#there are other instances where he does it

[yes-no-maybe-soo]

A couple of things that I love and admire about Sylus ♡♡♡

(This got long so decided to add a cut dhdjfj there is just too much to appreciate when it comes to this man ^^;)

For earlier parts in this "series": go here and here

How mentally and emotionally strong he is. His past never broke him or managed to twist or warp his soul. Which considering his background is incredibly impressive. This is a man that suffered severe trauma pretty much from infancy and onward for thousands of years. He is heavily implied to have been abandoned as a child due to being "weak". He self harmed at an early age. He witnessed the total slaughter of the only kin he'd known. He was nearly murdered himself for no other crime than looking different. He was tossed into the abyss to rot for over a millennia, stuck in place with a greatsword lodged through his chest. All of this happened while he was still a juvenile. He most likely hadn't experienced a single day of real happiness or care in his life up until meeting his sorceress. But even before they get properly close, he shows her kindness and compassion despite never having known any himself. We learn that he has never eaten a human soul, nor harmed anyone that didn't deserve it. When he dies, his soul is revealed to smell like flowers. He never lost his innate goodness. In the present, he also shows that same remarkable inner strength and stability, now even more noticeable with added age and further maturity.

How well he takes care of his people. All evidence points to him being an amazing boss and leader. It's especially touching to see how much the twins admire and appreciate him.

The effect he has on those that come under his wings. They all seem to flourish and come out stronger than they were before.

His aura. His scenes in LAR and his entire anecdote gives me chills to this day.

His perfect jawline. It's immaculate.

His honesty. He never lies to MC. Not even once. He doesn't ever whitewash himself and is upfront about his desires and his greed. Similarly, from what we've seen, he honors the deals he makes with anyone seeking his protection (No Way Out, Elysium).

His straightforwardness. On a personal level, as a ND individual, I appreciate this quality in others immensely since reading subtler signals more often than not isn't my forte and tends to stress me out trying to figure out what they are trying to convey to me. So it brings me comfort to see Sylus be straightforward with his feelings for MC. He may not always be direct with his words – both he and MC like to talk in riddles at times – but his actions and his demeanor always are.

His quick thinking and savvy.

Just his sharp intelligence in general. He is always eight or ten steps ahead of his opponents.

His sheer unwavering confidence and charisma. Both enough to fill the mariana trench.

How he is incredibly emotionally mature. He is calm, composed, never abuses the power he has, never lashes out, never loses control of himself. He isn't bitter, doesn't dwell on the past. He isn't brooding or hateful. And when MC tells him he sucks at something (giving a massage in the specific instance I'm thinking of) instead of getting annoyed or taking it personally, he asks her to teach him how to do it. When she says that he is pestering her, he accepts it and gives her the space she says she wants without arguing even a little. We have never once seen him fight with MC over anything. Nor can I even picture a scenaro where they would, try as I might. They're just too chill/emotionally intelligent to get heated or argumentative.

Overall his emotional strength and maturity shows itself best with MC. He definitely made major mistakes in his treatment of her at the start of LAR out of desperation and a misguided belief that the end justifies the means, but the moment he realizes that he has gone too far and that he needs to stop trying to force their past onto her, he stops. Nor does he ever try to manipulate or hold their soulbond over her head (he never even mentions it to her). Instead, he puts his all into building a relationship with the present her from scratch, on her terms, at her pace. He falls in love with and cherishes the present her, just as much as the past her. That is not to say though that all emotional scars have healed. Of course not. Whenever MC unknowingly makes those oddly specific references tied to the shared past she doesn't remember, it's bound to hurt him. But he handles it amazingly, staying composed. And he still aches for her to remember – but I suspect in large part for her sake rather than his. He wants her to know herself entirely, every single part. She deserves to know her history. But crucially, he never pushes the issue. All he does is make gentle references in the hopes that she might remember. But that's all. At the end of the day, on a personal level, if MC never recalls anything, then he'd be fine with that. He is overjoyed just to be a part of her life again, to hold her in his arms.

And imo the probably biggest instance of his maturity and strength? Being willing to let her go, if that is what she desires. Remember that MC represents everything good, beautiful, and joyous in his life. She is the best thing that happened to him. The one person to love, accept, and want him unconditionally. The sole individual to truly see the real him (the only one that dared or cared enough to try). After his resurrection he has yearned and searched the galaxies for her for an unknown but more than likely vast amount of years. And yet... he is willing to let go, for her sake. Even though it would destroy him on the inside. Because she is so much more important than his own desires.

Following on with the maturity theme, I admire the way he approaches losing. He isn't a sore loser but bears it with ease of mind, which isn't always the case with people like Sylus who are used to coming out on top. But to him, whether he wins at a competition or not doesn't affect his confidence or self worth, and he can readily acknowledge when he's been fairly beaten by an opponent. The only time he truly cares about winning is if MC wants him to. And then he'll make sure to win no matter what.

Another thing I admire is how he is so willing to adapt and adjust for MC and the love he bears her. For instance, Sylus is not by nature or temeprament a patient man. He wants to get things done and wants them done fast. A good example of this is in the most recent event, where he does not have the patience to let flowers grow naturally and so tries to force the process. However, when it comes to MC? He is willing to wait infinite lifetimes. He always walks at her pace when it comes to their relationship, and never pressures her. He gives her as much time as she needs to figure her feelings out. He is an impatient man willing and ready to be endlessly patient for his beloved

For all that he is down bad for MC, Sylus isn't a doormat nor spineless in regards to her. He won't just mindlessly agree and go along with whatever she wants but has a strong will, agenda, and boundaries of his own. He teases and bullies MC (affectionately), gives as good as he gets from her, and doesn't hesitate to call her out and/or fluster her for his own amusement. Leading to the banter we all know and love.

His ability to truly self reflect and grow. I am referencing what happens in and after LAR 1-8, where he disappears for a while after having gotten hit by a harsh but necessary reality check. My belief is that he went away initially to cry, but that he also did some major self reflecting. Afterwards, his behavior toward MC changes quite dramatically. He realized that he fucked up, and is determined to do and be better for her. And he never falters. We stan a person that recognizes they fucked up and learns from it. His character development and growth in general mean a lot to me.

How incredibly skilled he is at driving those mototcycles of his. No wonder MC feels safe riding with him no matter how fast they go or how dangerous the terrain.

That his crimes never affect innocents. Sylus has always made it a point only to harm or kill those who truly deserve it.

Despite how he claims never to have comforted anyone before, he is touchingly good at it. He is incredibly emotionally intelligent and attentive. He is always so quick to pick up on how MC is feeling, and he also knows when it's best to give advice, when it's best to act (ie send her something to comfort her, take her on a joyride etc), or when it's best to simply listen and be there for her. Most of the time he is incredibly in tune with her feelings and her needs.

And he can be so achingly tender when he comforts her. A great example of this is in Where Hearts Live, when at one point MC feels embarrassed and insecure about verbalizing how she feels. He is so patient and gentle, holding her close in his lap and rocking her, softly reassuring her that she can talk to him, that he wants to hear what she has to say. And there are other examples of his kindness, such as with animals and plants. A huge reason why this is so admirable to me is that Sylus is a man that has lived a rough life, and with few exceptions seen and dealt with the worst humanity has to offer. He has had precious few opportunities to witness or experience goodness or tenderness from others. And yet he has no trouble being either to those he cares for. It comes so naturally from him. Again, further proof that he has always at his core been compassionate and kind, and that those qualities have withstood throughout all the hardship and violence.

Lastly, I (naturally) greatly admire his hands. They are mesmerizing. Large and rough, yet elegant and beautiful. I can stare at them for hours and never get tired.

Ok I lied I also need to add his veins. Both on his hands and on his bulging arms.

[coldbronzemoon]

A Scientist's Nine-Step Guide to Finding Your Sea Legs

@aroace-get-out-of-my-face Hiya :). I like your mermaid au very much. Here's a one-shot about it.

Summary:

You are a man named Stanford Pines. One day you will return to the sea.

Here's how.

Step One: Arrive into the world with the sea at your fingertips.

When you are born—squalling, strange, with a brother at your side as he had been for nine months before and will be for some years to come—you will be born exactly twenty-seven minutes from the nearest piece of coast to the Atlantic Ocean. When your parents dispense with the last of the fussing around the birth and return home, you will be about a five minute’s walk from the exact edge of the coast where the water laps at the sand.

This will be your home for seventeen years.

Here, the Atlantic Ocean is not at its most beautiful. It is cold and often grey. The place you grow up in is given the unattractive name Glass Shard Beach because it is true. There are beautiful pieces of smoothed-over sea glass buried in the sand that you will collect in jars with your brothers, but on certain parts of the coast you must wear shoes to avoid being stabbed with the eponymous glass shards.

Those parts of the shore are of little concern to you. There sea is often cold and dark and harsh, but you are pulled to it still. You and your twin will spend hours there, sometimes with your parents, sometimes all alone except for each other.

(In the instances where it is your father who is there on the beach with you, he will always have a book in his hand to read. But when your eyes search for him on the shore—he does not swim, and your mother does not either, not until later—you will always see his head tilted up, eyes obscured behind his dark lenses. He is never reading. He is looking to the sea. To you and your brother.

As a child, you will think, this is how he cares.

As a young man, you will think, he never cared at all, he just didn’t want the fuss of a dead son.

As an old man, you will think, that was how he cared, and yet every other way he cared ruined us more and more.)

You will run. You will play. You will swim. You will stay in the briny waves until your skin prunes and shrivels like the outer layer of a raisin and your mother has to work to scrub the seawater out of your hair. Sand is a constant presence in your shoes, your socks, every single last shirt and pants and the hinges of your glasses.

You and your brother will whisper endless plans to go exploring the sea. It invades the art you make with crayons, your dreams, the books you take out of the library.

One day, your mother hears the two of you whispering about it and says, “You’ll need a good boat, won’t you? Better start asking around for chores to save up.”

The two of you will look at each other in surprise. Somehow, boats never entered the equation. You would be amidst the sea like you wanted to be, and how you would traverse it was never a question you or your brother entertained even as you watched hundreds of boats and ships and ferries bob in the water.

You will both agree you need a boat. Soon after, you find one hidden away in a little cove, just waiting for you.

The truth is, the boat isn’t seaworthy. No two kids could quite hope to make it seaworthy.

The truth is that it doesn’t matter. But you don’t know that yet.

You won’t admit it yet.

Not yet.

Step Two: Start dreaming of more.

As you grow older, you begin to do something very dangerous.

You begin to dream. Dreams about things you can only find on land, the admiration of humans and the alluring draw of academia and the call of the strange and interesting all over the country and beyond. You will begin to dream of recognition and fame and being seen. These are things you are told you must want in silent ways by the people around you, and so you want them.

Your brother will be in these dreams, of course, but in a vague, abstracted way. He will find things for himself to do, things that are not the sea, because though your brother is lazy, beneath that he is also resourceful and clever and one day he will sit up and start putting away childish notions and use his skills to do as he pleases out on the land.

(There is a part of you that sometimes looks at your twin and grows angry, so very, very angry.

Your brother is normal. He looks normal. He has every chance to be among the people of your hometown in a way you simply cannot be, he can make himself into whoever he wants to be.

You can’t. Not really. You are the freak and you always will be. The only way to be anything else is to be the genius freak and hope desperately that people start to think genius before they think freak.

So some days you watch as your brother barely tries, you watch as he waves anyone other than you away, you watch as he wastes chances in favor of talking about the sea, the sea, the sea—

And you grow more angry each time.)

The dreams are not really the dangerous part. The dangerous part is that you've never realized that you can no longer tell exactly what your brother is thinking at a glance anymore. The dangerous part is that you have never told him how far you know he will make it. Surely he knows. Surely he can make his own way, a step apart from you but still in sight of each other.

That’s how it’s supposed to go for normal people. And you have been taught that you must want to be normal. Normal promising young men do not vanish into the sea.

So you will dream and you plan and you put the sea behind you.

Not yet.

So you will dream and you shout and you accuse and you put your brother behind you.

Not yet.

You will dream. You will plan. You will put it all behind you. You tell yourself you can do these things until you almost believe it.

Not yet.

Step Three: Wait.

Your college roommate is, in your humble opinion, the best person in the world.

You will meet him on your first day of higher learning. He is tall and thin and chews tobacco and is the only one in this college who cares about the kind of science you do; the bold science, the odd science, the kind of science that require blueprints to be swiftly hidden before anyone starts bandying about the words ‘mad scientist.’

He is also kind and nervous and likes the same sci-fi shows as you, and will watch them late at night with a bowl of popcorn as you whisper about how likely it is the both of you could invent time travel together. He is everything that makes being on land and far from the sea worth it.

He is from Tennessee. The only other place he’s ever lived is here in the dorms of a college in a landlocked state. He has never seen the sea.

It makes sense, of course. Many people have never seen the sea before. Statistically, its likely that a majority of people have not. But when your best friend—as he has been upgraded from merely a roommate quite speedily—mentions it idly, it will shock you.

There is something unsettling about the idea. Something impossible to imagine.

And your best friend will chuckle a little at the expression you must make at that realization, and say that really the sea can’t be that impressive. It’s just a lot of water, isn’t it?

And you will laugh too, weakly, and say that of course it’s wonderful but it isn’t too bad that he hasn’t seen it yet, but that unsettled feeling will remain.

If your parents had chosen a landlocked state, you would’ve known about the draw of the sea still, you feel. The aching lack of the tides would’ve traced your steps like it always does now, unacknowledged but there, always there, the way your brother is always there.

You will feel an urge to visit home, to walk the five minutes to the beachfront.

It’s the middle of the semester, the dead of winter. You wouldn’t even be able to swim.

Not yet.

Step Four: Wait.

One night, not long after you have completed your first year of college, you will have a dream.

In it, you are afraid. In it, you are alone. You are always afraid and always alone, now.

You are running, running, running from something that will kill you if it catches you. Trees snag and pull at you as you sprint through them in the cold dark of night. You are somewhere rocky and dense with foliage, all the colors of nature dampened into shades of black.

When you realize you are on a cliff’s edge, it will be too late. The rock is already crumbling beneath your feet, and you cannot stop.

You plummet. You will have a scant second to see the sky and the sea below it, to see the way the two blur into each other, the horizon meaningless, two moons visible at once in a perfect mirror, and then just as you open your mouth to try and scream—

It will hurt, crashing into the waves. Like hitting hard concrete. And then the freezing arms of the tides will seize you and pull and pull and pull and then they will say there you are.

They will say don’t worry. I have you now. I won’t let you go.

And then the pain will go away. And then you will wake up in the cool air of your room underneath warm blankets, blinking the weak morning light from the window out of your eyes and feeling strongly that you should’ve rocketed out of bed with a shout after such a dream.

You have never been prone to remembering your dreams, as frustrating as you find that fact. You will tell yourself that you don’t remember this one. You will being lying to no one but yourself.

It will linger there in the back of your mind, the terror, the shock. The way your mouth swallowed around a scream you could not force out and the way the cold brace of the water swallowed you.

You will go back to your studies. There is nothing else you can hope to do.

Not yet.

Step Five: Give in, just a little.

You will finish all of your degrees and start searching for what you love most: anomalies. Oddities. Figures of myth and folktale and rumor, the strange and the hidden. You will look carefully at stories and tales and murmurs, cross-referencing until everything points at your best bet being a town called Gravity Falls.

Its name is derived from the plummeting cliffs it sits perilously underneath, secluded in a curving cliff face that slopes into a cold shore.

You will not be able to resist. Gravity Falls would’ve been your choice due to its abundance of odd sightings and its own strange resilience to being placed on maps, but you are finally willing to let the shore beckon you a little closer.

You still have so much to do. But why not do it near the sea, even if it is not your beloved Atlantic from childhood?

You will plan and pack and secure housing there, a beaten cabin as close to the shore as you can get it. You come with bags bursting with every scrap of folktale you wish to hunt down the truth of, and you get caught up in the locals and the nooks and crannies of the small town.

One of the things you will find out about is a local rumor of a giant red snapper that can steal anything off a line no matter how well-secured—that it can cut lines, somehow. They say that it’s as wide as two men and as long as three, that it can vanish in seconds, that if you see it you will gain a span of bad luck immediately after, all things like busted rudders and leaking floors and all your bait gone with no explanation. They say that sometimes it will swim close to the shore and spit gold coins out of its mouth and hit fishmongers and gossipmongers alike in the head.

You have never wanted to discover an anomaly more.

(There is a part of you that is always standing on the shore of your hometown beach, squinting out at the water and waiting to see your brother’s head break out of the surface of the wave so you can sigh in relief and think, of course he was fine, he always is.

This part of you will think for a moment, he would love this. Because your twin would love this anomaly, big and powerful and tricksy and handing out gold for the taking to boot. This is the sort of mystery your brother would follow you to solve eagerly, back when the two of you were all alone except for each other, those times where you both always knew where the other was.

But those days are gone and dead and you will be uncertain of where your brother is right now. He promised, that night so long ago, that he didn’t need you or anyone else, and his silence has proven his claim.

You will think to yourself that your father’s plan worked, that being thrown out of the house woke your twin up and forced him to use those skills of his to get ahead in the world instead of lazing about and ruining his own brother’s dreams for an old nonsensical desire. You will imagine that he has stayed along the Atlantic coast, and is happy somewhere.

You will not allow yourself to imagine anything else. He is your brother, still. All you’ve ever wanted is for him to be happy, even if he refused to want the same thing for you.

You will try to stop thinking about him again. It will not work. It never really does.)

Step Six: Wait.

On one of the rare occasions where you and your brother—that is to say, your other brother, the one who is not your twin, the one who you love in a distant, magnanimous way—meet each other just to do it, the two of you will go to a drink without his wife. For bonding reasons, man-to-man, something she insists upon more than the two of you.

This is a brother who, when finally running from New Jersey like all of you dreamed of doing, chose the other coast rather than settling in the middle of the country. This is a brother who chose to live near the sea once again. Just like you.

The difference is that he ran right to it. You got caught up in your dreams until your dreams led you right back to the sea like the moon draws the tides.

He will look at you sideways, tilting a glass to his mouth, and ask, “Why haven’t you gone yet?”

And you will say, “Why haven’t you?”

He will sit there and think and say, “I’ve got too much to do.”

And you understand perfectly.

(Then his lips will quirk up as he says, “My wife wouldn’t be too happy with it, either.” which you do not understand and never plan to.)

Step Seven: Reel with shock.

You will one day find the red snapper anomaly, and it is your brother. Your twin.

You will ask questions. So many questions.

The answers will boil down to this: the sea provides.

The sea could provide for you, if you let it. But you have so much to do, still. Things that require being on land.

Not yet.

Step Eight: Meet a few more faces.

One of the things your other brother will have to do turns out to be having a child, who himself has children of his own. You will like your nephew plenty, will have him visit on occasion and bring him along on fishing trips and hiking the cliffs, but it is his children, your grand niece and nephew, that you will fall utterly in love with.

They will be twins too, these two. A girl who swings her fists and grabs onto everything soon after being born. A boy carefully untangled from the umbilical cord around his neck with a perfect recreation of the Big Dipper on his forehead—you will whisper excitedly to your twin about the statistical unlikelihood of this and speculate on potential anomalous answers to its existence when the mother isn’t there to here it.

You will get to hold them, trading them between yourself and both your brothers. The three of you will also trade significant looks.

These twins will not be able to stroll five minutes to meet the sea, but they will visit it as often as possible back in California. They will know a warm and beautiful shore.

And one summer, twelve years after you held them in your six-fingered hands, they will come visit you and your twin in Gravity Falls. They will fall in love with the choppy, cold, steely waves of the Pacific as readily as they did the warm inviting parts of its waters further south. They will make friends, make mischief, make you ache for times when you and your twin always knew exactly where the other was.

In the wake of the younger twins’ departure, you will make a decision.

Your friends and family can help you keep in touch with the land. But you do not have to stay so grounded. They’ll pull you back up rather than your own two feet.

Step Nine: It is time to go.

Let your brother drag you into the cold dark sea. Hear him laugh with joy.

Clench your jaw around a scream of pain.

Wait.

Wait.

Wait.

The pain will recede. You will be more yourself than you’ve ever been before.

Let your brother take your hand and drag you to see all the things your feeble human body couldn’t be taken to see before, all of the dangerous things, the too-deep-beneath things. You have all the time in the world now.

You’ve found your sea legs. In a certain sense of the word.

Now you just have to wait for the others to follow after in time. You have so much to do while you wait.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Oh God what if Rook learned french because of Neige

Oh, because of Neige’s French-sounding name? Neige LeBlanche literally means “Snow White” in French.

Weirdly enough, we don’t really have instances of Neige speaking (twisted!)French, though he does appear to understand Rook rather than be put off by him when he uses French phrases. (We know from Fleur City/City of Flowers locals speaking (twisted!)French that it is, in fact, a real language and not just unique Rookisms or something he came up with on his own.)

Many French words appear in Tapis Rouge as well! While we don't hear the Maquillaville (also in the Shaftlands) locals apeaking in French, French is used to refer to many of its dishes.

So it seems that "French" (as it exists in Twisted Wonderland) is associated with the Shaftlands (twisted!Europe, though the Queendom of Roses appears to be twisted!Britain), or at least some regions of the Shaftlands since other regions--like Harveston--are inspired by other cultures. For example, Harveston is a blend of Nordic cultures.

Idia asks if Rook is from the Shaftlands, which Rook denies. In fact, Rook's homeland is actually... Sunset Savanna. Idia and Ruggie are shocked that Rook can still fit in so well. Rook explains this by saying that it must be because of "how bright, friendly, and beautiful the people of this city are." He also adds later on that he looked into Fleur City/the City of Flowers in advance to prepare for this trip. Additionally, one of his favorite plays uses this location as its setting.

I wonder if Rook knowing French isn't because of his love and admiration for Neige, but due to where he comes from? We don't hear people in Sunset Savanna speaking in French, but if Sunset Savanna is considered twisted!Africa, then parts of Sunset Savanna would be influenced by France (ie parts of the Shaftlands) to parallel how the French colonized parts of Africa irl.

We'd have a better idea of why Rook knows French if we were to meet his family. If his parents and/or siblings also speak French, then I'd be more inclined to believe that Rook picked up the language due to where he grew up or from his family members. If the other Hunts don't speak French, then the language may have been something Rook learned on his own, perhaps because he is so devoted to Neige.

[chris-continues]

Our Common Denominator

Robert “Bob” Reynolds/reader

Contains fluff, post Thunderbolts* movie, mentions of the other team members, mutual pining (a personal favorite), reader is gender neutral, no use of y/n

Crossposted on ao3

The remainder of the Avenger’s compound stood tall, only a few minimal renovations required (such as better seat cushioning due to Alexei’s ‘bad back’). The common room laid practically bare, the countertop you’d been forcefully pummeled into by Bob a few months ago now functional again.

It’s strange, you think to yourself. To think so much could change in a matter of months. You were employed again, not some dead end job where you’d wallow on your phone, and found relative solace in your companions. While not completely familiar with them yet, you’d grown fond of a few of the ‘new Avengers’.. and their accompanying companions.

You brush that particular train of thought away stubbornly, fingers prying the mini fridge behind the counter open.

“Sorry,” a voice tentatively resounds through the room. With the general lack of furnishing, everything seems to echo through the halls. While you were kept occupied, it gave Bob a chance to peek around the corner to see you, having been ushered by Yelena. Apparently, he had ‘lovestruck googly eyes’.

“Took the last juice. I got thirsty,” Bob feebly says, curled in a sweater that swallowed his torso. A pair of reading glasses are propped along the bridge of his nose, one hand clutching a book and the other clasped around a juice box.

You swallow to yourself, hands brushing on your pant legs to rid of the preemptive sweaty palms before shutting the fridge.

“..’s fine,” you answer, turning to face him. Your forearms rest against the cool counter “what are you reading?”

“Uh- an old book,” he swallows, “found it downtown when we had to restock the compound when we had people working on the circuit breakers.”

His eyes seem to avert your own, but he makes an effort to peer over the rim of his glasses. Goodness, you’re pretty. The floor to ceiling windows allow enough light to hit your eyes just right.

“It- it uh,” he clears his throat, “has this one line I like.”

He scrambles back a few pages, his fingers finally resting before he begins, albeit a bit shakily.

“Two angels came. Pulled me from the light, to return to this chaotic room with its malodorous flavors. But gloriously free of the entirety of my sadness and failure, I am reborn -- I AM LIFE-IN-DEATH!”

His voice contains a low rumble with a raspy quality you cannot seem to shake yourself from as you listen attentively, thoroughly intrigued. Bob has taken a liking to reading ever since the attack- it’s concerning that he cannot recall the incident, but you’ve had similar instances yourself. Hell, when the two of you had initially met on the mountain, the two of you got along despite the panic.

Not that it was hard.

He’s plenty likable.

“It’s uh, the author’s introspective commentary on enlightenment despite their inner turmoil. Thought it was interesting,” he trails off, a bit unsure. The air seems slightly terse, or maybe that’s because his hands are a tad shaky.

“It is,” you reassure, eyebrows raising for a brief moment. “I need to pick up reading. It seems to be treating you well.”

“How so?”

“There’s less bad days. For all of us, I think.” You start, biting the inside of your cheek. You contemplate on whether it’s appropriate for you to continue, but decide to elaborate nonetheless.

“Especially you,” you admit, gaze elsewhere. You don’t notice the way his eyebrows raise, lips parted in intrigue.

You continue nonetheless, “You’ve come a long way- it’s admirable. I find myself stuck in old habits a lot sometimes.”

Your eyes are cast to the ground, attempting to articulate just exactly what you mean. It’s a tad difficult, especially considering you’re on the spot right now. Not that Bob means to- it’s just.. that’s what he does. To you, at least.

You try not to ponder that for too long.

“So.. it’s just good to know there’s progress.”

A temporary silence falls between the two of you, only filled with the occasional buzz of traffic from down below.

Bob takes a breath, eyes attempting to meet your own, if only for a second.

“Well.. every day is different, y’know?” He shrugs, a dorky smile alighting the corners of his lips. It’s a heartwarming sight, one that serves to stir something within you. Admiration, maybe?

You nod succinctly, “Yeah. We’ve got this.”

“Heh- yeah.”

A warm sort of quiet envelops the two of you, a mutual understanding cloaking you both in this moment. His hair is messy, but frames his small smile well.

Distorted steps ring through the wall behind you, Ava’s hand reaching near you to grab something off the counter. Her eyebrow quirks in amusement as your shoulders jerk in obvious surprise.

“Jumpy much?” She succinctly remarks, eyeing the two of you with nonchalance and an unsurprised demeanor.

She phases back just as quickly, but Bob’s eyes don’t dare to part from you.

Cute.

[carmenserenity123456]

Do you think Sasuke thought a lot about Naruto during the 3 years separation?

Hi, yes and the scene where they met after three years of not seeing each other showcase it. Look at their intense gaze, how long they stare at each other. You can even feel the tension from these panels.

Look at Sasuke's expression here. It is soft and different than his usual face. This is not the look of someone that does not care about the other person. Sasuke also expresses some jealousy by the fact that he was replaced by Sai. He deliberately calls him weak to damage his image. I saw some SS claiming that he was jealous of Sai because of Sakura also but this is total bs. This scene connects to the first meeting of Sai and Sasuke. Sai mentions there Naruto and Sasuke listens but when Sai says that he will get along better with Sasuke than with Naruto, Sasuke puts him into genjutsu. Sasuke is possessive and the fact that he reacted to Naruto's name bait shows that he thought about him.

Then we have one of SNS favourite scenes which is when Sasuke jumps towards Naruto and 'hugs' him very closely. It is very intimate especially the pose, the placement of Sasuke's arm and his chest is very visible. This scene is also very provocative especially when Sasuke talks to Naruto. Sasuke is not known to be this physically close with anyone so the fact that he did all of that confirms that he wanted to be close to Naruto.

Furthermore, this is also the instance where Sasuke is not happy with being called friend by Naruto. When Naruto says that he does not deserve to be the Hokage because he did not save a friend, Sasuke humphs! Look at his expression. Sasuke clearly thinks it was a stupid excuse and is dissatisfied.

He also stopped his attack on Yamato to check on Naruto and went into his mind. He took care of Kurama who wanted Naruto to lose control. Why would Sasuke do such thing if he wanted to kill Naruto? Because he cared even during these three years of not seeing each other.

Lastly, when Naruto calls his name Sasuke is shown to have a very soft, longing expression while looking at Naruto. He is self conflicted because on the one hand he knows that he have to kill him to get stronger just like Itachi said but on the other his heart and his feelings for Naruto do not let him do it. Before departing they look at each other once again. Sasuke clearly loves Naruto and vice versa.

[marmorada]

This!!! Anyone that has spent time in prompting spaces will notice a wave of requests for a hated male character to be dominated or raped by a man any time an episode airs where he does something these women don’t like. I.e. any time Dean Winchester stood up for himself against abuse from characters they preferred, there would be a wave of them demanding he be punished by making him gay and receiving from the preferred man, or worse. The fact that Dean is the one character to have been hit on by men and responds with “I’m flattered but I’m not gay sorry” only makes it more titillating for them. They absolutely find gayness humiliating and taboo. That’s why it’s constantly paired with incest, rape, bestiality, etc…

Somehow I hadn’t fully considered the grooming aspect but you must be right.

I mean, these women do recruit newbies into the fandoms with watchlists comprised of all the episodes that supposedly support the ship, telling them not to bother with any episodes that don’t. There are tons of girls that know nothing about these shows beyond the delulu ships. They aren’t that different from men that only watch shows for ass shots.

I’m not hugely into this fandom so I don’t know any specifics about shippers’ behavior outside this one anecdote, but I do remember a particular instance where an Undertale blogger was opposed to the incest shipping between brothers. He or she was a CSA survivor that had been groomed with fandom incest material and was brave enough to admit that and oppose Sans/Papyrus shippers. They were bullied so badly and en masse by fontcest shippers that they appear to have killed themselves. Meanwhile, the Supernatural fandom is so full of incest shipping that you’re instantly ostracized if you commit the crime of having a problem with it. You MIGHT catch half a break if your excuse is that you prefer the other awful homophobia fetish ship. And the incest shippers’ favorite activity is to interpret even the most vague, normal interaction between Sam and Dean as sexual. The common refrain being to post a normal gif of the brothers with captions like “Stop looking at your brother like that… 😏😏😏”. But sure. They aren’t affecting kids and aren’t producing grooming material backed up by wide support among the victim’s peer group. The “real” pedophiles will never utilize their “weecest” fics. Uh huh.

I’ve been reading fanfiction from when I was 11 or 12 I believe, and there is this recurring thought that I keep coming back to.

Most fanfiction is produced and consumed by women, if we are talking about statistics.

Yet, one of the most, if not the most, prominent categories in fanfiction, across every fandom is male/male.

I still don’t understand it, to be honest. The explanation that I created for myself is that patriarchy has found its way into a supposedly ’woke’ field. It’s not a surprising concept, as the left nowadays is not so different from the right, in many aspects, but still.

Women would rather read about men, than about lesbian relationships, or hell, even hetero ones.

Do you have any ideas why that might be so?

[the-knife-consumer]

how about sam and max, but NOT as a unit, as different people - how they approach stuff differently, what they might try to hide from each other, etc. stuff about them as Individuals is always so interesting to me

Yeuuahh that's always nice .. What makes it a little daunting for me though is that Sam's characterization gets switched up a lot- not drastically but like noticable. Max stays pretty much exactly the same through comic/games/show but Sam gets a tiny change every time and it makes pinning down a character/mannerisms for him weirrddd... (Example: cartoon Sam is outwardly confident and unbothered by a lot of stuff but game Sam has issues™️ and is not confident in his image, also more likely to tell max to shut up/stop goofing off instead of playing along with him) so I won't be getting into little personality traits in this since there are so many that vary or contradict each other in the way he's portrayed. But ☝️ I try my best to pin down what seems to be constant.

Anyway Sam seems to overall be slightly less trigger happy but still unhinged. He also doesn't scream/shout as much and is therefore more approachable, so it makes sense to me that he handles a lot of conversation work and does most of the "evidence" (useless junk) gathering. But like that's only comparatively. He's still off-putting and vaguely if not outright rude during conversation (cartoon Sam excluded here, that's where he's the kindest so it's an outlier) (still has his moments tho). This guy can't mask for shit if he doesn't want to be talking to you/ doesn't respect you you're gonna know lol.

I also think one of the only things that keeps him civil is that he actually has a concept of guilt unlike max (source: htr guidebook. I think). But at the same time there are a lot of instances where he recognizes he's doing something bad/being a bit of an ass but doesn't care enough to stop. This is the same guy who kept somebody who cheated at a card game locked in his closet until he died. We gotta remember that.

So. I think Sam at least tries to approach things in a dignified and normal way, but gives up a good 80% of the time because doing things however the fuck he wants is easier and faster.

As for what they hide from each other. Sincerity. They are rarely if ever sincere they are so irony poisoned it would kill a normal person. They hate being genuine. And food. They hate sharing.

And max. Is max. Self explanatory like look at him (okay I could delve into stuff about max yeah. Specifically super ego and Max's. Not even implied outright stated suicidal thoughts mental health issues. But also that's Game Max only. Not a series constant, at least I can't remember if it is. But my brain is like fried rn.)

[rubybaely]

the most hilarious thing about the darkest minds movie is that their eyes light up with the color of their abilities whenever they use them; and in the movie chubs is green and sometimes his eyes turn green whenever he just like formulates a thought

like for example this is towards the end when psfs come storming east river and clancy is clearly cooperating with them

i love this because what the filmmakers are implying is that chubs needs his superhuman ability in order to draw the conclusion that clancy is helping the soldiers when it is so blatantly obvious in this scene but thank you green chubs for clearing this up i love the darkest minds movie

[bamsara]

I dont know if it was intentional but I love that Narinder when he sees Lamb throwing up he turns gentle and pushes their wool and ears back so they dont get stained with vomit and for some reason it reminded me of how when Nari was throwing up too after the nightmare he had when they were on route to fight Leshy, Lambert helped him with camellias for the nausea.

Ahh, parallels. I think.

IM SO GLAD YOU POINTED THAT OUT allow me to ramble for just a moment.

Narinder was trapped in the Afterlife for over 1000 years, with little social skills and plagued by wishing for vengeance and his only company being two kittens who become disciples under his rule. He has terrible social skills, if not lacking them entirely.

(I would argue that Aym and Baal also have horrific nonexistent social skills, so those three cat's can't really help each other communicate properly to anyone else outside themselves.)

It can be argued that since The One Who Waits had other vessels to pass time and try to kill /annoy his siblings before the prophesized Lamb arrival, that he would have developed them a little bit more, but I would argue that the power balance would have been oodles more severe since the vessels weren't the promised one. He didn't need them, so if they no longer were of service or disobeyed him, he got rid of them. Whether just sending them out or killing them, any how.

Lamb, however, knows they are the last Lamb, the prophesized liberator of The One Who Waits, and therefore his only option. They knew that they were his only reasonable way out of there (whether they asked for it or not) so they were oodles more comfortable than how a professional relationship would have been.

So they asked questions, bothered him, played and ran around him. Complained and vented to him. Yapped and yapped. What is he gonna do? Kill them? Find a new vessel? He can't. "You're as trapped into this prophecy as much as I am, so let's be friends"

Example parts from Chapter 3:

The power balance equalizes because Lamb did not see his presence a God, but rather a fellow prisoner and victim of fate. Rude and demanding, but in the same chains as they were. 'My lord' was simply formalities at first.

This puts Narinder / The One Who Waits in social situations he hasn't been in (or hardly been in) in over a thousand years, and frankly, he had no idea how to navigate them:

Example from Chapter 5:

The God of Death has not needed to comfort or 'be there' for someone in a long, long time. The Lamb's presence is what forces him to try, even if his first attempt aren't perfect. So in that same chapter, he'll ask them a question to distract them. Conversation. Like how they do it.

While I won't post a screenshot of everytime this happens in written format (not including the dreams/memories/flashbacks that haven't been posted yet)-

The One Who Waits is pushed outside of his bubble when it comes to socializing in a way that isn't just 'God-to-Lowly-Vessal' format. He has to talk to them like a person, because he's being talked to like a person, not a god on a pedestal.

Obviously after the final battle and betrayal (to both of them, otherwise known as the Grand Miscommunication) this means nothing for a while as tempers are still high and feelings are hurt. But overtime, this returns, and can show in small ways (ways that may not seem like comfort but is certainly an attempt) like just in Chapter 18:

Trying to bring them an 'offering' (breakfast) mirroring other times the Lamb has done the same for him:

Crudely offering to replace something they are upset at losing/later offering reassurance abet in a curt way:

And what you mentioned: earlier when the Lamb is throwing up, narration shows they're having trouble with keeping their wool, cloak, bell, ect all back at the same time. He can see that. He has a mental boiling pot explosion over the fact that helping them is even a want that he has after the denial crisis he's experiencing where the only answer a minute ago seemed like he needed to kill them, and he chose comfort.

It is intentional. Narinder is learning how to show care, and allowing himself to show care. Slowly, and not perfect, but learning.

[banana-can-do-art]

Omg Twst is kind of like a Disney creepy pasta, except as much as the concept of overblots is horrifying they designs slay too hard to be scary. Like yes I know that everytime someone overblots they are having a mental breakdown and they and everyone in their immediate vicinity is in danger of dying, but like omg those character designs. Like they’re soooo freaking pretty! I gotta say Vil has to have one of my favorite OB designs. Maybe in a way he got his wish then? People love him, although I guess his OB is still in the role of the villain soooo. I also absolutely adore Riddle’s overblot design. Like in super biased because obviously Riddle is my favorite but like still that absolutely slays. Not to mention he has the first overblot so he slays with a shock factors. Also as much as I love Azul’s design one of my first thoughts when I saw it was oh no that’s going to attract some ppl that into some interesting things 😭.

LeoVil divorced right before the main plot line. I mean, did you see the comic in the second manga anthology where Vil gets him to model with him because his original partner couldn’t make it. Like I can’t. Also why does bro keep calling Leona nothing but a pretty face. There is no heterosexual explanation for those lines. Also every interaction they have in fairy gala lmao.

HELL YEEEEEAAAAAH!!! I need the Eda and Raine spinoff. That way not only could we focus on the adorableness that is Raeda, because I adore that ship. But also we could see more of how Lilith’s jealousy developed. Like I would love to have an episode dedicated to diving deep into why she was so easily to manipulate and recruit to the emporers coven, why she was so desperate that she was willing to cure her own sister. I mean I know it’s implied through subtext, she had a mother who didn’t pay much attention to her since she was always focused on her other daughter bc Eda always needed more attention, so Lilith craved importance and attention as a result, and all the while she was being fed a steady stream of propaganda about how great the emporers coven is. Plus, she’s always been an obedient girl who listens to authority, so of course she would believe what she was told, she let the system take advantage of her and eventually became part of it. We could also explore you he Darius, Odalia, and Alador and see how they came to be. For instance it seems like those three all used to be friends but now Alador and Darius hate each other (and maybe like like each other a bit too tho lol) but how did things end up like this, and was Odalia always the way she is now, or was she like Amity once? Is perpetuating some kind of generational trauma cycle. (Odalia is so Mrs. Rosehearts core lol). I would also love to see a spinoff where each episode features a different golden guard and we get to see each of their stories and how they differ from person to person and how Belos slowly changed his methods overtime and then we’d also get more lore on how grim walkers work which I’m super curious about. Another spinoff I’d love to see is one detailing Vee’s time at camp. I’d love to know what she got up to there and how her relationship with her her friends and her crush on masha is. There is so much potential for hiding that she is a basalisk and reverse isekai shenanigans as well as the angst potential from all of that. And then of course there’s the idea of a sequel show like Steven Universe Future where we’d get to see how the characters are doing while repairing their post Belos world after the original show is over. We do kind of have this as a fan project if you’ve seen any of the owl house revived on YouTube because that whole thing is super cool you should look it up if you haven’t. Anyway while all of that’s pretty unrealistic, I’m still super excited to see Dana’s full creative freedom shine in knights of Guinevere especially since she’ll be able to go full horror mode and I’m all for that.

Yeah, I mean, there are a few non visual novels I’ve watch playthroughs of like the Stanley parable, and most recently Mouthwashing which omg that game is craaaaazy, but both of those are still super story oriented, it’s pretty hard for me to sit through watching someone play a game that even if it has a good story is also super gameplay heave bc cu need to do that myself to be engaged, but at the same time there’s a lot of games that I suck mythically at the mechanics of so I don’t have much of a choice but to watch playthroughs if I want the full story lol.

He did get domesticated lol. I don’t think I made up that phrase about him tho I’m pretty sure I heard it somewhere from someone talking about him lol.

Guys, I love the heartslabyul dream arc and I understand they probably did the order for plot reasons so they could have certain characters in some dreams and not in others but like… THE CHARACTERS NAMES ARE 1234 AND YOU DID THE DREAM ORDER AS 2413!!! WHAT?!?! On that note actually, why is Trey named Trey and Cater named Cater? Because rank in the dorm wise we have 1 and 2 as the freshmen and then you would think that the normal junior would be 3 and then the vice housewarden would be 4 but noooo the normal junior is 4 and the vice housewarden is 3. How does this make any sense? This puts the power order at 1243! I’m not saying Cater should have been vice, I’m saying Trey and Cater should have swapped names. Like I’m sorry, your characters names are 1234 and you couldn’t even do us the basic courtesy of ordering them properly?!?! Am I the only one bamboozled by this? (I saw opportunity to use the word bamboozled, I took opportunity to use the word bamboozled. Now I have used the word bamboozled even more times you see.) idk maybe it’s supposed to be weird because it’s Alice in Wonderland or something but come on!!!

[whit-doodle]

There have been a few instances that really pushed Gunnar to his limits. Losing his father at 14 and then losing his mother a year later. Joining the Crows after his mother's death and realizing that he may not survive it. Learning to kill at 15 when he had spent all of his life up until that point living with loving parents and never using a blade for anything other than helping his father skin the fish they'd caught for dinner.

Only once in Gunnar's life has he ever truly reached the point where he was ready to give up entirely, though.

When he is 26, he accepts a contract from Viago. What should be a simple assignment to take down a mage turns into a fight to escape a Venatori ambush. A fire grenade hits him as he fights his way out, and the right side of his body takes the worst of it. Severely burned and left for dead, Gunnar believes he failed the contract and accepts his fate because he knows returning after failing to kill his target is a death sentence of its own. It's the only time since joining the Crows that Gunnar truly gives up. For two days he awaits death, only to be rescued by Viago, who came searching for him. Viago found out the contract was a setup but had been too late to reach him in time. There hadn't been a target - it had been a trap to lead Gunnar right to the awaiting Venatori. Gunnar isn't told the truth until weeks later, when he's had time to properly heal.

Gunnar doesn't experience that hopeless feeling again until he's tasked with leading the Veilguard. Being forced into becoming the leader overwhelms him at first, but he pushes through because he knows Varric wouldn't want him to give up. Plus, it's all part of the contract he accepted from Viago to take down Solas. He can't fail the contract.

As for what would actually break him...

Losing two friends on Tearstone Island & then being sent into the Regret Prison tests him majorly. He almost shuts down after being rescued, struggling to process the recent losses and figure out where to go from there. (To me, the game kind of glosses over Rook's reaction to being stuck there, but I know Gunnar absolutely wouldn't cope that well right out of it so I headcanon that he does have a bit of a mental breakdown & it's Viago who manages to pull him out of it, along with help from Lucanis and Teia of course. The game implies that it's like less than a day after being rescued that Rook is ready to go after Elgar'nan again, I think. For maximum angst, I like to headcanon a little breakdown before Rook regains their composure and throws themselves back into the fight.)

In all honesty, Gunnar feels hopeless a lot while leading the team in their fight against the gods. What saves him from not giving up when facing such incredible odds is the fact that the team became his friends, almost like a family. If he'd been forced to face the gods alone or even just had to track down Solas alone, Gunnar would have never survived.

Rook Intro Hour: Despair

Hey, there! Happy Friday! Hope you have a fun weekend coming up!

How it works: I ask you a question about your Rook(s) and you answer it with as much brevity or verbosity as you desire. The easiest way for me to keep track of everyone is for you to reblog this post and add your answer, although you can also mention me in a separate post, if you want! You can do this whenever you want, and I’ll reblog it + add some comments! There’s no time limit— if you want to do the older ones, they are collected here! (The post is updated on Fridays!)

*Please be aware that if you rb RIH to a community WITHOUT rbing to your blog first, I CANNOT rb and comment. If you want me to comment, please put the post on YOUR BLOG first. Thanks!

Today’s Question(s): What would it take for Rook to give up completely? What things have or could happen to them that would make them lose hope that they could keep going? Do they frequently feel hopeless? What do they do to stop feeling that way?

Have fun, be creative, and thanks for sharing !

[bloodbathfortwo]

Nigel and Alex have their rare moments of intimacy behind closed doors. Lingering touches, and blazing warmth.

[troubled-bog-witch]

I CAN BE SILENT NO LONGER you know how in the music store before going to the island Arthur played like a full piano piece with a melody and a bassline and just. He could not do that with one hand!!! I was really hoping it would be a Plot Point but I'm on episode 27 now and forced to confront that it was just a weird ass oversight and it has been bothering me since it happened. Of all the things to forget. I cannot be the only person who noticed it. Please

[marsixm]

on that note i know i am quite literally years late but what do we think of taz graduation friends. it certainly. exists.

[pergaminaa]

Modern au:

When Dorian started dating Manon, he was able to see a few things in her that made him suspect something was off. At that point, he was able to see the pressure her grandmother put her under and he felt helpless in the face of that kind of thing.

Manon was really going out of her way to make sure everything is perfect and yet her grandmother kept scrutinizing her.

At formal events, he got to see that first hand. Manon would be super stressed, it would get worse about 2-3 days prior where her anxiety is at it’s peak; she won’t be able to sleep, and can’t keep anything down.

Dorian can see all of her effort and yet her grandmother’s responses are a variety of

“Don’t embarrass me,”

“What a disgrace,”

“This is worthless,”

And it really angers him.

But that was nothing compared to what he saw when they moved in together.

Prior to that, Manon was able to maintain her mask of aloofness and perfection. It was only when they lived together than Dorian saw how she struggles with insecurity and abandonment issues.

He learned of the long months she’d spend at boarding school, her grandmother wouldn’t allow her to return home if her grades are anything below a 100%. She’d call her an embarrassment and let her spend the holidays studying and making up for those grades.

He also saw how she struggles with boundaries sometimes. Moreover, he noticed that she instantly panics whenever she thinks that she made a mistake. Like forgetting her jacket on the counter, or leaving some of her work behind on the coffee table.

Dorian hates hates hates how her grandmother turned her into this person. She honestly believes that as soon as she commits the tiniest mistake, Dorian is going to leave and find someone better. He told her time and again that he doesn’t want anyone else, better or worse. He wants only her and nothing will ever change that.

But of course, his reassurance does nothing to elevate those issues that have been there for two decades. All he can is promise to always be there, that no matter what happens he isn’t going to leave or find someone else.

Now another issue is their families. They attend the same social circles and their families no each other. Chaol is against their relationship because he wants someone other than a Blackbeak to be with his friend. Aelin doesn’t care much, she tries to get along with Manon but the two of them don’t spend any time together to have any sort of relationship.

Then there are his parents; Georgina wants to pick her son’s lifelong partner. The fact that he’s with the Blackbeak heir infuriates her to no end.

Now normally he would ignore everyone and does as he pleases. However, now that he lives with Manon and knows exactly how vulnerable she is, he had a meeting with his parents and Chaol.

He sat them all down, and told them in no certain terms that if he brings Manon over for a visit, if any one of them make her feel unwanted, he’d get her out of there immediately and never return back there.

Dorian is serious, she’s been though enough and he sees how she struggles. That the perfectly put up woman is hiding a lot of things underneath and he hates how he can’t shoulder some of those things. All he can do is love her through it all and hope that one day it will be enough.

[gumy-shark]

perhaps one day i will post all my insane little thoughts about shou and ritsu and strength (and skill vs power). but not right now it’s been too long since i’ve rewatched the claw arcs or confession arc