#oh the tragedy of learning what it means to love by loving someone who does not love you back

[painacony]

me: im fine

damien bright sessions: i don't know what feelings are real, what wants are worth giving space to, what parts of myself i should hate. is it all of me? i think maybe i'm supposed to hate all of me. but i don't hate you. that's the one thing i do know.

me:

[messrsrarchives]

I wish I could enjoy remadora too but god that man does not care about tonks at all 💀

HE DOES !!! he cares so much 😖

the issue with remus is that his insecurities and his fears of hurting those around him always win. like in wolfstar fics when he pushes sirius away because he doesn't want him to know about his lycanthropy, doesn't want to bring that hardship into sirius' life, it's exactly that.

remus cares so so much about tonks but his insecurities overshadow that and does that excuse what he does? absolutely not, no. but it doesn't negate his care and love for her at all.

he practically begs the woman he loves not to be with him. this man who has lost everything is begging someone he loves not to choose him, to choose someone else, to have a better life than the one he can give her and to not come close because he can't bear the thought of losing her. so he pushes her away. he tells her over and over that they can't do this and although, yes, that hurts tonks, it's not that he doesn't care it's that he truly - through all his insecurities and though having been socialised as lesser - can't see why she wants him.

which is why i love that scene in the hospital wing and why i love remadora fics because we get to see tonks' reaction and that's a wake up call for remus. because he's going through this thinking "it's fine, she'll realise eventually. she'll see soon enough that this is for the best" but she doesn't. and when she lays it all bare for him he lunges for it because oh, ohhhh how he loves her and maybe his love for her doesn't need to be stronger than his hatred for himself, maybe he just needs to be able to feel both simultaneously.

and then the pregnancy happens and it's not just them - it's a child. it's their child. and everything come creeping back because god this man has lost families over and over, they're in the middle of a war (and look how that ended for jily) and he knowsss he's going to be a threat for her.

and this time it's his love for her winning. this time it's his love and care winning like it did in the hospital wing but it's so embedded into his insecurity now because of course it is. he can't escape who he is.

so he leaves. and he comes back. and that's a dick move but it was never because he didn't care, but because he knows she could do better. because he knows her worth and not his own and he wants her to have everything she could possibly have in life because he loves her, and he's okay loving her from a distance if it means she's safe.

like,,, his actions and his way about it are wrong. but they're so understandable through his mind and he's trying so so hard to understand that he deserves to be loved to, trying so so hard to protect her that he doesn't even recognise that he's doing the exact opposite.

he cared about her so much but when you're brought up in a world that never showed you care, when you learn not to care about yourself because there's nothing better, and when everything you've ever cared about ends up dead and gone?

how do you let yourself care with proximity? how do you let yourself even entertain the idea that you are not a risk and you can love and be loved?

so the care presents itself with distance and isolation, which is awful and it hurts tonks so much, but he truly believes he's doing the right thing for the person he loves which is so tragic.

that's the tragedy of remus, i think. that he has so much care and love inside of him but he was never taught how to handle that. he had a few years of it with the marauders and it ends badly, he has so much of this inside of him but he's never been taught how to hold it properly and UGH. so tragic.

but he cared, so much. in his own way, he cared so so much about her

[eyebulb]

I was right to be worried about this episode geez...

- First of... I had a revelation a while back about the Grimoire being the reason they were in court. Happy to have been right about that.

- Stolas being so fucking dramatic has my whole heart... And I'm glad we got a dramatic display of his powers before he lost them.. Byebye big badass bird.. I'm gonna miss you so much.

-Also Stolas framing himself as the mastermind of it all to get rid of ALL blame on Blitz.. Jfc.... My sweet bird...

- Vassago was precious, I love him and am hyped to see him. Yeees bitch hype Stolas up!!

- As awful as Andrealphus is..... He's so fucking funny.... Him tearing off his shirt when Stolas got banned and then swearing at it only being 100 years was so great.

- I suppose their plan is to manipulate Octavia now since they only get to keep his powers and all until she's of age.

- Also, Andrealphus.. I know you're gay.. What's with the suggested incest??

- I stand by the opinion that Stolas was one of those people who didn't necessarily need to reach rock bottom in order to learn cus he was already willing to the idea that he didn't know shit... But... And this sounds so weird to say... But he does tragedy so well.. So I'm still weirdly excited for his journey. Even if I wasn't a fan of him losing his powers.

- the new dynamic between Blitz and Stolas now is also gonna be so fucking interesting... Stolas being openly hated despite walking with someone who's being celebrated. Just wow... I'm so intrigued.

- Blitz taking care of him too... Ugh.. I mean we knew you had it in you with how you treat the ones you love, especially your daughter.. But it's so nice to see you free, my boy.

Ugh... This is gonna be a shitshow... I love the drama.. But just... Man... Oh man... What an episode...

[yuri-is-online]

Keep thinking bout Yutu and his relationship to his dad. Like we know a little more about Ace, Floyd, Azul and Riddle (maybe I miss someone else?) but I was curious about other details or interactions with the other Overblot boys.

Like how does talking with someone who tries his best to not get involved in other people's business like Jamil work for making his parents fall in love (if that's even something Yutu can see happening with how distant he is)? How does Yutu go about trying to lay some clues for Vil without being found when Vil's doing his best (with Rook's help) to figure out what's going on?

Or what about the shenanigans Ortho would get to to ensure Idia and Yuu get together so they can try to stop the apocalypse and how would Yutu feel about having at least one person (his uncle at that!) who he can rely on? Or does Yutu ever find himself in a situation that makes him go "oh, I could've had this with dad if it weren't for the council" whenever Malleus says something deep without realizing?

Gaaaaahhhhh I just really like this au and I wanna ask you so many questions but I also don't wanna be annoying

ask is referencing the fyuuture kid au, information on which can be found here and here, or under the series section on my masterlist.

No one is annoying for asking questions! I have asks for Idia and Leona's Yutus, which I think makes every overblot boy except for Jamil and Vil due for a detailed post. Azul! Yutu is a bit of a grey area since I have talked about him a bunch but haven't done detailed hc for him. Yet anyway, Jade and Floyd got one so he needs one too otherwise it'll bug me.

Jamil! Yutu absolutely has a lot of guilt and self hatred around his entire existence. As I talked about in the post about the main cast, Jamil was executed in Yutu's future, and he feels personally responsible for that. If his dad had never fallen in love with Yuu then he would have had a chance at his freedom, that's how Yutu has come to see it anyway. He doesn't want Jamil to fall in love with Yuu, even if it means erasing his existence. Down that road lies only tragedy, but there is also something so beautiful about the way Jamil interacts with Yuu when he thinks no one is looking. There is a degree of mutual respect for how hard the other works and intense desire for approval and praise he can sympathize with. He just doesn't see a way for this to end well if it's allowed to continue, he's a very pessimistic kid Jamil! Yutu. But then again the others didn't have to see the rotted corpse of their father getting dragged around by a blot phantom and be told by a few angry relatives of Kalim that he is the one who put him there.

Vil! Yutu is a bit afraid of his dad. He knows from personal experience that the man is intense and does not take no for an answer but he's never been in the position to see 1) what a good thing that can be or 2) just how silly that can make him act. He's also NEVER had to contend with the real Rook before. The Rook he's familiar with is a mindless monster, dangerous sure, but with patterns you can memorize and protect yourself from. This guy is just wild, sure his dad says that he's only putting up for his behavior "for now" but someone tell him where the fucking line is??? The last thing he wants is to just say everything and risk ruining the timeline but Vil keeps demanding specifics. The main thing Yutu tries to do is get him cooperating with Idia in learning about blot phantoms, the way he sees it things will be much easier if his two most trusted adults are on the same page. It's not a difficult ask either post chapter six, I think Vil is someone who would want to understand what happened to him on a scientific level to some degree, but oh Yutu. Now you've just made him wonder how you know that little piece of information, not everyone knows about his overblot, but he didn't know that bit did he?

Ortho and Idia! Yutu wind up being very close. Having his uncle on his side puts Yutu in a much more stable place emotionally and mentally than other Yutus. They spend a lot of time analyzing old records about blot and phantoms, everyone else is convinced they're just hyping each other up for some weird PhD project inspired by the Ramshackle Prefect's time at NRC and hey. They aren't exactly wrong. As for how they go about trying to get Idia and Yuu together... it's a lot of anime recommendations and conveniently forgetting they had something else to do. Yutu has just as in depth knowledge of Idia's tastes as Ortho does, and the added bonus of knowing Yuu's, so they search through lists of things, pick out the shows they know will get the two of you talking and then sit back and let you interact. Yutu is genuinely confused about why or if this is working... but Ortho did send him a video of his dad hyping himself up to try and ask you out (he over heated and just hid inside his room instead but hey. It's the thought that counts.)

Malleus! Yutu just got his post here. And yes he does think regularly about what he could have had with his father if things had been different, but a lot of those thoughts come from his sillier moments. Hearing Malleus talk at length about ruins or seeing him confused about how to interact with technology make him seem more... human for lack of a better term to him. He's very familiar with the myth of Malleus Draconia, but he wasn't fathered by a myth. He was fathered by a man who fell in love with a human under very extraordinary circumstances and Yutu wants to know about why. What things did Malleus like most about Yuu? About Twisted Wonderland? If he had gotten a chance to be raised by him what things would Malleus have wanted to teach him? Would he be any different?

Azul! Yutu is also afraid of his dad, but not based on any personal experiences just his own insecurities. He's not a thin guy, he's not in Octavinelle, and he is extremely worried that his dad will see him as some sort of stupid muscle head and be disappointed in having him. He's also, understandably, extremely angry at him when he learns what he did in Book 3 to his parent. Fuck this guy, he'll just save Yuu himself and hopefully if they still get together he'll grow up to be a totally different person when he's born in this good timeline. But there's just something about Azul's approval that he can't help but want now that drives him crazy. Why can't he just be ok with being alone? He has been all this time anyway...

(Meanwhile Azul is deeply impressed with how well Yutu is at disguising himself as a dumb muscle head. Just look at the kid, he's got everyone thinking he just is controlling their shadows while he's actually using a really complicated bit of cosmic magic. Suckers all of them. Not him though. He's not being fooled by anything about Yutu, no sir.)

Leona, Leona, Leona. He's tricky for me to write. Scar apparently has children? In one the the Lion King sequels? Leona's dislike of kids seems to come from his complicated feelings around the throne and his want for people to be independent. I think he would be one of those gruff intense kind of dads who does the whole "we are never getting a pet" thing and then you see him asleep on the recliner with Princess Nooodles III chilling on his lap with him. Anyway back to Yutu-

Leona! Yutu's relationship with his dad is tempered by the fact Leona knows who and what he is from the start and demands to know why he has traveled back in time. He doesn't explicitly say he knows that he is his father or that Yuu is his other parent, just that he knows time travel is involved, so they have a fairly open amount of communication regarding the overblot "business" but not on much else. Yutu has a desire to understand his father and Leona has a desire to not disappoint him. Who would want their dad to be the second prince? He's destined for nothing but a miserable life anyway, all of the responsibility and none of the privilege (outside of the money but lets be real, Leona's ass does not understand that.) I don't think either Leona or Yutu fully understands that his existence is enough for the other to be happy. When they are forced to talk about it they both laugh it off and roll their eyes at how cheesy that sounds but deep down it means a lot to both of them.

Riddle! Yutu has gotten a lot of posts about him and his "hatred" of his dad but I thought I'd take this post to mention I like the idea of Yutu's favorite food being the chestnut tarts/mont blanc that aren't allowed at Unbirthday Parties but that Riddle still wanted to eat anyway. He's a lot like his father in his love of sweets and his determined denial of it, but he isn't the exact same. Also gives him one more thing to pick a fight with Riddle over (his dad doesn't get the big deal, they can just have a private tea party with Yuu and have all the different sweets they want... can't they?)

[wordsandrobots]

So I've never seen anyone badmouth Gaelio as often as you, besides the ones that rightfully complain that he shouldn't have come back. Not that I wholly disagree, but what are your reasons?

Oh, anon. No, no, no. No, you have to understand, I *adore* Gaelio. He's perfect, vengeance arc and all. He is my absolute favourite chew toy. I wouldn't have spent so long writing fanfic focused on what happens to him, mentally speaking, post-canon if I didn't love the obnoxious lavender-tousled prick to death.

Gaelio Bauduin is a man fucked over by his social position, a sweet kid scarred by having been born into an aristocracy, who nevertheless retains enough of a moral compass to change for the better. He learns. He grows. He cares for those closest to him with an earnestness that belies his snobbish, flippant attitude. He genuinely, uncomplicatedly commits to justice and loyalty in ways his upbringing ought by rights to have beaten out of him.

He is additionally the single biggest reason the story ends as badly as it does, on account of being the most hideously self-absorbed dipstick on the face of the solar system.

(Second most hideously self-absorbed, we do have to factor in Iok.)

In another story, Gaelio's gradual dawning realisation that the attitudes he was taught are bullshit would be a process of redemption. His experiences with Ein, his compassion towards Carta, his vitriolic semi-mentor/semi-friend relationship with Julieta, his apology to Mikazuki -- these are the markers of someone learning to be a better person. In another story, he'd be learning to be a hero.

But in this story, his slow personal journey isn't what's important. What matters is how it interacts with a world too cynical to run on heroic narratives. Elion uses him as a political wedge. Tekkadan do not give a rat's arse about what he thinks. McGillis allows no room for an epiphany concerning their friendship until it is far, far too late. In imagining the scales had fallen from his eyes, he railroaded himself into the biggest screw-up of his life.

It's not completely his fault. As I said, he's used and rejected by others, and McGillis did have a damn good go at murdering him. But if he had been slightly more open-minded, slightly more willing to put his money where his mouth was when it came to his disapproval of Gjallarhorn's actions, and slightly less prone to making everything about his feelings -- well maybe he wouldn't have ended a broken, wistful shell of his former self, voluntarily disabling himself and regretting everything he didn't understand.

It's *beautiful*. Seriously. The tenor of your question leads me to believe I should restate my opinion that Iron-Blooded Orphans is a near-perfectly executed tragedy. When I say Gaelio is 'Always Wrong (TM)', I mean that is the part he plays in the tale. The man who makes every possible mistake he could in the course of getting exactly what he thought he wanted. It's a narrative role and he is a fantastic way of filling it because unlike Iok (who exists entirely as a hate-sink), Gaelio *does* have redeeming characteristics. He's loyal and principled. Passionate and determined. Able to adjust his world-view based on his experiences. Ultimately capable of swallowing his pride and admitting he was wrong.

And it doesn't matter one single jot. Things still end in flames, not just in spite of his attempts to do right by those he accidentally doomed but because of those actions.

Also he's a melodramatic brat who canonically used to flirt using Norse mythology, repeatedly injured people on his own side by mistake, got his arse handed to him by children (again, repeatedly), adopted the most on-theme moniker he could while wearing a doofy mask for months on end, and spent Season 1 with a crush on the world's least-hinged cop-brained class-traitor. I denigrate his character in precise proportion to which it is presented as lamentable.

Anyway, to lay off the verbosity for a minute, please also understand that if my opinion on a character is negative in the sense of 'I think the writers fucked this up', I'm unlikely to spend much time creatively cussing them out. For instance, to pick another Gundam example, I don't enjoy Shinn from SEED:Destiny. I get what the writing is going for with him and I think it's a neat plot concept, but I find the actual result grating. It's the same for a lot of the cast. Overall, I just don't rate that show very highly. So I don't talk about it, and I don't expend effort to dig into narrative roles, how characters come across, what that means for other parts of the story, etc. To put it bluntly, it's not worth my time, especially when there are people who *do* like SEED and don't need me raining on their parade.

But I enjoy watching Gaelio and that's exactly why I bad-mouth him. It's more than a passing joke; it's part and parcel of what I love about how Gaelio is implemented, that he's that much of an aristocratic nitwit, and that even when he's making moves towards the broadly 'good' end of the moral spectrum, he's still got a deeply hierarchical attitude. This is a man who, in the middle of quite understandably wanting to get back at somebody who tried to assassinate him, reflects on enjoying being in the heat of battle again after having just beaten-up/killed a bunch of workers trying to break free of colonial rule. There is a *lot* you can dig into about what (and who) Gaelio sees as important and how his attitudes are a perpetual work-in-progress, constrained both by his assumptions and by the alliances he has to make in order to pursue his revenge.

It's well executed, as I said, and I happen to find it extremely compelling. Certainly more so than if he hadn't been resurrected because the show-runners liked his voice actor's performance.

[denny-artsss]

Caine throws a "prom night" as the adventure and Gangle (reluctantly) agreed to be Jax's date and Jax basically shuts down because he did NOT expect Gangle to look that good in a dress, like DAMN

Caine: HELLO EVERYONE!! I HAVE SOMETHING SPECIAL PLANNED FOR TONIGHT!

Jax: you're gonna learn to speak in your inside voice?

Caine: SILLY JAX! THIS IS MY INSIDE VOICE! NOW! WERE GONNA HAVE A PROM NIGHT!

Zooble: what are we school girls? Ragatha and Gangle be playing bingo like they're in a retirement home.

Ragatha: we play cause its fun not cause were old.

Gangle: bingo-

Caine: COME ON IT WILL BE FUN! YOU CAN DRESS UP IN DRESSES AND COSTUMES! ITS TONIGHT AT 8!

Jax: is it mandatory to show up?

Caine: YES! ITS ALSO MANDATORY TO HAVE A PARTNER!

*everyone finds a partner except Gangle and Jax*

Gangle: *slowly backs away*

Jax: *pulls her close* Gangle! My best friend!

Gangle: *raises an eyebrow*

Jax: best- frienemy? Whatever. You coming to prom with me.

Gangle: that sounded more like a statement than a question.

Jax: UGH YOURE SO PRETENTIOUS! FINE! oh my dear Gangle, light of my life, would you make me the HUGE honor of going to Caines stupid prom with me? *ironic*

Gangle: you forgot to drop on your knees and beg

Jax: YES OR NO

Gangle: *sighs* I would've gone with you anyway. There's no one left, big brain. But thanks for humiliating yourself I guess.

Jax: whatever. Have fun finding something to put on that body of yours. We'll see who's gonna be humiliated. *walks away laughing*

*Gangle walks with the others to look for something to wear*

Gangle: I'm not forgiving you guys for leaving me to be his date for prom.

Zooble: a risk I'm willing to take as long as I'm Jax-free.

Ragatha: yeah sorry Gangle. My Hate for Jax is bigger than my love for you.

Gangle: that's understandable. *picks up a nice black dress and puts it on* huh- this doesn't look too bad does it?

Ragatha: no it actually looks really good! Here- *hands her some accesories* ooo

Zooble: Gangle trust me.you don't need to get this dressed. Jax will probably just show up in his pajamas.

Gangle: pfft. Like If i was dressing for him anyway- *admires herself in the mirror*

Zooble: I think ill just slap a tie on and call it a day.

-time skip-

Jax: *knocks at Gangles door* you abstracted yet?

Gangle: I wish. *opens the door and looks at him* wow you actually put on some decent clothing-

Jax: ah this? I just stole it from those 2 npcs having a wedding now the groom is naked.

Gangle: there was a whole box of costumes downstairs. *steps out of her room into the light*

Jax: *stares at her, a blush creeping on his face*

Gangle: what? Does it look wierd?..

Jax: no- no it looks- *cleans his throat* it looks good- *hands her a red rose*

Gangle: *smiles softly and puts it on top of her head* how do I look?

Jax: beauti- I mean you look okay- *comes closer and wipes the running mascara off her face*

Gangle: I shouldn't have put make up on with my tragedy mask.

Jax: what happened to your comedy mask?

Gangle: Caine keeps forgetting to fix it-

Caine: DID SOMEONE MENTION MY NAME? MY MY! YOU BOTH LOOK STUNNING- oh wow Gangle I don't think that dress is prom appropriate

Gangle: huh? *looks down*

Jax: SHUT UP CAINE SHUT UP I WILL FORCE FEED YOU DENTAL FLOSS SHUT UP.

Caine: alright then-

Gangle: *walks with him to the prom* wow you must really like this dress-

Jax: *blushes embarrassed* yeah well- I also just really DISlike Caine.

Bubble: does this mean you're my date for the prom Caine?

Caine: ... *pops bubble*

.

(Also heres a drawing of her in the prom dress)

Yes I used this as am excuse to draw Gangle in yet another dress.

[danisbrainrot]

yellowjackets as taylor swift albums (I'm bored). this became deeper than I meant for it to go OMG. whoops, anyways, enjoy:

1. tai: reputation. oh my god this girl is soooo in love with van, and at the end of the day, that's what reputation is. a love album. yeah it's got a little revenge in it, but overall, it's about being in love with someone who was there for you at your most vulnerable. and who's always been there for tai, adult AND teen timeline? VAN!

2. van: 1989! it's nostalgic, fun, iconic but still has the emotional rawness that flows throughout all of taylor's albums. everyone thinks 1989 is just heaps of fun, but it has this emotional intensity to it that once you look closer to it, you realise how much of a masterpiece it is. also, it just gives me van vibes tbh.

3. jackie: lover. she's so insecure about being in a relationship with who she thinks is the love of her life (shauna) in case she fucks it up (spoiler alert, she does). taylor also wrote this album as a last hurrah, to prove she had more stories to tell, and I think that ties in nicely to jackie's character. her insecurity forces her to try and prove herself to shauna, and show her best friend how much she loves her.

4. shauna: she's a red girlie. taylor's most emotionally raw album (besides ttpd) and she just gives the vibes. this is taylor's first heartbreak album (like how jackie's death was shauna's first heartbreak), and it's so intense that it takes a few listens to understand, but once you do, you realise it's an album about a girl with big heart learning how to recover from the devastation of losing someone she loves deeply.

5. lottie: folklore!! I love my little baby. this album was written in isolation, and you can definitely hear it in some of taylor's lyrics, and I just feel like that's lottie's character. the isolated girl who's held up to a higher standard than everyone else.

6. nat: ttpd. okay, i was tossing up between giving this to nat or travis, but then I remembered the adult timeline and went with nat. when I first heard this album, it reminded me of her purposeless speech. it's also an album where taylor was going through a manic phase, and if that isn't nat, I don't know what is. she's just lost the love of her life, and then she's kidnapped by lottie's cult and promised so many wonderful things, that she believes it—only for it to end in tragedy.

7. misty: she gives off such speak now vibes. she has so much she wants to prove, and she's reeling from being in love with a man much older than her.

8. travis: evermore. he's such a tragic little guy, that the album suits him. I really just think of happiness, marjorie and right where you left me because he's stuck in the past. he literally kills himself (accidentally I know, I know) because he's so trapped in the wilderness despite being free from it. this album has always given me: depressed sad, compared to its sister albume: folklore, which gives me angry sad. and while he's definitely more angry then lottie, he's got this deep sadness in him that echoes evermore.

9. mari: midnights. okay I don't know how to explain it better than this is how I interpret mari. she's the first to throw herself into believing lottie because she's scared and when I think of midnights, I think of how scared taylor was at losing her relationship and joe that she ignores her feelings. and mari ignores her feelings because if she really thinks about it, I don't think she'd be able to handle herself, i.e. being trapped in the woods, eating jackie.

10. javi: taylor swift (debut). just the innocence and naïvety of the album. it's her first album, she wrote and released at 15/16 so there's a lot of childish beliefs and hopes, which I think javi has—but there's still an underlying feeling of heartbreak. he tries to be a kid, but is still traumatised.

11. laura lee: fearless!! this is purely based on the album title. I mean, learning to fly a plane just to save her friends? this album is probably my least favourite, so you're not going to get a lot of analysis, but the few times I've listened to it, I understand it's about having faith things will work out (this might be wrong, but that's what I'm choosing to believe about it). and her faith makes her believe she can do anything, including save her friends. omg I love her so much <333

[ribbittrobbit]

this is it, the wuvvy thoughts are here

ok to preface: i think that Rue is a very compelling flawed character, and i have lots of Rue feelings but I have more Wuvvy feelings.

Alright so Wuvvy is Rue's faithful right hand, she has shaped her life around Rue, following them and leaving her own court and giving up a position as a champion. Notably, Wuvvy has always willingly done everything Rue has asked, maybe even done more than that to the point of anticipating their needs, maybe that liberty will lead to her downfall. She repeatedly reassures Rue, of her love and support in pretty much anything and everything. The phrase "you know i love you, right?" is such a beautiful and tragic summary of her character.

Because she reassures them of her love by word and by action - and the rift is caused when Rue commands her. Up until that point Wuvvy was supportive of Rue's interest in Hobb, maybe not thinking too deeply about it, maybe just to validate Rue's feelings and make them feel good. But when she was made to burn the letter, something breaks. She would have done what was asked of her, but to be commanded at the slightest and maybe first hesitation Wuvvy has ever shown? and when Wuvvy's questions aren't even against Rue, she is deeply in favor of Rue chasing their happiness, she only expresses grief when they doubt themselves. That strikes me as deeply grave betrayal, to command a willing person whose only hesitation was fuelled by good intentions. And an argument can be made that maybe Wuvvy harbors jealousy but I think any of it comes after this moment, any doubt comes back to this command.

So she takes a liberty and acts in the name of Rue's honor, challenging Hobb to a duel for the offence of making them cry.

And Rue, Rue who believes in love and romance but is also volatile and confused and full of secrets and fear. Who is a master of weaving words and placating and putting on a show and putting the correct face on for whoever sees them. Rue chases romance, sheds their glamour, and still leans on Wuvvy for support in the midst of this rift: "but you'll stay by my side" and it's a statement, not a question. They remain assured of Wuvvy's support, why wouldn't they be? when they've been frequently reassured of Wuvvy's undying devotion and love. And what does Wuvvy say in return? "It's been very nice to walk beside you" and maybe that's the problem.

And we see the distance grow between them, they start to be out of sync. Rue says their thing about wanting Wuvvy to learn to exist, being worried that she is "bound by obligation and not love" and what does that even mean? what does that sound like to someone who has taken on obligation out of love? What does Rue expect Wuvvy to find by "existing", romance? why would they presume that?

And the final thing is "your contract is done, you are no longer bound by me". Oh to drop that on a person who does not view this as a contract. Imagine Wuvvy having the most important person in her life so solemnly say something that shows such a profound misunderstanding of her person.

Maybe they are both selfish and their relationship is needlesly complicated by unwavering devotion and inequality. In the end we see Rue chasing romance and the idea of love and being volatile and passionate. And Wuvvy loved a person or the idea of them, never making for a real understanding, never forming a true reciprocity.

tldr: a 10/10 tragedy of a person, wuvvy.

[ayeforscotland]

Sorry my last ask was so broad. May I ask for your thoughts on the things happening in US politics at the moment? Like the Texas Judge ruling that the abortion pill is “unsafe” even though the data which shows it to be less dangerous than Tylenol/Acetaminophen and banning it nationally. and abortion rights in general for many Americans.

Or the legislation being proposed that affect to LGBT community, which is a broad topic on its own.

Or the 148 mass shootings the US has had in the first 100 days of 2023 (just today there have been 2 more)

I'm sorry these are some heavy topics. I don't expect you to respond to all of these. Thank you for reading this. Hope you have a lovely day :)

Sorry my last ask was so broad. May I ask for your thoughts on the things happening in US politics at the moment?

Like the Texas Judge ruling that the abortion pill is “unsafe” even though the data which shows it to be less dangerous than Tylenol/Acetaminophen and banning it nationally or abortion rights in general for many Americans.

Or the legislation being proposed that affect to LGBT community, which is a broad topic on its own.

Or the 148 mass shootings the US has had in the first 100 days of 2023 (just today there have been 2 more)

I'm sorry these are some heavy topics. I don't expect you to respond to all of these. The situations here scare me, as a queer woman. Thank you for reading this, and taking the time to respond to it. It means a lot. Hope you have a lovely day :)

Oops think your ask doubled up for some weird reason. To get it out of the way, I have never been to America. My thoughts on each of those topics are pretty much the same whether I'm talking about America or not. Guns are quite an American issue which I'll jot down some thoughts. I'm pro-choice, pro-equality and pro-gun control. In my opinion, unsafe abortion only happens when people don't have access to safe and legal abortions. Banning abortions or banning morning-after pills does nothing but increase unsafe abortions. To anyone who doesn't support abortion, that is absolutely fine, just don't have one. But don't dictate what someone else can do. Any anti-LGBT legislation is inherently evil. No excuses. Mass shootings are incredibly frustrating from a outsider's perspective. We only really get 'the big ones' reported in our news, and this has a number of issues. For some backstory, my nursery teacher was the mother of one of the children killed in the Dunblane massacre - the deadliest mass shooting in British history where a gunman killed 16 kids and a teacher before he killed himself. I learned about it super young and was always amazed she spent all her time teaching children who were roughly the same age her daughter was. And I hate that I have to write that, because after every single mass shooting, there's a viral twitter post from some UK liberal twat who just want clicks who rhymes off the Dunblane massacre as some sort of gotcha. I remember when Sandy Hook happened, and was young and ignorant enough at the time that I expected that was *the one* - that was America's Dunblane massacre and that would really change things. Now I'm just sad and tired, and a little bit ashamed that whenever I hear about a mass shooting on the news that my reaction is just "Oh, that's a tragedy" and then carry on with my day. They are so frequent, and the reaction after each one is so poor that I can't mentally invest in each one. I'm a bit more pragmatic than the non-Americans who comment saying that America should just confiscate all guns. I know that that won't happen, but I do think there should be stricter regulation for owning one.

Super heavy topics - super heavy answers. Hope that's what you were looking for.

[datastate]

i can't remember if i've mentioned this here, but i've been having. thoughts abt how mr. chidouin's the one who killed qingyuè / kai's mother. maybe it's sort of an honor, in a twisted sense, that it's the godfather that's the one who puts the final nail in the coffin -- but it hardly matters. the death's covered up, dismissed, as all others have been. and that is that.

there is nothing for gashu to return to. their child is the next bargaining chip to keep him locked here under threat without needing to explicitly disclose they killed that 'chinese traitor' and could just as easily kill one with her blood...

but then - what it means later on... dredged up because mr. chidouin's always been curious, hasn't he: he wonders what kai remembers, he wonders how kai languishes, if he does at all. he wonders how much mandarin means to kai, or if he even knows he's chinese. he wants to learn about kai as his friend, but also as the killer. it's that morbid taste of it, of wanting to know what exactly he took away - or if it's he who made kai strong.

because he's proud of who kai's become, he is, as inconvenient as it may be for their assassin to end up unable and unwilling to kill anyone... that doesn't mean se's not strong. & it's just fascinating seeing that play out, seeing how kai clings to the chidouins now and directs his strength into something protective, only accepting destruction when absolutely necessary -- which, with them, provides just enough leverage to justify it. it makes mr. chidouin feel special, seeing someone as strong as kai kneel to love (a love he'd been deprived of; one only chidouin could return... still the murderer, he lifts it from qingyuè's body)

but... kai only kneels because this love isn't fake.

once gashu was convinced to let kai go, to no longer endure the dread of watching his son's tragedy unfold, mr. chidouin instead became his caretaker and embraces that proudly.

so when mr. chidouin dares to ask kai, he's forced to confront the discomfort in his own heart that he'd tucked away and refused to linger on. killing's part of the business, there's no room for regret and you won't make it far if you do, but... hearing the long unheard grief from kai's mouth. something hidden from the only person who could possibly empathize with him, and instead given to the murderer... this desperation to know who he is. it should be perfect, the perfect moment to plant that thought: you're mine. isn't that all that matters? - but it only makes kai retract. & it makes mr. chidouin's heart ache with forgotten remorse.

his mistake is forgetting the value kai weighs each life with. mr. chidouin is unable to envision a world in which that inherent value may tip the scales unfavorably for someone who discards them as pieces. oh, yes, he does acknowledge each life as important - but certain sacrifices must be made.

& yet... while he believes kai's still so naive in this way, he can't find it in himself to blame him.

mr. chidouin was freshly 20 when he pulled the trigger on qingyuè, and he then moved on to meet atsuko & sara as mrs. hiyori dealt with what remained of gashu. he was never forced to deal with the ugly end of death... but kai was exposed too early and thus detached himself. once mr. chidouin - again at fault - wears that wall down... kai realizes he has nothing to grieve, though witness to mr. chidouin's own family, the curiosity aches again to know what only his father knows. (what only mr. chidouin knows.) this desire to mourn and understand who exactly he's grieving never knowing, before he fully accepts the chidouin's as his own with nothing else to linger upon.

it takes patience - but mr. chidouin instead told him: keeping her memory is pointless. (it was nothing but a painful exercise in guilt, that's all he remembers her as before he saw reality as it was. he's saving him. he loves him).

...and when kai's eyes flicker with anger, he truly looks like his mother.

[oh-shtars]

Bonjour, good day, I come with more questions~

1. What Disney character do you think most inspired each character in your rewrite?

2. More Rani loreeee

3. Does Rani have star magic? Although feel free to skip this as it might spoil your ending with Sueño

4. Does Hopes & Dreams have any other pet names for each other?

5. If Ashueño is similar to a genderbent Rapunzel, what dynamic is the royal couple like?

6. What trope best fits Hopes & Dreams? What about the royal couple?

7. Do you have any scrapped ideas you want to share?

8. Are the other character’s wishes important to the story?

9. What Hazbin character is each RFTS!character like?

Oh wow-

I get so happy whenever you guys leave asks and stuff like this. Thanks so much! 🥺💖💖 LOVE YA BO!

If y’all ever send me an ask and I haven’t answered it yet, please know I’m not ignoring you. I either don’t know how to answer it yet or I’m too busy atm. (Especially with exams coming up. Ew.)

(Looking at this, I feel more guilty the more they stay there. 😅 But hey! At least you can look forward to more content, right?)

Anyways, Onto the asks!

1. What Disney character do you think most inspired each character in your rewrite?

I remember doing this one post as a little fun game for everyone to share 3 characters that inspired their main characters. But since you asked for just one and it has to be a Disney character, guess I’ll do that.

You can visit the post if you want to see mine and other AUs’ participation.

Asha = Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

Sueño = Aladdin

Magnifico = Hades (Hercules)

Amaya = Zarina (Tinkerbell: The Pirate Fairy)

Valentino = Younger Simba (The Lion King)

(I don’t have a solid personality for the 7 teens since they’re not going to have as big of a role. I do have their key traits in my notes so I can look back to it as a guide. But I’m just going to go with the flow when writing their scenes.)

……..

2. More Rani Loreeeeee

I haven’t even finished a final outline for the main plot of the RFTS!story, so idk even for a sequel. Maybe I’ll do some random drawings of family bonding moments and just him being a precious little guy.

(Hypothetically speaking, IF both Asha and Sueño survive the tragedy I’ll inflict on them. I mean what- who said that?)

All I know for Rani is that he’s someone who’s not sure what is the one thing he’s passionate for. And in this kingdom where everyone is so sure what they want and striving to achieve it, he feels lost. Surely, people only have one passion, right? Why can’t he find and settle for one?

Whenever he finds something he could be passionate about, Rani feels icky at the thought of just permanently sticking to it from now on. But at the same time, he criticises himself for being ‘irresponsible and indecisive.’

He “longs” to know his place and know what he wishes to do exactly. Rani doesn’t like being told, “But you’re so talented!!” because he personally thinks it’s unhelpful. It doesn’t make his choice of picking one passion any easier.

He also doesn’t really like vague answers to his questions and gets frustrated with it. “Believe in yourself.” “You’ll get there.” “Keep going!” “You’ll know it when you feel it.” “I don’t know what you’re aspiring to do, but I bet you’ll do great.” Well guess what? He doesn’t know what he’s doing either. :D

Also: *G A S P*. Not a strong believer of Wishing stars nor looking to the sky for answers! 😱 Rani prefers to “see-it-to-believe-it.” A more down to earth person who wants real solutions, not just hoping for something to magically happen.

(Some stuff might change but here’s an overview of Rani just like you asked- :))

…………

3. Does Rani have star magic?

Ehhhhh, I’ll say he has general knowledge in magic and just about anything he finds interesting and gets his hands on. Not really star magic, though he has the skill of a fast-learner when learning about regular magic. Again, Rani’s existence may or may not be hypothetical. 🤷

………

4. Does Hopes & Dreams have any other pet names for each other?

Sueño is not really one for pet names since he adores Asha just as she is, including her name. But in his head and through the sign language he eventually learns, he does sometimes call her: “Love or My Sky”

(I love “My Sky” so much because it FITS him. He loves the feeling of freedom and is claustrophobic. So he’s basically saying he feels so free and happy to be around her. Also, *coughs* Bo. “Sky”. My Sky. “Cielo”. Amirite? This was unintentional, I swear-)

For Asha, she calls Sueño: “Starlight, Mi Sueño (this is her fav one ofc), Sunny (though this is more general), Hon/Honey.”

For the last one, I have a silly headcanon that Sueño comes to have honey as one of his fav foods. It sort of rhymes with his other nickname, “Sunny,” and Asha thinks it’s hilarious to tease him with the “honey” nickname when he gets all sticky.

Idk why I even came up with this, but the thought that he’ll eat anything, even food he usually doesn’t like, that is dipped in honey on it is just funny, okay? And it connects to Hal too since I remember she’s meant to be a beekeeper. (This may also be a cute little reference with Winnie the Pooh if Sueño shapeshifts. Hehehe)

Btw, stars can taste but not go hungry. Like how they touch and feel stuff but not feel pain when inflicted or hit by something. If it’s dark magic, then that’s the only exception and they can feel pain.

…….

5. If Ashueño is similar to a genderbent Rapunzel, what dynamic is the royal couple like?

Idk actually. I made Amnifico or ‘Grand Despair’ from scratch without referring or getting inspired by any couple I know. It’s mostly songs and vibes I’ve collected to create their dynamic. Same with Ashueño. The Rapunzel similarity was not intentional. 😅

(I think you should be worried because my RFTS!Spotify playlist has lots of angst- lol.)

Uhhhhhhh, maybe Grand Despair can be something akin to Charity and P.T Barnum from the Greatest Showman. But darker and eviler.

A guy who promises something for his beloved, gets carried away, and eventually forgetting what this was all for in the first place. :3

……

6. What trope best fits Hopes and Dreams? What about the royal couple?

Hopes and Dreams:

“Soulmates/Fate” (I think we can all agree that these two are meant to be, either platonically or romantically, in any universe both AU and Canon.)

👏 SLOW 👏 BURN👏 (That pang of realisation always gets me)

Thinks she’s no one special x Treats her like royalty

Grand Despair:

Doomed Romance

Pissy x Only one who calms him down

”Us against the World”

……….

7. Do you have any scrapped ideas you want to share?

Not anything that wouldn’t spoil some stuff for the plot. Sorry 😞

……

8. Are the other characters’ wishes important to the story?

Hmmmmm. I guess they influence the narrative and further establish the conflict of the story.

Like, the characters are used to just taking the easy way to achieve their dreams by waiting for the day Magnifico grants them one morning. They can make as much as they want. Unbeknownst to them, they’re stuck in this cycle of always wanting more but never satisfied.

They keep wishing and wishing, believing that they have no chance of reaching it on their own without their king’s help.

I’d like the main theme to be: not being afraid to dream big and “Reach for the Stars” but you shouldn’t expect grand things to just come to you instantly. You’ll need to take faith and work for it. Why? Because the whole journey getting there, regardless of the many struggles, is worth it and it sure is something to look back and be proud of.

It sure is what Walt Disney did, isn’t it? :)

……..

9. What Hazbin character is each RFTS!character like?

It’s kind of difficult to pick from the Hazbin cast what each RFTS!character is like since one plot is based off of dreams and everything nice while the other is literally based in hell. 😂

But I’ll try:

Asha:

Emily was the closest I could think of. (Since I literally couldn’t think of anyone else. Oof-) Not really referring to the happy, excited part of her. More like the “I believe these people deserve a lot better than this” and eventually finding her voice to stand up against authority for the people she cares about.

Sueño:

No, not the aggressive and assertive side of Vaggie. Lol nope. More like getting attached to the MC that helped them get back onto their feet, warmly welcomed them in this strange new world, and now they would do anything to help them get their dreams come true whatever it takes.

(Also, a secret they’re keeping that’s eating them up inside with guilt and constantly worrying that the MC would hate their guts if they knew. Oops-)

Magnifico:

I’d say the fake-ass showmanship he puts out in public but in reality, he’s really done and exhausted with his audience. He’s still pretty charismatic when he wants to be but I can see him losing his cool quite easily, leading to outbursts.

Amaya:

Idkkkk. The main cast of Hazbin don’t really fit RFTS!Amaya’s vibe so I just went with Lilith despite how we know nothing about her at the moment. (This is probs gonna age badly-)

She’s a parental figure to someone who trusts her a lot but in reality, her motivations might not be what they seem. She could be willing to sacrifice other people if it means she gets a benefit out of them.

[tumblingxelian]

Okay so, given Mercury Black's and Cassandra Cain's backstories, what do you think both characters would feel after an encounter with each other where neither dies?

Sorry I've been neglecting asks recently, been kind of down and so just doing low effort reblogs with the occasional burst of energy.

Anyway!

This is a fun and interesting question I actually sought help in answering from but a humble good, who always has good Cass takes and loves RWBY!

Off the cuff and for anyone confused, the characters being asked about are:

Cassandra Cain - who was raised by master assassin David Cain to be the perfect killer. She was never taught to speak and only learned through physical action. Because of this she can essentially predict what a person will do before they act and she is functionally the best martial artist in the DC Universe, or always in the top 3. Said body language reading ability though also means she can experience her targets deaths by proxy which... Yeah basically led to her adopting a 100% no kill policy after her first mission. Thus leading her to running away, living homeless for several years before joining the Bat Clan and becoming Batgirl.

Mercury Black - Like Cassandra his father Marcus Black raised him to be an assassin like himself. Marcus may not have denied his son words but he instead stole the manifestation of his soul (His Semblance) claiming it was a "Crutch" and he would get it back eventually. He never got it back & instead had his lower legs mutilated to be replaced with robotic prosthetics which he then used to kill Marcus. Unlike Cass he's not the best of the best, but is definitely skilled & unlike her he's doggedly committed to the role of playing the villain with a veneer of jocularity he uses to hide that he can't imagine any other life.

Conclusion:

So we have two teens/young adults coming from very similar places as far as what they were trained and otherwise horrifically abused to be, but who ended up on seemingly opposite ends of the spectrum.

Cassandra's reaction when encountering most killers tends to be one of two things. A very stern "You need to grasp the enormity of what you are doing and stop or be stopped painfully." Or "Oh, you actually think this is in someway necessary, please do not do this, there is a way out, there has to be."

She's also very chill with people who did kill but choose not too, she's not... Preachy or judgmental in that sense, doing so would be hypocritical in her eyes.

So she'd likely emphasize a lot with Mercury, being able to see him as something of a "Therefore but for the grace of empathic body language go I." So she'd very much want to both stop him from killing but also show him that he can go down another path.

This doesn't mean she'd be inclined to be a doormat, quite the opposite but she'd definitely be working to communicate with him as much as fight him if she had to.

Mercury meanwhile would hate this. He is deep in denial about himself and hates being read for what he is, as local serial killer Tyrian Callows did in Volume 6:

Tyrian: (mocking) Oh yes, the world is mean, and I'm a big, bad man now just like the others. (laughs)

Mercury: (growls as he angrily walk over to Tyrian) How long have you been standing there?!

Tyrian: All you ever learned was pain and violence, and now you're too afraid to leave it. Such a tragedy.

Mercury: You don't know me!

So while he would see the connection the moment he had any details he'd throw up an aloof façade and claim Cass was weak and lacked the stomach for what he does or something to that effect.

Internally he'd be seething with resentment, or more, a blooming sense of inferiority about how someone who proves his beliefs wrong seems to so casually exists and wants to help him of all things.

He'd not welcome or trust her, not a first at least.

[seraphiism]

❀ ﾟ. ༄ ┊ 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞 ( 𝐩𝐭. 𝐢𝐢𝐢 ) ;

( AT THE END AS AT THE START, & THROUGH ALL THE IN-BETWEENS, I LOVE YOU )

characters : ganyu / childe / itto / yelan / wanderer fandom : genshin impact quote cr : amal el-mohtar and max gladstone a/n : part 3 of 4! each character is limited to 150 words.

pt. i // pt. ii

↬ ganyu ࿐ ࿔

to exist between two worlds tears the soul asunder in liminal spaces and limbo alike. ganyu belongs neither here nor there, and in a gentle heart, there is desire for somewhere to call home.

she gazes upon liyue, feels that lump in her throat, a sorrow profound, and a loneliness she cannot make purpose of.

"you've always belonged." you watch the heartache fade from her visage, place a glaze lily in the palm of her hand. "whether the mountains or city, it's all your home, ganyu."

she inhales sharply. her eyes sting, tongue numb. she grabs your hand, squeezes three times in silent confession of ardor.

"thank you."

it is your smile that is the breaking point, and her tears flow, yet you do not speak. instead, you squeeze her hand not three times, but four in the knowing of a shared love and presence until fate bids lovers farewell.

↬ childe ࿐ ࿔

"don't worry your pretty little head off," childe says, voice muffled as you adjust his scarf, "i'm used to the cold."

"remember how you got sick last time? you were such a baby."

is that your true motivation? the harbinger gasps, and maybe you wrap the scarf a little tighter.

"so you tend to me," he begins, voice cracking, "not out of love, but out of convenience?"

"yeah. how'd you know?"

your annoyed look is a facade; despite how genuine it seems, childe always manages to see through you. how delicate it is, your mask shattering the moment he smiles.

he is your weakness, after all.

"i always know." he hums, taking you into his arms. he pulls down the scarf, presses a kiss against your nose as you sigh in defeat. "besides, i can just hold you like this in case i get too cold. you're all i need."

↬ itto ࿐ ࿔

an oni's life is difficult, prejudice in wait at itto's every step. since childhood, he has always been well aware of his identity, chin held high despite the hardships. with joyous spirits and a boisterous personality, few would know there is a quiet bruising of the soul.

"does it hurt?" your fingertips graze over his horns, note his curious reaction.

"what, that? no."

you both recall previous events from this morning, a grimace crossing his features at the harsh words that ring endlessly in his ears.

"oh." itto becomes uncharacteristically silent, feels your arms wrap around his frame. "that didn't hurt."

of course it didn't. he's used to these things, he reminds himself, closing his eyes, indulging in your hug. it didn't.

"it's not true. you're fine as you are."

"you're gonna make me cry, y'know?"

"i'm going to make that man cry first."

"easy, easy-- you already did today!"

↬ yelan ࿐ ࿔

yelan holds many names and stories and none of them real. from person to person, false qualms and fake tragedies, you remain oblivious to her true self, only knowing that there is a hurt that bores a hole in the heart. you are unsure of this feeling-- harboring affections for someone who could be entirely fictive. anxiety weighs on your shoulders, one she is knowing of yet does not act upon.

she does not fault you ; it is not a terrible thing, the way she lives her life, carries herself in multitudes, and it is one of necessity. yelan is made of certainties, and she is certain that you have become an important part of her life.

she laces her fingers with yours, lips ghosting over your skin in an act of quiet reverence. perhaps one day you will learn the truth of her, but for now, this is enough.

↬ wanderer ࿐ ࿔

vagabonds do not know of refuge ; without a heart, there is no meaning in belonging, no need for emotions.

no, there is no need for emotions, but even the wanderer cannot rid of the ones he feels towards you. he does not wish to identify them, put a name to something akin to love because it has no place in his many lives.

"breathe." your hands ghost over his chest, delicate. "it's alright."

you do not expect to feel anything and you don't ; it frightens him deeply, but there is a kindness in your eyes that he fails to understand.

"why won't you give me a name?"

you smile, still your hand over the place a heart should reside.

"because it is your own, wanderer. you know who you are beneath it all, do you not?"

there is an absence of feeling, a dormancy, and you think it is beautiful.

[swallow-the-bird]

Do you have any favorite Harry Potter ships?

Well, besides my all-time favorite Grindeldore, I’m actually quite eclectic in my tastes! 🤣

Snarry, Snamione, Snily, Jily, Hedric, Dnarry, Sirry… I’ve read fanfictions about all of them, and I’ve enjoyed them. Perhaps it’s because the Harry Potter fandom has so many talented writers. As long as the story is captivating, I’m thrilled to read it!

There’s another pairing that I initially thought was improbable, but later became infatuated with—

Harrymort/Tomarry!!

***** ‼️ LONG post alert ‼️ Oh, whenever I get to a topic that excites me, I always end up being such a chatterbox🤣Please also be aware of what I say below is only my VERY SUBJECTIVE opinions ‼️ *****

While Harrymort/Tomarry seem to have a lover-enemy dynamic similar to Grindeldore, the premise for each is vastly different. Gellert and Albus once passionately loved each other in their youth, while Tom/Voldemort and Harry share deep animosity and are destined adversaries. How could they possibly be together? Moreover, I once believed that Tom Riddle was an emotionless monster. (But I don’t mean that in a derogatory sense!)

While Gellert might be categorized as a sociopath, capable of true loyalty and emotions towards a select few - Albus Dumbledore- and taking a lifetime to learn how to love, he at least has the capacity to love. This is evident when he ultimately understands the true meaning of remorse and willingly sacrifices his life to protect another’s grave.

But what about Tom?

In my eyes, Tom is a complete psychopath. Perhaps his traumatic childhood twisted his moral compass, but some characteristics seem innate and psychological. Tom’s emotional blunting seems more pronounced. He inherently lacks empathy and remorse. Even if he can comprehend others’ emotions and manipulate them, he doesn’t genuinely understand or empathize with them, which is why he can’t grasp the concept of remorse. Hence, he chose to become Voldemort. This made me question:

How can such a person love? He doesn’t even understand what love is.

This mirrors Gellert’s scathing taunt to Voldemort, “…there is so much you do not understand—!”

Yes, Tom Riddle—Voldemort— does not, and cannot understand love. But can he?

Some of my favorite authors have remarked:

“Yes, Tom Riddle—Voldemort— does not understand love, and he may never be able to. But just because you don’t understand something, does that mean you can’t have it?”

Harry is like a reflection of Tom Riddle. While Tom Riddle, in his hatred and fear, denied love and chose to become Voldemort, Harry, despite facing the same hatred and fear, came to understand what courage meant and chose love.

“Just by letting Harry see even the tiniest hint of Voldemort’s humanity, he will bravely embrace that one-in-a-million hope.”— Oh yes, hope. This is how many Tomarry/Harrmort fictions begin their stories.

Harry might harbor hatred for Voldemort for a lifetime, but the essence of forgiveness isn’t the absence of hate; it’s about learning to move on. If there’s anyone willing to embrace a shattered soul with such heinous crimes, it would be Harry Potter. Just as he has embraced death with the same courage, it’s this Harry who, when confronting his lifelong nemesis, still chooses “Expelliarmus”.

This love-hate story is inevitably not just about the hopes and courage of love, but also about its pain and despair. It makes us question the nature of love, hate, life, death, and humanity.

Harry understands love, so he believes in humanity, which gives him hope and courage, especially when mired in human flaws and tragedies.

“You see the world in such a unique way; I believe even despair seems colorful to someone like you.”—this is a line from one of my favorite Harrmort stories, “One thing he will never know”. In it, Harry chooses to cling to that sliver of hope in Voldemort and falls hopelessly in love with him. When Harry grapples with guilt, Dumbledore leaves him with this wisdom.

"It may seem terribly wrong, but if I may venture a guess, it must also feel so right," were Dumbledore's last words to the boy, "Harry, I don't think there is any shame in love. You must never doubt that when someone has been loved like this, it always leaves a mark, and that it will eventually change everything. You are much braver than I ever was.”

Thanks to these brilliant fanfictions, I’ve come to believe in the heart Voldemort thought he never had. Even if it’s fractured, it still exists, and a sliver of humanity remains. Perhaps we all need a broad perspective to see the world:

Not understanding love doesn’t mean you can’t have it.

I just realized I wrote so much! Maybe it’s because I’ve never shared my love for Tomarry/Harrmort with anyone after Grindeldore. Here’s my chance!

PS One of my favorite fanfictions, “One thing he will never know,” is written by a talented Taiwanese author in Chinese.If you’re interested, you can check it out here:

(* I've taken the liberty of translating some of the lines that impressed me most into English, as I wrote above.)

I also have read many excellent Tomarry/Harrmort stories from the English fandom. If you have any recommendations, please share them with me!

[blackbutler-readerinsertsandjunk]

Older Ciel, Edward, Charles and Undertaker when their s/o surprises them after adopting an orphan- could be a friend passed and didn't have any family to take the little one in. (I have THE CUDDLIEST 1 year old in class right now and omgosh! 😍😍😍 love her so!!)

awwwwww!! <3

didn't know which Charles you wanted (Grey or Phipps) so I just did em both :D

Hmph, well… he isn’t necessarily thrilled by the whole thing. It’s not as if he hates the idea of having a child; it’s just that he doesn’t really feel like he’s able to be a good father. He’s just rather at a loss of how to react. He tries to be very quiet about it, neither showing any excessive joy nor any true dislike of the situation. It also depends on the age of the little one too — he takes far better to an infant or a toddler than a slightly older child. Although he’s busy, he very much does bond with the child in his own way. And he absolutely cares about them. He certainly doesn’t begrudge his S/O for taking them in, even if he might struggle to adjust.

Oh, dear… what a terrible tragedy to have happened. Even if it means this wonderful little child gets to come into their lives, it’s a shame it had to happen this way. Still, he embraces the change, despite the fact that it’s somewhat difficult to learn how to be a parent. His whole life has led up to getting married and having children with his S/O, (as well as following in his family’s footsteps in general), but he finds that he’s not as ready as he thought he was when it happens so suddenly. He loves the little one as if they were his own, though. He spends as much time with them and with his beloved as he can… having someone else to provide for, however, makes him work twice as hard to be able to take care of their new child.

Ah… goodness… he’ll definitely be sure to say a prayer for the little one’s original family. Of course, as bad as it sounds out loud, he sort of views the new child as sort of a… test run? Yes, that sounds terrible! Which is why he probably won’t say it. As excited as he is about starting a family, he’s quite a bit nervous about the kind of parent he’s going to be. Having it thrust on him and his S/O somehow bypasses all his anxiety, because they have no choice but to take care of this child. They have to find a way. So, find a way he will. He’s more than capable of looking after both of them, so all that remains is to bond with the little one. Easier said than done… he’s determined to make it happen, though.

… It’s awful, what happened. And it’s quite a surprise to come home from a long day and abruptly find himself a father. Though, he’s mostly the type to just silently accept things as they are — no amount of questioning or worry or anything will change the reality of what is. So he gently takes the child from his S/O, because he doesn’t know exactly how long they’ve been dealing with the little one as well as their own emotions, and tries to take care of them for the rest of the night. He adjusts fairly well, all things considered; there’s no one who would look at him and think he wasn’t suited to be a father, even if he might doubt himself sometimes. Even though he’s not talkative, he is very much an incredible parent.

Lord, what a way to become a parent! He tries desperately to find the humor in it, but even he knows there really isn’t any. Anything he jokes about, he’ll immediately bite his tongue following it, knowing any joke is in poor taste at least for a while. Thankfully, he’s seen enough death now to know how best to deal with it, so if his S/O is grieving, he’s glad to take care of the little one for a while. He has nothing else to do, and he’s most assuredly a sucker for children, so why not give his darling a little break? He’s scared for the future, yet… he’s always wanted a family like this. If they’re going to take care of this child, he might as well give it a genuine try. Whatever else is true, he does try. He loves that child, even if he’s got a lot to learn.

[crossdressingdeath]

Cole: Your hand hurts. It's pulling you apart. Dorian: Why didn't you say something? I could have... I don't know, something! Alaris: Whatever happens, I wouldn't trade the years we've had together for anything. I love you. Dorian: I knew you would break my heart, you bloody bastard. Cole: We helped. All of us. I won't forget. Blackwall: One more fight, then. Let's finish this.

DIDN'T NEED MY HEART ANYWAY.

Everything about this is awful and painful. It's fine! Starting from the top, Cole is once again dropping all the metaphors and twisty speech in favour of the simple truth: Quiz is in pain. I mean, what else is there to say at this point? It's a lot more straightforward than the trauma he spends the main game pulling from people's heads: they're dying, and it hurts! Although the description of the Anchor as pulling Quiz apart is definitely interesting; I mean first off I hope he's not being entirely literal there (messy), but also that does fit with my theory that the Anchor is fatal to Quiz because it's not designed to be embedded in a mortal person who exists solely in the waking world. Even setting aside the possibility that the ancient elvhen (who the Anchor was likely designed for) might have been spirits, the orb was likely created pre-Veil (given Solas's post-Veil nap and all) and so the Anchor likely wouldn't work as intended in the post-Veil, separated world. A purely physical being like Quiz likely would be pulled apart in some sense or another as the Anchor tried to exist across both the waking world and the Fade like it was supposed to while attached to someone who Could Not Do That.

Anyway, potential lore implications aside. Dorian. Oh poor, poor Dorian. The way he's audibly right on the very edge of tears the whole time (and might actually be crying a bit on "you bloody bastard") is what you might call incredibly fucking sad! Like, he's accepted that Quiz truly loves him and intends to stay with him and even if they're physically apart for a time they will always have each other and Corypheus has been dealt with and he thought everything was working out fine... and now this. The man he loves is dying and there's nothing he can do and Quiz didn't even tell him. That "Why didn't you say something?" is heartwrenching. There was nothing he could've done, but even looking and failing to find a solution would've been better than looking back on the past two years that he spent blissfully ignorant and knowing that while he was enjoying their time together (and eventually left Quiz in Skyhold to go to Tevinter, thinking they had all the time in the world!) his lover was slowly dying. And of course there's the kick in the teeth that is that Quiz isn't even how he found out; it's Leliana who informs the companions, not Quiz. Bioware why wasn't it Quiz, Quiz should've told the companions, where is my cutscene where Quiz tells the companions what's happening, I want my angst.

And that "I knew you'd break my heart, you bloody bastard" is like... yeah! Dorian more than any other LI possibly across the whole series is very aware that even if Quiz never willingly leaves him the role of hero is an incredibly dangerous one. But by Trespasser he seems to have settled on that front; he's talking about leaving for Tevinter for the foreseeable future and while he's clearly not happy about it there's no sense that he's bracing himself to lose Quiz! So he finally starts to get past the fear of Quiz breaking his heart by leaving or dying, and that's when this happens! Dorian always knew the odds that falling for the hero of the story would end in heartbreak, and just as he's beginning to think that maybe they're getting past that danger he learns that Quiz is dying, and was quite possibly aware he was dying the whole time they were together. Although of course the biggest tragedy is that we don't get to really get into that because this is all we get because Bioware didn't bother to include even a cutscene where Quiz tells just their LI what's going on- I am just never going to be over that okay.

Also Blackwall is here. I actually like him so much more than I did having been using him as my primary warrior this run (I'm actually kind of tempted to change my planned order and do a Blackwall romance next, I'm thinking mage Trevelyan for that?), and I do love how he's very much down to business about the situation. His friend is dying, but before that they have one last fight to get through. If this is the last time he'll be able to fight alongside his dear friend and comrade in arms, the person who gave him another shot at life after everything he did, someone he respects above all others, he's going to make it one hell of a last fight. He can't save them, but he can give them the send-off they deserve, and dammit he is going to do it.