it was that people change so much you could barely recognize them.

So, of course Sirius didn’t believe the elf at first.

Why would he?

It was ridiculous. How could his brother, who used to cry when it stormed outside, have had the guts to defy the most evil wizard of their time?

No, Regulus was much too soft to ever do something insane like that.

Wasn’t he?

But then Sirius found out his Godson had snuck into the ministry and was in danger…and he didn’t have time to think about the past.

Then there was a lot of fighting. And his only priority was keeping Harry safe.

Harry, who was about the same age Reggie was when…

No, he couldn’t think about that.

Harry was nothing like that traitor.

Maybe they both had a sarcastic demeanor and were fiercely loyal to those they believed deserved it. Not afraid to tell someone what they thought of them.

They both liked to add honey and lemon to their tea.

But they were very different.

In the most important ways, anyway.

Harry was much more similar Sirius’ real brother. James. The only one who mattered in the end.

Or rather, the only one who should matter.

Regulus made his choice. And idiotic one. One that got him killed.

Harry still had a chance. He could be better than all of them, if he got the opportunity.

Harry was only a child. Fifteen and still figuring out the highs and lows of life. He still had time.

Time.

Something that not many people had a lot of. Almost everyone Sirius ever loved ran out of theirs much too quickly.

Even, he begrudgingly had to admit, his little brother.

It was a bit strange when he thought about it too much. Whether Regulus deserved his fate or not didn’t really cross his mind sometimes. Because Sirius was older it only made sense that he would be the first to go. First one of the two of them into the world, first one gone from it.

Funny, that.

Even more strange was that Sirius’ anger at Regulus had somehow fizzled away into something else. Something a little softer in nature but much more painful. Because the truth was, he knew he would never truly understand how he and his brother turned into what they became. He would never know what truly happened. But the fact that maybe, just maybe, his little brother died doing the right thing healed something within him he knew was broken but didn’t know could be fixed.

But dwelling on the ghosts of strangers he knew too much about wasn’t going to help him now.

And even though Harry might have reminded him of Regulus, there was one thing that made all the difference.

Sirius knew he could still save Harry. He hadn’t lost him, not yet. He was alive. He had his whole life ahead of him. Harry was another chance for Sirius to prove that he was capable of saving someone he loved.

Harry, with his glasses a little too big on a his face, a slightly crooked grin, and perpetually messy hair.

Harry, who looked just like…

Like…

“Nice one, James!”

[titansarmy]

“all you want from me now is the green light of forgiveness. you haven’t met the new me yet but i think she’ll give you that” but its present day nico about bianca. 

[kifkay]

Winx & Specialists Dynamics that are so Precious to me

it makes sense that in the show, winx and their non-boyfriend specialists don’t interact much. but!! i’m very insane about codependent found families, and I want them all to love each other. so here’s my take on some tet-a-tet dynamics:

rare pairings:

Musa & Timmy: childhood frenemies. they used to go to the same middle school on Melody, and as type-A tweens do, had an intense, “you’re the only person I match myself to” kind of rivalry. they lost contact after Timmy moved away, chilled out considerably, reconnected in Alfea and had a wonderful banter-filled friendship since. because of how fast they slotted back into a friendship, some of their classmates genuinely thought they were siblings.

Tecna & Riven: got up from a rough patch. from “I dislike you but we both love Musa, so we have to be civil” to “you have more depths to you than I expected” to “now that I understand you, I can’t help but admire certain things about you” to “bitch, you are the only person who is as weird and clueless as I am, ARE YOU READY TO GO TO THE ARCADE AND ANNIHILATE KIDS FOR SHITS AND GIGGLES”

Flora & Brandon: little sister, older brother vibes. of similar temperaments and views, they enjoy spending time over a cup of tea — talking about everything and nothing. it’s therapeutic, almost.

(no one in the group knew that Brandon and Flo were good friends. once, when the two had to team up during a mission, Bloom couldn’t even finish saying: “it would be a good opportunity for you to get to know each ot-“, before the specialist-fairy duo were re-creating the most complicated and choreographed hand shake ever. jaws were on the floor.)

Aisha & Brandon: they are sporties, and they like doing sport things together! they don’t talk aside from exchanging brief encouragements and advice while out, preferring to spend their time in companionable silence. sorta like those dads who never talk to their buddies, but somehow have the strongest and longest bonds ever?

Helia & Bloom: artist besties. Bloom drags Helia out on picnics, where they practice observational drawing (and tiktok trends that Bloom desperately wants to reenact but none of the winx are good at arts); Helia responds by taking her out to see art museums in Magix. it’s a fun dynamic of Bloom being the bubbly gold retriever, and Helia being her black cat.

Tecna & Sky: they didn’t have much of a relationship until year 4. somehow, they both got really, intensely into weaponsmithing and built a joint workshop. they found that they enjoy working alongside each other and value each other’s insights. sky goes to tecna when he needs frank, un-sugarcoated advice, and tecna accompanies sky on hikes and other spirited adventures, for “bonding activities” (because he told her she doesn’t get out of her comfort zone enough). it’s a relationship of deep mutual respect.

Sky & Stella: childhood friends. they knew each other as children and enjoyed playing together (which is how Stella also knew Brandon pre-Red Fountaine). at least, until Stella was unofficially banned from Eraklyon because shenanigans, and they lost contact. they still jokingly call each other “My Lady” and “My Lord”.

Stella & Nabu. Both are flirty and extroverted people, who enjoy the spirit of showmanship. They have a friendly rivalry going of who can fluster the villain of the week the fastest.

canon bf-gf dynamics (dating in canon, open to interpretation otherwise):

Bloom x Sky: liked each other since the first meeting; bonded over being the friend group moms. (on unrelated note: bloom gentle parents her friends, while sky goes all exasperated cig mom on his team and repeats things like: “you better go to sleep right now, or so help me Dragon I will take away your Owl pilot privileges-“)

they are not the most outwardly affectionate couple of the winx, yet they are so wordlessly devoted to each other. sky will follow bloom to the ends of all dimensions, when she gets a calling from powers as mystical as she. bloom will always believe in him and see him as his own man, unlike the many who see him only as his father’s son. they were entwined by fate, long before one had met the other; yet, there’s the trust, the respect, the faith so strong — that could have only come from friendship forged and tested by fire.

Stella and Brandon: the hottest power couple; sole reason behind 60% of all student fairies/specialists/witches queer awakening.

they banter all. the. goddamn. time. these dorks are speaking a whole different language.

they are also most comfortable in each other’s company, being able to be their genuine, less polished selves. stella and brandon are both performers bred and born, playing the roles of a noble princess and a knight. it’s nice, to have a safe reprieve from all that acting.

Aisha and Nabu. their love was one that sneaked up on them. their distance, set by a discomfort at the idea of an arranged marriage, bridged as they transitioned from being reluctant comrades to friendly rivals to unwilling friends to best friends to “if someday the moon calls you by your name, don’t be surprised — because every night I tell her about you”

Tecna and Timmy: partners in crime, ride or die, sunny faith in each other — even when the other person doesn’t believe in themself. I have a whole post about them, go read that ;)

Flora and Helia: they are so. they are. they-

icons. the most romantic couple, the one that sets the standards, the one that gives their friends advice. they are extremely attentive to each other’s needs and tender with each other’s feelings.

flora can recite helia’s poems in her sleep, and trace his drawings with her eyes closed. helia brings mielle presents every time he stops by. flora has tea with helia’s dad every other tuesday; she keeps note of every time helia and saladin are supposed to meet up, to be able to whisk helia away after and distract him from his troubles. helia knows how to care of flora’s plants, and sends her lovingly assorted gift baskets semi-regularly.

Musa and Riven. their relationship is push and pull, is joy then sorrow.

it’s all in a drag of a cigarette, in the vortex of a starless night, in the hoarse laughter. “of all the people in the world, why did it have to be you?” she’ll say and smile.

“ I’m afraid we’re doomed, lover,” he’ll reply, faux-casually, and smile back. both of them will know it’s the truth.

their relationship was not built to last, not for the lack of love or try. maybe they were too similar — both headstrong, unbending, bleeding hearts. maybe they were just different enough not to understand their hurts. nevertheless, it was not built to last — but neither of them would ever bring to regret it. love prevails, no matter in what form in comes, or something like that.

[drawnfamiliarfaces]

As someone who has always loved siblings dynamics in fiction, I find it funny that almost every single member of the HoM team has siblings. Kim has two little brothers, Danny has an older sister, Jake has a little sister, Jenny has eight robot sisters, June has an older and a younger brother, Rex has an older brother, and Zak has three cryptid siblings. Ben and Randy are the only ones who are technically only children but Ben still at least has a cousin who he has a sibling dynamic with. I don't think Randy had anyone like that. (Although it's one of the few shows here that I didn't watch so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.) Any way, now Only Child Cunningham is being treated like the little brother by all of these experienced siblings and has no clue what to do and I find that funny.

(P.s. sorry about the long comment. This thought wouldn't leave me alone so I thought i should share it)

(P.p.s I love your HoM au and your art. Thank you for sharing it!)

Please, don't be sorry, this is like, one of my favorite asks about HoMies I ever got! And also thank you for your kind words! <3<3<3

I also adore sibling dynamics in fiction! It's one of the main reasons I don't want to put much focus on ships in this AU, like I mentioned before, there would be like one canon couple with one of HoMies, but otherwise everyone are sort of floating in nebulous single area, so I could focus better on their complicated friendships with a dash of found family/siblings dynamics!

(And your ask reminded me of a fanart I did a long time ago about Randy being the only child in Secret Trio. xD same brain anon!)

Also one can argue that Howard, Randy's best friend, could be considered sort of like a brother to him (they became friends at a very young age), but I personally view them more as Bros. (does it make sense, lol?)

But even if we count Howard, their dynamic would be more equal in older-younger sibling scale, while Randy indeed would be mostly treated as a younger sibling amongst HoMies and it would probably drive him insane!

Being the youngest and newest in their friend circle, he is like a new baby brother or a co-worker/young kohai (ye, cringe wording but terminology vibe aint wrong! xD) that others are prepared to protect and help, impart their wisdom on, but also tease! (and perhaps learn something from him in return! )

But Randy Only Child Cunningham, as an already seasoned, if a bit overconfident, hero would hate (just a little bit) being considered as less experienced (even if he technically is) than others, no matter how much he absolutely adores being in presence of all those cool people! At times it would feel condescending, but in reality others just want to support him the more they learn about how he came to be the Ninja.

After all they know what it felt like being that young, having that responsibility trust upon your shoulders and going through so much. Especially considering that among them, Randy perhaps had the least stable support during his hero-ing career. Sure, all of them had to go through some things alone, but there were family and friends that were there to help when it came to it. And, no offense to Howard, who does sometimes manages to get through for Randy, he is not the best at being the type of support Randy needs at times. And, Ninjanomicon? While incredibly useful for teaching moral lessons and art of being Ninja - is not exactly the most er, physically able in supporting Randy at time of crisis, being an inanimate object and all that, lol.

So yes, Randy-Only Child-Lone Ninja Hero-Cunningham sometimes doesn't know what to do with all those people who appeared in his life and treat him like a little bro! But sometimes, he enjoys it. ;)

(a little bit of random rambling beneath, feel free to ignore! haha)

Also random, and its not very obvious at all, but there is slightest differences amongst HoMies on how they view/regard him and behave with/around him, depending on their own experiences:

Kim and Jake, as older siblings through and through, tend to see him as a younger bro, like their own siblings who can be a handful and overzealous little hellions at times.

Danny, Rex, Jenny and Zak are a bit complicated. They all have siblings that are older than them, but they are also kind of younger in some sense (or in Danny's case an adopted younger sibling).

Danny and Rex would tend to be overprotective a little bit, as people who didnt have a younger sibling before (I mean, Danny does but she is so independant! Danny doesnt get to exercise his overprotectiveness on Danielle xD) so its a bit new to them. But they are also kind of dicks, and thats just the younger siblings in them talking, lol.

Jenny and Zak on the other hand, both have siblings that are very confusing from the age bracket view.

All ofJenny's siblings are older than her BUT their prototype AI and bodies make them behave younger than her, so she tends to view them as younger siblings. There is a constant argument amongst them about who is older-younger, but its all in good fun! (She also sometimes misses being the only child. xD)

Zak's siblings are all cryptids, and two of them are older than him in age (Fisk and Zon are definitily full grown and possibly more long-lived than humans, I still have questions about Komodo, but he is probably older than Zak in age just by a little bit), but their behaviour, as.... well, i don't want to say animals, because they are not mindless animals, but let's just say - their disregard to human behaviours and norms, as cryptids, make them behave in a way that could be considered irresponsible, thus making Zak often behave like a responsible older sibling, despite being younger than them.

So, Jenny and Zak tend to be as snooty and in 'charge' as an older sibling would, but also be mischevous little shits that is younger (sorta only) child behaviour.

Ben and Jun are sort of like the previous four, but they tend to view Randy on a more equal footing rather than just vacilate between older-younger types of behaviour.

Ben, is a single child, but he grew up pretty close to Gwen, since they were born on the same day. Sort of growing up twins but not kinda situation. They also have an older cousin/brother Ken, and they both adore him, but it is obvious that primarly those two grew up together and are equally annoyed with that, lol.

Jun is a middle child. (I kind of dont want to say anything else, because i feel like it explains everything. xD but-) She is independant, and is equally exasparated with her snooty older brother and her hellion of a younger brother. So, really, she just tends to be the most normal towards Randy in the end???

so, ye, of course in the end they treat him as just a new friend, this was just more of me trying to look into inner mind of sibling dynamics in a weird way haha

sorry about it, but if you got this far, hope you had an entertaining read! ;D

[altades]

Vashwood rant

I can't sleep so why not analyze vashwood in the middle of the night

Now, this analysis is mostly of the manga, with maybe small takes from 98 and tristamp

To start let's look at the boys from their respective beginnings

Vash is so cruelly mischaracterized as a child, and it might be a little bit of trismaps fault, even though i do love it, or maybe people are just putting characters into boxes without really thinking about it but Vash is so not soft-shy-nice little baby brother. The whole thing with him being younger is so insane to me, i get why if Nai was born like 10 minutes earlier he would make it his whole personality (very sibling thing to do) but it's just so stupid. No, they have 0 age difference and it doesn't affect their dynamic cuz the are literally twins for the love of god. And, really, when you look at the manga as kids Nai was the emotional one! And he still is!

Nai is plagued by fear and anger and resentment and those emotions are what drive his every decision. Vash, on the other hand, is much more in control of his feelings and doesn't show them as much. That is to say that pre-tesla nai is the one worried about their relationship with humans, about their future, he's the one crying after talking to Conrad (what a sweet child he was) while Vash seemes much less scared.

And when they find out about Tesla Nai is the one who faints - he’s the more reactive one, the emotional one. And that small difference is what sets their paths so differently. Because Vash actually gets a chance to talk to Rem and figure things out.And that talk is so very important because it makes Rem, who already was everything to Vash, even more important. 

Now, I want us all to think about how terrified Vash was after seeing Tesla cuz he probably thought his own mother was going to dissect him and his brother. But then she saves him when he tries to end his own life, proving that no she’s not gonna kill him, because she, as every human, has the capability to learn from her mistakes and make better choices. (too bad Nai didn’t get that lesson lol)

And then we get to the big bad things. (it’s genocide) But the important part from that whole ordeal is Rem’s sacrifice. Because, listen, I love stories where humanity is shown to be capable of change and forgiveness is a virtue and love and pussy and all that but oh man can it be so so unrealistic and a little bit insane to watch (su im looking at u (i love su but oh boy that is not how the world works unfortunately)) but Trimax manages to make it work so well. I believe that’s cuz Vash is a very kind and loving man but is also completely out of his mind and has horrendous mommy issues. At least half the reason he doesn’t kill people is because Rem has died to save them, and killing them would make it all be for nothing. If he kills these people or if he lets them die would that mean that Rem died for nothing? Did she sacrifice her life to save these people only for her own son to end their lives? AND you know I’m right cuz he literally says it in the manga but also BECAUSE HE DOES THE SAME FOR WOLFWOOD (also he did kill Nai when he had the chance but we don’t have time to unpack that)

All of that is A LOT and very complicated (i love Vash he’s so well written he’s my perfect little meow meow) now let's talk about Wolfwoooooooooood /twirls hair/

WW is much easier to understand and analyze cuz he is, just a guy,, WW is just a normal person who gets insanely unlucky and gets in THE WORST possible situations (If he ever played DND he would roll straight 1s). That is to say that his story is sort of a way to show how much life in the badlands sucks, but also that there are good things even in the worst places (the orphanage) And WW reacts to situations in the most rational way possible way - he kills to survive. he doesn’t want to but he doesn’t get a say in it. If he could chose he would just live with his family and friend and do whatever. And that, him being so normal in such a violent and bloody world is what makes him suffer all the time. His inner moral compass is screaming at him what a terrible person he is and he promptly ignores it.

That is until that moral compass manifests itself in the form of a tall, blond and handsome stranger that he’s supposed to lead to his death. The stranger who turns out to be the most compassionate and kind man WW’s has ever seen. Who he’s supposed to kill. It’s like finding an oasis in the desert and being forced to burn it to the ground. And WW doesn’t want to do that, and he refuses to believe that the oasis is not a mirage so he tries to get Vash to kill someone, even if it’s WW himself. (It doesn’t work.)

As we all know WW changes his mind because of Vash’s influence. And he dies for it. Because even though Vash’s beliefs are born of human virtues, no man is made to walk his path, for he is not human and any mortal who tries to follow an angel to the skies is doomed to crash. WHAT YOU DON’T EXPECT IS THAT THAT MAN WILL BRING THE ANGEL DOWN WITH HIM

There is this line I wrote for an art i’m planning to make and if you’ve read this far you deserve a lil spoiler - “have you found absolution in bringing an angel to his knees?” and it captures perfectly what i'm thinking. And also Vash spends so much time trying to be closer to people but I think him killing Legato might’ve been the most human thing he’s ever done. Cuz it’s is so beautiful in the way he does it for the memory of the person he loved and yet so ugly in it’s cruelty.

I’ve said this before but most of the time when there is a human/ some immortal powerful creature relationship I don’t think the human is that special but WW HE SO IS. Maybe it’s the way that he’s just as deep in the nuclear bombs with personality business as Vash is, being one of said nuclear bombs, but still remains a normal person with relatively good morals that he can anchor Vash to a sort of normality that he doesn’t get often. Like what other guy would get hunted by all sorts of freaks with you, get in trouble all the time, get shot and etc and etc and then go for a drink with you like it’s a normal wednesday? Wolfwood. Or maybe it's that WW learns of every worst part of Vash, he sees him be on the brink of losing himself, he knows Vash has actually caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and ALMOST did it again after Julai, and still stays with him? He sees Vash become something that is not human at all and still stay? Idk MAYBE IT’S ALL OF THAT but WW is just so important and so down bad but we all know that already so i’m not gonna add to that

Anyways, I got this all out of my system gn

[our-happygirl500-fan]

Something that I have kind of been thinking about are all the various dynamics that Big Mama seems to have with the Hamato Clan.

Leo: Just the spider I was coming to gloat to.

Big Mama: I am not one to be outmanoeuvred my turtle boo. Well done. 

With Leo it almost seems as though Big Mama has possibly been set up as a foil for Leo, with Leo being the member of the Hamato Clan that was able to outmanoeuvre Big Mama in the episode 'Many Unhappy Returns' & was able to see through Big Mama's deceit in the episode 'Bug Busters'.

Something that I have seen a few people talk about are the possible parallels between Big Mama & Leo as they are both able to twist situations into something in their own favour, however they also contrast each other as Big Mama seems to be primarily motivated for her own gain while Leo is motivated by trying to keep his family safe.

Splinter: From you, as we tangoed the night away.

With Splinter, Big Mama has a complicated history as exes, with Big Mama having betrayed Splinter's trust & forced him to fight in the Battle Nexus however their relationship also seems slightly more complicated in the fact that they possibly seem to still have some kind of feelings for one another as in the episode 'The Ancient Art of Ninja Hide and Seek' it's shown that Big Mama kept a photo of them & Splinter went to retrieve the photo & towards the end of the episode 'Battle Nexus New York' Splinter attempted to save Big Mama from the Shredder & in the final episode of Rise, Big Mama did seem to help the Turtles find where the Shredder had taken Splinter & Draxum.

Big Mama: We both know my train is the only way to secretly move your cargo to the shrine.

Draxum: And I’m paying a heavy price for not asking questions

With Draxum, Big Mama has been portrayed as both a sort of rivals Draxum having originally taken Lou Jitsu from her in the episode 'Goyle, Goyles, Goyles' & Big Mama has tried to use Draxum's oozesquitoes for her Battle Nexus in the episode 'Bug Busters', however they are also kind of portrayed as bussiness partners as well as in the episode 'Insane in the Mama Train' Draxum was also the one who gave Big Mama the orb she needed for her Battle Nexus New York plan & Big Mama was the one who gave Draxum the opportunity to transport the Dark Armour creating the impression that Big Mama & Draxum will work together if it benefits them but will double cross each other if there is more to gain.

Something I kind of wonder about however is what their dynamic would be like after Draxum's redemption.

Donnie: I have only one question. How dare you?

With Donnie their dynamic seems to be Donnie showing a dislike towards Big Mama whenever they interact with each other whether due to Donnie still holding a grudge over Big Mama trying to use him & betraying his trust in the episode 'Bug Busters' or that Donnie is simply just generally upset at everything Big Mama has done to his family but something that I think is kind of interesting is that Donnie might possibly be the Turtle that almost kind of seems to show his dislike towards Big Mama the most out of the Hamato Clan.

Big Mama: You did your part so I will do mine

Something I also kind of think about is Big Mama's Assistant being one of the missing Turtle siblings meaning Big Mama kind of technically raised a member of the Hamato Clan which kind of makes me wonder how it would affect Big Mama's other dynamics with the rest of the Hamato Clan if they knew who Big Mama's Assistant was.

Raph: Heh.. uh… H-Hi..Big Mama.

Big Mama: Hello turtley boo

With Raph when Big Mama interacts with him in the episode 'Raph's Ride Along', Big Mama seems to act amused towards Raph while Raph seems to act nervous around her, this could possibly be due to what was going on during the episode however this could also be a glimpse into their dynamic of Raph possibly being intimidated by Big Mama due to knowing that she is dangerous & Big Mama simply being amused by Raph as she doesn't seem to view him as a threat to her.

Something that I kind of wonder about is what Big Mama's dynamic could have possibly been like with Mikey & April if we could have seen them interact properly with each other.

[ianthewife]

ok girl. pitch me the silt verses. why should i listen to it. go crazy.

(i trust you because in your other hand you have tlt.)

yippee time to yap about my favorite audio drama, okay okay okay listen so the silt verses are a completed audio-drama (3 seasons, 45 episodes (i myself am on ep. 34 rn)) that starts with two cultists, Sister Carpenter (all-around tired, angry at the world, was born into the church but is losing her faith rn) and Brother Faulkner (a young convert who believes fervently and perhaps thinks himself a prophet) on a road trip— i mean a holy pilgrimage. Cause they are both followers of an illegal river god. And yes this modernish world is chuck full of gods who have a direct influence on the world, and the government basically decides who it is legal to worship or not. The worship in question involves chill and casual human sacrifices and horrific transfigurations (if you like body horror, this is the podcast for u). In fact in the setting people design, develop, commercialize and weaponize gods all the fucking time, so really interesting world-building stuff, seriously i love it here. Not gonna go into the plot progression, but it starts out great and gets better and better with every season, i am on season 3 and just constantly blown away.

The writing all in all is really spectacular, sound design is top notch, voice acting is straight up Insane, like there is quality!! Character interactions are to die for, seriously very dynamic, very entertaining. Btw if you love complicated messy very true sibling dynamics, set up camp right here. Also id say pretty good and fun balance between grim tones of a greek tragedy waiting to happen and insanely funny moments and situations (though im in season 3 and it’s mostly grim somebody send help). And the themes!! The themes! The interconnection between hopelessness and hope, the painful difference between a faith and a religion, horrors of capitalism, tragedy and stupidity of war and sm other good stuff. Character cast grows w the progression of the story, we see different places, different perspectives, so really a lot to dig your teeth into, can recommend!!

Also diversity win! We have an aromantic legend of the cult who is trying so so hard to divorce god, our doomed false prophet of the river is trans, there is a transwoman who is basically jesus if jesus went from marketing job to anarchism, and we have non-binary people from politicians to cultists to literal god-killers—

To a normal person id make a little disclaimer that it might be a bit disorienting a couple of first episodes cause there isnt much exposition from the top but as for a fellow tlt fan i know you have nothing to fear, we went through so much more confusing things during harrow and nona the ninth…

So if you do decide to give it a listen, plsss tell me what you think, tlt is my Favorite Thing Ever and tsv is my Also Favorite Thing Ever

[panelshowsource]

If you had to pick a top three favorite episodes of any panel shows EVER, which would you choose? One of mine would have to be Terry Wogan guest hosting old NMTB, which I am dying to watch again in my lifetime. Your old-NMTB-posting reminded me just how amazing and formative those old episodes were for me. Anyway, it got me thinking… I would love to hear yours!

as long as i'm allowed to answer this totally subjectively...! because the objectively most iconic panel show episodes are probably quite different to the ones i gravitate to especially for rewatching — and especially in this difficult recent climate 🫥

this choice is almost bizarre knowing me, a huge huge huge sean lock fan, but this episode of cats does countdown — without sean! and not even golden era, probably, whatever that is in my mind — is so ridiculous and chaotic and stupid that i've watched it about 1000 times. there's something very specific about the dynamic between jimmy, jon, roisin, and joe without sean; those four have been in quite a few episodes without sean and they're like actual children without an adult in the room: jon is goofier and completely lets go of the game, jimmy throws even more to roisin (we do not talk enough about what a fucking kick jimmy gets out of her), roisin and joe's insane sibling dynamic becomes next level. anyways—this episode, which includes rly funny mascots, glory hole, the fucking hoop game and joe eating an onion and jon eating peppers???, THE UNICORN, its sheer childishness just cracks me up every time :') (if we're gonna mention the golden age, 2.02 is very iconic — from rhod killin it and always arguing with jimmy to claude to nick x susie hahaha but i have sooooo many catsdown episodes i love love love)

i really love the episode of 8 out of 10 cats following jimmy's tax scandal. it's not one of my favourite panel shows in general, but the circumstances of the news and the discussion epitomised what the show was meant to be: panel show meets reality tv meets a comedy central roast. watching that live, as the news was running it so heavily that even the prime minister mentioned it, as the press and twitter were reacting to it... wild times. it holds up incredibly well — it's hilarious watching them rip him to shreds, because he deserves every word and they're having a ball doing it to him, and i really appreciate jon grounding the conversation in just how tax avoidance hurts their country and some of its hardest workers — a really interesting, engaging mix of comedy and anger and wit and disappointment and political commentary that is not only funny but strikingly relevant no matter how much time passes. like so, so many people who were so, so disappointed in jimmy, this was the foundation of his carrying the responsibility, shame, reflection, and growth that people wanted to see — and that he truly needed to. since then he's talked a lot about not only righting the wrong (in paying back what he owed in avoidance) but just how the system is so broken — and taking the least complicated, most honest road forward since.

now i want to pick 1000 different things this is why i don't make lists or rank things!!!!! while my instinct is to pick a big fat quiz, i'm actually gonna go top-level nostalgia and say this episode of buzzcocks when stephen fry was a guest. what can i say — simon, stephen, it was two intellectual, mildly bitchy homosexuals on a stacked panel including josie long, dominic cooper, and yet another skinny white rock man for simon to pretend he's not trying to flirt with. stephen saying "there is a history, in pop music, of recto-veginal insertion" and denouncing god, like, in the first 5 minutes? stephen doing the intros round?? did i mention history boys-era dominic cooper??? such a throwback!!! (not to cheat but this ep with josh groban & martin freeman is my runner up)

i want to apologise to big fat quiz, taskmaster, wilty... THE WHOLE HISTORY OF PANEL SHOWS... I WISH I COULD CHOOSE YOU ALL

[daenystheedreamer]

pls more abt viserys Omaegorverse I'm so fascinated it's insane and i honestly think grrm would b proud

im so happy u love it and this means so much but i do NOT think he would be proud 😭 he would read my posts (gun to his head ofc he wouldnt just. do that.) and sit in silence for a few minutes and then he would say. Maegor isnt gay what are you talking about. and i go well thats not really the point and anyway sexuality is kinda fluid and its more about opportunity and power than about sexual attraction although i will concede- and then he sends elio and linda with spears to hunt me down.

he's canonically a nothing character with personality of 'Beloved Of The Commons' n nothing else so i can kinda do whatever tf i want with him which is fun. he's also mostly there to be a sad wet cat that gets kicked by everyone and everyone he loves dies or is weird about him in some way. he's my special little sad uke twink i brutalise for my personal entertainment <3 im so maegorcoded so tyannacoded... anyway more about my babyboy viserys below<3 warning its SOOO long like fifteen fucking paragraphs Jesus christ

trigger warnings for like everything. incest death depression mental instability murder psychosis uhhh. torture and suicide. just all of it do NOT read unless youre like super certain you wanna read about my deviantart OCs because guys it is NOT worth it

childhood pre-Torture Labyrinth. he's born in 29 AC and was 8-ish when he was at the deathbed of Aegon1. aegon the uncrowned is three years older than him, and rhaena is six years older. jaehaerys is 5 years younger, alysanne is 7 years younger vaella who i kept alive is 10 years younger. just to give an idea of ages and general canon info :>

his only personality trait is Promising and Beloved of the commons. i think him and aegon were friends :) younger brother so he followed after him a lot. slightly scared of rhaena the big cool older sister who has a pet dragon. think his granddad is soooo cool doesnt really think about The Implications of conquest or anything. normal boy normal childhood (as normal as possible when ur siblings are married...) also he is gay because it adds to the horrors later on 🥰

something i think is Inchresting is the rhaena, aegon and viserys are named for rhaenys, aegon and visenya :3 i think viserys is like hercules right where he was named in an attempt to appease The Wife. aenys was like hiiiii auntie/stepmum visenya look i named a kid after you you dont wanna kill me right?right? and she looks at this kid who didnt claim a dragon isnt a girl isnt maegor and goes oh so youre insulting me huh.

i think rhaena aegon viserys had a slightly weird dynamic. rhaena the lesbian getting forcibly betrothed to her younger brother by her father is gonna make things weird, also aegon was 15 and rhaena 18 which adds just the best most awesome sauce to the mix. i think viserys had very complicated feelings on that especially if he is gay cos like... rhaena obviously does not love her brother romantically right. so u are a boy and ur sister is a lesbian but you dont have that word. and you are gay and your brother is cool and the crown prince and everyone is screwing their siblings and that makes your brain chemistry weird. and now your brother is marrying your gay sister. What about you. the dragon has three heads??? idk he's like 12 at this point he just goes back to playing hide and seek with jae+aly.

Uh oh daddy's dead. daddy's dead and uncle maegor is king now with his three wives. Uh oh. oh awesome he's kidnapped you and you're his squire now that's so cool. well its mostly a power play and hes not actually making u do anything as long as you stay locked in the red keep all day he leaves you alone. also maegor's insane girlfriend stares at you like you're a baby lamb that would make a delicious lamb tostada. but hey your big brother aegon has a dragon now and him and rhaena are gonna save you soon. Uh oh aegon's dead. aegon's dead and maegor is king for real for real.

everyone steers clear of you in the keep. you used to play with your siblings and the commoners and you used to play on dragonstone and kings landing and now no one wants to touch you. no one is calling you maegor's squire now, the pretence is gone. you are maegor's hostage. you fantasise about a different outcome, where maegor took you to the battle as his squire, and that you being there might have changed what happened. maybe you could have warned aegon. but you know nothing would have changed. youre not a dragonrider. you're worthless you're powerless. youre 14 years old :)

alys harroway is dead. maegor killed his wife. you knew alys, you saw her around the keep. she seemed very nice. she was very quiet and stayed in her rooms. she was always pregnant. you wonder why she married maegor, why she and tyanna are so strange with each other. you hear rumours. you wish you had talked to her. but she's dead now. maegor killed her. maegor tortured her. she's a whore now. you look out the window and see her rotting leg on a stake outside, her torso on another. you wish you had talked to her.

visenya targaryen the looming shadow over your life, the woman you're named after who looked at you with nothing but scorn, is dead. your mother is gone and she took jae and aly. what about you? what about you? is she not your mother too? are you not her little boy anymore? you are 15 years old. maegor killed alys' family when he was angry with her. is he going to kill you now?

ok second person pov over the gimmick is getting lame. anyway this is where the AU deviates: instead of viserys dying of torture, maegor is like hey maybe my nephew will be more fertile than my BITCH wives. and visenya the blood witch before her death compiled a bunch of old valyrian a/b/o fanfiction and said son if you ever find yourself with infertile wives. Consult These Texts. then tyanna and maegor made viserys mpreggable i dont care about how or like. what his body looks like. im not into the fetish of omegaverse LMAO i dont want to think about the fertilisation or birthing process or what organs he has thats unnecessary. only thing thats important is viserys can incubate babies and they are birthed via c-section :3

quick lore dump: vis is forced to maegor -> rhaena crashes the wedding but vis is so broken at this point he just doesnt want anyone else to die and has resigned himself to maegor so rhaena reluctantly surrenders -> alyssa jae and aly DO go to the red keep after they find out about the wedding and jae dies fighting maegor which makes viserys fully break -> alyssa now has husband dead 2 kids dead her son is queen and she also loses her fight :( lives on dragonstone with alive vaella -> alysanne is given to the faith -> rhaena agrees to a truce and she is hand of the king now and viserys' main protector -> vis gets pregnant and the kid is basically a reincarnation of jaehaerys -> tyanna loses her shit and tries to murder/sterilise/whatever viserys so maegor kills her cos he's finally got his babymaker -> vis has a daughter who's the reincarnation of tyanna -> faith uprising, shut down -> vis has his second daughter final child daenys who's birth is heralded by the martyrdom of poxy jeyne poor in the quashed faith uprising

vis is in the torture labyrinth for a couple decades. life sucks husband sucks everyone is weird about him. very death in venice people are weird about the boy type deal. has to wade through gender and sexuality politics of westeros which means several men going utterly insane about him including a couple kingsguard knights (celibate hypermasculine freaks bound to be insane sexually). one point early-ish on he DOES start believing this one kingsguard knight will save him from The Hells The Horrors but maegor finds out and kills that guy adn sexually humiliates viserys in front of the kingsguard and makes their son watch. So that fucks up vis' psyche for a while :3

rhaena and alysanne try to convince him to rebel and run away that they will use their dragons and fight. but maegor has made vis so paranoid and crazy he thinks maegor knows everything knows all his thoughts so he's terrified of plotting escape cos he thinks maegor will kill everyone. plus maegor made sure to force kids onto him early so that vis wouldnt be able to leave :3 world's most evil babytrap of all time.

vis doesnt interact with anyone except rhaena aly maegor his kids and the kingsguard so yeah its bad for him. ceryse hangs around for a while but shes like yeah i dont want any part of this shit dude being queen is NAWT worth it and she goes back to the hightower to plot marrying her niece off to maegor's son.

also there's a curse on the kingsguard all of them die really horribly and early. its a fun little thing for me personally because in f&b maegor's kinsguard is cartoonishly bad and jae's is cartoonishly perfect so i though Hey what if we did a little curse on the kingsguard ey. that would be fun. the only guy who stays long is a bracken because brackenfail cancels out knightfail. he's all godly and pissy about the gay marriage thing but he's also a monarchist so even though he think maegor is satan he's like well. he is my king i must serve him i obey my vows. he thinks viserys is a freak of nature but slowly grows to respect him and helps kill maegor + takes the fall for it. they have a weird father figure/white knight/weird tension thing that never gets consummated yay ^_^ the maegor torture labyrinth will have you 21 years old and best friends with a 50 year old celibate knight like dang where tf ser bracken at today 🥹

viserys snaps in 66AC with no like big catalyst or anything. he just has a good day where he's mostly lucid and he's angry and he's tired of everything and he's sick of maegor and he wants freedom he wants to be free. he wants to breath the air without panicking that maegor is going to hurt him. and maegor says some disgusting comment to him while theyre alone in the throne room and vis just snaps and start fighting him. daenys shows up cos she had her own Visions and Voices and they just start whaling on him. bracken knight helps too he takes most of maegor's counter attacks his organs are all over the floor but maegor dies impaled on the throne YAY

vis is like. A bit better for a while. his son is now king and vis is seeing that oh it doesnt get better does it people will still die. also his son jae has this weird oedipus complex about him thanks to maegor's insane parenting and viserys is fully aware of that so its not fun times for him. jae and daenys try to make him better try to invent therapy but its the middle ages they dont have that yet. they finally send him off to harrenhal (BAD IDEA) because they think viserra (the elder daughter btw, the tyanna one) might be able to cure him with her weird witchcraft. they think she's insane too but its the last option... viserra thinks vis is lame and weak but she does love him in ehr own way or maybe just pities him. anyway she does her best and it works for a while but viserys sorta gives up cos the depression is too much. and viserra believes in euthanasia as a mercy and thinks this is best for him this will let him be at peace. daenys has a premonition about it and tries to stop him. she has a big blowout fight with jae about it too and curses his bloodline and prophesises the long night. burned the red keep a little bit, you know how it is.

blah blah blah anyway daenys and vis end up dying in the gods eye together in a murder/suicide suicide/suicide murder/murder whatever. viserra has the lake dragged and they're found holding each other like a mother and her fetus :3

Fucks sake this post is long. holy shit holy fuck. my fucking bad guys my bad im so sorry. Holy shit. anyway thats my deviant art oc tee hee ^_^

[moe-broey]

So I’ve been loving all your FEH stuff! Your art is very very pretty it looks like candy and I want to eat it to become all powerful. But now I got a question! Got any thoughts on Anna? She also gets pretty sidelined by the plot which is a damn shame because I find her dynamic with Askr siblings FASCINATING. With all their complications with making friends, Anna seems like the only friend Alfonse and Sharena have successfully made and I would kill to know how that happened.

EXTREMELY THRILLED TO HEAR THIS HAHAHA esppp thank you!!! That is SUCH a compliment... deeply honored to have my art achieve edible-looking status 🫡

ALSO. I'VE. BEEN ROTATING THIS IN MY BRAIN SO BAD. The unfortunate thing I'll be upfront about is that I don't have a lot of thoughts about Anna, aside from like, appreciating her gimmick and finding her funny.

But I DO agree she does have a fascinating dynamic with the siblings. Like. I think it's so interesting to see how Anna is their superior, as the commander and leader of the Order of Heroes, while at the same time Alfonse and Sharena are literally the prince and princess of Askr. Which IS par for the course for the Order of Heroes to have royalty in their ranks, but still!! It's a dynamic I can't quite put words to, but it is SO interesting to see how it plays out. (Also worth mentioning though, I feel, Alfonse and Sharena wanted to join the order not as royalty but as themselves, as people. What they stand for, believe in, and want for the future, ect -- so their status doesn't always play a huge role, but, you can't erase it completely, esppp as they ARE the prince and princess Of Askr)

AND ALSO. All that said, Alfonse isn't afraid to call Anna out when he feels her schemes are getting slightly unethical LMFAO. Despite each of their status/titles/roles, they do feel like they're on equal footing. And with Sharena, her relationship with Anna is very friendly -- but I feel like that's also just how Sharena is LMFAO.

In my head though, the way I see it, each of their relationships with Anna do feel professional in nature? Which isn't to say it can't be personal as well, I do think each have bonds with each other. But espp when I've revisited Book 1, I got the sense that Anna is more of a boss and mentor to the siblings -- esppp when Sharena starts crying recalling the disappearance of Zacharias, Anna is quick to resolve it in a professional way and also take the responsibility she felt as the commander to all three of them (WHICH. ALSO. WILD TO THINK ABOUT. Like what IS the timeline here???? I WANT TO KNOW SO BAD.)

(also also that moment Was from Book 1, so maybe I'm not accounting for character development here, I only revisit books when I'm feeling VERY autistic about something specific in particular LMFAOO)

AND HONESTLY IF I. THINK TOO MUCH ABOUT THAT I go insane, like. I know it's just a consequence of Zenith being In A Mobile Gacha Game, and the point isn't really the world of Zenith itself it's to get all the guys from the mainline games to make money LMFAOO BUT. Askr feels so lonely and empty, actually. Like I feel like we have a more fleshed out/more world building for Embla than we do Askr! A LOT of fascinating family stuff there actually. But in Askr it's just Alfonse, Sharena, their parents, and Anna. That's it. And honestly I HAVE to wonder, like! Where did Anna come from, anyway? I know each Anna has their own lore, so I suppose she could just be from Askr, herself. And I guess it wouldn't matter any which way, but I am just so. I WANT. LORE. AND TIMELINES LIKE. When did Anna become the commander. How long has she been the commander. You've given me a whole new thing to violently chew on wood over HAHAHAH

[brzatto]

always thinking about richie’s conversation w/ tina where she tells him to take a walk and says that what they have now w/ the beef is “clean and organized and… good”. implying that richie himself is not. richie is a character that fascinates me cause WE know he’s wrong! but we can also see how he operates opposite of carmy, where carmy comes into a kitchen that’s hostile to him and slowly accepts that he knows what he’s doing, richie starts in a community he knows like the back of his hand, and watches as it slowly disappears. and he’s grieving! his best friend is dead and the bars he went to with him are gone and the beef is the bear and he’s watching his whole world disappear. local spots he went as a kid turned to sweetgreens and so on.

anyways this is just to say you’re the only person on this website who Gets It 🤝🤝

this is insane because i’m literally rewatching the bear for like the millionth time as we speak and i was just thinking about how every single time i rewatch the pilot, i honestly sympathize and want to side with richie more and more. that man is so unbelievably tortured 😭 like obviously so is carmy and everybody knows it but nobody really pays attention to how much richie is too. i feel like a lot of the resentment richie harbors for carmy is honestly justified (at least to an extent) and i really like how the show introduces us to carmy and richie’s dynamic and the palpable tension between them and how clearly they’re at odds with each other without even giving us any full context yet as to why; the first time i ever watched it i thought richie was being too cruel but after rewatching it like 10+ times and realizing the full extent of richie’s position it all just honestly makes sense. being in richie’s shoes and imagining carmy walking out on him and mikey and going ghost for however many years (without any reason either because richie never knew why mikey shut him out or even that he was even shutting carmy out of the restaurant in the first place), witnessing his best friend in the world spiral into addiction and ultimately losing him to suicide over it just to find out he left the restaurant that richie has probably been tasked with the responsibility of managing mostly by himself for an extended period of time to an estranged sibling who hasn’t been around in years just for said sibling to avoid coming home for months on end after mikey’s death and continue to leave all of those responsibilities to richie instead (not even including his family matters) and finally just to basically revoke all of his authority, begin to act independently of him and implement an entirely new system/regime as soon as he finally bothers to show up. the craziest thing to me is that richie doesn’t even start out hostile with carmy when his character is introduced; carmy’s irritated with richie for showing up late which leads to him brushing him off but richie is genuinely trying to communicate with him and ask him questions and he only snaps at carmy and blows up at him in the fridge because carmy keeps deliberately ignoring him and shutting him out. if anything i think the cruelest thing is when carmy asks richie “why didn’t he leave it to you then?” because he implies richie isn’t actually family, that in spite of all he’s done and contributed to the restaurant in the past carmy still takes priority through blood alone and he holds that over richie’s head… which leads to richie refusing to help carmy with the ball breaker crowd out of spite and yet the moment carmy gets into a physical complication, richie’s there immediately to bail him out. and i feel like that perfectly captures the real basis of it—richie might be wrong, he might be stuck in his ways, he might not be the best or even the most decent at what he does for the restaurant but he still gives to it, he still puts in genuine effort, he still shows up and pulls his weight when he’s absolutely needed. richie’s given so much to the berzatto family and he’s yet to get anything in return and i constantly think about how he’s probably also struggling to cope with the fact that mikey didn’t leave him anything after his death; the note he left for carmy was absolutely the bare minimum but i think it’s also pretty tragic how he and mikey have always been constants in each other’s lives but he doesn’t really have anything left to show for it especially now with the restaurant being torn down. anyways you’ve definitely summed all that up a lot better than me with this ask—there’s so much richie is grieving all at once, his best friend, his marriage, his way of life as he knew it.. he’s genuinely so tortured and miserable and respectfully you’re so sick and twisted for pointing that out (thank you for doing it)

[navree]

have you shared your thoughts on aegon yet? have i missed that? cause inquiring minds (me) would like to know.....

Gonna be true to the show and wonder Which Aegon, as we know there are fifty of them and if you don't specify there are problems that can arise and wars that can start ;) But lemme satisfy the inquiring minds of you and others anon, cuz I've got stuff to say about Aegon.

I've talked a bit about Aegon in other posts, like his relationship with his mother and his relationship with his father (both of which are part of longer posts but aegon is discussed in detail there), and I think I've mentioned before that there are choices they've made with Aegon that I really do not like to the point where I outright reject it as canon (most noticeably the rape thing in episode 8, please what was the point of that).

My view of Aegon is that this is a deeply wounded person, and nearly everything he does is a product of that pain. I've gone into it at length in those other two posts I've linked, so I'll just briefly touch on it here, but Aegon was always doomed to have a complicated relationship with his mother due to the fact that she had him at fifteen/sixteen years old, and he's of course been shaped by a relationship with his father that is either total neglect or cruelty (when Viserys screams in his face and Aegon flinches..........I was ready to commit homicide in that moment, on God). And while I think at some point, likely after Driftmark, Aegon gave up on having any kind of relationship with his father, he still desperately wants a closeness to his mother and loves her so much, and just wants that love returned.

(It's why the coronation makes me so insane, Aegon getting this concrete proof that his mother loves him so very much, Aegon at one point putting his arm in front of her as if to pull her back and Alicent shoving it away because she's going to protect him, she'll die with him if she has to........I love it I can't wait to see more of their dynamic as the Dance progresses).

There's also a lot of characterization they've hinted at with Aegon that I love, either through writing that is open to interpretation or choices made by Tom (sweetie when I get the money I'll make another Augustus show and cast you again and you won't have a bad wig and you'll have a better character to work with, I'll right the wrongs of the stupid Domina series). There's a recurring theme that nearly everything Aegon does is motivated by a deep hatred of things within himself, like cutting off his hair before it grows long so he doesn't have classic Targaryen looks, and choosing even in adulthood to wear green in solidarity with his mother, rather than Targaryen house colors. There's also the idea that Aegon "ignores" Helaena unless he's drunk, and the choices that he's mostly sloshed when looking for sex, comes with the implication that Aegon, already spiraling toward alcoholism due to feelings of being unworthy, less than, so defective that even his son-desperate dad sees him as being undeserving of his love, needs to get absolutely hammered, blackout drunk, before he can even stand sexual intimacy with another person. Especially his sister, considering that he didn't want to marry her because he and his siblings grew up viewing each other as siblings, not in the traditional Targaryen way (viewing siblings as potential marriage prospects).

Aegon's relationship with his siblings is also something I want explored as well, because from what I've seen and interpreted it's one of the best dynamics. Again, there's all the convoluted mess that comes from his relationship with Helaena crossing the lines from being a sister to him to being his wife (and again the fact that he cannot bear any sort of husbandly intimacy with her without hardcore coping mechanisms) that has clearly damaged any rapport they have, but they are also bonded through blood nonetheless, as well as the children they share (and I do hope they keep Aegon's fondness for kids, especially given What's About To Happen To His). And then there's his relationship with Aemond.

"He bullied Aemond" yeah, and that sucked, but unlike with the Strong kids, that was not the be all and end all with their relationship, not to mention that Aegon in his youth is a clearly more lighthearted person who likely didn't stop to think about whether he was doing any damage because he's thirteen and I've never met a thirteen year old that's self aware. There's clearly fondness there even though there's the bullying, like Aemond trying to keep Aegon back during Harwin and Criston's fight, and that they can have one on one discussions about things that bother them, like Aegon and Helaena's betrothal (which continues into adulthood with Aemond bitching about the dinner and Aegon trying to give him advice on how to deal with it, even if the advice was just 'get drunk' and therefore not good advice). And, very importantly, Aegon still feels a sort of brotherly protectiveness for Aemond. Aemond is clearly lying when he blames Aegon for the Strong rumors, Aegon knows that for a fact, but does he tell his dad that Aemond's lying? It really wouldn't be hard for Aegon to channel Dakota Johnson and say "no that's not true Aemond" and pull the focus (and screaming) back to Aemond. But he doesn't do that. Aemond puts the spotlight on him in this incredibly tense moment and Aegon rolls with it in a way that protects both his mother and his little brother, which is incredibly important as he's just been castigated by Alicent for not protecting Aemond.

There are also hints (at least to me) that Aegon could feel guilty about not being there before and is trying to make up for it in his adulthood. We know that Aegon and Aemond appear to constantly have each other's backs, as one of the first moments of Aemond being Intimidating is when it looks like Jace is gonna start shit with Aegon, and Aegon of course is immediately on board with the Strong boys toast even though he knows it's gonna cause drama. But most tellingly, he goes from zero to one hundred and then back to zero during the fight. He's fine until Luke stands up, at which point he grabs someone nearly ten years his junior and slams him facefirst to the table and is gripping him insanely tight and hissing Something at him (we don't know what, which is a shame). But the second he's forced off of Luke, he's back to normal. It's Luke trying to get involved that makes him blindingly furious to the point of enacting physical harm, Luke who, as we know, took Aemond's eye and started a long and arduous recovery process for Aemond that Aegon would have been a firsthand witness to once they were back home. And so Aegon, who couldn't protect his brother before, is definitely going to protect his brother now, against anything, and as viciously as possible.

Like, listen, my little sister and I don't always get along, but if someone injured her in a way that left her permanently disabled and then came back with nary an apology and tried to start shit? They'd die. They'd full on die.

And on Aemond's side it's fascinating that even with the disdain he might have for Aegon, he's always ready to back him up, in both the little things like family squabbles and the big things like dynastic squabbles. Plus Tom and Ewan have the potential to make this dynamic the best thing imaginable once season two starts and Things Happen that might be seen as Aemond's fault given his actions at Storm's End (which only Aegon is kind to him about in the book, like, hell yeah gimme it).

I think Aegon's very fascinating, bad writing choices excluded, as someone constantly in pain due to the choices of others even before he was born, who is trying desperately to be what he thinks others want him to and always feels like he's failing, who clearly gives shit 110% when he cares about it, and has such complicated and messy feelings about the family he loves so very deeply. And TGC is killing it in the role and should be allowed into the writers' room to remind them of how to write Aegon so that we don't get anymore weird shit.

(Also, they need to go the full mile for Aegon and Sunfyre. Their bond is so important, they both only start to heal from really bad injuries once they're together again and not before, I don't care if they don't have the budget for any other dragons, they need to go full on with Sunfyre.)

[astrobei]

i would like a more detailed breakdown of your mike robin friendship analysis 🤲 💗

hi ella i have been putting this ask off because i have so many thoughts on them and i was trying to gather them into something somewhat coherent and then i realized that will never happen so! here are my thoughts on mike and robin friendship that literally no one except ella asked for but i will be providing anyway:

(i want to preface this by saying that by no means do i think this is a prediction! s5 is super plot heavy and i doubt there will be too much time to develop new relationships from scratch but in my dream world this is mike and robin’s dynamic and why i think they should be best friends forever.)

1. mike, by nature, is a little standoffish and a bit hostile to new people (max, even el, despite the monologue cough cough). that’s just how he is! even though he’s very silly and cringefail etc etc he’s still super protective of his friends and guarded and that’s definitely heightened as shit gets more intense in later seasons. it takes a while for his real personality to come out around new people! this is where i point out that robin has exactly the sort of personality that mike would find initially very abrasive bc she is loud and she rambles and she makes bad jokes and she says shit like “dingus” aka is exactly the sort of person dustin considers “cool” (see again: max) 100% certain that mike would not be robin’s biggest fan at first but it’s more of a startled and apprehensive response than genuine distaste

2. fundamentally, i think robin and mike are very similar people! which is kind of complicated because i feel like robin is in this weird place where she’s enough of a main character to have a clear-cut personality and it’s easy to say what would be ooc for her, but she also isn’t enough of a main character like will or el or max to know too much about her inner monologue etc etc. BUT! pushing aside their obvious identity issues for a hot second— mike and robin are both insanely loyal, analytical (s2 mike and s3 robin please come home), funny and nerdy and talkative, and they have a hard time opening up about their real feelings except for that one special person (steve and will). it’s clear that what both of them really want, under all the humor and the front, is to be loved and accepted, and they both find this in that one special person.

3. look. i love love love the robin/will mentorship hc it is so near and dear to me and i need this to happen in s5 because i need will to talk to another gay person like i need air, BUT. this is where i point out that will has grown up with his own form of a support system and mike has never in his life known that. yes his life has not been easy even without all the upside down shit and im not disregarding that !! but when you’re looking at will’s relationships with the people around him, he’s super close to his mom and his brother and he’s always been able to talk to them and go to them for anything. jonathan accepted him with open arms and we all know that joyce “i don’t know what that THING is but it’s not my son” byers is not going to bat an eye at will’s sexuality after everything. mike, on the other hand, needs a mentor figure because he’s never known this kind of support. the inclusion that he felt with the party isn’t as strong anymore, and his friend group is dissipating and he’s not close with any of the older teens, not even his sister, and and and and—

4. ok. expanding on the nancy thing because i got off track a bit! i love the wheeler siblings. i really do. i would give anything to see them be the apocalyptic sibling duo of the century in s5 but if i’m being really honest, nancy and mike are just. not close. even after everything they’ve been through together, we never see them have storylines together and other than that one line about nancy’s vecna vision showing her mike, they just. never really feel like they’re close to me. mike has never gotten the kind of support and closeness from nancy that will gets from jonathan, or lucas gets from erica, or dustin gets from steve (since he’s an only child) and while both of them have their own shit going on, i just don’t think mike sees nancy as someone he can go to. she got in early decision to college, she runs the school newspaper, she’s always been ambitious and driven and decisive on her future which are exactly the things mike is struggling with— fitting in, finding his place, etc etc. nancy had that whole thing in s1 and 2 with murray about who people expect her to be (dating steve) vs who she wants to be (dating jonathan) and then she got past that hurdle and mike is. well. he’s not quite there yet. but the bottom line is that for mike and what he’s dealing with rn, i think robin is a lot more relatable and approachable than nancy is, because she’s also navigating complex identity (and sexuality) issues, she doesn’t have all her shit sorted out (at least from mike’s pov bc nancy is only 18 and doesn’t know everything etc etc) but. i just think that out of the older teens, if mike needed to talk to someone, then robin would be able to relate to him more and be infinitely more approachable. also maybe this is just me projecting but i think that mike would rly gravitate towards robin’s style and stuff, especially from her pseudo-alt era from s3 with the rings and the eyeliner and the bracelets and stuff!! i loved her look in s4 too but idk something abt s3 robin is so <3 to me. yeah. definitely projecting.

5. maybe this is a bit of an unpopular opinion but the robin is a lesbian yoda trope is not my most favorite. like, i really don’t think that just because she’s older and she’s the only one to actually come out on screen and have a queer storyline that she knows anything and everything there is to know about queer dynamics! she’s a 17/18 year old lesbian in the 80s in the middle of indiana and just thinking about her talk with steve in the car makes me so sad because she’s aware that asking out the wrong girl could be catastrophic for her :( i think she’s also uncertain about a lot of things pertaining to her sexuality and i think there’s a difference between robin as a mentor figure being like, “hey, it’s totally okay to be gay and not have everything figured out, but know you’re not a mistake and you’re not alone because i’m like you” vs “here are 100 terms for queer people and the names of every sexuality under the sun because i know Everything,” and genuinely and honestly, i think mike just needs someone to tell him that first thing: that he’s only fourteen (almost 15 at the end of s4) and he literally does not need to know everything about himself or his feelings or who he is but just that he isn’t alone and it’s important that he doesn’t try to suppress that part of himself for the sake of appearances. idk my thoughts on this are very personal and i could make a whole other post (or write another 37k words on this) but! i just think that if robin got to know mike a little more she would see a lot of herself in him

um. that’s all off the top of my head but this already became one million times longer than i was expecting and i’m certain i have more thoughts on these two so i might make a second post later! thanks for enabling me i hope this is somewhat coherent (?) Maybe.

[prisonguards]

@astronomical-bagel

I am. SO terribly sorry about how long this took to reply to, my brain wanted to sit down and write an Essay for u but Ive been. SO BUSY. But seriously Ive been treasuring and hoarding this ask :) its SOOOO so so nice that other people enjoy them as much as I do and Im so happy I could help collect us a little with the tag ^--^ we are all friends now <3 EDIT ALSO TUMBLR ATE THE FUCKING ASK???? I did have screenshot of ur ask thankfully, Im soooo pissed tho idk where it went

So Im gonna go into my history with them a bit cause I kinda got into them backwards ig augshsg. Or at least different from how most ppl in the tag/posting abt them rn are. I was primarily a Traffic and Emp S1 smallidarity guy for the longest time! Funnily enough I was a late adopter of Emp S2 smallidarity (enemies to lovers usually isnt my thing) but the way the community latched onto it and got everyone talking about them really, really got me invested (also getting kin feels helped /shot. Who said that.) I think the other funny thing is that smallidarity is a dynamic where I like the platonic version (almost) equally as much as the romantic—I push for the romantic just because its easiest to collect ppl with a shiptag (although I did intend Smallidarity to be both a platonic and a romantic tag, ftr. Post both! Any! All!) and because I enjoy Complicated dynamics that are easier caught/categorized under a “romantic” lens sometimes even if they arent Necessarily that. But I just love when theyre important to eachother in general.

I actually have Such delusions abt their Traffic dynamic. Im so insane abt it. I think theyre good friends with Joel having slowly building romantic feelings for Jimmy throughout the seasons, which Jimmy is… pretty much aware of and would reciprocate—if Joel would ever ask (he never will). The Last Life dynamic in particular is one that haunts me, because it. Feels like their most amicable Traffic dynamic, at least in my memory, and in no small part of that is Joel pledging to avenge Jimmy (and Mumbo but this is a Smallidarity post isnt it). That small comment profoundly impacts my Traffic Joel characterization and Im planning to incorporate little objects of remembrance for Jimmy into my late game Joel designs. Traffic smallidarity… like many Traffic dynamics that captivate me… its about the missed opportunities, its about the lack of time, its about Tragedy… I just have such bad Last Life brainrot on the mind rn so this has been whats living with me Daily rn.

I also think their 100 Hours is one of the most funny and most OBVIOUSLY flirty dynamics, though I may get into that a bit more with another ask that I got recently, and, well. My Sorry Sir compilation covers a lot of it.

Double Life is what actually converted me but I cannot think of what the Exact moment was. I went back to my messages from when the eps were coming out and.

They immediately got me.

Theres so many good Traffic moments. One day I will make that clip compilation. I swear.

EMPIRES S1……… theyre best friends… I think it would be funny if Joel is independently dating both him and Lizzie and Then they all find out Jimmy and Lizzie are siblings and Joel is like. Oh jesus Christ my type is Even More specific than I thought. Fishkisser boy. Joel making the joke romantic montage of Jimmy before declaring hes gonna be proposing to Lizzie made me. Drop dead. This dynamic is Everything I craved out of them, watching this directly after Double Life and during Emp S2, when theyre most antagonistic, made me fully insane. I LOVE when theyre nice to eachother. So much. Best friends who kiss. Little design headcanon for them is like. Joel is Fully embellished by pearls he gets from Jimmy and Lizzie. I should give Jimmy n Lizzie azaleas to wear in exchange too auughh..

Okay finally circling back to Where We Are Now. Emp S2. These fuckers.

So Im delusional and like it best when theyre Soft right? So even though S2 lends itself So well to toxicity (and dont get me wrong. Sometimes I Gotta indulge) I rlly like making it cutesy as fuck. Joels obsession and complete infatuation and cute aggression is everything. Hes so infatuated with this guy he doesnt know what to do with himself and just is Relentless. schoolyard “hes bullying you because he likes you” type beats. Hes my moron hes my annoying king. I cannot remember if Ive talked abt my design headcanons fully but Im big on the Jimmy Was Human but Joels god powers are Changing That. I think its subconscious, hes not doing it maliciously, reality just bends to his will too much.

Also. Found my decision moments… these are from July 3rd.

I think. Overall the most enthralling thing about them is the care that underlies everything. That despite the endless teasing and bullying, Joel really genuinely care about Jimmy in a way he struggles to express sometimes. I think its really special and charming and compelling. I just have illnesses about them

[volfoss]

⚱️<- for volfoss character ask 👍

YIPPEE ok i KNOW the girl u will like so so much <3

tossing veycer there for scale and also because hes important to their fucked up sibling dynamic. but i think sheala would make u go insane analyzing.

sheala has a LOT of depth and theres a lot of politics involved (one day i think i will have to make a heres volfoss' politics in a silly slideshow or something bc there is so much.) so i will do my best to explain why i think you would like her :)

first off. she is very good at hiding her tragedy and well um. theres not a better example of this than on the ikuaipe route (shes part of the ikuaipe army, which is like one of the 3 major countries in volfoss). to simplify it as much as i can, there is a war going on bc asdenia (one of the other big 3 countries) refuses to export rare metals to ikuaipe, who use them to make drugs. there is no reason explained for WHY they stopped this but thats all u really need to know about the war bc its complicated and they get into a lot of stuff w the drugs (specifically on like. how withdrawal is handled and how restricting supply from people isn't immediately going to fix their issues etc, its handled very well) in detail in game but. sheala's older brother is veycer who is the head of the army (he fucking sucks. i hope he dies soooo bad but he is also written with depth and like. kind of even tho he DOES some over the top evil stuff [like well. the incident im about to get into lol], he still is given enough character that he's fleshed out properly. all of the "villains" are but thats besides the point.) plays a very big part in well. why sheala would make you go make so many character studies on her.

anyways dear god. politics explained and hatred for veycer being put in there in advance. sheala goes on a mission (where shes a commander, so has a decent amount of responsibility there, and more specifically is leading the rear of the troops, veycer is leading the front) and gets ambushed pretty bad. to the point that when shalvas (who you would also love. but it would take me like 3x as long to get into his diseases. i promise youd love him tho, hes the silly protagonist) arrives, theres just one soldier left of her unit bc the rest of them were killed, and that soldier dies shortly after. sheala is facing one of the four heroes (who basically are some of the strongest characters in the world, and are sworn to remain neutral (they are not by the point of the war, so one of them is fighting on the side of asdenia. its a lot of politics im so sorry) and a BIG amount of very tough enemies on her own when shalvas arrives. shes dealing with a ton of guilt about the entire team she was leading dying (which honestly like. she couldnt do much about bc of how strong the guy thats part of the 4 heroes is) and is completely determined to stay, even if it costs her her life. she's someone thats very loyal and very stubborn and this is not so great for her. thankfully, shalvas is able to persuade her by basically saying hey. if you died it would cause more trouble for veycer than if you lived. thats the ONLY way she would go back despite being in pretty bad shape and being completely willing to let her life go there.

on the way back, shalvas clearly is having the very awkward moment of ok. she is clearly upset and i do not know how to make it better (he is like. very very blatantly written as autism to me, so he communicates in a way thats very awkward a lot of the time, or just is silent. which is honestly very cool of him), so after Sheala apologizes for everything to him, he tells her that she can always fight the hero again (because yk. she didnt die lol) and then IMMEDIATELY denies it when she asks if hes comforting him. their dynamic is really nice because its just like two weird as fuck guys trying to be friends.

which um. well you see. veycer sucks so bad. and he is incredibly mad at how badly sheala fucked up with letting her troop get killed (guy that loves to get so mad soooo much of the time for no good reason other than its fun for him). and hes having a little moment of its fun to do drastic punishment and despite another army officer (who youll def see a lot if you play, his name is auveon. hes friends w sheala) begging him to not do it, he orders sheala's execution. (and when i tell you i felt like i was going to puke reading this for the first time, i do mean it. this is the 2nd route ive done, so id already seen a lot of her and liked her a lot, and ofc the more ive interacted w her in this (and the last route) ive cared a lot more about her. so it was like oh ok. we are suffering). veycer basically is just like well um. she fucked up BAD and she cant get any leniency for that. yeah even if she IS my sister, people would see me as a weak commander if i gave her a lesser punishment so um lol. all of the soldiers are pleading with him to not do it and auveon asks if sheala wants to plead her case and um. well she says "I will follow Your Excellency’s orders. I am prepared to give up this life at any time if I am told to die." like. what is your DEAL.

she is fine eventually tho, just got demoted and veycer had the fucking nerve to be like omg i loveee my family thank you shalvas for protecting her. which is then like ok. did she know he wasnt really going to do it. or is he just lying to shalvas for fun. its insane to me they have such a fucking weird dynamic bc sheala worries about veycer a lot and then veycer is like um. ok i kill you with rocks and hammers. but i promise i love you.

ANYWAYS. some of the other things i really like about sheala. she has a quick temper and will NOT hesitate to call someone out on BS (this gets her in trouble a lot but shes very capable. when i fought her in the first route it was the worst fight of the game bc she is THAT strong) but she is also very kind as a person. she and turi-marrya (shes a water maiden but is also genuinely so fucking cool and i could go insane over her. easily.) in both routes ive played, despite being on opposing sides are very kind to each other and very polite (both of them having a lot of respect for the other, given some events in the game.) i think just like the way that she is facing a lot of tragedy (mainly due to VEYCER.) and yet is still brave enough to keep going but also does have a lot of moments where the grief does hit her and she is clearly struggling to deal with it. i think youd love her.

[llycaons]

ep24 (pt3): sibling time <3

this line makes me go insane...she doesn't even know what she said with this

jyl doesn't come up in fics enough for me to gauge how she's written during this time period, but let it be known that she openly speaks about jc's bad temper

the fact that I mostly read postcanon stuff or AUs is the reason for that, btw. I don't like, avoid reading about her. I just don't read much fic in this time period, at all. I just think it's all far too well-done to bother with fic. the closest I got was a few where wwx and lwj get together earlier and none of them are better than canon. also nobody seems interested in exploring her canon character during this arc, it's all 'badass clan leader jyl with zidian' and such

this is the second time he says this 😭

HE'S HUNGRY! this is maybe the first time THIS shorthand comes up, and jyl knows it! she doesn't immediately run off and get food, she stays with him and plays around and offers him comfort and affection in ways that are easy for him to accept. vulnerability and asking for affection is really hard for wwx given his personality, his interpersonal dynamics with others, and his status in the sect. but he knows he can tell his sister he's hungry and she'll play along with him and shower him in love. ough

I kind of wish they had left her response out...it looked like she know what was going on with lwj but this makes it look like she has no idea

REGARDLESS. regardless. wwx's reluctance to pursue his feelings or even acknowledge them is very in-line with his characterization, especially right now. this isn't a crush who's fun to tease anymore, it's about real, serious feelings that he's attempting to distance himself from because he knows he can't act on them. or looking at it another way, he's scared of getting further in because he values his freedom and connections with others brings with them obligations. so. final scene wwx leaving extremely important thematically and character-wise and shows tremendous growth on lwj's part, and wwx's excited reunion with lwj at the end shows that even after taking his freedom, he's still eager to start his life with lwj because he came to terms with loving him and is no longer afraid...

oh this was just so silly. jyl you goof. this is such big sister baby sibling joking around

this is also really funny. their banter here is SO good, god I truly get why ppl are obsessed with them. when they're not on the outs, they have a great dynamic and are on the same page about almost everything

literally one of the funniest scenes in the show, help

so so funny, jc adjusting his collar to look more dignified and he and his siblings laughing. one of the pure scenes where nobody's being attacked or hurt, and they really are just having a good time with each other

and this was very nice of wwx

prettyyy

and this is decent communication too! hey, I have obligations here to the clan, can you behave yourself?

jc's casual acceptance of jgy's social status isn't really a surprise for anyone in his postion, but it is still kind of sad. even after being legitimized, jgy will only ever be lower than his half brother? this is something I wished was more present from the book. jc clearly judges people by their birth, but in the novel it'd explicitly clear that lwj doesn't. I don't think it came through very well tho

wwx himself was the son of a servant. how would jc have reacted if he wanted to marry a family member of the great sects? well, he does, but I mean. if you ignore everything else that makes that situation complicated...probably would never have accepted wwx leaving, and maybe would have been excited about the political benefits. MAYBE happy for wwx too, but doubtful. it takes him fully 20 years to get to a place where he can honestly wish him well

so classic of flashback wwx. tho postres he is remarkably forgiving

so true, jc. #feminism

OHHHH HIS FIRST TRANSGRESSION. breaking into the library at night for read secret books hehehe

ahh this scene <3

wwx back in a boat on LP with his sister and sect siblings, having the time of his life, realizing that maybe he can be happy after all? maybe things will be okay? maybe he can put the horrors of the past behind him and actually live? this scene is so important in his journey but it's so shortlived. it's only next episode that he meets wen qing and everything changes

personal highlights

this episode was so fucking rich. I ate well

jfm teaching young wwx how to fire an arrow

LXC AND WWX BROTHERS IN LAW CONVO!!!! there are people who care about you!! I know my brother's heart!!! wwx drinking as fast as he can trying to get out of that conversation!!!

lwj starting his long journey to totally just doing what he feels is right regardless of the rules

very sweet jyl and wwx convo

BORN WITH A SMILING FACE

very funny yunmeng sibling convo about throwing up soup and acting like a clan leader

happy ending...🥺