#lesson in layering

[molinaesque]

You know why these boys brought you in? 'Cause I f*cked up a poor, defenseless gang-affiliated organ dealership? Yep. Mm.

[hamable]

I’m starting to suspect that Porter could intentionally be fucking Gorgug over in an attempt to bring out some rage in him and if that is the case, I can see the conclusion of that endeavor being Gorgug teaching HIM that uncontrolled, unpredictable rage offers little strategically to a party, but someone as emotionally conscientious and leveled out as Gorgug can tap into rage as a tool and that’s what makes him a good barbarian.

I’m thinking we’re approaching an arc about that, with the frost fest coming up at the thistlespring tree next episode and it being revealed that both his adoptive and biological parents will be there- the gnomes that raised him to be kind and emotionally intelligent, and the orcs that passed the barbarian nature down to him. I think Gorgug is going to accept his strengths as a barbarian in control of his anger, who can apply himself outside of his rage and dial into it when it matters. He’ll be better than Porter ever was.

[starry-bi-sky]

this just in: danny fenton is just as much of a mask as Brucie Wayne? - another danyal al ghul au

Turns out, being placed in a civilian family who have no knowledge of your background is actually detrimental to the health and development of a child assassin due to lack of proper support! Surrounded by strangers in a foreign city, Danyal Al Ghul does as assassins do best. He hides. Espionage is one of many teachings one learns in the League, and it only takes half a day for Danyal to construct a new persona to hide behind: Daniel Fenton.

By the time dinner rolls around, Danyal al Ghul is safely and securely tucked behind the face of Danny Fenton; brand new adoptive child of the Fenton family who came from overseas. A shy, quiet little boy with a thick accent and curly hair, with brown skin and blue eyes, and an avid interest in the stars. The best fictions are always cobbled together in a little bit of truth, it's some of the only truth he ever lets through. He apologizes in a meek voice for his behavior early, he didn't mean to be rude, and he watches the three of them eat it up with coos.

Lies roll like silk against his lips, he struggles to meet their eyes and offers them his weakest, shyest smile. It's too easy. It's easy to go from there.

Danny Fenton, adoptive son, shy and awkward and unconfident but friendly. Who struggles in his classes and isn't the brightest, but tries his hardest. He makes bad jokes and has a quick tongue and a sarcastic mouth. He wants to be an astronaut. He's got the best aim in school, and is a terrifying dodgeball player. He's one of the least athletic kids in his grade.

It's like playing two truths and a lie, but there's only one truth, and the rest are lies. It's easy to pretend when he knows it's insincere.

Danyal Al Ghul, grandson to the Demon Head. Deadly, trained assassin. Has spilled blood, has had blood spilt from. Environmentalist, animal activist. He loves the stars. He owns a calligraphy set. A sharp tongue, an even sharper blade. He's clever, quick-witted, he would be top of his grade if he tried harder. He purposely doesn't.

He misses his family. He misses his mother, and he misses his brother. Mother visits a few times a year, so few times that he can count it on both hands. He cherishes every visit, as brief as they are. It helps remind him who he is.

Sam and Tucker are Danny's best friends. They've never met Danyal, but Danyal's met them.

It becomes routine to become Danny Fenton. As familiar and as easy as pulling on a shirt in the morning. Danyal wakes up and is always first to the bathroom in the mornings; stares at himself in the mirror until he can finally see Danny staring back at him. At night, he locks his door and sheds the mask.

Dying throws a wrench in his mask; splits a crack straight through the porcelain. He's able to smooth it over with sandpaper and liquid gold, but it's a little hard keeping his ghost form under wraps. It instinctively wants to shift to show his true self. Danyal can't have that, he's spent four years as Danny Fenton, he'll spend another four as him as well. Even if the feeling of the hazmat suit in his ghost form feels restrictive, like a too-small shirt suctioned to his skin that needs to be peeled off.

He'll live. Er-- well, you know what he means. It's frustrating however, trying to keep his Danny Fenton mask up even as Phantom - fighting in the air is something he needs to get used to, and the sudden propping of powers throws him off. But he is nothing if not adaptive, and he hates that he needs to slow his own skills down in order to keep pretenses up in front of Sam and Tucker.

The first time Danyal summons a sword when he's alone, is one of the few times Danyal gets to grin instead of Danny. He's fighting Skulker, and from an invisible hilt he draws a katana from thin air. It startles them both. Skulker takes a step back at the smile that spreads across his face.

They're both silent as Danyal examines his new sword.

"Do you know what people like me do to people like you, poacher?" Danyal finally asks him, the accent he began to hide a few months in slipping through. He drops all pretense, dragging the flat end of the blade slow and appreciatively against his palm. It's a good make, and when he cuts it through the air, it slices through like butter. He looks up at Skulker with a smile; "are you ready to find out?"

When Sam and Tucker ask about why Skulker seems so skittish around Danny now, Danny shrugs at them and says with a playful smile; "I don't know, I guess I kicked his butt too hard after our last fight." and he watches as Sam rolls her eyes exasperatedly, and Tucker snickers with his own joke.

By the time he reunites with Damian before their 15th birthday, Danyal is buried beneath so many layers of Danny Fenton that his brother will need a shovel to dig him out. He's not sure what he'll find.

[dailycupofcreativitea]

Parallels 👀

(I've noticed that when Piccolo is injured, Gohan sets his gaze on the enemy...but when Gohan is injured, Piccolo sets his gaze on Gohan 🥺)

[demaparbat-hp]

Yoi is a babe 🫶

A diva, is what he is.

[rexwrendraws]

nothing is immune to hob's charms, not even morpheus' supposed cool exterior (sorta based on a textpost :] )

EDIT I FORGOT HOB'S GREY HAIRS IM SORRYYYYY

[lonelyroommp3]

[batcavescolony]

Shut up she's doing her best and sometimes your best hurts.

[wrath-incarnadine]

Don’t know how I wanna draw him yet, so for now it’s just experimenting and trying to figure it out on my style

[akkivee]

[cuppatealove]

Reading The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe with my son on Easter Tuesday and he was so shocked and confused and bereft when Aslan died. Then we had to stop for a very gloomy lunch before we could read the next chapter, and it hit me that he was getting a better understanding than anything we could have taught him about what the disciples went through on Easter Saturday. I mean, we had just been talking about it three days earlier, but of course when you know there's a happy ending coming, you don't really feel it. And Aslan was finally here, after all this hope and expectation, and he was meant to make everything all right again 😭 He'd even already made the connection to Jesus when the witch's gang were kicking and hitting and jeering at Aslan, but he never in his wildest dreams thought he would become alive again! The joy and wonder and absolute glee he felt in the next chapter — he figured it out just before it happened because he cottoned onto the homage — preached the whole thing more eloquently than I could ever have hoped. And oof, if I didn't feel it all with him, too, as if for the first time ❤️ Well played, Mr Lewis, well played.

Also yesterday I caught him saying "I say!" so a positive experience all round 😃

[whatimdoing-here]

Lessons in Chemistry | 1.05

[yzafre]

Song: High Road by Kelly Clarkson

There comes a point where if you don't make yourself stop futzing with a thing, you never will. There's always more you can do, but, ahhhh I need to just let it go out into the wild.

((I DO feel like the youtube upload messed some of the timings up somehow, but... no, we're not fiddling with it any more!))

So here it is! After a week, it's done!

[glasswingowl]

caught in your own web, just like your mother

[b0bthebuilder35]

[majorasnightmare]

Im SO AMAZED with Dirge, such an intriguing character !!! I was wondering if he conscripted Shadowheart into his party and if so did they get along? They seem to have much in common, ideologically, as far as the "life is suffering" goes and especially with his symbolic symbol being a wolf. Also what does he think of the other companions??

EEEEE THANK YOUUUUUU IM HAPPY TO PROVIDE CONTENT AAA

he did indeed!! orins hard reset essentially kicked him back to being a blank slate version of his core traits, that being community seeking and social cohesion. in the cult he only really had sceleritas and orin, which both reinforced a cycle of dependency on bhaal. without those two his next immediate social influences were laezel and shadowheart. act 1 dirge is a far cry from the bhaalist he used to be, and he only starts to resemble that person as he comes into himself, as it were, throughout act 2 into 3.

him and shadowheart are VERY close. dirge is, by nature, a very nosy and curious person so despite his pushing to get to know her, his subsequent respect of her answers and her devotion to shar earned him a good amount of brownie points. without bhaal breathing down his neck, he also has a pretty firm "fuck god" stance and shadowhearts relationship to shar hit a little too close to home to let stand so hes also a positive influence on her especially by act 2. there was a small crush that blossomed there in the beginning but pretty quickly faded in favor of being messy bitches getting tipsy and gossiping together. i like to think shadowheart is the one who initially kickstarts dirge into putting more effort into himself and not sitting around soaked in gore for days on end, and in return he dusts off his old braiding skills from orins younger years and helps shadowheart with her hair. theres a fun bit of foreshadowing i feel in shadowheart being "scared of wolves" but being so comfortable around dirge, which inevitably leads to shadowheart choosing to reject shar and reclaim her past

going just in order of acquisition, next (but technically first) is laezel. and what can i say. real respects real. no fuckin around, no beating around the bush, just cutting straight to the chase without any bullshit. dirge isnt afraid to get his hands dirty and doesnt shy from a fight, and i know he was thrilled to have SOMEONE who knows wtf is going on, even tho he does irritate laezel slightly by poppin shadowhearts pod open. laezel immediately picks up on what he hasnt figured out yet, in that hes a naturally skilled leader capable of making snappy but well reasoned decisions in crisis situations, with a near unshakable confidence in his own competency that bleeds over into everyone else performing better on his orders. it also helps that as soon as laezel commits to fucking over vlaakith, dirge is immediately in her corner, with again unshakable confidence that this is both doable and achievable

astarion is the first of his many weird situationships. in the same way queer people who arent out even to themselves flock together, the two of them hit it off near immediately despite the attempted throat slitting, and astarion remains one of dirges closest relationships period. in general the question of whether or not something is "moral" gets completely thrown out the window in favor of whether or not something is "helpful". absolutely no qualms about maiming killing stealing torturing etc here, but is this something that you actually want to do or just feel obligated to do? and in that vein dirge never once takes astarions seduction seriously. they fuck basically as soon as astarion puts it on the table, but dirge is explicit about it being just something fun to do to pass time, and never ties it to astarion as a person. when astarion tries to seduce dirge into a relationship, dirge just reiterates how astarions important to him and then spends the next dialogue taking the piss out of astarions cheesy pickup lines. its a very casual but consistent intimacy that constantly reaffirms astarions ability to take the persona off and still receive protection and safety, that also lets dirge figure out some key things about his sexuality, primarily that hes intensely sensory seeking (does enjoy astarion biting him, does enjoy taking a roll in the hay whenever the oppurtunity is available) but also that theres some skeletons in the closet that need unpacking (unremembered discomfort with topping or being the focused-on partner wrt sex). overall its a very slow paced intimate closeness that moves from a sortof friends-with-benefits to a purely nonsexual friendship that has astarion being really the only one consistently paying attention to dirges body language and behaviors and picking up on red flags everyone else is too uncomfortable to talk about. when astarion notices in act 3 that dirge is repeating the same twitchy standoffish behavior he hasnt engaged in since act 1, its because they have a casually intimate rapport that has no strings attached that lets astarion really commit to investing in the relationship without worrying about it being transactional. astarion also just enjoys hanging out with him, dirge is an unrepetant little weirdo and is fun without having any moral hangups the others have.

gale is dirges second weird situationship and god. rip gale this poor bhaalspawn is driving him fucking nuts. like first of all. charisma caster poorly socialized by a murder cult who has yet to figure out that whole "personal space" deal, who is currently mimicing the social dynamic of the party and taking heavy cues from mr "i totally have my shit together" ancuinin and exploring being Openly Flirtatious and typically gale saves that kind of thinking for the SECOND date thank you very much. second of all dirges second main stat is INT and his specialty is studying everything he can get his hands on, dirges main driving force when it comes to relationships is that metaphysical hunger thats so so tasty in warlocks that draws eldritch beings from miles off like moths to a porchlight. when self flagellation didnt cut it in the temple, dirge turned to consuming as much knowledge he could get his hands on, and that means the weird unwashed tiefling guy with a very noticeable animal musk scent underneath the blood is the only one who keeps up with your explanation of arcanic gate manipulation. hes a hands on learner btw whos standing right behind you so ur back hits his chest and he also just beamed an open mouth makeout sesh into ur brain. mission status Be Fucking Normal About Him difficulty impossible. it goes without saying that dirge fucking hates mystra for how she treats gale, but in a surprise twist that upsets even HIM, dirge came to the conclusion that apotheosis would strip gale of all the varied wonderful traits that make him powerful and capable, and would instead strip him down to a selfish one note wonder just like the rest of these divine bastards. we have to throw the crown out gale im so fucking sorry you have no idea how much it hurts to be a warlock of all things and to have that much power in your hands and toss it. like take two seconds and think about how much this hurts ME like GODDDD. AWFUL. AWFUL SITUATION. dirge is definitely too intense of a relationship for gale but that doesnt stop a very awkward act 2 confession. the game doesnt let me do this but i know in my heart that dirge would fuck that wizard, if only so his bro doesnt go to his death without having a nice night with the homies. the wizard sex doesnt count gale. in my opinion, post game gale, having NOT ascended, hasnt quite figured out the "wants to teach" biz yet and just kind of aimlessly loiters around dirge as a couchsurfer because he isnt ready to go home and spill his guts to his mom yet. also almost definitely has some unresolved feelings towards dirge hes still trying to work out

wyll is like. who isnt a little in love with wyll ravenguard. absolute icon. wylls opinion is important enough to dirge that it keeps his body count from climbing any higher than it does in game, and him and karlach are the sole reason the grove doesnt get razed. rip zevlor but dirge being amicable to you doesnt mean he cares, ur ass got saved by the PRIDE OF THE GATE. they never get SUPER close but dirge goes to bat for wyll every chance he gets, mainly because wyll doesnt. takes personal pleasure in putting his warlock experience to work to clown on mizora as often as possible. absolutely LOATHES ulder ravenguard for how hes treated wyll and the only reason ulder doesnt die is because wyll would be sad about it, and dirge really just has a huge softspot for the guy. wyll is a massive romantic in the classical sense so he doesnt match dirges freak sadly, but i know in my heart they are fucking up baldur gates food truck scene together and wyll is lovingly introducing dirge to the mid scene of microbrews.

karlach cliffgate is dirges best fuckin friend and hed kill for her. and die for her. but IDEALLY kill the SHIT out of zariel for her. vibes matched INSTANTLY, two deeply isolated weirdos who overwhelmingly just want to live with a passion for beating the shit out of people. dirge is just more generalist about it. karlach offers a very key and crucial component to any longterm relationship of any kind and that is Gettin A Lil Silly With It. if i programmed bg3 then whenever karlach does her idle pose lil dancey dance in the same party as dirge, hed sync and do it with her. the strongest positive influence on dirge, karlachs potential disapproval has saved the lives of many a gnome and tiefling refugee. equally touch starved, fixing her engine was a top priority, and while the game wont let me i think they have a casual friends with benefits situation happenin that stops when dirge settles into his relationship with minthara. but they never really stop being like. all over each other. karlach can kinda just do whatever she wants with him, just kinda pick him up, tuck him under her arm, leave. just move him places. when karlach can finally touch people, dirge just indulges that constantly. he doesnt mind at all. shitposting aside i rly do think karlach would like sit down by a campfire and then just yoink dirge onto her lap and hed just readjust to get comfortable and continue talking like nothing happened. theyre best friends, she helped dirge remember what its like to actually want to live, and he fights tooth and nail for her to want to choose to survive because the idea of losing karlach is too much to even think about.

extra party member bonus round!

halsin is amicable, they flirted openly early on but halsin waited too long to shoot his shot and minthara claimed him. is mostly dirges primary care doctor and the one who diagnoses dirge with chronic migraines and helps him medicate for it. extra strength painkillers cuz that bhaalspawn liver can go through a woodchipper and be fine

jaheira is similarly a "hits it off immediately" kinda relationship, esp cuz im p sure she groks the bhaalspawn deal well before he does. is good aligned but mostly just pragmatic, so she takes what she can get with dirge and is mostly satisfied that his loved ones are enough of a deterrent to keep him from doing any number of morally abhorrent things dirge doesnt actually give a shit about. playfully antagonistic family relationship, he loves bullying her in front of her kids, and her presence in the camp at night is a much needed balm for his anxiety

minsc is another "vibes matched instantly", but dirge is mostly happy he found someone he can go Psycho Mode on to vent some pent up unsatisfied Killing Urge without any risk of serious harm. act 3 is the worst for dirges Urge, so minsc being willing to spar until it dies down probably saved several unnamed randos from being gutted in the night. self described uncle, and while dirge is willing to consider minsc family, uncle feels like taking it a bit too far. not gonna complain tho. no idea what the fuck boo is and getting too awkward to seriously investigate.

minthara is honestly worthy of her own post entirely but to loosely summarize: love of his life. most important person in the world to him. it was love at first sight, and at every sight since. genuinely didnt think hed ever get to see her again and is thrilled every day they spend together. theres something So Much to the specific dynamic of Agent of God and the Divine Entity theyre in love with. isobel and aylin, dirge and minthara. how she swears her oath to him and how hes physicalized divinity. how she says there are no gods left for her but he finds her in moonrise anyways. i could write entire essays on them, and i WILL, but the summary important here is that she gets him locked down before act 2 is even over and that concretely ends most of his sexuality-exploring sensory-seeking FWB situationships because like. its minthara baenre. hes peaked.