#from a certain point onwards? lol

[reginrokkr]

By the time I will post this I'll already have completed 「Bedtime Story」, meanwhile here are some thoughts as I go through the quest without delving too much into each of them:

✧ It's very interesting to see how this quest is foreshadowing right from the very beginning Natlan in a way, with the thematic of someone without a name vs the importance there seems to be in the [Ancient] name in that nation.

✦ I keep talking about how level-headed Dain is, but I was amazed once again by this when he asked Aether if he thinks Lumine has betrayed him. Considering that he himself is in the position where his own brother actually has and that their relationship is apparently irreparable (there might be some relation with the fact that he figured out the whole truth of what happened with Vedrfolnir, whereas Aether still didn't), it would've been quite easy to spill some venom not necessarily to cause harm and shit talk Lumine behind her back (and even still, they had that dispute hundreds of years ago and still have) and still he not only doesn't, but he cheers Aether a bit by saying that their relationship isn't to a point of no return. The capacity this man has of staying logical despite being the emotional individual he is at times is genuinely outstanding.

✧ Without reading too much into it due to lack of information, the way Dain makes sound that the five sinners betrayed the nation and him seems to suggest that perhaps all six of them shared something in common until they didn't (this beyond the fact that it seems like they were the pillars of Khaenri'ah) or that they gave him their word that they were going to do something which eventually they didn't. We only know a little more about Vedrfolnir, Rhinedottir and Surtalogi so far, but presuming that the missing two are just as powerful in their respective fields as the former three seem to be, it is quite interesting to think that Dain might've been similar if not an equal to them enough to earn their respect beyond the fact that he's Vedrfolnir's younger brother.

✦ Special vengeance talk bullet point. I talked about this recently, so I won't go deeper into it again. However, it's quite ironic to see that Dain's stance on the gods so far was one of bitterness at best to describe it somehow, meanwhile he looks and sounds very angry when talking about them and claiming that he'll never forget their names. Even though he's been affected by the memory erosion, it speaks to lengths that his drive for vengeance against them is so high that, if we were to imagine a what if he were to become say a Black Serpent Knight fiend with no more intelligence or memories, what would persist of him would most likely be his wish for vengeance against all five of them.

✧ More talk about the six: besides five of them being described as carrying the hopes of Khaenri'ah (while Dain put himself out of this, it remains uncertain if it's because he didn't consider himself that important or because he doesn't want to be associated to them in a group together beyond the scope of stopping the Vinster King to prevent the disaster + protecting Khaenri'ah), it's quite telling how powerful they are to become like some kind of regulating system of the monarchy at the time, either by the people's desire or as a thing they attributed to themselves precisely due to that power / influence they had over Khaenri'ah.

✦ The transcendent being notion is heavily interesting if we think about Jakob and René, who became such themselves and if we think about how Vedrfolnir used this exact terminology himself. Suffice to say and just judging Gold alone (and potentially Vedrfolnir too, considering the prophecy of Fontaine and that those stone slates were quite ancient in olden ruins), it's not surprising to believe that all five of them pushed the limits of mortality that would've corresponded to them as humans (?) before the Cataclysm. Given that this seems to be linked to the five of them sharing among them the power of the Abyss, it's quite intriguing to think if Dain himself is a transcendent being or if his mortality limits were nuked strictly by the curse.

✧ Assuming that the power of the Abyss is equal to the world-shattering power he speaks of, it's very interesting how this serves as a contraposition (or maybe not so much contraposition) to the power of beyond Skirk mentioned, supposedly wielded by Dain to defy this world.

◜The six of us, together... We should have been the ones to prevent the disaster, the ones to stop the Vinster King from continuing to rock the foundation of the world. [...] And when the cataclysm occurred, not one of them stood up in defense of their nation, not one came forward to prevent the tragedy... And for that, they shall never have my forgiveness.◞

✦ This here makes me a bit confused as to what to think. By the way this is worded either out of convenience (HYV has a long track record of making Dain's speech be purposefully blurry / uncertain, it's never a matter of hearing him say that the sky is blue and the reality being like that— there is always more to it), it seems like if they stopped the Vinster King, they would've prevented the disaster (unless these two are different things). I say this because later he mentions that the sinners didn't lift a finger to prevent the tragedy nor defend the nation during the cataclysm, supposedly a result of not preventing the tragedy when something could've been done about it time before the cataclysm erupted.

✧ To conclude with the Sinners talk, the notion that if they're left unchecked they could do irreparable damage to the world which... considering it's related to the power of the Abyss and what was caused in Fontaine alone because of Narwhal, hence because Surtalogi, it wouldn't be all that far-fetched to even think about.

✦ Perhaps this is attributed to Dain's intellect and no more, but for someone who is struggling with erosion and how it affects his memories, it's quite intriguing that he'd know what is something that was falsely implanted in his mind if up until that point he had already lost some of his memories.

✧ Ironically I've been talking recently about his capacity of looking at things from a broader perspective / having a very down-to-earth mindset and I think this is yet another example of that: there could be other things Dain could be focusing on just at the notion that someone could implant memories, but not only he doesn't do that, but he realizes on the spot that they're still after the eye of the first Field Tiller and thinks ahead of time to lay a trap for the Abyss Order, as there is something quite clear that makes him think it's impossible for him to have given the eye. And yet Caribert makes him believe that he handed over the eye to Aether and Dain is fine with that wtf.

✦ How does that eye even make it inside Dain's body hello?

✧ Following the miscellanies alongside other subtle details about him throughout his quests, it was abundantly clear to me his connection to Irminsul. But to see him grunt in pain because the Ley Lines were being tampered with to implant in him a new memory really seals the deal for me that the connection he has with Irminsul must be considerably deep to even experience pain. As that is some big sentience that even Paimon points out and that I don't think was seen before except for Rhukkadevata— and she was a divinity and Irminsul's avatar.

✦ I'm positive that I mentioned how "coincidental" some of Dain's actions during the 「Caribert」 quest were, so I won't get back to those. But to add one more as a genuine follow-up to that quest, it's surprising how eerily similar the ruins where he leads the Abyss Order and Aether in are to those where Vedrfolnir was. And Dain hasn't experienced that memory Lumine had 500 years ago... apparently. Locations are different, that's for sure. But there is an undeniable level of excitement at seeing how these ruins mirror the others that makes me wonder how deep can Dain look into things (aka Ley Lines? Irminsul? Some connection to his brother because brothers™?).

✧ To add to the sus from before, the Cryo Abyss Herald was also introduced during the 「Caribert」 quest and he was guarding the entrance to a larger room where Vedrfolnir was.

◜The Abyss Order is putting something in motion. If you return to Vimara Village, I suspect you might finally have the opportunity to locate the missing villager.◞

✦ I've discussed in the past about Dain's foreseeing abilities but sir, what the heck— (I say as this is what exactly happens after Aether leaves the ruins lol).

✧ Although it would be easy to think that his grunts are signs of memory implantation in his mind, the fact that Caribert implanted the last false memory before they entered the cave refutes this. This is because Dain's last reaction (and the most painful one, as even his voice was intertwined with the pain he felt) was when they were already in the last chamber of the ruins they were last together. This concludes that his sentience isn't just on himself and to figure out what said false memory is (as he does notice that), but it's a genuine sentience on the Ley Lines and the disturbances they're suffering.

[jewishcissiekj]

actually! idgaf about Asajj's character changing over the years and shifting directions because that's simply what happens to characters. I won't take that excuse anymore. They should have stuck with her portrayal, style, vibe, personality, and characterization from Tartakovsky's Clone Wars, and getting away from that was a downgrade and did not turn out well and doesn't hold to the character of Asajj Ventress and doesn't work at all and they should've just made up a different character and (<-just saw 10 seconds of a clip of the Anakin and Asajj fight from Clone Wars 2003)

[ghcstao3]

writing a little something for this black panther!ghost because of a scene while playing sottr lol

(edit: part two)

-

Facing death on a regular basis is something Soap had made peace with a very long time ago. It's merely the nature of his occupation, something he chose for himself, and so he'd be a fool to not accept that his life would often be put in danger of being ended.

That being said, Soap's never been particularly fearful of such a kind of loss anyway—or, he wasn't, until he's staring directly into its bloodthirsty maw.

The mission was already interesting to begin with. They—being Price's merry little band of soldiers deemed task force one-four-one—had gone into it knowing it was risky; tracking a feral shifter would be difficult as is only in part due to it being outside their usual duties, but that shifter then being a big cat and ex-SAS soldier with little regard to distinguish enemy from ally increases that danger by tenfold. Soap found himself poring over the details, intrigued by everything that led to the point of finally sending out a team for detainment.

Supposedly—because nothing was technically confirmed—this panther shifter, name Simon Riley, had been held hostage by a cartel for some time, after a mission gone wrong. Retrospective details and investigation hinted at experimentation and brainwashing along with the usual anticipated torture, but it's difficult to be certain of anything when, somehow, Riley escaped and singlehandedly slaughtered everyone in the facility where he was kept.

The amazing part, Soap thinks, is that Riley had gone completely undetected until he'd killed a friendly, still stuck in a mind of base instinct. Intel speculates he'd been patrolling the jungle surrounding the facility for a little over two years now, fending off anything his animal brain deemed a threat.

So it was safe to say the mission would not be simple. Capturing Riley would only be the beginning, if they could even manage so much.

Sweat beads uncomfortable and sticky on Soap's skin in the muggy climate of the jungle, welcoming dirt and gnats to glue themselves to his limbs. He's never been one for humidity, always more partial to the arid sort of heat, but there's certainly an added level of unpleasantness when it feels like he's being watched.

Soap readjusts the grip on his gun, and trudges onward.

"Any activity on your end?" Price's voice cuts through his paranoid silence, startling as the ferns that brush against his arms.

Soap pauses his stride, gaze skirting across the seemingly endless forest; it still is, as it has been for the past however long, a mostly unmoving wall of greens and browns beyond the gentle sway of foliage in a barely-existent breeze and the occasional bird taking flight, or small critter scampering between hiding places.

Quiet.

"Negative," he says. “What’s it—“

He's about to ask the same of his fellow captain's own position when he hears the low growl.

It's deep, guttural, and—most importantly—entirely and undoubtably a threat.

Soap couldn't even think to turn and lift his rifle before he's dodging out of the way of the panther's lunge. Even if it were a real bullet and not a strong tranquilizer, Soap doesn't believe it'd help his chances of survival anyway.

At most he'd buy himself time, and that'd hardly count for anything with a feral and angry shifter to then pursue him and the rest of the team, when they inevitably crossed paths.

He narrowly avoids the follow-up attempt on his life as the panther pivots much faster than anticipated, now a snarling mass of fangs and claws as it stalks closer every time Soap puts distance between them. The gun still tight in his grip, it seems, isn’t any kind of deterrent—proven especially soon when the shifter acts quickly, quicker than Soap, and manages to tackle him to the ground.

The rifle is the only barrier keeping Soap from being torn apart, though he feels a seeping warmth somewhere on his torso that tells him sharp claws have found their home somewhere in his flesh. Soap struggles against pure strength of the creature, gritting his teeth as he pushes back and tries to wriggle free.

Distantly, over the rumbling and hissing, Soap can hear the others crashing through the forest, calling out his name in search of him. The sound distracts the shifter momentarily enough for Soap to escape—however getting his rifle knocked from his hands—and when he sits up it’s with a nauseating pain in his side from where he’d been caught, and is currently bleeding a concerning amount.

He can’t stand without stumbling, and is merely left with the hopes his team might reach him in time to keep him from getting mauled. All he can do is scramble backwards to create distance and delay his obvious fate.

Maybe he’s only so scared of death now, because he’d always believed his own would be swift and relatively painless as a cause of it, given his line of work.

Soap’s back hits the thick trunk of a tree. He winces, trying to swallow the growing panic as the panther begins to creep toward him, steady and calculating. He breathes in, exhales slowly through his nostrils, lifting his chin and baring his teeth in return though he knows damn well he’s trembling.

The shifter is close now, too close, huffing softly as he looms over Soap. Intelligent but wild eyes bore into Soap’s own gaze, the mismatched irises surely a point of intrigue if his life were not in immediate peril.

But the shifter just… stops. Stares at him almost in consideration, and for a moment Soap could persuade himself to believe he sees just a glimpse of the humanity that had been forgone two years prior.

Soap tries not to shrink back as the panther leans in to sniff him curiously, his face so close Soap can feel the shifter’s whiskers tickle his face, can smell the iron and blood of the meat of his previous meal. But then the panther is retreating with a more gentle growl in his throat, miraculously willing to spare Soap despite his track record.

Soap hears the telltale thwick of a tranquilizer embedding itself in the shifter’s pelt, then a couple more following for good measure. For only a brief moment does the aggression return before the big cat is slumping to the ground.

Price calls it in while Roach helps Soap up, employing Gaz’s help to wrap Soap’s wound as best as is manageable until he can get the proper medical help.

Dutifully Soap offers what answers he can, but finds himself unable to tear his eyes away from the shifter.

There’s more to this story than they had intel, and he’s more than certain there’s more that they haven’t been told, more that’s being kept from them.

And just as well, Soap figures there’s a reason he’d been allowed to live, unlike so many others—and he finds himself knowing, then, that he wouldn’t rest until he understands why.

[icycoldninja]

Hi can I request headcanons about Vergil with a s/o who has habit of giving him THE STARE. Not out of malice but because they just like watching his face lol. Thank you a lot (っ'-')╮=͟͟͞͞❤

Ahahaha I can genuinely relate to this one, ( I spend too much time staring at Vergil I swear) enjoy! 💜

Vergil x Reader who stares a lot headcannons

Sorry about the big-ass image, I couldn't shrink it. (Not mine btw)

-Being an observant guy, Vergil quickly noticed that you were staring at him, but brushed it off as you simply being curious about him, which was understandable--he was a son of Sparda.

-Your gaze was piercing; it seemed to blast right through his skin and deep down into his flesh--no, beyond that--into his soul. He wasn't certain of how you possessed the ability to stare so predatorily, and wasn't sure if he wanted to find out.

-Over time, he noticed that your staring wasn't just curious nor intent, it was like you were observing him; analyzing and spying on him for some reason. Why? What did you want form him?

-He started getting a little uncomfortable, thinking that perhaps you were plotting something devious.

-Eventually, he decided to ask you directly abut it, hoping his intimidating presence would get you to tell him the truth.

-It worked; you were terrified of the way he was glaring at you so you nervously, hastily, and shakily confessed that you simply like looking at him.

-It took him a full 5 minutes to realize what that meant. Once the thought settled in, he nearly fainted. You liked looking at him? Why? You thought he was handsome? Him? Vergil Sparda, the son of Sparda, was considered handsome? By you? Why?!

-He had absolutely no idea what to say to that so he stomped away, stiff as a board.

-From that point onward, the issue was never spoken of again; you continued staring at Vergil's face, taking in every feature, and he remained sitting there, stoically allowing you to observe his every move.

-He honestly didn't mind it--the silent attention was appreciated.

-Occasionally, when the two of you are seated in the same room and no one but you is looking, he will reach up and smooth his hair back, very slowly and sensually, keeping eye contact with you the entire time.

-Just don't tell anyone why you're doing it and Vergil will let you stare at him until your eyes water, and might even stare back with his icy blue ones.

[gunnrblze]

The sibling dynamic between Hesh and Logan has rotted the innards of my brain. Long ramble of me reading into this too much and probably making it personal below the cut, lol.

They’re extremely close, grow up practically codependent, at least from a certain point onward. Hesh brothers Logan in an almost fatherly way sometimes because their actual father places this responsibility on him (albeit largely unintentionally I imagine), for the literal sole fact that he’s two (2) years older than Logan. That’s it, just two. He got parentified like a lot of older siblings tend to be, purely due to circumstance of being the eldest. If Logan was older this dynamic would most likely have been the same thing. Hesh was pushed into this protector role regardless of how he feels about it.

And I wonder how it would’ve panned out had Elias tried to foster a more ‘behave as a unit’ approach rather than ‘Hesh protect Logan regardless’ type thing. Logan followed in Hesh’s footsteps (QUITE LITERALLY!) and strived to be just like him. During all their training, they “became men” together and learned how to communicate non verbally to the point where they’re near fucking telepathic.

Yes they fight together, yes Logan was there for Hesh always, “Logan has my back and I have his, we’re brothers” yes yes yes. But Hesh was damn near playing caretaker for him sometimes. From the beginning of the game we see Elias telling Hesh to look out for Logan constantly, and he continues to throughout the entire game. And at the end when Rorke drags Logan away you can hear the pain and the panic in Hesh’s voice (duh). Can see him trying to reach for him and crawl to him. From the beginning to the end, Hesh is Logan’s big brother in every sense of the word. From childhood to the moment Logan is drug off the beach, Hesh is right there with him like a guardian angel. Or more like a guard dog maybe lol. And I just wonder what difference it would’ve made if Elias didn’t force Hesh (whether he meant to or not doesn’t even matter) to shoulder the burden of not only growing up himself, but guiding Logan so heavily at the same time.

And what gets me the most about this is that Logan is just as experienced as Hesh, minus those two years that Hesh joined the army before Logan turned 18. They trained together, Rorke implied that Elias trained them a lot himself, and Logan is just as capable. Just as intelligent, prepared, skilled, etc. Yet in some parts of the game, it almost seems like his ‘baby of the family’ role follows him, despite being a skilled spec ops soldier fighting an active war, and it’s just so interesting to me. I just know this has gotta be a deep seated thing for Hesh, to have been his brothers guardian in a sense, despite only having two years on him. He was just as young and confused, just as in need of guidance, and yes Elias provided a lot of that for the both of them, but Hesh kinda had to wing it a lot I think. He didn’t have an older sibling to look up to because he IS the older sibling being looked up to.

And on the flip side, how is Logan meant to interpret that growing up, in any other way besides ‘Hesh knows more, does more, is better than me, knows better than me, etc’ type of thing? You’re being looked after by an older sibling half the time, of course you’re gonna idolize them more than a sibling might do so even in a regular/healthy circumstance. Like yea that’s his big brother and he’s gonna look up to him regardless, but you’re only two years younger being silently treated like you’re in need of this caretaking….c’mon. Elias created a dynamic in which the two of them are so codependent, that it had to have hurt Hesh on an even deeper level to lose Logan than it already would’ve. That would already be soul shattering in the first place, especially with the dogshit ass circumstances they were in, but to lose the little brother that you most definitely feel personally responsible for…? This is why I think Hesh would genuinely be tweaking the fuck out post beach.

And to add onto this ramble about Merrick becoming like a mentor to Hesh, I can see Hesh getting some actual older male guidance without the addendum of ‘also here’s this other guy you need to look out for’ being healing in a way. Dare I say Keegan/Kick would even become like an older brother figure to Hesh and kinda fill that hole, the older brother he didn’t get.

Anyways idk I’m insane about them always. You unintentionally made your sons codependent on one another, and then you die, and then one son is taken, blah blah we know what happened. I mean damn lol.

[cripplecharacters]

Hello! First of all I wanted to thank everyone who runs this blog, it's wonderfully helpful in a lot of ways, and it's nice to see so much information coming from direct sources all in one place. I have a lot of anxiety around accidentally harming people with my work, so finding such a wealth of references, opinions, resources, and discussion is very valuable to me. It gives me the confidence I need to move forward knowing that I won't get everything right, but I can avoid what I know to be harmful.

I do have a question, sorry for taking so long to get to it. I want to write a story featuring a physically disabled character from at least a semi-accurate historical lens (specifically 19th century England), but I don't want to rely on notoriously ableist doctor's accounts. That's potentially useful for understanding how the medical field understood various disabilities and the social attitudes surrounding them, but I want to know more about the day-to-day lives of actual disabled people before modern medicine/research, especially those who may not have had access to hospitals. My intent is this- I want to understand my character and her disability from a modern perspective, but within the time frame I know this character would not have access to the same information and so would approach her life differently than a person today with the same disabilities would. Do you know of any particular historians or research organizations that might have that kind of information? I apologize for the broad scope of the question, but I am very lost on where to actually start looking and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for taking the time to read this ask, and for all the work you do in general, have a great day!

Hi,

Thank you for your thoughtful question.

I'll start of with the fact that disability history is painfully under-researched, particularly the further back in time you go.

Part of this is modern ableism, part of it is ableism from the past, part of this is scattered understanding of conditions in the past, part of it is that a decent number of disabilities need treatment for survival, and part of this is simply a lack of sources. There's other factors, of course, but these are all pretty relevant.

If I'm honest, I generally do my historical research in very sort of piecemeal ways and I get bits and pieces from various sources that I often lose years later, which I recommend to no one lol.

I usually end up reading scientific/historical modern articles that I go to like the third page of google to find, or try my best to find a period piece that will show me a sense of how a person with a certain condition could be treated,

However, let me point you towards some organizations that might help:

This is a page from Historic England that has a general history of disability from 1050 onwards. It's categorized in general time periods, starting with 11th-14th century and ending in the modern times. I like this resource and have used it often, and it's pretty accessible and easy to read since it's made for the general public as opposed to for researchers and historians. Historic England also has further Inclusive research, if you're interested.

The US's National Parks Service (unlikely source, I know) has a project named Telling All Americans' Stories, and has a section for disability history right here. It has a general overview, a section for places, a section for people, a section for education, and one for Franklin Delano Roosevelt's experience and impact re: polio and resulting disability. Of course, this source has more things connected to the national parks, given who is doing the research, but I still find it a pretty good source to start off with. It's also quite accessible since it's aimed at the general public and not historians or researchers.

The Minnesota State Government has a "Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities," and this council has a general history of developmental disabilities resource right here. It's divided into pre-1950 and post-1950, but it covers a lot of ground while being pretty accessible. It's a pretty cool resource, actually. I'm pretty sure I've found relevant photographs here.

The Disability History Association was established in 2004 has a podcast and is focused on specificlly funding research of disabilities. They have a page right here with a list of recent books and articles about disability history. These are all 2016 to present and all seem to be English language. It also lists two upcoming research publications that are in progress. I haven't specifically used this for my research, but I recognize some of the articles it refers to on that second page I linked. It's entirely possible I've been on this site before without remembering, though.

All Of Us is a blog by the above DHA which seems to have multiple contributors. This one I have not used.

Inclusive Historian has a resource here on a sort of general disability history, and is aimed more towards historians themselves to use to write more effectively. I also see this as a potential tool for fiction writers, as it can be useful when it comes to combining historical accuracy (to whatever degree you want it in your fiction) with modern sensitivities for modern audiences.

Disability Social History project is a self-named newer project aiming to collect historical information about disability and disabled people. It has a resources page here as well.

The Missouri History Museum has a legacy website called Action for Access with a focus on the history of the disability rights movement. This is a narrower focus and earlier than the time period you're going to write about, but it has pictures to browse. I have not found a modern equivalent of this website. Be aware that this website might not fit accessibility standards more common today because it's a legacy website.

Anyway, sorry that this seems so broad and maybe less specific than you'd like — I still hope it helps you and anyone else needing a jumping off point to research.

– mod sparrow

[ghulah]

Papa Emeritus, Terzo and the weight of the Mitre.

Due to popular demand, here is my Terzo analysis. It has been significantly cut down(if you do want the uncut analysis, here) because most of it was bullet points and unhinged notes I made. To be completely transparent, this was inspired by @cityofmeliora's own Terzo analysis post as well as several other analyses which I will be linking (also some headcanon stuff the wifecule had cooked up together lol).

These are all the posts (1 2 3 4 5 ) I used as resources and this compilation of Ghost interviews, as well as the Metal Myths part 2, because that's sort of required viewing at this point, isn't it?

I'll be splitting this analysis up into sections, first are brief descriptions and explanations of my understanding of the different aspects of Terzo - as Papa, as a Cardinal and as himself.

As for my sources, I won't be inserting the direct quotes here(because this post would be the longest ever) and they are all available in the aforementioned links.

Anyway, onwards, Ghesties!

First of all, What is Papa?

This is in reference to Papa, the entity, the image - not the person. Papa is a character, he's a mask, he's a façade. He is an image and an idea and the face of the Clergy. He is everything and he is above all yet he is not. According to mister Ghost-man himself, he is a stereotype, he is someone you know from somewhere and often than not he's old, charismatic, maybe a little bit bitter. He is sort of nebulous, he is a concept.

All whom take up the mantle, the Mitre, live up to this to a certain degree, it's part of the job! It also might be part of the bloodline, but y'know.

In that case, who is Papa Emeritus III?

The character of Papa III, the performer, the leader, the one to show us the way. Papa III is the face of the Ministry, he is a showman, a diva who is perfect for the role of the Satanic Pope who is not only theatrical, but also charismatic and fun and ambitious! He is artistic and outspoken. He knows what he's doing, he loves having a good time - drinks, partying, sex! He encourages it, as long as everyone is safe. He wants to bring about a new age, something to thrive. He will lead us all to damnation!

Papa III cares for his people, he makes sure they are safe and sound even in the midst of the chaos of the Rituals. He is, after all, the messenger that leads the audience through the hero's journey - a guide.

Cardinal Terzo

Let me be clear, this is all derived from Bishop Necropolitus Cracoviensis (who is representative of the album artist Zbigniew Biela) testimonial on Terzo when they were buddies back in Poland.

Cardinal Terzo was a slutty slutty, party man with a revolution in mind. He actually had a lot of visions and ideas to keep the Ministry going and modernizing it. He seemed super, well, locked in. He also likes Futurism, which aligns with his Art Deco and German Expressionism in his box of early 20th century art movements. He saw a future and he wanted to bring it to life, he held the same sins as his brother, Vice, Lust, Greed - but he had Ambition (credit to user cityofmeliora for this epiphany). That's what set it all off. Cardinal Terzo had that joie de vivre.

But who is Terzo?

Terzo Emeritus is a man of many pleasures - it's just those pleasures don't often involve people. He likes early 20th century fashion, he likes early 20th century art movements, he likes theater, he participates in it. He does have a pleasant personality, perfectly charming and joyful and teasing - but, he's not 'on' all the time. Or rather, he might not genuinely feel that way unless something or someone actually interests him. He might not be as slutty as everyone thinks he is. He moves like a fucking cryptid when he isn't performing, which is even funnier considering how open he seems to act. He wanted to do so much as Papa, he cared a lot. He had so many ideas, he wanted to take care of his flock and wanted to spread his ideas and cement the Ministry as a real power by opposing all those mindsets that keep holding society back. He was a revolutionary taken out too soon for another agenda at play, which is his true tragedy.

If anything, his charming Papa persona is what draws people in - but it's untouchable, because it's an idea, a face he puts on. Terzo is most likely the mellow, a toned down version of that face. Secondo influenced him, not enough for him to be exactly like him, though, so.

On a very real level - he's sort of like that 'when your circle small but y'all are crazy' meme. He has only a few people who are truly close to him and know what he wants and who he is while everyone else is on the outside looking in. He seems to keep people at bay, even the ones he approaches first. It's the people who either stick around and play along long enough to catch all his little ticks or the ones who saw through it all in the first place who get close to him.

That self hatred and hatred of everyone came a little later, when everything started to not fit into place anymore. He had restrictions on him, he couldn't bring his vision to life - he began to resent that idea. He knew that he was expendable, it was inevitable that he would be gone soon. He was still Papa, he cared, he wanted better for the Ministry. But it was, to a point, all for nothing if he was going to be stifled.

Ambition and hubris being his downfall is just a repetition of every Greek Tragedy we've been told. And much like the Bringer of Light, Terzo was brought down to Hell. Thanks Sister Imperator.

Sorry if some of this sounds a bit silly, it is quite self indulgent and made when I was sleep deprived. But also, I love character analysis and I love Ghost so!

Bonus tidbit: All that talk of separate travel made me think that Terzo might like sightseeing as a fun headcanon. So in my mind he might have a film camera stashed somewhere to take with him. It fits with the idea that he is quite a recluse and takes time to himself, he doesn't need to socialize to go out and see things and take pictures. Of course this is also extrapolated from his nerdy film and art interests. (this part was inspired by a convo with @3hroo)

[ducktracy]

are you anti "sour-puss" daffy? that characterization of him is the primary one in my head. like duck amuck is epitome of daffy in my mind.

CRACKS KNUCKLES SO LOUDLY THEY EXPLODE. i’m giving my “HEADS UP THIS WILL LIKELY BE EXHAUSTIVE” warning now because i love love love love love love love love any chance to talk and analyze and pontificate about the duck. TLDR: YES AND NO

SO. i don’t consider myself “anti sour-puss” so much as i would consider my stance “if Daffy has to be more egocentric and miserly than he usually is then i prefer a very specific set of circumstances for this to be the case”. i have warmed up to the Jones and Freleng duck of the ‘50s onward CONSIDERABLY in recent years—there was a point where i just refused to touch any Daffy short made after a certain point because i knew it would make me frustrated and sad and mad and that’s, respectfully, ridiculous!

it took me watching the Speedy and Daffy cartoons to realize that Daffy in THOSE shorts is what i thought Daffy was in the Jones and Freleng shorts. it dwindles a bit over time (compare how he behaves in The Hunting Trilogy to something like Ali-Baba Bunny, which is a short i still have yet to come around to for that reason—i don’t like the “MINE MINE MINE GO GO GO DOWN DOWN DOWN” duck very much and my issue was that i thought he behaved that way in every single cartoon after a certain point which is thankfully incorrect!), but there’s still some nuance. by the time we’re getting to shorts where Daffy is saying “HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU NOT TO STARVE ON MY PROPERTY” is when i fully throw in the towel lol

another thing that’s helped me warm up is the realization that Daffy’s personality change is not nearly as objective as it’s made out to be. he has always had an ego, he’s always been reckless, impulsive, and yes, this absolutely includes the ‘30s shorts! Chuck’s Duck is Chuck’s Duck from day one with the line “not bad for a guy that never took a lesson in his life!”.

Scalp Trouble has Daffy on an ego trip fancying himself as an army general (and there is a legitimate, honest to god small dick metaphor joke in that short because he has this huge giant sword sheath that is indiscreetly phallic in design, only to reveal a tiny little dagger), ordering people around and essentially LARPing in this role we immediately know is way too big for him. and when it comes time to battle, what does he do but spend the majority of his time cowering in a corner.

he’s always had these traits! maybe they’re a bit more primitive earlier on, some other traits are a greater priority. but Drip-Along Daffy is one of my favorite Chuck Jones shorts because it’s basically a sequel to The Great Piggy Bank Robbery. and you could argue the same with Duck Dodgers! all shorts have him fantasizing about a hero role that is clearly too big for him to fill, and he is absolutely getting the biggest kick out of assuming this role. Drip-Along is still early enough to also have this sort of innocence and unflappability (that may more accurately be described as delusion or ignorance): when Daffy gets no reception whatsoever in the bar, instead of screaming at everyone to look at him, he just marches to the next order of business and indulges in his next part of his fantasy. this NEVER would have happened had the short come out 5-10 years after when it did.

likewise, the Daffy of the ‘50s and ‘60s is still insane, it’s just a different manifestation of how that’s the case. earlier on, he’s a bit more visibly unhinged. his HOOHOOHOOing fits are a catharsis that you can just FEEL crawling up his throat and dying to get out, and in the really early shorts you can see this sort of half and half battle between cognizance and succumbing to insanity (The Daffy Doc and Porky’s Last Stand especially come to mind). it’s an insanity that relieves itself through sheer manic catharsis. as time goes on, he matures a bit, he knows how to keep better wraps on it; the manners in which he gratifies his impulses just shifts.

and also, Daffy can still very much be a sourpuss early on! Bob McKimson’s Daffy, whose interpretation is very integral in my sort of mental default of who Daffy is, can be very bitter and cynical in particular! or, again, early shorts like The Daffy Doc or Scalp Trouble where he’s more argumentative and his ego is clearly much more tender.

the seeds of what Daffy would become have all been planted, and so that’s allowed me to bristle a bit less and lower my haunches. and i am making more progress in coming around to the later shorts! i’ve been on a Chuck Jones kick recently and been watching lots of Chuck Jones Daffy shorts and enjoying them. i love Drip-Along, Duck Dodgers, Duck Amuck, Deduce You Say, Robin Hood Daffy—i’ve even come around to Rabbit Seasoning which is kind of NUTS to me because there was awhile where i was acting like Bugs and Daffy shorts killed my firstborn. “pronoun trouble” is an inside joke with my friend and dear lord i laugh every time at Daffy’s reactions to Elmer falling for Bugs’ drag act, and the ENDING!!!! omg. i love it. i’ve come around to Beanstalk Bunny as well! it’s a great short!! in getting to know the duck better and understanding how nuanced his development is, i’ve gone a bit softer which is good.

i was just chatting about this recently—i think most of the thorns in my side come from the Daffy and Bugs pair-ups. what i like best and get most out of each character, i get none of when they’re together. i’d rather see Bugs behaving and doing something else, and the same for Daffy. i’m not opposed to a sourpuss Daffy so much as i really don’t like seeing him suffer. i feel like the Bugs and Daffy shorts “punch down” a bit more on him, and i still haven’t found a way to really properly articulate this… i’ll just copy and paste what i was saying the other day here:

Daffy earlier on has all the traits above we talked about, but the difference is that he isn’t really shamed for them outright? of course we’re meant to laugh at his cowardice as he says “go… back… in again….” to the giant towering rat gangster he screamed at to confront him, we’re of course supposed to laugh at the asininity and selfishness of him dodging the draft and taking the Little Man From the Draft Board down with him by locking him in a safe and suffocating him. Daffy isn’t exactly meant to be a role model (but that still doesn’t stop me from finding his bombasm and exuberance and zest for life extremely empowering!), but there’s less narrative pushback against it. seeing Daffy be Daffy and have every action be interrupted by another character rolling their eyes going “oh brother” is where i have a problem, it just sucks the air out of the room for me. especially when Daffy is made to feel ashamed or beaten down for this as well. that’s why i enjoy shorts like Beanstalk Bunny or Drip-Along so much, ending with stuff like “it’s a living!” or being contented in his new position that is often very degrading and a direct consequence of his impulsiveness. a huge part of Daffy’s charm for me is his resilience (even if that equates to ignorance at times), if he wants something he will go to absolutely asinine lengths to get it! and i love that! his drive is so admirable! and i just feel like after awhile that resilience is lost. the issue isn’t that Daffy is a loser, as he’s lost quite a bit before that—moreso, he doesn’t have that good humor about being a loser anymore

I’M ALMOST DONE I PROMISE. but my tags in that video post, as i said in them, i watched The Million Hare the other day which is a short i very much dislike. and it’s not really out of anger or “UUUURGH NOT MY DAFFY”, but moreso it just makes me SO. DAMN. DEPRESSED.

this is the most soul sucking image i’ve ever seen. i get genuinely sad that the cartoons have devolved to starting with “characters watching TV because they’re too bored to do anything, and Bugs just joins him”. no part of this is the resilient, impulsive, manic, pleasure seeking duck that carried us through the past few decades. and this certainly doesn’t represent the wily, impish, inciting rabbit of the past few decades either! Bugs has a greater excuse since i know there’s the pattern of his domestication and Jones’ rule of Bugs minding his own business before being provoked, etc. but man. this image just represents all of my problems with the later shorts and dynamics. the characters are hollow and so are the stories and the directors are checked out or moving onto greater things, and i think all of that just coagulates and manifests in the characters.

I HAVE SO MUCH MORE I CAN SAY but i’m finally realizing i’ve gone on way way way too long and don’t even know if i answered the question all that well LOL. don’t even get me started on “modern”interpretations of Daffy… [starts ranting about how TLTS killed my family for the 80th time as i’m gently lured into the nursing home].

BUT! to answer your question! i’m not really opposed to a more cynical and conceited duck because those traits have always been there, just in varying degrees of intensity. my ideal duck is definitely one locked in the ‘40s—Frank Tashlin and Bob Clampett’s Daffy have always been my favorite, but i’ve sort of adopted a coagulation of Art Davis, Bob McKimson, Norm McCabe and Friz Freleng’s duck as my mental default. i am extremely protective and loving and fanatical of Daffy, i love him more than any cartoon character and i resonate with him more than any cartoon character! i bet he too would also spend an hour typing up a diatribe on his character evolution and how he’s been sorely misrepresented. maybe. Daffy is one of the most varied characters of all time, and it’s really hard to pin him down for this reason. i like a duck that best has a bit of a balance between his traits, and i get more chafed when he’s made more narrow and transparent and just “flanderized” (for lack of a better word) to one or two tropes that then speak louder than his character. i prefer shorts that are more sympathetic and celebratory of Daffy rather than admiring how funny he is as a loser. which, he is funny! but IUNNO. i like a more upbeat and resilient and charming duck, and he can be all of these things later on, but it unfortunately does get fleeting

[amourtoken]

Y'know i feel like everyone is Bad Omens has a breeding kink in one way or another hell even Will Ramos would too

they all do but some just feel it more than others in my mind or it takes a certain circumstance.

Noah is fucking CONSTANTLY mouthing off about knocking you up like it's a threat. Every chance he gets he's choking you out in bed and rutting into you like he's trying to split you in half while growling filth about how well you take his cock and how pretty you'd look pregnant. It's mostly just clouding his brain in the moment like a primal instinct however he would actually love having kids with you cause he knows you'd be an amazing patent and he can only hope your babies have your eyes cause he loves them so much :(( (adding Matty to this section as well bc he's disgusting and would actually cry if you asked him to wear protection so he's been hitting that shit raw since day 1)

I feel like Nicky, Folio and Will all fall under the same "didn't think of it till you brought it up now I can't stop thinking of it" umbrella. Sure they've maybe considered in passing but hearing you say you want them to put a baby in you just lights a fucking fire they can't ever put out. They're insatiable from that moment onward and aren't satisfied till they're dripping out of you. Burying their face against your neck and panting while fucking you to tears, quietly thinking up baby names in the back of their brain at the same time lol.

I wanna say Jolly takes it more seriously, he's constantly asking if you're sure about this whole thing. He would love nothing more than to fuck you raw and see you all pretty and round however he doesn't wanna pressure you and doesn't wanna make any rash decisions yk? But if you reassure him this is absolutely what you want then he's in the same boat as the rest of them. You can't go an hour without him trying to fuck you at that point. He's not done till you get a positive test and even then he's still gonna do it for "good measure"

[rockymountainqueen2]

Back to the Swamp rundown!

So...

Disney Channel's YouTube account just released a new TOH chibi tiny tale.

And it's a crossover with Amphibia!

Here's my summarization of the events.

It begins with Luz meddling with the good 'ol portal door.

I'm not sure what she's expecting to accomplish, but Eda and King evidently found it interesting enough to watch. Eda even brought popcorn!

But whatever Luz did, it worked!

I have no idea when this is supposed to be occurring within the series timeline by the way. Luz is wearing season one outfit, has access to the portal door, which is also not destroyed.

So, season one, right?

But Eda has her post "Let the pain be shared" silver eye... And her season two dress for that matter!

Ah well, onwards to adventure! Eda is all for it!

King is a bit more... concerned, but comes along too.

Doesn't stop him from being mystified about the wildlife, though.

I guess Luz was trying to get back to The Human Realm?

Because she seems utterly shocked by the sudden realization that man-sized insects means that she can't possibly be on earth, lol.

But luckily for the denizens of the owl house, they've landed in Amphibia! By Wartwood! Right in front of the Plantar family home!

While Anne's friends Marcy and Sasha were visiting no less! What luck!

Anne and Luz formally reunite and introduce their respective families/friends to one another. It's very cute.

Sasha and Eda evidently decided that they just had to have an arm wrestling competition.

Sasha uses the powers gifted to her by the Calamity Box in order to win, lol.

But Eda gets the last laugh!

Then Marcy and King play a board game together.

Annnnnd she also uses her Calamity Box powers to win.

Girls, you do realize that's considered cheating, right?

Hooty also makes an appearance.

I guess he was wondering where everybody went?

Polly proceeds to use him as a jump-rope, lol.

I'm surprised that Hooty isn't more into this, but maybe he was genuinely worried about the people who live inside of him and didn't appreciate being used a kid's plaything after braving the unknown in his best effort to find them. Lol.

Meanwhile, Luz is showing off her sick glyph skills!

...Which I just realized, probably shouldn't work in Amphibia.

Ah well, we wouldn't have gotten this nice moment where she and Anne show off their magical powers to each other otherwise!

After all is said and done, our heroes settle down to have a meal.

I'm reasonably certain that they're eating bugs. Yum, protein.

Hop Pop and Eda are doubtlessly exchanging tips on parenting orphans and their other-dimensional friends, lol.

Throughout this whole adventure, the portal door has been... shrinking?

Because... the writers needed a reason for Luz and Co to have go back to The Demon Realm suddenly?

XD That's my best guess, as I don't recall there ever having been a time limit when it came to using the original portal door. It was kinda OP like that.

Anywho, Luz and Co need to leave immediately. Anne and Luz are quite sad to see one another go.

King really wants to make sure to say goodbye to everybody properly!

To the point he was a little too preoccupied to notice the portal door closing on him.

Also: Hop Pop faints because he thinks he just saw a little kid get decapitated, lol.

Meanwhile, back in the owl house, Luz is sad that she had to say goodbye to Anne. Eda comforts her, it's a sweet sight.

What isn't such a sweet sight is what King looks like minus his skull.

Although King himself is rather nonplussed about the whole thing.

Like mother, like son. Lol.

Luz is completely and totally horrified by the sight of King...

And that's the note that we end on!

Overall, cute little short.

And as a bonus...

XD This is officially canon now.

[goofy-gang-in-the-wacky-chat]

OK LOSERS ITS LORE TIME!!!

so basically a mutant is a person who is born with both physical abnormalities and supernatural abilities! wow!

mutations are passed down genetically after manifesting. mutants are usually split into three categories:

gen 1:

first gens are mutants who randomly manifest from non mutant parents. their powers and mutations are a lot more noticable. Iris [say hi people] for example has the ability to completely manipulate all of a person's senses causing all kinds of hallucinations that can be indistinguishable from reality. her mutations are pretty obvious, the mouth face, the tail, the skin discoloration

gen 2:

vivian is a second gen mutant, that means one of her parents was a first gen. she inherits lesser versions of her parents mutations, she has four eyes while her mother might have had eight, some mutations are already completely absent at this point. she also has a lesser version of her mother's abilities, she can look up to 2 weeks back into someone's memory!! :3

gen 3 [and onward]:

and finally frans is third gen! [meaning one of her parents was gen 2, you get it] her only mutation is her 2 tails and her only power is being able to move light objects with her mind. after this point the difference from non mutated people are practically invisible.

while there's really not a reliable way to tell if a mutant child will be born to a set of parents what is known is that when there are more gods active on earth more 1st gen mutants will be born!

*i call them pseudo angels/demons because their resemblance to the bibles depictions of angels and demons is a coincidence lol

aside from the solitary instances of mutant-folk their are also the mutant species. these are groups of people whose ancestors made deals with various gods to allow them to be reshapes them as the god wanted so they could gain powers in exchange. :]

angels are associated with the god of light and are unaffected by physical damage.

demons are associated with the god of fire and can learn pyromancy.

and merfolk are of course associated with the god of the sea and can live underwater.

just because a person is part of a species created by a certain god it doesn't mean they wont worship others, ninas family [the demon in the picture] actually choose to worship the god of creativity :]

[chibishortdeath]

Ok weird opinion of mine I guess idk how to start posts aaaa

I think Simon’s “barbarian” design really works story and character wise.

Yeah, it’s silly and absolutely not historically accurate whatsoever, but it kinda makes sense in a certain weird way.

We know from Lament of Innocence and Dracula’s Curse that the Belmont family is generally on rough terms with the public. Leon gets his title taken away and, even though he gets his sword back at the end of the whole Walter situation as confirmed by how Belmonts onward have that sword, he’s still generally kinda shunned for going against the church’s wishes and the tail end of the crusades happening at the time. And Trevor is straight up banished from the country for fear of his strength. He’s much isolated from other people off in the house in the woods until he’s called to help fight against Dracula and gets some friends on the way.

And this kinda sets up the situation that the family was living in during Christopher’s time. The Belmonts are social outcasts; their existence is acknowledged, but they’re not really associated with or thought of very highly at this point. So, it wouldn’t be unlikely that they just wouldn’t really care for or be caught up with social expectations like fashion. When people are going to be wary of you regardless of what you do, why not dress however you want? Especially if you know no one’s going to do anything about it! Especially if it’s practical; the longer, looser sleeves and pant legs of the time would be restrictive in a combat/acrobatic context. So Christopher probably just wore whatever he wanted, and to be fair he doesn’t really seem to interact with anyone besides family very much.

First I wanna mention that I am completely aware that Simon was designed way before any of these other characters. But these characters are chronologically before him and can explain where he gets these design choices from in universe.

So, what about Simon then? Well, Simon has a lot of themes of wanting to be like his ancestors. Christopher is directly mentioned as someone he wonders he’ll ever compare to. Judgment shows him looking up to Trevor as well, and even though that game is of interesting canon status lol, it’s an example of that character element being used again. And this is reflected in his barbarian designs! The cape he wears in the manual drawings resembles the cape Trevor throws off in the opening of CV3. The general light armor and skimpy clothing is reflective of both some of Christopher and Trevor’s designs. The metal armor in Simon’s Quest being reminiscent in shape to Trevor’s on the CV3 box art. It just makes sense that Simon would be trying his damnedest to emulate the guys he’s been looking up and comparing himself to his whole life.

And the sudden transition from the barbarian look the family had for years to the more with the times fashion that Juste has makes a lot of sense considering Juste grew up in a time when the family was highly respected and in the middle of town, somewhere where keeping social expectations and appearances would be expected of him.

Idk if any of this makes sense, but aaaaaa random stream of an idea I guess. I like Simon getting to being weird and out of place for his time period and country lol. Also I’m not saying that other designs are bad!!! I like all of Simon’s game designs tbh, Ayami’s is really cool too and works for some of these points cause it’s also kinda barbarian esque but just in black and red, I’ve cosplayed it before lol. Yeah idk that’s it and I am sleepy goodnight—

[xevrq]

A comfort and a warm.

Ft. Childe/Ajax

Cw : Male Reader, Reader's a florist! Story written from Childe/Ajax POV Ooc childe sobs. RUSHED ASF. Not proofread

Summary : Ajax has always been a lonely person who kept his burden all by himself, but not until a certain boy came to his life and lit his hollow soul ablaze.

A/N : its alr the end of the year lol, i just wanna say a lots and tons of sorry for being so inactive, basically school is destroying my sanity and i've been trying to finish my last request (very sorry to the anon) anw im writing this to fill my blog since its so empty

—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–

—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—-

After the abyss incident Ajax could feel that he was nothing but a living corpse that seek nothing but power, even when his family was always by his side and comforting him every night saying how grateful they were that he came back home in one piece, yes he may physically came home in one piece but what about his inner mind? Is he still the cheerful and innocent Ajax they used to know?

Ajax's family were very much aware about his abyss incident, and they were aware about how his mental condition were worsening when he joined the Fatui and yet they said and did nothing about it.

He had it said to himself that the day when the fatui took him in, "This is the end of my youth and the beggining of my day as a warrior, from today onward i promise I'll be stronger to protect those i care about." And thus he left his innocence behind and built himself a mask that he hoped will cover any remant of his childhood self.

Sure the masks of personality he built worked, but at what cost?

Ajax felt as if he was hollow, he wondered to himself if he was still alive at this point, everything he said everything he do felt meaningless even when he came home to the welcoming arm of his family he felt that something inside him were missing, sure he may looked happy but.. is that what he truly felt?

But even after all of that, he remembers one certain incident where... he met a certain boy that changes his view of world.

He remembers vividly, it was a pretty sunny day on liyue, as always ajax was wandering aimlessly whilst admiring the calming and busy atmosphere and even occasionally saying Hi to whoever he met whether it was colleagues or just someone he happens to know, that's until he stumbled upon a very familiar face, You.

—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–— Liyue 2 Years ago.

"Goodmorning comrade, is the flower selling well today?" I said to the person as i fasten up my pace and jumping giddily, a liyuean florist whom i and the other Liyuean people adored, because of his well known calm and reserved demeanor and a sweetest smile he earned a sweet title by the children as a "Sunflower Boy"

"Goodmorning, what should i call you today eh, Maybe young master?" He said while chuckling softly, Sadly unbeknownst to the liyue people He an Fatui Agent, A cold blooded killer hiding behind the sweet smile face that watches all over the Liyue.

"Aw come on (Name), lets put the work aside" ajax turned his gaze towards you while fiddling with the flower on display, "This looked fresh, when did u picked this qingxin?" He asked.

"Last mission, i found a place with lots qingxin so why not harvest it from there?" Heh last mission huh?

"Wasn't the last mission i sent u on was a bloodbath?" I said to him.

Huft... you sighed, "if you want to talk the details about the last mission we better not do it here, Childe."

"Oh? Calling by my codename rather than Tartaglia huh? Interesting" he chuckled, "is it a one step of getting closer?"

Honestly if i could ho and visit you everyday, I would.

"Anyway Childe, what brings you here?" He asked while organizing the flower bouquet.

"Well, i just wanted to see you. Beside i needed a flower for teucer, how much for this one" he said while pointing to a flower bouquet, "that one pretty, im sure teucer would love it."

"Teucer huh? Wait.. Teucer is here??" He turned his gaze at me completely shocked, "How come is he here? Did he run off again."

"Of course not! He said he missed Liyue and Teucer is teucer he begged to go to liyue with me."

"Heh Teucer always like that isn't he? Anyway here's your flower bucket sir, dont forget we have a meeting at 7PM today" he gave the flower bucket to me and grabbed my hand softly "Keep the money, beside i don't want my own superior to pay and dont't forget send my regard to teucer." He smiled fondly.

Somehow something inside my heart is burning truly, i could feel my face heatin up and my heart racing.

"Shit." I cursed down my breath and pulled my hand away from his, "Well ahem!, since we have a meeting today why dont i go treat you some meal before we began our work hm? You've been a really good assistant to me too these days, how about we go for third round knockout?"

"Sounds good! I was getting hungry myself." He said giggling, "but first i need to clean up the flower store." He hurriedly packed the flower away.

"Here let me help you comrade."

–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—-

Even until these day i wondered why you would hold my hand at the first place, Your hand not so fit for a florist, calloused and littered with scars but yet i somehow still adored it, at that time i wished the time could stop. I wished that we could hold hand a little longer.

A lot of people say that my action are getting a little too visible, how i smiled when his face randomly came on my mind or how sometimes he came to my office bringing the paperwork i need to do while smiling brightly, or maybe the time when he take cares of me while i was sick. I remember vividly, he would came to my office bringing me a cup of hot tea while ushing me to take a rest and said that he would take my place for a while, oh how sweet of him.

Even my fellow harbinger friend "Signora" said

"Poor boy tartaglia, can't even confess his feeling to his own assistant? You know that our job is dangerous right? death is not a uncommon thing here, either you will run out of time or..."

"Or what signora." I said my tone coming out coldly

"You know it already tartaglia."

–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—– 1.45 AM Tartaglia Office

I scribbled down the last stack paperwork i needed to fill and submit whilst feeling that in any second my head could've exploded.

Just what time is it? I turned my head over to the clock sitting next to the sofa clearly showing that its past midnight and yet here i am trying to finish of what seem like non ending paperwork, should i just gave up? I have a free schedule tommorow anyway slacking off a little wouldn't hurt right? Right.

Slowly i could feel that my eyes is getting droopy and my body relaxing, i rested my head down to the desk im working at and slowly drifting to slumber.

But clearly before i was completely sleeping i could hear my office door slowly sliding open following with a long sigh of a certain person?? Honestly i was too tired to even look up and checked who it was.

Again before i knew it the next morning i woke up with a jacket draped over my shoulder and a finished paperwork? Half of it are already submitted i wonder, and a little note saying that i shouldn't overworked myself.

Straightening myself up i take off the jacket and inspected it for a little while finding a nametag signed "(Name)" in it. I couldn't help but let out a little laugh, Why do you care so much about me (Name)?

–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—-

After everthing you've done for me, how could i repay you? I remembered one single memory where everything changed, both you and me.

-

Sometimes i could walked down the hallway with a bruised and bloodied body, and yet i never came running down to seek the medical staff, i walked myself to your office, where i know you would stay there and do whatever you needed to do, i know this has been the countless time i did it but yet, you never showed anger you welcomed me with open arms and tended my wound with your gentle hand, a hand that healed my inner self.

I knocked softly on your office door, "(Name) are you there? Its me, i got.. problems."

"Be right there" i could hear a faint shuffling and a rushing steps running to the door.

And the door opened, revealing you with a shocked and somewhat concerned face mixed with "I know this would happen" expression, "Well, good evening comrade as you see uhh i got trouble here." I tried to put my usually bright self.

"Get inside and sit down, let me get my medical kit"

I did as he ordered me to, i sat down to the usualy chair where he tended my wound and maybe sometimes where i would drop in and said Hi to him while he was resting.

"Look Ajax i do not want to hear your reason about this injury, im growing indeed tired of hearing your exact same reason." He said while sitting on a small chair and giving me a gesture to open up my clothes, "Open it i need to see the wounds"

"You know that its better for you to seek the actual medical staff and get yourself patched up there"

"Honestly (Name) my injuries heals faster if the one who patched it up is you" i said while smiling giddily, "But anyway thanks for always doing this though, i know i should've gone to the infirmary but yet i came up running to you"

"Sure yea, this might sting a little stay still."

Sting a little? I couldn't even feel anything when my mind is totally centered to how your hand tended my injuries.

When he patched me up, i stayed silent the rest of the time, i thinked about how he still wants to do this despite scolding me for a thousand time already.

"There and its done" he said while giving my back a little rub, "as i said next time dont overdo it Ajax, anyway here's your clothes the weather is really cold today isnt it?"

"Thank you (Name), and could i ask you something?"

"Ask away Ajax"

"Why do you keep doing this, despite of how many time you said to me that i was a nuisance? And the amount of stuff you did to me. Truly it did leave a mark at my heart, You know that time? When we met and talked at your flower shop and you hold my hand? I swear i couldm't get enough of it, and you know i've been holding myself to say this. I Liked you alot! More than friends if you are wondering, its fine if you dont feel the same, atleast i could get it out of my chest" i poured all the feeling i've been holding on for so many days, secretly i hoped that you would share the same feelings with me.

"And (Name) being with you truly healed my inner self, You did keep me sane the whole time you know that?" I laughed, while trying to hold in the little tears that pooled around the corner of my eye.

"Well Ajax, In fact i did share the same feeling with you, I Liked you too! Way longer than you did, i strucked love when i met you on your recruit days, we were on the same teams that day"

He said while Holding our hand together, but this time it was more genuine.

"I.. how could i not know then?"

"Maybe because you're too busy getting that harbinger title"

"(Name) i do not know how to respond to this, truly thank you, Thank you for everything." I squezzed his hand gently, "Thank You."

I never felt anything more happy than this, That day i feel that he has set my hollow soul ablaze.

–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—-–—-

Bonus lmao :

"Hey (Name)" i turned my sight to him

"Yes?"

"Could i ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Kiss the injuries it helps them heals faster"

"....."

"No"

(Name) proceeds to smother ajax w little kisses and yes it make Ajax giggle and kicks his feet like a damn toddler

–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—-

Note : Thanks i know that this cringe but thank you truly.

Presented to my silly babi @adrifts-home

[bigskydreaming]

IWTV season finale (or more accurately the second half of it, from the end of the interview onward) has me positively vibrating with the implications (or at least my interpretation). Midway through the first actual meta I feel like I've written in years lol, but I've always felt like the series' meta narrative was ABOUT the power of narratives and all the ways they can distort the truth, make myths out of past events, turn fact into fiction and reframe and recontextualize things in all manner of ways......

From the editing of Claudia's diaries to Armand's memory manipulations to Louis' unreliable narration to the very format of Daniel's interview to the story Armand tells about Claudia's fate and how that shapes the story of Louis' life with him and on and on and on.....its a hugely sprawling, intricate web whose sole common thread is the reality that everyone's history is only history to THEM....to everyone else, its a story told to them....either BY them, or by someone else ABOUT them, or in some other way rendered mutable by the power of secondhand narration and all the ways intentional and even subconscious biases can reshape it.

I mean, even the facet of this in which Daniel's book IS as factual as possible, and is taken as such by vampires, but to humanity it reads as fiction because they view vampires as inherently fictional, and how this thematically ties back into how easily the lines between fact and fiction can be blurred merely by virtue of what you're willing to ACCEPT as true and capable of existing, vs what you WANT to be true and capable of existing, and what you'll go to any lengths to deny ever COULD be true or capable of existing.....

The paralleling of all this with the beginning of the season starting with Louis and Claudia's quest to find other vampires, whom they weren't even sure existed, and how much Claudia WANTED it to be true that there were others like them, and how quickly the very thing she searched for turned into the very thing she wanted to get away from when the reality of those other vampires turned out to be different from what she'd hoped for....

How much of what Armand said and did was built upon the foundation of knowing it played into what Louis would PREFER to believe had really happened, because the reality of who ACTUALLY saved him would by its very nature challenge certain things he'd long accepted and internalized as fact in order to make his peace with how things went between him and Lestat, ie the idea that Lestat was inherently monstrous, just look at the proof that lay in the monstrous things he'd done, ergo he was predisposed TO assume that it must have been Armand who saved him, because Lestat just wasn't capable of that, would never even WANT to, and the simple truth that regardless, he DID, subsequently required reconciling that with his fundamental perception and understanding of Lestat as of that point in time, and the fact that Armand's house of cards was in reality so, so FLIMSY, and vulnerable to toppling with just the right push but it still lasted for 77 years because it had been built upon the foundation of Armand's awareness of just how badly Louis NEEDED reality to be that simple:

Armand loved him and was there begging for his forgiveness for his part in things, ergo, of course Armand would have saved him when he had the chance.....vs Lestat had never loved him and would never in a million years genuinely apologize for anything he'd done or even admit he was wrong, let alone forgive Louis and Claudia for what they'd done to him, ergo, of course Lestat would never have saved him even if he had the chance.....

Like it really was that simple, that flimsy, and yet that enduring, Armand kept the lie going for almost 80 YEARS because he was confident about having built his narrative on the bedrock of what Louis believed to be true of Lestat, what he accepted as immutable FACT....

I REALLY want to rewatch some earlier episodes at some point, specifically Season One eps involving Claudia's diaries and stuff about Lestat, because I'm very curious how that comes across in hindsight - a lot of people have pointed out how little we really know of what Lestat actually thought of Claudia, and I'm curious now how much of Armand's editing and reframing of things made it a priority to emphasize the take that Lestat had nothing but contempt for Claudia.....like what I mean by that specifically - because none of this of course is meant to excuse or defend anything Lestat has done to either Louis or Claudia in the past, of course - what I mean there is Louis, even at the points where he's MOST prone to viewing Lestat in terms of extreme binaries, still has always been aware that he has complicated feelings about Lestat and that his love for him and his desire to believe that at least some of what he'd perceived as Lestat loving him had in fact been real....

Like, when it comes to him and Lestat, Louis KNOWS that he's an unreliable narrator, that he's never going to be 100% capable of having an objective view of how he truly feels about Lestat and how Lestat feels about him. Which could've made Armand's lies a lot more fragile, if there was even a chance Louis might even just in passing wonder "what IF Lestat had been the one to want to save me that night" and from there potentially sparking upon the possibility that wait....AM I sure he didn't......

BUT. For a variety of reasons, not the least of which are Louis' protectiveness towards Claudia, guilt about anything she suffered as a vampire due to having been the one to beg she be made one in the first place, and seeing Claudia as HIS responsibility......Louis' view of Lestat's treatment of Claudia has always been a lot less forgiving than his view of Lestat's treatment of him. The very things that make him WANT to give Lestat the benefit of the doubt in some cases when it comes to their own interactions, because he wants to believe that Lestat did in fact genuinely care about him.....go hand in hand with the unlikelihood of him giving Lestat the benefit of the doubt when it came to how he felt about Claudia, as interpreted by Louis based on Lestat's interactions with her....

AND Claudia's journals....and what she had to say - and believed - about Lestat's view of her. At various points, Louis has been as prone to outright REJECTING the possibility of Claudia being an unreliable narrator as he is to accepting that his own recollections and perceptions are unreliable....because he enshrined her and put her on a kind of pedestal in an effort to keep her memory at a distance from him, where it hurt less, felt more like something told to him in a story rather than the visceral pain of losing someone he loved like a daughter. You could call Louis a liar, because it was no worse than what he'd accused himself of. Call Claudia a liar, and you wake the revenant of all Louis' most primal, savage (and ultimately failed) efforts to protect her from harm, still haunting the few things left of her like the ghost of Louis' paternal instincts and love, cursed to linger around any mention of her because it would forever have the unfinished business of needing to protect her, even now, long after it was no longer even a possibility.

Point being, I'm wondering now how much Armand leaned into THAT, to shore up the weak spots in his story......how much the potentially (and likely) far more murky, messy, and complicated truth of Claudia and Lestat's view of and feelings about each other got left on the editing room floor of their actual history so that Armand's director's cut of the past could condense all of that into the far more simple - and polarizing - idea that Claudia hated Lestat and Lestat hated Claudia, and no matter HOW complicated and uncertain things might be when it came to the truth of Louis and Lestat's history and feelings....on THIS count, there was no doubt....Lestat would never lift a finger to help Claudia, never have a kind word to say about her, had nothing but apathy with an occasional detour into contempt when it came to her.....

And thus, Armand whispered into Louis' ear for seventy seven years worth of nights spent haunted by her memory and his guilt and belief he should have done better by her - if Louis could be certain of nothing else in this life, its that Lestat would never be on Louis' side if it meant being on Claudia's too, and for that reason alone, he couldn't POSSIBLY have been the one to save Louis that night.

It had to be Armand. Nobody else had ever understood how Louis felt about Claudia. Nobody else had ever cared that Louis had loved her so much and missed her so badly. Nobody else ever WOULD.

And so the house of cards remained standing, because fragile as it was, Louis never saw a need to push at the card at the very bottom.

Until of course, a gust of hot air named Daniel came in and huffed and puffed and blew the whole thing down.

(Largely, imo, because of the power and importance of stories, rather than the actuality of their actual interactions and things Armand had physically done to piss Daniel off and make him hold a grudge, lol. Personally, I feel like Daniel - who prides himself on his ability to see the truth, report the truth, TELL the truth rather than, y'know - "stories" - who is so vehement about his role as a truth teller rather than a story teller that he will not let a single instance of someone calling his book a novel instead of a memoir go unchallenged, someone for whom the distinction between truth and fiction is a line he's staked so much of his life's work and subsumed his very identity in - its not any one THING that happened when Daniel first met them decades ago that really pissed him off, I'd argue.....its the mere knowledge of Armand messing with his mind, muddying his memories, making it IMPOSSIBLE for Daniel to ever fully trust the truth of his own personal history....THAT was the unforgivable crime that fueled Daniel's spite and was like okay, so for Today's To Do List, I'll be wrecking your marriage, your past 80 years worth of machinations, your reputation and just overall blowing up your life in every conceivable way. RIP to this little house of cards you built here, its adorable. I brought a battering ram.)

Anyway. I'm just saying. I think the role OF narratives and their importance and power WITHIN the overall narrative of the show is one of its most fascinating aspects, and is what has me so amped for Louis' arc next season to see if they go in the direction I'm hoping they do based on his final scene, which I interpreted not even so much as Louis throwing down the gauntlet to the rest of vampirekind and saying I'm not scared of you.....so much as Louis recentering himself in his own identity, his own perception of himself rather than Louis-as-depicted-in-the-stories-of-his-loved-ones-lives, and emerging from the wreckage of the house of cards he'd spent the last 80 years living in, with a reignited desire to CHOOSE life, rather than just drift through it eternally like an immortal record of the past with no real desire to partake in the present....

And thus, having every intention of surviving whatever comes next, due to vampirekind's shared focus and aggression towards him. He's not looking to just go down swinging, IMO, the Louis of the final scene took his time getting there. He was deliberate, methodical. He took his time between kicking Armand out of the tower and returning to it and telling the collective children of the night to come at me, bro. He retraced his steps and revisited New Orleans with intent, took in a tour guide turning past events into a mythic tale with a smirk that cast no judgment on how true or not the tour guide's version was, but rather felt instead like he was enjoying the shared joke of how easily something-that-was ended up spun into something-so-much-more-folkloric-than-it-actually-had-been. He repaired his tower and redecorated his personal place of power with actual mementos of someone he loved where once there'd just been the memory of her lying over everything like a funereal shroud, heavy and haunting and unspoken and thus impossible to ever take comfort in or make peace with. He stood there for who knows how long, through who knows how many nights, and just listened to his many would-be-enemies announce themselves and their intentions towards him, all the things they planned to do to him, and then and ONLY then, he picked his moment, took a seat, settled in......

And began to tell a story.

He didn't throw caution to the wind, double down, say fuck it, if I'm going out it'll be on my terms.....IMO, the Louis of the final scene, with the same predatory glint in his eye and devil-may-care smirk he's worn in past scenes where he's given himself permission to be the monster, if he felt the moment called for it, just was past caring, or saw it as necessary to make it through the night....

This is a Louis who doesn't give a shit about any blaze of glory, this man came to win. He chose life over death once upon a time, hell, he chose life IN death, and then he did it again and again even throughout the times when he got lost and weighed down in the inevitable tragedies of life and couldn't make the most of the equally inevitable triumphs along the way.....and I feel like he's finally at a point where he's ready to make that MEAN something. On HIS terms.

There's not going to be another book with Daniel, not about him, anyway. Let Lestat have the next one. If there's a story to be told about Louis now, it won't be told in someone else's book, in Claudia's journals, in Armand's half-truths or even Lestat's regrets.

The only one telling Louis' story from here on out is Louis. And he's going to decide what it says. I feel like this is (or at least COULD be) a Louis who is preparing for a war he has every intention of winning, and he took his time and considered his options before choosing his field of battle. He armed himself with a very specific weapon for very specific reasons. The final scene is Louis issuing a challenge, yes. But its also Louis turning his enemies into his audience, and saying.....let me tell you a story.

This is the story of The Vampire Louis De Pointe Du Lac, he intones, introducing himself with pageantry picked up from those he's met along the way in his journey these past two seasons, but given his own flourishes, said in his own voice. No mere mortal, or even mere immortal....no. This is the story of the Vampire Who Yes, Just As You Accused, DID upheave your whole world by spilling your secrets to the rest of it, who yes, DID break so many of your laws, just like he has in the past and chronicled in said book as though he genuinely gives not a single fuck. Let it be known. Let it all be known! Let his personal sanctum, that private place of power most vampires and covens are zealous about keeping hidden because of how vulnerable even the most powerful of them are when stuck in their coffins at noon, be known. Let his security measures be known. Let everything they could possibly need to enact their judgment, vengeance, fury, and just overall bloodlust upon him....be known.

Because the Vampire Louis De Pointe Du Lac....owns the night, he says.

He tells them a story, that tells them everything but also tells them they know nothing, and turns everything they know about him, think they know about him, every secret or vulnerability offered up in Daniel's book, everything that could be gleaned by any of them going to Armand or Lestat or anyone else for intel on him......into irrelevant details.

Because his story he told - to an audience of jaded immortals, masters of manipulation, mind games, and the various machinations that colored so much of Louis' history with both Armand and Lestat, because they learned them from each other, learned from the same people, taught others, and on and on and on.....the story he told to an entire world of schemers, many of whom have centuries more practice than him in the art of turning fact into fiction, distorting reality into fantasy and making themselves into mythical monsters instead of just people who do monstrous things, just now with Added Years and Also Strong Branding.....

Well, the funny part about it, the thing he could be busting a gut laughing about on the inside.....

Is the story he told is not actually a story. It was fact. Truth. One hundred percent verifiable truth.....just....presented as a story.

And thus, to the practiced and cynical eyes of immortal master storytellers slash liars slash strong believers that all vampires are as prone to truth-twisting as them.....

For everything his "story" told them, the attached implication is there MUST be more he's not telling them. No vampire offers all that up, waves a red flag like that, declares war on untold legions of immortals more powerful, more experienced, more monstrous than him.....

Unless there's something he's NOT saying. Some trick. Some scheme. Some sword of Damocles hanging just out of sight over head, waiting for the first challenger foolish enough to take at face value this relatively young upstart (who nevertheless has survived over a century in the company of some of the most dangerous and unpredictable vampires out there - always a bundle of contradictions, our Louis).....and as much as they ALL agree this heretic must burn for what he did, for what he dares, laying claim to the night like that, like he has any RIGHT, let alone some greater right than THEM....

Well. SOMEONE has to take the first swing, don't they? And suddenly.....they're probably not all that eager to BE that first contender, the first to take a run down the straight shot Louis has invited them to take right to his front door and down the hall to where he can be found sleeping in his coffin incapable of defending himself.....

Because, well. There HAS to be some trick, doesn't there?

And there is, of course. The trick is that there is no trick. The lie is that the truth isn't a lie, its the actual truth. Its a simple, basic, and perilously flimsy house of cards Louis has erected around his tower as his ACTUAL fortification, but if this is his game, he's got reason to be pretty confident in it buying him a fair amount of time and allowing him plenty of maneuvering room while he engineers more of the situation to his advantage.

After all.....nobody knows better than Louis how effective something like this can be.

Its quite literally the exact same sleight of fact and fiction that Armand used to keep him contentedly playing make believe for the past seventy seven years. The more you ground a fiction in lies someone is already telling themselves or is all too willing to believe - because it falls naturally into place alongside similar-seeming and deeply-rooted beliefs - the less you actually have to LIE. The less you actually even have to do at ALL, because they're already inclined to fill in the blank spaces with their own correlating assumptions and just keep going and going from there. The fiction writes itself, because you've just given them the prompt and invited them to use their own history as a map for what makes most sense to come next.

And why wouldn't they? Vampires are natural storytellers, after all. How else does a factual species continually convince the world around them that they're really just fiction?

Armand's lie worked as long as it did because it was never a gamble at all. He knew it would work - at least for a time - because it always works. Vampires do this constantly. We've seen it time and again. They pull this gambit on each other, they pull it on themselves, they turn their own histories into stories that make them feel better whenever they peer into the past because perception is reality and if you have literal mind powers that let you alter perceptions at will its not exactly a hop skip and a jump from there to the belief that you can render reality similarly mutable.

Life is beautiful and great and wonderful and also hard and cruel and painful. And the unfortunate truth for many of us is the memories that hurt tend to have more weight than the memories that lift us up. They have an easier time sticking around, accumulating their weight, making the accumulation of decades and centuries more of a curse than a blessing unless you find some way to relieve the pressure, shed those burdens regularly. Or just get really good at telling yourself that weight, those hurts, they just aren't there. Because the things that caused them never happened. Because your immortal life has been wonderful and grand and anyone who challenges that is probably a liar who is invited to defenestrate themselves at the next available opportunity.

Armand wasn't shocked that a few pokes at his house of cards could collapse the whole web of lies. He was shocked that someone poked at it at all. He's five hundred years old. That shit just doesn't happen. That's not what they DO. Vampires only GET through as many centuries of bloody, brutals acts by LYING to themselves about those acts not being bloody or brutal or that they were done by someone else entirely, EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT, what kind of fucking BARBARIAN goes around poking at other peoples' houses of lies to see if they'll collapse when like, no shit, its OBVIOUS that it would collapse, because duh, its made of CARDBOARD, nobody is out here in Vampirelandia arguing that these things are sturdily constructed, but its not like its a problem as long as you just dont POKE at it and like, who even does that? Its RUDE!

*Enter Daniel, stage left, with jazz hands*

The older you get, the more memories you have, the more they all cram up against each other, the lines get blurred, the contents of each memory end up in each other's boxes, and when its that already that hard to tell which ones are still accurate anyway, its that much easier to just go with the stories and decide fiction's an acceptable substitute for fact any day.

Its not surprising it took a relatively young, spry and sassy septuagenarian to remind the two century plus lying liars who lie....that all of that may very well be true.....but that doesn't mean facts don't still matter. Truth doesn't still matter.

Any vampire could see the fragility of the ruse Louis' erecting here based on their own experiences doing the same thing. Most of them won't, because exposing the reality of his ruse requires an admittance of familiarity with it themselves. And that leads to acknowledging when and where they've deployed it in their own lives, with their own companions.....

And vampires, as we all know....rather famously don't spend a lot of time looking at themselves in a mirror.

The ten million Louis paid Daniel to tell his story was well worth it, and not just because it let him see what Armand had done. But because Louis already knew the power of a good story.....but Daniel reminded him that the truth has power too.

Its all in how you use it.

Related but tangential.....not gonna lie, a major inspiration for this take is just Louis fucking SMILING so much more in the last several scenes of the episode than in pretty much any of the present day scenes until now, at least in any kind of way that feels genuine and like he's actually engaged with what he's smiling at and dialed in. Like just....it feeling like being freed from the isolating house of fabrications he's spent the last several decades in has already led to him reconnecting with that fond curiosity he's had in the past, when not being alternately wallopped with Trauma and Tragedy hammers every other scene he's in. Him being able to look around and just take in stuff like "oh hey, that sparks joy. Neat. Forgot I had that emotion."

Like, I just really, REALLY like the scenes in the show (relatively few and scattered as they are) where we get.....playful Louis. The simple sincerity of just finding something amusing.....

Buuuuuut I also like when Louis is being a bitch and also when Daniel is being a bitch and I just think their being a bitch frequencies should be allowed to sync up more. As a treat. Just saying, this interpretation/take was 100% inspired by the thought of Louis finding the effectiveness of his ruse hilarious in an ironic kinda way, and being like, I wonder if Daniel thinks the joke is as funny as I do, since I think he's pretty much the only other person who'd get it without me explaining anything.

Daniel: Oh I absolutely do, except I just think its hilarious and not in an ironic way or anything, its just funny. Plus I enjoy that its at most vampires' expense, because at the risk of generalizing, literally every single vampire I've ever met has been a giant dick. So. There's that.

Louis: You do remember that you're a vampire too now, right?

Daniel: Well yeah. And I've met me, and I'm a giant dick. Where's the confusion here, Louis.

Anyway.

ALSO! The parallel of Daniel writing a fact-based memoir that exposes the truth about vampires to a world that refuses to believe it because it challenges the beliefs they already have about what is fact and what is fiction.....

And Louis armoring himself with truth told as a story to vampires that refuse to even look for the holes in that armor because to do so would risk applying fatal pressure to the fiction painted over the vulnerabilities in their own.....

.....mmmm. *chef's kiss*

So, yeah. I would love it if the above interpretation is where things go. Based on where they left Louis, I feel pretty confident I'll like wherever they take him next season regardless of how well it aligns with this take or not, but I mean. I'm egotistical enough that I'm like yeah, I would in fact like it if the show validated the two hours I just spent haphazardly rambling away in a post that started off with "So this isn't an actual meta but rather a post ABOUT a meta that I'm GOING to write but that is not actually this" and then turned into an obvious meta that didn't even have the fucking decency to be the meta that the post was initially about.

Look, I'm just saying. I would win so hard at being a vampire, I've already finished all the prerequisite courses.

Thus concludeth the rambles.

.....ugh fucking hell, just remembered that now I STILL have to write the actual meta that I was already planning to write before my brain decided hey what if instead of that we did a whole Russian nesting dolls thing that turned that meta into like, nine other metas that don't get you any closer to writing the thing that you originally set out to write hahaha this is fun, I'm fine, the show has absolutely not rewired my brain chemistry at all.

[bestworstcase]

You have any thoughts on JL x RWBY Part 2 continuing character arcs (to an extent) from Volume 9 onwards? And the return of a certain villain from the RWBY side of things?

HE’S ALIVE IN MY HEART.

also i am so sorry but i’m a parody of myself:

“Where we grow up… it makes us who we are. For better or for worse. But what happens when that place is gone? Do you still carry that place with you even if it doesn’t exist anymore? Who are you if your home is no longer real?” <- hi this is about salem

the most hysterical thing about this film is it fucking gift-wrapped textual support for my Unhinged Headcanons about how grimm cognition works. yes yes different world different rules but team rwby’s powers changed in a manner that effectively compensated for their lack of aura (except weiss, who lost hers altogether presumably because she is Really Going Through it with the identity crisis) but the point is: “grimm cognition can occur out-of-body” is a foundational conceit for what i’m doing with them in tdt brhgjfbskj

what else. let’s see. obviously the crossover films aren’t canon but equally this one being written to follow from v9 is fun because it means we get some DELIGHTFUL KERNELS OF INFORMATION for example:

the v9 timeskip is probably not longer than a month or two at the most. it’s been “a few weeks” since the first film, which took place during v7 (presumably near the election); v8 lasted two days. they were not gone from remnant for very long

salem is not in vacuo <3

ruby appears to have taken what the blacksmith said about summer cracking under pressure to heart in ALL THE WRONG WAYS LMFAO. she is not going to have a good time when she finds out where summer rose is now.

weiss’s turn on the salem merry-go-round. hm who else do we know who grew up imprisoned by her cruel father and witnessed the utter destruction of her home and then (metaphorically) died and returned into a new world where everybody HATES HER for what she is? lol. lmao even

but the most interesting piece here—and the one that i think is most likely to become the centerpiece for ruby’s character in the show proper, largely because it isn’t developed at all in the film, is “as long as we save remnant, what else is there?” <- that sound you hear is the summer rose grenade whistling through the air.

[ask-artsy-oncie]

What’s Jules’ and Kit’s relationship from them first meeting onwards? Do they move in together at some point? How do they keep in contact? Stuff like that.

They exchange contact info after Jules is given a tour of the Sea Duck. I think it takes a little while for them to meet up, again, but they do. They're too fascinated by one another not to.

I think, though, if I want to explain how their relationship goes from one stage to the next, I ought to examine their social lives and how it impacts the development of their romance.

Kit's doing very good, now! In that, he has his family, he has Della (fuck canon, Kit and Della are childhood friends TO ME!!!), he has now former pirates he works with and can bond with, he goes out drinking every so often, like. I still consider him an introvert but he's got a pretty healthy social life and doesn't really struggle to have positive friendly interactions on the regular. He's just a generally good-natured guy like that.

HOWEVER, god, his romantic experience is weird. It's not like he never "noticed" girls or boys, but the vast majority of his focus growing up was on learning how to fly, getting into flight school, getting his pilot's license, etc. He just didn't have time for romance because he had other things at the forefront of his mind, and it took up a lot of his mind, too. I think it was something that gave Baloo great joy (in the sense that it meant that at least Kit "wasn't growing up too fast") and Rebecca a lot of anguish (in the sense that she had certain expectations for certain milestones at certain ages).

Into adulthood, maybe perhaps a little stunted from ignoring those kinds of feelings throughout his teen years, I don't think Kit really winds up in a serious relationship at any point prior to Jules. And I'm not even certain it's something he even cares to look for. He's very fulfilled by flying and cloudsurfing, among other things, yknow? I do think he ended up in short flings and even one-night-stands (he's still an adult with needs, and that's just how he went about dealing with it) throughout his 20's and early 30's, so he's not totally inexperienced in romantic endeavors, just not committed.

And he's also just fucking horrible at being self-aware about his attraction, as well. I've said this in a previous post but Kit develops crushes on pilots very easily. They don't last terribly long, but he's never aware of how obvious it is, or that much has even changed within him. Maybe after the fact, but rarely ever in the moment. His family absolutely teases him over it. Della is more exasperated by it.

Meanwhile, Jules has very little experience socializing outside their family. They'd always been the shy one among their siblings, and as they grew up they'd made one or two school friends (basically, they socialized just enough that their reclusive nature was never noticed, by their family or themself), but rarely ever got close enough to anyone like they were with their family.

They do, however, technically have a leg-up on Kit in that they did briefly date someone in a superficial high school sort of way. Lol.

Jules was just also pretty damn absorbed into their fixation on learning magic and magical history to really focus on maintaining friendships and other relationships after high school. Their siblings all grew up alongside them and got busy with their own lives. Jules gradually, without meaning to, became more and more reclusive. Stuck in their own head. Very painfully aware that they would like to form friendships and even romantic bonds at this point in their life, but totally intimidated by the process of doing so.

It's by chance that Kit makes the first move on that fateful day. And does so in a way that opens Jules up to him in a way they'd definitely struggle to without prompting. And they click pretty easily, it turns out.

Jules's proficiency is in magic, of course, but engineering and machinery really fascinates them. They genuinely were hanging off Kit's every word as he explained the mechanisms of the Sea Duck and compared them to those of other planes, what each part did and if and how it did it well. Meanwhile, Kit has had a pretty limited encounter with magic. In Talespin he's shown to be at least a little superstitious, and I, of course, have a very self-indulgent headcanon that he reads tarot, but he doesn't know the fine details, how or why things work the way they do. Actually seeing someone flying on an honest-to-god broomstick made his brain go "!!!!" and he absorbed Jule's long-winded, tangent-filled explanations with no complaints. Beyond just vibing with having related special interests, they're also both invested in the other's respected special interest.

It makes for a pretty great feedback loop, so when they do meet up, they tend to hit it off really well. Before Jules knows it, they've made their first friend in a long time. It happens without either of them really even noticing. It's suddenly just so normal to have one another in their lives. Suddenly, Jules is wedged into Kit's life, seamlessly, and Kit is wedged into Jules's. Kit is swinging by Jules's shop in his free time, just to see them, and hopefully goad them into having a conversation with him and giving him their attention, despite them being on the clock. Jules is starting to show up to Kit's shows when they can, and, with Molly's permission, ends up waiting backstage for him on the regular, hoping that they'll get to steal a moment or two of his time.

But Jules absolutely is having a very new experience after spending so long, alone. Whether they consciously realize it or not, they're pretty overwhelmed by this foreign feeling of having such a close companionship with someone, now. Not to mention that Kit is, physically, very attractive to Jules. What I'm saying is that Jules develops a crush on Kit pretty quickly. And once they notice they can't even bring themself to deny it when pried by one of their sisters.

They like Kit. A lot. But he's also the first friend they've had in so long, and the last thing they want to do is ruin that by letting romantic feelings get in the way. So they don't act on their feelings, which they feel is the smart, mature thing to do. They just want to be able to enjoy having a friend, right now (though it doesn't stop them from becoming a blushing, stuttering mess when Kit gets too close or grabs their hand and holds it, or, god forbid, some adventure perils cause Kit to pick them up. They have had to refrain from asking Kit to crush them SO MANY TIMES NOW--).

And Kit? Honestly was pretty smitten with them from the get-go, but again, he really isn't aware of it. He of course gets teased, he's so obvious about it, but he brushes it off with the same lighthearted comebacks as he always does with their teasing. Like he just does not make the connection. He just really, really, really enjoys being around Jules so he acts on those feelings and doesn't really put deeper thought into them...

... Until his crush ends up lasting so long that he inevitably comes to the realization that he has one, while he's still having one. Uh oh. Kit ends up entering a sort of crisis mode where he's suddenly hyper aware of his feelings for Jules and can't behave normally (or rather, calmly) around them anymore. He gets too jittery, too blushy, too dumb around them, now, and it's making him frustrated with himself. Meanwhile, Jules repressing their own attraction to Kit is starting to get kind of painful for them. There's romantic tension between the two of them that is just begging to pop at any given moment. Their loved ones are way too invested in this repressive disaster unfolding before them, btw. Things are super awkward between them now, despite their best efforts, but they're also attached enough to each other that it doesn't stop them from spending time with one another.

And, see, Jules has a pretty bad habit of talking aloud to themself. It's a holdover from only really having themself to talk to when there wasn't a customer to be helped. They're not loud about it, but they're definitely audible. And they're in turmoil at this moment, so they're definitely talking to themself every chance they get.

Despite their own self-awareness, Jules does not actually recognize that Kit reciprocates their feelings. They believe that things are getting more and more awkward because, in bottling up their feelings, they believe said feelings have gotten "worse" and are putting the strain on their friendship they feared it would. So their next step is just to convince themself to get over their feelings. To cross the peak of this awful mountain they've been climbing, already. That this isn't going to last much longer, that it's just their physical attraction to Kit messing with the rest of their feelings and it'll go away. That, sure, maybe right now they're in love with Kit and extremely attracted to Kit, and--

The door to their shop is open.

Kit is standing in their doorway.

As Kit still does, in order to suffer through incomprehensible sentences and blush so uncomfortably hot, just so he can hear Jules's voice and see their smile and be with them, with their attention on him.

He's probably heard to much.

He has heard to much.

The tension pops like a bubble.

And it really is such a drastic relief to the both of them that, all this time, they were just being idiots and there really wasn't much of anything to worry about. They're adults, dammit, they shouldn't have to dance around one another, if they both like each other romantically they should just give this dating thing a shot, right? The two of them think so.

And so they end up in a sort of honeymoon phase, where they're still extremely reactive towards one another. Blushing, stuttering, babbling, awkward messes. But it isn't painful for either of them, anymore. It just makes them feel warm and happy and giggly, until everything calms down properly and they settle back into their familiar familiarity. They're just both friends AND lovers, now.

I'm gonna stop it there because it's past 1AM and I am extremely tired, but this is them going from acquaintances to friends to a couple, at least. If I was more coherent I'd probably have a better narrative structure to this? But maybe I'm just being too harsh on myself. If this satisfies you, anon, then I'm very happy :)