#smarter child

[louderfade]

[maniaeofmadness]

I am a firm believer that Stan and Mabel are not the "dumber" twins. They just aren't as interesting in 'nerd' stuff like Ford and Dipper are.

Stan was able to rebuild like 90% of the portal with only the 1 of the journals, most likely having to teach himself advanced mathematics and scientific theories to even understand what the thing is. It barely took him a few weeks to get the portal up and running after getting the other two journals. Not to mention how he was able to create a business and keep people entertained at his day job. The man is smart.

Mabel is able to create sweaters at the drop of a hat. If you don't know anything about knitting, it takes a lot of math and planning to be able to make a sweater, and Mabel is constantly making them for everyone around her. She made a full 2 act puppet shows with musical numbers and sets and well made puppets in like a week. She may not be interested in the 'nerd' stuff like Dipper, but she's creative and thinks in innovative ways.

Both of them are amazingly charismatic. They can make friends and bond with those around them easily, whether it be for business purposes like Stan or simply childlike positivity like Mabel.

They aren't dumb.

[hawkinsbnbg]

Today, Mike had woken up on the wrong side of his bed so he was especially vicious as he ranted about anything he found irritating about Steve.

He hadn't even reached the midpoint when Dustin decided to rip him a new one. Which, yeah, was fair because he didn't usually do Steve that dirty. But his bad mood had taken over and he found himself arguing with Dustin.

"It's not like you don't gripe about him every day," Mike retorted heatedly. "In fact, you are the one making fun of him the most out of everybody here," he gestured widely at the others (Lucas cringed, Will looked guilty, Max and Erica high-fived each other, El nodded calmly, Eddie just gave him a little wave).

"That's because I'm his brother," Dustin said matter-of-factly while adopting Steve's signature mom pose. "But who are you? You're just his ex's brother. Without Nancy, you're just a random kid to him."

(Eddie, Max, and Erica looked at each other with the same smirk. "Oh, that burns."

Lucas just sighed helplessly as Will and El watched on in amusement.)

Mike's nostril flared indignantly. He would never ever admit this, but while he thought Steve was lame and an idiot sometimes, he respected Steve plenty. Not enough to admire, but enough to fight Dustin for him.

"So what? I know him longer than you," Mike fired back. "I have more M&M's and 3 Musketeers from him than you do, I played baseball with him every weekend, and I also watched Star Wars with him."

"You do understand what ex means, right?" Dustin narrowed his eyes at him. "Nancy's his ex-girlfriend, ergo you're his ex-something, ergo you need to stop living in the past. You know why? Because I," Dustin pointed at himself smugly, "am his favorite now. I'm the present and the future. His shotgun, his house, his pool, his snack cupboard will forever be mine, thank you very much."

And just like that, all hell broke loose.

Because not even Will was willing to accept that bullshit. Steve never had a favorite, okay? As their babysitter, he wasn't allowed to.

"What the fuck are you fighting for?" Mike glared at Erica who was (impressively) making Dustin wail like Mew on the floor.

"Steve still owes me a lifetime of free ice cream, duh," she looked at him like he was an idiot. "Stop talking shit and come help me."

A wise man once said: "Enemy's enemies are friends."

So it only took Mike a second to give her a hand.

———

"Why didn't you stop them?" Steve asked in exasperation, thinking about the fistfight that would've taken place in the Wheelers' basement had he not interfered on time.

"'Cause the more they eliminate among themselves," Eddie leaned in closer and whispered conspiratorially, "the less I gotta fight to keep you."

"But I'm their babysitter," Steve pushed him away with a finger on the forehead. "And you're supposed to make it easier for me, not harder."

"Sweetheart," Eddie grabbed his wrist and nuzzled his nose into it, "Just say the word and I'll make something harder for you right now."

"You're incorrigible," Steve rolled his eyes, but his pretty smile had betrayed his mood.

"Yeah, all because of you, baby," Eddie pressed his lips on the back of Steve's hand. "O prithee, my princess, give me the remedy."

"What if I don't have any?" Steve raised his brow.

"You do, darlin'," Eddie pulled him close and cradled his face. "My tonic is right here," a kiss on his forehead. "My joys," on his eyelids. "My happiness," on his his nose and then his mouth, "my love."

Later, when they cuddled in bed, sweet and tender after loving each other til midnight, he would tell Eddie there was no need to ask for him in the first place.

Because he had been Eddie's boy since the day the battle vest was draped on him.

It seemed Steve did have a favorite, after all.

Except, it was none of his kids.

Truly a tragedy.

[ofswordsandpens]

im rereading the lightning thief and I forgot that the other campers were so freaked by Percy after he had been claimed + decimated those Ares kids that they wouldn't train with him anymore and he had to have solo sword lessons with Luke

[nnayomaise]

im ngl with you i need people to stop saying mithrun is stupid. whether you're referring to him before or after the dungeon- he is canonically one of the smartest characters in the series. (he literally is 1 of 2 characters who have their intelligence at the maximum on their profiles?)

if you're calling predungeon mithrun stupid for going insane idk what to say to you. mithrun was completely alone with what is essentially his abuser- every other dungeon lord has had someone they care about or someone who was willing to extend kindness to them while they were lord of the dungeon, mithrun never got that luxury, the canaries literally waited till he went insane to save him and milsiril was seconds away from mercy killing him

as for current mithrun, his trauma, depression and how suicidal he is has effectively changed how he thinks- he is literally putting himself in the most danger when he fights

[babykittenteach]

Just the hands and chest for the people who follow me and leave fantastically unhinged tags on things.

[jellazticious]

Oh god please no more movies where a stubborn child forces themselves to be in a dangerous situation after the adult that cares about them says no

[willow-p012]

Now that I think about it, is the 3 trial system meant to reference the holy trinity? Like, this is basically a crack theory and could very well just be the rule of threes and all that jazz, but Milgram already has some religious imagery.

Og: "Every aint has a past anl every sinner has a future".

Fixed: "Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future".

The quote is originally from Oscar Wilde's "A Woman Of No Importantance". Here's another quote from Oscar Wilde's "De Profundis", a short story he wrote during his time in jail, that echoes the theme originally presented in the play: "The world had always loved the saint as being the nearest possible approach to the perfection of God. Christ, through some divine instinct in him, seems to have always loved the sinner as being the nearest possible approach to the perfection of man… To turn an interesting thief into a tedious honest man was not his aim."

The saint, as deemed by righteousness, is boring; the sinner, as deemed by righteousness, is interesting. Now, I don't actually know if Milgram took this in context or not (I choose to believe so, but it's very possible they took the quote out of context as "Every saint has sinned before and every sinner has the chance to be better").

"Abandon hope, ye who enter". The doors in the T2 arts are literally the gates to hell. Need I say more? Those are the words said to be inscribed on the gates to hell in Dante's Divine Comedy.

Also, the Milgram language seems to inspired by Latin(?) and Es has Latin on the sash on their cloak ("De omnibus dubitandum est" or "Everything must be doubted" backwards). Latin is the language of the Catholic Church, if you didn't know.

[okurrroye]

OK BACK uP cause wt- you mean to tell me Hermes is literally the god of thieves and these idiots think a child of Ares stole the masterbolt???

[thetwilightroadtonightfall]

lo-fi beats to read your rulebook to 📚🌟

[daisychainsandbowties]

bad news sushi learned how to climb

good news he’s still cute 🥰🩵🥹🙏💖💖🥰

[monstermoviedean]

so...cas didn't learn a goddamn thing did he. the second dean and sam get into hell he decides no, he needs to do his own plan and make jack almost-kill him because he's right and this is the only way.

[monsterfuckermilligan]

when are we going to talk about how anti jackfucker spnblr is also deeply enriched in the anti side of spnblr?

[yume-fanfare]

this is far from being the point of the story but i find this exchange really funny when you think about how wataru is the "hard work betrays nothing" truther number 1, and how tori has gone thru his extensive hell training. she did all of that and decided no, not worth it

[yourlowkeyidiot3]

I think I'm actually gonna put Ford haters in my DNI list like okay I don't mind if anyone dislikes him but SO MANY of his haters I've seen are such big victim blamers it genuinely makes me uncomfortable

[morgana-ren]

You ever see a piece of media that is very blatantly meant for adult consumption but for some reason, the fan base around it is ultimately comprised of packs of rabid 12 year olds who shouldn't be indulging in the media in the first place and utterly lack critical thinking or comprehension and couldn't understand nuance or perspective if you gave them baby's first homework assignment on it?