#oh and the sword so yk i think it's fair

[noxious-fennec]

PLEASEEEE tell me about the symbolism in your drawing Oh i am dying to know

HII why thank you for asking!! I'll try my best to answer concisely but Tl;dr I'm not normal about either cwilbur or flower symbolism :) it also must be noted that a lot of my decisions are entirely based on my personal cultural experience so I hope if anything you find it interesting.

For an overview, The peice is inspired by art nouveau, namely alphonse mucha and henri privat livemont, and is mostly based on this hamlet production poster by the former. The composition however is not based on said illustration, and is slightly inspired in part by stained glass and fences of the movement. The clothing cwilbur is wearing is from the edwardian period, if I've got my references correct it's earlier in the period, though not any year in particular. It differs drastically in the fact that the colors are very vibrant (I can't help putting cwil in shades of red, ho16 permanently changed my brain chemistry), and that the Cape part of the inverness cape is entirely too short. Otherwise I've attempted to keep the general silhouette accurate.

Now the plant symbolism:

First: Arabian jasmine (which fun fact are not actually the same as the 4 petal vine yasmine, has a different name, Full (فل), and they grow on shrubs) and the Damascus rose go together because of two reasons: 1) i didn't know other flowers to put there and 2) they're very closely tied in my brain. If you try to find their symbolism you'll find a lot of things about beauty and purity, as is common with any white flower or rose, but my reasoning differs. Without going into too much detail, I intended for them to symbolise community and belonging.

Daffodils (the ones depicted are the ones most common in my region, they may not resemble the expectations but they are indeed daffodils) mean death rebirth and hope, its a flower i generally associate with cwil. Same meaning goes for the white lilies. And poppies have a heavy association with war and generally symbolise remeberance and hope for peace, and thus, l'manberg association.

The next five are flowers that represnt certain characters strictly based on cwilbur's preception of them, but they can be applied to others as well, i just thought these were most important:

Freesia: especially when yellow, usually means thoughtfulness, trust and friendship. represents cranboo.

Orange/tiger lilly: pride, hatred, status, tenacity.  Cquackity

Lilly of the valley: cmon we all know this one, ctommy

Boat orchid: virtue and morality, a gesture of respect and friendship. Ctubbo

Gladiolus: diminutive of gladius(sword); strength of character, moral integrity and rememberance. ctechno

pomegranate tree and fruit: pomegranates have a very different connotation in Western media, from what I can glean, as opposed to what I'm used to them being perceived as (I won't derail this but I can elaborate if needed). In short, I've chosen to take advantage of this double meaning and so its here to represent life death and resurrection while the tree is for family and home.

On a side note, I was originally going to do night blooming jasmine (مسك الليل) but it wasn't working, the symbolism of it however still stand: its a flower many love and think smells amazing, but rarely do they actually want the burden of having it in their own yards because of how deathly strong it smells. I was intending on using it to symbolise the complicated nature of cwilbur's relationship with the important people in his life.

And finally, the olive tree: aside from its meanings of peace and friendship, olive trees also mean olive oil which is a product with many healing properties that is not too easy to make and requires a lot of work. i chose it to mean healing and the process thereof.

So yeah that's it, hope it's up to expectation and thanks for the interest means a lot to me <33

[daywalker-rr]

some hc’s (or well. lore? this is my interpretation of them) for future silvs and gold below the cut if you even care. theres a lot.

Gold is the reigning champ of Johto for 10+ years. He wanders off similar Blue & his gym and actually is very tired of his champion title but feels some sort of obligation to keep it.

(I’ll make a whole new post for my hcs on Gold because god are there a lot.)

Whenever Gold’s gone he asks Silver to fill in for him. He knows Silvers one of the few people on par with his skills as a trainer. That being said Silver could arguably also be a champion? he’s not in the hall of fame, but he’s as close as one could get to a champion level battle.

but obviously if Gold is learning new things his rival doesn’t wanna fall behind. so sometimes Silver will tag along. He’s much more diligent about their responsibilities though and constantly nags Gold abt how much of a flake he is abt his league position. he doesn’t go overboard with it though, he understands how gold really feels about his title.

they’re best friends. they argue so fucking much but they basically live together and care for each other. Gold makes Silver lunch everyday and Silver always complains about how it tastes but he always finishes it. theyre so used to how close they are that they arent able to tell how blurry the like between dating and friendship is for them.

They’re rude, mean, and jerks to one another, but there’s no true malice behind their actions anymore. the foundation of their rivalry and therefore friendship was built of how much of an asshole they both were/are, so it’s natural for them to keep it going.

they eventually earn the title of battle legends. Gold and Silver are recognized for their strength alongside Red and Blue (and Leaf? She has that title. right.(???)). Could be argued that Gold is “stronger” than Red, but they both know brute strength isn’t all that goes into a battle. (Even if that was Gold’s main strat for a while.)

Gold and Silver seen together more than theyre seen separately because they train together and work together basically.

Anyways. onto the actual Paldea part. since Scarlet & Violet came out close enough to the 25th anniversary of pkmn i was like…. it would be so chill if gold and silver were there. originally I had ideas for them to be involved in Sword & Shield, but then Paldea was revealed. A Spain inspired region… how could I not pair that up with the one protagonist I swear up and down is a latino (🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽 Mexican Gold real and true btw.)

Now granted I haven’t properly beat SV bc I’m BUSY. but Afaik there isn’t any sort of battle tower in the region? even swsh had one.

so Gold and Silver’s attentions are grabbed by the region (initially for different reasons) and theyre like hey. we could do some good here.

The champion title for Paldeas pkmn league is one of the reasons they’re so interested. arguably it’s the best out of all the regions. only having 1 strongest trainer is kind of silly (it sort of resonates with whatever deal they have going on it Johto)

they reach out to Paldean officials like hey. we want to set up a space where the strongest trainers can duke it out with worth while opponents. and theyre like wow thats so smart. so i was thinking maybe they make it like a dojo? still pondering. idk. i was thinking Silver runs it and Gold is just one of the higher ups (he’s still champ bro)

anyways they talk to the florian/juliana like “heyyy 😁 we heard ur the new champ! thats chill mind battling us so we can get a grasp of the skill around here???” because yk. classic young child champ. real recognizes real

(i don’t think Gold (and esp silver) are as well known as his kanto buddies, but he still has his fair share of fame.)

i think that’s all i got for now. semi irrelevant stuff. silver wears heels. gold is a gymrat. hes also very annoying. gold thinks silvers the prettiest person ever but he thinks everyone just sees him the way he does (i’ll draw silver in his eyes soon.)

(oh and btw. the loverival future au still holds up here. gold has beef w wally and brendan for some reason. i’ll elaborate one day.)

ty for reading (they make me feel like this)

paldea if it was based

[throwaway-yandere]

ansy sweetie you talk as if you don't have 1k+ (2k when-) people starving for your content hskdjsl your 'throwaway' blog is an essential part of genshinblr now. puff out your chest and be proud of your amazing works <3 am glad to have the opportunity to be a part of this anon group and at the end of the day we're all just normal human beings who likes the concept of yanderes bonding together over our unhinged 2d genshin men hehe <3

also, esther, may i remind you that my reblog blog is literally named meitham which is mine and al haitham's ship name lmao- /lh

*squishes 😋 anon's cheeks* hello hello :3

that's what makes matchups fun tho!! it's interesting to see how others can see a dynamic we never realized could develop that way before, or reinterpret how our relationship with that character would look like. also to be fair i saw/heard somewhere that my and alhaitham's mbti matches well so yk you have a point it's a plus that he's an eye candy

- ✾

;;;;----;;; why are you all so nice to me, my writing has ever been treated like this before i started this blog–"2k when" pls I'd be deceased once that happens I thought I'd fade away after 1k hAHAHHA–

Huhuhu thank you so much for your kind words ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ (⁠´⁠；⁠ω⁠；⁠｀⁠) I'm glad to hear you didn't regret signing up to be Alhaitham's assistant cause hoo boy there's more trouble for you with 5wirl lol–

Esther why didn't you give me a hint bro–

Oh and you're not excused too, *pulls 😋's cheeks too* don't forget I'll be waiting for you after these matchups 😋 anon nyehheheeh

But yeah fr matchups are fun!!! After romanticaa gave me a matchup I think about how Tighnari would react to my bullcrap ever now and then lmao. Like "if Tighnari sees me crying over this 69/100 score he'd probably tell me mistakes are part of the process before forcing me to study" and all random platonic!tighnari thoughts lolololol–

Alhaitham is definitely an eye candy but I don't want to admit that I swear I'm loyal dain and ayato pls put your swords away I promise you there won't be another sword user joining the fray i promise please please don't kill me–

[shyampyari]

Ok but the big question is: BRC Mahabharat or Starbharat? I think both are pretty much equal for me. The CGI, war sequences, and glamorous sets of Starbharat are pretty much unparalleled. On the other hand, the footage of BRC is grainy at best (although it's made in the 80s so allowances have to be made.) I think Starbharat gets too dramatic and almost... filmy at times, particularly in the death scenes, while BRC allows the characters to emote without devolving into melodrama. I love the way Starbharat has tried to modernise the epic a bit to make it more relatable to the progressive part of today's audience (eg: Shikhandini fighting in the Panchal war, Draupadi getting to threaten Dusshasan with his own sword, etc.) while BRC reflects the more traditional values of the 80s. The casting is fantastic in both cases, but I think Starbharat missed a trick with the ages of the cast. Like, the actress playing Kunti is actually younger than all the actors playing her sons and Pooja Sharma (Draupadi) too. Riya Deepsi, who plays Gandhari was only 19/20, which makes her as old as the actor playing Abhimanyu. The main place where I criticise Starbharat and where BRC wins out is the treatment of Karna. Oh boy, I could go on for ages about this-- but I really don't like what Starbharat has done with Karna. He's a very nuanced character, yes he suffers a lot in his life, but he has his fair share of jerk moments which simply cannot be justified/excused. He called for Draupadi's vastraharan because she rejected him for being a sutaputra at her swayamvar. Yes, it was a terribly casteist reason to reject him, but it stil doesn't justify Karna actively participating in her disrobing and calling her a whore. Also, Abhimanyu's death scene. Canonically, Karna is just as cold-blooded and ruthless as Duryodhan in killing Abhimanyu. Not once does he feel remorse for ganging up on a mere teenager, not once does he try to dissuade Duryodhan, and he definitely doesn't hug Abhimanyu before embracing him, as Starbharat has shown. BRC's Karna is the best-written Karna out there. I mean, he has his hero moments and he has his asshole moments. The audience are allowed to both sympathise with him and call him out. Whereas, Starbharat reduces him to St Karna. Thoughts?

Lmao I'm in splitS

YK CONCLUSION IS THAT I CAN'T REALLY CHOSE BECAUSE BOTH OF THEM ARE *chef's kiss* so yea but the way you put it really does put a person in delima

[taxicabinmemphis]

Prince Charming -  Chapter 2

chapter one - chapter two - chapter three - chapter four - chapter five - chapter six Indications of Janus lying are in italics but fair warning I do use italics on some words Janus says that aren’t lies bc yk they’re italics and they’re used for emphasis and Janus says some sTufF in this so idk just keep an eye out lol

Word count - 3,204 Pairing - Intrulogical, Prinxiety (I didn’t plan it, it just kinda happened and I rolled with it), pre Moceit, platonic Logicality Warnings - some characters are a lil insensitive in spots but I wouldn’t call them unsympathetic, creativitwins and Loceit angst ig (not shippy at all), swearing, food mention, sword fighting, self-deprecation from most sides bc they’re all wrecks, a character gets a lil hurt, pining, and then there’s Remus-typical behavior (body horror mentions, sexual innuendo/mentions of sexual stuff, and other stuff heh), if there’s anything else that should be tagged or put in the warnings, tell me!

A yellow light with a size similar (if not a little bigger) to that of a softball appeared in front of Virgil’s face for half a second before disappearing. When it faded, the sides could see Virgil’s mouth had closed and his gaze was directed to the floor. The room was enveloped in an agonizing silence.

“I told you we’d know, Patton,” Roman said quietly, with no real bite in his words.

---

“No matter that!” Janus exclaimed, interrupting the uncomfortable silence. “You won’t be getting your crown jewels.”

“Looks like another lie, snake face!” Roman exclaimed, jumping back into the adversarial mood.

“It seems the red prince is running out of nicknames!” Remus teased. “Waste them all on Virgil, back when you were so intently hating him?”

Roman flinched; Remus had clearly hit a sore spot. “Take out your frustrations on my sword, you contemptuous, chaotic cephalopod!”

Remus laughed. “I like that! Lovely alliteration, dear brother. Though, it is something you’ve always seemed to excel at. Take with Virgil again--”

Roman swung his sword at Remus, red in the face and white at the knuckles. Remus parried it easily, clearly unsurprised by his brother’s attack. Neither sword moved for a moment, and Remus laughed again.

“So easily provoked, Roman? I expected better from a prince,” Remus said with a smirk. “Does talk about your...dare I say...regrets or unflattering moments make you want to maim a fellow side?”

Roman glared at him and shook his head, pushing his sword against his brother’s before striking at the green-clad side’s left shoulder. His sword was parried again.

“Not really.” The prince blocked a blow to the head, the swords in place there for a moment. “Just you.”

He pushed the Duke’s sword from his head and made a swipe at the legs. Remus jumped back but took a jab at Roman’s torso.

“Or,” Remus continued as if Roman hadn’t replied, “are you still in denial of the way you treated the purp man? Are you refusing to address it for fear of him realizing your mistakes...or of him admitting he was never fond of you in the first place and likely never will be?”

“STOP!” Roman shouted while disarming his brother, the rapier clattering to the floor. Roman held the tip of the sword in front of Remus’ nose.

“What is it, Roman?” Remus asked, alarmingly unfazed by the sharp metal so close to his face. “You cast me as the villain. This is me playing the part!”

Any small amount of movement Roman had been showcasing at that moment ceased, and Remus chuckled, using his brother’s stillness to back away from the sword. After taking a few steps back, the Duke put his hands up in a surrender-like position.

“Aren’t we antagonists supposed to be pushing your buttons, fucking with your mind to try to get you to lose? Is that not a classic villain tactic?”

Remus extended his leg to where his sword lay on the floor, still holding his gaze with a stiff Roman, and kicked the sword into the air where he caught it and immediately hit Roman’s sword to the side, disarming him.

“Or I could press different buttons if your demonization of Virgil is too fresh and painful a wound. I certainly have a lot to work with!”

Roman growled out a sound of anger, picking up his sword. “Oh, Remus, you forget.” He struck a hard blow to the dark side’s rapier. “I’m your brother too.”

Their fighting returned to a proper speed, Roman and Remus seeming equal.

“You crave attention and validation, which is probably the only reason you agreed to participate in today’s adventure,” Roman started, a grunt accompanying a few of his words. “You find it difficult, nearly impossible, to receive the latter, so you settle for being the most chaotic and disturbing version of yourself you can be in the hopes of a couple of spare glances in your direction.”

Remus’ confident smirk faltered.

“You haven’t argued against Logan sifting through your contributions in the hope that he will give you a spare compliment or show any sort of appreciation,” Roman added. “He’s logic, so he’s honest with no added emotions. You appreciate this, as there is no disgust-fueled fire that he uses to insult your creations.”

Roman felt Remus’ strikes get weaker.

“You’ve never known a true compliment or real validation, so anytime Logan doesn’t react negatively to your contributions makes you happy. Who can imagine what would happen if he complimented your work?”

Roman started to gain a clear upper hand, walking forward as Remus crept back.

“Maybe you’d...I don’t know...regret lodging that throwing star in his forehead,” Roman said with an air of nonchalance, a small smirk growing as he spotted Remus’ eyes widening and his grip on his sword loosening. “Regret shutting him up like everyone else does when he’s the only one who actually listens.”

Remus’ cuts got more reckless, less on target, and he was barely following the red prince’s sword.

“We’re creativity, insecurity is in our job description. You know Thomas will likely never do what you suggest him to,” Roman tacked on. “So you do everything to get your ideas noticed. Commented on. Even if it’s negative. But when Logan says something logical—not unkind—what do I know, maybe he’s even said something nice...you have a taste of validity. You experience appreciation."

Remus’ face hardened, and thrust his sword at Roman’s neck, only for the prince to parry it expertly.

“My only regret, dear brother,” Roman continued, walking forward so Remus’ back hit the cold, stone wall behind him, “is that after the original happiness that came from the logical side’s kind words subsides, you realize that you’re grasping at the straws of what everyone else has. And that, Remus, is a shame.”

The rapier fell to the floor.

Roman smiled at his win, sheathing his longsword. “You’re right, Remus! Pouring salt into the enemy’s wounds is a magnificent tactic! Thanks for the advice. Now, I’m taking this…” Roman picked up the rapier, “...and I’m taking it with me.”

---

Janus charged at Logan.

"Why are you participating in Roman's fantastical escapade so loyally, Janus?" Logan queried, blocking Janus’ attack, thankful he’d chosen a sword who’s wavy blade gave him the advantage of causing his opponent discomfort when their sword would collide with his. "You strike me as one of the last of us who would agree to such an unrealistic and far-fetched activity.”

Janus shrugged, the discomfort caused by his sword’s collision with Logan’s wavy-bladed sword showing visibly. “Everyone else did. And I definitely wanted to be stuck as the only side dealing with Thomas for a whole day.”

Logan raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think any of us want you to be the only one dealing with Thomas for an entire day.”

“Fair enough.”

Janus’ sword clashed into Logan’s, and it took the deceitful side everything not to loosen his grip on his sword because of the uncomfortable vibrations the intense collision with the flamberge caused. Logan held his sword horizontally over his head, never letting his grip falter, as Janus stared the logical side deep in the eye. The yellow-clad side took forceful steps forward, causing Logan to take several steps back.

Janus, upon noticing that if Logan were to go back further, he would trip and fall into broken glass, relented his aggressive pushing. He took a step back as he knew Logan would use his moment of kindness to his advantage, and thrust his sword at the side’s chest, turning it into a horizontal cut when Logan dodged it by moving to his right.

“That was a purely illogical mistake you just made, Janus,” Logan criticized. “One that could have been easily avoided.”

“You shouldn’t be thanking me, Logan,” Janus said with an annoyed growl. “It’s not like I saved you from tripping and falling into broken glass or anything.”

Logan’s movements froze for half a second before he quickly composed himself. “Thank you, I suppose,” he said after a pause, half-heartedly aiming a strike at the deceitful side’s head.

Eventually, Janus and Logan’s swordfight had escalated to become much harsher. Janus was using the range his sword gave him well, and Logan’s wavy-bladed sword was only becoming more useful as his strikes became harder and more uncomfortable for the serpentine side to bear.

On the other side of the room, Patton tripped and cut his ankle on a piece of glass; the surprised but pained yelp that accompanied it caused Janus’ head to turn. Logan ignored the fatherly side’s exclamation and took Janus’ reflexive breach of focus as an opportunity to gain a more significant advantage. Janus was barely able to block the strike the logical side made at his left shoulder but ended up having to take a multitude of steps back and he ended up at a lower level.

Logan withheld a triumphant smirk, eyeing a nearby wall in his peripheral vision. Cornering Janus would make his victory almost guaranteed.

“Getting tired, Logan?” Janus said through gritted teeth.

“I thought you would be the fatigued one,” Logan replied in return.

Janus growled at him and reluctantly removed all of his focus from Patton and returned it to him and Logan’s sword fight.

“Does your function of self-care make it difficult to let Patton get hurt, much like it did earlier when you spared me an undesirable encounter with broken glass?” Logan inquired, and Janus couldn’t tell whether the logical side was teasing or genuinely curious. Janus supposed it was probably the latter as Logan had very little capacity for that type of teasing but still acted on the hypothesis that Logan’s motivations lied with the former.

Janus slammed his sword at Logan’s violently, making him raise an eyebrow. The action prompted Logan to return the amounts of force Janus was using and more. With every one of Janus’ harder swings, Logan’s were more intense. The indigo side could see the discomfort parrying his sword brought Janus was weighing on him.

Before long, Logan was hardly having any trouble walking forwards and pushing the yellow-clad side back. Janus’ arms and shoulders were starting to shake. A few seconds later, Janus felt his back make contact with the wall. Not roughly, not in any way that would hurt, but it still demonstrated Logan’s present superiority.

Janus gave him a menacing glare showing his current disdain for the logical side that would probably dissolve after this whole sword fighting fiasco was over.

“It seems I have you cornered, Janus,” Logan observed. “If you surrender now, you could make this much easier and less troublesome for both of us.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Janus retorted, flailing his sword at Logan in an embarrassing attempt at a strike to his neck.

“We could also,” Logan continued, easily blocking the strike, “sit back and watch the others’ shenanigans after we have agreed on the terms of your surrender.”

Janus gave Logan a smirk. “Oh Logan, no matter how fun that sounds, I’m not ready to give up yet.”

He turned his head to look at where Virgil and Patton were on the other side of the room, Logan’s gaze following. Patton had wrapped his ankle up in cloth and was looking significantly better, and Virgil was standing stock still, gaze directed at the ground. Patton was pacing in worry, most likely scared his friends would end up severely hurting each other. Virgil was unnaturally unbothered by this and was showing absolutely no emotion. His body refused to even give any hint of movement. Logan couldn’t be sure the anxious side was breathing. The behavior Virgil was displaying was concerning and not like him at all.

“Virgil,” Janus started and said side’s head raised to look Janus in the eye, “do me a favor and engage Patton in a sword fight. And don’t even think of going easy on him.”

A yellow light similar to the one seen the first time Janus ordered Virgil to do something appeared in front of Janus’ lips and flew over to Virgil, disappearing as it made contact with his head. Patton’s attention had been gained at the utterance of his name, and his expression held only what was sheer terror. Fighting his dark strange son was the last thing he wanted to do. But as it would seem, he was helpless to prevent such an event from occurring.

Logan watched with concealed horror as Virgil’s body turned robotically to face Patton, whose eyes were wide and cheeks flushed in fear and apprehension. Virgil drew his sword, a black bladed katana with a purple hilt, and raised it in front of him while getting into a fighting stance. His gaze locked on the moral side, no emotion or familiarity showing in his heterochromatic eyes.

“I’m sure you’re feeling absolutely at ease and unworried right now, Logan,” Janus remarked, slight mockery residing in his tone. He pushed himself off and away from the wall Logan had cornered him against. “Would a blow to the head ease your fulfilling tranquility?”

Logan turned away from Patton and Virgil, directing a hard glare at the lying side. He parried the strike Janus made at his head, and then directed another one at his adversary’s neck. The strikes Logan was making no longer held any mercy or restraint that could’ve been there at the beginning. “Why would you do that? You know how hard it must be on Patton to engage in a violent and aggressive activity with anyone, much less his best friend and the side he sees most as a son.”

Janus didn’t reply, focusing only on Logan’s sword. Logan noticed that Janus’ face was seeming to withhold emotion, the snake side’s jaw set and eyes contorted into a glare that appeared to be forced.

“Not to mention, Patton is wounded, Janus,” Logan reminded him, deflecting a thrust at his solar plexus. “You were so concerned a few minutes ago, but now you’re forcing him to not only walk on the foot but also to fight on the foot? The wound may not be anything severe, but as a function of self-preservation, don’t you care about him?”

Logan could hear a growl sound from Janus’ throat. “I couldn’t let you think that now could I?”

Logan’s eyebrows furrowed, the intensity in his strikes faltering. “You felt like you needed to prove something to me, didn’t you? That you don’t care about us.”

Janus made no indication that Logan was correct, but started to strike harder.

“You don’t need to prove anything to me, Janus. I know what you can do, I know how cruel you can act and how caring you can be.” Logan paused, not wanting to overstep or make assumptions. “And, I don’t need to say anything if you don’t want me to.”

“Patton should’ve been sword fighting like the rest of us anyway,” Janus stated, practically ignoring Logan’s previous statement. “Maybe he wouldn’t have gotten himself hurt.”

Logan’s eyes narrowed at that. “Patton being a kind and gentle person is in no way a problem.” His words were accompanied by harsher cuts to Janus’ head and torso. Logan was starting to back him up again.

“It can be quite annoying, though, can’t it?” Janus snarled rhetorically.

Logan’s ferocity had returned to what it was directly after Janus ordered Virgil to fight Patton, not suspecting Janus’ previous statement of relaying any falsehoods.

As the fighting continued, Logan took note of how Janus’ incredibly long sword would likely not bode well in a shorter range. Deciding to use this to his advantage, Logan got in closer to Janus without pushing the side back. He struck a hard blow to the Zweihander that forced the sword to Logan’s right. Logan took this opportunity to give a small but effective kick to the deceitful side’s right knee, causing him to fall to his knees. He then easily disarmed Janus, and let the Zweihander clatter to the floor. Logan sheathed his flamberge and then picked up the black and yellow blade.

“It seems your...tactic of evoking an emotional response from me by causing distress on my fellow sides did not prove fruitful in your attempt for victory.”

“Maybe not, but it made the fight last longer,” Janus replied. “Besides, it was not fun at all. I mean, did you see the look on Patton’s face?”

Logan’s grip on Janus’ sword tightened. “I am currently finding it...difficult to restrain myself from knocking you out with your own weapon.”

Janus smirked. “Such emotion from the logical side, hmm? I thought you were the cold one with no emotions. I guess it figures that you’d have a capacity for anger and other emotions if you already experience a great deal of love.”

Any movement Logan was currently engaged in paused. “...What? What do you mean?”

“Come on, Logan,” Janus said smoothly, starting to stand on his feet, Logan instinctively pointing the sword at his throat. “You admitted it in the Q&A! Look at you, defending Patton like that, you...care about him, you love him. And even still, you care about me, the kick you gave to my knee was just enough to take me down and nothing more, and you totally wanted to fight me in the first place. You despise Roman, criticizing him when he advocates engaging in violent activity, obviously trying to protect him. Oh, and don’t get me started on Remus. You volunteered to sift through his contributions.”

“And debunk them, as well as expose them for being unrealistic and dangerous.”

“Yes, but say those things to Thomas. I haven’t had Remus complain about you to me once, totally implying that you’ve said downright terrible things about his creativity to him. While I’m sure much of this comes from your function as logic and what is a tendency to show any and all emotion on a topic that doesn’t require or call for it, there’s surely something else behind it. How could you not attach yourself to the one person who listens to you? Or will you not admit this as you’re scared he only listens to you because you listen to him? As a trade, a deal, an arrangement of begrudging respect and nothing more. You’ll listen to his ideas and he’ll listen to your opinions and criticisms, but you’re scared he only does it out of courtesy. But, Logan. Dear, sweet Logan. He listens to you. He’s the only one who does. And, what of motivations? Do they matter to that pesky little thing that is love?”

Logan gulps, his face reddening. He pushed the tip of the Zweihander closer to Janus’ throat. Any movement further would make the sword touch the skin of his neck, and perhaps break it. There was a long silence as Janus moved his hands up and above his head in a surrender-like position. Logan’s eyes stayed on him unwaveringly, but his mind was somewhere else.

It was almost as if they were in a staring contest, one neither of the two was focused on. Logan was raking over Janus’ words, hoping that the deceitful side would be lying the one time he wanted him to be, and Janus was feeling victorious despite his defeat.

Logan would have to leave the side eventually, either to help his fellow knights in their sword fights or later when they all would leave Reptania. But Janus was wrong, he was lying, he was messing with his mind. He had to be.

“You won, Logan. Yes, I’ll admit it. But we both know that I was right.”

~

Hope you enjoyed chapter two! Meant to post on Thursday but school happened. I love y’all, thanks, and chapter three which will happen sometime in the next week!

~

Prince Charming taglist: @the-sympathetic-villain @justanotherhumanstuff

[starryseo]

After the young king your husband Woojin dies. The young Queen is left alone with her 5 children (00line and Jeongin pls oretend for the sake of the au). She has to rule a country, fight the courts intrigues and take care of her children. Can she manage w the help of her royal advisors Chan Changbin and Minhonor will she fail?

dear lord this got so much longer than i thought it would but it was such an interesting idea!!! tysm for sending it in!! im on mobile so can't add a read more cut, sorry! :(

oh god okay this is such a Wild idea, i love it! first of all, why'd you have to kill woojin :((( i can imagine him to be such a great father and king!! in public, he keeps them in check so they're never too rowdy, but he never restricts their freedom or fun bc they're kids yk, he's not gonna shove all the royal teaching stuff on them at such a young age, he wants them to enjoy their lives. if they do get out of hand -- which is only ever occasionally bc they have great parents! -- he just tilts his head and raises an eyebrow at them and they know they've gone too far. he won't do anything in public except keep them closer, but he doesn't need to do much bc the kids are all pouting that they've upset their dad so they're all rushing to hold onto his hand anyway. he'll speak to them in private afterwards - he never raises his voice at them, he'll have a good conversation. but he's always grinning by the end of it bc the boys are all frowning and pouting, jeongin's in tears and jisung's not far off, and he can't help but just give them all a massive best hugs bc those are his boys and he just loves them so much. he loves spending time with his boys, always trying to hurry up meetings so that he can play with them. he especially enjoys when they all gang up on him for sword fighting training and when he goes down bc obviously he's gonna let them win, he's dragging them all on the ground with him too, and you always come in to see them just laying down on top of woojin like a dog pile (jisung grabs your hand and before you know it, theyre using you as a cushion too!)

when he passes away, they're heartbroken. they never want to go sword fighting or horse riding, they can't even bear walking past the throne room. they have a vague understanding of what's happened - dad's not around anymore, mum's crying to sleep every night, everyone in the kingdom is quiet and sad and weeping. they never leave each other alone. all five of them stick together, and whenever possible, they stay by your side because despite the strong front you put up for them, they can see the red in your eyes and the bags beneath them. you have trouble sleeping in your bedroom - the room you shared with woojin - so they're always trying to make you stay with them when you tuck them into bed. despite having separate rooms, they're all bunking in hyunjin, jisung and felix's shared room bc it's the biggest. they sleep 2 to a bed and on your better days you join with the single boy on the last bed. other days, you know you'll break down when you see them bc they all embody little parts of woojin and it's all too fresh and it breaks your heart bc you love your sons but some days it just hurts too much to see them. on those days you stay in a guest room, getting little sleep -- if any at all -- and you reminisce all the good days, letting your tears soak your pillow.

the royal advisors do everything they can to help you. you take over woojin's role in meetings and making decisions over your country. usually you and woojin would have discussions, but now you're sitting in conversation with chan and minho and changbin. they're great help, each one amazing at their specific job. you bury yourself in work, even if you're falling apart inside, you can't and won't let this kingdom suffer - you're not just doing this for woojin, you're doing this for yourself, your family, your people. days go past quicker when you're surrounded by financial records and daily reports. but this all comes with a cost.

you spend nearly all of your days in the royal office. mostly alone. sometimes chan, minho or changbin will keep you company, going over files over work, but they're mostly keeping an eye on you, bringing in food and drinks because you focus too much on work at times. you eat because you know what theyre doing. your behaviour isn't just affecting you.

the boys are more rowdy now. they barely see you because you're always writing away in your office. they ask you to play and all they get is a "sweetheart, i can't right now, maybe your brothers are free, go find them" or "in a bit honey, come back in an hour, okay?" and when they come back you're going through a new pile, too busy to spend time with them. they get moodier. they love each other, but they're constantly fighting bc that should get your attention right? you always hated when they fought. the maids and servants keep it from you. they dont tell you about your boys' tantrums, they quickly replace whatever's broken, and make sure nothing leaves the castle. it's not fair to you bc you have the weight of the world on your shoulders and it's dragging you down.

it takes seungmin falling from a tree in the garden for the secrecy to break. he's always been the most cool-headed of the boys, mostly bickering to annoy the others, always joining in the fights last - if and when he did join. the others were fighting. again. god knows who started it but soon enough, jisung and hyunjin were wrestling, felix tried pulling jisung back and was elbowed in the nose, someone's legs stuck out and kicked jeongin, and seungmin just couldn't take it. he ran outside, far away and then up the closest tree. he didn't want to be seen or heard and only the nesting birds were witness to the anguish he let out up there. when a servant was calling out for him at dinner time, he was still teary-eyed, his hands weak from all the thrashing and punching and he lost his footing on the way down.

no one could hide that from you. you begged chan to finish off whatever papers you had left, although he was already on it. minho had also taken the liberty to lock your office door and changbin asked your maid to hide your keys bc now more than ever your family, your boys, needed you.

you stayed up with your boys that night. you had dinner in the bedroom since seungmin was bedridden, you fed him food, and snuck in sweet desserts as the others surrounded the bed too. you held each of them close to you, unwilling to not have at least two of them in your arms at any moment. you promised to do better, be better. and you wouldn't -- couldn't -- break that.

hyunjin was a surprisingly great babysitter. the other boys listened to him well, except when he occasionally bossed them around to sneak in sweets or do his chores, but he lead them well at all other occasions. jisung was a natural at horse riding. he kept in close contact with all the workers and the stables became his second home. he taught the other boys as well, and even tended to the animals when he could. he often ventured out of the castle with minho in tow, and he learnt more about his people and the workings of society from minho than anyone could ever think to know. felix was a whiz in the kitchen and, societal norms be damned, he had a great palate and was a huge help in the kitchens. changbin taught him how to take inventory and manage the stock, familiarising himself with the vast food places in the kingdom. they both journeyed out to other kingdoms to introduce new foods to your lands. seungmin was amazing at all things money. numbers came easy to him and he put himself in charge of all financial happenings and no one batted an eyelash. jeongin was still learning, but only from the best advisor in the castle -- chan, of course. he was their little apprentice and was quick to learn anything and everything he could to help out as well.

it wasn't a perfect system, you all had off days and bad moods, but you worked together, as a family, and it was beautiful.

[bthump]

why do you think do so many people believe that griffith used guts like a tool? I never really got that impression, their interactions were always friendly and even griffith‘s monologue doesn’t indicate that he thought of guts as a tool and casca‘s monologue pretty much confirmed that griffith doesn’t want guts for his strength

Man I have no idea, I mean literally the entire point of the Golden Age is that Griffith didn’t see Guts as a tool but rather had some pretty damn significant feelings for him, and the story was in no way subtle about getting that point across lol.

Well okay that was a lie I do have some ideas.

I think scanlations probably contribute. A lot of mistakes, biased wording choices, etc add up when the translators are already inclined to hate Griffith and see him as evil. There are quite a few instances where you can compare the Band of the Hawk scanlation to the Dark Horse translation and see how biased translations make Griffith seem darker. As a minor example, during the Promrose Hall speech when he’s talking to Charlotte the BotH scanlation translates a phrase as “they serve me well,” where the DH translation says “they are excellent troops.”

I also think the 97 anime is a contributor. One of my major issues I have with it as an adaption is that the narrative changes a lot of minor details in Guts’ narrative, the overall effect of which is that Guts’ decision to leave is reframed as noble and correct instead of the mistake it’s shown to be in the manga.

For instance, one of these changes that you wouldn’t necessarily think twice about is the scene of Guts training at Godo’s by slicing falling logs in half. In the manga we see this once in a flashback when he gets knocked unconscious during the Wyald fight - the logs fall on Guts, he breaks his sword and a few bones, Erika tells him he’s going to kill himself, and figures out that he wants to fight Zodd again because Zodd beat him once. Then he wakes up, fights Wyald, and Casca cries about how he should run away. In the anime there is no Wyald fight, we see this scene during the half-episode at Godo’s. What happens is the logs fall on Guts, and Erika’s like, oh I guess it was too much to handle. Cue training montage interspersed with the speech Guts gave to Casca in the manga about his sword and dream blah blah blah. At the end he does the waterfall log thing again, successfully this time.

In the manga it was a revealing moment about Guts’ not actually admirable motivations. In the anime it was played completely straight as Guts pursuing his noble dream of being the best.

And that’s the vibe throughout the anime. When Guts thinks that he’ll never swing his sword in service to another again after a cliched moment where he successfully completes his training montage by doing the thing he failed to do at the start, it gives off a completely different, much more sincere and positive vibe than when he says it to Casca and Casca throws leaves in his face and calls him a dick who sounds exactly like Griffith.

To be very clear I don’t think the anime actually portrays Griffith as using Guts either. It’s still a complete misreading of his character. But the anime fails to illustrate Guts’ major flaws and inclines viewer sympathy fully towards him, which probably does make it easier to misread the story as being about Guts’ noble decision to get out from under Griffith’s thumb lmao. Also I can’t comment on the Japanese VAs, but Guts’ English VA delivers a lot of his musing on Griffith’s awesomeness with a tone of bitterness and resentment that simply isn’t there in the manga, which also doesn’t help.

The last somewhat reasonable reason I can think of for misunderstanding the whole story is the fact that Griffith sacrificed the band, became an evil demon, and raped Casca. For a lot of people that does make it hard to see him in a good light as a human, and I can understand being unwilling to sympathize with a character who later rapes another character, and wanting to see him as evil the whole time, even if it does mean misunderstanding both yk, the nature of the sacrifice and magically transforming into a monster and misunderstanding the plot. Like I think it’s still indicative of poor reading comprehension, and this point dissolves away when they get to Guts and the Beast of Darkness debacle and decide that Guts is still a great dude lmao, but yk, if I’m giving people the benefit of the doubt and assuming they’ve only read the Golden Age or whatever, and don’t give enough fucks about the story to think about the details, I think this is fair.

After that it’s all just homophobia and stupidity, frankly, and I’m willing to say that this describes the vast majority of Berserk fans who think Griffith was just using Guts.

I mean the alternative to that - the textual, stated plain as day in the story reason - is that Griffith cared about Guts. A lot. In a very homoerotic way. Griffith was emotionally dependent on Guts to the point where he became more important to him than his dream. Textually. And Guts didn’t leave because he felt used, Guts left because he wanted to be even closer to Griffith, because he wanted Griffith to look at him. Textually. Pretty gay stuff there. You gotta deny it somehow if it makes you, a straight dude, uncomfortable.

Like honestly few things are more validating to my understanding of Berserk than dudes willfully misreading literally the basic plot of the Golden Age because it’s too gay for them lol. Like they can’t even just claim Griffith liked Guts as a friend and Guts wanted to be his bff, they gotta deny it all and insist that Griffith is a cold emotionless sociopath who saw Guts as a tool and Guts wanted to escape him. And it’s because they know it’s gay as fuck. There is no “just bros” there.

[bthump]

frame-to-frame replied to your post “frame-to-frame replied to your post “chaoticunneutral replied to...”

That’s fair, this prob does partly come down to semantics – i.e. his being purposefully v. unconsciously unaware. B/c I agree in those terms that Griffith is purposefully unaware of his guilt, but I’m resistant to Griffith being unconsciously unaware generally, which this can easily be conflated with – that he’s so emotionally stunted he can’t recognize his feelings for what they are. A valid take ofc, just I think not my cup of tea? Though I’m open to being convinced lol. This is such a subtle point to debate lol, but I still think both can be at play wrt his feelings for Guts – purposeful unawareness alongside an acknowledgement (on some level) of his attraction to him. Griffith is all about emotional repression, we know that, he needs it to keep his dream alive. I just don’t think this is incompatible with him also pining for Guts I think it comes down to how in control of his feelings he thinks he is. What sells me on this reading is “How long ago did someone I was supposed to have in hand instead gain such a strong hold on me?” b/c that brings control right into the way he thinks about his attraction to Guts. He can still acknowledge his attraction & even try to seduce Guts while also writing those feelings off as a crush/lust (which he can tell himself he’s in control of) Where the purposeful unawareness comes into play is wrt the true significance of these feelings: that they pose a threat to his dream. B/c however you read Griffith’s awareness, the “do I need a reason” scene is significant in that he has no coping mechanism to explain his actions. He clearly goes the route of purposeful unawareness afterward, but ofc it didn’t have to go that way if they hadn’t been interrupted  I’m not sure I understand why the ch12 friend speech interferes w this, I think your meta still works with this reading, so you’ll have to elaborate pls! B/c to me it seems that either way he’s trying to diminish the depth of his feelings for Guts in response to a perceived rejection from him – and he can still know that what he’s saying is BS in his heart of hearts. Sry for length

Yeah I’d say it’s definitely more of a purposeful unawareness. While I think he is emotionally stunted in some ways, he’s not at all ignorant or lacking in emotional intelligence. LIke he’s actually really (uncannily at times, eg Foss) good at picking up on other people’s feelings, he’s empathetic (eg his interactions with Casca after saving her from the nobleman), he’s very socially aware and competent, etc.

But imo where his own feelings are concerned he has a giant blind spot. And tbh I do think that he is kind of incapable of recognizing a lot of his own feelings, not so much because of naivety but because he’s too used to avoidance and not used to confronting them directly. Like, it’s a willful blind spot, like we’re saying, it’s an ingrained negative coping mechanism. Maybe it started when people started dying at his orders, or maybe earlier, but yk, imo he deals with negative or inconvenient feelings by not dealing with them, by denying them entirely, and because of that he just has very little experience actually trying to understand his own feelings. But yeah like, I don’t think that’s exactly undeniable canon or anything lol, it’s more of a headcanon, and fair enough if it’s not your thing.

Hmm and while I definitely lean heavily on his emotional repression to be fair I def don’t think he’s incapable of examining his own feelings without lying to himself. We’ve seen moments of vulnerable emotional sincerity, eg “maybe it was my dream that killed this boy,” “am I dirty?” “do you think I’m cruel?”

I guess that to me those moments feel fleeting and quickly replaced by the denial and the mask, while I could see others reading those moments and seeing them as glimpses of Griffith’s more typical inner thoughts, which he just hides from others, rather than from himself. But yeah to me it always comes back to that monologue in the river - I just can’t read it as Griffith knowingly lying to Casca, imo it feels like pure bullshitting himself through a near breakdown, and it feels like a very powerful encapsulation of Griffith’s character as a whole. His moments of emotional self awareness don’t last because they’re painful, so they get buried.

But when it comes to Griffith’s feelings for Guts, ia that his denial method of dealing with his feelings isn’t necessarily incompatible with him still pining for Guts. Like guilt is a very different feeling from love, so it makes sense that he’d bury guilt but yk maybe not love. And I agree that self control is a big factor for Griffith, so yeah I could definitely see that if he feels like he’s got a handle on his feelings he wouldn’t need to avoid them/deny them.

And also because thematically Griffith’s feelings for Guts do lead to greater emotional self awareness in contrast to how he buries most of his feelings in pursuit of his dream, it makes sense on that level too that he’d be more aware of his feelings for Guts.

But I like Griffith being an unselfaware idiot who doesn’t even know he’s in love until he’s in a torture chamber lol. I love pining, but I also love the idea of Griffith lying to himself about Guts too, telling himself Guts is just a tool to help him win a war, that Guts will in all likelihood die for him so he has to does see him as just a soldier, etc. And steadfastly refusing to think about his feelings when he can’t cover them with a lie.

Idk I get that it could seem like, awkwardly naive and weird, but the way I imagine it is more like... bear with me because I’m about to get self indulgent and just talk about my Griffith headcanons lol, but basically I don’t picture Griffith sitting down and dwelling on his feelings if he can help it. It’s not like he saved Guts’ life the first or second time and thought “oh why did I do that? weird, idk, he’s a good soldier I guess, that must be it.” The way I see it it’s more like he just puts it out of his mind and doesn’t think about it. He socializes, he reads every book in his study, he learns to be the best at the sword as a teenager, he leads and fights and thinks of tactics, etc etc. Guts spends a lot of his time navelgazing about his feelings, but I don’t think Griffith does

He can think about intellectual things, like his goals and fate and his life philosophy but to me those all feel like smokescreens obscuring the emotional truths behind them. And when he gets too close to thinking about those emotional truths, he would have a million ways to distract himself, like by now I figure he’s just pretty pro at derailing his train of thought onto safer territory.

But yeah like the “do I need a reason” scene could’ve easily lead to a moment of emotional honesty and awareness if they hadn’t been interrupted imo. I mean it already was, it just didn’t get a chance to get very far. And afterwards I could definitely see Griffith contemplating his feelings for Guts honestly, giving thought to the way he cares about him and what it means, because he doesn’t automatically avoid those particular emotions. Maybe he already knows he’s attracted to him, or maybe he doesn’t bc of internalized homophobia, but the realization of love is burgeoning. Or I could see him already knowing and accepting how he feels and wishing Guts would catch up and finally understand that he’s not just another soldier to him. Or I could see him turning his thoughts towards seducing Charlotte, buying more books, investigating the attempted assassination, and deciding to ask Guts for help because he trusts him innately, without ever stopping to properly think about what saving Guts from Zodd meant. (And I default to the last one but I like all three.)

Lastly wrt the Promrose speech I just meant more generally that it’s a direct contradiction in the story that requires the reader to put some thought into Griffith’s character to reconcile it. Griffith prioritizes Guts above his dream, 5 chapters later Griffith says he has no friends. (It also contradicts the river monologue nicely, “for no other’s sake, for him, himself alone... a dream” vs “but if for their sakes, for the sake of the dead, if there’s something I can do, that thing is to win.)

And imo that basically just means that the Promrose speech has to be bullshit because it’s contradicted by actions and words in a much more emotionally revealing moment, but it’s up to the reader to decide if it’s bullshit Griffith has convinced himself is true, or if he’s just lying to Charlotte. Not that it contradicts anything we’re discussing.