#so interpret as you wish

[sarcasticdolphin]

“Goodnight (Sweet Prince)”

Tod being creepy with an ambiguously-teenage Rudolf. 

It was late. And Eduard Taaffe was tired. But the Kaiser had asked him to speak with the Crown Prince, and so he would. The boy had vexed his father in some new way, but the Kaiser hadn’t said much more than that. 

But Eduard hadn’t realized how late until he was at the door to the Crown Prince’s rooms, having counted only three other souls in his journey through the Hofburg.

He gave a gentle knock. Nothing. The boy was most likely asleep. Then again, the Kaiser had railed at the boy being half-asleep in the chapel that morning. 

So he opened the door, peering inside. The sitting room was empty and dark, but the door to the bedchamber was open, a sliver of silver light pouring through.

The lack of a golden glow told Eduard that the Crown Prince was indeed asleep - as well he should be. The boy was still growing, even though he easily stood taller than his father. He took a few silent steps forward, meaning only to close the door, to give the Crown Prince some privacy while he slept.

But there were two in the dark bed. And while the Crown Prince was asleep, his companion wasn’t. Eduard felt every muscle in his body freeze as pale eyes, icy and luminous, raked over him, as a single elegant finger was pressed against lips that might well have been sculpted of marble.

The message was clear. Quiet.

Eduard should have shouted for guards. Even at this late hour there would be some around, especially in the royal apartments. There would have been a number of unpleasant questions to answer about why he was in the Crown Prince’s bedchamber at this hour, but the Kaiser knew the answers already.

But he didn’t, or perhaps it was that he couldn’t. His lips were moving, but it was as if there was no breath in his chest.

The Crown Prince’s pale companion was smiling, his hand moving to brush the boy’s hair ever so gently.

The scene got more unnerving as Eduard’s eyes adjusted more and more to the silvery moonlight. The man - was reclined on the Crown Prince’s bed, clad all in a white that held the same hue as bleached bones - too white to alive. Or perhaps too cold to be alive. And everything about the man was white - his skin was the exact same unnatural hue as his garb. His hair was the palest blonde imaginable, and his eyes were of the lightest blue. 

The Crown Prince was pale - paler than any man Eduard had ever met. Pale as his mother, and in a way more befitting a Princess who had never seen the sun as compared to a warrior prince. The boy had burned quite badly the last time the Kaiser had taken him to inspect a regiment in the middle of summer.

But compared to his companion he looked positively dark - his skin so alive, his hair positively inky. But the Crown Prince’s hair wasn’t nearly as dark as his mother’s. His eyes were, but the Prince’s hair wasn’t that mahogany color, not anymore. It was more of a medium or even a golden brown. The boy slept in his companion’s arms, entirely tucked into him, head on his chest near where his companion’s heart would be, looking completely at ease and unbothered, his sleep entirely peaceful.

The boy stirred a bit and Eduard’s eyes snapped back to the Crown Prince’s companion. A little crook of the finger and Eduard was summoned, stiffly walking forward. Why hadn’t he screamed? He should have.

“Eduard Taaffe.”

The man’s voice was soft - so as not to wake the Prince - but seemed to echo in an odd way.

“Who-” his voice sounds so terribly loud compared to that of the Crown Prince’s companion, and the breath leaves him once more after a single word. But the man isn’t looking at him anymore, rather, he’s looking down at the Crown Prince. The boy had stirred at Eduard’s voice, but stilled once more after the man stroked his cheek, crooning something so soft that Eduard couldn’t hear it.

After a long moment, he turned back to Eduard. “Not who, Count Taaffe.”

What.

He didn’t get to speak. The breath hadn’t come back to him, but the telltale smirk told him that the man, the thing before him, understood.

“The Crown Prince calls me his friend.” 

Eduard’s eyes are almost completely adjusted to the darkness, and little details that had been to that point invisible begin to emerge from the gloom. The way Rudolf clung to his companion, one leg hooked up. And the patch of darkness Eduard had once thought was merely the curtains of the stately bed shivered in the moonlight. The movement was all wrong for fabric, but perfect for flexing wings. The feathers became more and more obvious, slowly acquiring an iridescent sheen, even in the low light. They wrapped around the Crown Prince and his companion in the dim light, as if shielding them from the outside world.

“But I suppose you may call me Tod.” 

This must be some sick joke - a man that calls himself Death. Eduard repeats to himself eight times that it must just be that, a sick joke. He believes his own thoughts less and less with each successive repetition - the unnatural pallor, the way the being before him seems to steal the very breath from him, even the chill in the air - perhaps the being before him is Death given form.

The smirk on the being’s face is deeply unpleasant as it turns back to the sleeping Crown Prince, gently caressing his cheek, his pale and all too exposed neck. And the Crown Prince leans into the touch if anything, entirely content in the arms of his unnatural companion.

“Unnatural? You wound me.” Those pale hands shift the Crown Prince slightly, tucking him into the crook of Tod’s neck. Eduard can almost see a smile forming on the Prince’s sleeping face. “There is nothing more natural than death, little count.”

Eduard’s breath is still gone, but his repulsion must show on his face.

“Rudolf.” The way Tod says the Crown Prince’s name is entirely too familiar and more than a little disturbing. “He’s been mine for years now. Craved nothing more than me, than my touch.” He caressed the Crown Prince’s cheek again.

“Now run along, little count. You can speak with the princeling once he’s had his rest.” The dismissal is more than a little insulting, but Eduard is not a brave man. His legs are working again, so he takes one step back, then another. He’s well and truly fleeing by the third step, an unnatural laughter ringing in his ears.

[anbaisai]

It's not even actually their birthday

(Based on a conversation I had with a friend + Jamil's 2024 birthday present to the player)

[sweeneydino]

Love me, love me not.

No distortion on the lake cause then you couldn't see em kissing

[each-uisge-enthusiast]

the modern villainisation of demeter will never cease to enrage me bc it wasn’t ENOUGH to just take a story of a girl being torn from her home from everyone who loved her and dragged away to be forced into marriage and twist and corrupt it until it was a romance story about female empowerment that wasn’t ENOUGH they HAD to take the original hero of the story the mother who went to every length to find her daughter again to bring her home and demonise her character until she was this horrific overbearing unloving mother. overprotective controlling without love. they turn the story of her grief at her YOUNG daughter being torn from her without her knowledge into the story of a misunderstood bad boy and a horrible cruel mother who won’t give him a chance and i really find it sickening. it’s ironic, that the ever misogynist age of hellenistic greece, has a better grasp of how disgusting and horrifying this situation was that a modern, self proclaimed ‘feminist’ era.

[shorthaltsjester]

Why are your children bound by rules you will not follow?

Critical Role, Campaign 3, Downfall Parts 1-3 // Commandments of The Prime Deities according to the Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn

[churchyaoi]

been thinking about these two a lot lately

[canonkiller]

these are, he says, the kind of test results we see after a car crash.

[theceaselessidiot]

Eloise Bridgerton being an absolute mood:

and Cressida's reaction of 'this girl is so weird, but I'm into it??? Wait am I into this??'':

[bujlililu]

Day 8: yearning

[just-a-toast]

Sometimes you got to take matters into your own hands.

[menelaus-blue]

thinking about this scene from the adventurer's bible from kabru's perspective...

[lotus-pear]

rewatched madoka magica again today bc i fucking hate myself and to absolutely no one’s surprise i went through all five stages of grief in a single evening

[leupagus]

Ted Lasso, the character, is one of the only representations of 'sometimes getting better with your mental health issues means that you are less visibly happy, and that is okay, because you are not required to be happy in order to be loved' out there and I am really discouraged that so much of the audience is angry at that.

[francy-sketches]

rhaenyra could say 'I wish I was a man with dick and balls' and hotd twitter would still be like 'umm she just means she wants freedom and respect but otherwise she is a FEMININE WOMAN stop making her into a man you weirdos'

[kittyjieunie]

tbh i am not a fan of this weird narrative about osha that's being tossed around. saying she has no agency is such bullshit and saying that we fell for that by liking her dynamic with qimir is even more annoying.

osha's whole thing is agency. that is literally, in my opinion, the root of her character. in the coven, it is because of osha's own agency and need for independence that she hesitates saying 'yes i accept this life' to her own family. she's craving freedom she thinks the jedi can give her. her own curiosity and utter need to be her own person, to not be tied to her twin sister are so well portrayed in this desperate grasp onto what she thinks will offer her independence and some kind of understanding of her true self. and then she leaves the jedi order, because it's just another set of rules and ways she must abide to fit into it. just another prison for her because she can't be her own person; her true self. she literally left the one thing that caused the entire conflict with her family in the first place. if that's not agency, i don't know what is. when qimir asks her why she's not a jedi, osha doesn't blame the jedi for anything, she says "because i failed." once again, she's focusing on her own choices and actions, indicating she's very self-aware of her independency and how it may have harmed her. she failed because of her own emotions, also something she's aware of. these emotions she couldn't keep at bay because of her agency; they're a part of her and a part she could not ignore or suppress like the jedi needed her to. it can even be interpreted as the show almost portraying osha as selfish because of how much agency they've given her. i honestly want this to be the case, i need messy, flawed osha

not just that, but osha is constantly practising her agency in many ways; she's leading her life the way she herself has chosen. what she thinks of these choices is a different thing entirely and can be interpreted by however you see it but ultimately her own choices led her to where she is.

which is the same thing that happens with qimir. he literally gives her an option to leave and go after master sol and her sister or just do whatever she wants. she doesn't have to stay there. i know a lot of people think he was manipulating her because he would've trapped her if she had left anyway, but i think that's a wrong way to look at what's really going on here, especially considering osha's characterisation. osha makes the choice here again, implying she has a lot of agency, again, and it makes a lot of sense why she stayed. this is just another way for her to seek out the freedom to be herself. osha is curious about the dark side, whether she denies that or not, and she wants to learn about it in hopes of gaining a sense of who she truly is. it doesn't tie her down to anything and it doesn't take away her agency. seduction from qimir's side may be a part of it but that doesn't negate the fact osha makes her own choice to allow him to teach her. she literally puts on the mask herself, it's not like he forced her to do that. she does that because she is desperate to find her true self once again.

she has so much agency in all her actions i think it's rather frustrating to see people reduce her character to 'she's falling for qimir's seduction because she's such a weak, passive character' like do you hear yourselves... in my opinion the show has made a great point of showing that osha, even if repressed and hesitant/presented as passive, will act out on her choices. and i think that's exactly what she's doing right now. she could've killed qimir, but she chose not to. after he opened up to her, her own empathy and curiosity led her to make that choice. even if she knows he's on the dark side, she still chooses to hear him out. she puts on the mask because she wants to. a part of her can see it could potentially give her what she always wanted: to be herself.

you could say qimir might seduce her to want codependency as this is something he seems to seek, but to imply osha has no agency is to disregard everything that has led her to this point in the story lol.

[vehemourn]

a baby snapper a friend gifted me :] hes shiny !