#they're not his family. his family was KILLED

[monokoitari]

As it seems my favorite hobby is making Shen Yuan transmigrate on random characters, idea where he transmigrates into a rogue cultivator with a very pretty and delicate face. It's almost like he looks like a pretty lady!!

... So, he decides that since he looks like a pretty girl, the only place he can survive without becoming a villain or cannon fodder is in Luo Binghe's harem.

Don't get him wrong, he doesn't even plan on getting close to Luo Binghe! But infiltrating the harem is ridiculously easy. He then asks a servant if she can assign him a new room because one of the wives filled his room with poisonous herbs. Not surprisingly, it works, because Shen Yuan knows that this is one of the most common harem drama plots. Jealous wives, drama, seeking the emperor's attention. Very common.

Now, even if he has to cross-dress for it, he has a comfortable room, three meals a day, books everywhere. He starts making friends with the servants, because well, they're interesting demons and Shen Yuan has a lot of questions about their cultures and origins. They respond, of course, happy to be recognized as equals by someone so curious.

Eventually, if any of the wives tries to do something against him... The servants are the ones who will take away all the favor from her. Get along with the servants and you will have the world! So is Shen Yuan who receives the best fabrics for embroidery, the best dresses, the best foods, the freshest fruit, the best makeup items, the most beautiful jewelry. And when some jealous wife picks on him about it, the servants don't change her sheets, leave her clothes unwashed, and give her leftovers to eat.

The fame that Shen Yuan begins to gain in the harem is... complicated. Of course, he goes largely unnoticed. He dresses modestly, spends time with the servants. When he walks through the gardens he is always talking to one or two servants about monsters, creatures, strange flowers, asking questions and gathering data. Shen Yuan is the emperor's strange wife that none of the 300 wives know where he came from, but no one suspects that he doesn't belong there because, well. In reality, it is completely impossible for there to be 300 of them all to know each other. Some do not even know the main wives beyond the stories told about them.

The only one who remembers, recognizes and knows all his wives is, of course, Luo Binghe.

And Luo Binghe knows that she... that he? is not one of his wives.

However, he doesn't cause trouble, he's kind to the servants, he doesn't attack other wives, and he doesn't seek their attention. So how bad can it be to just allow him to be there? He keeps a low profile, and even seems to be hiding. Luo Binghe considers the idea of him being a minor noble fleeing his horrible family and believing that he can find a home in the harem because of Luo Binghe's good treatment of his wives.

It would be cruel to kick him out when he apparently has good friends in the palace and a home now. Plus, he has to admit that he is very committed to his hiding place: he always wears dresses, elaborate hairstyles and looks like a delicate and sweet young lady with rouge on his cheeks and his lips as pink as petals.

And Luo Binghe is curious. Oh well. If he approach him and act like he really believe that they are married, talking and trying to understand him, wouldn't that be interesting?

(It is not interesting for Shen Yuan. Now, facing a Luo Binghe who definitely believes that they are married and offers his arm in walks in the gardens and conversations, Shen Yuan could die. The blackened protagonist is going to kill him when he knows the truth!! Well, that means he have to do... ahem... Whatever it takes to convince him that he's one of his pretty wives.)

[fadelbison]

Of Boats and Drama; The Turning Tides on Kant and Bison's Compatibility

obsessed with how when its during their make believe phase, when fadel says "I think I love you" to Style, Style doesn't say it back and instead just kisses him at the end of ep. 6 and during the kantbison parallel at the start of ep7 when Bison says "I love you" to Kant, Kant says "I love you" back but clearly there's baggage even if he's not lying outright.

But after the brothers kidnap their respective lovers its Style that fronts with the I love you that perplexes Fadel

and its bison that wants to hear it

but Kant jumps into the ocean instead (like you can see the beach front okay Bison is clearly devoid of killing intent here) instead of lying to him or say the same things he's been saying to dupe him.

I really think this is where the Kant and Bison compatibility is finally starting to show. Bison clearly loves his little fantasies and make belief of romance (just like style dear fucking god). I've joked before about how bison has given to his brother the lover he had envisioned for himself - the one who will plead his love, cajole and give in.

But that guy is wrong for him.

We've seen that slightly off dynamic between Kant and Bison for 6 whole episodes. And it's killed me that people kept trying to interpret them with the same rose tinted glasses that we do for Fadel and Style. Because the FadelStyle and KantBison relationship parallels aren't meant to highlight the similarities between the couples but rather the differences, that's where the information about these characters come from.

The audience knows something that Kant doesn't in the boat scene; which is that he has this in the bag already. I think this is the infamous island Bison inherited from his dad and he's brought him here to literally just talk. I know I mentioned this already but bison literally looks like he just untied the boat from shore and let it drift on its own while waiting for Kant to wake up.

Like that has got to be the minimum legal distance that a boat needs to be from shore to be considered unmoored lol. This is 'I am using your vulnerabilities against you because love is pain' shore distance not 'dead body dumping' shore distance. The body will wash up on shore before the boat even makes it back.

But for Bison, Fadel's reasonable precautions while we talk approach was not enough. He needed the ropes, the guns, the added ocean trauma because the guns didn't feel enough to instill fear, the pretty necklace he put on just so he could rip it off his throat, everything is already high drama high fantasy for him. Bison set the stage for desperate begging and tearful confessions, things he already got at the hospital btw but that wasn't enough either.

Because.

Bison doesn't need to be sold on fantasies. He had that and it sucked for everyone involved, what he needs when he's totally out of control like this is this guy:

[screenshots of Kant telling bison he wants to talk on land and he's scared of the ocean]

For six whole episodes I saw Kant be wrong for Bison and not be able to pinpoint exactly why people cawing over how cute KantBison are bothered me so much. Until, of course, Kant finally does something right and all of a sudden it just all clicks together. Bison is boisterous, headstrong and because of his unique skillset also irresponsibly dangerous. The BDSM scene also shows that despite his best intentions, Bison can and will abuse power if given to him irresponsibly.

He doesn't need the Kant that plays along with everything he does. He needs the Kant that Kant is to everyone but him. The person that Kant is when they're together is barely even Kant. He needs the calm, level headed but fiercely devoted older brother, he needs the guy that helps a hookup out because that's his duty as a human being, he needs the guy that stole cars to keep his family fed. And I'll be really honest, that's the guy that Bison loves anyway, the one he hears about from Babe and Style and James.

What Bison needs is the quiet devotion of Kant choosing his own personal hell over playing this game and furthering any deception between them even though technically it wouldn't even be a lie (Bison is literally poised to believe him); the dogged resolve that once he's decided to do this on his own terms, it happens on his own terms.

[astralspen]

Something amazing about In Stars and Time is how it makes you feel what Siffrin feels.

And yes, when you go through Act 5 and everything breaks down that's cool.

But when Siffrin feels loved and safe, I think that's what's special. That's what makes this game and these characters so special to me.

As someone who, too, had a similar feeling of feeling unlovable for a very long time. This game really healed that part of me.

When the timeloops start, and Siffrin clings to being useful, you still feel little bits of love. Small, barely there, a little distanced, because Siffrin feels distanced. But it's still there. The party looks out for you, pays attention to you, makes stupid jokes with you.

As you go through, you feel love through Loop. Loop who despite all the teasing and bullying helps. Helps the person who they so wish they could be. The one who holds their own heart, who has the family they lost. Loop reaches out to you, reminds you, you're here, I see you. It hurts, but I see you. And I will always see you and sit with you. And I will keep you from becoming as detached as I did, whether that be by annoying you or having a heart to heart or just yapping in general.

You feel love from the head housemaiden. That cruel kind as she weeps for your situation, and crys tears you can not. As she apologizes over and over again. Euphrasies loves by showing you the painful kind of mercy, the one that stabs you in your heart and makes you want to scream, because she loves through pity. Through pitying you and your suffering. No matter how much it hurts it is love nonetheless.

And finally, in the end, after everything you've done, after everything you went through. You feel love again. This time in your face, so burning and bright that you can not ignore it, you feel loved from the very people you loved from the start. The party who runs in to save you, despite everything you said. Who tells you it's ok, you were going insane, we may be a little mad at what you said, but in the end that doesn't matter. Because we love you. And man, when they really showed the unconditional love, I was going to cry. Because a love like that, especially one with the party, is so hard to find. And it's so precious.

Finally, you see love, one more time. Twohats. The Loop fight. Loop, who is trying to kill you, Loop who is so jealous because that is the love they so wanted. They want their family back. Loop who despite everything. They still can't kill Siffrin. Siffrin, who despite being forced to fight again, who could drop dead at any moment because of his craft exhaustion, refuses to oblige Loops request. They both refuse to kill. Because they still love each other. Siffrin who pulls Loop into a hug, and apologizes. Apologizes to who they once were, the Siffrin who should've gotten this. The one who had their family and their heart stolen from them. The Siffrin who never got to feel love. He thanks who they are now, Loop. For sticking with them despite everything. Who watched Siffrin, guided them, gave them a shoulder to cry on, bantered with them so Siffrin did not lose himself. Who despite everything, still decided to help. Siffrin isn't mad at Loop, because Siffrin knows, he would do the same. Siffrin gives Loop back all the love they gave. He let's Loop move on, knowing they're loved. That they always have been. Loop accepts that their family is gone, that they loved them all the same. They learn that even with them gone, they were still loved. Loop is allowed to be happy as they leave.

And isn't that just what this game is about? That no matter what, everyone deserves to be loved. To know it too, and to be happy. And that's what healed me a bit. Because if even the King, who spent his days weeping for a kingdom long gone, who lost all his family and could not build a new one, who froze everything in time, was still able to know and remember the love he had in the end, then why can't I? Why can't anyone? If even the ones who hated and cried and destroyed everything, the ones who hid it all until they couldn't, who didn't understand their emotions and felt trapped within a construct, who didn't feel like them no matter how much they changed, then can't we, too, love and be loved?

This game shows that love does not have to be romantic, does not have to be displayed in any way, is not something earned, but is a basic right for all of us. And for that, I thank it.

[higuchisora]

Honestly, I was always under the impression that Vander parented them "indirectly", if that makes sense. Like, Vander parented Vi, and Vi took those lessons and parented the others with them, because Vander simply didn't have the time to do so himself, and Vi was basically his mini-me.

Even prior to season 2, when I saw how the previous League bio for Warwick, implied his only memory of his past life was Powder (it says all he remembers is a little girl screaming a name- aka Powder screaming for Vi), that kind of confused me. Because on one hand, yes they're both his daughters and it's his final on-screen moment in season 1, but on the other, it felt thematically odd.

Like, he's supposed to be "dead"/unconscious by then. So wouldn't it make more sense if his final memory is of Vi screaming and crying over him? Also, considering Powder wasn't even crying over Vander- it's weird to me that his final memory is about an experience he isn't really a part of. It's Vi and Powder's scene, not Vander's and Powder's or Vander's and Vi's, so why would we want that to be his only memory?

Safe to say, as much as I thought it was sweet that they had a moment of recognition in season 2 (though I do have to wonder why seeing him like that didn't trigger Jinx at all), it definitely felt off to me. Especially since we never got to see Powder/Jinx have any real positive relationships with anyone other than Vi (before Silco), seeing her and Vander being so connected after his transformation didn't feel earned. Any affection she might've had for her previous family (and them for her) prior to Warwick nearly killing her is left entirely up to the audience to infer, which isn't really a good choice for a scene that you want to be emotional for EVERYONE. If his return is supposed to be inarguably a good thing, why leave the context behind it entirely ambiguous?

Especially when they already have a character set up for this exact kind of bittersweet moment: Vi. The focus on Jinx in the Dad Rescue Arc would make way more sense to me if Silco was the one being brought back. It really should've been Vi taking the lead on this one, which would've perfectly handled the "we don't know what to do with her anymore LMAO" thing Linke was talking about. (Honestly, I'm personally of the opinion that we shouldn't have had a Vander-Returns-Arc at all, considering the lack of time and simultaneous lack of substance both this arc and this entire season had, but I'd do anything to give Vi something to fucking do). OP is 100% correct, Vi should've been the one to grab Jinx and hit her with the "he was your dad too" line. Could've especially been potent if Jinx was all, "why couldn't it have been Silco?" about the whole thing, maybe even making digs at Vi at first when she tells her Vander's back (doing a "looks like crazy runs in the family" line or something), leading to some conflict between them at first, before Vi dishes out that line and perhaps a heartfelt "trust me just this once, just one last time" (or something to that affect). Which would work on Jinx IMO, because as we've established, as angry as she is with Vi, her willpower might as well be wet paper when it comes to trying to "hate" her sister.

If anything, this arc probably should've centered more around how the sisters still love each other, rather than their dads tbh. Vi obviously loves Vander, just as Jinx loves Silco, but I feel it's pretty clear they BOTH prioritize each other over everyone else, even still. Yeah yeah, Vi hit Powder, Yada yada- but think about it for a second. If all of this still happened, but this time it was, say, Mylo that did all this, blowing up their family etc. Etc.- do you seriously think Vi would have forgiven him for it? Do you think she'd desperately chase after him the way she chases Jinx, if Mylo ignored her orders and gotten Powder killed? This would be entirely different story, because Vi would've probably beaten Mylo to death, actually. She wouldn't have held back and walked away the way she did for Jinx in act 1 of season 2. She wouldn't be crying and bargaining with Mylo at that dinner party- she'd be straining against the ropes so she could strangle him with them. I'd say the same goes for anyone that isn't Jinx. Even Vander- even if she couldn't kill him, she'd never forgive him. He'd be dead to her in all the ways that matter.

Hence, this arc (imo) should've looked more like the sisters lowkey using Vander as a vehicle/excuse for their reunion. Like, Vi being so eager and happy to have Vander back because yes, she loves him and missed him, but also, it's one less reason for her to be mad at Jinx. One less reason her sense of duty would have to pit them against each other. If Vi could wave her hand and bring them all back, I'm convinced her first thought would be, "now we can move on, now I'm not obligated to oppose her." Because I genuinely believe the only thing really holding her back at this point is this idea of "I have to do what's 'right'." She was ready to move past this even before Vander came back as a furry, now she just has an excuse to show up unannounced at Jinx's door. And Jinx, too, being as obsessed with Vi's affection as she still is, would probably make some jabs and generally be distrustful, but the entire time she's still going along. The opportunity is too good to pass up. The chance to have Vi back is too tantalizing, is quite literally exactly what she's always wanted, even now, even after all this time. She'd take it, and as soon as she got a taste of that affection again, the soft smiles and the fond gazes, maybe even an instinctual pat on the shoulder, done before Vi even has time to consider if she should do that or not- it's a done deal. She'll still be insecure, in need of constant reassurance- but she'd be too eager to really be cautious, desperately seeking more and more of it.

As would Vi, who'd be over the moon to be able to hold a conversation with her sister again that wasn't laced with constant insults and hostility. It'd be almost like they're kids again, before everything went to hell in a handbasket, just them (and their dad) in a dingy old bar. As long as they ignored all the fur, of course.

TLDR basically I hijacked this to say I agree 100% with OP and think this arc was emotionally/thematically dodgy in several ways, which I explore a little in this reblog.

Jinx just never really liked Vander that much.

One of the things that, to me, seemed like a main theme in Jinx's arc in season 1 was the contrast between her two families, and how her switch from Vander's daughter to Silco's drastically changes the way her personality takes shape.

And I hate that the fandom, and now the show, too, has reduced Silco to an unhealthy influence in Jinx's life, pushing her towards her "bad" side (being Jinx) when, for all his flaws... he gives her a better childhood than she ever had with Vander. The first three episodes of the first season, to me, when I watched them, illustrate quite clearly that Powder feels unhappy in her family life. She is the most mal-adjusted of Vander's kids. Her older brother constantly berates her, and it's quite clearly having a big effect on her self-image. She later takes up the Jinx name and persona once she feels like she has become irredeemable as a person. Her other brother never defends her. Vi is the only one who is there for her, and they care for each other, but at the same time you can see there's still a little insecurity in their relationship. Vi is worried that maybe Powder is indeed too weak, and Powder worries that maybe Vi does indeed see her as a Jinx like her brother does.

And when it comes to Vander... he's just not really all that present in her life. And I don't blame him, the man has four kids to take care of, on top of keeping things running in the Undercity. It's clearly not his intention. But it doesn't change the fact that he's not there for Powder, not as much as she needs. To me, when I watched the first season, it seemed like Vander was a figure that felt far away to Powder, someone that she admired but also feared being completely herself around, and someone that she ultimately wished to be closer to than she actually was. It's worth mentioning that Jinx never says his name post time skip, and he is not a hallucination for her, not until Vi brings him up in the finale. Hell, Claggor is somehow a hallucination for her and he never even speaks. Vander was just not an influential figure in Jinx's life.

I always found the scene at the end of ep3 of s1 fascinating, because Powder never once mourns Vander. She never once cries for him and never once says his name. When she sees his dead body, she becomes shocked and starts crying, but it's not actually what breaks her. What breaks her is Vi's rejection. Had it just been that she accidentally caused the deaths of her brothers and adoptive father, she would not have crumbled mentally. It's Vi's rejection that destroys her. Now, of course, a little girl that cares more about her sister's affection towards her than the lives of her family members is kinda messed up, but that's what makes her character interesting. And we can see that that little girl doesn't go anywhere, as Jinx displays the exact same one-mindness about her sister. Because Jinx and Powder were never really that different, after all.

She is quite clearly placed with her back to Vander's body, that she never turns to, barely looks at, only enough to recognize him and see he's dead, and never says the name of. She's turned towards Vi, calling for Vi, crying because of Vi, and no one else. Heck, Vi had just been crying over his body a few moment ago. Vi is clearly distraught over his death. Vi is devastated, she literally punches her sister and curses her in the exact worst possible way she can, in the way she know it will hurt her sister the most. But Powder... she just honestly dgaf.

So to then hear Jinx say this line in season 2...

...is just straight up jarring. I was pulled out of the story when I heard this. This is Jinx saying this to Vi. This kinda makes it seem like it was Jinx who was most attached to Vander, or at least that she was just as attached to him as Vi was. Which is just not how things seemed in the story at literally any point until this one. And then season 2 continues this way, and somehow makes Jinx seem like the closest daughter to Vander. Flipping Warwick literally acts more attached to Jinx than Vander ever did to Powder. Like literally. Season 1 clearly sets up that Vi is the favorite daughter, and then they just... flip it?? Warwick cares more for Jinx and responds better to her than to Vi. It's actually insane. It's true they sanitized Jinx's character to hell and back this season, but this is a straight-up rewrite. I can't wrap my mind around why they did this. Plus, the entirety of act 2 they set up this weird and pointless arc of Jinx rekindling her relationship with Vander or something... and like literally her story was genuinely never about that.

(This COULD have been Vi's story. And that might have actually been cool, and made sense. Maybe Vi is the one who finds him, and she is the one who helps him calm down. And then she brings Jinx, and maybe Jinx is terrified because she was never that close to Vander, and then she literally killed him, so seeing him again is the last thing she wants. Maybe VI is the one who tells Jinx that "he was your dad, too", which would make A LOT more sense, and maybe that's the first time that Jinx thinks that oh, yeah, he was... And then maybe they have a cute moment where Vander forgives her. Or maybe she sees the state he's in right now and loses it completely. Or maybe they look at each other and they both see the monster each of them has become. And then maybe Vi looks down at the enforcer uniform she's wearing, and, privately, sees it too. Idk. The things we could have had.)

Silco was actually a good dad to Jinx, in all the ways that Vander wasn't. He gives her all the attention that she never had before. He not only listens to her, but actively asks for her side of the story. He never insults her, and he defends her against Sevika. He trusts her and gives her opportunities to prove she's capable. She goes from being one of four siblings, and getting lost in the shuffle and often ending up feeling forgotten and alone, to being the most important child, always taken into consideration and almost put on a pedestal by her dad (this, like, has to have cured some inner wounds, i think).

Silco understands Jinx better than any other character in the show, and I'm genuinely sad that we didn't get to see any flashback of Jinx growing up with him. Because their relationship was so unique, and so integral to Jinx's character and to the rest of the story, that the fact that we never get to see any other glimpse into their bond is just...

As a final note, I'd also like to add that I dislike when people say that Silco "groomed" Jinx. I think a much more realistic analysis is that he enabled her. And as for all the times he tells Jinx that Vi "betrayed her", that's just a reflection of his own trauma, and also because he fears that if Jinx knew Vi was alive, she would go back to her and leave him (which, considering what goes down in the s1 finale, not an unfounded fear). It's wrong that he does that, but it's not out of malicious intent (also tbh Jinx never really seems to believe him anyway).

And for all the people who say that Silco "turned Jinx into a terrorist" (dumbest people in this fandom fr, im sorry), that's just straight up not true. Powder was already like that. That is quite literally why Silco adopts her. Because he sees that she's like him. Silco would not have taken Powder in if he thought she was just a cute, innocent kid who was orphaned (to, what, raise her for years so that, MAYBE when she's older, she MIGHT be useful to him? when they meet he doesn't know she's the one that caused the explosion, he just knows that she's been abandoned by Vi). This is the kid who thought playing around with explosives was a fun hobby. This is the kid who giggled at the thought of hurting others. This is the kid who already suffered from explosive emotions. This is the kid who saw her father and her brothers dead, because of her, and all she cared about was whether her sister was mad at her because of it. This is the kid who throws herself at the first person she sees, someone who her sister hates, who is the cause of all this destruction, and with an anger that shocks most viewers, declares that Vi is not her sister anymore. She is livid in that one moment.

Powder already had it in her from the beginning. And it's also ok to like a character (and to write one) even if they are not 100% morally pure in every single way under the sun, cause that is quite literally what stories are for.

[holyadoptionpapersbatman]

Okay, now I'm just imagining an au where Telemachus gains training and self-confidence and cunning a little bit earlier (16 or 17-ish??) and manages to find a loophole that allows him to just kill all the suitors. He manages to convince his mother and his people to become King of Ithaca, but also letting people know that they still believe that Odysseus is still alive.

And so, in classic Anastasia fashion, men come up to Telemachus (despite hearing about his recent feat in killing 108 men single-handedly) declaring that they're his father.

Now, he could just straight up kill them.

But instead, he decides to use his mother's challenges.

The first challenge, as we all know it, is that they need to string his father's bow (that's now extra blessed by Athena so that Odysseus is the only person who manages) and shoot through 12 axes.

Then, if they miraculously manage it because they had their own divine intervention, Telemachus will take them into his "parents' room". The Quotation Marks are there because it isn't actually his parents' room. It's just a really lavish room no one in the royal family is using. But he will tell the man that it surely is. And if the man agrees, Telemachus will kill that man on the spot.

Many fail the first test and are sent away.

One manages to get divine intervention from Apollo, but fails the second test and dies.

And then, suddenly, there's this beggar. Athena is quiet in Telemachus' head, but the young man now 20 years old dares not to believe. This old man who looks worn, tired, starved of love and yet looks at Telemachus as if he has plenty to give him. Telemachus dares not to hope.

He remains stoic in his seat, eyes glaring, anticipating the old man to make a mistake so he could send him on his way. Or if he becomes too rowdy, kill him and forget about all this and brood in disappointment.

But the beggar manages. He strings the bow. He shoots through the axes cleanly.

"What is the second challenge?" the old man asks, voice scratchy but amused.

Telemachus is quiet for a few moments.

Then, he stands from his throne.

"Follow me."

Telemachus' heart is pounding in his chest. Athena still hasn't spoken. But she is here, he feels her presence.

This is the moment of truth.

Telemachus leads Odysseus to a lavish room different from the man who had been assisted by Apollo.

He stands in the middle of it, gesturing randomly.

"Here is your and mother's room," he said, keeping his voice level. He fakes a smile as he adds, "Please wait here as I call for her. She must be in the gardens somewhere."

The man is quiet, eyes shining in the light as he shakily gestures to the bed.

"That is not our bed."

Telemachus refrains from sucking in a breath. "What do you mean?" he asks, prompting, challenging the man to explain.

"I carved the bed your mother and I laid in with my own hands," the man said, voice trembling even more now. "From the olive tree where we first met. I built the palace around that because that bed, our wedding bed, is the symbol of our love."

The man looks at Telemachus desperately. "This cannot be our room. If it is, please, I beg you, tell me what happened to the bed."

Telemachus' voice is almost a whisper when he asks, "How easy would it be to move the bed?"

The man, Odysseus, his father, cries, "The bed is the tree itself!"

Telemachus finally let his tears fall.

"This isn't your room, father," he said, smiling as droplet after droplet fell from his face. "Your room had not changed, and your bed had never been moved. Mother is waiting there as she had always been for the past 20 years."

The man stares at him, and suddenly Telemachus felt self-concious as he wipes his tears away. His father must be angry, or indignant. He wonders if he disappointed his father, and resigns himself that there's nothing Telemachus could do if he has. He has his own style of dealing with things, so if his father couldn't accept it, then he guesses that's that.

"You've grown into such a cunning young man, my son."

Telemachus widens his eyes and looks, actually looks at his father. His father is smiling. It's the same smile his father gave him when he came and declared himself as Odysseus, came and accepted Telemachus' challenge, but this time his perspective isn't smothered with bitterness and longing. This time, Telemachus allowed himself to hope and believe that the man, his father, is looking at him with such adoration and unconditional love.

Telemachus opens his arms, and before he could even say anything, his father brings the two of them together in the tightest and warmest hug he's ever experienced.

[hypnoticmoth]

Some little tidbits about my AU (After the tower fell) and general headcanons about the Vees ~

Sonce i can't draw too much at the moment because of anxiety, i decided that i still wanted to share some stuff about my AU !

Putting things under a read more ~

Unlike Valentino and Vox, when Velvette landed in Hell, she didn't spend that much time being confused and helpless. Yes, she was scared, but she also knew that if she didn't do anything she would probably get killed. As soon as she was able, she started to gather informations about how Hell worked, what were Overlords, what was Extermination, ect. She took note of every single Overlords currently reigning over Pentagram and decided the Vees were the ones she should aim for (their domains aligned more with her abilities). She was the one to boldly go to Vox and offer him the chance to work with her (and Vox accepted, he saw not only that her powers would fit well into him and Valentino's already existing businesses, but that it would expand their reach on other avenue linked to their already existing ones. He also kinda liked how bold and direct she was)

Valentino was very unhappy with Velvette joining the Vees at first. He felt like she was placing herself between him and Vox, and his possessiveness and jealousy made him be quite rude and dismissive of her for a while. Until him and Velvette realized they both shared a lot of common interests. Now they're inseparable and will be the gossipy bitches every trio needs. And just like Valentino is for Vox, he becomes highly protective of Velvette.

The Vees have a familial bond between them, even if they don't admit it out loud, they very much embody the found family trope. It is also why Velvette felt so betrayed after Vox caused the ruin of the Vees. When alive, she was neglected by her parents, and she thought she could never trust anyone anymore, but it changed when she met Val and Vox, only for Vox to shatter the trust she offered him.

Velvette met Verosika in the V tower one day because Vox wanted to have the popstar on one of his shows to boost his ratings. She was instantly charmed by Verosika and approached her after Valentino teased her a bit.

And for now, that's all, i have to go back to work, but i might add a reblog with more little things ~ Or if you have specific questions don't hesitate to ask !

[luciaintheskyainthi]

At some point Jason and Peter are getting married?

What would the proposal and ceremony be like? (if they do anything)

Ehhhh, I don't really see them as characters who would want to get married... but maybe that's because the idea of marriage is such a meh concept to me. But if they did, it would be far far far into the future, to the point they've been together so long everyone else already assumes they're married.

I could imagine they'd wear 'wedding bands', except they can't be normal about these things, so the ring Peter wears is a tracker, and the ring Jason wears is a spider-tracer (TLDR, they're trackers that emit a signal that only Peter's spider-sense can detect. Or a device he creates to trace it).

To shut the rest of the family up about the constant references to 'wedding bells in their future', they put the rings on their ring fingers. Everyone just kinda assumes they either eloped or got married at a registry, and then Peter and Jason are forced to have a 'reception'. At the manor, since the rest of the family know Peter would rather die (and Jason would rather kill) than be in the public eye.

If they did get married for realsies, I'm NGL, I could imagine it being a vegas wedding, but only because Peter and Jason are investigating something in one of those churches/settings, and they have to 'pretend' to get married for it... except of course in the end, there's no pretend at all. Bam. Marriage license babeeee.

The aforementioned reception would still happen in this example. Roy's also alive by this point and laughs his ass off at Jason.

[zemothethirteenth]

The laugh that came out of him was abrupt and immediately cut off with a quiet groan of pain. "No, J-Bucky. It has nothing to do with racism. It has considerably more to do with the fact that a bunch of the people that he used to associate with dropped a city from the sky and killed my family; their deaths weren't the intention, but that leaves them a further footnote in history, if they're remembered at all."

The melancholy slowly eased in then, and he curled his arm around Alpine further, appreciating the feeling of her purring against his side. No, he shouldn't talk any more about Sokovia. It didn't matter anymore. Sokovia no longer existed.

"And they were hailed as heroes nevertheless. Sam had no part in it, mind you."

@thecoldsoldiers

That did not help clarify Bucky’s mind and he rolled over to look at Zemo properly, everything about him was gorgeous but if Zemo said the wrong thing Bucky felt as though he would instantly lose attraction for this beautiful man. “The complication doesn’t have anything to do with race does it?” He asked bluntly.

He’d fought alongside too many people to deal with prejudice, but the time he came from it was still a largely prominent thing.

>> @zemothethirteenth

[therealrichardpapen]

I got my gf into bsd and this is what they said on the episodes we've watched. Showed them the most important parts, and they turned into a sskk shipper when I brought them into this for skk. Have fun reading these:

● Love Island: Dazai edition

● I need them all nailed to the wall (dazai and fyodor)

● Mummy with luscious hips (akutagawa's power in dead apple)

● They modified them in a lab, and yet they couldn't make Jouno see

● Plum blossoms in snow - that sounds like shower gel for women

● Atsushi hallucinating dazai - those scene from romantic movies with the dead wife running through the fields

● I dont know if i should call Dazai the smartest person or the dumbest mf

● (Cannibalism arc) *Mori almost getting assasinated* they need to shave his face

● (Poe) So he's like, Rampo's boyfriend

● When life gives you lemons, make bombs out of them

●The agency and the mafia are just a disfunctional family

● Can't they just marry and unite the agency and the mafia? They're both single—

● Natsume is the og gay shipper of Mori and Fukuzawa

● (On Mori and Fukuzawa fighting) just fucking kiss

● He's walking like a super fucking model (fyodor)

● I will cling to that tiger for my dear life

● *Fukuzawa calling Mori in season 4* is he calling his husband. I wonder what nickname he has on his phone

● *Margaret in a coma* well she is gone with the wind

● *ango appears* who is this slut with that ass

● asagiri saw "be gay do crime" and created bsd. He was like "what do gays love the most? Outdated literature!"

● Honestly Mori looks so much more better as an old man. I dont make the rules

● Everyone say thank you rampo

● Why is Aku biting Atsushi? Is it like a sex thing?

● Bram is just an astrology girly

● Why is Bram a lollipop?

● Jouno is so nice! He has a saviour complex!

● Why are they all alcoholics?

● Look how Fyodor stands. I bet he has a spine desfiguration. But it's slutty

● I need Mori to perform a surgery and be hot about this

● *Mori laughing* He's having a villain moment, ok?

● Dazai knew Chuuya is powerful in combat because they've been combating in bed every night

● Sigma thought that Fyodor had bpd and that was his special trait

● Nikolai bending down because he wanted to get fucked by Fyodor

● Imagine the airport having to security check fyodor's arm when they return to Yokohama

● Akutagawa has no chill. Not only he'd been abandoned, but they're all actively trying to kill him by smoking next to him

● Dazai has no filter really

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

https://www.tumblr.com/burst-of-iridescent/769146448190324736/you-know-what-i-still-find-it-beyond-weird-that?source=share

I thought about it, but do fn and water tribe have cultural similarities that secretly point to zutara??

1 - Nothing in the show is EVER "secretly pointing to Zutara." You can like the ship, but it is pure fanon that the lead writer didn't care for and that the creators/showrunners clearly don't like. Everything was always pointing to Kataang and Maiko. Again, you don't have to like it, but it is an undeniable fact.

2 - The only things the Fire Nation and BOTH water tribes, as well as the Earth Kingdom, have in common are "The kids are not raised communally, but rather by typical nuclear family (mom and dad)" and "they're not literal nomads." Something SO general that applies to literally everyone except airbenders simply cannot be used as a real parallel between these two nations.

Katara is from a tribal culture where chiefs are chosen by the people, they're all trying to survive a genocide, and they have a very strong sense of community. Zuko is from a industrialized, imperialistic nation that is actively banning/killing it's own culture (kids not knowing traditional dances, dragons being killed, spirituality being neglected) with a royal family that is in power because "divine right to rule", and their approach to "community" is based on royals using "peasant" as an insult and killing their own relatives for power, or disfiguring their own children, in public, because said kid spoke out of turn. HOW are these cultures simmilar?

3 - Aang not liking the food is not the same as him hating Katara's culture, and the ONE time he ever said something genuinely passive-aggressive about their practices was in the Bato episode, and it was clearly just him being a 12-year-old that didn't like feeling left out. That same episode has him engaging with a traditional ritual of ice-dodging in which Sokka is supposed to "become a man", and oh, yeah, KATARA'S ROLE IN THE STORY IS TEACHING HIM WATERBENDING. Ya know. Bending. The thing that is canonically tied to a nation's culture and spirituality?

The closest Zuko got to enganging with Katara's culture that way was by learning lightining redirection from Iroh - something that he developed by "observing" waterbender. Now ask yourself, in what context did a general from the Fire Nation "observe" a waterbender's fighting style? Could it have been during one of the raids on the South Pole or at least fighting people like Hakoda, who weren't home but were still trying to prevent the Fire Nation from killing everybody? Not exactly a heartwarming thought of cultural exchange, is it?

4 - Katara and Aang's cultures might not be that simmilar, but they have WAY more in common with each other than with the Fire Nation, hence Aang being so immediately beloved by Katara's tribe (and immediately being willing to sacrifice himself for them) and water being the element he struggled with the least. Not to mention the whole experience of "we're both trying to survive a genocide here" which literally unites the whole world AGAINST the Fire Nation. And on the personal level instead of broader, cultural one, both Katara and Aang long for a home, while also craving adventures far away every now and then. THE perfect compromise between life just at the tribe and life just traveling.

5 - Even if the Fire Nation and the South Pole WERE super simmilar culturally: that doesn't mean Zuko and Katara would inevitably develop feelings for each other, much like their cultural differences were not the reason why said feelings didn't exist in canon. Cultural clashes pushing lovers apart is a thing that CAN happen but it's not a guarantee because, at the end of the day, people fall in love with PEOPLE, not the nation/culture they're from.

Katara didn't help struggling Fire Nation citizens because "they're just like me!", she was just a compassionate person. Zuko didn't regret his role in the war because "the water tribe is not that different from my home", he just finally realized "Holy shit, they're HUMANS, not just obstacles in my path" and wouldn't have been able to live with himself if he continued to hurt them. Their cultures are really different, and that doesn't prevent them from being friends - but the fact that neither would ever permanently leave their home is one of the core things that would have made them incompatible as a couple, not because they simply see things differently, but because their PERSONAL goals and attachments in life push them in opposing directions

[zippyskyfalls]

"Alright, my brothers, listen closely..."

Weeks of planning, all leading to this. Penelope had to admit, this was her smartest plan yet.

Who would have thunk a wooden horse could fit over 600 men?

"Tonight we make the Trojans pay..."

Helen of Sparta, Penelope's cousin, was kidnapped years ago. A series of Devine events leading up to this moment. So many lives lost because of that single catastrophic event.

"Ten years of war, they killed us slowly. But now we'll be the ones who slay..."

No Trojan would be spared this night, all that will be left is ruins that historians will one day theorize if these events really even happened.

Penelope faced her soldiers, her helmet off in a moment of transparency. She should be open with her men, the ones she will lead.

"Think of your wives and your children. Your families wonder where you've been. " Penelope didn't have a wife, of course. Her husband was back home with her only son.

"They're growing old, and yet you're still here." The soldier put on her helmet, the symbol of her patron goddess engraved on the front.

A dove.

"Do what I say and you'll see them again.'

"Yes, mam."

They were all counting on her. She pointed her sword at specific soldiers, assigning each a job they must complete so the plan is perfect.

She plans for every fight, after all.

"Diomedes will lead the charge"

"Agamemnon will flay the guards."

"Menaleus will let our mates through the gates and take the whole city at large."

So many lives will be lost.

"Trucer will shoot any any ambush attack, and little Ajax will stay back."

But that was a sacrifice she was willing to make.

"Nestor, secure Helen and protect her. Neo, avenge your father, kill the brothers of Hector."

"Yes, mam!"

The men put on their helmets, bowing at her commands. They were all counting on Penelope's plan to be a success.

"Find that inner strength now, use that well of pride. Fight through every pain now, ask yourself inside!"

Penelope wandered to the back of the horse, staring back at her men as she touched the door entrance.

There were some questions that had to be answered before Troy was invaded.

"What do you live for? What do you try for? What do you wish for? What do you fight for?"

As the soldiers repeated the chorus, reminding themselves of their loved ones, Penelope leaned her head on the door and remembered her own.

"Odysseus..." her husband. The one who'd created the agreement that no war would break out when Helen chose her own husband.

He was meant to go to war instead of her, but Penelope managed to go in his place. There was a lot of arguing when the decision was made, but Penelope easily won her husband over.

"And Telemachus..." her son. He was only about 9 months old when she left to fight for her cousin's freedom. He's about 10 years old now, he must look exactly like his father.

"I fight for us... I fight for us..."

She knew what she lived for.

"Odysseus..."

She knew who she tried for.

"Telemachus."

She knew what she wished for.

Home.

"I'm on my way..."

She cut the door open, the quick motion of her sword cutting it as if it were butter.

"Attack!"

Red. So much red.

The clanking of swords so loud it could be heard across all of Greece. Penelope ran into the battlefield, spotting exactly who she wanted to see

Ctimene.

Her sword hit a Trojan soldier as he attempted to ambush and murder her sister in law.

Ctimene was the sister of Odysseus, they'd met many years ago. She'd snuck in at the middle of the night of her husband, Eurylochus' departure.

At the end of the first night, Ctimene managed to capture her husband and forcefully bring him back to a ship back to Same-- her kingdom.

Penelope spotted a dark figure, one whose face was impossible to spot. He ran towards her, nobody else managing to see the terrifying figure in front of her, and took a stab at Penelope's chest. Causing the queen to let out a scream of hurt.

But she was still alive.

All the was left was smoke.

"...what was that?"

In front of her, a man appeared. It wasn't the same one, he reeked of Devine judgement. His eyes yellow and his beard cloudy.

Zeus. The king of the gods.

"A vision of what is to come. Cannot be outrun, can only be dealt with right here and now."

He led Penelope to Troy's Palace, to which she climbed to the third story from the walls, her armor clanking down in pain.

She finally stood up in balance, her feet on the ground in the hallway of the large castle as she began to enquire. "Tell me how..."

"I don't think you're ready..."

How wasn't she ready? Could the king of the gods not see the massacre outside she had planned?

He lead her across the hallway, his eyes glowing of divinity.

"A mission... to kill someone's son. A foe who won't run, unlike anyone you have faced before..."

Penelope nodded, grabbing the handle of the door in front of her at the edge of the hallway.

"Say no more, I know what I'm ready."

"I don't think you're ready..."

She opened the door, her sword ready to strike when--

...she heard a laugh. Not a deep, sinister laugh like you'd expect. This was a child's laugh.

She walked around the room till she spotted a small cradle, inside was...

"It's just an infant.... it's just a boy."

How could Zeus, king of the gods, ask her to murder this child who's life was still ahead of him?

She faced the sky God, her eyes filled with shock and confusion.

"What sort of immanent threat does he pose that I cannot avoid?"

The room began shifting, his face reforming to show someone else's

"This is the son of none other than Troy's very own prince Hector"

Hector... this boy was Hector's son?

"Know that he will grow from a boy to an avenger"

The whole room shifted, Penelope - an older, wiser one - sat tired on a throne. The same figure that tried to stab her moments ago was in front of her, sword gripped tightly in his hand.

"One fueled with rage as you're consumed by age."

"If you don't end him now, you'll have no one left to save."

Zeus' face shifted once again, his body now the same as her husband's

"You can say goodbye to..."

The soldier felt her heart skip a beat, no. It couldn't.

"Odysseus..."

"You can say goodbye to--"

Odysseus.

She was back in the infants room, she slowly took the child, her face dark as she cradled him and looked up at the god. There had to be something she could do...

"I could raise him as my own!"

"He will burn your house and throne..."

No. Another way.

"Or send him far away from home!"

"He'll find you wherever you go."

She stared at the infant whom she held, a small smile on his face as he grabbed her pinkie finger.

"Make sure his past is never known..."

"The gods will make him know."

Penelope kneeled to the God, tears running down her face. Could she bring herself to do this? To kill an infant and deprive another mother of his first steps? His first laugh? His first words?

"I'm on my knees for ya, down on my knees for ya! I'm begging ple--"

"This is the will of the gods."

She stared at the small child, standing up as she forced herself to look at the God one last time.

"Please, don't make me do this! Don't make me do this!"

"The blood on your hands is something you won't lose..."

He brought an illusion of her Husband, next to him was a young boy, about ten or so. His face changing between different mixes of Penelope and Odysseus' faces.

Telemachus. And the one thing that was consistent was he had her eyes.

"All you can choose is whose..."

°•☆______________________☆•°

HELLO!!! Thank you for reading the Warrior of The Heart AU's version of The Horse and The Infant.

You may be wondering what the AU is!

Well, we follow Penelope of Sparta, who took her husband's place and managed to go to war. The name of the fanfic is thanks to her Mentor: Aphrodite (specifically Aphrodite Areia)

In my original drafts, Hera was originally replacing Zeus, but I didn't want this to feel like a "we have Warrior!Penelope at Home" AU.

Our role swaps are

Odysseus - Penelope

Athena - Aphrodite (Areia)

Eurylochus - Ctimene

Polites - Helen of Sparta (I'm so sorry...)

Poseidon - Amphitrite

I'd like to appreciate a few people!

Thank you, @protagaster Aka Aster, for making my favorite version of the Warrior!Penelope AU. You're an amazing friend and have always supported my projects, and I will continue to do the same for you!

Thank you, @somereaderinblue Aka Blue for being such an awesome person! You've helped me improve my writing so much and I'm so lucky to be your friend. (I also gotta thank you for helping improve/Analyse my designs I had made for the original WOTH designs I'd made!)

Thanks @literallylink--who-tf-is-ravioli for being the chaotic push I needed to make this

I hope you enjoyed this!

[shydroid3000]

#i keep thinking about this & cartesian dualism #like light. your body is YOU. #every part of it is YOU. your body is not just a cage for your mind#death note

@dancing-lex Your tags are making me think about something: So yeah, super yes with the Cartesian dualism connection. And in that vein.... Descartes framed non-human animals as automata who were not thinking/feeling but mechanistic. This view he used to justify vivisection on live animals, which he practiced/advocated for. (Now, vivisection was a common scientific practice then, but Descartes was notable for arguing that non-human animals did not actually feel pain or anything else, and thus something like vivisection was akin to taking apart a machine). Which..... I mean, can't help but remind me of the King of Justification, Light Yagami, ya know?? I mean, Descartes justifying vivisection as an act that was like totally fine and not something to feel bad about *at all*... is not that unlike Light going to great lengths to justify murdering (initially) two people, and then tens of thousands more. 'Cause murder is bad, but... the world is rotten and *his* specific kind of murder of a specific *kind* of person will actually make the world a better place. And he's the only one who could do it, so really it's his responsibility to. And I mean, vivisection did bring advancements and benefits for human society (and animal testing continues). And Kira brought certain ostensible benefits too. But in both cases, they rely on a fundamental devaluation of certain kinds of life. And with Descartes, a devaluation that involved reducing non-human life to nothing more than mechanical, things that experienced no more of an inner life than a clock. And while that's obviously not what Light thinks, it does feel like there's a sort of undercurrent of something similar there for him. I mean, the way he uses certain people around him as though, to him, they were simply tools (Misa, Takada, Mikami...). And the people he kills... the way they're engaged with mostly as just a category to him, rather than full individuals each with their own inner lives. I mean, in a way, he takes this sort of mechanistic view of the whole of human society. Something for Kira to take apart and reform so that it operates more smoothly. And like Descartes cutting into a living being, it really is okay for Light/Kira to slice into human society, remove an eye (for an eye), even stop its heart. And it's okay to not feel bad about the screams, really, because... well, he's God of the New World, and this is what a god does, and he's still *good* deep down, because it's all for a greater good. After all, humans are to a God kind of like what other animals are to a human, right? So he doesn't have to hurt inside when he hears whispers of screams on the wind, sees life fading from eyes in each sunset... right? Anyway, the framework of Cartesian dualism is really interesting to think about. It almost seems like to Light, he and L are the only two people he truly, truly conceives of as thinking beings in a way that really 'counts'. (Putting aside perhaps his family who I do think he values in his certain way). Like, other people walk around in their bodies having thoughts and feelings. But Light and L are minds, rational minds, in a way that transcends the more embodied existence of other humans. Anyway this feels so rambly and messy haha. It's very late (/early in the morning haha) where I am, so it may not entirely be coherent and I don't have the mental power to re-read and edit it haha. But your tags got my brain spinning, because the Cartesian dualism framework is an interesting lens to view Light through..!

Light is someone who perceives a very strong separation between the body and the mind, and is very disconnected from his own body. And I do wonder if, by nature of them being so similar, this is something he projects onto L as well; & helps him divorce the thought of the death of L's body (ie. his shell) from the death of L's mind (ie. his true self). So Light kills the body, the part of L that isn't really him, to incapacitate his mind, not kill it. He's compartmentalized it in such a way where he doesn't have to think of death as being true death.

It isn't until Light is about to die himself that he is able to mentally bridge the connection between his body & his own conscious existence, and realize what it really means to die.

[cadencelistic]

erm perhaps mouthwashing characters + younger sibling!reader??maybe angst like dying in their arms perchance,,thx!!!

You're getting somewhere......

Not proofread, obviously.

Curly was so happy when you came on the Tulpar, whether you're an intern or a new worker, he's suppopeperrr duppoerrr happy about it. He's kinda protective, he'll monitor you a lil more than the other crew members. They're all his responsibility though, so he won't go overboard. He needs to make sure the others are alright as well, ykkk??? Since i see no other way of you dying before he gets crashed, let's sayyyy...... The ship does crash like ingame, but you followed him like the STUPID LITTLE SHIT EVER. You're right outside the cockpit, and just before they hit the meteorite, Curly sees yo ass and tries to get you away, but fucks up and throws you into the fire. He pretty much goes fucking insane and tries to save you and gets himself burnt a little. Now you're a quarter bit more of a corpse and he's fucking bawling. You won't die yet, but you'll be soosososooooo happy when you do.

I don't think Jimmy is that happy that you're working together. Nah, he probably fuckin hates it. Now, people always assume that siblings will fight no matter what, that's a bit of an advantage for him he can say whatever shit he wants, and people will just be like "Oh, that's just how siblings are". A lot more meaner to you than he is to everybody else and sometimes forcibly shows you how to do your job right. He's probably the one killing you, and he'll barely feel any remorse. If not him, he still won't really care that much, “I told you so" that's him. If he cared...... It'd only be because he doesn't want to damage his reputation......

It's hard for me to think of Swansea having a younger sibling. I guess his parents fucked again when he was like 20-40 whatever you want and have a child that is raised better than he was. He'll still treat you like Daisuke, but you're family, so he's nicer. Holds nothing against you despite being the child that y'alls parents tried harder and better on. Acts like he has something to teach you, and does kind of teach you. I imagine that your parents didn't really like when you were with him during his drunk years, so you never really had time to spend together. If you died, he lowk wouldn't show how it affects him, but he becomes more irritable. Lashing out at people. Thinks it's his fault for you dying because he couldn't be a better brother. Thinks y'alls parents would fucking hate him for letting you die, might as well kill himself/hj.

Now, Daisuke. He's ecstatic!!! His little sibling with him? (You're in an intern here, idgaf) He's so happy that mom didn't send him alone. At least there's someone there that understands him. You and Daisuke are basically the children the others babysit. When you die, he just kind like.... Ykykykyk breaks down. Fuckung sobs himself on you, and he's scared that y'alls parents will get mad and hate him for not protecting you and he also thinks its his fault. Now he feels like the loneliest person ever, and he'll just be in a constant grieving state. All that standard stuff until he dies. Letss says that Jimmy was the one that killleed you. Daisuke would stay far away from him, and be all awkward whene he tries to talk with him

I feel like the person who'd take it the hardest is Anya, it just feels right to say that. You die a slow death, not slow and painful like Curly, but still dying slowly in pain. She'll try to treat you, but struggle lots because she just can't bear the sight of you in pain. Ultimately, she'll feel guilty when you die and blame herself for not being able to take care of you like a proper nurse should. This is really short and i hate that.

[skele-bunny]

Thinking about my Mountain interpretation......

Queued post don't kill me.

He was the tallest even when just a young kit, towering over the others but they never minded. Even as he became an adult, looking down at his fathers with a smile and a tail wag. He loved visiting the freshwater ghouls a lot, peeking his head down into the water and seeing their pretty glows. Anytime a trade was needed with them, Mountain always volunteered

Mountain is the only child of his two fathers, and has always been a rowdy lil thing. Growling and hissing, but quiet at the most oddest of times. He was always treated kindly, and in return he treated others kindly too.

He grew up to be an exceptional hunter for their pack, always able to hide himself within the trees and stalk before pouncing. He was very ritualistic with his killings, just as the other earth ghouls were, but adored their bones. Making skulls into wreaths, rib cages as pot holders and drying racks, thin bones for curtains and warning sigils of their territory.

One day, he left, and returned to ashes.

Corpses in their once happy home, trees still ablaze, crops destroyed. His parents, aunts, uncles, cousins... All mauled and burnt. He cried and cried, looking around at the carnage and doing his best to stop the fires before the waters he left not too long ago was alerted by the smoke and flames growing higher.

The leaders of the water ghouls stayed with him, helping clean what they could and staying for the mass burials. Mountain was someone kind to their packs, and they hurt for him. Promised they'd stay as long as he needed.

His summoning, just like the others, was unexpected. Patrolling the shoreline when his chest started hurting, doubling over and nails digging into his own fur. Trying to fight whatever it was and hearing the waters desperate concern as they surfaced. How he yelled and woke up in piles of dirt, stomping out and immediately clocking others around.

He ended up moving himself more near the treeline so he was near the water tribes, making himself a small den beneath the earth to stay content. He quickly became pescitarian with them and a part of many packs in return; he protected them from others that may wish harm.

So many nights he'd fight off starving ghouls who tried going near eggs that were laid, or when a siren seduction became too... Rough. He'd intervene. He was their safe space and he loved the waters so, so much... He's mated with a few of them, just being cuddled with a few mates every night. Mountain was never alone, and he felt peace for the first time in a while since his original packs death.

Mountain got violent QUICK. Snarling, snapping his jaw, ready to kill and maul. All it took was this tiny little water ghoul, a freshwater just like from home, to step into his vision and sweet talk him into calming down.

As of late, he's very calmed and quiet, an observer that waits until he approaches. He's still extremely family and mate oriented, focused. Finds himself by the lake or natural small waterfalls in the woods a lot, thinking of his packs in the pits. Wonders if they're safe, if those he loved were still alive — more importantly, if they'd all be proud of him.

Would his fathers?

Mountain is still protective, but he's taken the role of a silent guardian. Earth ghouls by nature don't attack unless provoked or feel threatened, that goes for any mates or family. Usually just a stare and how much Mountain towers over everyone stops a situation, but that's not to say he won't quickly become that violent ghoul he used to be.

From time to time, he'll purposely hunt just for the bones. Mainly for courting gifts or comfort! He'll make use of all that's offered, the pelt, the meat, but what lays beneath is his.

The pack all have their own bone art he's made for them, displayed and sensitive. But something so very loving. Yes! Even Copia! He's so loving and so forgiving, but never forgetful.

[spectral-phases]

Tim Drake as Rook (and Blackbird)

I've seen posts floating around trying to suggest new names and new costumes for him, and I've seen really great designs (u/Hunkerdown_son's Gray Ghost suit) that I like a lot more than what he's gotten. (Poor kid's gone back to Robin and was feuding with Damian about who's the better Robin? Like, boy, you could be in college, you are a whole-ass adult now, god damn, can the writers let you develop). There's Cardinal, Flamebird, Redbird, every red bird there is. And like, I get it, Red Robin was one of his more iconic runs (pre-Flashpoint), his OYL costume was primarily red, he was Red Robin wearing basically a Robin costume for a little while there too.

One of the name's I've seen is Rook. And that fascinates me. I actually had a hazy image of it pop into my mind, like a terrible "got any more pixels?" JPG picture of an artbook all zoomed-in and blown out one, of what that might look like.

(Artist's recreation of the above described image)

So I made it.

(Look, I know. I know. That is not how "Rook" would be stylized for the logo, but listen, listen. Cursive k basically has a mini-R in it and I was having fun with this. Okay? I don't draw much these days and I'm not a comic artist/graphic designer. I do math for a living.) (I spent very little time on the logo for Blackbird, but you get the idea. The "R" gets twisted nicely into a "B" for Blackbird, in my opinion.)

Design choices and everything below. Very stupidly long.

Rook first because I know the color is going to be a sell.

Rook is a bird in the corvid family, with crows, so they're exceptionally smart birds. Rooks are also the name for the chess piece that can perform the trickster maneuver called castling where they trade places with the king (It's not hard to do, necessarily, just like, a 4D move compared to the normal chess moves, and not something the average person knows about). Being that he's been relegated to the "boy genius" role and he is vicious and cunning with his mind more than almost anything else (See Robin #137's "Show your face here again and we'll frame you for the kind of crimes even other hardened kills don't condone or forgive" speech, him blowing up the LoA's computers in Red Robin #8 after somehow creating a program/virus on their systems while under constant supervision, or all of Red Robin's "The Hit List" arc). (I know he's not the only one who can do or has done, things like this, but he does it a lot, is my point).

Rooks, the birds, as a symbol of death are also fascinating to connect to Tim. He's never "died" like the other Robins have, but his mantra in his introduction is basically "Batman needs a Robin." Because Batman/Bruce has been traumatized by losing his son, Jason, and is spiraling, dialing up the violence towards criminals, dialing down his ability to care whether or not he survives, destroying his interpersonal relationships in the process. Death as a symbol can mean the literal figurative death, but it also can mean the end of a phase of life, of letting something go, and moving onto a new chapter.

And that's what Bruce needed to do. He, of course, would always miss Jason, but he needed to move past the pain, move past the agony, become what Batman was supposed to be again. Tim's the one who got him there. He's the one who convinced Bruce to open that new door. Tim's the one who put the "family" in Bat-Family because Bruce sure as shit was not going to do that. Here, this post explains that a bit more eloquently.

https://www.tumblr.com/thattimdrakeguy/190044791065/would-you-consider-tim-the-heart-of-the-batfamily

Rooks, the birds, are also blue/purple in color, which I think is great for Tim. I know, I know, everyone wants him with red. I get. I really, truly, get it. But let's just...take a step back and go outside of the box a little for his color. Now, I know, not everyone keeps the same color consistently (the number of times Nightwing has just bounced between Blue and Red, for example), but there is usually a "main" color strongly associated with each member of the Bat-Family.

Nightwing gets blue, duh (and also bluebird). Red Hood gets red (and also Nightwing when he's having a shit time and also Kate Kane's Batwoman and also Damian's Redwing). Damian's Robin often gets green (though I low-key associate green with Tim's Robin more than Damian's, Tim's no longer going to be Robin here, so Damian can have it). The Signal gets yellow (and so does Cass's Batgirl/Black Bat/Orphan). Stephanie as Spoiler/Batgirl has purple (and so does Huntress and Barbara's Batgirl). And Oracle gets lime green.

We don't need any more red symbols in the family. It's already out of hand without throwing Tim in there. And out of all the siblings, he's the only one without a distinct color.

Anyway. If we dip into tertiary colors, we can fix all of that. I made a mock-up of what I mean drawing the symbols mostly by memory in a few minutes. For Huntress/Helena Bertinelli, I just used her mask.

See how Tim as Rook gets to be wedged in between Nightwing's blue and Stephanie's purple with Violet? Tim Drake is a Dick Grayson fan first, Nightwing fan second, and person a distant third, so going more blue with his scheme is a much better fit. You could come up with a name for him to be teal, but violet is better for Rook, and like he's also close to Stephanie's Spoiler/Batgirl colors and say what you will of his relationship with her, she is important to his character as friend/girlfriend/friendly-ex. And Dick went from "Red/green/yellow" to "Blue/black" so Tim can go from "Red/green/yellow/black" to "violet/black."

Oh, and it lets him get his "R" back. The one from the 90's that's just so iconic that he was literally introduced with as Robin. If we can have a million different bat symbols then we can have two different R's floating around and no one will be confused.

And anyway, with all of that in mind, and that terrible image haunting me, I decided to draw a quick reference sheet for what Rook might look like. I think I spent like 2 hours on the final version, with an hour and a half on sketches I hated/deleted. Anyway.

I had a nice dark green in here instead of sky blue and a dark purple instead of dark blue, but then I was looking at the purple/green combo and "I'm in dangered" my way out of the Joker color-combo.

Instead I decided, since he's a young person and the violet I chose was sort of blacklight-esque, then why not make him look like some kinda blacklight glowing guy. The youth these days still love that kinda stuff, right? And it ties into the themes of being a light in the dark and crime-scene stuff and all that. The colors came from how lead glass reacts under black light, and while I imagine the violet parts do show up in black light, it's the light blue parts that actually glow in blacklight.

If you want to draw this design or make up your own Rook design or tweak this design go ahead, like, for example if you wanted him to have the sharp pointy cuffs that I couldn't get to look good at all (but please tag me if you do, I wanna see it, unless you're shit-talking me. Then don't tag me.)(Shit talking means "my god, this asshole who cannot draw at all" and not "It was okay, but I thought it might be better like this/with some tweaks/more coherent colors" one I can take and the former will make me cry).

(If the notes are hard to read, they will be in text at the very bottom)

Obviously, I got a little too obsessed with the mask for my own good. I didn't want him to just have a domino mask, I liked the protectiveness of his Red Robin cowl (if not the look), and I wanted more coverage while also having his hair out because he has really good hair. So it goes around the back of his head in a band, protecting his temples and the back of his head, but nothing else for his hair to show. It is supposed to blend with his hair so we get the illusion of the cowl, but drawn by someone better/more time/shading it'd be fairly obvious up front where his hair and mask are, but less so from the back. And Tim has done the mask under a mask gag before and a self-destructing mask, so I feel like him having approximately 30-billion fail-safes to prevent it from just being pulled off of him is in-character.

And then I decided, that since Tim is Nightwing fan second, he can have a red version of the outfit named "Blackbird" for when he's feeling a little moody or feisty the same as Nightwing has the red Nightwing suit for...reasons ("We wear red in new continuities" or whatever. Why have one outfit when you can have several?). This time the colors were inspired by red cadmium glass under blacklight and the red winged blackbird.

Red Winged Blackbird's symbolically are "a sign of change and transformation. They represent the power of love and compassion, as well as the need to take action in order to make positive changes in your life. The red winged blackbird is a symbol for spiritual growth, inner strength, courage, determination and self-awareness." Which. You know. Fits Tim. And there's red. So. I feel like that's an easy sell. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I wanted to reference his OYL, Post-Crisis Red Robin (regular and data alter), and Robin (Post-Crisis/Rebirth) outfits for the design. I didn't care for much of his post-Flashpoint Red Robin outifts, adding Nomura/Kingdom Hearts zippers levels of belts to him or just being Robin with two "R"s for a symbol and bad hair. You can see the OYL in the edges of the cape and the interior of the mask. Robin, Rebirth in particular, with his elbow pads and knee pads, shoulder armor and the shape of his boots. Red Robin in the bandolier harness/belt thing he's got, but every thing on it is one of those hammer space utility belt pouches the Bats are so well known for, so he can have a bajillion of them as the "tool using" Robin. The "V" center and arm-stripe/finger-stripe combo is, obviously, reminiscent of Nightwing, and his Red Robin data alter, which is also reflected in the larger mask (though the nose is not as beak-like).

(OYL References, the dialogue in the second to last panel of the first reference is misattributed, in case you were confused as to why Tim is dissing his outfit and Dick is talking like Tim)

(Red Robin References)

(Robin References)

And obviously, I just put his "R" symbol on a circle and called it a day. Although I was clearly going off of memory instead of a direct reference, but whatever. Whatever. It fits better in a circle the way I did it. And a circle is a better buckle/clip than the oval, which was a deliberate choice. So. Anyway.

Notes (from top left to bottom right, grouped by what they're describing):

Shoulder Shot: "We're brining back his iconic 'R' from the 90's for 'Rook. (pointing to the R symbol)." "The cape can be rolled back to reveal some light shoulder armor that doesn't change his silhouette when the cape is down (pointing to his shoulder armor and the rolled back cape that is reminiscent of his over the shoulder "black with yellow" capes)." "Feather pattern that emulates Nightwing's arm/fingerstripes (pointing to the side of his arm)." "His elbow pads have the same shape as his kneepads for the skaterboy vibe. (pointing to the pads over his arms and knees)."

Sketch of harness: "Bandolier harness hides under the cape that clips into his insignia (pointing to the symbol in the center)." "Each space is a pouch (pointing to every area between the pointed ridges (which are hollow tubes with screw caps that can also hold things for maximum hammerspace))."

The detailed shot of the mask: "The face mask is partial emotive with white lenses that have thermal and night-vision (next to the white eyes)." "The foil layer of the mask can peel off unless actively held when the mask is lifted, and cling to his skin with a static charge that makes it almost impossible to peel from his skin (pointing to the teal circuit bit that is lifted from the pointy bit of the mask (the circuits are water/sweat proof, don't worry))." "There are dozens of magnetic locks that have to hit in the right on/off pattern to life all layers of the mask. Each finger in his gloves can have an active magnetic charge, so there are over a thousand combinations (pointing to the foil layer and the inside of the mask)."

The sketches of the mask lowered and raised: "The back of the mask is made of interlocking combs that seal together with metal locks to avoid it coming off unintended (pointing to the back of the raised mask)." "Durable, flexible rubber-like material (pointing to the sides of the mask, back, and the expanding fan like section that allows it to raise while still being one-piece and the top of the mask that would roll against his forehead)." "The mask can be lifted up when the locks are undone (pointing to the raised and lowered mask and the expanding accordion like structure)."

The sketch of a side profile of his head with his bangs and face half there: "Where does the mask end and his hair begin? Like Kujo Jotaro's cap, the world may never know (pointing to the back of his head where the black mask and black hair would blend together)." "The back of the mask combs through his hair and the top layers of his hair cover it (providing an actual answer)." "The nose of the mask has padding that protects his nose from breaks and conceals the shape of his nose and cheeks (next to his nose, which is half covered by the mask)."

[sileisce]

it's only one dimensional when you push it towards that. just like it's only complex when you push it towards that. we can complain about timelines all we want, it's a moot point towards a highly common trope in fiction. characters fall in love quickly. not everyone wants to wait for the romance as it's usually a side plot to add to the story unless it's primarily a romance. and even then not all romances are slow burns.

the characters lose their complexity when you try to justify actions as good or evil and not view them as just existing in their own lives. mapleshade's vengeance is not a book about good or evil, who's more right or wrong. it's a book about grief. if it wasn't the complexity of appledusk accidentally killing birchface, and birchface being the son of oakstar and brother of frecklewish, wouldn't have been thrown in. every character was put in the most impossible of situations. every irrational action is done out of grief and/or self gratification(appledusk turning his back to hurt her even more for example, it's more fun to read it as a 'i want to hurt you for hurting me') he didn't see what mapleshade saw or how she was treated, how their kits were called monsters. who would throw out kits so young? he only saw that she made the kits cross the river after she was told earlier that day not to.

the kits weren't doing fine, they struggled to make it to one stone out of 3 and a final stretch to a bank. and at the end reedshine and perchpaw were there so even if he was to have trouble he truly had nothing to fear. mapleshade barely ate and was not in a good condition, she wasn't at her strongest.

and i never said any behavior is okay but; appledusk was hated for years because people never read the books and viewed mapleshade's vengeance as a cheater revenge story (when mapleshade, even in the end, wanted appledusk as a mate and that's her reason for attacking reedshine, who wasn't involved in her delusions at all). she's an unreliable narrator that twists things to benefit her (not with the intent to cause harm at the start, but because she believed everything will work out)

i really don't care when people hate characters, but i don't like when people try to dumb down what others see, or that hatred is solely because they like another (usually male) character more. even the whole 'mapleshade babytrapping appledusk' is literally the dumbest thing in existence. he had reedshine he didn't need to get with mapleshade. i literally do not value the opinions of people that hate characters like nightcloud, mapleshade, squirrelflight but love/excuse brambleclaw/crowfeather/ashfur/appledusk because they were 'sad'. too many people hate admitting their male favorites do harmful and abusive things, meanwhile the females are satan just for being snappy.

and yes when it comes to crowfeather, the defense of him and hatred of nightcloud is primarily misogyny. he was a classic 'tragic heartbroken guy'. not even once but twice in one arc. that's double 'leave my baby alone!' territory. we see how often people make the female characters villains in favor of males. i wasn't involved in the fandom for years because of the misogyny.

i hate how much nightcloud has been hated, we can compare nightcloud's treatment to how bluestar was treated because of thistleclaw. people took all of bluestar's complexity and put it on a cat who's personality is abuser just because he was a guy.

with breezepaw, he was abused by crowfeather, who had no reason to put his hands on his son, even with claws sheathed. hatred for breezepaw and people excusing that can be boiled down to people's hatred of kids which often goes hand in hand with misogyny. they hate breezepaw for being immature meanwhile are okay with a grown adult putting his hands on and berating him.

there was also no good reason for nightcloud to drag crowfeather away like that, they're just a broken family because neither cat truly loved each other. if you don't want to see complexity in the characters that's fine but many do see what they were going for and aren't afraid to elaborate on it. it's just so ruined by misogyny from both the books and the fandom. but i also i feel you can't acknowledge posts you link while at the same time trying to say the books lack complexity. even the fact breezepaw's xenophobia is directly from crowfeather being a bitter ex show's complexity.

i also feel a lot of the defense of abusive behavior by the writers is due to being older and abuse being more normalized in those generations. those generations are more likely to forgive and defend misogyny and abusive parents/partners who only apologize on their death beds.

sorry for length and if this is all over the place. i am bad at making long posts but i personally see complexity in many of the characters and while i speak up when i disagree with something, i don't want to be seen as one of the people who's so called 'enjoyment' for male characters is actually just rooted in misogyny. it wasn't my intention to come off that way. i just often see a dice where others see a coin

anyway if people are allowed to make excuses for bramblestar and fucking appledusk, I should also get to say that nightcloud did nothing wrong