#the distance probably helps

[asexy-phoenix]

The Blue Castle chapter 28

The first thing to note is that the Stirlings react to Valancy's freedom by pushing her away. They can't control her anymore so they simply refuse to interact with her in any capacity. Unless she is subserviant to them and their rules, she might as well be dead, and Barney too. Which they don't hesitate to say!

The last time it happened was in chapter 27 when Mrs Frederick said she would rather Valancy had died than marry Barney. Which considering what is actually happening to Valancy is an unspeakably cruel thing to say.

They even had the audacity to go in to Uncle Benjamin’s store to buy groceries. Twice Uncle Benjamin ignored them. Was not Valancy one of the dead? While Snaith had never existed. But the third time he told Barney he was a scoundrel who should be hung for luring an unfortunate, weak-minded girl away from her home and friends.

This time, Uncle Benjamin puts the blame on Barney. In a patriarchial high-control system, women are seen both as the scapegoats for men's actions and, simultaneously, unable to do anything without a man instigating it. Hence, the "have you no shame" of the last chapter when Valancy revealed she proposed to Barney.

So, Uncle Benjamin assumes Valancy must have been "lured" away from her family and forced to marry Barney and reacts to this assumption by telling Barney he should be killed.

And, yeah, Barney's reaction is really funny and defuses the situation but also...I really want to see the Stirlings get their actual comeuppance.

“Marriage is such a serious thing,” sighed Cousin Georgiana. “When it’s going to last long,” agreed Valancy.

Now this is interesting and hints at how Valancy sees marriage. I think what she means is not that she doesn't care about Barney or their life together (she most certainly does!) but that she doesn't view it as a long-term commitment because it isn't.

"...when the sunsets flooded it Valancy’s whole being knelt in prayer as if in some great cathedral."

LMM has a theme of equating nature with worship in her works (see the bit in AOGG where Anne talks about going out into nature and "feeling" a prayer), so this is a very on-brand passage for her.

Valancy might never be beautiful, but she was of the type that looks its best in the woods—elfin—mocking—alluring.

Whatever actress can do that is the one that should play Valancy in an adaptation.

The only bad one she had was one night when she was temporarily out of medicine. And it was a bad one. For the time being, Valancy realised keenly that death was actually waiting to pounce on her any moment.

If we're talking about fanworks, I would absolutely love to see a missing scene about that night. What happened/why, was Barney there or not, if he was what reaction did he have or did Valancy just try to hide it altogether, or if she was even successful at hiding it. Etc

[deadbaguette]

Some Athena thoughts and headcanons for the ‘Diomedes goes to Ithaca AU’

Headcanon that Athena moves around completely quietly (like how owls hunt). So, Telemachus meeting Athena for the first time he gets the shit scared out of him. Diomedes by now knows the tells of Athena being here (and he has the magic eyes) so he’s the one basically warning Telemachus if Athena is in proximity

Telemachus: are you even listening???

Diomedes staring intently at the dodgy looking owl (Athena) in the tree: …yeah

Athena is very much still cool aunt. But I wanna characterise her as a little more mischievous (which could be interpreted as cunning ig) than she probably is in the original mythos. She keeps a close eye on both Telemachus and Diomedes. Most specifically Telemachus! While she cannot reveal to him that Odysseus is alive directly (she cannot incur the wrath of her uncle just yet), she does help him in starting his little Telemachy. It helps boosts his confidence and helps reassure him that maybe his father is alive. HOWEVER, the sudden disappearance of Telemachus causes the stress meters of Diomedes and Penelope to exponentially rise. And Athena finds this a little funny, so she still withholds the information from them.

Telemachus: Athena… sometimes I wonder if father is dead :(

Athena in disguise clenching her fists to try not reveal anything: … he’s too stubborn to die, have a little more faith in him

Athena:

Athena: Hey, I have a great idea if you’re worried about your dad

-

Penelope stressed out of her mind: WHERE IS HE???

Diomedes equally stressed: I DON’T FUCKING KNOW?.?.????

Athena: *eating popcorn knowing she’ll make sure Telemachus is safe*

Athena is keeping this family very blessed. She is the patron goddess of both Odysseus and Diomedes, and I like to imagine maybe in a more subtle way to Penelope too (I mean… she’s smart, beautiful, AND she can weave???). She’s much closer to Telemachus in this AU than in the original Odyssey, but not like in the way of EPIC?? She keeps her distance from him nonetheless bcs she’s a god and whatnot, but him being close with Diomedes, I imagine Athena has more of an excuse to be around Telemachus growing up.

Telemachus: so.. you knew my father and Diomedes growing up?

Athena trying to act nonchalant, but she’s so proud of them both: you could say that

[blue-eli]

Ink October day 11: Firebreak

A strip of land that has been cleared, plowed, or planted with fire-resistant vegetation to prevent a fire from spreading.

[skywalkr-nberrie]

I’m planning on writing a Vaderdala fic about Padmé trying to save Anakin and bring him back to the light with the love she knows he has for his wife and kids, and also the love they have for him instead of it being about Padmé trying to hide and run from Vader to protect her kids from his wrath. (because that’s so OOC) Vader wouldn’t have gone as far as he does if he knew that Padmé and his babies were alive. Padmé would never run away from Anakin, she’d do everything in her power to save him. And yes, all this could go in line with the narrative that Padmé joins the Rebellion and would want to fight on the forefront of it all.

[moeblob]

Amazing, take some of the side character demons from Evil Bound.

Vincie is a menace to Chuck and Chuck alone so in Hell, Chuck hexes his hand behind his back so that he isn't grabbed as much (and it's harder to pet him). Chuck is like the most irresponsible older sibling ever to demons though so Kelvin recruits him (as an older sibling vibe) to go help him get his ACTUAL older sibling from Earth. Chuck agrees. And then drags Vincie from Hell with them because no one else wants to babysit him and he refuses to unbind the hex just to re-hex when he returns to Hell.

In Hell, Kelvin actually doesn't appear much different than his human form! Like Kronos, the lines under his eyes are red in Hell but black on earth. Chuck however? In Hell he has wolf-ish ears and has a fur lining his neck (note the neck scars in human form). In addition to that he has four eyes in Hell (note the scars under his eyes in human form). Vincie just has horns in Hell. And! In Hell the hex doesn't have a silly looking "tied up" look, it's invisible unless Vincie strains it with movement and then its red text. But it shifts on earth to be visible.

Vincie's biggest agony for the entirety on earth is "dude it's colder here than in Hell I want a jacket to slip my arms into BUT I CANT BECAUSE IM BOUND".

[skyloftian-nutcase]

I’ve discovered that it’s a roughly four day ride from Castle Town to Hateno Village. If Link were to ever ride home before the Calamity, he’d probably start from the castle and take a day’s ride to Mabe Village close to the Ranch. Another day’s ride to get to Gatepost Town, though he’d probably stay at the East Post since he’s a knight. From there he’d make it to the Dueling Peaks Stable, and the next day set out to Hateno.

Why is this important? It’s not, I just found it out while I was using Breath of the Wild to get motivated 🤣 But I thought it was pretty neat.

[shalom-iamcominghome]

For every person I unfollow with weird opinions on jews, I follow a few other jews instead. This has been for the better, even if I was bitter about hitting the "unfollow" button at first (sound off if you want to use this post to self-promo)

[pharawee]

—Nobody would want to be with me, including you, right?

[brainrotcharacters]

Tell Penelope the total amount of times Odysseus went "FOR MY WIFE" the two decades he'd been away and Penelope's going to go "fuck yeah that's my man 😎🤙"

[baeshijima]

rewatching the road not taken animated short on the train was a bad idea

[aquilamage]

So I have been playing a whole bunch of Spearmaster since last time I posted about it (delivering looks to the moon's pearl + a load of exploration). But while the first part went fine, after that I lost a ~2hr play session's video (not all footage I was gonna use but a good portion of it), combed through farm arrays and subterranean pretty thoroughly yet found very little (the rain deer being as difficult as usual), and then proceeded to same some equally mostly unfruitful pearl & old broadcast location checks all within the same like 28 hours.

at the end of it I found a new broadcast of NSH basically being like yeah moon is so nice its her biggest flaw. or whatever. and proceeded to upset-ramble about it incoherently for like ten minutes before I finally decided to stop playing.

and yeah I've just kind of felt sad and cranky about the game since then (like a week). so I'll get to talking eventually probably but for now I think I just need to take a break until I'm less...burned out? idk exactly what this is

[mercless]

🗡 mad cowboy disease....

[girlsdads]

.

[puppyeared]

for like 3 weeks i was wondering why i was sleeping so much and felt listless. and just now I managed to email 3 people and responded to a month old message in the span of an hour because I got back to TAKING MY FUCKIN MEDS..........

[cryolyst]

~

[caffeccino]

hopefully this doesn't come off as rude; but is Apex Limit on a long term hiatus or is it not being updated? Can't wait to read Mundane Magical Girl when I get a chance either way

Hey there!

Apex Limit is indeed on a long term hiatus. I had always planned on taking a break from it in favor of a second project and to come back to it, though that isn't exactly how things worked out...

I intend to try to go back to it after Mundane Magical Girl, which is more limited in scope.